Would you turn back to Romans
1? While you're turning there, Lord willing this evening, I'm
going to preach from a verse that I've never preached from
before, but I've referred to it many times. Luke 9 31, where
we read of the deceased, which he should accomplish the death. which he should accomplish. Now,
we don't generally think of death as an accomplishment, do we?
We think of it as defeat. But he accomplished something
by his death, and I want us to consider what he actually accomplished. I've entitled the message for
this morning, The Gospel of God. Now, wouldn't it be a great blessing
and a great mercy if the gospel of God was preached this morning. Not man's gospel, but God's gospel. Paul said he was separated to
the gospel of God. Now, the definite article the
is very important. gospel of God. Men have no problem with a gospel. Well, here's your view of the
gospel, here's my view. Both gospel, we just look at
it differently. Here's my take. Men have no problem with a gospel. Men really don't have much of
a problem with a higher view of the gospel. Well, these people
believe in a free will gospel and these people believe in a
sovereign grace gospel and the sovereign grace is more accurate
but the other people still believe the gospel. People have no problem
with a higher view of the gospel or a more accurate view of the
gospel but what people have a problem with is the gospel of God that
excludes all other gospels. Turn with me for a moment to
Galatians chapter one. Now, I want you to look at the
language of Paul and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in this passage
of scripture. He says in verse six. I marvel. That you are so soon
removed. from him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel. You know when I read Paul say
that, I know it can happen to me and you. So soon removed. He says, which is not another.
But there be some that trouble you and would pervert or would
change the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we've
preached unto you, let him be accursed. Let him be damned. Let him be anathematized. That's what that means. Verse
nine. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you, then that
which you've received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade
men or God, or do I seek to please men? For if I yet please men,
I should not be the servant of Christ. Would you want to listen
to me if I was seeking to please men? Would you want to hear anything
I had to say if that's what I was about? No, you wouldn't. You
wouldn't. He said in verse 11, but I certify
you, brethren, that the gospel, which was preached, the gospel,
which was preached to me 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. Now, my question
is, what is the gospel of God? Oh, what to God that he would
be our teacher and that he would come into our midst and teach
us what the gospel of God is. Now that's the question I'm asking.
I hope you'll all give your careful attention to this message. What
is the gospel of God? And even as we begin considering
this all together, glorious subject, ask the Lord that he would give
you hearing ears, and ask the Lord that he would give me a
word from you, from him, not from you, from him, I'm sorry
for saying that, from him, and pray for me that I preach the
gospel with compassion, with love, in the power of the Holy
Spirit, with truth. Pray for me, and pray for yourselves
that you'll be enabled to hear the gospel. What is the gospel
of God? Well, look in our text. Verse
1, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle. An apostle
was a sent one. It's one that the Lord taught
them the gospel directly. He said, I'm separated unto the
gospel of God. And here's the first point. The
gospel of God is the gospel which he had promised afore. It's an eternal gospel. I love
the fact that Andy read 2 Timothy 1 9 just now where it says he saved
us and he called us. What came first? The saving of
calling. He saved us and he called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. The gospel of God is the gospel
that was promised afore. It's called in Revelation the
everlasting gospel. It's the eternal gospel. You
know, Christ is called the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Now that's mysterious. It doesn't
say He will be slain. He's already been slain from
the foundation of the world. And I love thinking about this.
Before there was ever a sinner, there was a Savior. Aren't you
thankful for that? The eternal gospel. The gospel that was promised
afore by His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. You know when
Peter was preaching on the day of Pentecost, this is where he began. This
is where preaching begins with God. It doesn't begin with man,
it begins with God. He said Him, He begins this message. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain." Now, the gospel of God
is the gospel that was promised before it began before the foundation
of the world. God gave his son as a representative
to his elect even before the foundation of the world, and
they've always been viewed in him. To preach the gospel, you've
got to begin with God. Now, here's second point. The gospel of God, which he had
promised before in verse two by his prophets in the holy scriptures. The gospel of God is the gospel
of the holy scriptures. It's a gospel of divine revelation. Now this book we call the Bible
is the inspired Word of God where He declares to us His Gospel. It's the Gospel of the Scriptures. And when Paul makes his statement,
he's talking about the Old Testament Scriptures, isn't he? The New
Testament had not yet been finalized at this time. The full canon
was not. He was talking about the Old Testament Scriptures
when he said he's the gospel of the Old Testament Scriptures.
Now, I want you to do this and I want myself to do this. Does
my gospel, the gospel that I believe, does it line up with the Old
Testament Scriptures? Does it square up with the Old
Testament Scriptures? Now, what do I mean by that?
In Lexington, Kentucky this morning, I feel sure that I could say
that most of the pulpits in Lexington, Kentucky preach that God loves
everybody and wants everybody to be saved. And that Christ
died for everybody and wants everybody to be saved. And the
Holy Spirit is calling everybody and wants everybody to be saved.
that God offers salvation to all, wanting all to be saved,
but it's up to whether or not you accept or reject what he
did as to whether or not you'll be saved. Now, am I being accurate
that that is basically the message that's being preached in our
day all over the country? Now, here's my question. Does
that message line up with the Old Testament scriptures? Give you one example. Only one
we need. The Passover. The Passover. Now, like I said, most folks
believe that Jesus Christ shed his blood for everybody and made
salvation available for all men. But it's possible that he can
die for you and he can shed his precious blood for you and you
wind up in hell anyway if you don't do what you're supposed
to do in order to make what he did work. Now, I want to ask
you a question. In the Passover, When those people
were in the houses with the blood over the door, was there anybody
in any of those houses who perished anyway? Say there were some bad,
somebody thought, well, there's some bad. No, if you were in
the house with the blood over the door, God said, I will pass
over you. He said, when I see the blood,
I will pass over you." Now, does your gospel line up with the
Old Testament Scriptures? There's so many examples in the
Old Testament Scriptures, the sacrifice, the priesthood, and
so on. The Old Testament is so important. People call it the
Old Bible, and it's not relevant for today. Yeah, it is. It's
the gospel. Does the gospel you believe line
up with the Old Testament scriptures? Remember how Paul said in 1 Corinthians
15, 3, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel, How that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He didn't
say Christ died for our sins only. He said, How that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures. Now, if my gospel
does not line up with the Old Testament scriptures, it is not
the gospel of God. Now look what he says next in
verse three. What is the gospel of God? I love this. Separated unto the gospel of
God. And notice verse 2 is in parentheses. It's a parenthetical statement.
You could lift that out and read verses 1 and 3 together. Separated
unto the gospel of God, verse 3, concerning His Son, Jesus
Christ, our Lord. The gospel of God is the gospel
concerning His Son, Jesus Christ. our Lord. Now I realize this
will come as a shock to some, but this is not about you. When we speak of the gospel,
this is not about you. This is about the Lord Jesus
Christ and His glory. Now, the gospel of men begins
with man and his needs and God's ability to meet those needs. That's the gospel of men. Man
and his needs and God's ability to meet those needs. That's wrong. God's got an agenda and it's
not to meet your needs. God's agenda is the glory and
the exaltation of His beloved Son. That's God's purpose in
all things. It's to glorify His beloved Son. Now thank God every sinner who
needs Christ, their needs are met in that. Don't you find that
the gospel does meet your needs? But understand this, the gospel
is not about man and his needs being met. It's about the glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the eternal son of God. He is Jesus, the savior. He is the Christ, God's Christ,
God's prophet. Aren't you glad God sent a word,
his son? He's God's priest. He's the God,
he's the priest of God's providing, where if he represents you before
the father, you must be accepted. He's God's sovereign king. He's
the king of kings and he's the Lord of lords. He's the king. And we bow to him as such. I love that scripture. The kingdom
of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for
his son. And this is what the gospel of
God is all about. The glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, one of the scriptural
names for the gospel of God is the gospel of the glory of Christ. You know, what God thinks about
me and you, I can tell you what God thinks about me and you.
It can be seen by what me and you think about the glory of
his son. Do you believe that the Lord Jesus Christ gets all
the glory in your salvation? And you wouldn't dare give any
glory of your salvation to yourself or anybody else. He did it all.
Who gets the glory? That's the issue. The gospel
is the gospel concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now if I have a gospel where
any of the glory of salvation goes to me, even if it's my choice
or my free will, that's the difference between me and somebody else,
I do not have the gospel of God. Now understand this, I want everybody
to hear this. If I believe that man gets any glory in salvation,
I do not have the gospel of God. I've got the gospel of men. And
you know what? The gospel of men won't save. Nobody's ever
saved by the gospel of men. We need the gospel of God. Now
let's go on reading in verse three. What is the gospel of
God? It's the gospel concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord,
which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh,
and declared to be the son of God with power according to the
spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. Now, the gospel
of God is the gospel of the God man. The gospel of God is the gospel
of the God-man. Did you notice how it says he
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh? There
is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ
Jesus. Christ was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh. It was not God taking over a
body. God was manifest in the flesh. Great is the mystery of
godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. You see, the eternal
son of God became what he was not. I don't understand that,
I just believe it. He became a man. Fully man, fully
God. The man, Christ Jesus. You see,
it was a man who kept the law. It was a man who thus became
wearied with his journey and sat down at the well to speak
with the woman who'd been married five times, wearied in his journey. It was a man who was nailed to
a cross. Think of the physical pain. It
was a man who was forsaken by God. He said, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? He was abandoned by God. He was
left to himself. He was a man who died. He was a man who was raised from
the dead. It was a man who send it back
to glory. And there's a man seated right
now at the right hand of the Father as I speak, representing
me. A real man, pumping blood and breathing air. I don't understand
that, but I believe it. The man, Christ Jesus. A man
is returning. A man sits on the throne, ruling
and reigning. The man, Christ Jesus. When Pilate said, behold, the
man. man. A real man. And this real man is nobody less
than God himself. Isn't that wonderful? The God
man, Christ Jesus, look what it says. It says he was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh. He became a real
man But he wasn't made the Son of God, verse four, he was declared
to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. He wasn't made the Son
of God, he was declared to be the Son of God. You see, in the
beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. The same was, eternally was,
in the beginning with God. He's declared to be the Son of
God. That's who He is, the eternal
Son of God. The gospel of God is the gospel
of the God-man, the Son of God. Now, I like thinking about this. God the Father can't be a father
if he doesn't have a son, can he? Father has to have a son.
And son can't be a son without a father. He is the eternal Son
of God, and the gospel of God is the gospel of the God-man.
And there are three things mentioned that testify to the fact that
he is God-man. fully God and fully man. Notice
what they are. He's declared to be the son of
God, number one, with power, number two, according to the
spirit of holiness, and number three, by the resurrection from
the dead. Now, this is how we know he is
the God-man. The gospel is the gospel concerning
his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, the God-man. First, he's declared
to be the God-man by his power. is power. You know, he said, all power
is given to me. Thou has given him power over
all flesh. Now he, he demonstrated creative
power. He brought matter into existence
that was not, didn't exist in the universe. All of a sudden
there it was. Only God can do that. We talk about creative
people. I think it was Bob, you were
preaching on this last Sunday. I think it was you. I liked it. People talk about creative people.
You're just borrowing what God's given you. Only God creates.
Only God creates. And he, the Lord Jesus Christ,
brought matter into existence that was not born. Look at the
miracles that he did while he walked upon this earth. He controlled
the weather. He controlled the weather. There was a great storm. He said, Peace, be still. And
there was a great calm. He raised the dead. He gave sight
to the blind. He proved himself to be very
God of very God, the man Christ Jesus. His power is seen in Providence. And what I got to think about,
I was thinking about this this morning. I just had this Providence. I thought
about all the stuff he did with fish. The disciples are out fishing
all night. They didn't catch a thing. Then
he tells them to go out and launch out for another catch. And he
says, fish get in the net. All of a sudden, the fish, they
all get in the net. They bring it in and pull in a great multitude
of fish. He says to Peter, you go out
and cast a hook into the sea. And the first fish you catch,
pull it in, pull the coin out of its mouth. And that'll pay
the taxes for me and you. He had that fish swallow that
coin. He had that fish bite that hook. What this is saying is
the Lord God is in control of everything. Everything. Fish get in the net. Fish stay
out of the net. Fish swallow the gold. Whatever any man does,
he's in control of. By him, all things consist. That's his power. Me and you
are in his hands. And I love it that way, don't
you? I love it that way. You're in his hands. He's not
in your hands. I have preachers say, won't you
let Jesus have his way? That's so ridiculous. He has
his way. He has his way and you're in his hands and he's going to
do with you whatsoever he's pleased to do. He's the Lord and most
especially his power is seen in salvation. Thou has given
him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou has given him. So his The fact that he's God
man is seen in his power. And the next thing he says is
he's declared to be the son of God with power, according to
the spirit of holiness. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ didn't
have a measure of the spirit, but the fullness of the spirit.
And by the spirit of God, he lived a life of perfect holiness. He never sinned. He never had a bad thought. Never had a bad deed. He loved
his neighbor as himself. He loved God with all of his
heart and all of his soul and all of his strength. He is the
only man to ever live a holy life. That's Jesus Christ. Only God
can do that. He's declared to be the Son of
God by the Spirit of holiness. And thirdly, he's declared to
be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead. Now, this one who never sinned
died on a cross, nailed to a cross. Now why does anybody die? Why
are you going to die? You're going to die. Why are
you going to die? There's only one reason. Sin. By one man,
sin entered the world and death by sin. So that death passed
upon all men in that all have sinned. Now Jesus Christ died
and you just were talking about how he never sinned and speaking
of his holiness. Why did he die then? Because
the sins of God's people became his sins. Now I don't understand
how God does this, but somehow my sin was lifted off of me and
placed upon Christ. And his righteousness becomes
mine. It's called substitution. He
was raised from the dead. Now while he was on the cross,
while he was dying, he really was, and this is the most horrible
thing to think about, he really was forsaken by God. Now, we
have felt forsaken by God, haven't we? We felt it. I don't know
how many times I felt because of my sin, not because of me
thinking God's unfaithful, but I don't know how many times I
thought, in my experience, because of my sin, God left me. That I'm not going to have anything
to do with him anymore. And I felt that way many times. I bet you
have too. I'm not going to have anything to do with him. anymore. I'm not going to have anything
to do with her anymore because of my sin, my sin, my willful
sin. You know, that scripture used
to scare me to death before I understood it. As a matter of fact, I'd
avoid reading Hebrews chapter 10 because that scripture where
it says if we sin willfully after we receive the knowledge of the
truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sin. And I used
to avoid reading that just because I thought, my sin's willful. I mean, I don't, I'm not forced
to sin. I sin with my will. And what the writer there is
speaking of is if we sin willfully in the sense of after we, after
having received the knowledge of the truth, after we hear the
gospel of God's grace, if we go back to works, that's it.
There's no more sacrifice for sin, but waiting for the judgment
of God. But I have felt, and what I'm
saying, I felt forsaken, but have I been? No. No. The Lord's never forsaken
me. He's utterly faithful. But Jesus
Christ was literally forsaken, abandoned by God. He suffered
all that a damned soul suffers on the cross. And He died. The God-Man died. Now how? There's mystery in that. The God-Man died. He was dead
for three days. Who knows what happened those
three days? But after three days, He was raised from the dead. Why was he raised from the dead?
You see, hell is eternal because no man ever satisfies the justice
of God. God can never say, well, that's
enough, that's enough. Because sin is an infinite evil against
an infinite God. But when Christ died, God said,
I can ask no more. I am completely satisfied. And this is what proves him to
be the son of God. The resurrection from the dead,
God said I'm satisfied with him, I'm satisfied with what he did,
and I'm satisfied with everybody he did it for. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God raised
him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now it's not just believing
in the fact of the resurrection. Somebody says, I believe Christ
was raised from the dead. Well, good, but what does that
mean? When Christ was raised from the dead, that means that
he completely satisfied all that God requires for everybody he
died for and was raised for. And my, listen to me, My salvation
is holy, 100% dependent upon the life, death, burial, and
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we confess
in baptism. And I find such satisfaction in this, all that God requires
of me. I got when Christ was raised
from the dead, and He's declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection
from the dead. His death is utterly unique.
We die, it's the ultimate defeat. He dies, it's the accomplishment
of the salvation of everybody he died for. Now let's go on
reading. By whom we have received, verse 5, by whom we have received
grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations
for his name. By whom we've received grace. The gospel of God is the gospel
of grace. You all love the way that word
sounds, don't you? That's one of the most beautiful sounding
words, grace. Grace, the grace of God. The
gospel of God is the gospel of the grace of God. And notice
how he says, we've received grace for obedience to the faith. Now
the only way me and you are going to obey the faith and believe
the gospel is if He gives us grace to. Of His fullness have
we all received and grace for grace. It takes grace to receive
grace. It takes grace to believe grace.
He is the grace of God. And the only way me and you are
going to obey the gospel is by Him giving us the grace to. Don't
you know that so? Don't you know that so in your experience? If
you're a believer, you know the only reason you believe is because
He gave you grace to. Grace for obedience, obedience
to the gospel, and grace for apostleship. Now, the word apostle
simply means sent. It's bringing this message, the
message of the gospel, the gospel of God. He's given us grace to
obey the faith and grace to bring this message Paul says, to all
nations. Aren't you thankful for the word
all nations? This is a gospel for everybody. This gospel that
I'm preaching is the gospel that's worthy of all acceptation. Everybody in here, this is a
faithful saying, Paul said. You can rely on this. And it's
worthy of all acceptation. Everybody in this room and everybody
outside of this room ought to see this as the best news they've
ever heard. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, Paul said, of whom I am the chief. Now, understand
this. I've been talking about the particularity
of the gospel. He saves the elect and only the
elect. That never prevents a sinner from being saved. If you come
to Christ, you'll be received. There's no such thing as somebody
saying, oh, have mercy on me. No, you're not one of the elect.
You're going to hell. That never happened, and that's
a misrepresentation of the truth. Anybody who comes to God for
mercy, he receives. The Lord said, him that cometh
to me, I will in no wise cast out. You come. you'll be received
right now just as you are. Isn't that wonderful? Thank God
for the gospel. It's the gospel for all nations. Look what he says next. By whom
we've received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among
all nations, among whom are you also the called of Jesus Christ. Now there's something special.
There's something special about the call of Christ. If you're
a believer, it's because he called you to be a believer. He did
something for you that he didn't do for your neighbor. He called
you to be a believer. Romans 8, 28, we know that all
things work together for good to them who love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose. We preach Christ crucified unto
the Jews a stumbling block, unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto
them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power
of God and the wisdom of God. My first, Lord, call me, call
me, Lord, call me, don't leave me to myself, call me, call me
by your grace. Romans 9, 11, for the children
being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. Him that calleth, it was said
unto her, the elder shall serve the younger. Lord, call me by
your gospel. Look what he says in verse seven.
What is the gospel of God? Paul says, I'm writing to all
that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints. Who you're
writing to, Paul? Everybody who is beloved of God. called to be saints. Now the
gospel of God is the gospel of God's distinguishing love. Somebody, I can't beat this too much. Somebody
that believes that God loves all men the same makes the love
of God meaningless. It just makes it meaningless.
A preacher that preaches God loves everybody the same. You
don't know God. God's love is saving love. He
doesn't love somebody and they wind up in hell. God's love is
distinguishing love. He said, behold, I've loved you
with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. And once again, my response is,
Lord, draw me. Lord, love me. I, I, I, like
I said, I said in the Bible study, I have no problem with, with
Esau have I hated. I really don't have any problem
with that because I can understand why God would hate me. Because
God's holy. God's just. God's righteous.
I, I can understand that. What I'm amazed by is his love
for Jacob. And what I'm even more amazed
by is his love for me. to be loved by God. The gospel
of God is the gospel of His distinguishing love. Beloved, what a thing to
be beloved of God. Beloved of God. Called to be
saints. Called to be saints, and notice
to be is in Italian, it's called saints. Now, the gospel of God
is the gospel that makes sinners, saints, saints, holy ones. Every believer is a saint of
God. I think this is interesting.
We, how many times do we find the word Christian in the Bible?
I think twice. How many times do we find the
word believer in the Bible? Two or three times believers.
How many times do we read of the term born again or born from
above four or five times. I mean, believers are born. Those
are good names, but how many times do we read of the saints?
Hundreds, hundreds. Now the gospel is the gospel
that makes somebody like me a saint. That is the gospel of God. He says to all that be in Rome,
beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if salvation
is all of grace, and that means all of grace, you know what that
gives me? Peace. Peace. Oh, what peace we have in the
grace of God. Now, if you tell me any part
of salvation is dependent upon me, I got no peace. But if you
tell me that it's all of grace, that everything God requires
of me He looks to His Son for, what peace there is. The gospel of grace and peace. The peace of God which passes
understanding. This peace I'm talking about
It passes understanding. It can't be qualified. It can't be grasped by natural
man. The peace that comes from knowing
that God is at peace with me for Christ's sake. Now that's
the gospel of God. What is the gospel of God? It's
the gospel that was promised before. It's the gospel of the
scriptures. It's the gospel concerning his
son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. It's the gospel of the God man,
the son of God, the son of man declared to be the son of God
with power by power, holiness in the resurrection. And it's
the gospel that gives grace for obedience to the faith, the gospel
of God's calling and the gospel of God's distinguishing love
and grace, which brings peace. That is the gospel of God. Oh, for grace, for me and for
you, for everybody in this room to believe right now, the gospel
of God. I'm not just giving you something
to think about. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe the gospel, repent, change
your mind, and believe the gospel. And what a glorious gospel this
is, the gospel of God. Let's pray.