10 things salvation does to a believer

Romans chapter 1. In our Bible study in La Crosse we're opening this book and this is something that I've appreciated from this passage that I want to give to you today. On Friday morning, Friday noon, I went to the cafe and there was a man that I hadn't seen for years and I walked in the door and he was sitting at a table with another man and I nodded to him and he didn't recognize me and when they were done with their meal I didn't holler over to him but I spoke to him I called him by name his first name is Kevin and he looked at me and says I don't recognize you and so I told him who I was and he says oh you've changed a little bit and I'd probably gained a little table muscle but he came over and we started to talk and he started to speak about a man, here are his words, that wore Christianity as a cloak. Those are his words, he wore Christianity as a cloak.

He says every time I dealt with him and he wasn't using platform language the idea is that he would not come out in a good way he wore Christianity as a cloak. I want to read the first section of Romans chapter 1 and I want to talk about 10 things that salvation, the gospel of God does to a believer and how that everyone who is truly saved have these hallmarks in their life. There's 10 of them that I see they're just something that I've appreciated and I want to pass them on but I want first to read the scripture Romans chapter 1 and verse number 1. Paul a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle separated unto the gospel of God which he had promised to for by his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead by whom he we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ to all that be in Rome beloved of God called to be saints grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

First I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world for God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers making making a request if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you for as long for I long to see you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift to the end you may be established that is that I may have I may be comforted together with you by this mutual faith both of you and me now I would not have you ignorant brethren that oftentimes I purpose to come unto you but was let or hindered hitherto that I might have some fruit among you also even as among other Gentiles I am debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians both to the wise and to the unwise so as much as in me is I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are in Rome at Rome also for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to the Jew first and also to the Greek for therein is a righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just shall live by faith I've noticed in this passage it's been uh the book of Romans has been divided in three three ways many many times and it's rightly so the first eight chapters are doctrinal this uh 9 10 11 are dispensational and 12 through 16 are are practical I want to maybe you've uh heard this as well but this is how I've appreciated the book of Romans breakdown that the righteousness of God is being displayed in the gospel in the first eight chapters and how that God is showing exactly who he is what his requirements what his demands are absolutely right and holy and just everything then we see the righteousness of God uh defended to the Jews in those middle chapters 9 10 and 11 but then we come to 11 through 16 there's the righteousness of God that is demonstrated in the believer and this is something that has touched my heart and when I heard that man speak of a man wearing Christianity as a cloak he was misrepresenting he was not demonstrating the righteousness of God in the gospel and I've asked myself this very question in the times that I've I've been uh away from that man his first name is Kevin am I demonstrating the righteousness of God in the gospel in a way that honors Jesus Christ in my life am I doing uh uh am I representing correctly and I and I see in this passage here as well that there is a representative man we often have heard this that there are eight represent eight men in the first eight chapters of uh of Romans in chapter one you have the corrupt man in chapter two you have the inexcusable man in chapter three you have the guilty man in chapter four you have the forgiven man in chapter five you have the justified man in chapter six you have the crucified man in chapter seven you you have the uh the wretched man in a chapter eight you have the triumphant man and how that we are more than conquerors through him that loved us how can we be more than conquerors there's no one else to conquer Christ has conquered all and we are in him and now there's no more to be conquered we are more than conquerors and I see that those those eight men in chapters one through eight but I also see an extra one in the in the in chat in this in my bible there's two columns you have in the newberry there's column one column two in column two it's the corrupt man the wrath of God revealed column one I see the Lord Jesus obviously but I see the apostle Paul 13 times he uses the pronoun I I think there's four times or so it uses me and my so he's looking at this is the result of a revelation of God to his soul has changed him totally something has happened in his life that he he was he was obviously saved on the road to Damascus Damascus and Acts chapter 9 but how did it change him completely totally and as a result of that he is a representative man for everyone who comes to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their own personal savior we see that how that in this passage in verse number eight is where I want to begin the first of the ten things is that salvation first of all in its priority makes us a thankful individual we are thankful we see that here is a revelation of God to our soul and as a result of that revelation it has changed us we have bowed before God we have recognized our guilt our sin and our need Christ Jesus is not only has died he has risen indeed proven proven to be holy proven to be the son of God declared that's that's so by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and as a result of that that knowledge that was was communicated to the apostle Saul Tarsus on the road to Damascus it broke him down and he was bowed and bent before his God and finally he rose and he he said in effect in a sense even before he rose Lord what will thou have me to do it changed him but it also made him a thankful individual because what happens when we understand we get into our Bibles and we begin to see things about our God as we've already heard it doesn't it should not produce a spiritual pride or an arrogance among us there's way too much of that look how many Bible verses I know I know this passage I can outline this book I can do these things what do you do what do you know oh you don't know as much as I do we take the computers away from everyone then we'll find out how much we know and you don't even have to do that you look at each of our lives and the question of spirituality is not how much I know it's who I am like am I like the Lord Jesus who died to save me and the apostle Paul in this passage here in verse number eight he's recognizing as a rep I am I am uh putting that forth to you for consideration as a representative man he's saying firstly first of all I'm thankful I thank my God he's thanking him for the Roman believers per se uh particularly but I want to notice this in a general way God when he saves us he makes us a thankful individual we've if we return over to verse number 21 of the same book because that when they knew God they glorified him not uh him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their imagination so here's the corrupt man he has a revelation of God he looks at the starry heavens and he looks at the beautiful trees he looks at the animals on the on the face of the earth he might even see a few under the waters and he says wow this is great I'm going to worship these things he said now he has he's received this inventory of knowledge from God but he doesn't glorify him as God and what else does it say neither were thankful so an ungenerate unregenerate individual a corrupt person in our sins we are not thankful and so the first thing that salvation does to us is makes us thankful you know what thankfulness shows me it shows me that we are are not all taken up with ourself a thankful individual is one who is is selfless there's a man in uh in uh San Diego being taken care of by his wife actually he's my my uncle through marriage and as is as he's being taken care of he's so thankful he thanks thanks her for this and thanks her for that he's thankful about all the little things that are being done for him because he realizes he can't do it himself he has it has humbled him it has caused him to recognize and look at things in a different perspective because too often we get the idea that I deserve this like Saul as we've already heard I deserve what I have see he wasn't thankful he recognized in his own mind that he'd gotten this on his own power and ability and David he was a thankful individual he was a humble lowly individual and he recognized God had given him all this and I've wondered many times on in Psalm number eight as David I believe was sitting on it or lying on his back and with the sheep around him and he looked at the starry heavens and he saw the wonders of all that and he said when I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained he says what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him it humbled him and it made him thankful see when we begin to think that I deserve this we lose our thankfulness and we begin we become sharp with each other we become critical of each other and we think that we are better than other people and God says no you're not it's the gospel the Lord Jesus has changed you and I and the first thing we ought to be is thankful the second thing I want to notice in verse number nine for God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son that little word serve as you well know I'm sure in your margin of your bible is the idea of worship that religious worshipful service and what I want to notice from this passage that that salvation makes us worshipful not only thankful but worshipful because we are occupied with a person we are occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ who died to save us the one who came from heights unscalable and he came and he was went to the place called calvary and sunk to depths unfathomable and they're the one who showed his love to us the one who gave himself for us once we were saved our hearts were drawn out to him in appreciation for who he is and what he's done salvation has made us worshipful as a young believer I was told rightly so the best thing the most important thing you can do as a believer is to become a worshiper become a worshiper we go to our bible and we find well what are we going to worship about the bible is full 66 books packed with the Lord Jesus all kinds of things about him whether the figures of the old testament the books of history or the the feelings of the Lord Jesus in relation to the books of poetry or the foretellings of the Lord Jesus in relation to the books of prophecy or the facts of the Lord Jesus in relation to those books of history the new testament the gospels and the book of the acts and all the the the fruit of that of his of his sufferings the fruit of his work in the in the epistles how that is expressing to us why why it all happened what was in God's mind what was God's God's intention for Christ to suffer and we look into the epistles and we find I was chosen in him before the foundation of the world and what does that do make me proud it makes me humble I don't deserve this and neither do you and so we turn to our God and we say thanks for ever saving my soul and this is the one who loved me before I ever had being this is the one who sent his son into the world to die for my sins while I cursed him he loved me and we're our hearts are drawn to him we come to the revelation and we see the fruit of his suffering the fullness of it how it's going to be brought we're going to be brought into that beautiful place of heaven that we've heard of already this morning and the joys of that wonderful place and who's going to be there and say I'm here because I'm such a good individual not a one of us not a one of us we're going to stand on the shore of and we're going to bow before the nailed pierced feet of the Lord Jesus and we're going to say I don't deserve to be here but Jesus Christ he loved me and he gave himself for me this is the one that we come to worship we rise whether it be on the Lord's day morning or in the in the as we open the door of our day and we think of I'm going to heaven maybe today I might I might end up heaven today and we think of the beauty of the place where we're going and sometimes we can't hardly wait to get to a breaking of bread meeting because our hearts are welling up with with appreciation for the Lord Jesus and we want we want to have other believers there with us and we hear them speak of Christ and we hear them singing of Christ and we begin to speak of Christ and our hearts are warmed and sometimes a meeting it meeting ends and we we just want to sit there we don't want to leave why because God's salvation had has made us worshipful and in this passage I see that if a person cannot speak well of the Lord Jesus Christ in worship how can he really speak well of Christ of his son how can he really do that because the the uh the writer here saw or Paul the apostle is linking his religious service at worship with a presentation of Christ in the gospel so just that that's for your consideration in the end of verse uh number nine as well as in verse number 10 I want to just notice this uh briefly the idea of being prayerful God the God's salvation has made us prayerful we haven't we have a desire to speak to God what a privilege that is and even I've enjoyed it this way lately it's it's a privilege yes but it is a pleasure it's a pleasure ever thought about speaking to God as a pleasure coming into his august holy presence as a pleasure I have often thought of of uh of Esther going in before the king she wasn't sure whether she had acceptance she knew she had accepted or she knew she had access she knew she could get in there but she wasn't sure whether she would have acceptability when she went in he held out the golden scepter ah then everything changed and what does our God tell us he wants us to come before him he wants us to come to him he wants us to speak to him how would you feel if you had a child who never had never spoke to you how would you feel if you had a son who was 18 20 25 years old and they never spoke to you in all their life would you say well we have a real close relationship no there are some believers I wonder how close a relationship we have it may be as that man said a cloak of christianity in our prayers we open the day I'm sure you do with prayer it doesn't mean you have to be on your knees for 24 hours the idea is that we have to be in that attitude of prayer and I've I would suggest and if younger ones are on the road driving or whatever when someone comes across your mind their name comes across your mind and you don't know why pray for them send up a prayer to God thank God for them in some way and then pray for them in this very specific way because their name came across your mind for a reason and be prayerful and communicate with your father in heaven being prayerful the time is quickly going I want to get down through these oh and one thing about being thankful this comes just comes to mind are we able to be thankful when someone else is blessed more than we are when someone they have a promotion at their job and they say well I've got a great raise I've got better better hours better these things and the very next brother right sitting next next to him during the break at the breaking of bread that's where they sit you know in their their special places right next to them they lose their job or they get there's a cutback and they don't have quite as much money as they used to have is it easy to say well I'm glad you got the promotion I'm glad you make the three or four six or eight figures or whatever number you want to put on it I'm glad you I'm glad for you or is there that tinge of Saul in us and say oh I want to get rid of him I want to pick that javelin up and I want to show him what life is really like in my shoes see when we're thankful we recognize that when another is blessed when another is is strengthened or benefited we should rejoice with them and we should be thankful to God for them and with them because that is a one of the features of being a true Christian is a thankfulness even for the blessing of other people being thankful being worshipful being prayerful in verse number 11 for I long to see you that I may impart or share onto you some spiritual gift unto or to the end you may be established or strengthened now this is not the idea that the apostle Paul had all these special gifts residing in him and he would go and he put his hands on people to impart special gifts to individuals he was there to show to share what he had the gift he had and as well to to seek to build up others that they might be strengthened that there might be a mutual enjoyment of each other's ability that God has given and I just want to put this label on this because something simple unlike my brother Gary I just want to be simple because I'm simple this salvation makes us want to be helpful that's what I want to see here in this verse see my gift is not for me my gift your gift is not for you at conversion God has given each of us a gift something to bring honor and glory to him and it's not mine mine is not for me and yours is not for you you may not like me that's really that's immaterial I really don't care about that because this is not a game to me I'm not here to win friends and and have people tickle my back no not a bit I'm here because this has been pressed upon my heart and I want to give to you for your good and your help because I realize I have to answer for it to the Lord for every word I realize that and my gift is not for me it's for your good and your gift is not for you it's for my good and the apostle Paul he recognized that and he wanted to be a help because that's what salvation does to people salvation does not make us selfish salvation makes us want to help other people I think of the Lord Jesus Christ not only in in Philippians 2 the one who being in the form of God thought of not robbery to the equal of God that beautiful passage there in chapter 2 but here's one who he took upon himself the form of a servant form of God form of servant and when in John chapter 18 I've thought of this many times as well the first time that I read in my Bible you can help me if I'm wrong where the Lord Jesus was ever physically hit in the in any part of his body where he was actually physically hit he came at the temple officer he spoke to the the uh the high priest there and the temple officer took his hand and hit him on the face smote him on the face and I think of the Lord Jesus turning and looking at that temple officer and saying if I have spoken evil bear witness of the evil but if well why smitest thou me he did not stand up for his right he did not think about himself oh you hurt my cheek he's actually inquiring he's actually probing the very heart of the one who smote him why because he was selfless he was not selfish he was seeking to probe and help this individual who had just hit him and seeing that's the way we ought to be in our life when people do stuff to us it hurts we've all had that happen to us haven't we they may not as we've already heard they may not do it intentionally but it hurts just the same and sometimes when you find out it was intentional the way it drops you to your knees but here is one unselfish in all his ways the one who was God manifest in flesh walking amongst men in the beauty of his pathway not not a word ever escaped that silent tongue in his defense or to promote self-glory it was always for the glory of his father even in john 11 it's for the glory of God Lazarus was going to die but it's for the glory of God he's always selfless and that's a that's a mark of a true christian but being helpful verse number 12 i want to notice this briefly that is that i may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me i want to notice this here of being useful here is a usefulness that the apostle as a representative man i'll submit that to you again for consideration he said this is the way all christians should be we have a desire to be a help one to another why because we are a part of a body have you ever tried to eat your cereal whether you have honey nut cheerios or weenies or whatever and you have two parts of your body two muscles in your body that are fighting against each other they're both they're both contracting you have your tricep uh your tricep muscle and your bicep muscle and they're both fighting against each other and your your bicep wants to contract and bring your bring the food to your mouth and the tricep nope i don't want that i'm gonna i'm gonna be stiff and so you have two stiff arms because these muscles are just they're fighting against each other they're not being useful and they're fighting and fighting and you're looking at your honey nut cheerios and boy you're hungry and if you don't if there's not the release if there's not the give and take if there's not the usefulness who suffers who suffers when members of our body are not being used right the body suffers and you know sir sometimes when brethren we may get at odds with each other and i don't i didn't get my way well there's a whole lot of things involved there pride and arrogance flesh and all those things you know this is why i didn't get my way well there's pride arrogance and flesh all involved there too but when we bow we get our view of the lord jesus we get our view back on the one who died to save us the gospel of our god i tell you pretty soon the bicep works again the tricep does its job and the body begins to be nourished in our local assemblies that's the way we need to be the give and take to be useful for what my honor no it's about the honor of the lord jesus christ there's an expression i've i've i almost said i beat my brother over the head with many times in relation to various things i keep telling him this is not about you or me it's all about him that's the lord jesus the things that happen in the local assembly whether we agree or disagree and the difficulties that come in every assembly wherever they may be let's get our focus let's refocus on him because it's all about him let's do things for the glory of him and not for my glory or for your glory why because gospel the gospel has made us the result of the gospel has made us useful believers being helpful to use the gifts that god has given for what the mutual benefit of all and who receives the glory when all are benefited the one who died to save us the lord jesus is he worth that yes he is he is so when i become stubborn and say well i just don't feel like going to meeting i don't feel like praying i don't feel like doing this i'm not going to until i get my pound of flesh well time for me to get on my knees fall on my face and have repentance and confession before god and realize that my brother didn't have nail prints they don't have nail prints in their hands oftentimes you might notice when we shake hands i may look at your hand because there's no nail print in your hand but the one who died to save me has nail prints and that's the glory that i want you to serve and i know you want me to serve too why because we're being useful for the honor of the lord jesus what's another thing we come down to verse number 13 now i would not have you ignorant brethren that oftentimes i purpose to come to you but was led hither to that i might have some fruit among you also even as among other gentiles here was the idea of a fruitful life that comes from the gospel the salvation that the gospel brings to us there's things that that we we sow a seed and we we see the sprout come out we see the stock we start to see the the development and we're looking for fruit from something from that plant and we recognize that in due time there's going to be something if the seed is right the fruit is going to be right this is something that i have i've noticed in past years and i'm going to express it is i fear that we have even in our gospel meetings have become entertainment desirers what i mean by that is this that i want to come and have the stories told so that i feel good about being there and and having oh man it's such a good meeting it just kept my attention all the time and there's that sense of am i here for what reason i would love to hear and i know we do i'm just speaking speaking what's on my heart i would love to hear the truth of obviously the ruin of man the guilt of man the sin of man the the the repentance required of man and then god's simple remedy that's simple and that's in don't misunderstand me please it wasn't easy for god to give his son it was costly but there was a ruin of man and the remedy that god provided sometimes i think we like to hear the stories out of wikipedia about all these little creatures which are good in themselves don't misunderstand me please but we like to be entertained oh man this is a great message he had seven stories and i remember each one but what about this what about sin was preached what about this well uh i don't know well if the seed is being presented wrong are we to expect the fruit to be wrong how can we present the gospel the true full gospel of the grace of god not in the sense of the of the apostolic full gospel but the death burial resurrection of christ the ascension of christ the coming back of christ and then have someone say well i just received jesus into my heart man you can go to heaven i'll meet you in heaven i don't want anything more to do with the bible i don't want anything more to do with the christians i don't want to be baptized i don't want it i i'm saved now because this is what i've done and see you later see you in heaven my my point is simply this if the seed is incorrect it's tainted with man will not the fruit be incorrect tainted with man the apostle paul harry saying in true salvation the helpful than the the fruitfulness of a truly divine seed being planted produces divine fruits that he wanted to enjoy he wanted christ to receive the glory for he wanted everything about christ so here's another thing that the gospel received does for a believer makes us fruitful want us want us to present it positively verse number 14 i am debtor both to the greeks and to the barbarians to the wise and to the unwise i just want to notice the apostle paul he had as a representative man he had the idea of the needfulness for uh being needful because we don't just we don't get saved and we're okay there's nothing for me to do now i'm going to sit back and do nothing there we there's a need and as a debtor there's a need it's an obligation that he has he recognizes i have an obligation to all these these people and i'm going to fulfill that and we as christians we yeah we we're not apostle paul's obviously none of us are all put together may not be but i tell you do we recognize we have a need there's a needfulness for us to live christ we may not be able to put a gospel tract in every person's hand that we ever meet in our life but we have the ability to give them a good representation of the savior that we have to every person we meet why how can we do that by being cordial by our conversation by our action by our our interest in them positively by not being short with them by treating them right and not wearing christianity as a cloak so here's a needfulness that we have to spread the gospel yes but to be used and to live christ represent him perfectly here on earth now then we go down to verse number 15 so as much as in me is i am ready to preach the to you that are at rome also here was a hopefulness paul was hopeful because he wanted to do more he wanted to get to this this place where he had never been yet and he wanted to be there because he he wanted to preach the gospel gospel was in him you know yeah people have asked me well how do i know what my gift is how do i know i've asked him this what's the first thing you think of in the morning when you wake up what is on your mind it weighs on you in the morning weighs on you through the day it weighs on you at night when someone says why i get up and i want to pray for so and so to be saved and their salvation well that's that's good you keep you keep praying develop that keep developing that exercise or another one comes to me and they say well um you know i really have an interest in this these christian to be developed and right away i'm thinking if you wake up in the morning with the saints on your heart and you go to bed at night with the saints on your hearts maybe you're a shepherd of the people of god maybe that's what you are i keep praying keep thinking on those matters keep keep progressing for god some they wake up and the word of god is on their mind they're thinking about a passage of scripture they lay in the middle of the night and they wake up at 2 38 in the morning and they're thinking about a passage that wow i wonder what that really means and they rise in the morning and they're thinking out through the day what is that passage teaching me well maybe that individual might be have a tendency of a teacher because how does a carpenter know a carpenter know he's a carpenter he wakes in the morning and he thinks well i want to do this carpentry this this that the other thing or a dentist the same way well i want to i want to learn how to fill this tooth better and pull this one easier and have less pain that's their that's their work so why not bring that into the spiritual realm what's on your mind from throughout the day are the saints on your mind are the scriptures on your mind are the souls of men on your mind and here's the one who had this this this this hopefulness of being able to go to this place to be a help to see them was it for his good to say oh i've got another notch in my my itinerary around the world i've been to this place in that place i've been to spain i've been over there i know i want to go to rome so i can say i've been to rome no it wasn't that at all he was hopeful that he might be able to go there for the benefit of them not for his benefit but for theirs so that's what the people of god do as well true believers they want to they have a hope to be a help to other people we come down to verse number 16 for i am not ashamed of the gospel of christ for it is the power of god unto salvation to everyone that believe it to the two first and also to the greek here i want to see the idea of all right notice the idea of powerful i'm not ashamed of the gospel of christ so here's the apostle paul as he looks at these these greeks he looks at these non-speaking greeks or the barbarians however you want to put them whether they be civilized uncivilized it doesn't matter and he wonders how can i meet their need and does he look in his his itinerary and pull up his his uh his droid and look and there's a well is there an app that i might be able to help these people he's not looking in to himself to help these people in their need because he would fail he says i'm not ashamed of the gospel of christ for it is the power of god unto salvation he simply preaches the gospel to them no matter how deep the darkness of sin that they're in that gospel is able to blast them from the slavery of their sin the guilt of their sin he says because it is the power of god unto salvation he doesn't say i'm the power of god unto salvation it is there's a man some may have heard this story as well and shockley hill just outside of basketball going up county e there's a man who drilling the uh in the uh i think this is shockley hill quarry if i remember correctly he went up and he put a charge of dynamite in the in the rock he had drilled it put the charge in and he lit the fuse and struck the match lit the fuse and he took off running obviously well it didn't do anything so he made a fatal mistake he walked back up to that charge that he just lit the fuse well maybe a few minutes i'm not sure how long it was i wasn't there there's a story i heard he walked up just as he got to the place where he had the fuse had gone out it exploded blew him across the highway blew him across the little the ravine and onto the next hillside killed him obviously see the power the power to blow that blast that rock was not in the match it wasn't in the man who actually walked up to their up to to light it the power of that dynamite was in the diamond not in the match not in the person and the apostle paul is saying here's all these various greeks and barbarians wise on wise he looks and he sees i can't meet their need i can't help them one bit i can't get them out of their the drudgery and the guilt of their sin i can't do it he says i'm not ashamed of the gospel of christ because that can that can blast them from the guilt that can blast them from their their barbarianism that can blast them out of the wisdom of their of this world that can blast them out of the foolishness of this world it is the power of god unto salvation so what does he do does he stop lighting the matches it were and going the idea of power here's the idea of dynamite the power of god the dynamite of god so you stop preaching the gospel no he preaches it more why because the power is in the gospel the power the power of life is in the seed as well it's been said many times and not the soul so we can come and we can say well i i don't know what to say well let's not talk about let's not talk about a bunch of stories in the gospel we see individuals in a room and they're in the bondage of sin maybe speak on redemption the slavery that they're in show them the power of redemption through christ the blood of christ talk to them about those things not about us but about christ because he says i'm not ashamed of the gospel of christ it is the power of god so there's the idea the gospel is a powerful tool that we it's not ours it starts out as a gospel of god's gospel concerning his son it's the gospel of christ it's not ours so it says you use it don't be ashamed to use it because that's what's gonna thank you brother that's what's going to bring people out of their sin and the last one is the idea of being faithful for therein is the righteousness of god revealed from faith to faith as it is written in the just shall live by faith so here's the faithfulness that god the gospel brings to us it causes us we receive by faith and god opens and gives us more faith and so we take one day at a time and we learn of him i don't know what's going to happen next week all i'm looking for is right what's in front of me in one step i'm not looking 10 steps down the road i'm looking at the one step that's right in front of me by faith i received him as my savior and by faith he's going to lead me home and i tell you it's a beautiful thing to be saved i enjoy my salvation i really do i love being in a local assembly i love it are there problems there's all kinds of problems sometimes i look for towel that i can throw in and say i don't need this but i tell you when i turn when i do that i look heavenward and i see the one at the right hand of the father and one of these moments we're going to meet him and what's he going to tell us thank you for honoring christ thank you for representing god righteously how by receiving the gospel of god may we understand and appreciate the gospel that we've received the gospel we have preached and as well appreciate each other because we're going home to heaven together let's enjoy each other on the way home to heaven and let's do it for the lord jesus