1 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:07,800 The gospel literally means good news 2 00:00:07,966 --> 00:00:09,933 and it is good news. 3 00:00:09,933 --> 00:00:12,900 But if you've been with us in the study of Romans, 4 00:00:12,900 --> 00:00:15,900 we've been through the first two chapters. 5 00:00:16,300 --> 00:00:19,300 And it, it doesn't sound like good news. 6 00:00:19,433 --> 00:00:21,200 If you read the first two chapters of Romans. 7 00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:22,500 It's. 8 00:00:22,500 --> 00:00:25,400 It feels like it's nothing but bad news. 9 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:28,266 Though the gospel is good news. 10 00:00:28,266 --> 00:00:31,266 And what Paul does in the first two chapters of Romans 11 00:00:31,800 --> 00:00:34,800 is he paints a very clear picture 12 00:00:34,933 --> 00:00:37,933 of the bad news. 13 00:00:38,700 --> 00:00:41,700 I was reminded of what he does in this way. 14 00:00:41,766 --> 00:00:46,233 If any of you gone to a jeweler and looked at diamonds, just diamonds. 15 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:47,800 Any of you. 16 00:00:47,800 --> 00:00:48,733 None of you. 17 00:00:48,733 --> 00:00:51,433 Some of you need to get some new people in your life to take your advice. 18 00:00:51,433 --> 00:00:52,633 Sometimes. 19 00:00:52,633 --> 00:00:55,533 If you go to a jeweler and they show you diamonds 20 00:00:57,100 --> 00:01:00,100 that they don't show you a diamond 21 00:01:00,333 --> 00:01:03,333 on a white or pale background 22 00:01:03,933 --> 00:01:06,266 because it looks like this, 23 00:01:06,266 --> 00:01:08,066 it's still a diamond. 24 00:01:08,066 --> 00:01:10,800 Really, really valuable. 25 00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:12,533 But this isn't how they show you diamond. 26 00:01:12,533 --> 00:01:15,533 How do they show you a diamond? 27 00:01:15,600 --> 00:01:16,366 A black belt. 28 00:01:16,366 --> 00:01:19,366 Why does it change the diamond? 29 00:01:22,266 --> 00:01:25,266 It just makes the value. 30 00:01:25,333 --> 00:01:28,333 And the beauty of the diamond. Pop. 31 00:01:28,866 --> 00:01:31,866 And that's what Paul does in chapters one and two. 32 00:01:32,100 --> 00:01:35,100 And in verses three, one through 20, 33 00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:38,400 he's showing us the grace of God. 34 00:01:39,500 --> 00:01:41,900 But he has to show us the grace of God 35 00:01:41,900 --> 00:01:44,900 in front of a black background, 36 00:01:45,433 --> 00:01:48,900 so that not because it changes God's grace, 37 00:01:49,666 --> 00:01:52,666 but also but because it makes God's grace 38 00:01:53,133 --> 00:01:56,133 visible and it pops. 39 00:01:56,566 --> 00:01:59,033 And the black background 40 00:01:59,033 --> 00:02:01,833 on which he presents the grace of God. 41 00:02:01,833 --> 00:02:02,666 The gospel 42 00:02:03,733 --> 00:02:05,900 is our sin. 43 00:02:05,900 --> 00:02:09,466 And that's why chapters one and two are so dark, 44 00:02:11,300 --> 00:02:15,366 so that we will realize the darkness of our lives. 45 00:02:15,366 --> 00:02:18,733 Apart from God's grace exhibited in the Son, 46 00:02:19,600 --> 00:02:23,566 so that when we see God's grace exhibited in His Son, 47 00:02:24,833 --> 00:02:26,833 it pops. 48 00:02:26,833 --> 00:02:29,466 See, part of our problem 49 00:02:29,466 --> 00:02:31,266 religious people 50 00:02:31,266 --> 00:02:34,266 is we try to convince ourselves and others 51 00:02:34,300 --> 00:02:37,900 that our background is as white and pure as possible. 52 00:02:40,266 --> 00:02:42,400 Rather than acknowledging 53 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:45,400 how darkened it has become. 54 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:48,600 And when we do that, all we're doing 55 00:02:49,133 --> 00:02:52,066 is we're discrediting the beauty 56 00:02:52,066 --> 00:02:55,066 and the magnificence of God's grace. 57 00:02:56,300 --> 00:02:59,300 And so Paul presents the gospel, the good news, the grace of God 58 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:03,033 against a black background of our sin. 59 00:03:03,500 --> 00:03:06,500 In chapters one and two, in the first part of chapter three. 60 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:10,800 And it though it is good news, doesn't look good. 61 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:15,700 In chapter two, Paul finishes with this, 62 00:03:15,700 --> 00:03:18,700 this, this teaching about the 63 00:03:18,700 --> 00:03:21,433 the the act of circumcision for the Jew. 64 00:03:21,433 --> 00:03:22,733 It was really, really important. 65 00:03:22,733 --> 00:03:26,866 That was the sign that God had given them that they were a set apart people. 66 00:03:27,166 --> 00:03:31,100 And religiously, the Jews believed that because they had this 67 00:03:31,133 --> 00:03:34,200 sign, that this sign made them right with God. 68 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:38,700 So, in other words, for us, because we obey the law, 69 00:03:39,000 --> 00:03:42,633 because we try to behave appropriately, 70 00:03:43,566 --> 00:03:46,600 our behavior makes us right with God. 71 00:03:46,866 --> 00:03:50,266 And Paul goes through a lot of chapter two at the end of that and says, look, that 72 00:03:50,266 --> 00:03:52,133 that has nothing to do with you being right with God. 73 00:03:52,133 --> 00:03:57,233 Your behavior and your religiosity and how good you are 74 00:03:57,733 --> 00:04:01,200 doesn't make you right with God by any stretch of the imagination. 75 00:04:01,500 --> 00:04:05,033 And so in chapter three, what Paul does is he starts asking questions, 76 00:04:05,300 --> 00:04:08,833 and he uses a Socratic method of teaching 77 00:04:08,966 --> 00:04:13,866 where the teacher will ask a question that really counters 78 00:04:13,866 --> 00:04:17,266 his own teaching and then provide the answer for it 79 00:04:18,133 --> 00:04:21,800 so that the hearers, the learners, will kind of learn along with him. 80 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:23,533 Let me I'm going to pull something. 81 00:04:23,533 --> 00:04:26,533 Now, I'm going to ask your question and I'm going to answer your question. 82 00:04:26,733 --> 00:04:28,400 That's a Socratic method of teaching. 83 00:04:28,400 --> 00:04:29,533 So Paul does it. 84 00:04:29,533 --> 00:04:33,533 And in chapter three he asks a few questions. 85 00:04:34,433 --> 00:04:37,300 And one of them, the one he starts with having just talked 86 00:04:37,300 --> 00:04:41,100 about the religious behavior of Jews, then them thinking that by their 87 00:04:41,100 --> 00:04:43,166 religiosity they're right with God. 88 00:04:44,933 --> 00:04:45,300 He says, 89 00:04:45,300 --> 00:04:48,300 what advantage, then, is there in being a Jew? 90 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:50,933 Or what value is there in circumcision? 91 00:04:50,933 --> 00:04:53,266 So naturally, the Jews he was writing to what? 92 00:04:53,266 --> 00:04:56,300 Ask the question, Paul, if you're saying that all of our religious 93 00:04:56,300 --> 00:05:00,633 behavior doesn't make us right with God, then what advantage is there in doing it? 94 00:05:01,566 --> 00:05:04,400 What advantages are in us being Jews? 95 00:05:04,400 --> 00:05:06,233 Good question. 96 00:05:06,233 --> 00:05:09,000 He's going to answer it in verse two and in verse 234. 97 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:10,333 This is what he says. 98 00:05:10,333 --> 00:05:13,333 Well, there's advantage much in every way. 99 00:05:13,333 --> 00:05:16,500 First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. 100 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,700 Now what if some were unfaithful where their unfaithfulness 101 00:05:20,700 --> 00:05:23,200 nullified God's faithfulness? Not at all. 102 00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:27,566 What he's saying is the great advantage is they've been given the Word of God. 103 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:29,866 What if they don't believe? It don't matter. 104 00:05:29,866 --> 00:05:31,766 It's still the truth. 105 00:05:31,766 --> 00:05:35,100 Does their lack of acknowledgment of belief in following God 106 00:05:35,100 --> 00:05:37,800 make God out to be a liar and everything he said? No, not at all. 107 00:05:39,966 --> 00:05:42,600 Let God be true in every human being, a liar 108 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:45,266 as it is written, so that you may be proved right 109 00:05:45,266 --> 00:05:47,866 when you speak, and prevail when you judge. 110 00:05:47,866 --> 00:05:50,066 Now let me tell you what's going on here. 111 00:05:50,066 --> 00:05:54,566 The natural question that they would ask Paul is what advantage is there 112 00:05:54,566 --> 00:05:58,333 if you say all this religious behavior and all my goodness doesn't make me 113 00:05:58,333 --> 00:05:59,000 right with God. 114 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,000 What advantage is there in being 115 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:05,166 religiously right? 116 00:06:05,166 --> 00:06:08,666 He says, well, there's this great advantage honestly, in it. 117 00:06:08,733 --> 00:06:10,933 And if we look at ourselves, I would say the same. 118 00:06:10,933 --> 00:06:11,966 There's a great advantage 119 00:06:11,966 --> 00:06:15,433 why Paul will tell the Jews because you've been given the words of God. 120 00:06:15,966 --> 00:06:18,966 Well, guess what we've been given. 121 00:06:19,966 --> 00:06:21,900 The Word of God. 122 00:06:21,900 --> 00:06:24,900 It would be like us saying, well, what advantage is there in us? 123 00:06:24,900 --> 00:06:27,933 You know, doing a church thing much in every way. 124 00:06:29,266 --> 00:06:30,966 We have the advantage of 125 00:06:30,966 --> 00:06:34,666 having a place to come and study the words of God, 126 00:06:35,266 --> 00:06:38,266 to have it explained to us, 127 00:06:38,266 --> 00:06:41,366 to go verse by verse through God's Word. 128 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:45,000 So it's clear and it's known and the truth is proclaimed. 129 00:06:45,266 --> 00:06:49,333 We have the advantage of being a part of a huddle and a small group of people 130 00:06:49,466 --> 00:06:53,633 who are doing life together and learning God's Word, and we have the advantage. 131 00:06:53,700 --> 00:06:58,500 Parents of your children being in church and learning the rhythms of worship, 132 00:06:58,500 --> 00:06:59,566 you have the advantage of it. 133 00:06:59,566 --> 00:07:00,666 We have the advantage 134 00:07:00,666 --> 00:07:04,100 of a youth ministry that is incredible junior high and high school as well. 135 00:07:04,733 --> 00:07:08,566 Well, they can learn relationships with God and with each other. 136 00:07:08,566 --> 00:07:11,100 We have the advantage. 137 00:07:11,100 --> 00:07:14,700 We have the advantage of taking the advantage of going on mission trips. 138 00:07:15,233 --> 00:07:19,200 So we get out of our own culture, so we expand the kingdom. 139 00:07:19,266 --> 00:07:21,333 We have the advantage. Do you understand what I'm saying? 140 00:07:25,266 --> 00:07:27,400 And what Paul says is just because 141 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:31,100 some people don't believe what God says, does that nullify what God says? 142 00:07:31,700 --> 00:07:34,000 Not at all. 143 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:35,433 That God be true and every man a liar. 144 00:07:35,433 --> 00:07:38,433 Basically what he says is if if God says a 145 00:07:38,966 --> 00:07:41,966 and Colter says, be. 146 00:07:42,433 --> 00:07:44,666 A is right. 147 00:07:44,666 --> 00:07:46,733 What he says. 148 00:07:46,733 --> 00:07:49,966 So here's the thing saying we have to assess cultures consensus 149 00:07:50,333 --> 00:07:53,100 and their opinions about issues don't matter 150 00:07:53,100 --> 00:07:56,100 to the disciple of Jesus. 151 00:07:56,400 --> 00:07:58,066 God is true. 152 00:07:58,066 --> 00:08:01,066 And I think counter to that is a lie. 153 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:03,966 That God be true and every person a liar. 154 00:08:03,966 --> 00:08:04,933 God's right. 155 00:08:04,933 --> 00:08:10,200 So Paul has just got done talking about how God will judge unrighteousness, 156 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:15,000 unrepentant sin, and Paul saying God is right in his judgment 157 00:08:15,833 --> 00:08:18,100 just because you don't believe how black 158 00:08:19,833 --> 00:08:20,700 our souls 159 00:08:20,700 --> 00:08:23,800 are without him, just because you don't believe it does mean it's not true. 160 00:08:23,933 --> 00:08:24,866 God is true. 161 00:08:24,866 --> 00:08:28,066 Everyone's a liar and his judgment is true. 162 00:08:28,566 --> 00:08:31,566 And then Paul quotes 163 00:08:31,633 --> 00:08:33,900 from Psalm 51 verse four, 164 00:08:33,900 --> 00:08:37,133 so that you may be proved right when you speak, and prevail when you judge 165 00:08:37,133 --> 00:08:40,133 that David wrote that King David 166 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,100 in Psalm 51, if you're not hit pause. 167 00:08:43,100 --> 00:08:44,633 Hearers would understand this. 168 00:08:44,633 --> 00:08:46,966 They would their minds go right back to what they wrote. 169 00:08:46,966 --> 00:08:49,066 Psalm 51 hours. Maybe not so much. 170 00:08:49,066 --> 00:08:52,066 Let me tell you in Psalm 51, David as King, 171 00:08:53,533 --> 00:08:57,566 committed adultery with this lady named Bathsheba, got her pregnant 172 00:08:58,233 --> 00:09:01,100 and then contracted to have her husband killed 173 00:09:01,100 --> 00:09:04,666 so he wouldn't look guilty and then took her as his own. 174 00:09:05,633 --> 00:09:09,833 And he had convinced himself that it wasn't that bad. 175 00:09:11,166 --> 00:09:11,433 And the 176 00:09:11,433 --> 00:09:14,433 prophet Nathan came to him and said, David, we need to talk. 177 00:09:14,700 --> 00:09:17,500 Here's the truth. 178 00:09:17,500 --> 00:09:20,500 Your heart is blackened right now. 179 00:09:20,866 --> 00:09:22,966 And David repents of that sin. 180 00:09:22,966 --> 00:09:26,400 And he writes this psalm, Psalm 51 and he says, 181 00:09:27,333 --> 00:09:30,333 you are proved right when you speak, 182 00:09:30,333 --> 00:09:33,333 and you prevail when you judge against me, 183 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:35,666 because I have sinned, 184 00:09:35,666 --> 00:09:38,666 I am far from the glory of God, 185 00:09:38,700 --> 00:09:41,166 and my heart is black. 186 00:09:41,166 --> 00:09:43,400 God, you're right. 187 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:45,800 Do you understand? 188 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:48,600 And that whole Psalm is David agreeing 189 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:51,600 with God about his sin and God's judgment. 190 00:09:53,533 --> 00:09:56,100 And so, so that's what Paul said and said, look, 191 00:09:56,100 --> 00:09:59,100 whether you believe all this stuff doesn't change the truth of it. 192 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:03,266 And for the Christian, 193 00:10:03,266 --> 00:10:06,266 a matter of culture says. 194 00:10:06,633 --> 00:10:08,100 That God be true and every man a liar. 195 00:10:10,300 --> 00:10:13,300 Even about the blackness of our own soul. 196 00:10:13,733 --> 00:10:15,500 And then he goes on in verses five and six, 197 00:10:15,500 --> 00:10:18,400 and he's still he's asking questions and he's providing answers. 198 00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:21,933 But if our righteousness brings out God's, if our unrighteousness 199 00:10:21,933 --> 00:10:25,366 brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? 200 00:10:25,866 --> 00:10:27,000 What shall we say? 201 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,000 That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? 202 00:10:30,066 --> 00:10:32,100 He's like, look, I'm just talking as a human. 203 00:10:32,100 --> 00:10:35,100 Like I'm using human logic here. 204 00:10:35,500 --> 00:10:37,466 Certainly not. 205 00:10:37,466 --> 00:10:39,333 If that were so, how could God just the world? 206 00:10:39,333 --> 00:10:41,233 Here's what he's saying. 207 00:10:41,233 --> 00:10:45,566 He's saying the brilliance of the diamond is just not in the diamond. 208 00:10:45,566 --> 00:10:47,400 The brilliance of the diamond is seen 209 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:50,400 because it's contrasted against the dark background. 210 00:10:51,633 --> 00:10:53,100 We all understand that. 211 00:10:53,100 --> 00:10:56,100 And so Paul's argument is, if my sin, 212 00:10:56,566 --> 00:11:00,000 my dark background makes God's goodness look really good, 213 00:11:01,733 --> 00:11:03,433 then he can't judge me for being bad 214 00:11:03,433 --> 00:11:06,466 because he looks good by my badness. 215 00:11:07,533 --> 00:11:11,133 So honestly, if all I'm doing is making him look good, 216 00:11:11,900 --> 00:11:14,200 he has no right to judge me 217 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:16,600 because of to his benefit. 218 00:11:16,600 --> 00:11:18,033 You understand? 219 00:11:18,033 --> 00:11:20,866 Yes, and that's the argument. 220 00:11:20,866 --> 00:11:23,866 And Paul's like, that's ridiculous. 221 00:11:25,433 --> 00:11:28,433 That he's going to judge the world. 222 00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:34,500 And he says, honestly, just because God's grace 223 00:11:34,500 --> 00:11:37,500 looks good against your sin, your sin is still your sin. 224 00:11:39,400 --> 00:11:42,400 You can't get away from that. 225 00:11:42,466 --> 00:11:45,633 And then he takes it a step further in verses seven and eight. 226 00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:49,800 Someone might argue, if my falsehood enhances God's 227 00:11:49,800 --> 00:11:52,800 truthfulness and so increases his glory, 228 00:11:53,233 --> 00:11:56,033 why am I still condemned as a sinner? 229 00:11:56,033 --> 00:11:58,900 Why not say as some slander should claim? 230 00:11:58,900 --> 00:12:01,733 We say, let us do evil. 231 00:12:01,733 --> 00:12:04,933 That good may result. And then he just sits 232 00:12:05,900 --> 00:12:06,800 there, condemnation. 233 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:07,166 Just. 234 00:12:07,166 --> 00:12:08,866 Here's what 235 00:12:08,866 --> 00:12:09,166 he said. 236 00:12:09,166 --> 00:12:11,600 Some people take it this far. 237 00:12:11,600 --> 00:12:14,600 If God's grace abounds where my sin is, I'ma 238 00:12:14,600 --> 00:12:17,600 be really sinful so I can get a bunch of grace. 239 00:12:18,366 --> 00:12:23,133 If my sinful makes God look really good, like a really dark background. 240 00:12:23,133 --> 00:12:26,766 So the diamond really pops, then I'm going to make sure 241 00:12:26,766 --> 00:12:29,766 I got a really dark background. 242 00:12:30,166 --> 00:12:33,166 You get it? 243 00:12:33,300 --> 00:12:36,300 And his response is, 244 00:12:36,900 --> 00:12:38,500 you're an idiot. 245 00:12:38,500 --> 00:12:40,933 Now, he says that in a very Pauline 246 00:12:40,933 --> 00:12:43,566 biblical way, but spiritually, 247 00:12:43,566 --> 00:12:47,133 he says that doesn't even merit a response. 248 00:12:48,300 --> 00:12:51,300 That's just stupid. 249 00:12:52,466 --> 00:12:54,700 And then Paul goes on in verses nine through eight, 250 00:12:54,700 --> 00:12:57,000 and I'm not going to read it all. You can read on your own. 251 00:12:57,000 --> 00:13:00,233 And he asked this question because he's writing to Jews, 252 00:13:00,233 --> 00:13:02,833 and we'll translate it to our time. But he's asking this question, 253 00:13:04,366 --> 00:13:06,100 how about us religious Jews? 254 00:13:06,100 --> 00:13:09,633 Are we no better because of our religious behavior? 255 00:13:10,233 --> 00:13:12,600 We could ask the same thing. 256 00:13:12,600 --> 00:13:13,500 We're in church. 257 00:13:13,500 --> 00:13:16,100 We're studying the Bible like we're good people. 258 00:13:16,100 --> 00:13:18,000 Are we know better. 259 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:21,000 As far as our relationship to God because of our goodness. 260 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:24,400 And Paul says, 261 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,400 yeah, they're not in the least. 262 00:13:28,933 --> 00:13:31,100 We're not even slightly better 263 00:13:31,100 --> 00:13:34,100 because of our good deeds. 264 00:13:34,300 --> 00:13:36,666 And he will say in verses nine 265 00:13:36,666 --> 00:13:39,900 through 18, we are all under sin. 266 00:13:40,666 --> 00:13:43,700 And when Paul says we're under sin, he means two things 267 00:13:43,733 --> 00:13:47,333 one, without Christ and his work on it was death on the cross. 268 00:13:47,600 --> 00:13:50,566 We are slaves to sin, 269 00:13:50,566 --> 00:13:53,266 and sin is a tyrant ruler. 270 00:13:53,266 --> 00:13:59,233 What he's saying is we will never get free from sin by ourself. 271 00:14:00,100 --> 00:14:02,966 It's too big. It's too powerful. 272 00:14:02,966 --> 00:14:06,266 It will always rule over us as a tyrant. 273 00:14:06,300 --> 00:14:08,966 Never relenting, never letting go. 274 00:14:08,966 --> 00:14:10,900 And sin only increases. 275 00:14:10,900 --> 00:14:14,266 It never decreases. Left to itself. 276 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:17,833 And he quotes in those verses 277 00:14:17,833 --> 00:14:21,700 nine through 18, he quotes from Psalm five, Psalm ten, Psalm 14. 278 00:14:21,700 --> 00:14:22,733 Psalm 36. 279 00:14:22,733 --> 00:14:23,700 Psalm 53. 280 00:14:23,700 --> 00:14:27,433 Psalm 140, Ecclesiastes seven, and Isaiah 59. 281 00:14:28,166 --> 00:14:31,166 And basically what he says is your entire body. 282 00:14:31,700 --> 00:14:35,466 And he goes right down the list your mind, your throat, your, 283 00:14:36,366 --> 00:14:39,400 your lips, your tongue, your mouth, your feet, your eyes. 284 00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:42,233 The whole thing is corrupt and sinful. 285 00:14:42,233 --> 00:14:45,133 What he does is he takes an X-ray, 286 00:14:45,133 --> 00:14:49,133 a cat scan of our soul, of our heart, an internal look. 287 00:14:49,166 --> 00:14:53,466 He says the whole thing inside you is corrupt and darkened by sin. 288 00:14:53,666 --> 00:14:56,966 You might look good on the outside because of all your religious stuff. 289 00:14:57,300 --> 00:15:00,566 And honestly, some of us look really good on the outside, 290 00:15:01,833 --> 00:15:04,833 right? 291 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:10,300 Just maybe you need to know some better people. 292 00:15:10,300 --> 00:15:14,066 I don't know, but like like some of us, some of you look really good 293 00:15:14,066 --> 00:15:14,733 on the outside. 294 00:15:14,733 --> 00:15:17,400 And that's what Paul saying you might look great on. 295 00:15:17,400 --> 00:15:18,266 But inside 296 00:15:21,433 --> 00:15:24,433 the darkest night. 297 00:15:26,666 --> 00:15:29,100 And then in verse 18 298 00:15:29,100 --> 00:15:32,100 he says, there is no fear of God before their eyes. 299 00:15:33,900 --> 00:15:36,533 What he means is this 300 00:15:36,533 --> 00:15:39,533 wherever there is sin, there's no fear of God. 301 00:15:39,566 --> 00:15:42,666 He's just got done for two and a half chapters talking about God's 302 00:15:42,666 --> 00:15:45,966 wrath of sin and his judgment on sin. 303 00:15:46,866 --> 00:15:49,866 And he says, if. 304 00:15:50,133 --> 00:15:52,133 If, if, 305 00:15:52,133 --> 00:15:55,133 if you're not fearful of his wrath, 306 00:15:55,900 --> 00:15:58,533 sin is going to abound. 307 00:15:58,533 --> 00:16:01,533 And when we let sin rule in our lives, 308 00:16:01,833 --> 00:16:05,033 there is no fear of the wrath of God. 309 00:16:06,933 --> 00:16:09,933 You follow. 310 00:16:11,966 --> 00:16:14,400 And so the end of 19 and verse 20, 311 00:16:14,400 --> 00:16:17,566 he goes on, he says, so that every mouth may be silenced. 312 00:16:17,633 --> 00:16:19,500 The whole world held accountable to God. 313 00:16:19,500 --> 00:16:22,900 He's saying, look, just say with me, keep your mouth shut for a minute. 314 00:16:22,900 --> 00:16:23,866 Let me just unpack. 315 00:16:23,866 --> 00:16:27,533 This is what he's saying so that you have no response to God. 316 00:16:28,333 --> 00:16:31,633 He's going to hold the whole world accountable for our sin. 317 00:16:32,833 --> 00:16:34,300 Therefore, 318 00:16:34,300 --> 00:16:37,533 no one will be declared righteous in God's sight 319 00:16:37,533 --> 00:16:41,133 by the works of the law, by what they do, by their religious behavior. 320 00:16:41,300 --> 00:16:45,366 Rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. 321 00:16:46,133 --> 00:16:50,566 And so he's saying religion does not make anybody right with God. 322 00:16:50,933 --> 00:16:53,933 The only thing religion does is prove how. 323 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:58,800 How far away from God we are. 324 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:01,833 The only thing religion does is prove 325 00:17:01,833 --> 00:17:05,133 that we fall far short of God. 326 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:10,333 It's wrong to think that religion makes someone a righteous person. 327 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:12,300 It might make someone a moral person. 328 00:17:12,300 --> 00:17:15,300 But here, man, this moral people don't get into heaven. 329 00:17:16,433 --> 00:17:19,566 People who have been declared righteous by God get into heaven. 330 00:17:20,733 --> 00:17:23,633 Jesus didn't come to make us moral. 331 00:17:23,633 --> 00:17:26,633 He came to make us righteous. 332 00:17:27,433 --> 00:17:30,566 It's wrong to think our religious behavior makes us righteous. 333 00:17:30,566 --> 00:17:31,200 It doesn't. 334 00:17:33,266 --> 00:17:33,800 The bad 335 00:17:33,800 --> 00:17:36,800 news is the darkness of our background. 336 00:17:37,666 --> 00:17:40,200 The only thing that religion does that 337 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:44,266 that God's laws do is prove we've broken them. 338 00:17:45,733 --> 00:17:48,733 There's nobody I haven't come across to anybody yet 339 00:17:50,066 --> 00:17:54,733 who obeys every theme in the Bible 340 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:58,500 24 seven every day of their life. 341 00:17:58,500 --> 00:18:01,500 Do you know anybody? 342 00:18:02,766 --> 00:18:05,766 There's nobody. 343 00:18:06,700 --> 00:18:09,966 So all this does is prove 344 00:18:11,200 --> 00:18:14,200 how darkened our soul is because of sin. 345 00:18:15,233 --> 00:18:18,233 It doesn't make us right with God. 346 00:18:18,433 --> 00:18:22,200 He says, but now the good news. 347 00:18:22,533 --> 00:18:25,300 That was all the dark background. 348 00:18:25,300 --> 00:18:26,766 Now the diamond. 349 00:18:26,766 --> 00:18:29,766 You ready? 350 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,000 But now this is the transition part here. 351 00:18:33,666 --> 00:18:36,666 This is where this is where he says 352 00:18:37,433 --> 00:18:40,866 the newness of God is coming through the work of Christ. 353 00:18:40,866 --> 00:18:44,566 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made 354 00:18:44,566 --> 00:18:48,833 known, to which the law and the prophets testify this righteousness. 355 00:18:48,833 --> 00:18:49,700 Pay attention to this. 356 00:18:49,700 --> 00:18:54,833 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. 357 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:56,933 There's no different judge. 358 00:18:56,933 --> 00:19:03,033 It doesn't matter, for all of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 359 00:19:03,066 --> 00:19:06,066 This is a really, really, really important passage of Scripture. 360 00:19:06,066 --> 00:19:09,833 Paul has established our legal guilt before God 361 00:19:10,100 --> 00:19:13,700 in the first two and a half chapters, and now he does. 362 00:19:13,766 --> 00:19:17,866 He establishes a legal turning of the tables in our favor. 363 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:21,033 So legally, he says, you're guilty. 364 00:19:21,033 --> 00:19:25,933 And now he's going to turn the legal tables not to our guilt, but to our freedom. 365 00:19:27,033 --> 00:19:29,166 Now things have changed. 366 00:19:29,166 --> 00:19:32,533 And what he says is righteous righteousness of God. 367 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:35,700 Righteousness 368 00:19:35,700 --> 00:19:38,700 is the judicial verdict of approval. 369 00:19:39,033 --> 00:19:40,500 It's a legal word. 370 00:19:40,500 --> 00:19:44,833 The judicial verdict of approval, not guilt. 371 00:19:45,966 --> 00:19:49,166 In essence, it's when I can say 372 00:19:49,166 --> 00:19:52,500 I am declared right by God after God has examined me. 373 00:19:52,500 --> 00:19:56,400 So the first two and a half chapters, God has examined us and found us guilty. 374 00:19:57,400 --> 00:19:59,966 And now, because of righteousness, 375 00:19:59,966 --> 00:20:03,866 he examines us again and finds us right with him. 376 00:20:04,500 --> 00:20:07,500 Not guilty. You follow. You follow. 377 00:20:07,500 --> 00:20:10,766 So this is what the Bible tells us about the righteousness of God 378 00:20:11,366 --> 00:20:12,833 being examined by God. 379 00:20:12,833 --> 00:20:17,733 Because of Jesus, been examined by God and now declared right with him. 380 00:20:18,533 --> 00:20:21,700 Now Paul says, where does this righteousness come from? 381 00:20:22,066 --> 00:20:23,666 From obeying the law and being obedient? 382 00:20:23,666 --> 00:20:26,666 No, not at all. You can't be good enough. 383 00:20:26,666 --> 00:20:30,466 You can't be religious enough to deserve to be considered righteous by God. 384 00:20:30,966 --> 00:20:32,066 Salvation. 385 00:20:32,066 --> 00:20:35,066 Being righteous with God is apart from anything you do. 386 00:20:35,500 --> 00:20:37,066 It has nothing to do with us. 387 00:20:37,066 --> 00:20:40,066 This is so important. We got to get this. 388 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:44,733 When Paul says righteousness comes through Jesus, I want you to shout. 389 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:48,000 It comes from God through faith in Jesus. 390 00:20:48,166 --> 00:20:52,533 This is how we're made right with God, from God through faith in Jesus. 391 00:20:53,733 --> 00:20:55,533 Paul has just said how righteousness 392 00:20:55,533 --> 00:20:59,000 doesn't come by obedience and behavior. 393 00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:02,733 It does come through faith in Jesus. 394 00:21:03,900 --> 00:21:08,600 Now there's a difference, and Paul makes this very clear. 395 00:21:09,000 --> 00:21:11,766 There's a difference between through faith 396 00:21:11,766 --> 00:21:14,500 and by faith. 397 00:21:14,500 --> 00:21:17,500 Please don't be confused. 398 00:21:18,066 --> 00:21:19,433 Right with God. 399 00:21:19,433 --> 00:21:23,033 Righteousness comes from God through faith in Jesus, 400 00:21:23,033 --> 00:21:26,033 not by faith in Jesus. 401 00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:29,100 Paul is very clear about that. 402 00:21:29,100 --> 00:21:32,100 It comes through faith in Jesus. 403 00:21:32,500 --> 00:21:34,500 Here's the difference. 404 00:21:34,500 --> 00:21:36,433 If I say that I am 405 00:21:36,433 --> 00:21:40,700 right with God by faith, by my faith in Jesus, who's in control, 406 00:21:42,266 --> 00:21:44,466 I am. 407 00:21:44,466 --> 00:21:47,466 It's by my faith. 408 00:21:47,766 --> 00:21:50,766 Has it has everything to do with me 409 00:21:50,866 --> 00:21:53,133 and my choice to believe. 410 00:21:53,133 --> 00:21:54,900 That's not what Paul says. 411 00:21:54,900 --> 00:21:58,300 Paul says it comes through faith in Jesus. 412 00:21:58,833 --> 00:21:59,866 And there's a difference. 413 00:22:03,233 --> 00:22:06,200 Faith. 414 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:09,233 Is not trusting or expecting God to do something. 415 00:22:09,900 --> 00:22:13,066 Like, by my faith, I expect him to make me right. 416 00:22:13,533 --> 00:22:16,600 Faith is relying on what God has already done. 417 00:22:18,633 --> 00:22:22,033 And so it's because of the father's testimony 418 00:22:22,033 --> 00:22:25,333 regarding his son and his son's work on the cross. 419 00:22:26,433 --> 00:22:28,466 Through faith of what God 420 00:22:28,466 --> 00:22:32,233 has already declared, through faith of what God has already determined, 421 00:22:33,300 --> 00:22:36,833 not by my faith, but through faith in what God has already declared. 422 00:22:37,866 --> 00:22:40,400 I rely on what he's already done 423 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,400 through faith. 424 00:22:43,433 --> 00:22:45,900 To trust. 425 00:22:45,900 --> 00:22:47,966 Always looks forward to what God will do. 426 00:22:47,966 --> 00:22:49,133 And we trust in God. 427 00:22:49,133 --> 00:22:50,033 Those who know God. 428 00:22:50,033 --> 00:22:52,566 Trusting God. God, I trust that you're going to. Right? 429 00:22:52,566 --> 00:22:53,700 You understand that. 430 00:22:53,700 --> 00:22:58,533 But faith sees what God says has been done and believes God's Word. 431 00:22:58,566 --> 00:23:01,900 So when God says that you are righteous through 432 00:23:01,900 --> 00:23:04,900 the death of Christ, it's already been done. 433 00:23:04,933 --> 00:23:07,533 So it's not by my faith that I mean righteous. 434 00:23:07,533 --> 00:23:08,800 It's through faith 435 00:23:09,900 --> 00:23:12,766 and what God has already declared, 436 00:23:12,766 --> 00:23:15,933 the power and the proficiency of the blood of His Son 437 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:18,966 has nothing to do with me. 438 00:23:18,966 --> 00:23:21,900 It has everything to do with what God has declared 439 00:23:21,900 --> 00:23:24,900 about the life and death and blood of His Son. 440 00:23:25,833 --> 00:23:28,833 Do you understand? 441 00:23:29,100 --> 00:23:33,266 It. It takes every opportunity to be proud 442 00:23:33,266 --> 00:23:36,800 of ourselves, every opportunity to be spiritually arrogant. 443 00:23:36,833 --> 00:23:38,433 It takes all of that off the table. 444 00:23:38,433 --> 00:23:41,433 Says, you have nothing to do with this. 445 00:23:42,500 --> 00:23:45,500 I have chosen, God says, to make you righteous. 446 00:23:45,566 --> 00:23:48,966 Because what I've declared through the blood of my son. 447 00:23:50,366 --> 00:23:53,833 So through faith in him, not by your faith. 448 00:23:55,333 --> 00:23:56,266 I get this. 449 00:23:56,266 --> 00:23:59,200 The Bible says even the ability to have 450 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:02,200 faith is a gift from God. 451 00:24:02,966 --> 00:24:05,966 We can't have faith apart from being God's gift. 452 00:24:06,633 --> 00:24:11,000 It all comes from him so that we cannot boast at any level. 453 00:24:16,633 --> 00:24:18,700 For all have sinned 454 00:24:18,700 --> 00:24:21,533 and fall short of the glory of God. 455 00:24:21,533 --> 00:24:24,533 Let me give you a mental picture of what this verse mean. 456 00:24:26,466 --> 00:24:28,033 There are some, let's say, 457 00:24:28,033 --> 00:24:31,500 while murderers, adulterers, addicts, 458 00:24:31,900 --> 00:24:34,566 maybe as low 459 00:24:34,566 --> 00:24:37,566 as the bottom of the lowest coal mine, 460 00:24:37,900 --> 00:24:40,266 and while good religious people 461 00:24:40,266 --> 00:24:45,133 might be at the top of Mount Everest when the goal is reaching 462 00:24:45,133 --> 00:24:49,700 the star, all are far short. 463 00:24:51,533 --> 00:24:55,900 Do you understand? All. 464 00:24:57,900 --> 00:24:59,633 It doesn't matter. 465 00:24:59,633 --> 00:25:01,866 All your little things you've done 466 00:25:01,866 --> 00:25:04,366 to get from the bottom of the coal mine to the top of Mount Everest. 467 00:25:04,366 --> 00:25:08,366 None of them are enough to get you to the stars. 468 00:25:09,533 --> 00:25:11,566 Do you get it? 469 00:25:11,566 --> 00:25:14,566 He said, so wherever you are on that, we're all. 470 00:25:14,933 --> 00:25:18,166 And so you people on Everest, you ought to be arrogant and proud about yourself. 471 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:19,700 You're stupid 472 00:25:21,466 --> 00:25:24,466 because you can't reach the stars. 473 00:25:25,266 --> 00:25:27,300 So there's no sense 474 00:25:27,300 --> 00:25:29,600 in being prideful and arrogant 475 00:25:29,600 --> 00:25:32,600 about standing on the. 476 00:25:32,833 --> 00:25:34,800 You understand? 477 00:25:34,800 --> 00:25:37,800 That's what he's saying. 478 00:25:40,033 --> 00:25:43,033 And so he says, let me tell you how to get there. 479 00:25:43,366 --> 00:25:45,200 Verse 23, all of us fall far short. 480 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:45,966 Every one of us. 481 00:25:45,966 --> 00:25:48,533 I don't care how good we look on the outside, 482 00:25:48,533 --> 00:25:51,833 far short of the glory of God. But. 483 00:25:53,233 --> 00:25:55,200 And that's where it gets good. 484 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:58,200 But I'm telling you, put your seatbelt on. 485 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:00,400 Because I got a lot to unpack. 486 00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:02,333 You're going to want to take some notes. 487 00:26:02,333 --> 00:26:05,333 Just follow along. 488 00:26:07,900 --> 00:26:10,866 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption 489 00:26:10,866 --> 00:26:14,500 that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation 490 00:26:14,700 --> 00:26:18,700 by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness. 491 00:26:18,700 --> 00:26:20,933 Because of his forbearance, God had passed over 492 00:26:20,933 --> 00:26:22,766 the sins that were previously committed. 493 00:26:23,733 --> 00:26:26,733 You got it. Got. 494 00:26:31,500 --> 00:26:32,666 Paul introduces 495 00:26:32,666 --> 00:26:35,666 three words that are crucial to understand 496 00:26:37,066 --> 00:26:39,900 what salvation is, what God has done, 497 00:26:39,900 --> 00:26:42,900 and what it means to be righteous in his sight. 498 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:44,566 Declared righteous. 499 00:26:44,566 --> 00:26:48,466 Three words and those words are justification, 500 00:26:48,466 --> 00:26:50,033 redemption, and propitiation. 501 00:26:50,033 --> 00:26:52,800 Everybody share that with you. Say justification, 502 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:55,800 say redemption, say propitiation. 503 00:26:56,833 --> 00:26:59,200 Okay. Good job. 504 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:01,433 Because of grace, 505 00:27:01,433 --> 00:27:03,433 not our behavior. 506 00:27:03,433 --> 00:27:06,433 These three things come into play 507 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:07,933 because of God's grace. 508 00:27:07,933 --> 00:27:09,066 That's greater than anything. 509 00:27:09,066 --> 00:27:10,966 You want a feeling behind it. 510 00:27:10,966 --> 00:27:13,633 Grace is greater because of that grace. 511 00:27:13,633 --> 00:27:16,800 These three things come into play and profound measure 512 00:27:17,300 --> 00:27:21,300 in the life of the one who comes to faith through Jesus. 513 00:27:23,300 --> 00:27:25,166 The first one is justification. 514 00:27:25,166 --> 00:27:29,666 Justification is a legal term. Paul 515 00:27:29,666 --> 00:27:33,300 uses it 30 times in the New Testament, 15 times in the book of Romans alone. 516 00:27:34,500 --> 00:27:36,600 It's a it's a it's a, 517 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:40,833 a word that is presented in the present continual form, which means this 518 00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:46,000 every time I believe in faith, I am declared justified. 519 00:27:46,133 --> 00:27:48,433 Every time. It's present. Continual. 520 00:27:48,433 --> 00:27:49,533 It's not one and done. 521 00:27:49,533 --> 00:27:54,600 Every time I act and believe in faith, I am again declared justified. 522 00:27:54,900 --> 00:27:58,500 It literally means to consider the guilty as though they had never, 523 00:27:58,500 --> 00:28:01,500 ever, ever even been guilty in the first place. 524 00:28:02,300 --> 00:28:05,300 Not just wiping their record clean. 525 00:28:05,300 --> 00:28:08,700 Not just expunging it to to be considered. 526 00:28:08,733 --> 00:28:11,733 Never, ever, ever, ever, ever having been guilty. 527 00:28:12,200 --> 00:28:16,266 And if God, through faith in Jesus, now looks 528 00:28:16,500 --> 00:28:19,600 as though we have never been guilty, it also means that he treats us. 529 00:28:20,066 --> 00:28:22,300 As if we've never been guilty. 530 00:28:22,300 --> 00:28:24,533 Can you imagine 531 00:28:24,533 --> 00:28:27,300 God not only seeing, but treating you as though 532 00:28:27,300 --> 00:28:30,300 you have never been guilty 533 00:28:31,566 --> 00:28:34,066 of sin? 534 00:28:34,066 --> 00:28:36,000 That's what it means to be justified 535 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,000 before God. 536 00:28:39,300 --> 00:28:41,700 AC Dickson from yesteryear. 537 00:28:41,700 --> 00:28:42,900 This is a quote from him 538 00:28:42,900 --> 00:28:46,233 through the death of Christ on the cross making atonement for sin. 539 00:28:46,233 --> 00:28:48,766 We get a perfect standing before God. 540 00:28:48,766 --> 00:28:53,666 That is justification and it puts us in God's sight. 541 00:28:53,700 --> 00:28:56,866 Back in Eden, before sin entered. 542 00:28:59,866 --> 00:29:01,233 God looks upon us 543 00:29:01,233 --> 00:29:04,800 and treats us as if we never. 544 00:29:05,100 --> 00:29:08,000 Can you imagine? 545 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:10,000 He doesn't look at us with. 546 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:12,333 It's like, you know what? You used to be really bad. 547 00:29:12,333 --> 00:29:15,366 I liked you, I, I so I cleaned you up. 548 00:29:15,366 --> 00:29:18,000 Even though you're you and I'm me, I still accept you. 549 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:21,000 That's not how he views us. 550 00:29:21,666 --> 00:29:24,666 Through Christ and the blood of Jesus. 551 00:29:26,066 --> 00:29:27,966 Justification means that he now 552 00:29:27,966 --> 00:29:30,966 looks at me as if he and I are walking through the Garden of Eden 553 00:29:32,700 --> 00:29:33,366 before sin. 554 00:29:33,366 --> 00:29:35,400 And did you know that about yourself? 555 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:37,566 If you follow Jesus, 556 00:29:37,566 --> 00:29:38,366 that that's how. 557 00:29:38,366 --> 00:29:40,966 Here's why so many of us follow Jesus. 558 00:29:40,966 --> 00:29:44,733 And and we've accepted our Savior, and we think that God kind of treats us 559 00:29:44,733 --> 00:29:47,433 as the dirty little stepchild, that okay, you know, you get in 560 00:29:47,433 --> 00:29:50,433 because you believe me, but I'm really going to treat other people a lot better. 561 00:29:54,333 --> 00:29:57,333 As if there's never been a record. 562 00:29:59,233 --> 00:30:02,233 Do you know why God treats us as if 563 00:30:02,766 --> 00:30:05,166 we've never sinned? 564 00:30:05,166 --> 00:30:08,166 Because he treated Jesus as if he did. 565 00:30:13,300 --> 00:30:16,300 He leveled against him. 566 00:30:17,300 --> 00:30:20,300 And then Paul uses this word redemption. 567 00:30:20,433 --> 00:30:23,433 And it literally means a substitute sacrifice. 568 00:30:24,333 --> 00:30:27,033 It was a word that was used oftentimes in the slave market, 569 00:30:27,033 --> 00:30:30,433 where a benevolent person would purchase a slave 570 00:30:30,666 --> 00:30:33,666 not to enslave them, but to free them and liberate them. 571 00:30:34,166 --> 00:30:37,066 It was paying their price, paying their debt 572 00:30:38,100 --> 00:30:39,033 inherent in the 573 00:30:39,033 --> 00:30:42,633 word redemption is this idea of value, 574 00:30:42,966 --> 00:30:46,466 that there's something valuable about that which I am redeeming. 575 00:30:46,733 --> 00:30:50,033 It means the purchaser pays the price for a thing because they see 576 00:30:50,033 --> 00:30:53,033 something of value in what's purchased. 577 00:30:53,233 --> 00:30:57,466 So when God looks at us, he says, I have made you in my image and 578 00:30:59,266 --> 00:31:03,333 where you are is so dark and so sinful. 579 00:31:03,333 --> 00:31:08,166 But I see in you something that I don't want to buy back. 580 00:31:09,133 --> 00:31:11,700 I want to purchase you 581 00:31:11,700 --> 00:31:14,700 not to enslave you, but to liberate you, to free you. 582 00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,400 I want to redeem you. 583 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:21,600 You follow. 584 00:31:24,366 --> 00:31:27,000 Such freedom 585 00:31:27,000 --> 00:31:27,700 in salvation. 586 00:31:27,700 --> 00:31:30,700 Such freedom in Jesus 587 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:34,233 that now so free that God looks at us 588 00:31:34,233 --> 00:31:38,300 as if we have never, ever, ever been guilty in the first place. 589 00:31:38,500 --> 00:31:39,300 That freedom. 590 00:31:43,266 --> 00:31:46,266 And then Paul uses this word propitiation. 591 00:31:47,300 --> 00:31:50,300 It's a really difficult word to understand and to translate. 592 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:54,200 The best way we can understand is, is substitute sacrifice. 593 00:31:55,833 --> 00:31:57,433 It's a Greek word called hell. 594 00:31:57,433 --> 00:31:59,366 Austrian, 595 00:31:59,366 --> 00:32:02,033 and it literally means substitute sacrifice. 596 00:32:02,033 --> 00:32:03,433 There's been something sacrifice 597 00:32:03,433 --> 00:32:06,433 that was substituted for something else that wasn't sacrificed. 598 00:32:07,066 --> 00:32:09,166 This word propitiation 599 00:32:09,166 --> 00:32:12,400 is a Greek word, but it's used in the Old Testament. 600 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:16,000 Now, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, but this word is 601 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:19,000 used in the Old Testament. 602 00:32:19,433 --> 00:32:21,600 Let me tell you how, 603 00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:24,600 in reference to the Ark of the covenant, 604 00:32:24,700 --> 00:32:26,966 and when before the, 605 00:32:26,966 --> 00:32:30,033 the temple was built, also God would meet with people 606 00:32:30,033 --> 00:32:33,300 at the tabernacle, the traveling tent at the Ark of the covenant, 607 00:32:33,300 --> 00:32:37,800 the Ark of the covenant was a big box, and in the box were three items. 608 00:32:38,966 --> 00:32:41,300 One was a jar of manna 609 00:32:41,300 --> 00:32:43,700 so that the people would remember God's provision for them 610 00:32:43,700 --> 00:32:47,000 when they got lost in the desert, wouldn't ask directions, and so they 611 00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:48,900 okay. 612 00:32:48,900 --> 00:32:51,900 That's right. 613 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:54,966 Anyway, when God would give them manna. 614 00:32:54,966 --> 00:32:55,333 And then. 615 00:32:55,333 --> 00:32:58,200 So they kept a jar to remind their kids of the story 616 00:32:58,200 --> 00:33:01,200 of the Exodus and God's provision for them in the wilderness. 617 00:33:01,233 --> 00:33:03,033 The second thing was in the Ark of the covenant. 618 00:33:03,033 --> 00:33:05,033 This box was the rod of Aaron. 619 00:33:05,033 --> 00:33:08,033 It was a stick that God brought life into in it, buddy. 620 00:33:08,233 --> 00:33:09,733 And so they kept that there to remember. 621 00:33:09,733 --> 00:33:12,733 God creates life out of dead things. 622 00:33:13,200 --> 00:33:15,533 A third thing that was in the Ark of the covenant was the tablets. 623 00:33:15,533 --> 00:33:17,633 The tablets of the Ten Commandments, 624 00:33:17,633 --> 00:33:20,400 God's law that they broke over and over and over. 625 00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:23,500 And those three things in the Ark of the covenant were reminders, 626 00:33:23,500 --> 00:33:26,700 both of their sin and of God's goodness and provision. 627 00:33:27,300 --> 00:33:30,300 And over the ark of this box was a lid, 628 00:33:31,066 --> 00:33:34,066 and that lid was called the mercy seat. 629 00:33:34,433 --> 00:33:37,733 And it was at the mercy seat that the high priest would walk into 630 00:33:37,733 --> 00:33:41,000 the tabernacle of the Holy of Holies, where the ark was, and sprinkled blood 631 00:33:41,033 --> 00:33:42,000 on the mercy seat. 632 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:45,333 And when that happened, God would visit man 633 00:33:45,500 --> 00:33:49,133 at the mercy seat because of the sprinkled blood of the lamb. 634 00:33:51,300 --> 00:33:51,766 When the 635 00:33:51,766 --> 00:33:56,466 Old Testament was translated into Greek, the language of the New Testament, 636 00:33:57,166 --> 00:34:00,466 the word for mercy, seat is propitiation. 637 00:34:02,266 --> 00:34:05,266 Jesus is our propitiation. 638 00:34:05,833 --> 00:34:09,000 The Jews would understand that to mean Jesus is the mercy seat 639 00:34:10,366 --> 00:34:13,400 where blood is shed and God meets man. 640 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:17,233 He's the sacrifice 641 00:34:17,233 --> 00:34:20,233 so God can meet man. 642 00:34:20,300 --> 00:34:23,300 Every other religion in the world is about man meeting God. 643 00:34:23,700 --> 00:34:26,200 Christiana is the only one that says, no, no, no. 644 00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:30,300 God will come down to man because of the blood of Jesus, 645 00:34:30,300 --> 00:34:33,433 who is our propitiation, our mercy seat. 646 00:34:34,966 --> 00:34:36,900 You understand? 647 00:34:36,900 --> 00:34:39,900 You get it. 648 00:34:42,900 --> 00:34:45,700 Please understand this. 649 00:34:45,700 --> 00:34:48,700 His sacrificial substitution for us, 650 00:34:50,100 --> 00:34:54,600 Jesus is the mercy seat whose blood was shed 651 00:34:55,166 --> 00:34:58,166 so God can meet you. 652 00:35:04,166 --> 00:35:07,166 Because Jesus is the substitute, 653 00:35:07,166 --> 00:35:11,300 the mercy seat whose blood was shed so God could meet you. 654 00:35:12,333 --> 00:35:13,966 God chose 655 00:35:13,966 --> 00:35:17,500 to pay that price of his son for you. 656 00:35:19,833 --> 00:35:22,833 Because he wanted to buy you back 657 00:35:22,866 --> 00:35:25,866 from the blackness of your own soul, 658 00:35:25,933 --> 00:35:28,933 from a life being a slave to sin. 659 00:35:29,100 --> 00:35:32,100 He was for something so valuable in you 660 00:35:32,766 --> 00:35:34,866 that he said, whatever the price, 661 00:35:34,866 --> 00:35:37,866 even of my son, I will buy you back 662 00:35:38,066 --> 00:35:41,100 so that you can be seen by me 663 00:35:41,100 --> 00:35:45,233 as if you have never sinned in your life. 664 00:35:49,466 --> 00:35:52,466 Isn't that amazing? 665 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:55,166 That should clap for that, Sarah. 666 00:35:55,166 --> 00:35:57,600 That's all right. Thank you. 667 00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:00,600 It's amazing to me. 668 00:36:01,433 --> 00:36:02,933 That we don't have to walk around 669 00:36:02,933 --> 00:36:05,933 with our heads in shame. 670 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:06,900 God. Thank you. 671 00:36:06,900 --> 00:36:08,533 I don't deserve it. 672 00:36:08,533 --> 00:36:11,233 You're right. You don't. 673 00:36:11,233 --> 00:36:12,900 But because of redemption 674 00:36:12,900 --> 00:36:15,900 and justification and propitiation. 675 00:36:17,300 --> 00:36:20,233 Complete liberation. 676 00:36:20,233 --> 00:36:22,733 So that God has put his righteousness on you. 677 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:27,000 The very righteousness of himself. 678 00:36:29,466 --> 00:36:32,466 Paul wraps it up with this. 679 00:36:33,133 --> 00:36:35,666 He did all this 680 00:36:35,666 --> 00:36:37,800 to demonstrate his righteousness. 681 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:40,800 At the present time. 682 00:36:41,300 --> 00:36:43,100 So as to be just. 683 00:36:43,100 --> 00:36:47,166 And the one who justifies those who have faith in Christ. 684 00:36:48,533 --> 00:36:51,133 So then where's your boasting? 685 00:36:51,133 --> 00:36:53,866 You don't get to brag about it. 686 00:36:53,866 --> 00:36:57,500 He said, God did all of this to show himself in two ways. 687 00:36:57,533 --> 00:37:02,066 One, that he is a just God and his wrath will be poured 688 00:37:02,166 --> 00:37:05,166 on unrepentant sin. 689 00:37:05,233 --> 00:37:08,566 But he also did this to show himself as the one who justifies, 690 00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:11,733 to make those who deserve his wrath 691 00:37:11,733 --> 00:37:14,833 as if they never have sinned in the first place. 692 00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:19,500 Because he poured his justice and his wrath against one who had never 693 00:37:19,500 --> 00:37:20,533 sinned in the first place. 694 00:37:22,233 --> 00:37:25,366 So God sits as the just and the justifier. 695 00:37:26,400 --> 00:37:29,400 Both of them come to full expression 696 00:37:29,933 --> 00:37:32,933 in the person of Jesus and his shed blood. 697 00:37:33,900 --> 00:37:36,400 Nothing to do 698 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:39,400 with our goodness and our religiosity. 699 00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:42,333 Everything to do 700 00:37:42,333 --> 00:37:44,233 with Jesus, a sacrifice. 701 00:37:44,233 --> 00:37:47,300 And this, my friends, is a salvation 702 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:51,233 that he invites us into. 703 00:37:51,233 --> 00:37:53,500 This is 704 00:37:53,500 --> 00:37:56,500 the invitation. 705 00:37:56,700 --> 00:37:59,100 To be freed 706 00:37:59,100 --> 00:38:02,100 from the pressure of your own performance, to be right with God. 707 00:38:03,033 --> 00:38:06,566 To realize what you have been saved from, 708 00:38:07,866 --> 00:38:10,866 and to live with inexpressible joy. 709 00:38:11,700 --> 00:38:14,700 That you that I 710 00:38:14,900 --> 00:38:17,900 would be seen by him as something so valuable 711 00:38:18,833 --> 00:38:21,833 that he would buy us back 712 00:38:22,500 --> 00:38:24,300 and treat us as if 713 00:38:24,300 --> 00:38:27,300 we have never transgressed. 714 00:38:28,866 --> 00:38:30,866 Can you believe? 715 00:38:30,866 --> 00:38:33,033 Can you imagine 716 00:38:33,033 --> 00:38:35,400 that he loves you 717 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:38,400 that much? 718 00:38:39,266 --> 00:38:40,233 What about you? 719 00:38:40,233 --> 00:38:42,100 What about me? Is that lovely? 720 00:38:44,033 --> 00:38:49,800 Not. And 721 00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:52,800 so I will gladly admit 722 00:38:53,566 --> 00:38:56,566 the blackness of my background. 723 00:38:56,800 --> 00:38:58,766 Because I understand the brilliance 724 00:38:58,766 --> 00:39:01,766 of God's grace. 725 00:39:02,700 --> 00:39:03,966 And endeavor 726 00:39:03,966 --> 00:39:07,666 to live with this incredible joy and freedom, 727 00:39:08,700 --> 00:39:11,433 and give every ounce of my being that others 728 00:39:11,433 --> 00:39:14,433 may know this as well. 729 00:39:16,366 --> 00:39:19,366 This is good news. 730 00:39:20,900 --> 00:39:22,133 And I want to invite you into 731 00:39:22,133 --> 00:39:25,133 what Jesus has invited us into. 732 00:39:25,866 --> 00:39:28,866 I don't care how many times you've done this before. 733 00:39:29,366 --> 00:39:32,366 I invite you to do it again with a new realization 734 00:39:33,466 --> 00:39:37,033 of what this means and who God sees you to be, invites you into. 735 00:39:37,066 --> 00:39:40,066 Would you pray with me? 736 00:39:44,666 --> 00:39:46,500 God, your word tells us you have loved us 737 00:39:46,500 --> 00:39:49,500 with an everlasting love. 738 00:39:50,633 --> 00:39:53,633 Thank you. 739 00:39:53,866 --> 00:39:56,866 Thank you that you don't love us in spite of all these things. 740 00:39:56,866 --> 00:39:59,333 That you simply love us 741 00:40:01,033 --> 00:40:03,000 and have seen in us. 742 00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:06,000 People that you want for yourself. 743 00:40:08,033 --> 00:40:11,033 And that you have paid the price. 744 00:40:13,166 --> 00:40:14,466 And that in paying that price, 745 00:40:14,466 --> 00:40:17,466 you don't hold our past against us. 746 00:40:18,966 --> 00:40:20,766 I thank you that we don't have to grovel 747 00:40:20,766 --> 00:40:23,766 and beg before you, as if. 748 00:40:24,866 --> 00:40:27,833 We're so unworthy. 749 00:40:27,833 --> 00:40:29,366 We realize our unworthiness, 750 00:40:29,366 --> 00:40:32,366 and we realize your grace. 751 00:40:32,833 --> 00:40:33,600 And we thank you for it. 752 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:36,600 Father, I believe that there's some in this place right now 753 00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:40,000 that realize their need for a savior. 754 00:40:40,500 --> 00:40:42,333 And there are some in this place right now 755 00:40:42,333 --> 00:40:45,400 who are realizing, maybe again, maybe in a new way 756 00:40:46,933 --> 00:40:49,833 of everything that you've done for us to your son. 757 00:40:49,833 --> 00:40:52,533 It's amazing. 758 00:40:52,533 --> 00:40:55,000 And there are some in us in this place that are realizing 759 00:40:55,000 --> 00:40:59,333 incredible freedom and joy that we have 760 00:41:00,866 --> 00:41:03,866 through your son. 761 00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:07,200 And so, father, we repent 762 00:41:08,266 --> 00:41:09,900 and we accept you, Jesus, 763 00:41:09,900 --> 00:41:13,300 as the leader of the of our life and the lover of our souls. 764 00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:16,900 Friends, I want to invite you in this moment 765 00:41:16,900 --> 00:41:19,900 to agree with God about what he says and what he's done. 766 00:41:21,766 --> 00:41:22,633 I don't care how many times 767 00:41:22,633 --> 00:41:26,933 you've done this before, it's always a good redo, especially 768 00:41:26,933 --> 00:41:30,600 for the first time to say, father, thank you that you love me. 769 00:41:32,966 --> 00:41:35,700 So much 770 00:41:35,700 --> 00:41:38,700 that you paid my sin price 771 00:41:38,866 --> 00:41:41,866 with the life of your son. 772 00:41:42,866 --> 00:41:45,866 Jesus, I accept you 773 00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:49,200 as the leader of my life. 774 00:41:49,833 --> 00:41:51,766 I agree with you 775 00:41:51,766 --> 00:41:54,766 about the darkness of my soul 776 00:41:55,166 --> 00:41:58,166 and I invite you in. 777 00:41:58,866 --> 00:42:01,866 To shine the brilliance of your grace 778 00:42:03,266 --> 00:42:06,266 in my justification. 779 00:42:08,000 --> 00:42:09,166 In my redemption. 780 00:42:10,766 --> 00:42:13,766 Because you are my sacrifice. 781 00:42:19,500 --> 00:42:22,500 Father, people have prayed that prayer, 782 00:42:22,733 --> 00:42:25,733 and you've done that work. 783 00:42:26,066 --> 00:42:29,066 And I pray, father, that we would live as people 784 00:42:29,833 --> 00:42:33,600 who understand and exhibit what it is to be justified before you. 785 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:37,100 Righteous in your sight, redeemed by your blood 786 00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:40,666 because of your sacrifice. 787 00:42:40,666 --> 00:42:43,366 Make us new. 788 00:42:43,366 --> 00:42:45,566 I love you, Jesus. 789 00:42:45,566 --> 00:42:47,166 Thank you. 790 00:42:47,166 --> 00:42:47,866 In the name I pray. 791 00:42:47,866 --> 00:42:49,800 Amen. 792 00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:52,800 Listen, I love you guys. 793 00:42:52,933 --> 00:42:56,433 You're doing a great job hanging with us through Romans. 794 00:42:56,566 --> 00:42:59,166 It's a big book, isn't it? 795 00:42:59,166 --> 00:43:01,000 There's a lot there. 796 00:43:01,000 --> 00:43:03,400 I'm proud of you. 797 00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:05,266 Here's what I have. 798 00:43:05,266 --> 00:43:09,200 Take this week and read through Romans three again and let stuff come alive. 799 00:43:09,233 --> 00:43:11,900 Let it pop, let it let it live. 800 00:43:11,900 --> 00:43:14,700 And then read chapter four, because that's where we're headed. 801 00:43:14,700 --> 00:43:16,766 Every week, a new chapter. 802 00:43:16,766 --> 00:43:18,833 This is good for us to do. 803 00:43:18,833 --> 00:43:20,033 And my other encouragement. 804 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:21,733 You got people in your 805 00:43:21,733 --> 00:43:24,733 huddle that aren't in church. 806 00:43:25,566 --> 00:43:28,566 Don't they need to know this? 807 00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:30,666 Let me ask that again, 808 00:43:30,666 --> 00:43:33,666 because I feel like you're not listening much. 809 00:43:34,133 --> 00:43:37,300 You got people in your world who aren't in church who don't know this. 810 00:43:37,300 --> 00:43:39,566 Don't they need to? 811 00:43:39,566 --> 00:43:42,566 You're in their world for one reason 812 00:43:43,100 --> 00:43:43,966 I love you. Let's listening.