I've titled it, Five Clear Points
of the Gospel. Five Clear Points of the Gospel.
Look with me there in verse 16 of Romans chapter 1. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith." Here,
Paul, the apostle, says he's not ashamed of the gospel. He
said he was ready to come to Rome and preach it, so he wasn't
going to be ashamed of it at Rome, and Rome had lots and lots
and lots of God. He wasn't ashamed of it in Jerusalem,
where Christ was crucified, and where they had religion all the
way up to their armpits. They still had the tabernacle
in the priesthood. He wasn't ashamed of it there.
He wasn't ashamed of it when he stood on Mars' hills with
all those philosophers and all those intelligent people who
came to philosophize there every day, and he wasn't ashamed of
it when he stood there and declared to God who made heaven and earth
and doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, neither worshiped
by the silver and gold of men's hands. So he wasn't ashamed of
the gospel. Wherever he went, he wasn't ashamed
of Christ crucified. He wasn't ashamed of the cross.
He wasn't ashamed of the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was
taken outside Jerusalem and nailed to a cross by his people and
by the Romans, and that he counted everything that he believed up
to the time that he saw Christ crucified in his stead, but done. And everybody that was anybody
tried to destroy him, but he wasn't ashamed of the gospel,
of the sacrifice of Christ for his sin, for his sin, and for
his false righteousness that he had. But for many, the gospel
they preach, and there's many who preach a gospel, another
gospel, that they believe, and I'd be ashamed to own it. I'd
be ashamed on it. So the question is, the gospel,
do we really know the gospel? If you can't be ashamed of something
you don't know, and you can't be for something
you don't know, so do we really know the gospel? Paul said, as
much as me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel. He called it the
gospel of God, the gospel of his son, the gospel of his grace.
So God helping me, I'm going to give you five clear points
out of Romans 1, 16 and 17. There are five clear points of
the gospel. Five essential things that the
Holy Spirit reveals to us that makes the gospel the gospel.
Five clear things. The first one is this. The gospel
is definitive. The gospel can be defined. It
is definitive. And it says there in verse 16,
For I am not ashamed, and here's the definition of it, the gospel
of Christ. It's the gospel of Christ. The
gospel isn't something that's vague, something abstract, something
mystical, something that has to be guessed at, something that's
left for everybody to choose what they want to believe about.
No, no. It's called the gospel of Christ. And it's not a bunch
of people standing up and giving testimonies. about Christ and
the gospel and telling what He's done for them, or it's not based
on subjective experiences of what we've experienced. But no,
no, the gospel is defined, and it's called the gospel of Christ,
the good news concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel
is good news, and if it has to do with what we've experienced,
it's not good news. If it has to do with us testifying
about it, it's not good news. If it has to do with us in any
way, it's not good news. And that's why it's called the
Gospel of Christ. Now look over here in Romans chapter 1 and
verse 1 with me just a minute. Look what it says here. Paul,
a servant of Jesus Christ. called to be an apostle, separated
under the gospel of God. God had promised this gospel
before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. But what about
this gospel of God? What is this gospel that Paul
separated under? What is this gospel that had been promised
by the prophets in the Holy Scriptures? It's concerning his Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord. The gospel is God's message Himself
concerning His Son. This is My beloved Son. Hear
ye Him. It's concerning His Son, and
it's concerning His Son Christ, the one that the Messiah, the
one who was sent, the one that was promised before the world
ever began. And about His person, which was
made of the seed of David, the eternal Son of God, the eternal
God who was with His Fathered, unbosomed and sent into this
world, His person. And I tell you what, this is
why, and I've got a little article I'm putting in the bulletin next
week, that's a dead giveaway to most folks' profession as
a Christian, is this. Their profession has nothing
to do with the person of Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do
with Christ. It has to do with coming to the
front, Making a decision, getting baptized in somebody's pool,
joining a church, praying through or deciding, I want to get saved.
Exercising their free will to cooperate with God. Their religion
or their profession has nothing to do with Christ. And I'll tell
you, the gospel has everything to do with one man, and that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. He says that no man comes unto
the Father, but how? By me. No other way can a man
come to God except through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
why God says, our Lord said, I do always please my Father.
And then about His work. What about His work? What is
His work? From the day He was born and laid in that manger
till the day He died on that cross, everything He did, He
did for somebody else. And the first thing he did, the
first person he did anything for was his father. He had to
satisfy his father. He had to satisfy his justice,
honor his law. Obey him where Adam failed and
Adam sinned. Christ now must as the second
Adam, the last Adam, walk before God perfect, in perfect obedience
and righteousness, and perfectly fulfill that law. And He, Beloved,
did that first and foremost to honor His God. That's why I said,
I finished the work that You gave me to do. Father, You do always hear me. And oh, it came that everything
He did, He did first and foremost for His Father. And secondly,
and his father satisfied, so when he offered himself a sacrifice
to his father, then God could do something for me and you. And, oh, beloved, this gospel
concerns his son who was made a receiver of David as far as
the flesh is concerned. It declares him, it sends him
forth. And any gospel that doesn't send
forth the Lord Jesus Christ in all his fullness is no gospel
at all. It has no power to save. Lusat
sent me a thing the other day, yesterday, of a Baptist church. And this fellow wrote me and
said, you know, can I put some of your sermons up on Sermon
Audio? And the church that he's working out of, and he's in some
place in Africa, and the place he's working out of, they've
got a big picture on their website that says, The Bridge to Heaven.
And over here is the earth, and over here is heaven. And they've
got this great big cross. Spanning that dove. Got these people walking across,
you know. Tells about what all you've got to do and all that.
What you've got to do. Don't say a thing in the world
about what Christ did. And what the gospel is, is the gospel
of Christ. What He did. Who He is. And how
many preachers have you ever heard talk about Christ? The
only time they ever talk about it is, would you let Jesus save
you today? And they don't even call Him
the Lord Jesus. Let Jesus into your heart today. Will you accept
Him today? Jesus would love to save you.
That's the only time they talk about it. They don't ever talk
about His person. His glorious person. That He's
eternal. That He didn't begin to exist
when He was born. That He had always existed when
He came from the womb of the virgin. He was as much God then
as He was from all eternity. And He was as much God when He
hung on that cross as He was from eternity. Because only God
can satisfy God. But God can't die. But man can
die. But man can't satisfy God, so
how in the world is God going to be satisfied and not? For
God made flesh in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus. Not
only is the gospel definitive, but let me tell you the second
point of the gospel. Is that clear? The gospel is called the
gospel of Christ, A.J. Now the second thing is this,
the gospel is objective. Look what it says there in verse
16. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Now watch this. Idiots!
Idiots! It is the power of God unto salvation. It is. It's objective. It's outside ourselves. Everything
about it declares it's objective. It is the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is an objective message,
not a subjective message. It's the power of God unto salvation. What is, the gospel is. The gospel
don't, and I remember saying this, boy, I told you all about
this so many times. When I began to first learn the
gospel, and I went and met Brother Mahan. I was preaching up in
West Virginia, and I rode down to visit him one afternoon, and
sitting there talking with him, and I said, you know, Brother
Mahan? I said, I know it's the gospel
soaked in our tears. He said, now you wait a minute,
right there. He leaned across his desk and stuck his finger
right in my face. He said, you wait a minute, right
there. He said, it's the gospel, whether you ever shed a tear
or anybody ever sheds a tear. He said, tears don't have nothing
to do with it. It's the gospel that's the power
of God. It's the gospel alone. It don't
need any help. It don't need any tears. Though
God, oh, I wish we had more tender hearts. I wish we had more tears.
But the gospel and the power and use by the Holy Ghost to
those whom He sends it, it is the power of God unto salvation.
It don't need no cooperation. It don't need no pushing. It
don't need no pulling. It don't need no pumping. The
gospel, as it's declared, He doesn't say that the Spirit is
the power of God unto salvation. He doesn't say the free will
of man cooperating with God is the power of God unto salvation.
He doesn't say that man standing up and telling something about
God is the power of God unto salvation. He doesn't say of
everybody getting in one heart and one mind and one accord is
the gospel unto salvation. He just says the gospel it is
by itself the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is the
power that the Holy Spirit uses. It's His sword. And that's what
He uses to save sinners. That's why the Scripture said
in 1 Peter 1, verse 23, it says, Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but incorruptible, by the Word of truth, by the Spirit
and Word of truth, Were unto you received by the gospel, you've
heard it in the gospel. And the gospel is the word which
is preached unto you, the word. That's why we're so adamant about
bringing folks to hear the gospel. Folks just ain't going to decide
one day that I'm going to accept Jesus and go get right with God.
That's not the way it happens. But nowadays, you get somebody
in a service, just get them there one time, the next thing you
know, they're trying their dead level best to drag them, to get
them, to impress on them. Get Jesus, get them saved today,
because they might perish tomorrow. You think God don't know where
He's at? Do you think He don't know who
His elect is? Do you think He don't know who
He's going to cross paths with in the gospel? You go through
the scriptures, how many people did He cross paths with in the
gospel? Oh, how He hated Christ. He despised
his name. He was a blasphemer. He was a
persecutor. He was injurious to the name
of Christ, injurious to the people of God. He was on his way to
put men and women in jail, and you know what? God got him. God got him. Oh, my God, you
know what? He gets them with the gospel. Get some of the gospel. And oh,
beloved, it's by the preaching of the gospel set forth by the...
Look over here in Romans chapter... I mean, not Romans, but 1 Corinthians
chapter 1 with me, just a minute. Verse 21. It's by the preaching
of the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit objectively set
out that God is pleased to save His people, to save sinners. Oh, it is. It is. Look what it
says in verse 21. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom, 1 Corinthians 1 21, for after
that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom, you're not God.
The world is wisdom, it don't know God. It knows getting right, it knows
making you peace, it knows joining the church, it knows to quit
sinning, it knows to quit drinking, it knows to quit cussing. knows
how to shout hallelujah and clap its hands for Jesus, and knows
a thousand ways for people to get right. But God says, for
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. Watch this, it pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believed. Ah,
foolishness of preaching. And that's what preaching has
to do with the declaration of a message. And oh, beloved, it's
definitive and it's objective. Let me give you another. Here's
the third clear point. Back over here in Romans 1.16.
This is why it says, I'm not ashamed. I can define my gospel. My gospel's objective. What's
this? It's not something that I talk
about I've done for God, and I've had all these experiences,
and that is what's God done for me outside me. The gospel took
place 2,000 years ago. Christ did salvation, did when
Christ died. Now watch this. Here's the second,
third clear point. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is, now watch this, the power, the power of
God unto salvation. Now let me ask you something.
Is the power of God effective? Yes, sir. The gospel's effective. Is the power of God effective?
How do you think He made this world? His faith, and it was
done, He commanded, and it stood fast. So let the world stand
in awe of Him. Let the whole world fear before
Him. And beloved, the power of God
is effective. It actually saves. It really,
truly saves. There's no other power like it.
No other power like the power of God. The power of God does
not wait for the beck and call, the corporations, the misery
of somebody comes, and the gospel, the power of God, the gospel
is the power of God itself. That word power means dynamite.
If you throw a stick of dynamite, what's it going to do? It's going
to blow up wherever it lands. That's what the gospel does.
Whatever heart it gets in, it blows it all to pieces. Whatever
mind it gets in, it tears it all down. By every imagination
it has, everything that exhausts itself against God when the gospel
comes, I mean it just turns, it just blows it all away. You know, and yet multitudes
perish because to them it's foolishness. It's foolishness. The gospel really is not the
power of God. They've got all the power. They've got all the
rights. They're entitled to it. I heard
somebody say the other day, he says, you know, somebody said
something to him about, you reckon God will forgive you. He said,
well, why wouldn't he? That's what he's in the business for. That's what
he exists for. And, you know, we've got a government
that makes everybody entitled to something. Now everybody carries
that over into religion. I'm entitled to it. Of course
God's going to save me. Why ain't He going to save me?
I've heard all my life that he loves me. I've heard all my life
that Jesus died to save me. I've heard all my life that God
wants to do something for me. And when I get ready, I'm going
to go and I'm going to do it. Not without the power of God,
you ain't. Are you? How much power do we
have? When it comes right down to it,
how much power do you and I have? How much power does anybody have?
When it comes to this business of salvation, I'm talking about,
I know there's people that's got power, they tell a man to
do this and he does it, but I'm talking about this power of putting
away sin. Have you got power to put away
sin? Have you got power to change your heart? Have you got power
to change your mind? Have you got power to change
your will? You ain't got enough power to
even heal a headache or a toothache without help. So how in the world,
if you can't do that which is least, could you possibly do
that which is the greatest? And that's why it's called the
power of God. We need a power to come to us,
and that's why we preach the gospel, because God takes this
power, this gospel, and He breaks into men's hearts. He breaks
into men's will. He breaks into men's minds. He
breaks into man's will. Everything about a man, God's
got to go in him and tear it all to pieces. Huh? What makes the gospel so effective,
so powerful? Look what it says there in verse
17. I'll tell you what makes it so effective and so powerful.
It says, For therein is the righteousness of God revealed. That's what makes it powerful,
because the righteousness of God is revealed in it. Well,
what is the righteousness of God? It's what me and you need.
See, here's the message. The Scriptures declare all men
are sinners. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. All beloved, we were shapen in
iniquity, we were conceived in sin. We're by one man sent into
the world and death has spawned all men for all have sinned.
We're all sinners, born in sin, born dead in sins, born ruined
ungodly, with a heart full of enmity towards God, guilty before
God, deserving of eternal ruin, and separated from God for eternity,
and the wrath of God, deserving the wrath of God to be done.
Yet God, yet God done this in His great love, in the love He
had with us before the world ever began, having loved us with
an everlasting love. Made of a woman to do one thing. To bear His people's sins. Thou
shalt call His name Jesus. Why? Because He'll save His people. He was sent into this world to
bear His people's sins. God made Him, made Christ to
be. Why? S-I-N. Whatever sin is,
that's what Christ was made to be. When Paul says sin, he said,
how would I describe sin? All I could say is it's exceeding
sinful. Whatever sin is, whatever it
is in your mind, when you feel the loathing of it, and the power
of it, and the nastiness of it, and the horribleness of it, and
the brightness of it, and the depth of it, whatever it becomes
to you at your worst place, that's what Christ was made to be. And He bore His people's sins
in His own body, and then He carried those things, our sins
and these sins, all the way to death. And when He went up to
that cross, He delivered them sins up to judgment. When Christ
was delivered up, He delivered those sins up to the judgment
of God. Judge these sins, punish these sins, inflict death for
these sins. And God did in His blessed Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And by that act, He brought in
an everlasting righteousness. And He brought life. And guess
what He does? God made Him to be sin. For us
who do no sin, that we, for those He was made to be sin for, might
be made the righteousness of God were at in him. Now, this justifying righteousness
is what's revealed in the gospel. Now, I like to justify myself.
I like to think that most, 99 out of 100 times, that it's somebody
else's fault. Whenever I do something wrong,
it generally is somebody else's fault. You know, I can justify myself. I can figure out a way to make
myself clear. Make somebody else guilty. But
now I can't do that before God. I can't justify myself before
God. I can't blame my sin on God. I can't blame my ungodliness
on God. I can't blame my enmity on God.
So how is God going to justify? I can't justify myself before
God. I'll tell you how I'm justified before God. Christ bore everything
that was wrong with me. All my sin, all my rebellion,
all my enmity, all my guilt, He bore it Himself there on that
tree. And God's judgment fell on it. And when it fell on Him,
it fell on me. And when Christ was raised again
from the dead, He had an everlasting righteousness. Brought it in
by his obedient life. And God now gives me that righteousness.
And now I'm justified. God finds no sin, no guilt, no
condemnation. Sin's been paid for. That's why
we preach the gospel. The righteousness of God be given.
It's something God gives you, not something you earn. That's
the power to save. Let me give you the fourth point.
First point. Gospel is definitive. It's objective. It's effective. It's the power
of God. And the third, fourth thing about
the gospel, first clear point, is the gospel is elective. Look
what it says there in verse 16. I'm not ashamed of the power
of God. Now watch this. The power of
God. Here's the gospel's elective
of God unto salvation. You know it's just the power
of God unto salvation, not man unto salvation. The gospel is
God's. It starts with God. And that's
one way you can always tell a fellow who's preaching the gospel, does
he start with God? Does he start with Christ? What God did in
Christ. See, the gospel, it's God's message.
This is a message only. That's why Christ is called the
power and wisdom of God. By it, God shows how he can save
a sinner through Christ. By it, he sees his wisdom in
saving a sinner through Christ. It's God's message of his Son
and of his work. That's why he said, Our Lord
Jesus, when he prayed in John 17, he says, Thou hast given
him, who gave it to him? God did. Gave him power over
all flesh, that he, Christ, should give eternal life. to as many
as thou hast given him." Father, they were thine, you gave them
to me. And everyone you gave to me, I've kept them. But it's concerning your
Son, His work, the Lord Jesus, it's about you Christ who came,
Christ who lived, Christ who died, Christ who rose again to
save His people. Thou shalt call His name what?
Jesus? For he shall, I like that word
shall, save his people from their sins. Most people, they don't
even believe, they don't know why they call Jesus Savior, because
he really doesn't save. There's people that he saves,
and he saves them for a while, until they commit some sin and
they're lost again. That don't hard sound like much
of a Savior, does it? It don't sound like a Savior.
that need your help in order to save him. But it says he shall. Jesus, Jehovah's Savior, shall
save his, that's why it's elected, his people. What's he going to
save them from? Sin. Hear him doeth my Father
love me. Why? Because I lay down my life. Who does he lay it down for?
The sheep. My father loved me. I lay down my life for the sheep.
Nobody's going to take it from me. Old Pilate said, don't you
know I've got power to take your life? I've got power to let you
go. Our Lord looked him right square in the eye and said, you
don't have any power at all. You know that? He said, you don't have... I
could call twelve legions of angels, but I didn't come here
to do that. He said, the only power you've got, my father gave
it to you. Huh? And all they loved him. He said,
this commandment of I received of my father, no man takes my
life from me. I've got the power. I've got
the authority. I've got the ability to lay it
down. And I've got the ability and
the power to take it right back up again. Oh, beloved, the gospel. Listen
to me. The gospel was God's purpose.
God's purpose. That's why, if you want to learn
the gospel, you start searching the scriptures and use that,
in light of that word purpose, what God's purpose to do. God's purpose. God's, it's God's
gospel to perform. God's gospel to perform. It's
God's gospel to proclaim. It's God's to apply. The gospel consistently and repeatedly. by its message sets forth the
salvation of a particular people. Now, ain't that right? It don't
just make salvation possible floor, door, open, wide, and
if you'll make your way through it, you'll be all right. It's
not like some fella says, you know, when you get there, when
you get up there, you won't know you're elected. He said, when
you get there and say, free will on the outside, you walk in,
look on the other side and it says you want to be elected on the
inside. Oh, it sets forth the salvation
of the people of God. The Gospels of God. It's His. It's His, the purpose. God purposed
the Gospel. God purposed to send His Son
into this world. God purposed to save a people.
And everything He does, He does on purpose. We can't change his
mind, we can't change his will, and if we could, what kind of
God would it be that you could change his mind or change his
will? If you could talk him into something, somebody else could
talk him into out of it. Everything he does, he does on
purpose. And he's the only one who can
perform this business of salvation, proclaim it. God chose His people
in Christ before the foundation of the world. He predestinated
them under the adoption by Jesus Christ Himself. And you know
what they're called in the Scripture? Over here in Romans 1 it's called.
It says there in verse 7, to all that be in Rome, first of
all, they're beloved of God. How long, when did God start
loving you? When you accepted His Son. He said, I've loved
you with an everlasting love and with cords of lovingkindness
have I drawn you. And watch this, called to be
saints. Oh, I thought you had to really
be something special to be a saint. I thought you had to do some
miraculous works and had to live the holiest, holiest, sanctified
life to be a saint. No, no, the only thing it takes
to be a saint is for God to call you. Saint means you're one of
God's. That's all it means. Oh my, they're called the sheep,
they're called the elect, they are called the called. They're
called the people of God, the children of God, the sons of
God, vessels of mercy, the chosen, my beloved, But these are the ones the gospel
declares Christ God to. You've seen this probably 500
times, but look at it with me again, 2 Timothy 1. I know you've
seen this, and I don't want to have you quote it, I'm sure.
But let's just look at it. We have looked at this and quoted
it so many times. These are the ones the gospel
declares Christ God to. Oh, which were born, not of the
will of the flesh, not of blood, not of the will of man, but were
born of God. The gospel is the power of God's
power to apply to whom He will. Look what it says there in 2
Timothy 1.9. It talks about the gospel according to the power
of God. Well, look in verse 8. Be thou therefore ashamed of
the testimony of our Lord. nor of me his prisoner." You
know, I'm preaching the gospel here, and they put me in prison.
But you be partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, watch this, according
to the power of God. Now watch it. Who hath saved
us? See how that's in the past tense?
Everything God does in the past tense. Called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works. but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning." Well, that's a powerful line
there. And he applies it to whom he
will. Ain't that right? He applies it to whom he will.
And then last of all, let me show you one other thing. Back
over here in Romans 1.16, let me give you one more thing. Here's
the gospel's elective, the gospel's effective, the gospel's objective,
the gospel's definitive. And it's also redemptive. Here's
the fifth one. The gospel's redemptive. It says
here, Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For
it is the power of God, watch this, unto salvation. Men are going to be saved by
it. Why are they going to be saved?
The gospel actually saves. It really does. It saves a man
right where he is. It saves a man right where he
sits. It saves a man in what condition he's in. Right where
he's at, that's where the gospel comes. And the gospel is redemptive,
and it's unto salvation because Christ laid down his life to
redeem them from their sins. Redemption means to pay for something. You know, you get coupons that
say you can redeem it for so much this and redeem it for so
much that. The redemption of our sins. The
redemption of us from sin. The redemption of us from the
justice of God. The redemption of us from being
out from under the law of God. There was a payment price set.
And the payment price was the blood, the death of His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And our Lord Jesus Christ said,
I'll pay that debt. I'll pay their sin debt. I'll
pay their debt to the law. I'll pay their debt to justice. Payments made, when you redeem
something, you get what you redeemed. And that's why the gospel is
the power of God unto salvation, because the debt's been paid.
Oh my! He suffered the full wrath of
God against sin. I want you to look with me over
in 1 Peter 1. He suffered the full wrath of
God against sin. Not partially. The full wrath
of God. that by his death, by the shedding
of his blood, God would, God could justify and deliver those
for whom Christ died from death, from sin, and from condemnation. Why? Because the debt's paid.
Pay me what thou ow'st. I have. When a fellow gets ten years
in prison, if he owes every day of it, When he walks out there,
he doesn't owe the law anything else. He doesn't owe the state
anything else. He's paid his debt. And when Christ bore our
sins under the wrath of God and went to death for us and shed
His blood, the price is paid. We get to walk out free. Whom the Son sets free is free
indeed. And then He comes and gives us
eternal life. God can justly do that now. And this is Christ
in whom we have redemption. Christ entered once into the
holy place and obtained eternal redemption for us. Look here
in 1 Peter 1.18. Forasmuch as you know that you
were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold. You know, under the law, the
tabernacle said on silver sockets, And they brought gold to cover
the tabernacle. And that was, they paid that,
you know. He says, that silver and gold
that they had in the tabernacle, that never redeemed anybody.
Those are corruptible things. But you weren't redeemed by them.
From your vain, empty manner of life received, which your
fathers just passed on to you. You just do what you do, of course
your daddy does. But here's what you're redeemed with. With the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb, without spot, without
blemish, and without spot. Now watch this. Who barely was
ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you. Who by Him, by the grace He gives
us, by the faith He gives us, by the blood He shed, by the
satisfaction He offered to the Father, who by Him do believe
in God. We believe only in God because
Christ gave us faith that raised Him from the dead and gave Him
all the glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. Is that the gospel clear
enough? Are you ashamed of this gospel? Would you be ashamed to tell
anybody about this gospel that is definitive, that is objective,
that is effective, that is elective, that is redemptive, that it actually
saves sinners, that it's the power of God, it don't need no
help, it don't need no cooperation, it don't need no efforts on man's
part, that the gospel itself is God's power? That is concerning
His Son? Would you be ashamed to tell
anybody that Christ alone put away sin by the sacrifice Himself?
He don't need you to do anything? Do you know this gospel? Do you
believe the gospel? Has the gospel been revealed
to you? If it is, your soul is at rest. Our blessed, blessed Savior,
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, O our Redeemer, thank
you for your gospel. O God, thank you for this gospel
concerning your Son. Thank you for giving Him. Lord
Jesus, thank you for coming. And Holy Spirit, thank you for
coming and revealing to us this blessed gospel of the grace of
God in Christ, this gospel that really saves. Keeps us saved. Brings glory and honor to Him.
Give Him all the glory. Give Him all the glory. God save
you people in this place. We ask in Christ's name. Amen.