ROMANS: A Shameless Gospel

This podcast is the Ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church.

For more information on our church, please visit grandparkway.org.

If you've got a Bible, I invite you to take it and open it up to Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, there's one on your row there.

I'm on page 939.

And if you don't have a Bible at home, take that one home with you as our gift.

We'll get some other we'll get some more to replace it.

Amen?

Romans chapter 1.

Romans 1 · chapter mention

If you're a guest, we're preaching through the book of Romans.

I want to draw your attention to the picture on the screen behind me.

It's the same picture on the front of your worship folder.

And not the picture is kind of, oh, that's kind of different.

But on the bottom right hand, that little phrase, you don't have to be a superhero.

Look at me.

The Bible was not written for smart people.

The Bible was written for willing people.

And so if you're willing to learn today, the Bible has something to say to you.

So are you willing to learn today?

That's not enough for me.

Are you willing to learn today?

And I go to the mall and find some willing people.

Easy now.

Easy.

I'm about to take my shirt off.

There's no rule.

Oh, there's one rule.

Oh, there's one rule.

All right.

Romans chapter 1, verse 16.

Romans 1:16

It says, For Paul says that I am not ashamed of the gospel.

For it, remember last week Lance left.

Y'all okay?

Some of y'all back in here, like there's a shouting old man back here somewhere.

Norm doesn't get off the reservation over there.

Woo! Remember last week when Lance preached, he said, Paul Paul finished by saying, Hey, I'm eager to come to you because I'm I'm under obligation.

And now he picks up that same thought and he says in verse 16, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

When I talk about, I want to talk to this morning about a shame, what I call a shameless gospel.

A shameless gospel.

And what I mean by that is if we're going to talk about a shameless gospel, a gospel that is void of shame, we need to understand what shame is, and so I want to give you a definition.

It's just a dictionary definition.

Shame is a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior.

Now hear that again.

Shame is a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior.

Now, usually we think about something we did in our past when we think about shame, but I want to suggest to you this morning this is how most people feel when they feel like God's kind of nudging you in the guts and telling you to open your mouth and share the gospel.

You feel distressed, you feel wrong, you feel foolish.

And I just want to speak to that with two points this morning.

It's all I got.

It's two points.

So we might get out early today and beat the Presbyterians, the papasitas.

Amen?

If you're going, take me with you.

Do I have a oh no amens on that?

You went quiet on me.

I didn't want to go with you anyway.

Two things.

What makes a shameless gospel?

Two things.

You've got to know the content of the gospel and the consequence of the gospel.

Number one, the content of the gospel.

What do you mean?

What is in the gospel?

Paul says two things.

He says, first of all, I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

The first content of the gospel, what's in the gospel is the power of God.

He said, it is the power of God for or unto salvation.

Now think about that for just a minute.

He says, I'm not ashamed, for it is the power of God for salvation.

What he's saying is, it is the, I like what the other translations say, it's the power of God unto salvation.

In other words, Paul's saying, I by nature am somewhere, and I need to get, I want to get over there, and I can't get there by myself.

I want to get unto this place of salvation, and I can't get there.

And so, because I can't get there on my own, because if you could get there on your own, it's not salvation, it's just satisfaction.

And there's a big difference in the two.

Now, if you if you're if you're taking notes, just write down satisfaction and salvation, because a lot of you have doubted your salvation, a lot of you aren't sure about it, a lot of you just tried and tried and tried and said, you know what, this never works.

I just give up.

I'm just gonna go as long as my parents make me go, or I'm gonna go so my kids will have a good role model.

But I don't know that I believe any of this.

You have satisfaction, you don't have salvation.

You say, What do you mean?

Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God unto salvation.

It can get me from the place where I am over here to the place I want to be that I can't get there on my own.

That's why you need the power of God.

Does that make sense so far?

But you see, here's the thing: before you get to salvation, one stop short of salvation is just satisfaction.

That's why so many people start off with great motives and great intents and great bluster and a lot of words and a lot of, but they they they they get to that little stop right before salvation that requires the power of God, and they get satisfied, and they get money in the bank, or they get a job they like, or they get a life they like, and they look around, they kind of go, I think I can make this work.

And that person never has this deep dependence upon God, never this, they don't have an experience with God where they find themselves just kind of naturally and shamelessly just kind of sharing the gospel in the warp and woof of life.

Paul says, I'm not ashamed, for it is the power of God understanding.

Now, see, what is obvious is what it says, but what is needed by way of our understanding today is what it doesn't say, what it infers and what it invites us to and toward.

And it's kind of saying, hey, here's the deal.

If all you want is satisfaction, you can get that on your own.

You say, Well, how do I know I just got satisfaction?

Here's how you know that you got satisfaction and not salvation, regardless of how well you start off.

At some point, this thought goes through your head, hey, this God thing's not really working for me anymore.

Or, this is another thing I hear.

Well, I think I'm gonna take a break from church for a while.

That's like me saying, I think I'm gonna take a break from being a middle-aged fat white guy for a while.

I think I want to be a rapper for a while.

It's just, are y'all like, are you kidding me?

Please don't rap.

Because if I rapped, it'd be old school like Big Daddy Kang, because I work.

See, y'all don't even know that anymore.

Like Sugar Hill Gang, a hip, a hop, a hip, a hip, hip hop, you don't stop, a rock into the bang bang boogie say, up, jump the boogie to the rhythm.

I'd pull out my 1979 Curtis Blow album on you people in here.

Basketball, it's my favorite sport.

I like the way they dribble up and down the court.

Just like I'm the king of the microphone, so's Dr.

J and Moses Malone.

Y'all listen to Curtis Blow before?

I like slam dunks.

Take me to the hoop.

My favorite play is the alley loop.

I like the pick and roll, I like to give and goal.

It's basketball, Mr.

Curtis Blow.

Bon, bump, bump, no, no, no.

You Caucasians do not know what you're clapping for, so don't clap.

That was awesome.

Awesome.

Fight the power.

Shut the mouth.

Anyway.

No.

See, here's the thing.

Here's how you know you didn't get salvation.

You got satisfaction.

Because at some point you could just quit.

I can't stop being a middle-aged fat white guy.

That's just who I am.

But here's the thing.

I hear all the time.

Well, this guy thinks not working for me.

We're gonna take a break for church.

I'm not much on organized religion.

Yeah, you know, I tried that.

It didn't work.

What you're saying is that what I sought for satisfaction no longer satisfies.

And if that's you, if that connects with you on any level in your guts, you're a great candidate for salvation.

But you can't get there on your own.

You need to understand this shameless gospel because in it you find the power of God.

That's what gets you from satisfaction unto salvation.

And Paul says, I'm not ashamed of it.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel because I know that in the gospel, God has the power to make you into somebody you've never been and can never go back and be before.

It's like a lady, every once in a while, people come up to me and say, You know, I doubt my salvation.

Can you help me?

I don't know if I'm Christian or not.

Well, I just, and I say, because I don't try to sow doubt on their faith.

I don't say, oh, well, you need to pray some prayer all over again.

I ask crazy questions.

And I don't have a one-size-fits-all.

So if you came up to me today, I might not say this to you.

But when this lady came to me and made an appointment, came to my office, and she said, Hey, I uh I just really struggle with my doubting my salvation like habitually, like a lot, like, you know, every two months, I'm kind of like, you know, if I'm a Christian, you know, I don't know.

How do I know?

Because I didn't because we want to go back and say, well, I did that back there, and and I just say, Well, how are you living now?

Well, you know, my first marriage fell apart.

I married a guy that was just not good, and I married a godly man now.

How's that?

Oh, it's great.

He's a spiritual leader, he loves me, he cherishes me, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And ding, it dawned on me.

I said, Okay, I said, I'm not gonna tell you you are aren't a Christian.

I'm not the judge of that.

Uh, there's some things I think you can tell how people live, but let me just say this.

Can you fathom going back, leaving?

Close your eyes just for a minute.

And she said, okay.

And I said, Can you fathom leaving the relationship you're in and the man you're in that relationship with, and going back and being with your first husband?

And she burst into tears.

No, why would you even say something like that?

Don't yet start looking at a person like, you got a pistol in there?

Just relax.

Don't, don't.

Just just I said, then then by the same token, here's how you know you're a Christian.

That's salvation, not just satisfaction.

You can no longer see the Bible says in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17, if any man is in Christ, he's a new creation.

2 Corinthians 5:17

Old things are passed away.

Behold, all things become new.

Because you're a new person.

You can no longer go back and find satisfaction by being who you used to be.

And she said, That's yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

Uh thank you.

I think that's all I needed.

I'm like, that was nine minutes.

We done?

She goes, Yeah, yeah, you you you you you you you got anything else you want to talk about?

I talk for a living.

The last thing I want to do is talk.

All right, well, thank you.

Man, that's awesome.

Where'd I put the tissue?

Trash cans on the end of the end of the desk.

Walked out.

I walked out and I thought to myself, she'll never doubt her salvation again.

Because here's how you know.

Because you can no longer go back and find satisfaction in who you used to be.

It's just possible.

It's impossible.

Why is that?

Not because anything, because the power of God ruins you for what you used to be about.

It changes you.

And that's what Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

Why?

First of all, because it's the power of God.

The content of the gospel is the power of God.

Secondly, it's the righteousness of God.

Look at it there in verse uh 17.

He says, uh, you know, for in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed.

For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed.

And just hear that phrase.

And by the way, let me just say that I don't have time to go into this this morning, but when the Bible talks about the righteousness of God, it's not about the gospel's always been about how right God is.

It's not about how wrong people are.

Let me say that again.

The gospel is about how right God is.

It's not about how wrong people are.

And so some of you get in situations, social or otherwise, and somebody says something that's just crazy, and you think, uh, should I talk to that God?

God, if you want me to say something to that, would you make a can of green beans fall out of the sky and hit me on the head right now?

I'll take it as a sign.

But instead, here's the thing: people know how screwed up they are.

You realize that, don't you?

Hello?

You you realize how screwed up you are by nature, right?

I couldn't hear you.

Because sometimes you just because you got dressed up doesn't mean you ain't screwed up, okay?

Don't roll up in church like, well, I got me some new clothes on, preacher, so go easy on me today.

No.

You by nature are so sinful, just like me, that unless Jesus died for you on the cross, there's no way you could know God and get to heaven when you die.

You just couldn't.

But you're also so loved by God, Jesus was glad to die for all of you.

See, the gospel has never been about the wrongness of man, it's about the rightness of God and his willingness to take people that are wrong and make them right with him.

See, Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of God, number one.

Secondly, because the other contents in the gospel is the righteousness of God, the righteousness of God, and then hear this phrase.

These two words is revealed.

Can you imagine being right and keeping it all to yourself?

Some of you women are like, my husband could never do that.

There's no way.

That crazy fool goes on the internet looking for things to be right about.

But the Bible says, see, God could have been right and kept it all to himself.

But no.

Romans 3, as we'll get to in a couple months, says that he put him forth as a sacrifice of atonement to demonstrate his justice, to put on display, to kind of demonstrate.

I don't know if you've been to Walmart lately, but I was walking through Walmart on October 14th, just for the record, and those fools were putting up Christmas decorations.

And I just stopped my cart and just stared at the guy until he looked at me.

And he's like, hey man, it's not me.

It's my boss.

You know, I'm just doing what the boss tells me.

Man, it is October.

We're not even out of October into November, and Thanksgiving's at the end of November.

Man, just go tell the are you come on, man.

Pretty soon we're gonna have it up a year round, man.

I just mm-mm.

Got home for the men's retreat last night.

My wife rolled up on me because my my brother and sister-in-law live in Midland, Odessa area, also known as Hell.

Uh and then have you been there?

If you stand on a tunic hand, you can see Vegas from Midland.

Anyway, uh, it's bad out there.

But hey, them hillbillies done found oil out there.

If you own property in Midland, you can retire right now.

But my mother and father-in-law are coming from Pensacola, Florida, and they're gonna meet here for Thanksgiving.

And so they were talking, my sister-in-law, great lady, she just said, Hey, we can't come for Christmas.

I love you.

Anyway, so what if we bring our Christmas presents to y'all's house for Thanksgiving, and we could have Christmas on Thanksgiving.

I was tired when I got home for the men's retreat, okay?

Sometimes when I'm tired, I don't say things real gracefully.

Okay, because I had to bust some of your husbands in the mouth playing dodgeball at the men's retreat.

So my arm was a little sore and I was a little tired.

My wife said, Yeah, you know, my sister said maybe we could do Christmas.

No, we're not doing Christmas at Thanksgiving, because we're not Walmart, okay?

And my wife, the most gracious human being in the world, sat there on the bed with me watching TV in our bedroom.

I was watching football, and after a few minutes, she just kind of slinked off the bed and said, I'm gonna let you watch football by yourself.

I didn't see her again.

That was at five o'clock yesterday afternoon.

I didn't see her again until this morning.

I woke up in my bed, there was a woman there.

I was like, oh, oh, it's okay, we're married.

It's my wife's way of saying, Hey, it's not my crazy idea, it's my crazy family.

No, we don't, we're not, no, no, you can bring me my gifts, I didn't get you nothing, but yeah, come on.

Who has thank no by the same token, but see, it's not like Walmart putting out Christmas decorations, it kind of feels out of time.

No, no, no.

The Bible says, hey, the righteousness of God is revealed.

That word means put up for public display, made obvious so that men are without excuse, which we'll get into next week.

Made obvious.

How do you display it in such a way that no one can say, I didn't know?

We'll get to that next week.

The righteousness of God.

When we talk about the righteousness of God, this describes God's character together with his actions, which are in keeping with his character.

What God does is a reflection of who God is.

But I want to just say this that to understand, he says, you know, that the righteousness of God in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed.

I want you to understand kind of the background uh uh of what have how Paul understood righteousness, the kind of the Old Testament concept of righteousness, which is the background of Paul's thought.

Can we think just for a little bit this morning?

Hello?

I see some of y'all are kind of like, I'm so glad I'm not in your family.

All the women are like, oh, does he love his sister-in-law?

All the men are like, hmm.

I feel you, bro.

I love my sister-in-law.

I love my brother-in-law, I love my in-laws.

We ain't having Christmas at Thanksgiving.

Okay?

So leave me alone after church.

Don't roll up on me, kind of going, you should be more accommodated.

Because I'm gonna tell you, you should shut up.

And mind your own beeswax.

Ta-dao.

That's what happens when I listen to Curtis Blow.

He does that to me.

Anyway.

This maybe will sound more spiritual.

See, for the Hebrews, and this is the way Paul understood it, for the Hebrews, the idea of right and wrong were forensic ideas.

Oh, you CSI people, your ears are you say, forensic?

Yeah.

That is that the Hebrew always thinks of right and wrong as if they were to be settled before a judge.

Righteousness is to the Hebrews not so much a moral quality as a legal status.

And once the status has been declared, nothing can change it.

There's about four of you going, Amen.

The rest of you are like, say what, say what?

Let me say that again.

For Paul, and this is the way Paul was taught growing up, right and wrong were forensic ideas.

In other words, they they all the Hebrews, Old Testament people always think of right and wrong as if they were to be settled before a judge, and righteousness to the Hebrew and to Paul, and what Paul's saying to the Romans is not so much a moral quality as a legal status.

Once this status has been declared, nothing can change it.

Picked up about three more.

That time I'm up to seven.

For the rest of you, look at me right here, my big old five head.

I got a haircut this week.

Do you notice?

So I walk by one of my smart electric golfing buddies in the hallway, and he went, When did you start chemo?

Loser.

Don't laugh at that.

I don't encourage Wade Burgess with that.

Anyway, look at me.

The rest of y'all, the seven people didn't get with all that forensic righteousness, blah, blah, blah.

Look at me.

I got a question for you.

I bring it down where you live, okay?

So you don't walk out and kind of go, Well, I went to church and I thought I was stupid, but now my preacher confirmed it.

You understand forensic righteousness, righteousness that is declared and decided by a judge, not as a moral uh feeling as much as a legal status.

Let me ask you this simple question.

Here's how I know you understand it.

Do you remember where you were when you heard about the OJ verdict?

Uh-oh.

I didn't have to say Simpson, did I?

I just said OJ, and y'all were like, mm-hmm.

Yeah.

I remember.

I remember I was.

I was in the parking lot of a church in Alabama because I was speaking there Sunday through Wednesday, and the preacher called me about a month before and said, Hey, my people love it when you come teach the Bible and they can't get enough.

Oh, my people are the same way, I'm sure.

Uh but this was so back up, but I didn't have a people.

I was traveling around back then.

So I said, Yeah.

He said, Would you be willing to do a noon service and just teach the Bible at noon to whoever shows up?

We'll have a cover dish luncheon.

You know who comes to a cover dish luncheon at a Baptist church at 11:30, right?

Everybody over the age of 86, that's who.

And so I'm out in the car thinking, man, they're in there, we've got to get started here in a few minutes.

And I'm listening to the verdict on the radio, and they said not guilty in the place.

Wow, order, order.

And I went in, and there was about 54 women mainly in there.

Median age about 78.

Had those shawls around their shoulders, they knit themselves.

We were deep in the woods of Alabama.

Some of y'all are with me right now.

I see you, my man.

You're with me, aren't you?

They see people like, well, brother, what are you talking about?

I mean, yeah.

And so I walk in and they're, oh, preacher, did you hear?

He got off.

And I went, who, who, what, what?

Curtis?

Did Curtis Blow get off?

I said, oh, hot, no, no, OJ got off.

He was innocent.

Can you believe that?

I'm like, oh no, come on, ladies, let's don't get, we don't know.

I mean, this is America.

Everyone's innocent until proven guilty.

This one woman put her fist in my face, said, You knew he was guilty.

And in that moment, Wife thought, well, we kind of sat down, got the corn casserole, the fried chicken, and the lime.

You gotta go to Alabama to eat lima beans these days, right?

And so we're sitting there, and clear as a bell, that little voice in my spirit said, You're not gonna preach with You thought you were going to.

We're going to speak to what's going on in the room right now.

Long tables rolled up in a long row, people on both sides.

I got to speak at the very end of the table.

Had a little lectron like this.

By the way, I broke my my my my podium in the first service or second service.

I went berserk.

But anyway, uh I I was standing there and I just stood up and I just said to them what I said to you a few minutes ago.

I said, ladies, I want to talk to you about forensic righteousness.

Because sometimes in a court of law, people don't get the decision they deserve.

Grandma pound table.

Amen, preacher.

Let's talk about it.

I said, I'm going to.

Because see, sometimes, despite all the evidence that is stacked against you, you think you have a prima facie case, it's open and shut, it's slam dunk, okay?

If it doesn't fit, you must quit, right?

And they're oh and I said, but y'all think I'm talking about OJ.

I'm not talking about OJ.

I'm talking about you.

And about that time, out of the corner of my eye, I saw movement.

It was it was the preacher walking out the door.

The side door of the fellowship pub left me there with 54 irate senior adults looking in their bags for them knit and needles.

I'm gonna shank this brother in the line right here.

And so I said, let me tell you something.

I don't, I got my opinions about O.J.

Simpson and what he did or didn't do.

Okay, okay.

But here's what I have: I have certainty and clarity about every one of you around these tables.

You are as guilty as the day is long.

But here's the good news of the gospel, ladies.

Here's forensic, forensic righteousness.

Righteousness that is not decided by you, but decided by a judge who's gonna set in judgment of you.

You're not innocent.

You've not been declared innocent.

And they were like, I said, you've been declared righteous.

Men tell you if you're innocent or guilty.

God tells you if you're righteous or unrighteous.

And the worst sentence you could get in the court of God is to be found being unrighteous.

So you've been declared righteous, so act like righteous women and don't go around gossiping about something you ain't got nothing to do with.

And that was where they turned on me.

I got the first six of them.

Hail hath no fury, like an offended Republican in Alabama.

I grabbed two pieces of cornbread and made for the exit.

No, I stood right there, and as soon as I said amen, they all got up, walked over and got their cover dish, and left.

And there I was, feeling sorry for myself.

Hey, by the way, sometimes you're gonna do the right thing and it's gonna feel wrong.

We come to church and talk about, oh, you do the right thing, it's gonna be instant gratification.

No, it's not.

Because if it was, more people do the right thing.

Sure you would.

So I'm gathering up my notes and my Bible, and I was like, well, that went well, thank you for that.

By the way, did you know I'm here on a love offering this week?

And about that time I see here somebody behind me, and it's a woman looked like a human question mark.

She's hunched over.

She's about 108.

Come up to me, and she said, and I was just thinking, I was bracing for impact.

Oh, great.

All right, they send you to tell me what.

She said, By the way, I'm the most wicked sinner here.

I don't know how many conversations you've had that started that way, but that's a good conver, that's a good conversation to have.

She squeezed my little hand as much as she could.

She said, I'm the most wicked, sinful, selfish sinner here, preacher.

And I want you to know you told us the truth today, okay?

Thank you.

Now, by the way, they're not gonna give the love offering, they're mad at you.

And I said, Really?

I couldn't tell.

And she said, But I'm going to, and I'm on Social Security, but I'm gonna write you a$10 check for coming this week.

And the person over here that went, oh, you get it.

Because clear as a bell, she's holding my little hand with her arthritic knobby knuckles.

And the Holy Spirit said, This is the widow, and she's gonna give you her two mites.

Be careful.

And I was like, ma'am, I appreciate you being here.

Thanks for your word.

And by the way, I like your friends.

She goes, Oh, Merle and Ethel, they'll be mad for a few days, they'll get over it, they fuss about everything.

But, like good Baptists, they come up to me that night and told me, I don't know if I like you or not.

Well, tomorrow's my last day, so think fast, okay?

Why do I tell you that?

I tell you that to say that you and I are guilty before God.

And a jury can tell you you might be innocent.

They're just mine.

I turned on the TV last night, I watched 48 Hours on Channel 11.

Brian Randoni.

I used to do ministry with him.

If you saw the thing, the preacher and the porn star, I was the last time I saw him was at Pineywoods Men, the camp.

We were just that.

Here he is on 48 hours because he killed his girlfriend.

He left the ministry, went off the deep end, went out to LA, started making money, and he killed his girlfriend.

I was watching that kind of guy.

I called my wife and there, I said, I ain't killed you yet.

Look at there.

Go in the kitchen and make me some supper or something, woman.

I mean, the whole, I was it was surreal.

I was like, are you kidding me?

Yeah.

And he got off.

And I was like, no way.

And I was reminded about forensic righteousness.

See, some jury in LA tell that cat he's innocent.

Look at me.

People can tell you you're innocent.

Only God can declare you righteous.

And that's what the Bible says.

Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel.

Why?

Because it's the power of God unto salvation for anyone who believes.

Also, in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed.

See, that's the content of the gospel.

The second point in the sermon today will be done is the consequence of the gospel.

The consequence of the gospel is verse 17.

He says, For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith, for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

Now just think about, see, those are the things we skip over, but think about those three dimensions of faith.

He says, first of all, from faith.

For in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith.

Look at me, beloved.

The gospel, the good news, comes to you and I from a place of faith.

Well, if it comes from faith, who has the faith that it comes from?

Thank you.

God does not invite you and I to have faith in something God does not have faith in.

It comes from a God who has faith in the gospel and nothing else.

You don't obey so that one day you've done enough to be declared righteous before God.

You're righteous before God.

Therefore, you obey.

See, that's the gospel that God has faith in.

He says it comes from faith.

Secondly, he says it comes for, see, that's its source.

It comes for faith.

That's its purpose.

The gospel, the Bible was not inspired.

None of this came into being just to give 54 old women in Alabama something to do on a rainy Tuesday.

No, it's it's not, we didn't, it's not God looked down and said, hey, these people need something to do on Sunday before football kicks off.

No, this was sent for the sole purpose of giving you and I not something, but somebody to have faith in.

That's why Jesus said, hey, whoever hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a man building a house.

And he dug down deep and he built it upon the rock.

And so when the storms came and beat against that house and the wind blew and shook that house, the house stood firm.

I.e., your life holds up in the midst of everything going on in this jacked-up world where guilty people get off as innocent, and innocent people are found guilty.

And thirdly, he says it's by faith.

That's the consequence.

He says, just as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

Look at that.

As it is written, the righteous, those who've been made right with God by God.

How do you know who they are, preacher?

How can you tell?

Watch how they live.

They live by faith.

That's why Paul said, hey, in Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, he said, I am crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me and the life I live in the flesh.

Galatians 2:20

I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Do you see how he goes back full circle back to where he began?

But I want to finish this morning.

Just with those, just kind of marinating those two little words by faith.

Hear this from Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

You still with me out there?

Hey, look at verse chapter 11.

Just just don't turn there, just listen to it.

He says, now faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.

For by it, by faith, the people of old received their commendation.

By faith, we understand that the universe was created by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

And by faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts.

And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

By faith, Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death.

And he was not found because God had taken him.

Now before he was taken, he was commended as having pleased God.

How do you please God?

Well, verse 6 says, Without faith, it is impossible to please him.

For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

By faith, Noah, being warned, hear this next phrase.

Being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen.

What does that mean?

What that means is this.

When Noah started building the ark, it had never rained.

When you get in your community groups tonight and you sit around and you have your little coffee and your cake and you look around and get decorator ideas.

Oh, I love your granny.

Ooh, is this island new?

Oh, look at these coasters, honey.

I need some of these.

Ask yourself this question.

Hey, hey, what in light of what it says right here, when, hey, by faith, Noah.

By faith, Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household.

By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

See, people in the Old Testament weren't saved by law or works.

They were saved by faith in what was to come.

So when you get to your community group, you and I sit around and ask each other, hey, what's the last unexplainable thing your faith has caused you to do?

Because, beloved, if it all makes sense, if it all fits, it might just be tradition.

I'm not saying it's not faith.

But the Bible says about Noah that he was warned by God concerning events as yet unseen.

Translation, hey, Noah, I'm gonna let you in on something that nobody else even sees, much less believes.

But here's the deal: I'm tired of people jerking my chain and thinking, well, you know, my God's a God of love, so I'm gonna kill everybody and start over.

And so I want you to start building a boat because I'm gonna flood the earth.

God, how do I explain this to my friends?

You don't have to, I'm going to.

And they're gonna think you foolish.

Sat in the home of some people last week.

Just chatting.

And I said, Well, tell me how you started coming to Grand Parkway.

And they said, Well, our daughter had a spend the night party, invited three of her friends, and all three of them couldn't, they could come to the party, but they couldn't spend the night because they said they didn't want to miss church.

And we said, Where do you guys go to church?

And all three of them said, We go to Grand Parkway.

He said, My wife and I looked at each other and said, I want to go check that out.

And Noah's life was that way.

Noah looked around and he's building it, and his friends are laughing and mocking him, and he's kind of like, you know, I don't have words, and so his life, there comes a point where your life has to express what you don't have words for.

That's why the two words by faith predicate the life of Noah.

By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

Not knowing.

Get in the car in the parking lot here in about six minutes when you're done.

And just look at your wife, kind of googly-eyed, and say, We're going somewhere.

Where are we going?

I don't know.

We got three-quarters of a tank of gas.

How's Austin sound?

And by the way, he was 75 and when he didn't know.

Some of you, when you're 75, you're gonna have everything planned out from where you're gonna eat lunch to what time you're going to the bathroom.

You know your great parents are that way, your grandparents, you go to the house, they eat breakfast at 4:30 in the morning, lunch at 10:30, supper at 3.

But enough about Wade Collier.

Stay with me.

I want you to see this.

We're about done.

You still with me?

He says this.

He says, by faith, verse 9, he went to live in a land of promise as a as a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.

Hey, mom and dad, look at me.

Your children will have faith in what you have faith in.

Not what you say you have faith in, but when the chips are down and you're gonna lose money or you're gonna suffer.

That's what you have faith in, what you look to.

It says that uh of Isaac, it says that, hey, excuse me, of Abraham, his children, Isaac and Jacob, they were heirs with him of the same promise.

Your kids are going to inherit the same promise you put your faith in.

For he was looking forward to a city who had foundations whose designer and builder is God.

And by faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful, who had promised.

Therefore, from one man and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven, and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.

And these all died in faith.

They just died still believing it.

When do you earn the right to stop believing it?

When do you earn the right to stop assembling with other believers in church?

When do you say, well, I've done enough?

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted that they greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on earth, for people who speak this way, thusly, thus, make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

Here's another question for your community group.

How do you speak and so that to communicate to everybody that you're seeking a homeland?

How do you speak?

It says right here in the Bible, for the people who speak this way, verse 14 of Hebrews 11, they make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to go back.

But as it is, and we're done, they desire a better country.

Not based on who gets in the White House.

They desire a better country, i.e., another place that is a heavenly one.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Now hear this, beloved.

When we started today, we sang one of the last songs we sang said, Redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die.

Remember that?

That's not a phrase you use this week.

None of you men looked at your wife and said, I got some redeeming love in me for you, woman.

You might have said that because she'd be like, What?

You I don't know what you do in that men's retreat, but I know.

No.

Here's what makes redeeming love redeeming love.

Redeeming love always seeks what is best for that which it loves.

That's why God has redeeming love for you.

Which, by the way, is why Hebrews 11 says what it says, when it says in verse 16 there, he says, Hey, as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one.

Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared for them a city.

The ultimate expression of redeeming love, God says, Hey, you guys have left in obedience to me, and by faith, you went and lived these lives, and because you were looking for a better country that is a heavenly one.

Well, good news to you, beloved, because I love you with redeeming love, not the love that everybody else loves you with, I seek that which is best for you.

You're looking for a city, a heavenly city.

Well, good news, I'm building you one.

It begs this question what else you gotta know about this God who knows the unspoken desires of your heart.

These people are like, hey, we're just we're just looking for a homeland.

We speak kind of crazy.

We say crazy stuff in elevators at the hospital that causes nurses to laugh and go, I'd never heard that before.

Not because we're trying to be funny, because we don't fit.

We don't fit in here.

We love it here.

But we desire a city that has foundations.

And God says, Oh, you do?

Well, that's good because I'm building you one.

And how could you live?

If you really believed that you knew enough about him to know that he's got it.

How could you live?

Only two words describe that kind of life.

By faith.

Stand to your feet and we speak a blessing over you.

Hold your hands out.

Because your God is all knowing.

He's omnipresent.

He's all everywhere.

He's all powerful.

He couldn't say anything he wanted to say about you and being right.

And the one thing he chose to say about you is that you're righteous.

Live now.

Live who your father says you are.

Father bless you in his name.

In the name of his son.

In the name of his bless you, you dismiss.