I want us to look in Romans chapter
1 at verse 16. For I am not ashamed. At one time he was. At one time
Paul was ashamed of the gospel of Christ. He would not own it. He was embarrassed to be around
God's people. He was ashamed of it. My, what the grace of God can
do in a man. Bring a man like Paul, who absolutely
despised Jesus Christ, and enable him willingly to fall
in love with the Lord Jesus Christ. and spend to be spent for his
sake." That's a work of God. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek. Now, the title of the message
tonight is this. The gospel we preach is. The gospel we preach is. First of all, it is of a Savior
who came from glory, who came from the third heaven, who came
from paradise, who came from the very throne of God. The gospel
is of a Savior. Anybody need a Savior? I need
one. I need a Savior. I need one who can save me. One who can keep me. I need that. Look over in Luke chapter 2. In Luke chapter 2, look in verse 11. And the angel said unto them,
Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy. That's what the gospel is. That's
what it is. It's good news. It's good tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David A Savior. A Savior. Which is Christ, the
anointed of God, which is Christ the Lord. That's who He is. That's who our Savior is. Christ
the Lord. What did He come to save us from?
I need a Savior, but what do I need to be saved from? People make fun of that. I had
a man make fun of that one time. Right to my face. About being
saved. Years ago. I need to be saved from sin.
Look over in Matthew chapter 1. God has sent a Savior. He's given
us a Savior. He's coming to this world. And he's going to save. Verse 21, And she shall bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. Look over in
the margin, it means Savior. Thou shalt call his name Savior.
For he shall save his people from their sins. That's what
he's going to do. Save his people from their sins. The gospel we preach is of a
Savior who came from glory, and that Savior who came from glory
is none other than God. Now, how sure is my salvation? God, David said in one place,
God has become my salvation. God is my salvation. He did not
send a created angel. God Himself came into this world
to become my Savior. Is that not good news? Is that
not great joy? Should that not bring great joy?
God Himself. Look over in 1 Timothy chapter
3. 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16. And without controversy, Great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Who was manifest in the flesh?
God. God in all that He is. We're
not talking here about an image of God or a representation of
God. God. This is God. The Creator. The one who is infinite
wisdom, the one who is infinite knowledge, the one who is eternal
became flesh and dwelt among us. God became incarnate. He came into this world, walked
this same earth I walk on, breathed the same air I breathe, and endured the same things I
endure. Now you would think, you would
think that such a one as God coming
into this world, that he would be received with great joy, wouldn't
you? Wouldn't you think that? The scripture says that he went
about, the Lord Jesus Christ went about doing good. And yet he was despised and rejected
of men. He came into his own and his
own received him not. It didn't have anything to do
with him. In fact, we crucified him. You want to know what the world,
you want to know what the human race thinks of God? Look at Calvary. We crucified
his son. That's what the human race thinks
of Almighty God. The One who gives us our breath.
The One who feeds us every day. The One who takes care of us
every day. The One who takes care of this
whole creation every moment. And what do we think of Him?
We crucified His Son when He came into this world. That's
what the human race thinks of God. Look over in Acts chapter 2. In Acts chapter 2 verse 36, Therefore let all the
house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same
Jesus whom ye have crucified, nailed to a tree. God hath made
that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. The Pharisees. They claimed to
love God. They claimed God to be their
Father. And when He became incarnate,
they said, Crucify Him. Crucify Him. They just kept saying
it over and over again. Crucify Him. Crucify Him. This
is what we think of God. After He was crucified, He was
buried. Why is that important? Why is that important? It says
over in 1 Corinthians Over here in 1 Corinthians 15, let me read
it to you. Chapter 15, verse 4. Paul said,
For I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received,
in verse 3, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
Scriptures, and that He was buried. Why is that so important? Because you don't bury someone
that's alive. You bury someone that died. He really experienced
death. He says he tasted death for every
man. He tasted death for everyone whom he represented. He tasted
death. And the evidence of that is this.
He was buried. Don't let that go over our heads.
He literally died. He tasted death. He knows what
it is all about. But he did not stay dead. And
that he was buried and that he rose again, it says the third
day. The gospel we preach says that a Savior came, that Savior
is God, He became incarnate, He was crucified, buried, and
He's risen. He's risen. And He's seated at
God's right hand. He rose again. But that's not
all. It doesn't end there. He's coming
again. Do you really look for the Lord
Jesus Christ to come again? If I called you and I said, I'm
going to come over, if I tell you tonight, I'm going to come
over to your house at noon tomorrow, would you be looking for me at
noon tomorrow? I know we get so busy. We get so busy that
we quit looking, don't we? I know we do. I know what I do.
We get so busy, we're just thinking, we're just going to grow old,
we're going to retire, then we're going to die. And our hope is
to be with the Lord. But you know, He could come right
now. He could come tonight. I would
to God He'd come tonight and put an end to all this. I do. I wish He'd just come and put
an end to it. All this sin and this misery and debauchery and
ungodliness unbelief and put an end to what I deal with in
myself. That'd be a good day, wouldn't
it? To put an end to that. What I deal with daily in me.
Oh, that he would do that. He's coming again. Look over
in Acts chapter 1. I want you to turn to these things
because I want you to see it in the Word of God. In Acts chapter 1. Look in verse 9. And when he had spoken these
things, while they beheld, he was taken up. They watched him. They literally watched him go
up into heaven. And a cloud received him out
of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly
toward heaven, I would do that, wouldn't you? I'd be standing
there going, What we just saw, what we just
witnessed, they just watched him ascend right up into heaven. And they're standing there looking
straight up into that cloud that received him. And it says, And
while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up,
behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, two angels,
which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here gazing up into
heaven? This same Jesus, this exact same
Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come
in like manner as you've seen him go into heaven." He's coming
again. Then the gospel we preach is
for a particular people. It is for a particular people.
They're called sinners. Sinners. And it's only for sinners. You go to some place and it says
members only. Members only. Go to Sam's Club,
try to buy something. Members only. I'm not a member
there. I can't buy anything there. Members only. No one else need
apply. It's for sinners only. It's for
sinners that he came. It is for sinners that he died.
It is for sinners that he intercedes. He makes intercession, it says,
for the transgressors. He'd make intercession for good
people. There's not any. There's not any. Now, that wouldn't
set well with this world that we live in. That wouldn't set
well at all to say that. It's upsetting, isn't it? It
offends man's thoughts of himself. It offends his dignity, what
he thinks of himself. Well, there's a word, God says,
there's none good, no, not one. There's not an ounce, before
God, there's not an ounce of goodness in any of us, apart
from Jesus Christ, is there? Apart from the work of God, apart
from the new birth, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, there's
not an ounce. I know some good people. I know some good people. Well, when it's all over with
and God pulls away all constraint, Tell me that then. Tell me you
know some good people then. When God withdraws all constraint,
then you'll see. Then you'll see what the human
race is made of. The gospel we preach is for a
particular people, it's for sinners, and it's for sinners only. It's
a sinner's gospel. And then the gospel we preach
is a certainty. This is not something made up of men. We've not followed
cunningly devised fables of men. We've not done that. This is
of God. God's given us this good news. God has sent this good news among
us. It's ordained of God. The gospel of Jesus Christ, salvation
in and by and through him. through his blood, through his
righteousness, is ordained of God. He's the Christ of God. He's ordained of God. And he's
the only way of salvation. He said that. No man comes unto
his Father but by me. There's no other way. Christ
is the only way of salvation. He's the only way of being accepted
before God. He's the only way. He's the only
mediator. I need a mediator to stand between
me and God. I don't want to stand there by
myself. You and I couldn't even begin
to come up with the demands. We couldn't do it. We fall so
far short of them because we don't even know what they really
are. We don't know, we don't really, we don't know what perfection
really is. I told my grandson here not too
long ago, he was trying to make something, well he had to make
it perfect. I said, in this life, Cole, there is no such thing
as perfection. There is no such thing as perfection
in this life. Christ is the only way to God. He's the only mediator. He's the only high priest. He's
ordained of God to be the high priest, to represent us. He's the only sacrifice. His
blood is the only blood of atonement. There is no other way, is there?
There is no other way. And the gospel we preach, it's
common among all God's people. The gospel I preach here, week
in, week out, Frank stands here, Eric stands here, Dale stands
here, is the exact same. Now listen,
it is the exact same as the one preached in Mexico. Not a variation. When you start to have a variation,
you don't have the gospel anymore. If I go and preach in Africa
or China or Russia, the message is exactly, to the T, the same. The message is concerning Christ. It's concerning how God saves
sinners in Christ. It has everything to do with
Him. It's the same. It reaches over all classes. It reaches over all races. It
reaches over all color and nation. It's common. That's what Jude
says over here in Jude chapter 1. Look over in Jude chapter
1 in verse 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation, It's common because, listen,
it's never changed, first of all. It's the same among all
God's people. Since the fall, since the fall,
the gospel has never, ever, ever changed. It's always been salvation
by the blood and the sacrifice, the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I can go to Mexico and I cannot
speak Spanish. I can't speak their language.
But they and I who believe the gospel, we have one thing in
common. There's a lot of things they
have experienced that I will not experience, and there are
things I've experienced that they will not experience. But
there is one experience we all have in common. That's a salvation
we have in Jesus Christ. It's common. And the gospel we preach is a
gospel of deliverance. It is a gospel of deliverance.
It truly delivers. It delivers from sin. Look over
in Romans chapter 6. In Romans chapter 6, let me see here. I can read this whole chapter
as far as that goes. But in verse 7, For he that is
dead is freed. He that is dead in Christ, he
that died in Christ, crucified with Christ, is freed. That is, he's justified from
sin. It delivers from sin. Oh, if
we could just get a hold of that. If we could just get a hold of
what it is to be delivered and justified from all sin. if God would give us a real glimpse
of that. You know, when our Lord was made
to be sin, He sweated great drops of blood. When you were convicted
of sin, I've said this to you before, when you were convicted
of sin, when God saved you, He convicted you of sin, did you
sweat great drops of blood? And your greatest anguish, whatever
it is, the greatest pain you've ever gone through in life, Did
you ever sweat great drops of blood? He did. He knows the vileness. He knows
the depth of evil that sin is. I struggle for words to try to
even describe anything about sin. But the best understanding
I have of it is when I look at Him in the Garden of Gethsemane
Sweating great drops of blood, and I see Him hanging on a cross
under the wrath of God. And that gives me some understanding
of what sin is. How vile must I be in God's sight? How wretched? We don't see that
by nature, do we? A skunk can live with other skunks
and that bothers it all, does it? I don't want a skunk in my
house. You can't get that smell off of me. It doesn't bother
them. Sin doesn't bother this human
race. But it sure bothers God. So much
so that he put his son to death over it. So much so that he told Adam,
over one act of disobedience, so much so he said, get out of
the garden. Get out of here. Get out of the house. What God thinks of sin. But there is a real deliverance.
Now, there's a real deliverance from sin. And there's a real deliverance
from the wrath to come. Now, people can laugh and they
make fun of you saying, do you believe that the world's going
to end someday? Absolutely. I absolutely believe God's going
to burn this up one day. I do, according to His Word. Look over 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. Paul says in verse 9, For they
themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you,
and how ye turned to God from idols, and to serve the living
and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he
raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us. from the
wrath to come. You know, you know that Noah
had to have been made a fun of. It had never rained. A flood
is coming. What are you talking about? They've never seen a creek rise.
I mean, it was just an even flow all the time. He was building that ark for
120 years. 120 years, that's a long time, isn't
it? Seems like it anyway. You know they mocked him, made
fun of him, until the day that door was shut and the rain fell. They didn't laugh then. And I
have no doubt, I have no doubt that there was people hanging
on the side of that ark. I guarantee you there's people
hanging on to the outside of that ark trying to hold on. But
for 40 days and 40 nights, you ain't hanging on. That kind of
a flood where the depths broke up and the rain came down, you're
not hanging on very long. Hanging on to a profession or
hanging on to anything is not going to save you. Only those
that was in Christ, only those in that ark were saved. All those hanging on the outside
of it perished. But this gospel that we preach
is the power of God to deliver us from sin, from the wrath to
come, and it's coming. And here, listen, here's my greatest
need. Here's one of my greatest needs. Here's one of my greatest needs. It is able to deliver me from
myself. I have no worse enemy than me. I mean that. There is just as much sin in
me right now as ever. There's as much sin in me right
now as the day I was born. I struggle with it more now than
ever. I see more of it now than I ever
saw before. It comes in many shapes, colors,
and forms. It can go from the lust of the
flesh to self-righteousness. Well, I don't do that no more. No, but you sure think about
it more. You think about it. You've got to fight it. Warfare, and that's what it's
called, a warfare. You don't have a warfare if there's
only one person who you've got to fight. But when you've got
another one in the house, You have two opposing natures. You have light and darkness.
You've got a warfare. You've got one. And that darkness
is that old nature I still have. I was born with it. I was born
with it. We preach a gospel that is able to deliver us from
sin, from the wrath to come, and from ourselves. And if we would be saved, it
would be by the gospel of Jesus Christ alone. And if we would
see others saved, it would be by the gospel of Jesus Christ
alone. There are things we could do
that would fill this auditorium up. There are things we could
do to do it. But all I would be doing would
be entertaining sinners on their way to hell. And I got other
things I just want to do than that. I desire to see God fill this
place up with men and women, young people who believe God. Now, will He do it? If He will,
He will. If He will, He will. And the gospel is the power of
God. To save and to keep us saved. Are you not glad that you are
not the one trying to keep yourself saved? I'm so glad of that. It's not in my hands to keep
myself saved. That's in His. I'm His. He's
my surety. I like this thought. It gives
me comfort. I am His responsibility. I'm
His responsibility. And He's never failed to deliver
on any of His responsibilities.