Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one. Now, the scriptures declare that
there is another Jesus, and that there is another gospel, and
that there is another spirit. But that other Jesus, and that
other gospel, and that other spirit are false. It's a Jesus of man's imaginations. It's a Jesus who can't do anything
unless man allows him to do something. Today I'd like us to look at
features of the genuine gospel. Because
there is one real gospel. There is one real Savior. And
there is one true and living God. And look what's written here
in Romans chapter 1. Let's read, I was only going
to have us read a few verses, but let's start from the first
verse. And we're going to read all the
way to verse 18. actually we'll read to you, verse
19. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
which is a bond slave, called to be an apostle, he didn't put
himself in that position, he was called to be an apostle,
separated unto the gospel of God, well every believer is separated
unto the gospel of God, which he had promised to for by his
prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning who? His son. Jesus
Christ, our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according
to the flesh. He was a real man. The Son of
God was a real man and declared to be the Son of God. Who declared
him to be the Son of God? God the Father declared him to
be the Son of God. The portion I had Brother Neil
read, we saw there the power of God on display. We saw that
he was really a man, right? And we saw that he had all power.
He has power to forgive sin, and he has power to heal. And
he's the only one who has that power. We don't have the power
to forgive sin. We forgive others who trespass
against us. But we don't have the power to
say, your sins are all forgiven, all of them, past, present, and
future. But Christ does. He's declared
to be the Son of God with power, which was again on display in
that reading, according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. By whom, that means Christ, we
have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among
all nations for his name. Among whom are ye also the called
of Jesus Christ. That's speaking to us now. We
who are believers, we're the called of Jesus Christ. Isn't that amazing? We were called
by the Holy Spirit of God. We heard the call of the gospel
because we were given ears to hear. We looked to Christ because
we were given eyes to see. And that call of the Holy Spirit
of God for us to come to Christ was effectual, invincible. We couldn't resist it. It's amazing. Look at this. To
all that be in Rome, beloved of God. That means divinely loved
ones. I'm looking at people who are
divinely loved by God. Isn't that amazing? I have the
same reaction, sister. That's incredible. It's true,
though. It says right there, beloved
of God, called to be saints. Now, you all know I was raised
in the Catholic Church, right? I remember after the Lord saved
me, and I went to my mom, and I said, I'm a saint of God. She
said, what? Don't ever say that. I said,
but the Bible says it, mom. It says it in the book of Romans,
that every born-again, blood-washed believer is called a saint. If
you're saved, you're a saint of God. We don't always feel
that way, do we? We actually hardly ever feel
that way. But it's the truth, because what? The scripture declares
right there. called to be saints. Grace to you. God's grace has
been shown you. And peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look what he says. First,
I thank God, my God. Notice that? He's personal. His
God. God's my God. And if you're a
true believer, God's your God, right? My God. He saved me. He says, my God,
it's personal. He's going to tell us about someone
who saved him. My God, through Jesus Christ,
again, there's the conduit, for you all, that your faith is spoken
of throughout the whole world. Well, the world there is the
Roman. It was the Roman civilization. They considered that to be the
world. Everybody else would just. Well, the Jews actually considered
themselves to be the chosen nation, and everybody else was just Gentile
dogs. And even in the Romans, though, they considered everybody
else around them to be not as superior as they are. They actually
proclaimed themselves as a superior race. That's why they had slaves, and
they treated them like they were nothing, like they were a commodity. Your faith is spoken out throughout
the whole world, for God is my witness, whom I serve with my
spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention
of you always in my prayers, making request if by any means,
now at length, I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to
come to you. So he said, and let us think of this when we
go on a trip or something, that you may have a prosperous journey
by the will of God. What a way to look at things,
right? So Brother Tom, next time you go to Tennessee, I should
say, have a prosperous journey to Tennessee, Brother Tom, but
really by the will of God, by the will of God. That's what
we hope, right? That you're going to get there
safe, that you're going to get back safe to us. That's what he's
saying here. Isn't that wonderful? He's praying
for tribal mercies. By the will of God. And notice
that he puts that in there. I love that. By the will of God.
By the will of God. That you might have a prosperous
journey by the will of God to come unto you. So he was desiring
to see them face to face. For I long to see you, that I
may impart unto you some spiritual gift to the end that you may
be established. So his whole hope. was that the
believers would be established in the genuine gospel, established
in the faith, even more than what they were. That just means
he was hoping that they would grow in grace through the preaching
of the gospel. That is, that I may be comforted
together with you, look at that, by the mutual faith both of you
and me. I get comforted by preaching the gospel and by studying just
as you get comforted hearing the word of God preached and
proclaimed. Isn't that wonderful? We all as believers get comforted
by the same thing, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
preaching of his word. Now I should not have you ignorant,
brethren, that oftentimes I propose to come unto you, but was led
hithero. that I might have some fruit
among ye also, even as among other Gentiles. So he said, I
wanted to come, but, well, we know that he was hindered sometimes
to go to a certain place, but by the will of God, he went over
here then and started preaching. And it turned out to be prosperous.
When he says prosperous, he just means that the Lord saved souls,
and that God's people were built up in Christ. I am a debtor both to the Greeks
and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. Look
at this, here we go. So as much as is in me, I am
ready to what? Preach the gospel. Not a gospel. The gospel. The gospel. To you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel. singular, the gospel. It is the power of God or dynamite
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. I ask you who
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, is not the gospel the power of
God unto your salvation? It is, isn't it? It's wonderful. It's absolutely
wonderful. To everyone that believeth. Now
there's the clause, to everyone that believeth. Do you believe?
Has God given you faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? If
he has, then it's the power of God unto salvation. This gospel's
wonderful. To the Jew first and also to
the Greek. For therein, look at this, what's revealed in the
gospel? The righteousness of God. He's
perfect, he's holy, his law must be satisfied, his justice must
be satisfied, he's perfect, sinless. His righteousness is revealed
through the gospel against all ungodliness. Sorry, I jumped
to verse 18. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as is written, the just
shall live by faith. Who's that faith in? Christ. And where does that faith come
from? God, amen. It's a gift from God. and the
object of it is Christ. There's no other object. The
gospel, the genuine gospel has one object, Christ. I heard a
great statement this week. I was talking to a preacher in
California. You know how some people call
themselves five-point Calvinists and all that? And it was a preacher
named Charlie Pennington. I never met him, but I heard
he was a wonderful guy. He used to preach in Williamsburg,
Ohio there. And somebody asked him, said, well, are you a five-pointer?
He says, no, I'm a one-pointer. And they looked at him and he
goes, they said, what do you mean at one point? And he goes,
Jesus Christ and him crucified. Everything's wrapped up in him,
isn't it? It is. I thought that was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. So it says
here, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone 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. For the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. In other words, they suppress
the truth. They suppress the truth. Their minds are seared
with a hot iron, and they suppress the truth. That's where we all
were before the Lord saved us. And Paul here in our text, he
states that he's ready to preach the gospel, and God's preachers
and people are always ready to tell others of the hope that
we have in Christ, aren't we? When the Lord opens the door,
we tell people of the hope that we have in Christ. And whatever
lies in Paul's way, be it persecution or trials, he's ready to proclaim
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he knows it's
the power of God unto salvation. And salvation is only through
the substitute. Salvation is only through the
substitute. It's not our work and Christ,
it's only Christ. That's one of the identifying
marks of the true gospel. It gives all the glory to God.
Salvation's only in Him, period. And ye are complete in Him. Not in what you do and Him, but
in Him alone. in Christ alone. And God's elect, they're spread
out all over this earth, aren't they? All over the place. We
don't have a clue who they are. We have no idea. They're spread
out all over this earth and all through time also, aren't they?
When you were born, if you're one of the Lord's people, when
you were born, did you know you were one of the elect? Didn't
have a clue, did we? Was it revealed to us in time?
Yeah. By the mercy and grace of God,
right? Do you marvel at it still? Yeah,
and we will till the day we die, beloved. And then we'll marvel
even more in the presence of the Lord, I believe. Oh, we'll
join that heavenly choir singing, worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive glory and honor and praise and blessings. And so the gospel, the genuine
gospel reveals the righteousness of God. The fact that we must
be righteous to be able to stand in the presence of God. Now the
false gospel, you know what it does? It tells you something
you have to do with Christ. But that's not the righteousness
of God, is it? Because the righteousness of
God is perfect, sinless. If we as sinners add anything
to that, then it's not the righteousness of God, is it? You see the importance
of not only Christ dying as our substitute, but living as our
substitute? Because he fulfilled the law
for us, right? In our place, didn't he? He wove
that code of righteousness for us. He fulfilled the law. He didn't
abolish it, but He fulfilled it. And He's a sinless man, so
who's He fulfilling it for? Yeah, amen, us. Sinners, chosen sinners. Amazing, isn't it? And then our sin is laid upon
Him at Calvary's cross, and we weren't even born then. Isn't that amazing? Our sin was
laid upon Christ, and now we receive His perfect righteousness. That's incredible, isn't it?
What an exchange. And yet, when He's dying and
our sin is upon Him, He's still absolutely sinless. He's the
perfect, spotless Lamb of God. This is what the genuine gospel
proclaims. In order for us to stand before
God, we must be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. I remember
the old timers saying, Henry used to say this, we have to
be as perfect as God to stand in his presence. Scott used to
say the same thing. How can we be perfect as God?
Clothed in the righteousness of Christ. What the old timers
used to call an alien righteousness, because it doesn't come from
us. I love that. The old preachers
in the 1800s used to call it an alien righteousness. We are
clothed in an alien righteousness. Do you know that Adam and Eve
were clothed in an alien righteousness? What did those skins represent? Well, that was a death of a... That was a death of a... The lamb that they were clothed
in didn't deserve to die, did it? It wasn't sinful, they were. And so, they were shed, or the
blood was shed that they might be clothed. My, oh my, what a picture we
have right there. So we know, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He has saved us. Scripture declares, for by one
man's disobedience many were made sinners. In Adam we fell,
didn't we? We fell in Adam. So by the obedience of one, the
Lord Jesus Christ, shall many be made righteous. Think of that.
Declared righteous. Justified. Remember we looked
at that a couple weeks ago? Declared righteous. Isn't that
wonderful? It's absolutely amazing. Oh, that God the Holy Spirit
would reveal these truths to us today, that they'd be made
afresh even to we who are believers, and if it be His will, that He
reveal these truths to someone who does not know Him. Do you
know the thire? The Greek dictionary called thire
defines the gospel as this, good tidings. The gospel's good tidings. The true gospel is good tidings. It says, the good tidings of
the kingdom of God soon to be set up and also of Jesus the
Messiah, the founder of the kingdom. The glad tidings of salvation
through Christ, the proclamation of the grace of God manifest
and pledged in Christ. Again, as Brother Tim James said,
and I've come to realize this more and more, we proclaim what's
already been done. We proclaim to God's people salvation
accomplished. Therefore, if it's accomplished,
there's not anything for us to do. We just look to Christ. That's glorious, isn't it? That's
glorious. You mean I don't have to do that?
I just have to look to my Savior? Yep, and the way you look is
by God-given faith. Now, will we obey the Word of
God? Yeah, we're not just hearers of the Word, but we're doers,
right? We desire to please Christ now, don't we? We didn't before,
but now we do. Now we do. My, as I said in Sunday
school, does sin bother you now? Yep. Did it bother you before you
were saved? Nope. Well, who made the difference?
God. God made the difference. So the first feature I'd like
us to look at is the free grace of God is the
cause the salvation of sinners. One of the features of the genuine
gospel is this, that the free grace of God is the cause of
the salvation of sinners. There is no cause found in us, is there? We're not worthy even
of There's no cause in us that would cause God to give us eternal
life in Christ. There's nothing in us that would
cause Him, that would move Him to do that. Philippians 2, if you turn there.
Do you know natural man does not
want God to reign over us? And that's one of the differences
after the Lord saves us. We submit to His Lordship. We acknowledge His Lordship. We don't make Him Lord. We submit
to His Lordship, don't we? Willingly now, isn't that amazing? We willingly accept Him as our
King. As our Commander-in-Chief. He's
the one. He's the captain of the Lord's
host. He's in charge of everything. He appears to Joshua as a man
of war in Joshua chapter 5. It's an amazing chapter. And
he appears to him just decked out in armor and sword in his
hand, ready to do battle. And he says, yea, he's the captain
of the Lord's hosts have come. That's our king. He's a warrior, beloved. Look
at this in Philippians chapter two, verses 12 to 13. It says,
wherefore my beloved brethren, as ye have always obeyed, not
as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Look at this,
look at this. Who is the cause of our salvation?
For it is God which worketh in you both the will and the do
of his good pleasure. Look at that, the cause of our
salvation is right there. This is wondrous. For it is God which worketh in
you and me both to will and to do of His good pleasure. It was His good pleasure that
we'd be saved. It's His good pleasure that we're
here gathered together in this church. Isn't that amazing? It's of his will and good pleasure
that we'd be given an understanding of who Christ is, of what he's
done for us, and of what we are, sinners. It's all according to
his good pleasure. So the cause of the salvation
is the free grace of God. That's our first point of the
genuine gospel. Again, man has no desire. He
doesn't, by nature, hunger and thirst after righteousness, but
after God saves us, the scripture declares, we now hunger and thirst
after righteousness, don't we? More about Jesus would I know,
right? Tell me more. It never gets old. It never gets old. Tell me more
what he's done. Oh, and is he not all in all to us
now? Is he not everything to us now? He's everything to us now. And He takes the stubborn, inflexible
will of His people in our natural state and makes us willing. And
makes us willing. Because we are stubborn in our
natural state, aren't we? We're inflexible in our natural
state. I'll not have this man reign
over me. There's no one who can resist
the power of God, beloved. No one at all. No, and we've
tasted that the Lord's gracious. He's gracious that He makes us
willing, isn't He? He's gracious that He didn't
leave us where we were. He's so full of grace and mercy.
Do you know He draws us with cords of love? You know that? Scripture declares in Hosea 11,
verse 4, I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love. And I was to them as they that
take off the yoke of their jaws. The yoke, the bondage is gone. The bondage is removed. The bondage
of self-justification is taken off. And I laid meat unto them. And that's Christ. Oh my. So the One of the features
of the genuine gospel is this, the free grace of God is the
cause of the salvation of sinners. The second feature is this, that
we have peace with God as a result of this wondrous salvation in
Christ. Now as I said before, God does
not need to be reconciled to us, we left him. Right? We need to be reconciled
to God. were the ones who have enmity
naturally against him. And in our natural state, we
are not willing to reconcile with God. You ever think of that? We're not willing to. But then we're made willing to
flee to Christ, who is our only hope of reconciliation with God. And Paul even declared in Corinthians
that the ministry of the gospel is the ministry of reconciliation.
Be ye reconciled to God. Now in religion there's no peace
because man's always trying to do something to gain merit and
favor with God. All by their doings. But in the
gospel of grace, we're shown from the scripture that we have
peace with God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you
know that peace with God comes from outside of ourselves in
grace? In ourselves, we're just turmoil. But in Christ, what peace we
have. What peace we have. Peace that passes all understanding,
the scripture says, is able to keep your hearts and minds upon
Christ. In 2 John 1-3, this is written
by John, Grace be with you, mercy and peace from God the Father.
How do we receive peace from God the Father? Only through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the genuine gospel proclaims
Christ as the only Savior of sinners. And there's an order there in
2 John 1, 3. It starts off with, grace be
to you, mercy and peace. Well, grace, the grace of God
is the fountainhead. Grace always precedes mercy and
peace. We only receive mercy and peace
through the grace of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. No Christ, no
peace. No Christ, no mercy. It always
goes through Him. And what do we want when God
shows us that we're guilty sinners? Well, we're like that publican,
aren't we? God, be merciful to me, the sinner. We're just like
Him. We want mercy. And God, according
to His will and purpose, which is absolutely incredible, has
chosen to have mercy upon His people. It's amazing. It's truly amazing. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter five. So grace, then mercy, then peace
and grace and mercy always precede peace to we have peace with God
again through the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is bought forth
in Romans chapter five very clearly in verse one. Now we saw the
word justified the other day, which is to be declared righteous. So let's read it with that. Therefore,
being declared righteous by faith, isn't that amazing? Declared
righteous by faith, in faith in Christ, we have what? Peace
with God. How? Through something we've
done? No. Notice how clear the scripture
is? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Singular. by whom also we have
access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand and rejoice
in hope of the glory of God. So the second feature of the
genuine gospel is that we have peace with God as a result of
our salvation, and that peace comes to us in and through the
Lord Jesus Christ, no other way. Another feature of the genuine
gospel is that it has Christ at the heart of salvation. at
the heart of salvation. Without Christ, this gospel would
not be good news, would it? If it was Christ and us, it's
not good news. Or if it was just us, it's not
good news. But it has Christ at the center. Turn, if you would,
to 1 Corinthians 1. It has Christ at the center.
Christ must be preached or the genuine gospel is not preached.
That's just how it is. And the scriptures declare that.
A Christless sermon is not a sermon, it's just a lecture. Brother
Tim James preached a message here years ago called Just Words.
That's all it is. A Christless message is just
words, worthless words. No Christ equals no gospel. Look
what Paul writes here in 1 Corinthians 1, verses 23 to 25. But we preach Christ crucified.
Look at that. Christ crucified must be preached.
Unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God, and the wisdom of God. We saw that in Romans
1. that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, isn't
it? And the gospel declares the righteousness of God, and that
righteousness is only found in Christ, and at the heart of the
gospel is the Lord Jesus Christ. No Christ, no gospel. Doesn't matter what people think. A long time ago, years ago, Spurgeon
had a story of this young preacher who was up there preaching, and
he came down and went to this older preacher that was sitting
in the back, listening to him, and he said, well, how'd I do?
Young preachers always want to know how they did. How'd I do? And he said, well, there was no Christ. And he said, those were just
worthless words. My. No Christ, no gospel. Look what
it says here. But of them which are called,
both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom
of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than man, and
the weakness of God is stronger than man. Oh, let us be thankful
that we have an oasis here to come to. We're in the desert,
beloved, all around us. And we have this oasis we can
come to, and we can rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel's
being preached here. It's being proclaimed here by
the grace of God, by the grace and mercy of God. So we see the
third feature of the genuine gospel is that Christ is the
heart of salvation. He's the heart of the gospel.
The fourth genuine feature is Christ's death and resurrection
are the means of salvation. Christ had to die, and He must
be risen from the grave, and He must be seated at the right
hand of the Father. He must be. Without Christ, we
have no good news. Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians
15. Without Christ, we have no good
news. And this point goes right in line with our last, because
Christ died for our sins, didn't He? He died for the sins of His
people. He was perfect. He was sinless. He died for we
who are sinners. look what it says here oh we
know that he was raised for our justification wasn't he we have
no way to save ourselves therefore we desperately need Christ to
save us look at this first Corinthians 15 verses 1 to 4 more of a brother
and I declare unto you the gospel again singular the gospel which
I preached unto you which also you have received and wherein
you stand we stand in the gospel don't we we stand in Christ he's
our only hope By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain, unless
it was just a mere profession. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I received, how Christ died for our sins.
He really died. He was a man, and He really died. And why did He die? For our sins. The whole reason he came here,
right? Remember, you guys keep hearing me, I'm gonna keep trumpeting
this scripture, because I love it. He was manifested to take
away our sins, and in him was no sin. The whole reason he came
here, beloved, was to take away our sins. That's remarkable,
isn't it? He left heaven. I'm telling you,
angels were bowing down before him, praising his mighty name,
and he left all that to save our souls. He was manifested
to take away our sin, and he did it willingly. He willingly came here to die, to take away our sin, and that's
what we see right there, right? For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins according to the Scriptures. And it was all according to the
Scriptures. He was prophesied in the Old Testament. He's coming. He's coming. And then He was
born. And He was born to die. We're
born to live. Right? He is born to die. You talk about on a mission. Oh, my. He's on a mission from
God, wasn't he? To die for our sins according
to the scripture. Look at this, and he was buried. He was dead,
and then he was buried in a boiled tomb. But don't end there, does
it? He rose from the grave. The third
day, according to what? The Scriptures. That which was
prophesied occurred. And Christ, the sinner's substitute,
dies in the room and place of sinners, in the room and place
of his people, and God is absolutely satisfied with that sacrifice. Without him dying, without him
being raised from the dead, we'd have no salvation. There'd be
no chance of us to be saved. Because we know it's not by works
of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy
he saved us. So without Christ, there's no
salvation. He's the head. He says, because
I live, ye shall live also. The only reason we have eternal
life is because it's in him. Oh, it's wonderful, isn't it?
And our eternal security is not in our views of Christ, but in
Christ himself. Think of that. It's not in our
views of Christ, because sometimes our faith waivers, doesn't it?
We're fickle, the scripture says, but he's faithful. He doesn't change. If he saved
you by his grace, you are eternally safe. Isn't that wonderful? What good news for sinners, eh? This is the best news a sinner
can ever hear. Oh, he died in my place, he was
raised for my justification, so anyone who does not preach
this, they don't preach the gospel of God's grace. They just don't. Then we see Christ's death and
resurrection are the means of salvation. Another feature of
the genuine gospel is that deliverance is the hallmark, the identifying
mark of salvation. You know the word delivered?
Think of this, we're delivered from the law of God, we're delivered
from the justice of God, we're delivered from our sins,
and think of this, we're delivered from ourselves. One day, though, we will be delivered. Now, we still struggle with sin,
right? Well, we're here. But one day, we'll be even delivered
from the presence of sin. Think of what that'll be like.
To never struggle with sin again. Never. To never have a bad thought
again. To never speak anything with evil intent. Never. To be in glory forever. in the
presence of our great king, clothed. You know what the wedding garment
is? You've heard me say this many times, I'll say it again. The
wedding garment that we'll be clothed in in glory, that white
garment, that's the righteousness of Christ. That's what that is. It's amazing. The Lord says this,
scripture says this, the Lord is my rock and my fortress, my
deliverer. Is he your rock? Is he your fortress? Is he your deliverer? David wrote
this in Psalm 18 too, and I, my, I think this is a cry of
believers. The Lord is my rock and my fortress,
my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler
and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. In other words,
David's saying what Paul said when he said, Christ is all.
That's what he's telling us there. But look at that, my rock, the
firm foundation that we looked at a few weeks back, my fortress,
He's encamped around us, protecting us. My deliverer, he continuously
delivers us, doesn't he? Even still. My God, he's the
one true God, and David says, my God, just like Paul said,
remember, my God. The believer says, he's my God. My strength, in whom I will trust. My buckler, and the horn of my
salvation in my high tower. They used to build high towers
in the olden days. They'd build high towers so that
the enemy would have to climb up all the way up there to get
to them, and they'd just chuck rocks down on top of them or
spears. You'd have just a few men up there hold off a whole
army of people. The Jews did that, and that one
fortress they were in, I can't remember the name of it, but
they were in a fortress, just a handful of them, not very many
of them, and they held off a whole Roman legion. Romans finally,
they built a ramp to go up and get at them, but they held them
off for a long time. Just a small group of men. Think
of the 300 Spartans. Had off the whole Persian army. That was on ground, though. Think
of this as a high tower. It's incredible. That's what
he is. And if we're in a high tower, which is Christ, then
we're above all that beneath us, aren't we? We're above our
enemies. We're above the world. We're above anything that can
get at us because we're in Christ. That's comforting, isn't it?
That's good news. That's good news. The fifth genuine
feature of the gospel, again, is deliverance is the hallmark
or identifying mark of our salvation. We're delivered. Listen to what
it says here in 1 Thessalonians 1, verses 9 and 10. It says,
for they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we
head unto you and how you turn to God from idols to serve the
living and true God. See, the Thessalonians were a
bunch of Gentile idol worshipers. And Paul came to them and preached
the gospel to them, and it came to them not in man's words, but
in the power of God. And the scripture declares in
1 Thessalonians 1 and 9 that they were turned from idols,
dumb idols, to serve the true God, the living and true God. There's only one living and true
God, isn't there? That's Jehovah. And to wait for His Son from
heaven. That's what we're doing, aren't we? We don't know when
the Lord's coming, but we're waiting for Him, aren't we? And if we die before He comes,
we're gonna be in His presence then, right away. And to wait
for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead. God
raised Christ up by His power. Even Jesus, which delivered us,
the people that Paul's writing to, from what? From the wrath
to come. You see, all these people who
say, where's God? Where is He? Y'all tell me about this God
who's gonna judge us and everything, where is He? He's coming. And just as all who were outside
the ark, that judgment fell upon them, all who are outside of Christ,
that judgment will fall upon them, the wrath of God. My oh
my. And here we are, sinners who
by the grace and mercy of God have now been saved. And the
scriptures declare that he delivered us from the wrath to come. Isn't that amazing? We've been
delivered. God's love has been set upon
us from eternity. Remember how we looked at the
first point? He's the source. God's free grace is the source
of our salvation. It ties in right there, doesn't
it? Delivered from the wrath to come. It will not fall upon
us. You know why the wrath of God won't fall upon his people?
Because it fell upon Christ in our place. Imagine that. All the wrath that each of us
deserved All of it fell upon him. And you know what? This
is the wondrous point. I heard an old-time preacher
saying this one time. I got the privilege of hearing him in person
one time. And he said this. He said, God has extinguished
the wrath of God against us in Christ. Extinguished it. There's not even smoldering.
You know how after a fire, it can smolder for days? That's
not happening with the wrath of God. It's gone. It's being
appeased. It's satisfied. For his people in Christ. That'll
make us leap for joy, won't it? It's wondrous. What a wondrous
salvation. Oh my. Just like Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord, we find grace in the eyes of the Lord.
Oh, my. And another feature of the genuine
gospel is the will of God is the source of salvation. You
know, you and I who are believers are saved because of the will
of God. We found grace in the eyes of the Lord. In the very
book we're studying in Sunday school, it says this in James
1.18, of his own will be God to us with the word of truth,
that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. We don't
merit this grace. We don't deserve this grace.
We cannot earn this grace. With all the doings in a lifetime,
we can't earn this grace. And yet, these wonderful gifts
of faith, repentance in Christ are given to us by the will of
God. by the will of God. So then,
therefore, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our
Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but be thou partakers of the
affliction of the gospel according to the power of God, who has
saved us and 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 world began. but is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death and bought life and immortality to light
through the gospel, whereunto I am appointed a preacher and
an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles." 2 Timothy 1. Saved by the will of God. Saved according to His purpose.
Saved according to His grace, His mercy. This is marvelous,
isn't it? May we who are saved praise his
name. May we leave here rejoicing in this wonder of salvation.
Last feature of the genuine gospel is that it has the glory of God
as the purpose of salvation. You and I are saved to glorify
God. If we're believers, we're saved
to glorify God, to give him all the glory. Oh, it's the opposite of how
man operates, right? Because in our natural state,
we want the glory, and we even struggle with it after we're
saved. But we seek now as believers,
because we have a new heart now, right? That hungers and thirsts
after righteousness, and out of the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaketh, now we praise the Lord, when we didn't before. And now we seek the glory of
God. Why do we gather together to
worship our God and to sing praises to him and to hear the gospel
preached? That we might glorify him. Do you leave here glorifying
God? I hope you do. I hope you do.
I hope you leave here after messages here thinking, boy, look what
the Lord's done. He's glorious. He's wondrous. Paul summed it up, he said, by
the grace of God, I am what I am, right? Therefore, who does he
have the glory in? Not in himself, right? If he's
who he is, if you and I are who we are by the grace of God, then
we'd have no room to glory in ourselves. But we only glory
in God for what he's done for us, in us, right? He receives all the glory and
honor and praise. Think of this. God is the original
cause of all things in our salvation, right? He chose us in Christ. He regenerated us by His almighty
power. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. He called us by His grace and
by His mercy, right? We saw that in Romans 1, called
to be saints. That means just to be made holy.
That's all that means. And we're holy in Christ, aren't
we? So he's redeemed us. God himself has redeemed us with
his precious blood. The God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
died in our place. He shed his blood for us. He
was raised for our justification. So we're rendered righteous in
Christ. He's our sanctification, we can't make ourselves holy,
right? But we're holy in Christ, the scripture declares. We're
adopted in Christ and ultimately our glorification is all by the
grace of God and all for his glory. Think of how we're gonna
glorify God when we're in glory, when we're standing in his presence
and we're sinless. Think of how we're gonna glorify
God. It'll be amazing. Think of how our hearts right
now fill with joy when we get to sing or worship the Lord and
hear the gospel, and think of how our hearts leap for joy.
What's it gonna be like when we're in glory and we see Him
face to face? Oh my goodness, and we're sinless. It'll be amazing. It'll be absolutely
incredible. And all that will have come to
pass because of the grace and the mercy of God and nothing
else. Nothing else. Think of this, beloved, the church,
God's elect, can trace all the mercies that we have in our lives
to God. I was telling Vicki, started
talking about what I went through as a young man, as a child even,
all these different things. And I said, I should write it
down for the kids because even there I see God's mercy. through
all those years. I didn't know him, but now I
can look back and see how merciful he was, how he protected me,
and I didn't even know him. Think back in your life, I'm
sure you'll be able to see it too. He's so merciful, beloved. He kept us from falling into
things that would have ruined us. Oh my, he's so good. From eternity past, he was good
to us, right? He chose us in Christ. Before the foundation of the
world, when Christ came to this world to die on our ruined place
to shed his precious blood, he's good to us, isn't he? He's redeeming
us. He's purchasing our eternal souls. He's good to us. When
God called us and saved us by his grace, he's good to us, isn't
he? Right now while we're living
on this earth, he's real good to us, isn't he? And you know
what? In the future, when we get the
glory, we don't get what we deserve. What does every sinner deserve?
To go to hell. We get to go with Him in glory.
And there, His goodness will be on full display. His mercy
will be on full display as we sing with the blood-bought chorus,
as I said, worthy is the Lamb that was slain. to receive glory and power and
honor. See, we're going to seek to glorify
Him even in heaven, aren't we? Oh, we're saved by His grace
and by His mercy, and we give Him all the glory.