Show Me Your Faith

[Music] come you weary heart now to jesus come you anxious [Music] there is perfect love and comfort for your tears [Music] is [Music] in the goodness [Music] you come find what this world cannot offer [Music] again chris here in his wondrous [Music] the goodness of jesus satisfied he [Music] is of jesus [Music] come and find your hope now in jesus he is all he said he would be [Music] is [Music] is [Music] of jesus [Music] jesus [Music] that i rest all my tastes in the goodness of jesus [Music] in christ alone my hope is found he is [Music] of peace when fears [Music] in christ

who took on flesh [Music] and righteousness [Music] jesus died the wrath of god was satisfied forever [Music] his body lay light of the world by darkness [Music] [Music] and he is [Music] the world [Music] guilt in life no fear in death this is the power of christ in me from life's first cry to final breath oh jesus [Music] is [Music] hearing [Music] of christ [Music] would you be seated for a time of confession have you ever had a moment or a season in your life where god is calling you out of your comfort zone calling you to trust him even when the path seems unclear

maybe that's with a relationship maybe that's your career path um maybe that's in your next step whether that's a home or a move or a job opening maybe there's not a huge example of a big leap of faith that you've needed to take but what we do know to be true is that god does call us out of our comfort zones in our every light everyday life with the people that he has placed around us that's your neighbors maybe it's people of a place that you frequent like a coffee shop maybe it's your co-workers maybe it's the cashier that you see every week at the

grocery store act 17 tells us that god has placed us where we are at our jobs in our neighborhoods in our schools for his glory and for the growth of his kingdom we've been called to step out in faith to step out of our comfort zones and to pursue sharing life and the gospel with those around us this morning our time of confession let's confess to god where we want to hold too tightly to our bubble where we want to stay comfortable for the sake of ourselves and we're not willing to break out of that comfort zone to share the gospel with those who need

it around us would we pray that god would present us with more gospel opportunities and that he would give us the strength to step out into into those moments as we confess this morning let's also remember the truth of the gospel that despite our own selfishness um that he is using us to grow his kingdom and he is going to do it we just get to be a part of it let's take some time to confess that [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] god this morning let me just confess to you um that we often can get into a rhythm or a season of complacency where we

just are going and doing the tasks at hand walking through the steps of our day-to-day and we're not stepping out into faith and looking around us and seeing outside of ourselves those who are in need of you those who are crying out for a savior whether that's somebody who thinks they have it all together but is missing the most important piece or whether that is somebody who is crumbling and needs somebody to help walk alongside them god would you open our eyes to see those around us as you see them even if it's somebody that offends us somebody that makes us uncomfortable because it doesn't

matter who it is they need you and you are calling us to step into that space to share who you are with those that you've placed around us god we know that you will provide the words we know that ultimately it is not up to us what their response is it is your work that will be done but you are calling us to do it and would we do it would you give us the courage give us the opportunities and would you open our eyes to them we thank you knowing that you are doing it in spite of us but god we long to be

a part of it stir that affection up within us for your glory amen amen well good morning everyone how are we good good all right this time we're gonna dismiss uh two classrooms so kids three to five uh we'll head out and also kids six to seven six to seven will head out as well so they will get out all right if you get your bibles go ahead and open them up james chapter 2 is where we're going to be today james 2 14 through 26 and my hope for us today is to understand this this is kind of the big idea my hope for

us today is to understand that faith alone saves you faith alone saves you but a faith that is alone does not faith alone saves you but a faith that is alone does not and so this topic that we're looking at today really just the relationship between faith and works is a topic that has been in discussion and debate for honestly the last 2000 years i mean for the fact that it's even in our passage today means that it's been around since at least 45 a.d when this book was written and so this is this is an ongoing debate this is an ongoing struggle if you

will of within the christian faith what it looks like to merge together these ideas of being saved by faith alone but also being saved by works what we do what we attribute to it or contribute to our faith and so we're going to be looking at this it also hit its real pinnacle in or during the 16th century when there was this big split between catholicism and protestantism and that's where you had the the the launch of the protestant ref protestant reformation uh in 1517 and so this is a debate that again has been going on for a long time so it rarely ever ruffles

any feathers and so i know at the end of this we'll be able to walk away and be like man that was just so good and just so so easy to understand but at the same time i know that um this can be a hard topic it could be a hard topic for a lot of us regardless of what uh camp or or church background that you come from it's a difficult one for us when we look at it and so here's just kind of a couple of probing questions that i want to throw out there that i'm hoping that we're able to answer as

we walk through this as the spirit is just leading us in understanding as we open up his word but here's a couple of questions one is are we saved by faith alone are we saved by faith alone another question is are we saved by a combination of faith and works and then also another question is once saved then how do works play out in our life do they complete our salvation or do they accompany our salvation and so those are kind of some of the ideas that we're going to be looking at as we walk through this and so james 2 i'm going to read

our passage for us you're going to see the big idea as it walks through this passage and in some ways you might think this passage contradicts maybe other passages that you know in scripture or at least provide some confusion regarding some other passages in scripture and maybe even what you believe and so we're going to look at this and then and then dive into it starting off in verse 14 what good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works can that faith save him if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one

of you says to them go in peace and be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body what good is that so also faith by itself if it does not have works is dead but someone will say you have faith and i have works show me your faith apart from your works and i will show you my faith by my works you believe that god is one you do well even the demons believe in shudder do you want to be shown you foolish person that faith apart from works is useless was not abraham our father justified by works when he offered

up his son isaac on the altar you see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works and the scripture was fulfilled that says abraham believed god and it was counted to him as righteousness and he was called a friend of god you see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone and in the same way was not also rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way for as the body apart from the spirit is dead so also faith apart from works is dead so if

you've been a part of our church for any amount of time and you're reading this and you're reading this passage for just surface level face value you're going to read that and you're going to think that does not sound like what we've preached that sounds like it's in contradiction that sounds like it's a little confusing compared to what we've heard taught when faith alone is what saves you and that there's nothing that you contribute that there's nothing that you can do there's no works that can be done in order for you to add that or uh contribute that to your salvation to where then god

would look at you and say well done that good and faithful servant you are saved because not only do you believe in jesus but you also did everything that i want you to do and because you married both of those two things together you are now saved if you're reading this at face value that's what comes across is that there needs to be this combination of believing in jesus as well as works as well as doing the right things as well as looking at over the last chapter that we've been talking about the things that james is pointing out hey don't just be hearers of

the word but be doers of the word like don't just forget what you need to do you need to have a lifestyle that is matching up with the faith that you speak i mean james is is nailing this home and and it feels like when he comes to this passage it feels like he goes too far it feels like he goes too far to where i would have if i'm in this scenario or this situation in first century i'm waiting for paul to write a letter to james correcting him that's what i would be thinking if i'm reading this at face value and so because

it does feel like it contradicts some of what paul says i want to also read what paul says regarding this idea of justification and whether or not it comes by faith alone or if also works are attributed to it and so going with the same train of thought here's what the apostle paul has to say about this galatians 2 15-16 he says we ourselves are jews by birth and not gentile sinners yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in jesus christ so we also have believed in christ jesus in order to be justified by faith

in christ and not by works of the law because by works of the law no one will be justified he also says in romans 3 28 so it's not just written to the church in galatia but he's also writing to the churches in rome and he says this for we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law so if you're just skimming through the scriptures and you read these passages side by side at face value it's completely understandable for someone to be confused and believe that james and paul are contradicting themselves that they're contradicting themselves and if that is true

then it actually runs the greater risk that scripture itself is contradicting itself and if scripture is contradicting itself and we believe the scripture is the inspired word of god then that means god is contradicting himself and if god is contradicting himself then god ceases to be god so getting this right and interpreting it right matters it really really matters and so this is this is just a very serious topic for us today because it matters on on the implications that you hold when it comes to what the role of faith in your life does and what the role of works in your life does because

if you land somewhere that ultimately is not what the scripture is teaching then not only does it determine what your justification looks like it determines what your ongoing growth looks like it ultimately determines what you're putting trust in rather than who you are putting trust in so it's important martin luther again the guy who started the protestant reformation puts it this way the issue of justification which is faith and works how they work out in our salvation the issue of justification determines whether the church stands or whether the church fails that's a that's a bold statement coming from martin luther john calvin also says justification

is the principle of the whole doctrine of salvation and the foundation of all religion he's saying like how you decide or how you determine or define justification lays the groundwork for how you're basically going to live out your life and whether or not you actually know jesus or not that's kind of what he's saying there like it's laying the foundation getting justification right will either glorify you or to glorify god you've got to get it right you've got to get it right and so the three things i want to show you today three points from this passage and this is kind of working in both

just our our theology of justification as well as eventually getting to the process of how god saves you that includes both faith and works but categorizes them correctly puts them in the places of what god is doing what god is doing and so the first thing looking at this idea of justification and defining it justification is what god does for you all right that's number one justification is what god does for you and here's what we believe about justification justification is just putting our cards out on the table justification is by grace alone you are justified and what it means to be justified is if

god is the judge and you're the person who's trying to plead your case of why you should not have the death penalty because of your sins god is the judge you're the sinner you're in the courtroom you're on trial justification is god looking at christ's work on the cross paying your death penalty and then looking at you by trusting in jesus saying you are declared pardoned that's what the justification is doing you are now in good right standing with god you were declared pardoned free to go that's justification and so it's by grace that god gifts that to you there's there's nothing that you did

in order to earn that you're the only thing you brought into the courtroom is your sin that put you there in the first place god did everything else in order to justify you in order to save you it's not my own doing it's a gift received and i just trust in jesus so that when i stand before god the father whether i die or he comes back before i die or whatever that looks like whenever we are standing before god in judgment my answer is simply going to be jesus the only reason why i'm here and i get to come into heaven is because of

jesus that's it and the reason why we believe that is because of what second corinthians 5 21 says for our sake he god made him jesus to be sin who knew no sin so think about this for a minute because this is so important for us god as creator can do what he pleases he can change anything he wants to change what god does as creator is he takes jesus his son his perfect son who is holy and righteous and has never sinned he takes jesus and he literally transforms jesus into your sin on the cross he doesn't just take your sin and place it

on jesus for jesus to carry it he transforms jesus to represent your sin so that so that jesus can literally say i became sin i became your identity your identity martin luther calls this the great exchange jesus who is perfect and righteous becomes imperfect and unrighteous by taking our place our identity and god did that supernatural work on the cross that's what god did in jesus so much so that god turns his face away cannot be in relationship with a sinner so jesus is there he god literally imputes imparts our unrighteousness our sinful identities to jesus and jesus becomes our sin so that in him

jesus we might become the righteousness of god so the great exchange god gives jesus our sin and god gives us his righteousness god grants us his righteousness imputes it to us imparts it to us literally just does a supernatural work of transforming us and it was because of nothing that we did the great exchange that's what god did that's what god is doing in you through the work of justification this would be like josh starting a business and josh is incredibly successful at this business in the first year he earns a million dollars all right good job josh you're awesome but then we also have

ransford who starts a business and ransford just i mean is terrible at it and goes into all kinds of debt and has to file for bankruptcy and it's just just swimming in the dead of his mistakes and then dwayne having compassion looks at the situation and says man you know what i love ransor so much that josh i'm going to take all of ransford's debt that he is swimming up to i'm going to make you the sole proprietor of that and i'm going to deposit it into your account and and that million dollars that you've earned that that you're you you did every possible business

deal perfectly i'm going to take that from you and i'm going to give it to ransford so that now ransford even though he didn't do anything to earn it is considered a millionaire now that's what god now that's a terrible illustration but that's what god has done for us when he has taken our debt of sin and has given it to jesus who did not earn that debt of sin but was willing to receive it and become it in order for that righteousness that he earned because he never sinned give it to us who didn't do anything to earn it that's what god is doing

for us through the idea of justification this was not our doing we can't stand before god and say at any moment i paid you back for the sin that i committed no you did not pay him back why lived a good life know jesus lived a good life well i have some righteousness through my good morality or my political affiliation or my own worldview or my good deeds no there's no one good romans 3 says no one good no one righteous no one who seeks god there's you can't find any goodness in you as a sinner you just can't that's the only two categories that

god sees people in is either righteous or unrighteous perfect or imperfect and throughout the entire history of our bible and the history of our world there's only been one righteous person who's been perfect and that person is jesus that's it therefore everyone else is swimming in the dead of their sin and they need a great exchange and so that's what justification is that's the doctrine of justification your relationship with god is secure through faith in it's just trusting in who jesus is believing in jesus that he is who he says he is that he did what he said he did believing him and as a

gift receiving him by grace alone through faith in him trusting in him believing in him so that's the first point that leads to the second point which is the doctrine of regeneration the doctrine of regeneration this is building the case towards how works come into play regeneration is then as god justifies you what he does for you he then regenerates you and that's the work he does in you in you regeneration is what god does in you and we need to know this as we are building again this case for the relationship you need to know these so that we don't get tripped up when

it comes to these seemingly contradictory passages in the bible so here's what regeneration means in christianity to be regenerated simply means to be reborn to be reborn and and and if you don't have a church background you might say that sounds really weird all right like i've i've been born like how do i be reborn and there were even guys in the bible who had the same questions listen to this interaction between jesus and nicodemus who was a pharisee and the teacher of the law and this is in john chapter 3 verses 3 through 6. this is what he says jesus answered him truly truly

i say to you unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of god nicodemus said to him how can a man be born when he is old can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born jesus answered truly truly i say to you unless one is born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of god that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit and so nicodemus here a bible teacher asked jesus what do i need to know for salvation what do i need to know

and jesus answers him you need to be reborn you need to be born again nicodemus not really you know getting the subtlety of the metaphor here it's just kind of like i don't know if my mom's gonna be okay with that like i'm a grown man i'm not crawling back up in there like it's just gonna be awkward and he's getting at this then jesus just kind of lays it out no no no you were born physically but you also need to be born spiritually you were born physically but you also need to be born spiritually paul echoes this metaphor in ephesians 2 and also

in colossians 2 when he says people who are not christians are physically alive but spiritually dead they're physically alive they've been born of water essentially born of flesh but they're spiritually dead they've not been born of the spirit of god yet the christian is someone who is physically alive and also spiritually alive they are born again they experience a new birth this new birth is what causes as the bible teaches us the new heart the new heart your new desires your new appetite your new affections your new worship it's what gives you the heart to be able to live out the christian life because before

you when you were physically alive but spiritually dead you did not want to pray to god you did not want to serve god you did not want to study god's word and meditate on it and just breathe it in and just have all of it in your mind and know it in order to abide in christ you didn't want to do any of those things it wasn't until you were reborn as a christian and god gives you a new heart to where then that new heart gives you these new desires i now want to serve god i now want to pray to god and communicate

with him i now want to be able to serve and look around and see the needs around me because of what god has done for me i want to be able to go and do that for others it's this new heart that he gives us and the bible teaches this all throughout we see this in in the old testament where the bible is teaching this idea of justification and also regeneration we see this in jeremiah and ezekiel listen to jeremiah 24 7 says this this is god speaking i will give them a heart who's who's giving the heart here god is who's receiving it we

are all right who's the active agent of salvation god is who's the recipient passive active or passive participation here is uh so we're receiving this i will give them a heart to know that i am the lord how do we know that god is who god is it's because he's given us the ability to know that he's given us a new heart and they shall be my people and i will be their god for they shall return to me with their whole heart can they return to me without the new heart that i give them no but when i give them a new heart they

will know that i am the lord they will know that i am their shepherd they will then return to me they will come to me they will now be able to repent and turn and come and trust and believe and and follow me as i command them we see this in ezekiel 36 26-27 as well he says this and i will give you a new heart god again to his people i will give you a new heart and a new spirit i will put within you regeneration the god's work in us and i will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you

a heart of flesh and i will put my spirit within you and cause you this is this is so good such good news for us the heart that he's giving us is the heart that's causing you to obey him you don't have to muster it up it's causing you it's giving you new affections new desires i want to pray he commands me to pray he gives me a new heart that new heart now makes me want to pray to him guess what i'm going to pray to him i'm going to read his word i'm going to study i'm going to do those things are we

going to stumble through it yes are there going to be days when we choose not to of course but he gives us this new heart that is the deepest level of desire for us that in that moment when we really get serious with our own lives and ask the question what do i really want out of life the christian whom god has given a new heart and a new desire is going to be one that when they ask that question they say i want to please god i want to worship god i want to be for jesus i want to serve jesus i want to

love jesus i want to read about jesus i want to do anything i can for jesus that's what that heart is going to spring out of you cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules because we're sinners man we have a hard heart a heart that is is of stone is the metaphor here that type of heart is rebellious and obstinate and foolish and disobedient and self-righteous and proud and arrogant and it's separated from god separated from god but jesus takes out the heart of stone and puts in a heart of flesh you're now seeing the same thing that

happens in the great exchange of justification he takes your sins and gives you his righteousness he's now also taking in regeneration he's taking your heart of stone and giving you a heart of flesh giving you a new spiritually alive heart that is bent towards jesus not away from jesus that's what god's doing in us and that's what the idea of regeneration is and this leads to the third point which is that good works are what god does through us good works and so as you build this case justification you're saved by grace alone through faith alone nothing you can do paul's preaching that throughout all

of his gospel letters old testament is preaching that throughout all of its words like you are not saved by anything that you do you're saved by faith alone jesus faith just believing in jesus it's all jesus and as you are saved he then takes out that heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh that new heart that he gives you is is now this new identity that you have this spirit that is wanting to do the work that god is now doing through you which is good works and here's how we're going to read this out with those things in mind james is

now throwing out some just questions for these jewish christians and if you are able to kind of think through the the same scriptures that we've covered over the last few weeks don't just be hearers of the word be doers of the word what he's dealing with are christians or potentially christians who are saying they're christian but don't have lives that match up they're saying they are connected to jesus in the vine but their branches are not bearing fruit and so what james is getting at here is he's starting to ask these questions if someone says he has faith and that faith is genuine they've been

justified and they've been regenerated and they have the new heart can they not have works he's saying that that doesn't work those don't go hand in hand you can't receive a new heart and then not love jesus and not be changed by jesus and not pursue him and not love and pursue those around you with the good news of jesus and not help out the widows and the orphans as he says in james and not be able to look to your neighbors who have needs and just say as we used to say in the south i'll pray for you is that enough when you have

the means and the resources to answer the prayer you're about to pray that's what he's getting at here is you you cannot as a christian say i met jesus and nothing happened i met jesus and nothing changed that's what james is getting at here can that faith save him well if it's not genuine and it's not proving he is saved by the works now that he is committing and doing and walking in then maybe it's actually revealing that the faith is not genuine and that the faith is not real and so what james is getting at here is he's creating a couple more categories for

us there are the obvious categories of those who are like i am anti-jesus i don't love jesus i don't want anything to do with the church i i don't care if you call me a sinner and you put me in that category i want nothing to do with it okay well by your own confession you are in according to our categories of the bible you're a sinner and you're separated from god you have a heart of stone that's just you've categorized yourself you put yourself there i think that person is easier in all honesty to share the good news with i think what james is

pulling out here is to me being now in 15 16 years of full-time ministry i think what james is getting at is the hardest work of evangelism is sharing it with those who think they're saved but they're not and honestly this is what we dealt with a lot in the south but i see the same similarities here in the midwest i really do i see here in the midwest what what james is if you were to put it in two categories spoken faith versus genuine faith spoken faith versus genuine faith yeah i you know what you can essentially say over here is run the run

the phrases was i was baptized when i was six years old my family went to church so i went to church um you know i kind of commit i'm connected to this church here and there i am for jesus i have nothing against jesus i'm a christian and so they're kind of the ceo christians where they go on christmas and easter and and those are the only times that they go they they might go on mother's day to please their mother or you know it's just along those lines of like i'll go and and sort of tolerate it because i don't have anything against it

i'm a christian i was born into this thing no like you're not born into christianity which is why jesus is telling them you need to be reborn you need to be born again you're born the only thing you're born into is sin that's total depravity that's because adam sinned we've all sinned because it passes down from one human to another and so unless you in this room were born or birthed outside of your mother and your father enjoying each other and then i know there's other ways too but you're still born by two humans that were sinners and they contributed their sin to you and

you're born sinful that's just the way it is that's why romans 3 says what it says there's no one who's righteous no one can earn it and even if you tried let's say you're yeah i'm gonna go this law route yeah i'm gonna go i'm gonna go with the over 600 laws in the old testament that god gave to the people that these laws are these standard of righteousness and i'm just going to start checking them off the box and and by the time i'm maybe 73 years old i'm gonna i'm gonna perfect it well congratulations you've got 72 years of imperfection that is still

dealing with your account that you're going to have to speak for when you're standing before him in judgment what james is saying here is that you can't just be a spoken christian and say i am a believer if there is not also proof that follows proof that follows i mean jesus says this echoes this and actually i'll start with paul and then i'll finish with jesus because i think that's a good order paul says this in ephesians 2 8-10 for by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing i just really want you to just nail that home in

your mind this is not your own doing it is the gift of god it's a gift you received it not a result of works so that no one may boast no one can say i earned this i did this i'm awesome god saved me because he saw me as the best possible option to join his team of christianity in order to get this good news out i was the first one picked on the kickball team god's not that's not how he operates he goes to the least of these the most vulnerable the most sinful and he saves them and just snatches them out of the

domain of darkness and transfers them to the kingdom of the beloved son that's colossians 1. that's what he does so that no one may boast the right posture of christian is humility it's humility because we didn't do anything to to earn this or receive this we just trust jesus we're all jesus verse 10 for we are now his workmanship created in christ jesus and what that means to be created in christ jesus is that you are justified declared pardoned and that you are then made new created in christ jesus reborn in the spirit of god created in him saved for good works there's where they

come in for good works which god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them walk in them so you can't say i've been saved through faith and it was not my own doing it's a gift of god not a result of works that no one who may boast and then i did nothing that's not christianity it's not jesus puts it this way john 15 verse 8 and this is in the i mean one of the i know it's all the inspired word of god but this is one of my favorite passages throughout the bible the great abiding scriptures of what it means to be in

jesus and have jesus in us and to be connected to jesus and to have him love you and you love him and what's all working out in that verse 8 of john 15 says this by this this abiding my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and in that bearing fruit what does it do so prove to be my disciples it's not a proving in an earning or keeping the faith because that and then that would be the same thing if works if you have to do works in order to earn salvation if once you receive salvation you're also doing works to keep your

salvation to earn it it's still the same thing that that's that's honestly that's a that's a roman catholic belief that's why we have the protestant reformation was because there was this belief that yes you were justified by god but you also have to have works and as long as you keep doing those works and the penances and the contributions and the hail mary's and all these things as long as you do all those things then you will stay in good standing and that's not the relationship of works the relationship of works is because you are a new creation and you are saved by god you

are going to prove that you are saved by god simply by the fact that in this new heart you're going to bear fruit you're going to bear fruit and that fruit is going to be in step with the spirit of god it's going to be in step with the spirit of god you can't say i'm a christian and not live like jesus james's big idea here is just saying that's impossible and as he even said that's foolish that's foolish all right now he's starting to sound like paul oh you foolish galatians oh now he's saying you foolish ones whoever is within the jewish christians that

have been dispersed as james is writing to he's saying there's some of you who have mixed into the crowd who are foolish which is another way of the bible saying are evil ones you don't know jesus if you are not having a genuine faith that is accompanied by works that prove that you actually are saved it can't just be spoken faith it must be genuine faith so last question i have for you guys as we close it out here what are some good works that we as christians should walk in what are some good works that we as christians should walk in because if if

we're kind of using works as the gauge for whether or not we have genuine faith then what are those works and i'm going to let you discuss those with your community group this week we're not going to talk about them today that's why it's so important to be a part of a community group is because as we preach and proclaim the good news of jesus the accountability of us walking in step is fleshed out in community it's fleshed out in community it's being able to go to one another and be able to say hey i see you out of step with the spirit and i

just want to gently as james pointed out last week of being able to go to one another and to extend mercy and to be able to share truth with one another but doing it in a gentle way so it's fleshed out in community it's fleshed out in encouraging and edifying and and stoking the flame of the fire of the spirit of god in your life as we see you walking in step with the spirit as we see you walking out and proving to be a disciple of his we want to encourage that and fan that into flame and just tell people man i saw jesus

in you and i saw jesus work through you this week in the way that you loved this person in the way that you served this person in the way that you worshipped jesus this week and we encourage that we edify that we're all about that and so justification is the work that god does for you regeneration is the work that god does in you he gives you that new heart and good works is the work that god does through you through you because of those first two points it's by grace alone through faith alone in christ alone that we are here today and it's also

in christ alone that we are his workmanship created in him to do good works that he is prepared beforehand for us to walk in them so let's just meditate on that let's work on that let's do some of that if there's inconsistencies in your life where you're like oh no am i just a spoken faith because i don't i don't see fruits from ask someone ask someone like do you see jesus working in my life because sometimes maybe we just don't see it maybe we're kind of like the naval gazers walking around like woe is me because all i see is my sin but at

the same time like if you're truly in christ and you have a new heart that new heart is going to desire and want to walk in step with the spirit and it's going to bear fruit it's going to bear fruit but if you are in here and you're right now like you know what i just know i just know that i don't have a heart that wants jesus i've just spoken it with my mouth for however long and today the offer on the table is simply this it's to be justified it's to see jesus as the only righteous person who has exchanged your sin for

his righteousness and today you have the opportunity just to trust that believe that and ask for god to give you a new heart that receives salvation and declares you pardoned that's salvation there's no uh like believer's prayer there's no like if it was all based on me literally just reciting for you a prayer and you repeating it and that saving you then we're witches it's just you knowing who jesus is trusting and believing in him and who he is and him forgiving you and giving you a new heart repent of whatever sins are in your life confess those things to him god i'm a sinner

and i'm in need of your son jesus will you save me will you save me if that's an opportunity for you to do that today we're gonna i'm gonna go ahead and invite the band up here before we jump into communion here in a moment but this is an opportunity for you just to do that right now in your own mind your own heart is just to pray to god i'm a sinner in need of a savior will you save me will you forgive me and that's it you believe him and you'll start to see your affection shift and change and be more in love

with jesus than you are anything in this world anything in this world and this also brings me to communion communion is jesus taking all of his work and it comes to a climax at the cross when we talk about that great exchange we're talking about jesus being born of a virgin he's the only one born unlike the rest of us supernatural work of the holy spirit put a baby in mary and jesus was then born without the seed of sin that you and i were born in because of an earthly father jesus born without sin jesus then lives out remember that 73 year old guy

i want to get to earning righteousness jesus from the point of birth does everything in the law perfectly perfectly so that he's declared he's righteous he's the only righteous one and his work is not going around boasting about the fact that he's righteous and that he's awesome and that he's perfect he actually tells people stop telling people about me right now like the time's not here yet he humbles himself to the point of knowing that he has to get that righteousness to us but the only way to get his righteousness to us is by going to the sin and taking our sin and placing it

on him going to the cross and what we celebrate in communion is that work of jesus you are saved by works you're saved by jesus's work not yours and his work culminated at the cross when he laid his life down for you and he took his uh he took the the death penalty do sin and he took it upon himself and god the father looking at jesus poured out his anger and his wrath that was towards you poured it out on jesus and crushed him and put him to death so that that anger and that wrath that god has towards sinners can be absolved and

now all that's left when jesus gives you his righteousness is love and grace and lavishing and inheritance and coheirs with jesus and just eternal life with god the father without any sin without any pain without any anxiety without any of those things that's the great exchange and that's what we celebrate in communion is we remember the fact that he broke his body and he shed his blood so that he could swap our places and then invite us into the family that's what we're celebrating and this fuels us as we remember that that that makes that new heart and you flutter i mean it makes it

give you butterflies i'm all about god i'm all about jesus i'm thank you thank you for what you did for me and that fuels us for the work that he has prepared beforehand for us to walk in this week this week so let's go ahead and stand if you do not have the elements i want you to go ahead and go back to the table and grab them we'll come back and we will partake together as we remember the work of jesus the apostle paul instructing one of his churches in corinth on how to do this this is what he instructed them with as they

were gathered together he said for i received from the lord what i also have delivered to you that the lord jesus on the night when he was betrayed he took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way also he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it do this in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and you drink the cup you're proclaiming you're celebrating

you're declaring you're worshiping the lord's death until he comes so let's remember jesus now in the work that he's done for us and the salvation that he's granted to us let's partake together [Music] i invite you to stand with us this next song we're going to sing some of the lyrics say unstoppable god let your glory go on and on impossible things in your name they shall be done we have the freedom and the rest that is provided to us by the greatest gift that has ever been given to us a new heart we are alive and it is not our works nothing that we

are doing but it is the new heart that is doing everything and so today as we sing as we end our service let's just celebrate that it is all god [Music] [Music] heaven [Music] commanded fear is [Music] impossible things in your name [Music] mercy [Music] the darkness [Music] impossible things then your name is [Music] impossible [Music] nothing shall be impossible your kingdom reigns unstoppable we'll shout your praise forever for jesus [Music] shall be impossible your kingdom reigns unstoppable we'll shout your priest forever jesus nothing shall be impossible your kingdom reigns unstoppable we'll shout your praise forevermore jesus [Music] [Music] let your glory go on and

on possible things shall be done [Music] shall be done [Music] give me a hand to god this morning you