[0:00] I'm going to talk to you this morning about being ransomed, righteous, and reconciled. Good alliteration there, okay? Ransomed, righteous, and reconciled.
[0:10] We're going to start in 1 Samuel 21. You can either, I can either read it to you or you can look it up yourself. Either way, it's fine with me. But we're going to start in 1 Samuel 21.
[0:23] Again, ransomed, righteous, and reconciled. So, 1 Samuel 21, this is after Jonathan and David got together. And they had their little plan to figure out whether Saul was for David or not.
[0:36] Finds out that David, or Saul, Jonathan just finds out actually Saul wants to kill David. And Jonathan gives him the heads up and he gets his 1 Samuel 21.
[0:50] 1 Samuel 21, starting in verse 1, says, Then David came to Nab, to Ahimelech the priest. And Ahimelech came to meet David, trembling, and said to him, Why are you alone and no one with you?
[1:05] David said to Ahimelech the priest, The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, Let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you and with which I have charged you.
[1:17] I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. All right, time out. Is that true? Is that true? No, that's not true. He just lied to him. The king did not send him.
[1:29] The king's trying to kill him. Right? So, that's not true. So, this is the beginning of David's... What's that one book? It's like David's very bad, no good, horrible day, whatever.
[1:39] That would be this day for David. Okay, this is the beginning of a really bad day. Okay? But what does it start with? It starts with David telling a lie.
[1:50] Okay? Give me some of the bread. Before he gets that, he's like, you know, what are you doing here? He's like, oh, I have this, you know, king sent me. I got this secret matter you can't tell anybody about. No, he's lying.
[2:01] That's not true. That's not what happened. Verse 3. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever is here. And the priest answered David, I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread.
[2:13] Yet the young men have kept themselves from women. And David answered the priest, truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy, even when it is an ordinary journey.
[2:24] How much more today would their vessels be holy? So the priest gave him the holy bread. There was no bread there but the bread of the presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.
[2:36] Verse 7. Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's herdsmen.
[2:48] Okay, so this is one of Saul's guys. David said to Himalek, Then have you not here a spear or sword at hand? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king's business required haste.
[3:02] Again, he's lying. This is not about the king's business. This is about him actually running away from the king. Okay? The priest said, Sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom he struck down in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod.
[3:18] If you will take that, take it, for there is none but that here. And David said, There is none like that. Give it to me. David and David rose and fled that day from Saul.
[3:29] Again, that gives you the real story here. David rose and fled. Not on some secret mission for Saul. David rose and fled Saul on that day. Okay? Fast forward a little further to 1 Samuel 22, verse 6.
[3:44] Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarass tree on the height with a spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him.
[3:57] Saul said to his servants who stood about him, Hear now, people of Benjamin, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, that all of you conspired against me?
[4:13] No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse? None of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in wait as at this day?
[4:27] Verse 9. Then answered Doeg the Edomite. This is the guy who was there when he went to the priest. Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul.
[4:39] I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Ahittab. And he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.
[4:52] Then the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahittab, and all his father's house, the priests who were at Nob. And all of them came to the king. And Saul said, Hear now, son of Ahittab.
[5:03] And he answered, Here I am, my lord. And Saul said to him, Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him, so that he has risen against me to lie in wait as at this day?
[5:19] Then Ahimelech answered the king, And who among all your servants is so faithful as David? Who is the king's son-in-law and captain over your bodyguard and honored in your house? Is today the first time that I have inquired of God for him?
[5:33] No! Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to all the house of my father, for your servant has known nothing of all this, much or little. And the king said, You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's house.
[5:49] And the king said to the guard who stood about him, Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David. And they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me. But the servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priests of the Lord.
[6:02] Then the king said to Doeg, You turn and strike the priests. And again, this is the guy who saw him there. It says, How many?
[6:14] He killed on that day 85 persons who wore the linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, he put to the sword. Both man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey and sheep, he put to the sword.
[6:34] Consequential lied, wouldn't you say? But one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahithub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the Lord.
[6:47] And David said to Abiathar, I knew on that day when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul, I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house.
[7:02] Stay with me. Do not be afraid. For he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safe keeping. Okay? So David knows it. He says, I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house.
[7:17] He takes responsibility for it. But that's a bad day. Romans 3.23 says, All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
[7:29] We all know sin. We all have fallen short. We've all sinned. Okay? So we can all relate to sinning. But maybe we can't relate to this kind of consequence for sin. And yet sometimes when we sin, we feel this weight of responsibility as we should.
[7:46] We feel condemnation sometimes. We feel the consequences of our sins because there is consequences to sins, sometimes worse than others. But this lie that David's told, 85 priests get killed, men and the women, children and the infants, all the animals.
[8:04] That's rough. Imagine having that on your conscience. Oh my gosh. Look what just happened. Right? That's a weight that was on him. And we don't have to wonder whether or not he did actually take that on because he said, I have occasioned the death of all the persons of your father's house.
[8:25] So we can relate to the fact that we've sinned and fallen short. But you've probably never sinned where 85 pastors were killed because of what you did.
[8:35] And then all their wives and kids as well. You know, this is a big thing. The great thing about David is when we read about David, there's more about David in the Bible than really any other person in the Bible.
[8:49] And so there's all these Psalms that he wrote. You can kind of find out what he was thinking during particular times. So if you look at Psalm 52, on the top of Psalm 52, and it kind of says when this was written or what's, they give you that little kind of insight there.
[9:03] It says to the choir master, a mascal of David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul, David has come to the house of Ahimelech. Okay? So this is basically the Psalm he wrote after all this, right?
[9:18] What does he say? Let's get insight into what David was thinking. Surely he's going to write this Psalm about how horrible of a person he is and how he just deserves to die himself and probably beats himself up.
[9:31] Surely you would think that's what he's going to write, right? Well, let's take a look. Why do you boast of evil, almighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day. Your tongue plots destruction like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
[9:45] You love evil more than good and lying more than speaking what is right. You love all the words that devour, oh deceitful tongue. But God will break you down forever. He will snatch and tear you from your tent.
[9:56] He will uproot you from the land of the living. The righteous shall see in fear and shall laugh at him, saying, see the man who would not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and sought refuge in his own destruction.
[10:11] Okay, so stop there. That's him talking about Doeg, right? He has some strong feelings about Doeg, clearly, here, and refers to him as an evil man and just pronounces all these things.
[10:23] But the question is, what about David? What's David thinking about David after all this? Well, verse 8 tells us what David thinks about David. This is David's perspective on himself right after this happened.
[10:37] I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. I will thank you forever because you have done it. I will wait for your name for it is good in the presence of the godly.
[10:50] Isn't that an interesting take on it? When you have just fallen into sin and you think, wow, there's a lot of consequence to this. I feel really bad about this. I feel tempted to be condemned. Do you usually say, I'm an olive tree thriving in the house of God?
[11:05] Is that usually what you say? You usually say, I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever. I'm thriving. Thriving? What do you mean you're thriving? 85 priests were killed.
[11:16] A whole city was wiped out, including children and infants. And you're an olive tree thriving in the house of God? Is this not the good news? Did David not have an insight into something that was real, that we were going to get way more insight when people like Paul would write about it later and when Jesus would come?
[11:35] That our sins don't ultimately define us when we trust in his steadfast love, when we trust in the blood of Christ, when we trust in God's redeeming power, we can say, I am an olive tree thriving in the house of God.
[11:49] I would actually believe what you believe about God right after you sin is one of the most important things you believe about God in all time. Because if you don't believe, like Seth talked about justification last week, if you don't believe in justification and being right with God, if you only believe that when you do good things, but when you do bad things, you don't believe it, is it really justification in Christ that you believe in it?
[12:18] Or is it justification by your good works? And if it is justification by your good works, I got news for you. It ain't good enough. Never has been, never will be. Nobody can do enough good things to earn God's love.
[12:31] And your attempt to do good things to earn God's love is the biggest offense of them all. It's an affront. It's the most arrogant thing you can do is to thank God. I can do this without you.
[12:43] I can do this on my own. I am my own redeemer. I am my own savior. What is more arrogant than to say, I am an olive tree thriving in the house of God only when I do good things, rather than to boast on the cross of Christ and say, I'm an olive tree thriving in the house of God because of what Jesus did, not because of what I've done or haven't done or whatever.
[13:04] That's the challenge. What do you believe after you've sinned? Now, I'm not saying we don't take a, we should have a sense of weight, remorse, urgency. We should have a sense of godly grief that happens there.
[13:21] But again, when we sin and sin will come, what do we believe about God in that moment? What do we believe about ourselves in Christ?
[13:32] Now, those who are in Christ, those who call yourselves Christians, who are believers in Christ, do you believe in Christ after you've sinned? Or do you only believe in Christ after three days of walking in penance?
[13:44] You know, after feeling bad about myself for three days, my form of paying for my sin is to feel bad for a few days. Few hours, few days, few weeks. You pick. Everyone's different.
[13:55] At the end of the day, your few hours, your few days, your few weeks, none of them pay for your sin. Only one thing is good enough to pay for your sin because all have sinned and fallen short. And that is the blood of Jesus.
[14:07] That's the blood of Jesus. So I want to look at three aspects of the gospel that if we believe, we could become like David in that, the man after God's own heart, and start to believe that I'm an olive tree thriving in the house of God, not because of my goodness, but actually despite my badness, because of God's goodness and righteousness that's been imputed to me through Christ.
[14:30] All right? So we're going to look at these three things. Ransomed, ransomed, righteous, and reconciled. Okay? Let's look at the first one. Ransomed. Okay?
[14:41] What does ransom mean? Definition of ransom is to free from captivity or punishment by paying a price. To free from captivity or punishment by paying a price.
[14:54] Okay? So there's a certain captivity to sin, and there's a punishment of sin that is justly upon every sinner called the wrath of God.
[15:05] It's just. It's right. And some people say, well, isn't hell kind of an extreme thing? You live this short little life, and if you've fallen short of God's glory in this little life, you're supposed to, it's a just punishment to have eternal suffering and pain forever and ever and ever?
[15:22] Well, it depends how bad the crime is. You might say, well, surely the amount of sins I could commit in that amount of time wouldn't equate a just punishment of eternal fire and pain.
[15:36] Well, it's not the time frame that you sinned in, it's who you sinned against. It's not the time frame that you sinned in, it's who you sinned against. It's kind of like, you know, if I walk up to Adam one day and I just slapped him in the face, you know, he might get upset at me, he slapped me back, and maybe that'd be the worst thing.
[15:54] Or, but I'm not, you know, no one's going to arrest me or anything, right? If I walked up to a police officer and slapped him in the face, well, that might be a little different, right? The consequences will be different.
[16:06] If Mayor Lucas, you know, was walking downtown and I saw him and I walked up and slapped him in the face, consequences would be even stronger. And if Biden just happened to be in town, President Biden, and I went up and slapped him in the face, you might not see me for a while, okay?
[16:21] Why? Why is it different? It's the same crime. Slapping in the face. Slapping Adam. Slapping a cop. Slapping Mayor Lucas. Slapping President Biden.
[16:32] Why the same crime having different consequences? Because it's all about who you've sinned against. You understand? And so the reason the just punishment for our sin is eternal punishment in hell where the fire does not go out is because it's a sin against the Holy God.
[16:49] It's a sin against God himself. And God isn't just holy with limits. God is holy, perfect, righteous, demanding holiness himself from us without limit.
[17:04] Like there's no limit to his holiness. It's not like if you dive into God's holiness, eventually you get to a point where like, I've exhausted it. I've seen all God's holiness. No, it never ends. He's so other, so much bigger, so much greater, so much pure.
[17:17] Like to even, it's infinite. Therefore, the sin against an infinitely holy God is infinitely wicked. Therefore, requiring of a punishment that lasts forever.
[17:31] That's the just punishment. You could say we are under punishment and captivity to our sin. We need a ransom. If someone doesn't pay for our ransom, it's still upon us.
[17:44] The wrath of God is still upon us. And the truth is, all who walk the face of the earth and have ever walked the face of the earth, all the people who have ever been, even if they haven't walked, every single person who's ever existed, okay, unless that ransom is paid, they are under the wrath of God.
[18:04] But, Jesus came to pay our ransom. Mark 10, 45 says, for even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
[18:14] His life was sacrificed to pay the penalty to ransom us from captivity. 1 Peter 1, 18-19 says, you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Jesus.
[18:35] Precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot, okay, so there was a payment that was paid and with anyone who's in captivity, who's being, who's held captive, in order for them to get out, they need a ransom.
[18:51] The ransom has to be paid. Jesus paid our ransom with himself, with his own blood. Revelation 5, 9 says, you were slain, speaking of Jesus, and by your blood, you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
[19:07] Colossians 2 goes further to say, in verse 13 through 15, and you were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
[19:27] This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. So one of the worst parts about sin is once you sin, you feel this demand on you.
[19:41] You feel like, I have committed a crime that must be paid for, that must be atoned for. And there's this, the reason oftentimes we feel bad or we try to do certain things is because inherently without even anybody telling us, we believe sin needs to be paid for or atoned for.
[20:03] That a crime has been committed that now needs to be paid for. We feel that. And the question is, do you believe that there is a ransom for your sin?
[20:16] And if you do believe that and you are in Christ, do you believe it sometimes or all the time? Do you believe that the ransom that was paid was good enough for all the sins you have committed, are committing, and will commit?
[20:29] Was the sacrifice sufficient? Was Jesus' blood enough? Or do you have to add to it some kind of penance and moral flagellation and beating yourself up and I must stay under condemnation for you days?
[20:45] Essentially because what I'm saying is, you know what? The blood of Jesus just doesn't quite cut it. I gotta make sure I add to it because the ransom wasn't enough to pay.
[20:56] I have to pay for it myself as well. It's disgusting. That's a disgusting thought. It's gross. It's gross to tarnish the perfect, pure blood of Christ that paid our ransom and canceled the debt that stood there.
[21:12] Canceled the debt. Nailed it to the cross. Debt paid. It is finished. What did Jesus mean when he said that? He didn't say it's almost done.
[21:24] You know, on Good Friday we don't read the Gospels and say Jesus cried out it's almost done. He said it's finished. He didn't say it's almost done.
[21:36] Now you finish it. I went as far as I could go but I'm such a wimpy little God I couldn't do it. You have the power to do it because you're so amazing.
[21:48] No, he didn't say that. He said it is finished. He didn't say it weekly. He said it confidently hanging on a cross because he knew that he just paid the price and the record was cancelled that was against us.
[22:02] It's been nailed to the cross and died with him and is no longer there. Do you believe that? Do you believe it in the noonday sun and the pouring rain? Do you believe it when it's good and things are bad?
[22:14] Do you believe it when you've sinned or when you haven't sinned? You cannot be selective in your belief. That is not Christianity. That's every other religion that says you have to be good enough.
[22:25] You got to make sure your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds. Do not tarnish the gospel of Christ by adding to your salvation. The work of Christ is sufficient. The work of Christ is enough.
[22:36] The question is do you believe it? Do you believe it? Do you believe your ransom was paid with the blood of Christ? And do you believe it when you first come to him but do you believe it every day since?
[22:48] Do you believe it when you've sinned and you're feeling the weight and you're feeling this need for atonement and do you believe it in that moment that no it's already been atoned for? The blood of Jesus is cleansing power.
[23:04] That's an important question. It's a very important question. This is mercy. Not getting what you deserve. We deserve to be punished for our sin. Ransom is mercy.
[23:14] It's saying I'm going to take away the just punishment for your sin and I'm going to take it away. I'm going to pay it on your behalf. This is mercy. But you're not just right.
[23:26] You're not just you're not just ransomed. He makes you righteous. So it's not just like you know sometimes people pay for something but there's still this kind of memory that you know yeah you're paid you're good or you're out of jail now you've served your time but I mean come on you're a criminal.
[23:48] You got a record now. You're a bad person. Yes the sin is paid for but you're not quite right. You know you're kind of hey you you you did what?
[24:03] Do you know what I'm saying? And I think sometimes we as Christians there's some people say okay I get it Josh yep ransom thing got it. But I mean yeah it's paid for but I I mean I still did all those things.
[24:16] I'm not I don't feel right. I mean I I get it. I'm not going to get like you took away the punishment but I still feel like I'm not quite there. Well I got another word for you.
[24:28] Romans 5 18 to 19 says therefore as one trespass led to condemnation for all men so one act speaking of Adam so one act of righteousness speaking of Christ leads to justification and life for all men for by the one man's disobedience Adam the many were made sinners and by the one man's obedience Jesus the many will be made righteous.
[24:53] Do you believe that what Jesus did not only takes away the punishment that's mercy but gives you righteousness that's grace. Mercy is not getting what you deserve grace is being given what you don't deserve.
[25:09] Does that make sense? So he takes away the punishment and gives you grace and says righteous. It's not just okay your penalty has been paid but now you have the scarlet letter for the rest of your life.
[25:22] You're on the registered offenders list you know the registered sin offenders list. No. What Jesus does is says I forgive you I've paid your ransom and now I declare that you are righteous.
[25:38] I declare that you are righteous. One man's obedience the many will be made righteous. 1 Corinthians 1 7 and 9 puts it this way our Lord Jesus Christ will sustain you to the end.
[25:52] Listen to this guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ God is faithful. Guiltless not tarnished not like okay your penalty's gone but you're still damaged goods.
[26:06] Guiltless do you believe that? Again do you believe it on the good days and the bad days? Do you believe it when your lie causes 85 priests to get killed and women children infants?
[26:20] Do you believe it in that moment that you're guiltless before God because you are not trusting in your own righteousness and you're you're not qualified by your righteousness and you're not disqualified by your unrighteousness your qualification is the righteousness of another imputed to you so that you can be called righteous for something that you never did.
[26:40] You're righteous do you believe you're righteous? Have you notified your face? Do you carry yourself like you're righteous? Do you walk around like I am righteous?
[26:51] But it's not a boastful righteousness in the sense of like a self-confident hubris but it's a humble righteousness that says I carry and am clothed in the righteousness of another.
[27:06] I'm confident in it because I am righteousness and I'm proud of my God for attaining it for me but I am righteous I cling to his righteousness alone faultless to stand before the throne right?
[27:20] Our Lord Jesus Christ will sustain you to the end guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ do you carry do you walk around as a Christian carrying guilt or are you guiltless?
[27:33] Listen you have to answer that question you can't play games with that question you can't flirt around with saying oh I'm not gonna I'm not gonna believe that this is the gospel do you believe that you are faultless?
[27:46] If you're not faultless then what do we have? God has made you righteous righteous Romans 5 1 to 2 since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in the hope of glory of God we stand in grace those who are in Christ Jesus you stand in grace you stand in grace which means God's undeserved forgiving love so you might say well I don't deserve this so what?
[28:24] you're standing in grace well I don't deserve this I've sinned it's forgiven you're standing in grace well I feel tarnished you're standing in grace grace is grace or grace is not grace there's no such thing as partial grace God's undiluted 200 proof grace is on you and it either means it or it doesn't don't act like you have some partial form of grace that is like it's not living in a matter worthy of the gospel it's to taint the word grace in its meaning grace is very definition is undeserved you say I don't deserve it so I can't stand in grace that is the whole point of grace well I can't stand in it because I don't deserve it that's the only people grace is for if you deserved it you wouldn't need grace that's called merit well you can't get merit you get undeserved merit that's called grace it was given to you and it makes you righteous do you believe you're righteous do you believe you're not just ransom but you're righteous this is the truth in Christ Jesus to all who put their hope in him this grace in which we stand are you standing in grace today are you standing in grace after you sin where do you go stand do you go pout in the corner exalting your ability to screw things up or do you go stand in grace exalting God's ability to make you clean who gets the glory your sin your own ineptitude your weakness or the greatness and grandeur of the gospel of Jesus Christ magnifying the grace of God what are you going to exalt do you think you're actually doing God a favor by wallowing your sin and making it seem to be so great and having this little pity party that's not God glorifying what's God glorifying is to accept with full acceptance that you are made righteous in Christ through his grace that my friends is God glorifying dare to believe that dare to risk this audacious scandalous thought of grace if grace is not scandalous it's not grace it's a scandal to be given the status of righteous when you don't deserve it that is grace how could I do this
[30:43] I didn't deserve it grace you stand in grace you stand in grace where are you standing you're standing in grace that's what it says 1 Peter Peter puts it another way chapter 113 he says prepare your minds for action being sober minded set your hope fully on what on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ set your hope fully so if you sin you don't think oh no what am I going to do you say my hope is fully set on that day I'm going to stand before the judge at the great white throne all my sins will be laid bare everything I've ever done will be laid bare I am not putting my hope in some belief that maybe I did more good than bad or maybe when I did bad I made sure I felt really bad about it or I wallowed in it that's my hope to stand before him on that day no your hope should be set fully on the future grace that's going to be given to you on that day when he declares you not guilty because of the blood of Christ when all the books are open and you say oh no
[31:51] I'm damned like this is this is this is bad nope not for those in Christ he will declare not guilty not guilty these are my righteous ones made righteous in the blood of the lamb you might say okay I get that Josh I understand the mercy and grace you know okay old stuff ransom paid for I understand like okay you're made righteous you don't have to wear this scarlet letter and the shame I get that but what about like now with God you know I mean I get that I don't have to carry that around I don't have to walk in shame but I don't know if I can come to God I feel like I can't come to him I feel like there's still something in between us well the Bible's got another word for you you've been reconciled the rift that was there has been taken away the enmity that stood between you has been removed okay all that was hindering you and God in this relationship you've not just been brought into right standing being made righteous you've also been brought into right relationship with God this is called being reconciled this is an amazing truth okay it's not just that he took away he paid your penalty it's not just that he declared you righteous he also said hey you and me we're restoring this thing we're making this right okay
[33:20] I'm making this right Colossians 1 21 to 23 and you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds he has now reconciled okay so you were alienated there was this alienation this distance between you and God and this is what some people feel like okay yeah I believe those things but I still feel like there's this distance between me and God I'm grateful for what he's given to me but I can't I feel like I'm not fully reinstated to him we're not we're not close there's still this alienation he said you were once alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds but he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him the word that's used there to stay above reproach is the same word that was used in that verse that I read before that says guiltless okay so the reconciliation that happens presents you to him as holy blameless above reproach or guiltless between you and God if indeed you continue in faith in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I call become a minister notice he doesn't say if indeed you continue to never spin do you notice the absence of that phrase that's a really important absence right there he doesn't say hey listen you will be presented holy blameless above reproach faultless as long as you don't sin or as long as you sin less or make sure you pay penance and feel bad about things for the right amount of time or as long as your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds then we're all good no no no that's not what he says he says if indeed you continue in the faith stable and steadfast not shifting from what the hope of the gospel hope that you have there is something that has given you that has nothing to do with any work you can do it's the work of another and your hope is in that work your hope is in what
[35:33] Christ did made me so that I can be reconciled to God our relationship is restored to what it was always meant to be and that nothing stands between us now do you believe that do you believe that today do you believe that after you've sinned do you believe that you can repent turn to God and that you that reconciliation that happened is still there it hasn't gone anywhere how do I know that well let's look at how it came in the first place that'll help us understand how it stays there after that Romans 5 chapter chapter 5 6 to 11 while we were still weak at the right time Christ died for who the ungodly wait a second he died for the ungodly he didn't die for the godly he didn't die for the good people no he died for the ungodly he died for the ungodly for one will scarcely die for a righteous person though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die but god shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners
[36:40] Christ died for us if he died for you in your sin and reconciled you in your sin why do you believe that after you've sinned you've lost your reconciliation do you realize how foolish that sounds if he reconciled you in your sin how in the world would your sin disqualify you from the very thing that came while you were in sin do you see how foolish that is while we were sinners Christ died for us since therefore now we have been justified by him by his blood much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God for if while we were enemies he's making the point I just made if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life more than that we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation we've received reconciliation okay but we we feel like oh no but
[37:47] I've sinned I'm not we must not be reconciled anymore something stands in between me like my relationship to God is all ruined hold on your relationship to God was reconciled without you doing anything it was done by him he reconciled you while you were an enemy so how in the world can you sinning now disqualify you from the thing that came while you were an enemy in the first place okay well does this mean that you just go on sinning then who cares it's just sin if God just reconciles no this is grace there's nothing more compelling to not sin than grace but you don't you don't not sin so that you you don't get good so you can get God you get God so you can be good it's the getting of God first it's him loving you while you didn't deserve it loving you in the midst of your sin loving you while you were a sinner reconciling you while you were enemies if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life some of us need to meditate on the fact that God reconciled us while we were enemies because subtle things come in and say oh the reason he reconciled to me me is because
[39:04] I you know I was starting to get my act together he reconciled me because I started really seeking him he reconciled me because I started being a good person he reconciled me because I started reading my Bible listen you were reconciled while you were an enemy don't muddle that up that's what it says and the reason you can't muddle that up is it takes away the potency of grace and when the potency of grace is taken away your passion and impetus to love God is taken away because you feel like God giving you grace is just a paycheck you deserved it which isn't grace you start thinking it's your own merits you will never be over the top loving to someone who gives you a paycheck this is the reason you don't jump up and down and hug your boss when he pays you you're glad to get paid but you're not excited about it because you earned that and if he didn't give you that it would be unjust the thing is if God doesn't give us something that wouldn't be unjust he chose to give it to us in his mercy and his grace and it's way over the top we didn't earn it it would be like the difference between getting a paycheck or if your boss all of a sudden you found on this week's paycheck they gave you a hundred thousand dollar bonus now you might give him a hug right now you might jump around a little bit like wait what there's a hundred thousand dollar bonus
[40:28] I didn't earn that therefore now I really want to do a good job for you you're giving out a hundred thousand dollar bonuses that's amazing well Jesus gave way better than a hundred thousand dollar bonus he gives eternal life he gives redemption he gives righteousness reconciliation it can't call it cannot disqualify you if it never qualified you in the first place does that make sense you have to think about that 2 Corinthians 5 17 to 20 said therefore if anyone is in Christ he's a new creation the old has passed away behold the new has come all this is from God who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation that is in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them the very definition of reconciliation is to not count your trespasses against you that's what reconciliation means there's no longer beef there's no longer any friction here what was standing against you
[41:38] I'm not counting against you it no longer counts we're good now we're reconciled to count the sins you commit against yourself is the spit in the face of reconciliation do you understand that do you understand that you're not doing God favors by counting your sins against yourself as if you think that that's some way you're going to honor the Lord in that you honor the Lord by rejoicing and boasting in the fact that his blood has reconciled you and that your sins are no longer counted against you that's how you honor him that's how you glorify him do you believe that your sins are not counted against are you walking around after you sin acting like oh my sins are counted against you this tells me you're not believing an aspect of the gospel I'm not necessarily saying in that moment you're not saved I don't know where you're!
[42:32] but I'm who no counts!
[42:48] who are forgiven who sins are covered blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin that's reconciliation there's nothing that stands between us anymore do you ever come before him sometimes to worship and say I don't know if I can worship I haven't spent enough time with Jesus you don't believe in reconciliation you ever come before him and say oh i can't read my bible because i i sinned you don't believe in reconciliation i i can't uh serve in some form of ministry because i've i i sinned this week or i did something it's like do you believe that your sins are counted against you what is your boasting and what is your hope in is your hope held steadfast in the gospel or is it in your own religious performance your religious performance is like a dirty bloody menstrual rag to the lord okay that is not there's no merit in that only the only thing that pleases him is his own sacrificial blood and that's what he sees when we trust in it and it's enough hebrews 8 12 says for i will be merciful toward their iniquities and i will remember their sins no more that's that's reconciliation so people say water under the bridge right like i'm not it's it's all gone i'll remember your sins no more so how what do we conclude from this romans 8 1 therefore there is now no condemnation for those in christ jesus you believe that i know you can quote it i know some of you have it memorized you live like it do you live under condemnation some of us can quote it but we can't live it we need to start living it when you sin do you walk under condemnation are you letting this this oppressive thing that god ransomed you from come back on you there is no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus why because you're in christ jesus why does being in christ jesus mean there's no condemnation because if you're in christ jesus you're covered by the blood you're made righteous you've been redeemed you're reconciled therefore if you're if you're redeemed if you're righteous and if you're reconciled how in the world could there ever be condemnation if there would be it would be unjust it would be unjust you ever wondered why it says in first john 1 that if you confess your sins he's faithful and just to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness do you realize that to let condemnation dirtiness unrighteousness stick to you is unjust you ever thought about that so often we think oh it's actually justice to feed to to beat myself up over my sin that's not justice that sin's been why would it be just to beat yourself up for a sin that has been taken away and that has been paid for sounds like injustice to me being punished for a sin that was already paid for that's unjust being uh stained with unrighteousness when you've already been made righteous that sounds unjust to me living as if you're not reconciled when god has reconciled you to himself sounds pretty unjust if you want to talk about justice talk about the justice that comes with the blood of christ which cleanses us from all unrighteousness that's justice that's the justice i want to cling to therefore in hebrews 10 22 it says let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water full assurance of faith hearts sprinkled clean is your heart sprinkled clean this morning are you carrying a little residue of your sin or are you saying i'm clean i have full assurance do you have kind of assurance or do you have full assurance what is it is it good enough or is it not good enough
[46:53] if jesus isn't good enough then your response is going to be lame as can be you ever wonder sometimes though it's like christianity to you seems like drudgery if christianity is some drudgery uh just making yourself do something that you constantly don't want to do i would suggest to you that you probably don't really believe the gospel that you probably have no grid for grace because when you understand grace you are that you've been forgiven that that you've been loved while you were an enemy that you have been redeemed you've been made righteous and that you've been reconciled how can you not say god i'm gladly spend to be spent for you like you have given so much to me this is this is like the easiest thing i've ever done after at that point no one has loved me like you no one has been as good as me i have full assurance of faith my heart is sprinkled clean from an evil conscience my body's been washed with pure water i trust in that i boast in it i boast in the cross of christ why because the cross of christ means that i'm redeemed i'm righteous and i'm reconciled i boast in it i boast in it first john 321 if our heart does not condemn us we have confidence before god do you have confidence before god in christ jesus through the gospel we should romans 10 11 says for the scripture says everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame and for john 3 18 says whoever believes in him is not condemned when he shall come with trumpet sound oh may i then in him be found dressed in his righteousness alone faultless to stand before the throne do you believe that you believe it this morning do you believe it every day some of you believe it sometimes but you don't believe it every day some of you have never believed it and you're being invited this morning to believe it for the first time if that's the case believe it it's the greatest news of all there is no greater news than this but it's true and it is liberating and it is the greatest thing that could possibly ever happen that that un uh unredeemed people could be redeemed unrighteous people could be made righteous and those who are enemies of god could be reconciled this is the good news in christ jesus to all who turn from their sin and believe in him and have their hope be in him and in the gospel they will be dressed in his righteousness alone and they will faultless stand before his throne amen amen let's stand with him and with him and with him and with him and with him and with him and with him and with him and with him and with him and with him and with him and with him and with him and with him and with him and