Transcript
Introduction to Romans
I stand before you this morning as a very excited man. I feel like a baseball player who's just stepped onto the field at Dodger Stadium, or an archaeologist who's just discovered King Tut's tomb, or a mountain climber, and there's Mount Everest right there off in the distance, and we're here in front of the Book of Romans.
This morning we're going to start and we're going to continue on in a series that's going to take us through the whole book, and I've got a promise for you this morning. If you stick with us through the Book of Romans, it'll change your life. God will bless you. God will lead you into a deeper understanding and knowledge of Him than you've ever had before.
Now, some of you may be sitting here this morning and you feel like you know God. I know God well enough and all, can't we learn about something else? Well, let me say, if you feel like you know God this morning, you need to know Him more. You need to know Him better. And I would say that the most spiritual person among us is only a baby in understanding the deep things of God. Here we are in the wading pool of God's truth, and some of us are up to our ankles, and some of us are up to our shins. But God says, I want you to launch out deeper than ever, and maybe some of us will get up to our waist before we're done with the Book of Romans.
God wants to teach you more about Himself than you've ever known before, and I just ask you, stick with us through this time in the Book of Romans. When you miss a week, grab the tape and listen to it. Read ahead with us. Let God speak to your heart through the Book of Romans, and He'll teach you all about Himself.
Paul, a Servant of Jesus Christ
So instead of talking about the book, let's just jump into it.
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God. (Romans 1:1)
The first thing we have in the form of writing an ancient letter was they would begin by saying who it's from. Makes more sense than the way we write letters today, right? The way we write letters, you start out by saying who it's to. Well, the person who gets it knows who they are. They want to know who wrote it. So you start out in the ancient world by saying who it's from, and then you go on later and explain who it's to.
Paul introduces himself and calls himself a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and I wish we had the time this morning to go into a survey of the life of the Apostle Paul. Wouldn't it be great to see how the Lord brought him up in his youth, how God prepared him, how God saved him, how God trained him? But I'll just tell you this, at this point, when the Apostle Paul writes the Book of Romans, he's been a Christian preacher for some 20 years. He probably wrote this book from the city of Corinth. He was on his way to Jerusalem and had a few months in Corinth, and he was thinking about things and thinking beyond. Paul was a forward-thinking man. He said, well, after I go to Jerusalem, I want to make my way to Rome. But then he thought, I've never visited Rome before. I've never met the Christians there. I know several of them individually by acquaintance, but I've never visited the church there. I've never been to that city. And Paul says, I want to write a letter to my Christian friends in Rome, most of whom I've never met, but I want to share my heart with them.
A Book About God
Now, because Paul did not found the church in Rome, because he had never visited there personally, the Book of Romans is different than other letters written in the New Testament. It's different because Paul was not writing the Book of Romans to solve problems. That's what a lot of the letters in the New Testament are about, right? First Corinthians, Second Corinthians, the Corinthians had problems, and Paul says, I've got to write them a letter and fix it. Galatians, First Thessalonians, those churches were having problems, and Paul says, I've got to put out a fire, I've got to write a letter and fix the problems.
Paul did not write the Book of Romans to fix problems. He wrote it to spell out the broad panorama of God and His great work in us and through us and through the ages. The letter to the Romans focuses more on God and on His great plan of redemption. That's why I can promise you, as you stick with us through the Book of Romans, you're going to get to know God better.
As a matter of fact, look, it's right there in the first verse. It says:
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God. (Romans 1:1)
I want you to think about that phrase, the gospel of God. You know what the word gospel means, don't you? It means good news. So Paul's saying he was separated to the good news of God. God has good news. God has something good to say to you. How we need sometimes to just get our mind shifted into thinking that God has something good to say to us. Most people think that God has something bad to say to them. Well, God has something good to say to you. He has good news for you, but I want you to see that it's the gospel of God. That's the first time in this letter that the word God appears.
There are many majestic themes throughout the Book of Romans. There's the theme of righteousness, there's the theme of grace, there's the theme of faith, there's the theme of works, there's the theme of Jesus Christ, there's the theme of sin and God's plan of dealing with it. But the word God occurs 153 times in this book. That's an average of once every 46 words, and it occurs more frequently in this book than in any other book in the New Testament. Pre-eminently, the Book of Romans is a book about God. As much as any of the other letters in the New Testament, this is a book with a tremendous concentration upon God, and that's why we're titling this series All About God, because the subject of the Book of Romans is God and His work.
Friends, don't we just simply need to get back to God? We need to put our focus on Him. We need to know Him. We need to learn His way and His mind and His heart. I think every failing, every weakness, every trouble in our society, we can trace it back to the fact that we need to get back to God, and that's exactly the good news that Paul was there to deliver to the Romans, and to us.
The Gospel Concerning His Son
He says he was separated to the gospel of God. Now look at him describe that gospel, beginning at verse 2.
Which he promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 1:2-3)
I want you to notice, first of all, that Paul says his gospel is not a new thing, but it was promised before through the prophets. It's not the clever invention of man. Paul's world was a lot like our own. It was filled with people who liked new teachings and new doctrines. Everybody wanted the novel, fresh, new thing. Paul said, I'm not bringing you anything new. I'm bringing you something that was promised, that was prophesied years and years ago, centuries before, by the prophets of God. This is something very old in the plan of God.
Now, Paul also wants to emphasize that the good news he has to bring to them not only was prophesied a long time ago, but it was also centered around somebody. Do you see that? It's right there in verse 2.
Which he promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 1:2-3)
This is the center of the gospel, Jesus Christ. He's the sun, S-U-N, that everything else revolves around. Of course He's the Son, S-O-N, as well, but He's the sun. He's the center of the solar system. Everything else revolves around Jesus Christ. The gospel is concerning Jesus Christ.
Friends, I want you to grab hold of this this morning, that the center of Christianity is not a teaching. It's not a moral system. It's not a new system of ethics. It's not a how-to or a help-you-get-along. It's a person, Jesus Christ. That's what I'm here to present to you.
Maybe some of you here this morning are here because you feel like you need to turn over a new leaf in life. You've looked at your life and maybe it's not going the way you think it should go, and you think, I've got to do better, I've got to make some resolutions, and part of that is I'm going to become a church-going person. That's a good thing, isn't it? So there, I'll turn over a new leaf. And I'll tell you, all the moral effort you can try, all the church attendance, all the teaching you can hear, that's not going to transform your life. What you really need is a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. He's the center of the gospel. You can know all about Jesus, but God wants you to know Him in a personal relationship. And that's what the gospel is. The gospel is the good news of God's work through Jesus Christ. That's what it's all about.
The good news isn't, well, if you work really, really hard, you might make your own way to heaven. That's not good news. The good news is that Jesus Christ paid the penalty that our sins deserved. He did it when He stretched out His arms on Calvary and was nailed to a cruel cross, and God the Father poured out upon God the Son all the sin, all the guilt, all the shame and humiliation that our sins deserved. That's God's work. It was performed through Jesus Christ, and it's there to rescue fallen man. So friends, please remember that, the gospel is the good news of God's work through Jesus Christ to rescue fallen man.
Now let me stop right there and make an observation. Some of you might say, well, I don't know what this fallen man business is that you're talking about, pastor, because I've known some fallen people in my life, but I don't count myself among them. I'm a good, decent person. I'm not like those people who are in jail or those people who don't have their lives together. I'm a basically good person. Well, let me just say one thing to you. Come back next week. Paul's going to talk to us, not just next week but the next couple of weeks, about the need of mankind for salvation. Believe me, you'll get the picture from the Word of God. You may agree with it, you may disagree with it, but you're going to understand it if you come next week, as Paul talks about the universal need for man to be saved by the work of Jesus Christ.
Human and Divine
Now, the work of Jesus, as Paul points out here, has both a human aspect and a divine aspect. Look at it there in verse 3.
Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (Romans 1:3-4)
You see, he speaks there of a human origin. He's of the seed of David, that great king in the Old Testament, King David. Jesus was one of his biological descendants. But then again, Jesus has a divine origin too. He was demonstrated to be the Son of God through the power of resurrection.
Now, notice what he talks about the work of God resulting in, beginning at verse 5.
Through whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:5-6)
Look at that. Paul says, because of Jesus, I've received grace. Because of Jesus, I've received apostleship. Why? For obedience to the faith among all the nations. This is something meant to go out to all the nations, and it's to bring people to obedience to the faith. This speaks of a life-changing work of the gospel. This isn't just interesting theory. This isn't just philosophy. This is something meant to impact our lives and make a difference.
I want you to think about it for a moment. What difference does the truth of God's Word make in your life on an everyday basis? Or is it just something that you sort of pick up from Sunday to Sunday? Does it make a difference in the way that you live every day? Do you have what Paul spoke of there in verse 5, obedience to the faith, where it just makes a difference in the way that you live? Paul said that was one of the great things that Jesus Christ did when He came into his life, He built in him that obedience to the faith.
Beloved of God, Called Saints
Now, as Paul begins in verse 7, he's going to talk about the way that God's plan includes people to preach the gospel, and then includes people to receive the gospel and have their lives transformed. Look at how he begins.
To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:7)
I think I should just stop right there. Paul had never been to Rome. He didn't found the Roman church. He knew several of the people there just through mutual acquaintances or his travels. We know that because he mentioned several of them in a way that indicates he knows them, way back in Romans chapter 16. But even though Paul had never really met these people and didn't know them very well, he knew for sure two things about them. He knew, look at it right there in verse 7, that they were beloved of God. He knew that God loved them. And he also knew, number two in verse 7, that they were called to be saints.
If you're a Christian, those are two essential things to know: that God loves you, and that you're a saint, set apart. I want to say it to you this morning, maybe you haven't heard it, or maybe you haven't heard it in a way that registers to you, but God loves you. Now when I say that, if you kind of yawn inside and say, well, pastor, I've heard that about a million times, thank you very much, that's not good. Every time you hear that God loves you, it should make your heart leap just a little bit to know that God, in all of His greatness, in all of His majesty, the God who's sovereign and enthroned in the heavens, He loves you.
There's a story of an eminent theologian, a man who was an expert in more languages than you can count on one hand, and he knew all the subtleties of theology, and one time at a theological symposium, somebody asked him a question. It was one of those theological students who wanted to impress everybody with his question, and he said, "Professor, can you please tell us what's the most sublime, the most subtle, the most amazing and complex truth that you've ever learned in all your study of theology?" And the professor thought for just a moment, it didn't take him very long, and said, "Well, this is it. This is the most profound thing that I've ever learned in all my study of theology. Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so."
And friends, you don't get deeper than that. You don't get more wonderful than that. And honestly, if you're sort of bored or blasé about hearing it, can you just make a silent prayer to God right now where you're sitting and say, God, will you change that in my heart? Will you change it to where I'm excited about knowing that You love me? What could there be greater than that, than knowing that the God of all creation, of all power, of all glory, of all goodness, that He loves you in a special way?
Oh, it's easy for the preacher to stand up here and convince you that you're a sinner. That's not a very hard job, is it? We're all sinners. It's not hard to strip away the veneer and point out, well, you're a sinner in this, and you're a sinner in that, and we're all just a bunch of big sinners. I can persuade you of that pretty easily. Oh, how I wish I could persuade you just as easily of the matchless love of God for you.
That's one thing to know if you're a Christian, that God loves you. But look at the other thing there in verse 7, beloved of God, called to be saints. I don't know about your Bible, but my Bible has two words there that are in italics, "to be." Do you know what it means when a word's in italics in your Bible? It means those words were not in the original that Paul wrote, but the translators supplied them to help make sense of what's being written. Sometimes the words in italics help you make sense of them, sometimes they don't. I think here's a "don't." I think what Paul says is not that they were called to be saints, but they're called saints.
If you're a Christian, you're called a saint. Isn't that amazing? You don't have to have a special ceremony done on your behalf. You don't have to have miracles done in your name. Nobody has to pray to you. You can be called a saint if you're a follower of Jesus Christ, because you're set apart. He's made you new. He's made you different. You're called a saint. So I can look out all over here and there's Saint Tammy and Saint Paul and Saint Al and Saint everybody else. That's what we are. We're saints before God. We're His saints. We're His people. That's something to know as well, not just that God loves you, but that He set you apart and made you something special before Him.
Paul's Desire to Visit Rome
Well, Paul goes on and he wants to talk about his desire to visit them. Take a look at verse 8.
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request, if by some means, I may now at last find a way in the will of God to come to you. (Romans 1:8-10)
Paul wanted to go to Rome. He wanted to see those Christians there, and deeply, desperately in his heart, he wanted to visit this church that was not just existing but was thriving at the center of the Roman Empire. You could take all the great cities of the Roman Empire, you've got Alexandria, you've got Ephesus, you've got these other tremendous cities, none of them compared to Rome. And the fact that there was a living, breathing, functioning, thriving church in Rome, it made Paul excited. Everybody's talking about it all throughout the world, and Paul wanted to go to Rome, and because he wanted to go, he prayed for them.
Did you know he says that right there? Verse 9:
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit, in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers. (Romans 1:9)
Paul says, I'm always praying for you. Don't you think maybe that's one of the reasons why the Roman church did so well? Because people were praying for it. I hope you're praying for this church. I hope God lays it on your heart often to pray, to pray for me as the pastor here, to pray for the leadership of this church, to pray for God's outpoured blessing upon this church, because that's the way that churches get blessed, when God's people pray. Paul prayed for the Roman church, and God was blessing the church in Rome.
But I want you to see as well that Paul says God was his witness that he was praying for them. That's kind of funny that Paul makes such a big deal about it, right? God is my witness that I'm praying for you. Why would he have to say that? I think Paul knew how easy it is for us to say we're going to pray for somebody and then we don't. You've experienced that, haven't you? Well, I'll pray for you, brother. Yeah, you bet I'll pray for you. And then, whoop, that's the last time you ever think of it.
Can I suggest a way to get around that? Why not pray for someone right then? They tell you the need, they tell you what's going on, and sure, pray for them later as well, but say, let's pray about that right now. Well, wait a minute, we can't pray about it right now, we're not in church. It's okay to pray outside of church. Pray for it right then, right at that time, and then pray for it later on as well. But you see, Paul prayed for the Christians in Rome, and we really believe that's one of the reasons why they were so blessed.
Paul wanted to come and visit them so that he could give something to them. Look at what he's got in verse 11.
For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established, that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me. (Romans 1:11-12)
Paul understood that when he came to the Roman church, he would have something to give to them, but that they would have something to give back to him, and they'd be growing together. Paul was not in some spiritually superior place where all he did was give and nobody gave unto him. He realized, no, I give and I receive from others. That's the way God has made it in the body of Christ.
Ready to Preach the Gospel
It would be a good question for somebody to ask, now Paul, if you're so all-fired up to go visit the Romans, why haven't you done it up till now? Come on, you're talking about wanting to do this, well where's the actions? He's going to explain that in verse 13.
Now, I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you, but was hindered until now, that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. (Romans 1:13-15)
Paul says, look, I wanted to come but I've been hindered. I haven't been able to do it, but I love how Paul can declare in verse 15 that he was ready. Don't you think that's something every Christian should be able to say? He says it right there, I am ready to preach the gospel.
Well, are you ready? Are you ready for whatever God has for you in your life? Right now, if God were to lead you to some opportunity or guide you into some area that He wanted you to serve Him, are you ready to do it? Or maybe you've sort of told the Lord that you are the master over your own agenda. Lord, I'll fit You in when I can. I think I've got some time on Sunday morning, maybe around 10:30 this week, let me write You in then, Lord. Well, I'm happy you're here and I'm happy that you've come. But please, don't we need to have the heart of the Apostle Paul where we say, I am ready, whatever You have for me, God, I am ready?
Paul had that heart. He says right here that he's ready to preach and ready to serve. In Acts chapter 21, he said that he was ready to suffer. In 2 Corinthians chapter 10, he said he was ready to do the unpleasant work of correcting the church. In 2 Timothy chapter 4, he said that he was ready to die.
Paul says, I'm ready to come to Rome, and I'm going to be there. You know what's great about this? You can sense Paul's heart here, can't you? He wants to go to Rome. He's ready to go to Rome. He feels like God wants him to go to Rome. He's probably got it figured out how he's going to get to Rome. No, he doesn't. You know how Paul was going to get to Rome? As a prisoner, through a shipwreck, through about two or three years of being in jail. And when he got to Rome, he'd get there on prisoner transport because he's going on trial before Caesar. I don't think Paul was thinking about that in Romans chapter 1, but that's how God worked it out.
Friends, let's understand, God always has one up His sleeve, doesn't He? He always knows more about what He's working out in our lives than we do. And we plan for the future, and figure, praise God, we should. God has a way of throwing a few little extra ingredients into the pot that we never knew were going to be in there. But when He throws those new extra ingredients in, it always makes it come out tasting better. He knows what He's doing with those things. Well, Paul could declare that he was ready, and he truly was.
The Power of God for Salvation
Now when we come to verses 16 and 17, and that's what we're going to conclude with this morning, Paul is stating his theme for the whole letter right here. Let me read this to you.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first, and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:16-17)
If you will, this is Paul's thesis statement for the rest of the Book of Romans. These two verses have an importance way out of proportion for their length. It's just two small verses, but they lay the foundation for what Paul is going to talk about over the next several chapters.
Paul says, I've been telling you about this gospel. I've told you that it's the gospel of God. I've told you that the gospel concerns Jesus Christ. I've told you that God has called me to preach this gospel. Let me tell you this, I'm not ashamed of this gospel. Now, why would anybody be ashamed about good news? Well, this good news centers around a crucified Savior. We sort of romanticize crucifixion today. Back then it was nothing more than a shameful, humiliating way for a criminal to be executed. That's like saying, I am not ashamed that I preach the gospel of a man who was electrocuted in the electric chair. Man, you're kind of weird, maybe you should be ashamed of that.
Paul says, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed to preach a gospel of a crucified Savior, especially in a sophisticated, successful city like Rome. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of it at all. Why? Look at it there.
For it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. (Romans 1:16)
Paul wasn't ashamed of a crucified Savior because he knew that the gospel, the good news about the work of Jesus on the cross, was the power of God for salvation. He knew that the good news of Jesus Christ has inherent power. Sometimes people talk about a powerful preacher as if the preacher brought power to the Word of God. Friends, the preacher doesn't bring any power to the gospel at all. The power is in the gospel. Sometimes preachers do a pretty good job of trying to cover up the power that's in the gospel, but all the preacher has to do is get out of the way and let the gospel have its own power. We don't give the gospel power, we let it just go out and express its power.
Think about it. God's message, the gospel, has power. It's news, but it's more than information. It has an inherent power. The gospel isn't about giving people advice. God isn't here speaking to you this morning saying, now come on now, have a stiff upper lip, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, come on now, you can do it, why, every cloud has a silver lining, hakuna matata, have a great day, hang in there, baby. It's none of that foolishness. This isn't lifting up ourselves. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, His work on our behalf, lifting us up.
Paul doesn't say that the gospel brings power, he says that it is power. And whose power is it? Look at it there.
It is the power of God to salvation. (Romans 1:16)
This would have had special relevance to the people in Rome, because the Romans thought they knew all about power. The Greeks, their glory was philosophy and intellectualism. The Egyptians, their glory was construction and the wisdom of secret mysteries. But the Romans, their glory was power. They had the legions, they had force, they commanded, they ruled more of the world than anybody else has since. The Romans were all about power, and everything about imperial Rome spoke of power. But Paul said, I'll tell you about real power, it's the power of the gospel.
Now you go today to the city of Rome and you look at all the vestiges of Roman power of their imperial days, and you'll be impressed by the things they built. But you'll notice there's a name for them now, they call them ruins. But the power of Jesus Christ and His gospel still lives and breathes and covers the world. They didn't have the power to save themselves. They didn't have the power to make themselves right before God. But it's a gift from God that comes from the gospel.
Faith, Not Merely Belief
And who's it extended to? Verse 16, to everyone who believes. Everyone. You put your trust in Jesus Christ and He will give you the power of the gospel.
My friends, I want you to think of everyone who believes. Now this word belief is a word that we're going to come back to time and time again as we study the Book of Romans. I want you to listen to me very carefully. We are not talking about believing that God exists. We're not talking about believing that Jesus exists or that Jesus even did certain things. We're talking about a relationship of trust in Jesus, where your life is trusting in God, your life is trusting in what Jesus did for you.
Most people, when they think about believing, they think they're just believing that God is there. No, it's putting your trust in Him, not in your bank account. It's putting your trust in Him, not in your own cleverness. It's putting your trust in Him, not in your own goodness. It's putting your trust in Him, not in the fact that mommy and daddy were saved and that they trust in God. It's putting your trust in a personal relationship of faith and trust in Jesus Christ. That's what brings the power of God unto salvation.
The Righteousness of God Revealed
Now the gospel does this because, in verse 17, for in it, that is, in the gospel, in this message of good news, the righteousness of God is revealed. Why don't you think about that a minute? The revelation of the righteousness of God. Here it is, the righteousness of God revealed right in front of you. Now in one sense, that would terrify us, because God is perfectly holy and righteous and we're not. You've revealed Your righteousness to me, God, what can I do? How can I stand before You?
Now, what good news is that? What gospel is that, for us to have the righteousness of God revealed in the sense of God saying, I'm righteous and you're not, you don't measure up to Me? That's not the way Paul's speaking of righteousness in verse 17. It's not the righteousness of God that's revealed in that sense, but rather it's the righteousness of God given to us.
So friends, please follow carefully. The gospel reveals the righteousness of God, but it's the righteousness of God that is given to us. Given to who? Well, to those who believe. Look at it in verse 17.
For in it, in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just, or the righteous, shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17)
God says, I am going to reveal My righteousness to you, and you can have it. You can share in it if you will only enter into this relationship of faith and trust in Me. This is not speaking of the holy righteousness of God that condemns the guilty sinner, but it's speaking of the God kind of righteousness that's given to the guilty sinner who puts their trust in Jesus Christ. And it means that God puts them in a place as if they had never been a sinner at all.
And friends, let me say, it's the righteousness of God. Think of a very righteous man or woman, either now, today, or in history. You can think of a righteous man like Billy Graham, or a righteous woman like Mother Teresa. And wouldn't it be wonderful if God said, I will give you the righteousness of Mother Teresa? And you say, wow, thanks a lot, God, that'd be great, man, that'd be swell. But the Lord says, no, uh-uh, that's not even near enough. I'm going to give you the righteousness, not of Billy Graham, not of Mother Teresa, I'm going to give you the righteousness of God. It's His righteousness given to us.
And friends, this makes us more holy than the holiest man, or more righteous than even innocent Adam in the Garden of Eden, because we, by faith, can have the righteousness of God. And this is God's righteousness given to us. On what basis? By faith. That's what he says there in verse 17.
It is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the just shall live... (Romans 1:17)
by working really hard? No. The just shall live by their church attendance? No.
The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17)
And they're not only saved by faith, but they live by faith. That's the course of their life. It's not like you just check in and say, okay, God, I'm going to punch my card of faith and put it in my pocket and live any way I want. No, you live by faith. It's the way that you live.
Living by Faith
So let me ask you this question. Are you living by faith? Can you see God standing before you right now? He's saying, I'm God, I want you to know Me, you can trust Me, you can put your trust on Me, you can have faith in Me. Other things will let you down. You may be very successful and you put your trust in the bank account or in the economy, you know, all that can fall pretty quickly, can't it? You put your trust in these other relationships and it may go well for a while, but those can go up and down just like the waves in the sea. You put your trust in this or that, the other thing, they can all crumble away. You put your trust in Me, God says, you can trust in Me.
So are you willing to do that? Are you willing to live by faith and to trust God? Now for some of you, you need to come to the place where you do that really for the first time in your life. For the first time in your life, you come and you say, God, I'm going to put my trust in You. I'm going to stop trusting myself and I'm going to put my trust in what Jesus did for me on the cross. He took the punishment, He took the guilt and the shame and the humiliation that I deserve. I put my trust in You.
Some of us, we need to come back to that life of trust, don't we? Because it's easy to start out that way, but then you come back and you're trusting in yourself before long. Let me ask you a simple question. Are you living by faith?
Now a key place where many people get messed up on this is they make the mistake of trying to trust God, or trying to live by faith. Stop trying. Just do it. Forget about trying. Nowhere does God say the just shall live by trying to have faith. Just put your faith in God. Put your trust in Him. You say, well, I don't know if I can do it, I don't know if I can put all the faith. Put all you can. Give Him everything that you can right now, today. Say, God, I put my faith in You, I put my trust in You, and God will make it happen in your life.
Some of you may need to do that for the first time this morning, and God has a beautiful gift of salvation in Jesus Christ for you in that. Others, you need to come back to it. You honestly look at your life, and as I'm talking about this and as you're looking at the text, you're saying, I haven't really been living by faith, I've been living by other things. Well, come back to it right now, today. Say, God, I'm sorry for living on anything else, I want to live by faith and do this great work in my life.
You see, when you live on anything connected to this world or connected to yourself, you're limited by the things of this world, and you're limited by yourself, and that's a lot of limitation. Don't you agree? When you live by faith in the living God, there are no limits, because there are no limits with God.
So friends, let's do it right now. Let's come before God in prayer, and I'm going to give you an opportunity in prayer right now to put your trust in Jesus Christ.
Let's pray together.
Father, we thank You. We thank You for this good news that You've given us, and Lord, that is spectacular news. There's a life of faith that we can live, and we're made righteous because of that life of faith. So Lord, I pray for every one of us collectively this morning that You would help us to live by faith in You. Lord, You're calling out to us, You're appealing to us in a very personal way this morning. You're looking us in the eyes, so to speak, and You're saying that we can trust You. We don't have to be afraid of it. You're more trustworthy than anything else that exists in this whole universe.
But God, first, I pray for those who need to make an initial step of faith to trust in You. Lord, help them to do it right now, in the secret place, in the quiet place of their heart. Let them tell You, Lord, I believe in You, I believe on You, I put my trust in You. If that's you right now, you tell God so right now, in the quiet place of your heart.
Now, if you've done that, just pray this prayer after me: Lord God, I confess that I need You, that I can't save myself, that I need to trust in Jesus and what He did on the cross to save me. I need to trust in His work to rescue me.
Just pray that prayer to God right now, and He will save you. He will.
Lord, I pray for the rest of us as well, that You'd help us to walk by faith. You know, Lord, we're tired of walking by sight. We want You to launch us out into the grandest of adventures where we walk by faith, because, Lord, we really can trust in You. It's more reliable than anything else we could ever know. Help us to live that way and to receive the fruit of it. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.