ROMANS: Why God Uses Big Words

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Amen.

You can have a seat.

If you have a Bible, I invite you to take it and open up to the book of Romans.

Romans chapter 3.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

We're preaching through Romans.

And before we start reading this morning in chapter, I mean in verse 21, I'll remind you where we ended up last week.

We ended up while you're finding Romans 3, just hear these words because it's it's not it's not it's enough to notice that God speaks, but God speaks the loudest when everyone else stops talking.

And so we ended off last week with these words in Romans chapter 3, verse 19.

Romans 3:19

He says, Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Now, hear that again.

He says that what the law says, it says to those that are under the law.

In other words, that God has built a case.

Starting in Romans chapter 1, verse 1, all the way up to Romans chapter 3, verse 20.

Romans 1:1 Romans 3:20

He says, hey, here's the deal.

Here's what God's been saying and what God's been doing.

God has been stopping every, just shutting everyone's mouth, not by raising his voice above their voice, but just by saying, hey, here's the truth that none of you can deny.

And people are like, it's kind of like when you get in an argument with your wife and you open your mouth to say something and nothing comes out.

You're like, whoa.

See, Pookie and Ray Ray, we go, never mind.

I'm good.

No, say it.

No, it's good.

See, what we can't get out is that we don't have anything to say.

So we just kind of, uh, and the Bible says that God does what He says what He says up to this point in Romans, so that every mouth will be stopped and the whole world will be held accountable to God.

See, let me demonstrate what I'm talking about because for the past six months between the election and just no more political commercials.

And you can go for the next probably six to eight months before you have to hear the phrase Black Friday again.

No more Black Friday.

No more.

I'm sick of hearing about Black Friday.

Someone said to me, Are you going shopping on Black Friday?

I'm gonna go shop.

I'm gonna go hunting on Black Friday, okay?

I'm gonna go to no, I no, I'm not leaving my house.

I've been in my house for three days, scooped up, just going nowhere, loving, have my in-laws and their dog party.

Hey, when you go to someone's house for the holidays, you can't bring a pet.

It's in the Bible somewhere.

I'm just saying.

I'm not bitter or anything.

I'm just saying it's in the Bible somewhere.

You can't come to my house, I mean, someone's house, and bring your dog.

They have they have institutions called kennels, and you board those dogs.

But anyway, the Bible says God says what he says so that every mouth will be stopped and the whole world accountable.

One of my professors in seminary said this.

He said, Your true character is revealed when you have the upper hand on your enemies, when you got them with nowhere to go.

And so the past six months of my life and your life between Christmas, which started in September and the and the election, and blah, blah, blah, sounded a lot like this.

Just listen.

It's a dog eat dog world, man.

Now for just 1995.

I don't believe in God.

I believe in science.

How much is that gonna cost?

I mean the corporate ladder didn't turn out quite like that.

Hey mom, dad, never it's only on you.

This season must have on sale today.

Hey Dad, you play doctor?

It doesn't yell and kind of go, hey, listen to me! I'm talking what God does is God speaks in such a way that the Bible says that every mouth is stopped.

And the whole world is accountable, and God has humanity right where he wants them.

And his true character is revealed in what he says in Romans chapter 3, starting in verse 21, where he says, But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, for there's 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.

Romans 3 · chapter mention

This was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he's passed over former sins.

It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and a justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Then what becomes of our boasting?

It is excluded.

By what kind of a law?

By a law of works?

No, but by the law of faith.

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Or is God the God of the Jews only?

Is he not the God of the Gentiles also?

Yes, of Gentiles also.

Since God is one, he will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

Do we then overthrow the law by this faith?

Does it not matter how we live because we're forgiven?

And God's a God of love?

So we ain't gonna do anything the Bible says?

By no means.

On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Martin Luther said that that passage of scripture is the crux of the gospel and the most profound recording of the English language that has ever been made or ever will be made by anybody.

And most of the times we read that in church, when we read that, we're just reading the Bible, and we kind of go, thank you.

I have no idea what that means.

Which is why I want to talk to you today about why God uses big words.

Why God uses big words.

And I just want to point out, pull out four of the big words that God uses.

And then I want to just kind of say, and by the way, no just hear a big word, hear what God is saying behind this big word and with this big word.

Because here's my fear is that most of the things in church have been kind of shrunk down to the level of our willingness.

We kind of take in big God things and words like righteousness and justification and propitiation and all those good words.

You got to think about them a little bit.

And now, instead of that, we have words in the church like feelings.

And you.

Really small words.

Really words that are willy-nilly dependent on if you got your way or if somebody came to your house for Thanksgiving and hijacked the remote and didn't give it back.

And I just stared at him.

You ever give somebody the stink eye until they look at you like hello?

We're watching people cook and their football on.

Anyway.

First word God pulls out and gives to us.

Why?

God uses big words like, first of all, righteousness.

Look at verse 21.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.

There's so much here I don't have time to preach, but let me just say, he says it's been manifested.

In other words, it didn't, it didn't it didn't come into existence.

It's been here all along.

But now God makes it obvious.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.

Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

Bear witness to what?

This righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

Righteousness.

Hey, this is how people who were born wrong get right with God.

And by the way, when it says the law and the prophets testify, they kind of support this, they point this out.

That's the phrase I want to draw your attention to and say, let's just think a little bit about what God means when he says, hey, the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.

If you can't keep the rules, I got good news for you.

Number one, you're in great company because nobody can keep the rules.

He said, What do you mean?

Have you ever wondered why in the Old Testament, have you read the Old Testament lately?

Because if you got honest, we don't really like the Old Testament because the Old Testament is me no God and the New Testament is lovey Jesus.

Jesus hangs out with prostitutes and he drinks wine.

You know Jesus drank wine, right?

I heard a summer one time, and a guy tried to convince everybody that Jesus drank grape juice.

It wasn't really wine.

And I just thought, are you kidding me?

Is this really happening?

Yes, it happened.

And I just thought, oh, help us, Jesus.

But anyway, uh and so we we love Jesus because he was loving us, and we, Old Testament, and his rules and this, that, and the other.

You ever wonder that why in the midst of the law, this is why you should read things in the Bible, and I just skip over and go, I don't get that.

No, even though the law and the prophets, he says, hey, but now, but, but now, because it used to not be this way.

Now something is happening that's never happened before.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.

Why?

Because no one can get right with God by keeping the rules.

Because you can't keep the rules, because you by nature are screw-ups and liars and rule breakers.

Happy Thanksgiving.

When you're glad you came to church, you're probably looking at your wife kind of going, you shaved your legs for this, honey.

Enjoy.

Yes, but here's the thing: even though the law and the prophets testify about, what do they testify to?

What does the Old Testament point to?

And the Bible says right here, he says, hey, the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

What?

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

People in the Old Testament were saved the same way you and I are through faith in Jesus Christ, through all who believe.

The difference is they look forward to the promise being fulfilled.

We look back at the fact that the promise has been fulfilled.

But we're both saved through faith in Jesus Christ for all of us who believe.

And the law and the prophets bear witness to this.

You say, How do you mean?

What?

What?

The righteousness of God.

I'm just confused.

Think of it this way: when the law is given and it's unyielding demands in the midst of, like, for example, have you read the book of Leviticus lately?

I mean, you just read two chapters and you're like, I don't stand a chance.

Are you kidding me?

I got linen shirts.

I'm in trouble here.

The law is given, and it's unyielding, unflinching demands, but in the midst of that, have you ever noticed?

It also contains instructions for the sacrifice of the lamb on the day of atonement.

In other words, God gave the commandment, but he also gave the altar and he taught the principle of substitution.

Rather than trusting in your ability to do what you could never do, God says, I'm going to point you to my son.

That's what Paul's saying right there when he says, in righteousness, he says, but now the righteousness of God has been manifested, made obvious.

The picture's gotten really clear.

Apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, bear witness to what?

What does the Old Testament bear witness to?

That there's this righteousness, there's this way of relating to God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

And the Old Testament has pointed to that all along.

He said, What do you mean?

Let's go back to the garden.

Remember in the Garden of Eden, uh Adam and Eve sinned, and what did they do?

They kind of covered themselves with leaves.

Remember that?

Hello?

Remember that?

They made, Bible says, for themselves coverings.

They did the best that they can do.

And God comes and says, Hey, why are you hiding?

And they said, Well, we we we we we sinned and we're naked and we and and and we made coverings for ourselves.

And God said, Who told you you were naked?

And uh I don't because the Bible says that when they sinned, their eyes were open and they realized they were naked.

You've never been anywhere naked and didn't you know you were naked, did you?

Their eyes were open and they realized they were naked.

Sin causes you to see yourself as you really are.

You're like, uh oh, something's wrong here.

So they took responsibility and said, we're gonna make coverings for ourselves.

And God said, subtly yet so loudly, way back in the garden, that's I don't want you doing that.

That's just religion.

You covering for yourself.

So God killed an animal and provided skins.

Remember that?

Animal skins, coverings for them.

You ever wonder what kind of animal it was?

Because you come forward out of the Garden of Eden, Genesis, go just a little bit further.

Genesis 22, Abram offers his son his only son.

Heard that phrase before?

He goes to offer him up on a mountain, and all the way the son's going, Dad, where's the where's where's the where's the ram?

Where's the offering?

He said, God will provide for himself a ram.

And they get there and he raises a knife, and God says, Stop.

Looks behind him, there's a ram.

God provides this ram.

What do he needs for the sacrifice?

Fast forward in the New Testament.

John the Baptist sees Jesus coming on the scene for the first time, and he says to everybody, Behold, there's a word we don't use, not masculine at all.

No one's gonna say it today.

Behold, lunch.

He says, Behold, check it out.

Don't miss this.

Everybody, stop what you're doing.

Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

If you go all the way to the end of the book of Revelation, it's all through the Bible, by the way.

Because remember when the children of Israel were in bondage and they came out, and he says, I'm gonna send the death angel.

He said, You take blood and put it on the doorpost of your house, and and you sacrifice the lamb, you take the blood of the lamb and you put it on the doorpost, and the death angel is gonna pass over and not gonna kill your firstborn because you've applied the blood of the lamb to the doorpost.

You look all the way into the end of Revelation, and what you see is that John says in Revelation, I looked, and at the center of it all, there at the throne was a lamb standing as if slain from the very foundation of the world, like way back before any of this began.

And and Paul comes along and we see the big word righteousness, and we go, I don't know what that means.

I hear it at church all the time.

He says, Hey, this this the law and the prophets bear witness.

The Old Testament has always pointed to this, this righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, said simply, here's what righteousness, the big word righteousness means for you and I.

God has always had a plan.

God has always had a plan.

Whatever your situation you're facing today, if you don't believe that, see, God has had a plan and an idea, not just an idea, but a reality in mind.

When he killed the animals back in the Garden of Eden, he knew forward what was going to happen and he had a plan all along.

And so if God has a plan for your most fundamental and most pressing and urgent need, can you believe today, 21-year-old girl who's not married and thought you'd be married by now, that God has a plan for the kind of guy you're going to marry?

You don't have to start off when you're 19 going, I want him to be godly, and I want him to be a missionary, I want him to go to church, I want him to be a worship leader and have a scruffy beard and some tattered jeans and a nice guitar and make a lot of money and drive this certain kind of car, and you're 21 and you're like, well, if you got a pulse, I'm available.

No, because see, we have so separated our faith from, hey, I believe God's got a plan for the atoning sacrifice for my sins to be forever removed from my life and not have uh authority over me, but I don't know if God's got a plan for making my adult children get their life back on track.

Because when they came home for Thanksgiving, some of you tried to fix them.

Sure you did, because your kids emailed me.

What are you preaching on Sunday?

Can you work this in?

No, they didn't.

You just tried to.

It's just human nature.

See, one of the ways, mom and dad, you demonstrate to your adult children that God has a plan is you stop having so many.

And you smile and go, you know what?

I believe God's got a plan, and he ain't not gonna entrust you with it because you're acting like a goofball.

And for God to reveal it to you now would make God look like he doesn't know what a goofball you are, but he does.

So he withhelds revelation from you because you can't be trusted with it.

Because he wants you, if you're gonna do this, to screw up so he can go, I'm smarter than that.

I can tell you that.

So don't come here and think, oh, God's got a plan.

Check number two.

No, number now.

If you really believe this, righteousness means that God has always had a plan.

What is it in your life that God does not have a plan for?

Like my in-laws and my not just my in-laws who I love, love my in-laws, but my sister-in-law and her husband, and their son showed up on Wednesday.

I've just been telling myself every day God has a plan.

And the plan was realized today because they left this morning.

They came and got that dog this morning.

My wife looked at me yesterday, she said, How are you doing?

God has a plan.

What are you doing?

I'm preaching the sermon to myself.

See, righteousness, big word, real simple, available truth.

Second word, big word God uses, justification.

Look at verse 24.

He says, Hey, for all of sin, for he says, for there's no distinction.

I don't have time to preach this, but let me just point this out.

He says, for there's no distinction, verse 23, for all have sin and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift.

See, we we you can't make the distinction.

We say, Oh, for all of sin and fall short of the glory of God.

Well, there's a comma there, not a period.

You can't put a period where God puts a comma and he says, and are justified by his grace as a gift.

Where we make that distinction is in who we choose to share the gospel with.

We make this distinction.

Well, I would share with that person, but you know, God, that they don't believe.

You know, my brother is a professor, or my son, he's a scientist, he's really smart, or my daughter, she lives with her boyfriend, she doesn't want to hear this.

You're making distinctions the Bible says you can't make.

There's no distinction for all of sin and fall short of the glory of God.

And are, you gotta keep reading, and are justified by his grace as a gift.

And are justified by his grace as a gift.

The second big word God uses is justification in verse 24.

Let me make a crazy sounding statement.

One of the problems in the American church is that we talk about forgiveness too much.

Whatever you say.

I like forgiveness.

I like forgiveness too.

I love forgiveness.

But if all you ever hear about and think about is forgiveness, you'll never stop sinning.

Okay?

Convince me that's true.

You say, what do you mean?

Forgiveness says you're free to go.

Your debt is paid.

Sins atoned for.

It's all true.

You may go on your way.

But here's what we do: we go on our way.

God says, you're free, you're forgiven, go on your way.

Like the woman in John 8, caught in adultery, not a leg to stand on.

She's standing there like a one-legged person in a kicking contest.

What's she gonna say?

Uh uh, I wasn't doing it.

She was caught in the very act.

Jesus says, Hey, who condemns you?

Nobody.

Well, neither do I.

Go your way and sin no more.

And forgiveness is, oh, I'm free to go?

Are you kidding me?

No, go.

Okay.

What happens is we go on our way, and we're like, okay, Jesus said, Don't sin.

I'm forgiven.

My sin debt is paid.

Okay, I need to not sin.

Don't sin.

Oh, sin's kind of getting me.

Turned on my computer, saw something that kind of tempted me.

Oh man, I'm around some people during the holidays.

They tempt me.

I don't want to sin.

I don't want to sin.

I don't want to sin.

What happens is your whole life is oriented unconsciously around sin and not sinning.

And oh, keeping a measure of sin.

How am I doing?

Am I sinning?

Am I sinning a lot or a little?

Because if I sin a lot, then I gotta do some good stuff to take care of that sin.

You're just making coverings for yourself.

But the worst part is, and here's why forgiveness is a great doctrine, but it's not the only thing you and I need to hear because it teaches us to just kind of we we we we we check ourselves and our life becomes and our gospel becomes a gospel of sin management.

How am I doing it, not sinning?

That's not the question of Christianity.

See, that's forgiveness.

Forgiveness says you're you're free to go.

Justification.

What Paul says, hey, these people who they know we've all sinned and fall short of the glory of God, comma, and are justified by his grace as a gift.

As a gift.

Justification, what is that?

See, forgiveness says you're free to go.

Justification says you're free to come.

You're free to come to me.

You don't have to be afraid of me.

You're free to come into my presence.

That's why the writer of Hebrews says, come boldly before the throne in time of need.

You don't have to go to some person, some priest or preacher and talk to them and get them to talk to God on your behalf.

Because justification means, justification says that God, you've been made, you and I who were born wrong have been made right with God by God.

And so justification says, hey, forgiveness is you're free to go.

Justification says you're free to come.

You're free to come to me.

That's why Jesus comes, come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and you'll find rest for your souls.

You people that come to Jesus, what happens is that you don't think about not sinning.

You think about, oh my gosh, what does God know about me that I can't seem to believe about me?

Because He's justified me.

This is a done deal.

He's never going to change his mind about me.

So consciously, what begins to happen is you begin to orient your life around the presence of God and the approval of God.

And you're not earning it, you have it.

You're not walking out here today, keeping short accounts with God because you don't want to, you know, get no.

You have his approval.

When I was a kid, I went through probably about a two-year period where I spilled my drink, I bet you three to five times a week.

I would knock something over on our table.

Use if we had milk, I'd knock it over.

And my stepmom would go, really?

Are you kidding me?

You sat there the rest of this meal and you can't have any more milk or tea or whatever we were drinking.

And I would just sit there and eat.

And my brothers and stepsisters were all snickering because I spilled my drink and I couldn't have any more because I was a clutch.

And I just remember eating and just kind of thinking, so when I got kids of my own, if my kids come to your house and they spill something, what will come out of their mouth involuntarily will be this.

No big deal.

Why?

Because I refuse to stand over my kids and go, Oh, you spilled something?

You probably planned to do that.

Now you sit there and swallow your food with spit.

Because you deserve that.

That's why.

So my kids spill stuff.

It's not like it's they planned it on purpose and they'll go, no big deal.

And they always look at my wife and I kind of like, still no big deal, right?

And I just smile and go, no big deal, babe.

It's just spilled milk.

We got some more.

We should be burning in hell right now.

But we have a refrigerator over there and it's cold and it's got cold stuff in it.

Is God good or what?

I'll just spill my milk too.

Get me some while you're there.

And my kids walk out, kind of going, our dad's kind of different.

He knocked his milk over on purpose.

And I did.

And you know why?

I don't want my kids to ever be afraid of being around me when they screw up.

You've been justified with God, made right with God forever.

Nothing can change that.

And so what happens is you walk around and you never get out of his presence.

And so you consciously begin to orient yourself around the presence of God and the acceptance of God.

And so pretty soon sin no longer appeals to you because it doesn't satisfy you.

And you just find yourself thinking about, hey, what?

You don't have to put a bracelet on that says, what would Jesus do?

You already know what he would do.

He's made you right with him.

Forgiveness, good, but not sufficient.

Justification, hey, I I've been made right with God by God.

See, justification means this, says this.

Here's what God says in this big word, this simple truth.

God always knows what you need.

He always knows what you need.

That's why he says, You've been justified by grace as a gift.

He always knows.

You need forgiveness, but more than that, you need justification.

You need to realize and accept being accepted by God.

Third big word that he gives us is redemption.

Verse 24.

You know, justified by his grace is a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Through the redemption.

It was in Singapore.

You should go to Singapore before you die.

I was preaching in Singapore.

Cleanest city in the world.

You can eat off the sidewalks.

Nobody chews gum.

No one throws stuff down.

No, it is immaculate.

It's beautiful.

And I'm in Singapore and I'm waiting on our car.

They sent a car to get us, and I'm waiting on the car to come get us.

And I'm standing outside this apartment building, and this guy strikes up a conversation with me, and we just start talking.

And I said, he said, So what are you doing here?

Are you an expat?

And I said, No, no, actually, I'm here, I'm preaching at a church here in the city.

It's I think it's International Baptist Church.

And he's like, Oh, so what do you tell people?

How long you got?

Huh?

No.

I said, I tell the people that they are by nature a bunch of screw-ups and sinful people, just like me, who've done wrong, who knew right and did wrong, and God sent his son to pay the price for all the wrongs that we've done so we could have a relationship with him.

If you were preaching tonight, what would you tell people?

Oh, I would tell people to just to make offerings to their gods, whatever God they want to choose, whatever God works for them.

I said, that's pragmatism by the time the car pulls up.

And the guy's like, they're rude there, by the way.

Because they got to turn those rides, they got to make money.

And the guy honked and I said, just chill, just chill.

There's not a fire going on.

And I just talking to the guy, and he goes, Well, your driver's here.

My driver can wait.

And he's like, Oh, uh, hey, I give you 20 bucks if you wait for two minutes.

Take your time, dude.

And I said, So you, he says, yes.

He said, I follow the Buddha and I burn incense and I put food out like oranges you see all over in the storekeeper's windows.

You'll see oranges to his little statue.

And I said, You ever notice the oranges are still there tomorrow?

He's apparently not hungry.

And the guy said, Oh, I know, I know, but but I still do it.

It's what I've chosen to do.

And I said, Let me ask you something.

And here's one of those big words, one of those simple words like redemption, where he says, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, what Paul is saying, what the Bible's saying, most importantly, what God is saying is that only in Jesus does redemption happen.

And I just said, hey, and I'm not making fun of.

He goes, No, I enjoy religious conversation.

This is not religious conversation, okay?

I would rather be beat with a graphite pipe than have a religious conversation.

And he goes, You are very crazy.

Thank you.

I said, I'm not a Buddhist, so I don't understand it.

Pardon my ignorance, but can I ask you a question?

Please, the guy honks.

I got another 20, okay?

Give me two more minutes.

Take your time, dude.

How does he redeem you?

It didn't bat an eye.

Oh, he doesn't.

He doesn't.

I do that myself.

And that's in your nature, too.

That's why Adam and Eve made coverings for themselves, because we want to redeem ourselves so we can boast.

That's why he says at the end of this thing, so where's the boasting?

You can't.

What do you mean redemption?

If you got your Bible and you're in Romans, turn to the left of the book of Hosea.

It's after the book of Daniel.

If you don't have it, it'll come up on the screen.

See, redemption is a big word that says a profound truth to you and I.

Hosea chapter 1.

Hosea 1 · chapter mention

Verse 2.

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, Go, take yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom.

I just like to find that in your fortune cookie today.

What's your say, Charlie?

You don't want to know.

No, read it out loud for everybody.

Grandma, go ahead.

Go.

Take to yourself a wife of whoredom.

What in the world?

Now look at me.

Don't recoil and kind of cover your kids' ears.

Like, don't listen to this, little Johnny.

No, Johnny, listen to this.

God says to Hosea, anytime off the book of Hosea, when God told Hosea to do something extreme, it's because God's people are doing something extreme.

Go take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom for the land.

Hear that?

For the land, not the dirt, the people.

The land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.

So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Deblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

And you read the rest of chapter one, and it doesn't get any better.

And you read chapter two, and God begins to punish Israel's unfaithfulness.

And in the meantime, Gomer, by the way, did any of you go to high school with a girl named Gomer?

This is why.

You weren't in the first grade, and somebody said, What's your name?

Well, that's Debbie, and that's Roshonda, and that's Gomer over there.

Chapter three.

We're only one chapter since we started reading the first chapter.

She's already left him.

She's gone off and she's committed heinous adultery.

She's been passed around like a bong at a foghead concert.

Nobody wants her anymore.

So here's what they do.

That's exactly what happened.

I can feel some of you religious people.

Oh, that's deplorable.

Well, my lord, I'll tell you what.

No, that's exactly what happened.

She has been with so many men.

Look at this, beloved, that men no longer want her.

And so, just one chapter.

We're in chapter one, just in chapter two.

How long did that take?

She's down there being sold on the auction block.

Chapter 3, verse 1.

And the Lord said to me, Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel.

They turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.

You're like, I don't love raisins.

Raisin cakes were an aphrodisiac.

People love to get turned on to the idea of other gods, whatever works for me.

It's like the guy in Singapore.

I prayed with Buddha because it works for me.

Verse 2, so I bought her for 15 shekels of silver and a homer and a legic of barley.

And I said to her, You must dwell as mine for many days.

You shall not play the whore or belong to another man.

So will I also be to you.

See, once again, God used this strong language, and then he says, By the way, so will I also be to you.

For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.

Ephid was a linen garment that a priest wore under his clothes.

It was his priestly garment without Ephid.

You don't need a preacher, and you don't need these little trinkety household gods that you put oranges and burn incense to.

Verse 5, afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

If you've been with us since we've been reading through, preaching through Romans, you should, that should sound familiar to you.

Because back in chapter 2, verse 5, Paul says, Of God, it is kindness, is what leads us to repentance.

God says, You'll come back to me because no one's as good to you as I am.

You say, Well, why?

How do we get from redemption to Hosea and Gomer?

Because you and I are like Gomer.

We have an incalculable capacity to be unfaithful.

And God says, I want my people to know what I'm like.

You go down there and you buy your wife back off the slave market after she's been passed around like the bong at the fog hat concert and no one wants her.

And so there she is for sale.

You go down there and you buy her back.

Why does God do that?

Because it goes on.

See, see, God says it's not just an idea, it's a reality.

And here's the simple statement he's making with redemption is that God's love is never based on our behavior.

Some of you are like, I don't know about that.

Are you saying it doesn't matter how we behave?

Not at all.

I'm saying when you realize the way he loves you, it'll change the way you behave.

You don't realize the way he loves you.

You think he loves you because you're good.

And I'm telling you, on your best day, you're just like Gomer.

Just like I am.

All your righteous deeds are as filthy rags in the sight of a holy God.

And so his love is never based on our behavior.

And if you got kids, you understand this.

Because I promise you, your kids have said this to you before.

My kids have said this to me before.

Both of them.

We have a 15-year-old and a nine-year-old.

And when our sweet, little lovable 15, oh, y'all come out and go, oh, your kids are so well behaved.

Yeah, but you weren't there when they were little.

And our oldest Madison would melt down and freak out.

We put her in timeout in her crib when she was a toddler and she would growl.

Like, I think that kid got an evil spirit or something.

We need to get some holy water and throw it on her.

Come out.

She would throw all her stuffed animals.

We'd put her in there and you'd hear boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Stuffed animals going against the wall across her bedroom.

Rip the bed sheets off and roll them up and throw them out.

And then she would get on the edge of the railing and body surf and just balance.

You'd go in there, she'd be looking at you.

And I just walk over to the edge of the crib and I just lean down and go, now you got about two more minutes to do all this, and then you're gonna pick all this up and you're gonna put this sheep back on this.

I don't know how.

Yeah, you do.

Yeah, you do.

I mean, she's two.

And just would go berserk, and people come up and go, You have the sweetest children.

Yeah, we beat them when no one's looking.

And one day she had a particularly severe meltdown, went berserk.

I mean ape crazy.

Just wrap.

And you think she was done, and you talk to her.

And so I just let her spool out lines.

You ever go deep sea fishing?

You hook a big fish.

You can't turn them, you gotta let them just spool out lines.

I said, They'll get tired.

You can turn them back to the boat and you just reel them in.

Just let her get tired.

I went in there and I just say, Hey, babe, you're gonna put all this back together.

And then she just felt, yeah, you don't love me.

You don't love me.

What she's really saying is, I don't love myself right now.

And there's no way you could love me.

And God, through Hosea and Gomer, says, Hey, listen, on the day you felt and were the most unlovable, I still love you.

Because my love for you is not based on your behavior.

And that's why down there towards the bottom of this chapter, when they start saying crazy things like, oh, oh, well, uh, since hey, he'll justify the circumcised by faith and uncircumcised through faith.

Do we then overthrow the law by this faith?

In other words, hey, if we have faith, then the law doesn't apply to us.

We can just do whatever we want.

It's called antinomianism, anti-nomas law, no law, no rules.

I'm loved by God.

I can do whatever I want.

And Paul says, Oh, by no means.

God forbid.

On the contrary, we uphold the law.

You want to see who understands redemption, who's had their breath taken away by the fact that God loves them, not only loves them, but loved them on their worst day.

When they read in Romans 5, we'll get to, he says that while God has demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us when you were still whoring yourself out to anybody and anything.

God crucified his son for you.

Because if you think that, oh, God waited for you to get it all together and he died because he looked into the future and saw that you would pick him, therefore he died for you.

That's not love.

That's an investment strategy.

Him loving you've never been a good idea.

Him loving me has never been a good idea.

I mean, what day have you lived where you've looked back and thought, well, God, now aren't you glad you died for me after I did that?

That's why whenever I see people out in public, just hammer drunk.

I mean, so drunk that they just can't keep spit in their mouth.

Some of you have been there, haven't you?

Some of you are like, no, I haven't.

I have no idea.

That's why I like to go to Panama City during spring break.

Sure, because we think of youth camp.

Youth ministers are idiots.

They take their kids to the beach where half-necked women are and drunken guys are.

We're gonna have spring break camp.

All right, whatever.

I go to the Waffle House and tell drunk college kids, hey.

Because they're what you doing here, buddy?

Isn't that the Bible you're reading?

I'm from Alabama.

Sure you are, sure you are.

And you're gonna marry your first cousin.

I got it, alright.

And finally, the waitress said, You come in here every night and you stay for like two hours and you read and talk.

Why?

Because they ain't got a leg to stand on.

And all I tell them is, hey, when you get in bed tonight, thank God that he loves you.

He's gonna keep you safe, and you're acting like a fool.

And every one of them says the same thing.

Man, thank you.

I don't feel very lovable.

You're not.

You're not, and neither are you.

And neither am I by nature.

That's why he's redeemed us.

Redemption is a big available word through which God says, Hey, my love in you is not based on your behavior.

Fourthly and finally, is the word propitiation, verse 25.

You still with me?

Verse 25, he says, Hey, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward, mark that phrase, put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

What do you mean whom God put forward?

Redemption is only found in Jesus because think about it for a minute, beloved, think about it.

Of all the things God could have put forward, it's not like when we say propitiation, by the way, propitiation means that the wrath, the anger of an offended deity has been satisfied.

And it's not like, you know, hey, our God's a volcano, and we gotta throw stuff in the volcano to appease God, or he might come out and get us.

No.

That's what pagans thought.

That's the way they appease their gods.

Or when I played golf with Lance and Wade, they hit balls in the water and I say, appease the water gods, and I'll hit it on the green.

It's not that God, we gotta appease God by dropping quarters in the slot or good behavior in there so he doesn't come out and get it.

Now, here's the difference in pagans appeasing their God and God appeasing himself is that God initiates the process by which his anger is satisfied.

He put him forth.

It's not like God looked around and said, Oh, okay, what do we, what about what about this?

Well this dude, how about this?

No, God's not saying, well, this dude, God is saying, hey, by the way, I'm putting my son forward because this is the only thing that will do.

That's why he says crazy stuff in the Psalms when he says, hey, you, because they're like, oh, God, we'll sacrifice our whole herd for you.

And God says, hey, Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires.

You could take all the cedars of Lebanon and you couldn't build a fire big enough and kill enough animals to sacrifice to cover all your sin.

You people are that committed to doing the wrong thing.

And so he put forward his son as a sacrifice of atonement, propitiation.

Because on the cross, God satisfies God with God.

And so, what does this big word that we don't use very often mean to us this morning on this first Sunday after Thanksgiving when we're still kind of in a food coma?

I can't even breathe.

I got my elastic waist pants on today.

I put on my wife's maternity.

And ate in them on Thursday.

It was glorious.

Got the big panel in the front.

Came to the table.

I'm ready.

Here's what propitiation means.

And I'll let you go today.

How about that?

By the way, visitors, I let them out early every Sunday.

What does propitiation say?

Propation is God's way.

It tells us that God's desire has always been for relationship.

And you say, What do you mean?

Look at the Bible.

Look at what it says.

And I'm done.

He says right there, verse 25, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.

What do you mean?

God's desire has always been for a relationship.

If God, think just for a minute, we're almost done.

Think, think, think.

If God put his son forward, he didn't look around and throw everything into the angry volcano so it wouldn't spew out and get us.

No, no.

He didn't say, well, this do.

He said, no, this is the only thing that we'll do.

And then the Bible says this.

He put him forward as a propitiation, as a anger-appeasing, wrath-atoning, justice-satisfying sacrifice.

And then he says this to be received by faith.

Who's supposed to receive it?

If God put it forward, who's supposed to receive it?

That's a question where I come from.

If God put him forward, who's supposed to receive it by who's supposed to look at that and go, you know what?

I have more faith in God than I do in myself.

You are.

And I am.

Because God's desire has always been for a relationship.

God's desire is not to be right.

If God wanted to be right, he doesn't have to create you and I to prove that he's right.

He was right before he created anything.

To be received by faith.

While your slackers go home today and commit more gluttony on them leftovers.

I'm going to leave church after this next service.

Go to Home Depot and get a Christmas tree.

Because my nine-year-old's about to pop.

We got to get that Christmas tree up.

Dad, we're going to do Dad, who am I?

You're my dad.

No.

Who's your dad?

You're the greatest man I know.

All right then.

We're going to Home Depot as soon as church is over.

So don't impale my consistent character on your insecurities.

Go tell your mother I said that.

I don't know what that means.

Go tell her.

She'll explain it to you.

Okay?

And after that, I got to get the decorations out of the attic.

I get the tree in the house.

And then after that, I go play tennis from three to five.

I said, I think I said that Alan is now.

I think I said he was 66.

I think he's like 56, he told me.

But kind of a 56-year-old, kind of smart alec, kind of sarcastic.

I love that.

I love that.

Here's the thing about tennis.

I'm going to hit the ball and they're going to hit it back.

And my favorite part is when we both, me and my partner get to the net, and him and his partner get to the net, and we're just swatting the ball at each other.

Can you imagine looking over another court and there's a guy hitting the ball?

Boom.

Then he runs over there and picks it up and hits it back.

Then he runs on the other side.

What are you doing?

I'm playing tennis.

No, man, you're drunk.

Stop.

Just sit down.

God put him forward as an atoning sacrifice for our sins to be received by faith.

See, God serves, he makes the first volley towards relationship.

He didn't wait for you to find him.

He didn't wait for you to try everything else and kind of go.

He let you hear his voice calling him.

And you may be sitting in this room right now thinking, man, I've never had a relationship.

I don't, I, I, I don't, I don't know what you mean.

And just a minute when the service is over, myself and some of our other pastors and elders will be available down front.

There's a tear-off portion on your little worship folder that says, Hey, I'd like some more information about this having a relationship with God thing.

I'll take you to lunch.

Lance, Wade, any of our elders, we'll go get coffee this week.

You can come sit down.

We'll explain to you.

I'm just saying, God said, hey, I'm going to serve first.

I'm going to put up my son.

I'm going to push him forward and say, here, I'm all in.

I'm on the record.

I want a relationship with you.

You can't doubt that anymore.

It's not about being smart.

It's not about being moral or pure.

The love of God is not based on your behavior.

That's what redemption tells us.

And so the question that falls on us this morning is so do you have this relationship?

Hold your hands out if you want to speak a blessing over you.

Your God has not only forgiven you, He has justified you.

He's made you right, fitted you for the appropriateness of being in His presence.

Now you must learn why the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

Depart now and begin enjoying God.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.