Dear ones, you can open your Bibles first to Romans 1, verse 16 and then we will listen to Romans 3, verse 9. Romans 1, verse 16 and Romans 3, verse 9. We'll skip over Romans 2, and read Romans 3. Paul is doing the same as in Romans 1, but with the Jews. In Romans 1, it's about all the other nations that didn't receive the law of the Lord so physically. Romans 1 is about all the other nations. Romans 2 is about the Jews who received the law and the ceremonies. Let's listen to the words of the Lord. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is a power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, first for the Jews and also for the Greeks. For the righteousness of God is revealed in it, from faith to faith, as it is written, but the righteous shall live by faith. For the tower of God is revealed from heaven over all the unrighteousness and unrighteousness of the people who oppress the truth in unrighteousness. For what can be known of God is revealed to them, for God revealed it to them. For His invisible things can be understood and clearly seen from the creation of the world in His works, namely His eternal power and divinity, so that they have no blame, because they have known their God, not as God glorified or thanked, but they have been glorified in their revelations. and their unwise hearts are darkened. While they foresee that they are wise, they are bewildered, and the holiness of the immaculate God changes in the likeness of the image of the immaculate man and of the birds and the four-legged and crawling animals. Therefore God has given them over to impurity in the covetousness of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves. Those who have changed the truth of God for lies, and have honoured and served the Creator, may the Creator be praised for all eternity. Amen. Therefore God has given them over to scandalous hardships, because their wives have changed the natural law into that which is against nature. And just as the men have let the natural law go with the women, and they have separated themselves from each other. Men have committed adultery with men, and they themselves have received the inevitable punishment of their transgression. And because they did not value the effort to keep God in their knowledge, God has given them over to a bad sin, to do what is not worth it. It is filled with all kinds of injustice, slander, malice, violence, indecency, filthiness, murder, deceit, deceit, wickedness, slanderers, slanderers, haters of God, rapists, traitors, bigots, inventors of bad things, disobedient to the elders, unwise, unfaithful, without natural love, insensitive, unmerciful. People who, even though they know the commandments of God well, those who do such things deserve death. These things are not only done by themselves, but also by those who do them. Let's move forward to chapter 3, to verse 9. Just before, we focused more on the Jews. What then? Do we have any precedence? No, because we have already accused Jews, as well as Greeks, that they are all under the sin. As it is written, no one is justified. There is no one. There is no one who is wise. There is no one who does not seek God. They have all gone astray. Beware of them. There is no one who does good. There is not even one. Their throats are on the grave. With their tongues they commit treason. The poison of others is under their lips. Their mouths are full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are hasty to shed blood. Ruin and misery are in their feet. And they do not know the way of peace. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that everything the law says, it says for those who are under the law, so that every mouth that is shut in the whole world before God can be faithful. for the works of the law will not be justified for him, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God is revealed without the law, while the law and the prophets testify of it, namely the righteousness of God through the faith in Jesus Christ for all and above all who believe. For there is no difference, for all have sinned, and they are lacking in the holiness of God. And they are being justified by His grace, without any gain, by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Amen. This is the Word of God. Let us now listen to our preaching. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. Verse 1. All men have sinned against Adam, and have made them guilty of the curse of eternal death. Therefore God would not have condemned anyone, if it were His will to keep the whole human race in sin and curse, and not to condemn the sin again. That is why the apostle learns that the whole world is worthy of God, all of them are sinful, and they lack the holiness of God. Romans 3, verses 19 and 23. And the reward for sin is death. Romans 6, verses 23. Article 2. The love of God is revealed to him that he sent his only begotten Son into the world, that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life. 1 John 4, 9 and John 3, 16. Beloved communities, we live in an interesting time in history. Not too long ago, the western peoples fought fiercely against any form of socialism or communism. But this time, it is the western people who embrace this good and try to promote it. And you hear, in many cases, this phenomenon at universities, where there is a public debate, or someone is just starting to teach, then you hear the socialists talking on the campuses. And then, sometimes, sometimes, they are asked, but, they are told, because this thing, this experiment has already taken place, And it has never worked, right? Every time it has failed and killed thousands of people and caused great devastation. Why do you think it will work if you try it again now? And then you get an idea of how people think about humanity. It's not like those who did it, those who were in power at that time, they were just a bunch of bad apples. But there's something wrong with the system. If I'm in that position, then everything will work out fine. I will bring utopia through the communist regime. That's wrong. It's wrong with the way you think about people, about humanity, about yourself. The problem with humanity, among some, as a party that does these terrible things, and yes, we have to judge them, but there is this general tendency among the people. In a way, the problem does not lie with the communist system, but precisely with the heart of the people. What the communist system should do, is to give the people more and more freedom to live out what they want to live out. So if you want to talk about a problem in the system, I would say that is the big problem. There is nothing that keeps count. with how evil the human heart really is. And it lets go. It's like having a dog that bites people all the time. And then you say, well, we're going to put a chain around it, but we're going to make the chain long enough that it can't walk and walk and walk. And then you're surprised that the dog bites someone later. No. When we work with power or authority, then there must be things in place that embrace all people, so that they can't do what their hearts tell them not to do. The problem is bigger and deeper than what the ancients made it. The problem is with the human being itself. It's with the human heart. And we read something about this in Romans 1. Paul begins with verses 16 and 17, with this announcement about the Gospel of Christ. And it's a series of two verses that you can make more effort to memorize, and to read out loud for yourself. Because I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ. This good news, the happy message of Jesus Christ, does not make me ashamed. Because it is a power of God to save everyone who believes. First for the Jews, and also for the Greeks. God has decided that through this Gospel, He will save powerful people. to save you in a powerful way. Whether it is in making you righteous or in making you holy. Whether it is that through the Gospel He gives you power and Christian loyalty. That you stand before God in a new state, once, a righteous state. And whether it is in your daily struggle against sin. What is the power of God that brings salvation? It is the Gospel. The Gospel of Christ is the power of God to bring salvation to everyone who believes. And so every time we hear the Gospel, hear the Gospel again, hear the Gospel again, you are called up again, believe it! Believe this, this is what you need. You need the gospel of Christ. This is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes. Verse 17 says, because the righteousness of God is revealed in this gospel, from faith to faith, as it is written, but the righteous will live out of faith. And then he goes on to first make the complaint against all the Nazis, and then in chapter 2, for all the complaints against the Jewish people. Because the tower of God, verse 18, is revealed from heaven over all the unrighteousness and iniquity of the people, who in iniquity suppress the truth, because what can be known of God is revealed in them, because God revealed it to them. Now these two verses are a summary of the part that comes. So if you listen to the part that comes, keep these two verses in your head. The tower of God, God is busy now, it's not just one day, God is already busy to make His tower known, to open it up. It is being demonstrated. About all the godlessness and injustice of the people, And what do these people do? They suppress the truth in their iniquity. The truth is given to them, but they take that truth and they suppress it, suppress it, suppress it. They don't want to take it into account. They want to give it away. They want to suppress the truth. And then we read, because what can be known of God is revealed to them. God made it known. There is nothing wrong with the revelation, right? There is something wrong with the human heart. The human does not want God's revelation. And so the human is trying to suppress that truth. Because God revealed it to them. Now see how these two verses can be used for you further in verse 20 and further. So you hear all the time how those statements in verse 18 and 19 are being proven to you. For His invisible things can be seen from the creation of the world, and His works can be understood and clearly seen, namely His eternal power and divinity, so that they have no excuse." Do you remember what we heard earlier? Because what can be known of God and what can be revealed to them, Because God revealed it to them and they are trying to take and suppress the truth that God revealed. So verse 20 is trying to elaborate on that. God in the creation of the world made something of Himself known, revealed. Here it is said, His eternal power and divinity. It has been shown to all people in creation. All people have access to this revelation. But what do people do with this revelation of God's divinity and eternal power? They do not give, as in verse 21, although they knew God, not to glorify or thank God. But they are bewildered in their explanations, and their unwise hearts are darkened." There he again has a thought of the truth that is oppressed, the mind is darkened. So here they are confronted in the creation of, here is a divine being, He is the Almighty, He is God, He must be given honor and gratitude. But then man decides to take that truth, to throw it away and to say, no, no, no, we are going to give honor and thanks in the creation. They darken their own hearts. While they, verse 22, while they preach that they are wise, they have become blind. And the glory of the Immaculate God changes in the likeness of The image of a transgressive man, and of birds, and animals that walk and crawl. The holiness of the un-transgressive God, in exchange for transgressive creatures. That is what man does. Now, what is the Lord's reaction to this? What is the context here? The Lord is busy opening His gates. He is trying to make known His Holy Covenant, already now, about the nations. How does He do that? Verse 24, You hear the same thing in verse 26, That is why God has given them over to scandalous heart attacks. And again in verse 28. And because they did not value the effort to keep God in their knowledge, God has given them over to a bad family, to do what is not worth it. How is God already, already pointing out His judgment? is that He gives people over to themselves. He gives you over. He gives you over to your heart's desire. He gives you over to your heart's desires. He gives you over to live just as you want to live. And that is His privilege. It is the privilege of the Lord when He says to man, here, do now what you want to do. I give your ear to your angry heart. So, party members are being talked about as the big mistakes in history that have set records of the number of people who have been murdered under their government. Terrible things that have happened under them. Party members are being talked about as if they are the outliers. And we, we are not capable of doing such things. We don't know people's hearts well enough. If the Lord would give you, you who are sitting here, young lady, young man, if the Lord would give you over to your sinful heart, and He gives it fully over to your sinful heart, He gives you fully over to yourself, then you will be worse than any of those men sitting together. This is the natural state of the human being. Why... In a way, we should not be surprised that there were such figures in history. We should not say, yes, how could this happen? How could it happen that there was such a person who murdered so many people? In a way, we should be surprised that this does not happen more generally. And why not? Because the Lord still holds back his judgment. He doesn't completely ignore the people yet. He still holds it back. He already makes it known, he already opens it up, and we see it today. If you think about how tragic it is that an old man like Matt Walsh can get great success with his two documentaries, What is a Woman? and Am I a Racist? The tragic thing is that society is so devastated that there are people who are not actors in those documentaries. But it's how they really think. That they really think that a man can become a woman or a woman can become a man. They really think all the things they say about racism. That all white people are fanatics, are necessarily racists. It's something that it is to be a white person and to be a black person. You can't possibly be a racist. All these absurd ideas about gender and race. That this has already promoted in society, these ideas. That with party people, they think, but it is what it is. Let us see there, let us see the judgment of God, that he has given people over to their sinful hearts, given over to their hearts. So if we then look at our ministry, then we hear this language. All people have sinned against Adam and have made them guilty of the curse of eternal death. That is why God did not condemn anyone if it was His will to keep the whole human race in the sin and the curse, and not to condemn the sin again. The whole human race, all people, sinned against Adam. We read about this in Romans 5, verse 12. That is why, just as one man brought the sin into the world, and through the sin the death, And so death overtook all people, because all have sinned. Verse 18. Therefore, just as it was condemned by one crime for all people. Verse 19. For as it was condemned by the iniquity of one man. All people are in this state in Adam. that the Lord will keep man from his wickedness with all his might. Think about it, if he gives all people over to his wickedness, then the church is wiped out. There is no longer a church order. He's trying to keep the evil out of his church. He's got the dog in a chain that's short enough that he can't go far enough to destroy it all. But humanity, is it worth it? Is it worth doing? Is it worth being wiped out? So, if the Lord would do it, there would be no injustice in it. He is just. No one can deny that. We see something about how people have already bowed their heads about the teaching of sin when they speak. But how can there be a hell? How can it be that there are people in hell? That is not possible. But we have to say, how can it be that everyone is not in hell? There are some who... can live, but the eternal life. That is what surprises us. Not that there is a hell, and there will be people in the hell. But there are individuals, some, a mass of people, who are going to live. How does that make sense? How do I make sense of it? That some of these people will be able to live. Get eternal life. And this is where the second article is about. The love of God is revealed here, that He sent His only begotten Son into the world. so that everyone who believes in Him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. She also said last week that we believe in a God who is completely just and completely merciful at the same time. He does not have to choose whether He is just or merciful. He is the completely just and completely merciful God. So why is it then that some people want to have life, not eternal death in Ghani? It's the love of God. He makes His righteousness known, but He also wants to reveal His grace. He wants to show it. So you can think, if you are the receiver of His grace, then you are in a way a showcase. where God wants to show his grace. See my great grace in this son, and what I have done for this soul. But dear ones, if you, if you, the weightiness of the people's repentance, if you start to embrace that and make it lighter, then the grace will also become less and less. So, the more we realize how lost the human being really is, the greater you will realize, how great is his grace on me. that He saved me while I was in such a state, that He did not give me over to my sinful heart to despise, and to despise furthermore something abominable. It would have been right of Him to do that, but He did not. Look what He did in the place of that. He came and changed my heart. He did not keep my heart back from sin. He came to give me a new heart. He came to work again in this sinner's soul. And that He let this new heart grow in holiness. Let it grow so that you become more and more free from sin. And grow more and more to please the Lord. To live as He wants. This is the goodness that God came to do. The love of God that He reveals in sinners that He saves through His Son. It is mentioned in John 3, verse 16. Let's read verse 17. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world may be saved by him. that the world can be saved by him. As a party that is very fond of this verse, we want to get to the first half. Because God gave so much love to the world that he gave his only begotten son. Stop there. And then there is the thought that this universalism, like the Lord saves all people, that is not a hell. The hell is empty. But read the second half. that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life. Everyone who believes in Him, it is through faith in Him, It's not that all the services of God are just a few that come out of the same God. It's a lie! It's a damnable lie! It's a falsehood that is spread among the people to threaten the people. To think that there is another way through which you can come out of God, than through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Love should not fall for that lie. There is only one way, and it is through faith in Jesus Christ. It is through faith in Him that you receive eternal life. Not through another way. There is only one way, one truth, one source of life, and it is our Lord Jesus Christ. So if you look at the world around you, and you have seen who remains on earth and eats of skivelicks. You see how people, human ideas, are being taken further by their logical elaboration over time, over generations. You see how ideas that seemed innocent at the time, have now turned into something terrible. Like the logical consequences of that. If you see that kind of good in the world around you, don't be arrogant and say, yes, yes, yes, thank you, that I'm not like those people. Don't you think that I'm not so angry that I'm in such a bad state? No, realize the grace of the Lord, that He did not give you over before you were born again, to your own heart, because then you would have been worse than the worst that is now around us. See, then also, as you see these things in our world around us, which is terrible, How much need do we have for God to save us? There is not a single person who can apply this heart surgery on themselves. Who can change your spiritual life so radically. You need the Almighty to do this on your soul. Because you realize how big the problem is. And when you can say, but the Lord did this. He did it to my soul. He worked in me to be reborn. He gave me faith through which I clung to Jesus Christ. I have hope. I have life. I believe in Him. Then praise God's grace. Praise His love. that He was merciful to you, a poor sinner. It would be right of Him to set you free in eternal perdition. But here He came and put His hand in the fire, and kept you like a fire, and pulled out the fire, not to be a work of desolation, but to be a work of glorification of His name, of His mercy. Love and praise Him. Do you have to force this realization to say, but I have to live for Him. If that is what He did for me, if He saved me in this way, then it means that my whole existence is for Him. I owe Him everything. Everything that I am, everything that I have, I have to live for it. That should be the energy for you, for the coming week, to say, but why should I live as I should live? Isn't it just a heavy burden that you put on my shoulders every week, to live like this, to live this way, to adapt to these principles? Isn't it just a heavy burden that is unnecessary? Don't I just want to throw it away and live as my heart urges me to? But when you hear the Gospel of God again, love, faith, then it must drive you to say, no, no, look what He did. And that drives me to live for Him. That is what the power of God is, to save everyone who believes. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that God has come to do for this poor soul. That drives me to live for Him. Now, when we are going to live, and when we are going to build things, when we are going to establish our own structures, then we have to learn from this. We should not underestimate people's sins. If we were to build new structures for the future, for the future generations, keep in mind that the following generations will be sinners. And they can take the best structures that we are working on, and turn them into something terrible. So in the structures and the things that we are building now, we have to take that into account. And we have to build it with in the interest goods that are counterproductive. So, if the gentlemen want, and there would be a new constitution one day, what should be in that constitution? Not empty vials for any person who is given authority and authority, but many definitive rules, things that work against it. That the person is not just given all authority and authority. And just as you are building in the Kingdom of the Lord, take this weighty truth into account. The human being is a sinner. And what brings us up, we have to take that into account. We shouldn't be unrealistic. But let's build with the conviction, because the Lord has not given all people to themselves. The Lord has brought some to rebirth. And the Lord is also trying to keep others back. So that they don't get as angry as they can actually be. So that they don't despise as they can actually despise. So that they don't reach their full potential as they would like to reach in anger. And so the Lord creates the space today to build things. To have a hopeful future for what we should do now as Christians. So work hard for the Lord, because you live from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Amen.