Our text today is found in the
book of 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. I'd like to deal with
three questions in the message today. First of all, how do we preach our gospel? How do we preach our gospel? And the second question I shall
be dealing with is, what gospel do we preach? What gospel do
we preach? And the third question will be,
why do we preach this gospel? Why? Now, in 1 Timothy 1, verse
12, Paul tells us about his call to the ministry. The ministry
is not, or should not be, a profession. And I mean by that it's not a
vocation that a young man chooses because he feels that he is talented,
has certain gifts and abilities. A pastor does not survey his
congregation and pick out a young man and say, John speaks well,
and he's a clean-cut young man with high moral principles and
convictions, and therefore we're going to train him to be a minister. Look at verse 12. Now this is
the way many ministers enter the ministry, and it's all wrong.
You cannot preach the grace of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ
without the power of God. without a special anointing from
heaven. We have, we're suffering from
professional preachers in this day. I regret to say that that's
part of our difficulty and our problem. Men are running for
God whom God did not see, and consequently they do not have
God's message at all. Paul said in verse 12, God put
me into the ministry. God put me into the ministry.
I have three sons. I've never at any time, I've
been a preacher for 24 years, I've never mentioned to a single
one of them that I would like for him to be a preacher. I have
never and shall never mention to any of your sons that I would
like for him to be a minister. I think ministers who are put
in the ministry by their pastors or their mothers live to regret
it God is the only one who can put a man in the ministry. If
a young man comes to me and says, I feel that I ought to be a preacher,
I will say this to him, if you can do anything else and be happy,
please do it. Stay out of the ministry. There
must be a special call, there must be a special anointing.
It's difficult enough even when you're called of God. It's difficult
enough and the responsibility is too great. As Paul himself
said, the Apostle, anointed of God, called of God, sent of God,
ordained of God, said himself, who is sufficient for these things?
Our sufficiency is Christ. So he tells us first about his
call to the ministry. God put him there. God put him
there. Now secondly, in verse 13, he
talks about his qualifications. He's not qualified in himself.
Why, he says, I was a blasphemer. Now, if you were picking out
a young man to be a preacher in this congregation this morning,
this is human nature, this is the way we think. We look on
the outward countenance, God looks on the heart. We judge
by the outward action, God judges by the attitude. But if we look
around this morning and pick out somebody to preach, we're
going to pick out not a blasphemer, We're not going to take a man
who's a foul-mouthed man who blasphemes the name of Jesus
Christ, who says that Jesus Christ is not God, he's not deity, he's
not divine, he's not virgin-born, his death on the cross was an
imposter, dying a death he ought to have died. Would you select
that man to be a minister? God did. God did. We're like David's father. When God came to Samuel, the
prophet, and said, I want you to go down to the family of Jesse
and pick out a king, anoint a king. I want you to go down and anoint
a king. Saul has displeased me. I've
rejected Saul. I've withdrawn my spirit from
him. I'm going to take him off the
throne. Now, you go down to the household of Jesse, and I have
a king down there I want you to anoint. So Samuel sent word
to Jesse, the father of David, that he was coming down to anoint
a king from one of his seven sons. So Jesse called all the
boys in, and the first six, he said, Now I want you fellows
to stay here and meet the prophet. And he turned to the youngest
one, David, who was a beautiful lad, but in his teens, a strong
lad, but very young. And he said to him, David, he
said, son, he'll never anoint you king. Suppose you just go
on down in the field and take care of the sheep. Will you,
son? You go down and take care of the sheep. One of your brothers
is going to be king of Israel. So David, obedient to his father,
with no ambitions really to be king, I suppose, went down to
take care of the sheep, and they lined up the seven brothers,
the six other brothers. And the first one came before
Samuel, handsome, strong, wise, the oldest son. And Samuel said,
Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. And the Lord said,
No, this is not my king. I have rejected him. You see,
Samuel, you look on the outward countenance, I look on the heart.
Samuel went through every one of those boys, and every one
of them God refused. When they got to the last boy
who was in the room, Samuel turned to Jesse the father and said,
Are these all your sons? Well, Jesse said, no, I've got
one more, David. Didn't think you'd be interested
in him. He's taking care of the sheep. Well, Samuel said, we'll
not eat till he comes. Send for him. So they sent for
David, and young David walked through the door, and God said,
Samuel, there's my king. Rise and anoint him. So Paul
says here in verse 13, I was a blasphemer. I was a persecutor,
injurious. But I obtained mercy. I didn't
earn it. I didn't deserve it. So the man
who stands before you to preach the gospel and to preach Jesus
Christ, he's not standing here claiming to be on a higher plane
than you are. He's not claiming to be something
special in himself or in the eyes of men. Barnard used to
say, you can't tell what you don't know any more than you
can come back from where you haven't been. A man to preach
repentance must have experienced repentance. A man to preach the
mercy of God must be a partaker of the mercy of God. A man to
preach redemption by the blood of Christ must have experienced
the blood of Christ. A man to preach the convicting,
regenerating, awakening work of God's Holy Spirit must be
one who has experienced that in his own heart. So God chooses
the things that are not to bring to naught the things that are.
God chooses the weak in order that their strength might be
Him. God chooses those who have not
the ability and gives them the ability. When he sent Gideon
to fight the overwhelming forces of the enemy and the evil armies,
Gideon started out to do battle against these tremendous And
he had a few thousand men, and God stopped him and said, Gideon,
you've got too many men. Too many men, Lord, I've only
got four or five thousand. They've got twenty thousand.
You've still got too many. You see, Gideon, if you win this
conflict in your own strength and by numbers, you're going
to get the glory, Gideon. So let's just get rid of some
of these men. So the Lord cut his forces in
half. And Gideon started out to do
battle again, and God stopped him and said, ìGideon, youíve
still got too many men. Too many men, Lord, Iíve only
got 2,000. Iím weak enough now. Youíve weakened my forces to
the point that I donít stand a chance. Well, youíve still
got too many. You see, if you win this battle,
youíre going to get the glory, Gideon.î So God cut his forces
down to 300 men. Now he says, go and do battle
with the enemy. But Lord, they have 20,000 men.
That's right. If you win the battle with 300
against 20,000, you know who will get the glory, don't you,
Gideon? I will. Paul said, when I'm weak, I'm
strong. When I'm strong, I'm the weakest
of creatures. Here, now, in the conflicts of
this world, you've got to be strong. You've got to go out
and face the conflicts of life and the battles of life. the
things in which you are engaged to make a living, you've got
to be strong. You've got to be strong mentally. You've got to
be strong physically. You've got to be strong in every
way, because that is flesh. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh, and that conflict is flesh. If you're going to be
an athlete, you've got to train, and you've got to train better
than anybody else. You've got to be better than anybody else.
You've got to have confidence. You've got to know that you're
better than anybody else. You've got to have positive mental
attitude that you can exceed anything that the next guy can
do. You can do better. You can overcome him. You can
turn out better work. That's fine in the realm of flesh
and in business, but that doesn't go here. That doesn't go here. We walk not by sight, not by
might, not by power, not by strength. We walk by the power of the Holy
Spirit. And the man who steps up here
and thinks he can do the job will fail before he ever gets
up here. The man who steps up here and thinks that he has the
tools and the ability and the strength and the moral principles
and the convictions and the holiness and the perfection, he's a failure.
Let him stay home. He's got no business in the pulpit.
Paul says, God put me in the ministry. I was a blasphemer.
I was a persecutor. I was injurious, verse 14, but
the grace of our Lord was abundant, was exceedingly abundant. The
grace of our Lord took care of my sin. The grace of our Lord
takes care of my sin. The grace of our Lord gives me
the strength that I need, so that when I'm weak in myself
and in my flesh, then I'm strong in him. I can do all things through
Christ, which strengtheneth me. We've heard too many messages
from men. We need to hear a message from God. We've heard too much
of the wisdom of men where eternity is concerned, where death and
life and judgment and heaven and hell and salvation and redemption. We've heard too much of the wisdom
of men now. We need to hear from God. We
need to hear somebody stand up and tell us what God has to say.
And the only man who can do that is a man whom God has seen. And
don't put your confidence in him. He does not deserve your
confidence. His confidence is not in himself,
it's in the strength of the Lord. It's in the power of the Holy
Spirit. It's in the motivation of God. It's in the grace of
God. The same grace of God that he
commends to you, that same grace has taken care of his need. The
grace of God which he presents to you is the grace of which
he is a partaker. God is the giver, man is the
recipient. And that's the reason in verse
11, Paul calls this gospel the gospel of God's glory. Now, it
says here, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Well,
what he is saying is this. He's saying to be the real gospel,
to be the only gospel, to be the saving gospel, to be the
heaven-sent gospel, it must bring all glory to God. It's the glorious
gospel of God. Not the gospel of the Baptist
Church or the Methodist Church or the Presbyterian Church or
the Catholic Church. These names have plagued us too
long. It's the gospel of God. God is
the giver. Man is the recipient. Any gospel
which puts the emphasis on what man does for God is not the gospel. But that which puts the emphasis
upon what God does for man, that's the gospel. Any gospel that gives
man the credit and the glory is not the gospel. That gospel
which gives God the glory and God the praise, all praise be
unto him for anything that we are, anything that we have, anything
that we know. Who maketh thee to differ, Paul
said. What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou
didst receive it, what is thy glory as if thou didst not receive
it? God is the giver, we are but vessels filled with his living
water. We are but vessels filled with
the bread from heaven. God is the Savior. We are but
sinners. I like what the old colored fellow
said. Somebody said, Who saved you? He said, God did. They said,
What do you have to do with it? He said, Well, I just did the
running and God did the catching. I did the sinning. God did the
saving. God is the sovereign. We are
the subject. Man is guilty and dependent upon
the mercy of God and the mercy of God alone. Now that's what
Paul is saying. God put me in the ministry. And
what I'm telling you is something that I have received, something
that I have obtained. I obtained mercy. I didn't earn
it. I didn't buy it. I didn't deserve
it. I'm not worthy of it. God gave it to me and put me
in the ministry. And the grace of God was exceeding
abundant, all that I required and all that I needed. And this
gospel that I preach is the gospel of his glory. Now, he gives it
to us in verse 15. Let's look at it. This is a faithful
saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Now, how do we preach
the gospel? First of all, Paul says it's
a faithful saying. We have no doubt of the truth
of this message. It is a revelation of God. It
is a fateful saying. It is not a hypocritical message.
It's not an insincere message. It's a fateful message. It's
a fateful message. It's a revelation of God. God
has borne witness of the saving power of his Son. Now, if you
will, I want you to turn with me over to the book of John,
chapter 5. Let's look at something over
here. John, the 5th chapter, and I'm reading verse 32. God
hath borne witness to the faithfulness of this message. God hath declared
it. How has he declared it? First of all, in John 5, verse
32, Jesus Christ said, while he was here on the earth, there
is another. Now, he hath made some claims. He said, I'm the Son of God.
I'm sent from heaven. to save you from your sins. If
you'll believe on me, if you'll receive me, if you'll trust in
me, I'll give you forgiveness and eternal life, remission of
sin. Now, he said there's another
that beareth witness of me. Now, in verse 31, he said, if
I'm the only one that bears witness, my witness is not true. For the
scripture says, let every word be established by the mouth of
two or three witnesses. If I come here and claim that
I've done certain things, For example, let's take just a plain,
simple illustration. Suppose I get up here tonight,
next week, and say, boys, I played golf last week and shot a hole-in-one.
Well, that's good. Who was with you? Nobody. I was
by myself. Well, now, you may have a lot
of confidence in me and feel like I wouldn't lie about it,
But there'd still be just a shadow of a doubt in your mind. You'd
say, well, boy, isn't it a catastrophe that the preacher was by himself
and he shot that hole in one? But now suppose I got up here
and I said, boys, I shot a hole in one. You say, who was with
you? I say, well, Art Young was with me. My son Paul was with
me. And Rose Sparks was with me.
James Thompson was with me. There's a bunch of good witnesses.
And there's not any doubt about it. I got it, you know it, these
men said I did. Now Christ said, I'm the Son
of God. I came down from heaven to die on a cross to redeem you
from your sins. But if I'm the only one that
bears witness of that fact, my witness is not true. Read on,
verse 32. There's another that beareth witness of me, and I
know that the witness which he witnesseth is true. You're sent
unto John, John the Baptist, that was the last of the Old
Testament prophets. That was the forerunner. That
was the one who was miraculously born. That was the one who was
named by God. That was the man whose father
was struck dumb for six months until he named him John. That
was the one born supernaturally and miraculously after his mother
and father were way up in years. They recognized him. Even Herod
the King heard him. Jesus Christ said, He bore witness
unto the truth. But I received not testimony
from men, but these things I say that you might be saved. John
was a burning and shining light, and you were willing for a season
to rejoice in his light. He came saying, Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. That was his witness. He pointed to Jesus Christ and
said, This is he of whom Moses spake. This is that prophet.
This is that priest, this is that king, this is that savior,
this is that lamb, this is the Messiah, this is the one for
whom you look, this is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament scriptures,
this is the fulfillment of every type, symbol, shadow, and design. This is He. Now read on. But
I have greater witness than that of John. I've got another witness.
For the works which the Father hath given me to finish, The
same works I do bear witness of me that the Father sent me.
Now if you will, turn to Isaiah 35. Now there are many prophecies
in the Old Testament concerning the Messiah, the Christ, the
Savior. It is said that he would be born
of a virgin, Christ was. It is said that he would be born
493 years after the order went forth to rebuild the temple,
he was. It said he was to be born of the tribe of Judah, he
was, of the family of Jesse, he was, a descendant of David,
he was, Mary was David's great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter. It is said that he would be born
in Bethlehem, he was. It is said that God would give
a sign in the heavens, he did. It was said that the angels would
visit this earth and declare that a Savior was born, they
did. All of these prophecies were fulfilled. But it says here
in Isaiah chapter 35 verse 4, Say to them that are of a heavy
heart, a fearful heart, be strong, fear not. Your God will come
with vengeance, even God with a recompense, he'll come and
save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. The lame
man shall leap as a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall
sing. In the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams
in the desert." Now this Messiah, here's what he's saying, when
he comes, he's going to give hearing to the deaf, and eyes
to the blind, strength to the lame, and raise the dead. Now
John the Baptist announced that Jesus Christ was that Messiah,
was that Savior, and then they put John in prison. And John
sent word in every human being there's still the element of
doubt. Even John was not immune from doubt. You say, Preacher,
I believe Christ is the Son of God. I trust Him. I believe on
Him as my Savior, but I have times of great doubt and fear,
and I'm greatly troubled. Well, who isn't? There's no perfect
faith on this earth. There's no infallible faith in
a human being. Even John the Baptist had trouble.
Turn to Luke chapter 7. I want you to listen to this
now. Luke 7, beginning with verse 19. And John called unto him
two of his disciples and sent them to Jesus while he was in
prison. He called two of his followers
and sent them to Jesus. And listen to what he asked.
Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Any time you're going through
a period of personal conflict and doubt, I'm talking to believers
now, I'm not talking to unbelievers, I'm talking to those who believe
on Christ, who trust Him. You go through a period of doubt,
go back and read that verse of Scripture. Even John the Baptist.
John the Baptist, who stood right out there on the shores of the
Jordan River and said, there he is, there's the Christ. There's
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. The very
one who baptized him, who turned and said, Lord, I have need to
be baptized of thee, the very one who saw heaven open and the
dove, the Holy Spirit, descend from heaven upon the shoulders
of Christ Jesus, and who heard the voice from heaven saying,
This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, that Saint
John the Baptist sent word to Christ and said, Are you the
one we're looking for? Are you really the Christ? Now
listen to what Christ said. So when the men would come to
him, Luke 7, 20, they said, John the Baptist sent us unto thee,
saying, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?
And in that same hour Jesus cured many of their infirmities and
plagues and evil spirits, and gave unto them that were blind
sight. And then Jesus answered and said, Go your way now, and
tell John what you have seen and heard, how the blind see,
the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised,
to the poor the gospel is preached. These are my credentials. These
are my credentials. Even Nicodemus said no man could
do the things you do except God be with him. So go back to John
5 now. This is a faithful gospel we're
preaching. It's true. God hath borne witness.
First, Christ himself said, I'm the Son of God. I've come to
redeem sinners. Secondly, John the Baptist came,
saying, he's the Savior. Thirdly, the works that Christ
did, no man can do. Christ did these works. He said,
the Son hath life in himself. No man can raise the dead, but
he who can give life, go on. Here's my other witness, the
Father, verse 37, the Father himself which hath sent me hath
borne witness of me. Now you haven't heard his voice,
and you haven't seen his shape, but at the baptism of Christ,
the Father said, this is my Son. You listen to him. You listen
to him. On the Mount of Transfiguration,
the Father said, this is my Son. You listen to him. So this is
a faithful saying. But one other witness. Look at
John 5 again. Verse 39. Search the Scriptures. I'm not talking about the New
Testament now. The New Testament wasn't written
then. He's talking about the Old Testament,
Genesis through Malachi. For all practical purposes, people
today have two Bibles, what they call the Old Bible and the New
Bible. It's just one Bible. It's not an Old Bible and a New
Bible. It's just one Bible, made up of two Testaments of covenants.
And Christ said, you search Genesis through Malachi. Now watch this. You search the Scriptures. In
them you think you have eternal life. You think by the law and
by the ceremony and by your good deeds that you have eternal life.
The scriptures aren't declaring. The revelation of the scriptures
is not life through law, but life through Christ. They are
they which testify of me. So my other witness is the very
words of God. The Scriptures, they bear witness
of me. They said Moses is our father.
He said, well, if you'd have believed Moses, you'd have believed
me. Moses wrote of me. Well, Abraham is our father.
We trust Abraham. He said, Abraham saw my day and
was glad. Now look at the next line in
1 Timothy 1. This is a faithful saying. It's true. It's true. Christ has declared it. John
the Baptist declared it. All the prophets declared it.
To him gave all the prophets witness. The Father from heaven
had declared it. The works that he did, they declared
it. The scriptures declared it. This
gospel, this faithful saying. And it's worthy of all acceptation. It's worthy of acceptance by
all. It's worthy. There's no one who
can say this gospel doesn't concern me. There's no one who can say
this gospel does not concern me. I'm just a bystander. I'm just looking on. I don't
care whether you're one year old or a hundred years old, whether
you're black or white, whether you're old or young, rich or
poor, learned or ignorant, this gospel does concern you for two
reasons. First of all, all have sinned
and need a Savior. All have sinned and need a Savior.
Now if you'll turn with me to the book of Psalms, chapter 14,
I want to show you a charge which the Heavenly Father hath brought
against you and me and every other son of Adam. In Psalms
14, verse 2. Now you listen to this. Psalms 14, 2. The Lord looked
down from heaven upon the children of men, and I want the ear of
every holiness and every perfectionist and every legalist and every
moralist and every ceremonialist and everybody in this country. I want their ear. The Lord looked
down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any
that did understand, any that did seek God, and he said, ìTheyíre
all gone aside. Theyíre all together become filthy. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one.î If any man say he hath not sinned, he's a liar,
and the truth's not in him," John said. All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. All we like sheep have gone astray,
the prophet Isaiah said. We've turned every one of us
to his own way. Sure, we'll do God's will as
long as it doesn't cross our will. But when God's will or
anybody else's will crosses our will, then the other will has
got to go and reveals our true nature and our true character.
This gospel does concern you because you're a sinner. You've
broken the law of God. And James said to offend in one
point is to be guilty of all the law. And the law goes deeper
than action. It reaches to attitude. It goes
further than outward performances. It goes to the very motive. It
goes deeper than the expression outwardly. It goes to the thoughts
within. And to be unholy even in thought, even in motive, even
in attitude, is to break the law of God and to become a guilty
sinner. Now, the second reason why it's
worthy of acceptation by all is because all have sinned, and
secondly, there isn't any other way of salvation. Never has been,
is not now, and never will be. I want you to turn to 1 John
5. Now, this is a verse of scripture
that ought to be committed to every man's memory. 1 John chapter
5. beginning our reading with verse
11. Now listen to it. There is no other way of salvation.
You say, well, preacher, some think the way to heaven is the
way of baptism. Well, it's not. Some think the way to heaven
is down the aisle shaking the preacher's hand. Well, it's not.
Some think the way to heaven is the way of the confessional.
Well, it's not. Some think the way to heaven is the way of the
law and good works and good deeds. Well, it's not. Christ said,
I'm the way. No man cometh to the Father but
by me." Now whose word will you take? The Son of God or some
preacher? Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. I am the door. By me if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. Go in and out and find pasture.
Now listen to this. In 1 John 5 verse 11, this is
the record. This is it. summary of the whole
record. This is the record that God has
given to us eternal life. I'm glad for that, aren't you?
I want eternal life. I want eternal life. I want salvation. I want eternal life. I want,
when I die, to meet God in grace. I want to live forever, don't
you? All right, God has given us eternal life. Now what's the
next line? And this life is in His Son. It's not in your church. It's not in your pools of water
or your sacraments or communions. It's in His Son. It's not in
you. It's not in your professions
of faith. It's not in your determination to do what you think ought to
be done. It's in His Son. Now read on. He that hath the
Son of God hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. These things have I written unto
you, read on, these things have I written unto you that believe
on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have
eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son
of God. This is a worthy, this faithful saying is worthy of
all acceptation. It's faithful, and it's worthy
of all acceptation. That's how we preach it. Now
secondly, what gospel do we preach? I'm going to give you a straight,
clear definition of the gospel. It'll do for living, it'll do
for dying. It'll redeem your soul, it'll
take you to glory. And I'll give it to you from
the Word of God. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Now watch verse 15. That Christ
Jesus. So this gospel, first of all,
is the gospel of a person. Christ Jesus. It's the gospel
of a person. He is God. In the beginning was
the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. He is man. There is one God
and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
In the fullness of time, God sent his Son, made, born of a
woman, made in the likeness of sinful flesh. So this Christ
Jesus, the word Christ is anointed, Messiah, Christ, Deity, God. Jesus, the Word, is Savior. When
the angel came to Mary the virgin and said, Thou shalt bring forth
a son, his name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save," Joshua,
Jesus, Savior, his people from their sins. He's Christ Jesus.
So it's the gospel of a person. It's not the gospel of a church
or an ordinance or a law or a rule or a ceremony or a sacrament
or an experience. It's the gospel of Christ Jesus.
That's what we're declaring to you, that Christ Jesus, God-man. the Godman, perfect God and perfect
man. You say, how did God die on a
cross? God didn't die on a cross. God, in the likeness of man,
died on the cross. Man died. God satisfied. Man
suffered. Man suffered. God satisfied.
As God, Jesus Christ, in the form of man, Jesus Christ met
the law and obeyed it, took our sins, went to the cross, bore
our transgressions, satisfied God's law and God's honor and
God's justice and died in our place. The person did it. Now
read the next line. Christ Jesus came into the world. So it's not only the gospel of
a person, it's the gospel of divine visitation. Christ Jesus
came into this world. Now it's impossible for God,
in God's nature, to save anybody. Now please understand what I'm
saying. It's impossible for God remaining God, staying in God's
nature alone. God is law. Law can't save. God is holiness. God is truth. God is righteousness. God is
purity. It's impossible for man, in man's
nature alone, to save anybody. For man is lowered. Man is sinful. Man is unholy. Man is weak. Man
is defiled. Man is a rebel. But God, in man's
nature, Paul said what the law could not do, what the law could
not do, here's the law, in that it was weak through the flesh.
The law wasn't weak, the flesh was weak. The law was strong,
the flesh was weak, but what it couldn't do, God sending his
own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in the flesh. You see that? Man couldn't satisfy
the law of God, God can. God can't suffer and die and
bleed and agonize and thirst and hunger and hurt. Man can. So God came in the likeness of
man. Now turn, if you will, with me
to Galatians 4. Galatians 4, verse 4. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent his Son made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons. One other scripture in 2 Corinthians
5, verse 19. 2 Corinthians 5, 19. 2 Corinthians 5, 19. God was in Christ. God was in
that man, Jesus Christ. That was God. Only God can forgive sin, only
God can give life, only God can do these things that Christ did.
Christ was God. Christ knew their thoughts. He
needed not that any man should testify him what was in man.
He knew man. So God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. And
he hath committed to us this word, or message, of reconciliation. And we are ambassadors for Christ,
as God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead,
be you reconciled to God, for this is our message. God hath
made Christ to be sin for us. Christ who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So this gospel
we preach is the gospel of a person, Christ Jesus. The gospel of divine
visitation. He came into this world. The
gospel of a completed work, look at it. He came into this world
to save sinners. Christ didn't suffer to make
us savable and then leave the job up to the church or the pastor. Christ didn't come and suffer
to save us or help us save ourselves. It says here he came to save
them, to effectually, to totally, to completely, to absolutely,
to eternally save them. There is nothing that needs to
be added to what Christ did. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. They have forgiveness of sin,
they have eternal life, they have the anointing of the Spirit
of God, they have complete redemption. So there's your gospel. It's
the gospel of a person, Christ Jesus. It's the gospel of divine
visitation. He came into this world in the
likeness of sinful flesh. to save sinners, not to try to
save them or half-save them or make them savable, but to do
the job, and that's what he did. He faced this law. He said, I
didn't come to destroy the law, I came to fulfill it. Christ
meant justice on the cross and satisfied it. He was wounded
for our transgression. Now, God cannot twice demand,
first from the bleeding show at his hand, and then again from
mine. My debts are paid. They're paid
by Jesus Christ. Now, the last question, and I
close. Why do we preach this gospel? Why do we do it? First of all, this gospel has
been savingly revealed in my heart. I found it to meet every
need. I have enough God-given honesty
not to recommend something to you unless I have first of all
tasted and discovered that it's good. I have had this gospel
revealed in my heart. I found it capable and able to
meet every need. I found it to give peace, to
give joy, to give rest, to give comfort in the midst of any trial. Christ Jesus is the answer and
meets every need. I know that. Secondly, the Father
hath given the Son a people, and the salvation of those people
brings glory to the Son. Jesus Christ gets glory out of
people trusting him, believing on him, resting in him, and I'm
seeking his glory. That's why I preach it. The first
reason is I know what it can do. The second reason is I want
Christ to have all the glory possible. I want to see people
saved because even the angels rejoice in heaven. There's joy
in the presence of the angels over a sinner that comes to salvation.
The greatest thing in the world is for a man to come to know
the Son of God, to have Christ live in his heart, to be set
free from sin and from hell and from death and from fear and
from judgment, to walk in hope and confidence and love and eternal
life. That's the greatest thing in
the world, to have some answers for these confused days and trials
through which we go. That brings glory to Christ,
and that's what we're seeking. Now, the third reason I preach
it is this. The road of rebellion against God will only bring you
more sorrow and more death and finally judgment and eternal
condemnation. The road of faith will bring
you peace. I don't say it will be a pathway
of roses. I don't say it will always be
easy. I don't say all your prayers are going to be answered. Some
of them aren't. I'm not going to say everybody is going to
love you. Christ said the world will hate you. I'm not going
to say you won't have trials and difficulties, you'll have
plenty of them. I'm not going to say your conflicts with sin
will be over, you're going to have more. After you come to
faith in Christ, you're going to have conflict like you never
had before. Before you came to faith in Christ,
you only had one master to answer to, and that was yourself, and
your sins, and your desires, and your passions, and your needs. After you come to Christ, you
have another master. But that other one's not going
to give up. You're going to have conflicts between the spirit
and the flesh, between Christ and evil, and it's going to be
a raging battle. Your very heart and soul and
flesh will become a battlefield. But I'll tell you this, you'll
find happiness in Christ, you'll find joy in Christ, you'll find
peace in Christ, you'll find comfort and trial in Christ,
you'll find victory in Christ. You'll find a real reason for
living in Christ. If you receive him as your Lord
and your Savior and believe on him and trust in him, you'll
find some answers to this thing of life. And you'll be able to
face the trials of life and the temptations of life with some
victory, some comfort, some help. Greater is he that's in you than
he that's in the world. So I covet your happiness. Why
do I preach the gospel? I've found it to be the answer.
I found in it that which brings glory to our Lord. And thirdly,
I want you to find that same gospel and that same Savior and
trust in him. Let us pray. Our Father, may
it please thee to anoint the message with the power of thy
Spirit, that the faith of men may not stand in the wisdom of
men, but in the power of our God. Let the gospel be heard,
not in word only. It is not I who speak to this
congregation, but we trust Thou hast spoken through Thy word,
and my voice will not be the only voice heard, O Lord. And
granted, the people shall not just hear with these natural
ears and reason the logic about in their minds, but it will sink
into their hearts, become an experience. They will be vitally,
personally united with Thy Son, Jesus Christ, and rest in Him. Bring faith and life with the
word, by the power of our spirit, for it's in Christ's name we
pray. Amen.