WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.000
 Today's reading is from Romans chapter 3 verse 21 to 31. I'm reading from the Church Bible and it's page 1130.

00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:25.000
! But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the law and the prophets testify.

00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:32.000
 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:39.000
 There is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:47.000
 and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:55.000
 God presented Christ a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of His blood to be received by faith.

00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:04.000
 He did this to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.

00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:14.000
 He did this to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:27.000
 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires work? No. Because of the law that requires faith.

00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:34.000
 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:41.000
 Or is it God, the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of the Gentiles too? Yes, of the Gentiles too.

00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:49.000
 Since there is only one God who justifies the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised with the same faith.

00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:56.000
 Do we then nullify the law by this faith? Not at all. Rather, we uphold the law.

00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:03.000
 Thank you, David. Keep the Bible open in front of you.

00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:08.000
 Let's pray and ask for the Lord's help as we come to His word. Let's pray.

00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:18.000
 Father, we do want to recognize together this morning that what we're engaged in now is not simply just a transfer of information from my brain to other people's brains.

00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:30.000
 What we're involved in now is all of us, me included, coming to sit under your word to listen to your voice as you speak to us.

00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:35.000
 And so we pray that you might give us tender hearts and eager ears to listen.

00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:46.000
 That the words that I say might be true and useful as you speak to us from your word. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen.

00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:58.000
 I think what we can say from what we've seen in Romans so far, if you've been with us, is that God is committed, massively committed to at least two things.

00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:08.000
 The first thing that we've seen in Romans that God is massively committed to is showing himself for who he is.

00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.000
 Revealing himself is the language that Paul uses in his book.

00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:17.000
 In other words, what we need to grasp first is that God is not hiding from us this morning.

00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:24.000
 He is visible. God is present and visible in the story of the scriptures and the Old Testament law.

00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:29.000
 He is also visible in the world around us in the things that he has made.

00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:38.000
 More than just that as well, he has revealed himself and made himself known to you in your own moral conscience.

00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:41.000
 You know what is right and what is wrong.

00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:44.000
 That is the fingerprints of God in your life.

00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:52.000
 Paul has even claimed in his book so far that the chaos of the world around us is not evidence that God does not exist,

00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:59.000
 but is evidence that God does exist and has handed us over to a fractured relationship with him.

00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:04.000
 Now, this revelation of God is not just intended for you to know that God is there.

00:04:04.000 --> 00:04:07.000
 It's not just, you know, I'm here. It's not that.

00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:13.000
 Instead, this revelation of God is meant to show you that God is righteous.

00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:23.000
 That is that the God who is there is a God without fault, a God who is perfect in power and perfect in glory and majesty.

00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:29.000
 If all our attempts to kind of squash this news down and ignore it and pretend it's not there still.

00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:38.000
 So the righteousness of God's glory seeps out of every sunset of every mountain top view, every newborn miracle,

00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:43.000
 every moral decision that we make, every nagging conscience that we have.

00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:52.000
 That's the first thing. God is massively committed to you and I knowing that he is there and he is righteous and powerful and majestic.

00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:57.000
 God wants you and I to know that. He's committed to it. He's plastered it all over the world.

00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:04.000
 The second thing that we've learned from Romans so far is that God is also massively concerned about you and me.

00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:14.000
 Perhaps this is more surprising. I think sometimes we think of power and majesty and glory as being aloof, don't we?

00:05:14.000 --> 00:05:19.000
 Distant, far off, uninterested. But God is not like that.

00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:27.000
 Instead, we find that the fracture in our relationship with God is not firstly his rejection of us, but is our rejection of him.

00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:34.000
 That's where it starts. Chapter one is really clear that God handed us over to our desire not to love him or love him.

00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:44.000
 not his desire. Chapter two then shows us that in a sort of a perverse twist of religion, even of his religious law,

00:05:44.000 --> 00:05:51.000
 we've used it as a means to keep God at arm's length. Nothing to see here, God. I'm all right.

00:05:51.000 --> 00:06:00.000
 But perhaps the most persuasive part of God's interest in us is seen in his commitment to judgment that we saw last week in Romans 3.

00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:07.000
 God is committed to judging every individual who ever lived.

00:06:07.000 --> 00:06:11.000
 And think about that for a moment. Where does judgment like that come from?

00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:17.000
 I don't mean where does judgmentalism come from. We know judgmental people. We may be tempted to that ourselves.

00:06:17.000 --> 00:06:25.000
 That's not what God is like. Instead, God's judgment is his commitment to pure justice, holiness.

00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:30.000
 Where does that come from? I want to suggest to you that is a function of his love.

00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:37.000
 You and I care, don't we? We care about justice for a very limited number of people.

00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:42.000
 We care about justice for the people that we care about, right? The people that we love.

00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:48.000
 And the more I love, the more I care for justice for that particular individual.

00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:56.000
 You know, I hate to say this, but I don't actually lose any sleep whatsoever about fallouts between people I've never met.

00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:07.000
 I don't really care. But we're told that God holds every individual in all of history and in all of the world to account for every moral action.

00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:15.000
 Why? Because he loves them and he cares about what they do. Right down to the last detail.

00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:27.000
 Listen, if the first idea, so these two ideas, right? The first idea is that the righteousness, the righteous power of God is like the unsuppressible fact of the universe.

00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:30.000
 You can't ignore it, right? If that's the first idea.

00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:37.000
 The second big idea is that there's an irrepressible love of God for people that also can't be done away with.

00:07:37.000 --> 00:07:41.000
 The first idea is that the first idea of God is the first person, given life by God, owed to him, loved by him.

00:07:41.000 --> 00:07:50.000
 Now, those two big ideas, God's self-evident righteousness and his intent on relationship with us, present you and I with a big problem this morning.

00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:58.000
 Imagine it like this. Imagine that we are called to have an audience with the king in Buckingham Palace.

00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:03.000
 The king has personally invited you. He wants to see you.

00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:10.000
 And ahead of your trip to Buckingham Palace, he has sent you, you know, pictures of what it's like in there.

00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:16.000
 So he sent you pictures of the dining room, the golden cups, the fancy clothes.

00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:26.000
 He's given you a video clip of what the banquet will look like, the way that people behave, the fine food, the fancy waiters pouring the wine, all that sort of stuff.

00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:33.000
 You know, the sort of the glory in the finery just sort of oozes out of every communication that he has with you.

00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:37.000
 And that's all very good, isn't it? But then you begin to look at what you're wearing.

00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:41.000
 You're wearing worn out jeans that haven't been washed for months.

00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:45.000
 You're wearing a tatty hoodie that you found in the park.

00:08:45.000 --> 00:08:51.000
 And you know that you haven't showered and frankly, others know it as well, but they don't say it to you.

00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:55.000
 And you're pretty sure that you've got some food on your face from the last time you ate.

00:08:55.000 --> 00:08:58.000
 And on top of that, you've got no money to buy any new clothes.

00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:01.000
 You've got no water in your taps and no soap to wash yourself.

00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:04.000
 And so you're going to have a problem, aren't you?

00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:20.000
 Either the king needs to lower his standards and meet you in McDonald's or, well, you need some kind of total makeover that you cannot afford because you're never going to be allowed to enter Buckingham Palace dressed as you are.

00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:23.000
 And that's the problem of Romans 1 to 3.

00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:26.000
 That's where we are in Romans 3 verse 20.

00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:36.000
 God the righteous one, unable because of his righteousness to have a relationship with sinful humanity because our sin excludes us from his presence.

00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:39.000
 It necessarily excludes us from his presence.

00:09:39.000 --> 00:09:40.000
 It must do.

00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:42.000
 And so that's the issue.

00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:48.000
 And that's what Paul tells us is solved by the content of Romans chapter 3 verse 21 to 31.

00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:58.000
 I think you can make a pretty good argument for these being the most important verses in the Bible, the most important paragraphs ever written in human history.

00:09:58.000 --> 00:09:59.000
 So let's look at them together.

00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:01.000
 And I want you to notice three things.

00:10:01.000 --> 00:10:05.000
 Firstly, I want you to notice a give awayable righteousness.

00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:11.000
 Now, we've seen already that the fact of the universe is that God is righteous.

00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:13.000
 It oozes from every pore of the world.

00:10:13.000 --> 00:10:15.000
 But here is a different kind of righteousness.

00:10:15.000 --> 00:10:16.000
 Look down at verse 21.

00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:25.000
 But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify.

00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:32.000
 Notice then this is a new kind of righteousness, perhaps more accurately, a new revelation of the same righteousness.

00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:42.000
 This is God's righteousness from an angle that you have never seen it from before, an angle that's not visible in your nagging conscience that you can't see in the creation.

00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:47.000
 Even the Old Testament law, although it hints at it, it never shows it to you in this kind of detail.

00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:51.000
 Instead, this is a righteousness apart from the law.

00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:58.000
 Look at the first four words of verse 22, which describe this angle on the righteousness of God.

00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:00.000
 This righteousness is given.

00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:02.000
 It's given.

00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:11.000
 In other words, what's new about this revelation of righteousness is that unlike the righteousness revealed in the law, this righteousness is give awayable.

00:11:11.000 --> 00:11:13.000
 It's transferable righteousness.

00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:14.000
 It's the same in verse 24.

00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:15.000
 It's the same in verse 24.

00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:16.000
 Look down at verse 24.

00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:21.000
 He puts it there as justified freely by his grace.

00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:32.000
 Now, what's really useful to know is that in the Greek, which is the language in which the New Testament was written, the word for justified and the word for righteous are the same word.

00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:33.000
 Right?

00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:37.000
 To be justified is to be declared righteous.

00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:39.000
 To be righteous is to be justified.

00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:44.000
 So you look down again at verse 24 where it says justified freely by his grace.

00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:50.000
 You could translate that made righteous freely by his grace or a gift.

00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:51.000
 Same word again.

00:11:51.000 --> 00:11:53.000
 So this is the same thing.

00:11:53.000 --> 00:11:58.000
 This is a revelation of righteousness of God that he is able to give away to others.

00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:01.000
 Now, this is good news, isn't it?

00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:12.000
 That God, the God who made us is not only righteous in power and glory and majesty, but he is also righteous in a way that he is able to give away to others.

00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:16.000
 You know, go back to the king illustration for a moment.

00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:21.000
 You know, from the video messages and for the pictures of Buckingham Palace, the king is fancy, right?

00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:23.000
 The king has high standards.

00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:25.000
 The king has class, you might put it.

00:12:25.000 --> 00:12:28.000
 He literally has class, right?

00:12:28.000 --> 00:12:29.000
 We know that, don't we?

00:12:29.000 --> 00:12:32.000
 But that's sort of what you expect of a king.

00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:35.000
 You expect the king to have class.

00:12:35.000 --> 00:12:36.000
 That's what he is.

00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:37.000
 That's who he is.

00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:43.000
 But here you're finding out that he has an ability to credit others with the same class.

00:12:43.000 --> 00:12:50.000
 A class that he is able to give away, which is not what you would expect just from looking at the pictures, is it?

00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:52.000
 Or standing outside the palace.

00:12:52.000 --> 00:12:54.000
 You need to be told that.

00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:56.000
 And so it is with God.

00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:06.000
 Now you can know that God is righteously powerful just by standing outside and watching the sun go down and the glory of a sunset.

00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:15.000
 And you can say, wow, the God who made that is both awesome in power and perfect in glory.

00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:19.000
 You know when you, maybe you don't do this, but I'm sure you do.

00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:25.000
 When you lie awake at night and you think of the things that you've said and done that you shouldn't have done.

00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:26.000
 Yeah?

00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:28.000
 You know, don't you?

00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:36.000
 You can know from that that that is because there is a righteous God who has implanted his moral conscience in your heart.

00:13:36.000 --> 00:13:42.000
 And so the reason you cannot sleep is because there is a nagging doubt that something that you've done is wrong.

00:13:42.000 --> 00:13:44.000
 I shouldn't have said that.

00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:46.000
 I shouldn't have done that.

00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:48.000
 Now those things are visible and they're evident.

00:13:48.000 --> 00:13:57.000
 But now what we're being told is that there is also another aspect to the righteousness of God that is not visible in the nagging conscience of the night or the sunset.

00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:03.000
 It is that God is able to give away righteousness to others.

00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:05.000
 That's the first point.

00:14:05.000 --> 00:14:08.000
 God's give awayable righteousness.

00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:12.000
 Point number two, give awayable righteousness comes from the cross.

00:14:14.000 --> 00:14:15.000
 Now this is the question.

00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:16.000
 Stay with me if you can, right?

00:14:16.000 --> 00:14:23.000
 I can understand that God has a righteousness that comes from his moral perfection and his power in creating.

00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:25.000
 That kind of makes sense, doesn't it?

00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:31.000
 You know, God can't make a moral universe, the universe that we experience, without himself being moral.

00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:34.000
 That's just kind of common sense, right?

00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:46.000
 But how on earth would a moral creator God get the power to give away righteousness to somebody else?

00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:49.000
 That would make nonsense of morality, wouldn't it?

00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:50.000
 Think about it.

00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:51.000
 Think about it.

00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:55.000
 If God starts encountering unrighteous people, which we know we all are, right?

00:14:55.000 --> 00:14:57.000
 And he says, oh, okay, don't worry about this.

00:14:57.000 --> 00:14:59.000
 I've got give awayable righteousness.

00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:00.000
 Here you go.

00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:01.000
 Have that.

00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:04.000
 Then all of a sudden morality becomes a nonsense, doesn't it?

00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:10.000
 Because God is starting to declare righteous things that are unrighteous, people who are unrighteous.

00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:17.000
 And then that God himself would no longer be righteous because he's looking at unrighteousness and calling it righteousness.

00:15:17.000 --> 00:15:18.000
 Do you follow?

00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:19.000
 Do you follow?

00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:27.000
 So how does God have, if you like, if we can put it this way, the moral credit to give away righteousness?

00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:28.000
 Where would that come from?

00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:32.000
 Whilst also himself retaining moral righteousness.

00:15:32.000 --> 00:15:35.000
 Well, look again at verse 24.

00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:43.000
 And are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:45.000
 Here it is then.

00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:51.000
 Give awayable righteousness comes through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:56.000
 Redemption there is the word for buying back power, right?

00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:01.000
 You redeem a slave or you redeem something that you've given into a pawnbroker.

00:16:01.000 --> 00:16:04.000
 You release it by paying the money.

00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:09.000
 And Jesus has the moral buying power to give away righteousness.

00:16:09.000 --> 00:16:11.000
 And how does Jesus have that?

00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:13.000
 Where does that buying power come from?

00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:15.000
 Verse 25.

00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:21.000
 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement through the shedding of his blood.

00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:23.000
 Here it is, right?

00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:29.000
 This is, I think, this is perhaps the most important sentence in the most important paragraph, right?

00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:31.000
 So stay with this.

00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:34.000
 If you don't get this, the rest of the Bible will be a complete mystery to you.

00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:35.000
 Let's break it down.

00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.000
 Jesus Christ is what is called a sacrifice of atonement.

00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:43.000
 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement.

00:16:43.000 --> 00:16:45.000
 That is, Jesus died.

00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:49.000
 He shed his blood, poured out his life on the cross.

00:16:49.000 --> 00:16:53.000
 Not simply as a sign that God loves you, although it's a sign that God does love you.

00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:58.000
 But it is a sacrifice designed to make atonement.

00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.000
 Atonement there is literally at-one-ment.

00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:03.000
 Bringing something back together.

00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:10.000
 So his cross brings back together, makes at-one-ment between a holy God and sinful humanity.

00:17:10.000 --> 00:17:12.000
 Restoring the broken relationship.

00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:14.000
 And how does that work?

00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:16.000
 Well, this is temple language, isn't it?

00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:20.000
 This is how the law and the prophets testify to this give-away-able righteousness.

00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:25.000
 They talk about forgiveness coming through sacrifice.

00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:29.000
 How there is a cost of forgiveness in this life.

00:17:29.000 --> 00:17:31.000
 We know that, don't we?

00:17:31.000 --> 00:17:39.000
 When someone offends you, for you to forgive them requires for you to pay a cost inside of yourself, doesn't it?

00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:41.000
 Whatever that might be.

00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:51.000
 And so the cost or the payment for a life lived in rebellion against the God who made us is, understandably, a life, isn't it?

00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:57.000
 If you have taken a life, your own life from the God who made you, it is right that you forfeit life.

00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:00.000
 That's why the law contained animal sacrifices.

00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:02.000
 Blood poured out in the place of sinful people.

00:18:02.000 --> 00:18:03.000
 On the altar.

00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:04.000
 At the temple.

00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:06.000
 Over and over and over again.

00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:07.000
 But everybody knew.

00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:11.000
 And even the law said that a goat and a bull could never stand in for a person.

00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:13.000
 They're not equivalent.

00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:15.000
 So the payment for sin was never made.

00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:18.000
 It was just carried forward, as the end of verse 25 says.

00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:34.000
 Until the time when God the Son, in human flesh, the infinitely valuable sacrifice, stood in our place, facing the judgment for sin that we deserved, shed his blood.

00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:37.000
 His life for our life.

00:18:37.000 --> 00:18:40.000
 Now notice this really carefully.

00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:46.000
 This isn't God taking out his vengeful anger and justice on an innocent third party.

00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:47.000
 I don't know whether you do this.

00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:52.000
 This isn't the equivalent of getting home and kicking the dog for having a bad day at school, right?

00:18:52.000 --> 00:18:54.000
 Or I'm just so frustrated and angry.

00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:55.000
 It doesn't matter who I hit.

00:18:55.000 --> 00:19:01.000
 Notice that the sentence starts, God presented Christ.

00:19:01.000 --> 00:19:02.000
 Christ.

00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:04.000
 And then it carries on at the end of verse 26.

00:19:04.000 --> 00:19:15.000
 He did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:23.000
 In other words, God is presenting himself to himself so that God's own righteousness is demonstrated.

00:19:23.000 --> 00:19:30.000
 Being just, remember righteous, and being the one who justifies makes righteous.

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:38.000
 So God is making his righteousness give awayable in a righteous way by paying for it at the cross.

00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:42.000
 Never for a moment compromising his morality or his righteousness.

00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:45.000
 Never sweeping sin under the carpet and pretending it doesn't matter.

00:19:45.000 --> 00:19:52.000
 This is literally impossible to illustrate, okay?

00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:55.000
 There's nothing like this in the world.

00:19:55.000 --> 00:19:58.000
 But come back with me for a moment.

00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:00.000
 Let's have a go, right?

00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:01.000
 The audience with the king.

00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:04.000
 Let's try and capture a little bit of it if we can.

00:20:04.000 --> 00:20:11.000
 You know, don't you, that if you walked into the king's banquet, dressed as you were in filthy clothes, there's going to be trouble.

00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:16.000
 Specifically, there's going to be trouble with the king himself.

00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:22.000
 He would be insulted by your arrival in such attire.

00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:26.000
 Yet still, the king longs to have you in his presence.

00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:43.000
 So in an act of extraordinary condescension, the king himself leaves the palace, puts on your rags and your filth, and goes himself into the banquet, dressed in shame and dirt, into his own presence.

00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:50.000
 Facing in himself the rejection of himself, that you would deserve should you have turned up in those clothes.

00:20:50.000 --> 00:21:03.000
 And he does that not as some party trick, but for the sole purpose that you might wear his robes as you enter his glorious banquet.

00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:14.000
 So you gain access without pretending that you deserve to be there in your own right, and without for a moment the king compromising or lowering his standards.

00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:16.000
 This is it here.

00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:17.000
 This is it here.

00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:36.000
 The righteous God has bought the right to bring sinful you into his presence without for a moment compromising his moral standard at great personal cost to himself by sacrificing himself on the cross, shedding his blood in your place.

00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:55.000
 That you and I might righteously wear his righteousness, even as he, in the person of the son, as incomprehensible as it is, would wear your and my filthy sin.

00:21:55.000 --> 00:22:04.599
 Of course, this is where the illustration of the king of the banquet breaks down, or at least one of the places, because our problem is not the clothes that we wear, is it?

00:22:05.500 --> 00:22:07.140
 Our problem is our hearts.

00:22:07.140 --> 00:22:12.780
 If we're honest, our problem is not that we stumble into a few mistakes in life.

00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:17.620
 Rather, our problem, as we've seen over and over in these last few weeks, is that we've turned in on ourselves.

00:22:18.580 --> 00:22:20.320
 We've become obsessed with ourselves.

00:22:21.040 --> 00:22:24.520
 We were made to live for God, and yet we live for ourselves.

00:22:25.380 --> 00:22:28.340
 And our moral horror is that twisted nature.

00:22:28.339 --> 00:22:42.879
 And God in Christ takes the horrors of all of that on himself, that he might satisfy justice, so that he might buy for himself, give a weighable righteousness that he can give to you and I.

00:22:43.720 --> 00:22:45.399
 Give a weighable righteousness, pay at the cross.

00:22:45.539 --> 00:22:50.139
 Number three, give a weighable righteousness is received by faith.

00:22:50.439 --> 00:22:51.939
 Notice this at the end of verse 22.

00:22:52.059 --> 00:22:53.119
 This is what we were doing with the kids.

00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:58.679
 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

00:22:59.199 --> 00:23:01.059
 It's repeated at the end of verse 26.

00:23:01.139 --> 00:23:01.919
 Look down in your Bibles.

00:23:02.059 --> 00:23:08.079
 He did this to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just, and the one who justifies who?

00:23:08.659 --> 00:23:10.619
 Those who have faith in Jesus.

00:23:11.579 --> 00:23:12.259
 This is so important.

00:23:12.359 --> 00:23:13.359
 God has done all the work.

00:23:13.939 --> 00:23:17.159
 His righteousness, it's his righteousness that he's giving away.

00:23:17.579 --> 00:23:17.699
 Right?

00:23:18.019 --> 00:23:20.539
 This is not our righteousness from our good works.

00:23:20.539 --> 00:23:24.599
 God is not enabling us to do good works so that we earn our own righteousness.

00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:28.700
 It's his righteousness given at the expense of the cross.

00:23:28.839 --> 00:23:30.920
 But it has to be received.

00:23:31.559 --> 00:23:33.500
 Specifically received by faith.

00:23:34.659 --> 00:23:37.339
 Now that I think is where verse 27 helps us out.

00:23:37.460 --> 00:23:38.359
 What is faith?

00:23:39.000 --> 00:23:40.339
 Verse 27 explains.

00:23:41.240 --> 00:23:42.440
 Where then is boasting?

00:23:42.980 --> 00:23:44.139
 It is excluded.

00:23:44.700 --> 00:23:46.279
 Faith then is the opposite of boasting.

00:23:47.019 --> 00:23:48.639
 Boasting is excluded because of what law?

00:23:49.079 --> 00:23:50.059
 The law that requires works?

00:23:50.059 --> 00:23:50.500
 No.

00:23:50.879 --> 00:23:53.059
 Because of the law that requires faith.

00:23:53.559 --> 00:23:57.579
 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

00:23:58.079 --> 00:23:59.500
 Or is God the God of the Jews only?

00:23:59.720 --> 00:24:01.099
 Is he not the God of the Gentiles too?

00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:02.339
 Yes, of the Gentiles too.

00:24:02.759 --> 00:24:09.599
 Since there is only one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through the same faith.

00:24:09.940 --> 00:24:11.779
 Do we then nullify the law by this faith?

00:24:11.940 --> 00:24:12.599
 Not at all.

00:24:12.960 --> 00:24:14.179
 Rather, we uphold the law.

00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:18.779
 Now there's a lot there, but notice faith is not works.

00:24:18.779 --> 00:24:20.559
 Notice verse 28.

00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:22.619
 Faith is apart from works.

00:24:23.019 --> 00:24:24.879
 Faith is distinct from action.

00:24:26.200 --> 00:24:31.980
 This faith is a universal requirement for anybody who would be restored to a relationship with God.

00:24:31.980 --> 00:24:32.740
 It's the same.

00:24:32.819 --> 00:24:33.740
 It doesn't matter whether you're a Jew.

00:24:33.860 --> 00:24:35.200
 It doesn't matter whether you're a Gentile.

00:24:35.480 --> 00:24:37.259
 Gentile, remember, just the word for nations.

00:24:37.460 --> 00:24:37.940
 Ethnic.

00:24:38.259 --> 00:24:39.720
 It doesn't matter where you're from.

00:24:39.720 --> 00:24:40.720
 Faith is not.

00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:45.380
 And it's faith, verse 31, which is not a contradiction of the law.

00:24:45.900 --> 00:24:47.259
 That is God's moral requirements.

00:24:47.460 --> 00:24:48.680
 Rather, it upholds it.

00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:49.900
 How so?

00:24:50.360 --> 00:24:56.000
 Well, because the legal requirements of the law are satisfied in the gift that faith receives.

00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:59.539
 So you can't boast about faith.

00:25:00.220 --> 00:25:10.440
 Because faith is simply an empty hand that receives the gift of God's give-awayable righteousness through the payment that Jesus made at the cross.

00:25:11.259 --> 00:25:13.220
 Faith, then, is the opposite of works.

00:25:14.039 --> 00:25:16.579
 Faith is the abandonment of works.

00:25:17.380 --> 00:25:19.940
 Faith is literally saying, I can't work.

00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:21.579
 I can't do.

00:25:22.299 --> 00:25:23.319
 Jesus can.

00:25:23.319 --> 00:25:25.700
 Faith says, I am ruined.

00:25:26.519 --> 00:25:27.619
 Christ, repair me.

00:25:27.960 --> 00:25:28.939
 I'm lost.

00:25:29.679 --> 00:25:30.579
 Jesus, find me.

00:25:31.099 --> 00:25:32.019
 I have nothing.

00:25:32.599 --> 00:25:33.379
 You have everything.

00:25:35.619 --> 00:25:37.419
 Return to the palace one last time.

00:25:38.399 --> 00:25:40.439
 This, then, is the invitation of the king, right?

00:25:41.139 --> 00:25:41.659
 Come.

00:25:42.379 --> 00:25:43.779
 Come and join my banquet.

00:25:44.919 --> 00:25:47.759
 But you reply, listen, my clothes are filthy.

00:25:48.460 --> 00:25:52.399
 I have no way to get myself ready for such a banquet.

00:25:53.319 --> 00:26:01.480
 Please, please, king, just help me to be better and to wash myself and then I'll be okay.

00:26:02.839 --> 00:26:04.319
 King replies, no, listen, son.

00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:07.299
 It doesn't matter how many times you wash those jeans.

00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:12.299
 They will still be ripped and not worthy of my presence.

00:26:12.299 --> 00:26:17.500
 Oh, well, just help me stitch them back together then, will you?

00:26:18.460 --> 00:26:19.899
 No, listen, that will not do.

00:26:19.980 --> 00:26:22.220
 They'll still be tatty old clothes with patches on them.

00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:27.139
 There is only one way for you to enter my banquet, and that is wearing my clothes.

00:26:28.740 --> 00:26:32.819
 And to wear my clothes, you need to accept them as a gift.

00:26:32.819 --> 00:26:34.599
 That's it here.

00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:44.099
 All that is needed to be done for sinners like me and you to enter the glory of heaven has been done by Christ on the cross.

00:26:44.740 --> 00:26:49.419
 He has power to liberate us from our sin and clothe us in his give-awayable righteousness.

00:26:50.019 --> 00:26:56.539
 And faith receives that gift and enters the glory of knowing him and the promise of being with him eternally.

00:26:56.539 --> 00:26:59.180
 Now, that's the passage, right?

00:26:59.559 --> 00:27:04.940
 God's give-awayable righteousness through Jesus' cross received only by faith in him.

00:27:06.039 --> 00:27:09.720
 Let me ask you as I finish two questions that come from the passage.

00:27:10.200 --> 00:27:11.680
 The first one is this.

00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:14.579
 Do you have this faith?

00:27:17.139 --> 00:27:20.480
 We live at a time where people, I think, talk quite weirdly about faith, don't we?

00:27:21.379 --> 00:27:25.099
 Like it's some kind of mysterious energy that we work up.

00:27:25.099 --> 00:27:27.799
 Oh, I'm a person of faith.

00:27:28.159 --> 00:27:28.639
 Yes, I am.

00:27:28.939 --> 00:27:29.799
 Yes, I have faith.

00:27:31.059 --> 00:27:34.039
 But the faith in Romans 3 is not like that, is it?

00:27:34.879 --> 00:27:37.299
 Faith in Romans 3 is the opposite of pride.

00:27:38.279 --> 00:27:43.399
 Faith in Romans 3 exchanges self-confidence for Jesus' confidence.

00:27:44.679 --> 00:27:48.980
 You can tell faith in Romans 3 says, oh, no, no, not I have faith.

00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:52.079
 It says Jesus saves, right?

00:27:52.079 --> 00:27:56.559
 Let me ask you, do you have that faith?

00:27:59.439 --> 00:28:07.240
 Alistair Begg, who's the Scottish preacher who spent most of his ministry in the US, has captured this idea with his illustration of the thief on a cross.

00:28:07.559 --> 00:28:10.299
 You may have seen it online.

00:28:10.299 --> 00:28:11.940
 It's gone viral, I think, basically.

00:28:12.359 --> 00:28:16.259
 The thief on the cross, you might remember, rebuked the other thief for mocking Jesus.

00:28:17.259 --> 00:28:22.259
 He calls Jesus innocent and says that, Jesus, please remember me when you come into your kingdom.

00:28:23.019 --> 00:28:26.919
 And Jesus replies to the man, truly, I tell you, today you'll be with me in paradise.

00:28:26.920 --> 00:28:39.960
 And the angel speaks to the man, truly, and says, well, how did you get here?

00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:45.519
 And the thief looks back at him and goes, I have absolutely no idea.

00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:51.680
 And the angel says, well, I can see from your record here you've never been baptized.

00:28:53.259 --> 00:28:55.900
 I can see from your record here you've never been to church.

00:28:57.940 --> 00:28:59.480
 Let me get my supervisor angel.

00:29:00.139 --> 00:29:01.099
 Maybe he can help.

00:29:01.920 --> 00:29:06.539
 And the supervisor angel comes over and asks him, well, what are you doing here?

00:29:07.299 --> 00:29:09.599
 I don't know, he says.

00:29:10.519 --> 00:29:11.939
 Well, let's get down to it then, he says.

00:29:12.099 --> 00:29:16.480
 You know, what can you tell me about justification by faith, he says?

00:29:18.159 --> 00:29:19.799
 I have no idea, he says.

00:29:20.059 --> 00:29:20.879
 I've never heard of it.

00:29:21.740 --> 00:29:23.299
 Well, what about the doctrine of scripture?

00:29:23.899 --> 00:29:25.179
 Do you know the doctrine of scripture?

00:29:27.899 --> 00:29:29.459
 I've got no idea, he says.

00:29:30.980 --> 00:29:36.000
 So the angel looks at him and says, well, tell me then, on what basis are you here?

00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:38.759
 And he says, I don't know.

00:29:39.599 --> 00:29:41.699
 But the man on the middle cross said I could come.

00:29:42.799 --> 00:29:43.740
 That's it, isn't it?

00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:46.399
 The man on the middle cross said I could come.

00:29:46.859 --> 00:29:48.240
 That's the faith of Romans 3.

00:29:48.980 --> 00:29:51.559
 It's the abandonment of any confidence in ourselves.

00:29:52.459 --> 00:29:55.099
 And trust only in Jesus to fit us for glory.

00:29:56.219 --> 00:29:58.359
 Alistair Begg does a brilliant job in that illustration.

00:29:58.539 --> 00:30:01.879
 And he points out, if you answer that question in any other way,

00:30:03.019 --> 00:30:04.439
 if you say, you know, what are you doing here?

00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:07.659
 If you answer in any other way than Jesus said I could come.

00:30:07.660 --> 00:30:09.940
 If you answer in any other way, you're not a Christian.

00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:13.500
 If you say, no, I'm here because I prayed a prayer.

00:30:14.060 --> 00:30:16.060
 I'm here because I attended church.

00:30:16.360 --> 00:30:19.680
 I'm here because I was careful about moral living.

00:30:20.940 --> 00:30:21.940
 It's not a Christian.

00:30:21.940 --> 00:30:31.480
 I'm here because the righteousness that is required for me to be here was given to me by Jesus and him alone.

00:30:31.480 --> 00:30:36.339
 Let me encourage you this morning, especially if you've never done this before.

00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:43.140
 Why don't you reach out to Jesus with an empty hand of faith and say, listen, I've got no confidence in me, Jesus,

00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:46.120
 but full confidence in you.

00:30:47.079 --> 00:30:56.579
 Take my sin stained life and give me your glorious righteousness that I might be fit for your presence.

00:30:56.579 --> 00:30:59.339
 Do you have this faith?

00:31:00.659 --> 00:31:01.500
 Second question.

00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:04.019
 Do you still have this faith?

00:31:05.579 --> 00:31:13.799
 One of the things that you need to keep in mind as we go through the book of Romans is that it is written not so much for people new to Jesus,

00:31:14.460 --> 00:31:21.220
 but to a church, which means that God doesn't want you just to start the Christian life with this kind of faith in Jesus.

00:31:21.220 --> 00:31:25.579
 He wants you to live the Christian life with this kind of faith in Jesus.

00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:33.579
 You know, this sort of abandoning all confidence in myself is not simply where the Christian life starts.

00:31:33.740 --> 00:31:37.160
 It's how the Christian life carries on every day.

00:31:39.259 --> 00:31:46.500
 Jesus hasn't, you know, bought on the cross, give away of all righteousness so that you can sort of work on building your own over time.

00:31:46.500 --> 00:31:51.579
 It's kind of like trying to bling up the king's clothes as if you could do that.

00:31:51.779 --> 00:31:52.680
 It's weird, isn't it?

00:31:53.680 --> 00:31:58.539
 He has given you full perfection, perfect righteousness,

00:31:59.259 --> 00:32:03.720
 that you might live your entire Christian life trusting in him and not yourself,

00:32:04.359 --> 00:32:05.720
 looking to him and not you,

00:32:06.619 --> 00:32:09.440
 growing confidence in his work and not your works,

00:32:09.859 --> 00:32:12.940
 knowing that any work that you do is not contributing to your salvation.

00:32:13.059 --> 00:32:13.720
 It never could.

00:32:13.720 --> 00:32:16.960
 Let's get really frank about this.

00:32:17.400 --> 00:32:19.900
 Let's call out where this gets contradicted, right?

00:32:19.960 --> 00:32:21.339
 It gets contradicted all the time.

00:32:21.880 --> 00:32:25.360
 Listen, if you have a version of Christianity which starts with Jesus

00:32:25.360 --> 00:32:30.240
 and then says, listen, to remain a Christian, I start like this.

00:32:30.500 --> 00:32:31.980
 Okay, everything you said, Steve, I agree with.

00:32:32.019 --> 00:32:32.960
 I've started there.

00:32:33.420 --> 00:32:37.579
 But I am carrying on as a Christian by attending mass,

00:32:38.059 --> 00:32:39.500
 by confessing to a priest,

00:32:39.920 --> 00:32:42.519
 by doing good works to stay in.

00:32:42.519 --> 00:32:46.379
 Well, let me tell you, that's not Bible Christianity.

00:32:48.359 --> 00:32:50.559
 If you have a version of Christianity that says,

00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:54.819
 now, yeah, I agree with you, Steve, I'm starting with Jesus like that.

00:32:55.559 --> 00:32:59.720
 But Jesus now has liberated me totally of any sinful desire

00:32:59.720 --> 00:33:02.579
 so that I'm now living a perfectly sanctified life,

00:33:02.639 --> 00:33:03.440
 this side of glory,

00:33:03.799 --> 00:33:06.000
 that any struggle with sin is just not real.

00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:06.519
 It's just perceived.

00:33:07.480 --> 00:33:09.839
 You know, repentance and faith, that's how the Christian life starts.

00:33:09.839 --> 00:33:12.039
 But it carries on in triumph and victory.

00:33:12.839 --> 00:33:14.639
 That's not Bible Christianity either.

00:33:15.879 --> 00:33:16.259
 Why?

00:33:17.500 --> 00:33:20.099
 Well, because Bible Christianity starts, ends,

00:33:20.199 --> 00:33:23.679
 and has every little bit in between lived with confidence in Jesus

00:33:23.679 --> 00:33:26.839
 and the gift of righteousness that he's purchased on your behalf.

00:33:26.839 --> 00:33:29.759
 It lives and dies by that.

00:33:31.539 --> 00:33:33.159
 Christians contradict this all the time

00:33:33.159 --> 00:33:36.099
 because there is still a part of our heart that wishes

00:33:36.099 --> 00:33:38.500
 that we were earning our salvation,

00:33:39.259 --> 00:33:40.980
 that wishes the Christian life was different.

00:33:41.879 --> 00:33:42.919
 We're proud, aren't we?

00:33:43.339 --> 00:33:44.759
 We love a little bit of works.

00:33:46.339 --> 00:33:48.399
 You know, if we'd invented the Christian life,

00:33:48.459 --> 00:33:50.199
 we'd have invented it so that when Christ came,

00:33:50.279 --> 00:33:52.599
 he liberated us of every impulse to sin

00:33:52.599 --> 00:33:55.379
 so that we could build an impressive portfolio of our own righteousness.

00:33:55.380 --> 00:33:57.400
 Christians are full of people doing that.

00:33:58.340 --> 00:34:01.400
 Oh yes, I'm so much better than anybody else in this room.

00:34:02.240 --> 00:34:03.020
 Utter rubbish.

00:34:04.020 --> 00:34:06.520
 You know, if that's what a Christian life is,

00:34:06.520 --> 00:34:08.360
 it would require God to lower his standards.

00:34:08.420 --> 00:34:09.720
 Maybe not meet you in McDonald's,

00:34:09.760 --> 00:34:10.900
 maybe meet you in Sam's Chicken,

00:34:10.980 --> 00:34:12.059
 which is a little better, isn't it?

00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:14.940
 But he doesn't want you to meet him in Sam's Chicken.

00:34:15.519 --> 00:34:17.860
 He wants you to meet him in the glories of heaven,

00:34:18.579 --> 00:34:20.019
 in the new creation.

00:34:20.660 --> 00:34:23.260
 And the only way there is with perfect righteousness.

00:34:23.260 --> 00:34:25.460
 And the only way to get perfect righteousness

00:34:25.460 --> 00:34:27.280
 is to receive it as a gift by faith.

00:34:27.720 --> 00:34:30.380
 And faith is the continued abandonment,

00:34:30.540 --> 00:34:33.080
 day by day, of confidence in myself

00:34:33.080 --> 00:34:35.780
 and place my confidence in Jesus.

00:34:36.220 --> 00:34:38.200
 And how do you know that you're doing that?

00:34:39.180 --> 00:34:40.380
 Well, it seems, doesn't it,

00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:42.580
 that to keep us trusting in Jesus Christ alone,

00:34:42.720 --> 00:34:46.120
 God and his wisdom sends us perpetual reminders,

00:34:46.680 --> 00:34:48.460
 not only of his all-sufficiency.

00:34:49.020 --> 00:34:50.800
 His all-sufficiency is wonderful, isn't it?

00:34:50.800 --> 00:34:53.860
 I love every reminder of the all-sufficiency of Jesus.

00:34:53.980 --> 00:34:54.500
 It's brilliant.

00:34:54.940 --> 00:34:55.800
 Jesus is everything.

00:34:57.280 --> 00:34:59.320
 But he also sends me perpetual reminders

00:34:59.320 --> 00:35:00.240
 of my own weakness,

00:35:00.960 --> 00:35:04.560
 which is more difficult, but also necessary,

00:35:05.120 --> 00:35:07.539
 so that I might place my confidence not in me,

00:35:08.200 --> 00:35:08.920
 but in Christ,

00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:12.840
 that we might live by faith in Jesus,

00:35:13.860 --> 00:35:15.940
 who has God's give-away-able righteousness

00:35:15.940 --> 00:35:17.900
 that he brought at the cross.

00:35:17.900 --> 00:35:20.559
 Let me pray as we close.

00:35:23.720 --> 00:35:25.519
 Let's take a few moments in our own halls

00:35:25.519 --> 00:35:28.059
 just to pray and respond,

00:35:29.160 --> 00:35:32.619
 maybe to reaffirm our faith in Jesus,

00:35:32.800 --> 00:35:35.760
 maybe to put our faith in him for the very first time.

00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:35.840
 Amen.

00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:35.840


00:35:47.900 --> 00:35:50.579
 Father God,

00:35:51.079 --> 00:35:54.760
 it is amazing

00:35:54.760 --> 00:35:58.019
 that you would give us your righteousness

00:35:58.019 --> 00:36:00.960
 and that you would pay

00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:03.180
 through the blood of your son

00:36:03.180 --> 00:36:04.400
 that we might receive it.

00:36:06.139 --> 00:36:08.099
 Father, we want to say that we're sorry

00:36:08.099 --> 00:36:11.160
 for every little attempt that we've made

00:36:11.160 --> 00:36:12.500
 to build our own righteousness,

00:36:12.500 --> 00:36:16.420
 every attempt we've had

00:36:16.420 --> 00:36:18.280
 to trust in ourselves and not Christ.

00:36:19.139 --> 00:36:20.360
 We say together this morning

00:36:20.360 --> 00:36:21.320
 that we turn to you.

00:36:21.960 --> 00:36:23.139
 We're sorry for our sins.

00:36:23.780 --> 00:36:25.460
 We want to live by faith

00:36:25.460 --> 00:36:28.059
 in the Jesus who died for us,

00:36:28.579 --> 00:36:29.579
 who rose again,

00:36:30.099 --> 00:36:33.000
 and who will welcome us into glory one day.

00:36:34.199 --> 00:36:34.679
 Amen.

00:36:34.679 --> 00:36:34.840
 Amen.

00:36:34.840 --> 00:36:34.860
 Amen.

00:36:34.860 --> 00:36:34.920
 Amen.

00:36:34.920 --> 00:36:35.539
 Amen.

00:36:35.539 --> 00:36:35.539