1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:06,640 and please have your bible open at Romans chapter one and verse five which is our focus today. 2 00:00:07,680 –> 00:00:14,560 We’re looking at the subject of faith what faith is and what faith does and we’re learning 3 00:00:14,560 –> 00:00:20,639 together that biblical faith is clearly more than signing off on certain beliefs. 4 00:00:21,760 –> 00:00:26,000 After all the devil knows that Jesus is the son of God. He knows that he died on the cross and 5 00:00:26,000 –> 00:00:31,840 certainly knows that he rose from the dead. Saving faith is more than accepting that these things are 6 00:00:31,840 –> 00:00:40,000 true. It is more than a decision, it is more than saying a prayer. We are learning that faith is 7 00:00:40,000 –> 00:00:45,599 the bond of a living union with Jesus Christ in which a man or a woman comes to love him 8 00:00:45,599 –> 00:00:54,480 and to trust him and to serve him. That’s what faith is and we are using the analogy of a human 9 00:00:54,480 –> 00:01:00,959 body to help us think about what faith does. Faith has ears hearing the word of Christ, 10 00:01:00,959 –> 00:01:06,000 faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. Faith has hands serving with the love 11 00:01:06,000 –> 00:01:11,519 of Christ, faith has a mouth, feeding on the bread of Christ, a voice declaring the praise 12 00:01:11,519 –> 00:01:18,239 of Christ and knees, last time we looked at praying in the name of Christ. And today we’re 13 00:01:18,239 –> 00:01:26,000 getting down to the business end of the series, as it were. Feet, feet walking in obedience 14 00:01:26,559 –> 00:01:32,080 to Christ and that’s why we’re in Romans 1, look at that verse with me, if you would, 15 00:01:32,080 –> 00:01:37,279 it’s through Christ and through his namesake, Paul said we received grace and apostleship 16 00:01:37,279 –> 00:01:46,080 to call people from among all the nations to the obedience that comes from faith, 17 00:01:46,800 –> 00:01:50,800 or as some translations have it simply, the obedience of faith. 18 00:01:52,800 –> 00:01:56,000 Now, you notice that in that simple phrase the obedience of faith, 19 00:01:56,879 –> 00:02:01,599 we have a what and we have a how. We have an end and we have a means, 20 00:02:02,320 –> 00:02:07,760 we have an objective and we have a path on which it is pursued. Obedience, faith. 21 00:02:07,760 –> 00:02:15,520 Faith. Now, the gospel always lives in the presence of two enemies. 22 00:02:16,399 –> 00:02:20,960 I’m going to give you their names. Don’t worry about the names. If you’re not familiar with 23 00:02:20,960 –> 00:02:28,639 them or aren’t interested you’ll soon recognize the reality. One is called legalism and the other 24 00:02:28,639 –> 00:02:36,960 is called antinomianism. Legalism simply says obey god’s commands so that you may believe his promise. 25 00:02:38,080 –> 00:02:45,520 Or to put it another way you have to start keeping the law in order to come to Christ if you’re going 26 00:02:45,520 –> 00:02:51,600 to become a Christian. In other words legalism says clean up your life first leave your sins 27 00:02:51,600 –> 00:02:58,960 in order to come to Christ. Don’t think that you can come to Christ unless and until you do. 28 00:02:58,960 –> 00:03:06,940 Now the problem here is very obvious. If you have to clean up your life in order to come 29 00:03:06,940 –> 00:03:13,559 to Christ how will anyone ever get to the position where they’re able to come? Now 30 00:03:13,559 –> 00:03:19,960 antinomianism is the opposite error and antinomianism says that you are to believe 31 00:03:19,960 –> 00:03:27,899 God’s promise so that you can ignore his command. Or to put it another way if you come to Jesus you 32 00:03:28,000 –> 00:03:32,860 don’t need to worry about keeping the law. Trust in Jesus and don’t worry about cleaning 33 00:03:32,860 –> 00:03:37,720 up your life. As long as you believe in him, as long as you have said the prayer and made 34 00:03:37,720 –> 00:03:43,240 the decision, really nothing else matters. And again the problem in this error should 35 00:03:43,240 –> 00:03:51,119 be obvious. Paul deals with it in Romans 6. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 36 00:03:51,119 –> 00:03:57,199 And the answer to that is no way. Why not? Answer because through the bond of faith we 37 00:03:57,199 –> 00:04:02,820 are united to Jesus Christ in his death and his resurrection so that by Christ in us we 38 00:04:02,820 –> 00:04:10,139 are brought into newness of life. Now as I say don’t worry about the names, but the reality 39 00:04:10,139 –> 00:04:18,559 matters. In every congregation, in every church, there will be folks who fall into one of these 40 00:04:18,559 –> 00:04:25,859 two errors and here’s what it looks like. There will be some in every church who having 41 00:04:25,859 –> 00:04:33,059 made a decision for Jesus live carelessly and sin presumptuously and they carry on 42 00:04:33,059 –> 00:04:39,059 doing it because they think that it really doesn’t matter. Then there are others who 43 00:04:39,059 –> 00:04:46,079 feeling defeated by a sense of their own failure, falling many times for the same temptation, 44 00:04:46,079 –> 00:04:54,779 are overwhelmed by a sense of their own unworthiness, lack of progress. And I want you to see today 45 00:04:55,059 –> 00:05:01,220 that the answer to both of these conditions is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ, which 46 00:05:01,220 –> 00:05:14,540 says to us, believe God’s promise so that you may obey His command. Now these two enemies 47 00:05:14,540 –> 00:05:19,980 of the gospel, these two conditions of soul that are so often the ditches on either side 48 00:05:19,980 –> 00:05:25,279 of the truth as it were into which many people fall, they’re both wonderfully addressed 49 00:05:25,279 –> 00:05:30,779 right here in these very words in Romans chapter one and verse five that are open before us, 50 00:05:30,779 –> 00:05:37,799 the obedience of faith. And I want you to simply see these two very obvious facts and 51 00:05:37,799 –> 00:05:42,799 I hope that they will become profoundly helpful to us, that the answer that the gospel gives 52 00:05:42,799 –> 00:05:47,859 to antinomianism is that God calls you to obedience and the answer that the gospel gives 53 00:05:47,920 –> 00:05:54,920 to legalism is that God calls you to faith. So let’s start here then, God calls you to 54 00:05:55,040 –> 00:06:05,459 a life of obedience, the obedience of faith. Big picture, God created Adam and Eve in His 55 00:06:05,459 –> 00:06:10,399 image, they reflected His glory, they lived under His blessing, by listening to His word 56 00:06:10,399 –> 00:06:16,339 they walked in fellowship with Him and were kept from all evil. Then Satan comes into 57 00:06:16,459 –> 00:06:19,459 the garden. His great objective is to recruit the man and 58 00:06:19,459 –> 00:06:24,079 the woman and all who will follow from them into His own great rebellion against God. 59 00:06:24,079 –> 00:06:29,299 He wants to destroy every expression of the glory of God in the universe. He wants you 60 00:06:29,299 –> 00:06:34,820 to hate God. He wants you to defy God. He wants you to live as your own God, and this 61 00:06:34,820 –> 00:06:39,380 is why He came in to the garden stalking our first parents. They listened to Him, were 62 00:06:39,380 –> 00:06:44,619 seduced by Him. They disobeyed God and in that act of disobedience the power of this 63 00:06:44,619 –> 00:06:50,899 thing that the Bible calls sin got into them. Through them it has got into all of us. Sin 64 00:06:50,899 –> 00:06:56,140 in its essence is disobedience to God. It is more serious than your mistakes and your 65 00:06:56,140 –> 00:07:03,100 failures. It is more damaging than our shortcomings and our lapses. The essence of sin is that 66 00:07:03,100 –> 00:07:09,019 we trust ourselves more than we trust God, that we love ourselves more than we love God, 67 00:07:09,100 –> 00:07:12,260 and that we serve ourselves more than we serve 68 00:07:12,260 –> 00:07:17,480 God. Because of this God’s Glory is obscured in us more than it is reflected in us, which 69 00:07:17,480 –> 00:07:23,299 is why the Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. This is what 70 00:07:23,299 –> 00:07:28,200 we need to be saved from. But God knew what he was doing when he let 71 00:07:28,200 –> 00:07:34,299 the serpent into that garden. He knew that a redeemed creation would display the magnificence 72 00:07:34,339 –> 00:07:40,160 of his Glory far more than an innocent one ever could. He had determined, God had determined 73 00:07:40,160 –> 00:07:45,179 from before the beginning of time, that he would redeem sinners through his Son, who 74 00:07:45,179 –> 00:07:49,619 would come to us through a human birth, who would redeem us by an atoning death and would 75 00:07:49,619 –> 00:07:55,140 lead us into newness of life through the power of his resurrection. God’s plan is that he 76 00:07:55,140 –> 00:08:00,839 will display the glory of his Grace like light reflected through the facets of a diamond 77 00:08:00,839 –> 00:08:06,480 a great multitude of redeemed people gathered together in His presence in heaven and that 78 00:08:06,480 –> 00:08:11,920 through his Son and in his people he will reflect his everlasting glory and that will 79 00:08:11,920 –> 00:08:17,559 be our everlasting joy. So that at the end of the Bible’s story, what you see is this 80 00:08:17,559 –> 00:08:24,239 gathering of this great multitude, God’s glory on display everywhere among his redeemed 81 00:08:24,239 –> 00:08:30,359 people who have experienced his Grace in whom the full glory of the image of God is now 82 00:08:30,359 –> 00:08:36,239 being reflected as we come to love him and rejoice in him forever. No one will be there 83 00:08:36,239 –> 00:08:41,440 who hates God. No one will be there who defies God. No one will be there who is their own 84 00:08:41,440 –> 00:08:48,359 God. And that is where history is headed. That is what God’s purpose will look like 85 00:08:48,359 –> 00:08:56,179 when it is complete in the new heaven and in the new Earth. Now, here’s the point. 86 00:08:56,320 –> 00:09:11,140 What God will complete then, he begins now. What God will complete then, he begins now. 87 00:09:11,140 –> 00:09:18,799 And so the evidence that you are a person in whom obedience will be complete is that 88 00:09:18,799 –> 00:09:22,919 you are a person in whom obedience is begun. 89 00:09:22,919 –> 00:09:25,039 Think about this. 90 00:09:25,039 –> 00:09:27,479 God completes in heaven what he begins on earth, 91 00:09:27,479 –> 00:09:29,580 or to put it another way, he begins on earth 92 00:09:29,580 –> 00:09:31,159 what he completes in heaven. 93 00:09:31,159 –> 00:09:37,280 The obedience and the holiness that will be complete in heaven is begun on earth, 94 00:09:37,280 –> 00:09:39,679 and God calls us to pursue it now. 95 00:09:39,679 –> 00:09:45,859 The obedience of faith. 96 00:09:45,960 –> 00:09:49,000 But I know that it’s good to know that God calls, 97 00:09:49,000 –> 00:09:53,799 and I hope that when he calls that we hear him, 98 00:09:53,799 –> 00:10:04,979 because this is a verse about the call of God. 99 00:10:04,979 –> 00:10:07,320 God calls you to a life of obedience. 100 00:10:07,320 –> 00:10:12,580 Now I want you to see how clear this is in the Scripture, 101 00:10:12,580 –> 00:10:16,780 because it really is a truth that has been widely lost 102 00:10:16,780 –> 00:10:18,340 among evangelical Christians. 103 00:10:18,340 –> 00:10:21,119 Why is it that so many people really live in the illusion 104 00:10:21,119 –> 00:10:25,299 that if I just said a prayer, 105 00:10:25,299 –> 00:10:27,780 if I just made a decision, 106 00:10:27,780 –> 00:10:29,780 that everything’s alright with me, 107 00:10:29,780 –> 00:10:33,859 no matter how I live my life. 108 00:10:33,859 –> 00:10:40,119 And that is rampant in churches across our country. 109 00:10:40,119 –> 00:10:42,200 So, will you follow with me? 110 00:10:42,200 –> 00:10:43,659 Let me just point you to Scriptures. 111 00:10:43,659 –> 00:10:45,599 I just want to get a sense 112 00:10:45,599 –> 00:10:48,440 of the clarity of God’s call to obedience 113 00:10:48,440 –> 00:10:50,400 that runs all the way through Scripture. 114 00:10:50,400 –> 00:10:51,960 Let’s start with the way that it’s put here 115 00:10:51,960 –> 00:10:53,919 in Romans 1.5. 116 00:10:53,919 –> 00:10:57,020 The obedience of faith. 117 00:10:57,020 –> 00:10:58,960 If you look at the end of the book of Romans, 118 00:10:58,960 –> 00:11:01,320 you’ll find that Paul uses exactly 119 00:11:01,320 –> 00:11:02,799 the same phrase at the end 120 00:11:02,799 –> 00:11:05,260 as he uses at the beginning. 121 00:11:05,260 –> 00:11:06,700 Chapter 16, verse 26. 122 00:11:06,700 –> 00:11:08,280 The gospel that is now revealed 123 00:11:08,280 –> 00:11:10,359 and made known through the prophetic writings 124 00:11:10,359 –> 00:11:12,359 by the command of the eternal God 125 00:11:12,359 –> 00:11:16,700 so that all nations might believe and obey him. 126 00:11:16,700 –> 00:11:18,000 Just slightly different translation 127 00:11:18,000 –> 00:11:21,320 but the words that Paul actually wrote, 128 00:11:21,320 –> 00:11:23,380 words that are there in the Greek are exactly 129 00:11:23,380 –> 00:11:27,520 the same in Romans 1.5 and in Romans 16.26. 130 00:11:27,520 –> 00:11:29,559 The beginning and the end of the book. 131 00:11:29,559 –> 00:11:31,340 It’s about calling people from all nations 132 00:11:31,340 –> 00:11:34,380 to the obedience of faith. 133 00:11:34,380 –> 00:11:36,000 In other words, that single phrase 134 00:11:36,000 –> 00:11:37,599 frames the beginning and the end 135 00:11:37,599 –> 00:11:39,320 like bookends of the book of Romans. 136 00:11:39,799 –> 00:11:42,500 This is what the book is all about, 137 00:11:42,500 –> 00:11:45,020 what living faith in Jesus Christ is 138 00:11:45,020 –> 00:11:47,700 and how it leads us into newness of life. 139 00:11:47,700 –> 00:11:49,619 That’s what Hebrews 11 is about. 140 00:11:50,659 –> 00:11:52,479 The obedience of faith. 141 00:11:52,479 –> 00:11:54,140 You know that chapter well. 142 00:11:54,140 –> 00:11:57,140 How it goes through men and women of faith, 143 00:11:57,140 –> 00:11:59,700 you know, by faith Noah built an ark. 144 00:11:59,700 –> 00:12:00,859 There’s his obedience. 145 00:12:00,859 –> 00:12:03,299 By faith, Abraham went to another place. 146 00:12:03,299 –> 00:12:06,140 By faith, Moses refused to be known 147 00:12:06,140 –> 00:12:09,140 as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and so forth and so on. 148 00:12:09,179 –> 00:12:11,900 Faith, the obedience that arises from faith, 149 00:12:11,900 –> 00:12:13,280 that’s the first way in which it’s put. 150 00:12:13,280 –> 00:12:17,619 Second, have you ever noticed that 151 00:12:17,619 –> 00:12:20,719 the scriptures call us not only to believe the Gospel 152 00:12:20,719 –> 00:12:23,739 but also to obey the Gospel? 153 00:12:23,739 –> 00:12:24,840 To obey the Gospel? 154 00:12:26,099 –> 00:12:29,760 For example, Romans chapter six in verse 17. 155 00:12:31,239 –> 00:12:33,200 Thanks be to God, Paul says there, 156 00:12:33,200 –> 00:12:35,619 that though you used to be slaves to sin, 157 00:12:35,619 –> 00:12:38,460 say that, you used to be slaves to sin, 158 00:12:38,640 –> 00:12:42,299 if you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching 159 00:12:42,299 –> 00:12:44,299 to which you were entrusted. 160 00:12:44,299 –> 00:12:46,659 And the Gospel is not only to be believed, 161 00:12:46,659 –> 00:12:48,179 the Gospel is to be obeyed. 162 00:12:48,179 –> 00:12:50,940 You have the same thing in one Peter 4, 17 163 00:12:50,940 –> 00:12:52,500 where Peter’s speaking about judgment 164 00:12:52,500 –> 00:12:55,140 that begins with the house of God and he says, 165 00:12:55,140 –> 00:12:56,739 how will it then be for those 166 00:12:56,739 –> 00:12:59,539 who do not obey the Gospel of God? 167 00:13:01,559 –> 00:13:04,260 See, it is not as if Almighty God 168 00:13:04,260 –> 00:13:06,380 sends His son into the world and says, 169 00:13:06,380 –> 00:13:08,280 you know, I’ve got something on offer for you guys. 170 00:13:08,679 –> 00:13:12,000 If this is right for you, whatever you think. 171 00:13:12,000 –> 00:13:17,000 No, Acts 17, God commands all men everywhere to repent. 172 00:13:18,280 –> 00:13:20,219 Acts chapter two on the day of Pentecost, 173 00:13:20,219 –> 00:13:23,320 this Jesus who you crucified, Peter says, 174 00:13:23,320 –> 00:13:27,119 God has made Him Lord and Christ. 175 00:13:28,479 –> 00:13:31,460 So, the message is not, what do you think you’re gonna do? 176 00:13:31,460 –> 00:13:32,559 How are you gonna respond? 177 00:13:32,559 –> 00:13:34,219 and so forth and so on. 178 00:13:35,080 –> 00:13:37,000 The Gospel is not only promised to be believed, 179 00:13:37,080 –> 00:13:38,640 the Gospel is to be obeyed. 180 00:13:39,880 –> 00:13:41,500 Obedience to the Gospel. 181 00:13:41,500 –> 00:13:43,340 Third way in which this is expressed. 182 00:13:43,340 –> 00:13:45,520 Have you seen in the Bible that 183 00:13:45,520 –> 00:13:46,900 if you are a Christian believer, 184 00:13:46,900 –> 00:13:48,520 if you are in Jesus Christ, 185 00:13:48,520 –> 00:13:52,260 God has chosen you for the purpose of obedience. 186 00:13:52,260 –> 00:13:54,159 That’s one Peter 1-2. 187 00:13:54,159 –> 00:13:56,760 Peter introduces himself as an apostle of Jesus 188 00:13:56,760 –> 00:13:58,960 to God’s elect. 189 00:13:58,960 –> 00:14:03,039 Strangers in the world who have been chosen 190 00:14:03,039 –> 00:14:05,020 according to the foreknowledge of God the father 191 00:14:05,020 –> 00:14:06,960 and through the sanctifying work of the spirit, 192 00:14:06,960 –> 00:14:07,840 for what? 193 00:14:07,840 –> 00:14:10,859 For obedience to Jesus Christ 194 00:14:10,859 –> 00:14:13,020 and for sprinkling with his blood. 195 00:14:14,000 –> 00:14:16,479 God calls us to pursue a life of obedience 196 00:14:16,479 –> 00:14:17,760 and it is for this purpose 197 00:14:17,760 –> 00:14:19,739 that we are sprinkled with the blood of Christ. 198 00:14:19,739 –> 00:14:21,580 Made clean so that you may live holy. 199 00:14:23,479 –> 00:14:24,299 Number four. 200 00:14:24,299 –> 00:14:26,960 Not only are we chosen for obedience, 201 00:14:26,960 –> 00:14:28,000 but if we are in Christ, 202 00:14:28,000 –> 00:14:30,179 we have been redeemed for obedience. 203 00:14:30,179 –> 00:14:31,200 It is for this purpose 204 00:14:31,200 –> 00:14:33,200 that the lord Jesus Christ shed his blood. 205 00:14:33,260 –> 00:14:35,559 Romans in chapter eight and verse four, 206 00:14:35,559 –> 00:14:38,080 having spoken about our justification by faith, 207 00:14:38,080 –> 00:14:38,960 Paul says, 208 00:14:38,960 –> 00:14:42,000 God condemned sin in sinful man 209 00:14:42,000 –> 00:14:43,919 in order that, 210 00:14:43,919 –> 00:14:46,799 so here’s now the purpose of Christ’s redeeming death, 211 00:14:46,799 –> 00:14:48,880 that the righteous requirements of the law 212 00:14:48,880 –> 00:14:51,000 may be fully met in us. 213 00:14:51,880 –> 00:14:54,039 Who do not live according to the sinful nature, 214 00:14:54,039 –> 00:14:55,640 but according to the spirit. 215 00:14:57,400 –> 00:15:00,080 Now, it’s wonderful that the righteousness of Christ 216 00:15:00,080 –> 00:15:02,260 has been given to us 217 00:15:02,380 –> 00:15:06,099 and that redemption is accomplished for us on the cross, 218 00:15:06,099 –> 00:15:07,299 but Paul is saying, 219 00:15:07,299 –> 00:15:10,580 now, the purpose of this is that now by the spirit, 220 00:15:10,580 –> 00:15:11,659 he says 221 00:15:11,659 –> 00:15:14,539 that the law of God might be fully met in us 222 00:15:14,539 –> 00:15:16,039 who live according to the spirit. 223 00:15:16,039 –> 00:15:17,400 That’s why you’re redeemed. 224 00:15:19,619 –> 00:15:20,700 That’s how it’ll be in heaven 225 00:15:20,700 –> 00:15:24,059 and what’s complete there is begun there. 226 00:15:26,380 –> 00:15:27,419 Number five, 227 00:15:27,419 –> 00:15:28,979 the Holy Spirit is given to us 228 00:15:28,979 –> 00:15:30,460 for the purpose of obedience. 229 00:15:30,460 –> 00:15:33,900 Do you know well, Ezekiel 36, verse 26, 230 00:15:33,900 –> 00:15:35,380 where God makes this marvelous promise, 231 00:15:35,380 –> 00:15:37,039 I’m going to give you a new heart, he says, 232 00:15:37,039 –> 00:15:38,539 I’ll give you a new spirit, 233 00:15:38,539 –> 00:15:41,099 and then he says, I will put my spirit in you. 234 00:15:41,099 –> 00:15:41,919 Why? 235 00:15:42,820 –> 00:15:45,219 To move you to follow my decrees 236 00:15:45,219 –> 00:15:47,960 and be careful to keep all my laws. 237 00:15:49,700 –> 00:15:52,659 So God gives the spirit so that gladly and freely, 238 00:15:52,659 –> 00:15:55,140 we will walk in new paths of obedience. 239 00:15:57,080 –> 00:15:58,059 Number six, 240 00:15:58,640 –> 00:16:03,640 obedience is the evidence of our love for Jesus Christ. 241 00:16:06,159 –> 00:16:08,039 What is it to love Jesus Christ? 242 00:16:08,039 –> 00:16:10,119 Simply to say that we love Jesus Christ? 243 00:16:10,119 –> 00:16:12,479 No, the Lord, Jesus makes this very clear. 244 00:16:12,479 –> 00:16:13,780 John 14, 15. 245 00:16:13,780 –> 00:16:18,000 If you love me, he says, you will obey my commands. 246 00:16:19,179 –> 00:16:22,140 He says it this way in chapter 14 and verse 24. 247 00:16:22,140 –> 00:16:25,780 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. 248 00:16:25,780 –> 00:16:27,059 In other words, you don’t love Christ, 249 00:16:27,460 –> 00:16:29,799 but you will never get into this life of obedience. 250 00:16:31,919 –> 00:16:33,299 Again in John 15, 10. 251 00:16:33,299 –> 00:16:35,760 If you obey my commands you will remain in my love, 252 00:16:35,760 –> 00:16:37,659 just as I have obeyed my father’s commands, 253 00:16:37,659 –> 00:16:40,539 Jesus says, and I remain in his love. 254 00:16:40,539 –> 00:16:42,400 Second John 1, 6. 255 00:16:42,400 –> 00:16:43,659 The apostle puts it this way. 256 00:16:43,659 –> 00:16:47,260 This is love, that we walk in obedience to his commands. 257 00:16:49,659 –> 00:16:51,580 And then, seventhly, in the New Testament 258 00:16:51,580 –> 00:16:54,159 obedience is clearly the evidence 259 00:16:54,159 –> 00:16:56,719 that the new life of Christ is in us. 260 00:16:57,280 –> 00:17:00,619 Again, you see this most clearly in the first letter of John. 261 00:17:00,619 –> 00:17:05,560 We know that we have come to know him. 262 00:17:05,560 –> 00:17:06,680 Just pause there. 263 00:17:06,680 –> 00:17:09,479 See, how do we know that we’ve come to know him? 264 00:17:09,479 –> 00:17:11,319 There’s a clear statement in 1 John. 265 00:17:11,319 –> 00:17:14,680 We know that we have come to know him 266 00:17:14,680 –> 00:17:17,380 if we obey his commands. 267 00:17:18,800 –> 00:17:21,239 So a life pursuing obedience is the evidence 268 00:17:21,239 –> 00:17:23,040 that the new life of Jesus is in you 269 00:17:23,040 –> 00:17:24,199 and that you know him. 270 00:17:24,719 –> 00:17:28,160 In 1 John chapter three verse 24, 271 00:17:28,160 –> 00:17:33,160 those who obey his commands live in him and he in them. 272 00:17:37,219 –> 00:17:38,619 This is all through the Scripture. 273 00:17:38,619 –> 00:17:39,619 Couldn’t be clearer. 274 00:17:41,540 –> 00:17:46,540 God calls you, me, to a life of obedience. 275 00:17:49,339 –> 00:17:52,099 I was reading a Puritan writer with the delightful name 276 00:17:52,180 –> 00:17:55,140 of William Garnell. 277 00:17:55,140 –> 00:17:57,859 I would like to have been called Garnell 278 00:17:57,859 –> 00:18:01,459 rather than Smith, you might understand. 279 00:18:01,459 –> 00:18:02,439 But I wasn’t. 280 00:18:02,439 –> 00:18:05,939 But he was, and he has this marvelous little statement 281 00:18:05,939 –> 00:18:08,540 that just catches it, I think, really well. 282 00:18:08,540 –> 00:18:13,380 He says, do not say that you have royal blood 283 00:18:13,380 –> 00:18:16,260 in your veins and are born of God 284 00:18:16,260 –> 00:18:19,339 unless you can prove your pedigree 285 00:18:20,339 –> 00:18:22,439 by daring to be holy. 286 00:18:23,739 –> 00:18:25,400 Do not say that you have royal blood 287 00:18:25,400 –> 00:18:27,660 in your veins and that you are born of God 288 00:18:29,579 –> 00:18:32,020 unless you can prove your pedigree 289 00:18:33,380 –> 00:18:36,599 by daring to be holy 290 00:18:38,900 –> 00:18:42,239 because God calls you to obedience 291 00:18:42,239 –> 00:18:44,540 and a man or a woman who cares little or nothing 292 00:18:44,540 –> 00:18:46,859 about obedience is not born of God. 293 00:18:47,400 –> 00:18:49,199 No, God calls you to obedience. 294 00:18:49,199 –> 00:18:52,479 It’s only words, only words. 295 00:18:54,839 –> 00:18:57,719 Saving faith is the bond of a living union 296 00:18:57,719 –> 00:18:59,920 with Jesus Christ, and so by definition, 297 00:18:59,920 –> 00:19:01,780 if it’s a living union with Jesus Christ, 298 00:19:01,780 –> 00:19:04,599 it has to change not only what you believe, 299 00:19:04,599 –> 00:19:05,839 but also how you behave. 300 00:19:08,640 –> 00:19:11,719 So I want to give to you this challenge today. 301 00:19:14,160 –> 00:19:16,280 If you are comfortable 302 00:19:17,859 –> 00:19:19,640 with a known sin 303 00:19:21,579 –> 00:19:25,599 that you even now are accommodating in your life, 304 00:19:27,880 –> 00:19:30,459 I want you to hear this challenge. 305 00:19:32,780 –> 00:19:37,780 If you are at peace with God, you are at war with sin, 306 00:19:40,739 –> 00:19:43,579 and if you are at peace with sin, 307 00:19:44,400 –> 00:19:47,839 you are at war with God. 308 00:19:49,699 –> 00:19:54,699 Seak the Lord while he may be found, Isaiah says, 309 00:19:54,880 –> 00:19:58,400 let the wicked forsake his way 310 00:19:59,619 –> 00:20:03,660 and the evil man his thoughts, 311 00:20:03,660 –> 00:20:07,959 let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy. 312 00:20:10,219 –> 00:20:12,819 Now I plead with you today. 313 00:20:12,819 –> 00:20:14,699 If you are someone who just made a decision 314 00:20:14,699 –> 00:20:17,660 and said a prayer, but you are living a life 315 00:20:17,660 –> 00:20:21,619 that is in disobedience to what God calls you 316 00:20:21,619 –> 00:20:25,979 and accommodates knowingly what God calls sin, 317 00:20:25,979 –> 00:20:28,180 and you are thinking that everything is all right, 318 00:20:28,180 –> 00:20:30,819 I am here to say to you today it is not all right. 319 00:20:32,900 –> 00:20:37,780 Jesus said, because it’s not just words, it’s deeds, 320 00:20:37,780 –> 00:20:41,260 not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, 321 00:20:41,400 –> 00:20:43,260 will enter the kingdom of heaven, 322 00:20:43,260 –> 00:20:46,780 but he who does the will of my Father. 323 00:20:49,660 –> 00:20:54,660 God calls you to a life of obedience. 324 00:21:01,699 –> 00:21:04,859 There may be that today for some, in a special way, 325 00:21:04,859 –> 00:21:06,619 you just know that God is speaking to me. 326 00:21:06,619 –> 00:21:09,780 He is calling me right now to repentance 327 00:21:09,780 –> 00:21:12,680 and to forsaking that which I have accommodated, 328 00:21:13,819 –> 00:21:18,819 and cherished, justified, defended, and hidden, 329 00:21:22,819 –> 00:21:25,000 thinking that it’s all all right, 330 00:21:25,000 –> 00:21:27,459 and today, I see from the Bible, it’s not. 331 00:21:30,180 –> 00:21:35,180 God calls you to a life of obedience. 332 00:21:35,900 –> 00:21:40,900 Now, at this very moment, 333 00:21:42,839 –> 00:21:45,859 you may be asking, but how is this possible? 334 00:21:47,780 –> 00:21:50,979 Colleen, you don’t realize, my sins have power over me. 335 00:21:53,020 –> 00:21:55,020 How am I gonna live this life of obedience? 336 00:21:55,020 –> 00:21:56,520 You have no idea how difficult it is 337 00:21:56,520 –> 00:21:57,800 what you’re saying for me. 338 00:21:58,640 –> 00:22:03,160 Listen, as soon as you see from the scripture 339 00:22:06,180 –> 00:22:08,719 that God calls you to a life of obedience, 340 00:22:08,719 –> 00:22:09,880 as soon as you see it, 341 00:22:09,880 –> 00:22:12,459 as soon as your eyes are open to it, 342 00:22:12,459 –> 00:22:15,000 as soon as you get that the Christian life 343 00:22:15,000 –> 00:22:17,800 is going to be a relentless war against sin, 344 00:22:17,800 –> 00:22:19,599 if you’re at peace with God, you’re at war with sin, 345 00:22:19,599 –> 00:22:21,619 if you’re at peace with sin, you’re at war with God, 346 00:22:21,619 –> 00:22:23,079 as soon as you see that God calls you 347 00:22:23,079 –> 00:22:25,040 to this life ofobedience, 348 00:22:26,040 –> 00:22:31,040 Satan will change his whole strategy for tempting you. 349 00:22:35,280 –> 00:22:38,719 He will flip you, and he can do this in a moment. 350 00:22:40,060 –> 00:22:44,640 He will flip you from the casual presumption 351 00:22:44,640 –> 00:22:47,300 that all is well with you, 352 00:22:47,300 –> 00:22:50,060 that may have been where you were 20 minutes ago. 353 00:22:51,640 –> 00:22:53,119 But as soon as you see that God calls you 354 00:22:53,119 –> 00:22:54,540 for a life of obedience, 355 00:22:55,060 –> 00:22:57,599 he will flip you to a sense of despair 356 00:22:58,520 –> 00:23:00,180 that now there may be no hope for you. 357 00:23:01,140 –> 00:23:02,959 And I say it can happen in a moment, 358 00:23:04,060 –> 00:23:06,180 may be what you’re experiencing right now. 359 00:23:08,199 –> 00:23:10,859 So we need to hear the second part 360 00:23:10,859 –> 00:23:14,020 of what Paul says to us here, as well as the first, 361 00:23:15,099 –> 00:23:18,739 that God calls us not only to obedience, 362 00:23:20,300 –> 00:23:21,880 but also to faith. 363 00:23:21,880 –> 00:23:25,079 And that the two are not separate, 364 00:23:25,079 –> 00:23:27,619 but that they are joined together, 365 00:23:27,619 –> 00:23:28,920 for the obedience that he calls us to 366 00:23:28,920 –> 00:23:33,880 is precisely the obedience of faith. 367 00:23:36,000 –> 00:23:39,000 So just as the Gospel answer to antinomianism 368 00:23:39,000 –> 00:23:41,479 is that God calls you to a life of obedience. 369 00:23:41,479 –> 00:23:43,880 So the Gospel answer to legalism 370 00:23:43,880 –> 00:23:47,380 is that God calls you to a life of faith. 371 00:23:47,380 –> 00:23:49,119 Look at the scripture again with me. 372 00:23:49,119 –> 00:23:50,680 Through him and for his name’s sake, 373 00:23:50,900 –> 00:23:52,239 we received grace and apostleship 374 00:23:52,239 –> 00:23:54,239 to call people from among all the Gestals 375 00:23:54,239 –> 00:23:58,060 to the obedience that comes from faith. 376 00:23:59,979 –> 00:24:00,819 You say, now wait a minute, what is faith? 377 00:24:00,819 –> 00:24:02,079 Remind me again. 378 00:24:02,079 –> 00:24:05,119 Faith is the bond of a living union with Jesus Christ. 379 00:24:05,119 –> 00:24:08,420 So the obedience of faith is obedience 380 00:24:08,420 –> 00:24:11,719 that flows from the bond of that living union. 381 00:24:11,719 –> 00:24:14,219 It is precisely what the Lord Jesus was talking about 382 00:24:14,219 –> 00:24:17,439 when he said I am the vine and you are branches. 383 00:24:17,439 –> 00:24:19,459 It’s what the Apostle Paul was talking about 384 00:24:20,300 –> 00:24:22,140 when he said I’ve been crucified with Christ 385 00:24:22,140 –> 00:24:27,219 and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, 386 00:24:27,219 –> 00:24:31,000 and the life that I’m living in the body, 387 00:24:31,000 –> 00:24:34,300 I live by faith in the Son of God 388 00:24:34,300 –> 00:24:37,739 who loved me and who gave himself for me, 389 00:24:37,739 –> 00:24:39,239 and this is a life of faith. 390 00:24:39,239 –> 00:24:40,540 You see, not just a moment of faith 391 00:24:40,540 –> 00:24:43,140 or a decision of faith or a prayer of faith or whatever. 392 00:24:43,140 –> 00:24:46,579 We walk by faith, we live by faith, not by sight, 393 00:24:47,359 –> 00:24:51,739 and a life of obedience flows out of a life of faith, 394 00:24:51,739 –> 00:24:53,000 or to put it another way, 395 00:24:53,000 –> 00:24:56,180 the obedience to which Jesus Christ calls me 396 00:24:56,180 –> 00:24:58,079 this week that lies ahead of me 397 00:24:58,079 –> 00:25:01,000 can only flow out of faith in him, 398 00:25:01,000 –> 00:25:06,000 out of that living union, his life in me. 399 00:25:08,800 –> 00:25:11,079 Now you will see then that the obedience of faith 400 00:25:11,079 –> 00:25:14,040 is very different from the obedience of works. 401 00:25:15,000 –> 00:25:16,719 The obedience of works is simply 402 00:25:16,719 –> 00:25:18,699 you making a bigger effort next week, 403 00:25:18,699 –> 00:25:20,260 and that’ll not get you terribly far 404 00:25:20,260 –> 00:25:22,540 because you’re still working with the same resources 405 00:25:22,540 –> 00:25:23,780 or absence of them. 406 00:25:25,619 –> 00:25:27,760 But the obedience of faith is the obedience 407 00:25:27,760 –> 00:25:29,819 that lies from the bond of a living union 408 00:25:29,819 –> 00:25:32,260 with Jesus Christ which is why the New Testament says 409 00:25:32,260 –> 00:25:35,079 Christ in you is your hope of glory. 410 00:25:37,640 –> 00:25:41,640 Christ came to save his people from their sins, 411 00:25:41,640 –> 00:25:43,800 not just from the consequences of their sins in hell, 412 00:25:43,800 –> 00:25:45,699 but from their sins, that means he came 413 00:25:45,699 –> 00:25:47,439 to make obedience possible. 414 00:25:47,439 –> 00:25:49,500 That means he is able to deliver you, 415 00:25:49,500 –> 00:25:53,160 not only from sin’s guilt but also from its power. 416 00:25:53,160 –> 00:25:56,119 That deliverance will be complete in heaven, 417 00:25:56,119 –> 00:25:57,880 the war will be over then. 418 00:25:59,040 –> 00:26:02,939 But what is complete in heaven is begun here and now. 419 00:26:02,939 –> 00:26:05,520 And the obedience of faith is about pursuing 420 00:26:05,520 –> 00:26:08,260 in the power of Christ now the obedience 421 00:26:08,260 –> 00:26:11,780 that will be complete then by his grace in glory. 422 00:26:12,380 –> 00:26:17,020 Now when you see this, immediately it opens 423 00:26:17,020 –> 00:26:19,219 the door of hope for all of us. 424 00:26:19,219 –> 00:26:21,979 And especially those of us who are despairing 425 00:26:21,979 –> 00:26:24,020 of ourselves, which is what happens 426 00:26:24,020 –> 00:26:27,300 as soon as we see God’s call to obedience. 427 00:26:29,060 –> 00:26:31,500 God does not call you to obey 428 00:26:31,500 –> 00:26:33,579 so that you may come to Christ. 429 00:26:34,900 –> 00:26:38,160 God calls you to come to Christ so that you may obey. 430 00:26:38,160 –> 00:26:41,040 All the difference in the world, the obedience of faith. 431 00:26:42,599 –> 00:26:45,359 On an important point, it’s always wonderful 432 00:26:45,359 –> 00:26:47,359 to see it expressed well. 433 00:26:47,359 –> 00:26:49,640 One of my favorite writers is a man 434 00:26:49,640 –> 00:26:51,479 by the name of Professor Donald MacLeod. 435 00:26:51,479 –> 00:26:55,920 And he says it so well, let me quote to you from him. 436 00:26:55,920 –> 00:27:00,719 He says, Christ is offered to us simply as sinners. 437 00:27:00,719 –> 00:27:04,719 Not as prepared sinners, not as seeking sinners, 438 00:27:04,719 –> 00:27:08,280 not as interested sinners, awakened sinners, 439 00:27:08,280 –> 00:27:10,199 or reformed sinners, or anything else. 440 00:27:10,199 –> 00:27:15,199 He says we need not, indeed we must not delay 441 00:27:15,719 –> 00:27:19,099 coming to Christ until we have put away sin. 442 00:27:20,199 –> 00:27:22,260 If we do, we will never come. 443 00:27:22,260 –> 00:27:23,099 See what he’s saying? 444 00:27:23,099 –> 00:27:24,900 If you say, well, I’ve gotta deal with what’s wrong 445 00:27:24,900 –> 00:27:27,420 in my life in order to come to Christ, 446 00:27:27,420 –> 00:27:29,359 you will never come to Christ. 447 00:27:30,699 –> 00:27:33,020 We must not delay coming to Christ 448 00:27:33,020 –> 00:27:34,579 until we have put away sin. 449 00:27:34,579 –> 00:27:36,939 If we do, we will never come. 450 00:27:36,939 –> 00:27:40,739 Sin can be conquered only in union with him. 451 00:27:41,979 –> 00:27:45,780 It cannot be conquered before we come to him. 452 00:27:48,339 –> 00:27:49,920 The obedience of faith. 453 00:27:51,420 –> 00:27:53,339 Now, this is expressed very beautifully 454 00:27:53,339 –> 00:27:57,079 in some of our best evangelistic gospel hymns. 455 00:27:58,219 –> 00:28:00,939 They quote one of my favorites to you. 456 00:28:00,939 –> 00:28:01,780 Do you know this one? 457 00:28:01,780 –> 00:28:04,859 Come, you sinners, poor and needy, 458 00:28:04,859 –> 00:28:07,920 weak and wounded, sick and sore, 459 00:28:07,920 –> 00:28:10,699 Jesus ready, stands to save you, 460 00:28:10,699 –> 00:28:12,180 full of pity, love and power. 461 00:28:12,180 –> 00:28:13,619 Do we know that hymn? 462 00:28:13,619 –> 00:28:14,459 Maybe not? 463 00:28:14,459 –> 00:28:15,300 Well, I’ll tell you about it then. 464 00:28:15,300 –> 00:28:16,119 Okay. 465 00:28:16,119 –> 00:28:19,260 All right, let me quote a couple of verses from it. 466 00:28:19,260 –> 00:28:20,099 It’s a great hymn. 467 00:28:20,099 –> 00:28:21,359 We need to sing it sometime then. 468 00:28:22,339 –> 00:28:25,839 Let not conscience make you linger, 469 00:28:27,339 –> 00:28:30,680 nor of fitness fondly dream. 470 00:28:31,479 –> 00:28:34,800 All the fitness He requireth 471 00:28:36,319 –> 00:28:40,099 is you feel your need of him. 472 00:28:41,319 –> 00:28:43,359 You see what the hymn writer is saying? 473 00:28:43,359 –> 00:28:46,280 Here someone says, I’ve got a bad conscience, 474 00:28:46,280 –> 00:28:48,959 and he says, don’t let your bad conscience 475 00:28:48,959 –> 00:28:50,000 keep you from Christ. 476 00:28:50,000 –> 00:28:52,420 Your bad conscience is the reason to come to Christ. 477 00:28:52,420 –> 00:28:54,420 Let not conscience make you linger. 478 00:28:55,520 –> 00:28:57,859 Nor of fitness fondly dream. 479 00:28:57,859 –> 00:29:00,000 You see, there are folks who think like this. 480 00:29:00,800 –> 00:29:02,020 Here are all these wonderful people 481 00:29:02,020 –> 00:29:02,959 in this congregation, 482 00:29:02,959 –> 00:29:04,760 they’ve all got their lives so wonderfully sorted out, 483 00:29:04,760 –> 00:29:06,140 and one day I’m going to get 484 00:29:06,140 –> 00:29:07,500 my life wonderfully sorted out 485 00:29:07,500 –> 00:29:09,219 and then I’ll be a Christian too. 486 00:29:10,540 –> 00:29:12,119 You’re fondly dreaming of fitness 487 00:29:12,119 –> 00:29:13,280 and you think you’ll come to Christ 488 00:29:13,280 –> 00:29:15,160 when you’ve got yourself sorted out. 489 00:29:15,160 –> 00:29:17,359 You will never come to Christ on that basis. 490 00:29:20,319 –> 00:29:2,560 The same hymn writer goes on in these words, 491 00:29:22,560 –> 00:29:25,000 come you weary, heavy laden, 492 00:29:26,239 –> 00:29:29,540 bruised and ruined by the fall. 493 00:29:30,400 –> 00:29:33,319 If you wait until you’re better, 494 00:29:33,319 –> 00:29:34,819 you can almost finish it for me, 495 00:29:34,819 –> 00:29:38,420 you will never come at all. 496 00:29:40,479 –> 00:29:42,079 And there are some of us, I think, 497 00:29:42,079 –> 00:29:43,640 who have been waiting until we were better 498 00:29:43,640 –> 00:29:45,119 and we’re still waiting until we’re better 499 00:29:45,119 –> 00:29:46,819 and if you go on waiting until you’re better 500 00:29:46,819 –> 00:29:50,140 you will never come at all to Christ. 501 00:29:52,560 –> 00:29:55,400 Hymn that you definitely know really well. 502 00:29:55,400 –> 00:29:56,280 Same point. 503 00:29:56,280 –> 00:30:01,280 Just as I am and waiting not 504 00:30:05,199 –> 00:30:10,199 to rid my soul of one dark blot 505 00:30:12,839 –> 00:30:16,880 to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot. 506 00:30:18,500 –> 00:30:22,319 O Lamb of God, I come. 507 00:30:24,079 –> 00:30:26,000 Now you see how this opens the door of hope? 508 00:30:26,060 –> 00:30:28,500 As long as you think that somehow Christ calls you 509 00:30:28,500 –> 00:30:30,979 to obey in order that you may come to him, 510 00:30:30,979 –> 00:30:32,079 you’ll never get there. 511 00:30:33,199 –> 00:30:36,280 The marvelous truth is that the gospel invites you 512 00:30:36,280 –> 00:30:38,680 to come to Christ so that you can obey. 513 00:30:40,300 –> 00:30:43,599 And so I want to end here on this very simple 514 00:30:43,599 –> 00:30:45,660 and yet this most important point 515 00:30:47,099 –> 00:30:50,920 that Romans 1.5 doesn’t only describe 516 00:30:50,920 –> 00:30:53,020 the obedience of faith. 517 00:30:53,020 –> 00:30:57,780 In this Scripture, God calls us to the obedience of faith. 518 00:30:59,300 –> 00:31:02,219 Notice it just one more time as we pull this together. 519 00:31:02,219 –> 00:31:04,699 It’s through him, Paul says, and for his name’s sake 520 00:31:04,699 –> 00:31:07,140 that we receive grace and apostleship 521 00:31:07,140 –> 00:31:11,359 to call people from among all the nations 522 00:31:12,479 –> 00:31:15,920 to the obedience of faith. 523 00:31:17,680 –> 00:31:22,420 God calls you to the obedience of faith 524 00:31:22,439 –> 00:31:24,599 in his son, Jesus Christ today. 525 00:31:24,599 –> 00:31:28,540 He calls you to find in Christ what you do not have. 526 00:31:28,540 –> 00:31:31,300 To receive from Christ what you cannot offer. 527 00:31:31,300 –> 00:31:34,339 To accomplish through Christ what you cannot do. 528 00:31:34,339 –> 00:31:37,180 And so today what I want to invite you to do 529 00:31:37,180 –> 00:31:40,959 is to believe in order that you may obey. 530 00:31:40,959 –> 00:31:41,900 That’s the gospel. 531 00:31:44,699 –> 00:31:47,699 Are you holding back because you think you cannot change? 532 00:31:47,939 –> 00:31:50,979 Here you are, you’re trapped in habitual sin. 533 00:31:52,719 –> 00:31:55,439 You’re holding back because you think you cannot change. 534 00:31:56,819 –> 00:31:58,099 You’ll be there forever. 535 00:31:59,939 –> 00:32:02,540 Listen, come to Christ. 536 00:32:04,579 –> 00:32:07,219 Put your trust in Jesus Christ. 537 00:32:08,619 –> 00:32:12,140 Faith is the bond of a living union with Jesus Christ. 538 00:32:12,140 –> 00:32:13,859 Not just believing things about him, 539 00:32:13,859 –> 00:32:15,680 it’s his life in you. 540 00:32:15,880 –> 00:32:18,500 You come to the bond of living union with Jesus Christ, 541 00:32:18,500 –> 00:32:22,939 you will soon find that you begin to hate 542 00:32:22,939 –> 00:32:27,939 what you used to love and love what you used to hate. 543 00:32:31,060 –> 00:32:34,979 Through this bond, Christ in you, think about that, 544 00:32:36,099 –> 00:32:39,119 he will give you new desires, new affections, 545 00:32:39,119 –> 00:32:40,699 new strength, new life. 546 00:32:41,699 –> 00:32:42,619 New life? 547 00:32:46,020 –> 00:32:48,780 Are you holding back because you’ve got problems. 548 00:32:49,939 –> 00:32:52,239 Are you holding back because you’ve got hurts? 549 00:32:53,520 –> 00:32:55,180 Are you holding back from Jesus Christ 550 00:32:55,180 –> 00:32:56,300 because you’ve got wounds? 551 00:32:59,920 –> 00:33:02,939 There are thousands and thousands and thousands of people 552 00:33:02,939 –> 00:33:07,939 in our country, who have wounds and hurts 553 00:33:07,939 –> 00:33:12,939 and they’re looking for the answer in themselves 554 00:33:13,479 –> 00:33:14,839 and they’ve been doing it 555 00:33:14,839 –> 00:33:17,939 and they’ll go on doing it for years. 556 00:33:19,959 –> 00:33:22,000 And I’m here to tell you today 557 00:33:22,000 –> 00:33:26,140 that self is an empty, powerless idle. 558 00:33:28,319 –> 00:33:30,839 And what you need is not union with self, 559 00:33:30,839 –> 00:33:32,479 you need union with Christ. 560 00:33:34,699 –> 00:33:36,819 You look away from yourself now. 561 00:33:38,500 –> 00:33:42,500 You’ve been trying to sort yourself out all these years. 562 00:33:44,880 –> 00:33:46,800 You look to Jesus Christ, 563 00:33:47,739 –> 00:33:48,699 who’s able to do for you 564 00:33:48,699 –> 00:33:51,280 what you cannot do for yourself, 565 00:33:51,280 –> 00:33:54,619 to bring to you what you do not have in yourself. 566 00:33:56,119 –> 00:33:59,219 Turn from the empty idle that has no power. 567 00:34:00,339 –> 00:34:03,880 God is calling you today to faith in Jesus Christ 568 00:34:03,880 –> 00:34:04,939 and to the obedience 569 00:34:04,939 –> 00:34:07,040 that will flow from this living union. 570 00:34:07,939 –> 00:34:10,360 Are you holding back 571 00:34:10,360 –> 00:34:12,600 because you have doubts and questions? 572 00:34:14,520 –> 00:34:17,020 Bring your doubts and questions to Christ. 573 00:34:18,600 –> 00:34:20,159 How do you think you’re gonna resolve them all? 574 00:34:20,159 –> 00:34:21,800 Standing out here on your own. 575 00:34:23,120 –> 00:34:24,580 Remember, the man who came to Jesus 576 00:34:24,580 –> 00:34:25,459 and he said, 577 00:34:25,459 –> 00:34:28,620 Lord, I believe, help me in my unbelief. 578 00:34:28,620 –> 00:34:30,760 That’s a great way to come to Jesus Christ. 579 00:34:30,760 –> 00:34:33,219 How else do you think you’re gonna sort all this out? 580 00:34:36,000 –> 00:34:36,899 Is there someone here 581 00:34:36,899 –> 00:34:39,159 and you are holding back from Jesus Christ 582 00:34:39,159 –> 00:34:41,040 because you do not think you need Him? 583 00:34:43,100 –> 00:34:45,939 In your heart and with your conservative moral life, 584 00:34:48,159 –> 00:34:49,820 you think well it’s great that Pastor Collin 585 00:34:49,820 –> 00:34:50,659 says all these things 586 00:34:50,659 –> 00:34:53,199 because I’m sure there’s many people who need to hear them. 587 00:34:54,620 –> 00:34:55,899 But in your heart of hearts, 588 00:34:55,899 –> 00:34:58,639 you feel that you are a very good and respectable person. 589 00:34:58,639 –> 00:35:00,659 You just do not see your need of Jesus Christ. 590 00:35:00,659 –> 00:35:01,860 At least, not you. 591 00:35:01,860 –> 00:35:02,659 You’re not that bad. 592 00:35:05,040 –> 00:35:05,879 Listen, my friend. 593 00:35:06,159 –> 00:35:07,820 Your sins are much worse than you think 594 00:35:09,419 –> 00:35:11,780 and your obedience is much less than you think. 595 00:35:14,360 –> 00:35:16,780 You look at the Son of God 596 00:35:16,780 –> 00:35:19,620 heaving, sweating, 597 00:35:20,860 –> 00:35:22,500 agonizing on a cross. 598 00:35:22,500 –> 00:35:24,060 The Son of God. 599 00:35:25,860 –> 00:35:28,040 The Savior of the world 600 00:35:28,040 –> 00:35:29,860 and you say you do not need Him. 601 00:35:29,860 –> 00:35:33,620 Could there be anything more offensive and defiant 602 00:35:33,979 –> 00:35:35,560 and arrogant towards God 603 00:35:35,560 –> 00:35:36,919 than what you’re saying in your heart 604 00:35:36,919 –> 00:35:38,560 if you hold back from Christ 605 00:35:38,560 –> 00:35:40,320 because you say you do not need Him? 606 00:35:42,139 –> 00:35:44,080 God calls you to Christ today. 607 00:35:46,840 –> 00:35:48,800 And then lastly is there someone here 608 00:35:50,000 –> 00:35:52,280 and you are holdingback for the opposite reason. 609 00:35:52,280 –> 00:35:54,679 You know that your sins are many. 610 00:35:54,679 –> 00:35:56,340 It’s just all too clear to you. 611 00:35:57,260 –> 00:35:59,199 And boy, you feel so weighed down by it all 612 00:35:59,199 –> 00:36:01,800 that it passed to the extent of my failure, 613 00:36:01,840 –> 00:36:03,560 the depth of it, the length of it. 614 00:36:05,280 –> 00:36:07,560 Your sins are many. 615 00:36:07,560 –> 00:36:08,399 You know it. 616 00:36:10,239 –> 00:36:12,340 Look to the cross. 617 00:36:13,239 –> 00:36:17,679 Look at the Son of God with royal blood in His veins. 618 00:36:19,000 –> 00:36:21,899 And that blood is being shed for you. 619 00:36:23,020 –> 00:36:25,179 He is there for sinners. 620 00:36:26,199 –> 00:36:28,379 He is there for sinners. 621 00:36:29,379 –> 00:36:31,399 He is there for sinners. 622 00:36:31,399 –> 00:36:34,840 And that means He is there for you. 623 00:36:36,379 –> 00:36:38,219 And the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ 624 00:36:38,219 –> 00:36:42,060 has the power to cleanse you from every sin. 625 00:36:42,060 –> 00:36:43,840 This Savior is able to take you 626 00:36:43,840 –> 00:36:48,159 from the slimy pit in which you find yourself 627 00:36:48,159 –> 00:36:50,120 and set your feet upon the rock. 628 00:36:50,120 –> 00:36:53,899 He is able to present you faultless on the last day 629 00:36:55,219 –> 00:36:57,860 with great joy in His presence 630 00:36:57,860 –> 00:37:01,139 and that redeeming work that He will complete then. 631 00:37:01,239 –> 00:37:05,199 He is able to begin in you now. 632 00:37:06,939 –> 00:37:10,300 He calls you to the obedience of faith. 633 00:37:11,639 –> 00:37:13,639 Will you bow in prayer with me together? 634 00:37:15,939 –> 00:37:19,399 If you’d allow me to lead your thoughts just in this moment. 635 00:37:21,439 –> 00:37:24,479 God calls you to obedience, 636 00:37:26,260 –> 00:37:28,239 means the stuff to confess. 637 00:37:31,919 –> 00:37:34,459 Lord I see my sins. 638 00:37:35,879 –> 00:37:37,500 I can name them. 639 00:37:42,919 –> 00:37:45,699 And today, because I hear that you’re calling me to obedience. 640 00:37:45,699 –> 00:37:47,620 I see that I must turn from them. 641 00:37:48,679 –> 00:37:51,520 And that is exactly what you’re calling me to do. 642 00:37:52,840 –> 00:37:56,120 Let the wicked foresee his way 643 00:37:56,120 –> 00:37:58,899 and the evil man his thoughts. 644 00:37:59,500 –> 00:38:00,820 And turn to the Lord. 645 00:38:08,939 –> 00:38:11,639 Thus we confess our sins before the Lord. 646 00:38:11,639 –> 00:38:14,219 Let us look up to him in faith. 647 00:38:14,219 –> 00:38:16,419 The Lord calls you not only to obedience. 648 00:38:16,419 –> 00:38:18,780 The lord calls you today to faith. 649 00:38:18,780 –> 00:38:22,219 Look to this Christ crucified for you, risen for you, 650 00:38:22,219 –> 00:38:25,060 sending the Spirit to all who will draw near to him 651 00:38:25,060 –> 00:38:25,899 and trust him. 652 00:38:26,719 –> 00:38:29,719 Lord Jesus, the life of obedience to which you are calling 653 00:38:29,719 –> 00:38:32,360 me is impossible if it is me alone. 654 00:38:33,540 –> 00:38:37,260 But if your life, your spirit should be in me, 655 00:38:37,260 –> 00:38:42,260 if your power should be made perfect in my weakness, 656 00:38:42,540 –> 00:38:44,360 the whole thing changes. 657 00:38:46,419 –> 00:38:49,939 And so as I draw near to find peace with you 658 00:38:49,939 –> 00:38:51,620 through the Father’s Word, 659 00:38:52,419 –> 00:38:55,760 and so as I draw near to find peace with you 660 00:38:55,760 –> 00:38:57,560 through the blood of the cross, 661 00:38:58,560 –> 00:39:00,540 I thank you for the strength of your spirit 662 00:39:00,540 –> 00:39:03,479 by which I am able to declare war on sin. 663 00:39:04,659 –> 00:39:07,020 So as to walk in the path of obedience 664 00:39:07,020 –> 00:39:09,080 and to do it by faith. 665 00:39:13,360 –> 00:39:17,179 Lord Jesus, today, I believe your promise 666 00:39:17,179 –> 00:39:20,540 so that I may obey 667 00:39:20,540 –> 00:39:22,679 your command. 668 00:39:25,080 –> 00:39:27,260 Lord Jesus, save many today 669 00:39:29,639 –> 00:39:31,120 for your name’s sake, 670 00:39:33,320 –> 00:39:34,479 and on that day 671 00:39:36,040 –> 00:39:39,260 when your glory will be on magnificent display 672 00:39:39,260 –> 00:39:41,020 in all your redeemed people, 673 00:39:44,540 –> 00:39:46,000 grant that we may be among them 674 00:39:48,419 –> 00:39:49,540 for Christ’s sake. 675 00:39:50,540 –> 00:39:52,020 Amen.