D2l - Brian sumner - The gospel

I'm blessed today to get to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with you today. The gospel just means the good news, so before you today there's meant to be good news, good news to all mankind. And it wouldn't really be good news if it wasn't true. It wouldn't be good news if it didn't result in something that was good. But because God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son so that none should perish, but what does that really mean? We see the crosses, we see the churches, we hear the sermons, we hear the scandals, we hear about the Crusades, but how does that relate to you and I today? Well, I'll put it to you like this, in a nutshell. I'm a skateboarder from Liverpool, England who became professional, went all over the world, made money, got all the attention I needed, got everything I cared about and it never satisfied me. I got married to a woman, I didn't have a clue about a relationship, how to live a godly life, and before long we were fighting like crazy, we were divorced, I was over my life at one time. And what's taken place, was I had an encounter with Jesus Christ. Through reading the Bible, through asking God, whoever God was, to show Himself to me, through realizing what the Bible says, I was put in a position where I was able to get into a relationship with Jesus Christ, and what does that mean? It means that when I was suicidal, when I was over my life, when I was wanting to be back with my wife, my ex-wife at the time, when I was desiring all these things, that really isn't the issue. The issue comes down to a simple point. The Bible says that all have sinned, and all have fallen short of the glory of God. Which means no one is good enough to get into heaven, which is where everyone wants to go, or they just don't want to think or talk about it. The Bible says all have sinned and all have fallen short of the glory of God. It's appointed unto man to die once and then the judgment. So that means in our sin, what is sin? Sin means missing the mark, back in the day archers would take a bow and arrow, and they would shoot the arrow, and when it missed the mark, that would be called a sin, sinning. And so today before God you and I, whoever we are, if we're talking about Mary Poppins to Mother Theresa, to the most greatest person you know, because of our one sin, not just against man or woman, but against God, because of that one sin we are separated from God. And what God did was He chose to become flesh, God wrapped in flesh hung upon a cross and shed His blood for us, so that none should perish, the Bible says. Genesis tells us that God created man in His image, so you and I were created in the image of God. And God spoke in the Old Testament to the Jewish nation, to the forefathers, He revealed Himself bit by bit, name by name, to that nation, so they could understand, and He put His laws in place. He gave ten commandments which you're probably somewhat familiar with, but in total there's 613. And the Bible says if we've broken any one of them, in any one place, we are guilty of them all. So that means the first time I lied, the first time I did this or did that that was a sin against God, I separated myself from God. The Bible tells us we're in a sinful state, what does that mean? It means God created Adam, in the garden of Eden to be with God, and when the devil caused Eve and Adam to sin, because they ate of the tree they shouldn't have, the fruit, sin came into mankind, and from then on, the child that Eve would give birth to, which is down through our lineage today, would be born in a sinful state. Colossians tells us that God got wrapped in the flesh and came down to earth, and He hung upon that cross, shed His precious blood. And what's the issue with blood? The Bible tells us that blood cries out to God. In Genesis we're told about Cain and Abel in which Cain slew Abel, and He says "Where's your brother?" And he says "Am I my brother's keeper?" Cain replies, and the Lord says to him "Your brother's blood cries out to me." How does it cry out? It speaks on our behalf. And back then in the Old Testament what used to take place was if I sinned, I used to go to the priest, and the priest would take his hands and lay them on an animal, some kind of animal, without spot, without blemish, that was perfect before God. And then my sins would be put upon that animal and the priest would sacrifice that animal, give it up to God, and our sins would be taken away. But Jesus came to die for us so that no longer do we need to go to a priest, but Jesus becomes the priest, and He becomes the sacrifice. And so His blood now speaks on our behalf. That means when I come before God and I have this sinful state, lying or *** or cheating or getting mad or something against my parents, or all the things many people do, like drinking, drugs, premarital sex, running around in chaos, pride, same sin that caused the devil to sin before God and be cast out of the garden of Eden. Any of those things have separated from God you and I. So what we need is a Savior. It points to a mediator, and the Bible says there's one mediator between man and God, the man Christ Jesus, when God become wrapped in flesh. I'm making that point because you need to realize that, that's who He is. God saw you and I so fit, because He created us in His image, He wants to reconcile us back to Himself, through His blood that was shed up on Calvary's cross, so we can forever be with the King in eternal glory. Because after this life we're going to be judged according to how we lived and according to who our Savior is. What I mean by that is we're judged by are you in Christ? Have you believed upon the Son of God and has He washed away your sins? And then for those who are in Christ we'll be judged according to how we lived, according to our works, and they'll be burned up before the Lord. So first of all, to the unbeliever, there's nothing you can do to get to heaven, there's nothing you can do, no good thing you can do. You may think you're a good person, you may do good things, but before God, because of that one sin, we're all bad. The Bible says all our righteousness is like filthy rags. But when that blood was shed, and we believed upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as Romans 10:9 says, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. It doesn't just mean believing, as you can believe that this is Brian Sumner speaking to you today, it means believing and realizing that because of the sinful state we were in, we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and the sacrifice, the Holy Spirit begins a work, shows us that we've broken the law against God, we get broken, and there's two things we do at an altar, or wherever you are, a man dies and is born again, by putting their faith in Christ Jesus. It's a move of God, a supernatural work that He does, He takes our stony heart and transforms it into a flesh heart, so that before God, when God looks upon you and I, He no longer sees Brian in his sin, He sees the righteousness of Christ. It was the same way His blood washes over us, His righteousness was imputed into us, so today we stand before God as the righteous. And that's the reality, is that talking about my testimony today, I'm remarried to that same woman, I'm no longer suicidal, I love reading my Bible, I love sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, all of my life is about Jesus, why is that? Not because I choose to do it, but because God showed up in my life, transformed me, made me new, because the Bible says that we go down to be in the grave with Christ. When Christ went into the ground for three days and when He rose again, He went down into the ground to take away our sin. Jesus could have died anywhere, and shed His blood anywhere, but He was fulfilling the Old Testament that says a man's cursed who hangs up on a tree. So He went and hung up on that tree, or that cross, or that stake, or however you want to put it. He hung up on that cross and He took upon Him our curses, the sinful state, and when He went down into that grave, our sinful state went down with Him. And when we're born again, we put our faith in Him, we repent of our sins, not just an "I'm sorry God, forgive me, I hope I get to heaven." No, when we truly repent, when we realize we are broken, we're born again out of that grave, we're resurrected in the Spirit, and one day we'll forever be with Jesus Christ in all of eternity. How is it that a man is saved? Simply by faith alone in God. Not by what you've worked to do, as it was once taught some hundred years ago, some faiths even believe it today, Brian can never go and work himself, his way into heaven, Brian can never go and share with enough people to enter into heaven, it's simply by putting your faith in the blood of Jesus Christ, and the Bible tells it's so that no man can boast. Because we are sinful, aren't we? I would get saved and say "Well man, I just decided to choose God, I just decided to do this" - that isn't the case. When you look into the Book, when you look into the understanding of who God is and you say "Wait a minute." I was divorced one time, I was suicidal one time, that isn't the issue. The issue is, as soon as I die I'm going to be judged, I'm going to be found guilty before God, and I'm going to enter the pits of hell, which the Bible tells us is a real place. And you don't even hear that taught very often today. You look at that situation and say "Wow, God saw fit to hang on that cross for me, and shed His blood, and when I put my faith in Him, when He begins that regenerative work in my life and starts to take me from place to place, and as He goes from glory to glory in my life, and as I crucify my flesh more and more, I'm found to be in Christ." As the apostle Paul says we're going to finish the good work. Because the other problem is so many Christians want to believe in Jesus because they just want to be saved, and they don't want to go to hell, but they want to live their life. And it's controversial in the Christian faith today, why is that? Look at that verse, Romans 10:9, that if you confess, the word confess in the Greek is homologeo, and it means to literally confess. And before you today you've got to realize something. If you understand that you are in sin before God today you're destined to go to hell. If we died and stood before Him and He said "Why would I let you into heaven?" There's nothing you could say, you can't say "I'm good" because we heard the Bible says none are good, all have sinned, all have fallen short of the glory of God. But if you realize today that if you confess, homologeo, like I just said in the Greek, if you confess that Jesus Christ is your Lord, that word Lord is kurios, it means He's over your life, He has full control of you, you have no control, why is that? Because for Him to be over you as a Lord you need to be a servant, His bondservant and His slave, His dulos. And if you do that, you believe that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, sozo. You will be destined for what you're saved today, you're being saved, and you're going to be saved. Meaning this life that I now live, this life that Brian now lives, when I once said "Jesus Christ come into my life, please forgive me, I see my sinful state, I'll remarry this woman, I'll get baptized, I'll give my life to You", as that takes place He saved me, He's saving me, and He's going to save me, how is that? Because that day when He showed up He began a good work in me, and He's faithful to finish, and so daily as I call upon His name, in a repentant state, the Bible says a just man falls seven times, so you don't stay in your habitual sin and in your addictions to this or addictions to that. Kids all around America, they want to stay in their cussing and getting drunk and getting *** and premarital sex. But if you're truly in Christ the Holy Spirit will convict you, and He will tell you that you have sinned and you will feel sick. You'll feel filthy before God in heaven because He's perfect. He's perfect, He's holy, He's everything that's perfect. So the fact that you can know you're saved is as you homologeo, confess that sin before the Lord that He is the Lord, He's over you and you're under Him. You take that sin, you're washed in the blood, you're saved, sozo, set free from sinful state, put back together. And so when we put our faith in Christ, when we're truly saved, because it's not just believing, because the Bible tells us that even the devil and the demons believe, how so? The devil knows that Jesus is born of a ***. The devil knows He resurrected from the grave, why? He was there. That doesn't save the devil, but why not? Jesus Christ can never be in the devil, but Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, God the Father's glory can be put into us, why? Because it's His Spirit. He gives of us His Spirit as He regenerates us so we're found to be righteous before Him. And Galatians says that it's our flesh and it's the spirit that are at war. Meaning my flesh wants to do all these sinful things. And the Bible says we're to crucify our flesh daily. The apostle Paul says he's going to finish the race. What race? The race that Christ started, and we're going to run and get to the end of, and we will hopefully, if we're truly in Him, enter and He will say "Well done, my good and faithful servant." So I want to ask you today, that if you understand that before God none are good. If you understand that before God we've all sinned, we've broken the law against God, that means that you need a Savior today. And I don't want to talk about other faiths because I've read about them and I see where they stand. I don't need to talk about what this person or what that person thinks, or about science. Because when you know Jesus Christ, when He shows up in your life, just as I can tell you today to drive down to where I am and meet my friend who looks like this and is named this, you could say that person's not real. But until you drive down and meet that person, you would have to have faith to think that they're not real, yet they are real. It's the same way with Jesus Christ. It wasn't that I believed in Him, it's that I met Jesus Christ, I have a relationship with Him today, that's why for me I'm willing to give everything up, because Jesus said if you lose your life for My sake, you will find it. What does He mean? That if I want to live for myself, I'm not really in Christ because the Bible tells it's not for men to direct His ways. Christ saved us and He set us free to share the gospel, of which I'm doing today, why? Because it's Christ's heart, it's God's desire that you would come to the saving knowledge of God, through His grace and His mercy, through faith alone. So today, if you're hearing this and you understand, "Wow, I may think I'm a believer or I may go to a church" but doesn't the Pope go to church more than any of us? Doesn't he in fact live in a church? Don't people go to church religiously? But they've never met Jesus Christ. Matthew 7:21, Jesus said many will come to Me and say "Lord, Lord" and I will tell them plainly "Depart from Me, I never knew you" what does that mean? It means many people will call upon the name of the Lord, the kurios, yet they don't know Him. There's no intimate relationship with Him because we're meant to be the Bride of Christ. And wouldn't you get to know the bride? Instead we're running around and paying attention to the things we want. But if before God today you see your sinful state, and now you can look at the cross and say "Wow, I see that Jesus shed His blood, this is the love of God, this is the gospel, this is the good news", then I want to lead you in a prayer. And I'm not going to tell you that just by saying this prayer you can be so sure that you're in Christ. Because you may want to just repeat this and then want to run out into the world and do what you want. But I am telling you that in your heart, if the Holy Spirit right now is breaking you and you're seeing your need for Him, you're seeing your understanding for Him, and your faith is truly in Him, you're really saying "I'm going to repent and not live this lifestyle anymore" even though at times, men do fall back into sin, but it's this consistent repentance, then I'm going to pray this prayer with you. I belive you're going to agree with me, but it's between you and Jesus Christ, don't focus on me, focus on the Lord Jesus. If He shows up in your life and transforms you, you will never be the same. You'll spend eternity with Him, and in this life He's called us to the great commission, to go and share the gospel, to preach, and that even when we go through struggles the Bible says we are blessed. You need to read your Bible, you need to focus on Him and give all glory to God. And so how can God get glory out of a man? By the Lord Jesus Christ coming and living inside of you, transforming you, and changing you into the image of Christ for the world to see the salt and the light. Before God today, I'm going to pray this prayer. And I prayed this prayer a few different times, but I didn't really understand what I was doing. I didn't really cry out to God, I just wanted my life to be better. Don't just pray this prayer so your life can be better. Pray this prayer because you believe that Jesus hung up on the cross, He shed His blood, and it's by faith in Him alone that saves a person. And the evidence that you're truly saved is that you consistently live this life now of crucifying your flesh and wanting to follow God, why? Because John 15 tells us that if we abide in Him we're truly His. How many years did Jesus spend discipling the disciples, three and a half, how many were there, twelve. Was Judas in Him or not? No, Judas never abound in Jesus Christ but the others did and they had powerful ministries and were even crucified, some of them, for His name. The reason we hear the gospel today is because of the work Christ did, the work the Holy Spirit is doing, and the things that the disciples and apostles shared and preached in Jesus' name. So I'm going to share with you just how I cried out to God that night and what He did. I was sitting in my room and I realized I was divorced, I realized I was suicidal, I said "I need Your blood to cleanse me. I need Your blood to wash me clean. Lord, I don't want to go to hell, I want to spend time with you, I want to get to know You, I already believe in You, but I need You to show up in my life and transform me." And as I realized in my heart that broken moment, I felt the presence of God enter the room, and in one instant He transformed me and I've never been the same, and that was five years ago today. And I prayed prayers like this often and asked Him to show up, and so if you want to repeat this prayer with me, if you truly believe it, and if what happened in my heart happens in yours, then you will be saved. And it's beginning today. It's beginning with this situation, you'll hate your sin. You'll hate the fact that the world lives the way it does and it wants to sow so much sin into unbelievers and even believers. You'll crucify your flesh and you're going to look more and more like the Son of God, Jesus Christ. And you can repeat this prayer, you can say "Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus I need Your blood. And Lord Jesus I understand now what Brian's talking about and I want You to dwell inside of me. I need Your blood to wash me clean because I'm a sinner. I've missed the mark. I've fallen short of the glory of God and without You I'm destined for hell." There's no other name that we can put our faith in that man can be saved. It's through Jesus Christ alone that a person gets saved and can go to heaven eternally. And as you're saying this, as you're crying out to God in your own way He'll show up, if you're sincere, if your heart is focused on Him. And I would pray like this "Lord Jesus, I pray that you forgive me of my sins. I pray that you'd come and dwell inside of me and wash me clean with Your precious blood. I see that I'm sinful before You, but I know that what You did on the cross was in love so that I could be saved. Today I put my faith in You. Today I cry out to all of heaven." And I'd say "Please, Lord Jesus, set me free from my sin, transform me, make me a new creation, teach me how to read and study and pray. Teach me how to walk in the Holy Spirit and to share the gospel with everyone I'm around. Teach me how to love on people that want to destroy and end me. Teach me how to be just like the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ." And if your heart's in this state, if you're not just saying this to repeat something, that's just fresh air, then the Lord may well have began His work in you tonight. I love you guys, open up the Bible, read 1 John, get to know the Lord Jesus Christ, your life will never be the same. But be aware of hypocrites, be aware of people who see God as a means to an end and they want to use the gospel to further this or further that. And realize that He's called us to do His will, His thelema, the work of God, the sharing of the gospel in to all the ends of the earth. Because He's going to return one day, and you're going to be found gathering or scattering. And you're going to be found being about whatever your name is, or about His name. Amen. I want to encourage you guys too, to stick around and get into the D2L Revolution training section, because having put your faith in Christ we need to be gathering together in fellowship, some people aren't able to do that, you need to find a Bible-based church, you need to find somewhere that as you're reading the Word of God yourself, worshiping Him in spirit and in truth, as your life's being transformed, you're getting sowed into by ministries and powerful men and women of God. And to begin we just want you to get involved in the training sections, stay focused, and just begin to pray. Get to know your Lord and Savior because He wants to get to know you. Amen.