David Platt -The Glory of God, the Lostness of Man, and the Gospel of Christ

I see no reason not to start off this morning where we left off last night so Psalm 148 says praise the Lord praise the Lord from the heavens praise Him in the heights above praise him all his angels praise him all his heavenly hosts praising Sun and and all you quadrillions of shining stars praising you highest heavens and you waters above the skies let them praise the name of the lord for he commanded and they were created he set them in place for ever and ever he gave a decree that will never pass away so praise the Lord from the earth you great sea creatures oils and all you ocean deaths lightning and hail snow and clouds stormy winds that do his bidding your mountains and all hills fruit trees and all cedars wild animals and all cattle small creatures and flying birds kings of the earth and all nations you princes and all rulers on the earth young men and maidens old men and children let them all praise the name of the Lord for His name alone is exalted and his splendor is above the earth in the heavens and he has raised up for his people horn the praise of all his saints of Israel the people close to his heart praise the Lord praise the Lord sing to the Lord a new song his praise in the Assembly of the saints let Israel rejoice in their maker let the people of Zion be glad in their king let them praise his name with dancing make music to him with the tambourine and heart for listen let the soak in the Bible says the Lord takes delight in his people he crowns the humble with salvation let the Saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds made the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands to inflict vengeance on the nation's and Punishment on the people's to bind their kings with fetters their nobles with shackles of iron to carry out the sentence written against them this is the glory of all the saints praise the Lord praise the Lord praise God in His sanctuary praise Him in his mighty heavens praise him for his acts of power praise him for his surpassing greatness praise him with the sounding of the trumpet praise him with the harp and lyra praise him with tambourine and dancing praise him with the strings and flute praise him with the clash of cymbals praise him with resounding cymbals let everything that has breath praise the Lord praise the Lord there are over 16,000 people groups on the planet and our God deserves every single one of their praise the glory of God among the nations is not just the reason for which we have this conference the glory of God among the nations is the reason for which we have breath so so I've got to walk you through what was happening to me last night when Louie was talking okay so I've been praying about what to say at this conference more than I've prayed about any other conference this year because of what I believe about the potential of this conference so I've been praying about what the Lord would have me say at this moment and as I prayed the Lord believes putting three texts on my heart that I was supposed to dive into this morning those three texts Isaiah chapter six Psalm chapter 148 and Romans chapter 1 so I'm sitting there last night and I've got this word burning in my heart prepared to preach and Lily starts talking about Isaiah 6 I start thinking oh no no it's sleeping tonight I really go to something else but then he starts talking about pulsars and sombrero galaxies and I think alright I'm okay I wasn't planning on going the Pulsar sombrero route and so so I'm okay and and then he says now I want you to turn me to Psalm 148 and I'm I'm starting to panic I'm think you've got to be kidding he's taking my whole sermon but then then he starts playing whale music and I'm thinking I don't know any whale songs it's not in my repertoire so I'm okay and then at the end he reads from Romans chapter 1 and I just sat there and all of a sudden this this panic in me just turned it to peace and I realized that God the God who is at work in pulsars and sombrero galaxies and whales in the universe is the same God who is evidently at work in this room that he would lead his heart in my heart unbeknownst one another to the exact same three texts so so maybe maybe the Lord wants us to go of me maybe deep here and and so with a sense of anticipation and trepidation I want to invite you to turn with me to Isaiah chapter 6 and I want us to plunge even deeper in to this word trusting that maybe the Lord doesn't want us to move on just quite yet from where we were last last night and while you're turning head you just say I am in over my head at this conference I'm in over my head a stir on every level and and then I'm in over my head at this conference the seeds of God's passion for his glory among the nations were planted in my heart through John Piper and Louie Giglio had passion conferences I'm indebted in so many ways to these brothers and then his other brothers who you will hear the rest of today whose god-given brilliance and ministry just incites praise to his name I was I was intimidated enough and then Louie goes out pulls an iPad where he has conducted an orchestra of water mammals and oscillating supernovas and I think I don't have anything to bring to the table here I'm out of my league I'm just going to talk just going to talk but I gotten something really good to talk about this word is good and so I'm going to stay as close as I can to it I want to show you four simple glories life-altering truths in this text and then I want to apply those truths to the way we in this room lead our churches and give our lives lose them if necessary for spread of the gospel among unreached peoples so Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1 in the year that King Uzziah died Isaiah says I saw the Lord sitting upon throne high and lifted up and the Train of his robe filled the temple above him stood the Seraphim each had six wings with two he covered his face and with two he covered his feet and with two he flew and one called to another and said holy holy holy is the lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory and the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called and the house filled with smoke and I said woe is me for I am lost I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of people of unclean lips for my eyes have seen the king the Lord of hosts then one of the Seraphim flew to me having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar and he touched my mouth and said Behold this has touched your lips your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for and I heard the voice of the Lord saying whom shall I send and who will go for us then I said here am I send me and he said go and say to these people keep on hearing but do not understand keep on seeing but do not perceive make the heart of this people dull in their eyes heavy and blind their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn and be healed then I said how long O Lord and he said until cities lie waste without inhabitant and houses without people and the land is a desolate waste and the Lord removes people far away and the Forsaken places are many in the midst of the land and though a tenth remain in it it will be burned again like a terebinth or note whose stump remains when it is felled the Holy See is it's stone for simple glorious life-altering church that will apply to our lives and churches when it comes to the unreached number one we have an incomprehensibly glorious God we have an incomprehensibly glorious God our God reigns in the year that King Uzziah died King for 52 years you and I are used to a president for four maybe eight years 52 years most of the people of God this was the only leader they knew and for the most part of it right his rain hits sought God and things had gone well all of a sudden he was gone things were in crisis and Isaiah looks up and he sees that though King Uzziah is gone the real King is still on the throne throughout history presidents have come and presidents have gone and will go leaders have come leaders have gone and will go Kings have come Kings have gone and will go one king will always remain and he's surrounded by these angelic attendants these serifs their name literally means burning ones it's a great picture this is angels that are literally ablaze with the adoration of God they live they burn to worship God and they surround his throne with other angels we know from Scripture with myriads and multitudes all flaming with pure nuclear powered praise of God to think that while you and I were sleeping while you were snoring last night they were singing shouting trumpeting the glory of God when you woke up the morning they were this morning they were still seeing at the smaller or you sit in your seat they're still shouting his phrase when you go to bed tonight they never stop what is their song selection holy holy holy his holiness is terrifying it's like these angels are grasping at the leash of language to try to find a word to express the nature of the one who is before them the only word comes out holy hold-hold other what does it mean for God to be holy he he is without error our God is perfect period there is nothing wrong in our God he has never had a wrong thought he has never done a wrong deed he has never had her own motive everything him in him is Right righteous unadulterated purity but we need to be careful not just to think about purity here because the reality is there is a sense in which not exactly the same but there is a sense in which the same thing could be said about angels surrounding his throne they are not a part of fallen man they're not a part of fallen angels they are also in a very real sense without sins so we know that for God to be holding it's more than just him being without error for him to be holy means that he is without equal Isaiah 42 whom will you compare me says the Holy One who is my equal Isaiah 45 I am God and there is no other there is no one like our God it is folly to try to compare anyone or anything to our God because he is in comparable his holiness is terrifying and his sovereignty is total the whole earth is full of his glory all of the earth is a continual explosion of the glory of God we talked about last night how he has sovereign over all nature just couldn't help to think about Isaiah 40 could you who brings out the story host one by one and cause them each by name they've all got names sovereign over all nature and sovereign over all nations so do do something when they go to Isaiah chapter 36 for him in this is part of the purpose of Isaiah the point of Isaiah to show the supremacy and sovereignty of God over the nations look at Isaiah chapter 36 this historical interlude in the middle of this this prophecy you remember the background historical background the Assyrians had overtaken the Northern Kingdom of Israel and were on the assault when it came to the southern kingdom of Judah they were taking city after city and they came to Jerusalem and they had surrounded Jerusalem with a hundred and eighty five thousand troops you remember this hundred eighty-five thousand put yourself in Jerusalem for a second you've heard about the dreaded Assyrians taking over and destroying City after City after city and now you were in Jerusalem and there's a hundred eighty-five thousand Assyrian troops surrounding you and so one of the Assyrian commanders comes out and begins to talk the people of God a bit of Old Testament trash-talking listen to what he says Isaiah chapter 36 verse 18 Hezekiah is telling the people of God trust God trust God for say teenis Syrian commander says beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying the Lord will deliver us has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria where are the gods of Hamas and our power where are the gods of sefar vine have they delivered samaria out of my hand who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand that the lord should deliver jerusalem out of my hand oh you you don't say that to god he go to the next chapter chapter 37 verse 23 and God decides to join in the trash talk and he speaks through his servant Isaiah 37 verse 23 to Assyria whom have you mocked and reviled against whom have you raised her voice and lifted your eyes to the heights against the whole the one of Israel by your servants you've mocked the Lord and you have said with my many chariots I've gone up the heights of the mountains to the far recesses of Lebanon to cut down its tallest Cedars its choices cypresses to come to its remotest height its most fruitful forest I dug wells and drank waters to dry up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt God says have you not heard that I determined it long ago I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass that you should make fortified cities crashing the heaps of ruins all their inhabitants shorn of strength are dismayed and confounded and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass like grass on the housetops be lighted before it is grown I know you're sitting down and you're going out and coming in and you're raging against me because you have raged against me and your complacency has come to my ears I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth and I will turn you back on the way by which you came can you get down to verse 33 and you see what happens therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria he shall not come into the city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mount against it by the way that he came by the same he shall return and he shall not come into the city declares the Lord for I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David and the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians and when people arose early in the morning behold these were all dead bodies 185 thousand people struck down like death then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed as well he should and returned home and lived at Nineveh and as he was worshiping in the house of dis rock his God drama-like ensure Ezra his sons struck him down with the sword mark this down you don't mess with God God says Assyria you're in my hands Babylon in my hands Israel Judah in my hands I'm sovereign over all of you and this is good news isn't it isn't it good news to know that Kim jong-il and North Korea is not sovereign over all neither is aquaeden Assad in Iran neither is Benjamin Netanyahu or Hameed Karzai or Omar Gaddafi or Barack Obama the Lord our God is sovereign over every single one of them he holds them in his hands his holiness terrifying sovereignty total we haven't incomprehensibly glorious God second truth we are sinful II lost people we're sinful II lost people so what was Isaiah's response to the glory of God not Wow his response was woe woe is me for I am lost does that mean this is where I want us to step back a moment and to consider what all the scripture tells us about what it means to be lost consider the testimony of scripture to lostness of man not three chapters into this book man is sinful II lost man is slandering the goodness of God let's eat from the tree God doesn't know what is best for us we know better than him the goodness of God spurning the authority of God even if God said don't eat from the tree we're going to do it anyway he's not lord over us I can do what we want this is the God who beckons storm clouds and they come the God who says to the wind and the rain you blow there and you fall here and they do it this is God who says to mountains you go here and sees you stop there everything in all creation responds to the bidding of the Creator until you get to man and you and I have the audacity to look at him in the face and say no slandering God's good to spurn in God's Authority and in questioning God's Word did God really say oh it is a dangerous dangerous thing whenever we subject God's Word to man's judgment and from this sin we see lostness all over this book what does it mean to be lost to be lost is to be cut off from God man cast out from God's favorable presence in Genesis chapter 3 to live alienated from God Colossians 1:21 separated from Christ Ephesians 2:12 cut off from God and condemned by God Romans 5:12 says from that one sin came condemnation for all men Romans 5:18 one trespass led to condemnation for everybody in our sinfulness we are cut off from God condemned by God enemies of God Romans 5:10 Friends of the world with enmity toward God James chapter 4 verse 4 in our lost as we are slaves to sinn John 8:34 Jesus says truly truly I say to you everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin Romans 6:11 says we're slaves sin and impurity and lawlessness we are slaves to sin and dominated by Satan 2nd Timothy 2:26 as we were caught in a snare of the evil one who has captured us to do his will first john 5:19 says we live in the world that lies in the power of the evil one we're children of Wrath Ephesians chapter 2 verse 3 lovers of darkness we hate the light john 3:20 fusions 4:18 says we are darkened in our understanding and it affects all of us every facet of our being permeated with lostness our minds are blinded Romans 1:21 says we claim to be wise but we have fools exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles verse 28 says God has given sinful man over to a depraved mind second Corinthians 4:4 says the god of this world little G god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers so in our lost us we can't see our minds are blinded our emotions disordered Romans 1:26 says God has given us over to our sinful hearts force Peter 2:11 says the sinful passions of our flesh war against our souls our minds blinded our emotions disordered our bodies defiled Romans 1:24 says God has given us over to sexual impurity for the degrading of our bodies with one another Romans 3 there is no one righteous not even one no one who understands no one who seeks God all that turned away they have together become worthless there is no one who does good not even one our throats are open graves our tongues practice deceit the poison of vipers is on our lips our mouths are full of cursing and bitterness ruin Miz remarked our ways in the way of peace we do not know there is no fear of God before our eyes we are morally evil so this is 8:21 says every inclination of man's heart is evil from Joppa spiritually sick Jesus says in Matthew chapter 19 verse 12 and we are continually perishing 2nd Thessalonians 2:9 for Corinthians 1:18 st. Vincent's 4:3 do we see this our problem is not just to we've made some bad decisions I'm probably not just we've messed up our problem is that we are at the core sinfully lost cut off from God condemned by God and consequently destined for hell our sin for an infinitely holy God warrants infinitely horrifying just judgment this is the truth of all scriptures goddess professor James Denny said amongst all of Scripture we see this one truth that those who refuse to submit to the gospel and love and obey Jesus Christ will incur at the last Advent an infinite and irreparable loss they will pass into a ninth on which no morning will ever dawn we had a hell of a time you played a hell of a game I was a hell of a song the way we talked about hell shows that we have no idea what we were talking about hell a place a fiery agony mark 943 your hand causes you to sin cut it off it's better for you to enter the kingdom with one hand there with two hands to go into hell into the unquenchable fire if your eye causes you to sin gouge it out it's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to go into hell where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched revelation 20:15 if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire revelation 21:8 as for the Cowardly and faithless the detestable as for murderers the sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars their lot will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur you say well are those just images in the Bible are those just symbols okay maybe but if they're symbols then what are they symbols for a wintry retreat a summer vacation no these are symbols that stand for something much worse surely burning fire and smoking so for our knot symbols for a nice place to be their symbols for terrifying place to be a place of fiery agony a place of conscience torment Luke 1622 a place of outer darkness Matthew 22 verse 13 place of divine destruction 2nd Thessalonians 1:9 separate from the presence of the Lord and the power of his might and maybe most horrifying of all a place of eternal duration Revelation 14 verse 11 says the smoke of sinners torment rises up for ever and ever and ever Thomas Watson said the wicked in Hell shall be always dying but never dead smoke of the furnace of sins forever and ever he said he said o who can endure thus to be ever upon the rack the word ever he said breaks the heart and it does who in this room can even begin to grasp everlasting or of Hell brothers and sisters we are not just playing games here there is real everlasting wrath awaiting sinners before a holy God be not ignorant of this and be not indifferent to this refused to be numbed by the temporary stuff of this world that keeps you from seeing and feeling the eternal weight of heaven and a hell and this is why I say I said woe is me I am lost now I see it is lost it's not just Tamar not just then those unreached people this is us but we we are and our sinfulness sinfully lost we are in our sinfulness cut off from God condemned by God enemies of God slaves to sin dominated by Satan children of Wrath lovers of darkness Minds blinded emotions disordered bodies defiled morally evil spiritually sick continually perishing and destined for hell this is us which leads us to the third truth we are sinful II lost people and third we have a scandalously merciful Savior so Isaiah cries out in depravity and the Lord responds in mercy he commands the Seraph to take a live coal from the altar touches Isaiah's lips and says these words see your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for now I want you to think about this this is Isaiah he is guilty he is a guilty sinner in the presence of a holy God and God in Isaiah 6 looks at this guilty sinner and says you are innocent how is that possible how can a holy God everything he does is right and true and perfect how can he look at a guilty sinner and say innocent that's a scandal no matter how you look at it whether you're conservative or progressive or liberal whatever you have a sense of right and wrong you expect right to be praised and wrong to be condemned and you expect God to do the same so how can God in perfection look at that which is totally rebellious and say you are perfectly righteous and this is where Isaiah 6 doesn't give us the whole story so turn me over to Isaiah chapter 53 and I want you to see the continuation of this picture of a God who takes the altar of sacrifice and turns it into a place or man's sinfulness and guilt is removed it's the picture that God had set up all among his people for generations you know the the feasts and celebrations and the special days whether it's the Passover you take a lamb into your home you get to love it let your kids love it then you slaughter it you take its blood and you put it over your doorpost to show that the price for sin death has been paid and you fast forward to the day of atonement you see these two offerings brought in one sacrificed its blood taken sprinkled over the atonement cover to show the penalty of sin death has been paid and then you take the other sacrifice you place your hands priest places his hands on the scapegoat confesses the sins of the people symbolically passing of the sins onto the go and then the offering taken out into the wilderness outside the camp never to return again as a picture of God removing sins taking sins away it's the same word that's used there in Leviticus chapter singing a saw that Isaiah brings in in chapter 53 verse 4 to talk about what Christ will do for us Christ the servant surely verse 4 chapter 53 he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken smitten by God and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was crushed for our iniquities upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace and with His stripes we are healed all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all so what does this mean two things one Christ will endure the servant will endure the penalty of sin all of these pictures we see grief sorrow Doosan that he is carrying this is the payment for sin all the physical suffering we see in the cross a visible demonstration of the penalty to sin but don't miss it that's not all the servant will not just endure the penalty of sin the servant Isaiah says we'll stand in the place of sinners Isaiah brings us into this passage you look at verse four five and six and you see how he brings the first-person plural in surely he is born you might Circle it our griefs and carried our sorrows we esteemed him stricken he was wounded for our transgressions crushed for our iniquities upon the channel him in the chastisement brought us peace and with His stripes we are healed all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all no less than ten times and three verses we see that the servant will do this in our place in our stead now this is key so I wrote this little orange book they got some publicity in a few different places one local place where it got publicity was in the Birmingham News where I passed her and Andy the newspaper writer took a quote from the book this is what this would the article said he said while it's a common pulpit truism that God hates sin but loves the sinner Platt argues that God hates sinners and it's a quote taken from the book but the article just moves on at that point so people start emailing me church members pastor you you believe God hates sinners people in the city emailing me not so kindly you're preaching hatred there this is one of those places where I like many of you can find yourself in a bit of trouble for quoting the Bible does God hate sinners listen to Psalm chapter 5 verse 5 and 6 the boastful shall not stand before your eyes you God you hate all evildoers you destroy those who speak lies the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man maybe I should have said abhor maybe that's the better word no no you misread God doesn't hate sinners he abhors them and destroys them could you quote me on that please but this is it's not isolated in Scripture fourteen times in the fifth verse 50 Psalms alone we see God's hatred toward the center his wrath toward the liar and so on it's not just Old Testament it's New Testament in John chapter 3 that chapter where we have one the most famous verses about God's love we also have one of the most neglected verses about God's wrath and so begs the question does God is it true that God hates the sin but loves the sinner yes of course in one sense but not completely think about it with me does God hate the sinner and this right here is so key to understanding the cross because when we see God's holy hatred of sin God's holy wrath do sin it's not it's not likes it as something outside of us there's tendency to thing when Jesus went to the cross he died for my lusting and my lying and my cheating or by doing this for that as if sin is outside of us the reality is sin is at the core of who we are we're sinful to the core so when Jesus went to the cross it wasn't just enduring the penalty of sin as if it was something outside of us he was taking the place of sinners when he was crushed and bruised and literally pulverized Isaiah 53 says he was doing this in our place he was taking the full wrath of God do you and do me as sinners so let us be comfortable not to lean on comfortable cliches that robbed the cross of its meaning here's the deal we are sinners we all like sheep have gone astray I would say there are many preachers today who would try to advocate that no you're you're good you're fine believe in yourself trust in yourself don't believe them you're a dumb sheep even the smartest most intellectual one in this room is a dumb sheep going your own way so we are sinners God is holy possessing holy hatred towards sin sinners and possessing holy love toward sinners so then how can God show both holy hatred and holy love toward sinners that's the question of the Bible and the answer is the cross because at the cross God shows the full expression of his wrath you see the verbs is here's wounded he was crushed chastised stripes the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all he was crushed for sin and sinners in the same time he did this for sinners so does God hate sinners yes look at the cross does God love sinners absolutely look at the cross because there takes our sin away they're gone isaiah 43 verse 25 says he remembers them no more here doesn't even remember them sad that he doesn't nothing he has amnesia our God knows everything the beauty of the gospel is that God knows every single central thing you or I have ever done every single sinful thought every single sinful inclination and by the grace of Christ the servant he does not count any of those things against us I heard a story about Royals Royce in England Englishmen who bought this Rolls Royce advertised as the card that would never ever ever ever ever ever ever break down and so he bought it at a hefty price he's driving it around one day and it breaks down he was pretty far away and so he called and said hey you know the car that will never break down while I'm broken down and say said we'll get somebody to you immediately they fly someone a mechanic on a helicopter to him and land it there they fix this car not often than a mechanic does that and so he begins driving goes off on his way after it is fixed he expects to get a bill from Rolls Royce obviously that was expensive for them to do and he wanted to get this whole thing behind him and so he hadn't gotten a bill for weeks and so he called Rolls Royce and he said and I'd like to go and pay my bill that way it's all taken care of and the Rolls Royce people responded and said sir we're sorry but we have absolutely no record of anything ever having gone wrong we your car think of it that the God of the universe would look at your life in my life and say I have absolutely no record of anything ever having gone wrong and back to the exact opposite because we're closed in Christ he says I have record of everything having gone right in your life that is a scandal we have a scandalously merciful Savior moving to truth number four this is true we have an incomprehensibly glorious God we are sinful II lost people with a scandalously merciful Savior then we have an indescribably urgent mission surely this God warrants more than raising a hand and praying a prayer surely this God warrants more than nominal adherence and casual acceptance this God warrants total abandonment of our lives our dreams our plans and our hopes and our possessions and our stuff all of it on the table how do you want to use my life and my family in this church for the spread of your glory and this gospel to the ends of the earth the only possible response this is where okay we run out of time here take this these truths now let's apply them to the unreached okay so we're going to go to Roman's one in my mind we're on time to turn there but think about think about these truths applied to 6,000 plus people groups who have little to no access to the gospel over two and a half billion people why must we all of us in this room leader churches and give our lives and lose them if necessary spreading this gospel somehow in the ways that God has creativity or days but we abandoned to him how how can we how can you most effectively make this gospel known to underaged peoples why was my why must we go to them with urgency three reasons number one because so here the application here because when it comes to the unreached their knowledge of God is only enough to damn them to hell right Romans 1 wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth of God by their wickedness since while we known about God is plain to them because God has made it plain to them for since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood for as are made so the men are without excuse all of them every every man in the African jungle or Amazon rainforest woman in the asian village eskimo in the Forgotten tundra all of them have knowledge of God we talked about that last night then they see the glory of God which exposes the lostness of their hearts it's clear in Romans chapter 1 the knowledge they have shows them that God is glorious and they are guilty and that's all that God you say well what happens to the innocent guy in Africa who never hears the gospel well my answer to that is easy based on the authority of God's Word the innocent guy in Africa has never heard the gospel will absolutely go to heaven even though he's never heard the gospel he will go to heaven the only problem is the innocent guy in Africa does not exist ok you found with me here like so so that I'm not about to be thrown out as a heretic you've if he were innocent which is the way the question is normally asked if he were innocent why would he need the gospel a there's no sin of course he'll go to heaven the problem is there are no innocent people in Africa waiting to hear the gospel they are guilty people all over the nations ready to hear the gospel that's why we must go to them because they're guilty you see how we default the question toward us by satori us and away from the glory and the holiness of God as if we're innocent people out there no none of us are feel the weight of our lostness and feel the weight of that for people who have enough knowledge of God to show them they are lost and nothing more their knowledge of God there are two and a half plus billion people in the world who have enough knowledge of God to damn them to hell it's all I have reason number two or we must go to them is because the gospel of God is powerful enough to save them for heaven because this gospel of a scandalously merciful Savior is really good news for every people group on the planet this is great news and it works it works it's an India a couple months ago in East India and we were in a very impoverished area here here here Rajesh this story okay Rajesh a pastor at the end of his Road lives in one of those spiritually physically desolate places in India home to the poorest of the poor and 0.01 percent evangelical the death rate in his area is about 5,000 people per day which means every day every day 4950 people in his area are plunged into hell for generations spiritual ground has been hard and physical poverty has been harrowing and his church planting he was just at the end of his rope but he went to a conference where he was encouraged just renewed refreshed made disciples multiplied churches in partnership with some of the things were doing there and so Rajesh says all right what he was encouraged to do at this training he was encouraged to go into a totally unreachable egde walk and the first person you meet look at them and say I am here in the name of Jesus and I would like to pray for you and your village we're just kind of rolled his eyes this will never work he's at the end of his rope though he says I'll try it so he goes into the village totally unoriginal she walks in first man he sees he goes up to me says I'm here in the name of Jesus and I would like to pray for you and your village this man replies I've never heard about Jesus can you tell me more about him or just said sure and the man said we'll wait because I want to have my friends here too and so rajesh follows this guy to his home where all of a sudden he's surrounded by friends and family in a home telling people about Jesus within two weeks twenty-five people had trusted in faith in Christ and then so it's better after that so then they decide well why don't we start doing the same thing churches have been planted in 115 different villages in that area as a result this this gospel is good it works this is why this is why you can go to the hardest most difficult place to reach most difficult most hardened people group and you can have confidence when we send out from Brook Hills people some of the hardest most difficult people groups on the planet we're sending them out with confidence because we know this gospel has power to save when we adopt a people group we know we know the debt people group is going to be represented around the throne in Revelation chapter 7 so no matter how hard it seems I'm a difficult it seems we preach the gospel we know somebody's coming out because this gospel is powerful enough to save there is not a people group on the planet that is beyond the power of God to save and the people who believe that cannot sit on this gospel how people who believe that will lead churches and give lives to make discussable know three reasons because their knowledge of God is only enough to them tell its gospel God is powerful enough to save them for heaven third reason because the glory of God is good enough to satisfy them forever because the glory of God it's good enough to satisfy them forever there is coming a day when our scandalous savior and sovereign king will return and he will surround himself with a throng composed of every people nation tribe and tongue and we will see his face and together we will be glad in his glory this is why we rise and we say without condition and regardless of cost here we are send us this is what we live for so what would die for this is why we have breath let's pray Oh God we sang earlier to Christ you are the one we are waiting for we praise you for your incarnation and your first coming and we long for your second coming so give us grace cross room see the gravity of your glory to know it to love it feel God give us grace hearts are so numb give us grace to feel the weight of lostness in the midst of gospel revival and awakening in our day glorious truths of Romans 1 through 8 give us the burden of Romans 9 and use this with prey there's this conference these brothers and sisters us or churches together with brothers and sisters around the world to finish this mission oh god we want to be a part of finishing this mission so we surrender ourselves to your person and to your purpose we pray that you would use us to make the glory of God and the gospel of Christ known emits the lostness of man and jesus name we pray you

Channel: TheLordsPage

Views: 50,650

Rating: 4.8461537 out of 5

Keywords: gospel, holy, david, spirit, salvation, truth, lord, word, prophecy, prophet, hebrew, preaching, study, pastor, tennessee, walker, dave

Id: M4JbkvEt-lk

Length: 54min 48sec (3288 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 29 2011