I Need More Gospel (2): What Does the Gospel Do & What Are You Doing With It?

November 23, 2008

I Need More Gospel! (Sermon 3)

What Does the Gospel Do & What Are You Doing With It?
(continued)

1 Corinthians 15:1-2

Church in the Boro

Sunday Morning
November 23, 2008
Rob Wilkerson

Introduction

One of the most difficult aspects of the gospel for many Christians to grasp is their part in the matter. To be
sure, the work of the gospel in saving a person is absolutely and always monergistic. That means it is the work
of one Person. This in and of itself is such a glorious truth that we must not let go of. In the doctrine of
monergism lies two crucial truths. First, if God had not acted, no one would ever be saved. Second, because it
was God alone who acted, those upon whom He’s acted have their salvation guaranteed. I would give my life
for these two truths. And I trust you would, too. This is inherent in the doctrines of regeneration and
justification. Not only would I have never acted to save myself, I could not have acted to do so. So there’s
nothing I could possibly bring to the table in terms of earning God’s grace.

Yet these concepts of sola gracia and sola fide seem, in some Christians’ minds at least, to pose some conflict
with the doctrine of synergism, which is different than monergism. You see, in the work of regeneration there is
only One Person at work. But the work of sanctification is a work of two persons: you and the Holy Spirit. You
work together to accomplish your sanctification. Strangely, however, there is a strange hangover with
justification by faith alone which is incompatible with the doctrine of justification by faith alone. It is the
hangover which says that because God alone saved me, and because it was not by works, then my Christian life
is to be totally leaning on what God has done for me without me having to worry about doing anything.

I want to shoot straight with all of us this morning, including myself. Those Christians who believe so strongly in
the monergistic view of salvation that they lean more heavily on the work of Christ than they do on the fruit in
their lives which tells the real story, are very deceived, I’m afraid. Some of you are struck to the core by that
statement, and not necessarily in a good way. It feels abrasive to your soul. I don’t mean it to be so. But that
abrasion and inner turmoil and conflict you have with that statement reveals something significantly wrong with
your thinking on the matter of salvation. It is most definitely 100% a work of God. But it is also most definitely a
work on your part as well.

Today we get into the second part of my message entitled, What is the Gospel and What Are You Doing With It?
It is grounded in 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, where Paul himself reveals the two-side coin of the gospel, to which I
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referred in my first sermon three weeks ago. The first side of the gospel coin is the work of God. We called this
side “heads” because we learned that salvation starts with God. And in the message of the gospel we asked,
What does the gospel do? And our answer was, it secures us. This is precisely due to the nature of the gospel
itself. Because it is entirely about the work of God and what He has done for us in Christ Jesus through the
power of the Spirit, once our feet are set in the concrete of the gospel , we cannot and will not go anywhere.
We will persevere. We will not fall away. We will endure to the end of our lives in faithfulness to God because
of God’s faithfulness to us. That is the “heads” side of the gospel coin.

This morning I want to flip the coin and examine for a few minutes together the “tails” side of the coin, which
chiefly deals with our part in our salvation.

II. TAILS: What Are You Doing With the Gospel? Holding On To It Tightly!

“1 Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters,* of the Good News I preached to you
before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it.2 It is this Good News that saves
you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed
something that was never true in the first place” (NLT, emphasis added).

If you have the ESV, the translation reads this way.

“1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in
which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached
to you—unless you believed in vain” (emphasis added).

The primary phrase to which I would point your attention this morning is, “if you hold fast to the word I
preached to you – unless you believed in vain.” From this phrase in verse 2 I want to open up for you three key
points each of us needs to get a hold to and take home with us today. They are prickly points. The gospel will
be to you like a rose this morning. You’ll admire the beauty of the flower itself in the “heads” side of salvation.
But to look at it you’ll need to hold the stem which is quite thorny. There are three thorns on the stem this
morning which will poke you, prod you, and prick you. You will undoubtedly experience some pain and bleeding
as a result of these thorny points. But they are as inseparable from the rose as the petals themselves. For the
true beauty of the gospel causes pain, but so captures our eyes that we continue holding it in order to smell it
and gaze upon it. May we not let go of the gospel flower this morning merely because of the pain and suffering
we will experience by holding it by the thorny stem.

A. The First Thing You Must Do With the Gospel: Persevere.

Notice the way phrases this in the ESV: “if you hold fast…” This comes from the Greek word katecho, which also
means to keep, take, possess. It also means “to continue to believe, with the implication of acting in accordance
with such belief – to continue to believe and practice, to continue to follow” (Louw-Nida, 3613b). In classical

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Greek the word meant, “to follow close upon, press hard” (Lidell-Scott, 22912). It seems to have been a term
rooted in seamanship, used also to refer to the act of bringing a ship in to the shore or to a dock or to a harbor.

I remember taking my boys a few years back to see that great movie Master and Commander with Russell
Crowe. On the ship there was an old mate whose knuckles had been tattooed with the word HOLD on one hand
and the word FAST on the other hand. The camera turned in a time of intense storm and again in a time of even
more intense sea battle to this old ship mate who was grinding what few teeth he had left in order to keep the
sails stable. And then the camera would pan to his knuckles as it grasped tightly the ropes amid the thunder and
lightning and cannons roaring around him.

This is just the picture we should have of this phrase, I believe. Because this is just what God requires of us in
the gospel He’s given to us. It is amid the storms of life, the trials, the temptations, the frustrations, the
confusions, the corrections, the discipline, the reproofs, the rebukes, the wavering, the fear…it is amid all of this
and anything I haven’t named that we must, like the old man on the ship, hold fast to the gospel which has been
given to us.

The word today which most aptly serves as a synonym for this phrase is persevere. This word means to hang in
there until the very end. This word is suggested to my mind when I read the previous phrase, “by which you are
being saved.” This clearly carries this monergistic aspect of salvation. Because of the work of God in putting me
in the work of God, I am being saved. And presumably I will be saved all the way up until the end. This is what
Calvinism calls the perseverance of the saints, which is this idea that Christians will hold fast faithfully to the end
of their lives because of the work of God within them.

Yet Paul does not so quickly assume this to be true of the Corinthians. This is for two reasons.

First, Paul uses the conditional word ei in the Greek which is noted in your translations as the word “if.” There
are many conditional Greek sentences, and the one we are looking at here is a condition that assumes either the
likelihood or the improbability of this salvation. The word “if” is marking a condition that is either actual or
contrary to the facts, real or hypothetical. In verse one he merely states the power of the work of the gospel of
God in Christ through the Spirit in a person who is a true Christian. In verse two he merely leaves open wide the
very great possibility that there are some who are in fact not Christians by virtue of their not holding fast to the
gospel. They were not persevering in the faith.

Second, Paul closes out verse 2 with the following phrase: “unless you believed in vain.” This seems to further
emphasize the notion that there were some Corinthians whose saving faith was not saving at all, but rather
empty, vain, worthless, not real, and useless. Telling them the work of God in the gospel, he turns to telling
them what they must do to ensure that the work of God in their lives is really a work of God. They will hold fast
to it and they will not believe it in vain. But if they do not hold fast to it and do not believe truly, then they are
not true followers of Christ.

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Now for those who have truly been saved by God, they will truly hold fast to the gospel. They will persevere to
the end. They will safely steer the course of their lives into the harbor of heaven at the end of their lives. And
why will they be able to do this?

1. They have maintained the biblical traditions set down in Scripture.

In 1 Corinthians 11:2 Paul uses the same word echeto as he does in 1 Corinthians 15:2. Dealing with the
issue of head coverings and later of communion, Paul begins, “Now I commend you because you
remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.” Here’s the
word used again, and this time it is translated as “maintain.” Is this true of you? Do you maintain in
your life what God teaches you in His Word? Maintenance is part of holding fast. It is doing what you
know needs to be done no matter what the conditions.

Maintenance can be rather frustrating, and I’ve bemoaned it in the pulpit here before. Out of all the
things I maintain in my life, there is only one that gets better with maintenance. All the rest of the
things I maintain only stay presentable by virtue of the hard work. But if I were to neglect the
maintenance on any of these things they would decline in their condition and eventually cost me more
money in repair than in the maintenance. They are cutting my grass, painting my house, washing
windows, washing my car, changing my oil, brushing my teeth, shining my shoes, cutting my hair,
dusting my house, vacuuming and sweeping my floors, washing my dishes, taking a shower, shaving,
taking vitamins, washing clothes, answering emails, cleaning my office, and on and on it goes. Think of
anything I left out and do you know what? If you don’t keep doing it, it will turn into a mess, and maybe
this has happened to you before. But do you know what, again? No matter how much time and money
you sink into doing it, none of it actually and genuinely gets better. Eventually you will need to paint
your house again, cut your grass and your hair again, shave again, brush your teeth again, etc. Maintain
anything you can to the highest condition and standards, and you’ll have to turn around and do it again
later. And that’s the work of maintenance.

But remember I said that there’s this one and only one thing in life that does actually get better in the
work of maintenance? And for that I am so glad! I get overjoyed at this one because it gives me some
sense of real accomplishment. It’s my sanctification! When I maintain my Christian life, Romans 12:1-2
tells me that I am actually being transformed by the renewing of my mind. That means I’m not just
getting better. I’m actually changing into something completely different, and therefore better. But I’m
better not just by virtue of some higher level of performance. I’m better by virtue of a completely
different level of existence.

Christians may get depressed, discouraged, and confused from time to time. But they hold fast. They
persevere to the end. They keep maintaining what they know they need to do because they truly
believe and experience a real, genuine, actual difference taking place which makes them something else
altogether. They maintain the Christian disciplines and their walk with Jesus and in so doing they don’t
just experience a higher plane of motivation and inspiration in their lives. No, they experience an actual

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change in the way they think, feel, act, behave, talk, etc. And believe me, I can tell the difference
between when I’m really different at a deep level in my soul, and when I’m just motivated and inspired
and hyped up.

Many of us live on the motivational plane and deceive ourselves into thinking we are living on the
deeper transformative level of the soul when we are not. And I think the substantive difference is the
way we maintain and hold fast to the Word of God, to the disciplines of our spiritual life, to our walk
with Jesus, to our self-denial. I have come to believe that a golden key to determining the validity of
your Christian walk is the consistency of your holding fast, the persistence of your perseverance, the
regularly of your maintenance. If you’re inconsistent, you are probably living more on a motivational
level than a transformative one. You are led by your emotions and your feelings, going up and down in
your life, feeling close to God sometimes and feeling like you’re not saved at other times. This is due in
large part to not “holding fast.”

2. They have heard the gospel with joy, held on tightly with an honest and good heart, and
borne fruit with patience (Luke 8:15).

Here’s what I’m afraid of us for some of us here this morning. I’m afraid that the seed is cast out each
week, as Jesus taught in the parable of the seed and the sower. But some of that seed is, as always,
landed on rocky soul. And on that ground the seed grew up but withered away because it had no
moisture (Luke 8:6). For others of you, the word preached here has fallen among the thorns which grew
up with the word and choked it out. And for some of you the word has fallen on the good soil of your
hearts which received the word and obeyed it.

Jesus tells us that those other two types of soil represent two types of persons. The first , “are those
who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and
in time of testing fall away” (Luke 8:13). The second represents the word which fell in the hearts of
those, “who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of
life, and their fruit does not mature” (Luke 8:14). I fear that there are far more “Christians” like these
two soils than the true Christians who heard the Word of God and obeyed it. Jesus described them as
“those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience”
(Luke 8:15).

There were some of each type of the Corinthians to whom Paul was writing in 1 Corinthians 15:2. And
there are some of each type of here this morning to whom I am preaching. The common denominator
among the other two types of soil is that they did not hold fast to it, as those representing the good soil
have done. They seem so “Christian,” for as Jesus says, they even receive the Word with joy! They are
happy, glad, joyful, smiling, and appear to be truly filled with the Spirit. But they do not hold fast to the
word they heard. They only believe for a while (which may be a month, a year, a decade) and in time of
testing fall away. Others hear the Word, but they go on their way choked out by the cares and riches

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and pleasures of this world. Because they don’t hold fast Jesus says their fruit doesn’t mature. Friends
the only ones who are Christians according to Jesus’ parable are those who hold fast.

3. They maintain confidence and boasting in their hope in Christ (Heb. 3:6).

Maintaining confidence and boasting in the face of false doctrine is extremely difficult. This is part of
what the Corinthians faced. And the fact that some of them had fallen away from sound doctrine and
began to question the resurrection of the dead earned them the just rebuke and questioning Paul gave
them. The readers of the letter to the Hebrews were facing the same plight. Faced with a dilemma of
whether to return to Judaism or stay with the Christian church, the writer tells them that the key here is
perseverance. He writes to them in 3:6, “But Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his
house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”

Some Greek manuscripts insert the phrase, “firm to the end” at the tail end of the verse. “if we hold fast
our confidence and our boasting firm to the end” is the way those manuscripts read. This gets us back
to that thorny Christianity I spoke of earlier. Much of Christianity today doesn’t like “if’s” at all. They
prefer a confidence that is based not on biblical fact but on cultural feeling. For them, doing your best
means everybody should make it in the end. And for others, simply relying on the work of Christ will see
them through to the end.

Yet if this were all there is to it, why would Paul and the writer of Hebrews put these “if” statements in
the texts? They make these promises, and then add these “if” statements, as if to say, there’s a very
real possibility of not attaining the promise they’re speaking of. And the fact of the matter is, this is a
very real possibility! That’s why Jesus said that the road leading to life was narrow and very few would
actually find it. The road leading to destruction is wide, and lots of people travel on that road. It’s
easier. It’s more fun. It’s wider and therefore has more allowances. It’s not so restricting. It’s a
stretchy road that leaves room for disagreements and yet allows everyone to get along.

But you’ll only get to heaven if you maintain your confidence in Christ and your boasting in Him until the
end. There can be no wavering, no diversions, no allowances, no stretchiness. That’s why the writer of
Hebrews follows up with such hard words about hardening of hearts, rebellion, testing, provoking God’s
wrath, etc. Remaining firm in our confidence until the end comes only by taking care, “lest there be in
any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one
another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness
of sin” (vv. 12-13). Then comes that thorny Christianity again. “For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold
our original confidence firm to the end” (v. 14).

The same concept, and even wording, reappears in chapter 10 where the writer says, “Let us hold fast
the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how
to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,
but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (10:23-25). Again,

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holding fast is about doing so without wavering, because it is based on the promise of a faithful God. In
other words, if your lips are all about the faithfulness of God then ask yourself, and even ask those
around you, whether or not your LIFE! reflects the faithfulness of God by the way you life.

You see, if you believe that the work of Christ was all it took to merit God’s grace on your life, then you
should hold on as tightly to that confidence as you possibly can by living like it more than you talk about
it. Holding fast is a lifestyle, and not just lipservice. Being confident is about your way of life, and not
just about what you talk about. If you fail to hold fast to what you say you believe, you have not truly
placed your confidence in the work of God in Christ for you. You are more in love with the idea of what
God has done for you than you are actually in love with what God has done for you in Christ. This is
where deceived Christianity gets deadly. It leads Christians to believe that being in loved with the idea
of Christianity is the same thing as actually following Christ. But this is why so many “Christians” find
their lives totally off track and caught in bondage to sin. They have not truly believed. Their faith is in
vain, as Paul finished verse 2.

Sermon continued on Sunday morning, November 30, 2008.

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