Thank you, Pastor. In the first chapter of the book
of Romans, Romans chapter one, it is a delight always for Shelby
and I to be with you. We thank God for making you part
of our lives and so thankful for what he has done and is doing
here. Sending you, Pastor, and giving
you this place to worship, very, very thankful. Your pastor I've
known since he was a little boy. I love him dearly, admire him,
thank God for him. I encourage you to pray for him,
cherish him, give thanks to God for bringing him here continually.
All right, Romans chapter one. The apostle Paul in this first
chapter of Romans declared that he was a man utterly separated
unto the gospel. utterly separated under the gospel. He lived to preach the gospel. That's all. He separated himself
from every earthly care and every earthly desire that he might
preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. So you and I must, if we would
serve our God and serve this generation. And it is a constant,
lifelong battle we must be determined never to relinquish. Separated
under the gospel. And then he tells us precisely
what the word gospel means when he uses it. In verse one he tells
us he's talking about the gospel which is of God. The gospel that
God devised, God revealed, the gospel God planned and purposed,
the gospel of God from eternity. And then in verse two he tells
us that the gospel being of God was promised of God and proclaimed
in all the Old Testament scriptures. The prophets of the Old Testament
proclaimed the gospel. They pointed us to Christ crucified
who would come in the fullness of time and put away our sins
by the sacrifice of himself. So that all the Old Testament
scriptures are the proclamation of Jesus Christ crucified. Understand that when you read
the Old Testament, and it'll come to life for you. Everything
written in the Old Testament has to do with the person and
work of our Lord Jesus Christ, his accomplished salvation, his
great grace, his great mercy, everything in the scriptures.
And then the apostle tells us that this gospel is all concerning
God's son, Jesus Christ. Concerning that man who was made
of the seed of woman, that man who was David's offspring, and
at the same time, David's Lord. That man, Jesus Christ, who died,
was buried, and risen again by the power of God as the substitute
of his people. The gospel is all about him. It's not about you. It's not
about the church. It's not about prophecy. It is
all about Jesus Christ, God's Son. And then the apostle tells
us in verse 16 that the gospel, the gospel, this is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. It is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Not it is the
normal power of God. Not that it is the thing God
most often uses to save his people. This gospel, the gospel of Jesus
Christ crucified, is the power of God by which God saves his
elect. It is the power of God by which
God calls out His elect and gives them life and faith in Jesus
Christ the Lord. The word that's translated power
here, if we would transliterate it, transliterating simply means
you take the Greek spelling and you write it out in English letters.
If you were to transliterate it, the word would read dynamite. That's the word, it's the dynamite
of God. It is the explosive power of
God. I'm sure I've told you this,
I like Westerns. I especially like to watch those Westerns
when Clint Eastwood gets hold of dynamite. He'd light the dynamite
and throw it. Now, I used to be a pretty good
shot. I could shoot a rifle, I was
pretty good, but my eyes got bad. These days, if I had any
difficulty, I'd like to get the dynamite and throw it. What do
you do? You just get out of the way.
You just get out of the way. That's what we do in preaching
the gospel. We preach Jesus Christ crucified as he's set forth in
this book and step back and get out of the way and watch God
work. Just watch God work. No gimmicks,
no tricks, no stuff to try to manipulate people. Just preach
the gospel and watch God work. It's sufficient. This is the
power by which God saves his people. I know people tell me,
I've preached all over the country, all over the English speaking
world, and folks tell me all the time how they were saved
and then they came to believe the gospel. That's a bunch of
nonsense. You can go sell that at the flea
market, that just ain't so. You come to know God by the gospel
and you don't know God except by the gospel. By the preaching
of the gospel, God saves his people. By the preaching of the
gospel, God comforts and edifies and strengthens and teaches and
guides his people so that the preaching of the gospel is not
just a good thing to have, it is vital to your life as a believer. vital to your life as you walk
with God in this world. Then beginning in verse 18, chapter
one, the apostle was inspired of God to demonstrate the universal
necessity of the gospel. He does this by showing us the
universal depravity of man. Jew and Gentile, Religious and
irreligious, moral and immoral, civilized barbarians and uncivilized
barbarians, all are utterly depraved, depraved at heart, depraved. Utterly corrupt by Adam's transgression,
so that there is none that doeth good, no not one. This matter of man's depravity
goes from chapter 1 verse 18 right down through chapter 3
verse 19. Paul spends all of that time showing us that men
without the gospel are lost. Men without the gospel are lost
and cannot be saved. They have the light of creation,
the light of conscience, they have the light of God written
in the tables of the law, they have the light of God written
in the word. But until God sends a preacher with the word of the
gospel, sinners yet remain lost. That's the vital necessity of
gospel preaching. In chapter 2, verse 16. Paul
speaks of a day coming when God will judge the secrets of men
by Jesus Christ. You see that? And he's going
to judge them according to my gospel. Now I call your attention
to those last two words of verse 16. That's my subject. My gospel. The gospel upon which I hang
my hope for eternity in Christ. The gospel I preach. The gospel
preached from this pulpit. Like the Apostle Paul, I call
it my gospel because I've experienced it, because I believe it, I own
it, I preach it without apology everywhere I go. There is a day
appointed in which God will judge the world. He will judge the
secrets of men according to, by my gospel. Now I want you
to frankly, honestly examine every word I preach by this book. I would urge you to do that with
your pastor, with me, or with any other preacher. Every word
preached, examine it by this book. But particularly, I urge
you to weigh everything I say this hour by this book. If it
is so, bow to it, believe it, ask God to make you rejoice in
it. If it is not, don't ever listen to me again. This thing's important here.
Is my gospel the gospel of God? Is my gospel the gospel of God?
There is only one gospel. Is the gospel I believe the gospel
I preach the gospel of God? Is the gospel you believe the
gospel of God? Let's find out what God says. I want to be honest with God's
Word and honest with you. And I want by the grace and power
of God the Holy Spirit always to be crystal clear in my preaching. I'm fully aware that my preaching
offends a lot of people. That doesn't surprise me when
somebody tells me that. But the servant of God Almighty
cannot, must not, dares not, and will not alter his message
or try in any way to evade the controversial points of gospel
truth in order to please men and avoid causing division among
religious people. He's not going to do it. He's
not going to do it. The gospel of God truly unites the people
of God. But Christ and his gospel are
by divine design a stumbling block and a rock of offense to
those who will not believe. That means, pastor, you're not
going to get folks who won't believe to like what you preach
if you preach the gospel. It ain't going to happen. It
ain't going to happen. We live in a generation of folks.
I know a lot of men all over the world who try to talk out
both sides of their mouths and say they believe the gospel of
God's free grace and then try to make it palatable to unregenerate
men. It cannot be made palatable,
acceptable to unregenerate men. Our Lord said, think not that
I've come to send peace on the earth. I came not to send peace,
but a sword. And if you read through the book
of Acts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the book of Acts,
about our Lord and his apostles as they preached the gospel,
everywhere they went preaching the gospel, three things always
happen. Three things always happen. I
can attest, I see it everywhere I go. Some folks were glad. They were tickled to death to
hear the gospel of God's free grace. They needed grace. Some
folks got mad. They were enraged by the word,
enraged by the gospel. You can't imagine how many times
I've preached to folks these last 45 years and see them standing
where you are and suddenly their faces start to turn red. And
veins start to pop out and get a glare in their eyes. And I'd
know if they were big enough they'd kill me if they could.
They just mad. They just mad because the gospel
of God's grace declares them to be nothing but sin. The gospel
of God's grace takes away everything in which they boast, everything
in which they place themselves on good footing with God. And
the rest of the folks are just confused. Brother Donnie Bell
would say they just sit there and look like a calf looking
at a new gate. What's that? If we preach the gospel of Christ,
we'll see the same thing happen in our day. The offense of the
cross has not ceased and it will not cease while the world stands.
Now, hold your Bibles here in Romans chapter one for a minute,
or chapter two, and turn back to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah
chapter 28. All men and women are religious,
and everyone has a religious refuge. Most make a refuge for
themselves by a religious decision, a doctrinal system, a family
relationship, a religious experience, a reformed moral life, a religious
sacrament, baptism or the Lord's Supper, something like that,
church membership, and that's their refuge. I've talked to
some of you a good bit about your lives, and Tony Moody, you
hid in a religious refuge for years. That's a good place to
hide from God. It's a good place to hide from
God. You just make a decision, and that's all right. You know
nothing's changed. You know the bed's too short,
you can't stretch yourself on it. You know the covering's too
narrow, you can't wrap yourself in it. There's no real comfort
for your soul, but you hide in your refuge. And this is how
you speak. Isaiah 28, verse 14. Wherefore,
hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this
people which is in Jerusalem. Because you have said, we have
made a covenant with death. We've made a covenant with death. People grasp at everything they
can when somebody close to them dies and they say, well, daddy
told me he was ready to die before he died. And that gives them
some peace. If he didn't know God, it doesn't matter what he
said. Folks, I've made a covenant with, I'm ready to die. I'm ready
to die. With hell, we're at agreement. There's nothing I have to be
afraid of. When the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it
shall not come unto us. For we've made lies our refuge. We've made lies our refuge. And
under falsehood have we hid ourselves. Therefore, thus saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation stone, a tribe stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure stone, a sure foundation. He
that believeth shall not make haste. Now, this is what God
says. He says, I'm going to lay judgment to the lion and righteousness
to the plummet, and I'm going to measure your refuge. And if
it doesn't measure up to justice and righteousness, your refuge
of lies will fall to pieces and it'll come crushing down over
your head as you perish and are cast into hell. And yet all the
ways of man are clean in his own eyes. There is a way that
seemeth right unto a man. But the end thereof are the ways
of death. How many times do we have to
be warned? How many times do we have to
be warned? There's only two ways in this world. God's way and
man's. There's only two religions in
this world. God's and man's. There's only
two thoughts concerning salvation in this world. Either salvation's
of the Lord, or salvation's something you do. There's no in-between
ground. One is truth, and the other's
a lie. And if you make lies your refuge,
you're going to hell. Let me say it one more time.
I hope you'll hear what God says. According to this book, according
to this book, there is but one gospel. Just one. Turn to Galatians
chapter one. Galatians chapter one. Paul is writing to this church
at Galatia to whom he had gone preaching the gospel. These folks
were established under Paul's ministry. And after he left,
there were some fellows who came in who were slick-talking fellows
and they said, now Paul told you the truth, but he just went
so far. He told you we're justified by faith and we're sanctified
by the grace of God, but you've got to keep the law. You've got
to do good, you've got to be circumcised, you've got to do
this, you've got to do that. Now watch what Paul says, verse
6, Galatians chapter 1. I marvel, I marvel that you are
so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel. Now watch this. Which is not
another. It's not even similar to the
gospel of God. But there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we are
an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than
that which we have preached unto you, let him be damned. Is that what it said, Brother
Carroll? Let him be damned. Let him be accursed. Let him
be accursed. What? Accursed? Well, we'll pray
for him. No, let him be damned. We'll
ask God to give him more light. No, let him be damned. He comes
and preaches another gospel to you, let him be damned. As we
said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. Now, look
at 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15. I hear people all the time, they
talk about, well, he preaches from the Bible. He believes in
Jesus' death, burial, resurrection. What's that got to do with anything?
What's that got to do with anything? Last time I checked, that doddering
old fool in Rome talks out of this book, doesn't he? Doesn't it? I've never heard
any pope in my life deny that this is the Word of God. I've
never heard anybody say that. Not one of them. Not one of them.
Most even liberal folks pretend to believe this is the Word of
God. Folks who stand in pulpits all over the country, all over
this town. And we drove through religious circle down here coming
in. And all the folks down there tonight, they open this book
and they preach out of this book. They talk out of this book. And
if you ask them, they tell you they believe in the death, burial,
and resurrection. But that's not the gospel. Those are just
historic facts. Those are just historic facts.
The gospel is not that Christ died for our sins and was buried
and rose again the third day according to the scriptures.
If you will, at certain times of the year when Easter time
rolls around or Christmas time rolls around, turn on the Discovery
Channel or the History Channel, you'll have nonstop programs
telling you about Christ, his life, his death, his burial,
and his resurrection. Those are just historic facts.
That's not the gospel. Look here in 1 Corinthians 15
verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel,
the gospel, the just one, which I preached unto you, which also
you have received, and wherein ye stand, by which also ye are
saved. What strong language. This is
the gospel. This is the gospel I preach to
you. This is the gospel you receive. This is the gospel wherein you
stand. This is the gospel by which you're saved. If you keep
in memory, that is, if you hold fast, if you're not moved away
from the gospel which I preached unto you, if you keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered
unto you, first of all, that which I also received, Now watch
this word, H-O-W. The gospel is not the fact that
Christ died, was buried and rose again, it's the message arising
from that fact. You got that? It's not the fact
that Christ died, that he was buried, that he rose again. It's
the message arising from that fact. The gospel is H-O-W, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
How is it that he died for our sins? According to this book.
According to this book, he died by the purpose of God by his
own sovereign will as a voluntary sacrifice. No man taketh my life
from me. I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. You who nailed him to the tree.
by your wicked hands. You fulfilled your wicked will.
And you did that by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. You only performed what God from
eternity ordained must be done for the saving of his people.
When Christ came to die, he told Pilate, he said, you don't have
any power over me. You can't do anything with me. What you
do is only as a puppet in God's hands. That's all. You're nothing.
You're nobody. I'm God. I'm Lord, I'm master. So that when he came to die,
he himself was still God on the throne. We sometimes talk about
our Lord's incarnation, and I'm guilty of saying he left his
throne above. No, he didn't. No, he didn't. Read this book again. He never
left the throne. He came here, but he's still
God on the throne. He became a man, but he's still
God on the throne. And he died by his own sovereign
will, giving up his life as our substitute. He died secondly
as a substitute, as a substitute. Did you happen to notice when
Brother Starnica was standing here and he introduced me and
I stepped up here, did you know he had to get out of the way?
He had to move because there's not room here for me and him
both. I'm standing in his place tonight. Christ is our substitute. He
is not the substitute for all men. Nowhere in this book, nowhere
in this book, nowhere in this book is there a hint that Christ
died for everybody in this world. There's not the slightest hint
that that's so. Not an indication of it anywhere
in this book. He died for his people. He died
as a substitute in the room instead of his people. Only here, there's
no room for both the substitute and me, but there's plenty of
room in the substitute for me. He died and I died in him as
my substitute. I was crucified with Christ.
He died to make satisfaction to divine justice. When the Lord
God laid on him the iniquity of all his people. When God made
his son sin for us, and he bare our sin in his own body on the
tree, then God in justice imputed our sins to him because he was
made sin. And when justice found sin on
God's darling son, God almighty cried, awake, O sword, against
the man that is my fellow. Smite and slay the shepherd.
And thus justice buried its sword in the heart of the son of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ died to make satisfaction to justice
for the sins of his people. He died to fulfill all righteousness
for us by the sacrifice of himself. And here's the fourth thing about
how he died. Whatever he intended to accomplish, whatever he intended
to do in his sacrifice, he is successful. Sovereignty, substitution,
satisfaction, success. That's how Christ died. When
he said, it is finished. You know what that means? It's
finished. It's finished. Nothing more to
be done. With his own blood, the Son of God entered once into
the holy place. Not that he literally carried
his blood into heaven. No. No, no. By the merit and
efficacy and power of what he accomplished when he poured out
his life's blood into death, he entered it once into the holy
place and sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high,
having obtained eternal salvation for us. It was successful. There's
only one true gospel. One true message, one word of
good news from God in heaven to perishing sinners on the earth.
Every other gospel is a sham, a pretense, a fake, a false gospel
invented by Satan and damning to men's souls. Those who preach
it are messengers of Satan. Brother Don, are you saying that
every preacher in this town is a messenger of Satan? Everyone
who doesn't preach this gospel? That's exactly right. I told
you this years ago when you first started meeting together. First
time I was down here. No point in meeting here and
trying to start this church here if there's somewhere else we can
go hear the gospel. Just cause they wear a different costume
and do things a little different than we do. If they preach the
gospel, go join up with them. If God saves sinners by what
they're doing, go join up with them. No, no, no. God doesn't
save sinners by the preaching of religious lies. He saves sinners
by the preaching of the gospel, by the preaching of Jesus Christ
and him crucified. But brother Don, what's the difference? Every false gospel. This is just
fact. And it's not hard to identify.
So I wonder if he's telling the truth. That's not hard to find.
That's not hard to find out. Every false gospel makes salvation
in some way, at some point, to some degree, to depend on you. Every false gospel does it. Either
your will, or your worth, or your works. Every false gospel
does it. Either in justification, or in
sanctification, or in glorification. put your finger in the work.
And when you put your finger in the work, you spoil the whole
way. You understand that? Of Him,
1 Corinthians 1.30, of God are you in Christ Jesus, who of God
is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Christ is ours. We are in Him
by the decree of God and by the work of God. We're in Him by
God's eternal purpose and in Him by divine regeneration so
that we live in Him. And living in Him, He is made
of God to us wisdom. He is the revelation of God in
our souls. He describes Himself as wisdom
in Proverbs chapter 8. He is the Word by whom God makes
Himself known. He is the Word by whom God reveals
Himself. He is made of God unto us. Righteousness. Righteousness. Righteousness. What do we know about that? What
on earth does Christianity know about righteousness? You've never
even thought of righteousness, let alone done one. Righteousness? Righteousness. Righteousness
is perfection. Righteousness is complete, compliant
with God's holy law. Righteousness is obeying the
command of God. People talk about keeping the
Ten Commandments. You've never kept one of them.
Not even in thought. Not even in thought. You don't
keep the commandments. What is it to keep the commandments?
It is to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with
all your mind, with all your spirit. You don't do that. What
is the Ten Commandments? It's to love your neighbor as
yourself. And you don't do that. But there
is a man who walked on this earth, a man who is God, our substitute,
our mediator, our representative, our sheriff. And from the time
he came into his mother's womb saying, Lo, I come to do thy
will, oh my God. And as he broke his mother's
womb, the firstborn of every creature, he said, Lo, I come
to do thy will, oh my God. And from the moment that he entered
his mother's womb until he went back to glory, he did the will
of God. He walked on this earth in perfect
righteousness. Brother Bright, not for himself,
for you. You got that? He didn't do that. He did it for his people. And
we were in him. In him. That baby you carried
in there a little bit ago, he was in your lives before you
ever met that lady. In you. Part of you. Before you
ever heard her name. In you. Part of you. We were
in Christ from everlasting. But that's what God sees, that's
what it really is. We were in Christ from everlasting. In Christ, accepted in the beloved. In Christ, blessed of God. In
Christ, justified, sanctified, glorified. In Him. And we walked
on this earth and obeyed God's law. You remember what God told
Abraham? He said, walk before me and be
thou perfect. But Doug, you can't do that.
But I did. I did. My Savior did. And I did
in you. Be ye holy. For I am holy. I
can't do that. I did. I did in Christ my Savior. Do you understand what I'm saying?
We live here with perfect righteousness to God. He's our sanctification,
our holiness. I'd love to talk about, oh, he's such a holy man. When you use relative and holy,
you've messed up. Christ is our sanctification.
He is that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. He
comes and makes us new creatures, giving us a new nature, putting
a holy man in us, which cannot sin. That's our sanctification.
Christ is our sanctification. And all this by the big, big,
big turn he's made of God into us, redemption. Redemption. When Christ died at Calvary,
I died in Eden. Paul puts it this way in Galatians
2, verse 19. He said, I'm dead to the law by the body of Christ. I'm dead to the law by the body
of Christ. What's that mean? That means
that the law that I'm here to claim won't be. I died to it when Christ
died. I'm dead to the law by the body
of Christ that I might live unto God. The only way you can ever
live to God is by justice being satisfied. And then he goes on
to say in verse 20, he said, I'm crucified with Christ. The
word literally is I was crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I
live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith, the faithful obedience
of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me, so
that we died with him, and we rose with him, and we sat down
with him, accepted into the Lord. And now? He who is Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Lord our righteousness, declares this is the name of his church,
Jehovah Sidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. The only true
gospel is a message of free salvation by the unconditional free grace
of God. purchased for chosen sinners
by the sin atoning blood of Christ, and effectually wrought in those
same chosen sinners by the sovereign, irresistible power and grace
of God the Holy Spirit. Oh, blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest to approach unto thee. The gospel of God
describes man as he really is. What are you? Just see it. That's all. Just see it. Thought, word, deed,
heart, mind, just see it. That's all. That's all. We died
in our father Adam. and we came forth from the mother's
womb speaking lies, and we drink iniquity like water, that's the
nature of man. You and me. You got that little
baby. I'll tell you something you'll
never have to teach him to do. You'll never have to teach him
to lie. It's just as natural as it can be. You take him and
you say, say daddy, say daddy, say daddy, and he starts to make
a word, say daddy, and first thing he says is mine. Because
that's the nature of the beast. Gets that nature from his daddy.
That's all we pass along to our sons and daughters is that depraved
nature. I know it's popular and commonplace
for preachers to say, well, when we talk about man being depraved,
we don't mean you're as depraved as you could be. We don't mean
you're as corrupt as you could be. I mean you're as depraved
as you can be. I mean you're as corrupt as you
possibly could be. The only reason you don't act
any worse is because God doesn't let you. And the only reason
you don't think any worse is because God restrains your mind.
That's all. But the corruption is what you
are. Just see it. Being dead in trespasses and
in sins. All men, all women, all children
are spiritually helpless under the curse of God's law. Dead. That means, my friend, there's nothing you can do to
change your condition. Nothing you can do to change
your condition. Nothing. Nothing. If you're changed, God's
gonna have to change you. He does it by the preaching of
the gospel, yes, but God has to change you. If God leads you
to yourself, you're going to hell. That's just fact. That's just fact. And there's
nothing I can do to change your condition. I can help somebody
who's sick. I can help somebody who's crippled.
I can help somebody who's blind. I can help somebody who can't
hear. But I can't help somebody who's dead. I can't do anything
for you, and nobody else can. And anybody who pretends to is
only deceiving you. Brother Don, that shuts me up
in the hands of God, doesn't it? That's where it shuts you
up. In his hands. The gospel reveals God in his
true character. Sovereign, gracious, just, and
holy. Any message that lowers God erases
man. Any message that presents God
as somewhat weak and frustrated and man is somehow in control
of God is a false gospel. The gospel Proclaim salvation
as a gracious work of the triune God alone. Purposed by God the
Father. Purchased by God the Son. Accomplished by the power of
God the Holy Spirit. He declares that salvation is
entirely the work of God's free grace. We are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works. which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. His workmanship. I brag on you, brag on my friends. I just commended your pastor
to you just a few minutes ago. I've known Brother Gabe nearly
his whole life. Fine, fine man. But the reality
is, Gabe Starnocker ain't much. but you couldn't be anything
better. His workmanship. You know what that means? His
daddy's an artist, and I've seen some of his artwork. Masterpieces. I don't know which one Marvin
would call his best work. I don't have any idea which one
he would say this is the best I can do. I had no idea which
one that would be. But that word workmanship, this is what it
means. Look here. Look right here. Look
at this man right here. This one right here. Don Fortner. His workmanship. The best God
can do. Masterpieces. That's the word.
The best God can do. What's that? Perfect righteousness. Perfect redemption, perfect salvation. His workmanship created in Christ
Jesus unto good works. But pastor, how can I be sure
you preach the only true gospel? How can we be sure this is the
only true gospel? Let me wrap this up with this.
Get your pens out if you have one and a piece of paper. Back
in 1983, Brother Henry Mahan and I were driving back from
a meeting. one of us raised this question.
How can I know that my gospel is the gospel? Well, the mayhem
and I spent a lot of time on the road together in those days,
and I think this was coming back from Fairmont, West Virginia,
but I'm not positive we were. We were in his car. He was driving,
so I did the right. And we began to work on some
answers to that question. I got out a piece of paper and
wrote down the answers we came up with, and I ran across it
a while back. By these 10 things, I know that
the gospel I preach is the gospel of God. The only gospel there
is. Number one, the gospel preached
from this pulpit, the gospel your pastor preaches, the gospel
I preach to you tonight is the only gospel that gives all glory
to God alone. None for you. No room for you
to boast. None for your church, none for
the preacher, just God. Number two, this is the only
gospel that is true to all the scriptures. Old Testament and
new. It is the gospel revealed in
all the holy scriptures. I defy anyone to take this book
and from this book gainsay anything you've heard me preach tonight.
I promise you, if you could show me this book where it's not so,
I'll never preach again. That's just fact. You cannot deny what you've heard
in the light of this book. This is the only gospel that
gives credibility to and is true to all the scriptures. to the
law and to the testimony. If they speak not according to
this word, it's because there's no light in them. Number three,
this is the only gospel that magnifies and honors and satisfies
all the demands of God's holy law. Paul said, when we come
to God, trust in Christ, we establish the law. Romans 3.31, we come
to God and we establish the law. For we bring God in the person
of his son everything that God requires, righteousness and satisfaction. Number four, this is the only
gospel that enables God to be just and the justifier, a just
God and a savior. You've heard folks say, boy,
I want grace. Don't give me justice. You can't
get grace without justice. You can't get grace without justice. You remember how Moses prayed,
Lord, I beseech you, show me your glory? And you remember
how the Lord revealed his glory to him? He said, I am the Lord,
the Lord God, and I will by no means clear the guilty. I will
by no means clear the guilty. And the very next line, said
the very next line, he said, forgiving iniquity, transgression,
and sin. Now how can you do that? How can you do that? By putting
the sin away. By the substitutionary sacrifice
of the soul. So that when justice is satisfied,
now the justice of God demands and demands as loudly as mercy,
love, and grace, that the soul for whom Christ lived and died
Must go free! Justice demands it. Justice demands
it. The gospel we preach is the only
gospel that gives real hope to real sinners. Real hope to real sinners. Joseph Hart said, a sinner is
a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
You haven't met many sinners in your life. Now, you won't
find many out here on the streets. You don't find many. You won't
find many in church house, not many. No, no, not real sinners. You see, a real sinner is somebody
who knows he's lost and doomed and damned and there's nothing
he can do about it. Nothing he can do about it. If
God requires something from you before you can have his salvation,
his grace, You'll never have it. You'll never have it. You
see, the gospel declares mercy to sinners by him who says, I
will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. Well, brother Don, if the gospel
declares salvation free to sinners without them doing anything,
There's hope for me. Isn't that good news? If the gospel declares salvation
free for sinners without them doing anything, there's hope
for me. Number six, this is the only gospel that keeps the sinner
saved by God's grace. Every other form of religion.
makes your eternal salvation somehow to hinge on you. And your everlasting preservation
and perseverance somehow to hinge upon you. Not the gospel of God. The gospel of God says they shall
never perish. The righteous man falleth seven
times in a day. Why do you reckon Solomon said
seven times in a day? Why not 70 or 7,000 or 70,000? You've fallen more than seven
times today. Seven speaks of completion and
the righteous in the totality of his life. Oh my God, how I fall. I've been trying to walk upright
since I was 16 years old when God revealed His grace in His
Son in me. I've been trying my best to walk
upright, and I have made a mess of my life. Just fall and fall
and fall and fall. Everything I put my hands to,
I mess it up. Everything. Everything. The righteous
falleth in the totality of his life, but the Lord raises him
up. Therefore, Michael said, rejoice
not against me when I fall, I will rise again. The gospel of God,
the gospel of God, this is the only true God. It's the only
true gospel and we know it is because it forbids all boasting
on the part of man. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us. Unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy and for thy truth's
sake. And this is the only gospel,
the only gospel you can believe and have real assurance before
God. Real assurance. This book talks about the full
assurance of faith. The full assurance of faith. Confident faith. Assured faith. Assured hope. Oh, I can't have
that. I'm too sinful. That's got nothing
to do with it. I can't have that. I'm not strong
enough. That's got nothing to do with it. I can't have that. I've not lived long enough. That's
got nothing to do with it. If you come to God trusting Christ,
believing on the Son of God, Trust in Christ. You come to
God with full assurance of His existence. And if you lack the
assurance, it's because you're looking somewhere else. That's
just fact. That's just fact. You're looking
in here. Or you're looking here. Or you're looking here. Look
yonder. Trust in Christ. We come to God
and say, Abba, Father. My God. My Father. I used to,
I was terrified of the name God told me. I was terrified by every
thought of God. Terrified of meeting God. I had
horrible nightmares of meeting God in general. Terrified of
the thought of God. And one day, God revealed His
Son in me. And I lifted my heart to heaven. And looked God square in the
face and said, my Father, Why? How can you do that? Because
Christ is my Savior. Full assurance of faith. One
last thing. Two more things, one quickly.
Look at 1 Corinthians 6. 1 Corinthians 6. This is the only gospel that
compels saved sinners. I said compels. compel saved
sinners to consecrate themselves to God with will and grateful
heart. 1 Corinthians 6, 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind. nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of God. And that's just what you were,
and such were some of you. But you're washed, but you're
sanctified, but you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
and by the Spirit of our God. Now look at verse 19. What? Know ye not that your body is
the temple of God, the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in
you, which you have of God, and you're not your own. You're not your own. You're bought with a price. You're bought with a price. Lock, stock, and barrel. Gabe
Stoniker, you don't belong to yourself. Nothing about you does. Your life is not your own. Don
Fortner, you don't belong to yourself. Nothing about you is
your own. Christ bought you. And I want it that way more than
I want life itself. Therefore, glorify God in your
body and in your spirits, which are God's. Now, one last thing. Brother Mahan and I came up with
this 10th thing. How do you know this is the gospel? The gospel of God. Because what I preach to you
is what I've experienced in my soul. The son of God saved me by his free grace. By
the grace of God, I am what I am. May God be pleased to make that
grace yours for Christ's sake and make you and me faithful
to him and his gospel in this generation while we have our
breath in this world. Amen. How thankful we are for that.
Thank you, Brother Don. Thank you so much. Let's turn
to 222 and stand together. 222. There is a fountain filled with
blood Drawn from Emmanuel's veins And sinners plunged beneath that
flood Lose all their guilty stains Lose all their guilty stains
lose all their guilty stains and sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty stains third verse Dear dying lamb,
thy precious flood shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed Church
of God be saved to sin no more. Be saved to sin no more. Be saved to sin no more. Till all the ransomed Church
of God be saved to sin no more. Last verse. When this poor lisping,
stammering tongue Lies silent in the grave Then in a nobler,
sweeter song I'll sing thy power to save I'll sing thy power to
save I'll sing thy power to save Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. Brother Tony, would you dismiss
us in prayer, please? Christ is heaven and Father of the world. We thank you. We
were able to be here tonight to hear your gospel. Now, Father,
we thank you for all that you've done We pray, Lord, in these words,
we earn thy glory. Know, Lord, that we might rejoice
in thee, not work for he or she that does not know thee. We pray
that you would visit us. Know, Lord, your
mercy, and your graciousness, Lord, in the living of sinners. Lord, you have no fault in these
things. And knoweth this, Lord, we pray
this week. Thank you, Lord. Amen. You're dismissed.