Jeff Preaches Gospel On The Beach

The Gospel as Good News for the Broken

Okay. Hey guys, my name is Pastor Jeff Durbin. I'm with Apology at Church. We're here because we love you and we care about you today. We wanted to come and share not only the food that we gave you today, but we wanted to share God's good news.

I know that you guys are living in one of the most beautiful places in the world. This place is a tremendous, glorious gift. You guys sit in paradise every day, but I know that you're struggling. Many of you are homeless and you're living here on this beach, struggling.

I know there's a lot of suffering and a lot of tragedy in your lives behind you and maybe even in the midst of where you're at right now. And so we wanted to come and again, not just share food with you and fill your bellies, but we wanted to fill your hearts and minds with God's good news.

And so I would ask that you sit here today that you would spend just a few moments listening to what's being said. And we want you to know that this is coming from a place of deep humility. We come to you not as righteous in ourselves and good people, perfect people.

We come to you as humble, broken sinners who have been rescued by God's grace, through the redemption that's in the Messiah, Jesus. And we want you to know that message of life and forgiveness. And so I'm actually going to read to you a section from the Bible.

It's from Romans, the book of Romans that's in your New Testament. It's written by a man named the Apostle Paul. He was once an antagonist towards the Christian faith, towards the gospel. He actually says in one of his letters, Galatians, that he was so zealous to destroy the gospel and the Christian faith.

He tried to persecute the church. He tried to destroy the faith. He was a man who was very, very dedicated, very religious, very strongly committed to his beliefs as a Jew. Ignoring everything the Bible had said, of course, about the Messiah and Jesus.

But he met the Lord Jesus, alive from the dead, on the way to persecute more Christians. And his whole entire life was changed. He went from persecuting Christians, trying to destroy the Christian church and the gospel, to writing most of the New Testament.

He actually lived a life of brokenness, poverty, shame, and the world's standards. He was homeless at times, shipwrecked, constantly in danger. He was in danger from false Christians. He was in danger from people who wanted to stamp out the movement of the gospel.

He was in chains at times. He was in jail. He suffered. He was hungry. And at one point he says that they are in poverty, they're in rags. At that very moment, he wrote Romans. And I wanted to read to you this letter, really, that he wrote to a church.

He says, Paul, a slave of Messiah Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. Now, I want to just hang on that word just for a moment there. I'm sure you've heard it, the word gospel.

Some of you guys are probably jaded to that term by now. You probably had Christians here loving you and trying to serve you, caring for your needs, telling you about the gospel. But I wanted to share with you what that word means.

It means good news. I know some of you are lying here right now, lying down on the ground, struggling, sad and broken. And you feel like you're at the end of your rope. You feel like there's no hope for you.

And I want to share with you that there is good news. And not just good news from a man or a woman. Not just an inspirational message. But this is good news from God. It's called the gospel. And that means good news.

And it is good news from God. And this is what I wanted to read to you about that gospel. Set apart for the good news of God, which he, that's God, promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead.

Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations. So I wanted to start there and just explain that for a minute because it is actually very, very powerful.

Christ in the Old Testament Promises

It's God's good news. Good news from God concerning Jesus, his son, who was born a descendant of David. This is what the scriptures had always promised. I want to encourage you to look in your Bibles and see that this story of the gospel in history here in this world with real flesh and blood and air and dirt and grass and sky and wind.

Something that happened in history is a story that God actually foretold long before it actually happened in this world. It's a story of Jesus, Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, Jesus who came into the world to rescue sinners, to save them from their sins.

I know that you feel here, some of you guys lying here on the grass, living here on the beach, you feel like your plight is completely hopeless. You feel like the life that you're living is hopeless and broken and dark.

And I want to encourage you to see that God loves sinners so much that he actually gave us the story of his salvation long before it happened. God was coming to save sinners. The Old Testament told us every detail necessary to know Jesus before he actually came into the world.

It told us every detail about Jesus long before Jesus came, hundreds of years before Jesus came in the book of Isaiah chapter 9. It says that the one who is coming, this son who is coming, this child who is coming, this human being, this one who is one of us who is coming, is wonderful counselor, El Gibor.

And it's a Hebrew word that means the mighty God, the father of eternity. It says the one who is coming is actually God himself. The Bible teaches and all of us know deep down there is only one true and living God.

There are not many gods. There is only one God. The Bible says in Isaiah 43 10, Before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. God says in Isaiah 44 6, I am the first and I am the last, besides me there is no God.

And God asks a rhetorical question in Isaiah 44 8, He says this, Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is no other God, I know not one. The powerful story of the Bible is that this is the one and only true and living God from eternity into eternity.

You are God, the one and only God who is eternal, who doesn't depend on anybody or anything. This triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has existed from all eternity, completely unified and perfect, righteous and justice, holy and blameless.

A God who is love and mercy, who has existed forever. That God promised to enter into His own creation. The triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Father planning to save sinners, the Son entering into our existence, taking on human flesh, walking among us, the One who was in the bosom of the Father, the monogamous Theos, the Bible calls it, the unique and one-of-a-kind God who was in the bosom of the Father.

He has made the Father known to us. The Bible says in the Holy Scriptures long before Jesus came that God Himself was coming as a man to bring a kingdom, a rule into the world to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

Many of you guys are familiar with that first book in the Bible. It's called the book of Genesis. Many of you know that book. It's the book that says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

That same opening book of the Bible says in Genesis 49, 10 that there's going to be someone who comes, this Messiah. And to Him, the Messiah is going to be the obedience of the nations. All the nations, people from every tribe, tongue, and nation are going to come and stream up to God, to His mountain to receive forgiveness, salvation, redemption.

God was coming to save sinners. Isaiah chapter 53, a book written hundreds of years before Jesus came. It tells the story of what the Messiah is going to accomplish for His people. It says this beautiful story of the one who would be pierced through for our transgressions.

He'd be crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being would be upon Him. And by His wounds, we would be healed. It says that He would be counted among the rebels. That's you and me, counted among the rebels.

He would justify the many as He would bear their iniquities. And that means this, that the Messiah was going to come and He was going to bear our sins so that God could declare us righteous in Him. And we are declared righteous in Him through faith.

Sin, Judgment, and the Need for Repentance

You see, the good news about Jesus, this is what I want you to hear, especially where you're at. Laying on a beach, many of you homeless and struggling in great difficulty. The Messiah did not just come, did not just come so that you could go to heaven one day.

But the Messiah came so that you can be reconciled to God today, now, forgiven, redeemed, at peace with God. The world that we live in today is the way that it is because we have chosen this. We love our sin.

It says in the Word of God that all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All of us have gone astray, every one of us to our own way. It says that our feet are swift to shed blood. The poison of asps is in our lips.

And it says with our tongues we keep deceiving. It says there is no fear of God before our eyes. It says in God's Word that all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. We are so lost and we are so broken and the world is the way that it is because ultimately we have rebelled against God.

It says in Romans chapters 1 through 5 quite a bit about us and our condition. This means you and me. I'm in this, you're in this. It says that we are helpless, that we suppress the truth of God and unrighteousness.

It says in that text in Romans 1 through 5 that we are hostile enemies of God. It says that we fall short of the glory of God and it says that the wages of our sin is death. It says that we are unrighteous, we are ungodly.

That's the condition of all of us, you and me. This is the world that we want for ourselves because we so do not want God. But the glory of the good news is that the God that we have offended, the God that we have rebelled against and we are hostile toward, that God, the creator of everything, He stepped into this existence.

He stepped into this fallen world to redeem and to save that which was lost. He comes into the world. God, Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, He comes into the world. He lives the life that you and I have failed.

We are rebels against God. We do not obey God's law. We choose rather our darkness than His light. We don't want the God who made all things. And that God stepped into the world to live the life that we have failed.

He was perfectly obedient in every way, in all the ways that we are not obedient. He was obedient in thought, word and deed. He was perfect and He died a death that you and I deserve. You see, the glory in the gospel is that Jesus takes my punishment.

He takes my sin. He takes the death that I deserve and you deserve. And He conquers that death and He rises again from the dead. Jesus is alive today, friends. He's alive. He lives forevermore to make intercession for the rebels like you and me.

He lives to bring peace between sinners and God. And He accomplished a salvation that was a once-for-all sacrifice. There's nothing you can add to it. There's nothing you can do. You cannot put anything before God's feet that would ultimately redeem yourselves.

You cannot put any righteousnesses before God that would ultimately make up for all of your rebellion against God, nor me. And the call of the gospel, of the good news, is that Jesus is God. He's the Messiah.

He lived perfectly, righteously. He died for sinners and He rose again from the dead. He's ascended and He is seated on His throne. And the call of the good news is to repent of your sin and believe the gospel.

Turn away from your sin and your darkness and come to the true and living Jesus to be redeemed and forgiven, to experience God's grace and peace and mercy. And this is what's so critical. I imagine many of you today have heard about Jesus and His death and resurrection.

And you may have even heard people talking about the death and resurrection of Jesus as though if you just acknowledge these facts about Jesus, if you just say that it's true, well, then that's all you need.

It's just to simply believe those things in your head. And here's the problem, my friends. Even the demons believe and they tremble. Even they acknowledge all these things are true about Jesus. So the question is this, not do you simply check the box in your mind that those things are true about Jesus, but have you come to Him to trust in Him to save you?

Have you turned away from sin? Have you turned to trust in Jesus Christ? Are you putting your faith in Him alone? Listen, you need to hear this. This is a glorious truth in the gospel. There's nothing you can do to save yourself.

There's no amount of good deeds and good works. You are not righteous and neither am I. And no amount of obedience and good works and righteousnesses will ever, ever avail before a holy God that you've already offended.

You've already broken God's law. You're already worthy of His justice. Salvation is a gift of God's grace through faith alone in Jesus. But you must come. You can't simply in your mind say, sure, that's true.

And say that that means that you know God or that you have peace with God. The demons also acknowledge these things as true. The question is, will you have a change of mind and turn to Jesus to put your faith, your trust in Him, your dependence upon Him alone?

And here's the promise of the gospel. If you've turned from sin to trust in Jesus, if you are trusting in Jesus, then Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, He who hears my voice and believes Him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment but is passed out of death into life.

I know that many of you feel that darkness. You feel like death is right in front of you. You feel like it's all around you. You feel like there's no hope. But the beauty of Christ is that He gives us hope.

It's not a hope like, I hope I find my keys and you're clamoring around for your keys in the darkness. It's not that kind of hope.

It's a certainty.

It's a word that can never fall short and fail. God's word will never return to Him void. Jesus says all who come to Him have life and they have it abundantly. They have forgiveness. They have peace with God.

There is never-ending peace with God, never-ending forgiveness and grace. There is peace and reconciliation with God for you and me today if we will trust in Jesus. Jesus died for sinners. Will you come to Him for life?

Jesus is alive and raised from the dead. Will you come to Him for life? Will you turn to Jesus and put your faith in Him to be given the gift of eternal life and righteousness, the gift of righteousness?

Will you come be joined to Him in His death and resurrection? I want to say one more thing to you and please hear me on this. Jesus had many crowds following Him, many crowds following Him. And He would turn to these crowds and He would say to them, if any of you comes to me and does not hate, and He would name the people who are closest to us, father, mother, sister, brother, wife, and even your own life, you're not worthy to be my disciple.

He says if you don't come to Jesus and take up your cross to come follow Him, you're not worthy to be His disciple. This is a gift of God's grace through faith in Jesus, but you need to come to die. You need to come to die.

You need to come and be joined to Jesus on the cross. Be crucified with Christ so that it is no longer you who lives, but Christ who lives in you. The call is this, repent and believe in Christ. Repent and believe the gospel.

Be reconciled to God today, friends, and experience His peace. Again, my name is Pastor Jeff. We love you deeply. We care for you. We want to take care of your needs. If any of you needs anything right now, any food, anything to drink, I want you to please feel free to come and ask us and we would be honored to take care of your needs.

If you need anything to fill your bellies, if you need anything, if you need band-aids, shoes, anything at all, we'd be happy to take care of your needs. Just please ask us, we'll care for you. But most of all, beyond those things, we want you to know that we want you to know Jesus, to be forgiven and have peace with God.

God bless you. Thank you so much for giving me the privilege to share this with you.