I have a mighty big subject this
morning. I want to speak to you on the
subject, THE GOSPEL. That's my topic, THE GOSPEL. I'm reading for a text, 1 Corinthians
15, the first four verses, 1 Corinthians 15, verses 1 through 4, in which
the Apostle Paul wrote, Brethren, I declare unto you THE GOSPEL. I declare unto you the gospel,
which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein
you stand, and by which you are saved, if you keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For
I delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received,
how that Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the and
that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according
to the scriptures. Now I'm convinced, beyond a shadow
of a doubt, that a lot of people are talking about the gospel
who never really preach the gospel. I listen to a lot of preachers
on the radio, on television, and from the pulpit, and they
use the Bible, and they talk a lot about sin. They talk about
salvation. They even talk about the blood.
They talk about eternal life, heaven and hell. But I listen
in vain for a clear, plain and scriptural declaration of the
gospel. I ask you this morning, do you
know the gospel? What is the gospel? I'm talking
about the gospel. Have you really heard the gospel? I know you've heard the term.
I know you've heard people talk about it, but do you really know
the gospel? Now, in the scripture I read
to you, Paul declares that he preached the gospel. He clearly
defines it. He says, I preached unto you
the gospel. That's what I preached. And he
said, you received the gospel. And you took a stand for the
gospel, and you were saved by that gospel. Now, the word of
God declares the importance of the gospel. I want you to listen
to just a few scriptures. I'm going to run through a few
scriptures from the New Testament that talk about the gospel. It
says, first of all, in Romans 1, verse 1, that this gospel
which we preach is the gospel of God. It is the gospel of the
Old Testament. It's the gospel of the Old Testament
prophets. It's the gospel that was believed.
It was the gospel that was proclaimed. It was the gospel that was written
by men like Moses, and Abraham, and David, and Job, and Isaiah,
and all of them. It's the gospel of God. And then
in Romans 1.3, it says that this gospel, the gospel, is concerning
his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. And then in Romans 1.16, Paul
declares that this gospel, is the power of God unto salvation. And in this gospel, the righteousness
of God is revealed, and the wrath of God is revealed, and the mercy
of God is revealed in this gospel that we are attempting to define
today. In 1 Timothy 1.11, Paul calls
this gospel the gospel of God's glory. It's the gospel of the
glorious gospel of God. And then in Mark 16, 15, our
Lord sent his disciples forth with this command. You go into
all the world and preach the gospel. That's your commission
and that's your orders. Go into all the world and preach
the gospel. In Galatians 1, 8, Paul says,
if any man preach any other gospel, then that gospel which we preached
unto you, let him be accursed. He emphasizes it further when
he says, "...though it be an angel from heaven." If an angel
from heaven preaches any other gospel than that gospel which
we have preached, let him be accursed. In Ephesians 1.13,
Paul calls it, "...the gospel of your salvation." And then
in Revelation 14, 6, he calls it the everlasting gospel. Do you know the gospel? Does
your preacher preach the gospel? Does the preacher you listen
to on television preach the gospel? I asked myself the question this
morning, do I preach the gospel or do I just talk about it? Do
I just use the terms related to it? Or do I clearly and plainly
and scripturally define for you the gospel? Now, I want you to
listen carefully. There are three words that give
birth to the gospel. Three words. This is very simple
and very plain. But you must understand it, and
I'm saying this, that the gospel has not been preached unless
these issues are clearly defined, unless they're dealt with. I
don't care what we preach, what we talk about, how much scripture
we read, whether we talk about the beginning or creation or
the millennium or prophecy or healing or or holiness or sanctification
or whatever we talk about, if we don't define these issues
clearly and plainly, we have not preached any gospel. The
gospel, the gospel is born of three words. And the first word
is this, sin. Sin. In Romans 5, 12 it says,
Wherefore by one man sin entered into the world. That's the cause. That's the reason for the gospel. Sin entered this world. That's
the first word. It gave birth to the gospel.
Sin entered into this world. And death by sin, so death passed
upon all men. Now, there are two groups that
sin. I want you to listen to this. This is according to the
scripture. Are we going to go by our feelings? Are we going
to go by our denominational creeds? Or are we going to listen to
the word of God? There are two groups that sin. The angels sinned
and men sinned. The angels fell. You'll read
that in the book of Isaiah, how Satan led, someone said, one-third
of the heavenly host in rebellion against God Almighty. He said,
I will be like God. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will, I will, I will. And he
fell. Christ said, I saw Satan fall
from heaven as lightning. He was cast out. Now, these angels
that kept not their first estate, these fallen angels that rebelled
against God, are reserved, according to the book of Jude, they are
reserved in everlasting chains of darkness unto the day of judgment.
For the angels who fail, there is no gospel. For the angels
that sin first, there is no gospel. There is no good news, there
are no glad tidings. It's just not so. In fact, the
scripture says plainly, that Jesus Christ took not on him
the nature of angels. He didn't come to save angels.
He didn't die on the cross for angels. He didn't give his life
for angels. The angels that fell will never
be redeemed. They will never be restored because
they have no substitute. They have no sin offering. They
have no mediator. They have no Savior. Now, the
second group that sinned is men. Adam fell by one man. Sin entered
into this world. And death, not only physical
death, but spiritual death and eternal death, separation from
God. And death by sin, so death passed
upon all men. Now, there's a gospel for men
who have fallen. There's no gospel for the angels.
There's no redemption, no restoration, no good news. That's what the
scripture says. We can argue with it, we can buck it, we can
quarrel about it, we can talk about not fair, just use any
terms you want to, but that's what the Word of God says. But
there's good news for fallen men. The Scripture says in Matthew
1.21, the angel speaking to Joseph, talking about the birth of the
Redeemer. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, Savior, for he shall
save his people from their sins. There is a Savior for his people.
There is a Savior for men who have fallen. There is a Savior
for men who have sinned against God. Sin is the first word. It gave birth to the gospel.
The gospel is here because of sin. The gospel is presented
because of men's sin, not angel sin, but the sin of Abraham's
seed. He took not on him the nature
of angels, but the seed of Abraham. Now listen to 1 Timothy 1.15.
This is a faithful saying that Jesus Christ is coming to this
world to save sinners. He came to save sinners. Jesus
Christ came to save sinners. Romans 5.8 says, God commended
his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. So that's the first word. A man
will never preach the gospel unless he preaches the need of
the gospel. the cause of the gospel, and
that's sin, man's sin. Christ died for sinners. All
right, the second word is satisfaction. Now, my friends, out there, facing
you and me, is the holy law of God. Out there is the holy law
of God. It will be obeyed. It must be
obeyed. It shall be obeyed. It will be
honored. God's law has not been repealed. God's law has not been changed.
Romans 3.19 says what the law saith. What does the law say? It says guilty. What the law
saith, it saith to everyone that is under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty. The
law says simply and plainly, guilty. Shut your mouth. No alibi. No excuse. No justification. Guilty. The law says guilty. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
them that were born under the law. Our Lord said to his disciples,
if your righteousness before the law does not exceed the righteousness
of the best man on this earth, who is seeking acceptance by
that righteousness, you shall never enter the kingdom of God.
So I'm saying this, that which gave birth to the gospel, is
man's need, sin. His sins must be punished. His
sins must be paid for. His sins sent Christ to be his
Redeemer. And satisfaction, God's law,
must be honored. It must be satisfied. Let me
tell you something else. Out there, not only is God's
law that must be honored and must be satisfied, but out yonder
is God's justice. The judge of the earth will do
right. God must be just. He can be merciful. He can be
gracious, but he must be just. He must punish sin. The scripture
says the wages of sin is death, the soul that sinneth it shall
surely die, be sure your sins will find you out. These things
are clear. God will punish sin. So that's
the second word. If you don't understand these
words, you don't understand the gospel. You don't understand
the need of the gospel. If you don't deal with these
issues, you don't deal with the gospel. It's sin that must be
dealt with. It's sin that must be punished.
It's sin against which the canons of heaven are turned. Sin. And
there must be satisfaction. God's law must be honored. It
will be, it must be, it shall be honored by all who come before
Him. And God's justice, God's immutable,
infinite justice will be satisfied. And the third word is substitution. Now, man can neither honor God's
law Let's go back a little further. He can't do anything about his
sins. Can the Ethiopian change his skin? That's what Jeremiah
asked. Can the leper change his spots? Neither can you do good
that are accustomed to doing evil. There is none good, there
is none righteous. They all together become unprofitable. God looked down from heaven and
saw that every imagination of man's heart is evil continually.
He cannot do anything about his sins. He cannot change the fact
of his sin. He cannot honor God's law. He
cannot keep it. You that would be under the law,
do you not hear the law? The law requires every jot and
tittle to be honored in a perfect fashion, not only in word, but
in thought, in imagination, attitude, motive, and deed. Man cannot
honor God's justice. He cannot satisfy it. Throughout
the endless ages of eternity in hell, man will never satisfy
God's justice. God is an infinite God. His justice
is infinite justice, and it can never be satisfied. So, man must
have a substitute. That brings us to that third
word. He must have a substitute. He must have a kinsman-redeemer.
He's bankrupt, he's broke, he's poverty-stricken, he's in debt
to God. He must have a kinsman-redeemer
to buy back his lost estate. And the only suitable substitute
is not an angel, is not a creature, it is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Him who knew no sin was made sin for us. that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. Isaiah 53 says, he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement of our peace was upon him by his stripes we
are healed. Christ honored the law by his
perfect obedience and Christ satisfied God's justice by his
death on Calvary's cross. He bore our sins in his body
on the tree He fully obeyed God's righteous law and honored it
in every jot and tittle. He said, I always do those things
that please my father. And the father said, this is
my son in whom I'm well pleased. This is the gospel. And that's
what Paul's talking about. He said, I preach the gospel.
And you received it. And you took a stand for it.
And you believed it. And you were saved by it. And
that gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to the
scripture. and that he was buried and rose
again the third day, according to the scriptures. The Apostle
Paul looked forth to heaven, earth, and hell, and cried out,
Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who maketh
intercession for us. So, my friends, I say it loud
and clear. I say it without fear of being
contradicted by anyone who knows the scriptures. The gospel! Now, a man can preach He can
preach about creation, he can preach about types and prophecies,
he can preach about good works, he can preach about sanctification,
he can preach about holy living, he can preach about do good to
your neighbor, he can preach prophecy, he can preach the future
events, he can preach the second coming, but he can't preach the
gospel unless he clearly defines these three issues. What's to
be done about sin? What's to be done about sin?
Christ said, if you die in your sins, you cannot come where I
am. Something's got to be done about
your sin. You can turn over a new leaf, but something's got to
be done about your sin. You can join the church, but
something's got to be done about sin. And something's got to be
done about those two things, that holy law of God, that holy,
spotless, immaculate law of God. It'll face you now, or it'll
face you at the judgment. It'll be dealt with now, or it'll
be dealt with at judgment. But it's going to come up. And
the justice of God, sin must be punished. your sins, my sins,
every transgression shall receive a just recompense of reward,
either in you or in your substitute." You see what I'm saying? Sin,
satisfaction before the law and God's justice, and substitute. Those three words gave birth
to the gospel of redeeming grace. In closing this message, I want
you to listen carefully while I sum up the message with five
vital statements, and that is the planning of salvation, salvation
pictured, salvation performed, salvation preached, and salvation
praised. That's the gospel. Now listen
to it. Let me give you these five things, and I've made all
the words beginning with the same thing so you can remember
them. The gospel, first of all, was planned. Salvation. And the
gospel was planned. By whom? Well, no group of religious
leaders planned it. And Adam didn't plan it. And
Abraham didn't plan it. And the apostles didn't plan
it. The gospel of redemption was born in the heart of God
in eternity past. Before there was ever a world,
Before the morning stars ever sang together, before God put
the moon, the sun, the stars, the planet in space, God Almighty
determined to have a people. You say, do you have Scripture
for that? I have an abundance of Scripture. The Scripture says
this, it says, We were chosen in Christ before the foundation
of the world. The Scripture says this, Paul
talking to the Thessalonians, he said, I thank God for you,
brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you unto salvation through sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth. Let me ask you three questions.
Did you choose God or did he choose you? Now, you think about
that. Well, if you answer according
to God's word, you can give what you think. But if you answer
according to the Bible, you'll have to say, he chose us. Christ
said that to his disciples. He said, you didn't choose me.
I chose you. I chose you. Let me ask you the second question.
When did God choose you? When did this take place? When
did this transaction take place? Well, as Scripture says. I don't
know what you think, but I know what Scripture said before the
foundation of the world. That's what Scripture said. We
were chosen in Christ before the world began, from eternity
past in the everlasting covenant. Well, let me ask you the third
question. Why did God choose you? Why didn't he pass you by? He passed by millions of others.
Why didn't he pass you by? It was according to the good
pleasure of his own will. And not only did God determine
to have a people, but He determined by whom those people would be
redeemed. He determined how they'd be redeemed.
Christ, Jesus, was the Lamb, the sacrificial Lamb, the suffering
Lamb, the Lamb sent offering, the Lamb scapegoat. Christ was
the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. You see, the covenant
is called an everlasting covenant. Christ is the surety of an everlasting
covenant. He is the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. He is the great shepherd of the
sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant. I remember
years ago when I was listening to the Eisenhower funeral sermon,
and they came to the end of it when President Eisenhower died
and the man preaching his funeral came to the end and read that
scripture from over in the book of Hebrews. Now unto the great
shepherd of the sheep. the shepherd of the sheep through
the blood of the everlasting covenant. I thought to myself,
I wonder how many people out there have any idea of what he's
talking about, the blood of an eternal covenant. That covenant
is from the beginning. That covenant was before the
foundation of the world. And Christ was the shepherd,
the lamb, the surety, the priest, the mediator of that covenant
in God's purpose before this world began. So God planned the
gospel. Now watch secondly, God pictured
it. God pictured the gospel. From the Garden of Eden, when
our mother and father Adam and Eve fell, right away God pictured
the way they'd be saved. Here they were standing in the
garden, and they were naked. They tried to clothe themselves
with fig leaf aprons to cover their nakedness, to cover their
shame. And our God himself came down, slew an animal, The first
blood shed was to cover man's sins. That was the first time
blood had ever been shed, and it was shed to cover man's sins. And he took the skin of that
animal and clothed Adam and Eve. And that's a picture of Christ,
our substitute, who died the innocent for the guilty to cover
our sins. And then Cain and Abel, you remember
how Cain brought his offering of fruits of the field and things
he'd grown and things he'd produced, and God rejected his offering,
rejected his sacrifice, because it was a bloodless sacrifice.
And his brother Abel came with the lamb, the firstling of the
flock, without blemish or spot, slew the lamb, shed his blood
on the altar, and God had respect to his offering, because it was
a blood sacrifice, a picture of Christ. He pictured redemption.
Noah's Ark. Floating upon the waters of judgment,
the people in the ark were preserved. The people outside perished.
That's Christ. Down in Egypt, when God would
deliver Israel from Egypt, He told them on the night that the
firstborn was slain, He said, Take a lamb without spot or blemish,
and slay that lamb, and put the blood on the lintel and the doorpost.
And when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. And all of the
centuries and years down to the coming of Christ, the Jews kept
that Passover. Passover, the blood maketh atonement
for the soul. It's the blood that maketh atonement
for sinners. And Christ ate that Passover
with his disciples, and when he did, he instituted the Lord's
table, which we observe today. And that bread pictures the broken
body of Christ, and that wine pictures his shed blood. And
you can go throughout the wilderness and see the rock that Moses spoke,
the water came out, Christ said, I am that rock, I'm the water
of life. You can see the manna fall from heaven, that bread
from heaven, Christ said, Moses gave you not that bread from
heaven, I'm the bread from heaven. That was a picture of Christ.
When the high priest went into the Holy of Holies and there
was the Ark of the Covenant, and in that Ark was the broken
law, overshadowing that Ark was the mercy seat, and the high
priest once a year would take the blood of a lamb and put it
on that mercy seat, covering the broken law. The blood would
run over the mercy seat. Mercy seat means propitiation.
It means forgiveness. It means remission. And that
blood would run over that mercy seat, covering that broken law.
That's a picture of Christ. And you just keep going through
the Old Testament, the brazen serpent lifted up, all of the
sacrifices. That's a picture of Christ. And
what our Lord said to those religious leaders of his day, he said,
you're busy searching the scriptures, for in them you think you have
life. They are they which testify of me. The Old Testament is full
of the gospel. It is the gospel. It's the gospel
pictured on every page. It's the gospel typified. It's
the gospel promised. It's the gospel prophesied. Now,
thirdly, the gospel performed. The gospel performed. How was
the gospel performed? Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. By one man's disobedience,
we were made sinners. That's Adam. By one man's obedience,
we were made righteous. That's Jesus Christ our Lord.
Peter said, you're not redeemed from your corruption with silver
and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. Now, listen
to this scripture in Hebrews 10. I want to read you two or
three verses. Hebrews 10 and 11. And every priest, that's talking
about the Old Testament priest, standing, they never sat down,
their work was never finished, daily ministering and offering
the same sacrifices which can never take away sin. But this
man, Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin
forever, sat down at the right hand of God. having by one offering
perfected forever them that are sanctified." You see what I'm
saying? Christ performed the gospel. He purchased it. He paid
the price. He paid the debt, all the debt
I owed. Sin left a crimson stain. He
washed it white as snow. My friends, that's the gospel
performed. Now, the gospel preached. We're
preaching the gospel. That's what I'm doing this morning,
preaching the gospel. This gospel has been committed
to the trust of men. It's been put in the hands of
men. Yes, it's been put in human vessels, vessels of clay, wheat
vessels, call them what you will. But nevertheless, we are sent
by God to preach the gospel. This gospel we're to preach.
We're not to talk about it, we're to preach it. We're not just
to dig into all the things and mysteries around it, we're to
preach it. We're to proclaim the gospel. We must be faithful
to preach it. We must be faithful to clearly
present it to our hearers. For Paul said this, Woe is unto
me if I preach not the gospel, for that gospel is the power
of God unto salvation. Now, last of all, this gospel
will be forever praised. It's the song of glory unto him
that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own precious
blood. And it made us kings and priests
unto God. Unto him be glory both now and
forever. That's the song of the redeemed
in glory. It's the gospel. Thou art worthy
to take the book, because thou wast slain, and hast redeemed
us to God from every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue unto heaven."
My friends, that's the gospel, THE gospel.