WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 Okay, we are working through the great letter of Romans. 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:08.800 This is the greatest letter that's ever been written. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:12.679 It was written by the apostle Paul to the church in Rome 00:00:12.679 --> 00:00:16.120 in the first century, just after 20 years or so, 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:18.839 after Jesus resurrected from the dead. 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:21.640 And so far, what we've seen a lot of 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:23.519 in the book of Romans is judgment, 00:00:23.519 --> 00:00:26.400 is God's wrath revealed, 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:30.039 is because of the violation of God's justice, 00:00:30.039 --> 00:00:33.560 God's judgment, his wrath revealed in creation, 00:00:33.560 --> 00:00:37.679 in the curse, in being given over to sin. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:41.920 And there's a summary statement about this in verse 24, 00:00:41.920 --> 00:00:44.200 the start of the new sentence in verse 24, 00:00:47.320 --> 00:00:50.480 sorry, verse 22, for there is no distinction. 00:00:51.599 --> 00:00:52.840 For there is no distinction. 00:00:52.840 --> 00:00:56.200 And that's a brief little way of Paul summarizing 00:00:56.200 --> 00:00:59.880 everything that he's been saying the whole book so far. 00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:00.960 For there is no distinction. 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:04.760 And that means whether you're a religious person, 00:01:04.760 --> 00:01:06.159 whether you've grown up in the church, 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:07.879 you've grown up reading the Bible, 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:10.400 or whether you're a non-religious person, 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:13.040 a secular person in the modern West, 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:16.359 no matter what background you've come from, 00:01:16.359 --> 00:01:20.000 that everybody is aware knows the objective, 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:22.359 moral order that God has made. 00:01:22.359 --> 00:01:25.519 And that everybody also knows, Paul has told us, 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:29.799 that we've rebelled against that objective moral order. 00:01:29.799 --> 00:01:32.560 And that our subjective consciousness, 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:35.200 our moral conscience has revealed that fact to us, 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:37.239 even if we've never read God's law, 00:01:37.239 --> 00:01:40.799 that we feel the reality subjectively, 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:43.200 that objectively we bear some kind of guilt 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:44.760 against some type of moral standard. 00:01:44.760 --> 00:01:45.760 And everybody feels that, 00:01:45.760 --> 00:01:47.560 and that's what Paul's been saying, 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:50.719 that whether you've grown up religious or not religious, 00:01:50.719 --> 00:01:55.519 your conscience bears witness to this objective guilt, 00:01:55.519 --> 00:01:58.719 this objective rebellion that every human 00:01:58.719 --> 00:02:01.120 that's ever been born feels. 00:02:03.039 --> 00:02:04.599 But verse 21. 00:02:07.239 --> 00:02:12.000 But now, but now, it's the transition point. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:17.000 This is the Romans 3, 21 to 26 especially, 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:21.240 21 to 31, it's the climax of the first section 00:02:21.240 --> 00:02:22.639 of the book of Romans. 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:26.120 It's the but now section. 00:02:26.120 --> 00:02:30.120 Judgment, but now a new age has dawned, 00:02:30.120 --> 00:02:32.800 a new age has come, 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:36.599 and this is the classic text for coming. 00:02:36.599 --> 00:02:41.240 And for people talking about what it means to be depraved 00:02:41.240 --> 00:02:47.080 on the one hand and what it means to be justified by faith 00:02:47.080 --> 00:02:47.920 on the other. 00:02:47.920 --> 00:02:52.439 Theologians come to this passage to talk about 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:54.640 one way of describing the gospel, 00:02:54.640 --> 00:02:56.480 the good news, the work of Jesus, 00:02:56.480 --> 00:02:59.920 and they refer to it as the gospel accomplished 00:02:59.920 --> 00:03:01.879 and the gospel applied. 00:03:01.879 --> 00:03:04.439 And it's all right here, the gospel accomplished. 00:03:04.439 --> 00:03:10.960 The Father put forward the Son as a propitiation. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:12.640 The gospel accomplished. 00:03:12.640 --> 00:03:15.159 The gospel applied, verse 24, 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:20.159 therefore all are justified by His grace as a gift. 00:03:23.200 --> 00:03:26.680 And so this is the place everybody comes to talk about 00:03:26.680 --> 00:03:31.680 the dizzying idea of justification by faith. 00:03:32.480 --> 00:03:36.360 But that's not actually the center of the passage. 00:03:37.719 --> 00:03:40.800 The center of the passage, justification, 00:03:40.800 --> 00:03:45.800 it's so important, but how, and he says, verse 24, 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:48.640 all are justified by His grace as a gift, 00:03:48.640 --> 00:03:52.560 how through the redemption, redemption 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:53.600 that is in Christ Jesus. 00:03:53.600 --> 00:03:56.800 In other words, the central idea of the passage, 00:03:56.800 --> 00:04:01.040 the main idea, the climax is found in a single word 00:04:01.040 --> 00:04:02.800 in the middle of the passage, verse 24, 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:04.920 and it's the word redemption. 00:04:04.920 --> 00:04:06.120 It's the word redemption. 00:04:06.120 --> 00:04:11.120 And let me just give you the summary logic of the text. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:14.439 This is what Paul is saying to us in a sentence. 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:20.519 Redemption means God's free justification 00:04:21.280 --> 00:04:25.240 of unrighteous sinners because of a costly propitiation. 00:04:25.920 --> 00:04:30.920 Okay, it's incredibly abstract, these words. 00:04:31.160 --> 00:04:34.480 They're metaphors, they're ideas, 00:04:34.480 --> 00:04:36.600 and they're difficult to get at. 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:39.120 They really are when you read through this long sentence 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:43.840 that Paul's writing here, but these abstract terms 00:04:43.840 --> 00:04:47.280 are realities, they're talking about realities, 00:04:47.280 --> 00:04:48.120 they're talking about truths. 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:52.840 This is not just abstract stuff, this is concrete, 00:04:52.840 --> 00:04:56.520 this is real, what he's describing here. 00:04:56.520 --> 00:05:00.960 And we'll see that these are the realities 00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:05.959 that every single human wants above all else 00:05:07.120 --> 00:05:09.079 and that Christians have tasted. 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:14.479 So redemption, let's explore it. 00:05:14.479 --> 00:05:18.199 What is it, why do we need it, how do we get it? 00:05:19.719 --> 00:05:22.039 So first, redemption, what is it? 00:05:22.039 --> 00:05:25.319 Now the term Paul uses, redemption in verse 24, 00:05:25.319 --> 00:05:30.319 it can also be translated and sometimes is translated 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:33.759 in the Bible as the word ransom. 00:05:34.599 --> 00:05:37.480 So it can either say the redemption we have 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:41.360 in Jesus Christ or the ransoming that we have 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:44.560 in Jesus Christ, and well what does it mean? 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:47.039 And one of the ways we get at the meaning 00:05:47.039 --> 00:05:49.480 of a really important term like this, 00:05:49.480 --> 00:05:52.719 and there are multiple ways, new Testament scholars 00:05:52.720 --> 00:05:57.720 will go and they'll search for the way a word like that 00:05:57.960 --> 00:06:01.520 is used in the common language of the day, right? 00:06:01.520 --> 00:06:04.160 To get a feel for Paul, I mean he was a Roman citizen, 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:07.320 he grew up with a language that he received 00:06:07.320 --> 00:06:10.440 to get a feel for how people were using a term like this, 00:06:10.440 --> 00:06:13.280 redemption or ransom in the first century, 00:06:13.280 --> 00:06:14.280 the time that Paul lived. 00:06:14.280 --> 00:06:17.600 I mean it's the same way that in a thousand years from now, 00:06:18.480 --> 00:06:21.840 little Johnny sitting in his school class 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:24.319 will be reading some textbook and he'll raise his hand 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:26.119 in class and he'll say to the teacher, 00:06:27.159 --> 00:06:30.839 but what is a bro hug? 00:06:31.879 --> 00:06:35.799 But what does click bait mean, right? 00:06:35.799 --> 00:06:38.559 But what is binge watching? 00:06:38.559 --> 00:06:41.399 But what is a tweet, right? 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:43.559 Because they won't have those words anymore in a thousand 00:06:43.559 --> 00:06:46.799 years and how will you find out what that meant? 00:06:46.799 --> 00:06:50.559 Well the teacher will say you've got to go read text 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:53.800 from the 21st century because that's when bro hug, 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:56.839 the term was invented and put in the Oxford English 00:06:56.839 --> 00:06:59.360 dictionary, the 21st century. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:03.360 And it's the same way with words sometimes from the Bible. 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:06.560 There is a historian of the first century, 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:10.399 his name was Josephus and he lived at the same time 00:07:10.399 --> 00:07:13.480 that Paul lived and he wrote a history of the Jews. 00:07:14.959 --> 00:07:19.959 And he writes a story about 300 years before Jesus was born, 00:07:19.959 --> 00:07:24.959 120,000 Jewish men and women were enslaved in Egypt again 00:07:27.399 --> 00:07:29.599 after the time of the Old Testament. 00:07:29.599 --> 00:07:32.719 And there's this story that he tells of how this guy, 00:07:32.719 --> 00:07:36.759 Aristius, helped deliver them from captivity. 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:40.199 And the way Aristius did it was kind of a Joseph sort of 00:07:40.199 --> 00:07:42.919 thing, he made friends with the king of Egypt. 00:07:43.919 --> 00:07:45.799 And this is what Aristius says, 00:07:45.799 --> 00:07:47.599 Aristius came to the king of Egypt and said, 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:52.600 oh king redeem or ransom the Jews from the miserable 00:07:53.280 --> 00:07:54.960 condition they are in. 00:07:54.960 --> 00:07:57.160 And as Aristius said this to the king, 00:07:57.160 --> 00:07:59.960 the king looked at him with a cheerful and joyful 00:07:59.960 --> 00:08:02.920 countenance and said, how many tens of thousands 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:06.320 of Jewish slaves, thus thou suppose there are 00:08:06.320 --> 00:08:07.879 that want to be ransomed? 00:08:09.720 --> 00:08:13.120 And Aristius replied, there's more than 10 times 10,000 00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:17.439 and so they agreed there and then on a redemption price 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:19.839 at 400 talents. 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:23.959 And so Leon Morris, he's a Romans commentator, 00:08:23.959 --> 00:08:26.160 he says this, the word redemption, 00:08:26.160 --> 00:08:28.959 the idea of redemption of ransom, 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:33.960 it has its origin in the release of a prisoner from war 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:38.559 on the payment of a price that we call a ransom price. 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:42.220 But in the first century it was extended to include 00:08:42.220 --> 00:08:46.919 the freeing of slaves by the payment of a ransom price. 00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:49.559 And this is the same idea that we get from the even more 00:08:49.559 --> 00:08:51.240 important context and that's the Old Testament 00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:54.319 because the Old Testament uses this word multiple times 00:08:54.319 --> 00:08:59.199 and there's one great example, Exodus 21, 29 to 30. 00:08:59.199 --> 00:09:04.199 And there it's talking about a law here that a situation 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:07.599 that we've all faced and that's this, 00:09:07.599 --> 00:09:12.599 whenever your ox is accustomed to gore people, 00:09:13.480 --> 00:09:16.480 to stick people that's horn too much, 00:09:16.480 --> 00:09:19.360 it says, the law says this, 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:22.960 and the owner of the ox has been warned 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:26.320 and has not put the ox in an appropriate fence 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:28.840 to keep the ox from goreing people 00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:31.360 and the ox does go and the ox gore somebody 00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:34.659 and it kills that person, then what happens? 00:09:34.659 --> 00:09:38.100 The ox shall be stoned and its owner 00:09:38.100 --> 00:09:40.200 shall also be put to death. 00:09:40.200 --> 00:09:45.200 Except if a redemption or a ransom is imposed on him, 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:54.440 then he shall give the redemption price for his life, 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:56.440 whatever it is that has been imposed. 00:09:58.040 --> 00:10:00.280 And that means that redemption, 00:10:00.280 --> 00:10:01.400 the word that Paul's using here, 00:10:01.400 --> 00:10:06.400 what it means is it means the release of a prisoner 00:10:06.800 --> 00:10:08.560 under the sentence of death. 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:13.559 It means freedom from death row is what redemption means. 00:10:15.479 --> 00:10:17.719 It means that the nature of redemption 00:10:17.719 --> 00:10:20.719 is finding ultimate freedom in the face 00:10:20.719 --> 00:10:22.719 of ultimate punishment, 00:10:22.719 --> 00:10:26.719 the ultimate, the end of existence of death itself. 00:10:27.599 --> 00:10:32.599 All right, so secondly, why does Paul say we need it? 00:10:33.479 --> 00:10:36.359 Why does Paul say that everybody needs redemption? 00:10:36.360 --> 00:10:40.860 And well, it's because of the verse 00:10:40.860 --> 00:10:43.700 that every person who grew up in the church memorized 00:10:43.700 --> 00:10:45.100 when they were in Sunday school, 00:10:45.100 --> 00:10:48.860 the verse that you see the Americans 00:10:48.860 --> 00:10:51.580 at their American football games holding up on posters, 00:10:51.580 --> 00:10:53.980 Romans 3-23, for all have sinned 00:10:53.980 --> 00:10:55.460 and fall short of the glory of God, 00:10:55.460 --> 00:10:57.340 the verse that is so common, 00:10:57.340 --> 00:11:00.820 even for people who aren't from church traditions, 00:11:00.820 --> 00:11:04.539 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 00:11:04.539 --> 00:11:06.039 Why do you need redemption? 00:11:06.039 --> 00:11:08.059 Why do you need freedom from death row? 00:11:08.059 --> 00:11:11.259 And it's simple, why does every human need to be freed 00:11:11.259 --> 00:11:13.360 from facing the sentence of death? 00:11:14.459 --> 00:11:18.219 And it's because we are facing the sentence of death. 00:11:18.219 --> 00:11:19.539 It's simple, right? 00:11:19.539 --> 00:11:21.419 I mean, there's enough empirical evidence. 00:11:21.419 --> 00:11:22.839 This isn't controversial. 00:11:24.419 --> 00:11:26.419 We are facing the sentence of death. 00:11:26.419 --> 00:11:27.939 Every one of us knows that. 00:11:27.939 --> 00:11:30.099 We're facing the end of the track. 00:11:30.099 --> 00:11:31.860 It's out in front of us. 00:11:31.860 --> 00:11:33.699 The death is a reality. 00:11:33.699 --> 00:11:35.860 It's the great human problem. 00:11:35.860 --> 00:11:38.039 It's the problem of human existence. 00:11:39.820 --> 00:11:42.019 But when Paul says, 00:11:42.019 --> 00:11:44.340 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, 00:11:44.340 --> 00:11:49.340 he means more than just the body and soul being separated. 00:11:50.620 --> 00:11:53.500 He means more than the end of biological life. 00:11:53.500 --> 00:11:54.940 He means more than that. 00:11:55.899 --> 00:11:58.659 Now, it's sin. 00:11:58.659 --> 00:11:59.879 He's defining it. 00:11:59.879 --> 00:12:02.779 He says it means this, to fall short of God's glory. 00:12:02.779 --> 00:12:04.779 Now, we phrase that, we use all the time, 00:12:04.779 --> 00:12:05.939 but what does it mean? 00:12:06.860 --> 00:12:09.419 Really, to fall short of God's glory. 00:12:12.500 --> 00:12:17.500 To fall short, that can also be translated, literally, 00:12:17.860 --> 00:12:22.860 as to show up late, which means that some of you 00:12:22.980 --> 00:12:26.019 are in real trouble, okay? 00:12:26.019 --> 00:12:29.579 Because to sin means to be late. 00:12:29.579 --> 00:12:31.259 To not be here on time. 00:12:31.259 --> 00:12:33.740 Well, it literally, it can be translated that way, 00:12:33.740 --> 00:12:35.139 but it means more. 00:12:35.139 --> 00:12:37.259 It doesn't just mean to be late for things. 00:12:38.899 --> 00:12:42.700 Another way of saying it is it means to fail to attain, 00:12:42.700 --> 00:12:46.279 or to fail, my favorite way of thinking about it, 00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:50.379 is that it means to fail to hold something up, 00:12:50.379 --> 00:12:52.060 as if you're lifting. 00:12:52.060 --> 00:12:53.779 To fail to hold something up. 00:12:53.779 --> 00:12:56.419 And what is it that's something that you're failing 00:12:56.419 --> 00:12:57.860 to hold up, that you're falling short of, 00:12:57.860 --> 00:12:59.419 that you're not able to lift up? 00:12:59.419 --> 00:13:01.580 And it's God's glory. 00:13:01.580 --> 00:13:05.620 And the term glory, the Hebrew concept of glory, 00:13:05.620 --> 00:13:10.460 another way to say glory is weightiness. 00:13:10.460 --> 00:13:14.620 You see, glory means weightiness. 00:13:14.620 --> 00:13:18.780 And that's why in our first, second Corinthians, 417, 00:13:18.780 --> 00:13:21.740 Paul uses this little phrase, the weight of glory, 00:13:23.259 --> 00:13:26.460 which really means the weight of weightiness. 00:13:26.460 --> 00:13:31.220 The weight, it's an immense heaviness, a gravitas. 00:13:31.220 --> 00:13:33.100 What it's talking about here is the glory of God 00:13:33.100 --> 00:13:36.220 means the heaviness of God, the weightiness of God, 00:13:36.220 --> 00:13:39.460 his gravity, his gravitas, that in other words, 00:13:39.460 --> 00:13:42.759 that he's incredibly, absolutely majestic. 00:13:43.940 --> 00:13:45.259 He's incredibly majestic. 00:13:45.259 --> 00:13:48.720 Now, this is still a little bit abstract. 00:13:49.860 --> 00:13:51.460 Let me make it more concrete 00:13:51.460 --> 00:13:53.740 by becoming more abstract for a moment. 00:13:54.820 --> 00:13:58.300 Yesterday, we had a conference here on God and anxiety, 00:13:58.300 --> 00:14:00.100 and one of the things we talked about 00:14:00.100 --> 00:14:04.340 was that humans, we are made in the image of God, 00:14:04.340 --> 00:14:05.980 Genesis chapter one, 00:14:05.980 --> 00:14:09.300 and part of what it means to be made in the image of God 00:14:09.300 --> 00:14:13.659 is to understand it, is to use a category 00:14:13.659 --> 00:14:16.139 that we've been talking about actually on Wednesday nights 00:14:16.139 --> 00:14:19.139 that theologians often use when they talk about 00:14:19.139 --> 00:14:22.139 the characteristics or the attributes of God. 00:14:22.139 --> 00:14:24.340 They often will divide God's attributes 00:14:24.340 --> 00:14:27.620 into communicable and incom communicable attributes. 00:14:27.620 --> 00:14:30.179 What's a communicable attributes? 00:14:30.179 --> 00:14:32.620 Well, it's like a communicable disease. 00:14:33.500 --> 00:14:34.700 Well, the complete opposite, 00:14:34.700 --> 00:14:36.740 but communicable, it means you can catch it. 00:14:36.740 --> 00:14:38.700 You can catch a communicable disease, 00:14:38.700 --> 00:14:41.840 and that you can catch a communicable attribute of God. 00:14:41.840 --> 00:14:44.779 It is the attributes of God that he shares with you, 00:14:44.779 --> 00:14:45.980 that you can catch. 00:14:46.860 --> 00:14:49.100 God is absolute love, 00:14:49.100 --> 00:14:53.580 and because he shares his lovingness with us, we can love, 00:14:53.580 --> 00:14:55.200 and that's part of partaking 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:57.820 in the communicable attributes of God. 00:14:57.820 --> 00:15:00.140 That's what it means to be in the image of God. 00:15:00.140 --> 00:15:04.420 You image God when you reflect his communicable attributes, 00:15:04.420 --> 00:15:06.020 but there are also, 00:15:06.020 --> 00:15:08.340 there are also incom communicable attributes, 00:15:08.340 --> 00:15:09.900 attributes that you cannot share, 00:15:09.900 --> 00:15:10.740 that you can't touch, 00:15:10.740 --> 00:15:14.340 that make him absolute his absolute sovereignty, 00:15:14.340 --> 00:15:17.420 his simplicity, his independence, his necessity, 00:15:17.420 --> 00:15:19.259 the fact that he needs nothing, 00:15:19.259 --> 00:15:20.700 the fact that he never changes, 00:15:20.700 --> 00:15:22.620 and we are always changing, right? 00:15:22.620 --> 00:15:25.379 You can't touch, you can share in God's, 00:15:25.379 --> 00:15:27.419 in what God is, his communicable attributes, 00:15:27.419 --> 00:15:29.519 but not in his incom communicable attributes. 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:32.299 It's what defines the difference between us and him, 00:15:32.299 --> 00:15:34.539 but to be made in the image of God 00:15:34.539 --> 00:15:36.340 is to be like him, 00:15:36.340 --> 00:15:38.200 to share in his communicable attributes. 00:15:38.200 --> 00:15:40.820 Now, in Genesis three, 00:15:40.820 --> 00:15:43.620 when the serpent came to Eve in the garden, 00:15:46.060 --> 00:15:47.700 Ligand Duncan, a pastor in the States, 00:15:47.700 --> 00:15:50.259 he regularly points this out. 00:15:50.259 --> 00:15:52.659 The serpent said to Eve, 00:15:52.659 --> 00:15:54.379 do you wanna be like God? 00:15:55.340 --> 00:15:58.939 And what should have Eve said to the serpent in the moment? 00:15:59.860 --> 00:16:01.179 I already am like God. 00:16:01.179 --> 00:16:05.179 I can't be any more like God than I am right now. 00:16:05.179 --> 00:16:07.860 I'm sharing in God's communicable attributes, 00:16:07.860 --> 00:16:10.259 but she took and she ate the fruit. 00:16:10.259 --> 00:16:11.700 And what was she doing? 00:16:11.700 --> 00:16:13.259 It was a power play. 00:16:13.259 --> 00:16:14.419 It was a will to power. 00:16:14.419 --> 00:16:16.340 What she was saying in that moment is, 00:16:16.340 --> 00:16:18.379 I don't just wanna be like God, I wanna be God. 00:16:18.379 --> 00:16:22.580 I want his incom communicable attributes for myself as well. 00:16:22.580 --> 00:16:23.919 I wanna be just like him. 00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:26.419 I wanna share in his absoluteness. 00:16:27.580 --> 00:16:29.220 And that means this, 00:16:29.220 --> 00:16:32.840 to fall short of God's weightiness, of God's glory. 00:16:33.779 --> 00:16:38.740 It means not merely to fail God's standard, 00:16:38.740 --> 00:16:39.740 to fail God's glory. 00:16:39.740 --> 00:16:40.700 It means even more. 00:16:40.700 --> 00:16:44.779 It means that it means to fail human glory 00:16:45.659 --> 00:16:48.019 because human glory is that you are made 00:16:48.019 --> 00:16:48.899 in the image of God. 00:16:48.899 --> 00:16:51.419 You were given the glories of God, 00:16:51.419 --> 00:16:52.939 the communicable attributes. 00:16:52.939 --> 00:16:56.340 It's to be less than truly and fully human. 00:16:56.340 --> 00:16:58.740 To fall short of God's glory is not only to fail the standard, 00:16:58.740 --> 00:17:00.659 it's to fail the basic human standard, 00:17:00.659 --> 00:17:01.980 to be truly human, 00:17:01.980 --> 00:17:04.779 which is to be the image of God in the world, 00:17:04.779 --> 00:17:06.940 to show his communicable attributes, 00:17:06.940 --> 00:17:09.460 his love and his joy and his peace and his patience 00:17:09.460 --> 00:17:10.900 and his kindness. 00:17:12.900 --> 00:17:16.619 God's glory is to also fail to be what we were made to be, 00:17:16.619 --> 00:17:21.619 to fail to be the image of God that God created us to be. 00:17:21.939 --> 00:17:22.939 And because of that, 00:17:22.939 --> 00:17:26.659 it's to miss the purpose of human existence. 00:17:28.859 --> 00:17:30.619 It's to violate his justice, 00:17:30.619 --> 00:17:33.139 it's to make less of his weightiness. 00:17:33.139 --> 00:17:36.039 It's to go against the entire moral order. 00:17:36.039 --> 00:17:39.019 It incurs guilt and it deserves death. 00:17:39.019 --> 00:17:44.019 Or another way that Paul expresses it here is like this. 00:17:46.900 --> 00:17:48.900 We failed God's glory 00:17:48.900 --> 00:17:51.660 and so we have lost the righteousness of God. 00:17:52.680 --> 00:17:53.740 The righteousness of God, 00:17:53.740 --> 00:17:57.379 he mentions it twice in verse 21 to 24. 00:17:57.379 --> 00:17:58.460 The righteousness of God. 00:17:58.460 --> 00:18:00.779 Now, the righteousness of God, 00:18:00.779 --> 00:18:02.980 it's an incredibly important phrase 00:18:02.980 --> 00:18:03.819 in the book of Romans, 00:18:03.819 --> 00:18:05.460 it shows up eight times. 00:18:05.460 --> 00:18:07.579 Four of those times are right here, 00:18:07.579 --> 00:18:09.299 just in this passage. 00:18:09.299 --> 00:18:11.500 And when we think of the term righteousness, 00:18:12.659 --> 00:18:17.419 we often think more of an ethical virtue and a virtuoseness. 00:18:17.419 --> 00:18:19.699 But the Hebrew concept of righteousness 00:18:19.699 --> 00:18:21.939 is more basic than that. 00:18:21.939 --> 00:18:24.819 Righteousness, the righteousness of God 00:18:24.819 --> 00:18:28.460 in the Hebrew culture means a standing, 00:18:28.460 --> 00:18:30.059 it's a judicial term. 00:18:30.059 --> 00:18:33.619 It means those who have the positive, 00:18:33.619 --> 00:18:38.500 secure verdict in the law court. 00:18:38.500 --> 00:18:41.779 Okay, so here's an example from Deuteronomy 25. 00:18:41.779 --> 00:18:45.299 If there is a dispute between men, they go to court 00:18:46.379 --> 00:18:49.059 and the judge decides their case. 00:18:50.259 --> 00:18:52.899 And in deciding their case, the judge will do this. 00:18:52.899 --> 00:18:55.819 He will either justify their righteousness, 00:18:55.819 --> 00:18:59.579 pronounce them innocent, in good standing, guilt free, 00:18:59.579 --> 00:19:01.579 or he will condemn the wicked. 00:19:01.579 --> 00:19:05.019 And so in other words, the one who is righteous, 00:19:05.019 --> 00:19:07.379 the one who has the righteousness of God 00:19:07.379 --> 00:19:11.099 is the one who can stand in the law court of God 00:19:11.099 --> 00:19:15.699 and for God to say, I approve you, I accept you, 00:19:15.699 --> 00:19:20.339 you are guilt free, you are innocent, come in, 00:19:20.339 --> 00:19:21.819 I want you, you are mine. 00:19:21.819 --> 00:19:23.819 It's the person who can stand 00:19:23.819 --> 00:19:25.539 in the face of God's law court. 00:19:25.539 --> 00:19:27.859 That's what it means to have the righteousness of God, 00:19:27.859 --> 00:19:29.659 to fall short of God's glory, 00:19:29.660 --> 00:19:33.980 means to fail God's standard, to not observe his weightiness, 00:19:33.980 --> 00:19:36.220 to not observe the basic human standard, 00:19:36.220 --> 00:19:37.580 which is to be the image of God, 00:19:37.580 --> 00:19:40.700 and it also means to lose the righteousness of God, 00:19:40.700 --> 00:19:43.500 which means that you cannot stand up 00:19:43.500 --> 00:19:44.940 in the law court of God. 00:19:44.940 --> 00:19:48.540 You will not be found not guilty. 00:19:48.540 --> 00:19:50.860 You will be found guilty in God's law court. 00:19:50.860 --> 00:19:54.700 It's a judicial term, it's a judicial idea. 00:19:54.700 --> 00:19:57.060 And what it means, what Paul is saying, 00:19:57.059 --> 00:20:01.859 is that we need, we need unshackling redemption, 00:20:01.859 --> 00:20:04.819 we need to be freed from death row. 00:20:06.859 --> 00:20:10.579 Okay, thirdly and finally, how do you get it? 00:20:11.859 --> 00:20:13.259 How do you get this redemption? 00:20:14.700 --> 00:20:16.059 And the answer is you don't, 00:20:17.500 --> 00:20:20.299 except for verse 21. 00:20:20.299 --> 00:20:25.299 But now, but now a new age has come. 00:20:27.220 --> 00:20:29.099 That's what Paul is saying here. 00:20:29.099 --> 00:20:32.859 The righteousness of God has been revealed 00:20:32.859 --> 00:20:35.139 apart from the law. 00:20:35.139 --> 00:20:38.940 Okay, this means what it means to be approved by God, 00:20:38.940 --> 00:20:41.099 to stand up in God's law court, 00:20:41.099 --> 00:20:42.099 to stand in front of God, 00:20:42.099 --> 00:20:44.779 and here God say, I accept you, I find you worthy. 00:20:44.779 --> 00:20:46.299 It's apart from the law. 00:20:46.299 --> 00:20:50.339 It means it's apart from any attempt we can now make. 00:20:50.339 --> 00:20:53.019 It's apart from anything we can do to be accepted 00:20:53.019 --> 00:20:54.579 in God's law court. 00:20:54.579 --> 00:20:59.579 That means redemption is God's free justification 00:20:59.619 --> 00:21:01.220 of unrighteous sinners. 00:21:02.099 --> 00:21:06.299 Redemption is God's free justification of unrighteous sinners. 00:21:06.299 --> 00:21:08.740 Now, we're gonna close our time today 00:21:08.740 --> 00:21:13.419 by just thinking about this incredibly dizzying term, 00:21:13.420 --> 00:21:18.420 justification. It's so central, 00:21:20.220 --> 00:21:23.180 but it can be really confusing to really get out. 00:21:23.180 --> 00:21:25.259 What Paul's saying about this word justification 00:21:25.259 --> 00:21:28.740 that's been so central to Christianity 00:21:28.740 --> 00:21:32.060 and our tradition and what the Bible teaches. 00:21:32.060 --> 00:21:34.820 And one of the things, I know some people get so annoyed 00:21:34.820 --> 00:21:38.900 by the references to Greek from the pulpit sometimes, 00:21:38.900 --> 00:21:41.220 but this is one instance where it's really worth it, 00:21:41.220 --> 00:21:46.140 I promise, because what you can't see in English 00:21:46.140 --> 00:21:49.180 is that the word righteousness 00:21:49.180 --> 00:21:54.059 and the word justification are basically the same word. 00:21:54.059 --> 00:21:56.940 They're almost spelled the exact same. 00:21:56.940 --> 00:21:58.500 And you can't see that in English. 00:21:58.500 --> 00:22:02.500 In English, it's an R and a J, but in Greek, it's two Ds. 00:22:02.500 --> 00:22:03.380 You can't see it. 00:22:03.380 --> 00:22:06.220 And it's so important to get the relationship 00:22:06.220 --> 00:22:10.059 between righteousness of God, which we said means 00:22:10.059 --> 00:22:13.139 to be able to stand up in God's courtroom 00:22:13.139 --> 00:22:16.419 and be said and found accepted, worthy. 00:22:16.419 --> 00:22:19.299 And the same word that's being used basically, 00:22:19.299 --> 00:22:20.460 which is justification. 00:22:20.460 --> 00:22:22.700 Let's make it the same in English, 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:26.980 the righteousness of God and righteous-ification. 00:22:26.980 --> 00:22:30.899 I invented that, I coined that, that's mine now. 00:22:30.899 --> 00:22:33.859 The righteousness of God and righteous-ification 00:22:33.859 --> 00:22:35.339 is another way of saying it, 00:22:35.339 --> 00:22:38.139 or the justice of God and justification 00:22:38.140 --> 00:22:40.980 to make it look the same in English. 00:22:40.980 --> 00:22:43.820 What it means, what justification means, 00:22:45.060 --> 00:22:49.180 is that God looks at you in his law court 00:22:49.180 --> 00:22:53.940 and says, I accept you, I find you worthy. 00:22:55.259 --> 00:22:59.500 I declare you to be righteous, even though you are not. 00:23:01.780 --> 00:23:03.300 Now, I said at the beginning 00:23:03.299 --> 00:23:08.220 that what we see with this idea 00:23:08.220 --> 00:23:12.059 is that every single human being wants this 00:23:13.539 --> 00:23:15.379 and only Christians have tasted it. 00:23:17.180 --> 00:23:20.059 And I think that every single human being 00:23:20.059 --> 00:23:23.379 wants justification before God. 00:23:24.819 --> 00:23:29.819 Everyone in all religions and also in the secular West 00:23:29.819 --> 00:23:33.539 wants more than anything else to be justified. 00:23:33.539 --> 00:23:37.019 And you might say, how can you say that someone 00:23:37.019 --> 00:23:40.379 who doesn't believe in God or care about religion at all 00:23:40.379 --> 00:23:43.099 that lives as a secular person in the secular West 00:23:43.099 --> 00:23:45.700 possibly wanna be justified before God? 00:23:45.700 --> 00:23:47.539 I mean, how does that make sense in the least? 00:23:47.539 --> 00:23:51.379 And we can say it this way, 00:23:51.379 --> 00:23:52.859 every single human being, 00:23:52.859 --> 00:23:55.779 no matter what their background or their views are, 00:23:55.779 --> 00:24:00.059 wants to be found worthy and acceptable 00:24:00.059 --> 00:24:03.299 before the one that they think is truly precious. 00:24:04.099 --> 00:24:06.980 Every single human being wants to be found worthy. 00:24:06.980 --> 00:24:08.859 You wanna be found acceptable. 00:24:08.859 --> 00:24:13.059 That's what the whole self-esteem movement was about. 00:24:13.059 --> 00:24:15.180 Every human wants to be found worthy and accepted. 00:24:15.180 --> 00:24:18.619 And I was reading Tim Keller this week 00:24:18.619 --> 00:24:21.579 and he reminded me of a great illustration of this 00:24:21.579 --> 00:24:26.059 from the classic, the Scottish classic, Chariots of Fire, 00:24:27.220 --> 00:24:31.220 the story of Eric Little and the story of Harold Abraham's 00:24:31.220 --> 00:24:33.019 that many of you are very familiar with. 00:24:33.019 --> 00:24:36.259 They were Olympic athletes, they were runners. 00:24:37.500 --> 00:24:41.939 And Harold Abraham's, he was a teammate with Eric Little 00:24:41.939 --> 00:24:45.059 and somebody asked him once 00:24:45.059 --> 00:24:48.460 before he was about to run the 100 meter in the Olympics, 00:24:48.460 --> 00:24:50.740 why do you train so hard? 00:24:50.740 --> 00:24:52.819 Why do you want this so badly? 00:24:52.819 --> 00:24:56.420 And he said, when the gun goes off, 00:24:56.420 --> 00:25:00.319 I have 10 lonely seconds to justify my existence. 00:25:01.460 --> 00:25:05.460 In other words, for Abraham's running, 00:25:06.740 --> 00:25:08.099 sitting out there in front of the crowd 00:25:08.099 --> 00:25:09.779 and crossing the finish line before, 00:25:09.779 --> 00:25:12.740 that was the only way in life, that was the precious, 00:25:12.740 --> 00:25:16.500 the one thing that he thought would make him worth it, 00:25:16.500 --> 00:25:19.380 would make people love him, would make him feel accepted, 00:25:19.380 --> 00:25:22.100 would, he called it justification 00:25:22.100 --> 00:25:24.980 to be accepted before the eye of the public. 00:25:24.980 --> 00:25:27.180 He didn't feel loved in any other place. 00:25:27.180 --> 00:25:29.460 He said, this is the only thing that will complete me, 00:25:29.460 --> 00:25:31.500 this is the only thing that will fill me up. 00:25:31.500 --> 00:25:33.940 You see, everybody wants justification. 00:25:34.980 --> 00:25:37.340 Everybody wants to be found worthy. 00:25:37.340 --> 00:25:39.300 That's what they're looking for when they talk 00:25:39.300 --> 00:25:40.660 about self-esteem. 00:25:41.820 --> 00:25:44.340 And he wins and the crowd cheers 00:25:44.340 --> 00:25:46.660 and wouldn't you find out that it wasn't enough? 00:25:46.660 --> 00:25:51.660 And that's because that is nothing but a faint echo 00:25:53.019 --> 00:25:55.620 of the truth, of the real justification, 00:25:55.620 --> 00:25:57.900 of the real acceptance, of the real worthiness 00:25:57.900 --> 00:25:59.860 that everybody is seeking to have. 00:25:59.860 --> 00:26:03.660 And that's to stand before your maker and be told, 00:26:03.660 --> 00:26:07.460 I want you, I accept you, you are worthy, I love you. 00:26:07.460 --> 00:26:11.980 We talked yesterday at the conference on God and Anxiety 00:26:11.980 --> 00:26:14.019 about Psalm 27. 00:26:14.019 --> 00:26:18.139 And in Psalm 27, David is praying his fears. 00:26:18.139 --> 00:26:21.299 And when he prays his fears, he turns to God and he said, 00:26:21.299 --> 00:26:25.500 here's my only hope, that I may dwell 00:26:25.500 --> 00:26:28.700 in the presence of the Lord always, 00:26:28.700 --> 00:26:31.799 that I may see the beauty of your face. 00:26:33.059 --> 00:26:37.099 And theologians call this idea 00:26:37.099 --> 00:26:39.819 that I may see the beauty of your face, 00:26:39.819 --> 00:26:43.779 the beatific vision, the blessed vision, 00:26:43.779 --> 00:26:44.779 the beautiful vision. 00:26:46.500 --> 00:26:49.980 David was expressing that that is the greatest desire 00:26:49.980 --> 00:26:51.500 of the human heart. 00:26:51.500 --> 00:26:54.259 It is the purpose of redemption and salvation. 00:26:54.259 --> 00:26:57.980 It is the end of all things, the point of Christianity. 00:26:57.980 --> 00:26:59.420 It is the point of it all. 00:26:59.420 --> 00:27:03.139 It's to see the beauty of the face of God. 00:27:03.139 --> 00:27:04.539 That's what we were made to see. 00:27:04.539 --> 00:27:06.339 That's what was taken away from us 00:27:06.339 --> 00:27:08.940 in our falling short of the glory of God. 00:27:08.940 --> 00:27:11.460 And at the heart of every attempt to find worth 00:27:11.460 --> 00:27:12.500 and something in this world, 00:27:12.500 --> 00:27:16.019 self-worth and to be accepted by whoever, 00:27:16.019 --> 00:27:18.900 making that our ultimate behind it stands the truth. 00:27:18.900 --> 00:27:20.740 And that's that we wanna see the face of God 00:27:20.740 --> 00:27:23.740 and we want the face of God to look at us 00:27:23.740 --> 00:27:28.019 and say, I accept you, you're worthy, I love you. 00:27:30.259 --> 00:27:33.079 There's thousands of forms of self-justification out there. 00:27:33.079 --> 00:27:36.339 Other religions do it through moral conformity. 00:27:36.339 --> 00:27:38.380 They're saying you've got to be better 00:27:38.380 --> 00:27:40.259 if you wanna be accepted. 00:27:40.259 --> 00:27:43.700 The secular West chases self-worth through successes 00:27:43.700 --> 00:27:45.700 and relationships. 00:27:45.700 --> 00:27:47.940 Christianity is different. 00:27:47.940 --> 00:27:49.339 It is unique. 00:27:49.339 --> 00:27:53.400 Paul puts it, there's only one way and he calls it the gift. 00:27:55.539 --> 00:27:59.940 The only way the guilty can truly pay their ransom price 00:27:59.940 --> 00:28:03.460 and be released from the shackles is by punishment 00:28:03.460 --> 00:28:06.500 of their through their own death. 00:28:06.500 --> 00:28:11.500 That's the only way except the gift, something unexpected. 00:28:15.500 --> 00:28:19.420 But now a new age has come, the age of, 00:28:19.420 --> 00:28:21.140 something, a substitute. 00:28:21.980 --> 00:28:25.059 And we're gonna have to look at propitiation next week. 00:28:25.059 --> 00:28:28.380 We're gonna camp out here for a few weeks. 00:28:28.380 --> 00:28:30.099 But here's the basics. 00:28:30.940 --> 00:28:35.779 The gift is this, Jesus Christ was crushed 00:28:35.779 --> 00:28:38.059 so that we could be released from our shackles. 00:28:39.220 --> 00:28:41.899 He took the place of the prisoner. 00:28:41.899 --> 00:28:43.299 He is God become man. 00:28:43.299 --> 00:28:45.139 He is the ransom price. 00:28:46.099 --> 00:28:47.220 He was delivered up. 00:28:47.220 --> 00:28:51.099 Here's redemption, it's propitiation and justification. 00:28:51.099 --> 00:28:53.019 Here's putting it into plain words. 00:28:53.019 --> 00:28:56.299 He was made the unrighteousness of God. 00:28:56.299 --> 00:28:58.460 He took the guilty verdict. 00:28:58.460 --> 00:29:01.660 He took the penalty of death so that we could be declared 00:29:01.660 --> 00:29:04.299 righteous so that we could stand before the law court of God 00:29:04.299 --> 00:29:08.139 and God say to you, you're worthy. 00:29:08.139 --> 00:29:10.779 I accept you, I love you. 00:29:10.779 --> 00:29:12.539 It's the thing that every single human being 00:29:12.539 --> 00:29:15.139 wants above all else. 00:29:15.139 --> 00:29:18.720 And it means forgiveness of sins. 00:29:20.419 --> 00:29:22.220 It means being released from the shackles. 00:29:22.220 --> 00:29:23.819 That's the forgiveness of sins. 00:29:23.819 --> 00:29:26.259 But it's not just a negative. 00:29:27.259 --> 00:29:29.619 That's being released from something. 00:29:29.619 --> 00:29:30.940 That's the negative side of it. 00:29:30.940 --> 00:29:32.980 It comes with a positive idea. 00:29:32.980 --> 00:29:35.380 It's not just that you're forgiving your sins. 00:29:35.380 --> 00:29:36.779 That's just the beginning. 00:29:36.779 --> 00:29:39.880 Look, when the prodigal son comes home, 00:29:39.880 --> 00:29:43.500 it's not as if the father simply says, 00:29:43.500 --> 00:29:44.900 I'm not gonna punish you. 00:29:46.500 --> 00:29:47.660 That's the forgiveness of sins. 00:29:47.660 --> 00:29:48.500 But it's more than that. 00:29:48.500 --> 00:29:50.019 He throws him a party. 00:29:50.019 --> 00:29:51.500 He puts his robe on his back. 00:29:51.500 --> 00:29:54.599 He brings out the best of the meats and the fine wines. 00:29:54.599 --> 00:29:56.900 It's more than just the forgiveness of sins. 00:29:56.900 --> 00:29:59.779 Justification, it is the right. 00:29:59.779 --> 00:30:01.660 It is God saying to you, 00:30:01.660 --> 00:30:06.660 I give you the right to be called an heir of the kingdom. 00:30:06.860 --> 00:30:08.620 To be called son. 00:30:08.620 --> 00:30:09.779 To be called daughter. 00:30:09.779 --> 00:30:11.900 To be lavished with all the gifts. 00:30:13.420 --> 00:30:15.820 It's more than, it's that God wants you. 00:30:17.220 --> 00:30:18.300 That's justification. 00:30:18.300 --> 00:30:20.940 It's the greatest desire of the human heart. 00:30:20.940 --> 00:30:23.540 Okay, finally, closing. 00:30:24.900 --> 00:30:28.820 Paul says two times here, verse 22, verse 25. 00:30:28.820 --> 00:30:31.100 The only way you can know this, 00:30:31.099 --> 00:30:34.099 you can have it, it can be real for you, is by faith. 00:30:34.099 --> 00:30:36.579 He says, he uses the word to believe. 00:30:38.019 --> 00:30:39.419 What does that mean? 00:30:39.419 --> 00:30:41.619 And in short, very briefly, I just wanna say, 00:30:41.619 --> 00:30:46.219 it means repentance and it means rest. 00:30:47.939 --> 00:30:49.779 It means repentance and rest. 00:30:49.779 --> 00:30:54.779 And repentance and rest starts with giving up attempts 00:30:55.379 --> 00:30:58.980 at justifying our own worthiness before God and others. 00:30:58.980 --> 00:31:03.880 It means giving up attempts at self-justification. 00:31:03.880 --> 00:31:06.440 It means giving up, seeking ultimate approval 00:31:06.440 --> 00:31:08.799 from the things that are not God. 00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:13.799 It means giving up moral conformity as a pathway. 00:31:14.599 --> 00:31:17.960 It means giving up religion, fake, false religion, 00:31:17.960 --> 00:31:20.200 thinking that we'll be accepted by our church attendance. 00:31:20.200 --> 00:31:24.920 It means giving up your hopes to win the 100 meter dash 00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:27.799 in the Olympics and make that be the sum total 00:31:27.799 --> 00:31:28.640 of your worth. 00:31:28.640 --> 00:31:30.400 That's probably not gonna happen for any of us, 00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:31.920 but it may be that for you. 00:31:33.640 --> 00:31:35.000 It could be a relationship. 00:31:35.000 --> 00:31:39.720 It could be the hopes of finally getting a spouse. 00:31:40.720 --> 00:31:43.880 That would make you worth it. 00:31:43.880 --> 00:31:45.860 And none of these things, these are all goods, 00:31:45.860 --> 00:31:47.680 but none of them would be it. 00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:49.880 None of them would be the satisfaction, 00:31:49.880 --> 00:31:52.720 the ultimate approval that you can only find 00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:55.620 in the redemption that is through faith in Jesus Christ. 00:31:55.620 --> 00:31:57.160 It's giving it up, it's repenting of it, 00:31:57.160 --> 00:31:58.900 it's letting it go. 00:31:58.900 --> 00:32:01.840 We'll just close with this. 00:32:03.080 --> 00:32:06.480 And the chariot's a fire, back to chariot's a fire. 00:32:06.480 --> 00:32:08.480 If you've seen the film, you know the story. 00:32:08.480 --> 00:32:11.279 There's a museum actually for it in Morningside, I think. 00:32:12.440 --> 00:32:16.240 Eric Liddle, he was a missionaries. 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:19.160 He was an MK, a missionary kid in China, 00:32:19.160 --> 00:32:20.600 an incredible athlete. 00:32:20.600 --> 00:32:22.360 And the whole point of chariot's a fire 00:32:22.360 --> 00:32:25.680 is to set up the great dichotomy between Eric Liddle 00:32:25.680 --> 00:32:27.680 and Harold Abraham's. 00:32:27.680 --> 00:32:31.799 Harold Abraham says, when the gun goes off, 00:32:31.799 --> 00:32:35.080 I have 10 seconds to justify my existence. 00:32:35.080 --> 00:32:37.600 This is the only place where I'll ever be worth it. 00:32:38.860 --> 00:32:42.660 And Eric Liddle, he says this. 00:32:44.200 --> 00:32:47.920 He says this, I believe God made me fast. 00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:51.060 And when I run, I feel his pleasure. 00:32:51.059 --> 00:32:56.059 He loved running, but not that much. 00:32:57.539 --> 00:33:01.899 He loved God, he found justification by faith in Christ. 00:33:01.899 --> 00:33:04.899 God was first for him, and he loved running. 00:33:04.899 --> 00:33:08.139 And he said, when I run, I think God takes pleasure in it. 00:33:08.139 --> 00:33:12.659 And he loved God so much that he was obedient. 00:33:12.659 --> 00:33:13.659 He walked with God. 00:33:13.659 --> 00:33:15.220 You know the story, many of you. 00:33:15.220 --> 00:33:17.819 In 1924, at the Paris Olympics, 00:33:17.819 --> 00:33:21.019 he was favored athlete for the 100 meter dash. 00:33:21.019 --> 00:33:23.019 And when it came down for the 100 meter dash, 00:33:23.019 --> 00:33:26.139 they had scheduled it on a Sunday morning. 00:33:26.139 --> 00:33:28.139 And he refused to run in it. 00:33:28.139 --> 00:33:30.359 He gave it up because it wasn't his idol. 00:33:30.359 --> 00:33:31.940 It wasn't the place that he found self worth. 00:33:31.940 --> 00:33:33.099 He didn't care, he would give up 00:33:33.099 --> 00:33:35.259 because he wasn't gonna miss worship. 00:33:35.259 --> 00:33:36.900 And he was favored at the Olympics 00:33:36.900 --> 00:33:39.099 for the 100 meter, for the gold. 00:33:39.099 --> 00:33:42.019 You have to come to Harold Abraham's and say, 00:33:42.019 --> 00:33:44.819 if this is your only hope, if this is your justification, 00:33:44.819 --> 00:33:46.240 what if you lose? 00:33:46.240 --> 00:33:50.279 He'd be crushed, you'd lose everything. 00:33:50.279 --> 00:33:53.359 Repentance and rest, give it up, 00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:55.880 and turn to Jesus Christ in faith. 00:33:55.880 --> 00:33:58.079 And God will look at you and he will say, 00:33:58.079 --> 00:33:59.599 you were worth it. 00:33:59.599 --> 00:34:03.680 I accept you, I pronounce you clean, 00:34:03.680 --> 00:34:07.799 even if you aren't, because of a substitute. 00:34:08.920 --> 00:34:10.719 Believe and rest in the work of another. 00:34:10.719 --> 00:34:13.239 That's an invitation, let's pray. 00:34:13.239 --> 00:34:15.840 Father, we give thanks for justification 00:34:15.840 --> 00:34:18.760 by faith, for redemption, for the price 00:34:18.760 --> 00:34:21.280 that has been paid in Christ. 00:34:21.280 --> 00:34:46.880 We thank you in Jesus' name, amen.