CAN OTHERS SEE THE CHANGE?

Reference

Galatians 1:18–24

Let me first ask you a question:

Who do you think are the 3 most important people in all of history?

I’m going to list 6 people and by a show of hands, we will vote on these.

First, here they are:

Adam

Moses

Jesus Christ

Muhammad

Paul the Apostle

Issac Newton

If you think they are 1 of the 3 most important people in history, raise your hand: Adam, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Paul the Apostle, Issac Newton.

Ok, let me tally the votes and based on importance, it is:

Okay, I didn’t actually tally any votes, but the answer is Jesus Christ first and then Paul the Apostle.

We probably all agreed on Jesus but why is Paul considered the second most important person in history?

Who is Paul and how did he impact history, second only to Jesus?

That is what Galatians chapter 1 is all about – why Paul is so important and why we should believe what he says.

So, let’s review chapter 1 so far:

Verse 1

1 Paul, an apostle (not of men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father…)

Paul claims he became the 13^th apostle by the direct intervention and choosing of Jesus and the Father.

Look at verse 8:

8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.

He claims that the gospel message he preached about Jesus was utterly authoritative.

And then in verse 12 we get the zinger.

12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Paul claimed that no humans taught him the gospel message.

He was personally tutored only by the exalted Jesus Christ himself.

That is what Galatians chapter 1 is all about.

Paul is telling the history of why his gospel message is the only one everybody should follow.

Yet there were false teachers that had infiltrated the Galatian churches and they were teaching that Paul had NOT told them the whole truth about how to be right with God.

This is the background that brings us to verse 18 in chapter 1:

18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him for fifteen days.

Right after he was saved, Paul started preaching and teaching about Jesus all around the Damascus area – which was about 160 miles north of Jerusalem.

He had no contact with any of the 12 apostles.

But after 3 years, he finally went to Jerusalem and had his first interaction with one apostle – Peter – but he only stayed there for about 2 weeks.

He then goes on to say he did interact with one other notable person in Jerusalem – verse 19:

19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.”

Paul met and spent a few days with Peter and James, the Lord’s half-brother.

This is the James that wrote the book of James.

Paul wants us to know he did NOT go to Jerusalem to get instructed or corrected because he had already spent 3 years being taught directly by Jesus.

And then we have verse 20:

20 (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)”

Why would Paul suddenly inject a sentence like that?

Who said he was lying?

Well, the false teachers were saying Paul was lying to everybody.

I think Paul is saying – “Hey, look, I know what I’m telling you is incredibly supernatural – the exalted Jesus personally taught and instructed me in all I know about him.

“But as God is my witness, I am not lying about this.”

Now verse 21:

21 Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.

So, after he left Jerusalem, he went directly back to the area he had been preaching in for the previous 3 years.

And in verse 22 he wrote,

22 And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ.

Jerusalem was in an area called Judea – like Olive Branch is in a region known as DeSoto County.

Paul said he went straight back up north – he did not stop and visit any churches in Judea – he did not consult with any other churches – so nobody in all of Judea even saw his face after he was saved by Jesus.

And now verse 23:

23 But they were hearing only, ‘He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.’

Paul had actually persecuted many of these people 3-4 years earlier – before he was saved by Jesus.

But after Jesus saved Paul, they hadn’t seen him and now it has been just over 3 years, and they still haven’t seen him.

But they had heard all about his remarkable conversion and complete turn around.

“He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy.”

What they heard was that Paul was a changed man.

So, let’s discuss that for a moment and start with this question:

Do you believe you are a Christian?

I didn’t ask what kind of Christian – just do you believe you are one?

If so:

Has Jesus changed your life?

Salvation is not just the forgiveness of your sins.

Salvation is a very one-on-one personal relational encounter with the living Creator-God that you come to realize is the Lord Jesus – the God-man.

And when you meet Jesus, he gives you a new heart that comes with new thoughts, new desires and new affections.

Your start hating the very sins you used to love, and you start loving Jesus and want to follow how he teaches us to live.

Do we all agree that Jesus changed Paul when he saved him?

That is what verse 23 told us – from persecutor to an advocate – from the wolf to the shepherd of God’s people.

Paul was a changed man, and others had heard about it.

So, the question was, “Has Jesus changed your life?”

To help with the answer to that question, let’s ask another question:

Who can see that difference in your life?

Has anyone heard or seen this change in your life?

Look, I can’t see the invisible any more than you can.

Yet, the spiritual world is real, but invisible, like the wind.

You can’t see the wind, but it’s still real and you can experience it by its effects – you can see it move leaves and feel it brush over your skin – but you can’t see it.

So, who has seen or felt the effects of God saving you?

If there is salvation, there will be evidence that God is changing you.

About 45 years ago I was in a church that put one of our elderly men on trial for whether he was a real Christian or not.

As a 27-year-old-man, I was asked to be his defense attorney and present evidence that he was a real Christian.

Another man was asked to play the prosecuting attorney and show evidence that he was a hypocrite – a fake – a phony.

Now, I know you are thinking, “What kind of church did I go to?”

Well, this wasn’t for real – we all loved each other but thought it would be fun and educational if we did this mock trial.

We called witnesses and learned he had been saved as an adult at a Billy Graham crusade.

People testified that he had changed and devoted his life to serving the Lord Jesus.

As the defense attorney, I felt it was going quite well until the prosecutor called the man’s wife to the witness stand.

To prime the pump, he asked her this question: “Mrs. Sherman, just how many times has your husband yelled at you during your 40+ years of marriage?”

The wife with complete calmness and tenderness simply said, “He has never yelled at me.”

You could have heard a pin drop in the courtroom as everyone was processing what they just heard.

The prosecutor looked stunned and stumbled a bit and then said loudly, “You expect this court to believe that your husband of 45 years has NEVER yelled at you – never?”

As the defense attorney, I jumped up and said, “I object your honor – he’s badgering the witness. She answered the question.”

I was overruled so she answered and said, “We’ve had disagreements, but he has never yelled at me.”

I jumped in and said, “If it pleases the court, I ask for an immediate ruling. This man is clearly saved by Jesus for who could not yell at his wife for over 40 years apart from the saving grace of Jesus?”

Well, the man, based on the evidence, was acquitted and considered a real Christian.

But here’s the point, we are on trial every day before the eyes and ears of those in our orbit.

Everybody has an opinion about you just as they do me.

Do they see any evidence that I love and follow Jesus?

Who can see the difference in your life because Jesus saved you?

Everyone had heard about how Paul had changed. Has anyone heard about you?

You think about that as we go to our last point:

What is “the faith” that Paul Preached?

He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.

Well, “the faith” is just another phrase to refer to the gospel that Paul was now preaching.

So, let’s review and clarify what the gospel is, and what it isn’t.

Here are the 3 main verses in Galatians where Paul mentions gospel content – now the word gospel just means good news and when used about Jesus, it is the good news about Jesus.

Galatians 1:4

4 “who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age…”

Galatians 2:20

20 …the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Galatians 3:13

13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us…

Redeemed means he paid the price of the curse of the law for us so we can be free and clear of that debt before God.

Now later, when Paul wrote his first letter to the church in Corinth, he gave a concise definition of the gospel.

1 Corinthians 15:3,4

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.”

I have summarized Paul’s definition with 12 words – Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose the third day.

That is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Galatians, he gets the gospel down to 6 words, Jesus gave Himself for our sins.

Or to even get it down to 5 words,

Jesus died for our sins.

Now, let me ask you about these 5 words.

Who is the subject of this sentence?

It is about Jesus.

It is about something Jesus did - what did he do?

He died.

And why did he die?

For our sins.

Where are we in this gospel?

We provide the sin.

That’s all we do – be sinners.

Now, when did this happen?

About 2,000 years ago.

So, this is history – can it be changed?

It can be denied, rejected or ignored but you can’t change history.

Now listen to this:

The gospel is a simple statement of historical facts.

It’s about an event that happened 2,000 years ago that Jesus did for sinners.

Jesus died for our sins.

Is there a command or anything for us to do in the gospel of Jesus?

No, it is a simple statement about a historical event that happened and cannot be changed.

Now, let’s talk ladies’ accessories.

An accessory is some clothing item designed to highlight, compliment or accent the main or primary article of your clothing.

The accessory is NOT the primary article of clothing.

Things like belts, hats, shoes, jewelry, handbags, scarves, gloves and handbags are all considered accessories, right?

Your dress or blouse and pants are the main article of clothing and everything else is an accessory.

The gospel is the primary article of clothing, so to speak.

Everything else revolves around it.

But there are lots of accessories that come with the gospel.

Let me start listing these for you with a brief explanation:

First, there is the:

The Accessories of the Gospel of Jesus

The presentation of the gospel

See, the gospel is a message about Jesus.

Our job as followers of Jesus is to present the gospel.

We don’t invent it – we just report it.

Presenting is not the gospel – it’s one thing you do with the gospel.

The next accessory is:

The Accessories of the Gospel of Jesus

The presentation of the gospel
The invitation of the gospel

This is when we tell people that this gospel is available and open to them.

We invite them to believe these historical facts in a personal way.

We invite people to trust in Jesus but inviting is not the gospel. It is something we do after we present the gospel.

Next is:

The Accessories of the Gospel of Jesus

The presentation of the gospel
The invitation of the gospel
The calling of the gospel

This is the secret, invisible power of God that uses the gospel to call someone from death to new life in Jesus.

I don’t know how God takes a spiritually dead person and makes them alive to him – but he does it and he does it as the gospel is being presented and as people are being invited to trust in this Jesus of the gospel.

Next is:

The Accessories of the Gospel of Jesus

The presentation of the gospel
The invitation of the gospel
The calling of the gospel
The reception of the gospel

Once you hear the gospel and understand God is inviting you to believe in this good news about Jesus, you must individually and personally welcome and receive this Jesus of the gospel.

You believing that Jesus died for your sins is not the gospel, it is you receiving the gospel personally.

When a man asked Paul how he could be saved, Paul said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.”

What else can you do with a statement of historical facts about Jesus?

You either receive it as the truth or you don’t.

Next are the:

The Accessories of the Gospel of Jesus

The presentation of the gospel
The invitation of the gospel
The calling of the gospel
The reception of the gospel
The benefits of the gospel

There are so many.

Because of the gospel, you can experience all these benefits:

Forgiveness of sins
Reconciliation with God
Adoption into God’s family
Eternal life
God forever accepting you
Peace with God
The gift of the Holy Spirit
Spiritual gifts
The power to battle sin in your life
Access to God
Hope of resurrection
An eternal inheritance
Final glorification
God loving you forever

And the list goes on.

The Accessories of the Gospel of Jesus

The presentation of the gospel
The invitation of the gospel
The calling of the gospel
The reception of the gospel
The benefits of the gospel
Baptism

This is where the most confusion comes in.

There are religions out there that add baptism to the gospel message – you must believe and be baptized to be saved.

We’ve already seen that baptism is not part of the gospel.

Paul clearly understood baptism was an accessory you add to your salvation because Jesus told his followers to do this – not to do it to become his follower.

Look at this verse from Paul in 1 Corinthians 1:17

17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel….

Do you see how he separates them?

The gospel is what saves and it can only be preached or presented, and baptism is what happens after you are saved.

And lastly,

The Accessories of the Gospel of Jesus

The presentation of the gospel
The invitation of the gospel
The calling of the gospel
The reception of the gospel
The benefits of the gospel
Baptism
Good works – a changed life

How we live either makes the gospel look beautiful or ugly to others.

But how you live is not the gospel – how you live is not how you are saved because the gospel saves and good works are not part of the gospel.

Later in a letter to Christians in a church in Ephesus, Paul wrote in 2:10

10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

Good works are a result of the gospel – an accessory God prepared even before you were saved, that he would help you to walk in a new, changed life.

Jesus saved Paul and changed his life – that is what he does for anyone he saves.

And that leads us to the last verse in our passage today – verse Galatians 1:24:

24 And they glorified God in me.

Paul knew that when Christians heard that Jesus had saved him in the midst of his terrorism – made him one of them - they were amazed and, in their marvel, they praised and exalted God.

They didn’t glorify Paul – they glorified God.

Who is glorifying and praising God for what he has done in your life?

Who has heard how Jesus invaded and changed your life, so you are now a Jesus person?

If you are a member of GCC, let me comfort you by saying, “We all need to grow in our love for Jesus.”

We have not arrived but serve Jesus, be on a volunteer team, start devoting your life – your time – your schedule – more and more to him.

He is worthy and as we live that – other Christians will see the work of God in us and give him glory for this great work.

If you are not a Christian, may God give you the grace to finally surrender to him and boldly trust and acknowledge that you believe Jesus personally died for your guilt before God and that by trusting him – you are now forgiven and free.

Let’s pray

Thank you. Well, good morning, and welcome to Great Commission Church. My name is Don McKenzie, and I'm a part of the pastoral staff here. And our pastor, Trevor Davis, will be back next week. But today we're going to conclude chapter one in the Letter of Galatians, which was written by the Apostle Paul.
Now, I want to start by asking a question. So who do you think are the three most important people in all of history? And I'm going to list six people and you get to pick who you think of. These six would be the three most important people in all of history. Our results are not going to be published.
No one's going to monitor your vote. But you're going to do a show of hands just to kind of see how this goes. So let me just list the six people, all right? Adam, Moses, Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Paul the Apostle, and Isaac Newton. I don't know how he got on the list.
All right, you get to pick three. So raise your hand. Who would pick Adam as being one of those? Raise your hand. Okay, who would pick Moses?
Raise your hand. Who would pick Jesus Christ? Raise your hand. If you didn't raise your hand, security is going to escort you out. Mohammed, raise your hand.
You afraid? A lot of polls have him number one, Paul the Apostle, and Isaac New. I was hoping there'd be an Isaac Newton fan in here. There's one.
Well, I didn't keep up with anything, so I don't even know how that went. But I think we all agree that Jesus Christ is considered the most important person in all of history. But did you know that the Apostle Paul is considered the second most important person in all of history? So who is this man Paul, and how did he impact history, second only to Jesus? Well, that's what Galatians chapter one is really all about.
It's wanting us to know why Paul is so important and why we should believe what he wrote. So we're going to review Galatians chapter one so far. Okay, so in verse one, Paul wrote Paul an apostle, not of men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father. So Paul claims he's the 13th apostle by the direct intervention and selection of Jesus and God the Father. And then in verse eight, it says, but even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
So here he claims that the gospel message that he preached about Jesus was utterly authoritative. And then in verse 12, we get this zinger. He goes for, I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. So Paul claimed that no humans taught him the gospel message about Jesus. He's claiming that he was personally tutored only by the exalted Jesus Christ himself.
Now that's what Galatians chapter one is all about. And Paul is basically kind of telling us the history of why his gospel message is the only one that everybody should believe and follow. Yet there were these false teachers scattered around in these Galatian churches that were teaching that Paul had not told them the whole truth about how you could be right with God. All right, now with that background, we're going to pick up at verse 18. We're going through verse 18 to the end of the chapter, verse 24.
So in verse 18, it says, Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter and remained with him for 15 days. So right after Paul was saved, he started preaching about Jesus all around the Damascus area, which was where he was saved. And Damascus is about 160 miles north of Jerusalem. And so the apostles were in Jerusalem, and for three years, Paul had no contact with them at all. But here he says, after.
After three years, he finally went to Jerusalem and he had his first interaction with one apostle, Peter, and then for only about two weeks. And then he goes on to say that he did interact with one other notable person in Jerusalem in verse 19. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brothers. So Paul met and spent a few days with Peter and James, the Lord's half brother, the one who wrote the letter, James. But what he wants us to know is that he did not go to Jerusalem to get instructed because he had already spent three years being taught directly by Jesus somehow.
And then we have verse 20, and in verse 20, it says, now, concerning the things which I write to you, indeed before God, I do not lie. Now, I have to tell you, when somebody tells me they're not lying, it makes me think, well, do you usually lie? And this is an exception, or why might a person tell you that they're not lying? Well, in Paul's case, there were false teachers who were claiming he was lying. So he didn't start this, they started it.
And I think Paul is saying, hey, look, I know what I'm telling you. It's incredibly supernatural. The exalted Jesus personally taught and instructed me and all that I know about it, Him. But as God is my witness, I am not lying about this. And now we have verse 21.
He says, afterwards I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. So after he left Jerusalem, he went directly back north to the same general area that he had been preaching in for those previous three years. And then verse 22, just to kind of make the point, he says, and I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea, which were in Christ. Now, Jerusalem is in an area called Judea, like Olive Branch is in an area called desoto County. And Paul says when he left Jerusalem, which was in the south he went straight back up north and he had to pass through Judea.
But he didn't stop and visit any churches. He didn't interact with anybody in Judea, so that nobody in Judea actually saw Paul's face after he had been saved. And now we have kind of the main verse, verse 23, we'll spend time here. But they were hearing these people in the churches of Judea. They were hearing only because, see, they hadn't seen his face.
So they were only hearing, he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy. Now, many of these people had probably seen Paul's face before he was saved because he was actively persecuting Christians in Jerusalem and the surrounding area. But after Jesus saved Paul, they hadn't seen him. And now it's been just over three years and they still haven't seen him. And his point is, nobody in the Jerusalem or Jerusalem area has taught me the Gospel of Jesus.
Jesus taught me the Gospel of Jesus. But they had all heard about his remarkable conversion and complete turnaround. He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy. And I want to use this as a springboard for some application for us today by asking four questions. And the first one is, do you believe you are a Christian?
You may not be. And I didn't ask what kind of Christian, just do you believe you are a Christian? And that leads to the second question. If you believe that you are a Christian, has Jesus changed your life? Now, could we all agree that when Jesus saved Paul, he changed his life?
I mean, so much so that everybody had heard about it. See, salvation is not just the forgiveness of your sins, which is necessary and wonderful. Salvation is a very one on one personal, relational encounter with the living creator God that you come to realize is Jesus Christ himself. And when you meet Jesus, he gives you a new heart. And this new heart comes with new thoughts and new desires and new affections.
You start hating the very sins that you used to love. And you start loving Jesus and you want to follow how he teaches us to live. You can't help yourself because he changes you on the inside. So the question was, has Jesus changed your life? Well, here's the third question to help you answer the second question.
Second question is, has Jesus changed your life? The third question is, who can see that difference in your life? See, now, everyone had either seen or heard about the differences in Paul's life. Well, who has seen or heard about the differences in your life? See, salvation is an invisible work of God.
But just because it's invisible doesn't mean it's not real and powerful. You know, the same is true of wind. It's invisible to us, but it's still real and at times can be very powerful. I thought for sure that we were going to have a big windstorm yesterday, and I'm really thankful that we didn't. But if we did, wouldn't we all be concerned about how much wind, the speed of it, what would have been the impact of it, the effects that would be left behind?
So when the wind of salvation hits Saul, who changed his name to Paul, it destroyed his previous life and Jesus replaced it with a completely different one. A Jesus loving life. And everybody saw the effects that it had on the apostle Paul. So who has seen the effects of the winds of salvation in your life? About 45 years ago, I was in a church that put one of our elderly men on trial for whether he was a real Christian or not.
As a 27 year old man, I was asked to be his defense attorney and present evidence that he was a real Christian. And another man was asked to play the prosecuting attorney and show evidence that he was a hypocrite, a fake, a phony. And I know some of you are sitting there going, what kind of church did you go to? Well, it wasn't for real. We all loved one another, and somewhere along the line we thought it would be fun and educational if we did this mock trial.
The defense attorney had a rubber snake around his neck since he was kind of playing the role of Satan in this whole thing. Well, we called witnesses, we learned he'd been saved as an adult at a Billy Graham crusade. And I thought things were going really well for the defense. And then the prosecutor called the man's wife to the stand. And I thought, oh, this could go bad.
So to prime the pump, he asked her this question. Mrs. Sherman, just how many times has your husband yelled at you during the 40 plus years of your marriage? May I remind you, you have sworn to tell the truth. And Mrs. Sherman, with complete calmness and tenderness, simply said, he has never yelled at me.
And you could have heard a pin drop like you could have heard just then as everybody was processing what they just heard. And the prosecutor looked stunned. He stumbled a bit and then he loudly said, you expect the court to. I'm sorry. He said, do you expect this court to believe that Your husband of 45 years has never yelled at you?
Never. And I jumped up and I said, I object, your honor. He's badgering the witness she answered the question. I was overruled. So she answered and said, well, we've had disagreements, but he has never yelled at me.
I jumped up again and I said, if it pleases the court, I ask for an immediate rule. This man is clearly saved by Jesus for who could not yell at his wife for over 40 years apart from the saving grace of Jesus? Anybody with me?
Well, the man, based on the evidence, was acquitted and considered a real Christian. So you can all take a deep breath. But here's the point. We're on trial every day before the eyes and ears of those that are in our orbit. Isn't that true?
Everybody has an opinion about you, just like you all have an opinion about me. I hope it slightly went up with that story, but that's still to be determined. So who would be your witnesses that God has changed you into a Jesus loving person? If you were put on on trial, who can see the difference in your life all because Jesus saved you. Everyone had heard about how Paul had changed.
Has anyone heard about you? So you think about that as we go to our last point. The last point is what is the faith in quotes that Paul preached? Because the verse says, he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy. Well, the phrase here, the faith, simply refers to the Gospel that Paul was now preaching.
So what I want to do is I want to review this, this faith that Paul was preaching because the false teachers said it was incomplete and that other things should be added to it. So what was this faith that Paul tried to destroy but is now preaching? All right, here are the three main verses in Galatians where Paul mentions Gospel content. The first one is in Galatians, chapter 1, verse 4. It says, who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil age.
The next one is in Galatians 2:20, the last part, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And then in Galatians 3:13, Paul wrote, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. And redeemed means that he paid the price of the curse of the law, so we could be free and clear of any debt before God. Now later in another book, Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, and in there he gave a very kind of technical, concise definition of the Gospel. And we're going to look at it.
First Corinthians 15, 3:4. It says, For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received. How did Paul receive this gospel message? Well, he claimed that Jesus taught him. He said, I received it and now I gave it to you, for I delivered to you first of all that which I also received.
And here is, it is that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. So Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose the third day. That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now in Galatians, Paul just focuses on the death of Jesus. And he says, said Jesus gave himself for our sins.
Which is to simply say, and you've heard it many times, Jesus died for our sins. Those five words are the Gospel. Who is the subject of this sentence? In fact, put that phrase up there, Micah. Jesus died for our sins.
Sins. Who is the subject of this sentence? Yes, Jesus is. What is the verb or action that Jesus did? He died.
And why did he die for our sins? And that's is completely about Jesus and what he did. Now where are you in the Gospel of Jesus Christ? What part do we play?
We provide the sin, right? This is all we do. Be sinners. Aren't you thinking? Well, hey, I think I'm pretty good at this.
That's our only part in the Gospel. We're sinners. Now when did this happen? Jesus died for our sins. When did this happen?
It's not a trick question. What about 2,000 years ago? Okay, so look at this, look at this sentence. The Gospel is a simple statement of historical facts. Let that sink in.
The Gospel is a simple statement of historical facts. It's about an event that happened 2,000 years ago that Jesus did for sinners. Jesus died for our sins. Alright, look at it. Is there a command or anything for us to do in the Gospel of Jesus?
No. It's a simple statement about a historical event and it can't be changed. It's history.
All right, can we talk about ladies accessories for a moment? Abby, you know, an accessory is some clothing item designed to highlight, highlight, compliment or accent the main primary article of clothing. I have not lost my mind. Stick with me here. The accessory is not the main thing, right?
Accessories are belts, hats, shoes, jewelry, handbags, scarves, gloves, finger and toenail color. These things are important, are they not? To some. Now, your dress or your blouse and pants are the main article of clothing and everything else is an accessory. Are you with me?
All right, well, the Gospel is the primary article of clothing, so to speak. But there are lots of accessories that come with the gospel and complement the gospel. But are not the Gospel, they're accessories. Alright, so let me start listing these for you with a brief explanation. Okay.
First, when it comes to the accessories of the Gospel of Jesus, the first one is the presentation of the gospel. See, the gospel is a message about Jesus. And our job as followers of Jesus is to simply present the message. It's the same thing as preaching the gospel. Don't confuse the two.
Preaching the gospel is not the gospel. The gospel is the gospel. The accessory is that it needs to be presented, put on display. So we don't invent this, we just report it. Now the next accessory is the invitation of the gospel.
This is when we tell people that this good news of Jesus dying for sinners is available to them. And so we invite them to believe this gospel message about Jesus. Believe that Jesus did die for sinners and you need to believe that he died for you. So we invite people to believe the gospel and you see how they're different. The invitation is an accessory.
The gospel is the main thing. All right, the next item that we have is the calling of the gospel. Now, the calling of the gospel, this is the secret invisible power of God that uses the gospel to actually call someone from death to life in Jesus. I don't know how God takes a spiritually dead person and makes them alive, but he does it. And he does it as the Gospel is being presented and as people are being invited to trust this Jesus of the Gospel.
And then he does this secret mysterious work of making them alive. But in the Scriptures, he does it through the presentation and the invitation of the the gospel. He calls people powerfully to himself. Okay, the next one is the reception of the gospel. Once you hear and understand that God is inviting you to believe this good news about Jesus, you must individually and personally welcome and receive the Jesus of this gospel.
Now you believing that Jesus, Jesus died for your sins is not the gospel. It's you receiving the gospel personally.
What else? Well, when a man asked Paul how to be saved, Paul said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Now think about it. What else can you do with a statement of historical facts about Jesus? You can't juggle it.
You either believe it or you don't. Because the only thing we do in the Gospel is be the sinners. Jesus is doing all the action. So you're either trusting that Jesus did these actions for you or you don't. That's all you can do with the Gospel because it's a statement of historical facts.
You either believe it or you don't. If you Believe it. It has powerful life changing effects. All right, the next one is the benefits of the gospel. And there are many.
And because of the gospel you can experience. And I'm just going to list these things and you're not going to like it, but I'm going to run through it real fast or you may like it. Alright, here they are. Just some benefits of the forgiveness of your sins, reconciliation with God, adoption into God's family, eternal life, God forever accepting you, peace with God, the gift of the Holy Spirit, spiritual gift, gifts, the power to battle sin in your life, access to God, hope of resurrection and eternal inheritance, final glorification, God loving you forever. And the list goes on and on.
But these are some of the main ones and those are accessories to the gospel. Gospel. None of those are the gospel. Your sins will be forgiven. That's not the gospel.
The gospel is, jesus died for sinners. And when you make it your own, you'll say, like Paul, he gave himself for me. All right, let's look at the next accessory, Baptism. This is where the most confusion comes in. There are religions out there that add baptism to the gospel message.
You must believe and be baptized to be saved.
We've already seen that baptism is not part of the gospel. Did you see it in there? Jesus died for your sins. There's nothing about baptism because baptism is not, not part of the gospel. It's an accessory.
And Paul clearly understood that baptism was an accessory that you add to your gospel salvation. And I want to show it to you in 1st Corinthians 1:17. Look what Paul wrote here. He said, for Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Do you see how he separates baptism from the gospel?
I don't think it could be any clearer. The gospel is what saves. Romans 1:16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes the gospel saves. Paul said, I didn't come to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Why?
Because the gospel is what saves. So baptism is an accessory that you put on after God has saved you. And lastly, accessory to the gospel is good works, a changed life. And that's what we've been talking about, a changed life. How we live either makes the gospel look beautiful or ugly or somewhere in between to others.
But how you live is not the gospel. How you live is not how you are saved because the gospel saves and good works are not part of the gospel. In fact, bad works are part of the gospel. Do you know what I mean? It's the sinners.
The only work that's in the Gospel are our sins, bad works. Now, later, in a letter to Christians at the Church of Ephesus, Paul wrote in 2:10. And somebody referenced it this morning, can't remember who. Kevin, if it was you, you let me know. Ephesians 2:10.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So good works are a result of the saving power of the Gospel, an accessory that God prepared for every Christian to have. Jesus saved Paul and changed his life. That's what he does for anyone that he saves. And that leads us to the last verse in our passage today.
And some of you are going, oh, no, not the last verse already, but here we are, verse 24. It says, now this is about the people in Judea who had not seen Paul except when he was persecuting him three years earlier. They hadn't seen him as a saved, converted man, but they had heard about the change in his life.
And it says, and they glorified God in me. So Paul knew that when Christians heard that Jesus had saved him in the midst of his terrorism, they were amazed. And in their marvel, they praised and exalted God. They didn't glorify Paul, they glorified God. Where are the Christians glorifying and praising God for what he has done in your life?
Well, they might be in your small group. They might be on a volunteer team with you. They could be sitting right here. And if you're a member of Great Commission Church, I want to comfort you with the thought we all need to grow in our love for Jesus. Wouldn't you agree with that?
We've got a long way to go. But one way to grow in Jesus is to serve him by being on a volunteer team like we've talked about here today, by devoting more of your time and energy to Jesus to show that he's a priority in your life. You get it? He's worthy. And as we serve him, other Christians will see the work of God in us and they'll give him glory for the change that they see in you.
If you're not a Christian, my prayer for you is that God would give you the grace to finally surrender to him and boldly trust and acknowledge that you believe Jesus personally died for your guilt before God and that by trusting him that you'll be completely forgiven.
That is the guilt Gospel. With this great benefit of the forgiveness of your sins, will you think about that as we pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your goodness that you give to us through the good news of Jesus. That, Jesus, you died for sinners. And for those of us that you have changed, our heart cries out, oh, Jesus, how could you love me?
But you did. And. And you died for me. Hallelujah. Thank you.
Make me more like you. We ask in your name. Amen. Now, what I'd like to do is to direct your attention to this welcome card, because this is how many of you can communicate to the church staff to let us know how we might be able to assist. Assist you in a next step.
And taking next steps is just a part of growth. So if you're saying, look, I want to grow, and there's a clear next step that I need to take, and you just look over those, help me find a small group. I'm ready to trust Jesus or rediscover my faith. I want to be baptized. I'm curious about membership.
I'm ready to serve and want to join a team. If you'll check one of those boxes, drop it. And I mean, yeah, one of those little boxes, and then drop it in the wooden offering boxes that are by the exit door. We'll simply follow up with you and help you take that next step. Now, when we dismiss, our prayer teams are going to be here at the front of the building, and they pray and ask God to help them to be able to pray for you.
So whatever might be on your heart, whether it's salvation, some area, area of growth that it just seems like sin is beating you up and you just need God to strengthen you so you can be more changed. They would love to pray with you. Whether you have concerns, whether it's your job, whether it's family, come and let our prayer ministry teams pray for you. And so let's stand at this point. And as we stand, would our prayer ministry teams go ahead and come forward and get in place?
Hey, thank you for being here this morning. You could have been other places. So thank you for being here. I hope the Lord blessed you with his word. Be sure to take advantage of any prayer ministry.
And with that, we are dismissed.

Join us this Sunday at Great Commission Church for a welcoming and uplifting worship experience. If you’ve been searching for a church near you, you’ll discover a warm, authentic church family ready to help you grow in faith.

We are a family-friendly, non-denominational Christian church in Olive Branch, serving individuals and families throughout DeSoto County and the greater Mid-South. People looking for Christian churches in Olive Branch often discover a vibrant community where faith comes alive and lives are transformed through the Gospel.

Whether you’re new to faith or have followed Christ for years, you’ll find welcoming Sunday services, practical Bible teaching, and a place to belong. We are more than a congregation — we are a church family united by a mission to follow Jesus and live out the Great Commission.

A Place for the Whole Family

Families searching for a church with strong children’s programs love our engaging Kids Ministry and safe, caring environments. Students can connect through our Youth Ministry, and adults of every stage can find community through groups, prayer, and discipleship opportunities. As a multi-generational church, we love seeing every age grow in faith together.

Meaningful Worship

Experience contemporary worship with modern Christian music, heartfelt prayer, and Gospel-centered messages designed to help you encounter God personally. If you’re looking for vibrant worship near Memphis, you’ll find a place that feels both authentic and inspiring.

Grow in Your Faith

We offer Bible studies, small groups, and discipleship opportunities that help you understand and apply God’s Word to everyday life. If you’re looking for a place to grow spiritually, you’ll find support and encouragement here.

Connected to Our Community

We are passionate about serving our neighbors through outreach and local partnerships, making a positive impact in Olive Branch and beyond.

Conveniently located in Olive Branch, we serve families from surrounding communities, including Southaven, Germantown, Collierville, Lewisburg, and Byhalia.