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Why Good News? · Passing On The Faith

0:01
SPEAKER_01: 20 years research, I just saw this.
0:03
SPEAKER_01: 80% of married people in America do not commit adultery.
0:08
SPEAKER_01: So the Pharisees would feel pretty good about them, actually.
0:12
SPEAKER_01: Now, not the 20%, but the 80% of Americans, many of them not Christians, not believers, they don't go to church, anything like that.
0:21
SPEAKER_01: They mean Hindu, Buddhist, Islam, whatever, they have not committed adultery.
0:25
SPEAKER_01: They make it through the entire marriage, their entire life, and they've never committed adultery.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: But they don't have faith.
0:35
SPEAKER_01: What happens though with Jesus?
0:37
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, okay, but if a man looks at a woman to lust after her, he's already committed adultery in his heart.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: Jesus ups the ante.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: The Old Testament introduces a few more externalisms and some core.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: I believe the Old Testament does have core.
0:54
SPEAKER_01: But it seems the New Testament, as in the case of our Lord, drills into the commandments of God.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: I mean, gets to the heart of it.
1:03
SPEAKER_01: Pokes us to the very heart.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: Convicts us.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: We realize, oh man, we've fallen short.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: We shame passing on the podcast for generations.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: Every week, we do powerful circumstances, audiobooks, webinars, or conference cards.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: Help you build a strong typical factor for your family.
1:26
SPEAKER_00: This week's episode is a sermon for the Reformation Church of Litzive.
1:38
SPEAKER_01: Romans 1, verses 1 through 7.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: Paul and a bond servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God, with power according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: Through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ, to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2:28
SPEAKER_01: This is the very word of God.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: Our Father, we pray, O God, that you would open our eyes to see the truth this day.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: Pray for your Holy Spirit.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: We ask for a fish this morning.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: Your Holy Spirit to be here.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: Help us today.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: Help us, show us, guide us, comfort us by the word.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name we pray.
2:55
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: Please be seated.
3:03
SPEAKER_01: To review from last week, Paul announces himself to be dedicated to preaching the gospel of God.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: This is his focus in life.
3:18
SPEAKER_01: Conveying the gospel of God.
3:20
SPEAKER_01: I've talked to people who have left churches and have asked them, what did you learn in your previous church?
3:29
SPEAKER_01: What is the message?
3:31
SPEAKER_01: What was the thrust of what you got?
3:33
SPEAKER_01: Over the 15 years you raised your children in that church, what did you get out of it?
3:38
SPEAKER_01: One person told me, they were just visiting our church.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: I learned over 15 years why you need to immerse in baptism and why Presbyterians are wrong.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: That's what I learned in 15 years.
3:59
SPEAKER_01: And to wear head coverings, at least for the women.
4:04
SPEAKER_01: That's what we've learned.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: And we learned it very well.
4:11
SPEAKER_01: Some have said, I've attended a church for 15 years, and I know about covenant theology, and I know that Baptists are wrong.
4:23
SPEAKER_01: That's what I learned in 15 years by attending that church.
4:27
SPEAKER_01: Some have said, we learned the basic constituents of a biblical worldview, but we never heard the gospel.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: That was not the thrust of the ministry.
4:40
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I give you lots of examples of people who have left churches and the thrust of what they heard was to get involved in politics and change the world.
4:59
SPEAKER_01: When people leave this church, I wonder what they're going to say.
5:03
SPEAKER_01: Seems like we always leave and go somewhere in our lives.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: That's the way it works in a transient society.
5:09
SPEAKER_01: So after 15 years of being in a church, what will your children say?
5:16
SPEAKER_01: What do they get out of this?
5:21
SPEAKER_01: I'm really concerned about this matter, I am, more than anything else.
5:25
SPEAKER_01: This is the issue that concerns me most.
5:31
SPEAKER_01: When your children grow up and leave, will they say that we heard in this church that Jesus came to save me from my sins?
5:42
SPEAKER_01: Jesus came to give me forgiveness, to give me power, to give me a release, a redemption from the power of Satan and sin in my life.
5:54
SPEAKER_01: Hallelujah.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: And I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior and my Lord, and the message of the gospel has transformed my life in this building and through the ministry of the gospel in my home and in this church over the last 15 years.
6:10
SPEAKER_01: Will your children say that?
6:13
SPEAKER_01: Will they rejoice in the gospel of Jesus Christ?
6:16
SPEAKER_01: Because that's the good news they've heard week after week after week, and it has transformed them.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: That's what I hope for.
6:27
SPEAKER_01: That we have been so dedicated to the gospel that Jesus Christ has come to save us.
6:34
SPEAKER_01: He died on the cross for our sins, rose again the third day, and we have complete victory over sin through him by sanctification, by the glorification of ourselves, and we have this hope of the gospel in a complete victory over death at the very end.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: We know this, we live this way, we walk in hope, we walk in life, we walk in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.
7:07
SPEAKER_01: That's what I hope our children will walk away with.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: If they've been in this church for 15 years, that's what I hope they hear.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: Again, I'm hoping they hear a few other things, yes.
7:19
SPEAKER_01: But if you ask them what's the thrust of it, and they give you all these other answers that you hear from so many different people, man, we've missed it.
7:29
SPEAKER_01: They've missed the core.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: And so often people sit in churches, conservative churches, they're just not saved.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: They haven't really internalized the gospel.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: They don't live in the good news.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: And I just don't want that happening.
7:48
SPEAKER_01: So this is the good news.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: This is God's good news.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, we love good news.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: We come out of a world of bad news, as we said last week, and you know, somebody says, Hey, I've got some good news for you.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: You ears perk up, you're you're ready to go, eyes are lightning up again, you're saying, Man, I've come out of a week of bad news, and I want to hear more good news than I want to hear this morning.
8:10
SPEAKER_01: And that just needs to be the response of everybody walking into this building on a Sunday morning.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: It's gotta be it, guys.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: How would you respond to the best news in the universe?
8:22
SPEAKER_01: How would you respond to that if you perceived it to be good news?
8:27
SPEAKER_01: What would it look like?
8:30
SPEAKER_01: How many want to be reminded of good news and be more hopeful in the good news?
8:35
SPEAKER_01: I think that's all of us.
8:37
SPEAKER_01: But sometimes I wonder why there's not as much dancing in the hallways of our homes on a Monday morning.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: Well, there is in some of your homes.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: But I mean, all of us.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: Just rejoicing, and I know it's unusual for a 48-year-old man or a 60-year-old man to be dancing a jig or walking and leaping and praising God.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: That's unusual.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: Old men don't do that very much, but it seems to me there needs to be something of a response to the good news.
9:21
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes maybe it comes across as dead and dull.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: You know, you see the Apostle Paul responding to the gospel with these hyperboles, and we gave some examples last week of that.
9:32
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 1, the hyperbolic mega power of the gospel of Jesus Christ working in each of us.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: And we're like, but sometimes we don't relate to the hyperbole, you know.
11:10
SPEAKER_01: Like, there's a guy pretty excited about who's talking about, but you know, I'm just like not quite getting into it.
11:15
SPEAKER_01: A little bit like some historian friend of yours that discovers letters written by Napoleon's wife's third cousin, and he's just like ecstatic over it.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: And you're, I mean, you listen to him for 10 seconds and you're like, turn off.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: It's just it's irrelevant.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: Who cares?
11:34
SPEAKER_01: Napoleon's wife's third cousin's letters, you're just not into that.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: And so it just doesn't, it doesn't register.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: The excitement or the thrill or the good news of it just doesn't quite register.
11:52
SPEAKER_01: It's it's sort of irrelevant.
11:56
SPEAKER_01: Praise God, that's not the way it is for us.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: Those who hear the best news and they don't respond are blinded to it, just blinded and dead.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: If you ever tried to come up to a dead person and say, Life.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about life.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: Talking to a dead person, laying there in a coffin or grave somewhere, you walk up to that person, you say, Let me share the beauty of life with you.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: How does a dead person respond to that?
12:28
SPEAKER_01: What does he say to that?
12:30
SPEAKER_01: That's a yawner.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: Click, not relating, not responding, rather dull, kind of a dead presentation.
12:39
SPEAKER_01: That's what happens when a dead person hears the gospel of Jesus Christ.
12:46
SPEAKER_01: But for us, it's the power of God unto salvation for those who believe.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: It's it's always bigger than ever.
12:52
SPEAKER_01: It's the basis of our hope, it's the launching pad for everything else in the Christian life.
12:57
SPEAKER_01: That's what it is.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: It's totally relevant.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: It's, as we said last week, it's core.
13:03
SPEAKER_01: It's core to be connected with everything else.
13:07
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
13:10
SPEAKER_01: But this morning I want to answer the question, why is this good news?
13:15
SPEAKER_01: And that's Paul gets into that in verses five and six.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: Why is it such good news?
13:22
SPEAKER_01: What makes it good news?
13:23
SPEAKER_01: Well, the first obvious answer to that is what we said last week.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: It's it's God's good news.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: Now, there is a degree to which, if God comes to us and says, I've got good news for you, and he explains it to you and you're thinking, and he and God is is very presents it as something very good.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: The hyperbolic language we find throughout scripture about it.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: Read Isaiah 35.
13:59
SPEAKER_01: That seems pretty hyperbolic.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: Pictures are amazing of what God is going to do in this amazing salvation, the redemption, all that.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: So when God says, This is great, this is good, there's a degree to which you're going to have to just say, you know what?
14:16
SPEAKER_01: I has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into my mind.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: The things that God has prepared for those who wait upon him, there's a degree, you follow me here?
14:26
SPEAKER_01: There's a degree to which you're gonna have to say, you know what?
14:29
SPEAKER_01: It's God's good news, and it's great.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: You with me here?
14:36
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so that's number one.
14:38
SPEAKER_01: It's God's good news, and that's why it's good news.
14:40
SPEAKER_01: It's God's gospel.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: That's number one.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: And number two, I'm just going this briefly, then we're gonna get into the passage, verse five, in just a moment, but number two, it's total salvation.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: It's it's root salvation, it's ultimate salvation.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: It's salvation that goes to the very root.
14:59
SPEAKER_01: As we've said before, and I think this analogy helps, Jesus didn't come to paint more whitened sepulchres.
15:08
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of that.
15:09
SPEAKER_01: Every religion in the world is good at, you know, painting the white sepulcher, making it look good.
15:13
SPEAKER_01: Jesus didn't come.
15:14
SPEAKER_01: That's the last thing we need is another religion that comes in and paints more sepulchres, as whitey, whitey, white as you can possibly be.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: Jesus came to call the dead out of those sepulchres.
15:30
SPEAKER_01: It's big.
15:35
SPEAKER_01: I know you've heard this before, but is that big?
15:40
SPEAKER_01: Is that a good thing?
15:46
SPEAKER_01: That's huge.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: That's huge.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: Children, Jesus fixes everything from the inside out.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: Solves the problem of spiritual death.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: Physical death is spiritual death.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: And what is spiritual death, but to be dead to God, dead to love, dead to this message, that's spiritual death.
16:19
SPEAKER_01: And dying souls tossed into the burning dump of Hades forever and ever for an eternal hellfire.
16:28
SPEAKER_01: That's spiritual death.
16:31
SPEAKER_01: Jesus came to fix that.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: Okay, now number three, and this comes from verse five of our passage.
16:38
SPEAKER_01: God's good news pulls off an authentic spiritual life.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: It brings about obedience.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: So let's just follow this through.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: This is the objective of the gospel.
16:52
SPEAKER_01: This is what it's going to do, this is what it's going to accomplish.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: This is the major objective for the gospel as presented here in verse 5.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: Let me read it one more time for you.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: Through him that is Jesus, we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name among whom also you are called of Jesus Christ.
17:16
SPEAKER_01: Then this is a gospel that accomplishes something.
17:20
SPEAKER_01: And we've already talked about the power of God being effective unto salvation to those who believe.
17:27
SPEAKER_01: So we talked about that already.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: The gospel is a power.
17:33
SPEAKER_01: But it's a power that does something.
17:37
SPEAKER_01: You can have a very powerful car that's not in gear and just sits there and you can rev the engine, but it doesn't really go anywhere, it doesn't do anything.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: But there's a power here that goes into gear.
17:47
SPEAKER_01: There's a power unto salvation.
17:50
SPEAKER_01: It does something, it brings about something.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: And here we read it's it's an obedience, but there's a key word here that's mistaken in the New King James Version.
18:00
SPEAKER_01: It's not rendered right in the NKJV.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: It's just a plain mistake.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: They made a mistake in this translation of the Bible.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: The word is presented in the dative, it should be in the genitive.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: The ESV gets it right.
18:15
SPEAKER_01: Every Greek text, by the way, has it in the genitive.
18:18
SPEAKER_01: It means possessive.
18:20
SPEAKER_01: The genitive means possessive.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: So you look at the text as Receptus and the Nestles and all the others, and you're going to find that this is the key word, very key.
18:27
SPEAKER_01: This is really central to the entire message of the book of Romans, so don't get it wrong.
18:31
SPEAKER_01: This is really important we get this right.
18:34
SPEAKER_01: So that's why we go into the Greek.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: It's important to know your cases in the Greek.
18:40
SPEAKER_01: But what it says is through him that is Jesus, we have received grace and apostleship for obedience not to the truth, but of the truth.
18:48
SPEAKER_01: It's in the genitive.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: It's of the truth, not to the truth.
18:53
SPEAKER_01: Not obedience to the faith, but it is obedience of the faith.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: It is faith's obedience.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: Faith's obedience.
19:02
SPEAKER_01: That's the way it should be read.
19:04
SPEAKER_01: That this gospel is given to us by God's grace to the end, to the objective, or for the purpose of faith's obedience.
19:14
SPEAKER_01: That's the best way to read it.
19:17
SPEAKER_01: And so it's not just obedience, but faith's obedience.
19:22
SPEAKER_01: And this marks the difference between a biblical reformed Christianity and all the other religions in the world.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: And I say a reformed Christianity because the reformed went back to the doctrines of Romans, the doctrines of the Word of God, and does not separate out faith from obedience.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: Faith, obedience, distinct but not separate.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: Very, very central doctrine, very important for all of us to get down.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: This is the meat of the word.
19:53
SPEAKER_01: We're talking this week about the meat of the word.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: This is the very meat of the word.
19:56
SPEAKER_01: You've got to know this.
19:57
SPEAKER_01: If you don't know this, you'll get your religion wrong.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: Get your faith all wrong.
22:13
SPEAKER_01: You absolutely must understand this.
22:15
SPEAKER_01: That all obedience, all obedience must be based in faith.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: That's the Christian faith.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: That's the faith that Jesus came to bring to us.
22:27
SPEAKER_01: That is, if there's going to be any real obedience, it has to be formed out of faith.
22:32
SPEAKER_01: Faith is the basis.
22:34
SPEAKER_01: Faith's obedience, and grace is obedience.
22:38
SPEAKER_01: So today, let me go through these four distinguishing marks of this obedience, four distinguishing marks of this obedience from this text.
22:49
SPEAKER_01: The first two are the most essential, at least for this morning.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to hit the other two.
22:54
SPEAKER_01: We might be able to have more time to get into it in the following week, but the first is that this obedience is powered by grace.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: You see that in the passage.
23:02
SPEAKER_01: Through Jesus, we have received grace, an apostleship for Paul, for the obedience of the faith among all nations, for his name.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: The obedience is, first of all, empowered by grace.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: Children, let me ask you this question.
23:19
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, the first question is on your notes is that we obey by God's powerful grace.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: But let me ask you this question, children.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: How fast can a car go if it doesn't have any gas?
23:38
SPEAKER_01: Well, you can push it like three feet.
23:43
SPEAKER_01: You can push it.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: About three feet.
23:47
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't go very fast at all.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: There are billions of people in the world pushing their cars.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: They push them ahead three feet and then it rolls back on them.
23:55
SPEAKER_01: That happens to me all the time.
23:56
SPEAKER_01: When I try to push a car that's run out of gas, it just, you know, it's just you can get a few feet and that's pretty much it.
24:02
SPEAKER_01: It rolls back.
24:02
SPEAKER_01: There are teachers and preachers that are pushing the people to push their cars.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: They're all over the world.
24:12
SPEAKER_01: They're pushing their people to push their cars.
24:14
SPEAKER_01: This is what religions do.
24:16
SPEAKER_01: They get everybody out there to push their cars as hard as they can, and they push it three feet ahead, and the floor rolls back on them, and that just keeps going on and on.
24:23
SPEAKER_01: And that's the way that the works of man play out in history.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: This is always the way it works out around the world.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: This is what religions are all about.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: But our obedience, this obedience is powered by caris or grace.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: The Hebrew word is cane.
24:44
SPEAKER_01: This obedience is based upon the favor of God, upon the grace of God.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: It's resting upon the grace of God.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: And the word grace is, let me just give you some definitions of it.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: We talk about it a lot, so I'm going to give you as many definitions as I can real quick.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: Grace is graciousness.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: I think that's one of the very best ways to understand it.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: Grace is graciousness.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: You say somebody has been gracious to me.
25:08
SPEAKER_01: That's not just a gift, it's more than a gift.
25:12
SPEAKER_01: Grace is more than a gift.
25:13
SPEAKER_01: There's a slight distinction between the word gift, as it's used in the Greek, and the word grace.
25:19
SPEAKER_01: It's a slight difference.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: And I think the difference is the heart behind it.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: That's, I think, the best way to distinguish it.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: So grace is the graciousness or the kindness of somebody else.
25:33
SPEAKER_01: Here's another.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: The Hebrew picture word for grace, as it's connected to Kaiis and the Septuagint, is the idea of leaning in towards somebody else.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: Actively, compassionately, concernedly reaching out towards somebody who doesn't deserve that favor.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: Treating somebody in a way in which that person experiences love, joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, loveliness.
26:06
SPEAKER_01: That's grace.
26:08
SPEAKER_01: So as God has shown grace to us, we have this strong sense that God is intending to be kind and loving and gracious to us in order that we would respond with a love and a joy and a pleasure and delight, and we would experience a sweetness and a loveliness about all of that.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: That's the definition of caris in the Greek.
26:33
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you a few verses that might help you as well.
26:36
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 2, we are saved by grace.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: We are justified, adopted, sanctified, glorified by the grace of God.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: So some people want to reduce that to one little part of salvation, but no, no.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: Our entire salvation, every part of it, we are redeemed.
26:53
SPEAKER_01: We are adopted.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: We are glorified and sanctified by the grace of God.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: All of that.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: Romans 4 and verse 4 says something I think makes it super obvious to us.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: Now, to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: So that's super obvious.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: You go to work Monday morning and you get a paycheck.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: Did you send a thank you card to your boss last Friday?
27:24
SPEAKER_01: Drop the thank you card in the mail to your boss.
27:27
SPEAKER_01: Nobody dropped the thank you card in the boss in the mail to the boss because it was a gift.
27:32
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was it was it was work.
27:34
SPEAKER_01: It was waged, wages, or something that was earned.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: So your paycheck is not a gift.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: To him that works, the wages are counted as not as grace, but as debt.
27:45
SPEAKER_01: It's Romans 4 and verse 4.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: Then Romans 5 and verse 5 speaks of a standing in disgrace.
27:51
SPEAKER_01: Standing in grace.
27:53
SPEAKER_01: What is that?
27:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's a state of being that we have entered into a household of graciousness.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: Now, maybe your household isn't all that gracious, but imagine the ultimate gracious household where there's just graciousness flowing everywhere.
28:11
SPEAKER_01: People are gracious to each other.
28:12
SPEAKER_01: People are kind to each other.
28:15
SPEAKER_01: It's just that whole sense.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: Everything is just a constant graciousness in the language, in the offering, in the serving of one another.
28:23
SPEAKER_01: This is an amazing state of graciousness.
28:27
SPEAKER_01: You live in a household of graciousness.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: That's what it is to stand in grace.
28:36
SPEAKER_01: We live, we stand, we move in a state of grace.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: It's an everyday experience for us.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: We are always ever reminded of us receiving a tremendous graciousness, tremendous gift from God.
28:51
SPEAKER_01: Also, Romans 5, 17.
28:53
SPEAKER_01: These are references to grace in the book of Romans.
28:57
SPEAKER_01: I'm just drawing a few out because I know it's something of a theme, and I want to be sure that you understand what it is.
29:01
SPEAKER_01: Romans 5 and verse 17.
29:03
SPEAKER_01: For if by the one man's offense, that is Adam's offense, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.
29:17
SPEAKER_01: So the gift, what is this gift that God gives to us?
29:20
SPEAKER_01: In one place we find it to be salvation, another place we find it to be life, eternal life, and righteousness expressed here.
29:27
SPEAKER_01: And then Romans 5 and verse 20, grace.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: Paul speaks of grace now reigning.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: Grace now reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
29:42
SPEAKER_01: So what is it to reign?
29:43
SPEAKER_01: Grace reigns.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: What is it when you know somebody's put Donald Trump is elected as not president, but king of America?
29:53
SPEAKER_01: Let's just say something like that.
29:54
SPEAKER_01: Now, he's gonna reign.
29:56
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean for Donald Trump to reign over America in 2025?
30:01
SPEAKER_01: What would that mean?
30:04
SPEAKER_01: It means he's gonna exercise power.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna control, he's gonna be authoritative, he's gonna powerfully exercise himself over the country such that it will affect us, all of us, to some extent or another.
30:22
SPEAKER_01: Well, grace reigns.
30:25
SPEAKER_01: Grace reigns, it's a controlling principle.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: It's a powerful principle.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: It does stuff, it controls, it rules, reigns.
30:34
SPEAKER_01: It's a controlling principle now in your life, in my life.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: I want to contrast two masters just for a moment.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: Suppose you had master number one, who uh beats his servants, threatens him, works him 14 hours a day, barely gives them enough to eat.
30:50
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's master number one.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: Master number two saves the life of this servant, rescues him from slavery to master one, and provides him with an inheritance of 15 billion dollars.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm contrasting two masters here.
31:04
SPEAKER_01: Y'all get me?
31:06
SPEAKER_01: Master number one beats his servants every day, hardly gives them anything to eat.
31:09
SPEAKER_01: Master two rescues these servants from Master One, brings them into his household, and gives him an inheritance of 15 billion dollars.
31:22
SPEAKER_01: Who would you rather work for?
31:27
SPEAKER_01: Who would you rather work for?
31:29
SPEAKER_01: Master number one or master number two?
31:32
SPEAKER_01: And here's one more question.
31:34
SPEAKER_01: Master number one has a hundred servants, master number two has a hundred servants, by the way, master two is constantly kidnapping or actually redeeming servants from master number one.
31:44
SPEAKER_01: But there's a hundred servants each.
31:45
SPEAKER_01: How do you think their kingdoms are doing over a period of 20 years?
31:55
SPEAKER_01: I'm just throwing it out.
31:56
SPEAKER_01: How do you think master number one is gonna do with his kingdom versus master number two?
32:00
SPEAKER_01: Who's gonna do better?
32:01
SPEAKER_01: I'm just throwing it out.
32:04
SPEAKER_01: Number two.
32:05
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you got it.
32:06
SPEAKER_01: Why?
32:07
SPEAKER_01: Because the servants love him.
32:12
SPEAKER_01: And they love to be there with him.
32:15
SPEAKER_01: That's why.
32:18
SPEAKER_01: So which approach provides the most motivation, impetus, and commitment to the kingdom work?
32:24
SPEAKER_01: So the graciousness of God is ruling and reigning and controlling me and controls you.
32:31
SPEAKER_01: This is the controlling principle of my life and your life right now.
32:38
SPEAKER_01: You are empowered by grace, by the grace of God.
32:42
SPEAKER_01: You wake up every day empowered by God's grace.
32:46
SPEAKER_01: Because you live in God's grace, you stand in it, you walk in it, you work in it.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: Titus 2 and verse 11, the grace of God brings salvation and has appeared to all men.
32:59
SPEAKER_01: So what does this grace do?
33:01
SPEAKER_01: It teaches us denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: Looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works.
33:20
SPEAKER_01: It's almost a parallel passage to what we're dealing with today, and that is the grace of God is such that we become zealous for good works within the kingdom of God.
33:31
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's the first distinguishing mark, is the grace of God.
33:34
SPEAKER_01: The second is faith.
33:36
SPEAKER_01: And I said this is really the theme of this passage or this verse.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: That this is the obedience that belongs to faith.
33:47
SPEAKER_01: It's in the genitive.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: Faith's obedience.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: Faith has this thing that's associated with it, and it's called obedience.
33:57
SPEAKER_01: It's a second distinguishing mark for the obedience that we're talking about here.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: This is this is obedience.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: Now, what is obedience?
34:06
SPEAKER_01: What is obedience, children?
34:08
SPEAKER_01: Do you know?
34:09
SPEAKER_01: Your parents tell you to do something, then what?
34:20
SPEAKER_01: Your parents tell you to do something, then what do you do?
34:23
SPEAKER_01: You do it.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: Well trained, Todd.
34:26
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, brother.
34:28
SPEAKER_01: But that's obedience.
34:29
SPEAKER_01: So just so we know what the word obedience means, it's it's to obey God's commands.
34:34
SPEAKER_01: God tells us to do something, tells us not to do that, tells us to do this.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: And it's just, what do we what do you do with that?
34:40
SPEAKER_01: You obey it.
34:42
SPEAKER_01: Well, the problem is we don't obey by nature.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: We resist, we revolt, we resist, we don't like the commands.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: Remember one person telling me one time, I just hate it when you mention the commandments of God.
34:56
SPEAKER_01: I just get the weebie jeebies goes up the back of my neck.
34:59
SPEAKER_01: I just hate God's law.
35:02
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's what I'm talking about here.
35:04
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about this resistance to God, this resistance to Jesus as our Lord, this resistance to any kind of imperative that God gives us in his word.
35:15
SPEAKER_01: That's the rebellion, that's revolt, that's a revolution against God.
35:19
SPEAKER_01: That's a heart attitude that hates God and hates his laws.
35:28
SPEAKER_01: Where there isn't obedience, there's this obstinate rebellion against God.
35:35
SPEAKER_01: And the commands of God come in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: We don't want to get into all the details there.
35:41
SPEAKER_01: We discuss those things offline.
35:44
SPEAKER_01: But many of the commands of the Old Testament are repeated in the New Testament.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: So I don't believe there is any kind of argument between Old Testament and New Testament.
35:54
SPEAKER_01: There are some Old Testament laws that are fulfilled in different ways in the New Testament.
35:58
SPEAKER_01: So we certainly see that in the case of the sacrificial laws and such.
36:02
SPEAKER_01: But let me give you an example.
36:03
SPEAKER_01: The Old Testament teaches us not to trip a blind man.
36:09
SPEAKER_01: Now, I think most people could probably go through their lives being careful not to trip a blind man.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: And they could probably do it without faith.
36:24
SPEAKER_01: 20 years research, I just saw this.
36:26
SPEAKER_01: 80% of married people in America do not commit adultery.
36:32
SPEAKER_01: So the Pharisees would feel pretty good about them, actually.
36:36
SPEAKER_01: Now, not the 20%.
36:38
SPEAKER_01: But the 80% of Americans, and many of them not Christians, not believers, they don't go to church, anything like that.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: They mean Hindu, Buddhist, Islam, whatever, they have not committed adultery.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: They make it through their entire marriage, their entire life, and they've never committed adultery.
36:56
SPEAKER_01: But they don't have faith.
36:59
SPEAKER_01: What happens though with Jesus?
37:00
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, okay, but if a man looks at a woman to lust after her, he's already committed adultery in his heart.
37:06
SPEAKER_01: Jesus ups the ante.
37:11
SPEAKER_01: The Old Testament introduces a few more externalisms and some core.
37:16
SPEAKER_01: I believe the Old Testament does have core.
37:18
SPEAKER_01: But it seems the New Testament, as in the case of our Lord, drills into the commandments of God.
37:24
SPEAKER_01: I mean, gets to the heart of it, pokes us to the very heart, convicts us.
37:29
SPEAKER_01: We realize, oh man, we've fallen short, way short.
37:34
SPEAKER_01: As our brother exhorted this morning.
37:37
SPEAKER_01: So what is it, what are the commands that are repeated?
37:40
SPEAKER_01: I'll just say these are the sorts of things that God commands us to, and Jesus commands us to.
37:47
SPEAKER_01: I'm just going over some of the highlights.
37:49
SPEAKER_01: I think what's repeated in the Old Testament, New Testament is often really super important stuff that we better be writing down and not forgetting.
37:55
SPEAKER_01: And yet there's other stuff in the Old Testament we need to remember as well.
37:59
SPEAKER_01: But children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
38:02
SPEAKER_01: Children obey your parents, even when it's difficult to obey them.
38:07
SPEAKER_01: Honor your father and mother when it's difficult.
38:09
SPEAKER_01: I've run into people who say it's so hard to honor my mother and father.
38:12
SPEAKER_01: They're hypocrites, they're this, they're that.
38:14
SPEAKER_01: I get it.
38:15
SPEAKER_01: It's impossible to really honor your father and mother.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: And yes, this is increasingly impossible today, with the teenage revolution and the music forms and other things that get in the way.
38:27
SPEAKER_01: And children are constantly rebelling against the previous generation over and over and over again, that honor of their parents' culture and their laws, their commandments, hardly even there anymore with the teenage rebellion that goes on today in the churches as well as outside of the churches.
38:43
SPEAKER_01: These things are impossible.
38:45
SPEAKER_01: That's the point I want to make today.
38:47
SPEAKER_01: Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, even when you are disagreeable, even when you disagree with him.
38:56
SPEAKER_01: It's hard.
38:58
SPEAKER_01: It's hard to do.
38:59
SPEAKER_01: That's impossible.
39:01
SPEAKER_01: Look at a wife, you say, okay, you're disagreeing with your husband right now.
39:06
SPEAKER_01: That's not a clear instance in which he's commanding you to disobey God's word.
39:10
SPEAKER_01: That's really hard.
39:12
SPEAKER_01: To submit, to obey.
39:14
SPEAKER_01: Husbands, love your wives as Christ love you and gave himself for you, even when she's disagreeable and unlovable.
39:22
SPEAKER_01: Even as you were disagreeable and lovable, Christ gave himself for you.
39:25
SPEAKER_01: You're being, or she's being disagreeable and unlovable, and you're having a hard time loving.
39:30
SPEAKER_01: That's impossible.
39:31
SPEAKER_01: These are impossibilities.
39:33
SPEAKER_01: Fathers don't provoke your children to wrath.
39:35
SPEAKER_01: Cultivate a good relationship with your children.
39:37
SPEAKER_01: Bring them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord Jesus Christ.
39:39
SPEAKER_01: You understand how hard that is to have a decent relationship with a teenage kid and not provoke them to wrath?
39:45
SPEAKER_01: Maintain a good relationship while bringing them up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord Jesus Christ.
39:49
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're walking a tightrope on that one.
39:51
SPEAKER_01: That's really hard.
39:52
SPEAKER_01: That's impossible.
39:53
SPEAKER_01: We're talking about impossibilities here.
39:54
SPEAKER_01: Submit to your elders in the church.
39:57
SPEAKER_01: That's even more impossible.
40:00
SPEAKER_01: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
40:02
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're getting down to the core issues.
40:04
SPEAKER_01: Present your body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.
40:08
SPEAKER_01: It's your reasonable service.
40:09
SPEAKER_01: Romans 12, 1.
40:10
SPEAKER_01: Bless those that persecute you.
40:12
SPEAKER_01: It was read this morning again.
40:14
SPEAKER_01: Take care of the least of these, my brothers and sisters.
40:16
SPEAKER_01: They're sick, they're in prison, they're afflicted, impoverished, etc.
40:20
SPEAKER_01: Are you taking care of them?
40:22
SPEAKER_01: Sexual sin, uncleanness, let it not be even once named among you as fitting saints.
40:27
SPEAKER_01: This is the will of God for you that you abstain from sexual immorality.
40:30
SPEAKER_01: And has any of you faced sexual temptation before?
40:32
SPEAKER_01: Anybody?
40:33
SPEAKER_01: Anybody here faced sexual temptation?
40:36
SPEAKER_01: Any young man ever come face to face and say, I got this.
40:39
SPEAKER_01: This is easy.
40:41
SPEAKER_01: No problem.
40:42
SPEAKER_01: Following through in the commands of God, I can do it.
40:46
SPEAKER_01: Is that how we respond to that, brothers?
40:49
SPEAKER_01: No way, Jose.
40:52
SPEAKER_01: Impossible! These are things impossible for you and impossible for me.
40:58
SPEAKER_01: We're talking about sheer impossibilities here.
41:01
SPEAKER_01: Love the brothers as Christ loved you and gave himself for you.
41:04
SPEAKER_01: Forgive the brother.
41:05
SPEAKER_01: Put away all wrath, malice, bitterness, be kind to one to another, tender hearted.
41:09
SPEAKER_01: I've been a pastor for a long time.
41:10
SPEAKER_01: I can tell you the impossibility of this and how extremely rare it is.
41:17
SPEAKER_01: Extremely rare it is.
41:19
SPEAKER_01: For relationships to maintain in churches through crises and conflicts over 15, 20, 25, 30 years.
41:28
SPEAKER_01: So impossible.
41:30
SPEAKER_01: Unbelievably impossible.
41:31
SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about impossibilities here.
41:33
SPEAKER_01: It can be totally frustrating to see these miracles happening in your life, in my life, in the family, in the church.
41:47
SPEAKER_01: Only possible by faith.
41:51
SPEAKER_01: Only possible by faith.
41:57
SPEAKER_01: It's such a miracle.
41:58
SPEAKER_01: I mean that anybody would forgive one another over 490 times is as remarkable as the creation of galaxies.
42:12
SPEAKER_01: It's a miraculous thing.
42:14
SPEAKER_01: We're talking about miracles here.
42:18
SPEAKER_01: When you hear these imperatives, you need to say, Well, that's a miracle, if that ever happens in my life.
42:24
SPEAKER_01: That would be a miracle.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: In an honest moment, wouldn't you say that?
42:31
SPEAKER_01: I know I would.
42:33
SPEAKER_01: How about your thought life?
42:36
SPEAKER_01: Always hoping all things, believing all things, assuming the best of your brother, instead of jumping the gun and assuming the wrong motives of your brother.
42:45
SPEAKER_01: Okay, y'all do that pretty good last week?
42:49
SPEAKER_01: That's a miracle.
42:51
SPEAKER_01: That's a total miracle.
42:52
SPEAKER_01: If that happens in your life, in your head, that's a miracle.
42:57
SPEAKER_01: That's God's power working in you.
43:00
SPEAKER_01: And it's gotta happen by faith.
43:03
SPEAKER_01: Now, I want to address an important question here that's come up over and over again so many times.
43:08
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure I've ever addressed this question.
43:10
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I have.
43:10
SPEAKER_01: I don't remember that I have.
43:13
SPEAKER_01: But you hear this all over the place.
43:16
SPEAKER_01: Mormons are the nicest people.
43:20
SPEAKER_01: I know these Muslims.
43:22
SPEAKER_01: They live right next door, but they are the nicest people.
43:27
SPEAKER_01: The Hindus are some of the nicest people I've ever run into.
43:32
SPEAKER_01: And way nicer than Christians.
43:38
SPEAKER_01: I hear this all the time.
43:41
SPEAKER_01: So I want to answer that question.
43:44
SPEAKER_01: Because I think we need to face that question, honestly, this morning.
43:47
SPEAKER_01: I have time we face these questions.
43:50
SPEAKER_01: Y'all want to face the question?
43:52
SPEAKER_01: Okay, let's do it.
43:53
SPEAKER_01: The first thing we need to say from the outset is nice does not get you into heaven.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: That's number one.
44:01
SPEAKER_01: You cannot go into heaven by being a nice guy.
44:08
SPEAKER_01: And what's associated with that is the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
44:13
SPEAKER_01: So we have this heart issue.
44:16
SPEAKER_01: And you can be a really nice person and still have a heart that's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
44:23
SPEAKER_01: Number two, sometimes they're right.
44:30
SPEAKER_01: The Church of Jesus Christ, especially in the West, has been terribly oppressed by hypocrisy, pride, and severe spiritual retrograde.
44:41
SPEAKER_01: It's a bloodbath out there.
44:44
SPEAKER_01: It's a bloodbath.
44:45
SPEAKER_01: What's happening right now in the Western world, and it's just come into America in the last 20 years, especially the last 12 years, is a spiritual bloodbath.
44:55
SPEAKER_01: People are walking away from the faith.
44:57
SPEAKER_01: They hang out in the churches for another generation, but that's pretty much it.
45:01
SPEAKER_01: Just long enough to be more hypocritical and not listen to the message, not receive the gospel, and then act like they're Christians out there, but not really be Christians.
45:09
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of that going on in our world today.
45:12
SPEAKER_01: It's a ton of it.
45:13
SPEAKER_01: And it makes it out in the mission field, and it's so embarrassing and so bad.
45:17
SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you the number of stories I ran into in the mission field where the absolute most embarrassing spiritual, sinful conditions going on in Africa are almost, without exception, white missionaries from the West.
45:32
SPEAKER_01: I get it.
45:33
SPEAKER_01: We're going through a tough time right now.
45:36
SPEAKER_01: America is one of the worst nations in the world when it comes to morality.
45:40
SPEAKER_01: You're rating it in terms of sexual immorality.
45:42
SPEAKER_01: Rutgers University study found that the American family is the worst in the Western world.
45:47
SPEAKER_01: The very worst.
45:48
SPEAKER_01: You're in ground zero of the worst families.
45:51
SPEAKER_01: Colorado is basically the worst divorce rate in the entire Western United States.
45:59
SPEAKER_01: So we're we're really in ground zero of the very worst of the very worst of morality, of family values.
46:05
SPEAKER_01: We're right there.
46:05
SPEAKER_01: We're focused on the family, and the rest of us are still ministering.
46:09
SPEAKER_01: We are in the heart of the very worst place in the world today when it comes to family values and when it comes to sexual morality.
46:18
SPEAKER_01: So I get it to some extent.
46:23
SPEAKER_01: But here's one more principle that I want you to remember.
46:26
SPEAKER_01: It's come, I remember a movie By Line from the 1980s.
46:31
SPEAKER_01: I don't think I watched the movie, but the byline went around quite a bit at the time.
46:37
SPEAKER_01: It was like this be nice, be nice until it's time not to be nice.
46:44
SPEAKER_01: And that's the principle by which the world runs.
46:47
SPEAKER_01: I just want you to understand it.
46:49
SPEAKER_01: The world runs this way.
46:50
SPEAKER_01: They're nice people.
46:51
SPEAKER_01: They know how to be nice.
46:52
SPEAKER_01: They've been trained to be nice.
46:54
SPEAKER_01: That's the whole religious perspective of the public schools.
46:57
SPEAKER_01: That's the whole religious perspective of every religion in the world.
47:00
SPEAKER_01: Be nice until it's time not to be nice.
47:04
SPEAKER_01: Everybody can be nice to a stranger for 15 minutes.
47:09
SPEAKER_01: Or for 20 minutes, or for two hours.
47:11
SPEAKER_01: You're on a plane trip, sitting next to somebody, and be nice to that person for two hours.
47:16
SPEAKER_01: That's easy.
47:17
SPEAKER_01: That's so easy.
47:20
SPEAKER_01: The world's good at that.
47:25
SPEAKER_01: But the problem is the world knows one thing and they know it very well.
47:29
SPEAKER_01: Keep relationships superficial.
47:34
unknown: Keep
47:35
SPEAKER_01: Relationships superficial.
47:38
SPEAKER_01: The final amen of any church get them out of the foyer and get them out within five minutes, except for the two homeschooling families that seem to want to stick around to talk for the next two hours.
47:48
SPEAKER_01: But keep relationships superficial.
47:51
SPEAKER_01: You've got to do if you're going to survive in the modern church, in modern religions.
47:56
SPEAKER_01: You have to.
47:56
SPEAKER_01: And of course, a lot of times men move to polygamy.
47:59
SPEAKER_01: That helps.
48:00
SPEAKER_01: Problem with this woman, just go over to that woman for a little bit and then over to this woman.
48:03
SPEAKER_01: It was a way to keep anonymity going.
48:05
SPEAKER_01: It was a superficiality.
48:06
SPEAKER_01: That's what polygamy was all about.
48:09
SPEAKER_01: That's why they do polygamy in nations that are pagan.
48:13
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
48:14
SPEAKER_01: It's a superficial approach to relationship.
48:17
SPEAKER_01: That's what the world is all about, superficiality.
48:21
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus calls us to brutal honesty.
48:27
SPEAKER_01: Jesus points to our very heart and says, You've got a problem in your marriage because of something very deep, very deep in your heart, that only my blood will be able to cleanse.
48:41
SPEAKER_01: Jesus commands a brutal honesty.
48:44
SPEAKER_01: Jesus repudiates the superficialities.
48:48
SPEAKER_01: The idea of nice can be externalistic.
48:51
SPEAKER_01: They're so nice on the outside.
48:53
SPEAKER_01: They just seem so sweet, etc.
48:56
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus says it's not hard to be nice to your friends.
49:00
SPEAKER_01: He says you need to love your enemies.
49:02
SPEAKER_01: Do good to those that despitefully use you.
49:05
SPEAKER_01: You need to forgive your brother 490 times.
49:07
SPEAKER_01: You need to build relationships, stay with each other until in God's providence serious offenses start to build up.
49:12
SPEAKER_01: And then you need to stay in a relationship and continue forgiving each other.
49:16
SPEAKER_01: And continue to forgive each other.
49:18
SPEAKER_01: And that will prove your faith.
49:21
SPEAKER_01: That will prove it.
49:23
SPEAKER_01: Whether there was something really solid there to begin with.
49:30
SPEAKER_01: A real Christian.
49:32
SPEAKER_01: You picture him as Richard Bournbrand, bloody, beaten to a pulp by their persecutors, falls down on his knees, and the persecutor says, What are you doing?
49:40
SPEAKER_01: He says, I'm praying.
49:42
SPEAKER_01: He says, That's why I've been beating you for the last two hours.
49:44
SPEAKER_01: What are you praying for?
49:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm praying for you.
49:49
SPEAKER_01: That's love.
49:52
SPEAKER_01: That's real love.
49:53
SPEAKER_01: That's not Hinduism.
49:55
SPEAKER_01: That's not Buddhism.
49:56
SPEAKER_01: That's not the Muslim faith.
49:57
SPEAKER_01: That's shocking.
49:59
SPEAKER_01: That's a miracle.
50:00
SPEAKER_01: That's unlike anything anybody has ever seen.
50:03
SPEAKER_01: It's God's grace working in that man to love his enemies and to pray for those that despitefully use him.
50:12
SPEAKER_01: So there are certain obediences that you can't do without faith.
50:16
SPEAKER_01: And this is really the context of Luke 17 when Jesus said to his disciples, If your brother sins against you, rebuke him.
50:24
SPEAKER_01: If he repents, forgive him.
50:25
SPEAKER_01: If he sins against you seven times in a day, seven times in a day returns to you saying, I repent, you shall forgive him.
50:31
SPEAKER_01: And the apostles said to the Lord, Increase our faith.
50:35
SPEAKER_01: It's like that's a gut punch.
50:37
SPEAKER_01: What?
50:37
SPEAKER_01: Seven times in a single day.
50:40
SPEAKER_01: Usually takes me two years to get over it and repair the relationship, but you're saying seven times in a single day?
50:48
SPEAKER_01: Increase our faith for this.
50:49
SPEAKER_01: Oh God, I can't do this.
50:51
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, this is the spiritual gut punch of my life.
50:55
SPEAKER_01: Whew, how are we going to do this?
50:58
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord said, If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say this mulberry tree, be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea, and it will obey you.
51:07
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus is saying, if you have faith, you can do the impossible, which is to forgive your brother.
51:13
SPEAKER_01: And which of you having a servant ploughing or tending sheep will say to him when he's come in from the field, Come at once, sit down to eat.
51:20
SPEAKER_01: But will he not rather say to him, Prepare something for my supper, gird yourself, serve me till I've eaten and drunk, and afterwards you will eat and drink.
51:26
SPEAKER_01: So the servant has to come in, he has to prepare the meal for the master.
51:30
SPEAKER_01: Does he thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded him?
51:33
SPEAKER_01: I think not.
51:35
SPEAKER_01: So likewise you, when you have done all these things which you are commanded, say, We are unprofitable servants.
51:40
SPEAKER_01: We have done what was our duty to do.
51:42
SPEAKER_01: So the point is, it's a duty to do it, still a command.
51:45
SPEAKER_01: You've got to forgive your brothers and sisters.
51:48
SPEAKER_01: We're always unprofitable servants, but loving servants, faith-filled servants, but we can't do this without faith.
51:55
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of little boys and girls, they talk to me about this.
51:58
SPEAKER_01: They say, It's so hard for me to forgive my brother.
52:01
SPEAKER_01: Oh, this one brother is so hard to get along with.
52:04
SPEAKER_01: I fight with him all the time.
52:06
SPEAKER_01: I think this is almost every family in this congregation.
52:09
SPEAKER_01: I can't even think of one person.
52:11
SPEAKER_01: But kids, you know what I'm talking about.
52:13
SPEAKER_01: I talk about myself.
52:14
SPEAKER_01: Remember, there's one brother I had a very hard time getting along with in my life.
52:18
SPEAKER_01: But this is what happens.
52:21
SPEAKER_01: Teens have a difficult time honoring their parents and forgiving their parents.
52:24
SPEAKER_01: People have a hard time forgiving each other in the church.
52:26
SPEAKER_01: So what happens is kids go out and find new parents and a different set of siblings.
52:33
SPEAKER_01: You know, they say, this is too hard.
52:38
SPEAKER_01: I need a new set of parents.
52:40
SPEAKER_01: I need new siblings.
52:43
SPEAKER_01: And so they go try to find other ones.
52:46
SPEAKER_01: People closest to you are the hardest to love, but that's because the people closest to you are the people that God put in your life to irritate you.
52:58
SPEAKER_01: You say, well, what?
53:00
SPEAKER_01: God put somebody particular in my life just to irritate me?
53:06
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
53:08
SPEAKER_01: That's one reason, maybe not the only reason, but he providentially sovereignly put that other kid, that brother, that sister, in your life, and yes, they're irritating you.
53:19
SPEAKER_01: You can say, I wish I had a different set of brothers and sisters all day long, but that's the test of your faith.
53:26
SPEAKER_01: That is the test of your faith, kids.
53:29
SPEAKER_01: God's testing you to love that sister, to love that brother, no matter how hard he is to get along with.
53:38
SPEAKER_01: It's a test of faith-filled obedience.
53:40
SPEAKER_01: And you can't do it without faith.
53:43
SPEAKER_01: So, how does this work?
53:44
SPEAKER_01: And let me just briefly, briefly just mention how this works.
53:49
SPEAKER_01: Believing obedience is what?
53:52
SPEAKER_01: It's believing that the one who died for you and forgave you is looking down on you from the cross.
53:59
SPEAKER_01: He's suffering there for your sins.
54:03
SPEAKER_01: He's paying for your sins.
54:05
SPEAKER_01: He's forgiving you of your sins.
54:12
SPEAKER_01: He looks down upon you from the cross, little child, he looks down upon you from the cross.
54:18
SPEAKER_01: He says, I'm dying for you.
54:20
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm forgiving you of your sin, and I want you to forgive your brother.
54:28
SPEAKER_01: That's what faith-filled obedience.
54:31
SPEAKER_01: Now you've got to believe that.
54:32
SPEAKER_01: You've got to look him in the eye and say, I believe you, Jesus.
54:35
SPEAKER_01: I believe you died for me.
54:37
SPEAKER_01: I believe you redeemed me.
54:39
SPEAKER_01: I believe that you love me.
54:40
SPEAKER_01: I believe that you empower me.
54:42
SPEAKER_01: I believe you have an inheritance for me.
54:44
SPEAKER_01: I believe that you've forgiven me a hundred trillion dollars.
54:46
SPEAKER_01: And now you tell me to forgive my brother, and I will do it.
54:53
SPEAKER_01: It's believing that he's not only your savior, but your Lord and master.
54:57
SPEAKER_01: And all power and authority has been given to him in heaven and earth, and he is in all of his power and authority looking you in the eye and saying, You need to forgive your brother.
55:06
SPEAKER_01: You need to forgive your sister.
55:10
SPEAKER_01: If you say no never, I will never forgive her.
55:14
SPEAKER_01: You have no part in it.
55:16
SPEAKER_01: You have no part in his crucifixion.
55:19
SPEAKER_01: You have no part in his forgiveness.
55:21
SPEAKER_01: No, no, you don't say that.
55:23
SPEAKER_01: You receive his forgiveness.
55:25
SPEAKER_01: You receive his command.
55:27
SPEAKER_01: You receive him as your savior and your Lord, and you say yes, Lord, to that.
55:34
SPEAKER_01: Now, this obedience is not heavy.
55:37
SPEAKER_01: It's not a heavy burden.
55:39
SPEAKER_01: Pushing a car up the hill without grace and without faith is a heavy burden.
55:45
SPEAKER_01: There's a world of difference between faith-based obedience and works-based obedience here.
55:55
SPEAKER_01: Paul speaks of the bigger vision same passage.
56:03
SPEAKER_01: That is this powerful gospel of God, this powerful grace of God is to produce a better world, a transformation of life, and a transformation of nations.
56:14
SPEAKER_01: And the world cannot transform itself.
56:17
SPEAKER_01: It can't do it.
56:19
SPEAKER_01: This is well beyond the thin-coated moralisms of Buddhism and Islam and Mormonism.
56:24
SPEAKER_01: I was at that Buddhist monastery outside of Kathmandu.
56:27
SPEAKER_01: I think my brother was there with me on that particular trip.
56:29
SPEAKER_01: Saw you enter into the the the largest monastery, I think, in the world.
56:35
SPEAKER_01: This Buddhist monastery has a big sign in English in Ipali.
56:39
SPEAKER_01: And it said, While you're here, try not to murder anybody or commit adultery.
56:46
SPEAKER_01: It's about the best the world can do.
56:49
SPEAKER_01: Put a sign up.
56:50
SPEAKER_01: Maybe that'll help.
56:53
SPEAKER_01: Of course, Buddhism is thousands of pages of nothing but rules.
56:58
SPEAKER_01: It's just blinding.
56:59
SPEAKER_01: The number of rules and admonitions and impositions, it's just, I think there's like 40 volumes of Buddhist writing.
57:06
SPEAKER_01: Buddhist writings.
57:07
SPEAKER_01: Unbelievable, terrible, absolutely terrible.
57:10
SPEAKER_01: So Buddhism isn't going to change the world, never does.
57:13
SPEAKER_01: Governments can't change the world.
57:14
SPEAKER_01: Social strictures, shame cultures can't change it.
57:18
SPEAKER_01: Post-Christian communism is attempted by adjusting the environmental conditions.
57:23
SPEAKER_01: Education was the main way they wanted to do it by$30 trillion.
57:27
SPEAKER_01: Educational systems.
57:29
SPEAKER_01: And what has happened?
57:30
SPEAKER_01: They've destroyed our social systems.
57:31
SPEAKER_01: They've destroyed the marriage, the family, they desecrated sexuality.
57:36
SPEAKER_01: We have the utter insanity of transgenderism.
57:38
SPEAKER_01: Illiteracy has tripled since 1920 from 6% to 18%.
57:42
SPEAKER_01: So after$20 trillion, wow, wow.
57:46
SPEAKER_01: Look at what governments have done.
57:48
SPEAKER_01: It's been a total disaster.
57:50
SPEAKER_01: A huge mess.
57:52
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus transforms nations by the gospel.
57:57
SPEAKER_01: By the Apostle Paul wandering into Ephesus and Philippi and preaching the gospel.
58:01
SPEAKER_01: And the visions for the nations, for all the nations around the world.
58:05
SPEAKER_01: Again, not just raw obedience, but faith's obedience.
58:09
SPEAKER_01: Faith.
58:10
SPEAKER_01: Faith obedience.
58:12
SPEAKER_01: Faith-based obedience.
58:16
SPEAKER_01: And again, fathers in Africa, Nepal, Brazil, China, imagine them having good relationships with their teenage kids.
58:24
SPEAKER_01: Not provoking their teenage kids to wrath.
58:27
SPEAKER_01: Not having to send them off to boarding school because they can't stand those relationships.
58:33
SPEAKER_01: But being able to cultivate relationships with their sons and their daughters at 15 or 16 or 17 years of age.
58:42
SPEAKER_01: There's going to be a real difference where the power of God is realized.
58:47
SPEAKER_01: 90 plus percent of Christian marriages are solid, where the world still plays around with a 40% divorce rate.
58:56
SPEAKER_01: Christian husbands and wives, they're not hypocrites.
58:58
SPEAKER_01: Husbands are loving their wives, and wives are submitting their husbands in the Lord.
59:02
SPEAKER_01: In Zambia, Uganda, Nepal, and other places around the world, 80 to 90% of Christian children grow up loving their parents, honoring their parents, continuing on in the faith, a generational faith that transforms nations as hundreds of thousands of Christian children participate in this faith-based obedience, churches forgiving one another, not a dysfunctional situation, but where the church just grows and grows.
59:27
SPEAKER_01: And there's just this constant increase of those who love one another, increase in forgiveness and love and mercy, and they're taking care of the orphan and widow without turning them over to the state and so forth.
59:38
SPEAKER_01: Wow, that would be tremendous to see that in Africa, in Asia, in South America.
59:44
SPEAKER_01: Is it possible that faith-based obedience could produce such world-transforming results in every continent around the world?
59:53
SPEAKER_01: This is the vision that the gospels bring to us in our day.
1:00:00
SPEAKER_01: The gospel of Jesus Christ.
1:00:03
SPEAKER_01: So, brothers and sisters, we have a power, the power of grace and life working in us, a disposition of faith that enables us.
1:00:12
SPEAKER_01: We walk confidently in the path by faith.
1:00:15
SPEAKER_01: We step out and we obey and risk the consequences by faith.
1:00:18
SPEAKER_01: But then thirdly, we also have an identity.
1:00:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm just going to touch on this.
1:00:22
SPEAKER_01: You're called of Jesus Christ, called to be saints, among whom also you're called of Jesus Christ.
1:00:28
SPEAKER_01: Verse 6 is the third distinguishing mark of those who will actually obey.
1:00:33
SPEAKER_01: God called you out to be holy, to be saints, to be a holy people to God.
1:00:39
SPEAKER_01: He calls you, and you warm up to the identity over time.
1:00:43
SPEAKER_01: You realize that who you are, you belong to Jesus.
1:00:46
SPEAKER_01: You're a servant of Christ.
1:00:47
SPEAKER_01: You're in the holy household of God, and you have this identity.
1:00:50
SPEAKER_01: Where did you get the identity?
1:00:52
SPEAKER_01: Well, think about the king who redeems you, takes you into his court, and he says, You will be my servant for the rest of your life.
1:00:59
SPEAKER_01: It's done.
1:01:00
SPEAKER_01: Now you are the servant of this king.
1:01:03
SPEAKER_01: He's redeemed you, he's brought you into his household.
1:01:06
SPEAKER_01: He says, You're my servant, and you will be for the rest of your life.
1:01:09
SPEAKER_01: You have no options.
1:01:11
SPEAKER_01: He has the authority to say it, he's placed it upon you.
1:01:14
SPEAKER_01: The authority, the commitment he has has established who you are in the court of the king for the rest of your life, and you say, I am now the servant of this king.
1:01:25
SPEAKER_01: And you live in it and you walk in it.
1:01:28
SPEAKER_01: And there's no doubt about it.
1:01:30
SPEAKER_01: He's committed himself to you.
1:01:32
SPEAKER_01: He redeemed you.
1:01:33
SPEAKER_01: He put his name on you.
1:01:34
SPEAKER_01: He called you.
1:01:35
SPEAKER_01: He in his all of his authority says, You are my saint.
1:01:38
SPEAKER_01: You are my holy one.
1:01:39
SPEAKER_01: You are my servant from here on out.
1:01:42
SPEAKER_01: And you receive that as your identity.
1:01:45
SPEAKER_01: As much as the authority of Almighty God points you in the eye and says, You are the saint of me.
1:01:50
SPEAKER_01: You're the servant of Jesus.
1:01:53
SPEAKER_01: You receive that.
1:01:54
SPEAKER_01: You walk in it.
1:01:54
SPEAKER_01: You embrace that identity.
1:01:57
SPEAKER_01: And then fourthly, Paul says to all who are on Rome, beloved of God, this is the idea of being the loved ones, the loved ones, those who have received the grace of God, but also the love of God.
1:02:08
SPEAKER_01: And now this is our identity, our state of being, and our motivations, all of that.
1:02:12
SPEAKER_01: We are loved, we are empowered by grace, we are identified as holy saints, we are enabled by faith.
1:02:18
SPEAKER_01: Now what can possibly go wrong?
1:02:22
SPEAKER_01: You are loved, empowered by grace, identified as holy saints, and enabled by faith.
1:02:31
SPEAKER_01: What can possibly go wrong?
1:02:35
SPEAKER_01: Go out there now and be doers of the word and not hearers only.
1:02:42
SPEAKER_01: You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.
1:02:46
SPEAKER_01: God's grace is sufficient.
1:02:47
SPEAKER_01: God's grace is a powerhouse.
1:02:49
SPEAKER_01: Rely on his grace.
1:02:51
SPEAKER_01: Have faith.
1:02:52
SPEAKER_01: Step out.
1:02:53
SPEAKER_01: Risk the consequences.
1:02:54
SPEAKER_01: Forgive your brother.
1:02:56
SPEAKER_01: Children, honor your parents.
1:02:58
SPEAKER_01: Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands in faith.
1:03:00
SPEAKER_01: Husbands, love your wives, even when she's disagreeable and unlovable.
1:03:05
SPEAKER_01: In faith.
1:03:06
SPEAKER_01: Submit to your elders in the church in faith.
1:03:11
SPEAKER_01: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
1:03:14
SPEAKER_01: In faith.
1:03:14
SPEAKER_01: Present your body as a living sacrifice.
1:03:16
SPEAKER_01: In faith.
1:03:17
SPEAKER_01: Bless those that persecute you.
1:03:18
SPEAKER_01: In faith.
1:03:19
SPEAKER_01: Sexual sin, uncleanness, not to be mentioned among you.
1:03:23
SPEAKER_01: Abstain from sexual immorality.
1:03:24
SPEAKER_01: In faith.
1:03:25
SPEAKER_01: Yes, it's possible.
1:03:26
SPEAKER_01: In faith.
1:03:27
SPEAKER_01: Love the brothers in faith.
1:03:29
SPEAKER_01: Put away wrath, malice, bitterness in faith.
1:03:32
SPEAKER_01: Don't think evil of your brother in your heart or in your head.
1:03:35
SPEAKER_01: In faith.
1:03:38
SPEAKER_01: In faith.
1:03:38
SPEAKER_01: Relying on the grace of God.
1:03:40
SPEAKER_01: We are the beloved of God.
1:03:41
SPEAKER_01: We're called to this.
1:03:43
SPEAKER_01: We're called to this.
1:03:45
SPEAKER_01: This is what we are.
1:03:46
SPEAKER_01: And this is what we do.
1:03:48
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
1:03:50
SPEAKER_01: Father in heaven, seal these things upon our hearts and heads.
1:03:57
SPEAKER_01: Oh God, help us to know.
1:03:59
SPEAKER_01: Today we are the saints of God.
1:04:01
SPEAKER_01: We are the redeemed of Jesus.
1:04:03
SPEAKER_01: We are those empowered by grace.
1:04:06
SPEAKER_01: We are those for whom Jesus died.
1:04:09
SPEAKER_01: We are loved.
1:04:10
SPEAKER_01: We are exceedingly graced.
1:04:12
SPEAKER_01: We are enabled.
1:04:13
SPEAKER_01: We are empowered.
1:04:15
SPEAKER_01: Father, help us to know this, to believe it, to walk in it today.
1:04:22
SPEAKER_01: Father, seal the vision.
1:04:24
SPEAKER_01: Seal it upon our hearts now.
1:04:27
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
1:04:28
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
1:04:30
SPEAKER_01: I want to take just a moment and answer this question.
1:04:35
SPEAKER_01: Why can't I overcome this sin in my life?
1:04:37
SPEAKER_01: Or why can't I obey?
1:04:40
SPEAKER_01: Whether that's a nine-year-old or a ninety-year-old, either way, we ask the question why can't I overcome this?
1:04:54
SPEAKER_01: Now, most of the time it's not obedience.
1:04:56
SPEAKER_01: The problem is faith.
1:05:00
SPEAKER_01: The issue is that we need stronger faith.
1:05:03
SPEAKER_01: So before we get to obedience, let's start with faith.
1:05:06
SPEAKER_01: We said it's faith-based obedience, and so let's start with the faith part.
1:05:13
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
1:05:14
SPEAKER_01: Start with that.
1:05:15
SPEAKER_01: So focus in on that for a moment.
1:05:17
SPEAKER_01: We'll work on obedience in a second, but let's go back to faith.
1:05:22
SPEAKER_01: So I want to exhort on faith as we approach the table here to believe in Jesus as we receive these elements signifying his death for us on the cross.
1:05:33
SPEAKER_01: Believe it.
1:05:35
SPEAKER_01: Okay, number one.
1:05:37
SPEAKER_01: The problem isn't that God is too weak.
1:05:42
SPEAKER_01: That's not the issue.
1:05:43
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think anybody here would say, I think it's God's problem.
1:05:49
SPEAKER_01: God is just not strong enough.
1:05:51
SPEAKER_01: The God who made the universe can't handle this.
1:05:55
SPEAKER_01: I don't think most people would say that.
1:05:57
SPEAKER_01: Whether they're believers or unbelievers.
1:06:00
SPEAKER_01: I still think people believe that God is powerful if they believe in God.
1:06:04
SPEAKER_01: So it's not the problem with God.
1:06:06
SPEAKER_01: The problem is that we need stronger faith in a stronger Jesus.
1:06:12
SPEAKER_01: We need a mighty Savior.
1:06:14
SPEAKER_01: We need to believe that God is strong enough.
1:06:18
SPEAKER_01: So there are those who I think do not believe God is quite strong enough, or they're configuring God or Jesus in this case as not quite able to pull it off.
1:06:31
SPEAKER_01: Now again, on the one side they're saying God is all powerful.
1:06:36
SPEAKER_01: But then when it comes to whether God is powerful enough to deal with my problem, it becomes a challenge for their faith.
1:06:51
SPEAKER_01: Too often Jesus is too small, too sentimental, too anemic, too fairy talish.
1:07:00
SPEAKER_01: But the word of God brings him out for who he really is: the deliverer, the mighty savior, the redeemer king, the son of God, the creator of the universe on the cross, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the first, the last, the same yesterday, today, and forever.
1:07:18
SPEAKER_01: So you look at his titles.
1:07:21
SPEAKER_01: And then look at his works.
1:07:22
SPEAKER_01: What did he do?
1:07:23
SPEAKER_01: He crushed this dragon's head.
1:07:25
SPEAKER_01: He's far above all principals and powers.
1:07:28
SPEAKER_01: And over every name that is named, and so forth.
1:07:32
SPEAKER_01: So you have to believe first in Jesus and dial in the object of your faith.
1:07:39
SPEAKER_01: That's number one.
1:07:40
SPEAKER_01: Number two, you've got to believe his promises.
1:07:44
SPEAKER_01: If God is ultimately trustworthy, he is worthy of ultimate trust.
1:07:50
SPEAKER_01: So again, it begins with your perception of God.
1:07:53
SPEAKER_01: If God is not going to lie, and if you're going to believe anybody in the whole universe, you would believe God.
1:08:00
SPEAKER_01: You would doubt yourself and believe God in a moment.
1:08:03
SPEAKER_01: So you believe God.
1:08:05
SPEAKER_01: You trust God.
1:08:07
SPEAKER_01: And on the ultimate issues, you're trusting in Him ultimately.
1:08:13
SPEAKER_01: What are His promises?
1:08:14
SPEAKER_01: You've confessed your sins.
1:08:16
SPEAKER_01: He is faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness, which is a washing away of those sinful desires and lusts that are within yourself.
1:08:28
SPEAKER_01: He's washing that away.
1:08:31
SPEAKER_01: And so you have to believe that promise.
1:08:33
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, if you believe in me, out of your heart will flow rivers of living water.
1:08:39
SPEAKER_01: This is the kind of person that you will be as you believe in Jesus.
1:08:43
SPEAKER_01: Now you say, I believe in Jesus, I just don't believe out of my heart will flow all these rivers of living water.
1:08:50
SPEAKER_01: You're not believing in Jesus yet.
1:08:53
SPEAKER_01: You've got to believe in Jesus that out of your heart will flow all these rivers of living water, this spirit-filled love and joy and peace and long-suffering and patience will flow over everybody to displace all the works of the flesh in your life.
1:09:08
SPEAKER_01: That's his promise to us, brothers and sisters.
1:09:11
SPEAKER_01: And as the world tempts us, this is the victory that overcomes the world.
1:09:15
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you think there's no way I am dead meat to the next tempteress that comes on the internet.
1:09:21
SPEAKER_01: What does it say here?
1:09:22
SPEAKER_01: It says, this is the victory that overcomes that tempteress in the world.
1:09:27
SPEAKER_01: My faith, our faith, believing in Jesus, believing these words, that will enable you to overcome in your life against the world.
1:09:37
SPEAKER_01: Okay, stronger faith in a stronger Jesus, believing his promises, and stop believing in the wrong powers.
1:09:47
SPEAKER_01: There's no power besides God that can do these miracles in your life.
1:09:51
SPEAKER_01: There's no other name by which you would be saved.
1:09:54
SPEAKER_01: And stop believing in yourself.
1:09:57
SPEAKER_01: You need to transfer every ounce of faith you have in yourself to Jesus.
1:10:01
SPEAKER_01: Okay, you have all this faith and confidence you're putting in yourself as you step out on any given day.
1:10:07
SPEAKER_01: No, no, you take all that faith that you put in yourself or anything else and you place it on Jesus.
1:10:15
SPEAKER_01: So stop believing in the wrong powers.
1:10:19
SPEAKER_01: Believe in Jesus, believe in what he did.
1:10:21
SPEAKER_01: He finished that work, he accomplished our redemption.
1:10:26
SPEAKER_01: He bought us.
1:10:29
SPEAKER_01: He redeemed us.
1:10:31
SPEAKER_01: He saves us.
1:10:33
SPEAKER_01: To the uttermost.
1:10:35
SPEAKER_01: To those that come to him by faith.
1:10:36
SPEAKER_01: So let's come to him by faith.
1:10:39
SPEAKER_01: Believe in Jesus Christ.
1:10:41
SPEAKER_01: Believe that he really saves you.
1:10:44
SPEAKER_01: He saves you from sin.
1:10:49
SPEAKER_01: And the guilt, the power, all that.
1:10:53
SPEAKER_01: I believe in his victory.
1:10:55
SPEAKER_01: I believe in his blood that cleanses us from all sins.
1:10:59
SPEAKER_01: Believe.
1:11:01
SPEAKER_01: And this is an act of faith.
1:11:03
SPEAKER_01: We take the cup, we take the bread, we we eat it, believing in the power of the flesh, in the power of the blood of Jesus to cleanse us, to save us, to wash us of our sins.
1:11:17
SPEAKER_01: Do it in faith today.
1:11:20
SPEAKER_01: Father God, we come to you in faith to receive Jesus again, your Savior.
1:11:28
SPEAKER_01: No other name by which we are saved.
1:11:31
SPEAKER_01: But we throw ourselves entirely upon Jesus.
1:11:36
SPEAKER_01: Nothing else.
1:11:38
SPEAKER_01: Simply to the cross.
1:11:40
SPEAKER_01: I cling.
1:11:44
SPEAKER_01: Father, we receive this bread and this grape juice or wine with faith, knowing that it is the shed blood, and the broken body of Jesus has brought about salvation for us, forgiveness of sins.orgslash media.