If time goes on a few more hours,
or we live a few more hours, it'll be 2007. Seems like a long time from where
I started, 2007. I've chosen two messages today
if I don't change my mind or God doesn't change my mind. I
want to preach this morning about God's gospel. That's the only
one I'm interested in. Paul said in Galatians 1, verses
6-9, if any man, even an angel, were to come preaching unto you
any gospel, But that gospel that I preached to you when I came
to Galatia, he's not coming to bless you. He's coming to bring
you under the curse because he himself is cursed of God. There's one gospel. There never
has been another. There never will be another.
There never could be another. There's one gospel which satisfies
the claims of God. and satisfies Him for His people. Now, tonight, Lord Willard, I
want to preach to you about God's Son. The Gospel has to do with
Jesus Christ, who He is, and Him crucified, what He did. And if you have wrong ideas of
Christ, you just lost the Gospel. If you have wrong ideas of the
work he accomplished, or you don't know that he accomplished
anything, you just lost the gospel. So let's close out the year with
these two thoughts. God's Son and God's Gospel. God's Gospel and God's Son. I want to talk to you this morning
about God's Gospel. The only gospel there is. And
I want to begin reading to you in Acts chapter 20. And from Miletus, the Apostle
Paul sent to Ephesus and called for the preachers of the churches
there. And when they were come to him,
he said unto them, Now he knows he'll never see their face again,
and they'll never see his face again on this earth. And notice
how this meeting is conducted. If we had such a meeting in our
day, they'd probably have a celebration and a lot of music, a lot of
singing. But it wasn't so with the Apostle Paul. It was so dead
serious. So serious. When they were come to him, he
said to them, you know from the first day that I came into Asia,
after what manner I've been with you at all seasons, all times,
serving the Lord with all humility of mind, many tears and temptations
which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews, They followed
him from place to place just to stir up trouble and persecution
against him. And here I kept back nothing
that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have
taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and
also to the Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now behold, I go bound in the
Spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that should befall
me there, except that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city,
saying that bonds and afflictions, bonds and afflictions abide me.
I know that wherever I go, bonds and afflictions await me. But
none of these things, bonds, afflictions, imprisonments, none
of these things moved me. Neither can I my life dear unto
myself. Not even the fear of death, the
threats of death, death hanging over my head. None of these things
moved me. Neither can 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. And now, behold, I know that
you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God,
shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record
this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. I have
kept back nothing profitable. I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves
and all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseer. Feed the church of God which he hath purchased with
his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall
grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock, just
creating all kinds of havoc, also of your own selves. Shall men arise speaking perverse
things, draw away disciples after them, Therefore, watch and remember
that by the space of three years I cease not to warn you, every
one of you, night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend
you to God, to the word of His grace, which is able to build
you up to give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified.
And I could read on, but let me stop here to conserve time.
I have one gospel, and gospel means a message. Gospel in the
Scriptures is good news, glad tidings, and that indicates a
message. A gospel is not a feeling. A
gospel is not an emotion. A gospel is a message from God's
Word. A gospel is a message. And so
that's what we're looking for. And since gospel means good news,
whether it's good or bad, it's a message. It's a message. And so the gospel is a message,
a message from the Holy God to sinful men, from the God of heaven
down to the earth, message from God to man. Now, the Word of
God describes the gospel in several ways, and I'm going to read some
of them to you, just some of them. But listen to these descriptions. The gospel in Romans 1.1, as
David has indicated, it's called the gospel of God. That's what
I'm interested in, the gospel of God. And in the third verse
of that same chapter, it's called the gospel of God concerning
His Son. That's the gospel I'm interested
in, the gospel of God concerning His Son. Galatians 1.6-9, as
I indicated earlier, there's only one gospel. One message
from God to sinners. One message of salvation. That's
the gospel of God concerning His Son. Not a feeling. It's not an emotion. It's not
a ritual. It's not a ceremony. It's a message. A message. A message. I wish
that God, the Church, could understand that in our day. They need to
hear a message. They need to hear a word from
God. They don't need to be moved by some religious cheerleader.
They need to hear the truth. The truth just sets you free,
and nothing else. The truth as it is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Revelation 14, 6, it's called
the everlasting gospel, and that's what it is. There never has been
another, never will be another, never could be another. As I
stated earlier in this message, 1 Timothy 1, 11, and I love this. It is called the gospel of the
glory, the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. That's what
it is, the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. And on down,
Romans 1 16, it is called the power of God, the dunamis, the
dynamite of God, the power of God unto salvation to every believer. The power of God, the power of
God is in this message. It's not in our altar calls.
It's not in the cheerleaders persuading men. It's in this
message, which must be heard and understood and taken to heart. Believe it. With the heart man
believeth unto righteousness, when he hears this message of
Christ's righteousness, which is given us through faith in
His name. It is called in Romans 10, 15,
it's called the gospel of peace. That's what I want. This world
is not a place of peace. I sure do want a gospel of peace.
I want to have peace with God. I want to have peace in my heart.
And this gospel is a gospel of peace. Before Christ left, he
told his apostles, my peace I give unto thee. Not as the world giveth
peace, give I to you my peace, my peace. I want that peace. And then we go on, and Paul calls
it in one place, Romans 2.16, he calls it, my gospel. And I wish that everyone here
this morning could say, that's my gospel. That's my gospel. I am He as He is mine. That's
my gospel. The gospel of God concerning
His Son. Colossians 1.23 speaks of the
hope of the gospel. I wish all of you here this morning
had that hope. It's the only sure hope there
is, the hope of the gospel. And it is a sure hope because
it's in Christ. And in Ephesians 1.13, Paul writing
about the gospel, he called it the gospel of your salvation, the message of your salvation,
in whom ye trusted. After this, you heard the truth,
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. There's one other word that I'm
interested in this morning especially, that the Bible uses to describe
this gospel over and over and over. And it's the doctrine of
scripture from one end to the other, the gospel of the grace
of God. That's what Paul called it here,
Acts chapter 20. He said, all these threats against
me, stonings, imprisonments, persecutions, even the threat
of death, none of these things move me that I might finish my
course with joy and testify of the gospel of the grace of God. It's a gospel of grace. It's
a message of grace. It's not a message of what you
need to do. It's a message of what God has
done in Christ. It's not a message of doing.
It's not a message of works. It's a message of hearing and
believing. Message of hearing and believing. I want to talk
to you this morning, just a few minutes, about this good news,
this gospel of the grace of God. I like this word grace more and
more the longer I live because it's absolutely necessary to
my salvation. If I'm ever saved at all, it'll
be by the sovereign, free, almighty grace of God. It has nothing
to do with what I am, nothing to do with what I do. It has
to do with who God is, the great heart of God. and the gospel
of God concerning His Son, all written in free grace, sovereign
free grace, inscribed in the blood of His own Son, the gospel
of salvation. Gospel of salvation. I need grace. I love that word. I've always
loved it, even when I didn't understand it as well as I do
now. I loved it. Grace free. But in the context
of this passage, The great apostle to the Gentiles is on his way
to Jerusalem. He's hurrying because he wants
to get there before the Feast of Pentecost. And yet he takes
time to stop here at Miletus. And he calls for the elders of
the churches in Ephesus to meet him down there. And that's what
this chapter is about, their meeting. And it's so serious. It's not a celebration. It's
nothing to do shouting and singing. Let me remind you one more time.
Take this to heart. I have kept back nothing that
was profitable unto you. I have not shunned to declare
unto you the whole counsel of God. And I've told you before,
and I'll tell you again, I'll be wolves from without and within
trying to destroy you, destroy your souls. You feed on the word
of God. You feed on the gospel. Do you
remember how I warned you night and day with tears? It's serious. Don't let go of the Gospel. Hold
on to the Gospel. And so he stops here at Miletus,
calls for the elders, and this is the message that we have here.
You know, so serious in verse 20 and 27, he talks about Held back nothing profitable,
not shunned to declare the whole counsel of God. Take heed to
yourselves. Take heed to the flock over which
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. Feed upon the gospel. Feed upon the word of God. Verse
28. Be ever watchful. Be always remembering
how we warned you for three years, publicly and from house to house,
about this gospel. Don't believe another. Don't
turn away from this one. Don't pollute this one. The first thing I want to bring
out this morning is this. And I thought about this in light
of my own heart and my own conduct and was very much ashamed. The seriousness of Paul about
the gospel. Boy, that was his life. That
was his life. I've liked to think down through
the years that that's been my life, but not to the degree that
it was his life. I read to you just a portion
of the things that happened to him. Stoned several times, left
for dead, dragged outside the city, left for dead, beaten several
times, cast into prison, bloody whips on his back, threatened
with death. He said, the sense of death hangs
over my head wherever I go. He said, but none of these things
move me. Neither can I my life dear unto
myself. that I might finish my course
with your preaching this gospel, this gospel of the grace of God. That was more important to Him
than life. If I can't preach the gospel,
I'd rather be dead. For me to live is Christ than
to die is gain. God put me here to preach the
gospel. I have this treasure, this treasure in an earthen vessel. The gospel has been entrusted
to me. The Gospel is committed to my
trust. And it's required in Stuart's
that a man be found faithful. And I want to live and I want
to die preaching this Gospel. More important than anything
else, even life itself, that I preach this Gospel. More important
are the glory of God and my joy. He said, let men that count us
stewards, ministers of Christ, stewards of the mysteries of
God. Faithful stewards. And it's requiring the stewards
of the men be found faithful. Preaching the gospel. Living
according to the gospel. Verses 33 and 35 in this same
chapter. Consequently, he said, nothing's
going to turn me away from this gospel. Nothing's going to turn
me away from faithfulness. in the Lord Jesus Christ in upholding
and declaring this gospel and faithfully finishing my course.
And one day, he could write to young Timothy and said, my time's
come. I've finished my course. I've
kept the faith. Bless his heart. He was living
out his days testifying the gospel of the grace of God. not imprisonments,
not afflictions, not persecutions, not even the threats upon his
life, moved him one iota, deterred him or turned him aside. He just
pressed on preaching the gospel. Preaching the gospel. He was serious about the gospel.
Serious about the gospel. For to me, to live is Christ,
the gospel, and to die is great gain, great gain. The second point is this, and
I've made this into a question. Is there a great danger of being
moved away from the gospel of the grace of God? It looked like
when they heard it, they would never move away. They wouldn't
have a tendency ever to move away. But there is. It's a great
danger. Great danger. Great danger. Look what happened in Acts chapter
15. Some of the Jewish men of influence,
when the Gentiles had heard the gospel, they said, now we know
that you've heard the gospel, that you believe like we did,
were baptized like we were, you received the Spirit like we did.
But unless you keep the Law of Moses, unless you keep the Law
of Moses, you never enter the Kingdom of God. Never enter Heaven. And that makes the Gospel, turns
it into another Gospel. Another Gospel. That's what happened
in Galatia. Same, same evil. And there's
a danger that's worse than that. Paul said, both from without
and within the churches, there is a great danger. People departing
from that gospel of the grace of God, perverting that gospel,
turning away from that gospel of the grace of God, turning
back to a gospel of man's righteousness, man's works, man's doing, Look
at Colossians 1, just a moment. Colossians chapter 1. I want
you to turn here and see this. Colossians chapter 1. Verse 20, Christ having made
peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all
things unto Himself, by Him, I say, whether they be things
in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometimes alienated,
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled,
hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight. What a reconciliation made perfect
by the offering of Christ. Christ did it all. Now in verse
23, in the body of his flesh through death to present you
holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight. And there's a great
big if. Look at that if. If you continue
in the faith, grounded and settled in that gospel of the grace of
God, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel to another
hope, or add something to it. which ye have heard, which was
preached to every creature which is under heaven, where have I,
Paul, and made a minister, if ye be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel?" Look at one other place. And this is kind of explains
what this other verse is teaching. Chapter 2, verses 6 and 7. As you have therefore received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so continue to walk in Him like that, same
attitude, same frame of mind, same faith, same hope, as you
received Him, rooted and built up in Him, established in the
faith, as you've been taught. abounding therein with thanksgiving. Spurgeon used to say over and
over, the safest place for Spurgeon is to sit at the feet of Christ,
a guilty, dead dog sinner, just like I did when I first came
to it. If you become holier, more satisfied with yourself,
feeling more righteous before God, you're not walking toward
the light, you're walking toward darkness. You're walking away
from the light. And there's so many caught up
in that. They run into legalistic preachers
who just prescribe how to live and what to do and what not to
do. And when they comply, they feel better. They don't need
Christ near as bad as they used to because they're not as big
of sinners as they used to be. We came to Christ with nothing
but our sins. And we must sit in that same
posture until we're transformed into his image. We get to thinking we're better
and holier and more righteous. You're moving away from the gospel.
The gospel is for sinners. The gospel is for the ungodly.
The gospel is for the helpless and the hopeless in themselves.
The gospel says to those people, free forgiveness through faith
in Christ. Full, free forgiveness through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet there is danger, yes, there
is danger of being moved away from this Gospel. 2 Corinthians
11 verses 1-4. I'll go ahead and turn there. 2 Corinthians 11 verses 1-4. Wood to God, he says, Paul says
in verse one, wood to God. You could bear with me a little
in my folly and indeed bear with me because I'm jealous over you
with a godly jealousy. For I have espoused you to one
husband that I may present you to him as a chaste virgin, chaste
virgin. to Christ. But I fear, I'm afraid. You saints at Corinth, I'm afraid. I'm afraid. Lest by any means,
some means, somehow, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety
So your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity, the simplicity
that's in Christ. You add something to the gospel.
You believe that you've got to do this too. You believe that
you can't eat this kind of food and be a Christian. The simplicity
of believing to full justification. righteousness, reconciliation
unto God. Now listen, for if he that cometh
preaches another Jesus, and that's what I said in the beginning,
Jesus and him crucified, preaches another Jesus whom you
have not preached, or if you receive another spirit which
you have not received, or another gospel which you have not accepted,
You might well bear with him. He's being ironic here, but listen.
Look on down to verse 13. Verse 13. Such are false apostles
among these people, among us, among the church, in the church,
in every generation. Such are false apostles. They
are deceitful workers. They transform themselves into
the apostles of Christ. They put on, the best they can,
the robe of a sheep, an apostle. Try to act like apostles. Present
themselves before the church, before the saints as somebody.
And it's no wonder, for Satan himself is transformed into an
angel of light. Now, since you were a child,
those of you here, most all of you have heard about Satan. You've
seen caricatures of him with his horns and barbed wire tail
and stuff like that. That's not his business. His
business is a deceiver. Deceiver and imposter. And his disciples are just like
him. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers, Satan's
ministers, transform themselves into ministers of righteousness,
not preaching Christ's righteousness, but man's righteousness. Righteousness
through works, not simply faith in Christ, moved away from the
simplicity of the gospel, whose end shall be according to their
works. There is great danger in being moved away from that
one gospel. and the hope of that one Gospel
by adding something to it. What saith the Gospel? Old Ralph
Barnard said years ago, what saith the Scripture? That ought
to settle it. The Scripture says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You shall be saved. Not maybe,
not hopefully, you shall be saved. If you believe Him, if you trust
Him, if you put all your hope in Him, You shall not be disappointed. You'll be saved. Anything added
to that or taken from it is a perversion of the gospel. It's another Jesus. It's another gospel. It's another
spirit. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember that Philippian
jailer Randall Paul and Silas? Fell down before them and said,
Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ. You shall. What Romans 10 says,
with the heart, man believeth unto righteousness and justification,
salvation. Believing. Believing. What does
the Bible say about Abraham? Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. Believing is giving all the honor
and all the glory to God, putting all of our hope and all of our
trust in Him. That's it. Believing. Anything else is taking honor
to ourselves, looking to our works, looking to something about
us. Faith, look completely to Christ,
totally to Christ. Away from ourselves and to the
Lord Jesus Christ, for one to spend time in religion and become
more self-satisfied and self-confident before God based upon his own
work. That's another gospel. He's moved
away. He's moved away from the hope
of the gospel. I've been preaching a long time,
trying to pray, trying to preach, trying to be a Christian. And I don't have any confidence
in anything I've done all of my life. At the end of the day,
when I lay my head down on the pillar to rest, all of my hope is faith in Him, trust in Him,
hope in Him, rest in Him. I have nothing in what I've done. Everything I've ever done has
been full of sin. Oh, I've got a lot of confidence
in what He's done. Because the father looked at
him on different occasions and said, this is my beloved son
whom I'm well pleased. And that means he's well pleased
with those who believe on his son. Because we stand in the
righteousness of his son. What is the gospel of the grace
of God, my last point? What is the gospel of the grace
of God? Grace. Grace is of the very essence
of the gospel. It's inscribed in grace, written
in the blood of the Son of God. Sovereign free grace. The only
hope for a real sinner, the only comfort for a real saint, that's
all my comfort, Christ. Not what I've been, what I've
done, what I plan to do, all my hope is Christ. At the beginning
of each day, at the end of each day, and all in between, my hope
is Christ. Grace is the unmerited, listen
to this description, I've written it down carefully. Grace is the unmerited, undeserved,
free favor of God bestowed, bestowed upon guilty sinners. The God of glory appeared unto
our father Abraham when he was yet in Ur of Chaldea's wife.
Grace, it's the only answer I can give. He was an idolater living
in an idolater's home, but God appeared to him. Grace! And Abraham, come follow me.
He never said that to his neighbors. He only said it to Abraham. Come
follow me, and Abraham followed. All by the grace of God. Grace,
unmerited, undeserved, free favor of God, bestowed upon the ill-deserving,
hell-deserving sinner. Behold, 1 John 3.1, what manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called
the sons of God. Not just an offer bestowed upon
us. People today run all over the
country, these preachers and our followers, talking about
what they did when they claimed a promise, The Apostle Paul ran
all over the country talking about, when I obtained mercy,
I obtained it, it was bestowed upon me. I was going down to
Damascus Road, a hell-bound, hell-bent sinner, hating Christ
and everything about Christ. And God turned on the light,
bestowed grace upon me. That's what grace is. He said later in his life, I
am what I am by the grace of God. He turned me from a rebel
into a friend, into an apostle, into a servant, into a slave,
and I'm so thankful. I obtained mercy. Grace, he says, almighty grace,
turned me from a religious fanatic who hated the name and the followers
of Christ into his loving and faithful servant. Grace did that.
God's grace. He said concerning his ministry,
concerning his sufferings, concerning his labors, he said, the love
of Christ constrains me. I'm not seeking rewards. I love
Christ because I know I was once dead and he died for me and gave
me life. To me, Paul says, to me, to live
is Christ. That's my life. I count not my life dear unto
myself in declaring the gospel of the grace of God. Preaching that gospel is more
important to Paul than life. When God first thought of saving
sinners some place back in eternity, He had to be thinking in terms
of grace. Because Clarice, there was nothing
in us to cause Him to look in our direction. We are opposed
to everything God is by nature. He is just. We deserve His punishment. He is holy and we are sin. He is light, we are darkness. We hate what He loves and love
what He hates. By nature, that's what we are.
So His first thought of saving us had to be a thought of grace.
Love and grace. His motive had to be grace, to
the praise of the glory of his grace. Ephesians chapter one,
three times, to the praise of the glory of his grace. When he sent his only begotten
son to take our nature, to live out his days, to establish righteousness
for us, to take our sins upon himself and die in our place,
He had to be thinking in terms of grace. It couldn't have been anything
else. It had to be grace. Sovereign,
free, effectual grace. Loving darkness and hating light.
He had to work repentance in each one of us. repentance toward
God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. He had to give
us life and faith all by His almighty grace. For by grace
are you saved through faith. And that faith is not a works,
it's a gift of God. Gift of God. A poor sinner living
by faith, trusting the Savior according to the gospel of the
grace of God. Paul said, I commend you to the
grace of God, the word of God and the gospel, the grace of
God. That's what saves us. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
I'm found. I was blind, but now I see. You
know, every Arminian freewheeler in town sings that song, but
they don't understand it. That song gives all the glory
to God. How sweet to say it. Not an offer,
it's salvation. Brought salvation. I once was lost, the shepherd
came, sought me out and found me and brought me home. Oh, to
grace how great a debtor daily I am constrained to be. I say to all believers here this
morning, trust Christ. And I say to all unbelievers,
you trust Him today. You've never trusted Him before,
you trust Him today. Unless you can find something
better. Unless you can find a better hope. Trust Christ. Because I declare to you from
the Word of God, He's the only hope. The only true hope. Believers, as you receive Christ,
Just an old dead dog sinner through faith in His name. You just sit
right there throughout your days. A sinner trusting the Savior,
looking unto Jesus. And you unbelievers, you receive
Him right now, just as you are. Let not conscience make you linger.
nor a fitness fondly drained. All the fitness he requires is
to feel your need of him. Trust him.