Okay, turn with me to the Book
of Acts and the 13th chapter, continuing our look through the
Book of Acts. We're not stopping everywhere,
we're not saying everything that could possibly be said, but we're
stopping at some of the pinnacles, or at least as they seem to me
on this trip through the Book of Acts. And we come to Acts
chapter 13, to the start of what's known as Paul's first missionary
journey. Saul of Tarsus, who more or less
from now on became known as Paul, and from thenceforward was known
as Paul the Apostle. And he's in the church in Antioch,
in the northeast of the Mediterranean, in Syria, where we saw him last
week, and he's with Barnabas. Barnabas has gone and got him,
and they're teaching. For a whole year they're teaching,
and there's great spiritual prosperity in this church in Antioch and
remember it was all resulting from persecution and in the place
that was named after the most evil persecutor of the people
of God in the time before Christ Antiochus Epiphanes in the place
that was named after him there the church prospered the gospel
prospered and from that church at the start of Acts chapter
13 the Holy Spirit tells the church separate unto me Paul
and Saul and Barnabas, for the work that I've prepared for them.
Separate them, that they might go and take the Gospel. For the
Gospel was to be taken. The Gospel was commissioned to
be taken. Go into all the world and preach
the Gospel. And so they went, and they took
with them a young man, John Mark, who was the nephew of Barnabas,
and John Mark is the same Mark that wrote Mark's Gospel in the
New Testament. And he's the subject of some
controversy as we go on, but the three of them set off from
Antioch, and they sailed. I don't know what sort of arrangements
they made. I'm sure if we were doing a similar
journey today, we'd have booked everything up in advance. We'd
be absolutely sure who was picking us up from the port and where
we were going to stay, and we'd packed our trunks, and we'd made
sure that we had our mosquito cream with us, and you name it.
All these other things. Fussed and fussed and fussed,
no doubt we would have done. But they went. They knew that
God would take care of them. They went. They took the advice
of Christ and they went on this journey, knowing not where they
were going, but where they would be led, taking the gospel of
God's grace. And they sailed to Cyprus, which
is close by. It's a big island in the Mediterranean,
close by to where Antioch was. And you read at the start of
chapter 13 how they went right through the whole of the island
of Cyprus, preaching and various events, and it's all summarised
in very few verses actually, down to about verse 13. And in verse 13, they get to
Paphos, which you can go to today, in the west of the island of
Cyprus. And they sailed from Paphos,
they loosed from Paphos, and they came to Perga in Pamphylia,
which is in the south of Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast in
the south of Turkey. That's where they came to. And
at that point, John Mark, this young man, decided he'd had enough
or we don't really know what happened, but he left them and
he went back home to Jerusalem. And that was the cause of some
division later on. Paul was unwilling to take him
again on a later missionary journey. But that's all we read at this
stage of this young man who was greatly used later on. And in
one of his epistles, Paul says specifically, send Mark to me
for he is useful to me for the ministry." There was reconciliation
later on. Anyway, Paul and Barnabas then
left Perga and they travelled inland into just about the middle
of Turkey to another place called Antioch. There must have been
several places, you know you can go around parts of the United
States, you'll find ashlands in virtually every state in the
United States, all over the place. In this country there are many
places that have the same name. There are many rivers that have
the same name. In the same way they came to another Antioch,
right in the middle of Turkey. This was Antioch in Pisidia. And of course they got there
and what did they do? They were looking for opportunities to
preach the gospel, to proclaim salvation from sins, reconciliation
with an offended God. And they went to the synagogue
looking for opportunities because it's likely to be a place where
people who are interested in the things of God are going to
be gathering. And so they went to the synagogue not out of some
legal obedience to worship God on the Jewish Sabbath day, they'd
moved on from that. No, they went there looking for
opportunities to proclaim salvation. And why? Why did they want to
go and preach, proclaim salvation? Because as Paul wrote later in
1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 21 to 24, for after that in the
wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. Oh, how the world
thinks! I heard somebody on the radio
this morning talking about these bus advertisements, you know,
that there is probably no God. There's 800 of them apparently,
driving around the country now. 200 of them in London. Big advertisement
along the side, there is probably no God, so stop worrying and
have a good time, enjoy yourself. That's basically what the advertisement
says. And I was listening to a little news item on it, and
somebody said, well there's no scientific evidence for God.
God doesn't reveal himself by scientific evidence. God reveals
himself by revelation of his Holy Spirit. Everything in science
confirms that there is a God. But it's not by science, it's
by faith that we understand the things of God. And so, by the
world's wisdom, it does not know God. By the wisdom of the world,
people cannot get to know God. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching, by a message declared, a message of salvation, to save
them that believe. That's what the Scripture says.
It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that
believe. And so that's what we seek to
do, is to proclaim the gospel of God's grace. You see, the
Jews, the religious folks, require a sign. The Greeks seek after
wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. That's our message. This is what Paul said. We preach
a substitute who is God, the eternal God who came and was
crucified to establish justice, to pay the sin debt for His people.
That's what we proclaim. If you want to be right with
God, then it is only through this one. There is none other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
It is this name of the Lord Jesus Christ The Christ who came and
was crucified for the sins of his people that we might be reconciled
to God. And to the religious folks, it's
a stumbling block. I'm not going to be right with
God on the basis of that. I'm good enough in and of myself.
And to the Greeks, the rest of the world, it's foolishness.
Don't talk to me about such nonsense. You're talking silly things,
superstition. Don't talk to me about those
things. Foolishness. But unto them which are called, and God
calls out his people in every age from all nations both Jews
and Greeks Christ this preaching of Christ crucified is the power
of God and it's the wisdom of God for in him dwell all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge and so they come to Antioch in
Pisidia, they go to the synagogue, they sit down, as is the custom,
the law is read. Some say, I don't know how they
say it, that the law and the prophets that they read, the
law would be the first chapter of Deuteronomy at this particular
time, the prophets would be the first chapter of Isaiah. I don't
know how they know that, but anyway, some commentators say
that they think that's what was read in the synagogue at this
time. And you see in verse 15, The
elders, the rulers of the synagogue passed a message to them saying,
you men and brethren, you visitors here, if you've got any word
of exhortation for the people, say on. You know, it sounds as
if it was a little bit like the sort of the Plymouth Brethren
kind of meeting where everybody sits around and some scriptures
read and then they wait for somebody to speak. If you want to have
a go, then the floor's yours, you can have a go. Well, Paul
took his opportunity. Paul stood up. and beckoning
with his hand said men of Israel and ye that fear God give audience
there were Jews there it was throughout the Mediterranean
world there were Jews Jews had spread throughout the Mediterranean
world and wherever they spread they had their synagogues. And
so there were these men of Israel, Jews, but there were also ye
that fear God, proselytes, non-Jews, who had abandoned their paganistic,
idolatrous religion because they'd seen that in the Jews' religion
there was something about the salvation that their souls desperately
needed. They wanted to be right with
God. You know, people came from all over. The Queen of Sheba
came from the south. to visit Solomon because she
knew there that Ethiopian eunuch travelled there the one who Philip
came to as we saw earlier in the book of Acts they came because
they knew there was something that they needed and so he addresses
himself to them ye men of Israel and ye that fear God and he proceeds
in the next few verses down to verse 25 to give a summary, a
potted history we don't have all of his words recorded here
He must have said much more than this. He was given the floor
for some time, so he must have said more than this. But he gave
a potted history of Israel. He gave a description of God's
sovereign dealings with the Jews, with the Israelites. He said
in verse 17, the God of this people Israel chose our fathers. You see, he's quite clear. It
wasn't that this people, Israel, have always been religious people
and we follow in the traditions of our good fathers who were
religious people. No. No. No. They were idolaters. Abraham was an idolater. Abraham
was. All of his household were idolaters.
We read that elsewhere in the scriptures. God chose them. God came. God said, come out
from them. God chose our fathers and gave
them the message of truth. And in this context, In this
context of the history of Israel, Paul sets Jesus as the Saviour. Verse 23, "...of this man's seed
hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour,
Jesus." It's in the context of the history of Israel. Because
what he does, is he points to a sequence of Saviours, with
a little s, for their times. Now, we might, in this country,
consider Winston Churchill to be a saviour for the time. You
know, cometh the hour, cometh the man, so the expression goes.
And many would say, in terms of history, that for that hour
of 1939 to 1945, Winston Churchill was the man for the hour, and
he came. And this history of Israel is
that God provided saviours with a little s, all the way down
their history. to help them in difficult circumstances,
to dig them out of problems. They weren't necessarily or generally
military people in armor. Not necessarily military people
in armor. Moses led the children of Israel
out of Egypt. How did he go to see Pharaoh?
Not with armor, not with swords, not with military might, as a
shepherd with a staff in his hand. That's how Moses went to
challenge the greatest, most powerful man on earth to say,
let my people go, as a shepherd with a staff in his hand. When
they came into the promised land and they came to the city of
Jericho, it wasn't with battering rams and catapults and all of
the latest technology of the day of military might, but it
was with priests, with trumpets. That's what brought the walls
of Jericho down. Some priests marching round Jericho with trumpets
brought the walls of Jericho down. When it came to Goliath
defying the people of God and threatening to crush them and
destroy them so that there was no remnant left in the earth.
How did God respond to that? David, a young shepherd boy with
no armour, with no sword in his hand, just with a sling and five
smooth stones and the giant was slain. And so he goes on and
he says from this man, David, a man after his own heart, a
man on whom God put his spirit and though he was still flesh
and he committed awful sin which the Scriptures do not hide, yet
this was a man after his own heart in the way in which he
led the kingdom and established the kingdom and he said after
this man's line, after this man's seed, this man David, God has
according to his promise, because he's promised it in all the Scriptures,
raised unto Israel a Saviour and he is Jesus. This one is
Jesus, the Saviour of Israel. Now, specifically Israel, that
people, but there were these proselytes as well. And it's
not restrictive because as Paul says later on in Galatians chapter
6 and verse 16, he talks about all the Israel of God, the chosen
ones of God, the people of God. These are the people that the
Father gave to the Son from before the beginning of time. He's raised
for them a Saviour, who is Jesus. Jesus means Saviour, One who
saves. Now, you may say, you know, the
people to whom we're giving leaflets in Nethworth may say, well, you're
talking about a Saviour. Who needs a Saviour? You know,
if you're sat, like we were sat yesterday evening, relaxing in
our living room, watching a bit of television, and the doorbell
rings, and I get up and I go to the door, and I open the door,
And somebody says, we've come to save you! I'd go, well, I
don't need saving, I'm quite comfortable. From what? What
have you come to save me from? I'm sitting comfortably, I'm
warm in my house, I'm quite relaxed and happy. Why are you coming
telling me you've come to save me? You see, I need a reason.
Why do I need to be saved? Who needs a saviour? He's raised
a saviour to Israel, Jesus. Who needs a saviour? Here's who
needs a saviour. All who must die, all who must
die with a sinful nature and answer to God who is holy and
just. That's who needs a saviour. Funerals
are happening all the time. We went to one the other day.
False words of comfort were spoken. Great, great words of, you know
the sort of format, great words of comfort. Peace, peace, say
the false shepherds. Peace, peace when there is no
peace. There is no peace. For God is angry with the wicked
every day. And who is wicked? All have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God. By nature, every single
one of us. And there's this dilemma that
I keep referring to in Job chapter 9 and verse 2. How can a man
be just with God? earliest words ever written,
recorded in Scripture. This is the dilemma. How can
a man be just with God? I know I am mortal. I know I
must die. I have this sense of immortality
in my soul. But what happens after death?
What must I do to be saved? Who must I face? What's he going
to say to me? And in verse 40, towards the end of what Paul
was saying, beware therefore lest that come upon you which
is spoken of in the prophets beware the scriptures speak beware
of judgment to come behold ye despises and wonder and perish
for I work a work in your days a work which ye shall in no wise
believe though a man declare it to you There's warnings. There's a warning of judgment
to come. There's a warning of justice,
for God is a God of justice, and His justice must be established.
There's a warning of accountability, for it is appointed to man to
die once, and then the judgment. It is a warning of responsibility
for we are responsible. Oh, I can't help it. This is
the way you made me. We'll not stand up in the court
of divine justice. We're responsible. And it is
a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
As the writer to the Hebrews, I think it was actually Paul,
but in chapter 2 and verse 3, he says this, How shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation? Who needs a saviour? We all need
a Saviour. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? And this Saviour is announced,
a Saviour who is Jesus. There's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, said Peter
to that crowd, Acts 4 and chapter 12. And this salvation is announced,
look at it, verse 26. Men and brethren, children of
the stock of Abraham, And whosoever among you feareth God, not just
Jews, but all of you, proselytes as well, to you is the word of
this salvation sent. He said to all gathered there
in that synagogue, to you, I am declaring to you a Savior who
is Jesus, and to you is the word of this salvation sent. It's
an echo of what the angel announced to the shepherds. To you, glad
tidings of great joy, for unto you is born this day in the city
of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And now, here
in this synagogue, to you is this word of salvation sent. A Saviour is announced because
we need a Saviour. And secondly, a salvation is
accomplished. Salvation is accomplished. How
was salvation accomplished? You see, if you realise, going
back to the analogy of sitting comfortably in your home, and
somebody comes to you and says, I've come to save you, and we
said, why? And they said, well, because
there's been an enormous great gas leak just a hundred yards
down the road from you, and they're frightened. Do you know something?
Being literally true, I wouldn't be surprised one of these days,
they've been digging up the pavements near us, And every time we walk
over the bits that they've dug up, there's a tremendous smell
of gas. So one of these days, who knows? But if they'd said,
if the bloke had said, there's been this dreadful gas leak just
down the road and we're frightened it's going to go any minute now.
And if it does, it will take your house and every other house
in the area down with it. We'd say, oh, you're right. Yes.
And you just grab your coat and straight out into the transport
and away. to get away from that situation till it was declared
safe. You would go and there you would say, well, I know why
I need a Saviour and I know how salvation is accomplished. He
takes me away from the danger. Well, how does Christ save His
people from their sins? How is it accomplished? It's
done because He stood surety for His people. He has a people
for whom He stood surety. Look at verse 34. You see, what
Paul does is he talks about John the Baptist coming and saying,
this is he's, not me. The last of the prophets comes
and says, here is Jesus, a savior. And he declares to them what
has happened. That this holy, innocent one was taken and falsely
accused and crucified and laid in a sepulcher. Things that were
totally unjust were done to him, but they were done as Peter put
it in that Pentecostal sermon the people had wickedly and knowingly
and responsibly taken an innocent victim and cruelly crucified
him and for that they were personally and directly responsible but
it was all in the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God and he says he was he was taken and crucified and although
they put him in a tomb he didn't stay there verse 30 But God raised
him from the dead. He preached the resurrection.
God raised him from the dead. And he was seen and it was proven
that he was raised from the dead. What did he done? In that act
of being crucified and rising from the dead, He had saved His
people from their sins for He had taken responsibility for
those sins. The justice of God had fallen
upon Him for those sins. He was justly condemned to death
because in that time when He was loaded with the sins of His
people, He was responsible for those sins. He bore them in His
own body on the cross and He paid the penalty for them. And
as we'll see as we look at Psalm 22 later today, he bore that
and he bore the desertion of his father as he paid the penalty
for the sins of his people. And that penalty paid and that
work finished, God raised him from the dead and he was seen
many days. It was all so that he might have
the sure mercies of David. This promise given, the sure
mercies of David, we read about it in Isaiah 55. Just turn over
to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 and verse 3. This is
the chapter that says, Ho everyone that thirsteth. Come ye to the
waters. He that hath no money, come,
buy. And then in verse 3, Incline your ear and come unto me, here
and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David. And he goes on, verse
5, Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations
that knew thee not shall run unto thee, because of the Lord
thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified
thee. This is talking about Christ
saving his people from their sins. We read In Psalm 2, earlier
on, at the start of the service, Psalm 2 and verse 8, we read
this, where the father says to the son, ask of me, the father
says to Christ, ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen
for thine inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth
for thy possession. God has a people of every tribe
and kindred and tongue and he's given them to Christ from before
the foundation of the world and Christ came and lived in their
place, and died in their place, and was raised from the dead,
and His sacrifice on their behalf has accomplished their eternal
salvation. They're all whom the Father gave
to the Son from before the beginning of time. John 17, verse 2. You
know it. This is the will of the Father,
that of all that the Father gave to Him, He should give eternal
life unto each and every one of them. Ephesians 1, verse 3.
Just as God chose us in Christ from before the beginning of
time, to Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9, talks again about the
mercy and grace of God being given to a specific people in
Christ before the beginning of time. It's a multitude which
is innumerable as far as we're concerned. It's from all nations
without distinction. No difference in terms of racial
separation. Those are the people of God,
a multitude which no man can number, and Jesus, the Savior,
represented that multitude. He is one flesh with them. Just as a man and wife are declared
to be one flesh, so is Christ with His people, one flesh. His
people lived in Him and perfectly obeyed God's law and accounted
righteous in Him. His people died in Him that their
sin debt might be paid. When He died, I died if I'm in
Christ and you died if you're in Christ. His people, when He
rose from the dead, rose to newness of life in Him. We obeyed the
law in Him. We paid our sin debt in Him.
He is the resurrection and the life and it began in Jesus Christ
for each and every one of us. He fulfilled every prophecy. Verse 27, They that dwell at
Jerusalem, and the rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the
voices of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day, they
have fulfilled them in condemning him." Everything that was spoken
of Christ, everything that happened to him, was in fulfillment of
that which the Scriptures had already said would happen. He
fulfilled all prophecy. He was led, as Isaiah 53 says,
as a lamb to the slaughter, but he was raised, because salvation
was accomplished. justice was satisfied and we
have the guarantee because the firstfruits he is the firstfruits
raised from the dead he is the firstfruits we have that guarantee
and the result of that what is the result of that salvation's
result it's this in verse 38 this is what Paul declared to
them be it known unto you therefore men and brethren through this
man Jesus Christ is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins
How shall a man be right with God? How shall a man be just
with God? Oh, he must have his sins forgiven.
Ah, through this man he's preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
And by him all that believe are justified from all things, my
sin not in part, but the whole. Them that believe are justified
from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the
law of Moses. Oh, you can flog yourself to
death trying to obey the law of Moses, and you will never
ever be justified. by that for by the law no flesh
shall be justified in his sight but through this man and through
what he has done there is salvation he has saved his people to the
uttermost not by works not by personal merit but by Christ
alone and so Christ possessed his inheritance I will give you
the Gentiles for your inheritance said the father to the son he
possessed his inheritance and look what the result was verse
42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, because
you see, to many of the Jews that were there, this was a stumbling
block. Paul's preaching was a stumbling
block. Oh no, we're not going to be
right with God on that basis, even though their scriptures, from
start to finish, were full of this message. And when they'd
gone out, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached
to them the next Sabbath. Oh, come and preach this message
again. Oh, What do you think? How is your heart moved by this?
To have people coming saying, oh please, will you tell us some
more? I remember preachers saying,
apologizing for going on too long. and that somebody in the
congregation shouting out, I think you remember who it was, somebody
in the congregation shouting out, no don't stop, carry on,
we want to hear more of this. This is the sort of thing. The
Gentiles, we want to hear more of this. We want to hear this
message. Come and preach this to us again.
And so they did. The next Sabbath, they came together
and look in verse 47. You see, they turned away from
preaching to Jews and went to the Gentiles. Paul was the apostle
to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles. This
is Isaiah 49 verse 6, a light to the Gentiles. The gospel is
a light to those who are not the people of God, by birth and
by nature, that thou shouldst be for salvation unto the ends
of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this,
verse 48, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord.
And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed look back at verse 39
and by him all that believe are justified from all things from
which he could not be justified by the law of Moses those whom
the father gave to the son those who are described here as being
ordained to eternal life they believed the gospel And so the
circle is completed. As many as believed, all that
believe are justified from all things. All that believe, those
who believe in His name are saved. Those who are the people of God
believe in His name and are saved. They're given that gift of faith.
Now let's apply it in the last few minutes. Let's apply it to
today. It's still the same today. Nearly
2,000 years on from when this message was first preached by
Paul in Antioch in Pisidia. God is the same. Yesterday, today,
and forever. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
is the same. Yesterday, today, and forever. We, as people, face the same
dilemma that Job, right at the beginning of the Scriptures,
faced. How shall a man be right with God? It is still today. It is still today. This is why
we give out leaflets. This is why we seek to proclaim
the gospel of grace. It is still the day of salvation.
Just look at 2nd Corinthians and chapter 6 and verse 2. 2nd Corinthians
6 verse 2. For he saith, I have heard thee
in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored
thee. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Today, in 2009, is the day of
salvation, for we're still here with the gospel still to proclaim.
God still, in His sovereignty, brings those He gave to Christ
to believe the gospel, as many as were ordained to eternal life
believed. There are still those all around
us who live in spiritual darkness, As Isaiah chapter 9, the early
verses of that chapter say, the people that walked in darkness,
they live in spiritual darkness, but they're still being brought
to the light. I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles.
And what is that light? It's the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And what does
he do to his people? to cause them to believe he shines
that light of that knowledge into hearts and minds he by his
spirit quickens makes alive brings them to a knowledge of the truth
and still all that come are accepted and none turned away this is
what Jesus says John 6 37 none can come to me unless my father
draw him and whosoever comes to me I shall in no wise cast
out he says giving an open invitation come unto me all you that labor
and have a heavy laden and I will give you rest all that believe
are justified it's what Romans 3 21 to 25 says I'm going to
close with this Romans 3 21 to 25 but now But now, he's talking about the
righteousness of God. Where is it? Is it in what we
do? No. He says it's hopeless. No way.
But now, the righteousness of God, without the law, without
obeying law, is manifested, is shown openly, being witnessed
by the law and the prophets. It's nothing new. It's what all
of the scriptures, the law, Moses' books, and the prophets have
said. Righteousness of God without law. Even the righteousness of
God which is by faith of Jesus Christ. By the faithful work
of Jesus Christ, He established righteousness for His people.
And it's unto all and upon all. Who's this righteousness for?
Who is it for? Upon all them that believe. They believe the Gospel. All
those for whom Christ established righteousness. For there is no
difference. No difference. no Jew or Greek or Gentile or
this race or that race no difference because as we stand before God
all has sinned and come short of the glory of God and we're
only justified if we're justified by the free grace of God that
is through the redemption the buying back the price paid by
Jesus Christ in him, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation."
That's a long word. It means a turning away of the
anger. You know there are times when
I'm sure, you children, your daddy's angry with you and you
can tell he's angry with you, but if you can do something like
you little girls, just do one of those cute smiles at him and
that turns away his anger. You know? He finds it very hard
to be cross with you. I bet mummy still finds it easy
to be cross with you, but daddies tend to be melted by the smiles
of their little girls. And There's a turning away of
anger. Well, that's what that word means,
propitiation. A turning away of anger. But
what turns away the anger of an offended God? It's the blood
of Christ. It's the blood of Jesus. To declare
His righteousness for the remission of sins that have passed through
the forbearance of God. To declare, I say, at this time
His righteousness that He might be just. God is still just. God
absolutely perfectly is just. God cannot be other than just
and remain God. The God of the universe absolutely
must punish sin. He must do, or else he fails
to be God. But yet at the same time, praise
God. This glorious gospel says this,
that in this man, Jesus Christ, according to the seed of David
and according to his promise, he has raised unto Israel a saviour,
Jesus. And because of him, he is able
to justify. those who have faith, who believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the Gospel message. That
is the message of salvation. That is what we preach. A Saviour
proclaimed, announced, a salvation accomplished, and salvation's
result. His people believe the Gospel
of His grace. Well, may the Lord bless these
thoughts to us.