Larry Siegle · Matt. 7:15-23
Link to sermon video: How the World Misses the Gospel – L Siegle
“How the World Misses the Gospel”
(Matt. 7:15-23)
Thesis: The world misses the gospel because of how we confuse their concept of who God is and what God has done.
INTRODUCTION
1. The title of this message is, “How the World Misses the Gospel”.
2. The book, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes (2012).
a. The book explores cultural blinders that have arisen from within our
‘Western worldview’ as the primary lenses through which we have read and
interpreted the Scriptures.
b. The most common concept is that the Bible was written to us and that
everything found within the Scriptures applies to our lives personally.
1) For just $139.00 Your Personalized Bible will insert your first name,
last name, into over 7,000 verses where the pronoun “I” or “My” occurs
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119:105).
2) This is a “feel good” approach that makes everything personal as though God is talking directly to me…
c. The problem is that this concept is foreign to the Scriptures.
d. The Bible was not written to us, but rather it was written for us.
3. As the authors of this book relate, cultural bias is quite problematic and
therefore, it is vital that we ‘rethink’ how we read, study, and understand,
the Word of God.
4. After 2,000 years, the gospel has become hidden by various presuppositions
and misconceptions.
WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST
1. The present war in the Middle East that is raging between Israel and Hamas
is ample evidence that people are missing the point of what the Bible actually
teaches.
2. Since October 7, 2023, hundreds of organized “protests” have been organized
and have taken place all over the world either in support of Israel or in
support of Hamas–disagreement exists even among believers who are
‘choosing’ one side over the other.
a. The establishment of the “modern” State of Israel in 1948 came along with
the rise of Zionism and the belief that this would somehow be the
fulfillment of Bible prophecy–that a “new” temple will be rebuilt,
followed by a period of ‘great tribulation’ and conversion of Israel into the
acceptance of Jesus as their Messiah, after a physical ‘rapture’ of the
church, and the ‘second coming’ of Christ and a literal ‘thousand years’
Millennium…followed by a ‘forever happily ever after’ eternity.
b. Hamas–is defined as the “Islamic Resistance Movement” and there are
many living in Palestine that see the events that began on October 7th as
the means of “liberation” for the Palestinian people.
c. This political tension in the region has existed for decades and people on
both sides have suffered untold atrocities.
NATURAL AND SPIRITUAL
1. The vast majority of Christendom has ‘bought into’ the Zionist notion and
belief that the Israeli “State” that now exists is identical to what is
considered Biblical Israel in the Scriptures.
a. The gospel becomes convoluted in the midst of the political and Zionist
notions and the result is that people have taken their eyes off of the
central intent and focus of God’s “purpose of the ages” (Eph. 3:11).
2. The Bible is simply divided into two categories, “natural” and “spiritual” (I
Cor. 15:46).
a. The OT was the time of the “promises made to the fathers” (Rom. 15:8).
b. The “natural” aspect of Scripture covers the period of time from Adam to
Christ (Gen. 3:15; 12:1-3).
c. God established the twelve tribes of Israel for a specific purpose to be
accomplished–to bring Christ into the world of humanity to bring about
redemption, reconciliation, and restoration of the RELATIONSHIP
that had been lost “in Adam”
3. The “gospel of Christ” (Rom. 1:16) is the “message of the cross” (I Cor. 1:18),
His “death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8)–the GOAL of which was bring the
“believing” (Heb. 11) out of the “natural” aspect and into the “spiritual” as the
ultimate fulfillment of what had been promised.
a. The Old Covenant was a “parenthesis” in time when God used His people
(natural Israel) to demonstrate that man simply cannot perform enough
“good works” to somehow deserve restoration of relationship with God
(Rom. 3:19-24).
b. The purpose of God was to break down the wall of division that existed
between Jew/Gentile (Eph. 2:13-19).
1) Those who enter, through the “message of the cross” (I Cor. 1:18) into
the New Covenant by “the faith” are made ONE “in Christ” (Gal. 3:26-
29).
2) The nation and natural “seed” of Israel in whatever form it takes has
nothing whatsoever to do with what God has accomplished through
Christ.
3) All of this “end of the world” preaching and teaching that is going on
today simply confuses and obscures what Christ came to accomplish.
c. Jesus is not going to show up any day now to rescue humanity, rapture the
church, and transform the modern State of Israel–it is a concept that is
foreign to the Scriptures and only takes away our focus from who Christ is
and all that He has done.
RESURRECTION-LIFE NOW
1. Those who come to Christ upon the basis of faith and obedience to the true
gospel experience the reality of resurrection-life right here and right now.
2. The gospel is not about physical bodies in physical graves coming out and
going up to meet Him in the air.
a. When we hear and respond to the gospel of Christ we, at that very
moment in time pass “out of death” and “into life” (John 5:24).
b. At the moment of baptism “into Christ” we are “raised to walk in newness
of life” (Rom. 6:3-5).
1) People want to divide “resurrection” into two separate events,
spiritual now, and physical later.
2) Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).–
SINGULAR
b. The “general resurrection” to bring the dead “in Adam” out of Sheol/Hades
took place at the “end of the age” (Matt. 24:3) in the first century.
c. Resurrection-life continues as we participate in what Christ accomplished
(II Cor. 5:17, 21).
3. The world needs to hear the truth in order to take their eyes off of the physical and to focus instead of the spiritual realities of all that God has
done for us in Christ.
CONCLUSION
1. It is human nature to allow cultural bias to have a negative effect on how we
read, study and understand the Scriptures.
2. There is a certain aspect of “excitement” that goes along with what we used to
refer to as “newspaper exegesis”–looking at the latest news story and looking
to see how close we are to the “end of the world”
3. If you want to sell a million books, just sit down and write about an Antichrist
that now is lurking in the bushes waiting to appear and deceive the whole
world (plenty of Hollywood movies about this sinister character).
4. Only when we accept and understand the difference between the natural
and the spiritual as it relates to the Scriptures will the world come to fully
appreciate the reality of who God is and what He has done.
Outline (Word document): How_the_World_Misses_the_Gospel.docx