Turn please to Galatians chapter
6. A nation that is often referred
to as a Christian nation, but one would have to close both
eyes to really believe that. It is far from it. This nation once preached the
God of the Bible. Salvation by the grace of God
in Christ, but that day is long, long gone. When we talk about the cross,
we are not speaking about the wood that made up the cross. We are not speaking about the
shape of a cross. With one pole or whatever it was designed,
I don't know, and then a cross member where the hands of Christ
were nailed and his feet to the bottom of the cross. Some other
spot on the cross. We're not speaking of that at
all. When we talk about the cross,
we're talking about Christ on the cross. what He accomplished
on that tree. Why did He have to be nailed
there? Why did God send His Son from
eternal glory to come into this world on purpose to go to the
cross? Now, God did not make people
cry for the hanging of Christ on the cross when Pilate said,
let me give you Christ and we'll put Barabbas on the cross. He was a felon. He was a murderer
and a robber. They said, no, give us Barabbas
and crucify Christ. Ninety-nine percent of religious
people this morning, if you were to ask them the question, what
would they have done, had they been there? They would tell you
that they would have demanded Christ be released and Barabbas
be crucified. But they don't know themselves. If we believe that about ourselves,
then I want to know how that came to pass. What has happened
to you? You're not a normal human being
if you love Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, let's look
at the scriptures this morning, particularly as we read from
this passage in Galatians. And I'm not even turned to Galatians,
I thought I was, but I'll get there in just a second. Alright, Galatians chapter 6. Beginning at verse 11. I think I told you last Sunday
that in Paul's writing this letter to the Galatian congregations,
there were more than one of them, more than one church. He is writing
to them in regard to an effort on the part of some Orthodox
Jews from Jerusalem who have come, having heard that these
churches had been established. They have come to see if they
can get these people not only to love Christ and worship Christ,
but to love Moses and to do what Moses commanded. which for the
Jews was the circumcision of the male child. But it could
be anything. It doesn't have to be circumcision.
Whatever it is that we add to Christ makes the Lord Jesus to
whom we try to add it of no avail. It makes Him nothing to us. It's
all Christ, or it is none of it Christ. Therefore, it is all
of us for all of him. It cannot be any other way. All right, here it is, verse
11, Galatians chapter 6. Let me pause now and ask the
Lord to help us this morning because this is not an easy subject,
but it is one that is desperately needed. Lord, we stand before you this
morning in desperate need of divine aid
and help from heaven. This preacher cannot save a soul. He cannot even save his own. And yet you can, you have, and
you do. Lord, we plead for your aid and
help that you would come among us this morning We are not many
and we are not much, but Lord, if you would come, all of that
would be meaningless. Oh, for your presence, for the
power of your Spirit, and the presence of our great Redeemer.
Open our hearts and minds. Help this poor preacher. We pray
in Christ's name. Amen. Verse 11, you see how large a
letter I have written unto you with my hand. Paul evidently
had an eye disease that was grotesque. But when he wrote, it was usually
someone who wrote it as he dictated it. But in this case, he says,
I've written this with my own hand. As many as desire to make
a fresh show in the flesh, They constrain you to be circumcised
only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ. So these Jews, when they would
go back to Jerusalem, having made converts to add Moses to
Christ, to add the law to God's grace, it sort of took the edge
off for them to be professors of believing in Christ in Jerusalem,
which was not a popular place to be a follower of Christ. For
neither they themselves, verse 13, who are circumcised, neither
they keep the law, they do not keep the law, and anybody who
says they do keep the law is not telling us the truth. We
may tell ourselves that, but we're lying to ourselves. Now,
the only way you and I can keep the law is if The Lord Jesus
keeps it for us and has already honored it and exalted it and
magnified it when he was on this earth for thirty-three years.
For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law,
but desire to have you circumcised, that they might glory in your
flesh. But God forbid that I should
glory Save or accept in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not the wood. Not the way the structure is
made. But what happened on that tree
when Christ shed His blood. Save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. For in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision makes any difference or uncircumcision. It's a non-issue. It's not important. It has nothing
to do with the soul. And as many as walk according
to this rule, peace be on them. and mercy upon the Israel of
God. That rule is identified in verses
14 and 15. All right, verse 17, from henceforth
let no man trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord
Jesus. Paul was severely beaten, at
least on three occasions. They gave him 39 whips of that
lash, and 40 was considered fatal. He had it done three times to
him. Let no man trouble me, for I
bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. Now my title this morning is What is my gospel? What is the
gospel that I preach and that I believe? I've not always believed
it and I've not always preached it. Well, why did you change? God
didn't leave me a choice. He changed me. I mean, when I wasn't looking
for Him, I was on my way up the ladder. Thank God He intervened. If you want to know what my gospel
is, it is the gospel of a sovereign God. Therefore, it is of necessity
sovereign grace. God saves whom He pleases and
He doesn't ask our permission. He is sovereign in creation.
This world is made exactly as he intended it to be. And the
New Testament even tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ is our
Maker. We consider that God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are the three of them
our Maker. But our Lord Jesus is most prominent
in that regard in some of Paul's own writings. as we might be
able to see in just a few moments. Not only sovereign in creation,
but we say that He operates this world, He runs this world exactly
as He intends it to be. And if you want a carbon copy
of what God is doing on Sunday, July the 7th, 2013, You just get the newspaper tomorrow
morning and see what happened all over this world today, and
that's exactly what God intended. Now, if it ain't, then He's not
in control. But if He is sovereign, in control
of everything, I mean from the flying of a gnat to the greatest
disaster this earth has ever seen, or any other thing you
want to name, God does as He pleases. Even that old pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar,
knew better than most people in our day, better than I used
to believe, that God needed my help. He couldn't save people
without me. Boy, if that ain't absolute arrogance,
I don't know what is. No, sir, that ain't how it is.
God saves whom He pleases. when he pleases, by whatever
means he pleases. But it's his doing. It ain't
the preacher. It ain't the folks that's praying.
It's God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thirdly, God's gospel, this gospel
of a sovereign God, reveals itself in salvation. This is God's greatest work,
is to make a sinner righteous in his sight, to make a man that
hates God love God. You try that on for size. We
can't make ourselves do that. But God can sure do it, and every
time He saves a soul, He accomplishes that. If He wanted to, He could save
everybody, but He tells us that He won't. Uh-oh, preacher, now
you're meddling. No, I'm not. I'm telling you,
this is who God is. Before this world was ever made,
before Adam was ever heard of in old eternity, God elected
a people out of the human race. And He gave every one of those
people to Christ for Him to come into this world to bleed, suffer,
and die, and redeem them from their sins. And then the Spirit
of God comes, using what Christ has accomplished on the cross,
and He applies it to the souls of men and women one by one. There is no wholesale in this
matter. It is all between God and me
and God and you. And He does it quite well. If He saves you, you can never
be lost. I know I can't get it done, but
I was going to give you some Scriptures to turn to. Let me just read this one to
you, and then I'll tell you where I found it, and then you won't
need to turn. Okay? Let me narrow the verses. All
right, here it is. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven and in earth and all deep places. He causes the vapors to ascend
from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the rain
and brings the wind out of his treasures. And you can apply
that on about any particular matter that you wish. In the
weather, in what goes on in the souls of men, in the preaching
of Christ's gospel and the application of that gospel to our desperate
need in our souls. Then we come, secondly, to this
fact that God's gospel preaches a doctrine that is called total
depravity. Total depravity. That means that
all human beings who are descended from Adam are totally depraved. Totally fallen. All of us. There's only one exception. That's Christ. You see, He was born without
being kin to Adam. Have you ever thought about that? Genesis 3.15 is the very first
promise in our Bibles, and it says, The seed of the woman shall
crush the head of the serpent, and the serpent shall bite his
heel. So how can Christ not be born
with a fallen, depraved nature like all the rest of the human
race? Simply because God did not make the human body of Christ
in the womb of Mary. It was not related to a man. It was not her husband or any
other man that conceived that child in her womb. This is so
vital and so necessary. If Joseph is Christ's father,
then he needs saving as much as any one of us. Oh, but he
doesn't. This shows you the infinite wisdom
of God. how he could make a Messiah with
a human nature as well as a divine nature. And both of those found
in the same person. But such is not the case with
all of us. We're fallen members of Adam's
race. Alright, let's turn to Ephesians
chapter 2. Now, I'm assuming I say this
with my tongue under my cheek here, but I'm assuming that some
of you might object to this matter of total
depravity. So I'd just like to read you
a couple of free verses that you might have problems dispelling,
disproving, putting it aside. Did you find Ephesians? I'm in
chapter 2. and reading just the first three verses. Now, the
persons being described at the beginning of Ephesians chapter
2 are believers, people whom God has saved. But look where
they were when the Lord came to them and found them. Here
it is. Now, Paul is writing You have
to go back to the beginning of chapter 1 to find out who it
is that this letter is addressed to, but it is to the people that
made up the church in Ephesus, the Ephesian believers. So he
continues that now in chapter 2 and verse 1. And you has He,
that is God, quickened. What does the word quicken mean?
To be made alive spiritually. He has quickened. who were dead
in trespasses and sins. The natural condition of all
human beings except the human nature of Christ is that we come
into this world already dead in trespasses and sins. We don't
come waiting to find out if we're going to be a sinner. We are
already one, and it don't take but a short time for it to manifest
itself. Wherein, in times past, you walked
according to the course of this world. We followed this world
just like everybody else is doing right now. Going straight to
hell. And no thought whatsoever of
the matter. Just living for today. Getting
everything we can, keeping everything we get, and sitting on the can. That's our human nature. Wherein in times past you walked
according to the course of this world, and that's bad enough,
but listen, according to the prince of the power of the air,
and I know this is tough to believe, we're born slaves and servants
of the devil. Yeah. Notice I did not say that we
are born the devil's children. That's a different matter. Where did I stop? I don't even
know. Oh, so I'm ready for three, right?
Huh? Three. Well, don't be so bashful,
Doug. Oh, I haven't read two. All right,
I thought I was working on two. Wherein in time past you walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the
children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation. Now, that word is bigger than
just speech. It's talking about our manner
of life, not only our speech, but our actions, our thoughts,
and so forth and so on. We all had our conversation in
times past in the lust of our flesh, and that can be moral
as well as immoral, fulfilling the desires of the flesh, and
of the mind, and were by nature, we were by nature, these Ephesian
believers used to be by nature, children of wrath even as others. Children of the devil even as
others. Alright, the third thing in this
gospel that we proclaim to you This gospel is a covenant gospel. When we talk about the second,
well, it's not half in equal sizes, but the second half of
our Bible, we call it the New Testament. Well, that word also
should be understood to mean the new covenant. The new covenant. What do you mean a new covenant?
Well, there's an old covenant. But the new covenant is older
than the old covenant. But it was revealed after the
Old Testament, the old covenant. And of course, it's revealed
in plenty of places in the Old Testament itself. But God, I'm sorry, I meant to
catch the last phrase out of verse 3. I'll just read it again, verse
3. Among whom also we all had our manner of life in times past
in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath even as
others. So my gospel is a covenant gospel. Now let me prove that to you.
I'm going to Hebrews chapter 7, Hebrews chapter 7, regarding
this matter of a covenant gospel, a covenant gospel. Now I need
to read A few verses, then one verse, and then a couple of verses,
all found in the remaining chapters of Hebrews. So that won't be
too bad of a turning problem for you. Alright, the first one
is in chapter 7 and it's verses 18 through 22. For there is verily,
or truly, a disannulling of the commandment
going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof."
That is, the main weakness of God's commandments in telling
us to do this, that, and the other is because we are not capable. We cannot do it. Sin has wrecked
and ruined us. What verse did I start? I started
with 18, so it's verse 19. For the law made nothing perfect,
but the bringing in of a better hope did. That better hope is
Christ and the gospel. The law is not good news. Why? Because we can't keep it. By the which, by this better
hope which is Christ and Him crucified, by the which we draw
near unto God. And inasmuch as not without an
oath he was made priest, for those priests were made without
an oath. But this, with an oath by him
that said unto him, The Lord Jesus, by the oath of God Almighty,
the Lord swear and will not repent, saying to Christ, You are a priest
forever, after the order of Melchizedek." A character that we meet with
in the early part of Hebrews chapter 7. Now we go to chapter
8 and verse 6, talking about a covenant gospel. But now has
he obtained, Christ has obtained a more excellent ministry. Lord,
the ministry of Christ compared to Moses is no comparison at
all, it's all a contrast. Now has he obtained a more excellent
ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant
which was established upon better promises. Why is it better? Because Christ keeps it and not
we ourselves. I'm telling you, we ain't nothing
compared to Him. We're not anybody compared to
Him. No, no. Ephesians chapter 13. It seems like we visited this just
last week maybe. I don't know if we did or not.
But anyway, I've got to cover it because these are crucial
statements regarding this new covenant with these new gospel
promises. that are certain and sure in
our Lord Jesus Christ. Alright, it's verse 20, 21 in
Hebrews 13. 13, 20, and 21. And I want you to notice in the first
place the name that God ascribes to Himself in regard to this
new covenant in which Christ is our surety, And every requirement,
every demand is placed on our Lord Jesus Christ and not on
His people. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead
our Lord Jesus. Now look at those three words,
our Lord Jesus. That great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood, this is the
blood of Christ shed on Calvary's tree, through the blood, now
watch this, of the everlasting covenant. This blood ratified that covenant. It makes it sure to all to see. God cannot possibly be said that
he wanted to save somebody that he did not save in Christ. That
won't fly. Look at verse 21. And this is
just as hard to believe as what we just read. This covenant of
which our Lord is the surety. Make you perfect. Now, you ought
to be just about in laughter. But that's what it says. I'll guarantee you, we won't
see ourselves as perfect until we leave this world. But that
ain't got much to do with anything. How does God see us? Absolutely
perfect. in the Lord Jesus Christ. Perfect. Make you perfect in every good
work to do His will? Working in you that which is
well-pleasing in His sight? Through Jesus Christ, to whom
be glory forever and ever, we all ought to say, Amen. Amen. All right, we've got to
move on. Fourthly, this gospel that we
preach, and thy hope and trust that you believe and confess
before men, it ain't going to win you no
brownie points. But you've got to tell it. You
just can't help it. Can't help it. I'm going back to Romans 1. If
you want to find me, go ahead and I'll meet you there. And
if not, I'll just read it and we'll keep going. I'm getting
low on time. Romans chapter 1. Just a couple
of statements. These are simple declarations.
The fourth thing about our gospel is that our gospel declares an
incarnate God, a God who takes upon himself human flesh, thereby
having two natures. A human nature without sin, and
the divine nature is God. Now let me read it to you right
out of the book. Romans chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. Concerning His
Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. Now if you want to talk about
the human nature of Christ, He came through the lineage of David.
He was born in Bethlehem, which was the city of David. And the
Jews knew this, but they could not accept a man in human flesh
being David's descendant and the Messiah that God sent. This gospel declares and incarnates
God And we read of him here in these verses. Let me start again, Romans 1,
declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the
spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, by whom we have
received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among
all nations. Now, verses 3 and 4 are just
absolutely wonderful if you can get hold of what they actually
mean. It is, verse 3, it is pertaining
to God's Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, therefore the Lord Jesus
Christ, and He's made of the seed of David according to the
flesh, but when it comes to His deity, His divine nature, in
verse 4, He simply declared, and the words to be, by the way,
are italicized, so I'll just leave them out, and declared
the Son of God with power. Now, you tell me, did the Lord
Jesus lack any power that belonged to God? He did whatever He intended
to do. He spoke and it was done. And yet people who witnessed those
things, some of them on many occasions, could not believe
that this man could be God incarnate. But I'm telling you, the real
gospel of the Bible demands that Christ be a man. That God put
on human flesh without sin. But He's also God. He's the God-man
mediator. Only one mediator between God
and men, the God-man Christ Jesus. Alright, the fifth thing we come
to, and this we have an even greater problem with, because
we think we have to make our contribution. We might say, for
example, that God does 99% of the work, but we have to do the
other one. But we're so ignorant that we
believe that we can stymie God and make Him wait upon us instead
of our waiting upon Him. Let's see what the Scriptures
have to say. I'm turning to the book of Colossians. Be to your
right just a little ways past Corinthians, past Galatians,
past Ephesians, And I believe past Philippians, and then you'll
get to it. I believe that's right. Yep, that's how it is. Colossians
chapter 2. Now here's the point I wish to make
with this scripture. It is that the gospel that we
believe and preach declares that salvation is already accomplished. It's not waiting to be done.
To use the words of Christ on the cross, it is finished. We don't add anything to it.
I know religion tells you, you have the magic ingredient that
makes all of this work for you, and that's a lie. It is not the
truth. I'm telling you, when Christ
said it's done, it's done. And there ain't another church
in this county that will tell you what I just said. Colossians 2, verses 9 through
17. For in Him, in Christ, dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead, are you ready for this? Bodily.
Bodily. And we are complete in Him, Paul
and those believers in the city of Colossae. We are complete
in Christ, who is the head of all principality and power, in
whom also you are circumcised. But watch this circumcision.
It ain't the same one that we were talking about in the book
of Galatians. In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands. That is, it is not physical,
but it is spiritual. You understand me? I'm talking
about the soul, not the flesh. The circumcision made without
hands in putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision
of Christ. It is Christ's circumcision of
us spiritually in the gospel that we're talking about. Verse
12, "...buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with
him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised
Christ from the dead. And you being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened together
with Christ, having forgiven you all trespasses." All of them. I know this, if He doesn't forgive
all your sins, it doesn't matter if He forgives a different percentage
of it. That may as well not even be
talked about because it won't be any good. You don't take but
one sin to damn us. And that last breath you took,
we take it without any consciousness that God gives it to us. And
we owe Him the praise for it. having forgiven you all trespasses." Blotting out, verse 14, blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us. We couldn't handle it. Neither
could the Old Testament people handle it. It was contrary to
us, and Christ took it out of the way. What did he do with
it? Nailing it to His cross. Now that's got a note of finality
to it. Nailing it to His cross. And
having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of
them openly. Triumphing over them in it. Let
no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink. Or in respect
of unholy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days,
there ain't no such thing as a Sabbath day anymore. Christ
is our Sabbath. That word means rest. Christ
is our rest. And I'll prove it to you by the
next verse, verse 17. Take all that we just read, especially
verses 14 through 16, and tie it to this statement. All of
these things, the Sabbath day, the new moons, the various offerings
and sacrifices that made up the Jewish system of worship, these
things are a shadow, a type, a word picture of things to come. Namely, the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and his death on Calvary's tree. But the body is of Christ. Well, I've only got one more.
Let me see if I can just cover that right quick. I'm going to
Hebrews chapter 10. And the sixth thing is this. That last one was number five,
salvation accomplished. The sixth thing is that my gospel
is good news I know to somebody. To poor, helpless, believing
sinners. And if you ain't a sinner, I
ain't got nothing for you. Nothing at all. Nothing at all. There's a little track floating
around here. In fact, I put one up here on the pulpit this morning.
If you've never seen this, I want you to pick one up. There's some
here, and there's some in the foyer, and I don't know where
all else. It's called simply, Do or Done.
There are two kinds of religion in America this morning. One
of them is do, and the other one is done. One of them is based
on what you do for God, and the other one is based on what God
has already done for you in Christ. Try reading that. It's very short. Hebrews chapter
10. God's gospel is good news to
poor, helpless, believing sinners. Chapter 10, Hebrews verses 10
through 14. By the which will, that's the
will of God that Christ came to do, by the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. And every priest, every Old Testament
priest, stands daily ministering and offering oftentimes the very
same sacrifices. which can never take away sin. Can't do it. Not the smallest
sin, and certainly not the largest. Never take away sin. But this man, what man is this? The God-man, Christ Jesus. This
man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, listen, forever
sat down on the right hand of God. Now you know in the tabernacle,
there wasn't a chair in that whole place. You know why? The priest's work was never done.
It was repeated over and over and over again, and by the time
of the New Testament, they had people working shifts just like
factories in America. Because it's never done. Oh,
but if Christ does it, it's done. This man, verse 12, after he
had offered one Sacrifice. Now these priests offered thousands
and thousands of sacrifices. The Lord Jesus offered just one. Boy, forever sat down on the right
hand of God, from henceforth expecting, the Lord Jesus is
expecting, He's looking for something that belongs to Him and that
is to come to Him. He's expecting those people of
whatever day you want to talk to Him about expecting. Let's
take it today. He's expecting today those that
will come unto God by Him somewhere on this globe, perhaps in this
community or some other on this very day. Henceforth expecting,
but look what those people are called. They are called his enemies.
Every man is Christ's enemy until the Lord conquers him and subdues
him and saves him. Till his enemies be made his
footstool. You wouldn't mind being the footstool,
would you? To the Son of God? Alright, verse 14, look at it
carefully. For by one offering, one and
only one offering, Christ has perfected forever them that are
sanctified. Now, religion makes a whole lot
about sanctification, but I'm telling you, Christ is our sanctification. In 1 Corinthians 1.30, God has
made Christ to be unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. He's everything. He's all there
is. If that ain't enough for us,
God has nothing for us. It has to be in Christ. It has
to be in Christ. Well...