1 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:04,840 Good morning. If you get your Bible with you, 2 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:09,360 please open up to Romans, Romans chapter 8. 3 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:12,440 You're on the back of possibly one of the most significant 4 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:14,240 series through the book of Ecclesiastes. 5 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:17,560 We are going to be changing gears and getting into a new 6 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,080 series called More than Conquerors, and it's going to be 7 00:00:21,080 --> 00:00:25,360 taken out of the book of Romans and just one chapter, Romans 8 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:26,760 chapter 8. So I really hope you get your 9 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:28,200 Bibles and got your notebook here. 10 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:32,240 What I want to do today is I want to cover 2 angles and then 11 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:34,800 send you out to lunch. The one angle is I want to give 12 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:37,640 you an explanation as to why we are doing this series. 13 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:40,920 And then on the other angle, I want to give you an explanation 14 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:45,280 on why Romans 8 is in the book of Romans and what it is all 15 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:47,040 about as we launch into the series. 16 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:49,400 So we're going to do a little bit of a deep dive just to give 17 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:52,680 you a broad understanding of where we're going through the 18 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:55,640 series first before we get into Romans chapter 8, but hopefully 19 00:00:55,640 --> 00:01:00,440 there by now. To give you the context of the 20 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:04,319 the series. I've got a political map that I 21 00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:06,760 want to show you. Firstly, you pop it up on the 22 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:10,800 screen there that I know, OK, don't tell Donald Trump, but 23 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,560 that's that's the Middle East as it stands now can change 24 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:17,400 tomorrow. It's changing today. 25 00:01:18,320 --> 00:01:21,080 But I'll show you this picture because when Israel was taken 26 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:26,360 out of captivity, God sent the 10 plagues that were released 27 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:29,560 from under Pharaoh's regime. They're coming out of Egypt. 28 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:33,960 And in Exodus 23, we actually find God explaining to the 29 00:01:33,960 --> 00:01:37,440 Israelites where it is he is going to take them and what the 30 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:38,880 boundary lines are going to look like. 31 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:42,560 And so according to rabbinical tradition, we actually got 32 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:45,520 another. Our second image is one of where 33 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:49,280 it lies. So it says from the Red Sea to 34 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:52,920 the Sea of the Philistines to from the wilderness to the 35 00:01:52,920 --> 00:01:56,400 Euphrates. Now, rabbinical tradition has 36 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,320 taken a little bit of licensee because that's not quite the Red 37 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:02,760 Sea, that's the Nile River. But you know, they've got all 38 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:05,360 the excuses. But I just want you to see when 39 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:09,320 they're coming out of Egypt, the area that God had set aside for 40 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:13,320 them, it was called the Promised Land, and that was what God had 41 00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:16,680 called them to. Now our final slide shows you 42 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:19,720 where Israel is currently as it stands today. 43 00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:25,760 It's all that they live in, all of what God promised, all that 44 00:02:25,760 --> 00:02:28,920 God had apportioned to them. Just a tiny little bit there. 45 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:30,320 Thanks. Take it down. 46 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:35,280 Don't tell Donald. But we were talking about this a 47 00:02:35,280 --> 00:02:37,320 few weeks ago and Rory made an interesting comment. 48 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:40,880 He said that single image there of what they were living in is 49 00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,480 the Old Testament in one picture, the whole of the Old 50 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:46,800 Testament in one picture. It's God saying to his people, 51 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:50,480 this is what I have for you, but not walking in it. 52 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:54,320 You know, you start with Saul and you made some good decisions 53 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:56,600 and King Saul. And then David comes along and 54 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:59,200 increases the boundaries and, and you think Solomon and all 55 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:01,880 his wisdom, he's going to stretch it to the NTH degree and 56 00:03:01,880 --> 00:03:03,040 they're going to live in the fullness. 57 00:03:03,040 --> 00:03:05,560 But instead there's disobedience, there's wicked 58 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:10,080 kings, there's wickedness and sinfulness, and eventually the 59 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:13,360 nation implodes. And they were living in a sense 60 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:15,560 we corrected. But I can remember the last time 61 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,920 we spoke about this, I Googled and Israel's about the size of 62 00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:24,640 the Kruger National Park, tiny, tiny little frame of what they 63 00:03:24,640 --> 00:03:27,720 were called to. OK, not a political statement 64 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:30,280 for, you know, if you see a red dot, just let me know. 65 00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:34,640 But this is the Old Testament in an image. 66 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:38,440 But Romans is in the New Testaments, and we have a very 67 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:40,960 similar image in the New Testament, but this time from 68 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:44,000 Jesus himself. And John 1010 says, you know, 69 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:45,960 the enemy has come to kill, steal and destroy. 70 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:51,520 I have come that you may have life and life to the full the 71 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:55,200 boundary lines. And he uses a Greek word for 72 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:57,360 life, Zoe. So there's there's 3 words that 73 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:00,200 you can use. Well that we translate translate 74 00:04:00,200 --> 00:04:03,280 into life. Sorry, I'm low on caffeine. 75 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:05,120 I wasn't allowed to bring my coffee inside here. 76 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:07,360 I said, but I'm preaching. They said well sucks to be you. 77 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:12,040 So apologies this morning and highly medicated some happy 78 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:13,720 place. Bear with me. 79 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:16,880 Yeah, Four guys are going to edit the daylights out of this 80 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:23,680 soon, so I don't even know where I was. 81 00:04:26,400 --> 00:04:28,920 I've come that you may have life and have it to the full. 82 00:04:28,920 --> 00:04:30,320 Thank you, my baby. It's Zoe. 83 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:34,200 So there's three Greek words translated into English as life. 84 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:36,560 The one is BIOS. It's everything that you see. 85 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,000 The other one is sachi, which is everything that sort of happens 86 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:42,240 here and here. The third is Zoe, if you're 87 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:44,560 pregnant ladies in the mom's room. 88 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:49,640 Zoe, one of the richest and most theologically profound words in 89 00:04:49,640 --> 00:04:54,120 the New Testament. Zoe, life in its absolute 90 00:04:54,120 --> 00:04:58,080 fullness. Zoe, all that God has for you, 91 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:02,640 you, me, you. Zoe. 92 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:08,200 Nothing missing, nothing broken. The same picture there. 93 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:11,600 So in in sort of New Testament context, I suppose it would look 94 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,320 something like this. Zoe, the fullness of what God 95 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:20,600 has called you and I too, and what raw loves to say is what 96 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:24,240 percentage if they're living in, I think 10% is a bit of a push. 97 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:27,080 But if they are living in 10% of what God called them to, what 98 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:31,920 are you living in when it comes to the fullness of what God has 99 00:05:31,920 --> 00:05:34,200 for you? Because if you're anything like 100 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:38,120 me, you take that fullness and then, well, you know, I think 101 00:05:38,120 --> 00:05:42,200 I'd drink a little too much. And, you know, we did a little 102 00:05:42,200 --> 00:05:45,080 bit of pub crawling the other day and we crossed the line. 103 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:48,480 I mean, I didn't really. But if you had to ask her, she'd 104 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:51,800 say I did. And if you had to ask my 105 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:53,360 conscience, that would say I did. 106 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:57,960 And I think work is a bit of an idol at the moment. 107 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:00,720 And it means that I really don't get to see my kids much. 108 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:04,680 And, you know, I don't think I'm the best dad. 109 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:06,400 Father's Day was a bit of a sham. 110 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:09,560 If I get another pair of socks, you know, I think the kids are 111 00:06:09,560 --> 00:06:12,960 trying to tell me something. And my marriage, you know, if 112 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:15,440 I'm really honest, my marriage is becoming a statistic. 113 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:19,000 And yeah, I'm under business, business rescue at the moment. 114 00:06:19,440 --> 00:06:21,320 And if they dig a little deep, they're going to find out some 115 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:24,400 creative accounting and that that might be prison sentence 116 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:30,760 for me and my dad. I will not forgive my dad. 117 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:39,760 And you live in not a fullness, an emptiness. 118 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:44,520 And so we are going into Romans chapter 8 because what you find 119 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:47,680 in Romans 8 is Romans 8 gives us the boundary lines of the 120 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:52,880 fullness that you call to the the enemy comes to rob, kill, 121 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,840 steal and destroy. And you're probably here 122 00:06:55,840 --> 00:06:58,840 believing the lie that you don't deserve. 123 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:04,440 You're not worthy, actually not even that. 124 00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:08,560 I mean, let's talk about what you've been watching online. 125 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:12,880 Let me let me have a deep, meaningful conversation about 126 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:15,560 how you're treating your wife and your kids. 127 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:17,880 I mean, they don't like you, let alone love you. 128 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,360 But Romans chapter 8 will show you and I over the next few 129 00:07:23,360 --> 00:07:26,720 weeks the fullness of what God has called us to. 130 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:29,120 So we are going to go to war with the Romans 8. 131 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:31,920 We are going to go, you see, because when the Israelites 132 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:34,760 moved into the promised land, they had to push back the 133 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:36,560 enemies to get to those boundary lands. 134 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:39,720 And we're going to allow Romans chapter 8 to do exactly that, to 135 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:42,760 push back the lies, to bring light into those dark places, 136 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:46,680 those lies that you've believed for years that have dictated 137 00:07:46,680 --> 00:07:49,320 your relationship with your heavenly Father, yourself worth 138 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:52,800 your identity in Christ. And we're going to allow the 139 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:55,440 king into the room. We're going to do some business. 140 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:58,520 So that is where we're going over the next few weeks. 141 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,440 Don't miss a moment. It will change your life because 142 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:06,080 the Bible says He confirms His word with signs and wonders 143 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:08,280 following. We are waiting for miracles upon 144 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:11,640 miracles, breakthrough upon breakthrough, redemption, 145 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:16,480 restoration, renewal, rescue. So that is why we're doing 146 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:19,920 Romans chapter 8. That is why I'm so excited about 147 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:25,080 the series. But why is Romans 8IN Romans and 148 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:27,280 what is it that we are looking at? 149 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:30,320 And to unpack that, to give the context to that, I'm going to 150 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:32,679 look at just one word in Romans chapter 8. 151 00:08:32,919 --> 00:08:34,720 If you have your Bibles, we've sung it this morning. 152 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:38,640 Romans 8 verse one says therefore, there is now no 153 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:41,280 condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 154 00:08:41,400 --> 00:08:46,640 And I want to look at one word. Therefore, I know Rory preaches 155 00:08:46,640 --> 00:08:51,680 the entire Bible in one sermon. Yeah, me, my IQ only manages one 156 00:08:51,680 --> 00:08:52,560 word. So bear with me. 157 00:08:52,560 --> 00:08:56,240 We're just going to look at Therefore, but I'm going to 158 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:58,160 impress my English teacher. I did some research. 159 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:01,880 Therefore is an elective participle. 160 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:07,200 Yeah, I know Ror knew this. Yeah, I keep telling the guys at 161 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,600 the bar I know a thing. It's an elective participle. 162 00:09:11,600 --> 00:09:15,680 And basically what it means is therefore has a before and it 163 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:20,080 has an after. OK, but it is so weighty in 164 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:22,840 Scripture and it is so weighty in the place that it finds 165 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:26,240 itself in the meta narrative of the book of Romans that this 166 00:09:26,240 --> 00:09:31,280 single word therefore not only has an after all that we have 167 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:36,520 the fullness of life, but it has AB full and it stands as a 168 00:09:36,520 --> 00:09:41,880 gatekeeper. There is no after unless you are 169 00:09:41,880 --> 00:09:45,560 qualified according to what has gone B full. 170 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:50,680 So if you're asking is this for me too, well, you need to find 171 00:09:50,680 --> 00:09:55,040 out what therefore is therefore, and if you qualify according to 172 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:57,760 therefore, then the gatekeeper allows you to live in this 173 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:00,080 fullness. So we're going to take a look at 174 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:01,120 that. We're going to take a look at 175 00:10:01,120 --> 00:10:03,560 what therefore is therefore by taking a look at what went 176 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:07,720 before. All right. 177 00:10:07,720 --> 00:10:11,200 So we're going to have to go way back, right before the beginning 178 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:14,240 of the church in the in the Book of Rome, Book of Romans, sorry. 179 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:17,600 So this church, the Roman Church, was very young. 180 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:20,000 We're looking at what went before. 181 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:24,400 He was younger than three CR and it had been through unbelievable 182 00:10:24,400 --> 00:10:27,720 turmoil, persecution. So what had happened was there 183 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:30,760 was this Emperor Claudius in between the years around about 184 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:35,200 41AD and 53AD, Claudius got sick and tired of the Jews and all 185 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:39,600 their bickering and the law this and the Torah that's and the 186 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:42,560 idolatry and Caesar is not Lord and all of this. 187 00:10:42,560 --> 00:10:46,080 So he eventually, he threw his toys and threw all the Jews out 188 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:48,760 of Rome, including the Christian Jews. 189 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:52,000 If they found you on the streets, that would execute you. 190 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:56,440 And so Rome was emptied of its Jewish heritage. 191 00:10:56,880 --> 00:11:00,600 It was emptied of, let's say, the fingerprints of the Old 192 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:05,760 Testament on the church. Now that was between 41 and 53 193 00:11:05,760 --> 00:11:07,920 AD. The letter to the church in Rome 194 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:10,560 was written between 57 and 58 AD. 195 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:15,040 So Impreclaudius had thrown the mouse and over the years they 196 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:19,120 slowly started sneaking back in. So they've been about 5 or 6 197 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:23,840 years of these Jewish Christians coming back to a very gentile 198 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:26,840 church. When I, whenever I use the word 199 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:29,160 gentile of you, you don't quite know the context. 200 00:11:29,160 --> 00:11:33,400 If you weren't a Jew by family, then you were a gentile. 201 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:36,360 It's pretty much everybody else. So it's not a derogatory term, 202 00:11:36,360 --> 00:11:40,320 it's just different camps. So these Jewish Christians would 203 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:44,240 come back to a very different church because it didn't really 204 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:48,560 have what they had grown up with this Jewish law and history and 205 00:11:48,560 --> 00:11:50,400 everything like it. And it not only was a different 206 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:56,080 church, it was a divided church. And it was divided straight down 207 00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:58,080 the lines of what we are talking about today. 208 00:11:58,080 --> 00:12:01,360 Therefore, it was divided on the therefore. 209 00:12:02,800 --> 00:12:06,600 And it's this very big juicy Bible word that you're going to 210 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:09,200 hear a lot today. So I want you to understand it. 211 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:12,040 They were divided on the lines of justification. 212 00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:17,200 Justification essentially is how am I made right with God? 213 00:12:18,400 --> 00:12:21,480 I have this past of this family line. 214 00:12:21,960 --> 00:12:23,960 I've got this history, this guilt, the shame. 215 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:27,400 What do I need to do to be made right with God? 216 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:30,880 And so you have these divided camps. 217 00:12:31,040 --> 00:12:34,480 It's like I want the fullness. But this is therefore there's a 218 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:38,200 gatekeeper here and it is asking me, am I justified? 219 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:40,440 So now we're saying, OK, what do you mean by justified? 220 00:12:40,600 --> 00:12:44,680 So to the Jew, and I quote to the Jew justification, they 221 00:12:44,680 --> 00:12:48,880 would say the law was considered the greatest guarantee of holy 222 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:51,280 living. Not, not the Bible, the law, the 223 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:56,840 first five books of the Old Testament, the law, the law was 224 00:12:56,840 --> 00:13:01,160 considered the greatest guarantee of holy living, of 225 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,200 pleasing God, of being made rights with God. 226 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:07,000 So the Jewish Christians would lean to the side of saying, 227 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:09,880 listen, you've got to be justified by works. 228 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:15,640 Now you might be one of those, you know, you come to church, 229 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:20,080 you've got a serious past, you know, fresh out of prison, maybe 230 00:13:20,080 --> 00:13:24,680 also from the bluff, shady don't look you in the eyes. 231 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:28,000 And now you come to church and now you got to clean up your ACT 232 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:29,440 because you want to be right with God. 233 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:32,360 And So what do you do? There you go and you find you 234 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:34,240 Google what are the 10 commandments and you make sure, 235 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:37,200 OK, I'm maintaining. And then Rory talks about 236 00:13:37,200 --> 00:13:39,520 tithing it. I'm going to double tithe the 237 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:42,680 20% baby, drop the mic, watch me perform. 238 00:13:43,560 --> 00:13:45,080 And I don't just come to morning service. 239 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:48,320 I come to the evening service and I wear a tie even in the 240 00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:51,640 evening service. I know that the demographic is a 241 00:13:51,640 --> 00:13:53,160 little younger, but I dress smart. 242 00:13:53,160 --> 00:13:57,520 I like it. I really like it because to you, 243 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:01,800 the win is behavior modification justification by works. 244 00:14:02,560 --> 00:14:05,880 And so you stop smoking, you drink a little less, you watch 245 00:14:05,880 --> 00:14:09,800 your swearing road rage to the ladies, you come to church and 246 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:13,040 those heels get a little lower and the cleavage gets a little 247 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:14,840 higher. But just for Sunday, because we 248 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,040 don't want to push it, you know, like I still want to live. 249 00:14:18,200 --> 00:14:23,080 And then you find out about a pray Shoal and a team. 250 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:25,920 You are importing pray Shoals from Israel. 251 00:14:26,920 --> 00:14:29,920 I've got to get me one of those. And it comes with a free shofar. 252 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:34,240 So smashing it, baby. And then you hear that you don't 253 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:36,960 pray to Jesus. His name was Yeshua. 254 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:41,640 So you pray to Yeshua because you have a performance, you need 255 00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:44,600 to maintain justification by works. 256 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:48,720 So they're essentially Paul's writing the letter to the church 257 00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:52,640 in Rome to say this is actually what justification is, because 258 00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:54,360 on the one side you've got the Jews saying, no, no, it's 259 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:56,680 justification by works, works of the law. 260 00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:58,320 You've got to smash it. You've got to own up. 261 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:01,800 And then you've got on the other side the Gentiles, and they're 262 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:05,320 saying, well, which is it? You see, the Gentiles, they knew 263 00:15:05,320 --> 00:15:09,640 something was wrong. They'd lived in a very debauched 264 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:12,960 society. They'd seen sin abound, and 265 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:16,280 they'd realized that they needed to somehow make right with God. 266 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:17,920 And the Holy Spirit had drawn them in. 267 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:20,520 And they'd heard about a church, and they'd come, and maybe you 268 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:22,360 did the same. Come to church. 269 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:26,520 You've heard about Jesus. Maybe Jesus can fix my mess. 270 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:30,240 Maybe he could forgive me. And then you hear this free gift 271 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:32,560 of salvation to his death on the cross. 272 00:15:32,560 --> 00:15:36,920 Is it possible because you go to church and you bump into these 273 00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:41,880 Jewish Christians as they did, and all of a sudden it seems if 274 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:44,080 you, if you read between the lines in Romans chapter 2, that 275 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:46,520 these Jewish Christians were saying, no, no, no, no, no, 276 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:48,360 sorry. You know, there's judgment and 277 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:51,320 condemnation for you because you're not doing all that we're 278 00:15:51,320 --> 00:15:54,800 doing. And Paul actually quotes, this 279 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:57,080 is the Old Testament verse that he quotes. 280 00:15:57,120 --> 00:15:58,760 It seems like it was on their lips. 281 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:02,000 God will repay each person according to what they have 282 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:05,160 done. How's that for welcome to 283 00:16:05,160 --> 00:16:06,240 church. Good to have you here. 284 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:09,560 God will repay each person according to what they have 285 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:11,960 done. I know what you've done. 286 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:16,440 I know what you've done. And the Gentiles were faced with 287 00:16:16,440 --> 00:16:20,040 this and they started asking this question like, OK, then how 288 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:22,040 am I justified? I also want to live in the 289 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:24,400 fullness of of eternal life and Zoe life. 290 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:29,400 But is that the gatekeeper? And so on one side you got these 291 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:33,720 religious justified by works crew which might be you, and on 292 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:37,160 the other side you've got those trying their darndest to get it 293 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:39,200 right. And I would call them those 294 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:41,040 struggling with imposter syndrome. 295 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:45,360 Yo, I've met people struggling with imposter syndrome over the 296 00:16:45,360 --> 00:16:47,600 last few weeks. I don't know if you know what 297 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:49,320 imposter syndrome is. I'll read it for you. 298 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:52,440 The internal experience of believing that you are not as 299 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:56,440 competent or capable as others think you are and that you'll 300 00:16:56,440 --> 00:16:58,600 eventually be exposed as a fraud. 301 00:16:59,440 --> 00:17:02,880 Even if you've earned your place through success, skill, effort, 302 00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:05,280 or qualifications. Even if you've earned your place 303 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:08,160 by raising your hands at the right time and and knowing how 304 00:17:08,160 --> 00:17:11,240 to order coffee outside and saying bless you brother and 305 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:16,960 bringing your family Bible. One translation said imposter 306 00:17:16,960 --> 00:17:21,560 syndrome is chronic self doubt. So you got the Jewish Christians 307 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:25,640 on one side who are saying we are smashing at 125% baby and 308 00:17:25,640 --> 00:17:27,640 you got the others. I just hope you don't get 309 00:17:27,640 --> 00:17:31,200 noticed and I can squeeze in the back door and God doesn't bring 310 00:17:31,200 --> 00:17:34,000 his health failure down on me. Chronic self doubt. 311 00:17:34,960 --> 00:17:40,160 And they are saying essentially to Paul, which isn't, and you 312 00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:42,120 don't know this, but subconsciously you are saying 313 00:17:42,120 --> 00:17:44,320 that every single Sunday. Which is it? 314 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:48,280 Do I need to try harder, do more, be better, dress better? 315 00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:53,800 So I just need to fake it? Can I really trust him? 316 00:17:55,560 --> 00:18:02,000 And so Paul goes for the jugular and he says no one can be 317 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:09,400 justified by works, not even works of the law. 318 00:18:13,320 --> 00:18:17,080 What thing do we do? And a friend who's telling me 319 00:18:17,080 --> 00:18:20,280 about one of his mates, everywhere he goes, it's his 320 00:18:20,280 --> 00:18:22,720 shtick. He loves to say, yeah, if you, 321 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:25,600 how certain are you that if you were to die, you'd go to heaven. 322 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:28,520 And he always gets like these little deer in the headlights. 323 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:32,000 But the one time he asked the guy, how sure are you if you 324 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:33,280 were to that tonight, you'd go to heaven. 325 00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:36,160 The guy said 80%. He's like, oh, haven't heard 326 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,760 that one before. It's like, tell me more said, 327 00:18:39,760 --> 00:18:42,600 no, I'm Muslim. I do really, really. 328 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:46,560 I work really, really hard making sure and going through my 329 00:18:46,560 --> 00:18:48,400 day and correcting where I need to correct. 330 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:52,680 But sort of about 80%, I think 80%, I'm going to make heaven, 331 00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:55,840 baby. Now tell you that story. 332 00:18:56,200 --> 00:19:03,240 Because justification by works makes you a good Muslim, not a 333 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:07,480 good Christian. Now that should freak you out. 334 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:12,600 But for some of us, that should set us free because it's not 335 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:15,680 about what you've done. And it's also not about what 336 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:20,360 you're doing because Paul makes it very clear that not only are 337 00:19:20,360 --> 00:19:24,560 we not justified by works, but the the minute we try to make 338 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:28,680 right with God by what we are doing, all you're saying is that 339 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:32,200 you don't even begin to understand what a terrible thing 340 00:19:32,200 --> 00:19:34,840 sin is. You don't understand what a 341 00:19:34,840 --> 00:19:38,880 terrible power sin has. So this guy, Martin Lloyd Jones, 342 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:44,120 he says sin is the greatest power known to man next to God 343 00:19:44,120 --> 00:19:47,800 himself. Sin is so powerful, even God's 344 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:53,800 holy law cannot deliver us. That should shock the system 345 00:19:54,640 --> 00:19:57,800 because in Romans 7, he basically says sin hijacks the 346 00:19:57,800 --> 00:20:00,840 law and uses it against us and our relationship with God. 347 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:04,640 It takes that law and disqualifies us. 348 00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:08,680 And he, he basically summarizes the fact that if you are going 349 00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:12,480 after justification, remember. Trying to be made right with God 350 00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:15,760 by living will and being good and being a nice person. 351 00:20:17,120 --> 00:20:19,040 You don't understand the power of sin. 352 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:23,080 It has to be put to death. We're not talking about behavior 353 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:25,520 modification. He's not writing to them saying 354 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:28,160 well, the therefore is looking back on your life history, how 355 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:31,200 well have you done 80% while still try a little bit harder. 356 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:32,280 That will. No, no, no, no. 357 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,680 There's some something completely different at play 358 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,720 here because that's not the gospel. 359 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:43,880 That's not good news. Are going to try harder. 360 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:46,800 That's not good news. How? 361 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:49,400 How much harder? How much more? 362 00:20:51,360 --> 00:20:55,800 What is good enough? Yeah, that Muslim is smashing 363 00:20:55,800 --> 00:21:01,640 it, but he even recognized 80 percent, 99%. 364 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:05,920 OK imagine you go to the bank and you deposit 100,000 Rand 365 00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:08,200 check and they give you 99,000 Rand back. 366 00:21:09,360 --> 00:21:12,640 Like hang on a second. Ah, but you know my heart, my 367 00:21:12,640 --> 00:21:16,480 heart is right. That's not 100%. 368 00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:23,440 The New York Times did a study on Google search history. 369 00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:27,600 It was an article called Googling God or something like 370 00:21:27,600 --> 00:21:31,280 that, and they found the third most Googled question when it 371 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:36,640 comes to Christianity is why does God hate me? 372 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,600 You know how you get there is you try really, really, really 373 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:48,760 hard to impress God, Do your best, try harder, live better, 374 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:53,160 do more, and still just life is falling apart still. 375 00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:55,560 It feels like he's pushing you back. 376 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:57,800 Still He's blessing everybody, but it doesn't seem like he 377 00:21:57,800 --> 00:22:00,040 cares about you. You get to that place because 378 00:22:00,040 --> 00:22:03,240 you're trying to justify yourself by works. 379 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:09,920 So Paul says, firstly, we cannot be justified by our good works, 380 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:12,560 not even works of the law, he says to the Jews. 381 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:17,120 And then secondly, he says that was never the intended purpose 382 00:22:17,120 --> 00:22:20,400 of the law. The law was given. 383 00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:24,120 The Bible says the law was given to incite sin. 384 00:22:24,120 --> 00:22:28,000 I don't know if you've read that. 385 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:30,880 You know what he means by that is basically the law wasn't 386 00:22:30,880 --> 00:22:34,040 given for you to have a greater knowledge of salvation. 387 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:36,760 The law was given to give you a greater knowledge of your sin, 388 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,840 to show you out for who you are apart from God. 389 00:22:43,040 --> 00:22:46,960 It says in Romans 319 the law was given so that every mouth 390 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:52,960 may be silenced and the entire world held accountable to God. 391 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:59,160 Right before we reach the good news in Romans chapter 8, 392 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:03,120 there's this lion in Romans 7 that says, wretched man that I 393 00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:06,600 am, who will save me from this body of death? 394 00:23:07,880 --> 00:23:12,360 If you haven't gotten there justification by law, how then 395 00:23:12,360 --> 00:23:16,000 do we enter? What is it that finally silences 396 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:21,480 there for this gatekeeper and lets us in or in order to do 397 00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:25,680 that, Paul extrapolates across the whole Old Testament and the 398 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:28,400 new. He weaves together in one verse 399 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:31,440 this meta narrative that we find throughout the entirety of 400 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:33,520 Scripture. And I want to hop, skip and jump 401 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:35,840 through some of my favorites starting right at the very 402 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:40,320 beginning, goes right back to the first few pages of Genesis 403 00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:44,640 when Adam and Eve sin. I'm sure you've heard the story 404 00:23:44,640 --> 00:23:46,320 even if you've never been in church before. 405 00:23:47,160 --> 00:23:50,840 They sin. But what you haven't heard, if 406 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:53,720 you've never been in church before, is what God says first. 407 00:23:53,720 --> 00:23:56,320 God doesn't say what have you done? 408 00:23:57,760 --> 00:24:01,800 He says, where are you? Because sin separates. 409 00:24:02,520 --> 00:24:05,960 Sin stands as that gatekeeper. He says, where are you? 410 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:09,480 And what he does, He is the first one to shed blood. 411 00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:12,200 He sacrifices an animal because they had thought, well, this is 412 00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:14,320 a great plan. We're going to cover our 413 00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:17,560 nakedness with fig leaves. But that will last all of three 414 00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:19,960 hours. And God sacrifices an animal to 415 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:22,840 cover them with the animal skin. And what we learn in the very 416 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:27,120 first thing, and what Paul wants us to know, is that it's only 417 00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:30,680 through the blood that your guilt and your sin, your shame, 418 00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:33,400 your nakedness is covered. Only through the blood are we 419 00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:35,720 accepted by God. Only through the blood can we 420 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,040 have fellowship with God. And then you Fast forward and 421 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:39,760 you get to Noah. You might have heard of Noah. 422 00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:43,800 What you probably know of Noah is that the animals come two by 423 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:47,000 two. But actually it says in Genesis 424 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:51,040 7, this is God speaking to know. He says take 7 pairs of every 425 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:53,720 kind of clean animal with you. Why 7 pairs? 426 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:56,600 Or because those were to be set aside for sacrifice. 427 00:24:57,520 --> 00:25:00,960 Because what Noah got to realize is that that water and those 428 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:02,880 floods would not cleanse the earth. 429 00:25:03,120 --> 00:25:07,040 He can't scrub away sin. The first thing he did when he 430 00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:11,720 landed back on dry ground was build an altar, sacrifices 431 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:14,840 animals, and baptize A sinful world in blood. 432 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:20,240 Abraham, in Genesis 12, God says to him, to your offspring, I 433 00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:21,880 will give you this land. What does he do? 434 00:25:21,880 --> 00:25:25,120 He bolts and altar. There's blood because there's no 435 00:25:25,120 --> 00:25:27,960 promise, there's no purposes of God apart from the blood. 436 00:25:28,760 --> 00:25:32,120 And then in Genesis 15, God makes a covenant with him, and 437 00:25:32,120 --> 00:25:34,800 those covenants require him to cut animals in half. 438 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:38,040 It is a bloody, earthy, gory mess because there's no 439 00:25:38,040 --> 00:25:40,160 covenant, no relationship with God. 440 00:25:40,320 --> 00:25:48,720 There is no entering in without the blood in Egypt right at the 441 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:51,720 very beginning, before they let out. 442 00:25:51,760 --> 00:25:53,840 What does Moses say to the people of Israel? 443 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:58,240 Take the blood of the land and put it on the doorpost, because 444 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:02,200 you are bound to slavery and sin apart from the blood. 445 00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:06,120 Before they were set free, it required blood. 446 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:09,640 Yeah, I could tell you. But Mount Sinai, for those who 447 00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:13,160 want to go after the law, before God gave the law, before the law 448 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:15,160 was established, there was blood. 449 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:17,480 I could tell you about the Tabernacle. 450 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:21,720 The presence of God is wanting to draw near Adam. 451 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,960 Where are you? The Tabernacle is covered in 452 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:27,000 blood. The priests who minister there 453 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:29,200 have blood on the ears, on the hands, on their feet. 454 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:32,400 You walk into the Tabernacle and right in front of you is the 455 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:35,080 Altar of Sacrifice. Blood everywhere, not only on 456 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:36,880 the altar, but sprinkled on the sides. 457 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:39,880 The high priest, the only one who was allowed into the Holy of 458 00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:43,320 Holies with the presence of God Word, needed the anointing and 459 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:46,080 the shedding of blood as well. And then when he entered into 460 00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:50,960 the Tabernacle, into the Holy of Holies, it's an unusual space, 461 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:55,040 had no windows, 4 layers of skin to keep it dark. 462 00:26:56,120 --> 00:27:00,920 There was no candles, no lighting, no LEDs, but it was 463 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,480 lit by the very presence of God. It's called the Shekinah, glory 464 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:09,200 of God, and it says this. God declared that he would dwell 465 00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:11,480 above the mercy seat. So you've got the Ark of the 466 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:12,880 Covenant, you've got the mercy seat. 467 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:16,240 God declared He would dwell above the mercy seat, the place 468 00:27:16,400 --> 00:27:20,080 where the high priest would pour the blood to atone for the sins 469 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:23,480 of his people, because the presence of the Lord is where 470 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,200 the blood is. When you apply the blood of the 471 00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:32,080 Lamb, God comes. When you apply the blood, the 472 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:35,680 king is in the room. I can tell you there's so much 473 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:37,960 more. We don't have time, they tell 474 00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:42,080 you, but they're all shadows, They're all pictures. 475 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:46,520 They're all pointing to the one Paul points to, the one 476 00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:49,200 Scripture points to the one that John the Baptist points to. 477 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:54,400 Behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the 478 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:59,720 world. And so Paul in one verse, he 479 00:27:59,720 --> 00:28:02,000 weaves this meta narrative together. 480 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:04,560 And when he writes to the church in Ephesus, he says we have 481 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:08,080 redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. 482 00:28:08,080 --> 00:28:10,400 We are brought near, Adam, where are you? 483 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:14,120 We are brought near by the blood of Christ to the Colossians. 484 00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:16,840 He says we have peace with God by his blood. 485 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:21,120 And when he writes to the church and run, he says we have been 486 00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:27,720 justified by his blood. So if you're wanting to know 487 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:33,120 what is there for there for it stands as a gatekeeper not only 488 00:28:33,120 --> 00:28:37,360 to Zoe life, but to your eternal life and your relationship with 489 00:28:37,360 --> 00:28:40,440 Jesus Christ. And it asks you, have you been 490 00:28:40,440 --> 00:28:45,720 justified not by works, not by the law, but by the blood of the 491 00:28:45,720 --> 00:28:49,480 lamb that was shed on the cross for your sin, your guilt and 492 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:54,160 shame, your past? That and only that? 493 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:57,720 What, what allows you and I into this fullness that God is 494 00:28:57,720 --> 00:29:01,080 calling us to? So before we get anywhere near 495 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:06,400 this, I want to ask you, have you been justified by the blood 496 00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:12,680 of the lamb? Have you allowed the blood shed 497 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,920 on the cross to cleanse you of your sin? 498 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:18,400 Or are you still trying to earn it? 499 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:23,320 Earning it will get you nowhere. Actually, here's my favorite 500 00:29:23,320 --> 00:29:26,520 verse in the whole book of Romans, Romans 4, verse five. 501 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:33,080 He justifies the ungodly. So you're sitting there going 502 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:34,520 like, yeah, but you don't know my past. 503 00:29:34,640 --> 00:29:40,080 Is your past ungodly? Then you're the poster child for 504 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:43,080 his forgiveness. He justifies the ungodly. 505 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:45,880 Ah, my background. My, you don't know, I went to 506 00:29:45,880 --> 00:29:49,160 prison because wow, He justifies the ungodly. 507 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:56,080 I'll close with this. 1987 New York was struggling with its 508 00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:58,560 landfalls. It was overwhelmed with the 509 00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:02,040 amount of garbage that it had. And one businessman, savvy 510 00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:04,400 businessman decided he, what he's going to do is he's going 511 00:30:04,400 --> 00:30:07,000 to take a whole bunch of this rubbish and just go dump it 512 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:10,320 somewhere else. And so he hired the MO bro, 513 00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:13,520 which is a barge. Actually got a picture of that? 514 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:16,840 It carries something like 3000 tons. 515 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:21,280 Take a look at that, 3000 tons of rubbish. 516 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:23,280 And he figured, well, what he's going to do is he's going to 517 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:25,600 take it from New York and he's going to take it down the coast 518 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:29,360 and he'll just dump it where the landfalls are needing to be 519 00:30:29,360 --> 00:30:31,680 filled. And so he went down to North 520 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:34,240 Carolina and they blocked him at the port. 521 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:37,360 Thank you. You can take your shipment of 522 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:42,680 rubbish somewhere else. What to the pure? 523 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:48,440 All things are pure. He tried Florida, 10,000 people 524 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:52,480 came out to protest, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi. 525 00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:55,040 We've got a picture there where he tried Mexico, Belize, 526 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:57,480 Bahamas. The Mexican government since a 527 00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:01,640 Navy blockade said over your dead body, you are not bringing 528 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:03,040 your rubbish and dumping it here. 529 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:07,320 You try to go back up to New York and they had a temporary 530 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:09,760 restraining order. Long story short, the guy ends 531 00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:14,000 up bankrupt and in prison. But at the end of the article it 532 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,400 says the following. It says it resulted in America's 533 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,800 increased exploration of disposal methods. 534 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:26,400 I look at it, I thought that is just like America, we will find 535 00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:29,280 a new way to dispose of our rubbish. 536 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:36,320 That is just like South Africa. We will find a new way to 537 00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:40,040 dispose of our rubbish. That is just like South Africa. 538 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:41,480 We will find a new way to dispose of our rubbish that is 539 00:31:41,480 --> 00:31:45,600 just like mankind, the blood. No, there must be another way. 540 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:50,920 And we end up Sunday after Sunday coming like that barge 541 00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:57,840 dragging 6000 tons worth of baggage and background and shame 542 00:31:57,840 --> 00:32:01,080 and guilt and you dare not come to church because as you can 543 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:03,720 see, it's sort of, you know, it's trickling in the background 544 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:05,920 there. They'll know, they'll see, 545 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:10,160 they'll find out your shocking treatments at work and how you 546 00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:13,480 handle your finances and what you saw last night. 547 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:18,680 And so instead, we settle for finding an alternative method to 548 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:20,960 dump our garbage. But there is none. 549 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:25,880 There is no other name by which we are saved but the name of 550 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:28,760 Jesus. There is no other way for us to 551 00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:32,720 live in the fullness of what God has but through the shed blood 552 00:32:32,720 --> 00:32:35,920 of Jesus on the cross on your behalf. 553 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:42,760 So say all of that to say this. How are you trying to make right 554 00:32:42,760 --> 00:32:48,800 with God? He will not let you pass. 555 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:52,440 That gatekeeper will stand. It's God. 556 00:32:54,360 --> 00:32:59,240 He invites US1 and all to enter by the blood of the Lamb alone. 557 00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:03,440 And that is your invitation this morning. 558 00:33:04,320 --> 00:33:10,240 Would you enter all that? We've sung everything we've 559 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:15,120 heard this morning, the meta narrative of Scripture. 560 00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:21,640 Don't come this morning and leave with the tons and tons of 561 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:26,280 baggage and brokenness. Instead, leave it at the cross. 562 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:30,000 And then next week we come and we find out all that God has for 563 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:32,440 you is your journey together. Thank you.