Go back with me to Mark chapter
1. Mark chapter 1, a man named Arthur
Pink pointed out for us that there are four books in this
Bible. that deal with the earthly life
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we know what they are. Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John, right? Four books. But what he pointed
out was that each one of those books portrays our Lord in a
different light. Totally different light. You know, we think these stories
are repeated, just repeated. Sometimes we think, well, it's
because the mouth of two or three witnesses, and that's true. You
know, you'll have a story here, and then it's in two of them,
or three of them, or four of them. But each one of these portrays
our Lord in a different light. We get to see Him from four different
angles, as He is, who He is. his attributes and his character
and his person. Matthew portrays our Lord as
the son of David, heir to the throne. That's who he is. Those
wise men came and said, where is he that's born king? King
of the Jews. Mark shows us the servant. the servant of God, God's workman
and his work. Luke brings out the humanity
of our Lord, the man. It shows us the man. It shows
him to be the perfect man, the opposite of sinful man. And John
shows us his deity. John shows us that He is God. God come down. Have we not seen
that as we've been going through John? You know, we've been going
through John now since we, really since I got here. We almost immediately
went into John. And we have seen as we go through
that book that this is God. I mean, this is God Himself. God come down, equal with His
Father, God Almighty. Now all four of those characteristics
are in all four books. Every one of them. We see that
in all four books. But the theme of Matthew is the
king, the theme of Mark is the servant, the theme of Luke is
the man, and the theme of John is the God. Well, in Isaiah 42, God the Father
said, Behold my servant, didn't he? Behold my servant. And by God's grace, I pray that's
exactly what we do this morning. I want to behold His servant. Verse 1, this is going to be
our text. Mark 1, verse 1. It says, the beginning of the
gospel. That's a pretty good place to
start, isn't it? The beginning of the gospel. When did the gospel
begin? When did this gospel begin? Go with me over to Revelation
14. Revelation 14 verse 6 says, And
I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting
gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people. This is the everlasting
gospel. The Apostle Paul told Titus about
the hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised
before the foundation of the world, didn't he? Before the
foundation. The Lamb has been slain from
the foundation of the world. But if you want to get to the
heart of the matter, if you want to get to the heart of the answer,
The gospel began when Jesus Christ came. It began when Jesus Christ came. Go with me back to Mark chapter
1. Verse 1 says, The beginning of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is all about Christ. The gospel is concerning Christ. I hope that the Lord causes a sinner to finally get a hold one day
of the simplicity of Christ. I hope he calls another sinner
to come to the realization that the gospel is concerning Christ. We take that statement for granted.
Here's why I say that. We completely take that statement
for granted. My father was in religion, just
like most everybody. He was in Southern Baptist religion,
and he thought he knew something about God. He thought he was
a pastor of a church. He thought he knew something
about The scripture, the word, the gospel. But God crossed his
path with a gospel preacher. He crossed his path with the
gospel message. And my dad said, here's what
the man said. Here's a statement the man made.
I'll tell you who it was. It was Darwin Pruitt. He made
the statement, the gospel is concerning Christ. And dad said as soon as he said
that, the light came on. The gospel is all about Jesus
Christ. If we're not talking about Christ,
we're not talking about the gospel. And I'm hoping to show us that
for just a few seconds and then we'll close. We are not talking about the
gospel if we are not talking about Jesus Christ. The gospel
is concerning Jesus Christ. Here we are in the New Testament.
God gave us this New Testament. This New Testament is 100% all
about Jesus Christ. 100%. The Old Testament, we had
that before we had the New Testament. Every word of it is all about
Jesus Christ. I want to give us an overview
of that. All right? Don't turn. Back in Genesis, Adam and Eve
sinned in the garden. We know that, don't we? They
sinned in the garden. In that sin, every man in Adam
has died, right? Well, back then in the garden,
God told them. He declared to them. He made
a statement to them, and what He was doing is He was preaching
to them. He preached to them about the woman's seed. There's going to be a woman.
You've sinned, but there's going to be a woman's seed. The serpent
brought sin to man. But he said, the woman's seed
is going to crush that serpent. That's the gospel. That's the good news. Okay, you've
sinned and you're going to die. And you're about to see in all
those beautiful roses, thorns come out. And all those animals
are going to start biting each other and killing each other. And all those bugs are going
to start biting you. And Adam, you're going to get angry with
Eve for the first time in your life. And Eve, you're going to now
have children and it's going to be extremely painful. It would
have been nothing. Absolute joy. But sin has come. But there's a woman's seed that's
coming. And he's going to take care of
all of this sin. He's going to crush the head
of the serpent. Now that's Jesus Christ. Jesus
Christ. That angel told Mary, whenever
he came and it was time, he told Mary, you're going to have a
son. And she said, how is that possible? See, and I've never
known a man. He said, this son is not coming
by corruptible seed. This son is not coming through
sinful man. The Holy ghost is going to come
upon you. incorruptible seed, the woman's seed. He preached
the gospel to them. That's what he did. All right. Then a little later in Genesis,
God said, Noah, build an ark. Everything inside that ark is
going to be saved. That's the gospel. That's the
good news. Now, we all know that because
of God's mercy to us, that that's Christ, right? We know that's
Christ. Everything outside of that arc
was going to suffer judgment and damnation. That's not the
gospel. And that's the truth. We tell men the truth, but there's
no good news in that. Oh, we're going to be so happy
today. We heard God's going to judge us. No, there's no good news in that.
All of the good news is inside the ark. So we have the truth, but without
Christ, we don't have the gospel. You can hear a man stand up there
in hell, fire and brimstone. Yeah, that's true. But I hadn't
heard the gospel yet. The gospel's inside Christ. There's
some good news inside that ark. All right, now Exodus. Exodus
is about a massive number of God's chosen people who are leaving
bondage. It's an exodus. And it's about God sending his
deliverer, right? To deliver his people out of
the clutches of their captor. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. Who is that deliverer? Moses. No, Jesus Christ. He said Moses
was talking about me. Moses wrote of me. All right,
what was the means that God used to deliver him? How did he deliver
him? He said, I'm coming through tonight
and I'm killing everything. I'm killing the firstborn and
all the land. But he provided for them a Passover
lamb. And he said, when I see that
blood, I will pass over you. That's the gospel. I'm killing
everything. That's the truth. But here's
a lamb. That's the gospel. I will not kill you because of
that lamb. Who is the lamb? Jesus Christ. Leviticus. Tells us about the
great atonement. That's what it keeps talking
about, this great atonement, the only thing that will appease
God concerning our sins. Look at this one, turn over to
Leviticus 17. Leviticus 17 verse 11. For the life of the flesh is
in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make
an atonement for your souls. I've given you some blood. For
it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. It's
the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Now, if you have
a margin in your Bible, Next to it is the blood, mine says
Hebrews 9.22. Turn with me over to Hebrews
chapter 9. Hebrews 9.22 says, And almost
all things are by the law purged with blood. And without shedding
of blood is no remission. No remission. Who's blood? Well,
that's the gospel. Look at verse 11. but Christ
being come and high priest of good things to come by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say not of this building, neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the
blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling
the unclean sanctifyeth to the purifying of the flesh, how much
more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? It's the blood of
Jesus Christ. It's not my blood. It's not your
blood, it's not the blood of bulls and goats. A lamb cannot
do anything for us, an actual lamb. It's the blood of Jesus
Christ, God's lamb. Alright, numbers. You don't have
to turn to numbers. The book of Numbers tells us
about these serpents that were biting the people, killing the
people. So Moses made a brass serpent
And he put it on a pole and he lifted it up in the wilderness. Our Lord said, as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the son of man be
lifted up. He said, and if I be lifted up,
I will draw all men unto me. That's the gospel. If they look,
they'll live. Everybody's dying, but if you
look to that serpent hanging on that pole, you'll live. That serpent was Jesus Christ.
Why a serpent? The reason is because Christ
became the very thing that was killing his people. Sin was killing
us, so he made himself to be sin. Deuteronomy. That book tells us about a city
of refuge. A city of refuge. If anyone has
sinned, there's a place you can run to. And as long as you're
in that place, you will be safe. You'll live. You'll be spared.
You know where that place is? You have any idea? That's the gospel. That's the gospel. The gospel
is always in Jesus Christ. I was studying this, writing
all this down, and I started thinking about that city of refuge.
I had a few thoughts go through my mind and I want to tell you
what they are. I had a little domino of thoughts and I want
to tell you about them. The first one is, I thought it's
amazing that they would make a place like that. The Lord laid
it on their sinful hearts. to create a place like that to
show us Christ. But is it not amazing that there
would even be a place like that in existence where lawbreakers
and prisoners who had done all this evil could run to and just
be safe? Is that not amazing? And then I immediately thought
of prisoners telling other prisoners about this place. Escaped convicts. Running from the law, you know,
the good and perfect law. The law is right. They're evil. Running for their life. I pictured
them in a dark back alley, scared, whispering to each other, I know
of a place where we can go. If we can just get to this place,
we will be fine. We'll be safe. And then I thought that city
had to be plumb full of the worst of the worst. Right? If you were in that case and
you knew of a place where you could be totally safe, it had
to be completely full of the vilest of the vile. And then
I thought, I would not want to be in that place. Would you? I wouldn't want to
go there. Murderers, thieves, horrible,
horrible, wicked sinners. I wouldn't want to go there.
Then I thought, I know why I wouldn't want to go there. It's because
I have never been convicted by the law. You understand what I'm saying?
I have never been a prisoner in a cell, never. I have never stood before a judge
and been sentenced to death, ever. I've never been on death row. So, I have no need of that city. I'm fine where I am, thank you. That city means nothing to me.
But if I was a transgressor, if I was ever made to see that
I am a true sinner, that city would be life to me. It would
be life to me. The truth tells me you are that
sinner. The gospel tells me there is
a city. There is a city, a place of safety. Are there any sinners in here
this morning? I know of a city. The scripture
says it's a walled city. It's a fortress of safety. Here's
where the gospel begins. It begins with sinners. This
gospel is for sinners. That city is for sinners. Jesus
Christ came to save sinners. That's the gospel. Joshua. Now, we're not going through
all 66 books, I promise. Joshua has a precious story in
it. Man, I love this story. It's
about two spies that go into Jericho. And they end up making a covenant
with a harlot named Rahab. I can't wait to meet that precious
woman. I love her. But they make this covenant and
they told her, you take this scarlet line and you put it in
your window. And we're coming through. We're
going to destroy this city. And when we see that red in your
window, we're going to pass over you. We're going to pass over
everything that's in your house. Well, isn't that the same gospel
that's back in Exodus? Yes, it is. The gospel. That line is Jesus Christ. Judges
talks about the angel of the Lord. Who's that? You know what the book of Ruth
is about? It's about the kinsman redeemer.
I thought Ruth was about Ruth. No, it's about Boaz. Who is Boaz? He's Jesus Christ,
our kinsman redeemer, the servant of God. Samuel talks about covenant
mercy. You know where that's found?
You know where a promise is found? A promise has been made. You
know where it's been made? In Jesus Christ. God the Father,
let me tell you something, this is something I'm so thankful
for. I can't tell you how thankful
I am for this. God the Father did not make a covenant with
me. He made it with Christ. He said,
if you will, I will. And he never looked at me and
he never looked at you and said, if you will, I will. He looked
to Christ and he said, if you will, I will. And then he shoved
all of us in Christ. Kings tells us about a greater
than Solomon. Chronicles is about the one who
brought back God's ark. Ezra is about the one who defended
God's law. Shall he not do right? Nehemiah
is about the one who restored God's city. That whole book is
about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, rebuilding the city.
It's all about the one who restored God's city. Esther is all about the one who
provided for God's people. Job talks about my Redeemer.
The Psalms talk about my shepherd. Proverbs is about my wisdom.
Ecclesiastes is about the only thing that truly satisfies. Song of Solomon is about my bridegroom. The whole thing is about my bridegroom.
Isaiah is about my substitute. He was wounded for my transgressions. Jeremiah is about the great physician. Are you sick? Oh, there's a great
physician. Lamentations is about the sufferer. Our Lord said, I am the man that
has seen affliction. Ezekiel is about the glory of
the Lord. Daniel is about the beloved.
Hosea is about the only savior. Joel is about his spirit in us,
Christ in us. Amos is about God's standard. You know what God's standard
is? You know what God requires? Just
look at Jesus Christ. He said, I'm well pleased, well
pleased with my son. Obadiah tells us about God's
deliverer. Jonah tells us that salvation
is of the Lord. Micah tells us about an infant
that's going to be born in Bethlehem. I wonder who that is. Nahum talks
about our comforter. Habakkuk talks about our strength. Zephaniah talks about the mighty
one. Haggai talks about the desire
of all nations. Zechariah talks about our foundation
and our headstones. And Malachi talks about God's
messenger who will prepare the way of the Lord. He's coming. Here it is. Back in Genesis,
we started it and we started talking about him and talk about
him and talk about him. And when Malachi got here, he
said, a messenger is coming. Here he comes. The beginning
of the gospel. The beginning of the gospel.
All of that Old Testament was pointing to Jesus Christ. All
of that New Testament is pointing to Jesus Christ. The beginning
of the gospel is Jesus Christ. That's where we start. Every
text in this scripture has a road that leads to Jesus Christ. Our
job is to find that road and get on it. I love that. All right, Mark 1. Go with me
back to Mark 1. Verse 1 says, The beginning of
the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. What does it mean
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? That's the beginning of the gospel. Only God could accomplish the
work that God required. Only God. To say Jesus Christ
is the Son of God is to say that God Almighty made himself to
be the servant. That's what it means. It means
God Almighty made himself of no reputation and took upon himself
the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men and
being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Here's what
it means. Everything that God required,
God provided in himself. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. If you come to Christ, You will
not be coming to the one who can get you to God. You'll be
coming to God Himself. It means your judge is also your
deliverer. The one who set the price is
the one who paid the price. That's what it means. Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. It's good news is what it is.
It's good news. It's the beginning of the gospel.
Here's our gospel. Jesus Christ is the Son of God. the one that God put us in, the
one that all of our hope is in, the one that all of our trust
is in, the only one we have just so happens to be the Son of God. Good news. All right, let's stand
together.