Sermon Notes

The Lord’s Supper serves as a reminder for us of the power of the Gospel of Jesus — the power of the message of the cross — the Gospel that we respond to for salvation and forgiveness of sin.

1 Corinthians 1:18 — The message of the cross, the Gospel message, divides all people into two groups: those who are perishing because they think the message foolishness, and those who are being saved who have experienced and are experiencing the power of Almighty God!

Our work, our prayer, and our passion are to help people cross over from death to life, from darkness to light, from thinking of that message as foolishness to realizing its truth and being saved and experiencing the power of God!

With regard to those who think the message of the cross to be foolishness, Ephesians 2:3 states that all people who follow the ways of this world, “gratifying the cravings of [their] sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts” are by nature “objects of (God’s) wrath.” Because they have not yet believed and responded to the message of the cross and haven’t turned to God for forgiveness of their sin by placing their faith in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ, they are presently, right now, objects of God’s wrath — His judgment and condemnation.

Those people haven’t yet responded to the Gospel message because it is foolishness to them, and it is foolishness to them because “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:4)

Praise God, though, that He changed that for us, and He can and will change that for others as we, with Him, faithfully pursue them! We must be passionately working, praying, and sharing to help them get to the place where God draws them and removes the devil’s blinders so they may be saved.

So, we who have been saved praise God for Ephesians 2:4–7 — God, because of His great love for us all, is rich in mercy toward us. So, in effect, God has made us, and everyone who responds by faith to Him for forgiveness of sin, objects of His love, mercy, grace, and kindness.

Titus 3:4–7 re-enforces those same blessings we enjoy as believers.

As the Holy Spirit says through Paul in Romans 1:16: “(The Gospel) is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”

And so, for us, and all, who are being saved, the message of the cross, what we are about to proclaim through the Lord’s Memorial Supper — the Gospel of Jesus — is the power of God given for our salvation.

That means, when you extrapolate it out, that the “message of the cross” — the Gospel — the good news of Jesus, God in the flesh, being born of a virgin and living a sinless life on earth as a human with us, then being unjustly arrested, tried and crucified to pay the penalty for our sin, then being raised from the dead...

...THAT Gospel, is the power of God not only for salvation from the penalty of sin, but also for our salvation through or from everything that we face in life, for every struggle and trial, for every cultural and societal ill, for every person who may oppose us and our faith and our God and our Lord Jesus and His Word, AND for our ultimate rescue and salvation from this sinful world and our sinful nature.

The Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is THE answer and THE remedy for the fallen nature of all mankind — all people!

Therefore, may we who are born again in Christ Jesus faithfully live it and share it and proclaim it well for the sake of God and of those who are still right now objects of His wrath that they may become objects of His great salvation and blessings!