The Beauty of the Gospel

The talk explores the dire condition of humans, the consequences of sin, and what God has graciously done to help us in light of his attributes. The gospel gives hope to humanity. 

anushjohn.com

Transcript

Origins of Sin and Death

Speaker 1 0:00

Good morning everybody. This morning we are going to do the gospel, the gospel. I've divided this session into four parts. In the first section we will do the first two parts, which is the human condition and what God has done, and in the second two parts we will do what salvation means and the offer of salvation. So first let's talk about the human condition. The gospel starts with the human condition.

Speaker 1 0:26

Every religion starts with the idea that humans are good. Humans are good. In atheism, hinduism, buddhism, islam, it starts with the idea that humans are good. But if humans are good, where did evil come from? But the Christian worldview says something completely different than every other worldview, and that's that humans are sinners. Not that humans are good, but that humans are sinners. Turn your Bibles to Romans, chapter 3, verse 23. Romans 3, verse 23. It says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So we were born as sinners and we have the concept of original sin. We were born as sinners.

Speaker 1 1:19

A couple years ago, for a sermon, I watched on YouTube a video of a Daniel Tiger episode. Have you guys seen Daniel Tiger? No, don't care. Okay, anybody seen that? Okay, daniel Tiger is this cartoon. So if you had little kids, daniel Tiger is this cartoon of a tiger that has a family. They grow in this made-up neighborhood, and this episode was about how Daniel Tiger got mad. And so it started off saying Daniel Tiger, he wanted to go outside and play, but it was raining and he couldn't go to the beach, so he got mad. So his mother comes to him and talks to him and they count to four. And as they count one, two, three, four, when they reach four his anger dissipates and he's fine and his mother says you gotta count to four. And then he starts playing some more and he tries to bring some of the sand from the beach inside his home. And now his mother gets angry. And so then they start counting to four One, two, three, four. As it comes down to four, the anger has kind of dissipated. And then I kind of knew where this thing was going. There would be more scenarios of anger and they would count one to four. Four was, I think, because it rhymed with the word roar and so they started counting to four and I knew how this would turn out.

Speaker 1 2:39

Now, even if I've not seen every Daniel Tiger video under the sun and I could not watch too Daniel Tiger video under the sun and I could not watch too much of it because I knew how this was going and his voice was super annoying. I couldn't take another minute of it. But even if I've not watched another Daniel Tiger episode or all the cartoons for kids out there, I can promise that there wouldn't be a series or a show that says stealing is superb or anger is amazing or worry is wonderful. Now we don't have to teach our two-year-olds how to do that which is wrong, isn't it? They just know automatically, even if they didn't see anybody else in the world. If you lived on an island by yourself and this two-year-old, they would still grow up getting mad at you or angry at you or jealous or wanting to steal stuff, because sin is innate, it is not from outside, and that is why we're always trying to correct sin with Daniel Tiger and other cartoons. The Bible tells us how sin came into the world. Islam talks about Adam and Eve. It talks about how they ate the fruit and they went into sin, but it says it's out of their own free will and that sin does not continue to future generations. Buddhism says that sin comes because of evil desires. Hinduism says sin comes because of ignorance. We don't know that we are actually one with God.

Speaker 1 4:20

Atheism, of course, believes in evolution, but they cannot explain how morality came from matter. Let's say that evolution was true. Let's say that we all came from biochemical particles. How did matter give rise to non-matter? Morality is actually one step higher than that. Let me explain. Matter is the brain, for example. Let's say a neurosurgeon opened the brain, it's still matter Above. Matter is non-matter. A neurosurgeon will never find kindness in the brain, right, he will find matter in the brain. He will not find kindness in the brain because that he will find matter in the brain. He will not find kindness in the brain because that is non-matter. A person who follows evolution finds it difficult to say how non-matter came from matter. But morality is higher than that, because morality says not only that there is kindness, morality says that we ought to be kind. That is higher than non-matter itself. So morality is two steps higher than matter.

Speaker 1 5:30

Atheism cannot explain and even the great atheistic philosophers, for example JL Mackey, agrees that atheism cannot explain how morality came from matter. In this context, what does the Christian faith say? It gives us an idea of the origin of sin. Turn your Bibles to Genesis, chapter 2, and verses 15 through 17. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree. So what does God say? You eat this fruit that's of this tree, you will die. And if you turn your Bibles to Romans, chapter 6, verse 23, and this is a verse that we will keep referring to over the course of this talk, romans, chapter 6, verse 23, says for the wages of sin is death All right, so there's correlation between those two passages.

Speaker 1 6:41

All right, let me ask you a question. Did Adam and Eve die? All right, let me ask you a question. Did Adam and Eve die? So I'm going to ask you for a show of hands. I'm going to ask you three questions. How many of you believe that Adam and Eve died right then? Died right then? Okay. How many of you believe Adam and Eve died later? Died later? Right, I mean, you've got to believe that, otherwise they shouldn't be around, okay? How many of you believe that Adam and Eve will die later. Will die later. Okay, actually, all three answers are right, because I'm going to talk about three kinds of death. I'm sure there are more kinds, but these are the three kinds that I could come up with.

Speaker 1 7:28

First, there is a spiritual death, and when Adam and Eve sinned, they died a spiritual death. Turn your Bibles to Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 1 and 2. Ephesians 2, 1, 2. And you were dead. In the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, you were dead. He's talking to Ephesian believers who are still living and he says you were dead. What kind of death was it? It was a spiritual death. They were spiritually dead, in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. So when Adam and Eve sinned, they died a spiritual death. The second kind of death is a physical death, and that is what happened when, after Adam was 900 odd years old, he died and his son lived on. Then his son grew up and died, and so physical death was not part of the original plan of creation was not part of the original plan of creation, but physical death happened because of sin that entered the world.

Speaker 1 8:49

So let's turn to Romans, chapter 5, verse 12. Romans, chapter 5, verse 12. So this whole chapter actually talks about the relationship in Romans 5 between law and death. Romans 5, verse 12 reads Therefore, justice, sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sin. So the second kind of death is a physical death. So all of us, unless Jesus comes back before we die, all of us Jesus comes back before we die all of us, believers or not, suffer the consequence of that sin by having physical death. The third kind of death is eternal death is eternal death. Now, these three kinds of deaths are interconnected. Okay, it's not like one is exclusive, they are all interconnected. You can overcome one by overcoming another one and one is caused by the other one. So they are all interconnected.

Speaker 1 9:54

John 3 16 is probably the most famous verse in scripture and this is what it says in john 3 16. For god so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. What kind of perish is this? Eternal death? It's talking in the context of eternal life. This is eternal death. If you have spiritual death and you have not been regenerated, you will head to eternal death. If you have spiritual death and you have not been regenerated, you will head to eternal death. That is the human condition, ladies and gentlemen. We are dead and we will die twice more. Second, let's look at what God has done. If this is a human condition, what can be done? God is the only one that can do anything. If humans are dead and dying, how can we be saved?

Speaker 1 10:57

In Buddhism, it says that desire is the worst thing, desire is what causes sin, and it gives a what is called as a noble eightfold path on how to overcome desire, that is the cause of sin. It says have right motive, right attitude, right belief, right actions and four other things. But still the question is how? How am I gonna have a right attitude or a right conduct? How? Islam says that if you want to go to heaven, you follow the five pillars of Islam, which are declaration of faith, prayer, fasting during the month of Ramadan, almsgiving and then a pilgrimage to Mecca. And you do all that, you'll go to heaven. And then a pilgrimage to Mecca, and you do all that, you'll go to heaven. Hinduism says that you follow the laws of karma and if you do good you will become better in the next life. If you do bad, you will become worse off in the next life. But still the question remains how, how am I going to do good?

Speaker 1 12:06

Atheism, of course, our secularism, our secular humanism that we live in. They believe that there is no afterlife, so there is nothing to do good for the afterlife. Anyone who has tried to do good knows how impossible it is. I mean, if every religion says we got to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, well, why hasn't it worked? Right, is our culture holier now than it was a hundred years ago? I mean, if this thing worked, then we would be holier now. Right, it's been 500 years since the Enlightenment, when we realized everything is reason and everything can be made to follow reason. There is no supernatural. Well, since the 500 years, have we become holier? No, we cannot get better by ourselves, and the christian worldview says that we cannot change ourselves and we need help because we are spiritually dead.

Speaker 1 13:07

Now, when we studied about God last week, we looked at three attributes of God. We looked at the holiness of God. We looked at the justice of God. We looked at the love of God, when we look at the holiness of God. God is holy means that he cannot coexist with sin. God is just means that he cannot ignore sin. God is love means that he still loves a world of sinners.

Speaker 1 13:44

Imagine that you were driving out of this lecture, going home. You're super hungry and you're going home, and as you were driving out of the parking lot, you looked right and left. There were no cars coming and you failed to look right one more time and you didn't see a guy walking and you ran him over. Okay, the story gets morbid real quick. You ran him over and he is in serious trouble and he dies two days later. All right, what are our options? Well, you're gonna be cited for involuntary manslaughter or vehicular manslaughter, and that is $20,000 and five to ten years in prison.

Speaker 1 14:34

Now let's say that you're brought in front of the judge. The judge can do a couple of things. There are three options. One is, well, he can't do it, but one of the options is that they change the law and they say oh, this was a voluntary manslaughter, it was completely accidental. This person didn't know what was going on, and so, instead of $20,000 and 10 years in prison. Let's give him a $20 fine and let him off. They can change the law. The second option is for the judge to say let me ignore the law and set him free. The third option is to say let's keep the law and send him to jail for 10 years.

Speaker 1 15:22

Three options. Imagine you're in court, you're in chains and God is the judge. So God has three options too. Option one is to change the law, is to change so that sin is not sin anymore, but that would contradict with the holiness of God. Option two is to say let's ignore it, let's ignore sin, but that would contradict with the justice of God. Option three is to say let's punish this person with eternal death, but that if God is loving, how can he send? Turn to your Bibles, to romans, chapter 5, verse 8. We will not read it right now, but I want you to open to it. Romans, chapter 5, verse 8. God had option 1, 2 and 3, but he created an option 4 because options 1, and three were too difficult.

Speaker 1 16:36

In the legend Camelot and this was made as a movie called First Night King Arthur's wife, queen Guinevere, was in an adulterous relationship with the most trusted knight of King Arthur by the name of Sir Lancelot. And so they had this adulterous relationship. And the king's evil nephew, a cunning nephew called Mordred, found out about this and made a big stink about it. And when this was found out, sir Lancelot the knight escaped, but Queen Guinevere could not escape. She was stuck in the palace, and so she was brought to trial. The jury deemed that she was guilty of treason, and they recommended the death penalty for her. So she was about to be burned.

Speaker 1 17:23

When the day of judgment was about to come, people came from far and wide to see how would the king judge this? Would the king let his wife die? Would the king let his queen die? And King Arthur's predicament is captured in the words of Mordred when he says Arthur, what a magnificent dilemma. Let her die, your life is over, let her live lives of fraud. Which will it be, arthur? Do you kill the queen or kill the law? So King Arthur decides treason has been done, the jury has spoken, so justice will be served. So he deems her to die.

Speaker 1 18:10

And so Queen Guinevere goes down from the palace into the courtyard and gets tied at the unlit stake, and the executioner, standing there about to light the stake, waits for the final order. The king is up in his palace and he is waiting and the herald next to him asks him king, shall I give the order? But the king cannot respond. He turns away and he says I can't let my wife die, I can't, I can't, I can't. And his nephew says well, you're human after all, aren't you Human and helpless? Let me take you to another execution scene, another time, another place, another king. Like Queen Guinevere, a world is guilty of adultery and is now at the stake. What would the king do? Would he change the law? Would he let her go free or would he punish her? He takes the fourth option and in the fourth option the king himself comes down, takes off his royal robes, takes off his royal crown, sets aside his majesty, comes and switches places at the stake and lets the world go free, while he himself dies.

Speaker 1 19:42

Romans 5, verse 8, says but God shows his love for us in that, while we were still sinners, christ died for us. In the death of Jesus, the holiness of God, the justice of God and the love of God are fully united. Third, let's look at what salvation means. What salvation means? We looked at the human condition and we looked what God has done. God has offered us a way out of our predicament. What is involved in salvation? Well, to know what is involved in salvation, we need to know what sin has done.

Speaker 1 20:28

There are at least two consequences of sin. One is a legal consequence we have broken the law and therefore we deserve death. So a verse that we read earlier, romans, chapter 6, verse 23, says For the wages of sin is death. We have broken the law through sin and we deserve death. Let's read another verse James, chapter 2, verse 10. James, chapter 2, verse 10. James, chapter 2, verse 10. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails at one point has become guilty of all of it. As far as God is concerned, if we break the law one time, we are a lawbreaker. And because God is so holy, even one sin, the smallest sin, is incompatible with the holiness of God.

Speaker 1 21:23

A second consequence of sin is a relational consequence. We have broken the relationship with God. We have broken the relationship with God. There are 12 Old Testament prophets called as the minor prophets, not because their prophecies are less important than other prophecies, but their books are smaller. So, starting with Hosea all the way to Malachi, and that ends the Old Testament, are the 12 minor prophets. So the book of Hosea talks about this prophet by the name of Hosea, and God tells him to do this unthinkable thing, tells him to go marry a prostitute, and he goes and marries this woman and this woman continues to do what she has been doing all along, even though she's been married to this prophet. God tells him to continue to love her in spite of what she is doing, and that is a message for the people of Israel, because God is trying to show that the people of Israel have been wandering away to other loves when they should be fully devoted to him. It is a break in the relationship. Now let me give you two examples to show you the difference between a legal issue and a relational issue.

Speaker 1 22:52

Let's say that you are late for church this morning and at 9, 9, 15 you are still 30 miles away and you're trying to get to church as fast as you can and before you know it, there are some lights and some sound behind you and you think, oh my gosh, I hope it's for the person in front of me and it's not. You pull over to the slow lane and the cop pulls over. You pull over to the side and the cop pulls over and the cop comes behind you. They stop the car and you open the window. He comes and says you've been going at 70 in a 55 speed limit lane, so I'm going to give you a ticket. And of course, when that happens, you try to beg without begging. You do whatever you can, even the most silliest ridiculous excuse. You try to make it into a plausible excuse and you try to say oh, I'm going to church, I'm a good person, you know whatever excuse you have planned already. And so you say it. But the cop doesn't budge. He goes back to his car, brings you a ticket and he gives you the ticket and he gives this little speech that you don't care to hear, because you know you've been speeding. He gives a little speech and says don't speed anymore, and he gives you the ticket. There is something that the cop does not say. He does not say here's the ticket. You broke the law. You hurt me. You see, it is not a relationship, it is a legal issue. You broke the law. Here's the ticket.

Speaker 1 24:23

Let me give you another scenario. Let's say that a husband is unfaithful to the wife and she finds out about his texts and his phone calls and she confronts him. You know what she doesn't say. She doesn't say on the marriage certificate it's your name and mine. You signed your name and I signed my name and you said that you will love me till death, do us part. She does not say that. You know what she says. She will say you hurt me. You see, ladies, ladies and gentlemen, one is a legal issue, the other is a relationship issue, and when we sinned against God, we broke both.

Speaker 1 25:06

Let's look at what is involved in salvation. There is lots more involved in salvation than what I'm about to tell you. I'm going to tell you three things about salvation. Number one salvation involves conversion. Salvation involves conversion and this includes a saving faith. Repentance, born again, it's all the same thing, okay. Repentance, born again is the same thing. Let's read a couple of verses 2 Corinthians 7, 7, verse 10. 2 Corinthians, chapter 7, verse 10. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret. Whereas worldly grief produces death, godly grief produces repentance. This is the word that we've been talking about, the turning around, the 180 degree turnaround that you make to come back to God.

Speaker 1 26:08

Of all the parables that Jesus said, there is one really powerful parable. I mean there are multiple powerful parables, but one that I really like is the story of the prodigal son, and this is in Luke, chapter 15. So you can turn your Bibles to Luke, chapter 15, but let me just quickly tell you the story If you've not read it before. There is this father who is a rich man and he has two sons. The older son is responsible, the younger son obviously is a brat. And this guy, he wanted to take his father's property, so he took his share of the property. I'm not a younger son, so I can say that he took his share of the property and went, and the Bible says he squandered it in riotous living. And then he finds himself at the lowest point of his life. And if you realize, jesus is saying this to a Jewish audience and he amps up the degradation that this prodigal son has by saying he found a job to feed pigs. For a Jewish person that is just unthinkable. So he finds a job to feed pigs and he finds himself not only feeding the pigs, not only sitting with the pigs, but desiring the food that the pigs are eating. And then we come to verse 17. It says when he came to his senses he said how many of my father's hired laborers have more than enough bread, but I am dying here from hunger, and that phrase when he came to his senses that shows repentance. At some point you have got to make a mental ascent. You've got to decide that you want to follow Christ. You want to decide that what we are doing now is not working and I am a mess and I'm at the lowest point of my life.

Speaker 1 28:18

One of the ministries that we do in our family is we have this ministry called Life Challenge International and that is a residential program for men who have been alcoholics or drug addicts, and we have about seven centers back in India. We have an orphanage there, a couple other things. So this is a program, a year-long program for those who are alcoholics and drug addicts. Some of them have been under the influence of drugs for 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years. They have messed their lives up, they've messed their family lives up, they've messed everything around their orbit and now sometimes they are dragged in by their family members to help us save them somehow. Mind you, we are in a predominantly Hindu country, so we have some Hindus also come in and we are obvious and we are clear that we are Christians and we teach the Bible, we pray. This is how we do detox. And so they come in, they are fed up, they bring their child, maybe a 50, 60 year old man who is now dragged in and they stay with us for a year. Even though they are initially dragged in, at some point they need to want to change, because if they don't want to change, they will leave, and that happens every single time.

Speaker 1 29:50

At some point in the salvation experience, a person needs to decide to follow Jesus. A person needs to decide to recognize their own inability to save themselves. John, chapter 3, verse 3, says Jesus answered him. Truly. Truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Repentance and being born again is a complete turnaround from the life that was before. So the first birth that we had was a birth unto death. The second birth, the rebirth, is a birth unto life.

Speaker 1 30:35

We looked at conversion. The second aspect of salvation is justification. Justification let's say that you were guilty and you came before a judge and, like we said earlier, the judge had several options. And, like we said earlier, the judge had several options. But the second option is to say well, let's completely declare him not guilty, and that's the phrase that's used. It's a legal term. Justification is a legal term when someone is declared not guilty.

Speaker 1 31:13

Turn your Bibles to Matthew, chapter 27. This is an event that happens on Good Friday and this is one of those events that's kind of hidden because it's only mentioned in one gospel and sometimes can get overseen in the normal Good Friday stories. Matthew, chapter 27,. Let me read for us from verse 15 onward. Now, at the feast, the governor was accustomed to release for the crowd any one prisoner whom they wanted, and they had then a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. So when they had gathered, pilate said to them whom do you want me to release for you, barabbas or Jesus, who is called the Christ? Verse 21. The governor again said to them which of the two do you want me to release for you? And they said Barabbas. Pilate said to them then what shall I do with Jesus, who is called Christ? They all said let him be crucified. And he said why? What evil has he done? But they shouted all the more let him be crucified. Can you imagine the state of Barabbas's mind? He's a criminal, he's a known, he's been sentenced as a criminal. The Bible doesn't say what kind of sentencing he deserved and what he was going to get. Regardless, he knew that he was in jail and he was a criminal. But he comes that Good Friday morning. He comes out in front of everybody. He comes out in front of everybody and, unbeknownst to him and without him doing anything, there is a switch that takes place, you see, because one person took the place of the other person. Therefore, barabbas was declared not guilty, he was justified.

Speaker 1 33:17

Justification changes our legal standing in the presence of God and it wipes away the legal consequence of sin. The third aspect of salvation that I want to talk about is adoption Adoption. Is there anyone here who has been adopted and would like to share? You've been adopted, anyone who has adopted a child? Anyone has adopted. Let's read a verse Galatians, chapter 4, verses 4 and 5. Galatians 4, 4 and 5. But when the fullness of time had come, god sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Justification takes care of the legal aspect of sin Adopt. Imagine our state we were in chains as criminals before the judge, about to be sentenced, and instead of being sentenced instead of being set free. The judge says all right, instead of you going to prison or going to eternal death, here's what I'm going to do I'm going to take you into my own family and adopt you as my own.

Speaker 1 35:07

Take a look at this video. It's a very short video clip of an adoption of a little child who has been in foster care for a while and she's getting the news that she has just been adopted. There's one more gift. We have one more gift. It's not from Grammy, but it's yeah, it's another gift. Why don't you careful, open it up? I want you to read it. I'm going to be adopted. We love you, sweetheart. We'll always be your parents. We love you, sweetheart. We'll always be here for you. I love you so much. I love you. Those of us who've had families don't know what it is to not have a family and therefore, we don't know what it feels to be adopted. Ladies and gentlemen, there is no accidental adoption. There is only an intentional adoption. All adoption is intentional. So what God did was to take a sinner who was destined for eternal death and make a costly, precious, intentional adoption intentional adoption.

Speaker 1 36:50

Fourth, let's look at the offer of salvation. I want to read two verses and we will look at the offer of salvation. Romans, chapter 10, verse 9. Romans, chapter 10, verse 9. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. It is as simple as that. We don't have to follow the noble eightfold path. We don't have to follow the five pillars of Islam. All we need to do is to believe in our heart that Jesus is Lord. As simple as that.

Speaker 1 37:40

Let's read one more verse that talks about the gospel 2nd Timothy, chapter 2, verse 8. 2nd Timothy, chapter 2, verse 8. 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 8. I love this verse. It talks about the gospel. It's such a succinct verse that talks about the gospel. It says remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel. Descended from David. This is my gospel. Remember Jesus Christ raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel. What is the gospel? The gospel is Jesus Christ, the gospel is the humanity of Jesus Christ and the gospel is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's it. That's the gospel. The gospel has to include the humanity, the life, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Speaker 1 38:41

I'm going to end our session today with a video clip. It's a three and a half minute video clip. It's from a Czech movie called Most. It's a three and a half minute video clip. It's from a Czech movie called Most. It's a 30 minute movie. And this is a video clip. It shows a relationship between a father and a son.

Speaker 1 39:03

That Good Friday, god had a choice, didn't he? He could have chosen to save his son, but that would mean that we would have been let go and we would have faced a certain eternal death. There is no question about it. But in choosing to save us, the Father makes the choice to sacrifice the Son. Why did Jesus have to die? Because that was the only way that the holiness of God, the justice of God and the love of God could be perfectly united. Let's pray, perfectly united. Let's pray.

Speaker 1 39:54

I want to give the opportunity for us to consider the offer of salvation. I don't want to let a talk on the gospel end without the offer of salvation. If there's anyone here who's never invited Jesus into your life, you can pray a prayer. You can pray this prayer after me. If it's a prayer that you mean, god will save you and you will be saved. You can pray something like this Dear Lord Jesus, I am a sinner, I was born as a sinner and my inclination is towards sin.

Speaker 1 40:33

I am spiritually dead and I am heading towards eternal death. Thank you for your perfect life, thank you for finding a fourth option, thank you for your life, thank you for your death and thank you for your resurrection. I ask you to come into my life and I declare you as Lord In Jesus name name, amen. Heavenly Father, I pray for the rest of us. I pray for all of us. Thank you for the message of the cross. No matter how much we talk about it, it's still new, it's still fresh. We cannot imagine the agony of the father. We cannot imagine the agony of the son as he undergoes a sacrifice on our behalf. Thank you for making it free, because if it were not free, we would never be saved. I pray that we would live in the blessings of the gospel and seek you fully. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen.