How can a condemned sinner be brought into a right relationship with God? There is only one way, and it is through the life and death of Jesus Christ. This is the good news that sinful humanity needs. It is Christ alone who satisfies the wrath of God that is due to us and gives us peace with God.
Tawfiq: So I want to talk to you about the most important thing in all of existence. This news, that I want to tell you, is the most important news you will ever hear in your entire life.
David: It’s the most important issue in the world, and that is, how can a man be right with God? And for many of you, that may be a thought that you haven’t even thought about. But the reality is every single one of us, we are in a position of being under the wrath of Almighty God.
Tawfiq: The issue is this: that man and God are at odds with one another. You. Sir. Ma’am. Friend. There’s a conflict. There’s a war, there’s a battle, and you are an opposing side to the Lord Almighty. You may say, “How did I get here? This is news I haven’t heard before.” I don’t doubt you may not have heard that, but that doesn’t, in any way, take away from the reality that it is true.
David: God is a God of love, He’s a God of mercy, He’s a God of grace, He’s a God of compassion, but He’s also a God of righteousness and holiness.
Tawfiq: God is holy, holy, holy. He’s true. He’s almighty. He’s perfect. He’s good. He is awesome. And no one questions this. The Bible is filled with examples of Scriptures that talk about His majesty. And I think of Isaiah 6:1 that talks about the holiness of our God. He is amazing. Now while this is all true and we say “amen” to this, there is another truth. And that is that you are not.
David: And the problem that we all have is that every single one of us, every human being that’s ever been born save for one, save for the Lord Jesus Christ, is not righteous. We are not holy.
Tawfiq: See, when Adam sinned, when Adam rebelled against God, all of creation was put underneath the dark cloud of God’s curse. Judgment has fallen on all of humanity and we are now born with a heart that is set upon doing evil.
David: And the problem is that one day the Bible says every one of us will give an account before God for our actions. We’ll stand before God in judgment and give an account for our lives. And unless you have lived an absolutely perfect and holy life, you won’t be able to stand in that day. You won’t be able to stand before God. Because God is a holy and righteous and perfect being, and He requires holiness and righteousness and absolute perfection if we are going to enter into His presence.
Tawfiq: Perfection is the standard. It will not be lowered for you, or for me, or for anyone else. Perfection is the standard, only perfect people get to Heaven. The problem is, as I’ve already alluded to, that we are not perfect. We have broken the laws of God. We have not believed Him, we have not loved Him. We have not served Him, we have not honored Him. We have not worshiped Him as He is worthy to be worshiped!
David: And one of these days, we’re all going to die and stand before God, and we’ll have this mountain of guilt and sin hanging over us. And so that the desperate situation that every human being is in.
Tawfiq: But it gets worse. It doesn’t just stop that we have disobeyed Him. See, every sin has a consequence, the wages of sin is death. There’s a punishment! And that is the very anger and fury and wrath of God. So not only have we disobeyed God, but disobedience has resulted in a consequence, and that consequence is the wrath of God and it is approaching.
David: The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that God has intervened to do something for us that we could never do for ourselves.
Tawfiq: Your works are not going to remove the wrath of God. Your efforts are not going to do it. Your tears are not going to do it. Your church attendance, dressing up, dressing down, good works, volunteering, charity – none of those things are going to satisfy the wrath of God, and none of those things are going to allow you to be perfect. It’s not going to meet the requirement. So what does?
David: So the good news is that Jesus Christ entered the world, He was fully God, He existed as God from all eternity, and He became a Man. He took on human flesh. He humbled Himself to become a Man. To enter into this world as a baby, a lowly infant. And to live as a man amongst the sinful world and He lived a perfect life. He lived thirty three years, approximately. He obeyed God’s law perfectly, He obeyed all of the commandments, He fulfilled all the prophecies that were written in the Old Testament. Hundreds of prophecies that were foretold about the Messiah who would come, He fulfilled those prophecies.
Tawfiq: He came to do what? To obey where we have disobeyed. He came to fulfill the Law of God. He satisfied the righteous requirement of the Law. Why is this good news? Because like I said only perfection gets you into Heaven! And none of us are perfect, but Jesus Christ came and He lived perfectly! And not just that. Oh, after He satisfied the Law, after He was obedient to the point of death He surrendered His life to the cross. He surrendered His life to be a sacrifice. See, like I said. One problem: None of us are perfect. We have all sinned. But problem two is that we deserve a punishment. We deserve a consequence, and that consequence is not just death, but it is eternal death. But Jesus Christ upon the cross, He surrendered Himself to take upon Himself the due penalty that we all deserve, the wrath of God. It was laid upon Him.
David: And so not only did He suffer all the physical agonies of the cross in crucifixion, but He suffered the spiritual agonies of bearing the weight of sin. The Bible says that He became a propitiation. He satisfied God’s righteous wrath and anger against sin. It was poured out upon Him on the cross.
Tawfiq: And He dies, He really dies. For He is both God and man, He really lays down His life and He is put into the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, as it was prophesied. But three days later, He comes back to life with a promise. See, He has conquered death! He has conquered the enemy, Satan! He has conquered sin, and He comes back with a promise: that everyone who believes in Him will not be put to shame. See, if you place your faith in Jesus Christ and what He did in His perfect life, and what He did in His sacrificial death, and what He did in His victorious resurrection: You, no matter what you’ve done, no matter how many sins you’ve committed, no matter how many times you’ve done it. No matter what the blasphemy, no matter what the shame: You, sir! You, ma’am! Will be saved! Saved from what? Saved not only from Hell and the wrath of God, but saved from the power of sin that has you a slave!
David: And repentance means having a change of mind about yourself and your sin. And a change of mind about who God is and His holiness and His righteousness. And it means to come to a recognition of the great guilt that your sin brings upon us. And so we need to repent, and we need to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Tawfiq: He changes you, supernaturally. The Holy Spirit comes, He lives within you, He gives you a new heart, new affections, new desires. And you walk victoriously. Forgiven of all of your sin. Empowered to live righteously, and promised that you will be with Christ forever in Heaven. This is the good news, this is the news that we want to bring to Temple. This is the news we want to bring to Killeen, this is the news we want to bring to you. This is the news that can save you, that can finally set you free from all the things that you’ve tried all your life to be free from, here is the news: The message of Christ and Him crucified.
David: And we are seeking to proclaim the true biblical gospel, because the reality is there are many churches that seek to proclaim the truth of Christ and yet the message, if you listen carefully, it’s a very watered down version of what the Bible teaches. And so, Jesus warns, there will be many on that day that say, “Lord, Lord, have we not done various things.” And Jesus will say, “Depart from me, I never knew you, you workers of iniquity.” So we’re calling people to the reality of what true conversion is. And the Bible says if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you trust in Him, you shall be saved. And so we’re saved by faith alone, faith is always coupled with repentance, but if you are genuinely saved, that will result in a transformation in your life. The Bible talks about the necessity of being born again, or being regenerated. And so the idea is that we pass from death to life. From spiritual death to spiritual life. It’s just not possible for someone to say, “I’m a Christian”, and yet for them to never have experienced some kind of a transformation in their life. And so many, many people, perhaps thousands, maybe millions of people, are deceived on this point. We’re calling people to what the Bible speaks of as what genuine Christianity is. It involves submitting yourself to the Lordship of Christ, believing on Him, trusting Him, giving yourself wholly to Him, and clinging to Him alone for your salvation. We pray that many of you will come and join us, and that God will be merciful to draw many people, in Killeen and Temple, to saving faith in His Son.
Tawfiq: He changes us. He changed me. He can change you.
