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 in and the verses at the end of the chapter from verse 25 let's just read through them

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 one more time romans 16 verse 25 now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel

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 and the preaching of jesus christ according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret

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 for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made

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 known to all nations according to the command of the eternal god to bring about the obedience of

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 faith to the only wise god be glory forevermore through jesus christ amen

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 well paul very often poses challenges for those who preach the gospel

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 when he gives a paragraph like that that's just one sentence that's packed full of various

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 emphases and you can see that he is here caught up in praise to god he very frequently as you know

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 finishes his epistles his letters with what we call doxologies which is just an ascription of praise

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 or attributing of praise to god and this is one that is longer than usual it doesn't often come to that

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 sort of stretched out sentence but it's important to notice the features of it and we'll go through it

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 uh very quickly but the one thing you do notice here is that it's very very like the introduction

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 to romans and if you compare the two passages uh passage in chapter one as we read at the very

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 beginning of chapter one and compare that uh you can do it when you've got more time yourselves as well

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 but they're very similar in their emphasis in fact the same topics pretty much are dealt with in the

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 first uh opening paragraph of romans as you have here in the concluding paragraph and it's about god

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 it's about the gospel it's about jesus christ and a bit it's about the way in which that has come to be

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 revealed to us having uh had the revelation previously of the old testament as well but this particular

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 paragraph at the end of romans we can say that god and the gospel of jesus christ are set before us in

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 relation to three things um you might pick out some others as well but we focus on these three tonight

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 there's the emphasis on strengthening spiritual strengthening now to him who is able to strengthen

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 you according to my gospel and so on there's an emphasis too on evangelizing it's not actually said

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 to be evangelizing but you can see the way that uh he talks about how things have been disclosed

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 through the prophetic writings and made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal god

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 in other words the proclamation of the gospel the disseminating of the gospel the testifying of the

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 church to the gospel in the time of paul and since then is something that is here built into the

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 passage and very importantly is brought before us as an ongoing requirement of god's church by the

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 command of god himself and the third thing of course is praise uh the passage comes to uh conclude

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 to the only wise god be glory forevermore through jesus christ amen so let's look at these and go

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 through the passage in turn as i say it's somewhat difficult just to get a stopping or a breathing spot

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 before you move on to the next topic or next part of the topics that he's dealing with so the

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 strengthening first of all now unto him who's able to strengthen you according to my gospel well the word

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 therefore strengthen there is elsewhere elsewhere translated in the new testament as established

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 and paul is talking about coming to be established in our faith established in our relationship with

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 god in our relationship one with another in our relationship with the truth of god in the gospel

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 itself being established is really sometimes portrayed as setting down roots i think we mentioned this on

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 lord's day morning being rooted and grounded in christ and the two images that you have there are

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 a plant or a tree that's coming to set down roots for its stability for its establishment

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 and they're also built up it's the imagery of a building that's being put together in the structure of it

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 so as to be strong against whatever forces and stresses it has to bear and these two images really apply to

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 the christians development and indeed the development of christians together of the church of god

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 established rooted grounded all of these words tell us that here is something really important remember paul was

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 in most of his letters he was writing to relatively young churches churches that were full of young

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 believers who had come mostly from paganism though some came of course from a jewish background as well

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 but they were actually in need of being established they didn't have many of them certainly those who came

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 from a pagan background they didn't have the knowledge of the old testament they didn't have the knowledge of

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 these promises of god the revelation of the old testament it was a very quick learning curve for them if you like

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 as they were led into the teaching of salvation in christ by the likes of the apostle paul

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 you may remember that paul himself actually engaged in this kind of thing just to give you one example of that

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 if you refer to act chapter 18 and at verse 23 you can see that how on his travels paul actually went to corinth as you know we saw

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 recently how he addressed the areopagus in in in athens and you see in verse chapter 18 he comes to

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 corinth he left athens he went to corinth and then towards the end of the chapter you see the rest of his journey

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 at that stage described and when you come to verse 22 when he landed in keseria he went up and greeted

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 the church and then went down to antioch after spending some time there he departed and went

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 from one place to the next through the region of galatia and phrygia strengthening all the disciples

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 that was his aim that was his business he went around these places strengthening the disciples of christ

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 the followers of christ they needed strengthening for so many reasons and they were being strengthened

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 as he says here in romans at the end of romans being strengthened through the gospel through paul's

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 preaching of the gospel and teaching of the gospel and that's really important for us always to

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 remember as well we are strengthened certainly in our individual relationship with god we need to be

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 strengthened there as we deal uh personally with god as individual christians in our own personal

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 relationship with a savior but very often you'll find in the right in the writings of paul and the

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 other apostles that there's actually more emphasis on the development of god's people as a body as a

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 body together as christians as they develop in their understanding of their salvation of of the of the of the

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 doctrine of god and of christ and salvation it is together that they learn and come to be established and

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 that means we need each other although we need god first and foremost but we need each other for our

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 establishment and for our growth in the knowledge of god and here in verse you find that he is saying

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 he's able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of jesus christ but you notice it

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 is god who does the establishing while we need each other to a certain extent while it's a privilege and

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 indeed it's a benefit to be together as we are this evening we need these regular meetings in order to

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 share with each other our progress in the gospel and to come through the gospel to grow in that respect but it is

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 god him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of jesus christ and you see how

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 all that hangs together it is god who does the strengthening the word here is closely related to our english word

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 dynamic or dynamic or dynamism and it means really the power of god the energy that god himself has

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 that is how we come to be established it's the energy of god it's the holy spirit it is god through his holy

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 spirit uh using his power to establish us to bring us to be more and more rooted in in christ and in our

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 development of growth from that but yes it's god who strengthens you but you see it's according to my

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 gospel it's not god outside of the gospel it's not god strengthening us and then the gospel is doing

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 something else he is strengthening according to my gospel and the preaching of jesus christ

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 somebody mentioned in prayer one of the brothers in prayer mentioned uh already this evening uh the

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 privilege of being together the necessity of being together uh and how we come under preaching of the

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 word even on a night like this and that's our intention that's why i have the midweek prayer meeting

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 it's not just for prayer um some people think it might be better with having more prayer but certainly

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 my own aim and the aim of others like me i think is to have this meeting in the middle of the week

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 where we're able to hopefully give uh the kind of teaching from god's word that is not primarily

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 evangelistic but a building the kind of teaching that really goes towards the establishing of of people

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 in their faith in their relationship with god because that's what he's saying now to him who is able

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 to strengthen you god who has the dynamism to strengthen you but it's according to my gospel and the

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 preaching of jesus christ that's what the gospel is really about as well as for the awakening of

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 people to faith and that's exactly what you find in the beginning of at the beginning of romans as well

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 if you recall that's the opening uh the opening uh the opening uh the opening of of teaching in in in

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 the epistle uh where you just find that same emphasis on the gospel a servant of jesus christ

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 called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of god which he promised beforehand through his prophets in

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 the holy scripture concerning his son what is the substance of the gospel the substance of

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 the gospel is not a philosophic teaching substance of the gospel is not even the doctrine of

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 justification important though that is the substance of the gospel is the person of jesus

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 the person of christ himself in his person and work as the savior that is paul saying to the romans

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 at the beginning and at the end of of this letter it's according to my gospel and the preaching

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 of jesus christ as the substance of the gospel the core of the gospel everything in the gospel

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 message everything in the gospel that's contained and it is built around the person the central

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 doctrine the foundational doctrine of christ himself now that's uh so important for us here this evening

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 because as we said earlier this is really one of the purposes that for which we gather of course we

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 gather primarily to worship god but within the worship of god you have the preaching of the gospel you

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 have praying to god and along with that you have uh the the people of god as a fellowship sharing together

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 in that experience and sadly a lot of people don't see the need for attending a midweek meeting

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 i don't know why that is uh it's sad really from my point of view certainly because this passage itself

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 makes it clear that when we come in the middle of the week as was described in one of the prayers

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 as an oasis we're traveling through a desert we're traveling through the desert of this world and that

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 desert out there of this world is so arid you've only got to look at and listen to the pronouncements

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 of the world to the pronouncement even of some of our political leader to the pronouncements

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 of what you find in terms of the world's philosophy and that sort of worldview that's anti-christian

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 you've only got to listen to that for a few moments to realize we're walking through a desert we need

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 to be established we need to be established by the gospel by the power of god so that we grow in the knowledge

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 of god so that we're able to face the temptations the world throws at us that we're able to overcome

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 the things that the world is full of and that we're able to have a path through the desert that's fueled

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 by the power of god this is why we come to be together like this and see if you can persuade others to

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 actually join us in this particular meeting because in the middle of the week it is so important

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 it's a long way from one sabbath one lord's day to the next spiritually speaking i might say it's only

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 six days seven days but when you add up the number of hours that we spend under the word and especially

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 under the preaching of the word what do we have we have something like 30 to 40 minutes each end of a

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 lord's day an hour and a half at the very most of the word preached midweek we have say half an hour

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 and look at all the voices and look at all the other things that you have to contend with through the

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 week we need the power of god the dynamism of god we need this oasis in the middle of the week

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 and we would love to see more of these pews filled and if you are watching online i'm saying this so often

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 and we realize that our live stream and our zoom is so important for those who simply cannot get

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 to the services whether it's midweek or lord's day but nevertheless of those for those who can

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 actually be together undoubtedly that's the emphasis of scripture that we that we come together as the

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 scripture often puts it to worship the lord lord's day and midweek or wherever so he is saying here now

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 to him who is able he wants to get to the point of praising him at the end of the passage that's just

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 that's just so typical of paul isn't he he's just drawn away by the holy spirit as the holy spirit

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 fills his mind and fills his heart um he's led into this long string of of uh connected topics

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 connected points that he puts together eventually he gets to uh to the only wise god be glory forever

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 and more uh through jesus christ but he begins now unto him who is able and then you've got all of

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 these things in between before he reaches the point that he wants to get to but you're thankful to god

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 tonight and i'm thankful to god tonight that he has taken that distance to reach the end of the passage

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 because it's so filled with precious truths and he says it's according to the gospel my gospel and the

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 preaching of jesus christ but then he goes further back he says that itself is according to the

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 revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the

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 prophetic writings has been made known to all nations and you come across this word mystery in the

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 writings of paul especially and when you read about this word mister you come across it in paul's

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 writings it doesn't mean something you cannot understand it doesn't mean something that's completely

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 bamboozling you as you look at it it's actually to do with what is partially revealed in the old

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 testament and he talks here about the prophetic writings having made it known but it's as you find

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 in ephesians especially chapter three it makes it clear there what this mystery is and the mystery

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 is explained there as the the the mystery of christ which was not made known to the sons of men in other

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 generations but as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit this mystery

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 is that the gentiles are fellow heirs members of the same body and partakers of the promise in christ

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 jesus through the gospel now there's a lot of of teaching in that itself but what paul means by this is

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 the the way in which the revelation of salvation in christ came gradually to be revealed but especially

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 now revealed in the new testament age christ himself having come christ having died christ having risen

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 from the dead ascended to glory the holy spirit having come and with the power of the holy spirit led the

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 apostles first then the church afterwards into a better greater understanding of the truth it's a real

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 widening out of the truth of god of god's revelation of himself and now he's saying this has been disclosed

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 through the prophetic writings that has been made known to all the nations so it's a strengthening

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 a strengthening a strengthening according to the gospel and the gospel itself is preceded by the prophetic

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 writings of the old testament which led the way to the coming of christ and the writings of the apostles

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 but that brings us to the second point which is evangelizing it has been disclosed through the prophetic

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 writings according to the command of of made known to all nations according to the command of the

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 eternal god see up to the coming of christ god's revelation of himself and of salvation of redemption

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 was largely confined to the people of israel to the descendants of abraham the jewish people you might

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 say but of course one of the great emphases from the time of christ onwards is that the gentiles have to be

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 incorporated as we mentioned in regard to the mystery as he calls it and for the gentiles to be

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 incorporated the gentiles are you and i people who are not of a jewish background and to be incorporated

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 into the church it's by means of the gospel and by means of the gospel that mystery is large

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 is then unfolded more and more and as the gentiles come to be included it is a new insight into

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 the nature of the nature of god's church because it's not that god had a church in the old testament

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 and then he has a church now in the new testament it's not that he had a church comprised mostly of

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 jewish people but from the time of christ onwards he has a church comprised of gentiles as well as jews

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 god has only one church right through from the beginning of time a church that experiences

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 increasingly god's revelation of himself and as you find that from the old testament coming into the new

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 testament here is paul saying now it has been made known to all the nations the gospel has gone out

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 beyond jerusalem it's being carried into the world and that message of the gospel has reached into the far

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 corners of the world of course in our own day not that every single tribe or or every single part of

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 the of the globe has been penetrated by the light of the gospel but by and large it is certainly the

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 case and this is the teaching jesus actually gave to the disciples and they gave to the disciples in the

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 likes of luke 24 on in his conversation with them on the way to emmaus he took them back to what had

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 happened in jerusalem he questioned them as if he didn't know and then he revealed himself to them

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 he spoke about all the things uh beginning with uh the old testament beginning with moses

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 and all the prophets he revealed to them in all the word in all the scriptures the things concerning

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 himself himself and from then on the apostles took this word into the world

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 and you see it's commanded here by god made known to all the nations according to the command

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 of the eternal god now that reminds us of something really important something very close to

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 matthew 28 verses 11 to 20 which we saw recently uh i think it was on the morning of the baptisms

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 go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the

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 holy spirit teaching them to observe all things that i have commanded you and behold i'm with you to the

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 end of the age here is something that reminds us of that too it's according to the command of the eternal god

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 yes we go and evangelize people around us we go out and evangelize with the gospel of god because it's

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 the desire of our hearts to see people converted and people saved but what paul is reminding us here is

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 that behind that there is an actual divine command we're commanded to do it it's not something optional

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 it's not something the church has actually invented it's not something that came along somewhere

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 along the history path from the time of jesus to the present age or in some earlier centuries

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 it is something that has been commanded by the eternal god why do we go out with the gospel why

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 are we still anticipating and longing to be able to go out into our own locality with the gospel

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 like we were beginning to do and and doing over the years but especially we had started like in

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 mackenzie park for example uh just before the the lockdown came in we had to stop that uh we need to pick

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 that up again why do we need to go back why do we need to go out to people who don't actually know

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 the gospel with the gospel will god not bring them will god actually not save them where they are

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 well you can see from this it's by the preaching of jesus christ as we come to be strengthened so we

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 come actually to be incorporated into the church by the preaching of jesus christ by the teaching

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 of the gospel and we need to go with the gospel because god has commanded it because god is saying go

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 make disciples for me but it's his command that sends us out not in our own strength and just as the

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 dynamism of god is there for the building up of his people for the strengthening of his people the same

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 dynamism is there for the converting of people for bringing them to know him as their savior what

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 marvelous gospel this is because it does those two things it brings people to know jesus as the savior

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 and having come to know jesus that same gospel builds them up roots them in their faith

00:25:00.259 --> 00:25:10.619
 this is a marvelous privilege tonight to know this and to know this is really so essential for us to then

00:25:10.619 --> 00:25:18.579
 build on that knowledge or carry that knowledge into action in terms of making disciples and

00:25:18.579 --> 00:25:25.399
 following the command of god but you see it's according to the command of the eternal god

00:25:25.399 --> 00:25:33.759
 to bring about the obedience of faith here we are we're still going through this long sentence and when

00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:40.539
 you think he's finished one thing and he has and has to take a lot more time than we've got tonight to look at

00:25:40.539 --> 00:25:45.359
 each of these topics and you think well what's next surely that's really enough to be going on with

00:25:45.359 --> 00:25:50.700
 and he moves on to something else and he says something related of course what is the gospel about

00:25:50.700 --> 00:25:56.339
 why does god command that we evangelize with the gospel what is the intention what is the purpose

00:25:56.339 --> 00:26:04.000
 well it's to bring about the obedience of faith and again if you go back to the very beginning

00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:10.619
 of of romans that's exactly what he began with a servant of jesus christ

00:26:10.619 --> 00:26:18.519
 called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of god and i can see all the way through there as

00:26:18.519 --> 00:26:26.359
 we've read it through whom we have received grace and apostleship what to bring about the obedience of

00:26:26.359 --> 00:26:34.139
 faith for the sake of his name among all the nations you know it's a very sad thing when the church loses sight

00:26:34.139 --> 00:26:40.939
 of the purpose of the gospel the primary purpose of the gospel when the church takes the gospel and makes it

00:26:40.939 --> 00:26:48.919
 really no more than a political or social movement when that is the main emphasis as sadly you find in our

00:26:48.920 --> 00:26:54.640
 present day though it's not new by any means the aim of the gospel is not to bring about political change

00:26:54.640 --> 00:27:02.080
 or social change these things may be carried in with it certainly and of course social change is

00:27:02.080 --> 00:27:09.940
 important to bring people from poverty to actually have a more meaningful life all of these things but the

00:27:09.940 --> 00:27:16.360
 main purpose the primary purpose of the gospel is to bring about the obedience of faith in other words

00:27:16.359 --> 00:27:24.139
 faith in christ putting your trust in christ and that involves essentially the element of obedience

00:27:24.139 --> 00:27:30.979
 faith is not just believing some things to be true or some things have that some things have taken place

00:27:30.979 --> 00:27:39.000
 in the history of the world faith is placing your trust and confidence in christ giving yourself over to christ

00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:44.879
 for him to be your master for him to direct your life for him to save you

00:27:44.880 --> 00:27:56.220
 from your sins that is the purpose of the gospel and so that obedience of faith is one of the

00:27:56.220 --> 00:28:03.320
 elements that we keep in mind when we actually are dealing with the world around us and seeking to

00:28:03.320 --> 00:28:09.780
 present the gospel to them everything of course to the glory of god as he finishes as as we'll see with

00:28:09.779 --> 00:28:17.220
 the final point but you see how he's how he's going through these points reminding us yes we are being

00:28:17.220 --> 00:28:24.259
 strengthened according to the gospel and the preaching of jesus christ which itself is according

00:28:24.259 --> 00:28:30.859
 to the revelation it's an amplification of the revelation of the mystery that was kept for so long

00:28:30.859 --> 00:28:37.399
 secret or largely covered but now has been disclosed and has been made known to all the nations

00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:42.820
 according to the command of the eternal god to bring about the obedience of faith

00:28:42.820 --> 00:28:50.180
 when you're praying for people to be converted to the gospel that's what you're praying for

00:28:50.180 --> 00:28:57.300
 you're praying that they'll come to the obedience of faith that they will come willingly and lovingly

00:28:57.300 --> 00:29:03.980
 to embrace jesus christ as their lord that they will come to be obedient to him

00:29:03.980 --> 00:29:12.039
 and that we ourselves as christians will follow through with the obedience that coming to christ involves

00:29:12.039 --> 00:29:18.200
 so that that is deepened and our understanding is deepened and our commitment is deepened and our

00:29:18.200 --> 00:29:25.000
 response to being in christ is enlarged in terms of our coming to serve him in the world

00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:35.920
 it's for our strengthening it's for our evangelizing seeking by god's power and grace that people will come

00:29:35.920 --> 00:29:45.319
 to the obedience of faith to be committed to christ to be saved under his lordship

00:29:45.319 --> 00:29:54.220
 but he's now reached the point for which which he intended from verse 25 to the only wise god be glory

00:29:54.220 --> 00:30:04.799
 forevermore through jesus christ amen to the only wise god isn't that a precious emphasis

00:30:04.799 --> 00:30:14.039
 because everything to do with this right through from the beginning of verse 25 indeed for the whole

00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:21.400
 of romans and all the rest of god's revelation but let's just confine it to this everything to do

00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:26.720
 with this salvation everything to do with these elements these points that paul is throwing throwing

00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:36.620
 our minds to is according to the wisdom of god it is to the wise god that we give glory

00:30:36.620 --> 00:30:45.500
 i think it's one of the most essential things that we need to keep putting to ourselves

00:30:45.500 --> 00:30:56.799
 as we experience life's changes that god is wise that god only is wise with perfect wisdom

00:30:56.799 --> 00:31:06.720
 and when he changes my life about here and there and gives me different experiences from one week to

00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:13.000
 the next or even from one day to the next am i going to stop believing that he's wise just because i don't

00:31:13.000 --> 00:31:19.900
 understand and follow all the different ways in which these avenues of experience lead me of course not

00:31:19.900 --> 00:31:31.000
 god and god's wisdom are essential to our understanding of the gospel of salvation of our own development as

00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:46.920
 christians to the only wise god never doubt the wisdom of god never think that somehow or other god has ceased to be fully wise

00:31:46.920 --> 00:31:51.640
 that somehow or other he really doesn't know what he's doing

00:31:51.640 --> 00:32:01.660
 how much it baffles us how much it fails to uh we fail to understand the ways of god

00:32:01.660 --> 00:32:05.900
 and if we understood all the ways of god we would be god

00:32:05.900 --> 00:32:15.660
 never ever doubt his wisdom never think that somehow what he's doing in your life is not according

00:32:15.660 --> 00:32:21.600
 to his wisdom his plan his purpose the final end that he has in view for his people

00:32:21.600 --> 00:32:33.920
 to him be glory forevermore through jesus christ well even the ascription of praise

00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:39.519
 and the bringing of glory to god is through jesus christ

00:32:39.519 --> 00:32:48.839
 everything goes through jesus christ our experience of redemption and what it is

00:32:48.839 --> 00:32:56.379
 our experience of god's comfort of god's guidance our experience of forgiveness our experience of

00:32:56.379 --> 00:33:04.299
 every single thing we are and know in relation to god as our savior as our god it's through jesus christ

00:33:04.299 --> 00:33:11.879
 and as you go on into eternity and you think about as far as possible though it's not very far

00:33:11.879 --> 00:33:17.980
 what heaven is going to be like to be in the very immediate presence of god

00:33:17.980 --> 00:33:25.680
 even there it is through the mediation of christ that we come in perfection

00:33:25.680 --> 00:33:38.460
 to enjoy the beauty of god to worship him in perfection it's through christ as because of christ

00:33:38.460 --> 00:33:49.900
 it's in christ to him be glory the only wise god be glory forevermore through jesus christ

00:33:49.900 --> 00:33:56.180
 amen may god bless these thoughts on this word