And praise the Lord. Welcome. I'm excited for our sermon series starting next week in the book of Nehemiah. I want to encourage you to come. We're going to look at, if you know anything about the book of Nehemiah, it's about God rebuilding what has been broken.
And in our lives, man, there are plenty of things that the brokenness of our world or even that we contribute to the brokenness in our lives and our world, that God just writes a beautiful story. And if you're here today, it's either that God is writing your story of redemption or you are past the cross and you've been redeemed and you're walking out that redemption. And so I want to encourage you to lean all the way in. Jump in, be in your group, be there, and line up and just line up with what God is doing here at Mercy Hill Church. My name is Daniel.
Like they mentioned, I'm the College and Clifford Road campus pastor. I do want to say one thing. We're jumping into that sermon series next week. We are just coming out of the Grow series today. I'm preaching this kind of one-off sermon, but let me catch you up on where we've been.
We just came out of something that we called Grow. And we really started the fault off saying, how can we help as many people as possible grow? into who Christ has called them to be. And we look at something we call the Acts 2 flywheel: gathering, grouping, giving, going. And we said, every single person has a step they should take and is within proximity and is around someone that God has put them around for the sake of helping that person get to know Christ or take steps in their own obedience.
And so let me read you a few of the stats that we saw over the past month here at Mercy Hill in this grow series. Hundreds of people filled out the grow cards that were in the seats every week. Over 1,900 people jumped in a group, 260 of those people for the very first time. Over 60 people gave for the first time. Over 150 people are currently signed up for Envision, our class, on missions, which they're still not too late to sign up for.
We had over 970 first-time guests and over 65 baptisms. Man, can we praise the Lord for what we've seen? Man, why do we celebrate? Do we like the numbers? Does it sound good?
Does it make us feel good that a lot of things are happening? We do enjoy that there are a lot of people moving, but this is what we believe wholeheartedly. that from eternity past, God had you in mind to have a relationship with you. And from that relationship, for him to get every ounce of glory from your life. And so these numbers represent people.
Real people whom God is redeeming and writing their story to see face to face one day to say, look what God can do with people like Daniel. Look what God can do with people like you. And so we're gonna celebrate the heck out of it and we're not gonna feel bad about it and it's just gonna be incredible. But for today, my goal is an outlandish goal. I'm going to try to preach a whole sermon series.
In about 30 minutes. We're going to be in Romans chapter 3. If you have a copy of Scripture, go ahead and go there. I talk fast to begin with. I talk faster than Pastor Andrew, and I think today he's going to set a land speed record.
Lock in with me. If you've been around Mercy Hill for any amount of time, you've heard phrases like gospel-centered or gospel-driven or gospel-focused. If you haven't been around, you're gonna hear them constantly. Just said over and over again. What we mean is the gospel is the starting place.
Of our salvation, of our faith, and it's the goal of our faith, and it's everything in between. It's all about the gospel. It's every single bit of it. And if you've been around for a while, or maybe you kind of know what I'm talking about, if I went around to everyone individually and I said, hey, what is the gospel? I really do believe that most people would give something like, It's Jesus in my place.
It's Jesus died for us, or Jesus loves us, something like that, which is completely true. And then, if I took it a step further and I said, okay, and what does that do? The Jesus in my place thing, what does that mean?
Well, that he died for your sins, that it gets you into heaven, it brings you back into right relationship with God. Great, awesome things. But for a large part of my life, and this is kind of where we're going to go today. If I was asked this next question. Or I thought about this next question.
Whether I responded verbally this way or just lived this way or felt this way, what I found was when the question popped in my mind, You know, what does this do? Like, what does this do now? How does this sustain you? How does it keep you going? I began to be like, okay, well, I got to read my Bible.
I got to pray. I got to go to church. I got to worship. I got to, you know, share the gospel with people. I need to help those in need.
Stop doing this or that. Be a good person. Those are all good things. Those are all God-honoring things. But did you see the difference?
To those first few questions, we're like, Jesus did X, Y, Z. And then, for some reason, when that shift happens, of like, okay, now that he's done those things, what keeps you going in those things? We're like, well, I got a blank, blank, blank, blank, blank, blank, blank. And that shift begins to happen. And the problem is, let me tell you, how do I know if I'm doing that?
Has serving become numb and dull? Has worship become less exciting and less about giving God praise? Has reading your Bible in the morning got harder? Has the alarm clock snooze button looked more and more attractive? Man, is your Christian life, do you have the same fervor or is it dry?
And you remember what it was like when you got saved, but you just don't feel that exact same way today. And what's happened is this. When you were saved, you realized there was a gap. between God's righteousness, His holiness. And your sinfulness, and you believe by the grace of God that the only thing that could bridge that gap was the cross of Christ.
Thought I get some amens. Amen. Give it to myself. But after that moment, at some point For a lot of us for myself at times this has happened without us noticing We realize that gap is there and it is bigger than we thought. And so instead of filling that gap with the cross, we fill it with other things.
We're trying to be better or do more, or we try to add something to the gospel. And we got to become aware that that's happening. If I said, hey, we need to do these different things, you need to lean in the gospel to sustain you. You'd be like, great, and you wouldn't be aware you're not doing it.
So, I want to make you aware of it. I have two little girls. I have a year and a half-year-old, a year-and-a-half-year-old, a one-and-a-half-year-old, and a two-and-a-half-year-old. The one and a half-year-old, she's not potty trained. We got diapers everywhere.
That's where that's the life we live. And the only way that you know she has pooped her diaper is if you smell it. That's the only way. You look at her and you go, Did you poop in your diaper? And she giggles and runs.
And it's a game to her. She doesn't care. She'll sit in it for an hour, it doesn't matter. But our two and a half year old, she's starting to use the potty. And it's awesome.
It's great in good and bad ways. But before she did, we were like, hey, how do you know? How do you know a kid is ready to potty? They're like, hey, you'll know. They become aware of it.
We're like, what are you talking about?
Well, sure enough. A couple months ago, our daughter began pooping in her diaper, and it's like it clicked that it was on her, and she started doing the poop walk, and she was like this. She would just sit there like, daddy, mommy, it's on me. It's on me. And so we tried, we're like, okay, well, it's time for her to learn that she became aware there was something wrong.
What the truth is, is some of us don't know we are in spiritual dirty diapers. That there is gunk on you. And you're not even aware it's on you. And for the one and a half year old, it's okay, but for the believer, It's time to grow up and realize there is something wrong, and we need to change the way we operate. We need to do something different.
And so, the goal of this sermon is to wake us up to the reality that there's something, a habit, a thought, a feeling, a belief that needs to radically change if we're going to walk out the gospel as it's meant to be. And if we don't, If we don't, this is why I'm hitting this so hard on the beginning. If we don't, we're going to miss this truth and not know how to live it out. It said the gospel that saves you is the gospel that sustains you. It is not this part one and part two of faith.
It is not this, this thing gets you in, now do it. It's none of that. It's the same message for the unbeliever to repent and believe, and for the believer to keep repenting and keep believing. It is the same gospel message. And awareness is the first step.
So what I want to do today is this. I want to make sure everyone leaves knowing these few things. What is the gospel? How does it save you? How does it sustain you?
And where do we miss it? Where do we mess that up? What is the gospel and how does it save you? How does it sustain you? How does it keep you going?
And where do we mess it up? We're going to be in Romans chapter 3, verse 21 through 26. Let me say this really quick on the front end: that this passage alone, by reading it, has changed people's lives. And so with that being true, Martin Luther calls it the pinnacle of scripture. For me to even read it.
It feels like I'm the most unworthy human in the world. But my hope is through my weakness and through our weakness that God will be glorified through this passage being applied to our lives. Let's start in verse 21. It says, but now. The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.
Although the law and prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at this present time so that he might be just and the justifier.
Of the one who has faith in Jesus. What a passage. What a passage. Let me tell you this. If you had to run out here right now, and you couldn't listen to the rest of the sermon read that for a month straight and it will change your life It will change your life.
My hope is that with what we learn today and how we talk about applying it, it will help us grow. He mentioned that the righteousness has been revealed, you know, apart from the law, has been apart from the law.
Well, let's catch up to where he's been. Paul has written the first chapter, two and a half chapters of Romans, and this is what's happened. At the beginning, he has said, You, we, humanity, has traded worshiping the Creator. For worksman creation. And then in Romans 1.18, he says, what has happened because of that?
And this is not a Bible verse. You're going to see a lot of people's Instagram bios. You're not going to see it on a lot of iBlack. It's not going to be something that's a rally cry for a lot of people. You're not going to see a tattoo with hearts and doves flying around it.
But Romans 1:18 says, For the wrath of God has been revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Heartwarming, I know. It really brings joy for you this morning. Amen. But then there's a glimmer of hope.
In chapter 2. Paul says, but If you do, not just here, but do obey the law. Then you can be righteous.
So we're sitting there like, all right. God's wrath has been revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. But if I obey, if I seek God and I obey and I obey the law of God, which is the Ten Commandments given to Moses and the hundreds of other laws, if I obey, then I'm righteous, then I'm good to go. But then Paul burst that bubble pretty quickly. In Romans 3.
Right before what we read in verse 21, if you go back to verse 10, I'm going to read, it'll be on the screen. As it is written. No one is righteous, no not one. No one understands, no one seeks God, no one does good, not even one.
Now We know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under law, so that Their mouth may be stopped. the whole world may be held accountable to God, for by works of the law. No human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. I know if it's the first time you've heard that, that can be a little bit jarring. If that's not what you're thinking, you might be thinking, oh, I'm not that bad.
You know, I've done some good things. No one does good. I've done some good things. Yeah, if you compare yourself to me, you'll feel pretty good about yourself. This is a free pass for anybody.
If you ever want to feel good, just ask me something about myself. I'll make you feel a lot better about yourself. But the truth is when we who are marred by sin Compare ourselves to a holy and just God, man, all that falls by the wayside. All of it falls away. And it's not even that we gotta repent of the bad things we've done.
We even need to repent and atone for the good things that we've done that we think stack us up and make us good. Isaiah 64 says, Even your good deeds are what? Filthy rags to him. Why does that happen? Because you know, and I know, even when we do good things, we're like, Good job, bud.
So how about you? You're the man. You're nicer. No one ever. They wouldn't give that guy a dollar.
You did. You're the man. That's what we do. We know that even to our core. It is messed up.
And this is what he's saying. He's saying the law is like a mirror. If I had a mirror right here and I look at it and I got something in my teeth The law is like a mirror. You would say, hey great, the mirror did its job. And then what if I grabbed the mirror and yanked it off the wall?
And begin digging in my teeth trying to get it out. You'd be like, Hold up, brother. That's not the point of the mirror. You need something else. But that's what you do.
And that's what I do. We look at the law and we say, I'm not perfect. I fail. I do X, Y, Z that I shouldn't do.
So, what do I do? I'm going to try to be more perfect. I'm going to try not to fail, and I'm going to try not to do XYZ. Brother, you're pulling the mirror off the wall. That's not why he gave it to us.
And just like if you did in reality, if I really did dig into my teeth with a mirror, I would be in a worse spot. My teeth would be more messed up. I'd be tired. I'd be hurting. And I'd probably think the thing is not worth getting out anymore.
And some of you You sit here and you feel such shame and guilt, and you're trying to do all the right things. You're like, is it even worth it? Is it even worth fighting? And let me tell you, doing that is not. It's not.
But that's not what he says. Man, you're tired of trying to fix it. You feel like it's a hopeless battle, you feel like it's impossible to do better, and it is. That's the predicament that Paul paints in the first two and a half chapters of Romans. Going into chapter three.
But if I had to sum it up This is what you need to see today. This is the first point he's trying to make. is that the law doesn't rescue us, it just reveals our need for rescue. There was no amount of good work you were meant to do. There's no amount of work you could do.
Because God is who He is and we who are are who we are who we are. And because of that, there is a gap. It's the mirror. I mean, some of us are tired because God is giving us something to say, hey, come to me. You need to be redeemed, and some of you are trying to use that thing to redeem yourself.
And that's where we miss it.
Now, the mirror illustration fails a little bit because it equates our sin before God to something stuck in your teeth. And that is not the picture the Bible paints. The truth is, the Bible doesn't just say you're in a bad spot or you spiritually have some gunk. It paints a real bad picture. Look at the end of verse 22, end of verse 23.
It says the righteousness of God has been revealed and going down it says for that there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Paul is saying here, he reveals the reality of our standing before God, he pulls back the curtain. And he says, you think you're good? Look.
You know, people say, why is Christianity the great equalizer? Because it's not that some people are good or some are bad, it levels all of us. And it says it's not that, oh, everybody's decent or every, it's we're all hopeless. before God because of our sin. He says that all have sinned and missed the mark of God's holiness, of God's glory.
And because of that, we're not simply bad, but Ephesians 2 tells us that we are dead in our trespasses and sin. That we have no hope.
Well, that doesn't seem fair. If I make a mistake, then I'm dead in my sin. You didn't just make a mistake, you've committed high treason willfully. We have missed the mark, not on accident, but because of our own desire to make ourselves king of our own lives. to put ourselves in the mirror.
And it says that in Romans chapter 5. It talks about that's what Adam did. And through Adam, sent into the world. And it didn't just, oh, well, now that Adam sinned, we have to do the same thing. It says, no, you have followed in his footsteps.
He didn't make you do it. Double down. And we have done that again and again. And we don't just have to repent, like we mentioned, of the bad things, even the times we tried to stack ourselves up to God.
So, why am I being so adamant about it? Dude, you said this about the gospels, about the good news. Why are you beating a dead horse? The horse is dead and stomped on and buried, and you're still just jumping on it. Why are you doing that?
Because we miss the fact that we're dead in our sin. We will just think we're a little bit messed up and we need to try a little bit harder.
Well, just think, we just need to do a little bit more, but you don't need to try harder. You need something else. You don't simply need to try again, you need to be born again. That is what Paul is trying to get you to see. It is not about you trying to muster yourself up.
Well, I used to wear a t shirt at church, now I wear a button-up. That's not the point. It's not just look a little bit better. It's like, well, I went from jeans to slacks. I went from tennis shoes to loafers.
I'm doing it. And it's like, no. It's not what's out here that matters. It's that this. It's corrupted by sin, and you need a new one.
It's dead. In sin. And we need to see that. Let's continue on. Oh, sorry, really quickly.
That's for the unbeliever. I know we see that and we like, okay, cool for the unbeliever. But even for the believer, Just as you need to be born again, and that trying harder wouldn't sustain save you, trying harder will not sustain you either.
So, if you're sitting here like, okay, that's the believer, the unbeliever message. No, for the follower of Jesus, are you more amazed by the gospel today than you were a year ago? Or has it become something that it's just like, oh yeah, gospel chat, give me the other stuff? It's like, brother, we're missing it. Let's continue reading.
He says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift. Through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Up to this point, Paul has laid out the argument that our sin has separated us from God, that there is a gap. between God's holiness and our sinfulness. And that the only thing that can bridge that gap is the cross.
And the law makes us aware of that. And he says, you need rescue. And he talks about that rescue here. He says, we need redemption in Christ. He builds this argument so well.
Either in the past, or I don't know if they still do, but at Harvard Law, they used to look at the book of Romans for its contribution to how we form logical arguments. To how do we piece it together? If you went and read Romans 1 through 3, you would not get to this point and be like, you know what? I don't think I really need to do anything. Think I'm pretty good.
Like he builds the argument so well that you're like dude, we're kind of messed up without something intervening And that's what Paul is doing. He's getting us to that point. And now that we understand that everyone is equally hopeless before God and of ourselves, Paul reveals the good news. He reveals the good news that we have redemption in Jesus. And it's called good news because there's bad news.
You know, I hear people all the time, they'll be like, Yeah, I shared the gospel with people. And I'm like, Okay, what'd you say?
Well, I told them Jesus loves them, and I'm like, True. Awesome. Missing something, but great. Very true statement. Jesus does love them, 100%.
And they're like, okay, what should I have said? Should I have said Jesus loves them and died for them? I'm like, very true as well. Definitely a step in the right direction, but it's still missing something. It's still missing something that we see.
And I'm like, let's use this illustration. Imagine that you're 20 and you're on a date. I know some of you are guys, some of you in here are 20 years old, and you're like, never be me. No, but you could be on a date one day, and imagine you're walking down the curb. You're walking in the road and the person you're on a date with looks at you And they say, hey, I love you.
They make you feel good. Make you feel great, right? Heart soaring. They're like, watch this. And they jump into oncoming traffic.
You'd be like, that's not love. That brother needed some help. Why that is not love. But imagine this this way. Imagine you're in the same situation, they want to say, I love you.
And you say, oh, that's awesome. It makes me feel good inside.
Someone that you have wronged was in a car driving on the road and they hopped the curb to come hit you. And the person that just said they love you shove you out of the way and they get hit in your place. We would look in and say that is love's. That they loved her. They loved him.
That we have done that. And that's why we say that's love. It's not just that Jesus died for some arbitrary reason, that he just wanted to show, like, hey, look, I'm going to die. I love you. That's not what happened.
Look what it says in verse 25. It says, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness because, in his divine forbearance, he has passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in him. Let me say it as clearly as I can.
We have rebelled. We have committed treason against the God of the universe. And this is a good theological point that everybody needs to know. God did not become loving on the cross, he would have been just as loving, just as good, just as just, just as fair, just as all-knowing, just as all-powerful. If the second that we sinned, the second that Adam and Eve sinned, he dumped down all his wrath on us.
He would have been just as loving, but it says he doesn't do it. It says, in his divine forbearance, in his godly patience, he passed over our sins. Why? Just because he wanted to forgive? No.
Because at the cross of Christ, he wouldn't just be the God who is just and holy, he would be the holy and just God who redeems unjust and unholy people. And then when you look at that, You should be blown away. And you can say, I understand what makes the good news so dang good. It's the bad news. It's that we're hopeless without him.
It's that we have no hope apart from the gospel. And saying Jesus loves you is true, but he doesn't just love you and he didn't just die for you. This is what we need to realize: is that Jesus didn't just die. He chose to die for you, because of you, and instead of you, so that he could have you and get all the glory from redeeming you. It's that from eternity past, he set his love on you, not because we had something to offer him, but because he wanted you.
But there was a price that had to be paid because of you.
So he died instead of you to bring you back so that he could have you. and get every ounce of glory from redeeming an unrighteous person like me. And like you.
So, did Jesus die for you? Yes. Does he love you? Yes. But he did it because we were hopeless without him.
They were hopeless. And if you're listening, To what we've read thus far, maybe something stuck out to you. Maybe it didn't. He says that all have sinned and falls short of the glory of God. and that some are justified.
Well, how could God, if He's just, justify ungodly people? How could that happen? You know, Proverbs 17 says, He who justifies the wicked is an abomination to the Lord.
Well, we just said that the Lord justifies the wicked. How does that happen? How can he be both just and and the justifier. Look at verse 25. It says, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood.
If you have a copy of scripture or you're taking notes, Underline, circle, highlight, star, the word propitiation. Whatever you want to do, get it tattooed on you, whatever you got to do. Get it. If you're a believer, this word encapsulates one of the most important, if not the most important thing, that has ever happened to you. It is it has ever happened to you.
It's not a word we use daily, but it's important. How can God justify the wicked and still be just? Propitiation. Propitiation. If the law says and God's nature says that our unrighteousness has to be punished, how can he, a just judge, look at us and the wrap sheet of sin that we've accrued for ourselves and say not guilty and not be corrupt?
Propitiation. Here's the definition I'll give you: it's the act of averting the wrath of God by the offering of a gift. By the offering of a gift. What gift? What gift?
There's a picture. A story in scripture, one of the things that happened. There's a prophet named Hosea. Um and he has a wife named Gomer. If you're someone's wife or you're a woman here, name's Gomer.
Hey, no issues. The only Gomer I know is Gomer Powell, so that's all I got. My name's Gomer. And God says, Hosea, this is what I want you to do. I want you to go and marry Gomer.
Well this time Gomer was a prostitute. And this is going to be a picture of God's relationship with Israel. And so Hosea goes and marries Gomer and brings her in. They start a family, and they have children. And what does she do?
She goes and sells herself back into her old life. And so what does God do? God says, Hosea, see, that's what Israel has done to me. We're done. We're done.
You've lost it. Forget about her. He says no. He says, go back and redeem her. And so the picture is that Hosea goes back and he goes up to where his wife is doing just horrible things.
She has willfully walked away from him. And this guy's standing there, he goes, That's my wife. And he goes, You're gonna pay the price. If you want to buy her back, he goes, no, but I have great affection for her. And he's like, affection doesn't matter, the price has to be paid.
It has to be paid. And so he gets his money out and he buys his wife back. And she walks out. Can you imagine the shame? Can you imagine the guilt?
And what does he do? Does he hold it over her? No, he brings her back in, and God says, That is exactly what I will do for you in the future and for us on this side of the cross. That is exactly what he has done for us. We have sold ourselves to the highest bidder of sin.
We have sold ourselves away, and instead of leaving us in that, he goes and he buys us back in eternity past. We mentioned that you were created for him, for his glory. And you were his. And we walked away. And he went by the blood of Christ and bought back that which was already his.
It is not some glamorous picture. We're not Cinderella that's waiting to be discovered. We are the wicked one. That God brings back into the right relationship. And you need to understand that Christ had to pay that price.
In order for God to be both the just and the justifier, I can say it this way: Jesus' death on the cross paid the price required to bring you back into right relationship with Him. To bring you back. Man, his death bridges the gap that our sin created from God's holiness and our sinfulness. That's the gospel. Remember I said we're going to say, what is the gospel?
How does it save you? That's it. They said the gospel saves you. And I got an illustration that we're going to do in just a second. I've used this a dozen of times.
I've preached hundreds of sermons. I've used tons of illustrations, done, try to be the most clever I can be and say really good points that make sense. And no one ever talks about them. Everyone talks about this that I've shown them. And I did not make this up, so don't think I'm smart.
I'm not that smart, trust me. This was shown to me and it changed my life, and I'm hoping it changes yours. And I know that Pastor Andrew is known for his masterpieces on the whiteboard, so I got a lot to live up to. If you're newer, he doesn't. He's not, I love him to death.
Great man, can't write.
Okay. But This is what I want to show you. It's for the believer, this is what's happened.
Okay, this is time. All right. This is time. This is your life. And at this moment, You were saved.
And in that moment, what happened was this. You caught... a view, a glimpse of God's holiness. And in turn, you saw your own sinfulness. There will be a picture after this that goes on the screen if this is bad, so don't feel like you have to draw it.
If you want to, you can. But what happened is you caught a glimpse of God's holiness, and you caught a glimpse of your own sinfulness. And so you believed in that moment, by the grace of God. That the cross was the only thing to bridge that gap. You believed it wholeheartedly.
Amen, church. And what should happen? Is as we walk and we look at the gospel, we see more and more of God's holiness. Not that He becomes more holy, it's that we rightly see who He is. But simultaneously, what happens is we see more and more how sinful we are.
Not that you're sinning more frequently, not that he needs to re-die for your sin, but that you see rightly the vastness and the depth and the subtlety of your own sin. And what should happen is we should look back to the gospel and realize, oh man, Jesus is bridging that gap more and more than I ever imagined. I said this earlier. If you're a believer in the room, as blown away as you were, I don't know about you, we were talking about last night with my mom and aunt when God moved to save me. And even in these moments, I ran into my mom's room one time after watching The Passion of the Christ, and I was just snot-nosed everywhere.
I was a 13 year old and I'm just sobbing because I'm blown away by the gospel. That should be the smallest view of Christ I ever have. That as I walk with him, I should be more and more blown away. I shouldn't be less and less shocked he saved someone like me. I should be more and more blown away that he could use someone like me.
That's what should happen. But what happens? Let me say this. This is why we say at Mercy Two all the time: you don't go beyond the gospel, you just grow deeper into it.
So, you've been around for a while, you've heard that. But this is what we're talking about when we say that. When we say gospel sinner, this is what we mean. But some of you here today All over the gospel, amazement over the gospel. being blown away by the gospel, that is not how you would describe your walk with Christ right now.
You're like, brother, if you run it on three flats. Yeah. Almost run on empty, whatever you want to run. That'd be more apt. I mean this is what happens.
This is how we miss it sometimes. The same thing. This is your life. And at some point in God's sovereignty and in His divine grace, you have believed that there was a gap between God's holiness. And your sinfulness.
And you believe by the grace of God that the cross bridged that gap, and it was the only thing that could bridge that gap. And what happens is as you follow Jesus and you walk more and more and you see God's holiness, it's not that He becomes more holy. You just catch more and more of a glimpse of His holiness. And in turn, what happens is you see your own sinfulness in a new way. Not that you sin more frequently or you need to be atoned for more, but the vastness and the subtlety and the depth of your sin.
And what should happen is you should look back at a cross and be blown away. That he would save someone like you, but that's not what happens. What happens is, and you've seen people like this, or it's been yourself. is that they get saved. And when you hear them talk about Jesus, he's still this tiny Savior in their brain.
They did something a long time ago. You know, when they talk about our salvation, they talk about, yeah, I was saved, I got baptized when I was 13. That's their stamp, not the blown away now by the gospel. Right, when I say, are you married? I don't look back and be like, well, yeah, I did at one point.
I'm like, no, I'm functionally doing, I'm more in love with her today than I ever was.
So, how does that happen? How does this happen? We begin. to fill this gap. With other things.
We catch a glimpse of God's holiness and we say, I don't stack up to that. And instead of trying to let the cross cover that, we're like, well, I got to be better. I gotta be more religious. I gotta be more moral. I'm actually better than them.
I actually don't even know that I need God to cover that gap. I think I'm a little bit better than everybody else. You know, they're down there in sinfulness, but I'm still here in sinfulness, and God's there.
So, like, my gap isn't as big as yours. Or you go on the other side, you see God's holiness, like, God, how could you ever love someone like me? The absolute audacity to think he didn't know everything you would ever do to begin with. And what happens is we fall into despair. We fall into fear, into guilt, into shame.
You can write whatever word. Pops up there for you. And we can throw this picture on the screen so you can have a lot better drawing than the one I just did. And what happens is so many people You live that way. And you don't even realize it.
But what we need to realize is this. Pastor Joby Martin says it this way: We're all tempted to go one way or the other. For every mile of road, there's two miles of ditch.
So, every time you walk in your faith, you can fall off one way or the other, and you need to be aware of the tendency you have to fall off. The people in the room who are like, Man, I struggle with pride. Thinking someone struggles with despair is insane to you. And the person who's in here and they feel like you're the worst piece of crap in the room, sorry, piece of crap, but bad person, whatever you want to say, in the room. The person who said that, like, how could you ever be prideful?
How could you ever be prideful before God? What I'm going to tell you is this, this is what you need to know. Listen carefully. Pride and despair are two sides of the same coin. They both take our eyes off Christ and put them on ourselves.
Pride says, I don't need it. Despair says, I'll never have it. They both say it's all about me. They both say it's all about me. Man, you need to repent for your salvation.
We need to be repenting people for our sanctification. You need to repent to be saved. You need to repent to continue to be sustained. You need to constantly look at the areas in which you fill that gap, not with the cross, but with something that you can do. And you need to ask and say, God, let me be blown away by the fact that you saved me.
You knew all this about me to begin with, and you still saved me. And you need to have that view of you. How do you think God views you? A.W. Tozier said it this way.
The most important thing in your life, the most important answer to the question is: how do you view God? Another pastor said it this way. The second most important question is, how do you think God views you? Because that would dictate this. If you think God is looking down when you stand and say, Oh, gosh.
We really messed up saving him, didn't we, Jesus? And we laugh, but some of us functionally live that way. Or if you think God's like, man, we picked a good one. He really didn't have any sin, we got lucky. That's not what he does.
If you think anything other than he looks at you as a beloved son or daughter because of the blood that was spilled on the cross, if any other view of yourself of how God views you, if there's anything different, you will fall one way or the other. You were four? Into one side of the ditch or the other. And we need to let the cross of Christ bridge that gap and continually bridge that gap. Charles Spurgeon says this: He says, I have a great need for Christ, and I have a great Christ for my need.
That is what you said functionally with your life when you became a believer. If you're a believer in the room, if you're not a believer, that is what you are saying if you were to place faith in Christ. Is that you realize you have a great need for Christ and you have a great Christ for that need. But for the believer, as you grow, you say the same thing, you just add to it. What do I mean?
You say this: I have a greater need for Christ than I realized, and I have a greater Christ than I realized for that need. It's not that he becomes greater. It's that you realize how vast he actually was. Is that you realize he blows out every expectation, every thought about what you needed to save you? It's like, oh my gosh, Jesus, it was so much more than that.
It was so much more. And we have to begin all over the gospel.
So, how do we prevent ourselves from dipping in one way or the other? Let me get really practical here for a moment. How do we prevent from not letting the gospel sustain us, but letting something else? If you've been going to Mercy a while, this is my fear. This is to the home crowd.
If you're a friend and you're just coming, check us out, or you're not a believer, you can listen in, but this is for the family. Are you more blown away by the gospel today than you were when you first showed up?
Sometimes I'm not, sometimes I am. But we should be. But how do we keep walking in that verses like this? Hebrews 12, 1 and 2. Therefore, Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight.
And sin, which clings so closely. Let us run with endurance, stay on that straight road, the race that is set before us, not falling off the right or left. Looking to Jesus, who, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame that we try to take and make our identity, despising that, he pressed on and is seated at the right hand of God. What does it not say? It doesn't say, look to Jesus, the founder, now you be the perfecter.
Make yourself right now. Do all the right things. He paid when you messed up the law the first time.
Now don't you mess it up. Doesn't say that. It said, he's the founder. He's the perfecter. He's the one that's going to make it true in you.
All the things that have declared righteousness that are on you, he's going to make functionally righteous because it's him. And Paul continues it in Philippians 1. He says, and I'm sure of this. That he who began a good work in you Will bring it to completion at the day of Christ Jesus. It does not say that I am sure of this: that he who began a good work is waiting for you to bring it to completion.
He doesn't say that. You remember.
So three things, number one, remember the price that was paid for you. Remember the price. In 1 Corinthians, the church in Corinth is doing a lot of things that we talked about Gomer was doing. They're going and doing a lot of these things. Paul doesn't say, quit it, you.
Have you not read the law? Fix yourself. What does he say? Remember that you were bought for a price. Why does he say that?
Because in remembering the price that was paid for you, will change you. It will. It can't not change you. Paul says, I'm sure of it. It will.
For the believer, that's what you need to repent. You need to turn and remember. That he did that for the unbeliever. You can't remember something that ever happened to you. We said that the first two and a half chapters, all the way up to verse 21 in Romans, Paul has said, you're dead and you're hopeless.
But in those first two words of verse 21, you need to circle them. He says it. But now.
Some of you need a but now moment. You have been going and you've been trying to look the part, and you're a decent person compared to other people. But before God, you know, you don't stand a chance. You need a moment where God steps in and says, But now you are mine. No more fighting, no more running, none of that.
I have bought you back for a price. You need to text the gospel to 87217. You need to have a conversation with somebody. Or you've been a believer for a while. And you've been playing this game and you've been hiding the secret and you need to take a step out.
This might be your butt now moment that you say, button now, I will put my faith on display through believers' baptism. And I'm gonna be talking to the young kids. I know there's an adult in here. I know. I know that you were baptized when you were six and you didn't believe, and at some point after that, you believed, and you've been just coasting through because it's easy for people to think that you've been baptized.
You think you've declared it because you're around it enough. And we said earlier, God wants to get every ounce of glory from saving you. And will you text that and talk to somebody? The second thing is this. belong to a purchased people.
You are not just saved to be this Lone Ranger, isolation, John Wayne shoot-from-the-hip Christian. You were saved to belong to a people in Acts chapter 20. He says to the pastors, he said, care for the church. Why? Not because it's your job, not because you get paid for it, because they are the bride of Christ whom he obtained, whom Christ purchased by his blood.
You are called to belong to a purchased people. Commit to your group. Commit to coming to the Nehemiah series. Commit to digging it out, saying, What is God rebuilding? What do I need to take to him to rebuild?
What has he rebuilt in scripture? What has he perfected in the cross? Lean all the way in. Go to the weekender. Man, jump in and be part of what God has called you to do.
And the last thing is this, and I'll close. Tell others of the God who pursues them. Tell others of the God who pursues them. You know, my fear is when I hear about, and I talk about this gap. That there's some people and the second I talked about it What you said is, I got a long way to go before I get to God.
And you haven't heard anything else I've said. I want you to lock back in. He said, man, there's a big gap. There's a long road I got to get to get to God. What I'll tell you is you'll never get there.
There's a story that paints that picture, the prodigal son. This son does what you and I did, and he ran away and he ran from the father, and he decides to come back. He's got this list of things. And what happens is he goes to the dad and he makes his case, and his dad is like, Well, you made a good enough case, so come back to me. No, that's not what happened.
There was no case that he could make that would make up for what he had done to his father. But it says, when he was a long way off, what happened? The father ran to him. And you, some of you in here, are a long way off. And for the believers in the room, there are people out there who are a long way off, and we get the chance to be the hands and feet of the one who had his hands and feet pierced for you and me.
We get to run. Go to envision. Go to Invision, even if you never go to the nations. Do you care about them? Or is it just somebody else's job?
And play your role in telling others of the God who pursues them. For the believer in the room, there is something that we need to say, God safeguard me against the way I tend to fall off and try to sustain in my own ability. For others of you believers, you have fallen off and you need to repent and get back to trying to do something to add to the gospel. Jesus plus, Jesus plus, is Jesus plus nothing? You need to repent.
You need to come down front and be in your seat. You need to do everything. Repent. For the unbeliever in the room. Man, you need to say, I believe he was that big word you use that I can't remember, propitiate, whatever it was, that he is the gift that was exchanged for me.
It's the greatest exchange in human history. Let him apply it to you. and walk it out in you. Mercy as we continue on. And what God has for us, it is only going to be the sustaining power of the gospel that gets us there as a church and you there as an individual.
That's it. That's all it will be. Let's pray. Got it. I ask.
The Lord, for everybody in the room, that we would look at ourselves, not be like, well, yeah, they don't believe in the gospel, they don't believe, they're not believing, it doesn't matter. God, you are worried about us. Thank God for some of us in the room. We need to believe for the very first time. We need to talk to an elder, we need to pray and believe for the very first time.
For those of us, we've been a follower of Jesus for a while and we have fallen off into the depth. We'd be like, man, I am not blown away. by my salvation. like I was. I'm not enthralled by the gospel.
It's because when we see that gap. widening. When it's not actually getting wider, we're just becoming aware of it. We see it, we try to feel it. I'm gonna be a better person, or I'm unredeemable.
I can't ever get over that. That God wanted to come repent of that and look back to the cross. blown away by the gospel. But then, for the other believers, man, you have done what you've done and you've kept some followers just folks in the gospel. We need to pray and be thankful that you're doing that and pray against that you would safeguard us falling off into one of those ditches.
But God, you want every ounce of glory of our lives.
So let's give it to you. In Christ name we pray. Amen.
