We're going to observe the Lord's
table tonight and Frank Tate will be here and he's going to
preach for us tonight. I've entitled this message, Is My Gospel The Gospel? Is My Gospel The gospel. Last Sunday, part of the message,
actually seven minutes worth, I listened to it to see, but
seven minutes worth of the message, I brought out some points, is
my gospel the gospel? And I thought about that, and
I prepared a TV message for it, and I preached it for the TV
taping, It was such a blessing to me, I thought, I want to bring
this message this morning. Is my gospel the gospel? In Romans chapter two, verse
16, Paul said, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of
men, according to my gospel. Now that is one of three times
that Paul uses the personal, possessive pronoun my with regard
to the gospel. Is my gospel the gospel? The gospel is the gospel What
is my gospel what the Bible would call the gospel? That's a very
important question, isn't it? Is my gospel the gospel? Let me give you some phrases
before I get into the meat of the message of biblical names for the gospel. Paul also called the gospel THIS
gospel as opposed to other gospels. It's called in the scripture
the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son
of God. The WORD of the gospel, which
tells us the gospel has WORDS that are spoken. There is a CONTENT,
a definite CONTENT to the gospel. It is called the gospel of the
grace of God. It's called the gospel of God. It's called the gospel of His
Son. The gospel of Christ. Christ's
gospel. Our gospel, the glorious gospel
of the blessed God, the truth of the gospel, the gospel
of your salvation, the gospel of peace, the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the everlasting gospel, the eternal gospel, the
gospel that had no beginning. and has no end. Is my gospel, the gospel I hope
in, the gospel? I hope we'll all ask ourselves
that question. Is my gospel the gospel? The definite article,
the, tells us that the gospel excludes all other gospels. Paul said in Galatians chapter
1 verses 6 and 7, I marvel that you are so soon removed from
him that called you to the grace of Christ unto another gospel,
which is not another, but there's be some that would trouble you
and would pervert or change the gospel of Christ. Paul said in
Galatians 1 13, the gospel, which he preached was not after man. It was not derived from any human
source. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Let me remind you, you and I
are shut up to revelation. We will not know the gospel unless
he is pleased to reveal his gospel to our hearts. Would you turn a page back to
Romans chapter 1? Is my gospel, the gospel I claim
to believe, the gospel that I hope to be saved by, Is my gospel
the gospel? The gospel is scripture that
excludes all other gospels. Now look in verse one of Romans
chapter one. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called
to be an apostle. separated unto the gospel of
God. The gospel is the gospel of God. It's God's gospel. It's not the gospel of Todd.
That just sounds horrible, doesn't it? It's not the gospel of the
Baptists or the Catholics or any other man-made denomination. Now understand this, every denomination
is purely man-made. It's the invention of man. God
is not in denominations. It's the gospel of God. It's not the reformed gospel. The gospel never needed reformed.
It's the gospel of God. Paul said, I'm separated unto
the gospel of God. Look in verse two, the gospel of God, which he had
promised before by his prophets in the holy scriptures. Now,
a couple of things I want to say about that verse of scripture.
First, it's no new gospel. It's the gospel that he promised
before. It's called the eternal gospel. You know, everything with regard
to God is eternal. He's eternal. There's no past,
present, and future with him. He's the eternal God, and the
gospel is the eternal gospel. And it's the gospel which he'd
have promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures. Now let
me say this with regard to the holy scriptures. The scriptures
claim to be God-breathed, God-inspired, every word. And if they're not,
all we have is my opinion and your opinion. And you know what
my opinion and your opinion are? Worthless. You believe that? God reveals who he is in this
book. The Bible claims to be inspired
by God. Now it's either the inspired
word of God or the invention of a conglomeration of sinful
men. It's one of the two. But it claims
to be the inspired word of God and the gospel is that which
he has revealed in the holy scriptures. There is no knowledge of God
or his gospel apart from the holy scriptures. And I love this
next phrase in verse three. It's the gospel of God. It's
the gospel that he promised in the holy scriptures. And listen
to this verse three. It's the gospel of God is the
gospel is the gospel concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now the gospel is concerning
his son, the son of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, the gospel is not concerning
making America a Christian nation once again. It never was a Christian
nation in the first place. It's not concerning right-wing
or left-wing political agendas. The Bible's not a book about
politics. It's not about Affecting change in the culture. It's concerning his son. Who he is. What he did. Where he is right now. Who is Jesus Christ? Good question,
isn't it? He's the son of God. He is God
the Son, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. Now, how
in the world would we know that God is one God in three distinct
persons if it's not revealed in the Bible? We couldn't figure that out.
We couldn't even guess it. I wouldn't even think something
like that, apart from the revelation of Scripture. God the Son, the
express image of the invisible God. He's God the Son, that's
who He is. He's the Creator. He's God the
Son. What did He do? What did God
the Son do? Well, He became flesh. The Word
was made flesh, and in the flesh, He kept God's holy law perfectly. I mean, you haven't. All we've
done is broken it. But he kept it perfectly. He
worked out a perfect righteousness. He kept God's law perfectly.
He died. Why did he die if he kept God's
law perfectly? Because the sins of God's elect
became his sins. And he died under the wrath of
God, the justice of God as a sin bearing substitute. He was raised
from the dead because God accepted what he did. Do you hear that? You know what that means? God accepted everybody He died
for. Where is He right now? He's seated at the right hand
of the Father in absolute sovereign control over everybody and everything. Jesus Christ. The gospel is the
gospel concerning His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus. I love His name,
don't you? Thou shall call His name Jesus.
For he shall save his people from their sins. He's the Christ. That's not his last name. That
represents his offices as prophet, priest, and king. There were
three people in the Old Testament anointed, the prophet, the priest,
and the king. Christ is all three. He's the
prophet unlike any other prophet. Any other prophet would say,
thus saith the Lord. He said, I say unto you. He's unlike any other priest.
The priest of the Old Testament brought the blood of an animal. He brings his own blood into
the presence of God. He's unlike any other king. Any
other king, in reality, has no authority. None at all. He has all authority. All power is given unto me. His son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. He's the Lord. Jesus Christ IS
the Lord! When somebody says, won't you
make Him Lord of your life, they're saying something that's utterly
ridiculous. You don't MAKE Him the Lord of your life. He IS
your Lord, whether you know it or not. He IS Lord. He's Lord of creation. He's Lord
of providence. That's everything that happens
in time. Everything. He's Lord of salvation. That means my salvation is in
his hand. It's up to him as to whether
or not I will be saved. And the same is true of you.
He's Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord. The gospel
is the gospel concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And look at what it said next
with regard to him in verse three. The gospel of God is the gospel
that He promised in the scriptures. It's concerning His Son, Jesus
Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David according
to the flesh. The Eternal Son was made flesh. The seed of David walked 33 years
upon this earth. But he was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh. But he was declared to be the
son of God. He wasn't made the son of God.
He's the eternal son of God. And there's two things that prove
it. The spirit of holiness and the
resurrection of the dead. He's the only holy man to ever
live. Only holy man. inherently holy
because of who he is. No one else fits that bill. And he was raised from the dead.
Every other religious figure, they're still in their tombs.
Not him. He was raised from the dead. The gospel of God. Now what I want to do is give
12 very simple questions with regard to the gospel to see that
if my gospel is the gospel. I'm not gonna spend much time
on any of these questions, but I want you to consider them and
consider these questions in light of whether or not your gospel
is the gospel. These questions can all be answered
with a yes or a no. Number one, does my gospel line
up with the Old Testament scriptures? You know, most religious people
don't even deal with the Old Testament other than character
studies. Dare to be a Daniel, have the
faith of Abraham, have the courage of the Meshach, whatever their
names are. Character studies. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
three, when he defined the gospel, he said, it's how that. Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures. Now, the New
Testament had not yet been written. He's talking about the Old Testament
scriptures. Here's one example, and there's
so, I could give thousands, you know, throughout the Old Testament
scriptures, but here's one example with regard to the Passover.
God said to the children of Israel, listen to these words, when I
see the blood, I will pass over you. Does your gospel line up
with that? You know, there's a lot of people
that would think, well, when I, when God would say, when I see your
faith, I'll pass over you. Or when I see your good works,
I'll pass over you. Or when I see your changed life,
I'll pass over you. Or when I see your experience,
I'll pass over you. Or when I see your sincerity.
No, God said, when I see the blood, that's all he was looking
for. When I see the blood, I will. Not I offer to pass over you,
I will pass over you. That's one example of so many,
does my gospel line up and is it consistent with the Old Testament
scriptures? Secondly, does my gospel, the
gospel that I would call my gospel, Does my gospel give God all the
glory in salvation? Let me repeat it. Ask yourself,
does the gospel I believe, does my gospel give God all the glory
in salvation? You know, He said in Isaiah 42,
I will not share my glory with another. Now, somebody thinks,
well, why is God like that? Well, that's who he is. And it's
altogether glorious that he is that way because he's so glorious
he shouldn't share his glory with another because of who he
is. But my gospel, now, does my gospel give God all the glory
in salvation? Here's what I thought of. Beginning
of salvation, middle of salvation, and end of salvation. Keep those
things in mind. Beginning, middle, and end. In
my salvation, does it begin with me doing something? I believed. As an act of my free will, I
accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior. I think that's weird. When people,
my personal Savior, He's the Savior whether He's your personal
Savior or not. I don't like that kind of language, but does my
gospel begin with God responding to something I do? That would
mean I would get at least some of the glory and salvation, wouldn't
it? If I get any glory in my salvation, it's not God's salvation. Let's talk about the middle of
your salvation. If you, through your Bible reading and self-denial
and efforts, become progressively more holy and less sinful. I'm more holy now than I used
to be because of the time I spend on my knees in prayer, because
of my self-denial, because of my efforts. You're getting some
glory, aren't you? The reason I'm that way is because
I, That's giving man glory and salvation. Let's say you go to
the end of your salvation. There in the end, somebody gets
a higher reward in heaven. This was a really good Christian.
And somebody's down here in the slums. He wasn't much of a Christian.
He was not as obedient as the other one. Well, well, tell me.
does the one with the higher reward get more glory than the
one with the lower? He gets some glory then, doesn't
he? If my gospel gives any glory to man, it's not the gospel of
God. Third, does my gospel give the
preeminence to Jesus Christ in all things? Now, let me give
a some of the history of this outline. This outline came from
Henry Mahan and Scott Richardson coming back from a meeting where
they'd been preaching together. And they were asking themselves
this question, how can I know if the gospel I preach is the
gospel? And they came up with these points.
I have one or two of them, but it's mostly them. But I love
this point, does my gospel give the preeminence to Jesus Christ
in all things? Does my gospel give the preeminence
to Jesus Christ in all things? Colossians 1.18 says concerning
Him, He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that
in all things He might have the preeminence. He has the preeminence concerning
who God is. He is all that God is. He's all
we'll ever see of God. Will we ever see God the father?
Nope. You'll only see his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Will we
ever see God the spirit? Nope. All will see is God the
Son, and in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead in
a body. He's all in the scripture. Listen,
the scripture is only about Him. It's not about you. It's not
a rule book on how to live. It is concerning Him. He's all in my salvation. There's
one reason God saves me, for Christ's sake. I got a letter
from a dear man last night and he was saying, can God forgive
me? When I've been, I've walked so
long in a way that's contrary to here. I'm an old man now.
He said, can God forgive me? When I've been so contradictory
and contrary to him all my life, can God forgive me? Now I haven't
read him back yet. I just read it this morning. But here's my answer, and I'm
gonna write it. God forgives for Christ's sake.
Not because of anything you do or how you live. God forgives
for Christ's sake. Ephesians 4.32 says, be ye kind. Tenderhearted, forgiving one
another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. The only reason God needs to
forgive you is Christ's sake. He has the preeminence in salvation,
doesn't he? He has the preeminence in all
things. He is all, and if that's not
believed and preached, it's not the gospel of God. Does my gospel
violate any of the attributes of God? Now God is who He says He is
in His Word. He's got attributes. He's holy. He's absolutely just. He's all-powerful. He's all-knowing. He's immutable.
He can't change. He's eternal. He never began
to be. That blows my mind. He never
began to be. He'll never end. He's God. Now, if the gospel I believe
violates any of those attributes, it's not really God's gospel.
It's man's gospel. Let me give you one illustration
of this. In most churches, Religious institutions
would be a better thing to call them. The message is, Jesus Christ
died for every individual and made salvation available for
every individual. God wants to save every individual. He can't unless you let him.
You have to accept him. And then you'll be saved. He
offers you forgiveness. If you take it, you'll be forgiven.
Now that violates every attribute
of God. And let me show you this. If
Jesus Christ paid for my sins and I wind up in hell anyway,
it violates the justice of God. That's payment was made. If God
intended for me to be saved and I'm not saved, that violates
God's absolute sovereignty. His will must be done. He wanted
something to happen and it didn't happen. I could go on and on
with that kind of thinking, but every attribute of God is violated
in that kind of teaching and preaching. Now, does my gospel,
the gospel I believe, are any of the attributes of God violated? Fifth, does my gospel honor the
law? Does my gospel, the gospel I
believe, does it honor God's holy law? And when I'm talking
about honoring the law, I'm talking about rewarding for perfect obedience
and only for perfect obedience, it should be perfect to be accepted,
and punishing all disobedience. Does my gospel honor God's holy
law? Yes, it does. I have perfect
obedience, the law-keeping of Jesus Christ is my personal righteousness,
and all my sins were punished. Just as the soul that sinned
shall surely die, all my sins were punished. Oh, the gospel
honors God's holy law. Do we make void the law through
faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish the law. Sixth, does my gospel meet the
sinner where he is? Dead in sins. Not where you ought
to be. Well, you ought to be this way.
Well, I know that. That doesn't make me that way, though. Here's
where I am, by nature, dead in sins. That's what the Bible says.
And you happy quickens who are dead in trespasses and sins.
Now, dead If I'm dead, what if Christ only comes to me if I
do this or if I do that? I'm toast. I won't be saved. The only hope I have is if God
in Christ comes to me where I am, dead in sins, and gives me life. Life from the dead. Does my gospel come to me where
I am and give me life? Seventh, will my gospel save
the chief of sinners? Will my gospel save the chief
of sinners? Now, what do I mean by the chief
of sinners? Well, every one of us, if we know anything about
sin, we know we are the chief of sinners. Every one of us,
if we know what sin is. If we don't understand what sin
is, I compare myself to somebody else. I might not be as good
as this person, but I'm not as bad as that person. Probably
I'm in the upper 10%. If that's the way you're thinking,
it's the wrong way of thinking. Listen, when I talk about being
the chief of sinners, when I prepare this message, I want to glorify
God in it, but you know, there's so many bad motives in it. Everything
I do has got a bad motive. Everything I do is some form
of self-promotion, everything. I can't escape that. There's
sinful motives, there's sinful actions in everything I do. I can't keep that from happening.
I can't close my eyes and say, I'm going to be holy for 10 seconds
and not even have one sinful thought, close my eyes. How's
that work? Don't try it. Don't try it. I can't sit in judgment on anybody
because I know something of my own sinfulness. I can't say,
at least I'm better than that person. No, I'm not, I'm worse.
I can't sit in judgment. And if God passes me by, just
and holy is his name. Listen to this, chief of sinners.
Paul said, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,
of whom I am the chief. Does my gospel provide all that
God requires? You see, if there's anything
I have to provide, it won't save me. Does my gospel provide all
that God God requires perfect righteousness. He provides it
in the gospel. He gives it to you. He requires
a new heart. He gives it to you. He requires
faith and repentance. He gives it to you. Everything
that He requires, He provides. Isn't that a glorious gospel? Will my gospel Here's the ninth
question. Will my gospel keep me saved? Listen to this scripture. Now
unto him that's able to keep you from falling and to present
you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. Yes, my gospel is able to keep
me saved. Now, if it's up to me to keep
myself, I won't last any time at all. Neither will you. But
my gospel keeps me saved. Tenth question. Can I face death
and judgment with my gospel? Now we're all going to die. That's
an appointment we're all going to keep. We're all going to die. After death, I'm going to stand
before a holy God in judgment. Can I face that with the gospel
I believe? Romans 8, 1 is true. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. If that's true, if this is true,
where John said in 1 John 4, 17, herein, may we have boldness
on the day of judgment because as he is, So are we in this world right
now. Now, if that's true, if when
I stand before God in judgment, I am perfectly conformed to the
image of Christ. I have no sin because he put
it away. I have perfect righteousness because he gave me his. If that's
what it is to stand before God in judgment on that great day,
I'm good to go. I can stand before God, a holy
God in judgment with boldness. Bold shall I stand in that great
day, for who ought to my charge to lay, fully absolved from these
I am, from sins, tremendous curse and shame. Christ put my sin
away. Now if I'm looking to my works in any way, I can't stand
before God in judgment. If I'm looking at my progress
in the Christian life in any way, I can't stand before God
in judgment. Oh, but if I'm simply found in
Him, The 11th question, will my gospel
make me perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ? And I said this in Sunday school
this morning. If I went to heaven and remained the way I am, it
wouldn't be heaven. You know why? Because I'd bring
my sinful nature with me. and I'd mess it up. It wouldn't
be heaven. I'll tell you what heaven is.
Heaven is being perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Whom He did foreknow, them He
also did predestinate that they be conformed to the image of
His Son. You see, God predestinated that
I would be conformed to the image of His Son. You know what that
means? I am conformed to the image of His Son. And when I
stand before God in judgment, we'll be like Him for we shall
see Him as He is. And the last question. Does my
gospel, the gospel that I claim to believe, does my gospel enable
me to rest in Christ alone. Can you rest? That means you're
not doing anything. That means you're resting wholly
in what He has done. You're resting in this. It is
finished. Those are the words of Christ
from the cross. It is finished. What he did is enough. There's
nothing left for me to do. I rest in what he has done. Is my gospel the gospel? Well, does my gospel line up
with the Old Testament scriptures? Does my gospel give God all the
glory? Does my gospel give the preeminence
to Jesus Christ in all things? Does my gospel violate any of
the attributes of God? Does my gospel honor God's holy
law? Does my gospel meet the sinner
where he is, dead, and give him life? Will my gospel save the
chief of sinners? Does my gospel provide all that
God requires? Will my gospel keep me saved?
Will my gospel enable me to face death and judgment and be accepted?
Will my gospel make me perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus
Christ? Can I rest with my gospel right
now, not looking to anything or anyone, but Christ alone? Yes. then my gospel is the gospel. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name,
the name that's above every name, the name that we bow before and
confess that he is Lord. We ask in his name that you would
be pleased to bless your word enable us to have your gospel
as our gospel. In Christ's name we pray, amen.