“Feeding on the Gospel”

• Introduction
• Last week’s sermon, “The Prodigal God”…
• Main Points:
• Idolatry is the essence of sin.
• Romans 1:25 = “They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.”
• Epitomized by “the parable of the two lost sons” (Refer: Luke 15):
• Younger brother
• Strove to find happiness through:
• pleasure-seeking
• self-indulgence
• breaking the rules.
• Older brother
• Strove to find happiness through:
• merit-earning
• moral conformity
• following the rules.
• (Q: Which are you, by nature?)
• Neither brother loved the Father; they only wanted the Father’s things.
• Younger son:
• “Give me my share of the estate. I’m out of here!”
• Older son:
• Angry about brother back and fattened calf slaughtered!
• So both are:
• Sinful
• (idolatrous: “created things” over “the Creator”)
• Lost
• Alienated from the Father.
• Loved and sought after
• Father goes out to both.
• Wants them to come into the feast (Heaven; kingdom).
• Jesus offers a third option to finding happiness: God’s grace!
•  “Grace-based Christians”:
• Seek happiness in God, not self-indulgence
• Base their self-esteem on God’s grace, not their performance
• Power of the parable =
• Not the “prodigal” (“recklessly spendthrift”) ways of the younger brother.
• But the “prodigal” (recklessly spendthrift”) love of the Father.
• Father to younger son:
• Luke 15:20-24 = “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

   21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
   22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”

• Father to older son:
• Vs. 31 = “My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”
• M.P. = Jesus says: “Let the prodigal love of God transform you into a ‘grace-based Christian’”
• Younger brother: Leave your sin and come home!
• Older brother: Drop your self-improvement project and come in to the feast!
• Transition =) Today, I want to build further on these themes:
• Just as God’s love, as expressed through the gospel:
• has the power to save us
• it also has the power to:
• sustain
• motivate
• and transform us
• The key = we need to:
• Feed on the gospel
• And feed it to others
• Title of lesson = “Feeding on the Gospel”
• Let’s turn to Romans 8…
• Transition =) We want to learn how the gospel “feeds us” as Christians by digesting a segment of Paul’s letter to the Romans, where he is feeding them spiritually…
• Romans 8:28-39 = “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
   “For your sake we face death all day long;
   we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[j]
 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

• This is a love-letter from God!
• Read over it
• Pour over it
• Swoon over it
• Digest it
• The gospel is not a cold doctrine – it’s a flaming love!
• Share re: going through love letters from Lisa and I…
• M.P. = THAT’S feeding on the gospel!
• Warms your heart
• Stirs your emotions
• Solidifies your commitment
• Love is the greatest motivation in the universe!
• Vs. 30 = four powerful words that communicate the gospel here:
• You were “predestined”
• Dreamed about, anticipated
• Like when you think about your unborn child:
• Choose the name
• Prepare the baby’s room
• This is “loving anticipation”
• You were “called”.
• Chosen
• Wanted/Desired
• Courted/Drawn to God
• You were “justified”
• Means “declared righteous”.
• Jesus paid the penalty, so you are:
• Not guilty
• Pardoned by God
• Forgiven
• “Justified” = “just-as-if-I’d-never-sinned”
• You were “glorified”
• Glory is what we’ll one day experience in heaven (elaborate)…
• But this word is past-tense.
• In context, means:
• God has already made the decision to glorify you some day
• You are marked for glory
• M.P. = This verse is just one (of many) ways to express “the gospel”
• Vs. 31 = “What, then, shall we say in response to these things?”
• This is the question we are asking:
• Q: What is our response to this gospel?
• Q: What does this gospel do for us?
• Q: How does this gospel feed us?
• One: Vs. 31b = “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
• Two great truths here:
• One: God is for us! (wax!)
• Two: If God is for us, who can be against us?
• Or:
• “What does it matter if others are against us?”
• God on our side gives us:
• Great confidence
• Great assurance
• Great security
• Two: Vs. 32 = “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
• Two elements here:
• One: An amazing promise: God will graciously give us all things
• Needs: Quote Philippians 4:19 = “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”
• Desires (that are not sinful; that demonstrate God’s goodness): Quote 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 = “With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
• Two: This promise is backed by sound reasoning:
• God already sacrificed his most precious possession (his own Son) so he’s proven that he’ll give us everything else as well
• Quote Genesis 22:-9-12 (Abraham) = “When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”

   “Here I am,” he replied.
 12 “Do not lay a hand on the boy,” he said. “Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God (are devoted to God), because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.”

• God’s demonstrated his own devotion to us in the same way
• Only MORE, because:
• Jesus was God
• Jesus, the Father, and Holy Spirit enjoyed unbroken, perfect love & fellowship from eternity
• To separate them was unimaginably heart-wrenching.
• Jesus cries out in agony: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
• Not a question, but a cry of agony.
• M.P. = Meditate on these truths – they will cement your faith.
• Three: Vs. 33-34 = “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
• The Judge is our Defense Attorney.
• That’s a sweet deal.
• It means we’re “safe”.
• Four: Vs. 35-36 = “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

   “For your sake we face death all day long;
   we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[j]

• Consider the “who” and the “how” in this passage:
• First, the “who”:
• Q: Who is trying to separate us from the love of Christ?
• A: Satan! (and his demons)
• M.P. = But God will give us victory over Satan.
• Second, the “how”:
• Q: How is Satan trying to separate us from the love of Christ?
• “trouble”
• “hardship”
• “persecution”
• “famine”
• “nakedness”
• “danger”
• “sword”
• These are all attacks on our relationship with God.
• Point: These are the times:
• Satan is most attacking us.
• God is most testing, sustaining, and loving us.
• Point = Q: Will the hard times in life cause you to:
• doubt God’s love for you?
• (“separate you from his love”?)
• Or strengthen your love for him?
• (by clinging to him as God gets you through them and makes you a conqueror?)
• Vs. 36 borrows from the same point in Psalm 44.
• Psalm 44:9-11, 17-26 (teach and preach)
• “But now you have rejected and humbled us;

   you no longer go out with our armies.
10 You made us retreat before the enemy,
   and our adversaries have plundered us.
11 You gave us up to be devoured like sheep
   and have scattered us among the nations…
 17 All this came upon us,
   though we had not forgotten you;
   we had not been false to your covenant.
18 Our hearts had not turned back;
   our feet had not strayed from your path.
19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals;
   you covered us over with deep darkness.
 20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
   or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
21 would not God have discovered it,
   since he knows the secrets of the heart?
22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
   we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
 23 Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep?
   Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide your face
   and forget our misery and oppression?
 25 We are brought down to the dust;
   our bodies cling to the ground.
26 Rise up and help us;
   rescue us because of your unfailing love.”

• Vs. 22-24 = how we feel when life is hard…
• Vs. 25-26 = what we hope for… (rescue because of God’s unfailing love)
• Q: What’s Paul’s point?
• A: Back to Romans 8…
• Five: Vs. 37 = “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
• A: Trials are for our good, not our harm.
• They demonstrate God’s love – not his neglect or animosity.
• Main Point = God doesn’t want us to be avoiders, but conquerors!
• God doesn’t take hardships away – he sanctifies them (uses them)
• Q: Why?
• A: Vs. 28-29 = “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
• Love wants the greatest good for another.
• The greatest good for us is to be like Jesus
• Be:
• The best version of ourselves.
• A blessing to our loved ones.
• A blessing to a lost and hurting world.
• A future King or Queen who will one day co-reign with Jesus in heaven.
• Quote Revelation 22:4-6 = “They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads… And they will reign for ever and ever.”
• God’s preparing us to be Kingly and Queenly forever.
• (And like all good “fairy tales” and stories teach us, that means we need to be: tested, stretched, molded into character greatness.)
• Six: Vs. 38-39 = “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• M.P. = The gospel teaches us that hardships:
• Are NOT a demonstration of God’s neglect or animosity.
• But are a demonstration of God’s gracious love and belief in us.
• Because through Jesus we are more than conquerors!
• God is making us conquerors!
• Close
• One: Feed on the gospel
• Two: Feed the gospel to others