Well, I know most of us in here know that there are many false Gospels. in the world today. And I know some think, if you go out into the world, that the gospel is about religious rituals that will somehow make us pleasing to God if we do them. And others think that the gospel is really about helping people make better lives here and now. But today we're going to learn afresh that the greatest threat humanity faces is not global warming or some man-made crisis. But the greatest threat every human faces is being under the wrath of God because of our sin. So today we're going to learn afresh that the gospel is the only remedy. The gospel, the good news, is centered, we're going to learn today, on the person and work of Jesus Christ. Because it is only through His person and His work that we can have atonement for sin and the promise of everlasting life. Now I want to begin, because I know it's been some time since we've been in 2 Timothy, to give you a little reminder of where we've come from. Remember the last section in 2 Timothy, we saw Paul tell Timothy that he had an obligation to be disciplined all for the sake of the gospel, because he was going to have to endure persecution. Now as we get to verse 8, He commands him to remember and therefore always be one who proclaims the gospel. That's where we pick it up here, 2 Timothy 2.8, he says, Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel. Now, dear ones, I'm doing something a little unusual today. I'm just going to be focusing on this one verse, and I'm going to keep showing you slides and handling different aspects of that verse. So, I want to begin at the very beginning where you see the verb, remember. That's a command by Paul to Timothy. Now, the Greek term, menumenao, literally has to do with recalling something that you haven't necessarily forgotten. And you might be thinking, well, how does that work? Well, think of it this way. Think of you with your spouse, whether you're a husband or wife. When it comes to your anniversary and you remember your spouse, it's not that you've forgotten your spouse prior, but you're remembering the significance of your spouse on that particular day. In the same way, Timothy is to always recall the significance of the gospel, but there is a nuance to this verb that also implies not only recalling for Timothy himself, but the fact that he would also be one who remembers and proclaims. And we see that nuance to the verb, again, meinu meneo, in Hebrews 11.22. Notice here, the same verb I have highlighted red, It says, ìBy faith, Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave orders concerning his bones.î So notice here, Joseph was remembering and therefore speaking forth of the great event that made Israel a people, namely the exodus. In the same way, Paul wants Timothy to remember and therefore always proclaim Jesus Christ. It's not just to remember for himself, he has to always make mention in his ministry of Jesus Christ. In fact, notice here again the verb remember, it's in the present tense. I don't mean to be too nerdy, but in the present tense in the Greek, language, it doesn't accentuate the idea it's happening now, although that can be true, but it's accentuating the fact that this is continuous or ongoing. In other words, it's not sufficient for Timothy to remember last Wednesday Jesus Christ and he did that and then move on. Or I made mention in my sermon of the gospel a few weeks ago and we can move on from that. He's to continuously do it over and over and over and over. That's the idea. always remembering and making mention of the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear ones, the gospel of Jesus Christ isn't something that we preach once in a while. It's not something that we say, well, we did that, now we're moving on to more relevant things. No, it is always going to be our main mission. It must be our main mission because it is only through the gospel that souls are saved. It is only through the gospel of Jesus Christ that the saints are edified. Now, let me give you an illustration of this from a little story. Back in the 1920s, there was a lifeguard station that had begun training in order to save victims that were drowning or victims of shipwrecks. And so, on the East Coast, this lifeguard station was disciplining themselves and dedicating themselves to saving people who were drowning. And they did a wonderful job for many, many years. They saved literally hundreds of people. But as time went on, and you had new people come into the organization, They decided, this is a little difficult, all this training. Let's do a little something else. And finally, they said, let's start having suppers and dinners. Well, lo and behold, by the 1980s, the lifeguard station was a restaurant. In fact, it was a supper club. And oh yeah, you could get a great cup of clam chowder there. But they weren't saving anybody. That's the significance of remembering your mission. Dear ones, if we as the church don't remember the gospel, our main mission, we're gonna be no different than the lifeguard station that just became a supper club. That's what Paul is doing for Timothy and by extension every Christian by commanding to remember the gospel. Now, we move here from the importance of remembering the gospel of Jesus Christ to explaining what the gospel is. Again, he says, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David. Now, dear ones, I know I've told you many times that the gospel is the person and work of Jesus Christ. Bob has taught you that, Adam, Dana, our elders, the teachers, that's what we believe. What is the good news of the gospel? It is centered on the person and work of Christ. And we see that here. Notice, let me just point it out on the screen. Notice, risen from the dead, his work, descendant of David, his person, person and work of Christ. Okay, but let's focus on his person as is explained here. Jesus Christ, what does Jesus' name mean? It's Yeshua in Hebrew and it means Yahweh is salvation. And if there was ever a name that was given to a man that was apropos, it was that one. Remember in antiquity they didn't name their children just merely out of happenstance. but the name was to reflect the character and something of the mission of the child. And that's the way it is for Jesus. Remember in 1 Timothy 1 15. Remember Paul says there that this is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of which I'm the foremost. Why did Jesus come to save sinners? And his name means that. Also remember in Isaiah 43, 11, the Lord says, I am Yahweh, and there is no savior besides me. So if Jesus saves us from his sins, our sins, excuse me, let's make sure it's our sins, not his, he's sinless. If he saves us from our sins, then who must he be? He must be God. because only God can save you from your sins, Isaiah 43, 11. So his name itself gives us a hint into his person and his work. Notice also he's called the Christ, that is not his last name. That's not the last name, that's the title of Jesus. He's the Christos, means the anointed one, synonymous with the Mashiach or the Messiah in the Old Testament. Now, the anointing in the Old Testament was often done with oil, specifically olive oil. Now, what was the purpose? Two-fold. They would anoint someone in order to show that they had God's favor, but also that they were chosen for a task. So, in the Old Testament, you typically had three different groups that were anointed by oil. First of all, you had the kings of Israel. So, for example, Saul, David, Solomon, Jehu, I'm probably forgetting many of them, but they were anointed with oil. Why? to show that they were chosen by God for the task of leading the people of God. But what's interesting is when you unpack all of the data of the Old Testament you see sometimes God chose kings that weren't even Israelites for His purposes. For example Isaiah 45.1 if you look up that verse tonight before you go to bed you'll see that God calls Cyrus His anointed one. Now implied there is not that Cyrus is a believer But this Medo-Persian king was chosen by God for the task of bringing the Israelites out of Babylonian captivity back into their home. So he was a Mashiach, an anointed one. All right, so again, the kings typically though that were anointed were those in Israel. Think sometimes the priests were anointed, especially the high priest. You see that in Zechariah 4.14, where both Zerubbabel, the governor, but also Joshua, the high priest was anointed of the Lord, showing that they had the favor of the Lord. showing that they were chosen to represent and intercede for the people of God. Think about the prophets. Sometimes we had prophets that were anointed. In fact, you see that in Elisha in 1 Kings 19.16. So, think about in the Old Testament, we have prophets, priests, and kings that are anointed, and lo and behold, Jesus Christ comes on the scene of history, and He's all three. He's a prophet in the order of Moses that was prophesied in Deuteronomy 18.15. He's a priest in the order of Melchizedek without beginning and without end who lives forevermore to make intercession for his people. And he is the king par excellence of David. He is the Davidic king. And therefore this is why he is the anointed one. In fact he is the one who is most favored of God. In fact he's God himself. And he comes into the world with the mission of saving God's people. And this is why Isaiah 61.1 says that he's anointed. He is the anointed one given the favor of God. So again, Oops, I hit the wrong button there, sorry about that. We see that in Jesus Christ we have his person delineated here. Now, notice here, risen from the dead. Let's move from his person to the idea that he is risen from the dead. One of the questions this kind of raised in my mind, no pun intended, is the idea of why didn't Paul say that he was crucified on the cross? or that he lived the perfect life. Why does he select the resurrection? Well, what I believe, and here's what I want to put up now, I believe risen from the dead is the synecdoche of all of Christ's work. Now remember, a synecdoche is a figure of speech where a part refers to the whole. So let's say you buy a brand new vehicle and you come rolling into the parking lot and someone says, nice wheels. They're not just referring to the wheels, that's a part, they're really referring to the whole vehicle. In the same way, the resurrection of Christ is a summary of all that He has done. In fact, turn your Bibles, if you will, to 1 Peter 3.21. Please turn your Bibles to 1 Peter 3.21. I want you to turn there because in 1 Peter 3.21 you will see clearly that the biblical writers use the resurrection as a summary of all of Christ's work. That's what you're going to see Peter do. Now, as you're turning again to 1 Peter 3, verse 21, remember the context here is about Noah and his family going through the floodwaters. Well, Peter likens this to a form of baptism. It is a type of baptism. So, 1 Peter 3, verse 21, notice he says, corresponding to that, baptism now saves you. Now, stop there. He's not saying baptism in and of itself saves you because he says right after, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, so not by the act done, but what? But an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now, let's think about this for just a moment. What does it mean to have a good conscience before God? It means you're no longer guilty. Your sins have been removed. But if I were to write this, the Eric Dalma version, again, not inspired by the Spirit, I would have linked our good conscience, our lack of guilt, to the atoning work on the cross. Why does Peter say, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Because it is a summary that assumes all that Jesus has done. His incarnation through the virgin birth. his perfect life lived, the miraculous deeds that he did, the preaching that he did, his substitutionary death on the cross, and pinnacled was the resurrection. It is a summary of all that he has done, and so when Paul says, risen from the dead, it is a summary of the work of Christ. Again, we really do have in this text the person and the work of Christ. Okay, now, notice he goes on to say the descendant of David. He's coming back to the person of Christ. He's coming back to describe him even more. Now, when we see the term descendant of David, he's accentuating, of course, the human lineage of the Messiah. Now, the term descendant that you see in blue on the screen, in the Greek, it's literally sperma, which means seed. It's the seed of David. And the only reason I want you to have that in your mind is it should bring the careful reader of Scripture back to a very important verse. The very first gospel in your entire Bible is found in Genesis 3.15. Remember the context, Adam and Eve had sinned, but right away God gives the promise that the seed of the woman would one day come and crush the serpent's head. Oh yes, the serpent would bruise him on the heel, a superficial wound, But the serpent is going to crush, excuse me, the seed of the woman is going to crush the serpent. That's what's going to happen. And by the way, in the context of that passage, we know it has to be one man eventually. Because who is used? A third person masculine singular pronoun in the Hebrew. By the way, who is he? Do you know what she is? He. He is she and who is he? In Hebrew, isn't that great? It's like Abbott and Costello who's on first routine when you're trying to learn this in seminary. But that pronoun is used showing us one man is gonna come and he's gonna crush the work of the serpent. And so the rest of the Bible is what? It's details. You get to Genesis 9, you see the seed of the woman, this Messiah, is going to come from Noah and from Shem. You go to Genesis 12 all the way through 35, this seed of the woman is going to come from Abraham, from Isaac, and from Jacob. And what is Jacob renamed? Israel. How many sons does he have? Twelve. What are they? The twelve tribes of Israel. And then you get to Genesis 49.10, and you see of all the tribes of Israel, the seed of the woman is going to come from Judah. Well, then it waits till you get to 2 Samuel 7, because when you get to 2 Samuel 7, you see that of all of the families of the tribe of Judah, the one family from whom the Messiah comes, the seed of the woman is David. And so again, the seed of David is a summary of who Christ is, a summary of his person. And what's so beautiful then is you have a summary of the person and work of Christ. And what does Paul say that this is? It's the gospel. It's the gospel. The gospel isn't about redistribution of wealth. It's not about making a better place here and now. It's about the person and work of Jesus Christ. And what's so beautiful as we unpack the Old Testament is that this coming Messiah, the one who would come from David, is depicted as being both truly God and truly man. So let me give you an example of this. This is all wrapped into the idea that He is the seed of David. Who is the seed of David going to be according to the Old Testament? Truly man, truly God. And you say, well where do you see that? Isaiah tells us that. Written 700 years prior to the first coming of Christ. This is great prophecy that proves who Christ is. Notice what it says in Isaiah 11.1. Isaiah 11.1, it says, Now, this is a beautiful passage. Let me explain a little bit of the imagery. Notice the reference to the shoot, the stem, and the branch. Here's the imagery that you have to have in your mind to understand what Isaiah is saying. The Davidic kingdom was to be like a mighty oak tree, one godly king after another, and one day it would blossom into the kingdom of God. But instead, because of sin, and God knew this would happen, is the tree was fallen. And so the imagery is that all seems to be lost, but notice there's a new beginning that's going to occur from this righteous one, the stem. The tree has fallen. but the Davidic promises are still there. The stem is going to come, and notice he's called a shoot. The term shoot there, which is koter, means someone who comes from someone else. So what's being accentuated here is the humanity of the Messiah. Now, why does it say he's a shoot of Jesse? Well, Jesse was the father of David. Now, again, this begs the question, well, why not just say the shoot of David? Well, listen to the great scholar in the book of Isaiah, he's a British scholar actually, J. L. Akhmatir. He says it this way, and I think this is astute. He says, quote, the reference to the Jesse, rather than just David, indicates that the shoot is not just another king in David's line, but rather another David himself. This is David par excellence, and he's going to come from the lineage of Jesse. He's going to be a man. He's the shoot of Jesse. That we know. But what's so interesting, and this is an inclusio, nine verses later, it talks about his divinity. It says, then in that day, the nations will resort to the root of Jesse. who will stand as a signal for the peoples, and his resting place will be glorious." By the way, this occurs in the Millennial Kingdom. Notice here he was called the shoot of Jesse, but now he's called the root of Jesse, Shoresh. In other words, here, the shoot of Jesse, he is one who comes from Jesse, from David. He is a physical descendant, but here, as the root of Jesse, he is the originator of Jesse. He is the originator of David. Well, how can he be both? the God-man. This coming Messiah would be truly man, truly God, in one person. And we're not reading into the text that. That's what the text is saying. In fact, two chapters earlier, isn't that what we read at Christmas time in Isaiah 9, 6? Unto us a Son is born. He'll be called Wonderful Counselor. What else? Mighty God. How can you have a Son and yet Mighty God in one person? That's what the Messiah is. Dear ones, why is that important? The good news, dear ones, of the gospel is not that God would send some religious figure down through history that would come to us to give us greater wisdom so that we could save ourselves. No. He had to send the God-man who could do for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. Who could live the perfect life as a man to be our new representative. the new Adam. He had to be truly man to represent us in order to save us. Our first man, our first representative sinned, brought us sin, death, and hell. But the new man who represents us can bring us righteousness and eternal life. He also had to be God. Why? Because salvation is only of God. Isaiah 43, 11, there's no Savior besides me. Brothers and sisters, being the descendant of David meant he had to be the God man. The person and work of Christ is the focus of the gospel. So, dear ones, that's the focus of the gospel. Now we're going to see Paul say that this is his gospel. He's going to take ownership of it here. In 2 Timothy 2, he says, Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel. Why is that significant? Because Paul is an apostolos. He is a sent one who has the very authority of Christ himself. So we're going to see later in our application, if anyone has a different gospel than Paul, they have a different gospel than God, and they're accursed. Why? Because the apostles speak for God. That's what we see, for example, in Matthew 10, 40, where Jesus says, whoever receives you, the apostles, receives me. The idea is if you reject the apostles, you're rejecting the very words of Christ Himself. Now dear ones, I want you to remember though that Paul wasn't the originator of this gospel and we see evidence of that here in 2 Timothy 1.11. If you recall, the previous verse talked about the gospel and then Paul says what? For which I was appointed preacher and an apostle and a teacher. What this points out, notice in blue, dear ones, he was appointed. This is a divine passive, meaning this gospel didn't originate with Paul. He was appointed to preach the gospel that came from God, as a preacher, as a teacher, and the apostle. Dear ones, the reason this is important, because we have to understand that Paul's gospel was in fact God's gospel. There's no distance between Jesus and Paul. So today you have some will say, well, I'm a red letter Christian. I'll follow Jesus, but I don't like Paul. You don't get that option. Jesus himself said you don't. If you reject the apostles, you're rejecting Christ himself. Dear ones, this is important because there are so many false gospels that differ from what Paul said today. I want you to think about the word of faith movement. in America that's devastated so many churches. The Word of Faith movement says that your faith is not directed towards the object of Jesus, who He is and what He's done, but rather you have faith in your own ability. Your faith is like a force so that you can speak things. If you don't have a Cadillac, well, just keep saying you will. And voila, one day you're gonna have a Cadillac. Now, is that faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins? No. Think about the cults when they come to your door, the Jehovah Witnesses and the Mormons. They're bringing a different Jesus. The Jehovah Witnesses Jesus is a created being. They believe that he's Michael the archangel. The Mormon's Jesus is a created being, the spirit brother to Lucifer. So when they come to your doorstep, they have the different person of Christ, and therefore they have a different gospel. Roman Catholics, by the way, I have a lot of Roman Catholics I adore in my own life, friends that I work out with. I love these guys. I just want to say, as I say this to you, there's no disrespect intended. But the gospel of the Roman Catholic Church is not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because the Christ of the Roman Catholic Church isn't sufficient to save. Doesn't Jesus say on the cross in John 19.30, it is finished? So then why do you need purgatory if it was finished by Christ? Why do you need penance? Why do you need the meritorious works of the saints and all of the other works that the Roman Catholic Church puts upon you? You see, the Roman Catholic Church has a Jesus they can't save you and literally say it is finished and therefore they have a different Jesus and they have a different gospel than the one that comes from God and the Apostle Paul. Think about the social justice gospel, wanting to make followers not of Christ, but of Karl Marx. And sadly, those that we see teaching this doctrine never apologize when their followers throw chairs at people who are having dinner at a restaurant. They never apologize when they loot and burn. And the sad irony is they don't know what justice is. I showed that some months ago in a message called, What is Racism? No, they accuse a whole group of people of being racist when they can't even know the heart. And so they condemn themselves as those who bear false witness, violating the commandments of God. And the irony is they shouldn't want social justice, they should want mercy. And the irony is the police that they spit in the face of, they're vessels of mercy because men and women born dead sinners in Adam need mercy. They need restraint and that's what the police are designed to do. But these moral fools have a different gospel. and many are following it. But brothers and sisters, what this means for us is that if we as a church don't remember and therefore don't proclaim the true gospel, how is the dying and decaying world ever going to hear it? Because they're not going to hear it from these other sources and the risk for us is that we're going to be no different than the old lifeguard station. Oh yeah, they began saving, but they forgot their mission and they became a supper club. Dear ones, I love supper. My waistline will attest to that. I love a good clam chowder like anyone else. But we're not a supper club. Let's always remember the gospel. The gospel saves souls and edifies the saints. Okay, I have three applications for you here this morning. Number one, We have to know that any distortion of Christ's person or work is what? It's a different gospel. That's what we learned today. Number two, we must contend against false gospels that lead people to hell. And I'm gonna show you three ways that we're to do it, not just by remembering and preaching and teaching, that's most important, but three other things I'll lay out for us. Number three, believers must always remember the gospel, again, is central to our mission. If we don't, again, we're just a supper club. Okay, let's begin with this first one. We have to know that any distortion of Christ's gospel is a different gospel, so says the Apostle Paul himself. Listen to what he says, Galatians 1, 8-9. He says, But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed. Now, what was the situation that was going on in Galatia? Well, many of these Judaizers that Paul is refuting in Galatia, they began with Jesus, but it soon became apparent that their Jesus wasn't the Jesus of the Bible. Because the Jesus of the Bible saves you once and for all, alone. But the Judaizers in Galatia said, no, you actually need something in addition to Jesus, you need circumcision too. So Jesus alone doesn't save, and therefore Paul can say, you've fallen from grace. As he says in 2 Corinthians 11, you have a different Jesus, a different spirit, and a different gospel. That's what was going on there. But notice the significance of what Paul says here. He says, but even if we, in other words, if Paul changed his mind, he's wrong. The gospel has been set forth once and for all. Notice what he says, if an angel... Can you imagine how powerful it would be to have a majestic angel come down and speak to you? I'd be tempted to believe what he says. But if it has a different message than what Paul preached, what? Anathema. That's literally what it is in the Greek. Notice in the boxes, cursed of hell. Cursed of hell. So, what we're learning here today is if the gospel is the person and work of Christ, Any distortion of his person or his work curses people. God doesn't look at sincerity. He doesn't say, well, yeah, they have a different Jesus, but I'll let it slide. So it's not loving to allow people to have a different Jesus and a different gospel. Now, what do we do about it? Well, we're called to preach and teach the truth, but there's three other things that I think we see in the scriptures. One of them is that we are to break fellowship, number one, with those who have a different gospel. Number two, we are called not to give aid and comfort to those who have a different gospel. And number three, we are to contend for the true gospel against false gospels. Let me lay each one, one by one, out for you. Let's begin with the first one. There are times where we have to break fellowship with people who have a different gospel, meaning we can't do church with them. We see this in 1 John 2.19 where John says they went out from us because they were really never of us. There was a breaking of fellowship because the heretics in John's day were saying Jesus only seemed to be human, he really wasn't truly human. It's called docetism. So they had a different Jesus. Now, this is not always easy if you have to break fellowship, but you do. In fact, listen to what Paul says. Don't turn to it, but just jot it down. Romans 16, 17. Paul says, Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances, contrary to the teaching which would be the gospel which you learned, and turn away from them. Now, how does this practically work out in your life? Does this mean you're driving to your favorite gas station, and you find out that the owner of the gas station is a Hindu? And you say, that's it, different gospel, I'm boycotting. No, that's not what this text means. In fact, Paul says if that's your attitude, you'd have to go outside of the world to live, 1 Corinthians chapter 5. No, the idea of not having fellowship with those who have a different gospel means we can't be in a church setting under the means of grace and share the means of grace with those who have a different Jesus and distort His work. It has to do with the way you do church. Okay, so don't stop contending for the gospel and giving the gospel to those who don't know it. Now, the second issue that we have to, I think, follow in Paul's and the apostles' commands when it comes to other gospels is you and I have to make sure we don't aid those and give aid and comfort to false gospels. Now we see that in 2 John 10-11. Don't turn to it, just listen. 2 John 10-11, John says, if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, what teaching? The gospel. Do not receive him into your house. Do not give him a greeting, for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. Now, does this mean when a Jehovah Witness comes to your doorstep and you happen to engage in evangelizing the Jehovah Witness that you're somehow sinning? No. In antiquity, what they would do to give a greeting and taking someone in their house meant that they were taking someone in to give them food and shelter. Okay, why? Because itinerant preachers relied upon the hospitality of people who would house them. So, if I could put in my own words what John is saying, is he's saying, don't give aid and comfort to the enemy. Now, you're not doing that if you're merely witnessing to the Jehovah Witness. But if you give the Jehovah Witness $500 and say, I hope this helps with the watchtower reading, that would be a problem. Okay, so yes, still witness to the Jehovah Witness or the Mormon, whomever. but don't give aid and comfort to those who have a different gospel. Third thing, we are to contend for the gospel. We see this in Jude 3, we're to contend earnestly for the faith once and for all handed down to the saints. But it's in 1 Peter 3.15 that we're instructed how to do this. Remember in 1 Peter 3.15, the first task in apologetics, as Peter says, is to sanctify Jesus as Lord in your heart. Now, why is that the first task? Because it means that we're gonna only be concerned what Jesus thinks and no one else. If I set apart Jesus as Lord, it means no one else is Lord. And the same with you. So you're gonna be concerned what Jesus thinks, not what the world thinks. Second part of the apologetic task is to give the truth. He says, always be prepared to give an apologia, a defense, of the hope that lies within you to all who ask, and do it with gentleness and respect. The apologia is a rational defense. Dear ones, we're not asking people to believe myths and fairy tales, but to believe, as Bob often teaches us, cold, sober truth. That's what Paul said before Agrippa. We have the facts on our side. And so we can give a rational defense of the gospel through the scriptures. And notice we're to do it, what? In gentleness and love. The wrath of man will never bring about the righteousness of God, as it says in the book of James. So we give the truth and love and let God do His work. So again, three things. What does it mean not to tolerate the false Gospels? Number one, you can't always fellowship with some people because they have a different Gospel. You can't fellowship with them. Number two, don't give aid and comfort to those who have a different Gospel. Don't support them financially. You can debate with them lovingly, but don't give them aid and comfort. And third, always be prepared. Be prepared to give a rational defense for the reason you believe Jesus Christ is who He is and He did what He did. That's what we're called to do. Now, I want to talk about what motivates the heretics that you'll come across in your life. Heretics are always motivated to destroy and to distort the person and work of Christ. Let's begin with Jesus' person. What I want to do first of all is lay out who Jesus is from the Scriptures. So let's back up and just for a moment talk about God and then put the Son in the mix. Remember, we as Christians believe that there is one God in three persons. This is not a contradiction. A contradiction would be we believe in one God and three gods at the same time and in the same relationship. We are not saying that. Just as we have one government with three branches, it's not a contradiction. Okay, so one God in three persons, each person, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-eternal, co-essential, co-equal. Now, of the threefold Trinity, the three persons, we're talking about the Son. That's who Jesus is. And as the Son, we have one person, Jesus, who exists with two natures, truly God and truly man. And he can operate and does operate through either nature. The natures are not mixed, nor are the natures divorced, They are united to one person. Jesus can operate out of either nature. Sometimes he operates out of the human nature, limited, learning, local. Sometimes he operates out of his divine nature, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. the truth revealed in the Scriptures. And by the way, Jesus will forever be the God-man, the hypostatic union. Now, let's look at how the heretics over time have distorted this. Let's look at Arianism. And by the way, Arianism is still with us today. I'll show you why later. Arianism says Jesus is not God. Arius was an Alexandrian priest who taught in the 4th century that Jesus was a created being. I remember Bob and I did some radio one time, and Bob talked about a fancy jingle that this Arius came up with, and he's exactly right. Arius came up with a jingle that said there was a time when he was not. There was a time when he was not. And he taught all these people to be heretics because he had a great jingle. And truth be told, if you went into what was called Christendom in Arius' day, the vast majority had bought into the lie. And that's one thing we have to come to grips with is that when it comes to truth, it's never determined by the masses. It's never determined by popular opinion. It's determined by what's revealed by the Word of God. No, Arius was wrong. Jesus was not a created being. Now, when the Jehovah Witnesses come to your doorstep, that's what they believe. They believe that Jesus was a created being. In fact, they believe that He's Michael the Archangel. How can we refute that when they come to our door? Let me have you turn your Bibles to Colossians 1.16. I'll do it with one verse. Make it really simple. In fact, I have the whole verse listed, but for the sake of time, just look at Colossians 1.16a. Colossians 1.16a, the very first part of it. Again, the Jehovah Witness comes to your door. This is the first passage I would go to. Colossians 1.16a. Notice it says, for by Him all things were created. Who's the Him? That's Jesus. What did He do? He created all things. Now, what you want to be sure to do is when the Jehovah Witness comes to your door, turn to that passage and say, let me see your Bible, if I may. And you'll notice in their New World Translation, they'll have an other in brackets next to that verse. In fact, they have several through this entire section. The reason the other is there is they interject that word where it says, all things. They have all other things were created. So what you ask is say, well, why is the other in brackets? And they'll have to admit because it's not original to the Greek text. They could not handle the fact that the scriptures say Jesus created all things because if Jesus created all things, then he is the creator of Genesis 1.1 who created the heavens and the earth. And so they have to insert all other things. But the term other isn't original to the text and point that out to them. Brothers and sisters, Colossians 1.16 shows Jesus is the creator of all things, not all other things. He is the creator. He is God. The next heresy that we saw in history was Sabellianism. Sabellius was an elder in Rome, greatly influenced by Gnosticism. And what he taught is something often called modalistic monarchism. Big fancy word, but think of the monarch, the king. Modalistic means he changed modes. So, in Sabellianism, modalistic monarchism, you have one God and one person. And all He does is He changes costumes. Sometimes He has the Father's costume on, and then sometimes He goes and gets the Son's costume on, and sometimes He puts the Holy Spirit's costume on. Well, how do we refute that? Well, a good way of doing it is go to the baptism of Jesus. And what do you have at the baptism of Jesus? You have Jesus, the Son of God, being baptized. You have the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, not a dove. Similarly, like a dove. And you have God the Father saying from on high, this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. There is a subject-object distinction between God the Father and the Son. All three persons of the Trinity there in one passage. No, He's not just changing costumes. There really is one God in three persons. Sabellianism isn't right. Now, you think, well who cares? Sabellius isn't on the scene of history. Oh yes, but oneness Pentecostals are. You can go online and find their websites, and they will browbeat you, say, no, there's only one God in one person. No, that's not what the scriptures teach. One God in three persons. Co-essential, co-equal, co-eternal. Okay, third point, Eutychianism, and I'll have to summarize some of these other ones, but Eutychianism came from a man named Eutychius, the little rascal. Fourth and fifth century, he taught that Christ's divine nature had swallowed up his human nature. And so there was a mixture, there wasn't two natures. Think of the paints, if you take yellow and green, don't you get blue? Or is it yellow and blue and you get green? I'm not much of a painter or an artist, but you know what I mean? You get a mixture, right? That was the idea with Jesus' two natures. Okay, now what's the problem with that? Well, then Jesus isn't truly God and truly man. He's just kind of a mixture of both. The problem with that is in the scriptures, we see Jesus operate from either nature. So here's how you get it right. You have to distinguish the natures of Christ, but don't separate them. Don't mix them. Don't separate them. Distinguish them. If I distinguish between your body and soul, I've made a right distinction about your constituent makeup. If you die, your body goes into the ground, your soul goes to the Lord, right? But if I separate those two things, I've just killed you. Are you with me? In the same way, don't separate Jesus' natures, distinguish them, but don't mix them. Where do we see this in scripture? Think about in Mark chapter four. Mark chapter four, remember the terrible storm comes upon the disciples, they're in the boat, and they're really somewhat upset because Jesus is sawing logs, he's sleeping in the back of the boat. And they say, aren't you concerned for us? Well, Jesus, why is he sleeping? Does God get tired? Does God need to sleep? I know I like the nap, but does God need a nap? No, he's operating truly from his human nature. But in the next moment, this man who's asleep in the back of the boat can stand up and he says, peace be still. And he calms the storm miraculously. So powerful is it that the disciples in the text are more afraid of Jesus than they are of the storm that just happened. Because they're in the presence of the Holy One of Israel, who created all things. Jesus, truly man, truly God, operates through either nature. Right now, for the sake of time, I'll move on here. Nestorianism. Nestorianism is something that said, no, we don't have one Jesus with two natures. We have two Jesuses with each a nature. Well, the problem with that is which Jesus died on the cross? The God Jesus or the human Jesus? So again, we believe in one Jesus, one person with two natures. Nestorianism has two Jesus, two persons, each with a nature. If Jesus isn't truly human who died, he doesn't represent you. If he's not truly God, he can't save you. No, it's two natures in one person. Docetism, Jesus only seemed to be human, he really wasn't. That's probably what John was facing in Asia Minor when he wrote his epistles. Now, remember, what's the test of orthodoxy according to John in 1 John 4, 2? He says this, "...by this you know the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God." That's the test of orthodoxy. Christ come in the flesh. Yes, truly God, but He's in the flesh. He's truly man. He didn't just seem to be human. One final heresy, Apollinarianism. Jesus had a human body, but a divine mind and soul. In other words, He really wasn't truly human. There was more of the divine nature than the human nature. Dear ones, if He's not truly human, He's not your new representative. And doesn't the writer of Hebrews say in Hebrews 4.15, that He was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Oh yes, He had to be tempted as a man to be your new representative. to be truly man, to be a representative, and truly God, to save you. Dear ones, why does this matter? Because a different Jesus than the one revealed in the Scriptures can't save you. Think about it, down the road from me there was a man named Jesus, a Mexican fellow. If I trusted in him, could he save me? Nice guy. Will that Jesus save? Can you just trust in any Jesus and you're automatically saved? Is there somehow magical power in merely the name? No. It's Jesus of the Bible that saves. All right, now, another way that the heretics like to distort the gospel is by attacking the work of Christ. One of the problems that I had is when I went to seminary, this was at Bethel some years ago in the early 2000s, they would have professors who really didn't understand, in my opinion, who were teaching systematic theology, the biblical categories. They didn't have the biblical data. And so when it came to teaching about the atonement of Christ, they would say, oh, this evangelical belief in the penal substitutionary atonement, that's just one view among many other theories of the atonement. But what I want to show you is that is precisely what the Bible teaches. So either these men didn't know the data of the Scriptures, in which they shouldn't be, therefore, professors, or they knew it and they were lying. So what I want to lay out for you is the core of the Gospel. What did Jesus do for us on the cross? I'm going to show you that the penal substitutionary atonement is taught in Scripture. Let's begin by each term. Penal means that there has to be a punishment poured upon offenders in a legal system. Now, some will say, well, God doesn't operate like in a legal system. Oh, yes, He does. Because God is just, He must punish sinners. Why? Because as it says in Psalm 89, 14, righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. it's inherent to who he is he must punish sinners so absolutely there is a legal setting in God's economy and that's why we see in Romans 326 it says that God the father is both the just and the justifier of the one who is faith in Jesus meaning he's the one who demands justice but He's also the one who paid it through the blood of His Son. So yes, a legal courtroom setting is being talked about in the Scriptures. What about substitution? Is that part of the Scriptures? Should we have anticipated a Messiah from the Old Testament who would be a substitute for His people? Oh yes, Isaiah 53. In fact, let me read to you how in Isaiah 53, five through six, just two verses, the doctrine of substitution happens how many times? Five times. Listen to this, I'll just read the relevant portions. He was pierced through for our transgression, substitution number one. He was crushed for our iniquities, substitution number two. The chastening of our well-being fell upon Him, substitution number three. By His scourging we are healed, substitution number four. The Lord caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. Substitution reference number five, in just two verses. Again, all written 700 years prior to the first coming of Christ. Amazing. Yes, substitution is exactly what Jesus had to do. What about atonement? What does atonement mean? It means two things. Our sins are covered and removed, and God's wrath is appeased. The removal of our sins is man-centered. It's called expiation. The appeasement of God and His wrath is God-centered. It's called propitiation. And Jesus' work on the cross does both. Do you remember in Leviticus 16 you had two goats that were to be sacrificed? The one goat, the scapegoat, led the sins of the people away, expiation. The other goat was brought into the Holy of Holies and the blood was put on the hysteria, on the propitiation seat, that appeased the wrath of God. That's exactly what Jesus did once and for all when He said, it is finished and died. He does both. Yes, this is exactly what the Bible teaches. In fact, look at the data. Mark 10, 45, Jesus himself says as much. He says, for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. What did Jesus do? He gave a price. He paid something. What was it? His life. In fact, the term ransom, lutruo, has to do with paying a payment to purchase something back. typically to purchase someone who was a slave. You and I were slaves to sin, death, and hell, and He purchased us back. Notice the substitutionary language for the many. You could literally render the preposition onto here, on behalf of. He gave His life as a ransom on behalf of the many. Substitutionary atonement. This is what Paul taught, Galatians 3.13. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree." What did Jesus become for us? A curse. Notice, huper, substitution. Literally, He's a curse on our behalf. The substitutionary language, dear ones, is all over the Bible. Think about this, 2 Corinthians 5.21, God the Father made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin on our behalf. so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. It's found again in Romans 3.25. It's found in 1 Corinthians 15.3. It's found in 1 John 2.2 where John says, he died not only for our sins, but he was a propitiation for the whole world. Substitution all over the place. So why did the professors deny it? Why did they say it's only one theory among many? Either they were ignorant of the data or they were lying. Either way, it doesn't look good. Either they're incompetent, they don't know what they're talking about, like a doctor who misdiagnoses you, it's malpractice, or they're lying. Now, I want you to think about this, and I want you to think about the importance of remembering the Gospel. I want you to see how prevalent the attack on the substitutionary atonement is. This comes from a man named Stephen Chalk and another man, Alan Mann. In 2003, they wrote a book called The Lost Message of Jesus. In other words, nobody had the right message until they wrote about it in 2003. Now listen to what they say. Page 182 of their book, they say, how then have we come to believe that at the cross this God of love suddenly decides to vent his anger and wrath on his own son? The reason we've come to believe that is because that's what the Bible teaches. That's what Jesus and his apostles teach. But notice how he denigrates it. The fact is that the cross isn't a form of cosmic child abuse, a vengeful father punishing his son for an offense he has not even committed. Understandably, both people inside and outside of the church have found this twisted version of events morally dubious and a huge barrier to faith. He's attacking the cornerstone of the gospel itself, revealed by Jesus Christ And what's so sad is I remember when this book came out there were men who endorsed it and they went on a speaking tour endorsing what this man was saying in supposedly evangelical churches in the Twin Cities. Now remember what does evangelical mean? Evangelion means gospel. So at gospel churches in 2000 America in the Twin Cities a man who attacks the core of the gospel is being received in church after church. Why? Because sadly, those churches became much like the old lifeguard station. They began with a mission, but at some point in their life, they left it. They became more, quote unquote, relevant to the culture. And they lost the gospel. So much so that when a man attacked the core of the gospel in their very church, they couldn't even see it. Because they knew no longer what the gospel was. Dear ones, that's why we can never forget, we always have to be those who remember the gospel. Meaning, yes, we teach the doctrine, we understand the doctrine, but we also always have it upon our lips. This is why Paul said in Romans 1 16-17, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, But the righteous man shall live by faith. Dear ones, if we are ashamed of the gospel, what are we really ashamed of? What did we learn today? We're ashamed of the person and work of Christ. Dear ones, if we're ashamed of the Gospel, we're not going to go out with the Gospel upon our lips. But I know better of you. As we go out the door today, let's be reminded of the necessity to have the Gospel upon our lips. To have the Gospel understood in our minds. To always be prepared. Because how else is the culture going to hear? By the way, when you give the gospel, let me give you a little tip on how I do it. I think of four questions that are answered in the gospel. What's the gospel of the person and work of Christ? The first thing I answer, I don't do this in order, let me lay it out. Who is Jesus? What did He do? Why do we need Him? How do we receive Him? Who is Jesus? What did he do? Why do we need him? How do we receive him? So what I always do is I begin with the third one. Why do we need him? Because people are dead sinners. People are under the wrath of God. If I tell someone that and they're not convicted, I go on. I don't cast my pearls before swine. But if they're saying, you know what, that concerns me. I want to hear more about this. I tell them about who Jesus is and what he's done. And at the very end, I say, how do you receive them? It's by faith alone. Today, if you'll trust upon Jesus Christ, you'll have the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. That's the gospel, who He is, what He's done, why do we need Him, and how do we receive Him. Dear ones, if you and I don't have the gospel upon our lips, if we don't study the gospel, if we're not enthralled with the gospel, if we're not those who proclaim the gospel, the dying culture isn't going to hear it. And you and I are going to be no different than the lifeguard station, a supper club, that no longer saves anybody. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we do thank you for the truths that you revealed to us in Scripture. We thank you for sending your Son, who would become truly man for us to represent us. He'd be God to save us. We thank you for the God-man, Lord. We thank you what he did for us on the cross, that through his death, we'd have a substitute who pays the penalty that we deserve. We thank you for this, Lord. We pray, Heavenly Father, if there's anyone here that today would be their day to trust upon you, trust upon the Lord Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. We do pray, Heavenly Father, that the gospel would be upon our lips, that we would be concerned and consumed with the gospel and your doctrines. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.