The Fourfold Purpose of the Gospel — Jeff Rose

The Gospel of Christ as God's Power for Salvation

Romans. Romans 1. Romans 1 will be starting in verse 16. Romans 1 verse 16. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe to the Jew first and also to the Grecian.

For by it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just shall live by faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men which withhold the truth in unrighteousness.

For as much as that which may be known of God is manifest in them for God it showed it unto them for the invisible things of him that is his eternal power and Godhead are seen by the creation of the world being considered in his works to the intent that they should be without excuse because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their thoughts and their foolish heart was full of darkness.

When they professed themselves to be wise they became fools. For they turn the glory of the incorruptible God to the similitude of the image of a corruptible man and of birds and four-footed beasts and of creeping things where for also God gave them up to their hearts lost unto uncleanness to defile their own bodies between themselves which turned the truth of God unto a lie and worship and serve the creature forsaking the Creator which is blessed forever.

Amen. Let's pray follow. We come before thee in the name of your mighty and great son in our Lord and King Christ Jesus. And Lord we approach you this morning by his qualifications and his qualifications alone.

God. We come here today for the sake of your son to exalt his name on high to lift up the name of Jesus Christ. And we have come for that reason and that reason alone. So Lord I ask you today by your power and by your pleasure that you would come upon us today come upon us.

May it please you Lord God to rent the veil of heaven and come down upon your people. Quicken us O God. Help us Lord. Help this weak and fragile futile people these simple people. Help us Lord today recognize what the gospel is and this great tragedy forsaken the Word of God in our land forsaking your commandments forsaking your gospel.

And I pray today Lord that you would do something mighty here. Help us to get over ourselves. Help us God to cut away all fear of man all glory of the flesh. Help us today God please I beg you Lord that your spirit would come down that you remove all the nonsense and all the foolishness and all the vain bickering and chattering and let us get focused once again upon the heart of God which is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Contemporary Church's Abandonment of the Gospel

And this I pray in the blessed name of which turned the truth of God into a lie. First we need to understand what happens to a culture and a nation when the gospel message is changed. The agenda of the contemporary American church trying to redefine the message of Christ abandoning his holiness abandoning his law abandoning his kingdom authority for the sake of our own authority for the sake of our own agendas.

All the idea that theology and doctrine are unnecessary and unimportant. Proclaim vehemently behind the pulpits today in America the claim that we just want to love Jesus as heroic as this may sound it is nothing more than the spirit of neutrality and ecumenicalism of the enemy is not Islam it's not homosexuality it's not the Mormons.

The primary attack of the enemy is against the gospel and the totality of what and who it represents and that is Christ himself. These attacks are not necessarily coming from without but from within from what we would define today as the contemporary American Christianity.

The enemy never comes dressed in attire that would give him away but would come in a way they would be hardly discernment. Charles Ferguson said it the best discernment is not knowing what is right and wrong but knowing what is right and what is almost right.

The greatest way the enemy tries to stifle the will of God is by perverting the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why you can trace every great move of God by its return to the true gospel in every decline and failure to its neglect thereof.

The greatest fight we have today is not defending the truth but preaching it. Many today's evangelical circles have allowed their fear to shape the so-called gospel that they breach the very way that's perceived to find the gospel by their fear of man and not of God.

It is not about being American. It's not about being British or German or any other nationality. It's about God. And the gospel is always about God. The further we get away from the true gospel the further we get away from the means and methods by which God has ordained the gospel to be preached.

The gospel isn't some get-out-of-jail-free car or being let off the hook or being rich. It's about a holy God reconciling simple man under himself through his Holy Son Jesus Christ. We have become a man centered instead of a Christ centered church today.

Jesus said I received not the praise of man. And Luke 16 15 he said which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. And second we must be biblically aware biblically aware of what is going on in the world outside of the four walls of the church.

Luke 14 31 says if a king goes out with 10 ,000 men to fight another king who comes against him with 20 ,000 men he will sit down first and decide if he is strong enough to face that other king. This is a principle of corrected understanding.

Our understanding of God and our understanding of man will determine the message that we preach before we go out into the world. Before we even go to another country or on the streets we must have a clear understanding of the doctrine of man and the doctrine of God.

If we inevitably think that man by nature is a good person we will approach man with a humanistic version of the gospel. And so the gospel as defined in scriptures we understand that God is holy and that man is to pray.

And there's nothing that man can do to be made right with God unless God by his grace and by his power enables that man to come to him. We will go up and we'll be motivated by God. We our pleasure will be to serve him.

Our pleasure will be to worship God instead of being pragmatic for the pleasures of man. John Whitehead says in his book the end of man. People are more than a mere product of their environment. Men and women project their inward thoughts out into the external world where in fact their thoughts affect their environment.

Ideas thus have consequences which can be productive or destructive depending on their basis or foundation. Jesus said it's not what goes into a man externally but what comes out of a man internally. The condition of our nation is not nothing more than man's wicked inward dark heart expressed outwardly and externally in the world around us today.

Returning to the Gospel of Grace

Now some pleasure cruise. This is definitely a war. It's not so much just what goes on out around the church but within the church as well. We must wake up to the reality and the need to return to the gospel of grace the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Martin Luther said if I profess with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition every portion of truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking.

I am NOT confessing Christ however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages there the loyalty of the soldier is proved and to be steady on all the battlefronts besides is mere flight and disgrace it be glitches at that point.

Four Reasons God Judges a Nation

There are four reasons in Scripture why God will judge a nation. Number one it's idolatry. Jeremiah 211 says. Have the nation changed their gods which are yet no gods. But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

They have turned the truth of God into a lie. Jonah 2 way says they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. All the religions and all the cults all the just an absolute addictive behavior towards sports Hollywood food and money all become a morphine to tranquilize us and render us useless like a drug.

Just useless for the kingdom of God. Proverbs 23 to says. And put a knife to thy throat if I'll be a man given over to your appetites. Immoralities. Number two the pornography fornication adultery homosexuality human trafficking.

Number three innocent bloodshed 50 million babies aborted since Roe versus Wade. And the love of death and violence is rampant in our nation's today. Broken covenants. The war against marriage and family with the homosexuals has never been.

It's never been about them wanting to be married. It's about them waging war against God's covenant and God's intention for marriage. And we must see today evangelism in these last days is not another good idea not another program alongside men's pancake supper bowling with the boys golfing with the guys fishing with the fellas.

All these things that we do in the church say the pro-gram driven minds of the church today we must see this is absolutely necessary to fulfilling God's plan. For today I want to speak to you a little bit about the fourfold purpose of preaching the gospel.

And I believe thoroughly that this is God's answer. The public proclamation of the gospel being vocal not just in what we just say but who we are if we've been changed by the grace of God. And God's transforming power has come upon us and has changed us.

That gospel will be preached everywhere we go in every little element of life wherever we go whatever we do whatever we say whatever we think. It's a whole life message. It's a it's a whole system of life.

First Purpose: Proclaiming the Gospel for God's Glory

The first purpose of the proclamation of the gospel and I would say it's the primary purpose the major purpose. And that is for the glory of God. The number one reason the major reason that we go out and proclaim the gospel is for the glory of God.

Jesus said go into all the world and preach the gospel. The almighty gospel to all people. It's the almighty grace of God. It's not the half mighty gospel. It's the almighty gospel. It covers all of life all of grace.

It's all of God. And we've got to bring that gospel back declaring that God is sovereign God is in control. God is all-powerful. This is the almighty gospel of Jesus Christ. It's the message of a king enthroned and all-powerful.

Isaiah cried out for my eyes have seen the king the psalmist cried out stand at all and sin not. I'm tired of this half-mighty pathetic version of the gospel being peddled in the contemporary church today.

Whippering quivering man-filled messages leading people by the troves to hell. The words of Job still ring in our ears today. But men have forsaken the fear of the almighty. The psalmist said my eyes gush out with rivers of water because they keep not thy law.

Psalms 96 3 says. Declare his glory among the heathen his wonders among all people. We preach the glory of God without compromise to all people. Whether they turn or whether they don't turn it makes no difference because we do it for the glory of God.

Many people ask how many decisions you get out there. It's usually from the ones that don't proclaim the gospel as well. Most of our complaints most of the difficulties that you will find in this area of ministry usually come by those themselves Christians.

Most of the heartache most of the the harassment and aggravation comes from those that would say they're from the house of God. It reminds me of a story that kind of speaks to me when I when I think of the fact that God's in control.

Then we take the word of God word of God out as God's herald to the people depending totally upon God for the salvation of those for whom he wants to quicken. And I think of the story because it really speaks to me.

When I was a young man I was in love with bow hunting. I love to go up and pick out the nicest arrows. I mean I was really involved. I spent a majority of my life up in a tree leave that I would go out and I would go shopping at the guns and ammo shops that these chopper you buy things to go up on these outdoor shops I would go in and I would buy these super featherlight arrows.

I did the most razor-sharp arrowhead that I could get with the best lectures. Then I bought myself a little brush bow that pulled 110 pounds back because I wanted my bow to shoot hard and I wanted that razor tip that arrow I wanted to hit and I wanted to be sharp.

I wanted to do the most damage possible that a bow could do. So I bought the best equipment and a really good friend that was just like me as well. And one day we went out into the woods. We thought man this is going to be the day we went out the woods.

I climbed up in my tree. He climbed up in his. It was just before dark maybe about 45 minutes 30 minutes before the Sun went down and I'm sitting there it's all quiet and it's relaxing kicking back I'm not seeing anything.

And next thing I hear this loud crash I thought maybe this guy fell out of the tree. I mean it was such a loud noise. I thought this guy certainly fell out of the tree. So I climbed on my tree ran over there to see if he was okay.

And I got over there. He was huffing and puffing and he was looking around like this. I said man what happened. He's like man I just shot a deer. I just shot a deer. And he was so excited. I said yeah yeah where is it.

Where is it. Where is it. I'm looking around I don't see any deer. And as I'm pondering the path and looking around I look down. I go oh wait a minute. And I started to chuckle to myself because I thought you missed me.

I reached out and I picked up the arrow. I said brother almost a little bit prideful I said hey you missed the deer. And he comes walking over there and he smiles at me and he goes no brother I didn't miss the deer.

That deer passed and that deer didn't even know it. Let's take a walk up the path 70 80 yards. Sure enough they were dead. You see that arrow was so sharp and so powerful that when it hit that deer it went right through that deer.

And that deer didn't even know it until they got 70 or 80 yards up that trail and fell over dead as a doornail. And the Bible says very clear Isaiah 49 to you he had made my mouth like a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand.

Hath he hid me. And made me a polished shaft in his quiver. Hath he hid me. Hebrews 4 12 says. For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow.

And as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart you should know this. The only way the arrow will ever pass through a deer is if it goes through the heart. If it goes through the vitals you see it didn't even feel.

We're out there on the streets. We're proclaiming the word of God. And today's contemporary church tells you to do it. It doesn't work because you're not getting the decisions. You're not getting the little cards filled out.

Nobody's coming around and listening to your mouth. Now you're proclaiming the word of God that it's sharper than any two-edged sword. Those people are walking by it may not look like they're here but those arrows start to take effect and they fall over dead before the altar of a bloodstained cross.

It's the glory of God. We preach the word of God to the lost whether they turn or not. Scripture declares in the beginning of God's word it was proclaimed whether people turned or not. Look at Noah's life.

The Bible says that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. The whole world was against Noah. And I can just hear all the heckling that was going on while Noah and his sons were building the ark. He must have taken turns with his boys to proclaim the righteousness of God before a wicked and unbelieving world.

God's patience lasted for 120 years before he poured out his judgments. The ark was at this point had become Noah's pulpits. I can hear old Noah saying they're gathering around. They're gathering around again.

Boys hold the hammer. Shim. Dad's gonna preach. Take the ladder. J-path. I must warn them again for the end is near. I can see him standing on the edge of an almost completed boat crying out to a sinful world.

Turn from your sin. And they cheer. And they wag their heads at Noah much like they do today when the gospel is preached. And I can almost hear his family saying dad dad. No one's responding. They all think you're nuts and out of your mind.

Maybe you should change the message a little. Maybe you can lighten up a bit. You're not being relevant enough. Tell them you're here to minister to their felt beings. Tell them that God loves them and has a wonderful plan.

No one was right and the whole world was wrong. In her book the criminalization of christianity Janet Folger explains in a radio interview with a man whose name is Jeffrey Satton. This man holds a degree from Princeton and doctorates from Yale MIT and Harvard.

She asked him about where we are in history and he explained that according to the Babylonian Talmud the book of rabbinical interpretation of scripture is written a thousand years before Christ. There's been only one time in history that reflects where we are right now.

According to these writings there's only one other time in history where men gave to men in marriage and women gave to women. Want to venture a guess as to when? No it wasn't Sodom and Gomorrah. Homosexuality was rampant there.

But according to the Talmud not homosexual marriage. What about ancient Greece? Nope! Rome? Nope! Babylon? No again! The one time in history when homosexual marriage was practiced, Satton over reports, was during the days of Noah.

And according to Satton over that's what the Babylonian Talmud says was the final straw that led to the fly. Matthew 24 37 says. But as the days of Noah were so shall also the coming of the son of man.

Today many want to remove the foolishness of the gospel in order to make it more acceptable and palatable to sinful humanity. You may be able to make a lot of friends this way but popular preaching never brings revival.

John Wesley said when the gospel is preached people either get mad or they get saved. Either a revival or a riot. The prophets were rejected. The apostles were rejected. Christ was rejected. And you must be willing to be rejected.

Second Purpose: The Gospel as the Answer to Man's Dilemma

Jesus says marvel not that the world hates you. And number two the second purpose of man. Social reform. No only Christ is the way the truth and the life. Christ said I am not alone. You want to agitate society.

You want to get the world in an uproar. Preach Christ alone. All the neutrality going on in the church today. Ecumenicalism. Everybody wanting to agree on a certain thing. Agree on Jesus. We can all get along.

We can all preach together. Nonsense. The bible says Christ came to bring a sword division and let him give it to you. Your works don't count. The only thing that your works do beyond salvation beyond the cross it will send you to hell.

And that's where you deserve to be. But the bible says because of God's grace he is the one that has saved us. It is him that gets all the glory. And God says his way is not your way. It's not the world's way.

His way is Christ who is the only. The gospel is the only answer to the dilemma of man first. Corinthians 4a says. For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound who shall prepare himself to battle. It seems today much that is passed off for the gospel is nothing but an uncertain sound noise, whimsical sensual, new age nonsense.

During the scottish force of independence of the 14th century scotland was known for its war songs. When they would play a certain tune the clans would gather together for battle. The english could not understand how the scots could gather so quickly when they were so spread out.

They figured it out. It was the bagpipes and the certain song that was played. It communicated to the army exactly what to do exactly where to meet and what kind of enemy they were facing. They were able to rally their army at a moment's notice and bring deliverance to their people from the invading english tyrants.

The english thought that they could put a stop so they outlawed all the pipes. They outlawed all the tunes thinking that they could silence their pipes. If they could quiet the noise they could conquer their hearts.

But the scots they kept on playing those outlawed tunes on those outlawed pipes until their country experienced their freedom in 1314 in the battle of bankburn. What tune are you singing today. Are we using our pipes to worship the almighty.

Are we using our pipes to declare and sing the song of salvation to the lost. Are we using our pipes to rally the troops and prepare them for battle. Whatever happened to the kind of preaching that uprated cities and nations and turned the world upside down.

We need the sacred fire of god in our preaching again today we need the breath of the almighty in our daily living in our homes, in our marriages in our children's lives. We cannot be satisfied with the sunday only outreach mentalities but the whole compass of life indwells with the spirit of the living god not this false fireman jumping jacks for jesus mentality that we see today.

We need to sing the song of the redeemed to the glory of god winning of the lost and rallying the troops to gather for battle and spread throughout the nations with saint mark in the deserts of egypt to the rivers of gaul with saint martin down through ireland with saint patrick and on to scotland through saint columbia.

Patrick's spiritual son saint columbia they called him took the gospel of grace into scotland where immediately it was resisted and quenched by the roman catholic church who set their jaw like flint against the gospel of grace.

And for almost a thousand years we know that there was pockets there was movements that proclaimed the gospel. But we've seen this resistance year after year after year until the reformation came through calvin and luther like a volcano of corruption came patrick hamilton in scotland.

He rised up on the scene with a powerful witness and the heralding of the almighty gospel of grace and was soon put to the flames by the religious folks. Those flames spread and caught on. He handed the baton.

He handed the torch over to george wisher. George wisher a man in scotland rose up caught on fire from the flames of patrick hamilton arose in fiery zeal and sung and preached so powerfully this grace that he had to be surrounded by bodyguards.

You see at this time in history the gospel of grace was so precious because it was a the whole nation. Scotland was burdened by works. It was burdened by the papacy and all the popish things the indulgence and all the penances and all those things that are involved.

A man tries to get right with god through his filthy flesh. And here we see george wisher walking through the streets of scotland surrounded by bodyguards with two handed swords ready to slay anybody that comes near him.

Because the message that he was preaching was so valuable so valuable is the gospel of grace declaring to man that god would save him in spite of himself that the grace of god was so valuable he had to be surrounded by bodyguards.

Today in the church men love to be surrounded by bodyguards walking around with their get ups on snakeskin shoes getting all crazy wanting to be seen by the world. But here it was much different because it was the gospel of jesus christ that these guys were giving over wisher for tax.

At one moment wisher knew that his end was nearing. He knew that his life was approaching the end he said to his most faithful bodyguard. He looked up at him and he says the lord says one sacrifice will be sufficient.

This bodyguard says no goes back to grab his sword. Put your sword away. This is the lords doing. George wisher went and was burned as well at the stake. And it was said of this man who carried the sword around who was the protector of this man.

George wisher who was the protector of the gospel. They said of the double anointing of patrick hamilton and george wisher that this double mantle fell upon this man and this mans name. This bodyguards name was john knox and knox put away the two handed sword and was given the sword on high.

The bible says that he preached uncompromisingly that he feared no man. It was even said that he backed the queen into the corner of her own room in her castle and preached and condemned her idols. It was said that the queen was more afraid of john knox more afraid of all of his prayers than all of the armies.

And god has called us one man to proclaim the truth. In this last hour. The gospel of grace was given to the covenanters. In 1638 they signed a covenant because 70 years later after knox was removed the papacy started to come in once again because religious people hate the gospel of grace.

The moment you say it's all of god you'll notice really quick the religious people are getting uncomfortable in their seats because they can't have a part of it. It's not up to them. It's ultimately up to god which is in direct contradiction antithesis to mans pride and his nature.

The covenanters gathered together. They gathered their families. They gathered their children. They gathered them all together and they signed this covenant. And many of them signed in their own blood.

Many of them put on their unto death. No king but christ. We'll have no other king. We'll not bow down to the king because the king is under the king of kings and this was declared. They said no king but christ.

When the world says we'll have no king but caesar you say no king but christ for i will crown no other. Then we see the puritans as they were moved. They went to the shores of america and the great awakening and the revolution and the freedom of our country.

We see the almighty gospel folks coming alive again in our day and in our age. And folks like yourself. This is why i'm coming today and doing something like this. It seems so miniscule and light of the world and all the wicked and all the darkness.

Third Purpose: Strengthening the Body of Christ

But i'm telling you today god only needs a handful of people to flip this country upside down. The third purpose of the proclamation of the gospel is the body of christ. Ephesians 4 11 talks about it being used as the office to set the body in order to give it an adjustment to prepare it to perfect the saints.

The church which is called the body of christ. I was a personal trainer for 17 years. I owned my own gym for 5 years before i sold it and i know how it is to strengthen the human body with all the adversity and the resistance and the irritation and the aggravation build strength.

And god uses the evangelist and the body of believers like a wooden spoon to stir things up. You go out preach the gospel one night go into your church sunday morning and talk about it and see what happens.

You see if people do one of these or one of these jesus says woe to you. If men speak well of you sunday morning come in after an outreach and watch how much applause that you get for the body of christ today.

But it's a good thing you see because we come in like god supernatural nutrients into the body the resistance we come in and it stirs up the body. It arouses them makes them uncomfortable. And it's resistance and adversity and it results in health.

It's good to have an evangelist in the church whether the other believers like it or not. It's very similar to a time that me and a friend of mine went on a diet. We got halfway through the diet he quit.

I kept going on with it and got to where my goal was. Do you think he was excited to see me when I would walk into the gym. How excited do you think he was to see me walking. He'd look at me like here instant enemies because I was nothing more than a banner proclaiming his failures or he has failed.

And when you walk into the body of christ and you're proclaiming the whole counsel of god proclaiming the truth. You're out doing the work of an evangelist. You're out doing what the church has been raised up to do.

The majority does not do. And you're out doing it. You're obeying the great commission. You're out there. You walk in with the stinking stench of sin all over you from being out there on the asphalt the grease, the oil, the cigarettes the cussing and swearing the night wounds, the punches, the slaps getting spit on, all the wonderful things that are associated with outdoor public proclamation.

It awakens and it strengthens. And the church begins to realize yes, this is the healthiest I've ever seen. This is the most awake that I've ever seen my church. It's amazing what the public proclamation.

It's amazing when evangelism has its own ingredients and tools he uses the evangelist to accomplish this task. You want to see a healthy church. Get one that gets out and shares their faith one that's willing to confess Christ before sinners instead of always confessing their sin to the saved.

Fourth Purpose: Evangelism's Transforming Effect on Believers

The last point we go out and proclaim the gospel for the glory of God. It's the only answer to man's dilemma. It nourishes and prepares the church for what God ultimately wants to accomplish through it.

And number four the public proclamation and its effect and benefits for the believer. 2 Timothy 4 and 5 it says. But watch thou in all things. Endure afflictions. Do the work of an evangelist. Make full proof of thy ministry.

You see the transforming principle that Paul was talking about when he was talking to Timothy about doing the work of an evangelist. It was a transforming principle that works in us to transform us and mold us and shape us more in the image of Jesus Christ to fulfill your ministry.

It didn't just say go out and fulfill your evangelism ministry. It's talking about all ministry all of life. Christ encompasses all of life. This is why wherever you're at whatever influence God has given you whether it be in your work whether it be outside on the streets whether it be driving a bus wherever it is where God has given you an influence.

We must proclaim the word of God because it's that very principle at work in your life. And it's the only principle that will transform you and conform you more to the image of Christ. You've got 98 of the body of Christ skipping it because they want to get the home run without preaching the gospel.

You see. And today the so called body of Christ in America is up to its neck instead. And I believe this because many of our problems that we face today in the church are directly linked with our disobedience to the great commission.

This is why we proclaim the gospel. God does a miraculous work on our lives and begins to change us. This is the most humbling thing to do. The greatest way that we can worship God is by the proclamation of his son to all people in all nations for his glory.

A Final Call to Courageous Sacrifice

I'll leave you with this story a Scottish patriot but to his friends he was called the black douglas. To his friends of the good douglas to his enemies he was called the black douglas. At the age of 10 it was said that the city of Berwick was attacked by King Edward I from England he came in and he took over their little city took their father who overlooked the city took him and imprisoned him took all of his father's inheritance took it stole it and gave it over to the English.

As this young 10 year old he was given over to another man. Apparently he was a priest or a monk. I'm not really sure history really doesn't give us the exact details of that particular time or that moment but it says that he was given over to a man to study spiritual things.

And we know that James Douglas was a Christian just because history says so it says he was given over to a tutor that taught him spiritual things but also taught him how to swing and wield the sword. And as he began to grow older and older and older it was found out that his father had been killed by the English and now his country was in turmoil and all of his lands and all of his inheritance was given over to the English as he grew and as he matured God supposedly had given him some sort of vision that he was to meet up with King Robert the Bruce who was the King of Scotland that time who was raising up an army to come against the resistance and the oppression of the enemy.

It was said that he cut off Robert the Bruce on a trail as Bruce was marching off to a great battle and he explained who he was that he was the son of the great William Douglas and his name was Good James Douglas and he was taken in by King Robert the Bruce and this young man at the age of 21 was so valiant his military prowess and the way that he fought on the battlefield to this day they say that he is the greatest warrior that Scotland has ever had.