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Hey, Salt Company, Milwaukee. Wow, this is awesome. I'm excited to be here. I like this little thing I can walk out on. We don't have one of these at Doxa, so I like this. Hey, a couple things. One, you guys should come to that dance because if you get to see Micah Hales dance, it's gonna be hilarious, okay? So you're gonna want to make it to that. Um, but guys, we're excited to be here. So, like Micah said, my name's Chris, and I'm the Salt Company Director in Madison, Wisconsin. I've got some of the some of the boys from Madison right here who came with me. And uh it's just before we get in the message, I just want to say it's been so fun to see uh God work in Milwaukee kind of from afar. I mean, I got to hear about I was here for your first preview service um when you guys did that. And so to get to come back now and to see a group of students who are bought in living on mission on their campus in their city is an incredible thing. And you guys have an awesome SOP director. I don't know where you just went, but right there, guys, that guy is awesome. He loves you. You have an awesome associate soft director, where Mac is right here. Uh, you guys have an awesome staff who love you and who are giving their lives to help you love and follow Jesus. Can you just like honor them? Just give them some love, give them something. Um, so what a cool thing that God is doing here in Milwaukee, and just so so much love from Madison for you guys. People there are excited about what God is doing here. So here's what I want to start tonight. Um, there was a there was a Christian pastor and theologian named A. W. Tozer who has this famous quote. And the quote is that what comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. And I think that's a great quote. And I think that is probably true, right? It makes a lot of sense. What comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you. And if that's true, I think that what might be the second most important thing about you and about me is what comes into our mind when we think about what God thinks about us. The most important thing about us is what comes into our mind when we think about God. I think the second most important thing about us is what comes into your mind when you think about what God thinks about you. So I'll company in Milwaukee. I want to start out tonight by asking you this question. And this question is, what do you think that God thinks about you? And I'm not talking about like in a big philosophical meta sense. I'm talking about in your life. Insert your name, think about the things that you've done right now. God is real, he's in heaven, he has a mind, he has thoughts, and I'm asking you, what do you think that God's thoughts are about you? Do you know? That question might sound a little weird at first, but let me just explain a little bit of my story to maybe help you see where I'm coming from. So I'm from the great state of North Carolina, moved here about two years ago to I think the greater state of Wisconsin. Come on, somebody. There you go. Let's go. Hey, I became a Packers fan this year, so I figured if I'm paying taxes here, I'm in. Let's go. Go, Badgers, Packers, and what do you got, Milwaukee? Marquettes and stuff like that. So go them too. Okay. Um, so here's a little bit of my story. I lost them. Stay with me, stay with me. Uh, a little bit of my story. Became a Christian when I was in high school. I didn't grow up in a Christian family. Um, my parents ended up getting divorced when I was 13 years old through that. My dad started going to this church. He got saved. He told me, he said, Chris, there's a rock band at this church. Really, he just meant they played electric guitars at church. I'd never even heard of a church doing that. So I went, I heard the gospel, and I gave my life to Jesus. And God started doing this work in my life as a teenager. I fell in love with Jesus. My life was being transformed. It was awesome. Um, but here was a problem. I didn't grow up in a Christian home. And so while I was starting to follow Jesus, I honestly I just had a lot of sin in my life. Um, I had a lot of things that I grew up doing that that I didn't just I wasn't able to automatically stop doing. I'll tell you more about that as we get into the message. But but but I had this kind of gap in my faith where where I believed that Jesus came and died on the cross for my sins and rose from the dead. I believed that because of that I was going to heaven, but I had all this shame for sin that was still in my life. And over time I started to think, man, you know, I think I'm probably going to heaven one day, but if I'm honest, when I think about what God thinks about me, I feel like He is disappointed at best and disgusted at worst. And so that led to just this shallow faith in my life where I was, okay, I think I'm going to heaven, but I'm not really sure that God wants all that much to do with me in this life because I know the sin that I have, I know the stuff that I am doing and have done. And I and even though like I was trying to fight it, man, I was failing, and and and so I just wasn't sure. Like when I thought about what God thought about me, man, I felt like disappointed at best, disgusted at worst. And so that kind of just had this shallow faith. And maybe that sounds crazy, but you know, I spend a lot of time with Christians, I spend a lot of time with college students, and I've heard some variation of that story over and over again of somebody who says, you know what, I'm a Christian, I know that I'm going to heaven, but if they're honest about what they think God thinks about them, it's disappointed at best and disgusted at worst. Maybe you felt that way before. What do you think God thinks about you? Maybe even you feel that way right now. Maybe when you think about your life and things that you've done, right? Maybe there are things that happened a year ago, maybe there are things that happened to you, maybe there are things that happened last week, last weekend, last night. Um, maybe when you think about your life and you think about God's thoughts towards you, you aren't sure that they are all that good. Maybe that's even led to a disengagement in your faith where you're not sure. Like you're like, I think I'm going to heaven, but I don't really know if God wants all that much to do with me in this life. Or maybe you're not a Christian. Maybe you're here and you're checking this out, and maybe the thing that's kept you from becoming a Christian is you just see like sin and things that are piled up in your own life, and you just think you're like, I'm just not sure that God wants anything to do with me because of that. Well, guys, whichever boat you may find yourself in, tonight I am excited because I get to teach you about an incredibly significant piece of biblical doctrine, uh, a piece of biblical truth that I think is going to set some of you guys free in a radical way. Because that's what it did for me. Tonight, I am excited for what I am going to talk to you about. So you're in this series that Micah started last week on salvation, and last week you studied John chapter 3 and you learned about this condition we have called sin, and that Jesus is the cure, and we have to respond to him. Such an incredible truth. But tonight I want to talk to you about what happens when you get saved. Last week you learned how to be saved. Tonight I want to talk to you what actually happens when you get saved. Because when you give your life to Jesus, listen to me, there is more, there's something that happens that's more than just you getting a ticket into heaven one day. When you put your faith in Jesus, there is a change in your legal standing before God. Okay, when you trust in Jesus, there's a change in your legal standing before God. Say standing. Standing. Standing, okay. Standing, what is that? Standing is how someone regards you, right? My standing in someone's sight is what that person thinks about me. When I ate all the cookies that my wife made, I had a bad standing in her sight because there were no more cookies. You understand the idea? Okay? You're standing. When you get saved, it's more than a ticket into heaven. There's a change in your legal standing before God. And the theological term for this change that happens in your standing before God, when you put your faith in Jesus, is justification. Justification. It's a big word, sounds complicated, it's not that complicated, but that's what we're gonna be talking about tonight. Tonight we're gonna talk about the doctrine of justification. Okay, here's what I want to do tonight. I want to help you see what justification is according to the Bible, and I want to help you see how it happens. And guys, that is really important. It's really important that you understand what we're talking about tonight. It's important for your personal relationship with God. It's also important for you to be able to think rightly about the world. Because there is not one piece of biblical doctrine that has been more attacked, skewed, uh, misconske than justification throughout church history. There's not one piece of biblical doctrine that's been more attacked than this one, and still in the world today, you've got to know what you think about this, you've got to know what the Bible says about this, because this is one of the things that sets like false gospels and cults apart from Christianity. It just is. You're gonna see that as we get into this. But also, this is important for you on a personal level, okay? So I'm gonna teach you what justification is, how it happens according to the Bible, and then we're gonna kind of land with three ways that biblical justification and understanding that should change your life as a follower of Jesus. Okay, that's where we're going. If you have a Bible, you can turn to the book of Galatians. That's where uh we're kind of gonna start. Galatians chapter two. Um I'm gonna pull a lot of scripture in, uh, but I'm gonna kind of root this in this one verse, Galatians chapter 2, verse 16. Okay, if you don't have a Bible, we'll have it on the screens, and and they've got Bibles, I'm sure they'd love to give you a Bible tonight. Micah's pointing and say, Got them in the in the pews in the back. Either one, he says. Perfect. Um, okay. Before we look at this passage, though, I need to kind of help you understand what this word justification actually means. To be justified before someone is to have all of your wrongs toward that person wiped away and made right, and you made right in their eyes, right? If I did someone wrong, but I'm justified before them, that means that, again, my standing before them is restored. And so to be justified before God is exactly that. It's to have all of your wrongs before Him wiped away. So I want to give you kind of a working definition of justification. It'll come up on the screen. Here it is. Here's what justification is when it comes to your relationship with God. It's that when God no longer sees you for your sin and declares you to be totally righteous in his sight. Okay, that's what justification is. Uh now notice, kind of leave that up there for a second if you can. Uh, there's two pieces to that, right? Uh so one piece to justification is God no longer sees you for your sin. Right? That means that your sin is totally forgiven, totally wiped away, totally washed clean. But there's a second part to that definition, and it's that God declares you to be totally righteous in his sight. That's important. To be justified is not just to have the bad things you've done wiped away, it's also to be given something else. If all that we have before God is our bad sin is wiped away, then we are neutral before God. That's not enough. Uh, there's another part of justification, which is actually righteousness being added unto you. It is good, it is righteousness being added unto you. So that's what justification is. Now that's pretty simple, uh, but the rub really comes when it comes to how are we justified before God. How does that actually happen? How is it that our sins are wiped away and that we are credited as righteous, right standing before God? How does that happen? Now, with that definition in mind, and that question, let's look at Galatians chapter 2, verse 16. Here's what the Apostle Paul said. He said, And yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law. Because by the works of the law, no human who will be made will be justified. So what's this saying? Well, the Apostle Paul, who wrote this, is telling us how we're justified before God and how we are not justified before God. He says, We are not justified by works of the law. What does that mean? Works of the law are just anything that we do. It's our moral efforts to make ourselves right in the sight of God. And essentially, Paul's saying, no matter how nice you are, no matter how much money you give away, no matter how many starving children you feed, no matter how many puppies you save from fires or whatever your good deeds are, no matter what you do, there's no amount of obedience to the law, no amount of moral things that you can do to justify yourself in the sight of God. Why? Because we have this condition that Micah taught you about last week called sin. And guys, it runs deep. It runs way deeper than we have a tendency to believe or to think. This condition, sin that we are born with, even though we may try to do good, no matter how much, it runs deeper than our effort. And so, in the sight of a holy God, as long as you spend your life trying to be good enough for him, trying to justify yourself by your own effort in his sight, you will end up exhausted and disappointed. And you need to understand that this is essentially the approach of every other religion in the world outside of Christianity. I mean, think about it, every other monotheistic faith is man's attempt to do some things, to do some works, to do some moral things, to make themselves justified in the sight of some sort of God. Salt Company, you need to understand that Christianity does not work that way. That it is fundamentally different. That's what Paul is telling us here. He's telling us that our justification before God is not based on our works, but on our faith in Jesus Christ, who did the work for us by giving up his life for us on a cross, by dying the death that we deserve to die, and by living a perfectly righteous life that we could never live. And so Paul says that we might be justified by faith in Christ, not by the works of the law. And so when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you aren't just given a ticket into heaven. Your standing before God is changed, and it's that you are fully justified. Now, to understand the significance of this, think back to our definition, okay? Our definition of justification was that when someone, I like that, when someone uh puts is justified is when God no longer sees you for your sin and declares you to be righteous in his sight. Think about the two parts of that. Part one, to be forgiven of your sin. When you put your faith in Jesus, your sin, past, present, and future, is forgiven. What was once red as scarlet, Jesus makes white snow. Forgiven. But not only that, it's deeper than that. There's the second part. When you put your faith in Jesus, the righteousness of Jesus is credited to you. And this is incredible. As I was preparing this, I was like, oh, please God, let them get this. There's another theological term I want you to understand called imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness. And imputed righteousness simply refers to the reality that happens when someone puts their faith in Jesus, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to you, which simply means that when God looks at you, if your faith is in Jesus, his thoughts towards you aren't based on you, they're based on Jesus. And so what does that mean? That means that if you have trust in Jesus, when God thinks of you, think back to that question that we started our time with. When God thinks about you, he doesn't see you for your sin, he sees you for the righteousness of his son, Jesus Christ. Can you imagine how much that would change your life if you like saw that and believed that? I'm getting ahead of myself. We're gonna talk about that in a second. First, imputed righteousness. I want to show you this in the Bible. I meant to have a slide for this, but I forgot. Um, but here's a couple verses, just if you want to write this down. Romans chapter 4, verse 5 says, But to the one who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness. Faith credited, imputed to you for righteousness. Okay, Philippians chapter 3, verse 9, and to be found in him not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. And then 2 Corinthians 5, 21, which says that God made Christ who knew no sin to become sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Guys, this is at the very heart of the gospel. It is justification by faith, that your righteousness is through faith in Christ, and your forgiveness is from that as well. And listen, there is not a single piece, again, of biblical doctrine that Satan, the enemy of God's church and your enemy, has tried to pervert and distort more than justification and by faith and faith alone. Because here's what often happens in the lives of a Christian. Here's what happened to me and what may be happening to some of you right now. What happens is that someone becomes a Christian by faith in Jesus Christ. And they believe by Jesus and by faith in him alone I'm saved, but then over time they start to forget that it was faith by grace that saved them, and they start to think that it's up to their own works and their own ability. And they forget that their justification was never based on what they can do, but on what Jesus has done. And so somewhere in the struggle with sin, Satan tempts them to believe that God's thoughts towards them are based on their sin and not based on the righteousness of Jesus, and they start to give up on their faith. But also in church history, this was at the core of the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s. Uh, this this issue, this may sound simple as I'm teaching it, but this issue was at the core of the Protestant Reformation. Essentially, long story short, um, there was this Catholic priest named Martin Luther. He was a G. Uh, and he he started looking at teachings in the Catholic Church primarily around justification. He started to say, guys, this isn't what the Bible says. Because then and still today, the primary teaching of the Catholic Church on justification was that it's kind of some of what Jesus has done, faith in Jesus, but also some of your own works as well. And so that started the whole Protestant Reformation. And so this has been a major thing. And because of that, I want to help you see that this idea of justification by faith is not just in Galatians 2.6. This runs throughout the thread of the entire New Testament. I came up with a bunch of verses to give you guys, if you want to like snap a picture of these and look at them later, but all throughout Galatians 2.16, Galatians 3.11, Galatians 5.4, Romans 3, 21 through 30, Romans 5.1, Romans 9, 30 through 32, Philippians 3.9, Ephesians 2, 8 through 9. Yeah. So if you guys want to just like snap a picture of that, if you want to read this on your own later, again, what you think about this matters. And you understanding what the Bible says about this matters. We're justified by faith. Now I also want to help you see that this is not just like a boring theology lesson tonight, okay? Maybe even like I said the word doctrine, and some of you guys are like, oh, snoozer. Um but again, this really matters in your life. And I kind of want to spend the rest of our time talking about why that's true. Why does justification by faith, how does that impact your life, particularly as a follower of Jesus? And so here is the main thing, and then we'll kind of build off of this. But it is that if you have trusted in Christ, then that means that when God looks at you, he's not rolling his eyes in disappointment, and he's certainly not turning his face away in disgust. And he's not just tolerating you, and he's not waiting for you to finally get his your act together, but he sees you, he thinks of you in light of the righteousness of his son. And that reality has massive implications in your life for how you live and how you know and follow Jesus. I'm gonna give you three of them, okay? Um I'm gonna give you three of them. And so the first one uh really has to do with kind of a lot of people's first objection when it comes to justification by faith, because a lot of times people hear teaching like this and they're like, okay, wait, does that guy saying this, does that mean that like it just doesn't matter how we live our life? Like, does that mean that we can sin and we can kind of do whatever we want to do and it doesn't really matter because all of it's about faith in Jesus in the first place? And guys, I want you to know the answer to that is no. Um in Romans chapter six, Paul addressed that. Explicitly. And he said, You have died to sin. Why would you want to keep on living in it? He says, No, that's not the right question. And while it's true that we're justified by our faith and not by our works, it's also true that true saving faith will lead us to want to turn from sin. It'll lead us to hate it. It'll lead us to want to get away from it. And if our faith doesn't make us hate sin at all, then we have a reason to wonder is our faith actually legit in the first place? So justification doesn't do that, but what justification does do is it changes how you fight sin as a Christian. Justification by faith doesn't mean that you don't fight sin, but it definitely, fundamentally changes how you fight sin as a follower of Jesus. And here's what it does: because we are justified by faith, we fight sin as friends of God. Because we're justified by faith, we fight sin as friends of God. Now let me explain again by telling you a little bit more of my own story. So I became a Christian in high school on fire for Jesus, but I had this area of sin in my life that I just hated, but it was really hard for me to fight. And it was an addiction that I formed from a young age to internet pornography. And I became a Christian and I was trying to follow God, but man, this thing was just like holding on to me. And that produced all this shit. You're looking at this big pile of trash, and like that trash just like represents your sin. And it represents the stuff that you're struggling with. And does it feel like Jesus is just standing on the other side of that pile of trash? And like you've got to get over this stuff so that you can really be good with him. And I thought about it for a minute, and I was like, yeah, that's actually exactly what I feel like. And they said, I want you to know that that's not biblically true. Because you've been justified by faith, and because the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to you, let me tell you what it's actually like. So it's actually like you're standing there, and there is a pile of trash, there is sin in your life that has to be dealt with, but Jesus isn't on the other side of it. Jesus is standing next to you with his arm around you, and he's looking at it with you. And he's saying, Yeah, son, that is a problem. And yeah, something's got to be done about it. But I'm here with you, and I'm gonna help you fight it. And I'm gonna help you overcome it. And you don't need to do this to earn something from me because I've already done everything to earn you on the cross, and now as we fight this, you do it as my friend who has received my love and received my grace, not as my enemy with something to prove. Justification by faith means that it doesn't mean you don't fight sin, but it changes how you fight sin. You fight sin as friends of God. Romans 8.1 says, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And I don't know who here needs to hear this, but I just I would be willing to bet there are probably a few students here who you have this area of sin in your life, and it feels like Jesus is on the other side. And so you don't really pray all that much, and even as you're here, you're not even sure that you're supposed to be here, and you have these insecurities and these doubts and all these things, and you just need to know that Jesus isn't on the other side of that. Jesus is right there with you, with his arm around you, saying, you know what, let's do something about it together. That addiction, that stuff in that relationship, that substance, whatever it is in your life, because you've been justified by faith, you fight sin as a friend of God. As I was writing this, I was reminded of the lyrics of one of my favorite songs that say this. It says, When Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see him there, who made an end to all my sin. Because this sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free. For God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me. Because you're justified by faith. When Satan tempts you to despair, when Satan tells you that God cannot love you, you get to look upward and see the God who's put an end to all of your sin. And you know that you are counted free. What would it look like for you to fight sin as a friend of God? I want you to talk about that in your connection groups this week. Here's another way that justification by faith should impact you as a follower of Jesus. Because we are justified by faith, we have no room to boast about ourselves. Right? Uh Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 through 9, I referenced it earlier. I want to read it to you. It says, For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God. Not from work so that no one can boast. So that no one can boast. Because if your justification is by the finished work of Jesus Christ and by faith in him, then there is nothing that you or I can do to be proud of ourselves. We didn't earn our right standing with God. Let me ask you, Salt Company, are you a prideful Christian? Because there's a lot of Christians out there who kind of see their faith as something that makes them better than other people. And so when they look at people who don't know Jesus, they look down upon them. And let me just tell you that that is maybe the most delusional person in the world. You know who the most delusional person in the world is? The most delusional person in the world is a Christian who actually thinks that their Christianity makes them better than other people. The core tenet of your faith is you recognizing that you are a bad person who desperately needs saving. Christianity is not about what you have done or about what you can do. And so this should produce a deep humility in us. Right. In fact, um, have you ever wondered like why does it have to be by faith that we're justified? God's God, he could have done this a lot of ways. He could have said, hey, to be justified before me, you go to church, or to be justified before me, you uh love people really well or you give money away or whatever. Why is it by faith? Well, Wayne Grudem, a theologian, has a great expert on this, and he says that because when we get to the point where we look to Jesus as our salvation and as our justification and not to ourselves, that's when we are at the point where we say, God, I am utterly helpless apart from you. Like I cannot do anything without you. I need you, I'm desperate for you, I'm dependent on you. Why are we just by faith? Because this is this is the way that shows us to be truly who we are, which is broken people in the sinful condition, and it shows God to be who he is, which is glorious and a savior and a redeemer and able and capable to save his people. That's why it has to be by faith. And this should produce humility in us.

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SPEAKER_00 29:47

Well, when I when I meet a Christian who's proud of their Christianity in a way that's like, and I'm not talking about proud and like uh I'm loud and proud about Jesus in a good way. That's not, I'm talking about like arrogant. When I meet a Christian like that, it's it's it's obvious. It's okay, there's a clear thing, and this is that you don't really understand who did the work here. You think that you did more here than you really did. No. If you're saved, you're saved because God loves you, God chose you, God died for you, and God orchestrated things in your life to bring you to himself because he loves you. And what should that do? That should free us from boasting. And here's the last thing it should do. Not only should it produce humility in us, but here's our last way justification by faith should change our life, because if we are justified by faith, we ought to surrender our lives fully to our Savior. If this is true, if the gospel is this good, if what Jesus has done for us is this sufficient and this good, then the only rational response is to say, God, you did for me what I could never do for myself. And so you can have all of my life. Like not just a portion, not just a little bit, not just an hour and a week or a few minutes in a day, but you can have everything. Guys, if if we believe this, if we believe that Jesus Christ died the death that we deserve, and that by faith in him we are justified. Man, does it not make sense to say, okay, if that's true, God, you can have this little short life that I have, and you can do whatever you want with it. No reserves, no predeciding what God can and can't do in and through your life. This is what Paul is talking about in Romans chapter 12, verse 1. Here's what that says. He says, Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, for this is your true worship. He says, in view of the mercy of God, in view of how we've been justified, in view of how this is such a big act of grace and love. Give your life as a living sacrifice. What's that look like? That looks like simply you saying, God, whatever you want to do with my life, wherever you want me to go, whatever you want me to be, my life is yours. You did for me what no one else could do. So, Saul Company, this is justification by faith. This is a deep and incredible biblical reality for the people of God. And we talked about a lot tonight, but I want to leave you with just two simple responses that maybe will speak to two different types of people who are in the room here tonight. First, for the Christian in the room, here's what I think you should do with this. Quit trying to earn God's approval. You're already justified. Now live from that truth. You don't need to earn anything. You don't need to earn God's approval. You've been justified, but the question is: will you live from that? Will you fight sin as a friend of God? Will you allow that to humble you and empty you of boasting? Will you fully surrender your life in light of the mercy of God? How will you respond? But you don't have to earn anything. Jesus isn't on the other side of the trash pile. He's standing with you, arm around you, saying, Son, daughter, I'm with you in the fight. Christianity is not about earning. But it's also not opposed to effort. That means fighting our sin takes work, it takes effort. That's true. But you don't have to earn God's favor, it's given to you. Now, what if you're here, maybe you don't have a relationship with God, maybe you're kind of checking this out, came with a friend, wandering off the street, I don't know. However, you got here. Um what do you do with all this? Well, you need to know that apart from faith in Jesus, the bad news is that we cannot be justified inside of a holy God. That's the message of the Bible, no matter how good, how many good things that we do, and this is bad news to our world that doesn't know Jesus. Because again, this means that there can be people who are really nice people, who are really moral people, who are what our world would say is good people, but their goodness isn't enough to save them. Because our sin runs deep in every single one of us. But this is also very freeing news to the person who's not a Christian. Because the invitation from Jesus to you today is this it's to come to Jesus as you are. You don't need to clean yourself up to come to him. You don't come to Jesus once you're clean, you come to Jesus to get clean. And no matter what you've done, no matter where you're at, if you'll come to him tonight by faith, he'll justify you in the sight of God. To be justified, have your sins wiped away and to be credited with the righteousness of Christ. And if you maybe need to do that tonight to come to Jesus, you don't need to like come up here to the front or pray a special prayer with me. That's you simply need to there in your seat acknowledge a few truths. The first one is that there is a God and that you're not Him. The second one is that you have sin in your life that has separated you from that God. And the third one is that God sent his son Jesus to come and die the death you deserve, and he rose from the dead. And if you'll call on Jesus tonight there in your heart to save you, he can take your sin and justify you. He can make an end to all your sin. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free, for God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me. Guys, let's pray and we'll respond and worship. Father, thank you for what you've done for us on the cross. Thank you that it doesn't just get us into heaven, but it changes our standing before you. And maybe there are students here tonight who came in here carrying all sorts of shame, who came in here, and when they're honest about that question, of what does God think when he thinks about me, they've been believing the lie, that you are disappointed at best and disgusted at worst. God, I pray that the reality of their justification by faith in Christ would set them free. And to walk out of his place knowing that if they have faith in you, they are seen in light of the righteousness of your Son. And that they are friends of God. In Jesus' name. Amen.