The Mission: Romans 3:1-20 (Reveals the Truth)

We are diving deeper into the book of Romans, and we're talking about the big idea that is the greatest story ever told.

And so to kind of get us started with this whole idea, I asked the question on the first week of our series: what is your favorite movie?

I had no idea what kind of firestorm that was going to be.

People are not as close friends as they used to be based on their opinion of movies like Princess Bride and different things like that.

But folks almost immediately started saying, Well, Pastor, what about TV shows?

If you want to talk about some great stories, the best stories are not movies, they're TV shows.

And so I actually asked this past week, what is the greatest TV show of all time?

And there were some strong opinions, okay?

There were some strong opinions about this.

And I and I can tell based on this that so many of you are immediately like, woof.

And you are going to hardcore judge these if you don't see your favorite.

Everybody knows it's the Andy Griffith show or old school Fool House, you know, this kind of thing.

But the thing is, is it was amazing.

I thought that was going to end the debate, but now people are saying, well, what about your favorite 80s TV show?

My goodness, you know, it just keeps going.

And so here's here's the reason why I did that is because as I was studying, like what are the greatest stories, I noticed a couple of things about them.

Number one, I noticed some of the greatest stories were stories that were true or stories that were true to life.

It was ones that you can kind of see yourself in those stories.

There were true-ish kind of stories.

Also, you had stories that had a definite arc attached to it.

You had, you know, bad thing happen, a hero came along, made everything right again.

And I think the reason why those stories resonate with us so much is because it's it's a kernel of a deeper truth that actually is the truest story that's ever been.

And so my hope for you at the end of this series is I'm not trying to change your favorite movie or your favorite TV show, whatever's after the Andy Griffith show.

You know, I'm not trying to change all that.

But what I do want to do is that by the end of this series, you may still have your favorite movie, but you would say with me, it's the big idea of the series.

I think it's the big idea of the book of Romans that the greatest story ever told is the mission of God to rescue all of us.

It's the big idea of everything was good, then it went bad, and then somebody came along and made everything right again.

That's the truest story ever told, and it's the greatest story ever told.

The mission of God to rescue all of us.

Nothing else can compare with it because it's true and it really happened.

And so the reason why, uh, or rather, because of that, telling it in the form of a story, as we've been telling you every week, we've decided to kind of break up the book of Romans and treat it like a Netflix series or like a you know an Amazon Prime series.

And so we have five different seasons that we're gonna be moving through to help us get our mind around the greatest story ever told.

And today is actually the finale of season one.

Because season one, just like you know, our favorite TV shows have different seasons and kind of like a main theme of the story that is being told.

Well, season one was this, and that is that our God sees us.

The main idea of season one of our Netflix series called the Book of Romans is that our God sees us.

And that's one of the most amazing things that we can imagine.

We've been trying to talk about what is it that he sees, and what is it that we see in him because he sees all of us.

And so, to kind of also remind you, the reason why this was also so very important was because the reason why the Apostle Paul was inspired of the Holy Spirit to write the book of Romans is because in the city of Rome, there was division that was occurring.

You had the Jewish Christians and you had the Gentile Christians.

That's why he's talking about constantly the Jewish and Gentile Christians, because they're divided over one another.

And what he is trying to tell them is yes, you may have so many secondary issues that you find differences, but there's one thing that unites all of us, and it's the greatest story ever told.

It's the mission of God to rescue all of us.

And if there's ever been anything I think that the big seed church needs to remember is that yes, we all have different ways of doing things, and there's so many other things, but the one thing that unites us all is that we all are part of the greatest story ever told, which is the mission of God to rescue all of us.

And that's what the main thing of the book of Romans is about that mission and then what our mission is and response to all of that.

So if you haven't been with us, let me kind of catch you up because today is kind of a summary of what we have been talking about for the past three weeks.

So in chapter one, there were two main things that the apostle Paul did.

The first one was he just presented to us that the gospel is good news.

We're gonna talk about what that is.

But then he also told us at the end of chapter one is that then all humans turned away from the goodness of God.

And then he, because remember, he's talking about the difference between uh Jewish people and Gentiles and how we're more alike than we realize.

He then spends the first half of chapter two saying all the Gentiles turned away from God.

And then before all you Jewish people get too excited, all the Jewish people did the same thing.

And so we're all kind of in the same boat.

And then what he's gonna do today is he's gonna give us the truth or the verdict about what all of that leads to in our season finale.

He's gonna give us the truth of it.

Like what happened?

And so I was thinking through this this past week, and I got so tickled because I was talking to somebody about the truth and about sometimes people are a little too honest.

You ever been around that person?

You know, and sometimes people aren't honest enough, you don't really know what we're talking about, you know?

And and someone said this to me, and I'm curious if you would agree.

Someone said, Have you ever noticed we say we want the truth, but we don't always mean it.

In other words, we say, give it to me straight.

And then somebody gives it to us straight, and we go, oh, don't do that again.

All right, can you put a little sugar in that?

Just a little bit, you know.

And so sometimes we want the truth, and sometimes we just want to feel better.

Does anybody want to be honest and say, sometimes I just want you to tell me it's good, even if it's not, I just want to like that.

Maybe not anybody in this room, okay?

Maybe not, but there are people in the wild who don't always want the truth.

And then there's some that do.

And then and here's the thing this was the conversation I was having with this guy.

It's good.

You don't want someone to tell you that you sound like a dying goat, okay?

You don't want to tell them that.

You want them to say, while okay, you don't want to tell them that.

You want them to say, while it's not your best, man, I was blessed by that today.

I was blessed that I don't sing like you, right?

That's what you you you know it's true.

How about this one?

Do you like my cooking?

Always, always, yes, of course.

You know, you don't want someone to say it tastes like roadkill smells.

No, you don't.

You want someone to say, while I enjoy your cooking, you should take a break.

Let's go get McDonald's instead.

That's what you want to hear.

And then this one, do you like me?

If you don't like me, don't tell me.

Smile and walk away.

You know, I don't, I don't need, I want you to make me feel better.

Here's the thing, though, that it depends on what it is.

It depends.

So there are some things I don't want you to make me feel better.

I need to know the truth.

Let me give you some examples.

What did the doctor say?

Don't tell me that you like my outfit.

Tell me if I'm dying.

Okay, I got like you're not gonna hurt my feelings.

How about this one?

Are my brakes working, Mr.

Mechanic?

You're not gonna hurt my feelings if you tell me that I was overdue to have them changed.

But can we talk about when I hit them, are they going to work, right?

How much does it cost in Jesus' name?

Okay.

Don't tell me it's 10 bucks and I get an invoice for$1,000.

We're not friends anymore, okay?

How about this?

He's just talking about, and he's gonna give us the verdict and give us some good news at the end.

So if you're ready, our sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous God is.

Isn't it unfair then for him to punish us?

This is merely a human point of view.

In other words, that's ignorant, as we would say where I come from.

He says, of course not.

That's the Bible's way of saying, if God were not entirely fair or just, how would he be qualified to judge the world?

But some others might still argue, how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights his truthfulness and brings him more glory?

And some even have slandered us, Paul is saying, by claiming that we say the more we sin, the better it is.

Those who say such things deserve to be condemned.

In other words, they deserve to be slapped upside the head.

Well then, should we conclude that the Jews are better than others?

No, not at all.

For we have already shown that all people say all, all, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin.

As the scriptures say, no one is righteous, not even one, no one is truly wise, no one is seeking God.

All have turned away and all have become useless.

No one does good, not a single one.

Thanks, Paul.

Appreciate that.

He let me tell you even more, their talk is foul, like the stench of an open grave.

That is gross.

Their tongues are filled with lies, snake venom drips from their lips.

So encouraging.

Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.

They rush to commit murder, destruction and misery follow them.

They don't even know where to find peace.

They have no fear of God at all.

Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, to show that the entire world is guilty before God.

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands.

The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

Praise the Lord.

The good news about the gospel is that it is good news.

And so what we have to realize is we have to realize the news before we realize what good news is.

And for the season finale of episode, or excuse me, of season one, where we have the idea that God sees us.

Paul has been talking about all of these things and he brings it to this final conclusion if you're taking notes, and that is this that the gospel is so good with a whole bunch of oh, say so good.

It is so good.

Why?

Because it reveals the truth.

It tells us where we actually are before we find Jesus.

It tells us the truth.

And here's here's the idea is if a doctor diagnoses you with the flu, he's not trying to hurt your feelings.

A doctor has never diagnosed me with anything and I and he offended me.

The reality is he's trying to tell you why the antibiotic is necessary.

He's trying to say the reason why I am going to give you this is because of this.

We don't realize how great the medicine is until we realize that we need it.

And so what God's word is trying to do is he's not bringing condemnation, he's bringing clarity.

So we realize how great the gospel is.

Well, what is the gospel?

We've been talking about this every week, but the gospel is simply the good news.

It's the good news about Jesus.

We remember that we are not the centerpiece of the story.

Jesus is.

Jesus is the one who came on a rescue mission to save all of us.

And it's about his rescue and transformation of all who trust in him.

What I love about Jesus is he saves us and then he goes to work on us and he heals us of every broken place.

But he can't heal us of every broken place until he shows us where we're broken.

That's why it is good news.

And so if you don't want to memorize all of that, you just remember that the gospel is good news.

And that's what the apostle Paul was bringing to an end with this.

And so what we're gonna do for the end of season one is we're gonna grapple with the question, but wait a minute, how does the truth bring us real hope, even if it's not always easy to hear?

How in the world can the good news be good when it has to tell us about the bad?

Well, it's because God's word is not here to condemn us, it's here to bring clarity to us so we realize how great Jesus is.

And so we're gonna show you kind of the summary of season one in today's text, but we're not gonna have an opportunity to do justice to all that's in this text.

People write entire books on these 20 verses.

And so if you if you have the tab back card in front of you and you're interested in some of the things that we're just not gonna have time to talk about today, I want to encourage you to tap that and you can sign up to a blog that I've got where I'm gonna go deeper into some of the different things that are in the text.

But I want to focus on today the fact that the good news is good when we realize how badly we need it.

I don't know about you, but I need some good news.

I got a whole lot of bad news going on my stream right now.

My my algorithm seems to find all the bad news and give it to me.

I have to ask for good news out there.

Well, if you've been asking for good news, I've got some good news for you today.

Look at your neighbor and say, Do you need some good news?

And don't even wait for them to say yes because you know they do.

All right.

We're gonna give you some good news.

Let me give you three things about the good news that summarizes this entire uh season one.

Here's the first one.

The good news about the gospel is that it is so good because it reveals the goodness of God.

It is so good because it reveals what was already there.

We just couldn't see it because of how far we had fallen.

And so we're gonna look at what that is.

Here's the good news of what's going on.

Now, the apostle Paul, he is gonna start answering some questions and he's gonna start talking about what it is.

He says this, first of all, he says, then what's the advantage of being a Jew?

The Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God.

True, some of them were unfaithful, but does that mean God will be unfaithful?

Of course not.

Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true.

Somebody say amen.

Then he says, some might say, our sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous God is.

Isn't it unfair for him to punish us?

To which Paul, in a very nice way, says, of course not.

Another way of saying, stop being ignorant, okay?

If God were not entirely fair or just, how would he be qualified to judge the world?

Someone else might still argue, how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights how truthful he is and brings him more glory?

Therefore, the more we sin, the better it is.

And I love, he says, those who say such things deserve to be condemned.

He's literally saying, you deserve to go to hell.

That's terrible.

But he's just saying, you don't get it, all right?

And so this is what the apostle Paul is actually doing is he has at this point been in ministry for over 25 years.

He has been all over, it seems like the known world.

And he has talked to both Gentiles and Jewish people, and he's trying to talk to them about how this comes together.

And so at this point, he has encountered a lot of the same questions.

And so as he is finishing up talking about how the Jewish nation still needs the gospel like anybody else does, he also deals with obvious things that want to try to poke holes in the goodness of God.

How could God be so good if we are not so very good?

And so he's gonna highlight through these four different things that talk about this is the goodness of God.

And it highlights what he's been doing in season one because so much of the Bible is doing just that.

So much of the Bible is in response, the New Testament is in response to questions that people have.

And so what he is doing is he's talking through this.

So here's the first thing that shows it, and that is that God shows his goodness through his word.

God shows his goodness through his word.

Because what they asked was, they said, then what advantage do the Jewish people have in being or being given the Old Testament?

Because it says, What advantage is there of being a Jew?

What advantage is circumcision?

So, what advantage is it of the people who were the people of God and they received the covenant of God?

And he said, So much, because they were the first ones to receive the word of God.

That's why I love calling the Bible the Word of God, because I think we forget sometimes that this isn't just words on a page, it is the word of the everlasting, living, all-powerful, all good, sovereign, in control, God.

And he has revealed himself to us through his word.

And so he's saying, you may tell you why the Jewish people were so very blessed for all you Gentiles, is they were the first ones to hear it.

And it was through them and their story that we were able to see how God works in the lives of his people.

What a blessing! What a blessing to be able to see.

And that leads into the same question that happens so much today when people are talking about the gospel and all of this.

There is an active movement in the church to literally want to take about 70% of their Bible and tear it and throw it away called the Old Testament.

Because they will say, Well, we have the New Testament.

Why do we need the Old Testament?

Well, the reason why is because we don't know why Jesus came if we don't have the Old Testament.

We don't know who God is without the Old Testament.

The reason why we study the Old Testament is to see how God has revealed Himself.

And you know what I love is how God was so faithful to the people then, he's just as faithful now.

And we have a record of it.

And God shows his goodness through his word.

The second question he had to deal with was the question of does God or does our unfaithfulness stop God's faithfulness?

And so what he's been showing us throughout this season, and he's gonna he's showing us in this, is where he's he says, God shows his goodness even when we are not.

Because the question is a good one.

Because during the time it was a polytheistic culture, and what that means is they serve so many different gods, and all of these gods were petty.

In other words, Zeus was petty.

If you offered a sacrifice to Zeus, you were his friend.

If you didn't offer a sacrifice to Zeus, he was now your enemy and he would come after you.

And so they were like, hey, listen, is God like that?

And he's like, No, first of all, he's real.

Second of all, he is faithful, which means all of his promises are available to you.

And if you don't take advantage of them, he doesn't change his mind.

He keeps his hand outstretched to you.

Even if you walk away, even if you're not interested, he keeps his hand out and he says, I will not change my mind.

I will offer this to you, no matter how faithless you are.

I am not a liar.

I will not lie.

That's how good God is.

God is so good that he stays good even when we are not.

The other good thing is that Paul was saying is he was saying, now at this point, you probably have questions about the goodness of God.

He showed us who he was through his word.

He showed us that he is faithful.

Another question he dealt with is he basically was dealing with, is God is is God unfair in punishment for sin?

Other words, is that are there rules for thee and not for me?

And he said, No, if you've been listening, what I've been saying, God shows his goodness by his justice.

You know what's amazing about God is God doesn't have favorites in that he loves me as much as he loves you.

And he will judge me according to my sin as much as he will judge you.

So God is fair.

There's nothing worse than being feel like you've been misunderstood or treated unfairly.

Does anyone like to be treated unfairly?

Exactly.

And that's why they're saying you say, but is it fair?

Will God treat the Gentiles better or will God treat the Jewish people better?

He's like, no, God is just in all of his ways.

That's why the good news is so very good, is because we can trust the one who is bringing it.

And then he said one more, and that is that God shows his goodness in our transformation.

Because that wonderful question toward the end was, isn't it true that the more I sin, the more I show God's greatness?

So sin on, which is Paul just kind of going, ugh, he was saying, no, that is not why Jesus came.

Salvation is not a license to sin, it is salvation is freedom from sin.

And so basically he was saying, people who think like that must be condemned because he was saying that if the reason why you want to get saved is so that you can sin without consequence, then you miss the point.

You missed the entire point because you missed it.

It was about Jesus and you think it's all about you.

A gift is not a right, it's a gift.

And so, therefore, salvation is not something that we now say, well, I can do whatever I want to do because I'm saved.

It's like actually I can live free because I'm saved.

And it's out of the goodness of God.

Salvation or the gospel is so good because it highlights the goodness of God.

That's why when we understand who God is, we run to Him when we find sin in our life.

We don't run away from Him.

Nobody likes to be in trouble.

I never met anybody that when they get in trouble, they run toward the danger.

Most people, when they get in trouble, they do something wrong, they isolate themselves because nobody likes to be in trouble.

And what happens sometimes when we realize that we're not perfect and we haven't figured it all out yet, and all of a sudden we realize we're not where we should be.

If we're not careful, we will isolate ourselves away from God because we don't realize his goodness and how much he loves us.

But you notice that God's word teaches us that the opposite is true.

As a matter of fact, uh, the apostle Paul quoted Psalm 51, and why it's so amazing is because you know David was a great king, but he was human.

And David had sinned against God.

Like he literally had an affair.

Fair on his wife, then had the husband of the person he had the affair with killed, and then tried to cover it all up by marrying her.

It's fine, it's fine, just leave it alone, right?

All that.

And so one day a prophet comes in and says, Hey David, you did a whole bunch of bad stuff.

You have sinned and you are wrong.

And you know what?

Many of us, if we don't understand the goodness of God, what we would have done then has been like, don't tell me the truth.

Just tell me I made a mistake.

He's like, No, you did evil.

You sinned.

Well, you know what's amazing?

It's because God, because David knew the character of God.

This is what Psalm 51 actually says before what he quoted.

He said, Have mercy on me, O God.

Why?

Because of your unfailing love, because of your great compassion.

Blot out the stains of my sin.

Wash me clean from my guilt, purify me from this sin, for I recognize my rebellion and it haunts me day and night.

Against you and you alone I have sinned.

I have done what is evil in your sight, but you will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment is against me is just.

In other words, I trust you.

I trust you.

When we understand the goodness of God, it doesn't cause us to run away from him, but it calls us to run toward him when we sin, because we know how very much our Heavenly Father loved us.

Let me give you some good news.

The good news is God's goodness is what leads us to salvation.

The reason why we need to go through texts like today is because when it puts a mirror up in front of us, we're reminded we may not have it all together, but God does.

And the goodness of God leads us to salvation.

Look at your neighbor and say, that's some good news.

That's some great news.

And so the season finale of everything that the Apostle Paul has been telling us is that number one, God is so very good.

Here's the second thing about the good news that is so good when we realize what it's doing, and that is not only is God good, but it's also so good because it reveals the power of sin.

It reveals the power of sin.

And remember the question is how in the world can I have real hope when I have to face the truth that's not so comfortable?

It's because the Bible is not there to condemn us, it's there to provide clarity for us so we can see the whole story.

It's not good news until we know the bad news.

And the bad news is sin has power.

Sin is destructive.

Look at what he said.

He said, We have shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin.

As the scriptures say, so what he's gonna do is he's actually gonna take different scriptures from the Old Testament to say, this is the marker, this is the judgment of how we're doing, and this is what it says.

It says, No one is righteous, no one is truly wise, no one is seeking God.

All have turned away, all have become useless.

Praise the Lord.

No one is doing good.

Their talk is foul, they're like stench of an open grave, their tongues are filled with lies, snake venom drips from their lips, their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.

They rush to commit murder, destruction, and misery always follow them.

They don't know where to find peace.

And so what has happened is Paul said, Okay, well, we've seen how great God is.

Now let's get an honest assessment of ourselves.

And so what Paul does is Paul walks us through the various passages to show our walking away and what it has done and the truth that results.

So, in other words, it started with God who loved us, still does.

And he says, I want you to be part of my family.

I want you to be in my presence.

And at some point, we turned around and we said, I'm gonna walk this way.

I'm gonna go in my own direction.

And he said, It wasn't just a Jewish people, it wasn't just a Gentile people, it was all people at some point turned around and said, Yes, I want freedom.

Yes, I want good things, I'm gonna go find it myself and turned away from God.

And so he said, Okay, let's see how we did.

Let's see what the result of it was.

And so he walked through those different scriptures because once again, remember, the idea was that God's plan was for us to live free and whole with no broken pieces.

And for us who don't know Jesus, we thought we were doing it fine without him.

But here's the truth.

He said, Okay, I looked at all of it, I looked through God's word to say what perfection looked like, and I realized that sin actually destroys our character.

That sin is more powerful than we realize, that it destroys everything around it.

He said, There are none that are righteous, no one does good.

No matter how hard we try, because of the sin in our lives, it ends up destroying everything that we try to make right.

It destroys our character.

Then he said, I looked at it and I realized that sin also destroys our speech.

I love how he said it's like it's it smells like an open grave.

In other words, it's it's worse than we think it is.

It reminds me of you ever talked to somebody and you love them so much, but you can tell when you're talking to them, they forgot to brush their teeth that morning.

You ever, no, none of y'all.

Okay, I've talked to people like that, and you're talking to them and you love them, but as soon as they start talking to you, it's like, mm-hmm, the Lord is good.

You know, and the thing is that they don't know.

But everybody else knows, okay?

Everybody else knows.

And he's saying that's what it's like is that no matter how good you're doing, it's still, it's still harming you.

It's still harming those around you because sin destroys everything it touches.

Sin destroys our actions.

It destroys what we meant to do well because it's done out of out of our own selfish desires, trying to get to that life of freedom without God.

It ends up destroying because of the sin.

And then it destroys our peace.

And what ends up happening is because we're trying to find acceptance, security, and significance, which can only be found in God.

But instead, we're trying to find it on our own, and instead, it creates a lack of peace.

And so we do everything we can trying to find peace, and all we're doing is breaking ourselves even more.

And we don't even realize it.

We end up spending money that we don't have to impress people we don't like, to buy things we don't even want.

All trying to find the peace that will never satisfy.

It only comes from the presence of the Lord.

And so Paul's saying, I'm not trying to condemn you, I'm just putting up a mirror to say this is the problem.

This is why we need something greater than ourselves.

It reminds me of a story in the life of Jesus.

The Bible said that a young man came to Jesus one time and he said, Jesus, what must I do to have eternal life?

And Jesus said, Well, you know, you'll obey the commandments, do all the things.

And I love his response.

He said, Yes, teacher, I've actually obeyed all these commands since I was young.

Imagine telling Jesus, I'm good.

I've already got it all done.

I'm just, I'm just fine.

But look at this, the Bible says, looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him.

So, in other words, he said, I realize he's trying to get to me.

And he doesn't realize how far he still is.

And so he says this he says, There's one more thing you haven't done.

Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.

Then come follow me.

At this, the man's face fell and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

The disciples were astounded.

He said, Then who in the world can be saved?

They asked.

It wasn't about the money, it was about showing him you're not there yet.

No matter how good you think you are, and you probably are really good.

Are you perfect?

And I love this because the answer to the question is no, to the point that they ask the question who then can be saved?

If we are supposed to get there all by ourselves, and even that great man of God fell short, how can we be saved?

And I love this.

I think we missed this so many times.

Jesus looked at them intently.

In other words, he said, if you got confused, pay attention.

And he tells them the whole gospel.

He says this, humanly speaking, it is impossible, but not with God.

Everything is possible with God.

He just told them the answer to the whole thing.

He said, This great man still wasn't there yet.

So you asked the question, who can get there?

Nobody.

That's why I'm here.

That's why I came.

Let me give you some good news.

The good news is sin can keep us from reaching God, but it cannot stop God from rescuing us.

I'm gonna say that again for the people in the back.

Sin can keep us from reaching God, but it cannot stop God from rescuing us.

That's why the gospel is so amazing.

It's so good because it starts with telling us how good God is.

And then it puts up a mirror and says, Let me show you who you are.

Not to condemn you, but to bring clarity.

I'm gonna tell you the truth that will set you free if you can see it for what it is.

And that's why the gospel is so good, is because it tells us the truth, so then we know what to do with it.

And it's actually good news because when we know the problem, that's halfway to the solution.

And so look at your neighbor and say, it really is good news.

It really is good news because it shows us the goodness of God, it tells us about the power of sin, and then here's the here's the finale, and that is this that it then reveals to us the need for a savior.

It reveals to us that we're gonna need some help, that we can't figure this out by ourselves.

To which God is kind of saying, exactly, exactly.

That's the whole point.

And so he sums it all up with this.

He says, Listen, the law's purpose is to keep people from having excuses and to show that the entire world is guilty before God.

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands.

Why?

Because they can't.

The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

And so the reality is what Paul is saying is it is only a mirror because it looks more like this.

When we see ourselves, we think we have it all figured out.

But when we see the truth, we realize we have more chains than we can imagine.

The truth of it is, is we can't reach God on our own.

That's why the gospel is so good.

It's because God gave us the law because we he says, Come follow me.

And we go, no, I'm gonna go my own way.

And then at some point we turn around and go, God, how am I doing?

How am I doing way over here?

And he's like, Let me tell you, yeah.

And he shows us.

And he says, You are more bound up than you realize.

You got more chains than you can imagine.

You've got shackles on, you don't even know their names yet.

You are so bound up.

And so the Bible is not condemning us, it's just showing us what's already there.

That's why it's so good.

How in the world can we handle knowing that everybody in the world that doesn't know Jesus is more bound up with chains than they realize?

And Paul said, This is why I get so excited.

I am not ashamed of the good news because it's about Christ.

It's the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes.

This good news tells us how God makes us right in his sight.

And this is accomplished from start to finish through him, through faith in him.

He said, That's why it's such good news.

Is when I look at God's word, I see how chained up and in bondage I am.

And then I realize I can't save myself, which is why the gospel is so good, is because it is powerful and it saves everyone, and it shows us the way that God does it.

And what we're gonna learn about in our next season, season two, is to realize that yes, season one shows us how far we have fallen, but season two tells us about Jesus.

Because when sin destroys our character, that's why Jesus is our holiness.

When sin destroys our speech, that's why Jesus is the word of life.

When sin destroys our actions, that's why Jesus is the perfect and spotless Lamb.

And when sin destroys our peace, he is our peace.

He is the one that we have been waiting for.

That's why I love when people ask me all the time.

They'll say, Pastor, I want to see a miracle.

And I love that because I say, well, then take a look.

Are you impressed?

And then I don't want them to tell me the truth.

I want them to say, so impressive.

But now they're like, What do you mean?

It's like, I am a walking miracle.

You know why?

Because I was once lost, but now I'm found.

I was once blind, but now I can see.

I was once on my way to hell because I was trying to pay for my sins myself.

And then Jesus came and he rescued me.

And the greatest story ever told is the mission that Jesus came on to rescue all of us.

And one day I realized I was sinking and I couldn't help myself.

And so I reached out and Jesus rescued me.

Do you know if you ever want to see a miracle?

Because if they've received salvation, they've already received the greatest miracle we could ever hope for.

And that is that we were headed the wrong direction.

And Jesus rescued all of us.

The reason why the gospel is such good news is it tells us how good God is.

And then it puts up a mirror to show us how bad we need him.

And then he says, Come follow me.

I will wash you clean.

And it never gets old.

It reminds me of we've been reading God's word together.

And if you um if you like to read God's word, we're going one chapter at a time through Psalms, and you can text RLC Bible to 94,000.

And we're going to read Psalm chapter 103 today and or this week.

Psalms 103 · chapter mention

And it was, it was written most likely toward the end of David's life.

And I love how, you know, it said in Psalm 51, he had been, you know, uh he had been confronted with his sin and he turned his life back over to God, repented of his sin.

Well, toward the end of his life, he actually writes these words and he says, Let all that I am praise the Lord.

With my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.

May I never forget the good things he does for me.

Why?

Because he forgives all my sin.

Years later, he said, May I never forget when I was lost, I was undone, I was without God, and God loved me enough to tell me the truth.

He loved me enough to tell me that I was headed in the wrong direction.

And instead of running away from God, I turned toward him, and it made all the difference.

May we never forget the things he has done for us.

And the number one thing is he sees us in our brokenness and in our chains and our shackles, and he sets us free of every single one.

Let me give you the best news of the day, and that is this that the Bible says that everyone who believes in Jesus is made right in God's sight.

That is something that the law of Moses could never do.

Everyone, everyone who believes in Jesus is made right in God's sight.

Because the law was never intended to be our righteousness.

The law was only a mirror.

The law was a mirror showing us how far we had fallen so that we would know to reach out for the Lord.

It reminds me of, I don't know if y'all have ever done this before, I've done this more times than I can imagine, but there was one particular time I got a bad habit of not going to the doctor.

Okay, pray for me.

So I I am one of those, you know, I am I am I'm old school in this one thing that if I get sick, like, well, I'll just drink a cup of coffee, I'll be fine.

You know, just that's that's it never works, by the way.

Never works.

But it's this time, maybe, right?

And so so many times I won't go to the doctor when I get sick.

And this one particular time I started getting sick, I drank my cup of coffee, it didn't work, and I finally broke down, took some Tylenol, that didn't work, and it started as a and and it was I got to thinking about that later, and it was like, how horrible would it be if I went into the doctor and said, Doctor, I'm I feel like I'm dying.

He was like, Ah, you're fine.

Clearly, I'm not, right?

How many times do we go through our life suffering?

And we don't have someone just to tell us the truth.

Yes, if you don't have Jesus, you are suffering, you are dying.

What if I went to the doctor and he he ran some tests on me and he said, Yeah, appears you're dying.

Have a good day now.

That'd be terrible.

What is it like to go through life to finally admit I can't do this on my own?

I need help, and nobody ever come and tell you, hey, there's hope.

You don't have to stay that way.

What would it be like if I went into that doctor and I said, Doc, I need your help, I need some medicine.

Let's take some tests.

Yes, you do need my help.

Hey, I've got this one pill.

You can take this one pill, and tomorrow you will be great.

Can I have it?

You can't afford it, it's too much money, you can't have it.

But why don't you even tell me?

Because that guy over there is giving them out.

Go to him, he'll give you what you need.

How horrible would it be if there were people around us, maybe you today.

You realize what you're doing is not working.

You realize if you don't know Jesus, this is not the way life is supposed to be lived.

There's something wrong, and you come into a church like this, and someone says, You're right, there's a reason why it's not working, it's because it was never going to work without Jesus.

Well, what can I do about it?

Be the worst thing in the world if I said nothing, good luck, but instead I can say, I can't help you.

But I know a guy, he's given out healing, but you gotta go take it.

He's not gonna come to you, he already has.

That's why Jesus came on a rescue mission, is to wash away all of our sin.

Jesus is not gonna come to you, he's already here, and he has his hands open and he's saying, I have the healing that you need.

Will you take it?

You take it.

That's the power of the gospel.

It's not to point out how bad we are.

The Bible is not here to condemn us, it's here to bring clarity to us so we can see that we need Jesus.

And he's saying, Here you go.

What are you gonna do about it?

What are you gonna do?

Now I know there may be so many different people in here and so many different things that's going on in your life, and you need God to speak to you in so many ways.

And and in just a moment, the the team is gonna lead us in a song of worship, and maybe you want to find us back at the prayer table and pray, pray with us about what's going on in your life, and and please do that.

That's part of what church is about, is about us leaning on one another and praying for one another.

But I know that there's probably at least two different people in here today because I've been praying for you this week and praying how we needed to end this message.

And I think there's one group of people in here today that you need to take some time and celebrate your salvation.

I'm not saying you don't have other things going on, but you know what they you know what the devil does?

He cannot take away your salvation, so instead, he will dole it, he will dole it by making so many other things seem so big and so powerful and so strong that we forget how sweet it is.

And when you start thinking about the good news of the gospel, you go, yeah, God's good, but I still got this problem.

God's good, but I haven't figured this out yet.

Stop letting the enemy finish the sentence.

And for just a moment, God is good.

The greatest miracle you could ever hope for, you've already received.

Don't let the enemy finish the sentence another moment, but instead, in just a second, when we begin to worship the Lord, maybe your next best act of worship is just to raise your hands and say, Jesus, I'm so thankful to be saved.

No, life's not perfect, you're still healing me, but I'd rather be here than I would be without you.

Thank you, Jesus, for saving me.

Thank you for rescuing me.

And I'm gonna tell you a secret: what happens?

The bigger you make of God, the smaller your problems become because you start to see that in the light of who he is, they're nothing.

That doesn't mean they're not something, but they can't take away that joy that only comes in knowing Jesus.

And so just for a few moments, I'm gonna ask you to put all those things to the side, God knows about them, and just say, Jesus, I'm so thankful that I'm not perfect, but you are.

Thank you, Jesus.

Maybe you're in here and you're number two, it's time to receive salvation.

You know, everybody in this place at some point has been where you are right now, and that is they realize that what I'm doing is not working.

At some point, I tried to find freedom, I tried to find contentment, I tried to find my own rescue all by myself, and it only ended up in more and more chains.

And you know what Jesus would say to you?

You're more bound up than you realize.

You got issues that you don't even know about yet.

There's chains within chains within chains, and I don't say that to condemn you.

I'm here to tell you I can set you free from all of them, but you gotta come to me.

And I don't negotiate.

You don't get to keep three of them and I take ten of them.

No, you come to me all the way, or you're not ready.

But if you're tired of being broken, if you're tired of being bound up, if you're tired of doing your life your way and getting predictable results, it's time to run to Jesus.

Only Jesus can set you free.

On the back of your connect card is the plan of salvation, and that plan of salvation talks about how sweet it is to know the Lord, and it leads you in a prayer that you can pray that simply says that Jesus, I want all of you.

I repent of all of my sin.

I'm tired of doing it my own way, I'm tired of running away from you.

Today is a day of salvation, it's the greatest decision you'll ever make.

It's a supernatural thing where God washes away the old, makes all things new.

I can only explain it to you, but it's gonna fall short of a miracle that's gonna happen in you today.

If you'll take it, he's already come to you.

It's now time for you to run to him.

Your next best act of worship is when we begin to worship, and people are raising their hands all over the place.

Your worship is to join us at the prayer table.

Be bold, be courageous.

Jesus died on the cross for you.

You can walk 20 feet to him and watch what he will do.

Let's pray together right now.

Jesus.