When you turn back to Romans
chapter one, while you're turning there, we've got a very special
treat tonight. Bruce Crabtree is going to be
preaching for us. And I was thinking about Bruce. If there was one man that I could
sit under, he would be one of the first to come to my mind.
And I thought, well, as soon as I say that, he'll probably
bring a bomb tonight. Still, I really love this man
and his preaching. I'm excited about us to get to
hear him. Also, after the service in the
fellowship hall, Susan Sly will take photos for the church directory. And if you would like to be included
in the directory, this is your last chance to do so. Romans chapter 1, verses 16 and
17, I have entitled this message, What is the Gospel? What is the Gospel? Paul says in verse 16, For I
am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it, the gospel,
is 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 from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. There is a young man who I have heard preach on tape several
times and really liked what he had to say. I have met him two
or three times and have been very impressed with him. He was doing quite a bit of preaching
in his church and it so much encourages me to see a young
man preaching the gospel. But somebody called me and told
me that this man had left the faith, had departed from the
faith. And I didn't believe it. I was
so impressed with him. I did not believe it. So I called
him myself to find out and talk to him, fully believing that
this had not taken place. This happened just this week.
After talking to him, it appears that he has departed from the
faith. I can't remember anything that
made me more sad in recent times, and I say with fear, I know that if this young man
goes on in this direction, he will have made shipwreck concerning
the faith. Now, what is the state of this
man's heart? Well, we'll only see if he continues. And I say this in fear of a believer,
a real believer. Me or you, if we're real believers,
are capable of compromising the gospel if God doesn't keep us. Peter did in Galatians chapter
2, and Paul publicly reprimanded him for it. But he compromised
the gospel at that time. You can read about it. And you
and I can do the same thing. And this young man can do this.
I pray that the Lord brings him out of it. But if he keeps going
in this direction, He will have made shipwreck concerning the
faith. Now, in the course of this conversation,
I asked him if he believed that people were born again, spiritually
birthed, given life by hearing the message of free will religion. Now, what do I mean by the message
of free will religion? I'm talking about that preaching
or teaching that says that God loves everybody. Christ died
for everybody. God, the Holy Spirit, is calling
everybody. God wants to save everybody.
But your salvation is not dependent upon Him. Your salvation is ultimately
dependent upon an act of your will where you decide to let
Him save you. And I asked this young man, who
at one time would not have believed this, I said, Do you believe
that someone is actually birthed by God, born into the kingdom
of God, believing this message? And he replied, Yes. Yes. And he went on to say, Who
am I to make a judgment about whether anybody's saved or not.
I can't see into their hearts. If they say they believe on Christ,
I'm not going to deny that even if they do say they believe that
because I can't see into their hearts. I'm not making and I
have no right to make a judgment concerning who's saved and who's
not saved. And here was my reply to this
young man. I said the issue is not who is
saved and who is not saved. The issue is, what is the gospel? That's always been the issue
and always will be the issue. What is the gospel? What is the message of the gospel? What is it that is the power
of God unto salvation? What is the message of the gospel? What is the actual content of
the gospel? What is the message that if a
man hears and believes, he's saved? Saved in the Bible sense
of the word. Now, when I got off the phone
with him, I was so sad, and I still am, but it made me ask myself
this question. What is the gospel? I said that
to him, but what is The gospel. And I hope that I'm not just
trying to figure out whether or not I'm right. I fear that. I want to be right. Who doesn't?
I want to be right. But this isn't about me wanting
to be right. I sure hope that's not what it's
about. But I want to know the truth. I want to know the gospel. So what is the gospel? In the passage of scripture,
I just read. Paul tells us what the gospel
is. This is what the Bible calls
the gospel. Now look, in these verses again,
Paul says in verse 16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ. For it, the gospel, 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, is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it's written, that
just shall live by faith. Now, let me say two things about
the gospel from that passage of Scripture. It's the gospel
that's the power of God into salvation. And in the gospel, the righteousness
of God is revealed. And those are the two things
about the gospel I want to dwell on from the scriptures. The gospel
is the power of God unto salvation. There's no salvation apart from
the gospel. And in the gospel, the righteousness
of God is revealed from faith Now, Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ. Now, all who hide it or conceal
it, all who hold back some aspect of the truth, all who believe
privately what they will not confess publicly, All who use
ambiguous words and language in order to cover up what they're
saying to avoid persecution. All who remove the offense of
the cross. All who seek to please men are
ashamed of the gospel. And in Mark 8, verse 38, the
Lord said, Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of
my words, You see, you can't separate Christ and what he said. This young man said to me during
this conversation, the gospel is a person. I agree. But who that person is, is known
by his words, by his word. Whosoever is ashamed of me and
my words, of him shall the son of man be ashamed when he cometh
in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. Paul said to
Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 8, Be not thou therefore
ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, but be thou a partaker
of the affliction to the gospel according to the power of God. Now what is the gospel? Not a
gospel, but the gospel, the only gospel, the definite article.
What is the gospel of Christ? I know this much regarding the
gospel of Christ, the gospel, the gospel excludes all other
gospels. Let me show you what I mean by
that or what the Bible means by that. Turn to Galatians chapter
one. Verse six. Now Paul is writing to the Galatians,
and the theme of the book of Galatians is the recovery of
the gospel. They had believed the gospel,
and it seems like they'd lost it. And the theme of this book
is the recovery of the gospel. Now look what he says in verse
6. He says, I marvel that you are so soon removed from him
that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel. Now, I know this much about the
gospel. The gospel has something to do with the grace of Christ,
doesn't it? He says, I marvel that you're so soon for removed
from him that called you to the grace of Christ unto another
gospel, which is not another, but there's some be some that
trouble you and would pervert or would change or would modify
the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we preached
unto you, let him be accursed. You know what that means? Damned. That's strong language,
isn't it? Verse 9, as we said before, so
say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than
that which you have 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. Now go back to the book of Romans,
Romans chapter 1. I want us to see how Paul began
this epistle by defining the gospel. Remember, we're asking
the question according to the Bible, not according to Todd,
not according to the Todd's Robe Grace Church, not according to
the Baptists or the Presbyterians or the Armenians or the Calvinists
or any of those other things. What does the Bible say the gospel
is? Let's read verse 1, Romans chapter
1. A servant of Jesus Christ, called
to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God. The gospel is the gospel of God. He is the author of the gospel. Let's go on reading, verse 2.
The gospel of God which he had promised afore by his prophets
in the holy scriptures. The gospel is the gospel according
to the Old Testament scriptures. That's what he's referring to.
You can know what the gospel is, who the gospel is, by the
scriptures. It's only the scriptures that
reveal the gospel. I think of what Paul said in
1 Corinthians 15, three and four, said, Woe, brethren, I declare
in you the gospel, how that Christ died for our sins, according
to the scriptures. It's not Christ died for our
sins. If I say Christ died for our sins, I've not preached the
gospel. It's how that Christ died for our sins, according
to the scriptures, according to the Old Testament scriptures.
There's so many examples, the Day of Atonement, the Passover,
The morning and evening sacrifice, all those sacrifices tell us
exactly what he was doing when he died and what he accomplished.
Now, the gospel is the gospel of the Old Testament scriptures,
and if the gospel a man preaches doesn't line up with the message
of the Old Testament scriptures, he's not preaching the gospel.
Now, let's go on reading. Verse 3, the gospel of God is
the gospel concerning his Son. Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, I know this may come as
a shock, but this is not about you. It's not about your needs. It's not about what will be beneficial
to you. This is about Jesus Christ, the
Lord, the Son of God, His glory. It's not about you. The gospel
is not about you and your needs. The gospel is about Let's go
on reading. This is who He is concerning
His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh, the humanity of Christ, the Son
of David, and declared to be the Son of God with power. He's the Son of David and He's
the Son of God. Declared to be God's Son with
power according to the spirit of holiness. What proves He's
the Son of God? His holiness. He never sinned. That's the proof that He's the
Son of God. You say, what about the miracles?
Well, I'm sure the miracles attest to that, but that's not what
Paul says proves He's the Son of God, but the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. He raised himself from
the dead. Now, what does the resurrection
of Christ mean? He's the son of God. He's the
son of David. He's God. He's man. While he
was hanging on the cross, he died. He closed his eyes and
died. When they took him off the cross,
he was dead. They put him into a tomb, and
there he lay for three days, dead. What was going on during
those three days? I have no idea. But I know he
suffered the wrath of God, he died, and all of a sudden, while
he was in that tomb, he opened his eyes. He was raised from
the dead. What's that mean? That means
he rendered complete satisfaction to God. He put away all the sins
of all of God's elect. God satisfied with everybody
he died for. Now that's what his resurrection means. He pleased
God. He satisfied God. He was raised
from the dead. Now look down in verse 14. Verse 14 of Romans chapter 1. Paul says, I'm a debtor. both
to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and the unwise,
so as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that
are at Rome also." Now, Paul said, I'm a debtor, and I think
about this, so am I. So am I, to tell you how God
saved me from the Scriptures. Not to tell you about my experience
and give my personal testimony and all that kind of stuff, but
to tell you how God saved me from the scriptures. You know,
one person gave this definition of preaching, and I think this
is the best definition of preaching I've ever heard. Preaching, true
preaching, is one beggar telling another beggar where he got bread.
And I pray that's what's going on right now. Paul said, I'm
ready. to preach the gospel. I'm one
beggar telling another beggar where he got bread. This is how God saved me. Now, he says in verse 16, For
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God unto salvation. Now, what's that mean? I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto
salvation. What does the Bible mean by salvation?
Your people use the language all the time. You remember, I
got saved. People say that all the time. I got saved, or I was
saved. What does the Bible mean by salvation? Well, turn with
me to Matthew chapter 1. Hold your finger there in Romans.
We're going to come back there, but look in Matthew chapter 1. This is talking about Mary the
Virgin bringing forth a son. Verse 21 says, And she shall
bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. Now, there is salvation. He shall save His people from
their sins. And here's what I need to say
from salvation being saved. I need to say from my sins. My
sins. Now, let me tell you something
about myself. I am sinful. You know what that means? Full of sin. Aren't you saved? Keep listening. I am sinful. Sin is my nature. Sins are what
I do. And I need to be saved from my
sins. My big problem is not you. It's not the devil. It's me. I need to be saved from my sins. came into the world to save his
people from their sins. Now, how did he do that? Well,
on the cross, he did three things. Number one, he saved me from
the penalty of sin. Now, there is a place called
hell, and our Lord warned about it more than anyone else, a place
of eternal torments that all people who die without Christ
will spend eternity. And that's where I will go if
he doesn't save me from that. And he saves his people from
the penalty of sin in this sense. He paid for all my sins and now
I stand before God justified. I've been saved from the penalty
of sin. I'm not going to have to go to hell. Thank God for
that. I don't Not only does he save his people from the penalty
of sin, and he does, there's therefore now no condemnation
of him that are in Christ Jesus, he saved his people from the
power of sin in regeneration. Now I was born into this world
dead in sins, I didn't have the power to believe, I didn't have
the power to repent, I didn't have the power to love God, I
didn't have the power to do anything because of dead in sins. But
he gave me life. He birthed me into the kingdom
of heaven. And now I can do what I at one time couldn't do. I
can believe the gospel. I do believe the gospel. I do
love the Lord Jesus Christ. I've been saved from the power
of sin. And that is because of the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And bless God. Right now, I'm
saved from the very presence of sin in the sense that whom
He justified, then He also glorified. That means if He's glorified,
I am too. And one of these days, I'm going
to enter into the full realization of it when I die and put down
this flesh. Now, this flesh brings us down
so much because here I'm saved from sin. I'm not going to be
any more holy in heaven than I am right now. Boy, it's hard
to get a hold of, isn't it? And that's because of this sinful
flesh. But one of these days I'm going to be rid of this sinful
flesh. I'm saved from sin. Now, it's the gospel. That is
the power of God unto salvation. Now, the gospel is not the power
of God to salvation to everyone without exception. No, everyone's
not saved. It's the power of God into salvation. to everyone that believeth. Do you believe? It's only the
power of God to salvation to those who believe, to those who
believe the report. They believe the report concerning
who God is. They believe the report concerning
who they are. Nothing but sin. They believe
the report concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, that He is salvation. They rely on Him. The gospel
is the power of God to salvation to those who believe. And notice,
the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Now, what is
the power of God? What an infinite concept. I don't even know what word to
use for it. The power of God. I know this much about the power
of God. The power of God is the cause. It's the cause. That's another
word for the power of God. He's the first cause behind everything. If I'm saved, it's because He
caused my salvation. It wasn't a co-operative effort
on His part and my part. No! He caused it. Just like He
caused creation, He willed the creation into existence. There
it was. He's the cause of everything that takes place in Providence.
Everything. He's the first cause behind it. I know there's secondary
causes, but he's the first cause, and he's the cause. Everything
that happens, he's the cause of. You know, when you get mad,
you get mad at God, because he's the one who caused it. Remember
that. He's the cause of all things
in providence. He upholds all things by the word of his power,
and most especially, he is the cause of salvation. If I'm saved,
it's not because I did anything. It's because he saved me. I'm saved by the will of God.
He willed it. It takes place. That's our salvation. Now, it's the gospel that is
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. Verse
17, for therein, in the gospel is, now before I read the rest
of that, versus Scripture. If you asked the average person
in Lexington, Kentucky. What is it that the gospel reveals?
Concerning God. How would they answer? Your average
person would say, well, the gospel reveals the love of God. Now, I wouldn't deny the gospel
does reveal the love of God, but that's not the word Paul
uses. As a matter of fact, if you Read
the book of Acts. There we have the preaching of
the apostles, the acts of the apostles. How many times in the
book of Acts is the love of God mentioned? Not once. And does that mean
the love of God is not preached? Of course not. Every time we
preach, we preach the love of God, His saving love. But the
gospel, while it does reveal the love of God and the mercy
of God and the grace of God, what is the word Paul uses to
describe the gospel? For therein, in the gospel, is
the righteousness of God. revealed from faith to faith,
the righteousness of God. Now this, let me give you a hint
about the righteousness of God. If right now, while you're listening
to me, if you don't see yourself, what you are in and of yourself,
as completely sinful, you don't even have a concept of the righteousness
of God. Because if you had a concept
of the righteousness of God, you would see yourself in that
light. Now turn to Romans chapter 10. It's the gospel that declares
the righteousness of God. Romans chapter 10, beginning
in verse 1. Brethren, my heart's desire And
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. Now there are two things that
jump out to me in that verse of scripture. The people Paul
was talking about were not saved. Isn't that clear? And he greatly
desired their salvation. He said, my heart's desire My
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. He greatly
desired their salvation. He said in the previous verse
or chapter in chapter 9, he said, I could wish that I myself were
cursed from Christ for my brother and my kinsman, according to
the flesh. I don't understand this, but Paul said I would be
willing to be damned if they would be saved. That's love. I don't know if I could. I know
the only one, the Lord Jesus Christ, was on the cross cursed
that I might be saved. He's the one. Paul said, I could
wish, but it couldn't happen. I can say that. I could wish
that I could be damned, that you might be saved, but it ain't
gonna happen. But the Lord was cursed that
we might be saved. But at any rate, he loved these
people and greatly desired their salvation. Oh, that we would
have this same love to men and women that Paul did. Don't you
want this? I do. My heart's desire. My prayer
to God for Israel is that they might be saved. They're not. I sure want them to be. And look
what he says in verse 2. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God. They're very religious. They're
very sincere. They have a zeal for God. But
not according to knowledge. And here's what they do not know. For they being ignorant of God's
righteousness. Now remember, it's the gospel
that reveals the righteousness of God, isn't it? It's the gospel. And he says they're ignorant.
They may be very intelligent. They may be very well read, very
versed in the scriptures. As a matter of fact, they were.
They read the same Old Testament scriptures Paul did. But he said,
they're ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. Now, these people
that I want to be saved, they're ignorant of God's righteousness.
They're ignorant of his essential righteousness, his righteous
character. God is righteous. And in this ignorance, they fail
to submit to his righteousness. They go back to establish their
own righteousness. Now, what does he mean by that?
If you think that there's something that you can do that will obligate
God to save you, I don't care what it is. If there's anything
that you can do that will render God your debtor, well, I got
to save them because they did this. You're trying to make God
a debtor. And you've never submitted to
his righteousness. Now, when I submit to his righteousness,
here's what I do. If God saved everybody in this
room, but me. If God elected and chose everybody
in this room to be saved, but me. If Christ shed His precious blood
for everybody in this room but me, if God the Holy Spirit called
everybody in this room but me, could I say, that's not fair? No. If He saves everybody but
me, my only thought is, I don't blame him. I can see why he would pass me
by and have no mercy on me. I think of what Peter said when
he saw who the Lord was. He said, depart from me, Lord. I am a sinful man. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. You submit yourself to God's
righteousness in your own personal damnation. Now, if I haven't done that,
I have not submitted myself unto the righteousness of God. You
submit yourself to His righteousness in your destruction. Let me show
you this. Turn to Romans chapter 3. Verse 19, Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before
God. Have you, have I, ever stood
before God guilty as charged? If he passes me by and lets me
drop into hell, I'm getting exactly what I got coming. You really
believe that? You submit yourself to his righteousness
in your condemnation. But let's go on reading in Romans
chapter 3, verse 20. Now, therefore, by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For
by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now, here's this glorious
word we're considering, the righteousness of God. Remember, it's the gospel
that reveals the righteousness of God. But now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all, then the belief that there's
no difference for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation.
through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. Now, I understand to declare His mercy and His grace
for the remission of sins, but here it says to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. To declare, I say at this time, His righteousness. He might be just, and the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. Do you understand that? Bless God, I do. You see, my sins were paid for
by the Lord Jesus Christ, and when He saves me, He does so
according to His righteousness. I'm brought into heaven because
I've got it coming. through the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the glory of the gospel. We're saved in a way that exalts
the righteousness of God. Therein in the gospel is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. Do you know how God can be just
and justify the ungodly? Now, you've probably heard that
a thousand times. We'll hear it for the thousandth
first time. I hope you don't ever get tired of this. How God
can be just and justify the ungodly. My sin became His. His righteousness
becomes mine. And every believer is the very
righteousness of God in Him. Back to Romans 1. 17 for therein in the gospel is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. Now what does that mean? From
faith to faith. From the faith of God. From The faithfulness of God
from the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, before
I give an explanation, turn to Romans three once again and notice
the language. Verse 21, but now the righteousness
of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ, by the faith, the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.
unto all, and upon all them that believe, for there is no difference."
Turn quickly to Galatians 2. Galatians 2, verse 16. Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by
the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. And not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. Now let me say something about the faith of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Somebody had to believe God perfectly. You know that so don't you? Somebody
had to believe God perfectly. And when he was nailed to the
cross, and he was in utter darkness, and when God had forsaken him,
and he had no light, he said, though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. Even in the utter darkness of
the cross, he believed as God. From his
faith, he gives us faith. From faith to faith, as it's
written, the just, the justified shall live by faith. Now, I can
tell you a man who I know is justified. Remember that publican
in the He cried, beating upon his breast. He wouldn't lift up so much as
his eyes to heaven, crying, God, be propitious, is the word. Not
just merciful in a general way, but be a propitiation, be the
satisfaction for my sin through the blood offering. Be propitious
to me. And our Lord said regarding this
man, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified. Without guilt. That's what justify
means. The just shall live. The life of God is in their soul. They live before God, they live
before his law. Bruce Crabtree in his message
yesterday brought out something as the leper. I preached on the
leper so many times and I thought, how did I ever miss this? After
he healed that leper, he sent that leper back to the priest
and said, you show him. And the point he was making is
when God saves a man, you're not afraid to be examined by
the holy law of God. Remember that when a man was
a leper, he had to go to the priest and the priest would pronounce
him clean or unclean. If Christ has put away my sin,
And if I have his righteousness, I'm not afraid to go right before
the Ten Commandments and show myself. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies them. Not afraid of the law. The just
shall live by faith. Paul said, 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. What is the gospel? Well, it's
the gospel I'm not ashamed of. If I'm ashamed of it, it's no
gospel to me. It's the gospel that's the power
of God unto salvation. It's the gospel that saves. It's
the gospel that declares the righteousness of God. It's the
gospel I believe and live by. It is what is good news to me. That is the gospel. And anything short of that is
not. the gospel. May God give us grace
to believe and to preach the gospel. And that young man that
I was talking about, it's my prayer that he will believe and
preach the gospel. And it's my prayer that you and
I will believe and preach the gospel. Let's pray.