I want to talk to you this morning
about getting the gospel right. That's the title, the message,
getting the gospel right. And so I think the best place
to start it is in Romans chapter one. Look at verse 16. It says,
for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. The semicolon there,
remember I talked to you about punctuation. That's one place
where I think they got it right. What that means is he's going
to tell you what he means. The gospel of Christ, what he
means, but I'm not ashamed of it. He says, for it, the gospel,
is the power of God. The word power there is the word,
we get our English word dynamite from it. So this is a power,
this is an explosive power. It is the power of God unto salvation,
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first. That's just in
time. That has nothing to do with any
merit or any deservedness of the Jews. In other words, he's
not saying I gave it to the Jew first because they were better
than everybody else. It's just that simply God chose
in his sovereign providence and goodwill to do it that way. And
so he says to the Jew first, they were the first ones to preach
the gospel to the Gentiles and to the Greek, that word Greek
is just a way of referring to the Gentiles in general in that
time and that culture because it was a Greek world. Now, why
is the gospel the power of God and the salvation? Well, he says
in verse 17, for therein, in that gospel, the righteousness
of God is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith,
I believe that's the first faith there refers to the faith. That's
what I'm preaching you. That's the truth, the body of
doctrine, teaching that I'm giving to you. And then to faith is
the gift of God, the faith that enables you to believe it. So
from faith to faith, and as it is written, the just or the justified
shall live by faith. In this issue of getting the
gospel right, we know that this phrase, the righteousness of
God, is the most important. And I would tell anybody, I say,
listen, whether you want to hear me or whoever, if you want to
see what salvation is, what it means, what it involves, The
first thing you need to understand and to search out is this phrase
in the Bible, the righteousness of God and what it is. Now the word gospel simply means
good news. So we have to find it in terms
of this. It's good news to who? You often
hear about people winning the lottery. They'll win millions
of dollars. That's good news to them, isn't
it? But it's not really good news to you unless you're the
one getting the money, right? You might hear that some doctor
or some researcher has found a cure for cancer. Now, that
would be good news to all of us, but I'll tell you how it'd
be really good news if you had cancer. It'd be really good. You'd be interested then, wouldn't
you? You'd perk up your ears and say, well, you know, I may
not understand all those medical terms, but I'm gonna find out
what that is and where it is. Because I've got cancer, so I
want a cure. Well, it's the gospel is good
news to sinners, the scripture says. Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners. In other words, the good news
sort of begins with the bad news, if you want to put it that way.
The good news speaks of righteousness for the guilty. It speaks of
health or a cure to the sick. It speaks of riches to the poor,
food for the hungry, water for the thirsty, freedom for the
captives, life for the dead. That's the good news. Over in
the book of Romans chapter three, turn over there. We read this
passage all the time, and this is another thing. When we talk
about getting the gospel right, we have to come from this viewpoint.
In verse 10, he says, as it is written, there is none righteous,
no not one. That speaks of the fact that
there's not one person, one man or one woman, found on earth
among Jew or Gentile who can say that he's righteous in himself
by his works. That's our natural standing before
God within our self. There's none righteous, no not
one. Now, it doesn't say there's none religious, no not one. It
doesn't say there's none moral. You may be trying to be the most
moral person you can be, and that's fine, and I hope you are.
If you have, you who are married, the husbands ought to try to
be the best husbands they can be, and the wives ought to try
to be the best wives. If you have children, you ought
to try to be the best father, the best mother. If you've got
a good job, you ought to try to be the best worker. All of
those things, be the best you can be, but here's what you have
to understand under the preaching of the gospel. that the best
that we can be here on earth in any area of life will not
make us righteous before God. Now that's what the Bible teaches.
Now I know what mom and dad tell you. But I'm telling you what
the Bible teaches. Mom and Dad says you're a good
little boy, you're a good little girl, and you deserve the world. But God's Word doesn't say that.
God's Word says there's none righteous, no, not one, and I've
always said no exceptions. That's me, you, that's the worst
of us, the best of us, man at his best state, altogether vanity.
Now you can't understand the Gospel. unless God the Holy Spirit
brings you to see this. There's none righteous, no, not
one. The second thing about this is this, and I've already said
it basically, but I'll just repeat it. You cannot make yourself
righteous by anything you do or don't do. You know, most people
in religion, they measure righteousness by what they don't do. We don't
go here. We wouldn't be caught dead over
there. We wouldn't eat that or taste that or handle that. Stay
away from there. That's why the Pharisees were
so upset when they saw the Lord Jesus Christ sitting down and
having a meal with publicans, with publicans and Gentiles and
harlots. Why would you associate with
such people? And you'll say they'll bring
you down. Well, now, you know, we don't like, for example, our
children. You don't want your children and grandchildren associating
with drug addicts and whoremongers and all that. You don't. I don't
want my children or my grandchildren associating with that type of
people, because we know they do bring them down more. But here's
the issue that we need to understand if we're going to get the gospel
right. Staying away from those people will not make you righteous
before God. You know, you'll get along better
in society, you'll have a better life here, but it will not have
anything, listen, it will not mean anything as far as making
you righteous before God. Not only do we not have righteousness,
we can't work one. Joining a church will not make
you righteous. Getting baptized will not make
you righteous. All the morality that you can
muster up in your life will not make you righteous. Works won't
do it. By deeds of law shall no flesh
be justified in God's eye. But there's another aspect to
it. Look at Romans 3 in verse 11. He says in verse 11, there's
none that understandeth. Now what is it that we don't
understand? Now listen, all of you all have
aspects in your life that you understand a lot of things. I look at people who are mechanically
minded, who can build things and fix things, and they understand
that I don't understand at all. And I admire them. I admire people
who can do that. That's a gift. And then there
are people who have professions, medical professions. You understand
things about the medical profession, about the human body that I don't
understand. Things that you do. But that's
not what he's talking about here. You know what he's talking about
here? He's talking about the way of
salvation. Man by nature doesn't understand that. I'll tell you
why. Because man by nature thinks, and when I say man by nature,
I'm talking, it's how we're naturally born. This is the way we're born.
This is in us by nature. All right? Man by nature doesn't
understand the way of salvation because he thinks and imagines
that he has the final say and the final word in salvation.
He thinks it's something that he says, he does, he commits
to, he believes. It's all by works. And that's
what he's saying here. There's none that understandeth,
and therefore, verse 11, there's none that seeketh after God.
Now it doesn't say there's none that seeketh after a God. Man
has his idea of God. what God is like. Remember, God
said, thou thinkest that I was altogether one such as thyself.
You see, man reasons from the ground up. He looks at himself
and he says, well, God wouldn't do this because I wouldn't do
it. Or God would do this because I would do it. Well, see, you
can't think like that. You see, knowledge of God is
by revelation through his word. What does this book say about
God? It's not what you naturally think
now. But what does this book say about God? And therefore,
you're not going to seek God until He reveals Himself to you
through His Word. Look at verse 12. He says, they
are all gone out of the way. What is the way in the Scripture?
Well, John 14, 6, Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. You know what is it to be lost? What it is to be
lost? It means you don't know the way.
You ever been out and gotten lost in directions? You don't
know the way. Now, what is it to be saved? Well, it's to know the way. Well,
what is the way? The way to heaven. The way to
salvation. Well, the Bible says Christ is
the way. And I know a lot of people say
that, but they really don't know the way. And then he says, here
he says, they are altogether become unprofitable. Now, if
you invest your money, you want it to be profitable, don't you?
If you invest your time, you want it to be profitable. If
you invest your time in exercise, you want it to be profitable.
You want to be a healthy person. If you invest your time in religion,
do you want it to be profitable? Unto salvation? Well, what do
we read back in Romans 1, 16 and 17? The gospel is the way
unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And so the reason
that they're all together in promise, they seek a way of salvation
that's conditioned on themselves. And not by the grace of God.
And then it says there's none, listen to this one now. There's
none that doeth good, no not one. Now you say, wait a minute,
I see all kinds of people doing all kinds of good things. Charity,
morality, giving their time to work with children or underprivileged
people. I see all that all the time.
Here's what you have to understand if you're going to get the gospel
right. The goodness that he's talking about here is not that
kind of goodness that man judges. The goodness that he's talking
about here is goodness as it is compared with God. And compared
to God, compared to the Lord Jesus Christ, there's none good,
no not one. That's the bad news. Verse 23,
look down there. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Romans 6, 23, the wages of sin
is death. That's the bad news. Getting the gospel right begins
with understanding our need of salvation by the grace of God
through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look
back at Romans chapter 1. Getting the gospel right. You
know, that's the greatest need of our world today. You know,
people say, what does our nation need? Well, we need morality,
we need education, we need Lower taxes, we need a lot of things.
The greatest need for any nation is this gospel. Getting the gospel
right. Let me give you some points of
it. First of all, the gospel is the good news of God manifest
in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. You want to see God?
Look at Romans chapter 1 and verse 1. Look here. The Bible
says salvation is to know God. Well, listen to this, Paul, a
servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated under
the gospel of God. I'm separated under the gospel.
That's what separates me from the world. That's what makes
me different. It's not my, it's not what I wear or what I don't
wear. It's not what I watch or what I don't watch. It's the
gospel that makes me different. And I'll tell you something,
you know, people who say, well, I just don't see the difference in what
you preach and they preach. You're not listening. You might be hearing,
but you're not listening. I'm telling you. I know because
I've been there. But he says, I'm separated in
the gospel of God. Verse two, which he had promised
to four by the prophets in the Holy scripture. This is the gospel
that was preached in the Old Testament. Same gospel. It's
not a different one. Now look here, verse three. This
gospel concerning his son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh. That's the humanity
of Jesus Christ. He is every bit human, body and
soul, without sin. And then verse four, and declared
to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. That's his deity. Jesus
Christ, is God and man in one person. When the angel came to
Joseph and told him not to put Mary away because she was with
child, he said, this child was conceived in her womb by the
Holy Spirit. That's the humanity of Christ.
And he said unto Joseph, and you notice who named the child,
it wasn't Joseph. But it was God through this angel.
His name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. In Matthew 1.23 it says, His
name shall be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God
with us. In John 1.14 it talks about the
Word. Christ is the embodiment, the
living Word of God. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Christ had to be both God and
man in order to save His people from their sins. He's our representative. He's our substitute. He's our
surety. All of the sins of God's people
were charged to Him. The debt. There was a debt. That's
one of the words for sin in the scriptures. Old Testament and
new. A debt. You owe something. You know,
when somebody's convicted of a crime, they say, well, we owe
a debt to society, and the debt would be so many years in prison
or even capital punishment. But it's a debt that has to be
paid. When we sin against God, we run up a debt that we cannot
pay. We don't have one penny to pay.
And that's why Jesus Christ, the God-man, came to earth for
his people, having their debt charged to him. Accounted to
him. He said put it on my account.
I'll pay it if somebody would come along and pay your debt
You'd be very happy I'd be very happy Put it on my account. I'll pay it I've got them I'm
willing to pay it and I've got the ability to pay it He said
I'll pay if I told you I was going to pay your debt you might
feel good But it only be for a little brief while Because
you're going to find out something real soon. I don't have the ability
to do it. I Can't pay your debt But Jesus
Christ is able to pay the debt in full for all for whom he died. That's why there'll be no one
in hell for whom he died. He paid their debt. He satisfied
the debt. He satisfied God's justice. Now
how did he do it? By his death on the cross. And
you see that brings us to the second thing about getting the
gospel. Not only is it who is Jesus Christ, he's God in human
flesh. The gospel is the good news of
redemption, accomplished, salvation, finished. That's what this phrase,
the righteousness of God, means over here in Romans 117. For
therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Well, what is
the righteousness of God? Well, look over at Romans chapter
10. And look at verse four. He speaks of Israel. who went about trying to establish
their own righteousness by their works. It's kind of like the
guy who says, well, you know, I know I'm not saved because
I'm not good enough yet. Or I know that I can't join the
church because I'm not good enough yet. And let me tell you the
answer to that in Scripture. You'll never be good enough for
that. You have to find somebody else who's good enough. Well,
who is that? Look at verse 4. For Christ,
Romans 10, 4, for Christ is the end of the law. Now the word
end there means the completion, the finishing, the fulfillment
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
Everyone here today who truly believes in the Lord Jesus Christ
has a righteousness charged to them. That's right. You're good enough, not in yourself,
and you never will be. But He's your goodness. Just
like my sins, my debt was charged to Him, His merit, His worth,
His value, His righteousness is charged to me. And so the
gospels, the good news of redemption accomplished. He paid my debt.
And He gave me His righteousness. It's the righteousness of God.
And so the third thing about getting this gospel right in
the preaching of the righteousness of God is this. The gospel is
the good news of life from the dead. Now that speaks of the
new birth. A couple weeks ago I preached
a message called the dynamics of salvation. And it goes like
this. The first dynamic is this. It
has to do with the source or the cause of salvation. Now what
is the source or the cause of salvation? I'll tell you exactly
what it is. It is the sovereign mercy, love, and grace of God. He said in Romans 9, I'll have
mercy on whom I will, I'll be gracious to whom I will. You
see, the source and cause of salvation is not you or me or
anything we do or anything we don't do. That's what people
believe. You know, you talk about people
when they talk about the doctrine of election. God chose a people. How do most people see election?
God looked down through a telescope of time and he foresaw what you
do and then he reacted in a saving way. Well, that makes the source
and cause of salvation you, not God. But God says that the source
of salvation is Him and Him alone, and it has nothing to do with
who you are or what you do. Listen, in fact, God chooses
those and saves those who don't deserve it and don't earn it
in any way. That's the source. That's the
cause. The second dynamic is the ground of salvation. Well,
upon what ground does God say, does there have to be a ground
of salvation? Yes. I'll tell you why. Because God's
holy and righteous and he must punish sin. He cannot look over
it. He cannot deny it. He cannot
just look at you and say, well, I love you so much. Let's just
forget it. You know, no, he must punish sin. And the punishment
for sin is death. You see, that's the problem with
most people. Just like the fella that told me one time, he said,
I know I'm not perfect, but I've never done anything to deserve
hell. And I said, well, you better read the Bible. Because the Bible teaches that
if God were to give any of us what we deserve, it would be
hell. Even the best of us? Yes. You say, well, I don't believe
that. Well, that's okay. You just don't
believe the Bible. You don't believe God. And you really don't
need the gospel. You just go on about your life.
Eat, drink, and be merry. Tomorrow you die. But I guarantee
you're gonna stand before a holy God at judgment and give an account. And any account that you give
unto him that is not wrapped up purely and solely in the person
and work of Christ is gonna fall short. You have no righteousness
to plead before God. So what is the ground of salvation?
What's what we've been talking about? The righteousness of God.
The righteousness of God in Christ. His blood, His righteousness,
His merits, His obedience unto death. That's the ground of my
salvation. I have no other ground but Him.
How many times have you heard me quote my favorite hymn? My
hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus'
name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is
sinking sand. So there's the ground. The third
dynamic is the fruit of salvation, and that's the new birth. You
must be born again. Christ said to Nicodemus, you've
got to be born again or you can't see or enter the kingdom of heaven.
How do I know that I'm saved? Because I rest in Christ alone
for salvation, for righteousness, for forgiveness, for eternal
life and glory. That's the new birth. All who
have been born again by the Spirit see and believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that spiritual life manifests
itself, evidences itself in faith in Christ, in repentance of dead
works, in love to Him, in obedience as a servant of God. not as a
mercenary, but as a loving bond slave. The gospel is the good
news of life from the dead. All for whom Christ died shall
live. He said in John 14, 19, because
I live, you shall live also. He said, I, if I be lifted up,
will draw all unto me. The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. What did he say? My sheep hear
my voice. Now, how do we hear his voice?
Through the preaching of the gospel. And then the gospel is the good
news of security in Christ. Security. Now, we talk about,
you know, people banty around all kinds of phrases, you know,
say, well, you Baptists, you believe once saved, always saved,
and we Methodists, we believe, you know, you can be saved one
day and lost the next and blah, blah. Let me tell you something.
Let me give you this security in Christ. Are we secure in Jesus
Christ? Or is it possible, having been
saved one day, could we be lost the next? Well, my friend, there's
no such thing in the Bible. There's no such thing in the
gospel, if we're gonna get the gospel right, of a sinner being
saved one day by the grace of God and being lost the next.
That's nonexistent. What does the scripture say?
Well, listen to this. There's two aspects to our security
in Christ. Let me give you the first one.
The first one is preservation. You know what that means. That
means you're preserved, you're secure, you're kept. Somebody
says, well, he's a kept man or she's a kept woman. Well, we're
all kept people because Christ keeps us. And then the second
aspect is perseverance. Now let me show you what that
means. First of all, let's go to the first aspect, preservation.
First of all, it means simply this, Jesus Christ will not let
his people go. Turn to John chapter 10. He will
not let his people go. How do you know that? Because
he said so. He won't let us go. Here he's talking about his sheep.
And who are the sheep? Well, they're the saved. Saved
by the grace of God, based on the righteousness of God in Christ,
freely imputed and received by faith. They rest in Christ. They trust Him. They follow Him. And He said in verse 27, look
here in John 10, He said, My sheep hear My voice, and I know
them, that knowledge of them is an intimate knowledge of like
a marriage union. He said, and they follow me and
I give unto them eternal life. They don't earn it. They don't
deserve it. He said, I give unto them eternal life and they shall
never perish. Now, what does that say? They
shall never perish. Neither shall any literally pluck
them out of my hand. My father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them out of
my father's hand. I and my father are one. He won't
let us go. That's his preserving love, his
preserving grace. Now, in this preservation, next,
it's because Christ is the surety of the covenant. Turn to Hebrews
chapter eight. He's the surety. Now, If you
agree to become a surety for a person on a loan today, what
you're saying is this. You're saying, well, now, if
they take out a loan and they get you to sign on as a surety,
what you're saying is, well, now, I'll pay it if they cannot
pay it. But that's not the same as the
surety ship of Christ in the Bible. It's a little different.
The suretyship of Christ in the Bible says this, Christ will
pay it, they cannot pay it. It's a guarantee, in other words.
It's not a contingency. You see, if you say, I'll pay
his debt if he can't pay it, that's a contingency, contingent
upon him not being able to pay it. But in Christ's surety, it's
not a contingency, it's a guarantee. Christ guaranteed the payment
before the foundation of the world. That's why in 2 Timothy
chapter 1 verses 9 and 10 it talks about a salvation that
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. He's
the surety. But look at Hebrews chapter 8
verse 6. Talking about Jesus Christ it
says, Now he hath obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much
also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established
upon better promises. He says, for if that first covenant
had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for
the second. For finding fault with them, he said, behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that
I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,
because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them
not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I'll put my laws in their minds, write them in their
hearts, I'll be to them a God, they shall be to me a people,
They shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the
least to the greatest. And I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more." Now, what's he saying? Well, he's saying this. Israel under the old covenant
failed. They didn't keep the covenant. What makes us think
we'd do any better? We wouldn't. What was the surety
of that covenant? It was their obedience. They
failed. We're sinners too. How can we know that the covenant
promises of salvation are sure and certain? Because they're
all conditioned on Christ, the surety. He kept the covenant. He didn't fail at all. He's the
surety of the covenant of grace. And then next, His blood ever
intercedes on our behalf. Now turn to 1 John chapter 2.
1 John chapter 2. Verse 1. John writes, My little children,
these things write I unto you, that you sin not, you defy sin,
you're in a warfare, the flesh and the spirit, And if any man
sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the
righteous. He's the propitiation. That's the sin bearing sacrifice
that brought satisfaction. That's his substitutionary work,
his surety ship for our sins, not for ours only, but for the
sins of the whole world. Now he's not talking about every
individual without exception in the whole world. He's talking
about Jew and Gentile. And so Christ is our advocate.
In other words, as long as he intercedes on behalf of his people,
they cannot be lost. They cannot fail. They cannot
be charged with sin. Romans chapter 8, look at that.
How could you lose salvation if you cannot be charged with
sin? How could you lose the promises if Christ is your surety? Look
at verse 31, what shall we then say to these things? If God be
for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, that's all his people, his sheep.
How shall he not with him, with Christ, freely, unconditionally
give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea rather
that is risen again. Who's even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. You can't be charged
with sin. Why? Because God charged it to Christ.
And he died. All who are in Christ, all we
can be charged with before God is righteousness. And here's the thing too, we're
preserved because the righteousness in which we stand before God
is not man's righteousness, it's the righteousness of God. It's
His righteousness charged to us. It cannot be blemished, it
cannot be contaminated, and it can never be taken away. Well,
let me show you one more, turn to 1 John 2 again, and I'll close
with this. The second aspect of this security
is perseverance. And the main aspect of that perseverance
is the ever-abiding presence of the Holy Spirit within us.
We have the presence, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
The Bible says if you have not the Spirit of Christ, you're
none of His. That's why we have the warfare, the flesh and the
Spirit within. That's why we fight sin in a
way of grace. and this spiritual life within. Now look at 1 John 2, look at
verse 18. He speaks of people who claim
to believe the gospel, but then who left it. And he says in verse
18, little children, it is the last time, and as you've heard,
that antichrist shall come. Even now are there many antichrists,
whereby we know that it's the last time. They went out from
us, they left. But they were not of us. They
never believed it. For if they had been of us, if
they'd been truly saved, truly members of the family of God,
they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that
they might be made manifest, made known that they were not
all of us. But look at verse 20. But ye
have an unction, that's an anointing, What is that? It's the anointing
of the Holy Spirit in the new birth and His indwelling presence
from the Holy One, from Christ, and you know all things. You
see, here's the issue. If we truly know Him, He'll never
let us go, but we'll never let go of Him either. And that's
not because we're so good or so powerful or anything like
that. It's because of the spirit within, because of life within.
We know that we have no hope of salvation. We have no hope
of forgiveness. We have no hope of eternal life
and glory, but Jesus Christ and him crucified and risen.