In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the introduction of the Gospel in the book of Romans. He emphasizes that the Gospel is not just an intellectual understanding, but something that deeply impacts the heart and spirit. The preacher highlights the importance of understanding universal sinfulness as the foundation for the glorious gospel of justification by faith. He also mentions that Paul takes time in this letter to demonstrate, argue, and illustrate the Gospel in a way that he doesn't in his other letters, covering topics such as sin, redemption, grace, salvation, the Holy Spirit, the destiny of Israel, and Christian living.

Rejoice! The Lord is King! The Lord and King of all! All hail His blind fancy! Rejoice! Rejoice! Jesus, be glorified this day, we say, Lord. We give you honour and praise and worship. Lord, come and minister to us now, Lord. We pray in your wondrous name. Good morning and greetings in the name of our wonderful Lord. Before I read Scripture, I wasn't asked to say this, but I want to say it. There are some very good theological books for sale in the second-hand department. Now, I've been buying and collecting theological books for over 40 years. And for the last 30 years, for the college, I have seen some gems in that corner. Some are quite rare. But the most amazing thing is the price. I open some books that are worth, well, you wouldn't find them for less than 20 or 25 pounds. They're selling for 350 or 4 pounds. If those books got into the hands of a theological bookseller, he would quadruple, he would quintuple the price. So I say to you in the words of Scripture, what thou doest, do quickly. I mean, not now. Don't run out just yet. But when this meeting is over, do take yourself to that corner. For example, I saw William Arthur's truly great book, The Tongue of Fire. He published it in 1856. In five years it had gone into 17 editions. He was living in Ballymena, County Antrim. The book is a cry for the church to get back to Pentecost. And three years later, beginning in Ballymena, the 59 Revival broke out. And William Arthur must have rejoiced so much that the thing he yearned for in the pages happened not only in his own lifetime, it actually began in his hometown of Ballymena. And that excellent book has been given away at two pounds. That's what I mean, what thou doest, do quickly. We are going to read Scripture together. And I'm glad for that mood because you might have thought that I'm only interested in church history. But actually we're moving up. Throughout his life John Wesley professed that he was homo unius libri, a man of one book. I know that all of us are men and women of one book. This book. And we are going to read from well through Romans 7 and into the beginning of Romans 8. Romans chapter 7 and we'll begin at verse 18. We will read to chapter 8, verse 4. So it's 7.18 to 8.4. And if you are reading in your own Bible, as many are of course, or if you are listening, this is the word of the Lord. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do. But the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now, if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do the good. For in my inner being, I delight in God's law. But I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin at work within my members. O wretched man that I am, who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with the mind I am a slave to God's law, but in the flesh a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, to be a sin offering. And so, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And may the Spirit who first inspired that word, bring to us this morning insight and understanding. For these two mornings, now and tomorrow, we have chosen life in the Spirit. And the text will be for both mornings, chapter 8, verse 2. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free, free, free from the law of sin and death. And in these two mornings, I want us to see three things about chapter 8. The context of Romans 8, you know what is round about it, the context, very important. Then the contrast of Romans 8. Hopefully we will cover both of those this morning. And tomorrow morning, the content. So, the context of Romans 8, the contrast of Romans 8, and thirdly, the content of Romans 8. When we come to this great letter, we are coming to the one letter of Paul, that the church of God has recognized from New Testament days, this is Paul's greatest, clearest, most comprehensive exposition of the gospel. Now, I don't mean by that, that the gospel is not in the other letters of Paul. Of course it is. But for a very good reason. Paul takes time and space in this letter to demonstrate the gospel, to argue the gospel, to illustrate the gospel, in a way that he simply doesn't in any of his other letters. And so, this great letter contains Paul's gospel of sin. As we'll see, that's where he starts. It is his gospel not only of sin, it is his gospel of redemption. It is his gospel of grace. It is his gospel of salvation. It is his gospel of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. It is his gospel of the destiny of Israel. Chapters 9, 10, and 11. And, it is his gospel of Christian living. The very practical chapters, Romans 12 to the finale in chapter 16. Life in the Spirit is the highlight of chapter 8. But all the way through, the common understanding, this is the gospel. Now, how far do you get into Romans before you meet the gospel? The opening verse. Romans 1 verse 1. Paul, a servant, a slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle set apart. For what? For the gospel. You get as far as verse 1. And the gospel is introduced. Called to be an apostle, but separated, set aside in the plan of God, for one great purpose, to proclaim this gospel across the Roman Empire. So, he introduces the gospel in 1.1. You get down to verse 9. And he tells us this. God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit. Not just the mind. The gospel is not just an intellectual apprehension. It is that. But it is also something that warms the heart. I serve with my spirit. In what? In the gospel of his Son. Tremendously important. I serve with my spirit. Paul's whole life, Paul's whole ministry, Paul's whole personality under God is thrown into this great work. From my spirit, I serve in the gospel of his dear Son. Then he says in verse 15, I am eager to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome. By the way, these are the introductory verses. He sends greetings to the Roman church. He hasn't met them yet. They haven't met him, so he's introducing himself. He will tell them a way over in chapter 15, when I do come to you, when I have made my visit to Spain, and when I get to you in Rome, I will come to you, do you remember it? In the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. He hasn't been yet. So, these are words of introduction. He says in verse 15, I am eager. I am eager. To do what? To preach the gospel to you who are at Rome. For a number of reasons. But one in particular. Rome was the center of that vast and mighty empire that stretched east as far as the borders of India and stretched west to Hadrian's Wall in the north of England to keep those unruly Scots in their own country. The Romans couldn't conquer them, so they built a wall. The Roman Empire stretched north from the fjords of Norway to the burning sands of North Africa and all the land in between was under the dominion of the mighty Roman Empire and the hub, the heart, the center was Rome. And Paul says, I long to get to Rome, not to go on a coach tour, not to see the sights that there were many to see. I am eager to get to Rome. To do what? To preach. To preach the gospel. In the great headquarters of the mighty Caesar, to remind the people of Rome there is one greater than Caesar. There is one mightier. There is another king, King Jesus. So having said in verse 1 that he is separated to the gospel, having said in verse 9 that he serves in the spirit of the gospel, having said in verse 15 that he is eager to preach the gospel, verse 16 is no surprise at all. I am not ashamed. Well, you learn that from the opening verses even before he says it. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Actually, what Paul says in the original, it is not just a negative, I am not ashamed, he actually means, he is a little literary device, it actually means, I am very proud of the gospel. Why? Because it is not man's wisdom, it is not something I dreamt up, it is not human philosophy, it is the power of God unto salvation, to the whole world, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. See how this gospel is introduced in the opening chapter, and all the way through the rest of this great letter, he is explaining, he is expounding the implications of the gospel. Now, having said in verse 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel, please notice verse 17, in it, meaning in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. And in some ways, the first 16 verses of Romans are the introduction, the actual body of the book, the great doctrinal argument begins in verse 17. Of course, the first 16 verses set the scene. Now he says, in that gospel of which I am not ashamed, in that gospel which is the power of God for salvation, the righteousness, a key word for Paul, a key word in Romans. If we do not understand what righteousness means, we will not grasp what Romans is about. The righteousness of God is revealed. Revealed from heaven. He will say in a moment that in verse 18, there is another revelation. The wrath of God is revealed. But he begins with the revelation of the righteousness of God. This verse, Romans 1.17, is sometimes called Martin Luther's revelation, because in his own spiritual journey, it was a discovery after a thousand years in which it had been covered up. After a thousand years of medieval darkness and superstition, Martin Luther, the Augustinian monk, searching for God, found him, he tells us, in Romans 1.17. Not just the one verse, but that is where it began. Alright, if I take my jacket off. Well, at least there is fire up here. Luther had been appointed in the University of Wittenberg to teach Psalms, Galatians and Romans. Martin Luther has left behind him 54 volumes of his writings. The one thing that is particularly missing in Luther, most of his writings, he doesn't put a date on them. You sometimes have to work out when was this written. Now, he had already been to Rome, had come back shattered and disillusioned. He saw things that broke his heart. He came to the understanding that his church in Germany was a far better church and a far purer church than what he saw in Rome. He tells us about the journey to Rome. He had gone as a representative of the Augustinian order. He said he couldn't wait to get to Rome because he had been taught that prayers offered in Rome are twice as efficacious as prayers offered anywhere else. And when he got to Rome, he tells us, in later years, he ran from one holy place to another holy place. He made prayers to the Virgin at practically every shrine and grotto he could find and especially to the great figure of St. Peter. He said, if any man could have gotten to heaven by monkery, it was me. But nothing happened. He saw the dissipation of the Roman clergy. He saw the open profanity and immorality among the priesthood and Martin Luther, the German Augustinian monk, left Rome a shattered, disillusioned man. And that story that goes around, and I have heard it in a number of places, but I will mention no names, you know that he gets to Rome and he climbs the Lattern Steps. That was the steps brought by Constantine from Jerusalem to Rome, supposed to be the steps from which Pontius Pilate pronounced judgment on Jesus. Constantine, the first Christian emperor, brought them to Rome. They became a focus for pilgrims. And the popular story goes that Martin Luther climbed up the steps one at a time saying the prayers of the Rosary. Well, so far that is fact. And then suddenly there came a great blinding revelation that just shall live by faith. And in a moment, Martin Luther was converted. Well, that is a preacher's story. Because it is not true. Brethren, it is not true. He did climb the steps. He did say his prayers, lots of prayers. But he went back to Germany, thoroughly disillusioned. And then he was appointed professor of theology in Wittenberg, the new university. Frederick had built the university, he was very proud of it. He wanted the best qualified professors, and clearly Martin Luther was the most able, so he was given the important task of being professor of theology. He lectured his way through the Psalms, and the numbers of students just increased. As Luther, not yet fully awakened evangelically, opened up the Word of God. Then he came to Romans. He was all right on the first 16 verses. He tells us when he got to verse 17, he had a real problem. Not just an intellectual problem, though it was, a problem of deep spiritual misunderstanding. He said, I read in Romans 1.17, that St. Paul says, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed. But I did not understand what it meant. He said, first of all, I thought it meant God is righteous. But he said, that was no comfort, I knew that already. I knew that God was righteous, and I knew that I was very unrighteous. So if Paul is simply telling me that God is righteous, that's not good news at all. I know that already. So he searched a bit deeper, and he went back and he read the church fathers. And up in Wittenberg University, he had a little room up at the top, a little tower, a little room where he had all his books. And he pored over Romans in every translation he could find of the early Greek and Roman texts, Latin texts. But no light came. Then he thought, well, if the righteousness of God doesn't mean just that God is righteous, maybe it means God requires us to be righteous. And Luther said, that made me feel even worse, for I knew that I was not righteous. And he actually, brothers and sisters, in this record he says, I came to the place where I hated God. I dare not confess it to myself, and certainly not to Staupitz who was the head of the order, or to any of his friends. He said, I didn't want to confess it to myself, but I hated God because I was a sinner, God was righteous, the gulf between us was immense. How could I be saved? And he pondered more. And he studied more. And he read more. Good thing to do, friends. Jesus said, love the Lord your God, not only with all your heart, not only with all your strength, but with all your mind. God didn't mean us when we came to this conference to leave our brains at home. He didn't mean us when you go on Sunday to church, leave your brain. He means us to be thinking Christians. Read, study, pray. Luther did. And then came the great revelation. He said, I suddenly saw that this phrase, the righteousness of God, means that in salvation, on the condition of faith in Jesus, the righteousness of Christ is transferred to my account. And I who formerly had none, have now in Jesus the righteousness of my Savior. And he said, I felt I was reborn, and that I had gone through open doors into paradise. Isn't that a marvelous testimony? From the study of Scripture, the Spirit showed him what Romans 1.17 means, the revelation of the righteousness of God. I had gone through open doors into paradise. And apart from the nailing of the 95 Theses, in some senses, if we could put a precise date on that, and when Martin Luther records it, he doesn't put a date. It's somewhere between 1515 and 1570. And in many ways, that experience marks the beginning of the Great Reformation. Martin Luther getting behind a thousand years of priestcraft, and discovering what? The Pauline doctrine of justification by faith. Then in verse 18, there's another revelation. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness. And if you will follow through in your Bible, from 1.18 to chapter 3, verse 20, two and a half chapters, all those verses in between deal with one subject, the universality of human sin. For having said in 1.18 that God's wrath is revealed, very important, God is not indifferent about sin. God's wrath, just as His righteousness is revealed in verse 17, so His wrath is revealed in verse 18, against all ungodliness and wickedness. And Paul expands the argument and comes to this conclusion at 3.20, that every mouth might be stopped. Every mouth. Every argument is answered. No human being can protest against God. Every mouth might be stopped and the whole world become guilty before God. For no human being will be justified in His sight by the works of the law. Now, friends, a simple question. Why does Paul spend so much time? Why does he take two and a half chapters to explain and expand and expound the doctrine of sin? Well, you and I as God's people know the answer. Because in order to understand the remedy and the cure, we need to understand the malady. I need to know that I am lost before I will believe that Jesus is a Savior. And you can illustrate this in all kinds of ways. Wherever in the history of the church of God you find an inadequate doctrine of sin, without fail, you will find an inadequate doctrine of the person and work of Jesus. You will find an inadequate doctrine of the atonement, who Christ is and what He did. The great foundation of the Christian gospel rests on a thorough understanding of universal sin. Or, if we put that another way, before in the letter to the Romans we get to the good news, first of all, we have to believe the bad news. And the bad news is that all men and women, all men and women, without exception, are sinners under wrath and under condemnation. Isn't that the gospel? Isn't that the gospel? Isn't that the foundation on which the work of Christ is projected later in this letter? If we are not sinners, we don't need a Savior. If we are not lost in sin, we don't need the Son of God to die for us. And in those two and a half chapters, Paul, in his usual careful way, divides mankind up into three classes. The pagans, who have no revelation of God, at least written revelation, that great long passage in Romans 1, when you read it today, it is very up to date, is it not? Paul has no hesitation. Paul is not in the least ambiguous about homosexual conduct. Not in the least. A lot of church leaders seem to be ambiguous because they don't believe Paul. Paul is not ambiguous at all. It is a perversion. Those who deliberately be the men or women, who deliberately persevere in that lifestyle, God gives them up. Now, not because they are worse sinners than the rest of us. Sin is sin. But because in our day, particularly, it has been presented as an acceptable, alternative lifestyle. Fine, provided you are not a Christian. Because you cannot reconcile it with the Christian gospel. We need to be clear on that. We love, with the love of God, lost men and women. But we don't help people by denying the truth to them. And then he moves on to learned, sophisticated Greeks who despise the pagans. Do you remember how Paul argues? He says, you are no better than they are. You look down on them. You condemn them. But you end up committing exactly the same sins. And I take some of you back to your days wherever you were in grammar school when you were doing your elementary Latin. And you were being introduced to some Latin text. Unless they were deliberately prohibited in your school, we find out how Greeks and Romans lived. And for all their sophistication, they were living exactly the lifestyle of the pagans in Romans 1 while despising them. There is no difference. Then thirdly, he turned to the Jews. God's elect people who thought that they were better because they were a privileged people. And Paul says, no. You have the law. You have the revelation. You have the prophets. But you are still sinners that every mouth might be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. Friend, this is the context of Romans 8. You say, well, you are still in chapter 3 deliberately. Because you can't jump to chapter 8. The context. Remember the old adage? A text without a context is a pretext. It is. We have to understand the context. This is the context of Romans 8. Then at 321, But now. Oh, how often Paul brings in that word now. Now. Now. Now the good news begins. Three chapters of bad news. Now the good news. But now. Now. Now. 321. The righteousness of God has been revealed. Repeating 117. Apart from the law being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Notice that last phrase. A righteousness apart from law. Meaning, the law is holy but in our fallen sinful state no man or woman can keep the law. Paul discovered that. He tells us that later on. The law raises up the standard but the law cannot help me to attain the standard. The law tells me I'm a transgressor but the law cannot tell me how to stop transgressing. It can show me the standard but it cannot give me the power to live like that. A righteousness apart from the law. This bit. Is witnessed by the law and the prophets. Witnessed. What does Paul mean by that? He means that when you read the Old Testament carefully God's great answer to the world's sin that appears in His Son is witnessed in the law of Moses and in all the books of the prophets. It is foreshadowed. It is predicted to that the prophets are looking forward. This salvation by faith is witnessed, says Paul by the law and the prophets. Remember what he wrote to Timothy. He reminded Timothy of his godly mother I and his godly grandmother Lois and Eunice. He said, I know and I thank God that from a child from the time you were a child Timothy you have known the Holy Scriptures the Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament the new wasn't written yet. You were brought up on the Hebrew Bible you were brought up on our Old Testament. What about it? Which is able, remember it? To make you wise unto salvation. That's before you get to Matthew. This salvation by faith this righteousness that God has revealed for our salvation is witnessed by the law and by the prophets. 3.24 Being justified freely He says in verse 23 All have sinned and fall short of God's glory. And the very next verse Those who have sinned all of us Those who fall short of God's glory all of us are justified freely by His grace. Oh, no wonder Dudridge sang Grace is a charming sound harmonious to the ear. And no wonder that in this year 2007 as we are remembering a number of Bicentenaries one of them is of course the death of John Newton. He died in the December of 1807. He discovered in his own life what? Amazing grace. Amazing grace. How sweet to sound that saved a wretch like me. I have spent about the last six months I think just reading about everything that John Newton ever published his letters his sermons his diary his journal it is an amazing record. He discovered He discovered on a sandy shore in Africa he turned to God and in the moment of confessing his sin he found amazing grace that only saved him it transformed him justified freely by His grace Ah, but don't miss the next verse 25 Whom that's Jesus Whom God put forward God put forward His Son to be what? To be a propitiation by His blood He set forth His Son to be an atoning sacrifice for sin and so having spent that long time in laying the foundation of universal sinfulness Paul then moves on to God's great answer and God's great remedy and friends as Christian people it is very important for us to read often over and over again and to study these early chapters in Romans that we will better understand the foundation on which the glorious gospel of justification by faith is built it is built on the understanding of universal sinfulness in the middle of his ministry John Wesley took almost 12 weeks off the late autumn of 1756 he didn't go on holiday he actually never had a holiday in his 51 and a half years he kept on the road for 12 weeks he retired to Lewisham in South London to write a book a book in answer to a book already published by one Dr. John Taylor of knowledge some of you may know the Octagon Chapel in Norwich it is still there its celebrated minister in the middle of the 18th century was Dr. John Taylor Taylor was a Sassanian that you and I today would call a Unitarian and Taylor published a book which set out deliberately to demolish the biblical and orthodox doctrine of original sin Wesley read the book and was greatly disturbed he said I waited for some years that someone with more ability than I have and more time on their hands might answer Dr. Taylor he said this book has been poisoning the universities in England and on the continent it actually reached the new world as well where one Jonathan Edwards also wrote an answer to it but no answer was forthcoming in Britain John Wesley was in Shakerley you Lancashire people will know where Shakerley is he said I was preaching and I found people laughing and scoffing at the doctrine of original sin because they had been reading Taylor between writing the book and Wesley's answer Taylor moved from Norwich to Warrington and Warrington became the great center of English Unitarianism they actually opened a college in Warrington to train ministers for the Unitarian ministry Wesley spent 12 weeks in writing and answering John Taylor's book chapter by chapter page by page argument by argument the single longest piece of writing that Wesley ever wrote was his work The Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin According to Scripture defending the New Testament understanding defending the Pauline understanding defending the understanding that is common in the great creeds of the Orthodox Church the doctrine of sin for Unitarianism had destroyed the foundation for what do Unitarians believe? well at best Jesus was a good man who gives us good counsel and good advice but they do not believe his deity hence Unitarianism they do not believe his atoning death some years ago when the old radio 4 morning service used to come on at 10 o'clock Gene and I used to listen to it as we were traveling the 6 miles from our home to our church in Salford and one morning we turned on the radio the service was on and as we listened to it it was just about the dreariest deadest thing we had ever heard there certainly was no gospel in it but we didn't know where it was coming from so when we got to church I sat in the car for a little bit until the service was over and it was announced and I wasn't in the least surprised the morning service came from Rochdale Unitarian church brothers and sisters there is nothing nothing, nothing in church history as dead as Unitarianism no gospel of Christ no understanding of his deity and his Godhead no understanding of his sacrifice for sin because Unitarianism denies the Pauline doctrine of original sin Wesley saw the danger in the 18th century took off 12 weeks to write a book against it and one of the great deficiencies of modern liberal theology it has no understanding of the Pauline doctrine of sin this dear friend this is the context of life in the spirit in Romans 8 you can't get to life in the spirit you can't even get to justification by faith until first of all we understand and believe that we are sinners that we are lost that we are undone that we are under condemnation that the wrath of God abides upon sin that is the context very quickly chapter 4 is mostly about one man it's about Abraham oh there's a quotation from David from Psalm 32 blessed is the man whose sins are forgiven but it's really all about Abraham now why would Paul having spoken about justification by faith in chapter 3 why does he bring in Abraham at chapter 4 because Abraham is an illustration of justification not by works but by faith Abraham believed Abraham believed Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness powerful argument for the Jewish readers of the gospel the father, the founder of the race was justified not by works not by the law not yet given but by faith by belief he believed God Paul uses the argument powerfully in chapter 4 then in chapter 5 I'm going to finish here with 5 and then tomorrow we will look at the contrast of 7 finish here today chapter 5 begins being justified by faith what's the outcome we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ and down through chapter 5 Paul has a wonderful amazing argument in parallel he talks about two people he talks about two headships he talks about Adam and about Jesus as the last Adam what does he argue in Romans 5 he argues that as the first Adam brought death by his transgression on the whole race so the second Adam well actually the last because there is no third the last Adam, Jesus by his work and death and resurrection brings life and the wonderful argument is that the whole race all of us are in the first Adam whether we like it or not but by grace, hallelujah all of us can be incorporated into the second Adam the first Adam brings death and condemnation the last Adam brings life and justification and liberty and this is a wonderful parallel argument that Paul sets out carefully in verse after verse the consequence of being in the first Adam is this the consequence of being in the last Adam is this and just as the headship of the first Adam affected the whole race so the headship of the second Adam affects the whole race and that is the main reason they are not the only one that I can never accept any doctrine of limited atonement it contradicts the apostle all that was done in the first Adam is undone in the second Adam not for some, but for all yeah that is worth hallelujah for all for all for all the Son of God died not just Messiah of Israel but Savior of the world we are all in the bundle of the first Adam and by grace we can all be in the redemption of the last Adam as the first Adam represented all so the second Adam represents all and by the way we are still talking about the context of Romans 8 somebody says man he is taking a long time to get there well I am not going to get there because I am going to finish in a minute but actually friend, remember again a text without a context is a pretext to understand the glorious truths about the Holy Spirit and by the way there are more references to the person and work of the Holy Spirit in Romans 8 listen carefully than in any other chapter in the entire Bible but before we get there we have to understand the context the foundation is laid for universal sin the foundation is laid and I say this carefully for the possibility in the second Adam of universal redemption Paul does not argue that all will be saved Paul powerfully argues all may be saved many parts of the world are represented in this great continent wherever you come from wherever you live, wherever you minister around you are people ordinary human beings on the understanding of Paul's gospel in Romans you and I already know if we believe the word that all men all men and women without exception are sinners but if we believe Paul's argument the salvation of all men is possible you can go anywhere in the world to any race any nation any culture any background any religion any color of skin and you can say to a fellow human being my brother, my sister God loves you and for you Christ died that's the foundation of a universal gospel that's why we are commanded to go into all the world because this is the great good news on the foundation of universal sin Paul raises a great gospel of universal grace all comprehended in the first Adam we know that just look into our own lives of all the doctrines in the Bible the one that needs the least demonstration or argument is the doctrine of sin the whole of human history up to this very moment illustrates it all too clearly but on that understanding is raised this glorious evangel this good news all that was done for us in the first Adam, hallelujah is undone and more we sang the other morning in hymn in Jesus the tribes of Adam boast more blessings than their father lost the context of Romans 8 if the Lord tarries and if he doesn't I don't expect any of us to be here but if he tarries we look at tomorrow the contrast and the content praise God