All right, other than that, why don't we turn our Bibles to Romans chapter 1. We're looking at verse 17 specifically, but I want to read the rest of the text in verse 8 all the way down to verse 17, but the emphasis on verse 17. So I'm going to read the text and then we'll jump into the message this morning.

Reading out of the ESV. "First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you, always in my prayers asking that somehow by God's will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.

For I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, that is that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. I want you to know, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you, but thus far have been prevented in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.

I am under obligation both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish, so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. Let's pray. Gracious and merciful God, we thank you so much for the privilege that we have to be able to come worship you this morning. You are patient with us.

You are loving beyond our comprehension. And you are a God deserving of all our praise, all that we are, all our lives. I pray that this morning that you would open up your word, open up our eyes, soften our hearts, that your word, Lord God, would have an impact on us, strengthen us, revive us, renew us, Lord God, that we may run this race with the strength that you give.

So for that end, we pray for your blessing. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. As we've been studying through the book of Romans, and again, last week as you guys remember, we were talking about verse 16, that we are not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation.

And so we looked at the power behind our salvation and why we ought not to be ashamed and to proclaim it with boldness. When we think about salvation, I think we need to be very specific in what we mean by salvation. Because if we have a superficial understanding of salvation, we automatically have a superficial application of what that salvation means.

In English, when we say something is saved, or we save something, we usually mean two things. One, you saving something, salvaging something from danger. So we will say that if somebody is drowning and we rescued them, we say we were saved, or we saved them. Or somebody was in danger in any kind, got in an accident and so they needed help, so the ambulance came and saved them.

So we have one meaning where we are saving them from some kind of danger, some kind of harm. The second meaning of the word save in English is to preserve something for something else. So we would save money. So if you make $100, you save 10% of that and you put it into your bank and you leave it there for something else.

Or, you know, all the time you would have some great things on your plate to eat and you would save one part of it because you are savoring it for the end. You know, you say, "Why are you not eating that?" Because I'm saving it. So we have these two meanings.

One is to save us from danger. The other one is saving for something. Saving from something, saving for something. But the question that we have this morning, we talk about saving for something. We're very familiar with being saved from something. We're saved from the penalty of the law, we're saved from God's judgment, His wrath, we're saved from hell.

But when we talk about saving for something, where the scripture says, "You are a chosen race," 1 Peter 2, 9-10, "a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession." So we're saved for him, that we belong to him, that we are his children. But then he goes on to say, "That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." So not only were we saved from something, we're saved for the purpose of declaring His glory.

Ephesians 2, 10, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." He saved us from danger for the purpose of glorifying God through good works. Now, again, this may not be new to you, but I want to ask you, just personally, how many of you are sitting here just tired and burned out?

Okay, don't raise your hand, it's a rhetorical question, okay? Say, "I am." I'll bet you there's quite a few who are in here who are just making it Sunday after Sunday is a lot of work. It's tiring, you know? And maybe sometimes you're thinking in your head that, "What would have happened if I didn't go up to that retreat?

What would have happened if I didn't join that campus ministry? And what if I didn't run into this guy, and this guy kept begging me to come to church, and then I became a Christian? And then what if I never met the Lord? How would my life be different?" Because just the day-to-day, you know, walking and persevering is difficult.

Some of you guys who are new Christians, you know, may not be able to relate to what I'm saying. You know, it's always awesome to hear the testimonies of young believers. Today, we have five people who are being baptized today, and two of them happened to be my sons.

And so, again, every baptism is extremely, you know, precious, but today, especially for me personally, is very precious. And hearing their testimony is always exciting. That's why we encourage the church to come out, not just because you need to be there, but I think for your own encouragement to hear the testimonies and remind us of what it is that we have in Christ.

For those of you who've been around for a while, you've been a Christian for five years, ten years, maybe fifteen, twenty years, we tend to think that if you've been a Christian for a while, you know, our natural attitude is, "Yeah, you know, I've been there, you know, it's always like, it's kind of like the honeymoon, like a marriage, you know, you start with a honeymoon, then longer you've been married, it's like ball and chain, you know, you talk about your husband like some monkey got a train, you know what I mean?

Like I remember early on in marriage, I remember an older brother who was about ten, ten some years ahead of me, and he asked me how my marriage was, and I said, "For the most part, it was pretty good," you know? And I remember him stopping and saying, "Hey, Peter, you know, share with us." I said, "What do you mean?" He's like, "Come on, tell me." I said, "No, I love my wife, things are good," you know?

And he was like, "Okay, Peter's not willing to open with us, you know, today," you know? And you just have this idea, it's kind of like the, you know, you have the honeymoon, you know, you probably heard that joke before, like in a wedding there's a, what do you call it, there's a engagement ring, there's a wedding ring, and then there's a suffering that comes afterwards, right?

You probably, I'm sure many of you have heard that before. But a lot of people think of our Christian life like that, right? You have the engagement ring when you hear the gospel, and then you have the wedding ring at the baptism, and then you have the suffering the rest of your life, right?

Even though it may be comical, a lot of us can sit here and relate to that, right? So yeah, that's how it's been. It's been just kind of difficult, you know? And I do what I do because that's what I'm called to do, and that's what a Christian's supposed to do.

And if you happen to have any kind of labels or titles, you know, and that's enough to keep you going, like, "I'm a pastor, I'm a leader, I'm a deacon, I'm a whatever," and then that, to live up to expectations of people, you just do it. But the joy has gone, you know?

That excitement that we had when we were young Christians, and when we first started coming to church, and we first met the Lord, is a memory in the past, and now we're just kind of making it. We're making it to church, making it to Bible study, and if that.

Why is it so hard? Is that the intention? When we look at Apostle Paul, and we look at the Scripture, and we look at these people, and we highlight certain things, but is that normal? Is that what God intended? I want to look at this morning in verse 17, you know, explaining what salvation is, that the Scripture doesn't just only save us, and gives us the initial power to be saved, but the Scripture also gives us the power to persevere, to grow, and to live in joy in Christ.

See, verse 16 and 17 is really at the crux of Christianity. Paul is at the end of introducing himself, and preparing the readers to jump into the detailed Gospel message that he's about to present, starting from verse 18. So, verse 16 and 17 is the foundation, is the conclusion of everything that he said about who he is, and the Gospel he came to preach, and the ministry that he's committed to.

And then he's going to start in verse 18, he said, "Well, the wrath of God is being revealed," and he's going to go into the details of the Gospel. But 16 and 17 is pretty much, in a nutshell, the summary of everything that he wants to say, and is going to say.

And that's why it's worth taking some time to dive into it a little bit further, as we looked at verse 16, we're going to look at verse 17, where this power to save us, where we get the boldness to preach, is also the same power that gives us the strength to persevere.

So, the first thing that we see is that this power to save us, in verse 17, says, "It is when we behold His righteousness." Because that's what he says, he says, "I'm not ashamed, the power of God's salvation, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed." So, the first thing that happens, every single one of us that became a Christian, you heard the Gospel message, and you, the righteousness of God, the glory of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was revealed to us.

Now, what does that mean? When we typically think about the Gospel or the cross, we don't think of righteousness, we typically think of His grace, His mercy, and His patience, and desire to forgive our sins. But again, whenever we read the Scriptures, you have to think about how the early Jews would have taken this.

Because before we start with the book of Matthew, you have to understand that there were thousands of years of preparation for the coming of Christ. So, it's very helpful for, in fact, I would say it is necessary for us to understand that when Paul says that in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, that we think like a Jew first.

To a Jewish mind, this would have made a lot of sense, because if you remember at the beginning of the creation of the nation of Israel, God made it very clear, "Here are the set of laws that I'm going to give you. If you obey it well, you're going to live, you're going to prosper, God's going to bless you." But then here's this other part, "If you don't live by this, here are the curses that's going to come upon you." And all through the nation of Israel, if you've ever consistently read through the history of Israel, by the time you get to about first king, second king, I mean it is dark.

You get to a point, I remember preaching through the kings, by the time I get to the second king, I would sit there preparing this message thinking, "Oh my gosh, again. Again." And I can see why pastors don't preach through the Old Testament, because it's depressing. By the time you get to about, it doesn't take long, as soon as they enter into the promised land, they fall into one sin after another.

And it's a constant cycle of God judging them, restoring them, God judging them, restoring them, and almost after about 100, 200 years, you would think God had enough. You know, so typically when we read the Old Testament in chunks, we say, "Oh God is so vengeful, because we see Him judging." But if you follow along the history, I think you will have the same thing that I did.

You will get to a point, you say, "Why is He not done with these people? Why doesn't He just come and crush them and start over? Why?" "Oh, because He said He's not going to do it." You know, but at some point, the frustration builds. Well, it never gets better.

Israel history is like that all the way to the end. And so you end up finishing the book of the Old Testament with this sense of, "Oh my gosh, something bad, really bad is going to come, because all the curses that He said was going to happen, now is going to be stored up, it's going to happen." Well, if that's all it was, I think we would have been in huge trouble.

But in the context of His judgment, He always qualified His judgment. And let me give you a sample of this. And I'm just going to read one verse for the purpose of time. But this verse pretty much signifies, like every time He talks about judgment, He qualifies it with a promise.

And this is the promise He makes. Micah 7, 18-19. "Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression? For the remnant of His inheritance, He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities underfoot.

You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." Now, that's just an example of verse after verse, prophet after prophet, talking about you are deserving of judgment, but God will not remain angry forever. That He will one day bring about the forgiveness of sins. He's going to restore all the remnants of Israel and restore His kingdom.

He's going to give salvation. So a Jew who would have listened to this naturally would have thought, how is He going to do that? Because God made it very clear in Israel that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. So how is He going to cover all of these sins?

If you look at the Day of Atonement, there's all kinds of sacrifices that were commanded in the Old Testament. But the Day of Atonement was a day set aside where everybody, you know, throughout the rest of the year, you'd have the sin offering, you'd have the guilt offering, you'd have the whole offering, grain offering, you'd have all different kinds of offerings God commanded.

But on this Day of Atonement, after the Passover meal, they would slaughter these animals, and one animal, one lamb for each family. And family at that time wasn't just father, mother, and three children, right? At that time a family would have been grandfather, grandmother, you know, the uncles and aunts and all the grandchildren, and it would have been maybe 30, maybe if it was a large family 60, 70 people.

And each family on this Day of Atonement would have to offer up a sacrifice. And they said, the archaeologists and historians said that at that particular time over 250,000 lambs were slaughtered on the Day of Atonement. 250,000. And so you can imagine what that scene would have looked like.

You know, typically when we see the picture of the Temple, you see a pristine picture of gold and shiny marble walls. But on the Day of Atonement, can you imagine 250,000 animals being slaughtered? And they weren't just slaughtered. Their blood is gushing out everywhere. And they took this blood and they had to sprinkle it on the curtains, sprinkle it on the altar, sprinkle it everywhere.

It was one massive bloody scene. But that wasn't enough. That had to be done every year as long as Israel existed. And they knew that that wasn't enough and it wouldn't be permanent. That this had to be done over and over. And this is one Day of Atonement. So when God promised the nation of Israel that all their sins would be wiped out forever, how would He have done that?

Is He just going to neglect everything that He's been teaching the nation of Israel? Is He going to go against everything that He's been teaching and say, "You know what? This Temple sacrifices, giving of animals, all of this stuff, I'm just going to forget about it." So the question would have remained, how is He going to do this?

That's why in 1 Peter 1, 10 through 11, it describes the prophets who are giving these prophecies about this forgiveness. It says this, "Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories." In other words, they were looking intently, how is this going to happen?

If 250,000 animals being slaughtered is not enough, what animal does He have in mind that's going to take care of this? Who is going to do this? What would be sufficient to cover the sins of mankind? Who would have ever thought, what Jew would have ever thought, that He would send His only begotten Son?

That this person that He was referring to was His own Son? And so when the Scripture says, "It is the power of God unto salvation, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed." What He's saying is, we know the grace of God, we know that because He promised it, but how will He fulfill this in His righteousness?

It is when that revelation was revealed to us. And we're not talking about information. We're not talking about you heard it, and say, "Oh, that made sense to me." The revelation that He's referring to here, when it was revealed to us by faith, is not just information. We're talking about illumination.

Somebody can be in the church all his life and hear it, and even recite the Gospel to you, and tell you, "This is what the Gospel is. I know what it is." But that's not when you got saved. How many of your testimony will say, "You know, I grew up in the church, heard the Gospel ever since I was a little kid, but I didn't get saved until I was in 10th grade, or 12th grade, or I was in college, or beyond that, when it made sense to me, when it hit me that this is real." So this revelation He's talking about is not just something, "Oh, I heard it and it made sense." He's talking about this revelation, "God illumined you.

He opened your eyes to see the truth of this." Not because all of it made sense, but all of a sudden, it became real. And He says, "This happened by faith." Now, none of this stuff up to this point is new. We believe that our salvation is by faith.

And we believe it's because the glory of the Gospel has been revealed, and my eyes got opened, and I believed, and it changed my life. But it's the second part when it says, "Righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith." Now, what does that mean, "from faith for faith"?

Now, we can add meaning to that, but I think the NIV actually does a pretty good job explaining to us what He means by "from faith to faith." In NIV, that's not what it says in Greek, but that's pretty much in agreement with all the other biblical scholars will say this is what it means.

NIV translates Romans 117, it says, "Righteousness of God is revealed from faith, by faith, from first to last." That's how it translates it. So some of you guys who have NIV, that's what it says in your Bible. In the other translation, it'll say, "from faith, for faith," or "faith to faith." But the meaning behind that phrase is that from the beginning to the end, from the start to the finish, it is by faith.

That's what He means by that. So, in other words, what He's saying is this salvation that saves us, that we ought to be bold in, happened when the righteousness of God was revealed to us from now until the end, until we continue. And that's why in Hebrews 12, verse 2, after eleven chapters of exposition of who Jesus is, He says, "To continue to fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith, the beginner and the finisher of our faith." So, in other words, we begin with faith, and we persevere in faith, and then we conclude in faith.

Now, in faith in what? In faith in what? So we think about, okay, if faith is what saves us, what faith is He referring to? Well, in the immediate context, He says, "the faith of the revelation of the righteousness of God." Now, we can ask, say, "Well, faith in that God is sovereign, faith that God is powerful, God is omnipotent." All true.

But in the context when He says, "Faith that we saw," right, "that revealed God's righteousness and which saved us," that faith that you believe that your sins were forgiven by the blood of Christ, "will start you and will finish you." Let me make a stronger point here, which I think Paul is doing, the second phrase when he says, "The righteous shall live by faith." Now, that's a direct quote from Habakkuk 2.4, but that same phrase is repeated twice again in the New Testament.

And I think it will help us to see what Paul means by this by looking at it. So, first, all the places that he repeats in Galatians 3.10-11. So, those of you who have your Bibles can turn your Bibles to that passage Galatians 3.10-11. And then we're going to go to Hebrews 10.37-38, another passage that has that quote.

Now, I think Paul wrote both, Galatians and Hebrews, but that's an argument for another date, you know. But whatever it is that you believe, Galatians 3.10 and Hebrews 10.37 is where we see that same phrase, Habakkuk 2.4 repeated in Romans 1.17, Galatians 3.10-11, and Hebrews 10.37-38. Now, in order to have a better understanding, gain deeper insight as to what does Paul mean here by righteous shall live by faith, I think when we look at those two, it'll help us, okay, or confuse you.

Okay, we'll see, all right. So Galatians 3.10-11, I want you to understand the context of this letter. This letter is written to a church that was being affected by the Judaizers, who were telling them that you have to be circumcised and you have to follow the Jewish rituals in order for you to be a Christian.

So he's fighting against legalism in Galatians. And so in that context, he says, Galatians 3.10, "For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, 'Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, and do them.'" Okay, so this is where the verse is.

"Now, it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith." Okay, same phrase, but if you're paying attention to the context, the comma here is after "shall live." Okay, so if you're half asleep right now, you're not following, right?

We're getting a little bit technical here, but I want you to pay attention, okay. The comma here is "the righteous shall live by faith." That's what Paul is saying, right? "The righteous shall live by faith," because he's addressing a group of people who are saying, "You've got to do all of these things to be saved." So he's saying, "No, the righteous shall live by faith." That's the emphasis here.

But let's go to Hebrews 10.37-38. Now, let me set this up. Here's the same group of people, second, third generation Christians, who are Jews, who are reverting back to their old life, again, wrestling with legalism, right? And so he spent 10 chapters talking about how Jesus is more superior to everything else.

And he's about—you guys know chapter 11. What is Hebrews chapter 11 known for? The chapter of faith, right? It's chapter of faith, right? So he's about to get into chapter of faith and what faith is and what it looks like in the lives of a believer, lives of the believers.

And so what he says in Hebrews 10.37-38 is to set up for chapter 11, okay? Now this is what he says, "For yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith. And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." Right?

What is he referring to here? He's talking about life, because he's—in chapter 11 he says, "Because of this faith, they did these crazy things. Because of faith, they left their homes and they suffered. Because of faith, they went out and they were put into prison. Because of faith, they followed him." And it's faith that gives you the strength to live, right?

That's what he's saying. That's why he says, "If my people shrink back, my soul has no pleasure in them." So in this context, the emphasis is on live. So here, the way you should read it, "The righteous one shall live by faith." Right? So the emphasis here is different.

In Galatians, it says, "The righteous shall live by faith." And here it says, "The righteous one shall live by faith." Okay, so again, if you are half asleep, you have no idea why this guy is making a lot of noise, you know what I mean? Just get it over with, okay?

But this is extremely crucial to understanding what Paul is about to get into. Why he's saying, "What's the foundation in which we're going to get into it?" Which is it? Well, the answer is pretty clear. It's both. It's both. Because you cannot understand salvation independent of justification and sanctification and glorification.

Because we've kind of—the theologians have compartmentalized the beginning, middle, and the end. We oftentimes kind of address it differently, right? But the Bible never dichotomizes salvation that way. That salvation is past, present, and future at all times. An individual is justified, is being justified, and will be justified. The Bible describes it all as the same.

So is the emphasis on live, or is the emphasis on faith? It is both. Is Jesus the Son of God, or God? Yes. Is God sovereign, or are we responsible? Yes. There are things in the Scripture that looks like a paradox, but in reality, it can't be—it's for the purpose of emphasis.

So here, the way we ought to read this passage is, "The righteous shall live by faith." And every part of what he says here is an exclamation mark. "The righteous"—you become righteous by the blood of Christ—"shall live"—because you've been purchased by the blood of Christ—you will continue to live.

And you will continue to do this by faith. And when any part of this is minimized in our walk with God, you miss the point. You miss what empowers and strengthens us. Perseverance is not an option. That's part of salvation. In Colossians 1:22-23, "He has now reconciled in His body the flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, if indeed you continue in the faith." That same faith that saved you, that you continue in it, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel that you heard, that we became Christians because we recognized that you and I were not able, and Christ forgave us.

And we were awed by the fact that a God who created the universe would humble Himself and become one of us, and be humiliated. And we were floored and awed by that. And that's why we came to church, and that's why we wanted to serve the church. That's why we wanted to go out to missions.

And He says, once we shift from that, and we lose our confidence in that, that once we begin to think that somehow I was justified by grace, but I'm going to be sanctified by my determination. You know? It's kind of like a, you know, if you've ever seen a basketball player who's been, you know, at the tip of his, the peak of his game for so many years, have so many championships, made so much money, endorsements, and he wants to retire, and they say, you know what, you're still at the peak of your game, why do you want to retire?

And they may say something like, you know what, I lost a love. And they talk about how when they were, you know, little and playing little hoopsters, and how they got out there and they couldn't wait, you know, got there early and shot the ball, and they could care less, you know, what kind of prize, they just loved the game, any time opportunity.

But after playing, and endorsements, and championships, and marketing, and they'll tell you, it became a business. And money no longer motivates me because I have all the money. The accolades no longer motivates me because I've achieved it all. And the only thing remaining is this love and I don't have it.

So I'm not motivated to be away from my family, I'm not motivated to get on the court, I'm not motivated to win anymore, and he says, I think it's time for me to retire. How many Christians have hit that wall and can say the same thing? You know, I'm not motivated by the same things anymore.

You know, now it's just become, just work. You're trying to appease the expectations of people around us. You know, I have a certain title I've got to live up to, or I've been a Christian for so long, so there's expectations from the church for me, and then it just becomes work.

Well, Jesus knew all of this. This is not any new revelation. If you look at Jesus' teaching in the book of John, there's seven I Am statements. He begins the I Am statement in John chapter 6, and in John chapter 15, he has the last I Am statement. And you know, there's some fantastic, I mean, each one of these things are worth studying in detail, but the last of the I Am statements, the I Am divine, which comes in John 15.4 or 15.5, and he says, I am divine, right?

It kind of makes sense. Okay, you're divine, but you have to understand the context in which Paul's, what Jesus is saying. He's about to go to the cross, and he's preparing his disciples that he's going to leave. Where I'm going, you cannot follow. And so the disciples are freaking out.

He knows that Jesus has a lot of enemies, very powerful people who are constantly wanting to capture him and kill him. And Jesus actually said, that's what's going to happen. But he said, if you go, what's going to happen to us? And so this is right after he told them, I'm leaving.

And then this is what he says in this text. And I want you to pay very close attention to how many times he says the word abide. And the consequences if you don't abide. And the fruit that if you do abide. And how much of what's going to happen after he leaves is vitally dependent upon abiding.

So I'm not going to count it for you. I want to keep in your head. And there's more of this, but I'm just going to read a few verses and how many times he says, almost redundantly, the word abide. John chapter 15, 4, it says, "Abide in me, and I in you, as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.

Neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him. He it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing." Let me stop right there for a second. Maybe some of you hit that wall and that's where your mind is.

I can't do anything. Everything I attempt seems to fall short. And I'm just, this frustration and guilt just kind of piled up and said, I can't do anything. I just can't seem to do anything. Well, Jesus said, apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers.

And the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, in my words, abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is my Father who is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. He says over and over again, abide in me, abide in me, abide in me. In other words, if you've been walking and doing anything without abiding in him, you probably are experiencing exactly what he said was going to happen.

You're not going to achieve anything. You're not going to bear fruit. It is impossible to bear fruit unless you abide in me. You can do nothing. In fact, you can't pray if you're not abiding. He says, if you abide in me, my words abide you, ask whatever you wish.

So, not everybody's prayer is heard. You say, no, God answers every prayer. No, he doesn't. He doesn't answer every prayer. He says, if you abide in me. There's a condition. So if you're not abiding in him, your prayer is ineffective. You can't bear fruit. You can't please God. You can't honor him.

Because he says, this is how my God is glorified, that when you bear much fruit. So if you're not bearing much fruit, you're not glorifying God. God is not honored. You say, oh my gosh, that's exactly how I felt and you made it worse. When I used to read this passage, abide, and say, well, abide means obey.

Obey him. Obey him. Now, the word does include the word obey. It is a bigger word. And the word obey is included in the meaning of the word abide. But the root word of this, the meaning behind this word abide, meno, means to stay or to remain. That's a literal.

So some of your translations will actually say, remain in him. If you don't remain in me, if you don't remain in me, you're not going to bear fruit. So what does he mean by remain? Well, up to all that point, they were following Jesus. He says, I'm going to go.

But your key to success up to this point, and your key to success from this point on, is going to be the same. I'm going to go, the Holy Spirit's going to come. And he's going to remind you of everything I have said and everything I have done. He's going to convict the world of sin and righteousness.

He's the one. You're going to receive power. And you're going to be my witnesses when the Holy Spirit comes. So you need to continue to remain in me. In Book of Revelations, chapter 3, when we talk about the, chapter 2, I believe, when we talk about the Church of Ephesus and say, you have forsaken your first love.

And he says to restore that first love, he said, remember the height from which you had fallen. Remember what? Remember, go back. Go back to your original faith. Go back to the, to initially when you believed and you were awed by the revelation of who Jesus is and what he has done.

He says to go back to that and then repent because of your drifting. The moment that we stray away from what we started with is when we will not bear fruit. We will be frustrated. We'll be like hitting a wall over and over again. The Church is filled with people who have PhDs.

Some are more disciplined than others. Some know more than others. Some who are more articulate than others. Some more gifted than others. But the Church has everything that we need physically that we should be successful in the eyes of the world over and over and over again. But that's not where he invested the power.

He invested the power individually and as a church in our original confession, in the faith. And that's why he says for in it, the power of the gospel to save us in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith from the beginning to the end. And this righteous, the just shall continue to live by the same faith.

You know how I can tell if somebody is growing toward Christ or moving away from Christ, it's not how much they're serving the Church. It's not how much knowledge they have. It's not the degree that people are working on. It's not how many books that they read. All of these things could make a self-righteous person even more self-righteous.

You know, you sit down and have a conversation with somebody and you talk about Jesus and there's an affection for Christ and what Christ has done. There's a brokenness for their sin. There's a sense of awe and thanksgiving toward him that you can sense. Just like if you're a Lakers fan and if you're not a Lakers fan, I can tell right away.

If you're a Lakers fan, we can talk about the history of Lakers and what they've accomplished and there's a glow. You know, there's a glow. You get it. You know what I mean? I'm not an Angels fan, so every once in a while I'll be in a little circle that you guys have and talk about, "Oh, Angels," and I'll stick my head in.

Nothing. You know, nothing. And I get nothing with Dodgers either. Nothing. You know. But I'm a Lakers fan, so when I hear Lakers, I just kind of perk up and then, you know, those of you who aren't Lakers fans, those of you who are married to a Lakers fan and you're not a Lakers fan, you're like, "So childish." You just don't get it.

You don't get it. Right? It's not the things and the external things because all of those stuff can just be things that we're working on to more to show. But you can tell when somebody is growing toward Christ, when that same affection that they had when they met Christ is still there and growing.

That same love, that same attraction to Christ that started your walk with God is what's continuing your walk with God and then will carry it onto completion. That's what Paul means here. That it's the power of salvation. Salvation is not just something that He saved us from, but to continue to glorify and honor God is the same faith.

That's why He says, "Remain in me. Don't stray from me." In Matthew 16, 16 to 18, when Jesus asked the disciples, "Who do men say I am?" And they thought, "Elijah, the prophets and all these people." And He said, "Who do you say I am?" Peter confesses. Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father was in heaven.

And I tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Now, He's not referring to Peter himself, but his confession. And in his confession, he says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And those of you who were at a retreat years ago, you know that there's an article in front of each of these titles.

"You are the Christ, the Son, the God." That's what it says literally in the Greek. "You are the Son, you are the Christ, the Son, the God." Now, when we hear the word Christ, you know, Jesus Christ, we think that's His last name. You know, Peter Kim, John Lee, whatever, it's Jesus Christ.

Well, the way they titled people was, "Jesus from Nazareth, Son of Joseph, the carpenter." That would be His full name, right? Christ is His title. And you guys know that Christ is the Greek word for "Messiah" in the Hebrew. And the word "Messiah" basically means "Savior." And so when Peter says, "You are the Christ," what he's saying is, "You are Messiah, you are the Savior, you are the Son, and you are the God of the living Son of the living God." And so what Peter confesses is what saves us.

And he says, "Upon this rock, upon this truth, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." So the strength of the church is this confession that you are the Savior, you saved me. Who would have ever thought that God would wipe away the sins of the world by sending His only begotten Son?

And if that truth is no longer affecting you, there's nothing that you can do to make that any better. Everything that you are doing just has to stop. Because that's what God has ordained to save us, that's what God has ordained to persevere us, and that's what God has ordained to take it to completion.

And that's why it says in Hebrews chapter 11, 6, "And without faith it is impossible to please Him." You can't please Him if you're not affected by this. You can't please Him if you don't believe this, if you one time believed this so greatly that you're willing to forsake everything and follow Him, and all of a sudden that faith is no longer there, it's dwindled, it's atrophied.

It is impossible to please Him without faith for whoever draws near to God must believe that He exists. In the NASB it says, "He is." Third person singular. And I believe that he's referring to the "I am" statements of Christ. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. He who comes to God must first believe that He is.

And He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. We don't do quiet time because quiet time makes us stronger. And you say, "Oh, I did quiet time. I read the Bible. I read so many books. I know my theology." No, we do quiet time because it reminds us of who He is.

It keeps us remaining in Him. We pray because without continuing, without being reminded, without being affected by what He's done, everything else just becomes work. And work becomes drudgery. And sooner or later we're not going to do it for long. And I want to wrap up with a confession to you this morning and why this is so important for me and for you.

You know, what I do as a pastor, preaching and preparing sermons, I would say is the greatest blessing and sometimes it's the hardest thing to do. I'm not going to explain to you why, those of you who may understand, may not understand, but sometimes it gets to me. This week was one of those weeks.

You know, I've been very busy the last two months and I've been running around and it kind of started to build last week. And Esther knows, I mean, we've been married for so long, Esther knows that something's on my heart. And you know, and sometimes I don't want to burden her with all the things that I'm thinking about.

But she catches me, you know, and I would have a deep sigh. And she knows right away, "What's wrong?" I was like, "Oh, nothing. I'm just tired." You know, and I just kind of move on. But she knew something was up and something was up. Something was burdening me in my heart.

And it's not anything particular. It just has those moments. I'm sure you have those moments at work where you're just like, "Oh, I don't want to work here anymore. I don't want to do this." Well, I had one of those weeks and usually it comes and goes. Usually it's like, you know, in the morning and then by night it's gone or it's Monday and by Tuesday it's what this kind of started building.

And by Monday I had this heavy burden and I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh, I don't know if I can keep doing this." And I'm not going to share with you, you know, the details of all of it. But I started getting burdened. I started thinking like whenever those thoughts come, you start thinking about alternatives.

You know, maybe I should do this. Maybe I can sell vacuum cleaners. Maybe, you know what I mean? So I have so many friends who dropped out of ministry or people that I know dropped out of ministry are insurance salesmen, you know, because what are you going to do if you've been in ministry for 20 some years?

Like what are you qualified for other than sales? So I have a lot of friends who are in it. I mean, I mean, that's the truth. That's really, that's really the truth. Either if you have the degree, you go into teaching seminary or whatever. Not that everybody's in there for that reason, but you know, so what can you do?

So for me, I don't, I don't have a fear that if I don't do ministry, I'm not going to be able to take care of my family. I could be dead wrong, you know, but through all the years of doing ministry, I've had all kinds of jobs, all kinds of sales.

And I feel like if I didn't do this, I can take care of my family. I'm not, I'm not afraid of that. Right. But I started thinking, and I just started going down and it just more I thought about it more, it got burdened and it just kind of started building.

And by the time Tuesday came around, I was like, you sure what's up, what's going on. It's good. It's everything's okay. All right. You know, it's just the routine things of ministry. Just kind of, it's heavy on me. And, but the thought was more, you know, affecting me more than normal.

And so I was sitting there and I was, I don't know if I can keep going. I'm just thinking about when's a good time to retire. And you know, you know, when the kids are old enough, I can, I can do this, or maybe I shouldn't do this. And then, you know what I mean?

And all of these thoughts and I was just burdened. And then one day I was, you know, I had an appointment with a, with somebody and, and I just kind of left the house early. And so I had my car parked and I didn't want to go out cause it was so hot.

You know, usually I would just go out and, you know, sit in air conditioned room or sit outside, but it was so hot. And I had about 30, 40 minutes before the appointment, I sat in the car and I had the radio on and typically, you know, I do the radio and I'm just driving.

But that morning, you know, I was sitting there and had the radio on and I was listening to the lyrics, you know, and, and one by one, and I, I don't even remember specifically what it was, but one song after another, it started to remind me, started breaking me and reminding me of his, his grace in my life, like how I got saved.

A dummy who, you know, ran in thinking that, that I was going to self-destruct and, you know, and I'm not even sure if I would ever graduate at high school or, you know, I was getting into so much trouble and just God had mercy on me, whacked me over the head.

And he, and he just, that revelation of his love for me just changed me forever. You know, even my family members couldn't believe it. Like how can somebody change instantly like that? And, and I was just thinking about just took 30, 40 minutes, just thinking about that. And then every song just reminded me, you know, of God's grace in my life.

And I just had a mini revival in that car, you know, a hundred degrees outside and, you know, cars are going and coming and they're looking into the car, what's wrong with this guy? And I like little tears falling in my eyes, you know, and wiping it away like it was sweat.

And I came out of that car and it was, it was nothing, it was not planned. I came out of that car and just, man, the moment I drift from this, like I can't do this. And it just reminded me what Paul is saying here, you know, that until my heart is gripped by what he has done and who he is, and if my hope is not firmly planted in him, this is too hard.

You know, life is hard enough as it is. Some of you guys have lousy bosses, you know, on your case constantly. Some of you guys have children a little bit more difficult, you know, and they just so strong willed and you're fighting with them every single day. Some of you guys have hard time paying bills because your job just wasn't what it was expected.

Some of you guys have tension in marriage because you have communication issues. You know, life didn't quite turn out the way you were expecting and you have all these burdens. And then you come to church and all churches is more burden. Of course you're going to quit. Of course you're not going to make it.

If that's what Christianity is. But that's not it. He came to give life, to give this life abundantly. It's because of the effects of sin. It's because of all the effects of sin that you're experiencing in life. He said, "Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden.

I will give you rest." But that rest is found in Christ crucified. That's rest is found in realizing that I'm saved by the blood of Christ. Fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith. The righteous shall live by faith. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your love.

I pray for my brothers and sisters in this room who have been burdened with life, burdened with heaviness, Lord God, of disappointments, hardships, failures and guilt. I pray, Father God, that as you encouraged and warned and challenged your disciples to abide in you, help us, Lord God, to come to you in obedience that we may remain in love, abide in Christ.

That love that saved us, that amazing grace, Lord God, would always be amazing. Strengthen us this week. Remind us again, Father God, afresh of the hope that we have in Christ. As our praise team leads us in worship, I want to encourage you guys to take just individual time to come before God and confess your burdens before him.

Unload your sorrows and believe that he is, he is the vine, we are the branches, and that we may find strength in him this morning. Let's pray. (thunder crashes)