Faith Excludes Boasting (Romans 3:27-31)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.560 --> 00:00:07.990 Please remain standing. And let's turn our to Romans, chapter three. This 2 00:00:08.150 --> 00:00:12.429 is the text for the sermon this morning. Romans three, verses twenty seventh 3 00:00:12.509 --> 00:00:33.259 through thirty one. Please give your attention again to God's word. Romans three, 4 00:00:33.299 --> 00:00:40.210 verse twenty seven. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded 5 00:00:41.049 --> 00:00:44.929 by what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but 6 00:00:45.090 --> 00:00:49.369 by the law of faith, for we hold that one is justified by faith 7 00:00:49.409 --> 00:00:54.520 apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? 8 00:00:55.359 --> 00:00:59.679 Is he not the God of gentiles also? Yes, of gentiles also, 9 00:01:00.280 --> 00:01:07.069 since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised 10 00:01:07.269 --> 00:01:11.189 through faith. Do We then overthrow the law by this faith? By no 11 00:01:11.430 --> 00:01:18.549 means, on the contrary, we uphold the law. May God bless his 12 00:01:18.579 --> 00:01:34.730 word to us. Please be seated. On second thought, I think it 13 00:01:34.769 --> 00:01:40.010 may have been helpful to begin reading it from Verse Twenty One. We started 14 00:01:40.170 --> 00:01:45.370 the reading with this question. Right then, what becomes of our boasting, 15 00:01:45.450 --> 00:01:53.159 and assumes that you're tracing the argument here from what has come before, I'm 16 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:57.760 I'll do that a little bit for you now to help situate this text in 17 00:01:57.959 --> 00:02:02.189 its context. I help us understand it in light of the things that Paul 18 00:02:02.230 --> 00:02:07.549 has already said. To put it briefly, Paul has been setting up, 19 00:02:07.590 --> 00:02:14.509 at the beginning of Romans of this contrast, a contrast between between God's righteousness 20 00:02:14.909 --> 00:02:21.139 and our righteousness. It's a contrast meant to achieve a very particular purpose. 21 00:02:21.780 --> 00:02:27.500 God wants us to trust his righteousness and not our own. He wants us 22 00:02:27.539 --> 00:02:35.409 to put our faith, our lives in his hands on the basis of his 23 00:02:36.090 --> 00:02:40.210 righteousness, and so this contrast he's been setting up has been a very strong 24 00:02:40.370 --> 00:02:49.360 one. God's righteousness is good, our righteousness is bad. His is holy 25 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:54.199 and clean. To use an image from somewhere else in scripture, our righteousness 26 00:02:54.199 --> 00:03:00.830 is like filthy rags. His righteousness is powerful to save, as he says 27 00:03:00.870 --> 00:03:07.310 in Verse Sixteen, it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who 28 00:03:07.389 --> 00:03:12.629 believes, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed. God's righteousness is 29 00:03:12.750 --> 00:03:16.259 powerful to save. But, as the following verses Show Us, our righteousness 30 00:03:16.539 --> 00:03:23.539 conclusively damns us, it curses us, it brings about God's wrath, as 31 00:03:23.580 --> 00:03:29.930 he says in verse seventeen or eighteen, the wrath of God is revealed from 32 00:03:29.930 --> 00:03:37.330 Heaven Against All UN godliness and all unrighteousness of men knee. He describes that. 33 00:03:38.530 --> 00:03:43.319 So this great contrast we see between between God's righteousness and our righteousness is 34 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:46.080 one that is meant to show us we don't have anything to stand on. 35 00:03:47.479 --> 00:03:53.360 It just to show us that we require a righteousness that's outside of the system 36 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:57.990 in which we're born into. It's a good system. There's nothing wrong with 37 00:03:58.150 --> 00:04:01.349 the system in and itself. The system, namely being you obey God, 38 00:04:01.870 --> 00:04:06.349 you receive life. You Disobey God, you receive death. It's a fair 39 00:04:06.469 --> 00:04:11.860 system, it's a justice it's system, it's one that's makes sense and accords 40 00:04:11.900 --> 00:04:15.180 with God and his nature. But it's a system that we cannot live in 41 00:04:16.019 --> 00:04:20.180 because, at our essence, that are the most central parts of our being. 42 00:04:21.180 --> 00:04:26.850 We are unrighteous, we are broken, and so it's not that the 43 00:04:26.970 --> 00:04:30.329 system has failed us, it's that we have failed the system, we have 44 00:04:30.850 --> 00:04:39.199 failed God, and in that we find ourselves trapped, broken, in prisoned 45 00:04:39.399 --> 00:04:44.240 and under God's wrath. And so God has been telling all of us to 46 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:47.800 show us that we need a righteousness that's not our own, righteousness, that 47 00:04:47.879 --> 00:04:51.639 doesn't come from inside of us and produced by us, but a righteousness that 48 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:59.269 comes from outside, not one that we earn, God's God's salvation, but 49 00:04:59.389 --> 00:05:04.269 one that comes to us as a gift, one that comes to us from 50 00:05:04.389 --> 00:05:12.620 this righteousness that is revealed. He has a name. His name is Jesus. 51 00:05:14.819 --> 00:05:19.779 The righteousness of God that is revealed is Jesus, and so because of 52 00:05:19.939 --> 00:05:26.569 that, because of our our justification is in him. That's why we have 53 00:05:26.769 --> 00:05:31.649 salvation through faith alone. We have it by believing and trusting in what God 54 00:05:31.810 --> 00:05:35.959 has done, not by believing and trusting and what we have done. And 55 00:05:36.040 --> 00:05:42.199 that's what Paul said in versus twenty one through twenty six, the part I 56 00:05:42.240 --> 00:05:46.639 didn't read. That's what Paul sums up everything that has come before. I'll 57 00:05:46.680 --> 00:05:53.230 read it to you now, verse Twenty One. But now the righteousness of 58 00:05:53.389 --> 00:05:58.550 God has been manifested, apart from the law, although the law and prophets 59 00:05:58.629 --> 00:06:02.829 bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, 60 00:06:02.949 --> 00:06:08.779 for all who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned 61 00:06:08.819 --> 00:06:14.540 and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by His grace as 62 00:06:14.620 --> 00:06:17.970 a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ, Jesus, whom God 63 00:06:18.170 --> 00:06:25.250 put forward is a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This 64 00:06:25.689 --> 00:06:31.250 was to show God's righteousness because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former 65 00:06:31.290 --> 00:06:36.600 sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that we 66 00:06:36.759 --> 00:06:42.839 might, I'm sorry, so that he might be just and the justifier of 67 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:47.910 the one who has faith in Jesus. So this is Paul's big point. 68 00:06:48.990 --> 00:06:55.069 It's one that he is going to continue opening up and fleshing out and helping 69 00:06:55.189 --> 00:06:59.589 to describe in all kinds of examples and ways. He's going to tell us 70 00:06:59.629 --> 00:07:02.300 what it means to live by faith. He's going to tell us what faith 71 00:07:02.379 --> 00:07:09.060 is, how it was demonstrated before, how the promise was given to people 72 00:07:09.339 --> 00:07:14.500 even before us, but in our passage. Now he turns to this particular 73 00:07:14.579 --> 00:07:18.410 objection. You remember that he's dealt with objections before. In fact he's dealt 74 00:07:18.410 --> 00:07:23.089 with this one just a little bit before as well. But he turns to 75 00:07:23.209 --> 00:07:27.810 it, he returns to it here. If all this is true, if 76 00:07:27.930 --> 00:07:31.959 everything that I've been telling you is true about the Gospel being powerful to save 77 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:40.279 because in it the righteousness of God is revealed, then what becomes of our 78 00:07:40.319 --> 00:07:47.949 boasting where is our boasting. Now he has in mind all a particular kind 79 00:07:48.029 --> 00:07:53.670 of boasting in which many other kinds of boasting are also included, and that 80 00:07:53.790 --> 00:07:59.339 particular kind of boasting is described in chapter two. It's a the boasting of 81 00:07:59.779 --> 00:08:03.779 being a Jew. It's that particular kind that he has in mind here. 82 00:08:05.100 --> 00:08:09.860 Listen to chapter two, verse Seventeen. But if you call yourself a Jew 83 00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:16.050 and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve 84 00:08:16.170 --> 00:08:20.850 what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law. And he goes 85 00:08:20.889 --> 00:08:24.730 on there to describe that perspective guide to the blind, lie to those who 86 00:08:24.730 --> 00:08:28.600 are in darkness, instructor of the Foolish, teacher of children, having in 87 00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:33.919 the truth, the embodiment of knowledge and truth. This is the perspective of 88 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:41.750 being a Jew, a boast. He describes it there into to verse seventeen. 89 00:08:41.909 --> 00:08:46.909 It is this gift that you have been given if you are born a 90 00:08:48.669 --> 00:08:54.549 Jew, it means that you have the very law of God. It means 91 00:08:54.629 --> 00:09:00.700 that you have this special revelation by which you could become a guide to the 92 00:09:01.100 --> 00:09:05.299 blind, a teacher of children and instructor, one who is living in the 93 00:09:05.460 --> 00:09:13.610 world with this very special status and privilege. Now Paul's Point in chapter two 94 00:09:13.649 --> 00:09:16.049 is to say, you who says you're all these things, why aren't you 95 00:09:16.210 --> 00:09:22.450 living like it? Now he returns to that same idea and asks another question, 96 00:09:22.529 --> 00:09:26.440 a rhetorical question, from that perspective. Well, if it doesn't matter 97 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:31.279 being a Jew, if everybody's a sinner and everyone's justified in the same way, 98 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:35.360 well then what's the purpose? What's the point of being a Jew? 99 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:43.509 What advantage has the Jew? What value has circumcision, as he says in 100 00:09:43.750 --> 00:09:48.029 chapter three, verse one, or, to use the language here, from 101 00:09:48.029 --> 00:09:54.940 our passage? Then what becomes of our boasting? Well, he says it 102 00:09:56.100 --> 00:10:05.700 is excluded. It is excluded. So what's wrong with boasting? What's so 103 00:10:05.940 --> 00:10:11.210 wrong with having pride in being a Jew or some other thing that you might 104 00:10:11.370 --> 00:10:16.929 have, a good education or money or a happy family? What's so wrong 105 00:10:18.090 --> 00:10:24.120 with boasting? Why is it that the Gospel, this Gospel, about justification 106 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:28.679 by faith alone? How does that exclude it? Well, the first thing 107 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:35.559 you have to know is the difference between boasting and the joyful, thankful reception 108 00:10:35.870 --> 00:10:39.750 of a gift. They're two different things, aren't they? You know it 109 00:10:39.870 --> 00:10:43.870 when you go to a child's birthday party. Let's imagine two different birthday parties, 110 00:10:43.990 --> 00:10:48.029 one of a boaster and one of a non boaster. I'm not sure 111 00:10:48.350 --> 00:10:50.740 what to call that person exactly, but will say boaster and non boaster. 112 00:10:52.379 --> 00:10:58.659 The child who boasts gets a gift and then he uses it to establish themselves 113 00:10:58.779 --> 00:11:03.740 as powerful over the other children, as more important, as having a higher 114 00:11:03.860 --> 00:11:07.529 status. Look what I have, look what I got, you can't play 115 00:11:07.570 --> 00:11:11.049 with it right now. This one is mine right, those kinds of things. 116 00:11:11.610 --> 00:11:15.690 My toy is better than your toy, my party is more important than 117 00:11:15.769 --> 00:11:20.279 yours. This is entirely different from the child who receives a gift with joyful, 118 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:26.720 thankful recognition. It's not that they tossed the gift inside and say gifts 119 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:30.159 have no meaning to me. I do not dare boast. No, they 120 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:33.950 receive it with joy right. Thank you, mom. This is awesome. 121 00:11:35.549 --> 00:11:37.750 This is really, really cool. Do you guys want to share? Do 122 00:11:37.789 --> 00:11:41.350 you want to plague? Do you want to enjoy this with me? They 123 00:11:41.509 --> 00:11:46.669 recognize the gift, they share it, they use it, they are happy 124 00:11:46.789 --> 00:11:52.019 about it, they feel the relationship they have with the one who is given 125 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:56.460 the gift. It's a good thing, right. Well, kids these same 126 00:11:56.620 --> 00:12:00.379 things aren't only true of you. They're the same thing happens with adults. 127 00:12:00.419 --> 00:12:05.409 Adults also have birthday parties and get gifts at them, but they have gifts 128 00:12:05.450 --> 00:12:09.889 and other places in another ways, just like you do. Sometimes an adult 129 00:12:09.129 --> 00:12:16.360 will get a job or promotion and they use this gift and they receive it 130 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:22.559 with thankfulness and joy and recognition. With this new promotion they have an opportunity 131 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:26.960 to serve and help those people that are under them. They have opportunity to 132 00:12:26.200 --> 00:12:30.909 use these gifts that God has given them to be generous with other people. 133 00:12:31.190 --> 00:12:37.190 But then sometimes, instead of doing that, instead of joyful, thankful recognition, 134 00:12:37.429 --> 00:12:43.549 boasting happens. They become prideful in it. They they use it to 135 00:12:43.669 --> 00:12:48.139 establish themselves over other people. My jobs more important than your job, I 136 00:12:48.340 --> 00:12:52.139 get to travel more places, I make more money, and on and on 137 00:12:52.259 --> 00:12:58.490 and on. Boasting involved securing your power and and fangs and money and all 138 00:12:58.570 --> 00:13:03.570 the rest. It's an effect, it's a symptom of what we trust. 139 00:13:05.210 --> 00:13:11.370 Boasting is a tool that we use to confirm and strengthen our faith and the 140 00:13:11.490 --> 00:13:15.799 faith of others in the things that are closest to our hearts. Who We 141 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:24.000 are, what we do. So why does boasting not fit with the righteousness 142 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:31.669 of Jesus Christ? Because in boasting we're establishing ourselves. Our hopes, our 143 00:13:31.750 --> 00:13:37.269 dreams, our power, our status, are victories, our wealth, those 144 00:13:37.309 --> 00:13:41.620 things that are most important to our hearts, and boasting were establishing them on 145 00:13:43.179 --> 00:13:50.700 ourselves, on our world, on the things that we have. We're counting 146 00:13:50.899 --> 00:13:58.129 on those things to save us. But do those things save us? But 147 00:13:58.289 --> 00:14:03.049 we all know that they don't. Job Titles go away, companies crumble, 148 00:14:03.570 --> 00:14:13.759 bank accounts falter, toys get lost, stolen, broken, all kinds of 149 00:14:13.799 --> 00:14:16.399 things we might point to, even things that are maybe a little more permanent. 150 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:24.870 Oh, we find go away. When we seek to establish ourselves on 151 00:14:24.029 --> 00:14:28.990 our own righteousness, on ourselves or on the things, things around us, 152 00:14:28.629 --> 00:14:33.789 we're running on a broken leg. We're finding that eventually we're going to fall 153 00:14:35.710 --> 00:14:39.299 and get even more hurt. As Paul has been saying, it's not a 154 00:14:39.539 --> 00:14:46.100 matter of simply suffering a little bit in this life either. The effects are 155 00:14:46.259 --> 00:14:52.019 eternal. When we run, when we seek to run and establish our lives 156 00:14:52.220 --> 00:14:58.009 on ourselves, on our righteousness, the house will fall. It's built on 157 00:14:58.090 --> 00:15:05.610 a cracked foundation, and so this is Paul's first reason why there's no boasting? 158 00:15:05.690 --> 00:15:11.600 Because it is excluded. We are justified by faith, not in by 159 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:16.759 faith in Jesus Christ, and he is righteousness, not in our own. 160 00:15:18.679 --> 00:15:24.870 The second reason boasting is excluded is that God is God over all. God 161 00:15:24.190 --> 00:15:28.350 is God over all. It's not only because we're justified by faith that we 162 00:15:28.789 --> 00:15:35.980 that boasting is excluded, but because God is savior of all people. Now 163 00:15:37.100 --> 00:15:41.820 some would like to divide up God and his salvation. There are many people 164 00:15:41.860 --> 00:15:48.419 even today who would clean claim the opposite of what Paul says here. Here 165 00:15:48.620 --> 00:15:50.889 Paul says God is not only the God of the Jews but also the god 166 00:15:52.009 --> 00:15:56.330 of the gentiles, that he justifies both the circumcised and the uncircumcised in the 167 00:15:56.409 --> 00:16:03.049 exact same way. They are saved in exactly the same way by faith in 168 00:16:03.129 --> 00:16:06.840 Jesus Christ. There are people, though, today who would say that this 169 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:10.200 is not true, that there are two plans of salvation, one for the 170 00:16:10.240 --> 00:16:14.639 Jews, another for the gentiles. They're all kinds of variations on this, 171 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:18.080 and Paul is attacking this. Here. He says, no, this isn't 172 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:22.990 true. There is unity in our salvation. Now it's true. There's a 173 00:16:22.110 --> 00:16:27.389 distinction between these two people, between the Jews and the gentiles, but it's 174 00:16:27.429 --> 00:16:33.779 all unified under God's singular purpose. Think about some of the things he's been 175 00:16:33.820 --> 00:16:37.299 saying. Roll take Romans one, verse seven. He says he writes to 176 00:16:37.820 --> 00:16:41.980 all those who are in Rome, who are loved by God and called to 177 00:16:42.100 --> 00:16:47.019 be saints. When he says that, he has both the Jews and the 178 00:16:47.139 --> 00:16:52.769 gentiles in mind. Or Verse Sixteen of Chapter One, for salvation is to 179 00:16:52.889 --> 00:16:56.850 everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. You 180 00:16:56.970 --> 00:17:02.440 hear the distinction Jews Greeks. Distinct, yes, but it's to all of 181 00:17:02.559 --> 00:17:07.640 them. Salvation goes to all of them. In then, in verses eighteen 182 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:12.640 through chapter two, verse one, Paul Addresses Gentile and righteousness. Then in 183 00:17:12.799 --> 00:17:17.869 Fort Chapter Two, verse twelve through verse nine, he addresses Jewish as Jewish 184 00:17:17.869 --> 00:17:23.430 unrighteousness, concluding in verse twenty two. I'm sorry, in Verse Twenty Two 185 00:17:23.470 --> 00:17:30.019 of Chapter Three, that all are unrighteous, he says. The righteousness, 186 00:17:30.059 --> 00:17:34.460 I'm sorry, he says that there is no distinction. Chapter Three, twenty 187 00:17:34.539 --> 00:17:40.740 three, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and 188 00:17:41.019 --> 00:17:45.130 all are justified by His grace. As a gift through the redemption that is 189 00:17:45.170 --> 00:17:49.650 in Christ, Jesus. So this is the second reason. Boasting is excluded, 190 00:17:49.769 --> 00:17:53.490 particularly this kind of Jewish boasting. And it can go both ways. 191 00:17:53.569 --> 00:17:57.210 Mind you. It's not only Jews who boast in their salvation. But if 192 00:17:57.289 --> 00:18:03.440 gentiles stand outside of the Jews and see the salvation of the Jews is something 193 00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:07.480 that's just for them, that's a way of separating it too. So what, 194 00:18:07.599 --> 00:18:11.319 as I remember, whichever group you might belong to, we have to 195 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:17.789 be careful about this. Paul says, why? Because of salvation is only 196 00:18:17.950 --> 00:18:22.349 to the Jew. Then it puts salvation somewhere, the the the power or 197 00:18:22.390 --> 00:18:27.099 the reason for salvation somewhere other than in God. It puts it in man. 198 00:18:29.059 --> 00:18:33.180 It allows man to stand on something in himself and say, because of 199 00:18:33.539 --> 00:18:37.420 who I am, in my birth and my heritage and my culture, I 200 00:18:37.619 --> 00:18:44.009 am pleased or Im God is pleased with me. But this isn't true. 201 00:18:44.650 --> 00:18:48.569 Justification is by faith alone, in Christ alone, that that's where our salvation 202 00:18:48.849 --> 00:18:56.359 is. We can't put salvation anywhere else. The second problem this has is 203 00:18:56.480 --> 00:19:02.559 that it makes God smaller than he is. We have big problems when we 204 00:19:02.680 --> 00:19:07.200 think of God. Is Small. Will Jesus say? Or, I'm sorry, 205 00:19:07.319 --> 00:19:11.910 not Jesus, will Jews. Will Jews say that God is limited? 206 00:19:11.150 --> 00:19:14.670 This is sort of Paul saying, are you going to say that God is 207 00:19:14.789 --> 00:19:18.470 not God? Over the gentiles at all? He appeals to them and this 208 00:19:18.630 --> 00:19:22.990 thing that they know. God is Supreme, he's God over all, God 209 00:19:22.150 --> 00:19:30.980 is one, this very important doctrine found throughout the Old Testament. He appeals 210 00:19:30.059 --> 00:19:33.940 to Jews and say, are you going to say that God is limited, 211 00:19:33.420 --> 00:19:38.130 that God is only God over the Jews, that somehow he is supreme and 212 00:19:38.210 --> 00:19:45.049 only this way? Of course not. God is only one. But to 213 00:19:45.130 --> 00:19:48.769 the gentiles, who say, are you going to say that God is limited, 214 00:19:48.609 --> 00:19:53.720 that is supremacy only and his salvation only comes to here, only to 215 00:19:53.799 --> 00:20:00.039 this one people in this way, to deny one? The first one it 216 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:07.230 denies his supremacy and the second place it denies your own salvation. Either way 217 00:20:07.390 --> 00:20:12.069 it's bad, and either way Paul calls us to see God as unified, 218 00:20:12.109 --> 00:20:18.390 as one who is God overall and has this unity of salvation for us all. 219 00:20:21.069 --> 00:20:23.140 So in both these things we see that what becomes of our boasting? 220 00:20:23.299 --> 00:20:29.099 The answer is clear, as he says it. It's excluded. We don't 221 00:20:29.220 --> 00:20:33.299 have a leg to stand on when it comes to our salvation, but in 222 00:20:33.380 --> 00:20:40.569 Jesus we have everything. Well, there's one more thing we have to address, 223 00:20:41.410 --> 00:20:45.210 and that's this objection. One last thing. Paul gives three reasons. 224 00:20:45.490 --> 00:20:49.440 What becomes of our boasting it's excluded. The first reason is that justification is 225 00:20:49.559 --> 00:20:53.359 by faith alone, apart from the law. The second reason is that God 226 00:20:53.559 --> 00:20:57.079 is over all, and the third reason sort of comes in the form of 227 00:20:57.160 --> 00:21:03.349 this objection. Do We then overthrow the law by this faith? This is 228 00:21:03.390 --> 00:21:07.390 an objection he's going to address again. It's an objection that comes up a 229 00:21:07.630 --> 00:21:12.269 lot, and it basically goes like this. If you're going to preach a 230 00:21:12.430 --> 00:21:17.670 gospel that is comes as a gift, if you're going to preach a righteousness 231 00:21:17.710 --> 00:21:22.660 that isn't built up in a person themselves, then aren't they going to slack 232 00:21:22.740 --> 00:21:26.779 off? Aren't they going to stop working like they going to stop doing things 233 00:21:26.940 --> 00:21:33.329 and trying to be righteous? Do you set aside the law by preaching that 234 00:21:33.410 --> 00:21:40.529 salvation comes apart from the law? People will always say this whenever you preach 235 00:21:40.609 --> 00:21:45.009 the Gospel, whenever you believe of the Gospel, people will always say this. 236 00:21:45.769 --> 00:21:52.480 The always be concerned that somehow you're undermining the work that a Christian is 237 00:21:52.640 --> 00:21:56.640 called to do, the obedience that a Christian, that all people, are 238 00:21:56.799 --> 00:22:00.630 called to give to God. Paul, face the subjection, Augustine face the 239 00:22:00.630 --> 00:22:06.829 subjection, the reformers face the subjection and we face the subjection today and will 240 00:22:06.869 --> 00:22:11.950 always will, because the Gospel is offensive in that way. It comes to 241 00:22:11.029 --> 00:22:15.099 us and says here's everything, and we say, I don't like that. 242 00:22:17.900 --> 00:22:22.019 We still are always craving something in ourselves, something in ourselves that we can 243 00:22:22.099 --> 00:22:27.619 give to God, some reason we can stand on. But Paul says this 244 00:22:27.660 --> 00:22:32.210 isn't the case. You don't have anything to worry about. We don't deny 245 00:22:32.490 --> 00:22:37.210 the law by saying salvation comes apart from it, to use his words. 246 00:22:37.849 --> 00:22:45.640 On the contrary, we uphold it. I keep swinging back to chapter one, 247 00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:52.319 versus sixteen and Seventeen, because Paul here sets things in motion, he 248 00:22:52.440 --> 00:22:56.000 gives us a thesis statement, so to speak, and we find so much 249 00:22:56.039 --> 00:23:00.750 of what he's filling out here. The same thing here again. That is 250 00:23:00.829 --> 00:23:07.470 what he says in verse Seventeen, for in it that is the Gospel, 251 00:23:07.589 --> 00:23:11.390 the power of God for salvation. In it the righteousness of God is revealed 252 00:23:11.789 --> 00:23:15.299 from faith, for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live 253 00:23:15.700 --> 00:23:22.460 by faith. How do we define that living? How do we define that 254 00:23:22.740 --> 00:23:27.329 life? Paul doesn't really do it there, but he does it throughout the 255 00:23:27.410 --> 00:23:30.529 rest of the book and we see it in the rest of the scriptures. 256 00:23:32.250 --> 00:23:37.210 Life is defined in various ways and by various aspects. And one way you 257 00:23:37.250 --> 00:23:41.319 can define it in a legal sense, sort of innocent, guilty, life, 258 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:45.880 death. You have life, you are granted life as opposed to being 259 00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:51.200 granted death. It's a kind of status that you have, a legal status, 260 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:57.029 but it also has inward effects as well. We might say it this 261 00:23:57.190 --> 00:24:03.990 way that when God reveals his righteousness in Jesus Christ, he not only gives 262 00:24:03.029 --> 00:24:10.740 us life, but that righteousness of Christ also is life. God justifies US 263 00:24:10.779 --> 00:24:18.099 According to Christ's righteousness and he also conforms us to Christ's righteousness. Jesus is 264 00:24:18.220 --> 00:24:22.099 righteousness. is how we stand before God and are able to say I'm innocent, 265 00:24:23.410 --> 00:24:30.490 because we are clothed with Christ's righteousness. We are given credited what he 266 00:24:30.529 --> 00:24:34.049 has done. But it's more than that. Not only are we do we 267 00:24:34.130 --> 00:24:41.079 stand before God is people who stand clothed in Jesus's righteousness. But there's also 268 00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:45.759 something inside going on as well, that purification that we read about earlier, 269 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:52.670 a sanctifying that's happening. Happens as the Holy Spirit works in US and cleanses 270 00:24:52.750 --> 00:24:59.029 US and renews us. More and more and more, we are conformed into 271 00:24:59.069 --> 00:25:04.190 the right to the into the image of Jesus. We are conformed into his 272 00:25:04.349 --> 00:25:11.059 righteousness. This is one of God's great promises that, in sending this son 273 00:25:11.259 --> 00:25:17.779 and the spirit as well, our hearts wouldn't only have the law but would 274 00:25:17.779 --> 00:25:22.210 receive it in a meaningful way, that we would begin to obey the law 275 00:25:22.089 --> 00:25:29.130 do the things that God has commanded. And that happens not in a separate 276 00:25:29.170 --> 00:25:33.410 way from from the Salvation and the righteousness that comes them of Jesus, but 277 00:25:33.609 --> 00:25:40.519 in it. The righteous shall live by faith in every aspect of our living, 278 00:25:40.599 --> 00:25:45.160 not only in our justification, but also in our sanctification, our purification 279 00:25:45.920 --> 00:25:52.349 and in our glorification as well. So these are the reasons Paul gives. 280 00:25:53.349 --> 00:25:59.589 These are the reasons why boasting is excluded. The law is upheld, it's 281 00:25:59.670 --> 00:26:03.029 not put down. God is God over are all. He saves in the 282 00:26:03.150 --> 00:26:10.700 same way. It's not divided up and justification. The way that God saves 283 00:26:10.740 --> 00:26:18.299 us by faith alone, in Christ alone. It's effective and it puts away 284 00:26:18.339 --> 00:26:22.930 all boasting, any anything that we might hope to stand on. We can't, 285 00:26:22.769 --> 00:26:30.009 but in him we don't need to. Well, this should all, 286 00:26:30.529 --> 00:26:36.880 should give us all pause. If boasting is excluded, then we should think 287 00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:44.519 about we're boasting is included in our own lives. We should think about where 288 00:26:44.559 --> 00:26:52.230 are the things in your particular life that you find yourselves going yourself going back 289 00:26:52.349 --> 00:26:56.309 to again and again and again. It could be all kinds of things, 290 00:26:56.269 --> 00:27:02.380 perhaps some of them even irrational and not even very surprising. Some of US 291 00:27:02.460 --> 00:27:07.579 boast in painful memories, some of US boast in tragedies and sin. Others 292 00:27:07.660 --> 00:27:15.049 boast in family and heritage, connections with important people, job titles, experience, 293 00:27:15.329 --> 00:27:21.769 age, certain inward dispositions, character traits, good looks, skills. 294 00:27:22.410 --> 00:27:26.450 which ones of these are true for you? So there's something that I haven't 295 00:27:26.490 --> 00:27:32.559 mentioned that you hide in your heart. It's important to think about this, 296 00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:38.279 to feel around for it, because wherever the boasting exists in your life, 297 00:27:38.400 --> 00:27:42.440 that's a part of your life. That's a part of your life that's not 298 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:47.589 given over to faith. It's a part of your life that you're holding for 299 00:27:47.710 --> 00:27:53.630 yourself, some place in which you're trying to rely on yourself for salvation. 300 00:27:56.430 --> 00:28:00.900 It's a sad thing when we do this. It's kind of like walking into 301 00:28:00.980 --> 00:28:07.380 a garden that's packed with weeds, overflowing with leads and finding the two or 302 00:28:07.500 --> 00:28:12.410 three flowers that someone transplanted there, picking them up and holding them into a 303 00:28:12.490 --> 00:28:17.289 bouquet and saying, look at my garden, look at my life, isn't 304 00:28:17.329 --> 00:28:19.450 it beautiful? This is kind of what our resumes are, I think, 305 00:28:19.890 --> 00:28:23.769 these tiny little flowers, just the the few that we can collect and put 306 00:28:23.809 --> 00:28:29.480 on to a piece of paper to impress someone. Of course, resumes have 307 00:28:29.559 --> 00:28:33.079 their place. I don't feel need to feel guilty about putting a resume together. 308 00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:36.880 But are you trusting in it? Are you boasting in it? Do 309 00:28:36.960 --> 00:28:40.680 you think about your life in this way? Do you go about your life 310 00:28:40.839 --> 00:28:45.589 collecting these tiny little bullet points? This just the handful of things that you 311 00:28:45.630 --> 00:28:48.910 might be able to put together, when all the rest of your life, 312 00:28:48.950 --> 00:28:53.230 if it were on display, would be this great stack of paper that would 313 00:28:53.269 --> 00:28:57.460 certainly not get you the job. And when we stand before God, we 314 00:28:57.660 --> 00:29:03.259 stand before God not with a single sheet of paper, a little collection of 315 00:29:03.539 --> 00:29:08.299 our best deeds and accomplishments. We stand before him with everything, all of 316 00:29:08.460 --> 00:29:15.250 it, exposed, our entire heart. God judges you on that. How 317 00:29:15.289 --> 00:29:22.329 will you be judged? You will fail. And that's why we step aside 318 00:29:22.369 --> 00:29:29.839 from that Great Mountain of paper and we say I'll take Jesus. I'll take 319 00:29:29.880 --> 00:29:40.069 Jesus instead. And when we do that, my friends, we find a 320 00:29:40.269 --> 00:29:47.789 lot of consolation comfort to our souls, because now we're not scrambling looking through 321 00:29:47.829 --> 00:29:52.630 all the the weeds, all the mess, to find just a few things 322 00:29:52.789 --> 00:29:56.900 that might work and said we say, okay, that's a failed project. 323 00:29:57.059 --> 00:30:03.660 Instead, I'm going to trust in Jesus and in his perfect life lived for 324 00:30:03.779 --> 00:30:15.170 me, his perfect blood shed for me. That's a foundation worth building your 325 00:30:15.210 --> 00:30:21.089 life on. That's a life worth living. And when you see things from 326 00:30:21.089 --> 00:30:23.759 that perspective, you can understand how a person can get busy to work, 327 00:30:25.480 --> 00:30:30.640 can go into their lives freely and do things for God, because they're not 328 00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:34.519 trying to do things for God in a way that they can somehow save themselves, 329 00:30:36.390 --> 00:30:40.190 but they're doing things for him because they love to do things for him 330 00:30:40.230 --> 00:30:47.069 and because even in those imperfect things, even in the the disappointments and the 331 00:30:47.750 --> 00:30:52.539 mixtures with sin and all the rest. Ultimately it's God doing the work, 332 00:30:52.019 --> 00:31:00.619 it's God saving us, and so our boast is in God. That's why 333 00:31:00.660 --> 00:31:07.369 boasting is excluded in ourselves, because our boasting is at him, because in 334 00:31:07.529 --> 00:31:11.170 Him we have all of our status, all of our power, everything that 335 00:31:11.210 --> 00:31:17.970 we could ever want. You might call it life. We have life in 336 00:31:18.170 --> 00:31:29.119 God, through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. So let's be not boastful children 337 00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:33.390 at a birthday party, but let us be those that receive these gifts, 338 00:31:34.029 --> 00:31:41.869 this gift of the son of God, with joy and thankfulness and a desire 339 00:31:42.029 --> 00:31:48.299 to share it with others. Let us pray