WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.599 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:20.480 ! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:25.679 either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:32.159 that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:37.359 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:42.159 we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:48.799 Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:55.120 what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian, 00:00:55.119 --> 00:01:00.320 checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.280 questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:07.759 that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:20.719 Let's just bow our heads in prayer. Father, we give you thanks and praise that it is your desire that we 00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:28.159 belong to you, that we belong to you. We accept what you have done for us in the person and work of your 00:01:28.159 --> 00:01:35.680 Son. And to hear about it and to accept that offer and that call, respond to that call so that we will 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:41.439 belong to you. And that we will learn to live, not in the hope that we will belong to you someday, but 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:52.319 that we will live out of knowing that we belong to you. And that you want us to belong to you for our good, our deep, 00:01:52.319 --> 00:02:03.120 extensive, and surface, and eternal good. And so Father, may your Holy Spirit bring your word deep into our hearts this 00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:08.800 morning to form us. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:16.560 So a few years ago, it's hard to remember how many years ago, but I realized it was before COVID shut 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:23.360 everything down, off and on, off and on, off and on, off and on. But there was this young man who was 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:28.400 troubled. He was from a very, very, very Christian home. He might have been homeschooled as well, 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:33.360 actually, but he was from a very, very Christian home. He was going to the University of Ottawa, 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:39.200 and he really came into deep contact with a lot of people who were outside the Christian faith for 00:02:39.200 --> 00:02:44.000 the first time in his, like really in a substantial way for the first time in his life. And he, I guess 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:50.719 he was really challenged by the way they challenged him being a Christian. And full credit to him, he let 00:02:50.719 --> 00:02:54.319 it out that he was a Christian, but they really started to come with them a whole pile of things that 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:59.039 he'd never thought about before. And so one day he came to me troubled. We were talking about a variety 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:02.719 of things. And one of the things he said to me is he said, George, you know, why isn't there more 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:08.639 evidence for the resurrection of Jesus? And I said, well, I said, I think there's actually pretty good 00:03:08.639 --> 00:03:13.280 evidence. Like, what do you mean? Well, he said, like, like, this is what my friends say to me. He said, 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:17.759 like, why aren't there things like, I don't know, like, why aren't there letters written by people 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:22.560 like a couple of years after the death and resurrection of Jesus that talk about it? 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:28.000 And I looked at him funny. And I said, like, you do realize that's what most of the New Testament is. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:34.960 And he looked at me funny because he had grown up, you see, in such exclusively Christian circles that 00:03:34.960 --> 00:03:42.080 he, on one level, he'd lost the plot. That it wasn't as if, you know, one day, some major international 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:47.360 committee said, we're going to commission Paul to write all this stuff about Jesus, 00:03:47.360 --> 00:03:53.600 Jesus, because we already have established these truths. No, just Paul one day, I, you know, 00:03:53.600 --> 00:03:58.480 in our particular case, this letter that we're about to look at started from Paul, he wrote it in around 00:03:58.480 --> 00:04:05.680 the year 57. So about 24 years after the resurrect, death and resurrection of Jesus, Paul, probably 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:12.000 writing from where, uh, from Corinth, what we now know of as Greece, wrote a letter to a group of people 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:17.279 who had grown up pagan who had become Christians who lived in Rome. And in that, and that's what it 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:23.120 is. It's a letter. In fact, that's what Galatians is, Thessalonians. We actually, in fact, have a whole 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:28.240 pile of letters written from a few years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, talking about the 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:32.079 fact that Jesus actually rose from the dead. We actually have that historical evidence. It was that 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:38.639 historical evidence first recognized as scripture later. And, uh, so that, that just, as you're going 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:42.479 all through this and listening through the weeks to come, that's what the book of Romans is. And we're 00:04:42.479 --> 00:04:47.759 going to, of course, listen to it as also then, uh, something which is a profound and ultimately from God 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:53.919 word directly to us. But the guy who wrote this letter, he's also very, very interesting because it, 00:04:53.919 --> 00:04:59.599 if you ever wonder whether God has a sense of humor, you just have to think about, um, about Paul. 00:04:59.600 --> 00:05:05.920 Paul, Iran's been in the news a lot lately, uh, more in, if you, if you do like me, uh, you look 00:05:05.920 --> 00:05:10.640 at BBC World News and, uh, you look at some American news sources. It's been more in the American and 00:05:10.640 --> 00:05:14.800 British news sources that I think than Canada, although it's now Canada's sort of catching up. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:20.480 There's huge things going on in Iran right now. Uh, it's, so it should be something of our prayers, 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:26.960 by the way, that that country, things can happen in that country that will, um, will end the heavy hand, 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:33.359 uh, that has fallen upon that people. Uh, but one of the things which Iran is famous for is their type 00:05:33.359 --> 00:05:41.519 of, uh, religious police. I can't remember the, the Islamic, uh, and Farsi name for it. Uh, but, uh, 00:05:41.519 --> 00:05:46.079 and, and, you know, they'd go around again and make sure that, you know, women were properly covered and, 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:50.560 and that, you know, things are the right length and all of that. And you'd get hit by a stick if it's not. 00:05:50.560 --> 00:05:58.000 So, what you have to understand that is, in one level, Paul was the Jewish equivalent of that. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:06.800 He was the Jewish equivalent of that. In fact, if you not look just at Acts, but other letters, 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:13.040 it's implied that he actually even took this enforcing of rigorous religious rules, even to 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:20.000 the point of having a hand in, in, in several people being killed and being thrown in jail. And 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:26.960 so Paul, who was so intolerant of his brother and sister Jewish people, if they weren't actually being 00:06:26.960 --> 00:06:34.240 absolutely meticulously observant of how he understood the law to be observed, you can just 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:42.000 imagine what he thought of people who worshipped gods and goddesses, what worshipped Aphrodite and Zeus. 00:06:43.040 --> 00:06:48.480 Like, he wouldn't even have been, wanted to be in the same room with them. And this is the guy 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:51.360 that Jesus appears to after his resurrection. 00:06:54.400 --> 00:07:02.000 And that's how Paul, his life is completely and utterly changed from a man who is so hateful 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:10.000 and intolerant and intolerant and he meets Jesus and his whole life is turned around and God, in a sense 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:18.079 of humor, says, you're going to be the one I've chosen you to tell pagans about me. 00:07:22.079 --> 00:07:27.360 Like, nobody would have saw that coming, right? They picked the guy who's the most intolerant to be 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:36.000 the guy who's going to bring to learn a very profound Christian gospel-centered care and concern 00:07:36.000 --> 00:07:43.280 for the other and will even end up being the great apologist for the fact that pagans and Jews, for 00:07:43.280 --> 00:07:48.639 that matter, who become Christians, don't have to keep all of those minute rules that he used to enforce. 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:53.360 So if you ever wonder if God has a sense of humor, just think about Paul. So that's the guy who's 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:59.360 writing this letter. So if you turn in with me, you'll look. It's very easy to find in a sense, 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:05.120 Romans 1 verse 1. And it'll also be up on the screen, but it's good to have a Bible and look around. 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:09.759 And by the way, as you're reading ahead in the book of Romans, you know, you can make questions. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:14.319 Send me emails if you have questions about texts coming along the line. I'll see if I can weave it 00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:18.800 into the sermon. I can't always promise, but if you have questions, feel free to email them to me. 00:08:18.800 --> 00:08:25.199 And so the letter begins like this, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, 00:08:25.759 --> 00:08:32.799 set apart for the gospel of God. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:42.080 for the gospel of God. Now, one of the things, so actually, so here's the first very, very simple 00:08:42.080 --> 00:08:48.080 point from this. If you could put it up, Claire, that would be very helpful. The gospel is good news from 00:08:48.080 --> 00:08:54.960 God about the Lord Jesus Christ. A very, very simple thing. The gospel is good news from God 00:08:55.520 --> 00:09:00.800 about the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, how do I get that? So there's something in the original language 00:09:01.680 --> 00:09:06.480 which doesn't exist in English. And that's, if you look again at verse 1, and when it says the gospel 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:12.080 of God, the original hearers of that would have heard two things being said at the same time. 00:09:12.800 --> 00:09:17.120 They would have heard, first of all, actually, before I say that, what they heard, the word gospel 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:22.080 would have jumped out at them, because that was a very common word in the ancient world. 00:09:22.799 --> 00:09:29.279 And in the ancient world, when the emperor or an important general had defeated an enemy 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:38.480 and conquered a new land, he would send out a gospel, a declaration, a declaration, Rome has won, 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:46.480 I have won, our enemies are conquered, Roman peace and security is now here. And that was called a 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:53.039 gospel. It was a proclamation of this particular type of good news. And Paul is taking this word, 00:09:53.039 --> 00:09:57.759 and he's turning it into something about what Jesus has done. So the Roman hearers, they would have been 00:09:57.759 --> 00:10:03.680 very familiar with hearing these gospels, these proclamations, these declarations of victory. 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:10.079 And he says that he is set apart for the gospel of God, this type of declaration, and that the two 00:10:10.079 --> 00:10:14.879 senses of the word of God that you don't get in English, but it's there in the original language, 00:10:15.599 --> 00:10:24.799 they would either hear that this is good news about God, or they would, and they would also hear 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:30.159 that it's good news from God. They would hear that, and it's, you can't get it in English, but in the 00:10:30.159 --> 00:10:33.360 original language, they would have heard the two things going along. They would have said, 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:38.399 that's really interesting. We're used to hearing gospel, so to speak, when an emperor has just 00:10:38.399 --> 00:10:45.679 killed a whole pile of people and taken over more land. But he says there's this declaration of victory 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:53.679 that's made public, and it's from God, and it's about God. And that's how the book opens. And so one 00:10:53.679 --> 00:10:59.600 way to understand it, very simply put, is the gospel is good news from God about the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:10:59.600 --> 00:11:06.639 And so you hear that it's news. It's not advice. It's not therapy. It's not metaphor. I mean, 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:12.800 you know, there are therapeutic results of the gospel, you know, and there's all sorts of 00:11:12.800 --> 00:11:19.600 implications of the gospel, but it's not ritual. It's not new yoga techniques. It's not metaphors. 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:26.320 It's news of something that was done that's going to be transformative. And it's news about a person. 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:32.480 And this is really important, because one of the deep longings of our human heart 00:11:34.160 --> 00:11:36.400 is to not be alone. 00:11:39.280 --> 00:11:47.600 Not be alone and die alone. To be alone, to be lonely, to be absent and distant and not having 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:54.879 a people, a person, others that are connected to us. That is a very, very deep ache. And we have a far 00:11:54.879 --> 00:12:00.320 deeper ache for that than we do for new rituals, new techniques, new, you know, new ways to lose weight 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:04.560 or make money. I mean, we like, might like all those things. But if we, if God was to say, 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:10.720 we can have those things, but you won't actually know anybody. At first, we might take it. But after sick, 00:12:10.720 --> 00:12:15.279 after even a month or so, we'd all say, God, can I change my thing? I'd rather not have any of those 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:20.720 things and actually have connections with people. That's what we would choose. Because that's a far 00:12:20.720 --> 00:12:27.920 deeper longing. And so this is very profound. This is good news. The gospel is good news from God 00:12:27.920 --> 00:12:31.920 about a person. And that person is the Lord Jesus Christ, which we're going to see in a couple of 00:12:31.920 --> 00:12:37.360 verses. Now, I'm not making any comment for those Christians who differ over whether Christians can read 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:42.399 Harry Potter or watch the Harry Potter films. I'm not going to get into a big discussion. But there's 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:46.480 a really, for those who've read the book, some of the books, or those who've seen some of the movies, 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:50.720 I can't remember which movie it is. There's a really interesting and actually very, very profoundly 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:57.120 Christian idea in one of the movies. And I can't remember which it is, but they're out and they set 00:12:57.120 --> 00:13:02.480 up a little tent. And there's, of course, a magical tent. And they set up a magical tent. And you go into 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:07.279 the tent, and it looks like it's just like a, you know, maybe a tent that three people could sleep in. And they go 00:13:07.279 --> 00:13:12.799 into the tent, and it's huge. It's like there's a mansion inside. And one of the people goes, 00:13:13.679 --> 00:13:18.240 looking around. And then they get out of the tent. And when they get out of the tent, they look around, 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:26.000 just a little tiny tent. Like wilderness all around. And then they go back in the tent. 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:30.079 And inside of the tent is bigger than the outside of the tent. Why is this a very interesting Christian 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:35.840 idea? Inside the stable in Bethlehem was one bigger than the universe. 00:13:38.560 --> 00:13:43.120 Right? It's a Christian idea. And so one of the things you're going to see throughout the entire 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:48.160 book of Romans is, so it begins with this very simple thing. You know, Paul is serving the Christ. 00:13:48.160 --> 00:13:51.759 Jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of God. And I just explained what the gospel 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:56.480 of God is. The gospel is good news from God about the Lord Jesus Christ. Very, very simple idea. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:00.560 And as I was talking about at the 10 o'clock service, the 8 o'clock service, like those of you 00:14:00.560 --> 00:14:04.639 who have young children, you could say to a three-year-old, you know, the gospel, there's this 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:10.080 really good news about Jesus, who's the Lord. And God will use him to make you right with Jesus. And 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:14.080 you can tell that to a three-year-old or a four-year-old. And then you could say to them, 00:14:14.080 --> 00:14:16.960 would you like Jesus to be your Lord and Savior? And they'll say yes. 00:14:18.800 --> 00:14:23.680 But you go in, in the book of Romans, you're going to now go into this a little bit deeper. In the next 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:27.120 little bit, you go understand that those words are actually way bigger than they look. And then 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:30.079 the next part of Romans, you're going to see it's even bigger than that. And then you go to another 00:14:30.079 --> 00:14:33.039 part of Romans, and you're going to see it's even bigger than that. And then you're going to go to 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:37.120 a room within that room, and it's even bigger than that. It keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger 00:14:37.120 --> 00:14:42.879 in the same way that that precious little four-year-old can say, yes, I'd like to give my life to Jesus. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:47.359 And 40 years later, he's just completed, or she's just completed the fourth volume, 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:55.200 every volume this thick of systematic theology. And it's just all, that's, it's nothing different 00:14:55.200 --> 00:15:01.360 from that simple proclamation. It's just as you enter into the words, and the words enter into you, 00:15:02.159 --> 00:15:04.879 it's bigger on the inside than it is from the outside. 00:15:06.560 --> 00:15:11.279 So we begin to see this opening up. That's what happens now in verses two and following. Let's look. 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:16.639 So actually, the end of verse one, for the gospel of God, and now he's going to explain a little bit 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:22.399 more about what the gospel of God is. He says here, which he promised, that's God, which God promised 00:15:22.399 --> 00:15:28.559 beforehand through his prophets, that's the Jewish prophets, only Jewish prophets, no others, which he 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:34.480 promised beforehand through his prophets, his Jewish prophets in the Holy Scriptures, which is what we 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:38.959 call our Jewish brothers and our friends call us the Tanakh, which we call the Old Testament. 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:43.759 So God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, 00:15:44.320 --> 00:15:50.080 concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, and was declared to be the 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:56.080 son of God in power according to the spirit of the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:02.639 Jesus Christ our Lord. Verse four again, and was declared to be the son of God in power according 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:08.879 to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, and we'll pause there. 00:16:09.920 --> 00:16:14.160 Now all of that can get bigger and bigger and bigger, but here's a very simple summary. If you could put up 00:16:14.160 --> 00:16:26.160 the point, Claire, that would be helpful. Jesus Christ is God, the Son of God, fully human, the one promised 00:16:26.160 --> 00:16:34.240 by God, and fully vindicated by his resurrection. Now it's opening up about who Jesus is. What is this? The 00:16:34.240 --> 00:16:40.480 good news is about the Lord Jesus Christ. It's about a person. Who is this person? Well, this person is 00:16:40.480 --> 00:16:46.080 described in these types of things that for centuries and centuries God has spoken through his prophets 00:16:46.639 --> 00:16:52.480 and has declared that he is going to do something unbelievably salvific and make all things right, 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:54.480 that everything sad will become untrue. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:17:00.720 All that he has kept in a very decisive way. He's kept his word in the person of his son. 00:17:01.279 --> 00:17:06.079 And this person is God, the Son of God. That's what it means when it says he was declared to be the Son 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:11.759 of God. I mean, that's what it actually says, right? And that he's completely and utterly human. That's 00:17:11.759 --> 00:17:16.400 why in verse 3 it says, according to the flesh. And that's as I've talked about in other sermons. In 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:22.879 this particular context, flesh is emphasizing fully human and all of human frailty. So all of 00:17:23.519 --> 00:17:30.799 human, he's completely human, even being frail and finite as regard to his human nature. He's also God, 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:34.640 the Son of God, but he's just one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you can see how there's big 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:39.440 books of theology that can be read, written. And this is going to get even, he's going to talk about this 00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:44.720 more as it comes up in the things. He's just sort of setting the stage and the table. And why is it that 00:17:44.720 --> 00:17:50.080 anybody with half a brain would ever believe something so completely and utterly, on one hand, 00:17:50.080 --> 00:17:56.640 wonderful, but also completely and utterly impossible? Well, it was completely, this news, and who he is, 00:17:56.640 --> 00:18:03.920 is completely and utterly vindicated and established by the fact that on, that hundreds and thousands 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:10.800 of thousands of people saw him crucified on a cross on a Friday and fully and utterly die, 00:18:10.800 --> 00:18:16.240 even to the point of blood and water coming out of the side of his body. And he was embalmed, and he 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:23.279 was put in a tomb. And on the third day, the tomb is empty, the body is gone, and he has appeared over 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:30.080 a period of time showing people that he has defeated death and that which causes death, and he is alive. 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:34.319 And if the resurrection is true, Christianity is true. 00:18:37.519 --> 00:18:41.839 And I'm not saying you can't puzzle over whether there's a young earth or an old earth or six days 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:46.720 or whatever, and I'm not saying you can't puzzle over questions of predestination, and I'm not saying 00:18:46.720 --> 00:18:53.119 you can't puzzle over questions of the problem of evil, but all I can tell you is that, in fact, if Jesus 00:18:53.119 --> 00:18:59.839 rose from the dead, Christianity is true. And there is an answer to those particular questions, which will be 00:18:59.839 --> 00:19:06.159 intellectually and emotionally satisfying and better than any answer you will ever find from any other 00:19:06.159 --> 00:19:13.199 system of thought, because Jesus Christ, by his resurrection, has been vindicated to be what Paul 00:19:13.199 --> 00:19:18.559 has just said he is. And if you were there saying, Paul, I don't know, he said, no, boy, if you knew what 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:26.720 I was like 24 years ago, and you could see me now, you would know. I saw him. 00:19:30.240 --> 00:19:34.319 That's why the grave is empty. That's who Jesus is. 00:19:36.639 --> 00:19:40.960 Now, some might say, George, that's, I mean, that's okay, that's all interesting, and I'm really glad you 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:45.039 said all that. And I don't know, George, if you happen to know this, but I have a little bit of a sub-hobby. 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:50.480 I don't meet very many Christians, like, it's sort of interesting to meet you. I have a little bit of 00:19:50.480 --> 00:19:57.599 a sub-hobby. I love arguing with Christians. I love poking them about this and that. I like trying to 00:19:57.599 --> 00:20:02.319 rattle their chain on things, you know. I mean, there's a whole pile of people, they find out I'm 00:20:02.319 --> 00:20:06.319 a Christian, they want to rattle my chain to see if I'm going to say something for or against Trump or 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:09.759 some other type of political issue. They like to try to do things like that, right? And I just, 00:20:09.759 --> 00:20:16.720 I try as often as possible not to take the bait on those particular things. It's, but, you know, 00:20:16.720 --> 00:20:20.319 so somebody might say, George, that's all really interesting, but you know what? What on earth does 00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:24.799 it have to do with me, other than the fact that I can now, you know, really poke you about a whole 00:20:24.799 --> 00:20:30.240 pile of things? Well, there's a fellow by the name of Stephen Covey who used to be, I don't know if 00:20:30.240 --> 00:20:37.200 he's still many people read him or his techniques, and Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I read the 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:41.360 book and it's very, it was very helpful to me. And one of the things he talks about early on in the 00:20:41.360 --> 00:20:47.600 book, which is also very helpful, is he talks about how effective people work in their sphere of 00:20:47.600 --> 00:20:55.279 influence, and ineffective people spend their time in their, the sphere of concern. Now, what does he 00:20:55.279 --> 00:21:03.279 mean by that? The language is a little bit misleading. Take, take two different people living next door to 00:21:03.279 --> 00:21:11.279 each other in the same condo. And Andy comes home from work, and while he was coming home from work, 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:18.639 he's scrolling through his phone and is checking TikTok and Instagram and, and his, and, and X and 00:21:18.639 --> 00:21:25.839 news feeds. And he comes home and he's so enraged by what's going on in the world that he decides after, 00:21:25.839 --> 00:21:29.599 because he gets home, he keeps just scrolling. He's so enraged, he can't actually make a proper 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:34.719 supper supper. So he sticks something from a, that can be microwaved. He wolfs it down. And then after 00:21:34.719 --> 00:21:39.599 that, he spends more time and he looks on news sources. And then he, he sends out a few little 00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:44.959 answers and tweets ranting about, I don't know, Trump or against Trump or, you know, ICE or against ICE or 00:21:44.959 --> 00:21:50.799 whatever it is. And, you know, and then he, then he does a little bit of watching of Netflix. And then 00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:56.319 after he's done some Netflix, you know, he listens to some music, and then he has a couple of beers, 00:21:56.319 --> 00:22:04.720 and then he goes to bed. And he spent most of his night in his area of concern. Right next door to 00:22:04.720 --> 00:22:11.599 the fellow, we'll call him Andy, is, is Bob. And Bob on the way home was listening to an audio book. 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:17.119 And before he got home, he stopped off at the grocery store around the corner and he bought 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:21.679 himself some salad making stuff and bought himself a chicken breast. And he went home, 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:26.480 listening to the audio book. He made himself a really healthy meal with some boneless, 00:22:26.480 --> 00:22:31.920 skinless chicken breast and a salad and, you know, maybe some corn meal with a bit of spice and some 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:38.240 peppers. And he had his meal. And then after that, he washed his dishes and he cleaned his house and got 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:42.880 his laundry ready to do the next day. And then he went to the gym and he had a workout for an hour. 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:46.880 And then when he came back, he actually looked at some of his bills and got his bills sorted out and then 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:52.720 he went to bed. He spent his whole time in a circle of influence, things he could actually do. 00:22:55.920 --> 00:23:00.160 Bob's going to have an effective life and he's going to have a completely and utterly ineffective 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:06.320 life because he did things that were all of concern to him, but he couldn't do absolutely anything at 00:23:06.320 --> 00:23:11.360 all about. So you might say, George, this just sounds like one of those things that now Christians can 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:17.039 be concerned about, but it has nothing to do with your daily life. To which Paul would say is, 00:23:18.719 --> 00:23:21.439 did you miss the part about the resurrection from the dead? 00:23:21.440 --> 00:23:28.400 Like, what could be more concerning to you about the fact that you're going to die? 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:37.279 Like, did you notice that? Like, shouldn't that maybe be of something that, and it's been told to 00:23:37.279 --> 00:23:42.320 you in the sense that there might be something you can do about that? Like, I think that actually 00:23:42.320 --> 00:23:46.320 qualifies for something that should be in your circle of things you can do something about, 00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:52.960 not just something that you're only concerned about. So if you, let's, so this is what Paul 00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:58.000 immediately goes to, by the way. He doesn't just stop at verse 4. Look at verse 5. So it says, you know, 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:02.879 just before, through the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, verse 5, through whom we have 00:24:02.879 --> 00:24:09.679 received grace, that's God's unmerited kindness and favor. Surely that should be something that is of 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:20.240 interest you to receive unmerited kindness and mercy from God, and apostleship, which it's a bit of a, 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:25.200 you know, they can't all receive that, to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:31.120 name among all the nations. And the obedience of faith, that's the really big particular idea there. 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:37.279 And what obedience of faith means is, if you could put up the point that would be helpful, 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:45.759 God's good news is call, is a, God's good news, the gospel, is a call to you personally 00:24:47.039 --> 00:24:53.679 to the obedience of faith, the obedience of faith. Now that's a bit confusing in English, 00:24:53.679 --> 00:24:58.719 and we can get the order wrong, but the order is essential to understanding the gospel. 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:03.440 And it's part of the gospel. It's not just a declaration of what Jesus has done, 00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:09.680 a huge victory, which is relevant to you. And part of the relevance to you is the obedience of faith. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:16.400 That's a call that God is, God's good news is a call to you personally to the obedience of faith. 00:25:17.360 --> 00:25:24.319 But the direction is important. It's not that you obey, obey, obey, obey, obey, obey, 00:25:24.319 --> 00:25:32.240 obey, obey, obey, obey, obey the faith. It is that you have faith in Christ, and out of that obedience, 00:25:32.879 --> 00:25:36.559 a type of very particular freeing type of obedience will come. 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:42.480 It'll be a little bit clearer if we look at the next verse, and then I'll put up a couple of points. 00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:44.480 So look at verse 5 again. 00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:51.360 Through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:58.079 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 00:25:59.440 --> 00:26:03.839 To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:07.680 grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:14.080 Look at that verse 6. Including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 00:26:14.080 --> 00:26:17.039 Remember I said part of the good news is it's about a person. 00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:21.360 It's not just a principle, a metaphor, techniques, a whole pile of disciplines. 00:26:21.360 --> 00:26:26.799 It's actual person, and it's actually speaking, therefore, at one of the deepest longings and yearnings of our hearts. 00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:29.200 Our fear is to be completely alone, 00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:36.640 and our desire is that there are persons that we are connected with who know us and love us and respect us 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:42.480 and will treat us with integrity and open their lives to us and allow us to open our lives to them. 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:47.279 And he's saying it's not just this, it's that you'll actually belong to Jesus Christ. 00:26:48.000 --> 00:26:53.440 And the idea of belonging here, it's really important because it's not like, 00:26:53.440 --> 00:27:04.000 you know, many parts of the world continue to be embroiled in the terror and the evil of ISIS 00:27:04.000 --> 00:27:07.039 and different offshoots that come from the Muslim Brotherhood. 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:12.880 And you know that when groups that have been radicalized according to the Muslim Brotherhood 00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:21.039 and brought in a sense the full teachings of the Koran, including the really cruel teachings of the Koran, 00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:29.839 into the modern world, when they capture places that they'll belong to Islam, they'll belong to ISIS, 00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:35.119 it means the hurt and diminishment of all women and most people. 00:27:39.359 --> 00:27:40.639 And it's terrible. 00:27:43.440 --> 00:27:49.039 But how you have to understand belonging here is in terms of grace, in terms of love, 00:27:49.039 --> 00:27:53.359 and even that word set apart, which implies set apart to be precious. 00:27:54.720 --> 00:28:01.200 A good way to understand the setting apart to be precious is you decide you want to get a new dog 00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:07.839 and there's nothing wrong with going to get puppies from breeders, that's a very, very good thing to do, 00:28:08.399 --> 00:28:10.799 but you decide you'd like to get a rescue dog. 00:28:10.799 --> 00:28:17.839 That you'd like to get a dog that was abandoned, that you know that if it's not adopted at a certain point in time, 00:28:17.839 --> 00:28:18.799 it'll be euthanized. 00:28:19.359 --> 00:28:24.159 And so you go and you look at all the dogs and you set one apart 00:28:26.319 --> 00:28:29.359 to take home, to belong to you. 00:28:29.359 --> 00:28:36.879 And as soon as you bring it home, very shortly after, even before that, you buy a bed for it, 00:28:36.879 --> 00:28:43.039 you buy food for it, you take it to the, maybe the doggy hairdresser, 00:28:43.039 --> 00:28:51.359 and get it all cut up, get the hair cut and trimmed, and you get toys for it, and you play with it, 00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:57.039 and this now dog belongs to you. That dog was set apart to belong to you, 00:28:57.680 --> 00:29:01.680 so you could pour out your heart and your love to that beautiful little dog. 00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:07.759 And the reason so many people love dogs is no matter how day, how bad your day is when you come home, 00:29:08.320 --> 00:29:10.000 the dog is happy to see you. 00:29:14.480 --> 00:29:19.600 One of the reasons so many people like dogs, right? The dog is happy to see you. 00:29:22.640 --> 00:29:25.680 And that's the way you have to understand this verse 6, 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:29.279 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 00:29:29.279 --> 00:29:35.039 So if you could put up the next point, Claire, I think it should be number 4. 00:29:35.599 --> 00:29:40.559 Here's very important then to understand this obedience of faith and belonging to Christ. 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:49.119 You do not live in the hope of belonging, but live in hope because you belong. 00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:56.319 If you don't have that order, you're not hearing the Gospel. 00:29:56.319 --> 00:30:04.159 For many Christians, it's like, oh, I got it all reversed. 00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:08.240 The order is unbelievably important. 00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:15.279 You do not live day by day hoping that someday you can belong to Christ, 00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:25.839 but you live every day in hope because you belong to Christ, because Christ has done something to set you apart 00:30:26.639 --> 00:30:35.119 for himself because you're precious to him and he loves you and he wants to pour out his affection to you. 00:30:35.119 --> 00:30:41.279 He wants, just as you know what, you take home a dog and you do the hairdressing stuff and all, 00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:48.639 and don't go really crazy and, you know, really crazy with it, but in a sense you want to have the dog groomed so the dog can be more doggy. 00:30:50.479 --> 00:30:58.079 And the dog's essential personality can come out by dealing with the health and other types of issues and having it properly fed. 00:30:58.079 --> 00:30:59.679 And that's what Christ wants to do for you. 00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:04.159 Isn't that such fantastic news? 00:31:05.039 --> 00:31:09.679 How can that not be of interest to people in terms of your circle of influence? 00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:13.839 That God is calling you to that, inviting you to that. 00:31:15.279 --> 00:31:17.919 And here's how it goes in a very theological way. 00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:19.120 If you could put up the next point. 00:31:19.120 --> 00:31:21.120 This is the theological way of expressing it. 00:31:21.600 --> 00:31:28.800 You are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for God's glory alone. 00:31:30.720 --> 00:31:32.240 That's what this is saying. 00:31:34.480 --> 00:31:36.480 That's what classic Anglicanism is. 00:31:37.360 --> 00:31:38.400 You are saved. 00:31:38.400 --> 00:31:43.279 In other words, God does something to rescue you, to make you his. 00:31:43.920 --> 00:31:44.960 He is the one. 00:31:44.960 --> 00:31:47.519 His call is a call with power. 00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:51.200 It's going to get, you know, we're going to keep opening it up as we go in week by week by week. 00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:52.319 You get these simple words. 00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:54.639 You get into it, you know, in a couple of verses down. 00:31:54.639 --> 00:31:56.559 And you go, whoa, it's way bigger than I thought. 00:31:56.559 --> 00:31:57.200 And you get into that. 00:31:57.200 --> 00:32:02.879 Whoa, it's way bigger and way more beautiful and way more marvelous than you thought beforehand. 00:32:02.879 --> 00:32:04.319 It just keeps getting more marvelous. 00:32:04.319 --> 00:32:09.599 You are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for God's glory alone. 00:32:09.599 --> 00:32:17.839 Now, in closing, there's three, Paul now goes through three important implications. 00:32:18.879 --> 00:32:21.519 Each one of them will be quite brief, but they're important. 00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:30.279 And Tim Keller has famously said, the gospel has implications, but the implications are not the gospel. 00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:32.119 Okay? 00:32:32.119 --> 00:32:35.399 The gospel is the gospel, but the gospel is going to have implications. 00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:36.599 Okay? 00:32:36.839 --> 00:32:38.519 But those implications aren't the gospel. 00:32:39.559 --> 00:32:41.960 The gospel is the gospel, but they're going to have implications. 00:32:42.599 --> 00:32:48.680 And so, in a sense, you see, how Paul has written the letter is, just take a step back, a bit of a nerdish moment for a second. 00:32:48.680 --> 00:32:52.200 Those of you who are nerds about books and stuff, take a step back. 00:32:52.200 --> 00:32:56.920 You know, verses one to seven, primarily, it's in a sense a summary. 00:32:56.920 --> 00:32:59.240 A lot of it is actually all at the end as well. 00:32:59.240 --> 00:33:02.440 There's an inclusio, if you're really into geeky stuff like that. 00:33:03.559 --> 00:33:08.440 And it's setting forth, in a sense, the big idea of the book on one type of level. 00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:12.440 You know, and then the next few verses are a few implications, a few biographical stuff. 00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:13.960 That's verses one to 15. 00:33:13.960 --> 00:33:18.200 Verses 16 to 17 is, in a sense, the theological praesi. 00:33:18.200 --> 00:33:20.440 It would be the praesi of the whole book. 00:33:20.440 --> 00:33:25.400 Verses 1, chapter, 1, 18 to chapter 3, verse 20 is, 00:33:25.400 --> 00:33:28.680 what is the problem that the gospel, that only the gospel will solve? 00:33:29.160 --> 00:33:32.920 Chapter 3, verse 21 to the end of 11 is, what on earth is the gospel? 00:33:32.920 --> 00:33:36.680 And keeping on bringing in more and more aspects of it, and how beautiful and glorious it is. 00:33:36.680 --> 00:33:41.000 And then chapters 12 through 16 is, how do you then live, given that the gospel is true, 00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:42.120 and you've given your life to Christ? 00:33:42.120 --> 00:33:43.160 That's how the book is set up. 00:33:43.960 --> 00:33:46.279 And so, Paul even has some implications here. 00:33:46.279 --> 00:33:47.480 Let's look at where they are. 00:33:47.480 --> 00:33:49.559 I'm going to show three important implications. 00:33:49.559 --> 00:33:51.240 It begins at verse 7. 00:33:52.359 --> 00:33:55.319 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. 00:33:57.079 --> 00:33:58.279 What a good attitude, right? 00:33:58.279 --> 00:34:04.279 I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 00:34:04.279 --> 00:34:08.840 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, 00:34:08.840 --> 00:34:17.320 that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 00:34:17.320 --> 00:34:22.600 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you. 00:34:23.080 --> 00:34:29.000 That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. 00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:30.200 Look at that verse 12 again. 00:34:30.200 --> 00:34:35.559 That is, we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. 00:34:35.559 --> 00:34:40.920 So here's the first sort of implication, if you could put it up. 00:34:40.920 --> 00:34:52.840 In belonging to Jesus, you will know your need and your calling to encourage others and to allow others to encourage you. 00:34:52.840 --> 00:35:09.079 I'm really weak at allowing others to encourage me. 00:35:09.079 --> 00:35:10.360 You can pray into that for me. 00:35:11.559 --> 00:35:15.800 And, you know, there used to be, for those of you of a certain age, I don't think they teach it anymore. 00:35:15.800 --> 00:35:19.720 They used to teach kids this song, and it had a line, 00:35:19.719 --> 00:35:23.639 where seldom is heard a discouraging word. 00:35:23.639 --> 00:35:25.319 I don't know how many of you know that song. 00:35:25.319 --> 00:35:29.879 And a lot of Christian pastors would say, unfortunately, that doesn't describe churches. 00:35:30.919 --> 00:35:34.119 A lot of churches' names could be the Church of Discouraging Words. 00:35:37.480 --> 00:35:42.279 But we should pray that that's the type of church that we are, that we understand, 00:35:42.279 --> 00:35:47.559 I have a need to encourage others and to have others encourage me. 00:35:47.559 --> 00:35:49.000 And I have a call to do that. 00:35:49.719 --> 00:35:54.519 And that we could pray that the gospel will come so real to our heart that that becomes 00:35:54.519 --> 00:35:58.359 an implication of what it means to have been welcomed to Christ. 00:35:59.159 --> 00:36:01.000 Another very important brief implication. 00:36:01.559 --> 00:36:02.599 Just keep reading. 00:36:02.599 --> 00:36:04.039 Verse 13 and 14. 00:36:05.079 --> 00:36:07.000 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers. 00:36:07.000 --> 00:36:12.359 And just by the way, one of the things which I love the ESV translation, but a really big mistake, 00:36:12.359 --> 00:36:16.359 I think, the ESV translation made is translating this word brothers. 00:36:16.360 --> 00:36:20.599 Brothers, every time you see the word brothers, I mean, virtually every time, 00:36:21.160 --> 00:36:23.160 every time maybe except, anyway, never mind. 00:36:23.160 --> 00:36:31.079 Every time you see the word brothers in the new test in the ESV, you should, it's brothers and sisters. 00:36:31.079 --> 00:36:32.280 It's not just brothers. 00:36:32.280 --> 00:36:33.400 It's brothers and sisters. 00:36:33.400 --> 00:36:36.840 I don't know why they, I mean, I know why they did it, but I think they made a mistake. 00:36:36.840 --> 00:36:42.360 So, I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I have often intended to come to you, 00:36:42.360 --> 00:36:51.639 but thus far have been prevented, in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles, the pagans. 00:36:51.639 --> 00:36:59.639 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 00:36:59.639 --> 00:37:02.119 And that's the second implication right there. 00:37:02.119 --> 00:37:03.960 If you could put it up, Claire, that would be helpful. 00:37:04.519 --> 00:37:12.039 In belonging to Jesus, you now have a debt to pay towards those outside the Christian faith. 00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:18.839 In belonging to Jesus, you now have a debt to pay towards those outside the Christian faith. 00:37:18.840 --> 00:37:23.480 The word obligation there is literally that you are indebted, that you have a debt. 00:37:23.480 --> 00:37:25.720 That's what it literally means in the original language. 00:37:25.720 --> 00:37:30.039 And so, there's more than, there's lots of different senses of debt, but for this point, 00:37:30.039 --> 00:37:33.880 it's important to think of two different ways that I might be in debt. 00:37:33.880 --> 00:37:41.320 The first way I might be in debt is that I go to Andrew and Lisa and I ask if I could borrow $5,000 from them. 00:37:42.120 --> 00:37:46.280 And they lend it to me, and now I'm now in debt to Andrew and Lisa for $5,000. 00:37:46.280 --> 00:37:52.680 A second way I can be in debt is if, let's say, Andrea and Laurier would say, 00:37:53.320 --> 00:37:59.480 George, we'd like to give $5,000 to Andrew and Lisa, and we don't want them to know that it comes from us. 00:37:59.960 --> 00:38:04.760 So, I'm giving you $5,000 to give $5,000 to Andrew and Lisa. 00:38:07.160 --> 00:38:10.600 Now, I have a debt that has to be paid. 00:38:10.599 --> 00:38:13.319 I have to, I am indebted to making sure that that happens. 00:38:13.319 --> 00:38:16.599 I have an obligation to pass that money on to them. 00:38:16.599 --> 00:38:23.960 The longer I keep hold of it, the more I'm in defiance of what, of what, of what Laurie and Andrea have wanted. 00:38:23.960 --> 00:38:25.960 And that's the sense which is here. 00:38:29.159 --> 00:38:35.319 You might feel like you're a very unworthy and very unskilled Christian, but if you belong to Jesus, 00:38:35.320 --> 00:38:42.519 Jesus, he has given you several, at least several precious coins of the gospel to pass on to others. 00:38:45.400 --> 00:38:49.400 Now, you don't know who it is, but that's why you see you share the gospel with Muhammad, 00:38:50.440 --> 00:38:53.559 your next door, your condo, next door in the condo. 00:38:53.559 --> 00:39:02.679 That's why you share the gospel with the woman with green hair and lots of piercings. 00:39:03.719 --> 00:39:09.719 That's why you share the gospel with your atheist university professor. 00:39:09.960 --> 00:39:17.559 That's why you share the gospel with the person that you know that seems as if their life is vastly more successful and better than you. 00:39:18.519 --> 00:39:19.320 Because you don't know. 00:39:20.199 --> 00:39:26.840 But God has given you, in a sense, the pearl of great price, a coin of great price to pass on to others. 00:39:26.840 --> 00:39:31.159 And that pearl, that coin, is the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:39:32.039 --> 00:39:35.320 And you now, we now as a church, have that debt. 00:39:36.360 --> 00:39:38.759 Not just to those in our neighborhood, but to the world. 00:39:42.440 --> 00:39:44.440 And we're going to talk about more of that in the weeks to come. 00:39:44.440 --> 00:39:46.519 And then the final one, verse 16. 00:39:46.519 --> 00:39:56.759 If you could put up the point, Claire, this is the last one. 00:39:56.759 --> 00:40:03.800 In belonging to Jesus, you will know your need and your calling to gospel the gospel when you gather. 00:40:03.800 --> 00:40:05.179 Ha, ha, ha. 00:40:05.179 --> 00:40:11.059 In belonging to Jesus, you will know your need and your calling to gospel the gospel when you gather. 00:40:11.059 --> 00:40:15.259 You see, in the word there, in verse 16, the word for preach. 00:40:15.460 --> 00:40:16.619 So, gospel is a noun. 00:40:16.900 --> 00:40:18.099 Sorry, another geeky moment. 00:40:18.460 --> 00:40:19.320 Gospel is a noun. 00:40:19.940 --> 00:40:21.960 The verb form of gospel is that. 00:40:22.019 --> 00:40:23.500 That's translated there as preach. 00:40:23.500 --> 00:40:28.500 So, it's literally saying gospel the gospel, but gospel is now treated as a verb. 00:40:29.940 --> 00:40:31.980 And he's doing this to Christians. 00:40:32.460 --> 00:40:37.800 By the way, folks, if you are wondering why it is, people say, George, every week you mention the gospel. 00:40:38.320 --> 00:40:38.960 Why is it? 00:40:39.000 --> 00:40:41.320 Well, I don't know if I always did that in my ministry. 00:40:41.320 --> 00:40:49.600 But I know that I got asked to speak at an inter-varsity chapter 30-some-odd, 35, 37 years ago. 00:40:49.840 --> 00:40:51.980 And they asked me to speak on this text. 00:40:52.240 --> 00:40:53.660 And I'm preparing the sermon. 00:40:53.820 --> 00:40:58.440 And I said, good grief, Paul feels he needs to preach the gospel to Christians. 00:40:59.640 --> 00:41:04.000 It never dawned on me before because I was poorly trained. 00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:07.920 He wants to go to Christians to gospel the gospel. 00:41:09.219 --> 00:41:14.119 And so, that means if you have a young adults group, you have a youth group, you have a Sunday school group, 00:41:14.179 --> 00:41:19.440 in a sense, borrowing the words of Spurgeon, there should always be enough of the gospel in that 00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:23.239 for those who do not yet know Jesus to come to a saving faith in Jesus. 00:41:24.139 --> 00:41:31.340 The actual structure of the gospel should be the structure by which you share all the other teachings of Christ. 00:41:31.340 --> 00:41:36.180 We need, when we gather, to hear it, to gospel the gospel. 00:41:36.340 --> 00:41:41.000 And as you gospel the gospel, you go on the implications of what the gospel means for your emotions, 00:41:41.220 --> 00:41:47.079 for your moods, for your time, for your politics, for how you deal with things at work, for your neighbors. 00:41:47.260 --> 00:41:49.620 I mean, there's a whole pile of implications of the gospel. 00:41:49.700 --> 00:41:51.220 And the implications are not the gospel. 00:41:51.320 --> 00:41:53.920 The gospel is the gospel, but the gospel has implications. 00:41:53.980 --> 00:42:00.260 But even when you're talking about the implications, you talk about the implications because you've gospeled the gospel. 00:42:01.340 --> 00:42:02.860 And bring out the implications. 00:42:05.300 --> 00:42:06.660 That's our task, folks. 00:42:07.400 --> 00:42:08.860 Pray I can do it. 00:42:09.480 --> 00:42:11.059 Pray our small groups can do it. 00:42:11.160 --> 00:42:14.400 Pray the young adults in college and careers and youth group can do it. 00:42:14.420 --> 00:42:15.880 And the Sunday school can do it. 00:42:16.160 --> 00:42:19.059 And whatever other small groups you have, pray you can do it. 00:42:19.800 --> 00:42:21.760 Don't think, oh my, they've heard the gospel before. 00:42:21.760 --> 00:42:23.080 I need to hear the gospel. 00:42:24.140 --> 00:42:31.100 Because it's so easy when I leave here to think it's all about me doing all enough of the right things to actually be pleasing to God. 00:42:31.100 --> 00:42:37.820 And I forget that he did everything that had to be done to make me right with himself. 00:42:38.220 --> 00:42:40.980 And I now belong to him and I need to live out of it. 00:42:41.160 --> 00:42:42.760 I need to be reminded of that. 00:42:42.940 --> 00:42:44.300 That encourages me. 00:42:44.300 --> 00:42:46.900 Let's stand and pray. 00:42:59.580 --> 00:43:06.000 Father, thank you that there is good news that comes from you, about you, and what you've done. 00:43:06.360 --> 00:43:07.539 Thank you for Jesus. 00:43:07.539 --> 00:43:14.460 Thank you, Father, that he is God's son, your son, and fully human, yet one person. 00:43:14.460 --> 00:43:17.340 That he is our Savior and our Lord. 00:43:17.960 --> 00:43:24.019 Thank you that in his life and death and resurrection and ascension and coming again, 00:43:24.159 --> 00:43:27.759 everything that needed to be done so that we could belong to you, 00:43:28.259 --> 00:43:31.900 set apart objects of your love and affection and grace, 00:43:31.900 --> 00:43:36.539 that he did what had to be done and we just receive it. 00:43:36.539 --> 00:43:38.699 We just receive it. 00:43:38.759 --> 00:43:42.300 We cannot add to it or subtract from it or change it. 00:43:42.460 --> 00:43:45.380 We just receive what you have done for us in Jesus. 00:43:46.000 --> 00:43:49.880 And we give you thanks and praise that it's not just a declaration of victory, 00:43:50.039 --> 00:43:54.840 but a declaration of victory that matters to us at the very center of who we are, 00:43:54.940 --> 00:43:58.659 that you desire to have us belong to you for all eternity, 00:43:58.659 --> 00:44:01.559 and not just privately and individually, 00:44:01.559 --> 00:44:08.259 but that you call us, that the church, local churches, are part of your design and plan, 00:44:08.679 --> 00:44:10.739 that Christians can know other Christians, 00:44:10.739 --> 00:44:14.460 and that we can encourage each other, and we can be encouraged, 00:44:14.779 --> 00:44:22.299 and that we can share the gospel with each other and pray for those that we're trying to share. 00:44:22.300 --> 00:44:24.080 Father, thank you so much for that, 00:44:24.120 --> 00:44:27.900 and we ask that you would make us a church that's gospeling the gospel 00:44:27.900 --> 00:44:30.620 and encourages each other. 00:44:31.260 --> 00:44:34.260 And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior, 00:44:34.640 --> 00:44:36.920 and all God's people said, Amen. 00:44:52.300 --> 00:44:54.700 Amen. 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700 00:44:54.700 --> 00:44:54.700