Would you turn back to Romans
chapter 15? Tonight I'm going to be speaking
out of Luke chapter 22 on this subject, Divine Determination. Divine Determination. Paul had been given grace by
God to minister the gospel of God. The gospel of God to the Gentiles. Now the gospel of God is the
gospel of which God is the author and God is the subject and God
is the object. God is the author He's the subject. It's about Him and the three
persons of the Blessed Trinity. He's the object. It's for His
glory. The Gospel of God. Paul says in Romans chapter 1
verse 1 that he was separated to the Gospel of God. He said in Galatians 1.11, the
gospel which was preached of me was not after man. It was not derived from any human
source. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Paul tells us the gospel of God
which he preached was not derived from any human source at all,
but directly from the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
that's the gospel of God. And he went on to say in that
same chapter, but we or an angel from heaven preach unto you any
other gospel than that which I preached unto you. Let him
be accursed, damned, sent to hell upon the Lord's
return. Now that is strong language. If any man preach any other gospel
than that which we preached, let him be accursed. Now the word gospel means good
news, glad tidings. The very nature
of the gospel is it's news. Somebody says, well, the preacher's
getting awful dry and old and stale. Well, he may be. That's
possible. But it could be you're dry and old and stale. And that's
why you don't hear it as news. When the gospel comes in power,
it comes as news. Not like yesterday's newspaper,
yesterday's magazine, but it comes in power for today. And
it's good news. It deals with how God can save
a sinful soul like me. Now that's good news. That's
good stuff. Oh, thank God for the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The good news. Now the gospel of God is an objective
message. And what that means is it's not
subject to man's thoughts, man's opinions. But here's what I think
the gospel is. Nobody cares what you think the
gospel is. What is the gospel? That's the
question. What is the gospel? Well, it's the gospel of God,
not a gospel, but the gospel that excludes all other gospels. Now, question. How can I know
if what I'm hearing is the gospel of God? It's a good question,
isn't it? How can I know? Preacher, tell
me. How can I know if you're telling
me the gospel of God? You're not just giving your slant
on things. How can I know if my gospel is
the gospel of God? The gospel of God, first of all,
the gospel I'm hearing Does it line up with the Old Testament
Scriptures? That's so important. If I'm preaching
the gospel, the gospel I preach will line up with the Passover,
with the Day of Atonement, with all the sacrifices, with all
the feast days. It's going to be explained, it's
going to be illustrated in the Old Testament. And if my gospel
doesn't line up with this, When I see the blood, I will pass
over you. If my gospel doesn't line up
with the Passover, it's not the gospel of God. Is my gospel the
gospel of God? Well, does it give God all the
glory? If it gives man any glory at
all, it's not the gospel of God. Is my gospel the gospel? Well,
does it give the preeminence to Jesus Christ the Lord? If
it doesn't give all the preeminence in all things to Jesus Christ
the Lord, it's not the gospel, not the gospel of God. It may
be a gospel of men, but it's powerless to save if it's not
the gospel of God. Is my gospel the gospel? Well,
here's a fourth question. Does it line up with the character
of God? Does it line up with a God of
absolute holiness? Does it line up with a God of
immutability who can never change, who can't feel one way one day
and in another way the other? Does it line up with a God of
absolute justice who will not let any sin go unpunished? Does it line up with a God of
absolute sovereignty who is in control of everybody and everything? Does my gospel line up with the
character of the God that's revealed in this book? If it doesn't,
it's not the gospel of God. Is my gospel the gospel? Well,
well, will it meet me where I am? Not where I should be, but where
I am. dead in sins, with no ability
to even call on his name until he first comes to me. Not will my gospel meet me if
I do this, fill in the blank, but do I have a gospel that meets
me where I am and saves me? That is the gospel of God. Will my gospel save the chief
of sinners? If it won't, it's not the gospel. Will my gospel keep me saved? If it won't, it's not the gospel
of God. Will my gospel enable me to face
God in judgment and be perfectly justified without any sin, guilt,
or iniquity at all? If it doesn't, it's not the gospel
of God. Will my gospel make me to be
perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ? If it won't,
it's not the gospel of God. The gospel of God. It's also called the gospel of
Christ. The gospel of God is the gospel
of Christ. Paul said in Romans 1, 16 and
17, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation.
There's no salvation without the gospel. For therein, in the
gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. Now the gospel
of God is the gospel of Christ wherein the righteousness of
God is revealed. This speaks of the righteousness
of his character. God is holy. The gospel of God speaks of his
righteousness. Listen to me. The gospel of God
speaks of his righteousness in the damnation of the sinner. How can God be fair to? Hold
on. Hold on. Fair is me and you going
to hell. Amen? Fair is me and you going
to hell. Well, how can God be fair to
elect some and to not elect others? How can it be fair for Christ
to die for some and not to? Better watch out. You're all
of a sudden God's judge. He's not going to have that.
He's not going to have that. That every mouth may be stopped
and all the world guilty before God. But the Gospel declares
God's righteousness in salvation. When I stand before God because
of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in my behalf, God will
be righteous in saying to me, Come in, you deserve to be here
through the righteousness and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.
You see, His righteousness is exalted in my salvation. His
righteousness is my personal righteousness before God. Now
the gospel of Christ is the gospel that declares the righteousness
of God. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. The gospel of
God is called the gospel of Christ. It's also called this, the gospel
of the kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom. What's
the gospel of the kingdom? It's about the king. He's the king of kings. and the
Lord of lords. He's the king. I love to talk
about my king, my king and my God. It's about the king and
it's about his subjects. You know, where there's a king,
he has subjects, and his subjects are described like this. Revelation
chapter 17, verse 14, he's the king of kings and the Lord of
lords, and they that are with him are called, chosen, and faithful. Every one of them. Somebody says,
well, I don't believe that. Well, he hadn't called you then.
If He called you, you'd believe. You surely would. I don't agree
with the preacher. He hasn't called you. He calls
you, you'll bow to all He says in His Word. They that are with
Him are called, called by invincible grace, chosen, elected by God
before time began, and faithful. They believe. They continue to
believe. They persevere in the faith.
That's the gospel of the kingdom. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added
to you. We read in Acts chapter 15 verse 7 of the word of the
gospel. The word of the gospel. You see,
the gospel of God, the gospel of Christ, the gospel of the
kingdom has a specific content and specific words are used. You're going to hear words like
justification and you're going to hear what they mean. You know,
you can't preach election without saying elect, can you? People
try to dodge that doctrine by trying to imply it without saying
it. You can't do that. There are certain words that are used
in the Word of the King. You speak of His blood. You speak
of His righteousness. You speak of redemption. What
He actually accomplished on the cross. You speak of sanctification. You speak of the resurrection.
The words of the Gospel. There are specific words. The
words that are in this book are used. The Word of the Gospel. We read in Philippians 1.27 of
the faith of the gospel. The faith of the gospel. It's
called the faith of God's elect, the acknowledging of the truth
which is after godliness. Now, the gospel is about faith.
What's faith? Faith is really believing, really
believing that Jesus Christ is all in salvation. What is faith alone? Faith alone
is believing Christ is all you have. You have nothing else to
plead. Only Christ. And the gospel is
about faith. Look, faith is the opposite of
works. To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. We read in
Galatians 2.5 of the truth of the gospel. It's the gospel of
God. It's the gospel of Christ. It's
the gospel of the kingdom. It's the word of the gospel,
the faith of the gospel, and the truth of the gospel. Now
I love this. Do you know that the gospel tells
the truth? The gospel of God tells the truth.
It tells the truth about God's true character. It's all seen
in the cross of Calvary. You want to know what God's like?
Look at the cross. You see His holiness. You see
His absolute justice. You see His mercy. You see His
grace. The cross tells the truth about me and you. It tells me
that we are so wicked. and evil, that we cannot save
ourselves. If God leaves me to myself, I'll
go to hell. And the only way I can be saved
is for Christ to come to this earth and represent me, that
everything God requires of me, He looks to His Son for, and
that He obeyed the law for me, and that He paid for my sins,
and that He was raised from the dead for me. That's the only
way I can be saved. The Gospel tells the truth about the sinfulness.
Man drinks iniquity like water. That's what the Scripture says.
That's the truth about me and you. It tells the truth about
salvation, how Christ is salvation. He's not found in what you do.
Salvation is not done. It's done. What He did. is all God wants, is all God
requires. God will accept nothing less
than what Christ has done and nothing more than what Christ
has done. The gospel tells the truth. We read in Ephesians 6 verse
19 of the mysteries of the gospel. You know the gospel we believe
is mysterious, isn't it? It speaks of mysteries, things we would
never have known unless God was pleased to make them known in
the gospel. The mysteries of the gospel,
the mystery of the Trinity. How would you have ever known
that God is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
unless the Bible made it known? People say, well, God created
the universe. He did so because he wanted man
to have fellowship with, almost like he was lonely. God wasn't
lonely. Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit had complete, glorious fellowship together. God wasn't
lonely. A God that can be lonely is not
much of a God, is he? He's completely satisfied with
himself. How would we know this unless
he were pleased to make it known? The mystery of eternal union
with Christ, how God's elect have always been one with Christ. There's never been a time when
they've not been one. The mystery of how God can be
just and justify the ungodly. How God can be absolutely just
and yet justify somebody like me who's ungodly. The mystery of Christ in you,
the hope of glory. We read in Acts chapter 20 verse
24 of the gospel of the grace of God. Now when we talk about
the gospel of God, we're talking about the gospel of the grace
of God. Now what is grace? I want to be real plain here,
plain as I know how to be. Grace is saving grace. That's the only kind of grace
there is. Saving grace, not grace that makes you savable. That
won't do me any good, that won't do you any good. Saving grace. Grace that reaches down to you
where you're at, dead in sins, helpless, ungodly, wicked, and
deserving hell, and saves you. Electing grace. Redeeming grace. Justifying grace. Sanctifying
grace. Preserving grace. Saving grace. The gospel of God is the gospel
of the grace of God. Don't tell me about a grace merely
makes me savable or it's something God offers me. God doesn't offer
grace. God saves by His grace. That's how grace works. It's called in 1 Timothy 1.11
the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. The gospel is for
God's glory. It's really not about you. It
really is. Do you believe that? This is
about the glory of God. It's called in 2 Corinthians
4, 6, the gospel of the glory of Christ. It's about His glory. And it's called in Revelation
14, 6, the everlasting gospel. Everlasting. You know what that
means? Whatever it was, it is. Whatever it is, it always will
be. It knows no modification. It
knows no change. It's the everlasting, eternal
gospel, the gospel of God. The gospel of which He is the
author, of which He is the subject, and which He is the object. Now
remember, the gospel, the word gospel, means good news. or glad tithings. Good news. But you know, it's
not good news to everybody. As a matter of fact, the very
first gospel story we're given after the fall of our first parents
is a gospel where it was good news to somebody, but it wasn't
good news to everybody. We have two men approaching God. One approaches God by what he
has done, Cain. The other approaches God by what
somebody else has done. He approaches God with a slain
animal that died, knowing that it pointed to the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now the scripture says that God
had respect to Abel in his sacrifice. Something must be awful powerful
for God to respect it. God had respect to Abel. How
come? Because of the sacrifice he brought. But the scripture says to Cain
in his offering, he had no respect. And Abel and Cain had a discussion
about this. Cain was resentful. Why did he
accept your sacrifice and not mine? That's not fair. Look how
hard I've worked. All you do is bring something
somebody else did. How could that be fair? And I
can hear Holy Abel, say to Cain, there's only one way of approaching
God, no other way, the way of the blood of the coming lamb.
God's holy. We can't come into his presence
apart from blood. Cain grows angry. He doesn't
like this message. And he bashes his brother's brains
out. You wanna see blood? I'll show
you blood. Now this lets us know that not
everybody finds the gospel good news. We found one man who found
it good news, Abel. The other man did not find it
good news, Cain. He was angry by it. Now who is
the gospel good news to? I can answer that so simply.
Let me just quote a few scriptures. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Evil, ungodly sinners. It doesn't say what kind of sinners.
I'm thankful for that. It doesn't say elect sinners. Redeem sinners, doesn't say believing
sinners, doesn't say repentant sinners, doesn't say sincere
sinners. It just says sinners. Now for every sinner, it's good
news that Christ came into the world to save sinners. If you're
a sinner, this is good news to you. And if you don't really
believe yourself to be a sinner, it's not good news. When we were
yet without strength, In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Who's that good news to? Those
who are without strength and those who are ungodly. I think
that's good news too. John 15, 16, you've not chosen
me, but I've chosen you. Who's that good news to? Those
he chose. The elect will love election. Everyone of them do.
Might be that nobody else does, but that's okay. Not might be,
nobody else does, but that's okay, isn't it? That's okay.
The gospel comes as good news. The objective message of the
gospel becomes subjective to those who believe. Now, understand
this. Faith in Christ. Faith in Christ. That's all a believer has. Faith in Christ. That's the gift
of God's grace. That's the greatest gift God
can give to you is faith in Christ, where you really believe that He is all in salvation.
Faith enables you to hear the gospel as the gospel of your
salvation. It's called that in Ephesians
1.13, the gospel of your salvation. Several times we read where Paul
called the gospel, my gospel, my gospel. Now, when is the gospel my gospel? Now, perhaps you read that small
article in the bulletin and it was entitled Calvinism. Calvinism,
and we do a great disservice to the gospel when we call it
Calvinism. It's not Calvinism. It's the
teaching of the scripture. It's the gospel of God. It's
not Calvinism. Calvin would roll over in the
grave if he knew somebody called this I've said this recently,
I know it, but I'm saying it again. That's a despicable name,
to call God's truth and name it after a man. Now, when is
the gospel my gospel? Well, let me ask you a question. Is it good news to you that God
unconditionally elected a vast multitude of sinners for Christ's
sake. Is that good news to you? Is it good news to you that Christ
took on the complete responsibility of the salvation of the elect
before time began and came here and became a man, and kept the
law for them, and put away their sins, and was raised from the
dead, having completed their salvation, and said, It is finished."
Is it good news to you that Christ finished salvation? And there
really is nothing for you to do. Is it good news to you that God's
grace is irresistible and invincible? You know, that's the only kind
of grace that'll save me. Grace that'll come to me where
I'm at, dead in sins, and give me all that's needed to save
me. Is that good news to you? Now,
if it's not good news to you, you haven't really heard the
gospel. This comes as good news to those who believe. Is it good
news to you that God preserves everybody he saves and he's going
to preserve them and keep them all the way to the end? Is it
good news to you? Is this blessed, glad tidings? Romans 3.24 says we're justified
freely by grace. Is that good news? Hebrews 1.3
says He by Himself purged our sins. Is that good news? Colossians
2.10 says that we are complete, lacking nothing in Him. Is that good news? Now, the Gospel
is not good news to everybody. But bless God, it is good news
to some. The gospel is called the gospel
of peace. Romans 10 and 15, the gospel
of peace. And this is only understood when
I understand that He is my peace. Being justified, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It's called in Colossians
123, the gospel of hope, or the hope of the gospel. Now, I can
tell you what my hope is, real simply. My hope is that everything
that God requires of me, he looks to his son for. That is my hope. Now I want to look at one last
scripture regarding the gospel of God. Would you turn with me
to Mark chapter 14? Verse 9, verily I say unto you,
wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole
world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a
memorial of her. This gospel. Yes, it's the gospel
of God. It's the gospel of Christ. It's
the gospel of the grace of God. It's the faith of the gospel.
We could give all of these statements, but this is something that is
peculiar to this gospel. This gospel always does this
to everybody who believes it. Now let's back back up to verse
3 of Mark chapter 14. And being in Bethany, in the
house of Simon the leper. Isn't that glorious the way the
Lord was in the house of Simon the leper? I love that. He was in the house of Simon
the leper. That's who he congregated with. People of that nature. And as he said it meet, there
came a woman. This was premeditated. She came
with this alabaster box of ointment. Very costly. And this was completely
premeditated. This wasn't done just on the
spur. She thought this thing out. And this is what she wanted
to do. There came a woman having an
alabaster box of ointment of spikenard, very precious. And she. Break the box. And poured it on his head. She
didn't just get a little dab out. She broke the box. And she
poured it on his head so that it ran all over him. Now, this act was unbridled. It was extravagant. It was lavish. I mean, a box of perfume worth
thousands of dollars and just using it all at once, breaking
it and putting it on his head. Verse 4, And there were some that had
indignation within themselves, saying, Why was this waste avoidment
made? This act was criticized, wasn't
it? It was criticized. Verse 5, For
it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and
had been given to the poor, and they murmured against her. And
Jesus said, let her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath
wrought a good work, a good work on me. She did this for this one reason. She loved my person. Now that's what the gospel of
God does. It makes somebody love the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said in verse 7, For you have
the poor with you always, and whensoever you will, you may
do them good. You have not always. She hath
done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint
my body to the burying. Now of this woman, did she know
what she was doing? Of course she did. The Lord said
on three different occasions, I'm going to be crucified, and
I'm going to be put in a tomb. And she knew the time had come,
and she came to anoint his body for the burial. How'd she know? Well, same way
you know anything. But she loved the Redeemer, and
that's what the gospel of God will do, preeminently. It's not just going to have some
people who can argue for what we believe. I can tell you from
the Scriptures that this is true. You can. Good. It makes people who love the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now that's what the Gospel of
God does. Now forget about how much you love because if you
think about your love, you'll start kind of feeling bad. I
don't love him enough. That's right. You don't. My love
isn't strong enough. You said it. It's not strong
enough. Well, my love ought to be much
greater. Yes, it should. But let me ask you. Do you love
His person? Do you see Him as altogether
lovely? Do you see that He is altogether
lovely to God? Do you see that God is completely
satisfied with Him? Who He is and what He did? Do
you love being saved by his righteousness? Do you love being saved by his
precious blood? Do you love that he is now at
the right hand of the Father interceding for you? Do you love
that he gets all the glory and salvation? Do you love that he's
going to come back and when you see him you'll be like him for
you'll see him as he is? Peter, do you love me? Lord,
you know all things. You know that I love you. Now, where the gospel of God
is preached, you're going to have people like this woman who
break the alabaster box of ointment because they love his person. Let's pray. Lord, in Christ's blessed name,
I ask that you would be pleased in your mercy to cause your gospel to be our gospel,
to be my gospel. And that you'll cause us to be
like this woman, breaking the alabaster box of
ointment to anoint the head of our Redeemer. Lord, we would count it the highest
honor if you'd give us grace. And Lord, we won't be this way
unless you give us the grace. But we would find it the highest
honor for you to give us the grace to be just like this woman. Lord, give us grace to believe
your gospel. Lord, forgive us that we even
have to ask that. May your grace reign in us. In
Christ's blessed name we pray. Amen.