Let's take our Bibles, please,
and turn to the book of Romans, chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. Reading verses 1 through 17 in
Romans chapter 1. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called an apostle separated unto the gospel of God. That's our
subject this morning, the gospel of God, which God had promised
before by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. That gospel
is concerning God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who in His human
nature, my margin renders this, instead of which was made, it
says, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh,
speaking of the human nature of our Lord Jesus Christ. But
when it comes to His deity, His Godhead, Here's how it has to
be described in verse 4, and declared to be the Son of God
with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. So when it comes to the Godhood
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, you cannot say it was born. It is not born. It is. And it always is. It's forever. It can have no beginning and
no end. And we are told in verse 4 that
the resurrection of Christ from the dead is the proof of His
Godhead. When it comes to the subject
of Christ being raised from the dead, here it means that He raised
Himself. Or if He did not, we have no
proof of His deity. If the Lord Jesus is not enough
God to raise Himself, that the Father and the Holy Spirit have
to do it, it breaks down in Romans 4.25 that tells us the resurrection
of Christ is the absolute assurance that when He went to justify
His people from their sins on the cross, He accomplished that. And that's what this is telling
us, that He raised Himself from the dead. He is, after all, life. He is eternal life. If He is
eternal life, then He cannot remain dead. And therefore, he
raises himself from verse 5, by whom we have received grace
and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations
for his name. Among whom are you also, referring
to the Roman believers, the called of Jesus Christ. Our Lord not
only saves us, but he calls us. and that with an irresistible
calling. Now the letter is addressed specifically in verse 7. To all
that be in Rome who fit the following description, beloved of God,
called saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God through Jesus
Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout
the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I
serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing
I make mention of you always in my prayers, making requests,
if by any means now at length, I might have a prosperous journey
by the will of God to come unto you. And Paul eventually had
that prosperous journey. He went there as a prisoner of
Rome and died a martyr for Christ. Verse 11, For I long to see you,
that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift to the end that
you may be established. That is, rephrasing that, that
I might be comforted together with you by the mutual faith,
both of you and me. Now, I would not have you ignorant,
brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, but was, now
you guys don't use this language, but was let hitherto. That means hindered up until
now. His purpose, His intention has
not yet been realized, but it's because God has not intervened
to open that door, that I might have some fruit among you also,
even as among others. Now look at this statement in
verse 14. and to the unwise. And this debt
is a debt concerning the gospel. So as much as in me is, I am
ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. For it is, the gospel of Christ
is the power of God unto Satan, to everyone that believes, to
the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein, in this gospel
of God that is the gospel of Christ, therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just, the righteous, shall live by faith. It could also be stated,
the just, the righteous shall live by Christ. Each statement
being completely true. Taking our title out of the first
verse of Romans 1, the gospel of God, the wonderful gospel
of Christ is the gospel of God. If I understand the gospel, properly,
there are three areas that we have to be clear about. These
are three things that are the kingpin to the gospel. Without any one of these three,
we have no gospel at all. These three words all start with
an S. The first one is sin. And the
second one is satisfaction. And the third one is substitution. Now those three words we must
do our dead level best. Pray God to help us understand
why they are so important. Why they are so... Now hang on to Romans and for
the moment just ease over to chapter 5 just for a moment.
You've heard this verse quoted, read dozens and dozens and dozens
of times. Romans chapter 5 and verse 12. Now listen, sin did not begin
with us. Sin began in the garden. We are sinners before we're ever
born. We're born sinners, already condemned. And here's why. Verse 12, Romans
4. Wherefore, as by one man, that
man being Adam in the garden, by one man sin entered into this
world. Sin had never entered into this
world. Until Adam sinned? Well, didn't
Eve sin first? Oh yes, she did. But it did not
bring down upon a whole race what Adam's sin did. This is
important for us to know. Because if this is not how we
become sinners, then Christ cannot be the means by which we cease
to be sinners. Alright, look at it. as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men, for that all have sinned." That is, all have sinned in our
federal head, Adam, in the garden from the beginning of time. Some
people would scratch their head and say, well, you know, God
ain't as much God as I thought He was. This thing got out of
control before it ever started. Well, just suppose God has purposed through Adam,
our federal head and representative, to typify, to prophesy of one
to come who is indeed our federal head and representative of the
Lord Jesus, so that we become guilty in a representative, and
we become innocent by our representative Savior, the Lord Jesus, who stood
in our room, place, and spirit. This is vital. Now, I'm not saying
that we do not sin, that we are not the author of sins ourselves.
We certainly are. We sin every day and every minute
of every day. But the Gospel rests, first of
all, on Romans 5 and verse 12. Secondly, let's go over to Galatians
just for a bit. Galatians 4. Here's the second
thing. It is the word satisfaction. Satisfaction. Now if you don't
want to turn, that's all right. I need to see my verses here
in order to quote it, read it correctly. Galatians chapter
4 and verses 4 and 5. Here's our second word now. It
is satisfaction. Satisfaction. God must be satisfied. Let me read it straight out of
the scriptures. Verses 4 and 5. Now let's see. How long now since Adam by the
time we get to Galatians? I could have said that, a while.
A long while. All right, what's this statement
now? Thousands of years at the least. Some 4,000 or so, I think. Galatians 4 and verse 4. but
when the fullness of the time was come." Whose time? God's time. You can't imagine
what took place in all those years before this. No telling
how many times people said to themselves, oh, it must be time. But it wasn't. But now it is. The fullness of the time God
purposed this day, referred to here in Galatians 4.4 in this
event, from eternity. This is God's eternal purpose. He purposed to send His Son into
this world, take on human flesh, God and man in one person. And
here's why. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent for His Son. Now you've got to watch this
now. Made of a woman. His humanity had to be a real
humanity. But it had to be a humanity in
which sin was not imputed. He had to be born without the
aid of a human father or he automatically contracts Adam's sin to himself. But in this infinitely wise plan
and purpose of God Almighty, He brings His Son into this world
as no one else ever has come into this world, made of a woman. Secondly, verse 4, made under
the law. Christ is the lawgiver himself,
but he puts himself, for 33 years now, he puts himself under obligation
to keep his own law. Not for himself, but for his
people. And he renders to that law absolute,
perfect obedience. That's the reason for this word
satisfaction. The law of God says satisfied. Verse 5, that we're under. The Lord not
only satisfied the law in our behalf, But he earns and merits
for every single solitary one of his children a perfect righteousness,
which in conversion and salvation he places upon his children,
making them in God's sight absolutely and wholly righteous. Verse 5,
to redeem them, that word is rooted in to buy back, to buy
them back. Like Ruth and Naomi, the kinsmen
redeemer bought them back. So our Lord Jesus redeems them
that were under the law. Well, now just who is under the
law? Everybody and his brother. even people who've never heard
of God's law or God's Son, is under divine obligation. And no man can pay that debt.
Only the Savior can pay it for His children to redeem them that
were under the law that we might receive adoption of sons. Every believer is adopted into
God's family. We weren't born with a silver
spoon in our mouth, but we were born according to the purpose
of God, something far more precious than silver, the blessed Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. All right, one more scripture.
I mean for right now. I've got to figure out which
way to go. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, just back to your left just
a little bit. Here's the third of these words.
The first one is sin. The second one is satisfaction.
And the third one is what? Substitution. Here it is in verse
21. of 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Now
there are many other places in our Bibles that declare this
glorious truth, but none is more plain than this one statement. 2 Corinthians 5.21, For He, God,
has made Him the Lord Jesus, leaving out the italicized to
be, God has made Christ sin for us. made Him sin for us, for a specific
people. Christ, who knew no sin, never
so much as committed a single sin, is now made sin. For what reason? That we might
be made the righteousness of God. Christ takes His He is our
substitute. It's in Him before God that we
live and move and have our being. This is the most glorious statement
to be found anywhere. All right. If I have time, I'd
like to state these things in a little bit different fashion.
Here's the first. This gospel that is as old as
God, which means it's timeless and endless. And even in the
Revelation chapter 14, I forget the verse, it's called the everlasting
gospel. Now that means, among other things,
it means there ain't never been but one God and one Savior and
one gospel. This idea that God somehow changes
and changes the rules is just utter, absolute foolishness.
The gospel has always been by pure, free grace in Christ and
no other way, no other way. If you think there were people
in the Old Testament who actually kept the Ten Commandments, it's
only because you've been taught that since you've been in this
world because there ain't no such critter. The Lord Jesus
is the only man to have ever rendered to the law of God absolute
respect. All right, I'm going to turn
to Hebrews 13. You can turn if you like. The gospel, Hebrews 13, the gospel
is God's eternal purpose of grace. Now let me read it to you straight
out of our Bibles in Hebrews 13 verses 20 and 21. Now the God of peace and God
cannot be to any man the God of peace except it be in and
through and by the Lord Jesus. Now the God of peace who brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every good work to do his will." How does
he do that? working in you that which is
well-pleasing, which means it is through Jesus Christ to whom
be glory forever and ever." Here is an everlasting, eternal covenant
of grace. And the Lord Jesus is declared
in our Bibles in the plainest of terms to be the surety of
that covenant. He obligated Himself to fulfill
every requirement and every condition. He takes it all on Himself and
none on His people. It is an everlasting, eternal,
glorious covenant. God determined to have a people. He elected a people. He gave
that election of grace into the hands of Christ. And He gave
to His ever beloved Son the wonderful, awful, unbelievable redemption
and salvation that must be accomplished in order for that to be so. All
right, let's turn to Luke 24. Luke chapter 24, last chapter
of Luke, from Genesis to the book of Malachi, God has purposed
in all the books of the Old Testament, without exception, every last
one of them, to put in word pictures this glorious gospel of God in
Christ. So that no matter where you read,
what prophet you read, what part of the Psalms and Proverbs and
Song of Solomon and all the rest, Christ is to be found in every
place. And so this is a testimony to
the Gospel that lasted some 4,000 years before Christ was ever
born at Bethlehem in human flesh. Look at verses 44 and 45. Now
here's the situation. Our Lord has already been crucified. He's already raised. been raised from the dead. And
His disciples are terrified and troubled and so forth. And our
Lord appears to these Emmaus disciples earlier in this chapter.
And as soon as He leaves them, they rush back to Jerusalem to
tell the apostles. And our Lord now presents Himself
in front of these astonished, unbelieving disciples and apostles. Verse 44, And our Lord said unto
them, These are the words which I spoke unto you while I was
still 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." Lost people do not understand
the Scriptures. Lost religious people do not
understand the Scriptures. Only born again, regenerated,
can possibly understand the Scripture. And even then, it's not simply
yours because you say, I'm going to take it, I'm going to make
it mine. Even then, it must be watered
and blessed by the Spirit of God, or you can read this until
your eyes fall out and never know a single thing. This is
something that's illustrated throughout the whole of the Old
Testament. One more scripture I think I
can... Hebrews chapter 10. We begin at verse 9 in Hebrews
10 in regard to the precious gospel of Christ. These are our
Savior's words when He comes down here to take on Himself
our salvation. take upon Himself our sin. Then
said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He, Christ, takes away the first
that He may establish the second. Now what is this first and second
business? The first is talking about the
first covenant. You have to go back to chapter
8 to pick this up. I think it may be about verse 13. But it
is telling us that here we have a change, a change of covenant,
a change of economy. Everything has changed. Verse
13 in chapter 8 talks about the old covenant being rotting and
about to fall out of existence. And here it goes, right here
in this statement in Hebrew, The old covenant is no more.
Oh, but I like the old one better. You're still lost. I mean, what
else can we say about ourselves if we think we can fare better
under the law than under grace? Who doesn't want to be under
Christ? You'd rather be under Moses? He takes away the first
that he may establish the... therefore, moreover, There ain't
but one way to God, and that's through God's gospel in God's
Son. And anybody that tells you any
different than that is lying. By the witch will, now what is
a witch will? It's the will of God that Christ
came to do. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now when people talk about becoming
sanctified by quitting eating certain kinds of foods and eating
other kinds of foods and quit doing certain things and start
doing other things and making anything that we have to do,
it is an absolute slap in the face of Christ. Because here
we are told that sanctification is through the sin offering of
the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, offered one time, once for all,
forever. Verse 11, and every priest stands
daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices,
which can never take away sins. But our high priest is not like
that. He offers one sacrifice for sins forever. Verse 12, but
this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, how many
sins? All the sins that he took to
the tree. All the sins of all of his people
of all time. This man, Verse 12, after he
had offered one sacrifice for sins, now watch this, forever. There ain't been another one
before and there's not going to be another one after. The
sacrifice is made. The debt is paid and it cannot
be reinstated. And therefore, verse 12 says,
he sat down on the right hand of God. because it's finished. Nothing was lacking. It's all
done. Verse 13, from henceforth, from
the time of our Savior's dying for sin on the cross, from that
moment on, expect Him till His enemies be made His footstool.
Verse 14, for by one offering, one offering, He has perfected
forever them that are sanctified. And if that's not my sanctification,
I don't have any. That's all there is. And it's
good from here on out. One more scripture. Revelation. Boy, if I could get
my mind to work My muscles are working good today, but my mind
is not. Well, maybe that's what's in there. Romans, Revelation
chapter 4. Looking straight at it, I'm leaving
one out. That's the reason I want to go
back to Romans 1, but we've already covered that. Revelation chapter
4. The last verse of that chapter,
verse 11. You want to know what our purpose
for being is? This is it. It doesn't ever change. It's always the same. Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power. For Thou
hast created all things, all things, everything, the devil
included now. Just don't leave him out. Thou
hast created all things. Why did He create them? And for
Thy pleasure they are and were. And it could not, there cannot
be another purpose nor motive to match that. This is the reason
for being. And it was that way when we got
here. And if the Lord doesn't come back first, it'll be that
way when we leave here. Let's see if we can sing that
little verse without turning to the course book. Probably
not. Thou art worthy, thou art worthy,
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, glory and honor. glory and honor and power. For thou hast created, hast all
things created. For thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are created. Thou art worthy, O Lord. Well, that's how it is. Too many
books to keep up with.