1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,430 And the promise is this: 2 00:00:02,430 --> 00:00:05,908 That if we cling to Christ in faith, 3 00:00:05,908 --> 00:00:07,232 we'll be justified. 4 00:00:07,232 --> 00:00:08,764 There's the promise. 5 00:00:08,764 --> 00:00:10,904 You see, the promise is the blessing 6 00:00:10,904 --> 00:00:12,434 of all the nations. 7 00:00:12,434 --> 00:00:15,003 The promise is this: 8 00:00:15,003 --> 00:00:17,870 That there is a way to heaven. 9 00:00:17,870 --> 00:00:20,234 There is a way to be justified 10 00:00:20,234 --> 00:00:23,385 by faith in Jesus Christ. 11 00:00:23,385 --> 00:00:24,688 That's the blessing. 12 00:00:24,688 --> 00:00:28,863 Justification by faith is the most glorious 13 00:00:28,863 --> 00:00:31,172 promise that can be imagined. 14 00:00:31,172 --> 00:00:32,794 I mean, this is it. 15 00:00:32,794 --> 00:00:33,869 This is it. Why? 16 00:00:33,869 --> 00:00:36,068 Because what God has done 17 00:00:36,068 --> 00:00:39,502 is He has found a way for us 18 00:00:39,502 --> 00:00:42,662 to be righteous without law-keeping. 19 00:00:42,662 --> 00:00:43,985 And that's huge! 20 00:00:43,985 --> 00:00:46,727 Because you see, if you keep the law, 21 00:00:46,727 --> 00:00:49,412 if you've kept it, you're just. 22 00:00:49,412 --> 00:00:53,378 You don't need any way to be justified. 23 00:00:53,378 --> 00:00:56,575 You are just. 24 00:00:56,575 --> 00:00:58,780 But if you've once broken His law - 25 00:00:58,780 --> 00:01:00,880 you see what God has done is 26 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:05,041 He's given a promise to those who need another way. 27 00:01:05,041 --> 00:01:08,722 (Incomplete thought) 28 00:01:08,722 --> 00:01:11,798 See, the problem is, once you've broken it 29 00:01:11,798 --> 00:01:14,012 you can't heal that breach. 30 00:01:14,012 --> 00:01:16,545 There's nothing you can do 31 00:01:16,545 --> 00:01:19,958 once you're a law breaker 32 00:01:19,958 --> 00:01:22,450 to change that reality, 33 00:01:22,450 --> 00:01:27,650 except by the promise. That's it. 34 00:01:27,650 --> 00:01:29,004 See, there's no way. 35 00:01:29,004 --> 00:01:32,739 People who say, well, I'm a pretty good person. 36 00:01:32,739 --> 00:01:33,917 No, no, no. 37 00:01:33,917 --> 00:01:36,136 You can take that "pretty good" off the front. 38 00:01:36,136 --> 00:01:37,914 Because if by "pretty good," you mean 39 00:01:37,914 --> 00:01:39,081 that you sin sometimes, 40 00:01:39,081 --> 00:01:40,188 you're a law breaker. 41 00:01:40,188 --> 00:01:41,414 And as a law breaker, 42 00:01:41,414 --> 00:01:43,437 you're under a curse, and that curse says 43 00:01:43,437 --> 00:01:45,207 you need to keep everything written 44 00:01:45,207 --> 00:01:47,688 in the Book of the Law or you're going to go to hell. 45 00:01:47,688 --> 00:01:49,834 You're cursed. You're under the wrath of God. 46 00:01:49,834 --> 00:01:50,819 There is no hope. 47 00:01:50,819 --> 00:01:52,534 You have to keep everything. 48 00:01:52,534 --> 00:01:55,405 Everything. Every iota. Every jot and tittle. 49 00:01:55,405 --> 00:01:57,070 You cannot vary. 50 00:01:57,070 --> 00:01:59,298 You can't be at variance from God's law 51 00:01:59,298 --> 00:02:00,214 in the least bit. 52 00:02:00,214 --> 00:02:02,423 Why? Because to sin is to fall short 53 00:02:02,423 --> 00:02:04,058 of the glory of God. 54 00:02:04,058 --> 00:02:05,286 It is a reproach. 55 00:02:05,286 --> 00:02:07,472 It is an attack on His glory. 56 00:02:07,472 --> 00:02:09,551 And what God has said, 57 00:02:09,551 --> 00:02:11,537 "I give promise, Abraham, 58 00:02:11,537 --> 00:02:13,339 that a blessing is going to come." 59 00:02:13,339 --> 00:02:15,474 Oh, if Abraham could have 60 00:02:15,474 --> 00:02:18,117 laid his teeth into the fullness of it. 61 00:02:18,117 --> 00:02:19,874 It wasn't totally revealed. 62 00:02:19,874 --> 00:02:21,630 It was in darkness at the time. 63 00:02:21,630 --> 00:02:24,170 It was not revealed in other generations 64 00:02:24,170 --> 00:02:25,965 as it's now been revealed. 65 00:02:25,965 --> 00:02:27,159 Which is what? 66 00:02:27,159 --> 00:02:31,842 We Gentiles - there's a way to heaven. 67 00:02:31,842 --> 00:02:34,296 There's a way to have our sins dealt with 68 00:02:34,296 --> 00:02:40,103 that does not require me to keep God's law. 69 00:02:40,103 --> 00:02:42,393 And that is the promise. 70 00:02:42,393 --> 00:02:45,166 Justification. What is that? 71 00:02:45,166 --> 00:02:48,496 Justification is an act - 72 00:02:48,496 --> 00:02:50,833 a gracious act of God, 73 00:02:50,833 --> 00:02:53,179 where He counts you righteous. 74 00:02:53,179 --> 00:02:55,507 Not because you are righteous. 75 00:02:55,507 --> 00:02:57,237 Not because you've done good. 76 00:02:57,237 --> 00:02:59,244 Not because you've kept the law. 77 00:02:59,244 --> 00:03:02,087 But He counts you as such 78 00:03:02,087 --> 00:03:05,925 based on the merits of Jesus Christ. 79 00:03:05,925 --> 00:03:08,222 By His obedience, 80 00:03:08,222 --> 00:03:10,377 by His perfections, 81 00:03:10,377 --> 00:03:12,975 by His obedience all the way to the cross, 82 00:03:12,975 --> 00:03:14,389 by His death, 83 00:03:14,389 --> 00:03:16,809 by His righteousness. 84 00:03:16,809 --> 00:03:18,970 He fulfilled all righteousness. 85 00:03:18,970 --> 00:03:21,055 And it's by this, 86 00:03:21,055 --> 00:03:23,245 oh, do you hear those words? 87 00:03:23,245 --> 00:03:25,398 David spoke them and they're repeated by Paul 88 00:03:25,398 --> 00:03:27,437 in the 4th chapter of Romans. 89 00:03:27,437 --> 00:03:31,248 Blessed. Blessed is that man 90 00:03:31,248 --> 00:03:36,415 against whom God does not count his sin. 91 00:03:36,415 --> 00:03:39,820 If you're good, you have no need of this. 92 00:03:39,820 --> 00:03:42,245 Look, if you came in here today 93 00:03:42,245 --> 00:03:43,645 and aside from all of this, 94 00:03:43,645 --> 00:03:45,656 you could say, "I'm a pretty good person." 95 00:03:45,656 --> 00:03:46,989 Then, you don't need this. 96 00:03:46,989 --> 00:03:48,417 You see, Jesus said, 97 00:03:48,417 --> 00:03:50,707 those who are well, they don't need a doctor. 98 00:03:50,707 --> 00:03:51,783 This isn't for you. 99 00:03:51,783 --> 00:03:57,117 God hasn't designed a way to justify people 100 00:03:57,117 --> 00:03:58,172 who have kept the law; 101 00:03:58,172 --> 00:03:59,287 who are good people. 102 00:03:59,287 --> 00:04:00,872 That's not what this is for. 103 00:04:00,872 --> 00:04:03,463 This is for people who need another way. 104 00:04:03,463 --> 00:04:04,868 This is for people who, 105 00:04:04,868 --> 00:04:05,759 you know what? 106 00:04:05,759 --> 00:04:07,368 In the eyes of good people; 107 00:04:07,368 --> 00:04:09,812 in the eyes of religious people, 108 00:04:09,812 --> 00:04:11,793 they're hopeless. 109 00:04:11,793 --> 00:04:13,261 There's no way. 110 00:04:13,261 --> 00:04:15,426 You see, this is for people 111 00:04:15,426 --> 00:04:17,045 like the thief on the cross 112 00:04:17,045 --> 00:04:19,036 who have done nothing but live a life 113 00:04:19,036 --> 00:04:20,922 of wretchedness and debauchery 114 00:04:20,922 --> 00:04:23,373 and sin and thievery, 115 00:04:23,373 --> 00:04:25,081 and they've got nothing. 116 00:04:25,081 --> 00:04:26,895 And they don't have time left 117 00:04:26,895 --> 00:04:29,920 to even try to repair their bad record. 118 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:33,009 Which is basically what most of the false religions teach: 119 00:04:33,009 --> 00:04:37,297 do enough good and you can undo the bad. 120 00:04:37,297 --> 00:04:39,705 But you see, no matter how much good you do 121 00:04:39,705 --> 00:04:43,231 after you've broken the law, you're unjust. 122 00:04:43,231 --> 00:04:49,781 Justification is God, by His grace, 123 00:04:49,781 --> 00:04:52,334 devising a way 124 00:04:52,334 --> 00:04:58,287 that bad people can be declared righteous. 125 00:04:58,287 --> 00:05:00,500 That's the reality. 126 00:05:00,500 --> 00:05:02,650 That's the promise. 127 00:05:02,650 --> 00:05:07,796 What greater promise could you be a partaker of than that one? 128 00:05:07,796 --> 00:05:08,834 That's it.