As I said earlier, I have a challenge,
and that is to, in the next 25 minutes or so, try and proclaim
the Gospel to you. I've read the Gospel as our church
has declared it through all these years, and as you probably noted,
there's great joy in the fact that the Gospel is good news. The Gospel is not good advice. It's not telling you what to
do. The Gospel is good news. It's
telling you what God has done in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a God who is. A God
who is known as he pleases to make himself known. A God who
has been pleased to make himself known through a written revelation.
And so if we're going to look at the Gospel, we need to look
At the scriptures we need to know that there is this God who
has revealed himself and revealed himself most clearly in the person
of his dear and precious son. But the fundamental things that
God reveals of himself in the scriptures is that he is holy,
the most important attribute of God. tremble to say it because
all the attributes of God are so extraordinarily important,
but the one that overrides them all is the fact that God is holy. His love is holy. His sovereignty is holy. His justice is holy. Holiness covers all of his attributes. What is it for God to be holy?
Quite simply, it means that he's not like you and me. He's altogether
holy and separate from sinners. And the clearest, the clearest
evidence of the holiness of God is what happened to the Lord
Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree. When the Lord Jesus Christ cried,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why? The answer to the question is
because thou art holy. All of the sins of God's elect
were made his, and he became guilty before God for the commission
of those sins. The answer, of course, is did
Christ sin? And the answer is so evidently
that he knew no sin, he did no sin. But he was made sin. When he was made sin, God's holiness
slew his darling son. The evidence of God's holiness
is that God must and will punish all sin. For those in the Old
Testament who tried to approach God with anything other than
something that represented the blood and the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ, they were killed instantly in the presence
of God. The other thing that the scriptures
reveal about our God is that he's absolutely sovereign. He
does according to his will, both in heaven and earth, and none
can stay his hand. He has the power, he has the
right, to make his will come to pass. Even the listening to
this message is the revelation of his will for you and I at
this time. In his sovereignty we are in
his hands and he has the right to do with us as he sees fit. The other thing that the scriptures
reveal is that the gospel is always personal. It is a personal, individual
matter between you and God. As Romans 1-3 declares, in summary
it says that all are under sin. What is it to be under sin? That
means sin is over you. You are guilty as charged. You
have no claim on God. You have no way of vindicating
yourself before Him. As He says, every mouth is stopped. The question is then, can anything
be done to change my state before God? Is there anything that I
can do? And the answer is no. If salvation requires anything
for me to do, I will not be saved because everything that I do
is marred by these hands and marred by these thoughts. But
the gospel, this good news, is addressed to sinners. Now what's
a sinner? A sinner is a person who sins.
A sinner is a person who can do nothing but sin. It's all they do is sin. It's all their fault and they
have no claim on God. And the question that you might
then ask is, is there any hope? Is there any hope? Yes, there's
a glorious hope. One of the remarkable things
about our Lord Jesus Christ is that he was a gospel preacher.
He came preaching the gospel. In Luke chapter 4, verse 18,
we have the Lord Jesus Christ back in his hometown of Nazareth,
and he picks up the book of Isaiah, And he reads, The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel
to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and the recovery of
sight to the blind, and to set at liberty them that are bruised. The Lord Jesus Christ came as
a gospel preacher. The gospel is a person. The gospel
is a declaration of who he is. But he came to preach the gospel
to the poor. Now the poor in the scriptures
are not materially poor. It's not about your wealth or
your possessions. A poor is in that verse described
for us, isn't it? Someone who is poor, someone
whose heart is broken, someone who is a captive, someone who
is blind and bruised, someone who has come short of the glory
of God. So you picture this person that
the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to. They are in a deep dungeon
which is dark. They have, they are captives.
They are blind and they are bruised and they have no access to the
key and they have no way out by themselves and their hearts
are broken. They're actually made by God
to be aware that that is their state. And that's why the Gospel,
the Gospel of God is the Gospel of the grace of God. It doesn't
require merits or ability. There's nothing for the man in
that pit, in that dungeon, in that darkness. There's nothing
for him to offer. He can't even see the great need
and the distress that he's in. And it's witnessed by the law
and the prophets. This gospel is witnessed, this
gospel of this gift of the righteousness. And who is it for? Who's it for? Is it for me? Whosoever calls
on the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's a gospel that
causes people to call when they know their state before God,
as they have the gospel revealed to them. The gospel, as I said
earlier, is Christ. He is the good news. He's the
one sent of the Father to accomplish the salvation by the forgiveness
of sins, by his death as the Lamb of God. The great news of
the gospel is that the Lord Jesus Christ, as he died on Calvary's
tree, cried out, It is finished. It is finished. There is in this
world many Gospels. There is this Gospel that is
so common that God loves all mankind, that the will of God
is for the salvation of all mankind, that the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ was for the sins of all. But the real gospel, the real
gospel declares a saviour who saves the poor, the poor. If God loves all mankind, then
what does the love of God have to do with the salvation of man? If God wills the salvation of
all men, what does the will of God have to do with the salvation
of man? If the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ is for the sins of all humanity, then what does the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ have to do with salvation? That's
all salvation by works. But the gospel that's preached
to the poor is a gospel that rescues the captives, that gives
sight to the blind, that declares liberty to those that are captives.
And the Gospel is declared. The Lord Jesus Christ just simply
declared the Gospel. His preachers declare it. We
declare it simply and we declare it as a message from God. This is good news of God. Our Gospel is the Gospel of God. It's God's message. If the gospel
we preach is not a matter of life and death, then we do not
have the gospel. If we can compromise this gospel
with other messages, then we do not have the gospel. That's why it's called the gospel
of your salvation. It's the gospel of the kingdom.
It's the gospel of God. God is the author of it. God
is the subject of it. God is the revealer of it. God
is the enabler, the enforcer of it. God is the sustainer of
it. This gospel is still being proclaimed
the same thousands of years later after it was first proclaimed
because God ensures his gospel. And the wonder of our gospel
is that it's an eternal gospel, an everlasting gospel. In Revelation
14.6, John says, I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,
having the everlasting gospel. So the real gospel began before
the foundation of the world, and the real gospel lasts throughout
all the time of this world, and lasts into eternity. everlasting
gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth to every nation,
kindred, tongue and people. It comes in words from God. It is a message from God, declared
by Him. The word of the gospel. For the
word of the Lord endureth forever, says Peter in 1 Peter 1.25. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. It's a declaration of the words
of God about his son. It's about the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's king, God's sovereign king. And it's the word, it's a particular
word about this man. It defines Jesus of Nazareth
as the Christ of God. It's remarkable in the scriptures,
in the New Testament, there are 101 references to the word gospel. that are translated that way,
83 of them have the definite article, the singular definite
article, the gospel. There is one gospel of one particular
king. In the gospel we are describing
the character of God as revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
describing his kingship, we're describing his subjects, we're
describing, and in describing him We are necessarily describing
that all others that deny those attributes and characteristics
of God are no gospel at all. As the scriptures say, it's another
gospel. It's a perverted gospel. That's
why there is the truth of the gospel. It's the gospel of God,
the good news of God and his salvation. It's the gospel of
his son. It's the gospel of Christ. It's
Christ's gospel. And he preached it. It's a gospel
that is revealed. It's a gospel, as 1 Corinthians
15 says, Romans 1 says, sorry, that's concerning his Son. He
who is our Saviour must be God the Son. The gospel identifies
him and owns him as God the Son. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. You'll call His name Jesus, for
He will save His people from their sins. He will save them. He won't try and save them. He
will save them, because He is God the Son. The gospel we preach
is the gospel of Christ, of the Christ, God's anointed one. This
great God, the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is our Lord. The gospel declares him Lord,
sovereign monarch of the universe. God has made this Jesus, whom
you crucified, both Lord and Christ. And it's a declaration,
it's a declaration that the Lord Jesus Christ was made a man and
He was declared to be the Son of God. He's declared to be the
Son of God with power. We read it in Romans chapter
1 earlier, and declared to be the Son of God with power according
to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. It's a declaration that in the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, He declared that the
work was finished. He declared from the cross that
it is finished. And in his resurrection from
the dead, God the Father is declaring that the sacrifice of Christ
is accepted. The whole Gospel rests on a resurrected,
reigning, ruling Lord Jesus Christ. If there is no resurrection from
the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ be not risen,
then our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain. And
if Christ is not be raised, your faith is in vain and you are
yet in your sins. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ is a declaration that all of the sins of all of
God's people that were laid on the Lord Jesus Christ, he has
suffered that punishment. The justice of God demands the
salvation of all those for whom he died. The resurrection of
the Lord Jesus Christ declares visibly, historically, and undeniably
that he is all that he claimed to be, and he is all that the
scriptures claim him to be. And wonderfully, his resurrection
is a declaration of our justification. To be justified before the courts
of God is to be declared by God to have no sin, because they
were laid on the Lord Jesus Christ and he took them away by his
death. His resurrection of the dead
is the guarantee of our resurrection from the dead. That we are in
the hands of a sovereign God. It's a declaration that this
King reigns and rules over all things. It's that everlasting
gospel. It's a declaration of a King
in throne. God has made that same Jesus
whom you crucified to be both Lord and Christ. That's why As
we look to that great King, no wonder Paul described it as the
glorious gospel of Christ. In fact, it can be easily translated,
the gospel of the glorious Christ. It's a declaration of His gospel,
of His glory, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed
God, which was committed to my trust, says Paul. It's committed
to the trust of the Church. isn't it, that we declare this
Christ, this King on a cross, he gave himself for our sins
according to the will of God. This King has subjects in his
kingdom, doesn't he? As we said earlier, the Lord
Jesus Christ preached to these subjects, the poor, they are
sinners, they have no resources in themselves, they are broken
hearted, they are blind, they are captive, they are bruised.
But these people, these people dead in transgression and sins,
according to the scriptures and the power of our God, thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. The gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ is a gospel, is the power of God under salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. This gospel reveals to these
blinded, dead, helpless, hopeless sinners. This gospel is revealed
by revelation. It is God's revealing, God's
coming and shining light, God revealing his son in the preaching
of the gospel. And when he is revealed, nothing
is created. It's a revelation of something
that has existed from all time, existed throughout history. It's
a revelation. This gospel is revealed to particular
people. That's why Paul described it,
the mystery he wanted to make known, the mystery of the gospel. The natural man and the religious
man will never see it. The Jews didn't see him as the
Christ of God, even though he walked amongst them for three
and a half years and declared himself to be so. But it's made
manifest. It's made manifest by the appearing
of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and has
brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. It's a great word from God, isn't
it? It brings light, it brings immortality
to light. Something that existed in the
councils of God before time and are hidden in darkness and now
have this light of the gospel shone upon them. No wonder Paul
described it in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. He says, Moreover,
brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto
you, which you also have received. It's received by the children
of God. And wherein you stand, you can
stand before God in this gospel, by which you're also saved, if
you keep in memory what I preach unto you, unless you have believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which also I received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures." Christ died for the sins of his
people. How that Christ died is the message
of the Gospel. According to the Scriptures,
and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according
to the Scriptures, and then he was seen. It's a gospel you can
stand in. It's a gospel that the poor can
rejoice in. It's a gospel that declares sinners
to be as they really are and God to be the saviour that he
declares himself to be. That's why it's the gospel of
grace. Paul declared his work to be to testify the gospel of
the grace of God. Unto me who am the least of all
saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles
the unsearchable riches of Christ. The poor have no ability, no
sight, no key to the prison door, but by a sovereign work of God
he comes to save them. Even the religious need to hear
this gospel again and again. The Church of Laodicea declared
themselves to be rich. I'm rich, they say. and increased
with goods, and have need of nothing. And what's God's declaration? Thou art wretched, miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked. When you're wretched, poor, blind
and naked and miserable, you need mercy from God. You need grace. You need God's
favour. The beginning of all of salvation
is grace. It's grace received, grace from
God the Father through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ, grace
applied to the hearts of God's people by the power of the Holy
Spirit. It's eternal grace. It's given
to us in the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's experienced in the hearts
of believers by the effectual call of God the Holy Spirit in
the preaching of the Gospel. Among whom, as Romans 1, 6 and
7 says, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. To
all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints,
grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. Those who were the elect in eternity,
in time are called. There is a time of love. and they are called, and listen
to what he declares them to be, the called are the beloved of
God, they are called to be saints, they are called holy by God himself. That's grace. That's grace for
the miserable and the wretched and the poor and the blind. And
that gospel is a gospel of peace. Peace from God our Father and
peace from the Lord Jesus Christ. We call him our Father, those
who are the recipients of this almighty grace. Peace with God. Peace in our hearts and peace
amongst the children of God. There is a peace that God alone
can give to his people, a peace that passes understanding, a
peace in knowing that all that God requires of me, the Lord
Jesus Christ has performed so wonderfully to the great satisfaction
of our holy God. The Father is the giver. But
the Lord Jesus Christ is the fountain of all these blessings.
Blessings now, blessings throughout eternity. I love how 2 Thessalonians,
Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2.14 describes the gospel. He called
you by our gospel. And when he calls people by our
gospel, listen to what he goes on to say, they obtain, to the
obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. To be in heaven. To be in heaven
right now is to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. To
get to heaven is to have the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
given to his people. It's given. It's given to God's
children. They are caused by God to be
believers. They are sealed with the Holy
Spirit of promise. This comes from God with power. It is the power of God. It comes
from God with a word of promise, signed and sealed by the blood
of his dear precious Son. That's why Paul is not ashamed
of the Gospel, because it's the power of God. to bring dead sinners
to life. It's the power of God to open
blind eyes. It's the power of God to reveal
Christ. It's the power of God to declare
salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the gospel of God,
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the message of grace,
it's the message of peace, and it's the power of God. But also it's the revelation
of the character of God, it's the revelation of his holiness,
but it's also the revelation of his righteousness. Romans
117, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. How do these ones made willing
in the day of his power live? How do the righteous live? The
just shall live by faith. God is righteous. His righteousness is revealed. His righteousness is given. His righteousness is received
from faith to faith. Faith doesn't create anything.
Faith receives. The just shall live by faith. We begin by faith. We continue
in faith. And we die in faith, these children
of God. The Righteousness of God which
is by the faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that
believe. Are you a believer? Do you believe? I'm not asking people whether
you believe you're saved, or you believe that you know for
sure you'll go to heaven when you die. I'm not asking people
to believe what you think. Do you think that Christ died
for your sins? Do you believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God? See, faith doesn't have anything
to do with what we believe about ourselves, but what we believe
about Him. Faith looks out of ourselves
and looks to Him as He's declared, that God is holy, God is sovereign,
God gives righteousness. God gives righteousness and He
gives the faith to accept that righteousness and He exercises
that faith. And I love what he goes on to
say in Romans 3.25, being justified freely by his grace, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Justified freely, justified
without any cause in me whatsoever. All of the cause of all of the
salvation of God's people is in God himself. That's what a
believer believes, isn't it? That all salvation is by God
and from God and has absolutely nothing to do with our works.
It's all about the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ
on the cross. It's all His work. applied to
him, that now God's children can stand before God perfectly
righteous, robed with the holiness of God. That's why Paul declared this
to be my gospel. It's our gospel. It's the gospel
that we delight to proclaim. It's the gospel of peace and
it brings glad tidings of good things. It's a gospel to be obeyed,
a gospel to rest in. and God's children work together,
that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together
for the faith of the Gospel. It is the Gospel that gives us
hope. The only hope a real sinner can
have is that God does something for him. There is no hope looking
into ourselves, and we hope for things that we don't have at
the moment. It's the hope of the Gospel. It's by faith in His blood, through
faith in His blood. whom God set forth, God set forth
His Son to be a propitiation, to be a wrath-absorbing, sin-destroying
sacrifice through faith in His blood. through faith in His blood. It's all about, the Gospel is
all about the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That glorious
work of redemption, that glorious work of sin-bearing atonement,
that now the children of God are at one with God in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's a Gospel to be rejoiced
in. It's a Gospel to be believed. It's a Gospel to be preached,
to be declared. It's the Gospel of your salvation. There is no other Gospel. There's no other Gospel that
gives all the glory where it really belongs, in the only place
where there is rest for the children of God, is in a gospel where
God gives all the glory. and God's children get all, reap
all the rewards of a work done for them and on their behalf
by one who was their surety before the foundation of the world.
Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do thank
you that you have revealed the Gospel to us in this little fellowship
and you have preserved and maintained that gospel and we praise you
heavenly father that you have caused us to search the scriptures
and we find that again and again the gospel is a declaration of
the wonders of your dear and precious son we praise you heavenly
father that his words from calvary's tree were that it is finished
that his promise is to take his people and present them holy,
spotless, unblameable, unreprovable in your sight. Heavenly Father,
your people stand before you now, accepted in the Beloved. Help us, Heavenly Father, to
live by faith, simply looking away from ourselves and anything
about us, and simply looking to your dear and precious Son. our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray
in his name and for his glory. Amen.