Romans 1:1-7

Romans chapter 1, verses 1-7.

Romans 1:1–7

To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's pray together.

Father God, we love you and thank you for this morning.

We love and thank you for your word.

And I pray, God, that you will bless the listening to it this morning.

We pray this in Christ's precious name.

Amen.

You can be seated.

This has been a bit of a difficult week for me.

The first reason, you may notice that I'm wearing a lapel mic.

We've been doing that for a while now because we've been trying to master recording our sermons.

They're actually available on our website.

Our hope is that that way you can keep up with us.

Those of you who go home for the summer, you can keep up through Romans.

And when you come back in the fall, you can pick right back up where we are.

And so I had to listen to myself preach this week.

Not a fun task at all.

The silver lining in all of that is that I could hear kids in the background of the recording.

And it made me smile every time I heard a little shriek, which I didn't hear at all when I was preaching because I'm focused.

There's a lot going on in my head.

But it reminded me of how great a family we have here and having the children and what a blessing it is to have them in the meeting with us.

The other reason it was a tough week is my intro this week was to kind of talk about bad news.

It's kind of the bad news of the world.

And so I spent a lot of time looking at bad news in the world.

And thankfully, the text I was studying is the silver lining to that bad news.

It is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so this morning is about the good news of Jesus Christ found in these first seven verses.

Certainly, we live in a world of bad news, don't we?

We get bad news all the time.

Globally, there's a lot of global bad news going on right now.

We've got the earthquake in Japan.

I heard there was another.

There was a 7.9 in Thailand.

I don't know if you heard that news or not this past week.

All the unrest that's going on in the Middle East.

The rioting in Libya right now.

The rising food prices.

The shortages of such.

The chaos in the world.

Locally, we have a lot of problems.

A couple of things, just in case you don't know, about the bad news of the world.

It's estimated that 3,700 babies are aborted each day.

That gives us a grand total of 1.35 million a year in America.

In New York, I learned this this week, that 66% of African-American babies are aborted.

That's two of every three African-American pregnancies in an abortion.

Shocking.

It's a genocide going on in the States.

In Atlanta, if you've ever heard on Friday, there was a person accused of killing a police officer that took hostage eight people.

And there was a big standoff on Friday.

And he finally released the hostages and turned himself in.

Totally high on cocaine.

Personally, we get bad news all the time, don't we?

News of illness, loss of loved ones, gallbladders that have to be taken out, shoulders that have to be operated on.

People around us pass away.

We have financial trouble.

I have a lot of pain.

I'm actually not sitting this morning to be cool.

Although I look kind of cool on the stool, don't I?

But I'm sitting because I'm in a lot of pain.

I've, for the past decade, dealt with lots of pain.

I've finally gotten a diagnosis that seemed like a non-diagnosis.

And all I can do is take a medication, which I've been waiting a week and a half to get filled.

And that's why I'm sitting this morning.

So the world is full of bad news.

And all of that bad news is a result of sin.

And when sin entered the world, it completely corrupted everything.

This morning we get some good news, though, in the Gospel.

So sin is the poison that's killing this world.

And Jesus Christ and the good news of Jesus Christ is the antidote to that sure death.

Sin has ripped a wound in the flesh of this world that is festering.

Sin itself is the infection.

But Christ is the salve that heals that wound.

Sin is the hostage taker.

Thinking about that hostage situation this week.

But Christ is the bullet that liberates the captive.

So we have good news.

And the struggle, I think, in the Christian life is to believe in that good news in such a way that it overwhelms that bad news.

So as we deal with the difficulty of this life, do we so understand and believe the good news of Jesus Christ that all that stuff fades away?

And that's been what my week has been about.

Because the reality is that no amount of goodwill or kind intentions or education or philanthropy is going to solve the issues of the world.

No amount of it at all.

But the gospel of Jesus Christ solves those issues.

I promised John Overton I'd work a little story into the sermon this morning.

John and I met last night on the Gainesville Square at a coffee shop.

And afterwards, we decided to go for a walk.

And we were just walking around the square and going all over the place, places I've never been in downtown Gainesville.

And we happened by a couple on the opposite side of the street.

And I heard her squeal.

And it caused me to stop.

And then I heard her say, stop, you're hurting me.

At which time, I immediately marched across the street, John quick on my heels, to see what was going to happen.

And the last thing I heard her say was, I'm going to count to five and then I'm calling the police.

And at which point I said, ma'am, can you use some help?

And she said, yes.

And he turned around.

He was incredibly intoxicated.

And I can't even remember the details of everything that happened.

She marched off down the sidewalk.

And I had an altercation with him in which he put his hands on my chest.

And I thought, oh, gosh, I'm about to get killed in the streets of Gainesville.

So I hope John is really tough.

And we ended up, I kind of disarmed him a little bit, just with some humor.

It was his birthday.

So I said, happy birthday.

And he said, thank you.

And it ended up kind of diffusing the situation.

And he went on.

But I told John afterwards, I said, you know, I'm tough enough to march across the street without thinking about it.

But I'm not tough enough for that not to totally shake me up.

So I'm kind of freaking out right now about that whole situation.

But I've been thinking about it since.

And certainly what was needed in that time was somebody to intervene.

She needed somebody to step across the street and say, hey, hold on a second, buddy.

But ultimately, what both of them need is Christ.

We intervened and solved a bit of a problem.

But it was a symptom.

The sickness still exists in both of their lives.

And so ultimately, they need the gospel.

Charles Spurgeon once said, see what vitality the gospel has.

Plunge her under the wave and she rises.

Dipure for her washing.

Thrust her in the fire and she comes out the more bright for her burning.

Cut her in sunder or in half and each piece shall make another church.

Behead her and like the hydra of old, she shall have a hundred heads for everyone you cut away.

She cannot die.

She must live for she has the power of God within her.

And that's the good news that we have.

If you don't know this Christ, that's the good news for you this morning.

If you know this Christ, the good news for us.

So Paul starts out his letter.

I love the way he starts Romans because he doesn't start it with this typical greeting, but he jumps right in.

And I believe that's because Paul was urgent later in his life to communicate this good news to the Roman people.

He wanted them to know the foundation on which he was going to build the rest of his letter to them.

And he wanted to get right to it.

All right.

So he jumps right in.

Paul was formerly a bearer of bad news as a devout Pharisee.

All right.

He was so sold out to following the law of God because he thought that he could achieve that on his own.

So ultimately, he was the bearer of bad news as he went around telling people the way to God is for you to do good stuff.

For you to follow his law blamelessly.

And in that encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus, he came to learn that his way was not the way and that Christ was the only way.

So formerly, he was a bearer of bad news.

And I think that he now has an urgency to share the good news.

So the first point, there's seven.

If you have the notes, there's seven Ps.

I stole these from John MacArthur, and I don't want to take any credit for them.

They're way too clever for me to come up with.

But the first one is the preacher of the good news.

And we find that in verse one.

And Paul writes, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.

And he gives three descriptions of himself in this text.

And the first one we have is a servant of Christ Jesus.

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus.

And the Greek word he's using for servant is often translated bond servant, doulos.

It's the Hebrew equivalent of the word ebed.

And it simply means bond servant.

And the Mosaic law provided for an indentured servant to permanently become a bond servant of a master that he loved and respected.

So someone who was enslaved because of a debt they owed, once that debt was paid off, they were set free.

But the Mosaic law allowed for someone who was in that situation but loved their master to remain permanently underneath their master.

And in Exodus 21, 5 and 6, I'm just going to read to you the provision for that.

It says, but if the slave plainly says, I love my master, my wife and my children, I will not go out free.

Then his master shall bring him to God and he shall bring him to the door or the doorposts.

And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl and he shall be his slave forever.

And so the bond servant carried a sign in a piercing that he was, belonged to the master and belonged to the master forever.

So in the same way, Paul saw his ministry as that, as a, as bond slavement.

I'm just making up words now.

I'm right.

Bond slavery to Christ.

That he was to serve him wholeheartedly because he loved his master.

Second description, he says that he is called to be an apostle.

So, Paul was called to be an apostle.

He didn't volunteer for the position.

He didn't sign up.

He wasn't recruited.

It was a divine appointment.

And it's on this fact that Paul establishes the authority of his ministry.

He's sharing that because he wants these people to know why he can speak to them with such authority.

We can read in other places like Galatians 1, 1, as well as verse 11 and 12 of the same chapter.

He writes, Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead.

And then verse 11.

For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel was not preached by me is not man's gospel.

For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

So, the gospel that Paul had was given to him.

He was called.

He was set apart, called out of his Judaism, called into Christianity as an apostle.

And the term here, apostle, is referring to specifically the apostles.

The original 12 with Matthias replacing Judas and then Paul.

And these were men in redemptive history that play a special part, that laid the foundation, the groundwork for the church to be built upon.

We'll talk later about the apostle as used in general terms.

We have an apostolic calling on our lives.

But Paul here is referring to himself specifically as taking that title of apostle, a sent one.

One that has been given a message and sent for a specific purpose.

Many ships in this day that were carrying messages from one team to another were said to be apostolic.

They were given a specific mission to carry a specific message.

And that's how Paul is referring to himself in this case.

Pretty fascinating.

In the book, The Reformed Pastor by Richard Baxter, he dedicates over 100 pages of that book that's written to pastors

to warn them to, first of all, be sure that they are, in fact, redeemed.

And secondly, that they've actually been given a calling to the ministry of the gospel.

Not fascinating.

100 pages of that book, which I've read.

It's a pretty phenomenal read.

But 100 pages of that book is set apart to saying to the men who are reading it,

you better be sure you're saved and that God has called you to this special gospel ministry

because it is a high, high calling.

And the last descriptor he uses is set apart for the gospel of God

and plays off of that term apostle,

specifically designed for this task of proclaiming the good news of God.

Sam and I have a plate in our house, and it's a special plate.

It says you are very special on the plate.

And it's our birthday plate.

I imagine, as Cade grows older and any other children we have,

that when they have a great report card or something of excitement in our lives,

we'll pull out the you are very special plate and let them eat off of that plate.

That plate is then set apart.

We don't eat off that plate normally.

I think I would get in big trouble if I made nachos on that plate and ate a snack off them.

That plate is for something specific, for something very special.

And that's what Paul is getting at as he says that he's set apart for the gospel of God.

So he establishes his authority to preach this good news.

And in verse 2, he goes on to talk about the promise of the good news.

Verse 2 reads,

Which he promised, being God beforehand, through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures.

Now, Paul here is referring to the writing of the prophets being the Old Testament,

that canon that they knew as the Old Testament.

And he does so by saying that and saying Holy Scriptures to distinguish between that and the rabbinical writings.

Most Jews at this time followed the writing of the rabbis.

It was the traditions that they followed.

Didn't know their scriptures well at all.

So he's referring in those two ways by saying the writings of the prophets and the Holy Scriptures to distinguish between the two.

And the important thing for us to see here is that this message, this gospel news, is consistent with the Old Testament.

I grew up thinking that there was this old way.

And it was as if the old way hadn't accomplished what God had intended.

And so he created a new way.

And certainly there is a new covenant.

There is a new testament of God's grace to us.

But we see it all throughout the Old Testament scriptures.

There's nothing contrary.

There's at least 332 prophecies about Christ in the Old Testament.

We know he was coming.

Matthew 5, 17 and 18, Jesus says,

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass away from the law until all is accomplished.

So Christ himself even said, I'm not coming to change things.

I'm just coming to fulfill those things which have been given to you already.

And that was the fulfillment of the law.

So understand that the Jews had the rule book by which to be righteous.

They just didn't have the ability to follow the rules.

That's what the sacrificial system was all about.

That was to teach them that we needed a righteous priest.

We find that in Christ.

We're going to talk about the person of the good news next.

We find that in Christ, the spotless lamb, the one who was able to take away the sins of his church.

So he came to fulfill that law, that ability to keep the law and be found righteous in him.

Hebrews 1 and 2.

The writer of Hebrews says,

So in those days, he spoke to us by his prophets.

But now he's spoken to us by his son.

A better way.

He's given us his son to give us this final message of our redemption.

Which takes us to the third.

The person of the good news.

I was reviewing my notes this morning.

I'm kind of thinking over this and praying over it.

And we had another sweep of a thunderstorm this morning.

I don't think that there was anything magnificently spiritual happening.

But it was incredibly cool that as I was thinking about the person of the good news,

I was thinking about Christ who sits at the right hand of the Father and commands the universe by the power of his word.

There's this awesome thunderstorm going on outside.

And about the time I got done looking over this section of notes and done praying through it,

the thunderstorm stopped.

And it just reminded me of the amazing power that Christ has.

Very cool.

2 Corinthians 5.21 says,

For our sake, let me back up.

Let's read verses 3 and 4 real quick in Romans.

It reads,

Concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh,

and was declared to be the son of God in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead,

Jesus Christ our Lord.

2 Corinthians 5.21.

Paul writes,

Now understand that us standing before God as righteous is absolutely necessary for us not to be destroyed.

Get that.

God is a just God.

We have turned God into this touchy-feely dude that wants to hang out in our house and give us hugs.

Certainly he is loving.

But God is full of wrath and vengeance towards sin.

We learn that in the Old Testament, don't we?

We see the people building a golden calf and God's fury is kindled toward them.

Moses pleads with him,

For your glory, please don't go kill your people, all of them.

God concedes, says, okay, go down.

But then they wipe out something like 30,000 of the people for doing so.

He destroys Sodom and Gomorrah.

We see that God hates sin.

Rebellion against him.

We are enemies of God's if we're not found righteous in Christ.

Understand that.

If you don't know Christ this morning, you're an enemy of God.

And that is not a battle you're going to win.

So God must punish sin because he's just.

It's not that he just gets to pardon it.

When we're found righteous in Christ, it's not that God says,

Yeah, it's okay.

Certain of you I will dismiss from this sin.

It's not the case at all.

He had to punish it.

Well, he punished it in Christ.

Christ bore the wrath for his church's sin.

Those of us who are found righteous in Christ,

he took our punishment.

God is still fully just in condemning and punishing sin

because he poured out his wrath for us on Christ.

The doctrine of the substitutionary atonement is phenomenal.

It blows my mind.

When I begin to think that Christ hung on the cross and bore the punishment of my sin,

the eternal wrath that was due to me for my sin,

Jesus Christ bore that from me.

It blows my mind.

It's why I can't wander off into a universal atonement.

I can't do it.

It kind of loses its specialness, doesn't it?

Christ hung on that cross with me in mind.

No warrant of my own.

Nothing I did to deserve that.

Certainly, the wrath due me was totally deserved.

But Christ had me in mind.

That's good news, isn't it?

That's the kind of news that causes all the bad news to fade.

Christ had you in mind.

If you have placed your faith in him,

he bore the wrath of your sin on the cross.

It's incredible.

And he could do that because he was perfect,

because he was a man.

The beginning of verse 3,

concerning his son, who was descended from David.

He's establishing that, I would imagine,

for the Jewish audience in Rome.

It was the fulfillment of a prophecy

that both Mary and Joseph were descendants of David.

He was a descendant of David according to the flesh,

and he was declared to be the son of God in power

according to the spirit of holiness

by his resurrection from the dead.

So he had both his resurrection

and the sign that when he was baptized

that the spirit descended like a dove from heaven.

And there were plenty of witnesses to that.

And God said from heaven,

this is my son, my beloved son,

with whom I am well pleased.

So he had these signs,

these seals set upon him

that he was, in fact,

the son of God.

And, of course, he was either a lunatic

or he was the son of God.

He made some audacious claims

if he wasn't, in fact, the son of God.

And he lived this perfect life

so that him who knew no sin

became sin on our behalf.

Martin Luther called that the great exchange,

that he took all of our sin

and placed it on himself

and bore our wrath,

and we got the righteousness of God

in return.

Incredible.

Incredible.

So there's no good news apart from Christ.

John Piper, in his book,

God is the Gospel,

wrote this.

Christ did not die to forgive sinners

who go on treasuring anything

above seeing and savoring God.

And people who would be happy in heaven

if Christ were not there

will not be there.

I'll do that to you again.

And people who would be happy in heaven

if Christ were not there

will not be there.

The Gospel is not a way

to get people to heaven.

It is a way to get people to God.

It's a way of overcoming

every obstacle to everlasting joy

in God.

If we don't want God above all things,

we have not been converted

by the Gospel.

Isn't that phenomenal?

Christ himself is the treasure.

We are saved

from God,

by God,

to God.

That's the simplest Gospel presentation

I can give.

From God's wrath,

by God's mercy,

in Jesus Christ,

to everlasting joy

in God.

Incredible.

Incredible.

Jesus Christ,

our Lord,

that's how he ends

verse 4 there.

Jesus means Savior.

It's the simplicity of that word.

Jesus means Savior.

Christ means

anointed one.

Lord means

sovereign ruler.

He is Jesus

because he saves his people

from their sins.

He is Christ

because he has been

anointed by God

as our priest

and king.

And he is Lord

because he is God

and rules the universe

sovereignly

by the power of his word.

Phenomenal.

The person

of the good news.

Jesus Christ.

Next,

in the beginning

of verse 5,

the provision

of the good news.

Look in verse 5.

Paul writes,

through whom,

through Christ,

we have received

grace

and apostleship.

We have received

grace

and apostleship.

Ephesians 2,

8 and 9,

Paul writes,

for by grace

you have been saved

through faith.

And this is not

your own doing.

It is the gift of God,

not a result of works,

so that no one

may boast.

So we've received

grace through Christ,

which we just talked about,

and that had nothing

to do with us.

It's totally the act

of God

on our lives.

He worked in us

the faith

to believe in him

that he might save us.

Alright?

So that none of us

can boast.

None of us.

I have no room

to boast in anything

I've ever done

because in the same way,

I'm sustained

by his grace.

I don't do any good thing

apart from God.

If God were to remove

his hand from me

and leave me alone,

I would be a wretch

all over again.

It's the grace of God

that has saved us.

It's the grace of God

which sustains us.

And we've been given

a mission,

haven't we?

We've been given

apostleship,

an apostolic calling

on all of our lives

because we're all

sent into this world

to share light

in dark places.

We're all sent

to share the gospel.

And so we've been

commissioned

to do so.

Out of MacArthur's commentary,

I wanted to read you

a quote from

Donald Barnhouse

who wrote a commentary.

And MacArthur

quotes him here

in his book.

Donald Barnhouse

was a Presbyterian

preacher

in the early

20th century.

And I want to

just read this

little paragraph

to you.

This is him

reflecting on

his ordination.

He writes,

The moderator

of the Presbytery

asked me questions

and I answered them.

They told me

to kneel down.

Men came toward me

and one man

was asked

to make the prayer.

I felt his hands

come on my head

and then the hands

of others,

touching my head

and pressing down

on his and the other hands.

The ring of men

closed in

and one man

began to pray.

It was a nice little prayer

and had one

pat little phrase in it.

Father,

guard him with thy love,

guide him with thine eye,

and gird him

with thy power.

I kept thinking

about these three verbs,

guard, guide, gird.

It seemed as foolish

as performing

a marriage ceremony

upon two people

who had been living together

for a quarter of a century

and who had a family

of children together.

I knew that I had

been ordained

long since

and that the hands

that had been upon

my head

were hands

that had been pierced

and nailed

to a cross.

Years later,

the man that made

the prayer that day

signed a paper

saying that he was opposed

to the doctrine

of the virgin birth,

the doctrine

of the deity

of Jesus Christ,

the doctrine

of the substitutionary

atonement,

the doctrine

of the miracles

of Christ,

and the doctrine

of the inspiration

of the scriptures

as test for ordination

or a man's good standing

in the ministry.

When I read his name

on the list,

I put my hand

on the top of my head

and smiled to myself,

wondering how many

dozens times

I had my hair cut

since his unholy hands

had touched me.

And I had the profound

consolation of knowing

that the hand

of the Lord Jesus Christ,

wounded and torn

because of my sins,

had touched me

and given me

an apostleship

which was from God

and which was more

important than any

that men could approve

by their little ceremonies.

Isn't that awesome?

Not that we shouldn't

have ordinations,

but our ordination

comes from Christ.

Because of what

he's done for us,

because he's bought us.

That's the high cost

of grace, everybody.

You've received

the grace of God,

now your life

is devoted to him.

You are a bondservant.

You've been set apart

for the gospel,

ordained to gospel ministry.

So there's the provision

of that good news.

We've been given

both a mission

to the world,

but we're also provided

the grace necessary

to fulfill that mission.

The middle part

of verse 5,

the proclamation

of the good news.

So we've been given

the mission.

What is that message?

To bring about

the obedience of faith

or of the faith.

Proclamation.

To bring about

obedience of the faith.

So not just conversions,

but to create disciples.

to grow people

in the grace of God.

To grow people

to the maturity

of Christ.

We're not in the business

of elevating men

and putting underneath them

a hierarchy of men.

We're trying to grow

people up consistently,

together,

to be like us,

to duplicate us.

I'm to be like Christ

and I'm to teach you

to be like Christ.

That's the idea

of discipleship.

If you've ever seen

the Christ Family Church logo,

I hope you have

because you drove in here

on our sign.

You'll see it's a series

of trees.

And the idea is that

we want to be

a mighty forest of trees.

Not one tree

and a bunch of little saplings

that get destroyed

by the stomping

of the world.

We want to be

mighty trees.

We want to be a forest

that produces

much fruit

because we're all growing

in the grace of God

together.

I read to you

the Great Commission.

Matthew chapter 28,

Matthew 28:19

verse 19 and 20.

Christ says,

Go therefore

and make disciples

of all nations,

baptizing them

in the name of the Father

and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe

all that I have commanded you.

There's that obedience

of the faith

and behold,

I'm with you always

to the end of the age.

And there's that grace,

that provision

of that good news.

I said before,

we all need the good news.

It's not for a select few.

It's not for

southern Americans.

Although we probably

need it more than any.

It's for the world.

And we're to be about

our Father's work,

sharing the gospel.

But to what end?

This is the next point.

The purpose

of the good news.

Why?

It's about salvation

of men's souls,

absolutely.

Should we weep

for the lost?

Sure.

We know what awaits them.

We've been told

about hell

and it does exist.

Eternal damnation

awaits those

who don't place

their faith in Christ.

We ought to desperately

be sharing the gospel

for that reason.

What does Paul tell us?

What is the point?

Very end of verse

five and six.

For the sake

of his name

among all the nations,

including you

who are called

to belong

to Jesus Christ.

It's for the glory of God.

That's why we do it.

For the glory of God.

Isaiah 43, 25.

God says,

I am he who

blots out

your transgressions

for my own sake

and I will not

remember your sins.

So the gospel

ultimately is God-centered.

It's about his glory.

It's about him

making himself

great.

We're just the

beneficiaries of that.

In his message

to the world

and his whole

master plan,

we just get to be involved

and be a process

in it all.

We are not the end.

We're the means to the end,

which is the glory of God.

And praise God

that we're the means.

Praise God

that we have anything

to do with the process

at all.

That is the purpose

of the good news.

To elevate God,

to lift him high.

And as Christians,

if we love him,

if we love his gospel,

then we'll desire to do that.

I want to make

my Savior known

because he is a great

Savior.

And as beneficiaries

of this

great good news,

Paul talks a bit

about the privileges

of the good news.

And that's your last point there.

The privileges

of the good news.

Verse 7,

To all those in Rome

who are loved by God

and called to be saints,

grace to you

and peace

from God our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We get to be loved by God.

Those of us

who were once enemies of God

are now loved by God.

Isn't that good news?

That was good news.

Jeremiah 31.3

God says,

I have loved you

with an everlasting love.

Therefore,

I have continued

my faithfulness

to you.

And as the loved ones

of God,

the saints set apart,

we get to receive

that grace

and the peace

that comes from God.

And so my week,

I told you,

has been a tough week.

Beyond the things

I told you,

listening to myself preach

and hearing all the bad news

of the world,

I've been in a lot of pain

this week.

And it's the fact

that I'm loved by God,

it's the fact that I have

this evidence in my life

of the Spirit working in me.

I know that I'm a recipient

of this good news

that allows me to

bear up

through those things.

It allows me to believe

in the promises of God.

It says,

Jeremiah 31,

3,

I have continued

my faithfulness

to you.

It allows me to believe

things like,

God does all things

for my good.

For those who have been

called according to His purpose,

and I know I have been,

He does all things

for my good.

And I don't understand that.

I don't understand

why I have terrible headaches.

It seems like

it would be better

for me not.

It seems like it would be

better for you guys

if I didn't have

terrible headaches.

But somehow,

it's working to my good

and His glory.

It allows me to

believe that He'll

withhold no good thing

from those who walk

uprightly before Him.

And I know I walk uprightly

before God

because I'm found

righteous in Christ.

I know that

because of this good news.

Right?

So I know He'll

withhold no good thing

from me,

which means my pain

is a good thing

for me.

I believe

that I won't be tested

beyond what I can bear.

that what's been

given to me

is a test for me

in some way

and that He's going

to give me the grace

to handle it.

It helps me

to deal with tragedy

in the world.

Thousands

are killed.

Because of the good news,

I know why.

It's a big question,

isn't it?

Sin.

They're receiving

the just

due

for their sin.

It doesn't make it

any less sad for me.

It doesn't make it

any less sad.

I'm just more thankful

for our God

and His good news.

I'm so happy

that it's advancing

across the world.

We seem to live

in one of the most

spiritually depressed places

and it's hard to see.

I think the church

is on the decline.

Statistics would show

that in America,

that the church

is actually

declining.

But in other places

in the world,

it's not.

It's growing

like a wildfire

and burning bright.

Praise God,

the gospel is advancing

across the world.

That's what allows us

to bear up

under the bad news.

This great good news

that causes all that

to fade

and diminish

in the light

of God's

glorious grace

to us

in Jesus Christ.

Let's pray together.