back to index2016-07-17 Law and Grace to Bring Us to Salvation
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If you can turn your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter 8 and I'm going to be reading 00:00:19.560 |
And our focus mainly is going to be on verse 20 and 21. 00:00:23.920 |
"Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads 00:00:32.560 |
For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience 00:00:40.440 |
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all 00:00:45.640 |
So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading 00:00:50.240 |
to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." 00:00:56.160 |
You know, a few years ago when I was out in China I met a bunch of adoptees, Korean adoptees 00:01:02.600 |
who were adopted when they were young and then they were brought to the United States. 00:01:06.000 |
And some of them were not even aware that they were adopted and then they find out later 00:01:10.520 |
And I've actually known a few people where that happened. 00:01:13.280 |
And obviously you can imagine how much it will change their paradigm and how they look 00:01:16.760 |
upon life and re-remember everything that they remembered or childhood. 00:01:22.960 |
Every once in a while something may happen in your life that causes you to see everything 00:01:29.200 |
It might be something good, it might be something tragic, but it changes your paradigm. 00:01:33.640 |
And obviously every single Christian, whether it happened gradually, it happened all of 00:01:37.040 |
a sudden, it causes us to look at everything differently. 00:01:43.160 |
Paul has been talking to a group of Jews where keeping the law was everything. 00:01:51.320 |
To seek shalom basically meant that God would bless their life. 00:01:54.480 |
And they thought that the shalom from God would come if they obeyed the law of God. 00:02:00.320 |
So the law to them was not simply obeying and not obeying. 00:02:03.680 |
The obedience to the law for the Jews meant financial security. 00:02:10.560 |
Obeying the law meant that that's their way of being healthy, to get ahead in life. 00:02:15.640 |
And obeying the law is what caused them to have many children and to be fruitful and 00:02:22.680 |
So imagine if that was your paradigm and all of a sudden, Apostle Paul begins to tell them 00:02:28.640 |
that absolutely, that absolutely adds nothing to your salvation. 00:02:33.160 |
In fact, not only does that not add to your salvation, he says through the law, all you 00:02:41.720 |
He's saying those who have the law are condemned without the law. 00:02:44.680 |
Those who have the law will be condemned because of the law. 00:02:48.280 |
That it was not your path of salvation, that you're not going to be blessed, you're not 00:02:51.640 |
going to be healthy, you're not going to be multiple generations of the Lord's blessing 00:03:00.600 |
So imagine how difficult this must have been for the Jews to accept. 00:03:06.560 |
The more committed you were to the law, the more resistant you were to the gospel. 00:03:12.000 |
Even after the resurrection of Christ, even people who met Christ in his resurrection 00:03:19.880 |
They said, you know what, we can't deny the fact that Jesus was resurrected, but they 00:03:27.520 |
So they tried to incorporate some of the law into the new covenant. 00:03:33.040 |
We can imagine how difficult it must have been for the Jews to accept the pure gospel. 00:03:38.520 |
And that's why over and over again, Paul and the other authors of the New Testament is 00:03:44.200 |
That it is not through the law, but by the grace of God. 00:03:48.400 |
Paul says something very provocative in this passage in verse 20 where he says, not only 00:03:52.760 |
is the law not a way of salvation for you, he says the law came to increase trespass. 00:04:02.480 |
Meaning that when God gave you the law, not only did it not save you, it actually caused 00:04:11.080 |
So the natural question that we would ask if we read that, and if we misread that, maybe, 00:04:15.520 |
wait a minute, does that mean that God is the author of sin? 00:04:22.200 |
And if Paul is saying God gave us the law and law caused us to sin more, then could 00:04:28.160 |
we say the logical response to that is that God is the author of sin? 00:04:36.200 |
You have to understand the context in which Paul is saying. 00:04:38.880 |
Paul is using the language basically to provoke the Jews to pay attention. 00:04:43.880 |
Because what he's about to say, he needs to have them, again, to take a minute to reflect 00:04:54.440 |
He's deliberately using that language, which would get their attention. 00:04:59.240 |
But along with that, what Paul says here about the law is not comprehensive. 00:05:04.360 |
He says many other things about the law in other parts of his letters. 00:05:08.040 |
In fact, in other parts where he actually says the law is good. 00:05:12.600 |
Other parts of the letter where he says that there is a law of Christ that we ought to 00:05:17.080 |
So what he's saying here is not necessarily comprehensive, but in the context of justification, 00:05:21.880 |
in the context of salvation, the law actually does not cause us to be justified. 00:05:30.360 |
There's three things that I want to look at in verse 20 and 21 that he says that the law 00:05:37.360 |
So number one, he said that the law was given to increase trespass. 00:05:45.200 |
As crazy as that may sound, I think in reality, you and I would all agree. 00:05:51.040 |
I remember years ago, at the very beginning of the church, when I think those who are 00:05:59.000 |
in their mid-30s now, at that time was probably 18 or 19. 00:06:03.520 |
And at the very beginning of the church, every Friday night, we went through the book of 00:06:07.560 |
So some of you, a few of you may remember that. 00:06:10.720 |
But while we were going through Romans, one of the assignments that I gave on Friday night 00:06:15.600 |
was that I wanted them to create their own gospel tract through the book of Romans. 00:06:21.600 |
So use the Roman road that we see, the gospel presentation, the book of Romans, and create 00:06:28.740 |
So different people, they were put into groups of maybe about three, and then they got gathered 00:06:35.200 |
And then they actually made the gospel tract, and then they turned it in. 00:06:37.520 |
But I remember this one particular one that Pastor Aaron did that really stood out, that 00:06:45.400 |
And what he did was, on the cover of that, and some of you guys, a few of you guys may 00:06:49.720 |
remember, he says that it says nothing, right? 00:07:01.520 |
So I remember looking at that, I said, "What kind of a gospel tract is this?" 00:07:10.200 |
And as soon as you open it, he's like, "You sinner." 00:07:20.600 |
All of sin and falsehood are the glory of God. 00:07:22.200 |
The reason why you open it is because there's a rebellion in our hearts that goes against 00:07:26.360 |
what's right, and he started going off on the gospel. 00:07:30.400 |
Again, I remember that stuck in my mind because I thought that was a clever way to begin the 00:07:39.080 |
When Paul says that the law came, and when the law came, it provoked us to sin further. 00:07:46.080 |
But again, it's not that the sin wasn't already in our hearts, but it provoked it. 00:07:52.880 |
Meaning that when the law came, it revealed what was already dormant in our hearts. 00:07:58.120 |
And when the law said to do this and do that, it provoked us to rebellion. 00:08:04.680 |
The law was never meant, it was never an avenue for us to be saved. 00:08:14.120 |
God gave Adam and Eve one law, and they couldn't obey that one law. 00:08:19.160 |
And because of that one law, condemnation came into all man. 00:08:23.000 |
So think how ridiculous it would be where God thinks, "Okay, they can obey this one 00:08:26.440 |
law, but maybe they can obey the hundreds of laws. 00:08:30.640 |
Maybe if they kept all the laws, that they can somehow save themselves." 00:08:33.760 |
Imagine how ridiculous that logic would be, knowing that they couldn't even obey one law, 00:08:40.320 |
to think that somehow if you obeyed all the laws, that you can somehow be saved. 00:08:43.960 |
The law was never brought to us for the purpose of salvation. 00:08:49.200 |
In Hebrews 4.12, it says, "The law judges the thoughts and intentions of our heart." 00:08:58.120 |
It convicts us that this is who we are, this is what's happening. 00:09:06.120 |
It doesn't say that the law revives us or saves us. 00:09:13.680 |
In Jeremiah 17.10, it says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately 00:09:20.360 |
Now, you're coming to a Bible-teaching church where we have a high view of the Word of God 00:09:27.840 |
And so when you come to a Bible-teaching church, our natural tendency is to read that and say, 00:09:32.120 |
"You know, that's right, those charismatics, those who give all their attention to their 00:09:40.640 |
And as long as we don't give in to emotionalism, somehow we are safe." 00:09:45.720 |
Well in the time of the Old Testament and the New Testament, the word "heart" was 00:09:50.200 |
not used the way that you and I use it in this modern era. 00:09:53.840 |
Usually when we talk about heart, we're talking about somebody's emotion. 00:09:57.560 |
In the New Testament, when they were referring to specifically emotion, they would say "bowels." 00:10:07.920 |
When the New Testament, again the biblical language, when they used the word "heart," 00:10:12.280 |
it's similar to the way that we would say "soul." 00:10:16.120 |
All of us, every part of us, including our emotion, our will, and our intellect, all 00:10:27.540 |
So for us to understand Jeremiah 17.10, it means, the way we ought to understand it, 00:10:32.320 |
is that not simply to not trust your emotions, but don't trust yourself, period. 00:10:41.760 |
It wasn't just our emotion that got corrupted, even our intellect got corrupted. 00:10:50.540 |
We can easily use the Scriptures to harm people. 00:10:57.160 |
That's why he says, "do not give in to yourself." 00:11:02.080 |
In Colossians 2, 21-23, it says, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch," and he's referring 00:11:09.480 |
"Refer to things that all perish as they are used, according to human precepts and teachings." 00:11:16.340 |
These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion, asceticism, 00:11:21.760 |
and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the 00:11:27.760 |
Commandments that tell us that you ought to do this, and you ought to do this, and you 00:11:32.200 |
should live in this way, all of these things have some value because it tells us what is 00:11:38.440 |
It may give us a glimpse of God's standard and His holiness, but it says it has no value, 00:11:43.840 |
it has no power to stop us from going ahead and doing these things. 00:11:51.040 |
Again, when we get to Romans chapter 7, we're going to dive into it a little bit further, 00:11:56.840 |
but just to kind of give you a glimpse because it's related to what Paul is saying here. 00:12:00.320 |
Romans chapter 7, 14 or 15 and on, you know that passage, well I'm going to read this 00:12:05.520 |
to you, where Paul is wrestling in desiring to obey the law but having no power. 00:12:14.960 |
He says, "I do not understand my own actions, for I do not do what I want, but I do the 00:12:24.120 |
How many of you have felt that even this week? 00:12:27.640 |
I want to do what's right, but you feel absolutely helpless and you feel like you're not making 00:12:33.800 |
He said, "Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good." 00:12:37.960 |
In other words, the law to a Jew is revealed and says, "You know, that's good." 00:12:43.520 |
No Jew would have ever said that the law is not good. 00:12:47.240 |
In fact, the Bible itself says that law is good. 00:12:53.720 |
But a Jew, in his natural state, looks at the law and says, "I agree with the law, but 00:13:05.480 |
So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me, for I know that nothing 00:13:14.040 |
For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 00:13:21.360 |
For what I do not do, the good that I want, but the evil I do not want, is what I keep 00:13:34.040 |
The desire to do something, to see the goodness of God. 00:13:38.040 |
You look at the law of God and it reveals who He is. 00:13:41.680 |
It's like looking at a path that's going to lead to life and have no ability to take it. 00:13:48.040 |
The law points us and it highlights who God is and it highlights His glory. 00:13:53.920 |
That was the whole point of the temple, the whole point of the revelation of God's law, 00:14:01.600 |
And so the Jew, in his natural state, sees that glory, but has no ability to get there. 00:14:09.540 |
And that's why he concludes this section by saying, "Oh, what a wretched man that I am. 00:14:14.820 |
Who will deliver me from this body of death?" 00:14:19.240 |
That's why religious people who have not converted are the most miserable people in this world. 00:14:32.760 |
I think about the group, the Westboro Baptists, and I'm sure you guys have heard of them, 00:14:37.360 |
and again, I cringe every time the Baptist word gets attached to their church name. 00:14:41.680 |
Because these are the guys who are protesting and saying, you know, all these homosexuals 00:14:45.800 |
are going to go to hell, and all the message that they're giving to the world is condemnation. 00:14:53.080 |
Religious people who know all the rights and wrong, and yet have not been converted, have 00:15:08.520 |
So the first thing that he says is the whole point of the law is to bring us to that point. 00:15:12.720 |
But if we ended the sermon here, if Paul's message ended with, "Oh, what a wretched man 00:15:19.320 |
Who will deliver me from this body of death?" 00:15:21.000 |
I mean, what a miserable position for us to be in. 00:15:25.400 |
And I think sometimes as Christians, that's where we end, even though we may not say it, 00:15:30.200 |
but somehow in our psychology, in our theology, we end with, "Oh, what a wretched, I'm such 00:15:38.160 |
And then we end, and we think that that's what Christianity is about. 00:15:41.600 |
We know what it's good to do, but I have no power to do it, so I'm frustrated the rest 00:15:49.360 |
He says the reason why God allowed the law to come to increase sin is for the second 00:15:55.440 |
part is to increase grace, so that grace may abound. 00:16:01.320 |
Where sin abounded, he says, grace abounded all the more. 00:16:04.940 |
And that's the message that he was giving in the previous passage. 00:16:07.200 |
In Romans 5, verse 15, it says, "If many die through one man's trespasses, much more have 00:16:12.560 |
the grace of God and the free gift by the grace." 00:16:16.520 |
Up to this point, Paul's been pounding, "You are a sinner." 00:16:21.840 |
There's now, no, not one, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 00:16:25.160 |
Jews and Gentiles alike are under condemnation. 00:16:27.920 |
The wrath of God is being revealed against all ungodliness and righteousness, and over 00:16:34.240 |
He paints a dark and gloomy picture of mankind, and yet now he introduces this grace, and 00:16:40.280 |
he says, as dark as grace was, as dark as sin was and death was, grace abounds much 00:16:49.180 |
Again, in Romans 5, verse 17, "If because of one man's trespass, death reigned through 00:16:54.120 |
that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace." 00:16:59.040 |
So a few weeks ago, when we were going through that passage, we're like, basically what Paul 00:17:02.720 |
was saying is Jesus' power to save is much greater than the power to sin. 00:17:06.880 |
The power of life is much greater than the power of death, and the power of justification 00:17:11.920 |
is much greater than the power of condemnation. 00:17:21.680 |
He allows it to be as dark as it can possibly be, so that when he turns the light on, that 00:17:27.360 |
the light would shine brighter than it would have been without the darkness. 00:17:33.280 |
Some of you guys are really gifted in organizing. 00:17:43.800 |
Because I'm not that way, I'm always impressed by people who just like give, and they're 00:17:50.640 |
Your gifts are highlighted when there's a mess. 00:17:58.520 |
If you come into a situation where everything is just perfectly in order, and you come in 00:18:02.240 |
and say, "I'm gifted," your gifts aren't going to shine. 00:18:07.880 |
If you happen to be very tidy, your expertise and tidiness, it shines when there's a messy 00:18:18.120 |
The love of Christ is highlighted in darkness. 00:18:22.920 |
The darker he allowed it to be, the greater focus was when Christ came and turned the 00:18:29.680 |
The Scripture says that God came and sent his only begotten Son at just the right time. 00:18:38.200 |
And we can look at the just as right time as the Roman government, the language being 00:18:41.400 |
united, the culture, the ability to travel, the political environment at that time, the 00:18:50.920 |
But you know, God wasn't waiting for the Romans to come into power. 00:18:56.520 |
God wasn't waiting because he couldn't have paved the road when the Greeks were there. 00:19:03.240 |
I don't think superficially that all may be true, but in the end, when he says "just the 00:19:08.320 |
right time," he was allowing the law to take its natural effect. 00:19:14.120 |
Where condemnation, where you get to the point, allow the Jews to get to a point of such idolatry, 00:19:19.680 |
they were in such darkness, that the very God that they were worshipping all these years 00:19:25.240 |
actually stands in front of them and they don't recognize him. 00:19:28.520 |
They've been making sacrifice after sacrifice, worshipping this God, and then he comes incarnate 00:19:41.040 |
If you look at his ministry, three years of revealing himself to the nation of Israel. 00:19:51.520 |
In fact, if you study the Gospel, you'll see that at the end of three years of labor, they 00:20:00.040 |
John 6, 66, when he says "you're coming after me because you want to eat, but I am the bread 00:20:06.200 |
He who does not eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, he has nothing to do with me 00:20:15.920 |
How many times have you thought that maybe if I was there when Jesus actually walked 00:20:25.640 |
Maybe if I actually ate the bread and the fish that those people ate, that my faith 00:20:31.560 |
How many times have you fantasized and thought about that? 00:20:33.440 |
If Jesus showed himself here and we had somebody lame and he raised them and they're walking 00:20:52.240 |
And yet at the end of his revelation, at the end of walking with them, they reject him. 00:20:58.760 |
Not only do they reject him, the leaders of Israel who was given the responsibility to 00:21:04.040 |
represent God to his people, they themselves actually make the decision to crucify him. 00:21:11.160 |
And it was at the darkest period of Israel's history that Jesus goes toward the cross and 00:21:24.140 |
He allows the darkness to be as dark as possible because it is when it is darkest when his 00:21:33.200 |
Where sin abounded, grace abounded that much more. 00:21:36.960 |
Many guys know the song "Amazing Grace" and I'm just going to read the first verse to 00:21:41.360 |
It says, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. 00:21:44.360 |
I once was lost but now I'm found, was blind but now I see." 00:21:48.200 |
And I know many of you, if not all of you, know this song. 00:21:53.040 |
So every once in a while you'll hear it in movies, Christian or not. 00:21:57.880 |
Not too long ago, President Obama stood with the Congress and they were gathered together 00:22:07.640 |
I mean, in and of itself, the songs and the writing in and of itself is powerful. 00:22:13.120 |
But when you understand the man who wrote this song and his testimony behind this song, 00:22:20.880 |
There's a man named John Newton, born 1725, and he was born, his mother, who was a Puritan, 00:22:32.720 |
And his father was at most a nominal Christian, probably not a Christian, and happened to 00:22:40.060 |
And so from a very young age, he followed his father around, eventually became a soldier 00:22:47.280 |
But he had such rebellion in his heart, he kept on getting into trouble one after another. 00:22:54.080 |
He was maybe a sergeant of the boat and he ended up getting demoted. 00:22:59.960 |
And as a demotion, he asked that he would be transferred to a slave boat. 00:23:05.680 |
And no one asked for that because the slave boat is actually further down. 00:23:17.120 |
So he got actively recruited or part of the slave boat and he became a slave trader. 00:23:23.260 |
And he worked under a particular slave trader who was known for his cruelty. 00:23:31.040 |
Well, one day the ship hits a storm and they're all about to die. 00:23:39.360 |
And he says, "God, if you save me from this, I will convert and I will serve you." 00:23:44.440 |
God answers his prayer and saves him from that. 00:23:52.560 |
No one had to tell him that what he was doing was cruel and it was immoral. 00:23:56.000 |
But he doesn't stop because that's what he knows. 00:23:59.360 |
So for several years after that, he would continue on this trade until he gets absolutely 00:24:06.400 |
And again, he cries out for mercy, "God, this time I mean it. 00:24:09.640 |
And if you forgive my sins, I will give my life to you." 00:24:12.840 |
And he will say that that's when he truly converted. 00:24:16.480 |
And after his conversion, he leaves the slave trade. 00:24:21.480 |
And as a pastor, he influences a young politician, William Wilberforce, who actually begins to 00:24:32.160 |
And it is in that context that this was a testimony. 00:24:35.280 |
This song wasn't simply about just any grace. 00:24:37.600 |
It was his personal testimony that he wrote in this letter, in this hymn. 00:24:42.480 |
So let me read that to you again in that light. 00:24:45.720 |
"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me." 00:24:51.640 |
He wasn't just talking about a generic understanding of a sinner. 00:24:56.080 |
I don't think there was anybody at that time, Christian or non-Christian, who would have 00:25:06.120 |
When he says, "a wretch like me," truly he was a wretch. 00:25:15.000 |
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved. 00:25:19.160 |
How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed. 00:25:24.240 |
Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come." 00:25:28.000 |
So again, you can understand as a person who already faced death twice. 00:25:36.120 |
"Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come, 'tis grace has brought 00:25:47.040 |
"And Lord has promised good to me, his word my hope secures. 00:25:50.760 |
He will my shield and portion be as long as life endures. 00:25:54.560 |
Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail, and mortal life shall cease, I shall possess 00:26:02.920 |
In other words, when he encountered this grace, that it was so overwhelming, he says, "my 00:26:13.920 |
It's when I die, when my flesh is gone, that's what I look forward to. 00:26:18.800 |
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, the sun forbear to shine, but God who called me 00:26:27.800 |
When we read this, in and of itself, it's powerful. 00:26:30.560 |
When you understand the man, and just how dark his life was, and that it is from that 00:26:40.080 |
So when the scripture says that just the right time, sometimes in our lives, God will 00:26:46.600 |
allow us to take whatever it is that we are in to its logical course, because God is waiting 00:26:56.480 |
Until we see sin as utterly sinful, we will not see grace as amazing. 00:27:08.800 |
When God's love shines brightest, it is when we least deserve it. 00:27:18.400 |
Think about the time that you remember the most, where the love of God was the most precious 00:27:24.000 |
Wasn't it at a time when you felt that you least deserved it, and yet God loved you? 00:27:31.640 |
God's love is demonstrated toward us in that while we were yet sinners in rebellion, blasphemous, 00:27:38.320 |
had no interest in serving and honoring God, and that's when he reveals his love toward 00:27:45.360 |
Romans 8, 2-4 says, "For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from 00:27:53.160 |
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do, by sending his own 00:27:58.240 |
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh; and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh, in order 00:28:02.640 |
that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us." 00:28:06.040 |
See, that's a follow-up of what he says in verse 24 in Romans. 00:28:14.640 |
Just thanks be to God, for there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:28:26.000 |
Law was given to us that sin may be utterly sinful, but that wasn't the ultimate purpose. 00:28:31.960 |
The ultimate purpose was so that grace may abound, the darker it became. 00:28:36.680 |
The third and final is, again, over and beyond. 00:28:44.400 |
When God knows we need something, and God desires to give us something, he always does 00:28:51.440 |
That's the pattern that we see in the Old Testament, that's the pattern we see in the 00:28:54.840 |
He says that grace may reign in righteousness, so that as sin reigned in death, grace also 00:29:03.440 |
When we talk about reign, we don't know what reigning means, because we don't live in a 00:29:13.800 |
The President of the United States is the most powerful politician in the United States, 00:29:17.720 |
but the United States government has a bunch of check and balances. 00:29:21.520 |
So President Obama can't make law by himself. 00:29:25.480 |
He can introduce it, but he can't make the law. 00:29:27.720 |
He has the judiciary side of the government, he has the legislative side of the government, 00:29:34.040 |
he's accountable to his cabinet, he's accountable to his delegates, he's accountable to the 00:29:41.540 |
He doesn't have a lot of power, because it's designed that way. 00:29:45.280 |
When we talk about reigning, reigning means like a king who can do whatever he wants. 00:29:50.080 |
A king can come in and say, "You know, that's my house," and he can take it. 00:29:58.120 |
So the word reign means that it has absolute dominance over everything. 00:30:04.400 |
And that's the word that is used to describe sin. 00:30:07.920 |
Sin in death absolutely reigned over everything. 00:30:21.720 |
Your marriage, as much as you come together, "Our marriage is going to be different. 00:30:33.880 |
Then as soon as you get married, it's like, "I married a sinner." 00:30:41.960 |
And you think like, "Oh, but not with my children. 00:30:46.520 |
My children are going to be the smartest kid in the world. 00:30:54.000 |
And every parent starts out thinking that their kid is going to be different than every 00:30:58.240 |
And as soon as you start raising kids, "Huh, he's a sinner." 00:31:13.800 |
And then we all get surprised when we go to work and our bosses are selfish. 00:31:20.240 |
And people are slandering us, like, "I can't believe these people are like this." 00:31:23.880 |
And then you move jobs thinking like, "I can't work here." 00:31:27.080 |
You have a bunch of friends, it's like, "Yeah, these people are like this." 00:31:33.080 |
And then you go over there, "Huh, it's the same over there." 00:31:39.520 |
Every politician that comes in and say, "Those sinners, those guys don't know what they're 00:31:45.320 |
And if we've been watching politics long enough, we have absolutely no confidence. 00:31:50.640 |
And I don't think it's because they don't mean it. 00:31:53.880 |
They just don't know that they don't have the power. 00:32:11.160 |
No wonder the world is working so hard to find life. 00:32:15.480 |
Temporarily, superficially, but everybody, Christian and non-Christian alike, is looking 00:32:24.040 |
But yet the Bible says as long as there is sin, death and penalty reign. 00:32:31.640 |
He says just as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness. 00:32:43.480 |
Grace just doesn't come in and affect what we do on Sunday. 00:32:57.360 |
Paul says in 1 Timothy 1, 15-16, "The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance 00:33:02.520 |
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." 00:33:07.560 |
I don't think he's being falsely humble when he says I am the foremost. 00:33:19.720 |
First martyr of the church was killed by this guy, Stephen. 00:33:25.440 |
But I receive mercy for this reason that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display 00:33:29.640 |
his perfect patience as an example to those who are to believe in him for eternal life. 00:33:35.000 |
Paul was not chosen because of his Roman citizenship. 00:33:38.440 |
Paul was not chosen because he was an expert of the law. 00:33:41.800 |
Paul was not chosen because he had so much experience traveling back and forth and he 00:33:47.880 |
Paul was not chosen because he was the best of speakers. 00:33:51.840 |
You would think that if God is going to choose a man whose primary task is to take the most 00:33:57.600 |
important message, "Evangelion," good news, to the Gentile world, that you would think 00:34:02.680 |
that the best preacher, best philosopher, the most articulate, like don't mess with 00:34:15.040 |
He said his letters are strong but his appearance is weak. 00:34:19.680 |
A lot of times we interpret that as he was not a good looking guy. 00:34:24.720 |
His letters look impressive but when he comes, we're not impressed. 00:34:27.640 |
I don't think they were referring to his short stature or skinny or he was bald. 00:34:32.080 |
Oftentimes, I've heard that so many times through commentaries, after a while, I started 00:34:42.240 |
I don't think they were talking about his physical stature because they were comparing 00:34:48.560 |
It wasn't like they read the letter and it's like, "Oh, he's so handsome." 00:34:58.320 |
He was looking at the letter and it's so powerful and speak with such authority. 00:35:04.840 |
And then when he came, remember the way they described Paul in Book of Acts? 00:35:08.280 |
He had a habit of speaking on and on and on and on and on. 00:35:14.800 |
If he was such a great speaker, I mean, you would think they would be riveted. 00:35:21.480 |
I've had people fall asleep in my sermons before, but no one's died yet. 00:35:29.840 |
So I don't think they were talking about his stature. 00:35:32.160 |
I don't think he was like, "Oh, he wasn't a good looking man." 00:35:37.680 |
In fact, the reason why Apollos got all this attention is because he was such a great speaker, 00:35:48.160 |
He was one of the three that saw the transfiguration. 00:35:56.280 |
He was such a great sinner, but Apollos, why did he get all this attention? 00:36:05.480 |
Paul says, "God didn't choose me because of my background, because of my Roman citizenship, 00:36:12.640 |
He said he chose me because I was the worst of sinners." 00:36:16.800 |
And the reason why he displayed the worst of sinners is this guy who just days ago was 00:36:22.440 |
about to kill people, now he's proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 00:36:30.160 |
That that same guy who was responsible for the death of Stephen, now is proclaiming the 00:36:38.080 |
That if God can save that man, we all have hope. 00:36:45.240 |
See, that's what it means when grace came, grace abounded. 00:36:51.080 |
In 1 Corinthians 15, it says, "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace 00:36:59.760 |
On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace 00:37:07.400 |
Not only did he redeem Paul as a human being, he redeemed him, even his works. 00:37:18.600 |
Before he met Christ, everything that he did was for the purpose of building his righteousness. 00:37:23.000 |
But when the power of God came over and overwhelmed him, he said, "I worked harder than anybody 00:37:29.600 |
See, grace didn't just say, "Oh, you know, I'm saved, I'm not going to hell, that's 00:37:34.360 |
Paul, overwhelmed by the grace of God because of his great sin, he saw the glory of God 00:37:41.240 |
probably in a brighter light because of his great sin. 00:37:45.040 |
As a result of that, he said, "I worked harder than anybody." 00:37:48.800 |
He redeemed even his good works for his glory. 00:38:01.640 |
It's not just in Bible study or when we go out to missions or what we do at a certain 00:38:36.800 |
He says, "As a result of this overwhelming grace, it ultimately leads to eternal life 00:38:44.760 |
"I've come to give life and to give this life abundantly." 00:38:46.720 |
He didn't just say, "I've come to give this life so that you would not just go to 00:38:50.840 |
I've come to give this life abundantly, that you would be overwhelmed by this life." 00:38:56.720 |
That's why when we worship God, it is not out of duty. 00:39:13.040 |
But what God desires from us is to be so overwhelmed by the grace of God that people 00:39:25.360 |
That you desire to be in the Word of God because that's where you find life. 00:39:31.400 |
In the midst of darkness in this world, think about what's happening in the Middle East 00:39:36.160 |
I mean, people are being beheaded, churches are being blown up, Christians are being raped, 00:39:42.460 |
and yet in the context of all of that, the Scripture says people are seeing Christ as 00:39:47.960 |
a Savior more powerfully today in that area than in the last hundred years of mission 00:39:55.720 |
And some of you guys may have read the same articles I have. 00:39:58.000 |
They said there's more Muslims, moderate Muslims, who are turning to Christ than any other modern 00:40:05.720 |
In the midst of beheading, in the midst of persecution, where His grace is overwhelming 00:40:16.200 |
We are to be overwhelmed by the grace of God. 00:40:19.640 |
That our relationship is not done grudgingly because He loved us. 00:40:25.320 |
I'm going to finish with a story that I told years ago, and some of you guys may remember, 00:40:32.880 |
And I know some of you guys are going to roll your eyes because, oh, again. 00:40:36.560 |
But I thought it would be appropriate for today as I wrap up this sermon about how the 00:40:42.520 |
The birds are pretty pathetic creatures without their wings. 00:40:45.160 |
They got their little beak and little, you know, little stem legs. 00:40:48.480 |
And because of that, they are targeted, you know, in the jungle. 00:40:55.320 |
They carry the bananas for them wherever they want them to take it. 00:41:00.960 |
So the one day the angels were flying above and they see and they have pity on them. 00:41:05.200 |
So the angels decide, hey, well, let's go down there and sacrifice and give them our 00:41:10.200 |
So the angels come out and they sacrifice, take their wings off and give it to them. 00:41:13.760 |
But initially they don't understand what these wings are. 00:41:17.120 |
So they take these wings and it's enough to carry the bananas. 00:41:19.480 |
But now we've got to carry these burdensome wings. 00:41:23.160 |
So they're walking and trying to run away from the monkeys and they're running into 00:41:33.360 |
And now you give us now on top of that, we have to carry these wings. 00:41:38.560 |
And so those who didn't understand what they were, they died off. 00:41:43.760 |
And that's why we only have birds that have wings. 00:41:46.760 |
A few of them, some of you guys are so serious. 00:41:57.720 |
Some of these birds, remember it's like, hey, wait a second. 00:42:03.720 |
Could it possibly be that the wings were the reason why they were able to fly? 00:42:14.720 |
The worst case scenario, we die and we're no longer slaves in the jungle. 00:42:18.600 |
So some of them go up to the highest part of the jungle and they fly off and they spread 00:42:33.960 |
So they became these majestic creatures who are flying. 00:42:37.600 |
And again, that's how the birds got their wings. 00:42:42.800 |
Sometimes as Christians, we take the grace of God and make it a burden. 00:43:01.040 |
Not recognizing that this is a gift that was given to us for life. 00:43:10.360 |
God gave us this so that we will be overwhelmed by the love of God. 00:43:15.720 |
Let me read you a verse before I wrap up and ask the team to come up. 00:43:21.080 |
In Isaiah 40, 29-31, you guys know this passage well. 00:43:24.240 |
It says, "He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might, he increases strength. 00:43:29.840 |
Even youth shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted. 00:43:34.320 |
But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength and they shall mount up with 00:43:45.560 |
I pray that the grace of God would overwhelm us. 00:43:50.080 |
That everything that we do would simply be a reasonable response to the mercy that he 00:43:54.600 |
Would you take a few minutes to pray with us? 00:44:00.960 |
If the grace of God has become a burden to you, take a minute to take a step back and 00:44:07.240 |
to really come before the Lord and ask the Lord to open your eyes. 00:44:12.720 |
You may again come to that same love that saved you. 00:44:16.680 |
Remember the height from which you had fallen, repent and redo the things that you did at 00:44:21.240 |
As our worship team leads us, let's take some time to reflect and come before the Lord and 00:44:26.200 |
surrender that our life that God desires for us may be abundant enough.