In this sermon, titled 'The Power of the Gospel,' Scott Brown explores the introduction to the book of Romans, emphasizing the personal experience of the Apostle Paul and the transformative impact of the gospel. Brown highlights four pivotal words that define the gospel: power, salvation, faith, and righteousness. He emphasizes that the gospel is the power of God to bring salvation to everyone who believes, regardless of their cultural or religious background. The righteousness of God is revealed through faith, declaring sinners righteous and offering them deliverance from the wrath of God. Brown concludes by encouraging believers to trust in the gospel and its power to transform lives.

Please open your Bibles to Romans 1 beginning in verse 15. This is the honey word of God. Romans 1 verse 15. So as much as is in me, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Let's pray. Lord, you've laid before us words of life, you've laid before us a man's personal testimony of his desire to walk with you and I pray that you would take these beautiful words here to refresh us with the gospel and to change any who have been hardened toward this glorious, beautiful gospel. Amen. Please be seated.

Well, we've come to a very thrilling section in the book of Romans. This is the introduction to the book of Romans, which spans from verse one to verse 17, and Paul here in this introduction, he's telling the story of his personal experience with Jesus Christ, And he's actually, at the same time, he's explaining what happens to a person. It happened to him. And he's going on and on about what happened to him. And I've just been so taken by his words here and I've just thought over and over again, what has been the effect of the gospel in your life, in my life?

You know, many of us have walked together for many years. What's been the effect of the Gospel? And I can tell you as a person who has some knowledge of the people in our congregation, the Gospel has had a wonderful effect. It has done miracles, it's changed people. It's such a blessing to have the gospel.

Now, we come to this section, these verses here. There are four words, four pivotal words that really explain the significance of the gospel. It's the word power, the word salvation, the word faith, and the word righteousness. With those four words, you can understand the gospel and you can know how to come to Jesus Christ and just to give thanks. These words define the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And frankly, everything in Romans points to these verses. This is a summary statement of the entire message, the entire argument. The apostle Paul condenses everything he's going to say in these verses right here. That's why Lloyd-Jones, he says in a sense, there are no two verses of greater importance in the whole of scripture than these two verses. These verses compress the whole message of Romans.

And you know, Paul has spoken very personally about the gospel itself and the impact that it's had on him. And now he closes with a summary thesis statement. It's an explanation of the whole letter. But he frames it in an interesting way. He says these are the reasons he's not ashamed of the gospel.

This is why he's so glad for the gospel. This is why he can't quit talking about the gospel. He's not ashamed of it at all. How can you be ashamed of something that has done such good things in a soul? And I think that's what he's really saying.

So you have these four words that we'll talk about. What a joy it is to be able to just repeat these words and to try to explain them. Well, let's talk about where we've been so far in the outline of this book. In the first seven verses, the Apostle Paul talks about the impact of the gospel in his own life, just very, very personally, and he makes it very clear in these first seven verses, it's not enough to know the facts of the gospel. It's not even enough to confess the gospel.

But what matters is that the gospel is experience. The good news is something that takes hold in your life and it changes your life. And so he starts right off and he says, it's Jesus Christ that made me a bond servant of Jesus Christ. I wanna serve him. A shift took place.

He was serving himself. And the impact of the gospel is that he wanted to serve a different master. Oh, what a bad master the devil is. What bad masters we all are of ourselves. And then it says that, He says that this gospel put him into service.

It made him an apostle. It separated him to the gospel of God and it put him in a different frame of life, and it was something that was proclaimed in the Old Testament, and it was by the resurrection from the dead, and he received grace and a purpose for his life, grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith. That's what the gospel did. It made him want to obey the Lord. And then in the second set of verses here, beginning in verses eight through 16, after the apostle talks about the impact of the gospel on him personally, he talks about how it changed him in relation to the church.

We know what he was doing to the church before. He was persecuting the church. And now, he gets extremely personal. And in verses eight through 16, he uses the word I or me 15 times. I, me, this is me, this is my testimony, this is my story, this is my song.

That's kind of what he's saying. And he's saying that the gospel laid obligations on him. But, and of course they were glad obligations as well, there were things he wanted to fulfill. And he, first of all, in verses eight, he says that he's thankful, he's thankful for them. And then, in verses nine through 10, he's prayerfully scheming of ways, you know, if by means of something, I can, you know, bring the gospel to you.

He's imparting and receiving spiritual blessing. That's his disposition. It changed him, the way that he relates to the church and he's determined to obtain fruit. He's large-hearted toward everyone. He's determined to preach the gospel.

And then now, he says he's not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. So this is a very personal testimony. I want us as a church just to think about our personal testimonies. What has God done through these powerful powers of the gospel? And this is really what Christianity is all about.

And that's why He says that he's not ashamed of the gospel, and he needed help from heaven, and he's not ashamed of it. He saw what God did in his soul, and he just couldn't deny the Lord. Now, let me just give you some interpretive keys here. Notice the word for, F-O-R. There are reasons that he's not ashamed, and they're prefaced by the word for.

They indicate a logical progression. Six times in these two verses, the word for, and it indicates that one thing leads to another. There's a chain reaction. The gospel creates a chain reaction in your life. And so six times, the Lord wants us to see this logical progression.

And of course verse 16 begins at four. I am not ashamed, four. Well he's saying well because of what happened to me personally, because of the way God changed my whole disposition toward the church, all these things that God did, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. So that's the, Paul is very logical, he's very orderly in his explanation of things. And for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God to salvation, for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek, verse 17, for in the righteousness of, for the righteous, in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.

So there's this cascading sequential impact of the gospel in his life. That's the beauty of having God and the residence of the Holy Spirit is it sets off these chain reactions in your life. So another thing I want us to see here, it is the gospel. Now, it's not just a gospel. It is a definite gospel.

And the definite article stands in front of the word gospel. There is only one gospel, there's only one name by which men can be saved. It is the gospel. He calls it my gospel, it's called the gospel of grace, it's called the everlasting gospel in the Bible, but this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he says that he is not ashamed of it.

I'm not gonna camp so much on this matter of being ashamed. Everybody understands what it's like to be in a moment where you're ashamed to speak the gospel. And it's such a consternation to us, isn't it, when we find ourselves in that position. But the gospel, it's a gospel as offensive to natural man. And it's ridiculous to natural man.

What, you believe in a savior that was born in a manger? You believe in a savior who is in poverty his whole life? He was born in a no-count, podunk city and raised and he just did physical manual labor, you believe in a Jewish carpenter, you're resting your salvation on him who is crucified like every other criminal. Is that who you believe in? The gospel is an offense.

It's an offense for many, many reasons. The greatest reason it's an offense is because the gospel tells us some bad news about ourselves, that we're sinners. It tells us that we're not all cracked up, we're not all that we are cracked up to be. We know that. But It's one thing if we say it to ourselves, but if somebody else says it to us, it's a little offensive.

And, but Paul was not afraid to confess that he believed. And so he was eager to preach the gospel in Rome. We've already read about that. He's eager, he longs to preach the gospel in Rome. And of course he's eager because he's bringing he's bringing a different power to the power center of Rome.

Rome was a power center of culture, of art, a power center of immorality. Rome was a power center of brutality. Rome was a power center of pagan religions. Rome was a power center of pagan religions. Rome was a power center of the military.

Rome was a vicious and brutal military force in the world. The historian Tacitus says, "'They make a desert and call it peace. This was Rome. And Paul is saying, he's coming to Rome, the greatest power in the ancient world, and he's saying there's a greater power. It's the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And that is such an encouragement for anybody who shares the gospel, that there's a greater power in the power center of your city. You think your city is in the grip of the devil, there's a greater power. It's a power that can rescue, it's an omnipotent power by the word of God and all you need to do is preach the word of God and that power is unleashed. It is an omnipotent power and it destroys the power centers of the world. And so that Paul is saying he's not ashamed.

Now these four words, let's go for the four words. The first word is power. For it is the power of God to salvation. Let's just focus on this phrase, power of God. It's not the power of man.

It's not the power of men convincing men. It's not the power of fancy speaking men convincing other people to do something. This is a power of God. When somebody comes to God, it's not because of the power of man. David in the Psalms, in Psalm 60, 11, said the help of man is useless.

It's the power of God that changes a heart. And you know, there isn't anybody whose heart changed except by the power of God. You know, all the preaching you've ever heard is weak. All the evangelists you've ever heard fall short. And how did God save you with people talking to you like this?

It was the power of God. It was God who used an imperfect person to speak to you. I have no hope to convince anyone to walk with God or to be holy, to be saved. There's no hope except if God speaks to you. Maybe God's speaking to some of you right now.

It's a God who's speaking. Maybe I said something that got your attention, but it wasn't me. It was God. God speaks, and he saves. It's not the power of man.

If you knew that the gospel had omnipotent power, wouldn't you share it more? If you believe that the word of God is mighty and powerful like a two-edged sword, that it unravels the conscience and it pierces the heart and it tells you who you really are. The gospel does that. Well, that's why Paul wasn't ashamed of the gospel. The gospel is God's omnipotent power at work.

Hey the truth is, you know, everybody wants to change. Everybody wants to change. Unbelievers want to change. Massive self-help industries, success industries, influencers are all there to help you to change. Everybody wants to change.

But there's one thing that cannot change without the power of God. And that is a soul cannot turn toward God without the omnipotent power of the word of God. That's why there's that great statement in the Old Testament. Can a leopard change its spots? No, a leopard can't do anything for himself.

And the whole idea is only God can change the spots. Only God can deal with the spots and the wrinkles and the fears and all the things that happen to our souls. And the gospel is powerful. I just listed five ways that the gospel is powerful. The first, the power of the gospel is that it causes people to believe.

It makes people believe, Ephesians 1, 13. In him you also trusted. After you heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. It's the power of the gospel that makes people believe. If you believe it was God, if you don't believe God's power has not come upon you yet, if you want to believe, cry out to God that he would change your heart, that he would make you to believe, because You can't believe on your own.

God has to turn that switch. And it happens upon the hearing of the gospel. Faith comes by hearing. Second, the power of the gospel is that it raises from the dead. The gospel takes dead men and makes them alive.

Ephesians 2, one. And you he made alive who were dead in trespasses and sins. And then further down in verse two, even when we were dead in trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places. This is the power of God.

You know, people can come to church year after year, hear the gospel over and over again, and just be dead to it. You know, I hate, I'm painfully aware that so many of the things that are said from this pulpit just go right in one ear and out the other. It's happening right now. For Some of you, it's going in one ear and right out the other with no effect, like there's a flow through right through your ears. Unless the power of God stops that and makes you hear.

Of course, we're always praying that people would hear, because we know, we know that they can't hear unless the power of God comes upon them and he opens their ears. "'Blessed are those who hear, Jesus said. Take heed how you hear, he said. Is it just words going in and out and you, well that happens and, but God has put you in the way of his word. He's put you in the way of an omnipotent power to change your mind so that you hear.

It's the power to raise the dead. And it is the power of God. In 1 Corinthians 1 18, that for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. The gospel is the power of God.

It's power that comes out of God. God is seeking those that he would save and he's exercising his power on those who hear. And later on in 1 Corinthians 1 in verse 24, we read Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Christ himself is the power of God. To have Christ is to have the power of God in your life.

That's why Paul couldn't be ashamed of the gospel. He knew, he tasted the power of God. His eyes were opened, his ears were opened miraculously. He was on his way to persecute the church after presiding over the killing of Stephen. And God stopped him.

If you knew that the gospel had omnipotent power, well I'll change this. If I knew the gospel had omnipotent power, Wouldn't I share it more? Wouldn't I? We're so forgetful, I'm so forgetful of the power of God to salvation, to all who believe. Now the power of the gospel is unleashed by the word of God, Ephesians 4-12.

For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart and there is no creature hidden from his sight. But all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. The word of God pierces the heart. There's that moment where the word of God pierces the heart of the unbeliever and he believes. And he says, Lord, I believe.

You said follow me, I'm following you. That's what happens. It's by the word of God though. People are saved because of the word of God. That's why the Word of God should always be on our lips.

That's why the most effective thing you can do to witness anybody is read the Bible to them. The fifth thing, the power of the gospel is that it causes sinners to be born again. 1 Peter 1 23, you have been begotten by incorruptible seed, the word of God, having been born again not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible through the word of God, which lives and abides forever. The Word of God causes people to be born again. It's an omnipotent power.

He spoke and it was done. That's what Psalm 33 verse eight says. There's power in the Word of God. It's an omnipotent power that's unleashed. And the power of sin is broken.

And you become born again. Okay, so Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God. It's the power of God. And he, this is his testimony. He's saying this is the power of God that I know.

This is what happened to me. Is that what happened to you? I know it's happened to so many of you. What a blessing it is. You can say the same thing.

So many here can say, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God. I couldn't turn back. I couldn't go back to that again. Second, the second reason he's not ashamed. It is the power of God to salvation, salvation.

That's the second word. Salvation means deliverance. And deliverance from what? Well, we'll have to wait until we get to verse 18. It's deliverance from the wrath of God.

It isn't just deliverance from the wrath of God. It's much more, but it is without question deliverance from the wrath of God. Salvation is escape from God's wrath. You know, it's, people often think so wrongly about the significance of the gospel. It's not necessarily rescue from loneliness, it's not necessarily rescue from insecurity, it's not necessarily rescue from a bad marriage or for money problems, it's far, far more significant than that.

It's rescue from the wrath of God, from the penalty of sin, you are saved, it's salvation from something, from the wrath of God. And it is salvation to something, through the progression, progressive healing of your soul. We call it progressive sanctification. It's through the work of God to cleanse you. He just takes you one step at a time, one year at a time.

And he keeps revealing sin to you, and he delivers you. He doesn't deliver you all at once from every one of your bad baggage. He keeps taking one piece of baggage and then another and then another. And he keeps healing you. So he saves you to something, progressive purification, but he saves you for something, everlasting happiness and his presence in the world.

He saves you from something, to something and for something. And you know, what has God saved you from? I think it would be a really good exercise on the Lord's day to write down today sometime what God has saved you from. What has he rescued you from? I shudder to think where we would be if God hadn't performed a miracle, an omnipotent power to change our lives.

Salvation is to make safe, sound, to deliver from a direct threat, to bring safe and sound out of a difficult situation. I'm reading from a Greek lexicon. That's what salvation means. And thankfully, when once saved, always saved. Praise the Lord for that.

David talks about being snatched out of waters that were too strong for him. That's what it means to be saved. God, he grabs you, he grabs you in the moment, and he pulls you out. He pulls you out of the fire, He pulls you out of the fire, he pulls you out of the raging river that was too strong for you, that was gonna wash you over this cascading waterfall. It's very interesting, you know, today's secular gospel is very, very clear.

And it's a gospel of self-improvement. It's a gospel without sin. Sin is actually dropped out of the discussion in the modern secular gospel. And what people now need is therapy, not deliverance from sin. And I was reading an article, a secular article, with old stigmas about mental health fading, millions of Americans are giving therapy a try.

Well therapy, therapy does not include dealing with sin, because with therapy you do therapy for your neuroses, for your feelings, for your bad feelings about particular parts of your body, for your repressed anger. You get therapy, just talk therapy. Everything is a disorder, but there's no sin there. This is the problem with secular man. He has a solution that does not work because it does not deal with sin.

It does not save from sin. It's a therapeutic gospel. It's the gospel of psychology. You are codependent. You are non-binary.

You are gay, you are dysfunctional. This is the therapeutic gospel of the secular world and it does not save. Here's a great statement from a proponent of the secular gospel, the football coach Bear Bryant. If you believe in yourself and have dedication and pride and never quit, you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards.

That's the secular gospel. Eleanor Roosevelt, the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. This is the secular gospel. Go find it all in yourself. But that's not how salvation works.

Because the Bible says that we are helpless in our sins and that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, that we are dead, that we are lost in trespasses and sins And we're powerless against sin unless we are saved, unless there is an external force. It's called salvation from sin. It's called repentance and faith and turning away from darkness. And it's a gospel that changes your mind, it changes your life, it rescues you, it delivers you, it saves you. This is that word, salvation.

This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, you are saved. The third word, the third reason Paul is not ashamed of the gospel is because it's for everyone who believes. So the third word is faith or belief. For everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. The key word here is faith or believe.

Belief and faith in the New Testament are the same Greek word. And so here, four times, this word, the same Greek word for faith or belief appears. It appears once as believe and three times as faith, but it's the same word. To have faith is to place your trust in something. It's to seek, it's actually to seek refuge in something.

And of course, he's quoting Habakkuk 2.4. Because in the Old Testament, everyone was saved by faith. We'll get to that when we get to chapter four. Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. The just shall live by faith.

Paul is quoting the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk. And what is faith? Faith is to have something settled in your mind. It's to say I believe. It's to say I've landed.

It's to say Lord, Lord, in a way it's like just saying, Lord, I'm home. I believe your home is my home. And the believer says, Lord, I put my trust in you. The believer says, I have faith in you. The believer says, I give all to you.

The believer says, Lord please take all of me. To have faith is to place your trust in someone. When you believe that your sins are forgiven, that's to have faith. When you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that's what faith is. You actually really trust.

There's this beautiful psalm, I love this psalm 84. Even the sparrow has found a home and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young. That's faith, it's to find a home, a home in God. You know, there's this song, my faith has found a resting place. It's a very beautiful song.

My faith has found a resting place. From guilt my soul is freed. I trust the ever living one. His wounds for me shall plead. I need no other argument, I need no other plea.

It is enough that Jesus died and that he died for me. And then listen to this verse. My heart is leaning on the word, that's faith. The written word of God. Salvation by my Savior's name.

Salvation through his blood. I need no other argument, I need no other plea. It's that Jesus Christ died for me, that's what faith is. And Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because I have faith. And it's by faith, The just shall live by faith.

And then, it's trusting in God. It's trusting in God. And later on, we read these words, faith to faith. I'll talk about that in a minute. But it's faith through every stage of your life.

Because faith is something that grows. Nobody ever had enough faith. You'll never get to the place where you think you have enough faith. Because faith grows. It starts like a mustard seed and then it grows.

David says in Psalm 57, my soul trusts in you And in the shadow of your wings, I make my refuge. And then he says, I know that I shall remain and continue with you for your progress and joy in the faith. The Apostle Paul says that. Progress and joy in the faith. You know, I've talked to so many people who say, well, there's no way I'm a Christian because I don't have enough faith.

I always say the same thing. Nobody ever had enough faith. God blesses the smallest amount of faith. And he grows it. But faith actually, you know, it moves people to action.

That's why in Hebrews 11 you have this, the hall of faith and it's the faith that made people take action. Because faith takes action. That's what the Apostle Paul was doing with his faith. You know, by faith Abraham obeyed. By faith Moses' parents hid him.

By faith Moses decided to suffer with the people of God rather than engage in the passing pleasures of sin. That's what faith does. Faith makes you do things. Faith is seen, faith without works is dead, that's what James said. And it's for the Jew first and also for the Greek.

And so what the apostle does, he fits, this is interesting, He fits all humanity into two categories, the Jews and everybody else. All the other cultures, all the other pagan religions, the Jew and the Greek. The religious and the cultural distinctions don't matter with the gospel. The gospel is meant for every tribe and tongue and nation. So Paul wasn't ashamed of the gospel because it's by faith.

By faith, by faith alone apart from the works of the law. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul was very grateful that salvation wasn't from the works of the law because he'd been breaking the law of God and he knew it. He's so thankful for the gospel because it's by faith, not by works. Fourth, The fourth reason the apostle is not ashamed of the gospel.

The righteousness of God. He's not ashamed because it is the righteousness of God. Verse 17, for in it is the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith. So what is the righteousness of God?

Well, there are two, the word righteousness is used in different ways in the Bible. In this context, It's not the righteous character of God that condemns the unrighteous character of man. That's not what he's talking about. It's not the righteousness of God that demands perfect obedience. It's rather the righteousness of God that is a gift of God that is imputed to the soul of man.

And it's in this verse, it's the righteousness of God that makes sinners righteous. It's not the righteousness of God that condemns sinners. It's the righteousness of God that transforms God's view of sinners. Where The debts are paid and the charges are dropped. The righteousness of God that he's talking about here is that charges against the sinner are dropped.

That's the astounding message of the gospel. This verse shook the world You know, this verse shook the world and really launched the Protestant Reformation. And this verse actually is a massive contradiction to the whole sacramental system of the Roman Catholic Church because in the Roman Church you're continuing to earn your righteousness And you can actually pay money for your relatives to get some righteousness. But this is a righteousness that comes from God and laid upon man. But Martin Luther was teaching in the university in Wittenberg, and he was teaching on this verse.

And he testifies that he always hated the statement righteousness of God because it condemned him. But he was reading Augustine's commentary on Romans and Augustine was saying, no, it's not that kind of righteousness. It's the righteousness of God that is laid upon man. And so Luther's life was transformed. We've been reciting Romans 3.21 and following.

And what we're reading here points there. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to and on all who believe. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness. Because in his forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. That's the kind of righteousness he's talking about.

Paul's not ashamed of the gospel because he's received the righteousness of God. God doesn't just simply fill a hole in your heart. He actually makes you, he declares you righteous. He sets you free from the law of sin and the law of death, and He declares you to be righteous, even though you know you're not. It's such an astounding thing.

And the Bible talks about clothing his children with robes of righteousness. You know, we've sung a song before in this church. I am covered over by the robe of righteousness that Jesus gave to me. And then the song goes on and says, and when he looks at me, he sees not what I used to be but he sees Jesus. That's how God looks on his people.

This is the righteousness that is by faith. And Paul is not ashamed of the gospel because of God's righteousness. He knew he was guilty, but he was declared not guilty. So these four words, they not only describe why Paul was not ashamed of the gospel, but he describes the gospel itself through these four wonderful words, and I hope they can kind of capture our consciousness today on the Lord's day to really just bask in the love of God in the Gospel. It's, the Gospel is powerful.

You know, You're familiar with John G. Paton, one of the, those famous missionaries of the 18th century. He went to the New Hebrides to islands in the South Pacific, very threatening. You should read his biography. It's absolutely astounding.

But he was charged by God to translate the Bible. And one of the problems of translating the Bible is that you have to walk around with a pen and paper all the time and try to ask people what things mean from the ground up. It's very, of course, very, very difficult. And in this tribe that John G. Payton was serving with the gospel, they didn't have a word for faith or trust or belief.

They did not have a word in their language. So when you come across this word, believe or faith, they had no word for it because they were actually such a corrupt culture, they did not trust anyone. No one could be trusted, and it was actually a whole culture of deception and distrust, And everybody was always just trying to put one over on another because nobody could be trusted. And therefore, there was not a single word for faith to translate the just shall live by faith. Or if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be saved.

No word for belief. And so, He went hunting with some of the natives there, and they killed a deer, but they were exhausted. It took forever. And they came back and they flopped down and laid on the ground. And one of the islanders said, my, it's good to stretch yourself out here.

And Peyton said, because they were resting, they were resting on chairs. He says, what do you, what is that, to rest on? And he, apparently he recalled another time when he was sitting in a chair and he asked one of the islanders, he lifted up his feet and he said, what am I doing now? He says, you're resting, you're resting your weight on that. And so he used that word to try to communicate the gospel.

And so when he translated for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever stretches himself out upon the Savior shall not perish. Whoever stretches himself out on the Savior, whoever believes, whoever has faith. And the Apostle Paul is saying, whoever stretches himself out on the Savior and trusts Him, he shall be saved. The just shall live by faith those who believe. So this is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It's first of all it's the power of God and therefore Paul could not be ashamed. And it was for salvation and he could not be ashamed because he knew it and it was by faith. And it was for the robes of righteousness that Jesus Christ laid upon him. So this is the free offer of the gospel, to stretch yourself out on the works of the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. That's the gospel that the Apostle Paul is preaching.

That's the gospel that he calls my gospel. That's the gospel that he calls the gospel of God. I was reading a prayer this morning from a book called Piercing Heaven. I'm gonna just close with this prayer because I think it really communicates what happens in salvation. "'Dwell in me, walk with me, "'and let my body be the temple of the Holy Spirit.

"'Take me from one degree of faith, love, zeal and holiness to the next. Until I appear perfect before you, through Jesus Christ my Lord, in him I have righteousness and strength. Philip Dodridge, would you pray with me? Lord, what a comfort it is to stretch out ourselves upon you, to have faith in you, to put our trust in you, to be covered with the robes of righteousness, to be saved by faith, to be rescued, and to know the power of God. Lord, we're just so thankful for such a great salvation.

Amen.