Remember, I sing that song, that
part about when we behold him on the throne. Oh, what a time
that'll be when we see him face to face. Romans chapter 1 is
where we'll be tonight. A couple of weeks ago, I preached
the message Four Lives Promoted. This is a follow-up, in a sense,
of that message, because it ties right in. We saw the four lives
which were promoted, and tonight I'd like us to look at features
of the genuine gospel. Features of the genuine gospel.
How do we know that what we're listening to is the genuine gospel?
How do we know that? Romans chapter 1, verses 15 to
17, it says, So as much as in me, I am ready to preach the
gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation, to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also
to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. We saw, unless you have eyes
to see and ears to hear, it's revealed. From faith to faith, as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. Paul here in our text states
that he is ready to preach the gospel. And I would think that Paul was
ready no matter where he was to proclaim Christ. God's people and his preachers
are always ready to tell others of the hope that we have in Christ. Whatever lies in Paul's way here,
whether it be persecution or trials or temptations, he is
ready. He's ready to proclaim Christ,
to proclaim the gospel. And he was not ashamed. He's not ashamed to proclaim
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because he knew, he knew
it was the only hope for sinners. He knew that. Because this glorious
gospel of Christ that proclaims the Lord Jesus Christ, spoke
of the one who saved him. And you remember where he was,
a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was up extremely high. But he knew that this was the
only hope for sinners to be saved. Salvation is only through Our
substitute. Some will tell you it's through
your works. Or through praying a prayer.
But that boils down to all something you do. And there's no salvation
in anything we do. There's only salvation in Christ.
And this is who Paul proclaimed. He proclaimed Christ. The gospel of Christ. And it,
scripture here tells us that it reveals the righteousness
of God. Remember this, God's elect are
spread all over, right? We don't have a clue where they
are. They're all over, all over the world. The lost sheep, scattered. But God knows where they are. And he has his gospel go forth
with power. It's the power of God on the
salvation. For who? To everyone who believes. To everyone who believes. To
the Jew first, our text says, and also to the Greek, which
is the Gentile. Gospel of Christ reveals the
righteousness of God. And in order for us to stand
before God, we must be clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
Because remember what we saw this morning, holy, holy, holy,
he's a holy and righteous God. And in order to be in his presence,
we can't stand in front of him in our own righteousness. Because that's like filthy rag,
scripture says. But oh, if you're clothed in
the righteousness of Christ. And herein, in the gospel, is
the righteousness of God revealed. God is holy and just. And we are sinners. And there's
the great contrast. There's the great contrast. Turn
over, if you would, to Romans chapter 10. And we looked at
a portion in the latter part of this chapter today. But the
believer's righteousness, it's a bold righteousness. It's bestowed
upon him. Because our righteousness is
like filthy rags. But the righteousness that we
need to stand in front of God is a bold righteousness, a bestowed
righteousness. Romans chapter 10 verse 1 says,
brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. They're zealous, but they don't have the knowledge
of God. Remember we saw the Jews today, they rejected Christ,
although he did miracles in front of them and great things, and
they rejected him. They didn't have eyes to see. for they being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness. There was a time when we were
ignorant of the things of God and we were trying to establish
our own righteousness, beloved. But what did God do? He revealed
to us who Christ was. He revealed to us that our righteousness
was like filthy rags. And we trusted Christ, those
of us who believe, and now we're clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness, so they think that they can establish their
own righteousness and go on about to establish their own righteousness,
have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. To everyone that believeth. The
law can't save us, can it? But it's holy, and it's just. And it demands perfection, which
we can't do. But Christ did it in the sinner's
room instead. He fulfilled that law. Oh, it's marvelous. He did it
all. We cannot obtain salvation anywhere
but through the gospel of Christ, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. This is why we must preach Christ.
As I said earlier today, we can't, if a preacher gets up and preaches
anything other than Christ, it's just words. And this righteousness is not
known by natural man, right? Because we saw that in our text
in Romans 10, that they go about to establish their own righteousness.
I was there. I was there when I was in Catholicism, and then I was there when I got
into religion. But oh, then one day God revealed
the truth. And another thing, people say
you can know God and know about him through nature. No, we can
know that he created that, but there's no salvation in that. But you can know that there's
a God just by looking at, look at our world, look at the stars.
It's not by chance. He spoke it all into existence.
But that doesn't reveal Christ. The gospel does. The gospel must be revealed. The righteousness of God in Christ
must be revealed to us. We'll never come to the knowledge
of it by our own learning or by Whatever people think, because
people have all, we could sit here all night and mention things
that people think that could gain them salvation. Turn with me if you would to
1 Corinthians, chapter 2. And our prayer is that if you
don't know Christ, oh, that he'd reveal himself to you. Oh, that
he would. That he'd reveal to you that
you can't gain heaven by your works. That salvation's only in Christ.
1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 9
and 10. But as it is written, I have
not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God has prepared for them that love him.
We can't even fathom what God has for us. But God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things,
yea, the deep things of God. I remember, I never read it,
but I remember someone trying to pawn a book off on me about
heaven. Written by a man. Written by, I don't even know
who the guy was. Some guy who claims to be a preacher
out there. Well, when I look at this scripture here, I have
not seen nor heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
things which God hath prepared for them that love him. I know
right there I don't need to read that book. Somebody's just trying
to make money. Oh, that Christ would reveal
himself to his sheep tonight. that he'd make you willing. Thayer defines the gospel, the
word gospel in our text, as good titans. The gospel is good titans. The glad titans of the kingdom
of God, soon to be set up, and subsequently also of Jesus the
Messiah, the founder of this kingdom, and also the glad tidings
of salvation through Christ, and the fourth definition of
it, according to the Thyrist, the proclamation of the grace
of God manifest and pledged in Christ. This is good news for
sinners. Good news for sinners. Good news
for those who are sin sick. We go to the physician when we're
sick. So by very definition, beloved,
the gospel is good news for sinners. It's to be proclaimed. It's not
to be debated. Folks will try to get you debating.
Just don't even go there. Just proclaim the truth. I wasted
many hours in religion. Vicki and I were talking about
this. I wasted many hours in religion in debates. Trying to
prove a point. And it did nothing. And now as a grace believer and
a grace preacher, I just proclaim the truth. I don't debate it
with anyone, I just proclaim it. And that's what we're to
do. It is not up for debate. because
it is truth, truth. And thus, it's good news. It's
good news. Good news for this old sinner,
I'll tell ya. Is there no other way I can be
saved? So tonight, let's look at some
features of the genuine gospel, some features of the genuine
gospel. A lot of folks claim to be preaching the gospel, A
lot of folks claim they are, but with the four lives that
were promoted, we measured that with scripture. Well, tonight,
let's measure the features of the genuine gospel with scripture
as well. And as I said, a lot of folks
claim to be preaching the gospel, but it falls far short of scripture.
Far short. And remember the analogy of the
balloon? If you have a balloon, and if you just pinprick that
balloon, add a pinprick of works to grace,
it's no longer grace. It's no longer grace. So let's
look at seven points which show us the features of the genuine
gospel. The first feature is this, and
it's found in Philippians chapter 2. There's nothing in us. The free
grace of God is the cause of the salvation of sinners. The
free grace of God is the cause of the salvation of sinners.
That's it. It's by His free grace. There's
nothing in us that would cause God to save us. We are saved by the free grace
of God in Christ. And God does not save us based
upon anything in ourselves, as we are sinners to the core,
and we know that. But God saves us in Christ according
to His good pleasure. Philippians chapter two, verses
12 and 13. Wherefore, my beloved, 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. For it is God which worketh in
you." It's God which worketh in you. Both to will and to do of His
good pleasure. Brother Newell, it was God's
good pleasure to see you. Isn't that marvelous? It's wonderful.
It's wonderful. No man will naturally come to
God on their own. Man has no desire for God to
reign over him. Absolutely no desire. Luke says
this, and I'll just read this portion, Luke 19.14 says this,
but his citizens hated him and sent a message after him saying,
we will not have this man to reign over us. That's natural
man. Natural man says we're not have
this man to reign over us. Man has no desire to hunger and
thirst after the righteousness of God until he makes us willing. Oh, and then when he makes us
willing, oh, we hunger and thirst after righteousness. The desire to fall after Christ,
to serve Christ, to love Christ is all wrought in us by God. He takes the stubborn, inflexible
will of man the stubborn, inflexible will
of his people in their natural state, and he makes them willing. And what do we do? We run. We run to Christ. And we're saved
by his free grace and his free grace alone. He makes his people
to submit to Christ's righteousness and to do his will. and to do
His will. We're not robots either. We willingly
serve Him. We love Him. We praise Him for
all He's done. He sweetly and lovingly and personally
draws every one of His sheep to Himself. Chords of love. I draw them with cords of a man
and with bands of love. And I was to them as they that
take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them, Hosea
11, 4. Bands of love. Those who are unwilling, I draw
them with bands of love. Oh, may the Holy Spirit of God
make us willing. And may He make you willing if
you don't know Christ. May He make you willing to flee
to Christ. Another feature of the genuine
gospel is that the free grace of God is the cause of the salvation
of sinners. It's the cause of the salvation
of sinners. Another feature of the genuine
gospel is that we have peace with God as a result of salvation
in Christ. As I've said many times in religion,
there's no peace. It's always do, do, and it's
continuously doing, continuously. You're always having to do something,
or in your own self, you want to do something, thinking you're
going to somehow God will favor you. In the Gospel of Grace, we are
shown from Scripture that we have peace with God in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. 2 John says this, verse 3, Grace
be unto you and mercy and peace from God the Father and from
the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the Father in truth and love. Turn with me if you would there.
2 John, verse 3. Peace with God comes from outside
of ourselves and is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice the order here. 2
John 1, 3. Notice the order here. Grace
be unto you, first grace. First grace, God is the fountainhead,
and grace always precedes mercy and peace. Always. Always. And for by grace are you saved. The very foundation and notion
of the word grace is a free, undeserved, unsolicited bestowment
based upon a love that has its own reason in the giver. Unsolicited. Think of before
the Lord saved you. Did you want to come to him?
In your natural state, before the Holy Spirit regenerated you?
I think we'd all say no. But what happened? You're born again. You're made willing. And you
flee to Christ. But look at the order here again.
Grace be unto you, mercy and peace from God the Father and
from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth,
in love. So grace first, then mercy. Then
mercy. God has mercy on sinners in Christ. We're mercy beggars, aren't we?
That's what we are. We're mercy beggars. God shows us that we're guilty
sinners, and what do we want? What do we cry out? Oh, God,
have mercy on me, please. Please. And then peace. Then peace. And it's a peace
that passes all understanding. Turn with me, if you would, to
Romans chapter five. We have peace with God through the Lord
Jesus Christ. Romans chapter five, verse one,
therefore being justified by faith, we have. It's not a maybe. I love these small words that
scripture turns on sometimes. It's incredible, we have. It's
not, well, you might. No, the believer has. Peace with
God, how? Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
And that's so exclusive right there, that peace is really not
found outside of Christ. It's only in Him. By whom we have access by faith
into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the 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
salvation. Peace, we've got real peace.
Real peace. We're not at war anymore. Another feature of the genuine
gospel is that it is Christ is the heart of salvation. Without Christ, think of this
beloved, without Christ, this gospel would not be good news. It would not be good news. Without
Christ, none would be saved. Salvation's in Him. Christ must be preached, or the
genuine gospel is not preached. A Christless sermon is not a
sermon, it's a lecture. That's all it is. Like Brother
Tim James said, just words. Just words. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Corinthians 1.23. And I think it could be summed up this way.
No Christ, no gospel. No Christ, no gospel. 1 Corinthians 1.23-25. But we preach Christ crucified,
dying in the room instead of sinners. Unto the Jews a stumbling block.
We saw that this morning. And unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called.
There's his people. There's his elect. Both Jews
and Greek, right? Jews and Gentiles, Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God because the foolishness of
God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than
men. But we preach Christ crucified. This is why we're here. This
is why we put the gospel out, that we preach Christ. We preach Him. And let us be thankful that this
lighthouse and other lighthouses in the country and around the
world, the gospel is being proclaimed.
It goes out. Out it goes. And we let God do the saving. Out it goes to His glory, to
His praise, to His honor. So, this feature we looked at, Christ
is the heart of salvation. No Christ, no gospel. No Christ,
no salvation. Another feature of the genuine
gospel is that Christ's death and resurrection are the means
of salvation. The means of salvation. Again,
if you notice, everything is Christ-centered so far that we've
looked at. It's God doing, it's His gospel. It's all about Him. Without Christ,
we have no good news. And this point goes right in
line with our last. Christ died for our sins. He died for the sins of His people. We have absolutely no way to
save ourselves. Turn with me, if you would, to
1 Corinthians chapter 15. We have absolutely no way to
save ourselves. And therefore, we desperately
need Christ. And again, this is why we preach
and proclaim the Gospel. Oh, that God would save sinners. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 1 to
4. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which ye have also
received, and wherein ye stand. We stand in the gospel. We stand
in Christ, by which ye are saved. Well, saved implies that you
were lost. You know, it's hard to find sinners,
real bonafide sinners. Now, grace people know we're
sinners, but you go out in the world and you start talking to
people, well, no, they're not sinners. But they will be if God shows
them what they are. Then they're gonna, Oh, by which
you are also saved, if ye keep in memory what I have preached
unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto
you, first of all, that which I also received, how Christ died
for our sins. He died on Calvary's cross for
the sins of His people, according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried. He was buried. And that he rose again the third
day according to the scriptures. So we must preach Christ's death
and his resurrection as the means of salvation. Is there any way for us to be
saved other than the death of Christ? No. And then scripture says he's
raised for our justification. This is why we say flee to Christ,
oh, that he'd make you willing, because you can't save yourself. Christ, the sinner's substitute,
dies in the room and place of his people, and God is satisfied. He's satisfied with the sacrifice
of Christ. Without him dying, without him
being raised from the dead, we would not have salvation. The gospel is both preaching
the death and the resurrection of Christ. The salvation of Christ's church
is founded in Christ himself. He's a lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. He's the head of the church.
And he says, because I live, ye shall live also. Yeshiva also. Wonderful news
for God's people. Remember this too, our security
is not in our views of Christ, but in Christ himself. In Christ
himself. Our faith is not in our faith,
is it? But our faith is in Christ. He's
the object of it. So anyone who does not preach
the death and the resurrection of Christ and the points that
we looked at so far, they do not preach the gospel of God's
grace. And there's many out there who
are telling people how to get to heaven based upon their doings. and they're making a two-fold
child of hell. And we cry out, salvation's in
Christ alone, plus nothing. Another feature of the gospel
is that, and I hit on this earlier, deliverance is the hallmark,
or the identifying mark of salvation. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
18, verse 2. The very word saved implies,
save or saved implies that we were in danger. That we were in danger and that
we needed to be rescued. When you save somebody, you rescue
them. Well, we must be rescued. And the Lord Jesus Christ saves
his people from their sins. He rescues us. We must be rescued. We must be
delivered. We must be saved from our sins
or else we will ever be lost. We're perishing our own sins.
But Psalm 18 too, the Lord is my rock. my fortress, and my
deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust, my buckler,
and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." Boy, does
that not cover it all right there for us? Now we know why Paul
said, Christ is my all in all. We are adrift in this world of I like what one guy gave in the
illustration that we're adrift in the sea of sinfulness before
the Lord saves us. We're adrift in that sea with
no hope. Sea of sinfulness. We cannot
save ourselves and we're overwhelmed and drowning. But our mighty deliverer saves
his people. saves his people. He rescues
us. He rescues us from the penalty
of our sins. And he pays the price that God
demands for our sins. The sinless one pays the price
that God demands for my sin and for those who believe. He rescues
us. And think of this, you must be
lost before you be saved. Folks say, just walk this aisle,
just pray this prayer. Has God revealed to them that
they're sinners? Because when God reveals to a
sinner their sinful state before a holy and just God, what do
they do? They pray, they cry out, don't
they? Yeah, and they flee to Christ. They flee. That's why I always say God can
save you without you moving a muscle. Because it's a heart, beloved.
He works upon the heart. But you must be lost before you'll
ever be saved. You must see yourself lost. You must be showing that you're
a sinner before you ever cry out to God. And all are sinners in the eyes
of God. We come into this world sinners. But think of this, as I mentioned
earlier, man in his own self-righteousness, and I was there, I'm not pointing
the finger, because I was there. Man in his own boasted self-righteousness
does not see himself as a sinner, does not see his need for Christ,
does not see his sin-sick condition and his desperate need for the
great physician. But if God reveals Christ to
you, you'll see Him. You'll see yourself, you'll see
what you are, and you're going to look right to Him. Oh, when the Holy Spirit of God
works on the heart of man, when He starts the work on the
heart of man, The invincible grace of God. Folks say, well,
you can resist the Holy Spirit. Really? I've just seen sinners made willing. Oh. So deliverance is a key, key
point of the gospel, a key feature of the gospel. When a man sees
his lost condition, then he sees his need for deliverance from
his sins. He sees the Lord Jesus Christ
is the great Redeemer of his people. He didn't see it before,
we saw that this morning. Didn't see it before, was blind
to the things of God. Oh, when he opens your eyes.
when He unstops your ears, when you hear this Savior calling
your name to Him. We run. Oh, that God would make
you willing. And the Redeemer shall come to
Zion and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob,
saith the Lord. Isaiah 59 20. So rejoice, beloved
of God. Rejoice. Rejoice that you've been rescued
from the sea of sinfulness, but rejoice that one day those of
us who believe. We'll have no more sin. We'll be in heaven beholding
the Savior. And there won't be any sin. It's hard for us to even grasp,
isn't it? So the fifth feature of the genuine
gospel is that deliverance is a hallmark or identifying mark
of salvation. Another feature of the genuine
gospel is that it has the will of God as its source. The will
of God is the source of salvation. We saw that in the first study
we did on Colossians, that Paul, by the will of God, and that
if you're ever saved, it's by the will of God. The will of God is the source
of salvation. What did Noah find in the eyes
of the Lord? Grace. Grace. Why did he find grace in the
eyes of the Lord? By the will of God. By the will
of God. As I said earlier, we don't merit
this grace, do we? Not at all. Not at all. This is what makes it so marvelous,
is we don't deserve it. We don't deserve it, we don't
merit it, we can't earn it. Think of all your doings in a
lifetime, everything that you do, doesn't count for nothing. to gain salvation. Wonderful. And not only does
he give us grace, but he gives us the wonderful gifts of faith
and repentance. He gives us those as gifts too. And we just say, what marvelous
mercy, don't we? What marvelous mercy. What matchless
grace. No human mind could plan this. That God himself would become
a man and redeem his people from their sins. God himself. Become a man And rescue, right? Rescue us. Deliver us. Ruin sinners. That he would deliver
us. That he would rescue us from
our sins. No human mind could ever think
of that. This is divine. And beloved, it's all according to
the pleasure of His will. Turn with me if you would to
2 Timothy. 2 Timothy. Verses 1 or verses 8, I'm sorry,
to 11. Be thou not therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner, but
be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God, who has saved us. God has saved his people from
their sins. Who hath saved us, that one of
those little words again, hath saved us, and called us with
a holy column, 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 according to his own purpose and grace. But is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. Whereunto I appointed a preacher,
and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. So believers
are saved according to God's purpose and grace. And if it's according to God's
purpose and grace, like scripture says, then we are merely receivers. See, Christ didn't die to make
us savable. Like some falsely promote. But he really saved his people
from their sins. Thus he gets all the glory and
honor and praise. And may we who are saved praise
his name. Praise his name. That he didn't
pass us by. That we're loved with an everlasting
love. Now we love our family and our
friends, but think of this. God loves us. He loves his people
with an everlasting love, an eternal love. I would gather from that that
there was a time when he never loved us, if it's everlasting. That's incredible. It's incredible. Sinners. So the sixth feature of the genuine
gospel is that the will of God is the source of salvation. The
last point we'll look at is this. The glory of God is the purpose
of salvation. By the grace of God, I am what
I am, right? Every believer says that. Spurgeon wrote a book called
All Grace. Because salvation is all of grace. God chose a people in Christ
according to the pleasure of his goodwill. We're regenerated
by the Holy Spirit. We're called by the Holy Spirit
of God. We're redeemed by our precious
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We're justified in Christ. We're
sanctified in Christ. And it's all to the praise and
the glory of his name. Here's a good measure that you can talk, if other people
are talking to you about the gospel, ask them this, wherever
they go on Sunday, who gets the glory? Who gets the glory? I remember telling a friend of
mine back in Oregon, I was talking to him and I said, Eric, you
listen, who gets the glory? Does God get all the glory or
does man get the glory? Is the preacher bragging on himself
or is he bragging on Christ? Who gets the glory? Who gets the glory? Well, when
we preach the gospel and free grace, he gets it all. He receives the preeminence.
The preacher will tell you, don't follow me, follow Christ. I can't save myself, but I know one who can save both
of us. That's Christ. That's Christ. He does it all, so he gets all
the glory and honor and praise. And think of this, beloved, the
church, God's elect, can trace all their mercies to grace. All the mercies we have in our
life can be traced back to grace. The grace of God in Christ. From eternity past, we were chosen in Christ. according to His good pleasure. To when Christ redeemed us from
our sins, to when He called us and saved
us by His grace, and to when He take us home to heaven. Grace,
grace, grace, grace. It's all the grace. And in the
eternity future, all right, grace, mercy, grace in Christ. And therefore,
therefore, beloved, therefore, he is worthy. He is worthy to
receive all the honor. in all the praise, and we're
closed with Ephesians 1, 6, to the praise of the glory of His
grace. To the praise of the glory of
His grace. Wherein He hath made us accepted
in the blood. It's a fact. And it's to the
praise of the glory of His grace. Praise His mighty name.