Real Christianity

Real Christianity, To All Peoples

(Rom 1:5) "Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name,"

· Concepts not often dealt with

There are six strong assertions in this one verse!
This morning we dealt with three of them

ü It’s all through Jesus
ü Through Him we receive Grace
ü Through Him Paul received apostleship and we each receive a mission

This evening we will complete the set.
Ø Through Him we teach obedience to the faith
Ø Through Him We reach out to all nations
Ø Through Him We Glorify His Name

1. Through Him we teach obedience to the faith “…The Obedience of Faith…”

a. True Saving Faith is expressed by obedience to the gospel commands—

(1) Repent and believe—This is Paul’s own take on the whole gospel—(Acts 20:21) ""testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."

(2) So, we MUST understand these words and see how they work together as two sides of the same coin.

b. Repent

(1) This was the first statement by Jesus as He introduced Gospel preaching

(Mark 1:14-15) "Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.""

(Acts 3:19) ""Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,"

(Acts 17:30) ""Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent

(2) But, this creates a theological problem for some, because other verses do not specifically mention repentance

(Rom 10:9) "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

(Acts 16:30-31) "And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.""

(3) The problem comes because Gospel repentance is a word greatly misunderstood and often not correctly defined. , Rom 10:9

(a) Some make it into a separate work, part of a list of 5, 7, or more works that must be done prior to salvation

(b) Others react to this false teaching by ignoring repentance altogether—again, a false teaching

(4) What is gospel Repentance?

(a) First, what it is NOT

(i) It is not separate from faith
(ii) It is not some work that man must do before he can believe in Christ for salvation, because salvation is not of works—Eph 2:8-9



(b) There is a problem here, in that “repent” is a MARKED WORD, that is, people tend to associate it will all sorts of ideas that are not biblical, for instance

(i) The nutcase with a sign around his neck that says “repent”

(ii) The people that turn repentance into some kind of work that has to be done as a part of “x” steps to salvation

(c) What repentance IS

(i) It is a change of heart and mind
(ii) It is best illustrated by the word “turn”
(iii) It is the other side of the coin of “faith”
(iv) Repentance is turning away from our sins and toward Faith in Christ

(v) Repentance is Godly sorrow that leads to turning—2 Cor 7:9-10

Here are some examples, with “repent” further translated into its real meaning.

(Mat 3:2) "…turn from your sins and turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!""

(Mat 3:8) ""Therefore bear fruits worthy of turning from your sins and turning to God,"

(Mat 4:17) "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, "turn from your sins and Turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.""

(Mat 11:20-21) "Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: 21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have turned from their sins and turned to God long ago…”

(Mark 1:15) "and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Turn from your sins and Turn to God, and believe in the gospel.""

(5) What about those situations where “repent” is not mentioned? In those you will see evidence of repentance even when it is not mentioned.

(a) The Philippian Jailer was arrogant and cruel as he locked Paul and Silas up
(b) After the earthquake, he had a whole new perspective— Acts 16:30-ff

c. Faith—again, back to Paul’s description

(1) (Acts 20:21) ""testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."

(2) We must believe that Jesus is Who He Says He Is—Lord and Savior

(John 3:16) ""For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

(Mark 1:15) "and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.""

(1 John 5:13) "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God."

d. A word of Caution to clear up confusion—most believers don’t ever get the theology straight nor have all the theological “i’s” dotted and “t’s” crossed.

(1) Your salvation is NOT dependent on how you prayed, what words you said, or how many tears you cried.

(2) It is not in some magical formula followed to say exactly the right thing—that is liturgy, catholic ceremonialism—

(3) Look at these New Testament salvation experiences

(a) (Acts 16:14) "Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul."

(b) (Acts 16:30-34) "And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household."

(c) The Ethiopian Eunuch—Acts 8:26-40

(d) The Proconsul (Acts 13:6-12

(e) Zacchaeus (Lk 19:2-9)

(f) The Publican—(Lk 18:10-14)
`
(4) The key thing in all of these is that no two salvation experiences are exactly alike!

(5) Salvation is an individual experience. True salvation will involve sorrow for and turning from sins, and it will involve belief in Christ as the Son of God.


e. True Saving Faith will produce an obedient lifestyle—John 10:27, 14:15, Mat 7:21-23, Jn 15:10, 1 John 2:17

2. Through Him We reach out to all nations

a. No racial divisions in Gods eyes

b. Peter’s lesson—Acts 10:28-35

(1) What was the Biblical result of following God’s way?

(2) Cornelius’ household had a revival that was a little Pentecost.

(3) Some of the Pharisees who had professed Christianity raised a ruckus over letting these Romans into the church. Acts 11:1-3.

(4) Peter shut the old Pharisees down with the Truth. Acts 11:15-18.

(5) Peter understood the basic truth— “…what was I, that I could withstand God?”

c. Paul’s Insight—

(1) All men are made of one blood—Acts 17:26 (Gen 1:26-30, Gen 9:18-19. )\
(2) All human flesh is the same kind of flesh—1 Cor 15:39

(3) Jesus died for all kinds of people—1 John 2:2.

(4) We cannot restrict our mission or fellowship if we want to obey Christ—Acts 10.

(5) The kingdom of God is to be one on earth—Eph 2:11-22

(6) Everyone is equal before God. Gal 3:28

d. The diversity of Heaven—Rev 7:9-14

e. But there is a Non-diversity of Heaven as well—Rev 21:8, 1 Cor 6:9-11

3. Through Him We Glorify His Name “…For His Name”—

a. The ultimate reason that God has done everything He has done is for His Own Glory, for the repute of His great Name.
(1) He is the One in charge, He is the One with all the power, He is the One

(2) And He has many names for us to honor!

(a) Advocate
(b) Lamb of God
(c) The Resurrection and the Life
(d) Shepherd and bishop of our souls
(e) Lord of Lords
(f) King of Kings
(g) Man of sorrows
(h) Head of the church
(i) Master
(j) Faithful and True Witness
(k) Rock
(l) High Priest
(m) The Door
(n) The Living Water
(o) Bread of Life
(p) Alpha and Omega
(q) The True Vine
(r) The Teacher
(s) The Holy One
(t) Mediator
(u) The Beloved
(v) The Branch
(w) Good Shepherd
(x) Light of the World
(y) Image of the Invisible God
(z) The Word
(aa) Chief Cornerstone
(bb) Savior
(cc) Author and finisher of our Faith
(dd) The Almighty
(ee) Shiloh
(ff) The Lion of the Tribe of Judah
(gg) Prince of Peace
(hh) I AM
(ii) Wonderful Counselor
(jj) The Way, the Truth, The Life
(kk) Son of God and Son of Man
(ll) The Bright and Morning Star
(mm) Jesus, my Master, My Savior, My Lord

b. He gets all the glory and praise…” (Phil 2:9-11) "Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."