The Book of Isaiah is filled with wonderful scriptures which are well-suited for the preaching of the gospel. One example is found in the passage we just read: “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.” We could fill the next half hour reading and rejoicing in Isaiah’s evangelical statements. In Isaiah 44 the prophet reiterates that last verse, saying: “I have blotted out , as s thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins… for I have redeemed thee.” And earlier in Isaiah there is, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tiding, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reignth.” “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee… and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.”
As I say, we could look at these and other scriptures in this great book – but I have a different theme in mind. However, I’m not going to get to my primary purpose for a while. Before we come to that, I’d like to very briefly consider some of the great blessings there are in God’s saving grace. Isaiah refers to some and so do many other penmen – the writers of the inspired Word of God.
What are some of the GREAT GOSPEL RESULTS of God’s saving grace toward sinners like you and me?
First, going back to our text, the Holy Spirit was sharing with Israel something which applies to us as well. Israel as a nation, and the people as individuals, were chosen and called for God’s purpose and praise – verse 21. But Israel failed to be all that the Lord wanted them to be, because, like us, they were a bunch of sinners. Then, the Lord in His grace stepped in, forgiving them and erasing the record of their crimes against Him. “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.”
Not the least of the benefits of saving grace is the expunging of the record of our sins – FORGIVENESS. This is expressed in many ways throughout the Bible, but they are all equally wonderful. I’m not going to cite a lot of chapter and verse this morning, because there are so many, but I assure you all of these statements come from the Bible. Paul reminds the Christian, “There is therefore now, NO CONDEMNATION to them which are in Christ, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.” The Lord Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall NOT come into CONDEMNATION; but is passed from death unto life.” “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the FORGIVENESS of sins.” And it is in Christ Jesus that “we have REDEMPTION through his blood, the FORGIVENESS of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” We have REDEMPTION, which means that the believer in Christ has been delivered from the penalty of his sin – because a price was paid on his behalf. That price was the blood of the Redeemer.
I just mentioned that Jesus spoke of the gift of “everlasting life” for those who put their faith in Him. Brother Fulton reminded us last week of the rich young ruler, who yearned for eternal life. “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” – even eternal life. Nearly forty times, the Bible, and primarily the Lord Jesus, speak of “eternal life” and “everlasting life.” John the Apostle adds, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” but in contrast to that, “he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” In this world where death seems to be all around us, one of the great promises of the gospel is “life eternal.”
And to enjoy that eternal life, the gospel also promises a new and glorified body. Our gracious Saviour shall “change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.” In another place Paul adds, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.”
The list of blessings which flow from the gospel goes on an on. With a solution to our condemnation before God’s law, there naturally come PEACE and HOPE. “Being justified by faith, we have PEACE with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruise for our iniquities; the chastisement of our PEACE was upon him…” The gospel in Colossians reminds us that Christ has made “peace through the blood of His cross, RECONCILING all things unto himself.”
And with that peace comes a very special HOPE – not a fleshly wish, but the expectation of a Biblical promise. “Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively HOPE by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” There is a hope laid up and guaranteed in heaven for the believer “whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel” – Colossian 1:5. The child of God who understands the gospel will be constantly “looking for that blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
It seems that every blessing contained in the gospel is linked with every other blessing, until they all become a glorious robe to surround us. David said, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” With no more condemnation and the gift of gospel peace, “we know that all thing work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the streength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” Of what should we be afraid, except displeasing our Saviour?
I will only mention this morning some of the wonderful theological words intrinsic to the gospel. The gospel tells us that Christ was “delivered for our offenses and raised again for our JUSTIFICATION.” And “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now JUSTIFIED by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were RECONCILED to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the ATONEMENT.” Furthermore “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the PROPITIATION for our sins.” “Propitiation” is a synonym for “satisfaction” – Our Saviour satisfied the demands of the law against us. The gospel tells us: “God hath set forth (Christ Jesus) to be a PROPITIATION through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” Another word is “intercession.” “Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.”
All of these gospel blessings need to be taught, expounded and then shared with those people around us who are still buried in their unforgiven sins and still in the need of deliverance. We might even entice them with talk about the nature of Heaven. The Lord Jesus told His disciples, “ In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
I am persuaded that the glories of the gospel and the salvation we have in Christ are so great that when our minds are more clear and we are in our glorified bodies we will be talking about these things – and praising the Lord for these things – throughout eternity. The twenty-four elders of Revelation 5, representing today’s saints, will all sing a new song about our Saviour – ”for thou wast slain, and hast REDEEMED us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation…”
As I have said, I could go on for some time quoting scripture after scripture praising God for the multifaceted blessings of gospel salvation. But having said all this, and hopefully whetting the appetite of people to hear more of the gospel, I must now draw back. I need to point out a serious, potential problem in talking about these with people who don’t know Christ.
I have entitled this message “The ‘WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME’ Gospel.”
Again referring back to Austin’s message last Sunday, in Matthew 19 a man came to Christ asking with all sincerity, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Thousands upon thousands of sermons have been preached examining the “what must I DO” point. There was nothing the man could do, because he was a sinner – spiritually dead before God. And the Lord revealed his corrupt heart by giving him one command – which he refused to obey. The disciples, seeing and hearing all this, exclaimed: “Who then can be saved?” To which Jesus replied, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Having heard a really good message on that subject last week, this morning let’s move five words further into the man’s question to consider his desire for “eternal life.” “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have ETERNAL LIFE?” In churches today, that same man might have asked, “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may inherit one of your heavenly MANSIONS? I like the idea of streets of gold, and feeding on the tree of life.” He might have plead for information about how to obtain peace with God and the peace OF God in a world where there is so little peace. He might have said, “I am so angry with myself for all my failures, Lord, what must I do to feel good about myself?” Or if he was crippled with MS, ALS or GMG, he may have reached out with the question, “What good thing shall I do in order to have a new body.”
Something really important to notice about most the Gospel blessings to which I have referred, is that they were mentioned to God’s people while pointing back. They were given to people who were already children of God. They weren’t shared in the context of evangelism. Paul was saying, “look at the peace you Christians have now that you have been forgiven and justified.” Jesus was saying, “My brethren, are you worried; are your hearts troubled? You shouldn’t be.” “In my Father’s house are many mansions… I go to prepare a place for you.” Christ Jesus wasn’t approaching a group of homeless people, living under a bridge, telling them, “Hey if you want a heavenly home, come follow me.”
I’m not telling you we shouldn’t refer to these gospel blessings when talking to people about their need of Christ. I am just saying that Christians need to be careful and Biblical in the use of this information. It is dangerous to put the cart before the horse, because the people in the cart may be trampled to death. The gospel must be preached from the foundation up, not downward from the cherry and chocolate sprinkles.
When John the Baptist was preparing the way for Christ, we have no record of him asking people if they wanted or needed peace with God. And when he spoke of the “kingdom of heaven,” it was not attached to the question, “Don’t you want to enter the kingdom of heaven?” John’s message was “the King of kingdom of Heaven is coming, and you need to PREPARE.” The Lord Jesus’ message was essentially the same as that of John. And when Nicodemus came to Him, yearning for a message from God, Jesus simply said, “Verily, Verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The message of both John and his Master began at the foundational need of all men: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” and “Ye must be born again.” “Nicodemus, if you aren’t interested in being spiritually reborn – regenerated – there is no need to talk about reconciliation, forgiveness or mansions in the Kingdom of Heaven. “
When we look at the Lord as He was gathering His first disciples, He simply said, “Follow me” – or maybe it was expressed as “follow ME.” On one occasion it was “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men” – I want you to be servants of me. There was no enticement at that point with promises of eternal life or twelve thrones in heaven. The invitation had nothing to do with golden mansions or glorified bodies. As Saul of Tarsus went toward Damascus in his persecution of Christ’s saints, he was struck down and forced to look at himself in the light of Christ’s glory. There was no carrot on a string enticing him with promises of future blessings if he’d begin to serve Christ. The circumstances essentially demanded: “Repent of this thy wickedness, and put yourself at my feet.” Salvation requires meeting the Lord on His terms and for His purposes.
The ‘What’s in it for me’ gospel can very quickly deteriorate into a dangerous false gospel. I’m not saying that it always does, but it can, and therefore Christians need to be very careful with the facts. Even though the child of God shall be blessed for eternity with all these things and others which we can’t even begin to imagine today, the gospel is not about us. It is about God the Father and God the Son, our Saviour.
Ephesians 1 clearly puts the horse and the cart in their proper places. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HATH blessed us (past tense) with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” These spiritual blessings in heavenly places are set in their place for people who are already Christians. These people are not being urged to become Christians in order to have these blessings. “According as (God) hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the PRAISE of the glory of HIS GRACE, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” These spiritual blessings in heavenly places have been set aside for God’s elect for “the praise of the glory of his grace.”
These blessings are given to humble believers for God’s pleasure and God’s glory. They are bestowed on people like us because the divine righteousness wants expression. Verse 7 – in Christ “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of HIS grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Verse 11 – In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That WE should be to the praise of HIS glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”
The purpose of the gospel, and the ultimate end of salvation is the glory of God. Yes, we are blessed with all the things salvation entails. But primarily it is not about us; it is about the Lord our Saviour. Peter reminds those whom He has saved, “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” And Paul says, ye know “that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all (these gospel blessings) are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.”
Conclusion:
You may have come to Christ, after hearing a gospel message, filled with fear of an eternity burning in hell. That’s okay. It is written that, “by faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear prepared an ark to the saving of his house.” You may have been terrified at the prospect of death and so you reached out to the Saviour for eternal life. Or you may have yearned for peace, or forgiveness, or even mansions in heaven. I am not trying to put any of these things down. These are among the many gospel blessings.
But now that years have passed, are THESE things still the epitome of your salvation? Are you still reaching around an patting yourself on the back for your wisdom in choosing Christ? Has there ever been a time when you really mourned over SIN? What is your opinion of your sin today? Even if you were looking at yourself at the time when you trusted Christ, is the Saviour still on the periphery of your life?
Then perhaps you were saved through the “What’s in it for me gospel” and not the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So again I ask, has there ever been time, when in thorough disgust, you humbly repented, acknowledging your sinful state before God’s holiness? Is Christ now your Lord and King well as Saviour? Is He Lord over your soul and your life? Or is salvation still all about you? Please, don’t trust the selfish gospel. It is a satanic imitation of the true. Put your trust in Christ, the subject of God’s gospel of grace. Put your trust in Christ Jesus who died on the cross as an atonement for sin.