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Fall Asleep to ROMANS Explained _ Every Christian Should Know This Letter · truthunedited

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  Speaker 1: Close your eyes, let the noise of the world fade
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  Speaker 1: into silence. Maybe tonight you are carrying burdens too heavy
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  Speaker 1: to name. Maybe you are weary from trying to be
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  Speaker 1: good enough. Maybe you wonder if God could ever truly
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  Speaker 1: love someone like you. Tonight we journey through the letter
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  Speaker 1: that changed history, the Book of Romans, written by a
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  Speaker 1: man named Paul in the year fifty seven a d
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  Speaker 1: a man who once hunted Christians, now sat in Corinth,
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  Speaker 1: pen in hand, heart burning, with a message that would
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  Speaker 1: shake empires. What he wrote became the clearest explanation of
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  Speaker 1: the Gospel ever penned. Centuries later, Martin Luther would call
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  Speaker 1: it the purest Gospel, the letter that sparked the Reformation
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  Speaker 1: and has brought comfort to the broken, hope to the despairing,
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  Speaker 1: and light to those in darkness. Tonight, let us walk
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  Speaker 1: slowly through Romans, not as scholars rushing to finish, but
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  Speaker 1: as weary souls seeking rest in the truth. If you
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  Speaker 1: fall asleep along the way, do not worry. Let these
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  Speaker 1: words guard your dreams, for this is not merely a
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  Speaker 1: letter about doctrine. It is a letter about the heart
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  Speaker 1: of God. The good news that you are not too
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  Speaker 1: broken to be loved, not too guilty to be forgiven,
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  Speaker 1: not too far gone to come home. Breathe deeply. You
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  Speaker 1: are safe here and tonight, as the world sleeps, you
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  Speaker 1: will hear the words your soul has been searching for.
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  Speaker 1: Let us begin chapter one, the righteousness of God revealed
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  Speaker 1: in the opening words of this letter. Paul does not
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  Speaker 1: begin with grand theology or complex arguments. He begins with himself,
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  Speaker 1: a simpler introduction, a humble servant writing to people he loves,
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  Speaker 1: though he has never seen their faces. Paul, he writes,
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  Speaker 1: a servant of Christ, Jesus called to be an apostle,
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  Speaker 1: set apart for the God full of God. Think of
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  Speaker 1: that for a moment. Paul does not call himself a leader,
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  Speaker 1: a founder, or even a teacher. He calls himself a servant.
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  Speaker 1: The Greek word is do loss, a bond, servant, a slave.
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  Speaker 1: In the Roman world, this was the lowest position a
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  Speaker 1: person could hold, no rights, no freedom, belonging entirely to another.
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  Speaker 1: And yet Paul wears this title with joy, for he
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  Speaker 1: belongs to Jesus Christ, and to belong to Christ is
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  Speaker 1: to be free in the truest sense, free from the
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  Speaker 1: tyranny of sin, free from the fear of death, free
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  Speaker 1: to live for something greater than himself. But how did
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  Speaker 1: Paul become this servant? How did a man who once
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  Speaker 1: hunted Christians, dragging them from their homes and throwing them
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  Speaker 1: into prison, become the greatest messenger of grace the world
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  Speaker 1: has ever known. Let me take you back to a
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  Speaker 1: day that changed everything. A day on the to Damascus. Paul,
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  Speaker 1: then called Saul, was a young pharisee zealous for the law.
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  Speaker 1: Convinced that these followers of Jesus were destroying the faith
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  Speaker 1: of Israel, he obtained letters from the high Priest authorizing
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  Speaker 1: him to arrest any believers he found in Damascus and
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  Speaker 1: bring them back to Jerusalem in chains. The road was
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  Speaker 1: long and dusty, the sun beat down. Saul's heart burned
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  Speaker 1: with righteous anger. He was doing God's work, he told himself,
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  Speaker 1: he was protecting the faith. And then at midday, a
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  Speaker 1: light brighter than the sun blazed from heaven. Saul fell
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  Speaker 1: to the ground, blinded, trembling, and a voice spoke, a
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  Speaker 1: voice that carried the weight of eternity. Saul, Saul, why
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  Speaker 1: are you persecuting me? Who are you?
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  Speaker 2: Lord?
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  Speaker 1: Saul gasped, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. In
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  Speaker 1: that moment, everything Saul believed shattered. The one he was
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  Speaker 1: persecuting was not a false prophet. He was the risen Lord,
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  Speaker 1: the Messiah, the Son of God, and Saul had been
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  Speaker 1: fighting against him. For three days. Saul sat in darkness,
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  Speaker 1: unable to see, unable to eat. His entire world turned
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  Speaker 1: upside down, and then God sent a believer named Anonius
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  Speaker 1: to pray for him. Scales fell from his eyes. He
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  Speaker 1: could see again, But more than that, he could see
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  Speaker 1: the truth. Jesus was Lord, and Saul the persecutor, was
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  Speaker 1: called to become Paul the preacher, that is, the man
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  Speaker 1: writing this letter, a man who once thought he was
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  Speaker 1: serving God by destroying the church, a man who met
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  Speaker 1: Jesus and was never the same. And now from that
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  Speaker 1: transformed life, he writes, I am not ashamed of the Gospel,
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  Speaker 1: for it is the power of God for salvation to
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  Speaker 1: every one who believes. To the jew first and also
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  Speaker 1: to the Greek. Not ashamed. In a world that mocked
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  Speaker 1: the Cross as foolishness, that saw Christianity as a religion
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  Speaker 1: for the weak and uneducated, Paul stood unashamed. He did
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  Speaker 1: not apologize for the Gospel. He did not soften it
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  Speaker 1: to make it more palatable. He proclaimed it boldly, knowing
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  Speaker 1: that it carried within it the very power of God.
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  Speaker 1: Not the power of human persuasion, not the power of
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  Speaker 1: eloquent speeches or clever arguments, but the power of God himself,
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  Speaker 1: the same power that spoke the universe into existence, the
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  Speaker 1: same power that raised Jesus from the dead. That power
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  Speaker 1: is at work in the Gospel. And what does it do.
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  Speaker 1: It brings salvation, not just forgiveness, though it includes that,
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  Speaker 1: not just a ticket to heaven, though it promises that too.
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  Speaker 1: Salvation is the total rescue of the human soul from sin, death,
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  Speaker 1: and the wrath of God. It is being pulled from
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  Speaker 1: the wreckage of a fallen world and placed into the
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  Speaker 1: kingdom of light. And who can receive it Everyone who believes,
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  Speaker 1: Not everyone who is perfect, not everyone who has cleaned
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  Speaker 1: up their life first, everyone who believes the jew first,
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  Speaker 1: because God's promises began with Israel, and also to the Greek,
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  Speaker 1: the gentile, the outsider. The Gospel breaks down every wall,
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  Speaker 1: every barrier, every division. It is for all. But here
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  Speaker 1: is the mystery that Paul will spend the rest of
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  Speaker 1: this letter unfolding in it. The righteousness of God is
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  Speaker 1: revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the
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  Speaker 1: righteous shall live by faith the righteousness of God. What
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  Speaker 1: does that mean? For centuries people have wrestled with this phrase.
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  Speaker 1: Is it God's own righteousness, his perfect, holy, just character. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: it is that, but it is all also something more.
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  Speaker 1: It is the righteousness that God gives, the righteousness that
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  Speaker 1: he credits to those who have none of their own.
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  Speaker 1: You see, the problem of humanity is not that we
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  Speaker 1: make mistakes. It is not that we are imperfect. The
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  Speaker 1: problem is that we are unrighteous. We stand before a
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  Speaker 1: holy God and we have nothing to offer. Our best
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  Speaker 1: deeds are stained, our purest motives are mixed. We have,
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  Speaker 1: in the words Paul will use later, fallen short of
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  Speaker 1: the glory of God. And yet in the Gospel God
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  Speaker 1: does something astonishing. He does not lower the standard. He
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  Speaker 1: does not say, well, you tried your best, so I
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  Speaker 1: will overlook your sin. No, he upholds the standard of
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  Speaker 1: perfect righteousness, and then he provides it himself through Jesus Christ.
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  Speaker 1: God offers a righteousness that is not earned but given,
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  Speaker 1: not at achieved, but received. It is revealed from faith
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  Speaker 1: for faith, from beginning to end. It is all about faith,
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  Speaker 1: trusting in what God has done, rather than what we
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  Speaker 1: can do. And this is not a new idea. Paul
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  Speaker 1: quotes the prophet Habakuk, who lived six hundred years before Christ.
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  Speaker 1: The righteous shall live by faith. Even in the Old Testament,
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  Speaker 1: salvation was never about following rules perfectly. It was always
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  Speaker 1: about faith. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to
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  Speaker 1: him as righteousness. David sang of the blessedness of the
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  Speaker 1: one whose sins are forgiven. The prophets looked forward to
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  Speaker 1: a day when God himself would come and make all
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  Speaker 1: things right. That day has come, The Gospel has arrived,
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  Speaker 1: and in it the righteousness of God is revealed. But
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  Speaker 1: if this righteousness is by faith, then what about all
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  Speaker 1: the other ways people try to be right with God?
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  Speaker 1: What about those who rely on their good works, their
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  Speaker 1: religious rituals, their moral achievements. What about those who think
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  Speaker 1: they do not need God at all? Paul will answer
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  Speaker 1: those questions in the chapters ahead. He will show that
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  Speaker 1: all humanity, jee and gentile, religious and pagan, moral and immoral,
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  Speaker 1: stands guilty before God. But he will also show that
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  Speaker 1: in Christ. There is hope in Christ. There is forgiveness.
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  Speaker 1: In Christ, there is a righteousness that covers every sin,
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  Speaker 1: heals every wound, and gives us peace with God. So
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  Speaker 1: rest now, let these truths wash over you like a
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  Speaker 1: gentle stream. The gospel is not something you must strive
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  Speaker 1: to understand all at once. It is a gift to
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  Speaker 1: be received, a story to be heard, a love to
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  Speaker 1: be embraced. Paul is not ashamed of this gospel. And
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  Speaker 1: as you listen to night, may you also find yourself unashamed,
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  Speaker 1: unashamed to believe, unashamed to trust, unashamed to rest in
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  Speaker 1: the righteousness that comes from God alone. The night is still,
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  Speaker 1: and the letter has only just begun, But already we
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  Speaker 1: have heard the heart beat of it all, salvation by faith,
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  Speaker 1: righteousness from God, and a love that will not let
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  Speaker 1: us go sleep Well beloved. To morrow we will walk
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  Speaker 1: further into the depths of Romans. But for now, let
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  Speaker 1: your heart be still, for you are not ashamed, and
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  Speaker 1: neither is he. Chapter two, the universal guilt of mankind.
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  Speaker 1: Before we can truly see the beauty of grace, we
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  Speaker 1: must first see the depth of our need, not to
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  Speaker 1: crush us, but to awaken us, not to condemn us,
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  Speaker 1: but to show us why the good news is so
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  Speaker 1: astonishingly good. What I am about to share is not
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  Speaker 1: easy to hear, but it is necessary. Like a physician
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  Speaker 1: who must diagnose the disease before prescribing the cure, Paul
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  Speaker 1: must show us the condition of the human heart before
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  Speaker 1: revealing the remedy. So breathe be still know that what
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  Speaker 1: comes next is not the end of the story. It
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  Speaker 1: is the darkness before the dawn. Paul begins by turning
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  Speaker 1: his gaze upon the gentile world, those outside of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: those who did not receive the law of Moses, those
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  Speaker 1: who lived according to their own understanding, For the wrath
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  Speaker 1: of God is revealed from Heaven, against all ungodliness and
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  Speaker 1: unrighteousness of men who, by their unrighteousness suppress the truth
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  Speaker 1: the wrath of God. These words make us uncomfortable. We
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  Speaker 1: prefer to think of God as gentle, patient, loving, and
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  Speaker 1: he is. But he is also just, and justice demands
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  Speaker 1: that sin be answered, not because God is harsh, but
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  Speaker 1: because he is holy. He cannot look upon evil and
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  Speaker 1: call it good. He cannot ignore the cries of the oppressed,
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  Speaker 1: the violence of the wicked, the corruption that has spread
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  Speaker 1: through his creation like poison through veins. But here is
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  Speaker 1: what we must understand. The wrath of God is not
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  Speaker 1: the rage of a tyrant. It is the righteous response
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  Speaker 1: of a loving father whose children have turned away from
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  Speaker 1: him and destroyed themselves in the process. Paul says that
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  Speaker 1: humanity has suppressed the truth, not that they never knew it,
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  Speaker 1: but that they pushed it down, buried it, refused to
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  Speaker 1: acknowledge it. They took the truth about God and locked
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  Speaker 1: it away in the basement of their hearts. And what
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  Speaker 1: truth did they suppress? For what can be known about
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  Speaker 1: God is plain to them, because God has shown it
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  Speaker 1: to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power
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  Speaker 1: and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the
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  Speaker 1: creation of the world in the things that have been made.
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  Speaker 1: Look around you, even now, in the stillness of night,
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  Speaker 1: the stars above countless burning, holding their courses with perfect precision.
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  Speaker 1: The rhythm of your own heart beat, the complexity of
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  Speaker 1: a single cell, the way a seed buried in darkness
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  Speaker 1: pushes up toward light. All of creation whispers the name
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  Speaker 1: of its maker, not audibly, but undeniably. The universe is
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  Speaker 1: not silent. It is a symphony declaring the glory of God.
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  Speaker 1: And yet humanity looked at that glory and turned away.
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  Speaker 1: For although they knew God, they did not honor him
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  Speaker 1: as God or give thanks to him. But they became
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  Speaker 1: futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
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  Speaker 1: Imagine a man standing before a great work of art,
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  Speaker 1: a masterpiece that took years to create, and instead of
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  Speaker 1: praising the artist, he tears the painting from the wall
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  Speaker 1: and bows before it, worshiping the canvas and paint. That
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  Speaker 1: is what humanity did. They saw the glory of creation
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  Speaker 1: and worshiped the creation instead of the Creator. Claiming to
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  Speaker 1: be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of
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  Speaker 1: the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, and birds
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  Speaker 1: and animals and creeping things. They carved idols from wood
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  Speaker 1: and stone, images of men, animals, even insects, and called
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  Speaker 1: them divine. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie.
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  Speaker 1: They traded the eternal for the temporary, the infinite for
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  Speaker 1: the finite, the Creator for the creature. And when they did,
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  Speaker 1: something terrible happened. Therefore, God gave them up in the
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  Speaker 1: lusts of their hearts. To impurity, to the dishonoring of
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  Speaker 1: their bodies among themselves. Three times in this passage, Paul
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  Speaker 1: uses that phrase God gave them up. It is one
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  Speaker 1: of the most sobering statements in all of scripture, not
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  Speaker 1: that God abandoned them in cruelty, but that he allowed
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  Speaker 1: them to have what they wanted. He removed his restraining
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  Speaker 1: hand and let them pursue the desires of their hearts.
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  Speaker 1: It is like a father watching his child run toward
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  Speaker 1: a cliff. He calls out, stop, do not go that way,
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  Speaker 1: but the child refuses to listen, and finally, heart broken,
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  Speaker 1: the father steps back and allows the child to experience
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  Speaker 1: the consequences of their choices. They were filled with all
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  Speaker 1: manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness.
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  Speaker 1: They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful,
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  Speaker 1: inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
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  Speaker 1: This is not a list of a few exceptionally wicked people.
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  Speaker 1: This is a mirror held up to the human condition.
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  Speaker 1: Some sins are loud, murder, violence, hatred. Others are quiet, envy, gossip, pride,
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  Speaker 1: But all all of them flow from the same poisoned well,
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  Speaker 1: a heart that has turned away from God, like a
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  Speaker 1: garden left untended, overrun by thorns and weeds, like a
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  Speaker 1: house built on sand, crumbling under its own weight, like
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  Speaker 1: a river that has broken its banks, flooding and destroying
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  Speaker 1: everything in its path. That is humanity, apart from God.
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  Speaker 1: Not as bad as we could be, but broken in
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  Speaker 1: every part our minds, our wills, our emotions, all affected
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  Speaker 1: by sin, And the most chilling part, though they know
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  Speaker 1: God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve
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  Speaker 1: to die, they not only do them, but give approval
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  Speaker 1: to those who practice them. They know it is wrong,
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  Speaker 1: deep down in the quiet of their conscience. They know,
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  Speaker 1: and yet they continue. Not only that they celebrate it,
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  Speaker 1: they encourage others to join them. They build entire cultures
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  Speaker 1: around the very things that lead to death. This is
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  Speaker 1: the state of the gentile world. And if Paul had
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  Speaker 1: stopped there, the Jewish readers of his letter might have
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  Speaker 1: nodded in agreement. Yes, Paul, the Pagans are lost. We
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  Speaker 1: have always known that, Thank God, we are not like them,
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  Speaker 1: But Paul does not stop there. He turns his gaze
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  Speaker 1: toward the Jewish world, toward those who received the Law,
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  Speaker 1: who knew the commandments, who prided themselves on their relationship
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  Speaker 1: with God, and what he says next would have stunned them. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: you have no excuse, o man, every one of you
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  Speaker 1: who judges, for in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself,
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  Speaker 1: because you, the judge, practice the very same things you
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  Speaker 1: who judge others. You are guilty of the same sins.
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  Speaker 1: You may not commit them in the same way, but
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  Speaker 1: your heart is no different. You may keep the outward
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  Speaker 1: forms of religion, but inwardly you are just as broken.
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  Speaker 1: It is like a doctor who diagnoses others with a
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  Speaker 1: disease while ignoring the same symptoms in himself, like a
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  Speaker 1: man who points at the speck in his brother's eye
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  Speaker 1: while a plank protrudes from his own. Do you suppose,
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  Speaker 1: o man, you who judge those who practice such things
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  Speaker 1: and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the
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  Speaker 1: judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches
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  Speaker 1: of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that
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  Speaker 1: God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. God's
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  Speaker 1: patience is not approval, his silence is not permission. Every
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  Speaker 1: day that he withholds judgment is a gift, a chance
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  Speaker 1: to turn back, to repent, to run into his arms.
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  Speaker 1: But if we mistake his kindness for indifference, we store
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  Speaker 1: up wrath for ourselves. But because of your hard and
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  Speaker 1: impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself. On
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  Speaker 1: the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be
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  Speaker 1: There is a day coming, a day when every hidden
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  Speaker 1: thing will be brought to light, a day when God
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  Speaker 1: will judge not only our actions, but the secrets of
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  Speaker 1: our hearts. Paul addresses the Jewish people directly. But if
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  Speaker 1: you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law,
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  Speaker 1: and boast in God, and know his will and approve
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  Speaker 1: what is excellent because you are instructed from the law.
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  Speaker 1: And if you are sure that you yourself are a
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  Speaker 1: guide to the blind, a light to those who are
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  Speaker 1: in darkness, you, then, who teach others? Do you not
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  Speaker 1: teach yourself? The Jewish teachers believed they had everything figured out.
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  Speaker 1: They saw themselves as spiritual guides, leading the blind gentiles
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  Speaker 1: out of darkness. They boasted in their knowledge of God.
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  Speaker 1: But Paul asks, do you practice what you preach? While
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  Speaker 1: you preach against stealing? Do you steal? You who say
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  Speaker 1: that one must not commit adultery? Do you commit adultery?
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  Speaker 1: You who abhor idols? Do you rob temples? You who
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  Speaker 1: boast in the law, dishonor God by breaking the law? Hypocrisy?
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  Speaker 1: That is the accusation. They wore their religion like a
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  Speaker 1: badge of honor, but their lives told a different story.
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  Speaker 1: And Paul says that because of this the name of
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  Speaker 1: God was blasphemed among the Gentiles. The watching world looked
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  Speaker 1: at God's people and said, if that is what it
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  Speaker 1: means to follow God, I want nothing to do with him.
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  Speaker 1: What a sobering thought. Our lives either draw people to
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  Speaker 1: God or push them away. And now, after dismantling every excuse,
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  Speaker 1: after showing that both Gentiles and Jews are guilty before God,
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  Speaker 1: Paul arrives at the devastating conclusion, what then, are we
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  Speaker 1: Jews any better off? No, not at all, For we
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  Speaker 1: have already charged that all both Jews and Greeks are
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  Speaker 1: under sin. As it is written, none is righteous, no,
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  Speaker 1: not one, No one understands, no one seeks for God.
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  Speaker 1: All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No
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  Speaker 1: one does good, not even one, all, not most, not some.
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  Speaker 1: All Their throat is an open grave. They use their
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  Speaker 1: tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips.
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  Speaker 1: Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: There is no fear of God before their eyes. This
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: is humanity without God, a throat like an open grave,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: spewing death, a tongue full of deceit, lips dripping with poison,
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: feet running toward violence, hearts that have never known true peace,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: and at the root of it all no fear of God.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: We do not tremble before him, we do not reverence him.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: We live as though He does not exist, or as
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: though He does not matter. And the Law, the law
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: that the Jewish people relied on for their righteousness. Now
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: those who are under the law, so that every mouth
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: may be stopped, and the whole world may be held
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: accountable to God. For by works of the law, no
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: human being will be justified in his sight, since through
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: the Law comes knowledge of sin. The purpose of the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: law was never to save. It was to reveal, to
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: show us our sin, to silence every excuse, to strip
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: away our self righteousness, and leave us standing naked before God,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: with nothing to offer, nothing to boast in, nothing to
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: cling to, every mouth stopped, every defense shattered, the whole world,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: jew and gentile, religious and irrire, religious, moral and immoral,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: standing guilty before a holy God. That is where Paul
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: leaves us in the darkness, in the silence, in the
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: honesty of our condition. But wait, do you hear that
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: in the distance a light is beginning to dawn. Paul
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: is about to say two of the most beautiful words
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: in all of Scripture. But now rest here for a moment.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: Let the weight of your needs settle, not to crush you,
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: but to prepare you, because what comes next is the answer,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: the hope, the gospel that changes everything, and it will
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: take your breath away. Chapter three, Justified by faith alone.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: The darkness has been fully revealed. Humanity stands condemned, gentile
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: and jew alike. All have sinned, all have fallen short.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: The Law has done its work it has shown us
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: our guilt, stopped every mouth, and left us without excuse.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: But now those two words mark the turning point of history,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: the hinge upon which all of eternity swings. After chapters
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: of diagnosis, after the relentless exposure of sin, Paul is
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: about to unfold the cure. And it is not what
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: any one expected. But now the righteousness of God has
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: been manifested apart from the law, although the law and
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. But now,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: in the midst of universal guilt, in the face of
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: total human failure, God has acted, not reluctantly, not as
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: a last resort, but according to his eternal plan. He
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: has revealed a righteousness that does not come from us
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: but from Him. And it is apart from the law,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: not against the law, not opposed to the law, but
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: independent of it. The law could show us sin, but
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: it could not remove sin. It could condemn, but it
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: could not save. So God provided another way, the righteousness
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: of God. We heard this phrase back in chapter one,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: verse seventeen, But now Paul unpacks it more fully. This
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: is not just God's own righteousness, though it includes that
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: it is the righteousness that God gives, the righteousness that
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: he credits to those who have none of their own.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: And how is it received through faith in Jesus Christ,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Not through effort, not through moral achievement, not through religious ritual,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: through faith, simple childlike trust in what God has done.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: fall short of the glory of God. There it is
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: the verse that echoes in the halls of every church,
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: the verse that every belie even knows by heart, all
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: have sinned, not most, not some owl, every single one
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: of us. We have missed the mark. We have failed
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: to reflect the glory of God. We were created to
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: shine with His image, to live in perfect harmony with Him,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: but we fell short. And yet look at what comes next,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: and are justified by His grace as a gift through
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: the redemption that is in Christ, Jesus justified. It is
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: a legal term. It means to be declared righteous, to
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: be acquitted, to have the verdict of not guilty pronounced
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: over you. But how can a guilty person be declared
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: not guilty? How can a holy God justify the ungodly
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: without compromising his justice. The answer is in the next phrase,
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: by his grace as a gift, grace, unearned, undeserved favor.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: God does not justify us because we earned it. He
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: does not declare us righteous because we cleaned up our act.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: He justifies us as a gift, free offered with an
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: open hand to empty hands. And the means of this
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: justification the redemption that is in Christ, Jesus redemption. The
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: word means to buy back, to pay a price, to
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: set free what was held captive. We were slaves to sin,
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: bound by chains we could not break. But Jesus paid
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: the price. He purchased our freedom, not with silver or gold,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: but with his own blood. Now let me tell you
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: about a man who discovered this truth in a way
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: that changed the world. His name was Martin Luther. He
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: was born in fourteen eighty three in Germany, the son
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: of a copper miner. From his youth he was taught
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: to fear God, not as a loving father, but as
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: a stern judge waiting to condemn. Luther became a monk.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: He spent hours in prayer, fasted until his body was gaunt,
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: confessed every sin he could remember, and even sins he
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: imagined he might have committed. He climbed the steps of
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: churches on his knees, hoping to earn God's favor. He
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: punished his body, denied himself, and pushed himself to the
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: edge of despair. But peace eluded him. No matter how
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: hard he tried. He could not shake the feeling that
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: he was not good enough, that God was angry with him,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: that one day he would stand before the judgment seat
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: and be condemned. Then, in fifteen seventeen, while preparing lectures
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: on the Book of Romans, Luther read these very words
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: we are reading to night. The righteousness of God is
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: righteous shall live by faith. For years Luther had read
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: the righteousness of God and felt only terror. He thought
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: it meant God's perfect standard, the standard he could could
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: never meet. But suddenly the light broke through the righteousness
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: of God is not just the standard, it is the gift.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: God does not demand righteousness from us, He gives righteousness
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: to us through faith in Jesus Christ. Luther later wrote,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: I felt as if I had been born again, and
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: as if I had entered through open gates into paradise. Itself.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: That revelation that salvation is by grace through faith, not
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: by works, became the spark that ignited the Reformation. It
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: shook empires. It freed millions from the bondage of trying
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: to earn what can only be received, And to night
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: that same truth stands before you. Paul continues, whom God
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: received by faith. Propitiation it is an old word, and
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: we do not use it much any more, but it
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: carries the weight of eternity. It means the satisfying of wrath,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: the turning away of judgment, the covering of sin. In
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: the Old Testament, on the day of Atonement, the high
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: priest would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat, the lid
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: of the ark of the Covenant, to atone for the
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: sins of the people. That blood covered their guilt for
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: another year. It did not remove it, but it postponed judgment.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: But Jesus is the true and final propitiation. His blood
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: does not merely cover sin, it removes it. It satisfies
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: the wrath of God completely, and forever God's justice is
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: not ignored. It is fulfilled. The penalty for sin is
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: paid not by us, but by Him. And how do
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: we receive it? By faith? We do not work for it,
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: We do not earn it. We simply believe. We trust
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: that what Jesus did was enough that his death counts
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: for us, that his righteousness covers us. This was to
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: at the present time, so that He might be just
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Do you see the brilliance of this God is both
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: just and the justifier. He does not compromise his justice
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: to save us. He upholds it. Every sin must be punished,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: every wrong must be made right. But instead of punishing us,
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: he punished his son. Jesus bore the wrath we deserved.
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: He drank the cup of judgment to the last drop.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: And because of that God can forgive us without violating
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: his justice. He can declare us righteous without pretending we
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: never sinned. The cross satisfies both his holiness and his love.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: Paul's next words would have shocked his Jewish readers. Then
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: what comes of our boasting? It is excluded by what
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: kind of law, by a law of works? No, but
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: by the law of faith. For we hold that one
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: is justified by faith. Apart from works of the law,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: boasting is excluded. There is no room for pride, no
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: space for self congratulation. If salvation were by works, we
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: could boast, We could say I earned this, I deserved this,
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: look at what I did. But salvation is by faith,
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: which means it is all grace, and grace leaves no
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: room for boasting. Or is God the God of Jews only?
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: Is he not the God of Gentiles? Also yes of gentiles? Also,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: since God is one who will justify the circumcised by
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: faith and the uncircumcised through faith, there is one God,
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: and he has one way of salvation, not two ways,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: one for Jews, one for Gentiles, one way faith trust
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: belief in Jesus Christ. But someone might ask, does that
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: mean the law is useless? Does faith overthrow the law?
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Paul answers, Do we then overthrow the law by this faith?
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: By no means? On the contrary, we uphold the law.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: How does faith uphold the law? Because the law was
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: never meant to save us, It was meant to point
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: us to our need for a savior. And when we
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: come to Christ by faith, the righteous requirement of the
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: Law is fulfilled in us. Not by us, but in
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: us through the work of the Holy Spirit. The Law said,
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: be holy, We could not, but Christ was holy on
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: our behalf. The Law said, love God with all your heart.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: We failed, but Christ loved perfectly. And when we are
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: united to Him by faith, his obedience becomes ours. His
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: righteousness covers us. His life is credited to our account.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: This is the great exchange. He took our sin. We
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: receive his righteousness. He bore our shame. We inherit his honor.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: He died our death. We live his life, and all
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: of it, every bit of it, is received by faith.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Not faith in ourselves, not faith in our ability to believe,
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: but faith in Him, faith in what He has done,
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Faith that looks away from self and fixes its eyes
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: on Jesus. Are you tired of trying to earn God's love?
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: Stop it is already yours. Are you weary of the
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: burden of guilt? Lay it down? Jesus carried it to
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: the cross. Are you afraid that you have sinned too much,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: that you have gone too far that God could never
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: accept you listen to Paul's words again. All have sinned
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: and fall short of the glory of God and are
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: justified by His grace as a gift, a gift, not
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: a reward, not a wage. A gift, and gifts are
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: not earned, they are received. So receive it. Open your hands,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: open your heart, Let go of your pride, your fear,
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: your self reliance, and take hold of the righteousness that
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: God offers you in Jesus Christ. This is the turning point.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: This is the moment when everything changes. The darkness has
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: been exposed, the light has appeared, and that light is
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: the Gospel. The Gospel is not a set of rules
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: to follow. It is a person to trust. The Gospel
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: is not a ladder to climb, It is a gift
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: to receive. The Gospel is not about what you must do.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: It is about what Jesus has done. And because of
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: what He has done, you can rest, You can breathe,
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: You can close your eyes tonight, knowing that you are
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: justified not because of your works, but because of His grace.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: The law could only condemn, but Christ has set you free,
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: and that freedom is yours by faith alone. Rest now, beloved,
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: The battle is over. The verdict is in And if
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: you are in Christ, the verdict is this not guilty, forgiven, justified,
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: loved forever and ever. Amen. Chapter four. Abraham, the father
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: of faith, the Gospel has been declared justification by faith
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: apart from works, righteousness as a gift, not a reward,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: grace flowing freely to all who believe. But Paul knows
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: his readers, he knows that the Jewish mind, steeped in
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: centuries of scripture and tradition, will ask a question, a
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: fair question, a necessary question. Is this really what the
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: Old Testament teaches? Is this faith alone doctrine, something new?
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: Or has this always been God's way? And so Paul
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: does what any good teacher does. He goes back to
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: the beginning, back to the man every Jew revered, back
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: to the father of the nation, back to Abraham. What then,
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: shall we say? Was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: to the flesh. For if Abraham was justified by works,
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: he has something to boast about. But not before God. Abraham,
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: his name alone carried weight. He was the friend of God,
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: the one who received the promises, the one through whom
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: all nations would be blessed. If anyone could be justified
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: by works. Surely it was Abraham. But Paul says something still,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: it was counted to him as righteousness. Abraham believed, that
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: is all. He did not earn righteousness. He did not
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: achieve it through years of moral effort. He simply believed.
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: He trusted God, and God counted that faith as righteousness.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: The word counted is an accounting term. It means to credit,
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: to reckon, to place into one's account. When you deposit
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: money into a bank, the bank credits your account. The
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: money becomes yours, even though you may not have earned
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: it through the bank itself. In the same way, God
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: credited righteousness to Abraham's account, not because Abraham was righteous
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: in himself, but because he believed. Paul draws a crucial distinction. Now,
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: to the one who works, his wages are not counted
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: as a gift, but as his due. And to the
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: one who do not work but believes in Him who
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. If
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: you work for something, you earn it. It is not
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: a gift, it is a wage. You deserve it. But
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: salvation is not a wage. It is a gift, and
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: gifts are not earned. They are received by those who
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: stop trying to earn them and simply believe. Notice that phrase,
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: him who justifies the ungodly, not the godly, not the righteous.
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: The ungodly God justifies those who have no righteousness of
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: their own. Think of Abraham's story. When God first called him,
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: he was living in Ur of the Chaldeans, a pagan
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: city filled with idols. According to Jewish tradition, Abraham's own
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: father was an idol maker. Abraham did not grow up
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: in a godly home, studying the scriptures, living a righteous life.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: He grew up surrounded by false wod worship. And yet
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: God called him, leave your country, your kindred, your father's house,
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: and go to the land that I will show you.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: Abraham believed. He left everything he knew, his home, his security,
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: his family, and followed God into the unknown, not because
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: he was righteous, but because he trusted the one who
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: called him. Years passed. God promised Abraham a son, an
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: heir through whom all nations would be blessed. But Abraham
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: and his wife Sarah had no children, Zarah of us Baron,
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: And as the years went by, the promise seemed more
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: and more impossible. When Abraham was ninety nine years old
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: and Sarah was ninety, God appeared to him again and
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: reaffirmed the promise, I will give you a son. By
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: every human measure, it was impossible. Abraham's body was as
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: good as dead, Sarah's womb had long been baron, But
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: Abraham believed, Paul writes in Hope. He believed against hope
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: that he should become the father of many nations, as
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: he had been told, so shall your offspring be. He
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body,
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: which was as good as dead since he was about
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: of Sarah's womb. Abraham did not ignore reality. He knew
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: his body was old, he knew Sarah was barren. He
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: looked at the circumstances honestly, but he did not let
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: those circumstances determine what he believed about God. No unbelief
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: made him waver concerning the promise of God. But he
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: fully convinced that God was able to do what he
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: had promised. He grew strong in faith. Faith is not static,
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: It does not remain the same. It grows, Its strengthens,
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: and its strengthens as we turn our eyes away from
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: ourselves and fix them on God, as we give him glory,
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: as we declare, even when everything looks impossible, God is able.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: Abraham was fully convinced, not partially, not hesitantly. Fully he
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: knew that what God had promised, God would perform, and
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: he was right. Against all odds. Sarah conceived Isaac was born,
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: the child of promise, the miracle baby, the proof that
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: God keeps his word. And because Abraham believed, it was
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: counted to him as righteousness. That is why his faith
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: was counted to him as righteousness. But the words it
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: was counted to him were not written for his sake alone,
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: but for ours also. Here is the breathtaking reality. This
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: was not just written as a history lesson. It was
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: written for us, you, me, every person who reads these words.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: God wants us to know that what he did for Abraham,
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: he will do for us. It will be counted to
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: us who believe in Him who raised from the dead,
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: and raised for our justification. The faith that justifies us
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: is not faith in a promise about a child. It
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: is faith in the God who raises the dead, the
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: God who took Jesus, crucified and buried and brought him
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: back to life, the God who conquered death itself. Jesus
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: was delivered up for our trespasses. He was handed over
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: to death because of our sins. He bore the penalty
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: we deserved. He absorbed the wrath of God on our behalf,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: and he was raised for our justification. His resurrection was
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: not just a miracle. It was a declaration, a verdict
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: from Heaven. It was God saying the payment is accepted,
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: the debt is paid. Righteousness is now available to all
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: who believe. If Jesus had remained in the grave, we
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: would still be in our sins. But he did not remain.
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: He rose, and because he rose, we are justified, not guilty, forgiven,
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: declared righteous. And all of this is received the same
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: way Abraham received it, by faith. Do you see the
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: pattern now? From the very beginning, from the first pages
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: of Genesis, this has always been God's way. Faith, trust,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: believing the promise, even when it seems impossible. Abraham looked
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: at his dead body and Sarah's barren womb, and he
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: believed God could give life. We look at our dead souls,
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: our sinful hearts, our broken lives, and we believe God
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: can give life. And he does not because we are strong,
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: but because He is faithful. Sleep Now, child of Abraham,
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: you are part of the family, not by blood but
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: by faith, not by works, but by grace. The promise
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: is yours, the righteousness is yours, The blessing is yours
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: because you believe, and that is enough. Chapter five, Peace
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: with God through Christ. Something has shifted. Can you feel it?
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: For four chapters, Paul has been building a case. Humanity
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: is guilty. The law cannot save, but God has provided
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: a righteousness apart from the law received by faith exemplified
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: in Abraham. The argument has been thorough, precise, relentless. But
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: now as we enter chapter five, the tone changes. Paul
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: is no longer defending a doctrine. He is celebrating a reality.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: He is no longer proving a point. He is overflowing
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: with joy. Because justification by faith is not just a
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: legal transaction. It changes everything. Therefore, since we have been
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: justified by faith, We have peace with God through our
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: Lord Jesus Christ. Peace with God, not peace of mind,
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: not inner tranquility, Peace with God. The war is over,
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: the hostility has ended. The barrier between us and God
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: has been removed. Before Christ, we were enemies of God,
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: not because he hated us, but because we were in
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: rebellion against him. Our sin put us at odds with
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: his holiness. We stood on opposite sides of a chasm
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: that we could never cross. But through Jesus peace has
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: been made. He is our peace. He reconciled us to
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: God through his death. And now because we have been justified,
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: we stand in a different relationship with God, not as
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: enemies but as friends, not as rebels, but as children.
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: Through Him, we have also obtained access by faith into
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: hope of the glory of God. Access. The word brings
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: to mind the ancient world, where kings sat behind layers
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: of guards and gates. You could not simply walk into
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: the throne room. You needed permission, You needed an advocate,
• 47:24
  Speaker 1: you needed some one to bring you in. But through
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: Jesus we have access. We can come boldly into the
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: presence of God. Not because we are worthy, but because
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: Jesus opened the way. He is our mediator, our door,
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: our access point. And notice, we do not just pass
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: through grace, we stand in it. Grace is not a
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: one time event. It is the atmosphere in which we live.
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: We stand in grace the way a tree stands in soil.
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: It is the source of our life, our stability, our hope.
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: And we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: We rejoice in hope, not in certainty of perfect circumstances,
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: not in the absence of suffering, but in hope, the
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: confident expectation that God will complete what he started, that
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: one day we will be fully transformed, that we will
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: reflect His glory without flaw, without stain, without shadow. But
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: Paul does not stop there. He says something that seems
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: almost contradictory. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings,
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: Because God's love has been poured into our hearts through
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us, we
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: rejoice in sufferings. How is that possible. Not because suffering
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: is good in itself, not because pain does not hurt,
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: but because suffering has a purpose. It is not meaningless,
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: it is not random. God is using it to shape us,
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: refine us, make us more like Christ. Suffering produces endurance,
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: the ability to keep going when everything in you wants
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: to quit, the strength to stand under pressure without collapsing.
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: Endurance produces character, proven, character, tested and refined, like gold
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: that passes through fire and emerges pure. And character produces hope,
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: not wishful thinking, but solid, unshakable confidence in God, because
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: when you have walked through fire and found God faithful,
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: when you have stood in the darkness and seen his light,
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: you know that He will not abandon you ever. And
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: hope does not put us to shame, It does not disappoint,
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: it does not fail. Why because it is rooted in
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: something greater than our circumstances. It is rooted in the
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: love of God, because God's love has been poured into
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: to us. The love of God is not something we
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: work up in ourselves. It is poured into us, like
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: water filling a vessel, like oil anointing a head, it
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: is abundant, overflowing, more than we can contain. And the
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: evidence of that love is the Holy Spirit. God does
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: not just tell us he loves us, He gives us
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: his spirit as proof, the spirit dwelling in us, testifying
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: to our hearts that we are children of God. Now,
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: Paul explains just how great this love is. For while
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: we were still weak at the right time, Christ died
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: for the ungodly, at the right time, not when we
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: were ready, not when we had cleaned ourselves up, not
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: when we deserved it, but at the exact moment appointed
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: by God, in the fullness of time, Christ came and
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: he died for the ungodly, not for the righteous, not
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: for those who had it all together, for the ungodly,
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: for rebels, for sinners, for people like you and me.
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die.
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: But God shows his love for us in that, while
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Think about
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: human love. Occasionally, some one might sacrifice their life for
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: a good person. A soldier might die to save his comrades,
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: a mother might die to save her child. But even
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: then there is something in the other person worth saving, goodness, virtue, innocence.
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: But Christ did not die for the innocent. He died
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: for the guilty. He did not die for those who
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: loved him. He died for those who hated him. He
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: did not wait for us to become lovable. He loved
• 52:06
  Speaker 1: us while we were still ugly with sin. That is
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: the love of God. Not a love that responds to
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: our worth, but a love that creates worth in us.
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: Not a love that rewards the deserving, but a love
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: that gives to the undeserving. While we were still sinners,
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: Christ died for us. Let that sink in. You do
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: not have to become good enough first. You do not
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: have to clean up your life before God will accept you.
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: He loved you at your worst. He died for you
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: when you were still his enemy. And if he did
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: that when you were his enemy, what will he do
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: now that you are his child? Since therefore we have
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: now been justified by his blood, much more shall we
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: be saved by him from the wrath of God. For
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: by the death of his son, much more now that
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life.
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: This is Paul's argument from the Greater to the lesser.
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: If God did the hardest thing, reconciling enemies through the
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: death of his son, then surely he will do the
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: easier thing, keeping his children safe through the life of
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: his son. If he loved you enough to die for
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: you when you were his enemy, he will certainly love
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: you enough to keep you now that you are his friend.
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: Your salvation does not depend on you holding on to God.
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: It depends on God holding on to you, and He
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: who began a good work in you will bring it
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: to completion. More than that, we also rejoice in God
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: received reconciliation. We rejoice in God, not just in what
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: he gives us, not just in the blessings, the peace,
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: the hope. We rejoice in Him in his character, in
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: his love, in his faithfulness. And now Paul shifts to
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: a deeper theological truth. He takes us back to the beginning,
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: to the garden, to the moment when sin entered the world. Therefore,
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: just as sin came into the world through one man,
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: and death through sin, and so death spread to all men,
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: because all sinned. Adam, the first man, the representative of
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: the human race. When he sinned, sin entered the world,
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: and with sin came death, not just physical death, but
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: spiritual death, separation from God, corruption of the soul. And
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: that death spread to all. Not because we each individually
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: sinned like Adam, but because we are united to Adam,
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: we are his descendants. His sin became our inheritance. But Adam,
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: Paul says, was a type of Christ, a pattern, a
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: shadow pointing for forward to the reality. Just as Adam's
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: one act affected all who were united to him, so
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: Christ's one act would affect all who are united to him.
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: But here is the beautiful thing. The similarity ends there,
• 55:15
  Speaker 1: because what Christ did far surpasses what Adam did. But
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: the free gift is not like the trespass. For if
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: many died through one man's trespass, much more have the
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: grace of God and the free gift by the grace
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: of that one man, Jesus Christ abounded for many. Adam
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: brought death, Christ brought life. Adam brought condemnation. Christ brought grace.
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: And grace is not just the opposite of sin, it
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: is greater. It is superabundant, it overflows. For if because
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man,
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: much more will those who receive the abundance of grace
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: the one man Jesus Christ. Death reigned through Adam, But
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: life reigns through Christ and not just life. Abundant life,
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: overflowing life, eternal life. We do not just survive, we reign.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: We rule not as tyrants, but as beloved children of
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: the King, sharing in his victory, his authority, his glory.
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: Paul summarizes, therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: and life for all men. For as by the one
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: one man's obedience, the many will be made righteous. Do
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: you see it, the symmetry, the beautiful, perfect exchange. Adam's
• 56:52
  Speaker 1: disobedience made us sinners. Christ's obedience makes us righteous. And
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: then Paul anticipates a question, if grace is so powerful,
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: if it covers all sin, then why have the law
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: at all? Now the law came in to increase the trespass.
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. The
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: law did not solve the sin problem. It exposed it.
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: It made sin come alive, revealing just how deep and
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: how pervasive it was. But where sin increased, grace abounded
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: all the more. The Greek word is hyperperisuo, to overflow
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: beyond measure. Grace did not just match sin, It exceeded it.
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: It overwhelmed it. It drowned it in a flood of mercy,
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: reign through righteousness leading to eternal life. Through Jesus Christ,
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: our Lord. Sin reigned past tense, it had dominion, It
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: held us captive. But now grace reigns, not lawlessness, not
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: licensed to sin, but grace producing righteousness leading to eternal life.
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: This is the triumph of the Gospel. Sin has been dethroned,
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: death has been defeated, and grace now sits on the
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: throne of your life. You are justified, You are at peace,
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: You are reconciled. You are loved. You are safe, and
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: nothing nothing can separate you from that love. Rest now, beloved.
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: The war is over. The victory is one. You are
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: no longer. In Adam, you are in Christ, and in
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: Him you have everything you need, Peace, grace, hope, life forever.
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: Chapter six, Dead to sin, Alive to God, Grace reigns
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: sinin has been dethroned. Where sin increased, grace abounded all
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: the more. But now a question arises, a dangerous question,
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: a question that, if answered wrongly, could destroy everything Paul
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: has just built. If we are saved by grace, not
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: by works, if our sin only magnifies God's grace, then
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: why not keep sinning? Why not live however we want?
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: If grace covers everything, does it matter how we live?
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: Paul anticipates this objection, and his answer is swift and absolute.
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: What shall we say, then, are we to continue in
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: sin that grace may abound by no means, by no means?
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: The Greek phrase is may genoito, the strongest possible negation
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: in the language. May it never be? Absolutely not? The
• 59:55
  Speaker 1: thought is unthinkable. Why because something fundamental has changed. We
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: died to sin. How can we who died to sin
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: still live in it? Not just our sins were forgiven,
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: We ourselves died, our old identity, our old nature, our
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: old relationship with sin. It died and dead people do
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: not respond to temptation the way living people do. Let
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: me tell you a story that might help you understand.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 1: There was once a woman, let us call her Sarah,
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: who struggled with addiction. For years, alcohol had been her master.
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: Every morning, she would wake up and tell herself, to
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: day will be different. To day I will not drink.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: But by evening the craving would return, and she would
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: give in again and again. She hated it. She hated
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: the person she became when she drank. She hated the shame,
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: the broken promises, the disappointed faces of those who loved her.
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: But she could not stop. The power of addiction was
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: too strong. Then one day she cried out to God
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: in desperation, I cannot do this any more. I need
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: you to save me. And something shifted, not over night,
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: not in a single dramatic moment, but slowly, steadily. She
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: began to see herself differently. She was not just Sarah,
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: the alcoholic trying not to drink. She was Sarah, a
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: child of God, dead to her old life, alive to Christ.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: When the craving came, she would say, that is not
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: who I am any more. That person died. I am
• 1:01:37
  Speaker 1: a new creation. It did not mean she never struggled,
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: It did not mean temptation disappeared, but it meant that
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: sin no longer had authority over her. She could say no,
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: and increasingly she did. That is what Paul is talking about,
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: not sinless perfection, but a fundamental shift in identity. Paul explains,
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: do you not know that all of us who have
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 1: been baptized into Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death.
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death,
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: in order that, just as Christ was raised from the
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: dead by the glory of the Father, we too might
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: walk in newness of life. Baptism here is not just
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 1: a ritual. It is a picture, a symbol of a
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: spiritual reality. When you were baptized, when you believed you
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: were united with Christ, his death became your death. His
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: burial became your burial. His resurrection became your resurrection. Think
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: of it this way. When Christ died on the cross,
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: you were there, not physically but spiritually. In God's eyes,
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: When Christ died, you died with him. The old you,
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: the you that was enslaved to sin, the you that
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: was an enemy of God, the you that was under condemnation.
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 1: That person was crue ucified with Christ. And when Christ
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: was buried, you were buried with him. Your old life
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: was laid in the tomb. The past was finished, done over.
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 1: But death was not the end. Christ rose, and when
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: he rose, you rose with him, a new creation, a
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: new identity, a new life. For if we have been
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: united with him in a death like his, we shall
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: We know that our old self was crucified with him
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: in order that the body of sin might be brought
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved
• 1:03:40
  Speaker 1: to sin. The body of sin, that sinful nature, that
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: power that once controlled us, has been brought to nothing,
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: rendered powerless, deactivated. This does not mean you will never
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: be tempted again. This does not mean you will never struggle.
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: But it means sin no longer has the final say it,
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 1: no longer owns you. You can choose to say no,
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: For one who has died has been set free from sin.
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: Think of a slave who dies. The moment he dies,
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: his master's authority ends. The master can shout commands, threaten,
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: demand obedience, but the slave does not hear. He is dead. Free.
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: That is what happened to you. In Christ, you died,
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: and in dying you were freed from sin's mastery. Now,
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: if we have died with Christ, we believe that we
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: will also live with him. We know that Christ, being
• 1:04:39
  Speaker 1: raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: longer has dominion over him. Christ's death was a once
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: for all event. He does not need to die again.
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: Death has no claim on him. He conquered it, defeated it,
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: and now he lives forever and we share in that life.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 1: So you all so must consider yourselves dead to sin
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 1: and alive to God. In Christ Jesus, consider yourselves reckon.
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: Count it as true. This is not wishful thinking. This
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: is faith responding to reality. God says you died to sin.
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: Believe it. God says you are alive to Him. Live
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 1: like it. This is not about feelings. You may not
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 1: always feel dead to sin. Temptation may still knock on
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: your door, old desires may still whisper. But the truth remains,
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: you are dead to sin and alive to God. And
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 1: what does that mean? Practically? Let not sin, therefore, reign
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: in your mortal body to make you obey its passions.
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness,
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: but present yourselves to God as those who have been
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 1: brought from death to life, and your members to God
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 1: as instruments for righteousness. Let not sin reign. It no
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: longer has to You are not powerless, You are not
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: a victim. Sin does not have to rule your life.
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: You have a choice every day, every moment, You can
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: choose what you present to God. Your hands, your eyes,
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: your mind, your mouth. These are instruments, tools, weapons, and
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: you decide what you use them for. Will you present
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: them to sin? Will you use your body as an
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 1: instrument for unrighteousness? Or will you present yourself to God
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 1: knowing that you have been brought from death to life.
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 1: The choice is yours, not because you are saved by
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 1: your choices, but because you are saved. You can now choose.
• 1:06:47
  Speaker 1: For Sin will have no dominion over you, since you
• 1:06:50
  Speaker 1: are not under law, but under grace. This is the promise.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: Sin will not have dominion, It will not rule, It
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: will not control why because you are under grace. Under
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: the law, sin had power. The law said do not,
• 1:07:09
  Speaker 1: and sin said you must. The law commanded, but it
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: could not empower. But grace is different. Grace does not
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 1: just command, Grace transforms. Grace does not just tell you
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: what you should be. Grace makes you what you should be.
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 1: Paul continues, what then, are we to sin? Because we
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 1: are not under law but under grace by no means, Again,
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: the strongest possible negation. Grace is not permission to sin.
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: Grace is power over sin. Do you not know that
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: if you present yourselves to any one as obedient slaves,
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either
• 1:07:52
  Speaker 1: of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 1: leads to righteousness. Every one serves something. Every one is
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: a slave to something. The question is not whether you
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 1: will serve, but whom you will serve. Before Christ, you
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: had no choice. You were a slave to sin. But
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 1: now in Christ you have been set free. You have
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 1: a new master. And this master does not oppress you,
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: he liberates you. But thanks be to God that you,
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: who were once slaves of sin, have become obedient from
• 1:08:28
  Speaker 1: the heart to the standard of teaching to which you
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: were committed, and having been set free from sin, have
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 1: become slaves of righteousness. You were once slaves of sin.
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: Past tenser, that is no longer your identity. You have
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: been set free, and in your freedom you have chosen
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: a new master, righteousness. For just as you once presented
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, leading
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 1: to righteousness, leading to sanctification. Before you used your body
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 1: for impurity, you served sin with your whole being, and
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: what did it produce? More lawlessness. Sin is never satisfied.
• 1:09:16
  Speaker 1: It always wants more. But now present your body to righteousness,
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: serve God with your whole being, and what will it produce? Sanctification, holiness, growth, transformation.
• 1:09:32
  Speaker 1: You will become more and more like Jesus. For when
• 1:09:35
  Speaker 1: you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 1: to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: time from the things of which you are now ashamed?
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 1: For the end of those things is death. When you
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: served sin, you thought you were free, free to do
• 1:09:51
  Speaker 1: what you wanted, free to indulge your desires, free to
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: live without restraint. But that was not freedom. That was slaver,
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 1: and the fruit of that life shame, regret death. But
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 1: now that you have been set free from sin and
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 1: to sanctification and its end eternal life. Real freedom is
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 1: found in slavery to God. It sounds like a paradox,
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 1: but it is true. When you serve Him, you become
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: who you were always meant to be. You bear fruit,
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 1: you grow, you experience true life. And then Paul gives
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 1: one of the most quoted verses in all of scripture,
• 1:10:37
  Speaker 1: for the wages of sin is death, but the free
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 1: gift of God is eternal life. In Christ, Jesus our
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 1: Lord wages. That is what you earn. Sin pays wages death,
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: separation from God, spiritual death, now physical death, later eternal
• 1:10:56
  Speaker 1: death forever. But eternal life is not a way. It
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 1: is a gift. You do not earn it, you do
• 1:11:04
  Speaker 1: not deserve it. You receive it freely from the hand
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 1: of a generous God. And it is found only in Christ,
• 1:11:11
  Speaker 1: Jesus our Lord, not in religion, not in morality, not
• 1:11:17
  Speaker 1: in ritual, in Christ, in Him alone. So what is
• 1:11:22
  Speaker 1: the conclusion. You are dead to sin, you are alive
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 1: to God. Sin no longer rules you, Grace empowers you.
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 1: You are free to serve righteousness, to present your body
• 1:11:36
  Speaker 1: as an instrument for God's glory and The end of
• 1:11:39
  Speaker 1: that path is not shame or regret. It is sanctification, holiness, growth, transformation,
• 1:11:48
  Speaker 1: and ultimately eternal life. Live in that freedom, Beloved, you
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 1: are not who you used to be. The old is gone,
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 1: the new has come, and you you are alive, truly, fully,
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 1: eternally alive in Christ. Rest. Now sleep in the knowledge
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 1: that you have been set free, that you are held,
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 1: that you are loved, And tomorrow, when you wake, you
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: will wake as a new creation, dead to sin, alive
• 1:12:19
  Speaker 1: to God forever. Chapter seven, The Struggle with Sin and
• 1:12:27
  Speaker 1: the Law. Paul has just declared that we are dead
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 1: to sin and alive to God, that sin no longer
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 1: has dominion over us, that we are free. But if
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 1: that is true, then why do we still struggle? Why
• 1:12:42
  Speaker 1: does temptations still pull at us? Why do we still fail,
• 1:12:46
  Speaker 1: still fall, still find ourselves doing the very things we hate.
• 1:12:51
  Speaker 1: Paul is about to get deeply personal, and in doing so,
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: he will put words to a struggle that every believer
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 1: knows all too well. But first he addresses a question
• 1:13:01
  Speaker 1: about the law, or do you not know, brothers, For
• 1:13:05
  Speaker 1: I am speaking to those who know the law that
• 1:13:07
  Speaker 1: the law is binding on a person only as long
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 1: as he lives. The law has authority over you while
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 1: you are alive, but when you die, its authority ends.
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 1: Paul gives an illustration, for a married woman is bound
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: by law to her husband while he lives, but if
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 1: her husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly,
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 1: she will be called an adulteress if she lives with
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 1: another man while her husband is alive, but if her
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 1: husband dies, she is free from that law. And if
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 1: she marries another man, she is not an adulteress. Marriage
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 1: binds two people together as long as both are alive.
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 1: They are committed to each other, but death breaks that bond.
• 1:13:53
  Speaker 1: When the husband dies, the wife is free to remarry.
• 1:13:57
  Speaker 1: She is not unfaithful, she is really beast. Paul applies
• 1:14:01
  Speaker 1: this to our relationship with the law. Likewise, my brothers,
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: you also have died to the law through the body
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 1: of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to
• 1:14:12
  Speaker 1: him who has been raised from the dead, in order
• 1:14:15
  Speaker 1: that we may bear fruit for God. You died to
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: the law, not that the law died. It is still holy,
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: righteous and good. But you died your old identity, the
• 1:14:28
  Speaker 1: one that was bound to the law, was crucified with Christ.
• 1:14:31
  Speaker 1: And in dying, you were released from the law's authority.
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 1: Why so that you could belong to another, to Christ.
• 1:14:41
  Speaker 1: You were freed from one marriage so you could enter another.
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: And this new marriage is not a burden, it is life.
• 1:14:48
  Speaker 1: It bears fruit. For while we were living in the flesh,
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 1: our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work
• 1:14:56
  Speaker 1: in our members to bear fruit for death. Before Christ,
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: the law actually stirred up sin. It sounds strange, but
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 1: it is true. The law said do not covet and
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 1: suddenly we wanted what we should not have. The law
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 1: said do not, and something in us rose up and
• 1:15:16
  Speaker 1: said I will. The law revealed sin, but it also
• 1:15:21
  Speaker 1: provoked sin, not because the law is bad, but because
• 1:15:25
  Speaker 1: we are sinful. The law is like a sign that says,
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: wet paint, do not touch, and suddenly all you want
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: to do is touch it. But now we are released
• 1:15:36
  Speaker 1: from the law, having died to that which held us captive,
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit,
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 1: and not in the old way of the written code.
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: Now we serve in the spirit not by trying to
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 1: keep a list of rules, but by walking in relationship
• 1:15:51
  Speaker 1: with God, not by external obedience, but by internal transformation.
• 1:15:57
  Speaker 1: The spirit writes God's law on our hearts, and we
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 1: obey not out of fear, but out of love. But
• 1:16:04
  Speaker 1: this raises another question, what then, shall we say that
• 1:16:08
  Speaker 1: the law is sin by no means? Paul is quick
• 1:16:13
  Speaker 1: to defend the law. The law is not sin. The
• 1:16:17
  Speaker 1: law is good, but it revealed sin. Yet if it
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 1: had not been for the law, I would not have
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: known sin. For I would not have known what it
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: is to covet if the law had not said you
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 1: shall not cove it. The law shines a light on sin.
• 1:16:34
  Speaker 1: Before the law, we might sin without even realizing it.
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 1: But when the law says do not covet, suddenly we
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: become aware of the greed in our hearts. But Sin,
• 1:16:45
  Speaker 1: seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all
• 1:16:49
  Speaker 1: kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: I was once alive apart from the law. But when
• 1:16:58
  Speaker 1: the commandment came, Sin came alive, and I died. Sin
• 1:17:04
  Speaker 1: seizes the commandment and uses it against us. The law
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: says do not, and Sin says, now you must. It
• 1:17:13
  Speaker 1: is like telling a child, whatever you do, do not
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 1: open that door, and suddenly the door is all they
• 1:17:20
  Speaker 1: can think about. Apart from the law, sin is dormant.
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 1: It is still there, but it is not activated. But
• 1:17:28
  Speaker 1: when the law comes, sin springs to life. The very
• 1:17:32
  Speaker 1: commandment that promised life proved to be death to me,
• 1:17:36
  Speaker 1: for sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment deceived me,
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: and through it killed me. The law promised life, do
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: this and live, it said, But we could not do it.
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 1: And so instead of bringing life, the law brought death.
• 1:17:53
  Speaker 1: It revealed our failure. It exposed our guilt. It condemned us,
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 1: not because the law is bad, but because we are broken.
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 1: and righteous and good. The law is perfect. It reflects
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: the character of God. But we are not perfect. And
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 1: so the law, which is good, becomes a mirror that
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 1: shows us our sin. Did that which is good then
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: bring death to me? By no means. It was sin
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: producing death in me through what is good, in order
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 1: that sin might be shown to be sin, and through
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 1: the commandment might become sinful. Beyond measure. The law did
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 1: not kill us sin did. The law just exposed it,
• 1:18:43
  Speaker 1: and that exposure was necessary. We needed to see how
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 1: deep our sin goes, how pervasive, how deadly, because only
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 1: when we see the depth of our sin can we
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: appreciate the depth of God's grace. And now Paul shifts.
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 1: Until this point, he has been speaking in the past tense.
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 1: I was alive, sin came alive, I died. But now
• 1:19:08
  Speaker 1: he moves to the present tense. And what he describes
• 1:19:12
  Speaker 1: is raw, honest, and deeply personal. For we know that
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 1: the law is spiritual, But I am of the flesh
• 1:19:19
  Speaker 1: sold under sin. I am of the flesh, present tents.
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: Even as a believer, even as an apostle, even as
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 1: someone who has been justified and declared righteous, Paul still
• 1:19:32
  Speaker 1: feels the pull of the flesh. He still struggles. And
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 1: now he speaks words that have echoed in the hearts
• 1:19:39
  Speaker 1: of believers for two thousand years. For I do not
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 1: understand my own actions. For I do not do what
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 1: I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
• 1:19:50
  Speaker 1: Have you ever felt this? You wake up in the
• 1:19:53
  Speaker 1: morning and tell yourself, to day will be different. To
• 1:19:56
  Speaker 1: day I will not lose my temper. To day I
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 1: will not give in to that temptation. To day I
• 1:20:03
  Speaker 1: will be patient, kind, self controlled. And then before the
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 1: day is half over. You find yourself doing the very
• 1:20:12
  Speaker 1: thing you swore you would not do. You snap at
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: your child over something trivial. You click on the website
• 1:20:19
  Speaker 1: you promised yourself you would avoid. You speak words you
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: cannot take back. You make the choice you said you
• 1:20:25
  Speaker 1: never would, and you hate it. You despise it. You
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: stand there looking at yourself in the mirror and think,
• 1:20:34
  Speaker 1: why do I keep doing this? Paul continues, Now, if
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: I do what I do not want, I agree with
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 1: the law that it is good. So now it is
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 1: no longer I who do it. But sin that dwells
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 1: within me. There is a civil war happening inside the
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: real you, the new you, the redeemed you, wants to
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 1: obey God. But there is another force at work. Sin.
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 1: In dwelling, sin the remnants of the old nature that
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 1: have not yet been fully eradicated. For I know that
• 1:21:07
  Speaker 1: nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh.
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 1: For I have the desire to do what is right,
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 1: but not the ability to carry it out. The desire
• 1:21:16
  Speaker 1: is there, the intention is there, but the ability that
• 1:21:21
  Speaker 1: is where we fall short. We want to love perfectly,
• 1:21:25
  Speaker 1: forgive freely, trust completely, but we fail again and again
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 1: we fail. For I do not do the good I want,
• 1:21:34
  Speaker 1: But the evil I do not want is what I
• 1:21:37
  Speaker 1: keep on doing. I keep on doing present, tense, continuous action.
• 1:21:44
  Speaker 1: This is not describing a single failure, but a pattern,
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 1: a struggle that does not seem to end. Now. If
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 1: I do what I do not want, it is no
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: Paul is not making excuses, He is not saying it
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 1: is not my fault. He is describing a reality that
• 1:22:05
  Speaker 1: every believer knows. There is a part of us that
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 1: has been renewed, transformed, made alive. But there is also
• 1:22:12
  Speaker 1: a part of us, the flesh, that is still at
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 1: war with God. So I find it to be a
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: law that when I want to do right, evil lies
• 1:22:21
  Speaker 1: close at hand, close at hand, not far away, not
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: something you have to go looking for. It is right there,
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 1: within arm's reach, whispering in your ear. For I delight
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 1: in the law of God in my inner being, but
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 1: I see in my members another law, waging war against
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 1: the law of my mind and making me captive to
• 1:22:43
  Speaker 1: the law of sin that dwells in my members. A
• 1:22:46
  Speaker 1: war that is what the Christian life feels like sometimes
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 1: not peace but battle, not ease but struggle. You want
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: to do right, you delight in God's law, but there
• 1:22:59
  Speaker 1: is another force pulling you in the opposite direction, and
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 1: it feels like captivity, like you are trapped, like you
• 1:23:07
  Speaker 1: cannot escape. Let me tell you about a man named David.
• 1:23:11
  Speaker 1: Not King David, but a modern David, a man I
• 1:23:14
  Speaker 1: once knew. David had been a Christian for twenty years.
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: He loved God, he served in his church, he read
• 1:23:23
  Speaker 1: his Bible faithfully, but he struggled with anger, deep seething
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: anger that would irrupt without warning. He could be driving
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: to work and someone would cut him off in traffic,
• 1:23:35
  Speaker 1: and suddenly rage would flood through him. He would pound
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 1: the steering wheel, shout words he was ashamed of, feel
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 1: his heart racing with fury, and afterward he would sit
• 1:23:46
  Speaker 1: there trembling, thinking, I hate this, I hate who I become.
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 1: Why can't I stop? He prayed, He confessed, he tried harder,
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: but the anger kept coming back. One day, in desperation,
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 1: he cried out to God, I cannot do this. I
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: have tried everything. I am still the same broken man
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: I was twenty years ago. What is wrong with me,
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: and in the quiet that followed, a thought came to
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: his mind, not audible, but unmistakable. Nothing is wrong with you.
• 1:24:21
  Speaker 1: You are human, and I am not finished with you.
• 1:24:24
  Speaker 1: Yet that day David learned something profound. The struggle does
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: not mean you are not a Christian. It means you
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: are alive. Dead people do not struggle. Only those in
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: whom the spirit dwells feel the war between flesh and spirit,
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 1: and the struggle itself is evidence that you are being transformed.
• 1:24:45
  Speaker 1: You hate your sin because the spirit in you loves holiness.
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: You grieve your failures because God has given you a
• 1:24:52
  Speaker 1: new heart. Paul cries out, wretched man that I am,
• 1:24:56
  Speaker 1: who will deliver me from this body of death? Wretched
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: the Greek word means miserable, exhausted, worn out. Paul is
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 1: not speaking as someone who has it all figured out.
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: He is speaking as someone who knows the weight of
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 1: the struggle. Who will deliver me? The question hangs in
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: the air. The struggle is real, the battle is fierce,
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: and we cannot win it on our own. But Paul
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 1: does not leave us there. He does not end in despair.
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: He ends with hope. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ,
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: our Lord, there is the answer, Jesus Christ. He is
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 1: the deliverer. He is the one who rescues us from
• 1:25:40
  Speaker 1: this body of death, not by removing the struggle immediately,
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: but by walking with us through it, not by making
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 1: us perfect now, but by promising that one day we
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 1: will be. Paul summarizes, so, then I myself serve the
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: law of God with my mind, But with my flesh,
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 1: I serve the law of sin. The struggle is real,
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 1: the flesh is still there. But the mind, the renewed mind,
• 1:26:09
  Speaker 1: the regenerate heart, serves God. And that is what defines us.
• 1:26:15
  Speaker 1: Not our failures, but our allegiance, not our weaknesses, but
• 1:26:19
  Speaker 1: our faith. Yes we stumble, yes we fall, Yes we
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 1: cry out in frustration. Why do I keep doing this?
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 1: But we are not defined by our sin. We are
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 1: defined by our Savior, and He has not given up
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 1: on us. Breathe deeply. Now, let the honesty of this
• 1:26:41
  Speaker 1: chapter settle over you. You are not alone in your struggle.
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 1: Paul struggled, David struggled. Every believer throughout history has struggled.
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 1: The struggle does not mean you have lost your salvation.
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 1: It means you are alive. It means The Spirit is
• 1:26:59
  Speaker 1: at work in you, warring against the flesh, transforming you
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 1: slowly but surely into the image of Christ. Rest now
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: struggling soul. The battle is not over, but the victory
• 1:27:12
  Speaker 1: is already won, not by your strength but by his
• 1:27:17
  Speaker 1: not by your effort, but by his grace. You are
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: not alone in this fight. He is with you, He
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: is for you, and He will complete the work he began.
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 1: One day. The struggle will end. One day, the flesh
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: will be no more. One day you will stand before him,
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 1: fully transformed, fully renewed, fully free. But until that day,
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 1: do not despair, because even in the struggle he is there.
• 1:27:48
  Speaker 1: Even in the failure, his grace covers you. Even in
• 1:27:52
  Speaker 1: the weakness, his strength is made perfect. Thanks be to
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 1: God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. He has delivered us.
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 1: He is delivering us, and he will deliver us forever.
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: Chapter eight, Life in the Spirit, No condemnation. The struggle
• 1:28:13
  Speaker 1: is real. The war within rages. The cry has been uttered,
• 1:28:19
  Speaker 1: wretched man, that I am, who will deliver me from
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 1: this body of death? But the answer has come, Thanks
• 1:28:26
  Speaker 1: be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. And now,
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 1: as we turn to chapter eight, the darkness lifts, the
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 1: fog clears, and we step into one of the most
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 1: glorious passages in all of Scripture, a chapter so filled
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 1: with hope, so saturated with grace, so overflowing with the
• 1:28:45
  Speaker 1: love of God, that generations of believers have returned to
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 1: it again and again in their darkest hours. This is
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 1: the chapter that reminds us who we are, whose we are,
• 1:28:56
  Speaker 1: and what cannot be taken from us. Paul begins with
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 1: four words that have brought peace to countless troubled souls.
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 1: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus. No condemnation, not less condemnation, not conditional condemnation,
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: no condemnation, none, zero, not one ounce of it. If
• 1:29:21
  Speaker 1: you are in Christ Jesus, you do not stand condemned,
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 1: not for your past sins, not for your present struggles,
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: not for your future failures. The verdict has been pronounced
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: and it is final. Not guilty, why because of what
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 1: comes next. For the law of the Spirit of life
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 1: has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law
• 1:29:46
  Speaker 1: of sin and death. There are two laws at work,
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 1: the law of sin and death, the old system, the
• 1:29:52
  Speaker 1: old bondage, the old slavery. Under that law, sin leads
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 1: to death, always every time, no exceptions. But there is
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: another law, the law of the Spirit of life. And
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: this law is stronger. It has set you free, not
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: by lowering the standard, but by fulfilling it, not by
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: ignoring the problem, but by solving it. For God has
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do,
• 1:30:24
  Speaker 1: by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
• 1:30:27
  Speaker 1: and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh in
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 1: order that the righteous requirement of the law might be
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh,
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 1: but according to the spirit. The law could not save us,
• 1:30:40
  Speaker 1: not because the law was weak, but because we were
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: The Law said, be holy. We could not. The law
• 1:30:48
  Speaker 1: said love perfectly. We failed. The law was perfect, but
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 1: we were broken. So God did what the law could
• 1:30:57
  Speaker 1: not do. He sent his son in the likeness of
• 1:31:02
  Speaker 1: sinful flesh. Jesus was fully human, yet without sin. He
• 1:31:07
  Speaker 1: walked where we walk. He faced what we face. He
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: was tempted in every way, yet he did not yield.
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 1: And on the cross. God condemned sin in the flesh,
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 1: not our flesh, but Christ's Jesus bore the condemnation we deserved.
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: He took the penalty, he absorbed the wrath, and in
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 1: doing so he fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law.
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 1: Now that requirement is fulfilled in us, not by us.
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 1: In us, because we are in Christ, His obedience counts
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 1: as ours. His righteousness covers us, His life flows through us.
• 1:31:49
  Speaker 1: And we walk not according to the flesh, but according
• 1:31:52
  Speaker 1: to the Spirit. For those who live according to the
• 1:31:55
  Speaker 1: flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.
• 1:31:59
  Speaker 1: But those who live according to the Spirit set their
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 1: minds on the things of the Spirit. Where is your mind,
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 1: What do you think about, What do you dwell on?
• 1:32:10
  Speaker 1: What occupies your thoughts. If your mind is set on
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 1: the flesh, on selfish desires, temporary pleasures, earthly achievements, then
• 1:32:18
  Speaker 1: you will live according to the flesh, and the flesh
• 1:32:22
  Speaker 1: leads to death. But if your mind is set on
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: the Spirit, on God, on his word, on eternal things,
• 1:32:29
  Speaker 1: then you will live according to the Spirit. And the
• 1:32:32
  Speaker 1: Spirit leads to life and peace. For to set the
• 1:32:36
  Speaker 1: mind on the flesh is death. But to set the
• 1:32:38
  Speaker 1: mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 1: mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God,
• 1:32:46
  Speaker 1: for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed, it cannot.
• 1:32:50
  Speaker 1: The flesh is not neutral. It is hostile to God.
• 1:32:54
  Speaker 1: It does not submit to him, it cannot, It is
• 1:32:58
  Speaker 1: at war with Him. But you, if you are a believer,
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 1: are not in the flesh. You are in the spirit. You, however,
• 1:33:06
  Speaker 1: are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If,
• 1:33:09
  Speaker 1: in fact, the Spirit of God dwells in you, any
• 1:33:12
  Speaker 1: one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 1: not belong to him. The presence of the Spirit is
• 1:33:18
  Speaker 1: the mark of a true believer. Not your perfection, not
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 1: your performance, not your feelings. The spirit. If the Spirit
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 1: of God dwells in you, you belong to him. And
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 1: what does the spirit do? But if Christ is in you,
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 1: although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 1: is life because of righteousness. If the spirit of Him
• 1:33:42
  Speaker 1: who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he
• 1:33:45
  Speaker 1: who raised Christ Jesus from the dead, will also give
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 1: life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who dwells
• 1:33:52
  Speaker 1: in you. Your body is still dying, it is still
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 1: affected by sin. It gets sick, it grows old, it
• 1:34:00
  Speaker 1: wears out. But the spirit within you is life, and
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 1: the same spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 1: one day raise you. Death is not the end for you, beloved.
• 1:34:12
  Speaker 1: It is a doorway, and on the other side life
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 1: awaits resurrection, renewal, a body that will never age, never fail,
• 1:34:23
  Speaker 1: never die. So, then, brothers, we are debtors, not to
• 1:34:28
  Speaker 1: the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if
• 1:34:32
  Speaker 1: you live according to the flesh, you will die. But
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 1: if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 1: of the body, you will live. You do not owe
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 1: the flesh anything. It has no claim on you. It
• 1:34:44
  Speaker 1: enslaved you once, but you are free now. You do
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 1: not have to obey its desires. And here is the call.
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 1: Put to death the deeds of the body, not by
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 1: your own strength, but by the spirit. This is not passivity,
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 1: It is active dependence. You co operate with the spirit.
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 1: You say no to sin, You turn away from temptation.
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 1: You flee what is evil and pursue what is good.
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 1: For all who are led by the Spirit of God
• 1:35:15
  Speaker 1: are sons of God. Led by the Spirit. This is
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 1: what it means to be a child of God. Not perfection,
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 1: but direction, not sinlessness, but sensitivity to His voice. You
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 1: are being led, guided, shaped, transformed. And you are a son,
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 1: a daughter, a child of the Living God. For you
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 1: did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back
• 1:35:42
  Speaker 1: into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption
• 1:35:45
  Speaker 1: as sons by whom we cry Abba Father. You are
• 1:35:50
  Speaker 1: not a slave any more. You do not serve God
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 1: out of fear, hoping he will not strike you down.
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 1: You are a child, adopted, loved, secure, and you can
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 1: cry out to him Abbah Father. It is an intimate word,
• 1:36:08
  Speaker 1: a term of endearment, the word a small child uses
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 1: when running into the arms of a loving parent. You
• 1:36:15
  Speaker 1: are that close to God, that secure, that loved. The
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 1: Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 1: children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 1: God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 1: Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.
• 1:36:35
  Speaker 1: The Spirit testifies, He confirms, He whispers to your heart,
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 1: you belong You are his. You are a child of God,
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 1: and as a child, you are an heir. Everything that
• 1:36:49
  Speaker 1: belongs to the Father belongs to you. You share in
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 1: Christ's inheritance. You are a fellow heir with the Son
• 1:36:56
  Speaker 1: of God himself. But there is a condition provided we
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 1: suffer with him, not to earn the inheritance, but as
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 1: evidence that we truly belong to him. Those who follow
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 1: Christ will face suffering. The world hated him, and it
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 1: will hate us. But the suffering is not the end.
• 1:37:15
  Speaker 1: Glory awaits. And now Paul compares the two. For I
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 1: consider that the sufferings of this present time are not
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 1: worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 1: to us, not worth comparing. The scale is so tipped
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 1: in favor of glory that the sufferings do not even register.
• 1:37:34
  Speaker 1: They are light, they are momentary, They are nothing compared
• 1:37:38
  Speaker 1: to the weight of glory that is coming. For the
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 1: creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the
• 1:37:44
  Speaker 1: sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility,
• 1:37:49
  Speaker 1: not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 1: hope that the creation itself will be set free from
• 1:37:56
  Speaker 1: its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the
• 1:37:59
  Speaker 1: God glory of the children of God. The entire creation
• 1:38:03
  Speaker 1: is waiting, the trees, the mountains, the seas, the stars,
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 1: all of it groaning, longing for the day when God's
• 1:38:11
  Speaker 1: children are revealed in glory. Why because when sin entered
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 1: the world, creation fell with us. The ground was cursed,
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 1: thorns and thistles sprang up, animals turned on each other,
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 1: Death entered the ecosystem. The whole world was subjected to futility,
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 1: to decay, to corruption, to the slow march toward death.
• 1:38:36
  Speaker 1: But it will not stay that way. One day creation
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 1: will be set free, renewed, restored, made new. For we
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 1: know that the whole creation has been groaning together in
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 1: the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation,
• 1:38:53
  Speaker 1: but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit,
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 1: grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as suns,
• 1:39:01
  Speaker 1: the redemption of our bodies. We grown too, even though
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 1: we have the spirit, even though we are justified, even
• 1:39:08
  Speaker 1: though we are children of God, we still grown because
• 1:39:12
  Speaker 1: we are not home yet, we are not fully what
• 1:39:15
  Speaker 1: we will be. We have the first fruits of the spirit,
• 1:39:18
  Speaker 1: the down payment, the guarantee, but we are waiting for
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 1: the fullness, the redemption of our bodies, the day when
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 1: these broken, aging, dying bodies are raised in glory, imperishable, immortal, perfect,
• 1:39:34
  Speaker 1: For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that
• 1:39:38
  Speaker 1: is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 1: he sees. But if we hope for what we do
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 1: not see, we wait for it with patience, hope, not
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 1: wishful thinking, not blind optimism, but confident expectation. We have
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 1: not seen the glory yet, but we know it is coming,
• 1:39:58
  Speaker 1: and so we wait patiently, trusting, enduring. Likewise, the Spirit
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 1: helps us in our weakness, for we do not know
• 1:40:08
  Speaker 1: what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 1: himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 1: We are weak. We do not always know how to pray,
• 1:40:20
  Speaker 1: We do not know what to ask for. Sometimes all
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 1: we can do is grown wordless, aching, longing. But the
• 1:40:30
  Speaker 1: Spirit takes those groans and translates them. He intersathers for us.
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 1: He prays on our behalf with groanings too deep for words.
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 1: And the Father hears. And he who searches hearts knows
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 1: what is the mind of the Spirit. Because the Spirit
• 1:40:47
  Speaker 1: intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 1: God knows, he hears, he understands. Even when you cannot
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 1: find the words, even when the pain is too deep
• 1:40:59
  Speaker 1: to articulate, the Spirit is praying for you, and he
• 1:41:03
  Speaker 1: is praying according to God's will. And then one of
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 1: the most beloved verses in all of Scripture, And we
• 1:41:10
  Speaker 1: know that for those who love God, all things work
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 1: together for good, for those who are called according to
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 1: his purpose. All things, not some things, not just the
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 1: easy things or the happy things. All things, the suffering,
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 1: the loss, the pain, the confusion, the disappointment, all of it.
• 1:41:31
  Speaker 1: God is weaving it together for good. Not that all
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 1: things are good. They are not. Sin is not good,
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 1: suffering is not good, death is not good. But God,
• 1:41:43
  Speaker 1: in his sovereignty and wisdom, takes even the bad things
• 1:41:47
  Speaker 1: and works them together for good for those who love God,
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 1: for those who are called according to his purpose. This
• 1:41:55
  Speaker 1: is not a blanket promise for everyone. It is a
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 1: promise for God's children, for those who belonged to him.
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 1: And what is that good? What is God's ultimate purpose
• 1:42:07
  Speaker 1: for those whom he foreknew He also predestined to be
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 1: conformed to the image of his son, in order that
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 1: he might be the first born among many brothers. God's
• 1:42:16
  Speaker 1: purpose is to conform you to the image of Jesus,
• 1:42:20
  Speaker 1: to make you like him, holy, righteous, loving. That is
• 1:42:26
  Speaker 1: the good he is working toward not necessarily comfort or ease,
• 1:42:31
  Speaker 1: but Christ's likeness, and those whom he predestined he also called,
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 1: and those whom he called he also justified, And those
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 1: whom he justified he also glorified. Look at the chain
• 1:42:44
  Speaker 1: Fornew predestined, called justified, glorified. It is all past tense,
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 1: even glorified. Why because in God's eyes it is already done.
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 1: It is as sir as if it had already happened.
• 1:43:02
  Speaker 1: If God foreknew you, he will glorify you. There is
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 1: no break in the chain. What he starts, he finishes.
• 1:43:11
  Speaker 1: And now Paul asks a series of triumphant questions, What
• 1:43:15
  Speaker 1: then shall we say to these things? If God is
• 1:43:19
  Speaker 1: for us, who can be against us? If God is
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 1: for us not? If we are strong enough, not, if
• 1:43:27
  Speaker 1: we are good enough. If God is for us, and
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 1: he is he proved it at the cross, who can
• 1:43:34
  Speaker 1: be against us? Satan? He is defeated the world. It
• 1:43:40
  Speaker 1: is passing away our own sin. It is covered death,
• 1:43:46
  Speaker 1: It is conquered. He who did not spare his own son,
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: but gave him up for us all, How will he
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 1: not also with him graciously give us all things. God
• 1:43:57
  Speaker 1: gave his son the greatest gift, the most precious treasure.
• 1:44:02
  Speaker 1: He did not hold back. And if he gave us Jesus,
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 1: will he not also give us everything we need, everything
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 1: that is truly good for us. Who shall bring any
• 1:44:13
  Speaker 1: charge against God's elect It is God who justifies, who
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 1: is to condemn Christ. Jesus is the one who died,
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 1: more than that who was raised, who is at the
• 1:44:24
  Speaker 1: right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
• 1:44:28
  Speaker 1: Who can accuse you? Satan? He tried, But God has
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 1: justified you. The law Christ fulfilled it your conscience. It
• 1:44:40
  Speaker 1: is cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Jesus died, he
• 1:44:45
  Speaker 1: was raised, He is seated at the right hand of God.
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 1: And even now, at this very moment, he is interceding
• 1:44:54
  Speaker 1: for you, praying for you, advocating for you. You are safe, secure, held.
• 1:45:02
  Speaker 1: And now the climax, the crescendo, the declaration that has
• 1:45:07
  Speaker 1: echoed through two thousand years of Christian history. Who shall
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 1: separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress,
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 1: or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword.
• 1:45:23
  Speaker 1: Paul lists the worst things that can happen to a believer. Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness,
• 1:45:34
  Speaker 1: donjer sword. These are not hypothetical. Paul experienced many of them.
• 1:45:40
  Speaker 1: The early Christians experienced all of them. And yet none
• 1:45:45
  Speaker 1: of these things can separate us from the love of Christ.
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 1: Know in all these things we are more than conquerors
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 1: through Him who loved us, more than conquerors, not just
• 1:45:55
  Speaker 1: barely surviving, not just scraping by, more more than conquerors,
• 1:46:01
  Speaker 1: overwhelmingly victorious, not because of our strength, but because of
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 1: His love. And then Paul reaches the summit, For I
• 1:46:11
  Speaker 1: am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers,
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 1: nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height,
• 1:46:20
  Speaker 1: nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be
• 1:46:23
  Speaker 1: able to separate us from the Love of God. In
• 1:46:25
  Speaker 1: Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing absolutely nothing death cannot, life cannot,
• 1:46:34
  Speaker 1: angels cannot, demons cannot, the present cannot, the future cannot.
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 1: No power in heaven or on earth or under the earth,
• 1:46:44
  Speaker 1: no height, no depth, nothing in all creation, Nothing can
• 1:46:50
  Speaker 1: separate you from the love of God. In Christ Jesus,
• 1:46:53
  Speaker 1: you are held secure, loved forever. Let that truth sink
• 1:47:00
  Speaker 1: into your soul as you rest tonight. You are not condemned.
• 1:47:05
  Speaker 1: You are not alone, You are not forgotten, You are
• 1:47:09
  Speaker 1: not abandoned. You are loved deeply, eternally, unshakably, and nothing,
• 1:47:17
  Speaker 1: nothing can change that. Rest now, beloved child of God.
• 1:47:23
  Speaker 1: The Spirit is within you, The Father is for you,
• 1:47:27
  Speaker 1: The Son is interceding for you. You are safe in
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 1: the love that will never let you go for ever
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 1: and ever Amen. Chapter nine. God's sovereignty, Israel's hope and
• 1:47:42
  Speaker 1: our response. After the soaring heights of chapter eight, we
• 1:47:47
  Speaker 1: might expect Paul to continue celebrating the triumph of grace,
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 1: but instead he turns to address a question that must
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 1: have weighed heavily on his heart. If the Gospel is
• 1:47:57
  Speaker 1: for everyone who believes you and gentile alike, than what
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 1: about Israel, God's chosen people, the nation to whom he
• 1:48:05
  Speaker 1: gave the promises, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
• 1:48:11
  Speaker 1: Most of them have rejected Jesus. They have turned away
• 1:48:15
  Speaker 1: from the Messiah. Does that mean God's promises have failed?
• 1:48:19
  Speaker 1: Paul's answer begins with a cry from the depths of
• 1:48:22
  Speaker 1: his soul. I am speaking the truth in Christ. I
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 1: am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the
• 1:48:29
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit. That I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish
• 1:48:33
  Speaker 1: in my heart, great sorrow, unceasing anguish. Paul is not
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 1: cold or indifferent about this. He loves his people. For
• 1:48:43
  Speaker 1: I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 1: off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen.
• 1:48:49
  Speaker 1: According to the flesh. He would give up his own
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 1: salvation if it would save them. It is an impossible wish.
• 1:48:56
  Speaker 1: He cannot actually do that, but it reveals the depth
• 1:48:58
  Speaker 1: of his love. They are Israelites, and to them belong
• 1:49:02
  Speaker 1: the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law,
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 1: the worship, and the promises. Look at all Israel received adoption.
• 1:49:13
  Speaker 1: God called them his first born son, the glory, the
• 1:49:18
  Speaker 1: presence of God dwelt among them, the covenants, the Law,
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 1: the worship, the promises. And yet most rejected the Messiah.
• 1:49:29
  Speaker 1: But Paul is quick to clarify. But it is not
• 1:49:32
  Speaker 1: as though the word of God has failed. For not
• 1:49:35
  Speaker 1: all who are descended from Israel belonged to Israel. The
• 1:49:39
  Speaker 1: word of God has not failed. Why because being physically
• 1:49:44
  Speaker 1: descended from Abraham does not make you a true child
• 1:49:47
  Speaker 1: of Abraham. It never did God chose Isaac, not Ishmael.
• 1:49:53
  Speaker 1: Both were sons of Abraham, but only Isaac was the
• 1:49:57
  Speaker 1: child of the promise. This means that it it is
• 1:50:00
  Speaker 1: not the children of the flesh who are the children
• 1:50:02
  Speaker 1: of God, but the children of the Promise are counted
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 1: as offspring. Being born into the right family is not enough.
• 1:50:10
  Speaker 1: Physical dissent does not guarantee spiritual blessing. What matters is
• 1:50:15
  Speaker 1: the promise, faith trust in God. Paul gives another example
• 1:50:21
  Speaker 1: Jacob and Esau, twin brothers, same parents, and yet before
• 1:50:28
  Speaker 1: they were born, before they had done anything good or bad,
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 1: God chose Jacob. Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.
• 1:50:37
  Speaker 1: These are hard words, they make us uncomfortable, but Paul
• 1:50:41
  Speaker 1: is quoting from the prophet Malachi, who was speaking about
• 1:50:44
  Speaker 1: the nations that descended from these two men, Israel and Edom.
• 1:50:49
  Speaker 1: God chose to work through Israel, not because they deserved it,
• 1:50:53
  Speaker 1: but because He decided to. That is sovereignty. But someone
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 1: will object. What shall we say, then, is there injustice
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 1: on God's part? Paul's response is swift by no means,
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 1: for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on
• 1:51:10
  Speaker 1: whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on
• 1:51:13
  Speaker 1: whom I have compassion. Mercy is not owed, compassion is
• 1:51:18
  Speaker 1: not deserved. God gives them freely to whomever he chooses.
• 1:51:24
  Speaker 1: So then it depends not on human will or exertion,
• 1:51:27
  Speaker 1: but on God, who has mercy. Salvation does not depend
• 1:51:32
  Speaker 1: on us, not on our decision, not on our effort.
• 1:51:37
  Speaker 1: It depends on God. He is the one who saves.
• 1:51:41
  Speaker 1: He is the one who calls. And here we must pause.
• 1:51:46
  Speaker 1: These are deep waters. These are mysteries we cannot fully grasp.
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 1: But what we can know is this. God is sovereign,
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 1: and God is good. He does not act arbitrarily, He
• 1:51:59
  Speaker 1: does not act cruelly. Even when we do not understand
• 1:52:03
  Speaker 1: his ways. We can trust his heart. But who are you, o, man,
• 1:52:08
  Speaker 1: to answer back to God? Will what is molded say
• 1:52:12
  Speaker 1: to its molder? Why have you made me like this?
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 1: We are the clay. God is the potter. He has
• 1:52:19
  Speaker 1: the right to make us as he sees fit. This
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 1: does not mean God is arbitrary. It means he is sovereign,
• 1:52:27
  Speaker 1: He knows what he is doing, and his purposes are
• 1:52:30
  Speaker 1: always good, even when we do not understand them. Paul
• 1:52:35
  Speaker 1: then asks, so I ask, did they stumble in order
• 1:52:39
  Speaker 1: that they might fall by no means. Rather, through their trespass,
• 1:52:44
  Speaker 1: salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make
• 1:52:47
  Speaker 1: Israel jealous. Israel's stumbling was not the end goal. It
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 1: was a means to an end. Through their rejection, the
• 1:52:55
  Speaker 1: Gospel went to the Gentiles, and this was meant to
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 1: provoke Israel to jealousy. Now, if their trespass means riches
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 1: for the world, and if their failure means riches for
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 1: the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean.
• 1:53:10
  Speaker 1: If Israel's rejection brought blessing to the world, imagine what
• 1:53:14
  Speaker 1: their acceptance will bring. When Israel finally turns to Christ,
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 1: it will be like life from the dead. Paul uses
• 1:53:22
  Speaker 1: an illustration. If some of the branches were broken off,
• 1:53:26
  Speaker 1: and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in
• 1:53:29
  Speaker 1: among the others, and now share in the nourishing root
• 1:53:33
  Speaker 1: of the olive tree, Do not be arrogant toward the branches.
• 1:53:37
  Speaker 1: The gentiles are like wild olive branches grafted into the
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 1: tree of Israel. They now share in the promises. But
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 1: they must not be arrogant, For if God did not
• 1:53:48
  Speaker 1: spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. God
• 1:53:53
  Speaker 1: is kind, but he is also severe. Do not take
• 1:53:57
  Speaker 1: his kindness for granted. And they, if they do not
• 1:54:01
  Speaker 1: continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in. For God
• 1:54:05
  Speaker 1: has the power to graft them in again. Israel can
• 1:54:09
  Speaker 1: be restored if they turn to Christ. If they believe,
• 1:54:13
  Speaker 1: God will graft them back in. And now Paul reveals
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 1: a mystery. A partial hardening has come upon Israel until
• 1:54:21
  Speaker 1: the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in
• 1:54:24
  Speaker 1: this way all Israel will be saved. A partial hardening,
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 1: not complete, not permanent. Until the fullness of the Gentiles
• 1:54:34
  Speaker 1: has come in, all Israel will be saved, not every
• 1:54:38
  Speaker 1: individual Jew, but the nation as a whole. When Christ returns,
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 1: Israel will recognize him, they will believe, and they will
• 1:54:48
  Speaker 1: be saved. As regards the gospel, they are enemies for
• 1:54:52
  Speaker 1: your sake, But as regards election, they are beloved for
• 1:54:56
  Speaker 1: the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the
• 1:54:59
  Speaker 1: calling of God are irrevocable. God has not given up
• 1:55:03
  Speaker 1: on Israel. His promises stand, His calling cannot be revoked.
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 1: For God has consigned all to disobedience that He may
• 1:55:12
  Speaker 1: have mercy on all. Everyone is guilty Jew and gentile alike,
• 1:55:18
  Speaker 1: so that everyone must receive mercy. No one can boast.
• 1:55:23
  Speaker 1: It is all grace, and Paul cannot contain himself. He
• 1:55:28
  Speaker 1: breaks into worship. Oh the depth of the riches and
• 1:55:31
  Speaker 1: wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments
• 1:55:36
  Speaker 1: and how inscrutable his ways. We cannot understand God's ways fully.
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 1: His wisdom is too deep, his knowledge too vast. But
• 1:55:45
  Speaker 1: we can trust him, we can worship him, we can
• 1:55:49
  Speaker 1: give him glory. These are mysteries, beloved. We do not
• 1:55:53
  Speaker 1: have all the answers. But what we do know is
• 1:55:56
  Speaker 1: this God is sovereign God. God is good, God keeps
• 1:56:02
  Speaker 1: his promises, and his love for both jew and gentile
• 1:56:06
  Speaker 1: is deeper than we can fathom. Trust him even when
• 1:56:09
  Speaker 1: you do not understand, worship him, even when his ways
• 1:56:14
  Speaker 1: seem mysterious. He is weaving a story far greater than
• 1:56:18
  Speaker 1: we can see. And in the end, mercy will triumph,
• 1:56:22
  Speaker 1: Grace will reign, and all who call upon the name
• 1:56:26
  Speaker 1: of the Lord will be saved. Rest in that promise
• 1:56:29
  Speaker 1: to night. Chapter ten, Living Sacrifice and Transformed Life. After
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 1: eleven chapters of doctrine. After laying the foundation of the Gospel,
• 1:56:42
  Speaker 1: Paul now turns to application. He has shown us what
• 1:56:46
  Speaker 1: God has done. Now he will show us how to live.
• 1:56:50
  Speaker 1: I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God,
• 1:56:54
  Speaker 1: to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
• 1:56:58
  Speaker 1: acceptable to God. Which is your spiritual worship, by the
• 1:57:02
  Speaker 1: mercies of God. In light of everything God has done justification, sanctification, adoption, glorification.
• 1:57:10
  Speaker 1: Paul now asks how should we respond. Present your bodies
• 1:57:15
  Speaker 1: as a living sacrifice, Not a dead animal on an altar,
• 1:57:19
  Speaker 1: but your whole life, your time, your energy, your talents,
• 1:57:24
  Speaker 1: your relationships, all of it offered to God. This is
• 1:57:28
  Speaker 1: your spiritual worship, not just singing songs on Sunday, but
• 1:57:32
  Speaker 1: living every day for His glory. Do not be conformed
• 1:57:36
  Speaker 1: to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of
• 1:57:39
  Speaker 1: your mind, that by testing you may discern what is
• 1:57:43
  Speaker 1: the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
• 1:57:47
  Speaker 1: Do not conform. Do not let the world squeeze you
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 1: into its mold. Do not adopt its values, its priorities,
• 1:57:55
  Speaker 1: its patterns. Instead, be transformed. Let God renew your mind,
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 1: change the way you think, and as you do, you
• 1:58:05
  Speaker 1: will discern His will. You will know what is good, acceptable,
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 1: and perfect. Paul continues with practical instructions, For by the
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 1: grace given to me, I say to every one among
• 1:58:17
  Speaker 1: you not to think of himself more highly than he
• 1:58:20
  Speaker 1: ought to think, but to think with sober judgment humility.
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 1: Do not think too highly of yourself. Recognize that whatever
• 1:58:28
  Speaker 1: you have, faith, gifts, talents, it all came from God.
• 1:58:32
  Speaker 1: For as in one body, we have many members, and
• 1:58:35
  Speaker 1: the members do not all have the same function. So we,
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 1: though many, are one body in Christ, the Church is
• 1:58:43
  Speaker 1: a body. Each person has a role. Each gift is necessary.
• 1:58:49
  Speaker 1: We need each other. Having gifts that differ according to
• 1:58:53
  Speaker 1: the grace given to us, Let us use them. If
• 1:58:56
  Speaker 1: prophecy in proportion to our faith. If so nervis in
• 1:59:00
  Speaker 1: our serving the one who teaches in his teaching, use
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 1: your gifts. Whatever God has given you, use it, serve,
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 1: teach and courage, give lead, show mercy. Do it all
• 1:59:18
  Speaker 1: with joy. Let love be genuine, abhor what is evil,
• 1:59:23
  Speaker 1: hold fast to what is good. Love one another with
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 1: brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Love genuinely
• 1:59:33
  Speaker 1: hate evil, cling to good, Love each other like family.
• 1:59:38
  Speaker 1: Honor one another. Do not be slothful in zeal, Be
• 1:59:42
  Speaker 1: fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be
• 1:59:46
  Speaker 1: patient in tribulation, Be constant in prayer, Be passionate. Serve
• 1:59:52
  Speaker 1: the Lord with all your heart. Rejoice even in suffering.
• 1:59:56
  Speaker 1: Pray without ceasing. Contribute to the needs of the saints,
• 2:00:00
  Speaker 1: and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you.
• 2:00:04
  Speaker 1: Bless and do not curse them. Take care of each other.
• 2:00:09
  Speaker 1: Open your home, Bless your enemies. Rejoice with those who rejoice.
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 1: Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another.
• 2:00:20
  Speaker 1: Celebrate with the joyful, mourn with the grieving. Live in harmony.
• 2:00:26
  Speaker 1: Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never
• 2:00:30
  Speaker 1: be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil
• 2:00:34
  Speaker 1: for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable
• 2:00:37
  Speaker 1: in the sight of all. Be humble. Do not think
• 2:00:41
  Speaker 1: you know it all. Do not take revenge. Be honorable
• 2:00:46
  Speaker 1: if possible, so far as it depends on you. Live
• 2:00:49
  Speaker 1: peaceably with all beloved. Never avenge yourselves, but leave it
• 2:00:54
  Speaker 1: to the wrath of God. Live at peace with everyone
• 2:00:58
  Speaker 1: as much as you can. Do not seek revenge, leave
• 2:01:03
  Speaker 1: justice to God. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry.
• 2:01:08
  Speaker 1: Feed him if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
• 2:01:12
  Speaker 1: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
• 2:01:17
  Speaker 1: Show kindness to your enemies. Overcome evil with good. Paul
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 1: moves to civic responsibility. Let every person be subject to
• 2:01:26
  Speaker 1: the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God.
• 2:01:31
  Speaker 1: Submit to authority. Government exists by God's design. Obey the law,
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 1: pay your taxes, be a good citizen. Owe no one
• 2:01:42
  Speaker 1: anything except to love each other. For the one who
• 2:01:45
  Speaker 1: loves another has fulfilled the law. The only debt you
• 2:01:49
  Speaker 1: should have is love. Love fulfills the law. For the
• 2:01:54
  Speaker 1: commandments you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder,
• 2:01:59
  Speaker 1: you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and any
• 2:02:02
  Speaker 1: other commandment are summed up in this word. You shall
• 2:02:05
  Speaker 1: love your neighbor as yourself. Love is the fulfillment. If
• 2:02:11
  Speaker 1: you love, you will not harm, you will not steal,
• 2:02:15
  Speaker 1: you will not covet. Besides this, you know the time
• 2:02:19
  Speaker 1: that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.
• 2:02:22
  Speaker 1: For salvation is nearer to us now than when we
• 2:02:25
  Speaker 1: first believed. Wake up. The return of Christ is nearer
• 2:02:29
  Speaker 1: than ever. The night is ending, the day is dawning.
• 2:02:33
  Speaker 1: The night is far gone, the day is at hand.
• 2:02:37
  Speaker 1: So then let us cast off the works of darkness
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 1: and put on the armor of light. Let us walk
• 2:02:43
  Speaker 1: properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness,
• 2:02:47
  Speaker 1: not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.
• 2:02:53
  Speaker 1: Live honorably. Do not indulge the flesh, but put on
• 2:02:57
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the
• 2:03:00
  Speaker 1: flesh to gratify its desires. Put on Christ. Clothe yourself
• 2:03:06
  Speaker 1: with him, Let his character define you. Paul continues, as
• 2:03:11
  Speaker 1: for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him,
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 1: but not to quarrel over opinions. Welcome those who are
• 2:03:17
  Speaker 1: weak in faith. Do not argue over disputable matters. One
• 2:03:22
  Speaker 1: person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person
• 2:03:26
  Speaker 1: eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise
• 2:03:30
  Speaker 1: the one who abstains, and let not the one who
• 2:03:33
  Speaker 1: abstains pass judgment on the one who eats. Do not
• 2:03:37
  Speaker 1: judge each other over food or religious observances. Each one
• 2:03:41
  Speaker 1: should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one
• 2:03:44
  Speaker 1: who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord.
• 2:03:48
  Speaker 1: Be convinced in your own conscience, do everything for the Lord.
• 2:03:53
  Speaker 1: None of us lives to himself, and none of us
• 2:03:56
  Speaker 1: dies to himself. For if we live, we live to
• 2:03:59
  Speaker 1: the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord.
• 2:04:04
  Speaker 1: We belong to the Lord in life and in death.
• 2:04:08
  Speaker 1: Why do you pass judgment on your brother or you?
• 2:04:12
  Speaker 1: Why do you despise your brother, For we will all
• 2:04:15
  Speaker 1: stand before the judgment seat of God. Do not judge.
• 2:04:19
  Speaker 1: We will all stand before God. So then each of
• 2:04:22
  Speaker 1: us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore,
• 2:04:26
  Speaker 1: let us not pass judgment on one another any longer,
• 2:04:29
  Speaker 1: but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or
• 2:04:32
  Speaker 1: hindrance in the way of a brother. Build each other up.
• 2:04:36
  Speaker 1: Do not cause others to stumble. Let us pursue what
• 2:04:40
  Speaker 1: makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding. Do not, for
• 2:04:43
  Speaker 1: the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Pursue peace,
• 2:04:49
  Speaker 1: build each other up. It is good not to eat meat,
• 2:04:52
  Speaker 1: or drink wine, or do anything that causes your brother
• 2:04:54
  Speaker 1: to stumble. Be willing to give up your freedom for
• 2:04:58
  Speaker 1: the sake of love. The faith that you have keep
• 2:05:01
  Speaker 1: between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has
• 2:05:05
  Speaker 1: no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.
• 2:05:09
  Speaker 1: Live according to your conscience, do not violate it. Paul concludes,
• 2:05:16
  Speaker 1: May the God of Hope fill you with all joy
• 2:05:18
  Speaker 1: and peace in believing, so that by the power of
• 2:05:21
  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. May God
• 2:05:25
  Speaker 1: fill you with joy and peace. May you overflow with hope.
• 2:05:30
  Speaker 1: And then Paul closes his letter with personal greetings, commendations,
• 2:05:35
  Speaker 1: and one final doxology. Now to him who is able
• 2:05:39
  Speaker 1: to strengthen you according to my Gospel and the preaching
• 2:05:43
  Speaker 1: of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery
• 2:05:46
  Speaker 1: that was kept secret for long ages, but has now
• 2:05:50
  Speaker 1: been disclosed, and through the prophetic writings has been made
• 2:05:53
  Speaker 1: known to all nations, according to the command of the
• 2:05:57
  Speaker 1: Eternal God, to bring about the ob edience of faith
• 2:06:01
  Speaker 1: to the only wise. God be glory for evermore through
• 2:06:05
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Amen to God be glory forever through Jesus Christ. Amen.
• 2:06:13
  Speaker 1: This is the transformed life, not perfect but changed, not sinless,
• 2:06:20
  Speaker 1: but surrendered not by law but by love. You are
• 2:06:25
  Speaker 1: called to live differently, not to earn God's love, but
• 2:06:29
  Speaker 1: because you have received it. Present your body, renew your mind, love, genuinely, serve, faithfully,
• 2:06:38
  Speaker 1: walk in the light. This is the life God has
• 2:06:41
  Speaker 1: called you to, and by His spirit you can live it.
• 2:06:45
  Speaker 1: One day at a time, one choice at a time,
• 2:06:49
  Speaker 1: one step at a time, until the day dawns, until
• 2:06:54
  Speaker 1: Christ returns, until we see him face to face. Rest
• 2:06:59
  Speaker 1: now below, the night is far gone, the day is
• 2:07:03
  Speaker 1: at hand, and in His light you will walk forever.
• 2:07:11
  Speaker 1: We have journeyed together through the Book of Romans, from
• 2:07:15
  Speaker 1: the depths of human guilt to the heights of divine grace,
• 2:07:19
  Speaker 1: from condemnation to justification, from death to life, from slavery
• 2:07:24
  Speaker 1: to freedom, from struggle to victory. Paul opened this letter
• 2:07:30
  Speaker 1: with a declaration, I am not ashamed of the Gospel,
• 2:07:34
  Speaker 1: for it is the power of God for salvation. And
• 2:07:37
  Speaker 1: now after sixteen chapters, we see why the Gospel is
• 2:07:42
  Speaker 1: not just a message. It is power, the power to save,
• 2:07:48
  Speaker 1: the power to transform, the power to bring dead souls
• 2:07:52
  Speaker 1: to life. It is the righteousness of God revealed from
• 2:07:56
  Speaker 1: faith to faith. It is justification by grace through bad
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 1: faith in Jesus Christ. It is peace with God. It
• 2:08:04
  Speaker 1: is no condemnation. It is the love from which nothing
• 2:08:08
  Speaker 1: can separate us. This is the gospel Paul preached. This
• 2:08:13
  Speaker 1: is the gospel that changed the world. This is the
• 2:08:16
  Speaker 1: gospel that changed Martin Luther, sparking the Reformation. This is
• 2:08:21
  Speaker 1: the gospel that has changed countless lives across two thousand years,
• 2:08:26
  Speaker 1: and tonight may it change yours. If you have listened
• 2:08:30
  Speaker 1: to these words and still carry the weight of guilt,
• 2:08:33
  Speaker 1: hear this. You are justified by faith, not by works,
• 2:08:38
  Speaker 1: not by effort. By faith in Jesus Christ. If you
• 2:08:42
  Speaker 1: have struggled with sin and wondered if you can ever
• 2:08:45
  Speaker 1: be free, hear this. There is no condemnation for those
• 2:08:49
  Speaker 1: in Christ Jesus. You are not defined by your failures.
• 2:08:54
  Speaker 1: You are defined by His grace. If you have doubted
• 2:08:58
  Speaker 1: whether God truly loved you, hear this. Nothing can separate
• 2:09:03
  Speaker 1: you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Not death,
• 2:09:07
  Speaker 1: not life, not angels, not demons, not your past, not
• 2:09:14
  Speaker 1: your present, not your future. Nothing.
• 2:09:19
  Speaker 2: You are loved deeply, eternally, completely. And this love is
• 2:09:25
  Speaker 2: not based on your performance. It is based on His promise.
• 2:09:30
  Speaker 2: It is not earned by your works, It is given
• 2:09:33
  Speaker 2: by His grace. So rest tonight, child of God, Rest
• 2:09:39
  Speaker 2: in the finished work. Of Christ. Rest in the righteousness
• 2:09:43
  Speaker 2: that has been credited to your account. Rest in the
• 2:09:46
  Speaker 2: peace that surpasses all understanding. The journey through Romans is complete,
• 2:09:52
  Speaker 2: but the journey of faith continues.
• 2:09:55
  Speaker 1: Every day.
• 2:09:56
  Speaker 2: You wake to new mercies. Every morning. His grace is
• 2:10:00
  Speaker 2: fresh every step his spirit leads you. You are not alone,
• 2:10:07
  Speaker 2: You are not forgotten, You are not abandoned. You are
• 2:10:11
  Speaker 2: His forever. Let us pray, Heavenly Father, we come to
• 2:10:18
  Speaker 2: you tonight with grateful hearts. Thank you for the Gospel.
• 2:10:23
  Speaker 2: Thank you for the Book of Romans. Thank you for
• 2:10:26
  Speaker 2: showing us the depth of our sin and the far
• 2:10:29
  Speaker 2: greater depth of your grace. Thank you that we are
• 2:10:32
  Speaker 2: justified by faith, That we have peace with you through
• 2:10:36
  Speaker 2: Jesus Christ. That there is no condemnation for those who
• 2:10:40
  Speaker 2: are in Christ. That nothing can separate us from your love. Lord.
• 2:10:46
  Speaker 2: As we lay down to sleep tonight, guard our hearts,
• 2:10:50
  Speaker 2: renew our minds, strengthen our faith. Help us to live
• 2:10:55
  Speaker 2: as those who have been transformed by your mercy. May
• 2:10:59
  Speaker 2: we present our bo bodies as living sacrifices. May we
• 2:11:03
  Speaker 2: love genuinely. May we walk in the light. May we
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 2: live not for ourselves, but for You and when the
• 2:11:11
  Speaker 2: morning comes, May we wake with fresh resolve to follow you,
• 2:11:16
  Speaker 2: to trust you, to rest in the righteousness that is
• 2:11:19
  Speaker 2: ours in Christ alone. We thank you, Father, We praise
• 2:11:24
  Speaker 2: you Jesus. We honor you, Holy Spirit, for you are
• 2:11:28
  Speaker 2: the God who justifies the ungodly, the God who loves sinners,
• 2:11:34
  Speaker 2: the God who saves by grace through faith. To you
• 2:11:37
  Speaker 2: be all glory now and forever. Amen, Sleep well, beloved.
• 2:11:46
  Speaker 2: The Gospel is true, the promises are secure, and you
• 2:11:50
  Speaker 2: are held in the hands of a faithful God. The
• 2:11:53
  Speaker 2: night has been long, but you have walked every step
• 2:11:57
  Speaker 2: in the company of truth. You have heard of sin,
• 2:12:01
  Speaker 2: but you have heard more of grace. You have faced
• 2:12:04
  Speaker 2: the struggle, but you have been shown the victory. You
• 2:12:07
  Speaker 2: are justified, you are sanctified, You are loved, you are kept.
• 2:12:14
  Speaker 2: And tomorrow, when you wake, you will wake as a
• 2:12:17
  Speaker 2: new creation, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, filled with
• 2:12:22
  Speaker 2: the Spirit of God, walking in the freedom that only
• 2:12:25
  Speaker 2: the Gospel can give. Good knight, beloved child of God.
• 2:12:30
  Speaker 2: May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard
• 2:12:34
  Speaker 2: your heart and your mind. In Christ Jesus, May you
• 2:12:38
  Speaker 2: rest in the knowledge that you are not condemned. That
• 2:12:41
  Speaker 2: you are not alone, That you are deeply, eternally, unshakably
• 2:12:47
  Speaker 2: loved for ever and ever.
• 2:12:50
  Speaker 1: Amen,