Read-along
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Hey. How's it going? Yeah. It's good to be here. Miss you guys when I'm not around. But hey, before we start the message, I wanna take a moment to celebrate
and to thank God, to thank you guys for something. Because I've noticed at this church, if you've here very long, God does amazing things, and we have a lot of faithful people,
and we'll we'll go take a hill, and and and what we that's awesome, but then we just move on to what's next, and we often we're not good at stopping and celebrating moments.
And so I just wanted to take a quick moment. I wanna I wanna show you a picture of something that we're building out back here. I don't know if you've noticed because you never go you never go back, but here it is. You see that? The pad is going up. This is my new helipad. So I just wanna thank you guys
because that ten minute commute is terrible, so the helicopter gets here. No, no, that's not what it is.
What this is gonna be, it's eventually gonna be a building that we're gonna use for our facilities building, storage and stuff, because you know, like houses, churches never have enough storage, But what we're able to do with it right now is it's gonna be offices.
Because what's happened is is is our office lease came up, and it it it was spent it was costing us about $1,314,000 a month and only held about half of our staff. And so we knew we needed to get out of there. So by getting out of there, we actually save all that money that gets to go back into our budget.
But what we were able to do, here's the celebration part, is when COVID started,
if you weren't around here, we had just finished this building. It's like building your big new dream home, but you're not allowed to move in, but you gotta start paying for it. And with COVID and the economy and everything, we're really worried about what was gonna happen. So I I did two things. I really encouraged those of us that are part of Rock Point to please remain faithful in your giving,
and you did. And actually, lot of other people that weren't started stepping up. And then I actually asked everybody who had gone above and beyond that helped build this building when we did our courage campaign
and and raised money. I said that campaign had ended, but I asked everybody if you'd be willing to do one more year. Because and then what we said we're gonna do with that money is help cover the cost of the building if we're tight without
affecting our ministry budgets to be able to point people to Jesus by loving them like Jesus. Well, that you people were faithful there too. And we raised about 1,400,000 came in with that, and we said we would cover the cost and anything extra would go to whatever we need to build next.
Well, God was so faithful. You were faithful. New people came. We were faithful. We didn't have to use any of that money that came in to cover us doing ministry here. And so this building is in the history of this church. We are building it for cash. So
so what that means is there's no payment on that, yet we cleared about $13,000 out of our budget on our building, our lease, so that actually increased our ability to do ministry by $13,000 a month. So that almost covers my race, but I need to give a little bit more. So no. I'm just kidding. That is not true at all. So
I just wanted to say God is faithful. He has been faithful to us, and I wanna thank every one of you that chose to reflect the generosity of God by choosing to be faithful in your generosity as well, because God allowed us to do this.
And on third thing I wanna thank you is, I'm gonna get a little emotional here, is I'd always prayed, God, I would love to build at least one thing that we didn't have to do it the traditional way, Raise some money, but borrow some money, and build it so we can use it. This is in twenty years. God allowed us
to just pay for this, and that's crazy.
But you know how I am. We always say we take the next hill, so I'm gonna challenge you. Let's keep it that way. In the next few years, we need to build a children's building that's gonna cost like 10 times that much. How about we try to pay for that straight up too? How awesome would that be? That's next. Alright.
But thank you. And if you're new to this church, you just saw the type of church you came to. This is a generous, faithful church that loves Jesus and wants you to know Jesus as well. And I am thankful. I could not be more proud to be the pastor in this place. So with that said, let's turn to some more serious matters.
Let's talk about Batman. Anybody out there, Batman's your favorite superhero? Why?
No. I think I think I know why. You know why I think Sony feel like Batman is he's just a normal guy. Now he's an exceptional normal guy, but he's still human. He's like the best you can be, you know. He's got the mind. He's considered the greatest criminal solving mind. He's always come up with a plan. He can bait design gadgets,
and and he can do the gadgets because he also got the money. That's really his only superpower, is he's rich. But he's got the mind, he's got the money, and then he's got the muscles. He's trained. He's trained as an expert, a sassy. He's trained as a like a like a ninja. You know, if you know his backstory,
he he's an expert at that. He's strong, but he's still just a human. Right? He's just a guy that's that's that's
that's that's because of his money and his mind and the money. He's he's he's about as elite as we can be, and I think we like seeing a guy that we could be that. You know, probably should eat fewer donuts, go to the gym more, and become a billionaire, but it would be nice. You know? But but we we we like that, and I think that's what we're drawn to with a Batman. But here's the problem with being Batman. He could actually be as elite as he want. He he could train all that. He could use all that money. He could get all the gadgets in the world, and he could even believe in himself and and believe in himself so much that he always says, I'm Batman. You know, and he could say, I'm Batman. He could say that all he wants, but there's something he's never gonna be able to do.
And I wanna show you a picture of it.
He's never gonna win this race. I don't care. Believe in yourself. I'm Batman. You know what he's gonna be? I'm last, man. That's what he's gonna be. Because if he tried to race Superman in the flash, he's gonna get about two steps over this line, and these two guys are already gonna be in another state.
And and and I don't care how elite he gets. I don't care how much he trains his body. I don't care how smart he gets with his brain. I don't care how many gadgets he gets. He's not gonna win that race.
It doesn't matter how hard he works at it or how hard he tries it. The only way he could win is if he the only way he could beat Superman or at least tie him is if he jumped on Flash's back. Other than that, he ain't going anywhere. And the reason I bring this up is because I believe that that picture, that describes
what the first four chapters of Romans has been talking about. What we've been going through this letter and talking about we all need a little Christmas. Why do we need Christmas? Why did Jesus come? Why did Jesus have to die? How are we made right with God?
And I think the primary way we try to be made right with God is we become Batman believers. We think that we have to take our mind, our muscles, and our money, our our resources, who we are, how we think, and our effort, our strength.
Our we have to have to take the strength of our life. We gotta take our mind. We have to have the right set of beliefs. I gotta know the right information, and I gotta put all my resource and effort into perfecting myself so I can go fight evil out there. And if I do that well enough, then God loves me.
But that's never gonna work. Because if you're gonna try to earn that, if you're gonna be a Batman believer, the only way you can earn and develop yourself into being right before God is you've lost before you tried because you would have to be perfect. You would have to be as fast as Superman.
But when it comes to to us in our faith, the illustration doesn't hold up real well. Because Batman compared to Superman race isn't even remotely close to us compared to the perfection of God. He you would have to be perfect, for he is perfect.
And I think what we're gonna see in Romans chapter four here in a minute is that how we always want to slide over to Batman belief. We just naturally, by the way we're wired, because we are sinners not mistakers, as Pat said last week.
And that means Mistaker means I can be a bad man. I can I can just get better? I can train harder. I can work harder. I can put in more effort, and I'll just be better.
That's what you can do if you're a messiah. Sinner means we are separated from God because of our brokenness, our rebellion, and we're all born into it. And and once you're broken in it, you can never catch up. You would never be perfectly holy. So we got a problem. We
can't make it by being Batman. And we can't just say, I'm Batman. And we can't just decide that I am enough, which any Christian that says I am enough, that is the stupidest thing for you to ever say, by the way. Now if you add I am enough because of what Christ did and I embrace that, yeah, you're saying something else.
But if you think the object of your faith is to just be believe in yourself and say, I'm Batman, you're gonna miss it. You're never gonna win. And that's really what we've been looking at. That's what the first few chapters that's why the first two chapters of Romans, we was laying out. This is why we need Christmas,
because most of us aren't even Batman. We're not even close. A lot of us are like the Joker or the Penguin.
And and and and we're trying to make ourselves right before God, and we're gonna miss it. And so it's it says here's why, here's what the good news of it's about faith, but now chapter four gets is a it's a summary, and it's all an illustration.
And I think what this whole section is saying and we're gonna see today is this big idea. We're made right with God through faith, not a formula.
You can't figure out that formula to outwit the evil, to outwit, to out to to become like Batman. You just can't. It's only through faith. And what does that faith look like? And we're learning again. And it's gonna sound like, hey. Haven't we already heard this the last few weeks? Hasn't this yes.
Basically, it's been saying the same thing. But when you look in the word of God,
and Paul who writes this, who was the ultimate Batman, by the way. The guy Paul, he was like, as far as if you're gonna try to earn God's love, if you're just gonna be a better person, if you're gonna follow God's laws, you're gonna have all the right thing. He even brags about it. He says, if anybody could do it, I could do it. I was doing it better than anyone else.
And and and yet he's saying so he keeps repeating this idea of what it means to be made right. You're like, okay. I think I get it. I think I get it. And and the reason is is if the bible repeats something, it's because this is so critical
that everything else he's gonna talk about later on in the book of Romans about how then we live our lives, if we get this wrong, we will get everything else wrong. So we really need to understand how we're made right. And so we're gonna be in chapter four for the last two weeks of the series.
And like I said, chapter four is one big illustration. To illustrate this point. And what he who's he who he's using as an illustration is a man named Abraham. Anybody know who Abraham is? Not Lincoln. You know, like hands go down.
He is the father of the Jewish faith. He's the father of Christianity, and Islam claims him as the father of Islam. And and who he was was he lived about four thousand one hundred years ago, about the same time COVID started. And and he lived in in a in a Mesopotamian, the capital, in a city called Er.
That sounds like you did how do you tell people you're from Er? Doesn't it sound like you don't remember where you're from? Where are you from? It's not that hard. Where do you live? And so he lives in this place called and
God shows up because, you know, we read the whole Genesis story. Adam and Eve fell. We are now sinners, not mistakers. The world's in trouble because we can't Batman belief our back to God.
And and and so God starts enacting the plan he had all along to rescue us, to to do this, and it's by faith. And he starts with a man named Abraham.
So he calls out to him and calls him and says, hey, I want you to leave to go to a place. I'm not telling you where it is. I'm just gonna show you where it is. And I'm gonna bless you and your seed, your your your heritage from from from from the the the children and your offspring.
I will not only make a great nation, I'm gonna bless the world through you. He's actually referring to Jesus, and and and he makes him this promise, and he believes him. So he is using Abraham
to refute because in this culture now, most religions are Batman belief. You gotta have the right set of beliefs, the right set of actions, the right set of rituals, especially the Jews.
They thought were God's chosen people, and he gave us the rituals. He gave us the belief system. He gave us they thought they could win the race.
And he's trying to say, no. This is why it's so important to understand how you're made right with God. And in this, we're gonna read through the first 17 verses where we're gonna go through, and we're gonna say, there's three things that he says will not make you right with God.
Now, me promise. All three things are not bad things. They're actually things we probably should do. But don't get the cart before the horse. Being made right with God should empower these things. These things are not what make you right with God. And if you get it backwards, you become Batman and you're like, I'm Batman.
And then you just start to become self righteous and that's where we get kinda judgy on other people. And you'll see. Okay. So here we go. First one. First thing will not be made right with God by is doing good works.
How else would we say that? Being a good person. We live in a culture you try to talk to people, come to church. Oh, you know what? I'm spiritual, but I don't go to church. And I go, I'm a good person. And and we just automatically think that will make us right with God.
But it doesn't. Because like I said, to be made right with God, you have to be a perfect person, not just a good person. Also, when you say you're a good person, in comparison to what? 99.99 of the time, if you say you're a good person, it's you're comparing it to everyone else that you think is worse than you.
And it's usually social media. But anyways, here we go. Abraham, verse one, was humanly speaking the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right being made right with God?
If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. Because you can't brag. That's the first problem. If you try to be right with God by you being good, it's gonna be about you. It's gonna be about you. And he goes,
but that was not God's way. For scriptures tell us Abraham believed God,
and God counted him as righteous because of his faith. So right there. So so he's saying do good works. He says, no. If you could do good works, you'd be bragging. And then he quotes that quote is from Genesis fifteen six. That when God called him to say, hey, I want you to leave the city where he was wealthy. He was kinda like a Batman of his day. He's living in a nice place, and God says, I want you to leave all that behind and go somewhere. I I'm not telling you.
I'm taking you, but I'm not gonna tell you. So that's a little bit scary. And and then when he gives them that promise that I'm gonna bless your offspring and make a great nation and bless the whole world, when he asked them that, think about this. Do you know how old Abraham was when God asked him to do that?
He was 75 years old. He also had no children.
So as a 75 year old he's basically in his golden years. It's the retirement years. He's got his wealth. He's got his condo. He you know, he's got his season tickets, you know, and it to the to the cardinals games, and they've won 10 games this year. Forge unfortunately, lost two at home, the season ticket's kind of a bummer.
He he's he's set, and he goes, I want you to leave all that, and I'm gonna bless your children. Think about the crazy thing you just asked him to do. 75, he doesn't have kids. Who can have kids at 75? But more importantly, who wants to have kids at 75? I'm 51. I don't think I want the kids I already have.
One of them is in this room right now.
Jaden.
That's a crazy thing. And when he told him that, he hadn't done anything good. He hadn't proven himself.
It says he believed God. And then God credited that as righteousness. His faith.
His faith was in what God had promised. And you notice, it's really important. It says he believed God. It didn't say he believed in God. I think that's the catch for a lot of us in this room. There's a big difference between believing in God and believing God.
I would be willing to say everyone in this room believes in God.
I mean, might be one of you crazy atheists that someone told you you gotta come with me or I hate you or I'll promise you or they bribed you, tricked you. I don't know. And and or some of you may be doubting right now. But but for the most part, if you're sitting in this room, you probably believe in God.
That's not the question. The question is, do you actually believe God? See, people that believe in God, when God tells them something that they don't like, they go, I may believe in you, but I don't believe that. I may believe in you, but I'm not gonna believe you on that.
I go, if you do if you believe in God but don't believe God, you are actually being God. You're deciding what's what how it works.
And if you believe that way, you're gonna have a hard time being a 75 year old giving up the good life to go have children that you don't even know how that's even possible and how it's gonna bless the whole world. But it says he just believed God. Believe God is the simplest definition of what faith is.
And when you understand it that way, Batman belief describes faith as faith in my faith. So
if I struggle with believing God, I usually say, well, I just need more faith, or I need more strength, or I need more resource, or I need more. We make all the excuses because what we're really saying is it's still a belief in our ability to believe instead of just believe God, period, exclamation point.
And that's what Abraham did. He's trying to say that's what makes us right with God. Because really, Christmas is because Jesus came to make that possible. His grace, his love, his death, he was born so he could die, and we have to believe him. Not just believe in a God, but believe God. Period.
And matter of fact, the word amen. You ever say amen at the ends of prayers? You ever feel if if you if someone doesn't say amen, you're like, I don't think they really know God. They don't know how to pray. And then especially if they didn't say in Jesus name, they're pagans. Do you know what amen means in the Greek?
I agree. That's what it means. Yes. It means I believe. How many times have you said amen and really understood you're saying I believe? Or maybe you did, but you said it more like a question. Amen? I'm Ron Burgundy. You're not even sure. That's what he did. And that's what made him right with God.
That's the core to everything else he's gonna say in this argument of how we get caught up in the wrong things. Because now he does like an inception. He does two illustrations in a row to illustrate the illustration. And you get mad if I tell too many stories? 25%
of the book of Romans so far is illustrations, and he's telling three illustrations, two within the illustration. He's telling an illustration to illustrate the illustration to illustrate the illustration. So don't get mad at me. Here's what he says.
Look at verse four. When people work you know what? Let's let's make that relevant to the day. If people work.
Somehow I knew the 11:00 crowd would like that one. When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they've earned. But
people are counted right as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. So he's saying if you can earn it, Batman belief that you think you're earning it will make you minimize and not even see the grace of God. You won't see the gift because you just think you deserve it.
Like, you don't sit there and look at your boss if you slaved away, got overtime. And, yeah, you got that good check, but you put in all that hours for all that overtime, and he's like, ah, yep. Where's the hug? Give me the thanks.
You owe me because you got all this money. You're like, what? You owe me because I did all this work.
And he's saying, that's the problem. That's where we get self righteous. That's where we kinda get into this idea that, well, now God owes me, and then we get mad at God when he doesn't give me the blessing that how I define blessing. Because if you think you're doing the work, well, then you wanna get paid.
And if you think the blessing doesn't match, I'm not getting my value. God needs to give me a raise.
And so he's explaining. Then look what he does. He now all of a sudden claims King David, another hero of the faith. When he says, David also spoke of this when he described the happiness of those who were declared righteous without working for it. He goes, oh, what a joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven,
whose sins are put out of sight. Yes. What joy for those whose record the Lord has cleared of sin. David's writing that in Psalms, and he's really talking about himself. And that particular Psalm is most likely referring to the darkest moment in his life. And it's interesting, when you look at King David,
if you think of his Batman, he knew that's not how it worked because he's called a man after God's own heart in the bible. Now let's compare him to the king that came before him, a guy named Saul, who God actually rejected. He accepted David, called a man after God's own heart. He rejected Saul. And is it because David was
better Batman? Was David no. If you look at their lives of the things they did that that was sin that God said not to do, David actually has the more cringey list.
I mean, he had at one point in his life, just to summarize it, you know, one day he should have been at work, but he wasn't, so he started checking out one of his good friend's wives, slept with her, got her pregnant, and then because he got her pregnant ended up killing his friend. Does anybody do that?
Some of you like, that's a Tuesday for me.
That that that's like super villain. That's not superhero. And yet God says, he's a man after God's own heart, but I've rejected Saul. Why? Because what he said there is whenever David was confronted with the truth, when God would confront him, he would agree. He would believe God.
He would accept that that was sin, that was wrong, I couldn't have done that, and he would throw himself down at God's grace.
He would repent, turn away from what he was doing. Every time Saul was confronted, instead of agreeing, he would argue. He would make excuses. He would try to justify that what he did isn't really wrong. And sometimes, he'd even try to blame God. So now ask yourself, when God reveals the sin in your life, when God reveals
even the not the the attempts to make yourself right by your actions, the to to do the good thing, but you're doing it because you think you're earning something. When God reveals that, are you like David or are you like Saul?
I mean, in chapter one, I talked about some things that God said this is not the way to go. And I actually upset some people in this church.
And and the challenge was, why are we fighting what God says is wrong? Well, if you have Batman belief and you're more about how we have to self justify, and then there's something that you feel you need to be or do that God says is wrong, you are gonna be like King Saul. You're gonna argue
because you know you have to be self justified. So I can't accept that that's wrong because that's what I wanna be. And if I go down that road, how can I be right before God? I so we end up drawing a circle around the dot and calling it a bull's eye. And the problem is if you don't see it,
you can never have the grace. You won't see the grace. You won't see the forgiveness. You won't see the love.
And if you're successful at doing all the right things, you'll be arrogant. If you're unsuccessful at being Batman, you'll be defeated.
But he's saying, no. You're not made right by being a good person and doing good work. Now the New Testament says after you're Christ, no Christ, he says he's laid out good works for us to do.
So it's not like, oh, so you're saying just believe God and then do whatever else you want. No. No. No. When you truly believe God and you accept his love and his forgiveness and his grace and all that, He now can empower you and show you the way and open the door
to do the good works, not out of shame, out of guilt, out of obligation, but out of love yourself. You can now love back. That's the point. You see, good works does not produce God's love. God's love makes good works a byproduct.
That's what it's saying. What's the second thing? If it's not doing good works, the second thing is religious rituals. Religious rituals. Let's look at verse nine. Now
is this blessing only for the Jews? Because now he's kinda saying, because there's a lot of these Gentiles. Goes, well, the Jews were called God's people and not all of them are here. So now, does that mean does it is that only a deal they get? What's going on? And he says, or is it also for the uncircumcised
Gentiles? See, lot of Jews would say, you don't have the blessing of God because you're an uncircumcised Gentile.
Circumcision was something that the Jew that that that God called Abraham to do to be a symbol. It was a sign. It was a ritual to kinda be a outward sign of an inward commitment. That's really kinda what it was. And he says, well, we have been saying that Abraham was counted as righteous by God because of his faith, but how did this happen? Was he counted as righteous only after he was circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised?
Well, if you go back and compare in Roman, you know, he believed God in Genesis 15. He gets circumcised later, and it's actually 14 later. So what he's trying to say is, so God already declared him righteous when he believed. He didn't get circumcised for fourteen years. So you're saying
he wasn't really forgiven? God did not look at him as righteous? God did not help him? God did not care until he did their no. There's a fourteen year gap there. He goes, clearly God accepted Abraham before he was circumcised.
He goes, circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous. Even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but haven't been circumcised.
They're counted as righteous because of their faith. And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith of Abraham had before he circumcised. So he says, you can have be right with God and not having done this ritual.
And you can have done this ritual and be right with God, but you can also do the ritual and not be right with God.
Because the ritual is not what makes you right. The ritual is supposed to follow. It's supposed to be a symbolic act. It's supposed to be an outward sign of this inward relationship that already happened. It's kinda like what what circumcision was was was this sign. It was kinda like my wedding ring here. I pull it off. Look at look how strong I am. I could bend the metal. It's actually one of those rubber ones. So if I fall off a ladder, it won't rip a finger off, which I don't understand. I don't climb ladders. But still, I digress.
You know, this is a a symbol of being married. Right? You know, and and and and it's it's a muscle that's painful symbol than circumcision. Well, actually, that depends on your marriage.
But that's a whole another series. But you know what? I can be married not wearing this ring. You can also wear a ring on your ring finger and not be married.
What ritual do you do that you think I'm doing the right I'm acting spiritual. I'm doing the right spiritual thing. That's the same thing. What is it that you do? We have one that's really actually comparable to circumcision today, baptism.
And there's churches and people believe that if you don't get baptized, you're going to hell. Some of these people come here and they come from that belief and they're like, I have a kid. I need to be baptized. Why? Have you seen the way they act? They're gonna go to hell.
And I'm like, well the baptism isn't what saves them. When we do baptisms, it's just like circumcision was. You're supposed it's after. You have that faith and you're declaring. It's an outward sign of an now those are good things to do.
And most people say, well, I have to be if you have Batman belief, you go, I gotta get my act together before I get baptized. No. Baptism is not what makes you mature. It's not what makes you. It's an act that helps mature you. Because you know what? I'm gonna believe God. He said, do this. I'm gonna declare this. It's a step that helps me be sanctified. Helps me grow
in being like the Lord. But it's not what makes him love me. But there's lots of ritual that we turn into. Like, somebody's like, I I have to come to church. I have to be here. And and, yeah,
God says we should gather and be here. But if you have the mentality that this is what makes you right with God just because you're sitting in here, this is what makes you a Christian, then you know, you're gonna go sit in your garage and pretend like that's your car now?
Just because you're sitting here doesn't mean that, but we get these rituals. Some of us in the room, you are so stuck to ritual that it doesn't count as church unless it's Sunday morning. Look around. I need to summon you to get that out of your head. I need you to start going Saturday nights.
Just think like a Seventh day Adventist for a while, will you? The holy day will be Saturday night. Because look, this is the time of year where we've mellowed out in our attendance. We turned people away this fall from this service. Earlier on in the year, we had hundreds of people that had no room in the inn.
Before that happens again, as we build back up, because it always we go in these undulating patterns, I need some of you to get out of here. I need you to love others and love God by not being in this room. Well, be in this room. Shift to Saturday night. That's a side note. Just for you guys. But where was I? Oh, rituals.
I distracted myself.
What is your ritual
that that that you think makes you right with God? It helps you to know God. It helps you to be more obedient to God. It helps you to wanna draw closer to God. But it's not what makes you right with God. And sometimes when we think we do good works and have the right ritual, that's where we get mean to other people.
We start to judge them. One of the worst verses that's so thrown up at me, you can't judge me. The Bible says do not judge. It doesn't say make judgments. We make judgments all the time. God's word tells us what we should do. What it's talking about is when I look at you as lesser than because I do the right ritual,
because I do the better work than you. And what we'll see in a minute, the last thing is I have the right list of information better than you, and because of that, I'm better than you. And when we think that way, that's why we can get really mean when we're arguing.
That's why we can go out there and argue on the internet in a way that's not very Christ like. Because we if we try to be Batman, we now think I'm a superhero, and we turn everybody that's not up to snuff with us into a super villain,
And then we fight. Let me give you an example. I'll use something that that that's better because it never happens. Arguing about politics
and the way we present our arguments. Now, once again, I'm gonna say this, and you need to listen to what I'm saying and not hear what I'm not saying. We should have opinions. Your faith should drive your political stance. We should be active. We should be engaged.
We should stand up for what is right. We should even argue about what we think is right. You can have an argument. What I'm saying is, don't act like the devil while you're trying to represent Christ. It's not the what, it's the how we do it.
Why do we feel the need to go low blows and be so angry and put bumper stickers and slogans on t shirts that Jesus was standing next to you? We go, look at my new shirt I just got and what it says. And he goes, you know what that's really saying? Is that the way to act? No. It's not. I'm not saying to not have the belief
behind that sentiment. It's just why do we go to that? Why, when it comes to politics, you think you don't have to act like a Christian anymore? You know why? Self righteousness. If you're Batman, you're better than the Joker. But when you understand the predicament we're in, we are all the super villains.
And when we understand that the person on the other side is not the enemy, they're a prisoner of war. I can disagree with you without wanting to destroy you or disrespect you. So I'm going to challenge you. Think about why you're saying those things and posting those things.
You know why? Some of them are funny. Some of you're just going with the crowd.
Just think about it. Because what I'm really trying to get to is you might have a self righteous behavior. It might be the way you think you're made right with God that's driving that. I'm less worried about the legalism of doing it.
I'm more concerned with what is it saying about how you really think you're made right with God.
Just imagine that. Because the last thing that will not make us right with God is keeping the law, having the right information. All these things are important. We want the right we wanna we wanna honor God's word. We really do. The problem is people would think, do the good works, I have the ritual, and I have the law.
That's what the Jews thought. And that's what we still think today. I have the word of God. I have the right verses. I do the right rituals. I go to church. I say the right things. I act the right way. And then I'm nice in the right way. And all these things, now I'm right with God and that's why I'm better than you.
Instead, we do all these things as a response to God's love. Look what it says, starting in verse 13.
When it says, clearly God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God's law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith. If God's promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless.
For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. The only way to avoid breaking law is to have no law at all. So what he's saying is he's like, wait, you you think the law is what makes you right? Because that's what the Jews say. I got the word of God. I'm right because I know the Bible.
No. You're right with God because if you read your Bible, is Jesus made us right with God. The Bible just gives us who is God? How can we live with him better? And and what he's trying to say there is two things. First, you really think the law made it right? Remember, circumcision,
Abraham was already declared righteous because he believed God, gets circumcised fourteen years later. You know how many years after Abraham the law came into existence? Four hundred and thirty five. How could he be right with God when there was no written word of God for four hundred year over four hundred years?
He needed to believe God, have a relationship with God, trust God. And and and they believed that they had the right information, and that's what we still can fall today. Hey. Give me the right the right list. Give me the right rituals and meetings and things I'm supposed to,
I'm gonna act and do these certain good things. I'm gonna be a good person. And when really say good, I'm gonna be gooder than most. And then I'm good. Right? But no.
He's saying that won't work because he described what the laws God declaring who he was, and here is absolutely if you wanna be like me. This is really what it takes. If you go to Galatians, the book of Galatians, it has a section there where it talks more in-depth about this. Galatians three verse 70 through 25
actually explains what the purpose of the law was, its real purpose. You know what it was? To show us that we're Batman. That no matter how good we are, we're not good enough.
It wasn't to say I can be good enough and then beat up everybody else who's not. It was to show us that we're not there. And you know why? Because these last two verses in verse sixteen and seventeen is to show us that we're made right with God through faith, believing God, not a formula, because in that, it demonstrates
God's grace and God's power.
It demonstrates God's grace. We're made right with God with grace through faith, a formula, to demonstrate God's grace and power. Look at verse sixteen and seventeen. So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift and we're all certain to receive it whether or not we live according to the law of Moses if we have faith like Abraham.
That is what the scriptures mean when they told him, I have made you the father of many nations. Now watch. This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings, this is the key, the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.
He says this is what happened. The fact that we can only be have faith, it's it's by God's grace, it's through just we believe,
is because in that moment, it's God's grace and God's power. Because what we need is not to train to be Batman because we can never get there. We can't. Because we're dead. We're dead in our sin. What we need is to have a resurrection of something new. It's like we're dead, and we need a God who has the power, the grace to be willing to do this, to bring us back to life by as the New Testament says, when I put my faith and believe God, and really first start with believing Jesus is the only way, and putting my faith in that. When I accept that, I am resurrected.
Not to beat up old me, just and it's not perfected. It's not I'm gonna make you stronger and stronger, and Batman, you're gonna be a better Batman. He says, I'm making you someone completely new. And only God can bring the dead back to life and make something new out of nothing.
And here's the problem. When you try Batman belief, Batman belief, it it it minimizes grace because if I'm doing it on my own, why do I need grace? And it maximizes my power, my effort. It does the exact opposite of what we need. I minimize grace,
and I maximize me. That's what I do when I have Batman belief. But when I understand it in the right order, it maximizes grace, and maximizes God power, and minimizes me. I just have to believe.
In other words, I just have to hold on to God.
And it's not about I need more faith to trust God in this area. If you say, well, I just don't have the spiritual energy. I don't have the physical energy, or I can't wrap my head. If I trust God in that area, if I believe him with what he said to do, I just I can't understand how that ever worked. I don't have the time. I don't have the resources. I don't have this. I just don't have the emotional
energy.
I just I just don't have it in me to even do that, and I can't even see how that believing him on that would ever allow me to be happy on the other side. You know what you're doing when you're doing that? Batman believer. What we're doing at that moment is you're making your faith about you. The fact that you can't do it at all is you're in the perfect spot to finally believe God.
Because you realize you're at the end of yourself, which puts you at the beginning of God. And all you gotta do is surrender and hold on to him.
Just jump in his arms. If you're Batman, say, catch me, Superman. Let's go.
Bottom line is this is really complex, but yet simple at the same time. The question is, where do you need to believe God? Not just believe in God. Some of you might mean, I need to believe God that some of the things I'm choosing in my life are sin. And stop arguing, stop justifying, stop trying to make it right, confess.
Some of need to believe God, and the fact that the only way to be made right with God is I need to put my faith in Christmas, in the Christmas story. That Jesus came, he lived his perfect life, he died on the cross, and he died for you and me, and he justifies us. It's only by putting my faith in that am I made right with God. That's step one. That's what it means to be a Christian.
Some of us need to say I need to trust God in an area that he wants me to go that I just don't feel like I can do it. But I'm just going to believe him anyways.
The best way to see God's power and grace in your life is when you have not even the willpower to just step into what he's asked you to do. Because when it works,
you in no way can brag about your wage you just earned.
You're like, woah. Woah, I almost stepped out there thinking I'm challenging. There's no way this is to work and God's going to have to apologize to me. And then you're like, wow. And let's believe God. So here's how it can be this simple.
When I was a family pastor, was trying to write some curriculum to help families help their kids understand stuff. And I was actually trying to say, can I take this concept and come up with a way to explain it where a five year old would get it? And I happen to have a five year old, my oldest daughter at the time.
And so I was trying to explain how it means to believe God, but how we're separated from God and we can't get there on our own. So what I did is I said, okay, sweetie, you know, you're down here,
and and and this is the world, and you know, you do naughty things and all this stuff, but I'm down here with you, but look where I'm gonna go. And I went up the stairs, and I stood on the top of the stairs. I looked down at Micah. It's alright, Micah. Here's the deal. You're down there, and you try to be good, but you know you're not all the time. You know you struggle. You know you know you have you have your moments where you don't listen. Right? She goes, yeah. And I go, okay. Well, I am the Lord God Almighty,
which she laughed at me, but I said I go, okay. So I'm God. I'm up here. I'm in heaven. I'm overseeing all of this. You're down there, but you need to be here with me. And don't you wanna be here with me? Yeah. Okay.
How are you gonna get here? She went to step on the steps. Like, you can't take the stairs. She goes, why not? I go, they're lava. So what do you mean? I go, well, you could get up and some person might be stronger, taller. I don't know. You might get up more stairs than someone else, but eventually, you won't make it.
And so since she went back down, she's like, well, then how am I gonna get up there? I go, I don't know. How do you think? She goes
she goes, can you come down here? I go, sure. I can go back and forth. She goes, will you? I go, yeah. I walk downstairs and I go, okay. And she just went.
And I reached down. I scooped her, and she grabbed my neck really tight, so I picked her up. And she goes, will you take me upstairs, please?
And I threw her down and said, no. You're a wicked, rotten sinner.
Figure out how to make a bat hook and get yourself up here. No. It's not what I did. I just ruined that. I had so many of you on the cusp of tears.
It was a powerful moment to me though. She squeezed so tight. And then I was able to say, that's what Jesus did. It was near Christmas time. So I said, that's what the Christmas story is.
Jesus walked down the stairs
and he wants to take us back up. And all you have to do is hold on.
Will you? Father God, I thank you Lord. I thank you that Christmas is you came down for us. So Lord, I just pray a simple prayer for everyone in this room, anyone watching online, that we would let your spirit speak to our life of where we believing in you, but not believing you.
And that we just reach our arms out and say, amen, God. I believe.
And that we could see your grace and your power to resurrect who you want us to be, to make something new out of nothing. I thank you for that, Lord, and I pray it in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.
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