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Romans 1:1-7 · Providence Baptist Church - Sermons

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Romans chapter 1, verses 1-7.
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To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Let's pray together.
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Father God, we love you and thank you for this morning.
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We love and thank you for your word.
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And I pray, God, that you will bless the listening to it this morning.
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We pray this in Christ's precious name.
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Amen.
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You can be seated.
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This has been a bit of a difficult week for me.
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The first reason, you may notice that I'm wearing a lapel mic.
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We've been doing that for a while now because we've been trying to master recording our sermons.
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They're actually available on our website.
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Our hope is that that way you can keep up with us.
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Those of you who go home for the summer, you can keep up through Romans.
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And when you come back in the fall, you can pick right back up where we are.
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And so I had to listen to myself preach this week.
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Not a fun task at all.
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The silver lining in all of that is that I could hear kids in the background of the recording.
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And it made me smile every time I heard a little shriek, which I didn't hear at all when I was preaching because I'm focused.
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There's a lot going on in my head.
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But it reminded me of how great a family we have here and having the children and what a blessing it is to have them in the meeting with us.
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The other reason it was a tough week is my intro this week was to kind of talk about bad news.
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It's kind of the bad news of the world.
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And so I spent a lot of time looking at bad news in the world.
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And thankfully, the text I was studying is the silver lining to that bad news.
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It is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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And so this morning is about the good news of Jesus Christ found in these first seven verses.
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Certainly, we live in a world of bad news, don't we?
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We get bad news all the time.
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Globally, there's a lot of global bad news going on right now.
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We've got the earthquake in Japan.
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I heard there was another.
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There was a 7.9 in Thailand.
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I don't know if you heard that news or not this past week.
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All the unrest that's going on in the Middle East.
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The rioting in Libya right now.
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The rising food prices.
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The shortages of such.
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The chaos in the world.
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Locally, we have a lot of problems.
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A couple of things, just in case you don't know, about the bad news of the world.
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It's estimated that 3,700 babies are aborted each day.
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That gives us a grand total of 1.35 million a year in America.
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In New York, I learned this this week, that 66% of African-American babies are aborted.
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That's two of every three African-American pregnancies in an abortion.
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Shocking.
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It's a genocide going on in the States.
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In Atlanta, if you've ever heard on Friday, there was a person accused of killing a police officer that took hostage eight people.
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And there was a big standoff on Friday.
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And he finally released the hostages and turned himself in.
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Totally high on cocaine.
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Personally, we get bad news all the time, don't we?
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News of illness, loss of loved ones, gallbladders that have to be taken out, shoulders that have to be operated on.
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People around us pass away.
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We have financial trouble.
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I have a lot of pain.
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I'm actually not sitting this morning to be cool.
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Although I look kind of cool on the stool, don't I?
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But I'm sitting because I'm in a lot of pain.
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I've, for the past decade, dealt with lots of pain.
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I've finally gotten a diagnosis that seemed like a non-diagnosis.
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And all I can do is take a medication, which I've been waiting a week and a half to get filled.
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And that's why I'm sitting this morning.
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So the world is full of bad news.
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And all of that bad news is a result of sin.
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And when sin entered the world, it completely corrupted everything.
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This morning we get some good news, though, in the Gospel.
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So sin is the poison that's killing this world.
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And Jesus Christ and the good news of Jesus Christ is the antidote to that sure death.
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Sin has ripped a wound in the flesh of this world that is festering.
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Sin itself is the infection.
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But Christ is the salve that heals that wound.
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Sin is the hostage taker.
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Thinking about that hostage situation this week.
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But Christ is the bullet that liberates the captive.
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So we have good news.
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And the struggle, I think, in the Christian life is to believe in that good news in such a way that it overwhelms that bad news.
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So as we deal with the difficulty of this life, do we so understand and believe the good news of Jesus Christ that all that stuff fades away?
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And that's been what my week has been about.
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Because the reality is that no amount of goodwill or kind intentions or education or philanthropy is going to solve the issues of the world.
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No amount of it at all.
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But the gospel of Jesus Christ solves those issues.
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I promised John Overton I'd work a little story into the sermon this morning.
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John and I met last night on the Gainesville Square at a coffee shop.
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And afterwards, we decided to go for a walk.
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And we were just walking around the square and going all over the place, places I've never been in downtown Gainesville.
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And we happened by a couple on the opposite side of the street.
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And I heard her squeal.
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And it caused me to stop.
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And then I heard her say, stop, you're hurting me.
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At which time, I immediately marched across the street, John quick on my heels, to see what was going to happen.
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And the last thing I heard her say was, I'm going to count to five and then I'm calling the police.
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And at which point I said, ma'am, can you use some help?
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And she said, yes.
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And he turned around.
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He was incredibly intoxicated.
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And I can't even remember the details of everything that happened.
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She marched off down the sidewalk.
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And I had an altercation with him in which he put his hands on my chest.
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And I thought, oh, gosh, I'm about to get killed in the streets of Gainesville.
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So I hope John is really tough.
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And we ended up, I kind of disarmed him a little bit, just with some humor.
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It was his birthday.
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So I said, happy birthday.
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And he said, thank you.
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And it ended up kind of diffusing the situation.
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And he went on.
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But I told John afterwards, I said, you know, I'm tough enough to march across the street without thinking about it.
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But I'm not tough enough for that not to totally shake me up.
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So I'm kind of freaking out right now about that whole situation.
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But I've been thinking about it since.
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And certainly what was needed in that time was somebody to intervene.
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She needed somebody to step across the street and say, hey, hold on a second, buddy.
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But ultimately, what both of them need is Christ.
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We intervened and solved a bit of a problem.
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But it was a symptom.
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The sickness still exists in both of their lives.
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And so ultimately, they need the gospel.
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Charles Spurgeon once said, see what vitality the gospel has.
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Plunge her under the wave and she rises.
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Dipure for her washing.
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Thrust her in the fire and she comes out the more bright for her burning.
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Cut her in sunder or in half and each piece shall make another church.
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Behead her and like the hydra of old, she shall have a hundred heads for everyone you cut away.
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She cannot die.
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She must live for she has the power of God within her.
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And that's the good news that we have.
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If you don't know this Christ, that's the good news for you this morning.
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If you know this Christ, the good news for us.
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So Paul starts out his letter.
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I love the way he starts Romans because he doesn't start it with this typical greeting, but he jumps right in.
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And I believe that's because Paul was urgent later in his life to communicate this good news to the Roman people.
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He wanted them to know the foundation on which he was going to build the rest of his letter to them.
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And he wanted to get right to it.
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All right.
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So he jumps right in.
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Paul was formerly a bearer of bad news as a devout Pharisee.
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All right.
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He was so sold out to following the law of God because he thought that he could achieve that on his own.
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So ultimately, he was the bearer of bad news as he went around telling people the way to God is for you to do good stuff.
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For you to follow his law blamelessly.
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And in that encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus, he came to learn that his way was not the way and that Christ was the only way.
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So formerly, he was a bearer of bad news.
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And I think that he now has an urgency to share the good news.
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So the first point, there's seven.
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If you have the notes, there's seven Ps.
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I stole these from John MacArthur, and I don't want to take any credit for them.
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They're way too clever for me to come up with.
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But the first one is the preacher of the good news.
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And we find that in verse one.
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And Paul writes, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.
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And he gives three descriptions of himself in this text.
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And the first one we have is a servant of Christ Jesus.
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Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus.
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And the Greek word he's using for servant is often translated bond servant, doulos.
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It's the Hebrew equivalent of the word ebed.
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And it simply means bond servant.
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And the Mosaic law provided for an indentured servant to permanently become a bond servant of a master that he loved and respected.
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So someone who was enslaved because of a debt they owed, once that debt was paid off, they were set free.
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But the Mosaic law allowed for someone who was in that situation but loved their master to remain permanently underneath their master.
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And in Exodus 21, 5 and 6, I'm just going to read to you the provision for that.
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It says, but if the slave plainly says, I love my master, my wife and my children, I will not go out free.
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Then his master shall bring him to God and he shall bring him to the door or the doorposts.
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And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl and he shall be his slave forever.
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And so the bond servant carried a sign in a piercing that he was, belonged to the master and belonged to the master forever.
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So in the same way, Paul saw his ministry as that, as a, as bond slavement.
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I'm just making up words now.
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I'm right.
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Bond slavery to Christ.
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That he was to serve him wholeheartedly because he loved his master.
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Second description, he says that he is called to be an apostle.
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So, Paul was called to be an apostle.
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He didn't volunteer for the position.
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He didn't sign up.
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He wasn't recruited.
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It was a divine appointment.
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And it's on this fact that Paul establishes the authority of his ministry.
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He's sharing that because he wants these people to know why he can speak to them with such authority.
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We can read in other places like Galatians 1, 1, as well as verse 11 and 12 of the same chapter.
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He writes, Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead.
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And then verse 11.
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For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel was not preached by me is not man's gospel.
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For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
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So, the gospel that Paul had was given to him.
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He was called.
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He was set apart, called out of his Judaism, called into Christianity as an apostle.
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And the term here, apostle, is referring to specifically the apostles.
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The original 12 with Matthias replacing Judas and then Paul.
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And these were men in redemptive history that play a special part, that laid the foundation, the groundwork for the church to be built upon.
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We'll talk later about the apostle as used in general terms.
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We have an apostolic calling on our lives.
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But Paul here is referring to himself specifically as taking that title of apostle, a sent one.
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One that has been given a message and sent for a specific purpose.
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Many ships in this day that were carrying messages from one team to another were said to be apostolic.
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They were given a specific mission to carry a specific message.
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And that's how Paul is referring to himself in this case.
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Pretty fascinating.
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In the book, The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter, he dedicates over 100 pages of that book that's written to pastors
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to warn them to, first of all, be sure that they are, in fact, redeemed.
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And secondly, that they've actually been given a calling to the ministry of the gospel.
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Not fascinating.
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100 pages of that book, which I've read.
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It's a pretty phenomenal read.
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But 100 pages of that book is set apart to saying to the men who are reading it,
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you better be sure you're saved and that God has called you to this special gospel ministry
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because it is a high, high calling.
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And the last descriptor he uses is set apart for the gospel of God
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and plays off of that term apostle,
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specifically designed for this task of proclaiming the good news of God.
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Sam and I have a plate in our house, and it's a special plate.
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It says you are very special on the plate.
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And it's our birthday plate.
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I imagine, as Cade grows older and any other children we have,
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that when they have a great report card or something of excitement in our lives,
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we'll pull out the you are very special plate and let them eat off of that plate.
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That plate is then set apart.
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We don't eat off that plate normally.
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I think I would get in big trouble if I made nachos on that plate and ate a snack off them.
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That plate is for something specific, for something very special.
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And that's what Paul is getting at as he says that he's set apart for the gospel of God.
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So he establishes his authority to preach this good news.
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And in verse 2, he goes on to talk about the promise of the good news.
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Verse 2 reads,
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Which he promised, being God beforehand, through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.
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Now, Paul here is referring to the writing of the prophets being the Old Testament,
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that canon that they knew as the Old Testament.
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And he does so by saying that and saying Holy Scriptures to distinguish between that and the rabbinical writings.
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Most Jews at this time followed the writing of the rabbis.
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It was the traditions that they followed.
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Didn't know their scriptures well at all.
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So he's referring in those two ways by saying the writings of the prophets and the Holy Scriptures to distinguish between the two.
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And the important thing for us to see here is that this message, this gospel news, is consistent with the Old Testament.
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I grew up thinking that there was this old way.
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And it was as if the old way hadn't accomplished what God had intended.
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And so he created a new way.
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And certainly there is a new covenant.
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There is a new testament of God's grace to us.
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But we see it all throughout the Old Testament scriptures.
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There's nothing contrary.
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There's at least 332 prophecies about Christ in the Old Testament.
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We know he was coming.
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Matthew 5, 17 and 18, Jesus says,
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Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
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I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.
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For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass away from the law until all is accomplished.
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So Christ himself even said, I'm not coming to change things.
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I'm just coming to fulfill those things which have been given to you already.
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And that was the fulfillment of the law.
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So understand that the Jews had the rule book by which to be righteous.
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They just didn't have the ability to follow the rules.
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That's what the sacrificial system was all about.
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That was to teach them that we needed a righteous priest.
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We find that in Christ.
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We're going to talk about the person of the good news next.
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We find that in Christ, the spotless lamb, the one who was able to take away the sins of his church.
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So he came to fulfill that law, that ability to keep the law and be found righteous in him.
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Hebrews 1 and 2.
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The writer of Hebrews says,
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So in those days, he spoke to us by his prophets.
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But now he's spoken to us by his son.
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A better way.
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He's given us his son to give us this final message of our redemption.
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Which takes us to the third.
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The person of the good news.
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I was reviewing my notes this morning.
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I'm kind of thinking over this and praying over it.
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And we had another sweep of a thunderstorm this morning.
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I don't think that there was anything magnificently spiritual happening.
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But it was incredibly cool that as I was thinking about the person of the good news,
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I was thinking about Christ who sits at the right hand of the Father and commands the universe by the power of his word.
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There's this awesome thunderstorm going on outside.
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And about the time I got done looking over this section of notes and done praying through it,
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the thunderstorm stopped.
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And it just reminded me of the amazing power that Christ has.
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Very cool.
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2 Corinthians 5.21 says,
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For our sake, let me back up.
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Let's read verses 3 and 4 real quick in Romans.
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It reads,
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Concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh,
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and was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead,
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Jesus Christ our Lord.
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2 Corinthians 5.21.
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Paul writes,
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Now understand that us standing before God as righteous is absolutely necessary for us not to be destroyed.
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Get that.
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God is a just God.
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We have turned God into this touchy-feely dude that wants to hang out in our house and give us hugs.
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Certainly he is loving.
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But God is full of wrath and vengeance towards sin.
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We learn that in the Old Testament, don't we?
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We see the people building a golden calf and God's fury is kindled toward them.
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Moses pleads with him,
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For your glory, please don't go kill your people, all of them.
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God concedes, says, okay, go down.
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But then they wipe out something like 30,000 of the people for doing so.
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He destroys Sodom and Gomorrah.
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We see that God hates sin.
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Rebellion against him.
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We are enemies of God's if we're not found righteous in Christ.
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Understand that.
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If you don't know Christ this morning, you're an enemy of God.
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And that is not a battle you're going to win.
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So God must punish sin because he's just.
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It's not that he just gets to pardon it.
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When we're found righteous in Christ, it's not that God says,
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Yeah, it's okay.
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Certain of you I will dismiss from this sin.
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It's not the case at all.
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He had to punish it.
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Well, he punished it in Christ.
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Christ bore the wrath for his church's sin.
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Those of us who are found righteous in Christ,
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he took our punishment.
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God is still fully just in condemning and punishing sin
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because he poured out his wrath for us on Christ.
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The doctrine of the substitutionary atonement is phenomenal.
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It blows my mind.
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When I begin to think that Christ hung on the cross and bore the punishment of my sin,
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the eternal wrath that was due to me for my sin,
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Jesus Christ bore that from me.
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It blows my mind.
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It's why I can't wander off into a universal atonement.
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I can't do it.
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It kind of loses its specialness, doesn't it?
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Christ hung on that cross with me in mind.
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No warrant of my own.
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Nothing I did to deserve that.
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Certainly, the wrath due me was totally deserved.
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But Christ had me in mind.
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That's good news, isn't it?
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That's the kind of news that causes all the bad news to fade.
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Christ had you in mind.
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If you have placed your faith in him,
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he bore the wrath of your sin on the cross.
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It's incredible.
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And he could do that because he was perfect,
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because he was a man.
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The beginning of verse 3,
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concerning his son, who was descended from David.
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He's establishing that, I would imagine,
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for the Jewish audience in Rome.
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It was the fulfillment of a prophecy
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that both Mary and Joseph were descendants of David.
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He was a descendant of David according to the flesh,
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and he was declared to be the son of God in power
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according to the spirit of holiness
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by his resurrection from the dead.
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So he had both his resurrection
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and the sign that when he was baptized
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that the spirit descended like a dove from heaven.
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And there were plenty of witnesses to that.
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And God said from heaven,
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this is my son, my beloved son,
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with whom I am well pleased.
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So he had these signs,
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these seals set upon him
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that he was, in fact,
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the son of God.
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And, of course, he was either a lunatic
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or he was the son of God.
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He made some audacious claims
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if he wasn't, in fact, the son of God.
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And he lived this perfect life
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so that him who knew no sin
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became sin on our behalf.
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Martin Luther called that the great exchange,
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that he took all of our sin
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and placed it on himself
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and bore our wrath,
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and we got the righteousness of God
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in return.
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Incredible.
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Incredible.
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So there's no good news apart from Christ.
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John Piper, in his book,
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God is the Gospel,
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wrote this.
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Christ did not die to forgive sinners
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who go on treasuring anything
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above seeing and savoring God.
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And people who would be happy in heaven
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if Christ were not there
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will not be there.
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I'll do that to you again.
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And people who would be happy in heaven
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if Christ were not there
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will not be there.
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The Gospel is not a way
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to get people to heaven.
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It is a way to get people to God.
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It's a way of overcoming
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every obstacle to everlasting joy
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in God.
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If we don't want God above all things,
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we have not been converted
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by the Gospel.
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Isn't that phenomenal?
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Christ himself is the treasure.
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We are saved
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from God,
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by God,
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to God.
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That's the simplest Gospel presentation
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I can give.
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From God's wrath,
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by God's mercy,
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in Jesus Christ,
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to everlasting joy
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in God.
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Incredible.
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Incredible.
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Jesus Christ,
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our Lord,
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that's how he ends
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verse 4 there.
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Jesus means Savior.
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It's the simplicity of that word.
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Jesus means Savior.
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Christ means
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anointed one.
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Lord means
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sovereign ruler.
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He is Jesus
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because he saves his people
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from their sins.
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He is Christ
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because he has been
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anointed by God
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as our priest
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and king.
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And he is Lord
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because he is God
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and rules the universe
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sovereignly
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by the power of his word.
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Phenomenal.
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The person
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of the good news.
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Jesus Christ.
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Next,
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in the beginning
25:35
of verse 5,
25:37
the provision
25:38
of the good news.
25:39
Look in verse 5.
25:41
Paul writes,
25:42
through whom,
25:43
through Christ,
25:44
we have received
25:45
grace
25:46
and apostleship.
25:48
We have received
25:49
grace
25:50
and apostleship.
25:52
Ephesians 2,
25:53
8 and 9,
25:55
Paul writes,
25:55
for by grace
25:56
you have been saved
25:58
through faith.
26:00
And this is not
26:00
your own doing.
26:01
It is the gift of God,
26:02
not a result of works,
26:05
so that no one
26:06
may boast.
26:08
So we've received
26:09
grace through Christ,
26:10
which we just talked about,
26:12
and that had nothing
26:13
to do with us.
26:15
It's totally the act
26:16
of God
26:16
on our lives.
26:18
He worked in us
26:18
the faith
26:19
to believe in him
26:20
that he might save us.
26:22
Alright?
26:23
So that none of us
26:24
can boast.
26:24
None of us.
26:25
I have no room
26:25
to boast in anything
26:26
I've ever done
26:27
because in the same way,
26:29
I'm sustained
26:30
by his grace.
26:31
I don't do any good thing
26:32
apart from God.
26:33
If God were to remove
26:34
his hand from me
26:35
and leave me alone,
26:36
I would be a wretch
26:37
all over again.
26:39
It's the grace of God
26:40
that has saved us.
26:41
It's the grace of God
26:42
which sustains us.
26:45
And we've been given
26:46
a mission,
26:48
haven't we?
26:48
We've been given
26:49
apostleship,
26:51
an apostolic calling
26:52
on all of our lives
26:53
because we're all
26:54
sent into this world
26:55
to share light
26:56
in dark places.
26:57
We're all sent
26:58
to share the gospel.
27:01
And so we've been
27:01
commissioned
27:02
to do so.
27:05
Out of MacArthur's commentary,
27:06
I wanted to read you
27:07
a quote from
27:10
Donald Barnhouse
27:11
who wrote a commentary.
27:13
And MacArthur
27:13
quotes him here
27:15
in his book.
27:16
Donald Barnhouse
27:17
was a Presbyterian
27:19
preacher
27:19
in the early
27:21
20th century.
27:22
And I want to
27:23
just read this
27:23
little paragraph
27:25
to you.
27:28
This is him
27:28
reflecting on
27:29
his ordination.
27:31
He writes,
27:31
The moderator
27:32
of the Presbytery
27:33
asked me questions
27:34
and I answered them.
27:35
They told me
27:36
to kneel down.
27:37
Men came toward me
27:38
and one man
27:39
was asked
27:40
to make the prayer.
27:41
I felt his hands
27:42
come on my head
27:43
and then the hands
27:44
of others,
27:44
touching my head
27:45
and pressing down
27:46
on his and the other hands.
27:48
The ring of men
27:49
closed in
27:49
and one man
27:50
began to pray.
27:51
It was a nice little prayer
27:52
and had one
27:53
pat little phrase in it.
27:55
Father,
27:55
guard him with thy love,
27:57
guide him with thine eye,
27:58
and gird him
27:59
with thy power.
28:01
I kept thinking
28:01
about these three verbs,
28:02
guard, guide, gird.
28:04
It seemed as foolish
28:05
as performing
28:05
a marriage ceremony
28:06
upon two people
28:07
who had been living together
28:08
for a quarter of a century
28:09
and who had a family
28:10
of children together.
28:12
I knew that I had
28:12
been ordained
28:13
long since
28:14
and that the hands
28:15
that had been upon
28:16
my head
28:16
were hands
28:17
that had been pierced
28:17
and nailed
28:18
to a cross.
28:20
Years later,
28:21
the man that made
28:22
the prayer that day
28:23
signed a paper
28:24
saying that he was opposed
28:25
to the doctrine
28:26
of the virgin birth,
28:27
the doctrine
28:27
of the deity
28:28
of Jesus Christ,
28:29
the doctrine
28:29
of the substitutionary
28:30
atonement,
28:31
the doctrine
28:32
of the miracles
28:32
of Christ,
28:33
and the doctrine
28:33
of the inspiration
28:34
of the scriptures
28:34
as test for ordination
28:36
or a man's good standing
28:38
in the ministry.
28:40
When I read his name
28:41
on the list,
28:41
I put my hand
28:42
on the top of my head
28:43
and smiled to myself,
28:44
wondering how many
28:45
dozens times
28:46
I had my hair cut
28:47
since his unholy hands
28:48
had touched me.
28:50
And I had the profound
28:51
consolation of knowing
28:52
that the hand
28:53
of the Lord Jesus Christ,
28:54
wounded and torn
28:55
because of my sins,
28:56
had touched me
28:57
and given me
28:58
an apostleship
28:59
which was from God
29:00
and which was more
29:01
important than any
29:01
that men could approve
29:03
by their little ceremonies.
29:05
Isn't that awesome?
29:06
Not that we shouldn't
29:07
have ordinations,
29:08
but our ordination
29:11
comes from Christ.
29:13
Because of what
29:14
he's done for us,
29:15
because he's bought us.
29:18
That's the high cost
29:19
of grace, everybody.
29:21
You've received
29:21
the grace of God,
29:22
now your life
29:24
is devoted to him.
29:24
You are a bondservant.
29:27
You've been set apart
29:28
for the gospel,
29:29
ordained to gospel ministry.
29:33
So there's the provision
29:35
of that good news.
29:35
We've been given
29:36
both a mission
29:36
to the world,
29:38
but we're also provided
29:39
the grace necessary
29:40
to fulfill that mission.
29:44
The middle part
29:45
of verse 5,
29:45
the proclamation
29:46
of the good news.
29:48
So we've been given
29:49
the mission.
29:51
What is that message?
29:52
To bring about
29:53
the obedience of faith
29:56
or of the faith.
29:59
Proclamation.
30:00
To bring about
30:01
obedience of the faith.
30:03
So not just conversions,
30:05
but to create disciples.
30:06
to grow people
30:08
in the grace of God.
30:10
To grow people
30:10
to the maturity
30:11
of Christ.
30:14
We're not in the business
30:15
of elevating men
30:17
and putting underneath them
30:18
a hierarchy of men.
30:21
We're trying to grow
30:22
people up consistently,
30:24
together,
30:24
to be like us,
30:25
to duplicate us.
30:26
I'm to be like Christ
30:27
and I'm to teach you
30:28
to be like Christ.
30:30
That's the idea
30:30
of discipleship.
30:31
If you've ever seen
30:32
the Christ Family Church logo,
30:34
I hope you have
30:34
because you drove in here
30:35
on our sign.
30:37
You'll see it's a series
30:38
of trees.
30:39
And the idea is that
30:40
we want to be
30:40
a mighty forest of trees.
30:42
Not one tree
30:43
and a bunch of little saplings
30:44
that get destroyed
30:45
by the stomping
30:47
of the world.
30:48
We want to be
30:48
mighty trees.
30:49
We want to be a forest
30:50
that produces
30:51
much fruit
30:52
because we're all growing
30:53
in the grace of God
30:55
together.
30:57
I read to you
30:58
the Great Commission.
30:58
Matthew chapter 28,
31:00
verse 19 and 20.
31:01
Christ says,
31:04
Go therefore
31:04
and make disciples
31:06
of all nations,
31:07
baptizing them
31:08
in the name of the Father
31:09
and of the Son
31:10
and of the Holy Spirit,
31:12
teaching them to observe
31:13
all that I have commanded you.
31:15
There's that obedience
31:15
of the faith
31:16
and behold,
31:17
I'm with you always
31:18
to the end of the age.
31:20
And there's that grace,
31:21
that provision
31:22
of that good news.
31:24
I said before,
31:24
we all need the good news.
31:26
It's not for a select few.
31:27
It's not for
31:28
southern Americans.
31:31
Although we probably
31:33
need it more than any.
31:34
It's for the world.
31:36
And we're to be about
31:37
our Father's work,
31:38
sharing the gospel.
31:40
But to what end?
31:41
This is the next point.
31:42
The purpose
31:43
of the good news.
31:45
Why?
31:47
It's about salvation
31:48
of men's souls,
31:49
absolutely.
31:49
Should we weep
31:50
for the lost?
31:50
Sure.
31:51
We know what awaits them.
31:53
We've been told
31:54
about hell
31:55
and it does exist.
31:58
Eternal damnation
31:59
awaits those
31:59
who don't place
32:00
their faith in Christ.
32:01
We ought to desperately
32:02
be sharing the gospel
32:03
for that reason.
32:05
What does Paul tell us?
32:06
What is the point?
32:08
Very end of verse
32:09
five and six.
32:12
For the sake
32:12
of his name
32:14
among all the nations,
32:16
including you
32:17
who are called
32:18
to belong
32:19
to Jesus Christ.
32:21
It's for the glory of God.
32:23
That's why we do it.
32:23
For the glory of God.
32:25
Isaiah 43, 25.
32:27
God says,
32:29
I am he who
32:30
blots out
32:31
your transgressions
32:31
for my own sake
32:33
and I will not
32:34
remember your sins.
32:37
So the gospel
32:38
ultimately is God-centered.
32:39
It's about his glory.
32:41
It's about him
32:41
making himself
32:42
great.
32:44
We're just the
32:45
beneficiaries of that.
32:47
In his message
32:49
to the world
32:49
and his whole
32:50
master plan,
32:51
we just get to be involved
32:53
and be a process
32:54
in it all.
32:54
We are not the end.
32:56
We're the means to the end,
32:57
which is the glory of God.
32:59
And praise God
32:59
that we're the means.
33:00
Praise God
33:00
that we have anything
33:01
to do with the process
33:01
at all.
33:03
That is the purpose
33:04
of the good news.
33:06
To elevate God,
33:07
to lift him high.
33:08
And as Christians,
33:09
if we love him,
33:10
if we love his gospel,
33:12
then we'll desire to do that.
33:14
I want to make
33:14
my Savior known
33:15
because he is a great
33:17
Savior.
33:21
And as beneficiaries
33:22
of this
33:23
great good news,
33:25
Paul talks a bit
33:26
about the privileges
33:27
of the good news.
33:29
And that's your last point there.
33:30
The privileges
33:30
of the good news.
33:32
Verse 7,
33:33
To all those in Rome
33:34
who are loved by God
33:35
and called to be saints,
33:37
grace to you
33:38
and peace
33:39
from God our Father
33:40
and the Lord Jesus Christ.
33:43
We get to be loved by God.
33:46
Those of us
33:46
who were once enemies of God
33:47
are now loved by God.
33:50
Isn't that good news?
33:51
That was good news.
33:53
Jeremiah 31.3
33:54
God says,
33:55
I have loved you
33:56
with an everlasting love.
33:58
Therefore,
33:59
I have continued
34:00
my faithfulness
34:01
to you.
34:04
And as the loved ones
34:05
of God,
34:06
the saints set apart,
34:08
we get to receive
34:09
that grace
34:10
and the peace
34:11
that comes from God.
34:12
And so my week,
34:14
I told you,
34:14
has been a tough week.
34:19
Beyond the things
34:19
I told you,
34:20
listening to myself preach
34:21
and hearing all the bad news
34:23
of the world,
34:24
I've been in a lot of pain
34:25
this week.
34:26
And it's the fact
34:28
that I'm loved by God,
34:29
it's the fact that I have
34:30
this evidence in my life
34:31
of the Spirit working in me.
34:32
I know that I'm a recipient
34:34
of this good news
34:35
that allows me to
34:36
bear up
34:37
through those things.
34:38
It allows me to believe
34:39
in the promises of God.
34:41
It says,
34:42
Jeremiah 31,
34:43
3,
34:44
I have continued
34:45
my faithfulness
34:46
to you.
34:48
It allows me to believe
34:48
things like,
34:50
God does all things
34:51
for my good.
34:53
For those who have been
34:54
called according to His purpose,
34:55
and I know I have been,
34:56
He does all things
34:57
for my good.
34:57
And I don't understand that.
34:59
I don't understand
35:00
why I have terrible headaches.
35:02
It seems like
35:02
it would be better
35:03
for me not.
35:04
It seems like it would be
35:05
better for you guys
35:06
if I didn't have
35:07
terrible headaches.
35:08
But somehow,
35:09
it's working to my good
35:11
and His glory.
35:12
It allows me to
35:13
believe that He'll
35:15
withhold no good thing
35:17
from those who walk
35:18
uprightly before Him.
35:20
And I know I walk uprightly
35:21
before God
35:22
because I'm found
35:22
righteous in Christ.
35:24
I know that
35:24
because of this good news.
35:27
Right?
35:27
So I know He'll
35:28
withhold no good thing
35:30
from me,
35:30
which means my pain
35:31
is a good thing
35:32
for me.
35:34
I believe
35:35
that I won't be tested
35:37
beyond what I can bear.
35:38
that what's been
35:40
given to me
35:40
is a test for me
35:41
in some way
35:43
and that He's going
35:44
to give me the grace
35:45
to handle it.
35:49
It helps me
35:50
to deal with tragedy
35:51
in the world.
35:52
Thousands
35:53
are killed.
35:56
Because of the good news,
35:57
I know why.
35:59
It's a big question,
36:00
isn't it?
36:02
Sin.
36:02
They're receiving
36:04
the just
36:05
due
36:06
for their sin.
36:08
It doesn't make it
36:08
any less sad for me.
36:10
It doesn't make it
36:11
any less sad.
36:12
I'm just more thankful
36:13
for our God
36:14
and His good news.
36:16
I'm so happy
36:18
that it's advancing
36:19
across the world.
36:21
We seem to live
36:22
in one of the most
36:23
spiritually depressed places
36:24
and it's hard to see.
36:25
I think the church
36:25
is on the decline.
36:27
Statistics would show
36:28
that in America,
36:29
that the church
36:29
is actually
36:30
declining.
36:31
But in other places
36:33
in the world,
36:33
it's not.
36:34
It's growing
36:35
like a wildfire
36:37
and burning bright.
36:40
Praise God,
36:40
the gospel is advancing
36:42
across the world.
36:45
That's what allows us
36:47
to bear up
36:47
under the bad news.
36:49
This great good news
36:50
that causes all that
36:51
to fade
36:52
and diminish
36:53
in the light
36:54
of God's
36:55
glorious grace
36:56
to us
36:57
in Jesus Christ.
36:58
Let's pray together.