I'm going to read two passages
of Scripture. One I'll read from the book of
2 Corinthians, the other from the book of Galatians. They're
right next to one another. If you want to turn, 2 Corinthians
11 and then Galatians 1, just two or three pages apart. Be
finding that Scripture, 2 Corinthians 11 and Galatians 1. Now, here's the subject today.
My subject today is the true gospel. The true gospel. The gospel of God. The gospel
of His grace. The gospel concerning His Son.
The gospel which saves. The everlasting gospel. The gospel
which is the power of God and the salvation. The gospel which
reveals the righteousness of God. The glorious, grand, wonderful
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love it. I love to preach it.
Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Necessity is laid
upon me. I must preach the gospel. This
is it, the true gospel. Now listen to these scriptures.
This is Paul writing in both of these epistles. In 2 Corinthians
11, 3. 2 Corinthians 11, 3 and 4. He says,
but I fear, I'm afraid, lest by any means as the serpent beguiled
Eve through his subtlety. So your minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity of Christ, the singleness of Christ, the
gospel of Christ. I fear lest your minds be corrupted,
taken away from the simplicity Christ Jesus. For, listen, if
he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, another Jesus which we've
not preached, or if you receive another spirit which you have
not received, or another gospel, another gospel which you have
not accepted, ah, he says, you might well bear with me. That's the word there, with me.
Don't accept, don't listen to another Jesus, another spirit
and another gospel. There's just one true gospel.
Now look at Galatians 1 verse 6 and 7. Now here's Paul writing
to the church at Galatia. This church heard the gospel,
then they got sidetracked. They got into this business of
touch not, taste not, handle not, Sabbath observance and Back
in the law, trying to mix works and grace, the law and Christ.
Paul wrote to him in the first chapter and he says in verse
6, I'm amazed. I marvel that you are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel. Another gospel? Which he said
is not another really. It's not another gospel. But
there'd be some that troubled you and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. Now I don't plan to spend my
time today talking about that other gospel or another gospel. I don't plan to spend the time
on this broadcast pointing out all the errors and the false
teaching which is going on today and being carried on today in
the name of God, in the name of religion, in the name of what
they say is the gospel. I read a story one time, there
was an old, old preacher of some fame, and he said this, he said,
if you wish to prove that a stick is crooked, if you wish to prove
that a stick is crooked, don't point out the crooks and the
and the faults and the problems in that stick, lay a straight
one down beside it. Just lay a straight stick down
beside the crooked stick. And every wise person, thoughtful
person, will know that the stick is crooked. And that's what I
plan to do today. I want you to listen carefully
to what I have to say. Now, jot these points down. If
you don't write them down, send for the tape and listen to it
again. But I'm going to give you seven marks of the true gospel. And I'm not going to talk about
what the gospel is not. I'm going to talk about what it is. The
gospel of Christ, the gospel of God, the gospel of His grace.
I'm going to tell you what it is. Not what it's not, but what
it is. And you be the judge concerning
what you hear or what you what you're listening to and what's
going on today. Now here's the first one, the
first mark of the true gospel. The true gospel is according
to the scriptures. The true gospel is according
to the scriptures. Now listen, 1 Corinthians 15,
Paul said, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel,
which I preach to you, which you receive, wherein you stand,
by which you are saved, If you keep in memory what I preached
unto you, unless you believed in vain, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures. And that he was buried
and rose again according to the Scriptures. Are you listening?
This is the first mark of the true gospel. It's according to
the Scriptures. You know what the Scriptures
are? The Scriptures are the Old Testament. Almost every time
you read the word scriptures in the Bible, it's talking about
the Old Testament. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the
gospel of the Son of God, is the gospel of the Old Testament.
See, the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. It's
all in the Old Testament. Everything that God did, everything
that Christ accomplished, every promise, that Christ fulfilled
is promised and prophesied and pictured and patterned and typified
in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is Christ in
promise. The New Testament is Christ in
person. The Old Testament is Christ in picture. The brazen
serpent, the Passover lamb, the smitten rock, the tabernacle,
the priesthood, that's Christ in picture. Abel's lamb, Abraham
taking Isaac up on the mountain and putting the ram in his place. That's the gospel of Jesus Christ
in picture. In the New Testament, you have
the gospel fulfilled. Christ died on the cross. Back
in the Old Testament, the ram died, the lamb died, the bullock
died. In the New Testament, Christ
died. The people of the Old Testament looked forward to the coming
of Christ, believing in Him. The people today look back to
the Christ who came. Our Lord Jesus, these people,
when He walked this earth, they said, we have Abraham. We have
Abraham as our Father. He said, if you were Abraham's
sons, you'd believe me. Abraham saw my day. Abraham rejoiced
in me. Abraham told Isaac, the Lord
will provide a lamb, the Lamb of God. This lamb can't save. The blood of this animal can't
put away sin. This lamb and this blood is only
typical blood and a typical sacrifice that points to the Lamb of God
who died on the cross. They said, well, we have Moses.
He said, Moses wrote of me. If you'd have believed Moses,
you'd have believed me. Moses wrote of me. Moses saw Christ. You know, when Moses gave Israel
the Passover lamb, he told Israel, he said, God's going to pass
through Egypt tonight at midnight, and the firstborn in every home
will die. Now you take a lamb, a lamb for
a house, and sacrifice the lamb, put its blood on the door, roast
it, body with fire, and eat the flesh, go in the house and wait,
and I'll pass through, and when I see the blood, I'll pass over
you. Passover. Passover. Christ is our Passover. Sacrifice
for us. According to the scriptures.
You see that? Our Lord Jesus came to the earth,
ate the Passover, fulfilled it, instituted the Lord's table.
This is my body broken for you, my blood shed for you. That rock
is Christ when Moses smoked the rock. God was on that rock, in
that rock. God said, I'll stand on the rock
and you smite it. Christ was smitten of God and
afflicted on that cross. Smoke! God smote him. And out of his side flowed water
and blood. Water to cleanse us, sanctify
us, blood to justify us. Can't you see that? The tabernacle
is Christ, the priest is Christ, the mercy seat is Christ, the
atonement is Christ. All of it is typical. Why don't
we do those things now? He fulfilled them. You don't
need a picture when you've got the person. You don't need a
type when you've got Christ. This gospel is according to the
scriptures. Secondly, the true gospel concerns
itself with the righteousness of God, the holiness of God,
the justice of God. What's the oldest book in the
Bible? It's the book of Job. Oldest book in the Bible. And
the book of Job, even back then, oh, many years ago, Job lived
before Abraham. Because God said of Job, there's
not another person like him on this earth. And Abraham wasn't
living then. Or he'd have said Job, Abraham,
both. You see, so nobody like him. And Job kept asking this
question, how can man be just with God? How can God be just
and justify man? How can he be clean as born of
a woman? You see, my friend, Do you know
something about God's holiness? God's immaculate, infinite, indescribable
holiness. He dwells in a light to which
no man can approach. The name of God is holy. Holy
and reverend is His name. Holiness. God essentially, infinitely,
holy, immaculately holy. No man can look on God and live.
God requires of anybody who stands in his presence that same holiness
Except your holiness and righteousness exceed the righteousness of the
best person who's ever lived excluding Christ You'll never
see the kingdom of God if you're trying to approach God on your
holiness and your righteousness. You've got to be as holy as God
Because who shall stand in his presence? He's had clean hands
a pure heart who's never lied, who's never coveted, who's never
lifted up his soul to vanity, who's perfect. That's what God
demands. Well, that's the reason Job kept
saying, well, how can he be clean? It's born of a woman. How can
he be just with God? The moon is shining. If not the
stars are not pure in God's sight, how much more abominable and
filthy are men who drink iniquity like water? Oh, wait a minute. God has given us a righteousness. Jesus Christ his son came down
to this earth as a man and obeyed the law in every jot and tittle
and perfected for us a righteousness, a holiness, his holiness, his
righteousness, his obedience. And he imputes it, he charges
it, he gives it, he reckons it to us who believe. And he went
to that cross and he died. He not only fulfilled the law,
but he paid the penalty. He paid the debt. He paid all
we owe. And now, we don't have any sins. We have a perfect holiness so
God can accept us. God can be just and justify us. God can be holy and love us. God can be righteous and receive
us because of our substitute. This true gospel is according
to the Scriptures. All the Scriptures. And this
true gospel has to do with It reckons with the holiness of
God. It meets it and satisfies it
and the justice of God. By His stripes we're healed.
He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The
chastisement of our peace was upon Him. He died the just for
the unjust to bring us to God. Thirdly, this true gospel is
a proclamation of what God has done for us in Christ. The gospel
does not proclaim what we do for God. It proclaims what God
did for us. The gospel is not a plea for
us to do something for God. I can't do anything for God.
I can't add anything to His holiness. I can't add anything to His glory.
He said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't ask you. Everything belongs to
Him. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof. He's independently holy and perfect before we were
ever created. What can I add to Him? He said,
I didn't come to be ministered unto, I came to minister and
give my life a ransom for many. So this gospel is a proclamation
of what He did for me. Not what I'm doing for Him. See,
He loved me. I didn't love Him. The Scripture's playing on that.
Herein is love. Not that we love God. He loved
us. And gave His Son to be the propitiation
for our sin. God chose me. I didn't choose
Him. Our Lord said that to His own disciples. He said, you didn't
choose me, I chose you. I chose you. We choose Him because
He chose us. We come to Him because He came
to us. He reconciled me to God. God was in Christ reconciling
the world to Himself, not imputing our trespasses unto us. He called
me. He said, I passed by you and
I saw you polluted in your blood. Your mother was an Amorite. Your
father was a Hittite. When you were born, there was
none I pitied that you were cast into the field, into the open
field, to the loathing of your person. And I passed by you. And it was a time of love. That
little infant born, deformed, unwanted, cast into the field,
didn't even bathe it or swaddle it or salt it or cleanse it,
just left it in its afterbirth to rot out in the field, to be
eaten by the wild beast. And God said, I passed by and
I saw you. And I loved you. And I called
you. He called me. He called you if
you're here. That's right. And He saved me.
He said, I washed you. I washed you with water. I spread
my skirt over you. I anointed you with oil. And
you grew. And you were beautiful. And your
beauty was my beauty. And He kept me. And He will keep
me till the river rolls its waters at my feet. And then He'll bear
me safely over. where my Savior I'll meet. He
saved me. And call me with a holy calling,
not according to my works, but according to His own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ before the world began.
Fourthly, this gospel is according to the scriptures. This gospel
deals with God's holiness and justice and righteousness. And
this gospel is the declaration, the proclamation of what God
does for sinners, not what sinners do for God. And fourthly, this
gospel, this true gospel, declares that salvation is a gift of God.
It's the gift of God. It's the free gift of God. It's
the sovereign gift of God. It's not earned, it's not merited,
it's not deserved, it's the gift of God. And the cause for giving
it is found in Him and not in us. Romans 6.23 says the wages
of sin is death. We earn that. We deserve it. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God... You know what a gift is? What's
a gift? It has no strings attached. It
has no price. It's freely given. A gift has
its origination with the giver. and nothing is given in return,
it's a gift. But the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. For by grace are you saved
through faith, that not of yourselves, that's the gift of God too. Faith's
the gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast we're
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. This is the record. John
wrote in 1 John 5, 11, this is the record. God hath given us
Eternal life. This life is in His Son. God
gave it. Now listen. Don't move a hand
or a hair. Now you listen. It's true that
believers do serve the Lord. Yes sir, Paul said, I'm His servant.
I'm His bond slave. But they don't serve the Lord
in order to be saved. They serve the Lord because they
have been saved. They don't serve the Lord to
gain His favor. They serve the Lord because they've
found favor in His sight. Yes, believers have good works.
Works of faith, Paul called them. Labor of love. Let your light
so shine before men, they'll see your good works and glorify
your Father which is in heaven. But I'm telling you this, they're
not saved because they work. They work because they're saved.
And are saved because they pray, and saved because they give,
and saved because they witness, and saved because they love people,
and saved because they're generous. No, sir. They're that way because
God has made them a new creature, given them a new heart, new principles,
a new walk, a new way, a new life, a new family. It's true,
God's people are generous, and they're kind, and they're forgiving,
and they love one another, but they're not the children of God
because they do those things. They do those things because
they're the children of God. And that's the way God's children
act. That's right. They took note of the disciples
that had been with Jesus. There's something different about
them. Be ye kind, one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. That's
the most. Titus 3 verse 5 says, it's not
by works of righteousness which we've done, but according to
His mercy. His mercy, He saved us. According
to His mercy, He saved us and He called us with a holy calling. Not according to our works, nor
because of them, but according to His own purpose and grace
which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Therefore being justified by
faith Freely we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
I'll tell you the gospel of God number ones according to the
scriptures Number two it deals with the holy law of God and
satisfies it it deals with the justice of God and honors it
This gospel is what God has done is doing and will do Not what
we do what he did what he did for me. That's the testimony
of a redeemed man is what God hath wrought. And then this gospel,
salvation eternalized the gift of God. It's a gift of God, not
of works. Lest any man should boast. But
God's people have works. But they work because they're
saved. Now, listen to this. 5. This true gospel declares
that salvation is a work of God in the heart. It's an inward
work. A person is a new creature in
Christ. You know, today there's a lot
of outward activity and religious doings and public professions
and you're familiar with those things, but coming to Christ,
my friend, is not a physical act. Coming to Christ is not
a physical move. Coming to Christ is a spiritual
move. It's coming to Christ in the
heart. Believing is personal. It's a heart work. With the heart
man believes under righteousness. The scriptures talk about, won't
you listen to these words. Scripture talks about regeneration.
Regeneration. That's being born again. Born
from above. Supernaturally born of God. Who
can explain the natural birth? Miraculous, amazing, the natural
birth. Who can explain the spiritual
birth? That's right. If we were born, we're born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible seed. We're
born the first time of a union with our parents had. We're born
the second time in a union with God. God Almighty puts His life
and Spirit within us. That's a miracle. The Bible talks
about revelation. God hath revealed His Son in
me, in me. The scripture talks about a union
with Christ, not a union with the church. Salvation is not
joining the church. Salvation is being joined to
Christ. Are you hearing me? I'm saying the true gospel declares
that salvation is a work of God in a man. It's not an outward
doings, duties, and deeds, and creeds, and confessions, and
goings, and activity. It's a union with Christ. A union
with Christ. People join a church, but salvation
is not joining a church or joining an organization or denomination,
it's being joined in a living union with Christ. He said, I'm
the vine, you're the branches. When you see a grapevine, you
don't say there's a grapevine and branches, you say that's
a grapevine. And that vine has branches. And Christ said, I'm
the head, you're the body. And when you see a person, you'll
say, there's John's head and there's John's body. No, there's
John. They're one. Husband and wife are one. One
flesh. And that's what this thing is.
This salvation, this gospel proclaims a living union with Christ. One
with Him, in Him, of Him, by Him. And when God sees Him, He
sees you. Now in the sixth place, I've
got to move on. This gospel of salvation, when
it's believed, and when God operates in a man's soul and heart, and
reveals Christ to him, it brings a commitment, a commitment to
Christ. That's right. If any man would
be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and
follow me. A commitment to Christ. That's
what this true gospel preaches. Abraham was called out, didn't
know where he was going, but he went. He didn't know when
he would find this land, but he went. He didn't know how he
was going to have a son, but he believed. He didn't know why
God wanted him to sacrifice that boy, but he believed God. He
believed God. He walked with God. He was committed. And that's what the true gospel
brings about, a commitment. In the seventh place, this true
gospel assures us of everlasting life. Not just financial blessings
here and health. Eternal life. This gospel is
the gospel of eternal life. God's given us eternal life,
eternal glory. And like Abraham, we look for
a city, not here, but whose builder and maker is God.