Someday I'll fly away to a land where we'll never grow old. That's because of the gospel. I was in the process of studying the doctrine of salvation in light of studying Calvinism, and then I was asked my opinion of a certain book And being in the process of both of those, I put together this message of the Gospel. I was called last week to see if I could take Pastor Darrell's place, and so I had a short time to prepare for this, and I took something I was already studying. Now, it is most crucial to understand the Gospel right. So I ask, just what is the Gospel? Well, the word gospel means, what does it mean? Good news, it's good news. To know what the good news is, one must first know what the bad news is. Nahum 1.15 quotes part of the scripture reading, or we had a scripture reading that quoted this verse. Behold on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings, that's the gospel in the Old Testament. who proclaims peace, O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, perform your vows, for the wicked one shall no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off." Let me give you a picture of what it was like in the time of the Old Testament. When Israel went to war, children worried about their dad, or friends, or uncles who had gone to war. Wives worried about their husbands or sons. There was no rest in the camp, there were no telephones, and there was no way of getting news from the war unless someone went out there or unless they sent a runner with the news. So the watchmen would watch from the walls and when they saw a runner coming, you can imagine they wanted to hear good news. So our passage said, behold on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings, or good news, or the gospel. When the Jews translated the Old Testament into Greek, they translated these words good tidings as the gospel. In the Greek it's euangelion, that's how it is translated in the Hebrew Old Testament. Now the word gospel occurs four times in the book of Isaiah. Now in wartime, the bad news was that men were off to war. Anything could happen. They might all die or they might be taken captive. They may never come back. When they were victorious and a runner was sent ahead with the news of victory, this was the gospel, the good news. You will remember how Absalom rebelled against King David and eventually an army went out from the king against Absalom. And how Absalom rode under a tree and got his head caught in the branches and he hung there. And how Joab came along and killed Absalom when the king had said they were not to do that to his son. After Absalom was dead, Ahimaaz, a strong runner, wanted to bring this good news to King David, who would be anxiously waiting, but Joab forbid him. Do you know why? Because Ahimaaz was a good man, and David would think if he saw Ahimaaz coming, he had good news. But for David, the fact that Absalom was dead would not be good news. So Joab sent the Cushite to bring this news to David. Then Ahimehaz wanted to run, and then Joab relented. The other guy's off already. He thought, well, he could probably not make it anyway. So he let him run, and this guy knew a shortcut, and he outran the Cushite. And what was the good news they brought? Well, it was supposed to be good news, but you know what David said? Oh, this is a good man, he's got good news. But it wasn't good news for David, though it was for the rest of Israel. When Jesus was born, the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds in the field and said, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings. great joy which will be to all people for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord the angels brought the gospel to the shepherds and What was the good news they brought? Well Christ the Old Testament Messiah the New Testament Christos the Savior have been born in Bethlehem and Now, how long had they been waiting for this news? Tell me. How long were they waiting for this news? I mean, in history. 4,000 years. That's a long time to wait for good news. Now, our question is just what is the Christian gospel? We'll begin with the Old Testament, but let me give you a verse from the New Testament. You may have pondered this one. Hebrews 4, verse 2 says, For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. When it says the gospel was preached to them, It's talking about those who came with Moses out of Egypt, and they were headed for the promised land. They had the gospel preached to them. What was this gospel? What was this good news that was preached in the Old Testament? Well, let's go even further back. We'll go to Genesis chapter 3. You might want to turn there. We'll look at the first proclamation of the Christian gospel from my perspective now. Adam and Eve had sinned and God had dealt with Adam and Eve and Satan. Do you know to whom the gospel of man's salvation was first proclaimed and by whom? It was first proclaimed to Satan. by God Almighty himself. And so look at Genesis chapter 3 verses 14 through 15. So the Lord God said to the serpent, behold, you have done this. You are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. This was not good news to Satan because it spelled his defeat. But it was good news to Adam and Eve and all who followed them. The promise here is the promise of a Messiah, a deliverer. And this deliverer would bruise Satan's head. That is a fatal blow. And it would happen when Jesus died, was buried, and rose again. Now, I call this the Christian gospel, but you might say that Christian is a New Testament term. Well, believers were first called, anybody know where they were first called Christians? I don't have a very big audience here. They were first called Christians in Antioch in the book of Acts. But do you know what Christian means? The word in the New Testament is Christianos. which means a Christ one, or one who belongs to Christ. But what does a Christ one mean? Well, the name Christ means the anointed one. And who is that? Well, the name Christ is the Greek word in the Old Testament for Messiah or Mashiach. So a Christian is a believer who belongs to the Old Testament Messiah, who is the New Testament Christ. And who is that? Well, in the New Testament, he is the Christos. from which we get the name Christian. He is that one who will bruise Satan's head. We know him as the Lord Jesus Christ. So the gospel is the Christian gospel from Genesis through Revelation. Now let me just say something here. No extra charge. Salvation has always been, by grace through faith, in the Old Testament, the New Testament, it will be in the Millennium. There never has been any other way. So, what does Christ One, a Christ One mean? Well, the name Christ One means anointed. And this is the Christos from which we get the name Christian. So the gospel is the Christian gospel from Genesis through Revelation. Now, we could spend a long time and find many, many references to this Messiah or Christ in the Old Testament, but turn to Luke chapter 24. Let me remind us of an event that happened the day Jesus rose from the dead. Two men were walking on the road toward Emmaus, you will remember the story, and they were sad because the one they had been sure was the Messiah, or the Christ, had died, and to them, he was dead and gone. Now we pick up the story in verse 13. Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem, and they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know him. And he said to them, What kind of conversation is this, that you have one with another, as you walk and are sad? Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to him, Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem? And have you not known the things which happened there in these days? And he said to them, what things? So they said to him, the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and the rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. This is the one promised in Genesis 3. Indeed, beside all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Yes, and certain women of our company who arrived at the tomb early astonished us. When they did not find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who had said he was alive. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see. Then he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not the Christ, that's the Messiah, to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." Notice Jesus began to tell them about himself at Moses. He may well have begun at Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. And he expounded from the Old Testament the things concerning himself, the Messiah, the Christ. What was the Christos or the Christian Gospel in the Old Testament? Now, remember this. Here it is. The Messiah, the deliverer from sin, the Christos, is coming. That's the good news. Deliverance is coming. Do you know what the message was in every blood sacrifice in the Old Testament? The Messiah, the Christ, will come and die on sinful man's behalf, and he will be their substitute in death. We learn from the book of Hebrews that the blood of bulls and goats and sheep could never forgive sins. So why were they offered? In them, the offerer showed his faith that the Messiah would come and die for them. This is the Mashiach, the Christos, the Christian gospel in the Old Testament. So let me ask you, what was the gospel, the good news in the time of Christ? Well, we go to Mark chapter 1. Mark begins his gospel, his good news of the account of the life of the Messiah or the Christ, the anointed one of God, when Jesus was about 30 years old. You will recall that the angels came to the shepherds that night when Jesus was born and they said to the shepherds, we bring you good tidings, that is the gospel of great joy. In the original it says, we gospelize you. Or we bring you the gospel. And what was the gospel? The gospel was this, the Messiah has been born. He is here. Now in Mark 1, some 30 years later, Jesus says this in verses 14 through 15. Now after Jesus was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom. There's the gospel. And saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. So this is what he said, repent and believe in the gospel. That means repent and believe the good news. And what was the good news? It was this, the Messiah is here. I am he, I am the Christ. For 4,000 years they had waited, but now he was here. Now go to John chapter one. We'll begin in verse 19. John chapter one. Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ, I am not the Messiah. And they asked him, what then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And he answered, no. Then they said to him, who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees, and they asked him, saying, why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, that is, not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water, but there stands one among you whom you do not know. It is he who coming after me is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to lose. These things were done in Bethabara, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. And the next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. This is He of whom I said, After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me. John said, behold the Lamb of God. Here is the one who was pictured in every lamb slain in the Old Testament. Here is the Passover Lamb. Here is the Messiah. Here is the Christ. He is here. That was the good news when Christ was on earth. You see, in the Old Testament the good news was this. He is coming. And now the good news is this. He is here. After 4,000 years of waiting, that is good news. Now we have waited some 2,000 years. It was mentioned this morning that the Lord may be coming soon. We have waited for 2,000 years. It will be good news when He comes. So for 4,000 years, the good news was He is coming. Then for 30 years, the good news was He is here. We want to now look at what the good news was when those two who were so sad and were walking on the road to Emmaus, what the good news was then. So we go back to Luke chapter 24 and you'll want to follow along. Luke chapter 24, we want to begin where we left off in verse 27. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and he indicated that he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as he sat at the table with them, that he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished from their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us on the road, and while he opened the scriptures to us? So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon. And they told about the things that had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread. Now as they said these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, peace to you. But they were terrified and frightened and supposed they had seen a spirit. And he said to them, why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see me have. When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. But while they still did not leave for joy and marveled, he said to them, have you any food here? So they gave him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. Then he said to them, thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ, the Messiah, to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry in Jerusalem, in the city of Jerusalem, until you are endued with power from on high.' And he led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while he blessed them, that he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And we're continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen. Well, 40 days after this day, Jesus ascended to heaven. And then only 10 days later, what happened? 10 days later. The Holy Spirit came down, the church was born, and new time had come into being. I view this time as the time when God's kingdom on earth is ruled from heaven. You know what? We have no central city, we have no central church. Who rules the church? Well, it's ruled from heaven, the kingdom of heaven. And I tell you this to say this. You might want to turn to Matthew 11 for yourself. Matthew chapter 11. It is the most interesting verse. Matthew 11 verse 11 says this, Now Luke 728 adds the word prophet like this. It says, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist, but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. Have you pondered this verse? The least important prophet in the time of the church age is greater than John the Baptist. And John was greater than all the prophets before him. So let me ask you, what makes one prophet greater than another prophet? The news they bring, yes. The feet on the mountains, yes. So what was the message of all the prophets before John? He's coming, he's coming. What was the message after he came? He's here. What is the message after he died and rose again? Well, you now have the complete gospel. He has come. And he has died for mankind. So John could say, behold, the Lamb of God, the Messiah is here. But after that, we could say that he has come. You see, they didn't know this at the time. Jesus told them about a dozen times in the last short while, I'm going to die. And do you know what? They never caught on to it. So what is the message of the least prophet in the time when God rules his people from heaven? It is this, the long promised Messiah has come, he was crucified and has been resurrected. And that is now the complete gospel. From that time forward, the full gospel story could be told. Nothing will ever be added to it. When Jesus died on the cross, the rest was now all up to God. His work was finished and his last words on the cross were, anybody know what his last words were on the cross? It is finished, yes. It is finished. The Greek word is tetelestai. You know what's interesting about it? It's in the perfect tense. It means something has been completed once for all. It will never be added to. There are no further additions. The least prophet in the kingdom of heaven has a message greater than all the prophets had before. And what is this gospel? Well, it is most precisely set out in John 3.16, which says, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. It is crucial to understand that the gospel is for the world, the sum total of lost mankind. The gospel is more fully explained. You might want to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. If you ever want to sit down and write out what the gospel is, this is one of the passages you will have to go to. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, it's the resurrection chapter of the Bible, begins in verse 1 like this. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Now without this, there would be no salvation for anyone at all. So what is the Gospel? Christ died in our place for our sins, just as the Bible had prophesied. And he was buried and rose again. And the Christian Gospel with that is complete. Well, that is the Gospel from God's perspective. Now, for those who I sent outlines to, I sent a second outline, I had made some changes there. But we want to look now at the Gospel from man's perspective. Before you have good news, you have some danger or some bad news, and that is what makes the good news good news. If one went to a tribe of people who had never heard of God, the God of the Bible, or of Jesus, and one gave them the gospel like this, I have good news for you. The one true God, the God of the Bible, sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to die for you. Jesus died for you. He was buried and raised again, and if you repent of your sins and put your trust in him, you will be saved. What do you think a native like that would say? I don't need that. What's the good news in this? You know, Don Richardson, I think he was a student at Prairie where I went as well, he went to Erie and Jaya. And he brought the good news to the cannibals. What did they think of the good news? Well, you know what he told them? He told them about Judas and how Judas betrayed Jesus. And they laughed and were happy. Judas was the hero. Judas was the hero. Jesus got took. That's what we do. We take them like that. We eat them. How do you make this good news good news to them? And you see what has to happen. They have to learn to understand that they have sinned and they're going to hell. It's the good news everywhere. And before it becomes good news, you have to realize, I'm going to go to hell. So before the Christian gospel becomes good news, one must understand the bad news. And the bad news is that we have sinned. The good news is that the Messiah has come to take our place. You know, the bad news is Adam and Eve, the parents of mankind, sinned against God Almighty, and through their sin, they tainted all of mankind with a sin nature, with the result that all sin and come short of the glory of God, and all are doomed for hell. That's the bad news. Now, much more needs to be said here, but I want to move on to define sin. Sin sends man to hell. The word sin in the New Testament is hamartia. It means to miss the mark. When you set up a target and you miss the bullseye, you miss the mark. And we ask, what is the mark sin misses? Anybody remember? What is the mark sin misses? The perfect will and character of God. Anybody here has not done that? Let me point out that sin is a judicial term because sin is a transgression of law. Now let me ask you, how serious is sin? How serious is it? Over the years, I've tried to find a new illustration for this, but I have not succeeded. So let me give you what I usually give to explain how horrible sin is. I give this illustration. Let us say you have a family and you own your own house. And one day you take your family to town. And when you get back, all that is left of your home is ashes and some smoldering smoke. Everything has been burned. Then a neighbor tells you that he saw another neighbor's son leaving the house and he was carrying a gas can. The boy has no father and he is a very troubled boy. That causes anger in us. That's what it does for all people. I'm not talking about a tantrum where you jump up and down and scream. I'm talking about that which separates between you and another person, as sin does between us and God. But the boy has a rich uncle, and he is very disturbed at the situation. So he offers to rebuild your house, and any size you want. And you can list all the appliances, and he will give you all the appliances as well. And to tide you over until the house is finished, he gives you an extra $300,000. Maybe today that's not enough. I'm not sure. Everything seems so high. But then he asks you, are you satisfied with that? You say, yes, I'm really satisfied. He could burn down my barn, too, if he wants to. Now, let me give you another scenario. Your family is at home, and you've been called away on business, and you will be gone overnight. That night, the neighbor boy comes and burns your house and your wife and your children are in it, and they're all burned. So now, let me ask you now, what price would satisfy you? Anybody? like a million dollars, you feel it's all good? You know, I've asked this question so many times. You know what the answer is? There is no price. There is no price. I propose to you that when Adam and Eve sinned, that was the dilemma created for God. There is no price. That's why sin, the price of sin, is death. So sin, any sin, is a horrible violation against the character of God, and causes God's anger to be aroused, and there is nothing man can do that will ever satisfy God's wrath. You know, there is a huge difficulty in the church today, or in the world. We cannot drive home what sin really does. We can't bring about conviction of sin. And in the church, it's much like that because we have doctrines like unconditional love or unconditional eternal security. We can hardly bring about conviction enough to cause people to realize how horrible sin is. Sin of any size is a violation of the righteous and holy character of God. It is a breach so huge, no price can be paid that will ever satisfy. Romans 1.17 says this, Romans 4.15 says, How? By man's transgression of the law, by sin. And most certainly, no person with sin could ever enter God's eternal abode. There is nothing the sinner could offer that would ever appease God. Now, I don't have time. I have covered a lot of theological terms here. Someday I might do a message to cover those. When God dealt with sin, it was not a matter of either love or justice. I'm saying this in light of the book that I've read. I'll pass this on to another. It was a matter of love and justice. Sin is a judicial or a legal matter and the requirement is death. But love creates the desire to find a solution rather than death. So if God would satisfy his desire to save man, he must do so by satisfying his wrath as well. Sin is a violation of law and is therefore a judicial matter. Agape love, the love God had for man, is a love that does right. So it goes to the law to see what is right to do. The law demands death for sin, but now love seeks a way to justify or to justly justify the sinner. I have read that many years ago in England, when someone was handed the death penalty, the day they died, the newspapers would say, so and so was justified yesterday at such and such a time. They were justified. Their death. That means they committed a sin that can't be paid for any other way. Now there are some sins where a certain price or some amount of suffering will bring about justice though the wrongdoer remains alive. This is crucial to understand. There are other sins where nothing will satisfy as long as the wrongdoer is alive. That's part of the problem of today's law. We do not deal justly with some sins. Sin to God is so horrible, so unjust, so wicked, that only one price would satisfy God's wrath, and that is the death of the sinner. The problem is that if the sinner dies in his sin, the only place for him to go is the place that God prepared for the devil and his angels. He never prepared it for man. It's hellfire. I believe hellfire is eternal because no amount of suffering can ever pay for sin. Christ's suffering did not pay for our sins. Now, I'm giving you theological terms. When you have these as markers, it will help you when you hear other things. Christ's suffering did not pay for our sins. His suffering brought about His death, and it is His death that deals with sin. If man should die in his sin, the devil wins. But God loved man. That is what John 3.16 teaches us. And because of his love for man, he wanted to save man. But to save man, his justice has to be satisfied first. You know what? Ephesians 1.11 teaches us that God works everything according to the counsel of his will. And his will was that all mankind should be saved. The problem was that the only thing that would satisfy God's wrath was death, the death of the sinner. But if the sinner died in his sinful state, all of man's purpose for man, God's glory would be foiled and everyone would go to hell and God and man would be forever separated. God had not created man for that and his love for man and his will for man wanted to save man. How could God save man and remain just at the same time? Well, love found a remedy for man's sin. What was it? Since only death would satisfy God's justice, if God would die in man's place, his justice would be satisfied. Since the sinner could not satisfy God for his sin, and nobody else could either, God was left with one other option. He must pay the price that would satisfy the justice of love. So now, I wonder if you noticed the number, I mentioned the word here a number of times, the word to satisfy. It's a very important biblical word. Go to Romans chapter three, I want to show you this. Romans chapter three. This is such a loaded passage. Romans chapter 3, we begin in verse 21, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So let's note some key things in these verses. First, the word righteousness, sin, law, justified, and propitiation are all legal or judicial terms. They speak of the fact that God is just. Righteousness speaks of a right standing before the law. It occurs four times in this passage. Then the word just and justifier and justified each occurs once and all three have the same root as the word righteousness and all speak of a legal right standing. A person who is just is not guilty before law, and a justifier declares another as not guilty, and justified speaks of one declared to be righteous. But in this passage, we also find the word propitiation. Anybody remember what this is? Propitiation? Satisfaction. Good for you. Verse 25, speaking of Jesus Christ says, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. God has set forth Jesus Christ as the propitiation, the satisfaction for our sins through his blood and through our faith in him. The doctrine of propitiation is found throughout the Bible and very interestingly, the word translated mercy seat, anybody familiar with the word mercy seat? In the Old Testament, it is translated into the Greek translation of the Old Testament as this word we have in English as propitiation, satisfaction. Not much needs to be said. But during Old Testament times, God passed over or covered, that's what the mercy seat did, it covered. God passed over sins through the sacrifice they offered because they spoke by faith of what Christ would do. He was not unrighteous in passing over those sins until Christ actually died because the death of the Messiah would fully satisfy God. After all this, another question remains. Now listen, listen. You need to know this if you're going to study Calvinism. If Jesus died for the world, are then all saved? And that is the misinterpretation of the universalist, and that is the interpretation of Calvinism. So he could only die for the elect, otherwise everybody would be saved. What benefit does God get out of providing salvation for all? Well, it accomplishes two very huge things for him, and these will bring about the defeat of Satan. First, because of his great love for man, he will be able to justify, that is, declare righteous all sinners who truly repent of their sins, and his justice will be satisfied. God is now able to be both just and justifier of sinners. He can justly declare the sinner as righteous because Christ, as his substitute, took the sinner's place in death. When the sinner repents and puts his faith in Jesus Christ, God can now fully impute Christ's righteousness to the sinner. That is because Christ took the sinner's place. Physical death is the consequence of sin. And if one dies physically without having one's sins having been taken care of, that leaves man with one place to go. There are only two places. And thus, physical death further brings about spiritual and eternal death. Once one is in hell, there is no remedy for sin. So upon repentance and faith, the sinner can justly be declared righteous. That is imputed righteousness. But imputed righteousness is not what God is after. God is after actual righteousness. So in sanctification, he seeks to make us actually righteous. Let me recommend our catechism classes on sermon audio and video 23 and from there on several videos to understand what justification and sanctification are. Once we have been justified, now God sets about to make us righteous or holy in life. Can somebody finish this for me? Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. without holiness. And becoming holy is a lifelong process. These two very important doctrines are two very important doctrines in the doctrine of salvation. To be justified is a humbling process. To be sanctified is a lifelong humbling process. We humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God by learning to trust Him. Here God deals with our sin nature and seeks to conform us to the image of Christ. To be like Christ is God's ultimate goal for every saved sinner. But after this life, God's goal is the glorification of the believer and to bring about that relationship between himself and the saved man that he desired for them when he created them. And in conclusion, The gospel is the good news that the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth, suffered and shed, and the shedding of his lifeblood and his death for all of lost mankind so that they might be saved. All who will truly repent of their sins and live their lives by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will ultimately go to be with the Lord for all eternity. When Jesus took on man's sins, he did not become a sinner. He became responsible for man's sin. That is why he had to die. When he became the Lamb of God, he became the one the lambs of the Old Testament pictured. He became God's sacrifice for sin. This sacrifice speaks of his death. When He shed His blood, it speaks of His death. You know what we sing, there's power in the blood. How is there power in the blood? It is in Christ's death. The life of the flesh is in the blood. He shed His blood for us. When we speak of the cross of Christ, we speak of His death. When we speak of His suffering, His stripes, His bruising, we're speaking of His death. Suffering does not atone for sin. Death does. Suffering does not satisfy God's wrath. Death does. And finally, when a sinner wishes to be saved, what must the sinner do? Jesus said, repent and believe the gospel. Just before Jesus ascended to heaven, he said to his disciples in Luke 24, 46 or 47, Now let me just add here There's just an ever-growing teaching among evangelicals that repentance is not necessary for salvation. And here's what they say. They say, well, just go to the Book of John. The Book of John is written to the Church, and you will not find the word repentance in the Book of John. It's not necessary for salvation. I say to them, go to the book after John, when the church has begun, and read what it says there. Repentance in the book of Acts is mentioned over and over again. Listen to Acts 17.13. How can you get around this? So to anyone wishing to be saved, you must realize you have violated God's righteous character by sin, and you must repent of your sins. Second, Jesus said, believe. The Christian life is a life of faith. Now, I've also read recently that the word believe in the present tense doesn't mean continual believing. Out of this, they get the teaching that once you believe once, you're saved forever. This gospel, this teaching of one saved, always saved, I believe has its source in hell. It is a misrepresentation of what God's Word teaches. Whenever the Christian sins, repentance from sin by confession cleanses the believer. Repentance is the greatest change agent to conform us to the image of Christ. I'm fully convinced. Let me add that neither repentance nor saving faith are gifts given by God so we can be saved. And I know someone may be listening, maybe a Calvinist, and says, yes, faith is a gift. Look at the New Testament. I challenge you, look at every place where it talks about faith as a gift. It is always a gift to believers, never to unbelievers. Now all of that salvation is made possible by God sacrificing His Son, which resulted in His death on our behalf. May the Lord bless these words to us.