Well, good morning. Open your Bibles with me, if
you would, to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. Before we begin, let's bow before
our Lord in prayer. Our Father, we come before you
this morning, both a thankful and a needy people. How thankful
we are. Then your wisdom and your purpose
of mercy and grace for your people that you've provided a savior,
your own darling son, to be sacrificed for the sin of your people. That
we might be made righteous in him, that we might be able to
come before you and call you our father. How we thank you
for your mercy and your grace that's freely given to your people
because of the sacrifice of your son. And Father, we're also a
poor and a needy people. We stand in need of your mercy
and your grace every second. Father, we need you this morning
to send your spirit upon us that we might be enabled to worship.
Enable us to hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and
believe and worship. Have our hearts comforted, have
our hearts strengthened, be pointed once again to our Lord Jesus
Christ. Father, the blessing we pray for ourselves and our
class this morning, we pray for our children's classes right
now, and Father, other places where your people gather together
to worship. Bless your word, we pray, Father.
Bless it for your glory. In this day that's so full of
false religion and unbelief and darkness, Father, we pray that
you'd show forth your glory, your redemptive glory, a person
of your son, give us a revival in the land, we pray. And Father,
for those that you brought in the time of trouble and trial,
we pray for them. How thankful we are to know that
you are the great physician. You're the one who can deliver
and comfort the hearts of your people. And Father, we pray you
would be with your people in a special way. Deliver as soon
as it could be thy will. Father, all these things we ask
and we give thanks to that name, which is above every name, the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I've titled our lesson
this morning, The Gospel of Your Salvation. Just have one verse
in our text this morning, verse 13, in whom you also trusted
after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, in whom also after that you believed you're sealed
with that Holy Spirit of promise. And my question is, I want us
to consider this morning is why does Paul call the gospel, your
gospel, your gospel? You know, the scriptures tell
us that the gospel is God's gospel, doesn't it? In Matthew four,
verse 13, the Lord said he went everywhere preaching the gospel
of the kingdom, the gospel of his kingdom. The gospel tells
us who the king is. The king is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the gospel tells us how it isn't sinners. become citizens
of that kingdom. We become citizens of that kingdom
by God's grace, don't we? By the doing and dying, by the
calling and the keeping of Christ our King. It's all up to the
King. The Gospel tells us our Savior's a sovereign Savior.
He's the King of a kingdom. In Mark 1, verse 1, Mark calls
the Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Now the
Gospel is good news from God, and it's all about His Son. All
about who his son is, what he did, why he did it, where he
is now. All the gospel's good news and the only good news for
sinners is their salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ by what
he accomplished as the God man, both the son of God and the son
of man. What he accomplished as the representative
of his people as the second Adam. What he accomplished as a substitute
for his people when he died as their sacrifice. The gospel,
is the gospel of the Son of God. Then in Ephesians 6 verse 15,
Paul calls the gospel the gospel of peace. Now the gospel tells
us how it is that the Lord Jesus Christ made peace with God for
his people. It's by the blood of his cross.
The blood of Christ took away the sin that made a holy God
angry. So there's peace. Now look back
at Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter one, verse one. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated under the gospel of God. Now
the gospel is the gospel of God. The gospel tells us how it is
that God did something for himself so that he could save his people
in mercy and truth. The gospel tells us who God is,
what God's like, that he's holy and he's gracious. He's merciful
and he's just. He'll never violate one attribute
of his character for another attribute of his character. The
gospel tells us this. How can God be both holy and
gracious at the same time? How can God be just and merciful
at the same time? Well, the gospel tells us the
only way that's possible is through the Lord Jesus Christ, God's
son. He came as the representative of his people to make his holy,
make his people righteous by his obedience. See, Adam made
his people unrighteous by his disobedience. Christ came to
be the second Adam to make his people righteous by his obedience. He came to make his people righteous
by his sacrifice and put their sin away. The gospel is the gospel
of God that verse three says, concerns God's son, Jesus Christ,
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David, according to the
flesh and declared to be the son of God with power, according
to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead.
The gospel concerns God's son, what he's accomplished for his
people. See the gospel tells us who God is. The gospel is
not about men. The gospel is about God. It tells us who God
is and how it is. that God saves sinners. The gospel
is all about God in the Trinity of his persons, father, son,
and Holy Spirit and their work in redemption. The gospel is
not about men. The gospel is not how God can
give men something. The gospel is about God, how
God can save sinners and still be God. In Galatians 1 verse
11, Paul tells us that the gospel that he preached is not after
man. It's not an idea that man came
up with. It's not about men. It's not about what men can do.
The gospel is God's purpose of grace for a people that he chose
to save and how he accomplished that redemption through the person
of his son. The gospel is the gospel of God.
It's all about God. That's what the scriptures tell
us. So why here in our text does the apostle tell us that the
gospel is the gospel of your salvation? Well, it's for the
very same reason when he wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2 that
he called the gospel my gospel. The gospel is your gospel if
that gospel reveals Christ to your heart in truth. Now, in
order for the gospel to be your gospel, in order for the gospel
to be the gospel of your salvation, you've got to hear the gospel,
the word of truth. That's what Paul says over here
in our text in verse 13. After that, you heard the word
of truth. Now the gospel is the gospel
of God. It's the truth of who God is.
The truth of how God saves sinners. And the gospel that God's given
us to preach is very specific. Very, very specific. The gospel
has one subject. It doesn't have a bunch of subjects.
It has one subject. The subject is Christ our Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ. Now the
gospel teaches us many different things about Christ. Many different
aspects of who he is and many different aspects of his character.
But it has one subject, the Lord Jesus Christ and how he saves
his people from their sin. And all those different, the
teachings of the different aspects of who Christ is, men call those
things doctrines, teaching. Now, when the gospel is preached,
every single time the gospel, the word of truth is preached,
sound doctrine is preached. You cannot preach the gospel
without sound doctrine. And someone says, well, don't
preach doctrine to me. I don't want to hear doctrine.
Well, then I won't preach to you then. Because there's no
gospel without preaching doctrine, sound doctrine. I just can't
say how important it is to have sound doctrine. You can't know
who Christ is if somebody does not tell you the truth, the truth
of who he is. I just can't stress the importance
of sound doctrine. If all we know is doctrine, we're
not saved because we don't know the Savior. I can tell you from
experience, you can have the doctrine down cold and not know
the Savior. I can tell you that from experience. And the gospel
becomes the gospel of my salvation when I quit hearing true doctrine,
when I quit hearing true statements and come to know the person that
all that doctrine points to. If I ever see the person, all
this doctrine, all these true statements points to and reveals,
then the gospel becomes the gospel of my salvation, because now
I see the Savior. Now I trust the Savior. The gospel,
God's gospel, becomes the gospel of my salvation when I have a
need for Christ. The gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace becomes the gospel of my salvation. When I see,
oh, I need to be saved by God's grace. I need to be saved by
his free grace. I need him to choose me. I need
him to call me. I need him to keep me. It's gotta
be all by his power. I need to be saved by grace without
any of my works being added to it. When the gospel, when it
becomes a need, when I need Christ, when I need his grace, when I
need his blood, That's when the gospel becomes the gospel of
my salvation. See, it's a matter of helplessness
and a matter of need. I tell you, the people who are
needy, they come to hear the gospel. It's a matter of need. And I want to illustrate that
from some of the verses that we've looked at earlier in this
chapter in our study. Verse three told us that all
spiritual blessings are in Christ. Paul says, blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Now you see that that's a true
statement. Everybody here has heard the gospel, preached often
enough, studied the word often enough to know this is a true
statement. All of God's blessings are in
His Son. He put every spiritual blessing
that He has for a sinner in His Son. They're all in one place. You know, God made it easy to
find, didn't He? You go to Christ, you've got
it all. The gospel tells us who Christ is. It tells us about
his perfection, the perfection of his character, the perfection
of his love. It tells us about his perfect
obedience to the law. The gospel tells us how the father
is pleased with his son. That's the only way he can accept
you and me, is if he's pleased with his son. So it's easy to
see The father loves the son. It's easy to see why he put every
blessing that he has in his son. The father loves the son. The
son earned all those blessings by his obedience unto death and
by his blood. He earned those things for his
people. It's easy to see why they're all in him. Do you need
mercy? Do you need grace? Do you need
to be redeemed? Do you need forgiveness of your
sins? Do you need righteousness? Do you need holiness? Do you
need acceptance with God? Do you need God to accept you
and hear you? My friend, they're all in Christ. They're all in
Christ. That's good doctrine, isn't it?
That's true. That's true from the word of
God. You know that. Well, the gospel becomes the gospel of
my salvation when I see that the only way God could bless
me is in Christ. The only way I can have any of
these blessings that God has, for sinners, the only way that
I could be forgiven of my sin, the only way that God could see
me as righteous is through union with Christ. I cannot earn them. I have them through faith in
Christ, by believing Him. The gospel becomes the gospel
of my salvation when I see I need God to see me in Christ and not
see me. There's a song that we've all
heard it sung before. I'm not saying that the words
are bad, but when you write a song, the lyrics got to rhyme and things
got to fit and everything. But the song says this, that
when the Father sees me, He sees the blood of the lamb. He sees
me as worthy and not as I am. First, He sees my sake. and then
he sees me. John, I don't need that. I don't
need the father to see the savior and then me. I need him to see
the son. I need the father to see the
savior, period. I need to hide in Christ. When
I see how desperately I need to be in Christ, that that's
the only way God could ever accept me, then the gospel becomes the
gospel of my salvation. because I'm seeking the Savior.
I'm seeking to be found in the Savior. So there's a difference
between knowing the doctrine and hiding in the person in there.
All right, verse four tells us about God's electing love. Verse
four says, according as he had chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. Now the gospel declares God's
electing love. The whole word of God declares
God's election of a people. It's all through the Bible. There's
absolutely no denying God's election of a people. It just, you can't
read the Bible and miss it. God chose Israel and none of
those other nations that lived around them. God chose Isaac
and cast Ishmael out. God loved Jacob and he hated
Esau. On the night of that first Passover,
God made a difference. between the Israelites and the
Egyptians, didn't he? The scripture is plain on this. God's electing
love of a people. God chose a people. He chose
a people to save just because he would. Not because they were
any better than anybody else, but just because God would. Now you see that truth in scripture
that just, it astonishes me that people argue against the truth
of God's electing love. You see that. And you know, I
can even, I can even see, I can get this concept that God has
the sovereign right to choose who he will and pass by who will. I can see that because God's
God. I mean, God made us, right? We
didn't make ourselves, God made us. God's the one that gives
us life. God's the one who sustains our life. God's the creator. He's the ruler of his universe.
He's the ruler of wherever I live, you know. Well, of course God
has the sovereign right to choose who you are. I mean, I see that.
God can do with his own whatever he wills. I see that. That's
good doctrine, isn't it? Now that declares who God is.
You can't preach who God is and not preach election. Someone
asked me one time, can you preach the gospel without preaching
election? I said, no, absolutely not. If you're going to preach
the gospel and tell who God is, Tell who Christ is, who Christ
came to save, how he saved. You've got to preach the doctrine
of election. That's good doctrine, isn't it?
The doctrine of election. You see the truth of that. Here's
our problem. By nature, I can't love it, and
I can't believe it. I thought of this, I was studying
this week. You know, I've been a Calvinist as long as I've known
language. We went to college, me and my
roommate, my buddy from school. We roomed together. We went to
college. And oh, once or twice a week, you can just imagine
all these 18, 19-year-old boys getting together in the big living
room that we had together and showing how smart we are and
debating, debating. And it was just a whole litany
of subjects. I could argue just as passionately The doctrines of grace. As I
could, who's the best shortstop playing the game of baseball
right now? There was no difference. They're just facts. Just facts. I've always known the truth of
these things. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't
love it. And by nature, you can't either.
Some of you know what I'm talking about. But the gospel becomes
the gospel of my salvation. When I see, I need, I need God
to choose me. I need God to choose me before
the foundation of the world, before I ever did any good or
evil. I need God to choose me, not based on who I am or what
I do. I need God to choose me based
on his mercy, his grace, his love, and his pity for sinners,
because I could never earn it. I need God to choose me even
though I do not deserve Even though I'm a natural born enemy
of God, I need God to choose me just because he's pleased
to do it. I need God to choose me because
I will never choose God's way of salvation. I will never choose
salvation on God's terms. I'll never surrender to God unless
God first chose me and sent his son to die for me on purpose.
Now, when I see that, then the gospel becomes the gospel of
my salvation. Because now I got a need for
Christ. And I'm seeking a person, not a list of doctrines. All
right, verse five. Verse five tells us about God's
predestinating grace. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself, according to
the good pleasure of his will. See, there it is. All this has
to be according to the good pleasure of his will. I need God to sovereignly
save me. That's what I need. Now there
is a great truth taught all throughout scripture, the truth of representation.
All men were made sinners by representation, by the first
Adam. We're all in Adam, every one
of us, we all did what Adam did, because he's our representative.
Now I hear the preacher say, and Lord willing, you'll hear
me say this in the message in just a little bit, how we all
fell in Adam. We all, every one of us became
sinners in Adam. When Adam sinned, you and I became
guilty. We became guilty in Adam because
he's our representative and all of us are just exactly like our
father Abraham, just exactly like we've got his nature, we've
got his desires, we've got his sin. We just, we're all just
exactly like him. That's how we were made sinners.
But the scriptures also declare God makes his people righteous.
the same way they became sinners, through representation. Through
a different representative, through Christ the second Adam. It says
that all through the word of God, plainly stated, this truth
of representation. Now I see that. I can understand
the concept of that, can't you? Representation. That's good doctrine. That's what the word teaches.
But I don't love it. Not by nature. I don't need it.
But the gospel becomes the gospel of my salvation when I see my
desperate need to be made like Christ. I can't be like myself
anymore. I can't be like Adam anymore.
I cannot come into God's presence as I am. I can't. I'm just like my father Adam.
And what did God do with Adam after he sinned? He thrust him
out of his presence. Thrust him out of his garden.
He's going to do that to me too. If I come in Adam's nature, if
I come like me, I need to be made like Christ or I'm going
to perish. Because that's what I deserve.
That's exactly what I deserve. And when I see what I am by nature,
what I deserve, my sin, you know, when I say I was made guilty
in Adam, please understand, I'm not saying my sin is Adam's fault.
No, my sin is my fault. I deserve to perish. I deserve
condemnation. And I need to be made like Christ.
That's the only way God can accept me. When the Holy Spirit enables
me to see that and believe that, then the gospel becomes the gospel
of my salvation, doesn't it? Then verse seven tells us how
Christ redeemed his people from their sin. In whom we have redemption
through his blood. the forgiveness of sins according
to the riches of his grace. Everybody here has heard about
redemption, haven't you? Everybody here has heard the
preacher say the redemption price for sin must be paid. We've sinned,
we've got a price on our head. We've sinned against God. The
price has to be paid. God's justice has to be satisfied. And you say, I hear what the
preacher's saying. I see what he's saying, and it comes directly
from God's word. God's holy. God's just. He must punish sin. He will by
no means clear the guilty. God must punish sin. The price
must be paid, and I can't pay the price. I can't pay the price
that satisfies God, because everything I do is sinful. Everything I
do just adds to my debt from which I must be redeemed. The
only way I can be redeemed is if somebody else pays the price
for me. I'm spiritually bankrupt. I got
nothing to pay. The only way my redemption price
can be paid is if somebody else pays it for me. Everybody understands
that. You understand at least the concept
of that. You understand it. I know by
nature we don't believe it. You know, by nature we still
think if I do good enough, you know, God will accept me. But
you understand that concept. You can't say the word God says
anything else, can you? If we're going to be redeemed,
somebody else got to pay the price. That's good doctrine. Nobody's ever going to come to
Christ and beg for forgiveness of their sin until somebody tells
them they're a sinner. You know, I mean, we don't know
we're sinners by nature. Somebody else got to tell us
that. That's good doctrine. Well, the gospel becomes the
gospel of my salvation. When I'm made to see my need
for Christ to redeem me, I desperately need him. I'm helpless. I cannot pay the price that will
satisfy a thrice holy God. I can't do anything that pleases
God. And here's the thing about redemption,
needing Christ to redeem me. I'm so sinful and I'm so vile. I can't do anything to help myself. I'm so sinful and I am so vile. My sin is so great. My sin against
God is so great. Only thing that will pay for
that sin is the blood of God. That's how vile I am. I'm so
sinful that just stained with sin through and through. All
I am is sin. The only way I can be cleansed
from my sin is in the blood of God's son. Now that's saying
something, isn't it? That's saying something about
my sin, how great my sin is. And it's saying something about
how precious and how powerful the blood of Christ is. When
I see that, when I see that's how sinful I am, and that's how
precious the son of God is, then the gospel becomes the gospel
of my salvation, doesn't it? See, cause now I'm not talking
about the technicalities of how the price can be paid. I'm seeking
the one who pays the price. The gospel becomes the gospel
of my salvation. It's all about needing the person.
Then verse nine, tells us how it is God makes his people to
know and believe the gospel. Verse nine. Having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure
which he hath purposed in himself. Having made known unto us the
mystery, the mystery of the gospel. Now you can say just like I did
growing up, I've heard the gospel preached, and I understand the
words the preacher is saying. I try very hard to every message
I preach make every word be able to be understood by the littlest
one in here. I understand the words. I understand,
at least I understand the concept of mercy and grace. I understand
the concept of substitution. Brother Henry always used to
use the example of a basketball game. You know, there's one player
out there One kid on the bench, and the coach tells the player
from the bench to go in. I understood that real well,
because I was the kid on the bench, always hoping the coach
would call my name to go in. I understood that. I understood
substitution. I mean, I've understood that
as long as I've understood language. You understand that. I understand
redemption, the redemption price being paid. I understand somebody
going down to a pawn shop and redeeming what they left there.
I understand that. I don't truly know what sin is,
but I understand the concept at least of sin, that my sin
is against God. I have some understanding of
what justice is, what God's justice is. I understand those concepts,
but I don't love hearing those words. I don't love hearing the
gospel, and here's why. Because try as I might, I cannot
make myself believe the gospel. I cannot make myself believe
on Christ so that I hang my eternal soul on him and him alone. I
can't make myself do it. I'm dead. Just like a dead man
can't understand if you read the paper to him. I can't understand
the gospel. I'm dead. That's good doctrine. That's
the doctrine of what happened to us because of Adam. Our understanding
is darkened. But the gospel, becomes the gospel
of my salvation. When I'm sitting listening to
the gospel and suddenly the Holy Spirit gives life and turns the
light on and gives me faith to believe Christ. So not only do
I believe the gospel, not only I believe all those things the
preacher saying is true. Suddenly I find myself needing
it. I need the gospel. I need to be reminded again of
the good news of the gospel. I live in a body of sin. I live
in a world of sin. I need to be reminded of the
good news of the gospel. I need to be reminded again how
the Lord loved me from all of eternity. He set his love upon
me and God chose me. Even though I'm no count, even
though I'd never do anything to add to God, even though I
couldn't do one thing to make myself redeemable, God chose
me anyway. I need to hear again. This is
so amazing. It's such good news. You've got
to tell me over and over and over. Can this really be true?
The Lord Jesus Christ willingly sacrificed himself for me on
purpose. When he went to Calvary Street,
he had my name on his heart, just like the Aaron had the names
of the 12 tribes of Israel on his breastplate. Could the Lord
really have suffered everything he suffered
for me? Well, the gospel says He did.
But I need to be reminded. I need to be reminded because
it's just... It's unbelievable. Unless the
Spirit gives you faith to believe. I need... Oh, after the Lord saves you,
you see your sin more than you ever saw before. You see yourself
more violent than you've ever seen yourself before. I need
to be reminded that the blood Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses
me from all sin. All sin. Oh, I need to be reminded of
this, that Christ died for me, because if he didn't die for
me, I'm going to perish. Now the gospel has become the
gospel of my salvation. And the gospel has become the
gospel of my salvation. When I hear the gospel, and my
heart is comforted. I'm comforted to know it doesn't
have anything to do with me. It's not the strength of my faith.
It's not my good works. It's not anything about me. It's
all about Him. That takes the pressure off and
comforts my heart. I need to hear more of Him. The
gospel becomes the gospel of my salvation when I need to hear
more of Christ. Because the only way I can worship
God is in Him. I need to hear more of Him. Oh,
I know Him, but I want to know Him better. I trust him. I want
to trust him more. Tell me about him again. My soul
can't be fed. My heart can't be strengthened
unless I'm hearing the gospel preached. So I cry, Lord, make
me hear the gospel and believe it. And when that's my heart's
prayer, the gospel becomes the gospel of my salvation and your
salvation. And that's the gospel we needed.
I hope that'll be a blessing to you.