1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:03,680 This is City Post Church. We're about three things. 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:08,160 Build equipped and send all under the Lordship of Jesus 3 00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:10,240 Christ. A small church plant in Fort 4 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:12,400 Worth, TX. Who decided to do things a 5 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:16,880 little differently? Adoramos Ajesu Cristo I love 6 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:20,480 City Post because of the people. It's where I belong. 7 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:23,640 We truly preach the Word. I love City Post because of the 8 00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:25,000 community we've been able to build. 9 00:00:25,240 --> 00:00:28,720 To do ministry like Jesus. For light to push back darkness. 10 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:40,100 This is City Post podcast. Wow, good morning, City Post. 11 00:00:40,100 --> 00:00:42,140 It is always good to be with you. 12 00:00:42,140 --> 00:00:44,980 And my name again is Gary. And I've been with you guys a 13 00:00:44,980 --> 00:00:48,140 lot of times and some of you may not know this, but my connection 14 00:00:48,140 --> 00:00:52,620 to City Post Church is I LED a college ministry at UT Arlington 15 00:00:52,620 --> 00:00:56,100 for many, many years. And some of my most illustrious 16 00:00:56,100 --> 00:01:02,040 students have included Joseph and Kayla, Ernesto, Rachel, 17 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:06,840 Pastor Ricky, more recently Eric Mendez, give it up for Eric. 18 00:01:06,840 --> 00:01:08,680 Thank you for leading us in worship this morning. 19 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,200 But Eric has been leading worship for our college ministry 20 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:14,520 at UT Arlington as well for the last couple of years. 21 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:17,440 So I've worshipped a lot with Eric and I've also danced a 22 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:21,720 little bit when he's DJD. So but when I think of this 23 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,920 church and God's good work that he's been doing in your midst 24 00:01:24,920 --> 00:01:27,440 these last few years and exciting in a new building, my 25 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:33,840 first time in your new beautiful building. 3rd John 4 says I have 26 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:37,000 no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the 27 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,640 truth. So it frequently I thank God for 28 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:45,400 his good work in this place. People you people following him, 29 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,440 seeking him serving him, loving him, loving your neighborhood 30 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:51,320 and I rejoice because of it. So thank you for letting me be 31 00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:53,240 here this morning. Pastor Ricky said you're in a 32 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:58,000 sermon series just on the gospel, and he asked if I would 33 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,800 bring the next message in the series on this topic of 34 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:07,800 redemption and the scripture we'll look at it comes from 35 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:11,880 Romans chapter 3 and verse 21 is where it begins. 36 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:17,640 The idea of redemption is this, that Jesus came to save us from 37 00:02:17,640 --> 00:02:20,840 sin and death. This is the heart of the 38 00:02:20,840 --> 00:02:23,360 Christian message. This is what it's all about. 39 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:27,080 Jesus came to save sinners like me. 40 00:02:28,560 --> 00:02:31,840 And this passage we get to look at this morning, Martin Luther, 41 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:35,600 he made the argument, he said that the book of Romans is the 42 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:39,400 center of the Bible and this passage is the center of the 43 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:44,120 book of Romans. So the heart of what it means to 44 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:46,400 be a Christian is what we'll look at today. 45 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:50,200 If you study the book of Romans, at the very beginning of it, the 46 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:54,440 apostle Paul who wrote it gives the theme for the book in verse 47 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:57,680 chapter one, verse 16, he says, for I'm not ashamed of the 48 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:01,840 gospel because it's the power of God that brings salvation to 49 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:05,840 everyone who believes. For the Jew and for the Gentile, 50 00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:13,720 the gospel can save anybody. And we receive the gospel, Paul 51 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:17,480 says here, and he'll say in our text, we receive God's 52 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,160 righteousness, the washing of forgiveness. 53 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:26,800 We receive it by faith in Jesus. So I'd like to read our text 54 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:28,320 after that. We're going to break it down 55 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:31,560 line by line, and I'm a little bit more of a teacher than a 56 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,320 preacher, so we'll do that. We'll go line by line. 57 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:41,240 But in Romans 3, starting in verse 21, Paul says, but now 58 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,840 apart from the law. And when he says law, he means 59 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:48,800 the Old Testament. What God gave the Jews in the 60 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:53,520 Old Testament, but now apart from the law, the righteousness 61 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:57,320 of God has been made known, to which the law and prophets 62 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:01,120 testify. This righteousness is given 63 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:05,480 through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. 64 00:04:06,080 --> 00:04:08,920 There's no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have 65 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:12,520 sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified 66 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:17,839 freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ 67 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:20,880 Jesus. God presented Christ as a 68 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:25,960 sacrifice of atonement. If you're an underliner, that's 69 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:28,760 the word to underline sacrifice of atonement. 70 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:32,520 Your Bible might say sacrifice, or it might have a big word, 71 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:34,960 propitiation. We'll go there in a minute. 72 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:40,520 A sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of blood by 73 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:43,240 received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his 74 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:46,840 righteousness because in his forbearance he had left sins 75 00:04:46,840 --> 00:04:51,440 committed beforehand unpunished. He did this to demonstrate his 76 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:55,640 righteousness at the present time so as to be both the just 77 00:04:55,720 --> 00:05:00,320 and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 78 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:06,560 There's a story, some of you who are older like me, I don't have 79 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:08,600 a lot of hair. I see a couple of bald brothers 80 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:10,840 in the room. Some of you may remember this 81 00:05:10,840 --> 00:05:17,520 story, but in 1990 a man named Joe Banks from Staten Island, NY 82 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:21,440 was diagnosed with an incurable disease. 83 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:27,520 He had about one month to live and a businessman who knew Joe 84 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:31,080 approached him with a very unusual offer. 85 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:34,840 This man was ACEO of a industrial company, an 86 00:05:34,840 --> 00:05:37,560 industrial firm, and he offered Joe. 87 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,400 He said, for the last month, while you live, I'm going to 88 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:45,720 offer you one month of a lavish lifestyle, however you want to 89 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:51,400 live, if you'll agree to an unusual end to your life. 90 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:55,920 See, in the South Pacific there was an island, small island 91 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:58,720 inhabited by a tribe called the Wapani. 92 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:02,000 They were a primitive tribe, but they controlled the mineral 93 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,520 rights that this company wanted access to. 94 00:06:06,280 --> 00:06:10,920 And the CEO tells Joe Banks, he said, if you will, these Wapani 95 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:13,240 believe that on their island there's a volcano. 96 00:06:14,160 --> 00:06:17,200 And the within the volcano is a God who's angry. 97 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:22,080 And periodically, once every 50 years, every generation must be 98 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:27,400 appeased with human sacrifice. So if after a month of lavish 99 00:06:27,400 --> 00:06:30,560 living, you agree, you'll throw yourself into the volcano, 100 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:34,120 That's the deal. Did anybody remember this story? 101 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:38,640 Joe agrees to this, and he starts his adventure. 102 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:46,640 And eventually, he's rescued by Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks, who 103 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:49,720 plays Joe in Joe Versus the Volcano. 104 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:52,840 I think we have a slide realizes it was a scam all along and he's 105 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:54,320 not dying. And they live happily ever 106 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:56,520 after. Do you know this story? 107 00:06:57,280 --> 00:06:59,960 OK, it's a, it's a funny movie, kind of. 108 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,320 But here's the story that gets repeated all throughout human 109 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:08,160 history. We know somehow ancient 110 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:12,480 religions understood somehow that there was a God or they 111 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,760 believed in gods and that somehow our lives, our 112 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:22,640 sinfulness had angered them and their wrath had to be appeased. 113 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:25,840 It's the beginning of the movie King Kong, the old school King 114 00:07:25,840 --> 00:07:27,440 Kong movie. Do you remember Faye Raye was 115 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:30,680 the actress and the natives were offering her as a sacrifice to 116 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:34,160 this giant ape who they saw as like their deity. 117 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:40,120 Ancient religions practice sacrifice, sometimes humans, 118 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:43,560 sometimes child sacrifice. The Old Testament, this is the 119 00:07:43,560 --> 00:07:45,840 picture. They knew that Israelites knew 120 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:52,240 that God Almighty, perfect God was offended by our sin and God 121 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:56,360 said don't offer yourselves, instead let me provide a 122 00:07:56,360 --> 00:07:58,200 sacrifice. So we institute this whole 123 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:01,160 system where once a year on the Day of Atonement, they could 124 00:08:01,160 --> 00:08:07,040 offer an animal as a sacrifice to cancel out, as a picture of 125 00:08:07,040 --> 00:08:11,040 Jesus who'd come later, cancel out the wrath of God, a life 126 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:15,040 sacrifice to meet the demands of an offended deity. 127 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:20,000 That's what in your New Testament, what we just read the 128 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:23,840 word sacrifice of atonement or propitiation means. 129 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,520 And it sounds like an ancient backwards custom, but it's 130 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:30,800 actually deeply rooted in reality. 131 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:37,360 There's a God and we've lived in a way that offends and hurts 132 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:39,760 him, and something has to be done about it. 133 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:46,440 So our text, before we dive into it to get us up to chapter 3, if 134 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:48,520 you know the book of Romans, I hope you've read it. 135 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:50,680 If you haven't, it would be a great reading this week. 136 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:55,520 But the first 3 chapters to get us where we are, the context, 137 00:08:55,520 --> 00:09:00,920 what came before Paul writing this makes the case everybody is 138 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:05,360 guilty. Nobody's exempt, nobody's so 139 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:07,960 good that they just get a free pass into heaven. 140 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:10,600 We're all guilty, every person lost in their sins. 141 00:09:10,600 --> 00:09:15,000 So if you trace it in chapter 1, he makes the case by looking at 142 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:19,280 these Romans that lived around the Jews, looking at their 143 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:22,160 lifestyle and how if you know much about the Romans, they did 144 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:26,280 some freaky stuff. And he describes what they did 145 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:30,160 and makes a case they're lost. That's easy case. 146 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:34,400 Then he turns to the Jews who prided themselves on being good 147 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:38,920 people, and he makes a case that you're there. 148 00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:43,040 Maybe we, because we're kind of religious people here, they're 149 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:49,160 even more guilty because they have God's word and they still 150 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:52,960 disobey it. Then at the beginning of chapter 151 00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:56,000 3, right where we pick up, he's going to make a case, yeah, 152 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:59,480 those Gentiles are guilty. Us Jews are guilty. 153 00:09:59,800 --> 00:10:02,040 We're all guilty. And he strings together this 154 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:04,920 long string of verses from the Old Testament, just makes a 155 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:07,400 case. Every one of us has turned away. 156 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:09,040 Every one of us has lived selfishly. 157 00:10:09,040 --> 00:10:13,000 Every one of us deserves God's wrath. 158 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:18,040 And that's where it picks up Now, this notion of being 159 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:21,120 guilty, let's be honest, in our culture, it's an unpopular 160 00:10:21,120 --> 00:10:24,440 notion. We would rather say everybody's 161 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:30,080 OK, you're OK, I'm OK, love yourself, accept yourself, self 162 00:10:30,080 --> 00:10:32,400 esteem, self love. It's what the new age movement 163 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:34,000 that's like kind of growing right now. 164 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:37,240 Crystals and Wiccan and all of that stuff. 165 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:40,720 It's what it's all about. There's there's divinity within 166 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:45,400 you and you're OK. Try telling a mother that her 167 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:48,760 child is bad if you want to see an angry mother. 168 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:52,560 It's not a popular notion, but on the flip side, every parent 169 00:10:52,560 --> 00:10:57,480 knows we don't have to teach. To teach my two sons how to be 170 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:00,120 selfish, I didn't have to teach them how to talk back. 171 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:04,120 Somehow that was already there. I think they got it from me. 172 00:11:07,760 --> 00:11:11,120 Another way we think wrongly about sin is we tend to think of 173 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:14,200 sin is like I'm just breaking an arbitrary rule, like God made a 174 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:18,200 rule, don't do this thing, whatever it is, and I just broke 175 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:23,640 that rule. Sin at its heart is an offense 176 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:29,640 against an infinite being. And even if my offense is small, 177 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:33,920 the greater the one offended, the greater the offense. 178 00:11:34,440 --> 00:11:40,240 And how great is God? One way of tracing this idea out 179 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:49,880 is if I sin against an Ant, nobody, nobody really cares. 180 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:51,880 In fact, if you get bit by an Ant, you're probably happy. 181 00:11:52,360 --> 00:11:55,160 But if I sin against a dog and I kick a dog, some of you are 182 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:57,240 probably going to get pretty upset, right? 183 00:11:59,200 --> 00:12:02,240 But then if you sin against a person, now it's a crime and I 184 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:04,880 can go to jail. And in some ways, if you send it 185 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:06,800 even against an even greater person. 186 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:10,080 Like it's one thing if I make a joke that I'm going to 187 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:13,200 assassinate Ricky, but it's another thing if I make a joke 188 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:14,640 I'm going to assassinate the president. 189 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:21,000 And the more serious the offense, willful rebellion 190 00:12:21,560 --> 00:12:23,920 against our king is high treason. 191 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:26,400 So our problem is pretty serious. 192 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:29,200 That's the case that he makes leading up to this. 193 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:34,680 How bad is our situation? Infinite crime deserves small 194 00:12:34,680 --> 00:12:37,160 punishment. Infinite punishment. 195 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:42,720 So the reality is we got a problem. 196 00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:46,200 Can I get a name in? We've got a problem. 197 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:52,160 How bad is our situation? The reality is, we can never by 198 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:55,880 our own good works, by our good intentions, by religious deeds, 199 00:12:55,880 --> 00:12:59,840 by church attendance, but we can never in and of ourselves muster 200 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:04,920 up enough to save ourselves. For the Jews, no amount of 201 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:09,440 following the Old Testament, no amount of those sacrifices 202 00:13:09,440 --> 00:13:13,880 Paul's going to make the case, no amount of giving tithes going 203 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:18,000 to the temple will save them. For us Christians, going to 204 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:23,360 church won't save you. Serving in church, that's next 205 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:25,120 level stuff, right? It won't save you. 206 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:28,920 Avoiding sin. Keeping our hands clean, you 207 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:32,160 know that won't save us. Loving our neighbor won't save 208 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:34,360 us. Singing worship songs won't save 209 00:13:34,360 --> 00:13:36,920 us. Posting inspirational quotes on 210 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:40,360 Instagram Bible verses, it won't save us. 211 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:45,200 Voting for the right candidate. I don't know if there is a right 212 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:52,240 candidate, but it won't save us. Let's see what will the passage 213 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:54,000 we're going to look at, it's very dense. 214 00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:56,160 There's a lot there. So we're going to unpack it a 215 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:58,480 phrase at a time. Let's start at verse 21. 216 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:04,040 Paul says, but now apart from the law, the righteousness of 217 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:08,640 God has been made known to which the Old Testament, the law and 218 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:10,480 the prophets. Anytime you see law and 219 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:13,560 prophets, Jesus says this to the law and the prophets say that's 220 00:14:13,560 --> 00:14:16,000 just a way of saying what we call the Old Testament. 221 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:20,000 The law was the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah, 222 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:23,600 the Pentateuch, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and the prophets were 223 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:25,720 the next set of books, the prophetic books. 224 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:28,240 And then there was also some called the writings the Tanakh, 225 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:30,960 but they would just say the law and the prophet shorthand for 226 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:35,720 the whole Old Testament. He's like, so he says Jesus, 227 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:39,600 even though the picture wasn't full in the Old Testament, it 228 00:14:39,600 --> 00:14:43,160 talked about him. Some of you are like how can I 229 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:45,880 believe that Christianity is true? 230 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:52,080 One good reason is because for 800 years, even 1000 years 231 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:56,320 before Jesus came clear predictions that he would come 232 00:14:56,320 --> 00:15:00,560 and exactly how so the law and the prophets testify that he's 233 00:15:00,560 --> 00:15:04,720 going to come and he's going to offer the righteousness we 234 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:10,560 desperately need the first word. What's the first word in verse 235 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:13,800 21? It's but some people call this 236 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:17,360 the biggest, but in the Bible it's a very impressive 237 00:15:17,360 --> 00:15:19,600 conjunction. Get your mind out of the Gutter 238 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:27,440 City post. We're in trouble, but Christ 239 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:31,640 offers righteousness. Here's what he says about the 240 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:34,920 Old Testament law, about following rules, though He says 241 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:39,240 that the law was powerless. Here's a way to think of what 242 00:15:39,240 --> 00:15:41,800 the law was. The law is like a mirror. 243 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:45,720 Now I want you to imagine that you're in a bad situation. 244 00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:48,680 Imagine you've fallen into the mud. 245 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:53,960 Imagine you've fallen into the mud and your hands are tied 246 00:15:53,960 --> 00:15:55,480 behind your back. So you don't have arms. 247 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:57,360 So you've fallen into the mud. Your hands are tied behind your 248 00:15:57,360 --> 00:15:59,360 back. You come into the house and the 249 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:02,360 mirror shows you exactly what's wrong with you. 250 00:16:02,640 --> 00:16:06,200 There's mud all over, but how much can the mirror help you get 251 00:16:06,200 --> 00:16:10,680 clean? So God's law shows us our 252 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:13,480 predicament. It shows us what we need, but 253 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,960 trying to keep it doesn't make us clean. 254 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:22,200 The laws like that mirror, following the rules can't save 255 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:25,400 us. We need a righteousness apart 256 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:28,960 from the law. We need a shower, something that 257 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:33,000 can cleanse us and wash us apart from being religious. 258 00:16:34,320 --> 00:16:38,160 Another thing, following the law is like, and when I say 259 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,720 following the law, we could expand this to just trying to be 260 00:16:40,720 --> 00:16:42,880 a good person. We could expand this to just 261 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:45,560 coming to church. Following the law is like 262 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:50,960 drowning and you're struggling to in the water and you don't 263 00:16:50,960 --> 00:16:53,880 know how to swim. And so somebody says, let me 264 00:16:53,880 --> 00:16:57,640 help you and they throw you a book from the library on how to 265 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:02,000 swim. It's no help to you at all. 266 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:06,000 It'll show you what the problem is, but until you can take time 267 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,640 to really work, what you need is a rescue. 268 00:17:09,599 --> 00:17:11,040 So let's keep going. Verse 22. 269 00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,359 We're going to do 3 verses together right here. 270 00:17:14,680 --> 00:17:20,000 He says this righteousness is given through faith in Jesus 271 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:23,599 Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between 272 00:17:23,599 --> 00:17:27,079 Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the 273 00:17:27,079 --> 00:17:30,440 glory of God. All are justified freely by His 274 00:17:30,440 --> 00:17:34,360 grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 275 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:37,240 In this passage there are three halls. 276 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:45,440 First, all who believe they're saved, all who exist, they sin 277 00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:50,120 and fall short, and then all who are justified or made right. 278 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:54,720 That happens if they are in Christ Jesus. 279 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:58,000 Another cool thing we see in this passage is we get to see 280 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:03,200 this unfolding, the expansion of God's plan to save people. 281 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:08,480 See, for a long time the Jews thought salvation was for their 282 00:18:08,480 --> 00:18:12,560 people, and we can be kind of guilty of that. 283 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:18,720 God likes my people, my kind of people, people who look like me, 284 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:20,800 think like me, act like me, live where I live. 285 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:24,360 We can all be guilty of this, but he doesn't love those 286 00:18:24,360 --> 00:18:26,640 people, my people. And those people are changed 287 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:28,320 depending on where you are in the world. 288 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:32,600 But we all think like that. But here we see the Jews thought 289 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:39,040 that way, an expansion of God's saving covenant to all people. 290 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:43,000 For 1500 years the Jews said it was just us. 291 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:47,320 Now it's Jews plus Gentile. You know, the Gentiles were 292 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:50,760 everybody's. Not a Jew, it's everybody. 293 00:18:52,360 --> 00:18:57,200 Jesus is for every ethnicity, every nation, every background. 294 00:18:57,200 --> 00:18:59,760 And what I love. I don't travel a lot, but I get 295 00:18:59,760 --> 00:19:01,640 to travel a little. I know you guys go to India 296 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:06,600 sometimes, Super cool. Wherever you go in the world, 297 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:11,480 you see Christ followers everywhere worshipping. 298 00:19:11,480 --> 00:19:14,800 We went to India once and we got to worship and sing praises in a 299 00:19:14,800 --> 00:19:18,000 very Indian way with Indian students. 300 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:22,920 It was beautiful. You go to China and you'll see 301 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:26,320 Chinese believers who worship in a very Chinese way in house 302 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:30,800 churches and it's beautiful. It's funny, India and Pakistan 303 00:19:30,800 --> 00:19:32,920 are they're going at it right now. 304 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,120 But in India there are people who worship Jesus. 305 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:40,760 In Pakistan, there are people who worship Jesus in Russia and 306 00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:42,600 Ukraine, there are people who worship Jesus. 307 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:45,960 In Revelation 79. Guess what? 308 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:48,920 We're all together worshipping Jesus. 309 00:19:48,920 --> 00:19:53,160 The gospel is for all people, not just some people. 310 00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:58,320 Another thing these verses tell us is that this righteousness 311 00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:03,640 that we need, that's for everybody, doesn't come to 312 00:20:03,640 --> 00:20:05,600 everybody. It comes to a certain kind of 313 00:20:05,600 --> 00:20:08,240 person. Those who, what does it say? 314 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:12,600 Those who believe comes to those who believe. 315 00:20:12,600 --> 00:20:16,720 Well, what is belief? In our culture right now, a lot 316 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:19,360 of people tend to think belief is kind of like good vibes. 317 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:22,720 Like I just kind of like think positive thoughts. 318 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:26,880 I give good energy over there. It's like belief is a sentiment 319 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:29,920 or a feeling. Be positive. 320 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:31,920 Nope. That's not what belief in 321 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:34,000 Scripture is. It's not what faith in the Bible 322 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:38,440 is. Faith always has an object. 323 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:43,920 I don't believe in some random nebulous thing. 324 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:48,160 I believe in something. My belief is in something. 325 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:49,760 It's not a touchy feely sentiment. 326 00:20:49,760 --> 00:20:54,200 Faith is only as good as the thing that it's in. 327 00:20:56,080 --> 00:21:01,280 So what if you need to cross an ocean and your absolute faith 328 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:06,480 and trust to get you across this huge chasm is in the Titanic? 329 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:09,760 It's not a good thing to have your faith in. 330 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:11,480 Faith is only as good as the object. 331 00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:15,880 What if you need Peace of Mind, you need some inner peace, you 332 00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:19,160 need happiness, you need you. You need some joy in your life 333 00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:22,440 and your hope and absolute faith and trust is in the Dallas 334 00:21:22,440 --> 00:21:25,440 Cowboys. What if you need Peace of Mind 335 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:28,200 and it's in the Texas Rangers? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. 336 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,640 What if you need to feel safe and secure because the world is 337 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:39,840 shaky and your faith and your trust is in the S&P 500 stock 338 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:43,800 market or Bitcoin? Some of you young guys have some 339 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:50,560 Bitcoin. What if your faith, when you 340 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:55,920 need to get to heaven, is in yourself to try hard enough to 341 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:59,400 be good enough to make yourself perfect enough to get to heaven? 342 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:01,840 We need a better object for our faith. 343 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:05,240 If we're going to make it to God, we need Jesus. 344 00:22:05,720 --> 00:22:10,160 Jesus is uniquely able. Jesus is uniquely good. 345 00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:15,800 He's uniquely qualified. He is God, become a man. 346 00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:21,320 He is the sinless Son of God. He is the one who died for our 347 00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:24,080 sins, who was buried in a grave, who three days later was 348 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:28,400 resurrected after appearing to a lot of people to prove that he 349 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:31,040 had overcome death, ascended into heaven. 350 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:35,840 He's the one that right now sits at the right hand of the Father, 351 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:39,280 enthroned in heaven. He's coming back one day. 352 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:42,800 Christians, we don't just have faith. 353 00:22:43,320 --> 00:22:48,640 We have faith in Him. And if your faith isn't anything 354 00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:54,880 else, it's in the wrong place. Faith in Him, though, causes us 355 00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:57,040 to receive the righteousness we need. 356 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:02,800 This passage also points out that we're saved by faith in 357 00:23:02,880 --> 00:23:05,560 Jesus. But even our faith isn't like 358 00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:08,760 something I did like sometimes I want to pat myself on the back 359 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:11,640 because I'm like, I have faith. This person over here doesn't 360 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:14,720 have faith or something better about me than that person. 361 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:18,920 Faith is me saying there's nothing good about me. 362 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:21,440 Jesus is the only one who's good. 363 00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:28,200 My faith doesn't earn salvation. My faith is me saying I'm going 364 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:31,200 to trust the one who did earn salvation. 365 00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:35,360 The scripture we just read said that righteousness comes by 366 00:23:35,440 --> 00:23:39,920 grace. That Greek word karis literally 367 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:41,920 can be translated other places a gift. 368 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:44,480 So every time you see grace, just put gift in there if you 369 00:23:44,480 --> 00:23:47,920 want to make sense of it. Whenever it says grace is a gift 370 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:51,360 from God, it says gift is a gift from the gift is a gift from 371 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:55,480 God. Imagine a kid at Christmas. 372 00:23:57,040 --> 00:24:00,080 People who love the child so much have sacrificed. 373 00:24:00,080 --> 00:24:02,360 They've wrapped these things that they know the child will 374 00:24:02,360 --> 00:24:03,600 love. They put the gifts on it. 375 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,600 And this grandmother who loves their grandchild so much has put 376 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:10,840 all their thought, some resources into the gift. 377 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:14,640 The child who doesn't understand gifts unwraps the package. 378 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,120 It's exactly what they wanted, and they run to their room. 379 00:24:18,120 --> 00:24:20,360 They get their Piggy Bank and they start trying to take out 380 00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:24,680 money to try to pay grandma back for the gift they've just 381 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:26,400 received. That's not how gifts work. 382 00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:31,040 Gifts are ours to receive. See, as Christians, we don't try 383 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:34,000 to live a good life, a holy life. 384 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:35,360 We don't try to love our neighbor. 385 00:24:35,360 --> 00:24:39,880 We don't try to do acts of service to somehow pay God back 386 00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:43,880 or to somehow impress him so he'll look down on us and give 387 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:47,560 us favor. When we trust Jesus, he gives 388 00:24:48,160 --> 00:24:52,840 the gift of eternal life to us. And we do those things out of 389 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:56,960 gratitude. We hug our grandmother when she 390 00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:00,680 gives us a good gift, and we thank God in worship and by 391 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:02,920 living a holy life after He saved us. 392 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:08,640 Grace is unmerited favor. You may have heard that before. 393 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:10,960 What is grace? Grace is like us getting 394 00:25:10,960 --> 00:25:13,640 something good. We don't deserve unmerited 395 00:25:13,640 --> 00:25:15,720 favor. That's actually not a strong 396 00:25:15,720 --> 00:25:20,480 enough idea of what grace is. Grace is not just undeserved, 397 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:24,480 it's I'll deserved. It's not just I didn't deserve 398 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:26,880 it. I actually deserved bad and not 399 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:29,080 good. And instead I didn't get the bad 400 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:33,360 and I did get the good. It's I'll deserved gifts. 401 00:25:33,360 --> 00:25:37,920 It's not merited favor. It's not even unmerited favor, 402 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:46,560 it's demerited favor. Grace is US waking up every day. 403 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:49,280 And is this a safe place? Can I testify about my own life? 404 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:54,560 I don't wake up every morning, pop out of bed and say Lord, 405 00:25:55,360 --> 00:25:58,200 anything you want me to do today is exactly what I want to do 406 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:00,680 today. I wake up a lot of mornings just 407 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:03,520 wanting to do what I want to do today, right? 408 00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:07,040 I don't wake up selfless, I wake up selfish. 409 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:13,040 Grace is US everyday doing something that would offend God. 410 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:20,840 Grace is US running away, and Him still running towards grace 411 00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:22,720 is like the story of the prodigal son. 412 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:26,120 Do you know that story Jesus tells about a son who took his 413 00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:28,680 father half his father's inheritance while his father was 414 00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:31,920 still alive? And he spent it recklessly in 415 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:36,280 wild living, it said. And then he comes back and the 416 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:39,280 father, instead of being harsh with him, runs to him, showers 417 00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:42,640 gifts on him again because his son who was lost has returned 418 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:44,600 home. Tim Keller says that it's 419 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:47,760 actually not the son who was prodigaling. 420 00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:50,440 It was the father who was prodigal. 421 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,600 He wrote his little book called The Prodigal God, because here's 422 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:56,920 what the word prodigal mean. It comes from the word 423 00:26:56,920 --> 00:27:02,800 prodigious, which means to spend excessively, lavishly, 424 00:27:02,800 --> 00:27:06,240 extravagantly. And the son did that when he 425 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:10,040 wasted his money, but the father did it all the more when the son 426 00:27:10,040 --> 00:27:12,920 came back. He didn't deserve the Father's 427 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:14,960 riches, but the Father gave them anyway. 428 00:27:16,320 --> 00:27:19,520 There was a controversy in Christian worship a few years 429 00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:21,560 ago. Eric probably knew this one 430 00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:25,960 about this song called Reckless Love because it said God was 431 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:28,720 reckless and how much he lavished his love on us. 432 00:27:28,720 --> 00:27:30,880 And people are like, we can't call God reckless. 433 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:37,280 Jesus described in that way, at least not reckless in a negative 434 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,520 sense. But I didn't deserve it and he 435 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:43,400 showered it on me. His grace, His goodness. 436 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:48,280 It's actually a controversial idea. 437 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:53,600 The Muslims and atheists actually mocked this idea that 438 00:27:53,600 --> 00:28:01,080 God would punish his own Son in order to save sinners like us. 439 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:05,280 They say He would never stoop to our level to become a one of us, 440 00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:08,800 and he would never punish himself in that way. 441 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:13,800 He would never stoop that much. But my God did verse 20 going 442 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:19,760 says God presented Christ as A and my Bible says sacrifice of 443 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:21,360 atonement. Is that what this says? 444 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:24,480 Yep. Your Bible might just say 445 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:27,760 sacrifice if you've got like maybe a new living or something 446 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:30,200 like that. If you got an ESV or a King 447 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:33,480 James, it probably says propitiation. 448 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:35,920 And that's the actual Greek word behind it. 449 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:40,080 God presented Christ as a propitiation, a sacrifice of 450 00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:43,680 atonement through shedding his blood to be received by fate. 451 00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:47,720 So here's a question, Church, that's before us. 452 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:52,280 What exactly did Jesus accomplish when he was on the 453 00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:55,560 cross like that? That that's the, that's the Good 454 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,840 Friday Easter message, right? Jesus on the cross and 455 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:01,640 resurrection. What happened there? 456 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:05,360 And the short answer is lots of things. 457 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:07,840 It wasn't just one thing. One thing that happened was 458 00:29:07,840 --> 00:29:11,240 justification. The guilty sinners were made 459 00:29:11,240 --> 00:29:13,160 clean. Another is regeneration. 460 00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:16,000 We had sinful hearts and He made us new creations. 461 00:29:16,000 --> 00:29:18,920 Another thing is adoption. We were cut off from God and He 462 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:22,240 gave us a new relationship. Another is what the Bible calls 463 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:25,600 expiation. That's a fancy word, but it 464 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:28,960 means we were guilty. We were covered in shame. 465 00:29:28,960 --> 00:29:31,520 Some of you feel this, you feel guilty, you feel covered in 466 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:35,800 shame. And Jesus came to cleanse, to 467 00:29:35,800 --> 00:29:37,680 take away guilt and to take away shame. 468 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:43,160 But here what the Scripture is going to say happened on the 469 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:48,800 cross, and this may be the most important thing, is propitiation 470 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:53,160 or atonement. It's a rare word in Scripture. 471 00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:57,400 It's only used three times. It's a sacrifice that cancels or 472 00:29:57,400 --> 00:30:00,400 satisfies the wrath of an angry deity. 473 00:30:00,400 --> 00:30:05,760 Remember Joe on the volcano? But ancient cultures got it. 474 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:09,480 They understood exactly this. Because embedded in our psyche 475 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:14,320 we know if there's a God, he and I might have a problem. 476 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:16,520 And I get we got to do something. 477 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:22,200 And so in the Old Testament, God commanded his people, Israel, to 478 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:27,200 offer propitiation once a year, a spotless lamb in their temple. 479 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:32,400 On top of the ark of the covenant, there was a there was 480 00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,360 a top made for that art made out of solid gold. 481 00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:39,880 They called it the mercy seat. Inside that ark was the 10 482 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:41,720 commandments representing God's law. 483 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:46,520 And once a year it was said that that mercy seat was as if that's 484 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:50,000 where God sat. That was his place when he came 485 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,880 to dwell with his people, Then that's where he came. 486 00:30:53,880 --> 00:30:58,560 Once a year, sinless lamb offered as a sacrifice, blood 487 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:02,400 sprinkled there. It's a start. 488 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:05,640 Uncomfortable picture for some of us. 489 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:10,400 Did you know whenever they were translating the Bible from 490 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:16,400 Hebrew into Greek, which is what our Bibles written in, they had 491 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,120 to figure out how are we going to translate the word mercy 492 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:20,640 seat? And they translated it 493 00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:30,960 propitiation on the cross. Jesus with that picture that one 494 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:35,840 day a year for over 1500 years with that picture foreshadowed 495 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:41,480 was one day on the cross, Jesus would take the punishment. 496 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:45,120 One day Jesus would die the death once for all. 497 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:48,440 It's what we remember in this church. 498 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:49,920 When you do you guys take communion. 499 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:55,000 When you take communion, you remember his body, his blood 500 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:59,560 shed for us. It happened. 501 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:05,720 It happened once and for all, so that now by believing in Jesus, 502 00:32:06,080 --> 00:32:09,600 we can receive that. My wife Teresa couldn't be here 503 00:32:09,600 --> 00:32:12,080 today because she's actually teaching the Bible at our church 504 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:14,920 back in Arlington. She's like a cool Bible teacher. 505 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:18,120 I'm so proud of her. But part of her story is she 506 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:21,000 grew up in the Catholic Church and over time, she, like, 507 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:25,080 started rethinking her theology. And some of the passages like 508 00:32:25,080 --> 00:32:27,200 this made her rethink her theology. 509 00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:30,960 And hear me real clearly, many, many Catholics know God. 510 00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:33,200 And I'm a Baptist, right? And there's a lot of Baptists 511 00:32:33,200 --> 00:32:36,040 who don't know God. So this is not about Catholic 512 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,600 Baptist, whether one knows the Lord or doesn't. 513 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:41,840 But there is in those two churches a different view of 514 00:32:41,840 --> 00:32:45,600 Christ's sacrifice. Some of you know this, the 515 00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:49,920 Gospel, and here it says that Christ sacrificed himself once 516 00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:54,520 on the cross for all time. Our Catholic brothers and 517 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:56,520 sisters, they have a different view of Christ's sacrifice. 518 00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,360 They say, yes, he did kind of definitively on the cross, but 519 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:03,880 now every week in the Mass, he sacrificed again and again. 520 00:33:03,880 --> 00:33:08,520 In fact, the word sacrament is rooted in the word sacrifice. 521 00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:12,000 And so when the when when communions taken in those 522 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,560 churches, they say Christ is being offered again and again. 523 00:33:15,520 --> 00:33:18,280 But here's what for my wife, one of her big realizations came 524 00:33:18,280 --> 00:33:22,120 when she read in the book of Hebrews chapter 10, it says this 525 00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:25,040 is in verse 11. It says day after day in the Old 526 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:29,120 Testament, the priest would offer the same sacrifices over 527 00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:31,720 and over which could never take away sins. 528 00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:37,840 But when this priest Jesus had offered for all time 1 sacrifice 529 00:33:37,840 --> 00:33:41,960 for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 530 00:33:41,960 --> 00:33:47,760 For by 1 sacrifice he made perfect forever those who are 531 00:33:47,760 --> 00:33:52,920 being made holy. I'm so grateful that Jesus isn't 532 00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:55,520 just saving us, but has saved us. 533 00:33:56,800 --> 00:34:03,120 So now let's finish our passage, let's finish Romans. 534 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:08,000 He did this verse 25 to demonstrate his righteousness. 535 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:11,480 For in his patience, in his forbearance, he left sins 536 00:34:11,480 --> 00:34:15,960 committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his 537 00:34:15,960 --> 00:34:20,440 righteousness at the present time so as to be both just and 538 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:24,800 the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. 539 00:34:25,360 --> 00:34:29,360 In college ministry, we talked to a lot of skeptics, like 540 00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:35,400 people who've got a beef with Christianity and two objections 541 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:38,480 that they raise pretty often. One is, why doesn't God just 542 00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:40,239 stop evil? How can there be? 543 00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:43,320 If you look at evil in the world and you claim God is good and 544 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:45,120 he's powerful, but he doesn't stop evil. 545 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:46,280 Either he's not good or he's not. 546 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:51,120 So why doesn't God stop evil? And then the other objection is, 547 00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:54,719 how could God send anyone to hell? 548 00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:00,880 And it's funny because they almost answer their own 549 00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:03,680 objection by raising those two questions. 550 00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:11,840 Because eternal punishment is God's solution for evil. 551 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:16,560 One day Christ comes back and he will purge this earth of evil, 552 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:19,920 and he'll make right every wrong that's ever been committed, 553 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:22,480 every unjust act. They'll be an answering to it, 554 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:27,520 and everybody who stands as an enemy of God will be cast away 555 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:32,520 from him. Eternal punishment is God's 556 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:35,960 solution for evil. One day he returns. 557 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:41,200 But because he loves us, because he loves this world, because he 558 00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:45,360 loves this country, because he loves the nations, He's taking 559 00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:50,440 his time, He offers his precious Son. 560 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:54,800 And he hasn't judged the world before now wanting as many as 561 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:58,840 possible to believe. So will you. 562 00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:04,520 Will you believe? I know most of you do, but maybe 563 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:09,560 you haven't yet. And you can, you know, as I get 564 00:36:09,560 --> 00:36:13,280 ready to close, you know, the last phrase Jesus offered on the 565 00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:16,600 cross when he hung there, he said seven different sayings 566 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:23,240 with the last thing he said is he said is what finished to 567 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:25,760 Telestai. It's that Greek word and it's 568 00:36:25,760 --> 00:36:28,280 actually a very unique and a very precise word. 569 00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:32,200 And in those that culture, it was used in three contexts. 570 00:36:32,200 --> 00:36:36,440 It was used in business on receipts for business 571 00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:38,880 transactions when a debt was paid in full. 572 00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:41,640 It was a specialized word for that. 573 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:46,200 It was used in judicial court when somebody's sentence, prison 574 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:48,400 sentence had been completed in full. 575 00:36:49,440 --> 00:36:54,880 It was used in military when a not just a battle had been won, 576 00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:58,400 but a decisive battle had been won and there was no further 577 00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:01,800 conflict. In Christ. 578 00:37:02,760 --> 00:37:07,960 Our sin debt is fully paid, our punishment is fully served, and 579 00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:14,560 our war against sin and death and even Satan himself is fully 580 00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:17,520 won. Praise God for redemption. 581 00:37:19,360 --> 00:37:23,240 Practically, applications won. Why should I even want to be a 582 00:37:23,240 --> 00:37:27,800 Christian? Peace of Mind, help with stress 583 00:37:27,800 --> 00:37:29,480 and anxiety. So I can have meaning and 584 00:37:29,480 --> 00:37:31,760 purpose. So I can have like some 585 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:33,920 structure and morality for my life? 586 00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:38,960 Yeah, yeah, kinda. But even more, because Almighty 587 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:46,360 God made you and you're cut off from him unless something 588 00:37:46,360 --> 00:37:49,560 changes forever and the gospel redeems you. 589 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:55,760 Other things that happen when we come to Christ and we understand 590 00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:59,120 redemption, it changes my life in practical ways. 591 00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:01,800 Because I've been redeemed, I've received grace. 592 00:38:03,720 --> 00:38:05,560 I can be more gracious to others. 593 00:38:05,960 --> 00:38:08,360 I can be less judgmental and more forgiving. 594 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:12,360 I can be more quick to forgive because I've been forgiven. 595 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:17,040 I can be more less likely to become angry because I 596 00:38:17,040 --> 00:38:22,280 understand an angry God. His anger has been taken away 597 00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:24,920 and He paid the price to take away that anger. 598 00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:29,800 So I can absorb some of the anger I feel at somebody else 599 00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:32,520 for their offense because God's absorbed an infinite amount of 600 00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:36,720 offense. We can be less fearful about the 601 00:38:36,720 --> 00:38:39,520 future because we know who holds our future. 602 00:38:40,720 --> 00:38:42,960 We're going to be less of a hypocrite because I know I'm 603 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:45,200 lost. Apart from Jesus, I'm not any 604 00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:47,880 better than anybody else. So if you have a decision you 605 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:50,120 need to make today, I know there'll be people at the front. 606 00:38:50,120 --> 00:38:52,640 You can come forward to pray. If you've never received Christ, 607 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:54,840 you can come forward and they'll pray for you and walk you 608 00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:56,840 through what it means to put your faith in Christ. 609 00:38:56,840 --> 00:39:00,360 If you just want prayer for some issues, some brokenness, some 610 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:02,040 hurting in your life, come forward for prayer. 611 00:39:04,560 --> 00:39:06,400 Let's pray and then we'll close with the song. 612 00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:12,960 Father, thank you for Jesus, the almighty, sinless Son of God, 613 00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:19,520 our Savior, who took every last bad thing, every thought, every 614 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:23,000 motivation, every action, every careless word, everything I've 615 00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:28,640 ever done or will ever do in him. 616 00:39:28,640 --> 00:39:33,560 Let it be nailed to the cross, put to death.