In the Gospel accounts, the four
Gospels written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and in regard
to what they say and to their absolute accuracy, we must also
say, written by the Holy Spirit of God, so that they are without
error from start to finish. But in these four accounts of
the birth, life, ministry, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension
of our Lord Jesus Christ, there are a great many extremely interesting
revelations that are made to us concerning our Lord while
he lived and ministered in this world, in a human body, God in
human flesh, in the person of the God-man, our Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 15 of Luke chapter 4,
we have this statement, which is illustrated numerous times
in all of the four Gospels, that our Lord Jesus made it a deliberate
habit to find Himself in a Jewish synagogue on the Sabbath day. Now, I'm not here preaching Sabbatarianism. I'm not telling you that today
is a Sabbath, because it isn't. Once our Lord Jesus died on Calvary's
tree, Christ became our Sabbath. But our Lord found himself in
the Jewish synagogues, and verse 15 declares, And he taught in their synagogues,
being glorified of all. Now that is mighty, mighty wonderful. But if you've learned how to
read your Bible, you know that you've got to take more than
one sample to come up with the truth, no doubt, without question. Our
Lord was often glorified among men, but the very same persons
who shouted His praise today, tomorrow were heard to say, Crucify
Him, Crucify Him, give us Barabbas. But in Luke chapter 4, we need
not even wait that long to find out that this is not the whole
story. He was glorified of all. Because
in the very next verse, we find our Savior has returned to the
village of Nazareth the very first time since He left to begin
His public life and ministry. And He comes back to Nazareth,
wouldn't you know it, on a Sabbath day. And so where do you think
we'll find Him? in the Jewish synagogue. Now if anybody in all the world
ought to glorify and honor and magnify the Lord Jesus, it ought
to be this tiny little village of Nazareth where He spent thirty
years living in this world from infancy to manhood. But alas,
that is not to be the case. So let's just read it now beginning
at verse sixteen. And he came to Nazareth, where
he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into
the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto
him," the King James says, the book of the prophet Isaiah, The
word literally reads, the robe, as in the scroll of the prophet
Isaiah. Our Lord, unable to practice
what some preachers I've heard of practice, they just close
their eyes and wherever the book opens, that's where they're supposed
to be. Our Lord did not subscribe to such stupidity. He deliberately
found exactly the place where the following words were written. When he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, quote, Isaiah chapter
61, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, or to rephrase
that, to preach the year of Jubilee. Jubilee. That means you're set free. All debts are canceled the year
of Jubilee. And he closed the book and gave it again to the minister
and sat down. And the eyes of all them that
were in the synagogue were fastened on him. I remind you, these people
knew Him. Some of them were kin to Him. All of them knew Him and knew
Him well. And He began to say unto them,
This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. that which Isaiah
wrote over 700 years ago, is right now today fulfilled in
your ears. In essence, he is telling them,
I am the one of whom the prophet wrote. I am the long-promised
and long-expected Messiah, the Christ of God. And all bear him
witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded
out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's
son? Well, to be strictly speaking
the truth, no, he's not. He's Joseph's stepson, but our
Lord Jesus, in his human nature, has no human father. conceived of the Holy Ghost in
the womb of Mary, born with a human nature without sin. Is not this Joseph's son? And
our Lord said unto them, You will surely say unto me this
proverb, Physician, heal yourself. That is to say, whatsoever we
have heard done in Capernaum, that do also here in your country. Show us your credentials. Prove
to us who you are by works of miracles." And our Lord said,
verily, amen, I say unto you, no prophet, even when that prophet
is the Son of God, is accepted in his own country. But our Lord did not end his
words at the end of verse 24. I remind you that the persons
to whom these words were addressed were people very much like ourselves,
church-going people, fine, upstanding people in the community, pillars people with large extended families,
no doubt, with great influence over a lot of people. Our Lord begins in verse 25. But I tell you of a truth. Many
widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah. Pardon me, the
New Testament gives us a different rendering for the name Elijah
simply because of the change of language from the time of
the Old Testament to the New. But to keep it from being confusing,
to make sure we understand to whom it is that our Lord speaks,
I think it is far better for me just to tell you that it's
Elijah, Elijah. There were many widows in Israel
in the days of Elijah. When the heaven was shut up,
three years and six months, three and one half years, not a single
solitary drop of rain. When great famine was throughout
all the land, But unto none of those widows, to none of them
was Elijah sent, save, except, only unto Sarepta, a city of
Sidon, a Gentile city, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers
were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. Elijah's
predecessor, Elijah's successor, Elisha the prophet, and none
of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. Many lepers in Israel, none healed
by the prophet Elisha, only Naaman the Syrian. Our Lord's message to these people
in the synagogue at Nazareth goes far deeper than sustaining
poor widows and healing leprosy. Our Lord's message is without
question this. God is sovereign in his mercy
and grace in Christ. He saves whom he pleases. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." These people understood clearly
what our Lord is saying. They said You'll have to do here
what we've heard that you did in Capernaum. And we won't believe
it until we see it. And our Lord said, you don't
have God on a string. We don't say to Him, you'll have
to do this in order for me to do this. No. Precisely the reverse
is due. The reverse. So look at the words,
the response of these persons. All of a sudden, these well-dressed,
courteous, kind, gentle people became absolute monsters just
like that. Verse 28, And all they in the
synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath,
and rose up and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto
the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they
might cast him down head first. But miraculously he passing through
the middle of them went his way." So our Lord vows to never go
in another synagogue. Well, let's see if that's the
case. Verse 31, He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee,
and taught them on the Sabbath day. Unfazed, unchanged, thank
God our Lord still has mercy for sinners. O Lord God of heaven and earth, the God of the Bible, the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, in myself, in ourselves, we are exactly like those people
in the synagogue in Nazareth. If we are to be any different, if our response to your salvation
and to the sovereignty of your grace is to be any different,
Lord, you must yourself make me to differ. Oh, that you would open the eyes
and ears of our heart, that we might behold the wonders
of your grace and mercy in the Lord Jesus to poor sinners. that we abandon forever our feeble
attempts to find anything in ourselves to recommend us to
you, but that instead of looking in ourselves, we look at the
great Redeemer, the Lord Jesus, and find in Him everything that
we need. Lord, we gather in this house this
morning to open this holy book and to speak of your Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ. For this work, both on the part
of preacher and hearer, none of us are equal to. We beg mercy
from above, the power and ministry of Your Holy Spirit upon our
hearts, that You would create in us an entirely new person in Christ,
and that our souls with great delight would give You all the praise
and all the glory through the Lord Jesus Himself. Help us,
we beg, for Christ's sake. Amen. Now if you'll go back to
Luke's Gospel, this time to chapter 7. Luke chapter 7. I wish to read a short passage
though I must confess that my readings are never short, not
as short as I think they would be or could be. But nonetheless, there is an
important parallel passage in Luke's Gospel, this time in chapter
7, in which the Lord Jesus is found in the house of a Pharisee. This time we do not find Him
in the synagogue or even, for that matter, in the temple. But
he's been invited to the home of a Pharisee for supper. Beginning
at verse 36 in Luke chapter 7, here is a very interesting occurrence
in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ, hopefully
under the hand of God's good mercy and grace to us. This will
be of help to us in regard to ourselves and the Lord Jesus. Verse 36, And one of the Pharisees
desired him, the Lord Jesus, that he would eat with him. And
he went into the Pharisee's house and sat down to eat. Actually,
this is a reclining position, but the King James says sat down,
but you'll see in a moment our Lord's feet are behind him. stretching
out behind him, he reclined to eat this meal with this man,
as was the custom in those days and in this man's house. And
behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner. Now you know
and I know there's no woman in any city, or man for that matter,
that's not a sinner. But this is a designation that
she is in All capital letters, as we would say, a sinner. She's
a woman, perhaps you would say, with a reputation. A woman in the city which was
a sinner. When she knew that Jesus sat
at meet in the Pharisees' house, of all places, for her to go
to the Savior in the Pharisees' house. The most unfriendly place
in that whole part of the world. would be to go and fall at Christ's
feet in the house of a Pharisee. She brought an alabaster box
of ointment or perfume and stood at His feet behind Him. Now you understand sitting, His
feet are not behind Him. Reclining, they are behind Him.
Stood at His feet behind Him. weeping, and began to wash his
feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head,
and kissed his feet, and anointed them with this perfume. Now when
the Pharisee, which had invited our Lord, saw it, he said to
himself, he said within himself, he had these thoughts, if he were really a prophet,
if he was a real prophet, he would know that this woman is
a notorious sinner. This man, if he were a prophet,
would have known who and what manner of woman this is that
touches him, for she is a sinner. And Jesus answering said to him,
to the Pharisee, calling him by name, ìSimon, I have somewhat
to say unto you.î And Simon said, ìMaster,î what else could he
say? ìSay on.î He did not dare say, ìWell no,
you canít say it.î Verse 41, ìOur Lord gives to
this man and to the persons gathered in this house This parable of
this person who loans money and who has two people that owe him
money, neither one of them have the ability to pay. There was
a certain creditor which had two debtors. And by the way,
that real creditor is God Almighty, and the debtors are you and me, all of us. without any exception,
whatever. One owed him 500 pence, let's
just call it dollars, so it'll be easier, 500 dollars. The other
owed him 50 dollars. One owed him ten times more than
the other. But if you're broke, you're broke. And when they had nothing to
pay, this creditor, frankly, freely forgave them both. Our Lord's question to Simon,
tell me therefore, which of them will love this creditor most? And can't you see that our Lord
has just extorted these words out of this man's mouth? This
is the last thing he wants to say, but he has to say it. He said, I suppose that he to
whom he forgave most. And our Lord said to him, You
have rightly judged. And the Savior turns to the woman
and speaks to Simon as he looks at this woman. Do you see this
woman? I entered into your house. You
gave me no water for my feet. which was a simple, common courtesy
in that day. But she's washed my feet with
tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. You gave me
no kiss. Now, you've seen on television,
I know in the news, when these Arab people greet each other,
they kiss on both sides. I mean, you know, it's just almost
revolting sometimes, but this man gives the Lord Jesus no greeting. You almost say, well, why did
he invite him? All I can say is because it was
God's purpose. I'm not sure Simon could tell
you why he did it, and I'm certain after it's over he could have
said, I wish I hadn't. You gave me no kiss, but this
woman since the time I came in has not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil you did not
anoint, but this woman has anointed my feet with ointment. Wherefore
I say unto you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she
loved much. But to whom little is forgiven,
the same loves little. And our Lord said to the woman,
Your sins are forgiven. And those that sat at this meal
with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that
forgives sins also? And our Lord said to the woman,
Your faith has saved you. Go in peace. Now with these two passages in
the background, the one in chapter 4, the Lord Jesus in the synagogue
at Nazareth, and here in Simon the Pharisee's house with the
parable of the creditor with two debtors, neither of whom
is able to pay, and he completely forgives the debt for both of
them. I wish, with these passages as backgrounds, to talk to you
simply and plainly about the real, true gospel, the one that
is set forth most prominently in the four gospels and, in a
general sense, is set forth in every book in our Bibles. Now
listen carefully. God has only one gospel. There's no Old Testament gospel
and New Testament gospel. There's just one. Just one. And that gospel concerns God's
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is in Christ, by Christ, to
Christ, and from Christ that all of God's mercies flow to
sinners. And this is certainly powerfully
illustrated just in these chapters that we've looked at this morning.
But anywhere you wish to go in the four Gospels and anywhere
else in the Scriptures, you will run into this time after time
after time after time. This is the Gospel by which Abraham
was saved. It is the Gospel by which Paul
was saved. And it will be the Gospel by
which any man will be saved or he will not be saved. But there
are some prominent, distinguishing characteristics that described
for us in unmistakable terms what this true gospel is. Just as when we read Luke chapter
4, by the time we finished that, it was unmistakable what had
taken place in that synagogue in Nazareth. Those people had
lost total control of themselves. Their hatred for God and for
His mercy and grace in Christ overwhelmed them to the extent
that they physically took our Lord Jesus up and carried Him
to the edge of a precipice on the side of the mountain and
would have thrown Him down headlong had He not miraculously delivered
Himself and passed right through the middle of them. Now good,
upstanding, moral people don't behave like that on a regular
basis. But when you are confronted or I am confronted with this
gospel that is all of grace because it is all of Christ, somehow
the wraps are taken off and we are exposed for what really lies
within our heart. And every man by nature has this
same hatred of salvation by grace alone in Christ alone. All right, so I just have three
points. If I can possibly get to these three things, I know
that The time is limited. The first one is this. This true
gospel declares that all men, without exception, are lost. Lost. Totally lost. Incapable, altogether incapable
of assisting in any way in our recovery. If the Bible teaches
anything at all, it teaches us that we are fighting against
God's grace instead of cooperating with His grace. But preachers
in our generation do not know the true gospel. So the gospel
that we have on our hands in our day is one that says, if
you'll do this, God will do this. And I tell you, it is totally,
100 percent false. It is not grace. It is not grace. When you boil it down and when
it's finally exposed for what it is, it is salvation by human
works. The Scripture says God saves
sinners by grace in Christ. So the first distinguishing mark
that the gospel everywhere it goes proclaims is that all men,
universally speaking, without any exception whatsoever, every
human descendant of Adam is lost. Hopelessly, helplessly lost. And only God can change this.
We cannot change it. We do not want to change it.
If we could have our own system as to how we are saved, we'd
all be saved. But that, my friend, is not how
it works. All right, if you'll join me
in turning to a scripture or two, I'm going to have to leave
out some, but I'm turning to Romans chapter 5. Just to make
this one point, Romans chapter 5. And if you'll hang on to Romans,
we'll look at chapter 3 in just a moment when we come to the
second thing about this gospel that is all of grace, because
it is all of Christ and all of God. Romans chapter 5 and verse
6. Now the glory of salvation by
grace through Christ is that God does not wait for us to do
anything But He Himself moves by virtue of what He is in Himself. It is God's purpose in grace
to save poor sinners in Christ. So when we come to verse 6 in
Romans chapter 5, when we were yet still without strength, Christ
In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. And that's the only kind of human
beings that he died for, the ungodly. If today's gospel were
true, you'd have to change this. It would have to say he died
for the godly. But I tell you, you know this
without me telling you, But I want to make sure you realize this.
Those people in Luke 4 were considered godly. But they were not godly. They
hated God and His grace in His Son, the Lord Jesus. So Paul makes much of this fact
in Romans 5. where he is telling us that we
are justified by faith. In verse 1, we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ. For when we were still without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. We do not
then cooperate, turning to Romans chapter 3, we do not give God
help in this work of salvation. Christ Jesus the Lord is the
one and only Savior, and He does not and will not accept our help. The truth is, if He did, we would
not give it. But we imagine that we're not
like these people that we read about in the Scriptures, when
the truth is, we are their absolute identical twins. All right, Romans
chapter 3. Here's the second thing about
the gospel. The Gospel declares that everyone,
without a single exception, is completely undeserving in every
instance and in every case, we are completely undeserving of
God's mercy. There's not a single exception
to this. No, not one. We're undeserving. There can be no such thing as
deserving. If it's grace, it cannot be deserved. If it's mercy, it cannot be deserved. It is to the undeserving. So
here's a simple statement. You've known this for all your
life. But to know the depths and meanings of Romans 3.23,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. I have, you have, I do, you do. We come short of the glory of
God. That is to say, if there's one
thing that we're thieves at, and we might be honest in every
other capacity of our lives, but there is one matter in which
you and I have a common bond in thievery, and that is we want
to steal the glory of God Almighty. That's what sin is. is about,
for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." What
happened in that Nazarene synagogue on that day in Luke chapter 4?
Those people wanted to rob God of His glory as revealed in the
person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. They said, we will not have this
man reign over us. And every man has that same philosophy
and that same thought in our minds that we will not have Christ
to reign over us. You see, this gospel is not one
that men can deserve. It is totally undeserved. It
is completely 100% unmerited favor. It must be by its very
nature. The issues of such are such that
it cannot be otherwise. So this Gospel declares that
all without exception are completely undeserving in every single case
and not one single solitary exception. Put yourselves in the shoes of
that parable that we read in Luke chapter 7. We are indeed
debtors, debtors to God of an infinite debt. Let's go back
to Luke just a moment if time will allow us. I want you to
look at chapter 18. Here's another revealing picture
of ourselves and God's mercy. In this famous parable that our
Lord gives in Luke chapter 18 that begins in verse 9 and goes
through verse 14, He paints for us in words, our Lord paints
two portraits for us. The one is the portrait of a
Pharisee, and the other is the portrait of a publican. Just
like in Luke 7, we have a picture of Simon, and we have a picture
of this woman. Look with me now in chapter 18
of Luke, beginning at verse 9. Our Lord spoke this parable unto
them which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and
despised others. Two men went up into the temple
to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a Republican. The Pharisee
stood and prayed thus with himself. Here's what he said. Our Lord
puts these very words on this man's tongue, God, I thank you
that I'm not like that I'm not as other men are,
I'm not like other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, and I'm definitely
not like this publican. I'm different. And I made myself different.
And I expect to be rewarded for what I've done, for my efforts.
It was not easy. But I've done this myself. I fast twice in the week. I give
tithes of all that I possess. And this poor publican, standing
afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me the center
of all centers. Now, my question is this, to
you and to me. When did we abandon being a Pharisee
like this man in this parable? When? We are all born Pharisees. When did we take this position
of the poor Lord have mercy on me, the sinner. God's saving grace in Christ
changes us so radically that here the difference is spelled
in two different men, two different people. And then our Lord comments
in verse 14 of Luke 18, I tell you, this man, the publican,
went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone
that exalts himself shall be abased, and he that humbles himself
shall be exalted. Third thing about the gospel.
Third thing is this. The gospel is a message proclaimed
to the lost. To the lost. Did you catch what
our Lord read out of Isaiah 61? He came for the poor, the blind,
the naked, the sick, to preach the good news of God's
mercy in Christ to the lost. And the gospel always is proclaimed
to the lost. I mean those that are helplessly,
totally lost, unable to help ourselves. And this gospel proclaims
in the second place that without any exception whatsoever, it
is completely, 100% undeserved. And finally, number three, this
gospel is altogether, listen to me now, altogether unconditional
on God's part, without condition on God's part. He does not use
this language, if you will, I will. The language of grace is that
God says, I will and you shall. Now, if we don't get those verbs
straightened out, in our mind and most especially in our heart,
then we know nothing of God's salvation and mercy in Jesus
Christ. The honors, the glory, the majesty,
the praise must go to God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. So this
third aspect of grace is that the gospel is altogether without
condition on God's part. That means this, it results in
this, that there are no previous qualifications for us to meet
and there can be no such thing as merit on man's part whatsoever,
no matter what you call it or what you name it. The first time
you put a condition and put an if and say, You will do this
if I will do this. God will do that. It's not the
gospel anymore. I don't know what it is, but
it ain't the gospel. No conditions. How can God deal
with us without condition? Because all the conditions have
been placed on Christ. And He's met every one of them. So God can deal with us in free
grace and free mercy, which is the only kind that will do us
any good because we can't qualify for anything else. It has to
be free, totally, 100% free. Here's the first objection to
a gospel without condition. Well, I suppose the first one
is, well, that'll make people want to sin all the more. Well,
my soul, with a full Bible in front of us, we don't have any
problem doing that, do we? I know one thing. The nature
of God's grace does not make us sin. Some people are bound and determined
to make suicide of their souls come hell or high water. So let's don't blame the gospel
for what generates from inside of us. If you want to live like
the devil, you just go ahead. God will lead you on Judgment
Day. But don't get the notion that
if you reform, you quit your bad habits, stop drinking, stop
smoking, or whatever else it is that you use to gauge the
difference between good people and bad people. I'm telling you
the only thing that counts with God is to be saved in His Son. Another objection that comes
right on the heels of that one, well, preacher, what are you
going to do about repentance and faith? I'm not going to do anything
about it, but God is and has. He Himself, in the person of
His dear Son, the Lord Jesus, is the author of repentance and
faith. We cannot come up with these
things. We cannot manufacture these things. We cannot make
ourselves to be penitents, nor can we make ourselves to be believers. This is the glory of God to do
these things in Christ. And there are so many different
scriptures in our Bibles that teach us this very thing. In
Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2, the Lord Jesus is declared
with utter simplicity to be the author and finisher of our faith. Now, why do I want to take to
myself the honor that belongs to Him as the author of faith?
Something is terribly wrong if that is the case. Secondly, in
Philippians 1 and verse 29, it is said that it is given unto
you to believe. Believing in Christ is the gift
of God, Ephesians 2.8, not of works, lest any man should boast. And yet in our arrogance and
pride we fly right into the face of such plain statements of Holy
Scripture, insisting that some of the honor must belong to me.
And I say no, no, no a thousand times no. All the honors go to
the Lord Jesus Christ. must have to. In Acts chapter
5 and verse 31, let me read you this statement. I can't get it
to come to my mind, which doesn't surprise me. Verse 31, concerning
the Lord Jesus in His ascension and exaltation. The apostles
declare this in this persecution that began
against the church in Acts chapter 5. Verse 31, Him, that is Christ,
has God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior,
to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Now if He gives it, why do I
want to say I have somehow merited or earned it? One more scripture,
and I know the time's gone, but if I don't get this in, I'll
never will, so please bear with me. Turn, if you will, to Matthew
chapter 9, if you're turning. In regard to this matter of the
gospel being totally without condition in regard to ourselves,
totally without condition. There's a verse of a hymn that
says, Let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly
dream. All the fitness he requireth
is to feel your need of him. But that's not the end of the
stanza. That's where the present songbooks have chopped it off.
But when the author wrote it, it said, talking about this fitness
that He requires us to feel our need of Him. He said, this He
gives you, this He gives you, is the Spirit's rising beam. That is, the interest in Christ,
the desire to come to Christ, is one of the first evidences
that God the Holy Spirit is at work in a man's soul. So here
in Matthew chapter 9, our Lord has just encountered Matthew
the publican and has called him in verse 9. And in verse 10,
I'll simply read this to you, and it came to pass as Jesus
sat at meat in the house, and the other gospel writers tell
us it's Matthew's house, behold, many publicans, many tax collectors
and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And
when the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, Why does
your master eat with publicans and sinners? We wouldn't dare
do that. Why does he do it? But when Jesus
heard it, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a
physician. At least they think they don't.
Truly they are in the worst shape of all. But he said, They that are sick
need a doctor. And I'm the doctor, he said.
That's why I'm here. But go and learn what that means. I will have mercy and not sacrifice
because I am not come to call the righteous, not truly righteous, you understand,
but self-righteous. I'm not come to call the righteous.
but centers to repentance.