The Gospel
"There is none righteous, not even one"
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The Bible teaches us that mankind is sinful. All are born in sin and are sinners. All of mankind is depraved and under God's righteous judgment; there are none who are good, not one.
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As such, mankind is in need of a Savior. The Bible teaches us that Christ is that Savior and He is the only One that can save us because He is God in flesh, the Son of God. He has died for our sin and taken the punishment we deserved, though He is without sin; He is the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God. He is our penal substitutionary atonement. He is the only way, truth and life--we must go to Him to get to God the Father.
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This is only possible through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ.
This Sunday's Sermon Info
Matthew 10:16-23
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Speaking the truth in a world that hates truth is a dangerous task. The Lord Jesus is the Truth incarnate (John 14:6) and was hated by the world because of His light (John 1:5). In this section of text (Matthew 10:16-23) the Lord Jesus is warning those who would be His disciples that they too would be hated by the world and would be treated harshly for their proclamation of God’s truth. The Lord Jesus sent them out “as sheep in the midst of wolves” to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. These men were instructed to “be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” But Jesus also encouraged them that when they went out into the world they were not to worry. That message which they were to speak would be a message spoken in them from the “Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” While Matthew was recording that Jesus was warning and encouraging His disciples then, this warning and the encouragement that Jesus gave can also be extended to apply to any follower of Christ who obediently participates in sharing the gospel message in a dark and dying world. If a person is saved by Jesus and stands with Christ in proclamation of the gospel, they will be hated for the name by which they proclaim the gospel. But that doesn’t change the fact that they are to proclaim it anyway, and the Spirit of God will empower them to speak it boldly no matter the circumstance. The saint is to remember that this truth is not their truth, but the truth of God in Christ and we are simply emissaries carrying that truth to this world. When the disciples carried that truth into the world, a world that hates God, they were persecuted, arrested, tortured and in many cases, killed in different horrible ways. It was known that Nero, the emperor of Rome during the time of the early church (54 to 68 AD), was particularly degenerate in his persecution of the saints. One way he martyred believers who would not renounce their faith was to line his extravagant gardens with the tar or pitch covered bodies of the saints who were then set on fire while they were alive to light these gardens. Simply because they dared stand for the truth of God and follow Jesus.