1 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:12,640 Hi and welcome to the Via Zion Sermon Podcast. 2 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:15,880 We are a local church based here in Chennai, India. 3 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:19,240 We are so glad you are with us and hope that this will 4 00:00:19,240 --> 00:00:23,480 encourage, inspire and instill fresh faith in you. 5 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:28,280 We continue our series titled All Roads Lead to Rome, which is 6 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:32,000 a study in the book of Romans. As we study this letter written 7 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,200 to the Jewish and Gentile believers in the city of Rome, 8 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,560 we ask that you put yourself in their shoes, for our context is 9 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:43,200 not that different after all. Our hope is that through the 10 00:00:43,200 --> 00:00:47,320 series you would experience the fullness of knowing who God is, 11 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:50,920 what He did for you through Jesus, and how you can live a 12 00:00:50,920 --> 00:00:53,360 life that honours Him and blesses others. 13 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:57,560 Hi Church. It's my joy to bring God's word 14 00:00:57,560 --> 00:00:59,840 to you. Today we're going to be looking 15 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:02,640 at part three of All Roads Lead to Rome. 16 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:05,000 As you know, we've been looking at the book of Romans. 17 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:09,360 We're looking at chapter 3, verses 24 onwards today. 18 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:13,280 And as I was reading these two chapters three and four, one 19 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,000 thing became very obvious to me that, you know, we Christians 20 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:18,400 should be the most generous people on earth. 21 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:21,320 You know why? Because so much has been given 22 00:01:21,320 --> 00:01:26,840 to us free of cost, salvation, grace, just, you know, being 23 00:01:26,840 --> 00:01:30,080 redeemed, being justified. We're going to be looking today 24 00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:31,800 a little deeper along these lines. 25 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:36,040 And if anything, everything has been given to us freely by God 26 00:01:36,040 --> 00:01:38,440 in Christ Jesus. And we need to be living with 27 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:42,280 our hands open, ready to, you know, do the things God created 28 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:44,880 us to do, ready to do the things God is calling us into. 29 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:50,440 And I hope that as we look at today's text, it'll spur you on 30 00:01:50,440 --> 00:01:53,000 to do a greater thing for the Lord. 31 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,880 It will spur you on to actually lean into God and say, God, what 32 00:01:55,880 --> 00:01:57,760 did you create me for? What do you want me to do in 33 00:01:57,760 --> 00:02:00,000 this season? Because that's the purpose of 34 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:01,240 what we're going to be looking at today. 35 00:02:01,240 --> 00:02:04,400 We're going to be looking at Romans chapter 3, verses 23 to 36 00:02:04,400 --> 00:02:05,720 26. And this is what it says. 37 00:02:05,720 --> 00:02:09,039 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and 38 00:02:09,039 --> 00:02:13,600 all are justified really by His grace through the redemption 39 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:17,120 that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a 40 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:21,400 sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of His blood to be 41 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:24,440 received by faith. He did this to demonstrate His 42 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:28,040 righteousness, because in His forbearance He had left the sins 43 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:31,960 committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate His 44 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:36,080 righteousness at the present time so as to be just and the 45 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:40,200 one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 46 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:42,800 So it's amazing because the crux of it is this. 47 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:45,360 We have all sinned. We've all fallen short of the 48 00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:47,800 glory of God. But the beautiful thing is that 49 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:50,640 we through Jesus have been redeemed. 50 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:52,960 We through Jesus have been justified. 51 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:55,480 And you may ask me what does it mean to be justified? 52 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:59,080 If you were someone like me used to work a lot in Microsoft Word. 53 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:02,920 There was this command, I think it was control J. 54 00:03:02,920 --> 00:03:06,480 When you press that, it'll align all the words so that the edges 55 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:09,280 were in a straight line. So you now you have right line, 56 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:11,920 left aligned and all of that. But back in the day, that's what 57 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:14,360 we would use. Now what that actually that has 58 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:16,920 it's, it's kind of, you know, reminiscent of what 59 00:03:16,920 --> 00:03:20,240 justification looks like. Justification is basically you 60 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:22,240 and me being made right with God. 61 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:24,760 There's no longer any gaps between you and me. 62 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:28,480 We are presented and declared as righteous to God. 63 00:03:28,480 --> 00:03:30,760 That is what it looks like to be justified. 64 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:33,280 He talks about this other word, redemption. 65 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:36,000 What is redemption? Redemption is nothing but being 66 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:39,240 bought back. We had been sold over to the 67 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:41,640 enemy of our souls. We belong to His Kingdom with 68 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,640 the way we lived before. But Jesus with his precious 69 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:47,880 blood, that was what atoned for us. 70 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:52,560 Sin made amends, appeased the wrath of God and bought us back. 71 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:55,760 And that is what redemption is. And here it talks about the 72 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:59,760 sacrifice of atonement. Atonement is nothing but a price 73 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,600 that is paid to bring us near God. 74 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:06,520 Again, another word that they use is propitiation. 75 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:11,200 Basically it is to appease or to reconcile with God. 76 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:15,320 When we look at what justification is, justification 77 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:19,240 is basically you and I, because we believed in Jesus, He 78 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:23,160 declared us as sinless. He said they are washed by the 79 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:24,840 blood of the Lamb, They are declared clean. 80 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:28,760 We are declared as righteous and what are the ramifications of 81 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:30,280 this? How does this work itself out? 82 00:04:30,280 --> 00:04:32,280 Well, we are declared free of sin. 83 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:36,040 We are accepted by God, We are given eternal life. 84 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:39,120 And the important thing to remember about justification is 85 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:42,400 that was given freely. You and I cannot do even a 86 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:46,480 single work or or a good deed which will earn us 87 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:50,200 justification. It's so important to remember 88 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:53,440 that it is completely a gift from God. 89 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:56,360 It is an act committed by God for us. 90 00:04:57,120 --> 00:05:00,520 No part of justification do we actually have a role to play. 91 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:02,920 All we have to do is accept Jesus. 92 00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:06,640 All we have to do is believe in on on the name of Jesus and we 93 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:08,200 will be saved. That's what the word says. 94 00:05:08,400 --> 00:05:11,600 Justification is what God does. It's a legal term. 95 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:15,400 It's a legal term when the enemy no longer has a hold on us. 96 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:19,760 He has no legal standpoint on which to accuse us because we 97 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:22,440 are declared righteous. So if we were to stand in a in a 98 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:27,920 courtroom where God is is the judge and the accuser, the 99 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:32,360 prosecutor is the enemy when he tries to accuse us, all that we 100 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:36,040 need to say is I'm justified. Jesus justifies me. 101 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:39,240 He's the advocate. He tells the Father they are 102 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:43,000 with me, he or she is righteous. Can you picture that? 103 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,040 What an amazing thing. When I kept thinking about it, I 104 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:50,680 couldn't believe that God made it that easy for me and for you 105 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,720 to stand before him today. And so today when we look at 106 00:05:54,720 --> 00:05:56,560 Romans three and four, we're going to look at it with these 107 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:59,160 lens of what this actually means for us. 108 00:05:59,320 --> 00:06:02,640 When you and I say we are justified, we are justified 109 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:05,880 because of our faith in Jesus. What does that look like? 110 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:09,560 So we're going to read Romans chapter 3, verse 28, and then we 111 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:12,600 want to look at verses 30 and 31 to understand this a bit more. 112 00:06:12,920 --> 00:06:16,520 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from 113 00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,200 the works of the law. Since there's only one God who 114 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:23,160 will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised 115 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,560 through that same faith, do we then nullify the law by this 116 00:06:26,560 --> 00:06:27,600 faith? Not at all. 117 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:31,880 Rather, we uphold the law. So basically what Paul is 118 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:33,760 writing here, when he talks about the circumcised and the 119 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:36,880 uncircumcised, he's talking with the Jews who had the law. 120 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:40,080 They had the Mosaic law, they had the Torah, they had all of 121 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:42,600 the books of the prophets. They had the law spelt out to 122 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:47,080 them over years. If they still chose to believe 123 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:50,080 in Jesus, then they were selected. 124 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:55,000 They were called justified. Now the Gentiles, that's us. 125 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:58,680 We didn't have the law. We we only came by faith. 126 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:04,720 And we also are justified by our faith in Christ, which equalizes 127 00:07:04,800 --> 00:07:06,240 all of us. It's amazing. 128 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,520 And what he's trying to explain is it doesn't mean that we 129 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:11,560 abolish the law just because of our faith. 130 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:15,840 No, our faith upholds the law. What does this actually mean? 131 00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:18,200 What how do you actually understand that in today's 132 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:20,800 context? Jesus himself said, if you look 133 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:25,560 at Matthew chapter 5, verses 17 to 20, he was teaching a a group 134 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:27,400 of people. He was teaching the disciples. 135 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:30,440 He was teaching the many multitudes and he was very clear 136 00:07:30,440 --> 00:07:33,920 about saying, do not think that I've come to abolish the law of 137 00:07:33,920 --> 00:07:37,880 the prophets, but I've come to uphold Him, uphold them, to 138 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:40,120 fulfill them. I want us to look at those 139 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:43,640 verses it says here Jesus says, do not think that I've come to 140 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:46,520 abolish the law of the prophets. I've come not come to abolish 141 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:49,760 them, but to fulfill them. For truly, I tell you, until 142 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:53,880 heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the 143 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:57,400 least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law 144 00:07:57,400 --> 00:07:59,080 until everything is accomplished. 145 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,440 Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these 146 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:05,600 commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least 147 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:09,520 in the Kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and 148 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:12,920 teaches these commands will be called great in the Kingdom of 149 00:08:12,920 --> 00:08:14,480 heaven. For I tell you that unless your 150 00:08:14,480 --> 00:08:17,920 righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers 151 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:21,880 of the law, you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. 152 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:26,360 So what Jesus was saying is you cannot live out your faith 153 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:29,440 without the element of Jesus at the centre of it. 154 00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:33,880 The Pharisees and the Sadducees, the teachers of the law, upheld 155 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:37,960 the law to to great heights. They would, they followed every 156 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:40,440 letter of the law. There was no doubts about it, 157 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:43,280 right? But the problem was it had not 158 00:08:43,280 --> 00:08:46,320 transformed their hearts, which is why Jesus called them like 159 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:48,440 whitewashed tombs. They were doing the right 160 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:50,440 things, but they didn't know why they were doing it, and they 161 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:52,120 were doing it for all the wrong reasons. 162 00:08:52,400 --> 00:08:55,680 Their heart was distant from God, and so God was calling them 163 00:08:55,680 --> 00:08:57,440 to a place of inner transformation. 164 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:00,800 And that's what he's saying. The Word of God, the living word 165 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:03,680 of God, was Jesus himself. Had they been reading the Word 166 00:09:03,680 --> 00:09:05,800 of God with a greater understanding, with a greater 167 00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:09,080 love for God, they would have realized when he sent his Son 168 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:12,560 down that this was what the law and the prophets pointed to. 169 00:09:12,560 --> 00:09:16,760 This was the person. So today it's so important that 170 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:19,560 we don't get so caught up in only following the letter of the 171 00:09:19,560 --> 00:09:22,600 law that we miss the person of Jesus. 172 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:25,640 And here Paul is very clear. He says we're not abolishing the 173 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:27,160 law. Jesus fulfilled it. 174 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,600 You need to believe in Jesus in order for you to be justified. 175 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:33,080 Obeying the word of God doesn't justify you. 176 00:09:33,080 --> 00:09:35,160 Doing good works does not justify you. 177 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:37,960 Believing in Jesus justifies you. 178 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:41,000 That is the important thing. And what does this justification 179 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,400 amount to? Where does it lead? 180 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:47,200 It leads to this thing called imputed righteousness. 181 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:50,040 OK. Our faith in Jesus imputes 182 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,800 righteousness to us because we are justified. 183 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:56,640 We are declared righteous. This declaration of 184 00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:00,000 righteousness over us is nothing that we have done because we 185 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:01,680 know exactly how unrighteous we are. 186 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,560 But it is an imputed righteousness that is credited 187 00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:08,680 to us. I remember how it says in the 188 00:10:08,680 --> 00:10:12,240 book of Genesis where it says Abraham believed God and it was 189 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:14,840 credited to him as righteousness. 190 00:10:15,000 --> 00:10:17,640 What does that word mean? So when you understand it, you 191 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:20,760 look at it in Greek. It's actually logizo Mai. 192 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:25,480 Logizo Mai appears 40 times in the New Testament and 10 Titans 193 00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:27,440 in this chapter alone. It's very interesting. 194 00:10:27,440 --> 00:10:31,440 It actually means to impute or to pass to one's account 195 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:34,720 crediting. And basically it's saying you 196 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:36,960 take inventory and you settle the accounts. 197 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:42,560 So basically what happened in justification was God in Jesus 198 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:46,480 took stock of us and settle the accounts once and for all. 199 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:50,840 We are now made righteous. We are declared to be righteous 200 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:54,440 in Christ. You and I are righteous because 201 00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:57,600 He has covered us. He has given us his 202 00:10:57,600 --> 00:10:59,480 righteousness. It's an imputed righteousness. 203 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:01,600 It is not an inherent righteousness. 204 00:11:01,600 --> 00:11:04,240 It is not something we have worked to or received or 205 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:10,000 deserved completely of God and the case study to understand all 206 00:11:10,000 --> 00:11:13,520 of this, you know, to really put you know, get our teeth into it 207 00:11:13,520 --> 00:11:16,760 is the story of Abraham. And I love that we have this in 208 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,440 in Romans chapter 4 talk so much about Abraham because he is 209 00:11:20,440 --> 00:11:24,680 truly the father of our faith. He's the father of the faith for 210 00:11:24,680 --> 00:11:27,520 those of us who are uncircumcised physically and 211 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:31,840 those who are circumcised physically because he what his 212 00:11:31,840 --> 00:11:35,440 life demonstrates is faith. He just believed. 213 00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:37,960 He believed in this God. He couldn't see, but he couldn't 214 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,480 hear. He walked with his God where he 215 00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:44,280 led him. He eventually obeyed by 216 00:11:44,400 --> 00:11:46,400 fulfilling the act of circumcision. 217 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:50,440 So today for both Jews and Gentiles, we look to him. 218 00:11:50,720 --> 00:11:54,360 We look to him for he's not a just an ordinary man. 219 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:56,680 He's a man that we can look to and learn from. 220 00:11:57,560 --> 00:11:59,600 So we're going to look at this case study of Abraham and 221 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:03,080 understand how he was justified and called righteous and how 222 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:06,280 that actually was demonstrated in his life and how it can be 223 00:12:06,680 --> 00:12:08,840 demonstrated in yours, your life and mine. 224 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:11,760 So often we live in this place of condemnation. 225 00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:14,320 We think, oh, nothing good will happen for me. 226 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:16,000 I know who I am behind closed doors. 227 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:19,720 I know what I'm about, but God wants to tell you son, daughter, 228 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:22,840 you are called righteous When you invited my son into your 229 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:25,160 life, you are counted as righteous. 230 00:12:25,160 --> 00:12:27,640 The question is if you invited his son into your life. 231 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:31,600 The second response sometimes we have is one of self 232 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:34,000 righteousness. I'm better than that person. 233 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:36,640 Oh, I don't sin like them. I'm better off. 234 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:39,520 I know God differently. I know God for longer. 235 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:41,520 I have all these rules that I followed. 236 00:12:41,520 --> 00:12:44,920 That's what makes me righteous. And God today wants to come 237 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:48,840 bring us to a place of saying like the prophet Isaiah said, 238 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,680 our righteousness is like filthy rags, but the righteousness that 239 00:12:52,680 --> 00:12:56,480 Christ has given us imputed to us is like a rich robe. 240 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:00,240 It covers us. It it brings us into the throne 241 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:03,360 room with confidence. And so when we look at Abraham's 242 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:06,160 life, there are three stages that I want to look at and just 243 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:09,040 picked three different passages that I want us to look at. 244 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:12,240 The first passage is Genesis chapter 12 verses one to four, 245 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:16,000 which is a call of Abraham. And the Lord said to Abraham, Go 246 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:19,440 from your country, your people, and your father's household to 247 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:22,600 the land I will show you, I will make you into a great nation, 248 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:25,720 and I will bless you. I will make your name great and 249 00:13:25,720 --> 00:13:29,000 you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless 250 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:33,360 you, and whoever curses you I will curse, and all peoples on 251 00:13:33,360 --> 00:13:34,880 earth will be blessed through you. 252 00:13:35,040 --> 00:13:38,360 So Abraham went as the Lord had told him and Lot went with him. 253 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:42,840 Abraham was 75 years old when he set out from Haran. 254 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:45,200 Now this is the start. This is when he was called 255 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:50,360 Abraham and Sarah with with Lord left Haran and they just kept 256 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:54,080 following where God LED them. There is no definite map, there 257 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:58,120 was no destination. He just said come and along the 258 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:01,960 way they they go through Egypt. There's this tussle where he 259 00:14:01,960 --> 00:14:05,400 actually almost loses Sarah because the Egyptian king wants 260 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:07,240 Sarah for his own, takes her into the palace. 261 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:10,680 Somehow they get him out, get her out, follows along. 262 00:14:10,680 --> 00:14:13,880 Lot and him become both wealthy and then the land can't support 263 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:14,960 them. So they part ways. 264 00:14:15,120 --> 00:14:18,560 Lot picks Sodom and Gomorrah and and Abraham moves in the 265 00:14:18,560 --> 00:14:22,080 opposite direction. Eventually what happens is Lot 266 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:26,520 and his the whole city that he's in gets kidnapped by rival 267 00:14:26,520 --> 00:14:29,080 kings. And so Abraham is Abraham feels 268 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:32,640 led to go and actually rescue Lot, rescue the kings of Sodom 269 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:34,520 and Gomorrah and, you know, restores them. 270 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:38,200 And, and this part of the, the story ends with, you know, after 271 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:41,840 that whole battle scene, there is plunder that has that has 272 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:44,520 been got. And Abraham tides 110th of that 273 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:47,680 to Melchizedek, a king of Salem, who is with them. 274 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:51,840 And the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah say, you know what, you 275 00:14:51,840 --> 00:14:53,600 take the plunder, we'll take our people back. 276 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:56,160 But Abraham tells him, I don't want anything from you. 277 00:14:56,360 --> 00:14:59,080 I don't want it to be said that you guys made me rich. 278 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:02,400 Because Abraham knew if anyone was going to enlarge him or 279 00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:05,080 extend his territory or give him more, it was the God of heaven. 280 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:08,240 And God had already begun blessing him so much. 281 00:15:09,520 --> 00:15:13,400 And when this is happening, it's about 11 years from his calling. 282 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:18,000 God speaks to him again. Genesis chapter 15 verses one to 283 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:19,120 seven. This is what it says. 284 00:15:19,520 --> 00:15:22,480 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision. 285 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:26,280 Do not be afraid, Abraham, I am your shield, your very great 286 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:28,360 reward. But Abraham said, sovereign 287 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:31,600 Lord, what can you give me, since I remain childless and the 288 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,440 one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus. 289 00:15:35,880 --> 00:15:38,560 And Abraham said, you've given me your children, so a servant 290 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,920 in my household will be my heir. Then the word of the Lord came 291 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:43,840 to him. This man will not be your heir, 292 00:15:44,200 --> 00:15:47,080 but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir. 293 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,920 He took him outside and said, look up at the sky, count the 294 00:15:50,920 --> 00:15:53,520 stars, if indeed you can count them. 295 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:55,960 Then he said so shall your offspring be. 296 00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:59,920 Abraham believed the Lord, and he credited to him as 297 00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:02,880 righteousness. He also said to him, I am the 298 00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:06,480 Lord who brought you out of earth of the Chaldeans to give 299 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:09,560 you this land, to take possession of it. 300 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:12,920 And soon after this, after this conversation is beautiful 301 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:17,960 because God establishes his covenant with Abraham. 302 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:21,680 He promises on his own name that he will stick to his word. 303 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:24,120 You know what he does? Abraham is instructed to take 304 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:27,000 five different animals and, and cut them up, put them on this 305 00:16:27,000 --> 00:16:30,440 altar, keep them, you know, facing each other on this altar. 306 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:33,520 And he waits. And in the evening, he's had a 307 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:36,640 terrifying dream. He wakes up and God comes in the 308 00:16:36,640 --> 00:16:42,440 presence of a burning torch and an oven goes through the altar. 309 00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:45,800 And what it actually means is a covenant is actually a cutting 310 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:49,080 of a covenant where the person, the two people who are who are, 311 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:52,400 you know, making the covenant together, they are promising to 312 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:55,440 each other that they will not go back on their word. 313 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:59,560 And if God himself moved through the altar, it indicates that God 314 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:02,520 was telling Abraham everything I promised you the countless 315 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:05,359 number of children that from your own body you will have a 316 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:07,000 child. All of that is true. 317 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:09,760 I promise you that I will keep my word. 318 00:17:09,839 --> 00:17:12,000 That was what God was doing. And God has never done that 319 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:15,760 before where he he actually says, here's my word for it. 320 00:17:15,760 --> 00:17:18,319 Take my word. And the beautiful thing is that 321 00:17:18,839 --> 00:17:23,359 because Abraham believed the next season of his life opened 322 00:17:23,359 --> 00:17:25,000 up. But the interesting thing is 323 00:17:25,000 --> 00:17:27,240 there were there were a lot of vague instructions along the 324 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:28,640 ways. You will have a child. 325 00:17:29,120 --> 00:17:31,400 It won't be Eliezer. It'll be from your, it'll be 326 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:34,560 your flesh and blood. So what happens next is Abraham 327 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:38,640 and Sarah, engineer Ishmael, he's not the promised child. 328 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:44,000 He's he's a child that was born by planning, by earthly plotting 329 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,720 and planning. And notwithstanding, God still 330 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:52,160 works, God still does his thing. God still loves them, you know. 331 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:54,880 And it's amazing because thirteen years later, after 332 00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,360 Ishmael is born, Ishmael is now 13 years old. 333 00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:01,840 Abraham is about 99 years old, Sarah is 89. 334 00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:05,600 God appears again, and this is what God says this time He gives 335 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:08,000 him a word. He changes his name at this 336 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:09,440 point. Only at this point does he 337 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:13,360 change his name from Abram to Abraham, exalted father to 338 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:16,800 father of many nations, from Sarai to Sarah. 339 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:20,760 He's finally handing over the promise to them, and in 340 00:18:20,760 --> 00:18:23,800 preparation for them, he's changing their identity as well. 341 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:26,240 He's saying you're no longer Sarai, you're Sarah, no longer 342 00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:30,680 Abram, but you're Abraham. This is what he said Genesis 17 343 00:18:30,680 --> 00:18:34,760 verses one to two. When Abraham was 99 years old, 344 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:38,280 the Lord appeared to him and said, I am God Almighty, walk 345 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:41,760 with me, walk before me faithfully and be blameless. 346 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:45,280 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will 347 00:18:45,280 --> 00:18:49,320 greatly increase your numbers. It's amazing because right after 348 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:51,760 this God requires something of Abraham. 349 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:55,720 He says as a sign of this covenant, you and every male 350 00:18:55,760 --> 00:19:00,360 descendant has to undergo the ritual right of circumcision, 351 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:04,280 same cutting covenant. The covenant now involved 352 00:19:04,360 --> 00:19:07,480 Abraham's involvement. But if you look at this command 353 00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:10,200 that he makes at the beginning of this chapter, it's obvious 354 00:19:10,520 --> 00:19:12,240 that God had a two pronged approach. 355 00:19:12,440 --> 00:19:16,440 Why he was asking Abraham and his earthly sons and you know, 356 00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:19,240 the men who were, who were in his tribe and his camp, the 357 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:23,280 workers and everyone, he was calling them to a physical mark 358 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:26,520 of the covenant, saying, you know what, this you're actually 359 00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:29,360 shedding blood in order to prove that you're in this covenant 360 00:19:29,360 --> 00:19:31,720 with me. He's going a step further and 361 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:33,560 says, walk blamelessly before me. 362 00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:37,800 He's already showing us an overshadowing or a foreshadowing 363 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,640 of what it looks like to have a circumcised heart. 364 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:46,600 Walk blameless before me, walk faithfully before me. 365 00:19:46,760 --> 00:19:49,920 And that is what someone who has a circumcised heart walks with. 366 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,680 Our desire every day is to wake up and say, Lord, I want to be 367 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:56,080 faithful to you today. I want to walk blamelessly. 368 00:19:56,080 --> 00:19:59,480 Even if I mess up, I know your grace will cover me, but help 369 00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:01,480 me. Help me in my weakness. 370 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:05,560 That is what it's it is. It's a foreshadowing of what it 371 00:20:05,560 --> 00:20:07,880 looks like to have a circumcised heart. 372 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:13,160 So unbelievably, one year later, like God said, he said, next 373 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:15,160 year at this time, Sarah will hold her child. 374 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:20,320 And a year later, Sarah holds Isaac the promised child. 375 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:24,480 God kept his word, every detail God kept his word and a few 376 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:26,960 things that I want to leave with you from Abraham and Sarah's 377 00:20:26,960 --> 00:20:30,480 story, which is just an overarching story of all our 378 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:33,360 stories really the first thing I want you to remember is our 379 00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:37,000 stories are really God's stories they are not about us. 380 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:42,680 I was recently reading this article where a famous composer, 381 00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:46,280 composer and a He was an orchestra director, I think, not 382 00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,640 a composer. He was somebody who conducted 383 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,480 orchestras and they asked him about how instruments were set 384 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:56,280 and how he put together music. And he said there are two sets 385 00:20:56,280 --> 00:20:58,920 of chairs for the violinists and there's a first chair and 386 00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,400 there's a second chair wildness. This first chair wildness play 387 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:06,400 the melody of the song and the second chair play the harmony 388 00:21:06,720 --> 00:21:10,840 and the harmony is what gives fullness to the orchestra sound. 389 00:21:11,240 --> 00:21:14,440 So they said which is the harder violin to play? 390 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:16,360 Is it first chair or second chair? 391 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:19,920 And he said it's always second chair because I can get anyone 392 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:22,400 who's ready to play first chair. It's a lot more prominent. 393 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:25,840 But the one it take, it's harder for people to play second 394 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:28,360 fiddle. And this is the story of our 395 00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:30,960 lives. We very often put God in second 396 00:21:30,960 --> 00:21:32,120 chair. We say, you know what, God, this 397 00:21:32,120 --> 00:21:34,520 is my orchestra, this is my Symphony. 398 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:36,200 I want you to play second fiddle. 399 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,280 But look at how Abraham's life has been lived. 400 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:41,560 Romans chapter 4 verses one to three. 401 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:44,440 It says. So how do we fit what we know of 402 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:47,840 Abraham, our first father in the faith into this new way of 403 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:51,080 looking at things? If Abraham by what he did for 404 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,800 God, God, God to approve him, he would certainly have taken 405 00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,600 credit for it. But the story we are given is a 406 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:02,920 God story, not an Abraham story. What we read in Scripture is 407 00:22:03,360 --> 00:22:07,360 Abraham entered into what God was doing for him and that was 408 00:22:07,360 --> 00:22:10,760 the turning point. He trusted God to set him right 409 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:13,400 instead of trying to be right on his own. 410 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:17,960 How that translates to us is we are entering into what God has 411 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:22,600 already done for us. So often we're trying to fit God 412 00:22:22,600 --> 00:22:25,920 into our plans. We are still trying to earn His, 413 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:30,760 you know, His favour and His his face and his smile on us when he 414 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,960 says I love you so much. You stand righteous before me 415 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:40,880 because you've accepted Jesus in he entered into what God was 416 00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:44,800 doing for him. Will you enter into what God has 417 00:22:44,800 --> 00:22:49,240 done for you and what God is currently doing for you is 418 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:51,760 really not your story, it's his story. 419 00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:54,760 Each of us must find our place in God's story. 420 00:22:55,320 --> 00:22:57,840 It's such an important realization because we live in a 421 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:01,400 world which is so self focused. We're so aware of what our 422 00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:04,280 abilities are, what our weaknesses are, where we need to 423 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:06,560 fit ourselves. We are groomed like that from 424 00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:09,840 childhood, where our teachers we sent, we are sent for career 425 00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:12,200 counselling by 10th grade. We need to know where we're 426 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:16,120 headed, what we're going to do. We forget very often that this 427 00:23:16,120 --> 00:23:18,360 is God's story. And each child that is brought 428 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:21,680 into the world fits the puzzle of God's story. 429 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:26,360 Each one of us picked the part that we are called and created 430 00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:28,520 to play. So that's the first thing. 431 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:30,440 All our stories are God's stories. 432 00:23:30,440 --> 00:23:33,440 You need to remember that. Remind yourself about that time 433 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:36,880 and again. Second thing, the Christian life 434 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:42,080 is a risky faith embrace. Risky faith embrace. 435 00:23:42,080 --> 00:23:46,640 We talked about a gradient of faith on the 1st Sunday of doing 436 00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:48,320 Romans. We talked about how our faith 437 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,160 keeps growing. But I want to ask you, how risky 438 00:23:51,160 --> 00:23:53,520 is your faith? Are you believing for things 439 00:23:53,520 --> 00:23:57,280 that are way beyond your scope for actually, you know, getting 440 00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:59,280 done? A lot of times we're believing 441 00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:00,800 for things that we can easily get done. 442 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:04,080 And God's saying, come on, give me a harder thing to, you know, 443 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:06,640 do for you. I want to do so much, but you're 444 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,520 asking me for this. Why are we not taking risks when 445 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:12,600 it comes to faith? What has God asked you to do for 446 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,760 his Kingdom that scares the daylights out of you? 447 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:18,440 That's what a risky faith embrace. 448 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:20,800 Some of us are so content to live safe. 449 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:24,280 You, you ask me, I am so risk averse. 450 00:24:24,320 --> 00:24:28,760 I would love to live in a place, do the things that will get no 451 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:32,200 kind of attention, that will help me merge into backgrounds. 452 00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:36,520 Stay away from anything risky. But God is calling us to not to 453 00:24:36,520 --> 00:24:39,840 stop living so safe. He's like, will you step out of 454 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:42,200 the boat? The boat is your comfort zone, 455 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:45,160 but will you take you may you might feel like you're sinking, 456 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:47,720 but I'm with you. You may feel like this is 457 00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:49,240 totally new. You may feel like you're going 458 00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:51,520 to embarrass yourself, but he's saying I'm with you. 459 00:24:52,960 --> 00:24:55,480 Will you make that risky faith embrace? 460 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:57,960 Romans 4 verse 12 illustrates this. 461 00:24:58,120 --> 00:25:02,040 It says, and it means further, that Abraham is father of all 462 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:06,200 people who embrace what God does for them while they are still on 463 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:10,720 the outs with God as yet I unidentified as gods in an 464 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:15,800 uncircumcised condition. It is precisely these people in 465 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:20,840 this condition who are called set right by God and with God. 466 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,400 Abraham is also, of course, father of those who undergone 467 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,200 the religious right of circumcision, not just because 468 00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,440 of the ritual, but because they were willing to live in the 469 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:36,760 risky faith embrace of God's action for them, the way Abraham 470 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:40,360 lived long before he was marked by circumcision. 471 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:45,160 I was recently in a theme park with my children and my husband, 472 00:25:45,160 --> 00:25:47,160 and like I said, I'm risk averse. 473 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:51,640 So I look after all our bags. I usually just have the slushy 474 00:25:51,640 --> 00:25:55,480 in hand and I just sit there. And I study people and a lot of 475 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:58,280 content for blogs and things is birthed out of these moments 476 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:01,160 when I'm just sitting there quietly and I'm invariably 477 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:03,920 seated right below the roller coasters on which my children 478 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:06,680 are and my husband are rolling around on. 479 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:09,600 And I was talking to my husband of how I realized what I don't 480 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:11,800 like about roller coasters. I like the thrill. 481 00:26:11,800 --> 00:26:15,800 I don't mind it, but it's the abject lack of control on a 482 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:19,320 roller coaster that I hate. So what happened was we were in 483 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:22,240 this one theme park and my kids convinced me to get on one of 484 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:25,400 the rides with them. So we, we were standing in this 485 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,200 very long queue for it and just walking through and the kids 486 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:32,320 started, you know, getting very excitable and the three of them 487 00:26:32,320 --> 00:26:34,840 kept laughing between each other and, you know, pokey nudging 488 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:36,280 each other. And I'm wondering what's going 489 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:38,440 on. And then just before we got into 490 00:26:38,440 --> 00:26:40,680 the ride, they laugh and tell me, Mum, this is actually a 491 00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:43,280 scary ride. It's not as simple as we made it 492 00:26:43,280 --> 00:26:44,840 out to be. So good luck. 493 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:49,080 So we got on the ride and it was ridiculous. 494 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:52,160 There were so many abrupt twists and turns, drops. 495 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:56,000 And then at the end, at the end of the ride, we got a picture 496 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:58,760 of, you know, how the ride actually turned. 497 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:01,120 You know, the last part of the ride when there's a huge drop, 498 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:03,240 there's a camera which clicks a picture of you. 499 00:27:03,240 --> 00:27:07,880 And when I looked at the picture, it, it explained what a 500 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:13,120 risky faith embrace looks like. So the drop is so abrupt and it 501 00:27:13,120 --> 00:27:16,240 was so unexpected. All, all of us were lifted off 502 00:27:16,240 --> 00:27:18,000 our seats and we were thrown down. 503 00:27:18,360 --> 00:27:20,880 You know, we were still in the, in the carriage. 504 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:22,640 We were safe. We had a safety rod. 505 00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:27,560 Nothing untoward happened, but in the picture, my arms are 506 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:30,800 tightly clicked, you know, wrapped around Geshom instead of 507 00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:33,160 holding the safety rod. I'm literally choking him. 508 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:37,440 And even when I look at it now, it makes me laugh because 509 00:27:38,080 --> 00:27:40,640 sometimes our risky faith embrace looks like that. 510 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:44,680 It looks like you're seated in this roller coaster of life. 511 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:46,120 You have your UPS, you have your down. 512 00:27:46,120 --> 00:27:49,160 Sometimes their abrupt turns, their backwards slides and all 513 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:52,200 kinds of things. But as long as you're in this 514 00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:55,600 faith embrace with God, you're holding God for all your worth. 515 00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:00,120 It's OK because where he takes you, he will provide. 516 00:28:00,600 --> 00:28:02,320 He will. He's promised to never leave 517 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:04,280 you, not forsake you. He's promised to not let your 518 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:06,760 head be put down in shame. So you cling on to him. 519 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,120 You cling on his promises. You sorted. 520 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:14,240 And so I want to ask you today, are you in a risky faith embrace 521 00:28:14,320 --> 00:28:16,160 with God, or are you playing it too safe? 522 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,920 Has he been nudging you to do something, to leave a certain 523 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:24,200 place to, to jump into something new, to take up a new 524 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:26,440 responsibility, to get into that relationship? 525 00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:29,320 But you've been saying God no. It feels too unsafe. 526 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:32,280 It feels too new. Maybe it's not for me, maybe 527 00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:36,200 it's for someone else. God is asking, will you step 528 00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:41,360 into that risky faith embrace? The third fact when we look at 529 00:28:41,360 --> 00:28:45,640 Abraham's life is that God's fulfilled promises are a gift. 530 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:50,920 It's not His obligation to you. He's not obligated to give you 531 00:28:50,920 --> 00:28:53,920 the promises that have been given that to fulfill the 532 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:55,960 promises that you have claimed for your life. 533 00:28:56,480 --> 00:29:01,080 But it's a gift. And like any gift, it's given at 534 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:04,520 an opportune time. And like any gift, it will bring 535 00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:07,440 you the greatest joy. And He knows when to give you 536 00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:09,440 that gift. He knows when to unwrap it for 537 00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:11,360 you. He knows how to give it to you. 538 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,160 You may have pictured something about this gift, but He will 539 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:16,040 give it to you in a way that will blow your mind. 540 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:20,560 Bottom line is, he's not under any obligation to do so. 541 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:23,760 He loves to do it is because that's who he is. 542 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:26,080 He's a promise keeper. He made the promise. 543 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:27,960 He will keep the promise. That's all. 544 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:33,440 Romans chapter 4 verses 16. This is why the fulfilment of 545 00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:37,080 God's promise depends entirely on trusting God in His way and 546 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:40,280 then simply embracing Him and what He does. 547 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:44,080 God's promise arrives as pure gift. 548 00:29:44,920 --> 00:29:47,560 That's the only way everyone can be sure to get in on it. 549 00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:51,160 Those who keep the religious traditions and those who have 550 00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:55,000 never heard of them. For Abraham is father of us all. 551 00:29:55,440 --> 00:29:58,080 He is not our racial father. That's reading the story 552 00:29:58,080 --> 00:30:01,520 backward. He is our faith father. 553 00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:06,800 God's promise arrives as pure gift. 554 00:30:07,080 --> 00:30:11,360 It is nothing you and I have done right to receive it. 555 00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:15,920 It is God's gift. Many times we go into this place 556 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:19,120 of disappointment because we think, God, I'm doing everything 557 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,480 in a way I think is right, and yet you have not come through 558 00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:23,920 yet. The promise has not been 559 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:27,040 fulfilled yet. That promotion hasn't come yet. 560 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:30,680 That child has not arrived yet. I'm not married, God, why? 561 00:30:30,680 --> 00:30:34,840 I am doing everything in my power to to live in a right way. 562 00:30:35,040 --> 00:30:37,680 But why? And that's when we need to turn 563 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:41,520 this on its head and realize that God's promises are a gift, 564 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:43,440 but the fulfilled promise is a gift. 565 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:46,080 It is not because of anything you or I do. 566 00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:50,720 It is purely a gift. He's not obligated to do what we 567 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:54,720 ask for Him. Instead, he is faithful to do 568 00:30:54,720 --> 00:30:59,160 what He has promised to do. So how do you and I live this 569 00:30:59,160 --> 00:31:03,280 righteous life now that we know that we, like Abraham, are 570 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:05,440 justified and declared righteous? 571 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,720 Imputed righteousness. We have been given and assigned 572 00:31:08,720 --> 00:31:11,240 and credited this righteousness not because of anything we have 573 00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:15,080 done, purely because of Jesus. How do you and I live this life? 574 00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:19,240 You can confidently now say I am righteous. 575 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:21,120 Why? Because of what Jesus did. 576 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,520 But how do we live this righteous life? 577 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:29,640 First thing is know that God makes somebody's out of 578 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:31,640 nobodies. When you look at Hebrews Chapter 579 00:31:31,680 --> 00:31:36,200 11, it talks about the Hall of Faith and all these great men 580 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:39,560 and women in the Bible who lived by faith and who accomplished 581 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:41,280 great things for the Kingdom of God. 582 00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:44,040 It's very simple. All of them were nobodies. 583 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:46,200 There was nothing outstanding about them. 584 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:49,200 They were born into ordinary families, raised by ordinary 585 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:55,080 parents, but there was something in them which caused them to 586 00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:58,840 lean towards God. And in that moment, faith arose. 587 00:31:59,840 --> 00:32:04,480 And because of that faith, they were called righteous. 588 00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:07,880 They were they were called into greater purposes. 589 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:11,640 So it's important for us to remember that God is the one who 590 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:14,360 makes somebodies out of nobodies. 591 00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:17,080 You may be feeling like nobody. You may be saying in my office, 592 00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:19,720 no one knows me. In the school where I teach, I 593 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:22,760 just fit in with everyone else. I don't stand out. 594 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:25,760 Or maybe you feel like you've gone through a season of shame, 595 00:32:26,120 --> 00:32:28,360 of disgrace, and you're saying no one even looks at me. 596 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:30,960 No one turns. God is saying I'm the God who 597 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:33,880 makes somebody's out of nobody's. 598 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:39,280 Will You trust me? The righteous life is one which 599 00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:42,400 has lived with this knowledge, knowing that God, I'm ordinary, 600 00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:45,760 I'm almost boring. And yet you can do great things 601 00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:48,040 with me, Lord, You can do something with me. 602 00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:52,200 And it's coming to this place of giving yourself into the 603 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,760 Porter's hands so that he will shape you as he sees fit. 604 00:32:56,360 --> 00:33:00,440 Look at the stories of Gideon and Barack and Moses and David, 605 00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:06,200 ordinary men, shepherds, people who just would be missed by 606 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:08,120 others. God hand picked them. 607 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:11,400 God makes somebody's out of nobodies. 608 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:14,160 And that it'll be important for us to remember that, that when 609 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:16,240 you look at another person in the body of Christ, remember 610 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:19,160 that they too are justified. They too are standing righteous 611 00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:21,480 before God and that God can use them. 612 00:33:21,880 --> 00:33:23,880 You may look down on them, but God doesn't. 613 00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:27,000 So it's a wake up call for every one of us. 614 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,920 The second thing, how do we live this, this righteous life, this 615 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:36,480 imputed righteous life, Dare to trust God to bring something out 616 00:33:36,480 --> 00:33:38,640 of nothing. Many of us right now have 617 00:33:38,640 --> 00:33:41,680 nothing in front of us. We outwork. 618 00:33:41,680 --> 00:33:45,600 Look, we have these jobs, but in terms of passion, in terms of 619 00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:47,440 vision, we don't have much to work with. 620 00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:51,800 It's like feels dead end. Many of us are in marriages 621 00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:54,160 where Vadnais seems to be the theme. 622 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,200 Many of us are are in relationships and friendships 623 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:01,280 which are going South. And you're thinking there is no 624 00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:04,440 way I can revive this. And I think that's the best 625 00:34:04,440 --> 00:34:07,200 place to come because that is when we come to this God. 626 00:34:07,400 --> 00:34:11,199 And it says this very clearly in the book of Romans chapter 4. 627 00:34:11,199 --> 00:34:15,960 It says more. It says Abraham believed that 628 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:20,000 God could raise dead things and speak into existence things that 629 00:34:20,000 --> 00:34:22,440 were not. What does that look like? 630 00:34:22,679 --> 00:34:25,719 Only God can create from nothing. 631 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:28,600 When you look at the creation of the world, Genesis one, it 632 00:34:28,600 --> 00:34:32,960 should blow your mind that from nothing the Spirit of God just 633 00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:36,960 hovered over the waters and from that God spoke into being 634 00:34:36,960 --> 00:34:39,600 everything that was created. You look at the book of 635 00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:42,360 Colossians, Colossians chapter one, it says everything that has 636 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:44,560 been created came through Christ. 637 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:47,480 Everything. Just a word. 638 00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:52,880 Today your situation can turn around by just a word from God. 639 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:55,920 Don't believe people who say you can change. 640 00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:57,720 You can manifest things in your life. 641 00:34:57,720 --> 00:34:58,920 You can change it with your words. 642 00:34:58,920 --> 00:35:01,000 You can't do anything. You and I are not capable of 643 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:04,400 creating anything. But when we harness the power of 644 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:07,920 God and we go to God and say, Lord, I know that in this barren 645 00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:11,360 situation, in this dead situation, in this dry season, 646 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:15,480 only you, only you can breathe something out of nothing. 647 00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:21,160 When we come to this place, we are truly living in the fullness 648 00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:24,240 of that justification with truly living that imputed righteous 649 00:35:24,240 --> 00:35:27,680 life, because I know I can't do anything in this situation, but 650 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:30,160 God can. And that's important. 651 00:35:30,160 --> 00:35:33,760 Would we trust God like Abraham and Sarah did? 652 00:35:33,760 --> 00:35:35,240 Because it's so important to understand. 653 00:35:35,240 --> 00:35:38,160 And in, I think it's in the book of Hebrews where it says for 654 00:35:38,160 --> 00:35:40,240 Sarah, the way of women, women had ended. 655 00:35:40,240 --> 00:35:43,040 She didn't have a monthly cycle. There was no way to detect if 656 00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:47,040 she had even gotten pregnant. In the message version of Romans 657 00:35:47,040 --> 00:35:51,560 4, it says Abraham in did not look at his impotency. 658 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:53,680 And that brings me to the Third Point. 659 00:35:53,880 --> 00:35:58,280 Sometimes we look at our in capacity, our inability, and we 660 00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:01,760 write God off as well. But it's important that we focus 661 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:05,960 on what God has said he would do and not on what we cannot do. 662 00:36:07,080 --> 00:36:10,320 Sometimes the inabilities we have when there are ailments 663 00:36:10,320 --> 00:36:13,760 that hit us out of left, we then we realize our home remedies 664 00:36:13,760 --> 00:36:16,000 aren't working. Our doctors don't know what to 665 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:18,240 do. Our friends who who have some 666 00:36:18,240 --> 00:36:22,120 knowledge don't know what to do. My parents who could be in the 667 00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:24,000 medical profession don't know how to help me. 668 00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:27,480 I come to this place when I'm at the end of my rope and that's 669 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:30,560 the best place to remember. God, what did you say? 670 00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:35,720 What did you say you will do? Because it will come to a place 671 00:36:35,720 --> 00:36:39,720 for all of us when we will. Our incapacity, our inability 672 00:36:39,720 --> 00:36:44,080 will be glaring at us straight in our face for a long time. 673 00:36:44,360 --> 00:36:48,000 For a long time I've had a skin ailment where it marked my legs 674 00:36:48,000 --> 00:36:51,880 completely and it came to a place where so many doctors 675 00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:55,000 checked me, so much medication was given, so much was done, 676 00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:59,160 nothing helped. But it's come to a place. 677 00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:02,240 Now where have you completely handed this off to God and said, 678 00:37:02,240 --> 00:37:06,080 God, I'm yours? The doctors don't know what to 679 00:37:06,080 --> 00:37:07,160 do. I don't know what to do. 680 00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:10,000 I don't know if it's food related, environment related, I 681 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:13,000 don't know. But you know, and so the best 682 00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:15,920 place to come is to focus on what God's and this is what 683 00:37:15,920 --> 00:37:19,360 God's word to me at the beginning of that journey was it 684 00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:22,800 said, I will restore your health and heal all your wounds. 685 00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:26,240 And so I keep going back to that promise and saying, Lord, this 686 00:37:26,240 --> 00:37:29,400 is what you said. I didn't say it, Your word says 687 00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:32,320 it. So I believe it and healing has 688 00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:34,840 happened in Jesus name. I believe this. 689 00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:38,000 I'm still being healed. And so this is the important 690 00:37:38,000 --> 00:37:40,440 thing. We don't focus on our inability, 691 00:37:41,080 --> 00:37:44,840 but we focus on God's infinite ability. 692 00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:47,520 He can do what we cannot imagine. 693 00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:50,440 He can do it in ways we have never been dreamt of. 694 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:53,880 He can bring the provision through roots you never 695 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:57,280 anticipated. That is God, and that is what 696 00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:00,480 this righteous life looks like because it is looking at God 697 00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:03,320 through the lens which you've never looked at before. 698 00:38:03,840 --> 00:38:07,680 It is believing that the One who gave His Son for you and who 699 00:38:07,680 --> 00:38:11,440 justified you is capable of carrying you through this life. 700 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:15,000 That is what it should do. So when you stand before people 701 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:19,080 and you keep reminding yourself, I am justified, I am righteous, 702 00:38:19,240 --> 00:38:22,680 you're actually saying here, I am only because of faith. 703 00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:24,960 And I will continue to live in this faith. 704 00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:28,560 I will continue to believe these great things about God no matter 705 00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:31,400 what the situation around me looks like. 706 00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:34,800 So even as I close, I want to remind you of this. 707 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:41,120 God loves you as you are. You know what's and all He loves 708 00:38:41,120 --> 00:38:43,560 us as we are. It's not like he only tolerates 709 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:46,200 us. You know, when we are clothed 710 00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:49,720 with the the robes of righteousness, it's not true. 711 00:38:49,720 --> 00:38:51,680 He loves us. He loves us all. 712 00:38:52,480 --> 00:38:55,520 But if you want access into the holy of holies, if you want 713 00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:58,600 access into the very presence of God and you want to build your 714 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:01,160 relationship with him, you need to be saved. 715 00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:03,480 And salvation comes through Jesus. 716 00:39:04,080 --> 00:39:06,640 You have to make the choice. You have to say, Jesus, I invite 717 00:39:06,640 --> 00:39:08,640 you in. You have to invite him in as 718 00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:12,040 Lord and Savior. Because when that happens, this 719 00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:14,200 righteousness I've been talking gets credited to you. 720 00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:18,320 You are justified. You can stand before the Lord in 721 00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:22,320 all honesty, in all openness, You are counted as blameless. 722 00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:26,760 And so it's important to remember that our God is so 723 00:39:26,760 --> 00:39:31,040 holy. He's so just and only the only 724 00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:34,640 person who could appease his wrath was the perfect sacrifice 725 00:39:34,640 --> 00:39:36,880 of Jesus. And because of that, today you 726 00:39:36,880 --> 00:39:40,360 and I have access. So for you and me, access is so 727 00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:44,240 important. We must remember that we stand 728 00:39:44,240 --> 00:39:45,720 righteous. There's nothing to worry about. 729 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:49,080 Stop discounting yourself. Stop saying I don't want to talk 730 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:50,680 to God about it. He will not understand. 731 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:52,760 No, he will understand. But will you take the time to 732 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:55,160 come into His presence? Maybe you've been condemning 733 00:39:55,160 --> 00:39:58,200 yourself so much because the enemy has put his license saying 734 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:00,640 he's not going to turn and look at you. 735 00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:05,520 You are such a Sinner. You are beyond hope, but I want 736 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:09,240 to remind you, you are righteous because you have been justified 737 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:12,960 and you can stand in that boldness before God today 738 00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:15,520 because of the robe of righteousness. 739 00:40:16,240 --> 00:40:20,240 Jesus talked about this in the parable of the book at the 740 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:24,840 wedding banquet and that he talks about how all are invited 741 00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:28,480 to this banquet from everywhere. And finally, people are brought 742 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:31,560 in from the highways and the byways, the by by lanes and all 743 00:40:31,560 --> 00:40:33,560 of that. But there's one person in the 744 00:40:33,560 --> 00:40:37,640 wedding banquet who is not wearing his robe, the wedding 745 00:40:37,640 --> 00:40:41,400 garb. And so the the person in charge 746 00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:44,720 of the banquet says, why is this person coming dressed 747 00:40:44,720 --> 00:40:49,280 insufficiently throw him out. And what he's talking about is 748 00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:54,920 all of us have been invited into a relationship with Jesus For 749 00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:58,400 the ones who refuse and turn away from him, they've refused 750 00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:04,000 the the garment of salvation. They have refused the robe of 751 00:41:04,000 --> 00:41:07,680 righteousness and they will be turned away at eternity. 752 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:12,480 But the ones who choose Jesus are now clothed with his 753 00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:15,600 righteousness and we have access to God. 754 00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:18,960 We have the gift and the promise of eternity. 755 00:41:19,760 --> 00:41:23,400 As I close I want to read Malachi chapter 3 verses one to 756 00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:26,880 three which says I will send my messenger who will prepare the 757 00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:29,600 way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are 758 00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:33,120 seeking will come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant 759 00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:35,800 whom you desire will come, says the Lord Almighty. 760 00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:37,680 But who can endure the day of his coming? 761 00:41:37,680 --> 00:41:41,200 Who can stand when he appears? But he will be like a refiners 762 00:41:41,200 --> 00:41:44,480 fire or a launderers. So he will sit as a refiner and 763 00:41:44,480 --> 00:41:47,760 purifier silver. He will purify the Levites and 764 00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:49,400 refine them like gold and silver. 765 00:41:49,720 --> 00:41:52,600 Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings and 766 00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:57,080 righteousness. Why I'm reading this words to 767 00:41:57,080 --> 00:42:00,200 you is because of this. So we stand righteous. 768 00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:05,080 Righteousness has been credited to us thanks to us, thanks to 769 00:42:05,080 --> 00:42:09,440 our faith in Jesus, right? But it doesn't end there. 770 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:13,120 So we are justified. We stand righteous for all time, 771 00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:17,480 but every single day the Holy Spirit and the Word of God walk 772 00:42:17,480 --> 00:42:21,280 in conjunction to sanctify us. And sanctification is an 773 00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:25,760 everyday process. And every day we are shaped to 774 00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:30,240 the other until eternity, when we're actually being mold, 775 00:42:30,360 --> 00:42:34,400 molded into the image of Christ. So I want you to remember this 776 00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:39,280 justification, which means that you are set as a righteous for 777 00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:41,680 eternity. But sanctification is an 778 00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:45,280 everyday thing where the Holy Spirit has room to work in us 779 00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:48,160 through situations, through the ups and downs of our life. 780 00:42:48,360 --> 00:42:54,720 He works on us so that we grow in holiness, grow in holiness so 781 00:42:54,720 --> 00:42:58,640 that we become more like Jesus. And so I wanted to want to 782 00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:04,840 remind you of this, that this refiner, this launderer soap, it 783 00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:08,320 requires that we submit to God completely. 784 00:43:08,600 --> 00:43:10,560 I love what Eugene Peterson writes. 785 00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:14,680 He says the only thing we can do is submit to the soap and suds, 786 00:43:15,160 --> 00:43:18,480 which means you and I ultimately, now that we know we 787 00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:22,080 are righteous, is that we submit ourselves into the hands of the 788 00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:26,160 refiner and say, here I am, Lord, do with me as you will. 789 00:43:26,160 --> 00:43:27,560 I know that I'm already righteous. 790 00:43:27,760 --> 00:43:29,320 But now I want to grow in holiness. 791 00:43:29,520 --> 00:43:33,480 I want to become more like you. And he begins the cleansing on 792 00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:37,160 us and he works on us and shapes us to be more like Jesus. 793 00:43:37,160 --> 00:43:40,640 So even as we close and as we get into this week, I want to 794 00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:44,200 encourage you that you would live your life confidently 795 00:43:44,200 --> 00:43:47,800 because you are righteous. You have the righteousness of 796 00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:50,280 Christ. You are righteous before God. 797 00:43:50,280 --> 00:43:54,360 That you would live remembering that God makes nobodies 798 00:43:54,360 --> 00:43:57,760 somebodies, that God brings something beautiful out of 799 00:43:57,760 --> 00:44:01,520 nothing, that God will take our inability and turn it into 800 00:44:01,520 --> 00:44:05,800 something beautiful because of His infinite abilities. 801 00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:10,400 If we could remember that we are playing a role in God's story. 802 00:44:10,400 --> 00:44:13,120 It's not our story, it's God's story. 803 00:44:13,240 --> 00:44:16,880 If we will remember that every promise is yes in Amen in Christ 804 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:21,160 and that God is faithful to give us that promise at the right 805 00:44:21,160 --> 00:44:24,160 time. He's not late, he's right on 806 00:44:24,160 --> 00:44:26,840 time. And that we would remember that 807 00:44:26,840 --> 00:44:28,440 the Christian life is a risky faith. 808 00:44:28,440 --> 00:44:32,720 Embrace that you would stop being so safe and that you would 809 00:44:32,720 --> 00:44:35,040 say, Lord, I'm ready to take that leap of faith. 810 00:44:35,200 --> 00:44:39,880 Help me, here I go. If you can do that, I believe 811 00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:44,040 that you will live this righteous life to the fullest. 812 00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:47,080 Can I just pray for you? Father in heaven, I just thank 813 00:44:47,080 --> 00:44:50,400 you for what you are doing. I thank you Lord, that you call. 814 00:44:50,400 --> 00:44:54,400 Each one of us were chosen, your son Jesus as our Lord to be 815 00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:56,640 righteous. I thank you that we are declared 816 00:44:56,960 --> 00:44:59,960 righteous before you and Father, we come with that boldness 817 00:44:59,960 --> 00:45:03,760 before you today asking that you would work on each one of us. 818 00:45:03,760 --> 00:45:07,760 Lord, I pray where there are areas of darkness, where there 819 00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:10,960 is cloudiness or gloominess, that Father your sunlight would 820 00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:15,520 just come in and shine. Dispel the darkness Lord, set us 821 00:45:15,520 --> 00:45:18,600 free in Jesus name. Father, we pray that as your 822 00:45:18,600 --> 00:45:23,680 spirit and as your word work in us, that God we will be like 823 00:45:23,680 --> 00:45:27,160 clay in the hands of a Potter, that we will be so amicable to 824 00:45:27,160 --> 00:45:31,520 you working on us. Father, I pray for any of us who 825 00:45:31,520 --> 00:45:33,760 are struggling with self righteousness that God, you 826 00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:37,040 would forgive us if we have shown contempt to others, if we 827 00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:39,040 have ridiculed others. Forgive us lot. 828 00:45:39,760 --> 00:45:42,640 Forgive us For those of us who are living in condemnation, 829 00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:45,120 forgive us for that. Father God, we thank you that 830 00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:47,880 you didn't come to condemn us, but to save us. 831 00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:51,800 Father, I pray that in the coming days we will experience 832 00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:54,600 your redemption in our lives. That Lord, things that we 833 00:45:54,600 --> 00:45:58,240 thought the enemy has stolen, you would bless us back with 834 00:45:58,240 --> 00:46:00,040 that. You would buy it back for us. 835 00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:03,640 We believe that you're going to do amazingly more than we could 836 00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:07,000 ask or imagine. I pray right now for every 837 00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:10,800 promise that you have given your children that they will hold on, 838 00:46:11,680 --> 00:46:16,800 they will stay embracing you as they wait for the promise to be 839 00:46:16,800 --> 00:46:19,200 fulfilled. We believe that you will do it 840 00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:24,160 and we thank you for that. In Jesus name I pray, Amen. 841 00:46:24,520 --> 00:46:25,760 Amen. God bless you. 842 00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:30,360 Have an amazing faithful week. Thanks for listening to this 843 00:46:30,360 --> 00:46:33,440 message. We hope you are blessed to hear 844 00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:37,200 more messages like this. Make sure to subscribe and check 845 00:46:37,200 --> 00:46:39,880 out our podcast channel for past episodes. 846 00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:43,600 If you like what you are hearing, consider rating us, 847 00:46:43,760 --> 00:46:46,800 subscribing and even sharing it with friends. 848 00:46:47,160 --> 00:46:51,480 That would really help us. For more content from Via Zion 849 00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:56,000 and to connect with us, go to Via Zion dot in. 850 00:46:56,560 --> 00:47:00,040 Remember, whoever finds Jesus finds life.