I'd like to ask you if you would
turn, oh, wait a minute, we've got to do a devotional first.
I'd like to read an article. It's actually in today's bulletin,
if you'd like to read along with me. Usually I try to pick an
article from one of our previous bulletins. But this one was so
good, I just had to bring it in. It's on the bottom, or the
inside page, written by Pastor Milton Howard. I remember that
man. What a wonderful guitar player,
but also what a wonderful preacher. I miss it. He writes, everything
in this world is vain without Christ. This world is nothing
more than a pretty painted coffin which to go to hell in. It mocks
our soul. It's an illusion, a mirage in
the desert. There is no joy here. Possessions
are nothing more than anxiety and worry. Vanity of vanities,
sayeth the preacher. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. In this world, there is nothing
that comforts, nothing that satisfies, nothing that makes you happy.
Everything here passes away. All religion is nothing more
than making up that is put on a corpse, that is makeup put
on a corpse. Even repentance, if it does not
lead you to Christ, must be repented of. Faith that does not look
to Christ and is not based on His atoning sacrifice is not
the faith of God's elect. Folks, everything's going to
burn up in the end. When Adam sinned, the Lord cursed
the very ground that he walked on. There's sorrow in everything
that there is here. Yesterday, I had the pleasure. But I got to thinking
about this pleasure that I had as I shared it with others. To
some, it's sorrowful. I got to hold my mom in my arms
for the first time in a year and a half. But as I shared those words with
those that I love, I was reminded of those who can't
and who will never again get to hold a loved one. Is there not sorrow in everything
about this world? Turn to Galatians chapter 1,
if you would. I've got a very simple message for you this morning.
I'm going to read a lot of Scripture. In fact, actually, I'd like to
ask you to turn over to the first chapter of Ephesians, mark that,
and then turn to Galatians 1. Ephesians, no, I'm sorry, Romans
8. Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter
8, and then turn to Galatians. Mark Romans chapter 8. Now, I'm
going to read a lot of Scriptures today. If you folks hear something
in scriptures and you really need to look at it for yourself,
and I encourage you to, please ask, and I'll be happy to give
you a copy of my notes afterwards. For those of you online, if you
need so, just put a request in to Kathy via the texting there,
and I'll be sure to get that for you before I leave for our
trip this afternoon. It won't take me long to forward
these notes on to you. But there's a lot of scriptures,
so we're just going to look at these two together in verses,
but I'm going to quote a lot to you. Now, three times the
Apostle Paul calls the Gospel message. He says, My Gospel. Allow me to share those three
times with you. First, in Romans 2.16, in the day when God shall
judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to My Gospel. In Romans 16.25 he says it this
way, Now to him that is of power to establish you according to
my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the
revelation of the mystery which is kept secret since the world
began. And then he mentions it a third time in 2 Timothy Chapter
2 verse 8, remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was
raised from the dead according to my gospel. So we see that
the gospel of Paul, the gospel that Paul declares, his gospel. And I want you to take this to
heart, what I'm saying, as we brought out in our Bible study
this morning. Salvation is a heart matter. Everything in the flesh
is going to burn up. We are not going to take these
bodies into heaven with us. They've got to go back to the
dust from which they came. There's sin in this flesh. I don't need to tell you folks
that, do I? You already know that. Isn't it a wonderful, wonderful
thing that the Lord has shown us what we are before Him. If we didn't see ourselves as
sinners, we would not see ourselves in need of His mercy and grace,
would we? Does a righteous man need a Savior? Does one who is well
need a physician? No. I didn't need Jesus Christ
until I saw who I was. Paul declares in these three
verses, My Gospel. It's a personal thing with Paul. And that's what I want to bring
before you this morning. Is the Gospel of Jesus Christ
and Him crucified a personal thing with you? Do you see Him
as your personal Savior? Not a Jesus. not some Jesus,
not this Jesus over here or that Jesus over here, but the Jesus
who is described to His people right here in this book according
to Scriptures. There is only one Gospel. There
is only one message that is good, that is good news to a sinner. There is only one message of
salvation and that is Christ the Lord. He declares it. It
is He is the way. Any other way is as a thief in
the night. Any other way that one searches
out salvation other than the way of this book right here before
us is like a thief in the night. The Apostle Paul puts it this
way. He says in 1 Corinthians 2, 2, For I determined not to
know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I don't want to know about your
good works. I encourage you to go out and do good works. I encourage
you to help the poor. I encourage you to walk straight
before God. He says, Be ye holy, for He is
holy. But that's not what I want to
hear from you. That's not what I want to hear. I want to hear
about who your Lord and Savior is. I want you to know who my
Lord and Savior is. I want you to know what my gospel
is. My gospel is what is in the book
of the Lord's letter to His people. Our Lord puts it very plainly
and very simple where He says in John 3.16, and this is the
Gospel, folks, He says this, "...For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." In Matthew
4.23 we read it this way, and Jesus went about all of Galilee
teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the
kingdom and the healing manner of sickness and all manner of
disease among the people. In chapter 9 of Matthew, verse
35, we read this, and Jesus went about all the cities and villages
teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel. Not
preaching many different gospels, but preaching the gospel. of the kingdom and healing every
sickness and every disease among the people. The gospel, the good
news, is what God the Father uses to save His people. Christ
Himself came preaching this very message. We read in Matthew 11,
verse 5, The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, and
the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are
raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
This is the message that Jesus went about preaching through
all those cities. When he left Capernaum, he went
into all the smaller cities around it. He left Capernaum behind. The biggest city, the most popular
city, he left it behind. Why? Because they would not seek
him for who he was. They would not seek him for what
he did. They wanted something to fill
their bellies, to fill their hearts with themselves. He went out and preached to the
dead, preached to the poor, He preached the gospel to them,
the good news. Christ came to save sinners. In Mark chapter 1 verse 14, we
read it this way, And now after that, John was put in prison,
and Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom
of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom
of God is at hand. He's speaking of Himself. He
told those righteous, self-righteous Pharisees, I have told you who
I am. When they asked, how long do
you make us to doubt? I have told you who I am. I have
shown you who I am by the works that I do, the miracles that
I do. He's telling them plainly here
and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at
hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. In the 13th chapter of that same
book, Mark, verse 10, we read this, and the gospel must first
be published among all nations. And then in chapter 16, verse
15, we read it this way, and He said unto them, Go ye into
all the worlds, and preach the gospel to every creature. I bring
this out because this is the message that God's preachers
bring. If Christ was a gospel preacher, should not all the
preachers of God be gospel preachers? Some preachers stand up and want
to tell you all about how to act godly. How to walk according
to God's Word. And there's a lot of things in
God's Word that teach us how to walk and how to act, isn't
there? People ask me, John, why don't
you? That's not the message of the
gospel. The message of the gospel, the good news is that you can't
do those things. The message of the gospel is
go out and do the best you can, but when you see that you are
a failure at it, when you see that you cannot do it, when you
see that you stumble at the law of God because your flesh gets
in the way, you look to the one who has fulfilled it perfectly.
You look to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who walked this
earth perfectly for us, God in the flesh. My message to you
today is simply the gospel. It's the same message I'm going
to bring next week. It's the same message I'm going
to preach in the Dalles on Wednesday. The purpose of God could be called
the gospel. Because that's what I do. I'm
a gospel preacher. I'm here to preach good news
to you who are shown that you are a sinner. Jesus came to save
sinners. Does it not seem to you after
reading these verses, hearing these verses read, does it not
seem to you that this gospel message, this gospel message
that Scripture talks about, The true gospel? Does it not seem
to you a matter of great importance? It does to me. So much so that a warning is
given to us. Read with me if you would in
Galatians chapter 1 verses 6-10. Paul writing to the Galatians,
he had established a church. He had gone to the Galatians
and he had preached Christ and Him crucified. A church was established. God was bringing people in. And then others crept in unawares
and he said in verse 6, I marvel. that ye, those of you at Galatia,
the very ones that He says, grace to you in verse 3, and peace
from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself
for our sins. You notice what He's saying here. He's reminding
them before He addresses them for the purpose that they have
fallen back on. He reminds them who gave Himself for our sins,
that He might deliver us from His present evil world according
to the will of God our Father, to whom be the glory forever
and ever. Amen. He says, I marvel to you
people that ye are so soon removed from Him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel, a different gospel which
is not another. Well, John, there's a church
right across the street there, and they preach the gospel too. Well, yeah, they preach it with
works of men and stuff like that, but they preach the gospel, don't
they? No, they've added to the gospel of Christ. They've added
to the gospel of the Scriptures. Another gospel. A different gospel. a different gospel of grace,
which is not another, as it says in verse 7, but there be some
that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we preached
unto you, let him be accursed. 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 an accursed. For do I not persuade
men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet please men, I should not be a servant of Christ." Cursing is anyone who brings
another gospel which is not another. There is only one gospel, and
that gospel is Christ Jesus the Lord. The gospel message is,
who is He? It's who He is. Philippians 2.6,
we read this, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. In 1 Timothy 3.16, we read it
this way, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. justified in the Spirit, seen
of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the
world, and received up into glory. How are you going to call on
the true and living God if you've never heard of who He is? We
must hear of who the Lord is. You say, well, John, you heard
about that last week. You already know who He is. You heard about
Him last week. I like hearing about Him again. It's all a matter
of the heart. I recall many a times when the
Lord first called me out of darkness coming here and just wondering,
what in the world keeps dragging me back here? He's saying the
same thing He did last week. I'm hearing the same message,
but man, it sure is good stuff. Why is it so good to me? Why
am I taking this message so much to heart? as a blind man, as one who was
blind, but now I see. I want to hear more about His grace
to me. I want to hear more about who
He is and why He did it for me. I love to hear about how my Lord
loves me, so much so that He gave Himself for me. And if He
loves you, He loves you for the same reason. Because He has loved
you from before the world was with an eternal love. And He
gave Himself for you. Because you can't do it yourself. I was talking Friday night about
prayer. What is prayer? I find in my own self, and you
may find this differently in you, I don't know. I'll just
let that be. But just sharing with you, maybe
you can relate to what I'm about to say. I find in myself that
99.9% of my prayers are all about me. Sorry. I do pray for you. I ask for
God's grace for Kelly and for his wife Leanne. I ask grace
for the folks in Denver, in Colorado. I ask for grace for those down
in San Diego, for our friends in Arizona. I pray for others,
but 99.9% of my prayers are for me. You know why? Because supplication is praying
for something that I cannot attain on my own. I can't do anything better than
what I am now. This is not a self-help seminar where I'm going to tell
you, you can do it. We can't. We need somebody who
can do it for us. And that's the gospel is that
there is somebody who's done it for us. And done it perfectly. And because of His perfection,
Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. Is that not good news to you? Who is He? Without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, and believed unto the world, received ye up in glory. In Colossians 2.8 we read this,
beware. Beware lest any man spoil you
through vain philosophy, vain deceit. That's the philosophy
of free will. That's the philosophy of you
can do something to earn your salvation. All you've got to
do is come up here to the front, they'll say, and pray a prayer.
All you've got to do is get in this pool or this bathtub and
be baptized. All you've got to do is this.
All you've got to do is that. The gospel of Christ is the Lord
Jesus has done it all. All to Him I owe. Sin has left
a crimson stain on this poor soul. He, He made it white as
snow. Going on in Colossians chapter
2 verse 9, after saying, beware lest any man spoil you through
vain philosophy and deceit, it says, after the tradition of
men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
For in him, in Christ Jesus, dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily. That's what makes His blood shed
on that cross effectual. All power in heaven and earth
is His to wield as He sees fit. For in Him dwelleth all the fullness
of Godhead, and ye are complete in Him, which is the head of
all principality and power. Everything we need for salvation
is in Him. We're complete. He is our Sabbath. Do you know that there were people,
there were people in the days of the Old Testament who observed
that Sabbath day every Saturday knowing that it did nothing for
their salvation. Yet they did it anyway. You know
why? Because it pointed them to the true Sabbath. The true one that we can rest
in. The true one that we lay everything
at His feet. Our Sabbath, the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are completing Him, which is the head of all principality
and power. He is the head of all powers. Everything was created
by Him. Everything is for His purpose.
The good news, the gospel message for a bankrupt, needy sinner
is Jesus Christ the Lord. who has all power in heaven and
earth and under the earth. It says, Whosoever believeth
on Me in Scriptures, that means that believeth on Him according
to Scriptures, according to His Word, the Word of Truth. Our Lord says in John 5.39, Search
the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and
they are they which testify of Me, of the Lord Jesus. Didn't
say they are the words that testify of how you should walk. They
didn't say it testifies of the words of how you should live
your life. It says they testify of Him. Because that's salvation. That's the good news. Him. We must believe on Him, but it
must be according to His Word. Many have come over the years
and added their vain philosophy to the Word of God. They say,
you must believe and do this. You must believe and do that.
That's not what our Lord says, is it? He says, whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 2 Corinthians
chapter 1 verse 12, we read it this way, for our rejoicing is
this, the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly
sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have
had our conversation in the world and more abundantly to you. In
2 Corinthians 11, verse 3, we read it this, "...but I fear,
lest any by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subjectility, so your minds should be corrupted from the
simplicity that is in Christ." Can it get any more simpler than
that? Salvation is of the Lord. And that's just as plain and
simple as it can get. The simple message is this, that
God was manifest in the flesh so He could provide Himself the
perfect sacrifice. paying in full the debt for our
sins of His chosen people. A people that He has loved from
before the foundation of all creation. Man can offer nothing
to this thrice holy God. We are nothing but sin from the
top of our heads to the bottom of our toes. I know we want to
think better of ourselves. That's why I need to hear the
Gospel over and over again, because I try to think better of myself. It's my nature, the nature of
my flesh. Our Lord says, the heart is desperately
wicked. You know how I know that that's
true? I see the heart of this flesh
in me still. I battle my flesh. My spirit says I'm clean according
to the way the Lord has said in his word and I am. But I see the wickedness of that
heart that I once had, the wickedness that said I will not have that
one, that one, this one rule over me. I'll be my own man, is what I
used to say. I'll do it my way, is the way
I used to say it. The Lord's Word says we come from
our mother's womb, speaking lies. Our tongues are as an ass, a
snake, a poisonous serpent. Anything that speaks differently
from the truth of God's Word of who He is, what He has done,
and where He is now, is speaking a lie. We have absolutely nothing in
this flesh to offer up for our sins. We need a substitute. We need a scapegoat, one that
is without blemish, without spot of perfect righteousness. He
shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people. He perfectly
laid down His life, He perfectly gave His blood, a perfect blood
that accomplished exactly its purpose for going to the cross,
and that was to save His people. He took our sins as His own,
though there was no sin in Him, and He carried them into the
grave to be seen no more. And as God in the flesh, He arose
from the dead, victor over death, victor over sin, and He says
this to you and I now. I've done it. It's finished. Salvation is complete. And He
says this to you and I. Matthew 11 verse 29, Take my
yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. Wasn't He? It still boggles my mind that
the very One who put me in my mother's womb got down on His
knees and washed the feet of His people. Do you know He does that for you
and I right now? Isn't that what the blood of Christ is doing
for all of His people right this minute? Washing us in His blood. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls." Oh, the rest that we have knowing our Lord
has done it for us. He says, my yoke is easy and
my burden is light. The people of God have good news
indeed. We have rest in Jesus. We rest in His finished works. We lay down our own desires to
earn our salvation in the flesh and we put it at the feet of
Jesus who has done it all for us. The gospel of Christ and Him
crucified is good news indeed, for we have a righteousness in
Him. He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we would be made righteous
in Him. It's good news to hear about
we have sanctification in Christ. I don't have to set myself apart.
The Lord has set me apart. I used to walk as the world,
and now I walk according to Him. Not because John wanted to, but
because the Lord Jesus Christ is my sanctification. He's my holiness. We have justification in Jesus
Christ. We are justified in Him. As our
Savior, all of our sins being laid upon Him, the fact that
He took them to the grave and they're seen no more, it's just
as if I'd never sinned. Is that not good news? Justification. God's justice has been met. His wrath was poured out on His
Son, the very wrath that we all deserve. The good news is that we have
redemption in Christ. We have been redeemed. where
sin has set us apart from God Almighty, the Lord Jesus has
redeemed us from our sins, and we are with God now. Heirs, joint
heirs with Christ. And here's, whew, this is some
good stuff right here. Here's some good news. We have
intercession with God in Christ. You know what that means? That
means this, that as I go through this world continually until
the Lord takes me home, every time I stumble, and I will, there's
one sitting on the throne right now saying this, I know, I know, I got it. Go forth and sin no more. And
then I'm going to go forth and try to sin no more, and I'm going
to sin again. And he's going to say, I know. I got that one
too. The good news to a sinner is
one sits on his throne interceding for us. the good news that keeps us walking
through this world as we leave this building and go out into
the world and associate ourselves with those around us and mingle
with the valley and the valley of the shadow of death. Because
that's what it is to you and I. To those who are called of God,
to those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, the world is going
to die, but it's nothing more than a valley of shadow of death
to you and I, for we shall live forever with Him. Because of
His work, because of His finished work, we shall live forever,
eternally with Him. What is good news to a poor lost
sinner? Look over in Romans chapter 8
with me. What is good news to a poor lost
sinner? Romans chapter 8 to the left,
just a few pages. There is, therefore, right now, right now, no condemnation,
nothing to condemn us. Nothing that God can charge us
with, because everything that would condemn us was laid upon
our Savior. No condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and
death. for what the law could not do,
and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Now let's go over to my favorite verse, along with all my other
favorite verses, along with all my other favorite verses, and
even more favorite verses, Verse 28, and we know. How do we know?
How do you know? How do you know? And do you know
in your own heart the truth of what we're about to read? How
do we know? If God has given us faith, if
we have true God-given faith, not of works, lest man should
boast. Of faith that has been given
to us to believe God's word, this is how we know." Well, John,
how can I know? If you have faith, saving faith,
you'll know. All things. Oh, what peace these
words can give a sinner who is fighting the sin of this flesh. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, them He also called. And whom He called,
them He also justified. And whom He justified, them He
also glorified." What shall we say then to these
things? Do we not have peace with God? Does the Lord not give
peace to your heart in the troubles of this flesh? Do these words
not resonate to your very heart, your very soul, your very spirit? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also maketh intercession for us. Does that not cover all
the gospel right there? Not just what we've done, but
what we might do in the future. That's good news to this poor
sinner. That's simply the gospel right
there. But let's continue on for just a moment. Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? Just
in case you might think there's something else, who can separate
us? Shall tribulation? Shall distress? Or persecution? Or famine? Or nakedness? Or peril? Or the sword? Nay, nay, as it
is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are
counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors to him that loved us. Can you read this next verse
from the heart? For I, I am persuaded. I am persuaded through the Word
of God. I am persuaded by who He is. I am persuaded by what
He has done. I am persuaded... Bill, that door just swung right
open. Would you mind? I am persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us, to separate me from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord." Does it get any more simpler
than that? That's the Gospel. That's the
message I pray God will leave on my heart to bring before you
every time I get a chance to. That's the message that I've
heard for 20 some odd years that blesses me every time I hear
it. Why? Because I've got to walk in this
flesh the rest of the time, which is the majority of the time.
The very little bit of time that I come into God's house and look
at His Word, I need every bit of it that I can. I heard a preacher
say, you know, I just want you guys to read all the Scripture
with me. And that's okay. Don't get me wrong. Don't take
this like I'm putting him down. He goes, I want you to read what
we have here, but in our layout here, there's a whole bunch more.
I give this to you to go home, hoping that you'll go home and
read it there. I thought to myself as I listened
to this preacher speak, I don't go home and read. I know I should, but I just don't. And I don't know how many people
out there go home and read scripture daily. And I pray that some of
you may. I pray that I may more. But I know I don't. So what little
time I spend in God's Word right here in this house, in Bible
study, in listening to messages from godly preachers, is precious
to me. It's the good news. That's what
gospel means. It means good news to a sinner.
And I pray God has allowed me to give that and bring that message
to you this morning. Will you stand with me, please?