Romans chapter 15, and I'm going
to read from verse 14. Romans chapter 15, and we will
read from verse 14. And I myself also am persuaded
of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled
with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. Nevertheless,
brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some
sort, as putting you in mind because of the grace that is
given to me of God. that I should be the minister
of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God,
that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified
by the Holy Ghost. I have therefore whereof I may
glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to
God. For I will not dare to speak
of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me
to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through mighty
signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that
from Jerusalem and round about to Elycrium, I have fully preached
the gospel of Christ. Yea, so have I strived to preach
the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build
upon another man's foundation. But as it is written, to whom
he was not spoken of, they shall see, and they that have not heard
shall understand. Amen, may God bless to us this
reading from his word. That little verse there in Romans
15, chapter 15, 21, is the verse that we were mentioning a little
bit earlier when we said that there was a reference to Isaiah
52, which we also read earlier. And we will come back to that
in a little while because really my thoughts this evening want
to centre upon this 21st verse of the 15th chapter of Romans. But before we do that, I wanted
just to draw your attention to another couple of things that
we might gain some spiritual light and benefit from in the
opening verses of this little passage that is before us this
evening. I wanted to make reference to
this fact that we hold as believers, we hold an interesting little
doctrine which is called the priesthood of all believers. And some of you will have heard
that phrase before, the priesthood of all believers. It's not a
biblical phrase as such, but we believe that it has a biblical
foundation. And we use that phrase to mean
that no child of God requires another person to mediate with
God on his behalf. We understand that the Lord Jesus
Christ is our one and only mediator, one God and one mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus. And we see the Lord Jesus Christ
in that mediatorial capacity as our high priest, our high
priest that has entered into the presence of God bearing his
own blood as the sacrifice by which our sins are cleansed,
and that as our high priest, Having entered in for us, every
believer in the Lord Jesus Christ enters then God's presence by
faith in that blood. And in that sense, our entering
into the presence of God on the basis of the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ speaks of our individual priesthood. as we come into the
presence of God. We do not look to our side to
find a priest from amongst men, either a priest like those who
served in the temple in days gone by, or indeed a priest of
some clerical nature within the denomination of a particular
church who has a special interest in the things of God and therefore
is able on the basis of that special interest to approach
God on our behalf. We do not come through a Pope. We do not come through Mary. We do not come through saints
that have gone before. We realise and understand that
in this capacity of being, that royal priesthood, that holy nation
of whom Peter speaks, we enter into the presence of God by the
alone blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, our great High Priest. We have faith in the atoning
and cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Him we see as our
substitute and as our sacrifice. And we look to him for that access
and entrance into the presence of the Most High God. Seeing
in him, the way of access, the door and the life that we require
as sinful creatures. Now there are several ways in
which this little teaching, this little doctrine of the priesthood
of all believers applies this understanding that we have of
this relationship that we have with God. There are several ways
that it applies to our worship and to our lives and to our fellowship,
to the order and the structure of our churches and congregations. and the responsibilities that
each of us has within the body of Christ and within the congregation
of the Lord's people. That understanding of the priesthood
of all believers has some consequences and implications for the ways
in which we worship and live and fellowship and structure
our churches, our congregations. And one such way is highlighted
in the opening verse of this little passage that we read together.
where Paul writes that he is persuaded of you, my brethren. So he recognizes these individuals
as his brethren, so they are believers. I myself also am persuaded
of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled
with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. That's actually quite an amazing
statement that the apostle makes there. He says that he is persuaded
that we are full of goodness. That's not something that I would
be easily persuaded of with respect to my own life. And it is certainly,
when I look around about me in the church, questionable whether
or not all those that I see professing to be believers in the Lord Jesus
Christ are possessors of all goodness. And he goes on to say,
filled with all knowledge, And yet this, amazingly, when we
think about ourselves is exactly what the Apostle Paul is saying,
and he is referring not to our natural abilities, but to those
spiritual gifts and graces which God, the Holy Spirit has given
to us. The gifts of the Spirit, the
fruit of the Spirit that has been given to the people of God. So the Apostle says you are full
of goodness, you are filled with all knowledge and you are able
also to admonish one another. Now to admonish means to bring
things to one another's remembrance, to put in mind those things which
we have learned, which we have confessed, which we have believed,
and which we hear preached amongst us, those doctrines of the gospel. So when we admonish one another
with this goodness and this knowledge, we are cautioning one another
with a gentleness, We are reproving one another with a thoughtfulness. and we are seeking to help and
support and comfort and encourage one another with a mutual care
based upon a spiritual wisdom and understanding, a spiritual
knowledge. And indeed the truth of the matter
is that it is only those who are both good and knowledgeable
in spiritual things that are able to truly understand the
scriptures and the teaching of the scriptures and the application
of the scriptures to themselves and to one another. This isn't
natural goodness that we're talking about or worldly wisdom. And
when people try to bring in mere charitableness to the church,
either internally or externally by the demonstration of good
works, or if they try to impose worldly wisdom in the operation
and the running of the congregation of the Lord's people, they soon
find that they destroy the inherent beauty and simplicity of the
Church of Jesus Christ. But the Holy Spirit supplies
such spiritual gifts as is needed in a local fellowship, the local
body of believers, the local body of the saints that allows
them and enables them to function in this world with a wisdom,
with power, with usefulness, in order to glorify God, in order
to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ, and in order to honour the gospel
that has been placed amongst us. The Holy Spirit gives us
gifts. The Holy Spirit gives us an enabling. And as Paul says here, he's persuaded
that these believers in Rome, even in that day, even for the
troubles that they had, the challenges that they faced, they were a
people who were full of goodness and filled with all knowledge,
full of the blessings of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy
Spirit gives such blessings to the people of Christ as He knows
they have need. Now, we're making reference here
to this little phrase, the priesthood of all believers. And while there
is that levelling that comes from this doctrine, this understanding
of our relationship with God through the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ and the equipping of the saints within the body
of Christ with those gifts and graces that the Holy Spirit knows
we require, Yet that does not mean that there's no distinction
in the offices or the roles that we have within the body. The Lord Jesus Christ gave gifts
to the church when he ascended. It speaks about Ephesians, I
think. It speaks about the ascension
gifts of the Lord Jesus Christ and how that there is order and
structure and duties as the Lord gives good gifts to his church
and to his people. We are all ministers one to another. We are all servants one to another.
And just as the Lord Jesus Christ was described to us by Paul in
the previous section, the previous passage, as a minister to his
church and people, so we emulating, we Copying, we following his
example are servants one to another. We all minister one to another
in the body. Serving as the Holy Spirit gives
us the qualities and the abilities and the gifts that are suitable
for the work that is required. And we will not all have the
same gifts and the same abilities, but we all, as we contribute
together those gifts and abilities that the Holy Spirit has given
us, so we will see wonderfully that the local body of believers
is granted both the presence and the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ amongst them to serve, to work, to glorify God, to lift
up the Lord Jesus Christ, and to honor his name through the
preaching of his truth and the doctrine of the gospel, the doctrine
of God. And these are great blessings
that the church has that have been given to the church. The Apostle Paul is making reference
to this because he's going on to speak about the blessings
that he had been given as an apostle. Because the apostle
had authority. He had authority of apostleship
over these people here in Rome. But it is lovely to see the way
in which the apostle does not lord over, dare I say, ordinary
believers. but respects the Lord's sheep
as the good shepherd, blessed and cared for his own sheep. So the apostle, as an under-shepherd,
seeks also to emulate his saviour by feeding and blessing and leading
beside still waters for their refreshment and help and nourishment,
the people of God, that he might gently lead them. And we see
the apostle so doing. He coaxes. He doesn't coerce. He persuades. He doesn't compel. He endeavours to convince and
not to enforce his will upon those to whom he writes. There's a gentleness, a kindness,
a generosity about the way in which the apostle deals with
the people. Though he is an apostle, though
he could claim authority from Christ, yet we see that love
and that charitableness in his dealings with his people. It
seems he always acts with an eye to Christ, always acts with
an eye to the love that he has experienced, the grace that he
has received, the mercy that he has enjoyed. And he in turn
endeavours to exercise grace in the body of Christ and exhibit
that love of God in the way in which he deals with those who
are his brothers and sisters in Christ. Now this apostolic
role, which the apostle Paul describes here as the minister
of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God,
he speaks about that in verse 16. And he speaks about the fact
that this is his ministry, this peculiar ministry that has been
granted to him. We all, in the body of Christ,
have a ministry. We all serve one another. And sometimes our ministry might
be rather low-key and insignificant as far as an outward manifestation
in the activities of the body of Christ is concerned. Other
times it might be something that is more upfront and more obvious
as far as the ministry is concerned. But all of these things work
together. All of them are combined together
for the success and the well-being of the body. And the Apostle
Paul says several things about personal responsibility. The personal responsibility that
he felt in this role that he had been given. And I suggest
something again, which ought to be the personal responsibility
of the Lord's people also, to feel, as it were, the burden
of our service, the burden of the task that the Lord has bestowed
upon each one of us as members of that body of Christ. The apostle
speaks of himself as a servant of Jesus. a servant of Christ,
and that shows where Paul's allegiance is. He recognises the Lordship
of Jesus Christ. He recognises that he as an individual
is subject to that Lordship, that Christ is his King, that
Christ is his Master, that Christ is his Lord, and he is subject
to the Lord Jesus Christ and his direction and his words and
his example. So he is a servant of Christ
and he is subject to the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. But
he says he is also a servant to the Gentiles. So within this
role of recognising the lordship of Christ, he recognises that
as Christ was a minister to the church, So he is a minister to
the church, emulating the saviour. He is a servant peculiarly, particularly
to the Gentiles. So he's distinguishing here between
the Jews and the Gentiles, recognising that there were those who ministered
amongst the Jews, particularly, predominantly, in and around
Jerusalem, Judea, and around that area, and others who went
further afield, who entered into the lands of the Gentiles, who
went across the borders and travelled far. And here the Apostle Paul
says that he recognises this role was granted to him as an
ambassador of Christ, with a target audience, with a people that
he was to go and speak to. So he is a servant of Christ,
but he was also a servant to the Gentiles. And he was a minister
or a servant declaring the gospel of God, acknowledging Christ's
lordship. He goes forth under Christ's
commission, bringing the gospel of God or the doctrines of Christ
or the message of the Lord Jesus Christ, the words of Christ,
words of forgiveness, words of acceptance, words of redemption,
words of truth, those things that comprise the body of truth
which is the gospel of God, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ
set up as the way of salvation, the death of the Lord Jesus Christ
as that means by which an acceptable sacrifice was made, the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the precious blood which redeemed
and ransomed and atoned for the sins of God's elect. This was the message, this was
the message of hope that the Apostle carried in his day to
his generation. And the Apostle, in speaking
about this ministry that he was given, summarises in these verses
again something of the extensive ministry that he performed. He says that he preached from
Jerusalem to Elycraeum, or Elycraicum. And that's a reference to an
area up around near almost at Italy. So if you can think of
Jerusalem and Judea as that area in Israel at the far right hand
side of the Mediterranean Sea that was up. and round and through
Turkey and into Southern Europe, into those countries that are
today called Croatia and Serbia and on the borders of the Adriatic
Sea directly across from Italy. So while he's writing to the
Romans, these people would know exactly this area in which the
Apostle Paul served his master as an apostle to the Gentiles. It's a huge area. It sort of
goes north and then sweeps round to the northwest. It's a thousand miles from Jerusalem
and it's the area through which the Apostle Paul walked and rode
and sailed in order to reach towns and villages and obscure
areas carrying with him the message of the gospel of God, going out
to where the Gentiles were with this message of forgiveness and
redemption and atonement in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we think about this comment that the Apostle makes here with
respect to this ministry, we realise that when we look at
the book of the Acts of the Apostles, where many of these visits and
journeys of the Apostle are recorded, it's not actually that many After
all, that there are many, many more places that he visited that
we don't know anything about, where he went into towns and
villages, where he spoke to men and women, where he endeavoured
to establish churches and bring the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ to the minds of people. And I want, therefore, to just
look at this final verse in the passage before us for a few minutes. And I want to show you three
things about the Apostle Paul's ministry to these Gentiles that
he is speaking about, these who were not Jews, these who were
the all the others, all the other nations that were not privy to
the revelation that God had given to the patriarchs and through
the prophets. to the children of Israel in
the Old Testament times. And so in this verse 21, it speaks
of these Gentiles. Let's just read verse 20 for
a moment. He says, yea, so have I strived
to preach the gospel. Here again is this gospel of
God, to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, not in
any location, not in any town or city, not in any part of the
country or part of the world where Christ was already known
about, but to always be pushing forward the boundary, always
going somewhere else where Christ had never been spoken of, Christ
had never been preached, where Christ was not named, lest I
should build upon another man's foundation. Then he says in verse
21, but as it is written, and this is the reference to Isaiah
52, to whom he was not spoken of they shall see. So who is this that he was not
spoken of? He's speaking obviously about
the gospel of Christ, the gospel about the Lord Jesus Christ and
about the ministry of Christ, the words of Christ, the sacrifice
of Christ and the accomplishments of Christ. This is the gospel
of God. This is the good news that God sent to the world about
the salvation of sinners and the taking away of their guilt. So it is this one Jesus Christ,
to whom he, Jesus Christ, was not spoken of, they shall see,
these Gentiles shall see this one who was never before spoken
of amongst them. And they that have not heard,
who had never heard the preaching of the gospel amongst them, they
shall understand. So, three things that I want
to mention about this little verse with respect to this work
that the Apostle Paul was engaged upon as the servant of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The first thing is this, and
these are not big points so we'll just move quickly through them.
The first thing is this, the timing. of this ministry is very
interesting, I believe. So the Apostle Paul is saying
here that I'm going to press the boundaries. I'm going to
press into areas, lands of the Gentiles that had never heard
the gospel before. And let us just for a moment
pause and think about the timing of the Apostle's activity. And
let us realise that for thousands and thousands of years. What
the apostle is here saying in this passage is that the Lord
Jesus Christ was never spoken of amongst these people. For
thousands of years, they had never heard anything of the gospel
of God, of the promise of a Messiah, of the revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Indeed, there was a darkness
upon all of these Gentile nations, which had existed from almost
the beginning of time. Now, they had no revelation. granted to them. They had no
direction given to them as far as the sending of prophets to
them was concerned. There was no salvation from God. There were no promises, covenant
promises, granted to their forefathers. But they had dwelt in centuries
of darkness. Nations, whole nations, Huge
cities, empires, kingdoms, civilizations that knew nothing about God or
the Lord Jesus Christ. Generations. lived and died,
and they never heard a single word about salvation of their
souls, about the forgiveness that came through God sacrificing
his son, of the love of God for fallen man, and the mercy of
God extended in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I'm not saying that we cannot
find traces of Gentiles in the Old Testament who discovered
something of the nature of the God of the Jews. We've spoken
about this before. We know that such examples exist. We know that throughout the Old
Testament there were occasions where individuals or indeed even
cities and nations were brought a witness for example, by Esther
or by Jonah, or by Abraham amongst some of the other nations around
about them, or for those that were conquered by David, Gentile
nations that were conquered under the Davidic kingdom. But the
point, nevertheless, is true, that beyond these boundaries,
there were whole kingdoms, civilizations and empires in continents and
countries around the world upon whom darkness had fallen. And Paul's efforts. Paul travelled in order to preach
Christ where no one had ever heard of Christ. Nations that
were still steeped in idolatry, who were still steeped in man-made
religion, the religion of wooden idols and stone idols and idols
of precious metals, who feared the rumbling of thunder or the
coming of a storm, who looked at the animals or the nature
around about them to try and make sense of the world that
they perceived. and yet were benighted in their
minds and in their souls with a darkness which God did not
illuminate or remove during all the centuries and millennia that
had gone before. So when we talk about the timing
of the Apostle Paul's apostleship to the Gentiles, we are actually
talking about the timing, the instigation of the initiation
of God's grace to the Gentiles. because this was the timing of
providence. This was the time when God said,
now the gospel goes into these lands. Now the gospel comes to
these nations. Now to these men and women in
these cities that had never before heard of the Lord Jesus Christ,
Christ would be proclaimed. And the apostle Paul, as an apostle,
as a messenger, as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, took
that message to those lands and those cities where Christ had
never been preached. Now the point of it, the point
of the reference in verse 21 to the previous writing of this
prophecy, to whom he was not spoken of, they shall see, Paul
says, this was written beforehand. And his reference is to Isaiah
52. And that speaks there of the
fact that even in the days of the Old Testament church and
the Old Testament believers, there was a recognition that
the time would come when this message of the Messiah and of
the anointed one of God, this suffering servant, the servant
king, who would come and carry the sins of his people in his
own body, to the cross. That one of whom Job could say,
I know that my Redeemer liveth. That one of whom David spoke
when he said that God had made with him a covenant settled in
all things. These promises from Abraham through
Moses that had come down through David and the other prophets
culminating in the ministry of John the Baptist and the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. anticipated that there would
come a time when this message would not be constricted to a
particular group of people, but would extend to the whole world. This, at the time of Paul's ministry,
was a rare and an exclusive message. And I don't know whether we truly
realize just how blessed we are to have heard this message. Let
me say again, it was rare and exclusive. For hundreds, thousands
of years, whole nations, kingdoms, empires kept in darkness because
there were none of the elect of God amongst those nations. People talk about free will and
they talk about the fact that God has given every man free
will in order to choose Christ or reject him. Millions of people
never heard the gospel. This is a message to a particular
people. This is a message that God sent
when the time was right according to his time of love, according
to his providences and his purposes to his people when the time was
right. And even then, let me just mention
this, even then it was a limited sending. Because while the Apostle
Paul says that he went to preach in places where Christ had never
been preached before, we discover, especially if you look at such
passages as Acts chapter 16, that the Apostle Paul was prevented
frequently from going where his own aspirations desired that
he might go. and rather the Holy Spirit sent
Paul to precise places where he would preach the gospel. Why? Why go to a particular place
and not another place? Because that's where God had
his elect. That's where God had his people.
That's where the gospel was going to go for the salvation of individual
sinners. And so here we have this picture
of the gospel going out to the Gentiles, but yet, only going
out along certain paths that were hedged in by God the Holy
Spirit so that this ministry to the Gentiles might achieve
its purpose. Let's just go back to Isaiah
52 again and let me read there what the apostle writes with
respect to these people that are now hearing the gospel. Look
at verse 10 of Isaiah chapter 52. He says, the Lord hath made bare
his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations. So that is that
the Gentiles, all the nations, were seeing now the power of
God, the arm of God laid bare. What is the power of God? Well,
we know it's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ was going into these Gentile nations
now with a power that had never been seen before. The Lord hath
made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, and
all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
What the Apostle Paul was beginning here was the continuing of the
commission that had been given by the Lord Jesus Christ that
the disciples would go into all the earth and preach the gospel.
That message would move as a great wave around the earth, but with
this provisal that it was being sent to those who were the people
to whom it would be efficacious. That people who would believe
the gospel. And so the arm of the Lord was
laid bare. And in verse 11, This is a call
to those redeemed of the Lord. These elect sinners as the gospel goes around. Go ye out of the midst of her.
Go ye out of that dark nation, that benighted, idolatrous people. Go ye out from the midst of her.
Be ye clean. This is the command of God. This
is the redeeming power of God in the gospel. Be ye clean. Be
ye righteous. Be ye holy. that bear the vessels
of the Lord. Verse 12, For ye shall not go
out with haste, nor go by flight. For the Lord will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your reward. That weary word,
that means that he will go behind you, he will go to the rear of
you. So the Lord will go before you
and the God of Israel will go behind you, is effectively what
is being said there. And so we can see that the timing
of Paul's ministry was according to the purpose of God. And what
was that purpose? This is the second point. It
was to fulfil God's promise of salvation. And that we discover. What did we read? Romans chapter
15 again. Look at verse 15. Nevertheless,
brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some
sort as putting you in mind because of the grace that is given to
me. of God. So he had been given this grace,
he had been given this task of going out with this word for
the fulfilment of the promise of God. So when he says that
this message was going to the people amongst whom Christ had
not been spoken of and they that had not heard but that when it
got there, they shall understand. He is speaking about the power
of the gospel that the Apostle Paul has seen. working effectually
in the lives of men and women to whom he was sent to preach
the message of the gospel of God. They shall see, they shall
understand, they shall possess that Holy Spirit illumination. They will have that work of enlightenment
and regeneration in their soul. And there's something important
about this, because I want you to notice it, The apostle is
unequivocal in this matter, as indeed is Isaiah when he writes
the prophecy. He is saying, they shall see. Again, where's free will in that?
They shall understand. There is a power at work here,
the power of the gospel to the salvation of sinners. So Isaiah,
in chapter 52, verse 15, speaks of a sprinkling. He shall sprinkle. many nations. That is, he will
sprinkle it with gospel doctrine. He will send that life-changing,
life-altering, life-giving doctrine into the nations of this world. Sprinkle it about in the nations,
sprinkling, as it were, the blood of Christ upon those individual
souls that would be brought to a knowledge of the truth for
the bringing forth of those trophies of grace, those elect sinners,
those redeemed individuals who were in that covenant purpose
of God, set aside, sanctified by Him as those upon whom His
love was settled from eternity. The commission of the Lord Jesus
Christ to His disciples was purposeful. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel.' And his servants were obedient, his ministers
were faithful. And Paul did as he was commanded
to do, as did the other disciples, and every step every step that
those men took, every turn they made in the road, every village
that they went to and passed through and came to a V in the
road and turned left or turned right according to the providential
direction of God and the timing of God brought those individual
preachers and servants of the gospel of God down through The
ages, not just the geography, not just the high roads and the
byways of this world, but down through the ages, sent that gospel
right down to your heart and to my heart. This is no accident
that we have received the gospel. This was the very purpose of
God. The timing of God was perfect
and the purpose of God was perfect because God has a chosen people,
a loved people, a redeemed people, a people redeemed by the precious
blood of Jesus Christ as he died on the cross and God will have
his people. He will have his own. Not one
of them will be lost and he sends a preacher to gather that people
in. Is that not so? Is that not what
we understand by the gospel? That is exactly what Paul said
to us in Romans chapter 10, just a few chapters before. He said in Romans chapter 10
verse 14, how then shall they call on him in whom they have
not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? This is the Gentiles he was speaking
about. These were the ones who had not
heard. These were the ones of whom Christ
had not been spoken in their midst, in their history. How shall they call on him in
whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a
preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? You see, Paul knew about this
ministry. He knew about being the servant
of God, the servant of the Gentiles, the servant of the Lord Jesus
Christ. To be sent, to be set apart and sent out for this express
purpose. As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. Where have we read that verse
before? You see, that's the whole point
about Paul's usage of Isaiah 52. He is drawing upon this passage. He is giving us, as it were,
a commentary upon this great prophetic passage in Isaiah chapter
52, because we read those very words in verses 6 and 7, or at
least a paraphrase of them. Therefore my people shall know
my name, says the Lord. Therefore they shall know in
that day that I am he that doth speak. Behold, it is I. They had never heard of the Lord
Jesus Christ before. They had never known the Lord
Jesus Christ before. But in that day, My people shall
know my name. My people, why? Because they
knew the Lord? No, because the Lord knew them.
He knew who they were, where they were, and in that day, according
to his timing, according to his purpose, he would send a preacher
of the gospel. And verse 7 says, Isaiah 52 verse
7, How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings
of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God
reigneth. Exactly the same passage that
the apostle had used in Romans chapter 10 to show and substantiate
the ministry of the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles.
So Paul's ministry had been timed according to God's purpose, and
it accomplished those things which God sent it to. And here
is the third point, and we're coming close to the end now.
But there was a promised success in this matter. There was a promised
success, because the gospel of God is God's means of gathering
his church. The history of the church is
a history of scattering and gathering again. Whether we take it right
back to the very beginning and we think about that expulsion
and separation out of the Garden of Eden because of sin, there
was a people that were sent out and away from God because of
sin, because of rebellion. Genesis 3, 24 says, So he drove
out the man, and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden
cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep
the way of the tree of life, to prevent them from coming back
into the presence of God and back to that tree of life, which
was a picture of Christ. And so there was that separation,
there was that pushing away by God of those men amongst whom
his elect would be discovered. And yet they were pushed away
by God because of their sin. And then we think perhaps, again,
another stage further on of the confusion and the scattering
that occurred at the time of Babel and that tower because
of man's pride. Genesis 11.9 says, Therefore
is the name of it called Babel, because the Lord did there confound
the language of all the earth. And from thence did the Lord
scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. And so
we see that the nations, the Gentiles, in that far-off, scattered
circumstance and condition in which they were in, in their
benightedness and in their darkness and in their imprisonment to
idolatry, the generations that never heard the Gospel had been
purposely scattered there by God. And then we might think
of the various exiles of Israel because of disobedience. And
there were multiple exiles and there were repeated exiles. And
it is the history of the Old Testament Jews to see those exiles
being enforced upon them. But what happens then? A gospel
age is ushered in by the Lord's own commission. He sends his
servants out. The Apostle Paul was one of them.
And there were others sent out to the various nations, go into
the world and preach the gospel. And that gospel was successful
in gathering in the Lord's elect from the ends of the earth. In Mark chapter 13, verse 27,
the Lord speaking about these last days, and that's not the
apocalyptic times of the end of the world and that final judgment,
but this is speaking about the angels, the messengers, the ministers
that go out preaching the gospel. Then shall he send his angels,
his messengers, and shall gather together his elect from the four
winds. from the uttermost part of the
earth to the uttermost part of heaven. Let me just make one final point
here and then we're done. This gospel that was successful,
this gospel that was sent out to reach God's elect amongst
the Gentiles, this gospel which was sent out at God's precise
timing to God's precise people. What was that gospel that the
Apostle Paul ministered? It was the power of God unto
salvation. It was the very same message
that had been foretold by the prophets, that had been preached
by the Lord Jesus Christ, that had been taken up by the apostles
and by the evangelists and by all the ministers of the truth
under the divine commission of God the Holy Spirit. It was the
message of Jesus Christ crucified for the remission of sins. For
there is no other way. There's no other way of salvation.
Only through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ can our sins
be taken away. Only by that perfect, obedient
sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ made is God's justice
against our sins satisfied. So God could declare Behold my
servant. This is what he says in Isaiah
52 verse 14. Behold my servant. Behold my
holy one, my undefiled one. This is the message that the
Apostle Paul took. This is the message that goes
out to the Gentiles. This is the message to the world. Behold my servant, my holy one,
mine undefiled. but look at him as you behold
him. Look at him and what do you see? Do you see a king dressed in
princely garments? Do you see a king upon his throne? Do you see someone who is applauded
and covered in the accolades of men? No, no, that's not how
the Lord Jesus Christ is lifted up. If I be lifted up, he says,
lifted up, how? Lifted up on the cross. And the
Bible tells us here in this passage that the Lord Jesus Christ was
marred beyond all recognition. You wouldn't even have known
that it was a man that you were looking at. by the time they
had finished with his body in that crucifixion. The 14th verse of Isaiah 52 says,
as many as were astonished. Now stonied just means astonished. So it was almost like they were
turned to stone. They were so astonished that
they were struck dumb. As many as were stonied or astonished
at thee, his visage was so marred, greater than any man, and his
form, his physique, greater than the sons of men. Let me just
draw your attention to something that is pretty obvious. Isaiah
52 gives way to Isaiah 53. And in Isaiah 53, we read, as
the continuation of Isaiah 52, he was wounded for our transgressions. What is it that astonished these
people? What was it that astonished them
when they saw the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up? What astonished
them was that he was wounded for our transgressions. He was
bruised for our iniquities. What astonished them was that
the Lord had laid on him the iniquity of us all. What astonished
them was that for the transgression of my people was he stricken. I have a simple question for
you. Does the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ astonish you?
Does it astonish you? I won't say does it turn you
to stone, but does it shut you up? Does it stop your mouth? Does it impose upon you a silence? Does it say, stop talking and
listen? Does the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ astonish you? It does, the Lord's people. It
shuts their mouths to every excuse before a holy God. It shuts them
up. to acknowledge their God in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It shuts us up to the faith of
Jesus Christ. It shuts up man and it reveals
the success of grace. The Apostle Paul said to the
Corinthians, We preach Christ crucified. Unto the Jews a stumbling
block. Unto the Greeks foolishness.
but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ,
the power of God and the wisdom of God. Wisdom unto salvation,
power unto regeneration and conversion, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one
who astonishes his people and the one who closes our mouths
in his presence. as we recognise our great Redeemer
and our great Saviour. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us and make them an encouragement to our hearts if he will be so
kind. Thank you. Now, just as we come to a conclusion,
let me read another little verse for you here. And this is from
a man called Thomas Kelly, another fine hymn writer of days gone
by. And he is speaking, he is writing
his verses from Isaiah 53. He says, stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
see him dying on the tree. Tis the Christ by man rejected. Yes, my soul, tis he, tis he. Tis the long-expected prophet,
David's son, yet David's Lord. Proofs I see sufficient of it. Tis a true and faithful word. Tell me, ye who hear him groaning,
was there ever grief like this? Friends, through fear, his cause
disowning, foes insulting his distress. Many hands were raised
to wound him, none would interpose to save, but the awful stroke
that found him was the stroke that justice gave. ye who think
of sin but lightly, nor suppose the evil great, here may view
its nature rightly, here its guilt may estimate. Mark the
sacrifice appointed, see who bears the awful load. Tis the
word, the Lord's anointed, Son of Man and Son of God. Here we have a firm foundation.
Here's the refuge of the lost. Christ's the rock of our salvation. His the name of which we boast. Lamb of God for sinners wounded. Sacrificed to cancel guilt. None shall ever be confounded. who on thee their hopes have
built. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us this evening and take glory to his name. Now the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound
in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Amen. And amen. Thank you very much.
Good to see you this evening. Thank you once again for keeping
safe and making this time of concern to so many a subject
of your prayers for one another. And we pray that the Lord will
bless you and keep you in the days to come. I'm just going
to click off now and we will end the stream. Good night.