We'll be in Romans tonight, Romans
16. We'll be looking at the last
three verses. Actually, a statement in there
is what will be the basis for the message tonight. And the
name of the message is, How do I know that my gospel is the
gospel? How do I know that my gospel
is the gospel? Romans 16, verses 25-27. Paul writes this, Now to him
that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, in
the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of
the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now
is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according
to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith. To God only wise, be glory through
Jesus Christ forever. Amen. So the question for us
tonight that I'd like us to ponder is, how do I know that my gospel
is the gospel, the gospel that I believe? How do I know that
it's the gospel? And we'll look at six different
answers. And the gospel is defined as good news, right? And the
Gospel in the Scriptures is good news for sinners. It is good
news for sinners. Now, there are numerous denominations
out there which claim to have the Gospel. They claim to have
the Gospel. Numerous people get up each Sunday
and claim to preach the Gospel. But how do we know that the Gospel,
which we believe, is the Gospel. And this is a good question for
us to ask. And I'd like to look at some
points, as I said, from Scripture to tell if the Gospel you believe,
the Gospel I believe, is the Gospel. As I said before, there's many
who claim to preach the Gospel. There's many who claim to preach
the gospel, but there's no blood in their message. It's what you
would call a bloodless gospel, but we know from Scripture, without
the shed and the blood, there's no remission for sin. So that,
we can look at Scripture and deduce from Scripture that that's
a false gospel. That's a false gospel. There's many men who get up and
preach. I sampled one of the local preachers for 10 minutes
and shut it off. No blood. Christ mentioned once
in 10 minutes. Click. Now, some folks would
say, well, why did you do that? So I can know and know that these
men, are they preaching the gospel? Nope. Nope. Didn't take me long. So good question for us to ask.
How do I know that the gospel, my gospel is the gospel, the
gospel that I believe? Well, again, many get up and
they tell sinners what they have to do. They get up and they say, oh,
you've got to do this, just keep doing this. When they walk the
aisle or pray a prayer, there's still a whole list of things
they got to keep doing. But the gospel preacher preaches about
one who's done it all. One who's done it all. The Gospel
we believe, the Gospel that God's elect believe is the Gospel of
it is finished. It's good news for sinners. It's
really good news for sinners. I remember an old grace preacher
telling me this a long time ago. And this is what you deduce really
quickly when you hear someone preaching a false gospel. He
told me that one cannot tell of someone they don't know. Why do we preach Christ and Him
crucified? Because we know Him. Because
He saved us. He's revealed Himself to us.
He's redeemed us from all our sins. To know Christ is to preach
Christ. To preach Christ is to know Christ. It's all about what he has done.
Turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians, chapter 1. 1 Corinthians, chapter
1. Spurgeon had a motto that a lot of us grace preachers
Agree with fully. We preach Christ and Him crucified. We don't preach ourselves. We
preach Christ. We preach Him. Look at 1 Corinthians,
starting in verse 21 of chapter 1. For after that, in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, We didn't know God before we
were saved. That's all of us. It pleased
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. Sister
Karen, you said you heard the Gospel when Henry Mahan preached
the Gospel. You heard by the foolishness
of preaching. That's how we hear the Gospel.
And we believe. We're made willing. The ears
are unstopped. We may have been in religion.
We may have just been outrightly, not even in religion, but just
lost just as much as a person in religion is lost. And we heard
the shepherd's voice just like that. And we run to Him. Please God, by the foolishness
of preaching, to save them that believe. For the Jews require
a sign and the Greeks seek out their wisdom. But we preach,
look at this, we preach Christ crucified. This is what the Gospel
preacher preaches. Christ and Him crucified. And He's risen again. Oh, we preach a Christ who's
done it all. And look it, unto the Jews a
stumbling block. They stumbled over Christ. Unto
the Greeks, foolishness. We were talking today at lunch
about how the The gospel, at first when we
hear it, before we're saved, and it's just foolishness. And the people who are really
intelligent, they can't explain it rationally, so to them it's
foolishness. But to we who believe, it's not foolishness anymore,
is it? It's wonderful. It's wonderful. It's good news.
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God." Oh, He's the power of God. And the wisdom
of God. Look at this, "...because the
foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God
is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren."
How about not many wise? Not many wise. After the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble or cold, but God hath called
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. God hath
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
that are mighty. And the base things of the world
and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not to bring to naught the things that are, that no
flesh should glory in His presence. None. There'd be no glory in
the presence of God about what we've done. We'd be giving Him
all the glory, and all the honor, and all the praise. But we preach
Christ crucified. That's what we preach. We don't
preach ourselves. We preach Christ. Why? Because He's the sinner's only
hope. He's the only one who can save a sinner. And how do we
know this? Because he saved me. He saved
you who believe. He's redeemed us. We're qualified
for heaven. Remember Wednesday? We're made
fit for heaven. Oh, it's marvelous. Marvelous. So we preach Christ crucified. This is the gospel preacher's
cry. And it's all for His glory. Look again at verse 29. That
no flesh should glory in His presence. Oh, He could solve
the glory. So let's get to our question.
And we'll look at six answers to the question. How do I know
that my Gospel is the Gospel? The first answer to that question
is, it glorifies God. It glorifies God. The question to ask any time
you hear a man preach, does the message that he preaches, does
it give all the glory to God? And these are questions that
we can ask as we listen to the preaching. Does it give God all
the glory? Or does it center upon Him, the
man who's preaching? Or does it center upon Christ? Does it center upon Him? Does
it give God all the glory? And this is how I measure what
a man preaches when I listen. Who gets the glory? Who gets
the glory? So when we hear a man proclaim
the gospel, we listen to hear who gets the glory. We listen
for Christ too, don't we? Oh, we listen. But who gets the
glory? If he's telling you what you have to do to measure up,
to make it to heaven, or he's telling you what you have to
do in order to be saved, like praying a prayer or walking the
aisle, it's just works-based salvation. If a person's spurring you on
with various duties and things that you must perform, Or is he telling you about the
one who did it all? Is he telling you about the one
who can save the vilest of sinners? Is he telling you about the one
who can save you without you moving a muscle? Someone told
me a couple weeks ago, well, yeah, but you got to run to Christ. And I said, God can save you
without you moving a muscle. Because it's a hard work. He
must do it. He must do it. As I like to say,
God's not dependent on us. We're dependent upon Him. Religion's got it backwards. Question to ask, is He proclaiming
that you are at the mercy of God? That sinner friend, you are at
the mercy of God. This is why we say, cry out,
oh cry out, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. Beg God for mercy. Is he telling
you about the great sovereign God in Christ who saves whomever
he wills? Is he telling you about a God
who does everything according to his own pleasure? His sovereign choice, whom he
saves and whom he passes by? Talking with three people today,
and we were all sitting there, the four of us, and every one
of us, or three of us, we're the only ones in our whole family,
the Lord's saying. passed by all the rest of our
brothers and sisters. God's distinguishing grace. He
saves whomever he wills. Now, some sinners will say, well,
then it's all done. I can just do whatever I want.
No. Only God knows who his elect
are. We have no clue. That's why we preach and proclaim
the gospel to all. All sinner, that's why we say,
sinner, come to Christ. We know that the only way you're
gonna come is to be made willing, but we still say, come, come,
flee to Christ. Because if he makes you willing,
you're gonna run. You're gonna give him all the
glory. Because it's all his doing. So it's easy to see who gets
the glory with each of these answers, isn't it? In each of
these questions, it's easy for us to see who gets the glory.
If a man's telling you what you have to do to be saved, and what
you have to do to keep saved, then he's glorifying man. And
he's not glorifying God. And it's works. And it's a salvation,
a works-based salvation that will take you right to hell.
But oh, if the Savior has saved you, if He's redeemed you by
His precious blood, He will keep you through every single trial
you go through in this life. He will hold you, He will keep
you, because thou art mine and He's redeemed you, He's purchased
you, and He's gonna keep you, and He will. He keeps every one
of His sheep, praise be to God, He keeps them all. The Gospel
preacher proclaims also that salvation is a full forgiveness.
Turn, if you would, to Psalm 37. A full forgiveness in Christ
alone. A full forgiveness. He covers all our sins, beloved. There's nothing left behind.
It's wonderful news for sinners. Psalm 37, verse 39 and 40. But the salvation of the righteous
is of the Lord. You see, salvation is of the
Lord. He does it all. He is their strength in the time
of trouble. And the Lord shall help them
and deliver them. What does He deliver us from?
All our sins. Because sin, Scripture says sin
has held captive the cords of sin. We couldn't, we were prisoners,
beloved, bound up. We couldn't set ourselves free.
But He's set us free. He's delivered us. He's delivered
us. and deliver them, He shall deliver
them from the wicked and save them." Oh, He saved us because
they trust in Him. Who is our trust? Who is the
object of our trust? Christ and Him alone. And the
Gospel preacher tells you that we are at God's mercy. He's not
up there wringing His hands trying to save no one. He saves whom
He will. He saves whom He will. And therefore,
He gets all the glory. He gets all the honor and all
the praise and we give it all to Him. Think of the gifts that
we receive, the gifts, the ability to preach, the ability to lead
songs like Brother John singing, the ability to play the piano,
the ability to sing. All these are gifts from God.
We don't even glory in those things. It's all Him. He makes the preacher into whom
He makes the preacher. We have a message from God. He's
given it to us. Oh, it's marvelous. It's marvelous. All gifts we have come from Him.
So why glory in them? We can't. We give Him all the
glory. We give Him all the glory. The
next answer we will look at when asking the question, how do I
know that my gospel is the gospel. The second answer is, it is true
to the Old Testament scriptures. It is true to the Old Testament
scriptures. It fulfills all the types and
shadows in the Old Testament. Some believe, as I said, the
Old Testament is just history, which was for the Jews. But the
Old Testament, beloved, it contains pictures and types and shadows
of Christ. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter
24. And remember this. Always remember this. Always
remember this. That the apostles and even Christ
himself, they had the Old Testament. They didn't have the New Testament.
So whenever you see the Scriptures mentioned, it's the Old Testament.
And they preach Christ. Paul preached Christ when he
said, we preach Christ crucified from the Old Testament. It's
wonderful. It's wonderful. It's marvelous.
Look this in Luke chapter 24 though. And remember this morning
we looked in Luke 4 when it said, and he began to say unto them,
this day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears. Remember he was
reading from the Old Testament and Christ himself said that.
Oh. Now some folks say the God of
the Old Testament's not the same as the God of the New. Well, they don't know the Bible.
Plain and simple. And I'm not trying to be condescending.
It's just the truth. Because I know because I was
there. You don't know. Because the Old
Testament's full of Christ. Absolutely full of Christ. Let's
look at this, the two on the road to Arimaeus. Look at this,
Luke 24, starting in verse 25. We'll pick up right there. Then he said unto them, O fools,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Now he's talking all the Old Testament there. Ought not Christ
to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory.
Look at this, verse 27. Now I remember talking to, I
think I mentioned this before, talking to an old preacher and
I said, I said, oh, there'll be a fly on the wall there. He
says, we have it right here. We have it right here. In beginning
that Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in the
scriptures the things concerning himself. Oh, He unveiled the
Old Testament, showing Himself. And they drew nigh unto the village,
whither they went, and He made as though He would have gone
further. But they constrained Him, saying, Abide with us, for
it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And He went
in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat
at meat with them, he took bread and blessed it, and break, and
gave it to them. You remember how we always say,
the gospel has to be revealed to you? Christ has to reveal
himself? Look at this. And their eyes
were opened. Oh, the blind eyes can see. Is
that not what happened when we heard the gospel? Our blind eyes
were opened. Oh, it's marvelous. And they
knew him. Oh, they knew him. And he vanished
out of their sight. And they said one to another,
did not our hearts burn within us? Oh. Well, He talked with
us by the way. And well, He opened to us the
Scripture. See, He opened the Scripture.
The Holy Spirit illuminated the Scripture for them. And they
rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven
gathered together unto them that were with them, saying, The Lord
is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon. Oh, beloved. He's all through this book. He's all through this book. In
Genesis, He is the seed of the woman. He is the seed of the
woman that we are told will one day crush Satan. And He did that
at Calvary's tree. In Exodus, He is the Passover
Lamb. He is the Passover Lamb. The
sacrificial Lamb given for us. In Leviticus, we read of the
high priest making sacrifices for the people. In Christ, our
high priest made a perfect sacrifice. A perfect sacrifice of Himself
to atone for our sins. In Deuteronomy, Moses prophesied
of a prophet who would come in the midst. In Jesus Christ, our
Lord, is that great prophet. He's that great prophet, beloved.
In Joshua, Joshua meets the captain of the Lord's host. That's none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. In Ruth, Boaz is a picture of
the kinsman, our kinsman, our kinsman-redeemer. It's a picture
of Christ who is our kinsman-redeemer. In Esther, He is our defender
against the forces opposing us. And Job, He is the Redeemer that
is coming. Oh, He's coming again, beloved.
He will come again. In Psalms, He's the Lord, our
Shepherd. And many other pictures too.
And there's many other pictures in all these different books
too. In Proverbs, He's our wisdom. Oh, He's our wisdom. In Song
of Solomon, He's our beloved. He's our beloved. Oh! In Isaiah, He's the sinner's
substitute. He's the sinner's substitute.
His name is Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. In Jeremiah, He's the Righteous
Branch, the Lord, our Righteousness. Oh, He's our Righteous. In Daniel,
He's the Son of God in the fiery fire. In Obadiah, He's mighty
to save. Mighty to save. In Micah, He
casts our sin into the sea of forgetfulness. It's gone. It's
all gone. In Nehemiah, He's the avenger
of God's elect and a stronghold in the day of trouble. In Zephaniah,
He is our Savior. He's our Savior. And Zechariah,
he's the fountain open for sin. Oh, in the house of David. And
he's, we looked at today, he's Zion's king. He's Zion's king. And Malachi, he is the son of
righteousness with healing in his wings. Oh, and there's many,
many, many more pictures of Christ in the Old Testament. He's all
through the Old Testament. All, and think of this too, all
the sacrifices pointed right to our mighty Savior, our mighty
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. They point to Christ. Oh, we
could never take away our sin, but those sacrifice pointed to
the one, and remember too, all those people who offered those
sacrifices, they couldn't take away sin, but they pointed to
the one who will take away the sins of all his people. And He
does this by His own precious blood. Turn with me, if you would,
to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Oh, the sacrifice of Himself.
So how do I know the Gospel is my Gospel? It's true to the Old
Testament Scriptures. And I know this personally because
there was a time when the Old Testament was just history to
me. Now I see Christ everywhere. He's all over, all over. And I know it's so for you who
believe too. I know there was a time when
our eyes, we couldn't see anything, but now we see Him on every page.
Hebrews 10, starting in verse 7, Then said I, Lo, I come in
the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will,
O God. Above when He said, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offering, and offering for sin thou wouldest
not, neither hadst thou pleasure therein which are offered by
the law. Then said He, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. Remember, He's on a mission,
beloved. He must go to the cross. Remember he said he must die.
I must, I must be risen again. I must rise again. Then he said,
lo, I come to do thy will, O God. Not my will, but thine will be
done. He taketh away the first, that He may establish the second,
by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sin." So all those sacrifices were pictures.
They could never take away sin. But this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the God-man, the King of kings and the Lord of lords,
but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin, and that's
himself, beloved, he offers himself as the sacrifice for the sins
of his people. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down. It's finished. The work's done. Sat down. Oh, what a mighty Savior. Sat
down on the right hand of God. He is on the right hand of God
right now. Right now. From henceforth expect
until his enemies be made his footstool. So how do I know that
my gospel is the gospel? It's true to the Old Testament
scriptures. The next answer to the question,
how do I know that my gospel is the gospel, is it rests on
the person and the work of Christ. This is absolutely vital. Absolutely
vital. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ rests upon what He has done, and not on what the sinner
does. It's the opposite of religion.
Religion makes a lot of noise about what you must do, and the
preachers will tell you what you have to do. Religion preaches
a gospel. I mentioned this this morning,
and it's true. Religion preaches a gospel that says, sinner, save
yourself. Because you've got to make a
decision. But you've got to walk an aisle. But grace preaches. Where the sinner cries out, God
be merciful to me. A sinner. And then scripture
goes on to say, we obtain mercy. We obtain it. It's given to us. Oh, what a difference. The gospel we preach, and we
believe, tells us about what Christ has done, what He's accomplished
for sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world to save sinners. Paul said, of whom I'm chief. And every believer feels that
way, don't we? Every single believer, we feel that way. I was looking
at the Greek word for chief. The Greek word for chief and
it's defined as this. First in time or place. First
in time or place. In any succession of things or
persons. First in rank. First in rank. So, I got a little excited about
that and got on the phone with Vicky this week. And we're talking
about it and I mentioned to her and I said, you know, When we
say we're the chief of sinners, that means we believe we're worse
than Hitler. And worse than the most vile
sinner that ever lived. And I, we continued to chat about
that and said, do we really feel that way? And at the end of a conversation
as I was about to hang up, Vicki says, goodbye chief. Oh my gosh. Oh. And I called her back and
I said, what'd you say? And she said, well, you said you're the
chief. Oh, my. But isn't it so true? We all feel that way. We all
feel like we're the chief of sinners. I love my bride. She just tells it like it is
to me. But we're just mercy beggars,
aren't we? We're just mercy beggars. That's all we are. We're bankrupt
mercy beggars. Turn, if you would, to 1 Timothy
1. And we'll look at that little portion. 1 Timothy 1. You know, we who believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, we've obtained mercy. We weren't seeking it
out. We've obtained it. We've obtained it. And that's
humbling. That's humbling for a bankrupt
sinner. That we've obtained it. But we admit that. We've been
shown. And we rejoice in the fact that
he did it all. because we've been shown our
bankruptcy, our utter inability to save ourselves. Look at 1
Timothy 1, verses 12-16. And I thank Christ Jesus our
Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful,
put me into the ministry." Now, every preacher, oh, God has enabled
us to preach. We don't do it in our own strength.
And it is an honor. And He puts whom He will in the
ministry. Look at what Paul says, though. And I can relate to this.
Who was before a blasphemer? None of you would have wanted
to be around me before. And probably vice versa, right? I remember
hearing a preacher this week, and he said, if you could know
what my heart, none of you would want to be around me. But we're
saved, eh? We're clothed in the righteousness
of Christ, eh? We're clothed in his righteousness. Look at
this. Who was before a blossomer and a persecutor, remember? He
was hauling Christians out and sending them to prison, and they
were dying and injurious. But look at this. Look at these
four words. But I obtained mercy. Is that
not true with every one of us who believe we obtain mercy? What a wonderful God. What a
wonderful God. But I obtained mercy because
I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was
exceedingly abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, of whom I'm chief, foremost, first. Look it again. I love how Paul
repeats things, and I know the Holy Spirit had him author this,
and it's amazing because it's so true as we look at this. Hallebate
for this cause, I obtain mercy. That in me first Jesus Christ
might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on Him to everlast in life. Oh, the gospel which
we proclaim, which I believe tells us that Christ has redeemed
His people and He's done it all and we cannot save ourselves.
The Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree died the sinner's substitute. And then He rose again from the
grave for our justification. And the tomb is empty. It's empty. And He rules and reigns in heaven
above. He has redeemed Zion from their
sins. Remember we saw that He is the
King of Zion this morning? Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
1, verse 27. Isaiah 1, verse 27. Zion's King has redeemed His people. And Zion is another name for
the elect of God. Isaiah 1, verse 27. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment.
Oh, what a judgment, eh? All the wrath of God fell upon
Christ. and not upon we who believe. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment
and her converts with righteousness. Oh, we're redeemed, beloved.
We who believe are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ.
And God's judgment for our sins fell upon Him. Fell upon Him. And He hath redeemed us. He hath
redeemed us. We're clothed in His righteousness. And one day, we who are purchased
will be with Him forever. Forever. All our salvation rests in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. The next answer
to which we will look at when asking the question, how do I
know my gospel? How do I know that my Gospel
is the Gospel? It enables God to be just and
the justifier. It enables God to be just and
the justifier. It honors God's law and justice,
and it's satisfied in Christ and Him alone. Nowhere else.
God's law must be upheld, it must be satisfied, and Christ
has done it in the room of His people. Oh, He's done it. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
45 and put your finger in Romans 3. Now some preach and teach, I've
mentioned this, some preach and teach sin or save yourself. And
in that case, think of this, those who are preaching sin or
save yourself, how is God's law and justice satisfied? It's not. And it never can be. Because no sinner upon this earth
can satisfy God's law and justice. None. None. God will only accept one sacrifice
for sins, only one, just one. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ
and his precious blood because he honored the law in place of
his people. He satisfied God's law with the
shedding of his own precious blood. So the question to ask
is, does the gospel you believe enable God to be a just God and
is His justice and law satisfied? And does it enable Him to be
a justifier where Christ did it all? It's all His work. Salvation
is of the Lord. The Old Testament proclaims in
Isaiah 45, 21 that our God is a just God and a Savior. And then put your finger in Romans
3.23. I'll read Isaiah 45.21. Now turn to Romans 3, and Christ
fulfills this in the New Testament. Romans 3. Starting in verse 23. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. Now all there means all. Everyone. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to
declare His righteousness. for the remission of sins that
are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, and remember,
now remember in the Old Testament we saw that He's a just God and
a Savior? To declare, I say, at this time,
His righteousness, that He might be just and a justifier, Him
which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? Now here
we go back to that question again. Where is boasting then? Can any
man boast in this? Well, we boast in what Christ
has done, but Paul's here talking about can any of us boast in
our own doing? No. It's excluded. By what law? Of works. Nay, by the law of
faith. Therefore, we conclude that a
man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Wonderful
news. Is He the God of the Jews only?
Is He not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing
that it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith
and the uncircumcision through faith. How do I know that my gospel
is the gospel that enables God to be just and justifier? The
next answer we'll look at is, to the question of how do I know
that my gospel is the gospel is, it can save the chief of
sinners. And we looked a little bit at that. We touched at that.
We won't be on this very long. But the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ can cleanse the chief of sinners, the most vile sinner
of all their sins. And I'm not... All sins, too. All of them. Every thought sin. And I know what I've thought
in my life. Every sin of deed? Oh, my. Every sin of the heart? Oh, my. Every one. In all my future sins, folks say, how can you say that?
I've said it before. Every one of my sins was future
on Calvary's cross. And what did Christ do? He paid
for them all. That doesn't give us a license
to go crazy, does it? Nope, nope. Love of Christ constrains
us, but all means all. He can save the chief of sinners.
He can save the most vilest person. He saved me. John Newt said that
when he heard about a notorious drunkard. I think I've told you
guys about that. Somebody ran in and said, oh,
do you know such and such was saved? And he said, that's not
surprising. The Lord saved me. He can save anyone. Is that not
what we say? It is. Oh. Come now and let us
reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow. Scarlet. I remember hearing some
preachers say, double-dye red. Scarlet is as red as you can
get. And we know what white as snow is like here in Michigan,
don't we? You get that beautiful snowfall, it's just pure white. Beautiful. Black center made
white as snow. Oh, it's amazing. Though they
be like crimson, they shall be as wool, scarlet sinners made
white as snow, which pictures us clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. Remember in Luke we saw, Then
opened he their understanding that they might understand the
Scriptures. And they said unto him, Thus it is written, and
thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise again, rise from
the dead the third day, in that repentance and remission of sins.
How many? All of them. should be preached
in His name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem. Luke
24, verses 45-46. And that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in His name only in Christ. Nowhere else. Nowhere else, beloved. Nowhere else. The last answer to the question
of how do I know that my gospel is the gospel, and I hope this
last one will give us so much hope. It'll just be an anchor
for us, I pray. How do I know that my gospel
is the gospel? It will keep a sinner saved. Now, we need that comfort, don't
we? I know we hear it all the time. Lord, help my unbelief. Oh, it will keep a sinner saved.
Those God saves, He keeps. Those He keeps, those He saves,
He glorifies. Now, religion, again, is always
telling you what you must do to be saved and what you must
do to keep saved. And that's just a bunch of hogwash.
It's lies. My salvation entirely depends
upon the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. Is it not so for you
who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb? Is not your
entire hope, your entire salvation, looking to Christ and Him alone
and what He's done? It rests in Him. And those He keeps, those He
saves, He will preserve them until the end. Turn, if you would,
to 1 Peter 1, verse 5, and then a verse that I've mentioned many
times, but I want to look at what the Greek word says, Jude
24. I always say chapter 1 like there's
more chapters, but there's only one chapter. Jude 24, and 1 Peter,
first we'll go to 1 Peter 1.5. We are kept by the power of God,
beloved. We are kept by His almighty power.
The same power that saves us keeps us. and preserves us. And I thank God for that, because
we know what it would be like if it was dependent upon us.
1 Peter 1.5, look at this, "...who
are kept by the power of God through faith." You must believe.
You must believe. Folks who say they're saved but
don't believe in Christ, they're lost. Oh, we're kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. Now, the Greek word for keep
means this. I looked at this, it was marvelous.
To guard. To guard. Protect by a military
guard. Either to prevent hostile invasion.
I love this one. Either to prevent hostile invasion.
So, false doctrine flying our way. People whisper and this
and that in your ear? He keeps us. He keeps us. Protect by military guard either
to prevent hostile invasion or to keep the inhabitants of a
besieged city from flight. He keeps us from taking off. Oh, what a wonderful God. What
a wonderful salvation we have in Christ. God keeps anyone from
swaying us away from the Gospel and away from Christ, and He
prevents us from believing the Gospel. Oh, it's marvelous. What security the believer has
in Christ. And then Jude. Let's look at
Jude. Verse 24. And I know you guys have heard
me quote this a lot already. This verse, I could put it in every message.
It's wonderful. It's so wonderful. But I know we want to look at
other scriptures too. But this is just a marvelous, marvelous
scripture. Look at this. And keep this in mind for what
we looked at in 1 Peter. And keep in mind that the gospel,
the gospel of God's grace will keep a sinner saved. Will keep
a sinner saved. Look at verse 24. Now unto Him
that is able to keep you from falling. Now we know that unto
Him is Christ, is God. that is able to keep you from
fall, and to present you faultless, we could just stop there, before
the presence of His glory would exceed in joy. Now the Greek
word here for keep, now unto Him that is able to keep you,
is again, to guard, but also this, to watch and keep
watch. Oh, what a mighty Savior we have.
He watches over His people. He watches to guard, and this
is another underline, there's a few more here that I want to
read, to guard a person that he may remain safe. Oh, he keeps us. He keeps us that we may remain
safe. And then it goes on to say this,
to keep from being snatched away, preserve safe, and unimpaired,
and you know, look what it says, and to him that is able to keep
you from falling and present you faultless. Unimpaired. No blemish. To guard from being
lost or perishing. What a mighty God. What a mighty
Savior. And he keeps his people, and
he preserves his people, and praise be to God, one day he
will glorify his people. And we know others who have gone
home now to be with the Lord. They're in glory with the Lord.
And one day, we'll be there, too. We who believe will be in
His presence because He keeps us. He keeps us. What a mighty God. Now, is it
any wonder that the believer says, all glory goes to Christ? He gets it all.