You Have Been Declared Righteous

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♪ Every time I call you Jesus ♪ ♪ I call you, I call you Savior ♪ ♪ Worthy of glory forever ♪ ♪ Something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ Chains break, dry bones fail ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ The depths of hell shake ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ Chains break, dry bones fail ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ The depths of hell shake ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ ♪ Dead things come alive, dead things come alive ♪ ♪ Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Dead things come alive, dead things come alive ♪ ♪ Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Dead things come alive, dead things come alive ♪ ♪ Dead things come alive in the name of Jesus ♪ ♪ Dead things come alive, dead things come alive ♪ ♪ Dead things come alive ♪ ♪ I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you here ♪ ♪ Resurrecting power, something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call you Jesus, I call you, I call you savior ♪ ♪ Worthy, unworthy forever, something comes out of the grave ♪ ♪ Every time I call your name ♪ Well, good morning, everybody. Welcome to Church on the Move. I wanna say happy Mother's Day to all the moms here, and we love you guys.

As we continue, we're gonna read God's word together, so why don't you join me as we read our call to worship out of Psalm 128. Will you say this with me? Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in his ways. You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands. You shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house. Your children will be like olive shoots around the table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion. May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life, and may you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel. This is the word of the Lord, and we say today, let's continue. From the far side of the chasm, you held me in your sight. So you made a way across that great divide. Left behind heaven's throne to build it here inside. And there at the cross, he paid the debt we owe. Broke our chains, freed my soul for the first time I have hope. Thank you, Jesus, for the blood applied. Thank you, Jesus, it has washed me white. Thank you, Jesus, you have saved my life. You brought me from the darkness into glorious light. Hallelujah. Glory to God. You took my place. You laid inside my tomb of sin. He was buried for three days, but then he walked right out again.

And now death has no sting, oh, and life has no end, for I have been transformed by the blood of the Lamb. Thank You, Jesus, for the blood of mine. Thank You, Jesus, it has washed me white. Thank You, Jesus, You have saved my life. You brought me from the darkness into Your glorious light. Thank You, Jesus, for the blood of mine. Thank You, Jesus, it has washed me white. Thank You, Jesus, You have saved my life. You brought me from the darkness into Your glorious light. There is nothing stronger than the wonder-working power of the blood, the blood. In all the sons and daughters, we are ready to bow and follow through the blood. It's precious blood. Sing, there is nothing stronger. There is nothing stronger than the wonder-working power of the blood, the blood. In all the sons and daughters, we are ready to bow and follow through the blood. The blood. Thank You, Jesus, for the blood of mine. Thank You, Jesus, it has washed me white. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Jesus, You have saved my life. Thank You, Jesus, You have saved my life. You brought me from the darkness into Your glorious light. Come on, sing this as loud as you can, make it your declaration. Thank You, Jesus. Yeah, yeah, yeah, come on.

Thank You, Jesus, it's washed me white. Thank You, Jesus, You have saved my life. You brought me from the darkness into glorious light. You brought me from the darkness into Your glorious light. You brought me from the darkness into glorious light. Give Him praise today. Give Him a praise. Give Him a holy praise. Glory to God, hallelujah. Colossians chapter 1, verse 13 says, He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His beloved Son. In Christ, in Him, we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. I don't know about you, but I'm grateful for the work that Christ has done for me. And today, we're gonna take Holy Communion together. Why don't you get those elements ready? If you didn't get it on your way in, you can just raise your hand. Our host will make sure you have what you need. This is Holy Communion. We have a holy God that we get to approach each and every day. But I'm reminded more and more, as Isaiah said, he said, Woe is me when you enter the presence of God without the work of Christ on the cross. We're not welcomed. Scripture would say that by the blood of Jesus,

we have peace with our God today. It's our hope, it's our prayer, that as we take of these elements today, you would remember and feel his peace, not his shame, not condemnation, but the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. Doesn't matter what your past has looked like. Bring yourself today as we take up the bread and the cup to the feet of Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 11, the apostle Paul, he instructs the church, before you take up the bread and the juice, examine oneself. You see, self-examination, and I'm gonna give us some space to do that this morning, is really just the action of asking ourself, do my actions match my belief? Let's take just a minute this morning to be still, to examine our hearts this morning. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Scripture would say, he himself bore our sins on his own body on the tree, so that we having died to sin might live for righteousness. And by Jesus' stripes, we are healed. As we take up the bread this morning, if you're in need of healing, ask. If you've been believing for healing like myself, thank him for it. If you would, church, take up the bread this morning

in honor of the broken body of Jesus, but also our healing that we have in him. Scripture would say, all have sinned, all have fallen short of the glory of God. We take up this cup this morning in honor of our forgiveness of sins. This is celebratory, church. We have been forgiven. Take up this cup this morning. Thank you, Lord, for our forgiveness. Thank you, Lord, for the price that you paid. Thank you for calling us your children, your own time and time again. Lord, when we are unfaithful to you, you remain faithful to us. And Lord, we say thank you. Thank you for the giving of your body. Thank you for the shedding of your blood. Thank you for calling us your own. And God, we worship you this day. We celebrate the work that you did for us on the cross. Lord, and we will live a life of worship. We will live a life unto you for your name, for your glory, for your good. Be praised this day in Jesus' name, everybody said. Amen, amen. Let's continue singing together. ♪ There is a day coming ♪ ♪ When the old will pass away ♪ ♪ Every wrong will be made right ♪

♪ No darkness, no night ♪ ♪ The sun will light the way ♪ ♪ There is a king coming ♪ ♪ The one who conquered death and grave ♪ ♪ No more pain and no more sorrow ♪ ♪ His hope for tomorrow is our hope for today ♪ ♪ He who lies, He who is ♪ ♪ He who lies remains who he is ♪ ♪ He who is, He who is, He who is, He who is ♪ To come, Christ the Son of Man Riding on the clouds with a crown upon His head And every eye will see Him With the nail scars in His hands Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah There's only one world King Of all glory and all praise No orphan nor orphan Strength, wisdom, and power To the Lamb that was slain Lift your voice today To do is to come Christ the Son of Man Riding on the clouds with a crown upon His head And every eye will see Him With the nail scars in His hands Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah To do is to come Christ the Son of Man Riding on the clouds with a crown upon His head

And every eye will see Him With the nail scars in His hands Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah Is that the truth He's coming in on, yes Oh, can you feel it too All this tension growing stronger It's just a sign He's getting closer He's already on the move He's coming All the storm He has been waiting for We all know how He was His life, Jesus, has been made And my eyes will say that He's coming back again To do is to come Christ the Son of Man Riding on the clouds with a crown upon His head And every eye will see Him With the nail scars in His hands Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah To do is to come Christ the Son of Man Riding on the clouds with a crown upon His head And every eye will see Him With the nail scars in His hands Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah In the morning that He rose All of heaven held its breath Till that stone was moved for good

And for the lamb had conquered death And the devils from their tombs And the angels to the King of God For the Son of God who died And to the Father of His Son Come on, come on. ♪ In the church of Christ was born ♪ ♪ A man, a sin, a man ♪ ♪ And now this gospel truth of old ♪ ♪ He shall appear, he shall not fail ♪ ♪ The body's blood in his name ♪ ♪ In his freedom I am free ♪ ♪ For the love of Jesus Christ ♪ He's the father. He's the mother. He's the king. He's the mother. He's the father. He breathes the son. He breathes the spirit of God. Come on. We will praise him, praise him. I will praise him. Praise, honor, all worship unto the king of kings and the lord of lords, God, we worship you in this place. May our life be a pleasing aroma to you. May our life be worship unto you. We thank you for what you did for us on the cross. In Jesus' mighty name, all God's people said this morning, amen, amen.

Would you give the lord praise today? Hallelujah. Man, oh man, I love getting to worship with you. Why don't you do this? Greet those people you're next to. Keep things moving today. Well, good morning, Church on the Move. Man, that was fun. That's a great way to start the week right there. Praising the lord. We're so glad to see you guys. My name's Lee. I'm up here with Priscilla. We just want to say a big happy Mother's Day to all you moms, all you grandmas in the room. You know, the apostle Paul says at the end of his letter to the Ephesians, he says, honor your father and mother, for this is the first commandment with a promise that it would go well for you all the days of your life. So it's a privilege. It's a joy for us today to honor you moms, to thank you for who you are and what you mean in our lives. In fact, when you go out of this service, out here in the courtyard, in the lobby, we've got some fun stuff for moms. We've got some local vendors that have some things, some sweet treats for you. So if you came in that door over there, be sure to check it out. Just spend a little time enjoying this morning

and being together with our moms. We just want to say happy Mother's Day. And I want to say that to you too. That's right. Thank you. Happy Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful mama. We love getting to celebrate all the moms this weekend, but we know that there are some of you who may be walking in. This weekend may be a little bit difficult for you. However you're showing up, we're just so thankful to be together as a church family. And we want to say a special hello, maybe to anyone who's here for the first time. So if that's you, please let us know that you're here by texting the word new to the number 23101. We're going to send you a gift card to our new Fulfilled Coffee Lab that just opened up about a month ago in our lobby space. If you come by throughout the week, you're going to see other people from church on the move there. A lot of our team is in there. I actually think that you've made that your second office home. I don't even need an office anymore. No, there might be a Pastor Lee siding if you come by, but we'd love for you to grab a coffee or a pastry on us, but we don't want you to stay new. We would love to invite you to come back and be a part of what's happening here

so we have a next step for you. Yeah, the best thing for you to do is just join us at a monthly gathering that we do called The Next Move. We share a meal together. Pastor Whit is there to talk about kind of who we are and where we're headed as a church. Priscilla and myself and the Tulsa team, we love the chance to get to meet you, learn your name, your family, what brought you to church on the move. So if you'd like to be a part of that, we're doing it next weekend after the 1130 service. You can just text the word next to 23101. You get signed up for that. We would love to see you there next weekend. But before then, this Wednesday night, pretty big night here at this location. Church on the Move Broken Arrow and Church on the Move West are coming here to join us this Wednesday up the hill at 180. It's Uncommon Night Zero, opening up registration for our big summer youth conference, Uncommon. And so they're going to have just a blast up there. But in this room, we're going to be having worship and communion, and we're going to hear from our good friend Matt Chandler. That's right. Pastor Matt is a dear friend of Church on the Move.

He pastors a church in the Dallas area called the Village Church. We're really excited to host him, and it's not often we get to get our family of churches together for a special night. But he'll be teaching out of his new book called Becoming Like Jesus, which I know that he's going to stick around after the Wednesday night service in our bookstore to sign copies if you pick those up. But maybe you're in the room and you want to get your hands on a copy and start reading it. You can grab one this weekend as well. But we hope that you'll join us. Maybe you're curious about kids' classrooms. Classrooms will be open for ages two and up. So we're really excited for this special night. Yeah, it's gonna be a great night this Wednesday. I hope you'll be there. Well, before we move on in our service, we pause in all of our services to honor God with our giving. We bring a portion of what we have back to God. It's a reminder that everything comes from Him. We bring some of it back so that the kingdom of God can advance, the gospel can spread here in Tulsa and around the world. If you've never given with us before, you can just text the word give to 23101. You'll get instructions there on how to give digitally.

If you can't prepare to give in the room, you can do that. There's an envelope in the seat back in front of you and drop boxes at all of the exits on your way out. We've also got a couple of other ways that we give that are outlined on a dark green card that's in the seat back in front of you. You can check out our compassion offering, our expansion campaign. Have a look at that if you would like to. However you choose to give, we appreciate you partnering with us in this way. We are looking at the life of Abraham. That's the series that we're in. And I can't wait for you to hear this message from Pastor Witt. So let's do this. Let's bow our heads together. Let's prepare our hearts to hear the teaching of God's word. Father, what a great morning just to be here with moms, to honor and celebrate them, to worship you, to come around the table of communion together. Man, but now we set everything aside, even our plans after this service. We put the phone in our purse or in our pocket. Why? Because we want to tune our hearts and our ears to what you have to say to us through the living word. So God, speak to us in this time of teaching. We pray these things in your name.

Amen. Well, good morning Church on the Move. Good to see everybody this morning. Let me also say good morning to our church family joining us online. Let me say good morning to all of our men at Dick Conner and our ladies at Eddie Warrior. We have two churches in prisons and we like to welcome them at each and every weekend. So can you help me put your hands together and say welcome to everybody joining us from everywhere. Let me also just join with everybody else and say happy Mother's Day to all the moms. I do, I hope you have a wonderful day. I hope maybe you get some brunch or just a nice afternoon where you don't have to work too much, right, with your family. So I hope it's a wonderful day for you. In honor of Mother's Day, we're gonna be talking about circumcision today. Kid you not, this is where we wound up. We don't try to preach special sermons for special days. We just kinda go where the text leads us. And we are in Genesis chapter 17. We're studying through the life of Abraham. So if you have a Bible, I wanna invite you to turn there. And if you're new here and you're just like, what the heck are they talking about? I assure you this will have more to do

with your real life than you realize, especially as we get started here. If you don't have a Bible with you, that's okay. I'll put the slides on the screens, or we will, and you can follow along that way. I'm gonna read excerpts from this chapter. We could read the whole thing, but I really just wanna focus on the passages that I think are gonna mean the most to where we're gonna go today. So if you wanna follow along with me, we'll skip around a little bit. It starts like this. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless that I may make my covenant between me and you and may multiply you greatly. Now we're gonna skip down to verse nine for the sake of time. And God said to Abraham, by the way, in the passages before, he's changed his name. Now you'll notice he's called Abraham. He's given him a new name, a new identity. He says, as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you, throughout all their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you.

Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. Now skip ahead to verse 22. When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham. Then Abraham took Ishmael. Ishmael, his son, and all those born in his house are bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin that very day, as God said to him. Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, and Ishmael, his son, was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That very day, Abraham and his son were circumcised,

and all the men of his house, those born in his house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him. This is the word of the Lord, and we all said, thanks be to God. I think that's the most I've ever said, circumcised in a day. Well, this has not been an easy sermon to put together. As you might imagine, what do you teach on from this text? Like, what is there to say? But as it would turn out, this sermon's been really hard to put together, not because I've had too little to say, but because as I've studied this, I've found too much. Abraham is the progenitor of our faith. He's called the father of our faith. That means that everything that God would do with all of us, he does first with Abraham. That means that what we find here is a pattern, a picture, a type. God is establishing a mold, a way of working and being and doing. And in that pattern, we learn a lot about our lives. I would go so far as to say this, that if you do not understand what's happening here with Abraham, you will not understand your faith. You will not understand your God. You will not understand grace, not really, because what's being established here is the pattern of how God always works. So I'm gonna do my best to take some big

theological concepts and try to make them bite-sized so that you can grasp them. But more than just understanding, I want you to feel them. I want you to feel this in your soul, because what happens here and what's going on here is so much more than just kind of abstract, weird stuff that happened in a culture thousands of years ago that doesn't really make all that much sense. And it's more than what kind of belongs in sort of an academic setting or in a theology classroom, but rather this hits you at real life, like in the place that you live. And I want you to feel and know that today as we dive into this. So here's where I wanna start. Couple of big words, but I want you to understand them and I want you to know what they mean and how they hit you. Here's the first. Justification comes before sanctification. Let me say this again. Justification comes before. Everybody say comes before. Comes before sanctification. Now this matters more than you can imagine. As I said, if you don't understand this, if you fail to grasp this point, I'm not sure you've really grasped the depth of Christianity, what your faith means, and what Christ has done for you. So let's begin by defining our terms. I realize I'm using theological words,

you maybe have never used. Justification, sanctification. What do these words mean? Let's start with justification and focus there. There's a quote here from Martin Lloyd-Jones, one of my favorites. He puts it like this. I think it's the best definition of justification I've found. Justification, he writes, is the judicial or a judicial act of God in which he, that is God, declares that he regards those of us who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as righteous on the grounds of the work and merit of Christ. The key phrase here is that he declares. The best way I could maybe unpack this for you is for you to consider a courtroom. I want you to imagine that you've been brought in on charges of theft. And let's say for a moment that you did it. You stole something. Maybe in an act of desperation, or maybe it's just been some kind of longstanding habit, but you stole. And you've been brought in before the court, and you're seated there before the judge while all the evidence is examined. And let's say that the evidence maybe isn't that strong. The judge looks over all the evidence, and to your surprise, at the end of the trial,

he declares you not guilty. I want to ask you a question. A declaration about you has been made. You are, in the eyes of the law, not guilty. But let me ask you a question. Does that mean that you did not steal? No. You are a thief, but you have been declared not guilty. Do you see how that works? This is a declaration about you. It doesn't change who you are. You're a thief, but you've been declared not guilty. Let's reverse it. Let's think of it in the total reverse. Let's say you're innocent, brought into a courtroom. All the evidence is put forward, and let's say through a series of just unfortunate events, the evidence points in your direction, though you're as innocent as you can be, and at the end of the trial, after the judges examine all the evidence, the verdict is read, and you are declared guilty. Does that mean that you're guilty of the crime that you've been accused of? No, it doesn't make you guilty. In the eyes of the law, you're guilty. This is not to say that that has no effect on your life. Of course it does. In fact, this verdict being read about you might be, for many people,

the most pivotal event of your life, but it does not change the fact that you're innocent. It's a mere declaration of your status in the eyes of the law. Now, this is what the doctrine of justification puts forward, is that you are justified before God, hear me, while you are still a sinner. God declares you to be righteous. This comes from Genesis chapter 15. Remember what I said just a moment ago. Justification comes, what? Before sanctification. Genesis 15 is before Genesis 17. Let's look at Genesis 15, verses one through six. If you have a Bible, you can turn there. If not, you can follow along on the screen. We studied this a few weeks ago, but I want us to look at it again and consider it in the light of this doctrine that we're exploring here. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. Fear not, Abram, I am your shield. Your reward shall be very great. But Abram said, oh Lord God, what will you give me? For I continue childless in the heir of my house is Eliezer, his servant, Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, behold, you have given me no offspring and a member of my household will be my heir. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him.

This man, Eliezer of Damascus, he shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be your heir. What's God doing here? He's making promises. And he brought him outside and said, look toward the heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them. Then he said to him, so shall your offspring be. And then verse six, and this is the key verse. The writers of the New Testament would pick up on this verse over and over and over again. This is the pattern of salvation, the pattern how God works. Verse six, and he, that's Abram, believed God. He trusted God. He just said, okay, I believe you. I take you at your word. And what does it say that God did? He counted it, or he credited it to Abram as righteousness. Now let's unpack this, because here's another loaded theological word. What does it mean to be righteous? Comes from the old English word right-wise. It means to be accepted, to be in good standing. Think of it like this. If you were to die today, if today's your last day on the planet, we don't know when our last day will be. Could be today. And let's say after you draw your last breath,

you are ushered very quickly to the threshold, the edge, the border of the very presence of the living God. And I want you to imagine that he speaks to you. You cannot see him, but you can hear and feel his voice. And he asks you this question. Why should I allow you into my presence? What answer will you give? How would you respond to that? What justifies you? What makes you righteous or acceptable in my presence? Why should I let you in? Alistair Begg puts it like this. If we begin to answer this question in the first person, we've already lost. And yet that's exactly where we start. Well, I, I guess I've been a pretty good person, you stammer. I tried to help the poor when I could. I mean, I guess I did the best as I could. I don't think I'm too much worse than the next guy. We just basically try to justify ourselves by putting forward our record, such as it may be, of righteousness. This is who I am. This is what I've done. Is this acceptable to you? That's the idea. And this is what we do. And by the way, religious people, Christians do this as well.

We basically take our religious activity and we use that as our justification before God. We say things like, well, I prayed a prayer in church. I raised my hand. end of a sermon and received Jesus as well. I prayed some kind of prayer. I got baptized whenever I was young. Doesn't that qualify me for your presence? Now I'm messing with some of your theology right now and you're wondering, wait a minute, what are you saying? Wait, am I saved, am I not saved? Let me tell you something, you are not saved on the basis of anything you have done. God does not declare you righteous because you prayed a prayer, because you got baptized, because you went to church, because you've tried to be a good person, though that's how so many of us think of it. We think that somehow, some way, we earn our way into God's favor by acting in accordance with God's law, but that is not grace. Grace is the idea that God justifies the ungodly. He does not justify the saint. He does not justify the good church person. He does not justify the Christian. He justifies sinners while they are still sinners. This is scandalous and if you're starting to feel a little bit offended right now, wait a minute, because what does this do?

It strips you of any trophy that you may have, any justification that you may have for being better than another human being. You realize that all of that gets stripped away and now you just stand condemned before a holy God but because of Christ, he counts you righteous. This is why scripture says while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. So justification is a one-time declaration. It is a verdict that is read in the cosmic courtroom of history and it's better than you are not guilty. Not guilty is the best you can hope for in a court of law in these United States, but in the courtroom of God's kingdom, you are not declared not guilty. It's better than that. You are declared righteous. You get what Jesus deserved. He gets what you deserved. He takes death, he takes your sin, he takes the punishment that your sin deserves and you get his right standing before God but you say, what, I'm a sinner. I've been living for myself. I've done everything. I've broken every law that God put forward. That's exactly right. He justifies the sinner, the ungodly, while they are still sinners

and if you get this, it changes everything because what we wanna do is reverse it. We wanna say, well, sanctification. So let's talk about what is sanctification? I got a little definition here that's helpful. You could put it like this. Justification is to be declared righteous. That's what we're talking about. God has declared you to be righteous. If you've put your trust in him, all you merely do is say, Lord, I trust you, counted and credited to you as righteousness. That's how this works. It can't be that simple. It is. It is. Such is grace. He has declared you to be righteous. That is justification. Sanctification follows and that is the process whereby God makes you righteous. When you are saved, you put your trust in him, he declares you to be righteous. You are not made righteous in that moment. You are merely declared to be righteous. There's a difference. He declares that over you, but you look at your life and it's still a wreck. You're not living for the Lord, not really. You're still making stupid decisions.

What happens? He sanctifies you over time. Now, here's where we get this wrong. We wanna flip that around and there's a good reason for it because this is how life works. I will declare you righteous when you prove to me that you're worthy of it. That's how we work. That's how life works. That's how every other religion works. Prove it and then you'll get it. And so we work hard. We put our best effort out there. We try to attain some kind of standing with whoever it is that we're trying to impress, a God, a person, ourselves, whatever the case may be. But grace, the gospel, is completely opposite that. God justifies you first. He says, you're righteous, now live like it. Sanctification follows. Lloyd-Jones puts it like this. He says, the great mistake we all tend to fall in with regard to justification is that we tend to think that justification means that we are made righteous. When God justifies you, he somehow makes you righteous in and of yourself. But that is not the case. It's quite wrong.

He says, in justification, we are not made righteous, we are declared righteous. The thing is quite different. To say that you are made righteous is to. Confuse it with sanctification. Now, this is not to say that God has no desire in you being made holy. In fact, we're gonna get there. That's Genesis 17. Genesis 15 is, I have counted it to him as righteous. Why? Because Abraham just simply trusted me, that's it. He's done nothing to deserve it, nothing to merit it. I am just crediting it to his account as righteousness. That's justification. Genesis 17 will come later. What does Genesis 17 say? Walk before me and be blameless. Justification is how the story begins. Sanctification is how it continues. Justification happens in a moment. It's a declaration. Now, this will change the way that you live your life because some of you, you live with a constant uncertainty of your status before God. Am I saved? Is God pleased with me? How does God feel about me when I walk into his presence? And you kind of take your own feelings as the measure of your right standing with God.

God feels distant. You feel like you don't belong. You put a good streak of behavior together. You feel pretty good about yourself. You feel like God is now pleased with you. We do this. We use our feelings as the primary gauge for God's pleasure or displeasure with us. I had a sweet church on the mover reach out to me in the last couple of weeks to let me know that she felt like she had committed the unpardonable sin. Anybody ever felt like that, worried about that? I may have committed the unpardonable sin. She said, I think I may have blasphemed the Holy Spirit. Just enough Bible to know kind of what that sin was. She said, I felt so terrible about it. I've been repenting of it ever since, but I feel awful. I am certain I am damned. I am certain God is done with me. I think I've committed the unpardonable sin. What do I do, Pastor? Wait, I said, be at peace, sister. You have not committed the unpardonable sin. How can you know? Because you're repenting. The reason the unpardonable sin is unpardonable is because the people who commit it would not want forgiveness if it was offered to them. That's why he doesn't forgive it, because they don't want it.

I can't give you what you're unwilling to receive, but because you are repentant, that's the clear sign that you have not committed it. So be at peace. She said, oh, but I still feel so distant from God. So what then, what voice will you honor more that declares your right standing with God? Your feelings or God's word? Do you see how there is a subtle pride in us saying, well, I don't feel like I'm justified before God. What do your feelings have to do with it? God has declared you to be righteous. Why? Because he's credited to you as a matter of grace by virtue of the work and merit of Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with your behavior. It has nothing to do with your past. It has nothing to do with how good you've been lately. It has everything to do with what Christ has done. And if you understand this, now you'll stop living your life to try to earn the Father's love, to try to be worthy of God's presence. You will live in the light of his grace poured out on you. Now, this is how this works, is this is how kind of our logic goes. Well, now, hang on a second. If God has, one time and for all, declared me to be righteous, well, now, isn't that some kind of license to sin?

And Paul addresses all of this in the New Testament. This would be the train of thought that people would have. Well, if God's just passing out grace like candy, then I'll just go do all the stupid stuff that I've always wanted to do, and I'll just get forgiveness for it. Now, if you really understood grace, though, you would never do such a thing. It would be such an affront to the one who has paid so much for your freedom. Why would I ever want to do that? No, the proper response is to live for him. And this is what we find in Genesis 17. Let's think about it again. In fact, let's look at it. Look at Genesis 17.1. Genesis 15 is, Abram believed God. That's all he did. And it was counted to him as righteousness. But now, Genesis 17.1, the tone begins to shift. Up until this point, God's only made promises. Here's what I'm gonna do for you, Abram. And all Abram does is believe him, and God says, that's a guy I can work with. That's all he's looking for from you. It's just a mere trust. All right, Lord, I trust you. Boom, he comes rushing in. That's how God works, that's his goodness. But here in 17, there's a shift.

Now that Abram has been declared righteous, look now what God says. When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abram. and said to him, I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless. Now what is this? This is the doctrine of sanctification. Justification happens in a moment and it happens once. God declares you righteous. If you have put your trust in him, he's made the declaration. It is finished. No need to second guess it. It's done. You have been declared righteous in God's sight, but this is not the end of the journey. After justification comes sanctification. He first declares you righteous and then he enrolls you in a process, a program whereby he will make you righteous. You're not righteous when you get saved. You're declared righteous, but you're not. You still have all the same stupid habits that you used to have. All the same stupid sin patterns were there that you used to have. What do you need now? Sanctification. This is where you now take on his character. Walk before me, the Lord says, and be blameless.

Now what does that mean? Couple quotes I wanna read to you. Peter Gentry and Stephen J. Wellam put it like this. When God walks before someone, this expression means to give guidance and protection. This is a common expression, particularly in the Old Testament. Walk before me. God walks before his people, but also he calls them to walk before him. Conversely, when people walk before God, here's what it means. It means that they are to serve as his emissaries or his diplomatic representatives. The idea is, Abram, you're going to be, or Abraham, you're going to be my ambassador. You're going to represent me to the earth. People will know me through you. In Genesis 17, one, God commands Abram to walk before him. Thus, Abram is to be God's agent or diplomatic messenger and representative in the world. Remember what I've said this many times before. God doesn't just save you from something, but for something. What for? This right here. To represent him. To partner with him in bringing his kingdom. Do you remember what? Jesus taught us to pray, your kingdom come,

your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. I participate in this. When the world looks at Abram, this is the idea, they will see what it is like to have a right relationship to God and to be what God intended for humanity. Let's put it a little more personally. Leave that quote up there if you would. When the world looks at you, Christian, they will see, hopefully, what it is like to have a right relationship with God and to be what God intended for humanity. Now this is the rest of your life. You are justified, declared righteous before God. Now live in this way. It's sanctification. Let me show you a map. It's interesting when you consider where God had sent Abram. Remember, part of these promises here, not just for a son, an offspring, but for a land. In fact, the initial promise is, go to a land I will show you. Where is that land? Well, here, look at this land. This is an ancient map, or a map kind of charting out the ancient territories. And you can see there, just off the coast of the Mediterranean,

highlighted a little bit would be the land of Canaan. This is the land that the Lord sends Abraham to. Notice that to the west of that land is Egypt, one of the great empires of the ancient world. To the east are the other two great empires of the ancient world, the Assyrian Empire and the Babylonian Empire. Now all of those dash marks are trade routes. There is, interestingly, a desert between Canaan and the land of the Babylonians and the Assyrians. So there's really no people, nobody living there because it's a desert. So if they want to get to Egypt, where must they pass through? Canaan. They will encounter God's people. Here's the idea. In modern terms, they continue, Abram and his family are to be settled along the central spine of the internet. In other words, this is the internet of their day, if you will. It's where all communication, where all commerce will pass through the very place that God has sent Abraham. I'm putting you here and I'm putting you here strategically. I'm positioning you in this way so that everybody from Egypt to Mesopotamia will pass through Canaan and when they do, what are these travelers and traders supposed to see?

They are supposed to witness a group of people who demonstrate a right relationship to the one and only truth. through God, a human way of treating each other and a proper stewardship of the Earth's resources. God calls Abram to be a light to the nations. This is the beginning of his plan to bless the nations through Abram and his family. In other words, God saves you, he declares you to be righteous, but then he says, now I want you to live in such a way that the people around you, let's start with your family, can see it. They can see God's goodness, they know who I am because of the way that you live your life. Now I think it's interesting how or to who God gives or establishes this covenant. Did you notice that it's for all the males in the household? Now why doesn't he say anything to the women? Why doesn't he ask anything of them? Is it because he doesn't require anything of them? Is it because they're somehow second-class citizens in God's kingdom? Absolutely not. It's not to do with that. Why does he then say all the males, you will be marked by this covenant? Why is that? Because it starts here.

This is leadership in the kingdom of God. You know what leadership looks like? It doesn't look like you taking charge, like you dominating other people, like everybody conforming to your will. You know what leadership looks like in the kingdom of God? It looks like you go first. You ever thought about how Abraham had to kind of have this difficult conversation with all the men of his house after the Lord told him to circumcise everybody? You think about that? I mean, how did he do that? Hey guys, gather around. I've just had a conversation with the Lord. Oh really? What did he say? Well, you're never gonna believe this. This is not my idea. And remember what it says. Abraham is 99 years old when this happens. And he does it that very day. Eager obedience. This is what leadership looks like. Let me go first. Follow me as I follow Christ. This is the command to the men, not to get the family to serve you, but for you to lay your life down, to say this is what it looks like to follow the Lord.

I think that still holds true today. It's a shame that men don't step up and take the leadership role in their house, specifically around spiritual matters. Should not be that a wife has to drag her husband to church. It should not be that a wife has to beg her husband to pray over the family, or to lead spiritually in the family. It's not that women have no leadership skill within the family. Far from it. It's just that men ought to be the ones saying, let me go first. Let me show you what it looks like to follow the Lord. And I think it's interesting where in the body God wanted to mark them. It's the place of fruitfulness, offspring, life will come from you. But also, it's the place of a man's greatest temptation. In other words, if you can't honor me with your sexuality, and how many men are broken sexually? There's sexual brokenness in the secret place of our hearts and souls. And can I tell you, nothing will stop you. Nothing will cut you off from being the man that you were called and destined to be like sexual brokenness. That's why several years ago I said, we are declaring war on pornography at Church on the Move. Why?

Because nothing stops a man from being a husband. Nothing stops him from being a good father like porn. It keeps you, it robs you. You know what it robs you of? That generational thing that God wants to do through you. You can't be a dad to your kids, not with any kind of real authority. You'll always be compromised. Why? Because shame. It's what shame does. It robs you of your place. So Lord says, honor me here. Honor me in this way. Give me this. And watch the blessing that I will make come out of you and from you. Sanctification. The Lord begins to work his character out in you. But sanctification comes after justification. Look at what the apostle Paul writes in Romans chapter four. If you have a Bible, you might flip over there. If not, you can follow along on the screen. Paul writes this. As I said to you at the beginning, this is a huge theme throughout the scriptures. He's writing about Abraham in Romans four. And look what he says. What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather, according to the flesh?

In other words, what did Abraham do? What did he gain by his actions? What good work did he do in order to be justified before God? That's the idea. For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about. Now stop and think about this. In other words, if Abraham could say, well, I'm saved because I was just a little bit better guy than the people next to me. That little bit of pride in the midst of that grace robs you of the very gift that God wants to give you. By the way, this is why so many Christians look down on other people. It's not that they think themselves the best, it's that they think themselves just a little bit better than you. Why did God save you? Why did God save you and not your unbelieving neighbor? Why have you come to faith? Why? If the answer to that question starts with I, you're already off on the wrong foot. It doesn't begin with you. The only answer you can give is him. He did it. I'm just a recipient of God's grace. That's the point that Paul is making. For if Abraham was justified by works,

he's got something to boast about, to brag about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? And notice what he's quoting. This is Genesis 15, six. For Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, and Paul is using logic here. What's his logic? Well, if you work, you receive a wage. When you get paid every week or every month or however it is your paycheck comes, do you go into your boss's office, fall down on your knees and say, thank you so much for these wages. Oh, I'm so grateful that you would give this to me again. Do you do that? No. Why? Because you've earned that paycheck. You worked for it. There's no need to say thank you because you did the work. But that's not what happens here. He says in the one who does not work, look at this, but believes in him. And what does this him do? What does he do? He justifies.

Who does he justify? What does it say? Can you read it up there? Where are we, guys? Move ahead. Is that it? Did I miss it? Go back. I'm wrong. No, that's not right. Hold up. Verse five. All right, put verse five up there. Ah, there it is. I misread it. My apologies. And to the one who does not work, but believes in him, who justifies, what's those next two words? Who does he justify? Who in here qualifies for that? Every single one of us. He justifies the ungodly. What happens? His faith, your mere trust that he will do what he says he does, is now credited to you, counted to you as righteousness. Skip ahead to verse nine.

This is what Paul writes. Is this blessing, then, only for the circumcised? See, by the time of Paul, circumcision had become such a marker of whether you were in or out with God that they could not conceive of a person being right with God if they were not circumcised. They had mistaken the sign for the thing itself. Baptism is a sign. Communion is a sign. It points to a greater and deeper spiritual reality. In other words, if you're not physically baptized in water and somehow you die, it doesn't mean, but you've put your trust in Christ, can I tell you? It does not mean that you go straight to hell. God's not playing a game with you. What he wants is your heart. Too many of us, we turn religion into some kind of cosmic, weird, mystical game where God's playing by strange rules where if you say the right words or do the wrong thing, that somehow you're sent straight to hell without passing go. But that is not how it works.

God wants relationship with you. All of these signs are meant to point to the deeper reality. It's a sign of what's going on in the heart. He says, then only for the circumcised or also for the uncircumcised. For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How was it counted to him? Was it before or after he was circumcised? It's a rhetorical question. Which was it? In other words, does Genesis 15 come before or after Genesis 17? Before. He was given righteousness, declared righteous before, before the sign of the covenant, before he was sanctified. It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father, and this is us, the father of Abraham. for all who believe without being circumcised so that righteousness could be,

would be counted to you and me as well. This is what it is to be a believer. This is what it is to be a Christian. God justifies you while you're still a sinner. He declares you righteous. You live the rest of your life living into and up to that declaration. Not out of some onerous, heavy obligation Jesus said, my yoke is easy, my burden is light, but out of joy I serve him because this is what he's done for me. Let me close with this story. I don't know how many of you have read the book perhaps or maybe seen the play, the musical, or maybe you've seen one of the many film adaptations. Raise your hand if you've seen Les Miserables in some form, read it. Many of you, wonderful. It's such a great story. I'm partial to the 1998 film with Liam Neeson and if you haven't seen it, it's incredible. Go home and watch it, one of the best movies I've ever seen. In it, it tells the story of a man named Jean Valjean. It takes place just before the French Revolution and if you remember the time of the French Revolution, there were many or a few wealthy elites who had all of the money while all the poor people were suffering and starving. Jean Valjean was poor.

And he could not feed his family, so he resorted to theft. He became a thief and eventually is caught for stealing bread to try to feed his family. So he's thrown into a prison camp, a work camp, where he works, grueling way for years and years and years. The punishment does not fit the crime, but such was his sentence at that time. When he's finally released from the work camp, he attempts to make his way back into society. No one will have him because he's an ex-con, convict. Once a thief, always a thief, that was the idea. No one would take him in, no one would offer him a job. He's essentially in no better position than he was when he was in the work camp until finally he encounters a bishop and his wife. An elderly bishop, he meets the man who sees him in a way that no one else up to that point had seen him. He sees him as more than a convict, he sees him as a human being. He invites Jean Valjean into his home, he feeds him, he treats him with respect and dignity and gives him a place to stay for the night. Jean Valjean at this point is more like an animal than a human being, he's been so mistreated for so long, he doesn't know what to do with this bishop's kindness. And so on the night, he resorts back to his old pattern of life, old habits die hard.

He goes into the bishop's pantry and he begins to take the silverware that he had used to eat earlier that night. It has some value, he could take it, he could sell it, perhaps he could start a new life for himself. So he absconds with everything of value that he can find from the bishop, he flees into the night. It doesn't take long though before he's caught by the magistrate. The magistrate says, what is this? What is this that you have? He knows who this man is, he's a convict. You're not to be trusted, once a thief, always a thief. What is this? He says, the bishop gave it to me, he's just making up a lie, a pathetic lie. Well, the magistrate doesn't buy it. So he takes Valjean back to the bishop to confront him. He calls the bishop out of his house, he says, bishop, do you know this man? He says, I do, I hosted him here at my house last night. He says, well, look at what he has and he shows him all of the bishop's silver that this man had taken. And then the magistrate says, he says that you gave it to him. The bishop looks back at him and he says, I did. But Valjean, you've forgotten, I told you, don't forget to take the candlesticks.

He goes back into his house and he grabs the candlesticks and he brings them out and he puts them in Valjean's hands and he says, here, take these as well. The magistrate is stunned and Valjean is even more stunned. He doesn't know what to do. He doesn't even know what to say. I guess to his own credit, he just remained silent. The magistrate realizes, well, I guess there's been no crime committed here. So he begrudgingly walks away. Leaving behind only the bishop and Valjean and these words that the bishop says to Valjean are so profound Because friends, this is exactly what God in Christ has done for me and you this is what he says He says Jean Valjean my brother You no longer belong to evil It is your soul that I buy from you I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition and I give it to God The bishop bought his soul with the silver that he gave and in essence he says I have bought your soul now live like an honorable and Decent man and this is exactly what God in Christ has done for you Paul would write it in 1st Corinthians chapter 6 where he said do you not know that you have been bought as A price what happened Jesus paid for you. He bought you he purchased a people for God What was the price his body and his blood? He bought you from sin death the devil hell and the grave and he gave you delivered you Transferred you Micah read it earlier today You have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness and delivered into the kingdom of light Well, what have I done to deserve it? Nothing. You're a thief. You're a liar. You're a sinner

You've been broken your whole life, but God has declared you righteous now live like it This is our salvation Righteousness has been spoken over us. The verdict has been read Now, let me just say this to you some of you you're gonna walk out of here And it's as if the verdicts been read in the courtroom more than not guilty. You've been declared righteous The verdicts been read everyone's heard it But as you're trying and attempting to walk out of the courtroom and to live into your new life There stands an accuser saying oh, they are they are not righteous. I know what they've done I know it. Can I just tell you what to say to that voice? Tell it to shut up Why because the verdict has already been read his word is final Your feelings don't matter that accusation doesn't matter Do you know that this the enemy is called the accuser of the brethren? What does he want to do? He wants to remind you of who you've been you are not that anymore. You have been declared righteous Your soul has been bought with his precious blood now. Let's live like that's true Can we give glory to God as we close today? Thank you, Lord Would you bow your heads and close your eyes Father you're so good. You have purchased a people as your possession That's us You bought us at the cost of your precious blood. Thank you Thank you, and where we have taken that for granted I pray Lord we would not but that we would live every moment in the light of your grace your Unmerited grace that has been so richly and lavishly poured out on us Thank you Lord Now if you're in the room today, and you say wit I need that grace I have never in my life really received it. I've never reached out and said Lord. I trust you and It's wrecking you today because you know you've not lived in a way that merits that kind of grace and yet You know you're you've been declared righteous, and you just want to say I trust you I believe that that verdict about me is true because you're saying it is true, and you want to receive it today Maybe for the first time in your life

Or maybe this is something for you like you're returning to your faith in a new and fresh kind of way But if that's you would you be bold enough right where you sit to just throw your hand up and say that's me I want that I need that kind of grace today. Yes, sir I got you right out here in front of me over here to my right. Thank you, sir. Anybody else say wit That's me. I'm saying yes to that grace. Yes, sir on the aisle here, too. Yes. Thank you over here to my left Thank God over here up in the left section. Thank you anyone else Just wave at me might take me a second to see you all the way at the top couple hands up there Thank you over here. Yes. Thank you anyone else say wit. That's me. Yep up there. Thank you. I got you. Thank you Anyone else we're gonna pray here in just a second out in front of me. I got you sir I see you with the hat on there. We're at guys over to my left. I see you over there far left Thank you front row. Yeah Anyone else say what that's me I Got over here in the middle section somewhere. Thank you up here at the top. I got you two hands Thank you. That's me putting my trust in the Lord. I Cannot save myself. I need somebody to do it for me. He did anybody else, but that's me Wonderful church, can we pray together? Would you repeat this after me say Heavenly Father? I need a Savior I cannot save myself. I've made a mess of my life. I'm a sinner. I've broken your law, but Jesus came to pay the price for my sin. I receive his righteousness credited to my account. Through no effort of my own, I've done nothing to deserve it, but you've given it anyway. I receive it today. Thank you for making me your own, calling me your child, welcoming me into your presence. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Can we celebrate? Because that's true. That's true for all of us who are in Christ. Thank you. As we close today, if you raised your hand just now, or if you have a prayer need, our prayer team is going to be down front. And if you raised your hand, we have a book for you. We wrote it. It's just called How Do I Know That I'm Saved? It'll basically walk you through kind of what salvation and your next steps look like. So stop down front. We would love to be able to resource that to you. And yeah, we don't want to try to rope you into coming back next week. This is purely a free gift. We just want to give it to you and help you on your journey with Christ. Now, if you have a prayer need, something's going on in your life or your family that you'd like prayer for, our prayer team is right down here, standing

right in front of where I'm standing right now, but facing that way. And they would love to be able to pray with you as well. So stop by at the close of the service. Thank you so much. Happy Mother's Day once again to all the moms. Stand to your feet. We will close with this blessing out of Numbers chapter 6, and we like to say it out loud together as a church family so you can join me. Here we go. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. God bless you. I love you. You're dismissed. ♪♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪