Gospel Centrality

One of the things that I do here is I'm really pretty involved in counseling. and over the years I've, had the opportunity, the privilege, to counsel a lot of folks. One of the things that I have come to discover, in counseling is the fact that every sin struggle, every relational struggle can, can, can always boil down to the fact. That the gospel is not being experienced in its fullness.

The gospel may not be understood or it simply may not be being applied and it's not being experienced, but at the end of the day, the number one problem that I find In the lives of counselees, if you will, in my own life, in our lives, I believe has to do with our failure in, in laying hold of the gospel. Pastor Milton oftentimes talks about how when he does counsel that he's got one tool in the box. That's it, one tool, the gospel, and he is forever trying to apply the gospel into the lives of the people who he is counseling.

Any sin struggle that I experienced in my life can be directly traced back to my failure to embrace the gospel.

I want to take some time now to read for you a number of quotes and I think this point is buttressed by what these excellent believers have to say. CJ Mahaney says the following. That the greatest need in the American church today is the recovery of the church's central message, the gospel. Far too often in evangelical churches, the gospel is simply assumed and being so assumed, its voice is muffled, its entailments are ignored, and its power is Drained.

More significantly, when the gospel is assumed, it is in grave danger of being displaced. The church is therefore in great need of a thoroughgoing return to gospel centrality. The measure of such centrality will be the extent to which the gospel is functional, determining. The nature of the church's life, the substance of its teaching, the content of its worship, and the core of its proclamation.

Timothy Keller states the following, that the main problem then in the Christian life is that we have not thought out the deep implications of the gospel. We have not used the gospel. In and on all parts of our life. Richard Lovelace says that most people's problems are just a failure to be oriented to the gospel, a failure to grasp and believe it through and through.

I love this quote, Luther says that the truth of the gospel is the principal article of all Christian doctrine, all theology, all doctrine has its Roots in the gospel is what he is saying. Most necessary is it, the gospel, that we know this article well, teach it to others, and beat it. We must beat the gospel into their heads, into their heads continually. The gospel is not easily comprehended.

Paul says that the gospel only does its renewing work in us as we understand it, in all of its truth. All of us to some degree live around the truth of the gospel, but do not get it. So the key to continual and deeper spiritual renewal and revival is the continual rediscovery of the gospel. A stage of renewal is always the discovery of a new implication or application of the gospel, seeing more of its truth.

This is true for either an individual or a church. And a man by the name of Fabiti says, I do not want to attempt to say his last name. I've tried dozens of times and forget it. But Fabiti, I can handle that, says that the greatest need in the church today, the greatest need in the church today is the gospel, go figure.

Isn't the church the place where we are to find the gospel, and yet he is saying that in his observation as he surveys the landscape of evangelicalism that the greatest need in the church today is the gospel, so essential is the gospel to the Christian life that we need to be saturated in it in order to be healthy church members. Our ability to be healthy church members hinges upon the doctrine of gospel centrality. And Mike Bulmore states the following. A local church is healthy to the degree that #1, it's pastor teachers are able to accurately, effectively and broadly bring the gospel to bear in the real lives of their people, and 2, its people have a deep personal understanding.

It's people, the people of God. God, the congregation has a deep personal understanding of and appreciation for the gospel, so as to be able to live in the good of the gospel daily. I call this the functional centrality of the gospel. In the book, counsel from the Cross by Elise Fitzpatrick and Dennis Johnson, they state the following.

The problem with a large majority of these books, and they are referring to the books that you will find on the Christian bookshelves, books that tell you how to live out the Christian life, and note what they say that the problem with a large majority of these books is that they have pointed out the obligations of the gospel without first rehearsing the declarations of the gospel. And then they go on to say, focusing on the obligations of scripture without mentioning the declarations of the gospel has resulted in a works-oriented perspective in family relationships and idolatry of the family, and in despairing or self-righteous husbands and wives and children who wonder why it is so hard to obey.

If you give to folks the demands of the gospel and not the declarations of the gospel, at the end of the day, you are giving to the people of God legalism, and I'll tell you, legalism will discourage or it will feed into pride. This is what they are saying, When we forget that Jesus is our savior, seeing him merely as our example, the motivation to love as he does eludes us.

It eludes us. Such is the importance of gospel centrality. Walter Marshall was an old Puritan writer, and he nails the theme of gospel centrality on the head in his book, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification. Unfortunately, this book has been revived as a man by the name of Bruce McRae discovered it and he put it into modern English.

Bruce underscores the importance of the book and its gospel-centered approach in his introduction when he declares, again, Bruce McRae commenting on this book, he says this, in our day, OK, in our modern day, however, this truth that the power for growth comes from the gospel of grace seems to be long forgotten. Relegated to the dusty rare book room of the church. Every generation of the church must discover afresh the sufficiency of the gospel of grace and the power of the cross of Jesus Christ, both to save and to sanctify.

And the reason I bring these quotes, into the discussion is because I don't want you to think that I'm, I and Pastor Milton and Pastor Mike and the elders of Cornerstone that, we're the only ones that are, that are saying the types of things that you might hear us say from time to time, but there are a number of people who I believe are hitting the nail on the head, and they are saying that at the end of the day, our ministries must be marked by the crucial doctrines of gospel centrality.

That is our topic and the question or the types of questions that this message will address here this morning are as follows. Why? Why are we so passionately committed to the doctrine of gospel centrality? What makes this doctrine so vitally important?

Why, why should we be motivated towards a commitment to gospel centrality? in other words, what is the big deal? What's the big deal? Well, before we get into answering the question, why should we be motivated towards a commitment to gospel centrality, I would like to present to you a definition.

This is how I am defining gospel centrality. You might come up with a better one yourself and so feel free to try, but this is what I've come up with. And so, gospel centrality is an approach to life and ministry in which every desire Children, you can fill that in. Every desire, every attitude, every word, and every deed is informed by and affected by the gospel and those truths directly related to it.

And so that is going to be my working definition for this term gospel centrality. Again, the question that we are answering is this Why should we be motivated towards a commitment to gospel centrality? Answer number one, and by the way, there's probably dozens of answers that could be given. I'm just gonna scratch the surface, but hopefully, scratching the surface scratches an itch and it causes us to want to go deeper in our comprehension of, of this crucial doctrine.

But anyway, number one, gospel centrality was the apostolic approach to doing ministry. Gospel centrality was the apostolic approach to doing ministry. The fact of the matter is, is that in every case, every apostle, when it came to doing ministry, their ministry was rooted in this doctrine of gospel centrality. Now you might say, I don't see gospel centrality in the scripture, and I would say, well, I don't see trinity in the scripture as well, but I believe it.

And when we come to understand the teachings of scripture, this idea of gospel centrality which captures, I think what the scripture teaches is a good term to use. We see gospel centrality, for example, in the life of the apostle Paul, and we see it in the life of the apostle Peter, and we're gonna take a bit of time now to consider each. Let's consider Paul's gospel-centric approach to doing ministry. Now, we are all, oh, by the way, there's like a billion verses that I have to share.

I'm not going to share them all and I'm not gonna ask you to turn to them all. When I want you to turn to a passage of scripture, I'll say turn, OK. If you want to try to keep up with me, by all means go for it, but, I may frustrate you, OK, so, I will tell you which verses to actually look at and, and the others just listen to me as I share them with you. But we are all familiar, I think, with Romans chapter 1, classic passage, right?

And we all know that in the 1st 11 chapters you've got nothing but gospel truth, gospel truth, gospel truth, no commands, no exhortations to obedience, but gospel, gospel, gospel, then you finally get Romans 12:1, and then we hear Paul saying to his audience, I urge you, therefore, brethren, therefore, that therefore speaks back to the gospel, and then he goes on to say, by the mercies of God, in lieu of the mercy of God, as demonstrated from the cross, he says, present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice.

Turn in your Bibles with me to Galatians 3:1, Galatians chapter 3, verse 1. In this passage we read, You foolish Galatians, you fools, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Now note what he is doing, he is directing their attention to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul knows that what his need is a glimpse of Calvary and so he is directing their attention to the one who hung there on the cross for them before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Now stick that in your mind and think about it and picture that. This is the only thing I want to find out from you. This is the question I Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

Did you receive the Spirit by picking yourself up by your own bootstraps and trying really hard to obey the law, or did you hear it by hearing with faith? And the million dollar question here is, what is it that he is referring to that they had heard? And the answer to the question is, it was the gospel. And what he is trying to communicate to them is that when you heard the gospel, it was the gospel that had an effect in your life.

It was the gospel through which you received the spirit, and it was the gospel by which you experience power, you experience miracles, you experience transformation, all of that fruit was the overflow of your gospel experience. You received the Spirit, not by works of the law, but by hearing with faith. He goes on in verse 3 and says, Are you so foolish, having begun by the Spirit. Now remember, when you go back to their beginning, the beginning was one in which they embraced the gospel, they embraced the gospel, and then they, they were filled with the Spirit, and the overflow of that was God was doing great things, right?

Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by The flesh, are you now being perfected by picking yourself up by your own bootstraps and seeking to obey the law of God? The implied answer here is no, no. Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain, does he then who provides you with the spirit and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith? And again, the question is, the hearing of what the hearing of the gospel.

That is why he starts Of here by reminding them of the one who was crucified, because he knows that in directing them to the crucified One, that is the place in which they can find the power that they need to experience the spirit fruit-filled life and the fruit of the Spirit, and so on and so forth. In Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 1, more of the following. Again, the apostle Paul's approach to ministry was marked by gospel centrality. Ephesians chapter 4 verse One, the 1st 3 chapters, all he does, just like Romans, he gives gospel, gospel, gospel, he barrages them with gospel truth, and he prays for them to know the power of God and to experience the power of God.

And then finally, in verse one, we have an exhortation, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, I entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. In Philippians 1:27, Weread this, only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Note the connection between conduct and gospel, you conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Clearly, Paul's approach to ministry was gospel-centered.

Go ahead and, and turn in your Bibles with me, please, to Titus chapter 2 and verse 11, Titus chapter 2, verse 11. The larger context is as follows. As you're turning to 2/11, the larger context is as follows that, Paul had already addressed, older men. exhorting them to godliness, basically.

And then he addresses older women, exhorting them to godliness, essentially, and then through the back door, he addresses younger women, right, exhorting them to godliness and imploring the older women to come alongside and to help the younger women so that they can be godly. And then he goes on and he speaks to younger men, exhorting them to godliness. Now keep in mind these are all a bunch of exhortations to godliness, but note that the exhortation is directly connected to the gospel.

He does not give exhortations apart from the gospel.

So in Titus 2:11 we read, for the grace of God, this is why you older men, older women, younger women, younger men, this is why you To behave in a godly manner, bond slaves as well. You behave in a godly manner because the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. It's in light of salvation, in light of the grace of God, instructing us. What does God's grace instruct us to do?

It instructs us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age. Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, you're anticipating his return, you're knowing he's coming again someday for you, and then it goes on to say, who gave himself for us, so he looks forward, then he looks backwards to the cross, who gave himself for us. This is the motivation for godliness that he gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and pure.

for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.

So you see the gospel connection there, OK, this is the apostle Paul. Let's turn to Peter and consider Peter. He does the same thing. Peter himself was very gospel centered in his approach to ministry.

His approach to ministry was always the overflow of the gospel and truths directly related to the gospel. And so turn to 1 Peter 1:17. 1st Peter 1:17. And we read the following.

And if you address the Father, the one who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves, conduct yourselves in fear, OK, in the fear of the Lord, obviously, this implies how they live their lives. This implies the things that they do, this implies fruit. He says conduct yourselves in fear, the fear of the Lord during the time of your stay upon the earth, knowing, and as you do this, knowing, This, that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but you were redeemed in light of your redemption, and the light of the fact that you were redeemed with precious blood, you conduct yourselves in fear, you were redeemed with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, you were redeemed with the blood of Christ.

I look at my life and I don't see myself progressing.

I don't see myself gaining ground. I don't see myself being sanctified. Can you please help me out, Peter? What is my problem?

What am I doing wrong? How come I don't look at my life and see evidence of sanctification and growth? How come I'm not pressing on the upward way and gaining new heights every day? What's my problem?

And he answers that question in verse 9 when he says, for he who lacks these qualities is blind or shortsighted. OK, so my problem The problem is blindness. Well, please tell me then what is it that I am blind to? In what way am I short-sighted?

And Peter gives the answer. Having forgotten his purification from his former sins, Peter connects the gospel to life, and Peter says that the gospel, the fact that your many sins have been forgiven is the basis for how you live out your life. It is the basis for you to add to your faith all of these virtues. OK.

And so Peter himself was gospel-centric. Brothers and sisters, I submit to you that every day, every single day, The Lord provides all of us with fresh opportunities to experience and to minister gospel truth. Every single day, you have the opportunity to experience gospel truth and to minister gospel truth to folks around you, whether that's to your husband, or to your wife, or to your children, or To your parents or what have you, to your brothers and sisters in Christ, to your neighbor who may be unsaved, every single day is loaded with many opportunities through which you can minister the gospel to people around you and in light of the gospel, we all ought to be encouraged, therefore, to minister the gospel.

And so gospel centrality was clearly the approach of the apostles to doing ministry.

Part of the reason for this is, is that they were absolutely convinced of the next point. Let's go to number 22, gospel centrality positions us to experience God's saving and sanctifying power. Gospel centrality positions us to experience God's saving and sanctifying power. turn, if you would to Romans 1:16.

Romans 1:16, the apostle Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it, what is the it, it is the gospel, for the gospel is, this is present tense active voice. Right now, the gospel itself is, what is it? It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. And then if you look at 1 Corinthians 1:18, 1 Corinthians 118 we read the following for the word of the cross, this is just another way of saying the gospel.

This is just another way of saying the death of Jesus Christ for sinners. The word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us who are being saved, again this is in the present tense passive voice, to us who are being saved, it It is, it is here is present tense active. It is the gospel is the word of the cross is in the present, actively the power of God. The gospel is the power of God.

We cannot just simply pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps to make us what God would want us to be. We cannot do that. There is no power in and of ourselves. There is no power in the law.

There is no power. in the commands, the power for life and godliness is contained within the context of the gospel, inside of the atmosphere of the gospel, inside of a cross-centered message, there is their power from God availed to us so that we can through that gospel power walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which we have been called. I would like for us to consider Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and if you can turn there, there will be a few places I will direct you to there in the book of Ephesians.

But I've already said earlier that Paul begins with an assault.

He assaults them. He picks up a rifle and he fires buckshot all over the place. And what buckshot does he fire all over the place? It's gospel-centered buckshot, right?

He gives to them gospel. He stop laughing, Terrence. He gives to them gospel all over the place. he's reminding them of what Christ has done for them and how they're forgiven, how they're adopted.

and, and how they have the Spirit of God inside of them. He's just giving them, gospel all over the place. And then in Ephesians 1:19, look at that please. In Ephesians 1:19, we have Paul's first prayer for the Ephesians recorded there.

And so Paul is going to pray that they would know gospel power. He wants them to know, to know gospel power. Listen. to what he says in Ephesians 1:9.

He's basically saying, I am praying for you so that you may know, and there are a number of things he wants them to know, but among those things that he wants them to know is this, what is the surpassing greatness of his power towards us who believe? His power towards us who believe. I want you to know the power of God towards us who believe. And then he goes on to say, which is in forward with the working of the strength of his might, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.

And you see what he does is he connects the power that is theirs to the gospel. Power is directly connected to the gospel here. And so we're talking about gospel power and Paul is praying for them to know gospel power. We continue on then in Ephesians 3:16.

Paul here in his second prayer for the Ephesians before he gives them the command to walk in a manner worthy. In Ephesians 3:16, Paul is basically going to pray that they would experience that power. Again, where does the power come from? It comes from the gospel and note what he says in Ephesians 3:16, that he would grant you, I am praying that he would grant you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with.

Power through his spirit in the inner man. Again, what power is it that he's talking about? He's talking about gospel power. The apostle Paul has already given to them the gospel.

He's prayed that they would know the gospel power, and here he is praying that they would experience the gospel power in their lives. Power comes through the gospel. Paul knows that, and so he's praying for them to experience the gospel power through the Spirit in the inner man. And no doubt as Paul is speaking or, or writing, and his audience is reading or hearing this letter being read, There are some who would say, I don't know, Paul.

Paul has just prayed that they would be strengthened with might through the spirit and the inner man. He goes on to pray that they would experience the fullness of God and some might be sitting there with their doubts. They've already been told about gospel power. He's already prayed that they would experience, that they would know gospel power and experience gospel power, but nevertheless, there may be some doubters and it's interesting because Paul responds to that and he says, guys, I, I don't know all of the details of your life.

I don't know what you are struggling with, but I can tell you this much, you gotta get your eyes off of yourself. You cannot pick yourselves up by your own bootstraps and make yourself what God wants you to be. You got to be plugged into the power source and the power source is the gospel. That is why I have ministered gospel to you.

That is why I have prayed for you to know and to experience gospel power. And just in case there are those who would be doubting Thomas's, he says, In Ephesians 3:20, now to him, to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us. You see, Paul's solution to the problem is don't pick yourself up by your bootstraps, but look to him. Look to Christ, look to the gospel, and know that in the atmosphere of the gospel, you have the power that you need for transformation.

You have the power that you need to deal with the difficulties that life brings your way. You have the power that you need to be able to forgive those who have sinned greatly against you. You have inside of the gospel, all of the power that you need to live a life that is glorifying to Almighty God. You have the power.

And that power that is yours is yours from God through the gospel given to you. It's not that you have it intrinsically, but you have it in Christ and through Christ. It's interesting because in the book of Ephesians, Paul's writing to believers and he's giving them gospel and it's clear that he wants his Ephesians readers to have more gospel. He's not content with, with the amount of gospel that they have.

He wants them to have more of the experience of the gospel in their lives. And so, therefore, if we want to experience the power of God, we must remain steadfast in our commitment to gospel centrality. It is within the atmosphere of the gospel that we overcome sin. It is inside of the atmosphere, the environment, the house of the gospel, that issues of pride are laid aside, that anger drops by the wayside, that unforgiveness.

is enveloped in a heart and spirit of forgiveness. We can forgive our greatest offenders, offenders. Self-centeredness is addressed in the gospel, lust and sexual lust and whatever cravings that are sinful, idolatry, the idol of control, all of this of sin. Is addressed within the environment of the gospel and as we, to borrow Milton's term, suck gospel fumes and live in the good of the gospel, the sin has a way of being able to fall by the wayside as we focus in on gospel truth.

Well, I want to move on to the next point here. Gospel centrality keeps us looking to the example of the one that we are called to follow. This is very important. Gospel centrality, this is another reason we want to maintain a strong commitment to gospel centrality because what it, Because as we are a church marked by gospel centrality, this doctrine keeps us looking to the example of the one that we are called to follow.

In Romans 8:28, don't turn there, but just listen. Romans 8:28 and especially 29, we read the following. For whom he foreknew he predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, conformed to the image of His Son. This is what God is up to.

God is causing everything to work together for the good of those who love Him, and the ultimate goal is not our comfort, not our happiness, not our pleasure, but the ultimate goal is our conformity into the image of His Son, and Lord willing, that would give us pleasure. Well, we read in 2 Corinthians 3:18. The apostle Paul says, we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, as we behold Christ, we are being transformed into the same image. And so clearly, we are called to be transformed and to be molded into the very image of the Lord Jesus Christ, to reflect Christ.

In our relationships with people around us and in this world. First John 2:5, we read in First John 2:5, actually verse 6, the one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked. We are called to to be conformed to his image, to be transformed into his image, and to, and to walk in the same manner as he walked. Turn in your Bibles to First Peter 2:21.

First Peter 2:21, just to buttress this point again, and I'd like to spend a little more time just focusing on this passage. He says, for you have been called for this very purpose. Now, mind you, the larger context in, in First Peter 2:21 is this, the slaves are dealing with unjust masters. And then eventually he's going to go on to talk about how wives are dealing with sinful husbands.

And then husbands dealing with sinful wives is essentially, we've got people being sinned against. We've got people who are being sinned against and for all intents and purposes, they really haven't done anything wrong. Slaves and wives and husbands, we've got this group of people who are experiencing being sinned against, and it is within this larger context that the apostle Peter says in, in First Peter 2:21, for you You have been called for this purpose. What purpose?

The purpose of suffering for the sake of righteousness, the purpose of responding to being sinned against in a Christ-like godly manner. You have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, and I love what he does. He says, leaving you an example for you to follow in his steps. Christ suffered for you.

This is a gospel. Centered perspective on suffering is what Peter is introducing to his readers. You're suffering. I understand you're being sinned against, and I understand that for all intents and purposes, life doesn't seem to be dealing you a happy deck of cards, but nevertheless, Christ suffered for you and in his suffering for you, he has left for you an example for you to follow in his steps.

We are called to model Christ and to be an example of Christ-like behavior and, and to follow in the very footsteps of Jesus. Can you wrap your mind around that? That is ridiculous. To follow in the footsteps of Jesus, that is a scandal.

When you stop to think about the footsteps of Jesus, and where his steps led him, how he suffered, though he had done nothing wrong, that is absolutely a scandal, that he would die on the cross for his enemies, that he would die on the cross, a bloody death before a mocking world, so that that mocking world might have salvation through him, that is absolutely earth shattering. But this is what he's talking about. He has left you an example. Look to the example, and the example that he has left you is one for you to follow, follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

Oh, Peter, please help me out. Give me some specifics, give me some detail. What are you talking about when you say the example of Jesus? What are you talking about when you say follow in his footsteps?

And so Peter's going to entertain the question. 1 Peter 2:22. who committed no sin. Now guys, wrap your minds around this.

Think about it. We've got the Lord Jesus Christ having lived a perfect life and having loved perfectly and having shown people the way, having demonstrated nothing but mercy and compassion and kindness, and it, and we've got the Lord Jesus Christ on his way to the cross, having been beaten. Having been ridiculed and mocked and scorned and spat upon and having a crown of thorns smashed onto his brow and clothed in his own blood and everyone around him just like wagging their, wagging their heads like, oh my gosh, what is up with that?

And if anyone had a right to respond by saying to hell with them, it would have been Christ.

If anyone had a right to point the finger and say, what in the world are you doing? It would have been Christ. If anyone had a right to respond to being sinned against by sinning in return, it would have been Christ. But Peter says, the scripture says, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth, and while being reviled, he did not revile in return, while suffering, he uttered no threats.

But he kept entrusting himself to him. I understand. I'm in the sovereign hand of Almighty God. This is part of the plan.

And I trust what is going on. The suffering that is coming my way is for an ultimate good, and I am cool with it. I can handle it. And so he entrusted himself to him who judges righteously, and the scripture says that he himself bore Our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.

You see the gospel centered connection to living for righteousness. The basis for living for righteousness is the cross. It's Christ dying on the cross for us. He goes on to say that by his wounds, you were healed.

There's a lot more that could be said about Christ hanging from the cross and the example that he set before us that we, should be following in this there's a lot more that could be said, but let me just say one additional thing. It's just something I've been thinking about a little more recently and, and, and it just, it blows me away. Now, think about it. Christ is on the cross.

And There was not a soul alive. who had offered him any comfort. He's on the cross and he's being picked on. He's being mocked at.

He's hurting. He's suffering. Not a soul alive came to him and say, oh, Lord, will you forgive me? Will you forgive me?

But we have Christ on the cross before a soul alive came to him to ask for forgiveness, praying to the Father for their forgiveness. Just think about that. Here was a man, here was the, the Lord of glory, predispositioned to forgiveness. He was forgiving before he had the chance to forgive, if you will.

He was forgiving. Father, forgive them, with the hope that someone along the way would come to Christ and say, Christ, will you forgive me? He was predispositioned before someone came to him to forgive so that when someone would come to him, he was ready. It was in his heart, and here is the example that we are called to follow, an example of forgiveness.

Even when a person who has sinned against us hasn't come to us asking for that forgiveness. This is scandalous. This is perhaps another reason why we need to be proclaiming the gospel to ourselves regularly and proclaiming it to others regularly because without us being centered on the gospel, we are not going to predisposition ourselves to an attitude of forgiveness when folks have sinned against us. But this is the example that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ and his is the example that we are called to follow.

There is so much more that could be said, by way of application of the cross to Christian living. And I would encourage you to think through that. The thing about this point, though, is, as I look at the example that I am called to follow, I find myself. Falling short.

I'm sure all of us can relate to the fact that against the backdrop of the example of Jesus, we are left wanting. And so this leads me into the next and final point. we can despair, we can become discouraged, we can look at the example of Jesus, and we can see how he lived his life and how he was forgiving and whatnot. And we can just be like, man, compared to him, I fall way short.

But number 4, gospel centrality keeps us hopeful when we observe the sin. That is within us. Gospel centrality keeps us hopeful when we observe the sin within us. You cannot help but to see your own sin when you compare yourself with the example of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But what is really cool about the Lord Jesus Christ is it's not just that he gives us the example to follow in his steps, but his very death is a death because we could not follow his example. His very Death is a death because he knew that all have sinned. His very death is a death that he died because he knew that we could not do what he did do, and he lived that perfect life and gave his life as a ransom for all. And so there in, in the gospel, we find the hope that we need.

We find the forgiveness that is ours in Christ. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Romans 8:1. In Him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace.

Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14. We have been freed from the power of sin. Romans 882, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and of death. We have the resources in the gospel necessary for our sanctification and so gospel centrality keeps us hopeful when we observe the sin that is within us.

Why, why should we be motivated towards a commitment to gospel centrality? Well, number one, it was the apostolic approach to doing ministry. 2, it positions us to experience God's saving and sanctifying power. Number 3, it keeps us looking to the example of the one that we are called to follow.

And number 4, it keeps us hopeful when we observe the sin that is within us. OK. There's much more that could be said. I'd like to close with, with something that, that happened, I think, a few weeks back.

Something in my own family, just to try to illustrate some of what it is that I am talking about. a few weeks back, My, my two older kids had a, had an argument. They had a fight with each other, and I forget exactly what it was that they were fighting about, but it was something, trivial. they, they were arguing over something, fighting, and so I, I told them, go to your room.

I told my son, Andrew, Andrew, go to your room. I'm thinking I'm going to, I'm going to talk to him in a little bit and, I, I'm not always perfect about doing this, but on this one occasion, I, I, I went to his room and, and I was all ears. I was all, all ears to, to hear what he had to say. And, and I, and I, and I tell him, what did you, what's going on, Andrew?

What, what did you do? And he's telling me and, and I'm talking to him about, we're called to, to walk in the steps of Christ. We're called to be like Christ. And, and his response, As he broke down, he said, Dad.

I try. I try to love my sister. I try to serve her. I do this, I do that, and I do the other, but I can't.

And, I could have said, Andrew, you can, you got to just pick yourself up by your own bootstraps and just make it happen. The gospel tells you that you need to love your sister and so do it. I, I, I could have said that. But, by God's grace, I, I responded this way.

I says, what, Andrew, you're right. You can't, you can't. And, he was really struggling with his attitude. He was mad and then he was frustrated and then he's like, I can't.

And I said, you're right, you can't, and Daddy can't either. But Jesus did. Jesus did what you and I could not do. He lived the perfect life.

And furthermore, he went to the cross so that he would die on the cross for us so that our sins could be forgiven. And what, as I'm ministering the gospel to my son, I discovered that within the environment of the gospel there was power. I could see his heart was changing. He was encouraged.

I don't have to pick myself up by my bootstraps. I can look to the one who did it for me, and I can trust him that my sins are forgiven. And what, it took no time at all. He wanted to run outside and he wanted to go find his sister, and he wanted to say, I am sorry.

I am sorry, sis, would you forgive me? You see, that's the power of the gospel. I followed the apostolic approach and I ministered the gospel, and then I experienced the power of the gospel to effectively minister to my son. I directed him to the example of Christ, and I reminded him of the fact and I gave him hope that our sins have been atoned for through the blood of Christ, and his attitude was affected by that.

This is why we insist on the doctrine of gospel centrality. It is God's power for transformation. If you would join with me in prayer as the ushers come forward, and if you want to write anything on the information slip, you are welcome to do so. Any questions, comments, criticisms, critiques, whatever, I'm, I'm all ears.

So, fire those my way on the information slip. Any prayer requests, jot those down. feel free. And, and, get, get your offering ready.

Those of you who are prepared to give and, and the ushers are going to come forward and they're going to collect the offering. let me pray. Lord, we just thank you so much for the gospel and the power that is contained therein. Help us to forever live in the good of the gospel.

I pray, Lord, that for anyone here, who might be unsaved, I would pray, Lord, for their salvation. Father God, I pray that you might help all of us to dive deeper into the experience of the gospel, and I pray, Lord, that You would help us to understand more clearly how it relates to life. I pray, Lord, for your blessings upon the care groups as we To us and further this discussion, Lord, we just thank you so much that our many sins have been atoned for through the blood of Christ.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.