In verse 9 there of Isaiah 59,
that word, therefore, refers to the sin described in the first
eight verses. Verse 1, it says God's not unable
to save. You know, most religion would
say, well, God can't save you unless you let him. How many
times have I heard that in my lifetime? God says, I can save
you if I want to. The thing is, I don't want to
because of your evil, your sin. and he describes it in great
detail. Remember the cockatrice eggs hatch. The only thing that
can hatch a snake egg is a snake. And we eat those eggs, it says,
and they're poison to us, and sometimes we step on them. We
know our bad stuff is bad stuff, and we step on it, and snakes,
just more snakes come out of it. You remember that? Pretty
graphic in the first eight verses there. And so therefore, is judgment
far from us? Judgment means good judgment,
sound decisions, being able to think right. It's far from us. Neither does justice overtake
us. It would have to overtake us
because we're running from it like the plague. We run from
everything good. We run from everything right
by nature. So it would have to overtake
us, but it's not. We wait for light, but behold
obscurity. Because we are evil, we're getting
what we deserve. That's what he's simply saying,
which is darkness, chaos, desolation, and misery. And I didn't just
pick those words at random. We see every one of those things.
That's what we're going to see in these next few verses, those
exact conditions. darkness Chaos Desolation and
Misery We see those things upon us and
therefore We Understand the root problem
and that these are the symptoms of that problem our sin is the
problem our sinfulness now We tend to notice the utter lack
of judgment in our land when we talk about there's no judgment
far from us. When we see it bleed over into
just everyday society, we tend to notice that, don't we? It
has so dramatically done that lately, where you're just thinking,
what are people thinking? How can you possibly rationalize
some of the things that are going on? We have lawlessness. in our
streets, and people being beaten and murdered, and cities being
destroyed. And so what do our leaders do
about that? Well, they let all the prisoners out so they don't
get sick, and they defund the police. That's the answer to
the problem. And you're just shaking your
head going, what? Judgment is far from us. And half of this country agrees
with that. And we'll elect those leaders
again. And anyone with any sense at all is appalled. But imagine
what these people think about God. You see, we don't notice
stuff like that unless it kind of hits the streets, seems like. But what do they think about
God? The things of God? And what's God's view of them,
of us, as a people? If they are devoid of judgment
and justice in earthly matters, what state are they in with regard
to spiritual matters? And it's not a political statement.
Look, we're seeing exactly what Isaiah is describing here. Judgment
is far from us, justice... We're avoiding justice as much
as we can, the right, what's right, God is teaching us very
simply that our problem is not bad politicians and leaders.
They're just a symptom. They're just a result of the
problem. Our problem is with God. Our problem is our sin. Our problem is not just that
we're stupid and can't find our way around with both hands. That's
just a symptom of it. Our problem is we hate God, we've
always had the same problem. And our problem is not their
sin. You see the change in the personal
pronoun in verse nine, you won't remember because we haven't looked
at the first eight verses this evening. But notice in the beginning,
your iniquities have separated you, verse two, between you and
your sins. Your hands, verse three, are
defiled with blood, your fingers with iniquity. This is Isaiah
talking to the nation of Israel. But notice in verse nine, it
changes. Judgment is far from us, neither doth it overtake
us. We wait for light. Verse 10,
we grope for the wall. Verse 11, we roar like bears. Verse 12, for our transgressions. Don't forget when you're talking
about sin, you're talking about you. Isaiah didn't forget that. And that's very, very important. Therefore because of verses 1
through 8 and because of verse 12 our transgressions are multiplied
before God So thus we have these depressing
verses these dark But notice that there's an understanding
in these dark verses Yes, they are dark. No justice. No judgment. No light and It's terrible, but
when Isaiah begins to say we, and he includes himself in the
sin, there's something else we notice, too, that changes here. Isaiah, by God's grace, knows
the truth about our sin. And so do some who are described
in the last verse of the chapter, and we'll see that, Lord willing,
tonight. This is a lot of scripture to
cover, I believe it needs to be seen together. We have the
remnant again. Remember the remnant in Isaiah? All through the book of Isaiah
we've seen that. The leftovers, the remnant. We have the covenant people of
God in verse 21 and that explains some things in these intermediate
verses. Isaiah is sinful. He puts himself in the same exact
case as everyone else, but he's also God's servant. He's God's
chosen prophet. So when the we comes, so does
some understanding creep into the verses. We are in the dark,
but we're looking for the light. We're looking for it, but we're
not seeing it. As a nation, we're walking in
the dark, but some of us are longing for the brightness of
God's glory. You see that? We look for brightness,
but we're walking in darkness. Verse 10, we grope for the wall
like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble
at noonday as in the night. We're in desolate places as dead
men. That's where the Lord found that
Gadarene demoniac, in a desolate place, in a graveyard, as though
he was already dead. We roar all like bears and mourn
sore like doves. We look for judgment. Not everybody's
looking for judgment, but Isaiah said we do. We look for some
good sense, we look for right, we look for justice, but there
is none. We're looking for salvation. We're saying, O wretched man
that I am, who shall save me from the body of this death?
But it is far off from us. This reminds me of the Apostle
Paul speaking also of the nation of Israel, the same people, thousands
of years later. He said they have every outward
advantage. In his epistles to the churches,
he said, much every way the Jew has advantage over everybody
else. God gave them his oracles, his
word, revealed things to them that he didn't any other people.
But they don't know anything about the righteousness of God.
They're going about to establish their own righteousness, groping
for the wall like blind men. They're acting like they have
no eyes. God made them and blessed them and gave them all advantage
in spiritual things. But it's as if they had no eyes.
Paul's heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that God would
save them, that he would reveal to them that Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness. Christ is the purpose of the
law, the goal of the law, and he's the termination of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. Everybody that
believes on him, they don't look to the law for righteousness
anymore. They're keeping of it. Isaiah said, we roar like bears
and we mourn like doves. Have you ever heard? The pitiful
cry of a mourning dove. There's a reason they're called
mourning doves. M-O-U-R-N. I used to have a couple as pets,
and they're beautiful, beautiful birds, and they would make that
sound all the time. It's such a mournful sound, and
that's what he's talking about. Our hearts cry out pitifully. for the mercy of God. We long
for his judgment and his salvation, but it's far off from us as a
nation. Did Paul mourn like a dove, the
way Isaiah says we do here over the people of Israel? Have you
heard the cry of the mourning dove in Paul's
language? He said in 9.1 of Romans, I say
the truth in Christ. I lie not, my conscience also
bearing witness. Bearing me witness in the Holy
Ghost that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart,
for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for
my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. You see the kinship
between Isaiah and Paul. Isaiah said, we're mourning like
the dove, like the sound that that dove makes. That's our heart. Crying out for salvation, for
his glory, for some light. But God's not giving it to us
yet. He's not giving it to us, not as a nation. But that's where Paul was. Great
heaviness and continual sorrow. And Paul knew the reality of
what was happening in Israel as I suspect Isaiah did too.
Here, listen to the next verses from where he said there, I could
wish myself a curse from Christ. I have continual sorrow in my
heart for my countrymen, the Jews. Next verse, who are Israelites
to whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants
and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises.
That's every outward advantage. He said in chapter three, what
advantage then hath the Jew? Much every way, unto them were
committed the oracles of God. God showed them so much, whose
are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ
came. He came unto his own, but they received him not, who is over all, blessed forever,
amen. Not as though the word of God
hath taken none effect, for they're not all Israel, which are of
Israel. Does the fact that the Jews are
groping like blind men in spite of the outward blessings that
God bestowed upon them as a nation, does that mean that the word
of God is null and void? No. It just means that when you're
looking at Israel, you're not really looking at Israel. God
promised so many great things to Israel. Look at them. They're
fools. They're blind. It's dark. They're
acting like dead men. They're blind. No judgment, no
justice, no salvation. What happened? That's not the
Israel the Lord made the promises to. We're getting to them. Paul understood that and I recognize
Isaiah did too. It was their sin. Isaiah said,
it's our sin, our iniquities. He's speaking of Israel as a
nation. So all they, in this passage, are concluded under
sin. We understand that. We're all
in the same boat there. And yet at the end of the chapter,
all from that same nation, we have a divergence at the end
of the chapter. In the beginning, it's, oh, look
at us. Woe is us. We're wretched, we're vile, we're
blind, we're dead. We have no light, we have no
brightness, we have no justice, no judgment, no salvation. It's
all we, we, we, but then there's a split and we have the enemies
and we have the covenant people of God. The enemies are gonna be destroyed,
verse 18. But the covenant people will be redeemed verse 20 You
see that it's it's a macrocosm of the whole world Israel yes, we're God's chosen
people chosen nation But that's simply a picture of the fact
that God chose a people out of every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue under heaven. That's what Paul's saying. They're
not all Israel. They're not all spiritual Israel,
which are of earthly Israel. And God so loved the world because
the world is his garden. But he don't love the weeds,
Tommy. Never has, never will. He loves his garden. Same truth
now. Does God love Israel? Yes, but
what Israel are you talking about? You're gonna have to talk about
that, aren't you? Does God love the world? It says he does, but
who are you talking about? The world to him is his people,
his elect. He loved Jacob, but he didn't
love Esau. He hated Esau. We talked about verse 12, but
notice the last phrase in verse 12. Isaiah, still including himself,
our transgressions are multiplied before God, and our sins testify
against us, for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities,
we know them. This is what I was referring
to earlier. There's already a difference in there. Beginning to be able
to be noticed. There's a difference. There's
an us, there's an us that's all wretched and vile in the sight
of God. That's the entire nation of Israel. But then there's an
us that knows our condition before God. There's an us that's enemies
of God. And then there's us Letter of
the Covenant, Sheep of God. Isaiah has to include himself
in the sinfulness, and he does that wholeheartedly. There's
no difference as far as the nature of man is concerned, but God
does make a difference, and here's part of it. We know them. We
know our sins. That's grace. Most people don't. Most people sin and call it worship. Most people sin and call it serving
God. You remember those who said,
Lord, Lord, look at all the wonderful works. He said, you're workers
of iniquity. By God's grace, Isaiah says,
we know our wretchedness. We know that man in his best
state is altogether vanity. All sinners are equally sinful,
but when God turns the light on whoever he reveals himself
to and his truth to, the truth of his gospel in Christ, and
only them are gonna know their condition before God. Oh, wretched man that I am, not
that I used to be, but that I am. A sinner, apart from grace, may
intellectually understand that they haven't always done everything
perfect. They'll admit I've done some
bad things, and they might even call themselves a sinner. But
only by the grace of God can a sinner know this. Listen to
what David wrote in Psalm 51 too. Here's somebody the Lord
has turned the light on for. We grow up in darkness by nature
now. We're walking around like people
that don't even have any eyes. But then God turns a light on
and you know what we say? Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Wash me. I'm not getting any
better. I'm not gonna get any better.
I need you to wash me and cleanse me from my sin for I acknowledge
my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only have
I sinned. and done this evil in thy sight
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear
when thou judgest do you understand what he's saying there? if you
speak condemnation upon me and put me in hell you're cleared
of any wrongdoing it'd be right for you to do that
behold I was shapen in iniquity That's a long way from I've done
some bad things, you know. But my good outweighs my bad.
I'm a ball of sin, and I have been
since I was born. In sin did my mother conceive
me. Behold, thou desirest truth in
the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me
to know wisdom. And wisdom is I am vile. Wash me. And the next thing he
said is purge me with hyssop. You remember, always remember
the hyssop. Every time you look up the word in the scripture,
every time it's used, it's talking about dipping that hyssop in
the blood. I think one time it referred
to dipping it in the water. Same truth. Purge me with hyssop and I shall
be clean. Wash me. and I shall be whiter
than snow. That's a long way from I'm going
to turn my life over to Jesus. I'm going to do better from now
on. I'm going to give my heart to the Lord. The Lord washed
me. I don't need to be better. I need to be white. And that
happens one way. This is why Isaiah was able to
so aptly describe our condition in this chapter, including verses
13 through 15 there. We're not gonna have time to
go over all of this word by word like sometimes we do, but boy,
he pretty much nails us, doesn't he? Because he was experiencing it.
He was part of it. God revealed his condition to
him, and God, of course, inspired him to write these very scriptures.
Notice also the end of verse 15. Let's read verse 15 again,
and notice particularly the end part. Yea, truth faileth, and
he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord
sighed, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. Here's the thing about what displeases
the Lord. When something displeases me,
I try to do something about it, don't you? I just can't let it
go. Not if this word is... When something displeases God,
he does do something about it. In other words, it's saying here,
God saw that this can't stand. It's not gonna stay this way. Either everybody's going to hell,
or something's gonna be done about it. The condition of things
as they are now in this world, it's not gonna stay this way. I'm kinda glad, aren't you? I'm
real glad, actually. Well, I wouldn't want to live
forever in this world, would you? I heard one of my favorite, probably
my favorite preacher preaching the other day. And he said, I'm
looking forward to dying. It kind of shocked me a little
bit. He said, why wouldn't I? He said, my last day on this
earth is going to be my best day of my life. He's right. He's exactly right. And notice
here, the conditions of things here and now, we're told God's
not gonna let things stand that way. If it displeases him, you
can bet your bottom dollar, it's not gonna stay that way long. To say that God is displeased
with the evil of man might seem an understatement, but what this
is teaching is that God cannot allow this to go on. What we're
seeing every day in our society, not gonna stand. God has to either
put all of us in hell or he has to redeem us. One of the two,
doesn't he? But you know what he did? Both. He gonna put some in hell and
he redeemed some. And that's what we see in these
last verses. But notice first this key, this
key verse, verse 16. Boy, you talk about a key verse
now. He saw that there was no man, this ain't gonna fix itself. Usually when things do get better,
it's because somebody is gifted of God, somebody rises up and
does something and changes the course of history. We could name
a few names, couldn't we? In the history of this country
and in the history of the world. Among men. Made a difference
an unbelievable incredible difference because of God in his providence,
right? But this problem nobody can do
anything about it problem of evil and sin and blindness and
darkness and injustice Hatred of God there's no man and Wondered
that there was no intercessor. There's not only nobody that
can fix this. I cares There's not even anybody
praying for the victims of it You see that? Not even an intercessor
nobody cares That's part of our evil we love our evil My nature
when left to ourselves now We don't have a problem In fact it'd be a whole lot worse
if God let go of us more than he already has be a lot worse
and Therefore his arm brought salvation
unto him. Religion talking about God's
done all he can do and now it's up to you. The truth is just the opposite,
isn't it? How many times have we talked about that? We've done
everything we're going to do and now it's up to God. We've
done all we can do, haven't we? We're just worse than we ever
have been. And now it's up to God. That's
what our verse teaches. If there's gonna be salvation,
he's gonna have to do it. You see this, now Isaiah, you
read the book of Isaiah and you're going, what in the world is this
talking about? But when the Lord reveals it, it's so simple and
it's so clear. It's so clear. And here's where
you start. Here's where you start in order
to understand the word of God. All of it concerns his son, Jesus
Christ. All of it. You read a passage
of scripture and you say, what's that talking about? Don't say,
what's it talking about? Just say this. How does that
reveal Christ? Because you already know what
it's talking about. It's talking about him. He saw that there was no man
and wondered that there was no intercessor. Not that God is
surprised or shocked. This is condescending language.
God doesn't wonder in the way that we do. It didn't surprise
him. He ordained all this from the start. But that word wonder
is not insignificant. It expresses the depth of our
sinfulness. It's shocking how messed up we
are, isn't it? Not only are we horrible and
vile monsters, but we don't even care. We don't even care about
the ones we say we love. You say you do. Really? Do you really? What does Christ
have to do with that? People talk about, oh, I love
my children. They had never heard the word
of God. Do you really love them? If you hate God in front of them
and teach them and raise them to hate God? Is that what you
call love? This world is a mess, isn't it? The magnitude of our hopelessness
is shocking. No man, in a world of men, no
man. We've talked about that a few
times too, haven't we? We call ourselves men. And in
the sense of the term sinful man, it's true of us. Think about
that, no man, no man. He saw that there was no man.
God created man to obey him. Do you know anybody like that? No man. God created man to glorify
him. Anybody? God created man to submit
and humbly honor and devote himself as the angels do. to accomplish
God's will in the earth. You find anybody like that? There's
no man, is there? There's no man, not by that definition,
not by God's definition of what a man is. But there is one. Then said I,
lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me,
to do thy will, O God. There is one that came to do
his will and did it. There is one that came to glorify
him and did it. There's one that came to worship
and humbly submit and honor him in everything and glorify his
name and obey him and magnify him. And he did. That's our text. His own arm brought salvation. Now he brought it to us, but
he brought it to himself too, didn't he? This can't stand the
way it is. God's gonna do something about
it for him, isn't he? And I got in on it. I got in
on it. Behold, the man. Pilate had no idea, did he? What
he was saying. No man, the man. The broken,
bloody, despised, Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, who just
happens to be the king of glory. By God's definition, there's
just one, man. Well, that's the truth, isn't
it? The man Christ Jesus, his own arm brought salvation unto
him, and his own righteousness sustained him. You see that there?
His own righteousness sustained him. That word sustain means
to lean on and to rest. God can't rest. Now, and again,
this is condescending labor, but God can't rest with things
the way they are. God looks at this world and says
he is displeased. That's an understatement considering
how we use that word. When I say I'm displeased, that
just means it bothers me a little bit. When God is displeased,
that's a big thing. That's a problem. How will he
find satisfaction? He gave the law, and the law
only magnifies the problem. By the law is the knowledge of
sin, but there's no remedy. for sin in the law, what the
law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh. God
sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned
sin in the flesh. His own arm brought salvation.
His own righteousness sustained him. So there is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. because Christ
accomplished what we never could. He kept and honored God's law in that he obeyed it. He condemned
sin by not committing any of it. He also condemns it by putting
everybody in hell that has committed it, except those whom he condemned
sin by paying for it. But he condemned all of it, didn't
he? He condemned all of it. He'll either put you in hell
for it or he paid for it. He condemned it either way. His
own arm that brought salvation. The verse that comes right after
Romans 8, 3 where we read it here is this. For the law of
the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death. That word free is in our text
in another language in hebrew rather than greek verse 16 again
That word salvation look at verse 16 again in our text His arm his arm brought salvation
unto him that word means to be set free to be delivered to be
liberated God sent his son to accomplish
that because we could not. We're under the bondage of the
law because all the law does for us is reveal our wretchedness.
I'm free though now from the law of sin and death and God's
righteousness is fulfilled in me because his own arm brought
salvation. He laid help upon one that's
mighty. God sent his own son to keep
the law perfectly for me. He honored the law in that. And also, not only did he honor
the law by keeping it perfectly as my representative, but he
honored the law by bearing my sins and their punishment under
that law. The law demanded satisfaction
from my sin. And he rendered it. So the law
is fulfilled for me and in me, just not by me. By him, his own arm. That's the difference made in
the last part of our text. That's why now instead of all
darkness and all wretchedness and all blindness and all deadness
and all groping and unjust and monsters, now we have an enemy,
but we have redemption too. Christ did not do that for you
honor the law in living for you and honor the law in satisfying
its justice against you Then you're described in verse 18
According to their deeds accordingly he will repay Fury To his adversaries Unmitigated fury. Can you even
imagine that? I don't even want to think about
that. Do you? In Christ, we have every blessing that God is able
to bestow. At all. Think about that. I like
thinking about that. We have everything good that
God can do for somebody. It's ours in Christ. Think of
the flip side of that for a second. You know what hell is? It's everything horrible that
God can do to you. The fury of his wrath. There ain't nothing good about
hell. Not anything. Recompense to his enemies. You
know why? Because our sin is infinite.
It's against the infinite holy God. and it deserves infinite
punishment. To the islands will he repay
recompense. And there's gonna be fear, they're
gonna fear, they're gonna cry out to the rocks and the hills,
cover us up from the wrath of the lamb, hide us from his face. But then, if Christ has honored
the law as you, as your representative, as man, as the second Adam, the
last Adam, for you, and under the law by suffering
the wrath of God that was due our sin under that law. Then you're described in verses
20 and 21. And the redeemer shall come to
Zion. Zion's always the church Beautiful
for situation is Mount Zion the sides of the north the city of
the great king That's not an earthly city That's the Church
of God and unto them that turn from transgression How does that
they turn from transgression where they must be better than
the ones that didn't know? I believe it was Jeremiah. They said Lord
you turn us and we'll be turned That's how that happens. Turn
from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this
is my covenant with them. This is my promise to them. This is my will and testament
for them. Saith the Lord, my spirit that
is upon thee and my words which I have put In thy mouth and remember
the spirit the lord said something about the spirit that we should
never forget before he left his Disciples left this earth He
said now i'm gonna send my spirit and he's gonna take the things
of mine and show them to you So we have the word and we have
the spirit to show us what he said And he said this it'll never
depart Out of thy mouth, nor out of
the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seeds, seeds,
saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever. So I wanted to kind of get that
overview, but now I want to back up just a little bit. Verse 17,
we're exhorted there to put on the same breastplate that he
did as a man. By what breastplate? Look, it
says he put on righteousness as a breastplate. That's talking
about the Lord Jesus, right? He saw that there was no man,
so he came. Well, I come to do that. Nobody
else is gonna do God's will. Nobody else is gonna fix this.
Nobody else can do anything about it. And so he came to do the
will of God. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he's given me. I'll lose nothing,
but raise him up again at the last day. And he puts on that
breastplate of righteousness. Notice it's righteousness as
a breastplate. By what breastplate was Christ
our Lord victorious over all the enemies of God and his people?
Well, what's the problem? Sin, what's the fix? Righteousness. Him, he is the righteousness
of God. It's pictured as a breastplate
here. What is our armor? Righteousness, but not ours. His. Same righteousness. There's
just one human righteousness. That's important to always remember.
There's just one human righteousness. Only one man ever was righteous
in the sight of God. Ephesians 6.14, stand therefore
having your loins girded about with the truth and having on
the breastplate of righteousness. We swear the same breastplate
he does. and the same helmet notice there
it says the helmet of salvation it talks about the helmet of
salvation and in the helmet of salvation verse seventeen upon
his head verse seventeen of ephesians six and take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the spirit which is the word of god vengeance
is his alone it mentions vengeance there also in verse seventeen
we don't take that one he said vengeance is mine I will repay,
saith the Lord. And as for zeal, I want to be
zealous for him. We might imitate it poorly, but
his zeal is our hope. And you won't find there in verses
20 and 21, where we read there in conclusion of the whole matter,
that's the difference that makes when God sees that there's no
hope, and sends his son to get the job done. Now the job's done. And where you see our salvation
described, our redemption, you won't find anything there for
you to do. No conditions, no contingencies, nowhere that this
covenant of grace is described anywhere in the scriptures where
you find that. You find a lot of this. God said, I will, I
will. And you shall. That's why we call it the covenant
of grace. It does not call for our cooperation. It is in spite of us. It is after
we have failed and nothing's going to change if left to ourselves. It's never up to us. It is in spite of us that God
saves us. All conditions are and were met
by Jesus Christ and him crucified. And what is specifically mentioned
here You know that in other places we're told that how that we shall
all be taught of God and our sins and our iniquities will
be remembered no more. These are blessings of the covenant.
You remember that in Hebrews eight, nine, and 10. And in other
places in Jeremiah, I believe the covenant is recited in some
of those very same things. Well, you talk about benefits.
I won't remember your sins anymore. They're washed away. and they shall all be taught
of God by His Spirit. We saw that in our text too.
But here is an excellent benefit of this glorious covenant of
God's grace that's not always mentioned where the covenant
is. The gospel is ours. The gospel
of His grace is given unto us. Listen to this,
Paul Said in 2 Timothy 2.7, consider what I say and the Lord give
the understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ of
the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my
gospel. That's the reason we're able
to say my gospel is because of our text. Here I am and you tonight calling
that same gospel of God concerning his son, Jesus Christ, our gospel,
200 years, 2,000 years after Paul did, call it our gospel
too, it's our gospel.