WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 Good morning. 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:06.000 For those of you who don't know me, my name is Eric. 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:08.000 I'm the youth guy here at Watermark. 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:13.000 And as the youth guy, I get to have lots of fun conversations with teenagers. 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:17.000 And I think the thing about teenagers is they say what lots of adults are thinking, 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:20.000 but which the adults know they'll get in trouble for saying. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:23.000 So a few weeks ago, I was talking with some teenagers, 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:25.000 and I was telling them, 00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:27.000 hey, you guys should try reading the Book of Romans, 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:29.000 because it's this awesome book. 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:31.000 And one of the teenagers looks at me and he says, 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:33.000 I'm not really that interested. 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:35.000 The Book of Romans doesn't do anything for me. 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:37.000 It kind of makes me feel brain dead. 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:41.000 And I said, okay. 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:44.000 So I figure, you know, a lot of us here probably have that same thought. 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:46.000 We're just not voicing it because we're adults 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:49.000 and we know that we shouldn't say things like that. 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:52.000 But then I was talking with a couple of kids last week, 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:55.000 and I was talking to them about reading something else in their Bible, 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:58.000 and one of the kids said, you know, 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:01.000 it's just so confusing reading the Bible because there's these letters, 00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:05.000 and instead of just saying hi, they have these really long intros with lots of big words, 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:08.000 and I'm so exhausted by the time I just get through the introduction 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:10.000 and I don't know what half the words mean, 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:14.000 why can't they just say hi and then get on with the letter? 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:20.000 And so I figure introductions are tough for people. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.000 And of course today we're going through the introduction to the Book of Romans, 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.000 so I know I've got my work cut out for me. 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:29.000 And when we look at this passage, we open it up, 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:33.000 and the first word that we see right there at the start of the passage is Paul. 00:01:35.000 --> 00:01:37.000 Paul is the author of this letter, 00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.000 so I figured a little background on his life might be helpful 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:42.000 in understanding what's going on here and why it's so significant. 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:45.000 Paul was born as a Jew. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:48.000 He was named Saul originally. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:51.000 He was raised as a religious leader. 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:55.000 He was taught by the greatest teachers of his time, 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:57.000 the Old Testament basically. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:01.000 He was brought up, he became a great religious leader, 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:05.000 and he was passionate about what he believed in. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:08.000 He was in fact so passionate about it 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:12.000 that when this new thing called Christianity started popping up on the scene, 00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:16.000 and people started leaving Judaism to follow Christianity, 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:19.000 he thought, I have to do something about this. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.000 And so he gathered up a group of people, and they went around, 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:25.000 and what they would do is when they found Christians, 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.000 they would arrest them, beat them, and sometimes kill them. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:33.000 And he did this out of a passion because he thought that he was serving God. 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:36.000 He said, this is how God wants me to serve him. 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:40.000 Go, stop people from becoming Christians because they are leaving the true faith, 00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:45.000 they are leaving the true God, and they are going and following this false God. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:49.000 So he went around, he traveled around, he would arrest Christians, 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:52.000 he would beat Christians, he would kill Christians. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:57.000 And one day he was on his way to a city called Damascus to arrest more Christians. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:03:00.000 And this light shined out of the sky. 00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:03.000 It knocked him down to the ground. 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:04.000 He was blinded. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:06.000 And a voice came out of the light and said, 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.000 Saul, why are you persecuting me? 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:13.000 I can only imagine it must have been a terrifying moment. 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:18.000 Lying on the ground, this bright light making it so bright that you can't even see, 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:21.000 and a voice coming out of nowhere saying, why are you doing this? 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:25.000 And so Saul does the most logical thing. 00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:27.000 He says, who are you? 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:30.000 Why is there a voice talking to me out of nowhere? 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:33.000 And the voice says, I'm Jesus who you are persecuting. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:37.000 From that moment on, Saul's life is utterly transformed. 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:43.000 He realizes that these Christians that he has been persecuting actually are worshipping the true God. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:50.000 That this Jesus that he's been trying to stop people from following is the one that he himself is supposed to be following. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:03:54.000 And his life is radically transformed from that moment on. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:56.000 He never is the same again. 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:00.000 He goes around and he starts trying to tell people that they should become Christians. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:06.000 And he starts trying to hang out with the Christians because now they're brothers. 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:11.000 And the problem is he has a reputation already established as someone who hates Christians and tries to kill them. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:16.000 So when all the Christians hear that Paul is a Christian, they're like, it's a trap. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:17.000 It's a trap. 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:18.000 He's coming in here. 00:04:18.000 --> 00:04:19.000 He's trying to trick us. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:23.000 He's trying to tell us that he's a Christian so that he can get in. 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:25.000 He can meet all the high power guys. 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:28.000 He can get access to them and then he can arrest them. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:33.000 Or maybe he's just trying to meet more of us so he can figure out who the right people are to arrest and kill. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:37.000 And so people didn't want him joining them. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:40.000 But eventually a couple of Christians reached out to him. 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:42.000 They got to know him and they realized this guy is for real. 00:04:43.000 --> 00:04:44.000 There's something different about this guy. 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:45.000 He has changed. 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:49.000 And they took him in and they introduced him to the rest of the Christians in their community. 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:55.000 And he continued telling people about Jesus every chance he got. 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:59.000 And it got to the point where now instead of him being the one who was going around arresting Christians, 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.000 he was the one that people were trying to arrest because he was telling everyone about Jesus. 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:10.000 And eventually God called him to go and travel around the known world and tell people about Jesus. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:20.000 And so Paul in obedience, he started going by Paul when he started interacting more with non-Jews because Paul is more of a Greek name. 00:05:20.000 --> 00:05:22.000 He started going by Paul. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:26.000 He started traveling around the world telling people about Jesus, sharing this great news. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:34.000 And on one of these journeys where he traveled around to tell people about Jesus, he wrote this letter that we now have that we call Romans. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:39.000 Now, the exact reason that he wrote it is up for debate. 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:40.000 We do know a few things. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:45.000 We know that he wrote it to introduce himself to the church at Rome because he hadn't been there before. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:53.000 We know that he wrote it so he could tell them about his upcoming plans to visit them so that they could be prepared when he arrived. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:06:00.000 And we know that he wrote it to teach them a lot of stuff because there is a lot of teaching in the book of Romans. 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:12.000 But one of the biggest things that he constantly, constantly comes back to in the book of Romans is this great passion of his life, the gospel. 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:20.000 And I think here at Watermark, we see the word gospel on stage every week, right? 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:25.000 And we think, oh, it must be pretty important because they stick it on stage every week. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:30.000 And we talk about it a lot and we've done studies on it in community groups. 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:34.000 But I think for a lot of us, it's probably just a buzzword. 00:06:34.000 --> 00:06:38.000 We hear it and we think, oh, that's something big, something important related to Christianity. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:43.000 But if I were to stand up here right now and say, what is the gospel? 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:50.000 How many people could give me a solid answer on that and feel confident with the answer you're giving? 00:06:52.000 --> 00:07:01.000 Or if I were to say, how many of us live lives that are absolutely transformed by the gospel in every way, all the time? 00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:04.000 How many of us does that actually apply to? 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:05.000 How many of us do that? 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:06.000 How many of us can't do that to be an expert in every way? 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:08.000 How many people of us may have done that? 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:09.000 How many people of us are going to give you a step up? 00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:12.000 Because I know I fall short of doing that a lot. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:14.000 And with Paul, he looks at the gospel and he says it is gorgeous. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:16.000 He says it is beautiful. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:20.000 And I think for a lot of us, we see it as just a simple teaching. 00:07:20.000 --> 00:07:22.000 The simple set of information. 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:27.000 And while it does include information, it is way more than that. 00:07:27.000 --> 00:07:29.000 It's something way bigger. 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:34.800 if I had to give a definition, just simple, basic, I would say the gospel is the good news that God 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:41.779 saves sinners through the death and resurrection of Jesus. And that's short, that's simple, that's 00:07:41.779 --> 00:07:45.800 sweet, but I think when we look at the gospel, it's more like a diamond. That's the illustration 00:07:45.800 --> 00:07:51.279 I like to use. Imagine you have this huge diamond, and you look at it, and at one quick glance, you 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:57.439 can say, wow, that is gorgeous. But when you have this huge, gorgeous diamond, do you just look at 00:07:57.439 --> 00:08:03.459 it quick, say that's gorgeous, and then put it away and not worry about it anymore? No one does that. 00:08:04.120 --> 00:08:07.939 Think about any girl you've ever met who just recently got engaged. She has this diamond on 00:08:07.939 --> 00:08:12.620 her finger, and she wants to look at it from every different angle that she possibly can, because 00:08:12.620 --> 00:08:18.579 every time you spin it, it looks a little bit different, and it's still beautiful. And then she 00:08:18.579 --> 00:08:23.399 wants to take this gorgeous diamond, and she wants to show it to all of her friends, look at this. 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:28.039 I think he took out a 30-year mortgage to buy it. It is gorgeous. 00:08:31.039 --> 00:08:34.840 And you take this diamond, and at one glance, you can look, and you can see that it's beautiful, 00:08:35.100 --> 00:08:37.980 but no one just takes one look and then throws it in a drawer for later. 00:08:38.879 --> 00:08:42.679 You take one look, and then you spin it, so you can take another look and see it differently, 00:08:42.779 --> 00:08:46.059 and then you spin it, and you take another look, and another, and another, and another, and you do 00:08:46.059 --> 00:08:53.599 that for years. And after 10, 15, 20 years of looking at this diamond, there can still be times 00:08:53.599 --> 00:08:57.000 where you spin it just a little bit, and the light catches it in some way, and you're like, 00:08:57.079 --> 00:09:04.159 whoa, I've never seen it in that beautiful way before. It's something so simple that at one glance, 00:09:04.279 --> 00:09:09.459 you see its beauty, but it's something so complex that you can spend years examining it and still 00:09:09.459 --> 00:09:14.019 be thrilled by its beauty. And I think it's the same way when it comes to the gospel. 00:09:14.019 --> 00:09:21.159 We see this good news that God saves us, and we rejoice in that. But then we take it, and we spin 00:09:21.159 --> 00:09:26.379 it, and we look at it from all these different angles, and it just gets more, and more, and more 00:09:26.379 --> 00:09:34.480 beautiful as we do that. So in this passage, Paul looks at the gospel from a bunch of different angles, 00:09:34.519 --> 00:09:39.259 and what we're going to do today is we're just going to look at a few of those angles and see how 00:09:39.259 --> 00:09:48.080 does this show us about this great beauty that is the gospel. So the first thing, he says it in verses 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:54.980 one and three. He says that he was set apart for the gospel of God, and then if you jump down to verse 00:09:54.980 --> 00:10:04.600 three, it says concerning his son. The gospel is deeply personal. I think a lot of times we think of 00:10:04.600 --> 00:10:11.659 the gospel just as this information that we need to know. It's a set of facts. Know it. Believe it. 00:10:11.659 --> 00:10:18.879 You're good. The problem is, Paul says it does include information, but it's way, way more than that. 00:10:19.139 --> 00:10:26.600 At its foundation, the gospel is deeply personal. The word gospel actually literally means good news, 00:10:26.600 --> 00:10:33.759 but it's not just good abstract information. It's good, deeply personal news about Jesus. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:42.500 It is the key to our relationship with God, and it's not just the key to that relationship, but it's the 00:10:42.500 --> 00:10:48.659 heartbeat of the relationship that keeps that relationship going on a day-to-day basis. It's not 00:10:48.659 --> 00:10:53.580 this abstract idea that we believe and then move on to something bigger and better. It's at the heart 00:10:53.580 --> 00:11:00.620 of what it means to walk with God, to be a Christian, to follow him. The gospel is deeply personal. 00:11:01.960 --> 00:11:08.180 The second angle that I want us to see is down in verse 16. He says, the gospel is the power of God 00:11:08.180 --> 00:11:16.340 for salvation. Again, when we think of the gospel as something we need to believe to be saved, we look at 00:11:16.340 --> 00:11:22.280 it and we think maybe it's like a spark that starts this big fire. Yeah, it's a little bit powerful. 00:11:22.279 --> 00:11:26.319 I mean, it got that fire going, but in and of itself, it's just this little small thing. 00:11:27.399 --> 00:11:30.939 I know that's the way that I thought of it for a long, long time, and I'm guessing there's other 00:11:30.939 --> 00:11:36.539 people here that are the same way. But Paul doesn't just say the gospel has a little bit of power. 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:44.600 He says the gospel is the power of God for salvation. It's the power of God that starts our salvation. 00:11:44.779 --> 00:11:50.120 It's the power of God that maintains our salvation. It's the power of God that keeps us going in this 00:11:50.120 --> 00:11:54.659 walk with God on a day-to-day-to-day-to-day basis. It's not just the spark that starts the fire, 00:11:54.879 --> 00:12:01.019 but it's the fire that is started by that spark. It is big. It is the power of God. 00:12:02.440 --> 00:12:06.060 And when we think of the gospel as just this information that we need to believe, we say, 00:12:06.560 --> 00:12:10.840 I believe this, and I move on to something bigger, something better, something more powerful. 00:12:10.840 --> 00:12:17.300 But what he's saying is the gospel is the power of God. If we try and move on from it, 00:12:17.620 --> 00:12:23.320 we're separating ourselves from our power source as Christians. It's like if you take a light bulb 00:12:23.320 --> 00:12:29.759 and unscrew it from its socket and then say, turn on. It can't do it because it's disconnected from 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:34.960 its power source. In the same way, if we try and move on from the gospel to bigger, better, more powerful 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:40.600 things, there aren't bigger, better, more powerful things. If we try and separate ourselves from the 00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:45.500 gospel in our walk with God, we're disconnected from our power source. We can't operate like we 00:12:45.500 --> 00:12:53.840 are supposed to because the gospel is the power of God for salvation. The third angle of the gospel 00:12:53.840 --> 00:13:00.860 that I want us to see is that the gospel reveals God's righteousness. Now, I know righteous is not a 00:13:00.860 --> 00:13:09.540 word that we use ever today. Maybe surfer dudes back in the 90s used it. Righteous. 00:13:10.600 --> 00:13:16.500 But really, no one uses it. Right? And so it's tough for us to understand because it's a big word 00:13:16.500 --> 00:13:20.980 and we never use it. And it's even tougher to understand because it actually has multiple 00:13:20.980 --> 00:13:27.540 meanings. I don't know if you know this, but righteousness actually is a legal term and a 00:13:27.540 --> 00:13:33.500 relational term. So it refers to a legal standing with someone and a relational standing with someone. 00:13:33.500 --> 00:13:42.600 So to be, it sort of includes this concept of justice inside it. And so to be righteous in a legal sense 00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:49.399 means that you stand before the judge and he declares you right in the eyes of the law. You are not guilty. 00:13:49.399 --> 00:13:54.960 You are right. And it's not just that you're not guilty, but you're like above, a few levels above not 00:13:54.960 --> 00:14:02.259 guilty. You are right. To be righteous in a relational sense means that you have a proper relationship with 00:14:02.259 --> 00:14:08.960 someone. That you're not going behind their back and doing things to destroy the relationship, but that 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:15.600 you have this proper relationship with them. And the Bible says that God's righteousness is revealed to us 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:23.139 in the gospel. It's shown to us in the gospel. And here's the thing, is that in and of ourselves, 00:14:23.139 --> 00:14:33.019 we are unrighteous in both sense of the word. God didn't create us that way. God created us good. 00:14:33.939 --> 00:14:40.840 God created us righteous. God created, the Bible says God created man in this garden. It was good. It 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:47.799 was beautiful. That God interacted with man as his king. That God gave commands and man obeyed. And man 00:14:47.799 --> 00:14:53.659 legally had this standing as righteous. But it also says that God came down and walked in the garden 00:14:53.659 --> 00:15:00.039 with man as a friend. That they would talk to each other. Just like I'm talking to you now, but they'd 00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:06.000 have back and forth interaction too. And the Bible says that God would talk with man as a friend. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:09.439 That they had this right relationship as friends. They were righteous. 00:15:09.440 --> 00:15:17.600 And God gave man this command, don't eat the fruit from this one tree. And man disobeyed. 00:15:19.620 --> 00:15:26.380 Legally, man rebelled against his king. Legally, man moved into a state of unrighteousness. Man was 00:15:26.380 --> 00:15:36.960 guilty, deserving of a legal punishment of death. Relationally, man severed this relationship with God. 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:42.500 Man moved into a state of unrighteousness in this relationship with God. And we deserved a 00:15:42.500 --> 00:15:49.700 relational penalty of separation from God. And every single one of us since has followed in those 00:15:49.700 --> 00:15:54.600 footsteps of rebelling against God, of not listening to him, of choosing our own way instead of his, 00:15:54.660 --> 00:16:01.700 of being our own king, of trying to be the ruler of our own world. And each of us is in this state of 00:16:01.700 --> 00:16:08.960 unrighteousness on our own. But Paul says that in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed to 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:14.780 us. And just like righteousness is a word with multiple, multiple definitions, God's righteousness 00:16:14.780 --> 00:16:25.360 is revealed to us in the gospel in multiple ways. It's shown to us by God, and it's revealed in us by God. 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:32.720 God is shown to us by God, and in us by God. Here's what I mean. Jesus came to the earth. He lived a 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:38.899 perfect life. He was righteous. He had a perfect legal standing before God. He had a perfect relational 00:16:38.899 --> 00:16:47.820 standing before God. And he was killed on a cross. He fulfilled the legal requirements for our 00:16:47.820 --> 00:16:56.700 unrighteousness by dying. But it wasn't just a legal thing. It was a relational thing. As he was hanging on 00:16:56.700 --> 00:17:01.800 the cross, he cried out right before he died, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 00:17:04.039 --> 00:17:12.039 This relational requirement, this relational penalty that we owed was also paid by Jesus on the cross. 00:17:12.039 --> 00:17:18.200 In the cross, in the gospel, we see God's righteousness because God didn't simply shrug 00:17:18.200 --> 00:17:24.819 off our sin and say, that's not a big deal. We see God's righteousness because he, as the just ruler, 00:17:25.319 --> 00:17:28.559 required full payment for everything that we have done wrong. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:37.960 But in the cross, God's righteousness is also revealed in us. Because Jesus didn't just die to 00:17:37.960 --> 00:17:41.539 pay the penalty so we can see, oh, God actually takes this seriously. No. 00:17:42.039 --> 00:17:54.460 Jesus died so that that penalty could be paid for us. He died so that we can take his righteous 00:17:54.460 --> 00:18:02.879 standing before God as our own. He died so that in a legal sense, we can move from being guilty to being 00:18:02.879 --> 00:18:10.680 right before God. Because our debt has been paid by another, by Jesus. He died so that in a relational 00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:17.259 sense, we can move into the state of being righteous before God. Because our penalty of separation from 00:18:17.259 --> 00:18:25.299 God has been paid by another, by Jesus. And Paul says in another place that God made him who knew no sin 00:18:25.299 --> 00:18:31.720 to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. That there's this 00:18:31.720 --> 00:18:38.200 trade of places that happens. That God shows us his righteousness, that he shows us that he's serious 00:18:38.200 --> 00:18:43.019 about our sin and about the penalty being paid. But then he takes it and pays it for us. 00:18:47.480 --> 00:18:52.500 That he shows us that he's serious about it, but then through us shows the world that he is this great, 00:18:52.740 --> 00:18:58.460 forgiving God. This great, loving God. This great, righteous God. 00:18:58.460 --> 00:19:01.180 God. This great, loving God. This great, holy, loving God. Elaborate. 00:19:01.180 --> 00:19:03.299 And takes us and makes us his own. 00:19:06.819 --> 00:19:09.840 It's a beautiful angle to view this diamond through. 00:19:12.779 --> 00:19:18.420 The fourth angle that I want us to see today is that the gospel is received by believing. 00:19:20.720 --> 00:19:25.960 Paul says that it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, 00:19:25.960 --> 00:19:28.440 to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 00:19:28.519 --> 00:19:29.220 That means everyone. 00:19:32.539 --> 00:19:35.299 Now, if you look at any religion outside of Christianity, 00:19:35.980 --> 00:19:38.420 everyone will agree something is messed up. 00:19:39.059 --> 00:19:41.299 Something is wrong between us and God. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:44.319 And there's something that has to happen to bridge that gap. 00:19:45.440 --> 00:19:47.660 Some think we just have to be a good enough person. 00:19:48.140 --> 00:19:51.240 If our good deeds outbalance our bad deeds, then we're set. 00:19:51.360 --> 00:19:52.440 He'll be okay with us. 00:19:52.440 --> 00:19:57.660 Sometimes, some think maybe we have to make lots of sacrifices 00:19:57.660 --> 00:20:00.019 and then he'll be okay with it. 00:20:01.559 --> 00:20:03.920 Some think maybe we just have to give lots of money 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:06.640 to whatever religious organization we're a part of 00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:08.519 and then God will be okay with us. 00:20:09.960 --> 00:20:12.900 Regardless of the religion, every religion outside of Christianity 00:20:12.900 --> 00:20:16.000 bases our acceptance with God on what we do, 00:20:16.420 --> 00:20:18.259 on how hard we try, on how hard we work, 00:20:18.259 --> 00:20:20.000 on how good we are at doing it. 00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:24.980 And in Christianity, it says there's nothing you can do, 00:20:25.059 --> 00:20:26.779 there's no amount of effort that you can put in 00:20:26.779 --> 00:20:28.460 that will make you good enough. 00:20:30.140 --> 00:20:32.039 No amount of hard work, no amount of trying 00:20:32.039 --> 00:20:35.140 can get you to God and bridge that gap that is there. 00:20:37.799 --> 00:20:40.940 Actually, it says our best efforts are like filthy rags. 00:20:41.700 --> 00:20:43.099 That we stick them before God and we say, 00:20:43.200 --> 00:20:44.140 here, look at what I've done. 00:20:44.200 --> 00:20:45.940 He's like, get those away from me, they're disgusting. 00:20:45.940 --> 00:20:52.360 And in Christianity, we see there is this gap between us and God 00:20:52.360 --> 00:20:54.660 and there is something that needs to be done to bridge that gap 00:20:54.660 --> 00:20:56.220 and that although we can't do it, 00:20:56.279 --> 00:20:58.360 there is another who has come and done it for us. 00:21:02.440 --> 00:21:06.019 That Jesus steps in and he does what we could never do. 00:21:06.140 --> 00:21:09.799 He fulfills God's requirements legally, relationally. 00:21:09.799 --> 00:21:13.899 And rather than just sitting back and saying, 00:21:13.980 --> 00:21:15.419 hey everyone, look, I did it, why can't you? 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:19.940 He steps in and he says, here, this is for you. 00:21:21.599 --> 00:21:22.299 It's a gift. 00:21:23.799 --> 00:21:25.440 And like any gift, it has to be received. 00:21:27.240 --> 00:21:30.039 And the fact that we can't earn it is actually good news for us 00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:33.039 because all we have to do is believe. 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:34.759 Say, yes, I believe. 00:21:35.379 --> 00:21:36.180 I accept it. 00:21:36.339 --> 00:21:36.740 Thank you. 00:21:36.740 --> 00:21:41.099 And the Bible says it will be ours for all who believe. 00:21:42.759 --> 00:21:43.700 It's amazing. 00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:46.559 These different angles. 00:21:48.019 --> 00:21:49.980 The last angle I want us to look at today 00:21:49.980 --> 00:21:53.079 is the fact that the gospel is life transforming. 00:21:54.380 --> 00:21:56.140 The end of verse 17, Paul says, 00:21:56.299 --> 00:21:58.859 the righteous shall live by faith. 00:21:59.880 --> 00:22:01.200 He says if we are righteous, 00:22:01.319 --> 00:22:03.519 if we have this right legal standing before God, 00:22:03.519 --> 00:22:06.680 if we have this right relational standing before God, 00:22:06.740 --> 00:22:09.140 it's not just that it changes the way we interact with God 00:22:09.140 --> 00:22:10.480 and then everything else stays the same. 00:22:12.440 --> 00:22:15.519 He says if our relationship with God legally and relationally 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:16.440 has been changed, 00:22:16.660 --> 00:22:19.460 it has to impact everything in our lives. 00:22:21.339 --> 00:22:22.579 He says if we are righteous, 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:24.880 if we have received this gift, 00:22:25.019 --> 00:22:27.640 if we have been changed in our relationship with God, 00:22:28.660 --> 00:22:30.440 it says we will live by faith. 00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:34.180 I think faith is sometimes a tricky concept. 00:22:34.299 --> 00:22:35.920 One time I was talking with a group of teenagers. 00:22:36.720 --> 00:22:38.059 I asked them, what is faith? 00:22:38.740 --> 00:22:39.740 One of the kids said, 00:22:40.279 --> 00:22:42.400 faith is believing something you have no proof for. 00:22:44.000 --> 00:22:45.700 It's close, but that's not quite it. 00:22:46.940 --> 00:22:49.180 I'd say faith is believing something you can't see, 00:22:49.620 --> 00:22:51.140 but you can have lots of proof for it. 00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:53.039 You just can't 100% prove it. 00:22:53.700 --> 00:22:56.339 So the classic stereotypical example is sitting in a chair. 00:22:56.700 --> 00:22:58.339 Everyone here today walked in here. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:22:59.539 We saw this chair. 00:22:59.759 --> 00:23:02.599 We had no way of proving that that chair could hold us if we sat on it. 00:23:03.420 --> 00:23:05.159 We had lots of reasons for believing it. 00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:07.399 We looked around and we saw other people sitting in chairs 00:23:07.399 --> 00:23:09.440 and the chairs weren't collapsing under their weight, 00:23:09.559 --> 00:23:11.059 so we figured maybe it can hold ours. 00:23:11.779 --> 00:23:12.759 You know, if you've been here before, 00:23:12.859 --> 00:23:13.920 last time you came in, 00:23:13.960 --> 00:23:15.559 I don't think your chair collapsed under you, 00:23:15.639 --> 00:23:17.579 so there's good reason to believe that it would do it again, 00:23:17.579 --> 00:23:18.759 that it would hold you again. 00:23:18.759 --> 00:23:22.779 There's no visible damage to your chair that you're in right now 00:23:22.779 --> 00:23:24.180 that would make you think, 00:23:24.299 --> 00:23:25.960 oh, it's going to collapse when I sit down on it. 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:28.619 But really, there's no way that you could prove 00:23:28.619 --> 00:23:29.920 when I sit on this chair, 00:23:30.039 --> 00:23:31.720 it's not going to collapse under me. 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:35.640 And yet pretty much everyone in here is sitting on a chair. 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:38.119 We took a step of faith to sit down in that chair. 00:23:38.440 --> 00:23:40.379 We had reasons to believe that it would hold us, 00:23:40.440 --> 00:23:41.480 but we couldn't prove it, 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:44.079 but we acted on those reasons. 00:23:44.079 --> 00:23:47.539 And Paul says that if we are righteous, 00:23:47.740 --> 00:23:49.639 if we have received this gift, 00:23:50.259 --> 00:23:52.359 that we will live our lives by faith. 00:23:53.419 --> 00:23:55.240 I think this concept of living by faith 00:23:55.240 --> 00:23:57.460 can be sort of abstract and tricky for us. 00:23:57.799 --> 00:24:00.379 So I have a story that I think illustrates really well 00:24:00.379 --> 00:24:01.819 what it means to live by faith. 00:24:02.379 --> 00:24:03.779 A few weeks ago, I was walking down the street. 00:24:03.879 --> 00:24:05.500 I had this little five-year-old on my shoulders. 00:24:05.740 --> 00:24:07.460 We're walking along, having fun. 00:24:07.539 --> 00:24:09.099 There's like a group of people around us. 00:24:09.099 --> 00:24:11.559 We walk by this 11-foot-high wall, 00:24:11.559 --> 00:24:14.639 and he leans down to me and he says, 00:24:15.379 --> 00:24:18.039 Uncle, I can jump off that wall all by myself. 00:24:19.179 --> 00:24:20.639 And I thought, this kid is crazy. 00:24:22.619 --> 00:24:25.059 Or he just doesn't recognize how much it would hurt 00:24:25.059 --> 00:24:27.559 to jump off an 11-foot-high wall onto concrete. 00:24:29.079 --> 00:24:29.980 But he is five. 00:24:30.039 --> 00:24:31.079 I didn't want to crush his dream, 00:24:31.159 --> 00:24:32.940 so I just sort of nodded my head and said, uh-huh, 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:34.879 and kept walking. 00:24:36.139 --> 00:24:37.819 And then he leans down again and he says, 00:24:37.879 --> 00:24:39.319 Yeah, it'd be really easy. 00:24:39.919 --> 00:24:41.079 I'd stand on top of the wall, 00:24:41.559 --> 00:24:43.299 and you'd stand at the bottom of the wall, 00:24:43.619 --> 00:24:44.740 and I jumped, 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:45.839 and you would catch me. 00:24:47.679 --> 00:24:49.000 And at that moment, I realized, 00:24:49.240 --> 00:24:50.240 this kid isn't crazy. 00:24:51.119 --> 00:24:53.740 He's actually making a very reasonable statement 00:24:53.740 --> 00:24:54.740 because I can reach up, 00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:56.639 and I could catch him if he jumped off that wall. 00:24:57.460 --> 00:24:59.980 His statement wasn't based on the fact that he was crazy. 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:01.539 His statement wasn't based on the fact 00:25:01.539 --> 00:25:03.839 that he underestimated how big of a task it was 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:04.599 to jump off the wall. 00:25:04.899 --> 00:25:06.299 His statement was based on the fact 00:25:06.299 --> 00:25:07.940 that he believed that I was big enough 00:25:07.940 --> 00:25:09.700 and reliable enough to catch him if he jumped. 00:25:09.700 --> 00:25:16.960 Living by faith is like that with God. 00:25:18.400 --> 00:25:20.140 It means that when God calls us to do something, 00:25:20.220 --> 00:25:21.740 we don't look at the size of the task 00:25:21.740 --> 00:25:22.700 that God has called us to 00:25:22.700 --> 00:25:24.000 and say, that's way too big for me. 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:27.360 We look at the size of the God who is with us. 00:25:28.340 --> 00:25:29.940 We say, it doesn't matter how big the task is. 00:25:29.980 --> 00:25:31.259 He's big enough and reliable enough 00:25:31.259 --> 00:25:32.160 to get me through it. 00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:37.400 And what it means for each of us to live by faith 00:25:37.400 --> 00:25:38.660 could look totally different. 00:25:40.400 --> 00:25:41.259 But Paul says, 00:25:41.860 --> 00:25:43.420 if the gospel is true 00:25:43.420 --> 00:25:44.840 and if we have been changed by it, 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:47.320 it's going to impact the way that we live. 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:50.880 And the thing is, 00:25:50.920 --> 00:25:52.019 when we live this way, 00:25:53.480 --> 00:25:56.300 he says that the righteousness of God 00:25:56.300 --> 00:25:58.420 is revealed from faith to faith. 00:25:58.420 --> 00:26:00.560 And there's some debate 00:26:00.560 --> 00:26:01.980 about what exactly this means, 00:26:02.340 --> 00:26:03.560 but I think one of the big things 00:26:03.560 --> 00:26:05.460 is that this type of faith, 00:26:05.960 --> 00:26:08.360 it's contagious and addicting. 00:26:10.740 --> 00:26:11.940 When you have this faith 00:26:11.940 --> 00:26:13.680 and you see it and it works, 00:26:13.900 --> 00:26:15.120 it leads to more faith. 00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:16.400 It is contagious and addicting. 00:26:16.539 --> 00:26:17.360 Going back to that story, 00:26:17.440 --> 00:26:18.920 imagine that five-year-old on my shoulders 00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:19.720 and he says, 00:26:19.800 --> 00:26:20.700 I can jump off this wall, 00:26:20.779 --> 00:26:21.440 you can catch me. 00:26:21.700 --> 00:26:22.860 And I said, yeah, let's go for it. 00:26:22.860 --> 00:26:24.279 And I stuck him up there on top of the wall 00:26:24.279 --> 00:26:25.240 and we counted down, 00:26:25.320 --> 00:26:25.920 three, two, one, 00:26:25.940 --> 00:26:26.900 and he jumped and I caught him. 00:26:27.580 --> 00:26:29.040 What's the first thing he would say to me 00:26:29.040 --> 00:26:29.900 when he was in my arms? 00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:32.240 Again, again, again! 00:26:32.440 --> 00:26:33.400 That was so fun! 00:26:35.240 --> 00:26:36.000 It's addicting. 00:26:36.420 --> 00:26:37.700 Once you see that it works, 00:26:37.740 --> 00:26:39.200 you want it more and more and more. 00:26:39.540 --> 00:26:40.060 And literally, 00:26:40.340 --> 00:26:41.460 if I had let that kid, 00:26:41.620 --> 00:26:43.759 he would have done it all day long. 00:26:45.800 --> 00:26:46.820 It's also contagious. 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:48.360 I had this group of kids around me 00:26:48.360 --> 00:26:49.800 when that conversation happened. 00:26:50.120 --> 00:26:51.800 If I had stuck him up there on top of the wall, 00:26:51.860 --> 00:26:52.780 the rest of the kids 00:26:52.780 --> 00:26:54.220 probably would have been tugging on my shirt 00:26:54.220 --> 00:26:54.820 and been like, 00:26:55.300 --> 00:26:56.660 he's crazy, he's stupid, 00:26:56.660 --> 00:26:57.759 he's going to die. 00:26:58.040 --> 00:26:59.180 And they would have yelled at him 00:26:59.180 --> 00:27:00.519 and said, don't do it! 00:27:02.240 --> 00:27:03.720 But as soon as they saw him jump, 00:27:03.779 --> 00:27:05.220 as soon as they saw me catch him, 00:27:05.420 --> 00:27:07.920 as soon as they saw that I actually was reliable 00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:09.320 to not let him fall to the ground 00:27:09.320 --> 00:27:10.320 and crack his skull open, 00:27:11.580 --> 00:27:12.940 they would have been lining up behind him 00:27:12.940 --> 00:27:14.360 saying, me next, me next, me next! 00:27:16.100 --> 00:27:16.980 Because it's contagious. 00:27:17.140 --> 00:27:19.200 When you see this type of faith in action, 00:27:19.200 --> 00:27:20.140 you want it. 00:27:20.860 --> 00:27:21.920 It spreads. 00:27:21.920 --> 00:27:25.080 Living by faith is something 00:27:25.080 --> 00:27:27.120 that is contagious and addicting. 00:27:27.800 --> 00:27:30.539 Life by faith leads to more life by faith 00:27:30.539 --> 00:27:32.320 in yourself and in others. 00:27:33.920 --> 00:27:35.840 So as we come to the end of our time together today, 00:27:35.860 --> 00:27:36.440 I want to ask you, 00:27:36.519 --> 00:27:37.300 what does it look like 00:27:37.300 --> 00:27:39.600 to live by faith this week? 00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:50.259 For some of us here today, 00:27:50.480 --> 00:27:52.139 we're not Christians. 00:27:54.579 --> 00:27:56.919 Maybe living by faith means taking that first step 00:27:56.919 --> 00:27:57.359 and saying, 00:27:57.899 --> 00:27:58.559 God, I trust you. 00:27:58.639 --> 00:28:00.219 I believe that this gospel is true. 00:28:01.459 --> 00:28:04.619 I believe that you will make me righteous 00:28:04.619 --> 00:28:05.759 if I believe in you. 00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:06.980 I will believe that you will give me 00:28:06.980 --> 00:28:08.139 this right legal standing 00:28:08.140 --> 00:28:10.320 and relational standing before you. 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:12.660 And to live by faith 00:28:12.660 --> 00:28:14.000 means just trusting in him. 00:28:17.180 --> 00:28:18.259 Maybe if we are Christians, 00:28:18.380 --> 00:28:19.080 living by faith 00:28:19.080 --> 00:28:21.000 means stepping out in obedience 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:22.720 to something that God wants us to do, 00:28:22.880 --> 00:28:24.560 even if it doesn't make sense to us. 00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:28.660 Could be something like tithing, 00:28:29.060 --> 00:28:29.880 being generous. 00:28:30.759 --> 00:28:32.100 God, I worked hard for that money. 00:28:32.160 --> 00:28:32.840 If I give it away, 00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:33.800 what's going to happen to me? 00:28:33.799 --> 00:28:37.359 Could be something like 00:28:37.359 --> 00:28:39.019 stopping looking at porn. 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:41.240 I know that's a major issue 00:28:41.240 --> 00:28:41.960 in the church today. 00:28:44.259 --> 00:28:45.220 Maybe someone here, 00:28:45.319 --> 00:28:45.700 God's like, 00:28:45.779 --> 00:28:46.659 I want you to pack up 00:28:46.659 --> 00:28:47.579 and move around the world 00:28:47.579 --> 00:28:49.659 and do something for my kingdom 00:28:49.659 --> 00:28:51.599 that is huge. 00:28:52.740 --> 00:28:53.559 And we look at him 00:28:53.559 --> 00:28:53.879 and we say, 00:28:53.919 --> 00:28:54.839 God, you're crazy. 00:28:55.740 --> 00:28:56.299 He says, 00:28:56.579 --> 00:28:57.659 hey, it's not about the size 00:28:57.659 --> 00:28:58.839 of the task I'm calling to you to. 00:28:59.940 --> 00:29:01.159 It's about how big I am, 00:29:01.160 --> 00:29:03.640 how reliable I am 00:29:03.640 --> 00:29:06.100 to get you through it. 00:29:09.019 --> 00:29:10.040 What does it look like 00:29:10.040 --> 00:29:12.100 for us to live by faith this week? 00:29:15.019 --> 00:29:16.060 As we think about that, 00:29:16.140 --> 00:29:16.440 remember, 00:29:17.080 --> 00:29:17.860 it's not our ability 00:29:17.860 --> 00:29:19.259 to live by faith that saves us. 00:29:19.320 --> 00:29:19.980 It's the gospel, 00:29:20.480 --> 00:29:22.259 the power of God for salvation 00:29:22.259 --> 00:29:23.779 to all who believe. 00:29:27.620 --> 00:29:30.860 This deeply personal relationship 00:29:30.859 --> 00:29:31.759 with God 00:29:31.759 --> 00:29:35.839 where his righteousness 00:29:35.839 --> 00:29:37.699 has been revealed, 00:29:37.899 --> 00:29:39.099 where we have received it, 00:29:39.299 --> 00:29:40.699 this right relationship with him, 00:29:40.979 --> 00:29:43.179 this right legal status with him, 00:29:44.179 --> 00:29:45.679 this gift, 00:29:46.819 --> 00:29:50.779 but a gift that transforms us 00:29:50.779 --> 00:29:52.159 and never leaves us the same. 00:29:53.500 --> 00:29:54.240 Let's pray. 00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:54.299 Amen. 00:29:54.299 --> 00:29:54.779 Father, 00:29:54.779 --> 00:30:00.899 we thank you for the gospel. 00:30:02.480 --> 00:30:04.399 We thank you that it is your power, 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:07.720 that you have given it to us, 00:30:08.299 --> 00:30:09.839 that although we did not deserve it, 00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:11.919 that Jesus came, 00:30:13.619 --> 00:30:14.659 that Jesus gave us 00:30:14.659 --> 00:30:15.519 this right relationship 00:30:15.519 --> 00:30:17.180 and legal status with you, 00:30:18.119 --> 00:30:19.799 that you offer it to us freely 00:30:19.799 --> 00:30:20.940 and that we don't have to earn it, 00:30:21.119 --> 00:30:22.000 that it's its gift. 00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:24.099 I pray that as we move 00:30:24.099 --> 00:30:24.759 throughout this week 00:30:24.759 --> 00:30:25.799 that we would recognize 00:30:25.799 --> 00:30:26.960 this gift for what it is, 00:30:27.000 --> 00:30:27.640 that we would see 00:30:27.640 --> 00:30:28.960 this beautiful diamond 00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:30.259 through so many different angles 00:30:30.259 --> 00:30:31.299 and that every different angle 00:30:31.299 --> 00:30:32.799 we'd see more beauty 00:30:32.799 --> 00:30:33.559 inside of it. 00:30:35.799 --> 00:30:37.000 God, help us to fall more 00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:37.619 in love with you. 00:30:39.180 --> 00:30:40.579 As we fall more in love with you, 00:30:40.660 --> 00:30:41.779 help us to live lives 00:30:41.779 --> 00:30:44.220 that are marked by this trust in you, 00:30:44.460 --> 00:30:45.319 this recognition 00:30:45.319 --> 00:30:46.460 that you are big enough, 00:30:46.960 --> 00:30:48.299 you are strong enough, 00:30:48.299 --> 00:30:50.579 you are reliable enough 00:30:50.579 --> 00:30:52.659 to sustain us. 00:30:54.099 --> 00:30:55.059 God, we love you. 00:30:55.779 --> 00:30:57.200 In Jesus' name, amen.