Living A Life Without Regret - [Romans 1:14-17]

Well, good evening, you know There's one thing I hate it's the old switch. Oh change. Oh. But that's what I did this is a it's a pleasure for me to be here this evening and I hate to break up all the the Christmas thing.

I had a couple things that I I did on the internet some research and whatnot and I was all set with all kinds of Christmas things, but Just a couple of facts, did you know here's a myth for you? Did you you often hear that there are more suicides this time of year than any other time?

It's not true. In fact Christmas has one of the lowest suicide rates, you know for what that's worth write that down mark it Was interesting too because I did a lot of stuff on other civilizations and their their Kind of their mother-child cult things and how many of them had birthdays that are celebrated on December 25th.

So for whatever that's worth. But we're not gonna be in Isaiah 9 tonight because I felt like that message was about 40 baked. So We're gonna be in Romans 1 tonight. Romans 1 verses 14 to 17 a little bit of a change from Isaiah.

The Missionary Purpose of Romans and Paul’s Introduction

Yeah baked and switched Romans 1 we're gonna be looking at verses 14 to 17. And I don't know if you remember I Check now once before. You know what? I love this passage. This is a great passage and I I'm thrilled to be able to preach it.

It just goes right with what we've talked about today from Sunday school. Where we talked about evangelism. From what Dave was speaking on this morning when he was preaching about the narrow way in Matthew 7 and tonight We're gonna be talking about well, I've titled this message living without regret because of the Because of the application but we're talking about the power of the gospel the power of the Word of God to change lives.

And that is the heart of what every Christian What what their lives should be about it's the heart of what this church is about and I think it's what our Heartbeat should be during this whole holiday season.

So let's turn to Romans 1 and beginning in verse 14, I'm going to read I Am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians. Both to the wise and to the foolish. Thus for my part I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

For I am NOT ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, but the righteous man shall live by faith.

Now several months ago as we looked at verses 8 through 13. We looked at Paul's three attributes that he demonstrated as he Candidated as it were if you recall Romans in essence was it might be the first Missionary letter in the history of the church because Paul's purpose he had a few purposes in writing.

One was to kind of tell the Roman Church about himself and about his ministry and about what he believed and about what the gospel was. But he also wanted them to support him he kind of was gonna go from Jerusalem in the Middle East he was going to go to Rome and then he hoped to go further on to Spain and administer the Gospel there.

So when he wrote this gave them a lot of instruction a lot of you know, maybe the The best most complete Theological tome we have in the entire New Testament, but he did all that. As a means of one of the reasons was to raise support for himself on a mission trip to Spain.

So while he was doing that and he had to introduce himself and we looked at his back in verses 8 through 13 his thankfulness his prayerfulness and his humbleness or his humility and If you call then I compared the situation that he found himself in presenting himself to a church that he had never met With a with a situation that you all might find yourselves in someday presenting yourselves to a church full of people that you don't know by developing and exhibiting these three characteristics.

You elicit trust from those with whom you desire to minister anytime you show up in any church around the world if you exhibit these three things thankfulness prayerfulness and humbleness or humility.

It's easier to get plugged in in a ministry. But tonight we're going to look at the very heart of the book of Romans this great book that Luther called The very purest gospel. This is for sure a mountaintop passage in his autobiography.

Billy Graham Tells about a conversation he had with John F Kennedy shortly after Kennedy's election. On the way back to the Kennedy house the president-elect. He wasn't yet in office stopped the car and turned to me.

He asked Billy Graham, do you believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ? Billy Graham said I most certainly do. JFK said well does my church believe it? Billy said they have it in their creeds. JFK said they don't preach it.

They don't tell us much about it. I'd like to know what you think Billy says. I explained what the Bible said about Christ coming the first time dying on the cross Rising from the dead and then promising that he would come back again.

Only then I said are we going to have permanent world peace? Very interesting JFK said. We'll have to talk more about that someday. And he drove on. Sometime later the two met again at the National Prayer Breakfast.

I Had the flu Graham remembers. After I gave my short talk and he gave his we walked out of the hotel to his car together as was always our custom. At the curb, he turned to me. Billy could you ride back to the White House with me?

I'd like to see you for a minute. Mr. President, I've got a fever. I protested not only am I weak, but I don't want to give you this thing. Couldn't we wait and talk some other time. It was a cold snowy day and I was freezing as I stood there without my overcoat.

Of course, he said graciously. But the two would never meet again later that year. Kennedy was assassinated and the evangelist Billy Graham comments. His hesitation at the car door and his request haunt me still what was on his mind?

Should I have gone with him it was an irrecoverable moment an opportunity gone by. Now I'm not here to dog Billy Graham tonight. Clearly, dr. Graham's failure to present the gospel did not determine JFK's ultimate ultimate fate.

Whether he went to heaven or to hell nevertheless Dr. Graham is filled with lingering regret over this incident. I use this illustration. Because I believe that our text this evening lived out to its fullest will allow you to avoid having similar regrets.

This evening we will draw from Paul's description of his own ministry to imperatives to commands. That you must apply to your own lives and to your own ministries in order to faithfully discharge Your responsibilities as a herald before God.

These are two commands that you must comply with in order to have a biblical ministry and to display a biblical worldview. We've talked about a biblical worldview in our class on Thursday nights. What is it that separates a pagan worldview from a biblical worldview?

Any thoughts on that? What is it that separates us? The word we have hope. I think that's the number one thing. Definitely the word why because we have a different standard, but we have a hope that is not based on any conditions.

In fact had we gone to Isaiah 9. That's the primary message there the Israelites actually Judah was in a desperate situation and It just couldn't get any worse and in fact What that prophecy in Isaiah does is it is an offer of hope and not hope in this world.

But a hope that cannot be taken away a hope of a future reign of Christ but we have hope and the world doesn't have that and how we live our lives daily demonstrates that we have that hope and When we are willing to put ourselves out when we are willing to extend ourselves when we are willing to give People the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ we display that we actually believe what the Bible says we display that we believe when it says that The the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone.

That's what we believe when we do that when we evangelize when we go out there. But first the first thing that you must do is you must sense your obligation to proclaim the gospel. Look at verse 14. Paul says I am under obligation.

The Obligation to Proclaim the Gospel

Now are we under the same obligation? Well, Paul had a special calling. Paul was a missionary Paul. Paul you might say well. It's not fair to even compare me to Paul because not only did Paul write a lot of the New Testament.

But Paul had a special appointment a special visitation as it were not many of us. None of us Are on the road to Damascus and meet up with the risen Lord. Not many of us are driven to our literal knees before the risen Savior.

But we do have that obligation as we talked about this morning in Sunday school. Every single person not only is responsible Based on the Great Commission Matthew 28 verses 19 and 20, but also what Peter says.

When he talks about that, we should always be ready to make a defense to everyone who asks. And What do we defend? What are we defending? We're defending this hope that we have because again Peter was writing to people in persecution.

Peter was writing to people that were in difficulty and we're going to experience more difficulty things were bad and they were gonna get worse and he says take heart and While these things are happening to you.

I want you to be ready to explain why it is that you can suffer and you can suffer well. So our obligation is without question to To proclaim the gospel to give the good news. Now, why does the text say that Paul was under obligation?

Well in one sense he was under obligation because he had been freed from sin. Now, is that any different for any of us? When we read and I love Romans 6 the whole book of Romans is so great. But Romans 6 talks about.

Listen, you want to talk about free will and I'm not here to debate that tonight. But if you want to talk about free will you read Romans 6 and it says you every single person you were in Slave you were in chains.

You were in bondage to sin before Christ. Is that a free will? It's absolutely not a free will and it's because of this Freedom that he has been given that he is under obligation. All of us are. Romans 6 18 says and having been freed from sin you became slaves of righteousness.

It's a better deal. You can sin sin sin and be in bondage to sin. Have your eyes blinded. You can have your ears stopped. You could be on that broad road to hell and destruction or you can be freed from your sin.

You can be filled with joy. You can be assured of your salvation. You could be on the narrow road that leads to heaven and In that same sense that sense of being a slave of righteousness. We are all under obligation.

In fact Romans 6 22 says that we are enslaved to God. We are God's slaves. Every one of you ought to come to the gospel with the same awe Excitement and obligation that Paul felt. I mean think about it.

What do we? What could be better? I mean Paul was running around. He was persecuting the church he had a vendetta a vengeance a mindset of destruction and hatred toward the people of God and The Lord set him straight and what did he say from that point forward?

It's not like oh, I can't believe I have to go evangelize and it's 20 degrees in a Worcester and there's ice on the ground. It was a joy. Why? Because for or from whom meant much has been forgiven. What then there's that joy that goes with it?

If you owe a billion dollars and somebody pays that for you, you like that person that paid that billion dollars for you and Christ did much more than pay a billion dollars. What he paid cannot be repaid.

Our obligation our burden our Desire ought to be to serve Christ for the rest of our lives. Bond servant is a term That's often used. Paul uses it Peter uses it James uses it and it means a voluntary slave.

Well, we are Christ's slaves. We are bond servants. The question is do we act like it? Are we obedient in that sense? Even back in Romans 1 1 where Paul says that he is set apart for the gospel of God, aren't we?

Isn't each of one of us set apart for the gospel of God? Isn't that our obligation as we talked about in Ephesians 2 8 and 9 this morning if God gave us the faith if he Granted us the grace Necessary to be saved and he says look I expect you to do good works that I have set out beforehand for you to walk.

Aren't we under obligation? Aren't we set apart for the gospel of God. Don't we live here and breathe here and exist here solely for the purpose of bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to this world and More importantly and compellingly for Paul in this context.

He was under obligation because he had been specifically entrusted with the truth. Romans 1 5 says through whom we have received grace and Apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles.

That was his work. His life's work was to do that it was the purpose of his apostleship that he be an emissary that he be an Ambassador as it were a messenger to the Gentiles bearing the good news of Jesus Christ to all the Gentiles.

He says in 1st Corinthians 9 16 for if I preach the gospel I have nothing to boast of for I am under compulsion. For woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. Do you have that same sense? Do you even think about what Billy Graham feels when he thinks about JFK knowing that it was God's sovereignty?

But they just can't help but be a little regret there. We need to be about our father's business. The weight of Paul's apostleship was such that he was grieved if he was not faithful in preaching the gospel.

Do you ever have that sense that you may have missed an opportunity? Do you ever think man? I should have done that. Why didn't I I? I'm here to guarantee you because I've seen a Few people come to Christ in my lifetime.

God has been gracious and I have yet to see anybody with a neon sign flashing over their head saying preach the gospel to me. I really want to hear it. This is the moment that God has chosen for me to come to faith.

In fact when I think about the times that I have seen people come to faith it was always over their objections. They didn't want to be a Christian. Maybe they wanted to know something more about it. Maybe they needed some clarification because they thought I'd become a total nuts.

Well judge that for yourself. Or maybe they had rejected and rejected and rejected and I was pretty tired of preaching the gospel to him. But they got saved. Anyway, we need to be faithful. Now what's the scope of Paul's obligation?

He says in verse 14. I Am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians both to the wise and to the foolish. Now who are the Greeks. The Greeks were. That's the big culture there. Of course Rome was the Empire but Greek was that it's kind of interesting to me because you would think The Romans would establish their own language, but the basic business or language of business was Greek.

It was the language of the Roman Empire. The barbarians well the Greeks viewed themselves as culturally superior they were the elite they were. Just the cultural elites they were the snobs they were the guys who you know had 15 degrees from Harvard and Oxford and Yale and all the all the high degrees the barbarians.

Were viewed by the Greeks as the uncouth the unrefined the non Greeks. They just weren't cool. They didn't speak the right language. In fact to the Greek ear and where this word comes from to the Greek ear all those foreign languages just sounded like So much noise it was bar bar bar bar bar bar therefore the barbarians.

But they're in notice. There is no third group in other words. You were either in the Greeks or you were outside the Greeks you were either cultured or you were uncultured. Paul says he also had an obligation to both to the wise and to the foolish.

Wise meaning clever capable of performing in a skillful manner foolish meaning intelligent unintelligent or dull-witted. Now Paul doesn't say I was also under obligation to the half-wits. But yeah, the idea again is look he says look smart people.

I preach the gospel to him. Not so smart people. I preach the gospel to him people who are educated refined. Culturally elite. I preach the gospel to him people that are the dregs of society. I preach the gospel to him.

The point is that there is no one Outside the scope of Paul's obligation as much like in Romans 8 when he goes through and he describes all the different things that cannot take away our salvation and It concludes by saying There's nothing created.

There's nothing there's nothing. There's nothing. There's nothing. There's nothing that can separate us from the love of God in Christ. And he wants to rule out everything and he's doing the same thing here.

He says I want you to understand that there is nobody who is outside the scope of my ministry. There's nobody that I'm not concerned for and in that same way We need to not think of ourselves as too good or not good enough to present the gospel to anyone we have something so valuable and We have to fight that tendency to either protect it to prevent other people from getting it or Conversely kind of Just We have to not we have to not hold back anything.

We have to put it all out there but Paul ultimately explains That his ministry is obligated to everyone. He needs to preach the gospel to everyone. Now there are several commentators Who choose to see these groups as Gentiles only?

But I think that there were definitely Jews in the Roman Church and Since Paul is about to agree all or address all men in verse 18 and the flow of this Great letter. I think it's clear that the Jews are also in view here.

He has an obligation to teach to teach the gospel to anyone who will listen. And we need to have that exact same attitude. Look at verse 15 thus for my part. I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

Says he was eager to preach the gospel. This is a result of the universal scope of his obligation. He wants he's very desirous of preaching the gospel in Rome. And this is the same eagerness or longing or willingness to be of service.

That he expressed in verses 11 and 13. Look at verse 11 for I long to see you in order that I may impart some spiritual gift. His desire was a Burden it was a great desire that he had and it was for their own good.

Verse 13 and I do not want you to be unaware brethren that often I have planned to come to you. He had his mind set on going to Rome. He had a great desire to do that. He had a special obligation and a special call Directly from the Lord to faithfully proclaim the gospel.

You also have a special call and therefore a special obligation. Your ministry your call is to share the gospel and it may not be as stark or as clear As that given to Paul, but it is there nonetheless.

John MacArthur writes there will be times when the work does not seem very attractive. He's talking about preaching the gospel and Yet you will still study prepare teach and shepherd because you are under obligation to God and To those you are serving.

However, we are servants of Christ and it is a poor servant who serves only when he feels like it. Now he was talking mostly to ministers and the pastors. But how much more is that true even of you? Whether whatever the scope of your ministry is you have a ministry if you are part of the body of Christ you have a ministry.

And if you don't have a ministry. Then you have a ministry for not having ministries and you need to have a ministry. You need to serve the body of Christ if everybody has gifts if they're all gifted then they need to serve they need to plug in and If I if I come into a situation where I think you know, I probably should preach the gospel of this person.

But I don't feel like it. I'm not up to it today. I don't feel well. Whatever the excuse is that is not obedience. That is sin. We need to be prepared to serve prepared to preach prepared to share prepared to witness.

However, you want to look at it. Our obligation is to proclaim Christ. Well after you've first sensed your your obligation to proclaim the gospel. You must secondly seize your opportunity to do so look at verses 16 and 17.

The Power of the Gospel and the Righteousness of God

For I am NOT ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written.

But the righteous man shall live by faith. You must proclaim the gospel firstly without shame. Paul says that he's not ashamed of the gospel and that's connected to verse 15. Where he says he's eager to preach the gospel and he's also not ashamed of it.

I Mean think about it. Why would he be eager to preach something that he was ashamed of? Now did he have a reason to be ashamed of the gospel? The Greek verb to be ashamed means to Experience a painful feeling or sense of loss of status because of some particular event or activity.

A painful feeling or sense of loss of status. What did that happen to Paul? That was his whole post conversion life. A Painful feeling or sense of loss of status. I mean if he cared about status. Everything he had was gone.

He could have been ashamed of his own life, but he couldn't be ashamed of the gospel because that's what had transformed his life. 2nd Corinthians 11 23 to 27. Paul talks about the impact of serving Christ on his life.

He says are they servants of Christ? I speak as if insane. I More so in far more labors in far more imprisonments. Beaten times without number. Often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews 39 lashes.

Three times. I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I've spent in the deep. I've been on frequent journeys in dangers from rivers. Dangers from robbers.

Dangers from my countrymen. Dangers from the Gentiles. Dangers in the city. Dangers in the wilderness. Dangers on the sea. Dangers among false brethren. I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights in hunger and thirst often without food in cold and exposure.

Beaten to a point near death. Whipped to near death. Stoned. I mean they take. They didn't take little pebbles and throw them out. They were big boulders, and they threw him at you. He was shipwrecked.

Swam in the deep sea. That's what it means when he spent a night in a day in the deep. I Guess we'd have to presume that wasn't with that or that was without a life preserver long periods of time without food or anything to drink.

Exposure to the elements. Didn't he watch TVN. Didn't he know that the Christian life was about health wealth and prosperity. What was he doing. He made all these mistakes every one of these things. Paul Suffered for the furtherance of the gospel in obedience to Christ.

He was willing to go through anything for the furtherance of the gospel. And it wasn't just that he suffered these things and he grumbled about it. He was eager to do so. What was his perspective. His perspective was this look.

I have a given number of years. Many of which I squandered in fact worse than squandered. I was a persecutor of the church and now with what God has given me from now until the day I die I'm going to spend every day every ounce of energy.

I have for the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what I'm gonna do. How different is Paul's attitude of not being ashamed of the gospel for most churches today. My former pastor wrote a book called ashamed of the gospel and he decried the trend which sees churches going away from the preaching of the gospel in our churches and The tide shows no evidence of turning.

We have church growth. We have seeker sensitive Churches we have the emergent church and we've had the liberal church with us for quite a while and what's the main thing? It's what our pastor Dave was saying this morning the idea is not to offend anybody.

To be tolerant to be broad-minded to be on that broad road. But if you want to pack a church out and that's what it's all about. What do you do? Don't preach the word don't give them the gospel that is offensive.

That is a stumbling block. That's gonna send them running for the aisles. Now, how about you? Have you ever been ashamed of the gospel. If you're a bit ashamed to proclaim the goodness and mercy of Christ the idea again of being ashamed Would be a reluctance to preach the gospel because of an anticipated negative response.

What does that mean. Because somebody might not like you when they hear what you have to say and It's gonna happen if you've never lost a friend if you've never Had a confrontation in your family because of the gospel.

I Would encourage you to do that. Lose a friend get severed from your family for a while. It'll do you good. Have you? Have you ever been in that situation where you knew what the response was gonna be where you knew what they were gonna do and You went ahead and you did it anyway.

And there's not a sense of pride in it. I Don't get any joy out of that. But if you have that obligation if you have that fire in your bones if you know that souls Only can be saved from the pit of hell by the life-saving gospel.

You don't hold that back you give it to them every chance you can a Few years ago. I received a couple flyers in the mail and They were both advertisements for Easter Sunday services. Here are some quotes from those flyers.

We want to make sure that church is a meaningful experience for you a valuable use of your time a Meaningful experience that you don't just come into church and have your time wasted. What does that imply?

Typically people come in and man. Oh, man, if they go to a regular church where they preach the Bible what a waste of time that is. What you really need is you need to learn some time management skills when you go to church?

You need to be learn how to be more effective in your job when you go to church, that's what you need. That'll help you now. Does that sound like they're gonna preach the word? Does it sound like they don't want to offend anyone with the gospel.

The other flyer read our worship celebration features powerful music use of creative arts and an Inspirational message we know will touch your heart. I don't even know what that means an Inspirational, but I mean I know what inspirational meant when I was growing up.

You know, I went to the Mormon Church and what inspirational meant was just something that made you feel good it was something that just and and that seems to be what's implied here an Inspirational message we know will touch your heart.

There will be a dry eye in the house. You are just gonna love what we do. Is that what church is about. Is that what we're about use of creative arts. What does that mean a? Skit a drama. Some kind of you know I always like when they have the dramatic arts ministry on a web page that already lets me know what they're doing.

But if you want to learn the 18 ways to be a better neighbor. The ten principles to reduce stress in your life that kind of thing those are the kind of churches to go to and People are packing those churches out.

One church I know of in an area where we used to live. In fact, it was the one that sent out these flyers. They have powerful music, okay. Like I heard about this one. It's a medley of amazing grace and Peaceful easy feeling they just transition for those of you who aren't old enough to remember that song.

They just they just changed the words a little bit so that you know, they got a little holy wordage in there. I've got a peaceful easy feeling because I know you won't let me down because I'm already standing on holy ground.

Terrible. Terrible, but you know what it brings comfort to people they can go to church and not be confronted by the truth claims of Christ and That church by the way is pastored by a man who graduated from the same seminary Mike and I went to.

That's why I tell people these days. They call the church and they say hey, is there another church pastored by The master seminary and I go well, that's no guarantee. You still have to go and check it out, but the same man.

Knows that some of his messages will touch your heart. Because they're tried and true. He bought him off the internet. He was confronted by one of his elders one night and you think well that should be pretty powerful.

They pay the pastor to study. He doesn't study. He downloads his sermons. That should that should bother the elders. Oh, it bothered him. All right. They voted the elder off the elder who brought it up in the first place.

Pack your bags lad. You're leaving. These are the times that we live in. Spurgeon knew something about this. He wrote a Constantly on what he called the downgrade controversy. The the watering down of the gospel and he just fought and fought against that he said when the old faith is gone and Enthusiasm for the gospel is extinct and I think it's on the endangered list if it's not extinct.

It is no wonder that people seek something else in the way of delight. Lacking bread they feed on ashes. Rejecting the way of the Lord they run greedily in the path of folly. Well in addition to preaching the gospel without shame.

You must proclaim the gospel with boldness. Note, there is a shift in focus here from Paul's ministry in the to the Romans. Or his ministry and the Romans with the Romans to the gospel. Which will be the dominant theme of the book until chapter 14.

Verse 16 says for it is the power talking about the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation. We can boldly proclaim the gospel because it's powerful it works in fact when it says the power of God, of course the word power for those of you don't know is The Greek word dunamis from which we get the word dynamite it is literally Powerful it is very powerful.

Morris says this the gospel is not advice to people. Suggesting that they lift themselves. It is power it lifts them up. Paul does not say that the gospel brings power, but that it is power and God's power at that.

When the gospel is preached this is not simply so many words being uttered. The power of God is at work. When we preach the gospel even as Lewis was saying this morning or he mentioned in Sunday school.

Sometimes all we do is we plant a seed. But sometimes that's all God needs. God just needs us to be faithful. Sometimes we plant that seed it might take years and years and years to grow. But God's Word does not return void.

He does exactly what he desires through his word. The gospel is the power of God for salvation now. We can argue nuances of the Greek but the point here is that nothing else in scripture is Ever said to have the ability to save men from hell except the gospel.

And we could talk about Different religions we could talk about all kinds of things. But the main point is if we don't proclaim the gospel if we don't get the gospel, right? Then we are not using the power of God.

We are not giving the God-given device an opportunity to do its work. So we must proclaim the bolt the gospel with boldness. We must be ready. We must have a mindset that says I want to see people come to Christ.

I believe the gospel is the power of God and the salvation and I am going to proclaim it. We must also proclaim the gospel universally. Look there in verse 16 is the power of God to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek now.

I heard a message in Chapel one time where the guy says listen men. Says the focus clearly here is that we need to take the gospel to the Jews first. Well You know if you ever heard if we could audibly listen to 300 men in Seminary Chapel we all just kind of reached up for our volume knobs and turn them down.

Because that was that was it. That's not the point here. He's not saying that at all. It went to the Jews first. But let me give you this word of caution here the everyone who believes. Those people do not come to faith on their own.

This verb is a present participle and It's not implying ability. It doesn't say that everyone who has a desire to believe that's on whom the gospel works. That's not what it's saying at all. It is describing something that has already happened.

That's something that is taking place in them. It is could be described this way. For all the believers it is the power of God and the salvation for all the believers. It's describing them as they are.

And Paul's point is simple belief cannot be separated from the proclamation of the gospel. We want people to believe we have to give them the life-changing Word of God. And a proclamation like that a declaration like that a presentation of the gospel demands what somebody to be faithful to give it and That my dear brothers and sisters might well be you.

You might be the one that God has chosen to work through. It is the Word of God that saves whoever gets saved. It is God who has to replace a heart of stone and Put in a heart of flesh. You can't do that.

But you have to be faithful to proclaim the truth. Believing in the Bible is equated with faith in Christ. Romans 10 17 says that so faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. Nobody can come to faith without hearing the gospel.

Nobody can Be saved apart from knowing Christ and knowing the truth about him. 1 16. Romans 1 16 could be well said to be and you know, it's another one of those cop illustrations. This is kind of like a Barney Fife verse.