Men's Breakfast Message | Special Event

Is it on? I can't hear myself. You want to start? Ready to go Peter? Hello? Test, test, test. Good, you all hear me? Alright, well, good morning. It's good to be here together. David asked me a little while ago if I'd share something with you that I've learned recently or that I've come to appreciate more deeply as a consequence of my time in the Word of God and in this fellowship.

At the time, he didn't give me too much direction in terms of what he wanted me to talk about. So I told him that I was a one-trick pony and the glory of Christ has consumed me and awed me. And perhaps the most influential person outside of God himself, of course, was a man that I've never met by the name of John Owen.

And so I want to take this time to fix our thoughts on the person and the work of Jesus Christ. He is the God-man. He is our eternal Savior and King. And I want to talk about his provision, warnings, and commands.

C .H. Spurgeon said that nothing in the world is nearer to God's heart than his church. Therefore, being his, let us also belong to it, that by our prayers, our gifts, and our labors, we may support and strengthen it.

If those who are Christ's refrained, even for a generation, from numbering themselves with his people, there would be no visible church, no ordinances maintained, and I fear very little preaching of the gospel.

The Suffering Servant and the Father-Son Covenant of Redemption

If you have your Bibles, would you turn to Isaiah 53? It's a familiar passage. It's about our Savior. I'm going to read three verses for you, starting in verse 10, Isaiah 53, 10. But the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief.

If he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand. As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied.

By his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, will justify the many, as he will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot him a portion with the great, and he will divide the booty with the strong.

Because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors, yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors. This passage right here is a glorious testimony of God the Father and God the Son covenanting together for the provision of the redemption of the church.

In a desire to explain the passage, John Flavel put the conversation into a dialogue. I'm going to read it to you. It's between the Father and the Son. Father, my Son, here is a company of poor, miserable souls that have utterly undone themselves, and now lie open to my justice.

Justice demands satisfaction for them, or will satisfy itself in the eternal ruin of them. What shall be done for these souls? Son, O my Father, such is my love to and pity for them, that rather than they shall perish eternally, I will be responsible for them as their surety.

Bring in all your bills, that I may see what they owe you. Lord, bring them all in, that there may be no after reckonings with them. At my hand shall you require it. I will rather choose to suffer your wrath than they should suffer it.

Upon me, my Father, upon me be all their debt. Father, but my Son, if you undertake for them, you must reckon to pay the last mite. Expect no abatements. If I spare them, I will not spare you. Son, content, Father, let it be so.

Charge it all upon me. I am able to discharge it, and though it prove a kind of undoing to me, though it impoverish all my riches, empty all my treasures, yet I am content to undertake it. The filial love between the Father and the Son on behalf of the Church is staggering, unable to be grasped by human comprehension.

Obviously, we know that Jesus Christ provides for His Church. This local visible church, called Kootenai Community Church, has been gifted with a pastor who preaches the good old truth, and who is an instrument in the hand of the Spirit, who does not offer anything other than the simple preaching of the gospel.

Also, God has provided men to lead, teach, grow, and disciple this body. We truly have elders who are worthy of double honor, and I want to remind you now the names of our elders and encourage you to get to know them.

Pray for them, and thank them for their work when you see them. Dave Rich, Cornel Razor, Jim Osmond, Jess Wetzel, and we've just recently added or put forward for proposal two more elders, which is David Forsythe and Jeff Miller.

Jeff, are you here today?

Yep.

If you take the opportunity to spend time with any of these men, you will find that God's Word dwells in them richly, that they have a supernatural love for the Bride of Christ, and they are thankful for the role that Jesus has given them and the power that the Holy Spirit provides them with.

This faithful church will produce an effect that Jesus told us about in John 15, 18 -21. If you go ahead and turn there with me, I'm just going to read those verses for you. By way of reminder here, if the world hates you, you know that it's hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for my name's sake, because they do not know the one who sent me.

A couple of years ago, we were living in Silverton, Oregon. I retired from the Army, and we had moved back there, and we were attending a local Baptist church when the Oregon State Governor, Kate Brown, forbid gathering together for worship, forbid singing together, forbid seeing each other's unmasked faces.

And the local visible church that we were attending eagerly complied with the mandates, and that pastor even decided to write a letter to the editor of the local paper explaining how we love black people and supported the BLM movement.

In rapid succession, without any hesitation and very little provocation, the elders chose to forsake the fellowship and twist the gospel in deference to human reasoning. I lovingly approached my pastor to reason with him from the scripture, but he was committed to a philosophical idea.

Cobelligerency, he said, was his manner of spreading the gospel. For example, when the Catholic Church works to eliminate abortion, we can partner with them. This demonstrates that we have more in common than we have in difference.

I reminded him that the scripture is riddled with warnings about friendship with the world and the reality of the hatred of the world, but he was gripped by fear and could not hear the clear warnings of God's word.

It's everywhere, but just, it's 1 Corinthians 1 .18, James 4 .4, John 15 .18, 2 Peter 2 .1, Jude 3 -4. I hope you all can see how important it is to obey the command we have from God, to be sanctified by the truth.

His word is truth, and to gather together to edify each other and build each other up. Jesus Christ has given each of us a role in this church. We were just talking at my table with Josh and Mike about John MacArthur and how he's going to pass the baton, and the thought that's going through my mind maybe from preparing these comments for you was who in this room is thinking about that.

If Jim weren't preaching, if Jeff weren't here, if, I mean, we all have a role. We all have a role. Different gifts, but we all have a role. John MacArthur reminds us that not everyone who externally associates with the church is a true believer.

This is Matthew 13, 24 -30, and Jude 4. Consequently, not all who are a part of the visible church are actually members of the invisible church. There are always false professors and hypocrites who associate themselves with the visible church.

Jesus himself warned that many will claim to know him who in reality do not, and you know this. It's Matthew 7, 21 -23, and he says, God is not vague. God is not confusing. Our pastor has said it. We all know it.

God doesn't whisper, and God doesn't try. It's very simple and straightforward. The mission of the church is threefold. Exalt God, edify believers, and evangelize the lost. That's what we're doing. That's who we are.

Each of us is uniquely gifted, qualified, and called to participate in all three of those purposes. Regardless of your gift, you have a gift, and you are needed. Our gathering here today really is intended to do all three.

Exalt God, edify believers, evangelize the lost. I praise God for this time together, and I hope that you have been reminded of what it costs for us to be here, what we are doing here, and what your role is.

Thank you. Is that going to buzz? Seven and three-eighths.

All right.

Steve, thank you.

I appreciate it. I appreciate your being willing to do it. I appreciate the continual exhortation to press into the gospel that every time you and I are together, I receive.

So God bless you.

Let's see. Thomas asked me to let you know about the Easter breakfast. Sign up. You need serving helpers. Is that kind of it?

Anything else? Bingo. Yep, bingo.

So this is here. I'm going to just pass that back to you. See him afterwards for this, please.

Thank you.

Get you out of here about 10, 15.

No, maybe not. We'll see. We'll see.

All right.

The Gospel for Believers as the Power of God

So this morning, I'd like to just talk to you for a few minutes under the rubric of the gospel for believers, the gospel for believers. So the command to preach the gospel to all the world is very explicit and a clear command upon the people of God.

Mark chapter 16, verse 15, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. There is no quibbling about that reality. We are to preach the gospel to the lost.

Why?

Because as Peter says in Acts chapter four in verse 12, for there is salvation in no other name, but there's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. There is no alternative but Christ himself.

So the command to preach, the command to preach Christ is clear. It's an imperative. It lies upon all of us in our various spheres of relationship. But when we think about preaching the gospel, we need to think beyond it merely as an evangelism, beyond merely the reality that we need to preach this good news to the lost.

We need to think, and that's what I want to do with you this morning for a few minutes, is to think about and recognize that the gospel is for believers also. In fact, it is imperative for believers. Paul in Romans 1, and if you have your Bibles, we'll turn you there.

Romans 1 in verse 15. Romans 1 .15, the Apostle Paul says, So for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are at Rome. Interesting. I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome.

Who are these people at Rome that he is eager to preach the gospel to? Is it just a bunch of unbelievers? And he's eager to get to Rome to preach to the lost, to see them repent of their sin and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and be eternally reconciled with God the Father through the Son?

Let your eyes stray back to verse 6, where here he says,. Among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. To all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints, grace you in peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. Now, wait a minute. I am eager to preach the gospel to you at Rome, but your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is so deep and robust and profound that it's being proclaimed throughout the world.

In other words, you're squared away believers. You are followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet Paul says, I'm eager to get there and I'm eager to preach the gospel to you. I have three questions this morning for us.

Three questions regarding the gospel for believers. Just simple questions as a way to hang our thoughts. Since Paul is eager to preach the gospel to them in Rome, and I'd say by extension, I'm eager to preach the gospel to you today as believers, the first question is this, is why do we need the gospel every day?

Why do we as believers need the gospel every day? In other words, the gospel saved us, but it's not something that we move beyond. We never move beyond it. We never live outside of it. Why? Verse 16, Romans 1, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God, for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Just look at that.

It is the power of God. It is the power of God. Is God powerful?

Indeed He is.

We can look and see the physical manifestations of the power of God in a thunderstorm, in the raging of the sea, in a million, a myriad of physical expressions. We can look out into the night sky and see the vast solar array.

We feel the heat of the sun. Is God powerful? Yeah, God's powerful. But about all of those manifestations of the power of God, it is not spoken of as the power of God. It is the power of God. In other words, the greatest display of the power of God in the universe is the gospel.

It is the gospel. Why? Because it is the gospel that brings the dead to life. It does what nothing else can do. It does heart surgery at a level that is unimaginable. It regenerates a dead sinner who is at enmity with God and God with him and makes us sons of the living God.

It is the gospel that reconciles God and man. It is the gospel that reconciles man with man. It is the gospel that breaks the power of sin, both temporally and eternally. It is the power of God. We need it every day.

We need it every day. Why? So that our minds would be transformed. Transformed. Romans chapter 12, verse 2. Now, one and two. Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

It is the power of God that transforms our minds. Transforms our minds. Listen to Paul, how Paul says it in Ephesians chapter 4, verses 20 through 24. Where there he writes to the Ephesian believers, You did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus, that in reference to your former manner of life you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lust of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

It is the gospel that completely revolutionizes how we think. Before Christ, our minds were just filled with corruption. We were slaves of sin, we couldn't think rightly. I mean, we look around and we see society, it is absolutely descending into madness.

They're lost. They're lost. And such were some of you, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, such were us. We too were lost, we too, our minds were corrupt. And it is through a regular daily contact with the gospel that our minds are cleansed, purified, thinking is restored, right ability to think is restored.

We begin to see the world as it really is. Transforms our minds. It also empowers our obedience. It empowers our obedience. Romans 6, verses 17 and 18. Paul says, but thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.

And having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. It is the gospel that empowers you and I to begin to choose as God would choose, to begin to love what God loves and hate what God hates.

It empowers our obedience to his word. Colossians 3, beginning in verse 12. So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing with one another.

Listen, that is a description that is completely contrary to the world. That is revolutionary. Bearing with one another, forgiving each other. Whoever has a complaining as anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, see the gospel.

So also should you. Beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Whatever you do in the world, whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father. It is the gospel that empowers our obedience. It is the gospel that directs and motivates our worship.

It is the gospel that directs and motivates our worship. Revelation chapter five, Revelation chapter five. So read this this glorious account of John's vision. I want you to notice the gospel is the verbiage, the language of worship.

I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back and sealed up with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals.

And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. And one of the elders said to me, Stop weeping. Behold, the lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and to break its seven seals.

And I saw between the throne with the four living creatures and the elders a lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

He came and he took the book out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

And they sang a new song saying, Worthy are you to take the book and to break its seals, for you were slain and purchased for God with your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

You have made them to be a kingdom and priest to our God, and they will reign upon the earth. And I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders.

And the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.

And every created thing, which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea and all that in all things in them, I heard saying to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.

And the four living creatures kept saying, Amen. And the elders fell down and worshiped. The gospel is the language of worship. We gather, praise God, every Sunday morning and we unite our hearts in worship that we vocalize to God and to each other.

And it is the gospel that gives voice to that worship. The more we become proficient in the gospel, the easier it becomes. To vocalize our worship to God and one another. Listen, all sin, all sin is fundamentally a worship problem.

All sin is fundamentally a worship problem. And the gospel corrects that. The gospel corrects that. So why do we need the gospel every day? It is the power of God. It transforms our mind and empowers our obedience.

It directs and motivates our worship. Secondly, how do we make use of this gospel? How do we make use of it to minister both to ourselves, to our families and to other believers here in the fellowship?

How do we make use of it? Well, it begins simply here. We need to recognize the indicative precedes the imperative. The indicative precedes the imperative.

What does that mean?

It means simply this, that doctrine comes before duty. That theology is the foundation that motivates obedience to God. We see that reality, by the way, as you begin to spend any time in the epistles.

You notice that the beginning of these epistles is the theological section. And then the back half of the epistles is where that doctrine begins to apply to life. There's a pattern here. It's a divine pattern.

To call someone to obedience without rooting that obedience in the truth of the gospel is to call them to moralism. It's to call them to behavioral modification. It's to call them to a substitution of one sin for another.

One sin that's unacceptable for a sin that's more socially acceptable. It is only the theology, it is only the gospel that has the power to change. And then the call to obedience is a fruitful call. The indicative always precedes the imperative.

How do we make use of the gospel to minister to others and to ourselves? We preach the gospel daily to ourselves. It is something that we need to remind ourselves of every day. Every day. Let me just quickly show you some places, if you're thinking, well, where can I find it?

I can't read the whole New Testament in a day. Yeah, I know. I know. You should be reading it regularly, systematically, faithfully. But there are places where the gospel in the New Testament is in high-density form.

So, just a few. Colossians, again, back to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1, verses 21 to 23. Preach it daily. That is an incredibly densely packed section or statement of the truth of the gospel.

It's something that you could memorize. It's something that you could read and think on throughout your day. We find another such example over in Titus chapter 3. Titus chapter 3, verses 3 through 7. Where Paul writes there,.

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Man, that is rich. That is rich. I'm not going to take the time to turn you and read them, but Romans chapter 3, verses 21 to 26. Ephesians chapter 2, verses 11 to 16. These are nuggets, these are rich veins of gospel truths that we can mine and we need to every day.

Preach the gospel daily to yourself. Become gospel literate. Become gospel literate. Deepen your knowledge of the gospel. Don't be satisfied with a basic surface understanding. That which we would expect of a 10-year-old.

Grow beyond these things. Press in, lean in. Begin to extract the riches. If you spend much time around me, you will find that I am continually coming back to 2 Timothy 2 .15. Actually, 2 Timothy 2 .15, 2 Timothy 2 .2.

These are two verses that just sit on my shoulder. 2 Timothy 2 .15. You heard it in January, if you were here. It was the theme of January's men's breakfast. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed.

Accurately handling the word of truth. Become gospel literate. Accurately handle the word of truth. Become gospel literate. Why? So that we can be effective disciple makers. Effective disciple makers.

An effective disciple maker is one who makes disciples who make disciples. He makes disciples who make disciples. In other words, generation after generation, the gospel replicates itself. 2 Timothy 2 .2.

The things which you have heard from me. In the presence of many witnesses. These entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. We have four generations of gospel believers in one verse.

Four generations. Do we want to be disciple makers? Yes. Do we want to be disciple makers of someone in whom they are more like a cul-de-sac than a thruway?

No.

To pour it into someone who is unable or unwilling. To take what has been entrusted to them and move it on. Is defective in their understanding of the gospel. How do we make use of the gospel to minister to our own soul, to our wives, to our children, to others?

Recognize the indicative always precedes the imperative. Preach the gospel daily to yourself and to your family. Become gospel literate. Deepen your knowledge of the gospel. Become effective disciple maker who makes disciples who make disciples.

A friend of mine, his name is Colin Marshall. He is the author of the book The Trellis and the Vine. Told me this a number of years ago and it's always stuck with me. He said the first generation, David, believes the gospel.

The first generation believes the gospel. The second generation assumes the gospel. And the third generation loses the gospel. The third generation loses the gospel. That sticks with me because I'm a first generation gospel convert from a long line of unbelief.

And the prayer of my wife and I since the earliest of our marriage days was for the effective evangelism of our children. And then a few years into that, beyond them into our grandchildren. Long before they were born.

That we might not fall prey to this. That our children might not just grow up in the church assuming the gospel because they've been socialized to it. And by the time it arrives at the third generation of my grandchildren, it's gone.

Nothing. This stresses me more than that prospect, that possibility. Nothing motivates my prayers more. And by faith I have now reached into the fourth generation. They're praying for great-grandchildren.

That God would have mercy on their souls. Third question for you and we'll close it out here. Where can I find resources? Where can I find resources to help in building a gospel-centered life? Can I help you?

Yes, I can. So let me suggest some things for you. Okay, let me just suggest a few things for you.

Books.

You know what? I can't remember who said it. I should have written it down. Sell your shirt and buy a book. Sell your shirt, buy a book.

A real book. A real book.

By the way, I just saw a survey that said millennials and Gen Z's have a higher regard for printed books than the boomers. Boomers are enamored with like online, you know, fake books. Millennials have come to realize, no, no, you know what?

It's actually real books is where it's at. Anyway, this book. All right, enough of that. The Discipline of Grace. Jerry Bridges. The Discipline of Grace. This is an excellent book. There are plenty of good books.

There are much smaller number of excellent books and an even rarer collection of amazing books. This is an excellent book. So I recommend to you, okay? I'll leave it up here after you want to come look at it.

It's called The Discipline of Grace. Jerry Bridges. Oh, I don't know when it was published. 1994.

Spin around. Spin around.

So I recommend it to you.

Here's another one.

It's called A Gospel Primer. A Gospel Primer.

Okay.

It's written actually by a friend of mine, Milton Vincent.

Okay.

Pastor of a church down in Southern California. And it is wonderful because the beginning of it is 25 reasons why you need to preach the gospel to yourself. And then the second half of the book is the gospel written out in prose form with all of the footnotes to the scriptural passages.

And then since he was an English major as an undergrad, he wrote it out in poem form suitable for memorization. Wonderful book. Recommend it to you highly. A Gospel Primer, Milton Vincent.

All right. One more.

Gentlemen, if you would hand those out for me. I hesitated in doing this. Listen, I'm not talking my book.

Okay?

I don't have a book. I don't have a book. But some years ago I sat down, first for myself, and then ended up sharing it at a communion service in the congregation. And let me get one, too.

I forgot. Thanks.

I made an attempt at writing out the gospel for my own purposes. And I just share this with you as an example, an example of a potential way to approach this. Yeah, there should be plenty of extras. I wanted to capture the gospel in a series of propositional statements that I could tuck in the flyleaf of my Bible and periodically bring it out and review it.

Here they are.

Preach the gospel to yourself. While you were in open defiance against your creator, he in his mercy reached out to you and provided an innocent substitute to bear the penalty for your sin. That substitute was his own son, who willingly died in your place, rising again in accordance with the eternal plan of God, whereby God had graciously decided to save his own enemies.

Because you had no interest in him, God sought you out and through his Holy Spirit created the faith you needed to embrace his gift for you. In effecting your salvation, God not only freed you from the penalty of your sin, but also from its enslavement, granting you access to the power necessary to say no to sin's enticements.

When you fail to say no and reject God's will for you, he feels no wrath towards you, but floods you with his grace in order to maintain your justification. Conversely, when you reject sin's allure, God's love for you does not increase.

This is not a performance treadmill. His love for you did not end with your salvation, but extends to every difficulty of life, whereby he subjugates it and forces it to do you good. Great sermon series on Hebrews 12.

Someday God will remove you from this life by either death or Christ's triumphant return, and your struggle against sin will cease. At that point, you will enjoy unhindered fellowship with your creator, redeemer, and friend.

My propositional statements of the gospel. My encouragement to you, gentlemen, is to undertake in the next month or two your own short propositional statements of the gospel. Tuck it in your Bible, pull it out periodically, and read through it.

It is the gospel in which we live and move. It is the gospel that we will never lose the need for, both in this life and in the life to come. May God seal the truth to your heart. Let's pray.

Father, thank you.

Thank you for these men. Thank you for their willingness and desire to turn out on a Saturday morning when there are so many things that call at them. And yet they have made it a priority to come together, to fellowship with the other believers, to exhort and encourage one another in the pursuit of Christ.

How grateful we are that you have seen fit in your good and great providence to encourage the men of this congregation in their pursuit of Christ. And we pray, Father, for your blessing upon each and every one of us as we continue to lean into the truth.

May you grow us. May you continue to sanctify us. May you fill our hearts with love for Christ and a passion to both proclaim his glory to others who know not him. And as a ministry to one another, to exhort and encourage us in our pursuit of faith.

Bless us as we leave now, our Father, and go our separate ways. We gather again tomorrow and we look forward to it with great anticipation in Christ's name.

Amen.