WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 Well, good morning, church family. It is a privilege to be with you on this Lord's Day. 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:11.000 I bring you greetings from our local church, Praise-me-Baptist Church in Douglasville, Georgia on the west side of Atlanta. 00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:19.000 It is a privilege to be with you on this occasion. I want to thank Pastor Jeff for the privilege to be with you and to the elders of this church. 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:36.000 It is an honor to stand before you with the Word of God. If you would take your copy of God's Word and open to Romans, Romans chapter 16 will be our focus on this Lord's Day morning as we come together and as we continue in a posture of worship through the preaching of the Word. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:46.000 Romans chapter 16 verses 25 through 27. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:50.000 And if you would, for the reading of God's Word, please stand with me as we read aloud the Word of God. 00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:58.000 You follow along with me as I read aloud. This is the Word of the Living God beginning in verse number 25 down to verse 27. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:26.000 Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed through the prophetic writings, has been made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal God to bring about the obedience of faith. 00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:32.000 To the only wise God, be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen. 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:41.000 And you may be seated if you would pray with me. Father, we do pray now that you would bless not only the reading of your Word, but the preaching and the proclamation of your Word. 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:49.000 We ask that you would strengthen this flock. We pray that you would build up brothers and sisters in the truth of the gospel. 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:54.000 Now we ask all of this in Jesus name. Amen. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:02:04.000 Well, one of my heroes from church history is Charles Haddon Spurgeon. Spurgeon is one of those towering figures from church history. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:09.000 And of course, I love to read his books. I love to read his sermons. 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:19.000 What captivates me most about Spurgeon is his love and his commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:28.000 If you just look at his sermons and you just read his sermons, you see that in many ways he's not giving himself to gimmicks. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:32.000 He's not giving himself to schemes to try to grow his church. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:40.000 But what you saw in Spurgeon's ministry was a powerful preaching of the gospel and a commitment to the gospel. 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:44.000 And God blessed it in a wonderful way. 00:02:44.000 --> 00:02:51.000 If you look at his ministry and see that as he was preaching, his church would grow astronomically there in London. 00:02:51.000 --> 00:03:01.000 And they would eventually leave one specific location and go to theater halls to try to have just a building that was large enough for the church to gather. 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:11.000 But it was in March of 1861 that the church would gather in a new location for the dedication of what was known as the Metropolitan Tabernacle. 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:15.000 It was this massive building in London for this church to gather. 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:30.000 I want to read to you just a brief section of Spurgeon's comments in that first sermon as he took the pulpit in that new building that is the historic Metropolitan Tabernacle. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:46.000 He said the following quote,"I would propose that the subject of the ministry of this house, as long as this platform shall stand, and as long as this house shall be frequented by worshippers, shall be the person of Jesus Christ. 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:56.000 I am never ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist, although I claim to be rather a Calvinist according to Calvin rather than the modern debased fashion. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:03:59.000 I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist. 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:09.000 You have there," and he was pointing to the Baptistry, "substantial evidence that I am not ashamed of that ordinance of our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:31.000 But if I am asked to say, 'What is my creed?' I think I must reply, 'It is Jesus Christ.'" And as you see and hear in many ways the commitment of Spurgeon in that very first sermon in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, what you find is that he was committed to the Gospel. 00:04:31.000 --> 00:04:37.000 Everything that he would do in that building, he was dedicating it to Jesus Christ. 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:48.000 It was through the power of the Gospel that God would grow this church in London, and his ministry continues to have ripple effects to this very day. 00:04:48.000 --> 00:05:01.000 Now, if you think about Spurgeon, you have to ask, "Well, who is Spurgeon looking to?" And if you just think about the influence of individuals like John Bunyan, John Bunyan had a profound influence on Spurgeon. 00:05:01.000 --> 00:05:08.000 Spurgeon said of John Bunyan, the author of "The Pilgrim's Progress," that if you prick him any place that he would bleed Bible. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:27.000 But really, in many ways, if you look to Spurgeon and you read his sermons and you hear his preaching, what you find is that he's looking to the Apostle Paul and to the Apostles to see how their ministry was formed and fashioned, and the foundation of their preaching was Jesus Christ. 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:37.000 If you look to the Apostle Paul and to this letter that we have here in the New Testament that we call Romans, it was a letter that Paul wrote to the church in the city of Rome. 00:05:37.000 --> 00:05:42.000 Ancient Rome at this time had about one million people living there. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:50.000 Caesar lived there. It was the home of the most powerful marching army assembled there. 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:55.000 Rome was the center of the military, the political, and the legislative power of the day. 00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:00.000 This was a strategic city. It was a powerful city, and it was also a wicked city. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:06.000 But in the midst of this city was a church of Jesus. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:11.000 And Paul loved this church, and he longed to be with this people. 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:16.000 And he writes this letter to encourage them and to build them up in the faith. 00:06:16.000 --> 00:06:35.000 And he spends the first 11 chapters of this letter laying a firm foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, faith alone and Christ alone for the remission of sin, that we are justified by faith alone, apart from works, for the glory of King Jesus. 00:06:35.000 --> 00:07:06.000 And then there's a hinge point that happens at the end of chapter 11, where you see for the next several chapters all the way to the final words which we just read this morning, that Paul moves from the theology, if you will, of that foundation of justification by faith alone, and he moves to the practical nature of how to live out this true gospel that has been preached and has been set forth before the church in the city of Rome. 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:10.000 Paul moves from knowing God to obeying God. 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:19.000 He moves from what to know about God and His gospel to a section that is devoted on how to live for the glory of God. 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:27.000 He moves from why to worship to how to worship, from orthodoxy to orthopraxy. 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:32.000 And here we see as we come to the very end, we find ourselves in many ways. 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:40.000 There's two endings to Romans. There's the ending of the rich theological foundation in the first 11 chapters. 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:45.000 And how does Paul end there? Well, he ends with what's known as a doxology. 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:59.000 And then, of course, we come to the very end of the letter in chapter 16, verses 25 to 27, and he lands the airplane in this masterful letter to the church in the city of Rome with another doxology. 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:11.000 What is a doxology? Well, the word doxology comes from two Greek words, doxa, which is glory, and then another word, logos, which is word. 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:19.000 And so it's a statement of the glory of God. It is a praise statement of God's glory. 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:24.000 And we sing doxologies like praise God from whom all blessings flow. 00:08:24.000 --> 00:08:27.000 And we have doxologies all throughout the Bible. 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:43.000 We can go to the Old Testament and you can see that all five books of the Psalms end with a doxology, a praise saying to God. And then, of course, you come to the New Testament and you see a number of doxologies. 00:08:43.000 --> 00:08:50.000 You see a doxology in Galatians 1.5, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 00:08:50.000 --> 00:09:16.000 You have a doxology in Ephesians 3, verses 20 and 21. It says, "To Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all the generations forever and ever. Amen." Philippians 4, verse 20, there's another doxology. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:26.000 "To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen." Jude, perhaps, has the most well-known doxology in the New Testament. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:10:33.000 And it's in verses 24 and 25, "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory. With great joy to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time, and now and forever. Amen." And then we see another doxology in 1 Timothy 1.17, "To the King of the Ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." And then, of course, in 1 Peter 5.11, there's another doxology, "To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen." So you get the point. You see these praise sayings that are found for us in the pages of God's Word that direct us in a vertical fashion away from ourselves, away from our work, to the throne of the Most High Sovereign God who rules and reigns even at this very hour. 00:10:33.000 --> 00:10:42.000 This is a glorious doxology as we look here in this very passage, and I want us to see three things in these verses. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:57.000 The first thing that I want us to see is as Paul comes to the very end of this letter to this church in this strategic city that he loved, he pins this doxology to remind them of how he started the letter. 00:10:57.000 --> 00:11:05.000 Because in many ways, Romans is bookended with this grand statement of the Gospel of Jesus. 00:11:05.000 --> 00:11:16.000 And then he drives home the importance of the preaching of the Gospel that would strengthen the church and grow the church all for the glory of God. 00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:18.000 Three things I want us to see. 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:30.000 The first thing I want us to see is that preaching Christ grows the church spiritually, followed by preaching the Gospel will grow the church numerically. 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:42.000 And then finally, when the Gospel is preached and the church is strengthened and the church is growing numerically, this all brings glory to God. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:50.000 And so, look if you will in your copy of God's Word in Romans 16.25, and notice the language here at the beginning of this doxology. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:12:03.000 "Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ.""Now to Him, the only wise God," he says at the end of this doxology. 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:21.000 "Now to Him, our trying God who is able to strengthen you according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ." The results of faithful preaching is that the church, the saints are strengthened. 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:23.000 Notice the word there. 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:28.000 "Who is able to strengthen you?" This is a word that means to establish. 00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:32.000 It means to establish, to make strong. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:35.000 And that's what faithful preaching does in the life of a church. 00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:38.000 Weak preaching will result in a weak church. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:43.000 Strong, bold, faithful preaching will result in a strong church. 00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:47.000 A pulpit that is afraid to rightly divide the Word of God. 00:12:47.000 --> 00:12:53.000 It is afraid to handle every single jot and tittle in Holy Scripture. 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:56.000 It is a church that would be a compromising church. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:11.000 But a church that has faithful preaching, preaching that exhausts the glory and the majesty and the splendor of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will result in a strong church. 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:22.000 "Now to Him who is able to strengthen you, church and Rome, according to my Gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ." And what is the message of this faithful preaching? 00:13:22.000 --> 00:13:33.000 Well, this message is the euangelion, the Gospel, the good news, the glad tidings that Jesus saves sinners. 00:13:33.000 --> 00:13:35.000 This is what faithful preaching does. 00:13:35.000 --> 00:13:39.000 It sets forth the Gospel before people. 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:45.000 You see, that's what the pulpit is reserved for. 00:13:45.000 --> 00:13:47.000 It's that we would see Christ. 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:50.000 It's that Christ would be set forth before people. 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:59.000 It's that the church would grow because Christ is set in front of each and every person every week through His Word. 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:09.000 You see, church, we must always remember this truth, that you never, ever, ever, ever out to grow the Gospel. 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:18.000 Some churches make the tragic error and mistake that you learn the Gospel down the hallway in the back of the church when you're a little poddler. 00:14:18.000 --> 00:14:27.000 And then when you eventually grow and grow and then you become an adult and you come into the main auditorium for the Lord's Day, well, we need some other things. 00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:29.000 We need some cultural things. 00:14:29.000 --> 00:14:32.000 Speak to the front page of the New York Times, preacher. 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:34.000 Talk to us about something other. 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:35.000 We don't really need the Gospel. 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:36.000 We've already done that. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:38.000 We've already believed the Gospel. 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:40.000 We've already turned to Christ. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:43.000 We don't really need the Gospel. 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:47.000 You never outgrow your need for the Gospel. 00:14:47.000 --> 00:14:50.000 You never outknow the Gospel. 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:54.000 I don't care how many degrees you have at the end of your name. 00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:58.000 You will never outknow the Gospel. 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:01.000 We need the Gospel every moment of every day. 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:11.000 In fact, all the way throughout Romans, if you just survey this letter, you will find that the Gospel is mentioned some 55 times in this one letter. 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:13.000 And that's astounding. 00:15:13.000 --> 00:15:25.000 And the reason it's astounding is because the word "Gospel" really only appears 91 times in all of the New Testament and it's found 55 times in this one letter. 00:15:25.000 --> 00:15:29.000 This letter is saturated with the Gospel. 00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:38.000 And you see that there are 11 different times where Paul has the definite article before Gospel in this letter. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:41.000 In Romans 1, verse 1, the Gospel. 00:15:41.000 --> 00:15:43.000 Romans 1, 9, the Gospel. 00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:46.000 Romans 1, 15, the Gospel. 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:48.000 Romans 1, 16, the Gospel. 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:50.000 Romans 2, 16, the Gospel. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:53.000 Romans 10, 16, the Gospel. 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:55.000 Romans 11, 28, the Gospel. 00:15:55.000 --> 00:15:58.000 Romans 15, 16, the Gospel. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:00.000 Romans 15, 19, the Gospel. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:03.000 Romans 15, 20, the Gospel. 00:16:03.000 --> 00:16:06.000 It's not a Gospel. It is the Gospel. 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:10.000 The Gospel of God, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:29.000 And then in the final statement in this doxology, you would think that He would once again in this doxology say,"The Gospel." But He says, "My Gospel. My Gospel." Why would He talk like that? 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:34.000 Well, it's not because He's trying to be disrespectful about the Gospel. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:37.000 It's because He had so internalized the Gospel. 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:42.000 He had laid down His life in total submission before the throne of Christ. 00:16:42.000 --> 00:16:44.000 It was His Gospel. 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:58.000 And that's why He could write in such a glorious way to this church in the city of Rome, setting forth the Gospel, encouraging message of Jesus before these people. 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.000 We must do the same thing in our own ministry. 00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:20.000 If you're teaching a class, if you're preaching in this pulpit, if you're discipling women, whatever your role may be in the life of this church, make it the central focus of your speech, of your discipleship, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:29.000 That's what He says, not only of His Gospel, but also the preaching of Jesus Christ, which is linked together. 00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:38.000 The word here "preaching of Jesus" is the word "keruso." It means an official proclamation, an official announcement. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:52.000 It's like an official ambassador being sent from a dignitary to go stand before the town square to call everyone to a symbol and then to make a definitive statement on behalf of the King. 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:55.000 That's what this word means. 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:57.000 The preaching of Jesus Christ. 00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:03.000 When we think about the preaching, we need to be mindful of the fact that preaching is different than talking. 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:06.000 Preaching is different than suggesting. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:09.000 Preaching is different than having Q&As. 00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:11.000 Preaching is different than a dialogue. 00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:16.000 Preaching in and of itself is unique and different than teaching. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:26.000 And the church must have at its center point the preaching and the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:34.000 William Hendrickson in his commentary says the following,"Genuine preaching means that the sermon is lively, not dry, timely, not stale. 00:18:34.000 --> 00:19:05.000 It is the earnest proclamation of the great news initiated by God." Sadly, this morning, all across evangelicalism, we find that the pulpit is the launch pad for life principles, moral stories, endless how-to practical surveys, sappy emotional stories, and a bunch of political garbage. 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:13.000 And in many ways, many pulpits across America this morning have muzzled the Gospel of Jesus. 00:19:13.000 --> 00:19:16.000 They're feeding the people junk food. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:21.000 And as a result, the church, the health of the church will wane. 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:32.000 And of course, you see that there's a direct connection to the strengthening of the church through the Gospel that is preached. 00:19:32.000 --> 00:19:37.000 Today, we have comics who are entertaining, psychologists who are dialoguing. 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:45.000 We have social justicians that are polluting, lost people are perishing, and sheep are starving. 00:19:45.000 --> 00:20:04.000 And so the pulpit that would give itself to the red-hot, clear, efficient, and faithful proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will draw sheep in because they desire to be fed by the Gospel of Jesus. 00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:13.000 Years ago, J.I. Packer, he tells this story of sitting under the preaching of Martin Lloyd-Jones. 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:18.000 He was a student there in the 1940s in England. 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:23.000 And every Sunday evening, he would go and he would sit under the preaching of Martin Lloyd-Jones. 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:28.000 And in his book, he tells the story of what that was like the first time that he went in. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:31.000 And he sat under the doctor's preaching. 00:20:31.000 --> 00:20:38.000 He said that it came to him like the force of an electric shock. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:48.000 If you read on, Packer describes himself, he says, "He had never sat under such preaching. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:52.000 It moved him inwardly because it wasn't full of all sorts of garbage. 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:54.000 It wasn't gimmicks and trickery. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:57.000 It wasn't schemes and pragmatism. 00:20:57.000 --> 00:21:05.000 It was the faithful Gospel of Jesus." Brothers and sisters, I say that's exactly what this church must stand for. 00:21:05.000 --> 00:21:08.000 I'm grateful that that's what this church stands for. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:15.000 I know of the testimony of this church beyond the campus, beyond the walls of this building, and it should never change. 00:21:15.000 --> 00:21:25.000 If you study church history, you will find that during the era of the Reformation, the Bible had been locked away in a dark dungeon by the Roman Catholic Church. 00:21:25.000 --> 00:21:30.000 People would assemble out there and the priest would lecture and speak in Latin. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:32.000 The people didn't even speak Latin. 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.000 They had no idea what he was talking about. 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:38.000 It was a dead, dark dungeon. 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:43.000 And it was a horrific time, and God would raise up men that we call the reformers. 00:21:43.000 --> 00:21:53.000 And in many ways, you say, "Summarize the Reformation." There it is. It was that God raised up men who would bring the Bible to the people and the people to the Bible. 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:55.000 They would give themselves to this task. 00:21:55.000 --> 00:22:04.000 God would raise up men like Martin Luther and John Knox and John Calvin and William Tyndale. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:10.000 And these men burned with zeal to make sure that the people had the Word, the Gospel in their language. 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:13.000 They would give their very lives for it. 00:22:13.000 --> 00:22:17.000 R.C. Sproul said that the Reformation was not merely a great awakening. 00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:23.000 It was the greatest awakening to the true Gospel since the apostolic age. 00:22:23.000 --> 00:22:25.000 You think about the preaching of these men. 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.000 These men were not lecturers. They were not lazy. 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:48.000 They were not having just simple little dialogue sessions and have a little table over here with a little coffee cup because that makes us feel very relational, where we can kind of just lean back and maybe have a massage during the guidance up there, doing whatever he does for the next few minutes. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:50.000 I'll just zone out. 00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:53.000 No, that's not the way that the reformers preached. 00:22:53.000 --> 00:22:56.000 The reformers were red hot with their preaching. 00:22:56.000 --> 00:23:01.000 Between 1510 and 1546, Luther preached about 3,000 sermons. 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:07.000 Sometimes multiple times per day, he was preaching the Gospel. 00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:10.000 And you go, of course, to Calvin's preaching. 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:16.000 He started his series through Acts in 1549 and completed it in 1554. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:20.000 He preached 46 sermons through 1 and 2 Thessalonians. 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:23.000 Through 1 and 2 Corinthians, 186 sermons. 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:26.000 He preached 86 sermons through the pastoral epistles. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:31.000 He preached through Galatians in 43 sermons. 00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:37.000 Calvin preached 159 sermons through Job. Just imagine. 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:41.000 His series through Deuteronomy was 200 sermons long. 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:45.000 Isaiah, his series was 353 sermons. 00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:51.000 And his series through Genesis was 123 sermons in length. 00:23:51.000 --> 00:24:01.000 These men were preachers because they understood that as they preached the Gospel, Christ was set before people, that they would grow. 00:24:01.000 --> 00:24:04.000 The church would be strengthened and established. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:13.000 Second of all, if you look here at this doxology, you will see that preaching Christ grows the church numerically. 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:15.000 Grows the church numerically. 00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:43.000 Notice the text here. It says at the end of verse 25,"according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages." But has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal God to bring about the obedience of the faith. 00:24:43.000 --> 00:24:51.000 It has always been the plan of God that God would grow His church numerically through the preaching of the Gospel. 00:24:51.000 --> 00:25:25.000 And as Paul writes to the church in Rome, he writes to the church to remind them of that very fact that it's through the preaching of Christ that this mystery that was kept secret for long ages would now be disclosed and through the prophetic writings, now going back and looking at all the writings of the prophets, would then come to light in their very eyes through the ministry of the apostles and all of this is for the glory of God. 00:25:25.000 --> 00:25:27.000 This is a wonderful truth. 00:25:27.000 --> 00:25:49.000 You see, sometimes I think, church, that we read the Bible, we're taught to do this, and it's a horrible thing, is that there's one plan of God on the left side of the Bible and then there's some sort of division there at the end of Malachi, right about the beginning of Matthew, and then there's another plan of God over here on the right side of the Bible. 00:25:49.000 --> 00:25:52.000 Don't ever read your Bible that way. 00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:59.000 God doesn't have one plan over here to save His people and then another plan over here to save His people. 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:09.000 He has one singular plan from eternity past and until Christ comes for His bride to save His people. 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:22.000 So the same God is the same God on the left side of the Bible, the same God on the right side of the Bible, the same exact Gospel on the left side of the Bible, the same exact Gospel on the right side of the Bible. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:29.000 It has always been God's plan that through the Gospel His people would be saved. 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:31.000 And we see this. 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:33.000 You can go back and study the covenants. 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:35.000 You can study the Abrahamic covenant. 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:41.000 You can see the promise of a multitude of individuals from all nations. 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:44.000 You can read the Psalms like Psalm 67. 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:45.000 Just think about this. 00:26:45.000 --> 00:27:01.000 To the person that would think, "Well, God really only had the plan of the Jews." And then because the Jews rejected Jesus, then He called an audible at the line of scrimmage and then said, "Okay, now the Gentiles." That's not the way it works. 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:14.000 In Psalm 67 it says,"May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us, Selah, that Your way may be known on earth. 00:27:14.000 --> 00:27:20.000 Your saving power among all nations. 00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:23.000 Let the peoples praise You, O God. 00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:25.000 Let all peoples praise You. 00:27:25.000 --> 00:27:35.000 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. 00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:41.000 Selah." It was through the preaching of Jesus Christ that this mystery would be unveiled. 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:55.000 And then of course you see at the end of His preaching ministry, He gives this glorious great commission to go to all nations and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:10.000 You see, the preaching of Jesus Christ grows the Church, grows the Holy Catholic Church, the Universal Church, across all geographic boundaries around planet earth through His gospel. 00:28:10.000 --> 00:28:14.000 This is God's plan and it has always been God's plan. 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:16.000 And how does He do this? 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:25.000 Well, we see that it is through the gospel priests that the power of the gospel is unleashed and it results in obedience. Notice the doxology. 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:35.000 According to the command of the eternal God to bring about, to result in the obedience of faith. 00:28:35.000 --> 00:28:37.000 The obedience of faith. 00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:40.000 How did you come to obey Christ? 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:42.000 How did you come to obey God? 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:44.000 Was it through gimmicks and schemes? 00:28:44.000 --> 00:28:46.000 Was it through trickery? 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:50.000 Was it through pragmatism that you came to obey God? 00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:52.000 No. I'll tell you how you came to obey God. 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:57.000 It was through the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:00.000 You see, the gospel is powerful. 00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:04.000 I could stand up this morning and I could tell you story after story. 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:11.000 I could just stand up and just say, "We're just going to have story time for the next few minutes." And I could just link story after story after story. 00:29:11.000 --> 00:29:16.000 I could give you my opinion on various and sundry things. 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:21.000 But you would leave here today discouraged, not helped. 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:27.000 And if you're lost in this room, you certainly couldn't be saved by my opinion and by my stories. 00:29:27.000 --> 00:29:33.000 Or if I wanted to talk to you today about the Atlanta Braves, and I'm a Braves fan, I could do that. 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:37.000 If I wanted to talk to you today, and I'm sorry to report to you, I'm a Georgia Bulldog fan. 00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:43.000 Hey, listen, we've got some Georgia fans in the room. That's a great thing. 00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:47.000 And listen, we could have those conversations all day long. 00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:59.000 But if you're here today and you're outside of Christ, and you're standing on the very precipice of life and eternity, my opinion about the Georgia Bulldogs will not save you. 00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:07.000 But sadly, this morning, across evangelicalism, pastors are standing up, and they're not giving people Christ. 00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:11.000 They're not giving them gospel. They're not giving them good news. 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:19.000 They're giving them sappy story, opinion, sports analogies, all this life principle mumbo jumbo. 00:30:19.000 --> 00:30:32.000 And then they're sending them out back into the parking lot, to their cars, and they're just as lost as they were when they arrived, and the sheep, the genuine sheep that are there, starving to death. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:40.000 What we must understand is that this doxology, Paul comes full circle, and he reminds this church how he started. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:44.000 Flip, if you will, back to the very opening of this letter. 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:49.000 He talks about the obedience of the faith here in the doxology through the preaching of the gospel. 00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:55.000 But if you go to Romans chapter 1, and you look at verses 1 to 6, notice how Paul starts off the letter. 00:30:55.000 --> 00:30:58.000 There's a bookend here. 00:30:58.000 --> 00:31:51.000 Romans chapter 1, verses 1 to 6, Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart, notice this,"For the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning His Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness, by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship," notice this, "to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name among all the nations, including you who were called to belong to Jesus Christ." Do you see this? 00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:57.000 This is a mirror to the doxology that he concludes the letter with. 00:31:57.000 --> 00:32:05.000 It is through the preaching of the gospel that sinners are saved, that men, women, boys and girls would bow to Christ. 00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:20.000 It is through the announcement and the trumpet blast of the gospel that sinners are called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ, out of the tomb of death spiritually and brought to life by the power of the gospel. 00:32:20.000 --> 00:32:22.000 And that's Paul's method throughout this letter. 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:27.000 At the end of chapter 5, he speaks about our salvation in Jesus Christ. 00:32:27.000 --> 00:32:32.000 At the end of chapter 6, he speaks about our salvation that is in Jesus Christ. 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:38.000 At the end of chapter 7, he speaks about our salvation that is in and through Jesus Christ. 00:32:38.000 --> 00:32:43.000 And then he comes to the end of chapter 8, that golden chain of salvation. 00:32:43.000 --> 00:33:03.000 Of course, we see him linking these grand truths together, but he starts off with chapter 8 saying,"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." It's the gospel that causes people to come out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ. 00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:09.000 You see, dear friend, Buddha can't save anyone. 00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:12.000 Mary Baker Eddy can't save anyone. 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:15.000 Jim Jones can't save anyone. 00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.000 Charles Taze Russell can't save anyone. 00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:21.000 Caesar can't save anyone. 00:33:21.000 --> 00:33:25.000 By the way, they were worshipping Caesar back in this day. 00:33:25.000 --> 00:33:53.000 But it's through Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God who took upon himself human flesh, was crucified in an ignominious fashion on the Roman cross, died in the very place of his people, was put in a borrowed tomb, and triumphantly on the third day was resurrected from the dead, proving the fact that he is indeed the Son of the living God, that he saves sinners. 00:33:53.000 --> 00:34:01.000 No other religious figure in the history of the world can claim the very same thing that Jesus has done. 00:34:01.000 --> 00:34:04.000 He has been raised from the dead. 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:39.000 That's why we read early in this service from Philippians chapter 2,"Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." It is through the preaching of the Good News that sinners are able to rejoice that all of their sins, not in part but the whole, have been nailed to the cross, and they bear them no more. 00:34:39.000 --> 00:34:51.000 "Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul." You see, it is Christ, the strong One, the captain of our salvation, who has gone before us. 00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:55.000 He is the wrath-bearing, just- as satisfying, guilt-removing. 00:34:55.000 --> 00:35:01.000 He is the all-sufficient Savior. He is the triumphant One. 00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:07.000 And then we come to the final words of this doxology in verse 27. 00:35:07.000 --> 00:35:11.000 We preach Christ crucified and resurrected from the dead. 00:35:11.000 --> 00:35:16.000 We preach the gospel because it strengthens and establishes the church. 00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:19.000 It grows the church. 00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:24.000 And finally, preaching Christ glorifies God. 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:38.000 "To the only wise God, be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen." He is not a God that you can treat like a puppet on a string. 00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:49.000 He is not a God that you can box up right about New Year's Day and then unbox right about Thanksgiving every single year. 00:35:49.000 --> 00:35:54.000 He is not a God who can be controlled. 00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:57.000 He is not a God that you can overpower. 00:35:57.000 --> 00:36:03.000 He is the sovereign God of all creation. 00:36:03.000 --> 00:36:09.000 And He holds your breath, your very next breath, in His hand. 00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:13.000 And He is the only wise God. 00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:19.000 The gospel being unveiled puts on display the greatness and the wisdom of God. 00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:28.000 I mean, if you had been commissioned to write a story of good news, you wouldn't have been able to write a story like the gospel. 00:36:28.000 --> 00:36:32.000 You take all of the greatest authors in the history of humanity. 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:35.000 You assemble them all in one room. 00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:42.000 You take all of their intellect and all of their capabilities and all of their gifts and all of their command of languages. 00:36:42.000 --> 00:36:57.000 And you commission them to write one story that declares the greatest message that they could possibly ever conceive of. 00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:09.000 And that story would be like a little wax candle held to the surface of the glowing sun in the noon sky. 00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:14.000 It would never compare. 00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:36.000 The Scottish preacher James Stewart said the purpose of preaching is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God. 00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:47.000 And that, I believe, is what Paul is saying here as he closes this letter to the church in Rome. 00:37:47.000 --> 00:37:51.000 To the only wise God, be glory forevermore. 00:37:51.000 --> 00:37:53.000 Why forevermore? 00:37:53.000 --> 00:38:13.000 Well, because Jesus came in human flesh and He lived a sinless life and He was crucified on a Roman cross and He was dead and He was buried, but on the third day there was a bodily resurrection from the dead and there was a triumphant ascension to the throne of heaven. 00:38:13.000 --> 00:38:18.000 Even now Christ is there interceding on our behalf. 00:38:18.000 --> 00:38:32.000 This is the glory of the Gospel, dear friend, is that one of these days that very Christ is coming for His church and either He's coming to us or we're going to Him with our final breath, but either way it works out like this. 00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:37.000 We're going to be with Him and He is our God and we're going to be in His presence. 00:38:37.000 --> 00:38:41.000 Read the end of the book and read Revelation 21 and you will see that. 00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:43.000 Here's the point. 00:38:43.000 --> 00:38:50.000 The reason that there's glory forevermore and not just a temporal season is because Christ has been raised from the dead. 00:38:50.000 --> 00:38:53.000 This was the plan of God from the very beginning. 00:38:53.000 --> 00:38:55.000 Our triune God planned it. 00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:57.000 The prophets proclaimed it. 00:38:57.000 --> 00:38:59.000 The Messiah predicted it. 00:38:59.000 --> 00:39:01.000 The angel announced it. 00:39:01.000 --> 00:39:02.000 The women witnessed it. 00:39:02.000 --> 00:39:03.000 The soldiers feared it. 00:39:03.000 --> 00:39:05.000 The Sanhedrin denied it. 00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:07.000 The eyewitnesses confirmed it. 00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:11.000 It was the Son of the Living God that proved it, demonstrated it. 00:39:11.000 --> 00:39:12.000 How? 00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:16.000 Through His resurrection from the dead. 00:39:16.000 --> 00:39:21.000 And that's why this morning we can say Mary Baker Eddy, dead. 00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:24.000 Charles Taze Russell, dead. 00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:27.000 We can say Joseph Smith, dead. 00:39:27.000 --> 00:39:29.000 Muhammad, dead. 00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:31.000 Socrates, dead. 00:39:31.000 --> 00:39:32.000 Pharaoh, dead. 00:39:32.000 --> 00:39:34.000 Cicero, dead. 00:39:34.000 --> 00:39:35.000 Caesar, dead. 00:39:35.000 --> 00:39:36.000 God, dead. 00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:37.000 Plato, dead. 00:39:37.000 --> 00:39:47.000 Christ is risen from the dead and He is ruling and reigning from Heaven's throne even as I preach this sermon to you. 00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:50.000 This is the glory of the Gospel. 00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:55.000 This is why the Church must have the Gospel front and center. 00:39:55.000 --> 00:40:00.000 Nothing else. 00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:06.000 Nothing can compare to this message, the Gospel. 00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:29.000 The prophet greater than Moses, the priest greater than Melchizedek, the king greater than David, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Savior of the world. 00:40:29.000 --> 00:40:32.000 He is the brightness of God's glory. 00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:37.000 He is the expressed image of the Father. 00:40:37.000 --> 00:40:44.000 He is the light of the world. 00:40:44.000 --> 00:40:48.000 He is the hope of the nations. 00:40:48.000 --> 00:40:58.000 And that's why after all of this Gospel, Paul comes to the close of this glorious letter. 00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:02.000 And what else could ever be said other than this? 00:41:02.000 --> 00:41:06.000 Amen. 00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:08.000 Amen. 00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:11.000 It's a Bible word. Amen. 00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:14.000 The Gospel is preached to you. Amen. 00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:16.000 Christ is glorious. Amen. 00:41:16.000 --> 00:41:19.000 Christ is ruling and reigning this morning. Amen. 00:41:19.000 --> 00:41:23.000 Christ is the only one who can save sinners. Amen. 00:41:23.000 --> 00:41:34.000 Come to Christ for any and all who cast themselves upon His mercy and call out to this strong one. They shall be saved. 00:41:34.000 --> 00:41:40.000 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:49.000 Paul didn't have anything else in his vocabulary that he could say other than,"It is true. It is true. I believe it. 00:41:49.000 --> 00:41:57.000 And if no one else will amen it, I will amen my own preaching." Amen. 00:41:57.000 --> 00:41:59.000 Amen. 00:41:59.000 --> 00:42:02.000 And amen. 00:42:02.000 --> 00:42:09.000 Spurgeon preached 600 times before he was 20 years of age. 00:42:09.000 --> 00:42:12.000 He was a preaching phenomenon. 00:42:12.000 --> 00:42:19.000 His sermon sold approximately 25,000 copies per week and were translated into 20 languages. 00:42:19.000 --> 00:42:24.000 He had assistants that would sit on the front row and they would just transcribe his preaching. 00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:33.000 And then it would come onto his desk on Monday and he would edit those sermons and then they would be sent for publication in the newspapers. 00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:36.000 And they would be sent far and wide. 00:42:36.000 --> 00:42:48.000 His sermons fill 63 volumes that are really in many ways and are equal to the 27 volume 9th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica. 00:42:48.000 --> 00:42:57.000 Now if you're under a certain age in this room this morning and you don't know what an encyclopedia is, well that's a good lunchtime conversation for you. 00:42:57.000 --> 00:43:08.000 But to this day it is the largest set of books continuous in a series by any author in the history of the world. 00:43:08.000 --> 00:43:13.000 He read six books every week in order to prepare his mind to preach Christ. 00:43:13.000 --> 00:43:18.000 He read Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress more than 100 times. 00:43:18.000 --> 00:43:20.000 He founded a pastors college. 00:43:20.000 --> 00:43:23.000 He trained approximately 900 men for ministry. 00:43:23.000 --> 00:43:25.000 He founded an orphanage. 00:43:25.000 --> 00:43:28.000 He produced more than 140 books. 00:43:28.000 --> 00:43:30.000 He edited a magazine. 00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:38.000 He responded by hand, no email in that day, no social media at the touch of a smartphone. 00:43:38.000 --> 00:43:42.000 By hand some 500 letters every week. 00:43:42.000 --> 00:43:48.000 He often preached some 10 sermons per week as guests in various different locations. 00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:57.000 He labored to spare the Baptist's name from the liberals of his day and the downgrade controversy, which in many ways would cost him his life. 00:43:57.000 --> 00:44:04.000 He was hated by many liberals, but he was a fierce lion who roared from the pulpit with the Gospel. 00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:11.000 On his 50th birthday they listed 66 institutions that he had personally founded. 00:44:11.000 --> 00:44:19.000 He worked 18 hours a day to make sure that he would faithfully stand in the pulpit with the Gospel of King Jesus. 00:44:19.000 --> 00:44:31.000 And in many ways all that he accomplished in this wonderful resume and dead in the grave at 57. 00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:40.000 He's to be remembered for this one thing, that he was a Gospel preacher. 00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:50.000 When he came to his final sermon, June 7, 1891, he didn't know that it would be his final sermon. 00:44:50.000 --> 00:44:54.000 He would get sick, fall ill and he would die. 00:44:54.000 --> 00:45:08.000 But in his final sermon, from 1 Samuel 30, verses 21-26, he would come to the end of his sermon from the Old Testament and he would point people to Jesus Christ. 00:45:08.000 --> 00:45:15.000 I want to read to you just some of the words of this faithful preacher as he closes out his final sermon. 00:45:15.000 --> 00:45:32.000 "What I have to say lastly is this, how greatly I desire that you who are not yet enlisted in my Lord's band would come to him because you see what a kind and gracious Lord he is. 00:45:32.000 --> 00:45:42.000 Young men, if you could see our captain, you would down on your knees and beg him to let you enter the ranks of those who follow him. 00:45:42.000 --> 00:45:45.000 It is heaven to serve Jesus. 00:45:45.000 --> 00:45:52.000 I am a recruiting sergeant and I would feign, find a few recruits at this moment. 00:45:52.000 --> 00:45:56.000 Every man must serve somebody. 00:45:56.000 --> 00:46:00.000 We have no choice as to that fact. 00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:04.000 Those who have no master are slaves to themselves, depend on it. 00:46:04.000 --> 00:46:10.000 You will either serve Satan or Christ, either self or the Savior. 00:46:10.000 --> 00:46:15.000 Oh, that you would enter on at once. 00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:28.000 God help you to enlist under the banner of Jesus Christ even this day." And that was the final sermon of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. 00:46:28.000 --> 00:46:42.000 So whatever you do in the life of this church, as God would be pleased to continue to increase your hand and strengthen you for gospel ministry, make sure that you don't feed people gimmicks and schemes and junk food. 00:46:42.000 --> 00:46:45.000 Enter on the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:46:45.000 --> 00:46:47.000 Point them to Christ who saves. 00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:49.000 It is the law that condemns. 00:46:49.000 --> 00:46:52.000 It is Christ who must be lifted up. 00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:54.000 Come to him with empty hands. 00:46:54.000 --> 00:46:56.000 Nothing in my hands I bring. 00:46:56.000 --> 00:46:58.000 Simply to the cross I cling. 00:46:58.000 --> 00:47:04.000 And for whosoever shall call upon the name of this glorious Christ. 00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:07.000 That individual shall be saved. 00:47:07.000 --> 00:47:08.000 May God bless you. 00:47:08.000 --> 00:47:10.000 May God help you. 00:47:10.000 --> 00:47:17.000 Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 00:47:17.000 --> 00:47:18.000 Let us pray together. 00:47:18.000 --> 00:47:19.000 Father, we do love you. 00:47:19.000 --> 00:47:26.000 We thank you again for this glorious doxology, this praise saying,"Help us, O God, this Lord's day. 00:47:26.000 --> 00:47:35.000 Help our hearts to swell with gladness, because the gospel is such a sweet message to our ears. 00:47:35.000 --> 00:47:41.000 O God, we pray that you would strengthen your people here at Grace Bible in Conway. 00:47:41.000 --> 00:47:44.000 I pray for the elders who lead and the people who serve. 00:47:44.000 --> 00:47:51.000 And I pray for all of the saints worshipping this morning that you would strengthen them according to your gospel. 00:47:51.000 --> 00:47:59.000 O God, and for those who might be in this room today, who have yet to turn to Christ, may you be pleased to call them to yourself today. 00:47:59.000 --> 00:48:03.000 Save them by your glorious gospel. 00:48:03.000 --> 00:48:21.000 Allow them to leave here today, not condemned under the burden of sin, but free in Jesus Christ, saved, saved, saved." And we ask all of this in Christ's name. Amen. 00:48:21.000 --> 00:48:22.000 Bob.