Faithfulness of God - Romans 3:1-20
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
Well, we are continuing in our book of Romans, our series. We're moving on to part four this morning. And Paul's finally gonna let up. No, I wish I could tell you that is the case. If anything, Paul pushes even deeper and further and goes in even more to the point, I was reading through some commentaries and scholars are saying, this is the hardest section of the entire book of Romans. So congratulations, you're here to receive the hardest part of the book of Romans this morning. No, but it's gonna be great. I'm excited. everybody who's still hanging on with us online. We love you, we miss you, get well and come back soon. So Romans chapter three, if you wanna turn there with me this morning, we're gonna jump in. But first before we do, I wanna kinda tag back a little bit into what Pastor Andre talked about a little bit of last week is that Paul here is setting up this giant argument. One point onto a next building block, onto a next building block, onto a next building block, onto a next building block, onto a next building block. It seems like this argument is just taking forever to get there. So before we jump into his next building block, I want us to back up a couple of verses into chapter two and starting in verse 28, then we can kind of set us up to roll into this first part of chapter three this morning.
So if you would, we're gonna start Romans chapter two, verse 28, and then we're gonna roll right in through the first eight verses of chapter three. But it says this, it says, "A person is not a Jew who is only outwardly, "nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. "No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, "and circumcision is circumcision of the heart by the Spirit, "not by the written code. "Such a person's praise is not from other people, "but from God. "What advantage then is there in being a Jew? "Or what value is there in circumcision? "Much in every way. "First of all, the Jews have been entrusted "with the very words of God. "What if some were unfaithful?" So Paul's gonna start getting into this, like this inner lawyer debate with himself. He's gonna go, "What about this? "What about this? "What about this? "What about this?" I texted Pastor Andre yesterday. I said, "I feel like I'm watching two incredibly brilliant people argue with each other in their own mind. And I'm over here sitting with like an IQ score of like 20. And I'm like, "I don't know what's happening here." This guy is, Paul is just brilliant. So here's his first argument. He says like, "What if someone were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness?" "Not at all," the other one replies. "Let God be true in every human being a liar, as it is written, "so that you may be proved right when you speak "and prevail when you judge. "But," here's a counteract, "but if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness "more clearly, what shall we say? "That God is unjust and bringing wrath on us? "I'm using a human argument." He, Paul's even just talking to himself right here, right before our eyes. "Certainly not," the other Paul responds. "If that were so, how could God judge this world? "Some might argue if my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness "so that increases his glory, "why am I still condemned as a sinner?" If I'm being made an example of, why do I have punishment on top of being made an example of, is basically what they're saying. "Why not say, as some slanderously claim that we say," get a little sassy here, Paul, "Let us do evil that good may result." The other responds, "No, their condemnation is just."
That make any sense to any of you? Okay, cool. We're all on the same page here. All right, so Paul here is having this inner dialogue, back and forth and so we'll say this, we'll then say this and say this and say this. And it's so funny because Paul here, which if you remember, Paul himself is of Jewish descent. He's a Jew himself, okay? So he's making this argument about what it means to be a Jew versus a Gentile and what the advantages and disadvantages are and how people in this today in society are basically using that as their identity or their badge of honor to manipulate the situation for their own personal gain to have control over other people to put them down. Clear as mud? Perfect. So what Paul here is saying is that a person is a Jew on the inside. The Jewish heritage comes from their lineage. It comes from their legacy of what they're born into. It's something physical about them that makes a person a Jew. And so what is here is a DNA level of Judaism on a person. And Paul here is saying that, yeah, that's how you are a Jew. But what's happening here in the early church is that people are coming into the faith in Christ and coming under what they understand this religion of flowing out of Judaism through Jesus. They're finding these people, the Jewish people, are saying, "Hey, you gotta do this. "You gotta do this. "You gotta do this. "You gotta do this." And then when you do that, you essentially will bestow a blessing on you and say, "You are now seen as a Jew." as a Jew. And Paul here is saying, "No, stop it." He says there even in that verse, if you do that, you're basically getting praise from man, you're not getting praise from God. And on the flip side, Paul here is saying, "You don't need to do that. You don't have to come under the laws and the festivals and the circumcision and all these rituals and all these things to be considered someone on the faith following Jesus, because Jesus took care of all that. Jesus is the fulfillment of the entire law itself.
And so Paul here is saying, "Don't listen to those people because what they're trying to do is to control you. They're trying to lord over you to say, well, if you don't do this, then you gotta show me your Jew card on the way into church because if you don't, then I'm sorry, you can't come in here to church." And Paul's like, "This is ridiculous. Jesus came for everybody. Jesus came for the Jew and he came for the Gentile. And Paul, I think in this inner dialogue is kind of jumping back and forth between, hi, I'm Paul the Jew and hi, or excuse me, sorry, I'm Saul the Jew. Remember Saul before he became Paul, he goes, I'm Saul the Jew and now hi, I'm Paul over here, the redeemed follower, disciple of Jesus. And so this is where that inner dialogue back and forth is coming about. And it's like, he's having an argument with himself. Like if we see Paul like trying to like write this letter, you probably look like a crazy person just walking down the street talking to himself. And he's like, "Well, no, this, this over here, this over here, oh, have you forgotten about this part here?" Or he's getting sarcastic because he's losing the argument with himself. So he starts getting sassy. And so in the end, Paul is like, "Just stop it. Just stop it because the reality is it's not about us." This is Paul's entire argument since the beginning of this book. Because remember, this is a letter. We sit here and we chunk up these pieces. This is a whole conscious thought of many run-on sentences, twists and turns, rabbit holes, surprises, rollercoaster loop-de-loops that Paul's writing here.
It was funny. I was talking to Pastor Andre last night about this because I was like, man, I feel like Paul's argument just keeps going deeper and deeper and deeper. He keeps answering all these questions. I'm like, who's asking these questions, bro? Like, it's okay, calm down. And then the more we talk to you, realize like, man, if we didn't have Paul counter all of these questions, we'd be left with a book that has a bunch of holes in it that then could be left up to argument and confusion and so much even to the point where then we start having heresy, which is false teaching, in our churches because Paul is basically locking this thing down behind a gate, behind a fence, behind a steel wall with locks upon locks, all inside of like a bank safe, all surrounded with security and 24/7 patrol and helicopters and all this stuff. He's locking this down so much so that nobody can even attempt to poke a hole in this. And so when we see it in that light, I go, All right, well, this makes more sense. Like, okay, okay, Paul, I'll roll with you. I'll see what you're talking about here. We'll figure this thing out together.
But only Paul gets to this point that being a Jew is awesome. He says that in there. He's like, it's great to be a Jew. Why? Because of the history that you are God's chosen people. You were first entrusted with God's word. You were the one that God said, I'm gonna live among you. I'm gonna be in your space. You are my loved. And that's something worth noting. I want us to think, remember that. Paul's not saying here, it's bad to be a Jew. Paul is saying, celebrate that. That's amazing. You should do that. But don't let that be your identity because there's so much more that God wants for our lives than just to put a name badge on and say, "I'm from Israel, I'm one of those cool people," and go on with your life. God's chosen people is something worth noting. And it's only because of God's chosen people that we have a basic understanding of who God is. His character, His love, His grace, His mercy. We read about in the Old Testament to understand this Yahweh, this God of God, the King of kings, the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega, everything, Heavenly Father, King of their own, Creator, healer, everything that we know of who God is. Why? Through the Jewish people and their relationship with Him. And because of that, we see how God has faithfully cared for, led, rescued, and set apart that nation, His people. And Paul here is also making an argument it doesn't stop there. There's so much more at play here, which leads us into Paul's argument. He says in verses three to four, "What if some are unfaithful?" What if some are unfaithful to God? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all. Let God be true in every human being a liar, for it is written, so that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge. Paul here is reminding people that Paul, that God doesn't need people to be faithful for people to recognize that God is faithful. God is apart from us as humans. God is above, God is greater, God is holier. We are not, there's a separation, there's a whole thing going on here that God is faithful. And God's faithfulness isn't dependent upon us saying yes to him. That if some are faithful to God, awesome, praise God. Some are faithful. But Paul is also making an argument here that if nobody is faithful to God, it doesn't change God. God is still faithful. We don't change who God is. And Paul shows you that God's faithfulness might also be recognized when he judges people's sin. That's a hard thing for us sometimes to wrestle with in our society. We don't like that word sin. We don't like that word judgment. We don't like that because it takes away from this loving, caring, gracious, oh, just gonna wrap my arms around you, God, that we like to put in our minds. But I would argue, and so is Paul here, that you can't have that loving, embrace God, authentic love without God calling us out when we gotta be called out. You can't have one without the other. And Paul's saying there's just a special place of Israel God's plan, but it doesn't protect them from God's judgment. They don't get a pass. They don't go, "Oh, who are you? And what's your heritage? Who you come from? Who's your father? Your forefather? Your forefather's forefather? Forefather's forefather? Oh, you're Jewish? Okay, cool. I'll just turn a blind eye to that. You just as you were." No. Paul's not saying that. Paul's saying almost even more so, "You already know, and yet that you're living this life, you know better as parents. How many times have we told our kids? You know better. My poor kid's sitting on the front row this morning right now. But Paul here is saying that just because you come from this Jewish descent doesn't make you immune. There's no preferential treatment for Jewish people. Just because Israel people are God's chosen people, they don't get a pass. There isn't a lesser punishment. See, I think the problem is that the Jewish people wanna kinda look at this from a different perspective. They wanna kinda twist this a little bit so that they can wear this badge of honor, this identity, so that they can manipulate other people for their own gain. Well, if I gotta follow the laws, then I gotta do all this stuff. Everybody should be following all the laws. If I gotta be miserable, but everybody's gonna be miserable in it with me. But that's a flawed logic as well. And Paul is counteracting all of this stuff in himself and he's reminding everybody, every reader of this letter, the church in Rome, that God's faithfulness is not about Israel.
God's faithfulness is not about us. God's faithfulness is not about the church. God's faithfulness is about God. It's about his promise and his person of who God is. And that God is righteous when he does punish, when he does call out his people for their sins, as well as when he rewards them for obedience. So both and. We'd like to pull out that judgment piece and not touch it with a 10-foot pole and we just, "I just wanna talk about the promises of God. I just want God's promises." That's great. God wants those promises for you too, just as a parent would want great things for their children. But in that also comes the reality of when those actions are in line of what God wants for us, our lives, there has to be a correction piece, and that correction piece is filled with nothing but love. That's hard for us, right? We don't wanna get called out, we don't wanna get reprimanded, We don't wanna get like going, "Hey, that's not right." Like we don't want that. We want just God's blessing and promise and love just to flow into our hearts. But that's not really true love, is it? If a parent were to give everything to their child, but not call them out on behavior, I don't see that as true love. I see that as, "Here you go, just go away. Just here, take it, do your stuff. I don't care about you. I just get you out of my hair and I can focus on what's more important to me. And Paul here is saying that all too often, we as Christians have presumed that God's grace to us exempts us from any concern for our own sin. Let me say that again. That we as Christians have presumed that God's grace to us exempts us from any concern about our sin. There's such danger in this thought that God sovereignly somehow maintains, even in our regenerate state, and holds our salvation till the end. And I'm saying too easily, we forget that God's ultimate concern is for His glory, not for our own personal glory. It's all about God's glory. It's all about who He is. And we like to stand on these promises, and this is entirely inappropriate. We must not forget that God's promises, both seen in the Old Testament and the New Testament, all throughout the scripture in this entire book, we see who God is. And we also see who He is and how He rebukes and chastises His people who sin, but then also He blesses them too. Let's not forget that. 'Cause I think sometimes we camp over here in Promised Land, and sometimes we can't over here in the hands of, or what was it? In the hands of an angry God, sinners in the hands of an angry God. You guys have probably heard that before. We camp over here and we're just like, oh, we're horrible people and God hates us and we're going to hell and oh, blah, blah, blah. There's nothing we can do. Woe is me. No, it's just as wrong to camp over here in Promised Land as it is to camp over here in this vengeful, angry God. That's not who he is. And Paul here is saying that even because you're Jew and you're supposed to have this promise doesn't mean there's an excuse to do whatever you want and sin. And Paul is also saying, hey, you don't just go, oh, who cares, whatever, I'm gonna sin, I'm gonna sin, I might as well just live here. Paul says, no, there's a greater life and promise that God wants for you to have. And he wants you to step into this new life that he has for you. And this is the entire argument that Paul is bringing up to this point through the end of chapter three, that he's gonna flip this all in its head next week to be continued, dun, dun, dun, with Pastor Andre. Set you up, buddy, I got you. But right now, Paul continues on a little bit deeper, okay? Paul's been kinda hittin' on, kinda beatin' up the Jewish people a little bit here, of their heritage, but it's gonna come around to everybody here in a moment.
Here we go, verse nine, it says, "What shall we conclude then?" All right? "Have we any advantage? Not at all. For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentile alike are under the power of sin. For it is written," Paul's gonna quote some scripture here, a little Old Testament OG scripture coming at you right now. Here we go. "There is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks God. All have turned away and they have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves. Their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Hey Paul, don't hold back, buddy. Here we go. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Ruin and misery mark their ways. For the way of peace they do not know. there is no fear of God before their eyes." Whoa. Paul, tell us how you really feel, bro. "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law. rather through the law becomes conscious, we become conscious of our sin. This is the point in the book or the book or the letter, it's always darkest before dawn, right? We've been in the dark, Paul's been pounding, we've been hit and hit, we're sinners, no one's righteous, we all are failing in the law, God is angry and mad at the sin of humanity, Like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And yet in verse 20, there's that light starts to peek through the edge of the horizon. And Paul here is saying, no one is righteous. The greatest Jew, not righteous. The worst Gentile, not righteous. God's chosen people, not righteous. Those outside of God's chosen people, not righteous. We are all sinful. Why? that are under the power of sin. Who wants to focus in on that? There's power. We've talked about this for a couple of weeks now. And I think sometimes we flirt with this idea of, ah, it's just sin, it's not that big of a deal. There's a power and a weight to it that Paul here recognizes and he is serious about because he understands how focused and intent and what ultimately what is at stake. People's eternity here. That's what's at stake here. This power of sin that is holding humanity back from being able to have redemption with Jesus. It is a real strong, scary, dark, wicked, evil thing. And Paul says, we're all in this. We're all in the same boat. We're all sitting in the same pool up to our necks, up over our heads in this power of this sin that has control over us.
And so he quotes some of this collection of Psalms and Isaiah verses 13 through 14 comes from Psalm 14 itself. It says, "Their throats are open graves, their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." Paul here specifically is calling out sin of speech. Did you guys catch that? Paul mentions every single organ involved with speech. The throat, the tongue, the lips, the mouth, the throat being equated to this open grave, focusing on inner corruption and the deadly effects of sinful speech. Then he continues on talking about the tongue, deceptive flatteries of those who intend evil, eloquent speech meant to deceive and twist and pull us in under and keep us in this power of sin. He moves on to Isaiah 59 verses 15 to 17. Their feet are swift to shed blood, ruin and misery mark their ways. And the way of peace they do not know. Sin of violence to others is what Paul talk about here. The direct action of one person against another person to control them, to hurt them, to harm them, to Lord over them. This is what Paul is talking about. And he's reiterating here that Israel, in their utter corruption, are on the same level as the wicked. Just because you are Jewish, you come from Judah, you come under the Israel lineage, does not make you exempt to any of this. Everyone is under this rule of power of sin, which makes no one righteous. Paul doesn't stop there. He keeps going on. He talks in Psalm 36 verse 18. "There is no fear of God before their eyes." Paul right here is kind of bookending this section of quoting Old Testament scripture, talking about the root of all of this unrighteousness. Where does that lie? The root of all of this is our thought that we are God. And Paul is continuing to hammer in here that God is God and we are not. That's the reality. And as much as we want to make up in our minds that we're our own God and we put on this crown of royalty ourselves and declare our own lordship and then say, "Well, I know better than God and I know how to do it and I know how to fix things and it's going to be under the law and everybody's getting circumcised and everybody's got to start fasting and having the Sabbath and do all these festivals and go kosher and God's, you gotta do all this stuff. Paul's like, no, you and your righteous pageantry are even unrighteous. You're not because everybody will quote a scripture here further in Romans for all of sin that falls short of the glory of God. And it's the same focus that Paul has had in this beginning of this chapter to set up this entire argument and this one flowing thought to this point, that nothing a person does, either the object of obedience or the motivation behind that said obedience can bring him or her into favor with God. I'm sorry to burst your bubble this morning. If you came in thinking you could earn your right standing with God, unfortunately you can't. 'Cause we're too far gone. And Paul here is saying, it doesn't matter if they're trying really hard. Well, they got a participation trophy. Doesn't do anything. But Paul, their hearts were in the right place. Doesn't matter. But they're almost there. They're so close. It's like right there. I don't know if I can say this in church. I'm gonna say it anyway. Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Almost doesn't count with God. And it's not because he's an angry God or a vengeful God, but because there is a line and he is holy and we are not. And there's nothing that we can do. There's nothing we can earn, there's no good merit, there's no good deeds, there's no any of that stuff that can put us into a place of favor or standing with God. That we like to live in this gray zone, don't we? There's no gray zone with God. That's just who it is. Don't get mad at me, get mad at the Bible, get mad at God. But there's no gray zone. And if it wasn't, but that isn't from God. That's from human motivation, wanting us to make ourselves feel better, this gray zone. Well, I'm not that bad of a person. I mean, have you seen what they did? Have you seen them over there? Oh, well, good thing I'm not even close to who they are. Hey, God, we're tight, right? We're good? We're good? We're all right? I mean, I haven't killed anybody. I mean, it was 20 bucks. I needed it real bad. God, you knew, you knew where my heart was. It's just 20 bucks that I took. And really, they're not even gonna miss it. They don't even, they're so rich. It's not even that big of a deal. God sees that and goes, "No, you stole, you killed, "you lied, you thought about it in your head." This is some hard stuff that Paul's walking through. It's either yes or no. We don't like that. We want this love, this kindness, this goodness of who God is and reminding us that even in God's judgment of saying, "Hey, you did wrong," there's God saying, "I love you. I care for you.”
Paul's been talking about all of what the law is not, right? He's pounding this away. Just this is not this. It's not this. It's not this, it's not all this stuff. It's not our justification, it's not our salvation. It's not making things right. Either possession for the Jews who possess the law themselves. There's no credit just because they had it. Or like, "I remember great-great-grandpa was at the foot of mountain when Moses came down. Like we're tight, like it's okay." Paul's like, "None of that matters. And it doesn't matter if you're a new Gentile being like, "Hey, I'm just new to the scene with this. Sorry, like, is there like a mulligan for like a new guy on scene? Like, is that how this thing works?" And Paul's like, "No, it's not how it works." And so Paul then finally shifts into what the law is. Verse 20, "Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law. Rather, through the law, we become conscious of our sin." So there is purpose to the law. You might think through this that Paul is like, "Well, I'll just throw the law out, baby with the bathwater, just get rid of it all. Forget it, we don't need a law. We're righteous with Jesus and His grace can cover me. And I just, you know, I sin, I just pray, "Hey Jesus, sorry about that. I'll try again next time." And then we move on. And we find ourselves in the same place with sin again, going, "Hey God, yep, I know, me again. Sorry about that. Thanks for your love and your grace and your kindness, your goodness, amen." All right, move on. What Paul here is saying, no, there is purpose to the law. And the purpose of the law is to shine a flashlight into our lives and to our hearts, And to say, God telling us I don't like that, that's not right. This is right. This is truth. But it hurts, right? This isn't easy. It doesn't make us feel good. But that's the purpose of the law. I've met Christians who are like, yeah, I just don't read the Old Testament. Just doesn't matter. It doesn't mean anything to me anymore. 'Cause you know Jesus, he fulfilled all that blah, blah, blah. It's like, so how do you know what's right and wrong? Well, I just like kinda let that feeling inside. I was like, is that God or is that heartburn? Like what do you, how do you know the difference in that? I said, that's why the Old Testament is still the Old Testament. It's old, but it's solid. And it gives us direction and insight and guidance of how we live our lives.
But then Paul here also talks about this idea of experience. Sometimes this knowledge comes through reading God's Word and Scripture, but it also comes through experience. And when we find ourselves in a place of sin, sitting it going, "Whoops, this isn't right," there's forgiveness in that as well. But there's also a learning in that. I mean, we probably weren't the best at something we tried for the first time, whether it was sports, maybe a hobby, maybe shoot painting, a wall. That first wall that you ever painted in your life probably had streaks in it, it was running, it was thick, it was thin, it was patchy, just didn't look good. But as you painted more walls and you had more experience, you got better at it, you grew in that. And that's kind of those situations where even our heritage, where we come from, John Wesley, he was a great, brilliant theologian and preacher and teacher. He talks about this idea of sins of surprise. Sometimes we find ourselves in this place going, "Oh man, I didn't know that this was wrong. "I've never been here before." But there's grace in that and God goes, "Okay, that's all right. "I love you. "Now you know, don't do it again." And that's what Paul is ultimately leading us in here is that this law gives people life as an understanding of sin and how to live our lives. Why? Because the law since the beginning was all about pointing us to God. And Jesus coming on the scene continues to point us to God, continues to drive us to Jesus, continues to say, "This is the way to live your life. And this is the life that I want for you.”
So why, why would Paul write all of this? Well, I think a couple things. One, there was actually, whether we think they're ridiculous or not, a group of people, the religious zealots, the highest of the high of that day, that believed that they could earn salvation through doing stuff. And Paul here is to say, "No, you can't." As much as you believe that, as much as you want to do that, because here's the reality. The Jewish people have been the closest to God on the face of the earth. They walked with God. And it talks about in the Old Testament, a pillar of fire, a cloud by day. They had this Holy of Holies, this place where God would physically dwell in their presence. They saw miracles before their eyes. They saw rescue. They saw Moses come with the tablets, the 10 commandments. These people saw, eyewitness God before their eyes. And yet what? Failed. So how do we, as Paul is making this argument, how do we think we can somehow earn the salvation? If the Israelite people who were the closest to it, of anybody on the face of the earth, failed right there face to face, how do you think you can get there? It's nonsense, Paul is saying. But then Paul is also offering the salvation in this. He's saying that Jesus is salvation. That's why the power of the gospel, the title of our series in this book of Romans is what Paul is setting up here. And Paul continues to fight on multiple fronts in this. Paul is fighting entitlement from Jews who think they're the special God's chosen people. Paul is fighting the ones who says, who cares, we've already failed, it doesn't matter mentality. Paul is fighting the law above all, religious elite. Paul is fighting these extra add-ons that the Israelite people in their heritage are saying, "You new Christians, you Gentiles, you have to start doing this to these converts." Paul is fighting this idea that you can earn salvation by being good. Paul is fighting, "At least I'm not as horrible as that person," camp. And Paul continues to fight all of this time and time again. And all of this sounds so frighteningly similar to our world today in our church, does it not? How many years later removed and there's nothing different?
So can I tell you something? Be encouraged today. I know I took you down the same path that Paul is taking you, but be encouraged today, why? Here, I wanna tell you some truth. There is freedom in the fact that we don't have to earn salvation. Jesus has already taken care of it. Doesn't mean there's no responsibility on our end or accountability that we have to hold up to, but we don't have to earn it. That's a blessing. We're not going to worry about burnt offerings. We don't have to worry about walking so many feet on a Sunday. We don't have to worry about all these laws, dudes, not worrying about circumcision. Amen. Preach. Come on. And Jesus has already taken care of all of it. Be encouraged today. But also let the Word of God and all that it is, its laws and the scriptures, give you life on your journey. Okay? Let that truth dwell in your hearts and to begin to change you, because it's a matter of perspective. Don't get focused on what you do not have. So many times we find ourselves maybe in a power outage in a storm with a flashlight in the dark. We don't sit there and go, "Well, I don't have a light for the rest of the stuff around me." You take that flashlight and you shine it before you and go, "This is my focus. This is where my attention needs to be. This is what needs to matter in my life right now." Where is God shining a light in your heart today? Where is he putting that focus to say, "This is what I need you to change in your life." Don't worry about all this other stuff that's dark. Remove that from your attention. Focus in right here. Focus on what you do have. The salvation in Christ and the Holy Spirit to guide us every single step of the way. Bring your focus back to Christ today. Don't get lost in the weeds of all this stuff over here and all this stuff and all this stuff and what they're saying and what they're saying, what they're saying, what they're saying. Focus on Jesus.
How can you this week keep your eyes more on Jesus? That's my challenge for you this week. It might take some changing of priorities or maybe a weekly routine or something that's out of balance and out of whack, but God should be the number one priority in your life. And that's what Paul is saying here. You're not God, God is God. Put God in the right place. Doesn't matter where you come from, what your background is, what you think your excuses are, or this gray area you wanna live, God should be God. And that's it. Easy peasy, right? That's good, I like that. How can we this week bring God's righteousness to light in our lives? Not for us, but for God's glory. Think about that this week. I'm right there with you guys. I'm wrestling with this just as much as you are. Some tough stuff, but that's what I love about this series. It's so good. Let's pray and we'll get out of here. Heavenly Father Jesus, thank you for this morning. God, thank you for your servant Paul and his heart and his just brilliant IQ, off the charts mind to be able to walk through all of this stuff step by step and come out in the end just pointing back to you. Absolutely love it. Jesus, thank you for coming to earth, dying on the cross, giving of your life so that we could be made right with you. Because there's no other way we could have. There's no other way we could have attained that. Only through you, Jesus. So we say thank you. God, may we live in that light this week. May we live focusing on allowing God's righteousness into our hearts, into our lives, not for the sake of, hey, look at how super Christian I am, but to go, yeah, I don't have it figured out. I was a mess. I was broken. I was gone. It was all messed up. But Jesus showed up and it's him. All praise and glory to God. That's how we should live our lives. So Jesus, help us to remember that this week, help us to shine light on places in our lives that you want to change in us for your glory. We love you, Jesus. Amen.