I want to speak to you this morning
upon the gospel of God. Not the gospel of men, but the
gospel of God. Paul said in Romans chapter 15, verse 15, Nevertheless, brethren,
I've written more boldly unto you in some sort as putting you
in mind because of the grace that's given to me of God that
I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering
the gospel of God, ministering the gospel of God, the gospel
of which God is the author. the gospel of which God is the
subject, and the gospel of which God is the object. He's the author of it, He's the
subject of it, and He's the object of it. It's for His glory. Paul said in Romans chapter 1,
verse 1, that he was separated unto the gospel of God. In Galatians 1, verse 11, he
said, "...the gospel that was preached of me was not after
man. It was not derived from any human
source. For I neither received it of
man, nor was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Now, Paul said, this is not something that I came up with. This is
something that God gave to me, that he revealed to me. God taught
Paul the gospel directly. He speaks of being taken into
the third heaven and God teaching him. That's how he had the understanding
he had in the gospel. It's a divine revelation. And then he said, though we are
an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you. Then
that which we preached unto you, let him be accursed. Let him
be damned. Let him spend eternity in hell
if he preaches any other gospel. Now that's not being harsh. That's
not being mean-spirited. That's knowing that there's only
one gospel and woe to the man that doesn't preach the gospel.
Paul said in another place, woe unto me. if I preach not the
gospel of Christ." Now, the word gospel means good news, glad
tidings. When accompanied by the Holy
Spirit, it always comes as news, new and fresh and powerful like
you've never heard it before, good news, glad tidings. It's good news because of the
subject matter. It tells how a holy God can save sinful men
and women like me and you. Now, I'm awfully interested in
that. How can God in His holiness have
anything to do with me? How can He have mercy upon me? How can He give me grace? I still
am amazed that God in His holiness can have anything to do with
me. Now, the gospel of God is an
objective message. That means it's not subject to
man's thoughts. It's an objective message. Now, how can I know if I'm hearing
the gospel of God? Everybody claims to preach the
gospel. And the Lord warns us that there are many false prophets.
He said, beware of false prophets that come to you in sheep's clothing.
There are a whole lot more false prophets than true prophets.
Now, how can I know if what I'm hearing, the gospel I'm hearing
is the gospel of God? Would you please give me your
ear and listen real carefully? Here's how I can know if the
gospel I'm hearing is really the gospel of God. First, does
this gospel line up with the Old Testament scriptures? I realize many preachers dismiss
the Old Testament and almost think that God's different now
than he was in the Old Testament, but that's not so. Paul said
in 1 Corinthians 15 and 3, he said, Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the gospel, how that Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures, according to the Old Testament scriptures.
The New Testament had not yet been written. Now, examine the
Passover. when God said, when I see the
blood, I will pass over you. Does my gospel line up with that
type? The great day of atonement, Genesis 22, Abraham offering
up Isaac as a sacrifice. I mean, the whole Old Testament
is given to us to illustrate the gospel to us. And if the
gospel I'm hearing doesn't line up with the doctrine and the
examples of the Old Testament scriptures, It's not the gospel. Secondly, does the gospel I'm
hearing give God all the glory? If it doesn't give God all the
glory, if it gives any glory to man, it's not the gospel of
God. Thirdly, is the gospel I'm hearing
giving the preeminence to Jesus Christ in all things? If it's
not, it's not the gospel. Fourth, is the gospel I'm hearing
Does it line up with the character of God, with the attributes of
God? God is holy. Does the gospel
I'm hearing magnify His holiness? God is absolutely just. Is the
gospel I'm hearing magnifying His absolute justice? You know,
most preachers preach that Jesus Christ died for everybody, And
yet, even though he's died for your sins, you might end up in
hell anyway if you don't do your part to be saved. Now, if that's
true, God is not just. If my sins are paid for, they're
paid for. And if he paid for my sins and
I have to pay for them again in hell, then God is not just.
Is the gospel I'm hearing lining up with it? Attributes of God. Does it line up with an immutable
God who cannot change? I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Now the gospel
I'm hearing must be one that lines up and is consistent with
the attributes and character of God. Will the gospel I'm hearing meet
me where I am? Or is there a certain level I
have to hit before it can do anything? I love the parable
of the good Samaritan where he came to the man where he was. Now if the gospel I'm hearing
can't do anything for me until I do something and then it'll
work, that gospel won't do me any good or you any good because
the scripture says men are dead in trespasses and sins. The only
gospel there is is the gospel that will reach a man where he
is, dead in sins and do everything that's necessary to save him.
Will my gospel save the chief of sinners? If it won't, it won't
do me any good. It won't do you any good either.
Will my gospel keep a man saved? If he doesn't preserve me, I
won't be saved. Will my gospel enable me to face
death and judgment? If what Christ did is enough,
it really will. And what he did is enough. I
need nothing else. Will my gospel make a man perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ? God's gospel does. Now, listen
to what you're hearing. Is it the gospel of God? It's also called the gospel of
Christ. Romans 1, 16 and 17, I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein,
in the gospel of Christ, in the gospel of God, is the righteousness
of God revealed. Now, this is what the gospel
of Christ reveals, God's righteousness. the essential righteousness of
his character. He's perfectly righteous, holy. There's no darkness in him. There's
no sin in him. He's absolute justice. He's absolute
holiness. God is righteous. And the Gospel
reveals God's righteousness in damnation. Now, God's going to
send men to hell. You say, How can a loving God
do that? Well, a loving God doesn't. Just God does. God's going to
send men to hell. I hate talking like that. I hate
thinking about it. This isn't one of those hellfire
and brimstone messages where preachers act like they're glad
men are going to hell. But I'm saying the truth. God
is righteous, and His righteousness is going to send men to hell.
Somebody says, well, how could God be fair? And as soon as you
say something like that, how could God be fair, you've entered
into being a judge of God. You better stay away from that.
God's righteousness is extolled when He sends a man to hell.
It says He's just, He will punish sin. But God's righteousness
is also exalted in the salvation of the sinner. You see, He's
made a way to be just and justify the ungodly to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. To declare again, I say at this time, His righteousness
that He might be just and justify him which believeth in Jesus.
You see, The gospel is about the righteousness of God in every
aspect. It's called the gospel of the
kingdom. The gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of God, the gospel
of Christ, the gospel of the kingdom. That means it's about
the king and it's about his subjects. Revelation 17, 14, we read that
he's the king of kings and the Lord of lords. And they that
are with him are called, chosen, and faithful. It's called in
Acts 15, 7, the word of the gospel. You know what that means? It
means the gospel has a specific content. There are words that
are used, words like election, redemption, justification, sanctification,
and the biblical meaning of the words are given in the preaching
of the gospel. It has a specific content, and
if that is left out, you no longer have the gospel. The gospel is
made of many truths that make one truth. And you leave one
truth out and you no longer have the gospel. It's got a specific
content. It's called in Philippians 127,
the faith of the gospel. The faith of the gospel. Now,
the gospel is about faith. It's about faith in Christ. It's
about looking to Christ alone and looking nowhere else for
everything in your salvation. Now, what is meant by faith alone?
Well, if I have faith alone, that's the only kind of faith
there is. Now, it's never alone. It's always accompanied with
evidence, but it's faith alone. If I have faith alone, that means
all I have is Christ. The only way I can come into
God's presence is Christ, the faith of God's elect, the acknowledging
of the truth, which is after godliness. Oh, the gospel is
a thing about faith, the gift of God's grace. And then we read
in Galatians 2, 5 of the truth of the gospel. The truth of the
gospel. You know, the only way we're
ever going to hear the truth, the truth concerning God, the
truth concerning man, and the truth concerning salvation, is
the gospel. The gospel's utterly unique.
There's nothing like it. It tells how God saves sinners.
It tells the truth about God, His holy character. You know
what holiness means? He's unapproachable. It means
he won't speak to you, he won't be spoken to you apart from the
Mediator, apart from Christ. God is holy. The Gospel tells
the truth about man. I am so sinful, so evil. And that's the truth about me,
and the cross demonstrates that. If you want to find out the truth
about yourself, look at the cross. That's how bad you are. That's
how bad I am. When left to ourselves, we'll
nail the Son of God to a cross in hatred and bitterness and
self-righteousness. That's man completely wicked,
completely dependent upon the grace of Christ, completely dependent
upon God to do something for me. 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. Now, the
only hope somebody like that has is for God to do something
for him. In the gospel, I see the truth
of salvation, how God saves by Christ, by what he did. He is all my salvation. Now,
that's the truth. He is all my salvation. Paul
said in Colossians 3.11, Christ is all in all. That's the truth. We read in Acts 20, 24 of the
gospel of the grace of God. Oh, the gospel is all about the
free grace of God. Now let me tell you something
about grace. Grace in the Bible is not God offering you salvation. Grace is God saving you. By grace
you are saved, electing grace, redeeming grace, justifying grace,
life-giving grace, preserving grace. The Gospel is about the
grace, the saving grace of God. We read in Ephesians 6, 19, of
the mysteries of the Gospel. And oh, what mysteries! The mystery
of the Trinity. God is one God in three distinct
persons. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit. The mystery of the believer's
union with Christ. This is a great mystery, but
I speak concerning Christ and the church, Ephesians 5, 31. The two shall be made one flesh. Both he that sanctifieth and
they who are sanctified are all of one. The mystery of being
saved by what he did rather than what you do. Oh, the mysteries,
things we would have never known, never even considered had not
God made them known in the gospel. In Revelation 14, verse 6, it's
called the everlasting gospel. That means it's eternal. Whatever
it was, it is. Whatever it is, it always will
be. It's a gospel that cannot be modified or changed. It's
the everlasting, eternal gospel. And I love what Paul calls it
in 1 Timothy 1.11, the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. It's all about God's glory. And
he called it in 2 Corinthians 4.6, the gospel of the glory
of Christ. Now remember, the gospel means
good news, the gospel of God, the gospel of Christ, the truth
of the gospel. It's called good news. But it's not good news to everybody. Without question, there are people
who have listened to this message and thought, I don't like this.
I don't like what the preacher's saying. I don't find this to
be good news. This is not the way I believe.
Well, if that's your response, I'm happy and I hope you end
up believing what I'm saying and not believing, but I would
expect that kind of response. When the Gospels preach, a lot
of people don't like it. The first story after the fall
is the story of Cain and Abel. One brought what he did, the
other brought what somebody else did. Cain brought the fruit of
the ground. Abel brought a bloody sacrifice. Abel knew that he could not approach
God apart from the coming one, the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew
the blood of that lamb didn't put away his sins. He knew it
would be the blood of the coming lamb that would put away his
sins. And he looked to Christ only, and that's the way he approached
God. Cain approached God by his works, by the fruit of the ground,
by the best he could do. Now remember, this is the first
gospel story after the fall. God had respect to Abel and his
offering, and he had no respect to Cain and his offering. Now,
Cain got upset with this. This is not fair. He started
talking to his brother. How can this be? Why did God accept yours
and He didn't accept mine? And I'm sure Holy Abel explained
to Cain, God is holy. He can only be approached through
the blood of His Son who's going to come. We're too sinful to
come on our own. We can only come through the
blood. And I can see Cain said, I'll show you blood. He struck
his brother and killed him. And the issue was the gospel. Cain hated the gospel. And there
are men who are going to have a negative response to the gospel. It's not good news to everybody,
but it is good news to some. Here's an example. First Timothy
1.15, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Who's
that good news to? Sinners. That's who it's good
news to. If you're righteous, if you think that you're saved
by your works, that's not good news to you. But if you're a sinner,
that comes as good news. John 15, 16, you have not chosen
me, but I've chosen you. Who's that good news to? The
ones He chose. Oh, the elect love election.
Ephesians 2, 1, and you hath He quickened who were dead in
trespasses and sins. Well, who's that good news to?
The ones He's quickened, the ones He's given life to. They
were once dead in sins, and now He's given them life. Romans
5, 6, when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. Who's that good news to? those
who are without strength, and those who are ungodly because
they're the ones Christ died for. The Gospel is not good news
to everybody, but it is good news to a great multitude. It's
good news to those who find it to be good news. That's simple,
isn't it? It's good news to those who find
it to be good news. The gospel, every aspect of the
gospel is good news to this sinner talking to you. It's good news
to me that God is absolutely sovereign and able to save the
chief of sinners. He's all-powerful. He's holy.
He's just. It's good news to me that God
elected a people because I know if He didn't, no one would be
saved. Election's the sinner's friend. It's good news to me
that Christ is a successful Savior, that everybody He saved is saved. Everybody He died for, their
sins are gone. They're justified. They're redeemed. They're saved. That's good news
to me. It's good news to me that God's grace is invincible and
irresistible and cannot be resisted. That if He intends to give you
grace, you're going to have it. We can't do anything to mess
it up. It's good news to me that God preserves everybody that
he elected and that Christ died for and that God the Holy Spirit
gives life to. They're kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation. That's good news, good news. The Gospel's good news. It's being justified freely by
His grace, good news to you. is in him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead in a body, and you're complete in him, lacking
nothing. Is that good news to you? It's called in Romans 10,
15, the gospel of peace. The gospel of peace. It's how
God can be at peace with men. It's how men can actually experience
peace with God. Romans chapter 5 verse 1 says,
therefore being justified. And this is where all this peace
comes from, being justified. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what is justification? This
is one of those words that are always used when the gospel is
preached, justification. If you're justified, that means
you are not guilty. It doesn't only mean that you're
forgiven. It means now you have nothing to be forgiven for. You
have no sin. You stand before God completely
just. Now that's what Christ accomplished
on Calvary's tree. He put away my sin. Now I have
no sin. And that's the only thing that
gives this sinner or any other sinner true peace, the peace
of knowing that all God requires of me, I have. Christ put away
my sins and God justified me. That's where all my peace is.
It's called the Gospel of Hope in Colossians 1.23. The hope
of the gospel. Now, I can tell you what my hope
is. My hope is that all that God requires of me, I have in
Christ and I'm going to stand before God justified in the future
because I'm just, I'm holy, I'm without blemish, I'm without
fault, I'm without spot through what Christ did on Calvary's
tree. The hope of the gospel and what
a blessed hope it is. Now, I'd like to read a passage
of Scripture from Mark chapter 14. In verse 9, we read, and
this is what I'm going to close with. This is what this Gospel
produces. Verse 9, Verily I say unto you,
these are the words of the Lord, wherever this Gospel shall be
preached, the Gospel of God, the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel
of the Scriptures, the Gospel of peace, the Gospel of hope,
the faith of the gospel, all these terms regarding the gospel.
Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole
world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a
memorial of her. Now what this is talking about
What the Lord's talking about is that woman who brought that
alabaster box of ointment, spikenard, very costly, very precious. Now this is what the gospel produces. Verse 3 of Mark chapter 14, And
being in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, As he said
it meet, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment
of spikenard, very precious. Now obviously what this woman
was doing was premeditated. This woman loved the Lord Jesus
Christ and she took this very costly bottle of perfume And
what did she do? She broke the box and poured
it on His head. What she did was unbridled, what
she did was extravagant, and what she did was lavish because
she loved the Lord Jesus Christ. Actually, what she's doing is
the only work that our Lord ever calls a good work. He calls this a good work. Now,
what this woman did, look how some responded to it, verse 4,
and there were some that had indignation within themselves
and said, why was this waste of the ointment made? For it
might have been sold for more than 300 pence and been given
to the poor woman. And they murmured at her. Now,
this good work that this woman had done for the Lord Jesus Christ
was criticized. It was criticized. Her motive
was criticized. Her wastefulness was criticized. And we know that it was Judas
who did this. We know this from John's account. But evidently, some of the others
chimed in, too. And they criticized her for what
she did. It was wasteful. It could have
been given to the poor. And when people criticize like
that, it's not because they care about the poor. It's not because
they... It's just a wicked heart that does that. Now, let's go
on reading. And Jesus said, let her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath
wrought a good work on me. For you have the poor with you
always, and whithersoever you will, you may do them good, but
me you have not always. She hath done what she could. She is come aforehand to anoint
my body to the burying. You see the Lord on three different
occasions said, I'm going to be crucified and the third day
I'm going to rise from the dead. And his disciples evidently,
they didn't get it because they weren't waiting in his tomb the
third day for him to rise from the dead. But this woman knew.
This woman knew. And she came with the costliest
thing she had to anoint his body for the burying. Why? Because
she loved the Lord Jesus Christ. Now here is what the gospel of
God produces. a genuine love and adoration
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the objective gospel becomes
subjective when we see the infinite worth of Christ, and He becomes
all to us. And that is what the gospel of
God does. It takes a sinful man or woman,
puts away their sin, gives them a new heart, a new nature, gives
them a perfect righteousness, and causes them to be in love
with the Lord Jesus Christ as the altogether lovely one. The gospel of God always does
that. Now we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church, write
or email We'll send you a copy. This is Todd Niver praying that
God will be pleased to make himself known to you. That's our prayer.
Amen. To request a copy of the sermon
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