All right, let's go back to the
text Brother Paul read a few minutes ago in Ephesians chapter
2. If you have that, just hold it there and then turn
back a couple of pages to Galatians chapter 3. I'm sorry, Galatians
chapter 1. Now the scriptures make abundantly
clear that there is but one gospel. One gospel. One does not have
to listen very long to determine that there is much more than
one gospel being preached, or so called. But the gospel, the one gospel
of God, is called the gospel of God concerning His Son. referred
to in scripture as the gospel of his grace. It's called the
preaching of the cross. It's called the gospel of Christ. It goes by different names, but
it's one gospel. It's one gospel. And Paul, in writing to the Galatians,
pronounced a curse on anyone who preached any other gospel.
except this one gospel. Look in Galatians 1 verse 6. It says, I marvel that you are so
soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel, which is not another. But there be some that trouble
you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. This other gospel,
so called, is a perversion of the true gospel, the gospel of
Christ. But though we, he says, are an
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that
which we have preached unto you, let it be accursed. And as we
said before, so say I now again, if any, any, preach any other
gospel unto you than that you have received, let him be accursed. So we have to be careful, we
have to be careful about hearing, receiving, and believing a perverted
gospel, a perverted gospel. Now the gospel, the gospel can
be perverted in many ways, in many ways. Quite often the gospel
is perverted by introducing law and works into it. Trying to mix law and grace. Introducing law and works either
as a means of justification or of sanctification. Some of the
early churches had this problem. The church at Galatia had it.
Some in the Roman church, in the Colossians. Sometimes the gospel is perverted
when men introduce man's methods in order to obtain results. The church at Corinth had that
particular problem. There are many ways the gospel
can be perverted. Oftentimes the gospel is perverted
by preaching false doctrine. But very often, very often the
gospel is perverted, and I think this is perhaps the most common
way in our day. It's perverted by what is not
said, by holding something back, by taking something away from
the gospel that offends the natural man. They hold something back. hold that back which offends
man and which removes the offense of the cross out of the gospel. And that's kind of what I want
to try to deal with for a few minutes this morning in this
text. I want to deal for a few minutes
with what is not said in many cases by those who profess to
preach the gospel. And in these verses that we read
before, I want to try to present to you six essential elements
of gospel preaching. Six essential elements of gospel
preaching. Now the very first one, the very
first one is this, and that is the extent of the fall. What
happened in the garden? what happened in the garden. You know, the gospel addresses
all men, all mankind as sinners. It makes no exception. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. And when we say
that to people, when we say that, the natural man hears that, it
offends him. His natural reaction is, well,
I just can't be that bad. I can't be that bad. And so he's
offended. His dignity is offended. Therefore,
most often when preachers talk about sin, if they talk about
it at all, they kind of make light of it. I was driving somewhere. a while back listening to the
radio and the announcer was talking about a survey that had recently
been taken. And it was talking about what
they thought would be the perfect preacher. The perfect preacher. And I won't give you all of what
they said, but I'll just mention a few things. What the first
thing was that he should be a young man, he should be about 30 years
old, and he should have 20 years experience. The second was that he should,
he should wear nice clothing, live in a nice house, drive a
nice car, and his salary should be about 20,000 a year. He should, well, a lot of other
things, but in his preaching, His preaching, he should preach
on sin, but not harp on it. That was the idea about the preaching.
Preach on sin, but don't harp on it. Mention it. Don't drive the point home. And
that's what most preachers nowadays do, sadly. They make light of
it. If they speak about sin at all,
most of the time it is limited to what people do. That's describing
the symptom, not the disease. And it's limited to something
that we can stop doing in order to obtain God's blessing. You
can stop lying. You can stop stealing. That sort
of thing. It doesn't deal with the inner
nature of sin. That what comes out of the heart
is what defiles us. that the thoughts of man's heart
are only evil continually. It's not just what he does, it's
what he is. It's what he is. They say that
sin has only slightly wounded us, but in no way hinders our
will. Oh yeah, we're sinners, but we
still have a free will, don't we? Well, our will is free. It's
free to act within the confines of its nature, just like any
beast of the forest is free to act within the confines of its
nature, so are we. But the question is, how are
you going to do good who are accustomed to doing evil? It's
not your nature to do good, not God good. On the other hand, they also
say that our will is not hindered, and neither is our ability. Well,
I can come to God if I want to, can't I? Yes, you can. The problem is
where you want to. You do not have the power to
effect the want to come to God. Now, that's not just something
I came up with. That's what our Lord declared.
You see, the Scripture tells us that the extent of the fall
was total and complete. The Scriptures address men not
as sick, merely sick, or not as merely wounded, but the Scripture
addresses sinners as dead. Dead, that's the way our text
begins. And you hath he quickened, you
hath he given life, who were what? Dead in trespasses and
sin. The Scriptures address us as
having a sin nature. Before God came upon us in mercy
and grace, before He gave us life, we walked according to
the course of the world, according to the prince of the power of
the air. Satan was our master. We followed the spirit that now
worketh in the children of disobedience. The Scriptures address us as
being saved from this condition. That's what Christ came to do,
and that's what He expects. Verse 4 says, But God, whose
rich in mercy for his great love were with, he loved us when,
even when we were, d-e-a-d, dead in trespasses and sin. It didn't
have anything to do with us being worthy of God's love. It was
strictly according to God's purpose to love, and he loved because
he would, and he loved in Christ. And He gave us life. He quickened
us together with the Lord Jesus Christ by whose grace we are
saved. That's the way Scripture talks
about sinners. And all beloved, listen. I'm
telling you now, when Adam sinned, he and all his posterity were
plunged into spiritual death. The Scripture declared that by
one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and
so death passed upon all men. When Adam sinned in the garden,
when he disobeyed God and stretched forth his hand and took of that
forbidden fruit and did eat, he plunged his self and his whole
posterity into eternal condemnation. He at that instant died spiritually
before God, and his sin As the representative of all his people,
he's the federal head of every living human being that ever
has been or ever will be except the Lord Jesus Christ. And his
sin was passed to all of his people. It was charged to them.
It was imputed to them. By the offense of one, the many
were made sinners. And not only so, Not only so,
but he imparted that sin nature to all his posterity. Because
it was after the fall when Adam begat children of Eve, and he
begat them in his own image. That's what Scripture says. So
we have sin imputed to us, and we have sin nature imparted to
us. And the result of that is we're
carnal. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can it be. We've got a real problem. We've
got a real problem. And people are glossing it over.
No wonder nobody's interested in a sovereign, sufficient Savior. All they need is an aspirin.
They don't need life, just an aspirin, a little bit of help.
Well, I'm telling you, that won't do a sinner any good. As a result of the fall, our
nature is not toward God, but away from God. We hide from God. We don't come
to God. Just like Adam, when he heard
God in the cool of the garden, he ran and hid. And it was God
who sought him, not him who sought God. And beloved, the fall affected,
now listen to me, the fall affected both our will and our ability. Our Lord himself said, you will
not come to me that you might have life. Need a little physical healing?
You got sick? They'll come for help there. Got a marriage problem? Come there. Need a new car? They'll come there. But not for
life. Not for life. You know why? They
think they already got it. Think they already got it. And
then our Lord very clearly said this. He said, No man, no man
can, see, no man can come unto me except the Father which sent
me draw him." Now, that's pretty clear, isn't it? That's pretty
clear. Now, beloved, this is necessary.
It's necessary preaching because in declaring the extent of the
fall to sinners is the means that God uses to kill all hope
of salvation by personal merit and personal works. A person has got to be brought
to the end of themselves before they'll seek help with that. They've got to be brought to
the place where they have no hope in themselves before they'll
ever have any hope in God's mercy. The second essential element
in preaching the gospel is the true character of God. Preachers
are not telling the truth about God. They present God as this
old grandfatherly type person looking over the banisters of
heaven who loves everybody and wants everybody to be saved. But he's not able to accomplish
his will. He's frustrated because man won't cooperate. That's hogwash. That's hogwash. I think I told
you before, I get so irritated when I hear people say God wants
to do something. I'm telling you, not the God
of Scripture. Not the God of Scripture. He's not frustrated. Whatever He wants, He does. I
purposed it. He said, I'll do it. I've spoken
it. I'll bring it to pass. Is anything
too hard for the Lord? You mentioned that in your class,
didn't you? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? You see, God is known by His
attributes which are revealed in Scripture, what He's been
pleased to reveal of Himself. And He's revealed in His Word
in just a few things. First of all is that He's omnipotent.
Who could stay His hand or say unto Him, what doest thou? Who's
stronger than God? Who could frustrate His purpose?
God is omniscient. Now, who? Who? He said, after
all, who first taught the Lord? Come on now. Who do you think
you are? Our God's omnipresent. How am
I going to get away from God? He's everywhere. If I ascend
into heaven, He's there. Into hell, He's there. If I take
the wings of the morning and fly to the outermost parts of
the earth, behold, He's right there. He's there when I get
there. Our Lord is gracious. Oh, bless
God, He's gracious. And our Lord is merciful. And
our God is love. But I'm telling you, beloved,
that the Scriptures very clearly indicate that our God is also
holy and just and sovereign. And our God, our God, never,
ever exercises one of His attributes at the expense of the other. His sovereignty and His righteousness
will never be overruled by His love for sinners. It won't be
laid aside. He'd have to cease to be God
in order to do that. He will never be gracious at
the expense of His justice. Well, I'm going to overlook that
sin because I want to save it. No, sir. Uh-uh. No, no. Mercy. Mercy will never be exercised
apart from His holiness and His truth. That's the character and
attributes of our God. And, beloved, what this means
is that if God saves, if God is going to save, then He must
do so in a manner consistent with Himself. Not consistent with what I think
or what men say, but with himself, with himself. Back to Exodus
chapter 34, if you would, for a minute. You remember Moses made that
request to the Lord. Lord, show me your glory. He'd
seen a lot of things. He'd seen those flags down in
Egypt. He'd seen the Red Sea opened up. Israel passed through on dry
ground. He'd seen Pharaoh and his army destroyed. He'd seen
bread from heaven. He'd seen water from the rock.
And yet he says to the Lord, Lord, show me your glory. And
God said to him, look in chapter 33, verse 18. He said, I beseech
thee, show me thy glory. God said, I'll make all my goodness
pass before you, and I'll proclaim the name of the Lord before you,
and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I'll
show mercy on whom I will show mercy. They told Moses what to
do, and Moses did. In verse 6 of chapter 34. And
the Lord passed by before him, and he proclaimed, The Lord,
the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the
guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
and upon the children's children, and to the third and the fourth
generation. Therefore, in order to be saved,
we've got to be made not guilty. God's going to be merciful and
gracious, but He won't clear the guilty. He will not clear
the guilty. Holiness is the standard, the
very holiness of God. The Scripture tells us in Hebrews
12, without holiness, no man will see the Lord. We've got
to have it. Justice has got to be honored.
Because God said, the soul that sins it shall surely die, and
die it must. and grace and mercy and love
is only exercised as it is consistent with God's truth and God's righteousness. But bless God in the Lord Jesus
Christ on the cross of Calvary, mercy and truth are met together
and righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Wonder, wonder
of God's grace and God's mercy. and God's love, and God's justice,
and God's holiness, all meeting together in perfect accord in
the person of His Son. I'm telling you, as a guilty
sinner, I'm interested in that. Aren't you? And beloved, since
all mankind, all mankind are concluded under sin, and none
of us is worthy of salvation in ourselves. Then God is absolutely
sovereign in this thing of salvation, having mercy on whom He will.
Do you understand what I'm saying? I hear sometimes, I hear these
hucksters on TV making, they're presenting God as if you do something,
God's obligated to do something for you. Now, if you'll just
pray the sinner's prayer, God will Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I don't find anywhere in here
where it says, now, sir, you repeat after me, you repeat these
words after me, and God will say, no, sir. Uh-uh. You can't do anything to obligate
God. How are you going to obligate
God? If God gives us what we deserve,
I'm telling you, every single one of us will spend an eternity
in hell. Because the wages of sin is death.
And God always pays his debts. Don't you ever doubt it. Ah,
but the gift, the gift, the free gift of God is eternal life through
our Lord Jesus Christ. But now you listen. He gives
it to whom he will. I'll have mercy on whom I will.
I will be gracious. No question. But I'll be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. And I will have mercy. But I'll
have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. That's the testimony of
Old Testament and New Testament alike. Turn back to Romans. Romans
chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. And that's exactly what this
chapter is dealing with, God's sovereignty and salvation. He talks about Abraham's children,
Isaac and Ishmael. Verse 7, he says, Neither because
they are the seed of Abraham are they all children, but in
Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh, that's Ishmael, was born according to the flesh.
These are not the children of God. But the children of the
promise are counted for the seed. Isaac was a child of promise.
A child of promise. At this time shall I come, and
Sarah shall have a son. Now she laughed. She laughed. She didn't think it was possible.
Ain't nothing too hard for the Lord. That's the way all of His
children are born. They're children of promise. Now, we brethren,
as Isaac was, are children of the promise. All of his children
are children of promise. They're children of grace. They're
miraculously born. He goes on in verse 10, Not only
this, but when Rebekah also had conceived by one, even by her
father Isaac, Rebekah bore twins, the children being not yet born,
neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of
God, according to election, might stand not of works, but of him
that calleth. The elder shall serve the younger. As it's written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. Those boys, neither
one of them done anything. They hadn't done any evil, hadn't
done any good. God made the choice. Sovereignly made the choice.
Well, what are you going to say? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Well, he said to Moses, we just read that a few minutes
ago, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, it's of God that
showeth mercy. The Scripture said to Pharaoh, even for this
same purpose, if I raise thee up, that I might show my power
in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the
earth. Therefore hath he mercy, on whom he will have mercy, and
whom he will he hardeneth." Somebody might say, you mean
to tell me God Pharaoh's whole being got brought into existence
for the express purpose of dumping him in the Red Sea and showing
his glory and salvation. That's what he said. Well, that
ain't fair. Well, why not? Why not? Time after time after time, God
sent Moses to Pharaoh. Thus saith the Lord, Let my people
go. You know what Pharaoh said? I
know not the Lord. And I will not let that people
down. Yes, you will. Yes, you will. You don't want
to, but you will. Now, beloved, I'm telling you,
God's sovereign in salvation. He'll have mercy on who He will.
Don't you think you can obligate God? Don't you think you can
do some little something or other and obligate God to have mercy
on you? No, sir. If God has mercy on
you, it'll be a gift of free grace. free, sovereign, effectual
grace. Now, the third element, third
essential element of gospel preaching. We've got to preach something
about God's purpose of grace and glory and salvation by Christ.
Just got to do it. Just got to do it. You want to
know, briefly comprehend it here in verses 6 and 7. God has raised us up together
with Christ, made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. And I hear these people talking
about doing this and doing that and doing something or other,
and you're going to have a bigger mansion in glory and wear a bigger
crown and get a bigger trophy. Now, you listen. You listen. I'm telling you the truth. Christ
is the reward of all His people. He's our reward. And concerning
trophies, concerning trophies, we're not going to receive a
trophy. We are the trophy. We're His trophies. We're trophies
of His grace. and will be so throughout eternity. God's going to show the exceeding
riches of His grace through Christ Jesus. How's He going to do that?
By His people redeemed from sin by the blood of Christ and sovereignly
saved according to the purpose and love of Almighty God. It's
all to the praise and the glory of His grace. Read Ephesians
1. You'll run into that phrase three
different times. to the praise of the glory of His grace, to
the praise of the glory of His grace. I hope, I hope by the
grace of God we have some understanding of that. I hope by the grace
of God that he's taught us that salvation is not by chance, salvation
is not by accident, it's not by man's will, not by man's works,
but it's according to God's purpose in Christ from all eternity.
It's according to his eternal purpose of grace in that eternal
covenant of grace and peace made with the triune God before the
world began. It's God who saves us and calls
us with a holy calling, not according to our work, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ before
the world began. But it's now made manifest by
the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has abolished death
and brought life and immortality to life through the gospel. Verse 9 of Ephesians 1 says,
"...having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according
to his good pleasure, which he hath purposed in himself." He
purposed it. He did it in himself. Ephesians 3 verse 9 says, "...he
is going to make all men see what is the fellowship of the
mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in
God, who created all things by Jesus Christ, to the intent that
now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might
be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the
eternal purpose which He purposed, which He purposed, all which
He purposed. In Christ Jesus alone. God saves
by purpose, by purpose. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are thee
called according to His purpose. Salvation is purpose of God,
by God. Salvation is in our Lord Jesus
Christ, and salvation is by His grace. We were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world, blessed with all spiritual
blessings according as He hath chosen us in Him. from before
the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1, 3 and 4. We're redeemed
by Christ, Ephesians 1, 7, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace. We're enlightened by Christ because
he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. We're
enriched by Christ because he's made known unto us, I'm sorry,
verse 11, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his only. We're called to Christ
by the gospel and by his Spirit, and when we believe, we're sealed
with the Spirit of promise. Verses 13 and 14. God has a purpose of grace. The fourth essential element
of gospel preaching is the person, power, and the work of our Lord
Jesus Christ. God is going to show the exceeding
riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Back in the end of chapter one, Paul prays for these people.
He says that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation for
the acknowledgement of Him. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His
calling, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the
same. what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who believe
according to the working of His mighty power, which He brought
in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, set Him at His
own right hand in heavenly places. He's far above all principality
and power and might and dominion and every name that's named,
not only in this world but that which is to come. He's put all
things under His feet. He's gave Him to be the head
over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness
of Him that filleth all in all. Everything God has for the church,
for His people, is to be found nowhere else but in the Lord
Jesus Christ. In the Lord Jesus Christ. We've
got to talk something about who Christ is. There's no reverence. There's
just no reverence in most preaching. concerning our Lord Jesus Christ.
Mostly Jesus this, Jesus that, like I'd say Paul, or David,
or Sam, or Charlie. No reference. Well, I'm telling
you, beloved, better find out who He is. The apostles, the
disciples, they didn't address Him that way. Now, when speaking
about Him, they referred to Him as Jesus, to identify Him as
that despised one, Jesus of Nazareth. But when they spoke to Him, when
they addressed Him, you know what they said? Lord, Master. You can see that irreverence.
That's why we've got to tell people who He is. Who He is. God has spoken unto us by His
Son. He's the Son of God. Did you
know that? He's the Son of God. He's the heir of all things.
He's the brightness of God's glory. He's the exact image of
His person. He's God! He's God manifest in the flesh.
He's that great mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He's the eternal Word that was
made flesh, spoken of by God. He's the one of whom Paul said
in Romans 11, 5, He's God over all, blessed forever. Amen. So
be it. So let it be. He's my Lord. He's
the one Thomas, when he finally found out who he was, you remember
what he said? My Lord and my God. And he wasn't corrected
either. The eternal God, oh listen beloved,
the eternal God became a man. Became a man as the substitute,
the Redeemer, and the Savior of every single one whom God
gave Him. It's because the children were
partakers of flesh and blood that He took part in the same.
It's according to God's purpose that God, in the fullness of
time, sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.
Why? To redeem them that were under the law. Let's talk about
His person. He's the God-man mediator. Let's
talk about His power. Did you know He created all things?
Did you know He sustains all things, that they're all made
for Him? That's so. Oh, that's so. Colossians
1 tells us that by Him were all things created. By Him all things
consist, and they were created for Him. He has power. You're nothing. Won't you have pity on poor little
Jesus? I'm telling you, you've got the
wrong one. You've got the wrong one. He carried His cross. to Calvary's hill, and those
women following were weeping. He said, Don't weep for me. Don't
weep for me. Weep for yourselves. He has power
as a creator. He has power to save. He's able
to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him. He's
able to keep. All the Father giveth me, he
says, shall come to me. I won't cast them out. I'm going
to keep them. I give my sheep eternal life,
and they'll never, never, never perish. He's able to raise our
vile bodies. Did you know that? These old
bodies are going back to the grave, going to return to the
dust, and He's able to raise them and fashion them like His
glorious body. That's what Scripture says. He's
able to present us faultless before the presence of His...
Can you imagine that? I died in a wolf's center like me. Our
Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord, my King, my God, my Savior, my Redeemer,
my All in my All, you know, He's able to take even somebody like
me and put me right before the throne of God, and even God,
who knows all things and sees all things, cannot find one fault
in me. That's how powerful He is. Now, that's the kind of Savior
I need. I don't know about you. Well, I do. I do know about you. I don't know what you know about
your sins, but I know what kind of Savior I need. Because God
has enlightened the eyes of my understanding about Him, and
about me, and about God. Has He done it for you? Oh, I
hope so. I hope so. Our Lord has power to forgive
sin. Did you know that? They brought a paralyzed man
to Him one time, couldn't get close to Him, so they took the
roof off and laid it down in front of Him. He looked at Him
and said, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee." And all they just had
to fit. Who is this to forgive sin? Only
God can do that. He's blaspheming. He looked around
and he said, now, which is easier? Which is easier? To say, thy
sins be forgiven thee, or to say, take up your bed and walk?
Well, it's easy to say, Eric. If I say your sins are forgiven
you, ain't nobody here to prove me wrong. Now, you paralyzed
man landed here, and I say, take up your bed and walk. And you
don't, let no one lie. And he said that you may know
that the Son of Man hath power to forgive sins on earth. I say
unto thee, this paralyzed man, take up your bed and walk. And
you know what he did? He got up and took up that bed, and
away he went. He got power to forgive sin.
Power to forgive sin. In fact, he has all power in
heaven, in earth, and under the earth. And all, all, let's just
say all, is under him. And then that he put all under
him, he left nothing that's not made subject to him. Our Lord
is a ruling, reigning king, and it's not going to be. He is right
now. His work, his work, Hebrews 1-3, when He by Himself
purged our sins. Who did it? He did it. What did
He do? Purged them. What did He purge? Our sins. The work's finished. How do you know? Because He sat
down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. His life of obedience as a man
under the law, He satisfied the law's demands for righteousness. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. And by His obedience unto death,
He made atonement for sin and satisfied justice. But now what? In the end of the world, hath
He appeared to put away sin? How? By the sacrifice of Himself.
Did He do it? By one offering He hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. How did He do it? Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us. And the work's finished. It's
finished. He says it's finished. Sins,
prayers are put away. Righteousness is established,
and He's the seated reigning King. Salvation is finished,
and His people are seated in Him and with Him right now, positionally. Positionally, God sees us in
Christ's right name, all His people, even those He hasn't
yet called. God saw me in Christ long before
I was born, even from eternity. You too, if you're one of His. The fifth element, the fifth
element, full and complete justification through faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ without works. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, it's not
of works lest any should boast. Salvation is received through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Therefore, we conclude
a man is justified by faith without the disease of the law. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Being justified freely by His
grace through the redemption that's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith has an eye to the blood and righteousness of Christ.
God set him forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Isn't that right? Isn't that
what Scripture says? That's what it says. That's what
it says. Justification by faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ enables God to be both just and justifier.
Isn't that what Scripture says? That's what it says. Romans 3.26. Salvation is free. Justification
by faith excludes all boasting and gives all glory to God. Justification
through faith in a crucified, risen Redeemer honors and establishes
God's holy law. Do we then make void the law
of God? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. Justification by Christ through
faith opens salvation to all. You hear me? It opens salvation
to all who want it. All who want it. I don't care
if you're a Jew, by nature, or a Gentile. Justification by faith doesn't
shut out anybody except those who will not believe. Justification through faith in
Christ makes the promise of salvation, the promise of righteousness,
the promise of life. sure to all of God's seed. Therefore,
it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end, the promise
might be sure to all of the seed." Romans 4.16. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
will be saved. He that believeth not will be
damned. The sixth essential element,
and I'll quit with this, is the character It's the character
of regeneration and the new birth. Verse 2. We are His workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. That's the character of the new
birth, the character of regeneration. Now listen, salvation is not,
listen to me, this is what it's not. This is what it's not. It's not the old man anything. It's not the old man educated.
People say, well, all we need to do is give them a better education,
teach them a little doctrine. No, it's not the old man educated.
Well, you just need to reform, clean up your lives, quit some
bad habits, pick up some notes. It's not the old man reformed.
Well, you need to make a decision. No, it's not the old man deciding.
Well, you need to make a profession. Well, it's not the old man professing. Even some people say, well, if
you can profess with the help of the Holy Spirit, implying
that if the Holy Spirit helps you to profess, that that's salvation,
that's regeneration. It is not. The old man always acts according
to its nature. I'll tell you what that is. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh. Can't ever be anything
but that. Can't rise above that. Well,
what is salvation? What is the character of regeneration
in the new birth? Well, I'll tell you what it is.
It's a creation work of God the Holy Spirit. It's God creating
something out of nothing. That's what creation is. Did
you know that? God created the worlds. He spoke them out of
existence. Out of things which didn't exist before. And God the Holy Spirit creates
anew creates us anew in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, He gives a
new heart. In this creation work, He gives
a new heart, a new spirit. He gives a new nature, the Christ
nature. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. This salvation work, this regeneration,
this creation, Is the new man, now listen carefully, is the
new man acting according to the new nature? It's not the old man doing anything.
It's the new man acting according to the divine nature, the new
nature. It's the new man. Now listen
to me, I'm telling you the truth. It's the new man that believes,
not the old man. Well, I believe God. Well, if
you do, I'm telling you, you're a new creature in Christ. It's the new man, the new nature
that loves Christ. The old man's enmity against
him. It's the new man that loves his gospel. Oh, yeah. You know who loves
the message of grace and mercy in Christ? Those who've experienced
it. You know who loves election?
The elect. You know who loves predestination?
The predestinated. You know who loves God? His children. It's the new man. The new man
loves the people of God. They have the same nature. There's this attraction. It draws
them together, just like we're drawn to natural family. The
same in the divine. We're drawn to the divine family,
the spiritual family. It's the new man. Now you listen
to me. It's the new man who worships God in spirit and truth. The
old man can't do that. To begin with, he doesn't have
the spiritual capacity for it. And the second thing is he hates
truth. the truth of God. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. Created in Christ Jesus on two
good works. You know what these good works
are? Well, I'll tell you what the first ones are. Believing on Christ. Loving God. Loving Christ. Loving his gospel.
Loving his people. That's the first good works.
They are ordained to as many as were ordained to eternal life. You know what they did? They
believed, didn't they? Turn back to Galatians 3. Now,
I want to leave you with a... I hope that there's someone here
who does not know Christ. I hope the Lord, by these words,
has shut you up. had just shut you up and laid
you in the dust this morning, because if He has, there's hope
for you. As long as you're still rebelling against God, swinging
your shotgun, declaring war on God and against Christ and His
gospel, you haven't been brought down
yet. He bringeth down, then He lifts up. But if you've been
brought down, I want to leave you with some words of hope.
Some words of hope. Remember, I told you it's the
new man that believes, that loves. Huh? That's the new man. Do you
believe? You believe the gospel? You believe
God? You believe Christ? You love God? You love the people
of God? You love the gospel of God? If
you do, I'm telling you, you're a new creature in Christ. He's
already brought that work on you. Because you can't do that
unless he has. Well, I don't think I've got
it, but I sure would like to have it. Because I know I'm the center. Well, look, Galatians 3 verse
21. Paul's dealing with the law.
You know, a lot of people trust in the works of the law. Rich young Ruth. All these have
I kept from my youth. Thought he had it, didn't he?
Yet one thing thou lackest. The Lord just used one instance
to show him that he was a liar. That his hope was false. He said,
verse 21, is the law then against the promises of God? Oh, no,
no, no, don't ever think that, God forbid. If there had been
a law given which could have given life, barely, truly, righteousness
should have been by the law. If you can keep the law of God
perfectly, you'd be saved by it. You don't need to be saved.
You don't need salvation, because you've honored God's law. But
the Scriptures have concluded all under sin. You, me, my daddy,
my mommy, my children, yours too, my neighbor, other side
of the world, top to bottom, east to west, north to south,
all understand. That's what God says. You all
understand. That's good news. That's good
news. That the promise, the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ, might be, and don't miss this word,
G-I-V-E-N, given. The promise of faith, the promise
of life by Jesus Christ might be given to them that what? Work? No. Do something about
it. Believe. Believe. Believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. May God grant it to be so. For
the glory of His grace. Amen.