If you care to follow in the
Scriptures while I bring my message today, I'll be speaking from
the book of Acts. If you would like to turn to
the text, you'll find it in Acts chapter 20, verse 24. Now, here's
the subject. My subject today is the gospel,
the gospel of the grace of God, the gospel of the grace of God. Now, while you're finding Acts
chapter 20, verse 24, let me make these comments. The Apostle
Paul wrote to the church at Galatia and declared in chapter 1 that
there is but one gospel. He said, now, if we or an angel
from heaven preach any other gospel, then that gospel which
we have preached and that gospel which you have received, let
him be accursed. Yes, even if it be an angel from
heaven, there's but one gospel. And in the Book of Romans, he
identifies that gospel as the gospel of God. It's God's gospel. This gospel, this glad tidings
and good news of redemption through a Savior is God's gospel. It's not man's gospel. It's not
the gospel of a denomination or the gospel of an organized
church or organized religion. It's God's gospel. And not only
is it God's gospel, but Paul says in 1 Timothy, it's the gospel
of God's glory. It's the glorious gospel of God,
or in other words, it's the gospel of the glory of God. And then
again in the Book of Romans, he says this one gospel, God's
gospel and the gospel of His glory, is the gospel concerning
His Son. Now, the gospel is not a plan
or a proposition. or even response on the part
of the sinner to God's invitation. The gospel is concerning his
son. The gospel, the good news, is
not of a work to be done or the work that ought to be done, but
a work that has been done, that has been totally and completely
fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. This gospel of God is
a proclamation. It's an announcement. And this
gospel is an announcement of the glory of God in the face
of Christ Jesus. It's concerning his Son. And
then Paul in Romans 1.16 calls this gospel, the gospel of God,
which is the power, the power of God unto salvation, unto a
full and complete and eternal salvation. Now let's read my
text. He says it's God's gospel and
it's the gospel of God's glory. and it's the gospel concerning
his Son, and it's the gospel which is the dunamis, the power
of God unto salvation, unto a complete, full, and eternal salvation.
And now in my text, in Acts chapter 20, verse 24, and I want to focus
your attention particularly on this one verse of Scripture.
He says, none of these things move me. Now you say, what's
the background of this verse? Paul was going to Jerusalem,
and he had received word that prison, and bonds, and persecution,
and even death awaited him in Jerusalem. Some of his friends
had warned him not to go, but he was determined, because the
Spirit of God was leading him to go that way, he was determined
to go to Jerusalem. And he was bidding farewell to
the elders from the church at Ephesus. They had met together,
and Paul had preached to them and talked to them. And they
told him that you ought not go to Jerusalem because you're going
to suffer and die there. And he said, well, none of these
things move me. This doesn't trouble me. He said,
neither count I my life dear unto myself. It's not my life. I belong to God. But I want to
finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received
of the Lord Jesus Christ." Now, none of these things frighten
me or trouble me or change my direction. I don't count my life
dear unto myself. I've given it to God. He said,
I want to finish my course, my ministry with joy, this ministry
which I have received of the Lord Jesus Christ, to preach
the gospel of the grace of God. To preach the gospel of the grace
of God. It's God's gospel, and it's the
gospel of His glory. And it's the gospel concerning
his Son, and it's the gospel which is the power of God, the
power of God unto salvation. But it's the gospel of his grace,
unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor, the gift of God. Now,
my message this morning has but two points. It's a very simple
message, direct, I believe, and to the point. Two points. I'll ask two questions. And if
you can lay hold of these two statements or two questions,
the answer to these two questions, I believe you'll have the very
heart of Paul's ministry, and I believe my ministry. These
two questions. Now, here's the first one. What
do we mean by the term, the gospel of the grace of God? Now, I know
what we mean by the term, and you do too, the gospel of God,
that means it's his gospel. And the gospel of the glory of
God, that means he gets the glory. And the gospel concerning his
son, that means his son did the work. And the gospel, which is
the power of God and salvation, means it's no weak gospel, it's
a sufficient and powerful gospel, life-changing gospel. Well, what
do you mean? What did Paul mean when he said,
I'm determined? to preach the gospel of the grace
of the grace of God. Well, I'll give you five or six
things. Number one, now listen carefully, the gospel of Jesus
Christ, this good news of Christ Jesus and his work, which is
the power of God unto salvation, is by the grace of God in its
planning and in its eternal purpose. Now, I ask you a question. How
old is your gospel? How old is your gospel? Now,
listen to me. The gospel which you preach,
the gospel which you believe, that hope which you have of eternal
life, that good news, you say, of redemption through the blood,
how old is your gospel? Well, I'll tell you, God's gospel,
the gospel of God and the gospel of grace is older than Bethlehem's
manger. It's older than Sinai's mountain.
This gospel of the grace of God is older than Egypt's Passover.
This gospel is older than Abel's sacrifice. This gospel is older
than Adam's fall. This gospel of the grace of God
is older than the foundations of the world or even the created
angels. For it says in the Scriptures,
in Revelation 13, Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain. Now, Jesus
Christ is the gospel, and it's the gospel of a Lamb slain, and
it's the gospel of the blood of the Lamb slain. And he says
in Revelation 13 that he's the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. And then Paul, writing to the
church at Thessalonica, said in chapter chapter 2 and 2 Thessalonians,
he said, brethren, beloved, I thank God for you, because God hath
from the beginning, from the beginning, in the beginning God
created the heaven and the earth, in the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation, to this salvation through the gospel, hail sovereign
love. that first began the scheme to
rescue fallen man. Hail matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place. Jesus Christ is called
the surety of an everlasting covenant. It's no new covenant
in the sense that it's newly formed. It's new in the sense
it's newly revealed. But it's not new in the sense
it's newly formed because the covenant of grace was purposed
and given before the covenant of works. His blood is called
the blood of an everlasting covenant. If you'll take the time to read
Ephesians chapter 1, and I believe we ought to take the time to
study the Word of God, Our master said, My word will judge you.
And he said in Ephesians 1, Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. that we should be holy and without
blame before him, in love having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children unto himself through Jesus Christ our Lord, according
to the good pleasure of his own will, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the Beloved." So how old is this Gospel? Older
in this world. It's older than man. It's older
than the angels. It's as old as the grace of God.
And then secondly, this gospel of the grace of God is of the
Lord in its execution. When we talk about the execution
of something, we're talking about the performing of it. I used
to be a signalman in the Navy in World War II, and we would
travel with a convoy of ships. Ours was the flagship, the lead
ship. We had a convoy ship behind us,
and we were going to make a turn to the starboard or to the port.
We'd run up a flag signal, and the commanding officer would
give us the signal to run up so many degrees, turn to the
right, and we'd run the signal up and leave it on the yard arp,
and each ship behind us would run up the same signal. Now,
when the lead ship got ready to turn, The officer of the day,
the commanding officer, would holler, execute, execute. And down would come that flag
hoist, and all the other ships would bring theirs down and would
make the turn. So to execute something is to
do it. It's the performing of it. And
I'm saying that this gospel of the grace of God is totally of
the grace of God in its execution, in the performing of it. His
grace not only chose us, But God, in his grace, sent his Son
into the world to perfect us, to perform the doing of it, to
provide all that he required, that his law and justice required,
in order to redeem our souls. You see, God promised fallen
Adam, right after he fell, he promised him the seed of woman
to bruise the serpent's heel. There's Christ in promise. And
then God overshadowed the virgin's womb. When Mary asked, how can
I have a son? I know not a man. I don't have
a husband. And the Lord said, the Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, the power of the high shall overshadow
thee. So God overshadowed the virgin's womb and gave His Son
a human body. He said, a body thou hast prepared
me. Who prepared it? God did. You
see, I'm saying that this gospel of redemption through Christ
is of God not only in its planning from eternity past, in its purpose,
but in the performing of it, in the execution of it. He prepared
for Christ a body. And not only that, it says, God
in the fullness of time sent forth his Son. Christ said, as
my Father sent me. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son. He sent His Son into the world
made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
born under the law. God did it. Christ's coming was
not a plan of men or the work of men. We didn't ascend to heaven
and bring Christ down. God sent Him. Christ came into
the world. And then God turned His Son over
into the hands. He gave Him over into the hands
of wicked men. to do with as they pleased, and
they did. With wicked hands they nailed
him to a Roman cross. But they did what God determined
before to be done, because it pleased the Lord to bruise him. Christ said to Pilate, you could
have no power over me at all except it be given you from above.
The death of Christ was really Pilate's decision It was really
the decision of the Pharisees and wicked men, the Roman soldiers,
in the sense they did what they determined or wanted to do. But
in doing all of that, they did what God determined before it
to be done. He was the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He was born crucified, born crucified. He said, for this cause came
out of this hour. The crucifixion of Christ is
recorded. in prophecy throughout the Old
Testament. You read Psalm 22, you read the
exact words he spoke from the cross. Some people say that Psalm
22 are the words that he said from the cross, that he really
quoted the entire psalm. I do not know. But God raised
him from the dead. That's right, God raised him
from the dead. God accepted his sin offering. God accepted his
sacrifice for every believer. God made him our priest, and
God received the priest atonement, the perfect atonement. And God
hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every name, and declared him to be both Lord and Christ, and
put in his hands all authority. And he said, Sit thou at my right
hand, till I make all your enemies your footstool." So this thing
of the gospel, This announcement of redemption and proclamation
of redemption is of the Lord, not only in its planning, but
in its execution. Men were second causes. God was
the first cause. Everything that Christ is the
appointed Savior, who was born at the appointed time, who lived
the appointed righteous life and died the appointed death
on the appointed tree for the appointed people, it's all written
in the Word. And then the gospel, thirdly,
of the grace of God, this gospel of grace, grace, unmerited favor,
undeserved. Somebody said grace is God giving
us what we don't deserve. We don't deserve life, we deserve
death. The wages of sin is death, that's
what we deserve. But God gave us life in Christ.
And this gospel of the grace of God is by His grace in its
application. What do you mean by application?
Well, when something's applied. Something's applied. Something
is given and applied and made mine, given to me. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. God applied this redemption,
this salvation to Noah. Noah found grace. Abraham was
in the country of idolaters, and God came to him and said,
Abraham, get thee out of thy father's house. Abraham found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. God called him. He didn't call
God. And then David was chosen an anointed king by God. God sent his prophet down to
the home of Jesse. Jesse would have anointed any
of those other fellows. In fact, he tried to, from the
oldest on down. And finally, God said to him,
every time he tried to anoint one of these brothers of David,
God said to him, the Lord's anointed is not before thee. And finally,
Samuel, out of frustration, turned to Jesse and said, these are
all the boys you have. And Jesse said, no, I've got
one more. I didn't think you'd be interested in him. But he's
out in the field keeping sheep. He said, we won't sit down to
eat till you go get him. So they went and got David and
brought him in. The minute he walked in the door, God said,
the Lord's anointed is before thee. You see, God said, I'll
be merciful to whom I will. I'll be gracious to whom I will.
He chose David. David found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Because God said, Samuel, God
seeth not as man seeth. Man looks on the outward countenance.
God looks on the heart. And this thing of the application
of salvation is of the Lord. You know what Saul of Tarsus
said? He said, God who separated me from my mother's womb was
pleased to reveal his Son in me. Not just to me, in me. And God was pleased to do it.
And he was pleased to do it when he was pleased to do it. We love
him because he first loved us. The people of God are willing.
They come to Christ willingly, but they're willing in the day
of His power. We are the called of Christ Jesus,
and we do call upon the name of the Lord, but we call because
He first called us. The Bible teaches a general call
which is experienced by most people. There's a call of nature,
there's a call of conscience, there's a call of the law written
on the heart, And there's even the call of general public preaching. But God's people experience a
personal, intimate, effectual call, called by the old writers,
the invincible or irresistible call of the Spirit of God. And
that's true. Saul, my persecutors, thou me.
Matthew, follow me. James and John, leave your nets
and follow me. Abraham, get thee out of thy
father's house. Zacchaeus, come down. Effectual. Effectual means it gets the job
done. Effectual means it works. It works. And God calls men effectually
of his own will. Beget he us with the word of
truth. If God singles a man out as an
object of his grace, I guarantee you he'll bring him. He'll bring
him to himself. He'll come willingly, he'll come
lovingly, he'll come personally, he'll come individually, he'll
come continually, but he'll come. All that my Father giveth me,
Christ said, shall come to me. I love the shalls of God's Word.
Shall come to me. Will come to me. Who's coming? All that the Father gave me. Actually, fourthly, this gospel
of the grace of God is of the grace of God in its sustaining
power, in its sustaining power. God not only saves us by His
grace, but He keeps us by His grace. Jude, verse 24, there's
only one chapter in this little book of Jude, but in verse 24,
Jude says, Now unto him, unto him who loved us and who is able
to keep us from falling, unto him who is able to present us
faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
to the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty. unto him
who is," what? "...able to keep us from falling."
We'll fall if we can. If Satan has his way, you'll
fall. If your flesh has its way, you'll fall. There are a lot
of things. If the world has its way, you'll
fall. But God's going to have his way.
His will shall be done. You see, He worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will. He doeth according to His
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. And the soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
he'll never, never, never, never desert to its foes. I Peter 1
verse 5 says, We're kept by the power of God through faith, through
faith. And Philippians 1, 6 says this,
Paul writing here to the Philippians says, being confident, absolutely
sure, of this one thing, this very thing, that he which hath
begun a good work in you. Now what is that good work, that
work of redemption? We're his workmanship created
in Christ Jesus, and he that hath begun A good work in you
will finish it. He'll finish it until the day
of Jesus Christ. You see, my friends, the Word
of God teaches in this thing of continuing in the faith, continuing
in the faith, being saved, have been, being saved, will be effectually
saved. The Bible teaches two things.
It teaches preservation. We are preserved, preserved,
kept by the power of God, and it teaches perseverance, that
is, through faith. It is God who preserves us and
keeps us by His Spirit and by His power. He said, I'll never
leave you. But all true believers who have a new life and a new
nature and a new heart and the Spirit of God, They will continue
in the faith and they will not leave him. He said, I'll never
forsake you and you'll never leave me. True believers never
quit. John said that. You see, a true
believer is not just a religionist. He's not just a professor. He's
not just a cultist. A true believer is a son of God.
He's a son of God. He's a new creature. Salvations
of the Lord in its ultimate perfection. He will sustain it, and He will
perfect it. And John said this, said some
folks left us, but said they weren't of us. If they'd been
of us, they no doubt would have continued with us. But they left
us, and it's clear to anyone who understands the Scriptures
that they were not of us. Because my sheep hear my voice,
and I give them eternal life, and they'll never perish, never
perish. Now, last of all, this gospel of the grace of God is
by the grace and power of God in its ultimate perfection, in
its greater glory, in its glorious revelation. He talks about creation
waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. What is this
manifestation of the sons of God? Well, we're going to die. We're going to die, we're going
to die, and we're going to be buried. And we're going back
to the dust. Now, here's the question. Who's
going to raise us from the grave? We put so much stock in our free
will and so much stock in our profession and so much stock
in our priests and preachers. You reckon any of those things
can raise us from the grave and bring us back to life? No, sir. But God can. God can. He who started this work will
perfect it. and will perform it. Secondly,
who's going to give us a new body? Who's going to make us
like Christ? Somebody said, I can't find the
way to heaven, I don't even know where it is. God does, and God
can, and God will. Who's going to create a new heaven
and a new earth and give us eternal glory? And God can, and God will,
and God's the only one who can. Don't leave too much up to me
now. because I don't know much about it. I've got to cast myself
on his mercy. I've got to cast myself on his
grace. I've got to have God do for me
what I don't even understand needs to be done. Philippians
3.20 says this, Our citizenship is in heaven from whence we look
for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall himself change
our vile body, that it shall be made like unto his glorious
body, according to the working whereby he is able, he is able
to subdue all things, all principalities, powers, darkness, throne, visible
and invisible, he is able to subdue them unto himself. You
see, it's all of his grace. looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. He's the Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end. He is the gift of God. He is
eternal life. What did Paul say? I am what
I am by the grace of God. That's what I'm saying. What
is this gospel of grace? I am what I am, whatever I am
or ever hope to be, by the free grace of God.