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We’re beginning a new series together. It’s called FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions and what we really want to know from you. This whole series hasn’t been planned out because we want to give you an opportunity. We’re going to be talking about some some big issues about questions that people frequently ask about God, faith, and the Bible. And so we want to be able to answer some of those questions that even you were thinking, we’re going to answer one of those today at the end of the service that someone submitted. But we’re going to cover important topics of the Christian faith, like how do you know what God’s will is for your life? Or how how can you have a positive change in your life for the sake of God and you personally and those around you? This week we’re going to be talking about an important issue. I want you to know two as well. One of the topics that we’re batting around talking about this is going to divide our church here. We’re going to have a split, but we’re talking we’re going to talk about sexuality and specifically the topic of sex. I know that’s a heated a heated word. And so some have already thought as soon as I said that I’m not coming to church that Sunday, and some of you other ones thought, I’m coming, and I’m bringing, you know, my teenagers and everything with me. And I want you to know the reason that we’re going to address an issue like that, or we’re considering talking about an issue like that here at church, um, it is not just to jokingly bring a topic like that just to the crowd, just to see what crazy things the pastor might say.
Um, the reason is, is because culturally, there are so much being integrated into our society in life about sexual identity and sex that comes from everything. But church and church should be the place that we learn to understand what those words mean, how it relates to Scripture, and to our lives as people. I don’t like to allow culture to define me as an individual. I like to allow Jesus to define me and in so doing, help define our culture for the sake of Christ. And so we’re going to be answering important large questions, frequently asked questions about your relationship with God, faith, the Bible. If you have a particular question that you want answered, hopefully you received in your bulletin a little sheet that has frequently asked questions at the top. And so here’s the encouragement to you. If you think of a question at any point during the service or in the few weeks ahead, we’re only going to give a couple more opportunities for this. Fill out your question. You don’t have to put your name on it. You can remain anonymous. There’s no place for your name on it and put it in the offering box on the entry table when you leave, and we will take those questions and answer them throughout this series that we’re doing together.
The important question that we’re going to begin to answer today, and this is the basis that we’re going to be talking, it’s going to launch really the springboard of all the topics that we’ll be addressing here together throughout this series and frequently asked questions. And the most important question we can begin with is, how can I live with God for eternity? I think according to Scripture or according to life, really, there are not many people that are specifically asking this question, because there are a lot of particular beliefs in this world that can claim to have this answer. But I find that the question that we’re asking today really deals with the most important question that we could possibly consider with one another, and that is dealing with your relationship with God. How can you know who God and how in knowing God could you experience that relationship with God for eternity? In fact, the simplistic question being asked here this morning is is so significant that I would even define it as really what the core of the Christian message is all about. I think if you get this question wrong, you get the understanding of all of Scripture backwards and wrong. We heard a few weeks ago if if we get God right, we can get ourselves right. And having a clear understanding of of who God is and who we are in light of him and how to experience that relationship really for us, is the springboard to experiencing all that God has for us in this life and on throughout eternity.
I believe according to what the Bible communicates, that we as people were created to experience an intimate and eternal relationship with God. And I think sometimes we ask this question wrong when we think about eternity, and we sell God short by simply asking the question like, well, what does it take for me to get to heaven? Or how can I avoid hell? And we’re selling God short by asking that question because we’re we’re limiting the ultimate experience for which God created us for. It’s not necessarily to live in heaven. It’s not necessarily to avoid hell. Those would be some great things, but it’s to experience him. God created you for him, and all your purposes and existence in this life are founded in him. That’s why the Bible says to us, is as if we could get this clearly created in our mind in John 17 three. This is eternal life that you may know him. Living for eternity is about a relationship with God. Living for eternity is about knowing God. He designed us to know him intimately. He designed us for us to know him eternally. Bible even says in Genesis chapter two and verse seven, When God created man, he formed you from the dust of the earth.
All right, so your dirt got that so far. But then he breathed into you the breath of life from his Spirit into your spirit, making you an existing and living being different than any creation that he put on the earth. God breathed His Spirit into you, which says to us as people that we may connect back to him. You have a God related identity, the Spirit of God breathed into you. And that’s why when you who are hunters go into the woods, you don’t see Bambi building a church, right to worship, or a building to worship in, or you don’t see the squirrels frolicking on the ground in a in a motion of prayer. God’s spirit wasn’t breathed into them, but God’s Spirit was breathed into you, connecting to you with him. And in that original design, God created you to know and grow and understand with him for all eternity. This is eternal life that you may know him. But here’s the problem Today, as we answer this question, I’m going to predominantly focus the answers to to the book of Romans because the book of Romans deals heavily with this, the singularity of this question. It’s like Paul’s doctrinal thesis statement on the idea of who we are in light of God, and how to experience our relationship with him forever. And so it tells us in Romans chapter five, even though God created you to experience life with him, even though you were designed for eternity, even though God’s Spirit was breathed into you to experience him forever in that harmonious relationship, we rejected him.
It says in Romans 512, therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all have sinned. Bible explains to us, because of sin there is death. I should back up for a minute and say, if you’ve ever wondered in your life why you desire to be a part of something bigger than yourself, it’s that God created you for that purpose. You stand outside of Utah. I’m not originally from Utah. I love living in Utah because I didn’t grow up with the Rocky Mountains, so it’s something I don’t take for granted. I love waking up every morning drinking something hot and looking at those mountains. It is gorgeous. And it reminds me as I look over those who are from Utah, don’t take it for granted, right? But when I look over those mountains that I am a part of this life that is just bigger than myself, and I have an opportunity to belong in life and live for something greater than than myself. God created me with that purpose in mind as he breathed His Spirit into me with eternal relationship pictured before him and before me. God created me for that reason. And the Bible then begins to tell us, though though we rejected him and because we rejected him, sin came into this world.
And as sin came, death reigned. Knowing that we are a part of something greater than our lives, having been created by God is a wonderful feeling for our soul. Great to stand on, on the edge of the beach and just look out into what glorious creation God made. It’s. It’s wonderful to stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon looking down, thinking, if I move one one foot forward, it’s over. But this is beautiful. I get to belong to something greater than myself. But the Bible also reminds us too. There is an anguish within our soul that reminds us that this isn’t the way it should be, and that comes in the area of death. God created us for the purpose of eternity in mind, and when we rejected God, sin came. And in sin death happens. And the moments of death that we experience as people. We we also go through a period of of grieving in the depth of our soul, that words can even begin to describe the pain that we are experiencing at the loss of someone we love. Reminding us that we were created for so much more. When God originally designed us as human beings, he didn’t design us for the purpose of death in mind. He designed us for life and that life in him. But in rejecting God, death came. And it’s interesting when the Bible uses the word death, because oftentimes in our mind, when we think about death, all we think about is the ceasing to exist on this earth.
Our body goes into the ground and our spirit goes somewhere else. We’re we’re we’re dead. But when the Bible talks about death, it just doesn’t talk about the realm of of your spirit and your body being divided from one another. And you’re ceasing to exist here on earth. When the Bible talks about death, it also talks about death spiritually. In fact, revelation chapter 20 and and verse six and 14 refer to a portion of our life as the second death, meaning as your body physically dies, your spirit ultimately will go before God, and it could face a second death as well. Death, according to Scripture, means simply separation. When you die on earth, you’re separated from the earth. You’re separated from your loved ones. Here, when you go into heaven, you can come before a mighty God and be separated from him for all eternity. So when the Bible talks about death, it’s just not ceasing to exist. It could also mean spiritually divided from God for eternity. In fact, in Romans 623 it says, for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life, and it’s paralleling for us the gifts that God has death, meaning separation from him, or eternal life, meaning living with him in life forever. Death is an enormous word in Scripture.
You can imagine when God created us and he created us for an eternal relationship with him. And he breathed his breath into us so we as beings could respond and reflect and experience him forever, and then we reject him. How God understood that experience. Death was a heavy word. Could you imagine God creating the beauty of his creation and man sinning? And for the first time, creation experiences death. God, knowing that his original intention was for mankind to never experience it. And the Bible says this. Isaiah 59 and verse two. But your iniquities have separated you from from your God. Your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear you. So God created us with a relationship with him. But we acknowledge there are times in our lives where God and our relationship seems to be at a disconnect. In fact, Ephesians chapter two and verse one refer to it as being dead. And the Bible says, the reason that we experience that in our lives, the reason that we experience that separation, or may feel distant in our relationship to him, is because of sin. Sin has literally built a barrier between us and God. And the Bible becomes for us a story that explains to us even as we have rejected God and even as sin has created a barrier between us and him, God is still passionately pursuing a relationship with you in this world.
And the Bible writes to us God’s design and God’s desire to experience that relationship with you and man’s response back to God. We do me a favor and shut that door behind you. Cut out some of that sound. As we read throughout Scripture, there’s two pictures I want to create in our mind this morning and answering this question how can I live with God for eternity? The first is this God is a judge, not a very good looking judge, right? But the Bible uses beautiful word picture throughout the entire portion of the the Bible, Old and New Testament to create a picture in our mind to help us understand that God is a judge. The Bible uses words like justification and righteousness and guilty law, innocence, all judicial terms taken from a courtroom, and the Greek and Hebrew literature to describe for us and help create in our minds the understanding that God is a judge reigning over sin. In fact, it says in Psalm 50 and verse six, and the heavens declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Psalm 82 and verse eight, arise, O God, and judge the earth, and to be a judge, and implies to us as people there are laws by which we are governed. And so it’s important for us to understand that Scripture communicates that God is a judge, that one day we will face judgment. It says in Hebrews 927, it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment.
The Bible is saying to all of us, one day you’re going to meet your maker. Get ready. Knowing that God is going to be your judge. And knowing that judgment is coming. The question that we should ask is how will you seek to look right before him? How do you think God will view you on your day of judgment? Some people would say this I’m so lovable. I mean, look at me, right? How could he not reject this face? I’ll wear a smile. And I’m in. Some people would say, well, I’m better than most people. And as long as as you do your best, what? What else can you possibly do? Some people just have no idea if you’re in that group. That just scares the life out of me. You think about the most important question you could ask yourself. Why you’re on earth, created to live forever. How in the world am I going to do that? That seems important to define. And rather than walk in this world, having no idea covering that basis seems like a pretty good idea. Even yet, some would say, yeah, I’ve done so much wrong when I come before God and meeting him face to face, I know that I’m a dead man. The good news for all of us, regardless of where we think that we might fit in, how you’re going to appear before God, who will judge you is that God gives you a head up.
Heads up on how that judgment is going to go. Romans chapter three Paul begins to describe for us the judgment for us. He says, now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. That would be all of us. God is judging. There must be a law. He’s given a law to us to govern us as people. Therefore, we live governed under God’s law so that this becomes the scary part. Every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God. In case you didn’t know, you’re under his law because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin for all. It says in Romans 323, all have sinned. Bible defines for you the basic purpose of what God gave us his law for. Religion looks at God’s law and they say, you know what? This is what we do to prove our worth to God. God looks at his law in verse 20. He says, you know what? This is what I’ve given you to prove that you are unworthy to come before me. By the works of the law. Living the law that God has given no flesh will be justified. A judicial term. It means this God, the judge, standing over you in the courtroom of life. You come before him to be judged and held accountable for your sins, and there is nothing that you can do living according to his law to appear before this judge looking right.
That is heavy. No flesh. No person will ever be declared righteous before God who is a judge. No one is justified. All it says in 323 have sinned. Let me give you how it breaks an example for us. Regardless if you want to live under God’s law or not, you are. Regardless if you want to obey the laws of the state of Utah, you do. I have yet to live in Utah, driving down the road and have a cop pull me over and say, Nathaniel, great job. You blinkered to the left lane. Loved it. You slowed down when the yellow light came on and you stopped at the stop sign. Congratulations on following the law today. I have had a cop pull me over in Utah once. Do you know what he did? He came to my window and said this was the law. You broke it. Here’s your fine. That’s how law works. It never tells you when you’re doing good. It’s only there to tell you when you’re doing bad. God’s law is the same thing. And God says it in verse 20. This law isn’t to prove how good you look. This law isn’t to show you how lovable you are. This law is to show you that you are a sinner.
In verse 23 he says, for all have sinned. I know your mom may have told you differently growing up, but before God is a judge, we’ve sinned. This is a heavy message today, right? Man, I come to church to be cheered up. And so far it’s not. It’s not working out. You’ve told me I’m sinful. That’s okay. Everyone is. Bible says that. Scripture goes on though, as if to clarify the point, Romans 310 there is none righteous. Talking about coming before a judge, no one looks right. And then, as if God wants to really wig us out in chapter one, he tells us, because you look righteous If you’re thinking there still might be hope, he says in 118 for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Who is unrighteous? Everyone. And God’s wrath is against everyone who acts unrighteous. And therefore, if everyone’s unrighteous and God’s wrath is against those who are unrighteous, that means God’s wrath No one resides on you. It’s residing on me. Doesn’t matter if you call yourself a pastor or minister. Reverend God’s wrath is on those who sin, which is everyone. Which brings me to the place to ask, what in the world am I going to do? I thought I was lovable coming in today, the mirror said so this morning, right? He asked. He asked the question. Well, what if. What if you say to the judge, well, wait a minute, judge God.
I have lived a terrific life. I’ve tried to be so good in everything that I’ve done. I’ve done this 95% of my life. I’ve done it so well. It’s just this, this 5%, this 1%, or even even this one thing in my life is all I’ve ever done wrong. Judge, can you can you just show some leeway? Bible says in James 210 for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. You know what a just judge does? In America. If I do live a life that is just great, and then there’s just one day where I flip my lid and go berserk because something happened to me, and I inflict some sort of pain. I break some sort of law, and I come before the judge in court. You know what a just judge will do? He’s going to hold me accountable for what I’ve done wrong. We were really good at, in our American culture, understanding a loving God. And I hope that we understand a loving God. We are poor at understanding a just God in our minds. We we sometimes have that tendency to think 95% of my life has been pretty good, and so God’s going to overlook that 5% bad. And can I tell you, there is no amount of good that you can do in your life to cover up the wrong that’s been done? Nothing can undo sin against an eternal God.
Nothing within our power. No axe that we carry in this world. In fact, it even tells us. Excuse me, I don’t read it yet. It says in Isaiah 64 and verse six, all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. God is looking in that passage of Scripture, Isaiah 64. He’s looking at the good deeds that we’re doing, and he’s saying, even the good deeds are filthy rags before God. That that verse speaks volumes to us who feel like we’re trying to earn God’s favor and earn God’s love in this world. It’s saying to us as people, God owes you nothing. See, religion has this idea that we build a God owes me mentality. I’ll do enough good deeds and God’s going to let me slide into heaven because he owes me. I’ve done exactly what he said according to his law. Except for 5%. He owes me this. Can I just say God doesn’t know you anything? God wants to experience relationship with you. I want to make sure we understand that. But God doesn’t know you anything. God doesn’t even know us tomorrow. God may give you tomorrow by his grace, but he owes us nothing. And even our righteous deeds look like filthy rags to him. And if you even think about it, what in the world is it that you have to offer that you can give to God that he can’t already give to himself? Don’t I look lovable, God? Oh big deal.
God can create someone more lovable than me. All our righteous deeds become filthy rags. And third is. You can’t do anything to take back sin you’ve committed. That thought began even in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve first sinned against God. The Bible tells us in chapter three and verse seven, they ran and hid from God. Sounds like a stupid move. But they ran and hid from God, and then they covered themselves in fig leaves. And you know, that’s what religiously we we tend to do that to ourselves as people as well. Genesis chapter three. The Bible first man made, religions made, and we do the same thing. God, I’m not ready to come to you yet. Let me run away. Let me prove my worth to you. Let me cover myself in elaborate worship ceremonies of fig leaves, and come back and see if you find me acceptable at that point. There’s nothing that we can do to take back the sin that we have committed. No matter how hard you try, no amount of good can ever cover it up. Conclusion of God’s law for us from a law giver isn’t to show us how good we are as people. It’s to show us how sinful we are for a holy and mighty God. The entire Old Testament is. Sacrifices in the temple weren’t given so that we could learn how to earn our way to God.
The sacrifices that took place in the temple were to remind men the wages of their sin that brought death, and in that sobering moment, as an animal gave its life, it was a foreshadowing of Jesus who would give his life and a reminder to them that sin brought death. It’s sobering. On the Passover in the temple and it was celebrated as a Hebrew nation. The Bible describes that the blood would literally just flow from the temple. Every family made a sacrifice of an animal on that day. Could you just imagine tens of thousands of animals being slaughtered when you go up to worship at church on Sunday? Blood all over your hands, the smell of death in the air, reminding to us that God is judge and he hates sin, and his wrath is against all ungodliness. I’ll encourage you in a minute. Don’t worry. But the point is, according to Scripture, we need to understand the significance and weight of sin in the eyes of God. We don’t look to each other and compare our sin to other people and think, you know, I’m just a little bit better than them. I should be okay if they make it, I’m in. We take our sin and we compare it before a holy God. How does God view my sin? Because God is the one that’s judging me and I’m coming before him one day.
What am I going to offer in that moment? I would say, according to the scripture, to God isn’t an easy judge. Jesus shows up on the scene in Matthew chapter five and he says, you who have who have murdered is you’re a murderer. It says in verse 21, but, but you who have angered in your heart, you’ve still committed murder in your heart. You who have lusted in your heart, you have committed adultery. You who have had any evil thought in your heart, just need to know that God is judging the intents of your heart. You think about the things we can get by with in our society. We can lie in our society and no one’s going to throw us in jail for it. You can commit adultery in our society and you’re not going to jail for. But God not only judges your actions. God judges the intents of your heart. Could you imagine if that were exposed, even in this room right now, the wickedness that we would even see in our own lives that we’ve done well at covering up? We bet, churchy on the outside. But the Bible tells us that there is wickedness on the inside. It says in first Chronicles 28 and verse nine, the Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of our thoughts. In Genesis eight, for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Jeremiah 17 nine the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
And so this leads us to a place where we can even ask ourselves, how does a judging God leave me? And some of us look at the understanding of a God who is judge. And and we see this as very discouraging in our lives. And I, I would agree if the story ended here, there is no hope for us. However, before you move forward in understanding your eternal relationship with God, you’ve got to understand the importance of humbly coming before him, because the reality is, is I’m about to talk to you about Jesus, and you know that. But the truth is, you’re not going to want Jesus in your life until you truly recognize the need for Jesus in your life. He’s more than just a life raft. He is everything to us as people who stand hopelessly before a God that is judging us as people and understanding the light of God’s law and the intentions of God’s law. I admit as a as an individual, as a church, this also becomes the point of our lives where we get very frustrated and angry with religious thinking Because religion carries the idea that we earn our way back to God. It’s as if you’ve got a wound that won’t stop bleeding, and your one application to it is simply a Band-Aid. It’s as if we’re offering a false cure to a disease that can’t be healed the way we’re attempting to cure it.
All our righteous deeds are filthy rags before God. The Bible tells us to earn favor before God is impossible. To seek to earn his favor in any religious aspect gives us false hope. And so we picture for a moment just what Scripture has communicated to us. According to the book of Romans and just some other verses that we’ve seen. God is judge. One day you’re going to meet your maker, and the Bible creates this idea that you are walking into this courtroom and you’re standing before the judge, and he’s examining the laws that you have broken, and he has pronounced upon your head already, according to Romans three, that you are guilty. What we do? What are you going to say to God at that moment? Life’s already complete. You can’t undo what’s been done. It’s a moment of hopelessness. The Bible calls it death. Not just physical death. It’s also spiritual death. The gavel comes down and God calls you guilty. And just as God is about to pronounce your eternal punishment, the Bible says in Romans chapter three, excuse me chapter five and verse eight, for while we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. But God demonstrates his own love towards us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It’s saying, just as the gavel comes down, just as God is pronounced to guilty, just as the verdict is about to be read on your life, Jesus stands up and says, I’m taking the punishment for which they owe you.
Jesus, we understand, according to Scripture, dies on the cross for the sins of mankind. Jesus becomes the way of escape. In fact, Jesus even said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father but through. Who? Me? Jesus didn’t point multiple roads to God in this world. He simply said, I’m coming before God and I’m paying your payment. Do you want to accept the payment that I’m paying for you? Jesus identified himself as the only way of escape according to Scripture. And while we stood helpless, it says in Romans five and verse six, Christ died for the ungodly. Bible tells us as Jesus hung on the cross, the words that he said were to tetelestai, which means paid in full, a term used for a slave in the slave market when they were purchased. A term used for someone who stood helplessly. And Jesus hanging on the cross thinking about you, made the statement to Telestai over your life saying to us as people, your payment, you owing. God has been paid in full. Now love God according to Scripture because God responds as a gentleman. God created you for an eternal relationship with him, but he gives you a choice. Do you want an eternal relationship with him? Sounds like a great idea to me. The maker of all things who created you for him, understands all your purposes and existing, wants to give you joy in this life.
Wants a relationship with you. Do you want a relationship with him? Bible says in Ephesians two eight and nine, by grace you are saved through faith. That’s your part. Trust by God’s grace, dying for your sins when you could pay God nothing, he graciously gave everything to you. For by grace you are saved through faith. It’s not of yourselves, it’s the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. You don’t earn it. It’s not of works, lest anyone should boast. Bible says it again in Galatians. Nevertheless, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, not coming before the judge to look right by the law, but through faith in Christ, trusting in what Jesus has already done. Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. Since by the works of the law no flesh will be justified. Paul is saying in that passage of Scripture, listen, if someone asks you how you’re getting to heaven, please don’t respond by saying, I think I’m living a good enough life, or as long as you’re trying hard enough, that’s all that matters. Because according to what we see, that the law, the purpose of the law is about it isn’t to justify, it’s to condemn.
And if you miss that in Scripture, you miss it communicated throughout the entire Bible. Law will never justify. The cop will never pull you over and say good job. He wants your money. A just judge will judge when you break the law. A holy God doesn’t give a flip what your neighbor does. He’s looking at you. He’s looking at you. And he’s not judging your acts. He’s judging even your heart. And when we come before him, there is nothing to offer. That, and the goodness and grace of Jesus just speaks volumes into our life in that moment. And we need to get to the position of our lives in humility, where we realize the extent of what we are apart from Christ. God created us for that relationship God created us for joy, but we desperately need him in our lives, and we’ve learned the fanciness of clothing it and religious acts proving our worth to him. But there’s nothing that can be done before a holy God. Romans 1013 says this whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. For God to show his love to you, we go to a place where we look at this word salvation, this rescuing from this state that we are before a holy God. And it’s easy for us. It’s just a matter of trust. And I got to tell you, with the religious thinking, I do want to prove my worth to God.
But knowing what the Bible says, it is impossible. And for us, it becomes simple. But in a sense, it should be because God didn’t create you for the purpose of proving your worth about anything. God created you to experience life with him forever. God created you with eternity in mind and relationship closeness to him. It’s not about running away from God and proving anything. It’s about getting near to him and experiencing what life is all about in him and through him. And so for us, it becomes a matter of trust, a matter of faith, a matter of looking to Christ and say, God, I’m just calling upon you. Rescue me and save me. For you it’s easy, but for God, it costs him everything. I do not make a mockery of the gift that God has given us, because he’s literally laid down his life for us to experience it. It may be simple for us, but to God it costs everything. And I got to say to those who might look at this and challenge the thought of just simply calling on Jesus for salvation. If you find it so easy, why haven’t you done it? It is free. Ephesians 289 for by grace you are saved through faith and not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. It is free. Christmas time is the best time of year. You know why? Everything under the tree will not anymore have kids.
But everything under the tree is free, right? As a kid, you jump off the wall at that. You wake up at 3 a.m. and you wake up at 4 a.m. and you jump on the bed over and over telling your parents, is it time yet? I want these free things. And Jesus has said the same thing to us. It’s free. Here’s the results of that. Romans four and verse 24 tells us, but also for us to whom God will credit righteousness for us, not not for us who are doing good things, but for us who believe in him, who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Jesus comes in the courtroom as your verdict is being pronounced, and God looks at you and he sees the beauty of Christ in your life when you accept him. The Bible actually uses the word impute, which literally means the righteousness and beauty of Christ that was clothed on Jesus and all his glory, that perfection that sinlessness has now placed on you. Amen. And so when God sees you, he sees the perfection of Jesus in your life. You’re not getting to heaven on anything you’ve ever done. That’s right. You get there by Jesus and everything he’s done for you. The Bible even tells us as people, you know, according to Scripture, we’re not all God’s children. In fact, when Jesus came to this world in John 823, he told the people, you are from below talking about earth, and I am from above.
You are of this world, and I am not of this world. In the same chapter, just a few verses later, he says, you are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. But he tells us in John one as many as received him to them gave he the power to become the children of God. God recognized as people that we didn’t belong to him, but because of what Christ has done, he gives us an invitation into him to experience life with him forever in his kingdom. In fact, it says in Galatians four four but when the set time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship, as saying to you, the Kingdom, that he’s a part of everything that he owns, he adopts you and brings you into that family. You’re not born a child of God, but by faith in Christ, trusting in him, you become one. The Bible places a word of adoption upon you. I love that word. Adoption is a Christian word. It’s biblical to adopt. It reflects what Jesus has done to you. They’ve adopted. You’ve been adopted into God’s family through faith in Christ. Romans eight the spirit you received does not make you make you slaves, so that you live in fear again.
Meaning all that fear that we gave about God’s judgment. Remember that the weight and the heaviness and the feeling that we got just thinking about sin and coming before Almighty God. You don’t have to live in fear anymore. Amen. Jesus’s righteousness is imputed to you. Rather, the spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ABBA, father. Jesus would refer to the Father as ABBA in the New Testament. It was a phrase that wasn’t commonly used in Scripture. In fact, some would consider it blasphemy. That’s too intimate and personal in your life with God. And yet it tells us in Romans eight that when Jesus came died for your sins by faith, you trust in that free gift that God wants to give you that life with him because you have no hope apart from it. You not only escape that death, but you receive this righteousness in which you’re adopted into God’s kingdom, and you receive all the the health and wealth that comes with it in his kingdom. Maybe not now. But in addition to that, that intimacy, that sin kept you from with God, That distance that you felt is gone and you personally can come before God wherever you are and cry, ABBA, daddy, father. The Bible gives us two pictures of God. The first is God is a judge. The second is God is a father looking after his children.
What’s our response to that? Why does one who puts faith in Christ that leaves us in no position to do anything for God out of obligation, ever. In fact, first John chapter four says, we love him because he first loved us. We see the extent of our judgment before a holy God, but then we see the extent that God went to demonstrate his love to us and dying on the cross. And God gives us an opportunity to respond. We love him because we first he first loved us. We don’t do anything for the sake of Christ, out of guilty conscience or feeling out of obligation. We do it because we want to love Jesus the way that he’s loved us, and he has given us everything. What motivates a Christian to live like a Christian is not to prove your worth, but just to demonstrate love. That message is contrary to all religion. Every religious thinking in this world is about earning God’s favor, but Jesus is teaching us simply about accepting it. It’s a gift. Religion gives us false hope, leading us to believe if we live laws and will prove our worth. Jesus gives us simply real hope in him by trusting in what he’s already done for us. Religion can even drive us to the point where we feel a sense of worthlessness, never being able to live up all to all the laws that we are told that we find necessary or have to do in this world to prove to God our worth.
But Jesus gives you true worth in him. While we’re hopeless to earn our salvation. Jesus made it easy for you and I to trust in him. To drive this point home. Jesus was teaching the religious teachers of his time. Jesus didn’t get along with the religious teachers of his time because their teaching totally contradicted his message. Matthew 23. The whole chapter is Jesus coming before the religious leaders and mocking them in front of their their students because they’re leading people astray. And he calls them whitewashed tombs on the outside, religiously. You look beautiful, but on the inside you’re dead because your heart’s never been fixed. And Jesus looks at religious teachers in Matthew chapter seven and he says, this many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles? God, did we not live your law? God did we not do the deeds? God? Did we not prove to you that we are worthy of your kingdom? Look what Jesus says. And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Jesus is looking at the most at the time would be considered the best of the best people. There are the people leading the Jewish nation.
If anyone’s right there, right? If anyone’s perfect, they’re perfect. And he’s saying to them, regardless of the law and the rules that you feel like you’ve broken the most or you’ve done, excuse me, the most important thing for you to recognize is I’ve never known you. What stops us from that? The Bible made it so easy. Jesus made it so easy for us. It’s a gift. Romans ten. For for whoever, whoever, anyone that calls on the Lord will be saved. Drives us to a place in our lives where we simply ask, Come to God and just say, Lord, will you save me? God, I understand I’m a sinner. God, I understand that I have no hope apart from you. God will you save me? And the Bible tells us not only does he save you, but he adopts you into his family. He sees the righteousness of Jesus in his life. And you experience as as sons before God that you may cry out to him, ABBA, father, and the intimacy of a relationship with him that lasts not just when you get to heaven, but it starts the moment you trust in him. It could start today and last forever. What are we waiting for? Let me ask this frequently asked question. Do you believe all Christian denominations will be eligible to enter heaven? As long as the core beliefs is correct and the heart is loyal to the Lord. Do I believe all Christian denominations are going to heaven? Let me just simplify that.
The answer to that is yes and no. I don’t think God cares what denomination we get to heaven. We are not going to set separated denominations. Um, the Methodists are right. I’m just kidding. That’s. God’s only concern is what you do with Jesus, right? Where is your faith in Christ? Bible says in first John 511 and 12, he who has the son has life, and he who does not have the son does not have life. I mean, that’s there’s it doesn’t get any clearer than that. That’s right. It’s. Jesus. You could be a Hindu. Muslim from Timbuktu. That’s a real place in Africa, right? Thank you. If you put your faith in Christ, heaven denominationally religiously, what God requires is Jesus. Now, the important thing is, is to get in a good church and learn how to walk with Christ beyond that, to experience that relationship with him like Alpine Bible Church. Amen. We experienced that relationship with him. So let me leave with this concluding thought. Eternal life. Eternal life. Living with God forever. Eternal life isn’t God’s gift for good people. It’s God’s gift for forgiven people. And that could be anyone. Our unworthiness before a holy God has already been proven, but the fact remains that God does still provide you an opportunity to experience a relationship of joy and hope and peace and kindness and gentleness, forever and ever. Amen. Amen. All that God asks is that you just call him.