This transcript was generated automatically and may contain minor errors.

Good morning. If you would, raise your hand if you didn't get a handout. One of these two guys will get one to you if you'd like one for this morning or listen. If you would, just keep them raised, and they'll try to bring one to you here shortly. Appreciate all of your attendance this morning and your participation in worship.

This morning certainly has been encouraging to me. I appreciate the intention that's gone behind the worship this morning, the songs that that case chose, and the words that Jacob himself lived that the supper this morning. There's one verse in particular really stuck out to me that actually is going exactly with my sermon this morning in John chapter 19 that Jacob had read just a moment ago where he says, everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. And that's gonna go right in line with what we're talking about here this morning. And when I think about, you know, songs I love that prepare me for the Lord's Supper, you know, were you there is probably one of my favorite ones as well.

I can't help but think and in my mind, I hear Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash's voice as I'm singing that song. I love that version that they do that. But does anybody else tremble when they say tremble, tremble, tremble? I do, personally. I get the chills every time.

So I absolutely love that song. Alright. That's enough stalling so that most of you can get handouts. So I'll go ahead and begin with our talk this morning. We're in the finishing today.

Tomorrow is the end of August. And so today, we're finishing the second of three sections of our yearly theme based on Ephesians chapter two verse 20 through 22, and we're seeking this year to be built on the foundation. We're returning to foundational things. And our foundation had began a couple months ago with Jesus Christ, our cornerstone. And in these past three months, we've talked and considered the remainder of that foundation being the apostles and the prophets.

And we've already talked several times about their role as divinely inspired messengers who spoke the words of the holy spirit. But today, I really want us to home in there on this last point. I want us to talk about their continued message, and our lesson title this morning is the apostolic gospel. You know, we think about foundational things about the Christian faith. There's perhaps nothing more foundational than the gospel message itself.

You might be thinking, well, everybody knows what the gospel is. Even a non believer could probably tell you what the gospel is. This is Christianity one zero one. I wouldn't be so sure. You know, we live in an increasingly biblically illiterate society.

I think returning to the apostolic gospel is as important now as it ever has been if we really want to proclaim the gospel with relevance and with clarity to a new and often secularized generation. And furthermore too, there's a lot of bible believing Christians themselves that hold assumptions that either narrow or they maybe widen the gospel and perhaps they even totally distort it. And so if the gospel is truly foundational to our faith, well, we've got to go back to the source. We've gotta go to the words of Jesus, and as we'll talk about primarily this morning, the words of the apostles to allow them, not our traditions, not our assumptions, not our familiar formulations, but allow the apostles themselves to define the gospel and what belongs in its proclamation. And so the more this morning, our the trajectory of our lesson really kinda follows that suit.

Then we're gonna talk about what first did the apostles in the early church mean when they said gospel. What does that word gospel mean? Secondly, how did the apostles or what what did the apostles include in their gospel sermons and summaries throughout the New Testament? We'll look at one specific example in Acts chapter two and then at a bird's eye view from several other sermons and proclamations. And then thirdly, you know, how should their gospel proclamations shape our own proclamations?

That's what we're gonna be talking about this morning. Let's start first with defining the word gospel. Our English word gospel, it comes from an old English word, godspell. God meaning good, spell meaning tale or news. And it's translated from the Greek word euangelion, which means good news or glad tidings.

But, you know, we hear news about a lot of things. Right? We have on TV every day. We watch the news. Right?

But what in the ancient world constituted news, and what made it good? Well, it wasn't simply that just anything had happened, just any old everyday kind of thing had happened. But good news or gospel, it was for the ancient people a significant event or action that changed the circumstances and the future of those who had heard it. It was a significant event or action that changed the circumstances and the future of those who heard it. And in both scripture and the Greco Roman world, as we'll see, it's this is not a uniquely Christian term, but the word gospel or the idea of good news, it was used in a variety of contexts.

And one such example is second Samuel chapter 18 in the Old Testament, the Septuagint uses our word euchelion here in second Samuel chapter 18 where David is receiving word from some messengers about his son, Absalom. Absalom had tried to take the throne from his father David, and he had been defeated and killed by Joab and his men. And the messenger comes, and ironically, this isn't really good news for David even though it should have been as Joab goes on to point out. But the messenger says, good news for my lord, the king. For the lord has delivered you this day from the hand of all who rose up against you.

So second Samuel 18, what is it that exactly happened? Well, an enemy of the king was defeated. A civil war as a result of that had ceased, and a king's rule and the peace that the people enjoyed was being restored. Another such example in the Old Testament is Isaiah chapter 40 in verse nine. Then Isaiah chapter 40, this is a major turning point in Isaiah's prophetic book in which Israel having been told that they're gonna be experiencing exile in chapter 39 in the land of Babylon.

Now the context is assumed that they are there in Babylon and they're awaiting deliverance. And now Israel is being told in chapter 40 that their god is coming to them, that they are gonna be coming home to the promised land. God is coming to them personally, the text says. He's coming to level the earth to shepherd them like a flock of sheep across the wilderness in this new exodus. And, again, we get gospel language here where Isaiah says, go up go on up to a high mountain, o Zion, herald of good news.

Lift up your voice with strength, o Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up. Fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, behold your god. What was it that was happening?

What was the news? Behold your god. Your god is coming to you. And how did this change the circumstances of the people? The exile was ending.

Israel was finally coming home. They just had to wait for it to come to pass. But, again, you know, the word gospel, the idea of good news, it wasn't something that in of itself was a uniquely Jewish or Christian term, but it was one that was used widely in the Greco Roman world as well. And one such striking example is the Priene calendar inscription dated to about nine BC, just a few years before Jesus would have been born. And it's written after Octavian's victory in the Roman civil wars that had followed his adopted father, Julius Caesar, that had been assassinated, and all of the chaos that happened as a result of that.

And Octavian comes out the winner. He gets hailed as the as Augustus, the exalted one is what his name means. He's called a savior, the savior of the world earlier in this inscription. And as a result of his triumph of coming to power, life in Rome had changed so drastically that it was this inscription that said that the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings, the for the world. Why?

Why was this good news? Well, because his reign was understood to have brought about this new era of Roman peace. And this good news, it called for allegiance to this new ruler. So what had happened once again? Augustus had come to power.

How did it change things? Again, a civil war was ended, and this called for a response that these people that are dedicating this inscription years after were responding to that good news with allegiance. And all this is really important background. I know you may be like, okay. Is he got another example up asleep?

I wanna make this point really clear this morning. This background is really important when we come to the gospels and understanding, you know, what this word gospel and good news means. And in fact, you know, we compare Mark's gospel and the way that he begins. It gets really similar in the wording to the Preyena calendar inscription because Mark uses exact same language as this inscription to begin his gospel. He says that this is the beginning of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God.

And what's the second text that he goes on to quote in the next verse in Mark chapter one and verse two? But one of our Old Testament gospel texts. He refers to Isaiah 40 verse three. That good news that Israel received in exile, prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.

God was coming to Israel. Behold your God. But whether or not the Phryene inscription was particularly in Mark's mind, No doubt his rulers the Roman readers, they would have certainly understood the claim that he was making about who Jesus was as as we mentioned in John chapter 19 in the supper. And, ultimately, what Mark was claiming was that Jesus Christ, not Caesar, is the true savior and king. And this is also not only, you know, Mark's words, but also Jesus' own words in Matthew's gospel.

Jesus begins his ministry with the words of a royal proclamation. He says, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew goes on to call this very statement and ones like it that Jesus is proclaiming the gospel, the good news of the kingdom. You know, Jesus wasn't preaching as as so oftentimes maybe we think when we hear that statement that Jesus has just mentioned there that, okay. Well, the good news is you can go to heaven when you die.

No. Jesus was making a bigger point, a point that comes before that, that Jesus was making a royal proclamation. He was making a powerful claim about who he was and what he was doing, that God's kingdom is coming and that Jesus is God's appointed king. So when we think about the gospel proper, if we wanna talk about it in those terms, well, the good news is an announcement that something has happened and why it is that it matters in the first place. In fact, the apostles gospel, it wasn't just good news that changed people's lives, but it was the news.

It was the news that humanity had been longing to hear, the most consequential his news that humanity and history would ever hear. It was the events some upon which all human history hinged. In the apostolic gospel, the gospel proper, the good news was what God had done in and through the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. So now we turn, and we ask the question. Okay.

We understand we got a working definition for what gospel, what good news means. But now when you turn and say, well, when the apostles proclaim the good news, what is it that they said exactly had happened? What is it specifically that God had done through Jesus? Well, the only way to answer that question is to go and look. What did they say?

What did the apostles preach and proclaim themself? And for the sake of time, of course, we can't look at every single gospel sermon or summary. I've listed those on your handout for you to go read on your own, and I encourage you to do so. But since we're talking about the foundational things this year, what better place to start than the very foundation that began to be laid by the apostles other than Peter's sermon on Pentecost in Acts chapter two? I wanna read the section of this.

We can't read all of it, but I wanna read a large chunk of it. And I want you as you read, I want you to notice how Peter's words here really fit within our working definition. But again, the gospel is the good news of what Jesus of what God has done in and through the Messiah, Jesus. We'll start in verse 22 of Acts chapter two. If you'll turn over there and follow along.

It's a little bit longer but of a text, but try to pick out these these events that are are falling under this banner of what it is God is doing in and through Jesus, the Messiah. Acts chapter two and verse 22, men of Israel, hear these words. That's good news talk. Right? It's good news.

You want people to hear what you got to say. Hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

For David says concerning him, I saw the Lord always before me for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your holy one see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.

Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of Christ. That he was not abandoned to Hades nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus, God raised up, and of that, we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the father the promise of the holy spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, this the lord said to my lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. And this is where he brings it all to a close, verse 36. He says, let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. What is it that Peter says has happened? That's a that's a long reading.

I know. I know you may have zoned out a little bit. That's a lot to read. I understand. What is it that Peter said took place?

What is the good news that he's proclaiming? He talks about six different things here. Jesus was sent according to the planning and the foreknowledge of God. He says that Jesus died on a cross. He was crucified, that he was raised from the dead by God, and he appeared to many witnesses.

The people saw him in his resurrected body. He was enthroned now at God's right hand and that he had poured out the promised holy spirit upon his people as they had just witnessed, as they just initiated this whole proclamation in the first place. But, again, all these things were working together. Notice again where Peter's sermon reached its climax. After accounting all these key gospel events, he gives this conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth has been made both lord and Christ.

That's the news. That's what Peter was wanting to share with his audience. But these six things on the screen behind me, they're not unrelated events. They're not isolated events in and of themselves, but they're a story leading to the life changing news that God has enthroned Jesus as king. And because that very good news was true, Peter's hearers now had a way to respond to their king.

What does Jesus or Peter go on to say, but repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Now Peter, he just gives us one such a representative example to look at here. But when we compare Peter and Paul's sermons and summaries across the New Testament, because between them two, they're responsible for most of these texts. We see a fuller picture emerges even in what Peter has told us in Acts chapter two, even though that's probably one of the most comprehensive gospel sermons. And what I'm about to show you here on the screen is it's not to suggest that every apostolic sermon by any means contained all 10 of these different events, nor am I saying that if we if we fail to mention one or more of these in our own personal proclamations of the gospel that we somehow failed in proclaiming the true apostolic gospel.

That that's not the point. But the point is really to simply show that these are the recurring elements of the story that they proclaimed. That when we put them side by side, we get a full portrait, a beautiful painting, a picture of what the apostolic gospel entailed. And we consider all these different texts. We get 10 different things, and these are all on your handouts.

So if you're trying to scramble, just write these down. Don't don't do that. Yeah. I can get these to you afterwards if you were were unable to get a handout. But these 10 include the six that Peter had just mentioned, but that there that Jesus had preexisted with the father as God the son, that he had been sent by the father, that he had become man.

He took on flesh, specifically as a son of David, as an heir to the Davidic covenant and promises and throne. That Jesus died specifically for the sins of the people, that he was buried, that it wasn't a fluke. He really died. He was buried in the ground. And after three days, he was raised from the dead.

And many people saw his scars in his hands, his feet, his side. He appeared to many witnesses. But now Jesus has ascended. He's enthroned at the right hand of God. He's poured out the promised holy spirit on his people, and he's coming again to judge the living and the dead and to make his enemies his footstool.

How do we come up with these 10 different points or elements of the apostolic gospel? Do we just make them up? Do we just choose them because they sounded good? No. We do what we were we're starting in this section with talking about.

We read the gospel text. Again, we can't, you know, we can't look at every single one of these. We'd be here all night. So I've given you these texts, and there's more that you could study yourself. But I encourage you at least take a look at these texts in particular.

These are the most expansive and explicit of the gospel sermons and summaries in the New Testament, and I encourage you to study these on your own and look for these different elements that they preach. But we look just at a bird's eye view. We think about Peter's preaching, these 10 different events. We see some really noticeable things. One, that he always mentions the resurrection of the dead every time that he preaches.

That some things seem to be maybe not as emphasized as much. On one hand, we might say that the burial is missing here. We could say it's implied in Acts chapter two and what we read because of the contrast between David's burial and the location of his tomb. But Peter touches on just about all 10 of these things that we mentioned here on the screen behind us. And then we compare it to Paul as well.

Again, this is all in the back of your handout. I encourage you to go study by yourself. Paul, he mentioned several of these elements. Of course, missing here is number two, the idea of being sent by the father, and number nine, the sending of the holy spirit. But, certainly, Paul talks about those those ideas elsewhere in his epistles.

And so this is again just a representative example. But still you see the emphasis on the resurrection, on the cross, of course, being central, on the incarnation, and the of course, Peter Paul expands even more the preexistence and the idea of Christ being the creator of all things. But, really, the point of both of these is is one, to give you a jumping off point to say for yourself, but just to show you at a very bird's eye view really quickly where these 10 ideas and these elements of the gospel come from. Do they come from the words of the apostles? They said these things, that this was the message they proclaimed.

But, again, each and every one of these things for the apostles, they weren't just a merely a list of things that Jesus had done. But again, it was an announcement that God had acted through Jesus to establish him as lord and messiah. And the apostles, they didn't always proclaim each and every one of these gospel events as it's clear on the screen behind me. They always but they always did proclaim the gospel appropriately to their respective audience. But when we put all these things side by side, this is the point.

Right? We get the full picture of what it is that entails the apostolic gospel. And each and every one of these things is important for us as believers to know and to be able to share with others. Because, really, they tell us, at least for ourselves, but also for others, who Jesus is, what it is that he's done, what he's doing, and what he will do. That the gospel, the apostolic gospel, it tells a story about who Jesus is.

This is the good news of what God has done in and through Jesus. And we put all these things together. I've got a summary on the back of your your handout there that I would say we kinda put it all together. We might could put it this way. The good news, the apostolic gospel is that Jesus preexisted with the father and was sent by him to become a man so that he may die for humanity's sins, be buried, and raised on the third day, after which he appeared to many witnesses.

Jesus now though is enthroned in heaven having poured out the promised holy spirit upon his people, and Jesus is coming again to judge the living and the dead and to put all enemies under his feet. This is the apostolic gospel. We ask, what did the apostles say? This is what they said time and time again in various forms and different ways to different groups, but we put it all together as a beautiful painting of what the gospel would look like. This is the apostolic gospel.

So now alright. We've done a long, you know, word study. Right? You're like, alright. Time to time to go to Cain's after lunch.

Right? No. I wanna get the application. I wanna get to why this matters. Right?

It pertains to our own proclamations of the apostolic gospel. The words of the apostles, the meaning of the word gospel and the good news, it should shape our own gospel proclamations. After we return to the apostolic source, now it's time to look inwardly, to look at ourselves. How are we matching up? Are you aligned this morning?

Need a little bit of sharpening? Are you totally off base? Do you need to really get back to the foundation? And how is it that getting getting back to and proclaiming the apostolic gospel, how does that really practically change things from maybe our own formulas, traditions, or understandings and assumptions that we hold? I wanna get three really quick examples with you, and the lesson will be yours.

And I think the first of which was that, typically, you know, it seems people attempt to maybe narrow the gospel unknowingly. We might think that the gospel message is narrower than what the apostles themselves proclaimed. And the danger here is obvious. Right? We might leave out an element of the gospel that the apostles themselves thought to be very crucial.

Many maybe articulate the gospel simply as, well, Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. Believe in him and you will be saved. Maybe perhaps they add, Jesus was raised from the dead so that you could die and go to heaven. Now, again, neither of these statements are false. There is nothing wrong with these statements being of themselves.

They're true, but they're not the whole truth. They're not the whole apostolic gospel. Hopefully, we've seen this morning that the apostles have a lot more to say than simply Jesus died and was raised even though those are central pillars of the gospel itself. But here's a consequence if we perpetually narrow the gospel to maybe just one or two of these elements. If we do that, we may unintentionally cause problems down the line, especially in terms of the our response to the gospel and calling people to respond to it.

And many people and bible believing Christians today, they've narrowed the gospel to be a message about personal salvation or justification by faith. But the gospel, as we've already made, hopefully, very clear, is not first and foremost what Jesus can do for me. It is the announcement to what God has done in Christ. And because this announcement is true, I can respond and I can receive its saving benefits. But many have this kind of understanding, this narrowing of the gospel.

Maybe they think that the response only entails merely faith or belief. Maybe just mental ascent in these facts that Jesus died and was raised. That's central. We have to believe those facts, but, again, there's more to it. In other words, the gospel isn't simply good news of things you get, but rather what it calls you to give in return as well.

And because good news, it changes your reality as we've already made clear, well, it naturally demands a response from you. And if the ascension, if the exaltation or the coming judgment is something that's perpetually neglected from our proclamations, well, everything else might get started to be may may start to be pushed to the wayside in terms of the response. May we neglect the importance of confession or repentance, baptism, or faithful living. But if we proclaim the gospel as the apostles did, that Jesus had become the son of God in power, that he's enthroned at God's right hand. Well, that news demands something from the hearer.

He calls for obedience. And the gospel, after all, as we pointed out, it's a royal proclamation. Maybe we go to the other end of the extreme. May we may we widen the gospel to include things more things than maybe the apostles did explicitly. You know, in our day, gospel the word gospel is applied to a myriad of different things related to the Christian faith, to the books, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

It's a genre of music. We get apply it to just about anything Christian. We talk about social gospel or gospel truth, gospel fellowship, gospel meeting, gospel preacher. We apply it to just about anything. Right?

And those aren't all bad uses. Don't get me wrong. But the danger here is that if everything becomes gospel, then nothing is gospel. The word gospel then loses its meaning, and it loses its explanatory power. I wanna consider two examples here.

Maybe we wind the gospel to include that the gospel is about our faithful living. Maybe we confuse it with our actions or just general Christian living. Well, then the consequence here is we might think that we can fully proclaim the gospel of Jesus just simply through our deeds. That the gospel is good news, that, of course, it must be embodied. People have to see our own allegiance in the way that news has changed us, but it has to be spoken explicitly and publicly.

Otherwise, people are not gonna know the why behind what we are doing in the first place. They might just think, hey. That that's a nice dude. He's a pretty pretty sweet dude. You know?

He's got servant heart. I don't know why he does what he does, but they got to know the why behind the way that we live. We have to explicitly make the gospel known to others. Maybe you think about we make the gospel we conflate it with our practices as a church. Maybe we unintentionally place the cart before the horse in evangelism.

In other words, let me put it this way, we might try to study acts with somebody before we studied Luke with them, or we try to talk about the body of Christ without starting at the head first. Now don't misunderstand me this morning. You know, the conversations we have about church, our worship, and our practices, they are important. We have to have these conversations. They're of paramount importance, but they flow from the gospel.

They are founded on the gospel rather than replacing the gospel itself. And that's really that's our theme for the year, isn't it? Where do we start? The cornerstone with Christ, with the foundation. What is it that the apostles continue to say about Jesus?

And then what we do flows from that. It's built upon that. It's of paramount importance, but we have to get the order right, especially in an increasingly biblically illiterate world. Because maybe in times past, you've had to articulate first maybe acts because you've assumed you that you agree about what Luke says with someone, maybe who has a background in Christianity or in a denomination that we might disagree with. I understand that evangelism, we have to talk to people and meet them where they are.

But I think in an increasingly biblically illiterate world, we have to put things in the right order, and we have to start first with the why before we get to the what. And then our last point this morning is that the most dangerous of these, perhaps they're all exactly the same level of dangerousness, but certainly, this one is probably the strongest, is that if we distort the gospel, as Paul says in Galatians chapter one, or we will be accursed, and this is a serious warning. If you wanna know if a gospel proclamation that you might hear from somebody in the community or somebody here today, I mean, wherever you might be, if you wanna know whether or not that gospel is truly apostolic, well, you need to go and read these texts for yourself. You need to check them against what the apostles have said. Again, when you take Paul's warning here very seriously in Galatians, when he says, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

Not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preach to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone is preaching you a gospel contrary to the one you've received, let him be accursed. Our gospel proclamations this morning, if they don't match up with what the apostles have said, we don't need to defend our tradition. We don't need to defend our familiar formulations.

We need to repent. We need to return to our foundation. May we always remain faithful to the gospel of Christ. That is our foundation. May we preach solely the gospel that Jesus and his apostles proclaimed.

This morning, I've thrown a lot at you. So I'm gonna make my conclusion here this morning brief, but I hope what we set out to accomplish this morning is clear. The gospel is good news, and we need to understand it. It's a life changing good news because it's the news of what God has done in and through Jesus, his messiah. And in their preaching the apostles, they told the full story of Jesus, who he was, what it is that he had done, what he's currently doing now, and what he's gonna do again.

And so, therefore, we have to be ready. We need to be proclaiming the apostolic gospel, not a narrower, not a wider, not a distorted version of it, but the apostolic gospel. So today, if you haven't obeyed the gospel, if you haven't responded to this news we've talked about this morning, we pray that you would believe in Jesus, that you would let this good news change your life, that you would confess with your mouth as Peter preached that Jesus is in fact lord and Christ, that you'd repent and turn away from your former allegiances, and that you would give your highest allegiance to king Jesus, and that you would demonstrate your trust and your obedience by submitting in baptism and receiving the forgiveness of your sins. So this morning, if it's your desire to submit, to bow your knee, to pledge your allegiance to our king Jesus, we wanna help you do that. If it's your desire, if you'll come now as we stand and as we sing.