The Five Pillars of the Gospel — Ian Paisley

The Gospel Text and Its Five Cardinalities

We're turning in our Bibles, and you'll find an authorized version of the Holy Scriptures in the English tongue before you. Lift it up and turn with me to the New Testament and to the books at the end of the New Testament, the Epistles of John.

And we're going to read from the first Epistle of John, chapter 2, verses 12 to 21. It's the second chapter of the Epistle of 1 John and verse 12. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His names.

I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.

I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known Him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but it is of the world.

And the world passes away, and the lust of all, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Little children, it is the last time. And as ye have heard that Antichrist shall come, even now are there many Antichrists, for by we know it is the last time.

They went out from us, but they were not off us. For if they had been off us, they would have, no doubt, have continued with us. But they went out that they might be made manifest, but they were not all of us.

But ye have a notion from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have written unto you, because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it. Because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, that no lie is of the truth.

And God will bless His inspired word to our hearts in John chapter 2 and verse 12. I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. First John chapter 2, verse 12.

I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. I call this text the text of the five great cardinalities of the gospel. In a chilling world, well may we shiver as we look out over the world tonight.

The horrors of this age of sin and the ever increasing and darkening clouds of man's sinful wickednesses. It is alas only too true tonight that darkness covers the earth and cross darkness the people.

However in the gloom there is a shining of a light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, what a blessing which that light of hope gives in this dark and stormy deep of the world's savagery.

Thank God the light of the glorious gospel can never be extinguished. Look at this simple text. Receive tonight of its warmth, its joy, its light and its peace. In an age of great hopelessness. It is a rising sun in the greatest darkness of night.

It is a message of comfort in the valley of the greatest sorrow. It is a lifeline of salvation in the sea of the greatest destruction. It is a way of escape from the terrors of the greatest judgment. Where the gospel of everlasting life.

This text struck home to my soul a week ago on Monday night. I was prompted to see immediately that it presented five great cardinalities of the gospel. Look at it with the words I wrote unto you. There you have the book.

It goes on little children. There you have the birth. It goes on to your sins. There we have the blight. It goes on to sins forgiven. There you have the blood. It goes on for his namesake. There you have the basis of it all.

Tonight I want to discuss with you these five great cardinalities. The book, the birth, the blight, the blood and the basis. What light is here? What joy is here? What love is here? What miracles are here?

What heaven is here? What brings us together? Take the last of these great cardinalities. The basis. What's in a name the world sang? Good hallelujah is in the name of our Lord. What about the history?

The Basis of the Gospel in Christ's Name

A virgin maiden of Jewry. In the six months I read in this book, God's highest heaven saw an angel leave everlasting. And he flew from the ivory palace of the third heaven where God has court of power.

And he came to the city of Galilee. To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, Heal thou art highly fevered.

The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. He saw him. She was troubled at his saying. And cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary.

I am in fever with God. And behold thou shalt conceive in my womb. And bear a son and shalt call his name. He shall be great. He shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.

And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end. Shortly after we read again. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was in this wise. When his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph.

Before they came together. She was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband being a just man. And not willing to make her a public example. Was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought of these things.

Behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream. Saying, Joseph, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife. For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son.

And thou shalt call his name Jesus. Which was spoken of the Lord by the prophets. Behold a virgin shall be with child. And shall bring forth a son. And they shall call his name Emmanuel. The adorable, the loving.

O the bountiful name cannot tell. How he whom angels worship. Should set his love upon the sons of men. Or why a shepherd he should seek the wanderers. To bring them back. They know not how or when. But this I know.

That he was born of Mary. When Bethlehem's manger was his only home. And that he lived at Nazareth and laboured. And so the Saviour of the world is come. I cannot tell. How all the land shall worship.

When at its bidding every storm is stilled. For who can say how great the jubilation. When all the hearts. But this I know. The skies will thrill with rapture. And myriad, myriad human voices sing. And earth to heaven and heaven to earth.

Shall answer. At last everything to save us. Why? Because we were good. Because we were likeable. Because we were loving. No. Faces for this gospel is he himself. He is the rock. Foundation of the gospel.

But we learn not only the history of his name. But we learn the meaning. What is the meaning? He shall from their sin. And when we call him Saviour. Then we call him. He will also learn the power of his name.

His name is powerful over all the hordes of hell. Satan, the god of this world, trembles at his name. Christ's name is the passport of all prayer. It is the inspiration of all songs. It is the holy fear of the people of God.

The devil's word. He is the mediator. Jesus, the king of kings. Jesus, the Lord of lords. I would say above them. That all might see the reason we live. O Jesus. By that spark of grace. Shall feel us never.

The Bible as the Enduring Word of God

Today as yesterday this evening. The book. These things in the earthly heaven. And the earthly world. Will pass away. Wonderful word of the Lord. The hope of our friends in the past. So firmly they anchored their trust.

Ages eternal shall last. Wonderful, wonderful word of the Lord. Unchanging, abiding and sure. For we know that when time and the world pass away. God's word shall forever endure. It is the book of the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is in every chapter of this book. He is in every verse of this book. He is in every line of this book. O open your mind and learn of him. Where? In the book. Open and enlarge your hearts. And receive him in all his fullness.

Where? In the book. It is written down in the book. That this book can never ever pass away. It is the book. No man can rule it out. No instrument of hell can erase it. No power of evil can blot it out.

No strength in heaven, earth or hell can destroy it. It is the infallible everlasting. It is indestructible. It is eternal. It is not man's word. It is God's word. What is written in this book is the dictation of God himself.

Men didn't write this book of their own. They were told what to write. It is the imperishable word of a God who cannot lie. It is the imperishable seed of a God which will make it bare forever, everlasting.

Planting can never decay. It's growing can never die. It is the book of life. The book of eternal life. There was a great Scottish preacher called Guthrie of the Victoria era. And he said this book is the armory of heavenly weapons.

This book is the laboratory of infallible medicines. This book is a mind of inexhaustible. It is a guide book for every road. It's a chart for every sea. It's medicine for every malady. It's a balm for every wound.

Rob us of our Bible. And in the best of other books, we have nothing but the glimmer of a star. It's the wealth of the poor. It is the blessing and contentment of all who seek its comfort. It is the shield of wealth protecting the few that are rich against the many that are poor.

It may be compared to the skies which hold at once the most blessed and the most baneful elements. Soft dues to be of the opening rows and boats that ram the mighty oaks asunder. It is not a book of God's making.

It is the book of God's giving. It is the anchor of the soul and unbreakable. So much for the book. But tell me what about the blight that came to this world to remove the blight of your sin? Here are the darkness.

The Blight of Personal Sin

The other four facts of this text are the sun and its zenith. This one is darkness. Your sin. Your sin. Your personal sin. Your individual sin. Your hateful sin. Your vile sin. Your damnable and damning sin.

Your destructive and destroying sin. Your God-hating, your Christ-mocking, your Holy Ghost-blaspheming sin. Your Christ-tripping sin. Your Christ-slaughtering sin. Your Christ-mocking sin. Christ-shaming sin.

Your Christ-tormenting sin. Your Christ-crucifying sin. I picked up a book the other day and read these words which I had never read before. And I have studied Bunyan's works for years. And Bunyan wrote,.

Sin is the living worm, the lasting. Hell soon would lose its heat. Could sin expire? Better sinless in hell than to be where heaven is and to be found a sinner there. One sinless with infernals might do well, but sin would make a very hell.

Look to thyself then. Keep it out of the door, lest it get in and never leave thee more. Fools make a mark of sin. They will not believe who carries a dagger. In its sleeve. How can it be, say they, that such a thing so full of sweetness, e 'er should wear a sleeve?

They know not that it is the very same. To make them laugh themselves into hell. Look to thyself. Deal with sin no more. But thank God. There are those here who can say, My sins have been forgiven for Jesus' sake.

And thank God I am one of them. Jesus truly, really, marvelously. Your sins deserve eternal death. But Jesus died for you. Do you have the joy? The wonderful joy. The matchless joy of having every sin.

The Blood of Christ and Forgiveness

To whom the Lord entreath not his sin. There is something here. There is the blood here. Your sins are forgiven. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. No remission. But thank God there is a blood shedding.

In the house of David there is opened a fountain for sin. There is not an uncleanness. But cannot the blood of Jesus Christ cleanse us? We are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold.

But with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb. When the sins of all the believers were laid on Christ. What did he do? He made full satisfaction unto his Father. And divine justice gave us life. This brings me great comfort.

To the great creditor God the Father for all our debts. Then God the Father. Can it call us to answer for our debts again? To be remembered no more. Brought out our surety. Under arrest. Put him to the cross.

To the suffering. To the drinking of our health and death. But he did it all. When he cried it is finished. The Father said I have aches. People shall go free. And they will all become sons of God. And joint heirs with your son.

The New Birth into God's Family

Christ rose from the dead. The final word. Little children. There you have the birth. The necessity of being born again. Only little children are addressed. Those born from above by the Spirit of God.

By the removal of the penalty of sin. By the removal of death. That you deserve a death that can never die. By the miracle of regeneration. You have been born again. You have had a new birth. And within your soul throbs a life that is hitched with Christ in God.

God implanted within you his own life. The life of God. Eternal in its omnipotence. Omniscience and omnipresence. Christ said he that is born of the Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you, you must be born again.

He be converted and become as little children. He shall not enter into the kingdom. The new birth is essential to the new life. The new commencement is essential to the new completion. The new state is essential to the new standing.

This is God's way. And it is the only way of salvation. What a wonderful birth. What a wonderful life. His life everlasting. Born of an incorruptible seed. By the word of God which lives and abideth forever.

This is the very life of God in the human soul. This makes me once an offspring of the devil. Now I am the offspring of God. I have a new relationship. God is my father. Christ is my elder brother. Without this miracle in your soul, you are hell bound.

The Five Cardinalities Applied to the Hearer

You are bound for the darkness of a lost eternity. This is God's way. It is as eternal as the God who breathes it and imparts it to the sovereign. How much do you know of these five great cardinals? I trust you will get hold of the book tonight.

I trust you will be instructed by the Holy Ghost. I trust tonight that you will see you can be born into God's family. And become a member of the family of God forever. I trust you will learn that that sin that would damn you can be cleansed by the blood of Christ.

And that by a strike you can be healed. And I trust that before you leave this meeting house tonight, you will know without a shadow of a doubt that you are named. Pray that great prayer, dear sinner.

Pray it from the depths of your soul. Then, O my Lord, my soul, for that great day, wash me in the precious blood. May it be so, for Jesus' sake. Let us bow our heads. Lord, bless thy word. Seal it to the hearts and the hearts of all that have heard it.

And, O God, men and women, boys and girls, come to the people of God's hand. Amen.