Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Good morning, Christ Church. How we feeling?
[00:00:04] Yeah, it is so.
[00:00:07] Wow. So good seeing you guys. For those who may not know, as Tina said, my name is Javon. I get the opportunity to serve as the campus pastor over at Old Brooklyn. And some of you don't know. A lot of you don't know because I see a lot of unfamiliar faces. This campus, this church is home away from home for me.
[00:00:26] This is the place where I became a man.
[00:00:30] And you heard a lot of bad sermons from this guy. And guess what we're gonna do. No, I'm joking, man. It is so good seeing you guys. I love coming to visit and see all the good that the Lord is doing in this place. Can we give it up for all the good work God has been doing? In a way, God has been blessing this place, especially our good looking, handsome campus pastor, Chet Baylor. Can you guys say thank you to Chet for the good work, the good old work.
[00:01:02] Oh, man, I love that man. I love his leadership. I love the wisdom that comes from him. I also love the staff here. Can we give it up for Tina, seeing her grow in an awesome way? I love that woman. I love Jackie. Everybody on staff, they've just been doing a good work. And so today I'm excited to continue in the sermon series you guys started last week. Chet had opened up a series of on the Gospel. And when he asked me to preach today or preach this weekend, I was super excited because I love talking about the gospel. And I'm excited to break down our passages for today. Before we jump into prayer, let's go ahead and open up to Romans chapter three. That's where we're going to be planning out of Romans chapter 3, verses 21 to 26. Romans is a New Testament letter. A letter in your New Testament. So go past the Gospels and then after John, there's the book of Acts. And then after the book of Acts, there is the book of Romans. And if you're there, you're in the right spot, right place. And go ahead and go to Romans chapter three. If you don't have a Bible or device, it will be on the screen for you. Romans chapter 3, 21 to 26. It reads like this. It says, this is the word of the apostle Paul.
[00:02:18] But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the law and the prophets. And this righteousness from God comes through faith in Christ Jesus to all who believe, there is no distinction.
[00:02:36] For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Ain't that the truth, right church and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
[00:02:48] God presented him as the atoning sacrifice. Some of your Bibles might say propitiation.
[00:02:55] God presented him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in his blood in order to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance he had passed over the sins committed beforehand. Verse 26. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time so as to be just and to justify the one who has faith in Jesus. Will you bow your heads and let's pray?
[00:03:20] Heavenly Father, we come to you and we come to you, Lord, in search of what is true.
[00:03:29] Because you are the God of truth.
[00:03:32] We're not here to be entertained by the cleverness of a man, but a persuasion of my words, but to be moved by your spirit.
[00:03:44] Lord, apart from you, my words are in vain.
[00:03:49] But with you.
[00:03:50] The power of God is on display for many of us. We need to hear the power of God, the goodness of Jesus Christ. For a lot of us, Lord, today is a reminder of that goodness.
[00:04:04] Lord, sometimes I can forget how good you've been.
[00:04:08] And Lord, let what is reminded to us or what is presented to us make its way into our hearts.
[00:04:15] Let it not be something we observe, but it's truth that truly transforms for a lot of us, Lord, this is brand new to us.
[00:04:25] And wherever we are on that spectrum, whether it's something new or it's reflective, Lord, let your power be at work.
[00:04:34] Let us walk out of here saying, great are you, Lord, you are worthy to be praised.
[00:04:41] Jesus Christ is worthy to be followed. All the days of my life.
[00:04:46] Good and gracious is the Lord.
[00:04:50] Let that be the echo of our praise.
[00:04:54] We love you and we thank you. In Christ's wonderful name is who we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[00:05:02] It's good seeing you guys. Can you guys give it up for the Word Worship team one more time?
[00:05:07] Brad and Lauren doing their thing. Man, it is again good to see you guys.
[00:05:12] So good to be here again. I'm excited to jump into this passage. This passage has so much truth and so much beauty to it and I'm excited to break it down. But before I get into that, I want to take you back to 2001. Some of y' all weren't even born around that time, but I'm going to take you back to 2001, when I grew up in Strongsville, Ohio, and I was a part of the Strongville select, the AAU 6th grade boys basketball team.
[00:05:42] And that year we went undefeated, y'. All. Yeah, buddy, you can clap for that. That was. Listen, I was proud of that moment. We were beating all the competition. Kids from all of Northeast Ohio, they was getting this work. I mean, it was, it was awesome, right? And listen, listen, we were, we were so popular. I'm not kidding you. We went, we had an undefeated season.
[00:06:06] And the city of Strongsville honored our perfect season. I kid you not. The mayor came in.
[00:06:14] I promise you, I'm not lying to you. You can look it up. Chatgpt. I don't care. You can find it, I'm telling you. Right? And we were honored. And the mayor came and the city council came and we were in the paper. Oh, it was sweet. And I remember, I remember that day specifically because they gave us medals. Oh, they gave us the medal of Honor, the perfection award, right? Going perfect and winning the championship. And Here are these six great boys. See, you had the 1994 Chicago Bulls, the 2016 Golden State Warriors.
[00:06:51] Then you had the 2001 Strongsville Select 6th grade boys basketball.
[00:06:56] Yeah, buddy, we fall in that category, that tier of greatness, just to let you know, But I remember that medal. And I remember. Oh my gosh, I remember wearing that medal everywhere I went.
[00:07:08] You couldn't tell me anything because I was so overjoyed because of that medal. See, I remember at that time I was. I was kind of telling myself, without actually telling myself, this medal is what most defines me.
[00:07:24] Listen, I went everywhere with it. To the grocery store, right? I tried to take a shower with it. My mom had to stop me, you know, and say, hey, bro, don't do that. It's kind of weird. I said, or whatever, you know, right?
[00:07:35] I mean, I went, I slept with it. Right? It was the. It was my most prized possession. It was the thing that I clinged on to what I called my worth.
[00:07:48] And I would actually say this in the same way every human being hangs on to something around their neck, in a sense, a medal.
[00:08:00] And here's what we're saying about that medal. Here's what we're saying. This is what makes me most valuable, right? Maybe for you, your mettle is your relationships, right? You define yourself based off how much people like you.
[00:08:17] Or you define yourself based off how happy you make someone.
[00:08:22] Or for a lot of us, it's our achievements, our success.
[00:08:27] We're success driven people.
[00:08:29] We want to achieve a lot and do a lot. Therefore, we base our ultimate on what we do and how much we accomplish.
[00:08:39] Truth is, we all are searching and wanting to cling on to a metal that says, this is what proves my worth. This is what shows I am enough.
[00:08:54] Think about that. We all are doing that.
[00:08:57] We're driven people in that type of way. But can I tell you about that medal that I got that day?
[00:09:03] I can't find it.
[00:09:06] I can't find it. I don't know where it is.
[00:09:09] I can't tell you when was the last time I wore that medal. Right, Mom? Can you find it? I don't think you can find it either. We don't know where it is, right? Because the things we chase after, the things that we are trying to find our ultimate and rested upon, they fade away, don't they?
[00:09:28] They fade away, right? And here's where the gospel comes in. The gospel comes in and presents to us a better medal.
[00:09:38] A medal not given by achievement.
[00:09:42] A medal not given because you worked so hard. Not given because you had a perfect season. Not given because you got things right.
[00:09:52] But a medal that was given, given based off what someone did for you.
[00:09:57] See, we often live through the systems based off what we do.
[00:10:03] But the gospel, Christianity, the beautiful thing about it is living from what Christ has done.
[00:10:10] There's a difference, right? Either you will live life working for something, or you will live life working from something.
[00:10:21] And the Gospel gives you a much better meadow, a much better place to live from.
[00:10:31] See, Christianity is not living up to a standard, to the point to receive achievement, but rather it's receiving it for what's been done for me. And that's what we're going to be talking about today. And that's what we're going to be breaking down in Romans 21:26 and unpacking this wonderful and beautiful truth of what the Gospel means, the good news of Jesus. The reason why we show up every single Sunday, the reason why we Bible study, the reason why we connect in groups, the reason why we try to live a new life is because of this wonderful truth that's found in the gospel. And that's what we want to break down and to give more light into our lives today. Let's go ahead and bring up verse 21 for them. Let's go ahead and start it off. Are you ready? Let's do a little Bible study, shall we? Church Here we go. Here we go. In the beginning it says this. But now let's stop there.
[00:11:28] Today I'm going to preach about the but. No. All right, let's keep moving. Keep moving, keep moving, keep moving. All right, it says but now.
[00:11:36] Now, whenever you do any Bible study, this is what we call a transitional word. This is the author continuing a previous argument. For instance, you might see the words in the scriptures, therefore, or if then. Right, right. This is the author saying, hey, in light of what I said, let's land the plane. Right, let's land the plane. For what was said, but what was said before? Well, what was said before was about what Paul says next. But now, apart from the law, very important here the righteousness of God has been revealed as attested by the law and the prophets. Let's stop there. So apart from the law, what does he mean? He's talking about the Mosaic Law. If you were a first century Jew, you would have exactly knew what he was talking about. Right. The law was given to was to ancient Jews and it was in regards to reveal something about them, but also reveals something about God. Right.
[00:12:37] The problem is Paul has spent the last few chapters, especially in chapter three, talking about the purpose of the law.
[00:12:44] Right. See, here's the thing that they thought the law, these commands, these standards, the Jews, they thought that if I obey this law or these laws, this is what makes me right with God.
[00:12:59] But here's what Paul also does in the previous verses. He talks about the purpose of the law, but he also talks about how broken we are as well too. Because here's the thing, as much as we can see what the law says, we have a hard time following through on what the law is meant to do.
[00:13:19] Right? Right. Right.
[00:13:22] We know what the law says, but we have a hard time following through. Pretty much they missed the point.
[00:13:29] Right. What was the law for? The law was meant to expose their brokenness.
[00:13:35] Right. The law was meant to expose their need.
[00:13:39] It wasn't a way to find acceptance. It was a way to guide them to someone who was going to give them acceptance.
[00:13:49] Right? Right. They missed the point church. They missed the reality and what it was meant to accomplish. But I love how Paul says the righteousness of God.
[00:14:01] It was revealed by who?
[00:14:04] By God.
[00:14:06] So here's point number one. Here's what the gospel is. The gospel is God.
[00:14:13] God's pursuit of humanity.
[00:14:17] The gospel is God's pursuit of humanity. Here's the beautiful truth about what Paul says. Paul says while we were running away from God, while we were living our self centered lives, while we were doing what we wanted to do, God came after you.
[00:14:36] Right?
[00:14:38] My boys and I, we love, love, love playing hide and seek.
[00:14:42] I love playing hide and seek, really, because I always win every time, every time, every time. I always beat them. Right? Right. And you know, they're always looking for me and Daddy, go hide. I said, no problem. You know, I always pick the best spots to hide. You should see me. I'm picking the best spots and you know, and then here they are trying to find me. And because I picked the best spots, I have to, like, make myself like, you know, a known. So where they can't find me, right? So I'll do like this. I'll go like hooty hoo. And then they'll come around. Ha ha. He's over here. And they can't find me, right? They can't find me. And then I'll go like this. I'll go.
[00:15:20] And then they're.
[00:15:21] He's over here. He's over here. And after minutes and minutes of searching, they opened the door like, daddy, we found you. And I'm like, yeah, did you find me or did I make myself known so you can find me?
[00:15:37] There's a difference.
[00:15:40] Did I make myself known? See, here's the thing about God. He's not the hider.
[00:15:44] He's the seeker and the finder.
[00:15:49] He's the seeker. While we are off doing our own thing, God pursues you.
[00:15:59] God makes the first move.
[00:16:02] He intervenes.
[00:16:04] And friends, can we just take the time And I don't know where you are in your faith today. Can we thank God that he made the first move?
[00:16:13] Can we thank God that he found you while you were doing your own thing in your own ways? God. God came knocking on the door. No, as a matter of fact, he bust down the door and said, I'm calling you.
[00:16:29] Isn't that a wonderful truth of who God is? Right? I love how one pastor says this and I love how he says it. He says, if it were left up to me, I would never be a Christian.
[00:16:41] I would never be a Christian. But because of the grace and the mercy of God, he finds me.
[00:16:50] He finds me and he calls me. Paul says, the righteousness of God is revealed because God is in pursuit of humanity. But then he goes on, he talks about this reality of righteousness. Go to verse 21. Again he says, but now, apart from the law, right? That means apart from what you do, apart from your perfection, apart from following these codes and these commands. And he says, apart from the law. The righteousness of God has been revealed as attested by the law and the prophets. Verse 22. He goes on, and he says, and this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, for there is no distinction. Paul says this. This is how you're made, right? With God.
[00:17:38] Not because you get it right, but because you trust and depend and place your ultimate hope on the one who got it right for you.
[00:17:50] See this word righteousness? It's a legal term. Righteousness is a legal term. And what it means. It means to be in right standing because you and I are broken, sinful people.
[00:18:04] Someone has to make us righteous.
[00:18:07] Why? Because God is holy. God is perfect.
[00:18:11] God is without error, right? And nothing nor anyone can dwell within his presence can be in fellowship with him because of who he is.
[00:18:22] In comes Jesus Christ, who John Calvin says this. He says, jesus clothed himself in your unrighteousness so that you may be clothed in his righteousness.
[00:18:39] In his righteousness. What does this mean? Here's how God accepts me.
[00:18:45] Not because I go undefeated.
[00:18:49] Not because I get up every morning and I read my Bible in the dark with the candle lit.
[00:18:56] You ever see these Christian influencers? You know, anyway, it's because of what Christ has done. And when I place my faith and my trust in him, God says to me, innocent, righteous, accepted.
[00:19:19] Point number two. Here's the beautiful truth about the gospel. The gospel gives you and I a secured identity of acceptance.
[00:19:29] It's a secured identity, friends, because if you think about it, life boils down to how you perceive yourself, right?
[00:19:38] How you interpret your life. What lens are you putting on, what identity? What do you place your ultimate value upon, friends? Because if you think about it, whatever you place your identity on, your peace and your joy and your hope comes from that. And it rises and falls whatever you put your identity most in, right? And Christ gives us a secured identity. And this is the identity, friends, that you are the righteousness of God, you are the righteousness of God. And this is how you are to see yourself and perceive yourself every single day through how God sees you. I think life would go a lot smoother if we were really busy seeing how God sees us.
[00:20:32] Wouldn't life go up? Life would be a lot different if we were really good at saying, I understand. They say this, I understand. I even say this about myself.
[00:20:43] But this is what my heavenly Father has said about me, where you're gonna place the ultimate on.
[00:20:53] Because there's one thing that I know we're really good at doing, friends, is self condemning.
[00:21:00] Are we really good at beating ourselves up, right?
[00:21:05] Are we the first ones to tell ourselves that the other day? Anybody getting arguments in their marriage? Anybody getting arguments? Or you guys are perfect, I'm sorry, you know, whatever, you know, sorry. I'm over perfect West Campus over here, you know?
[00:21:18] But you know, my wife and I, we got in an argument the other day, and, you know, we were just to let you know she's not here.
[00:21:24] Just to let you know I was right. Just by the way I was right. You know, and so we're going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And, you know, even though I was right, what I said next or what came out of my mouth wasn't right.
[00:21:41] Right. It wasn't right. And I remember telling myself, you idiot, right now you got to sleep in another room tonight.
[00:21:51] You got to sleep in the kid's bed. You know what I'm saying? Like, you dummy. But isn't that, like, the first thing we do when we fail?
[00:22:00] We are quick to tear ourselves down.
[00:22:05] How fast we do that and how much we are consumed by that.
[00:22:10] You idiot.
[00:22:12] You're a failure to your family, you're a failure to your friends.
[00:22:18] Right?
[00:22:19] But this is why the gospel is beautiful.
[00:22:23] Because the gospel has a way of diving deep within all the lies that are trapping us, confusing us, and presenting to us our truest value. Saying, you are righteous before God, and that is what matters.
[00:22:43] And if that is what is true, this is what you are meant to live from. Because this. Because here's the thing, friends. The truest thing about you is how God sees you.
[00:22:55] That is the truest thing about you.
[00:22:57] The most important thing about your life is not about how much you receive, how much you get, how much you earn. It's about how much God loves you.
[00:23:09] And that is the place where righteousness becomes life changing for you.
[00:23:16] And I.
[00:23:18] My friends, my son's been getting into sports a lot.
[00:23:26] And let's just say, you know, he's not the greatest of the greatest, but, you know, he's trying, right? I've been teaching him some basketball, you know, real man sport. So I've been teaching him a basketball, and he wanted to learn how to play baseball. Your boy doesn't know how to play baseball. So here I am on YouTube trying to figure out baseball. He's like, dad, who's your favorite baseball player? And I'm like, I don't know, Jim Comey. I don't.
[00:23:50] I don't know, bro. Like, you know, I don't know anybody from baseball. And so I could not. I bought him a ball, a ball of a bat.
[00:23:57] And then he goes out and he sticks his butt out like this. I'm like, hey, man, you know, we live in a nice neighborhood. You can't be doing that in the front. You scoot your butt in, bro. Like, get yourself together, right? And he's out there and he's trying to hit the ball, but he keeps missing.
[00:24:13] He keeps missing, right? And he's telling me, dad, what do I need to do different? I'm like, I don't know, bro. Put your butt back out. I don't know. Like.
[00:24:22] Like, obviously it's not working. You know what I'm saying?
[00:24:25] We can go play basketball. Let's do that, you know? And. Right? And he keeps missing. And I remember him throwing the bat down after the next time he missed the ball.
[00:24:34] And he said, I stink at this. I'm sorry. I'll never be a good player.
[00:24:41] And I remember when he said that what he needed in that moment was assurance.
[00:24:49] And I go and I went up to him and I said, son, whether you hit the ball or you don't, you're still my boy.
[00:24:58] Because performance didn't win you to me.
[00:25:02] You're not my son because of what you do.
[00:25:06] You're my son because I called you to be my son.
[00:25:10] And here's the thing, friends. At the end of the day, you and I, we're going to strike out in life.
[00:25:17] Maybe you've been striking out a lot lately.
[00:25:20] Maybe you've been missing the ball.
[00:25:25] But here's what I love about the gospel.
[00:25:28] What I love about the gospel is it's not about how much you hit the ball.
[00:25:33] It's how much you can keep your eyes on the one who secures your position with God. God, despite you hitting the ball or not.
[00:25:45] Here's the thing, friends. Nothing can undo your security with God.
[00:25:51] Jesus secured it for you.
[00:25:54] Nothing can undo that. You stand before God. Not. Not. Not because, man, you keep getting it right, but because Jesus perfectly got it right for you. That's the beautiful truth.
[00:26:08] That's the beautiful truth, friends, right? You're going to have your days, and I have my days.
[00:26:15] It's called parenting.
[00:26:17] Some days I feel like a great parent.
[00:26:20] Some days I'm like, oh, gosh, what am I doing?
[00:26:24] But at the end of the day, what needs to be louder is not the words that come from me, the words of condemnation, but the words of acceptance from my heavenly Father.
[00:26:37] He says, you are the righteousness of God, which is the truest thing about you. Point number three, as we close.
[00:26:47] And that, you know, that means 40 more minutes when the pastor says that chap been preaching long? I heard lately. I'll talk to him for you. I got you.
[00:26:56] Point number three. Here's what Paul says. Paul wants us to realize that the gospel is the gift of redemption.
[00:27:04] Look at what he says in verse 22. Bring up verse 22 for them.
[00:27:07] He says that the righteousness of God. I'm sorry, sorry. Verse 22, verse 22. He says the righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ. To all who believe, there is no distinction. Go to verse 23.
[00:27:21] He says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
[00:27:28] Right? That's true. Right, friends?
[00:27:31] We all are broken, sinful, unclean people sometimes. Right? Right. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Right.
[00:27:42] But look what he says in verse 24. This is beautiful. This is the gospel right here. But they are justified. Another legal term.
[00:27:49] But they are justified freely by his grace. Not by your performance, but by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Verse 25. He says God presented him as an atoning sacrifice through faith in his blood in order to demonstrate his righteousness. Because in his forbearance he has passed over the sins committed beforehand. Let's stop there.
[00:28:17] Here's the wonderful truth about the gospel, friends.
[00:28:21] It is the gift of redemption.
[00:28:27] It is the gift of redemption.
[00:28:29] My boys love superheroes.
[00:28:32] I mean, they love them all, right? They dedicate their life to knowing every superhero. They always. They say, dad, who's stronger, Superman or Hawkeye? And I'm like, bruh, what? That's a bad question. Like Superman all day long, you know, and we're going back and forth. Thank God they like dc, not Marvel. You know, they're Christians, actually. So, you know, I mean, like, you know, they love superheroes. And they're always asking about them. And, you know, and I thought about this concept, you know. You know, we all kind of fall in love with the hero story because deep down in sight, we all are in need of a hero ourselves.
[00:29:13] Meaning this. We all are in need of redemption, right? Because here's what's beautiful about the gospel. Paul says this, that God presented Jesus as an atoning sacrifice. Here's what this means. Redemption means two things. The first thing is this. Jesus, what we see on the cross is love and justice colliding.
[00:29:39] Because the Bible talks this about sin. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death.
[00:29:45] Meaning this. Meaning this sin has to be dealt with.
[00:29:50] God would not be God if he didn't deal with evil.
[00:29:55] It would make him a small God. It would make him a God of compromise, right? The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Meaning this.
[00:30:05] That the sin that we rightfully deserve, someone else absorbs it for us.
[00:30:16] Someone else takes it onto themselves.
[00:30:20] Imagine being in court, which I hope none of you have to do. But imagine going to court, right? And you got to stand before a judge, right? And the judge looks to you and he looks at the record and you are guilty of it all.
[00:30:34] I mean, I mean of it all. I mean everything from point, from the first point, all the way to the last, you are guilty of it all. You have no other plea but guilty. And here you are about to give how you plead. Here you are standing before the judge, but then someone else comes in and says, I'll take on their guilt so that they may be free.
[00:31:04] Friends, what makes the gospel, the gospel is the mercy of God standing in our place.
[00:31:14] Standing in our place.
[00:31:17] It is God giving his son to absorb our sin, to take on the penalty of sin. But here's what also redemption means. A lot of people forget about this. Redemption carries a sense where it's meant to bring you out of something, but also into something as well.
[00:31:39] That's where they miss to bring you out. Bring you out of what? The penalty of sin, but also to set you free from the power of sin.
[00:31:51] Because at the end of the day, friends, what I need the most is to realize it is by grace and grace alone. I can stand before God, but I need the grace of God to be at work in my life. Why? Because there's still some things that need redeeming.
[00:32:08] Listen, there's still some things in my life. Sure, I stand before God, righteous and holy, and he calls me a son. And I thank God for that. And I thank God that, you know, I can call on him and depend on him. But at the end of the day, the gospel isn't so much. It isn't always dependent just what Jesus has done for you, but it's also what Jesus wants to do in you, which here's the truth. You are saved, but you continuously need to be saved as well too.
[00:32:37] Not to be reconciled with God again, but to be redeemed from within.
[00:32:42] And there are just some things, friends, that I just got to realize. If the gospel has the power to give me new life, the gospel has the power to redeem me and grow within me a new heart and a new spirit to save me so that I may live out what it means to be the righteousness of God.
[00:33:05] The question I want to ask you, where do you need redemption today?
[00:33:12] Where is the area of life that. It's becoming a bit messy.
[00:33:18] My three year old, he loves to do things on his own and not listen to anybody. I don't know where he gets that from, by the way, you know, but he loves to do things on his own and not listen to anybody. One day he says, I want milk. I said, give me a second, I'll get your milk.
[00:33:33] So he opens the fridge, and of course he's gonna get milk by himself. This dude was climbing up the fridge like it was a ladder.
[00:33:42] Like it was like. He goes up, he's climbing and climbing. He grabs the milk, and then next, you know, he falls all the way backwards with the milk in his hand. And the milk just goes everywhere, right? And that's just. I mean, that's the story of his life. He makes a mess everywhere he goes, right? The boy has a hard time standing on his own two feet. I don't know what's going on, right? He just makes a mess everywhere he goes.
[00:34:08] And to be honest with you, I can sympathize with that because I have made a mess plenty in my own life.
[00:34:19] I have made a mess when it comes to my relationships.
[00:34:25] I've made a mess when it comes to my career.
[00:34:29] I've made a mess, friends.
[00:34:31] And here's what the gospel was meant to do. It's meant to point us. Yes, we stand forgiven.
[00:34:37] But there's still some things Christ wants to free you from.
[00:34:43] There is still some cleansing work. The gospel is this, friends.
[00:34:48] God bringing you to himself, not leaving you as you are, but bringing you into true form, into who you are meant to to be.
[00:35:01] Where do you need redemption, friends?
[00:35:04] Where are the areas in your life where you continuously make a mess?
[00:35:07] Can you stand before God and say, thank you for holiness, thank you for righteousness, thank you for Jesus. But now be at work in me.
[00:35:17] Redeem me.
[00:35:19] Cause me to live from the place of righteousness so that I am maybe hold a better medal, a medal that was not achieved by me, but it's achieved by something for me. Someone for me.
[00:35:41] Friends, this is the sweetness of the gospel. It is mercy.
[00:35:45] It is justice.
[00:35:47] It is love from God. Let's pray.
[00:35:52] Dear Heavenly Father, I honor you and I thank you.
[00:35:55] I thank you that you are the one who brings me into fellowship with you.
[00:36:01] It is by your mercy and by your grace. But, Lord, you are not just the one who brings me into fellowship. You are the one who brings me into wholeness as well.
[00:36:12] And Lord, there are just some things that are disorienting in my soul right now.
[00:36:20] There are some things that I seek outwardly to try to redeem me, but those things eventually fail me.
[00:36:28] And so, Lord, it is your spirit and your power that saves me.
[00:36:33] And it's your spirit and your power that can change me.
[00:36:38] It was by grace I was saved and it's by grace I'm going to be sustained.
[00:36:45] So Lord, I pray that today we would glory in the medal that was awarded to us and we would say thank you Jesus.
[00:36:57] What I deserve you took.
[00:37:03] But the scripture says he who began a good work in me will bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus.
[00:37:12] Lord, you saved me but I still need a good work done in me.
[00:37:18] And I pray that you would bring to reminder to me daily the sweetness of your grace.
[00:37:29] And that grace would change the pace of my heart.
[00:37:34] It would give me your desires me.
[00:37:38] It would give me your pursuits and I can be and can remain in the redemption you have offered.
[00:37:50] I love you Lord and I thank you. Sing your son's perfect name. Amen.
