The Church of Eleven22 - Grace Can't Be Lost - Run Over by the Grace Train - Wk 2

Episode Date: September 22, 2024

"For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe." Romans 3:20-22 - The Church of Eleven22® is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. Eleven22 is led by Pastor Joby Martin and based in Jacksonville, Florida, with multiple campuses throughout Jacksonville and the surrounding areas. To find out more about how God is moving at Eleven22, go to CoE22.com

Amen and amen. How we doing, church? Are you still saturated? Did it leak out? How are we doing? Hey, good job being here. You're welcome. I told you it was awesome. I feel like we have been run over by the grace train over the list last week. Amen? Hey, a couple of days that were really incredible. We had about 117,000 people between live and online worshiping with us over saturated, which is pretty, pretty cool. We had about 260 people surrender their life to the Lord's of Jesus Christ during saturated, and we baptized just over 400 people during saturated, which means we have baptized over 2,000 people this year. Praise God. Now, you may be saying, how is all that happening? I'm glad you asked. If you got your Bibles, I hope you do, go to Romans chapter 3. You're in trouble. This is my favorite chapter

in the whole Bible. Romans chapter 3. This Romans chapter 3 explains the how of what the gospel is. that the way that we're run over by the grace train is through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And in our time together today, we're going to talk about the gospel. And you may say, oh, I know the gospel, do you? Because I don't fully know it. That's why I tell you can't get over the gospel. I don't care how deep you dive into the gospel, you'll never get to the bottom. Then Pastor Matt said last Thursday, the gospel is not like the front door of the house.

It's the whole house. The gospel is not the starter of your car. It's the bumper to bumper. It's not the ABCs of Christianity. It's the A to Z. I can keep going for an hour. The gospel is what we are all about because it is the power

which saves us under God. And we need to be reminded of the gospel. Listen, man, I get it. I have degrees in the gospel. And somehow I lay my head on the pillow and it leaks out my ear every night and I got to wake up in the morning

and remind myself, it's not by my work that I'm saved, but it's by the good news, the good work of Jesus Christ on the cross. That's what saves me. The passage that we're about to remember, changed the world. There was this priest monk named Martin Luther.

And he believed that it was by his works that he would be saved. And he was a professor, and he was teaching Romans, and he gets along with the book of Romans in his bedroom, and it changed everything about everything about everything. That's what the grace train does. And grace has a face, his name is Jesus. And the good news that when you get run over by the grace train, it doesn't leave you like a bloody mess. like if you got hit by an actual train, you get run over by the grace train,

and then you find yourself, and you got a seat in first class. You're like, how did I get here? It's because grace took over. And when the mosquito grabs onto a freight train, the mosquito doesn't feel bigger and say, look at me, the mosquito can't believe he's along for the ride, and this is what the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ does

for you and for me. So let's talk about the gospel. It's hard to pick up in Romans and just start with a verse, because it's one letter continuous from the very beginning to the very end. Paul is brilliant. Paul got his law degree from the college of Tarsus. And so as he's writing it, he understands the kind of thoughts that people are going to have, and he goes ahead and answers the questions before they ever ask them.

That's the whole book of Romans, really. It starts out. He's like, hey, I'm Paul. What's up, Rome? Wish I could come see you. I pray for you all the time. And then he says, my hope is that the gospel. would transform you and lead you to an obedience of faith. That's chapter 1, verse 5. Not an obedience

from faith. There's a very, very key difference. He's not saying, if I have obedience, then maybe I'll be found faithful. He's saying, no, no, no, no. When I put my faith in Jesus, then obedience follows. Then he writes his thesis statement. You know what that is? Okay? You know, like when you write a paper, you had to write like, this is what the paper is all about. 116 of Romans, Paul says, this is everything I'm about to tell you. Then he tells them, then he tells them that he told him. That's what he does in Romans. Romans 116, he says, for, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it.

For the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. That matters. because I got good news for you. If you fall in the everyone category, then you can put your belief in Jesus Christ. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. Let me just modernize that. Modernize that.

To the religious person and the irreligious person. Verse 17. For in it, for in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. When we see the word righteousness in Romans, don't think right activity. Because right activity is not going to save you. what this word means is a right standing before God.

It's not like God is waiting to see how you do and then give you the grade. When you put your faith in Jesus Christ, then because of his performance not yours, then you get a right standing before God. For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to fake. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. And so then he keeps going. For the rest, basically the rest of the first chapter of Romans,

he says, so who needs the gospel? and he talks about a bunch of irreligious people. You know, those crazy people that don't come to church with us, you know, those pagan people. And he begins to list certain sins. And then at one, he's like murderers and the proud and the people that don't obey their parents, which, by the way, have you ever paid attention to the list in the Bible? It starts out shady. He uses words like orgies and debauchery, and you're like, ooh, that's crazy.

And then he goes, and those who disobey their parents. And you're like, hey, wait a minute. Am I on the list? Yeah, I'm on the list. Okay, we're all on the list. And my favorite in this description in chapter one, he says, and inventors of evil. They were doing so much shady stuff that Paul did not have a category of sin for those people. They were making up new evil things, okay? So who needs the gospel? You know all those rebels out there. They're just sex drugs and rock and roll and listening to rated R movies, watch them radio R movies, and those kind of people. And you're like, who those people? He's like, yeah, those people need the gospel. And then,

he shifts gears for the next chapter and says, and all the religious people need the gospel too. All those people going to Sunday school and sponsoring kids and worshiping with their hands up and raised in church. And he says, so basically there's only two groups of people that need the gospel. The religious and the irreligious. If you're one of those, then you need the gospel, which means this, everybody needs the gospel.

And so then he understands that some people are going to say, okay, Paul, are we too far gone? for the gospel to impact us. And he goes, no way, the righteousness has been made available even for you. And then the people are going to ask, how, Paul, and this is how we get to Romans 3, 9 through 26. This is the passage that we're going to study. It's a really big deal. Martin Luther says that this is the most important paragraph ever written.

Martin Luther said, this is the point of the whole Bible. So if you're new here, you pick the best weekend to ever come. because we're going to talk about like the core of what the Bible claims and the core of what we believe as Christians and the core of what we preach and believe here at 1122. He said that Romans 3 9 to 26 is the chief point on which the whole Bible stands. So Romans 3 beginning of verse 9. It says, what then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all.

In other words, here's what they're asking. All right, Paul, do we have any advantage if we started out in the church? And Paul goes, nope. It's like, what? But I thought I was a believer. I thought I was a Christian because my grandma's a Christian or my dad's a Christian. And Paul goes, nope, Jesus doesn't save last names, he only saves first names. Like the line to get into heaven is a single file line.

There's no like group entrance just because of who you are or who your parents were. and I've told you this 10 million times that going to church does not make you a Christian anymore and putting your head in the oven makes you a biscuit. That's not how it works. It's not an outside end thing. It's an inside out thing. He says, so what then?

Are we religious people any better off? And he goes, nope, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks are, here's the key phrase, under sin, that every single one of us are born into this world under sin.

It's almost like your nationality. Like if you had a spiritual passport at birth every single one of us on our spiritual passport, it would say under sin because you and I are born with a sin nature. And the reason this happens is because we inherited the sin nature from our first parents, Adam and Eve. My friend Charles Martin says this the other day.

He said that Adam and Eve didn't simply choose the wrong fruit they chose the wrong king. So when we are born as sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, we are born into the wrong kingdom. We are born under sin. And so there's only one of two options of your spiritual passport. It's either going to say under sin or under grace. And sin is not just breaking random set of rules

in a book that you never read. Paul is going to personify sin as an enemy. And we are under, we are born under the power and dominion of that domain like slaves needing freedom, not like mistakeers needing improvement. And so every single one of us are sinners, every single one of us, wretched, crooked, depraved. And again, you don't even blink at that anymore because you've been here for so long. If you're offended by that, it's because you're a crooked, wretched, depraved, idol worshiper, and you're worshipping yourself.

And I know your kindergarten told you you were precious, but she lied to you. you're a precious, crooked, and depraved, idol-worshipping sinner. Now, I'm not trying to label you. I'm really not. Now, most of us don't even have to be convinced. When I go, you're a sinner, you're like, it's worse than you think, okay? Most of us. And I could spend a long time trying to convince you, and it hit me last week.

I can't. There's nothing I could say that could convince you that you are unrighteous before a righteous and holy God. Only the spirit of God can do that. But when he does, get ready. Because Jesus kicks off the sermon on the mouth with this. He says, blessed are the poor in spirit. That means when you realize, uh-oh, I'm spiritually bankrupt,

then you are this close to getting saved. I mean, that is the beginning of your salvation. The kingdom of God is at hand, is what he says. So I'm not trying to label you, I'm not trying to beat you up. I'm trying to diagnose you. so that you can receive the cure. If you broke your arm and you went to the orthopedic doctor,

which arms are you going to reach for? If you started reaching for that, you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, that one hurts. Here, work on this leg. It feels great. No, no, no, no. He's going to put his hands on the thing that hurts the most

so that he can bring the healing. So when you show up here and the great physician begins to grab on to you and be like, out, so it hurts a little bit. He's like, I know, I know, I know. Because this is the place where we need healing. And so he keeps going, just in case you still don't believe you're a sinner. Listen to these Bible verses.

Verse 10, as it is written. So Paul is going to link together a whole bunch of Bible verses. He's going to quote Psalm 14, 1 to 3, Psalm 5, 9, Psalm 140, verse 3, Psalm 10, 7. Then he's going to jump over to Isaiah 59, 7, and 8, and he's going to go back to Psalm 361. Here they all are all together. None is righteous. And you're like, what about me? Ha ha.

No, not one. So think about the holiest person you can think of, other than me, obviously, okay? On their own, every single human being is not righteous, not right with God, does not have a right standing with God. Now here's the craziest thing you've got to get your head around. Every religion says that we've got to repent of our wretchedness. Like if you do something terrible and dumb and evil in your own eyes, you think, well, I probably shouldn't do that anymore. The Bible says the Christian not only repents of their bad deeds, but also their righteous deeds, if you think that earns you a right standing with God. You see, everybody by nature rejects God.

Go back to the Garden of Eden. Some of us do it through rebellion. Forget you, God, I do what I want. What you mean I can't eat that apple? I do what I want, because I'm the boss of me. That usually plays out in rebellion. It doesn't end good. But then there's this other group over here too, and they reject God at church.

And they reject God by religion. Remember what happened after Adam and Eve? Sin, and they realize they're naked and ashamed. And so what did they do? Do they run to him and say, we're sorry? No, no, no. They run from him, and by the works of their own hands, they fashioned fig leaves together to try to cover their own sin and shame.

and the first religion is born. God, I don't need you because I'm going to do these religious activities to cover over my sin. And both that kind of religion, works-based religion and rebellion, it's all a rejection of the Holy God. So as it is written.

No one is righteous. Nope, not one. You see, some people go to self-indulgence, some people go to self-righteousness. Jesus calls us the self-denial because we need a savior. no one understands no one seeks for god all have turned aside together they have become worthless anybody triggered yet no one does good not even one their throat is an open grave they use their tongues

to deceive the venom of asps you got to really enunciate that one the venom of asses under their lips the fact that you laugh is just evidence of your sinful behavior i can't believe you would think of that in church and those of you are like i don't get it god bless you god bless you you're great Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Their paths are ruin and misery and the way of peace. They have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

That's you and me. You see, we love to play the comparison game, man. Comparisons always lose, lose. Anybody that's ever said, well, you know what? God's a good God and I'm a good guy. What? Who told you that? You've been listening to your grandma too much.

You're non-gossop-saturated grandma. You're good? compared to what? The problem is we pick who we compare to, right? Yeah. And yeah, compared to, you know, the news and Hitler and your college roommate or whoever you want to pick. Yeah, you're doing great. Congratulations.

Compared to an almighty, holy, perfect God, you ain't doing good. I mean, I spent 10 minutes on this last week. I mean, not only can we not keep the commandments, we can't keep our own commandments. Amen? Like, you ever lie to you, you ever break promises? you or wherever around? Well, what if God holds you accountable to his perfect law, just the top 10? Like, there's only one God. You ever treat you as God? He said, don't ever worship anything but me. You ever treat something temporary as eternal? He says, don't use my, don't use

the Lord's name in vain. Anybody want to confess that one? How about this one? Honor to the Sabbath and keep it holy. We don't even think that counts anymore, unless you're Chick-fil-A-Lahobby. Honor your parents, ah, teenagers. and everybody else. Don't murder. And that's the woman we're like, I ain't ever murdered nobody. Yeah, that pesky Jesus in his teaching,

you have heard that it was said, thou shalt not murder, but I say to you if you've ever hated a brother in your heart. Yeah, you know what the great word for that is? Twitter. That's what that is. The seven ones, thou shalt not commit adultery.

You're like, I don't know, I've always been faithful, have you? Same sermon. Jesus says, if you've lusted after a woman, you're just like, all right, next. What are we got here? Don't steal. Don't lie.

People are, you calling me a liar? I'm calling you a liar. You're a liar. Like, how you can call me a liar? This week, have you checked the box that said I have read the conditions and agree? You're a liar, man. Liar. Well, that's called a lie.

Don't covet. HDTV, that's coveting. The outdoor network, that's coveting. When we covet, it's in the front against God. God, you didn't get this right. You gave her that sweet house, and you gave me this. That's what coveting is. Look, man, I hate to break it to you.

You're over 10. On just the top 10, and there's 613 laws. And so, the late great Tim Keller says that reflecting on these verses that here's how we are jacked up. He doesn't say jacked up. I say jacked up. Legally mentally, our motives, our wills, our tongues, our relationships, and our relationship with God have all been fractured by sin because you and I are willful. rebels against an almighty God.

Now again, this is just a diagnosis. Verse 19. Now, we know that whatever the law says, and when it says law, it means like the law of God. And we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world would be held accountable to God. That God gave us his law, the Old Testament,

as both a map and a mirror. it's a map to show us how to live before a holy and just God. And then it's a mirror so that we go, uh-oh, there is a problem. Who can pull this off? So please, please, please quit using it as like binoculars, be like, oh, I found some sinners. And make sure you first use it as a mirror, be like, yep, there he is again. But he made it clear so that we know what law is so that we would know we were breaking the law.

Okay, so here's an example. if the U.S. government during tax season just sent you a note and said, here's a real famous saying, I'm not going to say much about it, it would get me in trouble. If they send you, say, hey, this year during tax season, just pay your fair share. Like, just whatever you think you ought to pay, just send us a check. You know what you would do. I know what I would do. I'd sit down and be like, okay, let me take this over.

All right, you owe me a lot of money. You owe me a lot of money. Wouldn't you? So then you, let's say, you send it in, you send a bill. Here you go. Here's all the money you owe me. A bunch of crooks. And so, and then imagine, though, three months later,

they show up with guns, because that's what they'll do, and say, you're under arrest for breaking federal tax code. You're like, what do you mean? I thought I just had to figure it out on my own. That would be grossly unfair, correct? Well, see, we can't do this before the Lord, because the Lord has written it down for us to access and say, what is the law, and you can read it.

Like, no cop when he pulls you over for speeding, he asked this question, do you know how fast you were going? The key question is, do you know how fast I was going? He does not ask you how you felt while you were driving that fast. That is not the point. The law is given to us so that we would know it would expose our sinful hearts. and we would realize, uh-oh, the ultimate commandment in the old covenant and the new is be holy, for I am holy. Jesus says, be perfect for I am perfect.

And so this law, the Bible, convicts us because we're not. And so we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that you don't have an excuse. I don't have an excuse. Every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. verse 20 this sentence is so powerful for by works of the law no human being will be justified in his

sight since through the law comes the knowledge of sin listen to me church people if you're a church people for by works of the law insert your name there's no way you'll be justified in his sight there's no way you can be good enough there's no way you can do

good enough it's impossible It's impossible. You see, remember, the uniqueness of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The thing that makes the gospel different than everything else is this word grace. You see, everybody agrees, every religion, like the major world religions and the little crazy ones, they all agree. God is, he's there, and we're here, and we have to do stuff to get from here to there. Just insert religion. align your chakra, visit Mecca, obey the five pillars, be good enough, obey the Ten Commandments,

whatever it is. And the uniqueness, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ starts out the same. There's a holy God other than us, he's perfect, and we are not. But the good news of the message of the gospel is that he doesn't say, come on, you can make it because we can't make it. that he steps out of heaven and comes on a rescue mission for you and me and does for us what we could not do for ourselves. For my works of law, no one will be declared righteous. You see, the job of the law is to diagnose the problem. Last year, JP, well, for years he played football, played the Providence, he was the free safety.

We're playing UC, University Christian. We hadn't beaten them in 20 years. but don't worry about us. We got them last year, okay? And if you're from UC, you can win from now on, but last year I don't care. That's what happened. They're running back, plays in like the SEC now, okay?

Our team didn't. But they run this little tall sweep. JP plays free safety. He runs the alley. If any of football players, you know what I'm talking about, right? Seas it coming. And he knows he can't hit this dude up. He'll be run over by the freight train.

That's what it would look like. And so he just makes himself a missile and dives in there and puts his shoulder pad right on this dude's hip, and boo! He goes flipping up like that. It was awesome. But when he got up, shoulder he was like this ain't awesome but he's got so much adrenaline you know what you can hurt tomorrow

right boy by the time he gets on the bus after the game he can't even move it i'm like oh it's a senior year don't want to give games so we go to the the orthopedic dr von thoran he's probably in here okay he's incredible and so we go and he has to do an x-ray and then an MRI and the MRI comes back and there's some kind of shoulder issue and i think i mean i hate that MRI got it now here's the thing. Can the MRI fix the shoulder? What if we do? 10,000 MRIs. Is it going to make it any better? She's going to show them. Problem, problem, problem, problem. The law does not have the ability to fix your life any more than the MRI has the ability to fix his shoulder. God just had to heal him from the inside out. Okay, that's what happened. He missed one game, came back, had a great season.

The law is the MRI. It's the thing that examines you beyond the surface level for us to diagnose. that there's a problem so that the great physician can do something about it. Verse 21, we're going to shift gears. It's been pretty bad news so far, right? Everybody's like, I know if you're the first time here, you're thinking, your friend, you're like, you said he was funny. This is not funny. He's mean. Okay, I'm not mean. I am mean, but I'm mean because I love you, all right. Verse 21, but, oh, you got to love it in the Bible when everything's going bad and then there's a big old butt right here. You understand? man. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

You should be turning cartwheels over verses like this in the Bible. What he's about to get to, he's about to explain what he laid out in 117, that the gospel was the power of God under salvation. He's saying, listen, the whole Bible from Genesis to Malachi has been talking to about one thing. This alien righteousness that was going to show up on the scene to do for us what our hard work and obedience towards the law could not do. Now, the righteousness, not a righteousness, not like you did a right thing, but the right standing of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. In other words, here's what he said. Don't you unhitch from the Old Testament, you dummy?

The whole Old Testament is promised made. The whole Gospel and New Testament is promised fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus. The way they could recognize who Jesus was is because the whole Bible in the Old Testament had been pointing to the fact that he was coming. He was on his way. I mean, all the way back to the very beginning. God speaks everything into existence. He makes his image bearers. You see, listen, the beginning of the gospel is not that you're a sinner.

the beginning of the gospel is God made you in his image and he wants you. That's the beginning. Like, he came up with the idea of you and God don't make mistakes. And he breathes the life into the very first man. He opens his eyes and his face to face with his creator. It was imprinted on its soul. We inherited that. That's what every single one of us were created for.

This is why the stuff of the earth would just never fully and finally satisfy. Because you weren't made for. stuff and cyber trucks and whatever you're into. You're in the image bearer of God and he's your dad. Then the enemy comes along and tricks Adam and Eve. Did God really say? And again, like Charles said, they didn't just choose the wrong fruit. They chose the wrong king. And sin enters the world. And sin busts up everything. I mean, sin entered our world. Sin held the door open for anything painful you've ever been through in your entire life. For all the shame,

for all the abuse, for all the lives, for all the depression. But God goes to Adam and Eve, and because he's a just judge, all sin must be paid for. And he curses everything. And then he makes this proclamation. He looks at Eve and he goes, listen, I'm going to put enmity

between your offspring and this enemy, this Satan, this liar, this accuser, this devil, this snake. And there's going to come a day, Eve, from your line, this dude's going to show up. And he's coming on a rescue mission. And this enemy's going to try to take him out. And he's going to think he gets him. And he's going to bruise his heel.

And little does he know he's going to get his head crushed. It's called the Polo Evangalion. And the whole rest of the Old Testament is about the coming of this serpent crusher. I mean, dude, you could go, think, if you grew up in Sunday school, think Sunday school story after Sunday school story after Sunday school story. Think the Passover with Moses. It wasn't just about getting the nation of Israel out of Egypt and getting them through the promised land.

It was about the blood of a lamb was going to be shed and put it on the doorposts of the house and the angel of death was going to come through Egypt and take the firstborn of everybody. And whoever has the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of the house, the angel of death would pass over. That was about Jesus. It was foreshadowing Jesus. And then when they do get, even when they're wandering around in the temple, I mean in the wilderness, they set up a tabernacle and eventually they set up a temple. and there's this sacrificial system

that's they set up because it's really complicated about goats and doves and bulls and heifers and it's very, very complicated. But the whole point is that sin has separated us from a holy God, but God wants to be with his people. So he sets up this building, and he sets up a throne inside a room, inside a room, inside a room, inside a room. It's called the Holy of Holies.

And there's a throne there, and he sits on these cherubum, and he puts his feet down on the mercy seat. And one time of year, the high priest consecrates himself and he gets a perfect spotless lamb, and he sheds the blood of the lamb, and he goes into the holy of holies, and he sprinkles the blood of the lamb over the broken law of God. That's a big box in the middle held the law of God. And he sprinkled the blood so the blood would cover the mercy seat.

The hillustarium is the name. The Greek word is propitiation. So that when God looked down, he didn't see his broken laws. He saw the shed blood of a spotless lamb. And then we'd cover over the sin of the Jewish people until the next year, where they did it again. That's Leviticus 16. And every one of the prophets, they talked about stuff that was contemporary to their day, but mostly they pointed to a day when a redeemer was going to come.

Like Isaiah, Isaiah says, in Isaiah 53, by the way, that's what that is. That's called the Jerusalem cross, the five wounds of Jesus on the cross that go to the four corners of the earth. and under it is Isaiah 53, but he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. Or David writes in Psalm 22,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And then it's a play-by-play, blow-by-blow description of a crucifixion of a servant who would come and be crucified on our behalf. 500 years, David writes this down before the persons invent crucifixion and 900 years before Jesus is crucified. If you go, I mean, we could go every single prophet in the Old Testament speaks of Jesus' coming. You get to the last book in our Bible's, the Old Testament, Malachi 4.

The prophet Malachi says, Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children. children to their fathers. Then if you turn over to Luke, Mary's cousin gets pregnant, and the angel shows up. It says, this boy you're pregnant with, he's special. And he's going to be born in the spirit of Elijah, and he's going to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and their hearts of children to their fathers. This is the guy we know is John the Baptist, John the baptizer. He grows up weird, man. He's a weird guy. He's strange, but he's very focused. He lives outdoors.

he eats weird food, drinks honey, and screams at people. He makes a good living doing that, not back then, he gets killed. And he's just standing out in the Jordan saying, repent, prepare you the way of the Lord. And all these people are showing up to just have him scream at them and give them this baptism of repentance. And then one day, one day, this one day who was born in the spirit of Elijah that Malachi prophesied about 400 years before he was born. He utters these words, his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph, the Carth. that nobody knows anything about at that point. And he says, behold.

I mean, wait up, get off of a TikTok, look at me. And everybody pays attention. And he goes, behold, this is it. The serpent crusher is on the scene. The one we've been looking for is here. He says it this way,

behold, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the entire world. Do you know how crazy it is in light of Leviticus 16 and the Day of Atonement? Not another Lamb of God that's going to cover over the sins of just the Jewish people until next year when we perform this ritual again? No, no, no, no, no.

The fulfillment of everything God promised is coming. Behold the Lamb of God, who's come to take away the sin of the entire world. Another way to say that is, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. And I've been telling you all, if you'd read your Bible, as you would see that Jesus is on the scene. Back to Paul, verse 22. explains it. Here's who Jesus is, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Got to explain these terms, okay? The righteousness of God. Righteousness means a right standing with God. It's what every single one of us want. We want to be right with God. He's going to

say you can't earn it. Can't work your way there. A righteousness of God, how? through faith in Jesus. For who? For all who would believe? What if I'm bad? I got good news. He died on the cross for you. What if I'm good?

You're a little misguided because you're not as good as you think, but he died on the cross for you too. No matter who you are, what you've done, who you've done it with, what the label this world has tried to label you with, or maybe your last church tried to tell you. Jesus says,

for all who would believe on him would be made right before God. And that word there, it says for all who believe, that Greek word is pastuo. We talk about it a lot, Pestuo. If you translate, believe, man, that's dangerous in the South. Because you'll be like, yeah, I believe. It doesn't mean like that. Believe in and believe that ain't the same thing.

You understand? Lots of people believe that. There's a God. And he, you know, sent his son and Donald, three days later, rose from the grave. You know, the demons believe that. But they haven't submitted and surrendered their life. They haven't transferred the weight of their life to that.

The best example I can ever think of, I've done it a hundred times, but I don't care. When I was a kid in Dylan, we'd go to the Dylan pool, and we didn't do swim lessons. Little preppy people did swim lessons. We were very Darwinian in our approach to kid. It was just like, survive or die, baby, you know? That's why my generation is tough. All the weak ones are dead. You know what I mean?

They died from drinking out of the hose. They got some kind of iron poisoning. They didn't make it. But, you know, good luck, kids. You and your helmets and your purified water. So anyway, should we go to Dylan? And when I was young, man, daddy would just get out in the middle of the pool in the deep end. And then go, get on the diving board, just jump to me.

I'll catch you. I can't swim. I get up on the diving board, walk out to the edge of it. And in that moment, there's my daddy. And I believe that, that's my dad. You know, he had to part and the magnumpea mustache, had the Marlboro just on his lip, like wasn't even paddling like this, stuck on the lid every time. Come on, Sean, and just pop, remember that?

And I was like, I recognized his voice. And in that moment, I believe that he's my dad. I'm not pastuoing in my father at that point. He goes, come on, buddy, I'll catch you. The moment I shift my weight off of the diving board and trust that he'll keep his promise, that's Pistuo. Because I know if you don't get me, I'm in trouble. And when I do, he will catch me. Why? Because he's a good dad.

That's what putting your faith in Jesus is. He keeps going. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Like we're all in the same boat, man. Nobody gets a head start in the kingdom of God. Because all have sin and fallen short. It's an archery term. I love this.

It's an archery term. It means miss the mark. The glory of God is perfection. And we just miss. So if you were in an archery competition and it took three bullseyes to move on to the next round and you missed the first one, guess what? You don't get to move on.

And you're like, no, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, but I can make a hundred in a row. It doesn't matter. And actually, it's not three in a row. It's 613 in a row every day of your life. That's how many laws there are. And if you miss any of them, you've fallen short. And if you miss it by a little bit

or you miss it by a lot, we've all missed the mark. For all of sin and fall short of the glory of God. but when the gospel invades your life and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Then when you put your faith in Jesus, this word justified is a legal term. A decent way to remember it. It's not actually theologically perfect, but that's all right. Neither am I.

So justified is a legal term. It means though you are guilty because of what Christ has done for you, God declares you innocent. from his vantage point, looking through the cross, he looks at you just if I'd never sin before in my life. You're like, yeah, but you don't know what I'd done. Oh, then you don't know my Savior. There is more grace in Jesus than sin in you. Trust me. Trust me.

Have you read the Bible? Pick any person from the Bible, and they're pretty bad. Terrorists and killers and murderers and rapists and God put them in charge. Okay? So I promise his blood can save you and are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. I told you this a million times.

It's like redeeming a coupon, right? You get your coupon, you go to the store. We literally call it, hey, I'd like to redeem this coupon, free ham. What does it cost you? Nothing. Cost the grocery store? Full price. Costs the pig or everything.

That would really preach. This redemption doesn't mean that the price wasn't paid. It means Jesus paid the price. If I let you drive my truck, which there's no chance, but if I did and you wrecked it, and then you came back to me, and I said, and you were like, oh, I'm so sorry.

And I say, I forgive you. Is my truck fixed? That just means I will pay the price of the debt that you have incurred to fix my truck. We have made a wreck of our lives. and when we believe on Jesus for our salvation and we go before the Father and say, will you forgive me? I put my faith in Jesus. Then he redeems you. And at great expense to himself, he fixes the problem, which is you and me. You're like, how does he do that? Glad you asked.

Verse 25, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. And propitiation means a payment that. You're the only church in America. It knows it. Say it one more time for the back row. A payment that? It satisfies. By the way, if I ever look at a new Bible, I'll use the ESV. Part of the reason is because it uses the word propitiation. You're going to do a test on translations real quick. If somebody's like, hey, read this Bible. Just go to this verse. And if it doesn't say propitiation, say thank you very much. And don't, that's not your own. That's not yours. It's not expiation. Expiation means to wash away. It's not simply atoning sacrifice. Propitiation satisfies the judgment of God, the wrath of God, the wrath of God.

the holiness of God, that Jesus is the payment that fully satisfies God's justice. And when you put your faith in Him, this means that God cannot be dissatisfied in you. Do you know how your whole life would be changed if you actually believe that? If I actually believe that? I quit thinking that my performance is going to influence God's attitude toward me today. You know the freedom you could live in? if we really believe these words, if we really believe that we were justified by his grace through the redemption,

I'm redeemed that is in Christ Jesus, who God put forward as the payment that fully and finally satisfied the justice of God. So he's not dissatisfied in me. How do he do it? By his blood to be received. How? By pastuo, by faith, by trust. Sometimes I'll have people say, so, all right, hold on.

But why can't God just forgive everybody? Why did Jesus have to die on a cross? And why do you have to believe in him for forgiveness? People are like, I forgive people. Yeah, of course you do. But you ain't God. For God to overlook sin, it would make him an unjust judge. And we have no idea what a big deal sin is.

I mean, think about this. Sin is, it's so bad, it's so egregious. It's so cosmically terrible that the perfect Lamb of God, the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, Jesus himself had to shed all of his blood on the cross to do something about it. I mean, imagine if something horrible happened to your child and they caught the guy and you're standing in the courtroom and the judge goes, you know what? I mean, nobody's perfect. Don't worry about it. What are you going to do? Well, nobody's perfect.

No, no, no, no. You would say you're an unjust judge. You were unworthy to sit on that bench. For God to overlook sin would make him an unjust judge, and he cannot and won't do that because it's against his character and nature. When the Bible says, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one, a part of what that means is God has integrity,

and he always acts within his character and his nature. And so Paul explains this, and he does it in a real complicated way because he's real smart and he's sometimes hard to understand. And even Peter reads it and he's like, Y'all not at Paul, sometimes that's tough. Okay, here's the way he says it. This was to show God's righteousness

because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins, and it was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just in the justifyer. That explained it? No, that's why I'm here. That's why I have a job. Ready? Here we go.

Putting Jesus forward as the propitiation the payment satisfies, why did he do this? This was to show his righteousness because he is a just judge. Because God is holy, all sin must be paid for. Secondly, because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins. But because of God's mercy, he delays the payment required.

This is how any of us made it alive long enough to hear the gospel. It's also how the fellows, ladies and gentlemen in the Old Testament, get saved. By faith, they are putting their faith in the Lamb of God that would come one day and die on the Christ. cross to steal a chain and chain song, what they knew by faith, we know by name. So because of God's justice, all sin must be paid for. Because of God's mercy, he delayed the payment. And then this miraculous verse, it was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just

and the justifier. And the grace strain is, because of his grace, he made the payment on your behalf. that's the gospel you see perfection was required Jesus lives a perfect life and then makes the perfect sacrifice and anyone who would believe would receive the right to be called a child of God sin washed away and adopted into his family this is what the gospel is the picture of the cross the two beams of the cross represent perfect justice and perfect love that vertical beam you could think about it as God was pleased to pour out his wrath on his perfect son so that sins would be paid for.

And on that horizontal beam, Jesus' arms are wide open, offering for anyone who would believe you would be justified and redeemed. You say, how do I do that? That you trust, you believe, you postuo, that when you died on the cross somehow that counted for me. my favorite illustration of this, I haven't told in a long time. Back in the day, we had these dogs. These two dogs.

First one we got was named Samson. Gretchen I were living in Athens, Georgia, and I wanted an English bulldog, and I couldn't afford it because they're expensive. Okay? So we got boxers, because they look kind of the same, but, you know, they're like a third of the price. And I was a youth pastor, and so whatever, it worked out. So we got this dog named Samson. He was awesome. He was big, and he was tough, and he was ripped, and,

a hundred bite, you know, and he drew a lot. He was cool. Everything was going good. We decided he was not good for Samson to be alone, so we got Sadie. And then it all went to hell. That's where it went, okay? It's terrible. Bad influence.

Very biblical. Anyway, just kidding. And so, we were crazy people about dog. You know dog people, like, we would get a birthday presents and Christmas present. They'd stay in our bed. They were like that. And then we moved here.

We moved to Jacksonville. And really wise people that we went to church with were like, y'all are crazy about your dogs. And we were like, they're like our kids. And they're like, that's adorable. When you have kids, they're going to be a pain in the butt. And we were like, not us, never. We love them so much.

And then we had kids, and so we put a fence in the backyard, and they lived outside from then on, right? So when JP and Reagan were real little, this girl would come over and she'd watch the dogs for us, right? And so one day, it's like 11 o'clock, and she calls me. I was a youth pastor at Beach, and she calls me. She was like, hey, I got here at 8 o'clock. I haven't seen the dogs all morning.

I think any might need to come home. And I am so aggravated. So get my truck, go to the house, go to the backyard, and I had left the gate open. Now here's the thing. The reason that we put the fence there is because we love our dogs. And we backed up right to Hodges.

And so we know that if the dogs were to run on to Hodges, then they would be dead. And so the fence was not a punishment. The fence was a provision because we loved them. And I don't think the dogs ever understood that, no matter how much we even tried to tell them. And so that day that I left the gate open, I know exactly what happened. I know that Sadie, the female, she went and nosed it opened. She was like, Samson is time. And he was like, Sadie, no, no, no, no, no, I don't think

you understand. The master loves us, and this fence, his provision and protection, and it's dangerous out there, and we should say, here, she was like, whatever, and she went running, and like every dog I know, he's like, okay, and went right behind her. And I'm sure at first, when they run out into the neighborhood, they thought, freedom. We can do whatever we want. The man can't hold me down. He got no rules out here. I can chase cats and pee on the neighbor's flowers and nobody's going to pick up the poo.

I mean, I'm doing whatever I want. We had geese in the pond across the street. I'm sure they gave those a run for it. But here's the reality. Is that rebellion always feels like fun and freedom at first. but it can only lead to one or two places, and that's death and bondage. And so I get home, and I figure out the things open, and then I got to do what every dog owner is done.

You know, I get in my truck, roll down the window, and my dogs love some cheese, so I get me some couple pieces of cheese. I'm riding around the neighborhood with cheese out the window going, Sadie, Samson. And then your neighbors are so dumb. Your neighbor's like, did you lose your dogs? No, Nana and Grandpa got out, but they let a gum down some cheese. Of course, Sadie.

Come on, man. That's why Jesus said, love your neighbors, because they're idiots, right? And so, anyway, we got the whole neighborhood watch going and looking for my dogs and can't find them. And then, what started with when I find these dogs, I'm going to kill them, goes to, oh, no, I hope I can find them. And so we lived in the woods at that point, and we come out, and there's a little guard gate there, and I asked, hey, y'all, and the lady's like, yeah, about 9.30, I saw two brown dogs come out and take a left towards Atlantic. And I just thought, oh, I'm going to have to lie to my kids. You know, they went to a happy place. So I'm looking around.

Gretchen calls me. She goes, I found them. I'm like, oh, God, thank you. Where are they? She goes, on the Internet. What? They started a go-fund me pays. Where?

What? Well, it turns out, somebody found them and took them to the pound downtown. And I don't really go downtown. And when I do, it doesn't go good because they just go to the Jags games, come home mad. So anyway, what are we doing? Anyway, we'll be first in heaven, so don't worry about it. So I figure out what the pound is.

I call them up, hey, I think you got my dogs. And so when people lose their dogs, they put pictures on them so people like us can find them. And I get down there, I walk in this huge building, holy, moly. This little girl, I mean, she's a grown person, but not really. She's at the front desk. Can I help you? And I was like, yeah, I think you have my dogs. And she treated me like I'm the worst human ever.

She was like, you know they don't have collars? I'm like, oh, my gosh. And she's so mad because, you know, all the things. They didn't have collars. and they didn't have identification, and, you know, Samson wasn't fixed, and I was like, we're just, you know, we're trying to hold out at the house for that. And so anyway, and I was like, all right, well, what do I do?

What do I do? She said, well, first we've got to identify them, so we go back. On the way back, I go, so do I just, can I just, like, take them home? She's like, no, it'll be $290 per dog. I was like, well, I didn't know what an investment I had in these dogs because I didn't pay that much to begin with. I didn't know that they would gain value over time, you know? That's a lot of money.

It's almost $600. So we get back and it's like an old death row, you know, it's all the little cages and the dogs are like, pick me, pick me. And my dog's at the very back and we get to the back and Sadie's there, the female, she doesn't even know anything's wrong. She's just wiggling with no tail. She's like, hey, where have you been? We haven't been looking for you forever, you know? Samson's thoroughly aware. He looks at me, he's like, oh, he walks to the back, tucks his little nub, sits down.

He's like, my bad dog, you know. And here's what's happened. My dogs rebelled against the law, which was provision and production because we love them, and it felt like funding freedom. And now they're in bondage, and they have incurred a debt that they can't pay. I mean, even if I pay it on their behalf, what am I going to do? Go to them and say, all right, dogs, I'll get you out of this one. But you owe me $600 bucks.

I mean, you better, like, race a greyhound or deliver a paper or get to me out of a well. I don't know how you're going to do it. But you better do it. even if they promised and meant it, oh, come on, Jobby, if you just get us out of this one, I promise from now on, we'll be perfect, we'll be perfect. We'll teach the kids to walk and we'll make the bed and we'll do whatever you want us to do.

Even if that was the case, even if they could be perfect dogs from here forward, what are they going to do about this debt that they've incurred that they can't pay? They're locked up. So we'll go back to the desk. And I really, I probably didn't have $600 at that point. and I was like, so let me ask you.

So what happens if I can't swing to 600? The lady looked at me like I was the devil of hell himself. What? I'm just saying. She's like, well, you relinquish ownership over to us. And I was like, do you kill them? She was like, no, we just, we put them up for adoption. And we bathe them and clean them,

and we've got to fix the mail because, you know, you didn't do that. And clipped her toenails and put this low jack system in them. So in case they ever get lost, you can, you know, track them down or something. And I go, okay. And I'm thinking about it. and I step back and I look over my left shoulder and there's this huge poster and it says adopt a dog today for $30. So I said, all right, I'm done. I'm not going to do it. I'm going to relinquish ownership. She's like, all right. And so she gives me this piece of paper and I sign it and she notarizes it. And I take my paper and I walk towards the exit, flip it back around.

Hi, ma'am, I'd like to adopt two dogs, please. Got something in a brown male and female. We've all right. already picked down names. And she goes, sir, you can't adopt your own dogs. And I go, I don't have dogs. I have a notarized piece of paper here from the state of Florida that I don't own dogs, you own dogs. And so you got two.

So I found this loop on the system. So she picks up these papers and she goes through this little office that I can see through the glass, but I can't hear him. And I can see her talking to roll. She's like, and then he comes out mad, slams down a pit board. then I fill out an application to legally adopt two dogs. I pay $60 and legally adopt Sadie and Samson out of the jail and back into my family. Okay?

And that is the gospel. That you and I have rebelled against the Holy God. And I'm sure it was fine at first, man. But now I was catching up with you. And we've incurred a debt that we cannot pay on our own. And Jesus comes on a rescue mission. with no discount. And he doesn't pay 60 bucks.

He pays with the perfect, spotless blood of the lamb. And that whoever would believe, then he would make the payment that satisfies. And legally and eternally, pay our sin debt and adopt us into his family by grace

for anyone who would believe. Have you ever put your faith in Jesus? Not in your goodness. But have you ever believed that when he pushed up on those nail pierce feet and he said, Tettelistai, or it is finished, literally paid in full? Have you ever believed? Have you ever trusted, like jumped off the diving board

and say, okay, I believe you. I believe that counted for me. Listen, we've had a bunch of people get saved over the last several weeks. That's never going to prevent me from asking you, have you ever put your faith in Jesus? So I want to give you the opportunity to do that right now. Would you bow your head? Would you close your eyes? And if today, for the very first time, if you are ready to believe that when Christ died on the cross, he paid your debt, and today, for the very first time, you believe it counted for me, then the Bible says all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.

And so if you're ready to call on the name of the Lord for your salvation for the very first time, to signify that, I want you to lift your hand as high as you can and keep it in the air. And you're saying, Father, here I am, save me. Praise God, praise God, praise God. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, I thank you and I praise you that right now people are receiving the full payment for our sin debt, for their sin debt. God, right now, men and women are being redeemed or being paid for or being justified. sins washed away and being adopted forever and ever and ever and never and nobody can take this away

adopted into your family not because the hands in the air the hands in the air because they are claiming that when Jesus died on the cross it counted for them god salvation is yours and it always will be and god we give you praise we give you honor we give you glory for there is one name under heaven whereby we must be saved and his name is Jesus we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, the gospel demands a response. Would you stand to your feet, and we are going to respond to the gospel? We're going to bring our first and our best as an act of worship. We're going to sing the gospel. It's what we're going to do. And we're going to pray. We're

going to pray that many of us need to be reminded of the gospel, that you would make your way down front. And I know he can meet you up there in the last road just as much as he can meet you down here. There's just something that happens in the way God designed us when we posture our body to receive what he has for us. I hope you'll do it. So let's sing, let's bring, let's pray. Let's respond.