I was going to introduce this
message with that passage I just read from Galatians chapter 1. So let's open our Bibles to 2
Corinthians chapter 11. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. current events are so profound on a culture that we are required
to address them from the pulpit, particularly when those current
events have a direct influence on the gospel. In light of the murder of Charlie
Kirk and all that's being said concerning the gospel, I find
it necessary for us this morning to ask the question, what exactly
is the gospel as it's revealed in scripture. The Bible is our
authority, our only authority for life and for salvation. And so whatever God says about
the gospel, we believe. We just read in Galatians chapter
1 where Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in writing
God's word, curses anyone that would preach any other gospel
than the one that he preached. Make no mistake about it, there's
a whole lot of gospels out there in the world. But there's only one gospel that
God owns. Oftentimes we read in the scriptures,
the gospel of God. Matter of fact, in, I think it's
1 Thessalonians chapter two, the gospel of God is referenced
three times. This is God's gospel. He owns
it. He's not confused about it. Neither
has he made it confusing. He's very clear on it. And in
1 Thessalonians chapter 2, when God refers to the gospel of God
three times, he's speaking of the gospel of God the Father
who elected a particular people according to his own sovereign
will and purpose in the covenant of grace in the eternity past.
That's the gospel. You can't have a gospel without
sovereign election. The second reference to the gospel
of God in 1 Thessalonians 2 would be God the Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who was made flesh and came into this world in order
to accomplish. He didn't come to make an offer
of salvation for us to reject or accept, for man's free will
to determine the outcome of. He actually accomplished. the
gospel of God by his life, his death, and his resurrection. God the Holy Spirit, it's his
gospel too. It's his gospel too. He's the
one who makes sinners conscious of their sin when he reveals
Christ to them. When he takes the message of
the gospel that I hope we can, that we can preach this morning
as simply and clearly and truthfully as possible. When God the Holy
Spirit takes that message and opens the eyes of our understanding
and gives us faith and makes us willing. in the day of his
power. It's the gospel of God. It's
God the Father's gospel. It's God the Son's gospel. It's
God the Holy Spirit's gospel. By God's grace, might it be our
gospel. Now, in light of current events, I am all for a moral reformation. The closer an individual or a
society conforms their lives to the biblical commands of God,
the better off we will all be in this world. That is clear historically. God has allowed many cultures
to continue down the path of rebellion and licentious living
until they self imploded. We see that historically. I believe
that most of what history records as a spiritual revival in fact
was nothing more than a moral reformation. I believe that's
true when it comes to the Protestant Reformation. I believe that's
true when it comes to the great awakenings of our country. I
know by personal experience that that is true in my own life. 1969, I was in high school, living
in Southern California, being influenced by the culture. Yes, it was the days of the Vietnam
War and all the protests and there were no place where that
was being more demonstrated than where I lived in Southern California. And all the abuses of the hippie
movement and of that lifestyle were being carried to their full
extent. I would say to people my age,
you get concerned about what young people are doing today,
remember the 60s. Remember some of the stupid stuff. And then some of those hippies
became preachers. Southern California. And you look it up, the Jesus
movement, History is repeating itself. It was the Jesus movement
that took a lot of those hippies and those people that were living
like they wanted, rebelling against authority, and they realized that they were
on a self-destructive path. And the only ones that weren't
converted by the Jesus movement became professors in our colleges
and influenced the next couple generations. But some of us were
influenced by the Jesus movement. And we changed our life. Some
of us became very religious and very active in our churches.
And I can say from my own personal experience that that turned out
to be a good thing for me and for my family. Had I continued
down the road that I was on before that moral reformation that took
place in my life, I'm certain I wouldn't be where I am today
with a loving wife and children. So you see, 20 years later. 20 years later, the Lord brought to me the revelation
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel. Let us never confuse
a moral reformation, as beneficial as that might be for an individual,
for a family, for a culture, let us not confuse a moral reformation
with a spiritual revival. A person can live their lives
according to the principles and precepts of the Bible and not
know the person of the Bible. Satan cares little if a society
is moral or immoral, law-abiding or lawless, as long as Christ
is denied his glory. That's his objective. His objective
is to deny Christ his glory. It seems clear from scripture
that there'll be more people on the day of judgment that will
stand before God and say, but Lord, we've done many wonderful
works in thy name, than there will be of those who have lived
their lives outwardly defiant against God, yet the end result
will be the same for them both. The end result will be the same
for them both. For the one who lived outwardly
moral and reap the benefits of that, there is a law of the harvest
that is unchangeable. The law of the harvest says this,
whatsoever man sows, that shall he also reap. There is built
in to rebellion against God. consequences for sin that will
bring great pain and tragedy into one's life and into a nation. But that is not the gospel. That is not a spiritual revival. In one sense, I have mixed feelings
about moral reformation. As all the positive things I
just said about it, You think about the history of Israel in
the Old Testament. God said, if you keep my commandments,
these will be your blessings. And if you break my commandments,
these will be your curses. And they kept repeating themselves. I mean, the judgments that came
as a result of their disobedience. But don't confuse that with the
gospel. Don't confuse that with salvation. And in one sense, as I said,
I have mixed emotions about a moral reformation, knowing from my
own personal experience that many will conclude that that
moral reformation is their salvation. and they will go to their grave
believing that because their lives are changed and because
they are religious and because they are practicing the precepts
of the Bible in their life and in their family that therefore
all things are well with God. The message of the gospel is
not political. And unlike what I've heard said
several times by Charlie Kirk's pastor, politics is not the on-ramp
to Jesus. The gospel is the on-ramp to
the Lord Jesus Christ. And spiritual revival will only
happen when the gospel is preached, the gospel. And when God the
Holy Spirit is pleased, and how we long for that, first of all,
in our own lives, in our families, in our country, that there would
be a true spiritual revival. But that's a work of grace in
the heart. It's a miracle when God raises
up men and congregations that believe the gospel. The gospel transcends all generations. The gospel hasn't changed. We
preach exactly the same gospel today that Paul preached, that
Peter preached. We're not packaging the gospel
to fit our culture. It transcends culture. It transcends
all generations. The gospel is the same for our
children as it is for our elderly adults. And God knits the hearts
of the fathers to the children. There's no generation gap when
it comes to the gospel. None whatsoever. The gospel transcends all political
persuasions. And since we're talking about
the mixture of politics and the gospel, which is what we're seeing
in our culture today. I want to call to your attention
just a few, without looking them up, I'll try to just paraphrase
them for you. A few passages of God's word
that instruct us on how we are to interact with the politics
of our day. And I would remind you that when
these men, inspired of God's spirit, wrote these words for
our instruction, they were living their lives under Roman Caesars,
many of them tyrants, murderers. The culture was The political
scene was, oh, so, so much worse than what anything we've ever
experienced, and has been over the last 2,000 years with many
generation of believers, but that does not change what God
has told us. 1 Timothy chapter 2, pray for peace. and for those in authority that
you might live a quiet and peaceable life in this world. Romans chapter
13, be subject to higher powers for all higher powers have been
placed there by God and to resist any higher power is to resist
God. First Peter chapter two verse
17, honor the king. Whoever he is Peter wrote that
he was talking about Nero 2nd Timothy chapter 2 Paul's
writing to Timothy and he telling him to be a good soldier For
the gospel and don't get entangled with the affairs of this life
Don't get entangled with the affairs of this life The gospel
transcends all of that. Jude, when speaking of false
prophets, he called them filthy dreamers, despising dominion
and speaking evil of dignitaries. Let us be very careful, regardless
of who God puts in place of the words that we speak concerning
our political leaders. They've been put there by God,
whoever they are. May the Lord make us faithful
to his word in regards to those things. Paul said in Romans chapter one,
verse one, I have been separated unto the gospel of God. And Peter said, what shall be
the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God. You see, it
doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how outwardly
moral or how organized society is or how biblical. Our founding fathers were wise
enough to know that biblical principles are good for a culture.
I think it was John Adams that said, our constitution is written
for a moral and religious people. It cannot be lived out. Why? Because freedom requires
personal responsibility and personal restraint. And Karl Marx wasn't
completely wrong when he said that religion is the opiate of
the people. It's a good thing. But it's not
going to save your soul. Religion is not going to get
you to heaven. The gospel will. The gospel. The gospel belongs to God. We must, our thinking must be
conformed to what he has revealed. He authorized it in his own wise
counsel. He executed it in the incarnation
and the atoning sacrificial work of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's
cross. He confirmed it by the resurrection
of Christ and he reveals it by his prophets and apostles in
his word and applies it to the hearts of his people by his Holy
Spirit, the gospel. Everybody has a different version
of the gospel. God only has one gospel. He's
not confused about it, neither has he made it confusing. So
how is it that we come to the gospel of God? And here's where
we must begin. Lord, whatever I believe, if
it does not conform to what you have revealed, change my mind. changed my mind. And whatever that means, in terms
of how it might put me at odds with whoever, the whole world, Lord, I want to know what you
believe. I want to believe what you believe. Give me faith. Give me faith
to believe what you've revealed, whatever it is, and whatever
difference and whatever change it means for me. There's an article in your bulletin
this morning about faith. I would encourage you to take
a moment and read it. Not now, but later. Because what I'm hearing about
the gospel is that it concerns the historical events surrounding
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that the one thing missing
in the gospel is your faith. and that salvation comes when
you exercise your faith. I'm sorry, I've listened to Charlie
Kirk, and I'm thankful for the influences
that he had in so many ways. But for a man to say, best decision
I ever made, it strikes fear in my heart.
That's not the gospel. The gospel is not that God loves
everybody, and God wants everybody to be saved, and Christ died
for everybody, and God's voted for you, and the devil's voted
against you, and you get to break the tie. It's now all up to you.
It's your decision. It's your free will. It's your
faith that applies the gospel. That's not the gospel. That's
a work gospel. That is a work gospel. You're
just making a work out of faith, but you're still bringing something
to the table. You're bringing something to
obligate God and to rob Christ of his glory. All the man-made
gospels of the world have one thing in common, rob Christ of
his glory. And they are demonic. They are demonic. Doesn't matter how men live. This is Satan. I just want Christ
to not be, I wanna be on his throne. Isaiah chapter 14. Lucifer has set himself up on
the throne of God. And he hates Christ. So the question that we have
to ask is, in many, many gospels that we're hearing, And there
are many. I don't think we ever read 2
Corinthians 11, did we? Look at verse 4. For if he that
cometh preacheth another Jesus. Lots of Jesuses out there. Small
J. not an all-powerful, sovereign,
successful savior who accomplished the salvation of his people,
but a Jesus who's in heaven wringing his hands, wanting you to let
him have his way, hoping that you'll believe. For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another
spirit, there's a lot of spirits out there, but there's only one
Holy Spirit. And all the other spirits that
are preaching another Jesus and another gospel are coming from
the underworld. Mark it down. They're coming
from hell itself. It's not the gospel. which you have not received,
or another gospel. Could this be any more clear?
I had a whole bunch of gospels out there. Which you have not accepted,
and you might bear well with them. Paul is rebuking the church
at Corinth because they are He, that last phrase, what it means
is you're bearing and listening to men that are preaching a false
gospel. You're letting them come into church. You're bearing with
them. Only one gospel. We read earlier Galatians chapter
one. Let's turn there a moment. Galatians
chapter one. Look at verse six. I marvel that you are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ. What does all false gospels deny? The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, brethren and friends,
Grace is for sinners and only for sinners. Grace is not the
icing on the cake. Grace is not, you know, something
to spice up the gospel. And you see this in our communities. How many, and I've watched it
over the last 20 years or so, how many churches we find popping
up that are putting grace in their name? And generally what they mean
by that is we're gracious people and we accept anything and you
can just believe anything you want. Just come and be a part
of us. God's gracious and he's not angry with anybody and he,
you know, he tolerates anything and everything. That's not what
grace means. It's the grace of Christ. God's
pleased with his son. and only His Son, and we must
be found in Him. And if we're found in Him, it
will only be by the grace of God. It won't be because we made
a decision. It won't be because we lived
a certain way and followed the precepts and principles of the
Bible, which are always good. I remind you, they're always
good. But they won't save you. Isaiah chapter 28, God says,
I gave to you precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little,
there a little. I've revealed to you the things
of God. And then Isaiah rebukes the people. And he says, you took it as nothing
more than precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little,
there a little. In other words, the precepts
that I gave you were to lead you to the knowledge of Christ.
But you took the Bible as a rule book for Christian living, and
you took the precepts of God as something that you could do
in order to earn favor with God. And yeah, you're now a moral
people, but you're just as eternally bad off as if you were immoral. And then the Lord said, in Isaiah
28, he says, you've made, he's talking about the children of
Israel, who's taken the word of God and made laws out of them. And he said, you have made a
covenant with death. Nothing's changed. People who,
believe the Bible's the word of God, and they think that living
by its precepts and principles is going to somehow obligate
God to save them, and making the right decision is going to
win them favor with God? Well, we've made a covenant with
death. And with hell, we're in agreement.
We're not afraid to die. That's what all the religious
people... I listened to a man this past
week, being interviewed, who sees himself as the replacement
of Charlie Kirk. And he said this in the interview,
because he's having his life threatened now. And he said this
in the interview. He said, I'm not afraid to die. I've been a good father and a
good husband. Well, good. You ought to be a
good father. And you ought to be a good husband.
But is that the reason you're not afraid to die? Yeah. We've made a covenant with death.
With hell, we're in agreement. And God says in Isaiah chapter
28, I will disannul your covenant. And when the overflowing scourge
comes, your lives are going to be swept away. You'll be swept
away. Oh, let us not be deceived by
another gospel, another Jesus brought by another spirit. Look at Galatians chapter three,
verse one. Oh, foolish Galatians. This is
what they were doing. They were entertaining a false
gospel. Oh, foolish Galatians, who have
bewitched you? Who has deceived you? That you should not obey the
truth, the truth. that you should not obey the
truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set
forth and crucified among you. This only would I learn of you,
received you the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing
of faith. Yes, we are saved through faith,
by grace, through faith. But faith is a gift of God, it's
not of our works. Faith is a miracle of grace that
takes place in the heart when God causes us to forsake and
reject all other gospels and hang all the hopes of our faith,
all the hopes of our salvation on the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Did you do that? Did you get
this by the Spirit of God? Was this a miracle of grace that
took place in your heart through hearing? Faith comes by hearing.
Or is this something that you earned by your works? Are you
so foolish having begun in the spirit? Are you now made perfect
by the flesh? How many times we've heard people
say, well, you know, I'm doing my best. Our best is not good enough. God requires absolute perfection
and will settle for nothing less. If we don't stand before God
Almighty without sin, perfect. If God judges us, if God judged me worthy of heaven
or hell based on what I'm trying to do right now, I'd go to hell
for it. There's enough of me. and enough
of my sin and unbelief in what I'm trying to do right now. No, our not being afraid of death
had nothing to do with because we've been good. It's because of the goodness
of Christ. He's my goodness. What do you
say to Moses? I'm gonna cause my goodness to
pass before you. What do you say to the rich young
ruler? Why callest thou me good? When the rich young ruler said,
good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And what
the Lord Jesus say, why callest thou me good? There's none good
but God. Was the Lord Jesus saying, I'm
not God, don't call me good? No, he was saying, do you understand
who you're talking to? And then the Lord looked at the
rich young ruler, he said, you know the law, keep the law. Keep the law. And the rich young
ruler foolishly said, these things I've done since my youth. He
was trusting in his law keeping, in his morality, in his good
life. That is a works gospel. And he went away sad. He went away sad. He didn't believe
that Christ was his only goodness before God. The gospel is not that Jesus
of Nazareth is the Son of God and came down in the flesh as
a man. or that he lived a sinless life,
or that he died on a Roman cross, or that he raised from the dead,
and he ascended into heaven, and he's coming again. Those
are the historical events of the gospel. The gospel cannot be believed
without believing that those things are true. But believing
those things alone, I said the gospel is not when I first started
that. That's not really the way. It's
not to believe the gospel because you believe the historical events
of the gospel. I was preaching in a church in
Canada a few weeks ago, and the elder got up. It was a false
church. The elder got up, and the first thing they did was
read the Apostles' Creed. If you haven't read the Apostles'
Creed, read it. There's no gospel in the Apostles' Creed. We believe in God, the Father.
He goes on, and it outlines, written in the fourth century,
it outlines all the historical events of the gospel. But there's
no gospel in it. Believing the historical events
is not believing the gospel. That is what happened. The gospel. is in the why it
happened. It's in the why it happened. Why did Jesus of Nazareth die
on a Roman's cross? Why was God made flesh and dwelt
among us that we might be held his glory? Glory. What is God doing in the gospel? He's glorifying himself. The
gospel is all about the glory of God. And there's no glory. Read from
Galatians chapter 1, they've denied the glory of Christ in
the gospel, there's no glory given to God when man believes
that he had something to do with his salvation. The glory of the
gospel is in the sovereign grace of
God, electing a people, redeeming a people to himself, regenerating
a people according to his own will and purpose, keeping them
from falling and presenting them thoughtless before the throne
of God. and he gets all the glory. We benefit from the gospel. David put it like this in Psalm
115. He said, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but into thy name
be glory for thy truth and for thy mercy's sake. Lord, this
is about you. This is about God. So here's the question that we
have to ask when we hear someone espousing a gospel. Listen to
everything they say. According to that message, who
gets all the glory? Because in the gospel of God,
he gets all the glory. We get all the benefits. He gets
all the glory. When Christ died on Calvary's
cross and cried, it is finished, he was declaring to all men,
everything that God requires from you, I just accomplished. And I'm going to be glorified
in the gospel. And I want to conclude with this,
more importantly than the what of the gospel, which are the
historical events, and even more importantly than the why of the
gospel, which has to do with God sovereignly accomplishing
his purpose. And the reason why I'm saying
this is because Again, reaching back into my own experience and
knowing what I know with what's going on in the world, you can
believe the what of the gospel and you can even have some understanding
of the why of the gospel as far as the doctrinal truths of it
are concerned. The doctrinal truths of the gospel,
election, particular redemption, irresistible grace, All those
things, the perseverance of the saints, all those things, you
can be a Calvinist and have the understanding as to the why of
the gospel. But the gospel is most importantly in the who
of the gospel. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ? Who is he? His name is called Jesus, for
he shall, not will try, but he shall save his people from his
sins. He is the Christ, the anointed one, the one sent of God in the full
power of the Spirit of God to accomplish the purpose of God
and glorify God on his throne. The Christ, he could not fail.
He saved all of Israel. And he's Lord. He reigns sovereign
over the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants of the earth,
and no man can stay his hand, and no man can say unto him,
what doest thou? He reigns. saying to Judah, thy God reigns. That was the mandate that God
gave Israel, or that God gave Isaiah, to preach the reigning
sovereign God. Our God reigns. And the Lord Jesus ascended back
up into glory. Psalm 110, the Father said to
him, sit thou here at my right hand until I make all thy enemies
thy footstool. He's not threatened by the unbelief
or by the false gospels of man. And he's not influenced by the
good works or the decisions that men make. He's pleased with his son. And here's the difference, the
what and the why can be studied out and understood. The who must
be revealed. He must be revealed. You're not gonna find God. You
know, one of the slogans we had back during the Jesus movement
of the early 70s was, you know, I found God. You know, he's not
lost. You're lost, I'm lost. We're
the one that has to be found. And he leaves the 99 and he goes
out into the wilderness and he finds that wandering sheep and
he brings him in. No, we don't find God and we
don't discover God. He must reveal himself to us. How do I know if he's revealed
himself to me? Like Isaiah. I see him high and lifted up. His train fills the temple and
the seraphim hover over his throne and they cry, holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth is filled with
his glory and I am brought to forsake all of my righteousness
standing in his presence. Woe is me. This is the prophet
of God. This was Isaiah himself. He wasn't
living some life of shame. He was speaking, but he found
himself in the presence of God and what did he say? Woe is me,
I'm undone, I'm a man of unclean lips. I live among a people of
unclean lips. My eyes have seen the king. You will find yourself like Isaiah,
bearing your soul to him as a sinner. pleading for forgiveness. And then just like with Isaiah,
he will touch your lips with a hot coal from off the altar.
He will cause you to look and see what Christ did and what
he accomplished in putting away your sin and that you can't add
anything to it and you can't take anything away from it. Christ
gets all the glory. The fiery wrath of God that fell
from heaven consumed your substitute and satisfied God's justice. And you don't want to add anything
to it. And you would dare take anything from it. You would want to hear everything
he has to say. And you would want to have faith
to believe every word of God. You would find yourself often
on your face seeking him in prayer. Lord, have mercy upon me. Like
that publican in the temple smiting himself upon, Lord, have mercy
upon me. I'm a sinner. I need a savior. You will glory in his love for
you, and you will love no one more than
him. And you'll love those who love
him, and you'll rejoice in worshiping him. And you'll live the rest of your
days in this world knowing that you are but looking through a
glass dimly now, and that you only know him in part, but one
day you will see him face to face and you will know him even
as you are known. And you'll long for that day
anticipating the return of the one that saved you and loved
you. It's the who of the gospel. In the meantime, You will hear him saying over
and over and over again, two simple words, follow me. I'm in charge of this world. I will put kings in authority.
politics will be what I determine them to be. My kingdom is not
of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
my disciples would fight. And if my disciples fight, they're
gonna win. But my kingdom's not of this
world. You will hear him saying those
two words over and over and over again. You follow me. You follow me. Just follow me. Our Heavenly Father, Lord, we pray for your Holy Spirit
to speak to our hearts in an effectual way so much more than
we're able to say audibly. Oh, how dependent we are that
you would take your word and apply it to our hearts in Christ. For it's in his name we pray,
amen. Number 22 in the spiral hymnal,
let's stand together.