If you open your Bibles to the
book of Zechariah, one of those small prophets at the back of
your Old Testament, Zechariah, small in size compared to some
of the other prophets but certainly not small in importance. Zechariah chapter
4, we'll begin reading in verse 6. Then he answered and spake
unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel. Aren't you glad to be able to
have the word of the Lord? That is such a comfort to me.
When everything else is in confusion and nothing else is certain,
we have the Word of God. Saying, is the Word of the Lord
undesirable? saying, not by might nor by power,
but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts, not by your might,
not by your power. It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. He's
got to do it. If we're not born of the spirit,
the Lord told Nicodemus, if you're not born of the spirit, you can't
see the kingdom of God. He has to do it. Who art thou,
O great mountain? Here's the man who in pride lifts
himself up before Christ, and Zerubbabel here is a type of
Christ. Who art thou, O great mountain,
before Zerubbabel? Thou shalt become a plain, and
he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting, saying,
Grace, grace unto it. not of works, lest any man should
boast." It's all of grace, free grace, sovereign grace. It's
unfortunate that we have to put those adjectives at the beginning
of grace, isn't it? Because truth is, there's only
one kind of grace, and that's free and sovereign grace. Moreover,
the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel
have laid the foundation of this house, When did he lay the foundation? In the covenant of grace, when
God chose a people, and when God determined in that covenant
that the Lord Jesus Christ would die for those people, the foundation
was laid. His hands shall also finish it,
and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto
you. How do we know that we've heard
the word of God? were able to rest in the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. For who hath despised the day
of small things? You see, the religious world,
the idolatrous world would look at what we're doing here and
they would say, God's not in that. God wouldn't be in it if it was
so small, so few. You know, they think that, you
know, that gain is godliness. They think that, you know, having
a big building and lots of people is the evidence of God's blessings.
For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall
rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with
those seven that are the eyes of the Lord which run to and
fro through the whole earth. You're going to see it. Do you
see it right now as the Word of God is being read? The Lord
is pleased to show it to our hearts. Then answered I and said
unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side
of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? And I answered
again and said unto him, what be these two olive branches,
which through the two golden pipes emptied the golden olive
oil out of themselves? And he answered me and said,
Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my Lord. Then
he said, These are the two anointed ones which stand by the Lord
of the whole earth. These are the symbols of the
of those who preach the gospel. This is the means that the oil
of gladness is dispersed to God's people. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we're so
very thankful that you don't leave us in our
idolatry. that you're pleased to cause
the oil of gladness to flow from the one who was anointed, the Christ, the Messiah, the
one who came in the full power of your spirit to accomplish
the salvation of your people, the one who laid the foundation
in purpose and finished the work. We ask, Lord, now that you would
enable us to set our affections on him, to find our comfort,
our hope, and our joy in him. For we ask it in Christ's name.
Amen. Let's stand together. We'll sing
the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. Will you open your Bibles with
me to the first chapter of Romans, Romans chapter 1. I hope you know that anytime
I ask you a probing question, I've asked myself the same question. It's a good question to contemplate,
why am I here? Why am I here? People go to church
for a lot of different reasons. They go out of habit. I've done
this all my life. They go out of obligation. There
are some that actually think that going to church is going
to somehow merit them favor with God and earn them a place in
heaven. There are folks that come to church in order to acquire
knowledge so that they can be more skillful in their arguments
of religion. There are those who come because
they're discouraged and they need a pep talk. I'm here to
tell you there's a lot more motivational speakers around than me. And
there's folks you can get a lot more knowledge from than me.
So what are we here for? What are we here for? If we're
sinners in need of grace, If we're looking to have our souls
saved, if we're looking to know God savingly, if we're looking to have peace with
God, then there's a message in Romans
chapter 1 for us, a good message. A message of good hope. Hope
of eternal life. Hope of eternal life. Look what
Paul says in verse 16 of Romans chapter 1. For I am not ashamed
of the gospel. The gospel, the good news of
Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believe it to the Jew first and also
to the Greek so if we're here in order to find salvation then
we're going to find it in the message of the gospel what is
the gospel? Who is the gospel? Well, let's begin in verse 1
of Romans chapter 1. Gospel first we see in verse
1 is a message that has been declared by God's servants. Been declared. Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ, called an apostle separated unto the gospel. So an apostle is a messenger. A servant is really a slave. The word here is a bond slave.
Paul is speaking of his own role as an apostle and a preacher,
but the truth applies to every child of God. This gospel is
something that we've all been separated unto. Been separated
unto it. If we heard the gospel, we're
separated unto the gospel. We've become strangers and pilgrims
in this world. This world is not our home. We
can say with Abraham, we seek a city whose builder and whose
foundations is God. We're here because we're strangers
in this world and this is the glimpse of glory that we have
as those who have been separated unto the gospel. To know that the Lord has given
us a taste of glory. when we are able to come to this
place, fellowship with our brethren, and hear about the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who himself is the good news. The gospel is not a set of propositions.
The gospel is a person and what he's done, what he's accomplished,
who he is. Paul didn't say, I know what
I have believed. He said, I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he is
able. Don't you love Job's words there
in Job chapter 42, when Job said, I had heard of thee by the hearing
of mine ear, but now mine eyes have seen thee and I repent in
dust and ashes. that the Lord would show us by
experience the difference between knowing about God and knowing
God knowing him the Lord said in John chapter 17 this is life
eternal this is life eternal that they might know thee the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent and Paul
at the end of his life said oh that I might know him he said
wait a minute Paul don't you know God Yeah, but I want to
know Him more. I want to be more thoroughly
convinced that what He did, He did for me. I want to be sure
that when He died on Calvary's cross, I suffered in Him. I want to be certain that when
He raised from the dead, I raised in Him. I want to be found in
Christ. I've not yet apprehended that
which has apprehended me. But this one thing I do, I press
towards the mark for the prize. What's the prize? Christ is the
prize. That's why we're here, to hear about Christ. That we
might get a glimpse of the prize. The prize of the high calling
in Christ Jesus. Paul says we have been separated
to the gospel. This gospel is the means of my
salvation. This gospel is my salvation. It is my salvation. And it's the gospel of God. It's
His gospel. It's His gospel. It's not something
I can take a hold of without Him giving it to me. It's His
in origin. It's His in source. It's His
in power. It's His in possession. If I'm
going to know anything about this gospel, God's going to have
to give it to me. What does the rebuble say? Grace,
grace unto it. Oh Lord, would you be pleased
to open the eyes of my understanding and reveal Christ to me that
I might know what is the power of God unto salvation? You've already said that's what
it is. This gospel, it's God's gospel. It's not our gospel,
it's not your gospel, it's what Paul called it, my gospel, but
it originates with God. It originates with God. He gives
it to us. He's entrusted it. to faithful
servants, those that he's given the gospel to, they'll be found
faithful. It's required of a steward to
be found faithful. And what is that faithfulness?
It's to be truthful to the gospel. It's not to change the gospel.
It's not to take the offense out of the gospel. We don't go
around trying to offend people with our approach to them or
our personalities. But the gospel itself is offensive. If we're faithful stewards to
the gospel, men are going to be offended by it. There's an
offense to the cross. It strips men of their righteousness. It leaves them naked before God.
It calls them what they are, idolaters. And men don't want
to believe that. They don't want to believe that
little God that they've been coddling and been petting is
a false God. They don't want to believe that
it's just a figment of their imagination. They want to believe
that it's true. Heard somebody say recently,
well, I don't believe in hell. Well, you know, that's really
the height of setting yourself up on the throne of God. To think
that what you believe or don't believe makes it so. Well, if I decide that there's
no hell, then there is no hell. Why? Because I'm God. How foolish is that? But that's
what men do. I said, well, I don't believe
that. Well, does that make it so just because you don't believe
it or do believe it? Are you God? Job said, turn with me to Job
chapter 42. Look at verse 2 of Job 42, I
know that thou canst do everything. Do you know that? Do you know
that God is omnipotent? He's all powerful. Look what he says, and that no
thought can be withholden from thee. Now in the margin of my
Bible it says, no thought of thine can be hindered. Now when you and I think, when
we think, when we're in the process of thinking, we are weighing
our options, we are considering the circumstances, we are reacting
to something, and we're trying to make a decision. That's what
we think about when we think. We're trying to decide what's
right, what's wrong, what's true, what's not. God never thinks
that way. He never thinks that way. There
is absolutely no difference between the thought of God and the actions
of God. What God thinks he does, he thinks in purpose. He acts
in purpose. He's God. He's not like us. He
doesn't have to contemplate something. He doesn't have to weigh his
options. He doesn't have to consider the circumstances when he thinks
it's done. And what God thought choosing
a people the Lord Jesus Christ wrought in being their sacrifice
on Calvary's cross and the Spirit of God has brought in the preaching
of the gospel to the hearts of his people and got salvations
of the Lord he's just easy that's the gospel that's the it's God's
gospel go back with me to Romans chapter 1 this is God's gospel Paul warned the elders in Acts
chapter 20, he said, now, this gospel's been entrusted to you.
And he told them, he said, there's grievous wolves are going to
come in among you, but you hold it dear. This is the Lord's gospel. It's not your option to change
it, to adjust it, to take the edge off of it, to make it less
offensive. You just declare it in its simplicity
and in its clarity and God's people will be blessed by it.
God's people will believe it. This is the gospel that saved
their souls. I don't want to change anything
that my soul is depending upon. The salvation of my soul? God said it. This is it. Look at verse 2, which he had
promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures. All the
promises of God are yea and amen in the finished work and person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the spirit of prophecy. All God's promises. The promise
to satisfy the law as Isaiah said and make it honorable was
fulfilled in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. These
are God's promises that he made from eternity. The promise that
he made to Adam in the garden when he said the seed of the
woman will crush the head of the serpent, that promise was
fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. The promise that God the Father
made to give his son a bride was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The promise that the Holy Spirit
made in the covenant of grace to bring this gospel effectually
to the hearts of God's people and make them willing and turn
them in faith to Christ was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. The
promise to put away our sin, to save all of Israel. What God
said when he said, I'll be their God and they shall be my people.
And I'll separate their sin from them as far as the east is from
the west and I'll remember it no more. These were all promises
fulfilled in the gospel. That's why the gospel is a, it's
a gospel of promise. Not of works, of promise. He made the promise and then
he fulfilled the promise. It's like we saw last Sunday.
He was the mediator that mediated between God and man and satisfied
both sides of the covenant. The promise of having a Redeemer
who is a near kinsman is satisfied in the Lord Jesus Christ. The
promise that God made to Israel to have a city of refuge so when
the avenger of blood came after that manslayer, he would have
a place to hide and be protected from the law. That promise was
fulfilled in Christ. All the promises of God. The
promise of God to escape the wrath that is to come. The promise
that he made to pour out his spirit. These are all promises
that are fulfilled in Christ. The promise to return us to a
better paradise than was lost. I go and prepare a place for
you. separated unto the gospel of
God, back in our text, verse 2, Romans chapter 1, which he
had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures, as the
writer of Hebrews said, God who at sundry times and in divers
manners spake unto our fathers by the prophets in times past,
Has what in these last days spoken unto us? How? By His Son. The very express image of His
person. The Lord Jesus Christ has fulfilled
all of God's promises. And here's the glory of grace.
Our salvation's not determined by the promises that we make
to God. but by the promises that He made to us and fulfilled in
Christ. You know, all of religion, all
of religion, whatever flavor you go to, it's all your salvation
hangs on your faithfulness to keep your promises. Every one of them. To whatever degree you keep your
promise, that's the degree of hope you have. God requires perfection and the
only one that ever kept that promise was the Lord Jesus Christ. And all our salvation hinges
on Him. That's the good news. You know
that's what the word gospel means, right? It means good news. This
is good news to a sinner. This is good news to one who
knows that they're not able to keep their promises. Verse 3, concerning His Son Jesus
Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according
to the flesh. This gospel concerns the Lord
Jesus Christ. It concerns Him. It's all about
Him. He's all and He's in all. It's all about who He is as the
Son of God. When that Ethiopian eunuch heard
about him from Isaiah 53, from the lips of Philip, he said,
I believe that that Christ that you just preached to me is the
Son of God. I believe that with all my heart.
I know that he is. I know that he is. He's made
himself known to me. He's convinced me. I'm persuaded
of it. This gospel concerns him. It
concerns who he is and it concerns what he's done. What has he done? He satisfied all righteousness.
He made the law of God honorable. He fulfilled that which God requires
from you and I that we couldn't do. Turn with me to Zechariah. Zechariah chapter 9. When the Lord Jesus Christ lived
his life in perfect righteousness, all those that God had chosen
in the covenant of grace according to his own will and purpose were
seen in Christ living perfectly righteous lives. So that as He
is, so are we. Now that's a glorious truth. By virtue of my union with Christ,
I'm as righteous as He is. I'm as loved as He is. I'm as perfect as He is. God couldn't have it any other
way. You have your Bibles open to
Zechariah chapter 9, verse 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter
of Zion. And the daughter of Zion is the
church. Here's the believer. Rejoice
greatly. This isn't something to just be happy about. This
is something to rejoice in. This is all our hope. Shout,
O daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, by King cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation. You see that? Now, I don't know
if you've got it in the margin of your Bible. I've got it in
mine, and I looked it up, and it's true. that phrase having salvation
is better translating having saved himself having saved himself what the Lord Jesus Christ did
is he saved himself you see the truth is that his
body is just as much a part of him As he is. When he arrested
Saul on the road to Damascus, did he not say, Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me? Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest. There's no difference between
the body of Christ and the person of Christ. His body is seen in
him, having saved himself. Oh, here's our reason for rejoicing. He said, this is the gospel.
This is the good news. If my salvation depends on anything
else, it's not good news. It's not good news. I have no
reason to have any comfort in any contribution that I make
to my salvation. But if He did it, and what he
did was an actual salvation of himself and his body and all
of his people, then I have reason to rejoice greatly in him. Go back with me to our text. This gospel concerns his son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord, and he is Lord, I know you've heard
me say this so many times before, but I hear people say it all
the time and it's so foolish. Make Jesus Lord of your life.
That's so foolish. He's Lord over the living and
the dead. God has made him to be. You don't make him anything. Concerning Jesus Christ, our
Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.
God made according to Hebrews chapter 722 the Lord Jesus Christ
to be our surety. He struck hands with God. He
paid the debt in full. And God made him to be that way.
And here he says he has been made of the seed of David according
to the flesh. What was the promise that God
made to David? that your seed will inhabit your
throne for eternity, forever. Forever. Did the physical seed
of David? Well, yes, in Christ. Christ
came according to that seed and he's seated upon that throne
and he reigns in David's stead. John chapter 1 Verse 14 teaches
us that the Lord Jesus Christ was made flesh and dwelt among
us, and we beheld the very glory of God when we looked at Him.
The Lord said to the disciples, if you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. Here's our reason for greatly rejoicing. This is
the gospel. What better reason do we have
for coming here but to hear about Him? to hear about him and what
he's accomplished for us he was made according to Galatians chapter
4 under the law he was put under the law he came into this world
born of a woman made under the law and was required by that
law to fulfill it perfectly and to make it honorable and he did
just that 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. Scripture says that God has made
him sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. This is the gospel. That's why
I'm here. I want to hear about this one. This one who God made to be my
substitute. This one that God made in such
a way that he is satisfied with him. This one whom God has made
to be all my wisdom, all my righteousness, all my sanctification, and all
my redemption. God made him to be so. He's my
hope. God made him to be a curse for
us. Galatians chapter 3 verse 13. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
upon a tree. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
hung on Calvary's tree, God cursed him. He was cursed. Why? Because God found our sin on
him and had no choice but to curse him. He made Him Lord in
Christ. He made Him a quickening spirit.
He makes Him all. Look at it. He's made of the
seed of David according to the flesh. Go back with me to verse
4 now. And declared to be. Declared
to be the very Son of God. Now what kind of God is a God? When we preach the gospel, all
we're saying is the God is God. And God is God. And we're exposing
those who would deny him that glory and that deity. We're saying that he's done whatsoever
he wills with the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth
and no man can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
We're saying he's God. We're saying he accomplished
what he came to do. We're saying He fulfilled His
purpose. He's a God of purpose. We're saying that I know that
all things work together for good for them that love Him,
those that are Thee called according to His what? Purpose. Purpose. His thoughts are His actions,
and it all comes as His divine purpose is accomplished. That's
the gospel. The gospel is the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ when He bowed His head on Calvary's
cross and said, It is finished. It's done. Everything necessary
for you to have acceptance before God is accomplished in the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. What hope! That's good news. That's good news. That's the
gospel not to be ashamed of. That's the gospel that men hate.
Why? Because it exposes their God
for what He is. We're saying that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the Son of God. And that He can't fail, He can't
be discouraged, Isaiah 42. He's got to perform that which
He sets out to do. He's God. He's not like us. Declared. That's what we're declaring
it. We're not questioning it. We're not debating it. We're not arguing it. We're declaring
it. It's just so. How do you know? Because God said so. Declared to be the Son of God
with power. according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. Now here we get back to
the resurrection. That was the thing that those philosophers
in Acts chapter 17 mocked Paul over when he got to the resurrection.
They said, yeah, he's a babbler. Boy, he exaggerated that story.
They mocked him. when the hope of our salvation
is found in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
raised him from the dead in order to say to us, I'm satisfied with
him. He accomplished the work. The spirit of holiness, without
which no man can see God. If you're going to see God, you've
got to be holy. And if you're going to be holy, the only way
you're going to be holy is to be found in Christ when He raised
from the dead. By whom we have received grace. By the Lord Jesus Christ we received
this free gift. This free gift. We didn't do
anything to earn it. We didn't deserve it. We didn't
merit it. We didn't ask for it. We didn't
work for it. It was just a gift. by whom? By the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives to us grace and apostleship
for obedience to the faith. Obedience to the faith. You know,
when we believe God, God calls that obedience. Do you believe God? I mean, do
you believe God? Do you just really believe Him?
There's no question about it. You're convinced. You're persuaded.
Your faith is the substance of things you hope for. It's the
evidence of things you don't see. It's what recommended the believers
in the Old Covenant. It's faith. Faith. God calls it obedience. He gives
it to us. It's a gift of God. For by grace
are you saved through faith, that not of yourself. It's a
gift of God. It's not of our works. And then he's pleased
with it. Why? Because faith honors Christ. That's the bottom line. It's
not the strength of your faith. The Lord said, if you have faith,
there's a mustard seed. You say, under this mountain,
be removed. It's not the strength of your faith. It's the object
of your faith. It's the object of your faith.
And faith is persuaded that Christ is the anchor of their soul.
They're just persuaded of that. They're persuaded that if there's
any hope of salvation, it's all in Him. It's all in Him. I'm not ashamed of this gospel,
are you? It is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that
believes. It's good news. Verse 6, Among whom are you also
the called of Jesus Christ? The called. Lord, would you call me? Call
me again. Just keep calling me. Keep speaking
my name. Keep bidding me to come unto
thee. That's what Peter said when the
Lord was walking on the water and Peter was still in the boat.
You know, we sometimes think of that story as Peter's lack
of faith, but mind you, he's the only one that got out of
the boat. You remember what Peter said
to the Lord? The Lord's walking out there on the water in a storm,
and it's night, Peter's in the boat, and Peter said, Lord bid
me to come unto thee. Bid me to come unto thee. The
Lord said, come on. Peter looked down, he's walking
on water, and as soon as he looked at the waves, what happened?
What happened? He began to sink, and what did
he say? Save me, Lord. Save me. Oh, Lord, bid me to
come unto thee. Give me faith to walk out there
where you are. Get out of the safety of my boat.
And then every time I become fearful, cry, save me, Lord. That's why we don't talk like
religious people and just say, well, I asked the Lord to save
me once. I took care of that. I nailed
it down. I prayed the prayer. I walked the aisle. I got baptized,
joined the church. That's settled. Let's move on. We don't talk
like that. Why? Because the tempest of life
continues to make us afraid. And we never stop crying, save
me. Lord, save me. Save me again. Don't tear me loose. Among whom also you are called. Lord, call me. Call me, save
me. Call it being Rome. Go to Revelation chapter 17,
you'll find Rome to be symbolic of the whole evil world in which
you and I live. It's the great whore of Babylon,
the city of Rome. It's the land of idolaters and
that's where we live. Paul's writing to believers that
were in physical Rome, but this message goes out to all those
who live in Rome. And what's he say? Beloved of God. All beloved. Loved infinitely. Loved eternally. Loved sacrificially. You know, it didn't cost God
anything to create the universe. The universe. The bigger our telescopes become,
the more amazing this universe we live in is. I like watching those shows,
showing all the details of the planets and galaxies and reading
things about it. It's incredible. God spoke it and it happened. It didn't cost him anything. It didn't cost him anything to
make you the first time. It cost him everything to make
you the second time. Everything. A brother at the conference I
was at this weekend gave an illustration. He said he was watching He was
watching a poker tournament on TV. I guess they have a channel
now just for poker. And he's watching his men play
poker, and a pile of money goes around the table as they're betting
and playing. And all of a sudden, one guy
looks at his hand, and he obviously had a hand that he was sure was
a winning hand. And he took everything that was
in front of him. all of his chips, the whole pile, and pushed them
to the center of the table and said, I'm all in. I'm all in. You know, that's what God did. That's what God did. He went
all in when he laid down his life for his sheep. He put everything
on the line. It cost him everything. And when
he makes himself known to his children, that's what they do.
I'm all in. I got a winning hand here. I'm
convinced of it. And I've put everything on the
line. All my eggs are in one basket. I'm all in. Are you all
in? Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we ask that You would be pleased now to bless Your Word by Your
Spirit. Cause us, as daughters of Jerusalem,
to rejoice in knowing that You're all in. Give to us the faith to put everything
on Christ. For it's in His name we ask it.
Amen. in the softback 10. Now let's
stand together. 114.