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A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans.
I'm under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
So I'm eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel.
For it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed for faith.
As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Father, your Son said that blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
And I just pray that you would give us that hunger.
You would give us that thirst.
Not for a righteousness of our own, but for a better one.
A righteousness that comes from you.
And would we know the wonderful truth of the gospel that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are satisfied and filled in Christ.
Would we experience that deeply and truly in the preaching of your word today, I pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
All right.
So we're continuing our series in the gospel.
Not the gospel.
We're done with the gospel.
Sorry.
In the epistle of the Romans.
All right.
This is Apostle Paul's letter to that first century church in Rome.
And if you're new here, don't worry.
We've only been two sermons into this series.
And today we're arriving at really the thesis of this letter.
The thesis of this letter, which you can find in verses 16 and 17.
But we're just going to jump right in, okay?
No fun intro today.
We're just going to jump right in, starting with verses 14 and 15.
And what I want to do is I want to take a second to give us some of the background context for this letter to the Roman church.
You see, I think a temptation for many of us is to approach the book of Romans like a systematic theology textbook.
And the tendency of many interpreters of Romans can be to, like, dehistoricize this letter.
To kind of ignore the specific context Paul is writing to in the first century.
And while, yes, Paul is super theological in this letter, I think it's important to humanize this situation, this letter,
and not see it as some kind of impersonal theological statement of faith.
We have to listen for not just Paul the theologian, but Paul the pastor.
Because, see, what Paul is doing here is not primarily writing up a doctrinal statement,
defining, like, what the gospel is with systematic clarity.
But as with all his letters, he is at least equally interested in applying the gospel.
So I want to take that lens to the book of Romans as we're going through it.
This is Paul applying the good news about Jesus to a particular people in a particular place in this thriving church at the heart of the Roman Empire,
at this church that he has not yet visited.
All right, so let's turn now to verse 14.
Look what Paul writes.
Paul writes,
I am under obligation both to the Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
And what we have to understand here is that the concern in this letter is not just the question of,
how can I be right with God?
But also, how can we be right with one another?
So you see, the gospel, the Christian faith, though it, of course, is about the vertical relationship we have with our Creator,
we must never forget that it is also about our horizontal relationship with the rest of creation and with one another.
And it's super important that we always hold both the vertical and the horizontal.
Because see, throughout church history, the church has gone wrong when we've emphasized one and neglected the other.
When the church has upheld the vertical dimension of the gospel while neglecting the horizontal dimension of the gospel,
we have tended to turn a blind eye toward injustice, toward prejudice, toward bias against our neighbors,
and we've easily gotten into the trap of othering different kinds of people that are easy to other.
But when the church has emphasized the horizontal dimension of the gospel and neglected the vertical aspect of the gospel,
well, this has resulted in us forgetting the divine and transcendent foundation on which we believe in human equality
and the love for our neighbors that we owe, right?
So again, we have to hold both, and that's what Paul is doing here in verses 14 through 17.
He's holding both, the vertical and the horizontal.
Now, in verse 14, he's basically saying this.
He's saying that the gospel, the good news about Jesus, obligates him to be an equal opportunity preacher, all right?
This gospel is for everyone.
That's what he's saying.
To barbarians, to the foolish, to the wise, to the Greeks, all right?
And this might sound super basic and just super commonsensical to us, right?
It sounds pretty standard to our modern Western ears, but the very reason that this sounds so commonsensical to us
is actually because of the way that Christianity has shaped modern Western thought.
Really, if you're of the mind that Christianity is about imperialism and uniformity,
and it's maybe this, like, white man's religion,
I mean, sure, people have done terrible things in the name of Christianity,
but historic, orthodox, spirit-led Christianity, according to the Scriptures, is anything but that.
See, the early church is actually the very first institution in history to truly unite a diversity of people,
a diversity of cultures, without the use of force, without the use of the sword,
or without dangling, you know, self-interest, like dangling money or consumeristic preferences in front of people.
This is the only institution that's ever been able to do that, without dangling a carrot or without using force.
And you have to understand, in the ancient world, even equality and the dignity of every human being,
that was a radical idea.
That was an incredibly radical idea in the ancient world.
In the ancient world, yes, they had all kinds of gospels, all kinds of good news,
but no one had good news that was good news for literally everyone, right?
No one had good news that was good news for everyone.
In that day, how they understood this word gospel, good news,
was usually in the context of these people called heralds, right?
They would go from city to city, heralding the good news.
Rome has won.
They would say, hear ye, hear ye, let us celebrate, dun-dun-dun-dun,
that Rome is victorious, right?
Rome is victorious.
They would say that in Athens, in Corinth, all over the empire.
We have conquered yet another barbarian people, and this is the gospel.
We've subjected others to our utopian empire.
But don't you see what that is?
It's good news, yes, for the conqueror, but is it good news for the conquered?
No.
But what Paul is saying is that he has a better kind of good news.
He has an announcement that can be good news for both the sophisticated and wise Greeks
and the supposedly foolish barbarians.
The gospel of God, Paul is saying, is good news for truly everyone.
The gospel of the Creator is good news for all God's creatures,
and this was absolutely radical in the ancient world.
And the reason Paul was writing this to the church in Rome
was because of a specific historical context that was going on in this church.
You see, the church in Rome was made up mostly of the Jewish people who were there in Rome
and also the Greco-Romans, all right?
Two very different cultures.
And what you should also know is that not long before Paul wrote this letter,
under the reign of Emperor Claudius, for at least five years,
the whole Jewish community was expelled from Rome.
They had to leave, all right?
They had to leave.
And what that meant was that for a significant amount of time,
at least for five years, this multi-ethnic church of Jewish people
and Greco-Roman people being together in the same church,
it had become a monocultural church.
Just Greco-Romans for at least five years, all right?
Now, in the time that Paul is writing to them, this has changed.
Claudius has died, and the Jewish community has started to move back home, back into Rome.
You have people like Paul's ministry partners, Priscilla and Aquila,
moving back into Rome.
But becoming a multicultural church, once again,
would not be a super easy thing to navigate, right?
You can imagine, right?
Like even here at Christ Church, you know,
some of us come from the African-American church tradition.
I come from the Asian-American church tradition.
Others here grew up in more of a predominantly white church tradition.
We all have a sense of nostalgia, right?
We all have certain preferences, certain things that we just love,
that really formed us, but that maybe we don't practice here at Christ Church.
Musical style, preaching style, what night of the week to have youth group on, right?
Or like what our kids address others as in this church, right?
Very different things.
And that's what they were up against in the Church of Rome.
Paul is addressing this church in Rome,
and he's not just wanting to define the gospel for them
so that they can have their theological ducks in a row.
He's wanting to apply the gospel to this church
so they can live as the beautiful community,
the beautiful community, the radically diverse community that God wants them to be.
And not only does he want the Jewish people and the Greco-Roman people in Rome
to get together and get along united in Christ,
but we also know in chapter 15 of this letter
that he's hoping that this multi-ethnic church
will also support him as he goes to even more barbarians west in Spain.
So that's the big historical context behind this letter to the Romans.
He's challenging them to believe the whole gospel
and the vast implications for how Christians of various cultures
ought to relate to people of other cultures,
even when to our culture they might seem barbaric and foolish.
And see, Paul's strategy for unity, it's not just saying,
hey, you've got to be more progressive.
You've got to be more open-minded.
Stop being racist.
Be more tolerant.
No, his strategy is to point this church
to the gospel of God concerning the crucified and risen Christ.
Like, remember, there's this place in Galatians chapter 2
where Paul tells this story about his interaction with another apostle, Peter.
This guy who actually walked with Jesus Peter,
Paul says when he met up with Peter,
they were there at the very first multi-ethnic church in Antioch.
They're meeting up and he's like,
hey, what's up, Peter?
Hey, what's up, Paul?
But he noticed something different about Peter.
Peter initially was cool just hanging with his Gentile friends in the church,
eating meals with them.
And then all of a sudden,
there was this Jewish party that came to visit their church
and this particular group of Jewish people
believed that you have to become culturally Jewish
to have a right relationship with God.
And then all of a sudden,
Peter stopped eating with his Gentile friends in the church.
And so Paul says,
and I opposed Peter to his face on this.
Now, what did Paul say to Peter, though?
Did he say,
yo, Peter, you're not being woke enough?
No.
He didn't say,
you're breaking the no racism rule?
No, he didn't say,
you're being a Jewish supremacist right now?
No, he says to Peter,
just as he's saying to the church in Rome,
you're walking out of accord with the gospel.
He says,
you need to live in line with the gospel.
Because at the ground,
at the foot level of the cross,
it's all level.
Seated in the high places at the right hand of God,
it's all level.
The gospel is where we get our notion of human equality
and diversity and unity.
And so the application for us is
to have such an understanding of the gospel,
such an understanding of this amazing thing
that Jesus has done to save the world
and to make disciples of all the nations
that we cannot help but feel the same obligation
as the word Paul uses in verse 14.
For every kind of person,
every kind of people,
that we cannot help but have the same eagerness,
it says in verse 15,
to announce this good news
that is good news for everyone.
For those of us who are here today
who claim to follow Jesus,
who claim to believe the good news of God,
this is not a recommendation.
This is an obligation.
And if we don't also see this duty as a delight,
if we don't also have an eagerness
to share this good news,
the question for us is,
do we even believe it?
Do we even believe that this is the gospel,
that this is good news,
or are we ashamed of the gospel?
Verse 16, that's why he says in verse 16,
for I am not ashamed of the gospel, Paul says.
For it is the power of God for salvation
to everyone who believes,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
To this now probably very Greco-Roman-led church in Rome,
Paul reminds them that this gospel,
this salvation is to everyone.
Everyone who believes,
everyone who has faith and trust in the promises of God,
he's reminding them that because God has opened up access
to the Greeks to enter into the covenant family of Abraham,
Greco-Romans have every reason
to accept their Jewish brothers and sisters
back into the church in Rome,
and also to support his missionary work
to those barbarians over in Spain.
And in fact, to not welcome them,
to not pursue the barbarians of Spain,
would be to be ashamed of the gospel,
to be ashamed of the very power of God for salvation.
Now how so, you may be wondering.
We see, if we insist on privileging one culture,
one people group over another,
what we are basically saying is that the good news
of this beautiful humanity
that Jesus is bringing into existence,
this beautiful unity and equality
with others in the eyes of God,
we're saying that that is shameful.
Or maybe it'd help if we asked this,
like why did Paul put it this way,
that I am not ashamed of the gospel?
Why did he put it that way?
Why didn't he just say, I'm proud of the gospel?
Well, I think he said it this way
because the gospel really is a scandalous thing.
It really is a shameful thing
to many of our sensibilities.
You know, this reminds me of the parable
of the prodigal son that Jesus told,
where the younger son basically says to his father,
I wish you were dead, just give me your money, dad,
give me my inheritance,
and he goes and he spends it extravagantly
on like worthless things, right?
Only to return home penniless
and having squandered all the wealth.
And yet, what does his father do?
He throws a party for him.
He slaughters the prized, fattened calf.
He puts a ring and a robe on his son
who had just come out of a pig pen.
And the older brother is so ashamed, right?
He is so ashamed.
He's so scandalized.
He refuses to go and celebrate with his father.
He refuses to go and celebrate the return of his brother.
He hates his father's prodigal treatment
of his prodigal son.
The love of the father is too scandalous for him,
too foolish, too dishonorable,
so, so shameful, right?
And I remember sharing this story with our youth,
with our high schoolers in January,
and they agreed.
They agreed, like maybe you can let him back
into your house,
but don't throw a party for this guy.
Don't give him a ring.
Don't give him a robe.
Don't broadcast it everywhere.
Don't be a fool.
What kind of example is that going to set?
And how is this younger son
ever going to learn a lesson?
And like the older brother,
they couldn't help but be incredulous
about the father's treatment of the son.
And they weren't sure that that was the kind of parent
that they wanted to be.
And they weren't sure that that's the kind of parent
that they wanted to even have.
Or that they could even respect.
Because in their eyes,
what the younger son had done,
disrespecting his father,
wishing he were dead,
running away,
spending it all on worthless things,
in their eyes,
he didn't deserve this measure of love
from the father.
Far too scandalous.
Far too shameful.
This notion that everyone can be loved
and accepted and even celebrated back
into the family of God
if they just turned to him in faith.
Or to use the language here in verse 16,
this notion that everyone can be saved.
I mean, it sounds good at first,
but when you think about the whole swath
of corrupted humanity throughout history,
doesn't it make you wonder at least a little bit?
Right?
This scandalous and shameful truth
that all you have to do is have faith
and believe and trust in God's promises
offered to us in Jesus
and you can be saved.
You can have the same status as Mother Teresa
or fill-in-the-blank holy person.
Like, really?
What about Larry Nassar,
the convicted child molester
who was involved in sports medicine
with young gymnasts?
Is the gospel the power of salvation for him too?
If he just repents and believes, that's all.
Really?
He can have a seat next to me
at my father's table.
Really?
I want to read the words of one of his victims,
Rachel Denhollander.
She is a Christian
who testified against Nassar for his crimes
and asked the judge to give him a just sentence,
but also who prays for Nassar
to know the sweetness of the gospel
and the forgiveness of God.
At a hearing, she said to him,
in our early hearings,
you brought your Bible into the court.
She's speaking to Nassar.
And you have spoken of praying for forgiveness.
So it is on that basis that I appeal to you.
The Bible you carry speaks of a final judgment
where all of God's wrath
in all its eternal terror
is poured out on men like you.
Should you ever reach the point
of truly facing what you have done,
the weight of guilt in the face of the horrific evil
you committed will be crushing.
And that is what makes the gospel of Christ so sweet.
Because it gives hope and grace
where none should be found.
And I pray, she says to him,
you experience the soul-crushing weight of guilt someday
so that it can be followed by true repentance
and forgiveness from God.
What other kind of faith
can lead people to say things like that?
Righteousness and mercy together.
And that's the gospel.
The gospel is scandalous.
The gospel is shameful.
And yet the Apostle Paul,
who says elsewhere in the New Testament,
you know, as a murderer,
a former murderer,
the chief of all sinners,
Apostle Paul,
he is not ashamed of this shameful gospel.
Precisely because it is the power of God
for salvation for everyone who believes.
Paul recognizes that as shameful as it is,
the gospel is his only hope.
And it's your only hope,
and it's my only hope,
the only hope for the world.
Salvation from the wrath of God
reserved not just for Larry Nassar
and his sins of child molestation,
but for all of us
who've introduced way more pain
and way more poison into this world
than we even know.
Through our selfishness,
through our disregard for God
and our neighbors every single day,
honestly, the difference between Larry Nassar
and us is almost indistinguishable
compared to the difference in righteousness
between us and our holy God.
And that's why we need the gospel,
the power of God,
the only kind of power that can save us.
And notice how Paul says that the gospel
is the power of God,
not that it just leads to the power of God
or tells us about the power of God,
but that this news itself about Jesus
and what he's done,
it is itself the very power of God.
It doesn't say do more,
it says it's done.
It's not advice,
it's not a command to help us attain
to God's power and salvation,
nor is it just the means
to the power of God unto salvation.
It is the power of God unto salvation.
And how so you may ask,
verse 17,
for in it,
for in the gospel,
the righteousness of God
is revealed from faith to faith
as it is written,
the righteous shall live by faith.
And this right here,
this is the key to the whole letter,
the whole letter to Rome.
Righteousness is by faith,
from faith to faith,
from first to last,
from the beginning to the end.
It's always by faith
and by nothing else.
What makes the gospel,
the power of God unto salvation
for all who believe
is that it is a revelation
of this thing
called the righteousness of God
that is from faith.
Now please bear with me,
I need to take a second
to explain this.
And let me start by
making sure we notice
how Paul says,
for in the gospel,
the righteousness of God
is revealed.
He doesn't say
the love of God is revealed,
he doesn't say
the mercy of God is revealed,
he doesn't say
the grace of God is revealed.
He says the righteousness of God
is revealed from faith to faith.
What's he saying here?
Well, Paul will talk about this more
in chapter 3,
we're going to look at that
in a couple weeks,
but absolutely key
to understanding the gospel
is not merely understanding
the love, grace,
and mercy of God,
but maybe even more importantly,
the righteousness of God.
And let me draw your attention
to another passage
outside of Romans
from Philippians
to help us understand
what Paul means
by talking about
this revealed righteousness
of God from faith.
If you want to open up
your Bibles,
your pew Bibles,
to page 952.
In his letter,
Paul's letter to Philippian,
to the Philippian church
in chapter 3, verse 8,
Paul says that he considers
everything,
all his good works,
his whole spiritual,
social,
and academic resume
as lost,
as garbage,
as trash compared
to knowing and gaining Jesus.
That he desires
only to be united to Jesus.
Then in verse 9,
he says,
not having a righteousness,
what?
Of my own
that comes from the law,
or like from his own
record of obedience,
but that which is through
faith in Christ.
Listen,
the righteousness
that comes from God.
From who?
From God.
On what basis?
On the basis of faith.
So when Paul is talking
about the power of God
or the power of the gospel
unto salvation,
what that power is
is the way that God
has revealed
how he's going to
credit righteousness
to those who don't
deserve it.
To his beloved
people of faith.
Theologians call this
the imputation
of righteousness
or the great exchange.
Just as Paul says
in 2 Corinthians chapter 5,
he says,
God made him
who knew no sin
to be sin
on the cross
in our place
for us
so that in him
by faith
we might become
what?
The righteousness
of God.
So you see,
the power of God
unto salvation,
the gospel
is that the salvation
of sinners
and the righteousness
of God
are not at odds,
but that they are met
and satisfied
in the crucified
and risen Christ.
Revealing to us
a God
who is willing
to credit to us
his own
perfect righteousness.
The righteousness
of his perfectly
obedient son
at his expense.
Not ours.
We'll just unite
ourselves to him
by faith.
And I'm sorry
if that got a little
heady,
if that got a little
theological,
but this matters.
Why?
Because we're all
seeking some kind
of righteousness.
If not before God,
before someone else.
But we're all seeking
some kind of status
before God
or some kind of
highest court
of opinion.
Some kind of
honorable,
elevated,
exalted status.
A status we can
count on
and fall back on
and brag about
and trust that we are
fine and secure
and lovable
and lovely
and delightful
in the highest court
of opinion.
But the thing is,
if we're honest
with ourselves,
none of us
actually measures up.
None of us
actually arrives
at the righteous
standard we all
try to live by.
Or is it just me
that's insecure?
We're all trying
to attain that
righteous status
by all manner
of efforts
or by following
this or that
constructed tradition.
For me,
it's be a good
Christian,
be a good husband,
be a good dad,
be a good basketball
player, right?
Be a good preacher.
Those are my
righteousness.
And I fail at all
of them except
for basketball.
No, I failed
that one too.
And it's exhausting.
It's exhausting.
I've fallen way
short, right?
And the distance
between me
and my standard
only increases
every single day.
I'll never be enough
no matter how hard
I try,
at least not for long.
And this is a
universal human
experience.
This is why
Romans chapter 1
verse 17
changed the world
and launched
the Protestant
Reformation
and it did so
because this monk
in the 16th century
named Martin,
he felt all
these things too.
Like he could never
measure up before God.
Even as a monk
in one of the strictest
monastic orders
in all of Europe,
he devoted his whole life
to following God.
Even as that kind
of a monk,
peace and assurance
of God's love
and forgiveness
and pardon
would always elude him.
And he went all in.
Like all night
prayer vigils,
long periods
of fasting.
He was known
to spend six hours
at a time
in the confessional booth
just trying to get
everything off of his chest
and yet still wondered,
have I really confessed
every sin?
Have I been righteous
enough to escape
the judgment of God?
Luther wrote,
I went to confession
frequently
and I performed
the assigned penances
faithfully.
Nevertheless,
my conscience
could never achieve
certainty
but was always in doubt
and said,
you have not done
this correctly.
You were not contrite enough.
You omitted this
in your confession.
No matter what,
Luther did.
Even as he ascended
into the ranks
of the church,
he joined the theology
faculty at the
University of Wittenberg.
Every standard
of righteousness
he tried to abide by,
he never felt secure
before the judge
of the universe.
There was even this
carving out at Wittenberg.
It was carving
a thing of Jesus
and this Jesus,
I don't know why,
but had some swords
coming out of its mouth
trying to indicate
that Jesus is the judge
of the universe.
And Luther said,
I couldn't look at that thing.
He had to walk by it
every single day
to daily prayer
and every single day
he would walk by
and cover his eyes
because he could not gaze
upon the judge
of the universe.
He was never sure
if he was enough.
He was never sure
if he was worthy.
Actually,
he was quite certain
that he wasn't
and he was plagued
with guilt
and fear
and dread
and shame
over that reality.
And this wasn't
just Martin's experience.
Isn't it yours too?
It's mine.
Sensing our need
to be righteous
in the sight of God
or even
for those of us
who aren't sure
we even believe in God,
we all sense
this need to be righteous
in the highest
of high halls
of judgment, right?
And yet we also sense
how far short
we all fall
of that standard.
Do you feel that today?
Like you can't wipe out
the stains of your past,
the stains of your present,
that resentment
and that malice
that you feel
towards those people
at work,
those people
in your family,
the greed
and the selfishness
and the covetousness
that no one else
knows about
but that is surely
there in your heart
and that controls
your life
way more than you'd like.
That that porn
or substance habit
that you can't put
behind you
for more than a week
at a time
falling again
and again
to this or that
sinful habit
or maybe you've been able
to kick these habits
for years,
maybe for decades
but your past
still haunts you
and your record
of unrighteousness
just seems so
insurmountable
that you feel
nothing but shame
and guilt
in the presence
of God.
Well,
if that's you,
God has a word
for you today,
a gospel,
good news
for your weary soul
just as he did
for Luther
500 years ago
and it's this thesis
statement right here
in Romans 1,
verse 17,
this passage
that changed
Martin Luther's life
and altered the course
of world history
as we know it
that he would not live
by his own righteousness
but by someone else's
righteousness,
that the righteous
will live not by
their own efforts,
not by their own
striving or their own
merits but as it says
in verse 17,
quoting the Hebrew
prophet Habakkuk,
the righteous shall
live by faith.
This is the scandal.
This is the shamefulness
of the gospel of God
that no matter what
you've done,
that no matter who
you are,
we can be righteous
in the eyes of the
holy God of the
universe and we can
live eternally in his
presence just by faith,
just by faith.
And you see,
this is what the whole
letter of Romans is
about, all right?
This is the gospel,
the good news of God
about how one can be
seen as righteous
in the eyes of God,
the eyes that matter
the most,
how one can be vindicated
in his presence or to
use a theological word
that we want everyone
here to know,
how one can be justified
before God,
justified by faith
and seen by God
just as the prodigal
father saw his beloved
son, right?
Clothed in his robe,
just as the prodigal
son was seen by his
father wearing that
robe, so does God see
us clothed in the
righteousness of Christ
and that is what
justification by faith
is about.
And what God is
calling us to today
is to have this kind
of faith,
to believe what he
says about us,
just to believe what he
says about us,
to believe what he
believes about those
who trust in him,
that we really are
the righteousness of
God in Christ.
And I know that that
can be hard to believe
with all the voices
all around us telling
us who we are and
how much we suck,
and maybe those voices
are inside your own
head, coming from your
own heart,
but God has a better
word for us,
not a word of shame,
but a word of honor,
and not because of
our merits,
but because of Christ.
So will we listen to
his voice?
Will we celebrate his
love for us?
And for the countless
others around us who
once felt unlovable and
forever stuck in
unrighteousness and
shame, can we celebrate
that God has a word for
them too?
I want to close by
reading this extended
quote from a biblical
counselor, a really good
friend of mine, her name
is Esther, about
listening to the
justifying voice of God
and paying attention
to his verdict over
us.
She writes this,
with shame, we tend
to hear only one
voice, the self-condemning,
self-hating voice, all
day, every day, not
good enough, ugly,
outcast, dirty,
unworthy, disposable,
failure.
If the voice of shame
is a soloist in our
hearts, we must work
hard to listen to the
voice of truth, God's
voice.
We may not completely
eradicate the voice of
shame in this lifetime,
but even if the voice of
shame continues to
clamor at the highest
volume and the voice of
God sings only one
faint, barely perceptible
note, the solo has
officially become a duet
when belief has begun to
break into unbelief.
And over time, one note
of God's voice in your
heart becomes two notes.
Then 50, you can hear
hints of a beautiful
melody now, even if
still frequently interrupted
by the voice of shame.
And rest assured, there
will be a day when this
clashing duet will end.
The duet will become a
solo again.
But this time, you will
stand face to face with
your God, and he will be
the soloist of your heart
and your soul.
No more shame.
No more self-condemnation.
Only favor, acceptance,
honor, and love forevermore.
The righteousness of God
declared from his lips over
us.
The righteous will live by
faith.
Will you pray with me?
Father, we are hungry, so
hungry for righteousness, so
thirsty for righteousness.
And you know that.
And we thank you that you
call us blessed.
Would we look nowhere else
but to Christ, our Savior,
and to his righteousness, the
righteousness of God that
comes through faith in
Christ.
And would we wear his
righteousness by faith with
incredible humility because
it is not ours, but also
with incredible boldness
because it is ours forevermore
by your promise, by the word
you've spoken over us.
Make us that kind of people,
so satisfied in the
righteousness of Christ, and
transform us with that truth.
I pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen.