Let's pray. Father, it is a never-ending well that we go to over and over and over again when we come to look at our Savior, Jesus. Lord, I never come away empty. I never come away half-filled. when I truly take a strong, hard look at what Your Word says about You, Lord. I am awestruck at my Savior and at what He's done. And I pray, Father God, for myself and for this church family that I very much love and care for. Father, would You expand our understanding and our view of Jesus Christ, not merely as a religious figure in history or some idea that we kind of halfway adopted, but as our Lord, as God who has come in the flesh? camera lens as we look at this magnificent person of the Lord Jesus, I pray. Amen. There are numerous aspects that I treasure getting to be in a church for a number of years and preach here. One of them is how many sermons can say part one through however long it goes. This is part one. So, if you notice the promised person and provision of the gospel. I'm not doing provision today. Today is the promise and the person, provision is next week. So, this will be part one of verses two through seven. Last week, we covered a lot of material in verse one. And we're going to cover twice as much, two through four. Last week, we looked carefully at the Apostle Paul's life. We looked at a biography, if you will, of the Apostle Paul, pre-conversion, conversion, post-conversion ministry, and then down to his martyrdom. We looked at the nature of his ministry, what he did, and all that took place throughout that life of that man. If you notice in verse 1, It says that he was set apart for the gospel of God. Now, to some extent, you guys, that's true for all of us. If you're a believer, you've been set apart for the gospel of God. Now, you've been set apart, you could say, by the gospel of God, but you've been set apart for the gospel of God as well. You've been called and commissioned to go into the world and make disciples of all nations. That's on you. Let me press this just a little bit. You're truly converted if you're a Christian, a genuine saved believer. It's not whether you are receiving that commission. No, that's your commission. You can take your commission and do poorly with it or do well with it, but it's your commission. You are set apart for the gospel of God. The sovereign of the universe has commissioned you to go and proclaim this message. No ifs, ands, or buts. No, that's not my gifting. No, I'm not sure. No, I don't talk well. That's your commission. You are set apart for the gospel of God, as well as the Apostle Paul was set apart for the gospel of God. Now, don't miss me on this. He was set apart in a particular way because of the particular time in redemptive history, okay? Now, I'm not letting you off the hook by any stretch. You are an important part in church history right this moment. a very important part, as the carriers of the good news. But at Paul's day, in the transition time, as the Lord is developing His early church, if you will, and bringing these churches together with this glorious message of the gospel, Paul is set apart as one particular instrument. Remember, the Lord said, he's a chosen instrument of mine, I'll show him how much he'll suffer for my name's sake. So Paul is set apart unto the gospel of God. It would be interesting if you were to sit down with the Apostle Paul while he's in the midst of prison and say, so what do you do for fun? What do you do for a living? His answer, I'm a slave of Jesus Christ. Now, we can say, oh, he was a tent maker. He's just doing the tent thing so that way he can do the gospel thing. That was just feeding the ability to go do that. What's interesting to you, Paul? So when you go into a town, do you even look to see if they have an indoor swimming pool anywhere? Nope, nothing of the nature. I have Christ. And you can go, Dan, that sounds so hyper-spiritual, so over the top. Well, let me ask you this, beloved, and it's a little confrontational, but I'm confronting my own soul. So you can do with it whatever you want to do with it. Is Paul out of sync or is Dan out of sync? I didn't ask you. Come on, Kuypers. You're killing me here, man. But he's right. He's right. There needs to be more Apostle Paul in my perspective, that I am here on point. I'm here on a mission. I'm here for a purpose, and it's not my enjoyment. And that's hard. My nature likes stuff. My nature likes sin. My nature likes to live for Dan. This is just buying into lies far too regular that this world is for us and this life is for us. So Paul is set apart unto the gospel of God, go, and he goes, and he goes. Well, after this little biographical sketch of verse 1, a slave of Christ Jesus called as an apostle and having been set apart for the gospel of God, now he's going to unpack the backpack that says gospel on it. He's going to give you a good picture of what that is. and who it is about. And the way he does it is fascinating to me because, first, he talks about how the gospel was foretold or promised. This is not a new, innovative idea that the apostle has come up with. That's the first piece. The second piece is, who's this gospel about? Who's at the center? What's at the core of this message? And so, if you If you in your heart of hearts know that you're a little fuzzy on an answer to the question of what is the gospel, a piece of paper is put in everybody's hand today, and you write out what is the gospel, where's your comfort level in that? Rhetorical. He set apart for this good news, where can this good news be found, who is it concerning, and what do we know about the one whom it is concerning? So if you look at verse 2, it says, this gospel of God in verse 1 says, which He, capital H in my Bible, promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures. The good news of God's saving purpose was promised by God from eternity past. This is not a new gospel. Now, why is that so important? It's important because, think about this, in the minds of the Jewish people that would have been in this church, they thought they had the good news, and the good news was, we keep the law, we're righteous before God. Apostle Paul shows up and goes, no, actually, you're justified by faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who's the Messiah. We don't believe He's the Messiah. You're dead wrong. He is the Messiah. that would potentially appear to the hearers or readers, this is a new message. This is an odd good news that this man Paul's speaking. Has he lost his mind? And so it makes perfect sense under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the Apostle Paul would come and say, this is nothing new. I'm not preaching a new message that nobody's ever heard of that I came up with. This is a message that's been foretold. This is a message that's been right before your very eyes the whole time when you're reading the Old Testament Scriptures. This isn't new. And so really, guys, what he's doing is he's settling the truth that he's preaching on the settled boulders of the Old Testament Scriptures in verse 2. This gospel I proclaim is not my gospel. This gospel I proclaim is not a gospel that is new and fancy and innovative, come up by some man or some group. The people of the way, a name for the church at this time, the people of the way are not a new group with a new message. They're a group who recognize the message that's been there the whole time. Gospel simply means good news. The good news preached by Paul is not new. The promise of God's salvation through Christ is throughout the Old Testament Scriptures. Now, for time's sake, I'm going to give some of these to you. There's a few I want to read for you, but Genesis 3.15, where the Lord promises that the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent, is a foretelling, a hint at the coming of salvation. Because you ask the question, who could crush the head of the serpent? Who could that be? The seed of the woman, well, maybe it's going to be Seth. Nope. And then you just keep going down the line. Well, maybe it's going to be, maybe it's going to be. And then you come to David and you go, ah, there he is. That's the seed of the woman that's going to crush that. Nope. And as you travel throughout redemptive history, you keep coming to particular figures. And you know what they do, every last one of them? They fail. In some way or another, they fail. Now, some are better than others in the sense of their obedience, but nonetheless, they all fail. Genesis 12, verses 1 to 3, the covenant promise to Abraham, that little blurb at the end, he says, and every family of the earth will be blessed through you. Well, then you come to Galatians 3, and the apostle Paul says that the seed of Abraham ultimately is Christ. One of the starkest, clearest, just blatant passages in your Old Testament that points towards salvation through Jesus is Isaiah 53. If you're not familiar with that, if that chapter doesn't land on you as like a classic text, I just encourage you, read chapter 53 of Isaiah. And you'll think, this is New Testament theology, what he's saying here. But nonetheless, Isaiah 53 is crystal clear speaking about the suffering of the Lord Jesus. Let me also say there are estimated to 332 messianic prophecies that find their fulfillment in Christ, 332 messianic prophecies. This is why throughout the gospels, as you're reading those, you hear, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled. Or in order to fulfill the Scripture that said, and you'll see an Old Testament quotation. You see that over and over throughout your New Testament. You go, so is Jesus trying to fulfill? No, He's not trying to fulfill. The Old Testament was telling exactly what He'd do. This was foretold what would happen, which gives the implication all of this is taking place on purpose by a sovereign hand. Now, I do want to take you, if you go to 1 Peter 1. We'll be back in Romans in a little while, but 1 Peter chapter 1. And for those of you that are speedy, verse 10. 1 Peter 1.10. So you have the testimony of the Apostle Paul in Romans 1, and now you have the testimony of Peter in 1 Peter 1, verse 10. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, inquiring to know what time or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He was predicting the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you in these things, which now have been declared to you through those who proclaim the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look." So a little wordy, but the idea is very simple. The prophets foretold the days that those in your time who are preaching the gospel to you, they foretold this. So that which Paul and Peter and Luke and these different authors of Scripture and the preachers in the New Testament church, these preachers are declaring that which was foretold by the prophets. They're unfolding the glorious truth. Now, look at Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. Verse 27, Luke 24, 27, this is the road to Emmaus. The Lord Jesus comes across these two disciples on this road as they're walking. He's hidden from them. They don't know who He is. And listen to what He does in verse 27. Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He interpreted to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures." In all the Scriptures. Remember, they don't have New Testament Scripture at this moment. So you ask the question, so what are all the Scriptures? Where is Jesus taking these disciples to look at Him from all the Scriptures? Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, these Old Testament scriptures the Lord Jesus is walking through. Now, it would be pretty cool if some way this was recorded, whether in written form, in that we're told where He went. It would just be interesting, what Old Testament passages did Jesus take them to to show Himself? Did He go to Genesis 3.15? Did He go to Genesis 12? Did He go to Job when Job says, I know my Redeemer lives? Did He go to the Psalms, Psalm chapter 2, where it talks about how they're piercing His hands in these messianic prophecies? Where did Jesus take them on this tour? I don't know. I don't know, but nonetheless, the Scripture kind of wraps it up and says, from all the Scripture, look at verse 32 of the same chapter, and they said to one another, were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was opening the Scriptures to us? Love that phrase, that whole concept, opening the Scripture. He has the key, it's Himself, and He's opening up the Scriptures. Look at verse 45. Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. They open their minds to understand the Scriptures. There's a veil over their eyes. They don't see Christ in the Old Testament Scriptures. That's true today. And Christ is the key that unlocks it. So think about this thought with me. The Apostle Paul's argumentation throughout his letters, so the Pauline letters in your New Testament, the Apostle Paul's argumentation throughout his letters is the unfolding of abundant proof that Jesus is the Messiah argued from the Old Testament Scriptures. All right, so you've tracked it with me. I realize some of this is Sunday School 101 for some of you. For some of you, maybe it's not. And so here it is, just a big old blanket of Bible stuff for all of you. The Apostle Paul's argumentation throughout his letters is the unfolding of abundant proof that Jesus is the Messiah argued from the Old Testament scriptures. It's kind of an interesting thing if you ever want to do this and you just get a Bible you don't mind marking up and just take a yellow highlighter and highlight all the Old Testament scriptures that are quoted throughout the Pauline letters. And it's striking to just page after page after page and go, he's doing sermons from the Old Testament scriptures to prove that it's always been pointing forward to Jesus Christ. This is not a new gospel. And this is the thing, you guys, as the audience at that time, the congregation at that time, and the Jews of that day heard the apostle Paul, their initial reaction is, this is something new. Remember, they crucified Jesus. He is just a ringleader of a group of bandits. We don't want that guy. And Paul is coming and saying, actually, He is the Messiah whom you crucified. Prove it. Well, how would he prove it? Well, there's a few different ways he proves it. He proves it by pointing to the resurrection. But predominantly, predominantly, he proves it by Bible study. Old Testament Bible study to show that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, that He's always been the foretold Messiah. Nobody has ever been redeemed by works of the law. They have always been redeemed by faith. Romans 4 just obliterates anybody who thinks they're justified by works of the law. No Jew was ever redeemed before the Lord in the Old Testament by works of the law. No one. And you say, Dan, how can you say that so strongly? It's not my argumentation. That's Paul's argument in Romans chapter 4 and Galatians chapter 3. Now, think about how striking this would be to his audience. Paul says, nobody has ever been justified by works of the law, nobody. And they go, nobody, nobody. And you go, who would he bring up as the example? And he brings up Abraham. You remember with Jesus' argument in John 5 where they say, Abraham's our father. We've never been enslaved to anybody. What's Jesus say? If you were sons of Abraham, you'd do the works of Abraham. If you were the sons of God, you'd do the works of God, and you'd recognize who I am standing before you. Jesus goes into his own hometown and preaches in the first couple chapters of Luke. And as soon as he's done preaching, they wish to kill him. Why? Because he showed from the Old Testament Scriptures that God had an infinite plan of redemption the whole time. That is a wallop to the pride for him to come and say the Scriptures. Remember what Jesus said, you guys. Remember what the scribes and Pharisees, He said, you search the Scriptures daily thinking that within them you have life. But I tell you, it's the Scriptures that bear witness to me." And that just scatters, that just, you ruin everything for them. Doesn't that make sense? Why in Acts 2, when Peter comes and he preaches, it says, they were cut to the heart and they say, what must we do to be saved? When Peter says, you with wicked hands crucified, The Apostle's argumentation throughout his letters is the unfolding of abundant proof that Jesus is the Messiah argued from the Old Testament Scriptures. The New Testament is the inspired, inerrant interpretation of the Old Testament Scriptures. The glorious news of the gospel is not plan B. The old is by the new explained, and the new is in the old contained." That's kind of a cute little thing I heard from somebody one time. As you go through the Old Testament Scriptures, the glorious truth of Christ is there. And when you come to the New Testament authors, you have the inerrant, inspired interpretation of the Old Testament. If you see a New Testament author explain an Old Testament passage different than you, you're wrong. They're right. So, back to Romans. Romans chapter 1. Just one more thing, and I'm going to go to verse 3 in just a second, maybe, yeah. One more thing in reference to this, and maybe you've caught this years before Dan Mason was born, but it never ceases to amaze me that Jesus consistently in His earthly ministry goes to the Bible for His authority. Truly, truly, I tell you, it has been written. It has been written." And then he really upsets the Pharisees when he says, have you never read? Now, the reason that's striking is because he could say, I'm God, good enough, which there's a couple of times Christ makes statements like that. But the majority, beloved, the majority of Jesus' teaching in the gospels is, thus saith the Lord. Why? Why would he do that? He's showing the authority of the Word of God, which is another way of saying the authority of God. See, I'm not playing games here, you guys, as far as standing here and taking time in the text. It's not because it's what you expect or because Village Mission said, Dan, we want you to preach the Bible and don't preach yourself. No, I don't have that kind of pressure. I'll tell you what pressure I've got. This is the authority. This is the authority. And so if I come up to you and I say, I say, there's no authority. There's no authority. If you say, Dan, we'd like to hear more stories. Too bad. There's no authority. There's no authority in that. The reason I so profoundly am committed to the preaching of the word is because this is the authority. It's the authority for me, it was the authority for Luther, it's the authority for you, it's the authority for John Wesley, it was authority, and you go all the way back, and in Christ's earthly ministry, it was still the authority. Christ was the one who pointed to Scripture. And so, it should freshly bring to our minds this glorious reality. that the authority in the room of this building is the book on your lap." Now, I realize, ultimately, it's the author of the book who's in our presence, but he's spoken. There it is. Okay, so look at verse 2, or 3, or 4, yeah, 3. Concerning his son," so now we saw the promise of Scripture, now we see the person of Scripture, or who's at the core, who's at the centerpiece of this gospel that Paul, as well as you, are set apart for. It says, "'Concerning his son, who was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh, So, this concept of Son of God, sometimes folks will take that phrase and they'll try to make it less than. It's been a tortured phrase throughout church history. Son of God, simply put, is another way of saying God. What does God bring? What does He give? If I have a child, I bring these guys. If God is a child, They come from Him. They are His. He is His, one and the same. That's a biblical concept that we have kind of played around with throughout church history and brought in some pretty wicked heresy. But what's being communicated in your Bible every time it makes reference to Son of God is God. That's why John 1 says, "'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word is with God, and the Word So apparently this scripture speaks very clearly to the deity of the Lord Jesus. So when you read the Son of God, don't ever, ever, ever read that as if it's saying He's something less than God. It's saying He's synonymous with God. This is why Jesus said, the Father and I are one. And there's abundant passages. I encourage you, sit down, just read Hebrews 1 this afternoon. Before you have lunch, just sit down and read Hebrews 1. And just let the exhilaration of the majesty of Christ thunderbolt between your ears. The good news of this message is found in the person and work of Jesus. Now, particularly, we're told, born, if you look down at 3, concerning a son who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. This is vital because the Messiah throughout the Old Testament scriptures is prophesied as the seed of David. Remember, a promise, a covenant made with David, the Davidic covenant, was that a descendant of David would sit upon David's throne and rule forever. There's the Davidic covenant that was promised to David. You say, well, who is a seed of David that will sit on the throne forever? See, that forever is what throws you off, because you go, well, maybe it's Solomon. He'll sit on a throne. Yeah, but he's dead. So apparently not forever for him. Absalom? Nope. So let's go down the line. And you keep going down the line from David's line, and you keep going, nobody is sitting on the throne forever. Who would sit on the throne forever? Who could that be that would be a seed of David? And so, as they interpret the Old Testament Scriptures, they come to believe with clarity, and I think truth, that the Messiah would come from the line of David. That's a prophetic promise of what would come from there. Look at Psalm 89, and I have a handful of verses here, you guys, but I'm not going to turn to all of them, just a few. If you have some level of familiarity with your Bible, you know he was born as a seed of David. But Psalm 89, and look at verse 3. I have cut a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn to David my servant. I will establish your seed forever and build up your throne from generation to generation." And look at verse 19 of the same chapter, "'Formerly you spoke in vision to your holy ones and said, I have bestowed help to a mighty one. I have exalted one chosen from the people. I have found David my servant, with my holy oil I have anointed him, with whom my hand will be established." And look down at verse 24. My faithfulness and my lovingkindness will be with Him, and in My name His horn will be exalted," or His strength will be exalted. Now, if you're keeping tabs, Isaiah 11, verses 1 to 5, you don't have to turn there, but if you're just writing down, Isaiah 11, 1 to 5, Jeremiah 23, 5 to 6, and then turn to Acts 2 in your Bible. Have you ever been there where you're reading your Bible or you're studying your Bible and there's a passage that as you read that passage, it's like spiritual explosives are going off in your mind? And you read a verse and you go, no way. You read the next verse, no way. Next verse, wow, did He just say that? Well, that was the experience I've had with Acts chapter 2 in reference to this promise to David. Acts chapter 2 verse 29. Peter preaching says, "'Men, brothers, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day." So he's letting them know, a great man, a promise given to him, but he's not here. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to set one of the fruit of his body in his throne or on his throne. Okay, He's going to set one of the fruit of His body, so a descendant of David, on His throne. Listen to what the Scripture says, you guys. He looked ahead and spoke of what? The resurrection of the Christ. That's what David looked to? Apparently, that's what the Scripture says, that He was neither forsaken to Hades, nor did His flesh seek corruption. This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this which you both see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, But he himself says, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I put your enemies as a footstool for your feet. The most quoted Old Testament scripture in the New Testament, Psalm 110 verse 1, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make all your enemies a footstool for you. And you go, wait a minute, the Lord said to my Lord, who is David's Lord? And who is the Lord that said to his Lord? This is why it's kind of helpful in the Old Testament Scriptures if you see the different names of the Lord, because the way it goes is, Yahweh said to Adonai, sit at my right hand. Well, then we come to our New Testament, what's Peter arguing here? The Father said to the Son, sit at my right hand until I make the enemy the footstool unto you. So here's the question, you guys. So where's David? dead, buried, and in his tomb. So then who's the seat of David? Apparently, the Apostle Peter says with great clarity, I mean, the speech here is as clear as he can be, when Jesus Christ came to the right hand of the Father, David was foreseeing the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then he wallops him in verse 36, "'Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him, Jesus, both Lord and Christ, this Jesus, whom you crucified.'" What a powerful, powerful piece of Scripture and argumentation. And so this born according to David in the flesh is all fulfillment to that prophecy. This is in reference to Christ coming in the physical line of David, all the way down to little poor Mary and Joseph. by God's great design. It's interesting, is it not, that when you go through the Davidic line, you start to go, it must be somebody great. This person must be fantastic who's going to show up on the scene. I got it. When he shows up, let's throw palm branches in front of him, and let's herald a great message about him. No, rather, God's design was for him to be born into poverty And at 30, start a public ministry flooded with persecution that ultimately led up to the destruction of His body, the beating of His body, and then His crucifixion and the absorption of the wrath of God for the sake of sinners. That's the coming Messiah. Now, here's the tough part, you guys. That just doesn't compute in their minds. That is not the Messiah they had planned on. That's not what they're looking for. But I charge you, if you read Isaiah 53, God didn't stutter in saying what that Messiah would look like. So according to the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, Almighty God, came in the flesh. Just read Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 to 11, and read the birth narratives of Christ. He came as a virgin birth. We'll talk about that in two months. Now, we're in Romans, and if you look at Romans chapter 4, let me cut, work through 4, and then we'll come to the Lord's Table. Verse 4 of Romans chapter 1, sorry. So, concerning his son who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. who was designated as the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord." Now, this is a kind of a tricky passage because there's some differences on interpretation and some differences in translation from the Greek into the English. Perhaps your Bible does not have designated, it might have appointed. Or your translation may say, declared. And you say, okay, so the potential of appointed, declared. What's the difference between appointed and declared? It's when you're put in a position or when you are declared of a position. So what are we talking about here? through whom, or I'm sorry, who was designated as the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead Jesus Christ our Lord." So down and dirty, I think this is what is being communicated in this verse, that at the resurrection of Jesus Christ accomplished by the miraculous power of the Spirit of God, this was God doing a public declaration of Jesus Christ's deity. Now, was Christ deity before the resurrection? Of course. I mean, my goodness, there's so many passages of Scripture that speak to His deity forever, all eternity past. But there's something to the resurrection of Christ that distinctly heralds and proclaims the deity of Christ, the Son of God-ness that was heralded as Christ was resurrected. by the power of the Spirit of God and in power," meaning when Christ rose, He rose with power and by power and in power. And the Spirit of holiness, I take that to be a reference to the Holy Spirit. There are differences on that. Good godly people differ on the interpretation of that passage. I think it makes good sense to see that as the Spirit of God. But I wanna be intellectually honest and humble in that because it is a tough one. It's a tough passage to wrestle with. But there are passages in the Scripture that speak about the resurrection of Christ as a particular moment that was a spectacle, a heralding, a public proclamation of who Christ is. You've probably heard this, I've heard this, that the Church of Jesus Christ is built on an empty tomb. If Christ has not risen, what's Paul say? We are of all men to be most pitied. But let me show you another one. This passage rings in my ears fairly consistently, Acts 17 verse 30. Acts 17 verse 30. Listen to what is said about the resurrection of Jesus in 30 and 31. Acts 17 30. It says, therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now commanding men that everyone everywhere should repent. Why? 31, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world. By what measure? In righteousness. My righteousness? No. whom He determined." Interesting language, is it not? Whom He determined, who He appointed, whom He has placed as the dividing line of all humans. And how? How does He show this, you guys? How does He show that Jesus is the dividing line of all humans? Look what He says, having furnished proof to all by raising Him from the dead. So Almighty God has heralded publicly for all people to hear and see that Jesus Christ is the sovereign, is the one who is the dividing line of human history. And you say, how has He publicly heralded that? By raising Jesus from the dead. This is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15 when he says, over 500 people saw Him after He rose. They handled Him. Disciples saw his body stop. The doctor throws the thing there and he goes, now there's no heartbeat, gone, dead, dead. Three days later, Thomas, go ahead, go ahead, come here, touch it, touch it. Come here. Come on. Thomas, this is legit. I've been raised. And let the world hear it. Let the world see it. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the sovereign of the universe heralding and proclaiming there is salvation in no other name. Back to Romans 1. He was designated as the Son of God in power. according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." The resurrection of Jesus by the Holy Spirit's power was God's unequivocal, undeniable declaration of the sonship of this glorious King. Now, here's what's so cool. In those little descriptions that we just read in verse 4, we see once again. the full humanity of Jesus and the full deity of Jesus. We saw that He's the Son of God. We also saw He's the seed of David. Now, think about the prophecies, okay? Think about the lineup of Scripture, how all this will come to fruition. How on earth will you get fully God and fully man? That makes no sense. This isn't gonna work. This isn't gonna happen. These prophecies make it sound like it's the Son of God. These prophecies make it sound like it's coming through David. He can't be the Son of God if He's the Son of David. Then you have the sovereign of the universe come to this poor peasant girl and say, the Holy Spirit will overshadow you and He will empower you. He will give the Son of God to be born by you through a virgin birth. Guys, there are times in my office where I literally just stand up and just walk around the little plastic tables in the front room because my mind is so overwhelmed at that. that that's the truth. These descriptions point to Jesus' full humanity and full deity simultaneously. Who's on that cross dying? That's the God-man. And if you notice the titles given to Jesus at the end of verse 4. Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus means Savior, Christ means Anointed One, Messiah, and Lord means Sovereign Ruler. It's always interesting when you try to do your best, you get a whole pile of synonyms to try to put together to communicate something. Words that I use you hear every Sunday are amazing and it blew my mind because I'm searching for ways to communicate. Well, these titles for Jesus are a communication of the full man and the full God. He's Jesus. He's the Savior. He's Christ. He's the anointed one of Almighty God. He is the one who is the Messiah, all fulfillment of Scripture in Him. And He's also Lord. He's the sovereign ruler. Jesus said, "'All authority in heaven and earth has been given unto Me. Go therefore and make disciples. All things work according to the counsel of His will. Nothing was made that was made except for by Him.'" He's my Savior, He's the Messiah, and He is Lord. Now, He's my Lord, but don't miss this. He's Lord, okay? What I mean by that, He is Dan Mason's Lord, but He is Lord of heaven and earth. Whether they like it or not, He's Lord, He's master, He's sovereign. Here's what I end on before we come to the Lord's table. I hear all of that. It moves my heart, gets my blood pressure going, my tone gets a little louder or whatever, and all that happens in this presence here. Then I step out there. And I hear over and over and over, I can't believe you'd be so narrow-minded and so bigoted as to say there's only one way to be saved. The more I study Scripture, the more I am flabbergasted that there's a way. But more than that, you guys, what way it is? Now, yeah, I'm profoundly impressed that there's a way, okay? I know I should be in hell, suffering the wrath of God. I'm not, because there's a way, okay. But then we say, but what's the way? What's the way? And then you talk about Christ and all that he is, and all of human history wrapped up in him, and you see everything that surrounds him, and you come away going, I cannot believe the way. Now don't misinterpret that. I believe the way, but I am in shock and awe at the way. The exclusivity of the gospel of Jesus Christ is a polarizing discussion point. I get it. But as a believer in Jesus Christ, the more I peer into the barrel of truth regarding the gospel, the more I just come out. needing an aspirin because, Lord, I cannot believe who you are and what you've done. The amazing reality that the God-man was crucified on the tree and absorbed the wrath of his father. So Dan Mason, who sins a lot, all the penalty for sin is absorbed by Him, and His perfect righteousness is placed upon me." So God sees Christ and not Dan's ugly, gross sin. Paul says, this is the message that has been there since day one, this is the one that I'm set apart for. And beloved, let me press this upon you once again, this is the message that you are set apart for. I know, I get it, there's lots and lots of pressure in our world to smooth off the sharp edges of the gospel and, oh, they would never believe that and all that. Well, here you are. You're living proof, your witness is living proof of the miracle of regeneration as you sit here today. You shouldn't be here by nature. You went against the grain of what you love, of what the Bible tells me you love when you became converted. And so my hope, my prayer is that we as believers, we as PCBC wouldn't feel a sense of intimidation at the world and at their upsetness towards the exclusivity of the gospel. Because it's just like this, if somebody had a ailing disease and they were dying, and you had the antidote, and the antidote was put in your pocket, and they said, now, your job is to go take care of people. And you go, oh, that's not my gifting. I'm more of just a support-type person. I'm not much of a proclaimer, so I'm not going to do that. Really? Really? Here you are, beloved. You have a commission. You're set apart under the gospel to bring that sweet, precious, saving message. And I'll end on this note, and then we'll come to the table. This is what's so... scary about the particular temptation. The particular temptation is alter the message so the world will buy it. An altered message is not a saving message. So when they buy it, they're still lost. When you change the message of the gospel to the tastes of fallen man, you've given them false assurance and they are still on their way to judgment. So don't you dare let the pressure of the world alter the message of the gospel. Have it clear and beautiful in your mind and share it, and let the results be in the hands of the sovereign of the universe, and pray with all your heart that God would call them unto Himself." But guys, if we change the message, nobody gets saved anyway. They get converted to a false gospel.