Thank you. Turn with me to Romans
chapter one. Romans chapter one. And it is
a blessing to be here. I don't get up. I haven't been
here in a while. And it's so good to see so many
old friends, brothers and sisters. Especially good to see Bob and
Sally. I don't I could not tell you
how many times I've been in their home. And how much food I've
ate there and how much fellowship we've had there and how many
wonderful conversations. First time I come up here, there
was people in the basement, there was everywhere. I've never seen
like a people in one place. Thank you. Being such faithful
friends. I want to try to bring a message
today out of Romans 16 through 17. Paul said, I'm not ashamed
for I am not ashamed. of the gospel of Christ. For
it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to
the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just shall live by faith. Now the apostle says that he's
not ashamed of the gospel, no matter where he was. If he went
to Rome, The legislative capital of the world at that particular
time where the Caesars ruled and reigned, the Roman Baths,
the Colosseum, all the beauty and all the art. He had one reason
to go and that was to go preach the gospel, not to sightsee.
And he wasn't ashamed to go to Rome with all those philosophers,
with all the enemies that in Rome were against the gospel.
He wasn't ashamed to go to Rome with the gospel. He wasn't ashamed
of the gospel in Jerusalem. Lindsay talked about all the
people that hated him and despised the Lord Jesus Christ. But Paul
could go to Jerusalem and stand in the temple and wouldn't be
ashamed to preach Christ and him crucified. Preach that blessed
cross by which sins were put away. Preach the sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who bore his people's
sins in their own body there on that tree. So he wasn't ashamed. And my title of my message today
is five clear points of the gospel. Five clear points of the gospel.
Now, there's lots of people, they preach a gospel that I'd
be ashamed of. I hear lots of gospels preached,
and it's not a gospel. They call it a gospel, but I'd
be ashamed to preach it. In fact, I preached for years
and several years, and I'm ashamed of what I said because it had
no gospel in it. It had works in it. Had legalism
in it. Had fundamentalism in it. Had
works in it. Had dress codes in it. Had all
kinds of rules and regulations and standards by which people
should live. But there was no gospel in it. There was no good
news in it. No good news in telling people
what they must do in order to be saved. But there's good news
in saying what Christ did to save sinners. So the question
I ask is, do we really know the gospel? And I want to know the
gospel. I want to know that I'm preaching
the gospel, I believe the gospel and rejoice in the gospel. And
so God helping me, I'll give you five clear points of the
gospel. They're essential. They are essentials that the
Holy Ghost revealed to our hearts and to our mind for us to really
be saved by the grace of God. First thing I want us to know,
the first clear point is this, the gospel is definitive. Look what it says there in verse
16. He says, for I'm not ashamed, and here's the definition of
the gospel. The gospel of Christ. It's defined. It's called the
gospel of Christ. The gospel is not something that
is vague. Not something that, I think one
of the words they use today is disingenuous. That means that
it has no definition to it. It just covers a whole lot of
vague, gray area. But the gospel's not something
that's vague to be guessed at. It isn't a bunch of folks getting
together and giving testimonies of how the Lord saved them from
drug addiction, alcoholism, and everything, other kind of addiction.
It isn't people, it isn't a subjective experience. The gospel's defined. It's called the gospel of Christ,
the good news of Christ. And so you see, beloved, and
look over here in Romans chapter 1 and verse 3, chapter 1 and
verse 1, and let's go down through here in the gospel. The gospel's
defined. And we can define the gospel.
Paul said he was a servant of Jesus Christ. Called to be an
apostle. Now watch what he says here.
Separated under the gospel of God. And this gospel is the ancient
gospel which He had promised before by the prophets in the
Holy Scripture. And this is what the gospel we
said is the gospel of Christ. And this gospel of God concerns
His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. That's where it concerns. It
concerns a person. It concerns God's Son. It concerns
that one that God sent into this world. It concerns that one that
God made of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law. And then it says it concerns
His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. That he's Lord himself. He sits
on the throne. You see these signs. It says,
you know, make Jesus Lord. Listen, God made him Lord. Thousands of years ago. And he's
Lord. And then look what it says. Was
made of the seed of David. That he was made of this woman.
Made of the seed of David. A son of man and a son of God. And look what it says there in
verse 4. And declared. Declared who declared
it God declared him in Genesis 1 God declared him in Exodus
God declared him in Leviticus God declared him in number God
declared him in the prophets God declared him in Isaiah God
declared him in the Old Testament God declared him through Abraham
When they said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw the day
of Christ so many times in the Old Testament. And beloved, I
tell you, God declared Him. And every prophet declared Him.
And Paul declared Him. Peter declared Him. And that's
what we as preachers and God's blessed people, we are declaring
a person. We're talking about a person.
They talk about ideas and principles and thoughts and philosophies.
We're talking about a person. David said, He is my salvation. He didn't say a doctor is my
salvation. Christ is my salvation. So the gospel concerns His Son,
His blessed person, His glorious work. It declares Him and sets
Him forth. And let me tell you something,
beloved. You know, we got to describe, you know, you can't
trust an unrevealed Christ. If he's not described right,
if he's not talked about right, if he's not shown from the Scriptures
and the Holy Ghost don't reveal him as to who he is, you'll never
ever know him. You know, God says, you know,
He says, the Spirit of truth, when He has come, He will take
the things of mine and show them unto you. And the things of Him
concerns His glorious person. I know most people says there's
no beauty about Him that we should desire Him. But then, beloved,
if God lets us see Him, then we say, oh, that I should see
the King in His beauty. And His glorious person, that's
what He says. He said, have you heard that
lesson so good this morning? He said, Abraham resourced to
see my day and was glad. And He says, you're not even
50 years old yet. Our Lord died when he was 33,
so evidently he looked a lot older than he was. And because
of the burdens that he carried in this life. But anyway, He
says, before Abraham was, I am I see him as the great I am.
He was the person that talked to Moses in the burning bush. So listen, I say this, beloved,
any gospel that doesn't set forth Christ in all of his fullness
and the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily. He is the
image of the invisible God. If you see Him, you see God.
If you see God, you see Christ. If you hear God's voice, you're
going to hear Christ. If you're going to come to God,
you're going to come to Christ. If you're going to worship God,
you're going to worship in Christ. If you're going to get grace,
you're going to get it in Christ. If you're going to get mercy,
you're going to get it in Christ. Everything God has for a person
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And anybody that doesn't set
forth Christ, a gospel that sets forth Christ is no gospel at
all, has no power to save whatsoever, if it don't set forth Christ.
Second point of the gospel that I have here, is the gospel not
only is defined, but it's objective. Look what he said again in verse
16. He says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Now
watch this, for it, it, what it? What is it? It, the gospel. is the power of God unto salvation.
You see, the gospel is an objective message. It's not a subjective
message. What do I mean by that? I mean that my salvation was
accomplished 2,000 years ago. And everything that was done
for me was done outside myself. It's something that actually
happened. And the gospel is an objective message. It's not subjective. And it's the power of God unto
salvation. What is the gospel is? Now the
gospel, the gospel of Christ in and of itself is the power
of the Holy Ghost to those that God's pleased to send it to of
the power of God unto salvation. Now, I remember years and years
and years ago, I went to see Brother Henry Mahan,
Pastor Henry Mahan, and I knew just enough truth to be dangerous. And I was sitting talking with
him, I was in a meeting up in West Virginia, some place way,
way back in there. But anyway, and I went down,
drove down to see him, and I was sitting there talking with him,
and I says, I know that the gospel Soaked in our tears and Henry
stopped me like that And he stuck his finger across the desk right
at me And he said it's just the gospel whether you shed a tear
or anybody sheds a tear It's the gospel that God uses to save
me and he got my attention right then in there You see it's the
gospel and it's an objective message. We set before you Something
that was already done Something that was accomplished And I know
that it will eventually get into your heart and get into your
mind and get into your soul. But the gospel in and of itself,
it doesn't say the spirit is the power of God unto salvation. It doesn't say your will is the
power of God unto salvation. It doesn't say your decision
is the power of God unto salvation. It doesn't say your feelings
is the power of God unto salvation. It doesn't say your choice is,
but it says that Christ is, it is, the gospel is the power of
God unto salvation. Now you keep Romans 1, look over
with me in 1 Peter 2. You know, it's the gospel that
the Spirit uses. It's the sword that He uses to
save sinners. That's why the apostle says,
you know, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save
them that believe. And men, men are going to reject
Christ and reject the gospel. Because so, you know, they look
at a man, they say, he's a man just like I am. He's a man that
got faults. He's a man that's got weaknesses.
He's a man that's got inabilities. He's a man that has to put on
his breeches one leg at a time like everybody else does. And
they'll stumble over the gospel because it's a man. And they
think they're just as good as he is. And they are. But if you're
just as good as the preacher, that don't make you very good
at all. Does it? You know, if you know better
than I am, you're in trouble. But I tell you what I'm telling
you is, is that the gospel is the power of God. And let, don't
let, don't let any whatever, whatever's going, if you hear
the gospel, And the Spirit of God takes the gospel to you.
Don't look at, you know, this treasure is in earthen vessels,
clay pots. But the treasure is what's precious,
not the pot. And look what he said here now
in 1 Peter 2. In verse... Yeah, 1 Peter 2,
23. Look what he said here. Now here's we're talking about
the gospel, the seed being born again, not a corruptible seed.
Oh, I tell you, that's all we got, corruptible seed, but incorruptible. Now listen to it. By the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. Oh my, the word of God
lives and abides forever. And this is the message that
he says about men. All flesh is grass. All flesh
is grass. You know, what's your grass worth?
You mow it every week. It don't mean, it just means,
all it is is just a hindrance. It's something you got to keep
up. Your yard's something you got to mow. It's something you
got, and it, grass, grass, and then the wind blows across it,
the frost hits it, and it's gone. And all the glory of man is that
flower of grass. And I don't care how beautiful
flower you have, how great it is and how care you take to it.
If it blooms in just a little while, it's gone just like that.
That's what he says man is. He's like a flower. And so man
glories in all the things and all the beauties, but just a
little while, the wind blows in it and the spirit blows on
it. And he says, I'm grass. I'm a flower and it's just gone.
And the gospel comes and makes a man. The grass withers, the
flower falls away. But the gospel, the word of the
Lord, what is how long does it last? It lasts forever. And this
is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. The word
is preached unto you. The gospel is preached unto you.
And the gospel is what the spirit uses to sow that seed and to
give that life that new birth. And I know, beloved, it's by
the preaching of the gospel, by the power of the Holy Spirit,
That God's pleased to save sinners. And He does that, Beloved, by
something that somebody tells you that was already done. Not
something that's going to be done. Telling you, Beloved, that
there He is. There He is. It is the gospel
itself. It's an objective message. And
let me tell you the third thing about this gospel. Not only is
it defined, not only is it objective, But it's effective too. Look
what it says there. He says, for I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ for it is. It's the gospel. It's an
objective message. It's a defined message, the gospel
of Christ. It's an objective message. And
then look what it says here. It's an effective message because
it's the power of God unto salvation. It's an effective message. You
reckon that the gospel won't do its work? That's what I love about the
gospel. This is what I love about preaching the gospel. I don't
have to wait. I don't have to cajole. We don't
have to beg. We don't have to plead. We don't have to get somebody
to come forth, raise their hand, sign a card, join the church,
beg them to be baptized. We don't have to do anything.
When we preach the gospel, the gospel is effective. Why? Because
it's the power of God. It's God's power. And the power
of God is effective. People say all the time, said,
boy, he wouldn't let God save him. What? What? Keep God from doing anything?
Won't you let go and let God? Let God do what? And what do
you let go of? The power of God is effective.
It actually saves. It comes forth in power. And
it's got power to change your mind. It's got power to give
you a new heart. It's got power to make you willing.
It's got power to change your nature. It's got power to give
you eyes. It's got power to give you hearing.
It's got power to quicken you from the dead. The gospel is
the power of God unto salvation. And beloved, we just stand back
and we preach the gospel and God does with and what He wills.
And beloved, I'll tell you something else, that we come oftentimes
to services. And we think, boy, you know,
if I had, if I went by my feelings, I would have stayed at the house.
If I went by how sick I was or how down I was or depressed I
was or weak I am, I would have stayed at the house. But then
when you come, And then you hear the gospel. You hear the Word
of God being preached. And it quickens you. And it raises
you up. And it strengthens you. And it
encourages you. And it makes you so thankful
that you came because the gospel does something for God's people
that nothing else in this world does. I mean, it does something for
His people that nothing does. You know, when you're in a service
and you're interacting in that service, That is, you can get
all the CDs you want to get and listen to all of them and I love
them myself and I enjoy a lot of preaching. But I tell you
something, there's nothing like being in the service and interacting
with the scriptures right then and there and hearing the gospel
preaching. Cause it's the power of God. It comes and there we
are, we're lethargic, He quickens us. There we are, our minds running
here and there, and He comes and focuses our mind on the Lord
Jesus. He comes and takes us outside
ourselves, and we forget our worries, and we forget our fears,
and we forget our doubts, and we forget our troubles and our
anxieties. And we forget those for a little
while that God will take us unto himself and let us hear something
that will lift us up and make us understand, oh, how desperately
we need Christ. And that's what the gospel is.
It's the power of God to everyone that what? Believes! In fact, it's the power of God
that brings faith with it that causes you to believe. You didn't have faith till the
gospel come to you and give it to you. This is one of the awfulest things
that people say. Two things that people say. And
I tell you, I hope I get broke of them. One of them I don't
say is that people are out here dying for the truth. They want
the truth and we need to take the truth to them. There's not
one soul ever wanted the truth till God took the truth to him. The scriptures tells us That
every man's a liar. Ain't nobody, nobody ever sought
the truth. Now you may seek the truth about
politics. You may seek the truth about a person. You may seek
the truth about your banker or your lawyer or something like
that. But I tell you something, you'll never seek the truth of
God until the gospel comes in power. and brings the truth to
you. You'll never know the truth until
God in the gospel teaches you the truth. That's the first thing
people say when they start hearing the gospel. I've never heard
nothing like that before in my life. That's the opposite of
everything I've ever heard. That just, you're talking about
what God does and I'm talking about what I did. I had a fella come to me years
ago. Every two or three weeks he'd come and He'd been in a
Camelite church all his life and taught in a Camelite church.
And a Camelite, of course, is a church of Christ and we call
them Camelites because a miserable, rotten Baptist decided
to preach water for salvation, you know. And anyway, he'd come
every few days and he'd say, Donny, I see what you're saying.
I want you to baptize. And I said, I've been praying
and I've been studying and I want to be baptized. But he always
talked about what he was doing. I did this and I did that. Now
I want to be baptized. And I say, well, just wait a
minute. Just keep listening. He'd come back a few more days. He
says, boy, I said, I've been studying and I've been looking
and I've been and I think I believe I got it. He kept talking about
what he done. And boy, I wouldn't baptize him.
And he went to another fellow and another fellow wouldn't baptize.
If Donnie won't do it, I won't do it. So he quit. And he was
gone. a couple of years, but his wife
stayed right there. And I run into him one time in
town. And he said, he told me, he says, well, I guess I'll go
to hell because I'm not one of God's elect. And oh, my goodness,
I started crying in front of him. I said, what do you mean?
You know, you're like you're glowing and going to hell. You're
glowing and being lost. An election ain't got nothing
to do. I said, you've got to believe the gospel. And he started
coming back to service, and he sat there for almost three years,
and one day, beloved, I was preaching the gospel, and he jumped up
and says, I believe, I believe, I believe, Christ saved me. He
quit talking about what he was doing, and he threw his hands
up and said, the Lord done it. Now, that's the difference in
the gospel, and letting somebody be talked into something. I could
have baptized him right off the bat, and he probably went to
hell, trusting in his prayers and his, but see, that's what,
the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. And what the
gospel does is it makes, it kills self. It makes, it makes, you
know, our Lord said, accept a man, deny himself. And what does he
mean deny himself? Don't buy, you know, save some
of your money so you can give it to the missionaries. Is that what he means? Quit drinking
so many Pepsi colas and use that for something else? No, when
he says deny yourself, just absolutely deny self. That's what Paul said. He said, I was a Pharisee of
Pharisees, a Hebrew of Hebrews. And then he turned around and
says, you know what? Everything I ever done, everything I ever
thought and everything, everything about me is nothing but done.
That's denying self. I was a blasphemer. I was persecuted.
I was injured. That's denying self. Just talk,
just deny yourself before God. I've got nothing to give. I've
got nothing to bring. I've got nothing to offer. All
I can bring to Christ is my sin, my filthy rags of self-righteousness. Everything I've got is nothing
but dung and rottenness and corruption. And Lord, if you don't save me,
that's why we're talking about the power of God. It comes and
makes a person deny himself. And there's no other power like
it. And yet many perish because they call it foolishness. It
don't need your cooperation to save you. It doesn't need anything
from you in order to save you. The gospel doesn't. It's a power
of God's. And what makes the gospel so
powerful, so effective? Look what it says in verse 17. For therein, in the gospel, the
righteousness of God is revealed. Oh, the righteousness of God.
That's what makes it powerful. It sets forth a righteousness
that's given. It sets forth a righteousness
that's imputed. It sets forth another man's righteousness. It sets forth the righteousness
of God. And it sets forth a righteousness, beloved, that men desperately
need and they can't produce. And here's the message that all
our sinners Born in sin, born in death, born in ruin, ungodly,
enmity, guilty before God, deserving of eternal ruin and wrath. Yet
God, in His great love, bless His
holy name, sent His Son. And carried his people's sins
to death and delivered his people's sins to death and to judgment.
And then he brought in an everlasting righteousness. And he gives this
righteousness freely. But you can't keep any of yours.
You can't keep any of yours. Because you ain't never had none. You know the last thing that
a person will part with is their own righteousness. It's not man's
badness that keeps him from Christ. It's not man's sin that keeps
him from Christ. It's not man's corruptness, it's
his goodness, it's his righteousness, and everything that he thinks
good about himself. And that's what the gospel is.
It comes and shows you that God freely, by His grace, Justifies
the ungodly and he takes this righteousness and he shows us
how that God can be just And this is a this is a question
often asked How can God? Justify himself in saving you
what's God's justification For saving you not your justification
God's justification to save you What's God's justification? What's God's justification for
saving me or you? There's only one person. He was delivered for our offenses,
raised for our justification. Now let me tell you, do you know
where my justification sits? And again, this is objective,
my justification sits at the right hand of God. How in the
world can I know that my sins are gone? Christ is at the right
hand of God. Delivered from my offenses. Bore
my sins in his own body on the tree. Well, he is raised from
the dead. He sits down at God's right hand. Raised for my justification.
What's my justification that God will accept me? And like
you talked about this morning, if I keep his words and I won't
see death, won't taste death. I don't fear death. I don't fear
condemnation. I don't fear God not accepting
me at the judgment. What's my justification that
I have no sin? What's my justification that
I have the righteousness of Christ? What's my justification that
God will hear me? There He sits in God's right
hand, the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything's outside of us. And
I'll tell you what, now, I say everything that's done for us
is done outside of ourselves, but the gospel comes and makes
that the power of God unto salvation for you. And that's what salvation
is, taking these blessed things and God, you embracing them and
enjoying them and rejoicing in them and taking them to be yours. Oh man, I got to hurry on that.
The power of God, the fourth clear point of it is it's elective.
It's elective. Look what it says here in verse
16 again. For it's the power, now listen to this, first of
all is the gospel of Christ. It's defined. It, the gospel,
it, it's objective. Then it's the power of God. And
here's it's elective. It is of God. It is of God. This gospel is of God. It's not
of man. It's the gospel of God, and it's
unto salvation. You see, the gospel is God's
message. It's concerning His Son and His work. That's what
our Lord Jesus said in John 17. He says, Father, I have finished
the work that you gave me to do. Glorify Thou me with your
own self that I had with you before the world was. You see,
it was the Lord, the gospel is the power of God. And why did
God send Christ into this world to do? What did He send Him to
do? He said, Thou shalt call His
name Jesus and He shall save his people from their sins. He
said, I lay down my life for the sheep. I lay them down for the sheep,
not goats. And he don't take goats and turn
them into sheep. If you're a goat, you're a goat. Old Milton Howard
one time, he thought, you know, you think you can always tell
a goat because he butts and he's got such a hard head that nothing
ever affects him. You know, Milton Howard's a huge
man. Great big man. He decided he was going to kill
a goat one day and roast it. He took a baseball bat and I
mean he just rod back and WHAM! He hit that goat right across
the head. That goat just shook his head. Those are not the people Christ
came to save. You know, and here's the thing, as he said, I have
other sheep which are not of this folk. I lay down my life
for the sheep and Christ has always had sheep. David was a
shepherd. Christ is the good shepherd,
the chief shepherd, the great shepherd. And so he laid down
his life for sheep. And you know, and I just thought
of this. Look with me in John chapter
10, just a moment. You know, I'll tell you. And
this is another thing that we love about the gospel. That Christ
is going to get his people. There are people that are just
being born. We got a little grandson. He'll
be three months old next Wednesday. Great grandson. Now whether he's
one of God's elect or not, I don't know. But if he's one for whom
Christ died, he's going to come a day when Christ will just cross
his path with the gospel. If he's one of his sheep. Because
if Christ died for him, he'll be saved and he'll hear the gospel
just as sure as God sitting on his throat There's people that's
never been born who ain't never heard the gospel that were born
sheep They'll live sheep disabled two kind of sheep lost sheep
found sheep But Christ only died for his sheep, he's only going
to find his sheep. He's only gonna save his sheep And I'm
a found sheep I didn't know I was a sheep until I heard the voice,
you know said they shall hear my voice They'll hear my voice
and guess what they'll do when they hear my voice? Follow me. I've been following him ever
since I heard his voice, Ron. I'm going to follow him all the
way to glory. I'm going to follow him all the
way to glory. That's where I'm going to follow him to. Look
what he said here in John 10 in verse 24. Then came the Jews round about
him and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? Hold
us in suspense. If you be the Christ, tell us
plainly. The Lord answered, I told you, and you believe not. The
works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness to me.
Now listen to it. But you believe not, because you are not of my
sheep, as I said unto you. You know why you don't believe?
You're not my sheep. Now the next thing he says, my
sheep hear my voice. And the reason you ain't hear
them, cause you're not my sheep. And listen to this, and listen
to what else he says about them. I know them. I know them. I know my sheep. All right, let
me go back here and get this wound up for you. You see, this
was God's purpose. The gospel was God's purpose.
The gospel's God's to perform. The gospel's God's to proclaim.
The gospel's God's to apply. And the gospel consistently by
its message sets forth the salvation of God's people. Chosen in Christ
continually sets forth. Chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. God who has saved us and called
us with the holy call and not according to our works, but according
to his own purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus. This
is the call, the sheep, the elect, the call, the people of God,
vessels of mercy. But these are the ones Christ
came to save. And that's why the gospel is
elective. It's going to cross the ears of His sheep. And then
last of all, let me give you my last point. In verse 16, the
gospel is redemptive. It's redemptive. Paul said it's
the power of God unto salvation. Unto salvation. When this gospel
comes, it brings salvation with it. And I tell you, I tell you why
I bring salvation with it. Because I tell you Christ laid
down His life to redeem His sheep. To pay the debt. To pay to redeem
them. To pay what they owed that they
couldn't pay. to set them free from what they
couldn't be set free from, from the law and justice of God. See,
Satan wasn't the one that held us, law and justice held us.
Christ came and he satisfied that law, endeared God's justice,
bore the full wrath of God. against sin, that by his death
and the shedding of his blood, God would and could justly deliver
his people from death, deliver them from sin, deliver them from
condemnation, and give them eternal life in the Lord Jesus Christ. He entered once into the holy
place, not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with his
own blood. He went in there with his own
blood. And what did he bring out when he came out? Eternal
redemption. How long are you going to be
redeemed? Eternally. What are we going to sing about
when we get unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins
in his own blood? Unto this Lamb that sits upon
the throne. And O beloved, that's why I don't
believe one believer. That's why Paul said, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Are you ashamed of it? Oh, no. It's the power of God. It's the
gospel of Christ. It's the power of God. It's the
elective, defined, objective, effective gospel of God Himself. God's gospel concerning His Son. May God use it to His glory and
our good. Oh, our Father, our Father, the
blessed, holy, glorious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank
you. Blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ
and his precious blood, his righteousness that you gave to us, clothed
us with it, gives us a perfect, complete standing. We thank you
that the condemnation's gone. The wrath and judgment's been
already destroyed for us through our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank
you for this wonderful, wonderful privilege to stand again and
preach the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. As these dear saints said and rejoice in it and their
faithful pastor, we thank you for them. Pray your greatest
and richest blessings on them that you've already given them
in Christ. May we enjoy these blessings, rejoice in them. In
his holy name we pray, amen, amen.