And all God's people said. Amen. Glory be. Amen and amen. Ain't it good? Ooh, man, man, man, Brother Shannon, what you said. What you said. I believe it. I believe it. All right, Romans, Romans, Romans, Romans, Romans. We kicked off this morning with a world on trial, with a world on trial out of chapter number three. As we are reading up, you know, we're up to chapter six, of course, and Lord willing, tonight we'll look at a couple things leading up to that. Remember, Paul is asking a lot of questions. If I'm not mistaken, I think there's like 10 questions he asked just in chapter three alone. 10 questions in chapter three, it could be more, but he has done that from chapter two on, and I mentioned this morning, how many questions are we looking at? Nearly 80 questions in Romans two to Romans 11, the transition Romans is chapter 12 that is when it becomes a very practical application of where Paul says I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies unto the Lord as living sacrifices and which are holy and acceptable unto the Lord, which is our reasonable service, be not squeezed out and conformed by this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That's where the book transitions into, okay, all this that we know, all this that we have, How do we put this in everyday work? And he finished that transitioning word up in chapter 11 in verse 36, where he said, all things are of God through him and to him. This is all the work of God. And in chapters nine, he deals with the weightiness of, which you're gonna be in there in a couple days is what I'm saying. We'll talk more about some of those come Wednesday night, Lord willing. But in chapter nine, he deals with the weight of, even though people were born into Israel, didn't mean that they were actually belong to God. That God is a selecting God and God shows mercy and compassion to whom he chooses. And he has called us, and if God has called us into his family, even as Gentiles, we must recognize that God was at work doing something. And that's where chapter 10 and 11 explain to us that we, as the Gentiles, have been grafted in to the family. That, the reason there was a temporary blindness upon the Jew that they wouldn't, shouldn't, and couldn't believe those that didn't so that God could offer to us, the Gentiles, in his wisdom. And that's where chapters 10 and 11 are those chapters that help us recognize us as the Gentiles, that this was in the wisdom of God. that God's wisdom has brought us in and what he has done and the callings of God are irrevocable. So, but back to chapter number three, we said between chapter two and chapters number 11, we see those 80 questions that he asked and they are very fundamental for us to look at. Just look in chapter three for an example in verse one, we brought it up this morning, what did it say? What advantage then has the Jew? There's a question, or what is the profit of circumcision? Look in verse three, we see it again. For what if some did not believe, would their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect or to no effect? And what was the answer to that? No, let every man be a liar, but let God be what? True, let God be true. Chapter three, verse six, certainly not. For then how will God judge the world? He moves on in and we just see one question after the other with good solutions to every one of these particular questions. But chapter three is just this great picture of the world on trial and doing an arraignment. We talked about that this morning. A judge will formally state the charges against the defendant. That's what we see in chapter three. We could read chapter three, verse 10 like this, as it is written. That is coming from the judge. He's the one giving the indictment. He's arraigned the whole world for we all, Jew and Greek, that we're all under sin. But you could put in there like this. You can read it like this. There is none righteous, no, not one of himself. You can put that out to the side. Of himself, we're talking about a divine work of God that's gotta take place. Of himself, verse 11, there is none who understands by himself. That takes a divine work of God to go to work in us. There is none who seeks after God by himself. Each one of these for us to see the fulfillment of the reality that the world is on trial, both Jew and Greek, we were both in this position. And if we do understand, if we do seek God, it was because God went to work. God had to do something to get us to this place to be able to see. And let me just show you a few places in the scriptures that make reference to why this is. Why is the gospel got a veil? Why does the Jew have a veil over their eyes? Why does the world, the Gentiles, in darkness and blindness? Go to 2 Corinthians 3 and 4, and this will give a little explanation of why that is, why men do not seek after God. Why is there none right? Because one, we all inherited a sinful self-centered nature. The nature of man is corrupt, it's rotten. And what did we say this morning? That in the indictment, he did what? He covered the character of the world, that's both Jew and Greek. He covered their commitment together and how they together have deviated from the path, we looked at their communication. how their communication, their throats were like an open tomb. When they opened their mouth, that throat led into what was within them and what was in the man is death. That's all it is, rottenness, foulness, a stench of rotten living and thinking comes from within. Even Jesus, when he taught us that nothing on the outside is what defiles a man, defilement comes from His heart, his nature, his character. His character's falling, it's corrupt, it's rotten. So his throat is just a pathway for that rottenness to get out in the things that man thinks and teaches. And when you think about the whole book of Romans, for an example, and all these 80 questions that we're talking about, what we don't often think about is how many schools Higher education in colleges and seminaries have been established to deal with the questions that are posed in the book of Romans. I mean, these things have created whole universities like Princeton, for an example, was established to teach preachers how to answer these questions so that they could go out through America and teach this new world in America the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ. University and seminary after seminary has been established because of the depths and the essence of these truths that you're reading about right now and these questions that are posed for men to figure out and understand so that they can go into the world and go teach the world about them and then they travel around the world and they come to these places that doesn't even have a written language and they got to go live with them for a period of time so that they can learn how they communicate, so that they can take these truths that you're reading in Romans and bring them to them in a language that they can't even speak. And then when they come back to the states to evaluate all that or to the other parts of the world so that they can go to school and then write a language for these people so that they can write a revelation for them. So that they can have a copy of the Bible like we have a copy of the Bible. This stuff starts schools and institutions and ministries just to teach these great things that God has given unto us. And too often we take it so lightly that we've got a copy of it and we'll read through it and not even hardly pay attention that there was even a question asked. But all this is to do what? Build in us and to instill in us the truths of this great word that we have. And I wanna tell you, if we can see Jesus, if we can see God in Christ, if we can see Him in our salvation, we have everything in the world to be grateful and thankful for, amen? Because I wanna tell you, there's many people around the world and throughout time that has never seen it. Couldn't see it, didn't see it. But notice what he says in verse number seven. He's talking about the ministry they have and how we all become. Miss Pat put on there on our sign, what did it say? May you be the one that, how does that read? May you be the one that people believe in God? By your believing that you could better that he is good. Watch what Paul says here in verse number one of chapter three, 2 Corinthians 3.1. He says, do we begin again to reintroduce, the word come in means to introduce ourselves. Paul and them had been so maligned by false teachers that it was as if he had to start all over with a group of people he spent so much time with because they had so distorted these false teachers, who these men were and what they were teaching, it was as if he had to reintroduce himself to them. And Paul says, do we begin to reintroduce ourselves or do we need as some others, some other letters or epistles? That's what an epistle is, is a letter. Do we need a letter of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you? That means do we need somebody to write a letter of affirmation to say we good and okay? That we've spent so much time with you, why would that even be? Why would you need that? You know us. Verse two, he says, you are, the church there at Corinth, our letter, epistle, written in our hearts. You've been written upon our heart. Known and read by all men. Everywhere we go, we talk about you. Like everywhere Stephan and I go, we talk about our family here at Briggs Chapel. God's written you on our hearts. We tell stories about you and tell stories about the church and the kingdom-mindedness and Those things, everywhere we go, you're written on our hearts. Verse three, clearly you are an epistle, a letter of who? You are a written letter of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, not with a pen, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of the flesh, that is the heart. Man, what a work, amen? Knowing that you are a written letter of the Lord Jesus Christ to the world he put you before. You are a letter that he displays his saving, redeeming, loving, gracious, glorious work, that you are a written letter in Kemper County, Mississippi, in Sumter County, Lauderdale County, or wherever God sends us, we are a written epistle, a letter. Now that's wonderful, that's amazing, isn't it? Verse four, and we have such trust through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient ourselves to think of anything of being from ourselves, as we said in Romans three. Remember, no man understands of himself. No man seeks God of himself or by himself. Paul's saying, we are not sufficient for this by ourselves. This has been the work of who? This is the work of God. But our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as servants, ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit. For the letter of the law, what does it do? It kills, it kills. But the spirit gives, isn't that what Romans five said? The spirit gives life. Verse seven. But if the ministry, the servant of death, that is the ministry of the law, written and engraved on stones was glorious, because it is, so that the children of Israel couldn't even look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, his countenance, which glory was passing away. Moses' face shined when he come off that mountain, but it was steady fading. It was a glorious work, but that glorious work, Pam, was a work of death. It brought death, it brought condemnation, it revealed that they were sinners, and that produced wrath, and that showed they were ungodly, and who they were. That was the ministry of the law, and the ministry of the law was good, it's just, it's holy, it's glorious, but it's limited by us, because the law can't redeem us. The law can't change us. The law's simply like a mirror you stand before and it reveals how dirty you are, but that mirror can't clean you. Mirror can't do nothing for you other than reveal you are dirty, nasty, and you're covered in grime and dirt. That's what the law does, but it can't clean you up. Can't clean you. Jesus, on the other hand, he can clean you from within. and change you to be a written letter of his to the world. Now verse eight, he says, how would the ministry of the Spirit, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be even more glorious? Here's another question we see. For if the ministry of condemnation, which we're reading about in Romans, had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds that with much more in glory. For even what was made glorious actually had no glory in this respect because of the glory that excels. It can't even compare. The glory of the law can't even be on the same page with the glory of righteousness that is in Christ Jesus. They're incomparable because the scripture says that we have a righteousness that is apart from the law in Romans 3. We read that this morning. Verse number 11 says, for if what is passing away was glorious, that is the law, what remains is even more what? Glorious. Therefore, since we have such hope, Paul says we have great boldness of speech because of the work we do, and it's a glorious work. It's a righteous work, unlike Moses. who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. Moses' face shined like the brightness of the sun, but every second that he walked away from them that time with God, his face was fading away. So he covered it up so men couldn't see it fading. But that's not like us. Our face is not fading. Our righteousness is not fading. It's actually going from glory to glory. It's increasing. It's more glorious. That's why our work is so much greater than even their work, even though that work had its purpose. He says in verse 14, but their minds were blinded. For until this very day, the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Older Testament. Because the veil is taken away in who? In Christ. See, even the Jew that we talked about this morning, and the Gentile, there's a veil, there's a covering, you can't see Jesus. Until you come into Jesus, and when you come into Jesus, that veil of the Older Testament is removed, and you can see God for who he is. There's a veil over it. Now that veil has to be shattered. That veil has to be stripped away. Man can't remove the veil. Man can't take the veil away. The Jews couldn't take it away. God had to penetrate the veil. God had to remove the veil. That's what we're looking, the whole essence of the book of Romans and where he's going to chapter 10 and 11 is saying, look, you came in because God took the veil away. God took the darkness away and he revealed his light to you. Let me show you here. Verse 15, but even to this day when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. That's why a man needs to be circumcised, in heart. Verse 16, nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. When a man turns to Christ, but nobody turns to Christ because nobody seeks the Lord. Remember, there's none right, none righteous, none understand, none seek the Lord. So how will a man turn to the Lord? If there's a veil and he's under darkness, who's gotta go to work in this? God's gotta do something. We gotta go tell the world, but in the world, when we go tell them and the gospels proclaim, it's in the power of the gospel that God removes the veil. God does this work. Verse number 16, nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Verse 17, now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is what? Liberty, there's freedom, there's life as he's already stated. Verse 18, but we, the new covenant believer, we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, that is face to face, the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image. We're being transformed into the same image of Jesus from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. So who's doing the transformation? God is, by the Spirit of the Lord, and he's changing us to make us look more and more like Jesus. Now, for that to happen, as Roman 5 says, we gotta go through some stuff. But you see, those things are removed. Look at chapter four, verse one. Therefore, since we have this service, this ministry, and we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God, but even if our gospel," now see, the reading of the Old Testament was veiled, but also there is a veil or a covering over the gospel. Watch what he says, but even if our gospel is veiled, It is veiled to those who are what? Lost or perishing. That's that Romans three. Remember, none is righteous, no, not one. None understands, none seeks, their throats are like an open tomb. They are perishing, Brother Shannon. Verse four, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, for fear, or least, the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. For we do not preach ourselves, but we preach Christ Jesus, the Lord, and ourselves, we are your bondservants for Jesus' sake. Verse six, here's where the difference is made. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's salvation. That's the work of the Spirit, that's the work of God, that we were what? In blindness and in darkness and couldn't see and we were kept in that darkness until God said, let there be light. And when he said, let there be light, we seen God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we recognize that Jesus is God in the flesh and he lived a righteous, sinless, blameless, flawless life according to the grace of God on our behalf to the glory of his father on our behalf and became our substitute and his father's sacrifice at the cross so that his righteousness could be given unto us. A man cannot see that in his natural fallen state until God says, let there be light. Let me give you a cross-reference of how we as the nations, we as the heathen, the Gentiles, how this and why this happens. Go to Jeremiah 16. Jeremiah 16. Jeremiah 16. Jeremiah 16. Look, if you would, in verse 19. 16, 19, this is what God says he was gonna do, what he was gonna allow for season, for time. Right now, we are under a timeframe called the times of the Gentiles, where God put a blindness on the Jew. That's why they didn't receive him. Romans is gonna tell us about this. so that God would open up this great salvation unto the Gentile world, me and you. But there's coming a day that God will unveil Himself to the Jew again, and they will see Him. They will see Him in His fullness. Verse 19 says, O Lord, my strength and my fortress, this is Jeremiah 16, 19, my refuge in the day of affliction, Notice this word, the Gentiles or the nations or the heathen, you know who that is? That's people like me and you. Prior to this, we were in that family that none, no, not one is righteous. No, not one seeks and understands. No, not one. We were all under sin. The Gentile shall what? Come to you. They shall come to you from the ends of the earth. And this is what the Gentiles will say when they come to you. Surely our fathers have inherited what? Everything we read in Romans chapter three this morning in that indictment, they recognize it. They are able to see it. Just like the ideas we were able to see that we were unrighteous full of lies and deceit, and that in this world, apart from Jesus, we had no hope. But Jesus became our solution. He became our answer. The enemy had us in blindness and darkness, but notice, surely our fathers have inherited lies, they inherited worthlessness, and they inherited unprofitable or unbeneficial things. Verse 20, will a man make gods for himself, which are not gods? That's what the Gentile world did. They just, the pagans in the Gentile world fashioned a god for solutions for their own life, but it was what? All deceit. It was all based on lies. It was empty and worthless. Verse 21, therefore, because of this, behold, I, God, this once will cause them to know. I will cause the Gentiles to know my hand and my might, and they shall know that my name is the Lord. This is a divine, supernatural work of God. This is what 2 Corinthians 4 is talking about. When God says, let there be? And when God spoke light, guess what? We saw God and Jesus. Both Jew and Gentile, they see Jesus for who he is when God says, let there be light. The veil is taken off. The veil of the Older Testament is removed. Because what? They turned to Christ. Why did they turn to Christ? Because God said, let there be light. They were taught of the Father. God taught us. God showed us who Jesus is. Only way it can happen. Only way it can happen. Matter of fact, look what God's gonna do in a future day. Go to Isaiah 25. Isaiah 25, I believe it is. This is that veil over the Jews who were still veiled, who still cannot see that the law is not their answer. 25, 25, 25 seven, Isaiah 25 seven. We're talking about what God's gonna do in this day of grace. Verse six. Says, and in this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all people, all people, both what? Jew and Gentile. At this point, the Gentiles have come in. The Jews are still blinded, but there's coming a day God's gonna take the veil away. A feast of choice pieces, a feast of wine on the leaves, of fat things full of morrow, of well-refined wines on the leaves, verse seven. And he, God, will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people. There is a covering, Miss Pat, cast over the hearts of men. But God has to do what, Brittany? He's got to destroy it. He's got to destroy it. He will do that for the Jew in one day that all will see. But what He's doing right now, Keith, when we go preach the gospel to people, and God says, let there be light, that veil, that covering that is over their heart that they can't see, God destroys it. by speaking light into it. The surface of the covering cast over all people, and look, and the veil that is spread over what? All man. Who's gotta do this? God's gotta do this. So when Paul in Romans, as you read over the next couple days, and he's explaining all these great and wonderful truths to us of who Christ is, what Christ done, who he done, what he done for, And you get to that place where he then turns and says, hey, you Gentiles, don't think you were better than these Jews. These Jews were blinded for a reason. So that God could do something with you and change your heart. God's gonna go back to them and do something with them. But you remember, God's gotta do it. Why? The indictment on the world, Pam, is that there is none righteous, no, not one. And why are they not right with God? Well, they inherited sin, and that sin has blinded and created death in them. And there's a veil and a covering over their heart that they can't see the light and see who God is. So God has to penetrate it. And when we go preach the gospel, that power in the gospel unveils the righteousness of God in Christ. And when God's in it by the spirit, By the word, he shatters and destroys that covering or that veil and speaks life into people and he grants them life. And they could see him, they can see. And that's why they say, my life was based on lies. It was based on worthlessness. It was based on deceit. because God revealed it to them where before they completely trusted in themselves and everything else that they were living for until God shattered that insight that they had and spoke life into them. This is how all this happens. So What this tells me as we think about Romans three moving into Romans four and five and six, that tells me this indictment at this great trial, there was no defense given because every mouth is what? Stop before God and they can't defend themselves. You know what God does? God says, I pardon, I pardon you. How can he pardon us? Because somebody took the judgment for us. Because somebody took the penalty and the wrath and the judgment for us that God could grant his perfect righteousness to us while taking our sin debt and dealing with it at the cross of Calvary that in this great courtroom of the world on trial. Yes, we are guilty. Yes, the law revealed our guilt and we are shamed for where we are. But by the good news of Jesus, God has shattered our darkness and revealed we've been pardoned. And we are now been reconciled and are at peace with God, as Romans 5 leads us into, that we are at peace with God, we've been reconciled with him, now we have a hope. and that hope will never disappoint because of what God has done for us. Now, in between three and five sits the great chapter of what God did with Abraham and what God did with David, and what he did with Abraham and David, he did it by faith. He did it through faith, that God spoke and called these men out of ungodliness and worldly living, because you gotta keep in mind, where was Abram at? He was an ungodly Gentile. And God called him out and said, I'm going to start something with you. And the picture that we have with this picture of faith being accredited to him was after that calling. It was after that choice. It was when he was in the promised land. And he looked out that night and God says, all the stars you see, I'm gonna make your descendants as many as these stars. And Abraham believed God. And that belief in him after his calling, after his relationship with him, he believed in faith and it was accredited to him as righteousness. So our faith, when we trust God, that faith is counted as righteousness. So when we trust Jesus at his word, that faith is counted as righteousness, and that righteousness of Christ is then imputed to us, his life, the righteousness of Jesus. Well, that can't be seen, Lucas. outside of God, shattering that darkness, shattering that covering, that veil, that veil of pride that is over every heart, God's gotta penetrate it through. And that's where Titus would tell us that God, through the power of the Spirit, has regenerated us and renewed and refreshed us so that we can see the great love of God and his mercy for us. Outside of that, man, we are in a position that there's nothing that we can do other than that which is full of lies and worthlessness until that heart is penetrated with the gospel. And that's where chapter 10, Paul comes in and says, look, how can they believe unless they've heard? Well, how can they hear? unless they have a preacher. And how can a preacher go unless he's been sent? So he's getting to the fact that, hey, these people gotta hear about this because it's in the hearing that God speaks light into them and shatters that darkness. Well, they'll never hear if we don't go. Look, somebody came to us. We gotta turn around and bring it to them, amen. Bring it to them. That's why we live in such a way to carry the message of the gospel to all the world. and let God do the saving, and we keep doing the preaching about Jesus, amen. And knowing that, hey, the world is guilty until otherwise proven innocent of the undeniable marks of the grace of God upon their life. Because God's done put the world on trial. The world is under sin. And ain't none of them seeking after righteousness. None is right. And therefore we see, you know, our justice system says all men are considered innocent until proven guilty. But in the kingdom of God, all men are proven guilty, are guilty until proven innocent. And the only way to say a man is innocent is when you see Jesus in him. When you see the grace of God upon him. And that's the only way, other than that, that person is still indicted by God and will have to face this judge one day without the mercy of God until they hear of his great and marvelous work. So as you can see what we just read, two pictures here that this veil is so powerful that it cannot be removed until God destroys it. until God penetrates it. And when he does, what do men do? Turn to the Lord, Jesus. And when they turn to the Lord, the covering that was over the teaching of the Older Testament and the Gospel's removed. Now we can see God for who he is and what he's done in Christ. And praise be unto the Lord, amen? Praise be unto the Lord. So go back to Romans three as we kind of just wrap things up. Had to be the shed and the blood. For without the shed and the blood, there is no remission of sin because life is in the blood. and it had to be a perfect sacrifice. That's where Jesus in his blood makes us righteous. We are forgiven of our trespasses and transgressions. Notice what it says in verse number 20, therefore by the deed, this is chapter three, therefore by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of God. Sin, that's what one of the purposes of the law, is for the knowledge of sin. Look in chapter number four, chapter number four, what does verse 15 says? Because the law brings about what? Wrath, the law brings about wrath. Look in chapter four again, and verse number five, but to him who does not work, but believes on him, who justifies who? The ungodly, now who is he gonna refer to ungodly? That was Abraham, as well as our great King David, who was in the lineage, both of these men are in the lineage of Jesus. We know what David did, right? We know David was an adulterer, he was a murderer. He was all these things. He was ungodly. but David still believed God and that faith was accredited to him for righteousness. Notice what he says in verse number 504, but to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. And he quotes out of this Psalm, Psalm 32, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven. And all God's people said. whose sins are covered, blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. And then he goes back today, I mean to Abraham again, and he reveals all these great things about Abraham, and he tells us that when God spoke to Abraham, he didn't waver in his unbelief. Even though Abraham was what, beyond hope, his body was dead, He had no life in it to reproduce. His wife's womb was closed and she was beyond the age of producing children as well. But because God speaks life, Keith, he spoke life into him. And Abraham so believed God that he didn't factor in his limitations. That he was legitimately too old to have a kid. That his body was dead from a reproductive standpoint and his wife's womb was dead to produce a child, to bear a child, but because he believed God, he was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and God gave life to the man, and therefore we get Isaac, the seed of promise, who's gonna lead us to the ultimate seed of promise, Jesus. So these are these pictures. This is all before the law, Brother Shannon. This was all before circumcision, Brother Shannon. It was by faith. You get into chapter five, you know chapter five, there's no questions in chapter five. Paul asks no questions. You know what he's doing? He's telling us. He's teaching of this great and wondrous work of this grace of God that we have access to by faith, that we stand in, that our past has been covered, our present is standing in the grace, and the future we have is full of hope with the Lord. All because of the grace of God. Notice, he says all three right here in the first few verses. Chapter five, verse number one, therefore having been justified by faith, believing into the Lord, his righteousness is credited to us. We are now at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace, which we stand. So our past is forgiven, and we stand then in the sufficient grace of God. and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God in the expectation. That deals with my future, Brother Keith. So my past, my present, the plans of God are all summed up in that one statement there. And then Paul says, if that ain't enough, we got more to tell you about it. This is what he says. And not only that, but we also get the glory in our present, and because of what's coming for us in the future, we get the glory when we go through trouble. We can glory when we go through trouble, because we know God's using trouble for something. He's giving us something to endure, to persevere, because it's in the trouble, not the trouble itself, but God doing something in the trouble that's changing us. He's teaching us how to persevere. That's why James, Pam, would say what? If you're in trouble, just add joy to it. Add God to it. What's God doing in this? God brought me to this, so let's add His work into this, amen? You don't want to face trouble by itself, right? You're going to face trouble no matter how you look at it. Troubles are coming in life. All our days are brief and full of trouble, but any trouble you face, you gotta say, well, how can I, let's bring God in the view of this. Let's bring God in, let's add joy to it, because why can't we add joy? Not because I'm in trouble, but because what God's doing in the trouble. God's changing me in the trouble, amen? So Paul said, look, my past is forgiven, my present I stand in the grace of God, at peace with God, and the future is so bright and glorious because it's full of hope of the expectation of what's still yet to come. But not only that, look, while you're going through stuff in life, you can rejoice because God's at work doing something in you. Verse four says, in perseverance, character, and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint. Because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us So this love that God at work that's been demonstrated to us Deals with our past deals with our present and deals with the plan of God of him coming back for us. But in the meantime Everything you face in life. There's not one thing wasted with the King All of it's going to be used to make us more like Jesus and be a blessing to somebody else You couldn't see that. Brittany, I couldn't see that unless God, what? Showed it to us, amen? And that's what he's saying. Man without God can't see any of these things. These things are in the dark. blinded to it, but boy, when you come into the kingdom, you see a lot of stuff that you couldn't see before. And you know what? You're willing to cast off all that other stuff that was worthless and lies and of vanity and of no value, because now you're talking with God. You're hearing from Him. You're seeing Him at work. He's living in you. He has poured out His love in you by the Holy Spirit, and you can't help but read the rest of chapter five and just have a shouting fit, amen? just because he's just one thing after the other. Watch, he's gonna say it again. Look in verse 11. After he says all that, he's gonna say in verse 11, I got more to tell you, Brother Shannon. It gets better. And not only that, but we also rejoice in the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ to whom we have now received the reconciliation. Not only are we reconciled, but we've been given the ministry of reconciliation. That is we've been privileged in Christ to go help a world be reconciled unto him. That's good stuff. So what he does, Brother Greg, he says, yeah, God dealt with you and your past. You get to stand in the grace of God. There's a great hope of the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of your great God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. But in the meanwhile, that grace is teaching you how to say no to you and yes to Jesus and that Everything you're gonna learn is gonna help you walk through these things and be more like Jesus. But now you get to go share with the world around you of the good news that you've been given to see them also reconciled and redeemed and at peace with the Lord. And Paul saw that as the coup de grace of all this. That look, this is all about him. Yeah, he forgave you. Yes, he's helping you. Yes, he's transforming you, but it's all under his glory. And there are sons and sheep that he came to find. Now he's sending you out to go find what he come to find. You get to go tell him. I'm in Sunday school class this morning. We looked at it. It's undeniable. God says that Jesus, by the grace of God, died to bring many sons to glory. And that meant all the sons that are still not in yet, that he laid his life down by the grace of God to bring the sons to glory, amen. There's still people out there. How many of you wanna be in on that work? I'm telling you, we wanna be on that work, why? Because Paul's gonna tell us in Romans 16, the world cannot be accepted or acceptable without that work of grace. Without the Holy Spirit sanctifying them and making them acceptable unto the Lord, rescuing and redeeming them, it can't happen. Hump-arm-a-lay, it can't happen. Just can't happen. So to God be the glory. Aren't you glad you are not on trial with the world around you anymore? But we need to be grateful that we can go tell them that not only the bad news of the situation they're in, but the good news is somebody's paid a price for us. God has pardoned us in Christ Jesus, amen? The judge and the justifier of all men has pardoned us and said, you're right with me. Not because of you, but because of what my son done on your behalf for you, I've made you right. Now go tell the world of what I've done for you, amen? To him be the glory. Father, we thank you tonight, we bless you. We ask you to help us, teach us these things so that we can go forth and be a blessing with confidence and assurance and great accountability We know and have been taught and the word teaches us so clearly that courage is the byproduct of accepting and acknowledging our responsibility and understanding our accountability before you. None of us will be courageous nor confident nor operating these convictions without recognizing these truths that we're reading about right now and being assured of them and our responsibility to you and our accountability before you to go tell the world of the predicament therein with you and the pardon that you have given. So help us, help Send us out. Burden our heart. Bless us with the truths and the understanding and clarity of the gospel of the Lord Jesus and send us forth to see that those who you came to find are found and that you receive the glory for it. In Jesus' name, amen. Love y'all. Y'all have a good night. Lord willing, Carolyn, that's the plan, huh? Lord willing.