I wanna bring five clear points of the gospel. Five clear points of the gospel. Read two verses, verse 16 and 17 of Romans chapter one. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, For therein, in the gospel, is revealed the righteousness of God. From faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Now the apostle says he's not ashamed of the gospel. Whether he was in Rome, whether he was in Jerusalem, whether he was in Galatia, whether he was in Corinth, Wherever he was, he wasn't ashamed of the gospel. He wasn't ashamed of Christ.

Christ, the Jews hated Christ. He wasn't ashamed of Christ. He wasn't ashamed of Christ crucified, the one who hung on a bloody tree outside Jerusalem. And the Jews and other people are ashamed to admit that they need a bloody sacrifice to save them from their sin. But he wasn't ashamed of Christ and Christ crucified. He wasn't ashamed of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He wasn't ashamed of what took place on that cross and not what so much took place, it was who was on that cross that made the cross effectual. And oh, he wasn't ashamed of the sacrifice of his Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, for his sin. And that's why Christ died, to put away sin.

And I, you know, for many of the gospel they preach or believe, I would be ashamed. Free will, I would be ashamed to preach free will. I'd be ashamed to preach decisionism. I'd be ashamed to sit under somebody that preached law I'd be ashamed to be around people like that. I don't want to hear that.

That's not a gospel. There's no gospel in it. There's no gospel in cooperating with God. There's no gospel in that. There's no gospel in a decision. There's no gospel in a man's free will. There's no gospel in a man saving himself. There's no gospel in that. And oh, I'd be ashamed.

So the question is, do we really know the gospel? God helping me, I give you five clear points of the gospel. And these are essentials. And I pray that the Holy Ghost would meet among us and come among us and use the gospel. And the first thing I say about the gospel, the gospel is definitive. It can be defined. And look what he says in verse 16. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. The Gospels define the Gospel of Christ. It starts with Christ, ends with Christ, and Christ is everything in between.

You know, it's called the Gospel of Christ. There's nothing vague about the Gospel. Nothing vague about it. There's not to be guessed at. It isn't a bunch of people standing around giving testimonies, all trying to be meaner than the last one and try to tell how bad they were when they was lost and how mean they was. Sorry they was, but oh no. And I'll tell you something, it's not a subjective experience either. It's defined, it's called the gospel of Christ. The gospel of Christ. You know, look over and I want you to look with me in Roman, I mean, excuse me, Luke chapter 24. Look in Luke chapter 24.

You know, our Lord, He preached Himself. I've got a message, what the message of Christ preached. He preached Himself. He preached Himself. How many times did He say, I am? Seven times He said, I am. When He said, I am, He was the same I am that met Moses on the mountaintop and told him, who am I gonna say sent me? I am that I am. Christ said I am seven times. Christ said he is the son of God. Christ said he is sent from God. And all the gospel is God's message concerning his son.

Look what he said here in Luke 24 and verse 44. And he said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled. Now listen to it, which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. And now I love this right here. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scripture. You know why we understand the scriptures? up to us.

You know the gospel, like it says over here in Romans chapter 1 verse 1. Oh my, this gospel is called the gospel concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is God's message concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I tell you what, it declares His person. When we talk about Christ, you've got to describe who He is. Same way you do with God. If you're going to talk about God, He has to be defined according to the Scripture. And so when we talk about Christ, the Gospel, it concerns His person.

Now, who is He? He was the eternal God sent to this earth and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh like us and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. And then His Word. What kind of work did our Lord do? I think from the day He was born to the day He was crucified on a creek tree and put in a grave and rose again and ascended to glory, I believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, that was His work from the cradle all the way to the cross. Everything He did, He did for somebody. Everything He did, He did for somebody else. He did nothing for Himself. What He did, He did for somebody else.

And oh, listen, it declares him. The gospel declares him. It sets him forth. And oh, it says over here in verse four, chapter one, declared to be the son of God. Declared to be the son of God with power. And oh, I tell you, the gospel is called the gospel of Christ. And if you leave, let me ask you something. If we left Christ out of our message, what would we have? If we didn't have Christ, what would we have? Take away Christ from our faith, what would our faith be? You take away Christ from the Scriptures, what's the reason for the Scriptures?

And that's why our Lord Jesus Christ, he preached and preached and preached in the Garden of Gethsemane, and 500 men went out there to pick him up. 500 men, they went out there and took 500 men with staves and sticks and stones and lights, going out to get one man, one man. They got out there to get him, and he told his disciples, arise, they're coming. And they said, who are you looking for? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. He told them, I am! And they understood what I am meant.

So when I tell you what, any gospel that does not set forth the Lord Jesus Christ in all of his fullness, in all of his fullness, is no gospel and has no power to save none whatsoever. Election don't save us, Christ saves us. Obedience don't save us, Christ saves us. Faith doesn't save us, Christ saves us.

So the gospel of Christ. And here's the second thing about the gospel. Again in verse 16, it says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it, it, the gospel, is the power of God. It, it's objective. The gospel is an objective message, not a subjective message. Now, let's see if I can put it this way.

Everything about our salvation was accomplished outside ourselves. We has no part in it whatsoever. You know, when our Lord Jesus Christ lived on this earth, he was living for me. And when he died, he died for me. Everything that was accomplished in my salvation, in your salvation, was done outside of us. Everything was accomplished. My sins was put away 2,000 years ago.

And I didn't hear about it until somebody come along and preached the gospel to me. And this is the thing, it's an objective message. The gospel is the power of God. What is? The gospel is. The gospel. And the gospel means good news, wonderful news, blessed news. Oh, the gospel in and of itself is the power of the Holy Ghost to those who send it to, is the power of God unto salvation.

I remember years and years ago, I was very young, and I stopped to visit Brother Henry Mahan. And I'd been in a meeting up in West Virginia, come down, drove down to be with him, meet him, and have some fellowship with him. And I remember saying this. I said, it's the gospel soaked in our tears. Henry looked across that desk, stuck his finger in my face.

It's the gospel whether anybody ever sheds a tear or not. The gospel has nothing to do with our emotions. It has to do with everything outside of us. Christ died outside of us. Christ bore our sin outside ourselves. God judged him outside ourselves. Everything that was, you know, like our birth, our first birth, how much did we have to do with your first birth? How much did you have to do with it? Well, that's the way it is in salvation. We have so much to do with this first birth, we have even less to do with our second birth. And that's what it is. It's an objective message.

And I love the fact that I don't have to look to myself for anything. And I'll tell you something else, God does not look to me for anything. He does not look to me for anything whatsoever. He don't look for me for my obedience. He don't look for me for any sin. He doesn't look for me to do anything to make me more blessed than he already is. Oh, listen, I'll tell you. He doesn't say it's the Spirit that's the power of God, but the gospel is the power of God. The gospel is the power of the spirit, his sword to save sinners.

You know, I wanna look over in 1 Peter. I hope you all don't mind looking at verses of scripture with me. 1 Peter 1, verse 23. You know, it's by the preaching of the gospel set forth by the power of the Holy Spirit objectively that God's pleased to save sinners.

He's pleased him by the foolishness of preaching to save him that believe. So the gospel is subjective. It's the power of God. It is. And I'm so thankful that it is. Look what he said here in verse 22, excuse me, verse 23. Now watch this, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed. Now that there tells you there's two natures right there. We're always born of that corruptible seed. Everybody's born of that. But not everybody's born of the incorruptible seed. By the Word of God, that's the incorruptible seed, the Word of God.

Now let me tell you something. What God does, and he takes the gospel, takes the Word of God, and as the gospel's priest, he sows seed. After all that our Lord said, He says, A man goes forth sowing seed, the Word of God, and it falls on four different grounds. And that's what we do when we're preaching the Gospel, we sow a seed. And you know it takes a while sometimes for seed to germinate. I've sat with folks in our congregation and sat there for three or four or five years, and all of a sudden, that seed germinates, and they, immediately, they're brought to life. So I tell you that, you know, and then he says, being born again, not a corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth, and this is how long it lives, forever, forever.

And oh my, oh flesh, what's flesh? It's worthless as grass, that's what he says, like grass. And oh, he says, the glory of the flower of the clay. That grass flower grows up and then after a while it withers away and you lose it. And the grass withers, the flower falleth thereof. But here's the difference.

Everything in this world's going to pass away, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. So, oh, I'm so, the gospel, if it was left up to us in any way, to contribute any way, there would not be a soul on topside of God's earth to be saved. Nobody would be saved. And so the gospel is the gospel of Christ. It's objective, it's outside ourselves.

And the gospel, I'm gonna give you another one. The gospel is effective, it's effectual. What he says here in verse 16, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is, it is the gospel, it is. And then he also says it's the power of God. The gospel is the power of God. It's God's power unto salvation. And the power of God is effective, it's effectual. It never fails to do what it's sent to do and what it accomplishes to do.

And you know, if multitudes perish, it's because to them it's foolishness. You know how many people that the gospel of the grace of God and the gospel of Christ is foolishness to? It's foolishness to, so everybody in my family is foolishness to. You know, I know a fella that goes on about God's sovereignty and electing grace, but then he attends a Baptist church where they preach salvation by the will and this power of God, this power of God.

David said, I've heard once, yea, twice, that all power belongs unto you. I heard about it with my ear. I heard that all power belongs unto God. But when you hear it with the heart, and you hear it with the Spirit of God, then you really know something about the power of God.

And so the power of God, multitudes perish. And I do know this, it's not a cooperative, God don't need us to cooperate with him, he doesn't. And what makes the gospel so effective, so powerful? Because it's God's power. How much power you reckon God's got? How much power you reckon God's got?

He took nothing, there was no matter in this universe, no matter nowhere, until God said. God by His power said, let there be light, and there was light. God said by His power, I want a sun in the heavens, and there was a sun. God said in His word, He said, I want a moon there to be. to separate the day and the night. God said that I want stars to be filled in the sky. I want stars to be up there. And there he is. I want four seasons.

When God power, can you imagine a man in his puniness thinking that he can do something for God who has all power? What would we as old puny men, what could we? People say, well, you know, I'm gonna hold on, I'm gonna resist, I'm gonna resist. He'll break your knuckles if he have to, you're gonna turn loose. When he comes in the Holy Ghost in power, you're gonna turn loose. In the day of his power, who is made willing? His people. His people, and that's what makes the gospel so effective, make us effectual. Look what it says, oh, in verse 17, this is what makes the gospel so powerful.

For therein, in the gospel, God's righteousness, or God who is righteous, And this is where men really miss it. God is a righteous God, a holy God, eternally righteous, eternally holy. And in this gospel, God reveals that he has a righteous nature, that he is righteous in and of himself. He's the God of all the earth and he must do right. And that God reveals his righteousness. Here's a God who is righteous. And He demands righteousness. He demands perfection. And here He is. The righteousness of God is revealed. It's revealed. You don't learn this. God is righteous, so how in the world can I come into the presence of a righteous God that's revealed in the gospel? Well, let me tell you what it's revealed to. It's revealed to faith. What does that mean?

That means when God saves a man, he brings faith. He gives faith. The only place you can get it, the gospel brings faith. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. And so when you hear the gospel, and the gospel becomes effectual to you, and effected by the power of God, it brings faith with it. And every time you listen to the gospel, it keeps bringing faith. Every time you hear the gospel, faith is coming, faith is coming.

And that's why we all sit and say, yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, amen. You know why? Because faith answers to faith. You know, it comes to faith, and then it's gone. Faith responds to it. He gives faith and then faith responds to it. This is what makes it powerful. And then this is what else happens. Then the just, those who've been made righteous and justified by God, those who've been made righteous, they live by what? By faith.

I feel sorry for people that have to work their way to heaven. They in a fool's area. That's kind of like all the men got together, Nimrod and all of them, and said, I tell you, let's make a bunch of bricks and everything, and let's build us a tower all the way to heaven. Said, we're gonna build a tower, and we're going all the way to heaven with this thing. God came down. He said, you're a bunch of fools. He said, I'm gonna mix you all up so bad that you can't understand one another. Everybody, wherever they go, they're gonna be different people. They're gonna be different languages. They won't be able to understand one another. He gonna scare them. And that's why, you know, you've heard of Babel? A babbler? You heard about a babbler? That's what they said about Paul. He's a babbler. because his language was foreign to what they hear, and the gospel is foreign to what most people hear. And oh my, here is a message.

Though all of us are sinners, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. For by one man sin entered into this world, and death passed upon all men, in that all have sinned, born in sin. dead in trespasses, ruined by the fall, ungodly at enmity with God himself, guilty before God, deserving of eternal ruin and wrath. Yet God, yet God, in His great love, sent His Son to bear His people's sins nobody else could bear. nobody else could bear. Sent his son to bear his people's sins, to carry their sins away by his death. Delivered those sins to judgment, and then brought in an everlasting righteousness and life.

And he gives these things freely by his grace. Oh, the power of God. It's effective. It'll get the job done. You know, the justifying righteousness, what's revealed in the gospel is the power to save. No, bless His name. I'm so grateful. And I'll tell you something else. It took the power of God to save us, and it takes the power of God to keep us. For by faith are you kept through the power of God. God's power saves us, God's power keeps us saved. Do you know why it takes His power? Because we ain't got none. We don't, y'all know what ain't means, don't you? It means isn't, aren't. Good.

And I'll tell you something else about the gospel. Not only is it the gospel of Christ, not only is it the gospel of Christ, not only is it effective, but it's elective. It chooses people. It sets apart and God saves whom he will. Here in our text again, it says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God. and the power of God unto salvation. Not of men. The gospel is God's message. It's His message. It's the message of His Son, of His work.

Our Lord Jesus, in John 17, He said, Glorify thou me with thyself with the glory which I had with you before the world was. I finished the work that you sent me to do. And now, Father, now, Father, let me come back to you. Glorify me. And also, he said this when he prayed to his father. Father, as many as thou hast given me power over all flesh, that I should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

And always concerning his son, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. It's of his work. Our Lord had a work to do. He told his disciples when he was at the woman at the well, sitting there talking with her, And they came and said, oh, he's talking with a Samaritan. And he said, I have a work to do, and I can't not work until it is finished.

It's finished. And this is what, the last words he said on the cross, you know what it was? It is finished. It is finished, the last word he said. And oh, it's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bless his name. What a precious man he was. What a glorious man he was. How powerful he was. How gracious he was.

He saw hungry people and he fed them. He saw sheep without a shepherd and he gathered them together. He saw blind men and he gave them sight. He saw lepers and he cleansed them. He saw dead people and he raised them to life. He saw people weeping and crying, and he come and wept and cried with them.

Our Lord Jesus was, oh, there's no one like him on this earth. And oh, there's nothing. The glory that he had, can you imagine the glory that he had? And he said, Father, glorify thou me with the glory that I had with you before, before the world ever ended. And our Lord Jesus came. He lived. He lived on this earth for 33 years. And he died, crucified. He died and he was buried and he rose again.

And you know why he did that? God shall call his name Jesus. Why? For he shall save him. Listen to this, his people. That's why it's electing His people, His people from their sins. Our Lord says, I lay down my life for the sheep. No man takes it from me. I have the power to lay it down, I have the power to take up again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

And our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to save His people, to save His elect people. And you know, some people said to Him one time, if you be the Christ, Tell us plainly. Tell us plainly. And our Lord said, I told you, but you believe not. Why not? Because you're not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice and they follow me.

You see, the gospel is God's. It's God's to purpose. It's God's to purpose. And everything God does, he does on purpose. And the gospel is God's to perform. Ain't you grateful, Angus, that the salvation of people does not depend upon you? We don't have to beg people to come to Jesus. We don't have to beg people to come to an altar. This gospel is the power of God. It's the purpose of God. And it's God's to perform.

I don't care who comes into a service. My grandchildren come in here a while back. My grandson and my great-grandchildren, they all come in. And somebody said, well, I'm looking forward to hearing an Easter message. And I, you know, that's what's so wonderful about the gospel. You don't have to change your message no matter who's there.

Salvation's God's work to do. And it's God's to perform. It's God's to proclaim. And I'll tell you something else, it's God's to apply it. If you ever have any gospel ever think that God will take, have to apply it. Let me show you something. I think it's in 1 Thessalonians 1. I think that's where it's at. Look with me over in 1 Thessalonians 1. Look down in verse 4. Oh, the gospel, it's elective. It's the power of God. It's the power of God's power. Oh, look what he says. Verse four, knowing brethren, your election of God. You know it. Oh, I heard a message one time.

Preacher said, I'm on the trail of God's sheep, and said, sure enough, boy, I'm on their trail, and God's gonna save every single one of them for whom Christ died. There's people that hasn't been born yet whom Christ died for, and God's gonna cross their path with the gospel. God's gonna cross their path with Jesus Christ and Him crucified. God's gonna be, they're gonna be sitting there one of these days, and God's gonna come in power, and He's gonna apply the gospel of Christ to them.

And oh, look what He says. Now knowing, brethren, your election of God, and listen to this, for our gospel came, it comes, it comes, that not just in what words, in words only, though we use words, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost. And you know what it does? It gives you assurance of what you're hearing is true. It gives you assurance that what you're listening to is true. It gives you assurance that what you hear in the gospel gives you assurance of what you're hearing is true. And the gospel, consistently by its message, sets forth the salvation of God's people. Consistently sets forth the salvation of God's people. I like to, people call it limited atonement. I like to call it particular redemption. That's what I like to call it, that God saves a particular people.

Christ only died for a particular people. And I hadn't thought of this in a long time, but Agus told me that around here people say that the death of Christ is sufficient for all, but only efficient for the elect. That's not true. It never was. It's not sufficient for only people. There's not sufficiency in the death of Christ for everybody.

That makes Christ have attacks of very powerful Christ, the gospel of Christ, the deity of Christ. To say that his blood was sufficient for every man, and his death for every man, but only as for the elect, Oh, it is, listen, it's only effectual for the elect. It's only effectual for God's people. And God died, Christ died for a particular people.

And I tell you, He's got different names for them. They're chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. They're called sheep. They're called elect. They're called called, they're called the people of God, they're called the children of God, they're called vessels of honor, they're called vessels of mercy.

And Christ, the only people who will ever be saved in this world, and that's why we have to preach the gospel. The only people that will ever be saved in this world is somebody that, that's why we consistently must preach the gospel, because God's only gonna save his elect, and he uses one thing to save them, and that's the gospel. And that's the only people that's ever gonna be saved.

And I'll tell you what, Fellow said one time, but what about that thief on the cross? Well, he believed everything about Christ that we do. And if he'd have been able to come back down off that cross, he'd have believed the gospel if he'd been a priesthood. But he saw the Lord Jesus Christ. He looked over and he saw Christ. Now, what would Christ look like when he saw Christ? What did he look like? He was bloody from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. He had a crown of thorns.

He didn't have a stitch of clothes on. Back was, you could see the bones in his back. The blood was running down his arms and running off his elbows, running down his belly, all the way down his feet, off his feet onto the ground. He was a bloody mess. And so when that thief on that cross looked over and saw him, that's what he saw. He didn't see somebody with a halo over their head. He saw a bleeding, broken, bloody, bloody sacrifice. Blood was all over him. Blood was streaming down his face from that crown on him. It was bleeding from his cheeks because they plucked out his beard. They beat him with that cat of nine tails and ripped the flesh from his bones.

And then this man looked over and saw him like that. And you know what he called him? Called him Lord. Lord. And this other fellow said, well, we're indeed in the same church. He said, that fellow said, listen, save both of us. And he said, we're in the same condemnation. He admitted that he was condemned. He admitted that he had done wrong. He admitted that he was a sinner. Oh, I've been unjust. I've got coming to me what's supposed to come to me.

And then he looked over there and he saw that. And he said, Lord, I'm here justly. I'm here because of what, and this, and that, he told that other man, this man's done nothing amiss. He saw Christ as someone who'd had no sin. And he said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. He not only saw him as Lord, but he saw him as king. He saw him as one who would have a kingdom. And the Lord said, this is the first man went to glory by the death of Christ, by the blood of Christ. The Lord said, today, today, going to go? You're going to go with me to paradise." That's where we're going to go one of these days.

But, oh, they're called the people of God. They're called vessels of mercy, vessels of honor, God's elect. And also, in some places, they're called grasshoppers, worms, worms. But we're those. These are the ones that The gospel declares Christ died for them. You know, people say, well, you reckon Christ died for me? Do you believe him? Do you trust him?

And oh, it's God who saved us, called us with the holy calling, not according to our works, but his own purpose and grace given us in Christ before the world began. And the gospel is God's power to apply to whom he will. He saves whom he will, and I don't care who he saves. I just love to see people confess Christ, don't you?

And then last of all, let me give you the fifth one. The gospel is redemptive. Look what again it says in verse 16. Paul wasn't ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God. And listen to what it says, unto salvation. What does that mean? That it brings salvation. It actually saves. The gospel actually, the power of God, it's unto salvation. It actually saves. The gospel saves.

Christ saves, and that's what he does. He saves his people. Christ laid down his life to redeem his people from their sins. He in his own body bears sins. in his own body on the tree. Our Lord Jesus, bless his name, he suffered the full wrath of God against sin.

And that by his death and shedding his blood, and he entered once into the holy place with his own blood, He entered into that place where God dwells, where there was an altar there in Revelations 12, 9. And in Revelations 12, there's that altar up there. And our Lord Jesus entered once into that holy place, into that place where God is. And He entered there with His own blood.

And He presented His own blood. And I tell you, so that he come and brought eternal redemption for us, so that God would and could justly deliver through his death, save us from our sin and condemnation, and give them eternal life. Oh my, in him we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. Our Lord Jesus Christ, we were redeemed. Gold didn't have nothing to do with it. Gold had nothing, silver had nothing to do with it. But as a lamb slain from the foundation of the world, as a lamb slain and with his own blood. And here's one thing, and I'll stop.

Peter says, you know, that we come to the sprinkling of the blood, the sprinkling of the blood. Now Moses, on the day of atonement, he would take a basin of blood and he would take the book and he'd sprinkle blood on the book. And then he'd go among the people, dip his hand in there and sprinkle blood on everybody, on the whole congregation. Sprinkle blood on them. So they would identify with that death. Identify with the dead.

And Peter says, we've come to the obedience of Christ The sprinkling of the blood. And you know what the Holy Ghost does for us and what the gospel does for us? He comes and sprinkles that blood. You know what that blood does when it comes? Takes away your guilt. Takes away your shame. Takes away everything that makes you unacceptable. God, you feel that blood. You still feel that cleansing blood. You feel it cleanse you from your sin. You feel pure. You feel, oh my, One woman said, one time said, I don't know what's going on, but I feel like somebody brand new.

And that, it applies that blood to us. And that blood purifies us and cleanses us. And it identifies with the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, our... Has the gospel been revealed to you? It's a revelation. But oh, the gospel. I am so thankful. I bless the day. I bless the day a man crossed my path with the gospel. And I believed it. And that blood has cleansed me from all my sin. And now I'm, I, Spotless that you know the thing about blood is if it'll make you spotless it blood red blood will make you spotless make you white as snow Well