The last time we spoke on verse 8, you know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. We spoke on the lawful use of the law. and talked about what that means there, the different references to the Law. That it could mean all the Old Testament Scriptures. It could mean the books of Moses. It could mean the Law of Moses, Judaism. And here that it means the latter. And then what does it mean? What is the lawful use of the Law? And about five things I brought out. Condiction of sin. Verse 9, the law was made for the lawless. And promote the Gospel, verse 4. The administration of God which is by faith. Promote love, verse 5. The goal of our instruction is love. Number 3, to reveal Christ. Number 4, to instruct believers. And number 5, the question, is it valid to use the Ten Commandments? And number six, I guess it was, was how to apply the Old Testament. And the answer to that was verse 11, according to the glorious Gospel of the Blessed God. Well, let's go on in today with verse 11 and enlarge on that very praise, the glorious Gospel of the Blessed God. Immoral men, homosexuals, kidnappers, and so on, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who has strengthened me because He considered me faithful, putting me into service. even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet, I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant. The cleansing flood, you know, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Isn't that something? I mean, we're going in big. We're going all the way. We're believing God for real big things. Eternal life. Verse 17, Now to the King Eternal. We have a big Savior, a big God. Immortal. Invisible. The only God. The honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This paragraph that I've read is filled with a hundred sermons. And I don't know how to handle it at all properly, worthily. But I'm going to try to underline this phrase in verse 11 in the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. And enlarge on that by the following context. Four things that I'll try to bring out. Why is the Gospel glorious? Number one, because it is truly good news. It's the Gospel. And secondly, because it is the standard of all morality and doctrine. It says, according to the glorious Gospel. And number three, it's glorious because of its author. It's the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. And number four, it is glorious because of its power, that is, its results. Paul says here, with which I have been entrusted. And then he gives his life-changing testimony. So number one, why is the Gospel glorious? Because it, and it alone, is truly good news. I get that from the word gospel. I mean, you know, don't you, that that's what that word means. It means good news. And so here we are. It's again a paradox. The Christian is a mystery. And the Gospel is a mystery. I mean, this message that we've got The truth that we've got is why it's the worst news that man has ever heard, and yet it's the best news that man has ever heard. It's the worst news that man has ever heard because it's saying this message of the Bible, this message of the Gospel, is saying that he, man out there, an actual man, is in deep trouble with God. More trouble than he can imagine. That he's cross ways with God. He's on a head-on collision course with God. And God intends to put the sinner in hell, and He's big enough to do it. And so we've got the worst news that man has ever heard. He's headed for hell. And yet, we've got the best news that man has ever heard, and that is that God has graciously sent us His Son. He sent His Son from heaven to earth to die in the place of sinners, whoever repents and believes on Him, and that there is a way of escape, and there is a way that a sinner right now, can stand right with God if he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the good news. That's the good side of the good news. And so, it is wonderful what we're talking about. There's a way of escaping sin and death and hell. I remember one time when I was a teenager, about 14 years old, we went on a family trip up into Minnesota and then over into Canada. And that was... That was where my cousin, about 10 years older than me, worked as a guide for the summer. And so we went to visit him, and he told us about Back Bay. That's where the fish are being caught. And so to get there, you went through here and through there and through this little strait and through these bulrushes, and finally you get to Back Bay, well-named. And a storm came up so suddenly, and night came on so suddenly, that we were lost in Back Bay. And I just remember the feeling as a boy. How are we going to get out of here? We're trapped. And it didn't seem like there's any way of escape even though we had a guide right with us. And we never let him forget it either. But we'd try this and we'd try that and run aground and run into thicker bulrushes. And we finally spent the night on an island about a hundred foot in diameter. And then in the morning it was It was fog so thick you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. But anyway, what I'm saying is you just had the feeling like there's no way to escape. We're lost forever. We're gone. We're sunk. We'll be here forever. And he found in the morning finally a way of escape. That's just a little picture of what we're talking about here. I mean, if we were in prison or something like that, lost in a cave or something like that, wouldn't you feel it all the more? And yet, even that is just not a fair comparison. to being a sinner with a bad record and a bad heart, enslaved by the devil, enslaved by sin, and if we only saw our true condition, we would despair. But the devil blinds us, hides it from us, and we are content to go on picking up speed on the road to hell with a smile on our face. and won't face reality, won't face the light, won't face the truth, is nothing but the devil and his deceitful tactics. I mean, if our Gospel is hid, it is hid to those who are lost, whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of those who believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them. And so, I am talking about some real good news. The call goes out over the restless humanity. Be reconciled to God. We're ambassadors for Christ if we're Christians. And we've been given this ministry of reconciliation. We've been given this word of reconciliation. What is the word? What is the message? Be reconciled to God. Oh, man on the sidewalk, man on the street, my dear neighbor, would you be reconciled to God? It's possible to be right with Him. How can a man be reconciled to God? Next phrase, he who knew no sin was made to be sin, constituted sin for us that we might be made, constituted the righteousness of God in him. The great legal transaction. When a man truly believes, really believes, there is a legal transfer. Our guilt is put on Jesus and His righteousness is put on our books. And so, we have good news. Imagine the shepherds out there keeping watch over their flocks by night And the angel comes up and says, Behold, don't be afraid. I bring you good news of a great joy. Oh, what a statement. Good news of a great joy which will be for everybody. Yes, not just Jews, but Gentiles too. And you can hear Paul's urgency repeating it again in 1 Corinthians 15. He says, I declared to you the Gospel and I'm going to tell it to you again. You received it. He says, you received it and you're saved by it and you stand in it. If you continue on, you'll be saved by it. And that is that Christ Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. And if that's not clear enough, if that's not clear enough, Paul puts it in another famous form right here in verse 15. It's a trustworthy statement. Yeah, you can bank your life on it. You can bank your eternity on it. Your soul, you can bank on it. It deserves full acceptance. Not partial, but full acceptance all the way. Take it all. Go all the way. Put all your eggs in one basket. Verse 15, that Christ Jesus came into the world. He invaded the world. He came from the outside. He didn't start at Bethlehem's manger. He was God and He came in flesh. He came into the world. He invaded the world. It was bigger than Normandy. To save sinners. You know, you've got to see yourself to be a sinner to be saved. Your biggest qualification is to come to Jesus with no qualifications. Because He saved sinners and sinners alone. You've got to get to the bottom of the barrel to be a candidate for the saving grace of God. You've got to come empty handed. In my hand, no price I bring. Most people, that's why they don't get to heaven is because they think they can make it on their own. Maybe not all the way, but just I'll help out with my little finger at least. No, sir. Like one fellow said, you've got to not only come to the end of the rope, you've got to let go of the rope and drop into the hands of Christ to save sinners among whom I am foremost of all, of whom I am chief. I doubt that a person is ever really saved unless he comes to that position. I don't know that Paul was saying he was the worst sinner around. Maybe so. I don't know. But I know one thing. He saw himself that way. And you're going to have to see yourself that way. I'm no worse. I'm no better than anybody else. We can't think of ourselves as having a little bit of advantage on somebody else. Well, I'm not quite as bad as him. You've got to get rid of all of that and trash it and say I am the worst around. Nobody's got anything on me. I don't have anything on anybody else. I'm at the bottom of the barrel. I deserve hell and nothing more than that. And so, there's different ways that this glorious Gospel has been put. Like, for example, in Mark 1.14, it says the Gospel of the Kingdom. In another place, the Gospel of God's Son. In another place, the gospel of peace. I like that. We were just talking about that this morning. The gospel of peace. The good news of peace that I can have peace with God. It says in Colossians 1.20 that He made peace through the blood of His cross. How can I be at peace with God? It is because my sin debt can be paid and was paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, when we go out to preach the gospel of Christians, why are our feet are shod? With the preparation of the gospel of what? Peace. We're bringing peace to a miserable, lost humanity that's at war with God. The gospel of peace. And then the gospel of God. The gospel of Christ. The fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. The gospel of the glory of Christ. The Word of Truth. The gospel of your salvation. that I may open my mouth and make known the mystery of the gospel, the defense and the confirmation of the gospel, the hope of the gospel, the everlasting gospel. He says in Revelation 14, I saw an angel flying through the mid-heavens having what? The everlasting gospel in His hand or mouth or whatever. The everlasting gospel. I like that. There's no other good news. That's why it's so glorious. This gospel, this good news we've got, I mean, there is no other good news around. Not really. I mean, most of the news on the world news is not really news at all. It's just the same old stuff. It's not even news, let alone good news. And so most of it's bad news. And most of it, when it is good news, it's temporal and not lasting. And so we really, we the Christians, we're the only ones that have got the good news. There's no other message like God's good news. You might think, oh, it's wonderful I pass the boards. Or you might think it's so wonderful we've got this word from the President of the United States that such and such is going to happen. But no, we're talking here about solid joys, lasting treasures, deep consolations, tender mercies, real help from the God above. That is that the penalty of my sins can be forgiven and the power of my sins can be broken. And the presence of my sins will one day be actually totally eliminated. in a land in which dwells righteousness." Think of it. We're talking about escaping sin and death and hell. Here I am with a terminal disease. But from time to time, Terry and I say, it'll be alright. Ultimately, it's going to be okay. It will be alright. For the Christian, Isaiah 3.10, say to the righteous, it is well. Say to the righteous, it's alright. I like that. Isaiah 3.10. Oh, we can be on good terms with God. And so my first point is, the question is, why is the gospel so glorious? It's because it is really gospel. My second point is, why is the gospel so glorious? Because it is the standard of all morality and all doctrine. You see that in those first words in verse 11. According to, according to, according to the glorious gospel. And he just got through naming all these sins. Terrible sins, you know. And deep depravity. And he says, and anything else that's contrary to sound teaching. You know, sound teaching, that defines what sin is. But alright, Paul, what's sound teaching? He goes on to explain it's the gospel. According to the glorious gospel. So the Gospel is the thing that defines what is sound teaching and it is what defines what is righteous behavior. You see, the Gospel is ultimately the standard of all morality and sound teaching. It's not the Law of Moses. I mean, you read the Law of Moses and you've still got questions. I mean, what about the garments? Can we mix wool and cotton or not? What about the food laws? Can I eat this or can't I eat this? And for that answer, you've got to go to the Gospel, right? You've got to go to the New Testament. What about the Ten Commandments? I mean, it's not the definitive body of doctrine either. I mean, you read the Ten Commandments, what about that fourth commandment? Do I need to keep the Sabbath or don't I? And if I do need to keep the Sabbath, how far do I have to go? And so to get answers like that, you've got to go to the Gospel. You've got to go to the New Covenant, the New Testament. Everything should be seen through the eyes of the New Testament. All should be done through the eyes of the New Testament. For example, in Philippians 1.27, he says something like, pray for me, or I'm praying for you, that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel. And that defines it to Paul. In a manner worthy of the Gospel. And so, just think of the glory that we're talking about here. I went to look that up. I couldn't find it. But isn't there somewhere the international standard for time? You go to one place, somebody's got the answer. Somebody's got the standard for what time it is. You know, you say this and I say that. And, well, what's the United States say? They say this and France says that. Somebody's got to have the definitive answer. And there's the international standard for weights and measures. You know, and so you check things out. There's a guy that comes out, you know, and used to check our scale every year to see if it was on. And I wonder where he got it. He got it from somewhere to make sure he's right. And he got it from somewhere. So somebody's got to have the ultimate Word. And so here we are. We have got the ultimate Word for all morality, for all people, for all times. And that's the glorious Gospel. It is glorious. My third point. Why is the Gospel so glorious? Because of its author, right? It's the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. Doesn't that seem right? You appreciate a book all the more if you know who wrote it. You know, a lot of it depends on the author. And so, just like Moses said, or I mean it says in Hebrews 3.3, just like he who built the house has more glory than the house. And so, he who made the law, he's the lawgiver is greater than the law in a sense. Well, this is God. It's the glorious gospel of the blessed God. Not man. Not men. Not a committee. But truly God. You think of the imagination and all the strategy and all the wisdom. Sometimes it goes into a good book or a good show. You know, the drama that's wrapped up in that. Wow, that was quite a plot. How did they ever come out with that? But you know, that man was probably an unregenerate man. That doesn't matter. It was a work of skill. And you know that that's just a little remnant. I mean, it's a remnant of the image of God stamped on the mind of man. What he did there, coming up with that plot and that drama, was just a little picture of the history of humanity. That's the big drama. That's the big plot of the history of redemption and the glorious Gospel of God. How much more, you know, for the Gospel? All the love that drew salvation's plan. All the grace that brought it down to man. All the mighty gulf that God did span. How did He figure it out? How did God come up with this? You know, as you study these issues, especially of the new and the old covenant and the overlap, what applies? How do you figure these things out? I mean, the deeper you study it, the more you appreciate the wisdom of God. I mean, this is deep. I feel like I'm just scratching the surface, you know. And this is matter for the deepest minds, the greatest minds. And so, in heaven, it says in Ephesians 2, verse 7, that in the ages to come, He might show what is the riches of the glory of His kindness in Christ. I didn't quote it exactly right, but that's the idea. The riches of His kindness in Christ Jesus. It will take ages to come to explain it. And it says, this is the gospel of the blessed God. I wonder what that means. Yes, you know God is being blessed and praised all over the world today by all of His people, by all of creation. And all of creation declares the blessedness of the Creator. And the Word of God, it declares all the more the blessedness. Far more than creation does, as the Word of God, the Scriptures, give more of a definitive a definition of His glory than creation does, but it seems like the commentaries that I picked up are talking about just the blessedness and the bliss that God has in and of Himself. He is self-sufficient and rejoicing in His own self. I don't understand it, but the perfections of His blessedness and bliss. That's what they said. But this is not only God, but it's the blessed God. Not only the blessed God, but He's the only God. It says that down in verse 17, to the King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, the only God. And so, you know, there's no bronze medal. There's no silver medal. There's nobody else. No other competitors. He's God alone. There's nobody like Him beside Him. No other but Him. He's God alone and He's got one Gospel. He's got one book. And not only is He the only God, but it says here in verse 17, He's the eternal God. And we sang that song this morning. I heard an old, old story how the Savior came from glory. And when I sing that song, I like it. I just like that phrase, an old, old story. I've had people come to me and say, well, that's an old book. That's worth something. And so here we've got an old, old story that puts all the more value on it. I mean, it wasn't plan B. It wasn't plan C. It was plan A right from the start. From before the foundation of the world, God planned it all out and He's bringing it all about. Everything being carried out with perfect faithfulness, right? And so, I say the reason that this Gospel is glorious is because of its author. Number four and last. Why is the Gospel glorious? It's because of its power to change lives. And that's what you've got right here implied in that last phrase with which I've been entrusted. Here's Paul. Paul, you just told... You know, Paul in this passage, he is intent on telling them how bad he was. I was a persecutor. I was a violent aggressor. I was a blasphemer. And you go read it, In the book of Acts, he was breathing out threatenings and slaughter. He had letters from the chief priests. And he was going to bind them all. He was dragging them off. The Christians, he was dragging them off, putting them in prison. He had murder on his mind. He stood right there and he was glad that Stephen was being stoned. I mean, can you imagine? And so Paul says, He was the chief of sinners. He doesn't mind telling how bad he was. But he's not only telling that, he's intent on telling them how good God was. I mean, twice he mentions the mercy of God. Like in verse 13, Yet I was shown mercy. I like that. Michael, there's a word for you. Yet. You get these sermons from three-letter words. Well, there's one for you. Have you already found that one? Yet I was shown mercy. And the same way down here in verse 16, there's another yet. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me, as foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate. God raised Paul up to be a demonstrator. You know, just like Pharaoh. It made a demonstration. I might demonstrate my power, my wrath in you, Pharaoh, by raising you up and throwing you down. Well, here's Paul just the opposite. You know, Paul had a reputation for being a Pharisee of the Pharisees and a persecutor of the church. He excelled in Judaism beyond many of his countrymen, it says. And yet, and yet, and yet, God who is rich in mercy and is mighty in power came and apprehended Paul. Sitting on his lawnmower, Jason? No. He was going on his road to Damascus, breathing out threatenings and slaughter. And that was the end of Saul of Tarsus. He is intent on telling them about the mercy of God. He's intent on telling them about the grace of God. And what verse is that? Verse 14, And the grace of our Lord was more than abundant. I didn't just squeak in. He didn't wring His hands and have a hard time getting me in. Now, when you go to pray for a lost loved one, you just think about that. The grace of God was more than enough. Lord, can You handle it? Can You really bring that loved one down? That lost son or daughter? That lost wife? That lost husband? Can You really bring them down? Can You really get them in? Can you get them in? Yes. More than abundant. And it has power. There's power there in the grace of God. There's results there, he says, more than abundant with the grace and love... or with the faith, I'm sorry. I've highlighted it so heavily I can't read my own Bible. With the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. Why do you believe? The grace of God came with faith. Why do you love God? Why do you love the people of God? The grace of God came with that love. And so he's intent. You know, there's five times in this passage he's talking about faith and unbelief. He says, I did it, verse 13, ignorantly in unbelief. Isn't that amazing? You'd think if anybody ever committed the unpardonable sin, it was the Apostle Saul of Tarsus. But he didn't. And even though Stella is a crucified Christ, Peter tells them in Acts 3, I know you did it ignorantly in unbelief. Same way with Paul. Ignorantly in unbelief. So, they didn't do the unpardonable sin. It takes somebody who's made a profession, somebody who's had a lot of life, before they can commit the unpardonable sin and do what Don Johnson was talking about. And so, isn't that consoling though? If any of you are not Christians out there, I mean, you ought to find some comfort right here. But here, Saul of Tarsus, as bad as he was, the door was still open. He was doing it ignorantly in unbelief. And he got in. And so I'm saying the reason it's so glorious is because of the power that backs it up. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ because it is this message, this doctrine, this body of truth in the hands of the Holy Spirit is the power of God unto salvation. I mean, there's no muscle power, there's no mechanical power, no electrical power, there is no nuclear power, there is no other power on the face of the earth that is able to get a hold of a sinner and make him a saint. able to raise Him from the dead, able to raise Him from the grave of His sins, His spiritual death, and make Him a living Christian. A live entity before God. And so that's why it is so glorious, right? It says there in verse 12, There's words here that I hardly understand. He says, I thank Christ Jesus. Incidentally, you know, when we open it up for prayer, when Clint and I open the meeting up for prayer, you just ought to think about that. Maybe I ought to utter a word of thanks. It just might be fitting before the saints of God to say, thank You, Lord, for saving me. Paul says, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord. I mean, it's almost like he wasn't intending to go here. I mean, he was talking about something else. But he got to talking about the glorious Gospel and that this thing has been entrusted to me. And I just want to thank Christ Jesus. I want to thank Him. He strengthened me. I think that happened right there when he was converted. I mean, we know that's when it started. That's when it began and continued on. And I don't know what to make about this second phrase, he considered me faithful. I don't know. God began to work in him right there on the Damascus Road. Can somebody else explain that to me? How do you explain that God looked at Paul right there and said, here's a faithful man. I'm going to use him. Putting me into service. Now, you talk about the great heart of God. I mean, here is somebody that was a persecutor, a blasphemer, and a violent aggressor. I mean, the chief of sinners and God. The great heart of God takes a hold of such a one as that and puts him into the ministry. And says, I'm going to use you as one of the greatest apostles. Isn't that the way God? Isn't that the great heart of our God? Isn't that the power of God that He could fix and rewire a man like that and use him like that? That is just glorious. He put me into service. Put me into the ministry. And so often, that's the way God does. I mean, He'll take a George Mueller that was a thief and entrust him with thousands of dollars for the orphans. Things like that. You know, here's a guy that was just a pitiful drug addict. A pitiful drug addict. And God saves him and uses him to minister to the drug addicts. And we've seen it over and over. Things just like that. God takes us out, fixes us up, and sends us back in. and keeps us safe to rescue others out. So, the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. It's power to change lives. That's what we're talking about. Terry got to read in a story about a fellow named Richard Gantz. He was a psychiatrist. This was like 30 years ago. And he, in his wanderings, I don't remember how it happened, but he ended up in contact with Francis Schaeffer's ministry in Labrie, over there in Europe. And there he heard the Gospel. And there he was saved. And he goes back. Maybe he's on vacation. I can't remember. He goes back to work with a different message. People were being saved by his new message. And there's this one fellow named Emmanuel. You just wonder why in the province of God his name was that. Because in his insanity, he kept saying he was Christ. I am Jesus. And they had relegated him to the impossibility. I mean, he's schizophrenic. He's out of his mind. He's a hopeless case. And so, they assigned to Richard Gantz this man, Emmanuel. And they said, your job right now is to get that man to say four sensible words. If you can just get him to say four sensible words, you'll be accomplishing our goal for the first three months type of thing. Or maybe it's four months. And that man said, I am Jesus Christ. and Richard Gantz, he was just a new Christian, but he had just read this Matthew 24. And he picked it up and read Matthew 24. If anybody says, I am Christ, don't believe it, you know. I can't quote it exactly. But he read that to that fellow, and it stopped him in his tracks. Silence. Total silence. And after a few minutes, the man said, where did you read that? Where did you get that? And he threw the New Testament at him and said, you read it. And that man did. He started reading. And he was in a... I don't remember if it was one day or whatever. He was utterly, radically transformed. And Richard Gantz's boss said, I've heard what's been going on. And he says, you can do that outside the job, but not on the job. If you keep on that way, you're done. You're fired. That was the end of his work as a psychiatrist. And we're talking about the glorious Gospel being sufficient to change the lives of powerful sinners. I went up to this class reunion, you know, and I didn't have sense enough to stick some tracts in my pocket. But anyway, I got some addresses. And there's a few openings here and there for the Gospel, but nothing too much. And this one fellow, he goes by me and taps me on the shoulder. And I looked around, and we were going out to get the big picture, you know, and so I didn't have time to talk with him, but I thought, that's unusual. Rodney tapping me like that because formerly it seemed like he kind of ignored me. And it seemed like he was pretty friendly there in the way he did that. And he looked back and kind of smiled. I thought, I've got to get with him before I go home. And so I did. And I said, Rod, how are you doing? And he went on to tell me, he said, here's a fellow that we grew up together. I mean, he was in the Methodist church with me. We were in the same class. We rode horses and messed around together. We went through Methodist confirmation together. We went to college together for the first two years. He probably helped me on in sin more than any other man I know of. And then I was converted and he went the other way, coaching and teaching, but he went off into drugs, got hooked on drugs to where he's my wife, my children. They meant nothing to me. It was drugs all the time. He ended up in prison. He got to sell insurance and got caught embezzling the money and ended up in prison. There in prison, some years ago, I wrote to him and said, Rodney, I talked to your dad. And I could tell from what he said, you think you're still a Christian? You're just going to get out and try harder? I said, how can you think you're a Christian in view of this and this and this? You know, a good tree can't bear bad fruit. And I never heard back from him. And I thought, uh-oh, I was too sharp, too ugly, too harsh. I offended him. He'll never write me. He'll never talk to me again. That's the way it looked at the last reunion. And he says, Bob, I've got to tell you. He says, I found Christ in prison. He says, you know, A-A-N-A, none of it did me any good until I found Christ. And he says, I'm going on with the Lord. He says, I've got to read my Bible and charge my batteries every morning and every night after work. He says there's an awful struggle getting rid of these lusts of the meth addiction and so on. Time will tell, but it seemed like his heart was open. His face was headed in the right direction. and he was open to receiving some CDs and so on. I'm talking about the glorious Gospel of the blessed God. And it's done this for how many? How many people? Like the stars without number. Like the sand on the seashore without number. It's so glorious it answers a deepest need. You know, I would have taken some cancer cures if they told me it cured. But since they told me it would not likely cure, I didn't give them my money. But we're talking about something that works. I like things that work. I commend to you the glorious Gospel. In conclusion, if you're not a Christian, If you're not a Christian, you just remember this. Please, you must remember this. You must see yourself as a sinner to be a candidate for the grace of God. Right, Sarah? You've got to see yourself as an empty-handed sinner. My dear mother, she died of the same thing I've got in 1983. No, in 1982. I remember one time, maybe a month from the end of her road, I was sharing 1 John 1-9 with her. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and so on. I said, Mom, just make a list of your sins. Oh, I was making it simple, alright. Just make a list of your sins and confess them all to Christ and He'll forgive you. And she said, well, it's not like I could go around all day sinning. And I said, but do you feel you've ever sinned? And she thought a moment, and she said, well, no. And I said, well, one thing for sure, Mom, if you've never sinned, you don't need a Savior. You don't need Christ. And I believe those were the last spiritual words we ever had. If you're a Christian here this morning, you ought to be overflowing. Like Paul with much thanksgivings, a Savior has come. And He came with a purpose to save sinners. David Leiter is to be baptized and confessed this very morning. And just a little while ago, you know, you look at him and no way, he's locked up tighter than a drum. So, praise God. And then finally, think of our obligation to the Gospel. Paul says he was entrusted with the Gospel. And here we are as Christians, after all we've done, slapping the Lord in the face, here we've been entrusted with the Gospel. A charge to keep I have a God to glorify. Here's my neighbors everywhere all around that need what I've got. How can I keep it to myself? And so, we've been entrusted as stewards, let's be good stewards of the manifold grace of God in this glorious Gospel. And spread the tidings around wherever man is found. Amen.