Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleGospel; Offer or Command
Bible TextRomans 10:16
Synopsis The gospel of God is not an offer, it is a command. Listen.
Date16-Jun-2019
Series Romans 2018
Article Type Sermon Notes
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: Gospel; Offer or Command (32 kbps)
Audio CD Quality Listen: Gospel; Offer or Command (128 kbps)
Length 35 min.
 

Series: Romans

Title: The Gospel: Command or Offer?

Text: Rom 10: 16

Date: June 16, 2019

Place: SGBC, NJ

 

Romans 10: 16: But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?

 

Notice these words “obeyed the gospel.” Do we obey an offer?  Or do we obey a command?

 

You men who were (and are) in the military, did you have “offering officers” or did you have “commanding officers?”  When you got off the bus at bootcamp did your drill sergeant “offer” you the “invitation” to do a million a push-ups? Or did he “command” you do a million push-ups?

 

Title: The Gospel: Command or Offer?

 

Proposition: The gospel of God is not an offer, it is a command.

 

Romans 10: 16: But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? [our gospel]

 

The way in which a sinner obeys the command of the gospel is by believing the report given by God’s messengers.  But Paul discovered what Isaiah discovered.  If you look down at v19, you see Isaiah discovered what Moses discovered.  It is what God’s messengers today discover.  The majority of sinners disobey the gospel command.

 

Romans 10: 16: But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? [our gospel]

 

Whether in Moses day, Isaiah’s day, Paul’s day or our day sinners are the same.  The majority refuse to obey God’s command to believe the gospel of his Son.

 

Proposition: The gospel is a command not an offer; a command not an invitation.

 

Divisions: 1) The gospel is a command from God due to the nature of our relationship 2) What is the sinner’s disobedience to the gospel command? 3) How do sinners obey the gospel command?  4) What is the end of those who disobey and those who obey?

 

THE NATURE OF OUR RELATIONSHIP TO GOD

 

The gospel is a command from God due to the nature of man’s relationship to God.

 

One, the gospel is a command because of the honor due to God from his creation.  God commands man because it is the nature of our relationship to each other.  God is the Creator, we are the created; God is the Ruler, we are subservient to God. Whatever God commands we are obligated to do.

 

Genesis 2:16  And the LORD God COMMANDED the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Ge 2:17 AV)

 

Genesis 3:11  And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I COMMANDED thee that thou shouldest not eat?

 

Concerning all that God said to Noah concerning the ark, that was a gospel command to enter the ark, the same as God orders sinners to enter Christ by faith.

 

Genesis 6: 22: Thus did Noah; according to all that God COMMANDED him, so did he.

 

 

Ge 7:16  And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had COMMANDED him: and the LORD shut him in.

 

It is obvious the law given in Moses’ day was a command from God, on this I think all will agree.  So we do not have to labor the point.

 

Also, it is obvious the gospel delivered in Isaiah’s day was a command.  Our text declares it to be so—“they have not all obeyed our report”—so it is with all the prophets. Likewise, the gospel was a command from God in Paul’s day and so it is in our day.

 

Acts 17:30: And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now COMMANDETH all men everywhere to repent.”

 

1 John 3:23: And this is his [God the Father’s] COMMANDMENT, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as [Christ] gave us COMMANDMENT. 24: And he that keepeth his COMMANDMENTS dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

 

In the context of Romans 10, Paul is declaring the law and the gospel.  Paul is showing that the man who desires to come to God by law is commanded to keep the whole law.  The sinner who comes to God by faith is commanded to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  But both are commands from God to man, his creation. But sinners disobey the gospel’s command the same as they disobeyed the law’s command.  Sinners are bent on disobeying God and will not obey God—whether he commands them by law or by gospel.  Sinners are the same depraved creatures under the command of the gospel as they are under the command of the law.  But the gospel is a command due to the honor due to God from his creation.

 

Two, the gospel is a command so that sinners know their obligation to God and to his command.  If I invite you to my home, you are not obligated.  That is why invitations say things like “we humbly request your presence if you will kindly accept our invitation.”  But if you are commanded then you are obligated.  Repentance and faith are not options.  Worship of God’s Son is a command from God the Father, not an option.  The gospel is commanded by God and the sinner is responsible to obey God.

 

An offer exalts the sinner.  It puts the gospel in your hands to accept or reject according to what you please.  And because of that it detracts from God’s honor.  The gospel command exalts God and declares the sinner responsible to worship the one on whom he is dependent for all things!  So the gospel is a command so that sinners know our obligation to God and to his command.

 

Three, the gospel is a command to honor Christ and his offices!  We do not have time to look at all Christ’s offices.  But consider these three offices.  Christ is the Prophet, Priest and King of his people. 

 

The gospel is a command to honor Christ who is the Prophet of God.  Today God’s preachers are not esteemed highly by sinners; but when God ordained his prophets they were in office esteemed higher than a king.  They were the rulers of God’s nation.  That is to exalt Christ who is the preeminent Prophet of God.  It is by Christ alone that the gospel comes into our hearts effectually.  It is by the rule of Christ our Prophet that our steps are ordered.  We do as he commands in his gospel by his power working effectually in our hearts so that he gets all the glory.

 

The gospel is a command to honor Christ who is the Priest of God for his people.  During the Levitical priesthood, all eyes were on the priest.  All hearts were to obey the commands of the priest.  The Priest told Israel how they could and could not come to God.  It was to the priest they were commanded to bring the sacrifice unto.  It was the priest who alone transferred the sin of the people to the sacrifice.  It was the priest who represented them before the mercy seat.  All eyes were on the priest.  The people did as the High Priest commanded because he represented them to God.  The gospel is a command to honor Christ our High Priest.  Christ alone is the sacrifice.  He alone transfers the sins of the people to himself—“he hath made him sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor 5:21).  Christ alone entered the holy of holies with his own blood and made atonement for his elect.  We are to obey Christ our High Priest because it is by him alone that we are made accepted of God.

 

The gospel is a command to honor Christ who is the King of his people.  Servants in a kingdom are not offered to do things by a sovereign king.  They are commanded.  Christ is our King.  He is the sovereign over heaven, earth and hell.  None can stay his hand or say unto him “what doest thou?”  All power is his.  When Christ our King gives an order it is a command, not an offer.  The gospel is set forth as a feast, to which men are bound to come, under penalty of the King’s displeasure.  That is what Christ declared in his parable.

 

Luke 14: 16: Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: 17: And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready. 18: And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused. 19: And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused. 20: And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. 21: So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind. 22: And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room. 23: And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. 24: For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.”

 

The gospel is set forth as a feast, to which men are bound to come, under penalty of the King’s displeasure.

 

So in all these things we have seen we see why preachers call the gospel an offer.  By calling the gospel an offer they tone down the sinner’s disobedience and offense to God.  We do not consider it disobedience to refuse an offer or an invitation. But we all know it is disobedience to refuse a command.  So religious men shave off the offense a little by calling the gospel an offer or an invitation.  They tone down the authority of God and exalt the sinner.  But let me tell you God does not humbly request your presence before his throne if you will kindly accept his offer.  God commands you to bow before him!  The very fact someone calls the gospel an offer should set us on alert as to how they will handle the contents of the gospel—Christ himself especially.

 

WHAT IS DISOBEDIENCE TO THE GOSPEL COMMAND?

 

One, disobedience to the gospel command is a refusal to bow to God as God.  It is a refusal to own God as God.  It is to reject God’s authority.   Unbelief says, “I will not recognize God’s authority over me” (Psalm 14:1).  In Psalm 14:1 the words “there is” are added by the translators.  They were not in the original.  The fool has not said there is no God.  The fool is the sinner who says, “No God!”

 

Psalm 14: 1: The fool hath said in his heart, There is NO GOD.

 

Two, disobedience is to question the motive of the sender.  God sent the gospel in love to his elect people by his free and sovereign grace.  God loves his people and purposed to save his people simply because he would by his free grace that he might save his people who cannot save themselves.  To reject the command to believe on Christ is to despise God’s grace and love and to call God a liar. (1 John 5:10).

 

Three, disobedience is to reject the gift of God—the unspeakable gift—Christ Jesus his Son.  God gave his only begotten Son.  Christ who was rich became poor that his people might be rich.  Christ shed his precious blood for his people.  To reject Christ is to spit in God the Father’s face by spitting in his Son’s face.  Unbelief says, “I would rather be damned than trust the Son of God as my Savior.”  Those who disobey do so because it is their own fault.  It is the natural, depraved will of man to disobey God!

 

HOW DO SINNERS OBEY THE GOSPEL COMMAND?

 

Obeying the gospel command is not merely hearing the gospel preached.  It is not merely crediting the gospel as true.  Obeying the gospel is not merely liking the gospel and professing that you think the gospel is true.  The devil does the same.   Obeying the gospel is a hearty obedience to its commands.

 

One, obedience claims faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  We obey the gospel command by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.  None can please God without faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  We must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to obey the gospel.

 

Two, obedience to the gospel command includes renouncing all self-righteousness and confessing our guilt before God.  Gospel obedience is to count all our very best deeds to be filthy rags.  Obedience to the gospel command is to confess we are guilty sinners worthy and deserving of hell.

 

Three, obedience to the gospel command includes repentance.  Repentance is a total change of mind.  This change of mind results in our hating sin.  It results in our desire to no longer walk in sin.  A complete, radical change of mind concerning God and ourselves is necessary to obey the gospel.

 

Four, obedience to the gospel command is to become a disciple under the Lord Jesus.  Obedience both to Christ’s teaching and to Christ’s example is included in obeying the gospel as a student of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Five, obedience to the gospel command includes a public confession of Christ’s name by baptism.

 

Those who obey the gospel do so only by the grace and power of God.  We can do none of these things of ourselves.  Our sinful flesh is only disobedience to God.  We are only made obedient by the power and grace of God in regeneration.

 

WHAT IS THE END OF THOSE WHO DISOBEY AND THOSE WHO OBEY?

 

Mark 16: 16  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

 

If you refuse to obey the gospel then your hearts will harden into a deeper unbelief.   You will die in your sins, with your blood on your own heads.

 

But if, by God’s grace, you obey the gospel command then you shall be saved!  It will be only by God’s grace.  You will give God all the glory.  You will praise Christ as your All.  And you shall be saved!

 

Now, by the authority of God, I command you today to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized confessing him to be your All!

 

Amen!