Would you turn back to Romans
chapter 15? While you're turning there, tonight
we will observe the Lord's Table. And I'm going to be preaching
from that passage where the Lord said to Peter, Simon, Simon,
Satan hath desired to have you. Look with me at verse 19. through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of
God, so that from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyricum, I
have fully preached the gospel of Christ. Now that statement
is unique in the scripture. What does Paul mean when he says,
I've fully preached the gospel of Christ? How many preachers can say this?
I've fully preached the gospel of Christ. Well, I can answer
that question. Everybody that preaches the gospel. Everyone that preaches the gospel.
and no false preacher fully preaches the gospel of Christ. What does
it mean to fully preach the gospel of Christ? I hope by the end
of this message we'll know and we'll understand. I've entitled
this message, Fully, Fully Preaching the Gospel. Verse 17, Paul says, I have thereof, or
I have therefore whereof, I may glory through Jesus Christ in
those things which pertain to God. Now the word glory is boast. Paul says I've got something
to boast about and I've got something to glory in. We know what he doesn't mean
by that because he said In another place, where is boasting? What
can I take credit for? It's excluded. He said, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. All I glory in, all I boast in,
all I have confidence in, all I rejoice in is who Christ is
and what he did. Now, Paul is not bragging about
the success of his preaching. But he is acknowledging, glorying
in, and thankful for what Christ has done through him. I've got
something to glory in. Now if Christ did it, I didn't
do it. But he is very thankful. Now if the Lord saves somebody
through my preaching, he did it. Not me. But I'm awful thankful he did.
That's what Paul is saying. If God ever uses my preaching,
it's what He did. God gives the increase. But I'm
very thankful that He's done it. That's what Paul is saying
in verse 17. He says in verse 18, For I will
not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not
wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed. Now, I've seen preachers do this,
take credit for what they really didn't do. Paul said, I won't
dare do that. I won't dare do that. I'll not
dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not
wrought by me. And look at this next statement,
to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed. Now, this is
what God does through the preaching of the gospel. He makes people
to obey the gospel. To make the Gentiles obedient
by word and by deed. This is what God does when he
works through the gospel. Now Paul says, I'm thankful that
the Lord has used my preaching. I'm not going to talk about what
I've done. I'm going to talk about what
he's done. And I'm thankful he's done it. And this is what he
does when he blesses the preaching of the gospel, which is what
we're doing right now. He makes the Gentiles, the unbelievers,
the heathen, me and you, obedient. Obedient through word and deed. Now listen to me really carefully.
I want you young people to listen to this very carefully. The gospel
is to be obeyed. When Paul said, believe, on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's a command. That's a command to everybody
in this room. You don't wait for something
to happen. You don't wait till you get better. You don't wait
till you learn more. You don't wait for anything.
The command of the gospel right now to you. This is God's commanding. You believe on my son. Right
now. You believe on my son. When Christ
says, come unto me, all ye that weary and are heavy laden, and
I'll give you rest. That's a command. You're commanded
right now to come to Christ. And to find rest in Him, like
we just heard about in that song. You're commanded to. Well, how
do I know He's talking to me? He is. He is. If you come, it'll be because
He spoke to you. But the gospel is a command. When the scripture
says, God commandeth all men everywhere to repent, to change
your mind, is what the word means. And you're commanded by God to
change your mind regarding anything that's contrary to the gospel
of His dear Son. Repent. Change your mind. Quit
thinking that way. You know, we have all kinds of
weird and stupid ways we think, don't we? Quit thinking that
way. Believe the gospel. It's a command. You know when
the Lord said, Lazarus, come forth. It was a command, wasn't
it? He that was dead came forth. Zacchaeus, up there in that tree,
you make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy
house. He made haste, he came down,
and he received him joyfully. Now, I'm not just throwing things
out and you can take it or leave it. No. The gospel's a command. God commands. He commands you
to believe. He commands you to repent. I
love it when the Lord said to that man with the withered hand,
I don't know what that withered hand looked like, but he said,
stretch forth thy hand. You know what that man did? He
stretched forth his hand. You see the ability that comes
with the command. I can't believe. You can if he
tells you to. I can't come to Christ. You can if he tells you
to come. Matthew, follow me. That's so amazing. He arose and
forsook everything and followed the Lord Jesus Christ. You see,
the ability comes with the command. Enter ye in at the straight gate. Right now, don't wait. Enter
ye in at the straight gate, Christ Jesus, the one way to the Father.
That's a command. This is His commandment that
we should believe on the name of His Son and love one another
as He gave us command. Now the gospel is a command. It's not an opinion. It's not
an offer. It's not an invitation. It's
a command. Believe right now. Now verse 19. Now, through his preaching of
the gospel that made the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, what
God had done through the preaching, look what he says in verse 19,
through mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of
God. Now, Paul could raise the dead. Paul could speak with tongues,
other languages. He did it. He said, I speak with
tongues more than you all. He could heal the sick. He was
given these supernatural abilities. But you know, we don't have those
in our day. And somebody that claims to have
them is a phony, period. They're not sincere, they're
phonies, and they're frauds. Those powers left with the apostles. When they saw that by the laying
on of the apostles' hands they received these gifts and powers.
Somebody that claims to heal people and speak in tongues and
all that kind of stuff, they're phonies and they're frauds. Nothing
more. But there's greater miracles
done even today than speaking in tongues or raising the dead.
The miracle of the new birth. The miracle of salvation. The
miracle of God giving a man or woman a new heart, where they
now love what they once hated, and they now hate what they once
loved. They're new creatures in Christ Jesus. That's a greater
command, a greater miracle than anything else. Oh, what miracle
is involved in the preaching of the gospel through mighty
signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God. Not by
might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. It's
by the Spirit of God that all these miracles are done through
the preaching of the Gospel. So that from Jerusalem and round
about Elycrium, I've said that three different ways and I don't
know how to pronounce it. So if anybody can help me, go
ahead and do it. But I have fully preached the Gospel. Now most men that take the title
of preacher cannot say in honesty, I've fully preached the gospel. What does it mean to fully preach
the gospel? Let me say this before I continue. If you don't fully preach the
gospel, you don't preach the gospel. I repeat, if you don't fully
preach the gospel, you don't preach the gospel. Now what does
it mean to fully preach the gospel? It means you don't leave out
anything. It really is that simple. It
means you don't leave out anything. Paul said in Acts chapter 20,
I've not shunned to declare all the counsel of God. I've kept
back nothing that was profitable to you. And it really is this
simple. If I fully preach the gospel, I don't leave anything
out. Now the gospel is made of many
truths that make one truth. And if you leave out one of those
truths that make up the truth, you no longer have the truth. What part of the gospel can you
leave out and still preach the truth? Now we've got to begin with the
Word of God. 2 Timothy 3.16 says all scripture
is given by inspiration of God. And this is where we begin. With
the written word of God. What does this book say? This is not man's natural religion. What does this book say? What does this book say regarding
the character of God? What does this book say regarding
the character of man? What does this book say with
regard to God's salvation? What's the book say? That's what
we're interested in. What does God actually say? No
one in here cares what I think. I know that. You don't care what
I think. Who cares? What does God say? That is where we begin. Now,
the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Somebody says, well,
how can you believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of
God? How can you really believe that? Same way I can believe
God created the universe. If God can create the universe,
He can inspire men to write the scripture by himself and cause
it to be preserved throughout. If I can believe God can create
the universe, I can believe the Bible's the word of God, can't
I? It's really that simple. And God makes himself known through
the word. Now the gospel is the good news
of God electing a people in Christ before time began to be saved. Christ coming and keeping the
law for those people and paying for their sins and saving them. The gospel is the justifying
work of Christ, how He justified everybody He died for, how He
redeemed everybody He died for, how He intercedes for everybody
He died for, how He accomplished salvation. That's good news.
You leave any of that out, and you no longer have the gospel. You know, the Lord spoke of the
Pharisees. He said, you omitted, you've
left out the weightier matters of the law. Now turn with me
for a moment to Psalm 40. Psalm 40. Now in this Psalm, The Lord Jesus
Christ is describing His own preaching. You reckon He preached
the gospel fully? Well, you know He did. He's the
Son of God. And in this psalm, He's describing His own preaching.
Now, we read in verse 6, "...sacrifice and offering, thou didst not
desire, mine ears hast thou opened, burnt offering and sin offering
hath thou not required? Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book is written of me, I delight to do thy will,
O God, yea, thy law is within my heart." Now, is there any
question regarding who is speaking? This is quoted in Hebrews chapter
10 as the direct words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now our Lord
is going to describe His preaching. Verse 9, I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving
kindness and thy truth from the great congregation." Now you'll
notice in those words there are three things the Lord said he
did not do in his preaching. He said in verse 9, I've not
refrained my lips. I've not held back anything.
He said in verse 10, I've not hid. He didn't hide anything. He said in verse 10, I've not
concealed. I've not concealed anything in my preaching. I have
fully preached the gospel. But notice what he said he preached. He said, I preached righteousness. I preached righteousness in the
great congregation. Now, what's he talking about? Is he talking about righteous
living? Well, everybody ought to live righteously. I wouldn't
dare say anything against that. But that doesn't have anything
to do with what he's talking about. I heard somebody preaching recently on
the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness
and peace and joy and the Holy Ghost. And then he said, how
can y'all live the way you do? He was bawling out the congregation
about something. Look what the Lord says in verse 10, I've not
hid whose righteousness? Whose righteousness? Thy righteousness within my heart. And let me, I want you to listen
to this real carefully. There is only one righteousness. His. His. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth to the Jew first, and also to the
Greek. For therein, in the gospel, is
the righteousness of God revealed. Now what is the righteousness
of God? He is utterly righteous. Sin can't dwell before Him. He's righteous. Oh, the righteousness
of His law, the Ten Commandments. He's righteous. Now this is His
righteousness. He would be righteous and he
is righteousness, if he does this, he'd be righteous to send
me and you to hell without ever giving us any mercy. You believe
that? He'd be righteous if he cut me
off and sent me to hell. If you ever see who the Lord
is, you won't have a sense of entitlement. I'm sure of that.
You won't think, well, He ought not do me. Yeah, He should. Yeah,
He should. He's righteous in His character.
He's righteous in my damnation, but thank God He's righteous
in the salvation of everybody He saves. You see, if I go to
heaven, if I'm brought into glory, It'll be because of righteousness. His righteousness becoming my
righteousness. Him taking my sins and putting
them away. Him taking my place, putting
those sins away. And Him giving me His righteousness.
And now the very righteousness of God demands my salvation. I don't have any sin. I don't
have anything to be condemned for. Christ put it away. I have
absolute the righteousness of God. The perfect righteousness
of Christ is counted to me. Now that's what the Lord preached. He said, I've not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I've declared thy faithfulness. Oh, I love declaring his faithfulness.
He's faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Great
is thy faithfulness. He's faithful to do everything
he said he was going to do. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he
was able also to do. By salvation, I've declared by
salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. He does it all. I'm not concealed
by loving kindness. Somebody once said that's the
Old Testament word for grace. Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy tender
mercies. I have not concealed thy truth from the great congregation. Now, when the gospel is being
fully preached, there are four things that take place when the
gospel is fully preached. Number one, The gospel is being
preached when God is given his rightful place as God. And that's going on when the
gospel is truly being preached. God, God the Father, is given
his rightful place as God. Now, if you believe that God
is God, you believe that He's holy, you believe that He's absolutely
sovereign, in control of everything and everybody, you believe He's
immutable, He can't change, you believe He's who He reveals Himself
to be in the Word. He's the sovereign of the universe.
He's the I am that I am, the God of the Bible, and all of
His glorious attributes. You know, you believe everything
the Bible says about it. Now, when the gospel is fully
preached, God is given His rightful place as God. Now, let me say
this. He's not given His rightful place.
He's in His rightful place. You believe that. You don't put
him in his rightful place. He is in his rightful place.
Where is God? Well, he's always been on the
throne, in absolute control, ruling and reigning. And you
acknowledge that when the gospel is fully preached. And the gospel
is seen as a God, God is seen as a God who will not compromise,
who will not negotiate, The only thing to do before this God is
to bow down. Bow down and sue for mercy. The gospel is fully preached
when God is acknowledged in his rightful place. Secondly, the
gospel is fully preached when man is put in his rightful place. Now the only way man will be
put in his rightful place is if God is seen in his rightful
place. The God of glory. But if I ever
see who God is, I'm going to put man in his rightful place. Utterly corrupt. Utterly evil. Dead in trespasses and sins.
Would that be you? Would that be you? Do you see
yourself in that light? Unable to do anything. Unable
to believe. Unable to repent. Unable... When
you find out you're dead, that's when you start crying for mercy.
You know, when you find out you're dead, really, that's when you
have life. As long as you don't see that, you don't have any
spiritual life. But when you're given life, what you find out
is you're dead. And you start crying for mercy because you
see yourself as the Bible sees you. No man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me drawing. The carnal mind is enmity. with God. Enmity. You see, man, as he really is,
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's
no difference. Yeah, I love the way Paul says there's no difference.
You take the most moral man to ever live, and you take the most
evil, debauched, godless man to ever live. How much difference
is there between the two of them before God? None. None. The Gospel is fully preached.
When man is presented as he really is in the scripture, and the gospel is not fully preached
unless Christ is acknowledged in his rightful place. You know,
I got in my notes, unless Christ is given his rightful place,
we don't give him his rightful place. He is in his rightful
place whether we give it or not, but it's acknowledged. Christ,
Jesus, the Lord. When the gospel is fully preached,
Jesus Christ is given all the glory. He's given all the glory
in creation. You know I love thinking about
the Lord Jesus Christ being the creator of the universe, don't
you? You think of the complexity of the atom. Who made it? You
think of the cosmos, the galaxies. Who made them? The Lord Jesus
Christ, all things were made by Him and for Him. God didn't
use Him to create the universe. He created the universe. He gets
all the glory. He gets all the glory in Providence.
Do you know He controls everything? The Scripture says He upholds
all things by the word of His power, simply by a nod of His
head. By Him all things consist. This
whole thing would fall apart. without Him. He's the first cause
behind everything. You know, I love to do this when
I'm preaching. It might be everybody in here
agrees with everything I'm saying, but there might be somebody saying,
I don't agree with that. He's in control of that too.
He controls the very thoughts going through your mind. It could
be He's giving you over judicial blindness. Whatever He does is
right. Now, if you're having good thoughts
of this, I love this! He gave you those thoughts. He
gave you those thoughts. He gave you that heart to receive
and believe. He's the one who controls everything. He's God!
Most especially. He gets all the glory and salvation. I love that scripture in Hebrews
1-3, when he had by himself, that means with no help from
you, with no help from me, when he had by himself purged our
sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is all. He's all the God. He's all in this book. He's all
in my salvation. And the gospel is fully preached
when Christ is acknowledged in His rightful place. He is the
way that excludes all other ways. He is the truth that excludes
everything else that's contrary to Him. And He is the life. He's the only life. No man comes
to the Father but by Him. And the gospel is not preached
unless the Holy Spirit is given his rightful place. This is the
mystery of the gospel. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit. One God, three distinct persons. Anybody here understand that?
No. Anybody here believe it? Yeah. And God the Holy Spirit equal
with God the Father, equal with God the Son, the third person
of the blessed Trinity, the author of the new birth. Our Lord said
regarding Him, He shall glorify Me. He'll not speak of Himself,
but whatsoever He hears, that shall He speak. He'll guide you
into all truth. Every thought you have of the
glory of God, His greatness, your own sinfulness, the sufficiency
of Christ, that comes from the Holy Spirit. Every view you have
of Christ comes from the Holy Spirit. Now, He's the author
of life. Do you know that if you've been
born again, If you've been given this new nature, He's birthed
you by His own almighty, invincible power, and you've been made a
partaker of the divine nature, born of the Spirit. You have
a new nature, a new heart that wasn't there before. To God the
Holy Spirit be all the glory for that. He did that. Now, when
the Gospel is fully preached, God is acknowledged to be who
He is. Man is acknowledged to be who
He really is. Christ is acknowledged in Him
getting all the glory. And God the Holy Spirit is acknowledged
in His work. Now let's go on reading back
to Romans chapter 15. Romans 15. Verse 20, Yea, so have I strived
to preach the gospel. And the only way to preach the
gospel is to strive to preach the gospel. So have I strived
to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should
build upon another man's foundation. I want people who haven't heard
to hear. Verse 21, But as it is written, And this is what happens when
the gospel is fully preached, as it is written, to whom he
was not spoken of, they shall see, and they that have not heard
shall understand. Those to whom he was not spoken, they're
going to see. Now the word see here means they're
going to continue to behold. They're going to look and they're
going to keep looking in wonder and amazement of him. In evil
long I took delight, unawed by shame or fear, until a new object
caught my sight and stopped my wild career. You're going to
see one. and you're not going to be able
to take your eyes off of him. And you're going to ask God to
cause you to not take your eyes off of him. And all your salvation
in your experience is found in looking to him. That one who
is not spoken of, you are going to see him and you're going to
continue that gaze, looking unto Jesus. And they that have not
heard shall understand. You're going to understand when
the gospel is fully preached and God blesses it to your heart,
you're going to understand how a holy God can accept you for
this one reason, for Christ's sake. You can understand that.
You can understand how God can be just and yet justify somebody
like you, as sinful and evil as you are, through what Christ
did on Calvary's tree. And in understanding, you're
going to willingly deny yourself and you're going to take up your
cross and the confession of Christ and you're going to follow Him
all the days of your life by the grace of God. Paul said,
I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. I didn't leave out
anything. Now when a man, I don't know
of anything that I find more distressing than to hear a man
who I know what he believes, yet he tries to tone it down
to make it more acceptable and more palatable to the flesh.
Paul said, I didn't do that. May God enable me and you to
be involved in this thing of fully preaching the gospel of
Christ. Let's pray. In Christ's name, I ask that
the gospel of Christ might be fully preached and fully believed
by everybody in this room for the Lord's sake. In his name
we pray, amen. What do you got, Matt? 231, we'll stand and
sing.