I want to invite you to take
your Bible and turn with me to the book of Romans, to Romans
chapter 1. And today I want to speak to
you on getting the gospel right. And as you're turning to Romans
chapter 1, I want to say what a joy and a privilege it is for
me to worship the Lord with you today and to be back in this
pulpit where I've had the privilege to stand many times. And it is
especially meaningful to me because I have been so influenced by
this pulpit and by the man who stands behind this pulpit, and
so it is an extra joy. Romans chapter 1, I want to begin
reading in verse 1. I want to read the passage that
we will be looking at today, getting the gospel right. Romans 1, beginning in verse
1. a bondservant of Christ Jesus,
called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which
He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,
concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David, according
to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power. by the resurrection from the
dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our
Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring
about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His
name's sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. To all who are beloved of God
in Rome, called as saints, grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The renowned theologian and author,
R.C. Sproul, who recently went to
be with the Lord. told me that whenever he would
teach a systematic theology class in seminary, he would always
begin each semester by asking this question, what is the gospel? And he confided with me that
he was amazed at how few seminary students could actually give
a correct and clear answer to this question, what is the gospel? And what an important question
to answer right. And to be wrong about the gospel
is to be wrong about everywhere that matters. You cannot be right
with God and be wrong about the gospel. We have to be right about
the gospel if we are to be right with God. Getting the gospel
right is that important, and there is no better place to get
the gospel right. than in the book of Romans. And
this was the Apostle Paul's magnum opus. This was his greatest epistle. It is placed first in the canon
of Scripture, first among the 21 epistles, not because it was
the first epistle written, because it was not the first epistle
to be written. But it is placed first, immediately after the
four gospels in the book of Acts because it towers over the landscape
of the rest of the epistles. It is the most important epistle
of all. Martin Luther, the great Reformer,
said of the book of Romans, it is the gateway to heaven. He
said it is an open door into paradise. He said it is the chief
part of the New Testament. And he said it is the very purest
gospel. Luther also went on to say that
every Christian should know Romans word for word, by heart, and
should occupy himself with it every day as the daily bread
of the soul. Luther said, Romans can never
be read or pondered too much. The more it is dealt with, the
more precious it becomes and the better it tastes. The central
theme of the book of Romans is found right here in these opening
verses. Paul throws his cards down on the table and turns them
over and there is no doubt what this chief of all books is about,
it is about the gospel. of Jesus Christ. In this opening
prologue, verses 1 through 17, we see the gospel mentioned four
times. In verse 1, the gospel of God. In verse 9, the preaching of
the gospel of His Son. In verse 15, I am eager to preach
the gospel. In verse 16, for I am not ashamed
of the gospel. Verse 17, for in it, referring
to the gospel. Even a blind man could see what
this is about. This book is all about the gospel
of Jesus Christ. And in reality, the entire book
of Romans is found in condensed form right here in this opening
prologue. The entire forest is found in
this seed, right here at the very outset of this remarkable
And I cannot think of a better way for us to start this new
year than for us to reaffirm our understanding and our commitment
to the gospel of Jesus Christ. So as we look at these verses,
my goal is to look at verses 1 through 7, and I have a feeling
I won't be able to get through it all, so I will continue this
next year for my extended series. So, I want to begin in verse
1 and I want to set before you now several headings that will
help us walk through getting the gospel right. And number
one, I want you to know the meaning of the gospel. We see it at the
end of verse 1, the gospel of God, and it begs that we would
ask the question, what does the word gospel mean? It's a compound word in the original
language, it's two words that come together. It's the Greek
word euangelion, and you can hear the U, E-U at the beginning,
which means good. Someone would give a eulogy,
which is a good word at a funeral. Dr. MacArthur just flew to Orlando
for Dr. Sproul's funeral, and he gave
one of the eulogies. He gave a very good word for
Dr. Sproul. And you can hear in angelion,
you can hear the word angel or angel, a messenger or a message. The word gospel simply means
when those two words come together, the good news, the good tidings,
the glad tidings. It is the good news of salvation
through the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, to rescue us from
the wrath of God. And that is found in verse 18,
for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men. God is angry with the wicked
every day. And it is through the gospel
that sinners like you and I are delivered and rescued from the
wrath of God. I want to tell you, you will
never hear anything better than the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's not just good news, it is
the greatest news that will ever enter your ear and into your
heart. And Martin Luther said, gospel
is a Greek word that means a good message. good tidings, good news,
a good report, which one sings and tells with rejoicing. So when David overcame the huge
Goliath, the good report and the comforting news came among
the Jewish people that their terrible enemy had been slain
and that they had been delivered and that joy and peace had been
given to them. And Luther said, and they sang
and they danced and were happy because of this. So the gospel
of God, Luther writes, is also a good message and a glad report. The gospel has resounded in all
the world and proclaimed by the Apostles. It tells of the true
David. who fought with sin and death
and the devil and overcame them all and thereby delivered without
any merit of their own all those who were held captive in sin
and were plagued by death and were overpowered by the devil. He made them righteous and gave
them life and saved them." This is what the gospel means. It is the good news of our deliverance
from destruction, of our rescue from wrath, and it should cause
our hearts this morning, this day, to rise up with joy and
bless the name of the Lord. It's the meaning of gospel. Now second, I want you to note
the source of the gospel. We've considered the meaning
of the gospel. At the end of verse 1, I want you to see the
source of the gospel. Who is the author of the gospel? From whom does it come? Well, Paul says in verse 1, Paul,
a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart. He wants us to know that he's
only the messenger. He's not the author. He is only
one who has been sent as an ambassador to bring to us this gospel message,
but it does not originate with Him. When He says, for the gospel
of God, at the end of verse 1, it means not only that the gospel
is about God, meaning His holiness, His love, His grace, His wrath,
His righteousness, But it means that this gospel is God's gospel,
that it has come down from the throne of God above. This means that God is the source
of the gospel. He is the author of the gospel.
He is the architect of the gospel. The gospel has come down from
another world. The gospel is God's solution
to our dilemma. It is the good news that has
come down from the infinite genius of God. Let me tell you, if we
all...if we divided up into small groups here today and we met
non-stop for the next ten thousand years, which is an interesting
thought, and brainstormed a plan of salvation. We could have never designed
the gospel message. It could have only come from
the sheer infinite genius of God. Who but God could have designed
this gospel message? That God would send the second
person of the Trinity, His Son, His only Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ into this world to rescue us, that He would be born of
a Who but God could have designed that, that He would live under
the law and with perfect obedience keep the law that you and I have
broken day after day after day? Who but God could have designed
this? And that He would go to the cross and be lifted up to
die and that all of the sins of all of the people who would
ever believe on Him would be transferred to Him and He would
bear our sins in His body upon the cross. Who but God could
have designed this? That He'd be taken down from
the cross and buried in a borrowed tomb, and on the third day He
would be raised from the dead, He would ascend on high, and
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved?
Who but God could have designed this gospel message? No denomination could have designed
it. No church could have crafted
it. No seminary could have scripted it. No board of elders could
have ever come up with this plan. Only God could have come up with
this solution. The source of the gospel is God
Himself. That is why to receive the gospel
is to receive God Himself. And to reject the gospel is to
reject God Himself. God is the source of the gospel.
That is why there is a zero-tolerance policy for any tampering with
the gospel. And no church, no theologian,
no pastor, no believer may add to the gospel, may take away
from the gospel, may tweak the gospel, may try to improve the
gospel. This is the gospel of God. So we've seen the meaning of
the gospel. And we've seen the source of the gospel. Third, I want you to note the
exclusivity of the gospel. As we look at verse 1, note the
last four words, the gospel of God. You see the definite article,
the...the gospel? That speaks to the exclusivity
of the gospel. There is no other gospel. The gospel is never couched as
a gospel, as if it is one of many ways that lead up the proverbial
mountain that lead up to God. No, there is only one gospel.
And it is God's gospel that He has revealed to us. The definite article, the, is
not in the original language here, but neither is the a. It
is to be understood that it is supplied by the reader, but it
is found in verse 9 and it is found in verse 16. Every time
the gospel is mentioned, it is always mentioned as the gospel,
the one and only gospel. At the beginning of this service,
1 Corinthians 15 verse 1 was read that refers to that which
is of first importance, the gospel. Galatians 1 verse 7 speaks of
the gospel and the only time a gospel is ever mentioned in
the Bible is that gospel that is a different gospel for which
men will be eternally damned to preach or to believe. Ephesians
1, 13, Ephesians 6, 15, Philippians 1, 5 and 7, Philippians 1, 12
and 16 and 27, Colossians 1, 15, 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 2
and 9, etc., etc., etc. It runs rampant throughout the
entire New Testament. The gospel is always presented
as the one and only gospel. We need to understand this. There
are many roads to hell. There is only one road to heaven. Proverbs 14, 12 says, there is
a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the end
of death. Jesus said, I am the way and
the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but
through Me." And Peter said as he stood before the Sanhedrin
in Acts 4 verse 12, there is salvation in no other name. For there is no other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. First Timothy 2 verse 5 says
there is one God and one Mediator. between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus. There are as many mediators as
there are gods. There is one God and one mediator
between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And we live today
in a politically correct world that is tolerant. of every religion
as having some part of the truth, making some contribution to the
overall body of religious knowledge. The fundamental core value today
seems to be tolerance. And I fear that this has had
a hypnotic effect upon us in the church and have lulled us
to sleep to accept at times this worldly philosophy. Let me be
crystal clear this morning, there is only one way to God and that
is through Jesus Christ the Lord and the gospel of Jesus Christ
and every other religion is a path to hell. And we're not just dogmatic
about this, we're bull dogmatic about this. It's the exclusivity of the gospel. And I trust that this day your
faith is in the gospel, is in the Lord Jesus Christ, for there
is salvation in no other name. Fourth, as we come to verse 2,
we're making progress, I want you to note the antiquity of
the gospel. In verse 2. Because what Paul
wants us to know in verse 2 is that the gospel is not a new
message that has only recently come onto the scene in New Testament
times. The gospel is not a trendy new
message. What Paul wants us to know in
verse 2 is that the gospel is rooted and grounded in the fertile
soil of Old Testament Scripture. So in verse 2 he begins, which...which
refers to the gospel. which He, God the Father, promised
beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures. And this
refers to long ago, throughout all of the centuries of Old Testament
history that this gospel was preached and was taught and was
foreshadowed and was prophesied and was promised throughout the
pages of the Old Testament from Genesis to the book of Malachi. It was announced to Adam and
Eve in the Garden. The gospel was believed by Abraham. It was recorded by Moses. It was pictured by the Levitical
sacrificial system. It was proclaimed by the prophets. This is not a new way to heaven
that has now emerged in New Testament times. No, Paul wants us to know
that the gospel is not plan B in the New Testament. It's not an
addendum to the First Testament. that there is only one way of
salvation in both Old and New Testament and it is exactly the
same gospel message. Anytime, anywhere, anyone has
ever been saved from the dawn of human history till the last
of the elect will be saved, it is always by grace alone through
faith alone in Christ alone. There was not an Old Testament
way of salvation that is now different from a New Testament
way of salvation. There was not an Old Testament
path to God and now there is a New Testament path to God. There was not a Jewish gospel
in the Old Testament and now a Gentile gospel in the New Testament. No, there was and is and will
always be only one way of salvation and it was promised, verse 2
says, beforehand through the prophets. There is no other way
to be right with God. Whether you are in Old Testament
times looking ahead to the coming of Christ, or whether you live
in New Testament times looking back to the coming of Christ,
we are all saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ
alone. It's all about Christ. And that is why when Paul comes
to the end of this prologue in verse 17, as he affirms that
salvation is by faith alone in Christ. You'll note in verse
17 that he says, as it is written, and he now quotes the prophets.
He quotes the book of Habakkuk, chapter 2 verse 4, but the righteous
man shall live by faith. Again, he is driving this truth
into the board of our minds. that the Old Testament gospel
is the New Testament gospel, is the one and only gospel. And later in Romans chapter 4,
as Paul will establish the doctrine of justification by faith alone,
guess how he will make his case. What will be the illustrations
that he will put before us? He is like an attorney in a courtroom
and he calls to the witness stand and submits as evidence for our
understanding. Abraham and David as the examples
of how to be made right with God in New Testament times. And the way Abraham was saved
is the way David was saved, is the way that Paul himself was
saved, is the way that you and I are made right with God and
anyone is made right with God. It is through this one gospel. This is why it is so critically
important that we get the gospel right because there is no other
rope to grab hold of, there is no other path that leads up to
God, there is no other access to the throne of grace but through
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now as we continue to look, I
want you to come to verse 3 with me. Come back to Romans 1. And
I want you to note now fifth, the subject of the gospel. We
just looked at the antiquity of the gospel, the exclusivity
of the gospel, the source of the gospel, and the meaning of
the gospel. Now number five, I want you to see the subject
of the gospel. And as we begin in verse 3, you
will note the word concerning. The gospel concerns what follows. In verse 3 and 4 and the beginning
of verse 5, here is the substance of the gospel. Here is the subject
of the gospel. Here is the alpha and the omega
of the gospel. The gospel is rooted and grounded
in the person and work of Jesus Christ. John Calvin said, the
whole gospel is contained in Jesus Christ. So as we look at verses 3, 4
and 5, if you like taking notes in an outline, verse 3 gives
us the person of Christ. Verse 4 gives us the proof of
Christ. And the beginning of verse 5
gives us the provision. of Christ, but it's all in Christ
because if you have Christ, you have everything. And if you don't
have Christ, you have nothing. He who has the Son has life and
he who does not have the Son does not have life. And so he
begins with a person of Christ in verse 2...verse 3 and what
makes verse 3 so remarkable, this is one of the rare passages
where we find both the deity and the humanity of Christ joined
together. And so he says in verse 3, concerning
His Son. The gospel concerns the Son of
God, the eternal Son of the living God, the second person of the
Trinity who is co-equal and co-eternal. with the Father. Hear this again,
the gospel focuses and concerns itself with Jesus Christ. That is why Paul said in 1 Corinthians
1 and verse 23, we preach Christ crucified. And in 1 Corinthians
2 verse 2, Paul said, for I determined to know nothing among you except
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now we may say, now wait a minute,
Paul, you wrote thirteen epistles in the New Testament, you covered
the full counsel of God. You addressed all ten major areas
of theology. You addressed bibliology, theology
proper, Christology, pneumatology, angelology, anthropology, hermetology,
soteriology, ecclesiology and eschatology. Paul, you covered
the full gambit. Why would you say to us that
you determined to know nothing among us except Jesus Christ
and Him crucified when as you said to the elders at Ephesus
in Acts 20, you have declared the full counsel of God? And
the answer to that is that out of every area of theology, the
lines rise and intersect at the highest apex in the person and
work of Jesus Christ. He is the very heart and heartbeat
of the gospel. And in Colossians 1 verse 28,
Paul puts it this succinctly, we proclaim Him. That was it for Paul. That was
the sum and the substance. He preached Christ. A couple
of years ago when I was preaching here at Shepherd's Conference
there, Todd Friel was doing a radio interview out in the patio, out
here by the fountain. And he asked if I would join
him in doing an interview, so I said I would and there were
all kinds of people that gathered around. At the end of this interview,
He said, all right, I want to lob you a softball. Tell everybody
here what is the gospel. And I launched. on the virgin birth, the sinless
life, the substitutionary death, the bodily resurrection, the
present enthronement and the imminent return of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I remember after that was
over, I went over to, I think we still call it the beehive
here, whatever that room is where the speakers eat. And I walked
in and Dr. MacArthur was there and now Mohler
was there and they said, where have you been? I explained what
I'd been doing and they said, what did you talk about? They
said, well he asked me, what is the gospel? So Dr. MacArthur
said, all right, tell us, what is the gospel? I felt like I
was playing the back nine now. I mean, we're teeing it up again.
And then I flew down to Ligonier and met with Dr. Sproul and told
him this story and he put it to me, what is the gospel? We
ought to be able to wake up at three o'clock in the morning
and within two seconds be able to give the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you know anything, you have
to know the gospel. You can't be saved without the
gospel. You can't be a witness for Christ
without the gospel. You say, well, I'll just live
it. Oh, that's great. People will just go to hell thinking
you're a great person. No one can be saved apart from
the gospel. So we see in verse 3 that the
gospel concerns His Son, that verse 4 tells us is the Son of
God. That is His deity. He is truly
God. He is as much God as God the
Father and God the Spirit is God. But then, as verse 3 continues,
we see the uniqueness of the Son of God. There is no one else
like Him. No one else could have been the
Savior, for it says, who was born. God, eternal God without
beginning, was born. He was born of a descendant of
David, according to the flesh. This is the virgin birth as He
came in the lineage that had been clearly marked out through
centuries past by the prophets. He was truly God, yet truly man. He was not half God and half
man. He was truly God and truly man. And He had to be this way in
order to be our Mediator. Because a mediator stands between
two parties who have had a falling out and who are at enmity with
one another, who are at war with one another. And a mediator has
to be equal to both sides in order to...for there to be no
impartiality. So Jesus had to be truly God
to represent God to us and He had to be truly man to represent
us. to God. No one else could have
stood between God and the human race and been the mediator to
bring about the reconciliation of the two. No one else could
have propitiated the righteous anger of God toward us. No one else could have redeemed
us out of the slave market of sin except one who was truly
God and truly man. You see, we could not lift ourselves
up to God by our own self-righteousness, by our own good works. No, God
must come down to us because we cannot ascend up to God. And that is what God has done
in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
entered the human race. He got into our skin. He became
one of us that He might then lift us up to the heights of
the throne of grace by a sinless life and by a substitutionary
birth...death. It's the person of Christ. He is the very heart and soul
of the gospel. And whenever you give a witness
to someone, you must get to Christ as soon as you can. Spurgeon
said, the more gospel we would preach, the more of Christ we
must preach. There is no gospel outside of
Jesus Christ. Now note in verse 4, the proof
of Christ. It says in verse 4 that He was
declared loud and clear, proof positive. He was declared the
Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. This is the ultimate apologetic.
This is the ultimate validation that Jesus Christ is exactly
who He claimed to be. Jesus said in John 2 verse 19,
destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. And
by this He referred to the temple of His own body. In Mark 9 and
verse 31, Jesus said, the Son of Man is to be delivered into
the hands of men and they will kill Him and when He has been
killed, He will rise three days later. And just as Jonah was
three days and three nights in the belly of the fish, so the
Son of God would be three days and three nights in the center
of the earth, and then He would be raised from the dead. In reality, the resurrection
was a Trinitarian resurrection. God the Father raised Him from
the dead. This text says God the Holy Spirit
raised Him from the dead and Jesus Himself said that He would
raise Himself from the dead. John 10 verse 18, I have authority
to lay my life down and I have authority to take it back up
again, this commandment I received from my Father. And notice at the end of verse
4, according to the spirit of holiness, which is a Hebraism
for by the Holy Spirit, notice the last four words of verse
4, Jesus Christ our Lord. What Paul is saying to the church
in Rome and to us is so vitally important. that He deliberates
here and gives all three names, lest there be any misunderstanding
of who it is who is the subject and substance of the gospel.
Jesus is His saving name. It means Jehovah saves. Matthew
1 verse 21, you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save
His people from their Jesus is His saving name. That's the mission. Christ is His strong name. It means the Anointed One, that
He is...He was anointed with the power of the Holy Spirit,
Luke 3, 21. As He inaugurated His public
ministry, He was endued with power from on high in His humanity
to carry out His enterprise of salvation. He was the Christ. He was the Anointed One, the
One who was endued with supernatural power, even to hang upon the
cross in His humanity. And Lord is His sovereign name,
kurios, despot, ruler, Lord over all. that every knee would bow
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. this at the end of verse 4, as
if to take a pen and just underscore it before our eyes, to take a
yellow highlighter and highlight it so that our eyes would be
drawn to this One who is the subject and the substance of
the gospel, John 4.42, He is the Savior of the world. And then in verse 5 we see the
provision of Christ. the person of Christ, the proof
of Christ, and now the provision. Note it says in verse 5, through,
the word through means a means or a channel. It's like a pipe. Something is flowing through
the pipe. through whom, whom is a personal
pronoun, so we're not talking about a what, we're talking about
a whom. We're talking about not just
a plan, we're talking about a person, the person of Jesus Christ through
whom we, the we refers to all believers. have received," the
word received and then followed by grace underscores there's
nothing that we have done to work for it. We can only receive
it. This grace is not a reward for
the righteous, it's a gift for the guilty that can only be received
with the empty hand of faith. We have received through whom
we have received grace. We didn't earn it. We don't deserve
it. We do not merit it. We have not
worked for it. It is freely given as a gift. This grace is saving grace, sanctifying
grace, strengthening grace, serving grace, sustaining It is grace
upon grace. It is multiplied grace. It speaks of the entirety of
the fullness of the saving, sanctifying grace of God upon all of our
lives. And it's all through Christ.
Let me put it this way. There is
not one drop of grace outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the only mediator by which the grace of God from the throne
of grace comes down into our lives. It is all coming through
this pipeline, through this exclusive channel, this one and only means
of the person and work of Jesus Christ. And so, this is the subject of
the gospel. And the more we talk about Christ,
the more gospel we have to speak to others. I mean, we can give
our testimony and tell people what we've what God has done
in our life, but that's only the front porch to get into the
castle of truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's only
the drawbridge to get us across the moat, to get into where the
treasures are in the person of Christ. I love what Spurgeon
says. He says, a sermon without Christ
is an awful thing. He said, a sermon without Christ,
we could say a witness without Christ. It's the day without
the sun. It's the night without the moon. It's the ocean without water.
It's the skies without a sun. A sermon without Christ, he said,
is an empty well that mocks the traveler. A sermon without Christ,
he said, is a cloud that never rains. Christ is the Savior of
sinners. He is the subject of the gospel.
Very quickly, look next in verse 5. I want you to see the goal
of the gospel. Paul goes on to say, to bring
about the obedience of faith. The obedience of faith means
the obedience that springs from faith. In other words, true saving
faith produces obedience. It actually produces obedience
at the moment of conversion. It's not something that happens
three years later, or four years later. It happens at the very
second of conversion because the gospel itself is more than
just a free offer and an invitation, it is that, but it's more than
that. The gospel is a command, it is a divine command. When
Jesus says, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, that's
in the imperative mood. It is a command and saving faith
is obedience to the command of Scripture, to believe in Jesus
Christ. And unbelief is disobedience
because God commands all men everywhere to repent, Acts 17
31. And so at the moment of conversion, genuine, true, saving faith instantly,
immediately produces the initial harvest of obedience. by submitting
the life and denying self and taking up a cross and entrusting
one's life to Christ and walking through the narrow gate. Faith is the root. Obedience
is the fruit. And the two cannot be separated. True faith always produces obedience. It always produces a transformed
life. And John Stott writes at this
point, Paul looked for a total unreserved commitment to Jesus
Christ, which he called the obedience of faith. This is our answer
to those who argue that it is possible to accept Jesus as Savior
without surrendering to Him as Lord, close quote. No, if there
is no obedience, there is no faith. It's just talk. It's just walking an aisle and
raising a hand and signing a card and getting wet. True saving
faith immediately comes under the lordship of Christ and obeys
Him even to receive the gospel. I want you to note next, 6, the
scope of the gospel as we continue in verse 5, it says, Again, we're back to, in a sense,
the exclusivity of the gospel. There wasn't one way for people
to be saved in Rome and a different way for the Eskimos to be saved,
or a different way for the Akka Indians to be saved, or a different
way for the Asians to be saved, or a different way for the Russians
to be saved. No, this one gospel is to be
preached to all the world and it is to be received among all
the Gentiles. all tribes, all tongues, all
nations, all peoples. The gospel is for everyone. If
you are breathing today, you need to believe the gospel. It is offered to you. And then
note the sake of the gospel at the end of verse 5. Here is really
the ultimate highest purpose of the gospel, it is for the
fame of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, for His
name's sake. The gospel is for the honor and
the glory of the Son of God, that He would have a bride in
heaven, that there would be more voices to the hallelujah chorus. and the howl of your choir. that
throughout all of the ages to come, there would be more fervent
worshipers who would magnify the excellence of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is the purpose of the gospel.
Getting us out of hell and into heaven is somewhat peripheral. At the very heart of the gospel
is that the Son of God would have a chosen bride who would
be conformed into His image and who would sing His praises throughout
all of the ages to come. The gospel is the means by which
this would come to pass. It is that Christ would be known,
that Christ would be embraced, that He would be worshiped, that
He would be honored, that He would be obeyed, that He would
be followed. The gospel is what puts us onto
this right path. And finally, I want you to see
the success of the gospel in verse 6. In the first part of
verse 7, we'll just look at verse 6, the success of this gospel, among whom you, the you refers
to all the believers, also who are the called of Jesus Christ. In the Bible there are three
calls. There is the call to specific ministry, we saw that in verse
1, Paul was called to be an Apostle. But as it relates to salvation,
there are two calls, and as R.C. Sproul has said to me several
times, a good theologian makes careful distinctions. He knows
how to slice a subject and separate and make distinctions. And when
we come to the matter of the call of Jesus Christ, there is
The external call and there is the internal call. The external
call is the voice of the preacher, the voice of the Sunday school
teacher, the voice of the mother and the father, the voice of
one who would give a witness. As we would say, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's the external
call and it can go only to the ear. It can go no further than
the ear. No one will ever be saved until
there is this second call. It is the internal call of the
Holy Spirit of God. And many theologians refer to
it as the effectual call, meaning cause and effect. This cause will always bring
about this effect. And the internal effectual call
is the call of the Holy Spirit. It is not with an audible voice,
it's much louder than an audible voice. As it apprehends and lays
hold of the one who is called and in that moment overcomes
all resistance and conquers the heart and draws that one to Christ
and opens the heart and takes out the old heart of stone and
puts in a heart of flesh and writes God's Word upon the tablet
of the heart and puts the Holy Spirit within and causes that
one now to walk in His statutes. And the Spirit of God in that
split second grants repentance and faith. And the sinner cries
out, Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me, the sinner. But the conception
took place before the delivery. God had already been sovereignly
at work in that heart. And all those whom He foreknew,
He predestined, and whom He predestined, He called. And whom He called,
He justified. And whom He justified, He glorified."
There are no dropouts along the way. There's no one added along
the way. The group He began with in eternity
past is the group that He will conclude with in eternity future. God will have His way with His
people. And when the gospel is preached,
it will have a reception. The gospel will never go bankrupt. The gospel will never go unheeded. Oh, there will be many who will
reject it. But all those whom He foreknew and predestined,
He will call into the kingdom and He will justify them and
He one day will glorify them. This is the success of the gospel. So our responsibility is to grab
as much seed in both hands and scatter it as far and as wide
as we can. And by the way, that's what the
word broadcasting means, to scatter the seed of the gospel far and
wide. And we leave the results with
God. But God has already purposed and decreed that there will be
a response to the gospel. As I conclude this, I want to
ask you this question, does there need to be a response in your
heart today to this gospel? Have you believed in Jesus Christ?
Have you entrusted your life to Him who is the only Savior
of sinners? Have you entered through the
narrow gate? Have you been born again by the
Spirit of God from above? Have you laid hold of Christ
by faith? And if you've never believed
upon Jesus Christ, I give you the external call this very moment
on behalf of the King who has sent me here as His ambassador
to send out the glad tidings and the good news that God will
receive sinners into His kingdom, that God has thrown open the
gates of paradise and the Savior is standing right in the gateway.
And He is saying, come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, learn
of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. You shall find rest
for your souls, for My burden is easy, My yoke is light. He says, "'If any man thirst,
let him come unto Me and drink, and out of his innermost being
shall flow rivers of living water.'" Have you ever come to Christ
by faith? Come to Christ. It's more than
an invitation. He is commanding you this day
to step out of the shadows and the darkness of your unbelief
and to enter into the light of His grace and His mercy and He
will receive you. He has not come for those who
are well. He is a physician who has come
for those who are sick. He has not come for the righteous,
He has come for the unrighteous. He has come for those just like
you. If you'll come to Christ, He
will gladly receive you. Come to Him in humility and submission
and saving faith and He will gather you in and He will never
let go of you. Let us pray. And as I close in
a word of prayer, I want to say that if you want to talk to someone
about your relationship to Jesus Christ, don't leave here today. Wherever you would be going to
is of second importance to coming into the kingdom of heaven. And
to my right, to your left through these doors is an elder prayer
room and there will be elders there, godly men, humble men
who are trained in the Word of God and they would love to talk
to you and help you. as you would come to faith in
Christ, or if you have any other spiritual need, as we're dismissed,
please do not leave here today without the Savior, Jesus Christ. Father, as we now conclude this
worship service, we crown You yet again with our praise and
give You the honor and the glory that belongs to You alone. Thank You. for designing the
gospel. Thank You for revealing it and
thank You for making it known to us that we would be made right
with You. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.