Good evening everyone. Welcome to session 11 of Christ-Centered Evangelism. We're at 11 out of 13. So we are in the final stretch here, and we're going to be covering quite a bit of material tonight. We're going to go into a full Christ-Centered presentation. As Pastor Austin said, we've laid down the doctrine. We've laid down what unbiblical evangelism looks like. And now we're going to press on into what a biblical presentation of the gospel does look like. And so if you would, turn to page 33 of your workbook. Now, we're not going to exposit this text, but I'm just going to read Matthew 28, the end of it, and then seek the Lord's help. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, Lord, we thank you for all of the truth, all of the doctrine we've studied so far. We thank you for the help that you've given us, Lord. As we've come to see that eternal life is not just an endless quantity of time or some kind of obscure theological term, but eternal life is knowing you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. And as we come to know you, as we're brought under the scepter of Jesus, brought under the lordship of Jesus, we're given life because we know the one who is life. You employ us in your service to make disciples of others. And Lord, it's only when we do your work of making disciples your way for your glory that you bless the work. And so Father, I pray that we would take all of the doctrine, all the knowledge that we've gathered over these past ten weeks, and we would apply it here as we study how we are to answer every man. How we are to express the truth of the Gospel. Not just laying out facts, but pleading with eternal, never-dying souls that they might come to Christ on His terms. Lord, I ask that You would equip Your saints now. I pray that the next hour or so, Lord, would result in souls repenting and coming to You. Father, would You help me now to rightly expound the Gospel? I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. So as we engage the people that are within the sphere of the influence of our lives, as we engage strangers in the marketplace, as we maybe go door to door and we meet people, and we are intentionally making opportunities and taking opportunities for the Gospel, we need to know what to say. Right? We can have all of the right intentions. We can have the right heart motive. And yet, if we do not have a biblical explanation of the Gospel, if we don't have the ability to give the reason for the hope that is in us, it doesn't matter what kind of intentions you have. It doesn't matter what your motive may be, you're going to fail in evangelism if you can't biblically explain the gospel. And it's a sad truth that even the sheep of God oftentimes cannot express themselves well when it comes to explaining the truth of Scripture. Even Richard Baxter, as he wrote the Reformed pastor, and he would make visits to the people in his congregation, and he would seek to catechize them, he would say, now pastors, don't immediately doubt the salvation of your congregants just because they can't express all the doctrine you know. He would say, take the time, catechize them, and then teach them to express that doctrine in a manner that we want to see them express it. So, as we study these truths tonight, I'm giving you, as Ed Lacy would say, gospel seeds to put into your seed bag. That as you go out and you sow the seed of the Word of God, you're being equipped with the truth of God so that you can do that rightly. And so as I am approaching a lost center, What do I begin with? What do they first need to recognize as I'm bringing them a Christ-centered message? They need to recognize the deity of Jesus Christ. They need to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That as Paul describes in his letter to Timothy, in 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, that Jesus is God manifested in the flesh. that He was born of a virgin, born under the law, not born by natural generation, not born from the seed of sinful man, but conceived by the Holy Spirit and manifested in the flesh. And in Hebrews 1.8, the writer of Hebrews says that God the Father says of this Jesus, God the Son, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. John 1, verse 1 says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Speaking of Jesus. And this Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ is God the Son. He is Deity. Next, they need to realize, still with this matter of Jesus being deity in mind, they need to realize that Jesus is their Creator. The Bible declares that He is our Creator. John 1.3 says, All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. Colossians 1 says that all things were created through Him and for Him. And you might say, ok, the New Testament clearly explains that Jesus is God in a few places in the epistles, and even in the Gospel accounts, but what about the Old Testament? Well, we see that Jesus is God from the Old Testament as well. Isaiah 7, verse 14, Isaiah prophesies, Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Meaning, God with us. In Isaiah 9.6, the Christmas verse we all quote in December, "...for a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on His shoulders, and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." So we've pulled out some verses from the Gospel accounts, we've pulled out some verses from the Prophets, we've pulled out some verses even from the Epistles, and we see that Jesus is clearly displayed as deity. Well, Jesus Himself even says that He is God in the book of John. If you recall in Exodus chapter 3, when Moses is being commissioned to go and to represent Yahweh as the liberator of the people of Israel. He's commissioned to go and lead them. God says to Moses, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I Am has sent you. Now, as we move to the Gospel accounts, thousands of years later, When the Word made flesh steps onto the scene, the one born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit, who grew in favor and stature with God and with men, he says, I am the bread of life in John 6.35. He says, I am the light of the world in John 8, verse 12. He says, I am the resurrection and the life in John 8, verse 12, as he comes to raise Lazarus from the dead. In John 8, 58, he says, before Abraham was, I am. And in John 8, 24, he says, if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. And so this truth is indispensable. And we might just chalk this up to regular grammar. Jesus is just speaking with normal grammar when He says, I am. I am the bread of life. I am the light of the world. I am the resurrection and the life. Well, it's clear what Jesus is doing even by His speech, but if we want to argue against Him making claims to deity, we can see from the reaction of the people that He's speaking to that they knew He was claiming to be deity. The religious people of the day picked up rocks to stone Him. Just regular passerbys, regular people in the crowd said, isn't this the son of Joseph and Mary, the carpenter? Who is this claiming that He's deity? It's clear what Jesus is doing. He's saying, I am that I am. I am the resurrection and the life. I have the power to cause a dead man to rise from the grave. I am the bread of life. In me is all the spiritual nourishment that dead sinners need. I am the light of the world shining in this pitch blackness, darkness of sin. Before Abraham was, I am. In fact, in another place he says, Abraham looked forward to my day. He rejoiced in it. He is the lamb that Abraham saw as he led his son up to the mountain. As God called him to sacrifice Isaac. Now if people don't come to a recognition that Jesus is the Great I Am, that He is the everlasting God, that He is the God of the covenant with Adam in Genesis 3, that He is the God of the covenant with Abraham, the God of the covenant with Isaac, the God of the covenant with Jacob, the God of the covenant with David, this God who from... from the creation of the world has been revealing His redemptive plan through His covenants with His people and is now stepping on the scene to redeem His people in time. If people do not see that He is the Almighty God, this God of redemption, they will die in their sins. And we see this testimony that Jesus is the great I Am. That He is God from another disciple. Now, many people would probably have a reaction like this disciple. Many people do. Well, if Jesus comes in the flesh and I see that He's alive, that He's risen from the grave, I'll believe. I'll believe. Well, Jesus, in an act of grace, does that for doubting Thomas. Doubting Thomas, he doubted that the Lord was alive. And Jesus came to him. And he stood before him and he said, Thomas, put your hands in my side, into my hands. And as he did so, his reaction was, my Lord and my God. Now Jesus is the one who's upheld all of God's righteous standards. If He were not God, He would not accept this statement from Thomas. Thomas fell down, worshipped Him, and said, My Lord and my God, Jesus would not have allowed this man to break the first commandment if He were not God. He received that worship because He is who He said He was. And you have the testimony of Jesus yet again in John 10, verse 30. He says, I and my Father are one. So you have the deity of Jesus. What does the sinner need to recognize next? They've recognized that Jesus is God. He is deity. They need to recognize the purity of Jesus. That Jesus is holy. He was tempted in all points that we are as truly man, and yet He was without sin because He was truly God. He is holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and now having been put to death and raised on the third day, He is exalted above sinners, above the heavens. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says that God made Him who knew no sin to be sin. It's purity. 1 Peter 1.19 says that He is a Lamb without blemish and without spot. And having this purity of Jesus in mind, there are four realities that a person must understand because of this purity, because of this holiness. Well, if Jesus is holy, as we said, He is separated. He's separated above the heavens. He's different. He's distinct. Nothing like us as sinners. He came in the likeness of sinful flesh, but in His essence, He's nothing like sinners. Jesus hates sin. As God, He is indignant with the wicked every day, Psalm 711 says. As God, He hates all workers of iniquity, Psalm 515 says. And Jesus, because He hates sin, He abhors wickedness, He's indignant with wickedness, He must judge sin. If God is good, and He is, He can't wink at sin, He can't sweep sin under the rug, He can't just say, I forgive sin, and turn a blind eye to it. He must judge sin. John 3.18 says that he who does not believe the gospel, does not believe that Jesus is the only begotten of the Father, is judged already. John 3.36 says that the one who does not obey the Son has the wrath of God abiding on them even now. They need to realize that their iniquities have separated them from their God. Isaiah says this clearly in Isaiah 59 verse 2. He says, Your iniquities have separated you from your God. Because God is holy, because He is pure, because He is undefiled, He cannot look on sin nor have any part with those who do sin. God's requirement for entering into a right relationship with Him. God's requirement for being in perfect harmony and union with Him, for entering into heaven, is perfect righteousness. Jesus says in Matthew 5, verse 48, Be perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect. Well, that's a problem for the sinner, right? Because there is none righteous, no not one. All have sinned, all have fallen short of the glory of God. And as we present this perfect standard to the lost sinner, this perfect standard that was Jesus' life, they have grounds for conviction and contrition. to be sorry and mournful. And this conviction is a work of the Holy Spirit. This conviction is when a sinner sees himself as lost. And before they see themselves as lost, they will not hunger and thirst for salvation on Jesus' terms. They must see themselves as lost. And so we ask, what is sin? They need to next realize the sinfulness of man. What is sin? Well, sin is going your own way. Isaiah 53, 6 says that all of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but Yahweh has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Jesus. It's not just a sinful obstinance against God's standards, but it's a willful selfishness to have our own way rather than God's way. Sin is the failure to meet God's perfect standard. The word in the Greek carries the connotation of missing the mark. If I were to shoot an arrow and I'm aiming at the bullseye, No matter if I hit the outer edge of that target or one of the outlying edges, I've still missed the bullseye. Still not perfection. We've failed to meet God's perfect standard. It's the failure to obey God's commandments perfectly. Now what is the great commandment? What's the commandment that sums up all the commandments? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And the second is like unto it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. No one has loved God as He deserves to be loved. No one has loved God with all of their affection, with all of their being, all of their heart. No one has perfectly loved Him with their mind, meditating on Him all the day. No one has loved Him with all of their strength, with all of their might, with all of their practical righteousness. No one has done it. We've all failed. And to sum this all up, sin is lawlessness, 1 John 3-4 says. It's living in disregard to the fact that Jesus Christ is your Creator, that He has given you a law, that He Himself perfectly kept that law, And yet you act as if it does not apply to you, even though God owns you. Sin is lawlessness. And the truth is, all have sinned. All have sinned. We may have addressed this in a previous session, but we so quickly throw out the verse, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, Romans 3.23. We memorize it when we're small. We can quote it even as unregenerate sinners. And it's a sad reality that this verse does not carry the weight it should when we consider it, because it's really been made a consolation. You know, you mess up, you stumble somewhere. Brother, it's okay. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You're just like everyone else. Well, just like everyone else, you're under a death sentence. Yes, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, but guess what? The wages of sin is death. And there are some who might try to argue for their goodness. If you ask most people if they're a good person, many of them will say yes. Why are you a good person? Because I try to speak kindly to people. I'm just a good Bubba, right? I provide for my family. I clock in and out of work every day. I try not to be late too often. I'm respectful to people. I tip well at restaurants. I'm a good person. Well, how many lies have you told in your life? How many times have you looked at a woman with lust in your heart for her? How many times have you taken the name of the eternal God in vain? No matter how righteous you think you are, no matter how many commandments you think you've kept, whoever has stumbled in one point of the law is guilty of all of it, James says. James chapter 2 verse 10. Galatians 3.10 says, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book. of the law. Breaking the law, lawlessness, living in lawlessness is a death sentence. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All are spiritually dead and will face a second death apart from the mercy and the grace of God. And so we have bad news, right? You can see our doctrine from the past week summing up in this presentation. So we've given the reality that Jesus is God. We've given the reality that Jesus owns the sinner. We've given the reality that man is sinful and they've broken God's holy moral standard. Now we can present the salvation of Jesus. Jesus is the only Savior of sinners. Right? There is good news. There's a Savior. There's a Redeemer. There's a Deliverer. Acts 4.12 says, And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. The message of the cross of Calvary, the cross of Christ, is the only hope for salvation, for redemption, and deliverance. And as we present this Gospel, add this Gospel seed to your bag. This is what many have called the Gospel in a nutshell. 2 Corinthians 5.21, For God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus, our Creator, the One who has created all things, sustains all things by the Word of His power. All things were made for Him, and apart from Him nothing has been made that was made. This One who is perfect, spotless, and undefiled. The One who was born of a virgin, born under the Law, kept the Law perfectly in every area that we have failed. went to the cross willingly. He was not the victim of circumstances, but He walked to that cross with His face set like flint, knowing that He had come for a purpose, and that was to redeem the world. God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but to save it. And Jesus went there as the spotless, blemishless Lamb of God. And there, on the cross, His soul was made an offering for sin. On the cross, God took my life of sin. Ed used to use this example. Say this. It feels weird using the Bible to say this, but say this is my list of sins, if it could be condensed. Here it is, on me, right? This is my sin. My record of wrongdoing, of lawlessness. There on the cross, God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to be sin for me. My life of lawlessness, my life of willful selfishness, was laying on Jesus' account. And on the cross, as God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for me, God's visible displeasure toward sin was made manifest. A supernatural blackness of darkness fell on the land. It was like the darkness that fell on Egypt as God poured out His wrath on a sinful and obstinate people. As He displayed His mighty hand and His outstretched arm over Pharaoh. It was a darkness that could be felt in that visible manifestation of His wrath. the eternal Son of God, co-equal, consubstantial with His Father, suffered under the very wrath that He Himself has against sin. And in three hours of darkness, He took on eternities of hell of countless sinners. Every sinner who God has set aside for Himself from before the foundation of the world, Jesus suffered their eternity of hell in three hours. How could He do that? Because He is an infinite being. He is God in the flesh. And as He suffered under the wrath of God, He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement that can bring us peace was lain upon Him. He suffered the wounds that can bring us healing. And as He suffered there, under that pitch blackness, His Father's face, for the first time in eternity, turned away in displeasure, He cried out, it is finished. The debt has been paid. and He yielded up His Spirit. The Father poured out His just wrath on His sinless Son so that He could pour out His mercy on a sinner like me. He poured out the full storehouse of what my sins had earned. An infinite punishment because I'd sinned against the infinite Being. A punishment of infinite magnitude So I'd sinned against the One of infinite worth. The Father treated Jesus as if He had lived my life, so that He could treat me as if I'd lived Jesus' life. The Father placed my many sins on Jesus' account, and places Jesus' righteousness on my account. In the same way, that my sinfulness was lain on Jesus and He was crushed under the wrath of God Almighty. Drink the cup of God's wrath to its dregs. when He was raised on the third day. The Bible says that it was God vindicating what Christ had done on the cross. Showing that He accepted His payment. And anyone and everyone who comes to Jesus on His terms of repentance and faith, in the same way that my sins were laying on Jesus' account, in the moment that I believe, Jesus' righteousness is then placed on my account. His robes for mine. My cloak of filthy rags placed on Jesus. His robe of righteousness placed on me. A double imputation. My sins imputed, His righteousness imputed. Romans 5.8 says that God demonstrated His love toward us. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died this death for us. And the sinner that we're witnessing to must realize that Jesus Christ is the only One who can save them from their sins and eternal hell. No one, no one can live this life that Jesus lived. No one can go to God with what they think is righteous deeds and come before Him and say, look what I did, God. It's appointed for men to die once, and after this comes the judgment. And on that day of judgment, I cannot present anything of worth to Almighty God. Jesus is the only one who can save us from our sins in eternal hell. The sinner must recognize the resurrection of the Lord Jesus for this to be a reality for them. For them to have pardon from God. For them to have the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, they must understand the resurrection of Christ. Paul writes in Romans 10, verse 9, If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Now what is he saying here? What is he saying? If you will embrace and treasure the resurrection of Jesus as proving that Jesus is Lord and God, and that the Father accepts the death of Jesus on the cross as completely sufficient for the pardon of your sins, you will be saved. Does that make sense? John 2.19 says that Jesus prophesied His resurrection. He says, destroy this body. Destroy this sanctuary. And in three days, I will build it up again. In Acts 2.24, as Peter preaches at Pentecost, he says, but God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. In Acts 2.32, Peter says, this Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. This isn't some kind of hokey-pokey conspiracy. There were witnesses. Acts 3.15, as Peter preaches in Solomon's portico, he says, you put to death the author of life, whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. A sinner must come to an understanding. Come to treasure the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Accepting or embracing the fact that this truth of Jesus' resurrection proves that He is God. That this truth of Jesus' resurrection is what makes them right with God. Because it shows that God accepted the payment that was made for sinners. And it's only by believing, embracing the truth of Jesus' resurrection, that sinners are pardoned from their sin. Jesus is the only Savior of sinners. He Himself said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me. No one can come to the Father except for that new and living veil which was rent for sinners that they might pass through to the holy of holies. Next, sinners must understand the lordship of Jesus. And this is a topic that has had much controversy around it in recent evangelical history. This is a truth that was lost for a time. was neglected because of the carnal methods of men. And as it began to be taught again, it received a lot of flack. That's why there was controversy around it. But it is an essential truth for the salvation of sinners. No one comes to know Jesus as Savior without coming to know Him and submit to Him as Lord. You cannot enjoy the blessings of the cross of Jesus unless you are willing to bow down to the crown of His Lordship. Philippians 2 verses 9-11, Paul writes, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." Now I'm giving you seeds that you can cast concerning the Lordship of Christ. Acts 2.36, Peter says, God has made this same Jesus who was crucified and resurrected, God has made Him both Lord and Christ. Acts 16.31 says, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Romans 10.13 That same passage we just looked at. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10.9 Confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord. So salvation, conversion, is a commitment of one's life to Jesus as Lord. We must confess Jesus as Lord. What does that look like? Do we know the language of confession? What dominates is the language of acceptance. We talked about why that's wrong last week. I don't accept the God of the universe. I don't accept the Lord of the universe into my life. He is the Lord of my life. I must confess that that is true. Confession is acknowledging. Acknowledging a fact that is true. We must acknowledge Jesus as our personal Lord. He is Lord. Whether I agree with that or not, He is Lord. In conversion, there is an agreement with the fact that He is my Lord. He's my Lord. It's an abdication of the throne of my life. I'm not sitting on the throne. I'm no longer living the self-pleasing, self-directed, self-centered life. In conversion, my will is converted to live the Jesus-centered, Jesus-directed, Jesus-pleasing life. We adhere to a new ruler. Hebrews 1.8 says, But of the Son, He says, speaking of God, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. Now notice the nouns there. Your throne. The Son of God has a throne. And that throne acknowledges His Lordship. One who sits on a throne is a Lord. He has authority. And He has a scepter. A scepter of uprightness. Right? That is the practical outworking of His Lordship. His scepter is in His hand and He's exercising His authority. And He has a kingdom. That kingdom is the realm where His throne is and His authority is exercised. So Jesus is a real king, He has a real scepter, He has real authority that He's exercising in a real kingdom. And when sinners are converted, get this, they're not converted without coming under the scepter of King Jesus. We all come to Jesus in the same way that Esther approached the King. Coming under His scepter. Jesus, during conversion, does not, so to speak, have His scepter in His back pocket. So you come to Him with good intentions as a nine-year-old, and then when you're 45, He pulls the scepter out. Now He's Lord. That's a falsehood. No one comes to Jesus savingly if they're not coming to Jesus as Lord. So we must not separate the Lordship of Christ from the salvation of Christ. Next, the sinner must understand the terms of Jesus Christ. What are Jesus' terms to a saving relationship with Him? Well, Jesus tells us both of them. In this order, He says, repent and believe the Gospel. So the first term of Jesus is repentance. In Acts 2.38, Peter says, repent for the remission of sins. He says in Acts 3.19, repent and be converted that your sins may be blotted out. Again, I'm giving you gospel seeds. In Acts 17.30, the Word of God says, God commands all men everywhere to repent. And in Luke 13.3, Jesus says, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. So there are two alternatives for the sinner. Repent or perish. This is a command of King Jesus. Maybe someday I'll work up the sorrow for my sin that I feel like I need to work up. Maybe someday I'll come to a point where I can leave this sin behind. No, Jesus says repent. God has commanded all men everywhere right now to repent. There is no salvation without biblical repentance. And genuine repentance always involves three things. Conviction. Realizing that you are a sinner. Realizing by the working of the Holy Spirit that you've broken God's commandments. That you fall short of His holy moral law. That you cannot say, I am perfect as the God in heaven is perfect. Conviction. You're realizing something is true. Then following that comes contrition, a sorrow over the fact that I've sinned against my creator. He deserves all of my love, all of my worship, all of my obedience, and yet I have lived my life using the breath that he continually fills my lungs with to exhale blasphemies against him. But this body, With every faculty that I've been gifted, I've used it to sin against the Creator who sustains my life. And not only that, but He sent His perfect, undefiled, spotless Son, and on the cross, He made Him to be that sin. And as the book of Zechariah says, I look upon Him And I mourn, as one mourns for an only son. I'm broken. I'm brought to a place of not worldly sorrow, but a godly sorrow. In Psalm 51, David says, my sin is ever before me, as He's broken. He doesn't say hell is ever before me. He doesn't say a broken relationship is before me. A lost job is before me. My sin is ever before me. When the prodigal son comes to his father in repentance and faith, he says, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before You. There's a brokenness. And without conviction, coming to a knowledge that I have nothing, I am nothing, and I can do nothing to be made right with God, and that breaks me. It makes me weep, if not with my eyes, then inside. Ed always said that our eyes were made for a couple of things. For looking with, for weeping with. As we look at ourselves in God's holy mirror, we should be brought to weep. It's only if we have conviction and contrition that we can have conversion. As God, Almighty, by the power and the working of His Holy Spirit, using the Word of God to pierce our hard hearts. Apart from that, that hard heart is good for nothing but fuel for hellfire. It's the tender heart, the broken heart that God loves. A broken and contrite heart, oh God, You will not despise. He takes that heart and He writes His law in it. He places new desires in it. He sets up His kingdom in it. Without genuine Bible repentance, there is no Bible salvation. So repentance. Now what's the second term? Saving faith. What is saving faith? We hear that word thrown out a lot. Well, it is to place my trust and reliance on Jesus as my Lord and Redeemer. I place my trust and reliance in what He did for me personally at the cross and the resurrection. Now get that personally. Many people know the truth that Jesus was crucified. That He was raised from the grave. You've got a lot of CEO Christian and Easter only Christians who can recite that truth to you. But is it a reality for you? There's a man who we've come to love from the mission of hope. Every time I see him now, he says, man, I really didn't get it. I didn't get it until you said, do you know why Christ had to die? You know the truth that He died. Do you know why? Many of us can recite the truth that Jesus died, and on the third day He was raised again. Why did Jesus have to die? Was it just because some Romans killed Him? Was He a victim of some bad circumstances? A guy who meant well, but things just didn't end up well for Him? No, Jesus came to give up His life as a ransom for many. Realize, personally, my sin. Jesus came and He lived the perfect life for me. He had my sin in mind as He walked this earth. Every time He was confronted with temptation to lust after a woman, He had me in mind. Every time He was confronted to lie. He had me in mind. Every time Satan came and buffeted Him with temptation in the wilderness, turned that stone to bread, He had me in mind, knowing that if He turned that stone to bread, He could not be the bread of life for me. When He was on the cross, nails driven into His hands and His feet, His flesh ripped off his body, marred beyond the semblance of a human being, a crown of thorns pressed into his head. Breathing just enough to heave out the words, it is finished, he had me in mind. As he yielded up his spirit, he had me in mind. And as he raised from the grave in triumph, and his lungs began to inhale and exhale, and he walked out of the dark shadow of that tomb into the light of the day that his father had made. We have the right to rejoice and be glad in that day because he had us in mind. We must believe that these things, these truths, apply to us personally. It's to believe them. To hold on to them, knowing that without this before the throne of God, I will be incinerated. I have no plea except that Jesus died and He died for me. In Acts 16.31, it says, Believe in the Lord Jesus. You will be saved. You and your house. The disciples preached to the Roman centurion. John 3.16, Jesus said, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Don't just wink your eye at that verse. That's an astounding truth. That comes right after Jesus saying, God didn't send me into the world to judge the world, to condemn it. That's what we deserve. He said God loved the world. Even while we were sinners. God loved the world. What about the truth that we said earlier? That God hates the sinner. He abhors the evildoer. Well, God's not like man. God can love and hate at the same time. He hates that which is impure and undefiled and unholy. He hates it. But in mercy, He displays His love. He withholds the wrath that those sins deserve, and He sent His Son in mercy. In an act of love. And in love, He allows the gospel call to go out to undeserving sinners. and we must believe in that Son whom He has sent to have eternal life. Romans 10.10 says, For with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, leading to salvation. So how do these truths of Jesus' Lordship and our faith play into each other? As we are convinced of His Lordship, we're convinced of our sinfulness, we're convinced of the efficacy of His work, we're convinced that that work was for us, it can be applied to us, we believe it in our heart, and it leads us to confess with our mouth, Jesus is Lord. He is Lord. He did all that He said He would. He did all that the Scripture said He would. For millennia, leading up to His appearing on the scene, He is the resurrection and the life. He is the bread of life. He is the fount of living waters. He is the great I AM. He was before Abraham was, and He is my Lord, and I will follow Him. I will take up my cross. I will lay down my life. I will go when He bids me go. I will come when He bids me come. My Lord, His will is my will. I abdicate the throne of my life. I am not the Lord. I don't have the scepter. I'm coming under the scepter. Jesus Christ is making me. My life is not my own, it's His. If He says live, I'll live. If He says die, I'll die. I place my faith in His person. Who He is. I place my faith in His payment. What He did. I commit what I know of myself, that I am a sinner, broken, to what I know of Jesus. He's perfect, and He's completed the work that's necessary for my salvation. I forsake all trust in myself for salvation, and I place all my trust in Jesus alone. Jesus alone. Jesus is God's way. He's the only way. He is the sheep gate. He is the gate to the narrow way. He is God's truth. It's only by knowing Him and the truth about Him that I can come to a right standing with God. He is the life. To enter into union with Him is to have life and life eternal. No one can come to the Father except through Him. Next, the sinner must understand the justice and judgment of Jesus Christ. Jesus, He is Savior, He is Lord, and He is also the final judge. Acts 17.31 says that God has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising that man from the dead. Hebrews 9.27 says, It is appointed unto man once to die, and after this, the judgment. Again, this is more seed to add to your bag of Gospel seed. 2 Thessalonians 1 says that Jesus will come in a much different manner than He came in His first advent. He will be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, with these seeds added to your Gospel seed bag, it's vital for the person you are witnessing to, to understand the consequences of refusing to come to Jesus on His terms of repentance and faith. Jesus will be their judge. If they never cast their lives on the mercy of the Lord Jesus as Savior, they will face the unwavering justice of the Lord Jesus as Judge. The one who could have been their Lord and their Savior will be their Judge. And their life will be judged by the moral law of God. Jesus says that all authority, all judgment has been given to Him by the Father. It says that in the Gospel of John. And the evidence of the thousands, the millions of sins, the life of sinners will be overwhelming. When they stand before Christ on His great white throne in that final day, every unclean thought will be exposed. Every impure motive will be exposed. Every idle word. Every selfish action. Nothing will be hidden from the God of the universe. The verdict will be guilty. I want to look just for a moment at the end of the book of Revelation. In chapter 20, starting in verse 11, this is the fate of all men. All men will stand before this throne someday. John writes, Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sits upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. Then I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire." This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. As John writes these words, it can seem like some kind of future event that almost, you know, that's a long ways off. It doesn't really pertain to us right now. These are souls without faces as we picture this great scene. Well, John says, I saw the dead. the great and the small, standing before the throne. These are real people. These are real souls. Everyone will stand before the judge of the universe, and they will be judged according to their deeds. and to the deeds of the Lamb, the perfect and spotless, sinless Son of God who walked this earth." And as John looks at this scene, he didn't see just faceless people. He saw your face. He saw my face. In this future day when everyone will stand before the Lamb for judgment, there will be no condemnation for believers. But for the unbelievers, their lives will be tested against the life of the perfect, sinless Son of God. For those whose record we're not laying onto Jesus' account, it will be unfolded before them. And every deed, every thought, every word, every action will be exposed, and they will be judged justly by the One who could have been their Savior. cast into the lake of fire and of torment, the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, where the fire is not quenched, and the worm does not die. Forsaken by the Holy God. Separated from His goodness and His mercy. Not separated from His presence completely. They will suffer in the presence of the Lamb. So as we present Jesus as the judge, and we tell them that their verdict on that day will be guilty, we then ask them, what will you do with the Lord Jesus? We ask them the final question. What will you do with the Lord Jesus? There are only two alternatives. Confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Believe on Him savingly. Repent of your sins or reject Jesus and die in your sins. There's two alternatives. And we must urge them. We don't just put it in front of them and say, take one or leave it. But we urge them. We plead with them. Paul says, I beg of you, be reconciled to God. We tell them from 2 Corinthians 6, today is the day of salvation. From Hebrews 3, today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart. We tell them urgently, don't boast in tomorrow, as Proverbs 27 says, for you don't know what a day can bring. When you lay your head upon your pillow tonight, and you hear your heart beat, know that at any moment, it could stop. Know that when I finish speaking to you on this street corner, God forbid, but you could step into the street thinking that there's no traffic coming, and in one instant you enter eternity and you're standing before the judge. Don't harden your heart. If you hear His voice today, repent. Change your mind about your sin. Change your attitude about your sin. Realize who you are. Realize who God is. Realize the price that was paid for you. Change your mind. Believe. Believe in what Christ has done. Don't just pay Him lip service. Don't just store up head knowledge. Believe in Him. That goes for church goers. There's a faith that even the demons have. They believe God. They believe Jesus was holy. They said on multiple occasions, you're the Holy One of God. There will be many on that day who will approach the judge of the universe and say, Lord, Lord. They're emphatic, Lord, you're my Lord. Did I not do many works in your name? Didn't I prophesy in Your name and cast out demons? Look at all the good stuff I did, Lord. I loved You with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind, all my strength. Can't You see? I never knew You. Depart from me, You worker of iniquity. I cast into the outer darkness. They're thrown into the lake of fire. They will not know the goodness, the mercy of the Lamb of God, but only suffering in His presence. For that one, the plea is the same. Do not harden your heart in your religion. Do not harden your heart in your do-goodery. Do not harden your heart in your atheism. Do not harden your heart in the love of your sin. But let it break. Let the truth of God break it. Today is the day of salvation. Isaiah 55 says, Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thought, and return to the Lord, for He will abundantly pardon. Call upon Him. He is near. Seek Him. He may be found. We must plead. We must give a Christ-centered invitation. We must allow the Holy Spirit to work. Our pleading does not take the place of the Holy Spirit's prodding, His work of regeneration. Repeating a sinner's prayer has never saved anyone. Never. leading someone through a little plan of salvation, the ABC of faith, and bringing them to some physical act of doing something. You know, just pray. Maybe not the sinner's prayer, but you know, pray, and then I'll give you this book, and you know, you're right with God now. No. We give them the truth. We urge them to repent and believe. And we let God bully and wrestle with them until He makes them a new creature. I'm not leading them through a plan or giving them anything that could give them false assurance of salvation. We can and we must point them to Christ. Think back to the things we cannot do. We cannot illuminate spiritually blinded minds. We cannot cause the spiritually dead to raise. We can't do those things. We can't awaken them to realize their bankrupt condition. We can tell them all the day long that their righteous deeds are but filthy rags. We can tell them all the day long that they have nothing to present to God. We can tell them all the day long that if they cling to their sin, they cannot agonize through the narrow gate. We can tell them these things, and it must be the Spirit of God that convicts them of it. We can't induce people to genuinely repent and believe. We tell them the truth, we urge them, but we do so praying to the sovereign God of salvation that He would affect these things in their hearts. We must be willing to trust the Holy Spirit to do what only He can do. He can awaken the dead. He can illuminate the blinded mind. He can grant conviction, contrition, and effect conversion. And so with all of this in mind, at the conclusion of our Christ-centered presentation, we lovingly urge them to repent and to believe. And we must pray, we must pray that the Lord would have mercy on their souls and that they would repent and believe the gospel. We take both the sovereignty of God into account, and we take their responsibility into account. And we must not stand in the way of the work of the Holy Spirit in their conversion. We never, by any means necessary, by any means at all, No matter how good our intentions may be, we never give someone assurance. I never declare someone saved. Never. That is not my place. Only God can give assurance of salvation. Only looking at the Word of God, and seeing that I'm manifesting the fruit of a good tree, a healthy tree. Only looking at the Word of God and seeing that as I read the Word of God and I'm convicted of the Word of God, with this new hunger and thirst for righteousness, I'm now manifesting the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, self-control. I'm experientially knowing the reality of the Holy Spirit bearing witness with my spirit that I'm a child of God. And there is no point in the believer's life where they can go years without this assurance of salvation. And even when someone who claims to be a believer experiences something like this, the truth is still the same. We never give assurance. Never give assurance. God alone, by His Word and through His Spirit, gives assurance of salvation. And if we attempt to give human assurance, we are in terrible danger, terrible danger of damaging their souls permanently, and deceiving their souls permanently. God is the author of salvation. We have the responsibility to present this Christ-centered message, and we expect the God of the universe, the creator of their soul, to save their soul. And so we pray in a manner that shows we believe that. So, these are vital truths to remember. And next week we will delve into the truth that as we give this presentation of the gospel, there will always be four responses to the gospel, and yet only one leads to salvation. Pastor Austin, would you pray for us?