The Wire

Part six of a miniseries that answers the questions, “What is the Gospel and how are we to respond?” In this talk, Pastor Clint explains what it means to no longer be enemies, orphans or exiles, but instead to be part of the Tribe of Jesus.

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Summary by Darrin Koehler

No one can be a Christian and be apathetic to Jesus at the same time. In fact, 1 Peter 2 emphasizes this point, “to you who believe, this stone [Jesus Christ] is precious. But to those who do not believe, ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,’ and, ‘a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”

Now, the significance of Jesus being the capstone, or cornerstone, is tremendous. The imagery that Peter painted would have been very clear to the readers of the day. The cornerstone is the single most important part of the building process. It is the first step; and if the cornerstone is not laid perfectly – with exact precision – then the whole rest of the building will be crooked. Likewise, our families, marriages, relationships, business decisions, and every other aspect of our lives must be built on Jesus Christ as the foundation. Otherwise, they are in vain, and will not stand against the storm.

Keep in mind, however, that the dwelling place of God is not in buildings or temples or sanctuaries. According to the new testament, God resides in the regenerate hearts of believers. This is called the Church, or Christ’s body. 1 Corinthians 12 describes the body of Christ as being made up of many different parts that all serve an integral purpose and function. When one part of the body hurts, the whole body hurts. As Christians, we are given many, many commands for one-anothering. Here are just a few of them:

Part four of a miniseries that answers the questions, “What is the Gospel and how are we to respond?” In this talk, Pastor Clint addresses the different responses people have to hearing the gospel by explaining Jesus’ parable of the sower, the seeds, and the soils.

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Summary by Darrin Koehler

When Jesus gives parables, it is important that we do not read into them meanings that He did not intend. Jesus spoke in different kinds of parables – some that were allegories (a story involving symbolism, where the elements of he story represent truth figuratively) and some that were simple, one-point illustrations. The fact that Jesus spoke in parables was actually a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. He explained this in Matthew 13:13-17, saying that a man will either be condemned by the Gospel or saved through it. Jesus uses this parable to explain that there are many ways of responding to the Gospel, but only one way that leads to salvation: repentance and belief.

Part three of a miniseries that answers the questions, “What is the Gospel and how are we to respond?” In this talk, Pastor Clint addresses the relationship between faith and deeds, making the case that we are saved by faith alone, but saving faith is never alone.

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Summary by Darrin Koehler

The Bible is pretty clear about the nature of our salvation. Paul explains it in several places throughout the New Testament letters, and condenses it to one sentence in the following two verses:

»Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.

»Romans 3:28
For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

This seems simple enough to understand – there is nothing that we can do to merit or earn our salvation. We are saved by the gift of faith through the gift of God’s grace.

Yeah, until James throws a monkey wrench into the gears.

»James 2:24b
A person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

Woah! What happened here? Well, contrary to secular scholarship, Paul and James are not standing toe-to-toe fighting each other over the Gospel. They are standing back-to-back fighting together to defend the Gospel against two different enemies. Paul is challenging the self-righteous, saying that by no means can they earn their salvation, and that we are saved apart from any works of righteousness. James is challenging the libertines, who consider God’s grace a ticket for living according to their own selfish inclinations.

It is important to read fully the context for each of these verses. The doctrine that one can be saved by making Jesus his savior, but not his Lord, is a fallacy. James attacks this idea when he writes in verse 19, “you believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!” In other words, intellectual consignment does not make one saved – only believing with the heart in the identity of Christ and confessing that He is Lord does. This is Biblical faith. What’s more, we have been made the temple of God, and we are sanctified by the blood of Christ. When someone is genuinely converted, his heart is renewed – he is born again. This makes it impossible for the believer to buddy-up with his sin. Instead, he will oppose it, carrying on a life-long process of becoming Christ.

>> See Related: Faith the Works (Pt 2)
>> See Related: Faith the Works (Pt 1)
>> See Related: Repentance Defined

Part one of a miniseries that answers the question, “How are we to respond to the Gospel?” In this talk, Pastor Clint discusses the role of repentance in faith.

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In this sermon and in the following short series, Clint explains from the Scriptures the nature of Biblical faith. He begins with these five premises.

1. The Gospel demands a response.
2. We are saved by grace through faith alone, apart from our own righteousness.
3. Biblical faith consists of two mutually dependent elements: repentance and belief (two sides of the same coin).
4. The Bible distinguished between empty intellectual belief and saving experiential belief.
5. Even our response of repentance and faith is a gift of grace and direct result of God?s initiation and mercy that enables us to respond to him.

John writes that to all who receive Him, they are given the right to be children of God. But what does it mean to receive Jesus? Surely, most religions receive Jesus in some fashion. But the Bible calls us to receive Him as God. When Peter received the Holy Spirit, he spoke with power about the Gospel of Jesus. And when the hearers heard, they were cut to the heart, asking “what shall we do?” To this, Peter responded, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the Holy Spirit.”

What sets Biblical Christianity apart from every other religion in the world is that the work is already finished. There is nothing that we can do to merit our own salvation because our deeds and works can never be good enough to please God. He is perfect, and His standard is perfect – it can only be met in the perfect and sinless blood of Jesus Christ. Anything that we try to add to the blood of Christ is insulting to God because it means that we do not believe His blood is sufficient, His work is finished, and that He alone is mighty to save.

What we believe about Jesus and His work on the cross is crucial. It is therefore important that we understand what John meant when he said, “to all who… receive Him.” Reading the Bible for its face value, it seems impossible to separate repentance from “receiving Him.”

»Clint Wagnon:
“It has been said that Repentance is the first word of the gospel. It was the message of John the Baptist as he prepared the way for the arrival of Jesus (Matt 3:2). It was the message of Jesus when he began his public ministry (Matt 4:17) and announced the gospel?s arrival in Galilee (Mark 1:14-15). It permeated not only his preaching (Matt 18:3, Luke 24:46-47), but also the preaching of those he sent out (Mark 6:12). It was the response Peter provoked after preaching the gospel at Pentecost (Acts 2:38), at the temple (Acts 3:19), before the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:31), and to Cornelius? household (Acts 11:18). It was the message of Paul at Mars Hill (Acts 17:30) and in Ephesus (Acts 20:21); before Agrippa (Acts 26:20) and in Rome (Acts 28:25-31).”

So what is repentance? He continues:

“Repentance is turning from the reign of sin and the preeminence of self (self-rule, self-reliance and self-righteousness) to the Lordship of Christ, acknowledging his rightful authority over all things, including our own lives. This repentance accompanies biblical faith — believing Jesus to be the promised Messiah, recognizing our inability to do anything to save ourselves and relying solely and totally on the completed work of Christ?s substitutionary death and resurrection to save us.”

It is impossible to “receive Jesus” without acknowledging Him as Lord. He gives us no other option.

To be continued in the next sermon…
>> See Related: Repentance Defined