Alright, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 9, I'm going to be reading from verse 1 through 5. Romans chapter 9, verses 1 through 5. And I'm going to be focused on verses 1, 2, and 3. Reading out of the ESV. I am speaking the truth in Christ.

I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh. They are Israelites and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.

To them belong the patriarchs from their race according to the flesh is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for calling us, for bringing us, and guiding us, Lord God, to yourself. We thank you for your living word that continues to speak and reveal and sanctify.

We pray that you would bless this morning, that your presence, Lord God, would be felt, that we would know that you are the head of this church, that all that we do may be surrendered for the sake of your name. I pray that the preaching of your word would go forth and would not return as you have promised until it has accomplished its purpose.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Last week, our brother James did a great job presenting about India and I asked him to kind of give a summary about what happened. He has volunteered to kind of spearhead what we are doing in India. So he is going to be our point person next year and hopefully the other things that are going on.

So he is going to be the guy as far as India is concerned. So I appreciate him sharing about that. I didn't really get to share much about it and I am not planning to do part two about our missions this morning. But every time I go out, obviously it is physically exhausting.

It was a pretty long trip. I think our flight and travel time was somewhere near 40 hours, about 38 hours or something like that and the 38 hours coming back. So every mission trip that we go, they usually take a picture of me knocked out somewhere. You know, whether in somebody's apartment or in the car and I think there was one in last week's slideshow.

It is physically exhausting, but it is also very rewarding. You feel refreshed. Not that we don't do missions here. Not that we don't do evangelism here. But that one week, that 8 to 10, 9 days that we are out, it is intensified obviously. So every ounce of energy that we have is being spent doing God's work.

So by the time we get into our room, we just pass out and we wake up and we start over again and then we come back. And I think the reason why, even though physically it is exhausting, we feel refreshed. I think everybody who has been out to missions will testify to the same thing.

That we feel refreshed because at the core of God's heart, this is where He is. Everything that we know of scripture is in the context of God pursuing sinners. So when we say that we are followers of Christ, we are not saying that we adhere to certain doctrines. Of course that is part of it.

When we say we are followers of Christ, we are not simply saying that we attend church or we serve the church. Of course that is part of it. But there is the most common sense application of when we say we are followers of Christ, we are following Him. That is what we mean by we say follow.

So I am following you. It means wherever you are going, I am going. Whatever you are doing, I am doing. That is what we mean when we say I am following him or I am following her. So when we say we are followers of Christ, it means that we are going where He is going.

We are doing what He is doing. We are thinking what He is thinking. That is what it means to be a follower. If at the core of God's heart, if all that we know and everything that we are studying in scripture is in the context of this holy God pursuing sinners, to be a follower of Jesus Christ means that we follow His path of pursuing sinners.

How He pursued us and as a result of us being pursued and being saved, now we follow Him to pursue other sinners. That is what Jesus told His disciples when He said follow me, I will make you fishers of men. Because that is exactly why He came. To be fishers of men.

And He trained them for three years to be fishers of men. And when He died, resurrected, and then He commissioned them to go, He said now go make fishers of men. Our whole purpose of why we are not in heaven yet and to call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ is to participate in this great commission.

And if you want to have fellowship with Him, if you want to have intimacy and to be disconnected to this great commission, it means you are disconnected from the heart of God. In fact, all of scripture is written in that context. But if you really want to understand what Paul is saying in the book of Romans, you have to understand in the context of Paul pursuing sinners because that is what Christ commissioned him to do.

The whole purpose of the book of Romans is introducing himself to the Christians in Rome, telling them this is the gospel that I have been preaching. That you have been hearing about. And he is hoping that he would come to Rome and maybe recruit some people to go with him to Spain.

So if you see this just as a doctrinal statement, as just certain things that he is saying, well he is just introducing himself, he is just going into detail. No. Obviously that is what he is doing, but it is in the context of recruiting other people to go preach the gospel.

All of the New Testament is written in that context. So if we are not actively engaged in the Great Commission, the Bible eventually is going to begin to sound like IKEA furniture how to build manual. If you are not actually building a shelf, if you are not actually building furniture, reading that is going to be irrelevant to you.

It is knowledge, it is nice to know where these screws go to, it is nice to know this. If somebody asks you, oh yeah you put the screws here, you put the building blocks here. But it has no real application because application of what we are seeing in scripture is in the context of pursuing sinners.

The reason why I say all of this is because what Paul is beginning to say in chapter 9 is directly related to what I have been saying. Chapter 9 verse 1, 2 and 3 is not going to make a whole lot of sense to you. It is going to be, oh yeah Paul, he is really passionate about the Jews.

He must have been a real nationalist. He is a patriot. And that is why he was saying these extreme things. He is willing to give his life if it meant that he can save them. We can kind of gloss over that and read that and say, well you know Paul, he is not like us.

God is not saying that this is how we ought to be. He is saying this is not possible. Of course, he may say that. Maybe he is even exaggerating. But we will never fully understand the heart of Paul, which is ultimately a reflection of the heart of our God, if we are not actively engaged in the Great Commission.

Now, engaging the Great Commission does not mean you have to be overseas somewhere. It does not mean you have to go to India or China. Obviously, you can engage in the Great Commission here. But a Christian life that is disengaged in the Great Commission is disengaged in the heart of God.

You are understanding church outside of the context of the larger picture of what Christ is trying to do. You are understanding fellowship and community outside of the context of what Christ is trying to do in the church. You are understanding the purpose of the church, the use of finances, all outside of the heart of what Christ is trying to do.

Great Commission is at the core, not only understanding these texts, but the heart of God. See, for three chapters in chapter 9, 10, and 11, Paul is going to expound in response to the eight chapters of the exposition of salvation by faith and by grace alone. But he is responding to these Jews who may have been thinking, "Well, if that's the case, where does that leave us?" You know, for the Jews, the law was not just a part of who they were.

That was their identity that separated them from the world. So, if Paul, you're saying that the law doesn't distinguish us from the world, then who are we? What are you saying? So, Paul's answering that question that the Jews naturally would have. For centuries, they believed that if they obeyed the law, that God's favor is going to be upon them.

That their nation was going to be restored. That they have a special place in the Kingdom of God. That they're in a higher plane than the rest of the world. And all of a sudden, he says, "No, we're all, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." So, obviously, we're going to be focused on these three verses today, but I want to just, again, help you understand 9, 10, and 11.

Paul is really trying to answer two questions. One is that God is not done with Israel. That God's promises are faithful. That the Gospel is not Plan B. That He didn't start with Israel, and because they failed, now He's going to go to Plan B and He's going to be preaching the Gospel.

He's basically reassuring the nation of Israel that what you've been learning all this point, you may have missed a point, but God's intention at all times was to continue the Gospel. And He's going to point that out. He's going to show the connection between the Old and the New Testament of the Gospel He's been preaching in the first eight chapters.

But in the larger picture, and not just to the nation of Israel, He's going to be demonstrating His faithfulness to His promises, which is relevant to all of us. That what God said in the Old Testament, what God said in the New Testament, what God said to the Apostles 2,000 years ago, He is faithful.

God is not man that he should lie, nor the Son of Man that he should repent. He never changes His mind. What He says, you can bank on. And that's the second theme of chapter 9, 10, and 11. And so we'll get to that. We're going to go through these passages, but I just wanted you to see the larger theme of the three chapters that we're going to be covering.

But today we're going to be looking at the first three verses. How does He introduce this? Well, if you look at it, again, read with me just the first verse. It almost seems like He's kind of disconnecting and starting something new. But in actuality, He's asking a question that He already knows that these Jews probably were asking, or maybe even grumbling in their hearts.

If what you said in chapter 1 through 8 is true, what about us? I am speaking the truth in Christ. I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness to the Holy Spirit. He hasn't said it yet, but in verse 1, He's basically setting them up and saying, what I'm going to say is true.

What He's about to say must be really, really important. Usually if you have a conversation with somebody and you want them to really pay attention, there's some conversations we can have and they're kind of wandering off and you can talk. It's not that important. But if you really have something you need to say, right?

If you're a parent and you need to give instructions to your child and he's just kind of wandering off, he said, no, pay attention. Right? I'm not messing around. Listen to me. Look me in the eye. What did I just say? Right? This is Paul's version of telling the readers, pay attention.

Listen, look me in the eye. What I'm about to say is true. I am not lying. He says it in the positive and then the negative. He says, he's confirming that I am not lying in Christ. The Holy Spirit bears witness and he invokes the two heads of the Godhead to say, what I'm about to say is absolutely certain.

It's absolutely true. Now, why does he go about doing that? Because the easiest way to dismiss the gospel is to dismiss the messenger. Right? We do that in politics. If somebody has an opposing view of politics, whether you're a Democrat or Republican, our natural knee jerk reaction, the easiest thing to do is before engaging in what we disagree on, we say, oh, he's an idiot.

He's a racist. That's why he believes that. He's been raised this way. So we don't talk about this issue. If you nullify the speaker, then his message is nullified. We do that in politics and things that we disagree in. We do that oftentimes even in theological debates that we have.

If you happen to go to that church, oh, if you go to that church, you must be like that. You must be ignorant. You don't know anything about the Bible. That's why you attend that church. You believe this. You're Calvinist? No, you must hate people. You're an Armenian? Did you read the Bible?

So even in the Christian realm, if somebody has an opposing view, the easiest way to argue that is to dismiss the person. He's dumb. He's stupid. His personality is this way. We don't really need to talk about this issue. See, that's what Paul is dealing with. He preached the gospel and it was unsettling.

He basically told them that everything that you thought about life was wrong. So the natural response is, this guy must hate the Jews. That's why he's saying what he's saying. Something must have happened to him. And I'll bet you there were conversations. Maybe Gamaliel was about to flunk this guy.

And maybe that's why. Maybe he was up for promotion and he was going to sit in the Sanhedrin and they voted him out. Something must have happened. Why is he doing that? See, in order to answer his critics, he first says, "I am not lying. I am speaking the truth in Christ.

My conscience bears witness." And what is he about to say? "I actually have sorrow and unceasing anguish. I don't rejoice of pointing out that the Jews will be condemned under the law if they continue to go down this path." See, our life, the way we live, it does matter.

It does matter. You know why? Because the gospel that was given to us is a hostile message in this world. It is a light in darkness. You ever have somebody that you just flip the light on, they're just sitting in darkness, they're watching a video or they're sleeping, you flip the light and they're like, "Ugh!" Immediate reaction is, "Ugh, turn it off!" See, when we preach the gospel, it's turning the light on in the darkness.

So the first reaction that oftentimes we'll get is, "They'll nullify you. You bunch of hypocrites. You're not any different than me, judging me. You're thinking better than I am." See, that's why we are told in 1 Peter 2.12, "Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." What Peter is saying is when you preach the gospel, they're going to accuse you of being evil.

Because they want to nullify the message. They don't like what they're hearing, so they're going to try to nitpick at where you are. And there's a reason why the scripture says the elder must be above reproach. Because you're going to be accused. The message that you're going to take to the world, they're going to accuse you of being a hater.

And so if they have anything that they can trip you up on, it's going to nullify you, therefore nullify the message. So some of you guys may be thinking, "Well, that's why I don't want to be an elder." You know? See, that passage in 1 Peter 2 is not talking simply about elders.

We may be an elder at this church, but you are an elder to the world. You may examine my life or the life of the leaders, but your life is being examined by the world. And if they find something to accuse you of that you are guilty, then automatically the message will be nullified.

That's why Paul is standing and saying, "What I'm saying, I say with a clear conscience. It's not because I hate the Jews. In fact, I love them to the extent that I would even give my life." It matters the way we live. Years ago, in 2004, some of you guys may remember, there was a huge earthquake off the shores of India and between Indonesia, and over 230,000 to 280,000 people died.

So some of you guys may remember that. This earthquake was so damaging and this one particular area of the world got the brunt of it. There was a little city on the tip of Indonesia. Some of you guys may know about Indonesia, but the highest concentration of militant Muslims are in Indonesia.

We don't hear much about that area because we get so much news about the Middle East. But we have friends who have been missionaries there for a while, and when all of that happened, I was having a conversation with him and he said that this little area, I mean Aceh, there's no Christian presence whatsoever.

They're so violent against Christianity that there's no missionary that is ever allowed to be in the city. Well, when the tsunami hit, they were in the coastal city and they had about 300,000 people, and out of 300,000, over 30,000 people got wiped out who lived near the shore. So when this happened, obviously they had to open doors and outside relief began to come in.

And the predominant presence of this relief came from Christians. And as a result of that, they said that the door got opened for the Gospel to be preached. And he was saying it was really exciting because for the first time, they were actually allowing Christians to come in. And he was telling me that one of the testimonies of the people, the Muslims that were there, they were crying out, "Where are our Muslim brothers?

Why are they not here? How come only the Christians are coming?" As a result of these good deeds, the Gospel began to get preached in this city. See, how we live matters because we are constantly going to be accused. Live in such a way that even though they want to accuse you, they can't because of your good deeds.

See, Paul, this message of the cross was so offensive. He was constantly being attacked. He was constantly trying, they were constantly trying to nullify his message by nullifying him. We typically think of opposition as being, rocks being thrown at them or them being dragged into jail. You know, all of that stuff obviously was difficult.

But he was constantly being attacked by the Jews, by the Gentiles, and oftentimes even within the church. From the Jews, Romans 3.8, "And why not do evil that good may come as some people slanderously charge us with saying." Paul, if what you're saying is true, this guy just wants to live in debauchery.

You know, live by faith and not by the law. And they were accusing him of preaching this Gospel because it was easier, because they want to live in licentiousness. In Philippians 3.2-6, these Judaizers were accusing Paul that this guy must hate the Jews. He must not have been a good Jew.

Maybe he failed. He couldn't keep up with the law. And since he wasn't good at keeping the law, maybe that's why he's saying the law is nullified. And he's choosing another path to get to God. See, Paul is responding to that accusation in Philippians 3.2, "Look out for the dogs.

Look out for the evil doers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the real circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God in glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh, though I myself have reason to put confidence in the flesh also." So in other words, he's saying, if you want to go toe to toe, if you think that I'm preaching this Gospel because somehow I failed in the flesh, let me tell you, though I myself have reason to confidence in the flesh also, if anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.

Circumcised on the eighth day. Of the apostles, of the people of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, right? Next to the tribe of Judah, the Benjamites were considered the most prestigious of all the tribes. I'm from tribe of Benjamin. A Hebrew among Hebrew. As to the law, a Pharisee. In other words, he took the law very seriously.

He wasn't just an average Jew. As to passion, to zeal, persecutor of the church. Now you guys already know that Paul took the responsibility for the first martyr of the church, Stephen. And when he met Christ, it was in the context of him chasing after these Christians all the way to Damascus.

Beating them, maybe even killing them. And you're going to accuse me of being weak. He says, well, if you want to go toe to toe, that's not the case at all. As far as righteousness under the law, I was blameless. How many of you can say that? Paul is saying that because they were accusing him.

They were trying to nullify this guy because they don't like the message that he had to preach. He was attacked by the Gentile. They're trying to nullify him. And they were accusing him of being like one of these prophets that are coming in and saying this and stirring up people for his own profit, for his own glory.

So if you remember in study of 1 Thessalonians, Paul writes this letter because people are beginning to nullify the message by saying Paul is coming for selfish reasons. He's like any of the all these other guys coming into town. All he wants really is your money. In response to that, 1 Thessalonians 2, 3, 6, "For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive.

But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not to please man, but to please God who trusts test our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with pretext for greed. God is our witness.

Nor do we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demand as apostles of Christ." And he continues on. If you continue to read that, basically Paul says, "I never asked for money." People are accusing us of coming and all we want is our own glory.

All we want is money from you. He says, "Remember when I was there." I know these people are saying this and they're trying to nullify the message by nullifying the messenger. "You remember how I was with you." It wasn't about money. It was not about glory. But I think most hurtful attack that Paul received was mostly from the church.

And you see a heart-wrenching letter being written in 2 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians is written to rebuke and to address specific issues because of their division in the church and allowing certain sin in the church. And they got a react—Paul got a reaction from that. Even though he spent all this time ministering to them, risking their life, their health, because they didn't like what Paul had to say.

"Hey, this guy, maybe he's not an apostle." I mean, look at what Paul says for 2 Corinthians 11.5. "I consider that I am not the least or inferior to super apostles." In other words, Paul, you don't cut it. You know, we don't like what you're saying, but maybe we don't even need to listen to you because you're not a true apostle.

"Even if I am unskilled in speaking." You know why he says that? He's not simply just being honest. He's saying that because they're accusing him. He's not a good speaker. He's not an apostle. I like Apollos. I like Peter because he was the closest to Christ. Johnny come lately, you know, and then he falls off a horse and all of a sudden he's rebuking all of us.

He's rebuking Peter in public. He's writing this letter saying that all the Judaizers are wrong. And then he's telling us that we're divided and we're allowing certain sins in our life and he's going to come with a whip. And then he asked for money. Who is this guy? He doesn't, I don't even like the way he speaks.

See, he's saying that because he's defending himself. Yeah, I know. I may be unskilled in speaking, but I am so, I am not so in knowledge. What I'm telling you is truth. Even though you want to nullify the message by nullifying the message in every way we have made this plain to you in all things that I commit sin and humbling myself so that you might be exalted because I preach God's gospel to you free of charge.

In other words, these apostles are, that we're supporting, you know, they're, they were used to giving them money and say, are you disqualifying me because I didn't get money from you? I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. And when I was with you and I was in need, I did not burden any of you for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied my need.

He's addressing issue by issue by issue because they're accusing him because they didn't like what he had to say. Second Corinthians 11 21. But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I am speaking as a fool. I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrew? So am I.

Are they Israelite? So am I. Are they Austrians of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one. I am talking like a madman. I know what this sounds like to you, that it sounds like I'm boasting, but it says, I'm saying all of this because I want you to pay attention to the message.

You're trying to nullify me because you don't like what I have to say. But if you, if you are accusing me, so he's defending himself. So next section, he lists out what he went through to get the gospel to these people. Five times I received the hands of the Jews, the 40 lashes less one.

Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. At night and the day I was, I was adrift at sea on freaking journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from its own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship through many sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, and often without food and cold and exposure.

I know that this is Paul's credential and we often quote this passage and say, well, Paul suffered quite a bit for the gospel. But Paul is writing this to defend himself. He's writing this to defend himself because they're trying to nullify his message. They didn't like being rebuked. They didn't like being told of their divisiveness, of certain doctrines that they held.

They didn't mind it when he was preaching about certain things that encouraged them, but when he came out hard in 1 Corinthians, and he says, apart from all of that, all the other things, there is a daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak and I am not weak.

Who is made to fall and I am not indignant. Paul already knows this in his head that the eight chapters of exposition of the gospel, when the gospel is preached clearly without compromise, the whole counsel of God, only person who will thank you is the one who repents. Only person that's going to say thank you for sharing the gospel is the one that repents.

If you preach the gospel correctly, without compromise, in season and out of season, everyone else will think you're a bigot. You're a liar. You're a hypocrite. You're arrogant. How can you say such a thing in this day and age? You're a homophobe. You're a misogynist. If the gospel is preached correctly, see Paul already knows this, that his message will not go over well if they don't receive it.

And because they're going to nullify him to nullify the message, he says, I am not, what I'm telling you is truth. I am not lying. My conscience bears witness in the Holy Spirit. And then he says what he needs them to hear and to believe before he moves on.

He says, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. You know, Paul was able to sympathize with them because he was the worst of them. He knew how they would receive the gospel because that's how he received it. When Stephen and the early disciples began to preach the gospel, he was just as angry.

He was willing to kill. So he knows how offensive this message is because now he's preaching the same gospel. He was willing to kill. So he knows how offensive this is. He was able to sympathize with them because he was one of them. Not only was he one of them, he calls himself the chief of them.

First Timothy 1, 15, 16, the saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost, the chief. I don't think Paul is describing his current state of sin. You know, a lot of times people use this like, oh, I am the chief of sinners.

No, I am. No, no, I am. You know, we're almost like, you know, they call it humble bragging. You're bragging about your humility. I am the chief of sinners. Like Paul, I am so bad. No, no, no. You don't know how bad I am. It's not Paul is not humble bragging.

I don't think because the very next passage he says, he is I am the foremost, but he's not, he's not saying this is who I am now. He said, but I receive mercy for this reason. He says, because I was the chief of sinners and he really was right.

He said, we don't have to kill. I was a chief of these sinners. I understand you, but I receive mercy for this reason that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who are to believe in him for eternal life.

The very reason why God chose him to be an apostle to the Gentiles is so that the gospel may be displayed, not him, that if that chief sinner can receive mercy and salvation, then so can we. So that the Jews may be able to hear the preaching of this man, this hateful man and say, wow, he can be saved.

Then maybe I can be saved. Paul is not, even though he may come off that way and some may, some people may accuse him of that. Paul say, no, I'm not preaching this gospel because I hate you. There's great anguish in my heart because you're rejecting the Messiah that we've been waiting for because you misunderstood.

So he's able to sympathize because he at one point was in his shoes, but he's able to sympathize because he was a recipient of this great mercy. Phil Riken says in his book, we respond to God's mercy by becoming merciful ourselves. The greatest evidence that we are, we are recipients of this mercy as we become merciful.

It is an oxymoron for a, for a Christian to become proud. You know, every once in a while you may meet somebody who's memorizing scripture and discipline and doing all these things and they're filled with pride. And you say, wow, they're really spiritual. The first evidence of somebody who was affected by the cross is humility because he's recognizing that he was dead in his trespasses and by the mercy of God, he was, he was yanked up from death.

So how can somebody who was yanked up from death stand up and say, look at me. The first and true evidence of spiritual maturity is humility is brokenness. See, apostle Paul never forgot that he was the chief of sinners. He never forgot that with all the credentials, with all that he has done, revelation coming through him, beaten and ultimately even killed.

He never forgot that he was a chief of sinners that was saved from death. See, in the book of Luke chapter 15, you know about the parable of the prodigal son, but the context of that prodigal son starts in beginning of chapter 15, where Jesus is associating with the tax collectors and the sinners.

And the Pharisee comes and said, if you're a true rabbi, you should know that you shouldn't be hanging around with these sinners. And in response to the Pharisee's accusation, Jesus gives three parables. The first one is a parable of the lost sheep. 99, he leaves them and then goes, chases one.

And the point of that parable is every single sheep is precious to God. The second parable is a parable of the lost coin. And the woman goes and sweeps the whole house, finds the coin and she rejoices. The point of that story is that every single coin is precious to the owner.

And then he gives a third parable, which is the final punchline with a prodigal son who leaves and a father who anxiously waits when he comes home. He restores him fully, has a banquet, but then he ends with turning to the older brother, the Pharisee. And he rebukes him.

And the point of the whole chapter 15 and point of every single one of these things, the punchline is, they accused Jesus, why do you hang out with sinners? And Jesus basically saying, why do you not? You do not know the heart of God. The reason why this bothers you is because you don't know who the father is.

Paul is able to see and sympathize with them because he never forgot that he was one of them, that he was the prodigal son. He was the lost coin. He was the lost sheep. But what he says in verse three, humanly, it's hard to understand, hard to relate to for I could wish that I myself were a curse and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen, according to the flesh.

You know, every once in a while, somebody, you know, you have a good friend or somebody in church or somebody at work and you become close to them and they'll say something like, dude, I'll take a bullet for you. Right? And they might mean it at that point. I think even Peter may have meant it when he said, you know, even if they all deny you, I'm not going to deny you.

They may mean it, but if you live long enough, you know, you live long enough, you know, that human relationships are frail. That same guy who said, you know, I'll take a bullet for you. You know, all it takes is a misunderstanding and one argument and I'm going to kill you.

Take a bullet. I'm the one going to shoot you. Right? And that's how fragile human relationships are. Is Paul exaggerating? He's not talking about his mom, his dad, his son. He's talking about his countrymen. So maybe we can look at that and say, oh, maybe we don't really realize the nationalism of the Jews.

You know, maybe that's just the way they felt about each other. I mean, I can understand that he has passion. Maybe he was a preacher and he probably was, but he's saying that if I could, I will be a cursed anathema. If I can trade places with you. I mean, it sounds good, but if he just said that out in the open, we could just, you know, that's a passionate guy.

He's just, he's just a type A personality, but he just set this up by saying, I am not lying. I'm telling the truth in Christ. My conscience bears witness in the Holy Spirit. He just set it up by saying, God is my witness. What I'm about to tell you is absolute truth.

So we have to accept this as truth. Paul meant this to humanly speaking, what he said makes no sense. See what Paul, what he's saying is if I could, if I was capable, if I was able, I would try to change places so that you can be saved. And the only reason why he's able to say that is because that's what he's been talking about for eight chapters.

For eight chapters, he's been expounding what he wished that he could do. Our Lord Jesus did. He was accursed in their place. He was accursed for his, for his place. He wasn't, he's not just simply saying, I have this great love. He said, if I was able to do what I'm telling you, what Jesus did, I would, but I can't.

And that's why I'm telling you about him because he did. So don't nullify the messenger because you don't love the message I want to tell you about this man. That's why 2 Corinthians 5 14, it says for the love of Christ controls us. And some of your translations, it says it compels us.

It wasn't a, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't a new year's resolution. It wasn't an accountability group. He was so deeply affected by the love of Christ in his life that God would send his only begotten son to take his place of judgment that he was compelled to go tell other people.

He was compelled to preach it to the elect. He was compelled to be beaten. He was compelled to be prisoned. And he was eventually compelled to be beheaded because of the love of Christ. He is not lying. He's telling the truth. His conscious bears witness in the Holy spirit and he is confirming the message of the cross.

We are compelled by the love of Christ because we have concluded that this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who live my no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised years ago.

I think it was a sophomore in college. The very first time we went street evangelism, I passed out tracks before, but never like actually talking to people. And our campus leader who I lived with for about a year and a half prior to that, we went up to evangelize up at big bear and we all came back.

You know, those of you who've ever been street evangelism, I mean, it gets your blood boiling. I mean, you get pumped up. So we all came back, young college students, we're all sharing with each other, you know, and I got chased out of the store with the broom. I got persecuted, you know, we're all sharing these stories and we're all pumping each other up.

And then our, our leader, our home leader came up and he started sharing and he said how he was having this conversation with this elderly couple and he said, well, they were so nice, you know, grandparents. And, and then they just, after he shared the gospel, they said, no, that's not for me, you know, and they were polite about it, but they rejected the gospel.

And he was sharing this. And for a year and a half, I lived with them about a year prior to that day. I've never seen him shed a tear. I mean, this guy is like a ex military guy from Korea. You know, he would make us wake up at five o'clock.

Even if you slept at three, you wake up at five and we go running. We do quiet time, memorize scripture. I mean, this guy ran it like a military. He stood up there and he was sharing about how this elderly couple rejected the gospel and it just kind of overwhelmed him.

He was explaining what it, what the consequence of rejecting Christ. And he began to shed tears talking about this elderly couple that he just ran into for about an hour, talking about the consequence. If they do not turn from their sins, what will happen? And I remember as a young college student that made such a deep impression on me.

So I don't know if I ever wept for a lost soul up to that point. And I remember praying that night, Lord, let me weep for souls like him. Let me weep for souls like him because this is his heart. John Knox, I'm going to end with this. John Knox, who brought the gospel to Ireland, his prayer often was give me Scotland or God or I die.

David Brainer was often quoted by Jonathan Edwards, a missionary to the native Indians. His prayer was often now let me burn out for God. Our prayer should not be Lord, make me a better Christian, which is not a bad prayer. That I'm going to be more fit and all this stuff.

There's nothing wrong with any of this stuff. But do we cry out for what God cries out for? Do we ache for the world that's dying every single day without the gospel? When was the last time you were on your knees, praying and interceding for the lost around you?

Let the truth of the gospel sink in. Put away the things that are distracting. Let the truth of the gospel really sink in and let the love of Christ compel us. Let's take a minute to come before the Lord in prayer and really pray that what Paul is saying about his countrymen, about the lost, is not just something that we hear, it's a passage in the Bible.

To come before the Lord and pray that that would be our heart, that would be our prayer. That we would know the heart of the Father and ache and intercede and cry out for the lost. Let's take some time to pray as our worship leaders lead us.