WEBVTT 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:11.199 So as we are working our way and contemplating our way through Psalm 23, we are now into Psalm 23, verse 3, the second half. 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:14.720 He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:22.239 Now, Proverbs 12, 28 says this in the path of righteousness is life. 00:00:22.879 --> 00:00:25.440 And in its pathway there's no death. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:34.000 So live rightly and live good, do the right thing, and you will avoid despair and destruction. 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:37.119 You'll avoid shame and guilt. 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:39.359 You'll know life, right? 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:40.719 Like incredible, incredible. 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:41.920 Sign me up, right? 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:43.920 I mean, is anybody not signing up for that list? 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:45.679 Like, you know, like sign me up for that. 00:00:45.759 --> 00:00:48.479 I mean, no shame, no guilt, you know, no destruction, no despite that. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:49.359 That's amazing, right? 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:58.399 Like, there's one problem that I have with this, and you have with this, is that we are not always righteous. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:00.640 This presents a pretty big problem. 00:01:00.880 --> 00:01:09.120 The Bible actually says that we are stubborn and we are blind and that we are sinners. 00:01:09.920 --> 00:01:12.159 So, point number one is this. 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:19.840 We can't talk about righteousness without talking about imputation of righteousness. 00:01:20.480 --> 00:01:22.640 Now that sounds like a big word, imputation. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:23.760 It's not really that big of a word. 00:01:23.840 --> 00:01:25.200 We just don't think about it that much, right? 00:01:25.280 --> 00:01:29.359 So imagine your friend Chuck loses his legs. 00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:30.879 They're amputated. 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:33.439 Amputation, the taking away. 00:01:33.920 --> 00:01:44.719 But your friend Chad, by an amazing grace of science, we don't know how it happens, Chad gives his legs to Chuck. 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:47.840 They are imputed onto Chuck. 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:49.840 Amputated, taking away. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:51.200 Amputation. 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:54.400 Imputation, the giving over. 00:01:55.760 --> 00:02:05.120 Now, remember David, who wrote Psalm, he didn't have Jesus' life, he didn't have Jesus' death or resurrection, he didn't have any of Paul's writings to understand Jesus. 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:06.719 He didn't have any of that. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:11.759 So we have to let David lead us to Jesus. 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:16.159 The path of righteousness of life, David speaks of. 00:02:16.240 --> 00:02:18.400 It's gonna take us to Jesus. 00:02:18.879 --> 00:02:22.080 As a young teenager, I became a Christian. 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:28.000 I learned I could be forgiven, I could be absolved, I could be loved, I could be welcomed. 00:02:28.400 --> 00:02:30.800 I mean, this was incredible news to me. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:33.919 At some point in your life, it was incredible news to you. 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:37.759 I mean, I went to DC talk concerts, I was all in. 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:44.240 Wow, worship CDs, like pre-Passion, pre-Maverick City, wow worship CDs. 00:02:44.319 --> 00:02:45.599 Like I had all of them. 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:46.719 I was all in. 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:51.840 And I learned all the rules, I learned all the things I should be doing. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:54.960 And we're talking about good, righteous living. 00:02:55.520 --> 00:02:57.120 That's what we're talking about. 00:02:57.439 --> 00:03:03.439 But very quickly, the grace that welcomed me faded away. 00:03:05.919 --> 00:03:09.520 What I did for God became the way that I understood my faith. 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:11.120 My performance. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:14.479 It actually became the way I understood myself. 00:03:15.599 --> 00:03:19.599 I thought I had to maintain my favor with God. 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:26.479 So what that meant was is when I was successful, I was actually self-righteous. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:29.599 Which is really tiring. 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:34.879 And I lacked any real compassion on my friend Kenny, who couldn't get his act together. 00:03:35.120 --> 00:03:36.319 Poor Kenny. 00:03:36.639 --> 00:03:38.400 Just couldn't quite get it together. 00:03:38.639 --> 00:03:43.039 And I couldn't really have compassion on him because why don't you just get your act together? 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:47.840 And then when I messed up, oh man, then when you mess up, it's even worse. 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:55.680 Because I did something or said something, or I didn't live up to the standard, the thing that I should be doing. 00:03:55.919 --> 00:03:59.840 And then you just begin to frantically wonder what do I need to do? 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:08.319 Like, what do I need to do next, and how much of it do I need to do in order to be back in right standing with God, in order for God to smile on me again. 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:14.400 And some of you know exactly what I'm talking about, this amount of spiritual insecurity and spiritual anxiety. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:22.319 I've yet to learn that the gospel, as Tim Keller says, is both for the non-Christian and for the Christian. 00:04:23.199 --> 00:04:31.120 That grace is the way into the Christian faith, and grace is the way for the Christian. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:34.639 I pulled this definition of imputation. 00:04:34.800 --> 00:04:37.279 So remember Chad's legs onto Chuck. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:41.600 If all this sounds too heady for you, just think about Chad and Chuck. 00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:46.399 So I did it for you, so you don't think that we're just being too intellectual here. 00:04:47.199 --> 00:04:49.120 But here's the definition of imputation. 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:52.240 It's from Westminster Theological Seminary website. 00:04:52.560 --> 00:05:03.519 Imputation is the crediting of Jesus' perfect righteousness to believers by faith for justification. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:11.519 Imputation communicates that believers are made right with God or justified on the basis of the obedience of Christ. 00:05:11.759 --> 00:05:19.759 By Jesus' active obedience, he meets the demands of perfect righteousness God has always required of humanity. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:26.480 By Jesus' passive obedience, he pays the penalty due to humanity on account of sin. 00:05:26.800 --> 00:05:37.439 Additionally, beyond the imputation of Christ's full obedience to believers, imputation may also refer to the counting of believers' sins to Christ as the sin-bearing substitute. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:38.480 That's a lot. 00:05:38.560 --> 00:05:39.680 You can go look it up. 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:42.079 Just think about Chad and Chuck. 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:46.240 Chuck loses his legs, Chad gives his legs. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:54.879 So we can think about it as my sin is given over to Christ on the cross, and his righteousness is given over to me. 00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:56.720 Imputation. 00:05:57.360 --> 00:06:06.000 Point number two is this as Christ is our very righteousness, we don't have to be our own righteousness. 00:06:08.720 --> 00:06:12.639 Now that might be really challenging depending on what church setting you've been in. 00:06:14.079 --> 00:06:15.439 But it's true. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:19.279 Paul explains it simply in 2 Corinthians 5.21. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:21.439 He makes it pretty simple in one verse. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:26.560 For our sake, he made him to be sin. 00:06:27.680 --> 00:06:36.399 So God made Christ to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:42.240 There's a story of imputation in John 1. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:55.759 It's when Jesus first meets Peter, and Jesus shows up and sees him, looks at him, and says, You are Simon, son of John, you will be called Cephas, or Peter, or the rock. 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:59.439 I once worked out next to the rock. 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:02.160 It's a different story. 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:06.399 We are two very different human specimens. 00:07:11.439 --> 00:07:13.839 And so Jesus shows up to Peter and calls him the rock. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:17.360 It'd be like you showing up to me in calling me the rock. 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:20.800 Be like, no, no, no, not at all. 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:22.720 But Jesus shows up to Peter. 00:07:22.879 --> 00:07:28.720 Peter has no resume, no record, and says, you're the rock. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:37.040 It's his imputation because Jesus has deemed Simon something long before he actually was that very thing. 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:43.040 Now at the end of Jesus' life, Peter starts to act like a moron. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:45.360 Does a few things. 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:48.720 Just being a human. 00:07:49.360 --> 00:07:51.279 He denies Jesus three times. 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:54.639 Just selfish, cowardly, not the rock. 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:55.920 Not the rock. 00:07:56.480 --> 00:08:01.839 Then we read in John chapter 21, the disciples have been out fishing. 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:03.279 It's the next morning, they're on shore. 00:08:03.439 --> 00:08:05.279 Jesus then approaches them. 00:08:06.639 --> 00:08:08.319 And can you even imagine this moment? 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:11.680 Because Peter's just denied Jesus three times. 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:23.279 So the shame he'd been carrying, like any of us carry when we don't live up to what we want to be or what we should be called, and we carry shame. 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:27.040 And what was Peter expecting there? 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:29.839 I don't know, maybe to be shamed. 00:08:30.160 --> 00:08:32.159 Or at least to be ignored. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:36.320 But Jesus approaches him, he goes after him. 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:39.840 I mean he simply asks, he asked three times. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:42.879 Simon, do you love me? 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:44.240 Simon, do you love me? 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:45.840 Simon, do you love me? 00:08:47.440 --> 00:08:51.440 Never called him Peter in that little interaction. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:58.080 I mean, to Peter, he was sort of like, hey, call me Peter. 00:08:58.240 --> 00:08:59.759 I'd like to be called, you know. 00:09:00.000 --> 00:09:00.879 What about the rock? 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:02.000 What happened to that? 00:09:02.799 --> 00:09:03.759 He wasn't shaming him. 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:07.519 He was just, it was a way of reminding him with disruptive grace. 00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:08.960 Very disruptive. 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:15.679 That wasn't how you're to live, is what Jesus was calling him to be. 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:19.440 Peter's being called back to who he truly was. 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:24.240 Peter! Don't just act like Simon. 00:09:24.399 --> 00:09:25.279 Act like Peter. 00:09:25.440 --> 00:09:39.039 And then later in the New Testament, when Peter starts to write these letters that we get that circulate through churches and they get bound up into the Bible, Peter begins to even introduce himself as Simon Peter. 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:41.039 He's taken it on himself. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:43.600 He's embraced that for himself. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:50.080 See, we slowly and perfectly become that which he has already deemed us to be. 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:53.440 And it will be slow and it will be imperfect. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:57.919 But it begins with the fact that he deems us before we become it. 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:02.000 Psalm 23 keeps assuming that sheep are stubborn. 00:10:02.720 --> 00:10:14.000 Verse 3 is filled with this language of paths, and it assumes the sheep will be stubborn and blind enough to just keep grazing the same hills until it's just wasteland. 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:15.120 That a sheep would do that. 00:10:15.200 --> 00:10:17.360 Can you imagine behaving in such a way? 00:10:19.519 --> 00:10:25.519 Sheep have to be disrupted by grace and led to paths that are better. 00:10:26.960 --> 00:10:28.000 Just like you and I. 00:10:28.080 --> 00:10:28.960 We have to be disrupted. 00:10:29.039 --> 00:10:30.559 Our lives have to be disrupted. 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:32.799 We have to come to the end of ourselves. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:35.279 And God interrupts us. 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:38.799 God is the actor and we are acted upon, right? 00:10:38.879 --> 00:10:41.360 That's what we keep seeing in Psalm 23 over and over again. 00:10:41.519 --> 00:10:44.080 He is the actor and we are acted upon. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:47.200 This week, Christy sent me this New Yorker cartoon. 00:10:47.360 --> 00:10:50.960 So we here we have perhaps me. 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:51.600 I don't know. 00:10:51.759 --> 00:10:52.559 She sent it to me. 00:10:52.639 --> 00:11:00.399 I don't know what she was communicating on the phone, and I can only presume watching fly fishing videos, because that's what I watch on my phone. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:05.840 And she's doing the dishes, and she says, I don't mind doing the dishes every night. 00:11:06.000 --> 00:11:08.480 It gives me time to deepen my resentment. 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:13.120 So Christy and I are now in counseling about this cartoon. 00:11:13.200 --> 00:11:15.039 We're fleshing it out. 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:18.799 And we've all washed dishes like this. 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:30.720 Resentment toward your husband, resentment toward your wife, your awful boss, your difficult sister, who's still difficult. 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:35.440 And you just wouldn't have thought she could still be difficult, and she is. 00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:39.519 Or that person who was in your life 15 years ago. 00:11:39.600 --> 00:11:40.799 And you still hold resentment. 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:45.919 And you can just do the dishes and be resentful toward Craig or Marsha or whoever it was. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:46.559 I don't know who it was. 00:11:46.639 --> 00:11:47.279 It was somebody. 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:51.360 It was somebody you probably loved, that's for sure, and they did something. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:53.759 Or just resentful to your child. 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:59.440 And you wouldn't have thought you could be resentful to your child when they were four because they just were four. 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:04.480 But now they're 14 or 18 or 24 and they drive you nuts. 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:06.080 And you're resentful of it. 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:12.320 But isn't it so much more freeing when we don't live in resentment? 00:12:12.480 --> 00:12:16.000 When there's some change of heart and we forgive. 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:20.399 And everything's not perfect, but we l at least live in some measure of forgiveness and freedom. 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:31.759 And we can do the dishes and we can have Dave Matthews band, that's what I have on, and have it really loud and just wash the dishes. 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:34.000 Isn't that nice? 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:36.559 So the question is, is how do we change? 00:12:36.799 --> 00:12:39.840 How could you possibly go from resentment to forgiveness? 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:43.360 Or how could you go from any one thing to another thing? 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:45.600 Because I think we want to change. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:48.879 I'd like to be less anxious and trust more. 00:12:49.440 --> 00:12:50.799 I don't like trusting God. 00:12:50.879 --> 00:12:52.240 I would like to trust God more. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:53.840 That would be nice. 00:12:55.120 --> 00:12:59.600 So I'd like to stop washing dishes in one way and like to wash them in a different way. 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:04.080 Here's what theologian Gerhard Forday wrote about change. 00:13:06.639 --> 00:13:22.080 For the point is that the unconditional declaration of justification, the imputation, the flat-out declaration, that which offends and shocks us, so that which shatters all our ambitions for something to do. 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:28.559 That declaration is our death and our life, the new beginning. 00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:34.240 It is the act which recreates, redeems God's creation. 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:41.039 Death, you see, is put in the position of not being able to do anything according to the ways of the world. 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:48.240 The law, religion, the upward climb, with all its plans and schemes, they suddenly stop, come to an end. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:52.639 I, through the law, died to the law that I might live to God. 00:13:53.039 --> 00:13:57.279 Both our vices and our virtues come to a full stop. 00:13:57.679 --> 00:14:02.639 The justification declaration is precisely that, a full stop. 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:06.960 You have died, says Paul. 00:14:07.200 --> 00:14:08.480 It is all over. 00:14:09.759 --> 00:14:15.840 So we try the world or rebellion and it doesn't work. 00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:24.879 And then perhaps we try religion or performance, and it doesn't work. 00:14:25.919 --> 00:14:27.840 Not for matters of the heart. 00:14:28.639 --> 00:14:32.399 Not for justification or wholeness or a sense of identity. 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:37.360 But now we're ready to be done. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:39.120 To die. 00:14:40.639 --> 00:14:42.639 Into God's grace for us. 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:46.960 Life in Christ, not in our performance. 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:50.720 Titus 2, 11 through 14. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:53.519 Great passage about change. 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:54.960 How do we change? 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:56.240 What does it mean to die? 00:14:56.399 --> 00:14:57.519 What does it mean to change? 00:14:57.679 --> 00:15:02.000 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:03.840 Okay, great news, I'm with you. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:09.840 It, so that grace of God, it teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions. 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:13.840 So the grace of God is what teaches us to say no. 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:35.759 The grace of God actually leads us to godliness, into verse 12, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are very own, eager to do what is good. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:39.440 So, people of grace are people of godliness. 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:42.879 It's the way in which we get there. 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:54.399 We are imputed righteousness, deem something we are not, and we are imperfectly, ongoingly, painfully slowly at times, becoming more godly. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:57.120 Point number three is this. 00:15:57.440 --> 00:15:58.720 We'll say it in two different ways. 00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:04.960 Point number three is this your growth in righteousness is inside of your secure belovedness with God. 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:12.559 And that is so relieving if you've been around like a church world that's just about like you change and what you do and you're gonna cause your change. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:17.840 But to know you're already securely beloved with God through Christ, you're already fully righteous. 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:22.639 And now within that, within that, you'll have your growth in righteousness. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:32.480 We could say it this way: our transformation in righteousness is inside of our unwavering white righteous standing in Christ. 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:37.440 So our transformation is inside of our imputation. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:48.639 Twenty years ago when I was in seminary, I had a seminary class, it was a leadership class, like a pastor leader type class, and within the class I had to find a pastor mentor. 00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:54.720 And so I went at the time to a very large, big Baptist church out in Gwenp County. 00:16:54.799 --> 00:16:59.919 There were like 15 pastors on staff, but I figured, you know, like you might as well shoot to the top. 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:01.120 It was 20 years ago. 00:17:01.200 --> 00:17:04.079 I can remember going in the office I worked at at the time. 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:06.079 We only had one computer on the internet. 00:17:06.400 --> 00:17:09.359 Some of y'all remember those days, whole office, one computer. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:18.559 And so you went to the internet computer there in the middle of the office, and I went there and I sat down and I emailed Pastor Larry and I emailed him, hey, I'm taking this class. 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:24.720 You know, could I meet with you, you know, a handful of times through the semester and ask you questions and kind of give him that kind of thing? 00:17:24.799 --> 00:17:30.480 And I really thought to myself, for sure he would not have time for me. 00:17:31.680 --> 00:17:35.680 Because I was not from any sort of impressive family within the church. 00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:42.000 And he probably still remembered the one thing I did at the beach retreat, the high school beach retreat when I was in high school. 00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:48.319 So I just thought, eh, I'll shoot for it, but like he'll pass me down. 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:51.440 But Larry said yes. 00:17:52.079 --> 00:17:55.119 And through that semester, I met with him many times. 00:17:55.359 --> 00:17:59.759 I'd go and meet with him in his office, and I would just ask him tons and tons of questions. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:03.359 And he would answer all of them very incredibly patiently. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:06.559 And he never rushed me out of his office. 00:18:08.319 --> 00:18:09.279 Never rushed me. 00:18:09.920 --> 00:18:12.319 And you know, Baptists love revival weeks. 00:18:12.880 --> 00:18:18.400 They love a good every night of the week, just keep you coming to church revival. 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:20.000 Baptist loving. 00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:26.079 And so he would preach these revival weeks at all these country churches all around where we lived. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:32.799 And he would invite me and say, hey, me and this other pastor, me and this other guy, we're going out to wherever. 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:34.079 Why don't you ride with us? 00:18:34.160 --> 00:18:37.920 We'll grab some barbecue and go do the Baptist revival. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:40.400 And so I'd ride with them. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:47.200 Ride in the car, have dinner, go to the Baptist revival, get saved again. 00:18:47.359 --> 00:18:48.000 No, I'm kidding. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:51.200 Not possible. 00:18:52.079 --> 00:18:54.240 They tried, but it's not possible. 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:00.799 See, I had no I had no resume for this. 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:02.079 That's the point. 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:03.599 I had no resume. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:06.160 I had no resume to be in that car. 00:19:06.319 --> 00:19:08.559 I had no resume to be in that office. 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:09.680 I had no record. 00:19:09.759 --> 00:19:11.039 I had no position. 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:13.279 And you know what has happened? 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:15.759 It's been 20 years. 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:18.240 I'm telling the story. 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:26.640 I'm not as Baptistic as I used to be, but I talk really highly of Pastor Larry. 00:19:27.599 --> 00:19:29.039 Isn't that amazing? 00:19:30.160 --> 00:19:32.720 Because of unmerited favor. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:36.960 That's what unmerited favor does over time. 00:19:37.920 --> 00:19:40.960 Forgiveness, imputation, welcome, love, adoration. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:47.680 God loves you and he likes you without requirement or response needed. 00:19:48.799 --> 00:19:50.640 See, that will change you. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:53.680 And that's why we say this. 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:58.000 We say we never grow beyond the love of Christ, we grow deeper into him. 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:04.640 One of our church's values is growth. 00:20:04.880 --> 00:20:06.640 Here's the paragraph we wrote. 00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:10.000 I can still remember sitting in the room with our leaders, just fleshing out. 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:11.839 How do we word what it means to grow? 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:13.359 What does it mean to grow in grace? 00:20:13.519 --> 00:20:14.720 And here's our wording. 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:15.440 Let me read this. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:17.839 Some of you have members amid through membership, you've heard it. 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:18.960 Let me just remind us. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:31.359 We grow in the grace of God by living more deeply in the great wealth of our beloved identity in Jesus Christ, as we know it through Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:36.160 The Holy Spirit uses this deepening to heal and transform us. 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:46.799 This is a rest from our self-reliant striving, as to know a spiritual growth that occurs only by God's work in our lives. 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:54.640 This growth in grace is a lifelong process filled with imperfection and grace, confession, and peace. 00:20:56.640 --> 00:21:00.880 Author, Pastor Steve Brown, he says this about growth. 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:05.519 I remember when I read this, I read it, it's probably been 15 years ago. 00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:08.960 I wrote it on a note card, it's still pinned in the back of my Bible. 00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:11.920 It's how badly I needed these statements. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:20.319 He said this you don't have to get better to get God to love you or to be counted holy in his sight. 00:21:21.519 --> 00:21:26.799 So it's not about your performance, it's about him and Christ alone, is what we see. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:32.480 And then he says this you will get better and you won't be able to help it. 00:21:34.160 --> 00:21:40.400 He just says, Well, just focus on being yourself and live with God, and it'll happen. 00:21:40.799 --> 00:21:44.319 Focus on just be yourself and live with God. 00:21:44.960 --> 00:21:47.200 Walk with him, it'll happen. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:51.759 But you don't have to have that paralysis of navel gazing. 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:57.279 Third thing he says: if you get better, hardly anyone will know. 00:21:58.960 --> 00:21:59.759 Because none of us. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.079 Really know what's in each other's hearts. 00:22:02.319 --> 00:22:09.599 We've gotten pretty good at wearing masks that are virtually indistinguishable from the real thing. 00:22:10.160 --> 00:22:13.440 So we can stop worrying about trying to impress each other. 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:15.279 It's quite freeing. 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:21.599 And the last thing he says is if you do get better, you probably won't know it. 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:28.799 Not only are we good at fooling others, but the Bible says we're pretty good at deceiving ourselves. 00:22:29.440 --> 00:22:30.640 So relax. 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:32.319 God loves you. 00:22:32.559 --> 00:22:34.079 His grace is there for you. 00:22:34.160 --> 00:22:39.440 And Jesus, who is your very righteousness, is calling you to walk with him. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.240 And transformation will take care of itself as you walk with him. 00:22:46.000 --> 00:22:51.680 One more thing, because there were four words at the end of our phrase in Psalm 23.3. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:58.960 He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:07.279 So the last point is this This world, your life and your righteousness is not ultimately about you and your strength. 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:11.039 We can only say for his namesake if all this other stuff is true. 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:15.039 Or else it is for your namesake and by your strength. 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:24.480 But if our change is inside of our beloved identity, if our transformation is inside of our imputation, now all of a sudden it is for his namesake. 00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:36.799 And that's why the story from Genesis to Revelation, by the time we get to Revelation, like we studied when we went through Revelation in the spring, is we're around the throne and we sing for his namesake. 00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:38.960 Isn't this amazing? 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:48.799 This is so relieving and is filled with rest as we realize that we are freed from the exhaustion of forming or maintaining our own righteousness. 00:23:53.680 --> 00:23:58.160 And you're freed from making the whole world revolve around you or be about you. 00:23:59.279 --> 00:24:12.720 And then, and only then, will we walk with him out of delight and have transformations from the heart, a heart that is healing, healed in healing, where change occurs. 00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:22.559 And then we'll sing out of a heart's desire and a heart's gratitude to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:24.000 Let's pray together. 00:24:24.319 --> 00:24:30.319 God, thank you for your grace and mercy that you welcome us into your family as your beloved children. 00:24:31.119 --> 00:24:47.279 And by your same inexhaustible grace, favor upon us, that we know in the imputation of our sin upon the cross and your righteousness, the very righteousness of Christ to us, that we are always yours. 00:24:50.160 --> 00:24:53.759 We are always forgiven, always righteous. 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:57.440 The guilt is gone and the shame is gone. 00:24:58.400 --> 00:25:14.720 Would you help us to rest even more freely in the greatness of Jesus, to walk with you, confess more freely, repent more freely, and to experience a transformation that comes from the heart outward. 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:21.359 May we be people of grace that we might be people of godliness. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:25.359 We pray this for your name's sake. 00:25:25.599 --> 00:25:26.079 Amen.