WEBVTT 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:03.680 Today's reading is from several several passages. 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:14.400 So we'll begin with Genesis fifteen, five through six, which says, And he brought him outside and said, Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:17.839 Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:22.480 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:26.000 Next is Genesis 17, 9 through eleven. 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:33.759 And God said to Abraham, As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you, throughout their generations. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:39.119 This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:41.679 Every male among you shall be circumcised. 00:00:41.840 --> 00:00:48.399 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 00:00:49.439 --> 00:00:52.640 And now Romans 4, verses 9 through twelve. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:58.320 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:02.159 For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:03.679 How then was it counted to him? 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:06.319 Was it before or after he had been circumcised? 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:09.519 It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 00:01:09.840 --> 00:01:17.519 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. 00:01:17.760 --> 00:01:36.959 The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised, who are not merely circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 00:01:37.120 --> 00:01:38.000 This is the word of the Lord. 00:01:38.239 --> 00:01:39.359 Please be seated. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:41.280 Thanks for joining us this morning. 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:42.560 My name is James Rathman. 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:44.799 I'm the pastor here at Redemption Church Denver. 00:01:45.040 --> 00:01:49.200 I've got a couple of announcements and then I'll pray before we get into today's text. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:59.519 First off, uh immediately after church today, we have a training for those of you that are in uh that are volunteers for redemption kids. 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:08.400 So if you are a volunteer for Redemption Kids, a current volunteer, or you would like to be a volunteer in the future, stick around after the service today. 00:02:08.479 --> 00:02:14.319 Uh we'll be meeting in the kind of classroom uh off to the left, the overflow room. 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:19.039 Um and uh that'll be from 11 to noon uh in my wife's doing it. 00:02:19.199 --> 00:02:20.560 So it's gonna be very good. 00:02:21.039 --> 00:02:25.520 Uh next is uh we've got a members meeting next Sunday. 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:27.759 It's next Sunday, which is Palm Sunday. 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:30.800 If you're a member of RCD, stick around. 00:02:30.960 --> 00:02:37.599 And we've got a meeting, it's just it should just be an hour from 11 to noon on uh uh the 28th. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:40.000 So next Sunday, members meeting. 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:43.039 If you're a member, then log this in your mind. 00:02:43.199 --> 00:02:46.000 We have a meeting, they're mandatory. 00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:48.960 Whatever that means for human adults. 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:51.360 We're gonna send you to members' jail. 00:02:52.400 --> 00:02:56.719 Uh also, starting this Friday is our next class. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:59.840 It's going to be on biblical manhood and womanhood. 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:13.039 So these are sort of hot button issues of the moment, but what we've noticed is that there's rarely a positive articulation of men and women as real biblical categories. 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:19.919 Oftentimes it's just sort of a negative uh description of like, oh no, look what's happening in our culture. 00:03:20.080 --> 00:03:28.400 But we aren't articulating, here is the beauty that we see in what God has designed for maleness and femaleness. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:33.919 Now, your mind is likely locking into some stereotype of our culture. 00:03:34.080 --> 00:03:37.199 One is that's a terrible thing to be talking about generally. 00:03:37.439 --> 00:03:39.120 We shouldn't be making those distinctions. 00:03:39.199 --> 00:03:41.439 This is just upholding the patriarchy. 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:50.000 Or two, you're fall falling into some stereotype of what you think we're gonna say about biblical masculinity and femininity. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:58.240 And it probably has a masculinity that looks something like John Wayne and a femininity that looks something like uh Mrs. 00:03:58.319 --> 00:03:59.280 Cleaver. 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:01.599 Nice. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:03.280 All right, we're tracking. 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:08.400 Uh, and neither of those categories are what we'll be describing in this class. 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:17.600 And I think it's really important that we sort of give ourselves what the biblical categories for masculinity and femininity really are. 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:24.240 The depth of what they say, but also all of what they don't say uh are very important things to recognize. 00:04:24.399 --> 00:04:27.920 So uh that class will have a kickoff dinner this Friday. 00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:30.800 Uh, if you're interested at all, just take it. 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:36.959 If you see things on the news and you're like, this is so confusing, this conversation around gender, take this class. 00:04:37.120 --> 00:04:38.959 I think it will be so beneficial. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:50.879 This is such an important uh topic for our church and just an opportunity for us to be able to speak well about something that's extremely controversial in our culture, issues of gender and sexuality. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:54.399 Lastly, uh so sign up for the class. 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:55.279 Everybody sign up for the class. 00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:56.639 I'm pitching this like as hard as I can. 00:04:56.720 --> 00:04:58.000 It's gonna be really good. 00:04:58.319 --> 00:05:00.959 Um okay, that's this Friday. 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:14.399 Next, uh, we've uh one of the wonderful things about this year, about 2021, has been seeing so many faces that are coming back into church. 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:25.519 As we've received a lot of good news about uh COVID and the vaccine and with rates declining and that sort of thing, it's been wonderful to see just our church just fill up more. 00:05:25.759 --> 00:05:36.800 Now, one of the things that we did early on with COVID is we laid out these ropes uh to promote social distancing, but they as it turns out they don't do that at all, right? 00:05:38.240 --> 00:05:39.360 Yeah, okay. 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:51.920 Uh because what happens is we've got a lot of people that see each other throughout the week, and what would be great is if they all sat together, and then that would free up more space throughout the auditorium for people to sit in. 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:55.040 So we're kind of recognizing that failure of design. 00:05:55.199 --> 00:06:14.639 So next week we will be removing the ropes uh from the chairs, and we're just asking you to just kind of uh keep in mind to sit with the folks that you are seeing consistently uh and to free up more space in the auditorium to so that folks can find seats easier and um be able to distance as well. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:15.680 Make sense? 00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:17.920 Also, cool. 00:06:18.079 --> 00:06:26.160 Uh also the uh uh next week we're moving communion back up to the front of the uh auditorium. 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:33.600 So we'll have yeah, a lot of communion fronts people as you go. 00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:35.759 That's the theological term for you. 00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:42.639 Uh, when you guys killed the uh Huguenots in uh no, I don't, I'm just rambling. 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:45.040 The uh uh so we're moving communion backwards to the front. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:07:01.680 One of the beautiful pictures that we get of communion is seeing one another take it and seeing us all go to the same table and uh receive the the same, demonstrate the same need for grace and then the same glorious reception of grace in our uh partaking of communion together. 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:04.639 There's just a mutual building up of the body and seeing that. 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:06.639 So we're looking forward to returning to that. 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:13.360 We'll have the cups available, these, you know, Amazon pre-packaged communion, Jeff Bezos special. 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:20.079 And we'll uh also have bread and wine uh for you to uh take the bread and dip the wine into. 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:23.519 So when you come up, whatever you're comfortable with will be available to you. 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:33.199 Um, and uh we'll probably have both forms for for a long time for the foreseeable future to just maintain different comfort levels as well. 00:07:33.439 --> 00:07:35.439 So, yeah, there's some changes coming up. 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:36.319 Sound good? 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:38.560 All right, great. 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:45.040 Uh let's pray, and then we'll get into our texts for today. 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:56.800 Holy Father, we praise you for the glimmer of unity that we get to experience uh on Sunday mornings, Lord. 00:07:56.959 --> 00:08:04.720 That's a picture of your glorious church that will come, that you will unite together on the last day. 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:10.560 Lord, we pray that that that glorious future would just reach back into our present moment. 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:22.240 As we hear your word, would it be like you are in our presence and your light is shining forth uh and that we might soak in it and uh see your beauty and your glory. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:39.840 Lord, I pray that we would see the depth of your mercy and in seeing it in truth that we might be motivated to become a people of worship, Lord, that your name would be glorified as we see you as who you have revealed yourself to be in your word. 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:41.919 Father, we lift this up in Jesus' name. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:42.799 Amen. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:52.799 So we're at this kind of special moment in our move through Genesis, and we've gone through Genesis 15 and we've gone through Genesis 17. 00:08:53.200 --> 00:09:20.639 And those, the interaction of those two passages, Genesis 15 and Genesis 17, becomes central, the key example for Paul's argument of uh why it is that as Christians, we're justified, means we're made right in God's presence just by faith alone, not by any good works, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling. 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:22.000 Somebody should write that down. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:27.759 We're uh just we come to Jesus by faith alone. 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:41.759 And so I thought this is this is one of those moments where if we were going through Romans, we would have to do all of this work to build this background knowledge of what Paul is interacting with in Genesis 15 and 17. 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:43.840 But we've done that background work. 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:45.440 Congratulations, everybody. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:56.799 So let's look at Genesis 15 and 17, which we've now moved through, and we're gonna look at them through the lens that Paul does in Romans chapter 4. 00:09:57.039 --> 00:10:06.879 And he's making this central point that we are justified, we are made righteous in God's presence by faith alone. 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:11.519 And that is not an innovation of the covenant in Christ. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:22.879 That is always and the only way that anyone has been made righteous in God's presence, even stretching back to the father of the chosen people who is Abraham. 00:10:23.120 --> 00:10:27.440 Even Abraham is made righteous by faith alone. 00:10:27.679 --> 00:10:31.759 So we're going to look at how he develops that, and we're gonna look at what it means. 00:10:32.240 --> 00:10:37.519 Our kids have been learning a song uh throughout our series in Genesis. 00:10:37.679 --> 00:10:41.919 It goes like this Father Abraham had many sons, right? 00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:44.879 So that many sons had Father Abraham. 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:46.240 Yeah, you're familiar. 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:49.519 So uh that part all makes sense from where we are. 00:10:49.679 --> 00:11:01.039 We see uh this promise of land and offspring, and Father Abraham has promised these many sons, and it comes to fruition where he has this incredible genetic legacy. 00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:04.000 Uh now here's the crazy part in the song. 00:11:04.159 --> 00:11:07.519 Uh it goes, Father Abraham had many sons. 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:09.440 Many now I'm just the only one singing. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:10.639 Thank you guys. 00:11:12.240 --> 00:11:15.039 Many sons had Father Abraham. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:16.320 Now here's the crazy part. 00:11:16.559 --> 00:11:19.840 I am one of them, and so are you. 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:21.759 How is that true? 00:11:22.080 --> 00:11:37.519 Did all of our kids take a 23 and me before uh they showed up and we we checked it, and it was like, all right, only the Jewish kids on this side and everybody else, and you guys get to sing the Father Abraham song. 00:11:38.320 --> 00:11:42.960 Because God isn't speaking just like metaphorically about sonship. 00:11:43.120 --> 00:11:50.799 When he's talking with Abraham and he's promising him these offspring, he's not like, I'm gonna give you offspring, but they're not gonna be like real offspring, right? 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:52.879 They're gonna, they're not gonna actually come from you. 00:11:53.039 --> 00:12:11.759 In fact, that's the central fear that Abram and Abraham, well, they're the same person, it's kind of a fight club situation, are wrestling through the whole with this whole thing with the with the covenant is will this really be my son from my own loins? 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:23.679 And so why is it that we as Christians, even Gentile Christians, get to sing, Father Abraham? 00:12:23.759 --> 00:12:25.759 He I'm one of his sons. 00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:34.399 Those promises that applied to him and to his offspring, I'm counted in those promises as one of his offspring. 00:12:34.639 --> 00:12:39.360 Why is it that we get to share in the blessing to this one guy? 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:42.399 Well, that's what Paul's interested in demonstrating here. 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:58.320 So we're gonna move through Genesis 15 and see Paul interact with it, and then we're going to move through Genesis 17 and see Paul's interaction with Genesis 17, and it'll answer this question: why can we claim Abram, Abraham as our father? 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:05.279 And why does why can we claim the promises to him as ours by faith in Jesus? 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:18.159 Genesis 15, 5 through 6 says, And he brought him outside, that's God, brings Abram outside, and said, Look toward heaven and number the stars, if you are able to number them. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:22.559 Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. 00:13:23.120 --> 00:13:28.240 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:38.879 Now the fear that Abraham, Abram at that point, was wrestling with was, will my son, will my heir come from my own loins? 00:13:39.519 --> 00:13:47.919 And uh Abraham Abram even says, like, well, it'll just be Eliezer of Damascus, my servant, who will be my heir. 00:13:48.080 --> 00:13:49.759 It certainly won't be my own son. 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:50.799 We're getting too old. 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:51.759 It hasn't happened yet. 00:13:51.840 --> 00:13:55.840 God, you've promised this for a long time now, and we have no sign. 00:13:56.080 --> 00:13:57.919 In fact, it's getting more and more unlikely. 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:01.039 But God brings him outside and he says, Look at the stars. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:04.879 As certain as the stars are fixed in the heavens, so will your offspring be. 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:09.600 As numerous and glorious as they are, so will your offspring be. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:24.399 And then this amazing interaction happens in verse six, where it says, And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:29.919 Abram believed the promise of God, I will have this offspring. 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:37.360 And then God counts that belief and he credits to Abram righteousness. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:41.279 Now let's zero in on that word counted. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:44.480 This is an important word. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:49.440 Uh it's the Greek word log logizami, which probably clears things up for you. 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:52.559 It is it's like our word credited. 00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:58.960 So in your account this past week, you were credited$1,400 from your future children. 00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:02.960 And they were that's funny, come on. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:08.399 And they uh, I mean, I was glad to have it. 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:11.679 They uh okay, so you were credited$1,400. 00:15:11.919 --> 00:15:14.399 That it really took place in your account, you know? 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:16.080 It was credited there. 00:15:16.240 --> 00:15:21.360 So this is God is saying he credited to Abram righteousness. 00:15:21.519 --> 00:15:22.480 It was really there. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:34.960 And also, this term has a relational component, which is where you would uh like, you know, sort of give someone credit, or you you would make a statement about who they are based on something that you've seen them do. 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:44.080 So you would say, oh man, it after a meeting, you turn to someone and say, Hey, I can tell you're really a team player, and I count you as a team player. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:57.039 And God is making that same sort of uh arrangement with Abram here, where he's saying, I see your faith and I am counting you righteous. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:01.919 I see your faith and I'm counting you righteous. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:11.840 Now, part of this means that righteousness and faith are not the same thing. 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:23.039 It's not as though God is seeing Abram's faith and saying, okay, now the way that I'm going to treat faith now is I'm going to, every time that I look at faith, I'm going to think righteousness. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:26.879 And I'm just going to make those terms mean the same thing. 00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:30.000 You know, nobody was really able to be righteous in my sight. 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:36.159 So instead, I'll just start treating this lower bar of faith as though it were righteousness. 00:16:36.320 --> 00:16:38.639 That's not the shape of the transaction here. 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:47.200 The shape of the transaction is I see your faith, and now I'm depositing in your account righteousness. 00:16:47.519 --> 00:16:53.519 You are now righteous, legitimately righteous, in God's sight. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:59.200 Now, God is able to make claims like that, where he's able to declare things. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:03.039 And when he declares them, he's not entertaining some pleasant fiction. 00:17:03.279 --> 00:17:04.720 He makes them a reality. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:10.880 From the very beginning, if we know nothing else about God, it's that when he declares something, then it exists. 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:14.160 Let there be light, and there was light. 00:17:14.319 --> 00:17:19.200 In the same way, he is the basis of all existence. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:26.160 And so when he says, I see your faith, I'm crediting you righteous, Abraham then becomes righteous. 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:30.880 Now, here is what Paul picks up on in Romans 4. 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:40.480 And he uses that very same uh Greek word from the Greek translation of the New Testament, of the Old Testament that he would have been using, Logizomai, for counted. 00:17:40.559 --> 00:17:44.079 And he says this in Romans 4, 4 through 5, interpreting this passage. 00:17:44.319 --> 00:17:51.440 He says, Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift, but as his due. 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:53.279 Okay, so we'll consider that. 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:54.960 It's a simple point that he's making. 00:17:55.119 --> 00:18:05.359 To the one who does a job, uh, it's not like you you finish your job and at the end your boss walks up to you and he's like, hey, I got something special for you just for me. 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:13.119 And lays it down, and you're like, oh, great, it's gonna be like tickets to the corporate box at the Rockies game or something. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:15.920 And then you realize, oh, this is just like my paycheck. 00:18:16.000 --> 00:18:17.440 This is not a gift. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:20.319 This is this is just what I earned. 00:18:20.400 --> 00:18:21.519 This is what I'm due. 00:18:21.759 --> 00:18:24.240 I've received no gift here. 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:26.960 So Paul is making a distinction. 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:36.880 He says, look, to one who works, his wages are not counted, logizumai, credited, as a gift, but as his due. 00:18:37.359 --> 00:18:39.200 Now listen to this sentence. 00:18:39.359 --> 00:18:52.559 This is one of those sentences where I I wouldn't have the guts to say it if it weren't in the Bible, because it's so counter to our understanding of the way any relationship could ever work. 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:53.359 Listen to this. 00:18:53.440 --> 00:19:09.920 He says, unto the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:15.920 Saying that Abram is ungodly. 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:20.079 He's unrighteous in himself. 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:24.640 But he believes this promise of God. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:31.440 I will give you land and offspring, and your offspring will be a blessing to the whole world. 00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:34.480 And Abram believes that promise. 00:19:34.640 --> 00:19:35.519 That's all he does. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:38.160 God says it and he says, I believe you. 00:19:38.559 --> 00:19:39.759 I believe you. 00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:44.400 And God credits to Abram righteousness. 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:49.680 He treats Abram as though he were godly. 00:19:51.920 --> 00:20:06.720 Now becoming righteous before God is kind of language that's a little difficult for us, I think, to wrap our minds around. 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:18.720 Because what I'm describing here is the most fundamental problem that every human faces is our sinful standing before the Lord. 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:33.599 That's the fundamental problem of all humanity, that we stand before the God, and when we stand before him, we stand in unrighteousness, which means we stand before his just condemnation. 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:39.440 Now, I'm using a bunch of categories that just feel archaic. 00:20:40.079 --> 00:20:57.200 I think there are things that when we move through the normal course of our lives, we don't feel or experience things like justification or condemnation or uh, you know, this idea of gaining a righteousness to hold before the Lord. 00:20:57.359 --> 00:21:01.920 Those just aren't really the metaphors that our culture operates in. 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:05.279 Now, I'm not saying that these things aren't true, they are true. 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:09.119 Our culture is the one that has shifted its metaphors wrongly. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:24.319 The Bible speaks of righteousness before God as your most fundamental problem, your deepest need in all of humanity is that you would be righteous before your creator. 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:42.559 And it speaks as though when you gain that, you gain relationship with God, connection to the highest ideal in all of existence, uh relationship with someone who is both personal and absolute categories that we just don't have. 00:21:43.279 --> 00:21:48.400 But for most of us, our kind of assumption about the way the world works. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:59.680 And if you just talk with people and uh you talk with your coworkers and you try and understand like what are the driving factors, and you just listen to our language, we don't we aren't talking. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:04.559 As though, like, oh no, I'm just really struggling with unrighteousness right now. 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:13.839 Instead, we talk in terms of our highest calling is an inner sense of psychological well-being. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:15.920 Does that make sense? 00:22:16.400 --> 00:22:29.599 Our highest calling as a culture, the best thing that you can acquire to result in a meaningful life is if you in yourself could gain an inner sense of psychological well-being. 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:32.799 We don't typically talk in terms of morality anymore. 00:22:32.880 --> 00:22:35.920 That seems like an archaic, oppressive sort of category. 00:22:36.079 --> 00:22:38.400 Instead, we talk in terms of health. 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:43.200 Health has become sort of the grand metaphor for the whole human experience. 00:22:46.640 --> 00:22:52.880 And I'm talking about these things negatively, but I don't want you to filter them as just like now it can no longer use the term mental health. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:53.839 You can. 00:22:54.480 --> 00:23:07.519 But I want us to hear through that this fundamental assumption that what makes a meaningful life, what makes a person uh, what makes a life that is worth living? 00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:12.160 It is an inner sense of psychological well-being. 00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:16.000 That's something that takes place completely internally. 00:23:16.400 --> 00:23:28.000 It's something that theoretically, a human, given the right stimulus from the outside, uh, would be able to receive just even through a solution such as technology. 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:39.440 But the issue that the Bible says we face is not just one of our inner sense of psychological well-being. 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:46.720 Instead, the Bible describes us as creatures that are fundamentally relational. 00:23:48.160 --> 00:23:55.759 And our relationships matter not just in terms of how they affect our inner psychological well-being. 00:23:56.000 --> 00:24:02.720 Our relationships in and of themselves matter in the world. 00:24:03.359 --> 00:24:12.480 And especially, most especially, our relationship to our Creator, to God. 00:24:13.759 --> 00:24:30.960 And so a lot of times I think our culture is trapped in this moment where we're trying to solve solutions in a completely psychological framework where we're we're turned so inward on ourselves, and we think that there's no hope to gain. 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:38.960 I think this is why so many are driven to just a total hopelessness and despair. 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:42.480 It's a misunderstanding of the problem that they're experiencing. 00:24:42.720 --> 00:24:48.720 It's one that's located completely internally, and therefore the solution needs to be found completely internally. 00:24:49.200 --> 00:24:54.240 Whereas the reality of the problem that the Bible describes is a relational one. 00:24:54.880 --> 00:25:04.000 You were a creature made by a creator, and you are relating to that creator wrongly. 00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:12.319 And of course, that manifests itself in an inner tension, an unpleasant, you know, not well-being internally. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:16.480 But the not well-being internally is symptomatic. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:18.720 It's not the problem itself. 00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:21.680 The problem itself is out there. 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:27.920 And so we're trying to treat an out there problem as though it's just an in-here problem. 00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:48.480 And the Bible is calling us to reframe your understanding of what makes for a meaningful life and rediscover the relationality of what makes for a meaningful life, especially, especially in terms of your relationship to your creator. 00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:52.240 You are not an independent being. 00:25:53.119 --> 00:25:58.559 You are a dependent being made by a God. 00:25:59.519 --> 00:26:03.200 And so, what is our real problem? 00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:15.759 Our real problem is that we have become alienated by our rebellion and sin from God, our creator. 00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:26.720 And when we become alienated from our creator who designed us and tells us who we are and gives to us our identity, then we lose our identities. 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:45.359 And the only metric that we have to discern to discern meaning or not is an inner sense of psychological well-being, which is a recipe for a culture that does not understand sacrificial love. 00:26:46.319 --> 00:26:49.440 There's no category for sacrificial love. 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:55.920 And yet, that is precisely the good news that we see in Scripture. 00:26:56.400 --> 00:27:02.319 Love manifests itself most deeply in laying down yourself for your friends. 00:27:02.960 --> 00:27:10.160 We would say something like: love manifests itself most deeply in making sure that no one ever has to lay anything down for you. 00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:18.799 Or the only real manifestation of love is, I lost the other one. 00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:20.240 Sorry, I thought I had two. 00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:26.720 It's okay, it happens, you guys, is what it would have been nice for you to say. 00:27:36.799 --> 00:27:39.279 Regain this category of righteousness. 00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:47.680 And what it's what's happening there is you're actually rediscovering the truth of the psychological problems that you're facing. 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:51.680 We're meant to be related to God. 00:27:52.960 --> 00:27:57.200 Our biggest problem is relational between him. 00:27:58.319 --> 00:28:04.400 And the problem is that we stand before him in unrighteousness, casting him off. 00:28:07.440 --> 00:28:11.279 So God is saying, now where did this cast off first take place? 00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:12.880 It took place in the garden, right? 00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:14.559 Between Adam and Eve. 00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:19.599 And God had one prohibition in a garden full of yeses, there was one no. 00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:22.160 And the no was do not eat from this tree. 00:28:22.319 --> 00:28:25.440 And Eve is deceived and then passes the fruit on to Adam. 00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:36.400 And Adam uh uh doesn't defend his his wife, but instead takes the fruit in rebellion against God, and he uh falls into sin. 00:28:36.480 --> 00:28:39.759 And what enters the world as a result of that sin is death. 00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:46.559 And what is death, but our ultimate alienation from everyone and our creator God. 00:28:47.359 --> 00:28:58.559 And so that death enters in because of their unrighteousness before the Lord, because of their rebellion, saying, I will not treat you as a creator God. 00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:09.039 Instead, I will treat myself as an autonomous being, and I will do that which seems to me to promote an inner sense of psychological well-being. 00:29:09.200 --> 00:29:15.440 That's what Adam and Eve would have said if they were talking in our cultural terms. 00:29:16.720 --> 00:29:18.799 And so they eat the fruit. 00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:38.640 But God says to Abram, because of your faith in my promise, I'm going to treat you like you're righteous, as though the fruit was never eaten. 00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:43.279 And look at the shape of these promises. 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:46.160 Listen to this in Genesis 1.28. 00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:49.519 This was the initial sort of promise. 00:29:49.759 --> 00:29:51.440 It's a blessing and it's a command. 00:29:51.519 --> 00:29:53.680 They're the same thing when we have a good God. 00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:54.559 Did you get that? 00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:55.920 Somebody should write that down. 00:29:56.079 --> 00:29:59.279 A blessing and a command are the same thing when you have a good God. 00:29:59.839 --> 00:30:00.480 Right? 00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:04.160 So it says in Genesis 1.28, and God blessed them. 00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:08.799 He blessed them, and then he the you listen to the blessing and it's a command. 00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:20.240 And said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. 00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:24.160 Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. 00:30:24.240 --> 00:30:26.160 Do you hear what the blessing is? 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:29.759 It's land and offspring. 00:30:31.519 --> 00:30:33.359 It's the same blessing. 00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:38.960 It's this the shape of the same blessing that Abram is given here. 00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:49.039 It's a blessing of land and offspring, that you will be fruitful on the earth, that humanity will not be something that depletes the world, but it will be something that is of benefit to the world. 00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:53.279 And the more of humans that there are, the better. 00:30:53.599 --> 00:30:54.799 And that's the command. 00:30:55.200 --> 00:31:08.640 God is saying this creative endeavor that I have set out to start, you continue doing and you be fruitful and you multiply in it, you make offspring and you take the land, and it's good for the world when that happens. 00:31:08.880 --> 00:31:15.680 But then sin enters the world and this blessing becomes corrupted in its expression. 00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:27.920 By faith alone, God is saying to Abram, I am going to treat you just like I treated Adam and Eve before the fall. 00:31:28.480 --> 00:31:40.160 When they stood perfectly sinless before me, and I I promised to them land and offspring, I'm going to do precisely the same thing for you. 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:55.519 By faith alone, you will be treat, you will be treated as perfectly righteous, which means Abram, ungodly as he is, and we've seen that, we've seen his ungodliness, we'll see it again. 00:31:55.759 --> 00:32:05.440 Ungodly as Abram is, he is able by faith alone to trust completely in the promises of God and be counted as righteous. 00:32:05.599 --> 00:32:08.559 He can stand before God and hear this. 00:32:09.119 --> 00:32:12.319 I am naked and unashamed. 00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:18.000 Naked and unashamed before the Lord. 00:32:19.440 --> 00:32:25.920 In a culture, once we've gotten rid of God, I think our greatest desire is to be able to stand naked and unashamed just before ourselves. 00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:28.319 We're unable to do that. 00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:39.119 And that's because the only thing that can remove our shame, the true source of our shame, isn't ourselves. 00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:46.640 The true source of our shame is the reality of our unrighteousness before the Lord. 00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:48.799 It's a relational construct. 00:32:53.440 --> 00:33:08.079 So God is saying to Abram, and what Paul points out, the one who believes in him, who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness. 00:33:08.400 --> 00:33:13.680 Just believing that God does the work to make you right in his presence. 00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:17.680 And then God makes you right in his presence. 00:33:19.519 --> 00:33:22.319 Now, let's look at Genesis 17. 00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:32.799 In Genesis 17, it seems as though there's some sort of condition placed upon this promise, but Paul is clear and it matters the order. 00:33:32.960 --> 00:33:43.119 In Genesis 17, 10 through 11, he says, God says to Abram, Abraham, now, this is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you. 00:33:43.279 --> 00:33:45.440 Every male among you shall be circumcised. 00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:52.079 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 00:33:52.720 --> 00:34:01.119 So we looked at this last week and we saw this generational promise that's extended by God in the sign of the covenant, which is circumcision. 00:34:01.359 --> 00:34:11.840 And it passes down to Abram's offspring, and it becomes a boundary marker for the covenant people who hold the promise of God. 00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:19.599 God's promise is particular, and it is to these, to this one man, Abraham, and his offspring. 00:34:19.760 --> 00:34:28.079 It is a particular sort of genetic function, and it's marked by the sign of the covenant, which is circumcision. 00:34:28.400 --> 00:34:49.119 But what happens over time is circumcision at this point becomes a stand-in for the development, the cultural development of God's people, which God will provide the terms of himself, as he rescues them out of Egypt, and then he draws them to Mount Sinai and he delivers to them the Ten Commandments. 00:34:49.280 --> 00:34:56.800 And then out of the Ten Commandments, he describes a pattern of government and a pattern of worship and a moral pattern that should guide their lives. 00:34:56.960 --> 00:35:02.480 And so he develops a culture of what he's of what his people will look like. 00:35:02.559 --> 00:35:10.639 That's uh uh uh uh governmental, uh moral, and uh cultic is the word. 00:35:10.719 --> 00:35:12.800 It has particular religious practices. 00:35:14.320 --> 00:35:21.280 And in this, uh what happens is a reinterpretation. 00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:29.119 Turns out I can't hold this with my left hand, sorry, is a reinterpretation of the covenant sign throughout that process. 00:35:29.280 --> 00:35:33.599 And people start to understand it as these are not markers. 00:35:34.400 --> 00:35:42.480 These are these are not markers of those who claim faith in the Lord and therefore are counted righteous by God by faith alone. 00:35:42.719 --> 00:35:52.719 Instead, they become reinterpreted as the tools that God gives us in order to make ourselves righteous before Him. 00:35:53.280 --> 00:36:01.280 And so circumcision starts to be treated as uh as this means of making yourself righteous before the Lord. 00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:11.920 The law that circumcision is sort of working as a synecdoche for, as working, I mean, that's a good word to use, really, right? 00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:14.320 Um uh okay. 00:36:15.519 --> 00:36:17.119 I feel so alone up here. 00:36:17.360 --> 00:36:41.280 The uh as a stand-in for uh the circumcision is for the whole law, and it's interpreted as what God has provided for us here are not signs and seals, but what God provided for us in circumcision is the way to prove ourselves righteous before Him. 00:36:42.159 --> 00:36:50.320 Now, what I'm describing there is the pattern of all of our psychology and the pattern of every other religion. 00:36:50.880 --> 00:37:00.159 The pattern of every other religion is I will show you the way of righteousness that if you follow, you will then get to God. 00:37:01.360 --> 00:37:11.119 Even the values that our own culture has, perhaps perhaps the highest value that our cult, the highest shared value that our culture has that we could all agree on, is authenticity. 00:37:11.360 --> 00:37:17.119 But even that is something that is a scale, it exists in a hierarchy where you're more or less authentic. 00:37:17.199 --> 00:37:21.840 And the goal is to be absolutely 100% authentic. 00:37:22.079 --> 00:37:28.800 But even that is this moral framework that you must live up to in order to attain true righteousness. 00:37:29.039 --> 00:37:32.480 Even that is just a work that you're called to. 00:37:33.039 --> 00:37:43.360 And so this is uh the what God has given as a gift has been has become used as a means to justify ourselves. 00:37:43.519 --> 00:37:52.639 And what is beneath the quest for self-justification, we no longer depend on God to save us. 00:37:53.360 --> 00:38:00.159 Instead, when we are righteous, God is put in our debt and he owes us. 00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:17.119 We are trying to transform our relationship with God from one of grace that we receive, in which he is due our just our worship alone, to one of a debt in which he owes us. 00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:21.039 And then who's really in charge in that type of relationship? 00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:23.440 We are, once again. 00:38:23.760 --> 00:38:40.639 And so we take these gifts that God has given us as he's showing us the uh appropriate way for a human creature to live in the world, he's calling us towards our true identity, towards our true created utility. 00:38:41.760 --> 00:38:48.159 And instead, we're taking those things and say, if we live like this, then you owe us. 00:38:49.119 --> 00:38:52.000 And you are the one who is now in our debt. 00:38:56.559 --> 00:39:02.000 Now, what matters here to see that that is not what circumcision stood for. 00:39:02.320 --> 00:39:08.000 It was not a means of putting God in our debt, it was not uh a work of righteousness. 00:39:09.280 --> 00:39:19.039 What's critical is this simple reality that we know really well because we've been in Genesis 15 and 17 lately, and we can count. 00:39:19.360 --> 00:39:23.360 We know that when you count, 15 comes before 17. 00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:27.679 And that's exactly the part, the point that Paul makes here. 00:39:28.320 --> 00:39:31.440 He says this in Romans 4, verses 9 through 10. 00:39:33.199 --> 00:39:38.960 Is this blessing, and the blessing that he's referring to is righteousness by faith? 00:39:40.079 --> 00:39:46.159 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised? 00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:48.800 Now, what's baked into that question? 00:39:49.119 --> 00:40:00.960 Is this blessing then only for those who adhere to the law, or is it also, is it also possible that God justifies the ungodly? 00:40:02.800 --> 00:40:07.360 For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 00:40:07.599 --> 00:40:09.039 How then was it counted to him? 00:40:09.199 --> 00:40:10.719 Meaning in what condition was he in? 00:40:10.880 --> 00:40:14.079 Was it before or after he had been circumcised? 00:40:14.320 --> 00:40:18.400 It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 00:40:18.639 --> 00:40:21.920 Do you see this simple point that Paul was making? 00:40:22.239 --> 00:40:27.840 It's a point that we often miss and can sometimes not carry much weight with us because it's such a matter of fact. 00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:34.239 It's saying that there are things that matter in time and space, and those things matter theologically. 00:40:34.559 --> 00:40:56.800 But what's being said here is it was after Abram was counted righteous by faith alone that he was given this sign of circumcision, which means the sign of circumcision played no role in justifying him. 00:40:57.920 --> 00:41:02.000 What is it that made him righteous before God? 00:41:02.639 --> 00:41:08.639 It was his faith in God's promise to make him righteous. 00:41:10.480 --> 00:41:16.239 It's his faith in the promise of God that justifies him. 00:41:17.599 --> 00:41:30.320 Continuing on, Romans 4, 11, the first part of that verse, he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. 00:41:30.559 --> 00:41:43.920 Paul, in just seeing this breakthrough understanding of look, it's righteousness by faith, and it's always been that way, and I can show it because Abram was justified even before he received the work of circumcision. 00:41:44.079 --> 00:41:45.840 And look at the way that it's described. 00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:49.119 He received the sign of circumcision. 00:41:49.360 --> 00:41:51.440 Now, a couple of points there. 00:41:51.920 --> 00:41:57.280 This is not something that Abram conjured up, or Abraham, that's just a tough thing. 00:41:57.440 --> 00:42:00.239 Abraham conjured up to give back to God. 00:42:00.400 --> 00:42:04.960 This is something that he receives as a sign from God. 00:42:05.519 --> 00:42:08.079 And he's receiving the sign. 00:42:09.519 --> 00:42:12.079 He's not receiving the thing itself. 00:42:13.119 --> 00:42:15.119 A sign is not the thing itself. 00:42:15.280 --> 00:42:26.159 A sign is not righteousness, but this is the sign, it's an accommodation that God gave to Abraham to mark you are righteous by faith. 00:42:26.239 --> 00:42:27.920 And that is what that sign means. 00:42:28.079 --> 00:42:43.199 It is an extension of this offer of total and sheer grace, something that comes completely from God, and our job is merely to receive it, something that we are 100% on the receiving end of. 00:42:43.920 --> 00:42:52.079 And it is a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. 00:42:52.400 --> 00:43:00.159