Latest / Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons / No Other Gospel
Transcript
- 0:00Well, we can turn back to our reading in Galatians chapter 1.
- 0:03We're going to look at the section, verse 11 to 24,
- 0:07taking some aspects out of these verses of what Paul is talking about here, about the gospel.
- 0:16Galatians chapter 1 at verse 11,
- 0:18For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.
- 0:25For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it.
- 0:28But I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ, and so on.
- 0:36As this letter that Paul writes, as he opens it up here in chapter 1,
- 0:41that word gospel is used very often because that is what is important to him
- 0:47as he is writing to the churches in Galatia.
- 0:51The gospel and the gospel that is at stake in many ways
- 0:55because they've been hearing a different kind of gospel.
- 0:59Although Paul, as he says, there is no other gospel he makes very clear.
- 1:04But they have been hearing a twisted version, if you like,
- 1:07of the gospel that sought to lead them astray.
- 1:12And as we look at this section today,
- 1:14it's really looking at it under this theme of the gospel
- 1:17and the fact that there is no other gospel.
- 1:20But what is the gospel?
- 1:23And what is the gospel to you today?
- 1:26What does the gospel mean?
- 1:28And what part does it play in your life on a daily basis?
- 1:33When we come under the sound of the gospel, as we say,
- 1:37it means that we are hearing what the gospel says.
- 1:40So when we read the gospel, we are hearing God's word to us.
- 1:46And that is what the gospel is.
- 1:48It's God speaking to us and speaking to us particularly
- 1:54about the good news of Jesus Christ.
- 1:58That's what the gospel is, the good news of Jesus Christ.
- 2:02And as we hear this gospel, it leads maybe to many questions,
- 2:08questions that perhaps you have in your own heart today.
- 2:12Is this gospel real and meaningful to me?
- 2:18Will it make a difference in my life, whether I believe it or not?
- 2:24How important is this gospel?
- 2:28Can I really know the Jesus that it speaks of,
- 2:32the good news of Jesus Christ?
- 2:34And can I know the salvation that it speaks about?
- 2:38Can Jesus really forgive my sins and help me to break free from them?
- 2:46I'm sure there are many other questions that you could add to that list.
- 2:49Because when we hear the gospel, when we hear this good news,
- 2:53it makes us ask all of these kinds of questions.
- 2:57And perhaps you ask them of yourself,
- 2:59and you ask them as you look around at others.
- 3:02When you see the difference that the gospel has made in people's lives,
- 3:06how people have been transformed by the gospel.
- 3:09Paul's life, he was one, as we're going to see,
- 3:12who was persecuting the church,
- 3:14but who was transformed by this gospel.
- 3:17And it made people ask questions of him.
- 3:21Is it true?
- 3:23Has he really been changed?
- 3:25And that's the question that we can have of others around us as well.
- 3:28Has the gospel really changed that person?
- 3:33Is there only one gospel?
- 3:36Is there not many ways to God?
- 3:38There are all kinds of questions.
- 3:41And if you have any or all of these questions,
- 3:44then you can take heart from reading through the scriptures.
- 3:48Because you see in the scriptures,
- 3:50you see in this letter,
- 3:51it's the kind of questions that people have had
- 3:54down through all the generations.
- 3:57We see it here in the churches of Galatia,
- 4:00how people have all of these questions.
- 4:04It's not just questions that they had,
- 4:07it's questions that we have.
- 4:09It's questions that so many people have had
- 4:11through all the generations.
- 4:13And if you have these questions,
- 4:16then let me take this opportunity to remind you
- 4:18about the meeting in Cafe Cabana on Tuesday evenings,
- 4:21where you can come with these and any other questions
- 4:24that you might have about the gospel,
- 4:26about the Christian faith,
- 4:28and seek to discuss them and find out more about them
- 4:31and seek to have answers about these questions.
- 4:34It's great to have questions.
- 4:36It's good to ask questions.
- 4:38And therefore, it's good for us to be together
- 4:40looking at all of these questions.
- 4:43But today we're going to focus on the gospel
- 4:46as Paul speaks about it here.
- 4:49And in the introduction here,
- 4:51in the opening verses,
- 4:53you see that in verse 6 he says,
- 4:56I am astonished that you are so quickly
- 4:59deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ
- 5:02and are turning to a different gospel.
- 5:06There was a real challenge,
- 5:08a real problem in the midst of the churches of Galatia.
- 5:12And he strayed to the heart of it.
- 5:14I am astonished that you are quickly deserting him
- 5:18who called you and turning to another gospel,
- 5:21not that there is another one.
- 5:24And so he strayed to the heart of this problem
- 5:27of turning away from what God has revealed to them
- 5:29about Jesus and turning instead to go,
- 5:33almost going backwards, you could say,
- 5:35to their former ways of seeking to please man
- 5:39rather than to please God.
- 5:41Because around them were these false teachers
- 5:44who were saying,
- 5:45that is not the real gospel.
- 5:47Believing in Jesus Christ is not what it's all about.
- 5:50You have to do your part.
- 5:52You have to be circumcised, for example,
- 5:55they were saying.
- 5:56You have to follow all of these laws.
- 5:59The gospel as they were being presented with,
- 6:02the false gospel was just a burden on them.
- 6:06And you see it in verse 10.
- 6:09For am I now seeking the approval of man or of God?
- 6:13Or am I trying to please man?
- 6:15There's this idea here that the people
- 6:17were trying to please man rather than pleasing God.
- 6:21And Paul is taking them right back
- 6:23to what they have first heard and first learned in Jesus,
- 6:27that he is the only way to salvation.
- 6:30That faith in him is the only way to salvation.
- 6:34This is the good news.
- 6:37This is the gospel.
- 6:39It's not a burden on you that you have to keep every law perfectly
- 6:43because that's impossible.
- 6:45It's not about circumcision.
- 6:47It's not about any of these things.
- 6:49It's about faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
- 6:53So that is the gospel, the good news.
- 6:57Somebody once put it, the gospel isn't man's good news about God.
- 7:03It is God's good news for man.
- 7:08And that's the challenge that Paul was writing into.
- 7:11Because the gospel in the eyes of many there was man's good news about God.
- 7:17How we can find our way to God.
- 7:19But instead it's God's good news for man.
- 7:23And that is the difference.
- 7:24Because God's good news for man is that he sent his son to find us.
- 7:31Not that we have to find him through our ways.
- 7:36So the gospel doesn't need to change.
- 7:38It doesn't need to adapt to a modern world.
- 7:41It needs to be heard.
- 7:42It needs to be believed.
- 7:44And if it is, then lives are truly transformed and kept by the Lord Jesus.
- 7:52And so that is what is at stake here for Paul.
- 7:55The gospel.
- 7:56And so in this section that we're going to look at in verse 11 to 24,
- 8:00we see three things about the gospel together today.
- 8:04The source of the gospel.
- 8:06The power of the gospel.
- 8:08And the praise of the gospel.
- 8:10And the first thing is the source of the gospel.
- 8:15What or who is the gospel about?
- 8:19And where is it from?
- 8:22Well, in verse 11, what does he say?
- 8:25For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.
- 8:31It's not something that any man has given to Paul.
- 8:36What the gospel is about is good news.
- 8:41Who is it about?
- 8:42It's about Jesus Christ.
- 8:45You can go back to Mark's gospel, chapter 1, the very first verse.
- 8:49It says,
- 8:50The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
- 8:55The gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
- 9:00And so there is who it is about.
- 9:01What is it?
- 9:02What is about?
- 9:03Good news.
- 9:04And who is it from?
- 9:06It's from God himself speaking to us.
- 9:10So where is the source of the gospel?
- 9:15Well, as Paul is saying here, it's not man's gospel.
- 9:20And yet we can so often make it into our gospel.
- 9:24Adding our own laws or truths to it.
- 9:28And that is a very dangerous thing to do.
- 9:31There's a warning about that in verse 9.
- 9:36If we have said before, so now I say again,
- 9:39If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
- 9:45That is the seriousness of presenting the gospel in the wrong way.
- 9:50But the right way, the source of the gospel, it's not man's gospel, but the gospel of God.
- 9:57Some people say it's just a made-up book.
- 10:01Something that's been written just to keep people blinkered, to keep people under control, as it were.
- 10:10Some people say it's just a tradition.
- 10:13Some people say that we're just doing what others have told us to do.
- 10:17We're doing it just to please others, because it's been passed on to us by parents or grandparents or traditions of where we live.
- 10:27And these can be good things.
- 10:30But we have to see the source of the gospel is not man, but God.
- 10:37Well, he goes on to say in verse 12,
- 10:39You have a Bible before you today.
- 10:54You have it open there before you.
- 10:56You're looking at it.
- 10:58And what is it?
- 10:59It is the gospel.
- 11:01It is the good news of God speaking to you, to us, together.
- 11:06And the whole Bible is about the gospel.
- 11:10As somebody put it, the gospel is the heart of the Bible.
- 11:15Everything in Scripture is either preparation for the gospel, presentation of the gospel, or participation in the gospel.
- 11:27Preparation for the gospel, you see it pointing towards the coming of the Lord Jesus.
- 11:32The presentation of the gospel.
- 11:35It speaks to us of a Savior and what he has done.
- 11:38And participation in the gospel, because it tells us how we are to live in light of the gospel.
- 11:46The source of the gospel is God himself, who has given us his word.
- 11:52All Scripture is God-breathed, as Timothy says.
- 11:56So the source.
- 11:58We think of the source of something.
- 12:02Think of rivers, for example.
- 12:04The River Clyde, the River Thames, the Nile.
- 12:08So many of these great rivers throughout our world.
- 12:11They can be mighty and powerful at the mouth where they enter into the sea.
- 12:17They can look so big and so powerful.
- 12:19But the source of it can often seem like just a small beginning when you trace it right back to where it starts.
- 12:27It can often just start with a small stream or a trickle in the way that we see it.
- 12:32Small beginnings.
- 12:34But is that the source of these rivers?
- 12:37Well, the source of the rivers, you have to lift your eyes up and see the sources from the sky,
- 12:43from the clouds that pour down the masses of water that enter into them.
- 12:48And in some ways, we can look at the gospel like that.
- 12:52The source is very small.
- 12:55When we're looking at it, it's just man.
- 12:58But the source is great when we lift up our eyes and see it's from God.
- 13:04God who has poured out his spirit upon us.
- 13:07God who has poured out his word to us.
- 13:10He has given us the word of God.
- 13:13The problem in Galatia was seen as the source was man.
- 13:18And not God.
- 13:20These false teachers in Galatia who were leading the Christians astray with another gospel.
- 13:27Preaching a different kind of gospel.
- 13:29It was no gospel at all.
- 13:32And so Paul is reminding here the source of the gospel is of God.
- 13:41And he has this authority.
- 13:44When he says here, I would have you know, brothers.
- 13:48It's not just a gentle kind of introduction.
- 13:52I would have you to know.
- 13:54This is a firm word from God through Paul.
- 13:59I would have you to know.
- 14:00Listen to what I am saying.
- 14:03But it's also said in love, as he says, brothers.
- 14:06There's a firmness, but there's a gentleness to it.
- 14:14But there's always a firmness.
- 14:17Because this is truth.
- 14:19This is serious.
- 14:20As he says in verse 6, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting.
- 14:25There is a firmness in all of these words.
- 14:29But the source of the gospel is what is bearing fruit.
- 14:36The source of the gospel is what is giving its increase.
- 14:40The gospel, as Paul wrote to the Colossians in chapter 1, verse 5 and 6,
- 14:45the gospel is bearing fruit and growing all over the world.
- 14:51The source of the gospel, it is pouring out the gospel far and wide.
- 14:57And the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ, a Savior for his people.
- 15:06Preacher Daniel Stearns was preaching in America once.
- 15:09And at the end of the service, it's going back to the late 1800s,
- 15:13at the end of the service, a stranger came up to him and said,
- 15:16I don't like the way that you spoke about Jesus and the cross in your sermon this morning.
- 15:22Instead, you should be preaching and emphasizing Jesus as an example, as a teacher.
- 15:29Daniel Stearns looked at him and said,
- 15:32Well, if I presented Jesus in that way as an example and a teacher,
- 15:36would you then follow him?
- 15:39And the man replied, Certainly, I would.
- 15:43And so Daniel Stearns said to him then,
- 15:45All right then, let's take the first step.
- 15:48Jesus, he did not sin.
- 15:52Can you claim that for yourself?
- 15:55And the man looked at him confused and surprised.
- 15:59He said, Well, no, I have to acknowledge I do sin.
- 16:04Then he replied, Daniel Stearns replied,
- 16:06Well, your greatest need is to have a Savior, not an example.
- 16:12And the gospel is not about setting an example for us.
- 16:15Though there are good things how we are to live, it's all about a Savior.
- 16:21He did something that we could never do.
- 16:23He saved us from our sins.
- 16:27So the source of the gospel is from God.
- 16:31The power of the gospel is the second thing.
- 16:34The power of the gospel.
- 16:36And in this we see Paul giving a word of testimony.
- 16:40In verse 13.
- 16:42For you have heard of my former life in Judaism,
- 16:45how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.
- 16:50And he goes on to speak about everything that he was doing.
- 16:54Then in verse 13.
- 16:55But then he who had set me apart before I was born,
- 16:58and who called me by his grace,
- 17:00was pleased to reveal his Son to me.
- 17:04So there you see the power of the gospel.
- 17:08Paul had a past.
- 17:11Something he wasn't proud of,
- 17:14but something he often uses to highlight the power of the gospel.
- 17:18How it transforms lives.
- 17:21Paul was a persecutor of the Christian faith.
- 17:25He was driven by a seal to destroy the church,
- 17:29and he believed he was achieving much in his life,
- 17:32and yet it was nothing.
- 17:34But the grace of the Lord changed his whole life.
- 17:42But when he who had set me apart before I was born,
- 17:45and who called me by his grace.
- 17:49Paul's plans were not God's plans.
- 17:53And it's amazing there to think that how it speaks of
- 17:57he was set apart before he was born.
- 18:01God knew the plans he had for Paul,
- 18:05even before he was born.
- 18:08And the wonder of it for you and I is that he knows exactly the same for us.
- 18:13Every plan, every purpose he has in our lives,
- 18:17he has known before you were born.
- 18:19And you see the pride that was in Paul's heart,
- 18:24standing out among his own people,
- 18:26in Judaism advancing beyond anyone of his own agencies,
- 18:32so extremely sellous he was for the traditions of his father.
- 18:38He was standing out in so many ways,
- 18:41proud, boastful,
- 18:42and yet the power of the gospel,
- 18:44the good news of Christ,
- 18:46brought him to his knees.
- 18:48And that's the power the gospel still has today,
- 18:54to bring people to their knees.
- 18:58The gospel frees us.
- 19:01But in many ways,
- 19:02the gospel was being contained by the people,
- 19:07or confined by the people,
- 19:08or changed by the people,
- 19:10to make it something it wasn't.
- 19:12And the power of the gospel was not being set free.
- 19:15We have many pets in our lives today.
- 19:21If you were here last week,
- 19:22you maybe heard about ours in the children's address.
- 19:25We have a dog.
- 19:27And many other people have dogs.
- 19:28They have other kinds of animals.
- 19:30They have as pets.
- 19:32But so often,
- 19:33these animals have been taken out of their natural environment
- 19:36and domesticated.
- 19:39As you were reminded last week,
- 19:42they still have that inclination in them
- 19:44to their natural way.
- 19:47And that is the way we are.
- 19:50But we think of the gospel in the same way,
- 19:53and how people try to domesticate the gospel,
- 19:56to make it something nice and pleasant.
- 20:00But in so doing,
- 20:02you're confining the power of the gospel.
- 20:05Because the gospel is not being presented
- 20:08in the way it should be.
- 20:10If it's just as a teacher or as an example,
- 20:12it's being confined.
- 20:16But if we see it as a need for a savior,
- 20:18then we have to see the power
- 20:20that is behind that gospel.
- 20:22Because it's not our power.
- 20:24Paul says in writing to Romans,
- 20:27in chapter 1,
- 20:28I am not ashamed of the gospel.
- 20:30Why?
- 20:31Because it is the power of God
- 20:33for salvation to everyone who believes.
- 20:35It is the power of God.
- 20:39And that is why the power of God
- 20:41has to be set forth, set free.
- 20:44And that's what Paul was.
- 20:46He was a persecutor of the Christian faith,
- 20:49but he was transformed into a preacher
- 20:51of the Christian faith.
- 20:54Letting the power of God
- 20:56be seen in a very different way,
- 20:58in a real way,
- 20:59in a true way,
- 21:00that the power of God saves.
- 21:02Paul's life was an example of it,
- 21:07how it was completely transformed.
- 21:11But others would have seen him
- 21:13and been afraid,
- 21:14and they were.
- 21:16Has this man really changed?
- 21:19Can this gospel really transform him?
- 21:22You think of Paul's testimony
- 21:25as it's given in the book of Acts,
- 21:26chapter 9.
- 21:27There was a man called Ananias
- 21:29who God used.
- 21:31And he was told to go
- 21:34and lay his hands on Paul.
- 21:36This is the Paul who was breathing out
- 21:38murderous threats
- 21:39against the Christian faith.
- 21:42Ananias' response was this,
- 21:43Lord, I have heard from many
- 21:45about this man
- 21:46how much evil he has done
- 21:48to your saints at Jerusalem.
- 21:51And here he has authority
- 21:52from the chief priests
- 21:53to bind all who call on your name.
- 21:56He was afraid.
- 21:57He had heard what had been done
- 22:00through this man.
- 22:02And yet he did as the Lord asked him.
- 22:06Because God had powerfully taken hold
- 22:08of Saul as he was
- 22:10who became Paul.
- 22:14And that's because of the grace of God,
- 22:16the power of God to save.
- 22:18As verse 15 makes clear for us,
- 22:20when he had set me apart
- 22:21before I was born,
- 22:23he called me by his grace,
- 22:25revealing to me his son.
- 22:28That is what made the difference.
- 22:31You wonder, was anybody praying for Saul?
- 22:35Or did they think,
- 22:37he's beyond saving?
- 22:39Look at him.
- 22:40Look at what he is doing
- 22:42to the Christian church.
- 22:44Persecuting, destroying
- 22:45the Christian faith,
- 22:46killing Christians.
- 22:47Who would pray for such a man?
- 22:52But doesn't it remind us today
- 22:54that we should never give up on praying
- 22:56for anyone who we see committing evil?
- 23:00Whether it's rich and famous
- 23:02or powerful,
- 23:03whether it's a friend,
- 23:05a family member,
- 23:06or even ourselves.
- 23:09There are so many people we feel
- 23:11are maybe beyond prayer.
- 23:13But the gospel reminds us
- 23:17that there is power
- 23:18in the gospel
- 23:20to save.
- 23:22Because there is the good news
- 23:24of a saviour
- 23:25who is Jesus Christ.
- 23:28So we remember the power
- 23:30of the gospel.
- 23:32The final thing we see here
- 23:35is the praise
- 23:36from the gospel.
- 23:38You see, that's at the end
- 23:39of this section.
- 23:40In verse 23 and 24,
- 23:45they only were hearing it said,
- 23:46he who used to persecute us
- 23:49is now preaching
- 23:51the faith he once tried
- 23:53to destroy.
- 23:54And they glorified God
- 23:56because of me.
- 24:00There was a huge transformation,
- 24:02not just for Paul,
- 24:04but for the church,
- 24:05where people were hearing
- 24:07of the persecutor
- 24:09who was now preaching.
- 24:10And they glorified God.
- 24:12They saw his power.
- 24:14And that power leads to praise.
- 24:20What a testimony
- 24:22of the power of God
- 24:24at work through Jesus Christ.
- 24:27From persecutor
- 24:28to preacher.
- 24:31When you think of testimonies
- 24:33you hear today,
- 24:34there are amazing testimonies
- 24:37given of how people
- 24:38have been taken
- 24:39from darkness,
- 24:41from addiction,
- 24:42from all kinds of walks
- 24:44of life
- 24:45and brought to a place
- 24:48where they love
- 24:50the Lord Jesus.
- 24:52The one they used
- 24:53to persecute,
- 24:54the one they used
- 24:54to curse,
- 24:56the one they used
- 24:56to mock.
- 24:59And yet there is power
- 25:00in the gospel
- 25:02to save.
- 25:02And that power
- 25:03leads to praise.
- 25:05But the gospel
- 25:07isn't just
- 25:08for one kind
- 25:09of person.
- 25:10It's not just
- 25:11for the souls
- 25:13who are seeking
- 25:13to destroy the church.
- 25:15It's not just
- 25:15for those
- 25:16who are caught up
- 25:17in lifestyles
- 25:18that seem so far
- 25:19from God
- 25:19they could never
- 25:20be saved.
- 25:21The gospel
- 25:22is for you,
- 25:23it's for me,
- 25:23it's for us all.
- 25:26Because it is
- 25:26the grace
- 25:27of God
- 25:28that saves.
- 25:29saves.
- 25:31Do we realize
- 25:32how dead
- 25:33we are in sin?
- 25:36As somebody put it,
- 25:37we're not
- 25:37almost dead,
- 25:39we're not nearly
- 25:40dead,
- 25:41we are dead.
- 25:43We are dead
- 25:44in our sins.
- 25:46Which means
- 25:46that the only hope
- 25:47is the grace
- 25:49of our God,
- 25:51which is what
- 25:51the gospel
- 25:52offers.
- 25:55It is this gospel
- 25:56that is able
- 25:58to save.
- 25:59And this gospel
- 26:00then it reminds us
- 26:01that we can
- 26:02praise God
- 26:03because he is
- 26:04working.
- 26:05And it's this gospel
- 26:07power that reminds us
- 26:08that we should be
- 26:09excited about
- 26:10the gospel
- 26:11and what it is
- 26:12able to do
- 26:13so we can come
- 26:14under the gospel,
- 26:16we can hear
- 26:16the gospel
- 26:17and think,
- 26:18is the gospel
- 26:19going to save
- 26:20anyone here today?
- 26:21How many
- 26:22will the gospel
- 26:23save today?
- 26:24What is God
- 26:25going to say
- 26:26to us today
- 26:28through this gospel?
- 26:29How is God
- 26:30going to encourage us
- 26:32and rebuke us
- 26:33and challenge us
- 26:34and strengthen us
- 26:35through this gospel?
- 26:38It is the gospel
- 26:39that we need
- 26:40to hear
- 26:41because there is
- 26:42no other gospel.
- 26:46And it's the gospel
- 26:47that keeps us going
- 26:49because it is
- 26:50the power of God
- 26:52unto salvation.
- 26:54Paul was astonished
- 26:57to hear of people
- 26:58so quickly
- 26:59deserting
- 27:00this gospel.
- 27:02Will we turn
- 27:03our back
- 27:04on the gospel?
- 27:06The power of God
- 27:07to salvation.
- 27:08Will you go away
- 27:09from here today
- 27:10and think
- 27:10nothing more
- 27:11of the gospel?
- 27:13Or will you see it
- 27:15as the power
- 27:16that is able
- 27:17to save you?
- 27:18we can become
- 27:20so complacent
- 27:22with the gospel,
- 27:23so at peace
- 27:25with where we are
- 27:26and how we're living
- 27:26that the gospel
- 27:28loses its impact.
- 27:30but as we hear it,
- 27:33may it open our eyes
- 27:35and help us
- 27:37to see
- 27:37the need
- 27:38we have of it
- 27:39constantly
- 27:39whether we are
- 27:40believers or not
- 27:41that we are living
- 27:43in light
- 27:44of the gospel,
- 27:46the good news
- 27:47of Jesus Christ.
- 27:50And may we see it
- 27:51as we go forward
- 27:52that our faith
- 27:54is by the grace
- 27:55of God
- 27:56a gift
- 27:56that helps us
- 27:58to fix
- 27:59our eyes
- 28:00on Jesus.
- 28:03There's a man
- 28:04called
- 28:04Dr. J. Elder
- 28:05Cumming
- 28:06and he said this
- 28:08in almost every case
- 28:10the beginning
- 28:11of new blessing
- 28:12is a new revelation
- 28:14of the character
- 28:15of God
- 28:15more beautiful
- 28:17more wonderful
- 28:19more precious.
- 28:22It's not
- 28:23a new revelation
- 28:25because it's
- 28:27the way God is
- 28:28but it's seeing him
- 28:31in that light
- 28:32more beautiful
- 28:34more wonderful
- 28:36more precious.
- 28:38As we hear
- 28:39the gospel
- 28:40the power
- 28:42that transforms
- 28:42we should see
- 28:45the more beauty
- 28:46that there is
- 28:47in Christ
- 28:48the more wonder
- 28:50that there is
- 28:51in him
- 28:51and see him
- 28:53and his gospel
- 28:55as more precious
- 28:56than ever.
- 28:58There is no
- 28:59other gospel.
- 29:01The gospel
- 29:01is Jesus Christ
- 29:04crucified
- 29:05for our sin
- 29:06risen
- 29:08from the dead
- 29:09a saviour
- 29:10for his people.
- 29:13Let us pray.
- 29:16Lord our gracious
- 29:18God
- 29:18we thank you
- 29:19for the gospel
- 29:20we thank you
- 29:21for the good news
- 29:23that we have
- 29:23in the midst
- 29:24of a broken world
- 29:26a broken
- 29:27and a sinful
- 29:28people
- 29:28such as we are.
- 29:30We thank you
- 29:31that we have
- 29:31in Jesus
- 29:32one
- 29:33who came
- 29:34to conquer
- 29:35sin
- 29:35the one
- 29:36whose power
- 29:38is seen
- 29:38in the gospel
- 29:39the power
- 29:41of God
- 29:42to salvation
- 29:43and we pray
- 29:44that we would
- 29:45have that gospel
- 29:47in our hearts
- 29:47even today
- 29:49as we go
- 29:49from here
- 29:50that we would
- 29:50not leave
- 29:51it behind
- 29:51we would
- 29:52not turn
- 29:53from it
- 29:54but that we
- 29:54recognize
- 29:55the very
- 29:55source
- 29:56of it
- 29:56that you
- 29:57are God
- 29:58in heaven
- 29:59who gave
- 30:00your word
- 30:01to us
- 30:01who gave
- 30:02your son
- 30:02that we
- 30:03might have
- 30:04everlasting
- 30:04life
- 30:05and so may
- 30:06your gospel
- 30:06be more
- 30:07beautiful
- 30:08more wonderful
- 30:09and more
- 30:10precious than
- 30:10ever
- 30:11as we ask
- 30:12it all
- 30:12in Jesus
- 30:13name
- 30:13Amen
- 30:14we're going
- 30:18to conclude
- 30:19by singing
- 30:20to God's
- 30:21praise
- 30:21in Psalm
- 30:2163
- 30:22the Scottish
- 30:24Psalter
- 30:25verse
- 30:25in Psalm
- 30:2663
- 30:27we'll sing
- 30:28three stanzas
- 30:29verse 1
- 30:30to 4
- 30:30Lord thee
- 30:31my God
- 30:32I'll early
- 30:32seek
- 30:33my soul
- 30:34doth thirst
- 30:34for thee
- 30:35my flesh
- 30:36longs
- 30:36in a dry
- 30:36parched
- 30:37land
- 30:37wherein
- 30:38no waters
- 30:39be
- 30:39that I
- 30:40thy power
- 30:40may behold
- 30:42and brightness
- 30:42of thy face
- 30:43as I have
- 30:44seen thee
- 30:45heretofore
- 30:45within
- 30:46thy holy
- 30:47place
- 30:47we'll sing
- 30:48from verse 1
- 30:49to 4
- 30:49the tune
- 30:50as whether
- 30:50be we
- 30:51stand to
- 30:51sing
- 30:52to God's
- 30:53praise
- 30:53Lord thee
- 30:59my God
- 31:01I'll ever
- 31:03receive
- 31:05my soul
- 31:08doth thirst
- 31:10for thee
- 31:13thy flesh
- 31:15!
- 31:16thy flesh
- 31:16of sin
- 31:19and thy
- 31:20heart's
- 31:22grant
- 31:23when
- 31:25no waters
- 31:29be
- 31:30that I
- 31:34thy power
- 31:36may be
- 31:40who
- 31:40who
- 32:10Thank you.
- 32:40After the benediction, I'll go to the door to my left. We'll close with the benediction.
- 32:49Now may grace, mercy, and peace from God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest upon and abide with you all now and forevermore. Amen.
- 33:10Thank you.