For two weeks, we have looked at this binding of Isaac, this offering of Isaac as a sacrifice, the redemption secured by the ram as a substitute for Christ. And now we're looking at verse number 15. If you advance the slides, Zach, I'd appreciate it. Looking at verse number 15. This is a promise. This is a promise from Yahweh. This is the promise that has three components. So here we are, we have an ancient text, preserved first in Hebrew, preserved down now for 4,000 years. And it has in it three promises. I need to know how those promises are being fulfilled. I need to know what it says and what the fulfillment is. If not, what's the point? Just words? Just words on a page? So hear the word of the Lord. The angel or messenger of the Lord When you see that uppercase L, uppercase O, uppercase R, uppercase D, it is the personal proper name of the God of Israel, which is Yahweh. So the messenger of Yahweh called to Abraham, called down to Abraham. This is the second time. The first time was stop. The second time, there's now a message from heaven. And the message from heaven says, by myself, I have sworn, I have promised, I have lifted my hand of the oath, he didn't place it on the Bible, he swore by himself, for there's nothing greater to swear by than God himself. And this is what the Lord, this is what Yahweh, the God of Israel declares. Because you, Abraham, have not have done this. That is to say, you did not withheld your son, your only son from me. Because you went forward in full obedience and was willing to offer your son on that sacrifice. And if I hadn't stopped you, it would have happened. I'm gonna do three things, verse 17. I will surely bless you. And I will surely multiply your offspring, your descendants, the seed of your loin as the stars of heaven, as the sand that is on the seashore. That's number one. And to your offspring, they shall possess, and to your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies. That's number two. Number three. And in your offspring, and if you mark in your Bible, please underline these words, shall all, not some, all the nations of the earth be blessed. Why? Why? Why am I going to multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven? Why are your offspring going to possess the gate of his enemies? Why am I going to bless all the nations of the earth through your offspring? Now listen to these words. Because you have obeyed my voice. Let's pray. Father, oh God in heaven, I beg you this morning to help me to be a good teacher of your word. Make me, oh God, a theologian for your people. Help me, oh God, to be their pastor and shepherd and teacher. Instruct us, oh God, from your word. Make it come alive this morning. Bring into our auditorium an attentiveness that is superb. Eliminate, oh God, all the distractions. Help me, oh God, to make personal connections with each and every person here through the power of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name, amen. Zach, take me to the next slide while I get my clicker, please. So here we are, three things. And if time permits, we'll get to number four. Hopefully time will permit, because we need to pull it together with what's in that black box. which is obedience. And again, if you take notes, if you underline in your Bible, I want to encourage you to get these three points down because they're critical to understanding how Christ fulfills this and what the connection is between Abraham And what the connection is between Abraham and Jesus. And shame on the Evangelical Church for not teaching the Old Testament more. Shame on the Evangelical Church for not making these incredible connections. Because they bind Greek to Hebrew. They bind Old to New. They bring it together. And we need to be showing the Church these incredible connections. So as I said, this is Yahweh's messenger. And Yahweh's messenger is promising to bring blessing to all the nations. Now just think about that for a minute. This is not a tribal deity. This is not a tribal deity concerned only for Israel. This is the God of the universe who has ordained that in and through Israel, His intent and objective is to bring blessing to all the nations. This is not a small little God on the corner dealing with the Israelites. This is the God of the nation that says, in and through you, my intent is to bless every ethnicity on the planet. My intent is to bless all the nations that are yet to be conceived. Nations that are yet to exist are going to be blessed in and through Abraham. So if that's the case, we need to understand how. You've got three promises in your Bible. How are they fulfilled? Are you waiting for some future event? Do you even know how to explain how they're fulfilled? That's the intent this morning. Now think about this. I have sworn. I myself have sworn. Since there's no greater authority in the universe than me, he swears by himself. He swears by himself. Promise number one, innumerable descendants. Innumerable. Described as stars of heaven, sand that is on the seashore. Innumerable. Previously God had already said in Genesis 17, 5, to Abram, making him Abraham, that's the name change. I have made you the father of a multitude of nations." Originally it was a nation, and that was Israel. And now God says, no, it's going to be a multitude of nations. So how does God make Abraham the father of a multitude of nations? How does he do that? Let me remind you. This is the man who goes from not having a son to a son from another woman to two sons and then back to one. And then with only one son, he's now promised descendants as the stars of the heaven and the sands of the seashore. So how? So now turn to Galatians three, and that's why I asked you to get that pew Bible out. And Zach, I'm just gonna ask you to follow along with the slides for those that are at home so that they can look on their phone or their screen and see the scripture if they're not using their Bible, shame on them. Galatians chapter number three. Galatians chapter three. Now when we get back to Genesis 22, I want you to write down Galatians three on the margin of Genesis 22 so that you won't forget this incredible commentary that Paul brings to our text. And I'm gonna read the whole chapter. You're not supposed to do this, but I'm going to do that. Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, who has tricked you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this. Did you receive the Holy Spirit, I've added the Holy Spirit, by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Rhetorical question. The answer is by faith. Are you so foolish, having begun by the Holy Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Are you going back to the law? Did you suffer so many things in vain? If indeed it was in vain, does he, referring to God, who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, do so by works of the law, that is the Mosaic law, or by hearing with faith? Is it about the works of the law? Do good, try harder? Or is it by faith in Christ? Which one, Paul? Verse 6. Just as Abraham, this is why we're here. Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons and daughters, the children of Abraham. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Now we're gonna give Abraham sons and daughters? And these are no longer biological sons and daughters? These are sons and daughters of? Church of? of faith. Now God is no longer constrained by biology. Now God is no longer constrained by biology. He can give Abraham sons and daughters from all ethnicities through faith. Know that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture foreseeing, that is to say the scripture looking forward, foreseeing that God would, underline in your Bible please, justify the Gentiles. The nations, the ethnicities, that's that Greek word there, I'll show you that in a minute. By faith, he preached the gospel, the good news beforehand to Abraham. What is this good news? What was this message that was preached to the nations? What gospel did they hear in the Old Testament? Here it is, listen. In you shall all the nations be blessed. So then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, cursed is everyone who does not abide in all the things written in the book of the law and do them. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for righteous shall live by faith, for the righteous shall live by faith. But the law is not of faith, rather the one who does them shall live by them. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. He's now referring to Christ's death on the cross. Look at the end of verse number 13. Cursed is everyone who hanged on a tree. So that in Christ Jesus, listen to this language I'm teaching you right now. Or actually, Paul is teaching us right now. So that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles. I'm going to read from now on the nations because that's the Greek word there. The nations. So that we might receive the promised spirit through faith. To give a human example or an illustration, brothers, even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one. And to your offspring, who is? Who is? Who is Christ. So Paul is providing for us a commentary on Genesis 22 and the Abrahamic Covenant. What about this Abrahamic Covenant? What about these promises to Israel? Are they gonna be fulfilled sometime in the future? Are they not yet fulfilled and God has to do something special in the future for Israel in order to fulfill them? Paul would say, oh no, oh no, not at all. They are presently being fulfilled through the church. They are presently being fulfilled. It does not say offsprings referring to many, but to offspring referring to one, and that is Christ, or who is Christ. This is what I mean, this is what I mean. The law which came 430 years afterward does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God so as to make the promise void. Holding up two hands right now, I'm holding up two hands right now. This hand right here with my wedding ring on it is the promise that God made to Abraham. 430 years later, God came along and made a covenant promise to the sons of Abraham, Israelites, called the Mosaic Law. And this is what he's telling us right now. Listen to me. This covenant right here does not annul this covenant right here. This covenant right here does not make this one go away. He says, oh no, this one is still in force. It's still right there. He gave it to Abraham. It's got to be fulfilled. So now, church at Galatia, how is it being fulfilled? How is it being fulfilled? Is it being fulfilled by a whole bunch of people trying to keep this mosaic law? And the answer to that question is no. No. Why is that? Because the just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith. For the inheritance comes by the law. It no longer comes by promise, but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made. And it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. Now, an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not. I think the King James says, God forbid. Amen. That's right. God forbid. For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness indeed be by the law. But the scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. What about all these promises to Abraham, Father Abraham, Father Abraham? What about all these promises? Does God have to do something special in the future and reconstitute a people in order to fulfill those promises? And Paul would say, absolutely not. No, no, no. Christ Jesus is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise. Look to all of Jesus and see Him fulfilling the promises. In fact, Paul would argue with us this morning and say, actually the promise was made to Jesus. Now before faith came, verse number 23, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then the law was our guardian or schoolmaster until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. There's a second time that Paul has talked to us about this idea of being justified by faith. What do we mean, Pastor Sean, by justified? It is a declaration of righteousness. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. We're no longer under that schoolmaster. We are now in faith with Christ. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. For as many of you were baptized into Christ, have put on Christ, there's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free. There's neither male nor female. For you all are one in Christ. Verse 29, for if you are Christ, If you are Christ this morning, I'm Christ, I'm Christ. Pastor Sean, my faith is in Christ as my Lord and Savior. Trusting in Him, in Him alone to take me to heaven. He is my Savior. Then you are Abraham's offspring. Then you are Abraham's offspring. And because you are Abraham's offspring, you are now an heir according to the promise. You're an heir according to the promise. So now, having read that whole chapter, Hey, why'd you do that? I didn't want you to think that I was cherry picking verses out. John, I wanted them to see the whole argument, because it's an incredible argument. It's a solid theological argument that shows us this is not about the law. This is all about what? Faith. It's all about faith. Why, why, why this emphasis lately? Why are you, I'll tell you why. Because when you start talking to someone about Savior and salvation and put your faith in Christ and your sins will be forgiven. And they'll go, it's too easy. I don't believe that. And here's your default category whether you realize it or not. You'll start creating a hybrid. A hybrid. You know what I mean by a hybrid? It's all Jesus and a little bit of what? A little bit of works. Because they'll push you and they'll say, well, what about baptism? And pretty soon you'll add baptism to the mix. And well, what about church attendance? And then you got a little church attendance in there. And before you know it, it's no longer Jesus. It's a little Jesus. I mean, Jesus is there. We're not removing Jesus. But it's got a little of us in there. A little of us in there. It's easy. I can do it, you can do it, we can easily do it. Unless we clearly understand it's unequivocally faith and faith alone. It's faith and faith alone. And that's the argument that Paul is making here. So now let's go back and preach the text. You were supposed to be following along. Do you remember that? We had an agreement. Verse seven, know then that those of faith are the sons or the children of Abraham and, and, verse 29. Did I do that or did you do that? I did that. I thought it was the operator back there on the machine. Okay. And if you are Christ and you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise. Listen to Romans 4 on the screen with me today. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring. Not only, not only to the inheritor of the law, that would be referring to the Jews, they are the keepers of the law, but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham. Who is the father of us all? As it is written, I have made you the father of many or a multitude of nations in the presence of God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. And this is how we get to Revelation 7. What do you mean how we get to Revelation 7? Look at this incredible description. John the Apostle sees this in the division. This is what he says. After this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number. A multitude that no one could number. It almost sounds like innumerable. You would say that's pretty similar? No one can number, and where are they from? Every nation. Every nation, all the tribes, peoples, and languages. The greatest diversity training you've ever been part of, it won't hold a candle to what God has in store for you. You are going to see the single greatest diverse group of individuals on the face of the planet at the throne of God. By the way, listen, sidebar, sidebar. This is why any kind of prejudice of any sort towards any type of people group comes right out of the pit of hell. Right out of the pit of hell. Because our God is all about all the nations. He has been, is, and always will be about all the nations. All the nations. That's who He is. So number two, possess the gate of his enemy. This is poetic language. Possess the gate of his enemy. Possess the gate of his enemy. Let me show you a picture. Come on, get there. All right. That would be a gate of an ancient wall leading into a city. Whether it was coming this way, I presume up the hill and then into the city is what makes sense here. And what would have been there in these arches would have been who? Gates. Gates would have been here. Small personal gate right here, let individuals in. Larger gate, bring horses, wagons, things like that in there. And whoever controlled the gate controlled the what? The city. So if you possess the gates of your enemy, you are in charge, you have conquered. You are the one that has defeated and now you are the boss. So who is the one, according to Paul, who will possess the gates of his enemy? It's Jesus. It's unequivocally Jesus. This is why both genealogies go out of their way to connect Jesus to Abraham. Both genealogies. Because let's face it, Abraham and Isaac did not possess the gates of their enemies. Keep reading the story. Abraham's an old man right now getting ready to die. Isaac gets married, has a couple twin boys. We have no biblical record of either one of them possessing the gates of their enemies. So if they don't do it, then the promise is left to be unfulfilled and we're wondering, well then what about the word of God? You've got something in the word of God that's not fulfilled. And what Paul says to us, oh no, it's Jesus who is the ultimate possessor of the gates. It is Jesus who is the ultimate one who will possess the gate of his enemies, who will possess the gate of his enemies. So this promise had a near term and has an ultimate fulfillment application. It had a near term and it has an ultimate fulfillment. Let me show you what I mean. When the nation of Israel was obeying the voice of God, they too would possess the gates of their enemies. But when they chose to rebel in sin, they were on the receiving end of possess the gates of their enemies. Do you know your Bibles? That's the story of the Bibles. Sometimes they're stomping cities and possessing. Sometimes they're on the losing end. In fact, I found it interesting when I was reading the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible in English. It uses the language, shall inherit the cities of their enemies. Now, isn't that interesting language? Because those of you who know your Bibles know that that's exactly what they did. They inherited cities that they did not build. That's what Israel did. But that was short term. That wasn't an eternal promise. That was only temporary. We need a longer promise. We need a greater promise. We need an ultimate promise. Genesis 3.15 tells us that the seed of Eve, or the offspring of Eve, is going to crush the head of the serpent. But let's dig even deeper. In Matthew chapter 16, when Jesus asked Peter, who do some say that I am? He responds with, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, to which Jesus says, flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven. In that context, he will go on to say, and I tell you, Peter, referring to Petros, that is rock, and upon this rock, I believe the language is truth, I will build my truth, my church, and, here it is, The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Why won't hell prevail over the church? won't help prevail over the church. Because who controls the gate of hell? Our sovereign God. Wait a minute. Stop. I just showed you a Hebrew text spoken 4,000 years ago in a bizarre poetic promise, and here we are in the year 2022, and it is alive and well and being fulfilled. It's too much. It's incredible. It's, Connor, it's layers and layers and layers and layers of intricately woven promises in poetic language and then fulfilled in bizarre ways. Our book is amazing. That's why I told you, get it out of the pew right now and hold it in your hands. Somebody put a comment on our Facebook, our Google page, that we worship the Bible. Not true. Not true. Absurdly not true. Unequivocally not true. We do not worship the Bible. We do marvel in the truth that it contains. Wait a minute. Why do we marvel in the truth it contains? Because it is the ultimate revelation of our God. How else would we worship our God and know how great He is were it not for the truth that's revealed in His book? It's not that we're worshiping the book. We worship the God of the book. But what we find ourselves is that when he comes off the pages of this book, we can't help but to get excited. And so thus a person could get confused. They worship the book, to which we would say, oh no, we don't worship the book. Not one bit. We don't worship the book, but we sure do love the truth that the book contains. Matthew 16, 19, the very next verse, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Are there keys to the kingdom of heaven, folks? Is there a key to the kingdom of heaven? What kind of language is this? Poetic language. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, we have not been binding too many people here in church lately, okay? Yet it's incredibly poetic language. So now turn to Revelation chapter 20. And I want you to hear these words, Revelation chapter number 20. And this is where you're going to use your pew Bible. And you're going to turn to the back. And then you're going to find the numbers on the page. And you're going to find chapter number 20. Now, you and I can have a disagreement as to when this has happened in Revelation 20. But what we cannot have a disagreement on is that this is what the Bible says. I believe that the beginning of 20 has already occurred. Others would say, no, that's not correct. I'm OK with you being wrong. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven and holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pits. Now, is there a key to the bottomless pit? No. What kind of language is it? It's figurative language. And that angel had a great chain. You've got a key and you've got a great chain. And he seized the dragon. Who is the dragon? It's the ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan. And he bound him for 1,000 years and he threw him in a pit and shut him and sealed it over him so that he might not deceive And there's the language right there, the nations, the nations, the nations any longer until the thousand years were ended. And after that, he must be released for a little while. Now folks, we can have a disagreement as to whether this is future or whether this is past. I believe that it's connected to the cross. And I believe that it's connected to this blessing of the nations. I am not suggesting that Satan has been eliminated. I'm not suggesting that he no longer has any influence. I'm not suggesting any of those things. I know that he's alive and well. I know that he's a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, but I would say to you that he's on a leash. All right, let's go on. I won't belabor that point too much longer. I'm not saying the enemy is eliminated, but I am saying a defeat occurred when Christ rose from the grave. In other words, something definitive happened prior to the cross and after the cross. And what I'm suggesting to you is that even if it's a small sense, that possessed the gate of his enemies occurred when Christ rose from the dead and defeated his enemy, who was Satan. Now, even if you disagree with me on that, you won't disagree with me on 7. Verse 7 says, in the same chapter, 20, And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and the sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were and they they being the Trinity the Satan and the false prophet and the beast and They will be tormented for how long church? So here's what I'm telling you whether it has already occurred in part, which is what I would believe, yet not ultimately completed. So in other words, there is a degree to which he is possessing the gate of his enemies, but there is also a future ultimate fulfillment where every gate of every enemy is ultimately and completely possessed by Christ. So that was number two. So let's get on to number three, which is the best one. Bless the nations. Bless the nations, bless the nations. So number one was the innumerable descendants. And what we're saying here on this innumerable descendants is that, Michael, is your faith in Christ? Absolutely, unequivocally. So are you born again this morning because of your faith in Christ? Is the answer yes? So he's the son of Abraham. He's the son of Abraham. You are one of the stars of the sky. You are one of the sands of the sea. And Daniel too professes faith in Christ. And you also, sister, profess faith in Christ. And Penny professes faith in Christ. And so does Chris right here. And although all of you do not have the same ethnicity, we have various ethnicities here that we just saw, what they all have in common is that they are a son or daughter of Abraham because of their faith in Christ. And that's how that promise is being fulfilled. And then number two, we went out of our way to show you that Christ has prevailed against Satan. That is to say that he possesses the gate of his enemies. He did it when up from the grave he arose. He did it when Satan was bound. And he will do it someday when Satan is eternally tormented forever and ever. And there is neither crying nor weeping, nor sickness, nor any of that stuff, because Satan has been defeated and God prevailed. Now number three, bless the nations. And you're offsprings to all the nations, and I have the word ethnos, and let me show you why I have it there. Again, I'm using the Septuagint because I'm trying to compare, I'm trying to compare Greek to Greek. Greek to Greek. And the Septuagint is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. So when I look at this word here in this Genesis 22 passage, it's the word ethnos. Well, I know about the word ethnos. It's where we get ethnicities from. I know ethnos. It's ethnicities. So when I say to you this morning, when I say that and in your offspring shall all the ethnicities of the earth be blessed. That is the nations of the earth in 2218. I'm not thinking about Germany, Great Britain, United Kingdom, Russia, Ukraine. That's not where we're going. That's not what we mean by nations. What do we mean by nations? We're talking about that diversity that God created on the Tower of Babylon and has been perpetrated through interactions of perpetuating children. Germans, Hispanics, and on and on. That's what God has promised to bless. And look at my chart on the screen. This was first mentioned in chapter 12, and in you all the families of theirs shall be blessed. Chapter 18, and in all the nations of theirs shall be blessed. Chapter 22, and in your offspring shall all the nations of theirs be blessed. Chapter 26, and in your offspring all the nations of theirs shall be blessed. Chapter 28, and in your offspring all the families of theirs shall be blessed. Five times! Let me ask you a question. If there's a promise in the book of Genesis mentioned five times, five different times, don't you feel like we ought to know what that promise is and how it's being fulfilled? Five different times? That's a lot. So what is this blessing? What is this blessing that the nations or ethnicities receive? What is this blessings that the ethnically receive? What is it? What is this blessing? Man, we need a new clicker. And did I get an amen on that? Is that a motion to buy a new clicker? I think we had a motion. Can we get a second? This is your opportunity. You're like your last Sunday with us, brother. I need you to come through with a big... Seconds, yes. You ought to just buy it as a going away gift, you know? It's like 14 bucks on Amazon. Can you come up with... Nice. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Do what? Stop, stop. Do what? Foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles, the ethnicities, the nations, how by faith God preached the gospel, the good news, to Abraham, saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed. Justify. Justify. Justify. Justify. Declare just. You're unjust. You're born unjust. You perpetrate unjust things. Injustice is who you are. It's in your very DNA. You have a propensity to be unjust. That's why we have such problems from the beginning of time. You have a whole bunch of unjust people out there trying to coexist. They perpetuate and perpetrate injustice in their default category. It's why therapists and educators can't fix the problem. There's no amount of incarceration or rehabilitation that's gonna compensate for the degree to which we are inherently unjust. That's the reality. And God says, I have a solution. Through Christ Jesus, I am going to declare you what you're not. Now this is the doctrine of justification. This is the good news. This is the glorious gospel. And Paul says, this is the blessing. This is the blessing. And the reason the church doesn't see this as the blessing is because we're so caught up in BMWs, flat screen television, in-ground swimming pools, big houses, and all that, that that's what we think about blessing. And how could we not? Television is littered with preachers like that. Every time you turn around, the word blessing always refers to material possessions. I'm so blessed, I'm so blessed. And when we see that, we're not talking about people who are poor. Hello? We need a mindset change. And preachers all across the pulpits are not helping in this matter. Every time they misappropriate a scripture, Listen to me right now. I was with a lady this week and all I'm gonna say, but it happened this week. And she said to me, I love to study Abraham so that I can see everything I'm entitled to. Not true. Here's what you're entitled to, eternal condemnation. That's what you're entitled to. If you're looking for your entitlements, it's eternal condemnation. You are inherently sinful. I am inherently sinful. Apart from a divine work of grace in my heart and in my life, I have a propensity to be selfish. And some clothe it real nice and they can put makeup on a pig, but it's still inherently a pig. And I know some of you got some amazing kids and they're like naturally compliant. And God bless you for those naturally compliant children. But the rest of us have sinners. Really. You know? So in you shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. So justification by faith is the forgiveness of sin coupled with the imputation of righteousness, like this, like this, Austin. Not only does he pay your debt, he deposits more than what you'll ever need for the rest of your life in your checking account. It's not just one. It's a couple. It has this coexisting idea to it. You say, why do I care about this? Do you care about people getting saved? Would you like to be able to share the gospel with somebody? If you would, then you need to know what justification is by faith. Do I have to use that word? No, you do not. Can I use a simple illustration? Yes, you can. But even when you're using a simpler illustration, you're still describing the doctrine of justification by faith. Listen to this language. This is the kind of lose your mind, go off the chart, unglued language. Listen to this. So like if you're, he's too, I ain't even started, okay? Listen to this, okay? Romans four, six through eight. Just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteous apart from works. We're not talking about a Beamer. We're not talking about a four wheel drive Ford F250. We're not talking about a big boat. We're not talking about a five car house and big, it's not, forget, stop. Stop all that. We're not talking about a promotion. Stop. The greatest blessing that King David could conceive, and he describes it in the Psalms, is that God counts righteousness apart from works. You mean to say, Pastor Sean, there is a means whereby I can be seen as righteous without having the burden of caring, did I do everything right today? Did I do everything right yesterday? Have I done everything right all week? Have I done everything right all month? Have I done everything right all... That's overwhelming! Why did you drop like your knees? I was trying to show you that I can carry the burden if you say to me, have you done everything right for a day? I can kind of carry that. But if you make it a week, and then you make it a month, and then you say a year, and then you say your entire life, I'm on the floor. I can't carry that burden. Like if you said to me, Sean, if you could be good for about 24 hours, I, man, I'm gonna do that 24 hours a night and keep my mouth shut. I'll go read a book and hide in the cave. And then for those 24 hours, I've done it. Right? Are y'all getting it or not? But King David says in the Psalms that the greatest blessing are that my lawless deeds are forgiven. Look at it with me on the screen. It's verse number seven. Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven. Okay, let me say it like this. This is stupid enough. All right. I'm just, I'm a wreck. Every time You speed. No, no, stop. Every time we speed. Am I the only one in here? Is there anyone else that has a propensity? Ah, yeah. Which one of you two? All right, here's the bad news. It's sin. You know Mike Bortz? Mike Bortz, you know, we hired him a little bit. Mike Bortz, we've been friends forever. He doesn't speed. I think he's strange. He doesn't speed. I'm not exaggerating. In fact, speeding, he thinks that it's a sin and it bothers him. You know, I'm forgiven. Seriously, what are you doing right now? I'm trying to show you that even the most righteous in this congregation who think that they are just like, man, I'm there. Like, I don't know about the preacher, but I'm pretty much there. You're not. You're not. You need your lawless deeds forgiven too. He says, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and there's more. Yes, their sins are covered. It's the word propitiation there. It's a covering. It absolves us of the punishment. Cover it. Hide it. I don't want anyone to see it. What's it covered with? It's covered with the blood of the Son of God. Right? Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not, future tense, will not count his sin. My goodness. My goodness. Do you know why the evangelical church is shutting down in America and why it's collapsing? And I'm talking about the big church, the prosperity gospel churches, is because they've equated blessing to nonsense. So now COVID-19 comes crashing into the world, an economic collapse is right around the corner, and the inflation is sky high, and my money's not going as far as I thought it would, and I thought you told me I was blessed. Hello? Hello? Good theology doesn't, I mean, bad theology doesn't prepare you for tribulation. You know what prepares you for tribulation? Good theology prepares you for tribulation. My blessing's not here on this earth. I'm a son of Abraham. My blessing's not here. We don't know what the future holds. We don't know what the future holds. You don't know what the future holds. You don't know whether next year's gonna be a better year or not. You don't know that. So if you equate blessing to prosperity, promotion, and those kind of things, you don't feel very blessed. But if you get your mind and your heart and your, you know, kind of get straight about this, you understand that when Paul says, quoting from King David, blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. Yes. You don't have to wonder, when I get to heaven, am I gonna be judged? I mean, you sin, sin, sin, Tuesday and Wednesday, and there was Thursday, and twice on Friday, and Saturday was a pitiful day for you, and I'm sorry, sucks to be you, you didn't make the mark, outta here. Hello? Hello? Is your faith in Christ? Is your faith in Christ? Is your faith in Christ? Is your faith in Christ? Is your faith in Christ? Is your faith in Christ? What are you doing right now? We're having an invitation. We're having an invitation right now, Dr. Boyd. I'm asking you right now to consider, am I saved? Is my faith in Christ? If the answer is I'm not sure, then you come right up here. When everyone else leaves, you just come right up here and we're gonna have a conversation about how to get saved. Well, that must be embarrassing. I have to come up there? Well, you must not wanna have your sins forgiven then. Go on your own then. Hello? Why are you so obnoxious this morning? We're only talking about the single most important thing that you could ever hear, Robert. That's all we're talking about. We're only talking about where you're gonna spend all of eternity. We're only talking about whether you're gonna stand at the judgment seat of Christ, Daniel, with your own merits or the merit of Christ Jesus. That's all we're talking about. Not that important. Hello? Let's pray. God Almighty, if there's even one person in this auditorium, one person from the nations in this auditorium, if there's only one person, oh God, that has yet to put their faith in Christ, bring them under the greatest degree of conviction by the power of the Holy Spirit, and may they, oh God, repent and put their faith in Jesus. God, it's so easy for us to become complacent with forgiveness and the gospel. And I ask you, oh Lord God, to corporately forgive us for our apathy, for our lack of passion. We get more excited about a football team winning a game than sins being forgiven. Oh God, we are so upside down. Forgive us for being so chewed up. Help us, oh God, to get our priorities right and get our heads screwed on correctly so that we think the way you've called us to think. In Jesus' name, amen.