We Believe: The Doctrine of the Gospel

We Believe: The Doctrine of the Gospel

Whereas last week we focused on the person of Jesus, this week we are narrowing in on his message. 

Jesus’ message was that of the gospel of his Kingdom.  

Focus: We believe the gospel is the good news that God became man in Jesus Christ to reconcile lost people to himself. He lived a perfect, sinless life on our behalf and died on the cross for our sins. He was buried, and on the third day rose from the dead, securing our redemption forever.  Having triumphed over Satan and the forces of darkness, he ascended into heaven as Lord of all.  Everyone who repents and believes in him receives forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

• The gospel is good news.

• Repentance is a change of heart and mind in response to God. 

• Faith is believing and trusting in Jesus. 

• Everyone who repents and believes receives forgiveness. 

• Everyone who repents and believes receives eternal life. 

The Gospel is Good News

We believe the gospel is the good news that God became man in Jesus Christ to reconcile lost people to himself.

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭3‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”

The Greek word for gospel is euangelion.  

It consists of the prefix eu meaning good and the root angelos meaning message or messenger.

So, the gospel is “good news.”

First-century Greeks commonly used the word to refer to the news of historical events. 

It could be news of a military victory, a significant political change, or the joyous birth of a king’s son.

Any good news was euangelion.

The term appears 130 times in the New Testament and is mentioned by eight of the nine New Testament authors.

*It was a summary word to represent the complete work Jesus did to redeem us. 

*They chose euangelion because their message was good news; it was not good advice. 

*Other religions offered good advice; Christianity offered good news.  

*Advice is what you must do, and news is what has already been done.

Moralism is an approach to Christianity that focuses on our external behavior. 

***It requires obedience to the commands of God without connecting those commands to what God has done for us in Christ. 

It is the opposite of the gospel. 

Dr. Rice Brocks summarized the gospel this way, 

“The gospel is the good news that God became man in Jesus Christ.  He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died - in our place.  Three days later, he rose from the dead, proving that he is the Son of God and offering the gift of salvation to those who repent and believe in him.”

*We must continually battle to ensure that we do not follow the path of the Galatians.

Repentance is a Change of Heart and Mind in Response to God

‭‭Mark‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.””

Salvation is like a two-sided coin. 

On one side is repentance and on the other side is faith.

*Repentance is turning from sin; faith is turning to God.  

*Neither can occur without the other, and they must occur together for true conversion.

***It is contrary to the New Testament to speak about saving faith without repentance from sin.

Jesus captures the essence of our response to the kingdom of God with the simple phrase, “repent and believe in the gospel.””

But what does it mean to repent?

To answer that question, we must first explain what it’s not.  

***Repentance is not an emotion.  

The author of Hebrews tells us that Esau was emotionally wrought over his sinful decision to sell his birthright, but “he found no chance to repent” (Hebrews 12:16-17). 

*Emotions might accompany repentance (see David’s penitential Psalms 6, 32, 38,51, 102, 130, 143), but they are not repentance.

*Repentance is a change of mind.  

New Testament authors used the Greek word metanoia to describe repentance.

*The term denotes a fundamental transformation of thought and attitude.

It is a complete change of orientation that leads to action and new behavior. 

It is absolute surrender to the will of God that produces a sincere commitment to walk in obedience to Christ and to direct the course of our future according to his plans. 

It is turning away from anything seeking to usurp Christ’s Lordship in our lives. 

God gives us the gift of repentance by revealing his holiness and our sinfulness. 

‭‭

Acts‬ ‭11‬:‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life."”

‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭2‬:‭23‬-‭26‬ ‭ESV

“Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭6‬:‭3‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!" Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for." And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am! Send me."”

*But it is also a decision that we make.  

We make the decision at the point of conversion and every day after that.  

Repentance is one of the gospel’s load-bearing walls.  

*If we remove it from the gospel, our entire message collapses. 

Let us diligently hold onto the doctrine of repentance. 

Faith is Believing and Trusting in Jesus

‭‭John‬ ‭20‬:‭30‬-‭31‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

Saving faith requires that we believe in Jesus and trust in him. 

To believe in Jesus, we must know the essential facts about his life, death, and resurrection. 

Belief requires knowledge - we must know God’s word before we can believe it - but it is not enough. 

Knowledge is a function of the head; believing is a function of the heart.  

“For with the heart one believes and. Is justified” (Romans 10:10). 

*Although knowledge is the starting point of faith, by itself it may just be mental assent - agreeing with the truth of the Bible without personally appropriating it. 

Mental assent is agreeing with the Word of God in the mind without believing it in the heart.  

I

n his sermon, “The Way of the Kingdom,” John Wesley said, 

“Christian faith is not only an assent to the whole gospel of Christ but also a full reliance on the blood of Christ - a resting upon him as our atonement and our life.  It is not mental assent to propositions but sure trust and confidence in Christ.”

*To trust in Jesus, we must be convinced he will do what he said he would. 

This requires us to surrender our lives to him. 

*We can believe in a set of doctrines, but we must trust in a person. 

The apostle John said, “We have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us.” (I John 4:16)

*A right definition of faith must include the idea that it is a firm and certain confidence in God’s benevolence toward us. 

This sure knowledge of God’s loving character is founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

*Let us ensure that our faith in God includes a commitment to the truth and the person of Jesus.
 

Everyone Who Repents and Believes Receives Forgiveness

‭‭

Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, 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.”

We need forgiveness because God is just, and sin makes us guilty and condemned under his righteous judgement. 

*God could not pass over our sins and remain just; we must pay for them.

But we cannot pay the debt ourselves because, as Martin Luther said, 

“Sin is not canceled by man-invented works, for the more a person seeks credit for himself by his own efforts, the deeper he goes into debt.”

We are desperate for someone to pay our debt, but who could pay a debt like that?

*It must be someone who had never sinned and did not owe the debt.

*This person must be like us so he could take our place but unlike us so that he could pay the infinite price. 

*And so, God the judge became the one who was judged.

Our guilt was laid on him.

Our death sentence was lifted when the Son of God took our place. 

*His substitutionary death upholds God’s justice and allows for our forgiveness.

Now we can receive mercy instead of punishment.  

Other religions discuss forgiveness but never on the basis of a divine Savior who pays our debt to a holy God.

We cannot receive this forgiveness through our labor, zeal or tears (to paraphrase the hymn “Rock of Ages”).

It only comes when we confess Christ as our Lord (repentance) and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead (faith).

Everyone Who Repents and Believes Receives Eternal Life

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1 John‬ ‭5‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

Eternal life is a future reward. 

It is a perpetual and unending life that God gives freely to those who repent and believe.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

*Eternal life is not just a future reward but also a current status.

It is a quality of life we experience when we repent and believe. 

*The New Testament word for eternal contains both ideas of duration and quality. 

*The term does not just refer to the future but also to the superior experience of the present age. 

This is why Jesus made it clear when he said,

‭‭John‬ ‭10‬:‭10‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

We do not have to wait for eternal life; it is our current possession.

Jesus used the present tense when he said in John 3:36,

”Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.”

Thus, we live in eternal life right now, experiencing this quality of God’s life as a present possession. 

The quality of eternal life is best expressed in Jesus’ words to his disciples in the upper room:

John 17:3

”And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

This is the heart of eternal life: an authentic and personal relationship with Jesus. 

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We Believe: The Doctrine of Jesus

We Believe: The Doctrine of Jesus

 We Believe: The Doctrine of Jesus

Focus: We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, incarnated for our redemption, born of the Virgin Mary, fully God and fully man, one person in two natures.  As our substitute, he lived a sinless life and willingly gave himself as a propitiatory and reconciling sacrifice for our sins on the cross.  He died, was buried, rose bodily on the third day, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father as the only mediator between God and humanity. One day he will return again to judge the living and the dead.  

• Jesus is fully God.

• Jesus is fully human.

• Jesus is sinless.

• Jesus died for our sins.

• Jesus rose from the dead.

Jesus is fully God

We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, incarnated for our redemption, born of the Virgin Mary, fully God and fully man, one person in two natures.  

‭‭John‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬, ‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Jesus is fully human

We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, incarnated for our redemption, born of the Virgin Mary, fully God and fully man, one person in two natures.  

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Philippians‬ ‭2‬:‭5-‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

Jesus is sinless

As our substitute, he lived a sinless life and willingly gave himself as a propitiatory and reconciling sacrifice for our sins on the cross.  

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭4‬:‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Jesus died for our sins

He died, was buried, rose bodily on the third day, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father as the only mediator between God and humanity. 

‭‭Romans‬ ‭5‬:‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus rose from the dead

One day he will return again to judge the living and the dead.  

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭15‬:‭3‬-‭4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,”

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We Believe: The Doctrine of Creation and Fall

We Believe: The Doctrine of Creation and Fall

God’s story begins with creation.  

It is the first fact recorded in the Bible and the theological foundation for all that follows.  

It establishes the sovereign-personal Triune God at the center of the universe and reveals that everything and everyone is dependent upon and responsible to him. 

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭24‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.”

It reveals who man is and what eventually goes wrong in the story of redemption. 

The fall is introduced in Genesis 3 and is expanded through Genesis 11. 

Moses goes to great lengths to highlight just how sinful sin is.  

There are hints of redemption in these chapters, but the primary role of this section is to detail the depth of evil in the human heart.  

“Genesis lays the groundwork for all human ills in a fallen world; we are dislocated within ourselves, dislocated from each other; dislocated from God.  Personal fragmentation, social tension, and spiritual alienation are now the parameters of life on earth.”

-Alec Moyer 

This is essential if we are to understand redemption.

We can only know the greatness of God’s provision when we know the magnitude of our debt.  

Focus: We believe God created all things, visible and invisible, out of nothing, and all very good. He sovereignly sustains and governs creation for his glory and the benefit of his creatures.  God created humans in his image, male and female, to know, love, and glorify him in covenant relationship and to serve as stewards of the earth. The first man, Adam, sinned against God, resulting in alienation, death, guilt, shame, and a curse upon the earth. Separated from God and subject to his judgement, all humans have inherited a sinful nature from which they cannot save themselves. 

• God made all things good. 

• God governs everything he made. 

• God made humans in his image. 

• Humans rebelled against God. 

• All humans are sinful. 

God made all things good

We believe God created all things, visible and invisible, out of nothing, and all very good. 

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬, ‭31‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

The idea of one all-powerful God who created everything was not understood or believed in ancient cultures.

They assumed there was a pantheon of gods who carried different levels of responsibility for creation and sustaining the cosmos and the creatures in it.  

The world, they believed, was the result of some cosmic conflict between warring deities.

The created world was a result of violence.

Therefore, the material world was evil - or, at best, neutral.

The biblical story proclaims something radically different and new: one all-powerful God created everything with intentionality and delight. 

Rather than wrestling with other deities for supremacy, the God of the Bible is supreme.

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭44‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let him proclaim it. Let him declare and set it before me, since I appointed an ancient people. Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.””

Rather than creating the world and its creatures through killing competitors, God creates through speaking and breathing life.

To embrace this claim today is to push back against the idea that the created world and its creatures were a cosmic accident - the chance result of chemical and physical processes.

To embrace this claim today is to affirm that creaturely existence is neither meaningless nor accidental but rather full of purpose, goodness, and beauty. 

“There’s not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is Lord of all, does not exclaim, ‘ Mine!’”

-Abraham Kuyper  

God governs everything he made. 

He sovereignly sustains and governs creation for his glory and the benefit of his creatures. 

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Nehemiah‬ ‭9‬:‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.”

It is not enough to simply claim that God created all things.

God could have created everything and then left creation to manage itself, which is the fundamental idea behind Deism, assuming that we merely operate by the laws of nature.

The Bible clearly gives a different picture of God intimately involved with his creation, governing all things according to his will and sustaining his creatures - great and small.

Most ancient societies believed that the gods governed the earth and, as a result, acknowledged their dependence on the gods (or God) for rain, good crops, and material benefits.

In our modern scientific age, we are often insulated from the creaturely vulnerability and utter reliance on God’s sustaining world in creation.

It is usually in natural (or man-made) disasters that we modern humans are reminded that we are not lords of creation. 

God is.

And that is fortunate because humanity does not have a good track record of governing itself and the earth.

In the midst of life’s flights and storms, I enjoy reminding people why we should not worry - because if we have been reconciled to God in Christ, we know who is in control and all things work for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8). 

God made humans in his image. 

God created humans in his image, male and female, to know, love, and glorify him in covenant relationship and to serve as stewards of the earth. 

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭27‬-‭28‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.””

What does it mean that God made humans in his image?

Clearly, the Genesis author is not referring to physical resemblance - like children resembling their parents.

The image of God (often referred to by its Latin name “Imago Dei”) is first mentioned in Genesis and then expanded on by the other biblical authors. 

Man possesses characteristics that separate him from the rest of creation:

• Intellectual: Man is aware of self and can think, reason and learn.  He can communicate verbally using complex, abstract language. He has an innate creativity that manifests in art, music, literature, science, and technology. He can calculate and perform logical and analytical functions.  He can design, create, and invent.  

• Ethical: Man can distinguish between right and wrong. He can make real moral choices. 

• Emotional: Man can feel anger, love, compassion, grief, and the entire range of human emotions. 

• Teleological: Teleological derives from the Greek word telos meaning end or purpose and logos meaning the study of something. Teleology is the study of ends and purposes. It assumes that life is heading somewhere rather than in meaningless circles.  Man has a longing for purpose and responsibility. He has immortality; he will not cease to exist but will live forever. He has not only a physical body but also an immaterial spirit and can act in eternally significant ways. 

• Relational: Man can have a relationship with God. This means he can relate to God, pray and praise him, and hear him speaking his words. He can develop relationships with other humans and experience community.  

God created us to reflect his glory, to see the latent potentiality within creation, and “be fruitful and multiply.”

This means that each of your days you are meant to be a joyful adventure as you walk with God and cultivate your corner of the world, as a vice-regent, just as God would!

Humans rebelled against God. 

The first man, Adam, sinned against God, resulting in alienation, death, guilt, shame, and a curse upon the earth. 

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?””

What transpired at this moment of rebellion, and what does it mean?

First, Adam and Eve doubted God’s goodness.

In trying to usurp God’s authority, they felt shame, vulnerability and disorientation, ultimately separating themselves from and trying to hide from God.

Second, humanity’s rebellion had widespread consequences.

For Adam and Eve, the results of disobedience manifested in their relationship with God, one another, and creation.

This is how sin affects all humans.

It separates us from God and people.

It harms us and those around us.

*It infects our souls, institutions, our communities, and ecosystems.

It is like a deadly virus spreading in a densely populated city.

It is like a toxic chemical poured into a river that spreads without limit and kills whatever it touches.

Have you seen this in your own family, life and community?

What started with such promise in Genesis 1 and 2 plunged into a hopeless abyss.

Only a new Adam can save it.

All humans are sinful. 

Separated from God and subject to his judgement, all humans have inherited a sinful nature from which they cannot save themselves. 

‭‭Romans‬ ‭3‬:‭10‬-‭12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.””

What is clear from the earliest pages of the Bible and any era of human history is that all humans are sinful.

This is an empirical fact.

Think of the wars, the murders, the lies, the adulteries, the rape, the greed, the tyranny, the selfishness, the thievery, the slander, the hatred, the factions, the lack of forgiveness and the like.

Throughout Scripture, we are awakened to the reality that we are not only sinful because we find ourselves in a hostile environment filled with sinful people and sinful systems.

We are sinful because we have inherited that nature from our ancestors. 

*Sin affects us not only from the outside in, but also from the inside out.

We call this “original sin.”

What this means is that:

Because the one triune God is the creator of us all, his  commands and law of God apply to all of us, no matter where we are born, how we were raised, what we were taught to believe or presently think of God.

It also means that it is not everyone else’s sin that matters while yours does not.

Sin is a big deal, even it is not seen as such in our culture because its results separate us fro God and one another.  

God wants to help us, wants to save our families, communities and nations, but the prerequisite is that we turn from our sin to Jesus at the cross.  

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭59‬:‭1‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness. No one enters suit justly; no one goes to law honestly; they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies, they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. They hatch adders' eggs; they weave the spider's web; he who eats their eggs dies, and from one that is crushed a viper is hatched. Their webs will not serve as clothing; men will not cover themselves with what they make. Their works are works of iniquity, and deeds of violence are in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their highways. The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.”

As King Solomon finished dedicating the temple in Jerusalem, the Lord gave him this exhortation as an encouragement for us all:

‭‭2 Chronicles‬ ‭7‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.”

The very things for which we judge others, we often do ourselves, or commit some manner of other sin for which we try to excuse ourselves but for which we are still guilty.

‭‭Romans‬ ‭2‬:‭1‬-‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality.”

There is no discrimination. 

God does not play favorites. 

*No one and no sin gets a pass.  

*We are all in need of a Savior. 

This search for a righteous one is the fundamental narrative thread of the Old Testament.

When will he come, and from where?

And how will we know him?

‭‭Romans‬ ‭3‬:‭19‬-‭26‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

We are all called to repentance and faith at the cross of Jesus Christ. 

‭‭Romans‬ ‭6‬:‭23‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

We must be born again.

John 3

So, in light of this:

1. Why is it essential to have a worldview shaped by the biblical account of creation and what are the results of denying the biblical account of creation?

2. What is the image of God, and why does it matter that we believe and embrace it?

3. What are the consequences of human rebellion in our relationship to God, others, and the creation?

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We Believe: The Doctrine of Scripture

We Believe: The Doctrine of Scripture

Focus: We believe that God has spoken through human authors in the Scriptures, the 66 canonical books of the Old and New Testaments. The Bible is the only written, verbally inspired Word of God and is self-attesting, unchanging, and without error in all it affirms. As God’s authoritative, infallible, and sufficient revelation for life, doctrine, and practice, the Bible is to be trusted and obeyed.

• Because we believe this, we can view the Bible as trustworthy, relevant, and trustworthy.

If you want to go deeper than the tip of the iceberg (what we will look at today):

• Wes Huff’s YouTube channel

• Voddie Baucham’s presentation, “Why You Can Believe the Bible”

• James White’s library of debates

Let’s break down the three sub-statements that our focus statement makes.

Sub-statement #1: God has spoken through human authors in the Scriptures, the 66 canonical books of the Old and New Testaments.

• What do we mean by “The Bible”?

  • 66 books

  • Written over 1,600 years

  • Across 3 continents

  • By 40+ authors

  • In 3 different languages

• The Bible is simultaneously 66 books and 1 book. 66 collected books, but 1 story about God’s plan, His will, and His heart’s desire for His creation.

• Many of these authors were contemporaries, writing their book at the same time as another author without much knowledge of that particular author or what they were writing. I’ll give you two examples of what I mean:

  • See: Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah all wrote prophecies during the 8th century to either the Northern Kingdom of Israel or Southern Kingdom of Judah.

  • See: Paul, James, Peter, John, Jude who all wrote Epistles laying out new revelations concerning Christian doctrine.

• There were no Google Docs shared amongst these authors to compare and contrast notes! Yet each grouping wrote new revelation that confirmed and harmonized with each other that all referenced the same, consistent God (Jesus) in one, continuous and overarching story.

• This is remarkable and fascinating! Only God could accomplish such a feat. By this we can confirm what 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Sub-statement #2: The Bible is the only written, verbally inspired Word of God and is self-attesting, unchanging, and without error in all it affirms.

• Many religions claim this statement e.g. Mormonism (The Book of Mormon), Islam (The Quran), Jehovah’s Witnesses (The New World Translation). However, only one book (The Bible) is self-attesting in its accuracy

• How we know a religious text is true:

  • The author is who they claim to be.

  • They wrote about events that they either witnessed or gathered from other eyewitnesses.

  • The events written down are honest and accurate to what transpired

• Consider just 3 verses in Luke 3:1-3

  • In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

• Luke names 22 historical references to places and people, verified by archaeology and ancient literary sources outside of the Bible. This places Luke’s writing in a historical framework that is consistent with the time period he claims to be writing in and about.

  • Contrast this with other texts like the Gnostic Gospels of Mary, Judas, and Peter. Most places, people, and names used are inconsistent with the archaeological and historical context they claim to be writing in. This places these writings centuries after the supposed authors (Mary, Judas, and Peter) lived.

  • Conclusion: The claimed author is incorrect = untrustworthy document.

  • Even trustworthy historians get these types of “minor” facts wrong.

    • See: the historian Tacitus incorrectly labels Pilate as the procurator of Rome, but Pilate was actually the governor.

    • We confirm this through an archeological find called the “Pilate Stone”.

    • Luke gets this right, a historian from this time period gets it wrong.

    • Conclusion: If the author of Luke was not Luke, they might have referenced trustworthy historians like Tacitus! But they would have been inaccurate in the small details. Luke simply referenced his lived experience and got it right. Therefore, it is most likely that Luke is who he says he is.

  • Why is this important? Every Gospel writer gets these “minor” facts correct even when ancient writers do not.

  • Furthermore, Luke’s gospel is saturated with Old and New Testament references, some of which he was unaware of when writing. Thus we can conclude that his writings are most likely accurate and inspired by God

• Consider the Quran and The Book of Mormon.

  • These books claim to be written each by one person, an infallible “prophet of God”.

  • Yet, if it can be deduced that either Joseph Smith (The Book of Mormon) or Muhammad (The Quran) didn’t write the book OR are in fact fallible OR their writings are inconsistent with other accurate texts, the house of cards collapses.

    • For at least these two books, it is historically confirmed that these individuals were flawed and their writings were inconsistent within themselves and when compared to other reliable texts.

  • The Gospel of Luke, in contrast, does not to claim an infallible author, but it does claim infallible and consistent content. All of which can be confirmed through dozens of other biblical texts and a library of historical data.

• The kicker:

  • This standard is passed for every single book of the 66 books of Scripture.

  • Within these 66 books, 40+ authors cross-reference each other an estimated 66,779 times even when some of the authors were not aware of the texts they were ultimately confirming or being confirmed by.

  • This is what we mean when we say the Bible is self-attesting

• It is also unchanging and without error.

  • The Bible has been transcribed and copied for over 2000 years. Every difference found in the various copies never add or change the doctrinal text but are merely grammatical or spelling errors.

  • The Bible predicted this:

    • Isaiah 40:8, The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

    • Psalm 12:6-7, The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. You, O Lord, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever.

• Conclusion: The Bible is miraculously inspired by God and is thus trustworthy in all it affirms.

Sub-statement #3: As God’s authoritative, infallible, and sufficient revelation for life, doctrine, and practice, the Bible is to be trusted and obeyed.

• Now we must ask the question: so what?

• First, since the Bible is God’s authoritative, infallible, and sufficient revelation for life, doctrine, and practice, we must use this book as a filter for our every belief and action.

  • Even – or especially – our religious experiences should be tested through Scripture.

    • Don’t just attend a religious gathering and assume everything is true. Scripture has the final say.

    • We at Second City Church welcome scripturally-based pushback to anything we do or teach!

    • In Acts 17:10-11 we meet a group of Jews from Berea. It says in verse 11, “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”

    • It is noble to hold the word of God in such high regard that we do not let even our most trusted religious leaders become exempt from its scrutiny.

  • The values we are taught in this world should be tested through Scripture.

    • We live in a world that is obsessed with self-expression, self-identity, living your truth. But the Bible says in Luke 9:23, “And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  Our true identity comes from who we are in Christ, it comes from the Bible. Do not let the world convince you otherwise.

• Second, because the Bible is God’s authoritative, infallible, and sufficient revelation for life, doctrine, and practice, we should never add to or subtract from it.

  • Consider these common phrases:

    • God only helps those who help themselves.

    • God will never give you something that you cannot handle.

    • Don’t judge, only God can judge.

    • Money is the root of all evil.

  • None of these are true, none of them are found in scripture. All of them add or subtract from God’s Word.

  • What was the first lie ever told?

    • Genesis 3:1-3, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”

    • Eve added to God’s Word (“…neither shall you touch it” – God never said that) and it led to the fall of man.

• Third, because the Bible is God’s authoritative, infallible, and sufficient revelation for life, doctrine, and practice, we should read it. We should study it.

  • 2 Timothy 2:15, Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

  • Joshua 1:8, This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

  • Psalm 119:105, Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

• Fourth, among many other things I could mention but don’t have all day, because the Bible is God’s authoritative, infallible, and sufficient revelation for life, doctrine, and practice, you should know this:

  • Jesus loves you, this you know… why? For the Bible tells you so.

  • There is no greater truth that this trustworthy and reliable book teaches than the fact that Jesus loves you (John 3:16). That He loves you so much that He came to rescue you (Ephesians 2:4-7, Ezekiel 34:11-12). We were meant to live a perfect life (Leviticus 19:2), but we did not (Romans 3:23). We sinned and rebelled against a perfect God (Isaiah 30:1). This book tells us that God Himself, Jesus, came to earth and lived that perfect life we should have lived (Hebrews 4:15). But He died a sinners death, the death you and I deserved (2 Corinthians 5:21). That He rose again on the third day and defeated sin (Hebrews 2:14-15). That what Romans 10:9 says is true, “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.” Saved from a life of bondage to sin, saved from a death eternally separated from the one who loves you that much, and saved into eternal life with Jesus.

Know that Jesus loves you, that He wants a relationship with you, that He died for you and defeated death for you

. Because the Bible tells us so.

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We Believe: God

We Believe: God

Focus: our view of God forms the framework for how we relate to Him, and informs both our theology and our practical Christian living, which should be inseparable

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

—A.W. Tozer, "The Knowledge of the Holy"

How God thinks of us is not only more important, but infinitely more important. Indeed, how we think of Him is of no importance except in so far as it is related to how He thinks of us.

—C. S. Lewis, “The Weight of Glory”

How “belief” works.

I’ve worked in the technology industry for over 20 years, and it still fascinates me how the most brilliant, driven, and influential people stake their entire lives on bold credal statements about what advances in science can do.

Even as consumers, we’ve all benefited from these advances so there is a level of truth in some of these statements. We’ve all seen and experienced these “beliefs” about technology continuously prove themselves true in the comforts of our homes. 

Likewise, we also know how harmful and dangerous technology can be. We don’t even need to peel back the layers of industrialization to see its dark side. That this is just one slice of reality, where propositions about something have determined and continue to determine the course of humanity, reveals a lot about the power of belief.

These statements of faith unify our mission and ground our relationships

According to the Oxford dictionary, to “believe” is to have confidence or faith in or on something that you consequently act on it even without the burden of proof. It’s to hold on to something as true, regardless of the degree, that we step into it as our lived reality. 

Every person lives by faith: it’s inherent to human existence to hold beliefs and make choices based on things beyond complete proof. Faith can be religious, such as belief in God or religious principles, but it also extends to secular areas, including faith in one's own intellect, the reliability of the scientific method, or the existence of an objective reality. 

Collectively, this means our underlying beliefs sustain and drive our mission as a church. Within Every Nation and even within our home church, we come from many theological, and denominational backgrounds. Nonetheless, we can agree on a set of statements that allow us to grow together in our mission. Because Christianity is not meant to be an isolated journey, getting on the same page about these statements is important to the longevity of our unity.

Sounds theology helps us form healthy spirituality 

More so, as much as our common hope for the city of Chicago and the cities we are reaching out to like Madison, unites us, sound theology also grounds our own individual walks of faith. It’s the framework through which we live out our faith, starting with our statement about what we believe about God.

As Paul metaphorically says, the collective “we” are the aroma of Christ that spreads the knowledge of God:

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing

2 Corinthians 2:14-15 ESV

Without projecting a unified “scent”, any fragrance loses its potency. Likewise, as one body, our shared belief about God will allow us to carry out our mission with efficacy. So here’s the first statement: 

Statement:

“We believe in one God, creator and sustainer of all things. He is perfect and unchanging; completely loving, good, and holy; limitless in knowledge, power, and presence. God eternally exists in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; one in essence, having the same divine attributes and perfections, with each person fulfilling distinct roles. Gracious in his eternal purpose to redeem a people for himself, God is worthy of wholehearted love and worship.”

Let’s break it down into 3 components:

1 - God is great and good.

The most common way theologians categorize God’s characteristics are distinguishing between what he shares with humans and those he does not 

We group the first set of attributes under the heading “the goodness of God.” We group the second set under the heading “the greatness of God.” 

The greatness of God sets Him apart not only from us humans, but even more so, from any form of knowing we can operate under. These attributes of God’s being are his essential nature and therefore fully incomprehensible to us because of our limited capacities:

• Omnipresence: God is present everywhere, fully and completely.

• Omniscience: God knows everything, without limitation.

• Omnipotence: God is all-powerful, capable of doing anything that is logically possible.

• Self-existence (Aseity): God's existence is not dependent on anything else; He is the source of all being.

• Immutability: God does not change in His being, perfections, purposes, or promises.

• Infinity: God's attributes have no boundaries or limitations.

These incommunicable attributes highlight the vast difference between God and His creation, emphasizing His transcendence and unique nature, according to religious scholars.  

Because God’s greatness is above and beyond what we can fathom, he is greatly to be praised and we should declare his mighty works from generation to generation.

“I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.”

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭145‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

God’s goodness, on other hand, are His “communicable attributes”. When we say God is good, we refer to the many attributes of His character that have been revealed to us personally, those we share with him because he made us in his image. These are His moral attributes that are in and of themselves, the perfect measure of our “human versions”. Some of which we see in this passage:

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Exodus 34:6-7 ESV

We can never add, nor take away from God’s perfect expression of these because our versions are but a dim reflection marred and deformed by sin. How do we respond to His unqualified goodness as we experience its many aspects in our lives? 

• Humbly receive

• Grow and increase

• Seek and ask for revelation

Holding these two beliefs together - that God is both great and good - is a life-long process. It’s not about simply knowing them, but stepping into these as reality.

When we go through tough times, knowing that God can save us comes knowing He is great. Knowing that He is willing to deliver us into safety and even prosper us, even if we had some fault in the challenge we’re in, comes knowing He is also good.

2 - God is one and triune.

It’s hard to imagine a culture wherein monotheism wasn’t prevalent because of how widespread Judaism, Christianity and Islam are today. Even if Hinduism, the most common polytheist religion today, has made its way to the States, we in the modern West are more likely to associate religion to monotheism. We don’t realize that monotheism created an ethical revolution that changed the world.

In Romans, Paul argues that our first parents in the Faith worshipped one indivisible, all-powerful God. Polytheism only developed as the result of their rebellion. Monotheism is different from Polytheism, the belief in many gods; Pantheism, the belief that everything is god; and Atheism, the belief that there is no god. 

That we believe in one God isn’t hard to fathom today. That this one God eternally exists as three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and that each person is fully God, is one of the most challenging doctrines to comprehend because it transcends reason.

The challenge with the doctrine of the Trinity, as much as we Christians have embraced it, is that when it comes to the mission we are to carry out, it is still very mysterious as to how it works:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:19-20 ESV

But that’s also the beauty of Faith when it comes to this doctrine. Human nature is all about seeking knowledge to control it. We want to describe and relate to God on our own manageable terms. We even meditate on His goodness more than his greatness because as Tozer says, “We want to get Him where we can use Him, or at least know where He is when we need Him. We want a God we can in some measure control.”

To simplify, let’s focus on what this core tenet means for us: God exists in three persons and that each person is equally, fully God:

• God is a relational, communal being within himself. And because he created us in his image, we were created for community. Nothing works right in our lives without it. A loving relationship with God and others is the ultimate meaning of life.

• God is unity with diversity. Therefore, we should strive for unity while embracing diversity. This is a model for us and a witness to the world.

3 - God is worthy.

That the Trinity is a mystery we will never fully understand, yet its bearings on humanity as relational beings fully indispensable, should only humble us.

For why would a great God who’s already happy, content, and absolutely perfect in His own being, sacrifice a part of Himself to bring us into fellowship with Him? What indeed is man that God would care for us this much?

The passage in Philippians 2:6-8 describes Jesus's attitude of humility, stating that while he was in the form of God, he did not consider equality with God something to be exploited or grasped, but instead humbled himself by becoming a servant and ultimately dying on the cross. This passage emphasizes Jesus's willingness to forgo his divine privileges and take on human form, ultimately leading to his exaltation by God. 

This grounds his worthiness in ways that we can respond to personally.

So we close with the final line in this first statement of our beliefs:

Gracious in his eternal purpose to redeem a people for himself, God is worthy of wholehearted love and worship. 

In one of John’s visions on Patmos, he sees and hears the heavenly choir shout seven things God is worthy to receive: power, wealth, wisdom, might, honor, glory, and blessing. The first six are intrinsic qualities of God, and the seventh is the creation’s response to his worthiness.

And we place ourselves in John’s experience:

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

Revelation 5:11-13 ESV

Conclusion and application:

• God’s greatness and goodness are inseparable in worship. His greatness stands apart, independent of our response to it, yet his goodness reveals to us His careful attention to each of us in ways that are both universal and personal. 

• Which one of God’s attributes of greatness resonate the most and which one is the most remote and unfamiliar? Be intentional with how we reserve awe and honor God’s greatness.

• Which one of God’s attributes of goodness are you most deficient in? What practical steps can you take to be more like him in that area? Let’s stay in the habit of meditating and resting on His goodness.

The Trinity teaches us community, diversity, and mystery. 

Which of these three is most applicable to your life? Why?

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