The book of 1 Corinthians chapter
15. And I want to read the first
four verses to you. May the Lord enable us to speak
on the subject, declaring the Gospel. Chapter 15, 1 Corinthians. Look
at verse 1. We are brethren, aren't we, by
grace? Not everybody is our brethren,
but most of you are my brethren. What does it mean to be brethren?
Born of the same seed, the incorruptible seed of the Word of God that
liveth and abideth forever. We have the same Father. God
is our Father. He has birthed us into the kingdom
of grace. We've been washed in the same
blood, robed in the same righteousness. We're made alive by the same
Spirit. We're brethren. Brethren. And he says, moreover, brethren. So he's writing to people who
are born of the Spirit. He says, I declare unto you the
gospel. Not a gospel, but the gospel. It's a definite article. There
is no other gospel but this gospel. And he says, I declare unto you
the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received
by faith, and wherein ye stand. You stand in this gospel, by which, by this gospel, by which also ye are saved. And this is the evidence of being
saved, keeping in memory that which I preached unto you
unless you have believed in vain, unless your faith is really not
faith at all, just a mere profession. He says, for I determined unto
you, or I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also
received. As you've received it, so I've
received it. The same message you received,
I've received. Those of us who are born of the
Spirit, we all believe the same gospel. We receive the same message. We receive the same Redeemer. We receive Him as our Prophet. We receive Him as our Priest. We receive Him as our King. We
receive Him as our Redeemer. We receive Him as our righteousness. We receive Him as our all in
all. We receive Him. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that's a word of priority, that which I also received And he says, how that Christ
died for our sins. And here is the gospel. It's
how he died. How did he die? He died as the
sovereign. He died as the substitute. He
died as the savior. He died as the sin offering.
How did he die? He died by God's appointment.
Well, for what reason did he die? He died for our sins. upon what authority? According
to the scriptures. What scriptures? The Old Testament
scriptures. And that he was buried and that
he rose again the third day according to these scriptures. One of the grandchildren remarked
that in this section of the country there seems to be a church on
every corner. And there does, doesn't it? Well, what is it that distinguishes
this church? And I use that word rather loosely
now, because really we know what a church is. It's not the building. It's those who gather in the
building who are brethren. who are God's people. We're living
stones. We say something like this, well,
you know, I'm going to church today. Actually, the church is
coming to the building today. That's really what's happening.
We are the church. We are the Lord's people. We
are the brethren. We are those who are born again
of the Spirit of God. But that which distinguishes
our assembly from other assemblies is this, we preach the gospel. Now, I know that seems a simplistic
statement, but really it's pretty profound. Because the gospel is a specific
message. And it is a specific message
about a specific person. It is a specific message about
a specific person and his specific work that he did for a specific people. It is the declaration of good
news of a work that has already been finished. It's already been
accomplished. That's what sets us apart. That's what distinguishes us,
as far as I know, from other churches in this area. We preach
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now let's get a little more detailed. I know we preach on the new birth. But let me tell you something.
Just preaching of the new birth is not preaching the gospel.
Though we should and we do say to all men, ye must be born again,
the focus of the gospel is not upon what happens in us. Though something real does happen
within us. We're born of the Spirit. But
that's not the focus of the gospel. The focus of the gospel is the
work that the Lord Jesus has already accomplished. That's
the focus of the gospel. Oh yes, we do not deny the necessity
of a work of grace, a work of effectual calling being done
within us by the Spirit of grace who powerfully and irresistibly
through the gospel comes to us and He makes us alive. But the
fact that He makes us alive is not the gospel. For the Spirit
of God is not about adding to anything that the Savior has
already finished. The Spirit of God's work is to
indwell us and to teach us that everything necessary for our
justification, our salvation, our life, and our righteousness,
and our forgiveness has already been accomplished by the Lord
Jesus Christ and that was a work accomplished outside of us. So let's make sure we understand
one another. When we preach the new birth
alone, we're not preaching the gospel
then. But as a result of the new birth,
we believe this gospel. You understand what I'm trying
to say? As a result of the work of the Spirit of God within us,
we love this gospel, we embrace this gospel, we believe this
gospel in our very hearts. But it's not the work of the
Spirit of God within us that's the good news. The good news
is the work of redemption has been settled by Jesus Christ.
Alright, here's something else. The preaching of the love of
God. Just to say God loves sinners,
that is not preaching the gospel. Though we rejoice to know and
believe that God is love. But you see, the love of God
is not the gospel, it's the reason for the gospel. And I know most all the religious
world can quote John 3.16. For God so loved the world. It's
a wonderful verse of scripture. 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. It's a glorious verse.
But that's not the gospel. That's the reason for the gospel. That's the origin of the gospel.
Well, preacher, what is the gospel? As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, John 3, verse 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That's the good news. And that
which led to the gospel is that God loved His people. So if I just get up here and
preach to you, God is love, that's not the gospel. That's the origin
of the gospel. That's the reason for the gospel.
We trace the gospel back to God's everlasting covenant love for
His people. And then again, the preaching
of our Lord's second coming. is not the preaching of the gospel,
though we daily look for His coming with anxious hearts. We stand upon the tiptoes of
faith, and we hear Him say, Lo, I come quickly, and we say, Even
so, come, Lord Jesus. But His second coming, that's
not the gospel. That's not the gospel. When I
was growing up, I was in a church and we had prophetic conferences
all the time. And they would hang their charts
up. I remember them putting up a nail and then putting a wire
up all the way across from one wall to the other, then put all
these charts up. They used clothespins. I still
remember that. Why I remember that, I don't
know. But I remember them putting the clothespins up there, hanging
the posters down about prophecy. Folks love to talk about prophecy,
don't they? And hey, listen, I'm curious
as to what's going to happen, aren't you? I don't deny an interest
in that. Do you deny an interest in that?
I don't deny an interest in that. But just to study that our Lord
is coming back someday, that's not the gospel. It's only those who love the
gospel and believe the gospel and embrace the gospel, those
alone are ready for His second coming. And then the preaching of revival. That's not preaching the gospel.
I had an email recently. where a dear lady asked me if
I would be so kind as to bring some messages on the subject
of revival. Well, I'll tell you. In the book of
Acts, they had a mighty great revival at Pentecost. And guess
what? Nobody preached on revival. Here's what they preached. They
preached the crucified, buried, risen, exalted Savior. And as a result, God brought
about revival. Our message is not revival. You
see revival today, the typical preaching on revival focuses
upon man and his experiences. And it's intended to stir up
within men something within them to rededicate or renew themselves
or surrender again or something of that nature. Our message is
not revival. Our message is the gospel. And
as we come to love the gospel, and especially now I'm speaking
to God's people, as we're overwhelmed by the grace of the gospel, and
the glory of the gospel, and the sweetness of the gospel,
and the preciousness of the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified,
as we see more of His glory, more of the wonders of His sacrificial
love. We love Him more. We'll believe
Him a little more. And the things of the world become
a little less enticing to us. That's revival. Oh God, show me Jesus Christ
again. I don't want to hear a message
on revival. I want to hear a message on Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. And as I come to love Him more
and believe Him more fully, as I come to see and realize and
embrace this truth that He has put away all of my sins, that
I am accepted in the Beloved, that I'm justified by his free
grace, by his imputed righteousness. I say, oh Lord, you're such a
good God to me. You're so full of love and grace
to the likes of me. Let me love you more fully. Let
me be more committed to the cause of God and of truth. That's what
brings about revival, is the preaching of the gospel. And then I say the preaching
of a godly living. That's not preaching the gospel.
Actually, most of the preaching that I've ever heard about godly
living is nothing but the proclamation of works and self-righteousness. Now, gospel preaching, it does
inspire godly living. But the gospel speaks of God's
holiness. which is revealed in the gospel,
which is manifest in the gospel, which is satisfied in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and inspires us to godly living. And then the preaching of the
gospel is not preaching what would Jesus
do today. WWJD. What would Jesus do? That started a few years ago.
I see it every once in a while still today. What would Jesus
do is not the question. That's not the issue. The issue
is what did Jesus do? What has He done? You tell me
what He did. You tell me that He accomplished
salvation? That He put away the sins of
His people? That He removed our transgressions
from us as far as the East is from the West? That He buried
our sins in the depths of the deepest sea? That He brought
in for us everlasting righteousness? Now that's good news. That's
good news. I tell you, the gospel is an
exclusive message about an exclusive person and his exclusive work
for an exclusive people. And before I go any further,
I want you to understand this. If you don't believe this gospel,
then whatever it is that you believe, It's a false gospel. There is just one true gospel.
Those who do not preach the gospel preach a perverted gospel. Those
who don't believe this gospel believe a perverted gospel. Those
who do not walk in this way, the narrow way, they may be sweet,
they may be sincere, they may be moral, but they're on the
broad road that leads to destruction. Notice how this starts off. With
the word moreover, I expect you about like I am,
you tend to read over words in the Bible. You just see a word
and just kind of glance over it. Well, I know what that means.
The word moreover. It means nevertheless or yet. Here's what the apostle would
have us to know. There is a subject that is vastly more important
than gifts. In the 14th chapter, he's been
talking about gifts. Gifts. the gift of speaking in
another language, and so forth. But he gets to the next chapter,
chapter number 15. And we know that the Bible originally
wasn't divided into chapters and verses. That's not inspired,
but I'm so glad it's divided, aren't you? I mean, so we can
kind of find our way around. But he says, moreover, having
dealt with the subject of gifts, He now says, but there's something
more, there's something that's over, there's something that
is vastly more important than gifts that I want to talk to
you about again. And it is the subject of the
gospel. You say, well, it seems like
he's saying the same thing here. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you. He's not saying, in
saying I declare unto you and I preached unto you, he's not
saying the same thing. For the one, I declare unto you
the gospel, he says that's what I'm doing right now. Over and above what I've been
talking about is this subject of the gospel that is more important. And then when he says, this is
what I preached unto you, he's looking in the past. In other
words, he's saying, I'm declaring to you the same thing right now
that I've been preaching to you all along. It's not a new message. It's not a novel message. It's
not a different message. It's the same message of Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. Look back at chapter 12. And
I'll show you the same word, and our King James Version translators
just translated it a little differently. Chapter 12, look at verses 1,
2, and 3. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you
ignorant. ye know that ye were Gentiles,
ye were carried away unto these dumb idols." And you know God brings us to
repentance of that, doesn't He? When you were in false religion,
when I was in false religion, we were worshiping dumb idols. Dumb idols. You were carried away under these
dumb idols even as you were led. You were led by blind leaders.
You were blind and you were led by blind leaders. Now watch this. Wherefore, I give you to understand. I give you to understand. If
you look it up, that's the same word as declare. I declare unto
you. I give you to understand that
no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed,
and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the
Holy Ghost. I give you to understand. So
over here in chapter 15, if you want a further understanding
of this word declare, he's saying, I give you to understand. Moreover, over and above what
I've been talking about, I give you to understand the gospel. I've made known unto you the
gospel. I want to make this perfectly
clear. That's what he's saying. I want
to make this clear to you. That no one is led of the Spirit
of God to speak evil of or to curse the name of the Lord Jesus.
And now over here in chapter 15, he says, I want you to understand
this. I want to tell you this in no
uncertain terms. I declare unto you the gospel.
The gospel. Moreover, over and above the
previous topic I've been speaking about, as he gets to chapter
15 now, is something more important, a subject more needful to dwell
upon. That's what I declare unto you,
he says. The gospel. Now the word gospel
is found some, if I count it right, 98 times in the New Testament.
And we know it means glad tidings. It means good news. So that which
the apostle would have these people understand to be straight
about, that which he is clarifying is the glad tidings of what God
Almighty has done for sinners in, through, and by Christ Jesus
the Lord. The gospel is not good advice.
It's not good instruction. It's not a fine suggestion. It's
good news. It's glad tidings. We gather
this morning so that I may make known to you, so that I may declare
unto you the gospel. Now in declaring the gospel,
what do we make known? Because that's a definition of
the word declare, to make known. So what am I making known to
you? What does the gospel make known to us? Well, first of all,
it makes known the character of God. The gospel does. Do you know why people have such
a low opinion of the gospel? I'm talking about the gospel
of sovereign grace now. I'm talking about the true gospel.
The good news message of what Christ has already accomplished.
Do you know why they have such a low opinion of the gospel?
Because they have such a low opinion of God. That's the issue in our day.
Men have such a low opinion of God. Men simply don't know who God
is. And they're not finding out from
the pulpit. I sat yesterday flipping the
television channels through the religious stations. None of those
men know who God is. We are absolutely covered up
in religion today. I would say there are more denominations,
more religions, more churches than there has ever been in the
history of this nation. And yet there's utter ignorance
of who God is. And we've never lived in a more
immoral society in our country than we're living in right now,
and yet it's never been more religious. So whatever the religions
are today that are being proclaimed, it's not really having any effect
upon anybody. They are ignorant of who God
is. You see, when we make known the Gospel, that is what I am
trying to do right now. That is what the Apostle Paul
says. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the Gospel. When we
make known the Gospel, when we clarify the Gospel, we make known to people who God
is. The gospel tells us of God's
absolute holiness. The gospel identifies the God
of the Bible. It tells us of His power, of
His wisdom. Oh, what wisdom was necessary
in order to come up with some scheme, some purpose, some counsel
whereby we could be saved and God not lower His standards in
saving centers. What infinite wisdom was required
so that God remain just and holy and righteous as He is? so that God could punish sin,
pour out His vengeance upon iniquity, and yet embrace and love and
befriend sinners like you and me. My, what wisdom did that
require. But you don't hear many people
talking about the wisdom of God in salvation today. You don't
hear many people talking about God's righteousness. You don't
hear many people talking about God's power in saving the lost. This gospel, God's the author
of it. God's the originator of it. The
declaration of the gospel makes known who God is. He's not who you always thought
He was. God said to Israel, you thought
that I was altogether such and one as yourself, with the same weaknesses, that
there are hindrances to my work. You thought I was just like you,
that I want to do some things that I can't do. Listen to religion
today. They don't know who God is. They
don't have a clue who God is. They are a million miles away
from God. But the apostle says, I declare
unto you, I make known to you, I clarify to you the gospel. And the gospel is about God.
It starts with God. It doesn't start with us. It
will proceed to us, and it will affect us, and it will do good
for us. But it's not about us. It's never
been about us. It's about God. It's about God. In setting forth the gospel,
we set forth the very glory of God. The very glory of God in
the salvation of sinners. You know, every once in a while,
I'll hear somebody say, And usually they don't say it to me, but
they'll say it to somebody else, and maybe this will be you today. You'll go out here and say, I
didn't get much out of the service today. You wouldn't say that, would
you? At least don't say it to my face. But hear this, this service is
not about you. It's not about you. It's not
about what you get out of this service. Now I hope you are blessed. And I hope I'm blessed. And I'm
being blessed. And I enjoy preaching the gospel.
But this service is first and foremost for our God. That's why we preach the gospel.
For His glory. Because of His majesty. Because
of who He is. He deserves the glory. And yes,
if God is magnified and glorified today, there will be a spillover
that you and I will be blessed. But the main reason for meeting
is for His glory. Men don't know that. They want
to get something out of it. I want to feel good. Make me
feel good, preacher. Well, if you are rejoicing in
Jesus Christ, you ought to feel good. But I don't want to make
you feel good in yourself. Because guess what? You're going
to leave here just as bad as you were when you came in. In
yourself. And there's not going to be any
improvement. Because that which is flesh is
flesh and that's all it will ever be is flesh. We're not here
to brag on you. We're here to brag on the Lord.
And if you want to be bragged on, you just have to go somewhere
else. Oh, you are the new preacher. Don't talk like that. We don't
want to run anybody off. Well, listen, I am not interested
in running anybody off, but neither am I interested in catering to
the desires of the flesh to be bragged on and to be recognized. We recognize one here. Just one. years ago when I was pasting
Rocky Mountain. I was sitting up on the platform
before the service, and one of the ladies came up to me and
she said, you'll never guess who just came in. Well, I knew
somebody, a visitor came in just at the last minute. She said,
Dr. So-and-so's here. I said, really? She said, oh,
yeah. She said, he's my doctor. There are several in here. He
is their doctor too. You might want to recognize him
tonight. I said, listen, when he came
in those doors, he ceased to be doctor somebody. Now he is
just one of the nobodies. I know what the church signs
say. Where everybody is somebody and Jesus is Lord. Let me tell
you something. Jesus is the Lord and all of
us are nobodies. We're not here to lift you up.
Not here to make you feel better about yourself. This is about
God. It's about God. In the gospel,
we learn about God. In the gospel, we find out about
our fall and the necessity of God doing something for us. Do
you know how bad off we are? If anything is to be done for
us, God's going to have to do it. That's how bad off we are.
I mean, we're a hopeless case. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Desperately.
You know what that means? No hope. No hope. My daddy was diagnosed with pancreatic
cancer in 1975. And I remember the surgeon coming
back in. They did exploratory surgery
on him, and he came back in. He sat down on dad's bed while
dad was in recovery. He gathered the family. He said,
Mr. Byrd is desperately ill. I knew what that meant. That
was exactly his words. Mr. Byrd is desperately ill. That means there is no hope.
And he is dead 30 days later. Oh my friend, the gospel, the
gospel necessarily addresses us as people who have no hope. There's no hope in yourself.
You're desperately wicked. Desperately wicked. When we declare
the gospel, we declare God, we declare our desperate situation,
And in declaring the gospel, we make known the glory of and
the honor of the Son of God, who is the gospel personified. It's all about Him. It's all
about who He is in His deity, in His humanity. It's all about
what He accomplished. He did what only He could do.
He reconciled us to God. He brought us to God. The just
died for the unjust to bring us together. To bring us! Us who are polluted. Us who are
depraved. Us who are fallen. Us who are
weak. Us who are sinful. He brings
us to God. He lifts us up out of the miry
clay. He sets our feet on a rock. He
establishes our going. He's our way to God. He's the
truth of God. He's the life of God. And the
Spirit of God reveals to us the gospel of Jesus Christ, that
what He did 2,000 years ago, He did so that God can be a just
God and a Savior to us. And the Spirit of God shows us
it is finished. Everything God demanded, everything
a holy God required has already been settled. That's the good
news. The good news is not what you
must do. The good news is what the Lord
Jesus has already done. The gospel tells us it's good
news for the fallen. And if you're not fallen, I don't
have any good news for you. Isn't that right? If you're not
sinful, if you're not polluted, you say, well, I'm not as bad
as you say I am, I don't have any good news for you then. There is no good news for people
who are self-righteous. All there is for you is just
a word of condemnation, a word of judgment. But if I could find
me a sinner, I sure would tell him some good news. If I could
find me a sinner, I sure would tell her some good news. Christ,
this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Oh, that's good
news. Oh, preacher, tell me that again.
Oh, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom
I'm chief. That's what Paul said. And I'm
persuaded that anybody who's convinced by the Spirit of God
of their sinfulness, they will say in their hearts, I'm the
chief. I'm the chief. Here's what I declare to you.
Here's what I make known to you. The gospel. Nothing more, nothing
less than the good news of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And we're going to recognize
Him. Let me give you this story and I'll quit. I had a candidate
came by the office just before I left Michigan. and he's running
for Michigan State House. And he was, I liked some of the
things he had to say, really. His position on some issues.
But he said, I'll be there. He said, what time's your service
Sunday morning? And I told him, I said, 10.30. He said, I'll be there. I said,
well, all right. He said, now, you can handle
it any way you want to. I said, what do you mean? He
said, well, some preachers recognize me. Some ask me to come to the
platform and say a few words. Others just mention that I'm
there and that I'll be glad to talk with folks and answer their
questions after the service is over. And I said, well, let me tell
you something. Nobody gets recognized here. He said, that's it? I said, that's
it. He said, well, it's nice meeting
you. You think I saw him that Sunday? No. No. Because I'm not going to brag
on him. I'm not going to brag on you. And I'm not going to
brag on me. In fact, you don't even need
to know my name. But you need to know his name. You can live all your life and
not know the name James Ferguson Byrd. You might be better off
in many ways. But you live your whole life
and you don't know his name. that His name is Jesus because
He shall save His people from their sins, and He did save His
people from their sins by substitutionary death. If you don't know His
name, you're going to perish in your sin. I declare unto you the gospel. I make it known to you again.
I'm clarifying it again. over and above every other topic.
And there are other subjects that are important, but there's
no subject more important than this one. This one. Amen. What's the song? I forget.