That was outstanding. I asked Alan a little bit ago
what they were singing, and he said a song that he wrote out of Psalm 110. And that was wonderful. Thank you all for the message and song. I want you
to go to the book of Acts, back to Acts chapter 20. And I want to try to talk to
you tonight a little bit about testifying the gospel of grace. Here's what Paul said in Acts
20. Verse 22, he said, And now, behold,
I go bound in the Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things
that shall befall me there, save or except that the Holy Ghost
witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide
me. But none of these things move
either count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish
my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the
Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And so that's
where I take my title from, testifying the gospel of grace. I'm convinced the greatest preacher
of the gospel was that one who was the gospel incarnate, our
Lord Jesus Christ. Never a man spake like this man. They were amazed at his knowledge
of scripture, most of them not realizing that the Scriptures
are His Scriptures. This is His Word. He is the incarnate
Word, and the written Word from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22 is
all about Him. Our Savior was a mighty preacher. He did mighty works that proved
who he was. But after our Savior, after his
ministry, I would say that the greatest preacher of the gospel,
other than our Lord, was the Apostle Paul. God gifted him. The Spirit inspired him to write
over half of the New Testament. And he is the pattern for all
preachers. If preachers would learn what
the content of their messages ought to be, what their attitude
ought to be, what their commission is and
what their ministry is, they need to look at the apostle and
learn from him. Preaching I've been trying to
preach for many years I'll tell you this. It's the
most honorable work in the whole world To set forth the unsearchable
riches of Christ is just a privilege And so I've been blessed to have
been called to the pastorate in 1975 and pastoring pretty
much ever since. I love to speak about the wonders
of redeeming grace, to tell sinners of the eternal
purpose of God that he chose a people unto salvation. I'm not on a fool's mission. There's somebody who's gonna
listen to the gospel. Because you see, the gospel is
a specific message about a specific person and his specific work,
and it will be delivered in power and in life-giving omnipotence
to a specific people. That's just the way it is. It's wonderful to tell sinners
of salvation in Christ, to tell people who are spiritually sick
that there's the great physician and his specialty is saving sinners. And I view this place and everywhere
that the gospel is being preached as a hospital, a spiritual hospital
for sinners. I know that today men have demoted
preaching to the scrap heap. There's little or no time in
the average church for preaching. There are announcements to be
made, prayer requests to be mentioned, public recognition of people. There's the list of activities
for the folks in the church. There are committee reports to
be given and singing, congregational singing, choir singing. junior choir singing, children's
choirs, quartets, and so on and so forth. And you and I know if you listen
to any preaching outside of this building, and aside from true
gospel preachers who are on the radio and you can find their
messages on the internet, there are a lot of There's a lot of
false preaching out there. A lot of preaching that feeds
the egos of people. But I'll tell you, if a man doesn't
preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's preaching
a false gospel. And the world's full of false
preachers. No question about that. Preaching the gospel is being
committed really to one message that we preach over and over
and over again. This afternoon I was looking
on my phone and I asked Nancy, I said, listen to this guy. And
as a fellow, I've listened to two or three of his messages.
this past week. He is an expert on going against,
arguing against evolution. He is certainly pro-creation. And he has lots of facts. He's a very learned man, highly
educated man. But he never mentioned The Lord
Jesus Christ one time did it, never did. So you can know a lot about creation
and I, hey, we studied Genesis 1, but the study or the record
of the creation in Genesis chapter 1 is a picture of spiritual creation. It's a picture of the gospel.
But he never got around to that because I, as Brother Mahan used
to say, a preacher can't tell what he don't know. And if a man doesn't preach the
gospel, he's failed. He's a failure. The gospel is on every page of
Holy Scripture. We know, we've been taught, thankfully,
that The Gospel is about a person. The Bible is about a person. The whole purpose of God centers
around a person. Everything God has set out to
do will result in the exaltation of that person, the Son of God. And God has ordained that a host
of people be brought to Him by effectual, sovereign, irresistible
grace. And those people will worship
Him, worship Him on earth, and worship Him throughout all of
eternity. And the job of the preacher,
the job of the minister, is to testify the gospel of the grace
of God. And if I fail to do that, or
if you speak from up here and you fail to do that, or if any
other preacher who professes to be a preacher fails to do
that, then he has not been true to the book of God. He hadn't been true to the Lord
Jesus Christ. So I would ask this question,
when can it be said that a man has really testified the gospel
of the grace of God? When has a man fully preached
the gospel? That's what I'm getting at tonight.
Because the gospel, while there's one gospel, it's a collection
of truths. I know a lot of people say, well,
just preach Jesus to me, I don't wanna hear the doctrines. Well,
our Lord Jesus, he taught truths, he taught doctrine. They were
astonished at his doctrine, but he taught doctrine. Doctrine
is just the truths of our Lord that he has set forth in the
word of God. So let me give you a few things
here, kind of a collection of truths. Number one, when we preach,
we're preaching fully the gospel of Christ, the gospel of the
grace of God, when we emphasize the eternal counsel of God that
ordained the gospel. This gospel had a beginning.
It didn't begin when our Lord came. Our Lord came because the
gospel was already in existence in the mind and purpose of God.
It was already in existence in the Old Testament. The gospel,
you see, is the eternal message that came forth from the heart
of God. You see, God is now where He
has eternally been on His sovereign throne. Most people don't even know what
a preacher means when he uses the word sovereign. I suspect if the average preacher
announced in his pulpit he was going to preach on the sovereignty
of God, people would say, what in the world is that? Well, I'll tell you what the
sovereignty of God is. He does as He pleases, when He
pleases, with whom He pleases. God does his will among the armies
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and nobody can
stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? God is sovereign. And back in old eternity, when
there was no existence save the triune God, God purposed, God
ordained the gospel of his grace. This gospel is centered around,
as I've already said, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The message of the Bible is salvation
is of the Lord. I listened to a funeral not too
long ago, and the preacher said this person was in heaven because
they believed. Well, that's partially. There's
some partial truth to that. But they said nothing about what
God had done. So that really means there wasn't
any truth. Why do people go to heaven? Why
do people wind up in glory? Are we going to attribute the
great matter of eternal salvation to a person's faith? Is that
what we're going to do? Should we not brag on the God
of salvation? Should we not say of a genuine
believer who sat under the gospel of God's sovereign grace, should
we not say, Brother so-and-so is in heaven because God before
the world began chose him unto salvation? Shouldn't we say that? Shouldn't we say that brother
so-and-so is in glory because his sins were paid for by the
blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ? Should we not say that? Should we not say, yes, brother
so-and-so believed on the Lord Jesus, but it was because of
the regenerating power and the gift of faith by the Holy Ghost. Should we not say that? We must be careful that we don't
give credit to the sinner, because every sinner will perish if he
can. Every sinner will perish if left
to his own will. And that song that they sang
from Psalm 110, thy people shall be willing, willing, willing
in the day of thy power. When we preach the eternal counsel
of God, we preach the origin of the gospel. You see, there was a covenant
made between the Holy Trinity. The salvation of sinners was
ordained. The election of sinners was accomplished. The appointment of a people unto
salvation was finished. God, for His own purpose, for
the glory of His grace, chose a people, an undeserving people,
a people who did not merit grace. God chose a people unto salvation
without any consideration of what they would do or that they
would contribute anything to their salvation because they
could not. The election of some unto salvation
is to the praise of the glory of God. And we really have not testified
the gospel of the grace of God unless we say this all originated
in the mind and heart of God Almighty. And therefore, He gets
the glory. The substitutionary, justice-satisfying
cross of Christ that happened 2,000 years ago, that was no
afterthought with God. Some say God wanted to save or
tried to save or made salvation available for people if they'd
keep the law, but they failed to do that. And so God implemented
a standby plan, plan B. Since the first one didn't work,
the second one, maybe that would work. And that would be the death
of the Lord Jesus. What heretical statements. The Bible says that Christ was
the lamb, he was slain before the foundation of the world. Before man fell, Christ was already
the Savior. Before a lamb went astray, before
Adam went astray, before Eve went astray, there's already
a shepherd for it. Christ is said to be the surety
of the everlasting covenant. Most people in religion never
heard of the covenant of grace. don't even know what surety is. Like Judah was surety for Benjamin. You know the story. I don't have
to rehearse that for you too much. Joseph's in Egypt. He got control of the granaries,
all the food supplies of Egypt and surrounding countries. Jacob sends 10 of his sons to
get food, kept Benjamin at home, and of course, in the mind of
Jacob, Joseph was dead. Of course, those brothers, they
didn't have any idea that Joseph was the prime minister of Egypt,
but they go there to get food, and they tell the story. Joseph
said that he was disguised. They didn't recognize him. They
said, where are you guys from? What's your story? And they began
to say, our dad's back in the land of Canaan, and we're hungry,
and we're a family, 11 brothers, mom and dad, and we need food. He said, well, 11 of you, you
got another one then, because I only count 10 of you. Well,
our younger brother Benjamin, he's back home. Daddy don't like
him to get out from under his shadow. And Joseph, he said,
well, if you're on the up and up, tell you what I'm gonna do,
I'm gonna keep one of you. What's your name? Simeon, you'll
stay here with me. And you other fellas, you go
back home, And if you're telling me the truth, you bring your
youngest brother back with you, whose name was Benjamin. They
said, all right. So they go back, and Simeon's not with them. And
they said, now, Dad, we're not going to get any food. There's
no groceries. We're not going to have any groceries.
unless you send Benjamin back with us. And Reuben said, Reuben
was the oldest. Reuben said, Dad, I'll take care
of Benjamin, and I'll take, if I don't bring him back to you
alive and well, you can kill my two sons. Just threw his boys under the
bus. Jacob wouldn't have any of that.
Well, time goes on, they got hungry. And Judah, Judah steps forward and he says
to Dad, Dad, food's running out. Send Benjamin with me and I'll
be surety for it. I'll stand good for him, I promise
you, I promise you. I'll bring him back safe and
sound. And if not, I'll bear the blame. See, Reuben said, if I don't
bring him back, you can have my two boys. But Judah said,
my life's at stake here. And he became surety for Benjamin. And he brought Benjamin and his
father together. He stood good for his younger
brother. And I, Lord Jesus, in the covenant
of grace, stood good for all of his younger brothers, all
of us Benjamins. He said, Father, you've given
me a people, and I have received them as a gift, and I promise
you I will redeem them, I will save them, I will justify them,
I will quicken them, and I will bring them all safely home, Father,
unto thee. I'll be sure to you, Father.
That's all in the covenant of grace. I wonder how many people
down at the first church know anything about that. I'll say this to this congregation,
and some of y'all have been here a long time. You've been well
taught. Be thankful. You have been well
taught. Most of you know far more than
the biggest majority of preachers know. Preachers are ignorant. About the only thing they know
today is how to get a crowd, how to entertain, how to cause
excitement, how to get more money in, how to make the church grow. They're schooled in those things,
but they don't know anything about the gospel that had an
eternal beginning. That's what I'm saying. When we preach the eternal counsel
of God that ordained the gospel of grace, now we're on to something. And I'll tell you something else,
number two. When can it be said that a man
has testified the gospel of the grace of God? When he sets forth
the fall and the total ruin of man in the garden. Now listen, if we're not fallen,
if sinners aren't fallen, if they're not depraved, if they're
not helpless, if they're not spiritually dead and justly condemned,
there's no need for Christ to come. No need for Him to die the horrible
death of the cross. True preaching will always put
man in his rightful place and God in His rightful place. Always. And man's rightful place is in
the dust. In Adam all died. That's what
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. by one man's sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned in Adam. Christ died the just for the
unjust. Who died the just one? Who died
for the unjust ones? In order to bring this to God.
So I want you to see this. If we testify the gospel of grace,
Our sinfulness will be exposed. Our inability will be revealed. And the certainty of divine judgment
against sin is gonna be set forth. God's got to do something with
sin because of His holiness. True preaching says this, every
man at his best state is altogether vanished. All of sin comes short
of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sinneth shall die. You will not come to me that
you might have life. No man can come to me, Christ
said, except the Father which has sent me draw him. I raise
him up the last day. The gospel has not been accurately
set forth until we put man in his rightful place as a helpless,
Debtor to God. We're in trouble. We're in trouble. We're in trouble with God. And
it's a trouble of our own making. He demands what we can't produce,
righteousness. Can Ethiopian change his skin? Can the leopard change his spots? Then may ye also do good that
are accustomed to do evil. As long as we're bragging on
how good people are, and if you just be good enough you can save
yourself, we're nowhere near preaching the gospel. And that's
what preachers preach, really. Works. Works has invaded the
pulpits and churches all over this world. Few and far between
is the message that goes forth from a pulpit, one of pure, undiluted
grace. And if we testify the gospel
of the grace of God, we'll proclaim the holiness and the justice
of God and the condemnation of sin. God is holy. He must punish
sin. God is righteous. His law must
be honored. God is just, the soul that sinneth
shall die. I know God is love, and I'll
get to that in a minute. But He's also a just God and
a Savior. And He's not gonna be a Savior
at the expense of His justice. Now that can't happen. That'd
go against the character of God. And if we testify the gospel
of the grace of God, we'll put grace in its rightful place. All of grace, all of grace. 2 Timothy 1.9, who hath saved us
and called us with unholy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. For by grace do you say
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's a gift of God,
not of works, lest any man should boast, electing grace, predestinating
grace, redeeming grace, Justifying grace, quickening grace, preserving
grace, glorifying grace, grace from the beginning all the way
to the end, and grace all in the middle. Grace. And then if we testify the gospel
of grace, we'll put Christ in His rightful place. Somebody told me not too long
ago, well, the main thing is that they believed on Jesus.
And I'll tell you what my customary answer to that is,
which Jesus? I don't think I've ever met anybody
that didn't believe on Jesus. Somebody said to me when Jerry
Falwell died, You know, I'm from Virginia, so he is big in Virginia. Of course, got a big university
named after him. And I said, well, I'm glad God
shut his mouth. He said, well, he preached Jesus
and he believed on Jesus. And that's what I said to that
person. Which Jesus? A helpless Jesus who needs you? A Jesus who wants to do you good
if you'd only let Him? That's so wrong. You believe
in that Jesus, you're going to perish. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Paul and Silas said
to the Philippian jailer. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Tell me who your Lord is, and
I'll tell you whether you've got the right Jesus or not. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Savior of sinners and He redeemed His people by His bloody death
upon the cross of Calvary. He tied the knot that can't be
untied. He drowned our sins, the sins
of all of His people in His blood. God's not gonna hold me accountable
for any of my Billions of sins, however many they are, you're
not gonna hold me accountable. Somebody else has already been
held accountable. Somebody else has already answered
for them. Somebody else has already suffered
for them, my savior. And I'll tell you, we're not
preaching the gospel of the grace of God, we're not testifying
the true gospel unless we exalt our Lord Jesus Christ and say,
He's the only Savior, He's the only Mediator, He's the only
Redeemer, and He cannot fail. He's a successful Redeemer. True preaching tells people that
Christ is the fulfillment of every promise, every prophecy,
every picture, every law in the Old Testament. He's the seed
of the woman who bruised the serpent's head at the cross.
He's pictured in Abel's sacrifice, Noah's ark, the Passover land,
the tabernacle, the priesthood, the mercy seat, the atonement,
the smitten rock, the manna from heaven, the servant lifted up,
and many, many other pictures and types of Christ. The Old
Testament is full of Him. Full of Him. And we hadn't preached the gospel,
we hadn't testified the gospel of the grace of God unless we
center our attention on Him. And if we testify the gospel
of the grace of God, will set forth the love of God for his
chosen people. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that he loved us. Gave his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Propitiation. Satisfaction of
divine justice. Love of God led to that. Why,
love's behind it all. God commended his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, guess what happened?
Christ died for us. The Apostle Paul said to these
Ephesian elders, he said, I fully preach the gospel of Christ.
I've left nothing out. I've left nothing out. And we better not leave anything
out either. Give all glory to the Lord. What's
wrong with that? What's wrong with honoring the
Lord by saying salvation is only of God? By the purpose of God,
by the power of God, by the purchase of God, by the application of
the Spirit's power and grace, salvation is of the Lord. What
in the world is wrong with that? Nothing wrong with it. You better
do it. Then we've testified the gospel
of the grace of God when we point sinners to Christ. Close with the Son of God. Come to the Savior. Believe on
Him. Brother Maurice Montgomery used
to say, hug up to the Savior. And I'll tell you what, if you
hug up to the Lord Jesus Christ, it's because he already hugged
on you. And then we've testified the
gospel of the grace of God when we declare the necessity and
successful work of the Holy Spirit. Nothing's going to be done unless
the Spirit of God works. We can try to get people all
worked up, get them emotional and stuff like that. Get a false power going, get
people excited. What we need is the Spirit of
God to work in the hearts of the people who hear the truth.
Just quietly do His work. And if he does his work in the
hearts of people, I promise you it will be successful. So let's
stick to the old message, glorifying the God. It'll do us good. It'll be all to the praise of
the glory of his grace. Get your psalm books out. Let's
sing 228.