GOSPEL TALK | THE WHO'S WHO OF THE GOSPEL

[00:00:01] Hello, world of Podcast listeners. Thank you so much for leaning in to listen to the Mark 8:27 podcast. And I'm really excited that you are here for this episode of Gospel Talk. [00:00:14] And I'll tell you that for a couple days now, I have had a lot of inspiration and thinking around a particular topic, and I just decided that I needed to jump on here and talk to you about it before I lose anything that I have gained. [00:00:36] So I'm excited about what God has been saying to me regarding this topic. Who's who, the who's who of the gospel. [00:00:47] The who's who of the gospel. In other words, when it comes down to the gospel message, which is the most important message that anyone can ever deliver and that anyone can ever hear, but when it comes down to the gospel message, who's who in that gospel message. [00:01:10] And in fact, it kind of reminds me of another brief discussion that I had in the Church Talk series. And if you have not heard that, I would encourage you to go back and listen to that. It's a very brief episode because it's an introductory episode to that series, the Church Talk series. But in there I talk a lot about how I believe that the church has become kind of misdirected in where it is placing its attention, if you will, or its allegiance. [00:01:52] Its focus seems to be on the celebrityism, which is a word I think that I created, but on creating the celebrityism of people who are human beings, who are in ministry, where we make them celebrities, where what they do is upon a stage. [00:02:20] It many times is a performance more so than it is edifying ministry. And so I think that that's one of the things that the church has definitely fallen prey to, that hopefully we will get corrected soon. I think it will make a difference in our impact. But this discussion is related to that because there are particular who's who of the gospel, but there's only one celebrity of the gospel, and that is Jesus Christ. [00:03:03] There is only one Lord. The scripture says one God, one baptism, but there's only one Lord. And that Lord is not any man participating in pastoral ministry anywhere, any woman participating in ministry anywhere. [00:03:25] The only celebrity in God's economy, in the kingdom of God, in the family of God, in the church, is Jesus Christ. [00:03:39] And so when we first talk about who's who of the gospel, the first person that we want to talk about is Jesus Christ. [00:03:49] He is the primary one. And it kind of takes us back to our theme scripture for this podcast and all things Mark 8:27, which is Mark chapter 8 and verse 27. [00:04:07] And as a reminder to some, perhaps an introduction to others, there it says, and Jesus went out and his disciples into the towns of Caesarea, Philippi. [00:04:21] And by the way, he that is Jesus, asked his disciples, saying unto them, whom do men say that I am? [00:04:35] And that question is the most important, most critical key question that any person can ever answer in their life. [00:04:50] Because how a person answers that question will determine who they are in God's economy, whether or not they are saved, whether or not they are born again. [00:05:11] So that they have not only been born naturally, but they're born then spiritually. [00:05:19] The answer to that question determines whether or not a person is adopted by God and grafted into the vine of God's chosen elect people. [00:05:37] Jesus is that elect seed. [00:05:42] And not until one makes the right decision about Jesus and is therefore in Jesus, in Christ, does that person have a right relationship with God. [00:05:59] So let's look at that more. [00:06:02] So Jesus is that primary person, that primary who of the gospel. [00:06:13] She is the subject of that gospel. He is the one who will perform the saving, the redeeming, the changing. [00:06:29] He is the one who will perform the giving of eternal life. [00:06:34] And then in just a moment, we'll talk about who are the objects of that gospel, who are the ones who receive the action of Jesus in that gospel. [00:06:49] But let's go to the Old Testament, to the book of Isaiah, to the book of Isaiah and chapter 53. [00:07:04] And I'm going to begin reading at verse four, where Isaiah says, surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. [00:07:21] Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. [00:07:28] But he was wounded for our transgressions. [00:07:32] He was bruised for our iniquities. [00:07:37] The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed. [00:07:47] So what a blessing. There, look at the who's who in that passage. You see Jesus in that passage. He is the He. The great hymn of the Bible is the he of that passage. [00:08:07] And Isaiah tells us that He. He bore our griefs, he carried our sorrows. [00:08:17] We thought that he was stricken of God and smitten of God, that he was afflicted by God for some reason, when actually all that Jesus went through on Calvary, as he was crucified on that cross, he did it for us. He was wounded for us, he was bruised for us. [00:08:48] He suffered the chastisement that he suffered on that cross for our peace. [00:09:00] And he was beaten with many stripes so that we would be healed. [00:09:07] So he is the subject of the gospel, he is the one that provides the healing, that provides the peace, that provides the deliverance. [00:09:24] He is the one that performs that activity. But then the other who in the Gospel is us. [00:09:35] It's us. It's you and I. [00:09:37] Going back to Matthew, chapter 8, verse 27, where Jesus asked his disciples, who do men say that I am? [00:09:50] Men, all men, no matter what their station is in life. And this is men, human beings, that is men and women. [00:10:01] No matter what their station is in life, no matter what their background is, no matter what their ethnicity is, no matter what their culture is, no matter where they live, no matter what their gender is, no matter what their proclivities are, no matter what their habits are, no matter what their helplessnesses are, no matter whoever they are, human beings, the answer to that question is going to determine the outcome of their existence eternally. [00:10:44] He is the first who of the Gospel. And then we are the next who's of the gospel, the ones who receive the blessings that he actually provides. Listen, I said I only wanted to be here for about 15 minutes and I'm getting excited and kind of caught up here. But let's go over to the gospel according to St. John. [00:11:17] St. John. We're looking at who's who, the who's who of the Gospel. [00:11:23] Let's look at St. John, chapter one. And this involves a little bit more reading than the other passages that I read. But there's a message here. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [00:11:40] The same was in the beginning with God. [00:11:43] All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made in him was life, and the life was the light of men. [00:11:55] And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. [00:12:00] There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. [00:12:05] The same came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. [00:12:13] He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. [00:12:32] He came unto his own, and his own received him not. [00:12:37] But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. [00:12:57] And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. [00:13:08] So I hope as we read through there, you begin to think along with me about the who's who of the Gospel. [00:13:18] And as we read through here, you could identify the who's who in this passage of the Gospel. [00:13:27] The Word is Jesus Christ. [00:13:30] The Word was God. The Word was with God. [00:13:37] The Word is Jesus Christ. The Word is God. [00:13:44] And the Word came and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory as of the glory of the only begotten of the Father. [00:13:59] And. And when he came and we men, mankind, humanity, men and women that we've already talked about from every station in life, from every culture, with every depravity, men beheld his glory as. As of the only begotten of the Father. [00:14:23] And listen, here's what John tells us, is that some rejected him, even his own. [00:14:31] He came through the Jewish family lineage and even they rejected him and said, he is not the one. He is not the Messiah. We are still looking for the Messiah. His own received him not. [00:14:50] But it says as many as did receive the what he came to give them. Remember, he is the subject, we, they are the object. [00:15:02] But they must receive what he gives to them in order for it to be theirs. [00:15:10] The who's who of the Gospel. The Savior, Jesus Christ, the sinner, you and I. [00:15:21] The who's who of the Gospel. [00:15:25] The Lamb of God, who was actually sacrificed not for his own sins, but for the sins of you and I. We are the objects of the who's who of the Gospel. He is the subject of the who's who of the of the Gospel. Listen, there is only one celebrity in the Gospel. There's only one celebrity in the church. There's only one celebrity in the Kingdom. I only have one real celebrity, and that is Jesus Christ. [00:16:08] I pray, I trust that you have been blessed by. By this talk. Today. I just had to have this talk. I couldn't let any more time pass before I had it. So I trust that God would not let me rest because there's somebody out there who needed to hear this talk. [00:16:28] Until we meet again, be blessed and please stand out because of your excellence.