Well, thank you so much for those kind words. It's been a joy to be here with you for this conference. Look forward to tomorrow morning as well, being at this church and being able to continue to minister. But I know that we have a plurality of churches gathered here tonight, and we are so grateful for the unity that we have in the gospel, the oneness that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm so thankful to be a part of an evening like this. If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to turn with me again to the book of Romans, Romans chapter one. And I want to continue to think about our theme for the day, which is the glorious gospel of God. This morning, we laid a foundation. I want to build upon that foundation now tonight and continue to look at These opening verses, which form what would be a prologue, it's like the front porch to a house that sets the stage for what the rest of the epistle will concern itself with. In fact, the entire book of Romans, in some ways, is found in concentrated form in these opening verses. Paul is tipping his hat where he is headed. He's giving us a foretaste of the teaching that he will be bringing in this book. And so many Christians have said that the Book of Romans is their favorite book. It's been said if the Bible is a diamond or excuse me, is a ring, then The book of Romans is the diamond on that ring. And if that is so, then what we shall look at tonight is one of the choices portions of the word of God. I want to begin by reading verses one through seven. We look this morning at verses one and two. Tonight, we'll look at verses three through seven. Lord willing, this is the inspired, the inerrant and the infallible word of the living God. Romans one, beginning in verse one, Paul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his son, who was born of a descendant of David, according to the flesh. who was declared the son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for his name's sake, among whom you also are the call of Jesus Christ to all who are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints. Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The most important word in these opening verses of this book is the word gospel. It can be argued the most important word is God at the end of verse one, but the gospel of God. And there is a thread that runs through these opening verses that sets the stage for the instruction Paul will give concerning the gospel. The word gospel is found again in verse nine for God, whom I serve in my spirit and the preaching of the gospel of his son. And again, in verse 15, still in this opening prologue, I am eager to preach the gospel to you. Then again, in verse 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel and clearly the reference in verse 17, for in it. And the antecedent to it is the gospel, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed. This opening section is all about the gospel, and it is this gospel which we must believe and which we must live. The Greek word for gospel is euangelion. which is a compound word, a composite word. Angel means message. Eu means good, like a eulogy is a good word. Euangelion means the good message. It means the good news, the good tidings, the good announcement. And I want to say there is no message any greater than the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the greatest message that you will ever have in your ear, in your mind or in your heart. Nothing you will ever hear the rest of your life will ever supersede the glory of the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. William Tyndale defined it as glad tidings when he came to translate the Bible for the very first time out of the original Greek into the English language. As he came to Euangelion, he said glad tidings. The word was a common word used in the Roman Empire to describe the pronouncement made by a herald who had been dispatched from Caesar's throne with a good announcement. As he would travel to the perimeters of the Roman Empire, he would take the message that Caesar had given to him, and he would go into a village or a hamlet. He would gather a crowd around him. He would cup his hands, lift up his voice, and bring the euangelion Bring the good news. Rome has won a great victory. Rome has annexed another empire into our greater empire. Or Caesar has a son and there is an heir to the empire. But rather than Rome having a euangelion for Paul, Paul has a euangelion for Rome. Paul has the greatest news, the good news, that sinners who are under the wrath of God can find acceptance with a holy God and that the favor and blessing of God can be upon those who are so undeserving through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Martin Luther defined the word gospel this way. Euangelion or evangel is a Greek word and in German means a good message, a good tidings, good news, a good report, which one sings and tells with rejoicing. So when David overcame the huge Goliath, Luther writes, the good report And the comforting news came from the Jewish people that their terrible enemy had been slain, that they had been delivered and that joy and peace had been given to them. And they sang and they danced and they were happy because of this. Then Luther says, even so, the gospel of God. is also a good message and report. The gospel has resounded in all the world, proclaiming, proclaimed by the apostles. It tells of a true David, a greater son of David, who fought with sin and death and the devil and overcame them all. and thereby delivered without any merit on their own. All those who were held captive in sin were plagued by death and were overpowered by the devil. He made them righteous and gave them life and saved them. Thus, their needs were satisfied and they were brought back to God. Close quote. That's this is what we're talking about tonight. This is what Paul is writing about. This is what God is making known to us tonight. This gospel, this good news from God. Now, this morning we looked at the first two verses and just to quickly fly over those first two verses and to remind you of what we considered this morning, I gave you three headings. We know at first the source of the gospel at the end of verse one, it is the gospel of God. And we noted that this means the gospel that belongs to God. It is God's gospel. It is a gospel that has come down from God. It has come down from heaven. It is not arisen from the culture or society or the church or any denomination. It is the gospel that belongs to God, conceived in the genius and in the mind of God. God is the source of the gospel. And so to believe this gospel is to find acceptance with God. To reject this gospel is to be rejected by God himself. And there's no middle ground. Then second, we noted the exclusivity of the gospel. We noted the definite article, the at the end of verse one, the gospel of God, not a gospel, not one of many gospels, but the one and only gospel, the only message of salvation that has been made known among men. And then third, we noted the antiquity of the gospel in verse two. that God promised this gospel beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scripture, that this is not a new message. The gospel of God is not something that has appeared upon the scene later in human history at the dawning of New Testament times. but that this gospel was preached at the very beginning of time. In fact, God had conceived it in eternity past. And this gospel was preached to Adam and Eve. And this gospel was preached through Moses and through David and through all of the prophets. It runs throughout the entirety of the Old Testament. The way someone was saved in the Old Testament is the way someone is saved in the New Testament. There are not two different ways of salvation, one for a Jew, another for a Gentile. There is not one way to be saved under the Old Covenant and a different way to be saved under the New Covenant. There is only one way of salvation, both Old and New Testament, anytime, anywhere, anyplace. If anyone has ever been justified by God and made right with God, it is through this one and only gospel message. And that's why we speak of the antiquity of it, because there were those who were made acceptable to God in the Old Testament. Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. It is on the basis of this one same gospel. They looked forward to the coming of Christ just as we look back to his first coming. But we want to build up now from this foundation that we laid this morning. And I want to now set before you a fourth heading. Beginning now in verse three and extending into the middle of verse five, I want you to note fourth, the subject of the gospel. The gospel of God is rooted and grounded in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can say very succinctly that the gospel is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is the gospel. Martin Luther, writing in his commentary on the book of Romans, writes at this point, as we come to verse three here, the door is thrown wide open for the understanding of Scripture, that is, that everything must be understood in relation to Jesus Christ and everything about the gospel. must be understood in relation to Jesus Christ. John Calvin, the theologian, asserted, quote, the whole gospel. That means there's no gospel outside of the whole gospel. The whole gospel is contained in Jesus Christ. This is what Paul is stating as we come to verse three. Notice how verse three begins concerning his son. Concerning what the gospel is concerning his son, the gospel is focused upon his son, the gospel is riveted upon his son, the gospel concerns the person of Jesus Christ, who is the eternal son of the living God. He is the second person of the Trinity. And as the son of God, he is co-equal and co-eternal with God the Father. He is referred to here as the son because he is in submission to the father in carrying out the will and the purpose and the plan of the father in the salvation of lost sinners. The gospel focuses upon him. This is why Paul said in first Corinthians one verse twenty three, we preach Christ crucified. We would say, now, wait a minute, Paul, you said to the elders in Ephesus that you taught the whole purpose of God. You taught the whole counsel of God. Bibliology, theology proper, Christology, pneumatology, angelology, anthropology, hermetology, soteriology, ecclesiology, eschatology, the entire span of theology. Paul taught, and yet he says we preach Christ and him crucified. How does this square the entirety of Paul's theology from A to Z finds its zenith? finds its highest apex, reaches its highest pinnacle and summit in the setting forth of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the crown jewel upon the diadem of theology. The Word of God is the Word of Christ. In theology proper, it's Christ who is the image of the invisible God. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ. The angels are those who worship Christ and serve Christ. Man is made in the image of Christ. He has fallen into sin, which is rebellion against Christ. Salvation is the work of Christ. The church is the body of Christ, of which he is the head. And eschatology is the second coming of Christ. He is the heart and soul of our theology. He is the Alpha and the Omega of what we believe. Paul went on to say in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2, For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And yet more succinctly, Paul said in Colossians 1, verse 28, We proclaim Him, the Lord Jesus Christ. Charles Haddon Spurgeon affirmed, let this be to you the mark of true gospel preaching, where Jesus Christ is everything. Now, concerning, look again at chapter one, Romans one, verse three, concerning his son. The gospel is concerning his son. He goes on to say, who was born of a descendant of David, according to the flesh, the son of God became the son of David. The son of God became the son of man. The son of David was a recognized messianic term. And this speaks of the incarnation of Christ. that he was born in the lineage of David, he was born of a virgin, sinless, eternal deity, took upon himself sinless, perfect humanity. Jesus Christ was fully God, yet fully man. He was not 50 percent God and 50 percent man. He was 100 percent God and he was 100 percent man. Define this to the fullest extent and you'll lose your mind. Deny it and you'll lose your soul. He was the descendant of David. The Old Testament had promised from long ago that there would arise one of the lineage of David, who would come and be the Messiah, who would set his people free. In 2 Samuel 7, verses 12 and 13, we read of God's promise to David that he will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Meaning there will be an heir to a throne who will sit on the throne of David and reign and rule forever and oversee the kingdom of God. Psalm 89 and verse three, I have made a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn to David, my servant. I will establish your seed forever and build up your throne to all generations. There was this messianic expectation that there would be one who would come, who would be a legal heir to the throne of David. And when he would come, he would be declared to be the son of David. Well, there would need to be proof of this for anyone could just say, well, I am the son of David. And there were many descendants of David. There would be only one, though, who would come to set his people free. How would we know this is the one? Well, he goes on to say in verse four that God so demonstrated that Jesus Christ is the one we read who, referring to Jesus Christ, who was declared. It's a very strong word. It comes from a Greek word, horizo. You can hear the English word horizon, which means to to mark off or mark out as one would mark out a place on the horizon before you would arrive. Jesus Christ was unmistakably marked out and marked off by God as the son of God. And God did not do it in a weak way. God did it with supernatural sovereign power. We read in verse four. who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead. The resurrection was the validation. It was the authentication. It was the confirmation from God Himself that this is my only begotten Son, and His life and His death is sufficient to fulfill all the requirements of the gospel. That is why the early apostles went out and preached the resurrection of Christ from the dead, because there were so many who had been crucified at the time of Jesus. In fact, Josephus said there were hardly any trees left in Jerusalem upon which to crucify enemies of the Roman Empire. were crucified by Rome. What would distinguish this one that day that in his death he would be the gospel of God? God verified it by the resurrection of his son, Jesus Christ. And when he came walking out of that tomb, he had the keys of the grave in Hades. He came walking out a risen, living, victorious Savior who had conquered sin and who had conquered death and who had conquered the devil himself. Now, note the resurrection, he goes on to say, according to the spirit of holiness, that's a Hebraism for the Holy Spirit. He is saying that it was the Holy Spirit who conceived him in his humanity in the womb of Mary. It was the Holy Spirit who anointed him in the River Jordan as he inaugurated his public ministry. It was the Holy Spirit who enabled him to perform the miracles that he performed. It was this same Holy Spirit from the beginning of his life now to the end of his earthly ministry, who was so vitally a part of his existence, it was the Holy Spirit who raised him from the dead. Now, to be sure, God the Father also raised him from the dead. And did not Jesus say in John 10, verse 17 and 18, I have authority to lay my life down and I have authority to take it back up again? This commandment my father has given unto me. He raised himself from the grave. In reality, the resurrection was a Trinitarian resurrection. The Father, the Son and the Spirit were all involved in our salvation and were all involved in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now, I want to draw to your attention at the end of verse four, the three names for the son of God and each of these three names has meaning. Jesus Christ, our Lord, this is a precious verse that is so full. of glorious truth about the Son of God. Names in the Bible mean something. Jesus is his saving name. Christ is his strong name. Lord is his sovereign name. That all three would merge together in one person is astonishing. Jesus is his saving name. Jesus means Jehovah saves, God saves. It is a declaration of the deity of Christ that he is God with us and he is God who has come to save. Christ is his strong name, which means literally the anointed one. Messiah in Hebrew and Christ in Greek mean one and the same thing. It means the anointed one. And Jesus was anointed in his baptism in the River Jordan. With the power of the Holy Spirit of God, Jesus would take the scroll in Nazareth and turn to what is for us. Isaiah 61, verse one, he read it out loud. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me for the Lord has anointed me to preach. And Jesus was endued with supernatural divine power in his humanity. As he lived and carried out his earthly ministry, he was given the power of God to carry out the saving purposes of God upon the earth. And then the word Lord is his sovereign name. Lord, Kyrios, means master. Despot. Ruler. Jesus is Lord, and this was the rub in the Roman Empire because there was emerging in this day the deification of Caesar. to unite the Roman Empire that had such a diversity of cultures with the Greek culture and the Roman mindset and the way that the entire empire would be united would be to rally around Caesar. and to require each of its subjects to once a year make a public confession and say, Caesar est curios, Caesar is Lord, and acknowledge that Caesar has the authority over me to govern my life, to rule this realm. to exercise prerogative over the affairs of a kingdom. But the Christians had a different message. The Christians could not say Caesar is Lord. The Christians would make this confession that Jesus is Lord, that Christ is Lord, that Caesar is under the lordship of Jesus Christ, and that Jesus rules over a kingdom, and that Jesus has the supreme authority over my life. This was an essential part of the gospel. And in order for one to enter into the kingdom of heaven, you may not merely confess Jesus as Savior. But you must confess him as Lord. It will be all or nothing. If I came to your house tonight and knocked on your front door and you said, who is there? I would say, Stephen Lawson. If you said to me, Stephen, come in Lawson, you stay out. I could not enter. It's all of me or none of me. And so it is in salvation. For the sinner to be saved, according to the glorious gospel of God, there must be the confession not only of the savior hood of Jesus Christ, but of the lordship of Christ as well. And one must come to the place of bowing the knee before King Jesus and submitting one's life to his rulership and surrendering one's life to his lordship in order to gain entrance through the narrow gate that leads into the kingdom of heaven, to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ, is not like going through a buffet line at a cafeteria. I'll have some savior hood today, but no thank you on the Lordship. No, to believe upon this Christ, we must believe upon his saving name. We must believe upon his strong name and we must believe upon his sovereign name and come to the place of committing All that I am, to all that he is, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Down in the South where I live, I often hear a testimony something like this. When I was in high school, I committed my life to Jesus as Savior, but I went off to college. And I sowed my wild oats. And I ran with the world. And I did my own thing. And then I later married someone. Of whom Christ had very little value in their life. And then we had children. And it struck me that now I should become serious about Jesus Christ. and to set an example for my children. And so they would say, Pastor, it was 10 years later that I made Jesus Lord of my life. I would say two things. Number one, you're not qualified to make him Lord because only God the Father can make him Lord. You and I can only respond to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We can only respond by either submitting and surrendering my life to him and to give him my loyalty and my allegiance. Or. You are not saved. Until the point. You acknowledge. the right of Jesus to rule your life. Paul is making an emphatic point by stacking up these divine names at this point early on as he speaks of Christ, not merely as savior, but also as Lord. Now, continue to look in verse five of the subject of the gospel. It is the person of Christ. It is the Savior, Lord Christ. Now, in verse five, he adds to this and says, through whom the whom is a personal pronoun referring back to the antecedent, who is Jesus Christ, through whom We have received grace. All grace comes into the life of the one who believes and surrenders exclusively through the mediatorial work of Jesus Christ. It is all through Christ. And I want you to know there is not one drop of saving grace outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. All grace, all saving grace that will come into our life will come through him and all sanctifying grace and all strengthening grace and all serving grace all the way down to dying grace. It all comes through the mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is coming from the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit into our lives. And there is no place else for us to turn but to the Lord Jesus Christ in order to have his grace. Romans five, verse one says, Having been justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have also obtained our introduction by faith into his grace. All grace, which has been referred to as God's riches at Christ's expense, has come through the sinless life and the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul then adds an apostleship, which is inseparably bound to grace. For Paul, that is official apostleship. that he has been set apart in a very unique way. And even this apostleship has come through Jesus Christ. For you recall, in Acts chapter nine, on the road to Damascus, who was it who knocked Saul of Tarsus off his high horse and who immediately called him into his employment? It was Jesus Christ himself. And so Paul says he has received grace and he has received apostleship through Jesus Christ. None of us here tonight are apostles. There are no living apostles in the truest sense of the word that are alive. But we have received grace and we have received a ministry. We have received service and this too has come to us. Through Jesus Christ, Ephesians 4 verses 7 through 11 says that the ascended Lord, the ascended Christ. Has gone back to the right hand of God, the Father, and he has bestowed gifts upon the church, and it is these spiritual gifts, these divine enablements to minister and to serve the Lord. These two have come through the Lord Jesus Christ. We could say by coupling grace and apostleship together, we could say that everyone who receives his grace is employed into his service in one way or another, that we are saved to serve and that we have been called out of the world to go back into the world because we were chosen before the world And that is our primary business in this world. We've been called out of the world to go back into the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the subject of the gospel. And as you give witness to Christ, as you give your testimony for Christ, as you share the gospel with others, you and I must make much of the Lord Jesus Christ and the more of Christ we share, the more of the gospel we have to share and the more we would want people to be converted and the more we must speak of the person and work of Jesus Christ. You cannot magnify him too highly. You cannot direct your conversation to him too regularly. We must make him have the place of preeminence in our witness and in our conversations. Now, let's move on. Number five. The purpose of the gospel. What is the necessary response to the gospel that Paul desires? As you'll note in verse five, he goes on to say, through whom we have received grace and apostleship. Now, note these next words. to bring about the obedience of faith. This is the intended purpose of the gospel. It is to bring about the obedience of faith. Paul is not wanting mere quote unquote decisions. He is not wanting hand raisers, aisle walkers, card signers, He is wanting to bring about the obedience of faith. This means the obedience that comes from faith. Obedience and faith are inseparably bound together. And if there is no obedience, there is no faith. If there is no obedience, the faith is dead faith, as James 2 talks about. All true faith is a living faith. All true faith is an active faith. All true faith is a dynamic faith that takes God at his word and obeys the word of God. In fact, faith without obedience means your confession of Christ is all just talk. There's no walk. There's just talk. And so Paul is emphatic about this and says his desire in preaching the gospel is for the radical transformation of the lives of people to bring about their obedience to God. John Stott says at this point, Paul looks for a total unreserved commitment to Jesus Christ. which he called the obedience of faith. Stott says this is our answer to those who argue that it is possible to accept Jesus Christ as Savior without surrendering to Him as Lord. Stott then says emphatically because of this verse, it is not. Close quote. How would you know you're saved? How would you know that you have a true, vital, living, Relationship with Jesus Christ. Well, obviously, you take God at his word. Obviously, you believe that you're a great sinner. Christ is a great savior. Obviously, you would confess that Jesus is Lord. And surrender your life to him. But Jesus said, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord. Shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my father. Our good works do not save us, but our good works of obedience do provide the verification that our faith is real. John Calvin used to put it this way. Our good works will not take us to heaven. But our good works will follow us to heaven. And if there are no good works, you're not going to heaven. That is a transliteration of what he said. And so Paul is asserting here the obedience of faith. In Luke 6, verse 46, Jesus said, Why do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? In other words, your confession is a dead confession, your testimony is a bankrupt testimony. If you say, Lord, Lord, but do not do what he says, none of us can live perfectly. We all have times in our lives in which we disobey God. We're not speaking of the perfection of one's life, but the direction of one's life. There is a new path and it is the narrow path. And because it's narrow, you're not free to wander all over the highway and just live however you want to live and do what you want to do and live by your own standards. No, it is a narrow path. And when you go through the narrow gate, You cannot go down the broad path to narrow gate, narrow path, broad gate, broad path, and you cannot mix and match. So how would you know if you went through the narrow gate? You're walking the narrow path. Justification and sanctification are inseparably bound together. And as you have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk in Him. This was the intended purpose of Paul's preaching. It was to bring about the obedience of faith. In 1 John 2 and verse 3, John writes, By this, we know that we've come to know him. That means by this, we know that we're saved. By this, we know I have been justified by a living faith. By this, we know that we come to know him if we keep his commandments. So as we evangelize. As we talk to others about Christ. We talk to our own children about Christ. As we talk to family members about Christ. It's one thing to profess Christ, it's something else to possess Christ. And the one who has done more than merely profess Christ, but who actually possesses Christ will be known by the fruit of the obedience of faith. In other words, faith is the root. Obedience is the fruit. And wherever there is a true root of faith in Christ, there is an inseparable connection with now a new lifestyle, a new habitual pattern, a new life direction of obedience. To the word of God, and when we disobey. Our hearts are crushed when the spirit of God convicts us in the word of God, exposes it. Those who are genuinely recipients of the gospel immediately respond with repentance and confession of their sin. This is the purpose of the gospel, but let's continue to look. I have two more headings I want to set before you. I want you to note six. The scope of the gospel for continue to look at verse five, we're back in Romans chapter one and verse five, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, among all the Gentiles. What is the scope of the gospel? It is for everyone to the Jew first and also to the Greek, all the Gentiles means all the nations. There is no one in the world outside the universal scope of this gospel. Our target audience is the entire human race. In other words, the gospel is for everyone. This necessitates on our part our willingness to go anywhere at any time to anyone at any price in order to preach the gospel of Christ. But I must hasten. I want you to note seventh, the motive of the gospel. At the end of verse five, we see what should motivate us. He says these four words for his name sake, for the fame of his name. that there would be one more voice added to the hallelujah chorus, that as we preach the gospel and bear witness of Christ to all the Gentiles, we do it for Christ's sake, not for our sake, not even for our church's sake, not for our denomination's sake, not for our country's sake, but for that name that is above every name. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ, all that we do and all that we say is for his name's sake, that there will be those who will be brought into the bride of Christ and who will adore him. Finally, I have one last heading. I want you to know, eighth, the success of the gospel. or the efficacy of the gospel. And as we come to verse 6, what I want you to see, and we'll wrap this up, is that God Himself guarantees the success of His own gospel. As we go forth and preach the gospel, there will be a glad reception that the gospel will have in the hearts of people And it is God himself who will call out of this world a bride who will believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice what verse six says, among whom you also were the called. the calls of Jesus Christ. In fact, that's what the word church means, ecclesia, the called out ones. We are those who have been called out by God to form the body of Christ. This call is not the general call that we issue when we proclaim Christ. This is what is referred to as the effectual call. The effectual call means that it will always bring about the desired effect. That's why it's effectual. And it will bring to Christ all the elect, all those who were chosen before the foundation of the world. For those whom he foreknew, he predestined. And whom he predestined, he what? He called, and those whom he called, he justified, and those whom he justified, he glorified. That begins an eternity past. It concludes an eternity future. There are no dropouts along the way. There's no one added along the way. Those whom he foreknew and predestined in eternity past are those who will be glorified in heaven. And along the way, there will be those who will be called out and justified. And it is this call, which is the sovereign, powerful call of God that overcomes the resistance of man. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. Each one of us has turned to his own way. But it is the call of God that goes forth and makes us willing in the day of His power. This call is individual. He calls His sheep by name. This call is powerful in that it secures its result. This call is irresistible in that it always triumphs in the hearts of His elect. This call is divine. in that it arrests and apprehends those who are called. This call is internal in that it reaches the heart. And this call is saving in that it brings one into relationship with Jesus Christ. I want to say it again. That God guarantees the success of His Gospel. That Christ did not die in vain. That there will be a body of believers who will put their faith and put their trust in him. And it is the mighty Holy Spirit of God who sovereignly, listen to these next two words, summons and subpoenas those who are the elect in the world, who were under the wrath of God, who were estranged from God. who were enemies of God, when the Spirit of God calls in that day, they shall come. And when Jesus said Zacchaeus, come down for today, I must dine with you. Jesus, when he said Lazarus, come forth. If he had not said Lazarus, the entire graveyard would have emptied. But he calls his own sheep by name at his appointed time, and there will be those myriad upon myriad and thousands upon thousands in heaven who will have been called out by the Spirit of God. It is the Spirit who opens blind eyes to see the truth. It is the Spirit who opens deaf ears to hear the truth. It is the spirit who opens closed hearts to receive the truth. It is the spirit who activates dead wills to believe the truth. It is all by the power of the Holy Spirit. What a glorious gospel we have, what a glorious God we have, what a glorious Savior we have, what a glorious Holy Spirit we have. And it is this gospel that has rescued our shipwrecked souls and our hellbound lives and has brought us into the very kingdom of God and is now incumbent upon us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. It is now incumbent upon us to have a lowly walk because of this high calling. It is incumbent upon us to bear witness of the Lord Jesus Christ to others who are lost and who are perishing all around us. Jesus said in Matthew's Gospel that many shall come from the north and the south and the east and the west, and they shall recline at Abraham's bosom And they shall find their part in the marriage supper of the lamb. It was Charles Haddon Spurgeon as a young man, and I conclude with this preaching on this text said, oh, I love God's shalls and wills. There is nothing comparable to them. Let a man say, I shall. And what is it good for? Let a man say, I will. And he never performs it. He breaks his promise, but it is never so with God's shalls and God's wills. If God says he shall, it shall be. And if God says I will, it will be. Now, he has said here, many shall come. The devil says they will not come, but God says they shall come. You yourself say, oh, we won't come. God says you shall come. Yes, there are some here who are laughing at salvation, who scoff at Christ and who mock at the gospel. But I tell you, some of you shall come yet. What you say, can God make me become a Christian? I tell you, yes. And herein rests the power of the gospel. It does not ask for your consent. It gives consent. It does not say, will you have it? But he makes you willing in the day of God's power. Christ shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall be in his hands. And then Spurgeon said, oh, they shall come and none in heaven nor on earth nor in hell can stop them from coming to Jesus Christ as the gospel goes forward. Beloved, let us have renewed confidence in our gospel. It is the power of God and the salvation. And the call of God continues to go forth even to this present day until the last of the elect shall be brought to the very feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and the trumpet of God and the voice of the archangel and the dead in Christ shall rise first. And then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Therefore, comfort one another. with these words. Beloved, it's God's gospel. And God will guarantee its success. But he works through means. And he works through you and me to get this gospel message out to the world. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you. Thank you for this gospel that you have entrusted to us. Your son has ascended back into heaven. He has placed this gospel into our hands. He has put this trumpet into our hands to blow. He's put this seed into our hands to scatter. He has put this lamp into our hands to hold forth in a dark and dying world. He has put this hammer into our hands that breaks the rocks to pieces. He has put this fire into our bones that consumes. Father, may you use us in yet new and greater ways. Beyond what we even are presently aware. To reach this world with this gospel of Jesus Christ, would you bless these who are gathered here tonight? Would you come alongside them? Would you, as it were, put your arm around them and lift them up? And give them renewed confidence in this glorious message. that brought the Roman Empire down, that overturned the effect of Rome in the 16th century, that by this gospel the English monarchy shook and Rome was shattered by this very gospel. Sinners have been brought out of darkness and into light. May this gospel go forth in renewed ways. In these days, in Jesus' name, Amen.