Dale Partridge - August 08, 2024


Romans 10_5-10： The Simplicity of the Gospel with Dale Partridge


Episode Stats


Length

39 minutes

Words per minute

116.38104

Word count

4,627

Sentence count

297


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 I'm going to be reading from Romans 10, 5 through 10.
00:00:07.900 Hear the word of the Lord.
00:00:11.640 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law,
00:00:14.820 that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.
00:00:18.680 But the righteousness based on faith says,
00:00:21.460 Do not say in your heart,
00:00:22.640 Who will ascend into heaven?
00:00:23.920 That is, to bring Christ down.
00:00:25.680 Or,
00:00:26.500 Who will descend into the abyss?
00:00:28.040 That is, to bring Christ up from the dead.
00:00:30.620 But what does it say?
00:00:32.420 The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart.
00:00:35.160 That is, the word of faith that we proclaim.
00:00:38.140 Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord
00:00:42.040 and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
00:00:45.240 you will be saved.
00:00:46.780 For with the heart, one believes and is justified.
00:00:50.100 And with the mouth, one confesses and is saved.
00:00:53.600 This is the word of the Lord.
00:00:57.220 So for several years, I've had respiratory problems.
00:01:00.000 I've prayed many times. I'm like, Lord, couldn't you just give me a bum knee?
00:01:04.480 Being a preacher with issues with your lungs is a difficult trial to bear,
00:01:10.060 but the Lord has blessed me many times preaching through not feeling well.
00:01:16.300 And so by God's grace, we'll get through it today.
00:01:19.640 Romans 10, what a wonderful chapter.
00:01:23.860 We just came down from the Mount Everest of Romans 9, and we're kind of entering into
00:01:31.220 the valley of Romans 10, where we're getting at the heart of the gospel.
00:01:38.180 Last week, we saw Paul's sorrow for his kinsmen, the Jews, his fellow brothers and sisters,
00:01:46.300 that they had a passion. They had a zeal for God, but it was without knowledge. It was not
00:01:54.280 according to knowledge, is what the passage says. We learn that sincerity does not negate
00:02:01.660 orthodoxy, that there are many people who will be sincere in hell. The Jews, like the Roman
00:02:13.180 Catholics, the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, they're sincere, and they're
00:02:18.820 passionate, but their sincerity and passion is not according to biblical
00:02:26.080 truth. All of these groups have rejected the New Testament in some degree, and
00:02:33.940 they have rejected the righteousness of Christ that's imputed by faith. That's
00:02:39.820 That's what they all have in common.
00:02:42.880 And because they have rejected the righteousness of God, that is Christ, they each sought out
00:02:50.060 the Roman Catholics, the Mormons, the Jews, they've each sought out their own righteousness
00:02:58.820 by works of the law.
00:03:01.280 That's the common thread among those that are, some are on the side of cultish, some
00:03:08.540 we're on the side of outside of Christendom. I think Martin Lloyd-Jones' famous quote fits. He
00:03:14.460 says, quote, the main heresy is still justification by works. That's the main heresy. Now, in our day,
00:03:24.800 it's a faith plus works gospel. That's what we deal with. That's what we deal with. Last week,
00:03:34.120 we learned that this gospel is just as fatal as a works alone gospel. And why? Why?
00:03:45.600 Because when you believe that your works contribute to your salvation to any degree,
00:03:53.320 you are diminishing and rejecting the sufficiency of Christ.
00:04:02.660 You're also believing that somehow your wickedness and your sinful state
00:04:09.400 can somewhat contribute to your own justification.
00:04:13.060 That's legalism.
00:04:15.180 We are saved not by works, but by faith alone.
00:04:20.520 Galatians 2.16 literally says,
00:04:22.540 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus
00:04:28.500 Christ. Now, R.C. Sproul famously said, I love this quote, justification is faith alone,
00:04:36.120 but not a faith that is alone. It's not just faith only and live like you want.
00:04:43.080 No, good works are the fruit of our salvation, but they are not the root of our salvation.
00:04:54.660 You can remember that phrase.
00:04:55.940 It's very helpful.
00:04:57.440 Good works are the fruit of our salvation, but they are not the root of our salvation.
00:05:03.520 Christ's work, Christ's obedience is the root of our salvation.
00:05:10.380 Here's the problem.
00:05:11.400 When you believe that your salvation is received or sustained or maintained
00:05:19.640 by anything more than gifted faith,
00:05:24.320 you credit a portion of your redemption to yourself
00:05:29.180 and you diminish Christ who said,
00:05:32.660 It is finished.
00:05:36.020 We didn't get to say those words.
00:05:39.020 We didn't accomplish anything.
00:05:41.400 he accomplished the sacrifice and the work.
00:05:45.980 He extends the forgiveness of sins
00:05:48.580 and the imputed righteousness to us through faith.
00:05:53.480 Works are vital evidence that you're saved,
00:05:58.980 but they do not contribute at all to your salvation.
00:06:06.020 Now, as you know, Paul is a preacher,
00:06:08.620 and preachers like to teach in concentric circles, right?
00:06:11.760 Kind of just going back over and over the things that you just taught.
00:06:15.200 And he's going to be doing that here today.
00:06:17.760 Today we're going to see Paul contrast these two different pursuits of salvation.
00:06:22.020 One that is pursuing it by works of the law, and the other that is pursuing it by works
00:06:26.940 or by faith alone.
00:06:29.980 The next thing you're going to see him talk about as we get through these verses is Paul
00:06:34.180 defending the simplicity of the gospel.
00:06:38.160 The simplicity of it.
00:06:39.320 it leaves us no excuse for rejecting it.
00:06:44.440 So we're going to read verse 5.
00:06:47.720 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law,
00:06:52.020 that a person who does the commandments shall live by them.
00:06:59.180 We talked about how redemption is about eternal death and eternal life.
00:07:05.820 we are born sinners deserving eternal death we're dead
00:07:12.000 we need eternal life and the only way to achieve eternal life is keeping the law
00:07:19.460 perfectly moses says that any person who does the commandments you could insert perfectly if
00:07:27.740 you wanted to in there he'll live by them now because we're smart bible interpreters
00:07:34.520 We know that when a sentence starts with the word for, it's an explanation clause.
00:07:43.400 And so this is the fourth sentence.
00:07:46.420 If you look at your Bible, this is the fourth sentence, if you're reading in the ESV, that
00:07:50.720 he started with the word for.
00:07:54.220 And this is telling us that Paul is making claims that he needs to offer some kind of
00:08:01.520 like cascading explanations make a claim explain it make a claim explain it make
00:08:07.640 a claim explain it and this verse in particular that we're looking at here in
00:08:12.840 verse 5 it's it's explaining what was said in verse 4 Christ is the end of the
00:08:18.320 law for righteousness to everyone who believes and he's going to give us an
00:08:24.900 explanation of what that means he's offering us clarity and rationale for
00:08:31.500 this statement and he begins by discussing an alternative approach he's
00:08:37.860 been preaching saved by grace through faith you know entrusting yourselves to
00:08:44.880 the faithfulness and righteousness of Christ he's been giving this message but
00:08:49.080 he offers an alternative here.
00:08:52.740 He says, for Moses writes about the righteousness
00:08:55.320 that is based on the law,
00:08:57.420 that the person who does the commandments
00:09:00.140 shall live by them.
00:09:03.380 See, what the Jews did not grasp,
00:09:06.560 and I think a lot of Americans too,
00:09:09.880 is the unmerciful and unbending nature of the law.
00:09:15.920 The law is not something that you can keep.
00:09:18.720 The law was never intended to be an instrument to save you.
00:09:22.240 The law is the instrument to remind you that you can't keep it.
00:09:28.260 It's why we teach our kids the Ten Commandments.
00:09:30.180 I say it all the time.
00:09:31.520 You teach your kids the Ten Commandments because very soon they'll quickly learn they can't keep them.
00:09:35.600 And they'll run to Christ.
00:09:38.600 For a man to be justified by works of the law, he would need to live a perfect life in thought, word, and deed.
00:09:48.100 it's not just what you do you've heard that it was said that you should not commit adultery
00:09:53.620 but i say to you even if you have lust in your heart you've already committed adultery
00:09:57.620 jesus is a law amplifier he's trying to help us out you can't keep this law don't minimize it
00:10:04.100 don't think that you can tackle it you're unrighteous you have no righteousness of
00:10:08.500 your own you need an alien righteousness a righteousness that comes from a perfect law
00:10:12.580 keeper. One without sin, Jesus Christ. That is exactly what he's saying in those verses. James
00:10:18.580 2.10 says, for whoever keeps the whole law but fails at one point has become guilty of all of it.
00:10:31.080 All of it. Everyone in this room born of Adam is guilty of the law. We have been unable to keep it.
00:10:42.580 so yes eternal life does come by keeping the law but the critical question is who can perfectly
00:10:53.420 keep it the only man is Jesus Christ the only one who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born
00:11:02.460 without a sinful nature capable of living a sinless life and imputing that righteousness
00:11:07.340 and fulfilling the demands of the law.
00:11:09.600 We can't do that.
00:11:11.460 In fact, because we are so unrighteous,
00:11:13.880 we need a substitute,
00:11:16.780 a substitute that will pay for the price
00:11:19.560 that we must pay, death,
00:11:22.720 and give us the righteousness that we do not have
00:11:25.700 through faith.
00:11:29.260 So Paul is trying to show
00:11:31.220 the impossibility
00:11:34.100 of this path of redemption.
00:11:37.700 You want to try to earn it by works of the law?
00:11:40.480 You won't get there.
00:11:43.680 He wants to show us how remote
00:11:46.440 that means of redemption is.
00:11:50.840 It's out of reach.
00:11:53.800 You can't do it.
00:11:56.480 Fallen humanity cannot grasp
00:11:58.320 redemption by works of the law.
00:12:01.780 And then in the next verse,
00:12:04.100 He contrasts it with a very near alternative, a righteousness that's not attained by faith
00:12:15.260 or that's not attained by works of the law, but by faith.
00:12:21.320 It says in verse six through eight, but the righteousness based on faith says, do not
00:12:27.920 say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will
00:12:34.080 will descend into the abyss. That is to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it
00:12:39.020 say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith that
00:12:46.300 we proclaim. Now, these are indirect references of the Old Testament. They're not direct quotations.
00:12:56.940 they're not being used as proof texts this is a significantly difficult exegetical project for me
00:13:05.820 this week but once you start realizing these aren't proof texts they don't require us to go
00:13:12.300 to the old testament and figure out the context in which they were originally said and then kind
00:13:16.460 of import them into romans that's not what's happening these are idiomatic expressions
00:13:22.380 that happen to come from the Old Testament.
00:13:26.980 Paul's using these expressions to illustrate his point.
00:13:30.220 For instance, if I said to you,
00:13:32.760 you don't need to be a college graduate to understand that.
00:13:38.480 Okay, that's an idiomatic expression.
00:13:40.320 You've heard it before.
00:13:43.660 It's not that we need to go track down the original source
00:13:46.880 to figure out who originally said that and to who
00:13:49.960 and what does that actually mean
00:13:51.680 and then we can apply it to the conversation.
00:13:53.140 No, I'm just using an idiomatic expression
00:13:55.060 that you guys know.
00:13:55.720 I'm trying to make a point
00:13:56.500 using someone else's language.
00:13:59.720 That's exactly what Paul is doing here
00:14:01.560 and you'll make sense of it here in a second.
00:14:07.520 Paul is trying to communicate something significant.
00:14:10.740 The law, fulfilling the law for redemption is remote.
00:14:16.920 It's far away.
00:14:18.640 You can't do it.
00:14:19.620 but the righteousness of Christ is not remote. It's near. That's the general theme of this
00:14:28.700 section of scripture. He's saying, do not say in your heart that you must ascend to heaven
00:14:34.140 to bring it down. Do not say that righteousness is beyond your grasp. It's so far away.
00:14:42.500 Do not say that righteousness requires the heights of knowledge and scholasticism to understand it.
00:14:51.660 Do not say that righteousness is some sort of inaccessible reality.
00:14:58.200 It's too deep.
00:15:00.700 It requires some extraordinary effort that we cannot fulfill.
00:15:04.400 Don't say those things, is what Paul is saying here.
00:15:08.680 The way of righteousness is right before you.
00:15:14.960 It's right there.
00:15:18.340 He references Deuteronomy 30, verse 14, which says,
00:15:22.040 the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart.
00:15:30.160 In that context and in this context, it just means that
00:15:33.300 the accessibility to the gospel is near. It's capable. You can grasp it. The gospel is in
00:15:45.600 close proximity to you. In fact, the way of righteousness is right before you. It's in your
00:15:51.080 ears. It's in your mouth. It's in your mind when you're reading this letter that Paul's writing.
00:15:56.900 in fact I actually believe this passage will be an indictment to every legalist to those who
00:16:08.260 sought righteousness through works they're not going to be able to say righteousness was out
00:16:13.820 of our reach the gospel was out of our reach Paul would say it was spoken to you it was in
00:16:24.700 your ears. It was in your mind. You read the letters. It was in your mouth. It was right
00:16:32.080 before you. It's not complex. It's easy. I think Matthew 11, 28 through 30 says, come
00:16:45.740 to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
00:16:54.240 you, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. These
00:17:00.920 are the words. I'm easy. Jesus made it accessible. The legalist is straining, working, laboring
00:17:13.760 to be found righteous. They can't comprehend a reality where they don't have
00:17:24.220 to work, but the work is done. Now, I want to talk about a side note for a second.
00:17:31.700 I think this is going to be very helpful.
00:17:36.040 I want to speak to this proximity and access to Christ the righteous through faith.
00:17:45.200 Okay, one of the great highlights of the new covenant is the proximity that we have to Christ.
00:17:54.220 We have an intimacy with God that we didn't have under the old covenant.
00:17:59.040 As we know, God becomes incarnate man.
00:18:04.240 The man Christ Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.
00:18:11.700 The proximity of God to humanity, the access to his people,
00:18:16.280 reaches this kind of peak in the ministry of Christ.
00:18:20.100 We see in the Apostle John, he writes,
00:18:21.760 him which we have heard
00:18:23.660 which we have seen with our own eyes
00:18:26.600 which we looked upon
00:18:28.500 and touched with our own
00:18:30.460 hands concerning the
00:18:32.360 word of life
00:18:32.960 all throughout the New Testament we hear about
00:18:36.240 this closeness
00:18:37.600 that we have to Christ
00:18:39.460 through faith or this closeness
00:18:42.060 and access that we have to
00:18:44.120 God through Christ
00:18:45.760 in faith
00:18:47.000 Hebrews says let us then
00:18:51.480 draw boldly to the throne of grace.
00:18:55.600 Romans 5
00:18:56.260 talks about us having gained
00:18:57.860 access to God by faith.
00:19:00.560 Ephesians 3.1 or 3.12
00:19:02.320 says, in him
00:19:04.000 through faith we may approach
00:19:06.320 God with freedom and with
00:19:08.040 confidence.
00:19:10.340 We have a proximity
00:19:11.860 to God
00:19:12.940 through Christ
00:19:15.540 that we did not have
00:19:17.240 under the old priesthood.
00:19:21.480 Now, the gospel and this point is so important because the Roman Catholic gospel continues
00:19:33.740 to push Christ back into a place of inaccessibility.
00:19:39.720 I want to talk about this for a moment.
00:19:41.340 In fact, he's so far inaccessible, you need another mediator to get to him.
00:19:51.480 ask his mother Mary they say she will gain access for you ask the Saints in
00:20:00.660 heaven they are closer to him he will gain access they will gain access for
00:20:06.180 you ask a priest for he is closer and he will gain access for you have they not
00:20:17.320 read? Matthew 27, 51, the veil has been torn. The veil has been torn. The curtain that separated
00:20:28.500 humanity from the Holy of Holies, where the high priest was allowed to go into once per year.
00:20:35.660 Do they not know that the tearing of the curtain signifies that Christ
00:20:39.100 and his death, the barrier between God and humanity has been removed?
00:20:43.300 do they not know that believers now have direct access to god through christ our great high priest
00:20:51.060 have they not read first timothy 2 5 for there is one god
00:20:58.540 and one mediator between god and man the man christ jesus
00:21:04.760 legalism always pushes God away so that man can insert himself and do work that Christ
00:21:17.960 has already done that's what legalism is I think the only way to be a Roman Catholic
00:21:25.320 is to remain biblically illiterate and so spiritually naive that you're trusting
00:21:32.760 in the words of man
00:21:35.380 over the words of the apostles and prophets.
00:21:38.960 It's so clear.
00:21:41.380 I often wonder,
00:21:44.020 for such a prominent doctrine,
00:21:48.220 praying to Mary,
00:21:50.300 you would think there would be at least one
00:21:52.540 reference, command, example
00:21:57.000 in the entire Bible.
00:22:00.380 There's not.
00:22:02.760 If that is a true thing, you think that Jesus or one of the apostles or prophets or somebody
00:22:08.480 would mention it somewhere.
00:22:12.940 It's not mentioned anywhere.
00:22:15.800 You do not need a mediator to reach Christ.
00:22:19.360 You do not need an intercessor for your prayers to be heard.
00:22:25.260 You do not need a priest to confess your sins.
00:22:28.660 you have access to God in Christ
00:22:31.920 and his righteousness through faith
00:22:34.060 that's the gospel
00:22:35.440 that's the reformation
00:22:37.260 and he says that faith in verse 9
00:22:42.220 is made known by a confession
00:22:43.980 just read with me
00:22:45.260 it says because if you confess with your mouth
00:22:49.700 that Jesus is Lord
00:22:51.740 and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead
00:22:53.840 you
00:22:55.200 will be saved
00:22:56.680 that's it
00:22:58.520 that's how close
00:23:01.880 in proximity
00:23:05.000 a person is to redemption
00:23:07.520 it's that simple
00:23:09.420 now in scripture the heart and the mouth are tethered together
00:23:13.040 Jesus says for out of the abundance of the heart
00:23:15.700 the mouth speaks
00:23:17.140 the authenticity of the heart
00:23:20.420 or the mouth
00:23:21.820 are dependent upon one another
00:23:24.500 let me explain that
00:23:25.240 if the heart is genuine
00:23:27.440 the mouth will speak.
00:23:31.660 If the mouth is genuine
00:23:33.220 it will come from the heart.
00:23:39.200 You need both.
00:23:42.400 Jesus in Matthew 15 8
00:23:45.120 he says this people
00:23:47.860 they honor me with their lips
00:23:50.200 but their heart
00:23:52.120 it's far from me.
00:23:55.540 We don't need profession of faith
00:23:57.300 without the heart.
00:23:59.360 We need both.
00:24:01.320 We need a profession of faith
00:24:03.140 that comes from the heart.
00:24:06.860 So it's not saying that confession in and of itself
00:24:09.480 saves.
00:24:12.840 But when that confession is an expression
00:24:15.140 of a resurrected heart,
00:24:18.980 it's the evidence that you are saved.
00:24:23.460 It's the way that the confession is authenticated.
00:24:27.300 So what is required for salvation?
00:24:31.360 Well, faith, a new heart.
00:24:36.800 Faith in what?
00:24:39.620 Faith in what?
00:24:42.460 Well, not merely, it says, if you read verse 9,
00:24:46.320 not merely in Jesus, not merely in the lordship of Jesus,
00:24:50.820 but also in his resurrection.
00:24:54.280 Read it with me.
00:24:55.260 It says, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
00:25:07.820 That's an interesting addition to Paul's doctrine.
00:25:19.860 Why is that important?
00:25:21.940 Well, because the resurrection is the ultimate evidence of Christ's righteousness.
00:25:25.540 Let me explain.
00:25:26.920 The scriptures say that the wages of sin is death.
00:25:32.020 Now, Christ died for our sins, but he had no sin of his own.
00:25:40.360 So if Christ died, but has no sin of his own, he must be resurrected.
00:25:51.060 In fact, if he wasn't resurrected, there would be an injustice on God's part.
00:25:55.420 Christ cannot remain dead because he had no sin.
00:26:01.460 He died initially for our sins, but was vindicated in his resurrection, declaring that he is truly sinless.
00:26:12.200 Had he stayed dead, not only would he not be able to pay for our sins, because he would be paying for his own sins.
00:26:21.060 but the whole gospel falls apart.
00:26:26.500 This is 1 Corinthians 15.
00:26:29.760 Without the resurrection, we are to be pitied above all men.
00:26:35.040 Without the resurrection, there is no gospel
00:26:38.280 because the resurrection is the evidence
00:26:44.560 that Christ truly was sinless and could be a substitute,
00:26:49.640 taking on your sins because he had no sin of his own.
00:26:55.720 And so it's important.
00:26:59.220 If you have faith in the risen Lord in your heart,
00:27:05.520 if you understand that concept at the heart,
00:27:11.960 it will come out of your mouth.
00:27:16.700 Saved people love talking about their Savior.
00:27:19.640 That's a fact.
00:27:23.120 I see legalists all the time, and they're religious.
00:27:27.580 They go to church, and the rest of their life is not animated by Christ.
00:27:33.920 It's animated by the world.
00:27:35.540 It's a clean, moralistic version.
00:27:40.720 But saved people love talking about their Savior.
00:27:46.220 Verse 10 says,
00:27:47.260 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
00:27:58.740 You see that word for again.
00:28:01.400 He's giving us further explanation.
00:28:07.500 Again, the heart and the mouth are connected.
00:28:12.480 This passage is breaking out the individual mechanisms of each of them.
00:28:17.260 When the heart has saving faith,
00:28:18.820 a person receives the righteousness of Christ
00:28:20.580 and is justified.
00:28:22.240 They're justified.
00:28:23.240 They're not guilty.
00:28:25.880 Romans 3, 21-22 says,
00:28:27.540 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested
00:28:29.320 apart from the law,
00:28:31.100 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ
00:28:33.020 for all who believe.
00:28:34.540 The faith is not the righteousness.
00:28:39.240 The faith is the means.
00:28:41.820 It's the vehicle
00:28:42.600 by which the righteousness of Christ
00:28:45.900 is imputed or given to your account.
00:28:51.260 Romans 4.3 says, Abraham believed
00:28:53.620 and it was counted to him as righteousness.
00:28:59.500 So ultimately, righteousness isn't earned by what you do.
00:29:07.940 It's received by faith in what's already been done by Christ.
00:29:13.700 I'm going to say this over and over again.
00:29:15.900 Because I don't think that we can ever hear it enough.
00:29:22.320 As for the statement, with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation, Robert Haldane, I
00:29:28.660 used his commentary through this whole series in Romans, he says it better than I can, so
00:29:33.940 I'm going to just read his words.
00:29:34.800 He says, quote, confession of Christ is as necessary as faith in him, but necessary for
00:29:42.940 a different purpose.
00:29:43.740 faith is necessary to obtain the gift of righteousness confession is necessary to prove
00:29:53.140 that that gift is received end quote simple simple it's amazing how much bad theology
00:30:00.280 is in america when some of these concepts are quite simple
00:30:05.120 so confession again is not the cause it's the evidence
00:30:10.180 and so as I kind of wrap up here
00:30:13.880 I want to say a few things
00:30:14.880 I want to emphasize
00:30:17.840 the simplicity
00:30:20.080 of the gospel
00:30:21.980 how easy
00:30:24.820 the gospel is
00:30:26.540 it's amazing
00:30:27.780 have you ever preached the gospel to someone
00:30:29.420 and watched them fight
00:30:30.380 I mean I've seen it in my own life
00:30:34.160 in my own conversion
00:30:34.900 have you seen the excuses
00:30:38.300 the reasoning
00:30:39.180 the rationale
00:30:39.980 personnel, the hiding.
00:30:44.820 It's the simplicity which stumbles the legalist.
00:30:49.480 They can't comprehend a religion where all the work is complete.
00:30:58.060 They can't grasp that.
00:31:00.880 They can't handle grace.
00:31:03.980 They don't know how to compartmentalize these ideas of mercy and compassion.
00:31:13.360 And so as a result, they go beyond scripture and they create rules and practices and rituals
00:31:21.500 and rites and standards whereby they can measure and prove their own righteousness.
00:31:28.700 It's pride.
00:31:31.820 to me. Be like me, how I follow. In fact, you're not saved unless you're following like
00:31:40.380 me. If you've ever been in a legalistic cult like me, that's the tone. Be like me, not
00:31:52.560 like Christ. It's work. Keep yourself saved. Sustain your
00:32:02.680 redemption through that obedience. I'll tell you what,
00:32:07.480 when you understand grace and the gospel and you sin, maybe
00:32:14.040 grievously, and you realize that it's already been paid for,
00:32:22.560 It almost hurts because you just want to do something.
00:32:28.580 You want to contribute.
00:32:31.060 You want to figure out a way that you can pay for that sin.
00:32:39.100 But you can't.
00:32:40.900 It's already been laid on Christ.
00:32:45.460 And that feeling of not being able to contribute
00:32:50.560 when you rest in grace
00:32:54.620 that it's been done
00:32:55.440 the only response
00:32:58.440 is worship
00:33:00.680 it's praise
00:33:02.680 I know every one of you
00:33:06.820 should feel this
00:33:07.680 has felt it
00:33:09.180 oh Lord
00:33:11.420 I can't believe I did it again
00:33:13.580 and it's
00:33:16.160 forgiven
00:33:17.600 wait what
00:33:19.960 it's forgiven. It's already been paid for. What this does is it motivates and animates
00:33:32.200 our obedience, not from fear, not from duty, not for performance.
00:33:42.880 our motivation to obey comes now from love,
00:33:51.200 comes now from gratitude.
00:33:53.580 You're now obeying to please God,
00:33:58.000 not to keep yourself saved,
00:34:01.700 not to pay for what you've done.
00:34:05.760 Every time you have guilt and shame
00:34:09.040 after repentance of sin,
00:34:11.640 you're basically saying to Christ
00:34:14.180 you didn't do enough
00:34:16.720 let me pay for the rest
00:34:19.760 you didn't complete it on the cross
00:34:23.620 it wasn't finished
00:34:25.260 I'll finish it
00:34:27.280 in fact your shame and guilt
00:34:30.180 after confession
00:34:31.900 is sin
00:34:33.540 you need to learn to rest
00:34:38.440 in the righteousness of Christ,
00:34:42.400 which is difficult.
00:34:45.980 It's difficult.
00:34:48.760 The only way we can do it is by the grace of the Holy Spirit
00:34:51.680 who reminds us of such a cost.
00:34:56.880 So working for redemption
00:34:59.400 is an eternally fatal flaw.
00:35:06.280 We kind of look at the Mormons and we go,
00:35:07.860 maybe. No. You look at the Roman Catholics and you go, maybe. No. No. It's an insult to Christ.
00:35:22.920 They are declaring him insufficient. They are relying upon themselves.
00:35:30.080 these people again are clothed in sincerity i see them on the internet all the time they hate me
00:35:41.760 but zeal and sincerity will not save
00:35:47.480 to be saved you must say as we sung today in rock of ages augustus top lady i edited a
00:35:59.440 docu or edited a biography on his life. Love the lyrics. To be saved, you must echo the lyrics
00:36:10.220 of that song, which say, not the labor of my hands can fulfill thy law's demands.
00:36:22.720 Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling.
00:36:29.440 that's why we sing these songs need to be sung on a regular basis
00:36:37.260 theology is not just taught from the pulpit theology is taught in song
00:36:48.000 it's why it's so vital that we have deep robust theology it's so important that we have deep
00:36:56.040 and robust songs.
00:37:00.120 A few days ago, and I'll close here in a second,
00:37:03.460 I saw somebody post this and I thought it was important.
00:37:07.580 They were comparing the worship of today
00:37:13.640 with the worship of the past.
00:37:16.840 Classic hymns, colon,
00:37:20.700 crown hymn of the Lord of years,
00:37:23.880 the potent end of time,
00:37:25.080 creator of the rolling spheres ineffable sublime all hail redeemer hail for thou has died for me
00:37:32.780 thy praise shall never never fail throughout eternity modern worship colon oh there's nothing
00:37:42.500 better than you there's nothing better than you there's nothing better than you oh lord
00:37:47.160 there's nothing better than you. Times 16. Okay? We have to see that our theology is not just formed
00:37:59.340 in what is preached, but also by what is sung. And we should fill our hearts.
00:38:06.080 The whole purpose of music and praise is a reaction to the gospel.
00:38:10.820 why do you sing worship songs in your car
00:38:15.740 and in your home
00:38:17.040 it's a response to the gospel
00:38:19.940 so this week
00:38:23.920 as you sing
00:38:25.080 remember the beauty
00:38:28.460 of the righteousness of Christ
00:38:30.520 imputed to you by faith
00:38:32.360 amen
00:38:32.800 amen let's pray
00:38:34.540 father we thank you
00:38:40.820 For the gospel, for the election, that you've saved us as Gentiles
00:38:49.900 and a remnant of the Jews, O Lord, for the mercy, for the compassion.
00:38:59.160 Father, we pray that these realities would be implanted deep into our heart and soul,
00:39:05.980 that they would animate our praise and worship,
00:39:09.360 our obedience and our sanctification.
00:39:15.220 Father, we know that you are sovereign.
00:39:19.980 Even as the rain falls behind me, Father,
00:39:22.100 we know that even the winds and waves obey.
00:39:27.680 Father, we thank you that you've made us obey,
00:39:32.320 that you've resurrected our hearts.
00:39:35.980 And Father, we ask that you would work continually in us,
00:39:40.140 conforming us to the image of your Son.
00:39:42.400 In Jesus' name, amen.
00:39:45.160 Amen.