But I want to bring a message
this evening called Five Clear Points of the Gospel. Five Clear
Points of the Gospel. Read verses 16 and 17 in Romans
1 with me. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein
is the righteousness of God revealed, from faith to faith, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. The apostle here says
that he's not ashamed of the gospel. Whether he was in Rome
or whether he was in Jerusalem or Corinth, wherever he was at,
he wasn't ashamed. He wasn't ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Christ crucified. Not ashamed
of the cross. Now you got to understand that
when he was preaching, the Jews, all they had was the law. All
they had was Moses. They was interested in what Moses
had to say. They was interested in the law.
They was interested in righteousness by their own works. And then
the Greeks, Corinth and that, they had their philosophy. And they had multitude of gods,
and all their gods were half man and half god. And so wherever
Paul went, everybody had a different kind of a god. And so that's
why he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. I'm not ashamed
to talk about a man who came into this world, sinless man,
a holy man, a perfect man. And that man, because I was such
a sinner, that it took that man going to a cross bearing my sin
to make me acceptable to God. And that's why everywhere he
went he had a revival or a riot with no middle ground, no middle
ground. And he wasn't ashamed of the
cross of Christ, he wasn't ashamed of the sacrifice of his blessed
Lord, he wasn't ashamed that that's what it took to save him
from his sin. So for many of the gospel, I
know I hear a lot of people talk about the gospel and a lot of
folks on the radio at home and The gospel they preach I would
be ashamed of it. I am ashamed of it. I don't want
nothing to do with it I don't want nothing to do with the gospel
That gets you saved back there under Arminianism. And then you
just learn the doctrines of grace later and I don't want nothing
to do. Get saved under a false message
and then come to a greater understanding later. Either the gospel and
salvation is through Christ and Him crucified. And that's why
Paul said, I'm not ashamed. So if a man ever gets saved,
he's going to get saved by hearing the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And here's the thing. Do we really
know the gospel? I believe there's some here that
do. And if there ain't, I hope I can preach it tonight. And
God helping me. I want to give you five clear
points of the gospel, and I say it this way, that these are essential,
that the Holy Spirit reveal these things if a sinner is ever saved,
and if he gets any comfort, and if he gets any assurance. First
thing of the clear point of the gospel is the gospel's definity.
Look what he said in verse 16. He said, I'm not ashamed, and
here's the definition of the gospel. The gospel of Christ. It's defined. The gospel is not
vague. We don't have to search around
for the gospel. The gospel is defined. It's definitive. It's
called the gospel of Christ. The gospel isn't something that
we have to guess at. It isn't just a bunch of people
getting together and doing a bunch of testimony, standing up and
tell how bad they were and how much Jesus changed them for being
how bad they were. That's not the gospel. And I
tell you, it's not us talking about a subjective experience
that we had. The gospel is defined, it's called
the gospel of Christ, the good news of Christ. And that's why
that's what it's called. We talk about the gospel of Christ.
Look over here in chapter one with me. In Romans chapter one,
look what it says here in verse one. Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle. Listen to it separated unto the
gospel of God now leave out the parentheses and go on down there
says the gospel of God concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord
Which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh
declared to be the son of God Where did he start this gospel
and he promised this gospel? And this gospel was written before
about in the scriptures and the prophecies of God. And so the
Lord Jesus Christ, the gospel is God's message concerning his
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God means to tell us and wants
us to understand the gospel concerns his son, his blessed person.
Now, if somebody asked me to describe somebody that I know
real, real well, You know what I do when I describe them? I
describe their nature, I describe their character, I describe the
way they are, the way they treat people, how kind they are, how
gracious they are. I don't describe what they look
like. I describe how they are. the way I see them, and that's
what we do in preaching the gospel. We describe a person. We describe
a person who is full of grace, a person full of love, a person
full of compassion, a person full of power, a person full
of pity, a person that's got love that's beyond comprehension. We describe a blessed person,
a person who went about Finding people like you and me and seeking
us out and when he found us He called us by his blessed grace
And then when he found us he saved us and washed us in his
blood and when he found us He put us on his shoulder and carried
us sheep out of the wilderness And I'll tell you something else.
He ain't putting me down off his shoulder yet. He said on
his on his shoulder is the government and Got the government of the
world on one shoulder and his sheep on the other, and he's
big enough to carry all of it. That's the kind of person I'm
talking about. Huh? Oh my, not only his person, what
a blessed person he is. And how old Maurice Montgomery
used to say, hug up to him. That's the kind of person we're
talking about, a person you can hug up to, a person you can touch,
a person you can embrace, a person that kisses you and you can kiss
them back. You can feel his heart. You can feel his heartbeat. You
can feel his love for you. You can feel his compassion for
you. Oh, listen. And then he talks about his work.
Don handled that work so well. And here's another thing about
why Paul said he was ashamed of the gospel. People say, I'm
going to trust the finished work of Christ. I don't. I don't trust the finished work
of Christ. I trust Christ who finished the work. That's a big
difference, ain't it? There's a big difference there.
You see, it's not how long he was on the cross, it was who
was on that cross. It's not how much blood was shed
on that cross, it was whose blood that was shed. And so, beloved,
the gospel, the gospel of God declares Him. Him. Oh my, it sets Him forth. He's
declared to be the Son of God. And oh, any gospel, that doesn't
set forth the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to say in all of his
fullness, but we ain't even touched the hem of the garment yet. But
oh, that if it doesn't set forth Christ according to what that
person knows about Christ, it's no gospel at all. And it has
no power to save. And that's why we want to know
the gospel. Love the gospel. Need the gospel.
And here's the second point of the gospel. Second clear point
of the gospel. First is it's defined. It's called
the gospel of Christ. The second thing is the gospel's
objective. Look what it says again in verse
16. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Now watch this. For it, it, it is the power of
God unto salvation. What is? The gospel is. It. The gospel is. The gospel is
an objective message. We set forth a gospel. And it's
not a subjective message. It's not how... We're not trying
to manipulate people. We're not trying to entice people.
We're not trying to get people to react in a certain way. The
gospel has something to do with what God did outside of us when
He sent His Son into this world. The gospel is objective. Huh? And the gospel in and of itself
is the power of God in the Holy Ghost. And who He sends it to
is the power of God unto salvation. I'll tell you all a true story,
and maybe some of you have heard it. Years and years and years
ago, I remember going to visit a preacher in Ashland, Kentucky.
And first time I went and seen him, it was wonderful. He called me chubby and sent
me home with a book. He said, learn that and you'll learn the
gospel. Second time I went to see him, I was in a meeting up
in West Virginia, and me and Tommy Robbins came down to see
him. And I thought, boy, I'm one of the most spiritual fellows
you know. I've been preaching around, been here yondering about,
and I said, I sat down across from his desk and I said, And
I look, you know, and he's looking at me, and I said, I know, I
know it's Brother Mahan, it's our tears, the gospel soaked
in our tears. Henry slapped his hands and put
his finger in my face and said, it's just the gospel, whether
you ever shed a tear or not. And that's when I learned the
gospel's the power of God. Not whether I cry over it, or
you cry over it, or anybody cries over it. Ain't that right? It's
the gospel that's the power of God. And it's not in our power. Not in how hard we preach, or
how good we preach, or how impressive we preach, or how many scriptures
we quote. The gospel is the power of God. It is. It is. He doesn't say that the Holy
Spirit is the power of God, but the gospel is. But the gospel
and the power of the Spirit, His sword, that's what He uses
to save sin. Will y'all look at some scriptures
with me? Look over in 1 Peter chapter 1. And I'll tell you what, when
I walked out of that office that day, I was so shook up and ashamed
of myself and so embarrassed and so low of myself that I couldn't
even drive. I had to have somebody else drive. And I'll tell you something about
that dear old man. He's 92 now. And his wife, they still go to
service, every service. Still go to services. And have
to climb up long steps to get there. Oh, what an example they've
been. And you know, we pull up in nice
cars, walk down nice, and he has to climb the old stairs.
And they're there every service. You know why? Because the gospel
did for him what it does for everybody. And they want to be
that way when they get that old, if they can. Don't they? Amen. Well, look what it says over
here in 1 Peter 1.23, talking about the gospel being the power
of God. Second clear point of the gospel. Look what it says,
being born again, not of corruptible seed, But incorruptible. What's the incorruptible seed?
The Word of God. How long does it live? Forever.
In all flesh, this is what we are. The gospel abides and lives
forever. The seed of God, the Word of
God. But man, he just glass. And all the flower of the grass,
the grass withered and the flower falleth away. We just fade away. But the word, the word of the
Lord endureth forever. Now listen to it. This is the
word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Oh my, you see it's
the preaching of the gospel set forth by the Holy Spirit objectively. That God's pleased to save sinners
with it please God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
belief Now, let me tell you what you think about this I'm, not
a bit different than anybody sitting in this building this
morning this evening I you couldn't turn the hand the difference
between any of us None of us So that's why it's called please
God by the foolishness of preaching. God takes one sinner to tell
another sinner. A fallen man to tell another
fallen man. A weak man to tell other weak
people. Helpless people tell other helpless people. How God
saves a sinner. That's why it's called foolishness
because look who's doing it. And here's the third clear point
of the gospel. The gospel is effective, again
in Romans 1.16. Not only it is the gospel objective,
it, but look what it says here, the gospel is the power, the
power of God unto salvation. And let's talk about God's power.
The power of God's effectual, it's effective, it actually truly
saves. And when the gospel comes to
a person in power, there's no power like it. No power like
it. It comes and when it comes to
you, if I understand this right, you all tell me if I'm wrong,
but don't this word mean dynamos or dynamite? Now when the gospel
comes to you in power, it blows up Your false religion, it blows
up your pay house. It blows up your self-righteousness.
It blows up your hope in self. It blows up your righteousness
by the law. It blows up everything but what
God will do to save you from your sin. It blows up everything
except everything that's not like Christ. It'll blow it up.
It blew up my little old false profession. It'll blow up your
self-righteousness And they know I'll tell you what we'll come
to a gospel service like this here And you think you got rid
of all your self-righteousness. No, no That's why we come and
hear the gospel over and over and over again Because we got
we know so much is wrong with us that we got to have it from
faith to faith from the faith It brings when you hear it to
the faith that you'll last day. You'll hear it and you go be
with Christ My and even though it's the power no power like
it Multitudes perish because to them it's foolishness and
I tell you it's so powerful. The gospel is so powerful That
it don't need no help Don't need no help Don't need no help. It don't need no cooperation
Don't need your will to approve of it. Don't need your I see
it, even to it. It's the gospel itself. It's
God's power. And bless His holy name. What
makes the gospel so effectual? What makes the gospel so effective?
Look what it says in verse 17. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. From faith, the day you heard
it, from the day you believed, Every time you come the gospel
continues to produce that faith in you, you know when you have
the most assurance The most assurance you ever have is when you're
listening to the gospel When you're hearing the gospel
and here's somebody set forth the gospel you sit back and you
relax and you rest and and you enjoy it and you forget the world
and you forget what's going on out there and you come here and
for just a little while God takes everything away from you and
you sit there and that faith starts working that faith that
Christ in you starts responding to Christ in the gospel and oh
there's nothing like it but oh listen therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith this is what makes it powerful
here's the message Though all are sinners, cannot deny that. Born in sin, dead, innocent,
ruined from our mother's womb, ungodly, enmity in our hearts
against God, guilty before God, deserving eternal ruin, and deserving
the wrath of God upon us, but yet God, yet God, in His great
love, we're with you like this, sent His blessed, holy, glorious
Son into this world. And He sent Him here with one
purpose, to bear His people's sins in His own body on the tree. To be the innocent for the guilty,
the just for the unjust. And He did that, beloved, and
you know why He did it? That He might bring us to God. We can't get there if He don't
bring us. He got to come and get us and bring us. And oh,
beloved, and He took His people's sins and He carried them all. Talk about the law. Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe in him. Talk about the sacrifices Christ
put away sin by the sacrifice of himself once in the end of
the world. Talking about perfecting, he
hath perfected forever them that are who? Sanctified. Oh my. And I tell you, He delivered
these sins and He delivered them to judgment. To judgment. And when He come out of that
tomb, He brought with Him righteousness and justification for all His
people. And guess what? He gives it to
them freely. Being justified freely by His
grace. Freely! Freely. And oh, this
is one of Don's favorite verses of scripture. Wonder what it
would be. Yep, 521. God made him. God did this. Only God can make
a man. A man who knew no sin, had no
sin, did no sin, thought no sin. God made him to be sin. And when he did, when he did, he put him to death. And when
he put him to death, he put me to death. When he punished him
for sin, he punished me for sin. When he bore the wrath of God,
I bore the wrath of God. When judgment fell on him, judgment
fell on me. Judgment fell on me. And then
he turns around and takes the righteousness of God, the righteousness
of Christ, the very righteousness of God, and gives that to us. He says, there you are. I'm a shining, I'm one of them
shining ones that they find in the scriptures. I'm one of them
shining ones that they talk about in the scriptures. You say, you
don't look very shiny to me. You don't see me like God does.
I'm looking. Oh my goodness. You hurt my eyes. Y'all shining so much. That's
what the gospel does. It makes you understand, you
know, Bunyan when he was, Got through that straight gate, old
Christian and faithful, and they started up through there, and
they got through that wicked gate, and he started up the mountain,
and Moses beat him with his rod until he come back down off the
mountain, and he finally got through the straight gate, and
he got down that narrow way, and he come to a cross. And he saw one upon that cross,
that bleeding cross, and he said, and when we viewed him, he said,
my burden fell off my back. And it rolled away into a tomb.
And Old Faithful said to me, he said, Oh my, I said, Oh, I
never, you're so beautiful. Look what dress you got on. I
never seen such a beautiful dress. Oh, that thing shines so much.
He said, Me? Me? Well, look at you. Look at
you. You're the one that's shining.
And that's the way we see grace. Grace in other people makes them
shine, makes them shine. Oh my, and every one of us, under
God, shine like the sun. We're shining ones, huh? Oh,
you said that tonight, that one of them fellas met Cornelius? One of them fellas come to me
one, and listen, no I'm not saying it, but I'm one of them shining
ones. And are you one of them shining
ones? That's what the gospel does for you, huh? The justifying
righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. Here's my fourth
clear point of the gospel. The gospel is elective. The gospel
is elective. Look what it says here, of course,
the power of God. The power of God, of God unto
salvation. Now when you talk about it being
the power of God, that means man don't have anything to do
with it. It's not of man. You see, the gospel is God's.
It's his message. It's God's message. And when
we go through the scriptures, God teaches us over and over
and over that this is what we're to talk about. That's what we're
to talk about. It's his message. And it's his
son. And it's his work. He said, Father,
the hour has come. I have finished the work. I finished
the work that you gave me to do. And now, O Father, glorify
thou me with the glory which I had with you before the world
was. And all this, and then our Lord Jesus Christ went down and
started talking about all seven times, he says, those that thou
hast given me. He said, and I pray, not for
the world, but them that thou hast given me out of the world.
And I tell you, his son, his work, and the Lord Jesus, who
came Into this world who lived in this world who died in this
world and rose again in this world And why did he do it? Thou
shall call his name Jesus for he shall shall Save his people
from their sins Now why in the world and Tim James come up with
this one time? He said why in the world would
he call him a savior if he can't save you Why would you say he's
a savior if he can't save you And they say, won't you accept
Jesus as your Savior? Well, if He's your Savior, you
don't have to accept Him. He came to save His people from
their sins. Are you one of His people? I'm
one of His people. How do I know I'm one of His
people? Because He gave me faith through the Gospel. He gave me
the ability to believe in the Gospel. And He came to save His
people from their sins. People say, you don't want to
go to hell. Nobody wants to go to hell if they got any sins.
But it doesn't say here that Christ died to save you from
hell. He died to save you from sin. Sin's man's problem. Now I'll be warning y'all, I
got little kids in here. Some of y'all got little kids and one of the
first words they learn, no. No. Why didn't they do that? You
didn't teach them that, and you're trying to break them from that.
And we went through our lives saying, no, no, no, no. And God come along in the gospel,
and we said, yes. In the day of His power. He said, we throwed up our hands
and said, I'm willing. Are you willing? Yes, I'm willing.
Are you willing tonight? I'm willing to be his tonight,
are you? I'll be his tomorrow, I'm willing, oh, I'm so willing
to be his. Oh my, then he says, herein doeth
my father love me, because I laid down my life for the sheep. Huh? And I know my sheep, and
them known of mine. And my sheep, hear my voice,
I know them, They follow me My father-in-law just died September
the second 93 and a half years old He was 75 years old when
God saved him Sitting on the second row I Got through preaching
all the hours coming and now is when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live I was stepping
down out of the pulpit like this, and he stood up and said, Donnie,
Donnie. I said, what? He said, I heard his voice today. That whole church about went
to their knees rejoicing. 75. And the Lord just called
him home when he was 93. There's a fella that went in
at 6, 9, 12, 3, 5, and 6. He's one of them 6 hours. He'd
come in at 6 o'clock. But he got just as much as a
fella that started at 6 in the morning. That's what I love about
the gospel. I love it like that, don't you?
Oh, listen. We all gonna get the same thing.
We all believe the same gospel. We all trust the same Christ.
We all have the same righteousness. And none of us are going to get
any more when we get to glory than what we've got right now.
We're just going to change positions and not take his old rotten body
with us. You see, the gospel is elective. Christ died for his people. The
gospel was God's to purpose. The gospel is God's to perform. The gospel is God's to proclaim. The gospel is God's to apply. The gospel consistently, by its
message, sets forth the salvation of the people of God, chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. Huh? You know what
they're called? Look with me to Ephesians chapter
1. No, 2 Timothy 1. You know what they're called?
Sheep? They're called the elect? They're called the elect? They're
called the people of God. They're called the children.
They're called sons. They're called beloved. They're
called vessels of mercy. They're called precious. They're
called jewels. God got a lot of names to call
his children by. A lot of names to call his children
by. But look what he said here in verse 9, talking about these
are the ones the gospel declares Christ died for. And this is
the verse of scripture God taught me the gospel with, right here.
Who hath saved us. Do you notice everything about
our salvations in the past tense? It's all in the past tense. He
hath, he hath, he hath, he hath. He hath. And look what he said
here. who hath saved us and called us with the holy calling, not according to our works, I
love it, but according to his own purpose and grace. Oh my, God had a purpose and
had grace? And when was it given to us?
In Christ Jesus. before the world began. Oh my soul. Grace given us in Christ before
the world began. And He was on purpose. We were the last ones to find
out when we heard the gospel and believed the gospel. We were
the last ones to find out. Ain't that right? God had all
this purpose for us and then we found it out. Long, you know,
it's always been that way, but we's the last one to know. Oh
my, the gospel is the power of God to apply, and he applies
it to whom he will. The purpose of God according
to election, not of works, not of works. Here's my fifth point
clear point of the gospel my fifth clear point of gospel The
gospel is redemptive is redemptive look what it says in verse 16
again Paul said I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ For it is the power of God listen to this
Unto salvation unto salvation And what happens, beloved, the
gospel actually saves. It actually saves. It really,
really saves. And here's the thing about saving
a sinner. When God saves a sinner, He saves him from the top of
his head to the sole of his feet, from the inside of his soul to
the outside of his skin. And He saves him until he draws
his last, and he's in his last day on this earth, and then as
the old preacher used to say, then he'll be plumb saved. Plumb
saved. Don't you want to be plumb saved? I tell you, it's a wonderful,
wonderful thing. Wonderful thing. A wonderful
thing to watch a believer leave this world. It's a wonderful
thing to watch somebody, not afraid, to know they're going
to go, know they're going to leave this world, and lay down
in the bed, not knowing if they'll wake up in the morning or not,
and say, that's all right. That's all right. You know why?
Because the gospel saves. The gospel will give you the
comfort you need to lay down and trust Christ no matter what
goes on in your life. I mean, the gospel does that
for you. Because Christ laid down his life to redeem us, to
buy us, to pay our debt. He suffered the wrath of God
against sin. That by his death and the shedding
of his blood, God would and God could justly, justly deliver
us from death, deliver us from sin, deliver us from condemnation. And I tell you what, there's
two words to me that really, really sum up the gospel in my way of
thinking. I gave you five clear points, but my way of thinking
is substitution and satisfaction. You've got to have somebody to
face God for you, you can't face Him by yourself. And Christ faced
God for us, for the people it was given to Him in that blessed
covenant of Christ. And when He faced God for us
and bore our sins before God, suffered death, where we decide
to suffer death, but He suffered death and we died with Him. And
then, the second word is satisfaction. He satisfied God. Satisfied His justice, honored
His law, soaked up all of His wrath so that there's none left
for us. And He satisfied God. And when
you understand that God is satisfied with Him, then you never look
no place else but to Him. Ain't that right? That'll do. Satisfaction. I've said this
a lot of times. If you lay down, you're going to make Christ satisfaction
to be your pillar. Oh, I've got to face God. I'm going to die. They said I'm
going to die in the next month. God's satisfied. So what do I
got to fear? Huh? God's satisfied. Ain't that
right, Brucie? Oh, God's satisfied. Dawson,
did you know, when you lay down at night, you think of that.
God's satisfied. I can face Him, not because He's
satisfied with me, but bless His Holy Name. He's satisfied
with His blessings. Amen? Thank you again. I appreciate so much you letting
me come.