Why don't we turn our Bibles to Romans chapter 4 and I'll be reading from verse 9 through 12. Romans chapter 4 verses 9 through 12. Is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him?

Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised so that righteousness would be counted to them as well and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father we entrust this time to you asking Lord God for your grace for your Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. We pray that our time may be a pleasing sacrifice. It would be worship, it would be a time that we offer more than just our flesh but our very souls and our spirit that an overflow of thankfulness Lord God would cause us to give you what you deserve.

And so we pray for your grace this morning in Jesus' name we pray, Amen. You know as you know I was out of the country for a couple of weeks and I know it's not a long period of time but it felt like I was out forever. I was up at a retreat out in Korea and I was there for a bit and then I went to China to visit our team and I got sick while I was there.

I got sick before I went but I got sick especially when I was in China and then I visited Hong Kong for a few hours on the way out and so I was able to fellowship with our brother Peter and then we came back and then I didn't preach last Sunday.

The good thing I didn't because again I wasn't feeling that well coming back and you know one thing I noticed a rare opportunity that I get to sit with my wife and I was sitting in the back during worship and I read something really interesting this week and basically a heart surgeon was talking about how some people who get surgery on their heart that after the surgery they can actually hear their heartbeat for a period and they said that the reason why is because any kind of shift any kind of you know like a minuscule change in the heartbeat the brain is able to pick it up for a period and it takes a while you know whether it takes days or weeks sometimes and then your brain just kind of adjusts and then you stop hearing it you know and I was thinking about how you know when we first moved into this place our greatest concern was the airplanes you know what I mean are we going to be able to have worship and we're going to have to stop preaching when the airplanes go by and I noticed that I only think about it now when we have new people come to church and it's like oh doesn't that bother you it's like oh that's right we're next to an airport you know so we've all I mean if you've been here for a while we've all just kind of adjusted to our situation and certain noises like a you know clock ticking or water dripping those are things that we just kind of we don't we just don't hear it anymore you know as I was sitting back last week and I was just kind of thinking like how much of our worship has if we're not careful can easily become like that you know those those of you who are new to the church you know everything's kind of new and different and so you're a lot more aware of little things but you know for people who've been here for a while five years ten years or longer everything has become such a routine I mean you're the same guy preaching in front of you for ten years how can it not become mind numbing you know I get tired of hearing myself you know but after a while you just kind of like clock in and clock out you know you ever sometimes you travel the same path maybe it's your work or school and you just drive and just mindlessly you don't even think about where to get off or right turn or left turn you just kind of zone out and then and then you kind of come back and you're at home that ever happened to you all the time right because we were just so accustomed to this path there's just not much thinking it's just automatic our faith and our walk with God can easily get to that point where we're not really thinking through what we're doing we're not really thinking through what we believe and why we believe you know especially when when something has been in routine for a long period of time and again I was sharing this with our leadership on Saturday morning thinking about that that we need to be careful that we don't get to that and again you know how this is related to what we're talking about Paul's been talking about the doctrine of justification by faith alone now he's been pounding this all the way through and he's going to be he's going to continue to pound this but justification by faith in other words salvation by faith alone if you've been a Christian for one year you probably heard it several dozen times if you've been a Christian for five years you probably heard it hundreds of times if you've been a Christian for more than 10 years I'm assuming you probably heard this thousands and thousands of times you've discussed it dissected it you've memorized scripture you've heard sermon after sermon after sermon Bible study after Bible study and then it just becomes numb like yes you know you only know when something is wrong it no longer affects your daily walk with God doesn't affect the way you worship God doesn't affect your fellowship you only notice it when something is wrong because you know it's so well that when somebody preaches something off it's like oh you have to have works like oh that's wrong so we know how to identify bad doctrine but it doesn't affect us in a positive way it doesn't affect us it doesn't move us and that may not be this core reason why we are gathered together justification by faith is at the core of Christianity if we are not affected by this doctrine you can't be worshiping God and I'm gonna be talking about that right if justification by faith is not the reason why we have fellowship your fellowship is no different than just human friendship if justification by faith is not the ultimate reason why we do evangelism it just becomes pressure it's extremely important we talk about here just in this short text from verses 9 through 12 he mentions the word circumcision probably eight nine separate times so obviously we know what the theme is here right he's trying to give us a proper perspective of what circumcision is and what it is not in order to really understand what Paul is saying here we have to understand what circumcision meant to the Jews today you know when's the last time you actually had a discussion with somebody's like oh we don't need to be circumcised we're not Jews right that just does not come up in everyday life right you don't have discussions with you know warriors or Lakers and all of a sudden by the way I'm curious do we need to be circumcised today right I don't think that discussion forever naturally comes up it only comes up in the context of looking at the Bible and say well this is what Paul says so let's study it today right but I want to convey to you just how important what Paul is saying here to the Christian life again it's important for us to understand how important it was to the Jews so that we understand why so much time is dedicated in trying to properly understand this Genesis chapter 17 is where the commandment of circumcision is given and in within that commandment he says that every person outside of the Jewish community who wanted to worship God also needed to be circumcised so it wasn't just the children born into the nation it was anybody who wanted to be a worshipper of Yahweh had to be circumcised Genesis chapter 15 sorry Exodus chapter 12 48 it says that those who are not circumcised can't participate in their Passover meal so that's just kind of that's just equivalent to saying you know in our context that if you're not circumcised you can't come to our Christmas party you know it's the biggest event of the year you know very significant part of our culture but if you're not circumcised you can't come well this is written into the law in the Old Testament Genesis 17 14 in the giving of this commandment God wanted to convey just how important this was so he says the cutting off of the foreskin and he says if if an individual refuses to be circumcised let him also be cut off from the people because he has broken my commandment right so this was not just some tattoo this was not just some cutting of hair we're talking about a major surgery right was major then right and it says if they don't if they don't they refuse to get circumcised he's going to be shunned from the from the society so for a Jew for hundreds of years the identifying mark of a child of God in the Old Testament was circumcision so we can understand when Paul all of a sudden says no we don't need to be circumcised that we can't make people get circumcised in fact he was fighting this in the first hundred years that was one of the biggest issues in the early church before we jump on the Jews and say oh you know these guys are so blind and why would they make a big deal of this think about how often we have certain things that we become accustomed to and it becomes a problem when we see that we go to another church or somewhere else and they do a little bit differently you know I've had people who came from another other backgrounds hey how come you guys don't recite the Lord's Prayer you know and how come you don't recite the Apostles Creed why do you guys use drums you know what I mean electric guitar how come you guys don't have organs you know why do you wear a tie and then why don't you wear a tie you know and so you think about like if you've been raised in the church there are certain traditions that you've gotten accustomed to and when you go somewhere else and you don't see it it's just like you don't know why you don't know you don't know what it is that bothers you but it bothers you and something just doesn't seem right something as trivial as a necktie or not wearing a necktie is style of music you know or something as trivial as that we get bothered by it but imagine for a Jew where circumcision was the identifying mark of every Jew and all of a sudden Jesus Christ comes and these Apostles are preaching the gospel and he says no if you force people to get circumcised you are nullifying the cross right this is not a debatable issue if you make circumcision a part of our righteousness you nullify the cross there is no middle ground in fact Paul says if somebody preaches a gospel that perverts the gospel in any way let him be anathema there is no compromise with this you can't just hold on to some of it either you let it go you know and embrace Christ or you hold on to it and you reject Christ that's how important this issue was so Paul again beginning from chapter 4 1 has been addressing this issue but when we get to verse 9 he asks two rhetorical questions to kind of set up what he was trying to say the first one is is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised so the blessing he obviously here he's talking about justification by faith forgiveness of sins is this only for the Jews the answer is pretty clear no right the Abraham is a father of circumcised and uncircumcised because righteousness is by faith and not by circumcision the early church the very first problem that the early church had to deal with was this issue because Peter and Paul they go off and they start preaching the gospel and the Holy Spirit begins to fall upon the Gentiles and and Jews alike so when Paul and Peter comes back from their missionary journeys there's a group of Jews saying how could that be right for hundreds of years they had to be circumcised to be people of God and now you're saying the Holy Spirit is coming upon them indiscriminately that can't be and this issue was such a big issue was dividing the early church so they all convene in Jerusalem all the apostles get together in Genesis sorry in Acts chapter 15 they have a meeting and say you know what God's revelation is clear to all of us that the kingdom of God has opened to the Gentiles and the whole reason why Paul goes on his second missionary journey is to take that message and to begin to tell it to the Gentile churches that he went and planted churches that you do not need to be circumcised that was the first question that he dealt with the second question how then was it counted to him was it before or after he had been circumcised again Paul's trying to again continue in his argument and the answer is resounding before it was not after but before he was circumcised he said Abraham was considered righteous before he ever was circumcised now I'm gonna connect this to our you know our current situation so you know I don't want you sitting there thinking like okay circumcision you know like that that problem's been dealt with a hundred years ago why do why are we bringing this back up again again I'm gonna connect it I just want to be you to patient be patient with me a little bit Abraham was called initially called in met God in Genesis chapter 11 most commentators and scholars will say he was probably about 70 years old by the time God calls him out of war of Chaldeans in Genesis chapter 12 it's about five years have passed and then when we get to Genesis chapter 15 where God reiterates and and reconfirms the covenant that he's making with him and the nation of Israel he's probably about 80 years old the commandment to be circumcised and to circumcise all the generations following him is given in Genesis chapter 17 so the time between Genesis chapter 11 to Genesis chapter 17 when he is actually circumcised is about 30 years so what Paul is saying is way before he asked God even gave the commandment of circumcision God called him a righteous man in Genesis chapter 15 he actually he he actually even says again this this passage is quoted several times in the New Testament and he says and he believed the Lord Abraham and he counted to him as righteousness he was counted righteous because of his faith not because of some external circumstance if that was the case why did he command the circumcision if circumcision has nothing to do with your righteousness then why command it why make this big deal and have people cut off and and if they don't obey that they can't participate in the Passover why was the big hoopla well he says and again Paul answers it and it says is answered in Genesis chapter 17 11 that the circumcision was the seal of righteousness it was the seal of righteousness Genesis 17 11 it says it was the seal of the covenant today when we think about sealing something we're talking about wrapping it up right like make sure that that Tupperware is properly sealed or you're moving or something something is sealed right we don't use the seal like the way they used it in the Old Testament or in the time of Christ the word seal that is used in that culture I'm just going to read directly from the Bible dictionary and says it is a signet a fencing in or in or protecting from misappropriation by implication it means the stamp that is impressed I mean you've probably seen movies or something where you burn the wax and there's a seal of the Emperor or seal of somebody important they put that stamp on it so that when they the recipient gets the letter they know that authenticity of where this came from so it was in that sense it was a seal is used as a mark of privacy but ultimately it was used to convey genuineness whether something was genuine or not so when the Bible says that circumcision was a seal it was a stamp of genuineness that that these people belong to God now let me illustrate how we ought to understand circumcision or how they ought to understand again how that applies to us you know years ago we would go back and forth to China and there was a sister in our church who worked in coach coach bags you know and I have you know when I go to China I can't distinguish between what is fake and what isn't what isn't fake everything looks authentic to me but I remember like she would be able to tell right off the bat she would walk through a shopping mall and say that's fake fake fake fake and then I know how do you know it looks the same to me so she would tell because she was trained while she was working here she was trained so she would tell me how the C's need to be aligned a certain way and and then she would show me look at this one this one's the going the other way you know she would look inside the bag and look at the seam and the tag so she had like 10 or 11 different things that you can identify as whether it's whether it's real or not right and then every once in a while you'll go through and you find a bag where the where all those identifying marks seem very very similar right she could tell right away I can't even after she pointed out to me it's like that looks authentic all the C's are headed toward the right direction everything she pointed out I mean they did a really good job they were committed to to this fakeness right so I can't tell but she calls and tells you she can tell little things you know here and there and and only she could tell right but let's say somebody did a fantastic job that even she can't tell I mean it was the knockoff was just done such a perfect job that even her even someone who's been property chain trained can't tell right so if they do a really good job imitating the original with all the marks does that make the bag real some of you guys like yes it does of course it doesn't make it real right it wasn't made by coach if it wasn't made by coach that doesn't matter how good of a job they did faking it it's not real right so in the same way that the circumcision in itself doesn't make it real right circumcision was only a seal to convey what was actually real and what was real was the faith it's a faith in that individual that makes the circumcision worth something without it it is worthless see circumcision was never meant to be a source of pride or righteousness when we talk about justification by faith sometimes we think like oh god introduced justification by faith in the New Testament but in actuality that was God's way of salvation always always and we see it all throughout scripture we see it with Abraham where God declared him righteous because of faith before he was circumcised in Jeremiah at 925 he says behold the days are coming declares the Lord when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh again you're not going to be justified because you obey the law and you would jump through the hoop and got these signs he says if you are just circumcised in the flesh right there will be punishment Deuteronomy 36 and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live again Jesus reiterates that same commandment in the New Testament saying what is the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength Paul says in Philippians chapter 3 - for the Pharisees who are circumcised in the flesh but not of the heart he says these people are just mutilators of the flesh ouch he said that's all it was all it is is mutilation that's all it does it counts for nothing in the eyes of God now how does this relate to infant baptism those are guys who were on Facebook and I put it like why we don't baptize infants well the whole sermon this morning is not about infant baptism right but it is relevant in this text because the primary text that the people baptize infants used to why we have to baptize infants which obviously you're at a Baptist church so we don't agree with that is Colossians chapter 2 11 through 12 so if you're interested go to that text right even if you're not please go to that text right Colossians chapter 2 11 through 12 and I want to show you why this comes up and again I'm gonna wrap it all up and I'm gonna show I'm gonna try to convey why this is important Colossians chapter 2 11 through 12 it says in him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands by putting off of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ in other words that the circumcision that you guys are so proud of he says God the true circumcision is not a circumcision of the hand but a circumcision that Christ does and then he says having been buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead so the key text that they point to is in verse 12 right is that here's the circumcision of the flesh but here's a real circumcision that Christ performs and then he talks about having been buried with him in baptism so the argument is that baptism has replaced the circumcision of the Old Testament right now the problem with that is that interpretation is the point that Paul is trying to make is that these Jews were holding on to a physical act of circumcision and saying in and of itself has no authority has no power it is not the real seal and so to move that and then to replace it with another seal with hands a physical baptism right so this physical circumcision doesn't make you a child of God so now we're going to give a physical circumcised physical application of baptism which is going to replace the physical act of circumcision you get it doesn't make any sense because Paul is arguing against that he's saying that your your physical act of circumcision does not make you a child of God so it doesn't make sense for him to say we're going to replace that now we're going to replace it with physical act of baptism right and all that has changed is the activity see the whole point of what he's trying to make is that you're stuck on thinking that some act of religiousness somehow gives you favor before God and Paul is saying no the real act of a child of God has nothing to do with something you do physically so going into the water and coming out sprinkling of some water on a child's head has no value in the eyes of God see and again what does it have to do with the text that we're looking at if you look at chapter 4 11 this is another text these are the two texts that is used by the infant Baptist to say why we baptize infants in verse 11 it says he received the sign of circumcision as the seal of righteousness right sign of circumcision in other words talking about Abraham and circumcision so the way that this is interpreted in verse 11 is that the seal of of the covenant relationship with God was circumcision so now we're in a New Testament the seal of the covenant relationship in the New Testament is baptism that's how that this is interpreted is that what Paul is saying here in no place in the scripture where it says that the seal that makes us a child of God or at least covers us with some special grace is baptism the physical act somehow places us in a community of covenant people and there's a special privilege that we have the problem with that interpretation is in the Old Testament circumcision was for the physical people of Israel physical people of Israel so God says to the nation of Israel if anybody touches you they're touching the apple of my eye he wasn't talking to a particular person he wasn't talking to a group of prophets he was talking to the physical kingdom of Israel because his plan was that by blessing them he was going to bless all the other nations and that through that physical nation that the seed of the woman was going to come through the tribe of Judah so his intention was to preserve this nation because of the coming of Christ so the seal of circumcision was for a physical group of people when we come to the New Testament is that is the physical gathering of the church is this the real church of God yes and no when Jesus said I will build my church and the gates of Hades will he will not prevail against it is he talking about is he talking about the church of Ephesus the church of Laodicea church of Berea church of Thessalonica is he talking about a physical church no he's not because none of those churches exist today when he said I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it he was talking about the universal unseen church is he talking was that a promise is that you know what God said he was going to build Berean and Berean is going to last forever is that true no it's not because the promise he made about his church was about the unseen universal church does that mean the local church doesn't matter of course it matters because the local church is a physical manifestation of the church that he was talking about but not all in the church is a part of the real church so it is the spiritual church he's referring to so it doesn't make sense to take the physical act given to a physical kingdom and then to apply it to the physical church when the true church is a spiritual church now why is this important why do we need to say this other than to say we're right right other than to say you know this I believe that this is the right doctrine see that when we come to the New Testament the seal is not baptism what is the seal of the New Testament believer you can't fail maybe you can't fail what is the what does the Bible say is the seal of a New Testament believer the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit not some physical act right not sprinkling of water not baptism he says the Holy Spirit Ephesians 1 13 in him you also when you heard the word of truth the gospel of your salvation and believed in him were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit so if there is any replacement of the seal of the Old Testament circumcision it is the baptism of the Holy Spirit that's the seal not another physical act Ephesians 4 30 and do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you are sealed for the day of redemption again the seal in the New Testament that identifies a child of God with people who are not maybe not a child is the Holy Spirit that's why Paul says in Galatians 3 3 are you so foolish having begun by the Spirit are you now being perfected by the flesh now we're going to get to practical application like what does this mean when we make a physical act the identifying mark of what it means to you a Christian we're kind of hanging our hats on some activity and say you know what I go to church and I read my Bible and I've given to the church and I went to small group and I did all of these things and so that identifies me as a Christian you can do all of that and still not be a Christian remember 1st Corinthians chapter 13 it talks about like you can speak of tongue of an angel angels and have not love it's nothing you can speak prophecies you can have faith that moves mountains you can actually give your life to be martyred and still have not loved it means absolutely nothing in other words if if your what identifies you what mark the seal that identifies you is just these physical acts even if you're martyred right even when you are martyred he says it could mean nothing why is this so important to us is important to us because what identifies us as a Christian is what causes us to grow and to mature and it is a foundation for everything that we do so you and I have a tendency that when we ask somebody how are you doing spiritually I did my quiet time I didn't do my quiet time I haven't been to church for a while you know I haven't been participating in small group you know I or I went to missions or I've been giving and I've been serving and we have these physical identifiers and we hang our hats on that and say well I'm doing these things so therefore I'm a child of God the problem with that is Jesus comes and says not everybody who calls me Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven that didn't we cast out demons in your name didn't we perform miracles and heal the sick in your name right he says none of these things you would did for me I never knew you so he looks at all these external activities but he breaks through all of that and he's looking for faith he's looking for genuine faith that is causing people to do all of these things see he says oh why why was the circumcision was so necessary what was important about this and why is this doctrine of justification by faith so important well he says later on verse 11 the purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised right circumcision was temporary for the kingdom of Israel so that it would prepare the coming of the seed of the woman but really that Abraham was not simply a father of Israel but father of all faith so that the righteousness will be counted to them as well verse 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith right now we're talking about all these acts and what we do in obedience does it matter yes it matters right but it's why we do these things that make the act worship or drudgery prayer without faith is just meditation worship without faith it's just duty fellowship without faith it's just friendship like any other place everything that we do if it is not done in faith we can do it well we can be disciplined and will ourselves and organize and and be smart enough to get all of these things done but if it is not done in faith if it is not because we've been moved by Christ it's not because we are attracted to him reading the Bible just become study it's just study a document that was written 2,000 years ago and we're just studying it like we would study you know biology or chemistry whatever we just study and then at the end of it you're no longer closer to God than you did when you first began you just have more knowledge that's it anything done and it is not founded upon faith will lead to more enslavement it will lead to more enslavement more things to to do that's why it says in Galatians 5 16 but I say walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh it is the Holy Spirit that is a seal in you Galatians 5 22 23 but the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such things there is no law there is no standard that is created that if you meet these standards then you have assurance and if you don't meet these standards right you have no assurance that's not what he says you know what's interesting is Paul writes two letters to the Corinthians and it's probably the harshest letters that he writes in all the New Testament I mean these people were fighting each other they allowed immorality in the church but it was all in the context of doing God's work it was all in the context of preaching the gospel established the early church they were being persecuted while they're doing this and yet he says all of that means nothing and at the end of the two letters that he writes he concludes by this warning 2nd Corinthians 13 5 examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith test yourself or do you not realize this about yourself that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fall to you fail to meet the test so in other words what Paul is saying is or everything I've said in conclusion the reason why that you may have been going astray is for two reasons one either you don't have the faith and that's why the church is being becoming corrupt and you're allowing all kinds of sin into the church or you have forgotten what you have in Christ you have forgotten justification by faith that you somehow you think by by doing and meeting these standards and you're gonna one up each other if the greatest sin of mankind is self-exaltation which it is then the greatest gift that God gives us is to humble us and that's exactly what it says in Ephesians 2 8 and 9 for by grace you have been saved not of yourselves but as a gift of God that no one may boast nobody at the core of human sin is self-exaltation now don't you don't have to answer because I already know the answer because I know it even in myself that everything that we pursue is about exalting ourselves we work harder because we want to get more money so we can have an easier life we want to be recognized we want to be better we get better education so that we can be better have a nicer place better house more opportunities to be honored and even in the church even in the church we work hard and we want to be recognized even as we plant churches we want to have a big church even as we evangelize how many converts do you have how many mission fields how many missionaries did you send out even in the context of honoring and glorifying God that the core of it if we're not careful that we end up with the same sin that brought condemnation to the world the self-exaltation you see somebody who is motivated by external you know external markers will always try to meet that marker and that's it did you do quiet time I did it did you pray I'm praying about 10 minutes a day or 15 minutes 30 minutes I did it I've done it right and if you meet it you become proud if you meet it because you did it and then and then you're very impatient with people who don't meet this marker right and then those who don't meet it live with guilt oh I didn't meet it I should meet it the difference between somebody like the Jews who were circumcised and say well we're circumcised we're from the tribe of Benjamin and you know and they're proud of all of these things we have this but Jesus says you're doing all of this but it has nothing to do with me even when you pray you pray so that everybody else can see is that wow that guy's a man of prayer even when you give you give publicly so that look what I've done is that all of that is not worship it's your self-exaltation you're just doing it in the name of God see but people who pursue him in faith is not about meeting standards right we we end up pursuing God the same way but even with more fervor because it is not about appeasing God it's not about meeting expectations of people people who worship in faith worship because that's my source of life I feel alive when I am with God I trust in his promises more than any promise that my boss has given me I I am looking more forward to eternity than I am for my retirement and so an individual who is working in faith will always give above and beyond a person who is trying to appease the standard will just give what the absolute minimum that he needs to give so I've done my part right if you look at the Old Testament there is a mandatory sacrifice and there's a free will sacrifice mandatory sacrifice the whole offering the guilt offering the sin offering all of these things were fulfilled in Christ there is no barrier there is no more sacrifice that is needed for me to be able to call him my Abba Father but the new it also has a free will offering where God says when you are moved when you want to give a Thanksgiving offering you give sacrifices to God as simply as an act of worship it is not commanded but it was out of the abundance of your heart we come to the New Testament the mandatory sacrifice has been made in Christ so therefore he says whether you eat or drink do it for the glory of God meaning what he wants from us is not to not to appease or reach some standard but worship that whether whatever we are doing whether we come into church whether we're giving whether we're sacrificing whatever we're doing it is an act of worship it is a reasonable response to justification by faith see the moment that we forget that what it is that we have in Christ we become we become proud some people are better at hiding the pride than others those of you who are outgoing you talk a lot like I do it's pretty easy to see the pride even as I preach here I'm sure you you've noticed me boasting about something like that guy he's always talking about what he's been you know I'm pretty sure that's one of the downfalls of being up here all the time right for after so many years you know everything that guy is so proud of this important like it you know some of you guys are better at hiding because you're introverted so you don't say a lot you don't say a lot so you just seem to be humble right then you get in the car and have a long drive and then you start hearing things like dang you know like some people are better some people are better than others at hiding it some people are you know boastful right but we all wrestle with it right to different degrees we all wrestle with it right you ever you know the Bible says that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble and you notice how that's all inside of us too right whenever somebody is always boasting our natural instinct is we want to see him humbled admit it right that's that's in our hearts right and then we see somebody really humble and then we're like did you that guy's so humble like we're we're like we're eager to to lift them up and put them on a pedestal because they're so humble right it was meet one of those people like no matter what story you have their story is better you know I mean no matter what your kid did their kid did even better you know what I mean it's like oh they're talking and you know three words are putting put together my kid can do four you know at the core of who we are see there's four things that it when when we forget and we drift away from justification by faith and we have some external sign whether it's circumcision whether it's anything that we do physically right we're praying more we're doing this and and it kind of hardens our heart it ruins everything there's four things that I want to mention and let me wrap up this morning when we forget justification by faith and we are not humble boasting makes us the object of worship rather than God even as we are serving God boasting makes us the object of worship rather than God instead of pointing finger and say well how great he is we we talk about like what I've done my experience my knowledge you know like what I've accomplished what I'm able to do the insights that I have and we take away from his glory when the scripture says that his whole point in history is to is for him to be magnified because when he is magnified and we see his glory we live but anytime boasting comes in we try to take that glory one number two boasting causes us to minimize his glory and jeopardizing our life if salvation is the blinders that cause us not to see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ and by the grace of God he takes that away and we've seen his glory and we were changed boasting minimizes his glory so when his glory is minimized what happens to our joy it gets frustrated right because art the scripture says that in him is life Zoe he came to give life he came to give life not this world not your experience not your knowledge he so when his glory is minimized so is your joy so when there's boasting we take away from his glory and we take joy away from ourselves third boasting ruins fellowship people who are affected by justification by faith tend to be more gracious the text that we read in in Psalm 51 he says what God desires to worship is a broken and contrite heart a person who is justified by faith and has been affected by that every day his response is thank God he saved me see if somebody who's not affected by I mean you may know it you may recite it with your mouth but you're not affected by it we're always looking to see why aren't they doing what I'm doing see a group of people who are affected by justification by faith are people you'd love to be around because they're broken you can be open with him you can you can share your struggles with them because we're sinners on the same path and just as much as I need grace you need grace it ruins fellowship when you have a room full of people who are religious who've done the right thing you have people who've done who were doing the right things who were looking down at people who are not doing the right things and you have the people who are not doing the right things just guilty and you know burden because they're not meeting these standards but people who are affected by our salvation what Christ has done it affects our fellowship and finally number four boasting prevents others to come to Christ boasting presents prevents others from coming to Christ Paul says the first Timothy 1 15 16 this saying is trustworthy and deserving of all full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost right so not only did he come to save sinners he came and saved the worst and he really was the worst right if you come to the New Testament I mean he's the guy responsible for the first martyr in the New Testament he is responsible for the first great persecution where hundreds even thousands of people had to leave Jerusalem because of this guy he gathered a group of people he's willing to kill slaughter drag them into prison I mean he devoted himself to persecute and so he says not only did he come to save sinners he chose me the worst but I received mercy for this reason that in me as the foremost Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life God chose a man who didn't deserve I mean of course none of us deserves it but that guy you know there's some people that we can think of like you know I'm a sinner but that guy is a real sinner you know I mean I'm a sinner I admit I'm a sinner but that guy's a much worse sinner than I am it would have been this guy right there a group of people chose like yeah we're all sinners but there's the different degrees of sin Paul would have been the foremost is that God didn't choose him because of his farisite background but because he was well connected or you know oftentimes all he had Roman citizen of course all of that helped him out right God made him make tents this guy had access to money and he had to make tents this guy's going out preaching the gospel and God puts a thorn in the side for what reason just to keep him humble just to remind him who he is just so that he can say in my weakness he is strong it doesn't make sense for ambassadors of Christ where he came and humbled himself the image that we have of Christ the last image that Jesus left with us is with his disciples washing his feet the most menial most humbling of task that's the last image he gave to his disciples and then the very last is him hanging on the cross humiliated in front of the world and it doesn't make sense for the people of God preaching this gospel to be doing it in pride how do we how are we ambassadors of Christ if we invite people sit and then and then we we step aside we introduce Jesus that he doesn't look anything like the church he doesn't look anything like the fellowship of the church see pride prevents the preaching of the gospel the justification by faith it affects everything that we do if we are no longer affected by it there's a reason why you can't pray if we're not affected by justification by faith you're just you just become numb maybe even what I'm saying this morning is just like how many times I heard this right and just like you don't like you're sitting there you don't hear your heart right it's beating there's noise there you ever notice that you get a stethoscope or you put it in your heart and boom boom boom boom it's pretty loud right but as soon as you take that away you don't hear a thing when's the last time you actually heard your heart beating but it's there the sound is there but we become the our brains have adjusted to it we no longer hear it the most important thing that you and I need to hear and to be affected by every single day is what he has done you and I did not deserve this Christ came and pursued sinners I know you know like how hard it is to love sinners right and it's not just me you know it as much as I do loving sinners is a lot of work right you know get you on your knees crying out to God right reading the Bible you just read it like praying going along and I just do it love sinners see see how hard that is right just and in fact the longer I live you would think you would get easier doesn't get easier it gets much harder so something to look forward to right it gets much harder because you have more and more memories of being disappointed with people you know like I can't trust people you know you give all yourself and then you know it doesn't take much I mean human relationships are so fragile you know there is no you know I was just thinking about that you know that saying there's no honor among thieves because they're already like breaking the law and doing all this stuff there's no honor so their promise means nothing because they're they're a group of people who are already breaking the law so what honor is there and I was just thinking isn't that us there's no honor there's no loyalty among sinners right there's no loyalty there's no honor among sinners we're we're you know we're selfishness and and anger and bitterness and self-protection self-exaltation is at the core of our hearts there's no innate honor in that and yet Christ chose to love us in that while we were yet sinners he pursued us and so if we're not motivated by the justification by faith for what he's done for me where do you get the help to love others what's going to motivate you to love a sinner what's going to cause you to persevere with other sinners it is not in you it's not in me only people who have been affected by the cross can love as he loved so why this justification by faith is at the core of what you and I do every single week so if we become numb to this it just has become noise nothing else you do in life is going to matter it's an emergency just like Paul says take a step back examine yourself examine if it is faith that is causing you to do what you're doing or is it circumcision