Latest / Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive / September 16, 2018 | 4 Things . . . About God - When God . . . Forgives You - Timm Collins

Transcript

September 16, 2018 | 4 Things . . . About God - When God . . . Forgives You - Timm Collins · Topeka Bible Church Audio Archive

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been misunderstood?
0:03
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe misrepresented?
0:05
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had someone think they know who you are only to finally meet you and say, Oh, you're not at all like I thought you were?
0:12
SPEAKER_00: We've all at different times been labeled.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: We've all had things assumed about us that aren't true.
0:18
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, we do this with God too.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: Millions of us go through life and we think we know all about God.
0:25
SPEAKER_00: We've heard of Jesus, we've heard of the Ten Commandments, we know most of the rules.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: But do we know who He truly is?
0:34
SPEAKER_00: Do we know what He's really like?
0:54
SPEAKER_01: Topeka Bible Church.
0:56
SPEAKER_01: Good morning across the street in the College Avenue building.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: We are glad that you have uh joined us this morning.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh we are in a sermon series.
1:04
SPEAKER_01: We started last week.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: Pastor Jim started it last week.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: It's Four Things I Wish You Knew About God.
1:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's gonna be four weeks long.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: This is week two.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: My name's Tim Collins.
1:14
SPEAKER_01: I am a TBCer.
1:15
SPEAKER_01: I attend TBC just like you do.
1:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh my day gig is uh I'm on staff with Trash Mountain Project.
1:22
SPEAKER_01: I'm a missionary there uh with them, and we'll talk more about that in just a little while.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh but for today, I'm the substitute for Pastor Jim.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: So we're going to uh do uh cover week two of this idea.
1:34
SPEAKER_01: I love the way that Pastor Jim led this off last week.
1:37
SPEAKER_01: I loved this.
1:38
SPEAKER_01: There's a uh an A.W.
1:39
SPEAKER_01: Tozer quote that says, What you think about when you think about God is perhaps the most important thing about you.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: What a great observation uh from a great man, A.W.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: Tozer.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh and the so this sermon series, really, the idea behind it is while it is really important what you think about God, it's in fact maybe the most defining thing about you.
2:00
SPEAKER_01: Equally important are some of the things that you maybe mink about God, or some of the things you need to rethink about God.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and this really is gonna land in a couple different places for uh everyone sitting here, for everyone sitting in the College Avenue building, and those watching online.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, there are uh those of us here, maybe a few of us who you're not sure about the God thing, you're not sure about Christianity, you would not claim to be a believer in Jesus Christ or claim to be a Christian.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're here or you're watching because somebody asked you to, somebody emailed you a link, maybe you're here because a neighbor invited you or a coworker.
2:36
SPEAKER_01: If that's the case, we are glad you're here.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: We welcome you here.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so for the next few minutes, you can kind of take a deep breath and sit back because I'm gonna primarily talk to Christians today.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: But if you want to learn about Christianity, this is one of those subjects that it is great to listen in on if you truly want to understand what it means to have a relationship with God in the way that the Bible teaches.
2:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the other place that it can land is for those of us who are believers.
3:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, this is gonna be probably not a lot of new information, although it may be.
3:05
SPEAKER_01: I've already had some folks tell me this morning that this was new information.
3:09
SPEAKER_01: So, for many of you, this may be a reminder, it may be a refresher.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: And if you're anything like me, this is one of those subjects that I need to be reminded of.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: I need to be reminded of it often.
3:19
SPEAKER_01: In fact, God does remind me of it often.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: And so Pastor Jim emailed me several weeks back earlier in the summer, uh, and we were, he asked if I would speak this week, and he talked about this series, and actually, this was one of the subjects that he suggested, and I just love it.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: I said absolutely that I would love to cover that.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: So, today we're gonna talk about four things I wish you knew about God.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: The thing that I want to talk about today that I wish you knew about God is that when God forgives you, He really forgives you.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: That may not sound profound.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully, by the end of this service, you will you will see that that is actually an incredibly profound and incredibly deeply theological truth that we're gonna jump on together this morning.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, the idea of guilt is this widespread thing.
4:11
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to believe in God or believe in the Bible to understand or to feel guilty.
4:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh I've read a couple of studies over the last couple weeks preparing for this message, found some interesting things.
4:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh, first of all, there was a 2013 study done by a Princeton researcher.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's actually a series.
4:27
SPEAKER_01: There were four studies.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: So, and the idea behind this study was they wanted to investigate what does it mean to feel the weight of guilt?
4:34
SPEAKER_01: This is a phrase that you've no doubt heard before.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: I've heard it before, I've used the phrase before.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: What does it mean?
4:40
SPEAKER_01: Is it possible to actually feel the weight of guilt?
4:42
SPEAKER_01: So, one of the things that he that was asked in this study is uh they they met with uh the participants and they asked them to recall a time when they did something that personally, ethically, they thought was wrong.
4:57
SPEAKER_01: Recall a time when you made an ethical mistake, you made an ethical error, uh, you did something selfish, you did something we, you know, as Christians we would use the term sinful.
5:06
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but whatever terminology you used, you you you'd violated a code of ethics that you feel.
5:11
SPEAKER_01: So respondents did this, and then they asked them some questions, and one of the questions that they asked them was uh based on the way that you normally feel about your body, right now in this context, having felt this guilt over some sort of ethical mishap that you've had in your past, um, how do you feel about your body weight right now?
5:32
SPEAKER_01: And the majority of respondents uh said that they actually felt physically heavier because they were experiencing guilt, which I think is a wild idea.
5:44
SPEAKER_01: Also, a little strange, right?
5:46
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are looking at me like, why are you bringing this up?
5:49
SPEAKER_01: The real reason uh that I wanted to bring it up was the fourth study, which I thought was especially fascinating.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: Uh, in this final study, uh, they asked, again, asked respondents to think of a time when you feel you uh feel like you violated ethics, person you personally, not someone else, not something that you witnessed, but you did it.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: You did something that you believed to be wrong.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and so remember that, review that.
6:13
SPEAKER_01: So these people are kind of in this guilt mind frame.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: They were then asked to get up physically and go help someone with a simple task.
6:21
SPEAKER_01: For instance, help them uh carry something up a flight of stairs.
6:24
SPEAKER_01: And the majority of respondents said that because of this weight of guilt, they actually felt that it took more energy to get up and help someone because this weight of guilt was this actual physical phenomenon, not that it was real, but that they felt it was real.
6:41
SPEAKER_01: That in their experience, when they were dealing with their own personal guilt, it was more difficult to help those around them do simple tasks.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: We don't know how to process guilt very well.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: Another study that I read was about a group of college kids, and this is actually a psychological thing in psychology called the Dobby effect.
7:02
SPEAKER_01: How many of you know who Dobby is?
7:04
SPEAKER_01: A few of you, okay, not many in College Avenue building.
7:07
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how many of you raised your hands.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh so this is from Harry Potter.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: I'm not a huge Harry Potter fan personally, but I do know who Dobby is.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: Dobby was a house elf in Harry Potter.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: And if you read the books or if you watch uh the movies, uh Dobby is what's called a self-punisher, which means when he says something or does something that he thinks is wrong, he punishes himself, specifically bangs his head on things.
7:29
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you've seen it or if you've read the books.
7:32
SPEAKER_01: Uh really interesting idea.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: Uh psychologists are starting to uh actually uh document this.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: And so this study that they did, uh they again uh got a group of college kids together and gave them the opportunity and basically asked them to um cheat their friends out of something, out of something small.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh the example that I read was that it was a lottery ticket.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh who knows that, you know, lottery tickets are almost useless.
7:58
SPEAKER_01: I I hate to break the news to you, but they good luck with that, right?
8:02
SPEAKER_01: So they, you know, your friend, you did you they don't get a lottery ticket because of, you know, you made this decision and they didn't get one and you get it instead.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: So then these students feel like they have violated a code of ethics.
8:13
SPEAKER_01: And these students actually proved that they were willing to give themselves a mild electrical shock because they felt guilt.
8:25
SPEAKER_01: That's not to say anything about students, but it tells us a whole lot about guilt.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: And it tells us a whole lot about the idea that we really want to be forgiven.
8:34
SPEAKER_01: We really want to experience the peace in life that comes from feeling and knowing that we have been forgiven and that we've been, you know, set free, declared innocent, whatever terminology you want to use.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: So I want to show you a verse from uh the book of Romans.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: This is from Romans chapter five.
8:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh and if you have brought your Bible with me, you may want to go ahead and turn to the book of Romans because we're going to be jumping around to a few places, but primarily Romans chapter 3.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: That's going to be our main text this morning.
9:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh so Romans chapter 5.
9:05
SPEAKER_01: Romans is an interesting book.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: I'll go ahead and give you the background now.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh Romans, this uh incredible theological treatise.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: I know a lot of people, your favorite book is Ephesians.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh Ephesians is just kind of a little Romans in a lot of ways.
9:18
SPEAKER_01: It's this shorter version.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: Romans is so deep, and it's so it's such a it's a longer book.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: It's one of the longer letters that we have that Paul wrote to the church in Rome.
9:27
SPEAKER_01: He had not visited Rome, and so he was writing a letter to let them know what his theology was, and boy did he ever let them know what his theology was.
9:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh I love to tell this story when I was uh first uh saved, and I was about uh well, I was 20, and so uh I was attending a church, it was a uh a good Baptist church in the South where there was just, you know, the the preacher uh he he he taught through the Bible very systematically, and I remember for 10 years he taught the book of Romans on Sunday mornings.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: Right?
10:01
SPEAKER_01: Take a deep breath.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna move a little faster than that this morning.
10:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh but we are gonna dive into this incredibly theological book.
10:08
SPEAKER_01: So Romans 5, 1 is a really interesting verse, and I think a really pivotal verse.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: Um this idea really is what inspired Martin Luther, first of all, to give his life to follow Christ, to surrender, you know, to uh put his faith in Christ and truly be converted.
10:24
SPEAKER_01: And then also this idea drove the Protestant Reformation and it still shapes theology today.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: It's quite simple.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, since we have been, what's the word?
10:35
unknown: Justified.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: Justified by faith, we have peace.
10:42
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: Specifically peace with God, and specifically peace with God through someone, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
10:52
SPEAKER_01: Really interesting verse, and I you you you read kind of the second half of it and you say, okay, we have peace with God.
10:59
SPEAKER_01: What an incredible thing to have, right?
11:02
SPEAKER_01: What an incredible opportunity.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: And maybe for you, if you're not a Christian, if you're not a church person, maybe you wouldn't say that you're after peace with God, but we believe as Christians that this is actually what every human is after.
11:14
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to just be forgiven.
11:16
SPEAKER_01: We want to be made right, uh, kind of with the world and with the person who's in charge of the world.
11:22
SPEAKER_01: And we know that that's God.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: We believe that that's God.
11:24
SPEAKER_01: We see it in that in not only in his word, but in creation, that this is God.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: And so having peace with God is this incredibly useful thing.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: But here's what I think sometimes we don't think about, and one of the things that I often need to be reminded of is that peace with God is tied to a specific idea.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: Does anybody want to guess what the other really important word in this verse is?
11:47
unknown: Justified.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: Justified.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: It's being justified.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: The idea is that we can't have peace with God unless we have been justified by faith.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: And that in fact, being justified by faith is the basis.
12:00
SPEAKER_01: This is why Paul says it first.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: Because, since, because we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: So if we're going to talk about peace or forgiveness or freedom or reconciliation or whatever word you want to use, if we're going to talk about that, then biblically what we need to do, and theologically what we need to do is do a deep dive, which is what we're going to do over just the next few minutes, over the idea of justification.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: That you and I have been justified.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: There are certain things that are true about us, not because that we feel any certain way, but because God has in fact declared these things to be true.
12:39
SPEAKER_01: So this is one, and I I kind of wrote these ideas just out of my own brain and my notes, and I put them up here on the screen.
12:46
SPEAKER_01: These two kind of go well together.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: This one sets the stage.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: It says, for the redeemed, which is for Christians, for believers, which, if it's not you, it could be.
12:56
SPEAKER_01: This is open to everyone.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: It's an invitation, it's open to anyone and everyone.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: For the redeemed, our righteous standing before God is not driven by our conduct before him, but by his decree over us.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: So if if we're Christian, our righteous standing isn't based on how we act or don't act.
13:18
SPEAKER_01: That's actually an important issue, but it's a separate issue.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't affect your standing before God.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: This is the interesting thing about it.
13:28
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness, this is this is kind of to me, this is the big idea statement for the day.
13:32
SPEAKER_01: If you want to kind of put handles on this truth so that you can carry it out of here with you and maybe use it and talk about it in conversations and mainly just remember it, right?
13:40
SPEAKER_01: On Tuesday afternoon and Thursday evening.
13:43
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness is not based on a feeling.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness is based on a finished act.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: Because how many of you have times during the day, during the week, uh, maybe you're in an entire season of this?
13:58
SPEAKER_01: We go through times where we feel like we're not very forgiven, don't we?
14:03
SPEAKER_01: That's true for you, it's true for me.
14:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh, in fact, maybe you're sitting in church this morning, or maybe you're watching online, and you're thinking to yourself, man, I just I don't even know that I should be participating in what's going on here because I've had a rough week, I've had a rough month, I'm at a bad place in life.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: But here's what I would say to you if you're a Christian, if you're a believer, your forgiveness is not based on how you feel.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: Your forgiveness has nothing to do with how you feel.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying you don't have issues that maybe ought to be addressed that we couldn't talk through in some counseling, some guidance, maybe get in a Sunday school class or a small group and let's let you know, let's talk through some things, but your standing is so important to God that your forgiveness is not based on a feeling.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: It's based, in fact, on a finished act.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: So I'll give you this definition.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this is from Wayne Grudom.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: This is a definition of justification because this is actually a theological idea.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: Like I said, we're gonna kind of go a little bit deeper into this this morning.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: Wayne Grudom says this uh we're gonna circle back to him in just a second as well.
15:10
SPEAKER_01: Justification is an instantaneous legal act of God.
15:15
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about that, in which he thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness as belonging to us, which is a huge idea.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is mammoth.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: This will change the way you think and talk about yourself and about God and about what it means to relate to him.
15:35
SPEAKER_01: And there's a second part to this justification is also where God declares us to be righteous in his sight.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: In other words, for us, justification is not emotional, it's not subjective.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: This is transactional.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: Justification happens because something else happened that triggered it.
16:00
SPEAKER_01: And so that's what we're gonna dive into.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: And many of you know where I'm going, but we're gonna go there anyway together, okay?
16:06
SPEAKER_01: So Romans chapter 3, we're gonna begin reading in verse 21.
16:09
SPEAKER_01: We're just kind of barging into an idea that Paul had.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: Um we're gonna uh jump in here, make a couple of observations about justification, which again is the basis for our forgiveness and our freedom.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then we're gonna kind of move on from there.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: So Romans 3, 21.
16:25
SPEAKER_01: In Romans 3, Paul says, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: In other words, righteousness has been delivered in a way other than keeping the law, because you and I, it's not, if if it's dependent on your performance and my performance to be righteous, we're in trouble, aren't we?
16:43
SPEAKER_01: Do your head like this.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: We're in trouble if it's up to us to perform righteously.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: That's not a good recipe.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: So it's not that the law and the prophets have nothing to do with righteousness.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: That's just not how you and I are going to experience it.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: Here it is.
17:05
SPEAKER_01: The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ for all.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: Look at me, no matter what your past, it's for all who do something, which actually involves doing nothing, but just believing.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: It's for all who believe.
17:26
SPEAKER_01: And the interesting thing about this to me, I want to show you this real quick, we're talking about the righteousness of God.
17:37
SPEAKER_01: The righteousness of God.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Now, the way you and I think of righteousness, if we were to think imagine this idea in our brains, the way you and I think of righteousness, we might substitute the idea of innocence here.
17:50
SPEAKER_01: Innocence before God.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: But here's what I want to tell you this morning.
17:54
SPEAKER_01: Although that's not uh entirely inaccurate, that righteousness does involve a level of being innocent before God, it's actually that and so much more.
18:05
SPEAKER_01: And if you miss the so much more, you're gonna miss a really important thing about justification, which is that it is valuable.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: Justification is incredibly valuable for us because it's not just about you and I being innocent.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: We need more than just forgiveness, and justification is how God delivers it to us.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: So I want to show you this diagram.
18:27
SPEAKER_01: It's a really interesting diagram.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: This actually is from Wayne Grudom.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: It's from his systematic theology textbook uh when he talks about forensic justification, which is this that's like the theological term for what we're discussing today.
18:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh he this is how he describes it.
18:41
SPEAKER_01: Now, these are minuses like uh subtraction symbols, minuses.
18:45
SPEAKER_01: This represents sin.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: So this represents you and I as sinners.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: We have sin in our lives.
18:51
SPEAKER_01: We have practically, positionally, everything about us, we show up as sinners.
18:55
SPEAKER_01: We're about to read this verse, Romans 3.23, and we all know that it says what?
18:59
SPEAKER_01: For all have that's right.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: All of us are in it together.
19:03
SPEAKER_01: We're all bad.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: Before God, we don't have anything good of ourselves.
19:08
SPEAKER_01: And some of you, maybe if you're not a church person, you're like, man, that's bad news.
19:13
SPEAKER_01: It actually sets the stage for some terrific news.
19:16
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, this is where we have to start, is that we're all sinners.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: So here's the thing.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: Check it out.
19:21
SPEAKER_01: I think for many of us, we think when we think of salvation, when we think of forgiveness from God, when we think of maybe we would use the term justification, this is the way we think of it.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: And maybe you've heard this definition.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: Justification means it makes it just as if I've never sinned.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: Some of you have heard that.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: I've heard that.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's inaccurate.
19:41
SPEAKER_01: I think it maybe doesn't tell the whole story behind it because here's what we think that justification means that I have the chance to have my sin removed and to be innocent.
19:52
SPEAKER_01: That's pretty good, right?
19:54
SPEAKER_01: That's pretty significant, right?
19:56
SPEAKER_01: That would be pretty valuable if it's true, and it absolutely is true.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: But you can tell there's something missing in that diagram, can't you?
20:04
SPEAKER_01: You can tell there's another piece coming, and this other piece is what takes its value to a whole nother level.
20:10
SPEAKER_01: That justification doesn't just mean that our sin is dealt with and we're brought back to even, but that actually we are giving the righteousness, we are given the righteousness of Jesus Christ Himself.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: That for you and I as believers, justification doesn't just mean that we get the chance to have our sins be forgiven and to be innocent, but that we actually receive something in place of our sin that we'll talk more about this in just a second, that we actually, in the place of our sin, we receive positionally the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
20:45
SPEAKER_01: Mind blown.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: Are you kidding me that this is what justification means?
20:52
SPEAKER_01: This is actually what justification really, really means.
20:56
SPEAKER_01: And I think you can understand why I would say it is incredibly valuable.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: It's much too valuable for you and I to ever forget it.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: Isaiah 61 says this I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God.
21:11
SPEAKER_01: Why?
21:11
SPEAKER_01: Please hear this.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: Because he's clothed me with the garments of salvation, he's covered me with the what?
21:20
SPEAKER_01: Say it like you mean it.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: The robe of righteousness.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that such a significant thing for you and I to know that we've been given this innocence before God, but God went a step further and actually clothed us with a robe of righteousness.
21:39
SPEAKER_01: When God forgives you, He really forgives you.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: Your forgiveness is not based on how you feel, it's based on a finished act.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: So we keep reading in Romans the verse that I just promised you we were going to read.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: There is no distinction.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: Verse 23 For how many?
21:59
SPEAKER_01: All Have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
22:03
SPEAKER_01: In other words, no matter what color you are, no matter what race you are, no matter what your background is, no matter what your gender is, no matter what your politics are, no matter where you live, no matter if you have a little money or a lot of money, no matter how many cars you own, or how much property you own, or how big or small you think you are, or important or insignificant, or everybody in between, all have sinned.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: All of us.
22:25
SPEAKER_01: We're all in this depressing, miserable boat together without God.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: It's not the end of the story, though, right?
22:32
SPEAKER_01: That's the beginning of the story.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified, two things.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
22:40
SPEAKER_01: Are you ready?
22:41
SPEAKER_01: By his grace as a gift.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: You don't do anything to get this.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: It's not about you doing anything.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: We're justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: A few weeks ago, I preached for you and I talked about this word, and I had somebody come up afterwards, actually, a couple people come up afterwards and say, What was that big funny word that you used?
23:11
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
23:12
SPEAKER_01: It's a great theological word, which basically means that God's wrath has to be satisfied somewhere.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: This propitiation is what removes this wrath from coming on us.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: God put this forward as a satisfaction, as a propitiation by his blood, by Jesus' blood, to be received by.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: It's really important.
23:35
SPEAKER_01: To be received by faith, not because of anything that is done.
23:40
SPEAKER_01: See, you're not just forgiven because God forgot your sin.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: You're forgiven because God dealt with your sin.
23:50
SPEAKER_01: He didn't just forget it, he dealt with it.
23:54
SPEAKER_01: Because if you think that you're forgiven because God forgot your sin, what if his memory comes back?
24:01
SPEAKER_01: What if he suddenly remembers?
24:04
SPEAKER_01: He dealt with it.
24:05
SPEAKER_01: And we're not going to talk about it anymore.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: Here's the other observation that I think is really important about justification.
24:12
SPEAKER_01: It's not just that it's valuable, it's also that it's final.
24:16
SPEAKER_01: You know why it's final?
24:17
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
24:19
SPEAKER_01: If you didn't earn it, then you can't unearn it.
24:24
SPEAKER_01: See how that works?
24:27
SPEAKER_01: God did this in the heavenlies, independent of you, because this is too important to be entrusted to feeble people like you and me.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: And when we put our faith in Christ, God just takes care of our business.
24:39
SPEAKER_01: This is the way that it's supposed to work.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus was on the cross, one of the things that he said, and I'll start the phrase and you finish it, he said, it is what?
24:50
SPEAKER_01: Tatelasti in the Greek.
24:52
SPEAKER_01: It's a perfect tense, which means it's a past completed action with present abiding results.
25:00
SPEAKER_01: It's over.
25:01
SPEAKER_01: It's finished.
25:03
SPEAKER_01: Your salvation, if you're a believer, is finished.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: It's valuable, but it's also incredibly final.
25:12
SPEAKER_01: A few chapters later in the book of Romans, Paul says this.
25:16
SPEAKER_01: Who will bring any charge against God's elect?
25:20
SPEAKER_01: You and I as believers, who's going to bring a charge against us?
25:24
SPEAKER_01: Here's the reason why nobody can.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: Are you ready?
25:27
SPEAKER_01: Because it is God who what?
25:32
SPEAKER_01: Please hear this.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: Once you're justified, there's not a chance you're ever going to be unjustified.
25:42
SPEAKER_01: That's not how it works.
25:44
SPEAKER_01: This is much too important for that.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: It is God who justifies, and God is the only right judge.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: He's the only one qualified to judge you and I.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: And justification is about you and I being judged, not just innocent, but righteous.
26:03
SPEAKER_01: Who is to condemn?
26:04
SPEAKER_01: In other words, who else is qualified?
26:06
SPEAKER_01: And the answer, obviously, is no one.
26:09
SPEAKER_01: So we finish up Romans chapter 3.
26:14
SPEAKER_01: This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance, in his divine patience, he had passed over former sins.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: This was, you know, the uh sacrifices that were made in the temple and in the tabernacle were pointing to.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: They were just satisfying for a season until that final sacrifice came.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: And the final sacrifice is who?
26:33
SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ, right?
26:34
SPEAKER_01: The cross is the final ultimate sacrifice.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: In his divine forbearance, he passed over former sins.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be, what's the word?
26:46
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: Not forgetful.
26:50
SPEAKER_01: That's not how you got forgiven.
26:52
SPEAKER_01: If you're Christian, if you're a believer, that's not how you got forgiven.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: You didn't get forgiven because God forgot some things.
26:58
SPEAKER_01: He's still just.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: These things still need to be dealt with so that he can be just and the justifier of the one who.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: How would you finish that statement?
27:12
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not really asking about your theology.
27:16
SPEAKER_01: I'm asking about your train of thought.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: And the way that you and I live in really practical ways, how would we finish this statement?
27:24
SPEAKER_01: He's the justifier of the one who does something.
27:28
SPEAKER_01: Is it that I keep everything just right this week?
27:31
SPEAKER_01: Is it that if I have a great week this week and I really try to minimize as many sins as I possibly can, God's going to be for some reason happier with me and I'm going to be more justified next Sunday than I am this Sunday because I don't feel so great.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: This Sunday was a bad week and it was touch and go there for a little while, and you have no idea what I did when I yelled at my kids two days ago.
27:51
SPEAKER_01: Right?
27:53
SPEAKER_01: If we're not careful, we slip into that mindset.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: That's not what it says.
27:57
SPEAKER_01: He's the justifier of the one who does what?
28:01
SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: He's the justifier of the one who has faith.
28:08
SPEAKER_01: See, being a Christian is about doing something, which is really not doing anything.
28:13
SPEAKER_01: It's just having faith.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: I believe in Jesus' sacrifice because I have, there's nothing else.
28:19
SPEAKER_01: I can't believe in my own works.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: I'm not going to put my faith there because I know how it's going to shake out, because God is just and he's going to be honest with me and with him.
28:30
SPEAKER_01: But man, oh man, if he gives me the chance to experience forgiveness in the right way, it's because justification is not just valuable, and justification is not just final, it's also official.
28:46
SPEAKER_01: This is what we mean by the term forensic justification.
28:51
SPEAKER_01: It means that if you can imagine God as the judge in the court, that if you're forgiven, you're not forgiven because God said, Oh, you don't need to come in here.
29:00
SPEAKER_01: We'll just let you just forget about your sins.
29:02
SPEAKER_01: Let's just pretend that it never happened.
29:05
SPEAKER_01: Look at me.
29:06
SPEAKER_01: You know what the problem is?
29:07
SPEAKER_01: You can't just pretend that it never happened because Thursday night at three in the morning, you're going to remember it, aren't you?
29:14
SPEAKER_01: And you're going to think to myself, I hope we don't have it.
29:16
SPEAKER_01: I hope the fallout isn't bigger on that.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: I hope people don't find out what I did.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: I hope people don't find out what I said.
29:22
SPEAKER_01: I'm glad people can't read the way I think.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: This is so much bigger than that.
29:29
SPEAKER_01: God as the judge says, You come in, and I'm not going to excuse your sin.
29:35
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to deal with it.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: My wrath has to be poured out, but it's not going to be poured out on you.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: I've provided a sacrifice.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: And it's my son.
29:47
SPEAKER_01: This is why Jesus poured out his heart in the Garden of Gethsemane because he knew what was coming.
29:53
SPEAKER_01: He knew that he was going to experience the full wrath of God against sin.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: And he did that for you.
30:03
SPEAKER_01: Because you're valuable.
30:05
SPEAKER_01: And you're much too valuable to live as though you have not been forgiven.
30:11
SPEAKER_01: Jesus paid much too high a price for you and I to walk around in defeat.
30:17
SPEAKER_01: We're forgiven.
30:19
SPEAKER_01: Not because we feel like it, but because the God of the universe legally made it possible.
30:27
SPEAKER_01: He made it possible for you and I to have this official forgiveness.
30:30
SPEAKER_01: This is what Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 5.21.
30:33
SPEAKER_01: One of my favorite verses in the New Testament.
30:35
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, for our sake, he, that's God, made him, Jesus, to be.
30:43
SPEAKER_01: It's okay to say it.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: Sin.
30:46
SPEAKER_01: Listen.
30:48
SPEAKER_01: He didn't just make Jesus experience sin.
30:53
SPEAKER_01: Jesus took on our sin.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin.
31:01
SPEAKER_01: Why in the world would God do that?
31:06
SPEAKER_01: Oh boy.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: Are you ready for the answer?
31:08
SPEAKER_01: It was so that in him, very important phrase, only in him, but so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
31:23
SPEAKER_01: In this courtroom, God says, you take their sin and you put it on Jesus, and you take Jesus' righteousness and you clothe them in it.
31:34
SPEAKER_01: And forevermore, positionally, when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, that's how God sees you.
31:41
SPEAKER_01: Can I get a witness?
31:47
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness actually is possible.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: And it's not just possible, it's available.
31:58
SPEAKER_01: He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him, you and I, the ragtag group of sinners that we are, could become the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ.
32:11
SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
32:14
SPEAKER_01: So this week, here's what I know: there are gonna be some times when you're not the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ, right?
32:23
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna do your best, and I'm gonna do my best, but we're gonna have our moments this week, aren't we?
32:28
SPEAKER_01: But do you know what I know?
32:30
SPEAKER_01: It matters incredibly in the good moments and the bad moments what kind of gospel we're preaching to ourselves.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that you're the most powerful preacher that you know?
32:42
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that you're always preaching yourself some kind of sermon in your head?
32:46
SPEAKER_01: Have you figured that out?
32:47
SPEAKER_01: You just don't want to admit it, right?
32:49
SPEAKER_01: You don't want to admit it that you have conversations with yourself.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: It's okay to admit it.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: You do.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: You absolutely do.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: You're the most powerful preacher in your head, but sometimes you don't preach very good sermons, do you?
33:00
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you tell yourself the wrong things, don't you?
33:04
SPEAKER_01: This is what you and I need to redeem.
33:07
SPEAKER_01: Here's the thing.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: Oh, goodness.
33:11
SPEAKER_01: God's not trying to get even with you.
33:15
SPEAKER_01: God's not punishing you because of something that you did in your past.
33:19
SPEAKER_01: Is there fallout?
33:20
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
33:20
SPEAKER_01: Are there consequences to our choices?
33:22
SPEAKER_01: You better believe it.
33:23
SPEAKER_01: That's a different sermon.
33:26
SPEAKER_01: For this one, what I'm telling you is God's not mad at you.
33:30
SPEAKER_01: You know how I know that?
33:32
SPEAKER_01: Because his wrath was already satisfied.
33:36
SPEAKER_01: He just loves you.
33:39
SPEAKER_01: The verse that keeps coming back to my mind.
33:44
SPEAKER_01: Song of Solomon 2, 4.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: A few weeks ago, I was thinking through this and it just moved me, absolutely moved me to tears.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm riding the lawnmower at my house, right?
33:56
SPEAKER_01: Crying.
33:57
SPEAKER_01: You ever done that?
33:58
SPEAKER_01: Like you're filthy, dirty, and you're crying, and that's not a good combination at all.
34:02
SPEAKER_01: I don't care.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not a crier, but my goodness, that the God of the universe decided when he brought me to his banqueting table, he decided that, oh, the only banner over me is not that I'm not good enough.
34:23
SPEAKER_01: It's not that I screw things up.
34:26
SPEAKER_01: It's not that I could do better.
34:28
SPEAKER_01: All those things are true.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: That's not the banner that he put over me.
34:32
SPEAKER_01: You know what the banner is that he put over me?
34:39
SPEAKER_01: If I can get this through my thick skull, how will I live differently this week?
34:47
SPEAKER_01: Here's how I think it'll happen.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: It's because I'll know that I'm not trying to obey this week to make God happy.
34:58
SPEAKER_01: I'm obeying this week because He is already incredibly happy.
35:04
SPEAKER_01: I want to be more Christ-like because what a great person to be more like.
35:09
SPEAKER_01: It's not because I think God's gonna get mad at me if I don't.
35:13
SPEAKER_01: It's not because I'm trying to please God.
35:15
SPEAKER_01: It's not because I'm trying to avoid his anger.
35:19
SPEAKER_01: This actually makes God even more attractive.
35:23
SPEAKER_01: When I can understand that positionally these things have been done for me, then practically, as I live my life, I can start to find more integrity where I have my life, my personal practical day-to-day holiness can hopefully start to come more in line with this positional holiness that God's made available to me.
35:41
SPEAKER_01: Listen, because I'm free, because I'm forgiven.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: So your forgiveness is not based on how you feel, it's not based on a feeling, it's based on a finished act.
35:55
SPEAKER_01: It's based on the justification that you have from the God of the universe.
36:01
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you so much for the ways that you bless us that we absolutely do not deserve.
36:13
SPEAKER_01: God, you are so, so good to us.
36:20
SPEAKER_01: And I pray now that you would wash over our minds and our hearts how much you really do love us in spite of our sin.
36:29
SPEAKER_01: You love us so much that you made it possible for our sin to be dealt with so that we could have a relationship with you.
36:36
SPEAKER_01: You didn't have to give up any of your justice.
36:38
SPEAKER_01: Your justice was fully satisfied, which makes our salvation even more valuable.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray for each of us sitting here who are who are your children, who are believers, that you would somehow communicate in the deepest part of our hearts that we're forgiven.
36:59
SPEAKER_01: God, I pray for those of us who are listening, who are watching online, who haven't put their faith in Jesus Christ, that you would not let them rest until this is dealt with.
37:10
SPEAKER_01: This is the most significant issue that we will ever address as human beings.
37:16
SPEAKER_01: God help us to never get over the fact that it is possible for us to be at peace with you, and out of that to live at peace with everyone that we come into contact with.
37:27
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for Jesus Christ and for his sacrifice on the cross, and it's in his name that we pray.
37:32
SPEAKER_01: Amen.