Gratitude For the Gospel

Well, I would like to resume our study in Romans soon. And I hope to do so next Sunday, but since we will pick up that study in Romans chapter 13, I felt like I needed some additional time to prepare. And for those of you who are nodding and smiling, understandingly, You probably know that the subject of Romans 13 is submission to governing authorities. And since the now obvious excesses and oversteps of civil authorities during COVID is still fresh in our minds, an understanding of Romans 13 takes on an even greater importance. And so we will get there, I promise.

This morning, however, I’d like to take us to a single verse in 1 Thessalonians. If you would just turn to 1 Thessalonians, I’ll draw you in shortly.

Over the course of the last few years, we as a church have been blessed with a number of conversions in our midst. And these are always so exciting to witness. It’s so good for the church to see people come to Christ, to see sinners saved. But because of their newness and the joy that they bring, sometimes they have a tendency to almost make us forget about our own conversion to Christ. And so I wanted to revisit a passage to which any believer, any Christian should be able to relate and remember. We will all see our own conversion to Christ here because it speaks of the quiet work of the gospel in the lives of sinners.

There are times when things happen that seem to be almost predictable, inevitable. And then there are those times when the wind blows where it wishes, as John’s gospel tells us, when God cuts against the grain and does something quite unexpected. And such is the case with the founding of the Thessalonian church. It’s a church that by human standards should not have taken root. It’s only by the grace of God that the seeds of the gospel germinated at all, and that church was planted.

The Thessalonian church was planted during Paul’s second missionary journey, a journey that took Paul from his home base in his sending church in Antioch across Asia, over the Adriatic Sea, down through Macedonia, modern-day Greece, and ultimately back to Jerusalem. Having parted with Barnabas, Paul enlisted the help of two others for this journey, Silas and a young man named Timothy. During this great tour, Paul’s team had many evangelistic visits, many different cities. And their efforts in the immediately preceding city, Philippi, was very effective. Lydia and her family, some of the ladies, the Philippian jailer and his family. The reception in the city that followed, Berea, was also very warm.

But one visit, at least humanly speaking, should not have borne fruit at all. The city was Thessalonica. Paul, Silas, and Timothy, their visit there only lasted three weeks. The city was cold, harsh, seemingly dead spiritually, and the gospel workers there had to flee because of the hatred and hostility that they met. And yet the gospel not only took root, it flourished. We don’t know the results of many of the cities that Paul and his team visited. They’re just places on the map. Seleucia, Perga, Iconium, Lystra, Cilicia. These evangelists preached the gospel in all of those cities and many more. And yet we have little hope that the gospel bore fruit at all. History doesn’t provide us with a letter written to any of those cities, and that makes the letter to the Thessalonian church that much more surprising. How is it that they captured Paul’s attention when so many other cities did not? We can attribute that to the surprising work of the gospel. Paul and his fellow workers not only spent, they only spent a tumultuous three weeks there, and yet against all odds, the seeds of the gospel germinated in the hearts of the Thessalonian people and a church was born.

How did that happen? That question brings us to the passage, ultimately, that I’d like us to consider this morning. It speaks of the magnanimous saving grace of God. And it tells us how God brings sinners to salvation.

In order to get there, I need to take you to 1 Thessalonians and to chapter one, and to kind of do a, I mean, a hopscotch flyover of the key points of this opening chapter, chapter one, and then also into chapter two. If you’re in chapter one, just follow along as I read.

verse 2, beginning in verse 2, where Paul expresses his gratitude for God’s work in the Thessalonians. We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers, constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the presence of our God and Father, knowing, brethren, beloved by God, his choice of you. For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake, you also became imitators of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much tribulation with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

Paul just expresses his gratitude, not so much for the Thessalonians being nice people, but for what God had done in the Thessalonians, bringing them by grace to faith through the gospel. It was a gospel that came to them not in word only, but with power. power of the Holy Spirit.

Well, Paul not only expresses gratitude for God’s work in the Thessalonians, but beginning in verse eight, he expresses gratitude for the Thessalonians’ witness that had gone far and wide. Look at verse eight, if you would. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth. so that we have no need to say anything. They didn’t need to go drop hints about the amazing things that God was doing in Thessalonica. Their lives and their witness spoke for themselves.

Look at verse nine. He says that this was true because of the wideness of this report. For they, that is these other churches, Macedonia, Achaia, in fact, many different places, they themselves report about us what kind of reception we had with you and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come. an amazing testimony they had in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

Well, that had its origins in Paul and his team’s ministry there in Thessalonica. That’s what he talks about in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 2. If you glance there, I just want to pick up the latter phrase there in verse two, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God. That’s what started it all. Paul and his team went there and they had the boldness, the confidence in the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ to go there in Thessalonica and to proclaim him there. Well, not only the boldness of the preachers, but in verses three through four, we have the integrity of these preachers. Look at verse 4. Just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak. Not as pleasing men, but God who examines our heart. They had the integrity to go with God’s marching orders, God’s mandate, and to do what God had told them to do. Not to try and improvise or to create their own message. They did what God wanted them to do.

Paul speaks of their confidence in the gospel in verses five through 12. And I would just have us pick up verses 10 through 12 of that very lengthy section. Verse 10, you are witnesses and so is God, how devoutly and uprightly and blamelessly we behave toward you believers, just as you know how we were exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you. as a father would his own children, so that you would walk in a manner worthy of the God who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

These men had heard this broad report. It was brought on because of their own boldness and integrity and their commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Well, that leads us to verse 13 of chapter 12, where Paul just expresses his gratitude or the gospel. Would you look at verse 13? For this reason, because of all that God’s done, for this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which performs its work in you who believe.

I wanted to examine this verse this morning, gratitude for the gospel. That’s what Paul’s expressing. And the gospel is divine revelation. And in that, Paul presents three glorious aspects of the gospel. And if you would just track back to the beginning of verse 13, the first thing that he points out is that the gospel is a welcomed word. It is a welcomed word. It will be appropriated. There will be those that take in the gospel and believe it. Look at verse 13. For this reason, we also constantly thank God that you accepted the word of God. That’s the simple sentence. You accepted it.

Now please, this is not the outline, but we should note really quickly that Paul says three things about thankfulness here. It’s logical, for this reason, we thank God. It’s reciprocal, we also thank God. Not only are you thankful, but we too are thankful that God moved in your heart and brought you to repentance. It’s logical, it’s reciprocal, and it’s sustained. We constantly thank God. That’s one thing we should never, never tire of is being thankful for what God has done and is doing in various believers’ lives. One of the beautiful things is keeping a prayer list and just really thinking, cogitating on what God is doing in that individual’s life and thanking God for it.

Very briefly, the logic behind their gratitude when Paul says, for this reason, Paul is looking back, especially to the immediately preceding 12 verses. Chapter 2, verses 1 through 12, there Paul is recounting the heart’s desire that he and his fellow workers had for the Thessalonian people. I mean, can you imagine? You’re up there and you’re preaching, you’re sharing the gospel with people. And they actually believe it. Amazing. They deeply longed for the Thessalonian people to be converted to Christ. And so they prayed and labored according to that desire. This showed in the eagerness, the passion, the tireless labor, the faithfulness of Paul and his team. So the Thessalonians were likely very grateful for their salvation, and Paul and his team were thankful as well. But the gratitude, so the gratitude there was reciprocal. They were thankful for Paul, and Paul was thankful for them, but it was also constant. He tells them here that he cannot stop praising and thanking God for them and for their salvation.

Well, this expression of gratitude to God in 2.13 is, it’s really just a continuation of the expression of gratitude that began at the beginning of chapter 1. Look back at verses 2 and 3, if you would, just briefly. Paul’s taking a spiritual inventory, if you will, of their response to the gospel, and he recalls their work of faith, labor of love, and steadfastness of hope. Paul could not have recognized that if he didn’t pause and meditate upon what God was doing in their lives.

Here in 2.13, Paul finds new reasons for praising God. Here he goes back to the very beginning of their relationship with Christ, how they received and accepted the gospel. Look again at verse 13. For this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it.

Even in the midst of this tumultuous visit to this city, Paul and his preaching companions had enjoyed a favorable ministry among some of the Thessalonian people. In measure, it was a warm welcome, but it wasn’t just a social visit. It wasn’t just that the evangelists felt welcomed. It was their message that was embraced. was the message of the gospel that they received. The Thessalonians welcomed the good message that these men were proclaiming.

The phrase here literally is the word of hearing, the heard word, if you will. That same little phrase is also used in Hebrews 4 too. And there it’s translated as we have the good news preached to us. It was particularly a spoken word, a verbal message that they welcomed. It was the preached word. The phrase captures the act of hearing. And Paul basically says that these people responded to what they heard. They reacted favorably to what was preached. In other words, it was the preaching of the word that ultimately led to the dramatic change that these people experienced. Preaching the word. Paul looks back and captures the very moment that they were transformed. As one writer put it, it was the moment when their ears received God’s message.

Paul knew well what he was preaching. He was preaching the gospel, which he characterized here as a word ultimately traceable to God himself. It was a word from God that they preached. And it was a word from God to which the Thessalonians responded. Glance down, if you would, at the verse again, because this is just very important. For this reason, when we We also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God, you accepted it.

The thing I want to highlight here is that Paul uses two words that communicate a very similar thought. Received and accepted, at least in the new American standard, that’s the translation. And fortunately, some translations don’t pick up the difference, and they translate both words the same way. There’s a beautiful difference between these two words, and it’s a theological difference. We don’t want to press these subtle differences too far, but after all, the first word, received, indicates a positive reception, does it not? Received speaks of the act of considering a measure of information, the content of something that is said or spoken. And the word is a fairly common word for Paul, and here he just acknowledges that at least for a moment, the Thessalonians didn’t close their hearts to the message he preached. They sat patiently and listened. They received it. And we might say that they heard him out. Outwardly, anyway. They listened. They received it.

But it’s the second word. The second word used in this sentence that really pops off the page. It’s the word translated as accepted. You accepted our message. This word again is a different word than the one translated as received, and this word refers not to a basic reception of a message, sitting patiently while somebody yammers on, but to the reception of it into the mind and heart, a deep inner acceptance of the message, an embracing of the truth for what it is. It’s the acceptance of faith.

It was not just an auditory hearing of the word, the message preached, nor is it simply an intellectual agreement with the message. Instead, it is literally the moment of regeneration when the Holy Spirit illuminates the message as the truth that it is so that a sinner sees it as truth, the very word of God, the gospel, and they accept it as such.

I want you to notice something that will perhaps change your perspective about this passage forever. We may tend to think that this is the human response to the gospel, a response of believing that receives and accepts God’s word. And while that is true in measure, get this, Paul thanks God for it. If this whole equation is completed by an act of the human will, then Paul should be thanking believers for their salvation, for their acceptance of the truth. Instead, he thanks God.

He thanks God because what is in view here in this passage is effectively the stupendous doctrine of regeneration. Regeneration is the enlivening, the bringing to life by God of dead sinners. God breathes spiritual life into sinners and grants them faith that is the application of God’s sovereign election from eternity past. It’s the bringing of a sinner to faith. It’s all due to the work of God’s Spirit in their life. These Thessalonian believers responded to the gospel of salvation. They received the word of God. They accepted it. But all thanks and glory to go to God alone.

There’s a second element here in this passage in our gratitude for the gospel. The second glorious truth is not only is it a welcomed word, it will be appropriate. It’s a divine word. Would you glance at the passage once again? For this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God.

And so Paul gives thanks for the gracious reception that they had among the Thessalonians, and he immediately explains why. He tells us that this was no ordinary message. It was no man-made oratory, no human wisdom. The word in Paul’s day was so glutted by, pardon me, the world in Paul’s day was so glutted by so many speakers, orators, so-called teachers, charlatans, false prophets. each one in turn making more and more fantastic claims than the previous. Such was the spirit of that day. Anyone and everyone, it seemed, had something to proclaim. In fact, shortly after Paul left Thessalonica, remember, he came to Athens and he began to teach. They featured him as just another idle babbler. He was an idle babbler, they thought, get this, because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. Can you imagine that being said of Paul? But that’s what these religious critics thought of Paul precisely because of the prevalence of so much philosophical nonsense of that day. They thought that Paul was just another such voice. And the people were generally so gullible, so willing to unquestioningly accept whatever was being spoken that such talkers multiplied prolifically.

So when the Thessalonians heard and so immediately accepted Paul’s preaching, he now insists to look back and explain why. His was no human message. It was divine. It was of God. His message was not a matter of the latest and greatest philosophy. It wasn’t his slick ability to convince others, persuasive speaking. It wasn’t his polished delivery. It wasn’t a matter of his excellent oratorical skills.

His hearers in Thessalonica knew that this was no ordinary message. They knew that while Paul and his friends were the ones proclaiming it, its ultimate source was God. You accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God.

Paul knew that his message was not his own. It may have come from his lips or on other occasions from his pen, but ultimately it was God’s word, God’s message. Now when we hear the phrase, the word of God, we have a tendency to immediately think of God’s written word, the scriptures, the Bible. But the reference here in this verse is much more general. The immediate reference is to the gospel that Paul and the apostles were preaching. The verbal, articulated message from God, the word of God in that sense.

Every servant of God who truly proclaims God’s word, pleading for the blessing of the Holy Spirit, functions in reality as a channel for God’s word. Isn’t that a powerful image? The gospel is a divine message. It may pass through human channels, but the gospel originates as a message from God himself. Incredible, incredible thought.

And so Paul insists that the gospel wasn’t a matter of human wisdom. Its success did not depend on artful delivery, human wisdom, creative oratory, Paul knew that commensurate with his own calling, he would be preaching God’s message, not on his own, so that he could tell the Thessalonians with full conviction, as he does in the very beginning of chapter 1, verse 5, that our gospel did not come to you in word only. There was something else attending this good news. It was the Holy Spirit.

And Paul continues by saying it was in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. The Holy Spirit took this message and changed lives. He brought sinners to repentance through the good news of the gospel. Verse two, he says it again, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you the gospel of God. His message was really God’s message, Paul knew it. and ultimately those who received it came to understand it as orienting from God himself.

See, Paul knew exactly what he was about, and he had the testimony of God at work in human lives to prove it. In similar language, he acknowledged the same divine working in the Ephesian church. He considered it a privilege to preach, get this, the unfathomable riches of Christ. what he proceeds to call the manifold wisdom of God. It’s all rolled into the gospel.

Paul always knew that the message he bore was a message from God himself, and because of that, he did not need to cultivate creative approaches or worry about rejection. He didn’t concern himself with staying up to date on the latest human wisdom. He wouldn’t have even considered bending and warping his message to fit or to please the culture of the day. He didn’t concentrate on public speaking skills, his oratorical excellence, or his audience-pleasing eloquence. He knew that he was no more than a conduit, a channel through which God’s message to the world would flow unimpeded. He just preached what God told him to preach, and he left the results entirely to God. He knew that he was God’s man, doing God’s work, bearing God’s message, which was not only a God-given privilege, it was a God-ordained mandate.

There’s a third element of the gospel for which we can give thanks. Not only was it a welcomed word, it was a divine word. Thirdly, it’s an effectual word. If we’re gonna give gratitude for the gospel, we can see these three things, three glorious truths. It’s a welcomed word, it will be appropriated, it’s a divine word, it’s from God, and it’s an effectual word, it will do what it sets out to do, it will bear fruit.

Would you look at verse 13 again? For this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which performs its work in you who believe.

This last and third point declared about God’s word here, in this profound passage, not only is God’s word welcome and divine, it’s effective. It works. As the NAS translates it here, it performs. The Greek word is energeis, from where we get our words energy or energetic. In other words, it’s more than just a passing acknowledgement that while Paul did not invent this word, it quickly became one of his favorite tools in his arsenal, as he sought to describe this amazing wonder of God changing lives. Of the 20 or so times that this word is used in the New Testament, fully 18 of them are by Paul. And he uses it to speak of the spiritual change effectively brought about in the lives of believers, the believers to whom he ministered.

Listen to this, just a few.

1 Corinthians 12, 6. God works all things in all persons. What an amazing statement that is. Galatians 2a, God effectually worked for Peter in his ministry to the Jewish people, so also God effectually worked for Paul in his ministry to the Gentiles. Ephesians 111, God works all things after the counsel of his will. Colossians 129, I labor striving according to his power which mightily works within me.

Paul didn’t sit around ever and cross his fingers and hope that God might do something with that which he preached. He knew that God was going to use his word. He knew that God was going to save souls. God’s word, whether spoken or written, was the great means of triggering the power of Almighty God. Men came preaching. And they used human language, real words, and those words fell on real human ears. But the message, having a divine orientation in nature, as God’s Spirit united it to the hearts of the hearers through faith, it became powerfully effective in producing change. It was both living and active, as Hebrew says, and as such, it resulted in real change in the lives of those to whom it came. It brought about real repentance and righteousness and restoration to a holy God. As Paul would eventually tell Timothy, The word received in faith availed itself to the Holy Spirit as God’s instrument, teaching, reproof, correction, training in righteousness, all of those things the Holy Spirit takes. As Paul maintained throughout this epistle, when he came preaching God’s word, it was not in vain. It was amazing. occasion to watch God at work in a place where, humanly speaking, it should not have borne fruit. When God’s message is delivered in the power of the Holy Spirit, welcomed by faith among sinners, it becomes the very power of God to salvation. That’s Romans 1.

God’s Word calls us to mortify our sin, committing our ways to Him in righteousness. And Paul said it, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The point that Paul makes here is that God’s Word is operative in the life of a believer. It works effectually. It is fully functional. It does something. It does what God designed it to do. It accomplishes what God designed it to accomplish. It bears fruit to the glory of God. In other words, it performs. God’s word is effective, it’s productive.

This is not a truth limited to Paul. In the New Testament, Isaiah declares it. My word which goes forth from my mouth will not return to me empty without accomplishing the desire, without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. Isaiah 55, 11. And it’s always and ever the true test of reception. What does it do to the hearer?

Paul had observed this powerful feature at work in his ministry. Luke records in Acts 19.20 that the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing. Nobody could stop it. Not surprisingly then, when he spoke to the shepherds of the Ephesian churches, he bid them the most beneficial commendation. Though they would no longer see or work with him, or so they thought at the moment, they were better off because he commended them to God. To God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. He said, you’re better off with God’s word alone.

Paul took no credit for his own success. To the Colossians, he confessed that he was striving according to God’s power, which mightily worked among them. Paul knew and lived that theology. He was always quick to give God the credit, all the glory. To the Christians in Rome, he declared that the gospel was the power of God for salvation. To the Philippians, he taught them that it is God who is at work within you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Paul declared to the Galatians with regard to salvation that it wasn’t a result of holding to some religious right, circumcision, but in Jesus Christ, salvation is a matter of faith working through love. So for the believer, life changes. Everything changes. The word active in his or her life begins to bear fruit and increase. That’s the beautiful truth of the gospel.

Peter echoed and affirmed this same truth, that the new birth effected through faith in God’s word. Peter told the scattered believers to whom he wrote, 1 Peter 1.23, you have been born again, not of a seed which is perishable, but imperishable. That is through the living and enduring Word of God. When God’s Word comes into a person’s life, it changes them and never stops.

James, in his epistle, outlines this truth very clearly. In chapter one, he declares that, by this word, the sinner is saved. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness in humility, receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. He continues through that letter to state it plainly enough, faith was working through his works. As a result, faith was perfected, James 2. 22. James likewise used the same word to speak of the mysterious but tangible results of heartfelt prayer. He says, confess your sins to one another, pray for one another so that you may be healed. And then he gives this reason for the admonition. The effective prayer of a righteous much can accomplish much.

God and God’s word changes us. but a consideration of 1 Thessalonians 2.13 would not be complete if we didn’t acknowledge that as powerful and as effective as God’s word is, it is only so in the lives of those who believe. Faith is the trigger. Faith is the operating principle that makes God’s word effective. And we know that even this faith is God’s gift. It’s only when God’s word is received and welcomed by faith that it becomes effectual.

The writer of Hebrews addresses this truth both from a positive and a negative perspective. Listen to this. Those who receive it by faith and those who sadly did not. Hebrews 4.2, indeed, we have the good news preached to us just as they also. And what he pictures there is the same message going out to the same audience, some who believed and some who did not. How do we explain that? That the word that they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard. We, he says, by grace, believed. They, sadly, did not, he says.

Just a few verses later, the unrevealed writer explains how the Word is so effective. Listen to verse 12. He describes the Word of God as living and active. The Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Faith was the energizing principle. The gospel message was no different in the ears of the hearers. Some turned a deaf ear. Some gave a passive assent. Still others believed. It was faith, he says, that led to salvation. John Eady, a faithful, godly Scottish pastor, described it well when he said, faith was the present characteristic of those who were saved, not in those who heard merely or who gave an outer credence. The word shows its power through the believing acceptance as an enlightening, elevating, guiding, sanctifying, comforting, formative principle.”

So here, Paul nestles into this thoroughly biblical idea that God himself is at work in the lives of believers. working, changing, or as Paul says here in this verse, performing. Ministry was and remains a supernatural activity. God’s word is never a matter of human influence. And as the very word of God, it unleashes the almighty power of God in the lives of those to whom it comes. Well, I would almost say always.

We have almost always prayed a dangerous prayer, typically on Saturdays. I’ve prayed it, our family has prayed it, our leadership has prayed it. Many of you saints have prayed it. It goes something like this. Lord, bring in everyone that you would have to be there tomorrow. That’s a dangerous prayer. And over the years we’ve constantly watched as that prayer has been answered in good ways and in heartbreaking ways. It isn’t just those who happen to miss particular sermons. Sometimes the very word that might have been a help to some troubled saint, the one who needed it the most from our perspective wasn’t there to hear it. That’s an answer to that dangerous prayer. It’s submission to the great principle, as one of my godly professors used to say, that if God’s word does not quicken, it must deaden. That’s why people have called Sunday morning the most dangerous hour of the week. Because if you come here with a dull ear and a lack of faith, God’s word must deaden. The truth is that God can and does pull back his counsel when it’s not humbly received and faithfully applied. The reception, the application of the word, as we’ve seen, it’s both an indication of God’s grace as well as an assurance of more grace. God’s spirit uses his word in the sanctification process of the Christian’s life.

But we’ve watched, and oftentimes with great sadness, people refuse to consider passages, they refuse to embrace and understand doctrines, they refuse clear teachings of Scripture. We’ve submitted ourselves to difficult doctrines, the doctrine of hell and judgment, the doctrine of sin, We’ve all sinned and fall short of the glory of God, the doctrines of God’s sovereign grace and salvation, the biblical pattern of church government, the doctrine of church discipline. And for all these many years, we’ve watched people despise and spurn those very doctrines as if they were man-made. Not everyone. We’ve watched as God has intentionally brought people into this church against all odds we’ve watched we’ve watched them sit and yield themselves to God and to his word even those very difficult doctrines to God be the glory on that well there isn’t a believer in this room that shouldn’t be eternally grateful for the gospel because it’s a welcomed word It’s a divine word, and it’s an effectual word. It’s changing lives.

Would you humble yourself before God? Our merciful God, we bow before you. We thank you for your goodness and grace. And Lord, we do remember those, in so many cases, those early moments where somebody had the courage, the temerity, the boldness, as Paul calls it, to share the gospel with us. The simple gospel that Jesus Christ died on the cross, atoning for sinners, and that simply by placing our faith in that work, in that sacrifice, our sin is forgiven and we are granted eternal life.

Lord, we remember. We remember the first time we heard it. We remember that ultimately, whether it was shared with us once or 20 times, we remember hearing and receiving. And we remember mulling it over. And ultimately, and only by God’s grace, we remember accepting it for the truth that it is, that Jesus did really die, that he did really pay for sin on that cross. And simply by believing it, placing our faith in the finished work of Christ, our sin is really forgiven.

Lord God, we plead with you if there are any in our midst here who have heard the gospel this morning. Lord, we plead with you that you would open their eyes to the truth of this word, that we are no better than them. We are sinners and in many ways far worse Yet Lord, you’ve had mercy on us, and you opened our eyes to the truth of the gospel, and how could we not come to faith in Christ? So Lord, we plead with you for any in our midst who do not know the Lord Jesus as their Savior. Lord, we pray that today would be the day of salvation for them, that they would humble their hearts, they would talk to their friends, whoever brought them, Talk to me or any believer in this room and bow before a holy God and receive the word that he has spoken.

We pray all of these things in Jesus’ name, amen.