Jesus Saves, Part 1.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] welcome to village church if this is your first time here [0:03] i just wanna welcome you thank you so much for coming this morning my name [0:06] steven one of the pastors [0:08] here at village church and if you have your bibles go ahead and open to romans [0:11] chapter three [0:12] we’re gonna be starting in verse twenty one this morning

[0:16] last week what [0:18] you saw at the end of verse twenty is paul kind of [0:22] bringing a close to [0:24] a section on romans that was filled with lots and lots of bad news and you [0:30] heard last week about [0:31] how it actually becomes good news

[0:34] in light of who jesus is [0:37] what jesus has done but [0:39] in order to know why excuse me in order to take glory in and have faith in [0:45] the fact that you can be saved [0:47] you need to know why [0:50] you need to be saved

[0:52] if you don’t know that [0:53] you need salvation [0:55] then you’ll never really be truly thankful for it’ll just be something [0:59] that that you see something that [1:01] you’ll even think that’s a good thing i’m so glad it’s there [1:04] but you’ll never be desperate for it

[1:07] you’ll never treasure it with all of your life with all of your being [1:11] it can’t be something that you’re passionate about [1:13] just because it is [1:15] good [1:17] it is only an understanding the depth of your need for salvation [1:22] that you can ever truly

[1:24] just completely overcome by the greatness [1:28] of the gospel of jesus christ [1:31] as over two chapters paul [1:33] just unpacked [1:35] why you need the gospel last week he just came at you hard [1:40] he said you are full of death

[1:45] near sin is just completely progressive in everything that you do and so while [1:49] you’re hearing that [1:50] if it offended your if it’s a pending you right now or if you’ve looked at [1:54] that you’ve heard about sin [1:56] and it’s like [1:57] who do you think that you are to tell me about these things

[2:00] you have to understand that it is god that saying these things about you [2:04] and he knows you [2:06] more than anyone else knows you and god knows you more than you know yourself [2:11] because here’s the key that i know about me and that you need to know about you [2:15] is the biggest liar in your life is you [2:17] you will tell yourself more lies in your life than anyone else will tell you

[2:23] you will always excuse your bad behavior [2:25] you’ll always come up with a reason that your mistakes aren’t your own that it’s [2:30] because someone else did something against you or because of something that [2:33] happened in your past [2:34] and so one of the things that you will spend most of your life avoiding is [2:37] taking responsibility for yourself

[2:40] but what the gospel does is it comes in and it lays this [2:46] it kind of rips away all of those excuses it tears the house that you’ve been [2:50] building down reveals to you the termite infested [2:53] joist the mold the nastiness the filth [2:57] and it just rips it all away and it says this is who you are you are filled with [3:02] sin

[3:04] you didn’t just sin one day and become a sinner [3:07] you were born sinful from a lineage of nothing but sin [3:13] everyone’s been behind you in your family tree has been a sinner [3:17] they were born that way everyone from Adam on everyone born to Adam and Eve on [3:22] has been born into a sinful world [3:26] and has been themselves a sinner

[3:29] so how is any of this good news [3:34] when chapter 3 verse 20 Paul kind of summed up [3:38] everything that he had been explaining when he said that no one will be [3:42] justified by the works of the law [3:44] because all of us have disobeyed God’s law [3:50] there are no second chances that will help you there’s no third fourth fifth

[3:54] chance you will [3:57] disobey him every single time [4:00] if you’re doing it and attempting it and trying it with this thought of [4:05] I will fix all this [4:07] I will fix all the sin in my life I will fix all of the harm that I’ve caused I [4:12] will fix every mistake that I’ve ever made

[4:14] you can’t even if on the surface you think you’ve modified your behavior deep [4:20] down their sin [4:21] underneath those walls

[4:24] but in the phrase that he uses to close verse 20 when he kind of [4:29] gives you the purpose of the law because he kind of begs this question [4:33] kind of this underlying the thought of well if the law can’t save me [4:39] if obeying what God has revealed can’t save me [4:44] then what is the purpose of the law and here’s where [4:48] Paul begins to kind of crescendo from all that he’s been saying so far it’s just

[4:53] this building and this building of sinfulness and here he begins to come [4:58] into what is for this section of the book of Romans [5:01] the climax of it all [5:04] he finally comes to Jesus [5:07] he finally comes to a place where he unveils [5:11] the greatest story the greatest

[5:14] hero the greatest Savior that you [5:18] will and can ever know in your life [5:21] if you note for the past few weeks [5:24] maybe months Paul hasn’t really talked about Jesus [5:29] but here he just saturates you with who Jesus is [5:35] he just brings it at you as hard as he brought

[5:38] your sin to you he just pours Jesus on you [5:42] and all that Jesus did in between verses 21 and 26 [5:47] you will see the greatest news that you’ll ever know in your life [5:51] it’s some of the most important verses [5:55] in all of the scriptures if we’re going to rank them that way [5:58] because without Jesus all we have is hell

[6:02] without Jesus all we have is sin [6:05] without Jesus all we have is that we are people who have disobeyed God therefore [6:11] we are people who are unworthy of God [6:14] and we’re condemned that’s all we have [6:18] without verses 21-26 but in verse 21 [6:23] Paul begins to unpack the good news

[6:26] of Jesus Christ on top of a whole lot of bad news that was absolutely necessary [6:32] for you to be thankful for [6:33] the good news and because of that is going to take us two weeks to cover [6:37] these verses [6:39] today what I want to talk about [6:41] is the who of salvation and next Sunday what I want to talk about is the how

[6:46] so this week who saves us [6:50] next week how did he accomplish that [6:52] and all of this is covered between verses 21 and 26 I want to read that with [6:56] you so look in verse 21 [6:58] but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law [7:03] although the law and the prophets bear witness to it

[7:07] the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all [7:12] who believe for there’s no distinction [7:15] for all have sinned and fall short the glory of God [7:19] are justified by his grace as a gift [7:22] to the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God put forward as a [7:27] propitiation by his blood

[7:28] to be received by faith this was to show God’s righteousness because in his [7:35] divine forbearance [7:36] he had passed over former sins it was to show his righteousness at the present [7:42] time [7:42] so that he might be just and the justifier [7:47] of the one who has faith in Jesus

[7:50] this is a rich text [7:55] it is so full of truth that man you could just spend months unpacking every [8:01] vocabulary word that you find [8:04] in this text and so today I want to unpack really only two [8:09] terms for you it’s going to take us the whole time to do it I want to talk about [8:12] Jesus

[8:13] and I want to talk about righteousness so those are the two things we’re going to [8:17] discuss today [8:17] so number one this morning understand that if you understand anything in life [8:22] anything about your son the most important thing that you can know and be [8:26] grateful for [8:27] is that only Jesus is righteous only Jesus

[8:30] is righteous I don’t want to be [8:34] a dead horse I hope if you’ve been here for the past few weeks [8:38] if you’ve not been here then you need to go listen to the podcast [8:42] but here’s the key you’re not righteous and if you’ve been here for a few weeks [8:47] you know we believe that you know the Bible says that [8:51] but the key term that this text shows us

[8:54] is that Jesus is righteous [8:57] in a world filled with unrighteous people [9:02] there was one who was righteous [9:05] there was one from everything [9:08] that from chapter 1 verse 18 all the way through chapter 3 verse 20 there’s only [9:15] one that

[9:15] section was not true of [9:19] and that’s the man Jesus Christ Jesus Christ never once disobeyed God the Father [9:24] Jesus Christ never once disobeyed the law of God [9:27] Jesus Christ never once sinned [9:31] a single time in all of his days [9:34] on this earth and you may think that is

[9:37] tough to swallow it’s hard to believe [9:42] here’s the key in the history of Jesus when you look at the scriptures when you [9:46] look at the stories when you look at all that anyone said people tried so [9:50] hard to find him guilty

[9:55] and what was he ultimately executed for for revealing his own identity [10:01] because he said he was God the key that you have to understand about Jesus is [10:07] that if he was fully righteous then yes [10:11] he is God [10:14] when you look at the righteousness of God we’ve been dealing with the law for [10:19] the past few weeks

[10:20] and so it’s going to put against one another

[10:26] the law [10:27] in Jesus in this text so understand [10:30] that the law does not give [10:34] you a full picture of the righteousness of God [10:38] you may say why not because the law [10:42] can only find us guilty of sin

[10:46] it cannot be for us the example [10:50] or the picture of what sinless perfection [10:54] and sinless righteousness actually looks like [10:57] but that is what Jesus did the law had one purpose [11:01] to show us our disobedience to show us where we fall bankrupt [11:05] and this leaves us in a hopeless state if you look at the law of God

[11:10] most of it is a compromise most of it isn’t the full righteousness of God or the full holiness of God [11:17] thou shalt not murder is not [11:20] a tough thing to maintain that’s not the limit of God’s righteousness [11:26] God’s more righteous than that and Jesus reveals that in the book of Matthew when he says [11:30] if you have hate in your heart for your brother then it’s as if you’ve killed him [11:34] what Jesus means by that is you look at the law

[11:37] and you think you’ve got righteousness there God never comes close to the law [11:42] God never even comes close to breaking it [11:45] even in his motivations he’s righteous therefore the law [11:49] is not a full picture of the righteousness of God [11:52] but rather what it gives us is a full picture of how far we fall short [11:59] of the righteous holiness

[12:01] of God so all the law does is it exposes us [12:05] and leaves us hopeless there’s a few things you have to understand about Jesus in this [12:10] righteousness [12:11] if the law exposes us does Jesus [12:14] also expose our sin absolutely if you read the stories from the Gospels and you [12:21] see people’s interactions with Jesus he spent a lot of time exposing sin

[12:25] whenever he comes into contact with people [12:29] they get a little bit uncomfortable because he knows a little bit too much [12:32] about them [12:33] you think about the woman at the well [12:36] you think about the way in which he conversed with Pharisees [12:40] he’s just exposing sin all over the place

[12:43] so yes Jesus does expose sin

[12:49] Jesus manifests though also [12:51] a deeper righteousness than exposing our sin [12:57] he also does something in giving people hope note that when he exposes many [13:02] people sin he does not always just leave them hopeless [13:05] what else does he do in many cases what else does he do when he heals people [13:10] what else does he do with the woman at the well what else does he do

[13:13] with the woman caught with adultery he looks at all of them and he says [13:17] because of your faith your sins have been forgiven [13:20] you know the law never once does that the law never once gives you that good [13:26] feeling it feels inside when someone says I forgive you [13:29] never does that because the law just keeps condemning you [13:34] but Jesus brings this new thing into our world

[13:37] that we’ve never really experienced before because Jesus as the author of [13:41] the law [13:41] was also the judge of the law and he had authority over the law [13:46] in which he in complete authority can look at you and say yes you’ve sinned [13:51] I forgive you [13:54] and only the author of the law

[13:57] only the one who has the authority to judge [14:01] can do such a thing so Jesus comes [14:04] and in verse 23 when Paul gives us this great reminder that we honestly I don’t [14:09] know that we really needed it because he’s kind of establishes fact but in [14:12] verse 23 when he says understand there’s no distinction [14:14] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory

[14:18] of God what Paul is saying is is that when Jesus comes [14:22] he’s going to expose that very same thing into your life [14:27] or he did not come into your life [14:31] so understand that Jesus does bring law to you [14:36] the example that he set [14:39] in this world he does reveal to you that you

[14:42] are a sinner but he brings a lot [14:46] more and there are four statements that build on one another [14:50] in verses 21-26 about the righteousness of Jesus [14:53] that I think explain to us how his righteousness goes [14:57] past just exposing our sin he tells us four things I just want to go through these [15:02] four statements that he tells us the first thing he tells us about the

[15:04] righteousness of Jesus is that Jesus [15:05] reveals the righteousness of God that’s what you get at the very beginning [15:09] it’s like okay we’re there we get that Jesus was good Jesus was holy Jesus was [15:15] perfect [15:15] never sin but then he goes on and he builds more then he says down very soon [15:19] righteousness for us comes through faith in Jesus

[15:26] so understand Jesus doesn’t just come [15:29] to reveal righteousness Jesus also comes [15:33] to give righteousness but then he goes further [15:38] and he talks about how the sacrifice of Jesus [15:41] was also righteous he says that Jesus’ sacrifice [15:45] on the cross shows

[15:48] God’s righteousness in dealing with sin [15:52] you see Jesus sets this up and he says all [15:55] have sinned fall short of the glory of God [15:59] but then note that he says we’re justified by his grace as a gift through the [16:02] redemption that’s in Christ Jesus whom God put forward [16:05] and then he says in verse 25 this was to show God’s righteousness

[16:10] what was the cross that term this [16:15] is loaded when he says this right there [16:20] he means the work of Jesus on [16:23] the cross shows God’s righteousness in dealing with sin God is not just sweeping [16:28] anyone sin [16:29] under the rug or else he would not be righteous

[16:33] he would not be holy it would be cheap [16:37] forgiveness it’s the kind of forgiveness that you give someone [16:40] only to bring up how much they wronged you two weeks later [16:44] and all of us have done see all the you did [16:48] is you swept their sin under the rug but as soon as you went to do your spring [16:52] cleaning guess what you found under the rug

[16:54] you found their sin still there and you’re still angry [16:59] that’s because your forgiveness is limited by your sin [17:02] because you’re unrighteous as when you forgive [17:06] you forgive in the same way Jesus does the only way you can know what real [17:10] forgiveness is by looking at Jesus because God says [17:13] not only am I just going to say I forgive you but I’m actually going to do

[17:17] a work to completely absolve you [17:23] to completely rid you of your sin for it never to be held against you [17:28] again we’ll talk more about that next week but then fourthly [17:32] he also shows us that Jesus shows God’s righteousness [17:35] in real time so that sinners [17:39] can be made righteous in verse 26 when he says

[17:44] it again he’s talking about the gospel [17:47] he’s saying Jesus’s work on the cross was to show [17:51] God’s righteousness when he says to show God’s righteousness he’s talking about he wanted the [17:55] work to be [17:56] understood he wanted the work to be seen by us [18:02] so that we would have a real

[18:04] in real time by real man with a real fact and a historical event for us to [18:11] look at for us to point to [18:12] and say that is a picture of a righteous God [18:16] dealing with real sin so when Jesus says things on the cross he says my God my [18:22] God why have you forsaken me when he says things on the cross like [18:24] it is finished that is the righteousness of God in dealing with sin

[18:29] on display these four statements [18:33] are progressive in showing Jesus’s purpose [18:37] of salvation so in those four statements of righteousness [18:41] in this text what we have is a picture [18:47] of God’s good gospel [18:51] of grace for you and for me

[18:54] what God is showing you is that the fact that Jesus is righteous [18:58] is more than just a statement about him [19:02] it’s a statement about how good his gospel [19:06] is because he came not only to be righteous [19:10] but to give righteousness to [19:13] us through paying the price

[19:16] for our sin here’s the thing [19:20] Jesus in exposing our sin and in being right he shows us what we want [19:24] I’ve never met someone that didn’t want to be right [19:28] I mean you don’t have arguments so that you can be [19:32] wrong that would be crazy well I just started that argument so you can prove [19:37] me wrong

[19:38] no you wanna be right every time you have an argument [19:42] that’s the whole point that’s the groundwork [19:45] those are the rules is that we both think we’re right and I want to be [19:50] right but here’s the key you can never be fully right without Jesus and that’s [19:55] the good [19:56] is that do you wanna be right course you wanna be right you’d be crazy not

[20:00] wanna be right [20:01] but the key is that you’re going to look for all wrong areas in your life

[20:06] you’re going to be trying to be validated by your opinions [20:09] you can try to be validated by your actions you can try to be validated by [20:12] your money [20:13] you can try to be validated by your job you’re in someway [20:17] in your life right now trying to be right [20:20] in all the wrong ways in Jesus comes and he says

[20:24] I am the way for you to be made right and He is the only way. [20:32] If you want to be right in life you can only be made right by believing that Jesus is [20:38] right.

[20:41] Any other way is wrong. [20:44] That’s the message that we get in the gospel of Jesus about His righteousness. [20:48] But He unpacks more here. [20:50] Secondly this morning He unpacks the fact that everything points us to Jesus. [20:56] There is this phrase in verse 21 that we often overlook in the book of Romans and it is because [21:03] it is kind of the harder work where the Bible is concerned.

[21:07] But what I want you to see is how important this phrase is in verse 21 when He says, [21:11] But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.

[21:16] Although, you see those connecting terms are very important. [21:21] He says although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. [21:26] It’s because there is a way of looking at Jesus and saying, [21:29] Oh man, why didn’t God do this from the beginning? [21:32] This is a brand new thing. [21:33] I guess God figured out that that Old Testament stuff wasn’t working so He was going to try

[21:37] a brand new scheme to save us because we blew it and so He is introducing Jesus into the [21:42] world. [21:42] No.

[21:46] Jesus was God’s plan all along. [21:49] And what Jesus means by that is that the Old Testament was all about Jesus.

[21:55] So when we start in the book of Romans, and this is some good advice for studying the [21:59] Bible at any point, is understand the book of Romans is about Jesus.

[22:06] Romans chapter 3, verse 21 through 26, all about Jesus. [22:11] Romans 3 as a whole, all about Jesus. [22:14] Romans 1 through 3, all about Jesus. [22:17] Romans 1 through 6, all about Jesus. [22:19] Romans 1 through 12, all about Jesus. [22:21] The whole book of Romans, all about Jesus.

[22:25] The New Testament, all about Jesus. [22:27] The Old Testament, all about Jesus. [22:29] Old Testament and New Testament together, all about Jesus. [22:34] All of the Bible is all about Jesus. [22:39] In Luke chapter 24 Jesus is having a conversation with two guys after he rose from the dead. [22:44] He’s walking down the road about to share some pancakes with them and that’s always

[22:48] a good idea. [22:49] Jesus rose from the dead, wanted pancakes. [22:52] I rise from slumber. [22:53] I want pancakes because of Jesus. [22:55] Here’s what happens in Luke 24 starting in verse 25. [22:58] Jesus looks at them and he says, oh foolish ones.

[23:03] When you read the Bible and don’t think Jesus, oh foolish ones. [23:09] Oh foolish ones, in a slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. [23:13] So what these two guys are doing is that they’re talking to Jesus. [23:16] They don’t know it’s Jesus. [23:18] He’s disguised himself.

[23:22] And they’re having a conversation. [23:23] Jesus is right there. [23:24] They’re like, what was the point of Jesus?

[23:27] I don’t understand this. [23:28] He died on the cross. [23:28] Now they can’t find his body. [23:30] What’s the point of that guy? [23:31] Then Jesus reveals himself and he says, you idiots.

[23:35] How bad must that have felt? [23:38] Oh foolish ones, slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken. [23:42] Prophets? [23:44] Jesus points to the Old Testament. [23:46] Here’s what he says. [23:47] He says, was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into

[23:51] his glory? [23:52] And beginning with Moses, first five books of the Bible. [23:57] Beginning with Moses and all the prophets. [24:01] That must have been a long story. [24:04] He interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning what? [24:11] Concerning himself.

[24:14] First Chronicles, all about Jesus. [24:16] Second Chronicles, all about Jesus. [24:17] Leviticus, all about Jesus. [24:19] Deuteronomy, all about Jesus. [24:20] Esther, all about Jesus.

[24:23] So when we read the Bible in wrong ways, what we’ll do is we’ll be like, how do I compare [24:28] myself to Esther?

[24:32] You don’t.

[24:34] That’s a story about Jesus.

[24:38] How am I like David? [24:41] Slaying Goliath. [24:42] You aren’t. [24:44] Jesus is.

[24:47] Everything in this book exists to point you to Jesus because without him you’re nothing [24:53] more than a condemned sinner. [24:54] That’s Paul’s point. [24:57] Is that everything points you to Jesus. [25:02] Romans 1 goes into vivid detail. [25:06] That everyone is responsible for knowledge and obedience to God because he’s revealed

[25:10] himself through creation. [25:12] So he starts and he says, God’s there through creation. [25:14] Who’s the one that created Jesus? [25:17] But he doesn’t stop there. [25:19] He doesn’t just stop with saying, we have been disobedient to this God. [25:24] He continues to show us that we’re responsible.

[25:27] That the world shows us through natural revelation that there’s an authority, that there’s God. [25:31] But then he continues and he says, God’s actually shown himself to you in a couple of ways. [25:35] First he says, he gives you this thing on your heart called conscience.

[25:40] That’s why when I was 10 years old and I’m throwing rocks through a window at my aunt [25:44] uncle’s house, I felt bad.

[25:49] That’s revelation.

[25:52] But he doesn’t stop there. [25:53] He goes on. [25:54] He says, and God also has spoken through prophets and he’s given you a written law. [25:59] Why? [25:59] To show you that you are incapable of obeying God. [26:03] Why would he do that?

[26:04] Well, he’d be pretty mean to do that unless he had a better way for me to know him. [26:10] If he had a way that involved him coming down, showing me what he is, what he looks [26:15] like, how he obeys, how he wants worship, how he would live in this world. [26:21] And then at the end, completely sinless, he goes to a cross and dies for my sin and says, [26:26] you believe in me, you’ll be made right. [26:29] You believe in me.

[26:30] It’s as if my righteousness is your righteousness. [26:33] That is better than saving yourself because that shows you that there’s a God who loves

[26:40] you. [26:41] Having God is always better than not having God and Jesus is God.

[26:49] Friends, in all the story, we have to understand that God is always working to get us to Jesus [26:56] in every moment of his work in this world and every moment of his work in your life. [27:01] And you say, I can’t see where he’s working in your life, friend, he is. [27:06] But you have to have faith.

[27:10] In every moment of your life and every action you’re taking, I want you to ask yourself [27:13] the question of where’s Jesus in this?

[27:18] And if you can’t find it, you say, how does God want to get me to Jesus from this?

[27:26] Because if you can’t find Jesus in your life, it doesn’t mean that Jesus isn’t there, it [27:29] just means that you’re not trusting. [27:32] God always wants to get you to Jesus because Jesus heals our sin. [27:37] Paul writes that everything that God reveals about himself and then about our sin is so [27:42] that he can give us the gift of salvation. [27:44] That’s what verse 24 says.

[27:47] Verse 24 gives us just this beautiful reality that we are sinful, but God wants to save [27:51] us. [27:52] And in verse 25, he tells us that it is so that God can forgive our sin. [27:56] Then in verse 26, he shows us that it is so that he can receive the glory that he deserves. [28:02] As Romans 1 says, it says that God created us to give him glory. [28:08] Then verse 26 says that it is so that Jesus is righteous and give God glory.

[28:12] How does it do that? [28:13] By redeeming sinners so that we will live for eternity, giving God glory. [28:20] He’s the one that does the work needed in order to show us how to be made righteousness. [28:27] Everything in your life must be about Jesus.

[28:32] How many things do you do in any given week that are only about you? [28:37] How many decisions do you make in any given week that only benefit you or people connected [28:43] directly to you?

[28:47] Friends, the righteousness of Jesus Christ demands that that be the end, that stop, that [28:53] we cease from that. [28:54] Faith in Jesus Christ means that we understand that your decisions are not just about you, [29:00] that they’re about everyone connected to you, but they’re also about the God of the universe [29:04] wanting to be there with you, in you, through you, for you, through the righteousness of [29:12] Jesus Christ.

[29:12] If you trust him, he makes you righteous. [29:18] If you do not, it is to your condemnation. [29:24] Because that is the gospel.

[29:27] That is what the Bible reveals to us in its whole story. [29:33] Is that eternity, all of your life and all of your afterlife hinge on one thing, Jesus [29:44] Christ.

[29:46] That’s it. [29:48] That’s the whole story.

[29:51] But God wanted to give us so much evidence in this life so that we could say, that’s [29:56] where it was, that’s where it was, that’s where it was, that’s where it was, and then [30:01] that’s where it is in my life. [30:03] But you can’t have it without the story of God. [30:07] You can’t have it without the whole work of God. [30:10] Because it wouldn’t be trustworthy.

[30:12] It wouldn’t be righteous. [30:15] God does everything in this world to prove to us His absolute righteousness in all things. [30:24] Thirdly this morning, the text reveals to us that only Jesus can save you. [30:35] Only Jesus can save you. [30:37] So the text reveals that Jesus is absolutely righteous. [30:41] It says, not only does Jesus show that he is righteous, but God has actually been working

[30:46] for all eternity. [30:48] Before and then in the history of the world, He’s been working to show you that Jesus [30:55] is righteous. [30:56] But how can we trust this? [30:59] How can we believe this? [31:01] This sounds so great, this sounds so huge, this sounds so hard to believe that we’ve

[31:06] been working to show my sin and then the solution is so simple. [31:12] That’s why Paul says throughout this, throughout all these verses, he says that faith is necessary [31:22] for righteousness. [31:24] You have to believe that God can actually do this in order to partake in it. [31:32] If you believe Him. [31:34] For your relationships in this life, and I’m just talking about just your relationships

[31:40] with your friends, your relationships with your spouse, your relationship with whoever [31:44] it is for you to be in a relationship with, you have to have trust in that person for [31:49] it to be a healthy relationship.

[31:52] When trust begins to fade, then the relationship begins to crumble. [31:58] I think everyone has experienced that, at least on some level. [32:00] Some of you experience that on great, large levels.

[32:06] But there has to be basis of trust for relationships to work. [32:10] Your relationship with God is no different than that. [32:14] For your relationship with God to be made whole, there has to be a basis of trust. [32:22] You have to trust that He’s doing what He says He’s doing, but also that what He’s [32:29] doing is good. [32:32] That’s what it means to be righteous.

[32:33] It means that He’s good. [32:34] It means that He’s right. [32:35] It means that He’s holy. [32:37] It means that He’s smarter than you. [32:40] You have to come into a relationship with God with a basis of God, I trust you. [32:48] Because He’s God.

[32:50] If you don’t trust Him, then He’s not God to you. [32:53] You can’t worship God unless you trust Him. [32:56] You can’t worship God unless you trust that His ways are better than your ways. [33:01] You cannot worship God unless you believe that He is smarter than you.

[33:07] But some of you are bound and determined to say, God’s got some good advice here, but I think I’ve got this figured out. [33:16] You say, you may never admit to that. [33:19] Why? [33:19] Because it sounds absolutely foolish.

[33:23] But some of the decisions that we make in our lives, that’s how it practically works out, is that you think you’re smarter than God. [33:31] Or if you didn’t think that, you’d completely submit to His ways. [33:35] But we struggle because we struggle with this thing called faith. [33:38] Faith is not an easy thing, but constantly the scripture says that God is looking for faith. [33:44] Note what the apostles say very early in the church in Acts chapter 4, verse 12. [33:49] There’s salvation in no one else.

[33:53] There’s no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

[34:01] Must.

[34:03] Must. [34:04] Not can. [34:06] Not should. [34:08] Not could.

[34:11] Must.

[34:15] Without Jesus, you don’t trust God. [34:17] Without Jesus, you don’t get God. [34:19] Because Jesus is God. [34:22] But here’s the key. [34:25] It’s not only available in Jesus. [34:30] This great salvation from sin.

[34:32] It’s not just available, but Jesus wants to save us.

[34:38] He wants to.

[34:41] Do you think He had to do it?

[34:45] Do you think Jesus had to die on the cross? [34:48] We say from the beginning of eternity. [34:52] From the book of Genesis before that, God was in need of nothing. [34:54] He’s completely self-sufficient. He’s completely righteous. [34:58] He wants to save you. [35:00] He wanted to bring salvation into your life.

[35:03] He wants you to be in relationship with Him. [35:07] So when we see this, there’s no other name under heaven by which men must be saved. [35:13] We should not look at that and say, who does He think He is? [35:16] We should look at that and say, He must love me.

[35:21] Because He’s chosen to save us. [35:26] He’s chosen a pathway in which I can be in relationship with the God of the universe for eternity. [35:34] Versus I can be condemned and spend eternity under the wrath of God in hell.

[35:41] Jesus is proof that God does not want you going down that path.

[35:46] Jesus is proof that God wants you to be in the path that will lead to your eternal joy.

[35:54] Where do we see that in this text?

[35:58] There’s three times in this text in the late goings that you see a term that’s got to as its root justify. [36:07] There’s three times. Look in the text. [36:12] Sorry, in verse 22, it says, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe for there’s no distinction. [36:17] All have sinned, fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as a gift. [36:22] That’s the first one. Through the redemption that’s in Christ Jesus.

[36:28] God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be received by faith. [36:32] This was to show God’s righteousness because in His divine forbearance, He had passed over former sins. [36:37] It was to show His righteousness at the present time so that He could be just second time and the justifier third time of the one who has faith in Jesus.

[36:52] That term justify has the same root word as righteousness. [37:01] So justify means righteous. [37:04] But it means something different. Just a little bit. [37:06] There’s just a little turn. [37:08] It means to be made righteous.

[37:13] And so we see this great turn in the text where four times it says Jesus is righteous. [37:21] Jesus is righteous. [37:22] Jesus is righteous. [37:23] Jesus is righteous. [37:26] Jesus wants to make you righteous. [37:28] Jesus wants to make you righteous.

[37:30] Jesus wants to make you righteous.

[37:36] Jesus came in order that you may be justified.

[37:42] Justified is this great term that begins with the meaning forgiven of sin. [37:46] See you have sins charged against you and you’re guilty. [37:50] That’s why in this text that word is so powerful because it begins the basis of the previous two chapters. [37:57] It says you’re sinful. [38:00] And Jesus has come to remove that sin from you. [38:04] But that term doesn’t stop there.

[38:07] See because He doesn’t just remove sin and then leave us in a stagnant state of we just don’t have sin. [38:14] But more than that He removes sin and then comes in and says all of the righteousness for eternity I’ve been saving up in my sin. [38:26] Never sinning. [38:28] And then those 33 years in which I spent on this earth not sinning. [38:33] More than not sinning. [38:35] He wasn’t just avoiding things.

[38:37] He actually came in and did right as well. [38:40] He obeyed the Father completely. [38:43] That’s why when you look at the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus says oh that this cup would pass from me but not my will but yours Father be done. [38:52] He’s justifying us in that moment by not just avoiding things but running headlong into doing right things.

[39:04] The most right thing that we should be the most thankful for. [39:08] He went full force into the cross in absolute obedience so that we could be done more for than just sin removed but so that righteousness could be given.

[39:22] On the cross when Jesus removes our sin He doesn’t just stop there He goes on He removes the penalty He endures the penalty.

[39:33] Righteousness is something that we don’t have.

[39:38] When He said it is finished He meant that our sins were atoned for never more to be dealt with again if we believe in Jesus. [39:44] Never more to be dealt with by us or Him ever again. [39:49] If we trust Him.

[39:52] But He kept going.

[39:56] Jesus’s obedience didn’t just stop with the cross.

[40:00] When Jesus rose from the dead. [40:03] It was the final piece of the gospel.

[40:08] It was the final piece. [40:10] Of your story. [40:13] Because Jesus said sin will not be victorious because He is righteous therefore He got up. [40:21] But when that means is that you can get up. [40:25] You can be made right. [40:28] You can be made whole.

[40:30] You can be made new. [40:32] This is why verse twenty five states that we can be made righteous as a gift. [40:39] It doesn’t belong to us. [40:42] Righteousness belongs to Jesus and it can only come from Him. [40:46] You must go to Him for it.

[40:50] How can you be saved then? [40:53] In Acts chapter sixteen verse thirty.

[40:57] A jailer comes to Paul in a great moment.

[41:03] He asks the most important question that you will ever ask in your life. [41:07] He says what must I do to be saved? [41:11] Paul looks to him. [41:13] He doesn’t give him a twelve step program.

[41:18] He doesn’t give him the law. [41:21] He says believe in the Lord Jesus.

[41:26] And you will be saved.

[41:29] And then he says no just stop with you. [41:31] Your whole house needs to believe. [41:33] Because this story never ends with you.

[41:38] Friends. [41:39] You cannot hope to work off your sin.

[41:44] Some of you are trying so hard to prove your worthiness in this life.

[41:49] Some of you are trying so hard to prove that you’re lovely. [41:54] Some of you are trying so hard to prove that you’re right. [41:58] Some of you are trying so hard to prove that you’re worthy of love. [42:02] Some of you are trying so hard to work off the baggage. [42:07] That friends I know a few decades or many decades on this earth can give you. [42:13] Some of you are trying so hard.

[42:17] But the type of goodness that God demands has only ever been seen in Jesus. [42:26] So understand.

[42:29] You’ll never be as good as Jesus.

[42:33] And so your attempts to save yourself by being as good as Jesus are futile. [42:42] God demands you to realize that yeah. [42:48] You’ve sinned against him. [42:50] I’ve sinned against him. [42:52] We’ve all sinned against him. [42:53] We’ve all been sinned against.

[42:56] You have wasted the life that God’s given you. [43:02] Every one of us. [43:05] Every one of us have poured our affections in the wrong places. [43:08] Tried to find satisfaction in the wrong places. [43:11] And we try so hard to fix our mistakes. [43:13] To fix our errors.

[43:14] To try to have the right motivations. [43:16] Only to find at the end of the day that even what we thought was the right motivation ended up being a wrong motivation. [43:22] But in his love.

[43:26] I mean think about that.

[43:30] How does God love us? [43:33] In absolute love.

[43:37] God sees us in our sin. [43:40] And sets out to rescue us. [43:44] By sacrificing his own life. [43:48] The response that you must have to this act of God. [43:52] Is to put your faith in Jesus. [43:54] To believe that he is right.

[43:56] To trust that everything that he said was true. [43:59] To believe that everything that he lays out is right. [44:02] And that we have been very wrong. [44:05] You must believe that Jesus alone is righteous. [44:08] And that through his work on the cross he offers to forgive you of your sin against him. [44:13] And give you his righteousness as if it was your very own.

[44:19] He earns your acceptance. [44:22] He earns your worthiness. [44:24] He earns God’s favor for you forever. [44:28] I don’t ever need to earn it. [44:30] I don’t ever need to gain it. [44:32] I don’t ever need to worry about if it’s there or not.

[44:36] Because Jesus says it’s there and I believe Jesus. [44:39] That’s what he wants. [44:41] That’s what he commands. [44:42] That’s what you must give him in order to be saved. [44:47] So I leave you with a question.

[44:51] Do you believe in Jesus?

[44:57] As the band comes up.

[45:03] I’ve been wanting to get here since we started.

[45:09] I knew we were going to have a rough road. [45:12] I knew we were going to have a rough path. [45:14] But the path is worth it. [45:16] When you see the beauty of God’s grace. [45:19] And that’s what Jesus brings us.

[45:23] Does he show me sin?

[45:26] A lot.

[45:29] Every day I realize more and more as I get older.

[45:34] I’ll never be as good as Jesus.

[45:40] But the beautiful thing about life.

[45:45] The beautiful thing about what Paul writes here.

[45:50] Is that I don’t have to be.

[45:54] Friends, I don’t know what you’re trusting in. [45:59] I don’t know what you’re basing what success in life looks like. [46:03] I don’t know what you’re trying to find your satisfaction in. [46:07] But here’s what I do know. [46:09] If it’s anything other than Jesus.

[46:13] Then please listen to what Paul says in this text. [46:18] Turn away from that. [46:20] And trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. [46:23] No matter how old or how young you are. [46:27] That’s God’s demand on your life. [46:29] Right here. Right now.

[46:34] Believe in Jesus Christ. [46:37] If you are a believer in Jesus. [46:38] I invite you to one of the six stations around this room. [46:42] To just rejoice in what Jesus has done for us through communion. [46:46] Which is a reflection on the cross. [46:48] Through the cup. Through the bread. His broken body. His shed blood.

[46:54] If you’re not a believer.

[46:57] I invite you to be one.

[47:00] I’ll be right over here. [47:02] I’d love to pray with you. I’d love to talk with you. [47:05] But when you’re ready. Come.