How do you respond to good news? Say, for example, that friends arrive with a letter and a check made out in your name. With hugs and cheers they explain that a rich relative has sent you a huge gift of money. With hugs and cheers they explain that a rich relative has sent you a huge gift of money.How do you respond? You have two choices. You can disbelieve. You may think, This is too good to be true, and trash the check. Or you can believe enough to go to the bank, endorse the check, and receive the full benefit of the gift. Your response depends on what you choose to believe. 5.1.1 YOU CHOOSE In the same way, the Good News benefits those who accept it. As 1 John 5:13 says, this message is to you who believe. Recall how Paul summed up the Good News as Jesus death, burial and resurrection, in 1 Corinthians 15. Now look at the response of the Corinthians who accepted the Good News. Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the Gospel [Good News] I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this Gospel [Good News] you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you... this is what we preach, and this is what you believed (1 Corinthians 15:1-2,11). They received it and believed it. They received it and believed it. They took their stand on it. It saved them while they held firmly to its message. In Pauls time some claimed to accept the Good News, but they also tried to impose the law given by Moses to the Jews. They taught, for example, Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved (Acts 15:1). People have not stopped this kind of rule-making, even to this day. 5.1.2 - Is This Just a Bunch of New Rules? 5.1.3 - You Can Choose Bad News as Usual 5.1.4 - Words, But More than Words 5.1.5 - Time for Change 5.2 - Responding to the Event of the Good News 5.2.1 - Trust and Be Transformed 5.2.2 - The Calling That Cleans 5.2.3 - Making His Event Your Event 5.2.4 - The New Birth Chart 2 - Obeying the Gospel 5.1.2 IS THIS JUST A BUNCH OF NEW RULES? These people who added laws may have meant well, but they felt that the Good News of grace was not enough. In effect, they tried to earn favor with God by works (by keeping the Old Testament law that no longer applied to Christians). To such false thinking Paul replied, For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law (Romans 3:28). Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). To rely on anything other than His Event (His death burial and resurrection) is to refuse Gods grace and belittle His priceless gift.Christ lived the perfect life, died the perfect death, then rose to reign as the perfect King - all for us! We are justified - made just or right with God - by trusting that Good News. How insulting it is to God when people try to earn that for which He has already paid in full! Their efforts always fail on two counts: They are too weak to work their way into heaven (we keep falling off the ladder, remember?). And, by using other methods, they betray a lack of faith in the Good News. To disbelieve the Good News is to reject its Person. To rely on anything other than His Event (His death, burial and resurrection) is to refuse Gods grace and belittle His priceless gift. 5.1.3 YOU CAN CHOOSE BAD NEWS AS USUAL Remember Gods total perfection. If we do not accept His perfect love, there is no alternative but to receive His perfect judgment. To keep trashing Gods gift is to throw away its benefit, ensuring for oneself the full penalty for sin and rebellion.He will punish those who do not know God. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God (Hebrews 10:26-27). The Lord Jesus [will be] revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). These are fierce words that some use simply to make others feel guilty. However, do you get the idea that God takes all this seriously? He was very serious about sin when He placed on His Son the penalty for all sins. He also calls for serious response - faith that follows! Notice that curious expression in 2 Thessalonians 1:8, He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the Gospel. Peter said something similar. For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the Gospel of God? (1 Peter 4:17) There is the family of God. Then, there are those who do not obey the Gospel. Which group do you choose for your destiny? Make no mistake: you do have a future. God loves you and wants you in His family. But how does one obey Good News?However, His just judgment must rule against those who do not obey the Gospel. This kind of language often scares people or even makes them laugh. But, what if it is true? But how does one obey Good News?By trusting the Person of the Good News enough to do what He requires. Many times Jesus spoke of this obedience. He said, Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46). He warned that the Judgment Day would surprise many who call Him Lord. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers! Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock (Matthew 7:21-24). Many who seem to have faith will be disappointed. Why? They claimed His name - evidently considering themselves Christians - but they did not obey Him or His Father. Indeed, Jesus never knew them. They had never entered His kingdom, never had a relationship with Him. You have the option to choose. 5.1.4 WORDS, BUT MORE THAN WORDS Faith that saves is deeper than just agreeing to facts about God or Christ. Even the demonic enemies of God believe those facts (Mark 1:24; 3:11; Acts 19:15; James 2:19). Calling Jesus Lord involves more than mere words. The true believer takes the attitude of a humble child in readiness to learn and change.To confess Jesus as Lord includes treating Him as Lord (Ruler, Leader). This is the true confession of Romans 10:9-10: If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Thus the believer honestly confesses Jesus is Lord, hears Jesus words, and puts them into practice (Matthew 7:24). The true believer takes the attitude of a humble child in readiness to learn and change. The true believer commits to follow Jesus rather than self. The true believer repents - decides to turn to God and leave sinful ways. The true believer is baptized and so is saved. Notice the Scriptures that address this humble, trusting response. 5.1.5 TIME FOR CHANGEIf anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself... [Jesus said,] If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it (Matthew 16:24-25). Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple... In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:27-33). I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3). Unless you repent, you too will all perish (Luke 13:3). Repent then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out (Acts 3:19). Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned (Mark 16:16). The Person of the Good News is both Savior and Lord. As the loving Savior, He gave Himself fully for you. His commitment was complete, even to sacrificing His life for you. He calls you to trust Him fully, placing your whole life into His hands.As Lord, He calls you to trust Him fully, placing your whole life into His hands. To deny yourself means you say No to your own will and selfish desires. His will must lead. He wants complete commitment, even to taking up the cross of your own sacrifice. Here is the Person worth following, with the ultimate life-saving mission, a cause far greater than oneself, and a reward beyond anything you can imagine. Anyone wanting Jesus must count the cost of becoming a believer (Luke 14:25-33). But no person need shy away, feeling inadequate for such commitment. For the Good News is that Jesus empowers your changes. He provides all that is needed, and He begins by sharing with you the Event of the Good News. 5.2 RESPONDING TO THE EVENT OF THE GOOD NEWS Remember how Paul summed up the heart of the Event. By this Gospel [Good News] you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.By this Gospel you are saved... Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures... (1 Corinthians 15:2-4). Death. Burial. Resurrection. The Corinthians had not seen the Event. But they shared in its death, burial and resurrection by responding in faith. The Corinthians participated in the Event (as we shall soon learn) when they believed and were baptized to reflect the same kind of change that Jesus Himself went through. Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized (Acts 18:8). 5.2.1 TRUST AND BE TRANSFORMED Belief. Change of heart. Baptism. These go together in the New Testament.They spoke their faith... Every time someone responded positively to hearing the Good News, they spoke their faith, showed their willingness to change their hearts, and were baptized (Matthew 3:6; 28:20; Mark 1:4-5; 16:16; Luke 3:3; John 4:1; Acts 2:38; 8:12-13, 36-38; 13:24; 16:14-15, 30-33; 18:8; 19:1-5; 22:16; Galatians 3:26-27; Ephesians 4:5; Colossians 2:12). As an example, consider Peters message to the Jewish crowd that included the murderers of Jesus. Peter reminded them of their own experiences with Jesus, and showed how Gods prophecies came true. Gods many proofs were so convincing that many Jews cried out, What shall we do? Peter replied, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ...Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day (Acts 2:38,41). Consider Paul. When he was still called Saul, he used to hunt and destroy Gods people. Yet God wanted him to serve as an example of grace (1 Timothy 1:13-16). Jesus reached out to Saul in a direct and startling way (Acts 9, 22, 26)....wash your sins away...Saul came to realize that the Gospel was true. He recognized the seriousness of his crimes against God. Then the Lord sent Ananias to say to Saul, And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on His name (Acts 22:16). Can you imagine Sauls relief? In justice he should have been punished, and even made an example. But Gods messenger spoke of Sauls sins being washed away. 5.2.2 THE CALLING THAT CLEANS Saul had met the risen Jesus and called Him Lord. Saul had then fasted and prayed for three days. His blindness had been healed by a miracle. He had heard about his future mission as an eye-witness of Jesus. Yet Gods messenger still told them, Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on His name (Acts 22:16). Saul already had been calling, in the sense of praying. But there is a special calling on His name that takes place in baptism, where sins are washed away. Could it be in baptism that repentant faith encounters the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus? Could this be part of obeying the Good News and sharing in its Event? That would seem clear in Acts 22:16. Saul himself, now known as the apostle Paul, helps us understand grace and faith in his letter to the Romans. In Romans chapter 4, he rejects efforts to earn salvation by human works. In Romans chapter 5, he emphasizes the love and grace of the Good News. God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from Gods wrath through Him!His love is so immense For if, when we were Gods enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! (Romans 5:8-10). Look how motivated God is! His love is so immense that He made us His friends (reconciled us) through the drastic death of His Son. That being so, He certainly is willing to save us by His Sons life (which in the sequence means Christs resurrected life). The Person and Event of the Good News is clearly in view: Christ. His blood. His death. His resurrection. This sets the stage for our transformation. 5.2.3 MAKING HIS EVENT YOUR EVENT Or dont you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin (Romans 6:3-6). Death. Burial. Resurrection. But wait... Jesus died near Jerusalem. He died some two thousand years ago. How do we share in that Person and that Event?...a new starting point... Whatever Paul is describing, he treats it as universal. All of us - all believers willing to follow Christ - share this experience. It is this essential choice that puts a new starting point on the map of our lives. We bring some faith, however small, to this point of decision, and God enters the picture to make it possible for us to change, to be different, to be better. We put on Christ, not as a statement of our nobility, but as an admission that the person we are should die and should be remade. The Bible calls it a new birth, and it makes sense. As for union with the Person, they are baptized into Christ Jesus. As for union with the Event, they are baptized into His death... buried with Him through baptism... [and] united with Him in His resurrection (Romans 6:3-5). Here, in Romans, Paul throws light on the report in Acts 22:16 about his cleansing. He was told to be baptized and wash his sins away. Baptism takes place in water....the source of your new life... But that is also where the believer is united with Christ, and enters the benefits of His death. More specifically, the blood of Jesus does cleansing (Hebrews 9:14; Revelation 1:5). He is the source of your new life. 5.2.4 THE NEW BIRTH What is another way of saying new life? Perhaps you recall what Jesus said to Nicodemus. In reply Jesus declared, I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. How can a man be born when he is old? Nicodemus asked. Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mothers womb to be born! Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit (John 3:3-5). Yes, birth relates to new life. Jesus wants every person to be born again (John 3:3). To be clear, Jesus again emphasizes that no one can enter GBaptizing in the Jordan Riverods kingdom unless he is born of water and the Spirit (John 3:5). Chapter 1 through chapter 4 of Johns account provides the setting or background for Jesus choice of words. Look for water in that context. John the Baptizer is immersing all who respond to his message. Jesus too is baptized in water. Soon, Jesus followers baptize many others. Nicodemus comes from the Pharisees, a proud group that rejects John and Jesus. (Luke 7:29-30 reports that they refuse to be baptized.) This is the context where Jesus insists on the new birth of water and Spirit. Could this explain why, under Jesus and the apostles, all believers were baptized into Christ? In the New Testament, there were no exceptions (see all or every in Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3; 1 Corinthians 12:13 and Galatians 3:26-27). All who had come into a relationship with Jesus did so through baptism. Lesson Summary We have to believe something. We cant exist in a mental vacuum. The people who first heard the Good News were reinvented by it. Will the reinvention of our lives be just a new set of rules? No. Wont we have to live with the consequences of our choices? Yes. The Good News tells us we are dealing with a Person, not just a religion (and there are plenty of those). Jesus calls us to a different kind of transformation - the transformation of a new birth. We can start over again. Memory Verses1) 1 Corinthians 15:1-2,11 - Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the Gospel [Good News] I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this Gospel [Good News] you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you... this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. 2) Romans 3:28 - For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. 3) 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 - The Lord Jesus [will be] revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power. 4) Romans 10:9-10 - If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 5) Matthew 16:24-25 - If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it. 6) Matthew 18:3 - I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 7) Acts 22:16 - And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on His name. Lesson Prayer
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 02:08:39 +0000
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