Jesus > Idols
Transcript
How y'all doing? I'm doing well, Vicki. Y'all, let's turn to Romans chapter 1. That's where we'll be this morning. It's on page 610 if you have a Bible that looks like this. If you don't have a Bible that looks like this, it's going to be in the New Testament, kind of near the back, after the book of Acts, before all the other letters like 1 Corinthians and stuff.
So best of luck. At the front of your Bible, there's a thing that has all the names of the books, and you can look, and it'll tell you what page number it's on. I'm going to pray for us, and then we'll kind of hop in this morning. God, we just ask you to teach us and to lead us this morning, that your Holy Spirit would work in our hearts to help us see your beauty and your glory, and to help us to love Jesus more. We thank you and we praise you for all of the love and grace that you've poured out on us. In Jesus' name, amen.
So what we've been doing in the Anchor Series, and kind of the reason we called it that, is when I was in seminary and was learning, trying to grow in church planning, what that would look like, felt called to it. One of the things that we talk about is your church needed some sort of a mission, vision statement, and we in class had to write them out. And so you'll see churches a lot that'll have things like, I know one that was like, love God, love people, love life, which gets more epic at the end. It's just like, everything is great. So you love God, you love people, and then just, life is wonderful, and you're just hugging everybody.
But you would have these different things, and so there's like, seek, serve, send, and it's like, your church is saying, this is what we're going for. And there's like, no, grow, so, go, whoa, hey, ho. Like, it's just these things that people, mantras or whatever for churches. And so as we got into it, we were just like, ah, it's helpful for us to have something that's taken from Scripture. That's not just made up, but that's an idea of what we're shooting for as a church family, what we're going for. But we didn't want anything that was super out there or convoluted or complex.
And so all we said was that we're a gospel-centered community on mission. So we're just trying to define who we are, not what we do, but who we are. And so we're a gospel-centered community on mission. And so in our Anchor Series, all we're saying is that's kind of what we're tied off to. That's what holds us. And so there are some things that, man, wouldn't this be a good idea or wouldn't this be fun?
But they're outside of kind of where our anchor will let us go. It's like, yeah, that actually would work or would be a good idea, but Scripture says this, so we can't really, we can't go there. We can't do that. Or it kind of goes against how we understand we're supposed to look and be as a church family. So that's all we're doing in our Anchor Series.
So we've been kind of in the gospel-centered portion for the first three weeks. And so we're staying there today. And what we're talking about today lines up with the first two weeks and really lines up with last week where we talked about gospel fluency, which is just that since the gospel is our story, it's how we understand life. It's how we understand the world. And it's how we see the world and speak to each other. So we're not just giving each other good advice to adjust our behavior, but that we know that our fundamental issue is that we don't worship God, that we put other things in place of him and that we need the gospel to change us and to point us in the right direction.
And so that's kind of what we're adding on to that today to help us understand what we're going for and what it looks like for us to just operate as Christians. And so we're in Romans 1. We'll start reading verse 21 and kind of recap a little bit and then talk about kind of where we're going today. So verse 21 says, And so the big issue for us as humans is not that we that God has rules and that we've broken his rules, but it's that God is our creator and that we don't exist in a relationship with him appropriately. We don't treat him as the creator. And so we actually begin to look to other things to fulfill us, to bring us life, to bring us joy and hope.
And so we we move God from his rightful place and we put created things there. Now, created things is and the Bible is going to call that idolatry. But that's idolatry whenever we're we're putting something else in the place of God. And when it talks about created, they worship the creature rather than the creator. That includes everything. There's only one creator and everything else is created.
Everything else comes out of him. And so when we think of idolatry, I think most of the time we think of like a carving or we think of like a statue or we think of like a totem pole. And we'll even we'll get kind of smug about it. We'll be like, yeah, how ridiculous is that? People would cut down a tree, carve an image on it and worship it. We would not do that unless you flattened that tree out, made it green and the image was an old dead president.
Then maybe we think about it. We'd give it some thought. But it's it's anything. It's anything. And it can just be an idea. It could be love.
It could be acceptance. It could be relationships. But anything that we begin to look at and say, you'll fill me up. You'll make me happy. Life will be good if. Everything will work out if.
Anything that we begin to put in that spot is when we begin to have idolatry and we begin to worship created things instead of the creator. And so this this is a problem. And we all have something that we're looking to and saying, if that would just work out. If I could just reach this spot, if I could just have this, then life would be OK. I wouldn't be worried anymore. I wouldn't be bothered anymore.
I wouldn't be stressed out anymore. If I could just have this and we're all pointing to something and saying, this will save me. This will fill me up. This will make me complete. And that's that's that's how the Bible understands idolatry, that it's not primarily about and sin is not primarily about us breaking rules. But it's actually that we've swapped God out for something else.
So that's what happens in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, our first parents. That's what that's what they did. It wasn't that he just had a rule. It was that in that moment they wanted to be like God. They believe that God was withholding something from them and that they could, through their own effort, through their own actions, through some other type of savior, reach God level, that they could be happier, that they could have fulfillment and strength. And that's what that's what happened.
That's what the Ten Commandments, when Moses goes to Pharaoh and sings that song about letting his people go. And then and then they do. And the Ten Commandments, we think of that as those are God's rules. That's the rules God began to give the law that we follow. But it starts off with you will have no other God but me.
And the second one is you won't build any idols. You won't make any idols. You won't take anything. And when he says it, he says anything in the heavens, anything on the earth, anything under the earth, which could be anything other than God. You won't turn into something supreme. And so even the Ten Commandments begin with not here are my rules, follow my rules, but with object of worship, with I'm God and nothing else is.
And so the primary issue for us when we sin is not that we've done something bad or broken a rule or that our behavior is off. But first and foremost, we've broken the first two commandments, which is something else has become more important to us. Something else has become primary, that we've taken God out of his rightful place. And that's why we're willing to steal. That's why we'll commit adultery. That's why we'll lie.
Because something else has become more important to us than God. And so at its core, sin and rebellion and the fall is based off of not having God in his rightful place and not worshiping him as the creator. It's based off of us putting something else there, which leads us astray all the rest of the time. And that's what the Romans 1 is going to say is that's the issue, that they worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator. So we even see this as we move into the New Testament.
So when they're talking to Jesus and asking, what's the what's the primary commandment? He says to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. That's the commandment. It has nothing to do with behavior, has everything to do with our hearts and our love for God. And so as we talked about gospel fluency last week, what we were talking about is pointing each other not to here's some advice to change your behavior, but pointing each other to here's what Jesus has done and here's how that works in our hearts to bring about change. Because we're not trying to change our behavior.
We're trying to change our hearts. That's even what Jesus says. It's about our love for God. And then he says to love others. And somewhere I'm sure it says love life. Okay, so what we see first, though, as we begin to look at something and say, you'll fix me, you'll fill me up, you'll make me complete.
We're going to talk about surface idolatry. Bible doesn't use that phrase. It does use idolatry, but we're just using that to help explain this. So we're going to talk about the two major areas that idolatry shows up in us and in our hearts. So surface idolatry is when we begin to look at anything and say, you'll fix me, you'll fill me up, if I could just have this, if this would just work out.
It's what we daydream about. It's what we plot on. It's our biggest fear that we would lose this because we believe that it's going to fix us, that it's going to fill us up, that it's going to give us life. It's going to make us whole. And for most of us, that is something good. We've picked something good.
Most of us don't have really dumb idols. We've picked something good. We've picked something kind of intelligent. Just like you might put a lot of energy and effort into fixing your car up, get a new paint Job, maybe some sweet flames running down the side. But you're not going to do that to your trash can.
You're not going to put spinners on your garbage can that you roll out to the road once a week, get a sweet paint Job on it, some fire going up. Like you're not going to do that because it's a trash can. And so most of us, when we pick an idol, we pick something pretty smart, something that actually has value, that actually has worth, that actually has some beauty. And then because it has value, worth, and beauty, because it brings joy, we begin to believe that it actually can replace God. We're not usually tricked by something small and trivial. We're tricked by something good.
So even take an alcoholic. There's something in alcohol that brings some level of joy, some level of forgetfulness, some level of pleasure. At first, at least, and then it leads into worse things. But that's what begins to make someone believe this is actually what will fill me up, what will make me whole. Someone with sexual addiction, there's actually something beautiful there created by God for enjoyment, for pleasure, for life. And that's what begins to make us believe the lie that it will fix us, fill us up, make us whole.
Athletic achievement. It's good. It's designed by God for joy, for us to compete, for there to be some. And that's what begins to make someone believe, if I just get this, then I'll be fine. If I can just reach this moment. Parents, your children.
They're designed by God, given to you by God as a blessing. And that's actually because of the joy and the life that they bring. That's what actually can make you begin to say, if they just turn out okay. If they're just safe. If they just get the best of everything. If life just works well for them.
If they just end up the way the Bible says someone should end up. Then I'll know. Then I'll know I have value. Then I'll know I have worth. Then I'll know I'm okay.
And it's when we do that. When we begin to look to anything to accomplish that for us. We've swapped the creator out. And we've put the creature there. We've taken something creative. And placed it there.
And we've begun to put more pressure on it than it'll ever be able to hold. And we've begun to believe something about it that it's never going to be able to fulfill. Because it won't fill us up. And it won't make us whole. And it won't complete us. And it won't get rid of that nagging emptiness in us.
And so as far as surface level idolatry goes. We'll take anything. You name it. We can put it there. Money. Love.
Relationships. A particular person. This is what keeps us in bad relationships for longer. This is what makes us make a lot of the mistakes that we make. Is because we've begun to believe that something is fundamentally going to fix us. Fill us up.
Make us whole. And it won't. But I have bad news for us this morning. We're trickier than this. So some surface level idols you can see pretty clearly.
Like you've sat down with your friend and said. He is a terrible boyfriend. Like he is the worst. Get rid of him. And then they say something like. You just don't know him like I do.
No. You're right. He's never laid his hands on me. I don't know him like you do. But he's terrible.
And we can see that. Or you can see somebody chasing after money. And you can go. That's. That's. You.
I can obviously see this. But here's the problem. We're trickier than this. So Jeremiah 17 9 says this. One of my favorite verses in the Bible. Because it's just very true.
It's going to be up here. It says the heart is deceitful above all things. And desperately sick. Who can understand it? The heart is deceitful above all things. Desperately sick.
Who can understand it? Your heart lies to you. You have actually lied to you more than anyone else ever. And some of us just thought. No I haven't. But that's exactly what you would say.
Don't trust yourself. Your heart is desperately sick. It lies to you. If you're ever watching a Disney movie. And I always give this. This warning.
If you're watching a Disney movie. And. And a little bird comes out. And sings about following your heart. Or a. A grasshopper shows up.
Or a little cricket with an eye patch. Or no. Monocle. He didn't have an eye patch. That would have been creepy. A monocle.
Dragging a peg leg. I'm Jiminy Cricket. No. With a monocle. And begins to sing a song about following your heart. Don't do it.
It's a trap. It's a trick. Your heart is going to lie to you. It's going to lead you into bad places. And it's going to trick you. And so what happens is.
We can actually have deeper level idolatry. And so. Again. This is just a way to think about it. And to understand it. Deeper level idolatry.
Which actually begins to be the. The operator. Of our other idolatry. And so. I'm going to give us four. They're made up.
Just to be helpful. So if you think there should be more. If you think there should be less. Or you wanted them all to start with the same letter. Or something. Sorry.
There's four that we're going to talk about. And it's just to be helpful. So don't. Don't argue with the categories too much. Get the concept. Comfort.
Control. Approval. And power. These are just big categories. And it's to help us see. That we can have something else we're chasing.
Which changes. How we operate. Which changes how we manipulate our surroundings. Comfort. Control. Approval.
Power. Comfort is. I'll arrive. If I can just rest. If I can just. Have all the stuff I need.
If I can just be able to go on vacations. If I can just have what they have. If I can just have it to where I'm bored in the evenings. Control is. I don't have to worry about my surroundings. I don't have to worry about.
I'm in control of what happens. I'm in control of my destiny. I'm able to exercise authority over what's around me. I don't have to worry. I have security. Approval is just.
I know I'm okay if I'm loved. If people think highly of me. If people want me around. That if I can just be approved of. Then I'll be good.
I'll be okay. And then power is just the ability to exert. Authority over those around you. Over your situation. To just be the boss. To be in charge.
To have your decisions win out. So here. Here's. Here's why it's helpful for us to see this. Money. Some people say.
Oh that person just loves money. Or you might even be thinking. I think my. My surface level idolatry. I think what I chase after. What.
What I say will fill me up is money. Because here's the thing. Nobody just loves money. You don't. You love what money can give you. You love what money provides you.
But you don't just love money. Because. The reason I know that is. None of us. Have a bank account. That has monopoly money in it.
And none of us have a purse or a wallet. With monopoly money in it right now. Because it doesn't give us anything. Now when we're playing monopoly. We care a lot about those little yellow dollars. So much so.
We'll yell at our grandmother. And for the three or seven hours. That we play that game. Until our grandmother beats us. With a really smug attitude. We care about monopoly money.
But then we don't anymore. And the reason we care about money. Is because of what it gives us. And so I'm just going to walk through. Those four. Comfort, control, approval, and power.
And show you how money begins to be manipulated. By those. But you're not really seeking money. You're just seeking what money gives you. Comfort. Money is a great way to get comfort.
You can go on vacations. You can buy a jet ski. You can pay people to do work. So you can take a nap. Like. Money serves comfort very well.
Some of you. That's what your money goes to. Eating out. It's one of my favorites. Being able to rest. Being able to.
Like it just. Why would I own. Why would I have money. If my couch is uncomfortable. That makes zero sense. Why would I have money.
If my TV is not big. This is dumb. That's what money is for. Control. Oh. Money is a great way to have control.
You don't have to worry about the future. If you've got a lot of money. Something bad happens. We'll pay for it. Tire gives out. We'll pay for it.
You can just. People open their bank account. And just look at all this money. In their bank account. And just know. I'm okay.
It's like a big green security blanket. Approval. Oh. Money is a great way to get approval. Like if you want me to be your friend. Buy me lunch.
I will approve of you. I will be like. We are friends. This pizza is delicious. Like that's. I mean.
But money is a great way to give approval. You think. Oh my grandmother is so generous. Maybe. Maybe she just really wants to get the approval of her grandchildren. Because that helps fill her up.
And make her feel like she's okay. Power. Oh. Power is great. You can exert your authority over people. If you have enough money.
You can. You can. Sway the outcome of an election. But I know that. I know our crowd. We live in West Columbia.
In Columbia area. None of us can sway the outcome of an election. But. You can sway the outcome of where you're going to eat lunch. Hey man. If you go.
If we go here. I'll pay for it. That generous. Maybe. Maybe it's just that you wanted to be in control of where you ate. You just wanted to exert your power over it.
And money was a good way to do it. Here's why this is important. Our behavior can change. But at a core heart level. We're still chasing after the same thing. And the problem is.
That we've swapped out the creature. In place of the creator. We've taken created things. And we've put them in place of the creator. And when we do that. It leads us into sin.
It leads us into bad behavior. But the big issue is that our hearts are off. And God's after our hearts. Love the Lord your God with all your heart. With all your mind. With all your strength.
He's after our hearts. Our worship. Way more than our behavior. So. Our behavior can change. All of those idols.
Can actually have really good behavior. So if you're. If comfort is. You have a comfort idolatry. That. Yeah.
That can be laziness. Which the Bible clearly says is bad. You can be really lazy. You know what else? You can be a really good friend. You can be the most agreeable person.
Because you just don't want your friendships to be. The boat to be rocked. Makes you uncomfortable. So you agree really quickly. You're really nice. You let your friends have whatever they want.
Seems really nice. But your heart's off the whole time. Approval. We said it. Approval can show up in really. Drastic neediness and relationships.
But it can also show up in a whole lot of generosity. Which is nice. Which is good. The Bible says to do that. But the whole time we're chasing after something other than God.
And we're not doing it because we love God. And we love people. But we're doing it because we. We have to have this in order to feel complete and whole. Do you see that? So you can have a couple arguing over money.
The husband believes that why would we own money if we don't go on vacations? Like what's the point of me working hard if I can't have a bass boat? Like that's what money exists for. And the wife's saying no we need to save. And we need to plan ahead. And we got kids that are going to go to college.
And he's like our kids aren't going to college. And so like. And they have these struggles and they butt heads over money. But the truth is they're both just working to serve. What they ultimately believe will fill them up. So she seems more reasonable.
But she really is just seeking security. That's what makes her feel comfortable at night. It's what lets her sleep at night. Do you see that? So even though her behavior could be good or wise.
And the Bible would actually commend the behavior. The Bible worries way more about our hearts. So yeah we should have good behavior. And yeah those things are commendable. But the heart is the issue.
And so as long as we're chasing after other things. Other than God. Other than resting in God. We can get ourselves in trouble. So let's take a guy.
Power is his thing. So he just. First way he can feed that. Is through sports. So he gets real strong.
Works really hard. Seems really determined. And just is very powerful. Exerts his power on the field. On the court. But then as he gets a little older.
He begins to realize that chasing women. Is a good way to feel powerful. And that he proves his power. And his dominance. With every conquest. But as he begins to grow.
And he gets older. He begins to realize that one of the best ways to have power. Is through civil service. To be a politician. To serve the community. Because you get to actually affect change.
At a much larger level. So he completely quits chasing women. Comes very chaste. Very pure. But what he loves.
And what he's pursuing. Hasn't changed. And then he finds out. You know what? The ultimate power is found in. Jesus.
And the best way to have power. Is to be a Christian. Because Christians are the only ones that have truth. So he devours scripture. He's in your community group. And he just crushes people with Bible verses.
He has more knowledge than anybody. Because it's a way to have power. And at no point has his heart changed. Although his behavior has changed all along the way. It's a big deal for us to begin to look at. What is it that our heart believes.
Will fill us up. Will make us whole. Will complete us. So here's how this works. Our deep idolatry. A lot of times is going to be answered.
It's going to be how we answer the question. What does heaven look like? What would heaven be? What is it you daydream about? Oh if I could just have this. I'd be good.
I'd be set. Wouldn't be worried anymore. Wouldn't have problems anymore. What is it that you're looking at and saying. This will fill me up. This will make me complete.
This is when I'll be at rest. And then our surface level idolatry. Is whatever we think will get us there best at the time. It's our functional savior. It's what will take us from where we are. To where heaven is.
It's what will step in and bridge that gap. What will allow us to get from where we are. To where heaven is. That's a problem. Because we can change our constantly. Change our motivation.
Change what we're chasing after. What we think was going to get us to heaven. But our deep idolatry stays the same. What we're chasing after fundamentally stays the same. So take lying for example.
We all know we're not supposed to lie. It's one of the ten commandments. It's bad. Hurts relationships. So when you lie.
What do you do? You say. Ah. Don't lie. Shouldn't lie. Bad Christian.
Bad mother. Shouldn't lie to your children. Bad. Fix that. But here's the thing.
Why do we lie? That's the question. What is it you're trying to protect? What is it you're trying to defend? Through lying. So some of you would lie about how popular you were in high school.
You'd be in a conversation. And you'd kind of ham up how good you were at sports in high school. How popular you were. Because this person's never going to find out. Unless you're still in high school. Which is going to be a hard sell.
But go for it. No. I'm super popular here. Or you go back to your high school reunion. Or you bump into someone. And you're going to make it sound like your job's better.
Your life's better. Things are going better. And all you're seeking is you need them to approve of you. Even in this conversation with someone you're not going to see. Some of you. You would never lie about that.
You think that's a ridiculous thing to lie about. You straight up tell somebody. No. My life's pretty crummy right now. But you look like you're doing good.
Like you just wouldn't care. But you lie about something else. You'll tell somebody something starts earlier. So they'll show up on time. Oh. Did I say 845?
My bad. It's good to see you though. At 855. Got you here at 9. Tricked you. But you're lying about it.
Me. You call me on the phone. If I am asleep. I'm going to want to tell you I was awake. Doesn't matter. I think that's true for most people.
Like if I answer the phone and people go. Oh I'm sorry did I wake you up. I am going to want to say. No. I was awake. Doesn't matter what time you call me.
It could be 3 o'clock in the morning. No. I was up. I was up. Why were you up at 3? I was working out reading the Bible.
I had to do that one time in the middle of a conversation. We've been talking for about 10 minutes. I said hey man I need to tell you something. He said what? I said I was asleep when you called me. I lied to you when I answered the phone.
He's like it sounded like you were asleep. I thought you were lying. I was like yeah I was. We can continue with the conversation now. I just had to get that out there. Had to confess.
But the question is why are we lying? What are we seeking to gain from that? You see because we've all answered the question. This is what heaven will be for me. And this is what will get me there. Here's the problem.
The Bible says that where God is is where heaven is. That it's in his presence. That we're engulfed in his glory. Which glory just means that it has. It brings to mind the idea that you would look at something. And it would bring you joy.
Just by seeing it. Just by being in his presence. It's like when you're watching a sunset. And you just you get that moment where you're just like. I'm so glad I got to see this. I'm so glad I was driving on this road at this time.
Because it's bringing me joy. Just by seeing it. That's what heaven is. It's the presence of God. That heaven isn't all the nice things that you like and chase after. No heaven is God's presence.
Where we're completely satisfied. Completely fulfilled. Completely made right. Completely known and loved. And Jesus is the savior that gets us there. That it's his work not ours.
That rescues us. And redeems us. And takes us from where we are to where God is. So when we answer the question. This is what heaven is. And this is what will get me there.
We have replaced God. And we've replaced Jesus with something else. Something smaller. Something weaker. And something that will never provide. Never fill us up.
Never make us okay. So our idols and our hearts lie to us. And I want to show that to you. We look at 24. These are the two major issues when it comes to idolatry. What they do to us.
What our idols do. Therefore God gave them up in the lust of their hearts to impurity. Let me just tell you this real quick. Some of us are chasing after things. Just so you know. Part of God's wrath is to give you exactly what you want.
What it just said was that God gave them up to their lust. To what they were loving. What they were chasing after. He actually handed them over to what they wanted. That's actually one of the worst things that can happen. Because then we've got our idol.
And we realize it never fills us up. It won't make us complete. It's actually a form of God's wrath. God is actually being very kind to some of us. But not letting us have the thing that we think will make us whole.
To the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves. Verse 25. Because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie. And worshipped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. Amen. The two things that happen when we chase idols is they lie to us.
And they enslave us. It says they worshipped and served. That they exchanged the truth about God for a lie. And they worshipped and served the creature rather than creator. Your idol is telling you. I will bring you joy.
If you could just have me. Life would be okay. You wouldn't have doubt. You wouldn't have fear. You wouldn't have restlessness. And it is a lie.
And they ultimately. Our idols enslave us. They cause us to worship and serve them. I had a friend of mine who was part of our church family for a while. He's moved. And he was an older guy.
Had been married at one point. Wasn't married now. And was doing some online dating. And just believed in his soul. That what would fix him. Was a perfect marriage relationship.
That that's what would fix him. To the point that even when I was having conversations with him. He like idolized mine and Anna's relationship. And I'd say something about. You know. How we were working on stuff.
Or we were having problems. Or I'd be like. Yeah man. It's not. And he would laugh. Like.
Like. There's no way that was possible. Because I was married. I had to be perfectly happy. Perfectly complete. And it's like.
No. We got. Anna married a sinner. And I married a sinner. And we got stuff. We got to work on.
And grow in. Like. That's normal. That's how. But he didn't see it.
It was. Sometimes it was like talking to. Like. Like he was a middle school girl. Or something. Like he.
He idolized it so much. And so. In his mind. Any girl he met. Any female he met. Any lady he met.
And began to talk to. That was his savior. That was who was going to take him to heaven. Perfect. Married land. So he would meet a female online.
Through talking conversations. And I talked to him. He'd be. I mean. Soaring. I met somebody.
She's special. That's good man. I'm excited. I just. I think. I think we got something here.
And he would begin to. Pursue way too quickly. Up the ante. Way too quickly. Because she wasn't just a female he'd met. And got to have conversations with.
But she was actually who was going to save him. And so. Inevitably. A couple weeks later. That relationship wasn't going well. They weren't talking anymore.
And he would just be. Crushed. I mean shattered. Because what he had lost. Was not. Reality.
Wasn't just a conversation. And a possible relationship with a female. What he had lost. Was what was going to save him. And what was going to take him to heaven. What was going to fix him.
And it was way worse. Some of us. Should he want relationships? Yeah. That's fine. Is getting married a good thing?
Yeah. Does everybody have to get married? No. Is that good? Yeah. But he had put so much else on it.
That it couldn't fail him. Some of us have those. We have something in our life. That this can't fail. Because if it does. I don't just lose this.
I don't just lose this relationship. I don't just lose this job. I don't just lose this amount of money. I don't just lose this position. I actually lose what is going to save me. What is promising me fulfillment.
What is going to fill me up. And take me to heaven. I lose God and Savior. And it's. There's way more tied to it. Some of us are.
Some of you in here. Are chasing after success. You've put in your mind. That if I can just reach this stage. If I can just be successful. If everything I put my hand to.
Can just work out. If I can just have accomplishment. If I can just. And you're. You're believing that. And you're chasing that.
But here's the thing. You become enslaved to it. Because you can't not be successful. It crushes you. When you fail. It eats away at your insides.
Because your God. Demands sacrifice. So you begin to spend more time at work. More time putting your energy and effort into this. When something's not going well. It's the only thing you can think about.
Because your God demands sacrifice. And will not forgive you if you fail. Some of you. You just have this in your moment. There's going to be this day when I arrive. When I no longer have to.
I'm not living paycheck to paycheck. All my debts paid off. I'm just. I'm there. I can rest. I can have peace.
I can just. Bring in an X amount of dollars. Then I'll be okay. But until then. You're a slave. And if you'll look back over your life.
You've bumped up. How far you have to go. Before you'll arrive. How much money you need to bring in. And you're a slave. And your God doesn't forgive you when you fail.
And it demands that you sacrifice. Advice. Some people in here. It's approval. You have to. Have people like you.
So that Facebook and Instagram. Become your temple of worship. It's not just a place to keep up with friends. It's where you. You go to seek approval. It's where you go to post things.
That people will like. It's where you go to get those. Little thumbs up. And little comments. About how your dress looked. Or how good that meal looked.
That you cooked. Or that you were about to eat. It becomes this. This is what I need. This is what's going to satisfy me. This is what's going to fill me up.
Now. Facebook. Until. Until you begin to realize. That you're forever going to be enslaved to that. That's why when a relationship is going poorly.
And you're at odds with a friend. It tears you up inside. You can't have someone not like you. Not because you want those relationships to work out. But because you have to have approval to be okay.
As long as we're worshiping something created. We're never free. We're enslaved. We have to make sacrifices to please our God. And our gods are not forgiving when we fail. What's the solution to this?
How do we get past this? How do we fix this? I want to read a quote from Thomas Chalmers. He was a. He lived in 1780 in Scotland. And he was a missionary pastor.
He says this. The heart's desire for an ultimate object. May be conquered. But it's desire to have some. Object is unconquerable. The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is through the expulsive power of a new one.
So I'm going to read that again. The heart's desire for an ultimate object. May be conquered. Which means that you can swap it out for something else. Like you can. You can chase after power for a while.
Or you can chase after money for a while. And then you can begin to chase after a political position. But it's desire to have some object is unconquerable. We're always going to have to have something in that place. The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection. Is through the expulsive power of a new one.
And this is why it becomes huge for us. That we always point ourselves and each other back to the gospel. Because as we kept reading in Romans two weeks ago. We saw that it's Jesus that steps in and saves us. My friend is not going to be free. From the need to have a successful relationship.
Until he realizes that Jesus has already provided all the approval. All the love that he'll ever need. Until he realizes that Jesus has stepped in and in his place. Given him the relationship. The perfect relationship with the father. Which is where heaven is.
That Jesus is his savior. Then he'll be free. And then relationships can just be relationships. You're chasing after success. Until you realize that Jesus steps in. And provided success for you.
Made you holy. Made you righteous. Made you blameless. Made you successful. In him because of his work. And that ultimate success is in him.
Found only in him. And that he forgives when we fail. And that he sacrificed himself for us. See our other gods don't love us. Demand sacrifice. And don't forgive us.
And Jesus loves us so much. That he sacrificed himself. And that he always forgives us when we fail. But until we see that. Until we're engulfed in that. We'll be a slave to success.
We'll be a slave to achievement. Until we realize that a rival doesn't come. Through financial security. But that ultimate security has been provided to us. And Jesus will forever be a slave. Until you know that approval has been given to you forever.
Through God who knew you perfectly. And loved you anyway. And through the cross. Gave you worth and value. Facebook will not be a way to connect with friends. It will always be a way to posture yourself.
Make yourself look good. And feel good inside. Your relationships will always be on the needy side. Of having to have someone else fill you up. And make you whole. Until you realize that Jesus has already done that.
Until Jesus becomes the ruling affection of our hearts. We will forever be enslaved. But Jesus didn't come to be served. But to serve. And to give his life as a ransom for many. Ransom means the cost it takes to buy back a slave.
Jesus doesn't enslave us. He makes us free. He is the truth that replaces all the lies. And in Jesus we have freedom. We have a God who sacrificed himself for us. Doesn't demand that we sacrifice to him.
To earn his love. To behave our way into his good graces. But came and lived perfectly on our behalf. And died in our place. To sacrifice himself for us. So that he could forgive us of everything.
Even forgive us of worshiping and loving other things. And thinking they'll fill us up. That's what we have in Jesus. That's why it's crucial for us as a church family. To always point back to Jesus. Because our hearts lie to us.
They deceive us. They run in all kinds of directions. And we need to remember forever. That it's Jesus who saves. It's Jesus who fills us up. It's Jesus who's holy.
It's Jesus who is our king and God. And the ruling affection of our hearts. And only then will we begin to change and be free. Band's going to come back up here. And we're going to make much of Jesus. It's like a man who got sicker.
And sicker. And sicker. Symptom after symptom kept cropping up. And he went to the doctor. And he found out he had cancer. And at that moment.
Symptoms no longer matter. The only thing that has to be gotten rid of. Is the cancer. Even if it causes more symptoms in the process. Our hearts. Are wicked.
Deceitful. And desperately sick. And changing our behavior. Only takes care of symptoms. But when we see that we've begun to love.
And worship something else. Other than our creator. That's when we begin to allow Jesus to work on the cancer. To begin to wreck our hearts. And to make them his. Through his grace.
And through his work. Not ours. We get to trust him. It's not in our ability to work hard. Or to make this happen. We get to trust Jesus.
And his ability to do this for us. To change us. And to begin to take over our hearts. That we're saved through faith. And God's grace. So as we see our idols.
The response isn't. Let me work really hard to get rid of that. No. It's let me begin to love Jesus. See Jesus more. And trust him.
And ask him to become the ruling affection of my heart. To begin to take over. To help me get rid of the lies. And begin to be free. From my slavery. And be free to follow him.
Father. We thank you. For your grace. We thank you for your love. And we pray that you would help us to see. Where it is that we're chasing after things.
That we've begun to believe the lie. That they'll fill us up. That they'll make us whole. That they'll complete us. Where it is that we've begun to. In relationships.
And in our jobs. And in our life. Put more weight on something. That was never meant to carry that. God. Where are we leaning into a good gift.
That you gave us for your glory. And asking it to be God. We ask that your Holy Spirit. Would begin to show that to us. And more than that. God.
We ask that as we see that. That you would show us yourself. That we would see the cross. Where you came not to be served. But to serve.
And to give your life as a ransom. To buy back slaves. And God. As we see our sin. That we would see the cross. Which so greatly outweighs our sin.
That we would so be engulfed. By Jesus. That your beauty. And your glory. Would so fill us up. That we wouldn't look to lesser things.
To make us whole. God. We ask that your Holy Spirit. Would press in. That you would expel idols. And that you would become the ruling.
And reigning affection of our hearts. And we ask God. That you would lead us as a church family. To continuously. Be anchored in the gospel. And pointing one another.
To Jesus' work. At all times. So that we might rest. In the grace that's been provided. That though we fall short. You save.
You always save. You always forgive. That you were our sacrifice. And God. We just ask that your Holy Spirit. Would lead us now.
The spirit of Jesus. In our souls. Would begin to work. You'd begin to cut out cancer. And help us to quit chasing symptoms. We ask this in your powerful name.
In Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
The Gospel
Transcript
What we're doing today specifically is we're just looking at the gospel. So as we get into the next several weeks, we'll be unpacking very practically what it means for that to affect us, for the gospel to change us and to affect how we live our lives. But today we're just looking at the gospel. And to do that, we're going to look in Romans chapter 1 through 6. Chapters 1 through 6. So everybody, put your big boy britches on.
We've got a lot of work to do. The reason we're doing that and the reason we're going to try to cover so much text is this. The gospel is the primary story of the Bible. It is the story of the Bible. And what happens sometimes when we talk about the gospel is we'll say, hey, everybody flip to 2 Corinthians. Everybody now jump over to 1 Timothy.
Everybody go to this passage in Luke. And it seems as if sometimes, if we haven't spent much time reading scripture, that the gospel is somehow hidden obscurely all around like it's like a little treasure hunt to find it. And it is not. And so what we're trying to do today is actually just go through Romans 1 is going to say this. Romans 2 is going to say this. Romans 3 is going to say this.
And move so that we all have a good handle on a linear walkthrough of a big understanding of the gospel. Now, when we say the word gospel, it sometimes gets confusing. We use the word gospel a lot, sometimes wrongly. Sometimes we're talking about the Holy Spirit. And we'll say, you know, the gospel changes you. And really it's the Holy Spirit changing you through the gospel.
So sometimes we'll use the gospel too much and use it in the wrong sentence. A lot of times we just say it's become buzzwordy for us, especially us as a church, where we'll say things like we'll press into the gospel, point each other to the gospel, walk in the gospel. Your community needs to be about the gospel. And after a while it's like I don't even know what you're talking about anymore. You just keep using that word. And it's not helpful.
And for some of us that maybe don't have a church background, when you hear gospel, you might even just think of a type of music. And depending on where you grew up, that may be southern gospel, which is like four overweight white guys telling a story in harmony with one another. And it may be the other type of gospel, which is going to be any number of 1 to 30 African Americans not telling a story, but saying the same thing over and over and over again. And we can argue all day as to which one's better. There is one that's better, and it's not the four white guys. But I'm just throwing that out there.
So we may even just be confused about what that word means. And so what we're going to do first is we're just going to really clearly try to explain where the word gospel comes from and what the Bible means when it says it, because it is a very loaded word. It means way more. It's a huge concept, and it is the story of the Bible. So the word gospel comes from the Greek word euangelion, or sometimes they'll English eyes at some and call it evangelion.
That's where we get the word evangelist from. And what it means is angelia just meant message. And so you would have news. That's what it means. So the gospel basically, ooh means good, and angelia means news.
And so the gospel very fundamentally just means good news. But it's not good news the way we use the term good news. So like I might see you and be like, I've got good news. Little Caesar's having a buy one, get one free sale. Wow. And you're like, that's great news.
But the way they would have used it is everything was news and only life-shattering, epic, this will change you news was good news. Was euangelion. And so everything was news. So you would have heralds and people that would proclaim news. And then there are certain things that were called gospel, good news. Like this is actual life-changing news.
And so there were certain things like there's the gospel of Caesar, which is saying this is the guy who got like our nation started, set it up the way it is. This is life-changing news for everybody who exists in the Roman Empire. It's the gospel of Caesar, much the way we have like the gospel of Jesus. Mark will start off with this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. There was the gospel of like Marathon. So there are certain battles that your army won.
So when the Greeks held off the Persians and defeated them at Marathon and people ran to the cities to proclaim that, what they were proclaiming was the gospel of the battle of Marathon, which is this is epic, life-changing news. We're not going to be slaves. This isn't advice. This isn't, hey, get ready. This isn't everybody run for your life. This is gospel.
It's epic, life-changing news. Everybody throw a party, pop the keg, start celebrating. We won the battle. That's what it was. That's what gospel was. And so when the Bible says gospel, what it means is the epic, life-changing news.
And that's why the Bible is going to call it the gospel. So they took that word that meant good news and epic news, and they just put this is the life-shattering, world-changing news. And what that news is this. And I'm going to try to just walk through this very simply, and then we're going to walk through it in a more complex way as Paul unpacks it, who's a guy writing the book of Romans. As Paul unpacks it in Romans. So God created the world.
So there is a creator God, and he made everything, and he designed it to exist in a relationship with himself. Much the way that a father wants to have a relationship with his children and fights for that and wants that because the father loves his children and because it's good for the children. Like if we see a four-year-old just living on the street, we're like, no, this kid needs a family. And that's the way God created creation to exist in that relationship with himself because he loves creation, and it's good for creation. Humans, your first parents, Adam and Eve, you may know of them. You've probably seen a picture of them somewhat naked, which I hope isn't true for all your ancestors but is true for Adam and Eve.
They existed in relationship with God in a garden, and they rebelled against him. So because they existed, they chose to love themselves more, to honor themselves more, to go after their own way and not to exist in that relationship with God. And when they did that, it was a train wreck of cosmic proportions. It absolutely shattered the very fabric of our world because now creation no longer exists in the relationship with the creator as it's supposed to. Then what happens is God begins to pursue humans again and begins to try to teach them what it looks like to live in a relationship with him.
He didn't have to teach them at first. They just did. Now he's having to try to rebuild this. So he chases after the nation of Israel. He gives them the law, which is just here's how you honor me. Here's how you live in a relationship with me, and continues on, and it goes from bad to worse, and it becomes to where no human is ever going to live up to and fix the relationship with God.
So God becomes a man, and that's the person Jesus Christ. And he lives a perfect life, does not rebel, exists in the relationship with the creator as he's supposed to. The Bible tells us that when we rebel, when we fall short, when we sin and dishonor God, we deserve death. So Jesus lives perfectly and does not deserve death. If he had sinned, if he had fallen short, if he had rebelled, if he had chosen to dishonor God, he would have deserved death, but he didn't. So then he trades places with us.
And Jesus, on a cross, dies the death that we all deserve. And then he rises from the grave three days later. Not spiritually, not an apparition, rises back to life, still has scars, eats food, touches people, scares people, rises from the dead. And when he did that, he gave us his life. And so that for anyone who places faith in Jesus, his life applies to your account. So that your terrible life, your failure of a life, that where you fall short, where you mess up, where you have sin, where you have problems, he applies his life to your account.
And where you have fallen short and messed up and had problems and disobeyed God and run from him, he takes that onto himself and dies for it. So he dies for our sin and rises to give us life. And that is the gospel. And that's what the Bible means when it says the gospel. It's that Jesus saves us through his work and effort, not ours. And that's what Paul is going to mean.
And that's what we're going to walk through today. And that's what everything is about. For us as a church, that's all we talk about. If you've been hanging around for a while, you're like, man, they only talk about Jesus. Yes. That's all we have to say.
We're a band with one song. We're like Brian Adams. We start with summer of 69. We close with summer of 69. We got nothing else in the middle. That's it.
That's all we do is we're going to talk about Jesus. We're going to talk about the gospel. And so we're going to walk through Romans 1 through 6 so that we can all have a very clear picture. And that's what we're walking through, this epic, life-changing good news as Paul unpacks it. So I'm going to pray.
And we're going to walk through Romans 1 through 6 at a hefty clip because we don't want to be here until 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I'm assuming. I'm cool with it if y'all are. All right, let's pray. God, we thank you that the gospel is not obscure, but that you've made it evident and clear. And we ask that you would reveal it to us as we study your word today. Give us wisdom and clarity as we walk through.
May your Holy Spirit speak to us in a very real way. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. So I just want to give a disclaimer. If this is your first time hanging out with us, maybe you're not a Christian. Maybe you got invited by your Christian friend to come hang out with their church.
They've been bugging you. You ran out of excuses. First of all, well done, Christian friend. Second of all, if you're here hanging out, I just want to tell you this is it. This is what we're about. This is what the church is about.
This is what Christianity is about. This is what the Bible is about. So they can't tell you, oh, he didn't really talk about it. You're going to have to come back. No, this is it. You came on the right Sunday to hang out with us.
This is what we're talking about. And as clearly as we can, we're going to walk through it. So we're in Romans 1. Now, Romans 1 starts off, it's a letter. So he starts off with like, hey, I'm Paul.
How y'all doing? How's your mom and them? And then immediately in 16, he jumps right into what he's talking about. He jumps right into the main point. So Romans 1, 16.
This is kind of Paul's lead. So if you write for a newspaper, the lead is the main part of the story. So it's going to be at the first sentence you have. Actually, the headline is going to be just the news piece. And then the first sentence will be the main point. And then everything else from that is just explaining the main point if someone writes a news story well.
So you should be able to stop reading a newspaper article at any point and all you would have done. You're not waiting for like, like news headlines aren't like, someone won the Super Bowl. Read page 4b to find out. Like it doesn't tell you the story and then you find out at the end. The headline will be Colts Win. I'm not making a prediction.
I'm just saying that's how headlines work. So like if you're angry about that, we'll see. It may just be Packers, whatever. Seahawks. Not making a prediction. But that's how it works.
And so that's what Paul's doing here in 116 is he's saying this is what the rest of this entire letter is about. The rest of it will be explaining it, but this is the point. 116. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, the epic life-changing news of Jesus, that he lived in our place, died in our place, and that we can be saved through him. That's the gospel. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
Salvation from sin, salvation from death, salvation from the wrath of God that we deserve as we've rebelled. It's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first and also to the Greek. The reason he breaks that out, and we'll see more later, is the Jews were the people that God gave the law to, gave his rules to, gave his this is how you honor me to. And so he's going to talk about them in two separate groups. So those who don't know how to relate to God and those who did or do.
For in it, the righteousness, which means goodness, rightness, right standing, of God is revealed from faith for faith as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. So what Paul starts off with is, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, which is that Jesus saves us, he rescues us, and it's the power. The gospel is the power of salvation. That's where rescue comes from, for everyone who believes. Everyone who believes. Now he's going to walk us through this story that we just talked about.
He's going to walk us through the gospel. And so he jumps right in. 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Look, if God is good and holy, he has wrath. He has anger towards unrighteousness and brokenness.
My wife loves this show called Forensic Files, which is where they do like real crime stories, and then they say how they caught people based off of forensic evidence. And a lot of times it's like, 12 years later, we figured out how to use DNA. Because it used to just be like, this person bled everywhere. Gross. Clean it up. Now they keep it, and they can use DNA testing.
And so they'll find out way later. And I watch that show with her sometimes, and it creeps me out. So I have to like load a gun and sleep with one eye open after I watch a good bit of those shows. But I get so angry watching that show sometimes. So angry at the way humans treat each other and at the sick things that happen.
The terrible way that people interact with one another. The evil in the world. And I'm not that good. And I'm not that nice. And I'm not that holy. And to act like we have a good, holy, loving God who sits in heaven and doesn't care.
Doesn't have wrath for people. We very much misunderstand how much he loves. If we don't think he has wrath. And so it says that, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Verse 19. For what can be known about God is plain to them.
Because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him. But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.
But claiming to be wise, they became fools. And exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Okay, here's the first bit of our problem. We were created to worship God and we replace him with other things. Now as we walk through this, we're going to have some sentences come up on the screen.
If you take notes, I try to just make clear statements about the sections we're walking through. If that's helpful, cool, write them down. If it's not helpful, pay no attention to the screen behind me. I'm not a note taker person. It takes me a lot of effort to come up with sentences that are helpful. So there you go.
We were created to worship God. We replace him with other things. What it just said was that we know God exists through creation. And that's true. You make all the arguments you want to, but that's true. Because creation is way too complex for it to just have come out of nothing.
I'm sorry, it just is. It's like the human eye, the leaf. You know, all the work all our scientists are doing to come up with solar panels. They're trying to recreate the leaf. Because that thing is like this big and very, very efficient at turning sunlight into energy. That's why that car is called the leaf.
They're trying to make the leaf. And they can't because that is crazy efficient. And we're trying to figure out how to do it. But the way God designed the world is complex. Very complex. And it's got order in the midst of what seems like chaos.
And what it's saying is that we stumble upon creation and we should automatically know something intelligent was here and had something to do with this. Your brain is a chunk of meat that knows that it exists. Your brain named itself. It's the only organ to name itself. It named itself brain. And I've made this joke before, but I like it.
So I'm going to make it again. The brain really should have done better. It named itself like superpower lightning thought muscle or something like that. Like once you think about it, you're like, if I'm going to name myself, it needs to be something really sweet because the brain can do whatever it wants. That's complex. Like if you're walking through the woods, I don't know why you're in the woods, but you're walking through the woods and you come up on a little cottage.
And it's got a little thatched roof and it's made out of wood, you know, logs. And there's a little fireplace, like smoke coming out of it. You don't think, huh, I bet wind did this. I bet there's a whole lot of nature going on, made this little house. No, you immediately are like, oh, there's a human here and he's home because there's a fireplace. And I don't know why he lives in the woods, but he's probably weird.
Like that's immediately what happens. Like you're walking through the woods and you find a bird's nest. Immediately something intelligent had something to do with this. And this isn't even really complex. It's like sticks in a circle with a little hole in the middle. But you see it and you know this didn't just happen.
And so what Paul just said was with creation, God has made himself evident. He's made himself clear. You can't look at creation and be like, I bet wind did this. Like it's not how it works. Like a tornado never rips through a part of the country and builds a better city. This is not how chaos works.
So what he's saying is that it's clear that God exists and that we replace him. So it says that they replaced him with creatures, with creeping things. What we did was we took God as creator and we moved him out of that spot and we put other things there. We worship and care about and love other things. Something is going to be primary for us. Something is going to be what you spend your time on.
Something is going to be what you spend your energy, your sweat, your money towards. Something is going to be where you put your effort. Whatever that is, it's supposed to be God. It's supposed to be what you orient your life around. But you'll shift it.
It'll become something created. So it'll be money. It'll be sex. It'll be enjoyment. It'll be pleasure. It'll be your family.
Most of the time it's something good. It'll be your children. That's what you're going to spend your time on. That's what you're going to put your effort towards. But we've taken something creeping, something small, and we've replaced God with other things.
Now here's how this works. When the Bible talks about law, what it's really saying is that God exists so he actually has things that he likes and doesn't like. Things that honor him and don't honor him. So when he's primary, we'll orient our life around the things that he likes and doesn't like. Let me give you a very small example. It's kind of, sorry.
I made my, anyway, sorry. My wife, Anna. The reason I thought it was funny is because she's very small. So it's a very small example. My wife, Anna. She used to be smaller.
She's been putting on weight lately because she's really pregnant. She's going to have a baby here soon. But, man, I apologize, guys. My wife, Anna. So I care about her.
I love her. And so my life gets bent around her some. Like I begin to know what she likes and doesn't like. And I honor her through that. So like one of the ways that I would honor her well is like she comes home.
And I got home a little early. I started preparing. You know, I'm going to kind of, I'm going to show her some love. You know, so I wrote her a little note. And it's like, ooh, girl. Because that's a good way to start a note.
And it's like, I made you a cheeseburger with some blue cheese and a whole lot of ketchup for you. Because I've just been sitting at the house thinking about your curly brown hair, your olive skin, and your bright blue eyes. And I went to Redbox. And I rented you a DVD, the scariest one I could find, the best horror picture I could find that stars Vin Diesel. Now here's the problem.
That sounds nice. She doesn't have olive skin. She doesn't have blue eyes. She doesn't have curly brown hair. So I'm in trouble.
She doesn't like ketchup. And she's allergic to blue cheese. She doesn't like horror movies. And especially not anything with Vin Diesel in it. So when we talk about following and honoring and loving God, when the Bible talks about his law, what it's basically saying is a concept that we all understand very simply.
Is that because he actually exists, he has things that he likes and doesn't like. He has things that honor him and don't honor him. Because he's real. So when you're having a conversation with someone and they say, Well, my God would never. Time out. You don't get to choose.
Like I don't get to say, well, my wife would never be allergic to blue cheese. It's like she is, dude. Like she's real. So when somebody starts defining God in a way that he doesn't define himself, because he's real, he actually has things that honor him. So we have to ask questions like, how does he feel about children?
What's it mean to be a good father in relationship to my creator? Can I beat them? Can I get rid of them if they get on my nerves? Am I supposed to take care of them? What's he feel about the elderly? How does he feel about the way men treat women?
Are they property as they are in other parts of the world? Or are they have value in life and worth and are designed, made to be, designed, made to be cultivated and flourish and have giftings that they're supposed to use? Like how does he feel? Because he's real, he actually has ways that we follow him. So when the Bible talks about honoring God and loving him and following his law, that's what it's referring to in a very simple way.
Is that if he's primary, we'll exist as if he's primary. Now here's the problem. God is creator. We've replaced him with other things. If I have a wife, if you have a spouse, husband or wife, and you don't treat them as your spouse, that makes you a bad spouse. Very simply.
You don't treat your spouse like they're your spouse. You don't acknowledge them. Don't care for them. Act like you don't have a spouse. You're a bad spouse. You're a dad.
You've got kids and you don't treat your kids like they're your kids. You just, you ignore them like you don't have kids. That makes you a bad dad. If we are creation and we don't treat creator like he's the creator, that makes us bad creation. It's just a very simple concept. And so that's what Paul's saying.
Is that the wrath of God is shown against us because we've all replaced God with something else. All of us. Okay, jump to chapter 2, verse 11. We're going to read two things here, two verses, just to kind of clarify some of this. For God shows no partiality. That sounds nice.
12. For all who have sinned without the law. Okay, time out. We're about to find something out. If you did not know what honored God. So Paul just said that God made himself evident through creation.
But let's say you've never grown up in the church. You never spent any time reading the Bible. You never knew what honored God. You never got to know him to know what it was like. What he liked and didn't like. What would make him happy.
What would please him. It's about to tell us what happens to you. So if that's you. I never really read the Bible. I never really spent any time in church. I don't really know what God likes or doesn't like.
We're about to find out what it says. He doesn't show partiality. For all who have sinned. So that means disobeyed God. Run from God. Dishonored God.
Without the law. Will also perish without the law. Okay, that didn't go well for y'all. What it says is if you didn't know how to honor God. And you dishonored God. No excuse.
You'll perish without the law. You had no rules. You had no way to relate to him. You perish without it. And all who have sinned under the law. Okay.
Other half of people. Grew up in church. Read the scriptures. Understand a little bit about what it means to honor God. You know a little bit about the ten commandments. Like you can remember six out of the ten of them.
Know a little bit about what we're supposed to do to honor God. Let's find out what happens to us. I'm in that camp. I grew up in church. For all who have sinned under the law. Will be judged by the law.
Well that's not good. What it says is. Oh you knew it? You generous? You gracious? You loving?
Do you lie? You steal? Do you put other things over above me? It's just gonna. They just line up against us. And you're judged by it.
So. He shows no partiality. God's very fair. If you don't know the law. You perish without it. And if you do know the law.
You'll be judged by it. And God's wrath is coming forth for everyone. And all the unrighteousness in the world. Okay. Jump over to 3 verse 9. So what we've seen so far is that we have a problem.
We were created to worship God. And we replace him with other things. Chapter 3 verse 9. What then? Are we Jews any better off? And when he says Jews.
He means those who know how to honor God. Are we Jews any better off? No. Not at all. Sorry church people. People who knew the rules.
He says you're not any better off. He's specifically talking about the Jewish people. Who were given the law. But. Understanding how to honor God. Not any better off.
For we have already charged. That all. Both Jews and Greeks. Are under sin. As it is written. None is righteous.
No not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good.
Not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood.
In their paths are ruin and misery. How many of you that sounds like your path? In their paths are ruin and misery. And the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. So that just means that they haven't placed God.
In his rightful position as creator. They haven't honored him. Loved him. Served him. There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19.
Now we have known that whatever the law says. It speaks to those who are under the law. So that every mouth may be stopped. And the whole world may be held accountable. To God. He will judge everybody.
Is what that's saying. For by works of the law. No human being. Will be justified. That means made right. It's actually a word that.
It's a. It's a. Judiciary term. It means that you won't stand before God in his courtroom. And be declared innocent. So justified means.
For by the works of the law. No human being will be justified in his sight. Since through the law comes knowledge of sin. All right. Real quick. What that means.
Is that through the law comes knowledge of sin. Just means that if you didn't know what God liked. You could. You could dishonor him without knowing about it. But once you know about it.
It doesn't fix your ability to. To follow. It just means you dishonor him. And know about it. No one. Will be made right with God.
No human being. Raise your hand if that applies to you. Okay. Hands down. No human being. Will be made right.
With God. By works of the law. What that means is. If we all came in here. And studied what made God happy. What he liked and didn't like.
And we worked to live under that. None of us. Would do it. None of us could live up to it. None of us could be good enough. None of us would be able to stand before God.
And be declared innocent. If you thought. That the Bible. Was about a bunch of do's and don'ts. Do this. Don't do that.
And God will love you. Do this. Don't do that. And you'll be a good person. It is not. What it just said was.
No one. Will be justified. By the law. So if you're talking to a friend. You don't know much about the Bible. And they're like.
Oh the Bible is just about a bunch of rules. You don't know much about the Bible. But you can now say. No it ain't. What's it about. I don't really know yet.
But it's not about being a good person. Because the Bible very clearly says. No one's going to do it. No one's going to be good enough. We all fall short. No amount of work will fix this.
In chapter 2. Paul says that we will all be judged by our works. And then he goes into. And all of us will fall short. So our problem is that we were meant to worship God.
But we were replacing with other things. And the second half of that problem. Is that we all fall short. And no amount of work will fix it. Been pretty uplifting so far. Paul really starts this letter off.
With a nice little hug. Chapter 1. Get in here. Verse 21. But now the righteousness.
Okay look. That sentence starts with but. Which sounds really nice. Because the first two chapters have been. Like a beating. And so it starts with but.
Which means something different is about to happen. But now the righteousness. It means the rightness. The goodness. The holiness of God. God.
Has been manifested. Just means it showed up. Apart from the law. Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it. That's just saying the Old Testament. It's called the law and the prophets.
It's saying it points to this. The righteousness of God. Through faith. In Jesus Christ. For all who believe. For there is no distinction.
For all have sinned. And fall short of the glory of God. And are justified. And are justified. Made right. Declared innocent.
By his grace. As a gift. Through the redemption. That is in Christ Jesus. Whom God put forward. As a propitiation.
That is a big word. And you need to fall in love with it. The word propitiation. Means that he diverted wrath. That wrath that we read about in chapter one. Where God's wrath is coming forth from heaven.
It was poured out on Jesus on the cross. In his excruciating. Painful. Bloody. Humiliating death. God's wrath was poured out on him.
And it diverted its course. From us. To him. That's what propitiation means. God put forward as a propitiation. By his blood.
To be received. By faith. By trust. This was to show God's righteousness. His goodness. His holiness.
Because in his divine forbearance. He had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness. At the present time. So that he might be just.
And the justifier. Of the one who has faith in Jesus. It means he's still a good judge. Because the guilty aren't acquitted. But he paid the penalty for us.
That's good news. That's the gospel. That's the epic. Life shattering. Time changing news. That changes everything for us.
We were created to live in an existence. With God. We removed him. And worship other things. No amount of work can fix this. And Jesus stepped in on our behalf.
And fixed it for us. That's good news. There's some movies I watch sometimes. I get pretty into movies. So I'll get amped up.
So like. It depends on what kind of movie I'll watch. But if I watch some movies. Like they make me want to work out. Some movies will make me like. Want to go fight someone.
Or whatever. Just depending on how good the movie is. But there's some movies that just get me really pumped. Really excited about stuff. Rudy's one of those. Like every time I watch Rudy.
I just want to go achieve something. Like I just want to spend four years. Chasing after one thing. And then just accomplish it at the end. And then like. Everybody picks me up.
And like I just. It makes me want to go try harder. That movie Unbroken. I hadn't even seen it. The previews get me amped. That guy's in that prisoner of war camp.
And he's like holding that stick. And that Japanese guy looks at him. And says don't look at me. And then punches him in the face. And then he looks down. And he looks right back at him.
I'm like. I best not see a Japanese person. I'll straight up look right at him. I don't even care. Like. There are certain movies.
And certain stories. And certain things. That just get you excited. They motivate you. All other religions. Are fundamentally doing that.
They're working to motivate. They're going to give you a good example. They're going to show you a way to live. They're going to say. This is what it looks like. To be a good this.
This is what it looks like. To reach nirvana. This is what it looks like. To be in a right relationship with God. And anytime you watch that. Anytime I watch Rudy.
Anytime I get motivated by something. It is certainly motivating. But it does not take weight off of me. It actually puts weight on me. Anytime someone gives you a rousing example. Of what it looks like to be a good.
Wife. Good mother. Anytime you read that. That mommy blog. It motivates. But it doesn't take weight off.
Anytime you. You find out. You look. And look at one of those. Before and after pictures. Of somebody who lost a bunch of weight.
It might motivate. But it doesn't take the pressure off. It doesn't lift that off of you. This. Good news of Jesus. Doesn't motivate.
It takes the pressure off. He came and took the weight for us. The pressure we feel. To be good. To be holy. To live rightly.
To prove ourselves. To earn it. None of us will. No. And Jesus showed up. To take the weight off.
To carry it for us. To die in our place. For our sins. And to give us. Righteousness. And holiness.
And to make us right with God. Jesus died. To pay our debt. And to make us right with God. We are saved by his work. Not ours.
Fundamentally. That's. That's. What we believe. When we say we believe the gospel. Is that we're saved by Jesus's work.
Not ours. That the church is not a group of people. Who got together. And try to be good together. It's a group of people. Who got together.
Because they knew they weren't. And they needed Jesus. To be good on our behalf. Romans 5. Paul's going to kind of unpack this. A little bit more for us.
Clarify a little bit more for us. As we dig further away. From. From kind of his lead. Romans 5 verse 6. For while we were still weak.
At the right time. Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die. For a righteous person. Though for. Perhaps for a good person.
One would dare to die. So what Paul's saying is. None of us want to take a bullet. For somebody on. On death row. None of us are going over there.
And saying. Hey you know what. That guy. Who. Who's in that triple homicide. Killed those little kids.
Let me take his lethal injection. Nobody wants to do that. But. For a good person. You might take a bullet. There's certain people.
That in your life. That you might would care enough for. To take a bullet for. That you might would. Lay your life down for. But God shows his love.
This is verse 8. But God shows his love. For us. In that while we were still. Sinners. Christ died for us.
Since therefore. We have now been justified. By his blood. Much more. Shall we be saved. By him.
From the wrath of God. For while we were enemies. We were reconciled to God. By the death of his son. Much more now. That we are reconciled.
Shall we be saved. By his life. More than that. We also rejoice in God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through whom we have now.
Received reconciliation. Which means he fixed that relationship. What it just said was. We were all on death row. We were weak. We were sinful.
We were enemies. And Jesus showed up. And died for us. Do you know what's beautiful. About that. You can't out sin God.
Because he never saved you. Because you were good. And after you've been rescued. And saved. How much more. Will he continue to save you.
How much more. Will his life be your life. How much more joy. Will he give. How much more. Will he fulfill.
His promises. How much more. Will he fill us up. He's not mad at you. You were weak. And sinful.
And his enemy. When he died for you. Some of you Christians. In the room. Need to hear that. He's not disappointed in you.
Does he want good things for you. Yes. And we're going to get into that. In chapter 6. That's where Paul goes next. Does he want us to change.
Yes. Is he mad at you. No. Is he disappointed in you. No. Is he ashamed of you.
No. Does your standing with him change. No. Does he change from. Declaring you innocent. Because of Jesus.
To guilty. No. That's some of the most. Encouraging passage of scripture. For me. Because I know that I was weak.
And sinful. And an enemy. When I was saved. That means I don't mess it up. I can't take it back from him. Chapter 6.
Verse 1. Write down the page. If you're on. If you're in one of these. What shall we say then? Okay.
So if that's true. What shall we say then? Are we to continue to sin. That grace may abound. If we can't out sin God. So that anytime I sin.
It just means more grace. Has been applied to my account. Should I just keep sinning. To get more grace? Like as a Christian. When you sin.
He's already paid for that sin. So should we just keep sinning. And get more grace? Paul says. By no means. How can we.
Who have died to sin. Still live in it? Do you not know. That all of us. Who have been baptized. Into Christ Jesus.
Were baptized into his death. We were buried. Therefore with him. By baptism into death. In order that. Just as Christ.
Was raised from the dead. By the glory of the father. We too might walk. In newness. Of life. Because of Jesus.
We're given a new life. Which means we change. Which means we grow. Absolutely all of our sin. Is covered by grace. He saves like a God.
And you sin like a human. All of our sins. Covered by grace. But we do grow. We do change. We do get a new life.
To walk in. So the sentences. Kind of. That will help. Clarify. Maybe some of that.
Is we can't be too bad. For God. But we will begin to change. Can't be too bad. But you will begin to change.
Okay. If that's. True. If that's the gospel. If the story. The epic.
Life changing story. Is that we were created. To worship God. But we replaced him. With other things. That we all fall short.
And no amount of work. Will fix it. If it's that. Jesus died. To pay for our debt. And to make us right.
With God. And that we're saved. By his work. Not ours. And if we can't be too bad. For God.
But we will begin to change. If that's the gospel. If that's the epic. Story of the Bible. Then it has very clear.
Impact on the church. It has a very clear. Impact on who we are. As a people. If that's the foundation. For us.
Because we can only build. Off of the foundation. That's been laid. So let me just clearly. Show a few places. For the church.
That that shows up. And we'll spend the rest. Of the. Of the series. Kind of unpacking. Some of these.
And drawing some of the lines. So we'll basically be saying. If this is the gospel. Then this is where it goes. And if this is true. This is where it goes.
So a few things. That are true. We worry more about our hearts. Than our behavior. Because the problem is. That we don't have God.
In his right place. And that's a heart level issue. We love. And worship. Something else. And that.
Affects our behavior. What that means. Is if you change your heart. Your behavior. Behavior will change. Just like.
We've all had a friend. That maybe started dating somebody. And as they. Started loving that person more. You saw them less and less. Their heart changed.
Their behavior changed. This is how it works. So we worry more about our hearts. Than our behavior. Because we can change our behavior. But no amount of work.
Will fix our problem. It won't change our hearts. It means that as the church. We aren't surprised. By sin. If everybody.
Falls short. If that's the entrance exam. For the church. Then the church. Isn't surprised by sin. Let me tell you something.
This is the best place. To be broken. The safest place. To fall short. The most wonderful. And dearest place.
To have baggage. And problems. And pain. And brokenness. And hurt. And to be messy.
The church is. Absolutely. The church is. And if we don't live like that. We don't believe our own message. Let me tell you something.
That is true. About every other group. Every other group. Every other people. In the world. Every other place.
That you will hang out. And be a part of. Every other social circle. You'll run with. They have a limited amount. Of things.
That can be wrong with you. There's a limited amount. Of deficiencies. That you can have. They'll put up with these. But not these.
You can be really immoral. But you better not be intolerant. You better not be self-righteous. Other groups. It'll be. No.
You can be really. Really intolerant. And self-righteous. But you better not be immoral. You better not say anything. About the.
The nuclear family. You better not. Begin to. To. Be. Socially.
Progressive. They'll have. A limited amount. Of things. That you can be. Absolutely deficient here.
You can be a terrible dad here. Absolutely. But you better not be a coward. You can be a terrible husband. But you better not be soft.
All other groups in the world. Are going to have a limited amount of things. That you can be best. Messed up with. And broken by. Except for the church.
We accept every type of messed up person here. Because we all need Jesus. You can be deficient in anything. All that does is qualify us for Jesus. Which means that we can't be judgmental. And self-righteous as Christians.
You can't look down on somebody. Because their deficiency is different than yours. That makes us the best place. To be broken. And to be open. And to be honest.
And to own your sin. And to confess. And to be real. Because that's what makes Jesus. Jesus. That's how he saves us.
That's how he rescues us. That's how we get his grace. Is by being messed up. And we know that we all are. If you're in a community group. And y'all consistently confess.
And someone never has anything to confess. Let me tell you something that's very true. It's not that they don't have anything to confess. It's just that they're not confessing. Because we're all messed up. We all have problems.
We all need Jesus. We all need to grow. We all need to change. That means fundamentally for the church. We're not surprised by sin. It also means on the other hand.
We're not okay with sin. And we have to hold those together. Which means that we do grow. We do change. We don't like sin. We're not okay with it.
It killed Jesus. It's what he died for. That's like loving the knife. That killed our brother. That's weird. So we all hate sin.
And aren't surprised by it. Aren't judgmental about it. Realize that everybody's going to have it. But work to change and grow. Which means that it's absolutely. The safest place to have baggage.
And brokenness. And pain. And hurt. And messiness. It's just not safe for your baggage. Your brokenness.
Your pain. Your hurt. And your messiness. Absolutely safe for you. But we're going to go to town.
And your baggage. Your hurt. Your pain. Your brokenness. And your messiness. Because we work to grow and change.
It means that we want. It means that everything is a gospel problem. If that's the foundation for us. Then it means laziness. It means that anger. It means that weakness.
It means that sin. It means that immorality. All of it's a gospel problem. We're going to point to the gospel and everything. It means that we have been made into a new family. We've been all saved and brought together.
And Romans 8 is going to say that we've been adopted. So we're a new family together. And it means that we want everybody to know this. Because it's actually good news. It's the only thing that is freeing. It is the only thing that is life-giving.
And it's the only thing that fixes our problem. So we will absolutely do everything we can to go out of our way to help everybody know this. For every person in here today, you're somewhere on that spectrum. You fit somewhere neatly in that line. You were created by God. You're not worshiping him as creator.
Some of us are there. And that was news to you today. Some of you have moved to step two, which is you realize that and you're working to fix it, but you'll never fix it. You figured out, oh, I messed up. And you're working really hard to somehow make up for that, somehow make your life count, somehow make everything mean something, and you're not going to fix it. Some of us, though, and for everybody in the room, we want you to move to step three, which is Jesus' work saves you, not your all.
That it is the power of salvation for all who believe. All who place trust in Jesus. It's not about earning it. It's not about working it. It's not even about the strength of your faith. It's just about Jesus.
That we trust him and know that he can take care of it. That he's good. If you're in here and that's you, just talk to Jesus about it. Tell him you want to have faith. Tell him you want to quit trying to fix the problem. Tell him you understand that you've removed him and that you know that he died for that.
Talk to him about it. And then don't leave this room without talking to somebody else about it. Grab the person you came with. Grab a stranger that seems nice. Say, I just met Jesus. I just want to talk to somebody about it.
I just placed faith and trust in him to rescue me from this pain and hurt and brokenness. And we'll say, good. So have we. The band's going to come back up. We're going to sing and make much of Jesus. We're going to praise Jesus because the gospel is true.
That we have life and hope and joy and peace based off of Jesus, not us. That the weight has actually been lifted. That our debt has actually been paid. That God actually loves us and adopts us and makes us right with him through Jesus' work, not our own. That's the gospel. That's it for all of us.
That's the story. And we're going to spend the next six weeks talking about how that looks for the rest of our church family and the rest of church life for us. And what that looks like as we walk that out as in a relationship with Jesus. And we'll pray. God, we thank you that the gospel is true. We thank you that every person in this room, whether they believe it or not, trust it or not, has had the chance to hear the good news.
And God, we pray that every person in this room would believe it and trust it and follow you. Quit carrying the weight themselves and let you take it off their shoulders. We ask that in Jesus' name. Amen.