Revelation 2:1-7 "Your First Love"

Read: Revelation 2:1-7

I. Introduction

            I want to begin tonight by asking you about the first time that you felt like you were in love. Do you remember that time that you first set your eyes upon your current spouse or even your significant other? Do you remember where you were or what you were doing? Do you remember the emotions that were running through your mind?

            You see, many people don’t forget these “first looks” because the events after seeing this person changed their life. They met this person that they were so in love with, possibly started dating this person and then even married this person.

            When we first see this person whom we absolutely love; some call it falling “head over heels” for them. Others say that we were “hook line and sinker” when we saw them. This is because that memory of your significant other is etched into your brain and you can’t forget this “special moment” that you had with him or her. For some, it was love at first sight. You see, the sparks were flying and the flame of their relationship was lit and was burning bright!

            However, as time goes on and the relationship develops; we can easily forget about our emotions or things that we felt when we first saw our loved one. And we don’t treat our significant other like our first love anymore. It is as if the flames that once burnt bright are now coals. We treat them poorly, hurtful words are spoken and other things done to make your significant other feel like just an ordinary person in our lives. He or she doesn’t feel like your first love anymore.

            And maybe you’ve even had a conversation about this; like when your wife sat you down and said, “Honey, I know you love me, but right now I just don’t feel like you’ve been loving me like you used to.” And in response, there are usually excuses made and/or a promise to do better from this point on. But then nothing changes. And you wonder; what went wrong? How could our relationship get to this? What got in the way of our brightly lit fiery passion for each other?

            But you see, this fiery relationship turning to embers or coals isn’t something that just happens with our relationships to others; it is something that happens with a churches relationship to Christ. And one fantastic example of this is the Church in Ephesus in which our passage speaks about. The Ephesian church went from a period of passionate on fire love for the Jesus Christ to a time of love that was smoldering like embers. And the reason was this: they had forsaken their first love.

            So tonight; we are going to examine what the Ephesian church used to be like; then the evaluation to which Christ gives to them and then finally the steps that they must take to fall back in love with Christ.

II. The “On-Fire-For-God” Ephesus

            The Ephesian church is one that we meet multiple times throughout the New Testament. In Acts 18 we can read of Paul planting this church on his second missionary journey. After he spends some time there; he leaves Priscilla and Aquilla (the tentmakers from Corinth) there along with the great teacher Apollos to continue to labor for the church.

            And then in Acts 19-20 while Paul was on his third missionary journey; he spends 3 years there strengthening the church—the most time that he has spent at any church. And during his time there; some magnificent things happen in the church and throughout the community.

            You see, Ephesus was a thriving city; the city of all cities. It was located in Asia Minor on the Aegean Sea. It had the major highways running through it and boasted a great harbor in which even the largest ships could port for some time. The market place was thriving and the economy was doing well. Ephesus also boasted because of the Greek goddess Artemis. There were shrines, statues and other paraphernalia of this goddess placed all over the city.

            However, during Paul’s time there for three years; the church began to grow significantly. And as the church grew; many people were being saved from false religion that the idol industry went into recession. The local craftsmen became afraid that they might be out of jobs before too long. Clearly, the church was making a huge impact on this city for the sake of God’s name.

            Before Paul’s three years were done, just before he leaves, he warns the elders of the church that there will be “wolves among them” that will teach false doctrine, twist the Gospel and distort the truth.

            After Paul leaves; he becomes imprisoned and writes this church a letter—which we know as Ephesians. In this letter; Paul commends them for many things—especially their love for the Lord. He doesn’t have to correct too many things because this appeared to be an “on-fire-for-the-Lord” church and seemed to be healthy.

            However, when Timothy arrives in Ephesus to lead the church; the church is being infiltrated with false apostles and men and women who were teaching false doctrine as well as distorting the truth. Therefore, Paul writes to Timothy—1 and 2 Timothy—and encourages him to stand for the truth which he knows and to which he was taught. And even though this church was being pressed down upon by false teachers; they still had a passionate love for the Lord and stood strong despite the teachings of these false teachers.

            So clearly; the church in Ephesus had a strong love for the Lord through their history.

III. Christ’s Evaluation

            However, now as Jesus is evaluating the church in Ephesus which is roughly 40-60 years after Paul had birthed the church; there clearly is something wrong amidst many good things. There is a new generation that has come to leadership and the older generation who first had a fiery passion for the Lord are now gone.

            Therefore Jesus evaluates them by acknowledging two things they do well. He praises them for their enduring work and for their intolerance of false doctrine. Amidst all the pressures of the goddess Artemis; the church in Ephesus had stood strong. They have labored daily to preserve the teachings of the true Gospel. They didn’t want to participate in worship to Artemis or learn false teachings. In fact, Jesus says that they have “tested those who claim to be apostles” and when tested; they were found to be false! And they also hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which Christ agrees that He hates also.

            So all in all; this church clearly had it going. If you told me that there was church who was solid in their doctrine and could endure under hardship—of course I would be there! What a marvelous church this was!

            Yet Christ also says this, “I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.” You have forsaken your first love. What terrible words to hear! The Ephesian church had abandoned their first love. They have left their first love while they have been enduring hardships and knowing doctrine. The church in Ephesus seemed to have everything; except the greatest thing—Jesus Christ.

            It is true, as individuals and as a church, we can get so wrapped up in getting doctrine right and enduring our hardships, that we too, can become like Ephesus—we too can forget our first love Jesus Christ.

            I have experienced this in my own life also. I can read and read and read about doctrine, about the Bible, about theology, about Bible characters, you name it; I can have all this knowledge in my head, yet I often don’t apply it to my heart—I seem to have everything, but have lost the only thing I need—Jesus Christ.

IV. Christ’s Prescription

            Therefore, Christ tells the Ephesian church three things that they must do—remember, repent and recover.

            First, the church at Ephesus was told to “remember the height from which you have fallen” meaning that Christ wanted them to understand the place that they used to be. They were to remember the past—the “good ole days”. However, there is a danger here which is to live in the past and to long for how it used to be. That is not what Jesus is saying; what He is saying is that we can’t be disconnected from the past. We need to learn from the past in order to live in the present so that we may change in the future.

            If you examine the Psalms or other places in the Old Testament; there are reflections upon the past and how God has worked in the past. The Psalmist remembers God’s hand of protection over Him, thus he knows that God will continually protect him. So too, as a church; we must learn the history of this church so that we can learn from it and do things differently in the future.

            Secondly, the church at Ephesus was called to repentance. Jesus called them to repent of the things that they weren’t doing—namely, loving Jesus Christ. Repentance is the act of making a complete 180 degree turn towards something else. It is completely leaving one thing and pursuing another. Repentance is an inward change which results in different outward actions and behaviors. This is what the Ephesian church must do—they must turn from their ways of forsaking Jesus to pursing Him in an on-fire-passionate way once again.

            Thirdly, Jesus tells them to “do the things you did at first”. The church in Ephesus is to recover the first things that they used to do. If we return to Acts 19—the beginning of this church—we can read what marked them as a congregation. Vs 18-20 read this way, “Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas (1 drachma=1 days wage; that means there were 50,000 days of work just thrown away). In this way, the Word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.”

We can see a two things from these verses; those who believed openly confessed their deeds and they burned the sorcery scrolls (false teachings). You see, this is what Christ is calling them to recover: the passion for knowing Him and making Him known.

V. Conclusion

            So as we face the end of another year—2013—we should evaluate ourselves as a church and as individuals in accordance with this passage from Revelation—have we as a church lost our first love? Or have we as individuals lost our first love for Christ?

            Do you remember the feelings and emotions you had when you first encountered Christ? Do you ever get those emotions or feelings? Jesus encourages you to remember them, to repent of where you are at, and to recover by knowing Him and making Him known.

He who has an ear, let him hear, what the Spirit says to the churches.

Pray

Colossians 1:15-23 "The Supremacy of Christ"

 [**This was my assigned candidacy text by the CRC]

Read: Colossians 1:15-23

I. Introduction

            This passage from Colossians is one of the greatest passages in the New Testament which declare the majesty and glory of Jesus Christ. However, even though this is a magnificent passage; it is also a very difficult passage. It is very difficult because there are many themes and doctrines touched on in this passage—out of the 7 heads of doctrine—this passage covers 6 of those. Thus, it becomes overwhelming at times to read it and study it—I even found a pastor who preached 15 sermons on these 8 verses. There are also many repeated words and phrases which foreshadow what Paul is going to write about in the letter as a whole.

            This passage is also the most debated in the history of the interpretation of the New Testament. There is much ink spilled about these verses in commentaries arguing for certain positions. Some scholars think this was a hymn in the early church, others do not. Some think that is a poem, while others think it is Paul just doing what he does best—displaying the glory of Christ.

            Therefore, even though it is difficult to determine many things about this passage—there is clearly one theme running through this passage—the Supremacy of Christ. In saying that Christ is supreme it is pointing to the highest rank and authority that is found in Christ.

And I hope and pray that as we hear God’s Word this morning that we can continue to stand in awe and amazement of Christ’s majesty and glory for the work that He has done and the work that He continues to do. And there are three truths in regards to Christ’s work He has done and continues to do that are clear in this passage—

·         first, we learn that Christ is the creator of all things

·         second, we learn that Christ is the sustainer of all things

·         third, we learn that Christ is the reconciler of all things.

II. Christ is the Creator of All Things (vs 15-16)

            The first truth about Christ’s work that we come to is that Christ is the creator of all things. Paul begins by declaring that Christ is the “image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Just as we, human beings are made in the image of God; so too Jesus Christ—the Son of God born in the flesh—is made in that same image.

            Jesus Christ is also the “firstborn over all creation.” This phrase can be troublesome for people. The Jehovah Witnesses use this phrase to argue that Jesus Christ cannot be divine because He is the firstborn of all that was created. However, what they are missing is the surrounding context to this phrase—this passage as a whole is clearly exalting the divinity of Christ to prove that He is supreme over everything. Therefore, they have taken this phrase out of context to the benefit of their belief system—a clear danger that is very easy to do.

            So then, what does it really mean that Christ is “firstborn over all creation”? Well, the word firstborn here as well as in verse 18 is in reference not to a physical or temporal birth before creation, but to rank and authority.  

We can know this by finding other places in the Bible that this word, “firstborn” is used. It is used of David in Psalm 89:27 where the Psalmist says: “I will also appoint David, my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth.” If you remember correctly, David was not the firstborn of his family—he was actually the youngest; therefore this too proves that the word “firstborn” stands for one who is of a high rank. Therefore, what Paul is declaring here is that Christ is firstborn of all creation meaning that He is of the highest authority and highest rank above creation.

            And Paul continues to prove that Christ is first born over all creation in vs 16 stating that Christ is the creator of all things. “For by Him all things were created.” That is, by Christ all things were created—He is the agent of creation. All that was created was created by means of Christ. Christ was with God, in God, and was God as God created all things through Him as John says in the opening of his Gospel account and Paul in 1 Corinthians 8 echoes this same truth as well—that Christ created all things.

And notice a minute what these is contained in these two words “all things.” “He created things in heaven and the things on earth; the visible things and the invisible things; the thrones or powers or rulers or authorities—all things (in case you missed it before) were created by Him and for Him.” You see, “all things” created by Christ literally means all of creation. All things were created by Christ and for Christ as Paul says.

As you look around you throughout this week; isn’t magnificent to notice all the various created things—birds, clouds, sunsets, sunrises, grass, dirt, mud, humans, snow, rain, sunshine, thunder, lightning, stars, moon, lakes, rivers, etc. etc. etc. You see, all things were created by Christ and for Christ. The purpose of creation was and is to display the greatness of God and to declare His glory! The Psalmist echoes this also in Psalm 19 saying, “The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the works of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.”

You see:

·         As the sun rises in the east and sets in the west; it does so for the glory of God

·         As each bird soars in the sky or builds its nest—it does so for the glory of God

·         As the grass turns green and the dirt enhances this greenery—it does so for the glory of God

·         As the weather elements do what they do—they do so for the glory of God!

·         As the ocean tide comes in and out each day—it does so for the glory of God

·         As all things in the created order do the things that they do—they do it for the glory of God!

It is amazing to think of the vast amount of the created order and just stand in awe of the greatness of our God. However, I have not always done this. As I have been on top of mountains in California and Colorado or as I have stood at the bottom of the Grand Canyon or as I have watched the tide come in from the ocean—it has been easy for me—at those times in those places—to stand in awe of the greatness of our God. But throughout the normal week here in Byron Center; all things in the created order; don’t seem to do the same thing for me. But a few months ago; the greatness of God became an even bigger realization for me.

Two months ago I visited one of the college students of this church—Brian Keuning. Brian is a junior at Michigan State University studying horticulture—studying plants—and Lord willing he will graduate in the spring of 2015. I was very excited to get to visit him at college to see the campus and to see the various things that he does on a daily basis.

As Brian showed me the part of campus where he spends the majority of his time; I stood in amazement at two things—the wealth of knowledge that he has and the greatness of our God in the creation that He has made. As we walked through several gardens of plants, shrubs and trees, Brian would point to a plant, tree or shrub and ask me, “Do you know what that is?” Now, I must say that I was a landscaper for close to 7 summers during my high school and college years; so I assumed that I had a good knowledge of plants and trees and how this stuff works. However, I was proven wrong.

I think I only knew one plant that he asked me about and that was the “White Pine”. But for every plant he asked me, he would then go on and name the common name for the plant and then the scientific name. I was blown away at his knowledge of them and how we walked around for close to 3 hours and didn’t see the same plant again. This is where the greatness of God’s creation was expanded.

Let me explain further—there are about 600 plant families. You see, a plant family means that these plants have the same characteristics as other plants such as the grass family, rose family, pea or bean family. And inside those families; there are multiple genes and species of plants. This means that there are about 350,000 plant species that have been identified with many, many, many more that have NOT been identified. And get this; of those 350,000 there are about 1,800 plant species that are native only to Michigan.

And one of these plants absolutely amazed me. It was a tiny plant that didn’t look like much, but it is absolutely amazing. It is called the “Sensitive Plant.” This plant is in the pea or bean family because it produces a pod. Since it was smaller plant, Brian and I bent down to get a closer view. Brian then proceeded to take his finger and rub it gently over its leaves. And immediately after rubbing it; the leaf closed up. I thought that this was the coolest thing ever!

Brian then explained that it folded up because of a chemical response that happens when it is touched. It folds up for numerous reasons—one is to keep off bugs that may eat it and another is to reduce the amount of water that passes through the plant from roots to leaves.

As I continued to look and stand in awe of this plant and the others that Brian had showed me; all I could think about was the greatness of our God. And this is just 1 plant of 350,000 that have been identified. I share this story, not to brag about Brian and his knowledge, but to show you that even this little tiny plant is created by Christ and it is created for Christ. As it lives; as it folds up to prevent from itself from being eaten and to prevent water from exiting itself; it is doing this for the glory of God and to display the greatness of the one who created it! Now how awesome is that!

And you see, all things that have been made were created by the one who is “the firstborn over-all creation.” And nothing, nothing in the entire creation exists for its own sake.

Everything

·         from the bottom of the oceans to the top of the mountains,

·         form the smallest particle to the biggest star,

·         from the most boring school subject to the most fascinating science,

·         from the ugliest cockroach to the most beautiful human,

·         from the greatest saint to the most wicked genocide dictator

Everything that exists, exists to make the greatness of Christ more fully known.

III. Christ is the Sustainer of All Things (vs 16-18a)

            Not only is Christ the creator of all things, but He is also the sustainer of all things. In vs 16 Paul says that “For by Him all things were created…” The word for “created” here in the Greek is in the Aorist tense. The Aorist tense is used to describe an event that has happened in the past. However, at the end of the verse when Paul says “all things were created by Him” he doesn’t use the Aorist tense anymore; he switches to the Perfect tense. And the perfect tenst means that it is an event that has happened in the past yet there is continued significance even today. So Paul’s purpose in doing this is to proclaim that not only has the creation been created in the past, but Christ is still in the process of creating today—in other words, Christ is “preserving, sustaining and governing”[1] the creation which He created—all of it!

            And Paul continues this truth of Christ sustaining the creation in vs 17 stating, “He [meaning Christ] is before all things, and in Him [again, meaning Christ] all things hold together.” The firstborn of creation, created the world and now He sustains the world by holding all of it together! And again, in the Greek, Paul uses the perfect tense for the words “hold together” implying that Christ didn’t just once hold things together in the past; rather, He still holds all things together!

The Heidelberg Catechism echoes this truth in Question and Answer 26. It asks, “What do you believe when you say, ‘I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth’?” And the answer is this: “That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who out of nothing created heaven and earth and everything in them…still upholds and rules them.”

            For me, this has been an essential truth to remember; especially as of late. As graduation is nearing and marriage is right around the corner; I have no idea what will happen after graduation. I wonder if I will get a call to a church right away or will I have to wait? I wonder where Denae and I will be live after getting married. And then as I wonder about the future ahead; I begin to worry about these things. Admittedly, it is scary to have an unknown future. It is nerve wrecking to think about getting married (but exciting at the same time!). Therefore, even as I studied this passage; this truth has rang clear in my head and I hope it does for you also—“in Christ all things hold together.” 

            Maybe you have a child on the way and you are nervous about being a parent or how good of a parent you will be. Maybe it is finances and you wonder how you are going to pay each bill at the end of the month. Maybe it is your job which seems to be going nowhere quickly. Maybe you lost your job and are searching for a new one and nothing seems to be coming up.

            There are moments in life where we want to simply give up because we feel like we can’t go on any longer. But you see; Paul is combating against this by reminding us of a marvelous truth: “in Christ all things—that means your job, your marriage, your future, your present situation, your family crisis, your finances—in Christ all things hold together.”

When these times come; we must remember this truth that Christ has not left the creation to operate on its own—He is continually sustaining it and will always continually do so.

            One specific area which Paul mentions that Christ will sustain because He is supreme over it; is the church. Paul states in vs 18; “And He is the head of the body, the church….” Now, without going into too much of this; this also has the same implications of the above verses in regards to the created order—Christ hasn’t left the church to function and operate by herself—the church is Christ’s bride and He will continually sustain and provide for her daily needs. Therefore; as a church we must trust this truth and acknowledge this truth in our decisions and operation of the church.

            So as we continue through our life facing difficulties and trials; Christ has held all things together and will continually hold all things together; therefore we shall not fear what lies ahead, nor shall we lose hope in what is to come—for Christ sustains the creation which He created now and forevermore until His glorious return.

IV. Christ is the Reconciler of All Things (vs 18b-20)

             And now we come to the third truth found in this passage in the latter half of vs 18 through vs 20 which is that Christ is the reconciler of all things. Now Paul points to Christ’s resurrection which highlights Christ’s supremacy over the New Creation.

            Just as vs 15 began with acknowledging Christ being the “firstborn over all creation” so too this section begins in similar fashion—“He [that is Christ] is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead.” Again, the word “firstborn” doesn’t refer to a physical sense, because if you remember; Lazarus was raised from the dead by Christ while Enoch and Elijah didn’t even die; therefore “firstborn” refers to rank—Christ is supreme over the dead because He conquered death; thus ushering in the New Creation.

            Christ was able to conquer to death as vs 19 states “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him [that is Christ].” When Christ became a human being, born of the Virgin Mary in Bethlehem; all the fullness of God dwelled in Christ—He was 100% human and 100% divine.

            You see, Christ needed to be fully human and divine so that He could reconcile all things back to the Father. Paul speaks of the need for humanities need for reconciliation in vs 21-22 saying, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you…” Notice the contrast here: Once we were alienated from God and were enemies of God, BUT NOW Christ has reconciled us back to the Father.

            The term reconciliation is one that can be misunderstood and hard to understand for some people. You see, Adam and Eve were once able to be in God’s presence; however, because of their sin, they were casts out of God’s presence. This became true for all of humanity also; we are all alienated from God apart from Christ.

However, Christ has now brought us back into God’s presence through the shedding of His blood on the cross. We are no longer enemies of God; we are at peace with God. Therefore, a simple definition of reconciliation is that Christ has brought us back into peaceful fellowship with God through the bloodshed of His cross.

            The bloodshed of His cross has reconciled, as Paul says in vs 20, “all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven”. There are some who take this verse to mean that because of this reconciliation of “all things” then there will be none who go to hell for eternity—however, this is not true; for the Bible clearly teaches that there will be some who go to hell and others heaven. So what Paul means here is that there is the opportunity to have eternal life through the sacrifice of Christ, yet some reject this opportunity by seeking their own way to be saved.

V. Our Response to Christ’s Work (vs 21-23)

            You see, this act of reconciliation is the heart of the Gospel; we are soiled sinners in need of a sinless Savior to rescue us from our sinful state. Therefore, this is what Christ has done for us; if we believe that He is our Savior; then we can be assured that He has presented us before the Father now AND on judgment day as “holy in the Father’s sight, without blemish and free from accusation”. We are no longer soiled sinners; we are now spotless saints because of the shedding of Christ’s blood on His cross. This is the goal of the sacrifice of Christ—reconciling us back to God.

            We continue to live holy, without blemish and free from accusation by the grace of God and by the mercy of God extending to us daily. His grace allows us to live as forgiven sinners and His mercy grants us freedom to do things we don’t deserve. This is why Paul encourages the Colossian believers and believers today in vs 23 to continue daily in the faith—established and firm; not moved or shifted from the foundation that Christ offers us. For Christ is the only foundation to which we should build our faith upon. Christ is the only foundation because He is supreme over all things.

VI. Conclusion

And the supremacy of Christ absolutely and wholeheartedly makes me stand in awe of His majesty and greatness. Christ’s majesty and greatness should stir in our hearts a longing to worship Him for:

·         He is the image of the invisible God, in whom all the fullness of God dwelt.

·         He is the firstborn of all creation; which doesn’t mean that He was created first, but that

·         He is the creator of all things—things in heaven and things upon earth, invisible things and visible things, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created by Him and for Him

·         He is the  Pre-existent Creator, who is before all things

·         He is the cosmic glue, in whom all things hold together—sustaining the creation He created

·         He is the head of the body—the church

·         He is the beginning, and the book of Revelation adds; the end

·         He is the firstborn from the dead, having been raised from the dead

·         He is the reconciler of all things to God—the things in heaven and the things upon earth

·         He is the bloody peacemaker who presents soiled sinners to God as spotless saints if only they continue in their faith built upon the only solid foundation—Christ, the Supreme Being over everything.

Pray

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[1] Belgic Confession; Article 2

Romans 5:20-6:14 "Now What?"

I received this text as an assigned text on which I was to preach on 11/7 at Calvin Theological Seminary. I was given Romans 6:1-7; but I thought it needed to include more of the surrounding verses; therefore I expanded it. And here is my sermon from that; I actually preached it in a church first (Zutphen CRC) and then at CTS.

I. Introduction

            In the history of the United States of America; there have been many significant moments which have changed and molded our country to who we are today. One of those moments came on September 22, 1862.

President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation, which began this way and I quote: “On the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or any designate part of a State, the people whereof shall then in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” This certainly was a significant event in the history of our country.

            However, the Union would have to fight for many months before slaves in the South could claim their precious freedom. And after the final surrender of the Confederacy, the assassination of a president, and a difficult political fight, the United States ratified the 13^th Amendment, which officially abolished slavery in America. And on December 18, 1865 the news swept across the United States of America: slaves are free! Well, at least they were officially free from being slaves, but the practicality of their freedom was another matter.

            An 11 year old slave at this time, Booker T. Washington recorded these events in his autobiography saying, “The wild rejoicing on the part of the freed colored people lasted for a brief period of time, for I noticed that when they returned to their cabins; there was a change in their feelings. The great responsibility of being free, of having charge of themselves, of having to think and plan for themselves and their children, seemed to take possession of them. There was the questions of a home, a living, a job, the rearing of children, education, citizenship, and establishment and support of churches. Was it any wonder that within a few hours the wild rejoicing ceased and a feeling of deep gloom seemed to pervade the slave quarters? It was strange for them to think they had to actually break the attachment from their “old Master” or “old Missus”. Some of these people had spent half of a century with their masters and it was no light thing to think of parting.”

            You see, though the slaves were officially free to go anywhere, little changed for them in a practical sense. Legal freedom merely presented slaves with the opportunity to live as free men and women. But turning their legal status into an actual experience would require an internal transformation. Those who found this challenge too daunting, chose the uncomfortable familiarity of slavery instead. They didn’t want to break the bond between them and their Master and become united to a new and free life.

            Now doesn’t this seem foolish to you? For us who haven’t experienced slavery like this, it does seem very foolish. However, there are many Christians who do this same thing today. Time and time again, they choose slavery over freedom every single day. Having been set free, for them to live as free men and women comes neither easily or naturally. It is a process and, like salvation, it must be accomplished supernaturally.

            And this is what Paul speaks of in this section of Romans which we have read this evening. He is speaking of breaking the bond of the old life in Adam and becoming united to Christ. At the end of chapter 5, Paul boldly proclaims that where sin increased because of the law; grace increased all the more, so that grace might triumph over sin and death. Therefore, in chapters 6 and 7 of Romans; Paul pauses for a moment and explains how this can be. In chapter 6:1-2 he responds to an objection by the Jewish opponents in regards to this teaching of grace triumphing over sin and death. And in vs 3-11 Paul explains this in fuller detail by arguing that the knowledge of our baptism, our knowledge of the crucifixion and our knowledge of Christ’s victory over sin and death supports Paul’s teaching of grace triumphing over sin and death. Ultimately, what Paul has written to the Romans in 5:12-21 is about the believer’s freedom in Christ by being united to Him. And this same theme of union with Christ is what Paul continues to explain in chapter 6. But before we go there; we must understand the Jewish opponents objection to Paul’s teaching of grace triumphing.

II. We Died to Sin vs 1-2

            The Jewish opponents of Paul were criticizing him for preaching and teaching that the Gospel of justification by grace through faith without works seemed to stimulate or even encouraged people to sin more than ever! Paul’s critics were implying that Paul’s Gospel of free grace actually encouraged lawlessness and put a premium on sin. They thought that free grace promised sinners the best of both worlds: they could indulge themselves freely in this world and its pleasures without any fear of forfeiting the next world because grace would eventually triumph! They thought that grace gave believers a license to sin. Therefore, just as the letter of Jude combats this; so too, Paul argues against this based on the knowledge of the believer’s union with Christ.

            In vs 1, Paul raises the objection in the form of a question by asking, “What shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” So basically, in other words, he is asking—“If grace is going to continually increase and if we want to make God look good; why don’t we just continue in sin, so God can continually extend His grace to us? Because then this would make God look really good!” or even, “Why should we be afraid of sinning if God will forgive and let grace reign?” And if we are honest with ourselves, people of God; there are many believers and maybe ourselves who have asked something similar to this question that the Jewish opponents were raising against Paul.

            But Paul answers this objection sharply in vs 2 by saying, “By no means!” By no means shall we go on sinning so that grace might increase! When it is literally translated, Paul’s answer is: “Let it not be”. You see, this is an unthinkable position for Paul; it is folly to even think this says the apostle. Thinking that grace gives us a license to sin overlooks God’s purpose in the plan of salvation; it overlooks God’s means of saving sinners and it overlooks the understanding of God’s grace. You see, grace is neither diminished nor withdrawn because of sin. And Paul is stating that the goal of grace is to destroy sin; not to live in it.

            Therefore, Paul makes another statement and another question in vs 2 in response to his opponents. He says, “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” Now this phrase here is an important phrase. You see, if we don’t understand this phrase; then we will completely miss the point of this passage. There are two observations that must be noted to help us fully understand this. First, Paul uses the personal plural pronoun “we” to include himself and all those who are believers—to whom he was writing and for us today. He doesn’t have to supply this pronoun because it already is in the verb; however, by adding it; this is a way of emphasizing a point in the Greek.

And secondly, the word “died” in the Greek is in the Aorist tense meaning that this death is referring to a single action that has taken place and is completed in the past. So basically what Paul is saying is that if you are a believer, Paul is talking to you—he is saying that you have died to sin. And since this point is important to understanding the rest of the passage; we must pause and ask ourselves a few questions—as a believer, do you understand that you have died to sin? As a believer, do you realize that since you have died to sin that you cannot live in it any longer?

Paul is saying that the Gospel he preaches doesn’t cause people to sin or encourage sinful behavior because all believers have died to sin. And in the remainder of this passage; Paul argues believers have died to sin, therefore they cannot live in it any longer.

III. Knowledge of Our Baptism vs 3-4

             Moving on to verses 3-4 Paul turns to the subject of baptism to support his point that believers have died to sin. He assumes that what he is going to say is common knowledge for the Christians in Rome when he writes, “don’t you know”. This is common Christian knowledge that all believers are to have, therefore this shouldn’t be anything new to the first time hearers of this letter in Rome. And even us today; this should be common knowledge that all believers should know.

You see, when we are baptized into Christ; we died to sin. Now Paul isn’t teaching that baptism somehow magically destroys the power of sin; rather, what Paul is teaching is that baptism is an outward physical sign of the inward spiritual reality of the person being baptized.

            In the early church baptism was done very often and it was done by way of immersion—where the believer would be completely immersed in the water—they would go under the water and be fully submerged in it. And then, as they rise out of the water; it was the mark of the completion of their baptism. Now I am not arguing that we should only immerse people at baptism because this is not what Paul is arguing for either; it was just how the early church did it back then. You see, baptism was a sign of a person being buried with Christ as he or she would go down under the water and it was  sign of rising to new life in Christ as they came up out of the water. This dying and rising were outward physical signs of an inward spiritual reality of the person being baptized.

            And because through our baptism we have been buried with Christ and risen to a new life in Christ; now we are united to Christ in His death, in His burial and in His resurrection as vs 5 states. And this union with Christ is done by the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, minds and lives. The Holy Spirit empowers us to live a new life in Christ so that we no longer desire sin.

            Our baptism signifies our union with Christ; and if we are in union with Christ; many believers ask the question “now what?” “Now what are we supposed to do?” Well, at the end of vs 4 Paul says that “we too may live a new life.”

            But you see, this is not always the way that we want it. We are like the freed slaves in 1865 who didn’t really want to be free; they would still rather be united to their Master. This should not be people of God; for to go back to our old way of sinning is complete foolishness. We have been given a new life to live in Christ in which this life acknowledges and knows that we died to sin. So let me ask you people of God; since Paul claims that this is common knowledge; do you know your baptism and what it signifies? Do know that your baptism has united you to Christ in His death, burial and resurrection?

            When we know these things people of God, our death to sin makes so much more sense.

IV. Knowledge of the Crucifixion vs 6-7

            And secondly, our death to sin makes sense when we also have knowledge of the crucifixion as Paul says in vs 6-7. When Paul refers to the “old self” in vs 6; he means our union with the first Adam who was the author of sin; and this union with Adam—this old self has been crucified with Christ—our old self is dead. And Christ, the author of salvation, took the “old self” of believers and brought it to the cross for us because we could not die to sin ourselves. Therefore, since our “old self” is crucified with Christ; believers died to sin.

            And the result of this crucifixion is two-fold: first, in vs 6 Paul states that “the body of sin might be done away with.” The “body of sin” which Paul speaks about is the rule of sin that lives in the world and in the body still to this day—“the body of sin” is the Christian’s actual inclination to sin. As we are eagerly awaiting the day of the glorification of our bodies when Christ comes again; we know that sin is still in this world; therefore we must deal with it appropriately. And also in vs 6 is the second result of this crucifixion of the old self which Paul says is “that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” We no longer have sin ruling over us. Sin is no longer our master and we no longer have to submit to its authority. We now have a new Master and we have now submitted ourselves to another authority—namely the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We are no longer united with the first Adam; for he brought death as Paul says in chapter 5. We are now united to Christ and given new life.

            Yes we still sin, but we do not need to sin. And we will sin less and less as we go on in the Christian life maturing our faith. And when Christ comes again, and we are in our glorified state, we will be able not to sin. We will not be tempted by sin or be able to fall into sin. For if we died to sin now; then we will be dead to sin for eternity.

Therefore, this begs the question, people of God; as a believer, do you know that your old self in Adam was crucified with Christ? As a believer, do you know that this crucifixion broke the rule of sin on your life and now you no longer have to be a slave to sin?

For if anyone has died with Christ; then we are freed from sin.

V. Knowledge of Christ’s Victory vs 8-10

            And thirdly as Paul explains in vs 8-10; we must have the knowledge of Christ’s victory. When Christ was crucified; He took our “old self” to the cross and we were given new life just as when Christ was given new life when He was resurrected from the dead. And through this resurrection, Paul says that “death no longer has mastery over Him [Christ].” You see, Christ triumphed over sin and death when He was resurrected to new life from the dead. And so too says Paul, if we died to sin, then “We will also live with Him.” For our baptism has united us to Christ; therefore we share in all that Christ did as far as His death, His burial and His resurrection and we share in all that He has in the Father.

            Commentator James Montgomery Boice says that this is a way of speaking of our present resurrection. Indeed there will be a future resurrection, but this is not what these verses are about; they are referring to an experience of the resurrected life in the here and now. You see, this is what Paul has been writing about—being dead to sin means that we cannot go back to that old lifestyle—we died to it; therefore, how could we go back?

When a believer has been united to Christ; he or she has died to sin. He or she is on the way to God and can never return to his or her former state of existence. We are united to Christ and we can never be plucked out of this union. We are united to Him forever! Praise be the God for this good news!

            And once again, it begs the question of us people of God; as a believer, do you know that Christ has been victorious over sin and death?

If so, then surely you know that when you died to sin; you were united to Christ in newness of life.

VI. Our Response vs 11

            Since we have been united to Christ and we have knowledge that we died to sin; Paul exhorts his readers for this first time in this letter to respond to what God has done. Therefore, in vs 11 Paul names our response saying that we need to “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Jesus Christ.” You see, if we died to sin; then we can be assured and confident that we have been made alive to God in Jesus Christ. We can count on it.

            And there are two realities in vs 11 that Paul says that we must count on: the first reality is being dead to sin and the second reality is being alive to God. Now, we have already examined these two realities throughout this passage; but here is a quick summary: being dead to sin means that we died to the old life in Adam and now we cannot go back to it. If we go back to the old life of sin in Adam; it is like an adult going around acting like a toddler; or a married man going back to the life of being a bachelor. It may work in some areas and for a little bit of time; however, for the most part; it just doesn’t work the way that it should.

            And the second reality is being alive to God which completes the parallel in vs 5 where we discussed how now we are in a present resurrection state; and this is where vs 11 has brought us to. It tells us that just as we have died to sin, so also we have been made alive to God in Jesus Christ. Being alive to God means that we are now reconciled to God; we have become new creatures in Christ; we are freed from sin’s bondage; we can no longer be satisfied with this world and its pleasures; and we are pressing forward to a sure destiny and new goals.

            Therefore, we are now pilgrims here on earth. We are passing through like the author of Hebrews says of Abraham in chapter 11, saying that we are “Looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (vs 10).

VII. Conclusion

            In conclusion, we now return to the opening question that Paul asked of the first listeners which also is asked of us today; “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” How can we live in sin any longer if we have died to it?

And now we should be able to answer this question; possibly this way; “I know that I am united to Christ in my baptism. I know that my old self has been crucified with Christ on the cross and I know that Christ has become victorious over sin and death and I am united to Christ in His life, in His death and in His resurrection. Therefore, how can such a person as I who has died to sin and been made alive to God in Jesus Christ live in sin any longer?!”

            However, just as the freed slaves in America in 1865 couldn’t grasp the fact and gain the responsibility of living as freed men and women; many believers; many Christians today are the same way—we have been freed from slavery and given a new life.

Yet we often find ourselves desiring slavery over freedom. We have desired to stay in union with our old self in Adam rather than being united to Christ to experience newness of life.

            People of God; if you are a believer, you can have the confidence that you have been removed from your former state of being united to Adam to being united with Christ. Our job is to reckon it so, to count on it.

Therefore we must answer the Apostle Paul’s question of “How can we who died to sin live in sin any longer?” We must answer,

“I can’t! I died to sin and a person like me has better things to do than to keep on sinning.”

Mark 1:1-15 "The Gospel Message of Christ"

           Mark’s Gospel begins unlike the other three Gospels—Matthew, Luke and John. John begins with a theological discourse about who Jesus is. Matthew and Luke both present narratives about Jesus’ pre-birth and birth and genealogies of the line of Jesus. However, Mark is concerned about naming Jesus as the suffering servant therefore he doesn’t take time to explain the birth or baptisms and temptations; he cuts right to the chase. Mark’s Gospel is often known as the “action” Gospel because of the constant movement; the repetition of the word “immediately” and how he just wants to get the cross of Christ presenting Jesus as the suffering servant. Therefore, as Jesus heads into Galilee to preach His first sermon; as these words come out of His mouth, He is a dead man. Everyone was expecting a Messiah, but no one was expecting Him in this way.

            Last week we learned from Paul about the content, the delivery and the purpose of his preaching while he was in Corinth. This was also the content, the delivery and purpose that we should have today in our preaching that we all do to all people.  

            However, the other aspects of the Gospel which we have been studying are included in this; just as others have seen overlap as well. Jesus’ message was God entering the world in a unique and glorious fashion to show His power and wisdom to all men. The message which Jesus preached was about converting to Christianity by repentance and believing. If you recall; there are only two responses to the preaching of the Gospel—either you can accept it or you can deny it. And when a person believes by faith he or she is receiving the righteousness and atonement of sin that God offered as a remedy for humanities universal need. And when people receive this remedy; they do so with repentance of their sin and placing their faith in God which brings them joy because ultimately it is displaying the power of God in their life. And lastly, Jesus preached this message to all He came into contact with—there was no discriminating.

            All of these aspects of the Gospel overlap and are included in one another; but we can specifically see them in this passage by the four things that Jesus preached. This also gives us insights in regards to our response to the Gospel message being preached.

            The first thing that Jesus preached to all He came into contact with was that “the time has come.” This means that the time is fulfilled. At the right time, the right date, the right year, everything was perfectly fulfilled for the time to be correct for Him to enter the world and begin His ministry on earth by preaching the good news of God.

It is now that prophecies have been fulfilled; it is now that the prophets were correct in their predictions; and it was now the time which all the Old Testament persons were waiting for; and Jesus said that this time was now.

            In the Old testament, people hoped for a day when God would not only be their sovereign King in heaven controlling the affairs of sinful men; but would stand forth in glory and save His people from sin and misery and defeat their enemies and establish righteousness and peace and set up a throne on earth to reign in more of an immediate way. 

            And that time is now Jesus as Jesus preached, “The time has come”.  The time has been fulfilled to the fullest that it could be. You see, Jesus Christ is the focal point of all of history. Everything that happened in the past pointed to Jesus Christ and every thing that has happened after Jesus or will happen comes from Jesus and through Jesus. Everything that has happened on the earth and everything that will happen is centered around Jesus Christ.

            The time had come for God to break into the world like never before to reveal His glory in a personal way to comfort His people and to defeat their enemies. And this is what Jesus Christ did—He revealed the glory of God in a personal way by comforting people and defeating their enemies.

            Jesus was showing the world that the time was now that many had been anticipating for the Messiah to come and save the world. Because everyone was expecting the Messiah; however, no one expected the Messiah to come in this way and do the things that Jesus did. Therefore, Jesus’ message was that the time was now, the time was correct and the time was fulfilled for this to happen.

            And the anticipation of this Messiah was that He would come and overthrow the government; therefore showing that He was only a political power ready to reign on the throne. Therefore the second part of what Jesus preached was, “the Kingdom of God is near.” And when talking about the Kingdom of God, this can be a very confusing concept to grasp. Questions arise such as: what is the Kingdom of God? Where is the Kingdom of God? Is it fully here yet? If it isn’t fully here, then when will it be?

            These are all great questions. And first, we can see through Jesus’ teachings on parables that the Kingdom of God refers to His saving reign, not to His total providence over all things. God is in control over the whole entire world; however the Kingdom is in the hearts of those who acknowledge Him as the only King.

            And the Kingdom of God is fulfilled partially now and will be fully here at the second coming of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are in a period of what many call the “already but not yet”. Meaning, we have glimpses of the Kingdom now, but the full and glorious Kingdom is not fully here yet. However, it is coming!

            So if the Kingdom is partially here, then what does that mean? What part is here and what part isn’t here yet?

            Well, Jesus was the embodiment of the Kingdom and has ushered it in when He was born as a little baby in a manger. But this tension of having the Kingdom here, but not fully can be seen in many Scripture passages:

• In 1 Peter and Romans we are taught that we know that Christ has already purchased our healing, but we still groan with sickness

• In 1 John and 1 Corinthians we are taught that we have already passed from death to life, but we still die

• In Ephesians and Galatians we are taught that we already have the sanctifying Spirit as a down payment of our inheritance in heaven, but the war between flesh and Spirit goes on every day.

• In Romans and Matthew we are taught that we have already been forgiven all sin in Christ, but we must go on every day asking for the forgiveness of our sin

• In Philippians and Romans we learn that we already have our citizenship in the Kingdom of God, but for now we must submit in measure to the rulers of the world

You see, there is a tension here that we are living in. We have a taste of what the Kingdom of God is and the things that will happen in it; but we do not have the full fledged whole Kingdom of God yet. But it is coming.

And we can read in Scripture about Jesus’ ministry that the Kingdom overcomes certain things and brings us other things, such as:

·        The Kingdom overcomes physical misery and brings healing

·        The Kingdom overcomes death and brings resurrection

·        The Kingdom overcomes demonic oppression and brings deliverance

·        The Kingdom overcomes rebellion and brings conversion

·        The Kingdom overcomes condemnation and brings forgiveness

·        The Kingdom overcomes wrongdoing and brings righteousness

·        The Kingdom overcomes sadness and brings joy

·        The Kingdom overcomes aimless futility and brings purposeful ministry.

Jesus demonstrated that the Kingdom of God was here and would overcome certain things and bring better things in which He demonstrated this in however we should not assume that our demonstration of the Kingdom today and Jesus’ demonstration of the Kingdom in His ministry will be the same.

            So there is a tension; and now we eagerly wait the 2^nd coming of Jesus Christ with great confidence in the hope that we have of this to come true and faith that this will actually take place.

            The third and fourth aspects of Jesus’ preaching let us know how we can enter into this Kingdom of God which is by “repenting” and “believing”; which ultimately happens when a person is converted to Christianity. Conversion is the human action done in response to what God has done for us—namely; softening our heart to hear the Gospel. And in conversion, there are two necessary elements: they are repenting and believing. They both are needed if there is going to be any value to conversion at all. These go hand in hand with each other. They are like a coin. You see, a coin has two sides—the heads and the tails side—and these two sides are what gives it value. And if a coin doesn’t have one of these two sides, then it isn’t worth anything—there is no value to it. Therefore, when learning about repentance; one must also learn about believing and vice-versa. But this morning, we are going to separate the two and hopefully we will see just how important these are as individual pieces; however, more importantly as a whole to see the full value of them.

            So Jesus mentions the word “repent” as part of His preaching. You see, when we are “dead in our sins” the Holy Spirit softens our hearts so that we can hear the Gospel message being presented to us. When we hear the Gospel; we have already learned that there are two responses which we can do: either accept it through faith or deny it. And when we accept it through faith; we need to repent of our past sins. However, in that sense it appears to mean that repentance is a one time act that is never to be done again. But in the Greek; it stresses the importance of repenting by being an aspect of our daily life which we are commanded to do. Repentance is the removal of any obstacles in our life that hinder our reception of the Messiah and His Kingdom. Let me say that again; repentance is the removal of any obstacles in our life that hinder our reception of the Messiah and His Kingdom.

            And the Heidelberg catechism emphasizes three aspects of what is included in repentance in QA 89 saying that we must be genuinely sorry for sin; we must hate it more and more and then we must run away from it. In other words, we must have some knowledge of our sin, we must be convicted of our sin and we must trust in the forgiveness of sin.

            First, we must have knowledge of our sin. This helps us realize that we have changed from the past life of sin that we used to live into the new creation that we are in Christ Jesus. Our knowledge of our sin will help us admit the sin that we need to confess before God because when we admit our sins; we are acknowledging that what the Bible says is true. We are to acknowledge the sins which we commit, not because God doesn’t know how we sinned; rather it is beneficial for us to know the sins we commit and be open and honest before our holy God. This helps us be genuinely sorry for the sin which we have committed.

            Secondly, we must be convicted of our sin; we must hate it more and more. We must not only be sorry and feel sorrowful for our sins, but we must hate sin and the act of sinning. Our feelings change toward sin; we used to love it, but now that we are in Christ, we must hate it more and more. This conviction is done by the Holy Spirit working in us. This can be an awfully painful process; but people of God, we know that in the end, we will be better off because of it. And we can praise God because of this!

            Thirdly, we must trust that we are forgiven by God of our sins when we confess them to Him. This is a change in purpose of life for we never used to desire to be forgiven, however now it is different for us. We can have forgiveness and we must trust in this forgiveness and that it remains true for us—that when we ask for forgiveness; we can have complete trust that our sins will be forgiven. Therefore, we no longer want to sin; rather we turn and run away from sin. And we do this every day continually until we die. We must continually repent because we are continual sinners. But repentance won’t allow us to see Christ; seeing Christ drives us to our knees in repentance.

            And with these three elements of repentance, having knowledge of sin, conviction of our sin and trusting in forgiveness; we can see that this is only one aspect of conversion. Because before we were converted we loved sin and living in sin and doing everything sinful. However, we have now changed and have made a 180 degree turn from sin and to God.

            The fourth element that Jesus preached to all those who heard is also the second element of conversion which is the command to “believe the good news.” After repenting of our sins, we must believe. And believe is another way of saying to have faith. And faith, if you remember from the first sermon I preached here on James 2; I mentioned there are three aspects of faith as well—knowledge, conviction and trust.

            The first is that of knowledge. We must have some sort of knowledge about who or what we are placing our faith in. This knowledge doesn’t have to be much as we learn from the thief of the cross; but as we continue on with our Christian life; the more knowledge we have about God and who He is and what He has done for us; this surely deepens and strengthens our faith in Him. It doesn’t have to be a lot; but it does have to be enough. And people often look to books outside the Bible to strengthen their faith; however, many don’t know what authors to trust and many don’t know what authors are good and what ones are bad. But you see, when we turn to God’s Word and read it; God reveals Himself to us about who He is; and He is perfect; therefore the authorship of His Word is perfect. We can trust what we read in this book and the knowledge that we learn from it.

            The second aspect of faith is that of conviction. You see, it isn’t enough to have just knowledge. We must believe the knowledge that we learn about God is true. For when we believe that it is true; our heart moves in the direction toward God and we are convicted of the beliefs to be true!

            The third aspect of faith is that of a trust. We must have a full fledge commitment to God. Simply knowing it is not enough; even the demons know about God and when convicted they shudder. However, when we know about God and are convicted we must place all our trust and faith in Him for what He has done for us—namely providing a remedy for our need.

            Therefore, knowledge, conviction and trust are apart of both repentance and faith. And we must have both of these elements to make up our whole conversion; for if they don’t then certainly it isn’t worth anything—just like a coin needs two sides of it to have any value. Repentance and believing is not only suggested by Jesus, rather they are commands of Jesus for us to do daily—daily repenting of our sins and daily acknowledging Him as the Lord and Savior of our life.

And these two things—repenting and faith or believing—are things that we must do daily. We must daily repent and daily believe. We must daily have knowledge of our sin and of God. We must daily be convicted of our sin and of who God is. We must daily trust in God for the forgiveness of sins and daily trust in God for who He says He is.

And notice what Jesus says to believe in; He commands us to believe the good news. Well, what was the good news that He was talking about? This good news was that the “time has come, the kingdom of God is near.” This was the good news; and this still is the good news.

            For there will be a day when the Lord Jesus will usher in the full Kingdom when He comes back in all His glory; the dead will rise; the devil will be defeated once and for all; there will be no more pain, crying or death; there will be a new heaven and new earth; there will be eternity spent with our heavenly Father—only if we repent and believe in the good news.

            For if we only believe and don’t repent then we won’t enter into this Kingdom. And if we only repent and believe; then we won’t enter this Kingdom. Therefore, both are commanded to us as a daily practice as well as a necessary element for entering the Kingdom of God. And remember, repentance and believing are the human responses to God’s working in our hearts after we hear the Gospel presented to us. These are done in response to what God has done for us; we can only do these things because of what God has done for us.

You see, the Gospel is clearly for all of us and it demands a response from all of us. And the only logical response from us is through repenting of our sin and turning to God and placing our complete faith in God.