Would you turn with me to Romans
chapter 2? Verse 16 is the only verse I
want to read. Romans chapter 2, verse 16. Paul refers to in the day. We just read about that in Malachi
chapter 4. in the day when God shall judge
the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Now this is one of three times
that Paul uses the personal possessive pronoun, my, with regard to the
gospel. I've entitled this message, Is
My Gospel The Gospel? It's a good question, isn't it? Just the fact that we're all
here tonight indicates that we have something that we would
call our gospel. some hope that that gospel gives
us that we won't be condemned, that we'll be in heaven. Now,
the question I want to ask, is my gospel the gospel? And the reason I ask that is
because the gospel is an objective message. It's not subject to
what you and I think. It's not subject to our thoughts.
It is what it is. The gospel. Is my gospel the
gospel? Let me give you, real briefly, the descriptions of the word
gospel in the Bible. Paul used the phrase, this gospel, as opposed to others. It's called in scripture, the
gospel of the kingdom. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the
son of God. The word of the gospel. There are particular words that
are used in the preaching of the gospel. The gospel has a
content. And if that content is not preached,
the gospel is not preached. The gospel of the grace of God. The gospel of God. The gospel
of His Son. The gospel of Christ. Christ's
gospel. gospel, the glorious gospel, the truth
of the gospel, the gospel of your salvation, the gospel of
peace, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ And I love what
John calls the gospel in Revelation 14, the everlasting gospel, the
eternal gospel, the gospel that never had a beginning and will
never have an ending. Is my gospel the gospel? The definite article, the, tells
us that the gospel excludes all other gospels. Paul said in Galatians 1, 6,
and 7, the Galatians. He said, I marvel. I'm amazed,
he says, speaking to the Galatians. I'm amazed. that you are so soon
removed. If it could happen to them, it
could happen to me and you. I marvel that you're so soon removed from
him that called you to the grace of Christ and to another gospel. Which is not another, but there
should be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. He said in Galatians 1.13, the
gospel which was preached of me is not after man. The gospel is other. God is other. His gospel is other. It was not
derived from any human source. Paul said, for I neither received
it of man, nor was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Now the gospel of God. Is my gospel the gospel? Now I hope that you and I will
be able to answer that question tonight. Is my gospel, the gospel
I believe, that is subjective to me, I call it my gospel. Is
my gospel the gospel? Now I want to look just for a
few moments at Romans chapter 1, where Paul defines the gospel. And then I want to ask you, and
I'm not going to spend much time on any of them, I want to ask
you 12 questions that can be answered with a yes or a no. Nothing confusing about these
questions. And you can determine by that whether or not the gospel
you call my gospel is the gospel. Now look in verse 1 of Romans
chapter 1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. And this tells me that the gospel
is the gospel of God. Not the gospel of Todd. That
sounds offensive, doesn't it? Not the gospel of the Baptists
or the Catholics or the Methodists. The gospel of God. Verse 2. Look at this description
of the gospel of God. which He had promised afore. It's no new gospel. It's the
one He promised afore. It's the eternal gospel. Which He promised afore by His
prophets in the Holy Scripture. Now, this is God's gospel. Not the reformed gospel. You
know, I hate that term. I really do. Gospel never needed
reformed. Why do people call it the reformed
gospel or the reformed faith? The faith never needed reformed.
It's God's gospel, the gospel of God. And it's clearly set
forth in the scriptures. It's the gospel of the holy scriptures. Verse three, The gospel of God,
the gospel of the scriptures, is the gospel concerning His
Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, the gospel is not concerning
making America a Christian nation again. It never was a Christian
nation in the first place. It's not about right-wing or
left-wing politics or some kind of political agenda. Fox News
versus CNN. It's not about that at all. It's
not about affecting or changing the culture. The Gospel is the
Gospel concerning His Son. That's what the Gospel is concerning.
His Son. Jesus Christ, our Lord. The Gospel
is concerning who He is, what He did, where he is now and what
he's doing there. That's gospel. It's the gospel
concerning his son. Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus. I love His name, don't
you? Thou shalt call His name Jesus,
for He shall save His people from their sins. He's Jesus Christ. He's God's Christ. He's God's
prophet. He's the Word of God. He's God's
priest. If He represents me before God,
I must be saved. He's God's King. He's got the
power to make sure His will is done. He's Jesus Christ our Lord. He's the Lord. I love saying
that. Jesus Christ is Lord. Do you
know he's your Lord? He's everybody's Lord. Somebody
says he's not my Lord. Yeah, he is. Scripture says he's
Lord of dead and living. You might not know it, but he's
your Lord. He's everybody's Lord. But every believer loves him
being their Lord. Like Thomas said, my Lord and
my God. Now look what it says next. The
gospel is the gospel concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord,
which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh. God was manifest in the flesh. The Word was made flesh. And you know what? Whatever it
was He came to do in the flesh, He did do. Just write that down. Whatever it was he intended to
do, he did do. He came in the flesh according
to the seed of David and declared, verse 4, declared to be the Son
of God. The Son of David is the Son of
God declared to be the Son of God with Power, and here's the
two proofs. Number one, according to the
spirit of holiness. The only holy man to ever live.
You know, I think it's amazing when you think of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the only holy man, truly holy man to ever live, and nobody
got it. His brothers and sisters didn't
get it. I guess Mary and Joseph did, but his brothers and sisters
didn't. holiness walked upon this earth
and no one recognized it. You know, I think it's interesting
when we say I want people to see Christ in me and I understand
that statement. I'm not making fun of that statement.
I want that too. But they didn't see Christ in
Christ, did they? But here's the declaration of
his sonship as the son of God with power, not only his holy
life, but his resurrection from the dead. Now, let me tell you
something that's different about Christ and every other religious
figure. Their DNA is in a pile of dirt
somewhere on the earth right now. He was raised from the dead. Now, like I said, I would like
to give 12 very brief questions that you can answer with a yes
or no. So you can know whether or not your gospel is the gospel. Is my gospel the gospel? Here's my first question. Does
my gospel line up with the Old Testament scriptures? If it doesn't, it's not the gospel. Let me give you one example.
I could give you thousands of examples, but let me give you
one example of what I'm saying. Does my gospel line up with the
Old Testament scriptures? God said in Exodus chapter 12,
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. He didn't say
when I see your faith. He didn't say when I see your
sincerity. He didn't say when I see your changed life. He didn't
say when I see anything that has anything to do with you.
He said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Does your gospel line up with
the Old Testament Scriptures. Like I said, I could give so
many other examples, but 1 Corinthians 15, 3, in Paul's declaration
of the gospel, he said, moreover, brethren, I declare unto you
the gospel. Here's what he said. Verse three, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures. Now the New Testament
had not been written yet. Somebody says, well, the gospel
is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. Oh, no. It's how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Secondly, does my gospel give
God all the glory in salvation? In men's religion, and I think
this is what men's Christianity, I got this from Spurgeon and
I thought it was so helpful to me. Men try to seek glory either
in the beginning, the middle, or the end of salvation. They
seek glory in the beginning when they give man's will, decision,
credit for salvation. They seek glory in the middle
when they think that through their works of obedience, through
their scripture reading, through their prayer, their self-denial,
they can become more holy and less sinful, more pleasing to
God and just a better person. By the grace of God, they would
say that I'm getting better. or at the end where there's some
kind of reward given, handed out in heaven for my service
that gives me a higher place than somebody else that didn't
do quite as well as me. In all of those instances, man
gets some glory and salvation, doesn't he? And God said, my
glory I will not share with another. Thirdly, does my gospel, the
gospel of the scriptures, does my gospel give God all the glory?
In my gospel, does he get all the glory? I know no glory goes
to me. Thirdly, does my gospel give the preeminence to Jesus
Christ in all things? Paul said in Colossians 1.18,
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things
he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fullness dwell. Here's an example of what it
is for Christ to have the preeminence in all things. These three simple
words. Christ is all. He's all in the Scriptures. Got
one message. He's all that God is. He's all
in salvation. He's all in every doctrine. There's
no doctrine understood apart from His person and His work. He's all in my justification. I'm justified by His righteousness. He's all in my redemption. He
redeemed me. He's all in my preservation. He preserved me. I'm preserved
in Christ Jesus. He gets all the glory. Pretty
much the same as the other statement, but does Jesus Christ have the
preeminence in my gospel? Yes, he does. Fourth question. Does my gospel, and this is very
important, Does my gospel, the gospel I believe, violate any
of the attributes of God? Now this is of paramount importance. Does my gospel violate any of
the attributes of God? Now God's attributes, that's
who He is. He's holy. He's sovereign. He's absolutely just. He's independent. He has no needs. He's eternal. He never had a
beginning. He's immutable. He cannot change. He's omnipresent. You can't go
anywhere where He's not. He's not bound by space or time.
He's omnipotent. He's all-powerful. He's omniscient. He's all-wise. Just go on with
the attributes of God that He's made Himself known in this book.
This is why we know he is as he is. He's made it known in
this book. Now, does my gospel violate any
of those attributes? And let me give you an example.
I would say just about every church in Danville, Kentucky
believes that Jesus Christ shed his blood for everybody without
exception. I'd say most. of every church
in Danville, Kentucky believes that. He wants to save everybody. That's his intention. He wants
to save and forgive everybody, but he can't unless you accept
him, unless you let him, unless you do something, make what he
did work for you. Now, let me tell you some major
problems with that, and that's what most folks believe. If I
believe that, I'm denying the justice of God. I'm saying that
He can pay for sin and then make me pay for it again. I'm denying
the justice of God. I'm denying the sovereignty of
God. I'm saying He can want something and intend for something to happen
and it doesn't take place. I am denying the love of God. I say he can love somebody and
then send them to hell if they don't do what they need to do.
Really, every attribute of God is violated in that kind of thinking.
Does my gospel violate any of the attributes of God? If it
does, it's not the gospel. Fifth, does my gospel honor the
law? Does my gospel honor the Ten
Commandments? Does my gospel give reward for
perfect obedience? And does it punish all disobedience? Yes, it does. My gospel, the
gospel I believe honors God's holy law. Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. What's
that scripture mean? Turn over to Romans chapter three.
I can't quote it right off the bat. Verse 31, do we make void
the law through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. That person who trusts Christ
only establishes the law, honors the law, and that person who
thinks he can keep the law just dishonors it. The only way you
can honor the law is by looking to Christ and does my gospel
actually honor God's holy law? Six, does my gospel meet the
sinner where he is? dead insects. Does my gospel meet me where
I'm at? With no ability to save myself. dead in sins, utterly without
the ability to save myself or to do anything to contribute
to my salvation. I'm like that man that was robbed
lying in the ditch. Interesting, the Lord called
him half-dead, and I thought, well, how do you be half-dead? That's the word the Lord used.
But, you know, that was really accurate in the sense that he
was spiritually dead, but he was physically alive, and his
soul was alive. I guess you could say he was
half-dead. But my gospel's got to come to me where I am, dead
in sins, without any ability to save myself and save me. Does my gospel meet the sinner
where he is? dead in trespasses and sins. Seventh, will my gospel save chief of
sinners? The gospel I believe, will it
save the chief of sinners. Now, let me try to give something about what the scripture
means by that. Somebody says, what's a sinner
really? That's the one who commits the sins. I've heard preachers
say all my life, God loves the sinner. He hates his sins. Where's
that in the Bible? God doesn't put sins into hell.
He puts the ones who committed the sins into hell, sinners. What is a sinner? A sinner is
somebody who's broken every commandment of God all the time. He's not kept one commandment
one time. How do you fit in there? He's
someone who cannot not sin. He's someone who His sin is his
fault. He can't say, well, I can't help
it, I'm born that way, therefore I shouldn't be held responsible.
No, his sin is all his fault. And he can't sit in judgment
on anybody alive. And he knows that he has no claim
on God's mercy. Can your gospel save somebody
like that? Yes. First Timothy 1 15 says
for when we are this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I am the chief. And you know, I really believe
I am the chief of sinners. And do you say I agree with you?
I think you are too. And then I'm probably gonna get
offended. But when I'm left to myself, and I'm not trying to
protect myself, yeah, I'm like you, like every other believer.
We all believe ourselves to be the chief of sinners. Eighth
question. Like I said, these can be answered
with a yes or no. You don't have to scratch your
head about it. Does my gospel provide me all that God requires
of me? Does my gospel provide me all
that God requires of me? You know, God requires perfect
righteousness, doesn't He? He provides it. He requires a new heart. He provides
it. He requires faith and repentance. I must myself believe the gospel. Nobody can do it for me. I must
do it. I must have repentance toward
God. That's the gift of God. Faith
and repentance is the gift of God. My sins must be punished. God provided that provision in
the cross. Everything God requires, He provides. Now, if you believe that, that
just makes you not stress. All He requires, He provides. Ninth question, will my gospel
keep me saved? Will my gospel keep me saved?
I'm gonna give you this scripture, Jude 24. Now unto him that's
able to keep you from fault, and to present you faultless
before his presence with exceeding joy. Yes, my gospel is able to
keep me saved. I know this, if it wasn't, I'd
fall away. I'm sure of that, I'm sure of
that. But my gospel keeps me, say, keeps me looking to Christ. The 11th question, will my gospel
make me perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ? You
know, I thought about this. If I died tonight, I may do it. If I died tonight, let's say
I did go to heaven. If I was still like me, just
like this, it wouldn't be heaven. But my gospel is able to make
me perfectly conform to the image of Jesus Christ so that I am
just like Him. Romans 8.29 says, Whom He did
foreknow, Then He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son. That's the future. It won't be
the future, it'll be the eternal present of every believer. Perfectly conformed to the image
of His Son. I won't even know what it's like
to be a sinner at that time. I don't understand that, you
don't either. But I won't even, I won't have the consciousness
of sin. And I'll know, though, that the only reason I'm there
is because of those scars on his hands and his feet. I'll
know that, but I'll no longer be a sinner. I'll be perfectly
conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Can my gospel make me
perfectly conformed to the image of Christ? Yes, it can. Yes,
it can. And here's the last question. Does my gospel enable me to rest? Does my gospel enable me to rest? Now, turn to Genesis chapter
one. We're gonna look at this concept
of rest. You know, Hebrews 4, 9 and 10
says, there remaineth a rest. for the people of God. Look in verse 31. This is at the end of creation,
and God saw. You know something, Don used
to always say that really got a hold of me and still does. How God sees things is how they
are. I mean, you don't see things
as they are. How God sees things is as they
are. And God saw everything that he
had made And behold, it was very good. Incapable of improvement. And the evening and the morning
were the sixth day, thus the heavens and the earth were, what? Finished. Finished. There wasn't anything left to
create. There wasn't anything left to be done. It was finished. And all the host of them, and
on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had made,
and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which
he had made. Now he didn't rest because he
was tired. He rested because it was finished. What did the Lord say from the
cross right before he died? It is finished. Here's what rest is. I'm resting in that which has
already been done. There is nothing for me to do. He did it all and I rest in who
He is and what He did. I really believe that it can't
get any better for me. I can't get any more loved, I
can't get any more saved, I can't get any more accepted, I can't
get any more holy, because he said, it's finished. There's nothing that can be added
to that. It's finished. The writer to the Hebrews said,
for he that has entered into his rest had ceased from his
own works as God did from his. And I love the way the writer
of the Hebrew says, let us labor to earn that rest. Now, somebody
says that almost doesn't make sense. Yeah, it does, because
we're so stupid that we'll look for anything but rest. And the
hardest thing we're ever called upon to do is nothing. Rest. rest in His finished work. Can you rest in your gospel? Is my gospel the gospel? Well,
is it the gospel of the Old Testament Scriptures? Does my gospel give
God all the glory? Does my gospel give the preeminence
to Jesus Christ in all things? Does my gospel violate any of
the attributes of God? Does my gospel honor God's law? Does my gospel meet the sinner
where he is, dead in sins? Will my gospel save the chief
of sinners? Does my gospel provide all that
God requires? Will my gospel keep me saved? And here's the one I left out
while I'm looking at my notes. I forgot this, so I'm going to
add this one in. Can I face death and judgment with my gospel? If Romans 8-1 is true, there
is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
I can't. If I'm sinless before God, I'm
not afraid of judgment. John put it this way in 1 John
4, 17 here, and may we have boldness on the day of judgment. Now,
do you hear that language? Boldness on the day of judgment,
for as he is, so are we in this world. Can I face death and judgment
with my gospel? Yes, I can. my gospel may be perfectly conformed
to the image of christ and can i rest if the answer to those issues
my gospel lord we ask in christ's name
you would cause your gospel to be our gospel. In Christ's name we pray, amen.