Speaker:
All right, we're finishing Romans three, Romans 3 27 to 31.
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Romans 3 27 to 31.
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So, um, one of the things that I didn't
like about math in high school was
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that math, um, you think you're like
done with a math class, but really
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you're not done with that math class.
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You know what I mean?
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Because the next year you're gonna be
using everything you learned from that
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math class in the next math class, right?
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You like, oh, geometry was the worst.
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Then you're like, oh, wait, now I'm doing,
you know, trigonometry or Algebra two or
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Pre-Calc, and you're like, this is all
the stuff from geometry, just harder.
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Or then you do algebra two and you're
like, I thought I was done with algebra.
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I took Algebra one, I was algebra two.
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And then you learn about all these
different functions and all this stuff.
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And then, and then you do
more and you're like, oh wait,
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this is actually preparing me.
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And then if you're, if you're lucky, you
get to calculus and you're like, oh man.
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This is just everything I've ever learned
in math, but on steroids and way harder,
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and it all builds on itself, right?
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And if you're thinking, oh, once I just
passed this unit test, right, once I just
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passed the the sign, co-sign, tangent
test, or once I just passed the test
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on Hyperbola, or once I just passed
the test on on the Y axis, then I'll be
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done with it and I can just put it away.
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You unfortunately are
sorely mistaken, right?
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If you think you can just take
your math knowledge, put it in a
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box and forget about it for the
rest of your school career, I'm
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sorry, that's not the case, right?
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You don't just get to pass the
test and then forget about it.
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You have to use it for the rest
of your school career, right?
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The rest of your math, and you
probably didn't wanna hear a sermon
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starting with a math illustration.
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But the point is that you can't
just put your math knowledge
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into a box and forget about it.
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And I think sometimes.
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Christianity.
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We think that's how faith works.
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We think faith, well, I use it to become
a Christian and I trust Jesus and I get
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saved and then I put it in a box and I,
and I move on, and I just go and, and then
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I do the rest of my Christian life by,
you know, reading the Bible and praying
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and obeying God, and, and listening
to sermons and doing these things.
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And we, we kind of think we can just
put, do our, pass our faith test to
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get saved and then forget about it.
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And that's actually not the
case with the Christian life.
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Faith isn't just something you do once.
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To get saved.
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Faith is the ongoing lifestyle of
the Christian life, and so in our
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passage tonight, we're gonna see
that faith makes both salvation
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and obedience about God, not us.
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Faith is the ongoing posture of the
Christian for the rest of the Christian
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life, not just to get you justified.
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Right?
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We talked a lot about
justification by faith.
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Right, that we're made right with
God by trusting Jesus' work on the
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cross to take away our sin, to give us
righteousness, and that he rose from the
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dead to give us hope for life forever.
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That's what we trust in to be justified,
but also we keep on exercising that faith.
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We keep on trusting God as a Christian
for the rest of your Christian life.
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So.
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There's two things here, right?
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You see, faith makes both salvation
and obedience about God, not us.
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So art sermon is, it's
gonna be really simple.
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The first thing is gonna be how
does faith make salvation about God?
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And then the second thing is, how
does faith make obedience about God?
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So super simple.
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So our first, for our first
point, how does S, how does
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faith make salvation about God?
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Well, simple, simply put, faith completely
relies on Jesus to make us right with God.
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And hopefully you got
that last week right?
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Faith completely relies on Jesus.
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To make us right with God, not
anything else We've talked about
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throughout the book of Romans, right?
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There's, there's nothing else that we
can rely on to make us right with God.
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We, when we saw in the, in the context,
we talked about how the Jews would
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rely on their Jewishness or their
outward religious signs to make them
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right with God, and we said that,
that that's not gonna work, right?
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Just like going to church or being
baptized or doing the church things or
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having Christian parents, that doesn't
make us right with God in the same way.
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We, that's not what we rely on.
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So faith.
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We have to rely on Jesus to do that.
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So for our first point tonight,
make salvation all about Jesus.
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Make salvation all about Jesus.
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And once you've got that down,
look with me at verse 27.
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We're gonna get into our passage
and see how it makes salvation
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all about Jesus and not about us.
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Okay?
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Alright.
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Verse 27.
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So we just talked about how God
makes us righteous through Jesus.
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God uses Jesus to make
us righteous, not us.
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So then verse 27, Paul asks the
question, what becomes of our boasting?
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Now that's weird.
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Why is he talking about boasting?
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Well, let's see.
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He says it's excluded.
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It's shut out.
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That's that what that word means
by what kind of law or what kind
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of like, how does that work?
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How does faith shut out?
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Boasting.
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Is it by the law of works?
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No.
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It's by the law of faith for we
hold that someone is justified by
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faith apart from works of the law.
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So what Paul's saying here is, well
then if, if we're justified by faith,
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can we take credit for anything?
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Right?
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When you're boasting about something,
you're, you're, what you're doing
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is you're saying, look at me.
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Do we have any right to
draw attention to ourselves?
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If we're justified by faith?
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No, not at all.
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It's shut out.
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It's like we, we took all of the
credit that you think you deserve
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and we locked it outta the room.
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When we talked about
justification by faith, and it's
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not because of works, right?
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It's because of faith.
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Faith is what excludes.
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Boasting not works, right?
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Because if, if you worked for
just salvation, you could say,
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yeah, I deserve credit for it.
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Right?
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If you contributed even 5%
of your, your salvation, you
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deserve 5% of the credit, right?
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If you, right, if you're, let's say you
have a friend who's, who's an LDS, right?
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A Mormon and, and their salvation,
how they think it works is
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you do your part and then God
makes up the difference, right?
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You do your best and God takes care
of the rest, so they get credit
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for what they did, and then God
makes up the difference, right?
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If the, if they got 60% of
the way there, then God makes
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up the 40% and that's great.
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That's not what the Bible teaches.
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The Bible teaches that you did 0% of
the work, so you get 0% of the credit.
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That's because of faith, right?
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If it was by works, you could boast.
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You could say, well, look what I did.
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Look what I contributed to this.
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Maybe I didn't do all of
it, but I did some of it.
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So faith is what eliminates boasting.
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Faith is the opposite of boasting.
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That's what these verses
are telling us because.
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Faith is depending on someone else, right?
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Faith is the admission of inadequacy.
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To have faith in Jesus to depend on Jesus.
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You can't say, well, I
helped by trusting Jesus.
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You're, you're admitting
that I'm not good enough.
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The act of trusting Jesus is
admitting that you don't measure up.
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And so.
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When you think about even where
faith has to come from, right?
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It has to come from the fact that,
oh, I don't deserve salvation and I
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can't do anything about it, right?
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It's the, it's the
admission of helplessness.
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Even think about the way that
the Bible talks about Christians
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before they became Christians.
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What are some of the words, right?
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You think, uh, we were
dead in our sin, right?
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That's a very helpless person, right?
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Dead people can't do anything to make
themselves alive, or you think about.
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We're blind, right?
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We're, we're unable to see
there's inability there.
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Or you think about being
slaves to sin, right?
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That's, we, you can't do
anything about it, right?
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A slave couldn't free themselves.
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Or you think about the idea of having
a, a heart of stone and needing it
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to be changed to a heart of flesh.
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That's something that the,
the heart can't do to itself.
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So all of these pictures
of what it's like to to be.
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Apart from Jesus.
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Ha.
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You, you start with the admission
that I can't do anything about my sin.
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I'm stuck.
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And that's what has to happen for faith.
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Faith is the admission that I,
I can't do anything I'm unable.
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And even what he talked about a
couple weeks ago, unwilling, we said
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that no one seeks after God, right?
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It's not just that you couldn't, it's that
even if you could, you wouldn't want to.
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So that's where faith starts.
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But then also, um, faith draws
attention to Jesus, not to us.
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Right?
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The whole, the whole point of faith is
once you say, okay, I can't do anything
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about this, someone else can, and
that's who I'm gonna rely on, right?
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If you don't bring anything to the table,
you don't get any credit for it, right?
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It's kind of like.
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How Right.
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Imagine.
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Right.
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Revival Black team, we won.
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Right?
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We definitely did.
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Did I play any of the games?
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No.
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Right.
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I was not participating
in any of the games.
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Actually, Morgan was at Revival for like
less than half the time I was, and he
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participated more in the games that I did.
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If I started bragging
about how I won Revival.
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Not a good look.
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Right.
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Not a, not a good look.
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If I'm like, oh yeah, look what I did.
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I did all this stuff, I did nothing.
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Right.
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I just maybe yelled at
Pastor Evan to stop cheating.
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Right.
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That's pretty much all I
contributed to my team.
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All I have to say is.
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I would have no right to draw any
attention to my, like imagine if after we
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played Steal the Bacon and after or after
we played, um, that, what was that game
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on the tarp with the big beach ball thing?
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Kenneth's favorite game?
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Kenneth.
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Uh, imagine like after, you know
how, like imagine after Naya like
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totally dominated that round.
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If I went out there and
was like, look at me guys.
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I did so good.
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Right?
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That would be terrible.
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That would be awful.
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There's, I had have no right to do that.
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That's what it looks like if we try to
take credit for God's work to save us.
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Right?
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If we try to, to, to draw
attention to, oh, well look
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at, look at me in my salvation.
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Look at all the stuff that, that I do.
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Imagine if, if we had baptisms right.
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Not too long ago.
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Imagine if, if you're hearing
someone share their testimony
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from the tank and they're just
talking about how, oh, well, like.
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I did all this stuff and I started
going to church, and I started reading
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the Bible, and I really am, I was
really smart so I could understand
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the gospel, and I was, I was just
a really, you know, wise person.
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So I made these really good choices
and put myself in this great
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position, and then I realized
that I should stop sinning.
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And so I tried really hard and I
studied a lot, and I stopped sinning.
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And then I, you would be
like, what are you doing?
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Like you, you're talking about yourself.
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You should be talking about God.
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This is, this is God's
work in you, not your work.
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So when you talk about if, if you're
professing Christian and you're
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talking about salvation, right?
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You're sharing your testimony.
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You, if someone asks you, Hey,
how did you become a Christian?
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I, I hope that the star of
your testimony is Jesus.
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I hope the star of your
testimony is what God did to you.
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All the things that God did to
draw you in to show you your sin.
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I hope your, your
testimony is not well, I.
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Fill in the blank.
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Did this, right?
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I started doing this.
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Look at me.
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Look at me.
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Look at me.
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I hope your testimony is, look at God.
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Look what he did.
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Look how patient he was with me.
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Look how merciful he was
to forgive all of my sin.
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That's why when we become a Christian,
that's why we don't shy away from
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saying, yeah, I, I was a sinner.
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Right?
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We don't want to necessarily, if
you think about, um, when we did,
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when we studied Matthew, right?
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Matthew always calls himself
Matthew, the tax collective.
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Why do you think he does that?
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He does that.
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'cause he wants you to
know, Hey, guess what?
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God saved a tax collector like me.
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God saved a corrupt, selfish, unjust
person like Matthew, and he wants
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you to know that that's who I was.
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'cause he wants you to
see, look what God did.
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Look what God did to me.
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Right?
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Paul talks about this all the time.
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You see this in a lot of Paul's letters.
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First Timothy, first Timothy chapter one.
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He says, I was the worst sinner.
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The reason that he wants to tell
people that he was the worst sinner
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is 'cause he wants you to see how
patient God is and how good God is.
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So I hope when you talk about your
salvation, if you're a Christian,
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that you're not talking about you
and you're talking about God, right?
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It's, it's, it's your
testimony about God's work.
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It's not your testimony about how
awesome you are for having all this
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cool stuff happen to you, right?
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Faith is inherently other focused.
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Faith is inherently Jesus focused.
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That's who you're depending on.
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That's who you're trusting in.
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It's not you focused.
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And then we also see that in the rest
of these verses, if you keep reading
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29 and 30, so Paul keeps going or
is God the God of the Jews only?
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Is he not the God of Gentiles?
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Also.
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Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is
one who will justify the circumcised by
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faith and the uncircumcised by faith.
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So what Paul is saying here is that
every single person, right, because
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the Jews he, he's been talking with,
he's going back and forth with the
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Jews, this whole letter so far, and
he said how the Jews, they were, they
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were relying on their outward signs to
show that we have God's favor, right?
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We're special to God.
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We have an advantage with God because.
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Of the the law or the things that we
do or the signs of the covenant, right?
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They're saying that we
have an advantage with God.
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We've got like extra credit before God.
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We don't need as much of God's grace
because we have all this stuff, or
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we even are already accepted by God
because of all this stuff that we have.
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What Paul is saying is that's not true.
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There's only one way that
people get saved through faith.
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There's one way of salvation and
that eliminates boasting, right?
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The whole point of this paragraph
so far has been that faith
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gets rid of boasting, right?
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If, if you believe that God saves
people by faith, you have zero reason
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to boast because there's nothing
about you that makes you more or
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less eligible for God's grace.
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There's nothing about you
that makes a difference in
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whether God saves you or not.
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God doesn't save you because you
have the right parents or because
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you're from the right area or
because you know the right things.
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God saves you because he wants to.
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God saves you because he's
kind and because he's generous
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and because he's merciful,
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you aren't more or less likely to
be saved because you didn't do.
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X, Y, and Z when you were a kid, or
because you learned, you know these Bible
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verses growing up, that doesn't make you
more or less deserving of God's grace.
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'cause otherwise it
wouldn't be grace, right?
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If you deserved it, it's not grace,
because grace inherently is unwinnable.
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It has to be free.
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'cause if you worked for it,
then God owed it to you, right?
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If you did something to deserve it,
then you should get it, and that then
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it wouldn't be grace anymore, then
it would be something you earned.
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So I think it's, it's easy sometimes
even right as a Christian to look
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back and, and think, oh yeah,
and now it makes sense that God
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saved me because well, look at me.
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I started growing, I started serving,
you know, all this stuff happened to me.
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I now, I'm doing all these
great things for God.
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And it's easy to look back and be like,
oh yeah, I could see why God saved me.
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'cause look at all this
stuff I brought to the table.
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Or think about Paul.
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Right?
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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I think I know why God saved me.
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'cause I, I wrote these books to the
Bible and he's gonna do all these
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great things through me and preach
the gospel to all these places, right?
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That, that didn't make Paul more
deserving of salvation just because God
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used him for bigger things down the road
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even, right?
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You don't wanna look down on other
people who aren't saved and say, well,
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there must have been something about
me that makes me different than them.
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I don't want you to look at the, the
people at school who maybe don't,
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you know, they, they don't listen to
their parents the way you do, or they
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don't know the Bible the way you do.
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Or they say those things that
you know you're not supposed to
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say or they watch those things.
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You're, you know, you're not supposed
to watch or they talk about those things
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you, you know, you're not supposed to
talk about or they go to the places
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you know you're not supposed to go.
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I don't want you to look down on them.
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'cause the only difference between
you and them is God's grace.
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I remember one time, um.
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I went on a mission trip to Utah, um,
and we met these Mormons and I realized
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the only difference between me and these
people who believe this false religion is
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that God put me in a place where I would
hear the gospel and respond to the gospel.
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'cause I didn't pick where I was born and
they didn't pick where they were born.
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But God loved me and put me
in the way of the gospel.
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And that isn't because of me,
isn't 'cause anything I did.
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It isn't because of anything
that I would go on to do.
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It's, it's all of his grace.
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It's not because I deserved it more.
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So salvation is all about Jesus.
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And that's what faith has to acknowledge.
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Faith has to acknowledge
that that salvation is 100%
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God and 0%, 0% us, right?
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Um, God does all the work in salvation.
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You think about it, God.
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Plan to save you before you even existed.
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God put you in a place where
you would hear the gospel
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and be able to respond to it.
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God gave you the desire
to respond to the gospel.
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You don't even want to be saved, right?
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You probably have friends, maybe even
in this room who don't want to be saved.
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They don't want God.
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They'd rather have
everything else but God.
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The only reason that you don't
feel the way they do is because
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God did something to your heart.
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God does all this stuff
in salvation, right?
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Even your trust in God comes from God.
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'cause you wouldn't be able to
trust God if God didn't give
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you the desire to trust him.
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So God does everything in salvation.
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That's why he gets all the credit.
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So when you talk about salvation,
if you're a Christian, when you
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talk about salvation, I hope that,
that you make it all about Jesus.
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I hope that you don't try
to add yourself in there.
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Take any credit for it.
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And if you're not a Christian,
I hope that you realize that it
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doesn't matter how much you know, it
doesn't matter who your parents are.
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It doesn't matter what you've done.
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It doesn't matter what you've
thought, how you felt God can save
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you because it doesn't, your sin isn't
too big for God to overcome, right?
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Or your lack of interest in God
isn't too big for God to overcome.
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:
Or maybe there's that person, you
know, you're like, oh, there's
402
:
no way they'd become a Christian.
403
:
The only difference between
you and them is God's grace.
404
:
So God can definitely save them too.
405
:
But when you think about this, when
you think about salvation being,
406
:
being completely God's work, it's easy
for us to maybe ask that question.
407
:
Well, if the way I live doesn't
really matter, then can't
408
:
I just do whatever I want?
409
:
Right?
410
:
If Jesus paid for my sin and you
know, God's grace is, is enough to
411
:
save me and cover me, then I can
just do whatever I want, right?
412
:
Well, I'm glad you asked because
Paul asked the exact same question,
413
:
the last verse of our paragraph.
414
:
Do we then overthrow the law?
415
:
Do we just say, okay, well let's get rid
of all of God's commands because we can
416
:
trust in Jesus to forgive us by no means.
417
:
That's the strongest way.
418
:
Paul can say no in his language.
419
:
That's like definitely
not, not gonna happen.
420
:
On the contrary, right, the opposite.
421
:
We uphold the law, we
support it, we, we affirm it.
422
:
We still care about God's commands.
423
:
What Paul is getting at here is if you
think about the question of like, okay,
424
:
well if it doesn't matter if I'm a Jew
or a Gentile, then what's the point of
425
:
all of all of the Old Testament, right?
426
:
What's the what?
427
:
What about the 600 commands
that God gave the Jews?
428
:
Why do, what's the
point of all that stuff?
429
:
What's the point of, of all the
commands in the Bible if, if it
430
:
doesn't really matter how I live?
431
:
Well, here's what.
432
:
Paul is saying, and he doesn't
really explain it as much
433
:
here, but he explains it later.
434
:
And so I'm just gonna kind
of pull some stuff into this.
435
:
But, um, what Paul is getting at
is that faith-filled obedience is
436
:
the only type of real obedience.
437
:
If your obedience to God
doesn't have faith in it,
438
:
you're not really obeying God.
439
:
You're not really keeping the law.
440
:
Unless you're doing it from a heart
that trusts God, a heart that doesn't
441
:
trust God isn't really obeying God.
442
:
Right?
443
:
The, the whole point of all of those
commands, all the stuff in the Old
444
:
Testament was to show you here's
what it looks like to live for God.
445
:
It was like building a car with no engine.
446
:
Faith is the engine.
447
:
Faith makes it all work, but we, we showed
you the car, just so you know, okay,
448
:
this is what it looks like, the, the law.
449
:
You're like, okay, well I'm not that.
450
:
I can't do that.
451
:
I can't live up to that.
452
:
I can't do what God asked me to do.
453
:
I can't live up to God's standard.
454
:
And so for all of us, we don't
have the ability to do that.
455
:
We can't keep up.
456
:
And so we see, okay, I'm not good enough.
457
:
I'm a sinner.
458
:
That's what the law does for people
who aren't saved, but for people
459
:
who are saved, the law shows us,
here's how I'm supposed to live now.
460
:
Here's what it looks like now for me
to trust Jesus actively and obey him.
461
:
So how does faith make
obedience about God?
462
:
Well, faith gives all the credit to
God for empowering us to live for him.
463
:
Faith gives God all the credit for
our obedience because he gets all the
464
:
credit for not just our salvation, but
our continued life following Jesus.
465
:
So point to make
obedience all about Jesus.
466
:
So we wanna make our salvation
all about Jesus, and we wanna
467
:
make obedience all about Jesus.
468
:
So just like how faith in salvation
takes all the attention away from
469
:
us and puts it on God, we do the
same thing with our obedience,
470
:
because our obedience is just as.
471
:
Up to God.
472
:
God empowers our obedience 100%.
473
:
It's all dependent on him because
it all has to do with faith.
474
:
Faith is not just the key for salvation.
475
:
It's the key for continued life.
476
:
As a Christian, all real
obedience to God as a Christian
477
:
has to come from faith in God.
478
:
So to put it simply, this is what
Paul says later in Romans, whatever
479
:
doesn't come from faith is sin.
480
:
It's pretty simple.
481
:
If you're not trusting God, if it's not
an act of trust in God, you're sinning.
482
:
That's pretty crazy.
483
:
Right?
484
:
That's maybe a different definition of sin
than, than you would've probably written
485
:
out if someone asked you What's sin?
486
:
Well, Paul would say it's doing
something without trusting God.
487
:
That's really interesting.
488
:
What faith does is it
transforms our obedience.
489
:
It doesn't make our obedience useless.
490
:
It changes our obedience into
what it's always supposed to be.
491
:
It's all of our obedience is an
expression of trust in Jesus.
492
:
All of our obedience is saying,
God, you're smarter than I am.
493
:
You're better than I am.
494
:
You are more loving than I am you.
495
:
Matter more than I do.
496
:
That's faith, right?
497
:
Faith is is telling God you're
better, and that's what obedience is.
498
:
All obedience is telling God, I trust you.
499
:
The reason you obey God
is because you trust him.
500
:
You trust that his plan is better.
501
:
You trust that his way of living is better
than anything you could come up with.
502
:
You trust that what he values
is better than what you value.
503
:
That's where all obedience comes
from and that's how you live as a
504
:
Christian The rest of your life is.
505
:
Powered by faith.
506
:
That's what Paul started
off this letter with, right?
507
:
Remember he said that the righteous
person, the person who's who's made
508
:
righteous by God, lives by faith.
509
:
They don't just get saved by faith.
510
:
They keep on living by faith.
511
:
Same thing here.
512
:
I realize I shouldn't have highlighted
this in blue, but that's okay.
513
:
The life I now live, I live in, I left.
514
:
I now live in the flesh.
515
:
I live by faith, not by effort,
not by knowing the Bible better.
516
:
Trusting God.
517
:
That's the key to living for God.
518
:
I think a good example, we see
it in Hebrews, right by Faith.
519
:
Abraham obeyed when he was called to go.
520
:
So God appeared to Abraham and said, Hey
Abraham, you're gonna have to move all
521
:
the way across the desert, um, because I'm
making a promise to you that you're gonna
522
:
be the father of many nations and one day.
523
:
I'm gonna basically save the
world through you, right?
524
:
I'm gonna give you all this land and
all these descendants and whatever.
525
:
God made a promise to Abraham
and Abraham's obedience was
526
:
the result of him trusting God.
527
:
The same thing is true for you.
528
:
Anytime you obey God, it comes
down to do you trust God?
529
:
Think about when you decide not to, right?
530
:
To tell the truth instead of lying.
531
:
That's an act of trust in God.
532
:
Because if you don't trust
God, you're gonna try to
533
:
figure out your way out of it.
534
:
And so you're gonna try to,
maybe you'll try to lie, you'll
535
:
try to make up something, you'll
try to avoid the situation.
536
:
You'll try to only tell
part of the truth, right?
537
:
But if you trust God, you
can say, you know what?
538
:
I know that telling the truth honors
God, and that's better than maybe
539
:
something bad that might happen
to me if I do tell the truth.
540
:
So I'd rather honor God and tell
the truth, and maybe have some
541
:
consequences that go with that than
try to escape the consequences and lie.
542
:
And you trust God and you say, God,
I'm gonna honor you, even though
543
:
this might put me in a bad spot.
544
:
That's an act of faith
that's trusting God.
545
:
Or when you choose to use your time
in a way that honors God, right?
546
:
When you choose to wake up and read
your Bible instead of snoozing eight
547
:
times, that's you trusting God.
548
:
You're saying God, your word
is what it, you say it's you.
549
:
Say your word is sweeter than honey.
550
:
You say your word is more
precious than gold, right?
551
:
We talked about your word is
better than in and out, right?
552
:
We talked about that.
553
:
I believe that.
554
:
And so I'm gonna get up
and I'm gonna read it.
555
:
Even if I don't understand all the words,
even if it doesn't always make sense, even
556
:
if it's not my favorite book right now,
I'm gonna trust you that your word is what
557
:
you say it is and I'm going to read it.
558
:
That's trust, that's faith in God.
559
:
And see, that's why obedience
has to be with faith.
560
:
So we talk about the law a lot in Romans.
561
:
The law is a burden without
faith, the law doesn't.
562
:
Help you without faith,
it just weighs you down.
563
:
It's kind of like, have you ever tried to
ride one of these without the power on?
564
:
They had light work because these, these,
right, these e-bikes, they go really
565
:
fast when they're actually like electric.
566
:
But if you're just trying to ride
it like a regular bike, especially
567
:
like uphill, it's heavier.
568
:
It's harder, there's
more resistance, right?
569
:
If you have one of those
pedal assist bikes, right?
570
:
It's actually harder to ride it, even
though it's more powerful, right?
571
:
Because it's heavier.
572
:
It weighs you down, it tires you out.
573
:
That's like trying to obey
God without faith, right?
574
:
Imagine, imagine like riding up
a hill with one of these without
575
:
the electricity on, without the,
without the power on, right?
576
:
It's.
577
:
It's gonna wear you down and
it's gonna help you realize
578
:
like, oh, I'm not gonna make it.
579
:
I'm not gonna make it up
this hill on my own strength.
580
:
That's what God's law does for
you before you're, you're saved.
581
:
And some of you, that's what all
these sermons and Romans have
582
:
hopefully been doing for you,
showing you I'm not good enough.
583
:
I don't measure up to
God snare, I'm guilty.
584
:
I stand before God condemned,
guilty deserving of his wrath.
585
:
You're trying to get up the
hill and you're not good enough,
586
:
you're, you can't make it.
587
:
But then you know, if by God's
grace you become a Christian,
588
:
you say, I'm not good enough.
589
:
You admit, I can't make it.
590
:
I don't measure up to your standard
God, I need Jesus righteousness.
591
:
I need him to take away my sin,
and you trust Jesus to do that.
592
:
Then instead of the law, God's
commands being a burden for you
593
:
and weighing you down instead.
594
:
You live by faith and, and faith
empowers you to obey those commands.
595
:
And so then instead of weighing you down,
you see that God's commands are good.
596
:
You see that God's commands
help you truly live.
597
:
They help you find real joy, that
God's commands are the path to life.
598
:
They're not annoying,
they're not frustrating.
599
:
Instead, they're the best way to live.
600
:
So.
601
:
You're using it the way
it's supposed to be used.
602
:
When you use it the way it's not
supposed to be used, it weighs you down.
603
:
When you use it the way it's supposed to
be used, it, it actually works the way
604
:
it's supposed to and it's way better.
605
:
And it's, that's, that's what God's
commands are for therefore your joy.
606
:
But the problem is, is we
don't like the right things.
607
:
We like things that make us sad, right?
608
:
We like things that hurt us, that
kill us, we're addicted to to sin.
609
:
And we don't trust God
that his way is better.
610
:
And so we choose the wrong things, and
that's where God's, that's where faith has
611
:
to, is the key to empowering obedience.
612
:
So obedience is meant to
be powered by trusting God.
613
:
Um, so obedience, right?
614
:
If you're obeying without faith.
615
:
It's usually about you, right?
616
:
Because you're, it's almost
like you're trying to, you're
617
:
trying to get something from God.
618
:
You're trying to, to be good enough.
619
:
You're trying to feel good about yourself.
620
:
Whereas when you have faith, your
obedience is not to get something
621
:
from God, but it's because you
trust God, because you love him.
622
:
It's not about getting something from
God or measuring up to something.
623
:
You're free.
624
:
You're, you're free from that.
625
:
You don't have to worry
about that anymore.
626
:
You're already accepted.
627
:
So you don't have to do that anymore.
628
:
And it's also not just
outward focused, right?
629
:
It's inward focused because obedience
from faith is really, cares more
630
:
about what's happening in here, right?
631
:
It's, it's cares more about, okay,
what am I thinking about God?
632
:
What am I saying about
God with this action?
633
:
Not, well do I have to just
do the right things and check
634
:
the boxes and, and measure up.
635
:
But it's more about, okay,
do I, am I loving God?
636
:
What does God want from me?
637
:
How am I.
638
:
Worshiping God right now.
639
:
How am I loving God?
640
:
How am I serving him?
641
:
How am I?
642
:
How am I making him look good?
643
:
And that's the whole point
of the law anyway, right?
644
:
The whole point of the law, as Jesus
said, is to love the Lord your God
645
:
with all your heart, all your soul,
all your mind, all your strength
646
:
and love your neighbor as yourself.
647
:
The whole point of the law is for you
to love the way God wants you to love.
648
:
It's about internal things, not external.
649
:
So justification by faith doesn't
make God's commands pointless.
650
:
It actually.
651
:
Makes all of the things
in God's law about Jesus.
652
:
We don't measure up to God's law.
653
:
We need him to do it for us.
654
:
And then when we do live for
God, it shows us that the way
655
:
we live for God is by faith.
656
:
It's not by our own effort and
it's not trying to work for God
657
:
and earn something from him.
658
:
It's us living for God because we
trust him and because we love him.
659
:
So let's pray and we'll
head to small groups.
660
:
God thank you for.
661
:
Your word.
662
:
Um, your word says that your
commands are not burdensome.
663
:
And so I pray for all of us in this room.
664
:
Um, I know there's times where all
of us, I just wanna confess that we
665
:
feel like your commands are a burden.
666
:
Your commands feel like
they're weighing us down.
667
:
Your commands sometimes feel
like that they're we're just
668
:
putting rocks in a backpack.
669
:
Um, but I pray that we would believe
what you say and that we would trust
670
:
who you are, that you are a loving.
671
:
Father, a good shepherd, a
gentle king, and that your
672
:
commands for us are for our good.
673
:
You're smarter than us.
674
:
You know more than us.
675
:
You love us, you care about us, um,
and you want to help us obey you.
676
:
So I pray for the Christians in the
room that we would obey you because
677
:
we love you and because we trust you.
678
:
So help us to trust you more.
679
:
Help us to see how good
it is to trust you.
680
:
Help us to strengthen our trust in you.
681
:
I pray for the people in
this room who aren't safe.
682
:
I pray God that you would help them.
683
:
See, they don't measure up.
684
:
They're not good enough.
685
:
Um, and the only way for them to be free
of the burden of trying to measure up
686
:
is to trust you to do that for them.
687
:
Pray this in Jesus' name.
688
:
Amen
