WEBVTT 00:00:19.120 --> 00:00:23.920 So the reading today is Romans chapter one, verse eight to seventeen. 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:32.000 First I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 00:00:32.240 --> 00:00:45.920 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking it somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:57.759 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. 00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:11.120 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you, but thus far have been prevented, in order that I may reap some harvest among you, as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:22.000 I am under obligation, both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish, so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:32.480 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation for to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 00:01:32.719 --> 00:01:40.400 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. 00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:41.840 And so reads God's Word. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:59.280 In fact, whoever's on the clicker could probably click one more time and we'll see the text come up as if by magic behind me. 00:01:59.359 --> 00:01:59.840 Yeah, go back. 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:00.239 There we go. 00:02:00.400 --> 00:02:00.560 Great. 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:08.879 So keep that one on, and uh and we'll move through the text and get to kind of 13 to the end uh in just a moment. 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:16.960 But I'd like to begin uh with a uh with a confession, something that's been challenging me from uh from this text uh this week. 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:21.919 And I hope that I'm in good company, otherwise you're all just gonna sit in judgment over me. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:32.159 But in reading this text, one of the things that I feel like I ought to confess to you is that an off an awful lot of the time, even though I'm a pastor, I don't feel like a very good evangelist. 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:42.879 I don't feel like somebody who is uh often very eager to get the gospel out in not in the course of normal lives and relationships. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:54.479 I don't know if you're if you're like that, but I feel like that when I'm talking to uh to my neighbors or uh to uh to Billy the barber who cuts my hair, who's maybe gonna be listening to uh to this. 00:02:54.639 --> 00:03:00.240 I don't really feel like um having those gospel conversations. 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:04.400 I don't I don't want the social awkwardness that comes from it. 00:03:04.560 --> 00:03:11.840 I feel like uh my mouth gets dry and like I'm gonna run out of somebody's gonna ask me a question that I'm not gonna know the answer to. 00:03:11.919 --> 00:03:16.719 I'm gonna start tripping over my words and uh and just sound like a bit of an idiot. 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:25.199 And so I don't really feel like I'm very good at being an evangelist and telling others about about Jesus. 00:03:25.520 --> 00:03:28.639 Uh I hope I'm not alone in that. 00:03:28.960 --> 00:03:31.439 But it's it's also worse than that. 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:37.759 Sometimes sometimes I feel like we don't even want to talk about what Jesus has done. 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:42.879 Uh the good news, the message of Jesus, uh, to other believers. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:48.560 That oftentimes we go out there after the service, and you're all going to feel really on edge now after the service. 00:03:48.719 --> 00:03:56.159 We often go out there after the service, and it's the most natural thing to talk about the the Leinster match last night and those seven tries that were scored. 00:03:56.240 --> 00:03:57.599 Yes, I watch sport. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:08.960 Um the sports more points than the other team that they were playing, and or we talk about what we what we did over Christmas and New Year's, that we don't even talk about the gospel with one another. 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:12.080 Uh we don't even talk about well, what's what's encouraging your heart? 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:13.520 What's the Lord been teaching you? 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:16.480 What was the one thing that struck you from Mark's sermon? 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:17.360 Maybe we should do that. 00:04:17.439 --> 00:04:20.800 What's the one thing that struck you from uh from Mark's sermon? 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:22.079 What was something that was surprising? 00:04:22.319 --> 00:04:24.480 Because we don't even talk about it with one another. 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:27.120 How can we be, how can we talk about it? 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:42.480 Uh the good news of Jesus, that is, to people who are at that moment destined for an eternity in hell, apart from God, if we won't even talk about it with our heaven-brown brothers and sisters who've also come to know it and are seeking to grow in it. 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:48.480 I often find that I'm a little bit ashamed of the good news of Jesus. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:05:00.720 Paul, in many places, uh, not just here, in many places throughout his letters, encourages uh believers not to be ashamed. 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:03.040 Don't be ashamed of the message of Jesus. 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:05.120 Don't don't shrink back. 00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:10.079 Why would he say it unless it's a temptation uh that we face? 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:13.759 Unless he's just writing particularly to me, saying, Mark, come on. 00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:17.040 Uh I think it's a temptation that we all face. 00:05:18.079 --> 00:05:26.399 Here he's saying, and I'm skipping kind of right to the end of verse 16, where he says that he's not ashamed of it, and he gives us some reasons why. 00:05:27.439 --> 00:05:29.439 But there is a temptation there, isn't there? 00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:37.120 And the temptation to be ashamed of the gospel is actually because to lots of people the gospel is offensive. 00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:44.160 We get ashamed of it because the gospel is offensive to the people around us. 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:47.120 Why have you ever thought about why is the gospel offensive? 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:48.879 Let me tell you why the gospel is offensive. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:51.040 Maybe you're sitting here and you're already offended. 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:53.120 Let me tell you why you're offended. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:06:09.040 Uh the gospel's offensive because the good news of Jesus says that salvation, that is, having your sin forgiven, uh, being adopted into God's great family, so we're all hugging one another, and uh and life eternally with him is free. 00:06:09.199 --> 00:06:10.959 Now, why is that offensive? 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:15.120 That's offensive because it needs to be free. 00:06:15.519 --> 00:06:33.120 The implication of the free gift of salvation is that you and I are morally bankrupt, that we have no spiritual health in ourselves, that we cannot offer anything of our own strength or moral goodness in order to earn God's salvation. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:40.800 And so it has to be free because we're all morally reprehensible, we're all spiritually dead. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:47.040 It's offensive because it says that Jesus died for you. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:49.519 But isn't that wonderful? 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:51.759 Yeah, it's wonderful actually if you see it with the eyes of faith. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:07:22.560 But it's offensive to many people because it says that you and I are so bad, that your sin is so heinous and disgusting, that the most precious thing, the most precious person, the king of heaven, had to die a bloody and gruesome death upon a Roman cross in order that you, in the state that you're in, the state that I am in, that I might be forgiven. 00:07:22.800 --> 00:07:25.120 It's another reason why it's offensive. 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:33.759 The only way that you, being as wicked as you are, could be forgiven and adopted into God's family was through the death of his son. 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:37.759 It just got a little bit quiet, a little bit slightly tenser in the room, didn't it? 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:55.920 What's more, because he set ali set aside his life for the good of others, lived a life of service and of sacrifice, that means that he calls us to live a life like that of service and sacrifice. 00:07:56.079 --> 00:07:57.040 That's the third reason. 00:07:57.120 --> 00:07:59.439 And I could go on and on and on, and I won't, but I'll stop here. 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:01.439 It's the third reason why the gospel's offensive. 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:03.839 It says your life is not your own. 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:07.839 That if Jesus died for you, there is nothing that he cannot ask of you. 00:08:08.000 --> 00:08:16.319 That if he lived a life of service and sacrifice, he simultaneously calls you to live a life of service and sacrifice in response to him. 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:18.639 And who wants to hear that? 00:08:20.399 --> 00:08:24.079 And Paul says, Don't be ashamed of that gospel. 00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:26.319 Wow. 00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:28.879 The gospel is offensive. 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:32.240 There is a temptation to be ashamed. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:35.440 But Paul says that he's not ashamed of it. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:40.000 In fact, he gives the opposite in verse 15. 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:46.080 Actually, clicker uh person, can you go just one more slide so we can see verse 15 and 16 together? 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:47.440 Thank you so much for doing that. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:49.759 Uh oh, they're on different slides. 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:50.720 Okay, so stay here. 00:08:50.799 --> 00:08:51.759 So verse 15. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:57.440 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:08:58.799 Next slide. 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:01.440 For, see that connecting word? 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:04.799 When you read the Bible and you see a for, you must ask, what's it there for? 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:05.279 Right? 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:08.639 So for, connecting, for I am not ashamed. 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:11.759 What's the opposite of being ashamed? 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:13.039 It's being eager. 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:14.320 I'm eager to preach. 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:14.720 Why? 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:16.399 Because I'm not ashamed. 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:19.440 Paul is saying that he is not ashamed. 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:22.960 In fact, he is eager for gospel advancement. 00:09:23.039 --> 00:09:25.919 He's eager for getting the gospel out. 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:26.960 Right. 00:09:27.279 --> 00:09:28.320 Introduction done. 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:29.360 Two questions. 00:09:29.600 --> 00:09:31.600 Two questions, two points. 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:34.559 I'll not lie to you, the two points have subpoints. 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:35.120 Okay? 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:38.480 But two main points anyway, right? 00:09:39.440 --> 00:09:40.559 Two questions. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:48.159 How does Paul's eagerness for gospel advancement, how does it express itself? 00:09:48.320 --> 00:09:49.279 How does it come out? 00:09:49.440 --> 00:09:51.279 What does that eagerness look like? 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:52.639 That's the first question. 00:09:52.879 --> 00:09:55.840 Then the second question is why? 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:59.120 Why is he eager for gospel advancement? 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:03.039 What is it about the gospel that he wants to get out? 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:03.519 Okay? 00:10:03.840 --> 00:10:09.840 So first question, how does Paul's eagerness for gospel advancement express itself? 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:15.039 So let's go back to the start of the reading, uh picking it up at uh at verse eight. 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:16.240 That's the question. 00:10:16.399 --> 00:10:17.200 Three sub points. 00:10:17.440 --> 00:10:20.799 First, it expresses itself in prayerfulness. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:24.480 Paul is prayerful for these Christians. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:25.279 Verse 8. 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:33.360 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because of your faith, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:49.120 For God is my witness, whom I soon serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow, by God's will, I may now at last succeed in coming to you. 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:50.320 First point. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:54.799 Eagerness for gospel advancement expresses itself in prayerfulness. 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:59.440 If you want to be eager for getting the gospel out, you need to be a prayerful person. 00:10:59.759 --> 00:11:02.879 We need to be a prayerful community. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:06.879 And you know what's really surprising about Paul's prayers here? 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:10.879 He's never met the people that he's praying for. 00:11:11.360 --> 00:11:13.840 He's never met the Roman Christians. 00:11:14.240 --> 00:11:18.080 He wants to at last succeed in coming to them. 00:11:18.240 --> 00:11:19.919 He didn't plant the church in Rome. 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:21.200 Somebody else did. 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:26.720 But his heart is bursting for these people that he has never met. 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:30.879 See, Paul doesn't just pray for those he knows. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:34.240 Still less does Paul pray for his own concerns. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:40.480 His own shopping lists of, you know, well, God bless me, and God bless Demas and Timothy. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:41.600 No, no. 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:47.759 He's looking beyond himself, beyond his needs, and prays for these people he's never met. 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:48.799 Why? 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:50.480 Why does he do that? 00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:59.519 Well, because he's realized that actually one of the things that the gospel does, the good news of Jesus, is it connects people who don't know one another. 00:11:59.840 --> 00:12:03.200 That we're all part of God's great family, as we've just been saying about. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:06.399 Yes, that's true to the people that you're that you're hugging. 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:11.200 And if you're if you're new here and you find somebody suddenly embracing you, welcome. 00:12:11.360 --> 00:12:14.960 Um, but but it also connects us all across the world. 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:24.799 You actually, I might have just moved to Dublin and you're looking out for uh for a church, a place to uh to call your home while you're here in this city. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:33.279 One of the things you realize is actually, well, I'm connected to these people already because we all share in the same good news. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:37.360 The gospel connects us. 00:12:37.519 --> 00:12:41.440 He he's he's praying for them because he's he's grateful to God for them. 00:12:41.600 --> 00:12:44.639 He might know them, but might not know them, but God does. 00:12:44.799 --> 00:12:49.600 And he knows that he has heard that God has been at work in their lives, in their city. 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:56.960 He's also praying for them because he wants to see them, he wants to encourage them. 00:12:57.759 --> 00:13:10.000 You see, friends, it's it's impossible to be eager for gospel advancement without increased prayerfulness, both individually and as a community. 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:14.799 Because it is ultimately God who will advance the gospel. 00:13:14.960 --> 00:13:16.960 And so we need to be in communication with him. 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:23.600 He'll advance his gospel, and so let's pray to him along the lines that he would invite us to. 00:13:23.679 --> 00:13:26.960 Let's pray for those that we don't know in our city and beyond. 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:30.720 Increased gospel advancement comes from increased prayerfulness. 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:54.320 So, one of the things actually that we're going to be bringing to you uh next week, uh beginning next Sunday, and our worship night kind of leads into that, is we're gonna begin as a church family 30 days of prayerfulness, 30 days of guided prayer as we enter into this new year, as we think through what has the Lord got for uh for City Church in 2024 and beyond? 00:13:54.639 --> 00:14:01.600 How can we increase in our prayerfulness for one another and for our city and for the mission that God has called us to? 00:14:02.080 --> 00:14:07.440 Because gospel advancement will only be as a result of increased prayerfulness. 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:10.080 That's the first way that it expresses itself. 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:23.039 The second way that uh that this eagerness expresses itself for Paul is uh that he is looking for gospel advancement in himself and in other Christians. 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:31.200 He's looking for gospel advancement, gospel growth and maturity in himself and in other Christians. 00:14:31.440 --> 00:14:33.279 So verses 11 and 12. 00:14:33.519 --> 00:14:45.279 For I long to see you that I may be may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:53.679 Paul longs to get to Rome, to bring to them some spiritual gift. 00:14:54.080 --> 00:15:00.159 Now, in the in the context, that's obviously not a it's not a material gift that he wants to bring. 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:06.879 It's not like he's gone to the gone to the duty free in the uh in the Jerusalem airport or anything, he wants to bring some gifts over. 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:13.519 No, nor is it that he wants to uh bestow some uh some some ecstatic spiritual gift. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:17.919 No, in the context, you see he kind of catches himself, that's with the the dash. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:23.039 It's the gift is mutual encouragement by seeing one another's faith. 00:15:23.919 --> 00:15:37.840 He wants to see and show how the gospel is taking root in his life, and he wants to encourage the Roman Christians with that. 00:15:38.559 --> 00:16:01.840 And indeed, the gospel takes deeper root in our lives as we see one another grow, as we see one another go through trial and suffering and persevere as a Christian and continue to deepen our trust and our faith, that actually is an encouragement to one another. 00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:07.360 That as people look in in your life, perhaps you're going through a season of suffering or grief now. 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:31.919 Can I can I encourage you with the thought that that actually God could be using that in your life to encourage the people who are looking in on you to say, gosh, I can't believe that this person is persevering, is trusting, that they're continuing to come together in in worship. 00:16:32.000 --> 00:16:33.440 And it must be so hard for them. 00:16:33.600 --> 00:16:40.000 They must be really clinging to the promises of God, but but I'm really challenged by their perseverance in the faith. 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:49.039 Do you see that actually as we're together we we deepen our our faith because we're encouraged by one another. 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:56.720 And what's really surprising here, I think, is that even the great apostle needs to be encouraged too. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:16:57.360 Do you see? 00:16:57.440 --> 00:16:59.200 That's what I mean, but he kind of checks himself. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:03.519 He begins to say, I'd like to come and I'd like to bring some spiritual gift to encourage you. 00:17:03.600 --> 00:17:13.440 And then he he realizes, oh well, no, actually, when we're together, yes, I'll encourage them, but they'll also encourage me. 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:15.359 That's what verse 12 is saying. 00:17:15.440 --> 00:17:21.759 That is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:30.319 The great apostle needs to be encouraged by these Roman Christians' faith. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:32.640 Here's a question for you all. 00:17:32.720 --> 00:17:34.400 Maybe you've never considered it. 00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:42.880 Who's responsible for who's responsible for encouraging me in my Christian walk? 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:46.799 Who's responsible for encouraging leaders in the church? 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:49.680 Is it other leaders? 00:17:50.319 --> 00:17:52.240 Is it their sp is it their spouses? 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:55.920 Certainly it is both of uh those groups of people. 00:17:56.640 --> 00:18:05.200 But actually, if you ask any leader in the church, the deepest encouragement comes from you. 00:18:07.359 --> 00:18:19.839 It's when it's when the people that God has graciously given to leaders in the local church, when they are persevering, when they are fighting sin and growing. 00:18:19.920 --> 00:18:40.079 And uh and when we sit with uh with you in community groups or or in one-to-one, and you get just every now and again, just every now and again, you get those little those little penny drop moments where that flash of realization comes over a people's person's face, and that's why we get up in the morning. 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:42.799 Who encourages the leaders? 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:45.359 It's the people that the leaders lead. 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:47.599 Who pastors the pastor? 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:50.160 The people, the pastor, pastors. 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:51.839 You see? 00:18:52.319 --> 00:18:53.759 Mutual encouragement. 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:12.319 See, the gospel doesn't just advance out, it advances down, it advances down into our hearts, deeper into our souls. 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:13.920 It takes root. 00:19:14.640 --> 00:19:15.920 And how does it do that? 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:19.440 It does that as we encourage one another. 00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:23.440 And biblical encouragement isn't just a kind of oh my goodness, you're looking great today. 00:19:23.519 --> 00:19:24.240 Is that a new dress? 00:19:24.400 --> 00:19:25.359 Did you get your hair done? 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:27.039 That's not biblical encouragement. 00:19:27.200 --> 00:19:34.720 Biblical encouragement is is much more like I know that following Jesus is hard. 00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:41.920 I know that, gosh, you must be just feeling really under pressure now, weighed down with grief and burden. 00:19:42.160 --> 00:19:43.440 I know that it's hard. 00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:46.319 Let's let's persevere together. 00:19:46.640 --> 00:19:48.079 Remember, God, God is faithful. 00:19:48.160 --> 00:19:49.279 Do you remember what we've been saying about it? 00:19:49.359 --> 00:19:50.640 You're prone to wander, Lord. 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:51.279 I feel it. 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:52.880 I feel it too. 00:19:53.680 --> 00:19:58.960 But God can come by his Holy Spirit and He can seal our hearts for his courts above. 00:19:59.119 --> 00:20:02.720 Let's persevere together, let's journey on together. 00:20:02.880 --> 00:20:04.480 That's biblical encouragement. 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:06.160 It's let's keep going. 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:08.720 Yes, this is hard, but it's worth it. 00:20:08.880 --> 00:20:11.119 And God's promises are true. 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:12.319 Can you see? 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:14.480 That's biblical encouragement. 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:34.079 And so here's the, I guess here's where this kind of caches out for us as a community is if gospel advancement isn't just out but down, and in order for us to get the gospel down deeper into our hearts and into our souls, we need one another. 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:35.279 Here's the question. 00:20:35.519 --> 00:20:43.839 Have you positioned yourself within this church family such that you are having those one-anothering relationships? 00:20:44.319 --> 00:20:49.920 Or you actually just kind of you feel like you're just kind of standing a little bit on the outside looking in. 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:55.759 Have you positioned yourself in terms of participating in a community group? 00:20:55.839 --> 00:21:00.799 If you have no idea what a community group is, you need to be at the connect table immediately after the service. 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:04.720 Have you positioned yourself in terms of a service team? 00:21:04.960 --> 00:21:10.079 The service teams are not just because, well, we need stuff to get done. 00:21:10.319 --> 00:21:19.839 We do, and it's wonderful, but actually it's as people serve together, serving a bigger goal, that community is developed. 00:21:20.480 --> 00:21:23.920 So have you positioned yourself in order to be in community? 00:21:24.720 --> 00:21:31.119 Have you positioned yourself so that you are able to encourage and be encouraged? 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:43.279 One of the ways, if you are new, if you want to kind of do the accelerated track of community encouragement and involvement, is to sign up for the church weekend away. 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:44.799 Let me say this to you now. 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:51.920 If you have just arrived in Dublin and you're looking for a church and you hear the announcement about a church weekend away, you think, no, that must be for the inner ring. 00:21:52.000 --> 00:21:55.519 That must be for whatever the inner circle of City Church is. 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:57.200 That's not true. 00:21:57.839 --> 00:21:59.359 You're invited. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.680 We want you to come. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:02.640 Why? 00:22:02.880 --> 00:22:20.079 Because if you're like if I'm if you're only here for a year or semester, coming on the church weekend away, spending 48 hours together in a comfortable environment and having fun and singing songs and playing games and all those sorts, that's a way of instantly deepening community. 00:22:20.240 --> 00:22:31.200 I really feel like I get to do kind of three months worth of uh of Sunday kind of pastoral relationship building in a weekend. 00:22:31.440 --> 00:22:34.160 And it's so much, and how much more for you guys? 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:38.000 We sit up late and we eat pizza and it's great. 00:22:38.480 --> 00:22:39.839 So you are invited. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:48.079 Position yourself so that you are able to be encouraged and encouraging to your brothers and sisters at City Church. 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:52.960 Third and finally, in this sanction, how does Paul's eagerness express itself? 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:56.240 Well, he is eager to get the gospel out. 00:22:56.799 --> 00:22:58.880 To get the gospel out to all. 00:22:59.279 --> 00:23:02.319 This is verses 13 to 15. 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:16.880 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, he says, that I have often intended to come to you, but have so far been prevented, in order that I may reap some harvest among ye, as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. 00:23:17.119 --> 00:23:27.680 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and the foolish, so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also, who are in Rome. 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:43.599 Paul, in terms of his his own story, he started as uh as a persecutor of Christians, as somebody who hated the message of Jesus, and uh and Jesus transformed his life and set him apart for a particular task. 00:23:43.680 --> 00:23:55.519 And that task was to get the gospel out to those who weren't from a Jewish ethnicity or background, not from the people of Israel. 00:23:56.160 --> 00:24:02.319 He was set apart for this particular task, and he feels the weight of that particular responsibility. 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:04.640 And so he wants to get to Rome. 00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:10.160 I mean, Rome in some senses, culturally speaking, couldn't be further from Jerusalem. 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:13.440 It's the ends of the earth, as far as he is concerned. 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:20.880 And so he is eager to get the gospel out to those who are what he calls Greeks non-Jews. 00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:35.680 Now, we have not been commissioned directly by the risen Lord Jesus and set apart as apostles, but a similar obligation rests upon us to get the gospel out to all. 00:24:36.480 --> 00:24:39.759 Now, why does Paul use this word obligation? 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:45.359 It's like he's saying, he's like, I am in debt to these people who don't know Jesus. 00:24:46.079 --> 00:24:48.160 Why does he say it like that? 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:55.519 Well, imagine, uh Imagine I give Peter 100 euro. 00:24:55.839 --> 00:24:58.319 It's never gonna happen, but just imagine it. 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:07.200 Imagine I give Peter 100 euro and I said, uh, pass that on uh to Owen sitting up there in the in the fifth row. 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:10.400 Uh that's not gonna happen either. 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:16.559 Uh but if I give if I give Peter 100 euro and say, can you pass that on to Owen? 00:25:16.960 --> 00:25:22.400 Peter is obligated, he is in debt to Owen. 00:25:22.640 --> 00:25:24.319 He owes Owen that money. 00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:28.720 I have given it to him, but he has an obligation to pass it on. 00:25:29.599 --> 00:25:30.400 Do you see? 00:25:30.559 --> 00:25:39.920 In the same sort of way, God has given Paul the gospel and said, I want you to pass that out to everybody, want you to get that out to everyone. 00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:42.400 And so he feels indebted to these people. 00:25:42.559 --> 00:25:44.640 He he owes it to them. 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:48.000 If that illustration doesn't jive, let me give you another one. 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:55.599 Uh, it's kind of so in the ancient world, what would happen would be that a uh a king would win a battle. 00:25:55.839 --> 00:26:03.200 And upon winning the battle, one of the things that would happen is he would get more territory, more lands, more countries to rule. 00:26:03.279 --> 00:26:05.599 You think of kind of Alexander the Great, that sort of thing. 00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:17.680 He'd really he'd win a battle, and then as a consequence of that, find that he now governs whole new swathes of the globe. 00:26:17.920 --> 00:26:33.680 And so what that king would do is he would send out messengers, he would send out heralds to go and to tell all of the cities and towns that Alexander had won the battle and that actually you were now under his rule. 00:26:34.160 --> 00:26:47.839 And those heralds were obligated, they were under an oath to go and to take that message so that the people far away from the battle in these far-flung lands knew that there was a new king in town. 00:26:48.880 --> 00:27:11.279 You see, what Paul is saying is that the risen Lord Jesus, who is Lord of all, who who rules over every square inch of this present reality, has sent him and has sent us as his heralds to go to the places where he is not known and to declare to everyone that there's a new king in town. 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:38.240 And not only that, I mean I know I'm speaking in our king, really, uh, but actually that he's a king like no other, and that his rule is good, that in his rule it brings life and joy and satisfaction and fulfillment and eternity with him, that is going and telling people that because of his resurrection from the dead, that Jesus is Lord of all. 00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:40.160 So Paul is eager. 00:27:40.319 --> 00:27:48.400 He's eager to get the gospel out, eager to get the gospel out wherever Jesus must be named or known, and that is everywhere, isn't it? 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:50.160 So, where are we? 00:27:50.640 --> 00:27:54.559 Paul's eagerness begins with prayer. 00:27:55.359 --> 00:28:01.200 It is eager, it's an eagerness that expresses itself in mutual encouragement with the believer. 00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:13.839 So getting the gospel down deeper into our hearts, into our souls, and then from there seeing the gospel go out to those who do not know Jesus. 00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:22.400 Now, secondly, then, why is Jesus, sorry, why is Paul eager for gospel advancement? 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:25.599 We've seen what his gospel advancement looks like, how it expresses itself. 00:28:25.759 --> 00:28:27.920 Now, why is he eager for it? 00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:30.799 This one has four sub points. 00:28:31.599 --> 00:28:34.319 First, and we're in verse 16 now. 00:28:35.200 --> 00:28:35.920 There we are. 00:28:36.079 --> 00:28:36.720 Great. 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:39.759 Uh we're in verse 16 now, and we're at the very start. 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:42.000 It says, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel. 00:28:42.480 --> 00:28:46.079 Uh for, so this, why am I not ashamed of the gospel? 00:28:46.319 --> 00:28:50.079 For it is the power of God. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:51.599 Now pause there. 00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:53.200 That's the first point. 00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:55.039 Why is he eager to get the gospel out? 00:28:55.200 --> 00:28:57.039 Because the gospel's power. 00:28:57.359 --> 00:28:58.240 Whose power? 00:28:58.480 --> 00:28:59.839 The power of God. 00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:11.599 You see, the good news of Jesus is not just a it's not just a message that you sit here and think, okay, I've got to kind of cognitively get my head around that and you know, get my questions answered, and then maybe I'll sign on the dotted line and become a Christian. 00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:12.000 No, no. 00:29:12.640 --> 00:29:14.160 That's not quite what the gospel is. 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:19.759 Now, the gospel has an intellectual component to it, which is why we preach about it. 00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:21.759 But Paul is saying something else here. 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:35.599 He is saying that the gospel itself, the good news of Jesus itself, is a power, a power that comes from God to transform people. 00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:39.279 And that's where our confidence in the gospel lies, right? 00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:51.119 And this is actually what I need to learn when I feel all cotton mouthed and sheepish in my conversations with my neighbors and my non-Christian friends, is that actually the gospel itself is a power. 00:29:51.359 --> 00:29:58.720 That the gospel is not dependent upon my winsomeness or how well I answer a question in any given moment. 00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:03.359 The gospel, you know, God can make a donkey speak. 00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:06.799 And if he can make an ass speak, he can make me speak. 00:30:07.039 --> 00:30:10.480 And he can bring and he can bring life through that. 00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:19.200 The power resides not in my ability to speak, but in the message itself. 00:30:20.799 --> 00:30:27.200 And so what we do is we simply release the gospel and let it do its work. 00:30:30.720 --> 00:30:32.720 And what is it the power for? 00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:34.240 We don't. 00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:41.119 Is the gospel of uh for the gospel is the power of God for salvation. 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:48.400 The gospel has the power to bring dead people back to life again. 00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:55.519 To bring people who are spiritually dead back to new life. 00:30:56.160 --> 00:30:59.920 It has the power to forgive your sin. 00:31:00.000 --> 00:31:00.960 Do you realize that? 00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:02.799 Whatever you have done. 00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:11.759 When I say that, I'm sure for many of you, there's a there's a little flash of something, something particularly shameful. 00:31:12.480 --> 00:31:14.240 Just flashes up in your mind. 00:31:15.440 --> 00:31:19.599 Whatever flashed up, Jesus can forgive that. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:20.640 Amen? 00:31:21.039 --> 00:31:21.680 Amen. 00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:25.519 Whatever has flashed up, Jesus has forgiven that. 00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:28.480 The gospel has the power to forgive your sin. 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:31.599 Nobody is too far away from the grace of God. 00:31:32.400 --> 00:31:36.400 It is the power to bring us back to God. 00:31:37.200 --> 00:31:43.920 The Bible says that we were wandering, we sang about it, how we have shut ourselves off, we alienated ourselves from God. 00:31:45.839 --> 00:31:51.200 The gospel has the power to remove all of those barriers and to bring us back into his family. 00:31:51.599 --> 00:31:53.519 To make him our father. 00:31:54.160 --> 00:32:00.640 The gospel has the power to secure a place forever in the kingdom of God. 00:32:01.839 --> 00:32:06.079 It is the power of God to salvation. 00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:10.079 That is why Paul is eager to get it out. 00:32:11.839 --> 00:32:13.920 Because it can transform lives. 00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:21.920 Do you see that? 00:32:23.279 --> 00:32:32.960 For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first, and also the Greek. 00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:35.599 Why is he eager to get the gospel out? 00:32:35.759 --> 00:32:38.799 Well, because, well, in the kingdom of God there is no discrimination. 00:32:39.680 --> 00:32:54.240 People are not kept out of the kingdom of God by virtue of their background or their social standing or their ethnicity or their gender or their education level or their wealth. 00:32:54.880 --> 00:32:57.359 There's no discrimination in the kingdom of God. 00:32:57.440 --> 00:32:59.440 It is for everyone. 00:32:59.680 --> 00:33:03.519 Now, yes, Paul says that the gospel comes to the Jew first, and it and it did. 00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:11.039 It arose out of the Old Testament working of the of God with the people of Israel. 00:33:11.200 --> 00:33:14.640 It emerges from the Jews. 00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:19.200 Jesus was a, was the, is the Jewish Messiah. 00:33:19.519 --> 00:33:24.880 And the Jews were the custodians, the keepers of the revelation of God in the Old Testament. 00:33:25.359 --> 00:33:29.359 But it is not for them only, it is for all. 00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:34.720 All who would what? 00:33:35.680 --> 00:33:37.759 All who would believe. 00:33:40.480 --> 00:33:43.039 Which we will come back to in just a second. 00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:49.039 So the gospel is a power, it has a transforming quality. 00:33:49.519 --> 00:33:51.440 But what makes it powerful? 00:33:51.759 --> 00:33:54.880 What gives it this transforming quality? 00:33:55.039 --> 00:33:57.200 Well, this is what verse 17 is about. 00:33:57.519 --> 00:33:59.920 This is what Paul is hoping to tell us. 00:34:00.079 --> 00:34:07.839 And this verse, verse 17, is possibly Paul's most concise statement of what the gospel is. 00:34:08.239 --> 00:34:10.880 Maybe you're sitting here and you're thinking, I don't quite get it. 00:34:11.440 --> 00:34:12.960 What is the gospel? 00:34:13.360 --> 00:34:14.880 What's verse 17? 00:34:15.199 --> 00:34:18.639 We're going to walk through it in these couple of points. 00:34:18.800 --> 00:34:23.119 Let's let's read it all together and then we'll make two final concluding points about it. 00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:27.199 For, and notice all of these four, see how he's connecting things. 00:34:28.079 --> 00:34:37.920 So he's saying, I'm eager to preach the gospel because I'm not ashamed of it, because it's the power of God to save people. 00:34:38.079 --> 00:34:42.480 And then verse 17, for, how is it the power of God? 00:34:42.800 --> 00:34:52.400 For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. 00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:53.920 Ah, great. 00:34:54.079 --> 00:34:55.760 Clear statement of what the gospel is. 00:34:55.920 --> 00:34:57.760 Let's let's unpack it. 00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:01.119 Why is Paul eager for gospel advancement? 00:35:01.280 --> 00:35:02.880 Why is it a power? 00:35:03.199 --> 00:35:07.760 Because in it the righteousness of God is revealed. 00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:14.239 This phrase, the righteousness of God, is packed, just packed, with meaning and significance. 00:35:14.719 --> 00:35:33.199 On the one hand, it means that in the gospel, in the good news of Jesus, we see God's righteousness, that is, his moral purity and perfection, we see it on display. 00:35:33.440 --> 00:35:38.559 That is, God's own righteousness goes on display in the gospel. 00:35:40.159 --> 00:35:41.599 Break that down a little bit further. 00:35:41.760 --> 00:35:54.239 You want to see God's commitment to holiness, that he must punish sin, and his commitment to grace and to love, and that he wants to welcome sinners back into his family. 00:35:54.320 --> 00:35:56.880 He wants to save those who are far from him. 00:35:57.199 --> 00:36:01.280 How do you see, where do you see both of those things come together? 00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:04.559