Well, last week we were looking
at the words of Jesus in Luke's Gospel, chapter 13, towards the
end of it, where he made it plain that there was nothing, not even
the schemings of the Pharisees and of Herod would do anything
to thwart God's eternal purpose of salvation. It would be accomplished
at the right time, when the fullness of the time was come. And yet
at the same time, he said to Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
how often would I have gathered you, as a hen gathers her chicks
under her wings, and you would not. You would not. So we saw
that salvation is the certain result of the sovereign grace
of God. But unbelief and condemnation
is entirely your fault. It's the willful choice of those
who do not believe the gospel. But you would not. But everyone
we saw will confess in the end that Jesus Christ is Lord. He's
given him a name which is above every name and every tongue without
exception will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. They will all say as Jesus said
to them then, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Blessed, God's Saviour. But in preaching that message,
I felt I perhaps hadn't preached salvation by sovereign grace
clearly enough, and then during the week, I listened to a sermon
that was preached near to here last Sunday morning, and I'm
not going to give any more details about it, but the title of the
message was this, What is the Gospel? And in listening to it,
I remember listening to Don Faulkner years ago say that he often got
prompted to preach something because he listened to preachers
preaching a false message near him. And when he listened to
them, the first thing he wanted to do was to stand up and put
straight what they had stood there and in the name of preaching
the gospel, had denied the gospel. Well, that's what I intend to
do this morning. What is the gospel? If nobody else will define
it round here, Let's, with God's help, see if we can define it
this morning from the scriptures. What is the gospel? What is the
gospel? We talk about the gospel. What
is the gospel? Here's a definition. It is God's revelation. It is God's declaration of divine
justice satisfied for sinners. For sinners. by the doing and
the dying and the rising again of an acceptable substitute who
is God's Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And what is the result
of that gospel, that declaration of divine justice satisfied for
sinners by the doing, dying and rising again of an acceptable
substitute? The result is this, where we
are by nature enemies of God who is holy, the gospel declares
peace with God. Where we are under the just condemnation
of God for our sin, the Gospel declares sinners made the righteousness
of God in Christ. For He took their sins and paid
for them and made His people the righteousness of God in Him.
This is what the message of the Gospel is. It's a message of
freedom from the fear of death for mankind through all their
lifetime are subject to bondage through the fear of death. For
we all must die. It's appointed to man to die
once, and then the judgment. Freed from the fear of death
in the gospel of grace. Given a lively hope, not just
of living this life and then the lights get switched off and
that's the end of it, but living this life and going to eternal
glory. from freedom from this state
of sin in the flesh, and given a lively hope of sinless glory. That's the Gospel. But here's
my dilemma. Which text to preach on? If I
want to define what is the Gospel, which text to preach on? Because
there truly are, in the Scriptures, as you know, the Scripture is
a treasure chest, full of sparkling jewels of Gospel grace. Not just
in the New Testament, throughout. Throughout the whole book, Jesus
said these scriptures are scriptures that speak of Him. The whole
of the Old Testament declares the gospel of God's grace. In
types and pictures and the nation, the history of the nation of
Israel, it declares it there. And then in the New Testament,
it's made explicit, this treasure chest of jewels. But the verse
I've chosen to settle on, to preach what is the gospel this
morning, is found in 2 Timothy, chapter 1 and verse 9, verse
10 as well, just to give it a one verse reference, to Timothy chapter
1 and verse 9 where Paul is, he's done his opening greetings
to Timothy and the people that are with him and then he comes
down to verse 8 where he says, don't be ashamed of the testimony
of the Lord, of our Lord, nor of Paul, me, his prisoner. but
be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, because afflictions
come in this life with the gospel, afflictions come according to
the power of God. Right, so there our sentence
starts, God, verse nine, who? God has saved us and called us
with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his purpose and grace. which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.
God who has saved the us he has saved and called, and the effects
of that. What is the Gospel? It's about
God who has saved. Gospel means, as you know, it
means good news. It means good news of salvation. But you know, before salvation
means anything to you, you need to have a sense of needing to
be saved. don't you? We often have the
boys come and stay with us and spend time with us, and we've
got a DVD of little children's TV programmes, and I don't know,
you know, anybody that's got experience of this sort of thing
with little children, you will know that the The desire to watch these things
just goes on and on and on. And so you get to know them very,
very well. And there's one on this DVD,
and it's about a little animal called Kipper the dog. Okay,
excuse this little diversion, but I think it makes the point.
Kipper the dog. Now the boys are smiling because
they know about Kipper the dog. And Kipper the dog decides he
wants to be Superdog, you know, like Superman, and he's going
to save the world, Superdog. And so he gets himself a cape,
and a mask, and all the sort of, and he goes off around to
try and save, and all he does is he comes across people who
don't really want to be saved. Kipper comes along as Superdog
and he tries to save this character, and all he ends up doing is making
a nuisance of himself, and losing the little boy's kite, and doing
this, that, and he did, he did, they don't want to be saved!
Until he comes across, do you remember, the little kitten that
fell in the stream? Now that little kitten needed
to be saved, didn't he? And Kipper the dog, super dog,
went and saved that little kitten. Now, you may say, why am I filling
my time with trivial little children's stories? It's because this world
in which we live, so few have any concept of the need of being
saved. We talk about salvation, but
they say salvation from what? Those people that are on the
train with you, going to work, or in the office with you, or
your relatives, or your neighbors. You talk about salvation. Salvation
from what? I don't need saving. There's
nothing that I need saving from. The scripture says there is.
The scripture says you need saving from the legal consequences of
sin. And what is sin? It's the transgression
of the law. That's what sin is. It's the
breaking of the law of God. It's the violation of the being,
the holy nature and being of God, who is creator, who is sustainer,
who is judge, to whom we're all accountable. You know? pointed
to man to die once and then the judgment to whom we must give
an account for all the books will be open the books of God
speaking of that that infallible knowledge of
God, of everything that we are and do, and we must stand before
Him in eternity and give an account. And sin is the transgression
of the law, and the nature and justice of God must punish sin. For He is, as I often quote,
as Habakkuk says, He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. He cannot look upon sin in the
sense that He cannot look upon sin and just ignore it. He must punish sin. He's the one who is holy, who
dwells in unapproachable light. He's the one who is even now
at this moment upholding all the laws of the universe, the
laws of science, the laws of the universe are his laws of
science. that uphold this universe, that
make everything tick, that make everything go round. He is doing
all of this now. He is the one to whom we're accountable.
He is higher than us, says the word of God. God says, through
his prophet, my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor my ways
your ways. My thoughts and my ways are altogether
higher than your thoughts. This is the God with whom we
have to do. There are holy beings who have
never sinned in eternal glory and they shield their faces and
they cry one to another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord. The whole earth is full of his
glory. And God is a God of justice, of absolute strict justice. And the penalty of sin is death. The soul that sins, it shall
die. And the consequences are hell. Whatever it is, I do not
know what it is. I don't want to know what it
is. But whatever it is, our Lord Jesus Christ who ministered such
words of grace said this to those that were listening to him again
and again many many times he talked about hell as a place
of weeping and of gnashing of teeth it conjures up a picture
and this is what he intended of dreadful eternal condemnation
a dreadful eternal state with the prospect of No presence of
good or of God there. A dreadful place of weeping and
of gnashing of teeth, which is the consequence of sin. And who
is in that position? If you see you're in that position,
you know you need saving from that position. Now salvation
starts to mean something. Who is it that needs this salvation?
Romans 3.23 says quite clearly, all have sinned and fall short
of the glory of God. All, without exception. There
is none righteous, says the Scripture. No, not one. There is none righteous. God looked down from heaven to
see if there were any. No, none righteous. No, not one. As it was in the days of Noah,
he looked down on the world going about its business, and they
were all together. Fallen in sin they were all together
corrupt. They were all together Deserving
the condemnation and the justice of God and God came and in a
way which said to this creation You better believe the truth
of this he swept them all away He took them all away except
Noah who found grace in the eyes of the Lord It was Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord God is a God of justice of strict
justice. But God, it says here in our
text, has saved us and called us with a holy calling. God has
saved us. God is the saviour of a people. God has saved some sinners. Throughout
the Old Testament, again and again, God uses that name, that
title, that He is the Savior of His people. 2 Samuel, chapter
22, verse 3, God my Savior. Psalm 106, verse 21, God their
Savior. Isaiah 43, verse 3, I am the Lord thy God, thy Savior. Isaiah 45,
verse 15, the God of Israel, the Savior. Isaiah 45, verse
21, a just God. and a savior. Sorry, Hosea 13 verse 4, he says,
there is no saviour beside me. He is the only saviour. Luke
chapter 1 verse 47, Mary's song, known as the Magnificat by some,
but she rejoices in God my saviour. She that the Catholics put on
the same level or higher than our Lord Jesus Christ, she needed
a saviour. God might, why did she need a
saviour? Because she was a sinner. All have sinned, there is none
righteous, no not one. She needed a saviour and she
rejoices in God her saviour. 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 1,
God our saviour and again and again throughout the New Testament,
the Lord Jesus Christ, our saviour, who is our God. God is the Savior
of His people. And the gospel is God's gospel. The gospel of good news of salvation
is God's gospel of good news of salvation. And we read in
Romans chapter 1, the first 18 verses, and the very first verse,
Paul talks about the gospel of God. It's God's gospel. It's
God's good news that He is the Savior of sinners. The one in
whom is all power. That's what verse 8 of 2 Timothy
chapter 1 says. According to the power of God.
The power of God is unlimited. He's omnipotent. He knows all
things, He's in all places, but He's all powerful. The power
of God. The one in whom is all power. It's God's gospel. It's his gospel. And the gospel is where God's
power is most clearly displayed. I am not ashamed, said Paul,
of the gospel, of this good news. People hate it, but Paul said,
I am not ashamed of it. Why? For it is the power of God
unto salvation. The dynamite of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth. Jews and Greeks, no distinction.
Everyone that believeth It's a gospel, it's good news, of
sinners made righteous. That's the good news. Sinners
deserving condemnation made righteous, and therefore saved from just
condemnation. What is salvation about? It's
salvation from just condemnation. You know, the scriptures are
replete with this message, clearly. Romans 3. 24 to 26, being justified
freely. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. In the context, he's talking
about those that God has saved. All of them, every single one
of us who believe, have sinned and come short of the glory of
God, but those who are saved have been justified freely by
His grace. How? Through the redemption,
the purchase, the buying back, the paying of the penalty, the
paying of the debt that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set
forth God has set him forth to be a propitiation. A propitiation
is a turning away of anger. It's a mercy seat where strict
justice demands nothing other than condemnation and the enactment
of the penalty. Propitiation is a turning away
of that anger, a turning away of that judgment. He set him
forth to be a turning away of anger through faith in his blood,
for his blood has made peace. The blood of his cross has made
peace. The blood of his cross has made peace because the blood
of his cross has satisfied the justice of God that says the
soul that sins, it shall die. The life is in the blood and
the life of the Son of God, the infinite life of the Son of God
was poured out and he shed his blood for the sins of his people,
to pay that price, to declare his righteousness, for the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God, to declare,
I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just. He doesn't
stop being God, who is perfectly, eternally, unchangingly, strictly
just. He's that, but, but, here's the
gospel, the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. The
justifier of a sinner who in his flesh should be condemned,
but believes in Jesus, and Jesus has taken away his sins. This
is it. This is it. This is the gospel.
He made him You might keep a scorecard of the verses I quote most of
all. And certainly, appointed to man to die once, but then
the judgment must be one of them, but this one certainly is, isn't
it? 2 Corinthians 5, 21. For God made him who knew no
sin, our Lord Jesus Christ, He made him to be sin for us, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him, and thereby be
saved from our sins, be saved from the judgment to come, to
have that righteousness without which no man shall see the Lord. You see, How is it accomplished? How is it that God has saved?
God alone as eternal spirit, don't misunderstand me here,
God alone as eternal spirit could not satisfy justice for sinful
men. We live, we sin in this space-time
situation. God, who is spirit, eternally,
all-powerful, dwelling in unapproachable light, He could not, in himself,
satisfy his own justice for sinful men living in time-space. How
would it be accomplished? How would he save his people?
A child must be born. Isaiah 9, verse 6. For unto us
a child is born. Unto us a child is born, the
flesh. A son is given, the Son of God
comes in flesh. A son is given. and the government
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor." This child, this child that's born, this son that's
given, his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Is that not just beyond
the reckoning of fallen man? Zechariah, verse 13, verse 7,
How is it going to be achieved? A child must be born. The shepherd
who is the Lord's fellow, who is the Lord's companion. You
know, putting it in weak human language. The shepherd who is
the Lord's, the Lord God's companion must be smitten by the sword
of God's justice in time. Smite the shepherd. Sword, smite
the shepherd. The sword of the justice of God
must come and smite the shepherd so that the price of justice
would be paid. Matthew 1 verse 23, what is it
when he comes? You know, you shall call his
name Jesus, says verse 21, for he shall save his people from
their sins. And in verse 23 it quotes Isaiah
chapter 7, saying that A child shall be born of a virgin. A
virgin shall be with child and shall call his name Immanuel.
What does Immanuel mean? This child who was born in a
stable in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. Immanuel, God with us. God with us. This is God who
came with us. John chapter 1 verse 14, the
Word, who was in the beginning with God and who was God, is
God. The Word must be made flesh. The Word who is God must be made
flesh. He must come amongst us and be
made flesh. When the fullness of the time
was come, in God's perfect control of all things, He sent forth
His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those
who are under the law. He came to redeem His people
from the curse of the law. How? By being made a curse in
their place for them. For cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. Cursed is everyone that does
not continue in all things written in the book of the law to do
them. That's sin, cursed. but he bore the curse for his
people. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law being
made a curse for us. Romans chapter 1 verses 3 and
4 that we read earlier. The gospel of his son Jesus Christ
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh. He was truly man. He was descended
from David. He came of the tribe of David.
He was born in Bethlehem, the city of David. 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. He was made a
man. He became that which he wasn't
before he was born in Bethlehem. He became a man. He became God
incarnate. He became a man. But he was declared
to be that which he always was from eternity. Declared to be
the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by
the resurrection from the dead. How has God saved us? By coming
into our space-time existence. Listen to what Hebrews 2.14 says.
For as much then as the children, his people, Who are the children?
Those that were given to Him by His Father before the beginning
of time are partakers of flesh and blood. Like us, we are partakers
of flesh and blood. If He's to save those who are
flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same.
Why? That through death He came that
He might die, the death of the cross, to pay the penalty, the
curse of the law, that through death He might destroy Him that
had the power of death. Who's that? That's the devil.
How does he have the power of death? He holds people in the
thrall of sin and held in the thrall of sin they must be condemned
and they must be assigned to hell. But he has come and for
his people he has destroyed the devil who has the power of death.
How? through his own death as a man
in the place of man. That's how he did it. That he
might be just and just, that he might be God who is unchangeably
just and yet justify his people. The gospel is the good news that
God who must punish sin, by his very nature he must punish sin,
has saved some sinners. That's the gospel. What is the
gospel? My first answer is this, the gospel is the good news that
God who must punish sin has saved some sinners. Secondly, He saved
us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Jesus Christ before the world began." What a clear
declaration of the gospel that religious folks don't like that.
You go You find people and you say, are you a Christian? Yes,
of course I'm a Christian, I belong to this organization or that
denomination. And then you say, well, what
do you think of this verse here? Look at it. What do you think
of this, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began? Oh, that's not fair. Oh, I don't like that. That's
not fair. That's the reaction that you'll get. But it's in
the scripture. Who is the us that he has saved,
and who is the us that he has called? What does Paul mean by
us here? Let's say we all have a copy
of either the Comet, the local paper, or the Welling Hatfield
Times, where we live, and there's a big headline on the top of
it, and it says, let's say, the Duke of Westminster has decided
to share his fortune among us. Boy, can you imagine how quickly
that paper would sell. And everybody, what's the question
everybody would be asking? The Duke of Westminster, one
of the richest men in the country, he's number one or two or three,
something like that. The Duke of Westminster has decided
to share his fortune among us. Now what's the question everybody
would be asking? Who's the us? Am I amongst the
us that he's decided to share his? Does it apply to me? If
so, where do I apply? Where's the queue for me? How
do I get some of this great fortune that he's got? Should we not,
as sinners, be asking the same question here? Who is the us? This is the question, am I one
of the us that Paul says God has saved and called? Am I one
of the us that God says he has saved and called? It's patently
not everybody, without exception, is it? Patently it's not. Most
people seem to die without any knowledge whatsoever of salvation,
the salvation of which we've been talking. The vast majority
that we know who die in the world die not believing in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And what does the Gospel say?
Gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 16 says, God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish, but have everlasting life." And everyone says, ooh,
that's a nice verse, I like that verse. Read on, two verses. He
says, he that believeth not, he that believeth not is condemned
already. Why? For he has not believed
in the name of the Son of God. That's why, patently, Patently,
the us does not include everybody, because hordes go to their graves. They're buried and they're cremated
and they go into eternity, to a lost eternity, because they
go there not believing in the Son of God. And according to
the Scripture and the Gospel, they're condemned already because
they have not believed in the name of the Son of God. No, it's
not for all. For God's salvation must be particular. It's for a particular people.
It's not for all without exception. The debt is paid to justice for
specific sinners. Oh yes, the Scriptures tell us,
it's a multitude that no man can number, and none of us know
who they are except when people believe, for that's how Paul
knew that some people were the elect of God, knowing brethren
your election of God, for God has from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. That's how we know is belief, but apart from that none
of us has any idea who it is that will be there. John Newton
once said that He said, when I get to glory, three things
will amaze me. He said, number one, the people
I thought would be there, who are not there. For Jesus said,
many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not do all
these things in your name? And I will say to them, depart
from me, ye who work iniquity, I never knew you. That's number
one. And he said, then, he said, there'll
be all those people that I thought shouldn't be there. because in
my fleshly judgment I thought they weren't worthy. Who would
be there? For it's by grace you are saved, through faith. Not
of works, lest any man should boast. Grace, the gift of God. Faith, the gift of God. Not of
works at all. And then he said thirdly, the
one that'll surprise me most is that I, a sinner. Why me? God has shown grace and mercy
to me. God's salvation is particular. If it was for all, without exception,
then all, without exception, are justified. And if all are
justified, there's nobody in hell. Everybody who dies goes
to heaven because they're all justified before the law of God.
But it patently isn't the case. Most go to their graves not believing
the gospel of grace, not trusting in Christ, not with a living
faith and a lively hope. So the us is the company of people
God has saved in His Son. How did they get there? Look,
verse 9 tells us, this purpose and grace of God to save His
people, to save us and call us, not according to what we are
or what we do, but according to His purpose and His grace,
the purpose and grace of God. the sovereign purpose and grace
of God. It was given to us in Christ
Jesus when I walked down the aisle and signed the decision
card. No, it doesn't say that, does it? When I decided to follow
Jesus. No, it doesn't say that, does
it? It says it was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. before the world began. As Romans
8 tells us, it's those that he foreknew in electing grace before
the beginning of time. Just as he chose us in Christ,
Ephesians 1-4, before the foundation of the world, he chose us in
him then. And He foreknew us in electing grace. And those
He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image
of His Son. And whom He predestinated, He
called. And I believe there that that
call specifically means the betrothal, the naming in Christ. He put
His people in Christ there in eternity. He betrothed them to
Christ. And whom He called, He also justified
as of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Revelation
13.8. He justified them. in eternity. We've been justified
from eternity outside of this time state. But he must come
in time to redeem in time, to pay the penalty in flesh, to
die the death that disarms the devil in the flesh. He must come
then. And those he justified, these he also glorified. This
isn't natural reasoning. This is Holy Spirit revelation.
Holy Spirit revelation. Don't think that you come to
a conclusion of these things by rational argument. Don't think
that I can give you a lecture on evolution and that will make
you more likely to believe the word of God. Don't think that
I can persuade you about all sorts of things apologetically
and that that will persuade you in your flesh. You see, that's
the great error. Those that put out a general
call, a free offer of grace as they call it, oh how reasonable
it sounds, no. It's only by Holy Spirit revelation.
For the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit
of God, neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned.
They're foolishness to him. They're spiritually discerned.
Paul said this. You know, Paul was vehemently
going to persecute the church. Paul the Pharisee was unparalleled
in his company of Pharisees and scribes as a zealot for his Jewish
religion. And going about his business
to destroy the church, this was his objective, he says this,
he says, when it pleased God, Not when it pleased Paul. When
it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, to
reveal His Son. How do you get the revelation
of the Son of God in your heart? It pleased God to do it. It's
a discriminating call. It's not based on works. Look.
Who saved us and called us with unholy calling. Unholy. I can give you a call from a
pulpit preaching, as can many preachers of the gospel. But
unless the Holy Spirit calls you with a holy calling, you
will not hear it. You will not believe it. Is he
calling you? Is the Holy Spirit calling you with that holy calling
of the gospel of grace? Is he discriminating and saying
to you, It's not based on your works, it's not based on your
background, it's not based on who you are, but it's based on,
look it tells us in the verse, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace. When was that purpose
and grace fixed? In eternity, before the world
began, before the beginning of time, in eternity, in Christ.
It's sovereign grace. Do you know what sovereign means?
Do you know people talk about God as this helpless puppet that
is trying his hardest to get people to do things, and they
constantly fail, and he's trying his hardest to stop disasters
happening, and oh, they keep happening, and he's trying his
hardest to do this, that, and the other, and you hear the prayers
of religion, and they're all about a pathetic God that hasn't
got a clue how to stop things from happening. The God of Scripture
is sovereign in all things. He's sovereign in grace. He's
divine in everlasting love. His love is a divine everlasting
love, for he says to his people, I have loved you with an everlasting
love. When did he love his people with
an everlasting love? While they were yet sinners.
God commends his love to us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us to pay the penalty of our sins. It's a gospel
of sovereign grace, of redemption, particularly accomplished. It
says in John, chapter 1, verses 12 and 13, as many as received
him. That sounds kind of wide open,
doesn't it? As many as received him, to them gave he power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
Now listen, that sounds like an Arminian open call, doesn't
it? And Arminians take it, but listen, listen how the scripture
qualifies itself. Which were born, there's a new
life, born, not of blood, not of natural descent, not of genes,
not of genetic makeup, nor of the will of the flesh, you know,
the old chorus, I have decided, no, that's not what the scripture
says, I have decided to follow Jesus, nor of the will of flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God. but of God's will. And yes,
we do decide to follow Him, and yes, we do willingly follow Him,
but why? Because He alone makes His people
willing to follow Him. He makes sinners who are unwilling
to follow Him, willing to follow Him by the new birth, saved by
grace through faith. And even that, not of yourselves,
it is the gift of God. But how does this holy calling
come? It's not, as I've said, through
natural reasoning, it's through Holy Spirit conviction. That's
how it comes. Holy Spirit conviction. It's
not the preacher persuading you, you're a sinner who needs a saviour. It's the Holy Spirit convincing
you that you're a sinner who needs a Saviour. This is the
testimony of all who have truly known the salvation that is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not the power of logical,
rational reasoning that persuades you you're a sinner. It's the
Holy Ghost bringing conviction. to know who God is, to know something
of His holiness, to know something of what I am by nature and how
offensive and vile. As Job said, he who stood head
and shoulders above fellow men in terms of the righteousness
as men count righteousness, when he saw who God really is in His
holiness, he then knew himself, I have heard of you with the
hearing of the ear, but now mine eye sees you and I despise myself. I abhor myself, I am vile, I
repent in dust and ashes. Dust and ashes. Is it this call
to all without exception? Is the call of the gospel to
all without exception? The answer is no it isn't. No
it isn't. You know, the whosoever of scripture
is it to all without exception this this whosoever is it to
all without exception no listen to Luke chapter 5 31 and 32 our
Lord Jesus Christ said this they that are whole need not a physician
those who are well do you let me ask you do you go to the doctors
when you're well Well, if you do, the doctor's going to say,
what are you doing here? There's nothing wrong with you. Go away.
Stop wasting my time. Who is it that goes to the doctor?
Those who are sick. Those who are not well. Those
who can't make themselves better. Those who need some medical help.
He says, they that are whole need not a physician, but they
that are sick. He says, I came not to call the
righteous, and you know that in reality, there are no righteous. Non-righteous? No, not one. But
everybody, apart from Holy Spirit conviction, thinks they are righteous
enough. Is that not right? The world
around us, every single one of them around us, apart from Holy
Spirit conviction, they all think they're good enough for God.
They all think they're good enough for God's eternity. They all
think it will be well with them when they die, because they think
themselves good enough. But Jesus said, I came not to
call such, I came to call sinners to repentance. Who is a sinner?
those that the Holy Spirit makes aware that they are sinners.
Jesus didn't say, come unto me everyone without exception who
just fancies going to heaven when they die, did he? Matthew
chapter 11 at the end of it, Jesus doesn't say, come unto
me everybody that fancies going to heaven when they die, he didn't
say that, he said this, come unto me All you who labour and
are heavy laden. And I will give you rest. Take
my yoke upon you. Learn of me. It's restrictive. Isn't it? It's restricted. He
calls sinners. He didn't come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. It's all who labor and are heavy
laden. When the gospel call goes out,
he cried in that last day, that great day of the feast at the
temple, and there's the symbology of all of the water of washings,
and he says, whosoever thirsts, let him come to me. Come to me
for living waters. He said to the Samaritan woman,
if you knew who was asking you to give him a drink of this water
from this well, you would ask of me and I would give you living
water. Whosoever thirsts for this living
water. What is this thirst? It's a thirst for eternal life.
It's a thirst for peace with God. It's a thirst for contentment
with God. Of knowing that it is well my
soul for all eternity. This is who the gospel call us
to. whosoever thirsts. The gospel call isn't to those
who have no thirst for eternal life. The gospel call is not
to those who just fancy not going to hell when they die. It's to
those who know that they labor and are heavy laden, under a
burden of Holy Spirit conviction, that they're sinners. It's a
thirst for the righteousness without which no man shall see
God, that holiness. It's a thirsting for the cleansing
from the sin defilement that the Holy Spirit has made us aware
of. It's a thirsting for freedom from the guilt of the law, for
knowing that the law is just and right and it must condemn.
From the dread of certain unjust condemnation, and it doesn't
come by human persuasion, but by Holy Spirit revelation. As
that old hymn says, a sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost
has made him so. A sinner. You see? You say, everyone's
a sinner. All have sinned and come to sin.
Yes, but people don't know that they're sinners. You know, if
you say to people in conversation, oh, we're all sinners, aren't
we? They don't think they are. They do not think they are. They
think they're alright. They think they're righteous.
And Jesus didn't come to call them. He came to call the ones
that the Holy Spirit made aware. Think about the day of Pentecost.
On the day of Pentecost, Peter, they received the promised outpouring
of the Holy Spirit, the apostles and the others with them, the
120 waiting there in Jerusalem. And on the day of Pentecost,
they went out and preached and some said they were drunk and
they said it's not possible, it's too early in the day. And
they preached to the crowd that a few weeks earlier had In a
space of days, cried Hosanna to Christ riding on an ass, the
cult of an ass. And they put palm branches down
and their coats down for him as a regal king. And five or
six days later, they were crying, crucify him. Crucify him. Give us Barabbas. We'll not have
this man to rule over us. And when Peter preached, he spoke
the words of a man. But the Holy Spirit took them
and applied them in 3,000 hearts that day. I think that's right,
isn't it? 3,000 that day, we read. And
it says in Acts 2.37, they were pricked in the heart and they
cried out, what shall we do? The Philippian jailer was pricked
in his heart in that moment where God sent that earthquake and
opened that jail. And it wasn't just fear of his
employers that he'd let the prisoners go. It was there somehow he had
a revelation of what he was before the law of God. And he cried
out, what must I do to be saved? And they told him. And he was
saved. And all the others who believed in his house. It's the
gift of God. God, Acts 11, 18, God has to
the Gentiles also. granted. It's a gift. Repentance,
to know that you're a sinner. And the revelation of Jesus Christ
that then comes with it. For God, who said, let light
shine in the darkness at creation, when he said, let there be light
and there was light, has shined in our hearts to give us the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Where? In the face
of Jesus Christ is where we see the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God. Look in verse 10 of 2 Timothy chapter 1. That grace was given us before
time began, but in time it's made manifest, it's made obvious
by the appearing who came, our Savior Jesus Christ who came
in flesh and the result, he's abolished death and brought life
and immortality to light through the gospel. He's appeared, he's
come, we've seen him, we've believed him. How did Paul know that those
Thessalonians were the elect of God? because they believed
the truth through sanctification, that holy calling, that new birth,
sanctification of the spirit, and the belief of the truth which
was evident in them. We declare the gospel which speaks
of God's character, of man's sin, of the penalty for sin,
of justice satisfied in an acceptable substitute, the only acceptable
substitute. We declare redemption's price
paid in full. We declare peace accomplished.
And we declare it, listen, to any and to all who will listen. And we invite whosoever the Spirit
has brought under conviction to come to Christ, and in coming
to find salvation from sin. Is that not a powerful message?
Yes, we do invite whosoever to come, but whosoever the Holy
Spirit has brought under the conviction of sin, we invite
them. Because the gospel says, come.
Whosoever thirsts, come. And what has it accomplished? I'll close in a minute or two.
What has grace accomplished? Verse 10. He has abolished death
and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Death is abolished. Yes, we die in the flesh, but
our souls don't die. We go to glory, to eternal glory,
to peace. For those Christ has saved, life
and immortality through the gospel. What does it result in? Joy. Romans 13, 15. Now, the God of
hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing. That's a
product of believing. In this world of uncertainty,
those who believe the gospel of grace, the God of peace, fill
you with hope and all joy and peace in believing that you may
abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Who can adequately
declare the fullness of the gospel? We talk about the height, the
length, the breadth, the depth. Who can plumb the depths of it,
of the wisdom of God? We can't. We can only scratch
the surface. But I trust that that is a clearer
and truer declaration of the gospel of grace in this day than
you'll hear in most places, certainly around here. Amen.