01:36 The Biggest Problem in the History of the World

03:08 God's Forgiveness Through Jesus

05:56 The Concept of Justification

08:02 Understanding Righteousness and Faith

10:15 God's Plan for Forgiveness

19:54 The Uniqueness of Christian Justification

23:35 Redemption and Propitiation Explained

25:53 The Seriousness of Sin

27:13 The Inadequacy of Human Efforts

28:04 The Gift of Justification by Faith

30:17 Living a Life Justified by Faith

32:59 The Exchange of Sin and Righteousness

34:16 Receiving Justification as a Gift

39:10 The Simplicity and Challenge of Faith

44:15 Concluding Prayer and Reflection

I want you to imagine, I want you to imagine that you.

2

Um, maybe you don't have to imagine this.

3

Imagine that your sibling, maybe

your brother or your sister

4

gets away with everything.

5

They get away with everything.

6

They never get in trouble for anything.

7

They do.

8

Imagine that they get away with all sorts

of stuff, and you know it, that, that

9

they're guilty, that they do all this

bad stuff and your parents have no clue.

10

And then imagine you, you get older,

you grow up, you're, you're like at.

11

This is the fun part about, about

having like an adult, like adult to

12

adult relationship with your parents is

you get to like, tell them things and

13

they can't get you in trouble for it.

14

You're like, oh yeah, did you

know that I used to do this?

15

And they're like, what?

16

You did what?

17

Anyway, it's really fun.

18

But, um, imagine that you're hanging

out with your, with your parents and

19

your sibling who used to get away with

everything and he tells, he finally

20

tells your parents, Hey, you know what,

mom and dad, this is what I did for.

21

18 years living in your house.

22

This is what I did.

23

I did all these things and

they're like, oh, it's okay.

24

We forgive you.

25

You'd be like, seriously, after all the

groundings I got, after all the timeouts

26

you put me in after all the times you

took away my stuff or what all the

27

times you disciplined me, you're just

gonna say, I forgive you and move on.

28

You would be so upset.

29

You'd be like, that's not fair.

30

You can't just let them off and let,

let have 'em have no consequences

31

after their whole life of disobeying,

after their whole life of, of

32

doing things behind your back.

33

I got in trouble for all this stuff

and they're not, that's not fair.

34

That's not okay.

35

Tonight I want you guys to see the biggest

problem in the history of the world, which

36

is very similar to the scenario that I

just gave you, which might not be that.

37

Imaginary for some of you, but the

biggest problem in the history of

38

the world is that God, for thousands

of years just forgave people

39

and nothing bad happened to them.

40

Right?

41

Think about maybe some, some king in, in

Israel, there's a king named Manasseh.

42

He's a terrible king.

43

His whole life, he's, he's

literally murdering children and

44

sacrificing them to false God.

45

At the end of his life, he repents.

46

He says, I was wrong.

47

I shouldn't have done that.

48

I'm gonna follow God now.

49

And guess what?

50

He gets to go to heaven.

51

That should bother you.

52

God.

53

Why don't you do something about that?

54

He doesn't suffer any

consequences for his actions.

55

He doesn't have any

punishment for his sin.

56

He just gets forgiven and goes to heaven.

57

That should bother.

58

That's the biggest problem in the history

of the world because, and in fact, a

59

lot of people feel that today, a lot

of the most common objection you'll

60

get to Christianity is if God is good,

why does he let bad things happen?

61

Why does he let bad people get away

with the bad things that they do?

62

Why does nothing bad happen to them?

63

Isn't God a good judge?

64

Doesn't God care?

65

Why doesn't God do something about it?

66

Just like you might say, mom and dad, why

don't you do something about my sibling?

67

You can't just forgive

them and let them go.

68

Tonight, what we're gonna see is

that the only reason, the only

69

reason that God can forgive anyone

is not just because he is nice.

70

It's not just because he's kind.

71

It's not just because he's merciful.

72

It's because of Jesus.

73

Jesus is the only reason that it's

okay for God to forgive sinners.

74

The only reason, because otherwise

God would be a really bad judge.

75

Right?

76

If he just, if you just say,

imagine if someone just.

77

Even think about some recent

scenarios at, at, maybe at your,

78

at schools or in the news lately,

someone murdered someone, right?

79

We had a, there was a high schooler, I

think a year ago who got stabbed, right?

80

And then we're just supposed to

say, oh, that guy's forgiven.

81

If, if that, if that murderer who,

if he repents and puts his faith in

82

Jesus, that guy's forgiven, God's

gonna forgive him and let him go.

83

God's not gonna punish him

for, for killing someone else.

84

That bothers us because it's exposing

this problem that God just forgives

85

people apparently, apart from Jesus.

86

Jesus is the only, only

way that this all works.

87

For God to forgive you,

your sin has to be paid for.

88

God just can't ignore sin and forgive it.

89

He has to do something about it.

90

So far in the book of Romans,

I've showed you this slide before.

91

This is what we've seen, right?

92

We've seen that God should

punish people's sin.

93

We all want God to punish

people's sin, right?

94

When someone cuts you off, when

you're driving, when someone gets

95

away with something that you don't

like, you want God to do something

96

about it or on a bigger level, right?

97

When bad things happen,

you want God to fix them.

98

When things are wrong with the world, you

want God to fix them, and so we can all

99

agree that we want God to punish them.

100

We want God to do, to do what he's

supposed to do to, to fix the things

101

that are wrong with the world.

102

But the problem, right, is

that we're part of the problem.

103

The problem for us is that if we want God

to, to get rid of all the bad stuff in the

104

world, guess who He's gonna get rid of?

105

Me and you, right?

106

Because we're sinners.

107

We fall short.

108

No one is righteous.

109

God is a good judge, and because

he is a good judge, he has to

110

punish everyone's sin, not just.

111

Other people's sin, he's

to punish our sin too.

112

So in order for God to forgive us,

he has to punish our sin, and he

113

has to, we need, we need perfect

righteousness to be forgiven.

114

We can't just be kind of good because

we already established right that, that

115

no one's good, no one's good enough.

116

Everyone falls short of

God's perfect standard.

117

So we need our sin to be paid for

and we need perfect righteousness.

118

We need to be good enough.

119

That is what we're gonna

call justification.

120

That's a fancy church word

that you probably heard before.

121

But justification.

122

That is the when God gives you

perfect righteousness, and we're

123

gonna learn all about how that works.

124

We don't have any righteousness, so

we need someone to give it to us, and

125

that's what tonight's passage is all

about, how God made a way to forgive

126

sinners while still being a good

judge, while still punishing their sin.

127

Right?

128

God forgave me.

129

Even though all the bad things

I've done and he punished all

130

of the bad things I did and will

do, he doesn't just let them go.

131

He punishes them.

132

He just doesn't punish me for them.

133

He punishes someone else and he

gives me the righteousness that

134

I need to be counted as, as not

just innocent, but good enough.

135

I'm so that's how justification.

136

How God can forgive sinners

while still being a good judge.

137

So look at verses 21 through 26.

138

I probably should have split this

up into more verses, so if it's too

139

small, read along in your Bible.

140

So I'm just gonna summarize it and explain

it and then we're gonna break it down.

141

Okay?

142

So read along with me, verse 21.

143

But now, right, we're at a big

turning point in the book of Romans.

144

We've, Paul just said,

no one's good enough.

145

Verse 20 said, by works of the

law, no one will be justified.

146

No one is righteous.

147

Verse 21, but now the

righteousness of God, right?

148

The fact that God is a good

judge has been manifested.

149

That word manifested means something

different in the Bible than what you

150

might think it means when you hear the

word manifested in our culture, right?

151

That's like someone is making something

happen or they're speaking something

152

to existence manifested in the

Bible just means it's been revealed.

153

Something that was hidden, you

couldn't see it super clearly.

154

Now it's revealed.

155

So when you see the word manifested,

the righteousness of God has

156

been revealed apart from the law.

157

So not just that God condemns sin, that's

one way God shows he's righteous, right?

158

And we know that God is a good judge

because he says the bad things are

159

bad and he does something about them.

160

That's one way we know God is righteous,

but it's also been shown another way.

161

And the law and the

prophets bear witness to it.

162

They talk about it.

163

Here's how that happens.

164

Verse 22, the righteousness

of God through faith in Jesus

165

Christ, for all who believe.

166

So God says, okay, you don't

have any righteousness.

167

Guess what?

168

I'm gonna make it available to you.

169

I'm gonna make the righteousness

that you need available.

170

That's what verse 22 is

saying, and we'll continue on.

171

There is no distinction.

172

Verse 23, everyone has sinned and

fallen short of the glory of God.

173

Everyone.

174

Doesn't measure up to

God's perfect standard.

175

Everyone's guilty, but just like

everyone's in the same boat in

176

terms of our, our punishment, our

condemnation, everyone also can be

177

saved the same way, anyone, right?

178

Because we talked about a lot about

Jews and gentiles before anyone

179

and are justified by his grace.

180

Verse 24 as a gift through the redemption.

181

That means what Jesus did, he,

he bought us back from sin.

182

Through the redemption

that is in Christ Jesus.

183

Verse 25, whom God put

forward as a propitiation.

184

That's a fancy word we'll talk about later

by his blood to be received by faith.

185

So God did something about our

guilt by sending Jesus to die.

186

That's what this verse is talking about.

187

This was to show God's righteousness,

verse 25, continuing on.

188

So the whole point of this is to show

that God is a good judge still, even

189

though he's forgiving people, even though

he's not punishing people for their sin.

190

He's still a good judge.

191

Even though he's letting people go,

he's still a good judge because in his

192

divine forbearance, that means patience.

193

He passed over former sins, right?

194

We talked about in the Old Testament

when someone sinned, if they

195

ended up in heaven, what happened?

196

Why did God let him go to heaven?

197

Why did God let Abraham go to heaven?

198

Why did God let David go to heaven?

199

Why did God let Joseph go to heaven?

200

They all sinned.

201

Why did he let them go to heaven?

202

He ignored their sin.

203

Why?

204

Why is that okay?

205

That's the problem that

this passage is solving.

206

Verse 26.

207

It was to show his righteousness at

the present time so that he might be

208

just so that God could be righteous.

209

And the justifier, the one who

makes people righteous of the one

210

who has faith in Christ Jesus.

211

So God makes specific types

of people righteous, the

212

ones who have faith in Jesus.

213

So tonight we're gonna see three things

that you need to know about justification.

214

And if you don't understand these

things, you probably aren't a Christian.

215

I'm just gonna say that very clearly.

216

If you don't understand these things,

you're probably not a Christian

217

because you don't understand how God

can forgive you, and you might not

218

even believe that God can forgive you.

219

So that's why these things

are so important, okay?

220

Usually the points are things

that I want you to do tonight.

221

It's just things I want you to know

because these things are so essential to,

222

to you trusting God to forgive your sin.

223

Okay, so how exactly.

224

Does this work?

225

Well, the first thing I want you to see

from this passage is that justification is

226

about God, the point of justification, the

point of God giving people righteousness.

227

That's what justification means, is

actually to show us something about God.

228

Remember, way back in one of our first

sermons from Romans, we talked about how

229

the gospel shows us something about God.

230

The gospel shows us who God is.

231

Justification does the same thing.

232

We talked about the big

problem in this passage, right?

233

It's even a problem if

you just read the Bible.

234

Proverbs 1715, this is God's word.

235

God says, someone who justifies the

wicked and condemns the righteous.

236

So in Proverbs, usually there's like

a parallel when you're reading it.

237

I'll go on this side so

you guys can see better.

238

In Proverbs, usually there's like a

parallel, so you can read it parallel.

239

So you can say, okay, justifies.

240

Versus condemns, wicked versus righteous.

241

So those things are parallel.

242

So these are opposites, right?

243

So the righteous is the

opposite of the wicked.

244

So that means condemn is the

opposite of justify, right?

245

So if you're not sure what justify

means, it's the opposite of condemn.

246

So this is to say someone's guilty.

247

This is to say someone's righteous.

248

You're good

249

if you say that bad people are

good and that good people are bad.

250

You're an abomination to the Lord.

251

God hates that.

252

That's what God is saying.

253

Now, guess what?

254

God also says later on in Romans,

we'll see this in a couple weeks.

255

God justifies the ungodly.

256

You see the problem here?

257

The Old Testament says that if

you justify the wicked, you're

258

an abomination to the Lord.

259

Guess what God does throughout

all of human history?

260

Justify ungodly people.

261

That's a big problem.

262

How can God do that?

263

How can God say, yeah, I hate it when

people say that wicked people are

264

righteous when you get rid of all their

sin and just say, you're, you're fine.

265

But at the same time, he

says that, that's what I do.

266

That's how I forgive people.

267

That's everyone's an ungodly person.

268

Everyone's unrighteous,

but I justify them.

269

So how?

270

How can God do that?

271

That's the problem I want

you to see in these verses.

272

So justification is about God.

273

Well look back at our passage.

274

Okay?

275

I want you to see verses

the second half of 25.

276

Starting with this, you see that

this was to show God's righteousness

277

again, because in his divine

patience, he passed over a former sin.

278

He ignored them.

279

He didn't punish them.

280

Why?

281

To show his righteousness so that he

might be the just and the justifier.

282

So God punished Jesus for

all the sins that he ignored.

283

All, all the, all of Abraham's sins, all

of David's sins, all of Solomon's sins,

284

all of Isaiah's sins, all of Jacob's sins,

all of Joseph's sins, all of Moses's sins.

285

God didn't do anything about 'em.

286

He didn't send them to hell, but

he punished Jesus for their sins.

287

So God is still a good judge.

288

Jesus said, I'll take the

punishment for Moses' sin.

289

That's how God can say, you

know what, Moses, it's fine.

290

Your sin.

291

You rejected me, you turned from me.

292

You're scared of things

that, that weren't me.

293

I'm gonna ignore your sin because I

know that Jesus is gonna pay for it.

294

It's kinda like, you know how credit

cards work versus debit cards.

295

When you, when you pay for something

with a debit card, it comes

296

outta your account right away.

297

When you pay for something with a credit

card, it comes outta your account later.

298

So like Moses, his sin

was punished later on.

299

Jesus.

300

Right?

301

Yep.

302

Our sin was already punished on Jesus.

303

If you forgive him, so Old

Testament people before Jesus.

304

How did Jesus pay for their sin?

305

Well, it was like a credit card, right?

306

Jesus paid for their sin way after they

already did it, but God knew, right?

307

'cause God made time.

308

God exists outside of time.

309

He can say, okay, I know Moses,

you're sinning right now.

310

I know David, you're sinning right now.

311

But guess what?

312

I'm gonna punish Jesus for that sin.

313

'cause you trust me.

314

So that's how God can do that.

315

He can pass over former sins, sins.

316

In the past, God has to punish sin, right?

317

In fact, he, he had to kill Jesus

to punish your sin and my sin.

318

That's how big of a deal sin is to God.

319

God is not gonna let

any sin go unpunished.

320

Every single sin committed in

all of history is punished.

321

Every Christian sin, every

non-believer sin is punished.

322

God takes sin very seriously, and

hopefully that's helpful for you to

323

know that God's not gonna let anyone

get away with their sin, even if you

324

think they're getting away with it.

325

Even if your sibling or that person

at school is cheating on tests

326

and they never get caught, God's

gonna punish them for their sin.

327

But I hope also that helps you

see your sin, but God is not

328

gonna let any of your sin go.

329

He either is gonna punish you

for it, or you trust Jesus and

330

he's gonna punish Jesus for it.

331

But also what I want you to see is that.

332

Forgiveness is God's idea.

333

You see that in these verses.

334

God had always planned to

make a way to forgive people.

335

God wasn't like, oh man, people sin.

336

What should I do about it?

337

I'm, I guess I'll have to figure

out a way to forgive them.

338

God planned, okay.

339

I love people.

340

I wanna show people how forgiving

I am, how gracious I am.

341

I wanna show people how

merciful and patient I am.

342

So God created.

343

God invented forgiveness.

344

Isn't that crazy?

345

You like, you realize that forgiveness

didn't exist and then God was

346

like, here's what we're gonna do.

347

We're gonna forgive people.

348

And that was like the first time anyone

had ever thought about forgiving someone.

349

Isn't that crazy?

350

And the reason that that you

and I can know what forgiveness

351

is, is because of God.

352

God introduced the idea of

forgiveness, which is so cool, right?

353

Like no one would think of

forgiveness if it wasn't for God.

354

No one would think of reconciliation

and, and two people working

355

something out and, and being patient

and kind and, and compassionate.

356

If it wasn't for God,

God invented forgiveness.

357

It's God's idea.

358

He's, he's so loving, he made

this way to forgive people.

359

'cause hopefully what you've seen

from Romans one through three is

360

that God doesn't have to forgive us.

361

Right?

362

A lot of people say, well, how can

A, how can God not save everyone?

363

The real question is,

why does God save anyone?

364

God has no obligation to save anyone.

365

God doesn't even have to share the gospel

with anyone because everyone's guilty.

366

Right?

367

There's no obligation for God to

make a way for us to be saved.

368

But he did it because He's

loving, because he cares.

369

He wants to save people.

370

He doesn't have to, but he wanted to.

371

So the real question is not

why doesn't God save everyone?

372

It's why did God save even one person?

373

Because he didn't have to do that.

374

But he decided that he wanted to

do that 'cause he loves people.

375

But I also, when we think about

justification, is about God, I want you

376

to remember that forgiveness is about God.

377

Forgiveness is about getting God.

378

It's not about getting to heaven.

379

I remember I probably told you guys

before, I remember one time, um, someone

380

asked me, if you got to heaven and

Jesus wasn't there, would you be happy?

381

If you got to heaven and Jesus wasn't

there, would you be okay with that?

382

And I think that'll do a lot to show you.

383

Do I just want, do I want Jesus

or do I just want His stuff?

384

Do I really love Jesus

and wanna be with Jesus?

385

Or do I just want all the benefits of

Jesus and I don't really care about Jesus?

386

The point of forgiveness

is that you get God.

387

Your sins are gone.

388

Now.

389

You can have a relationship with

God now you can be adopted by God.

390

Now God, and and God loves you and you

experience His, his care as a, as a son

391

or a daughter, and you experience his

forgiveness and his grace, that's the

392

point of forgiveness is you get God.

393

It's not that you get, oh,

I'm not guilty anymore.

394

I get to go to heaven.

395

Sure, that's great, but you get God.

396

That's the best part about forgiveness.

397

One person, he put it like this is.

398

Is forgiveness about what God

gives to you or what God is to you.

399

Who God is to you is God.

400

Your treasure is God.

401

Your joy is God.

402

Your your friend is God.

403

Your Father is God, is God.

404

Your the, the prize of your life, right?

405

Don't just make forgiveness about getting

God's stuff and not going to Hell.

406

We talked about that before.

407

That's like someone dating you.

408

'cause they don't wanna be single.

409

That stinks.

410

Don't do that to God.

411

And something else that's really

cool about justification is that no

412

other religion has this type of idea.

413

I remember one time I was talking to

a Muslim and he was telling me that

414

Allah is just, he's a good judge.

415

He punished his sin.

416

Allah hates sin.

417

And I was asking, well, how do you

know that you're gonna go to heaven

418

if, if your God hates sin so much.

419

And the whole point of his religion was

that he was hoping that he could do enough

420

good things so that hopefully he, he's

good enough because Allah can't forgive

421

him because Allah has to punish sin.

422

There's no one for Allah to punish.

423

Instead of him,

424

he has to punish his sin.

425

Every other religion is just

designed for you to make up for your.

426

That's what every other religion is about.

427

Every other religion is about

you making up for your sin.

428

You do enough good things, you

follow enough rules, you check enough

429

boxes, you make up for your sin,

and then God will be happy with you

430

and, and maybe lets you into heaven.

431

That's every other religion.

432

No other religion is your acceptance

by God based on someone else,

433

and that's why no other religion can, can

give you the certainty that you are saved.

434

It's up to you and you're

fallible, you're imperfect.

435

You don't do the right thing all the time.

436

No other religion can come up with

something like this 'cause no other

437

religion was made by God, right?

438

God is a genius.

439

I hope you see just how intricate this

plan is, that God is just, but God

440

punishes sin, but he punishes someone else

for your sin so that you can be forgiven.

441

You can be counted righteous.

442

You can get Jesus righteousness and be

counted as righteous and as like you

443

did nothing wrong and everything right.

444

God is a genius.

445

Only God can come up with that plan.

446

No other manmade religion has

come up with anything like that.

447

So we talk a lot about justification,

but how exactly does it work?

448

I just realized that I should have

shown you these verses earlier.

449

That would've helped you a lot.

450

But that's okay.

451

Second point, I want you to see that

justification is because of Jesus.

452

Justification is because of Jesus.

453

So justification is about God.

454

The point of of God's plan

of salvation is that it shows

455

that he's still a good judge.

456

It preserves his integrity as God, but

also justification is because of Jesus.

457

Now, this might seem like something

that you feel like you already knew,

458

but here's what I want you to see.

459

Okay, we'll look at verses.

460

Starting at the end of verse 22.

461

Okay, so there's no distinction.

462

Everyone's sinned and fallen

short of the glory of God.

463

That word falls short.

464

You can also say like,

we lack God's glory.

465

We devalue God, right?

466

We all say, God, I'd rather

have fill in the blank than you.

467

That's sin, right?

468

We talked all about that these

past couple months of what sin is.

469

Sin is really about God.

470

Sin isn't about you doing bad things

to other people or you hurting people.

471

Sin primarily is an offense against God.

472

It's, it's loving something

else more than God.

473

It's saying, God, I'd rather

have this stuff than you God.

474

I'd rather have this

reputation than you God.

475

I'd rather be this type

of person than have you.

476

That's sin.

477

It's when we prefer something else to God.

478

So we all lack God's glory.

479

We all reject God, but at the same

time, anyone, verse 24 can be justified.

480

By his grace as a gift through the

redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

481

You see that the way you get justified

is through something that Jesus did.

482

Justification being accepted by God

and not condemned is through something

483

that Jesus did, and it's redemption

and propitiation, okay, redemption.

484

That means that Jesus paid for something.

485

He bought something like when you,

you know how you redeem a coupon.

486

You're like using the coupon

to pay for your meal, right?

487

Like at Chick-fil-A, you redeem your

reward, you get your free sandwich

488

so you don't have to pay for your

sandwich anymore 'cause the coupon

489

paid for your sandwich, right?

490

Jesus paid for your sandwich, right?

491

You owed God a big debt, an infinite debt,

not just one sandwich, and he paid for it.

492

That's what redemption means.

493

And propitiation, that's a fun word.

494

I should have made this bigger, but

you know that meme with the soldier.

495

Um, protecting that like sleeping

kid from the, um, the stuff.

496

Let's see.

497

Can I edit this on the fly?

498

I can't.

499

That's propitiation.

500

Okay.

501

God's wrath hits Jesus instead of you.

502

Have you?

503

Has anyone seen this meme before?

504

No.

505

You've never seen this meme?

506

I have.

507

Thank you, Caleb.

508

One person has seen this meme.

509

Now you've all seen it, so this.

510

I'm kind of shocked that

no one's seen this meme.

511

Anyway, basically what's

happening, right, is so people

512

would use this meme as like, um,

513

let's see.

514

I don't know, but anyway,

you get the meme, right?

515

I don't have to explain this to you.

516

You guys are young.

517

I'm not teaching adults right now.

518

Um, I heard this one.

519

Church staff, they, their youth

director sits down with the staff

520

once a week and explains like some

slang or like meme to them every week.

521

Um, which I'd be terrible at.

522

But anyway, I don't have to do

that with you guys, hopefully.

523

But here's the point, right?

524

God's wrath is supposed to hit you,

but instead it hits Jesus, right?

525

Propitiation, that's what that means.

526

It means it's like a sponge.

527

Wrath absorber, right?

528

Jesus soaked up God's wrath for you.

529

That's what propitiation means.

530

Now, some people would say

that this is overkill, right?

531

Some people would say that, why

did God have to kill his son?

532

Just because I, you

know, no one's perfect.

533

And that's when we talk about

what's what's sin, right?

534

Sin is a big deal.

535

Sin isn't just messing up.

536

Sin isn't just, oh, well, yeah,

I'm not as good as I should be,

537

or sometimes I do the wrong thing.

538

Or sometimes I'm selfish.

539

Sin is rejecting the most amazing

person in the world, right?

540

You're saying?

541

You're telling the the most valuable,

the most awesome, the most glorious

542

thing person that's ever existed.

543

Yeah.

544

I'd rather have this than you.

545

That's what sin is, right?

546

It's a big deal.

547

This isn't overkill.

548

This is actually the only way

you can remove your sin is

549

Jesus has to take it away.

550

You can't do it.

551

Nothing you do can take away your sin.

552

Does anyone have to

read Macbeth in school?

553

No.

554

Yes, Adam has to.

555

No one else has to.

556

Okay.

557

I won't even talk about Macbeth then.

558

Um, whatever.

559

It's this book.

560

There's this lady, she kills someone

and she imagines that there's blood

561

on her hands because she feels

guilty and she can't get it off.

562

'cause it's in her brain,

not actually on her hands.

563

She can't get it off.

564

And so she goes crazy because

she can't get rid of her guilt.

565

There's a lot of ways that we

try to cover up our guilt, right?

566

Maybe we try to do better next time, or

maybe we just wait and, or we bury it.

567

Or maybe we compare, we say,

I'm not as bad as that person.

568

Or, well, yeah, I know I'm a sinner,

but those people over there are worse.

569

Or maybe we rationalize it.

570

We say, well, I did it

because of X, Y, and Z.

571

Right?

572

Well, well, I said those words

because this person did this to me

573

or I, I, well, if the Bible was more

interesting, I would love God more.

574

If sermons were better, then

I would, then I would do it.

575

Or if I could, you know, if,

if God appeared to me, then I,

576

then I would become a Christian.

577

We rationalize your

sin, or we just give up.

578

We say, I'm not, I'm, I'm not good

enough and I'm just gonna go sin.

579

There's all these different ways that

we try to get rid of our sin, right?

580

We try to drown it out.

581

We try to make up for it.

582

We try to do better.

583

We try to say, well fill in the blank.

584

The only way you can get rid

of your sin is trusting Jesus.

585

Jesus is the only person who can get

rid of your sin because you don't have

586

enough money to pay the debt you owe.

587

God.

588

You're not good enough.

589

You can't do it.

590

But also you need Jesus

perfect righteousness.

591

That's why Jesus didn't show up

on Palm Sunday and then die on

592

the cross the next, the next week.

593

Have you ever thought about that?

594

Why did Jesus have to appear

and like be born and then live

595

like a full life and then die?

596

Because Jesus had to earn a spot in

heaven for people like me and you.

597

'cause we can't do it.

598

We're not good enough because righteous

is different than innocent, right?

599

Innocent just means, okay, great

you, you didn't do anything wrong.

600

Righteous means you did everything right.

601

You did everything that

God expected you to do.

602

Think about that.

603

Think about all the things that

God asks you to do or commands

604

you to do that you don't do.

605

Not just all the things you do wrong,

but think about all the thing, all

606

the, all the ways you should love

people, even just what love of

607

Lord your God with all your heart.

608

That's a lot of not loving God

that, that I haven't done right?

609

Jesus gives us perfect righteousness

and we can't add anything or

610

take anything away from it, and

this is where justification is.

611

So.

612

Important that you don't

try to take credit for it,

613

because even as a Christian,

sometimes we try to take credit

614

for what Jesus did, right?

615

Like of course God would save me,

or well, yeah, I'm a Christian

616

and I started doing all these

good things, and then here we go.

617

We try to, to take credit.

618

Maybe sometimes for what Jesus did, I

wish I had to add to it like, well, God

619

saved me because of Jesus and because

look at all the good things I've done.

620

No, that's, that's not how that works.

621

Gotta say 'cause of Jesus.

622

Even if you do a lot of really

good things for God, right?

623

I don't know what's happening over

there, but try to focus please.

624

Okay.

625

Also,

626

justification is so important for you.

627

If you are a Christian, it's

easy to think, well, I got saved.

628

Jesus made me righteous.

629

Cool.

630

Move on with my life.

631

Now I just live for.

632

Justification fuels all of your growth

in godliness, because if you think

633

about it, all of all of your sin, even

as a Christian, is you searching for

634

something to make you good enough, right?

635

The reason that you, you want, you

covet and you want, oh, I wish I had

636

those clothes, or I wish I looked like

that, or, I wish I was that talented,

637

or I wish I could do that thing.

638

Because you think once I get that,

that'll be, that'll I'll be good enough.

639

I'll, I'll make it.

640

Or once those people like me, or once

I get that relationship, or once I get

641

into this school or get these grades,

or once I'm able to drive, or once

642

this happens, then I'll be good enough.

643

Or once I get to do those

things, then I'll be happy.

644

There's a lot of things that we

turn to to, to fill us up, right?

645

Even any sin.

646

Is related to that.

647

So

648

I hope you see that justification is not

just for the unbelievers in the room.

649

I hope if you're a Christian in this room,

you see that all of life is relevant to

650

whether Jesus makes me good enough or not.

651

One person, he, he put it like this.

652

He asked what would it look like?

653

If you went through this coming week

fully justified not needing any further

654

ratification or approval from any

person or accomplishment, what would

655

that look like if you didn't feel the

need to, to get those people to laugh

656

so that you feel good about yourself?

657

What would it look like if you felt

like, oh, I don't have to impress

658

those people or live up to their

expectations because I know that I'm

659

accepted by God because of Jesus?

660

That would change a lot.

661

So justification is more than

just for, okay, I got saved.

662

Now I can put it in a box and leave it.

663

It's for Christians

too, but for salvation.

664

Essentially what it comes down

to is this right is God has what

665

we need and we don't deserve.

666

That is righteousness.

667

God is perfect.

668

God is holy.

669

God has righteousness.

670

We need that and we don't deserve it, God.

671

So God has those things, right?

672

God has righteousness.

673

We need it.

674

We don't deserve it.

675

We have sin, and that's

what God hates and rejects.

676

So the way that this works is

there's an exchange that happens.

677

God has righteousness.

678

We need it, but we don't deserve it.

679

We have sin.

680

God hates it.

681

So what happens is God says, here, I'll

take your sin and I'll put it on Jesus

682

and I'll give you my righteousness.

683

Jesus earned.

684

That's how propitiation works, right?

685

You get Christ's righteousness.

686

He gets your sin.

687

You get treated like Jesus did, and he

gets treated like you should have been.

688

He suffers God wrath, God's wrath for you.

689

Now, you might be thinking, well,

because of that, doesn't that just

690

mean everyone goes to heaven, right?

691

If you just died for everyone,

that doesn't everyone go to heaven.

692

Well, here's.

693

The thing is this justification, right?

694

Jesus righteousness applied to you has

to be received a certain way, right?

695

Just because Jesus died doesn't

mean everyone goes to heaven.

696

How do you get that applied to you?

697

How do you get connected

to what Jesus did?

698

Right?

699

That's the question we're asking.

700

Well, that's what Paul talks about here.

701

He says that everyone is sinned, right?

702

Everyone's guilty.

703

We've all sinned, but we are.

704

Justified by his grace as a gift.

705

So it's a gift and it comes by grace.

706

How do we get it?

707

We receive that gift by faith.

708

So how do I get this

gift of justification?

709

Well, you can't deserve

it and you can't buy it.

710

You can't buy a gift for yourself.

711

That's not a gift.

712

And you can't earn it.

713

You can't work for it.

714

So how do you get it?

715

Well, you have to get it by faith.

716

So our third point tonight, justification

is a gift received by faith.

717

So how does this work?

718

If, if Jesus can really give

me his righteousness and he can

719

really take my sin away, how

do that, how does that happen?

720

How do I get that to happen to me?

721

That's the question we're asking here.

722

So the first thing that we

saw, right, is that it happens.

723

It's, it's a, it's by grace, right?

724

That means that it's, it's not deserved

in the sense of it doesn't make sense

725

if something happens by grace,

it means, oh yeah, that really

726

shouldn't have happened that way.

727

Some things.

728

Undeserved.

729

It's not because of anything you did.

730

It wasn't because you were so good.

731

It wasn't because you were born in a

certain place or just certain parents.

732

It wasn't because God just thought you

would be so awesome if he saved you.

733

'cause then you would do all

these awesome things for him.

734

It has nothing to do with you.

735

It's undeserved.

736

That's what that means.

737

So part of receiving this

gift of justification means

738

you have to recognize that.

739

You have to admit that.

740

You have to say, I.

741

I don't deserve it.

742

I shouldn't get this.

743

There's nothing about me that

makes God have to do this for me.

744

That's what it's, that's

what undeserved means.

745

There's nothing about me that deserves it.

746

It's also a gift, which

means it's unwinnable, right?

747

You can't earn a gift because if

you, if you worked for it, then

748

God would owe it to you, right?

749

God would you would, you

would deserve it from God.

750

You would earn it.

751

God would be like in your

debt, so to speak, right?

752

Because if you work for someone and

they say they're gonna pay you, then

753

you're in, they're actually in your

debt 'cause they owe you money, right?

754

If you worked for your salvation

God, God would be in your debt and

755

he would have to owe you salvation

for the good things that you did.

756

But you can't put God in debt, right?

757

God owns everything God made you.

758

You can't put God in debt.

759

So you have to give up any claim or

sense that, that God owes this to me.

760

You can't say, well God, I did all these

things for you, so you have to forgive me.

761

That's what it means, that it's a gift.

762

You can't say, God, you

better do this for me.

763

You can't get mad at God for not

doing it for you because it's a gift.

764

It's kinda like when I, so I

used to work at Chick-fil-A.

765

Do you guys ever this ever happen to

you when someone pays for your food,

766

like in front of you in the drive-thru?

767

So at Chick-fil-A, I guess people feel

nicer when they go to Chick-fil-A.

768

Um, it's probably 'cause we

say my pleasure all the time.

769

But they would pay for the people.

770

Sometimes people would pay for

the someone behind them, right?

771

They'd be like, oh, can I pay

for that car behind these meal?

772

And then that person would be

like, oh, they paid for my meal.

773

I'm gonna pay for that person behind me.

774

Right?

775

You ever seen these things?

776

We got some like pretty long list.

777

It was really fun at Chick-fil-A, someone

would be like, and then there's that one

778

person that's like, oh no, I won't do it.

779

And you're like, dude, you're that

person that didn't do it anyway.

780

Or they like pay for the person

behind them and it ends up

781

being like this like big family.

782

And I always feel bad, but hey, that's

what you get for being generous, I guess.

783

I don't know.

784

But um.

785

The whole point of that, right, is it's

supposed to show God's love, right?

786

Because if, if you're driving, if

you're in the drive through, you

787

have no idea who's behind you, right?

788

There's nothing about them that

makes you wanna pay for them.

789

There's nothing about them that's like,

oh yeah, I should do this for them.

790

You're just doing it because

you love them, right?

791

You have no idea who they are.

792

You've never met them.

793

You, maybe they were in the separate

lane of the drive through and you

794

didn't even see them until right now.

795

But you did it because it's, it's

not, they, they didn't deserve it.

796

They didn't earn it.

797

It wasn't 'cause anything.

798

I did.

799

It wasn't 'cause they worked for you.

800

It wasn't, you're not paying

them back for something.

801

You just did it.

802

That's how justification is a gift.

803

It's not something that, that

you say, well, I did this for

804

God, so he did this for me.

805

It's not a transaction in that sense.

806

Right.

807

You just trust God to do it.

808

He does it.

809

It's, it's God's initiated idea for you.

810

So then how do I get it right?

811

I have to admit that I,

that I don't deserve it.

812

I have to admit that I can't earn it.

813

How do I get it?

814

Well, it's, it's really simple,

but it's really hard, right?

815

It's through faith.

816

Hopefully you saw that

in our passage, right?

817

It's through faith.

818

It's received by faith.

819

It's faith in Jesus.

820

That's how you get this applied to you.

821

Now it's simple and it's really hard.

822

What do I mean by that?

823

Well, it's, it's hard because you have

to acknowledge that you're helpless.

824

That's what faith is, right?

825

Faith is acknowledging that that's

how it starts, that I can't do this.

826

And we don't like to admit that, right?

827

We don't like to admit that

we're not, we're helpless.

828

We can't do anything about arson.

829

We can't take it away.

830

We can't hide it.

831

We can't cover it up.

832

We can't make up for it.

833

We can't do anything about our sin.

834

Someone I was reading this

week, they put it this way.

835

They said that God forgives or they

said, God doesn't forgive excuses.

836

If you try to justify or

rationalize your sin, you're,

837

you're not confessing your sin.

838

You're, you're making excuses for your.

839

Faith.

840

Real faith leads to

confession, not excuses.

841

Really admitting that, Hey, I, I

don't deserve God's forgiveness.

842

I don't deserve God's grace.

843

I'm guilty of sin.

844

That type of person isn't gonna confess

their sin by saying, God, this person

845

may be really mad at, I'm really mad.

846

'cause whose fault is that?

847

It's not your fault.

848

It's that person's fault.

849

They made you mad, right?

850

Or

851

the other reason it's hard is we

naturally wanna take credit for it, right?

852

With, when we talk about

faith, we naturally want to

853

say, well, I, I added to this.

854

It wasn't just Jesus,

it was Jesus plus me.

855

We naturally want to take

credit for things, so that's

856

why it's hard to trust Jesus.

857

You have to admit that I'm not

contributing anything to it.

858

I'm not adding anything to why I'm saved.

859

Jesus did a hundred percent of it.

860

I did 0% of the saving.

861

There's a famous theologian

who said, the only thing you

862

contribute to your salvation is

the sin that made it necessary.

863

The only thing you add to your

salvation is the fact that you

864

sinned and you needed to be saved.

865

That's all you.

866

That's all you did.

867

This equation,

868

but it's simple because anyone can do it.

869

It doesn't matter how smart you are.

870

It doesn't matter how

well you know the Bible.

871

Doesn't matter how old you are, it

doesn't matter who your parents are.

872

It doesn't matter what you've done

because anyone can admit that they're

873

a sinner and say, I am bankrupt.

874

Right?

875

When you play Monopoly, the game's

over when you declare bankruptcy.

876

I, I can't repay all of

the, the bills I owe.

877

'cause I landed on your hotel on Broadway.

878

Broad.

879

Was it Broadway?

880

Boardwalk.

881

Boardwalk.

882

Boardwalk.

883

Boardwalk.

884

That's clearly, I don't play

Monopoly very much, um, because it's

885

like one of the worst games ever.

886

Um, 'cause then you start losing,

you're losing for like hours and

887

then you finally get bankrupt.

888

You know what I mean?

889

You have to sell all your

stuff and it's terrible.

890

Anyway, um, I don't even know

what I was talking about.

891

Bankruptcy.

892

Yeah.

893

So you get the, the first step

of faith is declaring bankruptcy.

894

I, I can't do this.

895

I can't repay this debt.

896

Anyone can do that.

897

So it's simple.

898

It's very simple.

899

You say, God, I'm not good enough.

900

I've disobeyed you.

901

I've rebelled against you.

902

I need not just help.

903

I need saving.

904

I don't just need you to help me.

905

I need you to rescue me.

906

And then you say, Jesus,

I need your righteousness.

907

I'm not good enough.

908

You need to make me good enough.

909

And you say, Jesus, I

can't get rid of my sin.

910

You have to take it away, and so

I'm gonna depend on you to do that.

911

Faith isn't just mentally acknowledging

that Jesus could save you.

912

I think a lot of you believe that

Jesus could save you, but that

913

doesn't do you any good, right?

914

Knowing that the lifeboat's there.

915

You could get off the ship and

get in the lifeboat doesn't help

916

you if you go down with the ship.

917

So if, if all you're saying is, yeah, I

agree with everything that you said in the

918

sermon, doesn't mean you're a Christian.

919

What makes you a Christian

is when you, you get in the

920

boat and you depend on Jesus.

921

You say, I'm not good enough.

922

Jesus.

923

I need you to make me good enough

and I trust you to do that.

924

So let's pray and we'll talk

about that more in small group.

925

God, thank you that you made a way for

us to be saved, that you love us enough

926

to kill your son so that we could be

made righteous, so that we could be

927

accepted by you and not endure your wrath.

928

And we're so thankful

that this is your idea.

929

We didn't ask for you to do this.

930

You did this knowing that we would sin.

931

You actually planned all this

before we would even exist.

932

Um.

933

I pray that we see your

mercy, your your goodness.

934

I pray that we see that you're

worth everything, you're worth

935

giving up everything for.

936

Um, and so help us to

get to just be clear.

937

Help us ask good questions, help

us to be focused and get a lot

938

out of our time in small groups.

939

We pray this in Jesus name.

940

Amen.