Sermon on 15 September 2024 by Pastor Justin Chia
Mark 1:1-4 - “This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written: “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way. He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’” This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.”
Mark 1:14-15 - “Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News. “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!””
The gospel of grace and the gospel of the kingdom of God cannot be separated. 4 people declared the coming of the Lord - Isaiah, Malachi, John the Baptist, and Mark.
Matthew 1:21 - “And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.””
Jesus did not come to save His people from poverty. The gospel that many Christians receive is wrong because they are seeking wealth, health, and prosperity. The gospel is good news because it offers freedom from sin, forgiveness, and the hope of eternal life. Because of the sin of humanity, we are separated from God. Now, we Christians are no longer slaves to sin. Salvation comes when there is true repentance. The false gospel is where carnal Christians seek justification and not sanctification. The gospel is not a form of ‘good advice’ or ‘guideline’ on wealth, health, and prosperity. When we read the Bible, the warnings are for you and not others. The fruit is for you and others to pluck.
Romans 6:18 - “Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.”
Acts 2:38 - “Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
John 3:16 - ““For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
The gospel is a message of hope, forgiveness, and salvation. It is a message of God’s redemption of sinful humanity through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. It is a message about our relationship with Jesus Christ.
John 3:36 - “And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.””
Ephesians 1:7 - “He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.”
Revelation 19:7 - “Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself.”
John 15:5 - ““Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”
Mark 1:1-4 - “This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. It began just as the prophet Isaiah had written: “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way. He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming! Clear the road for him!’” This messenger was John the Baptist. He was in the wilderness and preached that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.”
In the beginning of the gospel, we are separated from God because of sin. Jesus reconciled us back to God through His glorious sacrifice to us on the cross. We continue to be sanctified until we return back to His glory. It is dust to glory, not dust to dust.
Mark 1:14-15 - “Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News. “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!””
Luke 4:18 - ““The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free,”
Luke 24:47 - “It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ‘There is forgiveness of sins for all who repent.’”
The gospel is good news, and it begins with bad news.
Romans 3:23 - “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
Romans 5:19 - “Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many will be made righteous.”
2 Corinthians 5:21 - “For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.”
It’s not about achieving success, wealth, and personal goals. Do it for your family, do it for the glory of God.
Galatians 1:8-9 - “Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.”
1.The gospel is the good news that offers hope and does not advise on a trouble free life
Believing is one thing, obeying a proof of your belief.
John 16:33 - “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.””
1 John 5:4 - “For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.”
Followers of Jesus are called to live a life of holiness, obedience and service. You must live a life that reflects your faith.
2 Corinthians 7:1 - “Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.”
Matthew 7:22 - “On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’”
Galatians 5:13 - “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.”
The gospel is focused on the spiritual aspect of life, hope, and relationship with God.
Peter 1:3-5 - “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.”
2 Corinthians 6:18 - “And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.””
2. The gospel is the good news that announces the salvation and grace, not a self-improvement manual
Ephesians 2:8-9 - “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.”
John 1:12 - “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.”
It encompassed the teachings, life death and resurrection of Jesus. Redeeming grace is everything. This is not a Dos and Don’ts list. Our relationship with God is not a checklist.
Titus 2:11-12 - “For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God,”
2 Corinthians 8:9 - “You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.”
3. The gospel is the good news proclaiming that Jesus is the promised Messiah
Isaiah 7:14 - “All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”
Christ’s divine mission is declared in the gospel.
John 14:6 - “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
Acts 4:12 - “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.””
In life, advice can help and guide us, but it can’t save souls.
Jeremiah 17:5-6 - “This is what the Lord says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land.”
The gospel is a transformational experience of faith, repentance, and surrendering.
2 Corinthians 5:17 - “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
Romans 12:2 - “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
1 John 1:9 - “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”
Jesus is the only source of salvation based solely on faith. The gospel offers freedom from sin, forgiveness, and the hope of eternal life. The gospel is good news that offers a relationship with God.
Revelation 3:20 - ““Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.”
Romans 8:15 - “So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.””
The gospel is God’s extreme love for us. The gospel of Jesus Christ is everything. With it, we have life. Without it, we are hopeless.
John 3:16 - ““For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
1 John 3:1 - “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.”
Jeremiah 31:3 - “Long ago the Lord said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.”
Amen.
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