back to index2016-03-13 Abraham As The Ultimate Example of Justification Through Faith
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4 and I'll be reading from verse 1 all the way down to verse 8 Romans chapter 4 00:00:06.840 |
verses 1 through 8. Again reading out of the ESV. What then shall we say was 00:00:16.240 |
gained by Abraham our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham 00:00:20.280 |
was justified by works he has something to boast about but not before 00:00:24.920 |
God. For what does the scripture say Abraham believed God and he was 00:00:29.120 |
continued he was counted to him as righteousness. Now to him who works his 00:00:33.840 |
wages are not counted as gift but as at his due and to the one who does not work 00:00:39.320 |
but believes in him who justifies the ungodly his faith is counted as 00:00:42.920 |
righteousness. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God 00:00:47.280 |
counts righteousness apart from works. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds 00:00:51.480 |
are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord 00:01:00.520 |
Precious and loving Father we thank you so much for this morning we thank you 00:01:06.080 |
for every morning Lord that we're able to rise and to breathe and have our 00:01:11.160 |
being we know Father God that all things are created by you and for you so that 00:01:16.800 |
our worship Lord God that we give to you may simply be a reasonable response to 00:01:21.120 |
all that you've done and given to us. We pray that your word would speak to us 00:01:25.760 |
it would convict it would encourage and strengthen your church Lord God that we 00:01:30.720 |
may truly live a life worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Give us humble 00:01:35.040 |
hearts moldable open ears Lord God that we may hear your voice and follow you 00:01:39.520 |
in Jesus name we pray amen. You know I think many of you guys who are maybe 00:01:45.840 |
bicultural maybe tricultural know that there are certain things maybe you know 00:01:51.400 |
both languages well enough there are certain words that kind of symbolizes 00:01:55.600 |
what that culture represents right I mean obviously you can't you can't 00:02:00.800 |
contain a whole culture in one word but there are certain words that kind of 00:02:04.120 |
gives you the heart of the culture and you know all these years that we've been 00:02:07.240 |
coming in and out of China when I asked the Chinese students or the people in 00:02:11.680 |
China you know what is a word that kind of captures your culture and the word 00:02:15.520 |
that they use is guanxi and some of you guys may know that word and guanxi 00:02:19.440 |
basically means relationship or connection and and so what it means is 00:02:24.040 |
that in that culture they value connection and relationship so they 00:02:27.000 |
invest so much time in that word in that relationship in guanxi. In India I asked 00:02:32.880 |
them the same question is a what is a word that captures your culture I forgot 00:02:38.200 |
the word but I remember the meaning very clearly the meaning of the word that 00:02:43.440 |
they told me basically means it doesn't matter so initially I thought well what 00:02:47.920 |
doesn't matter of course it matters that's why I'm asking you and I say well 00:02:50.600 |
it doesn't matter right and it really does that more time I go and spend time 00:02:56.280 |
in the Indian culture it really like they're not hurried about anything 00:02:59.400 |
there's no sense of urgency just kind of doesn't matter you know they shake their 00:03:02.520 |
heads back and forth left and right and it doesn't matter and it really does 00:03:05.800 |
capture the heart of you know maybe the Hindu culture like everything says can I 00:03:10.400 |
add these a time for everything if something bad happens you're gonna come 00:03:13.200 |
back at something else and you know whatever the case it captures the 00:03:16.640 |
culture you know I come from a Korean you know culture cultural background and 00:03:22.680 |
if you ask Koreans what's a Korean word that captures the culture is the word 00:03:27.400 |
Han Han and it's not Han Guk it's it's the Han is a different word Han and the 00:03:33.640 |
word Han basically means a deep-rooted negatively put it means bitterness it 00:03:39.680 |
means unfulfilled desire now you kind of understand why the Koreans are the way 00:03:45.240 |
the Koreans are the word kind of you know in some sense it's like frustration 00:03:51.960 |
longing that's basically if you ask again people in the Korean culture like 00:03:57.920 |
I don't know second third generation may not know but the previous generation 00:04:01.040 |
they'll tell you that word Han captures the culture when you understand the 00:04:04.680 |
history behind the Korean culture you can understand why that word Han 00:04:08.440 |
represents culture so if you ever watch Korean drama you ever noticed that it a 00:04:13.680 |
lot of times it just doesn't end on a good note don't have like struggle to 00:04:17.640 |
this guy and a girl try to get together and then at the end they get sick and 00:04:21.520 |
they die you know like why why do they do that it's like well it's kind of like 00:04:27.320 |
a Korean culture they're not used to in America you know you struggle and at the 00:04:30.800 |
end you defeat everybody you're on the top in Korea you struggle you struggle 00:04:34.200 |
and then the end you know if you look at the Korean culture you know like 00:04:40.240 |
historically they've been you know dominated by bigger nations all 00:04:44.440 |
throughout especially this generation the previous generation that lived 00:04:50.240 |
through the Japanese occupation and the Korean War you know it was hard for me 00:04:54.800 |
to understand growing up in the United States even though I was born in Korea 00:04:58.280 |
growing up in the United States and working in a Korean church culture 00:05:01.360 |
there's so many things that I didn't understand and one of the things I 00:05:04.960 |
didn't understand was they never thought about the future like what we do today 00:05:08.960 |
and how is that gonna affect tomorrow and again and I'm not talking about 00:05:11.960 |
those in their 40s and 50s maybe not even 60 but my parents generation like 00:05:16.280 |
70s and 80s like their their mindset was just today take care of today as long as 00:05:21.880 |
everything's taking care of today and I understood more I understood the culture 00:05:25.360 |
the whole generation of people who were old enough to remember the Korean War 00:05:30.520 |
basically got the whole culture flipped upside down you know we're not just 00:05:36.040 |
talking about one city we're talking about the whole country for all the way 00:05:39.040 |
from from the the tip of North Korea to the tip of South Korea all got mixed 00:05:44.360 |
back and forth everybody had to back grab their bags rich and poor had to 00:05:48.700 |
move up and down and then just arbitrarily one day we're gonna stop 00:05:51.800 |
this war and drew a line right in the middle and if you happen to be caught on 00:05:54.840 |
the left side you can't ever come back down and if you happen to be caught on 00:05:59.080 |
the right side and you're separated from your mom or dad or uncle or whoever it 00:06:02.960 |
was you can never see them again so we're not just talking about a small 00:06:07.760 |
group of people we're talking about a whole country filled of people who've 00:06:11.360 |
experienced this and so education their hospital system you know their their 00:06:17.920 |
economy everything was flipped upside down and so everything that you see in 00:06:22.600 |
South Korea if you've ever visited South Korea it was all within the last 30 00:06:26.240 |
years so prior to that it was probably one of the one of the poorest countries 00:06:30.200 |
in the world so I began to understand how much of that impacted the Korean 00:06:36.040 |
culture at least in the previous generation now the reason why I share 00:06:40.320 |
all of this with you is because when something traumatic happens and it could 00:06:43.840 |
be something good or it can be something negative you know that that has made an 00:06:48.440 |
impact and that's something that's in their psyches permanently at least 00:06:52.080 |
during their life some of you may have experienced something like that in your 00:06:55.760 |
life positive or negative and every time something happens you revert back to 00:06:59.600 |
that particular event right what a good or bad and you know how that affects you 00:07:05.120 |
I bring all this up again not to talk about the Korean culture not not even to 00:07:09.840 |
talk about you or me when we think about God we typically think about God as a 00:07:15.960 |
being as a thing as a force he's omnipotent he's omnipresent he's 00:07:21.800 |
immutable and we talk about all these theological things about his attributes 00:07:26.080 |
but one thing that we forget about who he is that he is a being that created us 00:07:32.320 |
to be like him we have emotions because he has emotions and oftentimes the Bible 00:07:39.000 |
describes him as grieving sometimes sad right broken over the sins of his people 00:07:45.880 |
we look at Jesus who is the exact imprint of God actually even crying at 00:07:51.600 |
times fatigue standing in front of the grave weeping a lot of times you know we 00:07:59.400 |
read about that but we don't know what to do with that because we oftentimes 00:08:02.160 |
think of God as a force so when we think about God who is emotional you know you 00:08:11.400 |
think about the pain that we have the things that we've experienced and and 00:08:14.680 |
how it affected us what to really understand the heart of God like heart 00:08:20.200 |
of God not just not just kind of like oh he is this is who he is theologically 00:08:24.000 |
but really know the heart of God what is something revealed to us in Scripture 00:08:29.280 |
that would have made that kind of impact that that kind of like is an overarching 00:08:34.560 |
thing that may be in the back of his mind if we can even say that at all 00:08:39.040 |
times I can think of two particular events the first one is a fall of Satan 00:08:47.480 |
in Ezekiel chapter 28 13 to 17 he says you were in Eden the Garden of God every 00:08:54.000 |
precious stone was your covering Sardis topaz diamond barrel oinks Jasper 00:08:59.120 |
sapphire emerald carbonicle whatever whatever that is crafted in gold were 00:09:05.360 |
your settings and your engravings on the day that you were created they were 00:09:09.280 |
prepared so in other words he said all of these precious stones were created to 00:09:13.600 |
celebrate the creation of Satan you were blameless in your ways from the day you 00:09:19.560 |
were created till unrighteousness was found in you your heart was proud 00:09:23.520 |
because of your beauty you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your 00:09:26.520 |
splendor I cast you to the ground now we read that and we think of what that must 00:09:31.520 |
be a tremendous event that took place in history but we often forget that the 00:09:39.720 |
scripture says that God created him and loved him and created all this precious 00:09:43.960 |
stone to celebrate him and yet imagine that he would challenge God because he 00:09:49.160 |
wanted to be like him and as a result of that not only did he fall he brought 00:09:53.120 |
corruption to third of the angels and then he brought crush him to mankind and 00:09:58.240 |
ever since then he's been leading this rebellion against God so that they can 00:10:03.600 |
be like God again in Isaiah 14 12 it says how you are fallen from heaven all 00:10:09.360 |
day star son of dawn how you are cut down to the ground you who laid the 00:10:13.240 |
nation's low you said in your heart I will send to heaven above the stars of 00:10:17.920 |
God I will set my throne on high I will sit on the Mount of Assembly in the far 00:10:22.160 |
reaches of north I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I will make myself 00:10:26.000 |
like the most high some of your translations translated that word son of 00:10:30.920 |
dawn as Lucifer where we commonly refer to Satan as Lucifer and he says his 00:10:36.040 |
primary rebellion was he wanted to exalt himself now how much of that has affected 00:10:44.120 |
what we understand in the presentation of the gospel the other traumatic 00:10:50.320 |
event that took place in redemptive history is that that's the one the fall 00:10:55.160 |
of Satan that affected all of his creation but the other event is Jesus on 00:11:00.280 |
the cross can you possibly imagine anybody who has a child that you would 00:11:07.760 |
send your only begotten son to be crucified to be taunted to be beaten 00:11:14.520 |
stripped naked put on the cross and then not only did he allow this to happen 00:11:19.160 |
that he himself had to draw near and he didn't need to punish his son put the 00:11:24.360 |
sins of mankind past present and future upon this child his only begotten child 00:11:29.600 |
so that you and I can be saved if you look at these two events that made an 00:11:37.400 |
impact in human history and you consider that this this is probably overarching 00:11:43.000 |
thing in God's mind here's this one event that desires to exalt himself and 00:11:49.280 |
extend is leading the rebellion against God wanting to exalt themselves to be 00:11:54.840 |
like God and here's Christ that he presented to exact to counter that 00:12:01.560 |
rebellion and his path to life was the exact opposite of the rebellion of Satan 00:12:07.560 |
so if you want to follow me if you want to live you must first learn to die he 00:12:12.000 |
who seeks his life shall lose and he loses his life for my sake shall find it 00:12:18.160 |
repentance isn't simply identifying certain sins in our lives and say you 00:12:23.240 |
know what I lied here I cheated there and I did this I should have done that I 00:12:26.320 |
had lustful thoughts justification by faith first and foremost is to recognize 00:12:31.880 |
not only particular things that we've done but their whole life trajectory is 00:12:37.240 |
a rebellion against God you may not have done anything to deserve life sentence 00:12:42.640 |
you may not have done anything to for the police to pull you over and be 00:12:46.080 |
sentenced to jail but our whole rebellion against God led by Satan 00:12:51.400 |
himself is to be like God is to exalt ourselves how much of our energy and 00:12:57.360 |
time and sacrifice and planning has to do with making ourselves better 00:13:05.000 |
sometimes even in the church to exalt ourselves to make more money to be 00:13:11.040 |
better than our neighbors and our friends to go to the better school to be 00:13:14.680 |
more educated in and of itself it sounds innocent but when you look deep at the 00:13:20.800 |
core of what Satan's rebellion is so much of the temptation in the world is 00:13:27.120 |
in the context of this rebellion against God so therefore when Jesus Christ came 00:13:32.960 |
he says if you want to follow me if you want to live you pick up your cross and 00:13:36.720 |
you also follow me that's why when you look at the beginning of salvation 00:13:42.240 |
justification by faith that our righteousness only given to us he said 00:13:47.080 |
over and over again in chapter 3 in chapter 4 he says that no one can boast 00:13:51.480 |
nobody the beginning of life is the death of our former life that's why 00:13:57.480 |
every time we get baptized we are baptized into his death in order that we 00:14:00.880 |
may live in the resurrected life of Christ so beginning of life is death of 00:14:05.480 |
our old life recognizing that we are no longer living in a bit rebellion against 00:14:10.240 |
God but now we humble ourselves now we add nothing to our life we surrender so 00:14:16.560 |
it is no mistake that Paul spends three four five six chapters laying the 00:14:23.640 |
foundation of why you must first die why you must no longer strive to be 00:14:30.920 |
somebody why there is no boasting in this new life because it is this 00:14:36.760 |
rebellion that Satan is leading this world in which is causing the curse of 00:14:41.920 |
mankind chapter 4 Paul is going to present Abraham as a prime example of 00:14:49.200 |
why justification by faith makes sense and there's three things I don't want to 00:14:54.720 |
cover this this morning of why Paul presents Abraham and again Abraham is 00:14:58.920 |
not unique to this particular passage Abraham as an example is given to us 00:15:03.120 |
over and over again in the New Testament but I want to talk about three 00:15:07.200 |
particular reasons why Abraham is given to us in this text to confirm 00:15:12.800 |
justification by faith why salvation is by works and not by by faith and not by 00:15:17.320 |
works right so the passage Romans chapter 4 3 is that for what does the 00:15:21.880 |
scripture say Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness 00:15:25.840 |
that specific verse is a direct quote from Genesis chapter 15 5 and 6 and that 00:15:33.040 |
verse is repeated again in Galatians chapter 3 verse 6 and James chapter 2 23 00:15:38.240 |
so the first thing that we want to look at is that even Abraham even Abraham the 00:15:44.600 |
father of Israel could only be made righteous by faith and not by works now 00:15:50.680 |
why even Abraham because the rabbis at that time of some of them were teaching 00:15:57.640 |
that Abraham had no need for repentance if there was anybody that could come 00:16:04.600 |
before God by his own merit it would be Abraham and they would actually 00:16:08.440 |
disseminate and teach this was a common understanding in this Jewish community 00:16:12.280 |
now they weren't saying that they were without sin but they were saying that if 00:16:16.680 |
we continue to obey the law and keep it perfectly we can be like Abraham one day 00:16:21.400 |
and that we would also be able to earn our righteousness so what Paul is doing 00:16:26.520 |
in chapter 4 that even Abraham that you are looking up to even he can only be 00:16:31.800 |
justified by faith and not by his works I mean he was a perfect example of man 00:16:39.640 |
of obedience he was a rich man you know it wasn't like he was a poor man he had 00:16:43.600 |
nothing to lose and God said follow me into the into the wilderness into the 00:16:47.640 |
desert no he said the context of Genesis 15 5 and 6 whereas he was already a rich 00:16:53.640 |
man not only was he rich his father was rich so when God called him out he was 00:16:59.000 |
simply because God believed or Abraham believed God he left everything walked 00:17:04.080 |
out into the desert where it was unsafe there were bandits there were other 00:17:08.840 |
kings mightier than he was and and we see in his Abraham's life journey there 00:17:13.840 |
several times he could have been completely crushed why would a rich man 00:17:17.560 |
leave all of that and walk on to the desert simply because God said to come 00:17:22.000 |
follow me and he said he believed him and it was said he said it was his 00:17:25.040 |
belief not at the end of his life after he's proven everything he says no at the 00:17:30.880 |
very beginning because he believed what God said so what Paul is saying here is 00:17:37.400 |
from the very beginning that even Abraham even Abraham in our culture if 00:17:45.520 |
we were talking about who's the most moral person that you say you know what 00:17:48.520 |
that person if anybody could be saved it should be that person you know all the 00:17:52.680 |
times the term or mother Teresa term comes around that anybody does any good 00:17:57.120 |
works like oh he's mother Teresa you know I mean you feed the poor always 00:18:00.840 |
mother Teresa because she has a reputation gave up everything walked 00:18:04.960 |
into Calcutta and given her life to feed the poor you know when I was younger the 00:18:11.680 |
man's name that constantly came up in that concept was Albert Schweitzer so 00:18:16.240 |
some of you guys may have heard his name may not have heard his name but Albert 00:18:19.320 |
Schweitzer was a philosopher he was a renowned musician he was to some degree 00:18:27.520 |
a theologian and then at some point he became a physician now and he was an 00:18:32.840 |
expert in all of these fields and that's why we know about him that's why the 00:18:36.280 |
world knew about him he could have been famous in every one of those situations 00:18:42.040 |
he decided to become a medical doctor because he wanted to serve the poor in 00:18:46.160 |
Africa he got his medical degree again this he was already a renowned musician 00:18:50.240 |
we were now a philosopher and he decided to give up all that become a doctor 00:18:54.880 |
specifically to serve the poor in Africa he lived there for 40 years and he died 00:18:59.920 |
there serving the poor in Africa he died sometime in 1960s and the huge debate at 00:19:06.360 |
that time was because he was a liberal theologian he denied the resurrection of 00:19:11.560 |
Jesus Christ he denied the deity of Jesus and in doing so he denied the 00:19:16.240 |
atonement of Christ he saw Jesus as a powerful historical figure kind of like 00:19:20.680 |
the way Gandhi described Jesus and so there was a there was a discussion 00:19:25.080 |
within the Christian community that if anybody has worked enough to earn 00:19:31.640 |
salvation before God wouldn't it be Albert Schweitzer who left everything to 00:19:38.440 |
do good in this world and the answer was clearly no because when the scripture 00:19:45.600 |
says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God that includes Albert 00:19:51.360 |
Schweitzer that includes mother Teresa and that includes even Abraham that the 00:19:58.880 |
only hope for mankind is Christ crucified the salvation by faith and by 00:20:05.960 |
faith alone is not simply for those few people so that's what Paul has been 00:20:12.080 |
presenting for three chapters all have sinned all have sinned the rich the poor 00:20:17.640 |
the educated the moral and the immoral the educated than and educated 00:20:22.600 |
uneducated talented the untalented people of significance people of 00:20:27.000 |
insignificance all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God you know when 00:20:33.520 |
I was younger I first became a Christian this first thing that one of the first 00:20:36.160 |
things that I wrestled with because if I was to think about somebody who was 00:20:40.240 |
moral you know really upright this is person that I remember my dad was used 00:20:46.880 |
to work in this medical you know packaging company and I worked there for 00:20:50.440 |
a little bit when I was younger and he would always bring his Bible and he was 00:20:55.680 |
always upright everybody knew it's like that guy was just upright man he was 00:21:00.040 |
always I always see him praying always evangelizing and doing all this stuff so 00:21:03.880 |
when I became a Christian the first guy that I thought about was him you know 00:21:07.760 |
that guy is a he that guy's a serious Christian and then when I told him and I 00:21:12.520 |
was in a conversation with him I realized he was a Jehovah Witness you 00:21:16.640 |
know growing up in a Christian home automatically it's like oh he's a 00:21:19.600 |
Jehovah Witness you know I didn't know a whole lot about Jehovah Witnesses all I 00:21:22.400 |
knew was they were wrong I didn't know why they were wrong but they were wrong 00:21:26.120 |
but it really caused me to question here's a guy that to me seems like he's 00:21:33.840 |
taking his faith seriously he's evangelizing and then I see all these 00:21:36.840 |
people at church in my eyes are hypocrites so you're telling me here's 00:21:41.360 |
this guy who's who's like dedicating his life doing this thing but because he has 00:21:45.080 |
the wrong theology he's gonna go to hell and here are these people is like oh one 00:21:49.080 |
saved always saved and that church and always like fighting in the church it 00:21:54.280 |
was like they're gonna be saved I just didn't make any sense to me right and 00:21:58.360 |
really shook me up and I wanted to just you know study the scripture see what it 00:22:02.880 |
says and and in the end the answer is crystal clear just like the greatest of 00:22:10.640 |
the Pharisees just like Abraham Isaac and Jacob there is not a single one that 00:22:16.120 |
can stand before this Holy God and say look what I have done see that's the 00:22:21.260 |
beginning of the gospel and that was a problem with the early church because 00:22:24.960 |
the Judaizers didn't understand it either for hundreds of years they've 00:22:29.000 |
been trying to obey the law for hundreds of years they wouldn't do anything on 00:22:34.520 |
the Sabbath they wouldn't eat before even if they were poor they wouldn't 00:22:38.800 |
work on the Sabbath because they were trying to keep the law the Pharisees or 00:22:42.880 |
the ones who were fasting every Tuesday and Thursday how many people do you know 00:22:46.840 |
that fast regularly like that they gave to the to the temple they even did 00:22:51.880 |
missions to proselyte to convert people to Judaism they were doing this for 00:22:58.040 |
hundreds of years and the Pharisees were doing this excellently in the human eyes 00:23:02.440 |
and yet here comes Jesus and here comes Apostle Paul and the Apostles and said 00:23:09.200 |
no all of that is worthless all have sinned and fall short of the glory of 00:23:14.080 |
God so if you look in the early church Paul had to constantly deal with this 00:23:19.440 |
Judaizers that your good works in the presence of God is nothing in fact Paul 00:23:25.040 |
says in Philippians 3 3 to 7 for we are the real circumcision basically what 00:23:31.040 |
he's doing is he's Judaizers saying like no we have all these good works and Paul 00:23:34.160 |
says no way that is not the right way that is not the way of salvation but if 00:23:38.880 |
you want to go toe-to-toe if you think that maybe I'm holding on to the grace 00:23:43.480 |
of God because I can't earn it my way like like the way you're doing it let's 00:23:48.440 |
go right so he's comparing he says though I myself a reason to have 00:23:52.640 |
confidence in the flesh also if anyone thinks he has reason for confidence in 00:23:56.840 |
the flesh I have more circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel the 00:24:01.480 |
tribe of Benjamin Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law a Pharisee as to the zeal 00:24:06.800 |
persecutor of the church as to righteousness under the law blameless 00:24:11.640 |
now we've we dance a that's an exaggeration really blameless now if he 00:24:17.640 |
was really blameless he wouldn't need Jesus right but when he said blameless 00:24:21.520 |
he's saying in comparison to you I did everything I was supposed to do in fact 00:24:28.640 |
I even murder because I thought that somehow that was what God wanted me to 00:24:34.880 |
do and yet he says I gained nothing I counted as loss for the sake of Christ 00:24:43.120 |
see Paul realized not only could he not be saved by his own righteousness he 00:24:49.560 |
realized that he was chosen because of his sin in first Timothy 1 15 through 17 00:24:55.600 |
Paul describes himself as a chief of sinners he says the saying is trustworthy 00:25:01.480 |
and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save 00:25:04.440 |
sinners of whom I am the foremost and I initially think like is exaggerating I 00:25:13.880 |
mean he's the foremost but if you really think about who Paul was before he met 00:25:19.720 |
Christ he really was he was a murderer right he was willing to kill and beat 00:25:26.120 |
and drag people into prison who was proclaiming the gospel so he says I was 00:25:32.080 |
chosen because I was the foremost of sinners and the reason why that Jesus 00:25:36.320 |
Christ may display his perfect patience as an example of those who are to 00:25:40.440 |
believe in him for eternal life he was chosen because of his sin it wasn't 00:25:45.240 |
because he had status you would think like Oh Paul he converted he's so well 00:25:50.400 |
connected he can go into these cities and have the protection of the Sanhedrin 00:25:55.600 |
let's let's take advantage of that Paul's a Roman citizen he can go 00:25:59.920 |
anywhere he wants he has money so you don't have to worry about money his 00:26:03.840 |
parents are well connected but none of that he says no I wasn't chosen for that 00:26:07.840 |
reason I was chosen for the exact opposite because I was a chief of 00:26:12.760 |
sinners reason why for 17 to the king of ages immortal invisible the only God be 00:26:24.960 |
beginning of salvation and understanding of the gospel is recognizing that 00:26:32.160 |
everything that we have is worthless until we first die until we are first 00:26:38.760 |
crucified with Christ our experience our education can be the greatest hindrance 00:26:44.440 |
in coming to Christ because it makes us proud your talents your money even your 00:26:51.840 |
age all of this can be a hindrance in coming to Christ if we don't first and 00:26:56.640 |
foremost recognize that we have nothing to add does he really need my money does 00:27:01.200 |
God not have enough experience is he not talented enough is he not smart enough 00:27:05.680 |
for us to think that somehow if the right people with right talent and right 00:27:09.320 |
experience if they convert somehow somehow they're gonna make a huge impact 00:27:13.160 |
in the kingdom no first and foremost it humbles us until it humbles us we will 00:27:22.120 |
not truly repent you know when I was a third grader in Philadelphia I was asked 00:27:30.760 |
to join this play that was gonna be given in front of the whole community 00:27:33.800 |
not just our school but all the parents were gonna come and I was so proud of 00:27:37.120 |
that you know and I have no idea why they chose me I thought oh they they're 00:27:40.920 |
finally recognizing my talent you know so yeah I didn't know if they asked me 00:27:45.600 |
to join and then I was able to take a certain part of the day off so that I 00:27:50.800 |
can go to the assembly and then you know so that was a benefit I didn't have to 00:27:54.760 |
be in class so I said great I don't know what it is but they must have seen 00:27:59.520 |
something in me right and then as they were practicing I started to dawn on me 00:28:06.280 |
the reason why they chose me was because I was Asian because the play was the 00:28:10.900 |
king and I I don't know if you guys know that thing is you know but so you know 00:28:15.280 |
they basically had three choices they had my younger brother Philip which was 00:28:18.800 |
too young my older brother Paul who was too old so the only other Asian that 00:28:24.160 |
qualified was me I was a third grader so all of a sudden when I realized the 00:28:28.640 |
reason the only reason why they chose me is because I was a little bit more 00:28:31.600 |
tinted than the other children you know what I mean so I looked a little bit I 00:28:36.940 |
looked apart and that's why they chose me and I remember that day when I found 00:28:40.180 |
that out I went from like yes you chose me you finally recognized me and then 00:28:47.500 |
all of a sudden that was the only criteria you because you're Asian and 00:28:54.760 |
you look different you kind of look that part and then you know what's 00:28:57.180 |
interesting was I remember who was on the stage and the other children and I 00:29:01.260 |
was the only Asian I was the only agent so all the day couldn't find the other 00:29:05.500 |
Asians I was the only Asian on that thing I mean as goofy as that story may 00:29:11.380 |
be you know the gospel first and foremost humbles all of us and if it 00:29:18.900 |
doesn't humble us the very thing that you hold on to thinking that somehow you 00:29:23.620 |
can add to the kingdom of God because you have this is going to be the very 00:29:28.740 |
thing that stumbles you from that moment moment on it's a very thing that causes 00:29:34.220 |
you to not be able to see who Jesus is it's the very things that you are good 00:29:39.580 |
at that becomes your greatest stumbling block see to the early church the 00:29:45.100 |
Pharisees their greatest stumbling block is their morality because they kept the 00:29:50.300 |
law so vigorously and so they couldn't understand how can that not add anything 00:29:56.980 |
to my salvation so the first and foremost he takes an example of Abraham 00:30:02.780 |
because Abraham was at the pinnacle of what they believed to be a righteous 00:30:07.260 |
person he says no not even Abraham the second thing that we learn about 00:30:11.340 |
Abraham and justification by faith is Abraham's righteousness by salvation 00:30:16.140 |
teaches us that God's salvation plan was not new it's always been Hebrews 00:30:23.460 |
chapter 13 8 it says of Jesus Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today 00:30:28.420 |
and forever justification by faith was not something brand new that that God 00:30:37.540 |
was introducing you he didn't have plans to you know if these guys just obey my 00:30:41.260 |
law that somehow I'm able to save them and everything could be restored and 00:30:45.100 |
then these guys keep failing so I have to have another plan let's go to plan B 00:30:49.940 |
Jesus Christ crucified was never plan B he didn't have a plan B from the very 00:30:57.060 |
beginning in Genesis chapter 15 5 & 6 before he went out into the desert this 00:31:04.740 |
is what it says and he brought him outside and said look toward heaven this 00:31:07.860 |
is God speaking to Abraham and number the stars if you are able to number them 00:31:11.820 |
then he said to them you shall so shall your offering be and he believed the 00:31:15.860 |
Lord and he counted it to him as righteousness see he was counted 00:31:20.940 |
righteous before he went not after right before so from the very beginning 00:31:27.260 |
he says no salvation and righteousness is by faith but it didn't start with 00:31:32.220 |
Abraham either if you look at scripture you'll see that from the very beginning 00:31:37.340 |
as soon as they fall the proto evangelium in Genesis chapter 3 15 God 00:31:44.140 |
says he's going to bring the seed of the woman he's gonna crush the head of the 00:31:47.340 |
serpent and it was it was the pre gospel and all of the Old Testament is a 00:31:53.820 |
fulfillment of that promise so again you know you think about like why are there 00:31:58.980 |
so many genealogies in the Old Testament it was not because they're trying to 00:32:02.100 |
fill in time you know like your pages you know have so many pages so hey is a 00:32:06.420 |
good place for genealogy sometimes we read genealogies like like what is this 00:32:10.740 |
I'm not related to these people I don't care about this genealogy the genealogies 00:32:14.980 |
are important because genealogies connect us to that promise and it was a 00:32:20.940 |
it was a precise record of how that promise of the seed was going to come 00:32:26.100 |
and how that's connected to Jesus and that's why the very first page of the 00:32:30.820 |
New Testament begins with the genealogy Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise 00:32:37.140 |
so his plan of salvation was always Christ crucified and it never changed in 00:32:46.580 |
Habakkuk verse chapter 2 verse 4 said but the righteous shall live by faith 00:32:52.020 |
that's in the Old Testament not the New Testament that passage is is talked to 00:32:56.860 |
us repeated in Romans 1 17 Galatians 3 11 Hebrews 10 38 and Psalm 49 7 through 00:33:05.020 |
9 it says truly no man can ransom another or give to God a price of his 00:33:10.380 |
life this is in the Old Testament a man cannot redeem himself and he cannot 00:33:16.500 |
redeem another it is not possible for the ransom of their life is costly and 00:33:20.860 |
can never suffice that he should live on forever and never see the pit and so 00:33:25.860 |
there by your righteousness by your sacrifice you cannot be saved a lot of 00:33:32.820 |
times we read the Old Testament as if it's disconnected with a New Testament 00:33:36.660 |
you know and I and I saw that when I was younger when I first became a Christian 00:33:39.980 |
I read the Old Testament it's like what God seems very different you know Old 00:33:44.180 |
Testament there's judgment you know like they come he wipes out nations and then 00:33:48.740 |
we come to the New Testament it seems like Jesus was crucified and he loves 00:33:51.460 |
us unconditionally at least that's how I saw it you know and I saw a different 00:33:56.460 |
picture you know people again say that a lot of times you know I've been hearing 00:34:00.860 |
more and more how people are scared of me you know because I have a genetic 00:34:05.940 |
disorder right here where there's like a I got a permanent scowl on my face so if 00:34:11.580 |
I'm not laughing I look mad you know I remember a good friend that became a 00:34:17.700 |
friend of mine you know he's the missions director of Southern Baptists 00:34:21.940 |
in this area this guy is 6 feet 3 he's almost 300 pounds I mean intimidating 00:34:26.220 |
big guy and the first time I went to India he said he was intimidated by me 00:34:30.820 |
I like what and he said the reason why he said it's like I my countenance is 00:34:37.340 |
very serious that's what he said that's exactly the words he my countenance is 00:34:41.340 |
very serious I've never heard that phrase like that way before basically 00:34:45.340 |
what he means is like you look angry that's what he means so you know 00:34:50.380 |
sometimes they people perceive me a certain way because of certain things 00:34:53.580 |
and then you know even Esther said that because she knew me as a pastor before 00:34:57.300 |
we had any kind of relationship so she thought I was serious all the time and 00:35:01.580 |
then once we started dating so you're the biggest goofball I've ever met my 00:35:04.820 |
life and then so my perception was very different right a lot of times people 00:35:09.060 |
see the Old Testament in a kind of superficial way and they don't see the 00:35:12.140 |
connection to the New Testament and then if you talk to the you know the secular 00:35:17.020 |
historians they'll say oh you know Judaism was like this and then the New 00:35:20.460 |
Testament started in the time of Christ not realizing the connection between 00:35:24.620 |
Judaism and Christianity that Christianity was simply a fulfillment of 00:35:29.140 |
Judaism and it is clearly stated in Scripture that God's plan of salvation 00:35:36.300 |
from the very get-go in Ephesians chapter 1 it says before the creation of 00:35:40.220 |
the world this is what God had planned it never changed the only difference was 00:35:45.380 |
at the dispensation of how he was carrying it out in the Old Testament he 00:35:48.900 |
was preparing for the coming of Christ in a New Testament we're talking about 00:35:52.260 |
the Christ who came but it is the same and there is a clear connection that 00:35:59.820 |
Abraham not only the Jews not only Paul not only us but even Abraham and all the 00:36:06.220 |
forefathers before him and after him are saved the same way by the blood of 00:36:11.060 |
Christ you know we have children being born in our church seems like every 00:36:18.660 |
other day right that's that seems like right and it's it's always great when we 00:36:23.860 |
see the baby for the first time and the first thing that we see when we look at 00:36:27.740 |
children is who do they look like right so we saw man Hannah's baby recently and 00:36:33.020 |
the first thing we were oh we see that nose looks like Matt or you know the 00:36:36.620 |
years or Hannah or you know that smell definitely is Matt or whatever like we 00:36:41.420 |
we look at that and we kind of like certain things remind us of of the 00:36:46.220 |
parents right now my children are a little bit older and so they behave a 00:36:50.980 |
certain way and and so you know I I remember you know I don't remember when 00:36:55.740 |
I was 2 or 3 or whatever but I remember when I was 14 or 15 or 16 and and you 00:37:01.380 |
know there are certain things that because Zachary kind of had my second 00:37:04.460 |
child it's kind of like my temperament you know everyone wants to know Esther 00:37:07.580 |
we frustrated I don't know why he does that and I'm just sitting in the back 00:37:11.660 |
it's like I know exactly why he's doing that because I remember I remember what 00:37:16.620 |
I was like at that time you know you kind of you can kind of see the 00:37:20.140 |
connection with the parents you know and I remember now that I'm 48 that I don't 00:37:26.860 |
remember what my parents are 16 or 15 but I remember when they were this age 00:37:30.380 |
because I was older and there's certain things about my dad's mannerism my dad 00:37:34.340 |
was a pastor too so I remember very distinctly when he preached in his 00:37:38.180 |
mannerisms and there are certain things that he does that I just unconsciously 00:37:42.420 |
do like right here let's just hand in my pants right here like it just happens 00:37:47.380 |
naturally it's genetic I didn't realize this was genetically passed down and 00:37:54.220 |
and there are certain things that he does like the way he pulls his pants up 00:37:57.780 |
when he was alive he used to pull his pants up and the way he was to go around 00:38:01.300 |
his belly I catch myself doing the same thing I put my pants up and as I'm doing 00:38:08.580 |
is I my dad used to do the same thing and then you know I remember when I was 00:38:14.660 |
younger when my dad was a little bit older and he was being to have bad 00:38:18.580 |
eyesight he would take his glasses off and he was squinting like this you know 00:38:23.260 |
and I remember very distinctly going to my grandmother's house my dad's mother 00:38:28.300 |
and my grandmother would do the same thing she would take her glass off and 00:38:33.220 |
she would like that before she would talk and I would remember watching my 00:38:37.180 |
dad and watching my grandma and saying like they're related you know that's 00:38:42.340 |
where he gets it and there's a connection even with my nephews you know 00:38:45.300 |
because there's blood relationship and there's some things that I noticed with 00:38:49.300 |
their parents and my brothers and all this stuff you can't fool blood you 00:38:53.940 |
can't fool blood because it's passed down see Jesus says to these Pharisees 00:38:59.380 |
the reason why you don't understand me is because you don't understand my 00:39:03.180 |
father I say nothing of my own accord I only say what he told me to say and 00:39:10.340 |
Jesus says that he came and he's an exact representation the God that you've 00:39:15.500 |
been supposedly worshipping from a distance has drawn near to you and you 00:39:20.060 |
don't recognize him and the reason why you don't recognize him is because you 00:39:23.860 |
were never worshipping my father he says in John chapter 8 39 to 43 they 00:39:29.540 |
answered him Abraham is our father Jesus said to them if you were Abraham's 00:39:33.460 |
children you would have you would be doing what Abraham did but now you seek 00:39:37.820 |
to kill me a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God this is not 00:39:42.340 |
what Abraham did you are doing what your father did they said to him we were not 00:39:47.340 |
born of sexual immorality we have one father even God Jesus said to them if 00:39:52.020 |
God were your father you would love me for I came from God and I am here I came 00:39:57.820 |
not on my own accord but he sent me in other words if you knew my father you 00:40:04.220 |
would know that what I am saying is not new if you knew my father you would be 00:40:10.060 |
able to recognize that I am from him but because you don't know him you have 00:40:16.100 |
nothing to do with Abraham you don't recognize me either see this 00:40:22.540 |
justification by faith was not new God didn't change his plan his nature his 00:40:28.340 |
character they were all perfectly represented in Christ and so the reason 00:40:33.620 |
why Paul brings up Abraham is that these people were clinging to Abraham for their 00:40:37.280 |
hope and he says no not even Abraham he's he is of the same Romans chapter 00:40:45.060 |
four six three not only Abraham but he says of David David also speaks of the 00:40:49.700 |
blessing of the one whom God counts righteousness apart from works blessed 00:40:54.500 |
are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered 00:40:57.780 |
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin not only Abraham 00:41:02.180 |
but even the greatest king of Israel understood this Isaiah chapter 118 come 00:41:10.100 |
now let us reason together says the Lord though your sins are like scarlet they 00:41:14.540 |
shall be as white as snow though they are red like crimson they shall become 00:41:18.380 |
like wool those of you who've been studying Isaiah with us you know that 00:41:23.060 |
this passage is in the context of chapter after chapter after chapter of 00:41:27.780 |
warning of judgment coming upon Israel because of their sin yet even in the 00:41:33.860 |
context of judgment that he is proclaiming he's pleading with his 00:41:39.140 |
people come now let us reason together because God's desire even in judgment 00:41:46.420 |
is to forgive them is to bring them to himself and this is the same God of the 00:41:53.300 |
cross this is the same message of salvation see Jonah Jonah you guys know 00:42:02.420 |
the story of Jonah Jonah hated the Assyrians and rightfully so it kind of 00:42:07.220 |
like today you have the Assyrians you know the the Isis were going around 00:42:11.340 |
there beheading people women children burning down churches just so that they 00:42:16.620 |
can intimidate other people force them to convert or to just dominate them so 00:42:22.260 |
when we think about the terrorists we think of yet if anybody deserves 00:42:25.460 |
judgments these people Assyrians were exactly the same the Syrians would 00:42:31.180 |
crucify people burn them cut off their limbs and they would do it publicly so 00:42:36.740 |
that everybody was walking around say if you mess with us this is what happens to 00:42:39.740 |
you so they were known as a terrorist of that time so when God told Jonah to go 00:42:45.940 |
to Syria we don't understand that he didn't want to go he didn't want them to 00:42:49.940 |
repent so he goes reluctantly he preaches the warning the whole city 00:42:55.940 |
comes to repentance and the response of Jonah in chapter 4 of 1 and 2 it says 00:43:00.540 |
but it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry and he prayed to the Lord 00:43:07.460 |
and said O Lord is not this what I said when I was yet in my country that is why 00:43:13.300 |
I made haste to flee to Tarshish for I knew that you are a gracious God and 00:43:18.380 |
merciful slow to anger abounding in steadfast love and relenting from 00:43:22.380 |
disaster Jonah knew Jonah knew this God that he knew that if they would just 00:43:31.540 |
repent even the Assyrians even these decapitators these terrorists that he 00:43:39.500 |
would even forgive them see Jonah knew this the other prophets knew this 00:43:46.060 |
Abraham knew this Moses news this see this salvation by faith alone was not a 00:43:53.500 |
new product of the New Testament it wasn't plan B or C that was his plan 00:43:59.180 |
from the very beginning and that's why he bringing in Abraham that this is not 00:44:04.140 |
new third and finally Abraham's righteousness by faith teaches that 00:44:09.380 |
works comes as a result of faith not faith as a result of righteousness okay 00:44:15.060 |
so I'm gonna go through this last part but briefly now if Abraham is saved by 00:44:21.100 |
faith now today when we say saved by faith is like well say by faith in what 00:44:24.100 |
right we'll say okay Jesus Christ Son of God came emptied himself he was 00:44:31.100 |
crucified for our sin he would no sin became sin that we might become the 00:44:34.340 |
righteousness of God and so we memorize these scriptures he was crucified 00:44:37.820 |
resurrected in the third day that we may also live with him eternity so we know 00:44:41.180 |
the gospel what did Abraham confess if we're saved by the same faith and we 00:44:48.940 |
were to ask the Old Testament Saints how are you saved he said well they're saved 00:44:52.660 |
by faith faith in what because they never confessed Jesus they I don't 00:44:59.140 |
remember any one of them saying that he's resurrected on the third day so 00:45:02.220 |
that we may have resurrected life right if you look at Genesis 15 5 and 6 what 00:45:07.780 |
did he believe God said come with me right come with me and I will make your 00:45:14.500 |
descendants outnumber the stars Genesis 12 says I will bless you and many other 00:45:19.660 |
nations will be blessed through you and he left everything and followed God and 00:45:23.220 |
he said because of that it was credited to him as righteousness so faith of 00:45:30.180 |
Abraham and the Saints was a broader belief in God that I trust God that even 00:45:39.300 |
as I offer up my son I knew that even if he died if he wanted to he can resurrect 00:45:44.220 |
him from the dead so I would even give my son and so he believed God and 00:45:49.500 |
because he believed God he followed God he obeyed God and so when the scripture 00:45:54.780 |
says in the Old Testament that their faith made them righteous it is a much 00:46:00.740 |
bigger picture so does that negate the atonement of Christ obviously not 00:46:04.580 |
because part of that faith was the belief that if you sacrificed that God 00:46:10.580 |
would atone for your sins we come to the New Testament and we have narrowed our 00:46:16.140 |
faith to a few theological statements that if we believe that Jesus Christ was 00:46:23.940 |
crucified on the cross he was resurrected the third day in a tomb for 00:46:26.860 |
my sin and I believe that then you are saved and all this other stuff doesn't 00:46:31.660 |
really matter too much so we have narrowed faith to that and if you 00:46:37.860 |
confess that one saved always saved right now let me take that and expand it 00:46:44.900 |
because this is an extremely extremely important point how easy was it for you 00:46:51.260 |
to believe that God of the universe sent his only begotten son right to die for 00:47:00.580 |
undeserving sinners like you and me and we say I believe that yes I believe that 00:47:07.220 |
and then we just raise our hand and just just receive it and then we say Jesus 00:47:13.220 |
follow me follow me if you want to live follow me hmm not sure seek his funder 00:47:22.180 |
first the kingdom of God and all these things shall be added unto you hmm it's 00:47:27.980 |
hard to believe right hard to believe really if I give up everything and 00:47:33.820 |
follow you you're gonna provide everything that's hard to believe right 00:47:39.100 |
so Romans chapter 8 it says he who do not spare his own son how will he not 00:47:45.620 |
along with him give him all things which is harder to believe which is harder to 00:47:52.860 |
believe that Jesus Christ the Son of God died for sinners like you and me or that 00:47:58.940 |
the God that we proclaim created the universe can take care of us if we 00:48:05.580 |
follow him why is it so easy and so convenient to say I believe that I 00:48:15.140 |
believe that I believe that's why I'm saved but when it comes to this tiny 00:48:20.620 |
little thing that this God said follow me I mean if I gave you my son do you 00:48:25.980 |
think I would withhold anything I give you a billion dollars you think I'm 00:48:28.980 |
gonna be concerned about ten bucks I gave you a billion bucks you see why 00:48:34.980 |
faith that does not produce works doesn't make sense it is inconsistent if 00:48:41.700 |
it is genuine faith that we were able to believe this and says yes you died for 00:48:46.260 |
me and have such a hard time believing that if we follow him that he has the 00:48:50.900 |
best for us and then to say I don't know if I can believe that can that be true 00:48:57.740 |
faith can that be true faith see Abraham believed and so he left everything 00:49:07.020 |
follow even his only son I trust you and within that trust he provided a way of 00:49:14.300 |
salvation in the blood of Christ so for us we look at it this way yes believing 00:49:21.060 |
in God is much bigger than just a statement a few statement because if you 00:49:28.020 |
really believe in that statement how will he not how will we not believe all 00:49:35.060 |
the little things that come along with that does that make sense it is 00:49:41.140 |
inconsistent to profess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior who died for me 00:49:46.660 |
unconditionally saved and my faith is justified by faith alone and then not to 00:49:53.260 |
follow him see that's what faith in Abraham that's why Abraham is brought 00:49:58.980 |
because Abraham is the perfect picture perfect example of salvation by faith 00:50:04.820 |
let me invite I want to invite you guys to come and take take some time to pray 00:50:09.180 |
with me and again you know the things that we're talking about Sunday morning 00:50:13.700 |
may not be anything particularly new to you sometimes we know bits and pieces 00:50:16.900 |
but but we don't have it all together and that's why we thought it was 00:50:20.580 |
important for us to go through the book of Romans and we're not done yet there's 00:50:24.260 |
so many things that we think about our faith that just have holes in it but 00:50:27.460 |
we've never been challenged to think through these things right and maybe 00:50:31.380 |
some of you guys are sitting here today and he said you know you've been living 00:50:34.060 |
years thinking like as long as I hold on to this this particular statement of 00:50:37.700 |
faith you know and not realizing that along with that comes all these other 00:50:42.500 |
things but guess what all these other things if you really understand what 00:50:49.420 |
they were is a path to freedom it is it's a path to freedom when you lose 00:50:57.340 |
your life for the sake of Christ and you lose your competition for your 00:51:03.780 |
reputation and you give up on this rat race and surrender your life to Christ 00:51:10.020 |
then you can live you really can live think about how much of heartache and 00:51:18.300 |
anxiety frustration merit of discord problems at work friendship raising 00:51:26.940 |
children how much of that is produced because we are following the pattern of 00:51:34.500 |
the God of this age Jesus says come to me if you want to be my disciples take 00:51:42.460 |
up your cross deny yourself and follow me because that's the path to life would 00:51:49.060 |
you take some time to pray with me as our team comes up again take a few 00:51:53.860 |
minutes to come before the Lord and I think any prayer that's going to be 00:51:57.980 |
sincere before you think about theological correctness and is it 00:52:01.620 |
biblical be honest just like the psalmist when they were hurting they say 00:52:07.060 |
God where are you why aren't you answering my prayers best prayer is the 00:52:13.460 |
most honest prayer come before God wherever you are you know before you cry 00:52:18.100 |
out to your friends before you cry out and seeking counselors come before God 00:52:21.140 |
wherever you are I believe help my unbelief if you believe that answer is 00:52:27.180 |
in Christ Christ is where we should be running to let's take some time to come