The Urgency Of The Gospel

Genesis 19:14-15

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Are there people in the world who haven’t heard the gospel yet? The answer is an absolute Yes. Are there people in our community and neighbourhood who haven’t heard the gospel yet? Again the answer is an absolute yes. Are there people in our families who have not heard the gospel yet? The answer again is an absolute yes. Do we have friends, colleagues at work, people close to us who haven’t heard the gospel yet? Absolutely yes. I dare say that there are even people in churches who have not heard the gospel yet. And there are churches who are not preaching the gospel. Unless you disagree with me that there are indeed people who have not heard the gospel, then you will disagree with this whole sermon. Because it is the premise upon which we will look at this mornings message. But if you agree with me, that the answers to all the questions I asked are truly yes, then it tells us The Urgency of The Gospel. There is an urgency for all these people group to hear the gospel. And so this morning our topic will simply be The Urgency of The Gospel. To speak of the urgency or to say something is urgent, is to say that thing is important and needs swift or immediate attention. The hearing of the gospel then needs swift or immediate attention.

What is The Gospel? 

The gospel simply means Good News. That is the meaning of the Greek word for Gospel: euangellion. By definition, it means The Good News of the coming of the Messiah. You see, to talk about Good News, means there is a bad news. And what is that bad news. That bad news is that all humans beings are sinners who have broken God’s law. And this rebellion has separated humankind from God. And this sin attracts the judgement and punishment of God. And we see in this narrative, which was our consideration from last week that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah brought the judgement of God upon them. These angels we are told have come to destroy the city because of it’s sin (v.13). And last week, again, I indicated we must not get fixated on the sin of Sodom, that is homosexuality, because in reality, humans beings are sinners separated from God and our only hope is the grace of God. And this is where the Good News comes in. 

The Good News is the answer to the bad news of sin. It is Good News because God himself has provided a sacrifice to pay for the penalty of sin. Right in the garden of Eden, when Adam sinned, God announced the good news. And I believe in this church, we have heard that the first gospel was preached in the garden of Eden: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel“. (Genesis 3:15)

 The first Gospel, proto-evangelium announces the suffering of Christ for sinners after the fall. The offspring announcement runs through the whole Scripture till Paul declares Christ as the seed or offspring of Abraha in Galatians. Jesus Christ bore the punishment for sin by his suffering on the cross. He paid the penalty for sin. He died in the place of sinners. He satisfied the wrath of God. He propitiated—paid the penalty for sin. Why? That whoever believes in him will be saved—Whoever. Whatever your state in life. Whatever your sin in life. The moment you believe, pardon is yours:

O perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,

To every believer the promise of God;

The vilest offender who truly believes,

That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.

Dear friends, the gospel is the only means by which sinners are saved. There is no other way by which sinners will find salvation from sin and the wrath of God. Some people wrongly think they are saved because of how good they are—because of what they do or don’t do It doesn’t work that way in Christianity. We are not saved because of our good works. No amount of good works can save anyone. To be moral is good. But your morals will not save you. Children, you are all required by your parents to be good boys and girls. But because you are a good boy or girl, doesn’t make you a Christian. You would have to believe in Jesus. It’s simply by the grace of God that we are saved. We can do nothing to merit salvation: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) 

And you and I who have come to faith in Jesus, have come because of the grace and mercy of God. We did nothing. In fact, if we were left on our own, we wouldn’t believe. God has graciously shown his mercy to us in Christ Jesus. And in this narrative, we see clearly that. Lot did nothing to merit deliverance from Sodom, which is a picture of deliverance from sin. In fact, when the angels told him to leave the city, we are told in verse 16 that “But he lingered…”. He hesitated to leave Sodom. He hesitated to walk away from the land of sin. But God’s mercy was stronger than his hesitation: Irresistible Grace it is. “So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

In what ways then do we see The Urgency of The Gospel 

A Divine Charge

In verse 13, the angels announced God’s imminent judgement upon the city because of it’s sin:  “For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.” Two times, the angels made their mission clear. They have been sent to destroy Sodom. And Lot was asked to escape for his life (v.17, v.22). But most importantly, Lot was not to flee the city alone. He was tasked to go proclaim this coming judgement to the people so that they will also flee. This is what I call A Divine Charge. A charge in this context is a demand on us from another–God (I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: 2 preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.) 2Tim 4:1-2

You and I who have been delivered from sin and destruction have a duty to preach the gospel to others. We see this clearly in the verse 12. Lot received a Divine Charge; a charge to bring others out of destruction. A charge to proclaim the gospel: “Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city, bring them out of the place.”

“Bring them out of the place” All these people group who haven’t heard the gospel, we have a duty towards. The gospel must be preached. The gospel must be proclaimed. And this is the only way by which sinners will hear and repent from their sins: Through the preaching of the gospel, witnessing and  evangelising (Romans 10:13-15). Like Lot, we are tasked with the proclamation of the gospel. Because it is through it sinners would be saved.  See the hymn we sung before the sermon

A charge to keep I have,

A God to glorify,

A never-dying soul to save,

And fit it for the sky.

You and I as believers carry a gospel proclamation mandate, what is popularly called the Great Commission: “Go ye into the world and preach the gospel…” (Matthew 28:19). Jude also tells us to snatch others: “save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment[a] stained by the flesh.” (Jude 1:23). And look at the urgency with which Lot attended to this duty: 

So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting (v.14). “Lot went out” I will put immediately in front of that phrase to read “Lot went out immediately. This means that the same evening the angels charged him, he went out. We can see this in the opening words of verse 15: “And when the morning rose”. In other words, when it was morning. This is a clear distinction between vv 14 & 15. It tells us that Lot, acted immediately when he heard of the destruction of Sodom…that same night. Clearly, we see the urgency he attached to the duty. Again, look at what he told his in-laws: “Up”! “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destroy the city.” If you are using the ESV, take note of the exclamation mark infront of the up. It’s a clear indication of urgency. We know what exclamation marks or sign are for right? They are used to express exclamations, that is, the force with which something is said. It could even indicate shouting. Up! This is urgency. Do we truly believe the gospel ourselves? Do we truly believe that it is through the gospel sinners are reconciled to God and escape the wrath of God? Do we believe that one day, unrepentant sinners will be judged? Then we must be concerned about souls that have not heard the gospel. This is the urgency of the gospel. 

The second reason for The Urgency of The Gospel is 

A Divine Warning

God has never brought judgement upon a people without first warning them. God’s judgements are always fair and right. We saw that last week between Abraham’s interaction with God and his intercession for Sodom: “Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked”  (Genesis 18:And throughout the Bible, God’s judgement and punishment of sin has always been preceded by warnings. God has always sent messengers to warn of his impending judgement. You remember our series through Jonah, Jonah was sent to Nineveh to warn them of the impending judgement. The first message Jesus preached was a warning. 

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15)

If God has issued a warning and we have heard it, like Lot we are to go tell the people. Like Jonah, we are to go tell the people. God sent out his prophets again and again to Israel to warn them. And like Jesus himself, we are to call people to repentance. The angels who showed up in Sodom, warned Lot and Lot was sent out to warn others. Anytime you hear the gospel. Or anytime to tell people about the good news of Christ, then you are rightly, warning them of God’s judgement to come. 

And for us, the Judgement of God on Sodom is a picture of God’s final judgement of sin. And we who have believed in Jesus can be confident that God through his electing grace will save everyone of his own from destruction. And the only way to escape this judgement is to believe in Christ. It’s to find refuge in him. It’s to leave the place of sin through faith.

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