Go with me, if you would, back
to Mark 16. Mark chapter 16. And let's read
one verse. Verse 15. And He said unto them, Go ye
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. I was reflecting on the trip
to Missouri and I was thinking about this calling to go and
preach the gospel. What a calling. What a calling. What an awesome,
what a full of awe calling. I was thinking about the privilege
of it. It is a great privilege to be
called to go preach the gospel. It's a privilege to preach it.
It's a privilege to believe it. But I was thinking about the
joy of it. Seeing and meeting brethren of
the same faith, who glory and rejoice in the
same Christ and they have the same hope of salvation, that's
such an encouraging thing. To see more men and women that
God has revealed the truth to. Cause them to see their hope
to be in the blood of Christ alone. I was thinking about the seriousness
of it. The seriousness of the responsibility. The Apostle Paul said, woe is
unto me if I preach not the gospel. What that means is it's not just
the best idea to go preach the gospel as opposed to going and
not preaching the gospel. It means judgment is coming to
me if I don't preach the gospel. That's what it means. So as I preach, whether it's
here or whether it's somewhere else, this commandment rings
loud and clear in my ears and mind and heart. Verse 15, He
said unto them, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. I would like to do that here
tonight. I want to preach the gospel to
you and I want to preach the gospel to myself. And in order for me to do that,
let's ask the question, what is the gospel? What is the gospel? Now, I feel
very passionate about this message and I feel very fervent about
this message. I want to know the answer to
that question. And I want you to know the answer
to that question. I don't want to take that question
and the answer to that question for granted. And I don't want
any of us to just think we know what the gospel is when in reality
we don't. So what is the true gospel? And the reason this is so critical
is because the true gospel preached is a very rare thing. It's a very rare thing. And to
say it this way is probably more clear. Most preachers don't preach
the gospel. They just don't. Most preachers do not preach
the gospel. So what is the gospel? This is an important question
to ask and an important question to know the answer to. We're
going to find the answer in the scriptures. This is the only
thing that we can trust this word. It does not matter. And I mean this with all of my
heart. It does not matter what I think the gospel is. I really don't care what I think
the gospel is. It does not matter what anybody
else thinks the gospel is. What does God's word say the
gospel is? That's all that matters. We preach
what God's word says to preach. That's what we do. And God said
through the apostle Paul, Preach the Word. We preach whatever
the Word tells us to preach and the Word says, preach the Word. So whatever the Word says concerning
the Gospel, preach that. Whatever the Word says the Gospel
is, preach that. Alright, so what is the Gospel?
Well, turn with me over to Acts chapter 5. This is one of my favorite stories. I know I have a lot of them,
but this is one of them. Acts 5 verse 17 says, Then the
high priest rose up and all they that were with him, which is
the sect of the Sadducees, and they were filled with indignation
or envy. And they laid their hands on
the apostles and put them in the common prison. But the angel
of the Lord by night opened the prison doors and brought them
forth and said, go stand and speak in the temple to the people,
all the words of this life. You go tell them the words of
life, this life that I've given. And when they heard that they
entered into the temple early in the morning and taught. But
the high priest came and they that were with him and called
the council together and all the Senate of the children of
Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought." They didn't
know the Lord had delivered them. They said, go to the prison and
get them all out of prison. Verse 22, but when the officers
came and found them not in the prison, they returned and told
saying, the prison truly found we shut with all safety. It was
locked. But the, and the keeper standing
without before the doors. But when we had opened, we found
no man within. Now, when the high priest and
the captain of the temple and the chief priest heard these
things, they doubted of them where unto this would grow. Then
came one and told them saying, behold, the men whom you put
in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.
Then went the captain with the officers and brought them without
violence for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them,
they set them before the council and the high priest asked them
saying, did not we straightly command you that you should not
teach in this name? Didn't we give you orders on
what you could and could not preach? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem
with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon
us. Then Peter and the other apostles
answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. I love that answer. That was
his answer. We ought to obey God rather than
men. Why is that Peter? It's because
God is sovereign and man is not. God is God and man is not. Verse 30, the God of our fathers
raised up Jesus whom you slew and hanged on a tree. He died
and he was buried in the sin of his people. Verse 31, him
hath God exalted, raised up. Why did he raise him up? The
sin was gone. Him hath God exalted with His
right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. That word forgiveness means
removal. Removal of sins. And we are His witnesses of these
things, and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to
them that obey Him. When they heard that, they were
cut to the heart. They got mad and took counsel
to slay them. And then it goes on to say that
this man Gamaliel said, now you all better think about this.
If this is not of God, it's all going to dissolve. But if it
is of God, you're not going to win this. So it says down in
verse 40, to him they agreed. And when they had called the
apostles and beaten them, They commanded that they should not
speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. And they departed
from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted
worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple
and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ. What is the gospel? What am I going to go and preach
or stay and preach? What must I preach? Jesus Christ,
the God. Jesus Christ, the man. The will, the purpose, the work,
the accomplishment, and the hope. that we have in Him. They ceased
not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Men love to stand up
and they want to give you a series on how to be a better husband.
That's great, you all go be better husbands, but that's not the
gospel. They want to teach you how to have a better home life,
how to be happier and more content. That's all great and fine, but
that's not the gospel. The gospel is a man named Jesus
Christ. Now what is it to preach this
man? The will, the purpose, the work,
the accomplishment, the hope. What is it to preach Christ? Is it just saying his name? Is that what it is? Because everybody
says his name. Is it just saying that he died
on a cross? Who doesn't say that Christ died
on a cross? He died on a cross to pay for
sins. What is preaching Christ? Look with me if you would at
Acts 17. Acts 17 verse one says, now,
when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they
came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. And
Paul, as his manner was went in under them and three Sabbath
days reasoned with them out of the scriptures. This is where
we must be. It's where we must be. This is
where our message must come from the scripture. Verse three says,
opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and
risen again from the dead and that this Jesus whom I preach
unto you is Christ. That's what we preach about him.
That is the glorious news to tell sinners. Christ had to suffer. Christ had to suffer. He had to suffer in the Garden
of Gethsemane. He had to be nailed to that cross. God the Father said He must die
on that tree. He must. His death was not Him being a
martyr for His cause. His death was not man having
his way with Him. And listen to this one, his death
was not a ceremonial thing. All right. His death was not a ceremonial
thing that he just, he just went through the motions just to give
his father and to give his people and to give the law something
visual to see. His death was not just a legal
transaction. Well, in order for everything
to be okay, you have to do this. His death was not just a legal
transaction. God the Father said, He must
needs suffer. And He must be hanged. And He
must die. Why would God the Father say
that? Why would God the Father actually forsake His Son? It's
because He was bearing the sin of His people. That's the reason
why. Our sin was physically. It was physically. How physically? Well, look to the suffering Christ
of the cross. How physically did He bear our
sin? Marred more than any man physically. Our sin was physically removed
from us, and it was pressed into Him. And because it was pressed
into Him, and because He suffered for it, and bled for it, and
died for it, and put it all away, it's gone. It's gone. They're all gone.
And with them all being gone, Christ had to be raised from
the dead. He had to be. Those who die outside
of Christ will never be raised from the dead, and it's because
they do not have the ability to put away their sin. They don't
have the ability to truly pay the debt and put it away. They
will spend eternity trying to pay that debt, and they'll never
pay it. But Christ paid our debt and he put it away. And with
all of it being put away, he had to be raised from the dead.
And his resurrection is proof to every single one of his people
that the sin is indeed gone. It's actually gone. They're all
taken away, away. Our sins are pardoned. We are
free. They're all taken away. That's
the gospel. That's the gospel. That is the
glorious news that we're commanded to tell everybody Christ had
to suffer. He had to die and he had to be
raised again because he took your sin from you and he died
bearing those sins for you that he might be raised again with
you. He said all of my people are
going to receive faith to believe that. all of them. Turn with me if you would to
1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians 1 verse 17. It says, for Christ sent me not
to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words,
lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. Men love to use wisdom of words,
big words, educated sounding, hard to understand words. to
try to remove the offense of what actually took place on the
cross. Try to just smooth over it with these hard to understand
words. Paul said, I'm not doing that.
Lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. What
that means is, if you take the physical substitution of the
Lord Jesus Christ and His people, if you take that physical trading
of places, Out of the cross, you no longer have the gospel.
And if you don't have the gospel, you don't have anything. Nothing. The words will be preached with
no effect because the Christ that does not die, bearing the
guilt and bearing the shame and bearing the actual sin, that
Christ will have no effect. His work will have no effect.
The only effectual judgment that God is satisfied with is a holy
judgment. A just judgment, a right judgment. A judgment that slays the guilty
and sets the innocent free. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? He'll do right. Verse 18 right
here says, for the preaching of the cross is to them that
perish foolishness. You mean to tell me that God
truly made Himself to be a man and made Himself to be guilty
so He could make His people innocent. You truly believe that? You believe in an actual physical
substitution? Verse 18, it says, For the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, But unto
us which are saved, it is the power of God." That is the power
of God. Unto salvation. Verse 23 says,
we preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling block,
and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. We see that that's the only way
that God can be just and justify a sinner. God cannot kill an
innocent man. He cannot. It's unjust. You don't
kill an innocent man. And God cannot set a guilty man
free. It's unjust. Everybody believes
that Christ died to save His people. Everybody believes that. Every Christian denomination
believes that. The question is, how can God
be just and right and holy and justify His people? The answer
to that is the gospel. That's what the gospel is. Christ
was made to be His people. And the moment He was made to
be His people, He must needed to suffer. It's because you must
need to suffer. I must suffer. The moment He was made to be
His people, He had to suffer. He had to die for us, as us. And now the death is done. He
put the suffering away. He put the death away. He put
the sin away. It is completely removed. It's
gone. And once we see that, why would
we want to preach anything else? Paul said right here in chapter
2, verse 2, 1 Corinthians 2. He said, I determined not to
know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified,
the will of it, the purpose of it, the work of it, the accomplishment
of it, and the hope that we now have because of it. And what
is that hope? What is the hope that we have?
It's this. If God dealt with Christ based
on us, then God is going to deal with us based on Christ, based
on His effort, based on what He's done. The Apostle Paul said
in Ephesians 3, he said, I can't believe I've been called to preach
the unsearchable riches of Christ. I just cannot believe that God
has bestowed that honor upon me. After God revealed that to
me, the glory of his absolute substitution. He said, there's
nothing else to preach. By one sacrifice, he put it all
away. I want to give you an illustration.
I want to close this out with an illustration. This is one
of the clearest illustrations that I've ever heard on what
the gospel actually is. My dad gave this illustration,
and he used my grandmother, and I'm gonna put it into my terms
and use him, okay? But if my father committed murder, and he was brought to trial for
it, and the family of the one he murdered attended the trial
and witnessed the judgment, And the judge declared him to be
guilty and sentenced him to the chair. If I said, I'll die for him, kill me instead, okay? I'll go
to the chair for him in his place. And if the judge said, fine,
take him away. And they came and got me and
brought me to the chair. And then the judge said to my
father, you're free to go. If all that happened, the family
of the offended one would not see justice as being
done because the one who did it just walked out of here. And
if he did it once, he'll do it again. That's the offender. This was not the offender. That
was the offender. Justice has not been served.
The only way that they could be satisfied and feel that justice
was served would be if I could somehow physically, literally,
become my Father. And He could become me to the
point that when they look at Him, they see me. And when they look at me, they
see Him. At that moment, They would see
the guilty punished and the innocent set
free. And they would be satisfied.
And that's what Christ did for us. He made himself to be the
guilty one. And he made us to be the innocent
one. And then God dealt with us accordingly.
That is the heart of the gospel. There are so many facts and so
many truths in the scripture, but if you want to get to the
heart of the gospel, it is true substitution and true satisfaction. The judge is satisfied, the law
is satisfied, the offended are satisfied. Our Lord said, when you go preach,
preach that. preach that. And every man that
has truly been called to preach says, there's nothing else I'd
rather preach. There's nothing else I'd rather
preach. May God give us a heart to preach and believe the gospel,
the true gospel. May He give us eyes to know the
difference and not be fooled by a lot of this mess that's
going on out there. Because our Lord said, whoever
believes my gospel and is immersed in it will be saved. If I give them faith to believe
the truth of what Christ did, that's a saved soul. So may our Lord teach us. All
right, let's all stand together.