Good morning to you all. I know you may have surprise or disappointment to see me here because Peter was slated to preach but fever scratched him. But then my brother Dave from Trinity Church in Mountville, New Jersey was slated to preach, but exhaustion scratched him. So now you have the third string. But we trust that the Lord's power can be made perfect in weakness. My mom, some of you have asked, she's still standing, shivering in the middle of the river. hoping to cross over. And in some ways we feel like, Lord, where's that chariot to swing low and come for to carry her home? And we're hoping that will be soon. But boy, just as she has stood there shivering. She has really endeared herself to us, to me. I love my mommy and she is teaching me how to die. And she's a very wise woman. But let's take our Bibles and turn to Romans chapter 1. Romans 1. And I'm just going to focus on one verse and that's verse 16. Paul says this, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for everyone who believes, the Jew first and also the Gentile. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gospel, and we thank you for the power and the salvation it brings. And we ask that that power would be here with us this morning. We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. Constantine became the emperor of Rome in 311 A.D., and that provided Christianity with Caesar's protection now, as Constantine professed to be a Christian. So this brought over two centuries of persecution of Christians in the empire to an end. However, 25 years after Constantine's death, one ruler named Julian, who was nicknamed Julian the Apostate, became the emperor, and hating Christianity, He didn't return to a policy of persecution of Christians with sword and fire and lions. He feared if he did that, that martyrdoms would energize Christianity instead of crushing it. So instead, Julian cunningly fought the church by writing treatises against Christianity and removing Christians from positions of influence and forbidding the education of Christian children and robbing Christians of their possessions. It was a wicked man, Julian the apostate, the emperor was. But then during a night battle in 363, Julian was struck by chance by a stray arrow, giving him a mortal wound. And legend has it that his last words were spoken in surrender to King Jesus against whom he had barely fought. And his words were his last ones Galilean, thou hast conquered. And then arguably, since then, the influence of Christianity has absolutely dominated the entire Western world as the Galilean triumphed. Well, we dial back in history now to approximately 57 AD, where the Apostle Paul anticipated his soon arrival into pagan Rome, which was the capital of Caesar's power. And Paul was a captain in the motley and pitiable looking legions of King Jesus, who was a rival ruler who sought supreme allegiance in the hearts of men above the Caesar at that time, who was Nero. And what was Paul's lone weapon as he approached that great city of Rome? Well, it was a flimsy looking sling. So yeah, a little sling of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And surely then it seemed that this pitiable Paul was on a fool's errand. So with these thoughts in our mind, warming us to the first century conflict residing in Paul's words here, where Paul says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel. Where there's a power of God for salvation to everyone who believes in the Jew first and also the Greek, we want to unpack this passage under three main headings. First, we'll look at Paul's gospel confidence stated. Secondly, Paul's gospel confidence reasoned. And then thirdly, Paul's gospel confidence applied. So come on with me to the first of the three main headings, Paul's gospel confidence stated. Simply, he says, I am not ashamed of the gospel. He's not embarrassed about it. He doesn't fear the ridicule it might bring. He's not going to shrink back in using it. So just consider his gospel confidence stated, just two angles here. The first angle will be in the face of scorning. You see, Paul was writing this letter to the Romans from Corinth. And Paul could look, as it were, across the Adriatic Sea. And if he could see that far, he would see the Italian peninsula where Rome resided. And that was the capital of world power. That was the residence of all the great people. The who's who of the globe. All the VIPs of the world there in Rome. And in Rome there was the pomp and the ceremony of the Roman Emperor's court. There would be senators, and philosophers, and orators, and writers, and intellectuals. I mean Rome was an intimidating place, man. To go, put yourself in Paul's sandals because his mission in going to Rome was he was to tell that city that the savior of the world that they all needed to bend the knee to was, get this now, a Galilean Jewish carpenter from Nazareth. And his campaign to be king climaxed and is being crucified on a Roman cross. And the Romans knew what a cross was. And they were all to bend the knee to this Galilean. I mean, that's a sophisticated and learned city Paul is going to. How do you think they're gonna respond to Paul as he approaches this great city? In his heart, Paul feels, left to himself, they're going to laugh him out of town. They're going to say, look at this little funny man, this Jew with bald legs, bald head, crooked nose. Look at him, this amusing fellow. What, is he vying to be Caesar's court jester? Is that why he's come to our town? Because that's really the way in Paul's rear view mirror if you look. He had been in Athens. Now he's in Corinth and he's writing a letter. How had they treated Paul in Athens? When he gave the gospel on Mars Hill. What did they say there in Acts 17-18? It says the Epicureans and the Stoic philosophers said... Who is this idle babbler? How would you like to be called that? And it says that when he spoke of the resurrection on Mars Hill, it says they sneered at him. They hissed at him. That doesn't do good to one's ego. You know, he was laughed out of town in Athens, and now he's writing in Corinth. And see, Paul wasn't a man of steel. He wasn't invulnerable to criticism. I suggest you, this kind of shook him up, because as Aaron read to us, when he wrote from 1 Corinthians 2, 1, Paul says, I came to you, he speaks of, in much weakness, he writes to the Corinthians. I came to Corinth, which is where he's writing the letter from, I came to you in weakness and fear and trembling. Why? Because in his rear view mirror was the humiliating experience in Athens, how they laughed him out of town. But still, Paul says, As Aaron read, but I when I came to you set my jaw and I determined to know Jesus Christ and him crucified instead of the wisdom of men. So Paul was a man who had the logical muscle to fence and joust with the best of the intellectuals of his day. But he refused to fight with worldly methods. Instead, you know what he used? That sling. He used this hokey foolishness of the gospel. And he may have been tempted, as many in our day are tempted, to present a message that's more palatable, more tasty to the young believer's mind, to remove the offense of the cross and its related themes. But Paul said, no, I am ashamed of the gospel in the face of scorning. But we're looking at Paul's gospel confidence stated in the face of scorning, but also consider how with a voice of daring. When he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, this isn't the sheepish voice of Nicodemus coming to Jesus that night because he was afraid. And Jesus could have said to Nicodemus, what, are you ashamed of me? And Nicodemus may say, no, sheepishly, I'm not ashamed of you. Paul isn't speaking here with a Nicodemus sheepishness, A David-like defiance in saying, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. And who is David? Well, you know David. He's that pitiful runt of a boy who stood in the valley of Elah looking up the nostrils of the intimidating Goliath who was taunting him and mocking him. And what did David say? Basically, he said, I'm not ashamed of this sling. as he was tossing that little pebble up and down in his hand. I'm not ashamed with the weaponry that I have here. And he says in 1 Samuel 17 to Goliath looking up his nostrils, the battle is the Lord's and I will strike you down and I will remove your head from you. And that's the way Paul spoke unashamed as he faced the giant city of Rome. and its emperor and its power, he was unashamed. Alexander McLaren says this, the danger of approaching Rome was an attraction to Paul's chivalrous spirit. He believed that in flying at the head when you are fighting with a serpent, that was the way to do it. He knew that influence exerted in Rome would thrill through the empire. and that the Galilean would triumph in the known world. And so armed with just a flimsy looking sling of the gospel and the smooth stones of its key doctrines, Paul made his way toward Rome. So that's Paul's gospel confidence stated, our first main heading. Let's go to our second main heading now, and that is Paul's gospel confidence reasoned. Reason, that's in 16b. Really, Paul gives three reasons for his confidence when he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Four, It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Consider these three reasons of his gospel confidence. The first is because it announces salvation. I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of salvation. The word salvation is the Greek word soterion, which means deliverance or preservation or safety from danger. The gospel brings safety from danger. It brings deliverance from something deadly. Like that same word soterion is used in way back in the Old Testament in the Septuagint version, the Greek version of the Old Testament in Exodus 14 and verse 13 where Moses stood up against the Red Sea with the military machine of Egypt bearing down on the chariots and the horsemen. And he had a staff, a wooden staff in his hand. And he says this, he says there, stand by to all of Israel, and you shall see the salvation of the Lord. That's the same word there, soterion, as Israel was hemmed in at the Red Sea, their backs to the Red Sea. Pharaoh's chariots in their faces, their wives and their children were doomed to be mowed down and massacred. They'd already endured Egypt's whip. And now they were going to be struck through with Egypt's sword. And he holds this staff, Moses does, showing the way across the Red Sea. That's quite a picture there, you think of it. All the dynamics. chariots and horsemen about to mow down, hemmed in, no way out. Really, this is a depiction of the human race, all of humanity. Think of all of humanity on the globe right now, all sinners, standing in a doomed state. Doomed why? because of Adam's first sin. If you eat of the forbidden fruit, you will surely die, be mowed down in God's wrath, but also because of personal sin. Even later on in 323 of Romans, it says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We can't just blame Adam. We've done it ourselves. We've amended his sin. And here we are on the shore about to be mowed down. And so we see that The chariots and the horsemen of heaven are poised in heaven right now to break through the clouds when Jesus comes back a second time and to mow us down, to bind us hand and foot and cast us all into hell. And as Paul approached the city of Rome, that whole city was doomed to destruction and wrath. All the sinners of Rome were a desperate condition and they needed to see what? They needed to see the salvation of the Lord. They needed to find the way out of this. And so Paul says, I'm bringing to them the gospel. It's like the staff of Moses. It opens the way to deliverance. So why should anyone be ashamed of or blush or be embarrassed about showing the way of escape to this vast city of Rome, all their doomed multitudes? I have the good news. Why should I be ashamed of that? In my gospel is the power of God unto salvation. There's an escape for you. That's what the gospel declares. So Paul's gospel confidence reasoned, one, because it announces salvation. There's a second reason he gives here. His gospel confidence reasoned because it contains great power. Great power, this gospel of Paul's. It says, for it is the power of God for salvation. Greek word there, power, dunamis, dunamis, which means strength, ability, potential, dunamis. Have you ever heard the word dunamis? Have you ever heard the word dynamite? Yeah, dynamite has explosive punch to it, doesn't it? Ah, that's what Paul is saying. There's explosive punch in the gospel. You see, Paul had seen this gospel take down giant sinners. I mean, big dogs. Because Paul knew the gospel had taken him down. He was the chief enemy of Jesus. But on Damascus Road, the pebble of the gospel struck him, and he was down for the count. And Paul had also seen himself. That was in Acts 9 when he was taken down. In Acts 13, he saw the procouncil on the island of Cyprus taken down. That was a big dog, the governor of Cyprus. And then in Acts 16, the Philippian jailer was taken down that night when he was singing hymns. And then Crispus, the synagogue leader, was taken down in the 18th chapter. It wasn't just one of the little boys who was a custodian at the synagogue. It was the synagogue ruler who was taken down. And even in Corinth it speaks of, in 1 Corinthians 6, even homosexuals and thieves and murderers. had been taken down to love King Jesus. The gospel has power. John Murray says this. The gospel is the omnipotence of God operative in salvation. And Charles Hodge says, through the gospel God exercises his power. Now I know what you're thinking. In what sense do you mean the gospel has power? What are you saying here? Are you saying the mere words like the black print on this page here has power? I'm not saying the words themselves have power, because in 1 Thessalonians 1.5 the apostle says this, The Holy Spirit came in power. So Paul is saying that when the message of the gospel is declared, it unleashes the power of God by the Holy Spirit to shield the soul from wrath. Have you ever heard of V. Martin Lloyd-Jones? He used to be a doctor. He was actually the Queen's physician in London. But he decided to be a pastor because he wanted to do eternal good. And so he exchanged his stethoscope for the Word of God. And Lloyd-Jones says this. The gospel, he says, the gospel is, well, it's kind of like a prescription that a physician scribbles down on a piece of paper and hands it to the sick patient. And Lloyd-Jones says this, and there is no power in the letters that are written on that scrap of paper, but if you take that scrap of paper and you take that scrap of paper, And if you take that scrap of paper, and you then take it to the pharmacist, and he gives you these ingredients, and you ingest it, well, there is great power then in that prescription. So what Lloyd-Jones is saying is that the Spirit of God applies the great truth scribbled down in the words of the gospel when it is preached and that unleashes within a soul spiritual power that deposes sin in the heart and enthrones Christ in the heart. That is dynamite. That is power. That's why Paul says, I am not ashamed of this prescription. I am not ashamed of this gospel I carry here in my pocket because I know what it can do. I know what it's done for me. I've seen what it's done in others and I trust it can do that same thing for this leper colony of Rome that I go to. It can save all of them. And though the multitudes there in Rome may laugh at my message, they may call me a stupid little man with a crumpled up scrap of paper in my pocket. Paul says this, even as Aaron read to us, 1 Corinthians 1.18, for the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness, but to us are being saved. It is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever. I will set aside. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is a debater of this age? Has not God made foolishness the wisdom of the world? For since the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know God. God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. It's the power power of God, and if you ingest it, it will save you for eternity. Paul has confidence in the gospel, his reasoning, because it announces salvation, because it contains great power, and now thirdly, because it saves all kinds. Look, it says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone, to everyone. who believes it saves all kinds. First for the Jew and also the Greek. It's an antidote that can save every kind of sinner. Imagine in this COVID age that it became clear that, oh, we now have a prescription. And it is a prescription that can cure somebody who has COVID, no matter how bad it is. However, It's only for Asians. It only works for them. I don't know why. It only works for Asians. It doesn't work for Caucasians. It doesn't work for Africans. It doesn't work for Latinos. It only works for Asians. That's not what the gospel is like. The gospel doesn't just save Jews because the world would be divided into two categories of population. Jews and Gentiles. But no, this is an antidote for every kind of sinner. Yes, yes, for the Jew first. And did you notice how when Paul had his mission, it sort of followed the example of Jesus who said, you are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, where the Jews are, in Judea, Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. And that was basically Paul's missionary strategy. Whenever he would go to a town, where did he go to first? The synagogue, where the Jews were. because it was salvation for the Jews first. And he uses later on in the book of Romans in chapter 11, the idea of, well, because the Jews, they are the root, which has the promise to the forefathers, sons of Abraham by blood. They are the root of the olive plant. And certainly, a natural branch can be engrafted into the root. You think of olive plants, if one was a Palestinian olive plant and one was an Italian olive plant, certainly if you're gonna engraft a plant into the trunk, a plant with Palestinian DNA would fit better. Instead of the strange looking Italian plant, that would be kind of a amputation and then a, integration that would not be proper DNA, but it'll still work. But the Jew works first. The Jew matches nicely with the gospel, the natural branches, because think of going to a synagogue and talking to the Jewish people. There is a theological connection that the Jews naturally have with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, because the gospel is promises to Abraham. Even you think of Paul coming to a synagogue and saying, Jesus is the Passover lamb. Behold the lamb who takes away the sins of the world. Does a Jew understand what the Passover lamb is? Oh yeah! The unblemished lamb smeared on the doorpost. The wrath of God passed. The Jews understand that! Jesus is the scapegoat that can carry away our sins, which will be on the day of atonement. Or Jesus is the high priest who stands at the right hand of the Father to intercede for you. Oh, the Jews know about priests and scapegoats and lambs, but think of the Gentiles. They don't have that connection, do they? They don't have that same theological DNA. You speak to the crowd at Lystra, and there are all these wild and woolly Gentiles. They don't even have the basics of elemental Jewish theology, because they worship Zeus, crazy gods like Hermes, and Artemis, and Poseidon. And you tell them about Passover lamb, scapegoat, and high priest, and it's like, not comprehending, no wavelength there. But Paul is saying this gospel doesn't save just the Jews, but it also saves the power to save the Gentiles. It says all who believe, regardless of their infirmity, this gospel can save all, everyone, the Jew and the Gentile. In other words, none are too sick. None are beyond the healing power of this prescription because the gospel is a true panacea, a true cure-all. And so, not only the Jews can be saved by it, those Jews who, like in the second chapter, Paul speaks about the Jews as being hypocrites, gospel can save them. He speaks about those who are whitewashed tombs, who are thieves and adulterers in the secret closets of their lives, but outside they appear to be upright before the eyes of men. The gospel can save that kind of a sinner, but you know what? The gospel can also save the Gentile sinner. Now, that kind of a sinner can be like a whitewashed tomb, right? If somebody has cancer of, say, the colon, you can look at them. They can look pretty on the outside, but something bad's going on on the inside. The gospel can save them. What about the individual who has skin cancer? You ever see an individual who has skin cancer? They almost look, maybe in their face, they're all lepers. That's ugly, that's grotesque. Well, that's the lifestyle of the Gentile, who it speaks about them in Romans chapter 1, how they're given over to a darkened mind. And they worship animals and beasts, and they hate their children. In the first century, they don't even offer up their children to a false god. I mean, that is ugly, right? That is grotesque. Cancer on the outside. But the gospel can save even the whitewashed tombs who are wicked on the inside and the vile pagans who are wicked on the outside. The gospel is salvation for everyone who believes. Powerful to save all kinds. The Pharisee and the prostitute. The whitewashed tomb and the open cesspool. So that's what Paul brings. That's why he has this confidence. So we've seen the gospel confidence stated. We've seen, secondly, the gospel confidence reasoned. Now come out with me thirdly and finally to the gospel confidence applied. The gospel confidence applied. And I've got some, just some practical lessons and the relevance of all this. The first is to Christian witnesses. Think about this, you Christian witnesses. And it's important because the last words of Jesus there in Acts chapter one, you are to be my witnesses. You, you, with the gospel. You're to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth. Say, wait a minute, I know what you're saying there. Wait a minute, I'm a mother here. And you're not saying I'm a witness because I'm a mother. And my time is all in nurturing children. Now you say, but I'm an engineer and I got other business to do. I don't want to be a witness. You say, hey, come on, Pastor Mark. Jesus said that to the 11 disciples. Those were full-time gospel workers like you, Mark. You're the one who's to be the witness and take the gospel and to be brave like Paul. Don't try to put that on me. Well, come on now. Just think of how it says, look, turn with me to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, Paul speaks of those who are in Philippi. He says, 2.15, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God, above reproach, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you, really it should say, present or you shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life in a dark world. It'll be lanterns. It isn't just written to pastors. We are all to be those who are shining as lights, holding forth the word of life. And even Colossians 4 says, we're to make the most of every opportunity, having our conversation always be full of grace and seasoned with salt. Personal to me, I remember a time I gave an illustration about, hey look, if you're driving south at 2 a.m. and you come to the bridge at the Grand River, at Grand Haven, and that drawbridge, it's out. And you come right to the end and you realize there's no bridge there and you squeal and you turn and your one tire is leaning over, about to fall into the Grand River and you stop in time and you say, well, the bridge is out. What you gonna do? Get back in your car and drive all the way around, maybe toward Allendale, then get back home and tell your wife, hey, I've been saved from going into the river. You better pull that car over, then you better stand in front of that bridge and wave your arms, flash your car lights and tell, don't go that way to save other people. And I said, that's what you need to do. We're witnesses. Tell people how they can save their soul. You know what someone said to me, I was a visitor, it was none of y'all. But the visitor said, hey, Pastor Mark, I don't like that illustration because you left your people with guilt. Guilty that some might go to hell. Pastor Mark, this is Reformed Baptist Church. You're Reformed. You believe in the sovereignty of God. You believe in predestination. You believe in election. Your people should always be able to comfort themselves with the reality that all those whom God has chosen before the foundation of the world, they're all safe. and they're all going to get home safely. So don't ever leave your people with guilt, feeling like they should give the gospel. Beloved, I was really agitated when that person said that because I look at my Lord Jesus who understood Sovereignty and election? But it says in Luke 19.41, when he saw Jerusalem, who was refusing him? It says, he wailed and he wept like a mother hen, he pled them to come. Or Ezekiel 33.11 says, God says, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that they would turn and that they would live. So I ask you, how could any of us be content being silent? and being ashamed of the gospel. You see, beloved, in our pockets is this gospel prescription. There's a problem, because we've got something else, not just in our pocket, we've got something else in our heads, and that is insecurity. We don't want to be seen by the person we might witness to as being an unsophisticated fool. We don't want them to laugh at us, do we? You know what we become then? Ashamed of the gospel. Beloved, let us never dare to use the glory of sovereignty as a novocaine that numbs our shrieking consciences. Just numb it over with the fact that these people are either elect or not elect. Paul understood the doctrine of election. Read Romans chapter 9. But Paul couldn't keep his mouth shut. Paul understood that principle. You just think with me. Think of this. COVID, COVID era. Let's say that it was discovered that there's a rare blood type. It's called O negative. Only about 3% of mankind has O negative blood. What if it was discovered that if somebody has O negative blood, they're very susceptible to COVID, and they can be languishing on a deathbed, and there's no hope for them except you discover there was a Latvian doctor. And this Latvian doctor had devised a cure, exotic prescription, but the ingredients were kind of embarrassing. The ingredients were these herbs, sneezewort, toadflax, and goosefoot. But when ingested, the person would be brought to full health. And you have an O negative son, and you gave it to him, and he was saved. But then you're off at the mall, and you see someone pushing a wheelchair. Yeah, he's about to die. It's his last. A few hours, and I just want him to see something. Why? Oh, he's one of those O negative guys. And you have the prescription in your pocket that saved your son, but you're afraid of the idea of recommending Toadflax. And so you keep it crumpled in your pocket, because you don't want to have that sophisticated guy who drove Alexis in to make you be looked at and be laughed at. You know what? That's what's reenacted in our lives. Continuously. I'm just saying, beloved, let us steel ourselves with the Apostle's words. I am not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God unto salvation. That little crumpled note is a sling. And you take the pebbles of truth and you hurl it at someone and there's power in that pebble when the Spirit guides it into the forehead and it can take down the most gigantic of sinners and they can fall at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. There's an interesting account in Dalamore's biography of Whitefield, talks of a man named Howell Harris. He was a very popular man in his city. He was a dice player. He was a drinker. He was a gossiper. He was a lovemaker. They called him a fop. You know what a fop is? A dandy. You know what a dandy is? Someone who always has to be glossy and every little, the hat and the cane and whatever he's wearing, everything's got to be, that was Hal Harris. But on one Palm Sunday, he'd been brought into a church. and brought him to the church, and he heard the preacher say this, if you're not fit to come to the Lord's table, you're not fit to live, and you're not fit to die. And Harris just heard that, and it hit him. And he was left reeling as he walked out of that church, and four days later, he fell at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And all I'm telling you is we need to take the pebble of the gospel and we need to hurl it and not be afraid of it. It's not necessarily that you've got to give a full systematic truth telling of the gospel. Sometimes it's only this. Let's say that you're saying you know my family's going to church on Sunday. Maybe it's Thursday you're at the workplace at the shop. My family's going to church on Sunday. Somebody says this. I'd never go to church. I'd be crawling with a sense of guilt. I wouldn't want to go there. Just for you to say this. If you're not ready to go to church, and you're not ready to live, and you're not ready to die, then you walk away. And that's it, baby. A little pebble, didn't give a whole mountain range of the gospel, but you give a pebble of the gospel. Don't be ashamed of it. So applying this gospel confidence to Christian witnesses, secondly, to Christian ministers, The pastor's here. Peter, you listening to me, my man? All of us. There's a book by John MacArthur, Ashamed of the Gospel, written many years ago. And he was writing to a generation of ministers who's been cowed and intimidated by a sophisticated society. These pastors possessed in their Bibles gospel power of God unto salvation, but they were ashamed of it, and they were embarrassed by it, and they wanted to give the gospel, oh, kind of a facelift, so the people of their culture would like it. Sort of gut the gospel of its power, sort of take the toadflax out of the gospel, because that's bitter. And it's epitomized in that popular tract. You've seen it? God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Let me ask you, is that the way the apostle presented the gospel? I know it may sound harsh and people don't, but look, it says in verse 16, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God. And look at verse 18, he starts his gospel presentation. What did he start with? where the wrath of God is revealed against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. He begins by saying, God is angry with you, and you are under the sentence of God's wrath. Oh, come on, Pastor Mark, come on. Some of you may be thinking, I know. Pastor, if we talk like that, if we preach like that, we're gonna be labeled narrow-minded haters. Because this world doesn't like wrath. They don't want us to use the H word, the hell word. We shouldn't have rigid absolutes. We shouldn't talk about holiness. That just doesn't cut it today, Pastor Mark. Pastor Mark, we've got to tailor our message to appeal to the 20s, 20 American. Was that the Apostle Paul's approach as he approached the city of Rome? No, he abominated. In fact, he said to Timothy, a time is gonna come when men won't put up a sound doctrine, but they'll gather to themselves. People wanna itch their ears. Harbor Church, never, never, never. Harbor, never do we minister in such a way that we can have a cool table at Hope College. Nor do we write in such a way and speak in such a way that the Holland Sentinel smiles on us. There are a lot of churches the Holland Sentinel smiles on, beloved. We want the smile of the Galilean. We want the smile of King Jesus. And we don't want to gut the gospel with so much bitter elements. Toad flax may be really bitter tasting, but that's part of the power of it. all of the gospel truth we are willing to tell and we are willing to speak. May God help us as Christian ministers. But thirdly, there's a message here to doubting saints. To doubting saints. I say that doubting saints because the problem with the gospel and being ashamed of it can sometimes just take place between our ears. There can be, as we move about the world and learn things, you go off to college, you go off to even high school, and the suggestion comes to you like a dart into your head, a flaming dart that can set your brain into fever. Oh, that's just that old fuddy-duddy, hokey, foolish gospel. And that can not only undermine our evangelism, it can also undermine our faith because the enemy deceiver insinuates to our hearts that the gospel is, it's just absurd. It's just ridiculous to believe. You ever hear of the idea of Christianity is the opia of the masses? It's the morphine that just sedates people's false guilt. And so just think with me. Let's say maybe you're watching the History Channel. And maybe it is a documentary on the Great Wall of China. And going through the documentary, it speaks about Confucianism in China. and Daoism in China, and Hinduism in China, and all these religions. And your mind begins to be set ablaze with doubt, because you think, oh, Buddhism, and then you think, well, how foolish and naive it is for me to think that in the vastness of our world, and in the vastness of history, that somehow Jesus of Nazareth from Galilee is really the centerpiece of history? I mean, that is really naive and ignorant to think that. I mean, come on. Because it's happened to me as I've watched that documentary myself. I begin to think in the mind, he was born of a virgin? What? A virgin can't have a baby. He was born in a stable. And listen, that there were angels who came and told shepherds. And the sky was filled with, oh, come on, Mark. It's 2020, man. And there's this Galilean teacher who barely was mentioned as a blip in secular history. He's the centerpiece of history. And even him, he was nailed to a cross as a criminal. But he was raised from the dead. Yeah, but come on, Mark. Who was it verified by? His deluded followers. How naive can you get, Mark? And supposedly this insignificant Galilean philosopher from the backwaters of Palestine, Hillbilly Galilee, that he is the only true religion and that all men from every continent must obey him and believe him. Oh, come on, Mark. And Mark begins to blush with embarrassment. You really believe that, Mark? You've given your life to that, Mark. And we're struck with a strong sense of doubt and our faith begins to wither at the contemplation of it. And what do we do? We become ashamed of the gospel with our doubt. We need to take the pliers of this passage and put it to the dart and pull it out. And we need to say, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation. Where else shall we go when we're standing shivering in the middle of the river with our last breath? Where else shall we go? He alone has the words of life. But just lastly, fourthly, there's a word here to lost sinners. There's a word at lost sinners regarding gospel confidence applied. If you're lost sinner here, who we got here? You know, I'd be really naive to think everybody here is saved. Really naive. Really naive. In this hour, our paths have crossed, and I'm going to seize on this opportunity to just give you the gospel prescription we've talked about. I'm going to give you the gospel prescription for your never-dying soul. I'm telling you, if you're sitting here this morning, God is angry with you. And you were under the sentence of death because you are a sinner. You are doomed to hell. You are doomed to angels breaking through like the chariots and the horsemen would have broken into Israel and begin slashing and cutting. It speaks of angels coming. Angels will come on that last day on judgment day and bind you hand and foot and throw you into the lake of You are in trouble here. But let me give this crude stuff. I want to show you the way out, the way out of this, the way escape. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the Father except through me. You're sitting here. Your sins have doomed you. And you may have in your mind the idea of building a bridge across to get to safety. Your good deeds. You can build a bridge by the toothpicks of your good deeds. You think across. Those are charred toothpicks. They're filthy. Those works are useless. Again, think of an Israelite trying to build a bridge across the Red Sea. You need the waters to be parted. by a great power. You need the Lord Jesus Christ. You need a savior. You need the Galilean. You need the God-man. Yes, born of a virgin, the unblemished lamb. He is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. His blood was poured out, and like in Egypt, they took the blood and they put on the doorpost of the soul. You need to put it on your forehead as a mark on your forehead, because I'm telling you, Those angel chariots and horsemen are coming, and they're gonna come for you, and they're gonna approach your soul with a rope, and they're gonna be about to tie tight and hurl you into the lake of fire, but if they see smeared on your forehead the blood of the Lamb, you've believed upon the Lamb, they will put down the rope, and they will bow down and say, you're not a soldier of Satan, you are a child of the King. And I'll be seeing you soon for eternity. And they'll ride on to the next soul to grab and hurl into hell. This is the power of the gospel. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But I know you say to me, but Pastor Mark, you don't know my sins. You don't know my perverted life, my filthy deeds, my sickening past. How could there ever be hope for me? Come on, we've talked about it. It's the power of God for everyone who believes. The whitewashed tomb, whole pack of whitewashed tombs here. You say, but these are such good people. Oh, foul dead men's bones inside. There's salvation for the lobby gossiper, and there's salvation for the serial murderer and sexual abuser. Salvation for everyone who believes. Yes, in this old gospel hokey story. Young people, just kind of close with this. Young people have the idea that Yeah, but it's old Pastor Mark, and I've been off to Granville State University. I've been off to West Ottawa. I've been off to University of Michigan. And these new ideas, here's a commentator writing from two centuries ago saying this, among educated young people today, one often finds a disposition to look upon all religion as superstition. There is also a sort of empty conceit which knows no other way of indicating the possession of brains than by pretending that it is too naive and unintellectual to be taken in by the story so often told from a pulpit. Young people think that because it's 2020. Listen, the same thing was said in 1820, in 1620, in 1420, and it's a lie from the pit. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't be ashamed of the gospel. Take in this pebble. Have it stagger your soul. Fall at the feet of King Jesus. Because listen, everybody's going to bend their knee to King Jesus. Everybody's going to bend. Everybody. Some will bend it, looking up from the horrors of hell and say, Oh, Galilee, and you have triumphed. And others will bend it from the throne in heaven, looking up to King Jesus and saying, Oh, Galilee, and you have triumphed. I plead with you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and bask forever in his love instead of being frigid in the outer darkness under his wrath. Believe on the Lord Jesus and you'll be saved. Let's close with the final hymn.