My Pulpit Message Notes

The News Is Good: Is it really?

My Pulpit Message Notes are extracted from the sermon preached at the Nairobi Baptist Church (NBC) Ngong Road on Sunday 3rd April 2022. Preacher: Reverend Pinto Kali. Topic: The News Is Good: Is it really? Scripture: Romans 3:9-20/ 5:12-14

In this world of sin, the answer to this question depends on who you ask and for some, it may depend on what stage you are in life. Even in non-eternal matters, what is understood as good news depends.

The Scriptures that declare the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ to us also record different responses / reactions to the gospel.

- The birth of Jesus for example was good news to the angels who announced it and to all who had been looking forward to the promised Saviour of humanity, Mary and Joseph, the elderly prophets; Simeon and Anna and others. But it was not good news at all for King Herod and definitely it was not good news for Satan.

- The Scriptures even prophesied that this good news will be received in different ways by different people when they hear that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah. Jesus Himself applied this prophesy in

Psalm 118:22, “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

meaning there are people who will reject God’s chosen cornerstone and when Jesus applied this prophesy, He applied it to those who were opposing Him in the time of His ministry, the Pharisees, Sadducees and others . - The apostle Peter picked up the same prophesy and added on to itprophesies from Isaiah 8, 28. It says,

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious Cornerstone and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame. Now to you who believe (category one), this Stone is precious, but to those who do not believer (category two) the Stone the builders rejected has become a Cornerstone and a Stone that causes people to stumble, a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because the disobeyed the message which is also what they were destined for. But you (category one) are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people (category one), but now you are the people of God. Once, you had not received mercy (category one), but now you have received mercy

(1 Peter 2:7-10)

- The Scriptures anticipated that there will be different responses to the gospel of Jesus Christ. - Those of us who have received the mercy of God that is given through Jesus Christ, the gospel really is good news for us.

- But for those who are yet to receive, or who reject the news that Jesus is God’s promised and appointed Saviour, the gospel is not good news as such because it has a promise of dreadful judgement.

- John 3:19-21 Jesus speaking to a great teacher of Israel shows that the goodness of the gospel message also depends on the stage we are in life.

“19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light,”

- Therefore if I hear the gospel of Jesus Christ at the point in my life before July 16th 1995, when I loved the dark pleasures of sin, the gospel of Jesus Christ before that time was not good news to me, because it was news that messed up with the things that I valued before that time. However, If I hear the gospel after July 16th 1995, I hear it at a point that I believe that life in Jesus Christ has greater value, greater and true peace, greater joy, then at that point when pleasures of sin are no longer my joy and my value, the news will be good to me and I will not be afraid of the light of the gospel as it shines day after day upon my heart to show me the ways I should turn away from. Praise be to God! It does depend on the stage we are in life. - We need to understand that as we share the gospel as we ought, not everyone will receive it joyfully. Not everyone will be happy to hear this good news.

- Pastor Chris Mwalwa, a former pastor of NBC, recently said, “Disbelief is not a result of the lack of information, but a deliberate choice to reject the evidence.” -Therefore, you are I that are sharing the gospel are not responsible for how people receive/respond the good news. Our responsibility is to share it.

- This does not mean that we share it carelessly, or without loving concern for the lost, but we must share it faithfully, with Christlike love, with a sense of urgency because these are matters of eternal separation from God. However, the person who hears the good news is the one who has responsibility about how he/she chooses to respond to that news.

- That is why God warned Ezekiel in chapter 3, “If you declare the sin of the people to them, then I will not hold you accountable for their death, but should you have the good news and refuse to share it, then their death will be upon you.”

Imagine the weight of the responsibility that we have so that you and I do not go and stand before the LORD God on that day of judgement and He says, you did not do the work that I gave you to do, there is blood on your hands.”

Two points:

The dark side of the good news.

The light side of the good news.

The dark side of the good news

(Romans 3:9-20)

- Romans 3 has a kind of dark message background that helps us to see the light in Romans 5. In Romans 3, the darkness of sin is our focus so that we are able to recognise just how far we have fallen short of the holy standards of God, too far for us to reach God on our own merit/ with our effort or religion because outside of Christ, no religious activity, or actions, or faithfulness or sacrifice or giving, no righteousness that is outside of Christ has any value because we are outside of the One who gives it value.

- This is why the Scripture says ‘We are all together worthless’. That’s not something we want to hear because we all want to feel that we matter, have significance, have value. But outside of Christ, the Scriptures says that the darkness of sin has devalued us. There is no fear of God outside of Christ.

- Romans 3:9-20 shows us that this is the dark state of our lives outside of Christ, but it also shows us that sin affects us completely, totally. It affects the way we think, feel, speak, make choices in life and the way that we relate to one another and to God.

- There is a Scripture that talks about creation groaning as it waits for the sons of God to be revealed because sin has affected the environment in which we live as well. And if nothing is done about it, there is only one thing that is left; eternal separation from God which is the final result of that state of sinfulness.

- Genesis 2:17, when Adam and Even were warned, ‘Do not eat of the fruit that I have warned you about, or you will surely die’, and we have been dying ever since they disobeyed that. And yet there is a second death that awaits if we do not turn away from our sins.

- This dark side of the good news is essential. It is a must that we include it in the message of salvation because without it, the good news is not complete. If you and I are to exclude this dark side of our sinful state from the message of the gospel then it will not be the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, because we need to see that we are desperately in need of a Saviour who can deliver us and make us right with God because it is only in Jesus that that is possible, but we must first recognise that through the depravity/hopelessness/ utter darkness of our sinful nature, we have to see that we cannot save ourselves we need a Saviour from God.

- The dark side of sin is is an essential part of the message of the gospel and we must declare it faithfully. - Only then will the light side make sense.

The light side of the good news.

(Romans 5:8-17)

- The hope of salvation that is in this passage shines against the dark background of our sin and so much more that it says to us.

Three points:

The good news of God’s love.

The good news of Christ’s saving blood.

The good news of God’s abundant grace.

The good news of God’s love.

- We discover at some stage in our lives that the love of this world is very self-centred, very selfish, me oriented. So even when we are crossing oceans for each other, climbing mountains for each other, it is to make us to look like we love the person that we are with. It’s not really about them, but about how we look. The nature of our love for them. It is really not about them.

- The love of this world is conditional. We sit as judges to decide who deserves to be loved. ‘This one is too light skinned for me, this one is too dark for me, too tall etc. We sit and decide that this person has value and the other does not. This person measures up to my standard in life, while the other does not. It’s a me centred kind of love and lives out many people because in our eyes they don’t measure up.

- But God demonstrates His own love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. God. God demonstrates His love for us in that at the time when the evidence was against us, when it was clear that you and I are not loveable, or up to the holy standards of God, God proved the greatness of His unconditional love, a love that is different from our love, in sending His precious, sinless Son to die in the place of this worthless sinner, so that this worthless sinner might be measured up by God to fit into His standard through Christ. Praise be to God for His unconditional love!

- Jesus died for us when we were unloveable. We didn’t love Him, want Him, or care about Him, but He loved us nevertheless. A great unconditional love unlike anything that you will ever come across in this world.

- If you are a teenage being promised the love of this world, allow me to tell you as one who believed that lie, do not listen. Turn to Christ Jesus. There you will have value greater than any human being can ever give to you. There you will have acceptance greater than any human being or group can ever give to you.

- If you are a young adult, then hear it from me, I grew up as a young adult who didn’t know what it is to be loved without condition until I discovered the love of Jesus Christ through the love of His people.

- There is a love that loves you when you cannot be loved and it is the love of Jesus Christ and that is the love of Jesus Christ. That is the light side of the gospel and praise be to God.

The good news of Jesus’ saving blood

- When we were growing up the adverts for OMO were pretty straight forward, they just tell you that it works. But somewhere along the way, they started to include many other things. So now it’s not just OMO, but OMO with power foam, etc and each time they give you a newer version and are left wondering, didn’t the old OMO was clothes the same way? That’s not the way it is with the blood of Jesus.

- The blood that was able to cleanse the sins of Adam is able to cleanse the sins of Pinto Kali. The blood that was able to cleanse the sins of Moses is able to cleanse the sins of our children’s children. The blood that was able to restore Peter who had denied Jesus before he was crucified is the same blood that is able to restore you and I. It is the same blood that cleanses every sinner that comes to the foot of the cross and it is without power foam yesterday, today and forever more. The blood of Jesus is sufficient to cleanse us from all our sin. So you and I as Africans don’t need to sacrifice chickens, goats, camels or whatever else we use in our rituals. the blood of Christ is sufficient for all time and for all sin.

- So I know today that the sins of my youth have been forgiven through the blood of Jesus. I know that my sins of today can be cleansed through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I know that my sins of next month have been cleansed through blood of Jesus Christ. Praise be to God for the sufficiency of the blood of Jesus Christ. It is His blood that was accepted at the throne of mercy and it is His blood that God said, this is enough. It is finished.

The good news of God’s abundant grace - God’s grace has been described as the free unmerited favour of God (Dictionary definition). Favour that is shown in the salvation of sinners. Pouring out blessings upon us. Meaning that God’s grace is abundant. It doesn’t run out. We don’t get a drought of God’s grace. We don’t get inflation when hitting God’s grace so that there is less of it when things don’t work out. We don’t have a problem if there is war that breaks out. God’s grace is still abundant and sufficient for us because God’s grace never stops giving. It continues giving, because the grace is as eternal as our LORD Himself. Praise be to God.

- In other words, we don’t have enough sin individually. We don’t have enough sin as we are gathered all together. All our sins put together, past, present and future, put together are not enough to exhaust the grace of God. We don’t have enough sin in the whole nation of Kenya to cause the grace of God to run out. We don’t have enough sin in every nation on planet earth in this generation, in past generations and in future generations to exhaust the abundant grace of God. God’s grace is abundantly sufficient for all our sins. Praise be to God.

- So there is no time, as we are encouraged in the book of Hebrews to come with great confidence to the throne of grace. There is no time that you are going to be asked, please come when stocks have been improved. The supply of God’s grace is more abundant than the sins of every single person that has been created in the image of God, male, or female, young or elderly. - Because of this grace through Jesus Christ, sinners can receive God’s gift of righteousness instead of the wages of sin. He is indeed our hope and our peace. He is indeed our righteousness and our joy, because it is only through God’s grace, through the blood of Jesus, through the love of God that you and I can be saved, in the past, in the present continues and in the future. Because, brothers and sisters, we are not yet there. As long as I have breath in my body, I still have to choose to place myself at the foot of the cross in need of God’s grace.

- He is not done with me yet. I have not finished the race. So I cannot rest and say, I gave my life to Jesus on July 16th 1995 and therefore I am okay. I am not and my wife will tell you that. I still need the grace of the LORD Jesus today. And until the LORD Jesus comes back, or calls me hone, I will continue to need the grace of our LORD Jesus Christ.

How to Respond

- For those who have responded in faith to the good news, do you still have a healthy fear of God? Do you still have that fear of God that comes from understanding that we are not there yet? That comes from the understanding the depth of what was done for you and I who were worthless before God? Do you still understand that we need the grace of God today? We are not yet done with this race of salvation.

- Do you share it faithfully, or do you just look at those who are out there and click. They are waiting to hear from you. They are waiting to hear about the saving grace that you have received. Are you sharing it faithfully, urgently and with Christlike love? The love that pulled you out of darkness into His light. Are you faithful with this grace that you have received?

- Scripture says, we have to do our best to present ourselves to God as one approved, faithfully handling the word of truth. -

For those yet to respond to the good news of the Lord Jesus, disbelief is a choice. A choice to reject what you have received in the good news. Do not harden your heart, Scripture says, Because 2 Corinthians 6:1-2, “

As God’s fellow workers we urge/encourage/persuade you, do not receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, ‘In the time of my favour, I heard you. In the day of salvation, I helped you. I tell you, now is the time of salvation. Now is the day of salvation.

Do not put it off to tomorrow because you do not know whether you will be here tomorrow. - Our desire is the same desire that God says, His desire is not in the death of the wicked, but for everyone to come to salvation. Do not postpone this decision, my brother, my sister. Come to the LORD Jesus just as you are. He will do the cleaning, you don’t have to do it yourself.

- The question that is asked, the response is the same for those who are born again and those who are not born again, ‘what can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can for sin atone? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Not the good that I have done, not the labour of my hands can fulfil Thy laws demands, nothing but the blood of Jesus.