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The River ChurchSermons

Righteousness

Righteousness Illustrated, Pt. 1

Josh Yates · Sunday, 8 June 2025 · Romans 4:1-12 · 42:33 · 6,674 words

Romans S7 · 4:1-12 Lake Orion

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

Paul's letter to the Romans teaches that salvation comes through faith alone, not through human effort or good works. Using Abraham as an example, the sermon argues that God justifies people by grace through faith apart from the law. The speaker addresses the human tendency to boast about accomplishments and try to earn God's approval. Listeners are invited to rest in God's grace and trust that Jesus plus nothing equals salvation, recognizing their deep need for a savior.

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

faith 54 plus 12 sola 6 abraham 22 fear 16 needy 6 david 12 desperately 7 circumcised 8 figure 11 boast 9 equal 5

Topics

Faith 16 Abraham 7 Sin 6 Righteousness 6 Salvation 3 Grace 3 The Gospel 3 The Law 2 The Flesh 2 Justification 2 Obedience 1 Israel 1 The Holy Spirit 1

Scripture referenced 26

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 1 0:52 Romans 2 1:24 Romans 3 2:01 Romans 4 7:50 Romans 4 7:53 Romans 4 7:56 Romans 4:1-12 7:57 Romans 3:23 8:34 Romans 4 8:44 Romans 4:1-3 14:23 Genesis 26:5 15:14 Genesis 15:1 17:37 Romans 4 18:40 Romans 4:4-5 18:40 Romans 4:6-8 19:53 Psalms 32 20:21 2 Samuel 11 20:24 Psalms 51 22:31 Romans 3 24:56 Romans 3:9-12 25:07 Romans 3:9-12 25:12 Ephesians 2 27:51 Ephesians 2:8-9 27:56 Ephesians 2 28:11 Romans 5:6-8 36:06 Romans 5 36:33

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

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Thanks again for joining us. We hope you're blessed by today's message.

Good morning again. We are continuing our series in the book of Romans,

and we've been through, I'm going to say, about six, seven weeks now.

Romans 1 was really all about the fact that we're not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

and that God's wrath is justified.

We've seen our response to God, mankind's response to God,

and it's been that we've decided to worship things that are made,

to not honor or to thank God for all he's done and who he is.

And so, consequences of that response is that we trade God's truth for a lie,

and our lives are degraded, and we're all sinners.

In Romans chapter 2, we think that maybe that was all them,

and it's all the other people that are doing those things.

And Paul says, no, wait a minute.

You know, we end up doing many of the same things.

We're all in the same boat.

There's no, I'm not as bad as you.

There's no, I'm not as good as you.

And every single one of our actions reveal a heart full of sin,

and we are all needy of a change of the spirit of God in our lives.

We all have to repent.

We're not good inherently.

I know our culture tries to say we're good, we're good, we're good.

We're not.

We're not enough.

Only God is enough.

Only God is enough.

And God gives us grace.

And then Romans chapter 3 continues the theme.

Sin is the ultimate leveler.

We're all the same.

It doesn't matter what socioeconomic.

Status you have, wherever you come from, wherever we are on the face of the earth.

The reality is the Bible tells us that all have sinned.

There is no one good.

There's no not one of us is good.

And ultimately, we are all in need of a savior.

We've all fallen away.

We've all chosen our own way.

But last week, we finally got to the salvation of God and the two of the best words in scripture.

But now, but now there's a righteousness of God that's been revealed.

God's angry at sin.

But God has also revealed his righteousness.

God has also provided a savior to take care of the penalty and to change our lives to be more like his as he continues to work in our lives through the Savior, Jesus Christ.

So as we get through all of that, we can begin to think that we're doing pretty well.

Maybe we're okay.

Maybe we're getting to a point where, you know, we've got some things figured out.

We've come to Jesus or maybe we can think that we figured some of this stuff out.

We take pride in so many different things.

So many times we go to church.

We go to God when everything's a struggle.

But when things are going well, we can really live our lives without giving another thought to God or his will for our lives.

There's a story in the Grand Rapids Press that there was an owner of a small foreign car.

And he really began to irritate his friends by bragging incessantly about his high gas mileage.

So they decided to get some humor out of his tireless boasting as well as bring it to an end.

So every day, one of them would sneak into the parking lot where the man kept his car.

And they'd pour a few gallons of gas into the tank at night.

Soon, the bragger was recording absolutely phenomenal gas mileage.

And he's sure to let them know it.

He was getting as much as 90 miles per gallon.

The pranksters took secret delight in his exasperation as he tried to convince people of the truthfulness of his claims.

It was even more fun to watch his reaction when they stopped refilling the tank.

Poor guy couldn't figure out what was wrong with his car.

And yet, how many times do we get to a point in our relationship?

With others and with God.

That we begin to boast about what we've accomplished.

As though we're filling, as though we, you know, we think we're something and we're filling something in our tank.

It's really easy to become really boastful and think that we've done everything ourselves or at least done something.

We start to feel good about ourselves.

You know, I'm serving.

Others tell me how I'm needed.

I give to the church.

I change diapers.

All great things.

But what is our faith based upon?

What I do?

Or what God has done?

Because then we begin looking at our salvation as though it's something we have to earn.

Or the love of God as though it's something we have to earn.

Us humans really like to live as though we have the ability to control at least something, right?

Some of us in this room are really big control freaks.

Some of us control a lot.

Some of us want to control a lot.

Others of us, we like to think we're not as much of a control freak.

And yet, every single one of us want to have control over at least some part of our lives.

We want to claim that we have some sort of contribution to ourselves.

We want to claim that we have some sort of contribution to our success.

Our goodness and our salvation.

It's even preached in some circles of Christianity.

But we can even internalize some of it.

Commentator Mike Bird said this.

In my short time as a follower of Jesus, I've had people tell me that in order to be saved,

I need to speak in tongues, partake of some sacrament, only read the King James Bible,

subscribe to a certain confession, believe in this diagram of the end times,

jump through a dozen other hoops that seem to serve the purpose of validating the rantings of some lunatic

with an opinion and a desperate desire to force it on others.

Fortunately for me, I was well-discipled by Christian leaders and attended churches

where the pastors were committed to biblical preaching.

So I never got suckered into the Jesus plus stairway to salvation.

But many do.

I want to give you an equation this morning.

Jesus plus nothing equals salvation.

It's all about him.

It's not Jesus plus you doing good.

It's not Jesus plus believing a certain tenant in a certain church.

It's not Jesus plus attending the right church.

It's not Jesus plus having everything together.

It's not Jesus plus your finances.

It's not Jesus plus your good family.

It's not Jesus plus anything.

It's Jesus plus nothing equals salvation.

And we're going to see that today.

I love the five solas that were central to the Protestant Reformation.

In fact, there's artwork on the wall of my office that goes through the five solas.

And if you don't know what those are, it's five things that is basically the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sola Scriptura is the first one.

Only the word of God.

Only God's word.

By faith alone.

It's by faith alone.

Only by grace.

By grace alone.

Through Christ alone.

And Soli Deo Gloria.

Glory be to God alone and no one else.

That is salvation.

This is our confession and it's the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And Paul goes back to this argument about faith and justification one more time in the passage we're looking at today.

So I want to do that.

I want to dig in.

In this, we're going to be in Romans chapter 4.

We're starting off in Romans 4 today.

So if you have your Bibles, turn to Romans 4.

We'll be in verses 1 to 12 today.

If you have your devices, pull out your Bible app.

Or if you don't have a Bible app on your phone, you can download the River Church app.

And we've got the ESV in there, which I'll be reading from this morning.

But in this passage that we're focusing on, Paul uses the words faith or believe 21 times in 30 verses.

Why does Paul focus?

He doesn't focus so much on this.

He's still making the point that we're all in the same playing field.

There's no Greek or Jew in the eyes of God.

There's no theologian unlearned.

There's no hierarchy.

There's no rich-poor.

There's no smart-stupid.

This unites all of mankind.

We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God back in Romans 3.23.

There's no room for boasting about anything apart from God.

And so to establish a little bit of where we're going to go in Romans 4,

we've got to go back a couple of passages, a couple of verses, just to verse 27 to 31 here.

Where Paul, in 27 to 28, Paul says,

talking about this idea of boasting and what really brings sparkle to our eyes,

what makes us cheerful, what brings a spring to my step.

When we think about it, whatever does, that's actually our God.

Because whatever encourages us the most, whatever we consistently think about,

that's actually our God, whether little g or the one true God.

When we boast about anything but God, it falls flat on its face because of our common denominator, sin.

It's not because we've done anything to get to God.

We can't, by the way.

We can't get to God on our own.

The law that requires works in the Old Testament, it cannot save, Paul said in these verses.

It's the law that requires faith.

It's been pointing to faith for centuries.

God justifies people by faith apart from the works of the law.

It's not about the works of the law.

It's about faith in God.

Commentator Christopher Ashe says it like this.

The aim of the law of God is not to make religious insiders feel better about themselves.

Remember the guy who went to Jesus and said, yeah, I've done everything in the law.

I've kept the Ten Commandments.

What does Jesus say?

Go sell everything you own.

Why did he say that?

I think it's one of the most misinterpreted passages of Scripture.

It's like, oh, well, we should own nothing.

We should all be poor.

We should sell everything we own.

That's what Jesus is saying.

No, what Jesus realized and recognized in that man's life, he knew what his God was.

It was everything he owned.

You can work and do all of the religious things you want, and you can still be the God of your life.

You can still be living for something other than the one true God.

See, the aim of the law of God, this commentator says, is not to make religious insiders feel better about themselves,

but to move us all to repentance and faith, humbled under grace together.

And then Paul says in the next couple of verses, 29 to 31, that there's one God and creator over all.

He justifies the circumcised and the uncircumcised by faith and 100% grace.

When we begin to believe that we have it figured out and we're in,

we reduce God to a godlet that belongs to only me, if we think we have it all figured out.

God is God over all.

There's no first or second class Christians.

If you know Jesus Christ today, we are all equal.

We all are.

Sinners in need of a savior.

There is nobody better than another in the body of Christ.

Let's be honest.

There's nobody better than another in this world, really.

Because all the things that we measure will pass away.

And only one thing will remain.

And that's whether or not we trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and savior of our lives.

And I got to tell you this morning, this idea of justification that we talked about last week,

that God makes us right before himself, that takes us from a guilty sinner to being legally righteous before him.

It's a law.

It's a legal change of status that God does for us when we come to Christ.

It is nothing short than a divine miracle.

Because you and I stand before God completely guilty.

Completely guilty.

Worthy of condemnation and damnation.

Yes, damnation.

We say often we want God to be fair.

If God was fair, Jesus wouldn't have died in my place.

He is fair, though, because his wrath fell on Jesus.

We learned about that last week.

Jesus steps in.

He bears the penalty of our sin, our choice.

And he pays our debt.

He frees us from sin and invites us close.

He justifies us and we're made whole.

How does this happen?

Man, I'm so glad you asked, because that's where we're going today.

There's a preacher long departed from the gospel of truth, told the following story to summarize the faith he taught.

It seems that a frog one day fell into a pail of milk.

And though he tried every conceivable way to jump out, he always failed.

The sides were too high.

And because he was floating in the milk, he couldn't get enough leverage for the needed leap.

So he did the only thing he could do.

He paddled and paddled and paddled some more.

And voila.

His paddling had churned a pat of butter beneath him from which he was able to launch himself to freedom.

The preacher's message was, just keep paddling, keep on working, keep on doing your best, and you will make it.

And that is a 100% lie.

And yet so many of us believe it.

Keep on working.

If I keep on doing.

If I keep on doing.

If I keep on doing.

If I keep on doing.

I'll be okay.

No, you won't.

It is by the grace.

It is by the grace and mercy of God alone that any of us will obtain salvation.

And yet we think if we do more, then I'll be able to do this or this, that, or the other thing.

Now, that's not to say we shouldn't make plans in life.

But the reality is we think if we keep striving, keep working, keep being gooder, you'll make it.

Kent Hughes, the commentator, says it like this.

Modern man is, as a matter of fact, deeply hostile to the concept of justification by faith alone through God's grace.

We want to think we've done something.

And that's what the Jews struggle with, too.

So roll.

Romans chapter 4, verses 1 to 3.

Let's read it.

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh?

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

For what does the scripture say?

Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.

See, there was a common misunderstanding amongst Jews that Abraham was justified by his works of righteousness.

He was a prime example of someone that was justified by works, according to so many rabbis.

And rabbinical teachings of the day.

In fact, in the Jubilees 2310, it's a rabbinical writing.

It says,

Something that was taught in Jesus' day.

And even in Orthodox Judaism today.

The Mishnah's third division, Kedushin, makes an unfortunate interpretation of Genesis 26.5.

It concludes that we find that Abraham, our father, had performed the whole law before it was given.

Abraham was perfect before the law was even given.

In fact, there was another book, the Prayer of Manasseh, that concluded that Abraham had never even needed to repent.

Man, major claims.

Abraham performed the whole law before it was written.

He was perfect in all of his deeds, and he didn't need to repent at all.

He was justified by his works, and therefore, as an example to follow, case closed.

Paul's reminding these believers, these Jewish believers in Rome, that no matter what you do, salvation only comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

Abraham's faith was counted to him as righteousness for sure, but he needed God so desperately.

Let's look at the life of Abraham for a minute.

We looked at Father Abraham a while back, right?

We did a whole series on him, but here's the thing about Abraham.

He had faith, but let me tell you something this morning.

He also had fear.

He also had fear.

Abraham was the father of the nation of Israel, and he had faith to pick up.

He had faith to move his family when God called him.

He had faith to believe God when he was told that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars, even though he was in his geriatric years.

He was in his 80s, 90s.

This faith was credited to him as righteousness.

He wasn't saved by his works.

He was saved because of his faith in God, but it didn't mean he never feared.

It didn't mean he was perfect.

In the account of his life in Genesis, he often feared.

He was afraid of the different kings who saw his wife and thought she was beautiful, and so he lied to them and told them she was his sister, and almost got everybody.

He had faith in the midst of fear, not faith over fear.

Abraham had been in the land God told him to go to for years.

No heir had been born to him.

He's like, God, you gave me this promise.

What are we going to do?

And he was afraid that it would never happen, and that his inheritance would go to somebody other than a blood relative.

And so God came to him.

In Genesis 15, 1, he says,

God had to remind him to not fear.

See, had Abraham had faith over fear in that moment,

the conversation would have stopped there, and it would have been all fine, but it wasn't.

Because after that, it didn't happen.

It didn't happen.

It didn't happen.

And then he decided to try to help God, and he brought in his wife's maidservant, Hagar, and had a child with her.

Try to help God fulfill his promise, because he still feared.

He didn't get it right.

See, Abraham brought nothing to the table except having faith that God will fulfill his promises, even in the middle of his fear.

He wasn't perfect in his faith.

He had to continue to exercise his faith, to learn it.

To learn what faith in God looked like.

And God continually shone his grace upon him by crediting his faith to him as righteousness.

Verses 4 to 5 in chapter 4 of Romans.

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted to him as a gift, but it's due.

And to the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

See, there was no room for Abraham's boasting.

He may have had room according to the flesh, like these wages that you think you typically would get, but not before God.

Justification can't be.

By works, it's got to be the outcome of God.

Righteousness was counted to Abraham.

In other words, God made a legal transaction to change his legal standing.

If works justified us, we could get to a point where we think that we think we deserve it.

That's a dangerous place to be.

Ultimately, boasting is an illegitimate arrogance that contradicts the gospel.

Works are not involved.

There is no work that will save you.

Because sin is the ultimate leveler.

The playing field.

And we all need a savior.

Paul also brings the beloved King David into the conversation.

Because again, he has a Jewish audience.

Verses 6 to 8 says this.

David knew that God's blessing was when deeds were forgiven.

And sin was not counted.

Sins are covered.

And the one who God doesn't count their sins against them.

This was a quote from Psalm 32.

All we have to do, and if we had time this morning, we could look back at 2 Samuel 11.

And we would see what happened.

And what David did.

I'll describe it briefly this morning.

It's the sin that David had with Bathsheba.

He's not where he's supposed to be.

He's on the top of his palace.

Rather than out fighting the battle with his army.

Sees a beautiful woman bathing.

Decides to pull her into his house.

And he sleeps with her.

And David is like, uh-oh.

I'm going to sleep with her.

I'm going to be found out.

I've got to figure out a way to cover this.

So I'm going to bring back my general, Uriah.

And bring him back.

And I'm going to bring him home.

So that he will, it will be assumed that he went home.

And the baby's his.

But this guy was so honorable.

He would not go into his house.

He slept on his porch.

Because his army was out fighting.

And he was home.

David's like, uh-oh.

Got to figure this out.

I'm going to bring him in.

I'm going to get him drunk.

That'll fix it.

Even in his drunken stupor, he wouldn't go in his house.

So David finally says, I've got to go.

I've got to figure this out for real.

So he calls in one of his generals and says, look.

I'm going to put, send Uriah back out.

And when the battle is the fiercest, I want you to give an order.

And everybody pull back.

And don't tell Uriah.

So the enemy will kill him.

He murders this man.

Takes in his wife, his widow, as his wife.

Intending to cover up the sin.

Later on, the prophet Nathan comes to David.

And is like, hey, you know, there was this guy who had this little lamb.

And it was like a pet to him.

And he just loved this little lamb.

And the real thing is, he was like, I'm going to kill him.

And the rich guy next door had a friend that was coming over.

And he didn't want to take any of the lambs from his flock.

So he went and took this little lamb.

Killed it and fed it to his friend.

What should happen to this man?

David was furious.

That man should die.

He should have to pay ten times more than that.

And Nathan looks at him and says, David, you are the man.

He's broken in that moment.

And he writes Psalm 51.

He knows of sin that is covered over.

And he writes and he says, have mercy on me, O God.

According to your steadfast love.

According to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you only have I sinned and done evil what is in your sight.

So that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity.

And in sin did my mother conceive me.

Behold, you delight in truth and the inward being.

And you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean.

Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.

Let me hear joy and gladness.

Let the bones that you have broken rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins.

And blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God.

And renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence.

And take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation.

And uphold me with a willing spirit.

See, David knows.

He knew what it meant to have his sins not held against him.

And the grounds that David was acquitted of his sin was nothing more than the faith.

He had and the mercy of God.

It was nothing he did.

And even after all of this, David was called a man after God's own heart.

Even after he murdered and committed adultery.

Why?

Because of how he repented of his sin.

I'm convinced of that.

Because he hated his own sin as much as God did.

And he came back to God and he repented.

And he faced consequences of that sin still.

But he was righteous before God because of his faith.

Because of his faith.

Commentator Kent Hughes says,

Nothing you and I can ever do.

Can atone for our sins.

Our only hope is a righteousness from God apart from the law.

To which the law and the prophets testify.

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ.

To all who believe.

Paul just said that in Romans chapter 3.

It's a righteousness from God apart from the law.

It's through faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul goes on in verses 9 to 12.

And it's sola fide for us.

It's faith alone for us.

Verses 9 to 12.

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised?

Or also for the uncircumcised?

For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.

How then was it counted to him?

Was it before or after he had been circumcised?

It was not after but before he was circumcised.

He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith.

While he was still uncircumcised.

The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised.

So that the righteousness would be counted to them as well.

And to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised.

But who also walk in the footsteps of faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

We're talking a lot about circumcision there.

But there's a reason.

Because for the Jew that physical sign was how you got in.

It was all about the physical thing that you saw.

It was all about the physical.

Not about the circumcision of the heart that God was really getting at long term.

About a heart that was actually turned towards God.

But the Jewish people were focusing so much on the outward sign.

And not focusing on the heart.

Sounds kind of like another verse in the Bible that says man looks on the outward appearance.

But God looks on the heart.

And that's exactly what the Jewish people were doing.

It was all about who was in and who was out.

And this physical manifestation of whether or not you were in the family of God.

But the reality of the situation was.

Is that Abraham was declared righteous before God ever instituted the physical representation of the inward reality of his people.

He was declared righteous before he ever talked about circumcision.

It's never been about anything other than faith in God.

Abraham was actually a Gentile when he was declared righteous.

If we're going to get down to it.

See so many times we focus on so many external things about our own lives.

About the lives of other people.

That people have to do certain things to be in.

No.

We all need Jesus so desperately.

Every single day.

We need to remember the gospel.

Every single day.

May we never tire of hearing about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That has saved us and forgiven us of our sin.

Blessed is the one whose sin is no longer held against him.

And we have to remember that in Ephesians chapter 2.

I want to read it for us.

Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 to 9 says this.

For it is by grace you've been saved through faith.

It's not your own doing.

It's a gift of God.

Not a result of works.

So that no one can boast about it.

But we have to understand that the whole of chapter 2 before that.

About the fact.

That we are dead in our trespasses and sins.

We used to be dead.

My friends can dead people walk?

Can dead people talk?

Can dead people do anything in and of themselves?

To change their station?

Of course not.

If we were dead in our transgressions and sins.

How can we think we contributed anything to the fact that we're now alive in Christ?

He's the one who did it.

Why?

Because he loves you.

I hope some of us are getting it this morning.

It's not about what you've done.

It's about what Jesus did and his love for you.

You may be sitting here this morning feeling like one of the most unlovable people on the face of the earth.

God tells you this morning.

I love you so much that I died for you.

You're that valuable.

I paid for your sin.

If you would call on my name.

Ask for forgiveness.

I will come in and I will make my home in you.

Because my friends we were dead in sins.

We've been made alive in Christ.

By his action.

Not ours.

The reality for us.

Is that we are so desperately needy.

Our need is met in Jesus through faith.

Some of us come to God and it's like, oh man, hey, I just need some forgiveness today.

I don't want to be judged.

I'm going to move on.

You know, I just, I don't want this whole thing.

I don't like it.

You know, that doesn't sound fun.

Don't want to go there.

I just want to get out of there.

You know, God, just, hey, are we good?

All right, we're good.

Thank you.

Come and save me.

And then I always remember when I was in youth ministry, I often had students ask me, can

I accept Jesus as savior and just do what I want?

That sounds good.

I just want to go live.

I want to live however I want.

And the reality is, is no, because when we understand what Jesus did for us, we are changed

When we truly understand, when we come to the Lord as poor in spirit, knowing that we

have nothing to offer, but we desperately need a savior.

When we realize that we are desperately needy and we mourn over our sins and we realize

that our need is met in Jesus.

What does Jesus say?

You love me if you kind of obey my commandments, right?

You love me if you obey my commandments, if you keep my commandments.

But then we can go, wait a minute, doesn't that sound like I'm doing something to earn

Because when we actually realize how much we've been forgiven and we've given our life

to the Lord, we do change.

Our goals are different.

We continually learn.

It doesn't mean we're perfect.

Just like Abraham wasn't perfect because we continually need the grace of God every single

There isn't one of us that will complete that theological term, the sanctification process,

becoming more like Jesus until we get to see him one day in heaven.

We are all still broken people that need a perfect savior who died on a cross.

But because of how we think that we have it all figured out or that we get to a point

where it becomes religion, I mean, let's be honest.

Some of us came this morning because church is just something we do.

That's what you do as a religious practice because, well, I say I'm a Christian, so that's

what I do, right?

I hope that's not true of many of us, but I'm sure it's true of at least some of us.

You know, it's just what we do.

You have to do these things.

I will say you don't have to do these things.

When you come to know Jesus, you want to do them.

There's a difference because we all know we're broken.

If there's anybody in here that thinks that we're broken, we're broken.

If anybody thinks we've got it figured out this morning, we'll get broken eventually.

But for those of you this morning, they're broken and are living in the middle of the

should-haves.

I should be this.

I should be that.

I should have this figured out.

I joked with my wife a few weeks ago.

I was like, man, I'm 46 years old.

I thought by now I'd have my stuff together.

And then I went, I bet there's people in their 80s and 90s going, man, I thought by now I'd

have my stuff together.

We can get caught up in the I should be doing this.

I shouldn't be here.

I should, I should, I shouldn't, I shouldn't.

See, there's a phrase that floats around so many Christian circles.

And I alluded to it earlier.

And I do not believe it is based in the Bible at all.

People love to claim faith over fear, faith over fear.

That sounds good to you are absolutely terrified.

And then because we believe these little pithy little statements that say faith over fear,

we feel like we're less than because I'm freaked out.

That means I don't have faith.

It is never faith over fear.

It's faith in the midst of it.

Because all of us here are afraid at times.

All of us here are freaked out sometimes.

And it doesn't mean that we're not afraid.

It doesn't mean you don't trust Christ.

It means you're human.

It means you're broken.

And you're in need of a savior.

Why do we go there?

Because we're going back to that jail cell I talked about last week,

that Eric Lutie talked about in that illustration I used.

The door's open, but we go back to our jail cell.

And we decide to go back to what we know rather than actually following Jesus.

Because really, we do still believe that Jesus plus something equals salvation.

That's what we really believe.

It's hard for us to believe that Jesus plus nothing equals salvation.

Can I tell you today?

You do not have to fix yourself.

You don't have to fix yourself before you come to God.

And if you think you do, you don't know who God is yet.

Abraham certainly didn't fix himself before he went to God.

Because in the middle of his fear, God met him.

He had faith in what God said, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

And yet he still struggled.

There's going to be so many times that you're going to be struggled with being afraid.

And God says, why do you think God says, I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you?

You're not alone.

In those moments, you're called to have faith in the one who holds you.

Yes, it's going to be difficult in the midst of fear.

It's not always easy.

It's not always easy, but God is greater.

I saw a post online this week, and it really spoke to my heart.

It said this.

We can love God and battle depression.

We can have faith and hurt deeply.

We can have confidence in God while wrestling with insecurity.

One does not nullify the other.

It only shows our deep need for Jesus.

Romans 5, 6 to 8 says it for us.

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

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person, one would even dare.

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

And we're going to get to Romans chapter 5 in a couple weeks, so we'll get there.

So I don't want to preach the sermon beforehand.

But while we were weak, he died for us when we didn't want him.

And so Micah the prophet in 718 says it like this.

Who is a God like you, hardening iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance?

He does not retain his anger forever because he delights.

He delights in steadfast love.

He delights in steadfast love.

I really believe so much of our struggle in life is because we cannot accept the fact that God saved us specifically by his grace.

Should we be different?

That's not how God sees you.

He sees you as a beloved son or daughter.

I love in the Old Testament.

I'm forgetting where, but it talked about how God holds our tears in his specific Hebrew word.

And I can't remember what it was, but it's a container.

And refers to a time.

Because back, there's a tradition of military wives in biblical times.

That when their husbands were gone, when they cried being sad they were gone, they would put their tears in a bottle.

At home, they'd give it to their husband to show how much they missed him.

In the Old Testament, it says that God holds our tears in a bottle.

So much of our struggle is because we think we should be something other than we are.

And maybe we should be, but God's the one who changes us, not us.

You may be going through a really hard time right now.

And I want to tell you this morning, God hasn't left you.

He hasn't left you alone.

You may feel like it sometimes, but he's molding you and shaping you because it's that process that he's taking us through to become more like him.

His grace and mercy will be what pull you out.

Maybe things are going really well for you right now and and think you don't have a cure in the world.

Thank the Lord for that and thank him for his grace and mercy.

Don't take credit for it.

Don't take credit for it.

That's a dangerous place to be.

Thank him for who he is and what he's done to bless others.

Those of you that have been comforted, use that comfort to comfort other people.

Use that comfort to comfort those who need it because that's why it's been given to you because we are all

so desperate for the grace of God.

We are so desperately needy.

We are so desperately needy and our need is met in Jesus through faith.

Sola Fide, run to him.

If you're here this morning and you don't yet know him, you can call on his name.

It's the gospel of Christ.

We all need a savior.

His name is Jesus.

Call on his name and he'll save you.

He takes me to God for his grace and mercy.

Father, thank you for all that you are.

Thank you for how you love us, for your word.

We can think so many times that we have to earn.

We can think so many times that we have to earn our salvation from you or that we should be something different than we already are.

We should be something that we're not yet.

I pray that your grace and mercy would just pour over everyone this morning.

We would understand more of who you are and how you work and how you love and that, God, you hold us in the palm of your hand.

Thank you for your forgiveness.

Thank you for your mercy.

May we begin to understand how much you love us and also that really it is by faith.

We're broken.

We're needy.

Give us strength to trust.

Let us remember your heart.