The NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - Jesus Christ Is Praying

00:00:00.060 All right, please stand for the reading of God's Word.

00:00:02.320 Our text for today is going to be Romans chapter 5, verses 9 through 11.

00:00:06.740 I'll go ahead and read our text in its entirety when I finish reading it.

00:00:10.400 We're going to say this is the Word of the Lord,

00:00:12.040 at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be to God.

00:00:16.840 Again, our text for today is Romans chapter 5, verses 9 through 11.

00:00:21.340 The Bible says this,

00:00:23.340 Since therefore we have now been justified by His blood,

00:00:26.780 much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were

00:00:33.140 reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved

00:00:39.160 by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom

00:00:47.160 we have now received reconciliation. This is the word of the Lord. All right, please be seated.

00:00:53.840 by way of introduction, I have the following. Christ dying was not due to any goodness found

00:00:59.840 in man, but only due to the mercy that is found in God. Christ's death was not merely for those

00:01:06.540 who were useless, but for those who were guilty and vile, such that their everlasting destruction

00:01:12.780 would have been to the praise of God's glorious justice. It is not only that God, at the cost of

00:01:19.580 the blood, the death of his only son chose to redeem and restore and reconcile those who were

00:01:26.460 useless. It is not only that we were without value, but we were worse than useless. Trash 0.98

00:01:33.100 would have been an upgrade. It would have been an improvement, a step in the right direction.

00:01:38.560 Trash doesn't have much value. I guess it depends on whose trash we're talking about. 0.82

00:01:43.660 One man's trash is another man's treasure. But in general, trash doesn't have much value. 0.98

00:01:49.580 It's useless, but it's at least not a detriment. 0.77

00:01:54.380 It's not necessarily attacking you, opposing you, an enemy.

00:01:58.280 We were enemies of God.

00:02:00.160 So not only those without utility or value, but we were opposing God, rebelling against God at every turn.

00:02:09.200 The one time in all of history that God ever made himself vulnerable,

00:02:13.760 namely Jesus taking on flesh the word becoming flesh and dwelling among us the only time

00:02:20.800 that God allowed himself to be vulnerable to humanity we seized that moment of opportunity

00:02:29.160 and nailed him to a tree so humanity is not just without value apart from Christ or useless but

00:02:36.680 vile actually at enmity toward God apart from the saving grace that comes through Jesus Christ

00:02:42.500 we are enemies of God and therefore if God were to leave us in our sin if every single last person

00:02:49.940 on the planet died and went to hell and suffered under the conscious torments of the wrath of God

00:02:55.960 for eternity God would not only be just and fair in doing so but this would also be not only

00:03:03.560 permissible but glorious it would be to the praise of God's glorious justice if you're familiar with

00:03:09.980 the first chapter of the book of Ephesians,

00:03:12.380 three different times you find this phrase,

00:03:15.500 to the praise of his glorious grace.

00:03:18.300 Speaking of all the things that God does,

00:03:20.480 those positive things, those loving things

00:03:22.800 towards his elect, towards his people.

00:03:25.520 That he does all these things for the good of his people,

00:03:29.920 but also for his glory.

00:03:32.680 To the praise of his glorious grace.

00:03:36.400 To make it a little bit more specific.

00:03:38.260 what element what characteristic of god is being most emphasized most glorified in the instance of

00:03:46.440 god being good to his people his grace to the praise of his glorious grace and likewise although

00:03:54.280 it's not explicitly in the ephesians chapter one text by a way of necessary consequence we can say

00:04:01.760 that the opposite the contrary is also true if god's goodness towards his elect people

00:04:07.180 is to the praise of his glorious grace then god's god's justice his just judgments and punishments

00:04:15.100 towards his enemies is to the praise of his glorious justice that hell speaks volumes in

00:04:23.080 regards to the character and nature of god that hell does not speak of god's cruelty hell is not

00:04:29.720 something that god is ashamed of it's not a character flaw it's not something that god's

00:04:35.180 saying, hey, don't look over there because, you know, it kind of makes me look bad. God is not

00:04:39.940 ashamed of hell. This is his justice eternally put on display. And for those who are with him

00:04:47.240 in right relationship with him, this is his grace and his kindness and mercy eternally put on

00:04:53.440 display. Goodness to his elect, to the praise of his glorious grace, and justice to his enemies,

00:05:00.740 to the praise of his glorious justice going on i've written this therefore the design of christ's

00:05:07.180 death is intended by god to demonstrate a divine act of kindness that is matchless and incomparable

00:05:14.020 god has demonstrated the magnificent extent of his love for us which was previously only known

00:05:21.040 to himself in such a manner that there is no room nor reason to doubt it the divine act of love did

00:05:28.340 not arise from any loveliness in us, nor from any love in us to God, but exclusively from God's own

00:05:36.560 sovereign will and good pleasure. In other words, God did not die for us because we had utility.

00:05:42.940 He did not die for us because we were lovely or beautiful or valuable in any way. God died for us

00:05:51.540 to make us lovely. He didn't die for us because we were lovely. He died to make us lovely. However,

00:05:58.340 You must add this part.

00:06:00.760 He died for us to make us lovely

00:06:02.440 because before we were lovely, we were still loved.

00:06:07.120 God did not die for us because we were lovely or valuable.

00:06:11.580 In his death, we are made lovely and valuable.

00:06:15.480 And yet while we were not lovely or not valuable,

00:06:19.460 God still loved us.

00:06:21.580 John 3, 16, ample scripture,

00:06:24.900 but this one we probably all know good and well.

00:06:27.740 john 3 16 for god so loved the world that salvation begins with the love of god john

00:06:36.380 first john chapter 4 verse 19 we love because he first loved us elsewhere in the new testament we

00:06:43.620 see that uh that very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man though for a good man good in this

00:06:50.120 context is being used to describe perfection though for a good man one might dare to possibly

00:06:55.800 die but god demonstrated his love for us in this while we were yet sinners christ died for us so

00:07:02.880 in the midst of our unloveliness before we had utility before there was value before there was

00:07:10.820 beauty no truth no goodness no beauty at all and yet before that occurred while we were his enemies

00:07:18.880 not just without value, but again, opposing, rebelling against him at every single turn.

00:07:25.160 In that state, in our worst state, in a state of enmity, Christ died for us because he loved us.

00:07:34.300 God sent the Son. It was the Father's idea, as it were. The Father loved us and sent the Son.

00:07:41.340 the son loves us and willingly volunteers and goes and all of the father's ordained plan of

00:07:49.140 salvation the son his accomplishment of that plan of salvation is then applied by the spirit

00:07:56.440 the triune god father son and holy spirit loving us before we were ever lovely so god doesn't die

00:08:04.820 for us because we're lovely he dies for us to make us lovely but he's willing to die to make

00:08:11.220 us lovely because even when we were unlovely we were still loved loved by God so the gospel

00:08:20.200 begins with God and ends with God it is his mercy it is his kindness it is his grace

00:08:27.340 now there's a few points by the grace of God I hope to bring out of the text today three

00:08:34.240 to be more specific the first is this justified we are justified by christ's blood and saved

00:08:42.620 from god's wrath justification and salvation very similar yet distinct in theological terms

00:08:49.960 so looking at justification by the death if we speak of christ's blood we're speaking of

00:08:55.120 his deaths justified by the death of christ and saved also from god's wrath the second point will

00:09:03.480 be this reconciled by Christ's death and saved by his life what is it about Christ's life that is

00:09:12.080 saving we often speak of how we're saved by Jesus death on the cross and this is true but there is

00:09:19.440 a very real sense throughout the scripture especially in our text today in which we are

00:09:23.320 saved not only by the death of Jesus but we are continually saved in a present ongoing tense we

00:09:30.260 are being saved by not only the death of Jesus, but the life of Jesus. And then lastly, what does

00:09:38.120 it mean to rejoice in God himself? Not only rejoicing in our salvation, which God brings

00:09:44.920 about, not only rejoicing in the blessings of God, which he generously provides, but rejoicing

00:09:52.100 in God himself. So beginning with justification and salvation, justified by Christ's blood and

00:09:59.240 saved from God's wrath this is verse 9 of our text which says since therefore we have now been

00:10:05.420 justified by his blood much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God the apostle here

00:10:13.200 argues from justification by Christ to salvation by Christ whoever is justified by the blood that

00:10:20.580 is the work of Jesus on the cross shall be saved by the person of Jesus if you are justified by

00:10:29.220 the work of Jesus his work at Calvary his substitutionary death dying in your place your

00:10:35.800 sins imputed to him that means your wickedness your sin against God transferred accredited to

00:10:41.800 his account and then him receiving the wages of our sin which is death if his work has covered

00:10:48.660 you and justified you whoever's justified by the blood of Jesus the work of Jesus shall also be

00:10:55.380 saved by the person of Jesus. Notice that this particular verse does not speak of Christ

00:11:02.500 saving us from wrath in regards to the wrath of our own sinful hearts or the wrath as it appears

00:11:09.900 among the people of God towards one another, which is a sad reality. But there is often wrath

00:11:16.520 amongst believers, even towards fellow believers in the context of the church. There's a very real

00:11:23.600 sins in which God saves us by that because we're reconciled to God we should be reconciled to one

00:11:28.380 another but that's not the predominant wrath that's in view in verse 9 of our text today

00:11:34.680 it is not the wrath of our own sinful hearts or wrath that appears horizontally from believer

00:11:40.680 towards believer neither does this verse speak of Christ saving us from the wrath of our avowed

00:11:47.320 enemies that is unbelievers or even the wrath of devils the wrath of our great enemy satan

00:11:55.280 a spiritual war which constantly surrounds us as the roaring of a lion but rather this verse speaks

00:12:03.100 of the glorious salvation of christ from the white hot wrath of a thrice holy god christ promises

00:12:10.120 even to save us from the fear of god's wrath as it exists in our own hearts and our consciences

00:12:17.300 in this life one of the questions that christians have to be able to answer and i'm sure that many

00:12:24.280 of you have asked this question at least subconsciously when it comes to salvation

00:12:30.760 the gospel you need to get saved you need to get saved you need to be born again one of the

00:12:37.060 questions that we have to ask a very simple question is this what do we need to be saved from

00:12:43.720 What do we need to be saved from?

00:12:46.800 And the reality is that our salvation is a multifaceted salvation.

00:12:51.500 God saves us from much.

00:12:53.900 But we do need to be able to answer that question in a primary sense.

00:12:58.800 What is the predominant thing that mankind needs salvation from?

00:13:06.020 Is it salvation from a purposeless life?

00:13:09.440 From meaninglessness?

00:13:10.400 is it salvation from boredom is it salvation from dissatisfaction is it salvation from our

00:13:19.040 fellow man and those who would be against us is it salvation from even ourselves our own sin nature

00:13:27.160 is it salvation from corruption is it salvation from satan or what what is it that we need to be

00:13:36.980 saved from. And again, there is a sense in which God saves us from all the things that I've just

00:13:43.220 mentioned. But in the primary sense, what mankind most needs salvation from is not Satan. It's not

00:13:52.900 ourselves. It's not our fellow man. It's not a corrupt world that's subject to decay. We need

00:13:59.160 salvation first and foremost from God we need to be saved from God because our greatest threat 1.00

00:14:09.580 apart from saving grace that comes through Christ Jesus alone for the unbeliever the 0.90

00:14:15.580 unregenerate person left in his sin his greatest enemy his greatest threat is not the devil

00:14:22.440 his greatest enemy and greatest threat is not himself and his greatest enemy and his greatest

00:14:28.620 threat is not the world even if every single human being on the planet conspired against him

00:14:34.860 his greatest enemy is god that before salvation we were enemies of god god was our greatest threat

00:14:47.340 god was at war with us and justly so we were children of his wrath as ephesians says

00:14:58.600 we were dead men walking underneath the just condemnation of a just and holy god the greatest

00:15:08.220 thing if we were to say what are we saved from the greatest thing to be saved from is the wrath

00:15:13.440 of god or if we were to ask the question who do we need to be saved from the person that we need

00:15:19.680 to be saved from most of all is god himself and in justification in salvation in the christian

00:15:28.440 gospel the first reconciliation that we receive is a reconciliation not with ourselves not with

00:15:35.380 our fellow man but with God that we have been reconciled with God that he is no longer the

00:15:43.040 judge condemning us but he has become our adoptive father that through Christ and his finished work

00:15:50.560 that we have been adopted as children of God no longer children of his wrath but children

00:15:56.080 beloved children adopted children of God as our heavenly father that we have right standing with

00:16:03.380 him that we're no longer at enmity with him but rather received and loved and blessed by him

00:16:10.780 so that's the first question or one of the first questions that must be asked and answered what is

00:16:16.720 that God saves us from. He saves us from himself. He saves us from his wrath. But beyond merely

00:16:26.320 saving us from his own just punishment, his own just wrath, God also saves us not only in the

00:16:34.620 objective sense from his wrath, but in the subjective sense, he saves us from the ongoing

00:16:40.980 perpetual fear of his wrath that we no longer are under the wrath of god if you are in christ if

00:16:49.280 you've been saved by grace alone through faith alone in christ alone god is your adoptive beloved

00:16:55.500 father you are his beloved son there is no enmity between you and god anymore you've been reconciled

00:17:03.640 with God. So the wrath of God no longer hangs over you, but also there is freedom, not only in the

00:17:11.020 life to come, the life after, but there is freedom in this life as well from not only the objective

00:17:17.880 wrath of God, but the subjective fear of the wrath of God. 1 John speaks of this in chapter 4 verses

00:17:26.020 17 18 and 19 which says this by this is love perfected with us that we may have confidence

00:17:34.260 that we may have confidence for the day of judgment not only that we may be spared objectively

00:17:42.260 declared righteous rather than guilty on the day of judgment but today as it pertains to the present

00:17:51.380 now in this life, looking forward to the day of judgment, that we can have confidence now.

00:17:58.900 By this is love perfected with us, that we may have confidence for looking toward the day of

00:18:04.260 judgment. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with

00:18:12.460 punishment. And whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved

00:18:20.840 us. That's 1 John chapter 4 verse 17 through 19. It's important that the Christian understands

00:18:27.160 there is a vital distinction when we speak of fear. There is a vital distinction between the

00:18:35.060 fear of god himself and the fear of god's judgment the christian is not to possess fear of judgment

00:18:44.060 but we are to continue to possess a righteous and holy fear of god it is right for the christian to

00:18:52.720 go on fearing the lord to fear god the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom but in fearing god

00:18:59.720 as we seek to you know answer that question well what is this healthy proper righteous fear of god

00:19:06.620 well one thing that we can mark off the list is that a proper fear of god for the christian

00:19:11.940 is not a fear of god's judgment we know this because the scripture forbids it

00:19:18.100 it's explicitly removed first john 4 17 through 19 by this is love perfected with us that we may

00:19:26.800 have confidence that the the standing the position the heart default for the christian should be a

00:19:34.460 position not of presumption not of arrogance not a vain conceit but but a christ-rooted confidence

00:19:42.060 looking toward forward to the day of judgment so as it pertains to god's judgment our standing is

00:19:49.700 confidence that we don't shrink back first john goes on and says that elsewhere that we're not

00:19:56.360 shrinking back at the day of his coming but we're standing firm and we're standing firm not in our

00:20:02.340 own righteousness but the righteousness of christ which we've been clothed in by grace through faith

00:20:07.860 so the position the heart position posture of the christian as it pertains to the judgment of god

00:20:15.040 should not be fear but rather confidence there is no fear in love but perfect love cast out fear

00:20:23.460 for fear has to do with punishment and for the christian there is no punishment the christian

00:20:30.600 in this life may be and in fact will be it's simply a matter of how and when rather than if

00:20:38.740 the christian will in this life be disciplined by god as his heavenly father per hebrews chapter 12

00:20:46.660 that that's actually a sign, an evidence and a proof 0.86

00:20:53.120 that the Christian is in fact a Christian

00:20:55.100 and that you have in fact been adopted as God's son,

00:20:59.620 that God is in fact your father

00:21:01.720 because all loving and good fathers

00:21:03.720 discipline their children.

00:21:06.120 One sign of not being a child of God

00:21:08.880 or an illegitimate child of God

00:21:11.740 is that you are not disciplined by God.

00:21:14.600 fathers discipline not other people's children but their own so the christian will receive god's

00:21:21.780 discipline but discipline is distinct from punishment for fear has to do with punishment

00:21:28.060 and whoever fears has not been perfected in love but we love our response to god is love for him

00:21:35.520 because he first loved us so if you're in christ you're not an enemy of god but rather his child

00:21:42.140 And therefore, as his legitimate child,

00:21:45.380 you will in this life receive discipline,

00:21:48.000 but you will not receive punishment.

00:21:50.840 And as we look forward to the life to come

00:21:53.280 to that day of judgment,

00:21:55.480 our heart posture should be a posture of confidence

00:21:58.640 rather than fear.

00:22:00.200 We fear God, we have reverence for God,

00:22:03.660 but we do not fear God's judgment,

00:22:06.640 not because of our own arrogance and presumption,

00:22:09.500 trusting in our own work and our own righteousness but our confidence the source of that confidence

00:22:15.760 is christ himself that what christ has done what christ continues to do and what christ has promised

00:22:22.440 is sufficient so we are justified by christ's blood and and being justified that is declared

00:22:30.820 righteous because of the finished work of christ his death on the cross were justified by his blood

00:22:37.680 but also necessarily as a necessary consequence saved from God's wrath. And in the subjective

00:22:44.780 sense, further applying that salvation from God's wrath objectively means being saved from ongoing

00:22:52.120 present tense fear of God's wrath in this life. The Christian does not live under fear of God's

00:22:59.940 judgment, but perfect love cast out all fear. The next thing that we see in the text is this

00:23:07.520 that we've been reconciled by Christ's death and saved by his life. This is verse 10 of our text

00:23:14.320 which says, for if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son,

00:23:20.900 much more now that we are reconciled shall we be saved by his life. Using similar language as in

00:23:28.760 verse 9, the apostle now argues from reconciliation by the death of Christ to salvation by the life

00:23:35.900 of christ now this is key we have been reconciled to god by christ's death and we are continually

00:23:43.160 saved by his life not just salvation in the past tense which we all often speak of i've been saved

00:23:51.260 but there is a very real biblical sense in which the christian has been saved it's past it's done

00:23:58.160 it's finished and complete but the christian is also being saved present ongoing and the christian

00:24:04.820 promised by God that he will be saved. I think of Romans 7 to illustrate that point. The Apostle

00:24:12.640 Paul speaking, I believe, the Apostle Paul speaking as someone who is already saved, a Christian.

00:24:19.000 This is not pre-conversion, but this is the Apostle Paul already converted, already born again,

00:24:25.000 already adopted as a beloved son of God. And yet he says, I find this law at work within the members

00:24:31.820 of my being when i want to do good evil is right there present with me so that the good that i want

00:24:37.300 to do i cannot carry it out oh what a wretched man i am who will so future tense looking for

00:24:44.020 who will save me and so some would read that and say oh he's not saved but paul gets more specific

00:24:51.480 and says who will save me from this body of death praise be to god and then he ends in exaltation

00:25:00.720 of god and his covenants and his promises and his character what paul's essentially saying is this

00:25:07.240 that this may be a little bit oversimplified but i believe it's generally true in the past

00:25:14.300 tense if you're a christian you have already been saved speaking of your justification declared

00:25:20.980 righteous your soul your soul if we're thinking of the soul the soul has been saved in the past

00:25:28.260 tense. It's already done. You've been justified, declared righteous in the heavenly court because

00:25:33.400 of the finished work of Jesus Christ. In the present sense, you are still being saved. This

00:25:39.540 references sanctification, this lifelong process from the point of conversion to the point of our

00:25:46.000 physical death, the ongoing lifelong process for the Christian, sanctification. And this, I think

00:25:51.960 if we were to summon up in a realm, in a location,

00:25:55.680 justification, soul, past.

00:25:58.920 Sanctification, mind, present.

00:26:02.560 I think of Romans.

00:26:04.700 It says, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world,

00:26:08.180 but rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

00:26:12.760 That so much of sanctification is a change in thought.

00:26:18.140 It's a change of mind.

00:26:20.800 It's a change in the way that we think.

00:26:24.020 Repentance, many of you are probably aware,

00:26:26.200 the word repentance speaks of change,

00:26:28.940 but it's not merely a change in regards to the surface,

00:26:32.940 to our outward behaviors.

00:26:35.300 But that change is ultimately,

00:26:37.400 it's sourced from a change in the way that we think,

00:26:41.700 that we're not just doing different things

00:26:44.000 and saying different things,

00:26:45.440 a change outwardly in our behaviors and speech

00:26:48.020 merely by gritting our teeth and clenching our fists.

00:26:53.780 It's not just that, well, I want to do the right thing.

00:26:57.280 I still think this way.

00:26:59.120 I still have these desires and these ambitions,

00:27:01.760 and I still have this worldview and this way of thinking,

00:27:05.240 but I've been told from the Bible that that's wrong,

00:27:09.440 and so I'm just going to grit my teeth and clench my fists,

00:27:11.900 and I'm going outwardly in my behaviors and speech,

00:27:14.660 I'm going to do this thing over here that contradicts inwardly

00:27:17.900 what I actually desire and the way that I actually think.

00:27:21.460 Well, that's not a robust repentance.

00:27:25.760 Repentance is, it's a complete overhaul.

00:27:28.600 It's a complete change, both inward and outward.

00:27:32.080 Now that said, I don't want to completely disparage

00:27:36.300 changing your behaviors and speech,

00:27:39.220 even if your heart is not quite there yet.

00:27:42.540 I think that that's one of the problems 1.00

00:27:44.660 that Protestants have created 1.00

00:27:47.440 is that we're too introspective and too subjective. 1.00

00:27:51.820 And so we'll say, well, I don't want to do it

00:27:54.500 unless my heart's in it, right?

00:27:56.940 Everything for evangelicals and Protestants

00:28:00.080 is about authenticity and being genuine, you know?

00:28:03.880 And so then what we end up doing is nothing.

00:28:06.020 I don't really feel it, so I'm not going to do it.

00:28:07.920 I think God would prefer, you know, 0.91

00:28:10.460 I think God would prefer that I not be a hypocrite.

00:28:14.980 Sure, he would prefer if I actually loved him from the heart

00:28:18.020 and if I actually thought that the scriptures were true

00:28:20.640 and it actually reframed, re-hardwired my worldview,

00:28:24.580 my thinking process, which shaped my desires

00:28:27.380 and all these things that then flowed out

00:28:29.560 to righteous behaviors and righteous speech.

00:28:31.940 That would be God's first preference.

00:28:33.820 That would be his first choice.

00:28:36.220 But given the choice, because that's off the table,

00:28:38.460 that's not gonna happen.

00:28:39.660 So given the choice between me doing

00:28:42.360 and saying the right thing, but not really feeling it

00:28:45.000 because God really cares about the feels.

00:28:47.800 You know, that's, you know, God's, he's a feeler, that God.

00:28:51.300 You know, and so given the choice of doing the right thing,

00:28:53.520 saying the right thing, but not feeling it

00:28:55.360 and it not being authentic, or not doing the right thing,

00:28:58.640 not saying the right thing, but being aligned

00:29:01.340 and true to inwardly my heart,

00:29:04.620 which doesn't feel the right thing.

00:29:05.940 And my desires aren't, I don't desire the right thing

00:29:08.500 and I don't think the right thing.

00:29:09.720 So at least my life is matching up with my heart.

00:29:12.000 that would be god's preference he would prefer that to hypocrisy now i'm not saying that god's

00:29:18.580 a fan of hypocrisy because he's certainly not but jesus explicitly addressed that in one of his

00:29:23.380 parables he talks about two sons of a father and the father goes to both of his boys and he asks

00:29:30.720 them to come and work with him and the first son says yes but he doesn't show and then the second

00:29:38.380 son says no but then he has a change of heart somewhere along the way and he ends up showing up

00:29:45.240 and Jesus posits the question you know which one did right which did better is the precise wording

00:29:51.620 and it's the latter it's the second son who told his father no but ended up showing up and we don't

00:29:59.480 know if his heart actually was ever in it it could have been just completely out of dread he could

00:30:05.100 have just begrudgingly simply from just a sheer standpoint of commitment the no actually could

00:30:12.980 have been his in word that could have been the more accurate reflection of of the heart inwardly

00:30:18.600 how he actually felt no I don't want to come and his actions of actually showing up and doing the

00:30:24.760 work could have just been the outward manifestation so in his behaviors outwardly I'm gonna do what

00:30:30.800 the father wants but in his speech reflecting the heart which Jesus elsewhere says out of the

00:30:36.500 abundance of the heart the mouth speaks so I feel like there's some decent exegesis there so in his

00:30:41.580 speech here's revealing the actual inward the heart I don't want to work for dad but outwardly

00:30:47.860 showing up I don't want to work for dad I still don't want to work for dad but I will work for

00:30:52.580 dad and what jesus says the moral of this parable is that that is a vast improvement that is better

00:31:01.200 than than saying i will work for dad but then not doing it and and here's practically here's the

00:31:08.580 deal inward desires and thought processes and emotions and feelings these things do shape the

00:31:17.520 outward, both your speech and actions. So if you inwardly love God, that is going to radically

00:31:24.140 dictate and shape and compel behavior and speech that is loving towards God. But what Protestants 0.97

00:31:31.520 often overlook is that the reverse is also true. So what do you do when you don't have a desire

00:31:37.460 for God? What do you do when you don't desire to obey his commandments? You don't desire to seek

00:31:42.940 your satisfaction in him? What do you do when you don't inwardly possess love for God and deep

00:31:52.140 adoration and affection for him? Well, one of the things that you do is you ask God to change your

00:31:57.640 desires. You ask for him to change your emotions, your thoughts. And in the meantime, with the

00:32:03.000 emotions, the thoughts, and the desires being completely absent, you go ahead outwardly in

00:32:08.420 your speech and behaviors and you do those things which would be loving towards god whether you feel

00:32:14.720 it or not it's the same as a marriage right well the love is gone it's just gone somewhere along

00:32:21.300 the way over the years you know we've just grown cold and you know well we don't know what to do

00:32:26.960 about it in fact there's nothing we can do about it you know because we can't control our heart

00:32:30.660 we're victims of our own emotions you know and this is just where we are well you can make a plan

00:32:36.800 a very practical plan of start doing these things

00:32:40.700 on a daily basis, weekly basis,

00:32:43.000 monthly basis with your spouse.

00:32:46.220 Well, but I don't feel it 0.94

00:32:47.480 and I don't want to be a hypocrite. 0.52

00:32:48.640 Well, here's the counter argument. 0.92

00:32:51.200 Who cares?

00:32:53.600 Right?

00:32:53.960 I mean, I've got a deep philosophical counter to it.

00:32:56.340 I don't feel it.

00:32:57.100 I don't care.

00:32:59.180 You don't feel it.

00:33:00.360 Why does it matter how you feel?

00:33:02.180 Why is that so important?

00:33:03.980 So just start loving your wife.

00:33:06.800 Well, but it's not there in my heart.

00:33:08.860 Okay, well then start doing the outward actions

00:33:11.720 and speech of love toward your wife.

00:33:14.520 And here's the beautiful thing,

00:33:16.920 that the outward patterns actually work the other way around

00:33:20.840 and will cultivate affection and desire.

00:33:23.700 It will.

00:33:24.960 Your outward behaviors and speech

00:33:26.860 will shape your thoughts and feelings

00:33:28.920 in a similar way that your thoughts and feelings

00:33:31.860 can shape your outward behaviors and speech.

00:33:34.720 It's not a one-way stream, but it's a two-way street.

00:33:39.720 Both the outward affects the inward,

00:33:41.520 and the inward does also affect the outward

00:33:44.300 so that we're not lost without hope

00:33:46.460 and nothing that we can do,

00:33:47.640 completely helpless and powerless.

00:33:50.260 We have a roadmap that we seek to obey God's commandments

00:33:54.400 even when our hearts aren't necessarily in it.

00:33:58.580 We seek him and we meditate on his law day and night

00:34:02.720 Even when we'd rather be doing something else.

00:34:06.840 The trick to delighting in the law of God

00:34:10.200 is meditating on the law of God

00:34:12.960 before you delight in it.

00:34:16.520 That's the secret.

00:34:18.560 The secret is doing something over and over and over.

00:34:22.440 It's called acquired taste.

00:34:26.100 We know that this is a reality.

00:34:29.100 Nobody is just born coming out of the womb enjoying kale.

00:34:35.340 You know, nobody.

00:34:37.440 Now, I personally don't think that anyone,

00:34:39.520 even with training, enjoys kale.

00:34:42.380 But I've been told that some people do.

00:34:45.480 But that is not a natural affection.

00:34:49.180 That is a well-harnessed, disciplined affection

00:34:54.380 That you shape over time by consistency, by patterns, by actions.

00:35:02.700 I'm doing something outwardly that does not align with my emotions and desires and thoughts inwardly.

00:35:10.540 But over time, the inward will be cultivated by the consistent outward.

00:35:18.300 That's something that we need to be aware of.

00:35:20.860 so all that being said i can't even remember where i was but the point is is this when it

00:35:30.860 when it comes to well let's go back to the fear of god versus fear of judgment when it comes to

00:35:37.740 these things uh it's it's outwardly setting the patterns day in day out through obedience through

00:35:44.400 scripture reading through accountability through fellowship with the saints all these things

00:35:48.800 eventually slowly over time they shape the heart they shape our emotions they shape our thought

00:35:54.220 processes and we begin to truly desire we begin to truly love the Lord hypocrisy is not something

00:36:04.100 that God ever affirms it's not something that he esteems but better to outwardly do that which

00:36:11.440 inwardly you're not for than to say I don't love God inwardly and I'm not going to do anything

00:36:16.800 outwardly either that is not an improved method that's not the better option okay so reconciled

00:36:25.080 by Christ's death and saved by his life again verse 10 if we were enemies if while we were

00:36:32.780 enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son much more now are we reconciled shall we

00:36:39.240 be saved by his life so it's a similar language to verse 9 the apostle is now arguing from

00:36:45.280 reconciliation by the death of Christ to salvation by the life of Christ. We have been reconciled to

00:36:51.760 God by Christ's death, and we are continually saved by his life. That's where I was. Okay, so past,

00:36:58.840 present, future, all under the banner of salvation. If you think of salvation like this, think of

00:37:04.080 salvation as the overarching category. Underneath that, you have three subcategories. So there's

00:37:09.800 salvation and then you have justification, sanctification, glorification. So salvation,

00:37:15.800 that's the big umbrella. Then justification, sanctification, glorification. Justification,

00:37:22.440 the past salvation of the soul. Sanctification, the present ongoing salvation of the mind,

00:37:30.060 renewing the mind. And then glorification, the future promised salvation of the body.

00:37:37.180 Soul, mind, body, past, present, future,

00:37:42.720 justification, sanctification, glorification,

00:37:45.620 all under the realm of salvation.

00:37:49.140 So salvation, as it regards the soul,

00:37:52.520 it's justification being declared righteous in the past.

00:37:57.020 Salvation, as it pertains to the mind,

00:37:59.960 it's sanctification, the renewing of the mind in the present.

00:38:04.640 Salvation, as it pertains to the body, this flesh,

00:38:09.520 it's looking forward to a future resurrection of the body,

00:38:13.720 that this body of death, as the apostle Paul says

00:38:16.560 in Romans 7, we will be saved from this body of death one day.

00:38:20.660 It's the glorification in the future tense of the body.

00:38:25.580 Salvation can be spoken of biblically

00:38:27.660 in all three of those terms.

00:38:31.080 So here, the apostle does not merely speak

00:38:33.340 of Christ's sinless life on earth,

00:38:35.280 but of his interceding life in heaven,

00:38:39.400 where he now ever lives to make intercession for his people

00:38:43.380 to ensure that all the promises of God,

00:38:46.560 which Christ has obtained by his death,

00:38:49.240 are thoroughly applied to his people.

00:38:52.220 So once more, verse 10, just to make sure that we get this.

00:38:55.640 For if while we were enemies,

00:38:58.620 we were reconciled to God by the death of his son.

00:39:02.060 Much more, now that we are reconciled,

00:39:04.460 shall we be saved by his life?

00:39:06.700 What I'm saying is this.

00:39:08.820 The most natural reading of verse 10 of our text

00:39:11.480 that we will be saved by his life

00:39:13.840 is to think back of Jesus' earthly life

00:39:17.180 2,000 years ago, his sinless life,

00:39:21.700 his life in which not only did he avoid all sin

00:39:24.460 and maintain a state of innocence,

00:39:26.080 but in which he in his active obedience he fulfilled all righteousness so we're thinking

00:39:32.100 of his fully obedient life his fully righteous life and that's true we are saved by the death

00:39:39.140 of Jesus dying in our place our wages of sin being laid upon him our sin goes to him and then the

00:39:45.880 wages of our sin goes to him the just punishment for our sin he takes our death he takes our sin

00:39:51.400 and the death, which our sin rightly deserved.

00:39:54.580 All that happens at the cross and the death of Jesus.

00:39:57.600 But we're also saved in the life of Jesus

00:39:59.940 because it's not just that our sin is removed,

00:40:02.240 but our sin is actually replaced

00:40:04.400 with a presence of Christ's obedience and righteousness.

00:40:08.000 So it's not just that we move from being sinners

00:40:10.200 to being innocent or neutral, a blank slate,

00:40:13.600 but our sin is transferred out of our account to his

00:40:17.540 and he takes the just punishment for our sin,

00:40:20.620 namely death. And we're not just sitting here now out of a negative balance. It's not just that

00:40:26.640 we're no longer in the red, but now we have zero in the account. We're not in the negatives, but

00:40:31.780 we're also not in the, no. Then his righteousness, his perfect obedience, which comes by his life,

00:40:37.220 his act of obedience in his life towards God's law, all of that is accredited to our account.

00:40:42.640 And we receive the just reward for his righteousness, everlasting life, adoption,

00:40:48.740 all these things all these promises so there is a sense in which we are saved by jesus past life

00:40:56.360 but i think what the author is getting at in this text today romans chapter 5 verse 10

00:41:01.680 is not just speaking of the past life of jesus 2 000 years ago namely his perfect righteous

00:41:08.540 earthly life but the life that he now lives not just speaking of his past life here on earth

00:41:14.780 leading up to the cross but the life that he now lives after his resurrection and glorious

00:41:20.740 ascension to the right hand of the father that we are actually being saved not only by his life

00:41:27.500 that ended in death but his new life after his resurrection and glorification and ascension to

00:41:33.760 the right hand of the father that christ is ever living that we are saved by his continual life

00:41:40.200 his present life, his ongoing life.

00:41:43.080 And part of the question that's begged by that is,

00:41:46.340 well, what is Jesus doing now?

00:41:49.140 What is Jesus doing with his life now?

00:41:52.940 We know what he did with his life 2,000 years ago.

00:41:56.500 He fulfilled all righteousness.

00:41:58.460 He preached and taught, performed many signs and miracles,

00:42:02.560 raised the dead, cast out demons, and eventually went to the cross.

00:42:06.640 So we know what Jesus did in his life on earth.

00:42:10.200 But what is Jesus doing in his forever life, his eternal life, at the right hand of the Father?

00:42:16.520 One of the things that Jesus is doing is he is praying.

00:42:21.060 Jesus is praying and he's praying for his own.

00:42:25.220 And we see the beginnings of his perpetual intercessory mediatorial role that he plays at the right hand of the Father.

00:42:34.300 We see the beginnings of that, a glimpse of that in John chapter 17, in his high priestly prayer.

00:42:41.580 His prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane before his arrest and going to his mock trial and then his crucifixion.

00:42:49.460 And one of the things that Jesus prays in the garden that offends many is this.

00:42:54.260 He says, I do not pray for the world.

00:42:57.200 jesus doesn't just in his prayers offer up prayers and intercessions to his father

00:43:05.360 for the object of his prayers but he even takes the time intentionally to specify

00:43:10.940 who his prayers are not to be applied to who he's not praying for again john 17 jesus says

00:43:19.440 i do not pray for the world but i pray for my own for those whom the father has given to me

00:43:25.020 and those that the Father will give to me.

00:43:27.180 My disciples here, now, and future disciples.

00:43:30.700 All those who will come to believe in me.

00:43:33.920 Jesus prays for the church.

00:43:37.080 Jesus prays for the elect.

00:43:39.220 Jesus prays for Christians and future Christians. 0.83

00:43:42.620 He does not pray for the world.

00:43:46.860 And part of the reason that Jesus does not pray for the world

00:43:50.060 is because the prayers of Christ are efficacious.

00:43:53.920 In other words, the prayers of Christ work.

00:43:58.060 Jesus is successful in his prayer life,

00:44:01.860 successful in his prayers in a way that you and I have never been.

00:44:07.220 That's not to say that you and I shouldn't waste our time praying,

00:44:10.200 because we should pray.

00:44:12.120 We are commanded to pray.

00:44:14.480 But we are not nearly as effective in our prayer as Jesus is,

00:44:18.780 and there's a number of reasons for that.

00:44:20.840 One, because when we pray, we never possess perfect faith.

00:44:27.280 We all, if you're a Christian, you have faith.

00:44:30.420 You want to be a Christian otherwise.

00:44:33.120 You were only born again, a new creation in Christ Jesus, 0.88

00:44:36.040 because you've received God's gift of grace through faith.

00:44:39.920 But none of us has perfect faith, complete faith.

00:44:44.780 We have faith, and it is true faith, genuine faith, saving faith,

00:44:49.340 but it is not perfect faith.

00:44:51.980 If you had perfect faith,

00:44:53.740 then you would achieve a state of sinless perfectionism.

00:44:58.580 The reason you still sin

00:45:00.220 is because you don't perfectly believe.

00:45:04.520 Every time you and I sin against God, 0.98

00:45:07.620 even as Christians go on sinning, 0.96

00:45:09.780 it's because there is something

00:45:11.160 in the character and nature of God,

00:45:13.160 the covenants of God,

00:45:14.560 the promises of God

00:45:15.740 that we don't actually believe.

00:45:17.480 not fully that we in that moment believe that the momentary fleeting temporal satisfaction

00:45:26.180 of sin is more fulfilling than the promises and the character of God the only reason you and I

00:45:35.560 continue to wrestle with sin in this life is because we we have not achieved perfection in

00:45:42.760 the realm of faith and the scripture elsewhere testifies why do you not have is it not because

00:45:49.040 you don't ask you have not because you ask not and when you ask you ask with wrong motives to

00:45:56.760 spend it on your passions right so there's another reason so asking with wrong motives

00:46:02.420 so selfishness also asking without full faith right that the one who asks should not doubt

00:46:09.800 He should not be double-minded like a wave tossed to and fro in the ocean.

00:46:14.360 James speaks of this.

00:46:15.820 But when we ask, we should have confidence and fully believe that God will grant to us

00:46:20.960 what it is that we ask.

00:46:23.160 Elsewhere, the scripture also testifies that the prayer offered in faith availeth much.

00:46:30.520 It means it works.

00:46:32.000 So the prayer that is filled with faith is a working prayer.

00:46:35.660 So why do our prayers sometimes not work in absence of faith?

00:46:39.400 What's another reason they sometimes don't work?

00:46:42.160 Because impurity of motives,

00:46:44.640 selfish motives,

00:46:45.560 to spend it on our own passions.

00:46:47.560 Here's another reason,

00:46:48.580 the last reason why our prayers do not always work.

00:46:52.080 Because of our finitude.

00:46:54.200 The first two, right?

00:46:56.300 Not having perfect faith

00:46:57.560 and not having perfect desires or motives.

00:47:00.000 That speaks to our fallenness,

00:47:02.800 but it's also worth speaking to our finitude.

00:47:06.920 So because we're sinners,

00:47:08.060 we don't have perfect faith and we don't have perfect motives. And that's a reason why our

00:47:13.280 prayers do not always avail much, that our prayers are not always efficacious. But also, even if we

00:47:20.160 could reach a state of sinless perfection in this life, we would still be, unlike Jesus, we would be

00:47:27.140 finite. So even if we were sinless creatures, we would still be creatures nonetheless. Whereas

00:47:34.660 Jesus has only ever been the creator.

00:47:38.840 He is not made, but rather eternally begotten.

00:47:42.080 And so as Jesus is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane,

00:47:45.020 John chapter 17, he's praying with perfect faith.

00:47:48.700 He's praying with perfect motives.

00:47:51.560 So there is no sin corrupting his prayer,

00:47:55.800 hamstringing the effectiveness of his prayers,

00:47:59.040 but also he's praying as God.

00:48:01.100 and i don't just mean god in terms of sinlessness but god in terms of of the fact that he's infinite

00:48:08.080 particularly in the realm of knowledge his omniscience so you and i even when when we're

00:48:15.940 praying with as much faith as we possibly can muster and with as pure of motives as we can

00:48:21.640 possibly cultivate we still do not know god's sovereign will right the the secret things

00:48:30.180 belong to God, but those things which he has revealed belong to us and our children forever.

00:48:37.620 One doctrine that many Christians struggle, I think, at times to understand, or perhaps have

00:48:42.980 never been taught, is the two wills of God. Did you know that God has two wills, not one?

00:48:50.360 God doesn't have one will, and also it's worth noting he doesn't have three. So if we're speaking

00:48:55.060 of theology proper. So theology proper is just reference to the doctrine of God. Theology as it

00:49:02.040 pertains to who God is. And as we're speaking of God theologically, it's important that we

00:49:08.700 understand that will belongs to essence, not personhood. So we have one God eternally existing

00:49:17.820 in three persons so where do you place the will of god if will is belonging to personhood then god

00:49:28.820 who eternally exists in three persons would therefore have three wills but this is not correct

00:49:35.460 and for not quite 2 000 years it took about you know 500 years or so to understand doctrine of

00:49:42.500 god it's not an easy topic but for at least you know a millennia and a half we have the church

00:49:49.740 has universally held that that the will of god belongs to his one divine essence rather than his

00:49:57.700 three distinct persons so the will of god belongs to the one essence of god the divine essence so

00:50:04.500 god has one will now some of you might object this was my objection as i was coming into these

00:50:10.940 doctrines, you know, years ago. Well, wait a second. Doesn't Jesus pray? You're talking about

00:50:15.060 John 17. What about the portion where Jesus is praying and he asked for the cup of God's wrath

00:50:20.680 to pass? But then he says at the end of his prayer, not my will, but yours speaking to God,

00:50:27.520 the father be done. Well, doesn't that right there show showcase an example of a distinction

00:50:34.260 between the will of God the Son

00:50:36.960 and the will of God the Father?

00:50:40.020 Great question.

00:50:41.580 Here's the counter for that.

00:50:42.920 No.

00:50:43.680 And the reason why it doesn't show a distinction

00:50:45.700 between two wills is because there, once again,

00:50:48.040 will is belonging to essence,

00:50:50.040 or another word for that would be nature

00:50:52.220 rather than personhood.

00:50:53.680 The reason why Jesus can say that

00:50:55.940 is not because we're speaking of two different divine persons,

00:51:00.240 the Son and the Father,

00:51:01.680 but because what we're seeing is two different natures within the one person of the Son.

00:51:07.220 So when Jesus says, not my will, he is speaking of his human will.

00:51:11.440 Because remember, Jesus has two natures, the divine nature, but also the flesh, the human nature.

00:51:18.920 So in Jesus' human nature, he didn't really want to go to the cross.

00:51:23.480 But the beauty of Christ, as it pertains to his human nature,

00:51:26.940 is that Jesus demonstrates for us perfectly

00:51:29.940 what it looks like for a man, for a human man,

00:51:33.180 for the human nature to be in full submission to God.

00:51:37.000 And so he says, it's not my first choice,

00:51:39.340 not really my preference to get crucified,

00:51:41.660 you know, in a few hours, but not my will,

00:51:45.680 but yours be done.

00:51:46.640 Now, Jesus, in his divinity, the divine will

00:51:50.560 is perfectly aligned with the Father and the Spirit.

00:51:53.380 One divine essence, therefore one divine will.

00:51:56.940 But within the second member of the Trinity,

00:51:59.840 namely the God-man, Christ Jesus, the Son of God,

00:52:03.360 there are two wills, not because of two persons,

00:52:06.240 but because of two natures, divine and human.

00:52:10.940 So no, Jesus is not arguing with his dad.

00:52:14.860 He's not arguing with his dad.

00:52:16.440 Okay, my goodness, I'm struggling today to get off track.

00:52:19.280 I usually can bring it back.

00:52:20.640 I got into the wills.

00:52:22.320 Why was I getting into wills of God?

00:52:24.100 Three wills of God versus, oh, two wills of God.

00:52:26.940 Here we go. So it's not three wills of God belonging to three persons. It is one will of

00:52:32.720 God insofar as we speak of the one essence of God. But within that one divine will, there is

00:52:37.960 actually a sense in which there are two. Here are the two wills of God. His prescribed will or

00:52:42.920 revealed will. These are different names that we could use. Revealed will, prescribed will, or

00:52:48.040 you could call it his moral will. And then there is his hidden or secret will or sovereign will.

00:52:56.940 Let me give you an example.

00:52:58.700 Okay, so God's, his moral will or prescribed what he reveals.

00:53:03.960 Thou shall not murder.

00:53:05.680 Sixth commandment.

00:53:06.880 We know that it is the will of God that no one ever murder.

00:53:11.980 But then you look at Acts chapter two and Acts chapter four,

00:53:15.580 which says, we're not Pilate and the Jews 0.84

00:53:21.200 and these Roman officials and soldiers

00:53:24.180 and all these Gentiles gathered in this holy city, 0.76

00:53:27.100 speaking of Jerusalem, to do to Christ Jesus 0.96

00:53:30.520 exactly what your hand and your plan

00:53:35.180 predestined to take place.

00:53:38.580 In other words, God planned,

00:53:42.840 he willed the death of his son.

00:53:46.480 Okay, well, but how did Jesus die?

00:53:49.300 Was it a just death?

00:53:51.120 Did he receive a fair trial?

00:53:53.240 Did he actually do something worthy

00:53:55.280 according to God's law of the death penalty?

00:53:57.800 No, they produced, they did a kangaroo court

00:54:00.460 in the middle of the night, produced false witnesses

00:54:03.420 and then wrongly killed him.

00:54:05.480 What do you call that when you wrongly kill someone?

00:54:08.700 Murder.

00:54:10.380 So God in his revealed will, Exodus 20, the sixth commandment,

00:54:13.880 thou shall not murder.

00:54:16.020 But then God in his sovereign hidden will,

00:54:18.780 he ordained the murder of his own son for his glory.

00:54:22.740 and the salvation of the world.

00:54:25.980 Two wills, two wills.

00:54:28.940 His revealed will, that's what we follow.

00:54:31.020 We follow the script, or in our case, namely the scripture.

00:54:35.100 We follow the script, that which he has revealed to us.

00:54:38.040 We don't try to play God.

00:54:39.980 We don't play the game of, well, the ends justify the means.

00:54:44.080 So in terms of the path,

00:54:46.280 I can do things that are blatantly sinful

00:54:48.240 so long as I'm going to bring about a good outcome.

00:54:52.100 No, that's not given to man.

00:54:54.540 That's attempting to play God.

00:54:56.520 We don't get to play God.

00:54:58.780 That's, I mean, that's a consistent, you know,

00:55:00.880 common denominator with, you know, our crazy, you know, regime.

00:55:06.740 That's what you see on the world stage is, you know,

00:55:09.620 in a nutshell, if you were to boil it down

00:55:11.240 to one consistent, you know, denominator,

00:55:13.600 it would be guys who do wicked things,

00:55:16.900 but they think that they're justified

00:55:18.740 in doing those wicked things

00:55:19.940 because they think it's gonna bring about a good end.

00:55:22.420 It's man wanting to play God.

00:55:24.840 That's what we see again and again.

00:55:26.620 But God is the only one who gets to be God.

00:55:29.340 So God has not three wills with three persons

00:55:32.540 because it belongs to essence, not person,

00:55:34.840 and not even just one will, one divine will

00:55:37.860 that's unified between the three persons in the Godhead,

00:55:40.400 but two branches, if you will, of that will,

00:55:44.220 namely his revealed will, that which is written,

00:55:46.600 his moral will prescribed will and also his hidden will his sovereign will and so in all of that

00:55:53.960 that's the third reason there it is i remember the third reason why sometimes our prayers are

00:55:58.980 not efficacious our prayers don't work is because in the fallenness category the fact that we're

00:56:05.220 sinners we're lacking at times in faith and we also have a corruption of motive but in not just

00:56:12.180 the fallen sinful category but in the finitude category the fact that we're creatures we're not

00:56:16.960 omniscient we're not omniscient so one reason why our prayers are sometimes not answered is because

00:56:23.660 we're praying for that which god wills in his revealed will but it is not in that given case

00:56:30.640 what god actually wills in his sovereign will and in god's sovereign will his secret will god

00:56:36.720 sometimes allows for sin in order to bring about greater good for his people and greater eternal

00:56:43.880 glory for himself and that is not given to us that's not in our purview and that's why we're

00:56:50.920 taught when we pray to pray towards the end of our our prayers as jesus did in his human nature

00:56:56.960 not my will be done but yours that's why when we pray god if you will right so if we're praying

00:57:04.400 for the sick. My daughter, I was praying for her a couple days ago. She had a fever and praying,

00:57:10.540 Lord, will you heal my daughter if it be your will? It may not be. I don't know. And so I'm

00:57:18.640 saying, God, your will be done. I would like my daughter to be healed. But you are good and

00:57:24.680 infinitely wise. And you may have a purpose in this moment to glorify yourself and do good to

00:57:32.180 all those who have been called, who love you and are called according to your purposes, Romans 8,

00:57:37.120 through this sickness. So at the end of my prayer, not my will, but yours be done. But in the case of

00:57:44.660 Christ, because he's not a sinner, because of not being fallen, perfect motives, perfect faith,

00:57:51.620 and because he's also God, perfect omniscience. So the prayers of Christ are efficacious. They work.

00:57:58.580 Why? Because he only prays what God wills, not only in his moral revealed will, but even knowing

00:58:04.940 God's sovereign will because he is God and he prays without sin, distracting from faith or

00:58:12.760 corrupting his motives. Again, in short, Christ's prayers are efficacious, a.k.a. the prayers of

00:58:20.300 Christ work. And that's precisely why Christ doesn't pray for the world in John 17, because

00:58:27.600 Christ doesn't waste prayer. He doesn't pray for the world because he's not going to bother praying

00:58:35.200 for a group of people that he's not about to go and climb up and hang on a tree to die for.

00:58:41.100 Christ prays for the same group that he dies for. He's praying for this group, the very group that

00:58:48.700 he's about to pay for. He prays, then pays. We're saved by his life, not just the life he once lived

00:58:56.960 on earth his sinless life righteous life but also his continual ongoing life and in this life what

00:59:04.720 does he now do he prays and here's my point if christ is for you who can be against you if christ

00:59:13.820 is praying for the glory of god and your eternal good christ has never prayed a prayer that went

00:59:22.220 by unanswered. And Christ promises in his word that he is praying for all his people. He is our

00:59:30.820 high priest. And one of the things that he does in his life, not his past life on earth, but his

00:59:36.520 continual present life right now, as he's seated at the right hand of his father, one of the chief

00:59:41.980 things he's doing in his life is praying. He's interceding on your behalf. And all his intercessory

00:59:50.160 prayers they work christ if christ prays for you you're you're golden even with peter christ says

00:59:58.540 this satan has asked so even satan had to ask permission god is sovereign he's asked to sift

01:00:06.060 you like wheat but i have prayed for you that your faith may not fail and when you have returned

01:00:13.860 that means you're gonna fall a little bit you're gonna take a hard hit but when you've returned

01:00:19.560 go and strengthen your brothers also go and encourage your fellow disciples notice what

01:00:26.840 what christ says to peter in that moment is he's saying because satan has to ask jesus for permission

01:00:32.460 to even go and and tempt and prod peter and if i was peter i would be tempted to respond christ

01:00:39.120 saying satan has asked to sift you like wheat but i've prayed for you i would say you know what

01:00:43.820 jesus maybe you could save your prayers um if he has to ask permission instead of praying for me

01:00:49.080 why don't you just tell him no?

01:00:51.680 You know what I mean?

01:00:52.060 That would have been my thought.

01:00:53.300 Satan asked you permission

01:00:54.440 to go and do something really bad to me.

01:00:58.060 And you're really leaning and heavy on this,

01:01:01.280 but I prayed for you thing.

01:01:02.560 But implicitly in that,

01:01:04.460 you're also saying, and I told him yes.

01:01:07.600 Can we talk about that part real quick?

01:01:09.260 So Satan asked to hurt me and you said, go for it.

01:01:14.000 But don't worry, Peter,

01:01:15.240 don't get bogged down on that part of the equation.

01:01:17.240 I've prayed for you.

01:01:18.960 right and if it was anybody else about christ that's how we'd feel right somebody's saying hey

01:01:25.740 i'm praying for you well you know we usually receive that warmly thank you but part of the

01:01:32.100 reason we receive the prayers of our fellow saints warmly is because we're all finite and a lot of

01:01:37.380 times there's not a lot more that we can do but pray you know so if i have a loved one who's sick

01:01:43.040 and and one of you says hey i'm praying for your daughter well then then i'm going to respond

01:01:48.580 positively to that. I'm going to say thank you. But if you had superpowers and could snap your

01:01:54.140 fingers and heal my daughter, but you deliberately refused and said, I'm not going to do that,

01:01:59.780 but I will pray, then I'm not going to say thank you. I'm going to be angry. I'm going to be like,

01:02:05.860 what? Why? Why wouldn't you just help? Save the prayer. Let's get some actual help.

01:02:13.080 part of the reason we view prayer like that is because we don't understand christ and his

01:02:21.860 ministry of prayer when jesus says to peter but i have prayed for you that is the same as him saying

01:02:29.980 i gave satan permission to do this but he cannot do that whatever jesus prays is within the realm

01:02:37.820 of his sovereign will and what will be done.

01:02:41.980 When he says, you will not ultimately fail,

01:02:45.460 your faith will fail for a moment,

01:02:47.180 but I have prayed that it won't ultimately fail.

01:02:49.880 And when you return, go and strengthen your brothers also.

01:02:52.300 That is the same as Christ saying,

01:02:54.500 I've allowed Satan to tempt and to prod and oppress,

01:02:58.700 but I have not allowed him to do so

01:03:00.600 at the point to which your faith would utterly fail.

01:03:03.240 And I will restore you

01:03:04.820 and use you to restore your brothers.

01:03:07.100 When he says, I've prayed that this will happen,

01:03:09.700 that's the same as saying it will happen.

01:03:12.180 Because again, the prayers of Christ are efficacious.

01:03:16.040 Christ does not pray prayers that fail.

01:03:20.820 And so we are saved.

01:03:22.160 That's the final thing that I'm trying to say,

01:03:23.660 and I'm gonna skip the last point.

01:03:25.740 But we are saved not only by Christ's death,

01:03:29.020 dying as a substitute in our place,

01:03:31.260 taking the just judgment that we deserved,

01:03:34.080 But we're also saved not only by the death of Jesus,

01:03:38.060 but we are being saved and will be saved

01:03:41.980 by the continual life of Jesus

01:03:44.620 because one of the chief ministries of Jesus

01:03:47.780 in his life right now, not the life he once lived,

01:03:51.880 but the life he now lives and forevermore will live

01:03:55.180 is his intercession.

01:03:58.140 He is the mediator of all the promises

01:04:01.400 of the new covenant.

01:04:02.880 he is the intercessor the high priest who is actively constantly continually praying

01:04:10.380 for his people and he has never prayed a single prayer that has gone unanswered and one of the

01:04:18.280 things that we know he is praying for us just as he prayed for peter if you're born again christian

01:04:25.160 is that your faith would not fail so you're golden that doesn't mean times won't be hard

01:04:32.500 that doesn't mean that you won't experience suffering in this life but what it does mean

01:04:37.280 is that you are christ's possession and he can never lose you what it does mean is that your

01:04:42.640 faith although tested and tried purified by as as by fire your faith being refined like gold

01:04:52.740 it will not in the final analysis utterly fail because christ is praying for you and in that

01:05:00.400 sense, if in many others as well, but in that sense, if nothing else, we are saved not only by

01:05:06.060 the death of Jesus, but also by the life of Jesus. Finally, verse 11, more than that, we also rejoice

01:05:12.540 in God through the Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Not only

01:05:19.060 are we saved by Christ from the wrath of God, and not only do we rejoice in our sufferings

01:05:24.900 and in the hope of the glory of God,

01:05:27.140 but we also rejoice in God himself.

01:05:30.260 We do not rejoice, brothers and sisters,

01:05:32.540 merely in what God gives us,

01:05:34.860 what God promises us, or what he provides for us.

01:05:37.960 We're not only using God as a channel,

01:05:41.060 as a conduit to rejoice in the end,

01:05:43.480 but God is the end in himself.

01:05:46.000 Our rejoicing is not only in what God promises,

01:05:50.400 but in God himself.

01:05:52.440 We rejoice in God because,

01:05:54.160 through union with christ our lord we now have access to god as our covenant father he is the

01:06:01.400 god of all grace joy peace and salvation and all his perfections are engaged on our side and

01:06:09.220 the means by which saints come into this rejoicing in god is not by the light of nature

01:06:16.180 nor the law of moses nor any works of righteousness as done by men nor is it through saints of old or

01:06:23.540 angels in heaven but through Christ the eternal mediator and through him only for it is only

01:06:30.040 through Christ that God is now our covenant father and all his many blessings rightly belong to us

01:06:37.120 in short we rejoice not only in what God gives but we rejoice in God himself and our rejoicing

01:06:44.780 in God comes through Christ we would not rejoice in God because God again see point a all the way

01:06:53.300 back to the beginning of the sermon, God would not be someone to rejoice in, but rather someone

01:06:58.700 to be in dread of. God was once our enemy, our greatest enemy. The first and foremost thing or

01:07:06.400 person we needed to be saved from is God, not the devil, not ourselves, not our sin, not the world.

01:07:14.420 The greatest thing we needed to be saved from is God himself and his just wrath. There is no

01:07:20.160 rejoicing in your greatest enemy but we rejoice in God because he is no longer our enemy but the

01:07:27.580 source of all blessing the source of all love the source of all acceptance and reconciliation

01:07:36.420 eternal life all the the covenant promises are in him and we rejoice in him but he is only

01:07:44.500 positive for us he is only our good through christ it is only because of jesus what jesus

01:07:53.700 has accomplished on our behalf through his life his death his resurrection his ascension and his

01:08:00.360 continual forever ongoing life it is only through jesus that we can truly in a very real sense say

01:08:08.620 that we rejoice in God.

01:08:11.320 The only reason you brothers and sisters

01:08:13.600 can rejoice in God is through Jesus Christ.

01:08:17.500 Apart from what Christ has done and continues to do,

01:08:21.260 God is not worth rejoicing in.

01:08:24.000 He may be worth it,

01:08:25.140 but God is not someone that we're going to rejoice in,

01:08:27.900 but rather he is someone that we have nothing

01:08:31.280 but dread and total fear of.

01:08:33.920 And not only fear of him in a reverence capacity,

01:08:36.620 but fear of his inevitable judgment but for the christian there is now therefore no more

01:08:42.480 condemnation for those who are in christ jesus let's pray father thank you for your word bless

01:08:48.060 it to your people help us to believe in your covenant promises help us to rest in christ

01:08:53.140 finished work help us to trust not only what christ has done but what he continues to do on

01:08:58.460 our behalf at your right hand that he is praying for us and that his prayers mean something that

01:09:04.840 his prayers are effective, that his prayers never fail, that if Christ is for us, none can be against

01:09:11.160 us, that you are no longer our enemy, but our beloved father. Help us to rest in this, to take

01:09:18.320 hope in this, that all the challenges and trials that we experience in this life, that although

01:09:24.200 real, although significant, Lord, we pray that they would pale by comparison to this glorious truth.

01:09:30.540 We pray these things for your glory and for our continued good.

01:09:34.560 We pray these things in the name of Jesus.

01:09:36.820 Amen.

The NXR Podcast - December 04, 2023

SUNDAY SERMON - Jesus Christ Is Praying

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