Well, it's good to be with you again. Seems like we were just here last night and you must have slept at the church here last night. But it's wonderful to have this opportunity to gather together in the Lord's name. I want to invite you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Romans, Romans, chapter one, and in our session this morning and then later tonight. I want to speak to you from the opening verses of the book of Romans, two messages entitled The Glorious Gospel of God. This morning will be part one. Tonight will be part two. And I want us to look again at the initial verses that formed the introduction to the book of Romans. I want to begin this morning by reading These first seven verses, I trust you have your Bible. It's open that you can follow along with me, that you can visually see the text. I'm reading from the New American Standard version of the scripture. The word of God reads Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son, who was born of a descendant of David, according to the flesh, who was declared the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ, our Lord, for whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for his name's sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The greatest need that exists in the world today is for the gospel of Jesus Christ to do its work. Our greatest need is not political or sociological. Neither is our greatest need financial or cultural or racial. The greatest issue confronting us today is not fixing the economy, and neither is it feeding the poor. Our greatest need is not creating jobs and reducing the unemployment problem. The greatest crisis that we face in this hour is not Iraq or Iran having the nuclear bomb. Neither is it international threats of terrorism. from ISIS or in Egypt or in Afghanistan. The number one greatest need that we face in the world today is the spiritual problem of sinful souls of men and women who are living in rebellion against God. The crisis of the day is how can sinful man be right with holy God? There is only one cure. for the sin problem in the lives of people in Rhode Island, in New England, throughout the United States and abroad, around the world. And the only cure is the gospel of God. The gospel alone can reconcile sinful man with holy God. The gospel alone can change a person's life from the inside out and make him a new creature in Christ Jesus. This is our greatest need. It is for the gospel of Jesus Christ to do its work in the lives and the souls of people. We live in a nation that is built upon a democracy, a government of the people, by the people and for the people. But it is the worst form of government if those people are ungodly and unlawful. It is to be feared to have a government of the people and by the people and for the people if the gospel of Jesus Christ has not done its work. This is precisely what Paul is addressing in these opening verses of Romans. The apostle is affirming to the church in Rome that the gospel is the only solution to the greatest need in the Roman Empire and throughout the world. Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire and the most important city on the face of the Earth. In Paul's day, the city of Rome boasted a population of some one million people. Rome boasted magnificent buildings such as the Emperor's Palace, as such as the Forum, such as the Circus Maximus. It was in Rome that Caesar lived and presided. It was in Rome where the most powerful army in the world was assembled. Rome was the seat of power for the entire known world. It was the base of political power and military power and legislative power. Yet Paul had a far greater power. that he desired to be brought to bear upon the Roman Empire, and it was the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was desirous of going to Rome and putting forth the gospel of Christ in the marketplace of ideas. He would write later in this chapter, I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God and a salvation. And Paul knew that it is the message of the gospel that would blow out of the water every other philosophy and every other ideology that was out there. And so Paul was eager to come to Rome and to preach the gospel in this city of imperial might and see it conquer and capture the hearts of men and women. Paul's desire and his plan was not to petition Caesar. It was not to boycott the palace. It was not to assemble before the Senate. But it was to unleash the power of the gospel of Christ and see it explode in the lives of men and women and to see them radically changed and soundly converted and brought into saving relationship with Christ. Paul knew that everything else would eventually fall in a proper place once the gospel was established in Rome. The dominant theme of these opening verses is the gospel of God's salvation of lost sinners. The central thrust in the overarching truth of this opening section is the gospel. At the end of verse one, he speaks of the gospel of God. In verse nine, he speaks of the gospel of his son. Later, in verse 15, he says, I am eager to preach the gospel to you. And in verse 16 of this opening chapter that the text I've already quoted, he said, I am not ashamed of the gospel. This epistle to the Romans is all about the gospel of Jesus Christ. And nowhere else in scripture, perhaps, is there a more comprehensive theological presentation of this gospel. Martin Luther called the book of Romans the very purest gospel. And it was William Tyndale who said of Romans, as he translated for the first time out of the original languages into the English language, that the book of Romans is, quote, the most pure, glad tidings that we call the gospel. Nothing has changed over the last 2000 years. And what was the greatest need of the Roman Empire 20 centuries ago remains the greatest need here in the United States, here in this powerful nation. The greatest need is not for political reform. It is not for racial reconciliation. It is not for financial prosperity. The single greatest need in this land is for the gospel of Jesus Christ to be blown like a trumpet again and for it to be put up in the marketplace of ideas against every other false religion, against secular humanism, against every other idea or philosophy and for the gospel of Jesus Christ to do its work. That will require of us. and brothers and sisters in Christ and throughout this land to lock arms together and to be on our knees in prayer, but to go into the highways, into the byways of this land and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. In our session this morning, I want us to look at the opening two verses. And I want to set before you three aspects of the gospel. And when we reassemble tonight, I want us to look at verses three through seven, and I want to give you four or five more aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want us to be crystal clear in our understanding of the gospel. I want to begin in verse one. And I want you to notice with me first the source of the gospel. Paul begins by declaring from whence this gospel comes. Who is the author of the gospel? Who designed the gospel? Now, Paul begins in verse one by identifying himself, Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus. But Paul wants us to understand that he is only the messenger of the gospel. He is only the ambassador who has been dispatched by God to bring this message. But Paul is not the author of the gospel. Neither is he the editor of the gospel. Paul is simply the mouthpiece for the gospel. But the gospel does not originate with him. He says, Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle. set apart for. And Paul now begins to describe the gospel in this opening paragraph that he will spend the rest of the epistle giving great theological instruction in. But he first wants us to see the source of the gospel. Notice it says he is set apart for the gospel of God. The gospel of God means that God is the source of the gospel, that he is the origin of the gospel. This does not mean that it is that the gospel is about God, though it is about God. But that is not the emphasis that Paul is making here. What Paul wants us to know is that this gospel is from God. That God is its architect. God is its author. The gospel has come down from above. Leon Morris, in his commentary on Romans, cites God is the most important word in this epistle. In other words, Morris is recognizing the gospel is God's gospel. This is what God has designed. This is what God has set forth in what he has done to save sinners. The gospel has come from the infinite mind and the eternal genius of Almighty God. And we could say it again, that the gospel is God's gospel. If man were to spend the next thousand years breaking up into small groups, trying to devise the gospel. Human minds could have never come to the rational understanding of putting forth a plan like this, that the first person of the Godhead would send the second person of the Godhead. into this world to be born under the law that you and I have broken again and again and again, that the second person of the Godhead would become a man, fully man, as much a man as you and I are a human being. Yet he would be without sin. Yet he would be born of a virgin. Who but God could have designed such a plan that he would live among us, that he would perfectly keep the law of God with perfect obedience throughout the entirety of his life and that his perfect righteousness to the law of God would be credited to the account of lost sinners who have broken this law again and again by simply their faith in the second person of the Godhead, that he would go to a cross, that he would be lifted up to die, that all of the sins of all of his people would be transferred to him in a moment. And him who knew no sin, God would make to be sin for us. that in his death upon the cross, he would die as a substitute for sinners, and that through the giving of his life and the shedding of his blood upon Calvary's cross, he would satisfy the righteous anger of God towards lawbreakers. Who but God could have designed this plan, that he would be taken down from the cross, that he would be buried in a borrowed tomb, and on the third day, The power of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit would raise him from the dead, that he would come walking out of that tomb a risen, living, victorious Savior, that he would ascend to the right hand of God the Father, and that whosoever would call upon the name of the Lord would be saved from God Himself, would be delivered from eternal destruction would be rescued from the wrath to come. Such a plan of salvation could have only come from the genius of God and that this gospel would be so simple that even a child could believe it. yet so deep and profound that the most brilliant among us would spend the rest of his life but touching the surface of the infinite depths of the inexhaustible grace of God that is set forth in this gospel. The source of the gospel is God and God alone. This is God's solution to the human dilemma. This is God's remedy to the problems on this earth. And this is God's salvation for sinners. James Montgomery Boyce, a great preacher of the gospel in Philadelphia, went home to be with the Lord in the year 2000. It was James Boyce who wrote, the gospel is something God announced and that God accomplished and what God sent his apostles to proclaim. It is something God blesses through which God saves men and women. This is God's proclamation. This is God's message. This is God's announcement. John Stott asserts the apostles did not invent the gospel. It was revealed to them by God and entrusted to them by God. And this is still the first and most basic conviction which underlines an understanding of the authentic gospel. What we have to share with others is neither a miscellany of human speculations, nor one more religion to add to the rest, nor really a religion at all. It is rather the gospel of God, God's own good news for a lost world. Close quote. The gospel was not conceived by any church, It was not drafted by any denomination. It was not scripted by any seminary. The gospel was birthed in the mind of God in eternity past. Martin Lloyd-Jones writes, The gospel is the great announcement of what God has done. It is God acting. It is God speaking. It is God revealing His plan and His program. The Gospel is not what man thinks. The Gospel is not what a man aspires after. It is not what man proposes. It is, Lloyd-Jones writes, entirely from God. It is God announcing His salvation. That this gospel has come down from the throne of God, Paul will affirm in the opening verses of his epistle to the Galatians. In Galatians 1, in verse 11, Paul writes, For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I received it, for I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it. But I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. This gospel has come from God, through Christ, by His Spirit, to Paul and to us. And it was the burden of Paul's life and the burden of his soul to get this gospel out, to take it as far and wide as he could, A stewardship, Paul felt, had been entrusted to him in this gospel, and that having received this gospel and that this gospel having been revealed to him, he must now spend the rest of his life giving out this gospel. He says in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 16, For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion, for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel." The source of the gospel is God. It is the heavenly message for the human dilemma. John Calvin said, whenever the gospel is preached, It is as if God himself came into our midst. It is as if God himself has stepped out of heaven and stands before us and speaks to us whenever and wherever his gospel is proclaimed. Calvin also asserted, preaching is the public exposition of Scripture. by the man sent from God, in which God himself is present in judgment and in grace. This is where Paul begins the entire book of Romans. This is the first step of the journey. Lest there be any further discussion at this point, Paul wants you and me to know that everything that he has to say and to unfold in this treasure house of riches known as the book of Romans, the author and the architect is God alone. To believe in the gospel is to believe in God. To reject the gospel is to reject God himself, because when the gospel speaks, God speaks. Number one, the source of the gospel. Number two, I want you to note with me the exclusivity of the gospel, as we are still in verse one. Would you please note again how Paul describes this gospel? Notice, as Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, sent apart for what's the next word? The. Not a. The gospel of God. It is this definite article, the in front of the word gospel that modifies and describes the gospel is not merely one of many gospels. This is not one road leading up the mountain to the top where God is found. and that there are many different paths and many different ways that a man can choose to ascend upward to God. But what Paul is asserting at the very front doorstep of this book before even walking into the house that contains these treasures, he wants us to know this is the gospel. Here is the exclusivity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And to refuse this gospel is to refuse the one and only means of grace. To reject this gospel is to remain under the wrath of God. Paul is not merely dogmatic about this. He is bull dogmatic about this. Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one. I've done a study of that in the Greek, and this is what it means. No one. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Jesus claims an exclusive monopoly. as being the one and only way to God. And when Peter stood before the Sanhedrin in the book of Acts, Peter did not say, well, we're all saying the same thing. It's just a matter of semantics. Paul stood before the religious leaders of the day. Paul did not say, well, there's a way for you Jews to be saved. And now there is a way for some of us other Jews to be saved in other way. No, Peter said to the very rulers who conspired for the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ in a very city in which he was crucified. Peter said there is salvation in no other name, for there is no other name under heaven given among men. whereby we must be saved. It would be the Apostle Paul who would say later, there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all the testimony born at the proper time. This gospel is the one and only means of justification. by which a lost, guilty, hellbound sinner is declared to be the righteousness of God in Christ. This gospel is the one and only means of redemption by which sinners held in the bondage of sin and Satan can be released and set free. This gospel is the one and only means of reconciliation by which sinners who are estranged from God can be brought into acceptance with him. No, this gospel is the gospel and there is no other gospel. And anyone who preaches another gospel, let him be damned. Galatians one in verse eight, Paul said, Even if we are an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you. He is to be a curse. He is to be anathema. He is to be devoted to destruction. And all those who buy into his message will also be a curse and anathema and devoted to destruction. And as if that were not enough, in the next verse, verse nine of Galatians 1, Paul restates it again. He said, as we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received He is to be accursed. The exclusivity of the gospel. There is only one gospel. It is the gospel of God. There is only one plan of salvation. There is only one man of salvation, capital M. There is only one who was born of a virgin. There is only one who has kept the law of God perfectly. There is only one who has died in the place of sinners. There is only one who has paid an infinite price. There is only one who has placated the wrath of God in his death. There is only one who has been raised from the dead. There is only one who has ascended to the right hand of God the Father. And it is The one of whom the gospel speaks, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is why we must go and why we must send and why we must preach and why we must support and why we must give. And why we must participate in this gospel going forth. Romans 10, later in this book, beginning in verse 14, Paul will ask a series of rhetorical questions, the answers to which are so obvious, he does not even waste the ink to give the answers. They scream out a negative, they cannot. Paul writes, How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? No one can believe upon Christ and call upon his name until they first have the knowledge to be able to even intellectually and cognitively to believe in him. How will they believe in him in whom they have not heard? There is no way a sinner can call upon the name of the Lord or to have the intellectual awareness and understanding of the plan of salvation unless someone comes and declares this message to them. And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent? The answers to all these questions is a resounding negative. And the reason it is a negative is because there is no other way of salvation. Whether one is in Rhode Island or on the island of Sri Lanka, whether one is in the United States or one is in Soviet Russia, no matter where a human being is on this planet, there is only one message of salvation, and it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we must send forth preachers and missionaries and church planners and evangelists. Therefore, we must go into our own neighborhoods and into our own cities and speak to our family members and to our classmates and to our work associates. And proclaim to them the only gospel that there is under heaven. It is the gospel that has come from heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to know third and finally, for our look today, I want you to note. The antiquity of the gospel. This gospel is not a new message. It was not something that appeared on the scene in Paul's day. This gospel was not plan B. An augmentation to what God was doing in the Old Testament, but that this gospel goes back to the beginning of time, we know it goes to eternity past in the mind of God, but it was made known from the very beginning. This gospel message, a salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, is rooted and grounded in the fertile soil of the Old Testament. And so Paul writes in verse two, as he is front-loading these verses at the very outset of this book, before he would open it up in all of its theological richness and doctrinal profundity. He wants us to know at the very outset that this is not a novel message. It's not a trendy idea. He says in verse 2, which refers to the gospel, an impersonal pronoun, which he, referring to God, which he promised beforehand, meaning long ago in ancient days, long before Christ came into this world, long before Saul of Tarsus became the Apostle Paul, Long before the church was birthed, he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, beginning with Moses, Genesis and Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy and continuing with the subsequent prophets in the unfolding of the Old Testament message. on through the historical books as they're arranged in the canon of our scripture, on through the poets, on through the prophets, beginning with Isaiah and culminating with Malachi. There is one message of salvation that was declared throughout the annals of Old Testament history, and it is the same gospel message that Paul is unfolding and unpacking in the book of Romans. It says that God promised beforehand through the prophets. It was announced to Adam and Eve. It was believed by Abraham. It was recorded by Moses. It was pictured in the Levitical sacrificial system. It was proclaimed by the prophets long ago. It is not a new message. It is not a newly conceived or a newly minted idea. It is not a theological novelty. It is not a departure from the old paths. It is not a new way of salvation now to appear in Paul's day. It is not a tweaking. of what was the plan of salvation in the Old Testament. It is not an addendum. It is not an appendix to be added. In fact, if it is new, it is not true. There is only one way of salvation, whether Old Testament or New Testament. There was not an Old Testament way to be saved and then a New Testament way to be saved. There was not a Jewish gospel and now a Gentile gospel. No, there was and is and shall always be only one way of salvation. And it was that gospel which was promised beforehand long ago and recorded in the Holy Scripture by the prophets. As preachers, we stand in a long line of godly men who have preached this very same gospel. We stand in line downstream from Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Hosea Down to Malachi, we cannot break rank in this hour and in this day. There is only one gospel from cover to cover in this book, from Genesis through the maps, and it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to direct you to just two verses back at the very outset of Scripture. If you would turn back. To the book of Genesis, to the beginning of the book of Genesis, Genesis, chapter three, there are two verses to which I want to draw your attention. As we consider the antiquity of the gospel, and it is because of the antiquity of the gospel that there is the continuity of the gospel. that they are the same in Old Testament as well as in New Testament. In Genesis three and verse 15, a text with which I know that you are familiar. There is nothing new I can say to you, but simply bring to your remembrance what you already know. Genesis 315 is known as the proto euangelion, which means the first mention of the gospel. This is the first proclamation of the gospel and the first preacher of this gospel is God himself. God is the speaker. The congregation, strangely, is Satan, the serpent. And God will preach this gospel to the serpent in the midst of the curse that he will pronounce upon the serpent. Now, in verse 15, We read an eye. Who is the eye? The eye is God himself. And I will put enmity between you. Who is the you? Satan, the serpent, the one speaking through the serpent and the woman. Who is the woman? There was no other woman at this point. It was Eve. And God says there's going to be conflict. Between Satan and Eve, but it doesn't stop there. And in the next line, he says, and between your seed, referring to Satan's seed, there will be spiritual descendants of the devil, all unbelievers. John 8, verse 44, Jesus said to the Pharisees and Jesus said through the Pharisees to every unbeliever, you are of your father, the devil. Everyone has one of two spiritual fathers in this world. Either they have Satan as their father or they have God as their father. You're either in the family of Satan or you're in the family of God. You're either in the kingdom of darkness or you're in the kingdom of light. And so God at the very beginning says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed, your spiritual descendants of unbelievers, children of the devil. And her seed pointing to Eve, that there would be spiritual descendants from Eve as well. A seed, the elect of God, who would be the true believers. And within her seed, plural, there would be one seed, singular. One born of a woman. One born under the law. One who would be born in the fullness of time. He goes on to describe this one who would be born of Eve centuries later. He, so we know at the outset, it will be a male. It will be a male descendant of Eve. He shall bruise you, Satan. He will enter into contest and conflict and conquest with you. And he will bruise you on the head. And to be dealt a blow to the head will be a devastating blow. It will be a defeating blow. And it speaks of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. and the crushing victory that he would bring through his substitutionary death, it would crush the head of the serpent. In John 12, 31, Jesus said, Judgment is upon this world. Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. In Colossians 2, verse 17, speaking of Christ's death on the cross, He says that he disarmed the rulers and authorities. He made a public display of them and he triumphed over them through Christ in his death. Jesus stripped, shamed and subdued the devil in the kingdoms of darkness through his death upon the cross. He shall bruise you on the head. And you, referring to Satan, shall bruise him, referring to the seed of the woman, Christ. You shall bruise him on the heel. Oh, it'll be a fatal blow, but it will be a blow from which you will recover. And it is a veiled picture of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ after his death. And at the very beginning of time, at the dawn of human history, Moses, the first prophet, records in the first book of the Bible this champion who would go forth from the camp of God, who would be born of a woman, who would bring a devastating blow to Satan. while you're in this same chapter, turn to verse 21. Genesis 3 and verse 21. In one other verse for us to see. For there was a foreshadowing of the substitutionary death of Christ. A foreshadowing of the blood sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ also revealed a ray of light shining through the curtain into the minds of those who would take up this text and read it, of the coming sin-bearing substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we read in verse 21, the Lord God made garments. Please note who the provider is. Please note who is the one who slew the innocent animal. It was God who slit the throat of the animal. It was God who made the garments. It was God who took an innocent lamb and put the innocent animal to death. The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them and made a covering for their shame and for their guilt. and for their nakedness. It was God who killed in innocent sacrifice. And there was the shedding of blood by God Himself that would serve as a sacrifice in the place of guilty sinners. The first physical death should have been that of Adam and Eve. For God said in Genesis 2, 16, in the day that you eat of this fruit, you will surely die. And God is a God of his word. And in the day that he ate of that fruit, he did die spiritually and he began to die emotionally and he began to die physically. And there was a separation now between sinful Adam And holy God, and God is of pure eyes and to behold iniquity. And God cannot have fellowship with sin. And there was now this separation and this breach because of sin. How much sin is required to estrange sinners from God? A thousand sins? A hundred sins? No, God is so infinitely holy that just one sin committed against holy God brings the death penalty, for the wages of sin is death and the soul who sins will surely die. That's how holy God is. That is how righteous God is. That is how flagrant our rebellion is. And the result of this vicarious death in the garden by God was a covering for the nakedness and the guilt of these first sinners. It was a dress rehearsal for Calvary. It was a foreshadowing of the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. It was an anticipation of Hebrews 9, verse 22, that says, without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. It was a foreshadowing of Hebrews 10, 14, for by one offering, He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Time does not permit us to follow what has been called the golden thread of the coming of the Messiah and the scarlet thread of redemption that runs throughout the pages of the 39 books of the Old Testament. But when we put our arms around the law and the prophets and the Psalms, there is the gospel according to Moses, There is the gospel according to David. There is the gospel according to Solomon. There is the gospel according to Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the gospel according to Daniel, the gospel according to the minor prophets, the entire Old Testament. is a presentation of the person and work of Christ. The entire Old Testament is one finger pointing to the coming of Christ. The four Gospels is an announcement that He is here. The book of Acts is the proclamation of this Christ. The epistles is a more careful description and detail of this Christ. And the book of Revelation is He's coming again. The entire book is about the Lord Jesus Christ. One pastor has said, my Bible is a hymnal. It's all about Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we bring the Old Testament witness together, what do we find? That Jesus was born of the woman. He would be born the seed of Abraham. He would be born the seed of Isaac. He would be born of the house of Jesse. He would be born of the seed of David. He would be born of a virgin. He would be called Emmanuel, God with us. He would be born in Bethlehem. He would be admired by great persons at his birth. He would be called out of Egypt. He would be preceded by a forerunner. He would be anointed by the Spirit. He would be a prophet like Moses, a priest after the order of Melchizedek. He would inaugurate his ministry in Galilee. He would come into the temple. He would be marked by meekness and tenderness. He would be without deceit. He would be full of zeal for God. He would preach with parables, perform miracles, bear reproach. The Old Testament said he would be a stone of stumbling for Jews, hated by the Jews, rejected by the Jewish leaders, betrayed by a friend, forsaken by his disciples. sold for thirty pieces of silver, the money given to buy a potter's field. He would be engulfed in suffering, yet suffer for others. He would be patient and silent under suffering, struck on the cheek, marred beyond the appearance of a man, spit on and scourged, nailed through his hands and feet, forsaken by God, mocked, offered gall and vinegar, left naked with his garments parted and lots cast for his clothing. He would be numbered with the transgressors, yet intercede for his murderers while being put to death. Not a bone would be broken. He would be pierced and wounded. He would be buried with a rich man. And yet his flesh would not see corruption. The entire Old Testament. I wish I had the time to cite all of the verses for those headings that I just gave you. It is unmistakable that the gospel was proclaimed and promised and prophesied throughout the entirety of the Old Testament. And after the apostles were sent forth to preach, what did they declare? There were five main headings of truth that they proclaimed. I will only mention the first. It is that the entire Old Testament announced his coming, and as we bring this session to close, if you would just turn to the book of Acts, Acts, chapter three, and I'll give you some sense of hope. This will be the end. Acts, chapter three. And I just want you to see this in your own Bible, that this was the message that the apostles proclaimed, that Jesus was foretold throughout the entire Old Testament. It speaks of the antiquity of the gospel. And in Acts, chapter three, and I believe Pastor Rob Ventura is right in the midst of Acts, chapter three. And so I'm just going to bring ice cubes to Eskimos this morning and bring to you what has been brought to you. But in Acts chapter three, beginning in verse 13, I just want to to show you five dramatic statements that Christ has come in the fulfillment of the Old Testament. In verse 13, we see that he is the fulfillment of the patriarchs. In verse 13, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant. This gospel is rooted and grounded in the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Then come down to verse 18. He's the fulfillment of all of the prophets. But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, not just a few. All of the prophets and they are detailed further in verse 21 by the mouth of his prophets and in verse 24 and likewise, all the prophets. The prophets of the Old Testament held up one megaphone. and declared the unsearchable riches of the person and work of Christ in the coming kingdom of God upon the earth. And then in verse 22, he is the fulfillment of Moses's prophecies in verse 22, Moses said, and he now quotes Deuteronomy 18, verse 15. The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me. From your brethren to whom you shall give heed. This greater prophet is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the greatest prophet, who is the greatest expositor, who is the greatest teacher, who is the greatest preacher who ever walked this earth. He was God come to preach. And then fourth, he is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant we see in verse 25, it was It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, and he now quotes Genesis 22, verse 18, and in your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. That this one who would be of the seed of Abraham would be the seed of Abraham, and it would be through him. that the families of the earth, no matter what continent they are upon, the blessings of grace and mercy would come to those who would believe in him. It would be through this seed of Abraham. And then finally, in verse 26, he is the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies of becoming suffering servant of God. Note verse 26, for to you first, God raised up his servant, capital S. It is the servant of whom God spoke through Isaiah, Isaiah 42, Isaiah 49, Isaiah 50, the end of Isaiah 52, all the way through Isaiah 53. This servant who would come, he was the one in Isaiah 6, of whom Isaiah saw high and lifted up upon his throne, and the courts of heaven crying out, Holy, holy, holy. He was the one promised in Isaiah 7, who would be born of a virgin. In Isaiah 9, unto you a son will be born, unto you a child will be given, and upon his shoulders shall rest the government, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Mighty God, everlasting counselor, Prince of Peace, wonderful counselor, Prince of Peace. You'll be mentioned in Isaiah 11 as the stem from Jesse, upon whom the spirit will rest. And in these Isaiah servant songs, 42, 49, 50, 52, 53, it'll go all the way through. He will be the one in Isaiah 63 who will come with his garments drenched in blood, coming to conquer his foes. He will be the one in Isaiah 66 who will create a new heavens and a new earth. He was the one mentioned in Isaiah 61. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to preach that Christ would take in Luke four, verse 18, and say today this text has been fulfilled in your ears. There is one principle message that emerges from the Old Testament, and it is the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. that Paul says in Romans 1 and verse 2 was promised long ago through the prophets in the Holy Scripture. As you and I find ourselves living now in the 21st century, how important it is for us to be reminded that this gospel is the only hope for a perishing world, that this gospel is the only way by which men and women and boys and girls may escape the coming wrath of God upon this planet. R.C. Sproul has written a book entitled Saved From What? And he talks about being a college student on a college campus. after he first came to know Christ. And a fellow student came up to him who was a very overly zealous new Christian. And came up to him on campus and said, Are you saved? And Sproul said, It scared me to death. And he turned around on his heel and went back to his dorm room and shut the door and sat down and began to think. Yes, I'm saved. And I know that for which I'm saved. And I know by whom I am saved. But from what am I saved? And the answer is, he and we who have put our faith in Christ are saved by God from God. It is the mercy and grace of God in His Gospel that has saved us from the wrath and vengeance of God in His justice. We have been delivered from the coming destruction that will come to the human race At the end of this age. Do you know Jesus Christ? Have you put your trust in Christ alone to save you? Do you understand that you need to be saved? You understand that your greatest issue is not marital. It's not financial. It's not relational. That your greatest need is spiritual. And that there is no political solution to a spiritual problem. There is no financial or relational solution for your spiritual dilemma. That only a spiritual solution can solve your spiritual need and that there is only one spiritual solution. And it is all in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is in the Good News, in the glad tidings that God loves sinners, that God saves sinners, that God has demonstrated His own love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. There is now, therefore, no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. For by grace, you are saved through faith and that not of yourself. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, lest any man shall boast. Now, you put your trust and confidence in Christ alone. He loves to receive centers, he welcomes centers to come to him, that he might clothe them with his perfect righteousness. that He might wash them and cleanse them. He says, Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls, for My burden is easy and My yoke is light. At the cross was the great exchange. The worst about me laid upon him. The best about him laid upon me. My sins, my transgressions, my iniquities transferred to Christ and him who knew no sin. God made to be sin for us and his righteousness now imputed to me, reckoned to me, counted to me, closed upon me. The great exchange. of the cross, offered freely without money and without cost. Come, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be white as wool. There is only one fountain in which to plunge yourself and to be scourged and washed and cleansed There is a fountain drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge into that flood, lose all their guilty stains. If you have never come to Christ, believe upon Him this moment. Throw yourself upon His mercy. And He says, Him who comes unto Me, I will in no wise cast out. Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, how we bless you, how we praise you that you have conceived this gospel in your mind before time began, before the foundation of the world, before Adam ever sinned, before Eve ever was lured in by the serpent. Long before the first murder with Cain and Abel, long before the Tower of Babel, you had already conceived and put into motion the plan of salvation. And we praise you for this gospel, which is the only gospel under heaven. We pray this with grateful, thankful hearts. Burn it deep within our soul. Lift up our fallen spirits by this gospel in Jesus name. Amen.