back to index2015-08-30 The Righteous Shall Live by Faith
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All right, other than that, why don't we turn our Bibles to Romans chapter 1. We're looking 00:00:08.080 |
at verse 17 specifically, but I want to read the rest of the text in verse 8 all the way 00:00:14.560 |
down to verse 17, but the emphasis on verse 17. So I'm going to read the text and then 00:00:18.880 |
we'll jump into the message this morning. Reading out of the ESV. "First, I thank my 00:00:26.320 |
God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. 00:00:31.920 |
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without 00:00:35.960 |
ceasing I mention you, always in my prayers asking that somehow by God's will I may now 00:00:41.440 |
at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual 00:00:47.080 |
gift to strengthen you, that is that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, 00:00:52.040 |
both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you, 00:00:57.240 |
but thus far have been prevented in order that I may reap some harvest among you as 00:01:00.960 |
well as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to the Greeks and 00:01:05.480 |
to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish, so I am eager to preach the gospel 00:01:09.880 |
to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power 00:01:14.800 |
of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For 00:01:19.840 |
in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the 00:01:24.760 |
righteous shall live by faith. Let's pray. Gracious and merciful God, we thank you so 00:01:32.040 |
much for the privilege that we have to be able to come worship you this morning. You 00:01:36.960 |
are patient with us. You are loving beyond our comprehension. And you are a God deserving 00:01:46.040 |
of all our praise, all that we are, all our lives. I pray that this morning that you would 00:01:53.200 |
open up your word, open up our eyes, soften our hearts, that your word, Lord God, would 00:01:59.600 |
have an impact on us, strengthen us, revive us, renew us, Lord God, that we may run this 00:02:08.240 |
race with the strength that you give. So for that end, we pray for your blessing. In Jesus' 00:02:13.400 |
name we pray, amen. As we've been studying through the book of Romans, and again, last 00:02:19.720 |
week as you guys remember, we were talking about verse 16, that we are not ashamed of 00:02:23.800 |
the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation. And so we looked at the power 00:02:29.160 |
behind our salvation and why we ought not to be ashamed and to proclaim it with boldness. 00:02:36.120 |
When we think about salvation, I think we need to be very specific in what we mean by 00:02:40.200 |
salvation. Because if we have a superficial understanding of salvation, we automatically 00:02:45.760 |
have a superficial application of what that salvation means. In English, when we say something 00:02:51.760 |
is saved, or we save something, we usually mean two things. One, you saving something, 00:02:57.960 |
salvaging something from danger. So we will say that if somebody is drowning and we rescued 00:03:02.800 |
them, we say we were saved, or we saved them. Or somebody was in danger in any kind, got 00:03:09.240 |
in an accident and so they needed help, so the ambulance came and saved them. So we have 00:03:13.440 |
one meaning where we are saving them from some kind of danger, some kind of harm. The 00:03:18.920 |
second meaning of the word save in English is to preserve something for something else. 00:03:26.680 |
So we would save money. So if you make $100, you save 10% of that and you put it into your 00:03:32.320 |
bank and you leave it there for something else. Or, you know, all the time you would 00:03:39.120 |
have some great things on your plate to eat and you would save one part of it because 00:03:43.480 |
you are savoring it for the end. You know, you say, "Why are you not eating that?" 00:03:47.600 |
Because I'm saving it. So we have these two meanings. One is to save us from danger. 00:03:52.920 |
The other one is saving for something. Saving from something, saving for something. But 00:03:59.520 |
the question that we have this morning, we talk about saving for something. We're very 00:04:04.520 |
familiar with being saved from something. We're saved from the penalty of the law, we're 00:04:09.600 |
saved from God's judgment, His wrath, we're saved from hell. But when we talk about saving 00:04:14.840 |
for something, where the scripture says, "You are a chosen race," 1 Peter 2, 9-10, "a 00:04:21.880 |
royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession." So we're saved for 00:04:25.840 |
him, that we belong to him, that we are his children. But then he goes on to say, "That 00:04:31.640 |
you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous 00:04:35.720 |
light." So not only were we saved from something, we're saved for the purpose of declaring His 00:04:40.600 |
glory. Ephesians 2, 10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which 00:04:46.880 |
God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." He saved us from danger for the 00:04:52.280 |
purpose of glorifying God through good works. Now, again, this may not be new to you, but 00:05:00.720 |
I want to ask you, just personally, how many of you are sitting here just tired and burned 00:05:06.720 |
out? Okay, don't raise your hand, it's a rhetorical question, okay? Say, "I am." I'll bet you 00:05:13.480 |
there's quite a few who are in here who are just making it Sunday after Sunday is a lot 00:05:19.520 |
of work. It's tiring, you know? And maybe sometimes you're thinking in your head that, 00:05:25.440 |
"What would have happened if I didn't go up to that retreat? What would have happened 00:05:30.040 |
if I didn't join that campus ministry? And what if I didn't run into this guy, and this 00:05:34.360 |
guy kept begging me to come to church, and then I became a Christian? And then what if 00:05:38.760 |
I never met the Lord? How would my life be different?" Because just the day-to-day, you 00:05:43.840 |
know, walking and persevering is difficult. Some of you guys who are new Christians, you 00:05:50.200 |
know, may not be able to relate to what I'm saying. You know, it's always awesome to hear 00:05:54.680 |
the testimonies of young believers. Today, we have five people who are being baptized 00:05:59.280 |
today, and two of them happened to be my sons. And so, again, every baptism is extremely, 00:06:05.480 |
you know, precious, but today, especially for me personally, is very precious. And hearing 00:06:10.360 |
their testimony is always exciting. That's why we encourage the church to come out, not 00:06:14.240 |
just because you need to be there, but I think for your own encouragement to hear the testimonies 00:06:18.080 |
and remind us of what it is that we have in Christ. 00:06:22.280 |
For those of you who've been around for a while, you've been a Christian for five years, 00:06:25.920 |
ten years, maybe fifteen, twenty years, we tend to think that if you've been a Christian 00:06:32.560 |
for a while, you know, our natural attitude is, "Yeah, you know, I've been there, you 00:06:37.640 |
know, it's always like, it's kind of like the honeymoon, like a marriage, you know, 00:06:42.040 |
you start with a honeymoon, then longer you've been married, it's like ball and chain, you 00:06:46.600 |
know, you talk about your husband like some monkey got a train, you know what I mean? 00:06:50.080 |
Like I remember early on in marriage, I remember an older brother who was about ten, ten some 00:06:55.600 |
years ahead of me, and he asked me how my marriage was, and I said, "For the most part, 00:07:00.160 |
it was pretty good," you know? And I remember him stopping and saying, "Hey, Peter, you 00:07:04.000 |
know, share with us." I said, "What do you mean?" He's like, "Come on, tell me." I said, 00:07:10.560 |
"No, I love my wife, things are good," you know? And he was like, "Okay, Peter's not 00:07:15.040 |
willing to open with us, you know, today," you know? And you just have this idea, it's 00:07:20.240 |
kind of like the, you know, you have the honeymoon, you know, you probably heard that joke before, 00:07:25.360 |
like in a wedding there's a, what do you call it, there's a engagement ring, there's a wedding 00:07:32.000 |
ring, and then there's a suffering that comes afterwards, right? You probably, I'm sure 00:07:36.360 |
many of you have heard that before. But a lot of people think of our Christian life 00:07:40.720 |
like that, right? You have the engagement ring when you hear the gospel, and then you 00:07:44.920 |
have the wedding ring at the baptism, and then you have the suffering the rest of your 00:07:48.880 |
life, right? Even though it may be comical, a lot of us can sit here and relate to that, 00:07:56.040 |
right? So yeah, that's how it's been. It's been just kind of difficult, you know? And 00:08:00.560 |
I do what I do because that's what I'm called to do, and that's what a Christian's supposed 00:08:03.520 |
to do. And if you happen to have any kind of labels or titles, you know, and that's 00:08:08.880 |
enough to keep you going, like, "I'm a pastor, I'm a leader, I'm a deacon, I'm a whatever," 00:08:12.640 |
and then that, to live up to expectations of people, you just do it. But the joy has 00:08:19.160 |
gone, you know? That excitement that we had when we were young Christians, and when we 00:08:24.160 |
first started coming to church, and we first met the Lord, is a memory in the past, and 00:08:28.960 |
now we're just kind of making it. We're making it to church, making it to Bible study, and 00:08:33.760 |
if that. Why is it so hard? Is that the intention? When we look at Apostle Paul, and we look 00:08:41.600 |
at the Scripture, and we look at these people, and we highlight certain things, but is that 00:08:46.960 |
normal? Is that what God intended? I want to look at this morning in verse 17, you know, 00:08:54.680 |
explaining what salvation is, that the Scripture doesn't just only save us, and gives us the 00:09:00.560 |
initial power to be saved, but the Scripture also gives us the power to persevere, to grow, 00:09:07.200 |
and to live in joy in Christ. See, verse 16 and 17 is really at the crux of Christianity. 00:09:13.560 |
Paul is at the end of introducing himself, and preparing the readers to jump into the 00:09:19.320 |
detailed Gospel message that he's about to present, starting from verse 18. So, verse 00:09:24.240 |
16 and 17 is the foundation, is the conclusion of everything that he said about who he is, 00:09:28.920 |
and the Gospel he came to preach, and the ministry that he's committed to. And then 00:09:33.160 |
he's going to start in verse 18, he said, "Well, the wrath of God is being revealed," 00:09:35.880 |
and he's going to go into the details of the Gospel. But 16 and 17 is pretty much, in a 00:09:40.560 |
nutshell, the summary of everything that he wants to say, and is going to say. And that's 00:09:46.200 |
why it's worth taking some time to dive into it a little bit further, as we looked at verse 00:09:50.800 |
16, we're going to look at verse 17, where this power to save us, where we get the boldness 00:09:56.040 |
to preach, is also the same power that gives us the strength to persevere. So, the first 00:10:02.720 |
thing that we see is that this power to save us, in verse 17, says, "It is when we behold 00:10:08.840 |
His righteousness." Because that's what he says, he says, "I'm not ashamed, the power 00:10:13.600 |
of God's salvation, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed." So, the first thing that 00:10:20.680 |
happens, every single one of us that became a Christian, you heard the Gospel message, 00:10:25.760 |
and you, the righteousness of God, the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was revealed 00:10:29.840 |
to us. Now, what does that mean? When we typically think about the Gospel or the cross, we don't 00:10:36.440 |
think of righteousness, we typically think of His grace, His mercy, and His patience, 00:10:41.880 |
and desire to forgive our sins. But again, whenever we read the Scriptures, you have 00:10:46.840 |
to think about how the early Jews would have taken this. Because before we start with the 00:10:52.720 |
book of Matthew, you have to understand that there were thousands of years of preparation 00:10:57.960 |
for the coming of Christ. So, it's very helpful for, in fact, I would say it is necessary 00:11:04.080 |
for us to understand that when Paul says that in the Gospel the righteousness of God is 00:11:09.320 |
revealed, that we think like a Jew first. To a Jewish mind, this would have made a lot 00:11:16.320 |
of sense, because if you remember at the beginning of the creation of the nation of Israel, God 00:11:24.360 |
made it very clear, "Here are the set of laws that I'm going to give you. If you obey it 00:11:29.600 |
well, you're going to live, you're going to prosper, God's going to bless you." But then 00:11:32.960 |
here's this other part, "If you don't live by this, here are the curses that's going 00:11:37.280 |
to come upon you." And all through the nation of Israel, if you've ever consistently read 00:11:42.320 |
through the history of Israel, by the time you get to about first king, second king, 00:11:47.800 |
I mean it is dark. You get to a point, I remember preaching through the kings, by the time I 00:11:53.320 |
get to the second king, I would sit there preparing this message thinking, "Oh my gosh, 00:11:58.360 |
again. Again." And I can see why pastors don't preach through the Old Testament, because 00:12:04.840 |
it's depressing. By the time you get to about, it doesn't take long, as soon as they enter 00:12:10.600 |
into the promised land, they fall into one sin after another. And it's a constant cycle 00:12:15.560 |
of God judging them, restoring them, God judging them, restoring them, and almost after about 00:12:19.960 |
100, 200 years, you would think God had enough. You know, so typically when we read the Old 00:12:25.200 |
Testament in chunks, we say, "Oh God is so vengeful, because we see Him judging." But 00:12:30.040 |
if you follow along the history, I think you will have the same thing that I did. You will 00:12:35.280 |
get to a point, you say, "Why is He not done with these people? Why doesn't He just come 00:12:41.400 |
and crush them and start over? Why?" "Oh, because He said He's not going to do it." 00:12:46.680 |
You know, but at some point, the frustration builds. Well, it never gets better. Israel 00:12:53.160 |
history is like that all the way to the end. And so you end up finishing the book of the 00:13:00.400 |
Old Testament with this sense of, "Oh my gosh, something bad, really bad is going to 00:13:06.920 |
come, because all the curses that He said was going to happen, now is going to be stored 00:13:10.600 |
up, it's going to happen." Well, if that's all it was, I think we would have been in 00:13:17.800 |
huge trouble. But in the context of His judgment, He always qualified His judgment. And let 00:13:23.600 |
me give you a sample of this. And I'm just going to read one verse for the purpose of 00:13:27.080 |
time. But this verse pretty much signifies, like every time He talks about judgment, He 00:13:33.280 |
qualifies it with a promise. And this is the promise He makes. Micah 7, 18-19. "Who is 00:13:38.360 |
a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression? For the remnant of His 00:13:43.680 |
inheritance, He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast 00:13:48.320 |
love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot. You 00:13:53.520 |
will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." Now, that's just an example of 00:14:00.640 |
verse after verse, prophet after prophet, talking about you are deserving of judgment, 00:14:06.360 |
but God will not remain angry forever. That He will one day bring about the forgiveness 00:14:11.520 |
of sins. He's going to restore all the remnants of Israel and restore His kingdom. He's going 00:14:16.320 |
to give salvation. So a Jew who would have listened to this naturally would have thought, 00:14:24.080 |
how is He going to do that? Because God made it very clear in Israel that without the shedding 00:14:30.840 |
of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. So how is He going to cover all of these sins? 00:14:37.320 |
If you look at the Day of Atonement, there's all kinds of sacrifices that were commanded 00:14:42.720 |
in the Old Testament. But the Day of Atonement was a day set aside where everybody, you know, 00:14:48.920 |
throughout the rest of the year, you'd have the sin offering, you'd have the guilt offering, 00:14:53.320 |
you'd have the whole offering, grain offering, you'd have all different kinds of offerings 00:14:56.560 |
God commanded. But on this Day of Atonement, after the Passover meal, they would slaughter 00:15:01.960 |
these animals, and one animal, one lamb for each family. And family at that time wasn't 00:15:08.600 |
just father, mother, and three children, right? At that time a family would have been grandfather, 00:15:14.520 |
grandmother, you know, the uncles and aunts and all the grandchildren, and it would have 00:15:19.920 |
been maybe 30, maybe if it was a large family 60, 70 people. And each family on this Day 00:15:26.120 |
of Atonement would have to offer up a sacrifice. And they said, the archaeologists and historians 00:15:31.800 |
said that at that particular time over 250,000 lambs were slaughtered on the Day of Atonement. 00:15:40.800 |
250,000. And so you can imagine what that scene would have looked like. You know, typically 00:15:46.880 |
when we see the picture of the Temple, you see a pristine picture of gold and shiny marble 00:15:52.520 |
walls. But on the Day of Atonement, can you imagine 250,000 animals being slaughtered? 00:15:59.280 |
And they weren't just slaughtered. Their blood is gushing out everywhere. And they 00:16:01.960 |
took this blood and they had to sprinkle it on the curtains, sprinkle it on the altar, 00:16:05.640 |
sprinkle it everywhere. It was one massive bloody scene. But that wasn't enough. That 00:16:13.560 |
had to be done every year as long as Israel existed. And they knew that that wasn't enough 00:16:18.920 |
and it wouldn't be permanent. That this had to be done over and over. And this is one 00:16:23.380 |
Day of Atonement. So when God promised the nation of Israel that all their sins would 00:16:28.560 |
be wiped out forever, how would He have done that? Is He just going to neglect everything 00:16:34.680 |
that He's been teaching the nation of Israel? Is He going to go against everything that 00:16:39.000 |
He's been teaching and say, "You know what? This Temple sacrifices, giving of animals, 00:16:42.160 |
all of this stuff, I'm just going to forget about it." So the question would have remained, 00:16:47.560 |
how is He going to do this? That's why in 1 Peter 1, 10 through 11, it describes the 00:16:54.000 |
prophets who are giving these prophecies about this forgiveness. It says this, "Concerning 00:16:58.320 |
this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, searched 00:17:03.960 |
and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating 00:17:10.720 |
when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories." In other words, 00:17:14.960 |
they were looking intently, how is this going to happen? If 250,000 animals being slaughtered 00:17:20.680 |
is not enough, what animal does He have in mind that's going to take care of this? Who 00:17:27.040 |
is going to do this? What would be sufficient to cover the sins of mankind? Who would have 00:17:35.680 |
ever thought, what Jew would have ever thought, that He would send His only begotten Son? 00:17:42.480 |
That this person that He was referring to was His own Son? And so when the Scripture 00:17:47.680 |
says, "It is the power of God unto salvation, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed." 00:17:55.680 |
What He's saying is, we know the grace of God, we know that because He promised it, 00:17:59.720 |
but how will He fulfill this in His righteousness? It is when that revelation was revealed to 00:18:07.720 |
us. And we're not talking about information. We're not talking about you heard it, and 00:18:11.680 |
say, "Oh, that made sense to me." The revelation that He's referring to here, when it was revealed 00:18:16.720 |
to us by faith, is not just information. We're talking about illumination. Somebody can be 00:18:22.800 |
in the church all his life and hear it, and even recite the Gospel to you, and tell you, 00:18:27.800 |
"This is what the Gospel is. I know what it is." But that's not when you got saved. How 00:18:33.760 |
many of your testimony will say, "You know, I grew up in the church, heard the Gospel 00:18:37.360 |
ever since I was a little kid, but I didn't get saved until I was in 10th grade, or 12th 00:18:42.560 |
grade, or I was in college, or beyond that, when it made sense to me, when it hit me that 00:18:50.000 |
this is real." So this revelation He's talking about is not just something, "Oh, I heard 00:18:56.200 |
it and it made sense." He's talking about this revelation, "God illumined you. He opened 00:19:03.240 |
your eyes to see the truth of this." Not because all of it made sense, but all of a sudden, 00:19:08.240 |
it became real. And He says, "This happened by faith." Now, none of this stuff up to this 00:19:15.240 |
point is new. We believe that our salvation is by faith. And we believe it's because the 00:19:21.280 |
glory of the Gospel has been revealed, and my eyes got opened, and I believed, and it 00:19:24.520 |
changed my life. But it's the second part when it says, "Righteousness of God is revealed 00:19:28.920 |
from faith for faith." Now, what does that mean, "from faith for faith"? Now, we can 00:19:34.720 |
add meaning to that, but I think the NIV actually does a pretty good job explaining to us what 00:19:40.800 |
He means by "from faith to faith." In NIV, that's not what it says in Greek, but that's 00:19:45.120 |
pretty much in agreement with all the other biblical scholars will say this is what it 00:19:49.920 |
means. NIV translates Romans 117, it says, "Righteousness of God is revealed from faith, 00:19:56.800 |
by faith, from first to last." That's how it translates it. So some of you guys who 00:20:02.720 |
have NIV, that's what it says in your Bible. In the other translation, it'll say, "from 00:20:06.720 |
faith, for faith," or "faith to faith." But the meaning behind that phrase is that from 00:20:11.920 |
the beginning to the end, from the start to the finish, it is by faith. That's what He 00:20:17.320 |
means by that. So, in other words, what He's saying is this salvation that saves us, that 00:20:22.800 |
we ought to be bold in, happened when the righteousness of God was revealed to us from 00:20:29.000 |
now until the end, until we continue. And that's why in Hebrews 12, verse 2, after 00:20:37.880 |
eleven chapters of exposition of who Jesus is, He says, "To continue to fix your eyes 00:20:45.020 |
upon Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith, the beginner and the finisher of 00:20:51.320 |
our faith." So, in other words, we begin with faith, and we persevere in faith, and 00:20:58.400 |
then we conclude in faith. Now, in faith in what? In faith in what? So we think about, 00:21:07.400 |
okay, if faith is what saves us, what faith is He referring to? Well, in the immediate 00:21:13.280 |
context, He says, "the faith of the revelation of the righteousness of God." Now, we can 00:21:19.240 |
ask, say, "Well, faith in that God is sovereign, faith that God is powerful, God is omnipotent." 00:21:23.800 |
All true. But in the context when He says, "Faith that we saw," right, "that revealed 00:21:32.840 |
God's righteousness and which saved us," that faith that you believe that your sins 00:21:37.160 |
were forgiven by the blood of Christ, "will start you and will finish you." Let me make 00:21:46.080 |
a stronger point here, which I think Paul is doing, the second phrase when he says, 00:21:49.800 |
"The righteous shall live by faith." Now, that's a direct quote from Habakkuk 2.4, but 00:21:56.320 |
that same phrase is repeated twice again in the New Testament. And I think it will help 00:22:01.760 |
us to see what Paul means by this by looking at it. So, first, all the places that he repeats 00:22:06.640 |
in Galatians 3.10-11. So, those of you who have your Bibles can turn your Bibles to that 00:22:10.960 |
passage Galatians 3.10-11. And then we're going to go to Hebrews 10.37-38, another passage 00:22:18.280 |
that has that quote. Now, I think Paul wrote both, Galatians and Hebrews, but that's an 00:22:23.360 |
argument for another date, you know. But whatever it is that you believe, Galatians 3.10 and 00:22:29.840 |
Hebrews 10.37 is where we see that same phrase, Habakkuk 2.4 repeated in Romans 1.17, Galatians 00:22:36.960 |
3.10-11, and Hebrews 10.37-38. Now, in order to have a better understanding, gain deeper 00:22:45.200 |
insight as to what does Paul mean here by righteous shall live by faith, I think when 00:22:49.560 |
we look at those two, it'll help us, okay, or confuse you. Okay, we'll see, all right. 00:22:56.120 |
So Galatians 3.10-11, I want you to understand the context of this letter. This letter is 00:23:00.520 |
written to a church that was being affected by the Judaizers, who were telling them that 00:23:06.560 |
you have to be circumcised and you have to follow the Jewish rituals in order for you 00:23:10.600 |
to be a Christian. So he's fighting against legalism in Galatians. And so in that context, 00:23:16.680 |
he says, Galatians 3.10, "For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, 00:23:21.720 |
for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the 00:23:26.400 |
book of the law, and do them.'" Okay, so this is where the verse is. "Now, it is evident 00:23:31.920 |
that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith." 00:23:37.840 |
Okay, same phrase, but if you're paying attention to the context, the comma here is after "shall 00:23:47.880 |
live." Okay, so if you're half asleep right now, you're not following, right? We're getting 00:23:52.760 |
a little bit technical here, but I want you to pay attention, okay. The comma here is 00:23:57.840 |
"the righteous shall live by faith." That's what Paul is saying, right? "The righteous 00:24:03.560 |
shall live by faith," because he's addressing a group of people who are saying, "You've 00:24:08.160 |
got to do all of these things to be saved." So he's saying, "No, the righteous shall live 00:24:12.840 |
by faith." That's the emphasis here. But let's go to Hebrews 10.37-38. Now, let me set this 00:24:20.760 |
up. Here's the same group of people, second, third generation Christians, who are Jews, 00:24:26.120 |
who are reverting back to their old life, again, wrestling with legalism, right? And 00:24:31.920 |
so he spent 10 chapters talking about how Jesus is more superior to everything else. 00:24:39.440 |
And he's about—you guys know chapter 11. What is Hebrews chapter 11 known for? The 00:24:42.840 |
chapter of faith, right? It's chapter of faith, right? So he's about to get into chapter of 00:24:53.000 |
faith and what faith is and what it looks like in the lives of a believer, lives of 00:24:56.360 |
the believers. And so what he says in Hebrews 10.37-38 is to set up for chapter 11, okay? 00:25:03.400 |
Now this is what he says, "For yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will 00:25:08.520 |
not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul 00:25:14.040 |
has no pleasure in him." Right? What is he referring to here? He's talking about life, 00:25:21.200 |
because he's—in chapter 11 he says, "Because of this faith, they did these crazy things. 00:25:26.320 |
Because of faith, they left their homes and they suffered. Because of faith, they went 00:25:29.880 |
out and they were put into prison. Because of faith, they followed him." And it's faith 00:25:33.760 |
that gives you the strength to live, right? That's what he's saying. That's why he says, 00:25:38.720 |
"If my people shrink back, my soul has no pleasure in them." So in this context, the 00:25:44.120 |
emphasis is on live. So here, the way you should read it, "The righteous one shall live 00:25:51.320 |
by faith." Right? So the emphasis here is different. In Galatians, it says, "The righteous 00:25:57.760 |
shall live by faith." And here it says, "The righteous one shall live by faith." Okay, 00:26:03.600 |
so again, if you are half asleep, you have no idea why this guy is making a lot of noise, 00:26:08.320 |
you know what I mean? Just get it over with, okay? But this is extremely crucial to understanding 00:26:13.840 |
what Paul is about to get into. Why he's saying, "What's the foundation in which we're going 00:26:18.280 |
to get into it?" Which is it? Well, the answer is pretty clear. It's both. It's both. Because 00:26:28.120 |
you cannot understand salvation independent of justification and sanctification and glorification. 00:26:34.440 |
Because we've kind of—the theologians have compartmentalized the beginning, middle, and 00:26:38.520 |
the end. We oftentimes kind of address it differently, right? But the Bible never dichotomizes 00:26:46.280 |
salvation that way. That salvation is past, present, and future at all times. An individual 00:26:52.640 |
is justified, is being justified, and will be justified. The Bible describes it all as 00:26:58.600 |
the same. So is the emphasis on live, or is the emphasis on faith? It is both. Is Jesus 00:27:08.120 |
the Son of God, or God? Yes. Is God sovereign, or are we responsible? Yes. There are things 00:27:20.640 |
in the Scripture that looks like a paradox, but in reality, it can't be—it's for the 00:27:26.280 |
purpose of emphasis. So here, the way we ought to read this passage is, "The righteous shall 00:27:33.000 |
live by faith." And every part of what he says here is an exclamation mark. "The righteous"—you 00:27:40.600 |
become righteous by the blood of Christ—"shall live"—because you've been purchased by the 00:27:44.640 |
blood of Christ—you will continue to live. And you will continue to do this by faith. 00:27:49.880 |
And when any part of this is minimized in our walk with God, you miss the point. You 00:27:57.400 |
miss what empowers and strengthens us. Perseverance is not an option. That's part of salvation. 00:28:05.320 |
In Colossians 1:22-23, "He has now reconciled in His body the flesh by His death, in order 00:28:11.760 |
to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, if indeed you continue 00:28:17.800 |
in the faith." That same faith that saved you, that you continue in it, stable and steadfast, 00:28:26.320 |
not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you heard, that we became Christians because 00:28:32.080 |
we recognized that you and I were not able, and Christ forgave us. And we were awed by 00:28:39.080 |
the fact that a God who created the universe would humble Himself and become one of us, 00:28:46.480 |
and be humiliated. And we were floored and awed by that. And that's why we came to church, 00:28:51.640 |
and that's why we wanted to serve the church. That's why we wanted to go out to missions. 00:28:55.920 |
And He says, once we shift from that, and we lose our confidence in that, that once 00:29:00.840 |
we begin to think that somehow I was justified by grace, but I'm going to be sanctified by 00:29:05.480 |
my determination. You know? It's kind of like a, you know, if you've ever seen a basketball 00:29:13.800 |
player who's been, you know, at the tip of his, the peak of his game for so many years, 00:29:18.840 |
have so many championships, made so much money, endorsements, and he wants to retire, and 00:29:23.360 |
they say, you know what, you're still at the peak of your game, why do you want to retire? 00:29:27.320 |
And they may say something like, you know what, I lost a love. And they talk about how 00:29:32.320 |
when they were, you know, little and playing little hoopsters, and how they got out there 00:29:36.280 |
and they couldn't wait, you know, got there early and shot the ball, and they could care 00:29:40.840 |
less, you know, what kind of prize, they just loved the game, any time opportunity. But 00:29:46.080 |
after playing, and endorsements, and championships, and marketing, and they'll tell you, it became 00:29:52.920 |
a business. And money no longer motivates me because I have all the money. The accolades 00:29:58.920 |
no longer motivates me because I've achieved it all. And the only thing remaining is this 00:30:03.520 |
love and I don't have it. So I'm not motivated to be away from my family, I'm not motivated 00:30:08.440 |
to get on the court, I'm not motivated to win anymore, and he says, I think it's time 00:30:11.680 |
for me to retire. How many Christians have hit that wall and can say the same thing? 00:30:20.320 |
You know, I'm not motivated by the same things anymore. You know, now it's just become, just 00:30:27.160 |
work. You're trying to appease the expectations of people around us. You know, I have a certain 00:30:33.520 |
title I've got to live up to, or I've been a Christian for so long, so there's expectations 00:30:37.140 |
from the church for me, and then it just becomes work. Well, Jesus knew all of this. This is 00:30:46.760 |
not any new revelation. If you look at Jesus' teaching in the book of John, there's seven 00:30:53.200 |
I Am statements. He begins the I Am statement in John chapter 6, and in John chapter 15, 00:30:58.560 |
he has the last I Am statement. And you know, there's some fantastic, I mean, each one of 00:31:03.760 |
these things are worth studying in detail, but the last of the I Am statements, the I 00:31:07.840 |
Am divine, which comes in John 15.4 or 15.5, and he says, I am divine, right? It kind of 00:31:15.400 |
makes sense. Okay, you're divine, but you have to understand the context in which Paul's, 00:31:18.840 |
what Jesus is saying. He's about to go to the cross, and he's preparing his disciples 00:31:24.440 |
that he's going to leave. Where I'm going, you cannot follow. And so the disciples are 00:31:27.320 |
freaking out. He knows that Jesus has a lot of enemies, very powerful people who are constantly 00:31:33.360 |
wanting to capture him and kill him. And Jesus actually said, that's what's going to happen. 00:31:36.560 |
But he said, if you go, what's going to happen to us? And so this is right after he told 00:31:43.280 |
them, I'm leaving. And then this is what he says in this text. And I want you to pay very 00:31:48.040 |
close attention to how many times he says the word abide. And the consequences if you 00:31:54.520 |
don't abide. And the fruit that if you do abide. And how much of what's going to happen 00:32:00.240 |
after he leaves is vitally dependent upon abiding. So I'm not going to count it for 00:32:07.440 |
you. I want to keep in your head. And there's more of this, but I'm just going to read a 00:32:11.240 |
few verses and how many times he says, almost redundantly, the word abide. John chapter 00:32:18.240 |
15, 4, it says, "Abide in me, and I in you, as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless 00:32:25.480 |
it abides in the vine. Neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the 00:32:30.520 |
branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him. He it is that bears much fruit. For apart 00:32:35.360 |
from me, you can do nothing." Let me stop right there for a second. Maybe some of you 00:32:41.160 |
hit that wall and that's where your mind is. I can't do anything. Everything I attempt 00:32:46.320 |
seems to fall short. And I'm just, this frustration and guilt just kind of piled up and said, 00:32:52.240 |
I can't do anything. I just can't seem to do anything. Well, Jesus said, apart from 00:32:57.920 |
me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch 00:33:04.600 |
and withers. And the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide 00:33:09.600 |
in me, in my words, abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This 00:33:16.400 |
is my Father who is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 00:33:22.080 |
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. He says over and over 00:33:27.520 |
again, abide in me, abide in me, abide in me. In other words, if you've been walking 00:33:34.680 |
and doing anything without abiding in him, you probably are experiencing exactly what 00:33:40.920 |
he said was going to happen. You're not going to achieve anything. You're not going to bear 00:33:43.480 |
fruit. It is impossible to bear fruit unless you abide in me. You can do nothing. In fact, 00:33:49.640 |
you can't pray if you're not abiding. He says, if you abide in me, my words abide you, ask 00:33:53.600 |
whatever you wish. So, not everybody's prayer is heard. You say, no, God answers every prayer. 00:34:00.600 |
No, he doesn't. He doesn't answer every prayer. He says, if you abide in me. There's a condition. 00:34:05.800 |
So if you're not abiding in him, your prayer is ineffective. You can't bear fruit. You 00:34:10.520 |
can't please God. You can't honor him. Because he says, this is how my God is glorified, 00:34:15.920 |
that when you bear much fruit. So if you're not bearing much fruit, you're not glorifying 00:34:20.480 |
God. God is not honored. You say, oh my gosh, that's exactly how I felt and you made it 00:34:29.400 |
worse. When I used to read this passage, abide, and say, well, abide means obey. Obey him. 00:34:34.720 |
Obey him. Now, the word does include the word obey. It is a bigger word. And the word obey 00:34:41.480 |
is included in the meaning of the word abide. But the root word of this, the meaning behind 00:34:46.280 |
this word abide, meno, means to stay or to remain. That's a literal. So some of your 00:34:51.720 |
translations will actually say, remain in him. If you don't remain in me, if you don't 00:34:55.960 |
remain in me, you're not going to bear fruit. So what does he mean by remain? Well, up to 00:35:01.400 |
all that point, they were following Jesus. He says, I'm going to go. But your key to 00:35:05.360 |
success up to this point, and your key to success from this point on, is going to be 00:35:09.120 |
the same. I'm going to go, the Holy Spirit's going to come. And he's going to remind you 00:35:13.520 |
of everything I have said and everything I have done. He's going to convict the world 00:35:17.240 |
of sin and righteousness. He's the one. You're going to receive power. And you're going to 00:35:22.440 |
be my witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes. So you need to continue to remain in me. In 00:35:30.180 |
Book of Revelations, chapter 3, when we talk about the, chapter 2, I believe, when we talk 00:35:35.780 |
about the Church of Ephesus and say, you have forsaken your first love. And he says to restore 00:35:42.240 |
that first love, he said, remember the height from which you had fallen. Remember what? 00:35:48.400 |
Remember, go back. Go back to your original faith. Go back to the, to initially when you 00:35:55.280 |
believed and you were awed by the revelation of who Jesus is and what he has done. He says 00:36:03.140 |
to go back to that and then repent because of your drifting. The moment that we stray 00:36:11.000 |
away from what we started with is when we will not bear fruit. We will be frustrated. 00:36:17.040 |
We'll be like hitting a wall over and over again. The Church is filled with people who 00:36:22.000 |
have PhDs. Some are more disciplined than others. Some know more than others. Some who 00:36:27.720 |
are more articulate than others. Some more gifted than others. But the Church has everything 00:36:33.080 |
that we need physically that we should be successful in the eyes of the world over and 00:36:38.400 |
over and over again. But that's not where he invested the power. He invested the power 00:36:45.280 |
individually and as a church in our original confession, in the faith. And that's why he 00:36:53.880 |
says for in it, the power of the gospel to save us in it, the righteousness of God is 00:36:58.800 |
revealed from faith from the beginning to the end. And this righteous, the just shall 00:37:05.280 |
continue to live by the same faith. You know how I can tell if somebody is growing toward 00:37:13.640 |
Christ or moving away from Christ, it's not how much they're serving the Church. It's 00:37:18.520 |
not how much knowledge they have. It's not the degree that people are working on. It's 00:37:21.840 |
not how many books that they read. All of these things could make a self-righteous person 00:37:26.280 |
even more self-righteous. You know, you sit down and have a conversation with somebody 00:37:30.920 |
and you talk about Jesus and there's an affection for Christ and what Christ has done. There's 00:37:36.480 |
a brokenness for their sin. There's a sense of awe and thanksgiving toward him that you 00:37:42.160 |
can sense. Just like if you're a Lakers fan and if you're not a Lakers fan, I can tell 00:37:45.640 |
right away. If you're a Lakers fan, we can talk about the history of Lakers and what 00:37:50.480 |
they've accomplished and there's a glow. You know, there's a glow. You get it. You know 00:37:57.480 |
what I mean? I'm not an Angels fan, so every once in a while I'll be in a little circle 00:38:01.000 |
that you guys have and talk about, "Oh, Angels," and I'll stick my head in. Nothing. You know, 00:38:08.000 |
nothing. And I get nothing with Dodgers either. Nothing. You know. But I'm a Lakers fan, so 00:38:15.080 |
when I hear Lakers, I just kind of perk up and then, you know, those of you who aren't 00:38:18.360 |
Lakers fans, those of you who are married to a Lakers fan and you're not a Lakers fan, 00:38:22.000 |
you're like, "So childish." You just don't get it. You don't get it. Right? It's not 00:38:31.000 |
the things and the external things because all of those stuff can just be things that 00:38:34.840 |
we're working on to more to show. But you can tell when somebody is growing toward Christ, 00:38:42.480 |
when that same affection that they had when they met Christ is still there and growing. 00:38:49.000 |
That same love, that same attraction to Christ that started your walk with God is what's 00:38:57.680 |
continuing your walk with God and then will carry it onto completion. That's what Paul 00:39:02.760 |
means here. That it's the power of salvation. Salvation is not just something that He saved 00:39:08.280 |
us from, but to continue to glorify and honor God is the same faith. That's why He says, 00:39:17.400 |
"Remain in me. Don't stray from me." In Matthew 16, 16 to 18, when Jesus asked the disciples, 00:39:24.360 |
"Who do men say I am?" And they thought, "Elijah, the prophets and all these people." And He 00:39:29.000 |
said, "Who do you say I am?" Peter confesses. Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, 00:39:34.200 |
the Son of the living God." Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for 00:39:40.080 |
flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father was in heaven. And I tell you, 00:39:44.240 |
you are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not 00:39:48.200 |
prevail against it." Now, He's not referring to Peter himself, but his confession. And 00:39:53.840 |
in his confession, he says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And those of you 00:39:59.280 |
who were at a retreat years ago, you know that there's an article in front of each of 00:40:03.680 |
these titles. "You are the Christ, the Son, the God." That's what it says literally in 00:40:08.280 |
the Greek. "You are the Son, you are the Christ, the Son, the God." Now, when we hear the word 00:40:15.280 |
Christ, you know, Jesus Christ, we think that's His last name. You know, Peter Kim, John Lee, 00:40:19.760 |
whatever, it's Jesus Christ. Well, the way they titled people was, "Jesus from Nazareth, 00:40:27.200 |
Son of Joseph, the carpenter." That would be His full name, right? Christ is His title. 00:40:33.840 |
And you guys know that Christ is the Greek word for "Messiah" in the Hebrew. And the 00:40:39.160 |
word "Messiah" basically means "Savior." And so when Peter says, "You are the Christ," 00:40:45.560 |
what he's saying is, "You are Messiah, you are the Savior, you are the Son, and you are 00:40:51.760 |
the God of the living Son of the living God." And so what Peter confesses is what saves 00:41:00.680 |
us. And he says, "Upon this rock, upon this truth, I will build my church, and the gates 00:41:07.800 |
of Hades shall not prevail against it." So the strength of the church is this confession 00:41:14.880 |
that you are the Savior, you saved me. Who would have ever thought that God would wipe 00:41:23.000 |
away the sins of the world by sending His only begotten Son? And if that truth is no 00:41:30.760 |
longer affecting you, there's nothing that you can do to make that any better. Everything 00:41:37.620 |
that you are doing just has to stop. Because that's what God has ordained to save us, that's 00:41:44.080 |
what God has ordained to persevere us, and that's what God has ordained to take it to 00:41:48.400 |
completion. And that's why it says in Hebrews chapter 11, 6, "And without faith it is impossible 00:41:55.120 |
to please Him." You can't please Him if you're not affected by this. You can't please Him 00:42:02.840 |
if you don't believe this, if you one time believed this so greatly that you're willing 00:42:06.840 |
to forsake everything and follow Him, and all of a sudden that faith is no longer there, 00:42:10.760 |
it's dwindled, it's atrophied. It is impossible to please Him without faith for whoever draws 00:42:17.880 |
near to God must believe that He exists. In the NASB it says, "He is." Third person singular. 00:42:25.720 |
And I believe that he's referring to the "I am" statements of Christ. Without faith it 00:42:30.560 |
is impossible to please Him. He who comes to God must first believe that He is. And 00:42:35.720 |
He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. We don't do quiet time because quiet 00:42:42.880 |
time makes us stronger. And you say, "Oh, I did quiet time. I read the Bible. I read 00:42:46.880 |
so many books. I know my theology." No, we do quiet time because it reminds us of who 00:42:52.840 |
He is. It keeps us remaining in Him. We pray because without continuing, without being 00:43:00.280 |
reminded, without being affected by what He's done, everything else just becomes work. And 00:43:06.840 |
work becomes drudgery. And sooner or later we're not going to do it for long. And I want 00:43:15.040 |
to wrap up with a confession to you this morning and why this is so important for me and for 00:43:23.520 |
you. You know, what I do as a pastor, preaching and preparing sermons, I would say is the 00:43:29.960 |
greatest blessing and sometimes it's the hardest thing to do. I'm not going to explain to you 00:43:39.360 |
why, those of you who may understand, may not understand, but sometimes it gets to me. 00:43:44.600 |
This week was one of those weeks. You know, I've been very busy the last two months and 00:43:49.280 |
I've been running around and it kind of started to build last week. And Esther knows, I mean, 00:43:54.040 |
we've been married for so long, Esther knows that something's on my heart. And you know, 00:43:58.040 |
and sometimes I don't want to burden her with all the things that I'm thinking about. But 00:44:01.520 |
she catches me, you know, and I would have a deep sigh. And she knows right away, "What's 00:44:10.840 |
wrong?" I was like, "Oh, nothing. I'm just tired." You know, and I just kind of move 00:44:15.160 |
on. But she knew something was up and something was up. Something was burdening me in my heart. 00:44:19.440 |
And it's not anything particular. It just has those moments. I'm sure you have those 00:44:23.920 |
moments at work where you're just like, "Oh, I don't want to work here anymore. I don't 00:44:27.000 |
want to do this." Well, I had one of those weeks and usually it comes and goes. Usually 00:44:31.360 |
it's like, you know, in the morning and then by night it's gone or it's Monday and by Tuesday 00:44:35.640 |
it's what this kind of started building. And by Monday I had this heavy burden and I'm 00:44:42.640 |
thinking, "Oh my gosh, I don't know if I can keep doing this." And I'm not going to share 00:44:47.040 |
with you, you know, the details of all of it. But I started getting burdened. I started 00:44:51.880 |
thinking like whenever those thoughts come, you start thinking about alternatives. You 00:44:56.840 |
know, maybe I should do this. Maybe I can sell vacuum cleaners. Maybe, you know what 00:45:02.960 |
I mean? So I have so many friends who dropped out of ministry or people that I know dropped 00:45:07.200 |
out of ministry are insurance salesmen, you know, because what are you going to do if 00:45:11.880 |
you've been in ministry for 20 some years? Like what are you qualified for other than 00:45:16.080 |
sales? So I have a lot of friends who are in it. I mean, I mean, that's the truth. That's 00:45:20.840 |
really, that's really the truth. Either if you have the degree, you go into teaching 00:45:24.520 |
seminary or whatever. Not that everybody's in there for that reason, but you know, so 00:45:29.200 |
what can you do? So for me, I don't, I don't have a fear that if I don't do ministry, I'm 00:45:34.000 |
not going to be able to take care of my family. I could be dead wrong, you know, but through 00:45:37.480 |
all the years of doing ministry, I've had all kinds of jobs, all kinds of sales. And 00:45:42.160 |
I feel like if I didn't do this, I can take care of my family. I'm not, I'm not afraid 00:45:46.400 |
of that. Right. But I started thinking, and I just started going down and it just more 00:45:52.120 |
I thought about it more, it got burdened and it just kind of started building. And by the 00:45:55.600 |
time Tuesday came around, I was like, you sure what's up, what's going on. It's good. 00:46:02.600 |
It's everything's okay. All right. You know, it's just the routine things of ministry. 00:46:05.880 |
Just kind of, it's heavy on me. And, but the thought was more, you know, affecting me more 00:46:12.720 |
than normal. And so I was sitting there and I was, I don't know if I can keep going. I'm 00:46:17.400 |
just thinking about when's a good time to retire. And you know, you know, when the kids 00:46:22.000 |
are old enough, I can, I can do this, or maybe I shouldn't do this. And then, you know what 00:46:26.640 |
I mean? And all of these thoughts and I was just burdened. And then one day I was, you 00:46:31.800 |
know, I had an appointment with a, with somebody and, and I just kind of left the house early. 00:46:37.200 |
And so I had my car parked and I didn't want to go out cause it was so hot. You know, usually 00:46:41.680 |
I would just go out and, you know, sit in air conditioned room or sit outside, but it 00:46:46.480 |
was so hot. And I had about 30, 40 minutes before the appointment, I sat in the car and 00:46:51.800 |
I had the radio on and typically, you know, I do the radio and I'm just driving. But that 00:46:55.560 |
morning, you know, I was sitting there and had the radio on and I was listening to the 00:47:00.320 |
lyrics, you know, and, and one by one, and I, I don't even remember specifically what 00:47:06.120 |
it was, but one song after another, it started to remind me, started breaking me and reminding 00:47:13.960 |
me of his, his grace in my life, like how I got saved. A dummy who, you know, ran in 00:47:25.640 |
thinking that, that I was going to self-destruct and, you know, and I'm not even sure if I 00:47:31.080 |
would ever graduate at high school or, you know, I was getting into so much trouble and 00:47:35.320 |
just God had mercy on me, whacked me over the head. And he, and he just, that revelation 00:47:40.080 |
of his love for me just changed me forever. You know, even my family members couldn't 00:47:45.960 |
believe it. Like how can somebody change instantly like that? And, and I was just thinking about 00:47:49.960 |
just took 30, 40 minutes, just thinking about that. And then every song just reminded me, 00:47:55.080 |
you know, of God's grace in my life. And I just had a mini revival in that car, you know, 00:48:01.080 |
a hundred degrees outside and, you know, cars are going and coming and they're looking into 00:48:05.680 |
the car, what's wrong with this guy? And I like little tears falling in my eyes, you 00:48:09.920 |
know, and wiping it away like it was sweat. And I came out of that car and it was, it 00:48:17.640 |
was nothing, it was not planned. I came out of that car and just, man, the moment I drift 00:48:24.480 |
from this, like I can't do this. And it just reminded me what Paul is saying here, you 00:48:33.240 |
know, that until my heart is gripped by what he has done and who he is, and if my hope 00:48:42.240 |
is not firmly planted in him, this is too hard. You know, life is hard enough as it 00:48:49.960 |
is. Some of you guys have lousy bosses, you know, on your case constantly. Some of you 00:48:57.880 |
guys have children a little bit more difficult, you know, and they just so strong willed and 00:49:03.160 |
you're fighting with them every single day. Some of you guys have hard time paying bills 00:49:07.440 |
because your job just wasn't what it was expected. Some of you guys have tension in marriage 00:49:11.600 |
because you have communication issues. You know, life didn't quite turn out the way you 00:49:15.560 |
were expecting and you have all these burdens. And then you come to church and all churches 00:49:25.320 |
is more burden. Of course you're going to quit. Of course you're not going to make it. 00:49:33.560 |
If that's what Christianity is. But that's not it. He came to give life, to give this 00:49:40.740 |
life abundantly. It's because of the effects of sin. It's because of all the effects of 00:49:46.640 |
sin that you're experiencing in life. He said, "Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden. 00:49:50.080 |
I will give you rest." But that rest is found in Christ crucified. That's rest is found 00:49:59.440 |
in realizing that I'm saved by the blood of Christ. Fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author 00:50:10.320 |
and the perfecter of our faith. The righteous shall live by faith. Let's pray. Heavenly 00:50:25.840 |
Father, we thank you for your love. I pray for my brothers and sisters in this room who 00:50:32.840 |
have been burdened with life, burdened with heaviness, Lord God, of disappointments, hardships, 00:50:43.840 |
failures and guilt. I pray, Father God, that as you encouraged and warned and challenged 00:50:53.080 |
your disciples to abide in you, help us, Lord God, to come to you in obedience that we may 00:50:59.500 |
remain in love, abide in Christ. That love that saved us, that amazing grace, Lord God, 00:51:07.400 |
would always be amazing. Strengthen us this week. Remind us again, Father God, afresh 00:51:14.800 |
of the hope that we have in Christ. As our praise team leads us in worship, I want to 00:51:22.080 |
encourage you guys to take just individual time to come before God and confess your burdens 00:51:26.920 |
before him. Unload your sorrows and believe that he is, he is the vine, we are the branches, 00:51:36.480 |
and that we may find strength in him this morning. Let's pray.