Romans chapter 1. It's good to be back with you
all again. It seems like the month goes by pretty quick. I look forward to coming back
and this message I've got prepared this afternoon is one that I
wanted to preach last time I was here, but. I didn't quite. Have the message completely and. Prayed that the Lord would give
me the message and I believe he has if. He had blessed tonight,
maybe it'll be a blessing to you. I was talking with Eric
on the way over here from the airport, and he was telling me
about the message that he preached last weekend. And I told him, that's good,
because we got a similar message this weekend. The title of the
message is, The Gospel of God. The Gospel of God. Let's read
here in Romans chapter 1, the first 7 verses. a servant of Jesus Christ, called
to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which God
had promised to for by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh and declared the son of God with
power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. By whom we have received grace
and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations
for his name. among whom are ye also the called
of Jesus Christ. To all that be in Rome, beloved
of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That which made Paul
a willing bondservant of Jesus Christ was the gospel of God. That which made Paul eager and committed to preaching,
to hazard his life in preaching, was the gospel of God. This entire
epistle written to the Romans is concerning nothing else but
the gospel of God. In fact, the whole book of God's
holy word from cover to cover is concerned with one thing.
It is the gospel of God. The word gospel comes from the
Anglo-Saxon origin, a word meaning God's spell or God's word, God's
spell, gospel, gospel. The word is from the Greek evangelion,
meaning good message, good message. It's called the gospel of God
because God is the author of it. He's the executor of it. He's the subject of it, and he's
the revealer of it. It's his gospel scripture. gives us several different names
to the gospel. I'm going to go over some of
these with you. First of all, in Acts 20, 24, you can turn
to these if you'd like, but I'm going to go through them rather
quickly. Acts 20, 24, it's called the gospel of the grace of God. the gospel of the grace of God. Paul said, none of these things
move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might
finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received
of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God. If I stood here and I declared
to you a message, claiming to preach the gospel of God's grace
to you. And if at any point in the message,
your salvation is dependent upon something you do, then it ceases
to be the gospel of the grace of God. If it is of grace, it's
no more of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. It has to be all of grace or
it's all of works. That's the only two religions
in this whole world is grace and works. grace and works. Then in Matthew 4, 23, it's called
the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of the kingdom. Jesus
went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues publicly
and preaching the gospel of the kingdom. The subject matter of
Christ's ministry was the good news of the kingdom of the Messiah
being come. He exhorted sinners to repent
and give up all form of principles and traditions, to receive the
doctrines and submit to the ordinances of the gospel dispensation. He
preached concerning the kingdom of heaven, that except a man
be born again, born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. Moreover, he can't see Christ,
who is the king, who is the king. Unless a man's righteousness
exceed that of the Pharisees and the scribes, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of God, Christ's kingdom. This gospel is concerning
his kingdom. Paul here in Romans chapter 1
and verse 16, he calls it the gospel of Christ. He says, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first,
and also to the Greek. For therein, in the gospel, is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it is
written, the just shall live by faith. It's absolutely 100% impossible to preach the gospel
of Christ without preaching who he is. He's God's son made of
the seed of David. He's the God man had to be so. It's impossible to preach Christ
without preaching what he did. He took upon Him the form of
a serpent. He came in human flesh, made
like unto His brethren, to redeem them that were under the law.
And He perfectly fulfilled God's law in every jot and tittle. And He went to the cross and
willingly laid down His life as their substitute. And by His
own shed blood, He has cleansed all those that God gave Him from
the foundation of the world from all their sin. Their sins are
cast away. They're never to be remembered
again. He didn't make something possible. He didn't lay down His life hoping
that you would take another step and make His blood effectual.
He accomplished salvation. He purged our sins by His one
offering. It's impossible to preach the
Gospel of Christ without preaching why He did it. Why He did what
He did. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
this earth and He died at Calvary to declare the righteousness
of God Almighty. That God might be just, His holy
character is not blemished one iota in saving a hell-deserving
sinner. because he has poured out his
wrath and his law is satisfied. His justice is satisfied because
Christ bore it in the room instead of those he represented. And
he's the justifier. He is the justifier of all who
believe. It's impossible to preach this
gospel without preaching where he is now, where Christ is now. He's not in the grave like Muhammad
or Buddha or any of the other so-called saviors. He's risen
and seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High. That
means He's victorious, He's triumphant, He accomplished the work which
God sent Him to perform. He finished the work. And it's
impossible to preach this message without preaching what He's doing
right now. He's the sovereign ruler. He's
the king and he's moving everything. Everything from the smallest
leaf that falls on the tree out there to the greatest event that
happens in this world, He works all things together for good
to them that are His, to the called, to those that love Christ. And He does it so that He brings
those that are His, that He's redeemed, that don't yet know
Him under the sound of the Gospel. That He might give them a new
heart and a new nature and that they might see Christ as all
their salvation. And He's keeping them, and He's
preserving them, and He's growing them in grace until the last
one is brought into the fold. And then this whole world shall
stand before His great white throne of judgment, and the world
shall be judged in righteousness by that man, Christ Jesus the
Lord. It's impossible to preach Christ
without preaching that gospel. I care too much for the souls
of you to come before you and preach a message on morality
or to come give you a sentimental pep talk to make you walk out
of here and feel good about yourself. To preach some message that that's going to point you to
times and seasons and anything that would distract you from
Christ and Him crucified, I'm not going to preach it by God's
grace because the matter at hand is Christ. That is the gospel. Christ Jesus the Lord is the
gospel. He is the good news. There is
no good news apart from Him. Romans 10, 15, it's called the
gospel of peace. The gospel of peace. Scripture
says, how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things. True peace to dying sinners. is having the full assurance
that the blood of Christ has cleansed us of all sin. True
peace. True peace sounds like this.
There is therefore now no condemnation to you, Art. You're free from
all condemnation because you're in Christ. That's peace. That's where you have peace.
Peace sounds like this, we joy in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ by whom we have right now received the atonement. I can get some peace from that. I can find great comfort and
peace from that. The Lord said, I create the fruit
of the lips. Peace, peace to him that is far
off and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I will heal
him. But the wicked are like the troubled
sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
And there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." None. Then in 2 Corinthians 4, in verse
4, it's called the glorious gospel of Christ. The glorious gospel
of Christ. Scripture says, The God of this
world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine unto them. The gospel is called glorious
because therein the believer sees the light of Christ's excellency,
the brilliance of our excellent preeminent Savior. The glory
of all glories is our Savior, preeminent. I don't know of anything else
that could comfort me at any time like hearing the Gospel. There are those things that appeal
to the flesh. There are those things that feed
the flesh. And they're fine, you know, TV
and movies and whatnot. But when you need to be settled
and you need to truly have that peace and assurance that only
God can give, the only place you find it is in hearing the
glorious gospel of Christ. The only place. In Ephesians
1.13, then, this gospel is called the gospel of your salvation. The gospel of your salvation.
It says, in whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word
of truth, the gospel of your salvation. In whom also after
that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Our gospel is good news to those
of us who believe because it's the gospel of Christ our salvation. It's not a maybe. It's not a
condition. It's not something that's irreversible. It's sure, certain, steadfast
salvation that is immutably yours and mine because of Christ and
who He is and what He accomplished and where He is now. It's the
gospel of your salvation. Salvation. He said this, he said, I give
unto my people eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any pluck them
out of my hand. None. That's certain salvation. That's guaranteed salvation.
Turn over to Romans 8 with me. Listen to Romans 8. Let's read
this out to the end of this chapter. Romans 8, 33. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died, yea, rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake
we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for
the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded."
Are you persuaded? Are you persuaded? I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's
the gospel of your salvation, the gospel of your salvation.
And then in Revelation 14, 6, it's called the everlasting gospel,
the everlasting gospel. I saw another angel fly in the
midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that
dwell on the earth and to every nation, kindred, and tongue,
and people." This gospel is everlasting because salvation completely
of the Lord was settled from eternity in the counsel and covenant
of peace. It was settled. God blessed us
with all spiritual blessings. You know how many that leaves
out? None of them. He blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's
an everlasting gospel. And it's everlasting because
the free justification that's by the righteousness of Christ,
the peace and pardon that's by His blood, the eternal election
of particular sinners to salvation in Christ, God's everlasting
love, all the blessings, the promises and grace given to the
elect in Christ before the world began. It's all everlasting. He's given us, He's imputed to
His people an everlasting righteousness. He obtained eternal redemption
for us. When He comes in power, He imparts
a new nature that is life everlasting, immortality. It's an everlasting
gospel. Now, let's look back here at
our text in Romans one. And Paul says this very thing
in a few words here. And what I want you to see this
evening is that the gospel, the gospel is Christ and him crucified. That is the gospel. That is that
men are not saved any other way than by Christ alone. Why then would I preach a dying man
to dying sinners any other message but Christ and Him crucified? Eric and I were discussing this
on the way over here. People will talk about, well,
what about places like First Corinthians where Paul dealt
with the church and where he dealt with people in open sin? And the thing is there is the
church at Corinth had completely had all of these things that
interfered with the singleness of the gospel of Christ and Him
crucified. And everything that Paul dealt
with in the Corinthian letter was to turn them from these things
that they were doing to Christ and Him crucified. That was the
whole purpose of what Paul was writing about. The singleness
of Christ. So then, let's look here and
let's see what Paul says. Romans 1, verse 1. Paul, a servant
of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the
gospel of God, which God had promised to for by His prophets
in the Holy Scriptures. The prophets of old didn't speak
a different gospel than the apostle Paul. What did the Lord say here? Let me read this to you real
quick. The Lord said in Luke 24, verse
44, He said unto them, He's talking to His apostles, He said, These
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning
me. Concerning me. All of those things
were concerning him. The Lord said, your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and he was glad. Have
you noticed that the popular preacher preachers of these so-called
mega churches, we in Brentwood, where I live, we have one that
Dateline or 60 Minutes or one of them did a special six months
or a year ago on mega churches. There's one that's in Brentwood
there that's got a McDonald's in it, it's got a drive-thru,
it's got ATMs in the lobby of it. You can have your offering
set up to where it's automatically drawn out of your bank account.
And I've listened to them. I listen to them on Sunday mornings.
I turn them on on TV to hear what they're preaching. And they
almost never, well they almost never preach out of God's Word
anyway. They'll read a scripture and
then it's off to the races with some topic of the day. But they never They hardly ever
preach out of the Old Testament at all. And if they do, it's
strictly some historical lesson. And there's no gospel in it.
There's no gospel in it anywhere that you hear. But Christ is
everywhere in the Old Testament. The scriptures are of Christ. Paul said this is the gospel
which God promised to for by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.
This whole book is full of Christ. The very first words of this
book, when it speaks of creation, in the beginning, when God created
the heavens and the earth, and the earth was without form and
void, and darkness covered the face of the deep, and the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters, and God said, let
there be light, and there was light, is one of the best examples
of regeneration that I know of. That's what Paul compared it
to. He said, God that said, let there be light, turned on the
light. I had a Jehovah's Witness at my door one day and I was
telling him that. He said, you make it sound like God just turned
on a switch. I said, he just said, let there
be light. That's what he did. And there was light. It's that
simple. You mean he just said, let there
be light? Yeah, just like he just said,
let there be day and let there be night. just like He created
this world just by His Word, and just like He upholds all
things by the Word of His power. The tree of life in the garden
is Christ. The whole Gospel of Christ is
declared in one sentence in Genesis 3.21. Listen to this, unto Adam, This is after the fall. Under
Adam, also unto his wife, did the Lord God, the covenant God,
make coats of skins. He sacrificed an innocent animal
and made a covering for Adam and Eve. And now that covering's
made and it's there and it's offered to you if you'll just
take it and cover yourself with it. No. He says He made coats
of skins and He clothed them. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. The seed of woman in Genesis
3.15 is Christ. The first murder ever committed
in this world was will worship, persecuting free grace. And there
we see Christ typified in that first sheep of the flock that
Abel brought and offered to God, not without blood. In Noah's
ark, we see Christ. In the son of promise, Isaac,
the son of a miraculous birth, we see Christ. in Abraham's seed
in whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Galatians
tells us that seed is Christ. When Abraham went to the mountain
to sacrifice Isaac, we see Christ in that substitutionary realm
called in the thicket. God providing Himself a lamb. Not providing for Himself a lamb,
God providing Himself. the Lamb, Jehovah-Jireh, God
will provide. Righteous Lot being delivered
from Sodom before God destroyed that city, we see Sovereign electing
irresistible saving grace for Christ's sake. In Melchizedek,
we see Christ, our Great High Priest. We see the Gospel of
Christ and God delivering Israel from Egyptian bondage in the
Passover Lamb. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you." That's Christ. That's Christ. In the manna from
heaven, we see Christ, the bread of life. In the smitten rock,
we see Christ, the water of life. In the brazen serpent, we see
Christ, high and lifted up. Aaron's rod that budded is a
picture of life out of death, wherein Aaron was publicly declared
to be the servant of God. And it's the very same picture
that we see. It's the picture of Christ being
declared the Son of God with power according to the spirit
of holiness by the resurrection of the dead. It's exactly what's
pictured there. Everywhere in the tabernacle,
its foundation made of the shekel of the sanctuary, the spotless
offerings, the high priest, the Ark of the Covenant, whereupon
was the mercy seat. It's Christ, Christ, Christ all
through the Old Testament. Joshua delivering Israel into
Canaan. In Judges, we see our old sin
nature worn against the new nature that God has created, and we
see that we're kept by the power of God in Christ Jesus. In Ruth,
we see our kinsman in Boaz, the one who has the lawful right
to redeem. And we see Christ, our kinsman
redeemer. In 1 and 2 Samuel, we get a type
of our sovereign King Jesus in David, the shepherd from Bethlehem. All through scripture, it's Christ. This book right here is about
God's Son. How many of you at home have
a photo album? I know y'all probably got a room
full of photo albums. You know what a photo album is? It's a picture of your darling
children. And you know what this is right
here? It's an album of God's beloved, darling Son. That's what this book is right
here, from cover to cover. There's no other message that
we can preach. I've started at the top of my
messages when I sit down to prepare a message. I write at the top
of the page, this may be the last time they hear the Gospel. We need to preach that way. We
need to preach the issue. It's Christ, the Savior of sinners. The Gospel of God is that which
He had promised to for by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures.
Now, secondly, let me ask you this. What's the subject of the
Gospel of God? Look at verse 3. Paul says, I'm separated unto
the gospel of God, which he had promised to for by his prophets
in the holy scriptures concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord,
which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh
and declared the son of God with power, according to the spirit
of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. To preach the
gospel of God, Paul says that we have to preach the salvation
that's effectually accomplished by God's Son. By God's Son. The one who's equal with God.
The second person in the Trinity. God's Son. Paul says if we're
going to preach the gospel of God, we've got to preach this
one who is Jesus. The Savior. The Savior named
us for he shall save his people from their sins. Paul says if
we're going to preach Christ, we're going to have to declare
that he is the Christ, the anointed. His name is Jesus the Christ,
that is, the Savior anointed of God to save. That's His name
and His office. Furthermore, He must be declared
Lord, that is, the sovereign, ruling, reigning monarch of the
universe of both the dead and the living. And get this right,
too. We don't make Him Lord. He's
Lord. He's Lord. I hear men say, make
Him Lord of your life. I don't have a life by nature.
I was born spiritually dead in my daddy Adam. I don't have a
life by nature. The Lord gives me life. He gave me spiritual life because
He's Lord and He's able to do so. He made Himself Lord unto
me. And I bowed. I bowed to Him. You recall the time when the
folks tried to take Him and make Him king? And He departed from
them? Man's not going to make Him king.
He is king. He is Lord. We're going to bow
before Him. Every knee's going to bow before
Him and confess it. but we're not going to make Him
Lord and King. He's Lord. He doesn't sit and
say that He wants to do something if you'll just let Him do it. He comes and binds the strong
man and spoils his house. He comes in and He takes up His
abode within His people without asking. He intrudes. He arrests. He does as He pleases
because He's the sovereign Lord of glory. All power is given
to Him in heaven and in earth. And also, the Son of God must
be preached as both God and man. Paul says here, He's made of
the seed of David according to the flesh. Why was that? Look
over at Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. Look in verse 14, Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14.
For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham."
Not the seed of Adam, the seed of Abraham, the spiritual seed,
the true sons of Abraham, God's elect. Wherefore, in all things
it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in
that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to
succor them that are tempted. He was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. And then to preach the Gospel
of God, he must be declared triumphant and victorious, for he has effectually
obtained eternal redemption for all those he represented. Look
here in verse 4 in our text. It says, he was made of the seed
of David according to the flesh, but he's declared the Son of
God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. raised Him from the dead because
He wouldn't suffer His Holy One to seek corruption. He raised
Him from the dead because He's pleased with His only begotten
Son. He shall see the travail of His
soul and shall be satisfied. And He raised Him to sit at His
own right hand. He's satisfied. Mission is accomplished. He's satisfied. And if the message
you and I hear preached is not concerning His Son, Jesus Christ,
our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh and declared the Son of God with power according to the
Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, then we have not
heard the gospel of God preached. Do you have to? Is there something
else? Are we going to be like the Israelites who wandered in
the wilderness and said, we're tired of this light bread. Give
us something else. We don't want just this bread.
We don't want just the bread from heaven. We want something
else. I hope by God's grace, I know
everybody in here in this room, the adults that I'm talking to,
I know, I've talked to you, and I've heard you talk to me, and
I know that you love the bread from heaven by God's grace. And
I pray it's always that way. I pray you never tire of Christ
our bread, our heavenly manna. If we ever get tired of hearing
Him, we're on dangerous ground. If we ever have to hear something
else, if we get to the point where it's not enough, we've
got to hear something else, we're on dangerous ground. Dangerous
ground. Thirdly, what does the preaching
of the gospel of God accomplish? Look here in verse five. It says,
by whom? By Christ Jesus the Lord. We
have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among
all nations for his name, among whom are ye also the called of
Jesus Christ. First of all, the free, unmerited,
distinguishing favor of God Almighty, grace, comes to hell-deserving
sinners by Christ Jesus the Lord through the preaching of the
gospel of God. It's through Christ, through
the preaching of His Gospel, that we receive grace. That we receive grace. Now, Paul
was an apostle. That is, he was called personally,
audibly, by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We don't have apostles
today. But nevertheless, you who believe
are also the called of Jesus Christ. You've been called by
the Lord Jesus Christ through the Spirit of God. You've been
called. And God chose preaching because
God always uses that which gives Him all the glory. He's going
to always use whatever means necessary that gives Him the
glory and man none of the glory. He chooses things that men would
look at and despise and reject and not consider to be of any
value whatsoever. And those are the ones that He
saves and those are the ones that He uses to preach the gospel.
A case in point right here. My father has always told me,
Clay, I have no idea how you could stand up and preach because
when I'm talking to you one-on-one, you can't hardly say a sentence
without stuttering and fumbling around. And that's right. I just
can't talk very well. But God chooses the best things
of the world. Turn to 1 Corinthians 1. 1 Corinthians
1. I rejoice in this. In 1 Corinthians 1, let's read
here and begin in verse 17, and let's read all the way through
here to the end of this chapter, and just listen to the wisdom
of God right here. Paul said, Christ sent me not
to baptize. Paul baptized people. He didn't send me to try to win
converts. He didn't send me out here to
try to get a bunch of people to join the church. That's not
why he sent me. But to preach the Gospel. Not with wisdom of words, that
is, not to figure out a way that I can say it to where it's just
not quite as offensive. That's wisdom of words. Because
if I did that, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none
effect. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it's the power of God, the deutymus, the dynamite. For it is written,
I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Where are they? Where are the
wise men? They got plenty of audience.
They got plenty of people that'll flock to hear. Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of this world? Listen. For after that in the
wisdom of God, the world by its wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Why? For the Jews require
a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ
crucified. Unto the Jews, it's a stumbling
block, and unto the Greeks, he's foolishness. But unto them which
are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and
the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God
is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble, are called. But God hath chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise." Are you a foolish
thing? It's talking about you and me. God's chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise. God hath chosen the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
and base things of the world, and things which are despised
hath God chosen, yes, and things which are not to bring to nothing
things that are. Why? That no flesh should glory
in his presence. But of God are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. You see why God
uses the preaching of the gospel? This is what we're doing right
now. This world calls foolishness. The wisdom of this world, this is foolishness to them.
The man who thinks himself righteous, He may use this book. He may
study this book. The scribes studied the Word
of God. The Lord said, for in them you
think you have life. You think because you can recite
these scriptures. You think because you have learned
TULIP, that you know something. You think because you can recite
all the doctrines of grace that you are somebody. You can make
a letter of the law out of anything. A sinner can make a make a a
letter of the law legalism out of even the doctrines of grace
and miss Christ altogether and miss Christ altogether. I've
been to a place in Rock Valley, Iowa, that is a Dutch Reformed
community. It doesn't have more than a thousand
people in it. It's got about four or five churches,
and every single one of them are five-point Calvinists. And
I know one church in that community that preaches Christ and Him
crucified. And the rest of them are as legal
as the freewill Baptists. They're illegal to the hill.
How can that be? Because their salvation is in
knowing the doctrine. It's in knowing the... It's the
same thing the Lord meant when He said, you search the Scriptures
for in them you think you have life. But they are they which
testify of Me, He said. We can't preach Christ without
preaching the doctrine of election. but we can preach the doctrine
of election without preaching Christ. That's right. Christ selected a people unto
salvation in Christ Jesus. He predestinated a people, but
he predestinated a people to be conformed to the image of
Christ. We can't preach the gospel without
preaching Christ, but we can preach a gospel without preaching
Christ. But God has brought to nothing
the wisdom of this world and he's done it through nobodies
like me that he takes and just a vessel that he's given a message
and he just speaks through the vessel. But the glory is of God,
not of the vessel. It's of God and not of the vessel. And to what end are we called
of Jesus Christ? Why is it that He would call
the people? Why is it that He would call
the people on this earth and use a man? Why would He use you
and me? Why would He do that? Look back
here at our text in verse 5. And look at these three words. For His name. You see that? in verse 5 for
his name. Look over at Acts 9 with me. Acts 9. Acts 9 and verse 13. You recall that whenever God
arrested Paul on the road to Damascus, he went to Ananias. The Lord Jesus Christ went to
Ananias and he told him this. Well, Ananias answered. Here's
what Ananias said. Verse 13, Then Ananias answered,
Lord, I've heard by many of this man how much evil he hath done
to thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from
the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the
Lord said unto him, Go thy way. For he is a chosen vessel unto
me to bear my name, to bear my name before the Gentiles and
kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great
things he must suffer for my namesake. Paul was arrested on
the road to Damascus for this reason, because he was a chosen
vessel unto Christ to bear His name. Paul says it right here. He says, by whom we have received
grace and apostleship for His name. To preach His name. To preach the Gospel of God,
which is to preach His name. And then again, not everybody's
preacher though. Not everybody's called to preach.
But we're all called. We're all called of God. And
everybody, without exception, who are called of God, who are
called of Christ, can bear his name. You recall the demoniac
that lived in the, of the Gadarenes? After the Lord came to him and
healed him, and he was seated and in his right mind, he wanted
to go with Christ. He wanted to be where Christ
was. And Scripture says, when he was coming to the ship, he
that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he
might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not,
but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how
great things the Lord hath done for thee and hath had compassion
on thee." You know what he told him? Go bear my name. Go tell them about me. And he
departed and began to publish in Decapolis how great things
Jesus had done for him and all men did marvel. When verse 5
says, for the obedience to the faith among all nations, it means
tell your friends how great things the Lord hath done for thee and
hath had compassion on thee. That's what obedience to the
faith is. Whether you're at your job, or you're at work, or wherever
you're at, and the Lord has obviously opened a door and somebody is
genuinely interested in the gospel. The best way to witness to a
person, to testify of Christ, is to simply tell them what Christ
has done for you. I mean, what better way to tell
them than that's what Christ told him to do. Go tell them
what Christ did for you. I was like that demoniac. I was insane. I thought I could
earn salvation by the works of my own hands. And God arrested
me. God brought me down to the dust
of my depravity. He brought me down to see exactly
what I am, a worm and a maggot before God Almighty. Not worth
anything, not worth enough to even call His name. And He gave
me a new heart. He gave me a heart and eyes to
see Him, and ears to hear the Gospel. And for the first time
I was able to go, now I know what He's been preaching this
whole time. All this stuff didn't make any sense to me whatsoever. I sat here for all this time
and listened and none of it made sense to me. Now I know what
He's saying. Salvation is of the Lord. Christ has put away my sins. He has risen and He is seated
at the right hand of God and He does live to make intercession
for me. He's all my salvation. He keeps
me now. He preserves me. He hides Himself
just long enough to make me cry out to Him so that I never stop
crying out to Him. And He keeps me. Always keeps
me. And He's going to bring me home.
And now I'm not obedient and working and do things because
I feel like I'm trying to earn a righteousness for Him. I want
to do them now out of gratitude because I see what great love
He's shown to me. It's not because I'm trying to
earn a righteousness. It's because I want to be obedient
to my Lord. I'm constrained by the love of
Christ. Just tell them what great things
Christ has done for you. So that's what Paul says is the
gospel. Paul said in another place, he
said, I'm jealous over you with godly jealousy for I've espoused
you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin
to Christ, but I fear lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled
Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. That word simplicity
there means the singleness of preaching Christ, of worshiping
Christ. Now listen to another scripture,
Matthew 6, 22. The light of the body is the eye. Isn't that right,
Hyman? The light of the body is the
I. If therefore that I be single,
single on who? If it be single on Christ, thy
whole body shall be full of light. Christ is that one thing needful.
And my sincere and earnest prayer is that you be taken up with
nothing but Christ and Him crucified. The gospel of God is the gospel
of His darling Son. All right, here.