In John's Gospel, chapter 5,
verse 39, in addressing the Jews, Pharisees, Jesus says unto them,
Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal
life, and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not
come to me that ye might have life. Search the scriptures. For in
them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which
testify of me and ye will not come to me that ye might have
life. God's gospel is a wonderful gospel. One of the themes which is seen
clearly throughout it and it's set in forth unto us the the
Son of God in his person, in his distinct person as God's
Son, one of the things that comes out from John's Gospel is its
constant emphasis on life, on eternal life, on the life which
is found in Christ and in Christ alone. And in the absolute contrast
with that life and the death which is found in natural man,
both naturally in his fallen state but also in his religion. The great contrast we see in
chapter 5 here is of that life which is found in Christ and
given to those that come to Christ and believe on Christ. And that
death which was found in the Jews and in their embracing of
the law of Moses and in their seeking life through their obedience
to the law of Moses. This people were a religious
people. They sought life, they sought
how to live. They read the scriptures, as
Christ said, for in them They thought they had eternal life.
They took the scriptures, they searched the scriptures, they
were looking for life. Yet their diligence to the scriptures,
and their diligence to the law of Moses given to them in the
scriptures, only brought forth death in them. When he who is
life came and stood before them, and demonstrated the life of
God before them, and came unto the sick and healed them, and
made the impotent to walk, and the blind to see, and the deaf
to hear, and made the dead to live, when he who is life came
before them, they who had much to say about living, and godly
living, and living before God, sought to put him to death. All their talk about how to live,
in the end, brought forth a desire to kill. It brought forth a desire to
kill. The fruit in them was death. Now what is it with you? What
do you know of the scriptures? How religious are you? How Christian
are you? How much do you know of the scriptures? the Law, the Prophets, the New
Testament, how diligent are you in how you live? For what fruit
is there in your heart? Does all your knowledge and all
your desire to live right before God ultimately bring forth a
hatred for His Son and His people and His Gospel. When it's brought
into union with the Son of God, when your knowledge, your wisdom
is confronted with the reality of Christ, when Christ truly
comes before you, does your heart seek to slay Him? Is the result
life or death? Chapter five opens with the pool
of Bethesda. A pool where an angel would go
down at a certain time and trouble the waters and any of the sick
and the impotent who were put into the waters would be healed
and there was a man there who'd sat there for 38 years and every
time the waters were troubled and healing was before him, and
life, as it were, was there before him. He could do nothing. There was nobody to pick him
up and put him in the waters. He could never be healed by it,
even though he was right there beside it, someone else would
get in before him. He was dead, and he could do
nothing to make himself alive. He was dead. Like you and I,
by nature, are dead, spiritually dead. No matter what we know,
we can't live. He knew there was a pool beside
him. He knew an angel would come down
at a certain point in time. He knew that if he could get
into the water, he would be saved. And yet he stayed there for years
and could do nothing about it. You may know that the scriptures
point to Christ. You may know that there is life
in Jesus Christ. You may know what you need to
do to be saved and you can't be saved because you're dead
and there's nothing that changes anything. When the angel comes
down beside you, when Christ comes, you've got no ability
to reach out and touch him. You need Christ to come unto
you and speak unto you and give you life because you can't take
it. How John's gospel overturns the
lie of the Arminians. How often the Arminian will tell
you that the gospel is like and their trite way of dealing with
it is like somebody placing a 10 pound note, as it were, down
on the table, but it's there and it'll just sit there until
you put forth your hand and take it. It's there, it's free, it's
given to you. God comes in the gospel and says,
here's life, just take it. And you just need to accept it.
You just need to make a decision. You need to see the money there
on the table, reach out and take it. It's a free gift, but you
need to do something. How often have I heard these
people say that in that exact phrasing? There it is, it's a
free gift. God's done all he can. He's brought
you the gift of life. You just reach out and take it.
Well, if that was the case, then this man at the pool would never
have been saved. There was the pool. The angel
came down. He troubled the pool. He'd have
been healed of all his troubles if he'd been able to get into
the pool. If he'd just reached out and took it, he'd have been
saved. But he never could because he
was dead. John in his gospel proves the
lie of this religion of man. life must be brought that man
lay there for 38 years until Christ came to him at the pool
and spake living words unto him rise take up thy bed and walk
until that day he lay there but when Christ spake immediately
the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked And on
the same day was the Sabbath. The Jews, therefore, said unto
him that was cured, It is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful
for thee to carry thy bed. And when they heard from him
who had healed him, they did seek to persecute Jesus. and
sought to slay him because he had done these things on the
Sabbath day. So here we see, in the beginning
of the chapter, Christ coming to one who was a figure of one
who was dead. He was impotent, he couldn't
move. And he healed him. He comes bringing life to those
who are dead. and that life is conveyed by
his speech. He's but to come unto you and
to I, and to say unto you, rise, take up thy bed and walk, and
you will walk, who once never walked. You never walked before
God. You never walked in His ways.
You never walked towards God. You always walked your own way.
You always went another way. You were dead. You love sin. You've always loved sin. You've
been born loving sin. You love self. You're born loving
self. You do all things for your own
glory and your own end. We fill our own desires. We fill
our own cup. We go our own way and we never
walk before God. until Christ comes our way and
says unto us who are dead, rise, take up thy bed and walk. Walk before me, live. But Christ did this on the Sabbath
day. And the Jews who had the scriptures
and considered themselves the custodians of the law and the
Sabbath, who sought to walk before God as they fought, who sought
to do all that God had commanded, who thought that they of all
people were the ones who were living, when they heard of this
being done on the Sabbath day, sought to slay the one who brought
life, sought to put to death this man Jesus, who brought life
to the dead, sought to stone him, to slay him. And ultimately,
in the end, they crucified him. And we see their interaction
with him. And we hear his words unto this
people. Verse 24, verily, verily, Jesus
says, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believe
if on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not
come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For
as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself. The hour is coming and now is
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. Well
that impotent man heard the voice of Jesus saying unto him, take
up thy bed and walk. And he was a figure of a man
who is dead. A figure of you and I. A figure
of those who are dead in trespasses and sins. Who are blind to the
truth. Rebels against God. Hating God. Who know nothing of God. Nothing
of Christ. And nothing of everlasting life. We're dead. And Christ comes
unto the dead. He declares unto the Jews, He
declares unto you, that the hour is coming and now is, when the
dead, the dead like you and I, shall hear the voice of the Son
of God and they that hear shall live. We need to hear that voice. And unless we hear that voice,
dead we shall remain. We may be by the pool. You may
be in the meeting. you may hear the gospel preached
you may have a bible you may have read that bible you may
have done many things and said many things but being by the
pool as it were Or being as the Jews were, with the Law of Moses
in their hands, with the Scriptures in their hands, in the Temple,
in Jerusalem, by the pool, doesn't save you. You may have the Scriptures,
you may read the Scriptures, you may know the Scriptures,
But that's no better than that man sat by the pool. He knew
what to do, he knew where there was life, he knew all about these
things and he couldn't do anything. You have the scriptures, you
have the testimony, but you won't, you can't come unto Christ. Search the scriptures, Christ
says. For in them ye think ye have
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. And ye will
not come to me that ye might have life. You will not come to me that
ye might have life. Oh, what a chapter this is. Life
and death. begins with a man, a picture
of a man who spiritually is dead. Physically he cannot move, he
cannot walk. It's a picture of you and I,
a dead man. And here comes the man Christ
Jesus, the Son of God, in whom is eternal life and he speaks
and the man as it were lives. And what he receives as a result
of his speech is the hatred of the Jews. who sought to slay Christ. So he says unto them, search
the scriptures. You've got the scriptures. You
think in the scriptures that ye have eternal life. You think
that this is the word of God, the living word of God. This
is God breathed. You think that by reading the
scriptures you have life. Then search them. They testify
of me. they point you to me if you read
those scriptures everything you're reading in them concerns me you
want to put me to death your heart puts me to death you're
offended at things i say offended at things i do i've come into
your midst i've come to a man who is as it were dead i've healed
him even though for 38 years he was sat by a pool where he
could be healed, he couldn't do anything, I've come unto him,
I've healed him, and because I did it on the Sabbath day,
you seek to slay me. And yet the Scriptures that you
uphold, the Scriptures which you read, the Scriptures which
you declare unto others, the Scriptures which you proudly
grasp, which shape you, which make you, which make you Jews.
The Scriptures you have, they testify of me. Ye think in them
ye have eternal life? Well, I'm the life, and they
speak of me, and yet for all your reading, and for all your
knowledge, and for all your speaking of them, you won't come unto
me, that you might have life. What contrast there are in this
chapter, life and death. And yet a chapter in which the
Jews themselves sought to slay him who brings life, who is life. The only one that is life and
the only one that can give life, for all their understanding from
the scriptures about life, they sought to put the life to death. Is that where your understanding's
got you? You want to know how to live.
So you search the scriptures. You look into the scriptures
for instruction on how to live. You say, I'm a believer, I've
read about Christ and I know he's this and that, but I need
to know how to live. So you read the scriptures for
instruction on how to live. But how to live is not found
in the scriptures. Life itself is not found in the
scriptures. The scriptures testify of Christ. They say, lo, here, is life behold
the son of god behold the lamb of god here is life but there's
no life in the scriptures the life is not found in them it's
found in him who is life they point you to him search the scriptures
for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they
which testify of me yes they do God spake them. God wrote them. God moved men
to write these things down as a testimony of who God is and
who his son is. God gave us the scriptures to
testify of Christ. But they are not the life. They speak of him. Ye will not
come to me that ye might have life. they aren't the end in
themselves and what they instruct is not there for you to take
and to follow and to walk in and try to live up to as though
your obedience to anything you find in the scriptures is living You are dead. The Jews were dead. These Jews that sought to kill
Christ, these Jews had the scriptures. They had the law of Moses. They
were very diligent in their obedience to the law. They were very diligent
in their obedience to all things in all the scriptures. To the
whole law of God, the whole testimony of God, the whole word of God. Whether it were those 10 commandments
at Sinai or the various instructions in the law given by Moses at
Sinai or anything else. Whether it was the circumcision
commanded of Abraham, all the scriptures, all the word of God
they took, they understood and they diligently sought to walk
in. They were very obedient. But
they never came under Christ. because that instruction that
they were very obedient in was not given to them as that which
if they obeyed should truly bring them life. It was given to them
to show them that in obeying, in walking in those things, they
would find themselves to be disobedient. In seeking to obey all that the
law of God commanded, if they understood, if they had any comprehension,
they would realize that they failed every day. No matter how
good the outward appearance might be, no matter how righteous they
might appear before all others, no matter how diligent they might
be in all their observance of all the outward commandments,
they should have known that their hearts were still full of filthy
and wicked and sinful thoughts that their hearts were still
full of hatred hatred for others and hatred for God in the end
if they knew anything from the scriptures and anything from
the law that they sought to live they should have understood and
been taught and come to see that they were full of sin and under
its condemnation that all thereout would obedience no matter how
good was nothing. Now the Apostle Paul saw who
was one of these Jews. He may have even been there on
the day that Christ spake on this day. He was a Jew like these
Jews. He lived like they did and he
sought to put the followers of Christ to death like they did. He, one day, when the Gospel
came, and when Christ came, and spake unto him, and gave him
life, when he was delivered from the captivity of the blindness
of his own heart in religion, when he came to see Christ, and
to hear Christ, and to know Christ, when he lived, he then said,
of all his obedience to the law, of all his keeping of the Scriptures,
of all his walking in the Word of God, in the teachings of the
Scriptures, in the instruction, in the law, of all his religion,
which was better than anyone's. He would say of it that he counted
it, but dung, it was a hindrance to him knowing Christ. It was
a hindrance to him living. It brought him under condemnation
and it put a spirit in his heart which when faced with Christ
and his people wanted to kill. And if your religion and your
understanding sets you against the children of God then you
have a questionable understanding and religion. if it sets you
against the children of God, if it causes you to argue and
contend and bring death upon those who have life, then
you walk in the same spirit that these Jews walked in, the same
spirit that Saul once walked in. There's no life in your words
but death. These instructions in the Bible,
the law of God, even the exhortations in the epistles, all the instructions
are not an end in themselves. They're not simply there for
you to take them up and try to conform and try to order your
life and think that in so doing you have somehow honoured God.
The instruction is given two main reasons one to show your
inability to follow and walk in any right way and hence to
lock you up to Christ and Christ alone, hence to bring you in
before God as a dead, as an impotent man. You may be by the pool,
you may have the scriptures, you may have been sat by where
the Gospels preached, you may be by the pool, you may be by
the pool today. Here you are today. hearing the
gospel, hearing the word of God, hearing of Christ and his life,
you're by the pool, but you can't move. And that's what these instructions
are given to you. The word of God comes unto you
to tell you, you can't move. You're dead. You need a savior. You need Christ to come unto
you and speak to you, and to say unto you, take up thy bed
and walk. You need the Son of God to come
unto you who is dead, you who is in the grave, and speak that
you shall live. marvel not at this for the hour
is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his
voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the
resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the
resurrection of damnation The hour is coming and now is when
the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. The scriptures,
the instruction, the law is given to lock you up as a dead man,
impotent by the pool, waiting for Christ the Saviour to come
your way and speak life unto your soul. And secondly, the
instructions in the scriptures, particularly in the epistles
and in the New Testament, the exhortations we read there, are
not given as some sort of teaching for how to live the Christian
life because this is the right way to live. So many, when they
come to hear the gospel, when they believed on Christ, come
to these things and think, well, how must I live as a believer? And they take the instructions
they read in the scriptures, they go back to the law and take
what's written there, they go to the epistles and they read
all of the instructions in the epistles and they try to live
accordingly as though that's the end in itself. As though,
well I should live like this, this is righteous. If I don't
then I'm sinning and if I do this then I'm walking rightly.
So they try to take James' instructions, they try to bridle their tongue,
or they try to rejoice every day, or they try to pray every
day, or they try to do this and try to do that and try to do
that. All of which are exhorted and all of which we should do,
but not because that produces an end in itself. Not because
if you walk accordingly, you're right. but principally to get
you out of the way of the gospel that the gospel and the life
and the speech of Jesus Christ might go forth clearly and unhindered
it's to keep you out of the way it's to take your glory in itself
out of the way it's to take your confusion in the churches out
the way. It's to ensure that the gospel
amongst the saints gathered can be preached clearly and boldly
and their failings and their interruptions and their arguing
and their contention doesn't hinder it. Paul exhorts constantly
many things to make sure the gospel goes forth boldly because
only the gospel brings life. This is why in Galatians he says,
you who've heard, you who've begun in the spirit are you now
made perfect in the flesh? You began with the hearing of
faith, are you now going to turn to walking and to doing? It continues
the same way. You began by hearing Christ's
voice. And you continue by hearing Christ's
voice. You began by hearing his voice
through the Spirit of God. And you continue by hearing his
voice through the Spirit of God. And that voice must be heard.
And you must not get in its way. Because only when you're out
the way will the life be sounded. Don't grieve the Spirit by your
vain attempt to walk righteously, obediently. Fool in yourself
that you're serving God when really you're just bringing glory
unto yourself. Fool in yourself that you're
walking the Christian life when really you're just trying to
reform yourself before others that you have something in which
the glory. When every day you should be sat as a beggar on
a dunghill, knowing you're nothing. When every day you should be
sat, as it were, by the pool, impotent, listening for the voice
that says, rise, take up thy bed and walk. You can only rise
when you hear that voice. You can only walk when you hear
that voice. You must be where that voice is. The disciples
walked with Christ. This man wandered off. Many were
offended at Christ's words. Christ said, after many left
him unto his disciples, will you also go away? And Peter confessed,
to whom else shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. When Christ speaks, we live. If we go off on our own,
we die. If we turn aside for a moment,
we die. We must be where He is. We must
be wherever He is. We must hear His voice and we
will hear His voice in the Gospel. These exhortations are to keep
us out of the way. That's the purpose of them. Not
as an exhortation of how to live as though this is how you live
the Christian life. The message of how you live the
Christian life is clear. Keep close to Christ and hear
his voice each and every day. Walk with him, commune with him.
Turn not to self. Turn not to the law. Turn not
to your own obedience and your own effort. Listen to him. But these Jews wouldn't. They
had the Scriptures. They fought in the Scriptures.
They had instruction in life. They fought in them. They had
eternal life. And they testified of Christ.
And when Christ came, they sought to slay Him. They would not come
to Him that they might have life. You won't come unto Christ. Oh,
you may be sat by the pool. You may have the Scriptures.
But the reason you're dead still is that you won't come unto Christ.
You haven't heard His voice. You see, people stop short. Even
when they claim to have come to Christ, they go back to searching
the Scriptures, for in them they think they have life. They think
if they read the Scriptures, if they read them from cover
to cover, if they follow the instructions, they think there's
life in them. They think they have instruction
in life, a rule of life, a way of life. But every reference
to the scripture, in that sense, is simply meaning that those
scriptures lead to Christ. They testify of Christ. Yes,
God's given us the scriptures. Yes, He says, read them. But
read them to see Christ in them. And when you see Him, May God
lead you to Him that you may hear Him. There's no life in
the letter. There's no life in the instruction
itself. There's no life in the bare words. There's no life in the knowledge
or the wisdom that you can assimilate from these things. There is no
life. In the scriptures alone, the
scriptures testify of Christ, but He is life. In them ye think
ye have eternal life. Well, eternal life is not in
the scriptures. They speak of Christ, but you
must have Christ. You must come to Him that you
might have life. All the scriptures speak of Christ. All the epistles speak of Christ. All the purpose of the epistles
is to lead us and to keep us with Christ. All the exhortations
are to keep man out of the way, to keep you out of the way, to
keep yourself out of the way, to keep your pride out of the
way, so that Christ and the life is all. But how wrapped up we
are in ourselves in what we do, what we should do, what we think,
what we see, what we feel. We're so concerned with ourselves. We treat the scriptures as a
book to inform, to instruct, to teach and to guide us in what
we do, rather than taking them to learn of Jesus Christ. We think of self. Not of him. The Jews had the scriptures,
they never saw him. And when he came, they didn't
receive him. You have the scriptures. Can
you see him? Do they point you to him? Has
God taken them, and as it were, switched the light on? So that
in them, you see him. Can you see him? And when he
comes unto you, do you receive him? Oh, how blessed in many
ways these Jews were. Christ didn't leave them to themselves.
He came to them. He came to Jerusalem. He came
to where they were. And they rejected him. They sought to slay him. Oh,
how terrible If God sends you the Gospel, if God sends Christ
unto you in the Gospel, and rather than that Gospel proving to be
life unto life to you, it comes unto you as death unto death.
Oh, how terrible to hear the Gospel plainly stated, and in
your heart, to put Christ to death. You will not come to me
that you might have love. What are you looking for? What
are you looking for? When you read the scriptures,
what are you looking for? Are you looking for instruction
on how to live? Or are you looking for the life
itself? Are you looking for the life
itself? Are you looking for some answers
to tell you what to do? To tell you what to do in this
circumstance or that circumstance? Are you looking for some answers
to questions? What do I do with this? What
do I do with that? Or are you simply looking for
life? If you have Christ, if you're
with Christ, if you know Christ, if you hear His voice, you'll
have no more questions. You need no more questions. Like a child with its father,
he will take you in his hand and lead you along. You don't
need to know the way. You don't need to know where
you're going. You don't need to know how you'll
get there. He'll take you. He'll lead you. He's got the strength. He's got
the answers. But so many of us come to the
scriptures and come to religion wanting to know where to go and
what to take. and how to go about it, and what
to do in this circumstance and that circumstance. We never come
to Christ, we get the Scriptures, we think we will have life from
them, but it's all in our effort and our strength. We don't come
unto Him as little children. who are dependent, who have no
wisdom, who have no knowledge, who have no strength, but who
simply trust and believe and follow. Those that put their
hand into His hand and walk with Him. He comes unto them, He speaks
unto them kindly and they follow and they have their hand in His
and He leads them. Children of God are called children
of God for a reason. their children, they're born
and they walk with their father and their saviour. Romans 10. We read of the zeal of the Jews.
Paul says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for
Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record
that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Now this is the
great point here in this passage. They had a zeal. They had a zeal
for the things of God. They had a zeal for religion.
They had a zeal for the scriptures. You might have a zeal. You might
not want to know how to live. You might be very zealous and
very diligent about living. But they were ignorant of God's
righteousness. And went about seeking to establish
their own. They went about trying to live.
rather than coming to Him who is life. Their ignorance of God's
righteousness meant they were ignorant of God, ignorant of
Christ, ignorant of He who was presented to them as the righteousness
of God in the Gospel. Christ came unto them. The righteousness
of God was manifested unto them. and in his death he brought forth
that righteousness for his people and made it to be theirs. These
people were ignorant of him. They didn't know him, they didn't
receive him, they didn't see him. Instead with the instructions
in the scriptures they went about trying to conform themselves
and never saw the death in both themselves and their religion
and their understanding. That's what they did And that's
what we by nature do. We take the scriptures and with
them we go about to establish our own righteousness. They knew
how to live and they tried to live like it. But they were dead. And we may know how to live. And we may try to live like it. But the dead can't live and the
dead never come unto Christ. We never come unto Christ by
faith because we don't have faith. We're dead. The dead need to
hear. The dead need faith. Verily,
verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the
dead, like you and I, shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall live. We always think of climbing up
under heaven, or descending down into the deep to fight those
things that are beneath, or to bring up Christ again from the
dead. Paul in this chapter contrasts
the righteousness of the law, which is illustrated by going
up to heaven by your own effort, or down to the deeps by your
own effort. But never, as the righteousness of faith declares,
simply looking unto Christ, hearing His voice and believing. We never submit unto the righteousness
of God. Going about to establish their
own righteousness, they have not submitted unto the righteousness
of God. What is it to submit unto the
righteousness of God? It is not to submit unto the
law. They were zealous for the law. This wasn't a people who didn't
keep the law. They were zealous for the law.
They were zealous for the righteousness of the law. But they did not
submit unto the righteousness of God. It's not to submit unto
the law, not to submit unto a rule of righteousness for men, for
men to strive to keep. No, to submit unto the righteousness
of God is to lay aside all our efforts, all our works, all our
striving to conform and to follow the law. All our striving to
conform and to follow to anything we find in the scriptures which
we can strive to keep and to conform to by our own efforts. To submit unto the righteousness
of God is to look to the righteousness of God where God manifested it. And as Paul tells us in Romans
3, the righteousness of God was manifested, is manifested without
the law. in the Gospel, by the faith of
the Son of God, in his death. God manifested his righteousness
at the cross, in Christ, in his death. to submit to the righteousness
of God is to cease from self and all your working and all
your legal conformity and to look to the body and the blood
of Christ slain in your place dying for the dead that the dead
might live dying for the dead that the dead might live In verse
20 of Romans 10 here, towards the end, Paul quotes Isaiah saying,
but Isaiah is very bold and saith, I was found of them that sought
me not. I was made manifest unto them
that asked not after me. I was made manifest. I was seen. I was manifested. There was a people who never
sought me who were dead. They went about seeking their
own righteousness. They were dead. They never sought
me but I was manifest. I became plain. I was set clearly
before them. I was manifest. How often do
we read that word? Romans 3.21, but now the righteousness
of God, without the law, is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe. It was
manifested. Has Christ come unto you, O dead
sinner, sat by the pool, maybe, And has he manifest himself and
his righteousness unto you? Has he? Has he opened your eyes? Has he revealed himself? Has
he spoken? Has he made things plain? Or
are your eyes still shut? Are you still in darkness? Has
he manifest himself? Has he made it plain? In 2 Timothy
chapter 1 and verse 9, Paul says, of the power of God, of God that
he have saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is
now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who have abolished death and have brought life and immortality
to light through the Gospel. whereunto I am appointed a preacher
and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. This salvation,
this grace, this righteousness, this saviour is made manifest
made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ who's
abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel. It all happened at the cross
when he died and took away sin and took away the sins of his
people and rose again and made them to live when those sins
were judged according to the righteousness of God and that
righteousness became theirs. He brought life and immortality
to light. Oh has he brought it to light
to you. Has he come with his gospel to you who were dead and
said unto you live, live. Paul ends his letter to the Romans. in which he manifests this righteousness,
this life in contrast to the dead religion of the Jews and
the law and he says unto them, as he says unto all the children
of God today now to him that is of power to establish you
according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according
to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the
world began but now is made manifest and by the scriptures of the
prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made
known to all nations for the obedience of faith, to God only
wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen. Has He come unto you? Has He
revealed the mystery to you? Has He made manifest Christ and
His salvation to you? Has He said unto you who were
once dead, live, take up thy bed and walk?