Open your Bibles, please, to
Galatians chapter 1. Galatians chapter 1. Several years ago, I'm guessing
at least 25 years ago, I was in my office here one day. I'd
been here just fairly early in the morning, and someone called
and asked if they could come by and visit with me. is back
when the local Campbellites had a preacher's school. Campbellites,
that's Church of Christ folks, the followers of Alexander Campbell.
And this fellow in the school had just opened up their session,
and he wanted to discuss some things that I had written that
he had been reading. And I said, well, sure, you can
come by. I'd be happy to discuss them with you. As it turns out,
he wanted to debate those things. So the discussion didn't last
very long. He made a statement when he sat down. Actually, a
statement put in the form of a question. He said, if we believe
two different Gospels, if we believe two different things
about salvation, we can't both be saved. Would you agree? And he seemed to be shocked when
I said, absolutely, I fully agree. If we believe two different Gospels,
if we believe two different things about salvation, about how God
saves sinners, we can't both be saved. Not possible. Not possible. Now that's the title of my message
tonight. We can't both be saved. If I had the whole of the religious
world sitting before me, I would like to declare this message
to them. We can't both be saved. That's exactly what Paul says
in our text this evening, Galatians chapter 1. After Paul had established
the assembly there in the gospel of God's grace, Judaizers came
behind him. Judaizers being Jews who professed
faith in Christ, but taught that in order for men truly to be
truly to be real Christians, then they had to be circumcised.
They did not dare openly assert that they believed in salvation
by works. Nobody would pay any attention
to that. Nobody, nobody would pay any attention to that. No
one who reads this book and cares anything about what the book
says. But rather they asserted that we're justified by God's
grace, by faith in Christ alone. But if we would be real Christians,
if we would really be sanctified, if we would really walk with
God, then we must keep the law, and that's symbolized by obeying
the commandment of the Old Covenant to be circumcised. And so these
Judaizers, with great subtlety, attempted to mix law and grace,
the works of the flesh with the works of the Redeemer. the work
of man with the work of God, mixing the two together, and
thereby totally destroy the gospel of God's grace. Now hear me,
God help you to hear me. Anything mixed with grace destroys
grace. Any human addition, anything
put to it, anything added to it, Anything contributed to the
work of Christ, to the work of God the Holy Spirit, to the work
of God the Father, anything, anything is a total denial of
God's free grace and a denial of who God himself is. Not only that, it is a denial
of who man is and what man is. Galatians chapter 1, read what
Paul says. I marvel that you're so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel. I marvel. Look over in chapter
3. Chapter 3. Paul says, O foolish
Galatians, who hath bewitched you? Who hath bewitched you? Who cast
a spell on you? The religion you're practicing,
the things you claim to believe, you're acting like people who
are under a spell you can't get out of. Who's cast a spell on
you? Back here in Galatians 1, verse 6. I marvel that you're
so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel. Obviously, Paul's talking about
himself. The one who was used as an instrument of God to call
men into the fellowship of the gospel. He said, but you've been
turned away from me now. You look at me as a false apostle,
as a false prophet, as a false messenger of God. You reject
the message that I declared to you when you first professed
faith in Christ. And you've accepted another gospel.
Now look what it says about this other gospel. Which is not another. Which is not another. There are
two different words translating another in the New Testament.
One of them means another that's similar. The other means another
of a totally different kind. Paul says, you've been turned
to a gospel that's not even similar to the gospel, which is not another. It's not at all like the gospel
of Christ. But there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. That word pervert
is a proper word to use. for all who pretend to believe
the gospel, and all who pretend to preach the gospel, but really
pervert it. They retain the same words, they
retain the language of the scriptures, but they gut the words of their
meanings. About the best example I can
give you is during the liberal fundamentalist controversy back
in the 30s and 40s in this country, The liberal theologians would
not dare stand in their pulpits and say, we don't believe in
the resurrection. They wouldn't do that. They won't to this day.
Oh, no, I don't believe in the resurrection. Nobody would say
that. What they would say is, of course we believe in the resurrection.
And then they will start to talk to you about the resurrection.
It's the kind of resurrection you get by following the counsel
of that fellow who was Obama's pastor. I can't remember the
fool's name. Whatever. Unimportant. It's that social
resurrection. It's a moral resurrection. It's
an elevation of life. It's a change of direction in
your life. Not the resurrection of your
soul from the dead, and certainly not the resurrection of your
body from the dead in the last day, and surely not the resurrection
of Christ from the dead, but rather just a change and an involvement
of life. And so they use the word resurrection,
but they don't mean anything like what the scriptures teach
about the resurrection Multitudes today talk about substitution,
they talk about redemption, they talk about grace, they talk about
God's sovereignty But they gut the scriptures of their meaning,
and gut the words of their meaning, and make them mean what they
want them to mean, and thus pervert the gospel. Read on. They would
pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, verse 8, though
we, that is, though I come and preach to you, Paul says, now
if I should be subtly deceived by Satan, And I turn away from
what you've heard me preach. Bill Raleigh, if I should come
back here from this trip and start preaching something else,
that's what he's saying. And I'm saying it too. Though
we are an angel from heaven, you have a vision, an angel comes
down and stands on your bedpost at night. Though we are an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which
we have preached unto you. Let him be damned. That's the word. Let him be accursed. Let him be accursed. As we said
before, I want to be sure you hear me, he says, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
ye have received, let him be accursed. Not all churches and
not all preachers preach the same gospel. According to what
I hear when I listen to them on radio or television, and I
try to avoid it, but sometimes it comes on the alarm when the
radio is set to go off, or some of them are on the television
news programs, and I hear what they say. And I do read a broad
spectrum of religious writing. From what I hear, what I read,
there are many, many gospels being preached by people in our
day. Some seek salvation. through family ties. They vainly
imagine that parents do, that men and women can stand in the
stead of their children before God. They can actually be godparents. And they can have others to stand
in their stead as godparents. And they can be sureties for
their children and pledge their children to be Christians. And
so when the children are born, they bring them to the church
and they slosh a little water on their face and call it baptism.
And they promise to raise them in the church and kingdom of
God. And as they get a little older, they catechize them. And
then the children come out and they decide, well, I believe
I like this way, and I think I'll go along with it. So they're
confirmed, and they're brought into the church, and everything's
all right. Read John chapter 1, verse 12.
Not born in this kingdom by flesh or blood or by the will of man,
but of God. Salvation doesn't come to anybody
because of who you're akin to. Salvation doesn't come to anybody
because of who Mama and Daddy is. Others seek salvation through
church membership. They join the church and they
somehow imagine that having their names on church roll will stand
them in good stead with God when time comes. Multitudes seek salvation
through the ordinances. Baptismal regeneration or taking
the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. As the papists think
of those things, so most religious people think of these ordinances
of the gospel by which we remember our Savior and confess Him as
sacraments. Sacraments by which grace is
conferred to the soul. Sacraments by which men and women
have grace brought to them. When I first visited Mexico,
we were down there, this had been a long time ago, during
one of their papal holy days, and went through a town, and
everybody was at this huge cathedral. And I'd never been in one of
those mucky places. And I'm being as sarcastic as I can possibly
be, because I want you to understand this. I mean, it was like a three-ring
circus. Folks paid no attention to anything that was said. They
couldn't understand anything that was said. It was said in
Latin. But they were there, and they're milling around, and buying,
and selling. And then, when time come, they'd
crawl on their knees. to a man dressed up like a woman
in some kind of a costume and he would lay a piece of bread
on their tongues and pour some wine in their mouths and by those
things receive grace. Oh no, oh no. Grace doesn't come
by the hand of a man or by a sacrament or an ordinance. Grace comes
by the gift of God. Grace, you don't get grace by
doing something. Grace is God's free gift. But
the Papists and the Protestants aren't the only ones who teach
such. Most Baptists I know, most in
my own family, most in yours, vainly imagine that they got
saved by walking a church aisle, saying a sinner's prayer, making
a decision for Jesus. Somebody had to put words in
their mouths and tell them what to say. And when they got done
saying it, they told him, now be sure nobody ever talks you
out of this. You're saved now, and everything's
all right. And they go to hell imagining that such is salvation. I can't tell you the number of
people who try to tell me, convince me that, well, I was saved in
this thing, that thing, doing this. No. No. Bob, I'm here to
tell you the truth. I told you the truth when you
didn't know it. If that's all there is that you've
got, you've got nothing. You've got nothing. You've got nothing.
We who believe God don't have to trace our birth heritage back
to a time and an experience and an event and a feeling. Somewhere around here or at the
house somewhere, I've got a birth certificate, but I haven't looked
at it in years. I only looked at it once or twice
when I had to produce it for some kind of papers. And it's
put away. I have no idea where it is. Shelby
can probably find it. But I don't need to look at it.
How do you know you're alive? Well, I believe I am. I believe
I am. I don't have to go back 60 years
to prove that I'm alive. I don't have to go back to an
experience yesterday to prove that I'm alive. I feel, and I
live, and I breathe now. And I believe the Son of God
now. And yesterday's experience is
utterly meaningless. Totally, totally, totally insignificant. But Brother Don, what about our
experiences, and our decisions, and our works, and our ceremonies? Nothing. Just nothing. Just nothing. Multitudes seem to think that
having a sound doctrinal creed is God's salvation. It is written
in the scripture, listen, there is a way that seemeth right unto
a man. It's written twice, Proverbs
14, again in Proverbs 16. There is a way that seemeth right
unto a man. Now it doesn't matter, it doesn't
matter whether you go down the road and ask the Catholic, or
across the road and ask the Baptist, or over the street and ask the
Methodist, or over yonder and ask the Jew, or somewhere else
and ask the Islamist, or somewhere else and ask the Buddhist. It
doesn't matter which one you ask. It doesn't matter whether
you ask liberal or conservative. It doesn't matter whether you
ask a snake handler or somebody who fights being snake handlers.
It doesn't matter. Ask any religious person about salvation. Ultimately,
they say exactly the same thing. Exactly the same thing. You are
the determining factor. Ultimately, there is a way that
seems right to a man. Is that fair? Is that honest?
Is that what you've discovered? Exactly the same thing. Every
form of anti-Christ religion, every form of false religion
there is in the world, today or has been yesterday or will
be tomorrow, is ultimately the same. It's just one way. It's
a way centered in you. and what you do, and what you
feel, and what you think, and what you experience, and what
you know. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but
the end thereof are the ways of death. It's all the same way,
but it's the ways of death. It's the way of the high churchmen
or the way of the low churchmen. It's the way of the formalist
and the ceremonialist, or it's the way of the fellow who's just
a free spirit. It's the way of the intellectual,
or it's the way of the ignorant. It's the way of the Baptist,
or the Mormon, or the Presbyterian, or whoever. But it's the ways
of death. For it's all one religion. It's called Babel and Babylon. Turn to Isaiah chapter 28. All
the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes. But the Lord weigheth
the spirits, the wise man says. You will be wise and I will be
wise every day to bring our hope, our refuge to this book and see
if what we believe, what we trust, what we trust to be the truth
of God, the refuge in which we rest our souls, is God's refuge
or a false refuge. You would be wise to do it. Isaiah
28 verse 14, Hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that
rule this people which is in Jerusalem, because you have said,
We have made a covenant with death, and with hell we are at
agreement. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come unto us, For we have
made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for
a foundation stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure
foundation, there's just one, and that one sure foundation
is Christ the Lord. He that believeth shall not make
haste. Oh, what a good word. He's not
going to be in a hurry. The word is translated various
ways in the scripture. He shall not be confounded. He shall not be confounded. You
can't confuse him. He knows where he stands. You can't shake his faith. He
knows his refuge. You can't destroy his hope. His
hope is on the solid rock, Christ Jesus. He shall not make haste. He shall not be confounded. He
shall not be confused. He shall not be ashamed. He shall
not be ashamed. All right, read on, verse 17.
Judgment also will I lay to the lion, and righteousness to the
plummet. These two things, lay to the
lion. Judgment to the lion, justice,
and righteousness to the plummet. Measure this refuge. If there's
nothing about justice and righteousness in it, it's a false refuge. And
the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters shall
overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death
shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not
stand. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, then shall you be trodden down by it. From
the time that it goeth forth, it shall take you. For morning
by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night, and it shall
be a vexation, a vexation, only to understand the report. for
the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on
it, and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself
in it. No rest, no rest for your soul, and you know it. You know it. You who trust a
refuge of lies, you who yet Hold on to some hope that you know
is false. You cling to the hope for whatever
reason I cannot imagine, but you cling to that hope knowing
that it gives you no rest. Knowing that it gives you no
comfort. Knowing that it gives you no
peace in your conscience. But rather than deny it, you'll
cling to it and go to hell unless God breaks your hands from it
and causes you to flee to Christ Jesus. Is that what happened
to you, Father? Cling to it. Cling to it. Remember
Betty coming out here so mad at me for spitting nails, you
see? Hold on to it. Just hold on to it. Hold on to
it. Let me say it one more time.
God help you to hear what God says. According to His Word,
there's only one gospel. One gospel. I challenge you all
the time. I challenge you again tonight.
You search this book and find out if I'm telling you the truth.
If I'm telling you the truth, hear what I say. If I'm not,
go find somebody else to listen to. Don't listen to me. If I'm
not telling you what this book says, I am a liar and a deceiver
of your soul, a false prophet, a false witness of God. I take
that seriously. Don't listen, unless I can verify
what I say by every word in this book. Turn to Romans chapter
1. Romans chapter 1 verse 1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ
what a great title I prefer it to reverend or doctor or father
or anything else a servant of Jesus Christ Called by God Almighty to be
an apostle, a messenger. God's messenger. Separated unto
the gospel. Separated by God's hand, by God's
providence, by God's call. Separated by determination. Separated unto the gospel, which
He had promised afore by his prophets. Now he's talking about
the gospel, not a gospel, the gospel. This is the gospel, which
is the gospel of God, which God promised in the prophets, so
that the gospel we preach is the same gospel that Moses believed
and Moses preached. The same gospel of which David
wrote. The same gospel that Abraham
believed. And Abraham passed on to his
family and his generation in the day in which he lived. The
very same gospel that Job believed. It was that gospel aforepromised
by God in the prophets. It's the gospel that has its
origin in God. It's the gospel that comes from
God. The gospel God promised in his
book. And it is the gospel concerning
his Everything about the gospel is
Christ. Brother Rex read it just a little
bit ago, that first chapter of Colossians. What a glorious,
glorious passage. Christ is the gospel. The gospel is Christ. You can't
separate the two. You can't separate the two. It
is the gospel concerning His Son. When we sing our hymns of
praise, let us sing gospel hymns. Those are hymns concerning His
Son. Let us speak in this place of His Son. That's the message
of the Gospel. It's not about me or you. It's
about His Son. Concerning His Son, Jesus Christ
our Lord. Now watch what it says about
Him. Made of the seed of David, according to the flesh. It's
about His Son, Jesus, our Lord, incarnate. We believe that Jesus
Christ has come in the flesh. I believe he has come in the
flesh. He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ, and he that
believeth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, he born of
God. He born of God. Not he that believes
that there's a historical man named Jesus. Why? Who would deny
that? Who would deny that? No! We believe
that Jesus Christ, that man of Nazareth, actually did fulfill
all that the prophets said of him. He actually did it. He actually
did accomplish everything the prophets said he would accomplish.
He brought in righteousness. He put away sin. He is just and
the justifier. He reconciles man to God. He
brings in everlasting righteousness for us, fulfilling all the covenant.
It is the gospel concerning his son, made of the seed of David
according to the flesh, declared to be. revealed as, manifestly
set forth to be the Son of God with power. How is that? According to the spirit of holiness.
Holiness. According to the spirit of all
that's hallowed and sacred. According to the spirit of all
that is sanctified. According to the spirit of holiness.
He was raised up from the dead, declared to be the Son of God
with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection
from the dead." God raised him up. This one who was made sin and
crucified and buried in the tomb, now freed from sin, justified
in the Spirit, and thereby declared to be the Son of God with power.
You don't need to turn there again. Paul speaks of the gospel
again in 1 Corinthians 15. By this time, I hope you have
it memorized. He identifies and defines the gospel as being that
which reveals, H-O-W, how that Christ died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. Now, whenever you think about
the death of Christ, four words ought to always be in your mind.
Four words always in your mind. Every time you think about Christ
dying in your room instead, sovereignty. He died according to the will
and purpose of God, by God's sovereign decree, according to
his own sovereign will. Substitution. He died in the
room instead of his people. He died for us. He laid down
his life for the sheep. Not for the goats, for the sheep.
Not for all men in the world, but for all whose elect scattered
through all the world. Sovereignty, substitution. Number
three, satisfaction. He died for a purpose. Darren,
he died to satisfy divine justice. To satisfy the demands of God's
justice and God's law. God said, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. Christ satisfied the justice
of God. He satisfied the justice of God
for all his people. That means that justice has no
claim on me. Did you get that? Justice has
no claim on me. I have on a few occasions, been guilty
of crimes. The last time I got a ticket,
which is a crime, I was coming through Danville, coming into
Danville, and sitting in the Camberlite parking lot up there
was a police officer right where it turns from 45 to 35. And I
was doing 50, and he got me. He got me. And I was guilty. And there wasn't anything I could
do about it except hope he wouldn't be lenient, but he wasn't. And I had to pay a fine. And
since that time, I've seen that officer, I'm sure by now a different
one, sitting in that same place many times. I'd drive by and
wave my hand. Well, aren't you afraid of him?
No, I paid that fine years ago. He's got nothing against me.
He has no claim on me. The law can't touch me for anything. I have nothing owed to the law,
not to the law of the land. Oh, bless God, and not to the
law of God. Christ satisfied all on behalf
of his people. Number four, success. Whatever
it is he intended to do by his death, he has done. If not, look
for another Christ. If not, look for another. Those
who declare, those who imply, those who suggest somehow or
another there's some possibility that maybe Jesus Christ might
be a failure are declaring to you one who is not the Christ. How can you speak of God and
failure in the same breath? Why, that's blasphemy. It's not
just false doctrine, it is utter blasphemy. Turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 11 2 Corinthians chapter 11 Paul rejoiced, as we saw last
week, to call this my gospel This is the gospel I've experienced,
this is the gospel I believe This is the gospel I preach,
this is the gospel preached by this church This is the gospel
preached by every aspect of the ministry of this church. This
is the gospel you send your pastor around the world to preach. Everywhere
God opens a door. I'm fixing to leave here tomorrow
morning, and when I get to England, I'll be preaching exactly there
what I preached to you three times a week here. Not going
to alter it at all. Not in the least will it be altered. This
we do, and I want you to make this your personal determination.
I want you to look in the Word of God and determine, is this
gospel the gospel of God? Is what I hear Brother Don preach
three times a week the gospel of God? Is the message we declare
to men truly the gospel of God? Is it or is it not? A lot's at
stake. Let me show you how much. 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. Would to God you could bear with
me a little in my folly. Paul calls it his folly to have
to defend himself. A faithful husband, his wife
gets suspicious and he's put in a position to have to defend
himself. It's absurd. Paul's a faithful pastor, a faithful
preacher of the gospel. And he's got to defend himself
before these people who first heard the gospel from his own
lips. He said, this is my folly, this is foolishness. And indeed,
bear with me, put up with me. You ought to, for this reason. I'm jealous over you with a godly
jealousy. I'm jealous over you with a godly
jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband, not to me, but to one husband, that I may present you
as a chaste virgin to Christ." Our daughter growing up, I wanted
every boy that looked her way to be scared to death of me.
I wanted her to be scared to death of me. I wanted them to
anticipate I just might kill them if they messed with her.
I wanted that. And I think I fairly well succeeded.
I just made it my determination. I've got a granddaughter now.
I want every boy who even looks her way to be scared to death
of me. Well, you can't do what you used
to. Nobody can hire you to. I want them scared. Why? Because
I want them presented as a chaste virgin to one man. Paul says,
this is my attitude toward you, you to whom I preach. It's my
determination to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, I fear, I'm very
much afraid, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through
his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ Jesus the simplicity I keep talking to my preacher
friends especially the young ones preach with simplicity with simplicity
so that when you get done preaching folks look at the books Van Alten
seen that, right there it is. With simplicity. Confusing words
come from confused men. They just sound intellectual.
If you don't understand, don't pretend to explain. Preach with
simplicity. The simplicity that's in Christ
Jesus. The word here really is singleness. Singleness. Just one thing. I saw this Christ. I recall this
had been at least 30, 35 years ago. I was listening to Brother
Mahan down at Ashland, and he'd been preaching, and I forgot
what his subject was, what his text was, but everybody was kind
of spellbound. He's a brilliant fella. And he'd
been preaching about 10 minutes. He says, oh, what have I done? This is terrible. He said, I've
been preaching to you for 10 minutes, and I haven't told you
how God saves sinners. Ought never happen. Ought never
happen. It ought never happen. Oh no. The simplicity, the singleness
that's in Christ Jesus. Read on. For if he that cometh
preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, are you
receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another
gospel which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him."
Now you'll notice the word him is in italics. In the marginal
translation it reads, you might well bear with me. But I'm rather
inclined to think that our translators were correct in their understanding.
And that is that Paul is here speaking sarcastically. And he's
saying to these Corinthians, if you should find somebody,
who preaches a better Jesus than I preach to you, a better spirit
than I preach to you, a better gospel than I preach to you.
If you should find somebody who comes and preaches to you a Jesus
more suited to your soul's needs, a spirit more powerful to give
life to the dead and save and keep them by His almighty grace,
a gospel that is not good news, that is not good advice, but
good news, a better gospel than I preach to you. better news
than I have declared to you, then you might well bear with
him, because such is an utter impossibility." We preach Jesus
Christ, and I'll wrap this up in four or five statements, in
all His glorious sovereignty. The preaching of the gospel of
necessity involves the declaration of God's sovereignty as it is
revealed and put in the hands of God's Son, our God-man mediator,
the Lord Jesus, who has power over all flesh to give eternal
life to as many as the Father has given him. So that the gospel
is a declaration of Christ on his throne. Christ seated on
the throne of the universe. absolutely controlling, ruling,
and disposing of all things as He will. To preach the gospel
is not only to speak of God's sovereignty. Our God is in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. To preach the gospel of necessity
involves the declaration of man's total depravity, his total inability. What do you mean? The universal
testimony of scripture is that man is depraved. God created
man upright. He sought out many inventions.
The Lord looked down from heaven to see if there were any that
did worship God, that did obey God. He said they've all gone
astray. At one time, together, they've
all become unprofitable. There's none that understandeth,
none that seeketh after God. Their heart is deceitful, above
all things desperately wicked. The thoughts and imagination
of the heart and mind of man are only evil continually. From the crown of his head to
the sole of his feet, there's nothing but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores, nothing else, just depravity. What happened
in the garden? Man at his best estate is altogether
vanity. Did man fall? Stumped his toe. Did he get sick or did he die?
If he just stumped his toe, all he needs is a walking stick.
If he just got sick, all he needs is a little religious medicine.
If he's dead, he's got to have a savior. What does the Word
of God say? Man, fallen man is dead. It trespasses ending sin. That
means that man can do nothing to alter his condition. Nothing. Oh, men try. Religion puts folks
trying. Augustus Toplety wrote something
like this, I read years ago, all other religions but one,
all but the gospel of God's grace put men to work making up righteousness
for themselves. Ah, but a dead man can't do that. A man whose corrupted heart can't
perform righteousness. Salvation is of the Lord. You must be born again. Not you
must get born again. You must be born again. This
gospel that we've preached, the only true gospel, is the gospel
of covenant grace. It's called the covenant of peace,
the everlasting covenant. Our Lord Jesus in John 17 based
His entire prayer as our high priest on a covenant. Go back
and read the whole 17th chapter. Everything He asked the Father
to do, He asked the Father to do on the basis of a covenant
fulfilled. This book speaks of many covenants.
God made a covenant with Adam in the garden. He made a covenant
with Noah this side of the flood. He made a covenant with Abraham.
He made a covenant with Moses. He made a covenant with David.
He made a covenant with Israel. But all those covenants were
but pictures of a covenant he made with his servant before
the war was. The covenant of which David sang
on his deathbed when he said, although my house be not so with
God. And the fact is, That's true
of us all. Which of you can say your house
is just the way you want it? Everything's fixed up, all the
children are in the fold, husband, wife, believers, everything well. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things insure, and this is all my salvation and all my
desire, although he make it not to grow. I want what God ordered
from eternity, do you? And Lord God, whenever I'm dissatisfied
with that, break my dissatisfaction. I want what God ordered from
eternity in covenant mercy. The gospel we preach is gospel
that proclaims a real savior and a real salvation. Not an
offer, not an opportunity, not a chance. We preach that one
of whom the Lord God said, he shall not fail. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
the angel said, for he shall save his people from their sins. They were His people before He
came to save them. He shall save His people from
their sins. His elect people. His chosen
covenant people. He shall save them by blood redemption.
He shall save them by perfect righteousness. He shall save
them by divine regeneration. He shall save them at last in
resurrection glory. Save them He shall. The Lord
Jesus, when He came into this world, came on this errand of
mercy to save His people. in a way that gives glory to
God, and he did it. And he sends out his spirit to
make that salvation he obtained by his blood effectually applied
to the hearts of chosen sinners as only he can, calling his elect
by omnipotent power, by irresistible grace. And the prophet said,
thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. We preach
the gospel then, confident of what God said. My word shall
not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I
please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. No possibility of failure, not
a chance in the world, not with Christ, not with his church,
not with this preacher, not with you who believe. He says, other
sheep I have, them also I must bring, and there shall be one
fold and one shepherd. We come with a gospel that's
called good news. That's the meaning of the word,
good news. That's the gospel. The good news
of redemption accomplished, of salvation finished, of sin put
away, of righteousness brought in, of free grace for needy sinners. Grace you don't have to qualify
for. Grace you can't earn. Grace you
can't merit. Grace that doesn't depend on
you. And grace, once bestowed, you
can't possibly lose. Free grace. Free grace. absolute free, free grace in
Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.