WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:01.560 We're beginning a new series together. 00:00:02.520 --> 00:00:08.080 It's called FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions and what we really want to know from you. 00:00:08.080 --> 00:00:11.340 This whole series hasn't been planned out because we want to give you an opportunity. 00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:18.120 We're going to be talking about some some big issues about questions that people frequently ask about God, faith, and the Bible. 00:00:18.860 --> 00:00:25.570 And so we want to be able to answer some of those questions that even you were thinking, we're going to answer one of those today at the end of the service that someone submitted. 00:00:26.460 --> 00:00:32.920 But we're going to cover important topics of the Christian faith, like how do you know what God's will is for your life? 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:40.200 Or how can you have a positive change in your life for the sake of God and you personally and those around you? 00:00:41.240 --> 00:00:43.800 This week we're going to be talking about an important issue. 00:00:43.800 --> 00:00:45.270 I want you to know two as well. 00:00:45.280 --> 00:00:49.670 One of the topics that we're batting around talking about this is going to divide our church here. 00:00:49.740 --> 00:00:55.760 We're going to have a split, but we're talking we're going to talk about sexuality and specifically the topic of sex. 00:00:56.680 --> 00:00:58.580 I know that's a heated a heated word. 00:00:59.100 --> 00:01:06.340 And so some have already thought as soon as I said that I'm not coming to church that Sunday, and some of you other ones thought, I'm coming, and I'm bringing, my teenagers and 00:01:06.340 --> 00:01:07.610 everything with me. 00:01:07.940 --> 00:01:14.980 And I want you to know the reason that we're going to address an issue like that, or we're considering talking about an issue like that 00:01:14.980 --> 00:01:22.080 here at church, it is not just to jokingly bring a topic like that just to the crowd, just to see what crazy 00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:23.260 things the pastor might say. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:31.640 the reason is because culturally, there are so much being integrated into our society in life about sexual 00:01:31.660 --> 00:01:33.940 identity and sex that comes from everything. 00:01:33.940 --> 00:01:41.580 But church and church should be the place that we learn to understand what those words mean, how 00:01:41.580 --> 00:01:43.920 it relates to Scripture, and to our lives as people. 00:01:45.020 --> 00:01:47.790 I don't like to allow culture to define me as an individual. 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:53.480 I like to allow Jesus to define me and in so doing, help define our culture for the sake of Christ. 00:01:54.860 --> 00:02:01.960 And so we're going to be answering important large questions, frequently asked questions about your relationship with God, faith, the Bible. 00:02:02.680 --> 00:02:09.780 If you have a particular question that you want answered, hopefully you received in your bulletin a little sheet that has frequently asked questions at 00:02:09.780 --> 00:02:10.240 the top. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:11.380 And so here's the encouragement to you. 00:02:11.760 --> 00:02:17.540 If you think of a question at any point during the service or in the few weeks ahead, we're only going to give a couple more opportunities for this. 00:02:18.360 --> 00:02:19.430 Fill out your question. 00:02:20.440 --> 00:02:22.080 You don't have to put your name on it. 00:02:22.080 --> 00:02:22.920 You can remain anonymous. 00:02:23.020 --> 00:02:30.200 There's no place for your name on it and put it in the offering box on the entry table when you leave, and we will take those questions and answer them throughout 00:02:30.200 --> 00:02:31.740 this series that we're doing together. 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:40.360 The important question that we're going to begin to answer today, and this is the basis that we're going to be talking, it's going to launch really the springboard of 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:44.760 all the topics that we'll be addressing here together throughout this series and frequently asked questions. 00:02:45.540 --> 00:02:51.520 And the most important question we can begin with is, how can I live with God for eternity? 00:02:53.960 --> 00:03:01.420 I think according to Scripture or according to life, really, there are not many people that are specifically asking 00:03:01.480 --> 00:03:08.180 this question, because there are a lot of particular beliefs in this world that can claim to have this answer. 00:03:09.980 --> 00:03:17.380 But I find that the question that we're asking today really deals with the most important question that we could possibly consider 00:03:17.380 --> 00:03:21.900 with one another, and that is dealing with your relationship with God. 00:03:23.380 --> 00:03:30.820 How can you know who God and how in knowing God could you experience that relationship with God for 00:03:30.820 --> 00:03:31.800 eternity? 00:03:33.660 --> 00:03:40.760 In fact, the simplistic question being asked here this morning is so significant that I would even define it as 00:03:40.760 --> 00:03:43.760 really what the core of the Christian message is all about. 00:03:45.140 --> 00:03:51.580 I think if you get this question wrong, you get the understanding of all of Scripture backwards and wrong. 00:03:53.080 --> 00:03:58.340 We heard a few weeks ago if we get God right, we can get ourselves right. 00:03:59.980 --> 00:04:07.100 And having a clear understanding of who God is and who we are in light of him and how to experience that relationship really for us, is 00:04:07.100 --> 00:04:12.870 the springboard to experiencing all that God has for us in this life and on throughout eternity. 00:04:16.660 --> 00:04:23.660 I believe according to what the Bible communicates, that we as people were created to experience an intimate 00:04:24.520 --> 00:04:29.180 and eternal relationship with God. 00:04:29.380 --> 00:04:36.400 And I think sometimes we ask this question wrong when we think about eternity, and we sell God short by simply asking 00:04:36.440 --> 00:04:39.720 the question like, well, what does it take for me to get to heaven? 00:04:41.180 --> 00:04:43.000 Or how can I avoid hell? 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:51.620 And we're selling God short by asking that question because we're limiting the ultimate experience for which God created us for. 00:04:52.100 --> 00:04:53.960 It's not necessarily to live in heaven. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:55.960 It's not necessarily to avoid hell. 00:04:55.960 --> 00:04:59.500 Those would be some great things, but it's to experience him. 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:08.560 God created you for him, and all your purposes and existence in this life are founded 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:09.560 in him. 00:05:11.460 --> 00:05:17.690 That's why the Bible says to us, is as if we could get this clearly created in our mind in John 17 three. 00:05:18.540 --> 00:05:22.420 This is eternal life that you may know him. 00:05:24.820 --> 00:05:29.320 Living for eternity is about a relationship with God. 00:05:31.200 --> 00:05:34.740 Living for eternity is about knowing God. 00:05:37.260 --> 00:05:39.470 He designed us to know him intimately. 00:05:39.540 --> 00:05:41.940 He designed us for us to know him eternally. 00:05:44.420 --> 00:05:50.940 Bible even says in Genesis chapter two and verse seven, When God created man, he formed you from the dust of the earth. 00:05:50.960 --> 00:05:53.480 All right, so your dirt got that so far. 00:05:53.520 --> 00:06:00.760 But then he breathed into you the breath of life from his Spirit into your spirit, making you an existing 00:06:00.760 --> 00:06:04.120 and living being different than any creation that he put on the earth. 00:06:04.440 --> 00:06:11.460 God breathed His Spirit into you, which says to us as people that we may connect back to 00:06:11.460 --> 00:06:11.600 him. 00:06:13.940 --> 00:06:18.850 You have a God related identity, the Spirit of God breathed into you. 00:06:19.180 --> 00:06:26.400 And that's why when you who are hunters go into the woods, you don't see Bambi building a church, right to worship, 00:06:26.460 --> 00:06:32.340 or a building to worship in, or you don't see the squirrels frolicking on the ground in a in a motion of prayer. 00:06:34.840 --> 00:06:41.240 God's spirit wasn't breathed into them, but God's Spirit was breathed into you, connecting to you with him. 00:06:42.420 --> 00:06:48.300 And in that original design, God created you to know and grow and understand with him for all eternity. 00:06:49.080 --> 00:06:52.880 This is eternal life that you may know him. 00:06:54.560 --> 00:07:01.680 But here's the problem Today, as we answer this question, I'm going to predominantly focus the answers to the book of Romans because the book of 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:05.520 Romans deals heavily with this, the singularity of this question. 00:07:06.180 --> 00:07:12.910 It's like Paul's doctrinal thesis statement on the idea of who we are in light of God, and how to experience our relationship with him forever. 00:07:14.600 --> 00:07:21.860 And so it tells us in Romans chapter five, even though God created you to experience life with him, even though you were designed 00:07:21.860 --> 00:07:28.860 for eternity, even though God's Spirit was breathed into you to experience him forever in that harmonious relationship, 00:07:30.260 --> 00:07:31.620 we rejected him. 00:07:33.480 --> 00:07:41.080 It says in Romans 512, therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and 00:07:41.120 --> 00:07:47.950 death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all have sinned. 00:07:50.300 --> 00:07:55.060 Bible explains to us, because of sin there is death. 00:07:57.340 --> 00:08:04.380 I should back up for a minute and say, if you've ever wondered in your life why you desire to be 00:08:04.380 --> 00:08:08.400 a part of something bigger than yourself, it's that God created you for that purpose. 00:08:09.980 --> 00:08:11.420 You stand outside of Utah. 00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:12.680 I'm not originally from Utah. 00:08:12.700 --> 00:08:17.060 I love living in Utah because I didn't grow up with the Rocky Mountains, so it's something I don't take for granted. 00:08:17.540 --> 00:08:21.580 I love waking up every morning drinking something hot and looking at those mountains. 00:08:21.580 --> 00:08:21.840 It is gorgeous. 00:08:23.620 --> 00:08:27.820 And it reminds me as I look over those who are from Utah, don't take it for granted, right? 00:08:28.020 --> 00:08:35.280 But when I look over those mountains that I am a part of this life that is just bigger than myself, and I have an opportunity 00:08:35.280 --> 00:08:39.460 to belong in life and live for something greater than than myself. 00:08:39.460 --> 00:08:46.740 God created me with that purpose in mind as he breathed His Spirit into me with eternal relationship pictured before 00:08:46.740 --> 00:08:47.940 him and before me. 00:08:48.540 --> 00:08:49.680 God created me for that reason. 00:08:51.020 --> 00:08:56.700 And the Bible then begins to tell us, though we rejected him and because we rejected him, sin came into this world. 00:08:56.700 --> 00:08:58.800 And as sin came, death reigned. 00:09:00.860 --> 00:09:06.380 Knowing that we are a part of something greater than our lives, having been created by God is a wonderful feeling for our soul. 00:09:07.120 --> 00:09:12.140 Great to stand on the edge of the beach and just look out into what glorious creation God made. 00:09:12.500 --> 00:09:12.840 It's. 00:09:12.840 --> 00:09:17.800 It's wonderful to stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon looking down, thinking, if I move one one foot forward, it's over. 00:09:17.800 --> 00:09:18.820 But this is beautiful. 00:09:21.060 --> 00:09:23.640 I get to belong to something greater than myself. 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:27.040 But the Bible also reminds us too. 00:09:27.560 --> 00:09:33.720 There is an anguish within our soul that reminds us that this isn't the way it should be, and that comes in the area of death. 00:09:35.420 --> 00:09:39.920 God created us for the purpose of eternity in mind, and when we rejected God, sin came. 00:09:39.920 --> 00:09:41.140 And in sin death happens. 00:09:43.280 --> 00:09:46.640 And the moments of death that we experience as people. 00:09:46.960 --> 00:09:53.960 We also go through a period of grieving in the depth of our soul, that words can even begin to describe the pain 00:09:53.960 --> 00:09:56.300 that we are experiencing at the loss of someone we love. 00:09:59.180 --> 00:10:01.970 Reminding us that we were created for so much more. 00:10:04.020 --> 00:10:09.190 When God originally designed us as human beings, he didn't design us for the purpose of death in mind. 00:10:10.580 --> 00:10:13.000 He designed us for life and that life in him. 00:10:15.020 --> 00:10:18.040 But in rejecting God, death came. 00:10:19.280 --> 00:10:26.340 And it's interesting when the Bible uses the word death, because oftentimes in our mind, when we think about death, all we think about is the ceasing to 00:10:26.340 --> 00:10:27.180 exist on this earth. 00:10:28.160 --> 00:10:31.080 Our body goes into the ground and our spirit goes somewhere else. 00:10:31.340 --> 00:10:32.500 We're dead. 00:10:33.740 --> 00:10:39.820 But when the Bible talks about death, it just doesn't talk about the realm of your spirit and your body being divided from one another. 00:10:39.820 --> 00:10:41.640 And you're ceasing to exist here on earth. 00:10:41.880 --> 00:10:44.960 When the Bible talks about death, it also talks about death spiritually. 00:10:47.080 --> 00:10:55.360 In fact, revelation chapter 20 and verse six and 14 refer to a portion of our life as the second death, meaning 00:10:55.360 --> 00:11:02.280 as your body physically dies, your spirit ultimately will go before God, and it could face a second death as well. 00:11:03.800 --> 00:11:06.900 Death, according to Scripture, means simply separation. 00:11:08.600 --> 00:11:10.600 When you die on earth, you're separated from the earth. 00:11:10.600 --> 00:11:12.060 You're separated from your loved ones. 00:11:12.060 --> 00:11:17.970 Here, when you go into heaven, you can come before a mighty God and be separated from him for all eternity. 00:11:18.360 --> 00:11:21.500 So when the Bible talks about death, it's just not ceasing to exist. 00:11:21.860 --> 00:11:25.140 It could also mean spiritually divided from God for eternity. 00:11:27.260 --> 00:11:34.520 In fact, in Romans 623 it says, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life, and it's paralleling 00:11:34.520 --> 00:11:41.420 for us the gifts that God has death, meaning separation from him, or eternal life, meaning living with him in life forever. 00:11:43.780 --> 00:11:45.400 Death is an enormous word in Scripture. 00:11:48.060 --> 00:11:53.180 You can imagine when God created us and he created us for an eternal relationship with him. 00:11:53.700 --> 00:12:00.900 And he breathed his breath into us so we as beings could respond and reflect and experience him forever, and then we reject him. 00:12:02.100 --> 00:12:04.620 How God understood that experience. 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:09.090 Death was a heavy word. 00:12:10.580 --> 00:12:15.200 Could you imagine God creating the beauty of his creation and man sinning? 00:12:15.200 --> 00:12:18.660 And for the first time, creation experiences death. 00:12:20.200 --> 00:12:26.120 God, knowing that his original intention was for mankind to never experience it. 00:12:27.020 --> 00:12:27.940 And the Bible says this. 00:12:29.140 --> 00:12:30.700 Isaiah 59 and verse two. 00:12:30.820 --> 00:12:33.840 But your iniquities have separated you from your God. 00:12:35.040 --> 00:12:40.180 Your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear you. 00:12:41.740 --> 00:12:44.220 So God created us with a relationship with him. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:50.410 But we acknowledge there are times in our lives where God and our relationship seems to be at a disconnect. 00:12:51.960 --> 00:12:55.200 In fact, Ephesians chapter two and verse one refer to it as being dead. 00:12:56.600 --> 00:13:03.700 And the Bible says, the reason that we experience that in our lives, the reason that we experience that separation, or may feel distant in our relationship to him, is 00:13:03.700 --> 00:13:04.920 because of sin. 00:13:06.100 --> 00:13:10.100 Sin has literally built a barrier between us and God. 00:13:12.280 --> 00:13:19.620 And the Bible becomes for us a story that explains to us even as we have rejected God 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:27.780 and even as sin has created a barrier between us and him, God is still passionately pursuing a 00:13:27.780 --> 00:13:29.640 relationship with you in this world. 00:13:31.060 --> 00:13:38.740 And the Bible writes to us God's design and God's desire to experience that relationship with you and man's response back 00:13:38.740 --> 00:13:39.220 to God. 00:13:39.420 --> 00:13:41.420 We do me a favor and shut that door behind you. 00:13:41.720 --> 00:13:42.530 Cut out some of that sound. 00:13:45.900 --> 00:13:52.940 As we read throughout Scripture, there's two pictures I want to create in our mind this morning and answering this question how can 00:13:52.940 --> 00:13:54.360 I live with God for eternity? 00:13:55.720 --> 00:14:00.940 The first is this God is a judge, not a very good looking judge, right? 00:14:02.250 --> 00:14:09.800 But the Bible uses beautiful word picture throughout the entire portion of the Bible, Old 00:14:09.800 --> 00:14:15.700 and New Testament to create a picture in our mind to help us understand that God is a judge. 00:14:17.280 --> 00:14:24.300 The Bible uses words like justification and righteousness and guilty law, innocence, all judicial 00:14:24.300 --> 00:14:31.320 terms taken from a courtroom, and the Greek and Hebrew literature to describe for us and help create in our minds the understanding 00:14:31.320 --> 00:14:34.840 that God is a judge reigning over sin. 00:14:36.340 --> 00:14:42.780 In fact, it says in Psalm 50 and verse six, and the heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. 00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:51.140 Psalm 82 and verse eight, arise, O God, and judge the earth, and to be a judge, and implies 00:14:51.140 --> 00:14:54.960 to us as people there are laws by which we are governed. 00:14:56.560 --> 00:15:03.740 And so it's important for us to understand that Scripture communicates that God is a judge, that one day we will face 00:15:03.740 --> 00:15:04.790 judgment. 00:15:07.240 --> 00:15:14.300 It says in Hebrews 927, it is appointed for men to die once, and after this 00:15:15.460 --> 00:15:15.960 comes judgment. 00:15:18.500 --> 00:15:21.380 The Bible is saying to all of us, one day you're going to meet your maker. 00:15:22.340 --> 00:15:22.640 Get ready. 00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:28.300 Knowing that God is going to be your judge. 00:15:29.160 --> 00:15:31.260 And knowing that judgment is coming. 00:15:31.300 --> 00:15:36.560 The question that we should ask is how will you seek to look right before him? 00:15:38.920 --> 00:15:42.520 How do you think God will view you on your day of judgment? 00:15:45.380 --> 00:15:48.400 Some people would say this I'm so lovable. 00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:51.850 I mean, look at me, right? 00:15:53.000 --> 00:15:54.420 How could he not reject this face? 00:15:54.900 --> 00:15:55.520 I'll wear a smile. 00:15:56.060 --> 00:15:56.580 And I'm in. 00:15:58.580 --> 00:16:02.090 Some people would say, well, I'm better than most people. 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:04.160 And as long as you do your best, what? 00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:05.950 What else can you possibly do? 00:16:07.500 --> 00:16:10.980 Some people just have no idea if you're in that group. 00:16:11.020 --> 00:16:12.570 That just scares the life out of me. 00:16:13.320 --> 00:16:15.700 You think about the most important question you could ask yourself. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:17.840 Why you're on earth, created to live forever. 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:19.220 How in the world am I going to do that? 00:16:20.180 --> 00:16:21.760 That seems important to define. 00:16:21.760 --> 00:16:26.820 And rather than walk in this world, having no idea covering that basis seems like a pretty good idea. 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:36.680 Even yet, some would say, yeah, I've done so much wrong when I come before God and meeting him face to face, I know that 00:16:36.680 --> 00:16:37.220 I'm a dead man. 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:46.880 The good news for all of us, regardless of where we think that we might fit in, how you're going to appear before God, who will 00:16:46.880 --> 00:16:49.900 judge you is that God gives you a head up. 00:16:50.060 --> 00:16:51.960 Heads up on how that judgment is going to go. 00:16:53.760 --> 00:17:00.840 Romans chapter three Paul begins to describe for us the judgment for us. 00:17:02.700 --> 00:17:08.300 He says, now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. 00:17:08.859 --> 00:17:09.680 That would be all of us. 00:17:10.839 --> 00:17:11.119 God is judging. 00:17:11.640 --> 00:17:12.520 There must be a law. 00:17:12.520 --> 00:17:14.619 He's given a law to us to govern us as people. 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:20.530 Therefore, we live governed under God's law so that this becomes the scary part. 00:17:20.819 --> 00:17:24.880 Every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God. 00:17:25.760 --> 00:17:33.080 In case you didn't know, you're under his law because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. 00:17:34.220 --> 00:17:37.960 For through the law comes the knowledge of sin for all. 00:17:38.020 --> 00:17:42.150 It says in Romans 323, all have sinned. 00:17:43.840 --> 00:17:48.120 Bible defines for you the basic purpose of what God gave us his law for. 00:17:50.340 --> 00:17:53.090 Religion looks at God's law and they say, you know what? 00:17:53.560 --> 00:17:55.600 This is what we do to prove our worth to God. 00:17:57.080 --> 00:17:59.200 God looks at his law in verse 20. 00:17:59.260 --> 00:18:00.020 He says, you know what? 00:18:00.660 --> 00:18:04.000 This is what I've given you to prove that you are unworthy to come before me. 00:18:05.760 --> 00:18:07.260 By the works of the law. 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:11.650 Living the law that God has given no flesh will be justified. 00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:13.320 A judicial term. 00:18:14.080 --> 00:18:17.820 It means this God, the judge, standing over you in the courtroom of life. 00:18:17.820 --> 00:18:25.000 You come before him to be judged and held accountable for your sins, and there is nothing that you can do living according to his law to appear before 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:26.960 this judge looking right. 00:18:28.780 --> 00:18:29.220 That is heavy. 00:18:31.260 --> 00:18:32.900 No flesh. 00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:39.130 No person will ever be declared righteous before God who is a judge. 00:18:40.380 --> 00:18:41.240 No one is justified. 00:18:43.520 --> 00:18:47.170 All it says in 323 have sinned. 00:18:48.020 --> 00:18:49.860 Let me give you how it breaks an example for us. 00:18:51.000 --> 00:18:53.160 Regardless if you want to live under God's law or not, you are. 00:18:54.520 --> 00:18:58.320 Regardless if you want to obey the laws of the state of Utah, you do. 00:19:00.980 --> 00:19:08.460 I have yet to live in Utah, driving down the road and have a cop pull me over and say, Nathaniel, great job. 00:19:08.740 --> 00:19:10.540 You blinkered to the left lane. 00:19:10.900 --> 00:19:11.700 Loved it. 00:19:12.060 --> 00:19:16.560 You slowed down when the yellow light came on and you stopped at the stop sign. 00:19:16.900 --> 00:19:18.540 Congratulations on following the law today. 00:19:20.060 --> 00:19:21.560 I have had a cop pull me over in Utah once. 00:19:25.100 --> 00:19:25.810 Do you know what he did? 00:19:26.980 --> 00:19:29.220 He came to my window and said this was the law. 00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:30.240 You broke it. 00:19:30.540 --> 00:19:31.260 Here's your fine. 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:34.220 That's how law works. 00:19:35.180 --> 00:19:37.240 It never tells you when you're doing good. 00:19:37.820 --> 00:19:40.180 It's only there to tell you when you're doing bad. 00:19:41.780 --> 00:19:43.220 God's law is the same thing. 00:19:43.220 --> 00:19:44.780 And God says it in verse 20. 00:19:45.220 --> 00:19:48.660 This law isn't to prove how good you look. 00:19:48.660 --> 00:19:49.520 This law isn't to show you how lovable you are. 00:19:50.120 --> 00:19:52.680 This law is to show you that you are a sinner. 00:19:53.840 --> 00:19:57.220 In verse 23 he says, for all have sinned. 00:19:57.240 --> 00:20:04.960 I know your mom may have told you differently growing up, but before God is a judge, we've sinned. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:07.490 This is a heavy message today, right? 00:20:07.900 --> 00:20:09.340 Man, I come to church to be cheered up. 00:20:09.500 --> 00:20:10.440 And so far it's not. 00:20:10.780 --> 00:20:11.620 It's not working out. 00:20:11.620 --> 00:20:12.540 You've told me I'm sinful. 00:20:13.500 --> 00:20:13.920 That's okay. 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:14.240 Everyone is. 00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:16.280 Bible says that. 00:20:18.520 --> 00:20:25.600 Scripture goes on though, as if to clarify the point, Romans 310 there 00:20:25.600 --> 00:20:27.660 is none righteous. 00:20:28.460 --> 00:20:31.260 Talking about coming before a judge, no one looks right. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:39.480 And then, as if God wants to really wig us out in chapter one, he tells us, because you look righteous If you're thinking there still might be hope, he 00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:46.600 says in 118 for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:48.590 Who is unrighteous? 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:50.540 Everyone. 00:20:51.860 --> 00:20:54.760 And God's wrath is against everyone who acts unrighteous. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:21:02.680 And therefore, if everyone's unrighteous and God's wrath is against those who are unrighteous, that means God's wrath No one resides on you. 00:21:02.680 --> 00:21:03.680 It's residing on me. 00:21:04.980 --> 00:21:06.800 Doesn't matter if you call yourself a pastor or minister. 00:21:06.960 --> 00:21:10.720 Reverend God's wrath is on those who sin, which is everyone. 00:21:12.360 --> 00:21:15.440 Which brings me to the place to ask, what in the world am I going to do? 00:21:17.040 --> 00:21:22.440 I thought I was lovable coming in today, the mirror said so this morning, right? 00:21:23.720 --> 00:21:24.120 He asked. 00:21:24.500 --> 00:21:25.350 He asked the question. 00:21:25.660 --> 00:21:26.400 Well, what if. 00:21:27.980 --> 00:21:31.020 What if you say to the judge, well, wait a minute, judge God. 00:21:31.700 --> 00:21:33.480 I have lived a terrific life. 00:21:34.220 --> 00:21:37.600 I've tried to be so good in everything that I've done. 00:21:37.840 --> 00:21:40.100 I've done this 95% of my life. 00:21:40.100 --> 00:21:41.160 I've done it so well. 00:21:41.220 --> 00:21:47.260 It's just this 5%, this 1%, or even this one thing in my life is all I've ever done wrong. 00:21:48.580 --> 00:21:51.080 Judge, can you can you just show some leeway? 00:21:53.080 --> 00:22:00.160 Bible says in James 210 for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is 00:22:00.260 --> 00:22:02.480 guilty of breaking all of it. 00:22:04.960 --> 00:22:06.450 You know what a just judge does? 00:22:09.480 --> 00:22:09.980 In America. 00:22:11.580 --> 00:22:18.760 If I do live a life that is just great, and then there's just one day where I flip my lid and go berserk because something happened to me, and 00:22:18.760 --> 00:22:20.280 I inflict some sort of pain. 00:22:20.280 --> 00:22:23.280 I break some sort of law, and I come before the judge in court. 00:22:25.560 --> 00:22:27.280 You know what a just judge will do? 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:30.900 He's going to hold me accountable for what I've done wrong. 00:22:34.580 --> 00:22:38.340 We were really good at, in our American culture, understanding a loving God. 00:22:38.360 --> 00:22:40.280 And I hope that we understand a loving God. 00:22:40.780 --> 00:22:45.760 We are poor at understanding a just God in our minds. 00:22:46.060 --> 00:22:53.080 We sometimes have that tendency to think 95% of my life has been pretty good, and so God's 00:22:53.080 --> 00:22:55.180 going to overlook that 5% bad. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:01.820 And can I tell you, there is no amount of good that you can do in your life to cover up the wrong that's been done? 00:23:03.340 --> 00:23:07.580 Nothing can undo sin against an eternal God. 00:23:07.820 --> 00:23:09.090 Nothing within our power. 00:23:09.280 --> 00:23:11.540 No axe that we carry in this world. 00:23:12.080 --> 00:23:13.560 In fact, it even tells us. 00:23:13.740 --> 00:23:14.440 Excuse me, I don't read it yet. 00:23:14.520 --> 00:23:21.640 It says in Isaiah 64 and verse six, all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous 00:23:21.640 --> 00:23:24.660 acts are like filthy rags. 00:23:26.760 --> 00:23:29.900 God is looking in that passage of Scripture, Isaiah 64. 00:23:30.160 --> 00:23:36.940 He's looking at the good deeds that we're doing, and he's saying, even the good deeds are filthy rags before God. 00:23:39.500 --> 00:23:45.720 That verse speaks volumes to us who feel like we're trying to earn God's favor and earn God's love in this world. 00:23:47.260 --> 00:23:50.660 It's saying to us as people, God owes you nothing. 00:23:52.020 --> 00:23:56.280 See, religion has this idea that we build a God owes me mentality. 00:23:57.720 --> 00:24:02.280 I'll do enough good deeds and God's going to let me slide into heaven because he owes me. 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:07.040 I've done exactly what he said according to his law. 00:24:07.120 --> 00:24:07.980 Except for 5%. 00:24:09.060 --> 00:24:10.060 He owes me this. 00:24:12.380 --> 00:24:15.540 Can I just say God doesn't know you anything? 00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:20.240 God wants to experience relationship with you. 00:24:20.300 --> 00:24:21.500 I want to make sure we understand that. 00:24:21.520 --> 00:24:22.360 But God doesn't know you anything. 00:24:24.860 --> 00:24:26.010 God doesn't even know us tomorrow. 00:24:28.780 --> 00:24:31.730 God may give you tomorrow by his grace, but he owes us nothing. 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:37.200 And even our righteous deeds look like filthy rags to him. 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:43.560 And if you even think about it, what in the world is it that you have to offer that you can give to God that he can't already give to himself? 00:24:45.700 --> 00:24:46.880 Don't I look lovable, God? 00:24:48.420 --> 00:24:48.900 Oh big deal. 00:24:48.940 --> 00:24:50.720 God can create someone more lovable than me. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:56.300 All our righteous deeds become filthy rags. 00:24:58.620 --> 00:24:58.980 And third is. 00:24:59.280 --> 00:25:01.080 You can't do anything to take back sin you've committed. 00:25:03.180 --> 00:25:07.100 That thought began even in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve first sinned against God. 00:25:07.620 --> 00:25:11.460 The Bible tells us in chapter three and verse seven, they ran and hid from God. 00:25:11.900 --> 00:25:12.920 Sounds like a stupid move. 00:25:13.260 --> 00:25:16.120 But they ran and hid from God, and then they covered themselves in fig leaves. 00:25:17.500 --> 00:25:21.040 And you know, that's what religiously we tend to do that to ourselves as people as well. 00:25:21.880 --> 00:25:22.840 Genesis chapter three. 00:25:22.840 --> 00:25:26.380 The Bible first man made, religions made, and we do the same thing. 00:25:26.380 --> 00:25:28.360 God, I'm not ready to come to you yet. 00:25:28.600 --> 00:25:29.580 Let me run away. 00:25:29.700 --> 00:25:30.920 Let me prove my worth to you. 00:25:30.940 --> 00:25:36.080 Let me cover myself in elaborate worship ceremonies of fig leaves, and come back and see if you find me acceptable at that point. 00:25:39.340 --> 00:25:43.950 There's nothing that we can do to take back the sin that we have committed. 00:25:45.960 --> 00:25:50.340 No matter how hard you try, no amount of good can ever cover it up. 00:25:53.180 --> 00:25:58.720 Conclusion of God's law for us from a law giver isn't to show us how good we are as people. 00:26:00.320 --> 00:26:06.700 It's to show us how sinful we are for a holy and mighty God. 00:26:07.240 --> 00:26:08.580 The entire Old Testament is. 00:26:10.100 --> 00:26:16.040 Sacrifices in the temple weren't given so that we could learn how to earn our way to God. 00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:23.500 The sacrifices that took place in the temple were to remind men the wages of their sin that brought death, and in that 00:26:23.700 --> 00:26:30.760 sobering moment, as an animal gave its life, it was a foreshadowing of Jesus who would give his life and a reminder to them that sin 00:26:30.760 --> 00:26:31.560 brought death. 00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:37.060 It's sobering. 00:26:37.820 --> 00:26:42.880 On the Passover in the temple and it was celebrated as a Hebrew nation. 00:26:43.140 --> 00:26:47.710 The Bible describes that the blood would literally just flow from the temple. 00:26:48.940 --> 00:26:51.700 Every family made a sacrifice of an animal on that day. 00:26:51.740 --> 00:26:58.230 Could you just imagine tens of thousands of animals being slaughtered when you go up to worship at church on Sunday? 00:26:58.540 --> 00:27:05.780 Blood all over your hands, the smell of death in the air, reminding to us that God is judge and he hates sin, 00:27:05.880 --> 00:27:08.520 and his wrath is against all ungodliness. 00:27:10.020 --> 00:27:10.980 I'll encourage you in a minute. 00:27:11.160 --> 00:27:11.380 Don't worry. 00:27:13.670 --> 00:27:20.980 But the point is, according to Scripture, we need to understand the significance and weight of sin in the eyes of God. 00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:27.080 We don't look to each other and compare our sin to other people and think, I'm just a little bit better than them. 00:27:27.080 --> 00:27:29.440 I should be okay if they make it, I'm in. 00:27:30.280 --> 00:27:32.560 We take our sin and we compare it before a holy God. 00:27:33.600 --> 00:27:35.260 How does God view my sin? 00:27:35.260 --> 00:27:39.420 Because God is the one that's judging me and I'm coming before him one day. 00:27:39.800 --> 00:27:41.560 What am I going to offer in that moment? 00:27:46.020 --> 00:27:50.180 I would say, according to the scripture, to God isn't an easy judge. 00:27:52.500 --> 00:28:00.060 Jesus shows up on the scene in Matthew chapter five and he says, you who have who 00:28:00.060 --> 00:28:03.540 have murdered is you're a murderer. 00:28:04.500 --> 00:28:11.140 It says in verse 21, but you who have angered in your heart, you've still committed murder in your heart. 00:28:12.100 --> 00:28:16.610 You who have lusted in your heart, you have committed adultery. 00:28:18.920 --> 00:28:26.200 You who have had any evil thought in your heart, just need to know that God is judging the intents of your heart. 00:28:27.220 --> 00:28:29.480 You think about the things we can get by with in our society. 00:28:30.640 --> 00:28:35.020 We can lie in our society and no one's going to throw us in jail for it. 00:28:35.620 --> 00:28:38.460 You can commit adultery in our society and you're not going to jail for. 00:28:40.120 --> 00:28:43.120 But God not only judges your actions. 00:28:44.260 --> 00:28:47.760 God judges the intents of your heart. 00:28:48.820 --> 00:28:55.360 Could you imagine if that were exposed, even in this room right now, the wickedness that we would even see in our own lives that we've done well at covering up? 00:28:56.340 --> 00:28:57.400 We bet, churchy on the outside. 00:28:59.370 --> 00:29:03.300 But the Bible tells us that there is wickedness on the inside. 00:29:04.700 --> 00:29:10.620 It says in first Chronicles 28 and verse nine, the Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of our thoughts. 00:29:11.900 --> 00:29:15.820 In Genesis eight, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth. 00:29:16.820 --> 00:29:21.800 Jeremiah 17 nine the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. 00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:29.040 And so this leads us to a place where we can even ask ourselves, how does a judging God leave me? 00:29:31.080 --> 00:29:34.180 And some of us look at the understanding of a God who is judge. 00:29:34.520 --> 00:29:36.940 And we see this as very discouraging in our lives. 00:29:36.960 --> 00:29:41.540 And I, I would agree if the story ended here, there is no hope for us. 00:29:43.640 --> 00:29:51.430 However, before you move forward in understanding your eternal relationship with God, 00:29:51.580 --> 00:29:58.600 you've got to understand the importance of humbly coming before him, because the reality is I'm about to talk to 00:29:58.600 --> 00:30:00.060 you about Jesus, and you know that. 00:30:02.440 --> 00:30:09.580 But the truth is, you're not going to want Jesus in your life until you truly recognize the need 00:30:09.620 --> 00:30:11.030 for Jesus in your life. 00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:14.700 He's more than just a life raft. 00:30:16.840 --> 00:30:24.020 He is everything to us as people who stand hopelessly before a God that is judging us as 00:30:24.180 --> 00:30:30.140 people and understanding the light of God's law and the intentions of God's law. 00:30:30.340 --> 00:30:37.640 I admit as a as an individual, as a church, this also becomes the point of our lives where we get very frustrated and 00:30:37.740 --> 00:30:44.920 angry with religious thinking Because religion carries the idea that we earn 00:30:44.920 --> 00:30:46.500 our way back to God. 00:30:47.960 --> 00:30:52.920 It's as if you've got a wound that won't stop bleeding, and your one application to it is simply a Band-Aid. 00:30:55.980 --> 00:31:02.020 It's as if we're offering a false cure to a disease that can't be healed the way we're attempting to cure it. 00:31:04.280 --> 00:31:08.960 All our righteous deeds are filthy rags before God. 00:31:09.140 --> 00:31:12.440 The Bible tells us to earn favor before God is impossible. 00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:18.940 To seek to earn his favor in any religious aspect gives us false hope. 00:31:21.560 --> 00:31:25.560 And so we picture for a moment just what Scripture has communicated to us. 00:31:25.860 --> 00:31:28.660 According to the book of Romans and just some other verses that we've seen. 00:31:30.180 --> 00:31:30.940 God is judge. 00:31:33.200 --> 00:31:40.520 One day you're going to meet your maker, and the Bible creates this idea that you are walking into this courtroom and you're standing before 00:31:40.520 --> 00:31:48.000 the judge, and he's examining the laws that you have broken, and he has pronounced upon your head already, according to Romans three, 00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:49.480 that you are guilty. 00:31:53.320 --> 00:31:53.940 What we do? 00:31:57.360 --> 00:31:59.500 What are you going to say to God at that moment? 00:32:00.740 --> 00:32:01.860 Life's already complete. 00:32:03.200 --> 00:32:04.900 You can't undo what's been done. 00:32:07.540 --> 00:32:08.480 It's a moment of hopelessness. 00:32:10.500 --> 00:32:11.400 The Bible calls it death. 00:32:13.680 --> 00:32:14.760 Not just physical death. 00:32:15.900 --> 00:32:16.780 It's also spiritual death. 00:32:19.400 --> 00:32:21.640 The gavel comes down and God calls you guilty. 00:32:24.610 --> 00:32:31.760 And just as God is about to pronounce your eternal punishment, the Bible 00:32:31.760 --> 00:32:39.300 says in Romans chapter three, excuse me chapter five and verse eight, for while we were still helpless 00:32:39.300 --> 00:32:43.920 at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. 00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:51.520 But God demonstrates his own love towards us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 00:32:53.600 --> 00:33:00.900 It's saying, just as the gavel comes down, just as God is pronounced to guilty, just as the verdict is about to be read on your life, Jesus stands 00:33:00.900 --> 00:33:04.460 up and says, I'm taking the punishment for which they owe you. 00:33:06.840 --> 00:33:12.240 Jesus, we understand, according to Scripture, dies on the cross for the sins of mankind. 00:33:13.740 --> 00:33:16.580 Jesus becomes the way of escape. 00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:22.500 In fact, Jesus even said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:33:22.660 --> 00:33:24.680 No one comes to the father but through. 00:33:25.380 --> 00:33:25.820 Who? 00:33:26.240 --> 00:33:27.140 Me? 00:33:29.660 --> 00:33:32.520 Jesus didn't point multiple roads to God in this world. 00:33:32.580 --> 00:33:36.180 He simply said, I'm coming before God and I'm paying your payment. 00:33:36.240 --> 00:33:38.560 Do you want to accept the payment that I'm paying for you? 00:33:40.940 --> 00:33:45.340 Jesus identified himself as the only way of escape according to Scripture. 00:33:45.780 --> 00:33:52.240 And while we stood helpless, it says in Romans five and verse six, Christ died for the ungodly. 00:33:56.920 --> 00:34:05.360 Bible tells us as Jesus hung on the cross, the words that he said were to tetelestai, which 00:34:05.400 --> 00:34:11.199 means paid in full, a term used for a slave in the slave market when they were purchased. 00:34:13.320 --> 00:34:15.429 A term used for someone who stood helplessly. 00:34:17.780 --> 00:34:25.280 And Jesus hanging on the cross thinking about you, made the statement to Telestai over your life saying to us as people, your payment, 00:34:25.380 --> 00:34:25.980 you owing. 00:34:26.120 --> 00:34:28.040 God has been paid in full. 00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:34.360 Now love God according to Scripture because God responds as a gentleman. 00:34:36.580 --> 00:34:42.620 God created you for an eternal relationship with him, but he gives you a choice. 00:34:44.440 --> 00:34:48.620 Do you want an eternal relationship with him? 00:34:48.940 --> 00:34:50.219 Sounds like a great idea to me. 00:34:51.020 --> 00:34:56.260 The maker of all things who created you for him, understands all your purposes and existing, wants to give you joy in this life. 00:34:56.639 --> 00:34:58.100 Wants a relationship with you. 00:34:58.460 --> 00:35:00.000 Do you want a relationship with him? 00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:06.540 Bible says in Ephesians two eight and nine, by grace you are saved through faith. 00:35:06.600 --> 00:35:07.350 That's your part. 00:35:07.560 --> 00:35:14.020 Trust by God's grace, dying for your sins when you could pay God nothing, he graciously gave everything to you. 00:35:14.440 --> 00:35:16.260 For by grace you are saved through faith. 00:35:16.260 --> 00:35:21.340 It's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. 00:35:21.360 --> 00:35:22.400 You don't earn it. 00:35:22.520 --> 00:35:24.520 It's not of works, lest anyone should boast. 00:35:24.940 --> 00:35:26.310 Bible says it again in Galatians. 00:35:26.960 --> 00:35:33.960 Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, not coming before the judge to look right by the law, but 00:35:34.040 --> 00:35:37.890 through faith in Christ, trusting in what Jesus has already done. 00:35:38.940 --> 00:35:45.720 Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. 00:35:45.800 --> 00:35:49.200 Since by the works of the law no flesh will be justified. 00:35:51.680 --> 00:35:59.020 Paul is saying in that passage of Scripture, listen, if someone asks you how you're getting to heaven, please don't respond by saying, I think I'm living a good enough life, 00:35:59.020 --> 00:36:00.940 or as long as you're trying hard enough, that's all that matters. 00:36:01.560 --> 00:36:07.260 Because according to what we see, that the law, the purpose of the law is about it isn't to justify, it's to condemn. 00:36:08.820 --> 00:36:12.540 And if you miss that in Scripture, you miss it communicated throughout the entire Bible. 00:36:13.440 --> 00:36:15.560 Law will never justify. 00:36:16.240 --> 00:36:18.780 The cop will never pull you over and say good job. 00:36:20.400 --> 00:36:21.300 He wants your money. 00:36:23.740 --> 00:36:26.980 A just judge will judge when you break the law. 00:36:28.220 --> 00:36:32.160 A holy God doesn't give a flip what your neighbor does. 00:36:34.380 --> 00:36:35.480 He's looking at you. 00:36:37.500 --> 00:36:38.700 He's looking at you. 00:36:38.980 --> 00:36:40.400 And he's not judging your acts. 00:36:40.540 --> 00:36:42.140 He's judging even your heart. 00:36:45.320 --> 00:36:48.640 And when we come before him, there is nothing to offer. 00:36:48.840 --> 00:36:55.840 That, and the goodness and grace of Jesus just speaks volumes into our life in 00:36:55.840 --> 00:36:56.360 that moment. 00:36:57.880 --> 00:37:04.580 And we need to get to the position of our lives in humility, where we realize the extent of what we are apart from Christ. 00:37:06.620 --> 00:37:15.000 God created us for that relationship God created us for joy, but we desperately need him in our lives, and 00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.900 we've learned the fanciness of clothing it and religious acts proving our worth to him. 00:37:20.140 --> 00:37:22.960 But there's nothing that can be done before a holy God. 00:37:31.180 --> 00:37:38.320 Romans 1013 says this whoever calls on the name of the Lord 00:37:38.320 --> 00:37:39.940 will be saved. 00:37:43.840 --> 00:37:51.140 For God to show his love to you, we go to a place where we look at this word salvation, this 00:37:51.240 --> 00:37:53.980 rescuing from this state that we are before a holy God. 00:37:56.760 --> 00:37:58.570 And it's easy for us. 00:38:00.520 --> 00:38:01.480 It's just a matter of trust. 00:38:03.700 --> 00:38:08.280 And I got to tell you, with the religious thinking, I do want to prove my worth to God. 00:38:08.340 --> 00:38:10.700 But knowing what the Bible says, it is impossible. 00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:14.880 And for us, it becomes simple. 00:38:15.220 --> 00:38:19.840 But in a sense, it should be because God didn't create you for the purpose of proving your worth about anything. 00:38:21.120 --> 00:38:23.490 God created you to experience life with him forever. 00:38:25.140 --> 00:38:28.560 God created you with eternity in mind and relationship closeness to him. 00:38:28.820 --> 00:38:30.850 It's not about running away from God and proving anything. 00:38:31.180 --> 00:38:35.660 It's about getting near to him and experiencing what life is all about in him and through him. 00:38:36.700 --> 00:38:43.040 And so for us, it becomes a matter of trust, a matter of faith, a matter of looking to Christ and say, God, I'm just calling upon you. 00:38:43.240 --> 00:38:44.900 Rescue me and save me. 00:38:46.720 --> 00:38:51.340 For you it's easy, but for God, it costs him everything. 00:38:54.260 --> 00:39:01.280 I do not make a mockery of the gift that God has given us, because he's literally laid down his life for us to experience 00:39:04.580 --> 00:39:05.120 it. 00:39:05.120 --> 00:39:07.520 It may be simple for us, but to God it costs everything. 00:39:08.080 --> 00:39:14.180 And I got to say to those who might look at this and challenge the thought of just simply calling on Jesus for salvation. 00:39:14.320 --> 00:39:17.280 If you find it so easy, why haven't you done it? 00:39:19.220 --> 00:39:19.600 It is free. 00:39:21.500 --> 00:39:25.180 Ephesians 289 for by grace you are saved through faith and not of yourselves. 00:39:25.280 --> 00:39:27.120 It is the gift of God. 00:39:28.720 --> 00:39:29.660 It is free. 00:39:31.800 --> 00:39:33.860 Christmas time is the best time of year. 00:39:33.900 --> 00:39:34.110 You know why? 00:39:34.860 --> 00:39:36.480 Everything under the tree will not anymore have kids. 00:39:36.800 --> 00:39:39.300 But everything under the tree is free, right? 00:39:40.020 --> 00:39:42.080 As a kid, you jump off the wall at that. 00:39:43.640 --> 00:39:45.020 You wake up at 3 a.m. 00:39:45.020 --> 00:39:46.160 and you wake up at 4 a.m. 00:39:46.500 --> 00:39:49.980 and you jump on the bed over and over telling your parents, is it time yet? 00:39:49.980 --> 00:39:51.620 I want these free things. 00:39:53.080 --> 00:39:54.940 And Jesus has said the same thing to us. 00:39:55.360 --> 00:39:55.600 It's free. 00:40:01.600 --> 00:40:02.890 Here's the results of that. 00:40:07.820 --> 00:40:15.060 Romans four and verse 24 tells us, but also for us to whom God 00:40:15.060 --> 00:40:22.360 will credit righteousness for us, not not for us who are doing good things, but for us 00:40:22.360 --> 00:40:26.640 who believe in him, who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 00:40:27.940 --> 00:40:33.940 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. 00:40:38.460 --> 00:40:45.620 Jesus comes in the courtroom as your verdict is being pronounced, and God looks at you and he sees the beauty of Christ in 00:40:45.620 --> 00:40:47.120 your life when you accept him. 00:40:47.220 --> 00:40:54.360 The Bible actually uses the word impute, which literally means the righteousness and beauty of Christ that was clothed 00:40:54.440 --> 00:41:01.460 on Jesus and all his glory, that perfection that sinlessness has now placed on you. 00:41:02.140 --> 00:41:03.120 Amen. 00:41:03.440 --> 00:41:07.350 And so when God sees you, he sees the perfection of Jesus in your life. 00:41:09.780 --> 00:41:11.480 You're not getting to heaven on anything you've ever done. 00:41:12.280 --> 00:41:13.700 That's right. 00:41:14.320 --> 00:41:18.060 You get there by Jesus and everything he's done for you. 00:41:22.600 --> 00:41:29.740 The Bible even tells us as people, according to Scripture, we're not all God's children. 00:41:31.780 --> 00:41:38.840 In fact, when Jesus came to this world in John 823, he told the people, you are from below talking about earth, and I am from 00:41:38.840 --> 00:41:39.240 above. 00:41:39.720 --> 00:41:42.600 You are of this world, and I am not of this world. 00:41:43.680 --> 00:41:50.560 In the same chapter, just a few verses later, he says, you are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. 00:41:53.100 --> 00:42:00.440 But he tells us in John one as many as received him to them gave he the power 00:42:00.440 --> 00:42:03.100 to become the children of God. 00:42:05.600 --> 00:42:12.680 God recognized as people that we didn't belong to him, but because of what Christ has done, 00:42:12.680 --> 00:42:20.240 he gives us an invitation into him to experience life with him forever in 00:42:20.280 --> 00:42:20.520 his kingdom. 00:42:22.760 --> 00:42:29.780 In fact, it says in Galatians four four but when the set time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to 00:42:29.780 --> 00:42:37.060 redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship, as saying to you, the Kingdom, 00:42:37.180 --> 00:42:41.780 that he's a part of everything that he owns, he adopts you and brings you into that family. 00:42:42.000 --> 00:42:46.380 You're not born a child of God, but by faith in Christ, trusting in him, you become one. 00:42:46.380 --> 00:42:48.800 The Bible places a word of adoption upon you. 00:42:48.900 --> 00:42:49.680 I love that word. 00:42:50.120 --> 00:42:51.370 Adoption is a Christian word. 00:42:52.300 --> 00:42:53.520 It's biblical to adopt. 00:42:54.120 --> 00:42:56.080 It reflects what Jesus has done to you. 00:42:57.420 --> 00:42:58.160 They've adopted. 00:42:58.180 --> 00:43:01.610 You've been adopted into God's family through faith in Christ. 00:43:02.920 --> 00:43:08.710 Romans eight the spirit you received does not make you make you slaves, so that you live in fear again. 00:43:10.060 --> 00:43:12.200 Meaning all that fear that we gave about God's judgment. 00:43:12.820 --> 00:43:18.260 Remember that the weight and the heaviness and the feeling that we got just thinking about sin and coming before Almighty God. 00:43:18.900 --> 00:43:19.970 You don't have to live in fear anymore. 00:43:20.400 --> 00:43:21.720 Amen. 00:43:22.180 --> 00:43:24.560 Jesus's righteousness is imputed to you. 00:43:26.060 --> 00:43:29.560 Rather, the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. 00:43:29.880 --> 00:43:32.860 And by him we cry, ABBA, father. 00:43:34.820 --> 00:43:38.180 Jesus would refer to the Father as ABBA in the New Testament. 00:43:40.060 --> 00:43:42.660 It was a phrase that wasn't commonly used in Scripture. 00:43:42.720 --> 00:43:44.270 In fact, some would consider it blasphemy. 00:43:45.760 --> 00:43:48.720 That's too intimate and personal in your life with God. 00:43:50.220 --> 00:43:57.380 And yet it tells us in Romans eight that when Jesus came died for your sins by faith, you trust in that free gift that God wants to give you that 00:43:57.380 --> 00:43:59.840 life with him because you have no hope apart from it. 00:44:00.260 --> 00:44:07.340 You not only escape that death, but you receive this righteousness in which you're adopted into God's kingdom, and you receive all the 00:44:07.340 --> 00:44:10.720 health and wealth that comes with it in his kingdom. 00:44:11.260 --> 00:44:11.760 Maybe not now. 00:44:17.180 --> 00:44:24.800 But in addition to that intimacy, that sin kept you from with God, That distance that 00:44:24.800 --> 00:44:31.980 you felt is gone and you personally can come before God wherever 00:44:31.980 --> 00:44:39.580 you are and cry, ABBA, daddy, father. 00:44:41.940 --> 00:44:44.460 The Bible gives us two pictures of God. 00:44:45.780 --> 00:44:48.580 The first is God is a judge. 00:44:50.940 --> 00:44:55.040 The second is God is a father looking after his children. 00:44:57.700 --> 00:44:58.880 What's our response to that? 00:45:00.800 --> 00:45:06.280 Why does one who puts faith in Christ that leaves us in no position to do anything for God out of obligation, ever. 00:45:09.020 --> 00:45:12.960 In fact, first John chapter four says, we love him because he first loved us. 00:45:15.580 --> 00:45:22.220 We see the extent of our judgment before a holy God, but then we see the extent that God went to demonstrate his love to us and dying on the cross. 00:45:25.260 --> 00:45:28.160 And God gives us an opportunity to respond. 00:45:30.100 --> 00:45:32.920 We love him because we first he first loved us. 00:45:34.220 --> 00:45:38.420 We don't do anything for the sake of Christ, out of guilty conscience or feeling out of obligation. 00:45:38.860 --> 00:45:44.880 We do it because we want to love Jesus the way that he's loved us, and he has given us everything. 00:45:48.600 --> 00:45:54.380 What motivates a Christian to live like a Christian is not to prove your worth, but just to demonstrate love. 00:45:58.000 --> 00:46:00.920 That message is contrary to all religion. 00:46:03.840 --> 00:46:10.900 Every religious thinking in this world is about earning God's favor, but Jesus is teaching us 00:46:11.000 --> 00:46:12.330 simply about accepting it. 00:46:13.120 --> 00:46:13.660 It's a gift. 00:46:15.920 --> 00:46:21.900 Religion gives us false hope, leading us to believe if we live laws and will prove our worth. 00:46:23.900 --> 00:46:29.280 Jesus gives us simply real hope in him by trusting in what he's already done for us. 00:46:31.300 --> 00:46:38.300 Religion can even drive us to the point where we feel a sense of worthlessness, never being able to live up all to all the laws that we are told that we 00:46:38.300 --> 00:46:42.210 find necessary or have to do in this world to prove to God our worth. 00:46:42.440 --> 00:46:46.040 But Jesus gives you true worth in him. 00:46:48.340 --> 00:46:50.500 While we're hopeless to earn our salvation. 00:46:52.220 --> 00:46:54.810 Jesus made it easy for you and I to trust in him. 00:46:56.670 --> 00:46:58.320 To drive this point home. 00:46:59.620 --> 00:47:02.040 Jesus was teaching the religious teachers of his time. 00:47:02.220 --> 00:47:09.140 Jesus didn't get along with the religious teachers of his time because their teaching totally contradicted his message. 00:47:10.520 --> 00:47:11.560 Matthew 23. 00:47:11.600 --> 00:47:18.500 The whole chapter is Jesus coming before the religious leaders and mocking them in front of their students because they're leading people astray. 00:47:19.700 --> 00:47:23.560 And he calls them whitewashed tombs on the outside, religiously. 00:47:23.560 --> 00:47:28.270 You look beautiful, but on the inside you're dead because your heart's never been fixed. 00:47:30.140 --> 00:47:37.140 And Jesus looks at religious teachers in Matthew chapter seven and he says, this many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we 00:47:37.140 --> 00:47:42.880 not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles? 00:47:45.060 --> 00:47:46.460 God, did we not live your law? 00:47:46.460 --> 00:47:47.700 God did we not do the deeds? 00:47:47.760 --> 00:47:47.920 God? 00:47:47.920 --> 00:47:50.920 Did we not prove to you that we are worthy of your kingdom? 00:47:52.540 --> 00:47:53.350 Look what Jesus says. 00:47:55.200 --> 00:47:59.420 And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. 00:48:00.980 --> 00:48:03.490 Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. 00:48:06.940 --> 00:48:11.400 Jesus is looking at the most at the time would be considered the best of the best people. 00:48:12.800 --> 00:48:14.300 There are the people leading the Jewish nation. 00:48:14.740 --> 00:48:16.570 If anyone's right there, right? 00:48:16.900 --> 00:48:18.540 If anyone's perfect, they're perfect. 00:48:20.440 --> 00:48:27.600 And he's saying to them, regardless of the law and the rules that you feel like you've broken the most or you've 00:48:27.600 --> 00:48:33.540 done, excuse me, the most important thing for you to recognize is I've never known you. 00:48:36.680 --> 00:48:37.780 What stops us from that? 00:48:40.200 --> 00:48:41.440 The Bible made it so easy. 00:48:43.600 --> 00:48:45.220 Jesus made it so easy for us. 00:48:45.340 --> 00:48:45.770 It's a gift. 00:48:47.820 --> 00:48:48.540 Romans ten. 00:48:48.540 --> 00:48:53.360 For whoever, whoever, anyone that calls on the Lord will be saved. 00:48:55.780 --> 00:49:01.380 Drives us to a place in our lives where we simply ask, Come to God and just say, Lord, will you save me? 00:49:02.700 --> 00:49:04.080 God, I understand I'm a sinner. 00:49:04.080 --> 00:49:06.520 God, I understand that I have no hope apart from you. 00:49:06.840 --> 00:49:07.980 God will you save me? 00:49:07.980 --> 00:49:11.880 And the Bible tells us not only does he save you, but he adopts you into his family. 00:49:11.900 --> 00:49:14.240 He sees the righteousness of Jesus in his life. 00:49:14.260 --> 00:49:21.280 And you experience as sons before God that you may cry out to him, ABBA, father, and the intimacy of a 00:49:21.280 --> 00:49:27.320 relationship with him that lasts not just when you get to heaven, but it starts the moment you trust in him. 00:49:27.320 --> 00:49:31.320 It could start today and last forever. 00:49:34.400 --> 00:49:35.020 What are we waiting for? 00:49:36.680 --> 00:49:39.320 Let me ask this frequently asked question. 00:49:41.880 --> 00:49:46.920 Do you believe all Christian denominations will be eligible to enter heaven? 00:49:47.960 --> 00:49:52.960 As long as the core beliefs is correct and the heart is loyal to the Lord. 00:49:56.720 --> 00:49:58.680 Do I believe all Christian denominations are going to heaven? 00:49:59.120 --> 00:50:00.760 Let me just simplify that. 00:50:02.020 --> 00:50:05.300 The answer to that is yes and no. 00:50:07.940 --> 00:50:12.420 I don't think God cares what denomination we get to heaven. 00:50:13.600 --> 00:50:15.000 We are not going to set separated denominations. 00:50:17.760 --> 00:50:19.260 the Methodists are right. 00:50:19.320 --> 00:50:19.730 I'm just kidding. 00:50:19.820 --> 00:50:20.100 That's. 00:50:22.800 --> 00:50:27.320 God's only concern is what you do with Jesus, right? 00:50:27.380 --> 00:50:28.570 Where is your faith in Christ? 00:50:30.500 --> 00:50:37.470 Bible says in first John 511 and 12, he who has the son has life, and he who does not have the son does not have life. 00:50:37.480 --> 00:50:39.940 I mean, that's there's it doesn't get any clearer than that. 00:50:40.240 --> 00:50:40.840 That's right. 00:50:40.900 --> 00:50:41.300 It's. 00:50:41.300 --> 00:50:41.540 Jesus. 00:50:43.060 --> 00:50:45.160 You could be a Hindu. 00:50:45.260 --> 00:50:46.530 Muslim from Timbuktu. 00:50:47.380 --> 00:50:49.140 That's a real place in Africa, right? 00:50:49.620 --> 00:50:50.940 Thank you. 00:50:52.260 --> 00:50:59.260 If you put your faith in Christ, heaven denominationally religiously, 00:50:59.640 --> 00:51:01.100 what God requires is Jesus. 00:51:03.200 --> 00:51:10.420 Now, the important thing is to get in a good church and learn how to walk with Christ beyond that, to experience that relationship with him like 00:51:10.420 --> 00:51:10.960 Alpine Bible Church. 00:51:12.940 --> 00:51:14.340 Amen. 00:51:14.380 --> 00:51:16.200 We experienced that relationship with him. 00:51:16.260 --> 00:51:17.920 So let me leave with this concluding thought. 00:51:20.300 --> 00:51:20.780 Eternal life. 00:51:23.160 --> 00:51:24.200 Eternal life. 00:51:24.200 --> 00:51:24.740 Living with God forever. 00:51:27.080 --> 00:51:29.440 Eternal life isn't God's gift for good people. 00:51:31.420 --> 00:51:33.320 It's God's gift for forgiven people. 00:51:35.420 --> 00:51:36.160 And that could be anyone. 00:51:38.700 --> 00:51:45.900 Our unworthiness before a holy God has already been proven, but the fact remains that God does still provide you an opportunity 00:51:45.900 --> 00:51:53.600 to experience a relationship of joy and hope and peace and kindness and gentleness, forever 00:51:53.600 --> 00:51:54.620 and ever. 00:51:56.700 --> 00:51:56.880 Amen. 00:51:56.880 --> 00:51:56.980 Amen. 00:51:58.960 --> 00:52:02.360 All that God asks is that you just call him.