How about that Crossing Church? That's pretty awesome watching.
That, isn't it boy? God is not done.
He keeps doing incredible work. So, thankful to see what he is
doing well Crossing Church. How are you doing today?
Want to welcome everyone, that's joining, all of our locations,
all across this area inside and online.
So thankful for each and every one of you.
And I'm excited to be able to be here with you and to break the
bread of life with you. It's always great to be in the
house of the Lord, with the people of the Lord, learning the
word of the Lord together changes us.
It incredible incredible ways. Happy Father's Day, Happy
Father's Day Grandfather's Day. Great grandfather's day.
Nobody gets to Bark or complain at you today, right?
And you get to eat where you want to, that's right.
Should at least be, at least be that So I got a call, a couple
of weeks ago from a friend of mine in Kansas city named
Brandon Mims. It's a pastor there and been a
friend for a long time. Haven't talked to him for a
while for quite a while and so he kind of calls me out of the
blue and goes, I don't know why I'm supposed to call you, but I
just felt led by God to call you about.
Somebody that is on my heart and I Thought maybe you might be
able to do something. I don't know what it might be.
And he was telling me the story of a man named Martin Thomas who
had been a pastor at, in the Kansas City area friend of
Brandon was incarcerated broke. The law was incarcerated came
out and then God laid it on his heart to do these halfway houses
for men as they come out of incarceration, back into the
world and how they could be discipled and built up.
And as he was telling me this, I said you know we do that we have
we partner with two Ministries the well house and Fishers of
Men and we have different houses that accomplish that as well.
He goes thatís. That's amazing that he had no
idea that we that we did that and that we connected with that.
And he gave me the fellas name and I gave him a call and just
just incredible guy and doing incredible work both in
Indianapolis. Indiana.
And also, in Fort Wayne, and he has Ministry, is called
Nazareth, man House ministries, which is like, oh, that's kind
of a, that's kind of a mouthful, it's an interesting and I was
asking him about that and he said, well, you know, there's a
scripture in the bible where jesus is questioned kind of
rhetorically and the question that was delivered to him.
Is there anything good that can come out of Nazareth?
And he goes, that just fits us. Because so many people, they
think. Well if you've been
incarcerated, if you have this in your past, well then you're
kind of damaged goods and maybe God can't use you or anything
like that. And that's what they were kind
of saying about Nazareth. And look what came out of
Nazareth changed, the whole world changed my life, change
your life, and what God can do is he can change lives and I was
just excited to hear his testimony and so Went to the
admissions committee, went to Clayton.
I said, hey what do you think? Could we help them out?
So we send them six thousand dollars to keep them going and
hooked him up with some other Ministry.
People who might be able to keep him going after that because
some of their support had run dry.
So I don't think anybody likes it.
When they get labeled or they get discounted in some way like
can anything good? Like if you're from Nazareth
like what are you? I think we're actually the
opposite of that. Each one of us wants to feel
special in some place. Some way we want to, we want to
be noticed, we wanted to stand out and we try to make life
choices to do that, right? It may be a group that we
identify with, maybe it's something in our appearance,
like the color, we dye, our hair, how many colors we dye our
hair and The language, we might use the music, we listen to the
clothes, we wear the car, we drive a sport, we like, and we
can do that individually and we can do that in groups and we can
even do that as a nation, right? We all want to be exceptional.
We all want to stand out. I don't think anybody is saying,
I would just like to be a C- kind of a person.
I think everybody wants to excel in some way and stand out in
some way, and I'm no different. I like to see that the crossing
is the best church ever. I would love to hear you say
that John and bassist John this great, right?
I want to be exceptional. Some I want to say we're the
ones that this are we the ones that that is not to say that I'm
casting judgment on others. I just want us to be the best
that we can be. I want that for my kids.
I want my kids to excel. I want them to be the best that
they can be, right? I want to stand out.
I want my grandkids to really stand out.
You know, I want to make up for all the failings I did with my
kids, right with my grandchildren.
Imagine you connect with some of this, some of you are real
Sports Enthusiast. You want your team to stand out?
You don't want them to have a, have an even season where they
have as many wins as losses. Do you?
You want him to go all the way to the end.
You want to win the big trophy? And sometimes it's hard there's
a lot of competition when it comes to standing out right
Brands once sales social media, once clicks networks want
ratings, they're all saying standout Stand Out stand out.
We're in Romans chapter 3. Now, the book of Romans is the
Apostle Paul writing to both Jewish and Gentile, Romans
Jewish being the nation of Israel and Gentiles literally,
everybody else in the church in Rome, trying to help them
understand these basics of what it means to be a Christ
follower. And when you think about Israel
and we're in Romans 3, we're going to be talking about
Israel. It was, it had a hard time
standing Out Among the Nations. It was just a tiny little Nation
compared to these huge massive Empires.
And last week we learned a little bit about how the nation
of Israel viewed itself and how it viewed its value and how it
kind of came into its own understanding of identity.
Now, the Glory Days of Israel were about 1000 BC about 3,000
years ago and it began with King David.
The, you know, the king who was a Shepherd who became a king and
then his son Solomon, And the Pinnacle of Israel is a nation
as you buy the rest of the world was during the reign of Solomon.
And then it was downhill from there after that they became a
more and more oppressed people until they were entirely.
Oppressed 732 BC, 586 BC, they were literally deported out of
the country. And they were enslaved.
So they've had they had, they had that Pinnacle and then these
lower times. But what they did through, all
of that was they held onto their identity.
It's what brought them through those difficult times and it
came in the form of a religiously rooted culture.
This Old Testament culture, that came from Moses on the mountain
came from the patriarchy. Abraham, all of that it came
from, this language is ancient language, you know, Hebrew is
still spoken daily in Israel and it's one of the most ancient
languages in the world and it came from their set of laws and
customs and rituals that they held onto through all of that
time. The biggest part though, of this
Identity or this feeling that they had, was that they were
understood. They understood themselves and
the Bible talked about them as God's chosen people.
Like God didn't choose anybody else.
You didn't choose any of those other nations?
He chose us. He chose Israel.
He named it Israel. After Jacob's name, when he was
changed his name, change from Jacob to Israel.
That was something that God did, it was a privileged position and
so they kind of felt like they had a Golden Ticket, a golden
ticket to the one true God. Like everybody else.
You can do whatever you want to do to try to approach God, but
we are his chosen ones. We are his chosen people and
you. See that resonating in these
early chapters in Romans if you've been doing the study, the
devotional guide, you know that you see how that's coming along.
Now it is true that God did choose a people and that people
was Israel and the Apostle Paul was one of those chosen people,
he was Jewish and God did have a special relationship with them.
He had a covenant relationship with them.
This is something a lot of us, may not understand but like you
go back into the Old Testament, the book of Exodus chapter 20.
It's a famous chapter because that's the chapter that has the
Ten Commandments. That God wrote with his finger
on Stone and gave it to Moses, who brought it down to the
people. And a lot of people would say
today, what we all want to live by the Ten Commandments, and
that's not bad because the Ten Commandments do reveal the heart
of God, the justice of God, But did you know that?
That that decalogue that Ten Commandments was a covenant law.
It means it was between the Jews and God, it wasn't between us
and God. It was between the Jews and God,
and when you read about it, there's actually a whole
process. They go go through where the
people adopt those laws has their own.
And God says, on that basis. I will be your God and you will
be my people. It was a covenant law with the
nation of Israel. Some of us might get that a
little mixed up but did that make them better than you?
No spiritually speaking, everything that was good came
from God. It wasn't because of them and
they actually have less excuse before God, then those who were
not in the special relationship because they had all the
covenants in the promises and the rest of the Nations did not.
Now, how do you relate to that? And how do I relate to that?
Because we're going to spend time here in Romans chapter 3.
And we're going well, he's talking to A lot about Israel
and I don't know how we really connect with that.
Well, some of us have been Christians longer than others.
Haven't we? How many of you have been a
Christian longer than 10 years? Yeah, a lot of you have, but
some of you haven't and so, some might think, well, if I've been
a Christian longer, you know, I'm a little bit more seasoned
in my faith. I know a little bit more, you
should kind of understand that about me.
Some of us have Christian parents, so like maybe we're not
a dynasty yet, but but we were kind of brought up to this, you
know, we're second generation third, maybe fourth generation,
because we've had Christian parents and Christian influence.
That way some of us maybe come from a long line of professed
Christians. Some of us may have actually
been major players in the church, you know, maybe even
held an office maybe even had a title.
You know, how they put, they put up pictures on the screens, and
then there's like, Chiron below. It like, like worship leader or
Pastor or a teacher or yeah, elder or leader in some way.
Maybe we get a title or held an office.
Maybe we come from an influential church family, maybe
it was a financially powerful family.
Maybe we were well networked in the community.
And so the church see us is really vital or important
because of all of our connections and networks.
Maybe we were even on staff or are on staff maybe we've been
professionally trained, maybe we have a degree from a college
that specializes in biblical knowledge.
Wow. Maybe we think that makes us
stand out. And we might get a little
prideful believing our own press.
We might think we're better than everybody else.
We may think that God favors us that we're in some sort of
privileged position. So we can relate.
To what we're going to read here in a minute.
From Romans Chapter 3, The Apostle Paul could certainly
relate to that because he understood it all too.
Well not only did he understand it?
He actually lived it, he was a Pharisee, he was like the the
rising star of Judaism. I mean, he not only lived it, he
literally killed for it, he put people in prison and had them
put to death that were Christians because he was so
committed. To these beliefs of God's chosen
people. But like a person who's overcome
an addictive behavior, he's become so sensitized to it.
He has no tolerance for it anymore and that's why he one of
the main reasons. He's writing Romans chapter 3.
So let's begin together. Okay, verses 1 to 4 What
advantage then is there to being a Jew or what value is there in
circumcision, which is the sign of the Covenant law that God had
with them? Much in every way.
First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of
God. That's true.
What if some Jews were unfaithful?
And there were plenty of them. You read about them all the time
in the Old Testament will their unfaithfulness nullify, God's
faithfulness, not at all. Let God be true.
And every human being a liar. I mean, it's like he's setting
these. He's sitting up there his
readers right now as it is written, so that you may be
proved right when you speak and Prevail when you judge.
So the Jewish readers right now in the Book of Romans are going.
Yeah, preach it. Paul, let him have it.
Paul. We're those people.
Just because we made some mistakes, doesn't mean we're any
less of God's chosen people. Yeah.
But Paul also knows there's an argument, that's going to start
in their heads, when he does the next part of the passage
starting in verse 5. But if our unrighteousness
brings out God's righteousness more clearly.
What shall we say? So right when we're, when we're
bad, it just shows how good God is.
Because you see the contrast that God is unjust and bringing
his wrath on us. I'm using a human argument.
Certainly not. I mean, does God have the right
to judge us? When we do things wrong?
Does he have the right to punish us?
Because there are these laws, particularly the Covenant laws
of the Old Testament. If that were so how could God
judge the world, someone might argue if my falsehood enhances
God's truthfulness. And so increases his glory, why
am I still condemned as a sinner?
Why not say as some slanderously claim we say let us do evil that
good may result like the worse. I am it just shows how much
better God is. And so when the Apostle Paul was
talking about Grace, the unmerited favor of God, and how
you could have forgiveness of sins, and it wasn't based on
your Works. Some people were interpreting
that as well. I can just be as bad as I want
because all that does is show how great God is.
He goes. Their condemnation is just Hmm.
Alright, so he's setting this up right now.
Now, I want to see verse 9 because verse 9 is summing up.
Those first eight verses kind of in a single sentence.
Let's look at it. What shall we conclude then do
we have any advantage being juice?
Not at all. For we have already made the
charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are under the power of
sin. So Paul is saying that doesn't
matter if you're Jewish, doesn't matter.
If your Gentile doesn't matter. If you have these Covenant laws
or God's promises or if you're a person, like most of us that are
still listening to me. Now a gentile which means you
didn't have that growing up. Are you don't have that Covenant
law. Like they did.
We're all the same boat. It's full of holes and it's
sinking. It's sinking in a sea of sin.
Sin, because we are all sinners, and we're all in danger of
drowning. Really drowning.
Yeah, drowning drowning. If you understand how God views
sin. So what I want you to do right
now is forget about how you view sin, because the way you view
sin, often times is is like you rationalize it.
You make excuses for it, you do comparative thinking, well, I'm
I've done this but I'm not done that.
Let's see how God views sin. So what Paul does here is he
does a mash-up of basically three Bible books quotes, The
Book of Psalms primarily and also Ecclesiastes and Isaiah and
he says this in verses 10 through 18, listen as it is
written, there is no one righteous not even one, there is
no one who understands. There is no one who seeks.
God all have turned away. They have together become
worthless, how you feeling so far?
Well, I'm great. I came to church and you called
me worthless Jerry. No, I didn't.
God did. Right there verse 12.
There is no one who does good. Not even one.
Did you brush this morning? Their throats are open Graves,
their tongues practice, deceit. The poison of vipers is on their
lips. Their mouths are full of cursing
and bitterness. Wow, change your socks.
Their feet are Swift to shed blood ruin and misery mark their
ways and the way of peace. They do not know.
There is no fear of God before their eyes and some of you are
going. Yeah.
Get those people. You notice the pronouns in that
passage all the pronouns? Are they them in there?
It's so nice to be able to pronounce judgment on everybody
else like they do on social media.
Isn't it? But what we understand, when we
read Romans 3 is, this is really not.
They them in there. This is, I me and mine.
This is me. This is who you are.
This is who I am. That's the hard truth.
Now I know we live in a post truth culture where there's your
truth and there's my truth and you do you and I'll do me.
But the truth is that there is the truth and that's God's
truth. And the truth about Sin is the
truth about you. Because we are sinners.
It's the truth about us. And the truth is that you
haven't just failed. Hear me now.
You fail enough and that label becomes the definition of who
you are. You haven't?
You're not to someone who's failed.
You are a failure. Thanks Gerry.
It's been great coming here this morning, feeling the
encouragement. That is emanating from your
words. Yeah.
You're going to, I'm a failure. Yes, you are.
And I am, I'm the guy standing up here telling you how to live
your life, and I'm a complete total abject failure.
We have all failed God's standard of righteousness and
like verse 9 says, we are all under the power of sin.
It has power over you. It has power over us all and
just like 9 verse 19, says, we are all accountable to God and
we have no defense before. God great.
All those excuses, all those rationalizations zero.
Well, let's admit it Romans. Chapter 3 is ominous.
It defines a stark truth of who we are and what we've done and
what we're presently doing. Just a failure, in a sea of a
world full of failures. and then, I'm so glad you stayed
here till now. Because there are two little
words, not Bible words. Not four syllable words.
Not even what you might consider spiritual words.
But these two little words. Change everything.
And those words are these. but now, But now everybody say that
with me ready but now claim it as your own but now, yeah, oh
and then everything is scripture just turns on a dime.
These two little words, they speak hope and change and
victory into the darkness. But now Verse 21.
But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been
made known to which the law and the prophets testify.
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ.
To all, who believe there is no difference between Jew and
Gentile for all, have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
and all are Justified freely by his grace through the Redemption
that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ, as a
sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood to be
received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his
righteousness because in his forbearance he had left the sins
committed beforehand unpunished. He did it to demonstrate his
righteousness at the present time.
So, as to be just in the one who justifies Those Who Have Faith
In Jesus, praise God. What does it say?
As dark as the sin is? So, bright is the light that
dispels it. It was the whole plan from the
beginning. Since I was and am presently
powerless against sin, I can have access to a righteousness
that is greater than my sin. I don't deserve it, I didn't
earn it but now I have it and it all became available to me and
to you from Jesus and through Jesus Christ.
How did that happen? Because when he shed his blood
on the cross, He covered my sin. When he shed his blood on the
cross, he purchased me with his power.
He raised me up the same power that raised Jesus from the dead
raises me up and freely which means I can turn it or purchase
it he gave me and he gave you his grace.
Powerful. My preaching teacher and Bible
College used to say Jerry before you ever get a person saved, you
have to get them lost. And that's exactly what the
Apostle Paul is doing here. He wants you to understand the
weight, the gravity of your sin because that helps you to
understand the value and the beauty of your deliverance
through Christ and what he did for you.
And for me, I want you to go back to Romans 3:23.
Powerful verse often-quoted. For all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God. It's also probably one of the
most misquoted scriptures in the Bible.
Because people tend to want to quote it this way for all have
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
And that is not what it says because both of those verbs are
not in past tense or past perfect tense.
It says for all have sinned and fall present active indicative.
Fall short of the glory of God. That means this all of us are
sinners. All of us, have sinned.
But even right now at this very moment, where you sit or where I
stand at this very moment, you are in the process of falling
short of God's glory right now. You think you're good, you think
you're doing something good? You think you've earned
something. You think you have some Divine
privilege? Nope, you fall, short, right
now, you fall short and I fall short.
Of the glory of God. This is not something that's
just in the past. Listen, I have to believe that
that's true. I have to own it.
I believe it. I accept it.
That's me. But that's not all because I
have verse 24. Do you have it?
I have it. Do you have verse 24 or do you
just have 23 verse? 24 says this.
It says, and all are Justified freely by his grace through the
Redemption that came by Jesus Christ.
Wow. Hey, that's true.
That's true through faith. And the grace, that comes from
Jesus Christ. I have something even more
powerful than the weight of my sin.
That's true. I receive it.
I believe it. I accept it.
That's me. Only, that's me now, Now.
That's me standing in Grace. That's me.
Receiving that by faith. that is the but now me We all have.
The me who I was or who I am. But do you have the bat?
But now you Have you accepted that?
Have you come to Christ for that?
And 1779. A poem was written.
Very well-known poem. It was set to music 61 years
later. In 1830.
But it was often quoted before it was ever set to music.
Written by a man who kept in the ship.
That trafficked in slaves. He wrote Amazing Grace.
How Sweet? The Sound?
It's saved. A Wretch like Me.
Oh, he's reading. Romans 3.
When he was writing this with me.
He saved a Wretch. Like Me.
I, once was lost. Everybody say it, but now.
Oh, you see it? But now, I'm found was blind.
But now I see. Oh, he saw it.
He figured it out. It's different now.
I'm a failure. Oh yes, I'm a failure.
But now I have faith. I'm at a dead end but now I have
purpose and a destination. I'm powerless.
But now I have the power that raised Jesus from the dead.
I'm broken. But now I have someone to put me
back together. I'm guilty.
But now I'm pardon, I'm dirty. But now I've been washed in the
blood of the Lamb. I'm worthless.
But now, I am the Pearl that he paid the great price for For I'm
defeated. But now I have a champion.
I'm isolated and alone but now I have someone who will never
leave me or forsake me I'm ashamed but now I have a
testimony. I'm dead inside.
But now he lives within me there, just two little words
Just two little words. But they make all the
difference. They make all the difference.
And all of the things. That are holding you back and
holding me back. All of the things that scream,
you're not worthy of this. You don't deserve this.
All of the self justification and rationalization and
comparative thinking all is blown away, like dust.
In those two little words. Because they make all the
difference. We're moving to a time of
decision. What about you?
Because it really all boils down to this.
Is whether or not you've had a but now moment, see there's a
lot of you all of our locations you right now here.
You're still thinking that God has some sort of a Santa Claus
God. You know, I mean by that, making
a list checking it twice going to find out who's naughty and
nice. Like he's making a list of you.
Like I just hope I have more good things on my list and bad.
There's still some of you that are still trying to buy your way
into heaven, trying to earn your way into heaven and you just
can't reminds me of the very old story course.
A lot of old preacher stories have something to do with the
Pearly Gates and st. Peter and I don't know.
He became the hall monitor. But he kind of did. and the guy
that died the Christian man who died and Standing at the front
of that gate, and there's a sign over the gate that says entrance
requires 100 points and he didn't understand what that
means. Talk to Simon Peter about it and
he said, well, just tell me. Tell me what would you do?
What you do down there? So he begins.
And he starts talking about all these things that he did way.
He raised his family and relationship he had with his
spouse. No way that he worked loved
Jesus at home. Peter goes, man, you're making
my day. I mean, I've had a lot of people
up here today, but wow, that was awesome.
That's worth a point. Well, that was a little
disconcerting. So then he started in saying all
the things he'd done in the church and the offices, he held
in the money he gave and people that he encouraged in the people
that he witnessed during the conference, is he went to and
Simon. Peter is blown away and he goes.
Wow. You are a smoking-hot Christian
man. That is another point.
Eventually, this man is reduced To the point where he has
nothing left to say and you know where this is going.
To when he is completely humbled and all that's left.
Is to say when I was a little boy, my Sunday school teacher.
Talk to me about Jesus. And I told her that I wanted him
to be my savior and my Lord. I didn't know much.
But I knew I wanted that. And Simon Peter said, 98 points.
Because nothing else matters. The only thing that matters is
what you do with Jesus. And right now you have an
opportunity. If you've been kicking the
tires, it's time to start lighting.
The fires Top Gun reference by that would There's going to be
somebody right over there by that baptistery.
That would be more than happy to talk to you about next steps
because you don't need the Holy Spirit trying to influence you
on the outside anymore. You need to be living on the
inside and he wants to come and live in your heart.
And there's nobody stand in your way, but you today.
You go over there and talk to somebody.
Some of you. Well, you've made that decision
for Christ. Oh, but that doesn't mean that
you're not struggling in the lower story, it doesn't mean
that the Daily Grind of this life isn't getting you down.
And you're starting to wonder if God's even real or if he's real
in your life and you're at a crisis of belief.
That's what these steps are for. These steps are for you to come
up here. Humble yourself before God.
And remember that God isn't surprised by anything.
That he's every bit as much now in control as he was yesterday
and 1,000 years ago. some of you may not be carrying your own
burden, maybe you're carrying someone else's and it's breaking
you down. And you don't know what to do.
You don't have the answer. maybe you come up here, because Jesus,
give me an answer. When a clue you in, Jesus isn't
going to give you the answer. He is the answer.
He's the answer to every question. and when, when Jesus
comes in regardless of the storm outside, it's peace be still in
your heart. Because that's what he can do
and only he can do. so, if you've had enough, Of the weight
and the pressure of this world. And you're willing to come up
here and just get down on your knees before God, nobody will
bother you. Just take some time with him.
Turn the burden over. If you don't know Jesus yet,
intimately and personally, why don't you let him put the smile
on your face? Said he put on all those other
faces. You saw this little while ago.
I don't know if I could keep it up.
It's not about that. You'll be with you.
Told this last service. My kids were little and I would,
they were learning to walk. I remember when they would take
a like a step, let's pluck one step and then they fall down.
And I used to pick him up by their back collar and smack him.
Real hard on the rear end, get in their face and say, you walk.
No, I didn't. I did the same thing.
The rest of you did. They got that one step in front
of them and I got down in front of them so they could I was on
their love and I started clapping my hands and I said,
you're so great. There's nobody as good as you
because eventually One Step became two and two became four
before long. They were walking and then
running and then getting into all kinds of other trouble.
And we are his children. He who began a good work in, you
will be faithful to complete it. Let him do it.
Would you stand with me in Jesus name?
Heavenly Father. We come to you.
And we ask do what only you can do.
Help us to stay out of your way and just yield just surrender to
the truth. Yes, this is who we are but now
because of Jesus, everything can change, everything has changed.
Father, I pray that we would Embrace that.
Now, In Jesus name. Amen.