Hi everybody. I'm going to bring a message, Lord willing, tonight on the beginning of the gospel. We're going to look at Matthew 1.1, Mark 1.1, Luke 1.1, John 1.1, and Acts 1.1, the first verse of each of those books, and we're going to try to consider the beginning of the gospel. So if you turn to Matthew chapter one, while you're turning there, it could very accurately be said that the gospel has no beginning.

Revelation 14, six, the gospel is called the everlasting or the eternal gospel. A gospel that never had a beginning and will never have an end, just like its author, the eternal God. Christ is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and the universe was created for him to come in time and be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. As a matter of fact, the writer to the Hebrews said in Hebrews 4, verse 3, all the works were finished. from the foundation of the world. So when we talk about the beginning of the gospel, we could certainly see that there's a very real sense in which it had no beginning.

It's the eternal gospel, but let's read Matthew 1, 1 together. The book, if I would have asked you, what are the first two words of the New Testament, what would you have said? Well, whatever we might've said, it's the book, the book, the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David. Now, the first thing I want us to consider in that verse of scripture is the book, the gospel is the religion of this book.

We don't look to denominations. We don't look to creeds or confessions. The scripture alone is our only foundation of rule, of practice, of doctrine. The scriptures to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, There is no light in them. Now, I want to quote a couple of scriptures to you. As a matter of fact, go ahead and turn there. 2 Timothy 3, 16. You're familiar with this. 2 Timothy 3, 16. All scripture. And this is what the Bible claims for itself. All scripture.

Genesis 1.1 through Revelation 22.21, all scripture is given by inspiration of God, literally God-breathed. Every word in this book is God-breathed, inspired by God, Old Testament, New Testament alike, and is profitable is beneficial for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." Now, scripture is profitable for doctrine. This is our only source of truth, scriptures. It's profitable for proof or reproof. How do we know something's true? Is it in the Bible? That's the only question. Is it in the Bible?

It's profitable for correction. Now, when a plane leaves the airport and it's got an arc to the place it's going, and the traffic controller is helping them because when it's up in the air, it's beat back and forth by the wind to keep it on that arc. And that is correcting it. The scriptures corrects me and keeps me looking to Christ alone where I have nowhere else to look. That's the purpose of the scriptures.

It's profitable for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Now, this is not talking about instruction in right living. I'm all for right living, but It's instructing us that the only righteousness there is, is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The only righteousness I have.

Scriptures alone. Not scriptures and, scriptures alone. It's the scriptures alone that tells me of Christ alone being my only ground of acceptance. Not Christ and, Christ alone. Grace alone, not grace and, grace alone. Faith alone, looking to Christ only.

The first time I looked to him and when I put my body into the ground, dead, cold, and lifeless, I hope the last breath I take is looking to Christ alone. God's glory alone, the only proper motive. Turn with me to 2 Peter 1. Let's begin reading in verse 16. For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

Now he's talking about what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration. Do you remember when He brought Peter and James and John to the Mount of Transfiguration. And the scripture says his face shined as the sun. His raiment was white and glistening. And two men appeared with him, Moses and Elijah, speaking with him.

And we know what they were talking about. If you read Luke 9 31, it says they speak of the decease which he should accomplish. I love that language. When's the last time you went to a funeral and somebody's laid out in the coffin? They say, look what they've accomplished. Well, they didn't accomplish anything. This is the end of sin every time we die. But oh, his death was an accomplishment. He accomplished the complete salvation of everybody the father gave him. What an accomplishment.

And they're looking at this and then, Peter, Bless his heart. He makes what might be the most stupid statement ever made in the history of planet Earth. He said, Lord, let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, one for Moses, one for Elijah. He was putting these men on equal footing with the Lord. And then that bright shadow came down, bright cloud covered him, and they hit the dirt. They were scared to death. And the Lord reached out and touched him. And when they looked up, they saw no man save Jesus only.

And he said, don't tell anybody about it until after the son of man is risen from the dead. And they talked with one. What world is that supposed to mean? What does rising from the dead mean? But at any rate, Peter is laying this. And he said in verse 17, for he received From God the Father, honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from that excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Now, don't miss the language. He didn't say with whom I'm well pleased, although he was. But in whom I am well pleased if I'm in him. God is well pleased with me." That's the gospel.

Every believer is going to hear him say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. You think, well, how could he say that to me? I know better about myself than that. If you're in Christ, what he did, you did. He said, thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. And what he did, you did, and you will hear those words, well done. He's well pleased with you. That's the truth. If you're a believer, he is well pleased with you, just as pleased as he is with his son, because you're in him.

Verse 18, and this voice, which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him in the holy mount. Now look what he says next. we also have a more sure word of prophecy. We've got something better than that. What could be better than that? This is. It's a more sure word of prophecy.

You know, anytime I think about an experience I've had, I question it. Did it really happen? Did I have any understanding? What was going on? I stand Suspect of everything that I think, everything I experience. Even if I would have been with him on the Holy Mount, I might have found some way to match that up.

But here we have a more sure word of prophecy. Where into you do well that you take heed, as into a light that shineth in a dark place, into the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, knowing this first. First, this comes first. The gospel is the religion of this book.

Knowing this first that no prophecy of the scriptures of any private interpretation. Somebody says, well, here's my interpretation. I don't care what your interpretation is. I hope you don't care what my interpretation is. What does God say it is? It's not this one interprets it this way and that one interprets it. No, it's got one meaning. It's of no private interpretation.

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Now, with regard to the original language, whether Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew, whatever it is, It's all inspired by God. We have translations and I'm thankful for that. But the original scripture is all inspired directly by God. There is no error in it. Now, go back to Matthew 1, 1.

The beginning of the generation, the origin literally the Genesis, the book of the Genesis, the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David. And this is the first thing that's pointed out about the Lord. He's the son of David, King David, a direct descendant of David.

Do you remember when the Pharisees were trying to entangle him in his talk and they brought up the issue of should a Jew have to pay taxes, and then what about the resurrection? Seven men had the same woman. Whose wife is she going to be on the resurrection? And then the issue of the law. They brought up these issues, trying to entangle him in his talk, which was a fool's errand, obviously. But then he turned it around and asked them a question.

What think ye of Christ, whose son is he? They said the son of David. And then he said, if he's David's son, why did David call him Lord? Saying, the Lord said to my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. If he's David's son, how did David call him Lord? Now, if I understand that, I understand who he is. The son of David. Now here's the issue behind him being the son of David. The Son of David is the Christ. The Son of David is the Messiah. The Messiah comes through David.

Now, in the Old Testament, there were three anointed offices. The office of the prophet. A prophet brings the Word of God to men. The office of a priest. A priest brings men to God. And the office of a king. His will is done. He rules and reigns. And no mere man held all three of these offices, except for one man, the man Christ Jesus.

He is God's prophet to this extent. He's the word of God. He's God's word to men. And so he never said, thus saith the Lord. He said, I say unto you. Oh, what a prophet, the prophet that Moses spake of. And what a priest. He's like no other priest. He's a priest after the order of Melchizedek. The Levitical priests, what'd they bring?

The blood of an animal. What'd he bring? His own blood. But not only does he bring his blood, he himself is the sacrifice. He himself is the altar. What a priest. Oh, if he represents me, I must be saved. And he's the king of kings. What a king. He has inherent power in himself. All other kings have borrowed authority and borrowed power, but he is king of kings, the Christ, the son of David.

Turn to Mark 1. We begin with the book in Matthew 1. One, the book, and that Christ is the son of David, God's Messiah, God's Christ. Now look here in Mark 1.1, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God. Son of David, yes. Mark lets us know he's the son of God, not a created son, but the eternal son."

Listen to this scripture from John 5, 17 and 18. My father worketh hitherto and I work. What he does, I do. Therefore, the Jews sought the more to kill him because not only had he broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father, making himself, what? Equal with God. The son of God, God the son, equal with God. Now, there's only one who's equal with God. God. Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Hebrews 1, 1 through 3 says, God, who at sundry times and diverse manners spake unto in times past to the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things." He owns everything, including you. That last breath you took, it's because he willed it. And the last breath you take, it's because he willed for that last breath you take. You're in his hand. He's heir of all things.

He's the Lord. I love Romans 14, 9, where it says he's the Lord of the dead and the living. Those people that are dead in sins, He's their Lord. They don't know it, but they're in His hands. But oh, how He's the dead of the living, or the Lord of the living. How we delight in Him being our Lord and our Savior.

Not only is He the one who God has appointed heir of all things, He's the one by whom God made the worlds. He's the Creator, the Son of God. He's the Creator. He spake the world into existence. It was Him We're reading of in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He did that in the beginning. He created time. God created the heavens. He created space and the earth. He created matter. He did all that. He's the creator.

That's how glorious this son of God is, who being the brightness of God's glory. the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, simply by a nod, when he had by himself, with no contribution from me, no contribution from you, when he had by himself purged our sins. I'm glad he said it that way. He didn't say he purged our sins. He said he by himself purged our sins. He sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

Now here we have Jesus Christ, the son of David, 100% perfect humanity. Jesus Christ, the son of God, 100% deity. Fully man, just as if he were not God at all. Fully God, as if he were not man at all. Now, what's the point? God is holy. God is other. Sure is hard to give an explanation to that, isn't it? God is other. He's not like me and you. There's no one like him. There's no one to compare him to. God is other.

Man is sinful. Me and you. Sinful. full of sin. God must punish sin. He wouldn't be just if he didn't. If he just swept sin under the carpet, he would be an unjust judge. A judge, even in human terms, that just forgave crimes and set people back out into society. He'd be an unjust judge. We'd get rid of him, wouldn't we? He must punish sin.

Man must die. The soul that sinneth shall surely die. And man's death cannot satisfy God. That's why hell is eternal. The payment is never enough. That's why hell goes on eternally. And I say that fearfully. I don't even like to talk about hell, but there is a hell. And man can never satisfy God. That's why hell is eternal. Only God can satisfy God. But God can't die. Man can't satisfy. God can't die. The God man did both. How he died, I don't know, but he did. The God man died and he completely satisfied God so that everybody he died for God is completely satisfied with. Now here's what I take satisfaction in his satisfaction. He is satisfied with what his son did.

I am too. Hence. the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now turn to Luke. Luke 1. Luke writes, For as much as many have taken hand to set forth an order, a declaration, of those things which are most surely believed among us. Now, there's a group called us. I want to be in that group, don't you? If God be for us, who can be against us? That's the crowd I want to be in. He that spared not his own son, but deliver him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

This is the elect. This is every believer without exception. And there's things that are most surely believed. I love the way he said most surely believed among us. Somebody says, well, I don't believe those things. And you're not in the us. All the us most surely believe. all these things. Now, we began where we began. We have been surely persuaded that the Bible is the written word of God. Now, I have heard that the Bible is the written word of God ever since I could understand language.

I've always believed that, but I always wondered, how do I know? I mean, I've been told that, how do I know? How can I know that the Bible is the written word of God and there's no error in it? You know what I came to know? When God taught me the message of this book. When I learned the message of this book, Jesus Christ and him crucified, I knew that the Bible was the written word of God. That's what I knew. Man couldn't write this. Man's incapable of writing this. We know. When you know, you know. Somebody says, well, I don't know that. Well, the us do. The us do.

The things that are most surely believed among us, we got to begin with, we surely believe that the Bible is the written word of God. And you believe God is? Most surely. And that word most surely is in the passive voice. We've been persuaded of this. This is why we're so sure about it. We've been persuaded by it. And who persuaded us? God did. If God persuades you, you're persuaded. Paul said, I know whom I believed and I'm persuaded. I've been persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed to him. What have you committed to him, Paul? the entire salvation of my soul. If he didn't do it all, I won't be saved. All my eggs are in this one basket. What he did. You believe God is, you're surely persuaded of this, you believe God is as the Bible declared him to be. Now, I've already quoted this verse, Genesis 1-1, in the beginning, God, created the heavens and the earth.

Did you know the word God there is in the plural? It's the singular God in the plural. Why is that? God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Let us make man in our own image. Now, can I understand how God is one God? Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord, one God. Can I understand how He's one God in three distinct persons? God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Of course, I can't understand it, but I believe it. It's the revelation of Scripture. God is as He declares Himself to be in the Bible. I think of His name. This is so amazing. What is his own designated name for himself?

Jehovah. When you're reading the Old Testament and every time you see Lord written in all caps, Jehovah. And the writers, whether they were right or not in doing this, the translators, I mean, maybe they were. I like the idea. They thought the name too holy to say, so they just put Lord Jehovah. His name, Jehovah, is derived from what he said to Moses when Moses said, who am I going to say sent me? He said, I am that I am. Tell them, I am has sent thee. Not a was, not a want to be, not a could be, not a should be, not a will be. I am that I am. This is speaking of his self existence.

He has no needs. Now, this is who God is, and every one of his attributes come out of his name. He has no needs. That's why he's eternal. He didn't need anyone to create him. He's always been. He has no needs. That's why he's sovereign. That's who he is. No one can thwart his will. He has no needs. He's omnipotent. Anything he wants, he has. He has no needs. He's immutable. He can't change. He's always as he is. All of God's attributes come from his name.

The independent God, I love the fact that he has no needs. And one of the things I like to remember He sure doesn't need me. He doesn't need you, but we desperately need Him, Jehovah. We most surely believe man, as the Bible declares Him to be. Now, we believe God, everything God makes known to us about Himself, all He's been pleased to make known in His Word, we believe. We believe man is as God says him to be. Now, first of all, I don't want to miss this.

Man was created in the image of God. God made Adam upright. Now, I don't believe Adam was holy, because if he's holy, he would have never fallen. Holiness can't fall. God can't sin. The new man created in Christ Jesus, that new nature, it can't sin, according to 1 John 3, 9. God's seed remains in him. Holiness can't sin. But Adam was created upright.

And because man was created in the image of God, we can say some very good things about man. Some of the noble acts, some of the noble deeds, the self-sacrifice men have made for the good of their fellow men. There's a lot of good things you can say about man. And don't you Aren't you thankful if you've got a good neighbor that's good to you, that has your back and so on? We can say some good things about men, but what does God say about all men?

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually, nonstop. When God looks at this man, he sees one who every imagination, not even talking about the works right now, we're talking about what goes on in here. Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, nonstop. The heart is deceitful above all things, desperately, incurably wicked. Who can know it? Won't you give Jesus your heart? He doesn't want it. He'll give you a new heart though. That's what I want. Create in me a clean heart, oh God. Renew a right spirit within me. Man is as the Bible declares him to be. There is none righteous. No, not one. There's none that understands. There's none that seeks after God. They've all gone out of the way. They've together become an unprofitable. There's none that doeth good. No, not one.

And I believe that about me. Now, there's two words that can be used to describe what the Bible teaches about man. Number one, I guess this is two words, total depravity. And that doesn't mean that everybody's an ax murderer. That doesn't mean you're going to rob a bank when you leave here.

You would, apart from the grace of God, and you realize that. But what that means is every faculty is under the dominion of sin, totally. Your mind, under the dominion of sin. Your will, under the dominion of sin. People talk about free will. Well, that's ridiculous. There's no such thing. Your nature controls your will. The will is under the dominion control of sin. The affections are no good. We love what we ought to hate. We hate what we ought to love. Man is totally depraved. And number two, you've heard this many years, total inability. There's nothing I can do to save myself. I can't do anything that could please God. The Lord said no man can come to me. No man has the ability to come to me except the father which has sent me draw him.

And we most surely believe God is as he declares himself to be in the Bible. Man is as he declares man is to be is in the Bible. And we believe salvation is. as God declares it to be in the Bible. Salvation is of the Lord. All of salvation is of the Lord. Salvation's of the Father in eternal election, when He chose sovereignly who He would save as an act of His will.

For the children, being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, Not of works. That's God's purpose. Not of works. Salvations of the Son in his redeeming work on Calvary's tree when he said, it is finished.

Everybody he died for was saved. When were you saved? When Christ died. As far as that goes, I saved before time began. And I'm saved when I believe the gospel. But salvations of the son in his redeeming work, his righteousness that he worked out, that's my righteousness. His shed blood is my sin payment. His resurrection is my justification. And salvations of the Lord in the work of God, the Holy Spirit, the new birth when he births you. That's what being born again is. You're fathered by God the Spirit. He births you through the Word into His eternal kingdom.

Salvations of the Lord Christ Jesus. Oh, this is what's most surely believed among us. Christ is all in salvation. He's all in my acceptance before God. He's all that God requires of me. I look nowhere else. That's most surely believed among us. Christ is all in salvation. I love what Peter said in Acts chapter 15, verse 11. We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved. And that's spoken in such a way as you could truly, in the grammar of it, you could say, by grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we've been saved, we're being saved, and we will yet be saved. This is surely believed among us. Somebody says, well, I don't believe it. Well, then you're not in the us. All of the us surely believe these things. Now turn to John 1.

In the beginning was the Word. In the beginning, the Word was. He didn't begin to be. He was. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God as a distinct person, face to face with God, in fellowship with God, delighting the three persons of the Godhead, delighting in one another. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God as a distinct person, and the Word was God.

This is the Word that the writer to the Hebrews says is quick, living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. The Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I like to remember this. The Word The message, the gospel message from the word, the written word that reveals the word, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said to Timothy, Timothy, preach the word. That is the gospel message, the word of God.

That word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Now turn to Acts, Acts chapter 1. This is the last one we'll look at. The whole gospel is in these first verses, isn't it? Verse 1, Acts chapter 1, verse 1. The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus. That word treatise is the same word, logos, the word. The former word have I made, O Theophilus.

And here is our message of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach. Now, isn't that our message? Isn't that our gospel? Don't miss the word all. All that Jesus began both to do and to teach. You leave out any of it and you no longer have the truth. All that Jesus began both to do and to teach. You leave out any of it, you have a misrepresentation, you have a caricature, of the truth stripped of its saving power. All, A-double-L, all that Jesus began both to do and to teach.

He said, all things, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. What must be believed? Everything. What part of the word of God is okay to say? It's okay if you don't believe that. That's a secondary importance. That's all right. You don't know all things.

The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And if you don't have the whole truth, you don't have the truth at all. All things that Jesus began both to do and to teach. Now, I can say real briefly, and I could also spend an eternity talking about the things Jesus began to do.

Well, first of all, He's the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Isn't that an awesome thought? The Lamb having been slain from the foundation of the world. Before there was ever a sinner, there was the Savior. And the whole Bible is interpreted in light of that verse of Scripture. It all lines up with that. Christ is called the Lamb, having been slain from the foundation of the world. And beloved, if he was slain from the foundation of the world, he was raised from the foundation of the world. And God's people have always been in him. What did Jesus do? He stood as a surety for those the Father gave him.

Like Judah, send the lad with me. When old Reuben said, send him with me, Jacob said, I know you. I'm not sending him with you. But then Judah says, send the lad with me. I'll be surety for him. If I don't bring him back and set him before thee, let me bear the blame forever.

And that's what Jesus Christ did for all of his people. He took full responsibility for your salvation. And God doesn't look for a thing out of you. He looks holy to Him. Well, He made the world. That's what He began to do. He made the world. And He was made flesh. And in the flesh, He kept God's law perfectly. Oh, how He honored the law of God. He never sinned. He knew no sin. Perfect man.

Yet, He was nailed to a cross and bled and died a violent death. Why is there death? There's only one reason, sin. The wages of sin is death. He took my sins and my sorrows and he made them his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. He took my sin, he bare our sin in his own body on the tree Don't ever think that while Christ was hanging on the cross, he was innocent. The reason he was there, he's guilty. Guilty. My sins became his. Now, how can God do that? I don't know, but I'm glad he did. Second Corinthians 521 says, for he had made him to be sin. God did this. He made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

And He was raised from the dead for our justification. He ascended back to the Father. He's there right now ruling and reigning, controlling everything and everybody, making intercession for His people. And one day, I hope soon, He's going to return. That's what He did. That's what He's doing and all that He taught. You know, all that he taught would take Genesis 1-1 through Revelation 22-21 to describe all that he taught. But let me use one verse of scripture. John chapter 14, verse 6. I am the way. There is no other way. I am the way to God. that excludes all other ways.

I am the truth. The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. He is the truth, and anything that's contrary to that is a lie. I am the truth. I'm the truth that excludes all other supposed truths. I am the truth. No one else could say that. If me or you tried to make a statement like that, deep down we'd know, well, you're a liar saying that. Not him. He is the truth. I am the life. My life is the only life that God will accept. For God to accept you, you're going to have to have my life as your life before God. I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life.

No man cometh to the Father but by me. Now that means a whole lot more than when I come into the Father's presence, I plead only His name, although I do, I come only by Him. What that means is no man comes to the Father except they're in me. When I come to the father, they come to the father because they are in me.

Oh, that Jesus began both to do and to teach the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name. that you would accept our thanksgiving for your word. For your gospel. For that son. And we ask in his name that each one of us might be enabled. By your grace, by your spirit.

To do justice, Paul did where we can say. We know whom we have believed. And we're persuaded that he by son is able to keep that which we've committed to him against that day. Lord, if we haven't before, enable us to do it now to commit the entire salvation of our soul to him only and to look nowhere else. Bless this message for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen.