00A.16 CHAPTER XIII.—The Gospel Paul Preached
CHAPTER XIII THE GOSPEL PAUL PREACHED Our lesson tonight is to be a discussion of the subject just announced—’’‘The Gospel Paul Preached”—The text is from the first chapter of Galatians (reads by memory) :
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be- some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you then that which wo have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach another gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
F’or do I now persuade men, or God? or do I Seek tc please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:6-12.) This is very strong language and it makes us tremble at the fearful responsibility that rests upon a preacher. For if he preaches any gospel other than that which Paul preached or even if he perverts that gospel, he is lost. The King James translation says if a man preaches any other gospel, let him be accursed, whereas the Revision says, “Let him be anathema.” Why did the Revision put this work “anathema” in there instead of the word “accursed”? The fact is, they did not put in the word “anathema”—the word “anathema”
Now, with that much of an introduction, or explanation of the reading, we want to come to the subject announced. A word in reference to that, and then we will discuss it.
I said, we are preaching tonight upon the question, the gospel Paul preached. In announcing that subject I do not want you to think that the gospel that Paul preached was different from the gospel preached by Peter, John, James, Philip. Stephen, or any other apostle or evangelist of New Testament days. The Apostle Paul preached exactly the same gospel these other men preached, and what Paul said is of no more authority that what Peter, James, or John said; neither has it any more authority than what any other inspired man said. There is no such thing as making a distinction between inspired men. There is no such thing as attaching more importance to what one says than to what another says. We have sometimes what men call the Red Letter New Testament. This was devised by somebody for the purpose of getting the attention of the people to the language of Jesus, and hence the words spoken by the Lord Jesus Himself are printed in red ink, or red type, and the other in black-faced type. Now, there is nothing wrong in that, unless it creates the wrong impression; but I have sometimes feared that it created the impression upon those who read it that the red letter is more important than the black letters—-that what the Lord said is of more importance than what the apostles said. But that is not true. The words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself were no more inspired, therefore no more divine, than the words of his apostles. Jesus himself said so. When he sent his disciples out, he said: “The Father sent me; I send you,” and, “Whosoever receives you, receives me, and whosoever receives me, receives him that sent me. Likewise, whosoever rejects you, rejects me, and whosoever rejects me, rejects him than sent me.” Hence, according to the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must accept them all, or reject them all. There is a tendency today, especially among Modernists, to accept the Lord Jesus Christ and to reject the apostles, and especially Paul. They hate Paul, and they direct their fight against Paul, but the Lord Jesus Christ told us that the gospel that went from him went through these men, and that the Holy Spirit spoke through them, for he said:
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye can not bear them now.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.
He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.
All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you. (John 16:12-15.) The Holy Spirit came to show or to declare the will of our Lord, Christ, to these disciples and therefore they preached the gospel as Jesus wanted it preached, and we can not reject their word without rejecting him.
I have said this much because I did not want anybody to think I was exhalting Paul to any pre-eminence, or giving him any priority over any other apostle or inspired man, and if you understand that point, we are ready to proceed. The sermon tonight is to be taken from Paul entirely, and there isn’t to be a single point in it that is not made by Paul. I want you to listen carefully and critically, if you please, and if there is a single point made by the speaker tonight that is not backed up immediately by a quotation from Paul, I just want you to speak right out where you are and call me to account for that, and I will either quote the scripture that states it or else I will eliminate the point and apologize for making it. If I should make a point tonight and quote a passage from Peter, James, or John , I will eliminate that point from the sermon unless Paul makes the same point. Paul is going to preach to you tonight.
I would say I challenge you, but that might seem ugly —I only want to get your attention, and if it would not sound ugly, I would say I challenge you to find a point in the sermon tonight that is not made by Paul. In other words, we are going to let Paul preach tonight. I will tell you where the sermon begins, so you can watch, and I will tell you when it ends so you can know what the sermon is, and what might be introduction or exhortation apart from the sermon. I will give you the exact moment when the sermon starts and when it ends.
Now, we are ready for the gospel that Paul preached, and the sermon begins just here.
First, we preach the gospel that Paul preached for four reasons. The first reason is that it is the power of God unto salvation. Who said so? The Apostle Paul in Romans 1:16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith. The Greek word which is here translated “power’’ is
We preach the gospel Paul preached because it has saved people, and does save. Not only is it the power of God to save, but it does save. It has demonstrated the fact that it works and does save souls. Who said that? Paul, First Corinthians, fifteenth chapter, says:
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel whicn I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand: by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. So here is the Apostle Paul declaring to these Corinthian Christians that they had been saved by the gospel— by the gospel which he preached unto them. And in 1 Corinthians 4:15 he said: For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
Hence, these people at Corinth had been begotten by the gospel that Paul preached—had been saved by the gospel that Paul preached. Hence, if we want people to be horn into the family of God—if we want their souls saved, we must preach the gospel which did actually save two thousand years ago, and which will save now.
Thirdly, we preach the gospel that Paul preached because it came to Paul, by a direct revelation, and we have already shown that. He said that in Galatians, first chapter and eleventh verse—that the gospel was not given to him by men, nor did he receive it from men, nor was he taught it, but it came unto him through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Then, when I am preaching the gospel that came to Paul, I am not preaching a theory—I am not preaching an hypothesis—I am not preaching that which has been born from the brain of philosophers—I am not preaching anything that had its origin in the earth—I am preaching something that came directly from heaven through the Holy Spirit to this apostle, Paul; and then that same gospel that came to Paul two thousand years ago has been providentially preserved, and it has reached me.
Paul said to Timothy—2 Timothy 2:2: And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
Hence the gospel came from God to Paul, from Paul to Timothy, and from Timothy to faithful men who taught, others, and the gospel has reached us through the hands of faithful men, guided, no doubt, by the protecting power of God, and tonight we can preach that same gospel that came from God to Paul.
Again, we preach the gospel Paul preached, for the reason that if we preach any other gospel we are anathema, or cut off forever from God, from divine favor, and therefore with no hope of ever passing into his presence to live forever. Who said that? The Apostle Paul. He says it here in Galatians, first chapter, sixth and seventh verses, and in the eighth repeats it, that even though lie—even Paul himself—“preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be anathema.”
It makes no difference how learned a man is ; it makes no difference how eloquent he is, if he preaches any gospel other than that which Paul preached he is anathema. He may speak with the silver tongue of oratory, his words and phrases may flow in rhymical cadences and musical measure, but if the message that they announce is not the gospel revealed through the Holy Spirit long ago, he is under the frown of heaven. Though vast audiences may be held motionless by the power of such a preacher, or may be convulsed with laughter, or moved to tears at will by him, still if he preach a perverted gospel he is irrevocably cut off from divine favor. Even if an angel from heaven should come to earth and begin to lead men to look to something other than the good views of the atoning blood of the cross for salvation, that angel would be sent to the Tartarean prison and forever banished from the presence of God.
Then if a man will not preach the gospel Paul preached because it is the power of God unto salvation and has actually saved and because it came to Paul by revelation, he ought to preach it in order to escape eternal condemnation himself.
These four reasons we offer for preaching the gospel Paul preached and each reason is based on a statement from Paul.
Now, let us suppose there is a young man in this audience tonight who has been thinking about becoming a preacher. He has about decided to make preaching his life work. But he has heard these scriptures quoted and he is profoundly impressed with the seriousness of the question. He says in his heart that he will never preach a sermon until he learns definitely what the gospel Paul preached is. Of course, he doesn’t want to incur the displeasure of God and to be accursed) therefore he decides that whatever preparation may be necessary for preaching, the most essential thing is to learn the gospel and then preach that and only that. When he gets home this hypothetical young man begins at once his efforts to ascertain what the gospel is. The first thing he does is to get his English dictionary and look up the word gospel. His English lexicon tells him that the word means “good news”, “glad tidings” or “sweet story”’. Then the young man reflects that the gospel that Paul preached must have been “good news” or “glad tidings”. But he can not determine from that definition just what this "good news was. He knows it must have been good news, as that is the meaning of gospel, but “good news” is a general term and gives him no idea as to what was the particular good news that Paul carried. Therefore the young man decides to go to the Bible to learn what this good news was. Accordingly he gets a concordance and finds the word gospel. He is struck by the number of times that the word is used in the Bible. He resolves to read every reference that the concordance gives, but first he will read only those that are given to Paul’s writings. He must learn what Paul’s gospel was. But for the sake of a comparison he runs a reference to one of Peter’s epistles. Here is what he reads: For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first, begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God. (1 Peter 4:17.) The expression, “obey not the gospel of God,” impresses the young man. He says if Paul’s gospel is the same, then it can be obeyed. It must therefore carry conditions and bring obligations upon those who hear it. Peter’s language not only implies that the gospel can be obeyed but it indicates that the end of those who do not obey will be fearful. If judgment is to begin with God’s own children, what shall be the end of those who obey not the gospel?
That, however, is Peter and our young man says he will now see if Paul has anything to say on this point. The next reference is to Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonica. It reads thus:
Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the gmry of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10.) From this our young man clearly perceives that the gospel is not only something that can be obeyed, but that it must be obeyed. Paul clearly declares that all those who obey not the gospel will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of God and the glory of his power. Now he becomes more interested than he has ever been. When he learned that to pervert the gospel would mean his eternal damnation he was about to give up the idea of ever attempting to preach out of fear that, he might make that fatal mistake. But now he sees that those who do not obey the gospel are lost and he thinks of his friends and of millions of others who are going through life without heeding the solemn warning—without even trying to obey the gospel—and he feels a divine compulsion come over hiln. He must learn what that gospel is and obey it himself and get all others to obey it who will listen to him. Since men are lost if they do not obey the gospel the young man feels, “Woe is me if I preach not the gospel.’’ With your pardon, we will now leave the young man of our illustration for a moment, and press this point upon you. My friends, you have heard what Paul said. You can not be saved unless you obey the gospel. Have you obeyed the gospel? If not, what do you expect? Do you think Paul was mistaken? Surely you do not discredit his statement. Then you have no hope unless you obey the gospel. Is there anybody in this section of seats who has not obeyed the gospel ? What do you say? Where do you stand tonight? If you have not obeyed the gospel you have no hope. Or take this center tier, is there any one here who has not obeyed the gospel ? Do you know what it means to obey the gospel and have you done it? If you have not, what are you promising yourself? Have you deliberately chosen to be lost forever? If not, you would better obey the gospel now.
Here to my right—What do you people say? Have you all obeyed the gospel? Are you sure you have? What did you do when you obeyed the gospel? What is implied in that expression? Whatever that means, it must be done or you are lost. Have you all obeyed? Think seriously upon this question.
Now let us get back to our young man. He goes back to his concordance with renewed zeal and determination. And his next reference sends him to First Corinthians, fifteenth chapter. He reads the first verses:
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel.” “Ah,” says the young man, “now I have it. Paul says he is going to declare the gospel. If he does I will learn what it is. This is the very reference I was looking for.”
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you.” The young man is elated: “Oh, no, here is the very gospel Paul preached. I can hardly wait to see what it is.” But he reads on:
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye re saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how 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: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. (1 Corinthians 15:1-9.)
“Well,” says the young man, “I have found it and that ought not to be hard to preach. There is no need for any one to pervert, that. It is just the facts of the old, old story of Jesus and his love. How that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day. Then the rest of the chapter is taken up on that third point—that Jesus was raised from the dead and was seen by witnesses. No wonder Paul had said to these Corinthians, ‘I determine to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified,’ for that is the gospel and if he had preached anything else—or anything contrary to this, or that violated that, he would have been anathema. Also is is no wonder that Paul said to the Galatians, ‘God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ’ That is the gospel and he who leads men to believe that they can be saved without the vicarious atonement of Christ’s death is anathema, and he deserves to be. After Christ has suffered that most shameful death to save men, if I should go out and presumptuously set that sacrifice at naught, make it void, and tell men to trust their own strength and wisdom or their morality, their lodges or anything else for salvation, I would deserve to be anathema. I see Paul’s viewpoint now. That is what it means to pervert the gospel: to direct the minds of men ‘away from the grace of Christ’ to the works, wisdom or schemes of men.” And the young man now renews his determination to preach, and breathes a prayer, “Lord, help me to preach Christ and him crucified.”
We may now dismiss our young man and look at these facts on our own account and in our own interest. You noticed carefully the reference which we read, and you understood what Paul says the gospel is, but to get it before you again I shall now re-read it and write it down or abbreviate it, here on this black board.
“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you, the gospel which I preached unto you .... by which ye were saved .... For I delivered unto you that which I also received.” Well, where did you receive it, Paul?
“I received it by a revelation from Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11).
“For I delivered unto you that which I also received how that Christ died”—(that D. stands for death).
D. B. R.
(The speaker makes a large D on the black board as he reads) :
*
“for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried
There we have it.
You did not read the passage carefully. Why did Christ die? For his own sins? No; he “died for our sins.” Is there any good news in the fact that when you were lost in sin, without God and without hope, Jesus took your place and died for you? Then, that is not all. He rose from the dead and thereby brought the hope of eternal life to all the world. Now you see the good news, I am sure. But here is another question: How can you obey the death, burial and resurrection of Christ? Paul says we must obey the gospel and he says this is the gospel— represented here by this D. B. R.—How can you obey that? Can you answer that question? If not, what are you going to do, since you must obey the gospel or be lost ?
I could not answer that question if Paul had not given me the answer. I will let Paul tell you how that is. In Romans 6:17, we have this language: But thanks be to God, that, whereas ye were servants of sin, ye became obedient from the heart to that teaching whereunto ye were delivered; and being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness.
Here Paul declares that these people were made free from sin when they obeyed from their hearts the form of doctrine or teaching which was delivered unto them. Paul said he delivered the gospel—how that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day. That is what Paul delivered and what all others must have delivered or else they were accursed. Now these Romans had obeyed the form, mould, pattern or likeness of that doctrine. A form or likeness of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. What is that form or likeness? Can you, my friends, point to a specific form of doctrine that you obeyed in becoming free from sin? Was there a likeness of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection? What is that form? Let Paul tell us:
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. We who died to sin, how shall we any longer live therein? Or ar ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that ike as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our ola man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in hondage to sin; for he that hath died is justified from sin. (Romans 6:1-8.) There we have the complete likeness. Let us run
“Know ye not that as many of you as were baptized unto Christ were baptized into his death?
There is a likeness of Christ’s death; a likeness of his burial and a likeness of his resurrection in our death to sin, our burial in baptism and our resurrection to a new life. But some one may object that such an arrangement makes baptism the whole thing. No indeed, beloved. However it does make the whole process become visible and actual in baptism. Baptism pictures and symbolizes the complete form. But it must be a baptism into death. There must be a likeness of the death or else the baptism is invalid. There must be a likeness of the burial or your baptism is invalid. You have not obeyed the form—you have not obeyed the gospel. Also there must be a likeness of his resurrection or the baptism is invalid and you have not obeyed the gospel. In this sixth chapter of Romans Paul was not discussing baptism. No inspired man ever discussed baptism. It is not discussed in the Bible. The resurrection is discussed. .Spiritual gifts are discussed, but baptism is not discussed. It is commanded and we see people obeying the command in the Bible, but the question is not discussed. Incidentally Paul gives us some very fine information on the form or mode and the design of baptism in this chapter, but that was not his theme. He was discussing sin. In the last part of the fifth chapter (and Paul did not divide it into chapters) Paul had said, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Well, now some objector or critic would be sure to say, let us continue in sin that grace may abound. The more we sin the more grace will abound. Paul foresaw that argument and answered it in the sixth chapter. Christians have died to sin like as Christ died in the flesh. They have been buried in baptism like as Christ was buried in the tomb. They have been raised to a new life—a life of Christianity—like as Christ was raised to immortality. As death has no more dominion over Christ neither should sin have any more dominion over the Christian.
Then Paul uses an illustration or, as he says, speaks as a man. He, by a figure of speech, represents sin as a master owning slaves or servants, and Righteousness as another master having servants. Now, when you were servants of Sin what control or authority did this other master—Righteousness—have over you? Why, none, of course. Very well, now a change of masters—you were once servants of Sin, but you passed through a transaction that made you free from Sin and you became the servants of this master Righteousness. Then what authority of control does the old master—Sin, have over you now? None at all, of course. All right, when you served Sin what did he pay you? “The wages of sin is death.” What is your reward for serving Righteousness? “The gift of God is eternal life.” Do you see the argument, my friends? To assure these people that they were no longer servants of sin, Paul reminded them that their obedience to the gospel had symbolized a death, a burial and a resurrection. Look back down the path over which you have come. Do you see that grave? That is where the old man died. That is where a life to sin came to an end. That is where a life to righteousness began.
You die to sin when you hear the gospel and believe it, and the desire to live on in sin dies out in your heart and you earnestly desire to flee away from sinful things and serve God in the beauty of holiness. With such a state of mind you confess your faith in Christ and show outwardly your desire to quit sin—your death to sin— by your burial in baptism. Thus your faith and your repentance both are visualized, actualized and declared by your baptism. A funeral or a burial always indicates that a death has occurred. If people have not died to sin they can. not be baptized into Christ. They may be ducked, but they are not baptized. Thus you see, friends, that baptism alone is not all, rather it is nothing, it is even impossible, but a real baptism must be preceded by genuine faith and sincere repentance—by a death to sin. This concludes the sermon and we will now rehearse the points in order that you may know that Paul made them all.
1. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. So said Paul. Romans 1:16.
2. The gospel does save—has saved. 1 Corinthians 15:1-2.
3. The gospel came to Paul by divine revelation. Galatians 1:11.
4. If any preach any other gospel than that which Paul preached he is anathema. Galatians 1:6-8.
5. The gospel must be obeyed. 2 Thessalonians 1:7-11.
6. The gospel is the death of Christ for our sins, his burial and resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
7. We obey the form of this doctrine—this gospel. Romans 6:17.
8. We are baptized into the likeness of Christ’s death. We are buried with him by baptism.
We are raised in the likeness of his resurrection. Romans 6:1-6.
(Invitation not reported.)