Romans 1, verses 1-7. Romans 1, verses 1-7. Reading out of the ESV. Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his son, who was descended from David according to the flesh, and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of Holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we've come this morning because we desire to worship you. You know the distractions, Lord God, that we get so easily entangled in.

I pray, Father, that the power of your Word and your Holy Spirit would grip us so strongly that every song we sing, every word that we hear, that it would be coupled with your grace and power. Soften our hearts, Lord God, and open our ears that we may hear your Word.

And we pray for your anointing over this time, that in the midst of darkness that we would truly shine as lights. Again, for your grace and for your power to be with us from now until the end. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Just a kind of quick review.

Last week we talked about how Paul is introducing himself to this primarily Gentile church. This is a church that he hasn't been to before. And obviously the city of Rome is a very important city. If you were to target a particular city to get the gospel out, Rome would have been at the center of that.

Because that's where, you know, the saying "All roads lead to Rome." And so because it is such a significant city that Paul, at least humanly speaking, that the gospel needs to be reached here, needs to be reached here in a big way, in a tremendous way. Paul's ultimate desire is that he would set that as a base to continue on.

So Paul was never content that he established a certain amount of churches. Now he is going to focus on his churches. His intent, as he states himself, is that he would preach the gospel where the gospel is never heard. And then when he asks for prayer, he says that the gospel may spread urgently and quickly.

That prayer probably is the same prayer that we ought to be praying today. That even though the gospel has been around 2,000 years, there are still places all around the world where it's never heard the gospel. And it's interesting that the more I spend time on campus that before a long time ago, maybe 10, 15 years ago, it would be pretty rare to meet somebody from another country who's never heard the gospel before.

More and more today, I'm running into people who've never heard the gospel, whether they're from other countries. And sad to say, there are some people who are living here, grew up in Orange County, surrounded by churches and Christianity all their life. And if you ask them if they know the gospel, they'll tell you they know the gospel.

But when you actually sit down and go over the gospel, you realize that they don't know it. And they've never heard it. No Christian has ever tried or made an effort to even explain it to them. So Paul's desire to bring the gospel not only to Rome, but to go beyond that, really is something that we ought to be challenged by.

Because the reason why he's introducing himself is to make, to set a foundation. This is who we are. And we said we went through that last week. His identity as a bond servant, as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. That every part of this is something that we need to review and ask ourselves constantly, "Who am I?

Who am I?" And I know that that's a question that we typically ask ourselves when we're young. You know, especially when you hit puberty. You know, for the first time you start thinking to yourself, like, "Who am I?" And I know that that was a huge identity issue with me because I'm a Korean American.

You know, I'm enough in both cultures where I can identify with both. And I remember as a kid going through puberty in the sixth or seventh grade, where I had a huge identity problem because in America, you know, especially areas that we were living in, in Philadelphia, Kansas, and Georgia, we would say, "Go back to your country.

Go back to your country." You know, and then go back to Korea, and then they're like, "Go back to your country. Go back to your country." It's like, "Wait a second. I thought I was in my country." And so I realized at that time that I was neither Korean or American.

I was Korean American or Asian American or whatever you want to call it. But my real identity didn't become clear until I met Christ, until I realized that I'm from another kingdom. I don't belong here. But that issue of identity, of who we are, is something that we need to review, not only when we're going through puberty, but constantly.

Because if we're not absolutely certain and committed to who we are, we have a tendency to assimilate to our environment. So if you're a student, you end up assimilating to your environment. If you are in a particular field, like an engineer or maybe a businessman, you end up identifying as that.

And if we're not careful, we end up identifying more with that than our identity as a Christian. So we end up identifying as Asian Americans or people who graduated college. So a certain income level, certain habits. Or we identify as Lakers fans or Dodgers fans or Angels fans or Warriors fans.

We're going to include everybody, right? We end up identifying with those superficial things, and that becomes the primary things that we talk about. Those are the primary things that interest us, and that dictates who we're friends with and who we're not friends with. Because we naturally end up assimilating to our environment.

If we're not clear as to who we are, we naturally just become our environment, our language, our speech, what we wear, what we value. That's why when Paul declares himself, he says, "I'm first and foremost a bondservant of Jesus Christ," we need to take a step back and ask ourselves, "Who am I?

Where do I stand with God? Am I a follower of Jesus Christ, or am I just a fan that just observes and, you know, I want some things of Christ and some things not of Christ? Am I called to the Gospel ministry? Maybe as a pastor, maybe as a deacon, maybe as an elder or a servant in the church, but every Christian who knows the Gospel has been called to the Gospel ministry.

Who am I? Until we are absolutely crystal clear who we are, we end up just drifting. You didn't uniquely choose what you like or what you prefer or don't prefer because every single one of us are byproducts of our environment. So you happen to grow up in a generation where the Internet came into being.

And so it had a huge effect on your paradigm of what is right and wrong. Entertainment has always been an attraction to the world, but you and I live in a generation where entertainment is 24/7. And so there's no way that these things are not formulating our paradigm, what we consider to be good and bad.

We are constantly bombarded with different kinds of food. In and of itself, none of these things are in and of itself evil or bad. But if we're not clear as to where we are, who we are, and where we stand with God, a lot of times our decisions that we make, the life that we live, just kind of assimilates to our environment.

So that's why Paul's introducing himself. Before he gets into the core of the Gospel message, he introduces himself and says, "This is who I am. I'm a bondservant of Jesus Christ. I'm dead. It's no longer me. And I've been called as an apostle to be sent to preach the Word of God, preach the Gospel, thus saith the Lord.

And I've been set apart for this reason. This is why I exist. This is why I go to school. This is why I have children. This is why I choose certain jobs. This is who I am." And again, if we're not secure in that, if we're not firm and clear in that, something else will drive you.

There's four things I want to talk about this morning when Paul, as he says now he's been set apart for the Gospel ministry. Well, he goes on to explain, well, what is the Gospel then? There are four truths that he tells us about the Gospel in verses 2-7 that I want to review.

The first one that he says is found in verse 2 where he says, "This Gospel that he's been set apart," verse 2, "which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures." That this Gospel that he's been separated to preach is nothing new. That God's been preparing him for this.

God's been preparing the world for this, he says, "from the very beginning, from the prophets, through the Scriptures." It's extremely important for us that you and I recognize that what we are preaching, what we are reading through here, it didn't start with Paul, it didn't start with Jesus. That this is at the core of God's heart from the very beginning.

In Genesis 3-15, you guys know that verse very well, where as soon as they fall, God makes a promise to mankind and to himself. That verse is called the Proto-Evangel, basically it means the first Gospel. The first Gospel didn't come in 100 years later or 1,000 years later. As soon as they fell, God determined in his heart that he was going to send Christ to save the world.

Now the way he phrased it was that the seed of the woman is going to crush the head of the serpent and the serpent is going to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman. And from that time on, the whole history of mankind is about the fulfillment of that promise.

Just to kind of highlight, as soon as he makes that promise, we see in Genesis chapter 12, specifically how is this going to happen, through which nation? God raises up Abraham and he says, "that seed is going to come through this particular man." The nation of Israel was established.

Genesis chapter 17, we are prophesied that through this seed, that this kingdom is going to be an everlasting kingdom. Genesis 49, it talks about again, his scepter that is going to be blessed. In other words, his kingdom is going to be continually be blessed. 2 Samuel chapter 7, it goes even more specific that this seed is going to come through the line of David, which he says it is fulfilled here in the next passage.

And then it says in Malachi 3, 1, it gets even more specific, that there is going to be a man that is going to come in the spirit of Elijah. John the Baptist is going to come before he comes. So, before the seed comes, you are going to know that he comes because a man is going to be sent to prepare his way.

And then in Matthew chapter 1, the very beginning of the New Testament that we have, at least the way it is ordered, is a fulfillment of that prophecy that God made in Genesis chapter 3, 15. That seed. And then it starts, Matthew chapter 1 starts with a detailed written document of Jesus' genealogy and how it traces us all the way, traces him all the way back.

How he is the fulfillment of that prophecy. That this gospel was something that God has been preparing all along. In fact, it doesn't stop there. The scripture goes much more detailed than that. Daniel chapter 9, it goes into the very specifics of when, specific time, he is going to come.

Now you have to do some calculations to get there and I am not good at math, so I am not going to do that. But Daniel chapter 9 actually goes even further than that. Jeremiah 23 tells us that it is going to come specifically through what tribe? Isaiah chapter 7 tells us about him being born of a virgin.

Micah chapter 5, 2 tells us that he is going to be born in a particular city named Bethlehem. Scripture continues to tell us that he is going to be a prophet, king, and a priest. Isaiah 53 tells us how he is going to die and why he is going to die.

In Psalm 22, it is a description of our Messiah on the cross. And it gives us a perspective of a man who is suffering. Which is, again, prophesied about Jesus' crucifixion. Zechariah 9, 9 gives a prophecy about how specifically he is going to come into Jerusalem riding on a donkey.

It also even describes how he is going to be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, which Judas himself does. It even describes about how he is going to be pierced on the side as he is being crucified. Psalm chapter 2 and chapter 16 actually even prophesies about his resurrection.

What Paul is saying here is that this gospel that I am about to present to you in detail is not something that I have just conjured up. If you have been paying attention close to Scripture, you will know that it has been there all along. In fact, in Amos chapter 3, 7, and 8, God says to the nation of Israel, "For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servant, the prophets.

The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken. Who can but prophesy?" God does nothing before he makes it clear. If God had made it so clear in his Scripture through the prophets, why was the nation of Israel so blind? Why could they not have figured this out?

They look at the same Scripture that we are looking at. We look at that and say, "Clearly this must be referring to Christ and what he is about to do and what he has done. Why did they miss it?" The answer is pretty simple. They just were not paying attention.

And there is a reason why the Scripture constantly screams out to the New Testament covenant people to pay attention. To not allow yourself to drift. Not to be lukewarm because the day that we become lukewarm, we become blind to the truth. You may hear the Gospel. You may recite the Scripture.

But it doesn't make any sense. It has no power. That's why it constantly tells us to pay attention. When Jesus was talking to people and he had something very important to say. Remember what he said? "He who has ears, let him hear." Who doesn't have ears? Who couldn't hear what he says?

They all had the Old Testament. They had the temple. They had the priests. Why does he say, "He who has ears, let him hear"? Because a large portion of Israel was no longer paying attention. They became a lot of religious people. A lot of sacrifices. A lot of things that they were doing.

But they could not hear. In Numbers 23.19 it says, "God is not man that he should lie, or the Son of Man that he should change his mind. Has he said and will he not do it? Or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it?" See, we look at the Old Testament, and I know sometimes we can get lost in the things that it says.

But it's a constant reminder that God does what he says. God does what he says. Now, he didn't make the prophecy and then the next day they woke up and the Messiah showed up. In fact, we have a tendency when we look at the Old Testament, and we look at all the big stuff.

We look at the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. We look at miraculous stuff about God changing the weather. And we look at all of these great things and we're hoping that God would reveal these spectacular things in our lives to cause us to be sober. But in the thousands of years that passed by from the day that he made that prophecy, whether you believe it's thousands or many, many tens of thousands of years, that time that went by between that time until the coming of Christ, majority of history was very mundane.

Majority of it. There wasn't a miracle taking place every single day. They didn't cross the Red Sea every single day. Majority of the fulfillment of that prophecy came through very mundane means. A young man meets a young woman and has a child and that child grows up and marries another woman.

And that child has a that kid has a has children and just mundane things. They have to go to work. Some of them were farmers. Some of them were kings. Some of them had to flee from their land. Some of them did great things. Some of them did very evil things, much like human history.

His fulfillment of promise, for the most part, were very mundane things. I look at the fulfillment of his promise. The reason why God's promise is fulfilled is not because of spectacular things. And God, people came up and saw spectacular things. It was just they heard it. They believed it and they lived it.

It's that simple. I look at church history from the time of Christ to today. Humanly speaking, it's a I'm amazed that we're still here today. I'm amazed. Considering the chaos, the division in leadership, I'm not even talking about the congregation in leadership. People actually selling salvation for money. We're not talking about one guy.

We're talking about hundreds of years of this. People who are being killed because they want to translate the Bible so that you and I could read it. I mean, we went through hundreds of years of corruption in the church in the name of Christ, went to crusade and tore villages apart.

They're horrendous things. And yet you and I are here still have the scripture and the church is still going strong. And the only reason why is because God made a promise. And he is fulfilling it. Sometimes we can clearly see it. Sometimes we don't see it. Sometimes I don't see it.

Sometimes I think about the spiritual condition of our generation and I grieve. And it's not just me. It's not. You know, Peter's just conservative. You talk to any Christian who's been who's been walking with the Lord for the last 30 years. Spiritual condition today is much worse. What is accepted today sometimes even up on the pulpit.

30 years ago, people would have beat their chest in repentance. And yet we're OK with it. And so when I think about that, you know, it's hard not to be discouraged. And I talk to Christians who've been Christians for a while, you know, especially pastors who are who've been pastors for a while.

We all have to be honest and admit the spiritual condition definitely has declined in a steep slope in the last 30 years. I'm pretty sure the previous generation may have said that about my generation, too. But in the context, in that context, the only reason why we're able to persevere and keep going is because I have hope for the church.

And that's not because of you. And it's not because of me, for sure. It's because when I see his faithfulness to his promise in the Old Testament. Only reason why the nation of Israel was even around to receive the Messiah is because God was merciful. The only reason why this morning you are here and are able to hear the gospel and it makes any sense to you.

It's not because you are better than anybody else. It's not because you are more righteous and more disciplined and more giving. God's just been gracious. He said, I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. And because of that, despite our weakness, he remains faithful.

And it isn't the mundane things you look at the promises that he makes that we may be looking for something spectacular, but it's in the day to day life. When you had children or when you don't have children. When your job is going great, your job is not going great.

When a church is encouraging or the church is discouraging. God is faithful to his promise. And that's what the gospel teaches us. That first and foremost, what he had planned from the beginning, he fulfills through Israel, despite all their sins. He brings it to the church despite all their sins and despite all our shortcomings.

God is faithful to what he has said. God is not man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. Has he not said and will he not do it? First and foremost, we have to understand that this gospel is beyond us. It's bigger than us.

That this is at the core of God's heart. But secondly, we need to understand that the gospel is Christ centered. In fact, let me say it another way. That the gospel, Jesus is the good news. He is the gospel. John Piper actually wrote a book where he said the title of it is "God is the gospel." I remember the first time, like coming into understanding of this, back in college I was doing Bible study.

And I remember, I forget what passage or what I was studying, but I remember hitting me so hard. And I was thinking like, you know, we get so caught up in what I can gain from Christ. That we forget that it is Christ, it is Christ that he came to give.

See, in every other religion, you can be a Buddhist without Buddha. Because Buddha basically is just teaching. These are some wisdoms. You know, whether it's right or wrong, believe it or not, you can remove Buddha and somebody else in that. And say the same thing that he said. You can have Mohammed removed from Islam, because he just says he's just a messenger.

But you can't have Christianity without Christ. Because Christ is the only one, said he is the answer. If you look at this passage, he says, "This gospel was promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son." In other words, this gospel is his son. I'm going to say something that's going to sound heretical.

Pay attention. Don't just hear that part and say, "Okay, there he is. Finally he said it." He went over the edge. The good news of the gospel isn't simply about your sins being forgiven. I'm going to say it again so that you hear this heresy. The gospel isn't simply about your sins being forgiven.

Now, if we end the sermon right here, then we'd be in trouble. What I mean by that is that the whole purpose of the gospel is to remove the barrier that was caused by this sin that we may get to God. So if all we celebrate is we're not going to hell, we're not under judgment, and we never come to Christ.

Then you have completely missed the gospel. You know, if you look at, actually turn your Bibles with me to John chapter 6. And I know I went through this before, but this is so important. Turn to John chapter 6. John chapter 6, in the beginning of the chapter, he talks about he is feeding the 5,000.

At the peak of Jesus' public ministry, he gets tired. He goes across the sea, and then the people realize that he's not there, so they chase him down. So in verse 25, they encounter Jesus after they find him. And it says, "When they found him," verse 25, "on the other side of the sea, they said to him, 'Rabbi, when did you come here?'" But Jesus sees right through.

You know, you would think like, oh, these people are so hungry. They're willing to go hungry to come chase after him. We would automatically assume these are genuine believers who want nothing but Jesus. But Jesus sees right through that and sees the superficialness of their faith. And he says in verse 26, "Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.'" In other words, what he was saying is, you're not coming to me because you believe me.

You're coming to me because you ate and you want more. And it's in this context where Jesus begins the first of the seven "I am" statements where he says, "You're looking for bread." But he says, "I am the bread." "I am the bread." And then he begins a series of the "I am" statements in the book of John where he says, "I am the light." You're looking for the light.

I am the light. You're looking for the door. I am the door. You're looking for the shepherd. I am the shepherd. You're looking for the truth. I am the truth. You're looking for life. I am the life. You're looking for sustenance. I am divine. So every one of these statements, he's trying to correct the nation of Israel that you are coming and looking through me to something else.

And that's the mistake that we make and we think what the gospel is. So many people say, "I want Jesus because I want a free ticket to heaven. I don't want to go to hell. I want to go to heaven." And if I believe in Jesus Christ, he's going to bless me and bless my life.

And then we come to God when we're desperate and then if he answers our prayer, "Yes, I want to follow him." But the moment the blessings at least seemingly disappear, Jesus no longer does it for us. He no longer gives me the joy that I once had. He no longer gives me the comfort.

He no longer gives me the purpose. And then he's no longer the Savior that I serve. See, that was not a mistake that years later that Jesus could not fulfill his promise. His promise from the very get-go, "I am. I am the bread of life." In Luke chapter 24, 25, and 27, Jesus says to the disciples, "Oh foolish ones, in slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" But then he says this, verse 27, "In the beginning with Moses, all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." Things concerning himself.

See, you can go to church all your life, give, serve, go to missions, and not know Christ. You can do this all your life and never know Christ. I used to wonder why Christians are not bothered when they hear his name blasphemed. And I try to figure out how can they be okay with that?

And I realize it's because there's no personal affection for Christ. Again, if I said something, I'm going to finish this sentence, "Yo mama," right? You're already nervous. You're not nervous because I didn't say it to you, but I look straight in your eye. "Yo mama," right? Or "Yo mama." Whatever is going to come after that, you're already nervous because you're afraid if I say something offensive.

Right? "Yo mama is so..." Okay, and then... Right? Whatever comes after that, you probably don't want to hear it. Just the thought, because of love, your love and your affection for your mom, makes you nervous. How dare he? Right? But if I said, "Jesus Christ, I mean, he wasn't born of a virgin.

He was a liar. He wasn't really resurrected. He had affairs with Mary and had children." You know? And it's like, "Oh, okay, you know, I don't want to be one of those Christians. I don't want to be one of those Christians who just get offended." And it's like, "Okay, you know, that's what you believe.

Let's just be friends." And I realize the reason why is because people have no personal affection for Christ. There's no personal loyalty to Christ. So when his name is being blasphemed, it's almost kind of like when people make fun of Obama. It's like, "Yeah, he's our president, but, you know, he's just some figure.

There's nothing personal." Right? See, the whole gospel is about Christ. And that's why when Jesus was asked the question, "What is the greatest commandment?" Remember what Jesus said? All of the commandments is summed up in this. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." All of the laws.

Everything that you've ever learned. Everything about the temple. Everything about the sacrifice. Everything that you have ever learned can be summed up in that statement. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." So if there's no affection for Christ, if there's no attraction to Christ, if there is no loyalty to Christ, if there is no joy in Christ, if there is no affection and worship for Christ, then all it is is a noisy gong.

Empty noise. Empty activity. See, he says, "He came in the flesh." And then he was declared to be the Son of God by His resurrection. He was perfectly man, perfectly God, that He may be a perfect mediator to bring us to God Himself. The Gospel is Jesus. See, all this time, I don't know about you, but have you ever known anything or any gift that you've received that took that long to prepare?

I know some gifts are more expensive than others, but some of the greatest gifts are gifts that's been prepared for years and years and years and years. Right? You know, I thought about, you know, I try to think about what is it that I've been given that took that long?

To be honest, the only thing I can think about is Christ. God's been preparing Him for me from the beginning of creation. It says in Ephesians chapter 1. From the moment that Adam and Eve fell, God's been preparing to give Christ to me. Through all of the mess in Israel's history, He preserved His promise to give Him to me.

All the years of church history and all the screw-ups, He preserved through all of that to give Christ to me. All my failures, all my determinations, all my shortcomings, that He preserved me through all of this. For what? To give Christ to me. So if you come to church and you miss Christ, you missed everything.

You didn't just miss something, you missed everything. Christ is the gospel. Third and final, third thing, the goal of the gospel, He says, turn back to Romans chapter 1. And again, the fourth point is just going to be a quick wrap-up. So Romans chapter 1, the third thing that He says, "And He was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of His holiness, by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostasy to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His name." To bring about the obedience of faith.

Now, let me take a minute here, get a little bit technical, because the commentators, commentaries kind of wrestle with the meaning of this. What does it mean to have the goal to have obedience of faith? The first service, I couldn't read them at all, if they understood or not.

There's one interpretation where it says, "Faith is the obedience." You get it? Let me give you the other part and then see if you get it or not. So the one interpretation is, it says that He's been given grace and apostleship so that you may obey by having faith.

Okay? Do you get that meaning? The second meaning is that you would have faith in the gospel to bring you to obedience. Do you see the difference between the two? Where one is a calling to faith, where the other is through faith to lead to obedience. Yes? Okay. Well, I don't have any more time.

Okay, so there's more nods going here, the second service than the first service. In the end, it doesn't really matter. The reason why is because you can never separate the two. There can be no faith that doesn't lead to obedience. And faith in and of itself is the obedience.

Because Jesus Himself says that. When they asked Him, "If you want us to seek eternal things that do not arrive, what do you want us to do?" John chapter 6, 28. Jesus' answer to him was, "This is the work of God that you believe in Him who He has sent." That's the work of God.

That you believe. Again, in 1 John 3, 23. And this is His commandment that we believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. That the fulfillment of this commandment is to believe in Jesus Christ. So now you may look at that and say, "Well, okay, that's clear now." We have to interpret this that it's that faith is the obedience.

Right? I know I lost some of you already. Ask somebody, okay, if you don't understand what I'm saying. If faith is the obedience, why are we emphasizing obedience through faith? Turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews chapter 11, 6. And this will kind of bring everything together. Okay? Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6.

And this is, you know, I'm pretty sure if you've been a Christian for a while, at some point you've memorized this verse. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6. And this is, again, you have to understand that the author of Hebrews, this is chapter 11 is a culmination of everything that he's been trying to teach this church, and now he's giving an example.

Right? He's given an example. And then in giving his example, he says in verse 6, "And without faith, it is impossible to please Him." Right? So you can't obey without faith. You can go through the motions and do what is right. You can be a moral person. You can come to church, share the gospel, go to missions, all of that.

But he says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please Him." Right? That's what he says. Right? But that's not where he stops. "And without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must first believe that He exists." Let me stop right there. Now, how many of you have NASP?

NASP. Not ESP. NASP. Okay? You can be proud. Don't be ashamed. Okay? NASP. Okay, how many have ESP? Okay. How many have NIV? Okay, I don't want to ask any further. Okay. NASP actually is the only version here where it says that he, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God, and he who draws to God must first believe that He," in the NASP, says what?

"Is." Right? Now, in modern English, what does that mean? Like, "Who is He?" "He is." And then you just walk away. What? What do you mean, "He is?" Right? But that's what the NASP says. And the reason why the NASP stops with "He is" is because that word translated "is" in the Greek is third-person singular, with "of I am." It's the third-person singular of "I am." So the literal translation is "He is." What that means is, the other translation is like, "Well, that doesn't make any sense." They've kind of interpreted it for us, saying that, "Oh, maybe they're talking about 'He exists.'" But I believe that the more accurate translation is, the literal translation is, "He is." Because the author is saying, "He who comes to God, without faith it is impossible to please God, but he who comes to God must first believe that He is." He is what?

That was the whole book of John, the whole gospel of John, is saying that He is. He is the life. He is the truth. He is the way. He is the bread. He is the resurrection and the life. He is the vine. He is the door. He is the good shepherd.

He is the light. He is. And so, if you don't believe that Jesus Christ is, you're not going to go to Him. You can go through the motion in the church and do all of this stuff, but where do you run to when you have problems? You're going to go where you think there's an answer.

If you are lost, and you need some light in your life, if you don't believe that Jesus is the light, that's not where you're going to go. If you feel like, "Man, life is so drudgery, I want to feel alive." If you don't believe that Jesus Christ is the life, Jesus is not where you're going to go.

So, he says, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, because anybody who comes to Him without believing He is, it's just like John chapter 6. People are coming. You're not coming to me because you know who I am. You're coming to me because you ate, and you want more." See, those people in John 6, 6, 6, they turn away, because He wouldn't give them bread.

It was confusing. What? Eat of your flesh? Drink of your blood? What does that mean? So, he says, "Faith, believe that He is," and then he says, "and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." Why would you seek Him? There's all kinds of reasons why you would come to church.

I've seen non-Christians attend church all their life. Why would a non-Christian come to church all their life? Because that's where their friends are. Why would a non-Christian commit and become a member of the church? Because our children are friends with other Christian friends. Why would a non-Christian come and go out to missions, short-term missions?

Because we get to go and travel together, and you know, doing something purposeful. Non-Christians help orphans all the time. Non-Christians, Habitat for Humanity, since all Saturday, building buildings all the time. Non-Christians are not doing evil things, at least not from our perspective, all the time. Non-Christians come to church, serve the church, become, even lead the church at times.

But they will never come to Christ. Because he who comes to God must first believe that he is. The people who wrote the New Testament, they all wrote it in the context of possibility of martyrdom. And they wrote it to people who are reading this letter with the possibility of martyrdom.

So he says, "If you are coming to Christ for any other reason, but to believe that he is, he is your life, even if you die early as a result of following Jesus Christ, he is, then you're not going to go with him. If you don't believe that he is, when you are blessed and have a job and things are going great, yes, I want some more, but the moment that disappears, the gospel is not enough." And that's why he says, "He who comes to God must first believe that he is." And he is a rewarder of those who seek, what?

Him. Only reason why anybody would seek Christ, despite the consequences, is because we believe the reward is in Christ. Not the church, not the friendship, not anything else, but Christ. Let me wrap up with a fourth and final thing. The gospel, by its very nature, is meant to be proclaimed.

You've heard the term euangelion, good news. There's a reason why God ordained the word good news to be spread. In the very nature of the word news, it is meant to be proclaimed. It's meant to be told. You can't tell somebody that I have good news and just walk away.

You can't. If I came to you after service and said, "I have some awesome news, in fact, some best news you've ever heard in your life, it can change your life, it changed mine. Have a good week." What's wrong with this guy? Why would he even tell me that he has great news if he's not going to tell me about it?

The very nature of the word good news, if we believe it, requires a proclamation. So Paul says, "This is who I am. This is what the gospel is. How precious is this to us? It is not just a part of our life. This is our life. This is who we are.

This is why we gather together. This is why we have fellowship. This is why we bowl together. This is why we play softball together. This is why we go to China together, why we go to India together. This is why we collect our offering to further the gospel." And the moment we stray from that, we've forgotten our identity, not only as an individual, but as a church.

You guys know that you and I are living in some dark times. We've been talking about persecution. "It's over there, but it's not here. It's over there, but it's not here." Well, it's coming. It's already here. It just may not be at Breen Community Church, but it's already coming.

Because of the increase of wickedness, most love for God is going to grow cold. If we're not sober, and if we're not paying attention, we're going to be guilty of the same thing. How can something be so crystal clear, something that has been taught through centuries, for millenniums, something that people shed their blood for, that you and I could have, something that was so clearly taught in the Scripture, heard every single week, and then yet to completely miss who Jesus is.

If we're not sober and paying attention, I pray that the study of the Book of Romans would cause us to revisit our identity. Again, that's why it's not good information, it's good news. That it would really have an impact as a father, as a mother, as a child, as a student, and as a worker.

That in every aspect of our lives, that the power of the Gospel would save. Would you take a minute to pray with me? Again, I want to encourage our congregation to take some time to pray. And I want to, again, ask anybody in here, you may have been in the church, and you may have actually even been in this church for a while, but you're not sure if you know Jesus.

You don't know, if you close your eyes and pray, if God actually even listens to you. You don't have a personal relationship with Christ. You've never confessed your sins. You never prayed to God personally, "God, forgive me of my sins. I'm in need of forgiveness." I want to encourage you, take this time, come before the Lord.

You don't need to go through anybody. There's only one mediator between us and God, that's Jesus Christ. To pray, pray to God. "God, forgive me of my sins. I want to receive you as my Lord and Savior. I want to be saved, and I want to know who Jesus is." Just make an honest prayer, humble prayer, a simple prayer before God.

But be sincere in your heart. "Forgive me of my sins." If you've been drifting away from God, if you've been drifting away from God, every decision that you have made in your darkness, you're going to have to revisit if you ever come back to the light. Come before the Lord in repentance.

"Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief." Repent of our sins. Cling to God. "Lord, I'm desperate without you. I am entangled with civilian affairs. And I have become darkened in my understanding. I'm hearing your word, but there's no conviction. Lord, forgive me." And receive his forgiveness. Be restored in righteousness.

So I want to encourage you at this time to come before the Lord, make an honest prayer. "Lord, I know my prayers are weak, but this is my heart. Restore me, forgive me. I want to know Christ. I want to fall deeply in love with Christ. I want to get my life right with him." And then I want to encourage some of you to pray, to pray for the lost around you to be saved.

Pray for the non-believers. Maybe some of you have given up already. God is faithful. He is faithful. Come before the Lord in prayer. "Lord, I've gotten tired, and I've lost faith." Maybe you're not going to answer this. "Lord, help me. Help me to persevere. Help me to open my eyes and see Christ." So would you join with me in prayer and take some time to really pray before the Lord?

Because the answer to every problem that you have is in Christ and Christ alone. So let's take some time to pray as our worship team leads us. (music)