Blessed by Grace.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Welcome to Village Church. If this is your first time here, my name is Steve, one of the pastors here at Village Church. [0:04] And I’m always grateful to see each and every one of you. [0:07] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them to Romans chapter four. [0:11] We’re going to be starting in verse one today. And by God’s grace, we’ll reach verse eight. [0:16] But what we’ve been doing is we’re about maybe halfway through a series. [0:20] We’re going through the entire book of Romans.

[0:24] And what this is, is this is the story of Christianity, [0:29] of the story of how God redeemed sinners through Jesus Christ. [0:34] And one thing I want us to understand is that that is what the Bible is all about. [0:39] From Genesis through the book of Revelation, you have the story of how God redeemed sinful man, [0:47] about how man has sinned against God, has sinned against the design that he gave us. [0:51] And then God comes in over and over and he redeems and he’s setting up this great story

[0:57] that leads to Jesus Christ coming and Jesus paying the penalty. [1:02] Jesus giving us new life through the resurrection. [1:04] And then he unfolds how that affects our everyday life. [1:08] And that is why we constantly push you to the Bible, [1:12] is that this is the source of how we know the story of the gospel. [1:17] Without the scriptures, we don’t have that story.

[1:20] And because Jesus is God, because Jesus rose from the dead, [1:23] we know that the scriptures are true. [1:26] These are the words of God. [1:28] That the way the New Testament puts it, that these terms and these words in the scriptures are God breathed, [1:33] that God carried along men through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit [1:37] to write the words that God would have them to write.

[1:40] And so we trust this book. [1:42] We build our foundation about our beliefs on this book. [1:46] And our church is always driven to this book because in it we believe there are the words of life. [1:54] And without this revelation from God, we don’t have the message that we need so dearly. [2:00] The message, the gospel of Jesus Christ that saves us. [2:04] And that is the story that Paul is writing in the book of Romans.

[2:09] That’s what he’s constantly trying to direct our attention towards, [2:13] is how God has seamlessly through history woven his story in with ours to show us one eternal purpose. [2:22] And that is the eternal purpose of God working salvation in this world to his glory and for our salvation. [2:31] And we saw last week when we finished Romans chapter 3, [2:34] that faith answers every demand that the law of God has placed on us. [2:41] And that is the anchor of Jesus.

[2:45] That is the anchor of the gospel of Jesus Christ. [2:48] That God has accomplished the work of salvation without our help. [2:54] That no good done by you factors in to having your sins forgiven. [3:00] There’s nothing you can do to work your sin off. [3:03] There’s nothing you can do to work yourself into a righteous standing before God. [3:06] But instead, God himself comes and God does all of the good that you will ever need.

[3:12] God pays all of the price that your sins will ever require of you. [3:17] And therefore the debt that is owed by you to God has forever been paid through Jesus Christ. [3:25] The penalty was death and condemnation. [3:28] And Jesus came and he took that on to himself. [3:31] And then he answers this pivotal question. [3:34] What then is required of you?

[3:36] What does God require of you for salvation? [3:40] He requires faith in Jesus and faith alone. [3:44] You must believe God. [3:46] What about your abilities? [3:48] What about your strengths? [3:49] What about your good works?

[3:51] Well, he said last week, they’re excluded. [3:53] They’re not factored in whatsoever. [3:55] Nothing that you can do will make you righteous.

[4:01] And what I want you to understand about where we’re going to be for the next few weeks. [4:06] Is that Paul is not going to allow you to leave that fact. [4:14] Paul is going to get what you may think is a little bit repetitive. [4:19] Because it’s going to be our kind of instinctive nature is to say, [4:23] well, okay, we’ve got grace. [4:25] Let’s move on.

[4:26] Give me some points to take away. [4:28] Give me some bullet points that I need to start doing in my life. [4:33] And Paul’s going to just begin for you to get a little bit repetitive. [4:38] He’s going to just stay on grace for the next two chapters. [4:42] Over and over. [4:43] What is the answer?

[4:45] Grace. [4:45] What do you need to do? [4:47] Grace. [4:47] What do you need to believe? [4:49] Grace. [4:50] What about your family?

[4:51] Grace. [4:52] What about my children? [4:53] Grace. [4:53] What about my co-workers? [4:55] Grace. [4:55] Grace.

[4:56] Grace. [4:57] Grace. [4:57] Grace. [4:57] He’s not going to move off of this for a few more chapters because you repeat what is important. [5:08] And Paul wants you to be an absolute captivated all of the grace of God because you can have a lot of stuff that you do without Christianity. [5:18] But you can’t have Christianity without grace.

[5:21] You can’t have faith without grace. [5:24] You can’t have God without grace. [5:26] If it were not for grace, there would be absolutely no gospel of Jesus Christ. [5:33] And so what is the bedrock of our faith in Jesus? [5:37] It is grace. [5:38] It is not in what you do.

[5:41] It is on what God has done. [5:44] And so what Paul wants to do for the next few weeks is he wants to constantly turn our attention. [5:50] As we kind of begin to turn away from the grace of Jesus Christ, [5:53] Paul’s going to say, [5:54] Nope. Look back. [5:56] Keep looking.

[5:58] Stay in awe. [6:00] Stay in wonder. [6:01] This is where worship is. [6:03] Understand that nothing that you do factors in to how God saved you. [6:09] So you need to have your mind totally saturated and totally captivated by the grace of God. [6:16] And understand that God has always saved by grace through His power.

[6:20] This has always been how He works. [6:22] This has always been how He moves in our lives and in our hearts. [6:27] And everything that you do in Christ should serve to draw you back to grace. [6:36] And everything that you do in Christ should serve as a reminder and a realization that you don’t deserve God’s grace. [6:47] And that grace is also the greatest blessing. [6:51] That you will ever have in your life.

[6:55] And so Paul hits the rewind button in chapter 4. [6:59] And he goes back to what Israel and the Jews would say is the very beginning of their story. [7:06] Father Abraham. [7:07] So join me in verse 1 and here’s what Paul says. [7:10] He says,

[7:15] So he’s fleshed out last week. [7:18] He said, [7:18] What happens to all of your boasting? All of your good works? Excluded. [7:22] It’s all the grace of God. [7:24] And so he’s looking to a Jewish audience and he’s saying, [7:27] What would be their response to this? What would be their question?

[7:30] And their question would immediately be, [7:32] Hey, what about Abraham? [7:34] What about everything that he ever did? [7:37] Because to them, to the Jewish audience, Abraham was this great sign of devotion to God. [7:44] His obedience was so huge. [7:47] That’s all that they focused on.

[7:49] And so Paul’s going to go back to what would be the most controversial subject. [7:55] Where the discussion of grace is going to be. [7:57] And so he goes to Abraham. [7:59] He says, [7:59] For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about. [8:04] But not before God.

[8:06] For what does the scripture say? [8:08] Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. [8:12] Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift. [8:16] But as his due. [8:18] And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, [8:23] His faith is counted as righteousness.

[8:26] And there we have the scandal of grace. [8:29] Then verse 6. [8:30] Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works, [8:36] Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. [8:40] Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. [8:48] And so here,

[8:50] Paul, if you just read it without thinking about it, he’s kind of all over the place. [8:54] He goes from Abraham and then he’s talking about grace. [8:57] And then he goes to David and then he’s quoting the Psalms. [8:59] And it’s like, man, it’s really hard to come to an understanding of what specifically he’s talking about. [9:04] Because he’s so all over the place in this message. [9:06] What I want us to kind of focus in on today is he’s really just giving you one seamless thought about grace

[9:14] and using a few different examples for us to understand it. [9:17] And so the first thing that he wants us to understand is clearly from the text. [9:21] Abraham was not saved by his works. [9:26] I want you to understand that. [9:28] When I was younger, [9:29] there was a time when I thought that Jesus literally changed everything about God’s plan of salvation.

[9:36] That in the Old Testament, [9:38] that the saints of old, I mean Moses, Abraham, all those guys, [9:42] that they were obedient enough to the law [9:45] and that they followed the Ten Commandments enough [9:48] to where they actually earned their salvation. [9:51] And that kind of really confused me about Jesus

[9:54] because I was like, well, what’s our problem then? [9:57] I mean, if they could do it, why can’t we do it? [10:01] I mean, if they were obedient enough and those guys could obey the law, [10:04] why can’t we? Is it because I’m a Gentile? [10:07] What is the issue here? [10:09] But the scriptures give me the truth.

[10:13] The Bible explains that wasn’t the case at all.

[10:18] That in the Old Testament, no one was saved by their obedience to the law. [10:24] I mean, you look at the stories of the Old Testament [10:25] and over and over and over again, what do you see? [10:28] Everybody in the Old Testament is really faithful and obedient [10:31] until they’re really unfaithful and disobedient.

[10:38] And so you read those stories and you’re like, wait a second, [10:40] they weren’t perfect.

[10:45] So they weren’t perfect, well, they couldn’t have been saved [10:49] by obedience to the law. [10:50] And when you read the stories, you see, Israel, they get really unfaithful. [10:53] God comes in and redeems them. [10:55] They, well, thank you, God. [10:57] And then they get really disobedient again

[10:58] and God comes in and redeems them. [11:00] So in the Old Testament, you have this thing over and over and over again [11:02] of God as the Redeemer, as God as the one who’s always perfect, [11:07] as the one who’s always reliable, [11:09] as the one who’s always the one to whom they must be dependent on [11:13] because he’s the one that always comes

[11:14] and he’s the one that always saves. [11:19] The problem with the Old Testament people is that none of them are perfect. [11:24] They needed God to intervene in their lives just as much as you do. [11:30] Just as much as I do. [11:32] And so he goes all the way back to the head of it all, [11:37] Abraham, to explain that from the beginning,

[11:41] no one has ever been saved by their works. [11:44] And here’s the funny thing, it should have been clear. [11:47] Faith was not a subplot of the story about Abraham. [11:52] He had this thing called faith, and then he was really obedient, [11:55] and he was really devoted to God, [11:57] and he did all these good things,

[11:58] so he was faithful to God, [12:00] but the main part of Abraham’s story is, [12:02] man, that guy was really obedient. [12:04] Until you read the story and you find out, [12:06] yeah, he screwed up a lot.

[12:11] Genesis 15, verse 6, explains the story in one sentence. [12:17] This is all the ammunition you need on this one. [12:20] It says that Abraham believed God, [12:24] and it was counted to him as righteousness.

[12:30] Faith saved Abraham. [12:33] In Genesis chapter 12, Abraham is not following God. [12:37] He’s just living, and God just pushes his way in there. [12:42] It says, Abraham, I want you to take your family, [12:46] I want you to take all your stuff, [12:48] I want you to get up, and I want you to go over to this place.

[12:52] I want you to understand that I’m going to make a great nation out of you. [12:56] There’s a great promise from God, [12:58] and Abraham believes God. [13:01] In Genesis chapter 15, God comes back to Abraham, [13:04] and he says, let me explain a little bit more of my promise to you. [13:07] You see the stars?

[13:08] Your descendants will outnumber the stars. [13:10] I want to reiterate, I’m going to make a great nation out of you. [13:15] Then we come to Genesis 15, 6, [13:17] and it says Abraham believed God, [13:19] counted to him as righteousness. [13:21] Salvation has come into Abraham’s life,

[13:23] but what I want you to understand, [13:24] Abraham was not saved when he got up out of the chair he may have been sitting in. [13:31] Abraham was not saved when he started to pack his stuff. [13:36] Abraham was not saved when he went to Sarah, [13:39] and he says, hey, we got to go. [13:41] He was not saved when he saddled the donkey.

[13:44] He was not saved when he got halfway there. [13:47] He was not saved when he got there. [13:50] Abraham was saved the moment. [13:53] The moment that he believed.

[13:57] The moment that the promise of God came into his life, [14:00] and Abraham says, you know what, I think you’re right. [14:05] Salvation has come to Abraham. [14:08] In that moment of faith, [14:11] that was redemption.

[14:14] Payment was there. [14:17] Abraham believed, and God said, [14:20] I count you righteous in that moment. [14:23] And that is always how God has worked. [14:29] God has never saved anyone because of something that they did, [14:34] or a good work that they accomplished.

[14:37] God has always saved through faith, [14:41] and Abraham is the beginning of the case [14:45] that Paul will use to prove that point. [14:48] It has always been about grace, [14:53] and it will always be about the grace of God. [14:59] Everything Abraham would ever do from that moment

[15:02] was based on a belief that God would deliver on his promises. [15:08] Therefore, the root of everything Abraham ever did [15:13] was always in that faith. [15:17] It was always rooted in the intervention of God [15:19] that wasn’t deserved with a promise [15:22] that wasn’t based on Abraham,

[15:25] but totally based on God. [15:29] It was never about what Abraham deserved. [15:32] It was never about God paying Abraham back [15:34] for all of his devotion. [15:36] It was about God’s grace. [15:39] And therefore, because that’s true,

[15:42] I want you to understand this morning, number two, [15:43] you don’t want what your works will earn you. [15:48] You don’t want what your works will earn you. [15:50] Abraham didn’t want what his works would earn him. [15:53] He wanted what God promised that he’d never known before, [15:57] and God just said, it’s going to be yours.

[15:59] And Abraham said, that’s what I want. [16:02] And God said, Abraham, you’re going to get so obedient. [16:06] You’re going to get so good [16:07] that you’re going to be able to earn all of this stuff from me. [16:11] No, that’s never what God said to Abraham. [16:13] Abraham just said, hey, I’m going to make you a great nation.

[16:16] That’s it. [16:19] So what’s the anchor of that promise? [16:20] God. [16:22] Who’s the one that said there’s going to be a great nation? [16:24] God. [16:25] Who was the requirement on to make the nation?

[16:28] God.

[16:30] God just looked at Abraham and said, [16:32] you’re the one I’m going to do it through.

[16:35] So Abraham said, yeah. [16:38] And he got up and went. [16:40] Totally based on faith. [16:42] Totally based on God. [16:44] God does the work of crediting righteousness to someone [16:49] through grace.

[16:52] In the text of Romans chapter 4, [16:55] we see one term over and over and over again. [16:58] And it is that term that you see [17:00] that’s either credited in your translation [17:02] or God counted something. [17:06] That term is in Romans chapter 4, 11 times.

[17:09] It is used four times between verses 3 and 6 [17:13] and it begins where it says, [17:15] Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. [17:19] And he uses it four times in verses 3 through verse 6 alone. [17:23] And then continuously uses it over and over again. [17:26] Because what God, excuse me,

[17:27] what the apostle Paul, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, [17:31] is trying to help us understand is two things. [17:34] Number one, what is not counted towards you? [17:37] And then number two, what is going to be counted towards you? [17:42] And in verse 4, he begins to say, [17:45] what you don’t want counted towards you.

[17:47] Here’s what he says in verse 4. [17:49] He says, now, to the one who works, [17:53] his wages are not counted to him as righteousness. [17:56] And your immediate response may be to that. [17:59] That doesn’t sound fair. [18:02] I mean, if you work, you deserve to get paid.

[18:05] I mean, that’s what basically society is built on. [18:08] We lose that, we lose a lot of stuff.

[18:12] But understand that in God’s view, [18:15] and in the way that God sees the world, [18:17] everything that you have earned, [18:20] and everything that you are due, [18:23] is hell.

[18:26] And so you don’t want what you have earned. [18:29] But then your response might be, [18:31] well, but I’ve done all this good stuff. [18:32] I mean, I’ve been in church, I’ve been serving, [18:35] I read my Bible, I pray, I do all of this stuff. [18:38] And so I want what is due me.

[18:42] And to that, God would always say, [18:44] you did all that stuff, [18:47] but you didn’t do it as well as I would have.

[18:52] And you say, what do you mean? [18:54] Well, God would look at you and say, [18:56] well, I would do that perfectly. [18:58] And it doesn’t get any better than that. [19:00] And well, you did it, let’s admit, [19:02] it was pretty messy there for a while.

[19:04] It was like that fifth grade science project. [19:06] You thought you were a genius at the moment, [19:09] but you look at it years later, [19:10] and you’re like, could I even read? [19:12] And God’s basically like, [19:13] that’s what your obedience kind of looks like to me,

[19:16] because I would have done it better. [19:17] And then God would say, [19:18] and you know, to be in my presence, [19:20] because I’m holy, [19:22] well, you’ve got to be as good as me.

[19:26] Well, then all of your good deeds, [19:27] in light of God’s holiness, [19:28] well, they begin to look a little less impressive. [19:33] And your self-righteousness should kind of start to wither, [19:36] but then maybe you’ll play the sentiment card, [19:38] and you’re like, but I had the best of intentions.

[19:41] God said, yeah, I had better ones. [19:44] They were perfect. [19:46] Yours weren’t. [19:47] So I’ve even got you beat there.

[19:50] And so when we begin to look at that, [19:52] and we’re like, to the one who works,

[19:56] our work’s not very impressive. [19:58] And when God says, [20:00] well, do you know what’s due to you, [20:02] because all of your stuff was tainted by the sin that you also did? [20:06] Well, if I gave you what you earned, [20:08] you would have to get hell.

[20:10] And so the only good thing that could happen to us [20:12] is that God says, [20:13] oh, I’m not going to give you what you deserve.

[20:17] That’s where verse 5 comes in. [20:19] In verse 5, he says, [20:21] and to the one who does not work, [20:25] but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, [20:28] His faith is counted as righteousness. [20:30] And that’s where the controversy comes in.

[20:32] Because He’s like, the one who has not worked. [20:36] And to us, that’s like the guy that shows up, [20:38] clocks in, immediately takes a smoke break. [20:41] Then he goes to lunch an hour early, [20:44] stays at lunch an hour later, [20:46] and your paychecks are exactly the same.

[20:49] And you’re like, I did so much more work than that guy. [20:51] I deserve so much more than that guy. [20:54] And you have the audacity to write in Romans 4 or 5 [20:57] to the one who doesn’t work, [21:01] the one who didn’t earn his keep.

[21:06] He gets righteousness just by believing?

[21:10] Now Paul says, [21:11] if you will be honest with yourself, [21:14] and you can get over your pride, [21:16] what you will come to find is, [21:18] is that everyone’s in verse 5. [21:21] None of you have done anything

[21:24] that could ever possibly earn the righteousness of God. [21:30] And God’s point is, [21:31] it’s only in the moment where you admit, [21:34] I’ve never done any work [21:37] that fully pleases God. [21:40] I’ve never earned my keep.

[21:42] I’ve never done enough. [21:43] I am the one who didn’t work.

[21:48] Only then, [21:50] do you understand how amazing the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ is. [21:57] Because you see right there, [21:58] you have the removal of one thing. [22:01] You have the removal of pride. [22:02] You have the removal of self-righteousness.

[22:05] You have the humiliation that says [22:07] that you are desperately in need for the grace of God. [22:11] You have all of that in verse 4 [22:13] because Paul is poking a stick into your self-righteousness. [22:16] And it’s like, oh, you think you’re good enough? [22:19] Look at God!

[22:21] That’s the standard! [22:23] It’s kind of like, good luck! [22:26] And at that, we’re all bankrupt. [22:29] We’re all at his mercy. [22:32] And in that moment, [22:33] we need our sins paid for.

[22:36] We need our sins atoned for. [22:38] And he does, but then in verse 5, [22:41] he doesn’t just remove sin, [22:43] he gives us a gift. [22:46] That’s where that term counted is so vital. [22:51] Because it is the definition of that term in Romans 3 and Romans 4.

[22:56] Justification.

[22:58] The justification is the removal of one thing, [23:02] but it is also the addition of another thing. [23:06] So it removes sin. [23:07] Colossians 2, verse 14 explains it this way. [23:11] The apostle Paul, writing again, he says, [23:13] that God has canceled the record of debt

[23:17] that stood against us with its legal demands. [23:20] So when he says legal demands, he’s talking about justice. [23:22] He’s saying, you’ve sinned, justice needs to happen. [23:26] And then he says, and he’s done that [23:28] by nailing it to the cross. [23:30] He set your sin aside, he found justice,

[23:33] the legal requirements have been made in the cross. [23:37] Sin paid for, sin atoned for, [23:40] it’s gone, it’s been removed. [23:41] But he’s not done. [23:44] He doesn’t just forgive us. [23:46] That’s half of the gospel.

[23:50] And you should be overwhelmingly thankful [23:52] for that half of the gospel. [23:55] That God has forgiven your sins. [23:58] God has removed the penalty that your sins deserve. [24:01] And he’s nailed it to the cross of Jesus, [24:03] and Jesus has paid the penalty.

[24:05] But that’s not enough. [24:06] You also need him to do something for you. [24:09] And that’s what Romans 4 verse 5 is. [24:13] He’s saying, a righteousness that does not belong to you, [24:17] that you did not earn, [24:20] that is not deserved by you,

[24:24] a righteousness like that has been credited towards you. [24:30] This term counted. [24:32] Not counted for, not counted against, [24:35] but then counted to and counted towards. [24:38] Here’s the simplest explanation that I can think of [24:42] that people in our type of culture might understand.

[24:46] You went to college,

[24:48] and you didn’t have a lot of money. [24:51] And they said, but we have loans. [24:54] And you said, all right. [24:56] And so you go through college, [24:58] and you’re not really paying attention, [25:00] and it’s just getting paid for.

[25:02] You go to class, then you go to mealtime, [25:05] and it’s like, I’m getting all this stuff. [25:07] And then you get out of college. [25:09] And then this girl that claims that she dated you for a while [25:12] named Sally, last name’s May, [25:15] she sends you a letter in the mail,

[25:17] and she’s like, you have quite the debt from our relationship [25:21] that you weren’t paying attention to. [25:23] And you look at it, and you say, [25:25] well, that’s a lot of money, [25:26] and I don’t think I’m going to make that much money [25:28] because I was an art history major.

[25:32] And you’re like, what am I going to do here? [25:34] And whoo. [25:36] And plus, all I could find was a job at a fast food joint. [25:39] The economy’s not great. [25:40] And you’re like, goodness. [25:41] And then you start to remember another thing

[25:43] that you also met a few other people, [25:45] Discovery, Visa, and MasterCard. [25:48] And you kind of racked up a little bit of debt there. [25:51] And by the way, if this is your story, [25:52] we have a class for this called Financial Peace. [25:54] But you have these bills that are coming,

[25:58] and you’re like, man, I don’t make enough money [26:02] to pay all of this debt off. [26:05] I’m in serious trouble, [26:07] and I’m not even halfway through my life yet.

[26:12] Then one night, you come home,

[26:16] and you bring up your bank account, [26:21] and you look at all the bills, [26:22] and so you start going to do the online bill pay, [26:25] and all that you see are zeros.

[26:30] Your debt’s gone. [26:31] No more student loans, no more credit cards. [26:34] Just, whew. [26:36] That’s a hallelujah day, by the way. [26:37] I mean, that’s what we’re all waiting for. [26:40] We’re all like, I’m looking forward to that.

[26:42] It’s not coming.

[26:44] But you still got to go to work. [26:47] But you get home, and you’re just, [26:49] what in the world? [26:51] Man, how great is that? [26:53] And that’s half of it. [26:55] That’s half of it.

[26:57] Is that you have no more debt. [26:59] You have no more price. [27:00] You have no more penalty. [27:02] But then it gets even more amazing, [27:04] is then you bring up your checking account, [27:07] and it doesn’t say

[27:09] a hundred anymore. [27:11] It doesn’t say a thousand anymore, [27:13] or zero. [27:14] It doesn’t say 25,000. [27:17] It doesn’t even say a million. [27:18] It doesn’t even say a billion.

[27:20] You just look at your bank account, [27:22] and there’s this word that you didn’t even know [27:24] that was in economics. [27:26] It says infinite.

[27:30] You have so much, [27:32] you can’t even fathom [27:34] how much it is. [27:35] You can never outspend it. [27:37] You can never lose it. [27:39] It’s yours forever.

[27:41] So not only did you go [27:43] from the negative [27:45] to zero sum, [27:47] but you went from the negative [27:49] to unending worth.

[27:55] That’s the other half of the Gospel. [27:58] But what God wants you to realize [28:01] about the Gospel is that [28:02] He is not an anonymous benefactor.

[28:08] He didn’t make an anonymous donation. [28:10] He did it on display [28:12] for all to see. [28:13] You had a debt of sin [28:15] that you never had a chance [28:18] at paying back.

[28:20] And Jesus came and took your sin [28:22] onto Himself. [28:23] Paid it in full. [28:25] Zero sum. [28:25] And for that, hallelujah. [28:28] But Jesus didn’t stop there.

[28:30] He kept going. [28:32] And then He said, [28:33] I’m not just going to not count your sin [28:36] against you. [28:37] I’m going to count my righteousness [28:40] towards you.

[28:42] And so the forgiveness of sin [28:43] offered in Jesus Christ [28:45] is not about a zero sum. [28:46] It is about infinite worth. [28:49] And He gives into the account [28:51] of your righteousness

[28:52] His full worth. [28:54] His full obedience. [28:55] You can never outspend it. [28:58] And you can never lose it. [29:00] It is yours forever. [29:03] And that is what He’s saying

[29:04] in verse 5. [29:05] When He says to the one who has faith, [29:07] it will be counted to Him as righteousness. [29:10] That’s the glory of the Gospel. [29:12] Not that my sins have just been forgiven. [29:14] But not just that my sins have been atoned for.

[29:17] But that Jesus’ righteousness [29:18] is as if it is [29:20] my very own.

[29:27] That is why [29:29] it is a good thing [29:32] that God gets all the credit. [29:37] Because He shares [29:38] the treasure with us [29:41] by counting it towards us

[29:44] when we have faith in Jesus.

[29:50] And that is also why [29:53] saving faith [29:54] can happen [29:56] in a moment.

[30:00] That is why [30:01] saving faith doesn’t have to be [30:05] a journey of you earning anything.

[30:10] It doesn’t have to be [30:11] a life of paying restitution.

[30:16] Because you see, [30:17] it was a great work. [30:19] I mean think about it this way. [30:21] God did an eternal work [30:23] of redemption [30:24] by creating a world.

[30:28] God did an eternal [30:30] work of redemption [30:33] by building a nation [30:34] through which Jesus would be born. [30:37] God did an eternal [30:39] work of redemption

[30:41] by Jesus living [30:43] a perfect life [30:45] on this world. [30:47] God did an eternal work [30:49] of redemption [30:50] by Jesus dying on the cross

[30:52] as a substitute [30:54] to make a payment for our sin. [30:57] God did an eternal work [30:58] in Jesus when Jesus [31:00] rose from the dead [31:04] to show His victory

[31:06] over death and sin. [31:08] God did an eternal work in Jesus.

[31:13] But the life [31:15] change that He does [31:17] through faith in Jesus [31:19] when He gives us a new life [31:21] because of that resurrection. [31:24] And I tell you

[31:24] that is a lot [31:27] of work.

[31:29] And God did [31:31] every bit of it without you.

[31:35] But here’s the thing. [31:36] Faith is different.

[31:39] Because faith says that now [31:41] that God has done all [31:43] of the work, now that God has [31:45] earned all of the righteousness [31:47] faith is about [31:48] believing that God is

[31:51] righteous, that His plan [31:53] is true, and that His [31:55] salvation is real. [31:58] God has determined [31:59] that if you [32:01] believe in Him

[32:05] that He will [32:07] consider His [32:09] righteousness [32:10] as your own. [32:13] He counts you [32:15] righteous.

[32:17] And because of that [32:20] the moment [32:22] that you believe [32:24] the moment [32:26] that you see your sin [32:28] in light of His grace

[32:29] the moment [32:32] that you say, I believe that God [32:34] is true. I believe [32:36] that God will save. The moment [32:38] that you do that, that fast [32:40] you’re saved.

[32:43] His work of grace [32:44] in your life [32:46] is full.

[32:49] Your account of [32:50] righteousness filled to the brim. [32:52] Because if it was any [32:54] other way

[32:57] then you’d be working [32:58] towards it. [33:00] You’d be earning it. [33:01] And that wouldn’t be grace. [33:05] But we have to [33:06] understand that this is what

[33:08] saving faith is all about. Saving faith [33:10] is all about that moment where you [33:12] understand, that moment where you [33:14] believe, that moment where [33:16] Jesus is God and Jesus [33:18] saves. That moment is a saving

[33:20] moment of God’s grace [33:22] in your life. [33:25] You probably don’t even have it all figured out. [33:27] There’s so much [33:28] more to know. But God says [33:30] I’m not depending on you to learn

[33:32] it all for me to save you. I’m [33:37] saving you because you believe me. [33:39] That’s why it can be [33:40] in a life of absolute [33:42] chaos. Where [33:44] nothing is ordered properly.

[33:47] Where nothing is in the right [33:48] place. And in the moment where the gospel [33:50] comes in. And in the moment where you [33:52] believe. God says I save [33:54] you. God says my [33:56] righteousness is yours. God says

[33:58] you can never lose me. God [34:00] saves by grace [34:03] through faith. [34:04] Always has, always will. [34:07] No matter what you’re dealing with [34:08] in your life. No matter how bad

[34:10] your sin is. No matter how bad [34:12] you think you are. Or how good you [34:14] think you are. No matter how much [34:16] righteousness you think that you have earned. [34:18] God will only save you [34:20] by His grace when you

[34:22] believe Him.

[34:25] That fast.

[34:28] You say

[34:30] what an amazing [34:33] work of grace.

[34:37] And Paul says [34:38] that’s right.

[34:41] You see in this text [34:42] Paul is explaining what he said from the very [34:44] outset in Romans chapter 1 [34:46] verse 17. [34:48] The very beginning he gave is really [34:50] his thesis statement. In verse 17

[34:52] he said for in it, for in the gospel [34:54] of Jesus Christ, the righteousness [34:56] of God is revealed from [34:58] faith for faith [35:00] as it is written, the righteous shall [35:02] live by faith. And that’s

[35:04] like one of those coffee cup verses is really [35:06] popular and you’re like I don’t really [35:08] know what it means but he says faith so many times [35:10] it must be good.

[35:14] In Romans 4 [35:14] he’s explaining that. He’s saying [35:16] let me explain to you what it means [35:18] that it is from faith for faith. [35:20] Let me explain what it means that the righteous [35:22] shall live by faith. I’m talking

[35:24] about believing God [35:26] and God in a supernatural [35:28] work of the Holy Spirit takes a sinner [35:30] and then sees him as righteous [35:32] all because he believed. [35:36] God says that’s what faith is.

[35:38] God says that is what [35:39] the journey from [35:41] sinner to righteousness looks like. [35:43] You can’t work it off friend.

[35:47] You can’t work towards it.

[35:51] It’s all about God. [35:53] And how giving he is. [35:56] And that’s why [35:57] we look at the cross [35:59] and see that God [36:01] takes away what I

[36:03] deserve and he [36:05] gives me what I don’t [36:08] deserve. [36:09] That is the marriage [36:11] of mercy and grace. [36:14] And that is the

[36:15] greatest treasure [36:17] that you will [36:19] ever know [36:21] in your life. [36:24] That’s why point number three this morning [36:26] you are always

[36:28] blessed [36:29] because of grace. [36:32] You are always blessed [36:33] because of grace. [36:36] In verse six [36:37] it seems like he changes his format.

[36:40] Seems like he hits another road [36:41] and he quotes [36:44] King David the Psalmist [36:46] and it says in verse six [36:47] just as David also speaks of the blessing [36:49] of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart

[36:52] from works blessed are those [36:54] whose lawless deeds are forgiven [36:56] whose sins are covered. [36:57] Blessed is the man against whom the Lord [37:00] will not count his sin. [37:02] In 2 Corinthians chapter five

[37:03] Paul says this interesting thing [37:05] and it doesn’t seem to fit really well [37:07] but he’s like look if it seems like I’m out of my mind [37:09] that is for God. [37:11] If it seems like I’m in my mind [37:12] that’s because I’m trying to help you understand it.

[37:15] And so this is one of those things where [37:17] you see it throughout the New Testament [37:18] where Paul’s talking about the gospel [37:20] and it’s like he’s building and he’s building [37:22] and he’s building and then he just kind of steps outside of himself [37:24] he’s like excuse me I gotta scream some Psalms

[37:26] because I’m so excited right now [37:28] but I’ll come back to you in a minute. [37:29] But in this section when he quotes this Psalm [37:32] it makes perfect sense [37:34] when you get to the detail of it. [37:35] Because what he’s trying to get into you

[37:37] after verse five is he’s trying for you to understand [37:40] and that’s why he says blessed [37:42] blessed blessed three times [37:43] is because he wants you to grasp [37:46] how great and how wonderful [37:47] the grace of God is

[37:49] and that’s why he quotes the Holy Spirit [37:53] See because the Holy Spirit [37:54] wrote that through King David [37:55] so those aren’t just King David’s words [37:57] that’s the Holy Spirit’s words and Paul’s point is [37:59] is that hundreds and hundreds of years ago

[38:02] God was explaining [38:03] the gospel of Jesus Christ in the book of Psalms.

[38:10] Grace friend [38:11] is the greatest [38:12] of blessings. [38:14] Now there’s a lot of things in this life [38:17] to be grateful for [38:19] but none

[38:21] is better [38:23] none more valuable [38:26] than the grace [38:27] of justification by faith. [38:30] Paul transitioned so that we can apply this [38:32] to our everyday life

[38:33] and so that we can see [38:34] what kind of attitude [38:36] what type of motive [38:37] will this reality well up inside of me [38:41] if I’m really having faith [38:43] if I’m really following God

[38:44] if I’m really experiencing grace [38:46] and he says it’s going to make you the most thankful person [38:49] that’s ever lived [38:51] that’s what it’s going to do [38:53] because Paul shocks us with that [38:55] scandal in verses 4 and 5

[38:58] and then he comes into this [38:59] and he knows that it’s going to be hard [39:01] for us to comprehend [39:03] but he begins to weld down into us [39:05] so that we will understand [39:06] that no matter what happens

[39:09] in your life [39:10] no matter what heights you reach [39:14] no matter what [39:15] echelons of success [39:16] that you aspire to [39:18] or you reach

[39:19] no matter how high you get [39:21] he wants you to know that nothing that you get [39:24] will ever be more valuable than the grace of Jesus Christ [39:28] but then he also wants you to understand [39:31] that no matter what [39:33] depths

[39:34] of the hard parts of life [39:36] you sink to [39:38] no matter what suffering [39:41] you endure [39:44] that you are always [39:48] living a life

[39:49] of continual blessing [39:52] because of the grace [39:54] of Jesus Christ [39:56] Facebook culture [40:00] tempts us [40:02] to post

[40:04] just the best parts [40:05] of our lives [40:06] to show how blessed we are [40:09] and I don’t take away from that [40:12] every good thing that comes into your life [40:14] is from God

[40:16] and you should be thankful [40:17] you should give him credit [40:19] because that’s grace [40:20] but the Bible [40:24] doesn’t point us [40:26] to just the trinkets of this world

[40:28] to show how blessed we are [40:31] and that can be dangerous [40:33] if that’s the only place you look [40:34] the Bible [40:36] points us to the grace of Jesus [40:39] to show us

[40:40] that even in those bad circumstances [40:43] even in those hard times [40:46] we are eternally blessed [40:48] why?

[40:51] because Jesus brings [40:53] salvation [40:54] that’s it [40:56] no matter what’s happening in your life [40:58] no matter what you are enduring in every moment [41:00] Jesus has saved you

[41:03] Jesus offers his amazing grace [41:06] to this world [41:09] nothing [41:10] can take that away [41:13] the blessed life [41:15] is never

[41:17] about anything [41:18] that this world has to offer [41:22] the blessed life [41:24] is always [41:25] about God’s righteousness [41:27] through faith

[41:30] what Paul means to tell you [41:32] is that if you had a stack [41:35] of ten million dollars

[41:41] and beside it [41:43] the grace of God through Jesus Christ [41:48] faith tells you [41:50] the grace of God [41:52] is always [41:54] more valuable

[41:57] always [41:59] and the one who has faith in Jesus [42:01] knows it

[42:05] so when you are thinking about [42:07] how blessed you are [42:08] my question to you is [42:09] what are you counting as blessings [42:11] and what is the chief amongst them [42:15] is it the grace of Jesus Christ

[42:19] friends I just want you to know [42:20] faith makes sinners righteous [42:23] and for that [42:24] I am thankful [42:27] if you have faith in the [42:29] God in Jesus

[42:30] then you will never have your sin counted against you [42:34] if you have faith in the promises of God in Jesus [42:37] then you will always [42:40] have the righteousness of God [42:42] counted towards you [42:44] that is the message of redemption

[42:47] in Jesus Christ [42:48] that is why we can be certain [42:50] that he is a good God [42:53] because he is [42:55] the greatest gift that anyone has [42:57] that you will never or will ever give

[42:59] believe it [43:01] and be saved [43:04] as the band comes up

[43:08] when we talk about things like this [43:12] it might challenge [43:14] some of the values in your life [43:15] might challenge some of the thoughts that you have [43:17] but my hope and my prayer [43:19] is that what wells up in you

[43:22] is thankfulness [43:23] that leads to worship [43:26] is that we have [43:28] a good God [43:29] who wants to share his good gifts with us [43:32] and chief among them

[43:33] the good gift of his righteousness [43:35] through Jesus Christ our Lord

[43:39] because of that [43:41] every week we [43:42] confront ourselves [43:45] with the cross through communion

[43:49] the cup represents his shed blood [43:51] the bread represents his broken body [43:55] friends that is the cost of grace [43:58] his broken body is shedding of blood on the cross [44:03] it is the cost of forgiveness [44:05] it is the cost of redemption

[44:08] it is the penalty for your sin [44:13] paid for [44:15] completely holy [44:16] by Jesus Christ

[44:21] when we come to this table [44:22] we come in need [44:24] we come hungry [44:26] and we come with nothing [44:29] to offer [44:30] nothing

[44:32] when we walk away from this table [44:35] we walk away fed [44:38] and we walk away filled [44:40] and we walk away thankful [44:44] because God has shared with us [44:48] everything that he has

[44:50] when you are ready