WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.599 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:20.480 ! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:25.679 either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:32.159 that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:37.359 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:42.159 we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:48.799 Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:55.120 what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian, 00:00:55.119 --> 00:01:00.320 checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.280 questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:07.759 that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:14.479 Let's bow our heads for prayer. 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:28.400 Father, Father, you know very well that sometimes your Word comes to us and we don't like it, 00:01:28.960 --> 00:01:36.960 and we actually think, Father, that it's unworthy of you. But Father, you know the true need of our 00:01:36.959 --> 00:01:42.959 human condition. And you speak the truth to us knowing that we desperately need it. 00:01:43.839 --> 00:01:50.319 And so we ask, Father, that you would soften our hearts to both be honest with you about how we feel 00:01:50.319 --> 00:01:57.199 and how we respond to this. But most of all, that you would open our hearts that we might receive your 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:05.520 wise and beautiful, good and healing Word into our lives to form us. And we ask this in the name of 00:02:05.520 --> 00:02:09.680 Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. 00:02:09.680 --> 00:02:21.120 You know, sometimes when I talk about things like this, I know that there are people, very lucky, 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:25.680 blessed people, who have no idea what I'm talking about because that's not something they've ever 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:33.200 experienced, or at least not experienced for longer than about a second. But there are many people in 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:40.959 this city and probably many people in this church, maybe even right now today, who labor under and in 00:02:40.959 --> 00:02:52.719 fact are crushed by anger, anger that condemns. We go through each day with a voice in our head or on 00:02:52.719 --> 00:02:59.359 our shoulders speaking into our ear, words of very strong condemnation that come with that emotion of 00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:06.080 anger. And we live our days with that. At times, maybe through alcohol or video games or shopping or 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:12.480 something like that or some other activity, it gets a bit silenced, but it's a little bit like my tinnitus, 00:03:12.480 --> 00:03:16.960 which I have in my right ear, which is always there. I might not always notice it, but sometimes I do. 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:24.800 But we go through life day by day or for a very long season under a crushing burden of angry condemnation 00:03:24.800 --> 00:03:34.320 temptation at what we've done or not done or should have done. And the Bible texts that we're going to 00:03:34.320 --> 00:03:40.400 look at today, on one hand, in case you're curious, if you're a bit nerdish, many theologians say that 00:03:40.400 --> 00:03:46.240 the book of Romans is the most important book in the Bible. And those same theologians will usually 00:03:46.240 --> 00:03:51.439 say that the paragraph that we're going to look at today is the most important paragraph in the most 00:03:51.439 --> 00:04:00.079 important book in the Bible. But in this important paragraph in the important book of Romans is 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:07.039 actually God's profound good news for all sorts and conditions of people, but especially for those of us 00:04:07.039 --> 00:04:14.960 who have labored or are still laboring under that heavy sense of condemnation and anger. So it would be 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:19.680 a great help to me and a great help to you if you would open your Bibles. The text will be up on the screen, 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:26.319 but it's good to have your own Bible. And we're looking at Romans chapter 3, verses 21 to 26. 00:04:26.319 --> 00:04:29.519 Romans chapter 3, verses 21 to 26. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:34.160 And just before we get into it, 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:42.879 this book is written around the year 57 AD. There's so many historical references in the book of Acts and other 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:47.360 letters and early documents that we can place it to probably being written in 57. 00:04:47.360 --> 00:04:54.480 So that's 24 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus. It's written by a man who is an actual 00:04:54.480 --> 00:05:01.680 witness to the fact that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. And the flow of the book is he sort of 00:05:01.680 --> 00:05:08.000 gives some greetings. Then he gives this profound thesis of the whole book that the gospel is the 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:15.120 power of God for salvation for all who believe that in it, God makes people right with himself in a way that 00:05:15.120 --> 00:05:21.280 is always just. And after he's made that declaration from chapter 1, verse 18 to chapter 3, verse 20, 00:05:21.280 --> 00:05:27.120 he sells the problem. He tries to describe to us what the true human condition is, and that if we 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:33.040 understand what the true human condition is, then we'll realize why we need the power of God for 00:05:33.040 --> 00:05:39.120 salvation that comes in the gospel. That's how the book is flowed. And so this is the beginning paragraph 00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:44.319 that's going to get into what is the gospel and how is it that it deals with the human condition. 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:49.759 Why is it profoundly good news that we can't just receive with our mind, but has to come with God's 00:05:49.759 --> 00:05:57.519 transforming and transformative power? Why is it that that's what we need? And so that's what we're 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:00.800 going to get into. But just before we read verse 21, we're actually going to read verse 20. That's 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:06.199 sort of the end of that selling the problem text, and here's how it goes. And we need to do that. 00:06:06.199 --> 00:06:09.719 You'll see why we need to go there, just to remind us. In verse 20, it goes, 00:06:10.360 --> 00:06:15.099 for by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law 00:06:15.099 --> 00:06:19.079 comes knowledge of sin. Okay, what is all that theological language? It's very, very simple. 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:25.379 Last week, I used the example of a CT scanner because I had had a bit of a cancer scare, 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:32.579 a possibility that I had a cancerous tumor in my lung. And when I had the CT scan, the CT scan 00:06:32.579 --> 00:06:39.300 revealed that the x-rays had been not, they weren't clear enough, but the CT scan, which was clear, 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:45.860 showed that I revealed more clearly that I didn't have a tumor. And what Paul is saying here, 00:06:46.419 --> 00:06:55.060 amongst other things, excuse me, is that the more you get to know right and wrong, the more moral clarity 00:06:55.060 --> 00:07:03.360 you grow into, the greater your moral clarity, what moral clarity does is reveal to you your true 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:08.980 condition. But that's all that it can really do. It's impossible to try to keep that moral law, 00:07:09.079 --> 00:07:14.139 especially as you come to greater moral clarity, to be made right with God. So the analogy would be, 00:07:14.439 --> 00:07:19.740 let's say I had gotten the bad news that I did have a cancerous tumor, after there's obviously biopsies, 00:07:19.740 --> 00:07:25.860 etc. And then if I was to say to the doctor, okay, that's very good. That CT scan seems fantastic. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:30.560 Just keep putting me in the CT scan until I'm healed. The doctor would say, no, no, you don't 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:35.000 understand. The CT scan doesn't heal you. All it does is reveal what's going on inside of you, but 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:40.379 it doesn't heal you. And that's how we should understand increasing moral clarity just reveals 00:07:40.379 --> 00:07:47.000 the state of our souls. And that state of the soul is that by doing good things, we can never do 00:07:47.000 --> 00:07:53.779 enough good things to make ourselves right with God. And that's the bad news. And so now we come to 00:07:53.779 --> 00:08:01.379 the beginning of our paragraph, verse 21, and it begins with this wonderful word, but. And if I was 00:08:01.379 --> 00:08:09.860 doing Bible versions, I would make that print double its normal size, and I would bold it, because it's a 00:08:09.860 --> 00:08:16.800 big but. It's going in a completely different direction. It's don't be depressed, don't despair, 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:22.660 because there's hope. I didn't just say all of these things to you so I would leave you down in 00:08:22.660 --> 00:08:27.620 the dumps for the rest of your life. No, there's hope. And that's what he continues on with in verse 00:08:27.620 --> 00:08:36.720 21. But now, but, whoa, now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, 00:08:36.779 --> 00:08:41.500 although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. Well, what on earth does that mean? It's all sort 00:08:41.500 --> 00:08:48.500 of more technical language. And what it means is this. When the original people, and this has been 00:08:48.500 --> 00:08:55.259 translated into English, the people who heard this originally, there's a double sense of righteousness 00:08:55.259 --> 00:09:01.539 of God. And they would have heard both senses. And in some cases, they might decide it means one of 00:09:01.539 --> 00:09:07.580 those two senses. But in other cases like this, they would recognize that Paul meant both sentences 00:09:07.580 --> 00:09:12.980 at the same time, that he chose his words very carefully. So what he's saying is, when he says 00:09:12.980 --> 00:09:19.160 the righteousness of God, it means two things. He said, I'm going to tell you how the gospel, 00:09:19.300 --> 00:09:27.040 the good news about Jesus, reveals that God is always right and good and just. Some Christians 00:09:27.040 --> 00:09:34.160 used to say God is good, and their response would be, that's right, God is good all the time. All the time, 00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:40.059 God is good, right? And you could all just say that God is just all the time. All the time, God is just. 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:44.100 It's the same type of thing. And the gospel is going to reveal. He never stops that whatsoever 00:09:44.100 --> 00:09:50.600 to deal with making you right with him. But the other thing is that he makes you right. That's the 00:09:50.600 --> 00:09:56.740 double sense. On one hand, this message of what God has done in Jesus has both revealed that God is 00:09:56.740 --> 00:10:04.360 just and good and all the time, always. On the other hand, not the other hand, and also at the same time, 00:10:04.620 --> 00:10:11.740 he has done what is needed to make human beings right with himself. This is something that God does 00:10:11.740 --> 00:10:17.379 for human beings in the person of Jesus. So it says, but now the righteousness of God, and when it says 00:10:17.379 --> 00:10:26.320 been manifested, that just means is now seen and actualized, made real. And he says that what this 00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:35.019 is, is the law and the prophets bear witness to it. So what he's really saying here is, and what I'm 00:10:35.019 --> 00:10:40.399 going to tell you is, I'm not going to tell you a new moral set of moral rules. It's not in that 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:46.179 direction that I'm bringing greater clarity to morality. Although, he says, as an aside, if you go back 00:10:46.179 --> 00:10:51.879 and you read what our Jewish friends call, sometimes they call it the Torah, the Tanakh, he'll say, 00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:56.459 all of those things are pointing to this, what I'm about to tell you all of the time. I'm telling 00:10:56.459 --> 00:11:02.039 you something that has been known to the Jewish people for a long, long, long time, 1,500 years, 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:10.579 depending on how you view when the Old Testament started to get written. So what is it? You know, 00:11:10.580 --> 00:11:17.540 what is it that's, you know, he's implying that it's not a new morality or a new ritual or a new 00:11:17.540 --> 00:11:27.660 technology. He begins to tell you in verse 22, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ 00:11:27.660 --> 00:11:31.840 for all who believe. So I have something like sort of stuck in my throat. 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:38.780 The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Now, in the original 00:11:38.780 --> 00:11:44.879 language, that word belief, believe, and that word faith are actually the same word. So he's saying 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:51.540 the same thing twice to show you that this is actually very, very important, that God is going 00:11:51.540 --> 00:12:01.060 to do something to make you right with him, and he's going to do it in such a way that it's right for you, 00:12:01.059 --> 00:12:07.579 but it's going to be upside down, back to front, and inside out. And it's going to be something that 00:12:07.579 --> 00:12:13.979 you receive by faith, not by being better at doing good things, but by faith or believing. And what 00:12:13.979 --> 00:12:22.319 that word means is a type of personal trust, a giving of yourself to trust in something or someone 00:12:22.319 --> 00:12:30.039 to do something. It's a very human thing. We trust all the time or don't trust all the time. And this is 00:12:30.039 --> 00:12:34.740 part of the really, really good news. It's not about being able to have a very high intellect, 00:12:35.199 --> 00:12:42.339 high IQ, being able to accomplish a whole pile of things, that how we receive what God does for us 00:12:42.339 --> 00:12:49.439 is something that involves us putting our trust into him and into what he's done. Now, here's the 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:59.760 thing about faith or trust. What really matters in trust and faith isn't the amount of faith or trust 00:12:59.760 --> 00:13:09.380 you have, although that matters sometimes, but what you're trusting in. So we all probably in coffee time 00:13:09.379 --> 00:13:20.360 could tell stories about maybe our daughter or our friend or our kid's friend or our sister or a mother or whatever. 00:13:20.980 --> 00:13:28.220 And she put all her faith and trust into a man who turned out to be a terrible scoundrel, 00:13:28.220 --> 00:13:37.080 who ruined her life. Now, she went into that, falling in love with him and trusting him with high faith, 00:13:37.379 --> 00:13:45.580 high trust, but it was in a terrible person and it ruined her life. And on the other hand, you can have 00:13:45.580 --> 00:13:52.540 somebody who has a fear of flying and they need to go to Vancouver to see their friend and they have 00:13:52.539 --> 00:13:57.899 the space between my finger and my thumb. That's how much faith they have that the airplane will actually get 00:13:57.899 --> 00:14:00.699 there safely. But they get on the plane 00:14:00.699 --> 00:14:06.579 and it's worth, good thing they had that trust in the plane because they get to Vancouver. 00:14:07.579 --> 00:14:13.419 You see, so on one hand, what it's going to say is that God has done something to make you right with him 00:14:13.419 --> 00:14:20.480 and it's not going to involve new morality or new rituals or anything like that. It's going to be something that you trust 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:28.039 into and it doesn't really matter so much if your trust is small or big, but it matters that you put your 00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:32.659 trust in something that God has done for you and that's what's going to make you right with him. 00:14:33.980 --> 00:14:41.259 And it's going to be upside down in the sense that it involves God coming down to do something. 00:14:42.060 --> 00:14:47.180 We normally, by our normal way of thinking about how religion and spirituality works, is we think it's all 00:14:47.179 --> 00:14:54.739 about us achieving or reaching out or accomplishing something going from down to up, but this good news 00:14:54.739 --> 00:15:01.899 is something that God has done. It comes down to us and it's going to be back to front because we tend 00:15:01.899 --> 00:15:07.319 to think that if we're going to be made right with God, I need to stop drinking as much and I need to 00:15:07.319 --> 00:15:13.240 stop maybe doing drugs as much and I need to maybe lose a couple of pounds and I need to try to get my 00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:17.879 credit card debt down a little bit and then maybe I can go to church and I need to learn a few prayers 00:15:17.879 --> 00:15:23.220 and we think we do that and then eventually God will be right with God and the gospel message is 00:15:23.220 --> 00:15:28.100 going to be back to front. It begins with being made right with God and then when you've made right 00:15:28.100 --> 00:15:32.720 with God, then you're going to start to figure out how to deal with your weight. I mean, by the way, 00:15:32.779 --> 00:15:36.980 God has no view on your weight whatsoever. I mean, that's one of those things in our culture we get 00:15:36.980 --> 00:15:43.340 really guilty about. The Bible's silent on what your body mass index should be. That's the world 00:15:43.340 --> 00:15:48.840 beating us up, not the Bible beating us up, okay? But, you know, whatever it is, you know, money, 00:15:49.080 --> 00:15:54.840 debt, all those things, you know, we get made right with God and then we go to the front and it's going 00:15:54.840 --> 00:15:59.940 to be inside out because one of the things Jesus describes this transformation when you put your trust 00:15:59.940 --> 00:16:06.120 in what God has done in the person of Jesus, it's that you're born again or you're adopted or as we're 00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:11.440 going to see that you're made right with God or that you've been redeemed out of slavery or something 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:17.860 like that and it comes inside and then it begins to move from that transformation inside of you 00:16:17.860 --> 00:16:24.639 into different areas of your life and how your mind thinks and how your memories work and your 00:16:24.639 --> 00:16:30.980 affections and your will, but it's inside out. It's something that God does for you. It's going to be 00:16:30.980 --> 00:16:41.399 something that God does for you and it's not a natural process. It's not a natural process. It's 00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:49.899 something supernatural that God does. Why? Well, Paul's going to remind us of what he's tried to 00:16:49.899 --> 00:16:57.360 establish in verses 118 to chapter 3 verse 20. Look what he says in the first part of verse 23. 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:04.539 Three, a very, not first, all of verse 23. It's very, very pithy and powerful. For all have sinned and fall 00:17:04.539 --> 00:17:11.920 short of the glory of God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Just before that in 00:17:11.920 --> 00:17:18.059 verse 22, it says, for there is no distinction. It doesn't matter if you're Jewish, not Jewish. It 00:17:18.059 --> 00:17:25.980 doesn't matter if you're black or white or Asian or, you know, indigenous or Inuit. It doesn't matter. 00:17:25.980 --> 00:17:32.599 But your sexual orientation, it doesn't matter about any of those things. There's no distinction. 00:17:32.860 --> 00:17:38.480 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And it describes two things, and they're both very 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:43.620 wonderful. And the first thing is this word sin, which our culture thinks of as being sort of a thing 00:17:43.620 --> 00:17:47.240 to joke about, you know, about being a sinner and all. But it's actually a very, very wonderful, 00:17:47.579 --> 00:17:54.339 wonderful, wonderful word because it brings in the personal aspect of us being separated and broken 00:17:54.339 --> 00:18:01.339 from God. It's that we don't live in an impersonal moral universe, but a personal moral universe, 00:18:01.339 --> 00:18:07.679 because it was created and sustained by a personal God. And so the laws of nature are impersonal. You 00:18:07.679 --> 00:18:12.079 get onto the top of this roof and you step over the side. The laws of nature are impersonal. 00:18:12.439 --> 00:18:18.079 You will fall probably to your death, but if you don't die, to your great ruination of your body. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:23.960 You're completely impersonal. And moral laws are often viewed, when you think of karma, when you 00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:29.480 think of all of these things, you think of impersonal moral processes. But this is reminding 00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:35.539 you that there's a personal aspect, that I have told, I have in a sense given God the finger. I tell 00:18:35.539 --> 00:18:41.319 him to keep to himself. I decide what I'm going to do. I decide what I'm not going to do. I decide what's 00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:47.759 right. I decide what's wrong. I have violated this primary relationship with my creator, and that's 00:18:47.759 --> 00:18:55.339 described as sin. Now, there could be some debate about this over coffee. You know, we increasingly, 00:18:55.579 --> 00:18:59.700 you know, there's more and more movies about AI killing machines and all of that type of stuff. 00:19:00.159 --> 00:19:07.220 AI will never become conscious. It'll just do whatever its programmers program it to do to look 00:19:07.220 --> 00:19:17.079 like consciousness. It's just a complicated machine that can do math equations quickly and do algorithms, 00:19:17.079 --> 00:19:25.860 but it's impersonal. And would you rather run afoul of a machine of breaking a rule or of a person? 00:19:27.500 --> 00:19:32.319 Now, some of you might say it depends on the person, and that's a fair comment. Some people are really 00:19:32.319 --> 00:19:40.619 evil. But by and large, if we had a choice between running afoul of breaking a moral rule and that the 00:19:40.619 --> 00:19:48.599 machine inflicts some type of consequences or a person, we would choose the person. Always choose 00:19:48.599 --> 00:19:56.819 the person. Because with the person, there's maybe hope of mercy. None with the machine. And so this word 00:19:56.819 --> 00:20:02.799 sin is a very important and very beautiful word. It's telling us that all of these other things that 00:20:02.799 --> 00:20:07.700 we do that are wrong, another way to understand them is a breaking of a relationship with a personal 00:20:07.700 --> 00:20:14.679 God. It's sin. And if it's with God, maybe there is hope. And the other word, the other part of that 00:20:14.679 --> 00:20:18.980 sentence is really important, not often talked about, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of 00:20:18.980 --> 00:20:26.319 God. And this is really, really, you know, if Paul was talking about how in the human condition, 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:31.359 you can't do enough right things to make yourself right with God. It just doesn't work. And, you know, 00:20:31.619 --> 00:20:36.559 you might have, if you have doubts, go and listen to my old sermons over the last few verses. But the 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:46.439 other thing is this. Human beings were made to inhabit and to drink in and feast our eyes on and drink and 00:20:46.439 --> 00:20:55.960 breathe glory. That's what we were meant for. We were meant to be filled with the glory of God, 00:20:55.960 --> 00:21:03.100 to reflect the glory of God, to have the glory of God inhabit our thoughts, to every day breathe in 00:21:03.100 --> 00:21:12.160 God's glory, drink in, feed on God's glory. And as we swim in his glory, live in his glory, partake of 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:18.819 his glory, are filled with his glory, we just want more. And it is the end of our longings, the end of 00:21:18.819 --> 00:21:26.679 our yearning, and it is unbelievably pleasurable and joyful. That's why the Bible said that there are 00:21:26.679 --> 00:21:32.639 pleasures at his right hand. And what the Bible is saying is that when we turn from God and ignored 00:21:32.639 --> 00:21:40.179 him, that all of a sudden that whole inhabiting and dwelling of and partaking of glory left us. 00:21:40.180 --> 00:21:47.140 And if you think that giving some money to charity will fill you with God's glory, how on earth does 00:21:47.140 --> 00:21:56.880 that even work? Like on one hand, this is both terrible news, but you know, all of our human 00:21:56.880 --> 00:22:03.060 longings to have the right identity, to be authentic, and all of those things, those are like a reflection 00:22:03.060 --> 00:22:08.100 of a reflection of a reflection of a reflection of a reflection of a reflection of this basic 00:22:08.099 --> 00:22:17.959 understanding that we know that we were meant to inhabit and dwell in and with and partake of the 00:22:17.959 --> 00:22:27.319 glory of God. That's why I think it's C.S. Lewis who said that if we were to see a person, if God was 00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:31.959 for a moment, for one who is in the new heaven and the new earth, if that person was to come in here, 00:22:31.960 --> 00:22:41.380 we would worship that person as a God. Because they're so filled with the glory of God. We would 00:22:41.380 --> 00:22:50.120 mistake that person for God. So it's not a natural process. It's not a natural process. The natural 00:22:50.120 --> 00:22:55.920 process means that we sin and we fall short of the glory of God. But there's hope. Look at what he 00:22:55.920 --> 00:23:04.900 says in that same sentence, verse 24, sorry, 22b to, sorry, verse 24 in the first part of 25, 00:23:05.779 --> 00:23:12.539 where he says this, and are justified, so what he's going to do now is this, sorry, I should have said 00:23:12.539 --> 00:23:20.240 this. I'm standing beside these stained glass window pictures. They're from the church that we used to 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:25.320 own. There was a very, if you came into the church that we used to own, that would be when you're sitting 00:23:25.319 --> 00:23:31.599 the pews, that would be what you would see at the very front of the church. And at the very, very heart 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:41.139 of the Christian faith is what we see in the middle there, Jesus dying on a cross. And to the people who 00:23:41.139 --> 00:23:46.059 put him on the cross, it's a sign of their power. It's a sign of the glory of the Roman Empire. 00:23:46.059 --> 00:23:55.259 It's a sign that they can do what they want. It's a sign of how they can shame people. And it's a sign 00:23:55.259 --> 00:24:02.099 for Jewish people of how whoever dies on the cross is cursed by God. But we're going to see that his 00:24:02.099 --> 00:24:08.480 death upon the cross is actually this profound good news that makes us right with him. And what happens 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:15.079 when Jesus dies on the cross is a mystery that we will spend all of eternity getting the different 00:24:15.079 --> 00:24:23.199 nuances and aspects of it correct. And in the Bible, the Bible uses at least a dozen different 00:24:23.199 --> 00:24:27.759 images that try to capture what actually is happening when Jesus dies on the cross. 00:24:29.059 --> 00:24:35.119 And so as he's going to go from this, the bad news of our natural processes to once again, what is this 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:41.079 God has done to make us right with himself? He's going to give three images, three images or three 00:24:41.079 --> 00:24:48.019 metaphors of what it is in this profound mystery of what Jesus is doing and accomplishing as he dies 00:24:48.019 --> 00:24:53.759 on a cross. And that's what happens in this sentence. And here they are. I'll read the whole sentence and 00:24:53.759 --> 00:25:01.059 then I'll go back. Verse 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And we're in 00:25:01.059 --> 00:25:10.259 contrast, we are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 00:25:10.839 --> 00:25:19.059 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. Three images. 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:25.960 And the first one is this. The first image is that we are justified. That's the main image I've been using 00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:31.519 throughout the talk this morning. That we are made right. And it's not just being made right with God, 00:25:31.700 --> 00:25:37.039 but it's made right with God with a type of declaration by God. It's not a sort of, this is 00:25:37.039 --> 00:25:41.799 somehow or another, we put our faith in Christ and then we're made right with God and God never gets 00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:47.460 around to noticing until we die. But it's that, it's sort of a little bit like, you know, the story in 00:25:47.460 --> 00:25:52.799 the Gospels about the woman who's been troubled by bleeding for all the years and she's become poor. 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:58.599 And she says, if I can just touch, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I'll be healed. 00:25:58.819 --> 00:26:03.720 And she does. And Jesus knows that his, something has gone out from him and he looks around. 00:26:03.980 --> 00:26:07.339 And then he says, you know, the woman, how great your faith is. And that's the same type of idea. 00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:13.599 When we put our faith and trust in Christ, whatever it is that Christ has done to make us right with God 00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:18.899 comes to us. And it's as if God immediately notices and looks at George and said, 00:26:18.900 --> 00:26:25.500 well done, you're now mine. You're made right with me. I declare it and I won't change my mind. 00:26:25.720 --> 00:26:29.540 And that's what's going on in this, this first image of being made right. And we're going to look 00:26:29.540 --> 00:26:34.060 at that a lot more in the rest of Romans because he's going to really try to show different aspects 00:26:34.060 --> 00:26:39.640 of that. So I'm just going to not say any more on it right now, but notice it comes to us. This being 00:26:39.640 --> 00:26:44.800 made right with God comes, what does it say? By his grace is a gift. Both words are really important. 00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:50.099 And here's what, here's what grace is. So mercy, when somebody shows you mercy, if somebody, 00:26:50.200 --> 00:26:55.019 if my wife shows me mercy, what she has to do probably every week, at least, if she was here, 00:26:55.099 --> 00:26:59.000 she'd say, maybe it's every day, George, because I've done something and I need her to show me some 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:07.879 mercy. Mercy means I don't get the bad consequences I deserve. Grace means both mercy. I don't get the 00:27:07.879 --> 00:27:13.119 bad consequences I deserve, but grace means I get a good result I don't reserve, deserve. 00:27:13.119 --> 00:27:20.399 Grace is greater than mercy, includes it, and it's greater. And so God is going to give us not only 00:27:20.399 --> 00:27:24.039 what we don't deserve, isn't what we deserve, it's not going to happen to us, he's going to give us 00:27:24.039 --> 00:27:31.959 something we don't deserve. That's grace. And it's all a gift. It's all a gift. We can do nothing, 00:27:32.019 --> 00:27:37.319 it's just pure gift. And that's going to be developed farther on. And then the second image is through the 00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:43.379 redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So remember when I said that faith is putting our trust, 00:27:43.859 --> 00:27:50.559 and when we put our trust into God, we actually enter into Jesus. We're union with Jesus. 00:27:51.319 --> 00:27:55.240 And one of the things that happens in the union in Jesus, what's happening here, another way to 00:27:55.240 --> 00:27:59.619 understand this, and we're going to talk about this more in weeks to come because it happens later on in 00:27:59.619 --> 00:28:06.179 Romans. The redemption is an imagery that somebody pays the price for another person to be delivered 00:28:06.179 --> 00:28:14.859 from slavery into freedom. Someone pays a price for another person so that they will no longer be a 00:28:14.859 --> 00:28:22.279 slave but become free. And so for those of us who labor under slavery and bondage, this is a very 00:28:22.279 --> 00:28:30.399 powerful image that in Jesus you've been delivered from bondage and slavery, from addictions and fears 00:28:30.399 --> 00:28:37.460 into freedom in him. That's what's being accomplished on the cross. And now we come to the third one, 00:28:37.859 --> 00:28:44.980 and this is the one that talks about for those of us who labor under condemnation, angry accusations 00:28:44.980 --> 00:28:52.259 of punishment, and how bad we are, and how we deserve something far worse, and we live with this 00:28:52.279 --> 00:28:58.399 all the time, every day, and maybe we're in a season of that. So it's very long. Maybe it's as long back as we can 00:28:58.399 --> 00:29:04.379 remember. Maybe it's happening to us even today, and that's this third image speaks directly to it. 00:29:05.200 --> 00:29:14.539 Verse 25, whom God put forward, that's Jesus, he put Jesus forward as a propitiation by his blood, 00:29:15.119 --> 00:29:21.579 in other words, his death is important, to be received by faith. And propitiation 00:29:21.579 --> 00:29:32.799 is that God has a proper anger and intent in his proper anger to bring a penalty, a judgment and a penalty 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:44.359 on the real sin or the real evil that you and I have done. And so that God has a proper anger, 00:29:44.359 --> 00:29:51.799 anger, and with that anger, there is a decision that a penalty will have to be inflicted upon you for the 00:29:51.799 --> 00:30:01.259 real wrong that you have done. And propitiation is this idea that all of that judgment and penalty 00:30:01.259 --> 00:30:11.459 and anger is done till there's nothing left. And God's anger, so to speak, is satisfied. It's proper 00:30:11.460 --> 00:30:23.519 justice has been done. Now, a lot of Christians go, whoa, this is profoundly unworthy of God. 00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:34.440 I mean, maybe especially in a day like today, because one of the things that marks North American life today 00:30:34.440 --> 00:30:45.339 is the algorithms which increase outrage. 00:30:45.339 --> 00:30:50.179 We live in an age of outrage. 00:30:54.319 --> 00:30:56.959 We see people just losing it all the time. 00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:04.619 And so when we hear this, we think, whoa, okay, George, this is really dangerous stuff and unworthy of God, 00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:09.599 because we immediately start to picture God being overwhelmed by anger, and then how could he be God, 00:31:09.599 --> 00:31:12.179 God, and driven by anger, and then how could he be God. 00:31:14.500 --> 00:31:20.319 But as I said before, if you think about it, would you rather be judged by a machine or by a personal being? 00:31:20.519 --> 00:31:23.579 And we'd all pick a personal being, unless that being was very evil. 00:31:25.079 --> 00:31:32.259 So, what I want to say, I'm going to give you an image to understand why this is actually a very, 00:31:32.419 --> 00:31:33.539 very important doctrine. 00:31:33.539 --> 00:31:38.599 And the longer I've been a Christian, the more beautiful and necessary I've seen it be. 00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:45.259 And God is never overwhelmed by anger, and he's never driven by anger. 00:31:46.500 --> 00:31:48.420 And he never loses it. 00:31:48.539 --> 00:31:51.399 He's never overwhelmed by any emotion or driven by it. 00:31:52.440 --> 00:31:56.279 But God, it's, by bringing in this idea of human emotion, 00:31:56.440 --> 00:32:00.019 it's helping to emphasize that there's a personal judgment which is being made. 00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:02.559 And God sees the wrong that's been done. 00:32:02.559 --> 00:32:05.099 He knows there's a need for a just punishment. 00:32:05.799 --> 00:32:09.200 And his anger describes not just his decision to do it, 00:32:09.279 --> 00:32:11.819 but in a sense that emotional reaction to evil. 00:32:12.519 --> 00:32:14.059 And you know that he's going to do it. 00:32:14.379 --> 00:32:16.919 And here's how we can maybe begin to enter into it. 00:32:18.119 --> 00:32:20.619 This is a version of an image I've used before. 00:32:21.799 --> 00:32:26.119 Imagine all of a sudden, God shows up in a very different, very obvious way. 00:32:26.480 --> 00:32:27.659 And I become frozen. 00:32:28.119 --> 00:32:30.579 And we have one of those moments, it's like an eternal moment, 00:32:30.579 --> 00:32:34.879 where we all become, in a sense, a bit frozen in time, suspended in time. 00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:38.940 And all of a sudden, as I'm frozen, up on that screen, 00:32:39.340 --> 00:32:44.140 begins to be listed and imaged all of the wrong things I have ever done in my life. 00:32:44.440 --> 00:32:46.640 That includes the things that I've actually done, 00:32:46.940 --> 00:32:49.580 and also the things that I should have done that I didn't do. 00:32:50.120 --> 00:32:50.880 All of them. 00:32:50.880 --> 00:32:55.100 And as it begins, it begins with just us here in the room. 00:32:55.460 --> 00:32:57.720 But as it goes, it begins to build. 00:32:58.620 --> 00:33:02.160 It goes back to the people I wronged when I was a child, and as a teenager, 00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:04.540 and in my 20s, and my 30s. 00:33:04.880 --> 00:33:09.400 It includes maybe some comment, a throwaway comment I meant about people, 00:33:09.580 --> 00:33:12.320 a comment that I made about people that I disagree with politically. 00:33:12.440 --> 00:33:13.920 And all of a sudden, they're in the room. 00:33:14.460 --> 00:33:16.720 Maybe it's something about how I judge drivers. 00:33:16.720 --> 00:33:20.279 And every driver that I've been judged, that I've judged, they appear in the room. 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:23.900 And everything that I've thought, and everything that I've said, 00:33:23.960 --> 00:33:26.460 and everything that I've done, begins to be shown on that screen. 00:33:26.539 --> 00:33:28.380 And we're held in suspended animation. 00:33:28.880 --> 00:33:31.259 And we see, on and on and on again, 00:33:31.360 --> 00:33:34.700 every single thing that George has ever done and failed to do. 00:33:35.140 --> 00:33:36.819 And I'm completely stuck here. 00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:40.700 And we have this sense that the room grows and grows and grows and builds. 00:33:40.880 --> 00:33:44.759 And before you know it, because I've made disparaging thoughts in my mind, 00:33:44.759 --> 00:33:48.680 and hateful thoughts in my mind about all sorts of groups of people. 00:33:48.819 --> 00:33:50.019 And there's not just thousands. 00:33:50.259 --> 00:33:52.119 There's maybe hundreds of thousands of people. 00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:55.359 And you start to see all of the things that I've done and said. 00:33:55.460 --> 00:33:59.119 And you also know that here I am, a pastor, standing on my hind legs, 00:33:59.480 --> 00:34:00.900 respected by this congregation. 00:34:01.619 --> 00:34:03.559 And at first, you just say, well, that's not a big deal. 00:34:03.599 --> 00:34:04.640 And then you go, well, that's a big deal. 00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:05.480 Like, that's a big deal. 00:34:05.519 --> 00:34:06.220 Like, how dare he? 00:34:06.279 --> 00:34:07.000 That's really wrong. 00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:08.960 He thought that about me? 00:34:10.800 --> 00:34:13.260 He thought that about me again, again, again? 00:34:13.260 --> 00:34:16.780 And the anger of the room will build and build and build. 00:34:16.900 --> 00:34:20.960 And you will increasingly want to be saying something should be done to George. 00:34:21.440 --> 00:34:24.580 And George needs to pay for those wrong things that he has done. 00:34:24.840 --> 00:34:32.280 And the room will become more and more filled with a type of just, proper anger at what George has done. 00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:38.340 And George is standing here completely and utterly humiliated and defeated. 00:34:38.340 --> 00:34:44.200 And know that as all of these things go up, that even if I was to list some of the good things I do, 00:34:44.360 --> 00:34:50.420 then God will have merely shown the good things I did and the reasons I did them and how I thought about it afterwards. 00:34:51.019 --> 00:34:53.860 And I just become more and more unmade. 00:34:53.980 --> 00:34:58.740 And the anger in the room and the desire for justice becomes bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. 00:34:58.739 --> 00:35:04.359 And I just stand there hoping that it will finally come to an end and I will be put out of my misery. 00:35:04.799 --> 00:35:07.239 And finally, I think it's coming to an end and it still goes on. 00:35:07.279 --> 00:35:09.639 And it goes on and on and the room is filled with the anger. 00:35:10.099 --> 00:35:14.639 And then I finally realize that there's silence for a moment and the blow is about to fall. 00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:21.859 And I stand here completely and utterly stuck for the blow to fall. 00:35:23.159 --> 00:35:24.440 And I wake up. 00:35:25.379 --> 00:35:26.839 And I open my eyes. 00:35:27.980 --> 00:35:29.739 And I'm in a beautiful garden. 00:35:31.079 --> 00:35:33.859 The beauty of the garden takes my breath away. 00:35:35.159 --> 00:35:40.279 And I realize that the sun is just the perfect temperature. 00:35:41.359 --> 00:35:43.000 And the light is beautiful. 00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:50.860 And I realize that somehow or another the light actually seems to not just be beautiful but actually coming into me. 00:35:51.519 --> 00:35:53.340 And I feel a gentle breeze. 00:35:53.519 --> 00:35:57.900 And I start to realize that that gentle breeze is not just something that's so deeply pleasurable. 00:35:58.079 --> 00:36:00.300 But it's also somehow going in me. 00:36:01.260 --> 00:36:07.300 And I start to have a sense that that breath and that breeze is not just a breeze. 00:36:07.300 --> 00:36:12.620 But it's the Holy Spirit on my body and in my body. 00:36:12.760 --> 00:36:20.560 And that the light is actually the gaze of God, the Father, resting on me and going in me. 00:36:20.760 --> 00:36:27.320 And then I realize as I take my eyes away from the spectacular, gobsmacking beauty of the garden, 00:36:27.500 --> 00:36:29.440 that I don't wear any clothes. 00:36:29.440 --> 00:36:34.220 And that for the first time, people can see me as I really am down to the very depths. 00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:40.800 And for the first time in my life, I feel no shame and no guilt. 00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:44.539 And no condemnation. 00:36:47.640 --> 00:36:51.820 And I realize that I'm not just in a garden, but there's this sense of love. 00:36:52.900 --> 00:36:58.300 And I realize that for the first time in my life, I'm experiencing of the love of the Father for the Son 00:36:58.300 --> 00:37:02.140 and the Son for the Holy Spirit and on and on this dance of love. 00:37:02.139 --> 00:37:08.799 And I finally turn to the side and I see the tree of life. 00:37:10.279 --> 00:37:12.379 And I also see the cross of Christ. 00:37:14.900 --> 00:37:21.460 And then I see him walking towards me with a smile, with the wounds still visible. 00:37:23.440 --> 00:37:24.739 And I know I'm home. 00:37:24.739 --> 00:37:33.399 And that rumbling sound that I would hear off and on is actually the God, 00:37:33.399 --> 00:37:45.819 the voice of God coming as a type of music that fills me and both fulfills the longings of my soul 00:37:45.819 --> 00:37:50.219 for beauty and goodness and makes me want evermore and know that there will be evermore. 00:37:50.539 --> 00:37:52.799 And I know, I know, I know. 00:37:54.739 --> 00:37:58.419 That that blow of condemnation that should have come on me 00:37:58.419 --> 00:38:02.579 went on him. 00:38:04.279 --> 00:38:05.479 And now I am home. 00:38:07.819 --> 00:38:10.919 Who does not need that? 00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:20.359 When you hear that, if you're here outside of Christ, don't you now wish that that was true? 00:38:21.579 --> 00:38:24.179 I'm here to tell you, it is true. 00:38:24.739 --> 00:38:27.899 That's why Paul's writing this. 00:38:28.419 --> 00:38:30.559 He saw the resurrected Jesus. 00:38:30.859 --> 00:38:31.719 It is true. 00:38:32.479 --> 00:38:33.659 And it's for you. 00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:36.099 And it is for me. 00:38:36.099 --> 00:38:44.599 Some of you might say, oh, and just here's, I'm going to talk a little bit about Jesus. 00:38:44.960 --> 00:38:46.900 We'll just finish the rest of the text, okay? 00:38:46.900 --> 00:38:49.380 Look at verse 25. 00:38:49.380 --> 00:38:53.119 Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. 00:38:53.119 --> 00:39:01.599 This was to show God's righteousness, his justice, and his making right, because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. 00:39:01.599 --> 00:39:05.119 What it means here doesn't mean that he forgot them or ignored them. 00:39:05.119 --> 00:39:07.759 He just, it's, he had patience with them. 00:39:08.759 --> 00:39:16.779 Verse 26, it was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and justifier of the ones who, of the one who has faith in Jesus. 00:39:16.780 --> 00:39:18.140 So what all of that means is this. 00:39:19.440 --> 00:39:25.600 This happened in the year 33 in early April, just outside of Jerusalem. 00:39:27.180 --> 00:39:28.540 That's when that happened. 00:39:28.940 --> 00:39:31.480 It happened in time and space and history. 00:39:31.480 --> 00:39:47.099 But because he is not only the new Adam, but God, the son of God, it's also an eternal and transcendent act that went back in time and forward in time and is accessible, imminent to every person. 00:39:48.260 --> 00:39:55.280 And so when we go to this new heaven and the new earth and we meet, we meet Deborah the prophetess. 00:39:56.420 --> 00:39:58.380 She's been made right by that act. 00:39:58.380 --> 00:40:02.079 When we meet King David, he's been made right by that act. 00:40:03.619 --> 00:40:06.660 When we meet Adam and Eve, they've been made right by that act. 00:40:08.260 --> 00:40:14.099 And if Christ tarries and God is kind to us and in heaven we meet our great grandchildren, 00:40:15.539 --> 00:40:24.400 they've been made right by that once for all act on a cross outside of Jerusalem in the year 33 in April. 00:40:28.380 --> 00:40:30.640 What shall we do? 00:40:31.039 --> 00:40:34.200 If you could put up the one, the first point, that would be very helpful. 00:40:34.880 --> 00:40:39.019 You need to receive the gospel and then preach the gospel to yourself and others. 00:40:39.019 --> 00:40:48.800 I mean, there's no better time than right now to say to God, the A, B, C, D, acknowledge that you need what Christ has won for you on the cross. 00:40:50.440 --> 00:40:53.119 Believe that he is able to give that to you. 00:40:53.840 --> 00:40:59.820 Consider that if you ask him to come into your life to be your savior and Lord, he really will and he's going to start changing your life. 00:40:59.820 --> 00:41:04.340 It might mean you lose some friends and you're going to gain some new ones. 00:41:04.840 --> 00:41:07.720 But consider that and then decide to do it and say right now, 00:41:08.519 --> 00:41:12.340 Jesus, I've never heard such beautiful news. 00:41:13.320 --> 00:41:14.260 I need that. 00:41:14.340 --> 00:41:14.980 I want that. 00:41:15.440 --> 00:41:16.300 I trust you. 00:41:16.400 --> 00:41:17.780 Be my savior and my Lord. 00:41:19.360 --> 00:41:20.840 And thank you that you've taken me. 00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:27.120 You need to receive the gospel and then preach the gospel to yourself and others. 00:41:27.380 --> 00:41:29.360 And what does it mean to preach the gospel to yourself? 00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:32.000 If you could put up, there's three things, A, B, and C. 00:41:32.180 --> 00:41:32.380 A. 00:41:33.400 --> 00:41:35.300 See, it's not just about thinking about this. 00:41:35.780 --> 00:41:40.760 Preaching your gospel to yourself involves like three sort of steps. 00:41:40.760 --> 00:41:47.440 The first one is that in your prayer time or maybe a quiet time or maybe go for a drive, you say to God, 00:41:48.280 --> 00:41:54.120 God, I've just heard this story about Jesus is my propitiation and I come before you, Father. 00:41:54.260 --> 00:41:57.020 I live under anger all the time. 00:41:57.720 --> 00:42:02.900 And I have to confess some of the reason people are angry at me, I have done wrong. 00:42:03.000 --> 00:42:03.620 I deserve it. 00:42:03.680 --> 00:42:05.380 And there's other things I don't even know what I've done. 00:42:05.380 --> 00:42:11.340 But, Father, I come to you because I know I've done some things wrong that creates this anger. 00:42:11.539 --> 00:42:12.860 And there's other things I don't even know. 00:42:13.140 --> 00:42:17.099 But I want to come before you acknowledging that I have, in fact, done these wrongs. 00:42:17.660 --> 00:42:21.820 And then the second thing is if you put up B, so A is confess your sin and your fear. 00:42:21.940 --> 00:42:26.900 B is thank Jesus for what he accomplished on the cross for you in terms of your sin and fear. 00:42:27.860 --> 00:42:34.280 So to say to him, so, Father, Jesus, Father, I know that I labor under this still. 00:42:34.280 --> 00:42:38.060 And I know I've done some things to make people deserve this. 00:42:38.120 --> 00:42:39.680 And I just can't get it out of my head. 00:42:39.840 --> 00:42:40.880 And I come to you. 00:42:40.960 --> 00:42:47.940 Thank you so much that all the anger and all the punishment that I rightly deserve fell on Jesus. 00:42:48.160 --> 00:42:51.120 And that in Jesus, you have no wrath at me. 00:42:51.200 --> 00:42:53.000 You have no condemnation of me. 00:42:53.260 --> 00:42:54.820 That's not something that you do. 00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:55.880 Father, help that. 00:42:56.140 --> 00:42:57.100 And this is number C. 00:42:58.220 --> 00:43:00.220 Ask for his help to live as his child. 00:43:00.219 --> 00:43:07.379 So, Father, now that I remember and claim again that in you, in Jesus, all of this is put away. 00:43:07.480 --> 00:43:09.639 There's no anger from you and judgment of you. 00:43:09.699 --> 00:43:11.239 It's all been dealt with by Jesus. 00:43:11.500 --> 00:43:14.419 There is no condemnation for me now in Christ Jesus. 00:43:14.579 --> 00:43:18.179 And, Father, I ask that you help me to live out of this as your child. 00:43:18.179 --> 00:43:28.119 And, Father, if there's things I need to do to apologize or to ask forgiveness or to make amendment for life, Father, help me to do that. 00:43:28.359 --> 00:43:33.259 And you apply the specific doctrine to the state of your soul. 00:43:34.460 --> 00:43:37.679 Or you tell another in counseling that same thing. 00:43:37.679 --> 00:43:41.519 I invite you to stand. 00:43:47.919 --> 00:43:49.199 Bow your heads in prayer. 00:43:56.579 --> 00:44:02.419 Father, we thank you that when we put our faith and trust into Jesus, that we enter into union in him. 00:44:03.059 --> 00:44:07.259 He takes us into himself and he enters into us. 00:44:07.679 --> 00:44:10.159 He remains him and I remain I. 00:44:10.279 --> 00:44:12.460 But I am now in union with him. 00:44:13.199 --> 00:44:14.980 He is my Savior and my Lord. 00:44:15.159 --> 00:44:22.460 And I give you thanks and praise that he, Father, in his death upon the cross, that he is my propitiation. 00:44:23.779 --> 00:44:32.179 And that in him, there is no condemnation of me from you, the one that matters. 00:44:33.179 --> 00:44:34.639 It's not there anymore. 00:44:35.039 --> 00:44:35.639 It's gone. 00:44:35.639 --> 00:44:36.239 It's gone. 00:44:37.739 --> 00:44:38.179 Forever. 00:44:38.179 --> 00:44:57.399 And, Father, I ask that you help me to believe this in my life, to live out of it, to have the emotional security and the intellectual fortitude that I might confess those things which have brought on some of the anger that I face in my life or the shame or the guilt that I face in my life. 00:44:57.400 --> 00:45:08.680 And if, Father, it would be good for me to do restitution, that may I have that emotional and intellectual security in you to make amendment of life. 00:45:08.679 --> 00:45:12.859 But, Father, may this wonderful truth of the gospel form me. 00:45:12.859 --> 00:45:20.659 May it day by day become the way I think, the way I act. 00:45:21.440 --> 00:45:26.940 Not to be insufferable, but to have an ever more tender conscience when I do wrong. 00:45:28.799 --> 00:45:30.799 And a passion for justice. 00:45:30.800 --> 00:45:35.680 May I ask these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. 00:45:36.640 --> 00:45:37.019 Amen. 00:45:37.019 --> 00:45:37.140 Amen. 00:45:37.140 --> 00:45:37.140 00:45:37.140 --> 00:45:37.140 00:45:37.140 --> 00:45:37.140 00:45:37.140 --> 00:45:37.140 00:45:37.139 --> 00:45:37.579 Amen. 00:45:37.579 --> 00:45:37.719 Amen. 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.719 00:45:37.719 --> 00:45:37.819 Amen.