Building Gospel Bridges Talk 5

0:00 It's a wonderful privilege just to be here, and I always get stick because of that Glasgow accent, and I often say that I can slow down for the heart of understanding, but it's just a wonderful privilege to have the opportunity to minister. I do bring you the greetings of Calderwood Baptist Church in East Kilbride. That's the church that I led for many, many years before going to work full-time for the Word One-to-One. But I should say, and it's really important to say that, that while I was leading the local church, I came across the Word One-to-One and thought, this is a wonderful way just to encourage and equip everyday believers. And so I was using the word one-to-one in the life of the local church long before I was ever serving that ministry. And that's actually a very important caveat, because really, sometimes we look at the sort of plethora of ministries that there are, and we think, well, you're always going to promote what you do. But the reality is, for me, this came the other way around. It came as a local pastor looking for ways in which I could encourage the congregation, encourage everyday members, just to have a confidence, and so encourage you in that way.

1:26 My heart is to open up God's Word. I was so encouraged just to hear the way in which you've responded to the financial need and to the incredible ministry that God has given you here at Glen Abbey. I'm actually in the process of going part-time with the Word one-to-one in order that I can continue the work of revitalizing churches. My ministry in many, many years has been about the revitalization of churches. And next Sunday morning, I will be inducted as the pastor two days a week and three days with the Word One to One into a little church on the island of Butte. And you had more members in the choir than that church has. And although I'm going to be working for them two days, they can only pay me for one day because their previous pastor basically ran things down so much that in actual fact it was almost bankrupt. You know, but the Lord is good, and the Lord is gracious, and we've got a history of seeing churches just revitalize and turn around from being 7 and 15 and 30 to becoming healthy churches of, you know, 100, 200, and beyond.

2:48 And how would we do that? Well, we do that by keeping the main thing the main thing. And so I want to read God's Word this morning. I wanted to read just two short portions of God's Word. The first is in Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1 and verse 16, 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. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

3:38 And then just another little portion at John's gospel, John chapter 20, and we read there at verse 30. Now, Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name. Amen. And we pray that God would speak to us as we look into his word this morning. I have really enjoyed listening to your Gospel Bridges series, and also my heart was deeply touched and ministered to and encouraged when I tuned in to Corrie telling her story in Storybearers, and also to Neil and Sharon telling their story in Storybearers. And a guy walked into our church. I don't know if this is happening a lot in Northern Ireland, but it's certainly happening a lot in Scotland.

5:02 A guy walked into our church. we're seeing a lot of people absolutely in despair about the current cultural situation just walking back into churches. They're just coming in. Nobody's invited them. You know, you may be here this morning because you've got great friends, friends that love you, friends that pray for you, friends that care for you, and friends that invite you to come and explore the Christian faith. But many, many people are just walking in. Nobody's inviting them. And and he sat in amongst it with a growing church, with a healthy church, with a welcoming church, and it wasn't long before many were starting to speak to him and to talk to him.

5:44 Turns out the backstory for him is that he was retired. He'd retired early. He was a maths teacher, mathematics, and his parents had recently died. Early parents had recently died. And as he'd been with them and seen their passing, he found himself once again questioning, what is this all about? And decided he'd go to the church where, as a boy, he was sent along to Sunday school. And so he comes along, and he's just in amongst it. He begins to become one of those people that is better than the Lord of the believers.

6:24 You know what I mean by that? He's there at everything. He's there in the morning. He's there at evening. He's not a Christian. He's at a prayer He's searching for meaning. He's searching for understanding, and He's just in all these things. And I'm preaching one Sunday morning, and at the end of that message, I do what I often do, and that is I invite people who are searching, who want to know more about who Jesus is and how we can understand Him and how we might come to know Him.

6:53 I invited anyone who was in that place, just if they wanted to come and ask, and we'd use the word one-to-one, John's gospel, and we'd look at 18 sentences, 18 verses of John's gospel, and begin a journey of exploration. And at the end of the service, he comes up to me, and he said, John, I would like to do that, and I'd like to do that with you. And I said, well, that's great. So we got together for a coffee, and we started just to read together. Here's one of the interesting things. He said this to me very early on. He said, John, I want to thank you for the time you're giving me. He says, we live in a world where people don't have time for anything.

7:39 He said, I want to thank you that you are a busy man. I know that. He said, and every week you just meet with me, and we have a coffee together. It's even better than that because you pay, right? And we have a coffee together, he says, and we just spend time talking. Notice what he says, talking about John's gospel. It's not a Bible study. I'm not asking him awkward questions.

8:04 We're just chatting through what the Word of God says, and we do that week by week. And he's fascinated. I give him time. Remember, he's a math teacher. You know, God's got a great sense of humor. Growing up in Glasgow, there were two groups of people that I just did not get on with. One was teachers, right? I had to go to school.

8:24 It was compulsory. But I was one of those guys that couldn't wait to get out. Not only that, I was one of the guys that the teachers couldn't wait for me to get out, right? And so I never got on great with teachers. I used to negotiate with teachers that if I didn't turn up, they could mark me as present, and it would be a good deal all around. And so I negotiated in that way with teachers, and particularly maths teachers. And now I find myself with a retired maths teacher, because maths was just one of those subjects, right? I was okay when it was like counting.

8:59 I was okay when it was like numbers. I was okay when it was like, you know, helpful stuff in life. And then they started introducing letters and brackets beside numbers. What is that about, right? And at the end of the day, I just didn't like it, didn't get it. And the other group were policeman. And so the reality is that what happens is that we're reading together. We get to the end of John chapter 1.

9:25 Now, one of the great things about John, John tells us, these things are written so that you may believe. Why would we ever take up the Word of God and just open the Word of God and start talking to unbelievers about the Word of God? Because here's the truth. Unbelievers get more excited about the Word of God than oft times believers do. And the reality is we're sitting there just reading the Word of God. We get to the end of chapter 1, and this is what he says to me. He says, John, he said, I used to think that Jesus is a mythical figure. But as I look at this, I realize that Jesus is historical.

10:03 And I say, well, yeah, you're right. He is. He's definitely historical. Do you want to keep reading? Let's keep reading. So we keep reading. We get together. we're working through the chapters.

10:12 We get to John chapter 3, and this is what he says. He says, John, I don't think I've ever been an atheist. And I look at him, and he says, but I'm not a believer. And I looked at him, and I said, you know, that's brilliant. You're the math teacher. I said, to the question, does God exist? The answer is either yes or no. It's not maybe.

10:35 And he looked at me, and he said, yeah, that's true. And I said, okay. I said, so probably you're agnostic. You're undecided about Jesus. And he said, that's what I am. I'm undecided about Jesus. We continue to read. All we're doing is reading God's Word together.

10:51 And as we read God's Word together, he comes in a few weeks later, and two things he does. First thing he does is he says this to me, right? I'm a preacher. I'm an evangelist. And he says, John, the Bible is amazing. And I'm like, yeah. He says, no, no, John, the Bible is incredible. And I'm like, yeah.

11:10 He says, no, no, John, you don't get it. Think about that. I don't get it. He says, the Bible all holds together. He says, I've been coming around to you. He says, I'm listening to people preaching in the morning from one part of the Bible. I'm listening to people preaching in the evening from another part of the Bible. You and I are reading John's gospel together.

11:30 He says, I'm going along to the book club now. We're doing Glenn Scrivener, 321 guy, his book, The Air We Breathe, right? And he says, the Bible just holds together, John. And I'm saying, yeah, right? But he's discovering that. You see, one of the things that we often do with our unbelieving friends is we don't journey with them in their journey of discovery. And so the reality is he's discovering all that stuff, and he says to me, it's incredible. And I'm thinking, it is amazing.

11:58 And he says, I've been thinking about that agnostic thing. And I said, what are you thinking about it? He says, I think I'm agnostic moving towards Jesus. Isn't that the most beautiful description? I'm agnostic moving towards Jesus. And then a few weeks later, he comes in, and I could tell he was agitated. And he says, John, I'm a bit agitated. I said, what are you agitated about?

12:25 He says, well, to put not too fine a point on it, sin. And I said, well, tell me about that. He said, well, John, I've always thought I'm a good man. I'm a good person. I'm a maths teacher. There are evil people in this world, and I'm not one of those evil people. He says, but the more I read this Bible, the more I become conscious of the fact that I am not as good a person as I thought I was. The more I look into the claims of God's Word, the more I realize that I stand before that God rightly condemned.

13:05 Because there's lots of things in my life that do not marry up, despite my basic view, that I was a good man. Of course, being a good man, being a good woman is just one of the lies of the devil. We're good enough to deceive ourselves into thinking that all will be okay at the end of our days. And a few weeks later, he came in and he said to me, he said, he was a man under conviction. And he said to me, he says, John, he says, I just want to let you know, I believe in Jesus. My faith is in Him. I put my trust in Him. Now, we continue just to read God's Word.

13:43 And the reason we continue to read God's Word is because in actual fact, discipleship begins with those that don't know Jesus Christ. I don't know when the church thought it was a good idea to separate discipleship and evangelism. And we made discipleship about the nurture of believers, when in actual fact the Bible doesn't say that. The Bible actually says, go into all the world and make disciples. The Bible says, go to those that don't know Jesus. And by teaching them, showing them, revealing to them the Word of God, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. You make disciples. That's the great commission of our Lord Jesus Christ.

14:19 And it was just a wonderful privilege to walk with him and to continue to walk with him in that. Paul, riding to the church at Rome, and he's kind of laid down his apostleship. He's kind of talked a little bit about how he's rejoicing and who they are as a church. He's really looking forward there at verse 15. He's eager to go and preach the gospel, the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ to those who are in Rome. And then in verse 16, he makes this beautiful statement. He writes this incredible sentence, 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 then to the Greek. And the incredible thing is that, you know, Romans is an incredible letter, and it's an incredible book to study, and there's all manner of stuff in there.

15:13 But in actual fact, here's the complete summary of it in verse 16. It's actually all about the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it's all about the way in which the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ has spread from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. And in actual fact, he states it in verse 16 and 17, and then what he does is he unpacks it in the rest of the letter. But I am not ashamed of the gospel. And sometimes when I read that, I've got to stop and I've got to confess before God that there will be many times when I have been ashamed of the gospel. There are many times when I ought to have spoken up. There are many times when I ought to have shared. There are many times when I could have said something that would have just made a difference in somebody's life, but in actual fact, I didn't go there.

16:13 And if I examine my heart, the reason I didn't go there was because I didn't want to live with the rejection. I didn't want to live with the ridicule. I didn't want to live with what others would think. And so the truth is, everything in me, the beating heart of who I am in Christ is somebody who wants to be unashamed of the good news of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I always begin in confession. There are many, many times when the truth is, I've got to say, I have been ashamed. I've been ashamed because the gospel is very uncompromising. I've been ashamed because the facts of the gospel do confront us with our distance from God.

17:01 it. The facts of the gospel do confront us with the fact that we need a Savior, because not one of us is righteous in the eyes of God by nature. By nature, we all fall short of God's perfect plans and of God's perfect purpose. The offense of the cross has sometimes kept me from just wanting to say something about the good news of Jesus Christ to others. And yet the truth is, those who don't know Jesus Christ are lost and are helpless. And the one thing they need is what it is to be in a living relationship with Christ. And the one thing that God freely offers is that they can be in a living relationship with Christ.

17:52 And the incredible thing is what we need to learn to do is to ask God that He would, by His Spirit, make us a people who are bold enough to be unashamed. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. And Paul, writing this, says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, because the gospel is good news. That's actually what it means. It is good news. You know, we're celebrating this morning. What a beautiful, you know, little child there. What incredible head of hair, right?

18:24 You must have an envy, mate, right? But at the end of the day, you know, the gospel is good news. It is the message that the God who made us, the God in whose hands we are, the God who made us and in whose hands we are, is a God who longs for us to discover our full purpose in life lived out in relationship to Him. It is good news. The gospel message is about sinful, helpless, lost people, rebellious people being restored to God through Jesus Christ. The gospel is about the righteous judgment of God being turned away from us, and you and I being put right into a living relationship with Jesus Christ. The gospel message is about the person. It's about the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

19:26 You know, when you unpack the Scriptures, you look at, you know, John's gospel, the first 18 sentences. The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, God incarnate. You read through the Gospels, and you see the life and ministry, the words and works of Jesus. The Gospel message is all wrapped up in that. You see the works. You hear the words of Jesus in His afterlife, and it's all moving towards Calvary's cross, where he will die a sacrificial substitutionary death, taking your sin, my sin, your rebellion, my rebellion, upon himself. It's about his resurrection from the dead. It's about his ascension into glory.

20:17 It's about his intercession at the right hand of the Father for us. The gospel message is beautiful, and the gospel message is all the power of God. It is God doing this for us. You and I, in actual fact, are called simply to receive this as a free gift, as a free gift. We can't earn it, we can't work for it, we don't deserve it, But the love of God is such that He longs for us to have this, to receive this. It's about you and I having a new birth. It's about you and I, by the power of the gospel, being transformed ever increasingly into the likeness of Jesus Himself. It's a summons to repentance.

21:10 It's a summons to faith. It's a summons to discipleship. It is a beautiful message. And Paul is unashamed of the gospel. And you and I, if we're followers of Christ, we should be unashamed also. Do you know, I find it so much easier to sing about the gospel amongst people like yourselves than I do to share it with the folks that I meet Monday through Saturday. And yet the truth is, it's that message causes my heart to swell up and sing the way I do. It is the most beautiful message in the world.

21:49 I am not ashamed of the gospel of this good news. John, the gospel writer, was writing all this down in his gospel in order that he could say, these things are written in order that as you read them, As you hear them, you may hear the voice of God calling you to faith. These things are written in order that everyone who believes can have life in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is beautiful. It is the good news of the eternal Son of God. You know, when I listened to Corrie talking about her brother, Joe, I just heard that wonderful gospel all the way through, justified. He was in a right relationship with God because of Jesus.

23:00 In that short life, sanctified. The Spirit of God doing the most beautiful work in His life, even in the midst of the most unbelievable circumstances. And in Christ Jesus, glorified. Glorified. You know, sometimes when we share the gospel with people, we sometimes talk about the benefits of the gospel. You know, the joy, the peace, the eternal life. But what we must always do is never separate the benefits from the benefactor, the one who delivers all that for us. So, the gospel is a natural fact about showing people who Jesus is.

23:48 And that's why we're passionate about opening up God's Word and allowing God's Word to do God's work and to speak into people's hearts. We show the benefactor. And when you see Jesus, and when you understand who he is, and when you put your trust in him, all the blessings of the gospel can become ours in our Lord Jesus Christ. It's a, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for the salvation, for salvation to everyone who believes. You know, that word salvation is a beautiful word. When you look it up, it's got all manner of words that actually help us just understand some of the benefits of the gospel. Because when you read that word salvation, it conjures up pictures of deliverance. It conjures up pictures, you know, of healing.

24:46 It conjures up pictures of wholeness. It conjures up pictures of safety. It conjures up pictures of soundness. What you have in the salvation that God in Christ extends to us is this wholeness of life that God longs for you and I to enjoy. You know, man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. And there's a soundness about that in terms of the salvation. And in that wonderful picture of salvation, we're saved from something, but we're also saved to something. And that's the joy of salvation.

25:30 Yes, we are saved from the wrath of God, which should rightly be delivered upon us. Yes, we are saved from a lost eternity in hell. Yes, we are saved. We're delivered, you know, from the punishment that we deserve. That's the joy of the gospel. But we are saved for something. You know, the incredible thing about the gospel is, you know, all of us stand condemned in the presence of God, guilty before Him, but the gospel delivers us from that guilt. But not only does the gospel deliver us from that guilt, in actual fact, the gospel is more than that.

26:12 That's why in the story of our lives, it's not just justified, put right with God through Christ. It's also sanctified. As the Spirit of God is at work in our lives, He's actually transforming who we are. And no longer do we live as slaves to sin, but by the power of the Spirit, we become this new creature in Christ, the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control becomes evident in their life. That's why your neighbors love that you're their neighbor. Yeah? That's why they're kind of waiting up in the morning and they think, I don't get it. I get to be the neighbor to this person.

26:52 This person who is so transformed by the power of the Spirit that love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, they just flow over the fence. Yeah? That's who we are becoming in our Lord Jesus Christ. That's a witness to our world that this gospel changes who we are. And not only that, but in actual fact, this gospel is the only thing that will one day enable you and I to stand in the presence of the eternal God forever. To be in His presence, transformed. We are saved from all of these things. And we are saved for what it is to be united, what it is to be in communion with the Lord Jesus Christ.

27:55 What it is to be one with Him. That's what we're saved for. Eric Alexander was a wonderful man of God, great Scottish preacher. Some of you may have come across Eric's ministry, but Eric had the privilege as a young Christian to oftentimes be fed as he would just with that incredible voice of his just open up the Word of God and begin to expound it. And he died a little while. But in actual fact, such is the humility of the man, he wanted to die during COVID. And the reason he wanted to die during COVID was that if he died during COVID, only two people could turn up at his funeral. Because he knew that if he died out with that, it would be a very busy funeral.

28:49 But God didn't give him his wish. He was well in his 90s, and he died after COVID. And so not only did people turn up at his funeral, but in actual fact, there were services our remembrance and all the things we want to do for those that have blessed us. But his son stood up at his funeral service, and he said that he's his father. He talked about his father in many beautiful ways and what it is just to be a dad and the fun things that you can do with your children and your grandchildren if you're blessed with them as well. And he just talked about him, but he said, everything for my father changed. He became the man that he is, the man that he was. In truth be told, the man that he is.

29:29 But he came, you know, all that God wanted him to be when he discovered what it is to be saved and be in Christ. In Christ. He said, I can say today, he says, that my father was a man in Christ. That's what defined him. First and foremost, he was a man in Christ. And you and I need to understand that that's what we're saved for. We are in Christ. We are in Christ before we are husbands, fathers, brothers, sisters, you know, grandfathers, businessmen, whatever it might be, in Christ.

30:05 And he said, you know, he discovered what it is to be in Christ. And from that day, when his eyes were opened to this gospel that saved him to be in Christ, he said everything that he did from that day was for Christ. Everything that he did that day was for Christ. Now, just think about that. To waking up in the morning and say, you know, you've got one of my favorite texts, Ephesians 2 verse 10, you are God's workmanship. You know, some of you just need to hear this, you are God's work of art, right? What an encouragement to our hearts, right? You are God's work of art.

30:37 You are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do the good works that God has prepared in advance for you to do. In Christ, everything you're going to do today, tomorrow, the next day, is for Christ. And he said, and today I can say that not only was my father in Christ and for Christ, but now today he's with Christ. And that's the glory of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved from what we are saved for, and we are saved for communion to be in Christ. We are saved to be reconciled and restored to Christ. We are a new creature in Christ, and he will bring us to glory. And that glorification is beginning now and will continue until that day.

31:33 We've got the hope of glory in our hearts. He's delivered us from wrath. He's placed glory in our lives. And what He longs for you and I to do is that all that we're about is about reaching out to others and say, I want you to understand that the goodness of God towards you will lead you to repentance, it will lead you to faith, and it will lead you to life eternal. And friends, we stand together today if we're believers in Christ as those who've experienced the goodness of God in the gospel. And the goodness of God in the gospel led us to repentance, and it led us to faith, and it leads us on into all the promises of God in Christ. And what I want to encourage us to do today is to realize that we are His story bearers of the transformation in our lives to others. And we need to be unashamed of the good news of the gospel and glorify Him.

32:36 I'm going to invite the choir to come up because there's a few of them. I'm going to smile because they're going to be bigger than my congregation in Butte as they stand behind me. And I'm going to encourage you as You look at them, pray that we multiply the congregation many, many more times than your choir. And I'm going to pray for us just as they get prepared to lead us. Let's join our hearts in prayer. Our gracious Father, we bow our heads in your presence. And we say thank you. Thank you for the amazing gospel, the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel that saves us, that lifts us from darkness to light, from death to life, from hell to heaven.

33:41 The gospel that makes us your children. The gospel that calls us to be in Christ. And the gospel that enables us day by day to be shaped and molded by it, that we might also just live for Christ each day of our lives. We thank you there's a day coming when one day we'll be in your very near presence, when we will magnify your name with all the saints down through the ages past. But we pray even now you would enable us by your word and by your spirit to have a boldness that would make us unashamed of the good news of the gospel, and like the Apostle Paul to have a heart, to share that with others. And we pray, Lord, that you would help us to encourage one another, to strengthen one another, to equip and enable one another to do this more and more in our day and in our age. Father, would you be moving in our midst this morning? I pray today for the person perhaps who's just come along with a friend, person perhaps who has never quite made their peace with you, never received the fullness of the gospel for themselves, and ask that even today you would just speak to them.

35:12 Call them by name. Draw them to yourself. Enable them to be your followers. In Jesus' name, amen.