Does this microphone work? Paul has been to Yucatan ever
since he was a young man. He came to Yucatan, and he's
familiar with the Yucatan. We enjoyed so much coming down
and visiting this last time and preaching. It was such a blessing
to hear Paul preach. My son had to come down and translate,
my son Cody. We had such a good time. I'm
just so grateful Paul was able to come down with Todd and Albert. Let me express my appreciation
to you as a church for your fellowship, your love, and your prayers.
Every time I come here, I feel very welcome. And the way some of the folks
responded to just the simple preaching that I do, they just
commented on the messages and made me feel good. And I know
I stumbled and stammered around, but yet you were just concerned
in the message. You were not concerned in the
vessel that God would use. You know, I've eaten a lot of
good food that served in the gourd. I have. I've eaten stuff that served
in the gourd. It was good food. It's good to be back with you
again, and we appreciate your support. I don't know if Betty
was with me the last time I was here, but I'm glad she's with me this time.
Now, let me say one thing about something that's happening in
Mexico right now that I need you to pray about. Now, the churches
have been nationalized. That means that the government
take it over the properties. And they just allow each one
of the churches to use the property. But now the Lord's saying they've
got to be registered. All the pastors have to be registered.
All the missionaries have to be registered. And that's going
to involve, I don't know what all it's going to involve. It's
getting very, It's a very difficult situation. As you might remember,
over in Russia, the same thing happened, and the churches that
did not register had to go underground. But actually, the ones that went
underground and did not register, as I understand, they survived
spiritually, whereas the others were just engulfed with religion. So we don't know what the future
holds. But we know that God is in control of all those things.
When I first heard about the registration and what they were
demanding, it just made me numb. But then I realized God is in
control. It's a dilemma for us, but it's
not a dilemma for him. And we just pray that the Lord
will give the men wisdom to know what to do in this situation,
they're going to have to register. And they want us to register
in groups, and we're going to try to register as one, every
individual church. And they don't want us to do
that, but we're going to try it anyway. And then I don't know
how it's going to affect me exactly, but that's something I would
like you to pray about. Now, tonight I would like to
speak to you on the subject, distinguishing characteristics
of the gospel, distinguishing characteristics of the gospel,
the true gospel, because there is another gospel. There is a
gospel that has been perverted. It's not the true gospel. There is only one true gospel
But Paul said in I Corinthians 9, I'm going to make a kind of
introduction, and I want to get over to Romans, where I have
my text I want to use. But Paul said in I Corinthians
9, For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for
necessity is laid upon me. Yea, warn of me if I preach not
the gospel. There are three woes I want to
point out here. The woe of responsibility. not
just to preach, but to preach the gospel. When I preach, I
want to preach the gospel. I don't have to preach. I don't
want to preach just to preach. I want to preach the gospel.
Someone said, I don't have to preach, but if I preach, I have
to preach the gospel. I feel the same way. Now, Satan's
devices would get us to do something good to keep us from doing something
better. And the best thing is to preach
the gospel. The Lord declared in Mark 16,
he said, Go ye in all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature. That's his command. So that was
his command, to go and preach the gospel. But there's also
a woe upon the hearers, those that hear the gospel. The scripture says, He that believeth
he that believeth not shall be damned." So a person who is responsible
to believe the gospel, regardless of whether he's one of God's
elect, he's responsible to believe the truth concerning Christ,
he's responsible to repent. So the hearers are responsible
when they hear the gospel message preached or testified by the
most humble or insignificant servant of God. A man is responsible
to believe the truth concerning Christ. But there is also a woe
upon those that preach another gospel. Paul said, Let them be
accursed, because they are accursed. In Galatians 1.9, he talks about
another gospel. There is not another, he says,
but there be some that would pervert the gospel of Christ.
What is it to pervert the gospel of Christ? It's to take away
something. It's to add something. Or it's
to turn it around. That's perverting. And Paul said
they're accursed. If any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that which you have received, let him be accursed.
He said if an angel from heaven, or me or anyone else, let him
be accursed. Don't matter how popular he is,
don't matter how powerful English don't come out like Spanish
too much. It don't matter how powerful he is or how much charisma
he has, if he doesn't preach the gospel, he's accursed of
God. And let us—let him be accursed,
Paul said. Let him be—that's strong language.
So this—tonight, let us study the characteristics of the true
gospel. We don't need to study the false.
If we're so familiar with the true, the false will stand out
like a sore thumb, and we'll recognize it. There are so many
variations of the false, as many as there are people, because
every man has a way that he thinks is right in his own eyes. But
the way the scripture says they're in is a way of death. Now, what
is the true gospel, and what are the distinguishing marks
or the characteristics of the true gospel. Well, before we
get to a text, I'm just, by way of introduction, I'd like to
say this about the gospel, to say it is a characteristic of
the true gospel. It's the gospel of the glory
of God, the glory of God. The gospel glorifies God. The gospel sanctifies God before
the eyes of the people. The gospel, the true gospel, makes man learn the fear of God,
to worship God in truth and spirit. And he sanctified it before the
eyes of the people through the true gospel. It's the gospel
of the glory of God. That's the chief glory of God. It's revealed in the gospel.
When the angels announced the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the incarnation of the Son of God, the angels shouted, I would have liked to have heard
that chorus. We're going to hear it one of these days. They're
going to say, Glory to the Lamb, to him that was slain for our
sins. But the gospel, first of all,
reveals the glory of God, and that's what the angels are saying
about glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace and goodwill
toward man. Salvation is a secondary thing
to the glory of God. I'm so grateful for salvation,
but that's secondary to the glory of God. The glory of God is essential,
and if God is not glorified, it's not the gospel. And so there's an example of
this in Exodus 33, 18. Moses prayed to the Lord and
said, I beseech you that you show me Thy glory. And the Lord said, I will make
all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name
of the Lord before thee, and I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show
mercy. So the true gospel has to do
with the sovereign will of God to show mercy upon whom he will
show mercy. I will show mercy. He's going
to have mercy on somebody, and he's purposed it. And he says
that's his glory. That's his chief glory. You know, I'm so grateful that
he's chosen to show mercy upon sinners like you and I. God didn't
have to do it. Nobody deserves it. He didn't
show mercy to the angels that fell in sin. He showed his justice
and his holiness and his wrath upon their sins. And he certainly
didn't have to show mercy upon this Adam's race. He could have sent all the sons
of Adam to hell and still been just as glorious. God doesn't
have to reveal this glory. He's altogether glorious in himself. In the creation, for example,
the heavens and the earth and the creation, they reveal God's
glory, but they don't add one bit to God's glory. God was altogether
glorious before he ever created, and God is altogether glorious
whether he ever reveals his grace and mercy. But he says, I will
have mercy, and it's a sovereign will. It's not a will of somebody
that hopes hopes to do something. He says,
I will have mercy. The true gospel is the gospel
of the glory of God, and we declare his glory among
the nations by preaching this gospel. The gospel shines forth, and
the glory of God shines forth in the true gospel. Paul uses
the example in the Old Testament in Genesis about the creation,
when God said, Let there be light, and there was light. The earth
was in darkness, and in chapter 1, verse 2, God said, Let there
be light. I don't know what happened between
verse 1 and verse 2. It seems like there's a big gap
there. Nobody knows. But somehow the
earth is in darkness. And I don't believe God's created
that way. I think it became that way for
some reason. I don't know. I won't go into
that. But Paul is using that as an example of man's fall in
sin, in darkness and in sin. And through the gospel, God shines
the light of his glory, of the knowledge of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, into the heart and life of a sinner. God has
shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. I tell you, the angels desire to
look into this glory. Imagine the angels that always
behold his glory, yet they desire to look into
the gospel, the glory that's revealed in the gospel. Isn't
that amazing? Are we tired of hearing the gospel? May the Lord
help us see some of that glory, some of that glory there. Oh,
it's full of glory, glory to God. It reveals his glory. Don't
add one quid to his glory, but it reveals his glory. I like the example I heard one
time of a black preacher that was preaching on the glory of
God. And you know how they talk back, the congregation with the
pastor. He was preaching on the glory of God, and he said, Where
was God? Where was the Lord before he
created the stars and hung them in space? Tell me. And they shook
their heads. We don't know, Pastor. He said,
Where was the Lord before he hung the moon and the sun to
rule the day and the night? Where was he before that? They
said, We don't know, Pastor. Tell us. And he kept on like
that. Where was the Lord before this
and before that? And they kept saying they didn't
know. And then he shouted. He was in his glory. That's where
he was. He was in his glory before all
of that. But the chief purpose of the
gospel is the glory of God, to manifest the glory of his grace. Ephesians 1 says, His redemption in Christ, the
adoption, all that is all to the praise of the glory of his
grace, in Ephesians 1, all to the praise of the glory of his
grace. And that's not a selfish glory. It is an essential glory. I feel jealous of that glory. I'm not as jealous as I ought
to be, but I do feel jealous of that glory, and I despise
any kind of false gospel that would take away that glory. It's
an accursed thing to take away from the glory of God. In Galatians
6, verse 14, Paul said, glory in the gospel, that God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I can glory in anything I do, anything I have ever done, but
I can glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can glory
in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I can glory in him. The true gospel is the gospel
of the glory And it's also the gospel that reveals a great mystery. The true gospel reveals a great
mystery that man cannot answer, angels cannot answer, the law
cannot answer it. It's a great mystery. It's spoken
of in Colossians 1, 26. Even the mystery which had been
hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his
to whom God would make known what is the richest of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory." Now, that's the hope of glory. Christ in you, the
hope of glory. And this was a mystery, a mystery
that's now made manifest. How is God going to justify our How is a holy God going to justify
a sinner? That's what Job's friends asked
Job. In Job twenty-five, one of Job's
friends said, How then can a man be justified with God, or how
can he be clean that is born of a woman? Behold, even the moon and its
shine is not, yea, the stars are not pure in his sight, how
much less man that is a worm, and the son of man which is a
worm." And that's exactly what we are. But you know what? Worms
are not sinners, but we're guilty worms. Hell-deserving worms. Little worms are not guilty of
sins, but sinners are worms that are guilty. there's enmity in these hearts
of ours. They're like worms of poor God that would take away from his
glory, that would exalt man and try to put him above on the throne.
Man's will. But the question was asked, how
can man be justified with God? Now, that's a question that even
the angels mystify the angels. a worm, a sinful, hell is every
word, worm, be justified before God. God's holiness, we can't
imagine His holiness, and the light of His glory, the created
lights, the sun, the moon, the stars, they don't even shine
in the light of His holiness. It's like putting a candle in
midday. A candle don't shine when the
sun is in its brightness. The glory of God and the holiness
of God and the righteousness of God, there's no comparison
to that light of that glory, and how's a man going to stand
justifiably before that holiness, before that light? That's a mystery,
but it's revealed. It's revealed in the gospel.
It's revealed in the gospel. And the true gospel reveals also
the mystery of how can God be just and justify sinners. In Exodus 34, verses 6-7, I'm
going to read this. The Lord told Moses that he would
show him his glory, and he said in verse 5, And the Lord descended
in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the
name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before
him and proclaimed the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious,
long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy
for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin, and
that will by no means clear the guilty." So he's not going to
overlook the sins of the guilty. He's going to have mercy, but
he's not going to tarnish his holiness in any way. How can
God be just and justify a sinner? The law cannot answer that. But
Paul says in Romans 8, verse 3, "...for what the law could
not do, in that it was weak in the flesh." God sinned in 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." So God condemns sin in the flesh. He doesn't justify our sins.
God doesn't justify our sins. God doesn't justify a sinner's
sins. He justifies the believer. He justifies the sinner, but
He doesn't justify his sins. He condemns our sins. He condemned
them in his Son, who was made flesh, who was made our substitute. That's where he condemned sin
in all his holy indignation against our sin, was condemned in the
flesh of his Son, who was made flesh. So that's how God justifies sinners,
by condemning their sins in their substitute. And that's amazing,
amazing grace. Has amazement gone out of grace
to us? It's awful if amazement has gone
out of grace. Amazing grace, how sweet to sound.
John Newton wrote that song. And Charles Wesley wrote this
song, And can it be that he would die for me? that he would give
that sacred head for such a worm as I? The amazement of this grace! It's a mystery that's revealed
in the gospel, how God can justify a sinner and how he can be just
and the justifier of him that believeth in Christ. The true
gospel declares and reveals that great mystery. I want you to
notice in Romans 1, verse 1, I have the distinguishing characteristics
of the true gospel. These distinguishing characteristics
are its credentials, and I have four credentials here. In verse
1, it's the origin of the gospel. It says, Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of
God. It's God's gospel. That's the origin of it. Then,
two, which he had promised before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.
That's the second credential of the gospel. It's according
to the Scriptures. concerning his Son, Jesus Christ,
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to his
flesh. That's the third credential. And the fourth credential concerns
the power of the gospel that's declared in his resurrection
and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the
spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead. So that's four credentials
of the true gospel. First of all is God's gospel.
It didn't start with man. It started with God. It started
in eternity. It started with his will. If
you trace back the religions, man-made religions, for example,
Christian science, if you trace it back to its originator, you'll
get back to Mary Baker Eddy. And if you go up and trace Mormonism,
Dan will tell you this. If you trace Dan Cox, he doesn't.
If you trace Baldwin, he isn't back, and you get back to Joseph
Smith or either Brigham Young. But what about our faith, the
faith that we confess? If we're the author of our faith,
if we trace our faith back to our thoughts, what we think about
God, it's the same thing. We make
God out of our own imaginations and our own thoughts. But the truth, the gospel of
God, He's the author of it. It's His gospel. In Ephesians 1, 9, declares,
Having made known unto us the measure of His will according
to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself. So God purposed
it in Himself, His good, His will, His purpose, the good pleasure
of his will, which he purposed in himself. He didn't take counsel
with angels. He didn't take counsel with you
or anybody. He purposed it in himself. Another
scripture in Ephesians says, according to the eternal purpose
which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. God in his will can
purpose something, and it will not fail. It's infallible. And I love the I wills of God.
The gospel, the characteristic of a true gospel, is God's gospel. It's the gospel of His sovereign
will. I will have mercy. I will have
mercy. In Isaiah 45, too, look upon
me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and
there is none else. Isaiah 46, 9-13. Isaiah is proclaiming
the word of God, the word of Jehovah. For I am God, and there is none
else, and there is none like me, declaring the end before
the beginning, and from ancient times the things which are not
yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand." Whose counsel? God's counsel. My counsel shall
stand. I will do all my pleasure. I
will bring it to pass. I have purposed it, and I will
also do it. I bring near my righteousness. That's Christ. It shall not be
far off, and my salvation shall not tarry, and I will place salvation
in thine." That's his church. And for Israel, my glory. Every
believer is a member of the Israel of God, the spiritual Israel
of God, made of Jew and Gentile. We are one in Christ. And these
I wills of God are infallible. It's not something that he hopes
will work out. He's purposed it. He's going
to bring it to pass. He said it will not fail. So
those are credentials of the true gospel. If you change that,
you're corrupting the gospel, and you're cursed of God. Anybody that would pervert this
wonderful gospel of the glory of God, of his sovereign will
and purpose to show mercy in Christ, upon whom he will, is
corrupted and perverted in the gospel. God's gospel is eternal. It started
in eternity. He didn't try to come up with
a plan after the fall of man. He didn't wait until after the
fall of man to try to come up with a plan. Christ was a lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. Before there was ever
a sinner, there was a Savior, and Christ was slain in the heart
of the Father for his people before the foundation of the
world. You know, it's amazing. It's
amazing that God could give his Son, that we'd be sinners, he
could die for us, and that he could give his Son. And you know
God the Father didn't give his in order to make him love us,
or Christ didn't die in order to make the Father love us. It's
because of the love of God that Christ was given. It's because
of his everlasting love. It's because of the everlasting
covenant, his everlasting purpose in Christ Jesus, and the blood
of Christ is the blood of the everlasting covenant. It's an everlasting gospel. It's
everlasting because it's eternal. God thought it, he bought it, he wrote it, he
bestows it, the believer has it, and the devil can't get it. That's the gospel, God's gospel. The true gospel has the credentials
of the testimony of scriptures in verse 2, Romans 1-2, which
he hath purposed afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.
The Holy Scriptures. All this Word is not—this has
mistakes. Not the verbally inspired Word
of God. It doesn't have mistakes. and
the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the living word.
But this testimony, these scriptures, we can give all confidence in
these scriptures. Peter said we have a more sure
word of prophecy. He was comparing that to the
mountaintop experience of when Christ was transfigured before
Peter, James, and John. What experience that was, when
he saw Christ transfigured before him and he spoke with Elias and
Moses. But he said, we have a more sure
word of prophecy. What's he talking about? He's
talking about scriptures. And the gospel of God is according
to scriptures. I don't want to preach my experience.
I don't trust my experience. I'm thankful for experience.
I've had all kinds of experiences. There's nothing challenging my
soul like trying to follow the Lord and his will and his will
and follow him. He has added so many blessings
to my life and experiences and challenges, but these experiences,
I don't trust in those. I trust in the Word. The Scripture
says, To the Word and to the testimony, Isaiah 8.20. To the Word and to the testimony.
If they speak not according to this word, it is because there
is no light in them. For a man doesn't submit to the
scriptures, even though a man gets up here and he's just got
all kinds of liver, and he starts talking about all kinds of experiences,
and he never gets into the word. He's not submitting to the word.
I heard a man the other day, a famous preacher on the TV,
I might say infamous, But he's very well known all over nationwide,
but he was talking about that he preached his experience. That's
what he preached, his experience. Well, I want to see if my experience
coincides with the Word. That's the touchstone. To the Word and to the testimony.
If they speak not according to the Word, it's because there's
no light in them. Now, it binds us down sometimes
to try to be subject to the Word, you know. Well, I have a good
example. When I was a young boy, I used
to go to the store. I had to walk about a mile and
a half, and I'd have two bags of groceries. I had to tow just
a little old lad, and those groceries got so heavy. By the time I got
home, I was about to break. Sometimes the sacks bursted before
I got there. But I didn't have a lot of livers
to skip along and play along the way. I had to get those groceries
home. And a preacher subject to the
word of God, the fear of God in his heart, he's got these
groceries. He's got these big-bag groceries.
He can't go jumping around with all this liberty, you know. I
want to be subject to the scriptures even though I'm bound. God's
word is not bound. Notice how the apostles preached
the gospel. Peter, for example, he said,
this is that which was written, talking about, this is that which
was written in the Old Testament. He called up the Old Testament
to testify. And Paul did the same thing. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you, by which also you are saved. For I delivered unto you,
first of all, that which I also received." Now, it wasn't his
invention. He received it. It's eternal. It's God's gospel. It started
in eternity. Christ is often the finisher
of it. How did Christ die for our sins? According to the Scriptures.
And that he was buried and rose again the third day, according
to the Scriptures. We want to find out who Christ
died for according to the scriptures. He died for his people. He died
for the elect of God. He died for his sheep. He died
for those that the Father had given him. That scripture, to
pervert that or change that is to bring the curse of God upon
a man. It's a false gospel to pervert
any of these precious truths that the scriptures teach concerning
the gospel. It's according to scriptures.
We need to bow to that if we fear God. And if we preach his
gospel, we'll submit to scriptures. Even Christ himself, the incarnate
Word of God, the living Word of God, the incarnate Word of
God. When he spoke to the Pharisees
and the scribes, the Pharisees were interpreters of the law,
and the scribes were the recorders of the law. But the Lord said
in John 5, 39, search the scriptures, for they are they that give testimony
of me. He said, search the scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they
which testify of me, and it will not come to me that you might
have life. So he calls up the scriptures to give testimony
of himself. Search the scriptures. for they
are they which testify of me." It's the gospel according to
the scriptures. The credentials of the true gospel
is found also in verse 3. In verse 1, it's the gospel of
God. In verse 2, it's the gospel according
to scriptures. In verse 3, it's the gospel concerning
his Son. Now, that's the the test of the
true gospel, the gospel concerning his Son. Those are the descriptions
and the credentials of the true gospel. Hebrews 1 and 12, the
Apostle says, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our fate. Now, if we are the author of
our fate, we'll never get to heaven. We'll
die in our sins. Cain and Abel were two brothers. Cain had faith in God. Cain was the author of his own
faith. Cain died in his sins. Abel had
the faith of God's elect. Christ was the author of that
faith. Christ was the object of Abel's faith. He offered that
sacrifice, that blood sacrifice. And it says, looking unto Jesus.
That's the object of our faith. He's the author and the finisher
of our faith. And if our faith, if it's not, if he's not the
author of it, it's better that it, we get rid of it right away
and start looking to Jesus. Look into what the Scripture
says concerning the Son. To him gave all the prophets
witness," it says in Acts 4, 43, that through his name, whosoever
believeth in him should receive remission of sins. I don't want
to be like Ahimaaz. I know that's not right. Ahimaaz
wanted to run with and wanted to go to King David
with a message, but he didn't have a message. Now, David was
waiting to hear about his son Absalom. Do you all remember
this? David wanted to hear about his son Absalom. Joab, the general
of King David's army, had a sad message to give David. But he
got Cusha. He told Cusha to go and tell
David what had happened. Absalom had been killed. And
Cusha started out running with this heavy message. And this
is what Ahimaaz said. Then said Ahimaaz, let me, I
pray that he run after Cusha. And Joib said, Wherefore wilt
thou run, my son, seeing thou hast no tidings? He said, I want
to run. He said, Well, go ahead and run.
Oh, me, I don't want to be like that. Preachers want to preach.
We'd better get the message first before we go running off without
a message. So here goes Ahimaaz. He runs off, and he outruns Cushiah,
and he gets there first to David. David's waiting to hear about
his son. And oh, Ahimaaz said, All the battle is tremendous.
The dust is flying in the air. He said, There's a great tumult.
And David's shaking his head, you know. And about that time,
here came Crucian. And David told him, Stand aside.
He didn't have a message. Stand aside. That's what we all
say to anybody. Don't have a message. Stand aside.
You haven't got a message. Stand aside. Here came Crucian. He said, He told him, David,
the message he wanted to hear, even though it was a sad message.
It was concerning his son. So I want to be like Crucifixion,
to run with the message, even though I don't have a whole lot of liberty
trying all these texts and things. But the gospel is concerning
his son. On the Mount of Transfiguration,
where Christ was transfigured there before the apostles, in Mark 9, Peter, James, and John was up
on the mountains of Transfiguration, and he said, as the Christ prayed, and as he prayed there, the fashion
of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and
glistening. And there appeared unto him Elias
and Moses, and they were talking with Jesus at Luke 9.30. Now, here's what they were talking
about. What was this mountaintop conference
about? Something important, very important. And behold, there talked with
him two men, which were Moses and Elias, who appeared in glory,
and spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.
They were talking about his death on Calvary, his decease. They
were talking about him accomplishing something that he would accomplish. He accomplished something on
Calvary. He redeemed his people. He didn't attempt to, he did
it. And he said, It's finished. Now, when that experience there
on the Mount of Transfiguration was such a great thing, and Peter
was just taking the bike, he said, Oh, this is wonderful.
He wanted to build a tabernacle for for Elias, the law, and represented
the prophets. And Moses, representing the law,
he wanted to build a tabernacle for the law and one for the prophets.
And then he wanted to build one for Christ. You can't put them
on the same level. Christ is all. He's the fullness
of the Godhead bodily. We're complete in him. Romans 4.10 says, For Christ
is the end of the law, righteousness for everyone that believeth." We follow him. If we have Christ, we have it
all. He's our righteousness, our wisdom,
our righteousness, our sanctification and redemption. But the gospel
concerns his Son, who he is. What he did and where he is now,
he's God to some. He's our substitute. He's our high priest. He's our
kinsman-redeemer. He's our sacrifice. And what he did, he paid a ransom
that satisfies the holy demands of God and glorifies God. and
sanctifies God in his mercy toward undeserving, hell-deserving worms
like you and I, and justifies them before his holy presence,
condemning their sins even to the blood of his only Son. The
true gospel concerns what Christ accomplished. Hebrews 1 verse
3 says, When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at
the right hand of the Majesty on high. He finished and he sat down.
The old priests in the Old Testament, they didn't do that. Their jobs
were never complete. But Christ sat down because it
says, through one sacrifice, he perfected forever them that
are sanctified. When he said, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O In Hebrews 10, 9, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Christ's work is the finished work, and the gospel concerns
what he's finished and what he's done on behalf of his people,
where he is now on the throne, reigning and ruling. The true
gospel has the credentials of the power. of his resurrection. Verse 4,
And declared to be the Son of God with power according to the
spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. What does that
resurrection declare? It declares that every sin that
was laid upon him was paid for. And he's justified in his resurrection
also, declared to be the Son of God. And God raised him and
glorified him and set him on the throne above every name that
is Do we believe in the power of
the gospel? It's the glory of God. I believe
in the power of the gospel. If the gospel of Jesus Christ
doesn't draw me in and save me, then I haven't got any other
message. I'm not going to use cheap gimmicks to get people
to church. If they're not interested in
this glorious gospel, it's because they're blind. If they can't
see the light of this glory, and they don't rejoice in this
glory, the glory of his glory, they wouldn't be happy in heaven
anyway, even if they could get there. Some people say they believe
the gospel, but they revert to gimmicks, a cheap gimmick to
God's character, and they can build up a big bunch of religious
people, and all the world they have after it's all done is a
goat barn, just a barn full of goats. And it's not worth it
to me. I just don't—but I love people
that are interested, that are certain to listen to the gospel
and will. Glory in the gospel of Jesus
Christ! It says the angels desire to
look into it. They never tire. of this glory
that's revealed in the gospel. We've just seen a glimpse of it. One's understanding of the true
gospel is revealed in answering this question. The question is
this. Who controls the applications
of the grace of God? God or man? There's a lot of
people who almost preach the gospel when they come down to
the application, who controls it, God or man. Man just won't
say that God controls it all. They won't give up some kind
of control, and that's what all the contention is about. Man
wants to control his salvation some way or another. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but God that showeth mercy."
I see men down in Mexico, or young men, running with torches
on certain days. They run for a hundred miles
or so. There'll be about ten of them
on the back of a truck, and they'll change places every once in a
while. And they run, and rain, sun, cold, whatever it is. Not much cold down there, but
they run. even into the night, to get to these places to fulfill
a vow. That's willpower, isn't it? That's
willpower and dedication to a false god. But the Scripture says,
It is not of him that willeth, nor him that runneth, but God
that showeth mercy. Now, we as believers, we run,
don't we? Sure we run. God's work sent
us to will and to do his good pleasure. I'm willing, but it's
God that worked in us to will and to do his good pleasure.
And that's not the cause. To pervert the gospel would be
to say that my will is the cause, or your will is the cause. Because
you're willing, because you're deserving Christ, because you
want to serve Christ, to say that your will is the cause is
to pervert. And only a person that doesn't
know the gospel would even want to turn it around and pervert
it anyway, because it takes away from God's glory and it destroys.
It's no gospel. The curse is upon anyone who
would even think such a thing. That's what Paul, Peter 1, told Margeesus. He said, He said, He said, you're cursed of God
because you thought, you just thought this thing that the grace
of God might be bought, the gift of God might be bought. But this
grace is not controlled by your will, by any man's will. It's
not controlled by the pastors, by the deacons, by the church,
or by the priest or the sacraments. It's completely in the control
of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Scripture
says in John 6, verse 4, No man can come to me, the Lord says,
except the Father which hath sent me draw him. And then the
Lord Jesus Christ said in John 17, verse 2, As thou hast given
him power over all flesh, that he may give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him. So he has that power, the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit, John 6, verse 63. It is the Spirit
that quickeneth the flesh. So as many as received him, received Christ, to them that
believe on his name, to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born
out of blood, nor of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of
God." So a man in the true gospel is a man who is shut up to sovereign
grace. That's scary, but it's true,
and that's the best place to be, to be saved. Because Christ
died for sinners, and you'll never, and we'll never be saved.
No one will ever be saved until they're shut up to that, that
place where they know they're a worm, hailed as a worm, and
only by a miracle of the grace of God, they're going to be saved.
And he don't have to save you. But I'll tell you, you cry out
for mercy like old blind bottom is. God works in us to will and
to do his good pleasure. His grace teaches our hearts
to fear, and in his grace our fears are relieved. But as long
as we are presumptuous in our own thoughts and attitude about
our wills, being in control of this thing, we are so far from
understanding the glorious gospel of his grace and mercy that is
revealed in the gospel. The Lord has to reveal it. I
just try to preach it. But I believe it, and I hope
in his mercy, and I rejoice in his mercy, and I want the Lord
to be sanctified before the eyes of the people, preaching this
gospel. May the Lord bless you.