In Defense of the Gospel (3)

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Lars Larson

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Separated on to the gospel of God which he promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son
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Jesus Christ our Lord who is born of the seed of David according to the flesh declared to be the
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Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead to him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ to all who are in Rome beloved of God called to be saints grace to you and peace from God our
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Father and the Lord Jesus Christ first I thank my
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God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world for God is my witness whom
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I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son that without ceasing
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I make mention of you always in my prayers making requests if by some means now at last
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I may find a way in the will of God to come to you for I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift so that you may be established that is that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me now
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I do not want you to be unaware brethren that was hindered until now that I might have some fruit among you also just as among the other
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Gentiles I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to barbarians both the wise and to unwise so as much as in me
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I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also today is the third
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Lord's Day that we're addressing this subject the defense of the gospel and I hope
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Lord willing I know we've got quite a few pages here I hope we're able to complete our study today
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Lord willing we've already shown from the scriptures that the gospel is a rather fragile thing it can easily be corrupted quickly be corrupted we saw that in Galatians chapter 1
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Paul was amazed at the churches in Galatia so quickly remove themselves from him when they departed from the grace that's in the gospel and so the gospel can be stripped of its content and thereby diluted of its potency and so what remains of the message of good news may be true however it's no longer the whole truth now thankfully
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God will bless the truth even when it may be mixed up in a measure with error God blesses his truth but to the degree that our gospel ceases to reflect the content of the biblical gospel we can expect the lessening of God's blessing upon our truncated message our abbreviated message to further his work of salvation in our world and so there's the ever -present need we've advocated to defend the biblical gospel and while doing so to assure ourselves that the gospel we understand and promote is indeed in accordance with God's Word there's a need for reforming according to God's Word reaffirming there is a need sometimes for recovery of the gospel and last
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Lord's Day we sought to show from the scriptures how just how far even much not all that much and so we set forth from the
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Holy Scriptures last Lord's Day how the gospel of Jesus Christ in the
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New Testament is vitally connected to the promise of the kingdom of God we saw that in Mark chapter 1 that we just read the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ was the announcement that the
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Messiah had come and the kingdom of God was being inaugurated Jesus Christ is
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Lord the kingdom of God is a theme that is central to the story of the
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Bible from the earliest chapters of Genesis through the last chapters of the Revelation the kingdom of God is a major theme biblical scholars all readily acknowledge that the message of the kingdom of God was the principle preaching theme of the
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Lord Jesus himself he preached the kingdom of God the gospel of course is the good news that God has broadened in the early church but will be fully realized the kingdom shall come with the second coming of Jesus Christ and so the kingdom is now is present and will one day be fully manifested at his second coming we read of the culmination of God's purpose in history in first Corinthians 1524 and following when he delivers the kingdom to God the father by the time
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Jesus comes all rebellion all sin will be put down he'll conquer his enemies and all of his people will be submitted to him and he takes basically this world that he has brought back under a willing submission to the father and he presents it to his father he fulfills a task that the father entrusted to him you go down into that fallen world that's in rebellion to me and you reclaim it and you regain it and that's what he's doing he's saving his people and he's setting up his enemies for their big fall for their judgment and so Paul wrote about here and then comes the end when he delivers his kingdom to God the father when he puts an end to all rule of authority and power for he must reign he is reigning he must continue to reign till he is put all enemies under his feet and the last enemy that will be destroyed is death for he has put all things under his feet but when he
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God says all things are put under him it's evident that he you put all things under him is accepted in other words
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Jesus Christ himself is not put under for God the father isn't when all things are made subject to him then the son himself will also be subject to him who put all things under him that God may be all in all the son himself comes and offers his kingdom to the father and all things are brought back into a willing submission to God the father this is a task the kingdom to which
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God sent his son to inaugurate and to accomplish a book
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I would highly recommend to you commend to you as a thorough treatment of the theme back on the treadmill in these days and I'm reading this book as I'm as I'm working working on the treadmill is written by Thomas Schreiner and it's
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I've mentioned to a few of you people already it's entitled the king and his beauty and although Schreiner at the beginning of the book acknowledge no one theme adequately captures the message of the scriptures nevertheless he argues in his book the four captures from a biblical theology standpoint the message of the scripture in other words he claims that the kingdom of God is he doesn't say the although implies it a major theme throughout all the
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Bible because you really can't say there is a single major thing there are a lot of major things but he's arguing the kingdom of God is one of the most principal themes of scripture and here's a brief introduction and really the sense of his assertion perhaps it will help if I sketch what
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I mean by the kingdom of God first of all it designates the rule of God in one sense
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God is always a king of kings and Lord of Lords reigning over everything that happens God is sovereign he's king of kings as a creator but in another sense
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God's rule has been flouted since the fall of humankind and the scriptures tell the story of the kingdom regained the objection to see the kingdom is central is that it does not seem to fit with the writings of the
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Hebrew Bible for example the book of Hebrews or pardon me Proverbs I will argue in due course that Proverbs and the other books of the writings in the
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Old Testament there's the law the prophets and then the writings and some argue no the kingdom is not the central message of the
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Bible because you don't find that theme a lot in Job and Proverbs and Ecclesiastes but Shriner here is arguing well if you look and read carefully it's there is what he's saying it fits with such a notion even though the term kingdom is virtually absent in Proverbs I will demonstrate that the wisdom literature features the supremacy of God in everyday life showing that he rules over the particulars of our very existence we will see that Proverbs Job and Ecclesiastes teach that the fear of Yahweh we commonly say
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Jehovah Yahweh is the proper name for God in the Old Testament is the beginning of wisdom to fear the
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Lord is to live under his Lordship the focus on God as King is evident in the regular refrain found in Scripture particularly the
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Old Testament where God is identified as the Lord as Lord he is the sovereign one the creator of all the one who deserves praise and obedience in other words saying that the theme of Scripture is
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God's kingship is verified and confirmed by the constant refrain that God is the
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Lord and so the entire book The King and His Beauty is a setting forth of the
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Scriptures from Genesis all the way through Revelation setting forth the idea of the kingdom of God and I'm finding a very excellent book by the way he'll be one of our speakers next year at our
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Bolton conference 2017 now a few moments ago we read those 15 verses in Romans 1 and here we have underscored for us the truthfulness of what we've said about the content of the gospel and the need to emphasize the gospel of the kingdom
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Paul had written to this church in Rome a church he had never visited for which he had the desire to instruct and encourage in the
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Lord and in his opening words Paul referenced the centrality of the gospel to his own calling and ministry and so verse 1
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Romans 1 contains Paul's introduction himself and of the gospel Paul a bondservant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle separated onto the gospel of God and the gospel of God that's one of the few places where that the precise wording like that is to be found the gospel the good news of God and then without hesitation or delay in the very same sentence all define the content of that gospel which is contained in verse verses 2 to 4 verse 2 reads which
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God promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures now you see the pronoun which which
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God promised that which is a reference to the gospel the gospel which
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God promised to the kids to his prophets in the holy scriptures Paul declared that God had promised the gospel in history to the prophets and then in verse 3 he began to set forth the content of the gospel concerning his son
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Jesus Christ our Lord and so the good news is the good news of Jesus Christ but what specifically about Jesus Christ the gospel does
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Paul give focus verse 4 records for us who was born of the seed of David he's talking about the good news of Jesus Christ who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead and so here
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Paul is declaring quite clearly that the gospel has to do with Jesus Christ being the promised
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King of Israel the son of David of which the prophets foretold would one day rise to rule over the kingdom of Israel that is the kingdom of God when
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Paul said that Jesus Christ would declare to be the son of God with power upon his resurrection he was declaring that Jesus Christ was inaugurated as the promised
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King of Israel when a son of David was was coronated in ancient
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Israel he was a son of David in that coronation there was a declaration by made by God you are my son today
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I begotten you when that son became that son of David became king it's as though God adopted that son of David as his son because this son of David was going to rule on his behalf and Paul is saying that when
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Jesus Christ rose from the dead he ascended into heaven he was enthroned by God and he declared to be the son of David who is the son of God in other words ruling on behalf of God we have the establishment of the kingdom of God here with Jesus Christ as the promised
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King the son of David and so when the
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Lord Jesus rose from the dead ascended to heaven he came to the father the ancient of days who bestowed upon him his kingdom the long -promised anticipated
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King who now sits upon the throne of David that's what Paul is declaring here in Romans chapter 1 the promised restoration of the kingdom is of Israel ruled over by the promised son of David had come into realization and then in verse 5
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Paul wrote of the end or the reason that is through Christ we've received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name this is the purpose or end to which
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God intended for the gospel he would have a kingdom comprised of Jews and Gentiles who are brought into life a life of obedience born by faith in Jesus Christ who is now the enthroned promised son of David over the kingdom of God clearly obviously in my mind this is what
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Paul is declaring Paul next expressed his desire to travel to Rome to proclaim this gospel and so verses 8 to 12
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I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world he's talking about the realization fulfillment of what
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God has promised the kingdom of David now is encompassing the world and Gentiles are being brought in as well and you people at Rome in that church in Rome you're part of this for God is my witness whom
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I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son without ceasing
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I make mention of you always in my prayers making request it by some means now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you for I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gifts that you may be established that is that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me and so Paul wanted them to be established in the full understanding and realization of what
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God was doing in history and their part in that God was bringing into realization the kingdom of God he wanted them to understand the blessing that God was accomplishing through them was a fulfillment of God's purpose in history that they be brought to the obedience to the faith among all nations for his sake for his name and so Paul desired to travel to Rome to impart this glorious news to them as we read in verses 13 to 15
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I do not want you to be unaware brethren I often plan to come to you but was hindered until now so that I might have some fruit among you also just as among other
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Gentiles I am a debtor both the Greeks and two barbarians both the wise and unwise so as much as in me
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I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also and so this entire introduction in Romans 1 verses 1 to 15 underscores the content of the gospel is a good news of the promised kingdom of God has come into realization by Jesus Christ through his life death resurrection and his enthronement he is the enthroned son of David over Israel is what
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Paul is declaring and then of course the unfolding of the entire epistle of Paul to the
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Romans is a setting forth of how God is bringing into realization this worldwide kingdom
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Paul wanted to travel to Rome to better teach them that their church comprised both of Jews and Gentiles was the realization of God's purpose in history through Jesus Christ God was saving his people from their sin pardoning them of their sin justifying them freely by the grace that's in Jesus Christ through faith alone bringing them into a state of justification and then sanctifying them by the power of the
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Holy Spirit that their King imparts to his people even until the day when he glorifies them when they pass from this life into their participation of the future resurrection from the dead when the kingdom will be fully realized so everything that we've said thus far underscores the definitions that we sent before us last week in answer to the question what is salvation biblical salvation is the work of God to save his people from their sin unto himself through Jesus Christ and so in the light of salvation what is the gospel well simply the gospel is the good news that God brings sinners salvation from sin to Jesus Christ but more precisely what is the content of the message of the gospel it is a good news that God is saving his people from their sin through his
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King even our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ so that they might be a people who love
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God and obey God is all to the end that they might be an obedient people brought to an obedience to God reconciling of them to God their creator through Jesus Christ now to site
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Shriner again here's an excellent synopsis of the message of the kingdom of God set forth in the synoptic
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Gospels of Matthew Mark and Luke as well as in Luke sequel the book of Acts is a long and forgive me for that but I read it and I thought now this is this is too good not to share it the synoptic
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Gospels and the book of Acts despite all their diversity have something in common all of them proclaim that the
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King has come Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of Man the Son of God the
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Messiah the final prophet the true Israel and the Lord of all Jesus will fill the promise made to David that his dynasty would never end that a king would always sit on the
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Davidic throne by virtue of his resurrection and exaltation he is now seated at God's right hand and he reigns from heaven the kingdom promised in the
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Old Testament has come for the king has come the day fulfillment has arrived in the ministry death and resurrection the age to come has invaded history for Jesus is risen from the dead by virtue of Jesus's death forgiveness of sins is available for those who belong to him the presence of the kingdom manifested itself in Jesus's healings exorcisms and nature miracles these miracles anticipate the new creation that is coming the day when all that is wrong the world will be made right amnesty is offered to all those who defied the king's lordship but the day of forgiveness will last for a limited time for the king will return to the earth and finish what he has started that the devil and his cohorts will be destroyed forever though the crushing blow already was delivered at Jesus's death and resurrection
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Luke particularly emphasizes though the theme is not absent from Matthew and Mark that the kingdom advances through the power of the
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Holy Spirit the gospel of the kingdom will be heralded to the ends of the world and acts testifies that such a mission is carried out through the work of the
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Holy Spirit animating and strengthening disciples to testify to the gospel of Jesus Christ the people of God consists of all those who belong to Jesus Christ the twelve apostles represent the new and restored
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Israel the twelve the new twelve tribes so to speak all those who accept the apostolic testimony about the
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Christ are members of God's kingdom the restored a new Israel is not limited to the
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Jewish people Gentiles who repent of their sins put their faith in Jesus Christ and are baptized in his name also belong to the new people of God Luke particularly emphasizes in Acts the expansion of the people of God the promise that Israel and Judah would be reunified is fulfilled when the
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Samaritans believe the folding in of the Gentiles fulfills a universal blessings pledged to Abraham and the other patriarchs those who are members of the kingdom repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ they submit to Jesus's lordship in his reign as disciples true disciples are obedient to God and do what
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Jesus commands them to do they live a new life as members of the kingdom bearing truth that is pleasing to God that is an all -encompassing description of everything that we've been trying to say again we've asserted several times in the past few weeks it's our conviction that this biblical gospel is not widely understood or proclaimed by evangelicals just as J .I.
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Packard written back in the early 60s he believed the gospel then needed a recovery it had been lost we would argue that the gospel of the kingdom needs to be restored today to our proclamation the gospel most often reclaimed is but a shell of what had been proclaimed formally that God had formally blessed to the conversion of many may the
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Lord help us to be right in these matters may he bless our proclamation of his gospel to the furtherance of his kingdom now having established what is true with respect to the
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Bible's message let's consider what is we began to do so somewhat two weeks ago when we spoke about the common heresy corrupting the true meaning of grace that being legalism on the one hand or licentiousness on the other teachings commonly heard which must be refuted but there are other ways in which the biblical gospel suffers and I would argue
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I would reason the gospel may be and is perverted by redefining the nature of salvation it is very lamentable that the gospel has been corrupted in the minds of many because the nature and meaning of salvation has been stripped of its biblical content rather than proclaiming that salvation the salvation the
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Bible teaches which is salvation from all the effects of sin it is common for salvation to be reduced to the promise of God's forgiveness of sins only most gospel tracks have reduced the gospel to this read these verses believe this and you can have your sins forgiven as though that is what salvation is all about and I would argue that this is less than what the gospel is set forth in the
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New Testament the gospel that's taught to bring about that truncated salvation has been reduced solely to a presentation of how to obtain forgiveness of sins as though this were all that was necessary and important to biblical salvation but in proclaiming this gospel so -called the true gospel has been distorted in the minds of many professing
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Christians now again what is being said about the forgiveness of sins many times is true it's just so narrow and so limited it's not the whole truth and again thankfully
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God blesses the truth he manages to convert people in spite of us really because we proclaim the truth in a measure he carries on his work but I think that our weak and faulty message results in a forfeiture of God's blessing our efforts certainly it's true that one of the great needs in God bringing us to salvation is to extend to us the forgiveness of sin this is essential obviously sin is a great barrier between the true
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God and fallen man our sin calls for God's just judgment upon us here's a long passage from Isaiah that here it clearly sets forth the problem we got the sin problem and we need to be pardoned by God because we're guilty
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Israel of course Judah was suffering under the judgment of God but they were thinking hey something's happening here and God is not able to deliver us because they were suffering such reverse from their enemies and as Isaiah writes or the
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Lord did to him behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save he doesn't have he doesn't have a weak arm that he can't come and save you it's not because his arm is short and they're paralyzed nor is he heavy he cannot hear but your iniquities have separated you from your
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God your sins have hidden his face from you we've got a sin problem so that he will not hear for your hands are defiled with blood your fingers with iniquity your lips have spoken lies your tongue has muttered perversity no one calls for justice and there's a whole litany of here of course of the consequences of sin before God the way of peace they've not known there's no justice in their eyes and made themselves crooked paths whoever takes that way shall not know peace and as a consequence
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God's blessing is forfeited there's nine justice is far from us nor does righteousness overtake us verse 12 there's a confession for our transgressions are multiply and testify against us for our transgressions are with us and as for our iniquities we know them sin is a problem a very very big problem for God of course is holy and just in all his ways and no one who is guilty of sin work will ever dwell with him and every one of us are guilty of sin we're staying estranged from God distant from God because God is a holy
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God and we are not thankfully however
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God in bringing us to salvation pardons us of our sin and so God has promised his people
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I will cleanse them from all their iniquities by which they have sinned against me I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against me all other violations of God's law
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God promises to forgive and thankfully of course God's forgiveness of sins extended graciously even freely to faith in Jesus Christ and Micah foretold this we read in Romans 1 this gospel was foretold by the prophets in the
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Old Testament Micah was one of those and here he exclaims the glory of a merciful
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God who is a God like you pardoning iniquity passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage he does not retain his anger for everybody because he delights in mercy he will again have compassion on us will subdue our iniquities you will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea you will give truth to Jacob mercy to Abraham which you sworn to our father from the days of old and then of course
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King David wrote a psalm about the free forgiveness of sins Psalm 32 which which the
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Apostle Paul quoted in Romans chapter 4 blessed is the man to whom the
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Lord will not impute sin blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven whose sin is covered blessed is the man to whom the
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Lord does not impute iniquity in whose spirit there is no deceit but I would advocate
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I would argue it is wrong to think or tell others that they may have the free and forgiveness full forgiveness of sins only if they but believe that Jesus Christ died for sinners and yet that is the message it is commonly taught all you have to do is believe that Jesus died for sinners and you will be forgiven of your sins
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I don't think that represents the gospel as the
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Bible says for biblical salvation involves much more than God forgiving our sins we need more than pardon salvation to God bestows includes deliverance from the love and power of sin when people are saved from their sins they no longer live to serve sin but rather they serve
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God Jesus Christ is their Savior and their master he directs their lives he directs them as Paul described on to obedience of obedience born of faith he says when people are saved from their sins they're brought to experience new life they come to enjoy all the life offers them in their church among the other people of God who've also been saved from their sins the fact is people will believe a message of God will freely forgive them but if you tell them that comes with that forgiveness of sins alongside of their forgiveness they must depart from sin and that the forgiveness of sins comes with joining with the people of God learning from and living according to this book he's given to us so you'll find your offer of forgiveness will be declined by most people people want forgiveness they don't want however to be delivered from their sin they love their sin that's one of the problems and when salvation comes that love is deposed isn't it there's love for Christ a love for righteousness although sin is attractive always is it's enticing in some ways it's pleasant the true
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Christian would rather never do it again however it's a sad thing in my view that most presentations of the gospels of the gospel is a mere offer of forgiveness of sins this is how you can get
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God to forgive you of your sins but if people are not willing to turn from their sin they should not be promised that they have been forgiven of their sin this easy gospel can often be presented like this the soul winner confronts the sinner with the reality of his sin he shows him from the scriptures that all are sinners and are therefore under the just judgment of God perhaps a soul winner will even use the law of God to show clearly convincingly that this man is a transgressor but again rather than presenting the full message the full gospel that Jesus Christ is
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Lord over a kingdom in which he calls and enables sinners to leave their sin and become righteous through faith and to live in righteousness through faith the sinner is told if he merely believes that Jesus died and rose for sinners he too will be forgiven of sins and that is not true and again this sinner will often accept this gospel
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I used to do it back when I was a young man younger man in my early 20s
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I was hired as a staff soul winner of a large church in Texas and that was my job to go out and win souls and I'd win a dozen a week on average one day a man and I went out 52 people one
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Saturday bowed their heads prayed that sinner's prayer some were weeping somewhere on their knees the following day they didn't come to church they didn't want to come to church
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I was offering them forgiveness of sins and they wanted that but they didn't want anything to do with the kind of life as a
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Christian that we were presenting and yet we were telling them they were having they had salvation because they believed on Jesus it's a truncated salvation is a truncated gospel and that's the message it that evangelicalism is proclaimed to the world through all its evangelistic crusades all the tracks that are so superficial and shallow many well -meaning and well -intentioned
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Christians are offering that kind of gospel the salvation is more than the forgiveness of sins it's new life in Jesus Christ it's coming into the kingdom of God with Jesus as Lord it's coming to believe on him and trust him and to look to him to guide and lead in order one's life and so people are being deceived they think they're forgiven because they believe on Jesus but their life in no way manifests the kind of participation in this kingdom that we've been talking about this desire to please
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God and obey Jesus Christ and to seek the grace that Christ gives by the power of the
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Holy Spirit that he imparts to his people because that's not their desire the fact is the free and fullness full forgiveness of sins is indeed conferred upon the one who believes but it's the one who believes and submits to Jesus Christ as the
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King the Lord of Lords and King of Kings many proclaim this aberrant and abbreviated gospel because they do not understand or believe what
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God has revealed concerning the inauguration of the kingdom of God as we have considered above many have this twisted view of the gospel promising the forgiveness of sins while failing to proclaim the kingdom of God and many have done so because they do not believe
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God has established Jesus Christ as King over the kingdom of God and we've talked about this in the past but it's largely due to the legacy of dispensationalism which
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I used to believe and advocate and teach until I came to understand it wasn't right back in 1982 a while ago but dispensationalism has dominated evangelical belief and thinking theology since the early 20th century and it denied that Jesus Christ is currently reigning as the son of David they teach that God's promise to David that he would have a son to sit on his throne was not the promise of a kingdom realized in this church age but rather it was a promise of a physical kingdom that will be fulfilled in a future thousand -year
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Jewish millennium on earth that is what dispensationalism teaches and most everybody believes it when the
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Lord returns it's claimed he will then be seated on a literal physical throne in earthly Jerusalem Jewish nation that will be supreme over the
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Gentile nations of the world they teach that God offered this kingdom to the Jewish people when
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Jesus the promised Messiah came and ministered among them but when Israel rejected
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Jesus as the Messiah and they crucified him they said God withdrew his offer of the kingdom and in its place inaugurated this church age and so they don't believe the promise kingdom of the
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Old Testament is realized presently and that Jesus as the son of David is ruling they said no that won't occur until the second coming and so their understanding of the gospel removes the whole idea of the kingdom proclamation as a son of David rather becomes a gospel of forgiveness of sins and often that only they argue the promised kingdom was not inaugurated upon the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ rather the this church age is a great parenthesis in God's program but one day
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God will go back to his original intention and plan they some they used to argue many have abandoned this false teaching but they used to argue that during a future tribulation period a different gospel will be proclaimed once again the gospel of the kingdom will be offered to the world but that's after the church is taken out of the world but they say you don't preach a gospel of kingdom now in this church age because the kingdom has been postponed and so the entire gospel of Jesus Christ has been void of the substance of the kingdom of Jesus Christ for the most part by many people and so they'll tend to offer a gospel of forgiveness of sins but that offer will not be tied to Jesus Christ as the exalted reigning son of David so clearly set forth in the
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New Testament and so on this is one way in which the biblical gospel is commonly distorted truncated and I believe that our whole world has been adversely affected by this superficial shallow message of salvation this is how you can get
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God to forgive your sins and you're going to begin to feel pretty good about yourself also if you just accept
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Jesus as your Savior and that's not what the scriptures declare the gospel is nor salvation it's coming into the realization that God has a kingdom and over that kingdom he's placed his son
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Jesus Christ the promised son of David as the prophets foretold and prophesied it's coming to realization and so you and I better acknowledge it he is
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Lord and that means we better cease our rebellion put down our own purpose and will to demand that we be the lords of our own lives and we come and submit and believe on Jesus for who he is he is the
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Lord he is the Savior and the Lord of his people and we submit to him we confess him and we show our allegiance to him by submitting to him in faith in repentance from sin declaring it in our baptism aligning with the people of God believe likewise and lastly we would argue that the gospel is also commonly perverted and it goes hand in hand we're on page 8 now and we're going to have to rapidly go through this the gospel is often pervasive saving faith and of course the
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Holy Scriptures testify throughout its pages that faith is the instrument by which God brings salvation to his people we can probably most most of us can probably quote
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Ephesians 2 8 and 9 for by grace you've been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast faith is the instrument faith is essential it pleases
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God when a sinner believes the gospel for without faith it's impossible to please him for he who comes to God must believe that he is he is the true
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God and that God rewards those who come to him through faith faith is the instrument through which
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God extends us the forgiveness of sins and the result and state of peace between him and us therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God thank
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God for that faith is also the instrument by which Christians live we didn't just become
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Christians through faith but we live by faith as Christians as Paul declared I live by faith in the
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Son of God but not only do the scriptures speak of the necessity of faith as the instrument by which
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God saves people the scriptures also define and describe what that faith is like and herein is the problem many have redefined faith as simply an understanding and acceptance of who
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Jesus is and what he did and that's all there is to it if you can be simply informed of the truth of the matter and you accept that as true that's what saving faith is sometimes that's referred to as notional faith a mental affirmation and agreement but the
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Bible describes saving faith in other ways as well that we must understand there is a faith that is in accordance with godliness that's what
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Paul declared in Romans 1 Paul a bondservant of God an apostle Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness true saving faith is in accordance with godliness isn't it it's not just a mere acknowledgement
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I know this is true and I accept it is true but true saving faith will result in a godly life and so though the scriptures instruct us on the nature and content of the faith that saves a sinner from sin many in evangelicalism have reduced their understanding of saving faith as only an acknowledgement of certain historic facts of who
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Jesus did or who Jesus was and what he did when he died upon the cross and it's assumed that is what saving faith is but it's not and so I have listed
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I think nine aspects of saving faith that the scriptures have set before us saving faith and we'll just run through these and then close saving faith embraces
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Jesus Christ alone for salvation there are a lot of people who believe on Jesus Christ they believe he died on the cross for sins but they're trusting
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Jesus Christ perhaps and something in addition to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins they're still in their sin true saving faith embraces
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Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins it's not faith with my plus my tears my faith with my resolve faith with my repentance faith with my obedience none of that is faith and faith alone in Jesus Christ alone secondly certainly saving faith leads a sinner to repent of sin not live in sin but turn from sin thirdly saving faith leads a sinner to submit to Jesus Christ as Lord he is king and we've come to understand that God the
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Father has appointed his son as king as Lord of Lords King of Kings and one day he's sending his son back to judge the world and so I am responsible as a creature in God's world to acknowledge what
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God has done who his son is he is the Lord and I'm going to come to him and believe on him and trust myself to him and so saving faith leads a sinner to submit to Jesus Christ at Lord fourthly saving faith perseveres throughout life saving faith is not a temporary faith
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God doesn't promise salvation for someone who has temporary faith I get calls from to help out in funerals
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I received one recently to perform a funeral of someone and I was told that this person at one time was aligned with this church and I inquired a little bit about it from those who have been around a while I've been in her 18 years
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I'd never heard the name and this dates back 40 50 years this person hasn't been around now maybe they've been in another shirt
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I don't know I haven't researched it you know fully but a temporary faith is not saving faith true faith is an enduring faith a persevering faith and then saving faith is a faith that abides in Christ Jesus spoke about that if you remain in me abide in me if you he said it in graphic terms to shock the sensibilities of Jewish people you need to feed on my flesh and you need to drink my blood and what
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Jesus was emphasizing is that you need to rely upon me and live upon me continuously for he is the one who has eternal life six saving faith leads a person to order his life in a manner consistent with the law of God the
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Bible says he who keeps his commandments abides in him true faith leads to an obedience to God's word
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God's law hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments it's one of the ways we gain assurance of salvation by this we know we love the children of God when we love
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God and keep his commandments true faith tends toward leads toward results in obedience and seven saving faith will be revealed in the life of the true believer on the day of judgment when he's judged according to his true
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Christian is seen as different he thinks differently believes differently values things differently and on the final day of judgment it will become evident this man's a
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Christian this woman's a Christian you can tell by his or her speech is her attitude his or her actions this person over here who might have claimed to be a
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Christian is not and and what testifies to that his words Jesus said by your words you be justified by your words you be damned in other words by your words on the day of judgment will either affirm that you're a believer or confirm that you were a pretender no believer at all and so our true faith will one day be manifest and displayed before the
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Lord Jesus himself when he scrutinizes you and me on that day of judgment the true
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Christian of course need not fear of that day of judgment because he has the grace of God manifest in his life he has love of the
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Lord he has confidence in the Lord he's experiencing the grace of God who's transformed him his thinking his values his attitudes he knows that when he stands before the
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Lord on the day of judgment that the Lord himself will exonerate him not because of his life or any merit in him but because Jesus Christ himself will stand forward as his advocate
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Jesus Christ will be the judge on that day but he'll also be the defense attorney on behalf of all of his people and he will stand and he will exonerate the
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Christian not because the Christian is better in a meritorious way but because Jesus Christ will own him or own her he is mine she is mine
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I lived in his place I died in his place on the cross I paid the penalty of his transgressions for the
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God's law upon the cross and I rose for him I've been praying for him pleading with him guarding him guiding him strengthening him to the course of his life he's mine and he'll be exonerated wholly and fully on that day he's going to so enable us and it's a wonder to even consider it to be able to stand before him on that day of judgment without shame without fear rather standing rejoicing in the free grace of God that God has bestowed on us to his son that will be a glorious day and so in conclusion may the
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Lord enable each of us to rightly claim I have the faith of God's elect and that's not a boast of course but it's a confession the grace of God has taught me and enabled me to believe the gospel through faith
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I've turned from my former life and sin to live for Jesus Christ as he enables me by the by his grace he is my
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Lord I look to him to forgive me but also to cleanse me I trust him to strengthen me to sustain me
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I trust in him that he will stand for me on that great day of judgment that is coming upon the entire world
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I claim as the Apostle I know whom I believed and I am convinced that he's able to keep that which
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I've committed unto him until that day a man may the
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Lord help each of us affirm that let's pray father we thank you for your word and we just pray that you would help us to see it and all of its wonder and clarity and power and we pray to Lord that you would help us as a church to proclaim your gospel the biblical gospel in a complete way to our fallen world and may you bless that gospel for you've declared in Romans 1 it is that your power unto salvation to everyone who believes and so help us to proclaim this message rightfully truthfully and fully to the world in which you've placed us and will you bless it to the glorious end that many many will come into a saving relationship with you father as they believe on your son our