turn back to Mark chapter 1. The whole gospel, the entire
message of scripture is condensed into this one little verse. The beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. That's interesting. When Mark
gives us the gospel, he's the only gospel writer that does
not speak of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives no
account of birth, but he starts off right off the bat The beginning. The beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. The son of God. The beginning, the word means
the origin. The source. The cause. The first place. In the beginning
was the word. Not in the beginning, the word
began to be. In the beginning was the word
and the word was with God. A distinct person and the word
was God. The same was eternally was in
the beginning with God. Paul said concerning Christ in
Colossians 118, who is the beginning, the source, the origin, the cause,
the first place of all things. All things were made by him and
without him was not anything made that was made. All things
were made by him and for him. And he is before all things and
by him all things consist. What a way to begin the gospel. He is the beginning. In the beginning,
God created the heaven and the earth. It was the Lord Jesus
Christ who did this. And I love the next word in this
statement concerning the gospel, the beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ. The beginning of the gospel.
Now the word gospel means good news, glad tidings. I believe the gospel when I hear
it as good news and glad tidings. and not before then. Good news is relative. It's totally relative. And what
I thought about, I've used it, I use this illustration recently,
actually, but I thought about the blowing of the trumpet entering
in the year of Jubilee. Can you imagine if you were enslaved
and in debt and you'd lost everything, hearing that trumpet blow and
all of a sudden all your debts were canceled, you were set free,
everything you lost was restored. Can you imagine how good that
trumpet would sound? You would love the sound of it. Now, what about somebody who
felt like they were the loser by it? Maybe that certain slave
owed me $10,000 and that's coming to me and I'm just losing. I
don't like the sound of that trumpet. If you think you got
something coming to you, you don't like the sound of the trumpet.
If you have nothing, you love the sound of the trumpet of the
year of Jubilee. 1 Timothy 1 15 says this is a faithful
saying and it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the chief. Now who's that good news to?
Only one person, the sinner. It's no good news to somebody
that's not a sinner. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's good news to a sinner.
But if you see yourself in any light higher than that of a sinner,
it's not good news to you. Listen to this scripture. For
when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Now who's that good news to?
Somebody without strength and somebody who is ungodly. They fit that description. Isn't
it good news that Christ died for people like that? Those without
spiritual strength, those without spiritual ability, those who
are ungodly. Oh, that's good news to that
person, but someone that doesn't see themselves in that light,
that's not good news. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save. I love where the Lord said, the
son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. Who's that good news to? Somebody
that's lost. If you're already found, that's
not good news. I thought about the cities of
refuge. You know, when people heard of those cities of refuge,
I'm sure they thought, you know, that's a good thing. If I ever
need it, that's a good thing. It's got those six cities of
refuge and maybe even knew the names of them. That's a good
thing. I'll keep that, you know, filed. But it's not good news. Who's
it good news to, though? the man who was fleeing from
the Avenger of Blood, knowing he would be killed and knowing
he would find safety and security in that city of refuge. Good
news is relative. You know, I think about if you
believe that you are described by Genesis chapter 6 verse 5,
and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. If you believe that that's an
accurate description of you, and you might not even enter
into it, but you believe it because God's word says it. So you know
because God says that, that's me. If you really believe that,
Oh, is it good news that God freely elected a people before
time began to be saved? Is it good news that Christ Jesus
actually accomplished salvation for everybody he died for and
that it doesn't have anything to do with your works? Is it
good news that God's grace is irresistible and invincible? Let me tell you a couple of terms
that I personally hate. reform doctrine. They call this
reform doctrine. Listen to me. Truth never needed
reform. Never needed reform. And my thought
is reform from what? Another term I hate is Calvinism. It's not Calvinism. This is not
reform doctrine. This is the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Good news to sinners. The gospel, the beginning of
the gospel. Now, let me say this. This is
so important. If I'm hearing and it's not good news. One of two things are true. Number
one, I'm not hearing the gospel. You know, you hear a message
and you're just left looking to yourself and thinking how
you don't measure up and feeling frustrated and feeling like something's
missing. I'm missing something, I'm not
doing something, I'm lacking something. Oh, I'm scared, what
is wrong? When you hear a message like
that, if you're a believer, the reason you hear it that way is
it's a message of works. It is a message of works. The
gospel is not supposed to scare you and think, oh, I must not
be saved. No, the gospel gives assurance. I'm complete in Christ. I need
nothing else. Either what you're hearing, if
you're not hearing it as good news, what you're hearing either
is not the gospel or you're not hearing as a sinner. If you hear
as a sinner, gospel of Jesus Christ will come as good news,
glad tidings to you. The beginning of the gospel,
the good news of Jesus Christ. I love his name, Jesus. Now, you probably already know
that Jesus is the Greek translation of the Old Testament name, Joshua. Joshua. And you remember Joshua. I think it's interesting that
Moses, we admire Moses, but we also know what he represents.
And Moses was not allowed to bring the children of Israel
into the promised land because he represents the law. And the
law is never going to get you in. It is not gonna, you can't
keep it. You haven't kept one commandment
one time. And the law is not gonna get
you in. All the law does is expose sin. Moses is not allowed to
bring them in. Who brought them in? Joshua did. And I think this is interesting.
Joshua means Jehovah is salvation. And I think it's interesting
during that 40 years in the wilderness, You know how many people came
into the promised land that were under or over 20 years of age
when they came into Canaan? You know how many people made
it in? Two. Two. Joshua and Caleb, the faithful
dog. Jesus, I want to use his name
reverently. I love the way the disciples,
not once, do you ever hear them coming up and calling my first
name like that? Jesus, I need to, would you do this? No, that's
not the way to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, you
call me master and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am. I hate it when people use his
name in a flippant, irreverent way, or just, he's the Lord Jesus
Christ. But don't you love his name,
what it means. Matthew 121, thou shalt call his name Jesus, Savior,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And I have such
a great need to be saved. I don't know how many times I've
asked the Lord to save me. Save me. I need to be saved from
Him, the one I've sinned against. I need to be saved from myself.
Oh, if He leaves me to myself, it's over for me. I need to be
saved from my sins. I can't pay for them. I can't
do anything about them. I can't make them not to be.
I need to be saved from my sins. I need to be saved from the horrible
circumstances my sins bring me to. Save me, Lord, save me. I love what Peter said, Lord,
save me. Matthew 121, Thou shalt call
His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. On the cross, when Christ died,
I was completely saved from the penalty of my sin. He put my
sin away. He made it not to be. I was justified. On the cross, I was completely
saved from the penalty of my sin. When God gave me life, when
he regenerated me, when I was born of the Spirit, I was saved
from the power of sin. I now do what I was completely
unable to do, I believe. You know, I really do believe
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. There was
a time when I didn't believe, I didn't understand it. I now love God. I love the Lord Jesus Christ.
I can say with Peter, Lord, you know all things. He appealed
to the omniscience of Christ. You know all things. You know
that I love your person. I adore your person. I love your
sovereignty. I love your justice. I love who
you are. I love how you save. There was a time when I had no
love for Christ. I was unable to. Why can't I now? I've been saved from the power
of sin. There was a time when I had no understanding of repentance,
just no understanding of the gospel. I couldn't do what believers
do. And then God saved me. He gave me life and I now can
do what I once couldn't do. Now I still have the sinful nature,
just as sinful as it ever was. I realize that when people try
to present themselves in some other light, I just, you know,
I don't believe you, you know, you're not being honest. But
no, yes, I have the sinful nature, but I also have the new man in
Christ Jesus. And I've been saved from the
power of sin in that sense, and one of these days, actually it's
not one of these days, I already am saved from the presence of
sin because Christ is in heaven, I'm there too, within. But one
of these days I'm gonna experience that in complete glorification
when I'm no longer gonna have this sinful nature. Saved. The beginning of the gospel,
the good news of Jesus Christ. Christ. Now, you know that this
is the Greek translation of the Old Testament word Messiah or
anointed. Jesus Christ is anointed by God
as the prophet, as the priest, and as the king. Now, this is
something that I love thinking about being the Christ. Now,
in the Old Testament, there were three offices that were anointed. The prophet, remember when Elijah
anointed Elisha as prophet? The priest, The priest was anointed with
the holy oil to represent the children of Israel. He was anointed.
And the king, remember when Samuel anointed David as king? Now, no man ever held all three
offices in the Old Testament because that's reserved for Christ
only. He holds all three offices as
God's prophet, God's priest, and God's king. And I love to
think of him as the prophet. Now that's the, the Lord's name
is the word. the word, the divine logos, the
word. A prophet brings to men a word
from God. That's what he's doing. He's
bringing to men the word of God. Christ Jesus is the word of God. And when God the Father speaks
of him, he says, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. Hear what he says. He's God's
prophet. I love it in John chapter six
where those people heard him preaching and they said, these
are hard sayings, who can hear? And he said to them, the words
that I speak to you that you're calling hard sayings, they're
spirit and they are life. He spake as one having authority. And I know that that's not authoritative
speech, trying to kind of macho man, you know, he's a, no, his
words recommended themselves as being nothing less than the
words of God. He is the word of God. Remember when Moses said a prophet,
shall the Lord God raise up like unto your brethren, I'm him. He's saying the Lord Jesus Christ
is God's prophet. He is the word of God. And I
love to think of, and God's anointed him for this. What would we know
of God without him? We wouldn't know anything of
God without him. He's the word of God. He's God's
prophet. But I love to think of him as being God's priest.
God's anointed priest. Now a prophet brings men the
word of God, but a priest brings men to God. I need Him to bring
me to God. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Now, when I come to the Father,
it's by Him. When He comes to the Father,
I come to the Father because I'm in Him. What a priest He
is. And a priest has to have something to bring. What does
our priest bring to the Father? Well, he comes into the father's
presence with his blood. That's what he breaks. I love
that scripture in Hebrews where it says that, I lost my notes. Not by the blood
of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered once into
the holy place having obtained eternal redemption for us. What a priest. He comes into
the Father's presence with his own blood, and he intercedes
for his people. Now listen to this. When Christ
said to the Father, when he was hanging from the cross, Father,
forgive them, this wasn't a request. And I say that reverently. This
wasn't a request. He's saying, I've died for these
people. I've kept the law for these people.
Your justice demands their salvation. Father, forgive them. They don't
know what to do, and they don't. They don't, but Father, forgive
them. Everybody that the Lord prayed
for was forgiven. I want you to think of Christ
praying for you as your priest. What else needs to be said? He's
my prophet. He's the Word of God. He's the
priest that brings me into God's presence. And wherefore he is
able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. What a priest. Oh,
I think of a man claiming to be a priest and representing
men. And I think, oh, that's so offensive. But this is a priest that is
glorious in his person. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's
priest, and he's God's king. What is a king? A king is the
one whose will is done. The king is the one who rules.
The king is the one who reigns. Now I see where I need him as
my prophet. I need him as my priest to bring
me to God, but I need him as my king whose will is done, who
will cause me to believe. who will bring me to Christ,
whose will is done. I need him as the king to cause
me to do his will, to cause me to believe. I won't unless he
does that as my king. The leper understood this completely
when he said, Lord, if you will, you can. Make me clean. I'm utterly in your hand. If
you will, you can make me clean. And I love the Lord's answer.
I will. Be thou clean. Christ Jesus. The prophet, the
priest and. The king. Now our text says the beginning
of the gospel, the good news of Jesus, the Savior, Christ. Who so believe it that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. You know, the issue always is
what thinking of Christ. What do you think of Christ? What do you think of him as prophet?
What does God see when he looks in your heart? What do you think
of him as priest? What do you think of him as king? Whom say
men that I am? Well, they say some pretty good
things. Some say you're Elijah or John the Baptist or one of
the prophets, which were actually very derogatory to the son of
God to compare him to a mere man. Whom say ye that I am? Peter said, thou art the Christ,
the son of the living God. Now, he is the beginning. He is the
gospel. He's Jesus, the savior. He's
the Christ, God's prophet, priest, and king. But here is what gives
such power to everything that is said, he's the son of God. He is the son of God. The beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the son of God, Jesus Christ is the uncreated
eternal son of God. In him, Colossians 2.9 says,
and this is such an incredible verse, in him dwelleth all the
fullness of the Godhead in a body. What a glorious statement. He
thought it not robbery. He thought it not something to
be reached for, to be equal with God. He is God the Son, the second
person of the blessed Trinity. Now, the Pharisees, knew exactly
what he meant when he called God his father. Listen to this
scripture. Therefore, the Jews sought the
more to kill him because not only had he broken the Sabbath,
but said that God was his father, making himself equal with God. Now, if I said I'm equal with
God, you would have every reason to get up and walk out of this
room. If any man made a claim like
that, except him. He is equal with God because
he is God. He said in John 10, I and my
father are one. Then the Jews took up stones
again to stone him. And he said, many good works
have I shown you from my father. For which of these do you stone
me? And they replied, for good works done we not, but for blasphemy,
for thou being a man, makest thyself God. Before Abraham was,
I am. Why did the high priest order
his death? He said, are you the Christ,
the son of the blessed? I love his reply. I am. I am. And afterward, you shall
see the son of man. And I think it's glorious that
that's his favorite name. How did he refer to himself more
than any other? The son of man. I am the son
of the blessed. I am the son of God. I am the
son of man. And I love when he says afterward,
you shall see the son of man sitting on the right hand of
power coming. in the clouds of heaven. And
the priests replied, you've heard this blasphemy. What think he?
And they said, he's worthy of death. Now at his birth, the
angels announced that holy thing. I love the way he called it.
It's like we can't come up with a name for him. That holy thing
shall be called the son of God. This is the Child that was born
of the Son, the Eternal Son, who was given. You know, He called upon some
demons to come out of a man who was possessed. And the demons
knew who He was and said, Thou art the Son of God. You know,
demons have a more high opinion of Him than most religious people.
Thou art the Son of God. Art thou come to torment us before
the time? They trembled in fear at his
presence. They trembled. They didn't know
who he was. The eternal Son of God. I love it when the disciples
saw him rebuke the wind, and it stopped blowing, and there
was a great calm where there had been waves. And they said,
truly, this man is the Son of God. I think of the Roman centurion
after he heard the way the Lord cried out, it is finished. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. Surely this man is the Son of
God. Listen to the Father's testimony. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. I love it when God the Father
says to God the Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness
and hated iniquity. Therefore, thy God hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. You see, the gospel is the gospel
of God concerning His Son. Romans 1. The gospel is the gospel
of God concerning His Son, which was promised before in the Holy
Scriptures, who was made of the seed of David, according to the
flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with by the Spirit
of holiness and the resurrection from the dead. You know what
demonstrates that He's the Son of God? The Spirit of holiness. The Holy One of Israel. Never
sin. and His resurrection from the
dead. Having satisfied God, only He
could do that. He's the one who made the way
for God to be just and justify people like me and you. You know,
I was thinking to this. If God simply forgave sin without His law being honored
and His justice being satisfied, He wouldn't be God. God must
be just. And Christ Jesus is the one who
made this glorious way for God to be just and justify the ungodly. Now, turn with me for a moment
to 1 Corinthians 1. This represents our preaching. I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians 1. Verse 17, when I therefore was
thus minded, did I use lightness? Or the things that I purpose,
do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should
be yea, yea, and nay, nay? Saying yes and no to the same
thing, contradictory. But as God is true, our word
toward you was not yea and nay, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ,
who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and
Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in Him was yea for all the
promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him, amen, unto the glory
of God by us. Now, this is our message. the
Son of God. And when we speak of the promises
of God in him, there's not, you might have this, but you need
to do that. No, they're all yay. They're all positive. They're
all sure. They're all completed. That is
our message. This is our experience. I love
what Paul said. The life that I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Now listen real
carefully. I'm not living by my faith in
Him. I'm living by the faith of the
Son of God. I'm trusting His faithfulness. He's the one who believed God,
and I trust I'm living off His faith. I live, yet not I, but
Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave Himself for me." Now, He is the beginning. Amen? He's the cause. He's the origin. He is the gospel. He is the good news. He is the Savior. Unto you is born this day in
the city of David a Savior, which is Christ Jesus the Lord. He is the Christ, God's prophet,
God's priest, and God's king. And he is the son of God. Now, let me remind you, once
again, I need to be reminded of this. You need to be reminded
of it. Faith doesn't have anything to
do with what you think about yourself. Somebody says, Well, I feel,
just forget about what you think about yourself for just a moment.
Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God? Do you believe that? Do you believe
that he's the uncreated, eternal son of God? When the Ethiopian
eunuch said, what hinders me from being baptized, he said,
Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, you may. And
what did he say? He said, I believe that Jesus
Christ is the son of God. And that's what saving faith
is. It's believing who he is. And if you believe who he is,
you sure enough believe he's successful in what he did. And
he's all you believe that. I think of when the Lord said
to that man that had been born blind, And the Lord gave him
sight. He said, does thou believe on
the Son of God? And he said, who is he, Lord,
that I might believe? He was looking at him, but he
didn't know who he was. He said, the Lord said, thou
hast both seen him, and it's he that talketh with thee. You
know what he answered? Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him. Now that's what folks do who
believe. They worship him. Okay, let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that thy
son is the beginning, that he is the gospel, he is the good
news, How we thank you that He is Jesus, the Savior, Christ,
your prophet, priest, and king. How we thank you that He is the
Son of God. And Lord, we believe He is your
Son. We believe that He is the beginning,
the cause, the origin of all things. We believe He is the
gospel. He's the good news that everything
you require of us, you look to Him for. Oh, we believe He is
the Savior that saved His people from their sins. We believe He
is the Christ. We believe He is Thy blessed
Son, the Son of God. Lord, bless this message for
Your glory and our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.