Reconciliation: The Relationship is Restored

Introduction:

John 19:28-30 - After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

What the Cross Proves About God's Love for You.
(Romans 5:6-11)

1. God's Love for You is an Unconditional Love. (Romans 5:6-8)
2. God's Love for You is a Rescuing Love. (Romans 5:9)
3. God's Love for You is a Committed Love. (Romans 5:10)

   John 1:12 – But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

   Philippians 1:6 – And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the book of Romans in chapter 5.

  You know, there's that old saying, "It's not how you start, it's how you finish," right?

  I was thinking a lot about that concept this week, and I realized that's really true, like,

  in everything, isn't it?

  Like, have you ever taken an airplane flight?

  What determines if it's a good flight?

  How you land, right?

  And I was thinking about that also.

  Have you ever watched a movie that you're like, "Oh, this movie is so good," and then

  it has this completely idiotic ending?

  Have you ever seen a movie like that?

  Do you walk away saying that was a good movie?

  No.

  Do you say, "Oh, that movie was terrible," because it didn't finish well?

  And I don't think we ever feel this as deeply as we do being Pittsburgh sports fans.

  Heavens to Mercutroy, how many pirate games have I sat through?

  I'm like, "Oh, this is awesome," and then we blow it into night thinning, and we say,

  "Oh, that game was terrible," or all penguin fans, how many times?

  Oh, this is such a good game, and then we lose it over time.

  Like, oh.

  But you know, the Son of God came to do some work, and He finished perfectly.

  John 19, Jesus on the cross, says after this, "Jesus knowing that all was now finished,

  said," to fulfill the Scripture, "I thirst."

  A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a Hissa

  branch and held it to His mouth.

  When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished," and He bowed His

  head and gave up His Spirit.

  And in this four-week series, we're going to be answering the question, "What is finished?"

  Jesus cried out, "It is finished!"

  "What is?"

  Well, today, today we are going to be looking at the glorious reality that the work of reconciliation

  is finished.

  The relationship with God is restored.

  Would you bow your heads, please?

  And I'm going to ask you, just take a moment and pray for me.

  I was telling Pastor Taylor in my office before we came in here, "Man, I can't possibly

  communicate the gravity of this passage."

  You always feel that, but sometimes you feel it a lot more.

  And today we're going to be looking at the love of God.

  And I feel so inadequate to communicate it the way it needs to, but we're going to take

  a swing at it.

  All right?

  I may, I'll pray for you.

  Father in heaven, we're about to go after a topic that hits us in the heart, probably

  more than anything.

  So we talk about your great love.

  So once again, we just pray against any preconceived notions any of us might have going into this.

  And we would honestly just take a look at what your word actually says.

  Father, transform us as only you can.

  We pray in Jesus' name.

  And all of God's people said, "Amen, amen.

  It is finished.

  The relationship with God is restored."

  We started this last week that the Bible says in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, God was

  demonstrating some things.

  He was showing us some things.

  He was, a better word, proving some things.

  And in Romans 3.25, we saw that God demonstrated His righteousness.

  Jesus died to fulfill the demands of God's law.

  The guilt is gone.

  So here, in this passage, just look at verse 8.

  It says, "But God shows," again, better word, "proves," but God shows His love for us.

  And that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

  You see, it's this love of God He tells us in verses 10 and 11 that reconciled us.

  The relationship is restored.

  Look, this is one of the greatest doctrines in all of God's Word, because God is not some

  cold-detached judge.

  And you would wrongly take that away from Romans chapter 3 to say, "Well, God's just

  this judge, and we're guilty."

  Okay, and He did this judicial thing, and He pardoned us, but He's not this cold judge

  in the sense of now God's looking down from heaven saying, "Turn or burn, I don't care."

  Right?

  Get right or get left.

  Look, I made provision, accept Jesus or don't, makes no difference to me whatsoever.

  The glorious truth of God's Word, it's that He loves you.

  I mean He actually, really, infinitely loves you.

  And last week we talked about one of the greatest struggles we have as people is struggling

  with guilt.

  Am I really forgiven?

  But you know, there's another question that we struggle with as people, and it's this

  one.

  Does God really love me?

  Does God really love me?

  Oh yeah, I know John 3.16.

  Everybody knows John 3.16.

  For God so loved the world.

  But maybe that's just like a general statement about God's disposition towards people as

  a whole.

  But does He love me?

  You know, there are two things that make people question God's love.

  And one is the awareness of my sin.

  Some people question God's love because you're like, "You know what, I just feel unworthy."

  The other thing that makes you question God's love is going through hardship.

  You're like, "If God really loved me, why would He let this allow this cause this horrible

  trial in my life to happen?"

  But this is the question on the table today.

  Am I loved by God?

  In other words, am I accepted by God?

  Is God on my side?

  Will that ever change?

  Well, I got some great news for you.

  God settled all of this with the death of Jesus Christ.

  So on your outline, the relationship is restored and we're focusing on the cross as we head

  into resurrection day next Sunday.

  And good Friday this Friday, we're focused on the cross.

  Today what the cross proves about God's love for you.

  Does God love me?

  Look at the cross.

  That answers all of it.

  Let's unpack that a little bit.

  Number one, the Bible tells us that God's love for you is an unconditional love.

  It's an unconditional love.

  You know, I get a pause here.

  People say, especially in circles like ours, they're like, "Well, you know, it's not about

  religion.

  It's about what?

  Relationship."

  Oh, you travel in those circles.

  It's not about religion.

  It's about relationship.

  And okay, that's true.

  But you know, technically, technically.

  God has a relationship with Jesus.

  The question is, do you have a good relationship with Him?

  Or do you have a bad relationship with Him?

  Because biblically, there's no neutral.

  It's not like there's these on fire, born-again, Bible-believing Christians,

  and these evil, wicked, nasty, violent, hurtful people who hate God,

  and somewhere in the middle is just that really nice person.

  Not a Christian, but not...

  There's no neutral.

  And in this passage, you're going to see that unsaved people, people alienated from God,

  are described in four ways.

  They're described as weak in verse 6, as ungodly in verse 6,

  as sinners in verse 8, and as enemies in verse 10.

  And we have to understand that going in.

  Looking at these four, weak means you're powerless to save yourself.

  There is not a thing you can do to get right with God on your own.

  You're weak.

  You're ungodly.

  You are nothing like God intended you to be by birth.

  You're a sinner.

  That means in the eyes of God, you are rebellious.

  And in verse 10, as I said, He uses the word "enemy."

  And that means you're hostile towards God.

  But really, this enemy concept, it's really a two-way street.

  As you see, by nature, we resent God's authority.

  I don't want somebody telling me what to do.

  I don't want somebody telling me the things that I want to do are wrong, so that's hostility

  towards God.

  But you know, it goes the other way, too.

  God has a holy hatred of sin.

  So we could say that we have a wicked opposition towards God, and God has a holy opposition

  towards us.

  It's a dual opposition.

  So something major has to happen if there's going to be any kind of reconciliation between

  these two parties that have such hostility towards one another.

  Something huge has to happen.

  Look at verse 6.

  It says, "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."

  Let's not fly through this too quickly, shall we?

  Can we just pause for a moment and as much as we can try to get the weight of God's love

  in this statement?

  He said, "Christ died for the ungodly."

  Who does that?

  Who dies for rebellious, wicked, evil people?

  Who does that?

  It's a shocking statement.

  But Paul illustrates, look at verses 7 and 8, how he illustrates this incredible truth.

  He says, "For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, that perhaps for a good person one

  would dare even to die."

  But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

  I love Paul's illustration.

  Look at verse 7 again.

  He says, "One will scarcely die for a righteous person."

  What does he mean by a righteous person?

  Well, a righteous person is just like somebody who's upright and a good, holy person, but

  maybe you sort of have a detached relationship from them.

  Like for example, your favorite preacher that you listen to on a podcast.

  Maybe there's somebody that you follow their podcast, you listen to them and they're preaching

  really blesses you, but you don't know that guy, right?

  That's Paul's point here, is like your favorite podcast preacher, besides me, but your favorite

  podcast preacher, I had to clarify that, but you're like, "Jeff, you're not even in the

  top 15."

  Moving on.

  That favorite podcast preacher of yours, if you had an opportunity to die so that he

  could live, would you do that?

  Probably not.

  That's why he says scarcely.

  There might be one or two of you, like, "Yeah, I would do it."

  But Paul's like, "That's pretty scarce that somebody would die for a good person."

  You don't really know.

  But then he dials it up a notch, he goes, "Perhaps for a good person one would dare even to

  die."

  And now he's talking about maybe that holy, upright, good Christian person that we know

  and love.

  All right?

  So if I were to ask, "Okay, forget about your podcast guy, would you die for Pastor Taylor?"

  You're like, "Wow, that really ups the ante.

  I would really strongly consider that one."

  And now we get the weight of verse 8 when he says, "But God, but God on the other hand

  shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

  See Paul says maybe somebody would die for a good man, but no one would die for an evil

  man.

  But that's exactly how God showed His love for you.

  God loved you when you were a wuze.

  You're like a what?

  A wuze.

  I just made that word up.

  W-S-E, a weak, ungodly, sinful enemy.

  That's just in the text.

  I just paraphrased it.

  God loved you as a wuze.

  And God didn't say, "Look, when you get your act together, then we'll talk about salvation."

  God didn't say, "When you start living a certain way, then I'm going to love you."

  It says, "While we were still sinners, what God says is, 'Look, I love you.

  I sent my son to die for you.'

  You come to me and then we'll get your act together."

  See God knows you better than you know yourself.

  And He loves you at your worst.

  So that's where Paul starts.

  God's love for you is unconditional.

  Secondly, what does the cross prove about God's love for you?

  God's love for you is a rescuing love.

  It's a rescuing love.

  Look at verse 9.

  He says, "Since therefore we have now been justified by His blood, much more shall we

  be saved by Him from the wrath of God."

  I love this.

  You're going to see this a couple of times in this passage.

  Much more.

  Much more.

  What he's saying is, "If Jesus' death could do this, then much more Jesus' life can do

  this."

  So here, Jesus' blood justified has made us righteous before God, which is...

  I tried so hard to think of a way to describe that and I wrote down, "Infinitely enormous."

  I don't know.

  If Jesus' blood could make us righteous before God, which is infinitely enormous, even way

  bigger, He says, "We will be saved from the wrath of God."

  And that is a profound thing in the cross of Jesus Christ that God was saving you from

  Himself.

  He was saving you from His own wrath.

  But you know as a pastor, bless you as a pastor, oftentimes I hear people say, in wanting to

  argue, certain doctrines people will say, "You know, you're talking about God's wrath.

  A loving God wouldn't send someone to hell."

  Look, I believe that God is love and a loving God wouldn't send somebody to hell.

  Have you ever heard that?

  Pastor Taylor, I'm sure you've heard that a lot.

  A loving God wouldn't send someone to hell?

  Well, there's a lot of problems with that statement.

  One, it ignores what the Bible actually says about hell.

  You know, Jesus talked about hell more than anybody.

  Something like twice as much as He talked about heaven.

  So not only does it ignore what the Bible actually says about hell, it also ignores God's holiness.

  A holy God can't tolerate sin.

  So help me understand, if you're somebody that doesn't believe in hell, if you're somebody

  that still subscribes to the loving God wouldn't send somebody to hell, are you saying that

  somebody can live their entire life rejecting their Creator, living in flagrant sin and rebellion,

  they want nothing to do with God, and they want nothing to do with God's gifts, and someday

  when they die, God's going to be like, "Hey, that's okay.

  Come on into heaven.

  Let me show you around."

  Like, how does that work?

  By the way, an unsaved person would be miserable in heaven.

  Do you know that?

  An unsaved person would be absolutely miserable in heaven.

  You're like, "Why?"

  Now, that unsaved person has spent their life saying, "I don't want anything to do with

  God, God's truth, God's people, worship.

  I don't want anything to do with that."

  You know what heaven is?

  God, His truth, His people, and worship, that would be absolutely miserable to spend in

  eternity.

  What the God you want nothing to do with.

  So you're ignoring God's holiness when you're selecting which doctrine you want to adhere

  to.

  Oh, and here's one.

  A loving God would send someone to hell.

  I like to quickly remind people that God's love is not in question.

  What more could God have possibly done to save you?

  The Bible says, Romans chapter 8, "God spared not his own son.

  God was willing to kill his son so that you could be saved."

  I wouldn't do that.

  If your salvation meant that I had to kill my son, you'd all be gone to hell.

  And I wouldn't think twice about it.

  What more could God have possibly done to demonstrate His love than by giving the most precious thing

  that exists, the life of His Son.

  So don't please, don't come at me with this, a loving God wouldn't send someone to hell.

  God's love is not in question here.

  But church, if we brush off God's wrath, we're also brushing off the impact of the cross.

  We're brushing off the impact of the cross as minimizing the greatest act of God's love.

  But let's get real personal.

  Like I said at the beginning, one of the biggest reasons we doubt God's love is because we

  endure hardship.

  And I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand.

  But I imagine it would be high 90% of you.

  If I said raise your hand if you've ever questioned God's love because of a trial that you're

  going through.

  I bet most of those hands would go up.

  And I just want to lovingly encourage you.

  When we get in that mindset where we're doubting God's love and a hardship, what we're assuming

  is the way that God shows love is keeping me from trials.

  We've already attached that love language to God when His Word does not.

  And we think, okay, so God shows me love by making my life easy and trouble free.

  So if God doesn't do that, then He must not love me.

  Well, we studied the book of Job last fall.

  If we learned anything, it's that God loves me through hardship.

  No, no, no, no.

  God loves me with hardships.

  God shows the greatness of His love by meeting our greatest need, which is to be rescued

  from sin and hell.

  And if that's all God's love ever did for you, is to rescue you from hell.

  If that was all He ever did, you should be eternally grateful.

  Like the goofy guy in the infomercial.

  But wait, there's more.

  And number three, write this down.

  God's love for you is a committed love.

  What does the cross prove about God's love?

  Well, it proves it's unconditional and it proves it's rescuing.

  And thirdly, it proves that God's love for you is a committed love.

  Look at verse 10.

  For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more

  now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life.

  Very similar to verse 9 with the much more thing, but there's a different emphasis here.

  In verse 9, He says we will be saved from His coming wrath.

  And here He's saying God will keep us saved in the meantime.

  In other words, He's saying if God could reconcile us by the death of His Son, much more He can

  keep us saved by the life of His Son.

  Remember to put it another way, if God loved you when you were His enemy, how do you think

  He's going to love you now that you're His child?

  That's why He uses that word here.

  That's the word of the day.

  Reconciled.

  This in verse 10, telling us this, God is committed to a restored relationship with

  you.

  How committed?

  How committed is God?

  How committed?

  He adopted you as His child.

  Talk to somebody here that's adopted someone and ask that parent of the adopted kid, "How

  committed are you?"

  They're committed.

  John 1.12 says, "But to all who did receive Jesus, who believed in His name, He gave the

  right to become children of God."

  In Christ, we are God's children and He is our heavenly Father.

  And as you parents know, your kids will always be your kids and nothing can ever change that.

  No matter how bad your kids are, no matter what bad thing they've done, nothing will ever

  change that kid from being your kid.

  When we planted this church back in 2011, we were meeting at Marshall Middle School,

  which is right beside Covenant Community Church.

  I was friends with Pastor John Price, who was a pastor there.

  He invited our church over to, they had a church picnic on their property.

  He said, "Hey, why don't you guys come over and invite your church, come over, we're

  going to get the bouncy houses and have a big thing, have a bunch of kids.

  And why don't you bring your family over and like to introduce you, kind of like welcome

  to the neighborhood kind of thing."

  I'm like, "Oh, that sounds like a great time."

  Well, so our family went and Aaron and I were in the pavilion talking to some of these wonderful

  people at this church.

  And our kids were much littler at the time.

  And all of a sudden, I hear Cade's voice.

  He says, "Hey, Dad!

  Dad!

  Dad!"

  I look over.

  Cade and Owen are standing in the yard in the green space in Covenant Community with

  their pants around their ankles, urinating on the lawn.

  And I look over and Cade hollers, "Look, Dad!

  We made a P-cross!"

  And these dear sweet people we were talking to said, "Are those your children?"

  I said, "I've never seen those kids!"

  Somebody really needs to rein them in, you know what I'm saying?

  You know, as badly as I wanted to put them on eBay that day.

  I didn't.

  And Cade will tell you, grab him, he'll tell you something I've told him over and over

  throughout his life.

  He says, "Look, I love you on your best day and on your worst.

  And I've told him nothing will ever change that because you're my son."

  And it's the same with God's kids.

  You've been adopted.

  And you know, I've been reading the Bible for a long time.

  There is zero Biblical language about being unadopted.

  We touched on this last week, you know, people often ask, "Can I lose my salvation?"

  And the answer to that question is, "Well, you know, if I could lose my salvation, then

  I definitely would.

  But thankfully, it's not up to me.

  Because what Paul's teaching here is it's not really about how tightly I'm holding

  on to Jesus.

  It's how tightly he's holding on to me.

  So if you've ever struggled with, "Can I lose my salvation?"

  Here's a great verse.

  You're going to help me out here.

  Philippians 1-6, can we get that on the screen?

  Let's do a little Bible study here, shall we?

  Paul says, "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it

  to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."

  That means to the very end.

  All right, so help me out here.

  Did God begin a good work in you?

  Well, if you're a follower of Jesus, then the answer to that is, "Yes."

  Okay, next question.

  "If God began a good work in you, is he going to finish it?"

  Yeah, he is.

  Oh, one more question.

  Are you sure?

  Paul said he was.

  I am sure of this.

  That when Jesus starts something, he finishes it.

  True of the cross and the atonement.

  True of his death.

  Yes, true of that, but also true of adopting you and raising you and getting you to the

  finish line of heaven.

  If God didn't save you and say, "You know what, kid, good luck, you're on your own,

  don't mess this up, I hope to see you in heaven."

  Paul makes it very clear here that God's love for you is a committed love.

  We have the worship team.

  Join us back up here.

  Church, God loves you.

  As we said and can't emphasize enough, that is not in question.

  He showed us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

  We are rescued from His wrath.

  He is committed to keeping us all the way to heaven.

  The real question that we have to ask is not does God love us, but do you love God?

  God demonstrated His love for you.

  Are you willing to demonstrate your love for Him?

  You're like, "How do I do that?"

  Well, let's look at what the passage says.

  Look at verse 11.

  He says more than that.

  Which is a hilarious statement.

  More than all of this.

  He says, "We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now

  received reconciliation."

  I just want to ask you, church, will you rejoice?

  Rejoicing is the natural emotional result of being reconciled.

  And your worship should be an overflow of love and joy and gratitude for Jesus Christ,

  for all He is, and for all He's done, and for all He's promised that He will do.

  Let your worship be an expression of love.

  Would you stand and lift up your voices and demonstrate love for Jesus Christ?

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 5:6-11

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Have you ever questioned God’s love for you? Why? What is God’s response, based on this passage?
   

3. What 4 words are used to describe lost people in this passage? How does this speak to the idea that “deep down, man is basically good”?
   

4. Read John 1:12 and Philippians 1:6. What do these verses teach us about God’s love being a committed love?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Justification: The Guilt is Gone

Introduction:

John 19:28-30 - After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

3 Things to Remind Yourself When You Feel Guilty: (Romans 3:21-28)

1. You Are. (Romans 3:21-23)
2. But God is Totally Satisfied by the Cross. (Romans 3:24-26)

   Proverbs 17:15 – He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.

   Exodus 23:7 – Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.

   Acts 17:30 – The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.

3. And Justification is a Gift to Be Received By Faith. (Romans 3:27-28)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

• Audio Transcript

  Our next four messages, including Good Friday, which I just found out is on a Friday,

  will be talking about one of the most profound statements Jesus Christ ever made.

  And it was on the cross when he cried out, "It is finished."

  So we're going to be examining the question, "What is finished?"

  Think about finishing things, right?

  From a very early age, hopefully we've all been taught the importance of finishing things, right?

  Didn't you hear that growing up?

  And maybe some of you now parents are saying, "That's your kids."

  Hey, finish your supper. Finish your chores, right?

  Finish your homework.

  And we're taught that there are consequences when we don't finish.

  Well, the glorious reality that we're going to be looking at over these next four messages is this.

  The Son of God came to this earth to do something, and he finished it.

  So the question is, what is finished?

  Now let's go to the scene, John 19, verses 28 through 30.

  It says, "After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said,"

  to fulfill the Scriptures, "I thirst.

  A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hissy branch

  and held it to his mouth when Jesus had received the sour wine.

  He said, 'It is finished.'

  And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."

  What was finished?

  Well, today we're going to look at one thing of many that was finished.

  Today we're going to talk about the work of justification.

  Meaning our guilt is gone.

  I'd like you to buy your heads with me, please, and I just want to take a moment.

  If you would please pray for me to accurately communicate the Word of God as I should.

  And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive what it is the Lord wants to teach us today from His Word.

  Alright? Let's pray.

  Father in heaven, as we turn to Your Word, it's a thought that makes us tremble to think that right now

  we are about to talk about the most important thing anyone will ever hear for their entire lives.

  And Father, we recognize that as no overstatement whatsoever.

  We can't begin to fathom how important this message is.

  This message has just been so distorted and twisted and changed,

  and we just want to get back to what Your Word actually says.

  See what You said, God, and we want to not align our lives with our concept of You, God,

  but we want to align our lives with what You actually said.

  So I'm asking, Father, You would open our hearts up this morning

  and that You would bring much glory to Yourself through the straightforward understanding of Your Word.

  We pray in Jesus' name, and all of God's people said,

  "Amen! What is finished, the work of justification, the guilt is gone."

  Do I have to sell anybody on guilt?

  We've all struggled with guilt, and some of us might be struggling with guilt right now.

  What is guilt? Well, guilt is just that bad feeling that we get when what I did was wrong.

  There's another word that's often connected to guilt, and it's the word shame.

  And shame's a little different.

  See, shame is the feeling of guilt that I have when people know what I did wrong.

  You know what I mean? Like, you could have a secret sin that nobody knows about,

  and you might feel guilt over that, but you don't feel shame because nobody knows.

  But if that secret sin gets made known, if people know about it, now all of a sudden,

  people must think of me differently. That's what shame is.

  How I think people think of me now because of my guilt.

  The point is this, my friends, we have both of those before God.

  We have guilt. I disobeyed. We have shame. God is surely disappointed in me.

  I want you to look at verse 24. We're going to back up here and get to context.

  I just want you to look at this first phrase in verse 24.

  This is Romans chapter 3, right?

  He says, "We are justified by His grace as a gift."

  That's what we're talking about today. Justification. What is that?

  It's the most important thing you will ever hear.

  Justification is God pronouncing a guilty sinner as not only being not guilty,

  but being perfectly righteous instead. It's a legal term.

  It's the opposite of condemnation.

  But listen, it's more than pardoned.

  So when you pardon someone, you're just taking away the penalty of what they did.

  Penalty for, excuse me, what they did wrong.

  Justification is so much more than that.

  It's not just canceling the penalty, but actually making righteous.

  Think of it this way. In God's justification, it's not just you won't be punished.

  God says you can't be punished because there are no grounds whatsoever for punishment anymore.

  Do you see the difference?

  But even as Christians, we still wrestle with guilt, don't we?

  I mean, look, if you've done something wrong to somebody else,

  you need to take steps to make that right.

  And Pastor Taylor did an amazing job last Wednesday at our latest workshop.

  So we're not talking about that today.

  But today we're talking about guilt before God.

  Am I really forgiven?

  Have you ever wrestled with that?

  Am I really a child of God?

  Or is God disappointed in me?

  Well, from God's Word today, I want you to jot some things down.

  Here's three things to remind yourself when you feel guilty.

  And if you don't feel guilty now, you will.

  I mean, like, eventually, I didn't mean like...

  In 30 seconds, you're all going to be bowing your heads.

  We all struggle with it from time to time, don't we?

  Is it just me?

  Okay, alright.

  Three things.

  Look, we're not trying to pile on here, okay?

  Here are three things to remind yourself when you feel guilty.

  Number one, you are.

  Like, wait, wait, wait, wait.

  I came here to feel good, Pastor Jeff.

  Look, listen, it has to start here.

  Because if you don't really think that you're guilty before God,

  Jesus won't really mean anything to you.

  Look at verse 21.

  He says, "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested

  apart from the law."

  Although the law and the prophets bear witness to it.

  So up there, the Old Testament law was to teach us that we are sinners.

  That was the purpose of the Old Testament law.

  It was to teach us that we have broken the law of God.

  And even if you just reduce the Old Testament law to the Ten Commandments,

  just looking at those shows us adequately that we are really law sinners.

  I mean, let me ask you, have you always made the worship of God

  and your walk with God the absolute most important thing in your life?

  Has it always been number one?

  No.

  Well, if not, then you've broken the first couple of commandments.

  You should only have one God.

  You shouldn't have worshiped anything else other than God.

  You're guilty.

  Have you always honored your parents perfectly?

  Like, no, there are times I haven't.

  Well, you've broken the fifth commandment,

  which says honor your father and mother.

  Have you ever hated someone?

  According to Jesus, you've broken the sixth commandment,

  which says you shouldn't murder because it starts in here.

  Have you ever lusted?

  Jesus said that's the same thing as committing adultery

  and you've broken the seventh commandment.

  Have you ever stolen anything?

  That's breaking the eighth commandment.

  How we doing?

  How we doing?

  You're like, I'm doing pretty good.

  Okay, have you ever told a lie?

  You're like, I think maybe I just did.

  Well, if you've ever known the truth

  and intentionally said something else,

  then you've broken the ninth commandment.

  Have you ever wanted something that God gave somebody else?

  Like, what's the big deal?

  I'll tell you the big deal.

  That's breaking the tenth commandment.

  That's called coveting.

  So you see, that's the purpose of the law was to show us,

  oh, I'm not a righteous person on my own.

  We need to be made right with God,

  but the law shows us that we're sinners.

  We're sinners.

  It can't make us not guilty.

  The Old Testament law can't do that.

  Look at verse 22.

  He goes on.

  He says, "The righteousness of God

  through faith in Jesus Christ

  for all who believe."

  Stop there for a second,

  because we have to make a key distinction here.

  Because if you miss this,

  you're going to be really lost here in a second.

  He's talking about the righteousness of God.

  He says it twice.

  That's the theme of this passage.

  What is the righteousness of God?

  Hang on.

  There's a distinction.

  In verses 25 and 26,

  he talks about God's righteousness.

  Listen, God's righteousness is different

  than the righteousness of God.

  Those are two different things.

  And it's going to be crystal clear in the context

  so long as you stay tuned in to what God is saying here.

  Like, what's the difference?

  Here's the difference.

  Listen, God's righteousness is the righteousness that God owns.

  The righteousness of God is the righteousness God gives

  to believers.

  So he's saying -

  one other run at that one -

  God's righteousness is the righteousness that God owns.

  That's just another way of saying God's holiness.

  God is holy, He's perfect.

  That's what God's righteousness is.

  But when the Bible talks about here,

  the righteousness of God,

  it's talking about the righteousness that God gives to believers.

  And again, that's going to be very clear in the context.

  But I don't want us to get tripped up on the terms.

  So, Paul is claiming here that God makes us righteous through faith,

  implying that we need to be made righteous,

  implying that we're guilty.

  You see that?

  Look at verse 22, he goes on.

  He says, "For there is no distinction,

  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

  Look, when we talk about being guilty before God,

  he says there's no distinction.

  It doesn't matter if you grew up in a Christian home.

  Or if you grew up in a home that didn't even have a Bible in it.

  It doesn't matter.

  It doesn't matter

  if you're the most rebellious sinner in the world.

  Or if you're just a pretty good person.

  He says we all have fallen short of the glory of God.

  Like, what glory of God? What is that?

  That's God's image.

  That's God's intention for man.

  We all failed to live up to being the people

  that God has created us to be.

  We've all fallen short.

  Listen, it doesn't matter how short we've fallen.

  Because we've all fallen short.

  Imagine, we're standing on the shore of New Jersey,

  facing the Atlantic Ocean.

  And there's me.

  And there's my man, Max.

  And there's the Steelers quarterback.

  Who's the quarterback for the Steelers now?

  Oh, I'm sorry.

  I pushed a hot button.

  Let's just say Ben Rothlessberger.

  So let's say we're all standing on the shore of New Jersey.

  All right, me, Max, and Ben Rothlessberger.

  And we're each given a football.

  And we're told that we need to throw that football and hit England.

  I can do that. I mean, how far is England?

  And I -- everything that I got, I throw it.

  And it goes 10 feet into the ocean.

  And Max was like, "Pastor Jeff, step aside."

  Whoo!

  Tight spiral, 100 feet.

  Whoo!

  Into the ocean.

  Ben Rothlessberger steps up.

  And he's like, "I'm going to show you I still got it."

  And whoo! He throws it 200 feet into the ocean.

  Which one of us hit England?

  Right?

  We all fell short, didn't we?

  You're like, "Well, Jeff, you fell way shorter than Ben."

  Okay.

  But we all fell short. Do you see the point?

  It doesn't matter how short you've fallen.

  We all fell short of God's glory.

  And that's a big deal.

  Listen, church, we can't minimize that by saying,

  "I'm not really that guilty."

  We can't compare to say, "Well, I'm not as guilty as other people."

  And we can't trivialize it to say, "Yeah, okay, I'm guilty."

  So what?

  We need to confess it.

  I -- and by that I mean me --

  I am guilty of breaking God's law by my disobedience.

  So if you're struggling with guilt,

  this is just your friendly reminder that you are guilty.

  But number two,

  but God is totally satisfied by the cross.

  You are guilty, but God is totally satisfied by the cross.

  Look at verse 24 through the first part of 25.

  He says, "Okay, for all of us who fall short of the glory of God,

  a lot of us probably have that verse memorized, right?"

  But He says, "And are justified by His grace as a gift

  through the redemption it is in Christ Jesus,

  whom God put forward as a propitiation

  by His blood to be received by faith."

  Look, the cross of Jesus Christ is God's means

  of making sinners righteous.

  Now, there's a word here in these verses we just read.

  You need to underline in your Bible right now.

  And we're going to have people at the door handing you an Easter devotional

  and checking your Bibles to make sure that you underline this.

  But it's one of the most beautiful words in the entire Bible.

  And it's the word "propitiation."

  I think John uses it in 1 John as well.

  It's a beautiful word.

  Like, well, what is "propitiation"?

  Propitiation literally means to placate anger.

  I know some theologians try to dance around that.

  Like, almost to soften the blow.

  But no, that's what it means.

  It means God is furious over sin.

  Propitiation means He's not angry anymore.

  It means that Jesus' death satisfied God.

  Because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross, God saw that.

  And He said, "The full penalty has been paid.

  My wrath has been fully poured out.

  Punishment has been fully doled out."

  God says, "I am satisfied."

  You know, when we talk about salvation,

  sometimes we say, in our evangelism mindset,

  we say, "How do we get men to accept God?"

  And that's really not the question we need to ask.

  The question is, how do we get God to accept men?

  Because, listen, God was the one who was offended.

  Not me.

  God was offended.

  So any talk about salvation and being righteous

  and any talk of that has to satisfy God.

  And you see, that's where every other religion in the world,

  besides Christianity as presented in God's Word,

  straightforwardly, every other religion teaches

  that there are things that we have to do to satisfy God.

  There are religious works or some kind of action

  that we have to take to make God satisfied.

  The Bible says we can't do it.

  Nothing we do can satisfy God.

  Look at verse 25 again.

  It says, "Whom God," talking about Jesus,

  "put forward as a propitiation by His blood

  to be received by faith."

  Look at that.

  The Bible says, "God put Jesus forward."

  Do you see what's happening here?

  We sinned against God.

  We deserve God's wrath.

  And God took His Son and put Him forward.

  That means He demonstrated some things.

  He put Jesus on display.

  God showed us something on the cross.

  What did God show us on the cross?

  Well, later in Romans 5, verse 8,

  it says that God demonstrated His love on the cross.

  So love for sure.

  Here, specifically, He's saying that on the cross,

  God showed that His Son fully paid the penalty

  that the law demanded.

  So now, God says, "Because of my Son..."

  Look, I'm showing you this.

  I'm showing you.

  This is what my Son did.

  Now, I'm satisfied.

  Propitiation.

  Propitiation.

  This is where theology is important, my friends.

  Christian, listen.

  I want you to listen real close, Christian.

  God is not mad at you.

  He's not.

  Because of Jesus,

  God has no wrath left for you.

  And to think that He does

  is to minimize what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

  But some Christians think that

  God poured out His wrath on Jesus.

  They believe that.

  But they think that God's still mad at them.

  Like, God is just like,

  "Yeah, I know that you received my Son,

  but I'm so upset with you for what you did."

  He's not.

  That's what that word "propitiation" means.

  There's no wrath left

  for the one in Christ Jesus.

  God is satisfied.

  Look at the end of verse 25.

  This gets a little technical, so look.

  It says,

  "This was to show God's righteousness."

  Because in His divine forbearance,

  He had passed over former sins.

  It was to show His righteousness

  at the present time,

  so that He might be just

  and the justifier

  of the one who has faith in Jesus.

  We define this term in the outset,

  but two times here,

  He says that the cross

  was to show God's righteousness.

  Do you know what He's saying?

  The cross proved

  that God is righteous.

  Wait, wait, wait, wait.

  Time out, time out.

  Time out.

  Hang on.

  Why would anyone

  accuse God of not being holy?

  What do you mean?

  What possible grounds would someone have

  to point to God and say,

  "God, you messed up here.

  God, what you did

  or what you didn't do here,

  that's not holy, God.

  That's not righteous."

  What grounds would somebody have for that?

  Listen very closely,

  because this is what Paul's talking about.

  We're going to do a little theology here

  for a couple of minutes,

  and I know what's the point.

  You're going to see here in a couple of minutes

  that this will change your life

  if you really understand this.

  So here we go.

  What's Paul talking about here?

  When he talks about his divine forbearance,

  passing over former sins.

  What's he mean?

  Listen, in the Old Testament times,

  which was before the cross, right,

  God justified wicked people.

  And that is controversial.

  You're like, "Why?

  Why is it controversial

  that God would justify the wicked

  in Old Testament times?"

  Oh, I'm so glad you asked.

  I'll tell you why.

  One reason is,

  He forbid us to do that.

  Look at Proverbs 17-15.

  "He who justifies the wicked

  and he who condemns the righteous

  are both alike in abomination to the Lord."

  Do you see that?

  Do you know what abomination is?

  In my Bible, I put a little exclamation point

  in the margin every time I see that word.

  That's like something that is so wicked,

  it like makes God sick.

  God's like, "I hate that."

  And here God says,

  "I can't stomach when the wicked are justified."

  You're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second.

  You're saying that we can't do that,

  but you did that, God,

  before the cross."

  Hmm.

  Is that righteous?

  Well, actually,

  it gets even worse

  if we're barking up this tree,

  because earlier in your Old Testaments,

  God actually said

  that He would never justify the wicked.

  Exodus 23-7,

  it's pretty self-explanatory.

  And God says, "I will not

  acquit the wicked."

  Do you see the problem?

  Somebody would say,

  God in the Old Testament times did

  what He forbid us to do,

  what He swore He would never do,

  what He would never do.

  And we're talking about God being holy,

  God being perfect, God so righteous.

  How can we say that?

  And Paul doesn't -

  I love this because

  he doesn't shy away from that.

  He runs right at it

  when he says this was to

  show God's righteousness

  because -

  look at this again -

  in His divine forbearance,

  He passed over former sins.

  Again, it was to show His righteousness.

  In other words,

  He's saying in the Old Testament times

  God tolerated sin.

  Like, whoa, whoa, whoa.

  How can we say God's righteous?

  I mean, in the Old Testament,

  there was no perpetuation.

  There was no cross of Jesus Christ yet.

  So when somebody sinned in the Old Testament,

  if God is the holy judge

  that you say that He is,

  why didn't He immediately just judge sinners?

  They didn't have

  the blood of Jesus Christ to proclaim.

  I mean, you look at the guys in the Old Testament -

  Abraham, Moses, David -

  I mean, pick one -

  all sinners.

  And yet, when you read

  God's interaction with them,

  over and over,

  we see God giving them the promise of eternal life.

  Was that really a righteous thing to do

  for people that couldn't put their faith

  in Jesus Christ

  since He hadn't come yet?

  How could God give them that promise?

  Somebody would say,

  "Oh, that was the Old Testament sacrifices."

  Couldn't do it.

  They covered sin,

  but they didn't take away sin.

  And somebody else might say,

  "Well, it was their good works."

  It was their good works.

  That's how God was able to...

  No.

  Nowhere does the Bible say

  you can earn your salvation.

  So what's He saying?

  He's saying in verses 25 and 26 here,

  "And God's forbearance,"

  another word for patience.

  He passed over former sins.

  And that word "pass over"

  doesn't mean forgive.

  It literally means He overlooked their sin.

  God's patience

  caused God to not punish their sin immediately.

  This is exactly what Paul was talking about.

  Very curious verse in Acts 17, verse 30,

  on Mars Hill,

  exact same thing he's talking about.

  The times of ignorance,

  God overlooked.

  And now He commands all people

  everywhere to repent.

  So how was God able to do that?

  See, this is what Paul's talking about here.

  It was still, even in Old Testament times,

  it was still because of Jesus Christ.

  You're like, "Well, how can they believe in Jesus

  if they don't know about the cross?"

  Look, God is outside of time.

  And if you study your Bibles like Revelation 13.8,

  Jesus Christ was always the Lamb of God.

  That wasn't some radical idea

  that God dreamed up one day

  about 2,000 years ago.

  Like, "Oh, I got an idea."

  Now, that was always the plan.

  So here it is.

  Listen close.

  Even before the cross happened,

  God overlooked sin based on what was already determined

  that His Son was going to do.

  So what He's saying is this,

  the cross of Jesus Christ reaches back

  to the Old Testament saints.

  They were pronounced righteous

  because of what Jesus was going to do,

  just as we are pronounced righteous

  looking back based on what Jesus did in our past.

  And kids that haven't even been born yet

  that eventually will receive Jesus Christ,

  their sins are already forgiven in Christ.

  You're like, "Okay, so what's the point?"

  What's the point?

  Well, there's two points actually.

  Number one, it answers one of the most commonly asked questions

  that I get as a pastor.

  People ask me all the time,

  "How are the people saved in the Old Testament?"

  Because if Jesus is the only means of salvation,

  and I believe that,

  then how were they saved in the Old Testament?

  The answer is still Jesus.

  Their faith was based on what God was going to do.

  That's why God was overlooking their sin, so to speak.

  But listen, here's why this theology is so important for you.

  What were we talking about today?

  Guilt, right?

  See, this answers the guilt question.

  As a Christian, when I sin,

  and I will,

  is God mad at me?

  No.

  Do I have to ask for forgiveness?

  Do I have to plead the blood of Jesus over my sin

  every time that I sin as a Christian?

  The answer is no.

  Or how about this one?

  What if I sin and then I die?

  Can I go to heaven since I sinned

  and I didn't ask for forgiveness for that particular sin?

  I have known,

  pastors, I have known pastors that have taught that,

  that you better die on a good day.

  Because let's say you're living this perfect walk with Jesus' life.

  And let's say you have a blow-up with your wife on the way out the door.

  And you sinfully speak to her.

  And you get in the car and go to work,

  and you die in a car accident, you're going to hell.

  Because that sin wasn't confessed and repented of

  and covered under the blood of Christ.

  I know pastors that teach that.

  That is completely wrong.

  That's why this theology is so important.

  Listen, when Jesus Christ was on the cross,

  do you realize all of your sins were yet future?

  Do you realize that?

  All of your sins were paid for,

  even the sins that you haven't committed yet.

  So if you are in Christ,

  and if you sin and you will,

  you don't need to ask for forgiveness.

  Because you already have it.

  So listen, somebody is going to misconstrue this.

  So just grab the shoulder of the person next to you and shake them.

  And tell them to pay attention.

  Thank you.

  Because somebody is going to misconstrue this.

  Listen, when you sin, church,

  you need to confess your sin.

  Then you need to thank God

  that He has forgiven you in Jesus Christ.

  And you need to turn from your sin.

  Because you don't want to do anything in your life

  that would dishonor the name of your Lord.

  But it's not as if God just keeps forgiving you over and over.

  He forgave you once when you received Jesus Christ.

  And that lasts for all of eternity.

  Do you see the security in that?

  So listen, whether it was Moses' sin

  or a sin that you are going to commit tomorrow,

  all sins have been taken away.

  God is satisfied because of the one-time sacrifice of Jesus

  that covers all sins of all believers.

  There is incredible freedom in that.

  Three things to remind yourself when you feel guilty.

  Number one, you are.

  Number two, but God is totally satisfied by the cross.

  Number three, justification is a gift to be received by faith.

  Look at verses 27 and 28.

  He says, "Then what becomes of our boasting?

  It is excluded by what kind of law?

  By a law of works? No.

  By the law of faith.

  For we hold that one is justified by faith

  apart from works of the law."

  In this passage, faith has come up,

  have you been counting?

  Six times.

  And yes, I'm counting when he used the word "believe"

  because that's what he meant.

  Verse 22, including the word "believe," he says it twice.

  Verse 25, 26, 27, 28.

  Faith, faith, faith.

  And then he's like, "So what does that do for our boasting?"

  Pretty dumb, right?

  To have the audacity to think that you have anything

  to contribute to your salvation at all?

  What could you possibly boast about?

  What do your works have to do with the death of Jesus?

  You realize when Jesus was on the cross,

  when Jesus was actually on the cross,

  most of you weren't even born yet.

  I was going to say all,

  but I don't know how old all y'all are.

  So I think it's safe to say when Jesus died,

  most of you weren't born yet.

  So what did you contribute to that exactly?

  See, the cross of Jesus Christ eliminates

  even the very possibility of salvation by human works.

  Faith. Faith is the only way.

  Faith isn't one way to be saved.

  It's the only way.

  And don't think that faith is some sort of merit.

  Like, okay, God did His part in salvation,

  and now I'm going to do my part in salvation.

  It's not even really like that,

  because earlier he was talking about grace in verse 24,

  and grace by its very definition is non-contributory.

  Do you know what that means?

  If you put forth anything to contribute towards it,

  it's no longer grace at all.

  So what is faith?

  I like how one writer put it.

  He says faith is simply the eye that sees.

  He said faith is simply the mouth

  that drinks from the living water.

  And he said faith is the hand that receives the gift.

  I like that, because by the way, in verse 24,

  he calls it a gift.

  It is a gift.

  Imagine that it's my birthday today.

  It's not.

  My birthday is September 23rd.

  I don't see a lot of you writing that down.

  I can wait. September 23rd.

  But we're - for today,

  we're pretending that it's my birthday.

  And imagine this afternoon,

  you showed up at my house

  and you had a gift for me.

  Something you went out and you bought

  and you wrapped it,

  and you were so excited to give me this gift.

  And you come to my house

  and you ring the doorbell and I open it up

  and you say, "Happy birthday."

  There's four ways that I can respond to that.

  Right? First way is,

  I can slam the door in your face and say,

  "I don't want your stupid gifts."

  I wouldn't do that.

  But that's an option, right?

  I mean, I could do that.

  Second option is you ring the doorbell,

  open it up, "Happy birthday."

  And I look at the gift and I say,

  "That's awesome. Where's my wallet?"

  Like, "How much do I owe you for that?"

  Let me see how much cash I have.

  I can probably pay you for that right now.

  Or can I write you a check?

  How would you feel

  if I offered to buy the gift that you got me?

  Pretty lousy, huh?

  That's another option.

  Or a third option is you ring the doorbell,

  I open it up, "Happy birthday."

  And I take the gift and I'm like,

  "Wow, you know what?

  This looks great."

  Thank you. This looks fantastic.

  And I set it down by the door.

  And then you come to my house.

  Six months later, and that gift is still sitting there.

  Except now it has an inch of dust on it.

  And you would think to yourself,

  "You know, Jeff actually seemed excited

  when I handed it to him,

  but he didn't really receive it, did he?"

  He didn't really do anything with it.

  He just kind of set it aside.

  Or the fourth option,

  you ring the doorbell, "Happy birthday."

  I got you a gift.

  The fourth option is I take the gift

  and I say, "Thank you."

  Thank you so much for this.

  And I receive it, and I use it.

  And you realize those are the same four ways

  that you can respond to God's gift in Jesus Christ.

  You have those same four options.

  That God says, "I am satisfied."

  I have paid the price of your sin

  with the blood of my son.

  Here is a gift.

  And for some people, they take the first option.

  They slam the door and say, "No.

  God, I'm not interested in your stupid gift."

  Some people take that option.

  Some people take option two,

  and they think they can buy it.

  "Oh God, that's so wonderful what you did for me in Jesus.

  Now, let me earn that.

  And I'm going to start doing this at the church

  and I'm going to work at the soup kitchen

  and they think that they have to earn the gift.

  And I would suggest to you that God

  is probably just as insulted

  at that notion as I would be,

  or as you would be rather,

  if I tried to pay you for the gift that you got me."

  It's insulting to try to buy a gift.

  The third option,

  and I think this is the most taken option in churches, honestly.

  That's what most people do with the gift of Jesus Christ.

  They're like, "Yeah, that you're sitting here

  and worshiping the Word,

  and you're just like all into it.

  You're like, "Yeah, yeah, I need this.

  Yeah, that's fantastic."

  And you set them aside.

  And you never really receive them.

  You just sort of discarded them.

  Not flagrant rejection, but,

  shall we say, practical rejection.

  The option that the Lord wants you to take

  is that you receive the gift.

  To understand why you need it,

  and you thank God that He gave it.

  That Jesus bore God's wrath on the cross.

  God is satisfied with what Jesus did.

  The guilt is gone by the gift of God.

  Did you receive that?

  So worship team makes their way back up.

  I'd just like you to bow your heads.

  And I'm sure sitting here today,

  there are some Christians that have wrestled with guilt

  that have needed to take a fresh look

  at what exactly Jesus accomplished on the cross.

  He didn't accomplish opportunity

  for us to earn favor with God.

  Jesus accomplished our salvation in full.

  Jesus accomplished the full removal of our guilt and shame

  by bearing God's wrath on our behalf.

  But there might be somebody here

  that's really hearing this for the first time.

  Whether it's somebody sitting here,

  listening to this podcast,

  or watching the stream.

  Today's the day that you need to stop setting the gift aside.

  And receive what it is that God has for you.

  Father in heaven.

  Father, this to me is the most mind-blowing concept

  in the entirety of your Word.

  God, I've never really wrestled with creation

  or the trinity or eternity, things like that.

  But God, the fact that you can pronounce a sinner righteous

  is mind-blowing.

  God, we thank you for the work that you accomplished on our behalf

  through the death of your Son.

  Father, if there's anyone here

  who needs to take that step,

  who needs to receive Christ,

  who needs to make their public profession of faith and baptism

  here in a few weeks.

  Father, I pray that you would give them the faith

  to not put it off,

  to not talk themselves out of it,

  but to see the value,

  the incomparable value of Jesus Christ.

  What He's done, and in so doing, Father,

  they would run to you.

  So just now, Father,

  we've heard from you,

  and now we're going to express back to you

  love and thanksgiving

  for what you've done on our behalf.

  So Father, might this worship

  be a pleasing aroma,

  may it be a sweet sound in your ear

  as we revel in your love and grace.

  We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 3:21-28

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Why do you think many Christians still struggle with guilt and shame?
   

3. Explain the term “propitiation” (Rom 3:25). Why is this such an important aspect of the Gospel? What does it mean for a Christian in practical terms?
   

4. What does it mean that God “passed over former sins” (Rom 3:25)? How could a Holy God just overlook sin (see also Acts 17:30)?

Breakout
Pray for one another to be salty and bright.

Living in the Wrath of God

Introduction:

Living in the Wrath of God (Romans 1:18-32):

1. God Abandons thsoe that Abandon Him. (Rom 1:18-23)

   Judges 10:13-14 - Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more. Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.

   Hosea 4:17 - Ephraim (Israel) is joined to idols; leave him alone.

   They clearly know about God...

   But they clearly don't want God.

3 Evidences that God Has Abandoned People:

1. First the Heart goes: Sexual Immorality. (Rom 1:24-25)
2. Then what is Natural goes: Dishonorable Passions. (Rom 1:26-27)
3. Finally, the Mind goes: Debased Minds. (Rom 1:28-32)
• Mourn
• Discern
• Wake up
• Hope
• Worship
• Repent
• Believe

John 3:36 - Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 1:18-32

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. How is God’s abandoning people a manifestation of His judgment? What are the three things God “gives people up” to (Romans 1:24, 26, 28)?
   

3. How exactly is thankfulness connected to faith (Romans 1:21)?
   

4. What are some ways that you see debased (useless) minds in our culture today (see Romans 1:28)?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

How to Love Difficult People: How to Love People I Disagree With

Introduction:

How Do I Love Christians That I Disagree With? (Romans 14:1-12):

1. I must continually Humble Myself . (Romans 14:1-4)

   1. By embracing those who are Different Than Me . (Romans 14:1a)
   2. By avoiding arguments about Non-Essentials . (Romans 14:1b)

      2 Timothy 2:14 - Remind them of these things, and charge them before God not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers.

   3. By refusing to give myself over to Hatred . (Romans 14:2-3)
   4. By remembering that I am not the Master of Anyone . (Romans 14:4)
2. I must not hold them to My Personal Convictions . (Romans 14:5-9)

   Colossians 2:16 - Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

3. I must entrust them to God and Focus on My Own Walk . (Romans 14:10-12)

   John 21:22 - Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!"

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 14:1-12

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. What are some issues of opinion/preference that you see Christians arguing about and dividing over?
   

3. Why is it so hard to love people that we disagree with?
   

4. What does it look like to welcome one another at Harvest Bible Chapel? Is there a time and a place for debating issues or discussing disagreements?
   

5. Why is it wrong to hold other Christians to your own personal convictions that are not clearly laid out in Scripture?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

Living in the Wrath of God

Introduction:

1. God Abandons a Nation That Abandons God.

   Read: Judges 10:13-14 | Hosea 4:17 | Matthew 15:12-14 | Acts 14:16

2. Why Does God Abandon a Nation? (Romans 1:18-23)

   They clearly Know about God.

   But they clearly don't Want God.

What Happens When God Abandons a Nation?

3. 3 Progressive Steps a Nation Takes When God Abandons It.
   1. First the Heart goes: Sexual Immorality. (Romans 1:24-25)
   2. Then What is Natural goes: Dishonorable Passions. (Romans 1:26-27)
   3. Finally, the Mind goes: Debased Minds. (Romans 1:28-32)

   Psalm 81:11-16 - "But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever. But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 1:18-23

1. What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
   

2. Have you heard of this aspect of God’s wrath (abandonment) previously? If not, what is your initial response to this concept?
   

3. Read Romans 1:19-20 again. How is it that everyone is “without excuse” when it comes to knowing there is a God? Explain how people know of God’s existence solely through creation.
   

4. What is the connection between giving thanks and having faith (Romans 1:21)?
   

5. Explain, briefly and in your own words, the progression that takes place when God “gives up” a nation (Romans 1:24-32). What can we do about it as a church?
   

Breakout
Pray for our nation, using Psalm 81:11-16 as your guide.