Well for the last four messages
we looked in the book of Ecclesiastes and Ecclesiastes, the words of
Solomon, Ecclesiastes taught us the futility of life without
God. It taught us the bankruptcy of
life without the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you
remember last week, it admonished us to remember God while young,
to fear him and to obey his word. What is it to obey his word?
What is it to obey his word? It's to believe the gospel of
his grace. That's it. Believe the gospel
of his grace. In believing the gospel of his
grace, you have fulfilled his word. You have obeyed his word.
You are counted righteous. Abraham believed God. What did
he believe? He believed what God would do.
And God counted what God would do for righteousness for him. This is powerful advice. The
world around us The world around us is all of them, all of them,
outside of Christ and in their false religion and whatever else
they're doing, they're conducting Solomon's life experiment. And
at the end of it, they will come, all of them without exception,
to exactly the same conclusion. Life is futile. Life is empty. Life is pointless. Life ends
with that appointment that every one of us must keep for it is
appointed to man to die once and then the judgment. The book
of Ecclesiastes gave us powerful advice. Remember your creator
in the days of your youth. Don't put it off. Today is the
only day that you know for sure you've got and even then you
don't know whether you'll reach the end of it. Today is the only
day Remember your creator in the days of your youth. Now,
there's a lot more that could be said from the book of Ecclesiastics,
but I thought I would wrap it up just in those four messages.
But it then led me to thinking, what is the true gospel that
we're called to believe? Because, and you say, well, you
know the answer to that, that's obvious. No, I see all around
me religious folks, Christian folks, they call themselves,
that believe a gospel. Is it the right gospel? You see,
a few days ago, we were out walking very close to here, and we passed
a building just down the road which is a converted office block.
You know, they don't need as much office space these days,
so office blocks are being bought up by various types of churches,
and there are two or three not very far from where we live here.
Within three quarters of a mile radius of here, there will be
two or three large churches that now occupy what were office blocks,
modern office blocks. And as we were walking past,
somebody that we knew from many, many years ago, I'm not mentioning
any names, came out and told us what a wonderful time they
were having. and what wonderful teaching they
were having and what a blessing it was and Jesus was there and
the gospel was there and they were talking about eternal life
and a heavenly hope and how wonderful God's timing had been in getting
them that building so that they could reach this area in which
we live. This area in which we live, and
how wonderful it was, and the numbers that they get, they're
overflowing with numbers. Their one building that they
have on the other side of town was not big enough, so they have
to have this other one. And it's such a lovely community,
and they're all Christians, and you know, your first reaction
to that is, if it's so good, why do we struggle on with just
a handful? If they've got such a good, thriving, true Christian
community, Why do we struggle on with just a handful? Now then,
let me give you an analogy. Do you watch the antiques programs?
You know, the Antiques Roadshow and things like that, right?
Do you like the bit in it where they get three items of antique,
and they say, right, one of these is the genuine article. And the
genuine article is worth £100,000. Another one is okay, but it's
just worth a few hundred pounds. And the other one is utterly
worthless. Quite frankly, you won't get
anything for it. It's fit only for the scrap heap. And people look at it and they
go, well, I can't tell the difference between them. They all look good.
All of them look good. And they get the presenter eventually
to have a guess and the experts there. And it's amazing the number
of times the presenter guesses wrong. She doesn't get which
is the one that's £100,000. She might pick the middle one.
She might sometimes even pick the one that's utterly worthless.
There's another variant of it where somebody finds a painting
in a family attic and they think, oh, it's a Rembrandt. and it
looks like a Rembrandt, and it smells like a Rembrandt, but
by golly, is it a Rembrandt? And they get panels of experts
in, and the panels of experts deliberate over it for weeks
and weeks and sometimes months, and then they'll come to a conclusion.
Is it the genuine article? Well, I've probably laboured
the analogy too much, but that's where we are with the Gospel.
Don't just look superficially, and hear superficially. Look
at the gospel of these so-called thriving churches and ask this
question, is it genuine or is it fake? Is it the genuine, if
I can use this word, antique, authentic gospel of God's grace,
or is it a fake one that only looks and sounds like it superficially? Because this is the thing, does
it impart value when it comes to judgment? Do you know there's
a day coming, we're told more than once in scripture we must
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Second Corinthians
5 verse 10 Romans, oh I can't remember where but in the final
chapters of Romans we must all stand before the judgment seat
of Christ and be judged according to our works. Does the gospel
you believe have any value when it comes to judgment? Or will
it prove to be fake and worthless? Because you know there are many
people Jesus said this, he said, in that day of judgment, there
are many people who will stand before me and they will say,
oh look, we've got a valuable gospel, look at the things that
we did in your name. And he will say, depart from
me. You who work iniquity. I don't want your works. Your
works are works of iniquity, because they're works of falsehood.
Depart from me, I never knew you. So this is the question. Do you say you believe the gospel? If so, which gospel? Is it a
genuine gospel? Because there's only one. Or
is it a fake gospel? That's the title of the message.
My gospel, genuine or fake? There's a lot of fake out there.
There's a lot of fake gospel. There's a lot of false prophets.
We sung in that hymn about those beasts that dress up in sheep's
clothing. That's what it is. Deceiving
wolves. Jesus told his disciples deceiving wolves, dressed up
as sheep, trying to convince others that they're sheep, when
really inside they're wolves. Very convincing. Jesus said it
would be so convincing, this falsehood, this false teaching,
this false gospel, that it would deceive even the elect of God,
if that were possible. But you know something? It is
not possible. The elect of God cannot be deceived
by it. Oh, they might slip and fall
and stumble, but they will never be lost. He will keep them. He
will keep them right to the very end and on into glory. No, the
elect cannot be deceived. The sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ
hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ and they follow him. They
don't follow the hireling peddling their fake gospel. Paul was absolutely
clear about this. You say, oh, you're splitting
hairs, you're making division where there's no need to be,
oh we can all be friends together. You asked the Apostle Paul whether
we should be friends on these matters. Paul said this in Galatians
1 verse 8, or an angel from heaven, though
he an apostle of God, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you. Let
him be accursed." Let him be accursed. That's those words
that Jesus used. Depart from me. you who work
iniquity. Let him be accursed." So then
let's look at this. The gospel of God. What is the
true gospel of God? What is the genuine gospel? In
Romans 1, we read some verses earlier, the first 17 verses. Let me read the first six verses
again to you. a servant of Jesus Christ, called
to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God." That's the
true one, isn't it? God's gospel is the true gospel,
the gospel of God. The gospel which he had promised
before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures. The gospel,
in other words, which the whole of the Old Testament speaks of
and reveals. You read the Old Testament, what's
it all about? I'll tell you what it's all about. It's about the
gospel. It's about the way God saves people. It concerns his
son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. That's his lineage, according
to the flesh. But he wasn't just according to the flesh. He was
declared to be the son of God with power, according to the
spirit of holiness. And what proved it? The resurrection
from the dead. By whom? By Christ. We have received
grace, and in Paul's case, apostleship, for obedience to the faith among
all nations for his name, among whom are ye also, if you'll believe
in Christ, ye are the called of Jesus Christ. You're called
by him. The gospel of God. It's the only
one in which Christ calls his people. The true gospel is the
only one in which Christ calls his people, and having called
them, he will never tell them that he never knew them. He will
never tell them, depart from me, I never knew. He calls his
people. The gospel is good news. Good news. Because it answers
the most fundamental question for sinners. for sinners. What's the most fundamental,
I haven't quoted this verse for a while have I? Job 9 verse 2
How should a man be just with God? How should a man who is
a sinner, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God, there is none righteous, no not one. How should such a
one be declared just with God, be judged on the day of judgment
just with God, justified before God? How should a sinner be just
before God? You see, the trouble with so
many of these apparently successful Christian sects and parties is
that if you examine it closely, there are no sinners there. No
sinners. Oh, you say there are. Yes, of
course there are, of course there are. But there are no sinners
who know what it is to be a sinner. Do you know the greatest blessing
that God can do for you, the greatest blessing, the greatest
revelation that God can give you is to show you what you are
before his person and his holiness, that you are a sinner. A sinner
is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
To show you what you are before the righteousness and holiness
and justice of God, to show you how utterly bankrupt, how utterly
dead in trespasses and sins you are, how utterly without any
currency to earn or acquire eternal life, without any currency, to
earn the righteousness of God, because it is only by the Lord
Jesus Christ being made the sin of His people that His people
are made the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5,
21. That's it. That's the true gospel. That's the only true gospel.
It's the only gospel, this gospel of God, is the only gospel that
secures holiness. Because we're told, as people
who must face God in judgment, pursue, follow after, holiness. Without which, no man shall see
God. No man shall see God. follow
holiness without which no man shall see God. Have you got the
holiness required to see God? In yourself you haven't, I haven't,
not in my flesh. Where are you going to find the
holiness that qualifies you to see God? Because God will not
let into heaven anything that defiles, anything that corrupts
in any way whatsoever. You must have the righteousness
of God. You must be as righteous as God is, and you can only be
that in Christ. For he made him who knew no sin
to be made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him, and being made righteous, having that holiness
which we need. It's the only gospel that gives
Gentile sinners a heavenly inheritance. Listen to this, Ephesians 3 verse
6, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same
body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. It gives
us a heavenly inheritance. Clearly, All that claims to be
the true gospel is not the true gospel. Most of it out there
in this world, in the religious world, is a fake. You see, all
people have a gospel for life of sorts, all people do. A good
news, this is the way I live. You've got the atheists And their
gospel for life is this. It's what I would call a make
the best of it gospel. You know, they say you don't
live very long and you're a long time dead, so make the best of
it. That's the atheist gospel. It's the way they get through.
Oh, let's just make the most of it until something gets us.
Just make the most of it. Do what you can now while you've
got an opportunity to do it. All people have got a gospel
of sort. False religion has a work to be accepted by God gospel. Think of Islam, Catholicism,
all of these great, great worldwide religions, and at the root of
them all is you doing something to make yourself acceptable to
God. Even much of what is called Orthodox
Christianity, with its doctrines of progressive sanctification
and what you must do to make yourself acceptable to God, all
of them involve works And there's this spectrum of pseudo-Christian
gospels, but there's only one that is the genuine article,
that is eternally precious. It is the gospel of effectual
salvation, accomplished salvation. Of what sort is yours? Paul used
the expression, my gospel. In Romans 2.16 he said, God shall
judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Here's the question. Paul could
say with absolute confidence, my gospel is the gospel of God. Verse 1 of Romans chapter 1.
It's God's gospel. My gospel is God's gospel. Can
you say that? Is your gospel, the good news
by which you live your life, is your gospel God's gospel? Is it? Is it? This is so important. Can you say that? In the next
few messages, not just today, I want to bring you a number
of tests that you need to apply to your gospel to see if it is
genuinely the gospel of the only true God. Or is it a fake? I preached a message like this
when we visited Orlando, Greg Elmquist's church, and it was
very much based on an idea that Todd Nybert gave to me when I
was chatting to him on that trip, and we think of our brother Todd,
who's not at all well at the moment, he's in hospital, quite
unwell, so I'm thankful to him for this. But what I'm doing
is, rather than trying to cram it all into one message, because
there was far too much material, There was a translator translating
it live into Spanish and the poor guy had serious problems
keeping up because I had so much crammed into it. So I'm going
to break it down and I'm spreading it over a few weeks. But the
first point is this. This is the first test of the
authenticity, the genuineness of the gospel you believe. Does
my gospel agree with the Old Testament scriptures? Does it? Does it agree with Genesis to
Malachi? Does it agree with what that
word of God says? Does the gospel you believe...
You see, we were reading some chapters in Genesis this morning.
We'd all have our cup of tea and do our reading and we'd pray
together and we were reading that this morning and it's like,
there in those chapters that we read, it just overflowed to
us how this was the gospel of sovereign grace, and it was the
middle of Genesis. The gospel of sovereign grace,
and particular redemption. So why is it so important that
your gospel agrees with the Old Testament scriptures? Well, what's
the purpose of the whole of scripture? The purpose of Scripture is God
declaring how he has saved his elect from sin and its consequences. That's the purpose of the Scripture.
It's God announcing how he has saved his people from sin and
its consequences. How he has done that. If you
look at 1 Corinthians chapter 15, let me just read you a couple
of verses. In verse 3 of 1 Corinthians 15,
Paul writes to them, for I delivered unto you first of all that which
I also received. He was given it by revelation.
How that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures
and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. Is your gospel according to the
scriptures? Is it in accordance with what
the scriptures say? The true gospel is a person. The true gospel is a person.
It's Christ. And all of my acceptance being
in Him. That is my acceptance, in Him.
This person, the Lord Jesus Christ, that is the gospel. The Old Testament
speaks of Him. in its types, in its histories,
in its allegories, in its pictures, in its poetry. It speaks of Him. That's what those books of the
Old Testament, they speak of Christ. You know this scripture,
John 5.39. He said to the Pharisees, you
search the scriptures for in them you think that you have
eternal life. And that's right, if you want
eternal life, you look in the scriptures. They'll tell you
about eternal life. He said, these scriptures are
the ones that speak of me. Has that ever struck you, the
profundity of that statement? That here is a man who looked
like any other man, no comeliness that we should desire him, and
he says, These scriptures speak of me. They testify of me. No wonder the religious bigots
wanted to lynch him there and then. They testify of me. Look
at Luke chapter 24. Don't ever forget these words.
the two disciples on the road to Emmaus after the crucifixion
but it's resurrection day and Jesus is walking with them though
they didn't recognize him and he said unto them oh fools and
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken
ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
his glory and beginning at Moses What's beginning at Moses? Genesis.
They're the books of Moses. Beginning at Moses, and all the
prophets, right the way through to all the prophets, he expounded
unto them, in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. The things concerning, the Old
Testament scriptures are about Christ. He is the gospel. Verse
44, he said unto them, these are the words which I spoke to
you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled,
which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets
and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding. that they might understand the
Scriptures and said unto them thus it is written and thus it
behoved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third
day. John the Apostle in his first
letter John 1 John 4 verse 1 tells them to try the spirits whether
they be of God for every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ
is come in the flesh is of God in other words every preacher
that preaches that Jesus born at Bethlehem two thousand years
ago is the Messiah of the Old Testament and that everything
the Old Testament said of Messiah is fulfilled in that one born
at Bethlehem that's a preacher who is of God now you say Most
preachers say that Jesus was born at Bethlehem. No, do they
say that the one who was born at Bethlehem fulfilled everything
the Old Testament said about Messiah? Because if they don't,
they're preaching you a false gospel. The true gospel is what
the Old Testament said Messiah would accomplish. Every picture,
every type, every allegory, the history of the nation, every
psalm, every prophecy, all fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Because
if the gospel you're listening to, if the gospel you believe
is not the one that says Jesus Christ of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem,
is the Old Testament Messiah fulfilled in the flesh, if not,
there is no salvation from sin in trusting the one that you
call Christ. all that do that will arrive
at that day which we know we must arrive at and hear those
words depart from me I never knew you the message you see
the message of the place I was talking about earlier down the
road they have like it's like commercial strap lines you know
that commercial companies have a little strap line that puts
in something that you can remember and their strap line is because
people matter to God That's what the message is all about. Because
people matter. Old people matter to God. Young
people matter to God. Middle-aged people matter. Women
matter to God. You all matter to God. That's
not the message of the scripture. I'm sorry, it's not. What's the
message of the scripture? Colossians 3 verse 11. Christ
is all and is in all. That's it. Christ is everything. Christ is everything. Let me
show you some examples. So we're going to put it to the
test. The Old Testament scriptures. Let me take you, I mean, I know
I could spin this out for the next year and I wouldn't have
exhausted it, not by any means. But let's just in this one message
bring you some examples. Adam. Think of Adam. The man
that God created in the Garden of Eden. In his innocency, in
his uprightness, God delegated to Adam the rulership of his
creation. He was king of God's creation,
there, in the Garden of Eden. And in that way, he was a picture
of Christ, who is the king over God's creation. How is he seen
in Revelation? King of kings and Lord of lords.
He is the king. But Adam sinned. Why did Adam
sin? He knew what he was doing. He
sinned for love of his wife, who was beguiled, deceived by
the devil. And she did that which God had
forbidden. And for love of his wife, Adam became sin. Is that a picture of Christ?
Who was made sin for the love of his bride? Christ was made
sin for the love of his bride. Is that what the scripture tells
us? The Old Testament scriptures tell us the Christ of God was
made sin for love of his bride. Now then, compare that with the
gospel that so many believe. They don't like the idea that
God has a specific bride for his son, a specific particular
people for his son. You see, Christ was not made
sin for everyone without exception, he was made sin for love of his
bride, and in that we see sovereign grace and electing love. Then
we see Adam, who is now a sinner, And out of fellowship with God,
he's a sinner, he's defiled that union that there was. And yet
immediately in Genesis 3, Adam is regenerated in Christ, by
faith. How? Genesis 3.15, looking to
that seed. God promised there would be a
seed who would restore all things, who would restore the relationship.
And he looked to the promised seed of the woman to make satisfaction. And Adam and Eve were there and
they were naked. They were naked before they sinned.
But they had no sin. The nakedness and the shame of
the nakedness The shame of the nakedness is a picture of being
found guilty of sin. You know what I was saying earlier
about there being no sinners? This is the key thing. Knowing
what we are as sinners, Adam knew what he was as a sinner
before the holiness of God. The nakedness and the hiding
themselves and the sowing fig leaves is them acknowledging
that they're sinners before God and that they're in a lost condition
and they're completely, completely under the judgment and condemnation
of God who is holy. And what happens? God clothes
them. God covers their nakedness. How
does he cover their nakedness? With an animal. with the skin
of an animal. And the skin of the animal means
that the animal must have died and shed its blood. Picturing
substitutionary atonement. The shedding of blood. Without
the shedding of blood, there is no remission. Adam and Eve
didn't make a decision. God saved them. God clothed them. Particularly. Let's move on. To their children. Cain was the
one that was born first, and Eve thought that here comes the
seed that God has promised. And Abel, his brother, they sought
to worship God. And Cain sought to worship God
by bringing the works of his hands, something that he did. I'm going to be accepted by God.
Have you not heard people, I've heard people who say, look, I'm
a pretty good person, and if God is not prepared to accept
this, then I don't want this God that's not prepared to accept
me. Well, you know, you've got a reality to dawn upon you when
you get there, and you will discover God will not accept your works
just like he didn't accept Cain's. But Abel looked to the seed. Abel looked to the Lamb of God. Abel brought a lamb to God, and
God was satisfied, and God was pleased with the lamb. Why? Because there's efficacy in the
blood of animals? No, because it looked by faith
to the seed that God had promised. What satisfies the offended law
and justice of God? Blood alone. Why? Because without
the shedding of blood there is no remission for sin. Why blood?
Because as Deuteronomy tells us, the life is in the blood. The soul that sins, it shall
die. It shall pay with its life. The life must be given, and Abel's
lamb was a picture of that life that Christ would give. His blood
would be shed for the remission of his people's sins, and that
alone would earn favour with God. Abel's gospel was genuine. Cain's gospel was fake. Abel's
gospel has put him in eternal glory. Cain's gospel has not. Depart from me, I never knew
you. Let's come to Noah's ark. Noah's Ark. By the time we get
to Noah, which is only chapter 6 of Genesis, there's quite a
big population on the earth. I don't know how many, but millions
and millions. And there's universal sin and
rebellion and rejection of God. Noah was a much better man than
all the rest. We don't read that. What does
the scripture say? Because that's the test. Noah
found grace in the eyes of the Lord. To use that expression,
that strap line from the place down the road, Noah mattered
to God. but not the rest. Shock! How
dare he say that? How can he say such a terrible
thing? Oh, you can imagine if this got out into the media and
they found that somebody is preaching that some people matter to God
more than others. Oh, what an outrage it would
be. It's what the scripture says. Does your gospel conform to what
the scripture says? To survive the wrath of God's
judgement Then, you had to be in the ark that God told Noah
to make. And that ark was a picture of
Christ. To survive the judgment of God,
to come through the judgment of God, you have to be in Christ. Oh, said Paul, that I might be
found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is according
to the law, but that which is by faith of Jesus Christ. And how did they get in there?
They built the ark, they did according to what God said, And
all the time the Ark was building, Noah, we read in the New Testament,
Noah was a preacher of righteousness. Noah was preaching to those all
around him, you are going to hell. He preached, you are going
to hell. You are sinners before the justice
of God and you are going to hell. There is only one escape. It
is this boat that God has told me to build, this ark that God
has told me to build. Come into the ark. Believe God
and come into the ark. And not a solitary one of them
came in. But when it came, God shut them
in. God shut his people in. Think
of the effectiveness of God's preaching. You know, people have
said to us, haven't they? You know, the mark of whether
you're doing the right thing and whether God is upon what
you're doing is that you'll get lots of people coming and believing.
And we think, oh gosh, look at us. I mean, we're losing rather
than gain. Well, I'm happy to be compared
with Noah. Do you know how many people were
saved? Eight, including Noah. Noah, his three sons and their
wives. That's all that was saved. And they only because of God's
grace. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Think about Abraham and Isaac.
Think about it. The choice of Abraham. He's living
in an idolatrous culture among a people of idolatry. And God
reveals the gospel to him. and calls him out of where he
was to a land that he would show him and he promised him that
there would be a seed and he revealed the gospel to him and
Abraham believed God and God counted it, what he believed
in to him for righteousness and he kept trying to get a seed
to fulfill what God had said and Ishmael was born and he wanted
somebody else, one of his servants to be the heir and God said no
no no no you and Sarah even though you're a hundred years old you
will have a child and you'll call his name Isaac and in Isaac
shall the seed come in him in that line and Abraham thought
oh is this you know it says in the scripture that Abraham's
only son Isaac son is in italics it's not there He already had
a son called Ishmael. It's Abraham's only Isaac. His only Isaac. Is this the seed? Go to Mount Moriah and sacrifice
him. Abraham thinks, this is it. The
seed is going to satisfy the offense against the law of God.
And he takes him to Mount Moriah and he's fully prepared to slay
the son of his love because he knows that in that the blood
of the substitute would save, would pay the penalty for the
sins of the people and the seed would be saved in him. But of
course Isaac wasn't the seed, he was just a picture of the
seed and the seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, would come by descent
of him, and that holy line. And God provides a picture of
the substitute, so that Isaac goes free, and the ram is slain
in his place. Do you see how the Old Testament
scriptures teach the true gospel? It's not about young people and
old people mattering to God, it's how is a man just with God? Jacob and Esau, the twins born
of Isaac and Rachel, Have I got that right? Never mind, doesn't
matter. Jacob and Esau. What does God say about Jacob
and Esau? Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated. Oh, what a horrible thing for
God to say. Well, what he's saying is, Jacob
have I loved with electing grace, but Esau have I left to his own
devices, to his own willful unbelief. And he did have willful unbelief.
You can see that in the way that Esau sold his birthright. He
counted it so little. And again, we see sovereign grace
and particular redemption. God showed Jacob a ladder from
heaven to earth and the angels of God going up and down on that
ladder. And that is such a picture of Christ. He showed the only
way to God being the Lord Jesus Christ. He showed grace. He showed
particular redemption. When Jacob wrestled with a man,
it was Christ he was wrestling with. I will not let you go unless
you bless me. The message that is preached
by Jesus in John chapter six, and we'll come to that in one
of the following messages of this series, but it is that same
message. Sovereign grace, Jacob have I
loved, and he so have I hated. And when they heard it in John
six, many went away and said, this is a hard saying. Who can
take it? Israel's exodus from bondage.
Think about Israel's exodus from bondage. And the Passover, when
they came out finally, when God slew by the angel of death all
the firstborn in the land of Egypt and every firstborn without
exception was to be slain except those where the angel of death
saw the blood on the doorposts on the night of Passover. A lamb
had died in the place of the firstborn in the houses of the
Israelites. And when I see the blood, I will
pass over. The law had defined God's perfection
and was driving Israel to seek redemption. And only those for
whom a lamb had died were saved. was saved from that death. How
particular is that? Is the gospel of God's grace
a universal one or is it a particular one? Think of the tabernacle
that was given in the Sinai wanderings, the Ark of the Covenant, containing
what it did, the law, covered by a mercy seat and Aaron's rod
that budded and the pot of manna that God fed them with. Think
about the tabernacle and the temple sacrifices And what's
it all saying? Communion with God is based on
substitution and redemption portrayed in animal blood. The animal sacrifices,
they didn't do anything other than picture the sacrifice that
God accepts. All this is saying, this is how
God saves the people he loved with everlasting love in his
sovereign grace. The Psalms. Cry out the words
of Christ. They cry out the believer's words
by virtue of them being in union with Christ. Who has clean hands
and a pure heart? Who has clean hands? You don't,
I don't in the flesh, but in the Lord Jesus Christ, I have
clean hands and a pure heart. Who shall ascend to the hill
of he that has clean hands and a pure That's God's people in
the Lord Jesus Christ, in union with Him. The Psalms speak of
substitution, of redemption, of salvation. The prophets speak
of judgment and condemnation. You read it again and again and
again. Judgment and condemnation for sin, but always you will
find there grace for the people of God's choice. We could go
on and on, and for the sake of time, I'm going to cut it short
at this stage. The Old Testament roars against
sin, but declares sovereign grace. It declares particular redemption. It declares substitution. It
declares salvation accomplished. It declares peace with God. You who are sinners, me, as a
sinner, what do I need? Peace with God. Peace with God
and acceptance in the Lord Jesus Christ, accepted in the beloved. There's nowhere else. Does your
gospel, the gospel you believe, agree with the Old Testament
scriptures? Or is it one of your own manufacture, based on your
own works, based on your making the best of things while you
can? You see, if your gospel is not in agreement with the
Old Testament Scriptures. Whatever words you use, it is
another gospel which is no gospel at all, and it will leave you
bearing responsibility for your own sin when you keep your appointment
with death and with judgment. When, I believe it's Paul, writing
in Hebrews chapter 6, he talks about the dangers of not taking
the word of God seriously, and how it's possible to give all
the appearance of being God's people but turn out not to be.
But he says this, and I trust that we can say this about one
another, as brethren believing the truth of God. He says in
Hebrews 6 verse 9, but beloved, We are persuaded better things
of you and things that accompany salvation.