2 Timothy chapter 4 with me. 2 Timothy 4. Read verse 6 and
7 again. The Apostle Paul is in prison
for the truth's sake, for preaching the truth. That's all. And he says in verse 6, I am
now ready to be offered, sacrificed, killed. And the time of my departure
is at hand. I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I
have kept the faith. In chapter 2, verse 9, he says,
I suffer trouble. and writing this letter from
prison, he said, I'm suffering trouble as an evildoer just for telling the truth. And
he said to us in verse 12 of chapter 3, he said, All that
will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Now,
godly doesn't mean what most people think it means. It's not
some silly-looking religious fellow all dressed up and seemingly
in godly garments. But godly is one who walks with
God, talks with God, thinks on God, worships God, and is like
his God. All that will live godly, that
is, walk with God, speak of the Lord, and believe His Word and
His truth and stand up for it, and they will suffer persecution,
he said. They will. In Philippians 1,
Paul was writing again from prison, and he said, It is given unto
us, not only to believe, but to suffer
for His name's sake. to suffer affliction, to suffer
persecution for His namesake, for His glory, for His honor.
That's given unto us, not only to believe, but to suffer. These verses came to mind. This
message was born because of something that happened recently. Brother Tom Harding, was contacted
by a man who heard the gospel from my pastor. And he contacted
Brother Tom and asked him to come preach in his church. They had no pastor down in Tennessee. And so Tom said, Yes, I will. I'll be glad to. Tom, who is
a preacher of the truth, bold to tell it, And he went down
and preached the truth. You know what Tom prayed in no
uncertain time. A so-called church there of about
60 or 70 people, adults, he said. And then he asked the man if
he would want other men to come preach, and he said yes. And
so he had lined up several of us to preach, and the next one
was Brother Marvin Stoniker. He went there to preach. I know
what Brother Marvin preached. He preached from Romans 9. And then the next to preach was
to be Brother Gabe, and then me, and then Todd, and so on
and so forth, if they wanted us to continue to preach. But after hearing the message
a couple of times, they held a meeting. Ten leading men held
a meeting in that so-called church. And they voted the truth out. They voted 8 out of 10 and said,
we don't want to hear this anymore. Don't want to hear it. One man
said this after Brother Marvin preached, and he quoted a verse
in Revelation on the Lamb, their names written in the Lamb's Book
of Life. One of the men said, I don't believe this stuff about
the names written in the Lamb Book of Life before the world
began. He said, I don't believe that. And it shocks you when
you hear this. Most people don't believe it,
but to hear it said shocks you. But he said, I don't believe
that. And one of the men said to him,
well, he read it to us in the Bible. We saw it. We read it
with him. He said, I don't care if it's
in the Bible or not. I don't believe it. Another man stood up and said,
now here's his word, and I quote Brother Tom, he said, this message
is not worth splitting our church over. And Brother Tom told me all of
that, and then Brother Tom said what I was thinking. He said,
this message is worth dying for. And this message was born. A message worth dying for. The
gospel worth dying for. And the fact of the matter is,
the gospel splits everybody. It splits every time. This is
what the gospel does. Let me tell you about this gospel
worth dying for. Let me tell you, first of all,
what the gospel is not. And then I'll tell you what the
gospel is, and then I'll tell you what the gospel does, and
then I'll tell you what the gospel is worth. What the gospel is
not, and I must say this first, what the gospel is not, because
even Paul said they'll come preaching another gospel. He said in the
last day they will come preaching another gospel, which is not
another. It's a perversion. It's not the
gospel at all. They call it that. He said they'll
come preaching another Jesus who's not the Lord Jesus Christ
of victory. Now, gospel means good news. Gospel means good news. And this
gospel they're preaching today that says God loves everyone
without exception, that God loves all men and women, and yet many
of them go to hell. Where is the good news in that? What is good news about God's
love if He loves me and I might go to hell anyway? That's not
gospel. The gospel that is an offer,
the one that they say, today God offers you this and offers
you that, offers you grace and peace, is not good news to a
dead sinner. The gospel of a Jesus, a so-called
Jesus who tries to save, and can't save you unless you let
him save you. The gospel of a Jesus who wants
to do things and cannot have his way because men won't cooperate. He wishes, he wants, he's outside
knocking on your door and wants in and he can't get in. Men won't
let him in and he's hoping and wishing. What's the good news
in a Savior like that? He's not a Savior at all. He's
not Lord at all. You can call Him Lord, but He's
not if He can't do as He will. Where's the good news in that?
A gospel that says that Jesus died for you, His blood was shed
to pay for your sins. Good news. He died for you. He
paid for your sins. Now, you won't have to be punished
if you accept that. If you'll make good on that,
if you'll make his blood. Now, wait a minute. Did he or
did he not pay for my sin? Did that blood pay for my sins
or not? And they say, yes. No. Well,
maybe if you. Where's the good news in that?
That there's some people right now in hell for whom Christ died,
paid for their sin, yet they're paying for them right now. Where's
the good news in that? A gospel that gives eternal life,
they say, but it's not eternal at all. You can lose it. Where's the good news in that?
You're going to take it back. They gave it to you, but you're
going to take it back. A gospel of a so-called Holy Spirit who
can't convince people of anything, can't bring anybody, can't keep
them saved, where's the good news in that? That's what the gospel is not.
Okay? That's the gospel everybody's
preaching today, isn't it? You know it's so. You hear it.
That is the so-called gospel, where good news that people are,
that the vast majority of preachers are preaching today. And that's
a false gospel. And it's damning those that believe
it. And those are evil men and seducers, waxing worse than ware.
Now, I'm going to tell you what the gospel is. Look at 2 Timothy
1. I'm not going to tell you, I'm
just going to repeat what the Lord said. 2 Timothy 1, verse
8. He says, and oh my, verse 7 goes
with what we just studied, God hath not given us a spirit of
fear, but of power, a powerful gospel, and of love. and of a
sound mind. Good judgment. Read on. Be not
thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, his gospel,
nor of me, his prisoner. Be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel. Now he's going to tell us what
the gospel is. It is the gospel according to the power of God. It's the powerful gospel of God. The gospel is not an offer at
all. It's an act. You can substitute
the word Christ for the gospel. You can substitute the word grace
for the gospel. The gospel is an act of God. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation. God uses this gospel powerfully. That's what he said to the Thessalonians.
Our gospel came unto you, not in word only, but in power. It's a gospel according to the
power of God, that who hath, verse 9, God who hath saved us. You see, this gospel tells us
about salvation of the Lord. This gospel says God does the
saving, and who he saves is saved. Did it say, hath saved? Not trying to save. Not will
save if you let it. Hath saved. This is a gospel
according to the power of God, our God who reigns and rules
all powers given unto our Lord Jesus Christ in heaven and earth,
who hath saved us and called us, called us according to his
own purpose. not according to our will, but
according to his purpose, his will and purpose, and grace which
was given us, which was ordered in all things and sure, predestinated
concerning us before the world began. John Calvin didn't write
that. Jesus Christ did. That's our
gospel. That's the gospel. See that? That's the gospel according to. Turn back to Ephesians 1 real
quickly with Ephesians 1, the gospel according to God. Now,
it's not as we would say that, well, this is according to you
and this is according to me. No, this is the only gospel there
is according to God. And he's the only one that's
true. But look at this, a gospel according
to God, according to his sovereign election. This is the gospel,
anything other is not the gospel. The gospel according to sovereign
election, verse 4, according as he hath chosen us. You see
that? We didn't choose him. No human
being chose him. Not of him that willeth, of him
that willeth. Not of the will of the flesh,
the will of man, but of God. The gospel according to sovereign
election, the gospel according to sovereign grace, verse 7,
in whom in Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sin, according to the riches of his grace, according to the
gift. of His grace, according as He
bestowed this blood, or applied this blood, the redemption of
Christ upon it. We didn't accept it. We didn't
apply it. We didn't make it effectual.
God did. According to His sovereign grace. This is the gospel according
to His sovereign will and pleasure. Verse 9, He's made known unto
us, we didn't figure it out, He's made known unto us the mystery
of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed
in Himself. Not with you, but in Himself. According to His will and His
pleasure. Why did God save whom He will?
Because it pleased God. This is a gospel according to
his purpose and predestination of all things. Verse 11, in whom
also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will. Free will is a lie. The gospel
today tells us about free will. That's not good news to me, because
my will is corrupt. My will is for the flesh. My
will is to sin. God's will is what I want to
be done, and it is, and it will. This is the gospel according
to sovereign power, the operation of God. Verse 19, this is the
exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe according to
the working of His mighty power. You see, this is the Gospel according
to God. The Gospel is the Gospel of God. Good news, people. I've got good
news. Scripture tells us good news. Comfort ye my people. Comfort
you. Tell them the good news. I reign. God reigns. Nobody and nothing
reigns but God. There's good news, that God is
God, author and the finisher. This gospel, God is the author
of it, good news and the finisher. Good news, God that begun a good
work, the finisher. He even works all our works in
us. Now that's good news. This is the gospel of God's Son
concerning God's Son. Good news. Your salvation is
completely dependent on Jesus Christ. Good news. Can I shout this a little bit?
Good news. Salvation is in the hands of
Jesus Christ. Your soul is in the hands of
Jesus Christ. Your destiny doesn't depend on
you. Your salvation doesn't depend
on you. I've got good news. You've got a surety. You've got
a covenant head. You've got a Lord. You've got
a Savior who's never failed to save one single person for whom
He came to save. Good news. This is the gospel. There is
no other. This is the good news of God's
glory. The gospel of God's glory. All glory. All glory belongs
to Him. Years ago, you remember this,
Dad? You and Scott were sitting in
an automobile, riding somewhere. Brother Scott Richardson, Dad,
told this story. They were riding in a car, preachers
of the gospel, both of them. And I think it was Brother Scott
that posed this question. He said, Brother Henry, he said,
how do we know that our gospel is the gospel? Everybody says they're preaching
the gospel. That's what men ought to ask.
That's what everyone that hears ought to ask. He said, how do
we know that our gospel is the gospel? And these two men came
up with five things. And every preacher I know has
preached them. All right? And they heard it too. And we
examine our faith by this. We examine our gospel. I do.
Alright, number one. How do we know our gospel is
the gospel? The gospel of God gives God all the glory. All the glory. From the choosing
to the crowning. From the election to the coronation,
to the glorification. of the Lord, salvations of the
Lord from beginning to end, not of works, not of man, not of
our will, not of our choice, but of God, salvations of the
Lord. Why? His glory. Through the praise
of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath, He hath, He hath redeemed
us, chosen us, saved us, made us accepted, and so on. The gospel, number one, gives
God all the glory. The gospel enables God to be
just and justifier. Now, this doesn't matter to the
average person that God is just. It doesn't matter to the average
person. They don't believe this and they don't care that God
is just, that God is holy, that God will by no means clear the
guilty, that God must punish sin. They don't care. They don't
believe it and they don't care. Now folks, if there's not a holy
and righteous and just God who is punishing sin, we're in a
mess. If there's no absolute right,
we're in a mess. It's chaos. Satan or some evil
thing is reigning and ruling and we're in a mess. God is. God is holy. God is just. This
gospel enables God to be just, holy, and righteous, and yet
justify, completely clear, and spare, and accept, and declare
innocent and righteous a sinner, a no good sinner, a guilty rebel. How? Jesus Christ, who was made
sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. To declare at this time, I say,
His righteousness. God is just and justifier. This
gospel, number one, gives God all the glory. This gospel enables
God to be just and justifier. This gospel is the only gospel
that actually saves a sinner. Actually saves. Justified, sanctified, pardoned,
redeemed, this gospel actually, and keeps and saves. This gospel
is the only gospel that will keep you saved. The power of
God, kept by the power of God. This gospel, and lastly, they
said, this gospel, and just according to Scripture, this gospel proves,
is the gospel that is proved by all of Scripture. proved from
Genesis to Revelation, declared to be the truth as it is in Jesus
Christ. This is the gospel. This is the
gospel. All right, let me tell you what
the gospel does. And as I said, there's just another
word for Christ, another word for grace, another word for the
power of God, the gospel. What the gospel does is the gospel
chooses us. And that's good news if you're
a death row criminal. If you're on death row and you
hear there is one person who can fully, finally, freely, effectually
pardon you and set you free. And he gives the command. There's plenty of on death row
pleading and pleading and pleading. that the one in charge says,
deliver him. He gives the command. He chooses whom he will. None of them worth saving. But
he chooses one. If you're a death row criminal
or a dead sinner, good news, God chose you. This gospel chooses us, not us
choosing him. This gospel quickens us. This
gospel calls us. This gospel doesn't wait on us
to call. This gospel calls us. Times are
bad. Moses, take off your shoes. Samuel,
Samuel didn't know him. Samuel, this gospel calls us. Andrew, Peter, James, John, I've
chosen you. Get out of that boat and come
with me. This gospel calls us. quickens
us. Lazarus, come forth. Good news. This gospel, you give diligence.
You know how you know your election? By your call. This gospel calls
us. This gospel brings us. This gospel
lays hold of us. This gospel comes where we are
and reaches down, way down, and picks us up and plucks us up
as a bran from the burning. This gospel fetches us. The gospel
of God fetches us. Like Omer Fiddle-Sheh. David,
who is the representative of the son of David, gave the high
command. David, who is the sovereign,
sent two of his strong men down there to fetch this rebel. This fellow who deserved to die,
all of his brothers did. But David, rich in mercy, according
to a covenant he made with the one he loved, sent them down
to fetch Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth wasn't calling.
Mephibosheth wasn't seeking. Mephibosheth wasn't coming. He
couldn't. He wouldn't. But David. But God,
rich in mercy, sent the command to call us by His gospel, to
fetch us, lay hold of her, bring her. She won't come. Pick her
up and bring her to me. Why? I'm going to show mercy
for Christ's sake. The gospel fetches us. The false
gospel has a Jesus that comes when they call Him. Our Lord
Jesus calls us, we come in. This gospel gives and provides
everything we need. It doesn't offer it, it gives
it. This gospel provides wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption to all that God chose. This gospel provides everything,
gives us everything, bestows upon us peace. We don't have
to make peace. Jesus Christ did it. This gospel
declares peace. Christ made peace. It's not an
offer of peace, it's an act of peace. This gospel gives us peace. This gospel gives us repentance.
Except we repent, we'll perish. The goodness of God leads us
to repent. Isn't that good news? I know some people need to repent.
I need to keep repenting. But they're not going to, and
I'm not going to unless the Lord turns us or gives us repentance. This gospel gives us faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. This gospel, you must believe.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. I can't. So God says believe. This faith
is not of yourself, it's a gift of God. If this is your gospel, if this
is what happened to you, be of good cheer. He called it you. This gospel
gives hope, real hope. Not a wish, but a hope, true
hope based on certain promises, certain work. This gospel gives
joy, not fake joy, real joy, which no man understands. Satisfaction. This gospel gives rest. He promised
rest. Christ promised rest. He said,
come unto me, I'll give you rest. This gospel gives rest. Freedom. Freedom. This gospel kills and
it makes alive. This gospel wounds and it heals. This gospel divides. This gospel
separates wheat from the chaff, goat from the sheep, sheep from
the goat. This gospel pierces through the
dividing asunder of the thoughts from the intense of the heart.
separating joints and marrow, families, separates a father
from a son, a daughter from her mother, but yet the same gospel
unites. This gospel redeems, pays for,
buys, makes the price. This gospel shows mercy. And
our Lord said, My mercy undoeth forever. My
mercy will I not take from them. This is mercy that keeps on being
merciful. This gospel justifies. This gospel
blots out. This gospel actually blots out
the handwriting ordinances against us. This gospel actually blots
out every sin upon the record of every single child of God.
Completely covers it. This gospel forgives and this
gospel forgets. This is the gospel. There is
no other. This gospel keeps. This gospel preserves. This gospel
presents. Able to present us faultless
before the presence of His glory. Keep us able to keep. This gospel raises. us from the
dunghill, this gospel exalts us, this gospel glorifies us,
this gospel changes our vile bodies into his glorious body. Any less thing, less than this,
is not the gospel. Let me tell you what this gospel
is worth. Another word, the gospel is another
word for the pearl of great price. This gospel is worth living for. The gospel is worth living for,
leaving for, and losing for. This gospel is worth living for.
People live for many things. People live for vanity. People spend their whole lives,
they spend their lives, they live for things that are just
absolutely Worthless. And they're going to lose it
all. This gospel is worth living for. The only thing worth living
for. Paul said, for me to live is
Christ. To know Him. This gospel is worth
living for. It's not a vain thing. People
live for dead things and things that don't last and things that
are temporary and things they're going to lose. Everything they
live for, they're going to lose. This gospel is worth living for
because we'll never lose. This gospel is worth leaving
for. This gospel is worth leaving everyone for. and everything
for. This gospel is worth leaving
home for, worth leaving family for, worth leaving friends for.
Ask Abraham. He'll tell you. Will you go back,
Abraham? Oh, no. Back to Ur? Back to heathenism? Back to idolatry? Back to... Oh, no. Ask Moses. Moses, how do you
esteem this gospel? It's greater riches than the
treasures of Egypt. Moses, would you like to go back
to your friends in Egypt? There ain't a friend in one of
them. None of them are friends. They're just friends what they
get out of it. They're these people, the people of God. Now,
these are my friends. These are my companions. These
are some real people. These are people like Christ.
Oh, no, I'd rather suffer reproach with a people of Christ than
to go back and rub shoulders and hobnob with the rich and
famous. Oh, no, you can have them. It's worth leaving for. This
gospel is worth losing for. This gospel is worth losing your
reputation for. Losing your life for. Losing
your honor for. I've got news for you. Well,
you know this. We don't have any honor. We don't have anything
but a bad reputation for God. And he that loses his life, loses
his honor, loses himself, loses his reputation, will gain it. Will gain life. Paul said, Paul
said this, he said, What things were gained to me, I count but
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count it but does that I may win Christ and be found in Him,
not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that
righteousness which is my faith in Jesus Christ. Oh, that I might
win Christ. Oh, that I might know Him. Oh,
that I might be found in Him. Till you have it all. Give me
Christ, and I've got it all. This gospel is worth losing for.
This gospel is worth searching for, sacrificing for, suffering
for. This gospel is worth searching
for, seeking for, looking for. David said, I found Your Word. I found the truth and I found
it. It's like gold. It's like silver. It's like honey. It's sweeter than the honeycomb. They were looking for Christ.
They said, Master, where dwellest Thou? And He said, Come. The Shulamite woman said, Can
you tell me where my Beloved is? Would you tell me? She was
seeking for Him. And she said, I found Him in my soul tonight. And when she found him, she found
it all. You find the pearl of great price,
you find it all. These Gospels we're searching
for, we're sacrificing for time, we're sacrificing all our time,
all our money. Our Lord said, why do you spend
money for that which is not great? Why do you spend money for that
which is not great? He said, come and buy wine on
the lees and well-refined. Come and buy that which satisfies. Without money, without price.
This gospel is worth spending everything on. It's worth all
your time. It's worth yourself. It's worth
your life. Christ, our Passover, sacrificed
for us. We weren't worth sacrificing
for. We weren't worth dying for. We weren't worth living for.
But He did. Aren't you glad? He's worth it. This Gospel is worth suffering
for. Affliction, persecution, hatred. I'm not worth defending. My honor is not worth defending.
I just hope they don't find out everything about me. But now
His is. His is. He's all in one Word. worth suffering for, affliction,
persecution, hatred. Let them hate me. This gospel
is worth fighting for. This gospel is worth fighting
for. His honor, His glory. David,
as a young man, this giant was standing out taunting God, mocking
God, mocking Israel. And David, as a young man, stood
out in front of everybody and said, Is there not a cause? Is
there not a cause today? The giant is bigger than he ever
was. Mocking more than he ever has,
isn't it? Taunting all of us. Taunting our God. Is there not
a cause? This gospel is worth fighting
for. The honor and the glory. The person and the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. The name of our God is worth
fighting for. The truth is worth fighting for.
We must have it. Our children must have it. Our
children are not going to be saved without it. This gospel is worth dying for. This gospel is worth dying for. That man said, that mess is not
worth splitting our church over. All these churches will send
people to hell. All their traditions and superstitions
and their little religious clubhouses will send them all to hell. I better hope God splits them
up. Tradition, superstition, religion,
all of this, false gospel, churches so-called, unless God comes and
sends the truth and separates us from ourselves, from our sin,
from this world, and from our ignorance and death, unless God
comes and sends a sword of His gospel, We're going to die in
our sins, die in our religion, having a form of government.
And this gospel is worth dying for. Christ did. Christ died
for the truth. Paul's about to die for the truth.
Now, listen to this, and I'm going to close with it. The fact
of the matter is, and I wonder, You know, we worry,
every believer worries and wonders if we were really faced with
death, our lives stood in the balance before someone concerning
the truth. Either denounce this or die. We all worry. We all wonder.
How will I react? Well, I'll tell you this. This
is a fact. And we've got a great cloud of
witnesses. But if we won't live for Him, if we don't leave for
Him, if we are not willing to lose all for Him, if we don't
seek Him, if we don't sacrifice, if we don't suffer, if we don't
fight for and die for, Christ didn't die for us. He didn't. But those who truly believe that
Christ died for them, and this is the fact of the matter, And
there's a long time there that I believed the Gospel, I believed
the truth. But I didn't believe Christ. I didn't know Christ. The Gospel
wasn't life to me. Christ wasn't my life. I knew
the doctrine. But when you find out, when you
really find out, when God shows you, awakens you, quickens you
by His Gospel and shows you That you were one of those death row
criminals. That you were a rebel. That you were the prodigal. That
you were the worthless one. That God came and chose you. He sent His Son down here to
die for you. Jacob. When you do find that
out, that's when Christ is all. That's
it. When you find out that Christ
died for you, unworthy as you be, then you'll die for Him. And the world will die to you.
And you did die in Him. You're crucified. You want yourself
buried dead and buried. When you find out that the Holy
Son of God came down here and did this for you, you want yourself,
your rotten, sinful self dead, crucified with Him. When you
find out that Christ left glory to come to this God-forsaken
of this place, for the likes of us, you'll esteem
it as wretched and vile and evil too, won't you? And you'll be
crucified to the world and the world to you. And you're crucified
in Christ. Christ lived. Christ left. Christ lost. Christ searched. Christ sacrificed. Christ suffered,
and Christ died for us. This is the gospel, and it's
a gospel worth dying for. Dying for. Living, leaving, losing,
sacrificing, it's worth dying for. It's our life. Peter said
it best, didn't he, Lord? You have words of life. To whom
shall we go? Where shall we go? What shall
we do? You called us from death into life. You called us out
of darkness into Your marvelous light. We were living for dead
things. Now You've showed us Your worth
and Your riches. Oh, my. Is that you? Does this
Gospel mean that to you? Alright, we're going to sing
and close in Isaac Watts' great hymn, When I Survey. The wondrous
cross, 118. And one line says this, love
so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. When I survive. Number 118. Okay.