The Gospel

 If this is a great Gospel, then how important it is for us to receive it! If the Gospel were a laborious system of ethics, there are many  who never could be saved, for they could not understand it; but since it is so simple, why do men refuse it? “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.” O will you not lay hold upon that Truth of God? I do pray the Spirit of God to take your minds off all philosophies and mysteries, that you may come to Jesus only. Trust in Christ and you are saved. Receive this simple Truth. God calls it great; angels think it great; the Holy Spirit attests it to be great; we who preach it feel it to be great; they who receive it acknowledge it to be great; Christ in Glory bears Witness that it is great; O accept this great salvation! May the Spirit lead you to believe in the Great Savior of great sinners. Again, if it is so great, how important it is for us to spread it! It does not require us to go to college in order to tell of Jesus: we can each in our sphere, publish His fame abroad. If this simple Truth is the message of God to perishing sinners, then in the name of common humanity, and above all, in the name of the Love of Christ, let us deliver it. How this text ought to encourage us to spread the Gospel. When I am preaching the Gospel, many may say, “Oh, he is only telling us commonplace Truth.” Just so, I know that; and yet I feel within myself as if I were wheeling up God’s great cannon which will yet blow the gates of Hell to pieces. What? None of the venerable mysteries of Rome? What? None of the new philosophical discoveries? None of the imposing ceremonies? No, Brothers and Sisters, not one of them, they are all wooden guns, shams and counterfeits, and if ever they are fired off they will go to shivers. This plain Truth of God, that “God was made flesh and dwelt among us,” is God’s great battering ram against which nothing can stand. Never lose heart in the Gospel, my Brothers and Sisters, but think you hear the Apostle calling across the ages, “Great is the mystery of godliness.” Look for nothing greater, the Gospel is great enough. Keep to it, never think you have told men enough times about it. As Napoleon told his warriors at the pyramids, “A thousand ages look down upon you!” Bleeding martyrs from their graves, call to you to be faithful; confessors who ascended to Heaven in fiery chariots, implore you to be steadfast. Hold fast that which you have received! Attempt not to mend the Truth, venture not to shape it according to the fancy of the times, but proclaim it in all its native purity. By this hammer the gods of Rome and Greece were dashed to shivers, by this lever the world was turned upside down; it is this Gospel which has brought Glory to God, filled Heaven with redeemed souls, and made Hell to tremble in all its palaces of flame. Bind it about your heart, and defy the hosts of Rome or Hell to unloose its folds. Wrap it about your loins in death, and hold it as a standard in both your hands in life. This simple Truth of God, that “Jesus Christ has come to seek and to save that which is lost,” and that, “whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life,” must be your jewels, your treasure, your life! 

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