Participants: Gordon Arruda
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000280
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00:31 Welcome to Faith Chapel. My name is Gordon Arruda.
00:35 I'm the head elder of the Roseville Seventh-Day Adventist 00:38 church in Sacramento CA. 00:41 Today we are going to be studying a topic that is very 00:44 dear to my heart. God's amazing gospel. 00:48 It is a truth that has changed my life and set me free. 00:53 I have never been the same since I first came to believe on the 00:57 Lord Jesus Christ and there's a reason for that. 01:01 I didn't have the explanation for it at the time it happened 01:04 but as I study God's word I began to see God's amazing plan 01:09 and how He can bring a sinner to repentance and to faith. 01:14 And so today I'd like to take you on a little journey on God's 01:19 amazing gospel. To open the study lets turn to 01:23 the book of Romans 1:16-17 02:04 When it came time for God to give the perfect revelation 02:10 of His truth, for God to fulfill everything that was spoken of 02:15 in the law and the prophets, to sweep away the darkness and the 02:21 misconceptions that humanity had of himself God did an amazing 02:28 thing, He didn't give them more prophets, He didn't give them 02:34 more laws, He didn't give them more rituals, He gave 02:39 them himself. 02:41 It says in Romans that the gospel is the power of God for 02:47 salvation, notice it doesn't say it has power, although that 02:53 it does, but that it is the power of God. 02:58 And it tells us why in verse 17. Its because it is there in the 03:05 gospel that the righteousness of God is revealed. 03:09 Now what do we mean by the righteousness of God? 03:12 It primarily means His character, His person, 03:17 His righteous nature, the tenderness and the truth of 03:22 His heart, where He's coming from what His desires are and 03:28 what He wants, all this the gospel reveals and when the 03:34 Holy Spirit can take that truth and that revelation and 03:40 present it to a mind that has been darkened by sin and 03:47 mutilated by a life of sin it is then that this truth, 03:53 this revelation has power to save and we're going to see why. 03:57 for something to be revealed it needs to be demonstrated and 04:03 when the fullness of time came for God to reveal Himself He 04:09 sent forth His son. His son didn't come as a king, He didn't 04:14 come as a rich man, He didn't come as a influential person. 04:21 He came in humble beginnings, He came where barely anybody 04:27 ever recognized the event, and in all this as the demonstration 04:34 of God's goodness and righteousness was being revealed 04:38 Something emerged that revealed something about the heart of God 04:43 that astonished even the angels Lets first see how this 04:49 righteousness was demonstrated. Lets go to 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 05:44 The demonstration was more than simply words of wisdom, stories 05:51 that revealed insight and had wisdom, the demonstration 05:56 was in a powerful life that gave glory to God alone and rejected 06:04 any form of selfishness or self gratification. 06:08 God who was eternal and had glory from eternity chose to 06:16 confine himself within the body of a human being, of a man. 06:22 And there in those humble beginnings reveal a truth 06:27 that will astonish anyone who has the eyes to see 06:31 and to behold. 06:32 God was pouring out himself in a vessel that to human eyes did 06:40 not appear to be anything to take notice of and yet in that 06:46 life there was a truth that had been hidden from past ages. 06:52 The angels beheld it and they began to see something that they 06:56 had never before understood about God's character even 07:00 though they lived in His presents in heaven and they 07:03 worshipped Him and they saw His glory and His brightness 07:06 but this revelation, this they had never known or seen before. 07:12 And this is exactly what God wanted to reveal. 07:17 In this demonstration the scripture says that Christ died 07:21 and was buried and that He was raised from the dead. 07:26 Now why should this be anything different than maybe some other 07:32 religious philosophy of a great man? Its because its why He 07:37 died and its what He meant for us when He was raised again. 07:44 This is a truth that cannot escape us and if we are to 07:47 understand it and to receive it it can mean the difference 07:51 between life and death. 07:55 Lets go to the next scripture as we further study it in 07:58 2 Corinthians 5:21 08:22 This is something that God does that nobody ever expected. 08:31 When He chose to come and live among us as a human being 08:35 it was an infinite humiliation to be clothed with a fallen 08:42 humanity and yet this is what He did. 08:45 He gave up his place in heaven, He turned aside from the 08:52 adoration of the worship of the angels and in order to reveal 08:57 something that was burning in His heart He humbled himself 09:00 to become a man and to live a life not as a king or a ruler 09:05 but as a servant. He says I do not come to be served but to 09:11 be the servant of all. 09:14 Is this what God wanted us to understand about himself? 09:18 Is this what God wanted to reveal so that we could truly 09:23 see what lye deep within His heart. 09:25 Oh brothers and sisters can you imagine the eternal God in 09:31 position of all glory and power and yet when it comes time for 09:36 Him to make Himself known to us in a way He wants to be known. 09:40 He chooses to be a servant and not just a servant, a servant to 09:46 all, a servant for you and a servant for me. 09:50 When the angels in heaven beheld this it was something they had 09:54 never seen before. 09:56 How can our powerful Lord our commander the creator of the 10:01 universe do this but the humbling doesn't stop there 10:08 He embraces the very sin that you and I were born with. 10:13 and becomes the very thing that He hates. He hates sin because 10:19 it destroys us and it separates us from Him and yet He 10:23 chose to become the very thing He had content for and took it 10:28 to the cross and put it to death for you and me. 10:32 He lays in the tomb perfectly submitted to the will of 10:36 the Father never even expecting to come back to life. 10:42 And yet even in death He chooses not to raise Himself from the 10:46 dead but to humble Himself to the will of the Father and to 10:51 stay in that condition of eternal until the Father 10:55 calls Him to glory. 10:57 And indeed He did. 10:59 Raised the third day He raised with a glorified humanity 11:04 with a humanity that is now eternal, with a humanity that 11:08 has overcome, with a humanity that is righteous and holy 11:13 perfectly obedient to God, and with a humanity that will 11:17 last forever. 11:18 This is the demonstration that God wanted us to see 11:25 that the great God in heaven the creator is not pompous 11:29 arrogant and prideful not exacting and demanding 11:33 but at heart is a servant that it is His joy to share Himself 11:40 with you and me. It is His burning desire to serve us 11:46 so that we might be exalted. This is what is revealed 11:50 in the life of Christ and this is why Jesus could say that 11:55 He has been faithful in revealing the Father. 12:00 Can you see a God in this light? Can you see a God going to the 12:07 cross humiliated because He wants to put to death the sin 12:12 that only brings destruction to you. 12:16 Can you see the God being raised from the dead according to the 12:21 will of the Father and being raised into glory forever being 12:26 your intercessor and even there He serves humanity by 12:31 confessing you and me before the universe rebuking the 12:35 accusations of the evil one and keeping us in His bosom 12:40 safe and secure. 12:43 This is a truth that no other religion in the world has 12:47 ever encompassed or even thought up. It could never have come 12:51 from the philosophy of men, it could never have been invented 12:55 because every time humanity creates a religion its only 13:00 after the image of himself but this truth this gospel is not 13:06 of human origin. It comes from heaven because it is the 13:11 revelation of God Himself. 13:13 This is the truth that God wants us to see. 13:17 Lets turn again in 2 Corinthians 5:21 13:46 Not only did He become our sin and in death take our sin and 13:51 put it away but now in His life we become His righteousness 13:56 Can you believe this? That we being steeped in sin determined 14:03 to do things our own way determined to have nothing to do 14:08 with God, God now does something that brings upon into our 14:13 humanity that brings into us a righteousness that is not of our 14:18 own, a life that we could not ever live, a life that 14:25 we could never offer to God and yet this is what Christ has 14:29 become for us a righteousness that stands before God perfectly 14:34 representing you and me. This is a gift that is beyond measure 14:39 Why would God give such a gift for those who did not even ask 14:46 for it, for those who would not even consider God being that 14:51 gracious and good and for maybe those who didn't even care. 14:56 But yes brothers and sisters our God in heaven came here died the 15:01 death we deserved and lived the life we needed to live. 15:05 For us to have something that we could never produce of our own. 15:09 A gift from heaven, a gift that comes from God alone. 15:15 Lets go to Romans 3 15:50 This is an amazing gift. God doesn't give us a new religion 15:55 He doesn't give us a new set of codes a new way of thinking 16:00 to follow after, God gives us himself, He gives us 16:05 Himself in Jesus Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ He lives the 16:10 life that you and I could not live. He humbles himself 16:14 not only to God but He even humbles before humanity as a 16:19 servant and in this act of humility in this act of profound 16:25 humbleness God and His glory are being revealed. He's showing 16:30 that it doesn't matter how dark, how sinful, how unfaithful 16:36 we are He is determined to be the righteousness of God for us 16:43 He is determined to love us at all cost, He is determined to 16:49 serve us so that we may be exulted so that our eyes may 16:53 be open so that we may believe and this righteousness that is 16:58 being lived that has been lived for us all that it entails 17:03 is given as a gift to those who believe in Him 17:08 This is something we do not deserve. I know in our human 17:14 minds and our hearts we always want to do something to earn 17:17 something. We always think what's the catch? 17:21 What do I have to really do? 17:23 What do I have to give up? That is up to God. 17:28 But what God wants first of all from us is our hearts. 17:33 He wants us from our hearts to believe the testimony 17:38 demonstration and the witness. He Himself has given to us 17:42 in Jesus Christ. He wants us to see that in those acts of 17:47 obedience in that perfect surrendered life that 17:50 worship God from His heart in spirit and in truth always 17:56 obedient to the will of the Father that that life 18:00 is now to be given to you as though you have lived it 18:04 as though you were the righteous one as though you were the one 18:10 that lived a holy life. 18:13 God is not content with anything less. He lived His fullest 18:18 of His heart in Jesus Christ and now He wants to give the 18:22 fullness of His heart to you. 18:23 That holy life that was unique that was lived 2,000 years ago 18:28 given to a trembling sinner through repentance and faith 18:34 now receives the revelation that the Holy Spirit brings. 18:39 This life was witnessed by the law and the prophets. 18:42 The prophets foretold of Him spoke of Him, the law looks to 18:48 the life of Christ and sees no fault sees there in a perfect 18:52 man and now upon a believer God bestows this same perfect life 19:00 to you and me as a gift. We did nothing to earn it, we can do 19:06 nothing to deserve it but we can believe upon it and receive it 19:11 for ourselves, this is the heart of our God, this is the God 19:16 who loved us, this is the God we never knew until we came 19:21 and was confronted with the love of Jesus Christ, this is the God 19:24 who desperately wants to be part of your life to share Himself 19:29 with us so that we can grow, learn to love Him more deeply 19:34 learn what it means to live eternal life and learn 19:39 what it means to share the glory that has been so generously 19:42 offered and given to us. 19:45 This goes deeper. We go further into the book of Romans 20:17 Can we see what the scripture is saying? We talk about what 20:21 happened to us when we believed and that is a miracle its 20:25 powerful, we talk about the change that happened in our life 20:30 and a change indeed has happened but this is what the gospel says 20:37 before that change happened before that miracle occurred 20:42 in a place where we did not care where we were stubborn and 20:50 purposeful in pursuing a life of self centeredness God did 20:56 something for you and me, God did something that we had no 21:02 idea was even available to us God poured himself out in Jesus 21:09 and died the death on the cross. It says while we were yet 21:13 sinners Christ died for us. This even goes beyond what ever human 21:23 being could ever even conceive. You know, the word to describe 21:28 such love is a unique word in the Greek language, agape. 21:33 It was so rarely used that the Greeks never gave it much notice 21:39 Its because the only love they were familiar with was human 21:43 love but the apostles especially the ones who wrote scripture 21:48 were adamant and persistent in naming the kind of love properly 21:55 agape, the kind of love that is Bestowed when it is not deserved 22:00 the kind of love that is unwavering and does not change 22:04 The kind of love that is faithful regardless of what we 22:10 do and who we are. God demonstrated this agape love 22:15 at a time and place when we were all in darkness while we were 22:20 all astray and separated from God. It is then in that state 22:25 that God gave Himself to be the righteousness that we did not 22:30 deserve, to be the death that we did deserve and to provide 22:35 for us everything we need pertaining to eternal life 22:38 with Him. This is the depth of the gospel. It goes on to say 22:45 in Ephesians 2 23:30 Do you get it folks? Do you see what this amazing gospel is 23:35 to us? The gospel isn't isn't something that God does 23:40 for us when we believe. Its not about the miracle of the Holy 23:46 Spirit and the transformation that takes place, the gospel 23:51 is what God did for us before we believed. It is before we 23:57 believed steeped in our sin that God revealed His love 24:02 When we didn't care, he went to the cross. We see this written 24:08 in the gospels, the very people who crucified him were the 24:13 people He was dying for. They didn't appreciate it at the time 24:17 and oh my brothers and sisters so long in my life neither did I 24:21 But God knew that in my life when I was to come into this 24:26 world and when you all were to come into this world God knew 24:31 you were going to need a sacrifice you were going to need 24:36 a revelation that you could believe in, you were going to 24:39 need a life that you could never live and before we even had 24:45 a chance to recognize the goodness of God He demonstrates 24:51 this holiness He demonstrates His love by doing everything 24:55 necessary for our salvation. Not only does He die the death that 24:59 we deserve not only does He experience total separation 25:04 and supreme darkness so much so that travail of His heart killed 25:09 Him, literally burst from the anguish and the torment on the 25:14 cross but the scripture says here that He was raised from the 25:19 dead we were raised with Him. When we were sinners 25:26 When we were in darkness He raised us with Christ and took 25:32 us into glory with him. This is the love of our God. 25:36 This is what God does for us even before we believe. 25:41 and as the scripture so rightfully conclude if this is 25:45 what He does before we believe how much more will this power be 25:50 manifested to those who do believe. 25:54 I remember the night that I gave my heart to Jesus Christ. 26:01 I was raised a Roman Catholic and I heard several truths 26:05 about the Christian religion and the Christian faith I heard 26:09 about Jesus I knew about the cross but this night 26:14 when the preacher lifted up Jesus Christ and asked me to 26:20 behold the nail prints in His hands and then asked this 26:24 pointed question to my heart if Jesus was standing in front of 26:29 you today could you say no to Him? When I finally saw 26:34 the truth of this amazing gospel I would be a fool not to give 26:42 my heart to Him. What could I say about my life were I to 26:47 reject such a love? How could I say no to a savior who poured 26:51 Himself out that I might live? How could I say no to a Father 26:56 who loved me and saw all my fault and saw all my humiliation 27:01 even before I was born and yet provided for me something that 27:06 would rescue me. I could no longer say no to this God 27:11 I could no longer say no to Jesus Christ and on that night 27:16 a night I will never forget I gave my heart to Jesus Christ 27:21 and I have been thanking Him ever since. He changed my life 27:26 and He continues to change it and He can change yours. Lets 27:32 pray. Father in heaven thank you for the gift of Jesus Christ 27:36 for the gift of His righteousness and eternal life 27:39 let our hearts receive Him and to be obedient to Him always 27:44 in your precious name we pray amen. 27:47 Thank you for attending Faith Chapel I hope you've been 27:51 blessed by the presentation. God bless you and goodbye. |
Revised 2014-12-17