Where is our faith looking to? Is our faith looking to faith? Are we relying on being saved on the strength of your faith? Faith didn't become flesh and die on the cross for your sins. Jesus did. Faith is just how you receive that, the Savior. Does God intend our faith to be resting on our confidence on our works as we become sanctified and now see all this wonderful fruit of life as our confidence to be on the work that we do and our sanctification? So that what we're confident is now, well, we started with some grace, but now we need to be focused on how we're progressing in the Christian life, because that's what the ground of our salvation is and what we've achieved. That man on the cross, who turned to Jesus, did about one holy thing in his life. He confessed Christ. And Jesus said, you're going to be with me forever. He didn't have time like you and me to enjoy the fruits of that in this life and to grow. And as I'm going to probably make a point a little later in the sermon, I hope as you grow in grace, you're going to find out just how sinful you are and realize none of this. If that's my foundation, I'm going to have a Christian life full of anxiety, and fear, and doubt. I'm not going to have any joy, I'm not going to have any peace, because it's going to be up to me to save myself, right? That's what we're going to think. Let me see if this illustration works for you. How many of you, you know, you've been to flight school? How many of you? Yeah, sorry. There's always supposed to be rhetorical questions, and I know I always throw everybody off of that. Thank you for your engagement, and you're listening. Or college, right? You've been to school, right? And a lot of those, and merit is good, right? Merit is a good thing at the proper time. I want the fittest, fastest fireman coming to my house to pull me out when it's falling on me, okay? So merit has its place, but it can be stressful. Maybe your parents really want something from you, and they send you to an Ivy League, and you've got to perform. Just a lot of anxiety in performing. This stands on me and my grades and how I'm going to do it. But what if the case was you're sent that Ivy League institution on a scholarship paid and bought for by Christ? Now you can just be there to soak the learning up. It's not dependent upon your grades. But of course you're not going to want to get bad grades. Because you're only there in that great institution because someone suffered and died for you, so you're motivated. But your being in that institution isn't dependent upon, well, you don't have to always constantly be looking, how am I doing? How am I doing? How am I doing? You need to keep looking at Jesus. How did he do? We know the answer to that. He did perfectly. As we heard in Hebrews, he achieved eternal redemption for us by what he did. And now he calls us to rest in that and to live in that. That's what we're talking about this morning, that God intends in word, God intends in sacrament, that our focus of our confidence is not on our faith, it's not on how we're doing in the Christian life, it's on what Jesus done for us on his cross. And I guarantee you, if you're looking there, you're going to do better in the Christian life than maybe you've been doing for a while. That's just how grace works. because it's grace, it's love, it's our only strong place. And I hope that will come out as we look at God's Word together. So question 67, are both Word and sacraments intended to focus our faith on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross as the only ground of our salvation? Yes, indeed. Well, let's look together then how we answer so affirmatively, yes, Indeed, that the Holy Spirit is the one who's teaching us in the gospel and confirming us by the sacraments. Let's start then with the gospel and how the Holy Spirit teaches that. Now, as Paul makes clear in Romans 1, the gospel is the whole of the Old Testament promised to us, right? Fulfilled to us in Christ. But let's go to one place. If you would like to turn in your Bibles, turn to 1 Corinthians 15. And in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul starts there by saying, And brethren, I declared to you the gospel which I preached to you." So Paul preached his gospel to the Corinthians, and now he's got to declare it again to them. This is the gospel that you received, and this is the gospel that you've taken your stand upon for your salvation, by which you are also being saved. So we've got to get in our head, the gospel saves. Faith doesn't save, except it receives the gospel. The gospel saves. We've taken our stand on the gospel as it's been preached to us, and we've received it, and we stand on it, and if you stand on it, you're going to be saved by it. Because the gospel says, well, what's that gospel? In verse 3 of 1 Corinthians 15, well, I delivered to you first of all, meaning of first importance, I delivered more things than this to you, but of first importance of all the things I've ever preached to you and told you, Christ died for our sins. according to the Scriptures, which is another way of saying, as God said He was going to do. Notice, what does it say? Christ died for our sins. He didn't die for His sins, He died. They weren't His sins, they were our sins, which means He was a sacrifice, a propitiation for our sins. That's the Gospel. And He was buried, just assuring us He was dead. And that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures, again, as God said he would. And then he was seen of many witnesses. And then go down with me to verse 11 in 1 Corinthians 15. Therefore, whether it was I, Paul, or they, the other apostles, so we preach, so you believe. Well, you just heard there, you were just evangelized with the apostolic gospel. If Paul wanted to come evangelize St. Mary's County, this is what Paul's going to preach to St. Mary's County, first of all. Christ died for our sins as God said he was going to do it. He was buried the third day, afterwards he rose from the dead as God said he would do it. And you've seen it, many witnesses. And he's ascended into heaven, he is king. As we sung, we must all give our God and King homage and surrender our lives to Him as the One who bought us with His blood. But this is the Gospel message that we stand in. Christ died for our sins. Now, look at verse 17, where Paul says, And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile, it doesn't come to anything, it doesn't amount to anything, you're still in your sins. The resurrection is proof we're not in our sins anymore. Because Jesus' death accomplished our salvation. It is a true atonement. Death is a penalty for sin. Well, the penalty's been overcome. He's alive. Therefore, it's been removed because He has satisfied the law for us. He has obeyed its precepts and he has suffered its penalty in our place, for us, on the cross. And the resurrection tells you, amongst several things, one thing, if you believe in Jesus, if you receive this gospel, you're not in your sins anymore. You're not under condemnation anymore. You've been saved. You didn't do anything. That's the message preached to you that you're to receive, that Jesus did it. I know we always want something to do to be saved. And they asked Jesus that. Just tell us the works that we got to do. He said, here's the work. Believe in the one the Father sent, me. Jesus stood on this earth 2,000 years ago and said, you want to do the works the Father wants, work to trust in me. Rest your whole soul on what I did. Believe that gospel, that saving gospel of my death. Receive it. That's your salvation preached to you. So that's the gospel, right? The Holy Spirit clearly is teaching us in the gospel. You know what you didn't read in there? You didn't even read about faith in those verses. Not that faith isn't important. Faith doesn't save you. Faith's not an atoning work. Faith's not a meritorious work. Faith is receiving there. When Paul says you receive the message, faith is receiving the message. Now, there are other things about faith. Come back tonight in Hebrews 11. We've been going through that hall of faith. There are other aspects to faith. But when it comes to salvation, faith is receiving the finished work of Christ and resting on it alone, period. Well, Paul says, right, that this was what God said would take place in the Scriptures. And it is said to us many places in the Scriptures, but I'm sure you know one place it clearly says to us in the Scriptures is Isaiah 53, right? I'm not going to read through the whole thing. I'm just going to read three verses from there, because we'll get a chance to look at it as we go through Advent this year. In Isaiah 53, listen to verses 10 to 12. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Let's stop there. What is God promising? After God lays our sins on Jesus, Jesus is going to see something, a seed. Like Adam saw a seed, Christ sees a seed. Those who believe in Christ are His suffering seed. He suffered and died for you. And therefore, you have been called and brought to faith and believe in Him. You are the seed, the offspring, the spiritual children of Christ. Your salvation rests upon His sufferings and death. That's what God clearly declared here in the prophet Isaiah. And He says, He shall see the labor of His soul and be satisfied. You who believe in Jesus, you're the labor of His soul. He looks upon you and He has that complete satisfaction. He says, This was worth it. always has been worth it. This is what I suffered and died for. But we sung in Psalm 22 that all the nations might return from their idols to Me, the true God, and worship Me together with My Father in the Spirit, and live and have life. By His knowledge, His knowledge of God's will as His Son, perfectly fulfilled in His life and His obedience. My righteous servant shall justify many." Jesus provides us with that righteousness. He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, in verse 12, what does God say? Therefore, meaning because He did this, this is what I'm going to do. I will divide Him a portion with the great. He shall divide the spoiled with the strong. That's a possible translation. Another possible, and I think better translation of this, is instead of saying, I'll divide him a portion with the great, as if there's going to be other people sharing, you can translate it, and great here can also mean many ravim. It's the same word when he says, he shall justify the many, the ravim. God's going to give the ravim as his portion. God's going to give as his spoil, the numerous. We are Christ's spoil. We are the many that He justified or the many that God has given to Him because He labored for us, He suffered, and He died for us. So you can see from that death of Christ, ushers in through His resurrection and His reign and that gospel going out, that message of reconciliation and the power of the Spirit, Christ is gathering His people that He suffered and died for. Our salvation rests on nothing, nothing you did, nothing. on what Jesus did. That is the sole grounds, the sole basis, the sole foundation of your salvation is the work of Jesus Christ. That's the gospel, right? Now how does baptism show us that, right? How do the sacraments show that? How does the Lord's Supper show us that? Now, if you want to turn again in your Bibles, we see baptism showing us focusing our faith on Christ's sacrifice in Romans 6 and in Galatians 3. And I'm sure you're probably running mentally through those verses in your mind, but in Romans 6, Paul Wright is dealing with God has magnified his grace and justifying the ungodly, right? You don't keep a law to be justified. God justifies ungodly people through the finished work of Christ, received by faith. People then might get in their heads, well, if we did all this sin, and it brought us all this grace, then maybe we'll just keep on sinning to get more grace. And Paul says, no, let's stop there. God has chosen to be gracious. God's not gracious because you're sinful. God's gracious because God's gracious. Don't think we should increase his graciousness by being more sinful. I'm sure as you've found, as a Christian, how gracious God is unto you in your sin, and that's true. But God's gracious because God's gracious. But Paul answers that question, well, how shall we who died to sin live any longer? So Paul says, as believers in Christ who receive Christ and receive his sacrifice, Paul says, you died to sin. Well, when did we die? He says in verse 3, do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? So you died the sin when you were united to Christ by faith, baptized in the Spirit, but Paul's using the sacrament here, baptism, the sign, to talk about how sacramentally, not because the sacraments confer regeneration, not because sacraments are what bring us in union apart from faith, but he's using that language that there's a relation, we'll talk more in coming weeks, between a sign and a thing signified. So he'll use, sometimes the Bible will use the language of the sign to refer to the thing signified, and the thing signified to refer to the sign. So Paul's talking about sacramentally, baptism is when we died. Verse 4, therefore we are buried with them through baptism into death. So you can see how baptism is focusing us on Jesus' death as the ground of our salvation. In verse 7, Paul writes, for he who has died has been freed from sin. Now, Jesus' death here is pictured by Paul as bringing us salvation in two ways. The one I just read to you, he who has died with Christ, is what he's been arguing, is the translation here, freed from sin, is not a good translation. Because the word isn't freed, and Paul's going to argue in Romans 7, you're still, at times, even in the bondage of sin he'll describe in the Christian life. So great, it's hardly are we free from sin, because we war against it and struggle against it every day. It's the same Greek word that Paul uses for justify. It's dikaiotai. It's in its perfect passive form here. It means the person who's died with Christ, you've been justified from sin. You've been acquitted. You've been pardoned. Nobody lives dead to sin. When Paul talks about living dead to sin, he means you're not under its reigning power. But nobody lives dead to sin who's not died with Christ and first been justified. Justification is a foundation for sanctification. Those who've been pardoned by God and received that blessing are those then who no longer live under sin's dominion, but live dead to sin. So baptism takes us back to Christ's death as both dying with Him being united with Him in that death, by which then we are justified, but also being united with that death, actually dying ourselves, that old man being crucified, and we dying to sin and no longer living to His power. So you see, is baptism taking us back to faith there? Is baptism taking you back to sanctification there? It's taking you back to Jesus' death. And Paul's explaining to us Jesus's death means two things for you as a believer who's united to him. You've been forgiven, you're justified, and you're no longer under the reigning power of sin. You live dead to sin, and you continue to live dead to sin as you now live alive to God in Christ. Has Paul been clear? Have we been clear? Are we seeing how baptism points us back to the death of Jesus as a ground of our salvation? If you are forgiven, it's because Jesus died for you. If you are here and not living under the reigning power of sin, it's because you're dead with Jesus. Without the death of the Son of God, there's no forgiveness. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. Without the death of the Son of God, we would still live in the old man, Adam, under the reigning power of sin. So baptism points us back to the only ground of our salvation, the death of Jesus Christ. I said to you that the second place baptism speaks about this is in Galatians chapter 3. As you know, in Galatians chapter 3, in the whole letter, Paul is having a deal with the church who wants to start adding works to their salvation. He wants to go back under the law. Instead, he wants to live in the freedom that Christ has brought us in redeeming us from the law, both the curse of the law and also the tutelage and guardianship of the law as old covenant believers. Paul says that in two places in chapter 3. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law and become a curse for us. Or as written, curse is everyone who hangs on a tree. And why did he do that? That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Why has the Spirit been poured out upon us? Because Christ died for us. Who receives that? Those who believe in Jesus Christ. Because Christ is the one who has redeemed us from the curse of law. It's His redemptive work has saved us from the law's curse, which is death, eternal death. The reason we are not being cast into hell and will spend eternity in hell, suffering the punishment for our sins, is not because you and I did anything, but because Jesus Christ did everything. And He suffered and He died for us. And Paul is explaining the redemptive benefits then, the blessing promised to Abraham of the eternal inheritance has been given also to Gentiles, and the first part of that internal inheritance is the earnest and down deposit of it, the gift of the Holy Spirit, which you have. But also, Paul says, there's another aspect which we've been redeemed from the law. Not only its curse, but its tutelage, as he says there in verse 24. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ so we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, meaning Christ suffering and dying and rising again, we are no longer under a tutor. Why don't we keep the Old Testament ceremonial law? Why don't we live according to all those prescriptions as old covenant believers in its judicial aspects, in its ceremonial aspects? because we're not under it. That was a guardianship. Now we live in the Spirit. The Spirit's the one who produces what in us? Love, joy, patience, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. You know, those are all things God wants of us and demands in his law. We just can't ever do them when we're under a law. The only way we can do them is when we are in Christ under grace. and filled with His Spirit. That's what He suffered and died for. You know, not being under the law, being under grace, doesn't mean lawlessness. We delight in God's law and the inner man, Paul says. This is the way because we are so sinful and weak. The only way the law can be fulfilled in us is Jesus suffering and dying and giving us His Spirit. So that's how... Oh, sorry, I didn't even get to the baptism part. explaining to you the context here, but then look at verse 26. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put them on. So baptism shows us that we died with Christ, are justified, and therefore also dead to sin, and we don't live under its reigning power. It also shows us that we've put on Christ. We've clothed ourselves with Him. He now lives in us. But again, the only way that's taken place is because The old man's died with them. He's redeemed us. Actually, what verse 26 is getting at, sons of God is redemptive historical. Israel was the sons of God, but Paul argues they were no better than slaves and servants because they lived under that law, right? They were underage. Sons of God then is a redemptive historical term to mean we've grown up in Christ. We're not under the yoke of the ceremonial law, but we have Christ living in us. That is, the Holy Spirit's been poured out upon us, and we are truly then beginning to live as sons of God, finally, fully, when our bodies are redeemed as well, and we're made exactly like how Jesus, the Son of God, is right now. So baptism points us to putting on Christ, but again, the only reason we put on Christ, as Paul says in Galatians 2.20, is because I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So you see the whole foundation of putting Christ on is because the old man died. I've been crucified with him, and now Christ lives in me. So baptism is not pointing you to faith. Baptism's not pointing you to sanctification, your works. It's pointing you to one place, the ground of your salvation, Christ crucified, His sacrifice. All that you enjoy as a believer in Christ flows from God's eternal election of you in Christ and the redeeming work of the Son of God done for you on the cross. You've now been called graciously to enjoy. Well, that's baptism. What about the Lord's Supper? Well, there you've got to turn back to 1 Corinthians. So we see the gospel The Apostolic Gospel points us to Christ crucified, raised from the dead, as promised in Scriptures, Isaiah 53. Baptism points us back. Well, how does the Lord's Supper focus our faith on the sacrifice of Christ? Well, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11.26, For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Well, how does eating this bread and how does drinking this cup proclaim the Lord's death? Well, that comes from the words of institution, which Paul quotes before that in verses 24 and 25. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take ye, this is my body, which is broken for you. Do this remembrance me. The bread on the communion table is bread. The bread on the communion table is the body of Christ, sacramentally, right? That bread represents for us Christ crucified, his body broken. And notice what? And given to us. He intended his sacrifice for us to save us. so that when we eat that broken bread, we are proclaiming the Lord's death. Notice how the Holy Spirit is focusing our faith on the ground of our salvation. Every time we celebrate this, we're proclaiming not your faith, not my faith, not what we've done. We're proclaiming the death of Jesus Christ, who has saved us. Paul says the same thing, right? Jesus, this cup is a new covenant in my blood. This, do as often as you drink of it, remember. And to me, that cup is wine. It will only ever be wine, except that cup is also the blood of Christ, sacramentally representing for us the blood of the new covenant. And what flows to us from that blood, Jesus says? The forgiveness of your sin. Just think about that, right? Without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness. It doesn't say, without repentance, There's no forgiveness of sins. It doesn't say without faith there's no forgiveness of sins. It doesn't say without doing the works of the law there's no forgiveness of the sins. It says without the shedding of blood. Now the only way you come to enjoy that is through faith and repentance. Faith and repentance are in no way the cause of your forgiveness. Faith and repentance do not atone for you. Faith and repentance do not make God gracious to you. God is gracious. God has propitiated His own wrath in His love for us and sending His Son for us. God has done the work to save us, and He just wants us to believe it. I suppose the whole goal of this sermon is to continue to beat down on our hard hearts, because it's all there. We constantly go back and trust in ourselves. It is the most unnatural thing for us to be saved by faith, though it is the most gracious and wonderful thing to be saved by faith. Thank God that He gives us these sacraments and we weekly participate in where the Holy Spirit can again point us where we need to be focused at. Jesus' death for us, God's love for us is what has saved us. So that's how the Gospel And that's how the sacraments focus our faith, our reliance again, our confidence, what we are resting in, what we are trusting in to save us, and that being Christ's sacrifice for us on the cross. And faith is merely saying, thank you, Jesus, and taking it. That's it. There's nothing to add to that. You cannot add to that. You cannot say, thank you, Jesus, and now, by the way, I'm going to pray 10 prayers. Plenty to add to my thank you, Jesus, for my salvation. You cannot add to what the Son of God has done to save you. What you do as a believer is because of what the Son of God has done to save you. And you will gratefully love this Savior who died for you. The only way to come and receive this is by faith, saying, thank you, Jesus. That's it. God did it. He planned it. Christ crucified is His loving act to save you, to justify you, to reconcile you, to redeem you. All God wants is a thanks. Now, He wants our whole hearts, but He wants it because we've received His grace. In saying thanks, we will give ourselves to God. In case it's not clear, this point, let me give you three illustrations the Bible itself gives to explain to us how the only ground of our salvation is Jesus' sacrifice so that you and I will rest on this soul salvation. The first one we read there in Hebrews 9, and that's the concept of a will, of a last will in Testament. I trust you're familiar with the last will in Testament. That before you die, you should make one. And that's going to decide who gets your inheritance, right? Where are your assets and things going? But again, when does that go into effect? only when you die, right? That's what Paul's arguing here, or whoever wrote Hebrews is arguing. For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament, a will, is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while he's alive. We can't come and take Pete's inheritance while Pete's alive. It doesn't work like that. or whoever, you know, they have to die. But again, it's the death. So notice the point is the death is what puts it into effect. But who are the beneficiaries of the will? Those whose names are written in there. And that's what he says in 9 verse 15. For this reason, Jesus is the mediator of the new covenant. He's that mediator by means of death. He died. What was his death for? This death was for the redemption, the transgressions of the first covenant. And why was that? That those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. God has called you to take part of the eternal inheritance that Christ died to enact for you as a last will and testament. That new covenant is what he's talking about. All the blessings of that new covenant are yours because Jesus died, and now you're being called to come partake of that inheritance. So you see then how the scripture uses that concept of a will to explain to you, God's not calling you because you had faith, he calls you to faith. God's not calling you because your works, because your works are sinful. God's mercifully calling you to partake of what Jesus suffered and died for, the eternal inheritance, the blessings of the covenant. Scripture also uses, as we saw in John chapter 12, that idea of a seed. I'm sure all of you have wonderful fruit trees in your yard, or your gardens are full of vegetables and flowers. How did all those start? A little seed that went into the ground and died. Because that little seed went to the ground and died, you now have a fruit tree in your yard producing lots of fruit. Because Jesus, who is that little seed, as he says in John 12, 24, because he went into the ground and died, there is now the fruit of all the nations streaming in as God's redeemed people. This is the fruit. Your believing holy soul is the fruit. of Jesus' suffering. So you see how in the illustration of a will, in the illustration that Scripture uses of a seed dying, you know, all of us can learn. Think of how wise God is. All of us can learn about salvation by looking at a flower, right? Looking at a fruit tree. Because it explains to us, you don't get a fruit tree unless a seed goes on the earth and dies and then sprouts up all that fruit. You don't get a church You don't get a redeemed humanity, you don't get a holy people of God, unless the Son of God dies and redeems us. Lastly, I said the third one, this is why we read in Hebrews, because the Bible gives the concept of blood. I think there can be some confusion about blood, so I'm just going to explain it for just a minute, what the Bible means, because we all read about Jesus' blood saves us. We all read about how Jesus' blood washes us clean. But when you say Jesus' blood, we're not talking about taking a bath in his material blood that courses through his veins. Of course, that came out of his veins, but the Bible doesn't cleanse us by smearing the blood on us in that kind of sense. Leviticus 17.11 explains to us blood. For the life of the flesh is in the blood. We've heard of lifeblood, right? As long as that lifeblood is coursing through your veins and your flesh, you're alive. And I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes atonement for the souls. Now, if you read the Old Testament, do you put a live victim on the altar or a dead one? You put a dead one whose blood has been poured out. There's no inherent life. The Bible's not saying there's life in the blood in the sense that it's a vivacious living power. It's saying the life is because it's been poured out for you. It's talking about substitutionary sacrifice. Blood is shorthand in the Bible for penal substitution. When that lifeblood is poured out for you and offered in your stead, it saves you. God has graciously provided a substitute to take the place for you and endure the punishment. That's what the Bible means without the shedding of blood. It doesn't just mean because blood came out of Jesus. It means because His blood was a sacrifice. He was a victim taking our place, suffering our penalty that we've incurred for our sin. So blood is shorthand for penal substitution. God says He has given us that blood upon the altar to make an atonement for our souls. God has given us the blood of Jesus, his sacrificial death on the cross, to make an atonement for our souls. He's our priest. He's purged our sins. But let's apply this. We spend a lot of time, and I say this, I've probably said this a lot as we've been going through it, I was thinking about this week. This is an important sermon. But I don't want to be the boy who cries wolf, because then I'm afraid if I say every sermon is important, you'll be like, yeah, well, you said that last week. is an important sermon because we can have our faith focused on faith, and we can have our faith focused on works, and when our faith is focused on faith, our faith is focused on works, bad things are going to happen in our spiritual life. We're not going to live the kind of life God intends us to live when our faith is focused on Christ crucified for us. I got five examples from Scripture. Here's why this matters to us. It matters so that we won't fall from grace, but grow under it. Falling from grace comes from Galatians 5, verse 4. It's not talking about losing your salvation. It's talking about, like the Galatians, believing in Christ crucified for you, receiving the Holy Spirit, serving God in that spirit, And then for whatever crazy bewitched reason, that's why Paul says, who bewitched you? It's like someone enchanted you for some crazy reason. You've now decided what you need to do to be right with God and be saved is to be circumcised, stop eating certain foods, and stop observing certain days and stuff like that. So I guess the ideal here is If your Christian life is one of, and maybe this is how you can assess whether you're focusing your faith in the proper places, if your Christian life is one of increasing self-dependence and not God-dependence, it might be because you've fallen from grace. Because, brothers and sisters, it's easy to be circumcised. I can do that for you. It's easy to observe, not eat certain foods. We can just kick that out of our house. You can do that. It can be pretty hard, right, when you're up late and you want certain things. I can take you and wash you in a stream. I cannot, you cannot, keep God's law. The law is spiritual. It takes the whole of you. Mike Adams has a great poem on sin, I hope he'll post soon. It really gets at what sin is and the need for grace. I hope you're learning, as Paul goes on in Romans 7, I hope one of the things you're finding out as you grow in Christianity is actually a little bit how wretched you are. Meaning the wretched condition we're in. That yes, I love God with my heart, but I find that there is nothing good in this flesh. I hope you find that and say that in peace, because there's not. But there's grace for you today, tomorrow. Depend on God. Understand why the law was given. It was never given to justify you, as Paul says. It was given as a tutelage to bring you to Christ. The fullness of grace. If your Christian life is one of increasing self-dependence and self-confidence, rather than God-dependence and God-confidence, it might be because your faith is focused on you and not on God, not on Christ's sacrifice for you. Another reason Paul really gets into in 1 Timothy is so we don't lose our focus as a church. If we're becoming inward-focused, not outward-focused as a church, it might be because we're not looking at the place that we should be looking, focusing our face on the sacrifice of Christ. He really points this out in two ways. Paul had to leave Timothy and Ephesus because people in Ephesus were teaching doctrines contrary to the faith. They were getting up, and they were like, let's talk about this long genealogy, and let's talk about all these myths, and people were going away with more confusion than when they came to church. So if you see a church that is not building itself up in love, but it's inward and infighting, it might be because it's lost its focus on Christ crucified for it. And in that sure, solid foundation, something that's real and true by faith, It's building itself up. But Paul also deals with prayer. I exhort you, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, giving thanks be made for all men, without excuse, for kings, all who are in authority, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God. Why is it good and acceptable? He desires all men to be saved, to come to the knowledge of truth. Why? Because there's just one God of all men. There's just one mediator between God and man. There's just one ransom given for all men, every man of that saint, that infinite value put upon their lives. That's why Paul says in verse 8, I desire that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. When you see the men in the congregation more angry at each other and bickering over stuff, they ain't focused in the right place. You see a church looking inward, not looking outward, seeing the huge redemptive scope of what Jesus Christ has done and praying earnestly, for all those people to come and know Him as Savior? Maybe because we're focused on... I don't know what we're focused on. What does churches get focused on besides Christ crucified? Anything. Our programs? Our past? I don't know. But Paul says this is what we should be focused on. So, infighting and inwardness is predominant in a church. And maybe because our faith isn't focused where it needs to be. If we are... staying away from God rather than drawing near to God. Maybe because our faith's not being focused where it needs to be. Hebrews chapter 10. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh, having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water." There you see baptism in the blood signifying the same thing. Was he saying, why do we draw near to God? Because of how good we did this week? Do we stay away because we sinned again? Maybe you need to go near and repent, but you need to go near. Because our confidence in going near to God again is not in what you do. I remember preaching to this in Hebrews, and it was such a relief, because I'm one of those guys, I can lay in bed at night and get kind of anxious spiritually how I've been doing. I'm kind of one of those Puritan, you know, people point in front of Puritan, you know, always kind of looking inward and such and so on. There's a place to look inward, another sermon or something, but Christ mediates between you and God. Your standing is not based on your manners and mannerisms. It's based on what Christ has done. He's the high priest. His blood is the boldness. The blood gives us boldness. Why? Because the blood says, I love you when you are enemies. Far from me. So if you find yourself staying away from God and not drawing near to him, burden your heart to him, your sinful heart, or just the fears and struggles and things you're suffering through and having a hard time with and frustrations. Maybe because your faith is focused on faith, on works, and not on what Christ did. John 4, Romans 5, right? How does the thought of Jesus returning sit with you right now? Is that a joyful thought or a fearful one to you? As John talks about, why do we have confidence in the day of judgment? It's made perfect in love, because love casts fear out. If you have a very anxious, fearful Christian life, and the thought of Jesus coming tomorrow, today, right now is very terrifying to you, where's your faith focused at? On how much you've done to deserve God's love? Because that's just diabolical lies, beloved. That's just slander of the character of God. He loves you. He's declared it in his gospel. Shouldn't be any doubt about it. Appropriate it by faith. Believe it. Walk yourself through it. When you are sinner, when you're his enemy, when you're weak, he showed this love to you. So if you have fear and dread of God versus anticipation of God, it may be because your faith's looking in the wrong place. Lastly, if our lives are increasing in sin and selfishness, it might be because we're not focusing where we should. Paul had to tell a church in Corinth, remember, you need to glorify God in your bodies. They were full of sexual morality. They forgot they've been purchased. Paul says in 2 Corinthians, we no longer live for ourselves. Why? Because one died for us all. We live for Him who died for us. So if our lives are increasing in selfishness, in sinfulness, rather than self-sacrificing our God by His mercies offered to us, it may be, again, our faith is focused not where it ought to be, on Jesus Christ who suffered and died for us. So that's why it matters. It is not inconsequential that our faith be focused in the right place. It is of the highest and utmost importance for our spiritual life, individually together, but also as a church and the whole church, that we have our faith focused where God intends it to be focused. Let me say that again, where God intends it to be focused. Let your faith be focused where God intends it to be focused. on the gift of His Son for you and Christ's sacrifice for you to save you from your sin. So remember that you're on Christ's scholarship congregation. Give Him thanks and enjoy the life that He has given to you.