John 3:17–“For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved.” We deserve condemnation; we need salvation. In Christ, we escape what we deserve and find what we need: Forgiveness, cleansing, and eternal joy in His presence.
Category: The Gospel
Defending the gospel
Dangerous false teachers that deceive people into relying on their flesh’s self-righteous efforts to bring them into God’s favor are prevalent worldwide, including the “evangelical church.” If you are in ministry and not engaged in the battle for sound doctrine that holds firm to the gospel of grace, then you are building a ministry that will not outlive you. A minister of the gospel must also be a courageous defender of it in the presence of wolves, for the sake of the sheep whose blood they crave and whose souls you’ve been given watchcare over. Keep in mind that those wolves always look like sheep on the outside, to every man’s eyes, including your own. And be very clear in your teaching, ceaselessly reminding the sheep that their eternal salvation is both obtained and maintained by God’s grace alone, received by faith alone in Christ alone. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else.
“Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh….” –Philippians 3:2-3
Fear & Trembling, then Sigh of Relief
Tonight’s home fellowship, at which we were blessed with our biggest group ever, was a time of worship and study of Philippians 2:12-18, where we learned what it means to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” as God does a work in us and through us. The study audio is here for your listening. Hope it blesses you.
My favorite passage
Tonight at the home fellowship, we studied a passage of the Bible that has probably been the most meaningful portion of scripture in my personal life, Philippians 2:1-11. The study audio, in English and Romanian, is available for your listening here, and I hope it blesses you in your walk of faith.
Ministry update – salvation at the church today
A 16-year-old girl who has been coming to our church services and outreaches for about 8 months now responded to an invitation at the close of the service today wanting to be saved. Lili and I explained to her how she could be saved and she prayed with us, making a profession of faith that seemed to be quite authentic.
It was after a message I preached from Luke 19, which I had preached in America at the beginning of March on the parable of the minas. If you’d like to hear it, you can scroll back to the first Sunday in March and listen to the recording. The message was recorded today in Cluj, too, but most of the readers of this blog are English-speaking, so this time I am only posting today’s recording on my Romanian ministry site. If you would like to hear it and need the link, let me know and I’ll supply it.
How it happened….
And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. 28 But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.
Kingdom Coming – Like Lightning
Today’s message from the church was on Jesus’ words on end-times prophecy in Luke 17. You can hear the message, in English and Romanian, here.
Heaven and hell
Today’s message at the church was on Luke 16, and Jesus descriptions of and warnings about the two places you might spend eternity. You can listen to the audio recording here. In English and Romanian.
The Day God Punished His Son
This being the end of a year, I thought I would post a link to what listeners have most frequently called their favorite of my sermons. The Day God Punished His Son is in English only, and can be heard here.
The Evangelism Alliance
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”
–Revelation 22:17a
It is the age of grace. A time when eternal salvation is being freely offered to everyone on earth who is willing to receive it. To let them know, the Holy Spirit is engaged in a wonderful alliance with the bride of Christ — the church. The message this alliance preaches is so simple and clear that it can be voiced in one urgent word: “Come!”
Come experience salvation. Come experience the forgiveness of all your sins. Come receive the free gift of fellowship with your Creator. Come know the peace and joy of being inhabited by the God of the universe and being made holy and righteous by Him. Come, all of you who have not yet become a child of God; Come to Him and drink freely of the water of life.
Ever since Pentecost, the work of the Church and the work of the Holy Spirit have been one and the same. By His own choice, the Holy Spirit does not work alone. By His own design, every move He makes follows the prayers of His people. His every Word of witness to the lost world is spoken through Christians whose mouths He controls and whose lives He sanctifies to the glory of the Father in heaven. Every action of His people on His behalf is inspired by Him, and carried out to completion by Him through His indwelling power and the gifts He bestows.
When the Spirit and the bride work together, as it should be, their voices become inseparable, inviting the world to “Come!” But it is so easy for our churches to become distracted from this noble purpose. Buildings, facilities, programs, committees, power struggles, fundraising campaigns, procedures, traditions, self-centeredness, inward focus, sinful attitudes, arguments — everywhere we turn, there is another circumstance or situation that seems ready-made to take our attention off the purpose defined for us in Revelation 22: to be the mouthpiece of the Spirit of God. Before long, we no longer operate in alliance with the Spirit Who lives in us, and we begin to quench His fire and turn the living organism of the church into a mere organization built by feeble human hands, designed by inferior human intellect, and sustained only by failing human strength.
If that is happening in your life, or in the church you attend, the Spirit calls to you today, saying, “Come back.” Come back to the purpose for which you were called. Come back to the evangelism alliance where you and the Holy Spirit join hearts, minds, and voices to beckon the lost and dying souls of the world to come to Jesus and be saved.
The Personal God
Bruce’s story:
Who is my God? I asked. I was 14 years old. Who is He? No one answered, but I asked myself again, thinking, there’s my church’s God, then there’s the God that they tell us about in school. But who is my God?
No answers came from the frozen winter sky as I walked home. And it didn’t seem as though anyone knew the answer. The Sunday before I had gotten the courage to ask the teacher at the church. He smiled a big toothy smile, and told me I had already been taught all I could know about God by the church. I had learned theology and religion, but I wanted to know God.
My dad would rather I didn’t think about it. He’d look down at me with his crystal blue eyes and tell me that I was wasting both his time and mine. Maybe I was, I thought. It didn’t seem likely that there was any God to know except the fierce one my church talked about. It frightened me just to think about Him. This icy wind cutting my face is His wind, I thought to myself.
So why was I born? I thought. I’m weak, nearsighted, clumsy and awkward. I can’t even play football. When the ball is passed to me, it hits me and everyone laughs at me. My stomach got a cold heaviness, like when I eat ice cream too fast.
The more I thought about it, God’s judgment and punishment seemed easy to imagine: the earth opening and people being dragged into a pit of eternal fire, and Jesus coming with his army of bright, fierce angels armed with swords to destroy all creation for its sinfulness.
It frightened me to think of God. Sometimes when I would lose my temper, I would realize I was doing something wrong and think, Oh God, I’m going to be condemned.
I started to read the Bible in the gospel of John, and things seemed different then. Jesus wasn’t at all the way He had been described to me, it turned out. Or had I just been confusing Jesus with the God I feared? In John, everywhere Jesus went, people were being loved and changed by Him, and always for the better. He was loving people, even though they didn’t deserve it. And though their sins made them deserve hell, if they trusted in Him, He forgave their sins and promised them eternal life.
I thought of my friends that I went to church with. I’d gone there with them all our lives. I knew them. I knew they never changed. None of us ever changed. Even though there was lots of talk about change. We’d listen to teachings saying, “You’ve got to change because God is going to damn the earth and its sinners.” I knew I wasn’t perfect enough for God, but I wanted to know Him—and didn’t know He wanted to know me and love me and forgive me. So I just felt lost. And then I read in the Bible about Jesus, who “has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” That verse shocked me and sent a chilly sensation through my body. I knew God’s justice, that He would judge me based on my impurities—but here was a verse saying that Jesus had come to save the lost.
But how was He going to save me? A verse I had read in Romans began to make sense to me. It said that I would be saved by believing—by trusting in Jesus.
That’s all? I thought. Just believe? Shouldn’t I have to do some great thing? Shouldn’t I have to live a perfect life? That was the idea I had gotten from my church.
Then I felt drawn to speak to Christ. Of course I had prayed before, only formally in the church with the words they taught me to say. But this time was different. I lay down on my bed, and started to talk to Jesus. It was a simple talk, but it was the first time I had ever really communicated with Him.
“Lord Jesus, I’ve read about how everyone around You was changed. I want to be changed. I want peace and fulfillment and to be delivered from my fears. I am afraid of You. You know I don’t even like myself. Everything is messed up around me. And it’s messed up in me, too. But please God… I don’t know how You can do anything in me. But please Jesus, let me know You. Make me new.”
And then I knew I was being saved.
—————-
Bruce was able to experience these things with God and to have an eternal relationship with Him, because of what Jesus did for him, and for you and me. Because of our sin, we are separated from God and we deserve to be punished for all eternity. Maybe, like Bruce, you have come to realize that you are a sinner, just as the Bible says, and that when you stand before God at the end of this life, you will be judged and condemned. The Bible is clear that we all deserve just that. But it also teaches us that God loves us so much that He made a way for us to have our sins forgiven, so that we would not have to be punished in hell, but could go to heaven and be with Him, and experience joy forever.
Jesus never sinned, so He earned the reward of eternal life in heaven in our place. Then on the cross Christ died for our sins and rose again from the grave.
When the Bible says He died for your sins, that means that Jesus took your sin upon Himself, as if He had committed those sins; then, in your place, He let God the Father punish Him for every bad thing you’ve ever done or said. He took that punishment so that you wouldn’t have to.
Now, by believing that message and trusting in Jesus Christ alone, you can be saved from your sins, forgiven, and given eternal life in heaven. But you must not trust in good things you have done or in what the church or religious leaders have done to you, such as baptism. You must trust in Jesus Christ alone as your only way to heaven. He is the only one who can forgive your sins, because He is the one who lived a perfect life and then absorbed all the punishment you deserve on the cross.
And you must make a decision now in this life. Either you will trust Jesus Christ for salvation and eternal life, or you will trust in yourself and your good works, or your church, and then die in your sins. If you die in your sins, you will not be forgiven, but punished forever. But because God loves you, He doesn’t want to punish you, but to forgive.
Won’t you, like Bruce, let Him do that today? Talk to Jesus in your own words. Tell Him you believe you have sinned against Him and deserve punishment. Tell Him you believe He loves you and died for you and rose again. Tell Him you are trusting Him to save you, forgive you, change you, and give you eternal life with Him. Then thank Him for all He has done for you.
The Greatest Gift
For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
–Colossians 1:19-20
2000+ years have come and gone, and yet another celebration of the most wonderful event in human history is being observed. And I find myself with a sense of sadness along with all of the joy. I’m saddened because of the fact that Christmas is celebrated by far more people than have any reason to celebrate.
And my heart aches to think that in the midst of competing messages about the “reason for the season,” the true meaning of Christ’s redemption of the lost is the most ignored and least understood message out there. One of the songs of Christmas rings in my mind as I ponder it. A song in which a little four-word phrase summarizes the true meaning of Christmas. The phrase is “God and sinners reconciled.”
Christmas means that although we do not in any way deserve God’s favor, He became one of us to take the punishment we deserve and bring us reconciliation with a Holy God. It was a plan well-pleasing to the Father, because the sacrifice made by Christ on our behalf would be completely sufficient to save us forever.
The Creator of the universe, Who lay on a bed of cattle feed that first Christmas, grew up and lived a perfect, sinless life. “But He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The punishment that (earned our peace with God) was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) Healed of the great physically and spiritually terminal disease of our sin. If you have placed your trust in nothing but Jesus’ sacrificial death in your stead to make things right between you and God, then you have received this great Christmas gift of reconciliation. If you haven’t, then God awaits your decision, so that He can save you from your sins and from the penalties your sins have earned you.
That’s why my heart turns directly to you today. I want to ask you, dear reader, what about you? Have you been reconciled to God through the blood shed by Christ on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins? Or do you remain unreconciled? I’m not asking if you are religious. I’m not asking if you’re good. I’m not asking if you’re sorry for the bad things you’ve done. I’m not asking if Christmas and thoughts of Jesus make you feel warm inside.
I’m asking you if you have received God’s forgiveness of your sins by taking the gift of Jesus’ death as your own road to heaven. It’s the greatest gift. Please don’t mark it “Return to Sender.”
It’s important that you receive salvation, if you have not already. Because if you do not do so, there is no Christmas peace in your future. There is no hope in your future. There is no love in your future. There is no comfort or joy in your future. The only thing that awaits you if you haven’t understood the true meaning of Christmas and received this greatest of gifts is the pain of being eternally separated from God. The pain of being punished forever by His holy wrath is your inescapable destiny. Ten trillion centuries will pass by and the suffering of those who have rejected Christ’s offer of free salvation will not be over, but just begun.
However, heaven will be a wonderful place! I want more than anything in the world for you to be there with me one day. (And God wants that even more. Heaven will be a place where you’ll never hurt again. You’ll never be lonely, bored, angry, frustrated, scared, sick or unfulfilled again. The perfect and perfectly satisfying intimate fellowship with a wonderful God for whom you were created will be yours forever. And you shall never be in want of anything else for all eternity.
Are you sure you’re saved? Are you sure your eternal destination is heaven with God? Be sure. Be very sure. And be sure now You can come to Jesus today, right where you sit in front of your computer, because God will hear you call upon Him, and “Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)
Simply turn to Jesus now, and in your heart confess to Him that you have sinned against Him. Tell Him in your own words that you acknowledge you have done things that violated His law and made you unacceptable to God.
Then express to Him that you believe He loves you and that He came and died on the cross, willingly taking the punishment you deserve for sinning against God, and that He rose again from the dead.
Then tell Him that you are receiving the forgiveness of your sins that He promised you, and ask Him to be your Savior, giving you the gift of an everlasting relationship with God.
It’s that simple. No one who comes to Him will be turned away. Don’t delay. Accept God’s loving gift of salvation today. Then pass this message on to others you know need to hear it. (You can even put it in an email that you send to others, so that they, too, can receive the greatest gift this Christmas.)
Walk of Faith - Dave Bunnell 