0:06 In the New Testament, the first five books are all history, the life of Jesus in the first four books and how the apostles began the work in the fifth book which is the acts of the 0:25 apostles. And immediately after that comes all the letters teaching the doctrine of the church right from Romans all the way up to the book of Jude 0:43 and then there's one last book about the last days called Revelation. So the first book among the teaching books is Romans. So that's where I want to turn today 0:59 and I want to share something about Romans explains the gospel clearer than any other book in the New Testament. The first two chapters 1:18 deal with sinners, various types of sinners. One is the worldly type of sinners. Romans 1 verse 29 30 slanderers haters of God and all types of things listed there in verse Romans 1:29-32 and Romans chapter 2 1:37 deals with religious sinners the people who don't do all the wicked things mentioned in Romans in the last four verses of Romans 1 but who imagine that they're not as bad as the others and actually they're worse than the 1:51 others because they are so proud and their pride makes them worse than the adulterers and the thieves. And then it goes on to say finally that in Romans 3:23, all have sinned. Every single person, the religious 2:09 sinner, the worldly sinner, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So one thing you learn there if you read carefully the finest definition of sin in the whole Bible is in that verse. What is 2:28 the definition of sin? It's in that verse. Coming short of the glory of God. Glory of God is 100%. If you get 99 and a half, you're sinner. If you get 5%, you're a sinner. We compare ourselves with each other. Somebody gets 15 thinks he's better than 2:48 got the one who got five and the one who got 45 thinks he's better than getting 15. But all have come short of 100%. In God's church past Marx is 100%. 99.9% you fail just like the fellow who got zero. 3:06 And what is the definition of sin? Here it is in the same verse. The best definition of sin in the whole Bible is coming short of the glory of God. So then you ask yourself, what is the glory of God? In the Old Testament, when 3:23 they say glory of God, it was some bright light that they would see. But in the New Testament, the glory of God is defined in John's gospel chapter 1 and verse 14. John's gospel chapter 1:14 says that the glory of God was seen in Jesus 3:43 Christ. The word became flesh and we saw the glory glory as of the father. That is the glory of God full of grace and truth. So the definition of sin is coming short of God's glory. 4:01 And the glory of God is the life of Jesus Christ. So anything less than the life of Jesus Christ is sin. So that is the clearest definition of sin in the whole Bible. See we all have our own definitions of sin. Some say murder, adultery, theft. 4:19 Some say okay speaking bad language or then you go a little higher and say bad thoughts and bad motives and bad and you think you've become very very holy after you've begun to go into the thoughts and attitudes and motives and all that good 4:32 but if you come short of the life of Jesus you're still a sinner and uh God's purpose is to cleanse us from our sin and to make us one day completely like 4:49 Jesus. Jesus Christ make us 100%. That is the message of the gospel and that is what salvation is and we will not attain to it on this earth but if we press on we can get closer and closer and closer. 5:08 That's why some people on earth have come become very much like Jesus in their inner attitudes, their love for everybody, their forgiving attitude, their merciful attitude and their purity, purity in thoughts and words and their complete 5:27 self-control over their life where they never get angry under any circumstance. They never get depressed under any circumstance. It's possible to attain to that light on earth if we submit to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. So that's the other thing. God 5:45 gives us the Holy Spirit to produce in us that life that is free from sin little by little by little by little. It's like a progression in school. You go from the kindergarten all the way to post-graduate education. So in Romans I want to go through with 6:04 you. Using the picture of a building super this is called superructure underneath is the foundation and I hope you all know that the foundation 6:22 determines the strength of the building. The foundation is hidden but the strength of this building does not depend on how beautiful the outside is. It depends 100% on the foundation. And we all know that. And sometimes you hear of a crack in the 6:42 wall on the fourth floor. That's because the foundation was weak. Not because something happened over there. Somewhere the foundation sank. It sank and the crack came on the fourth floor. Apply that to the Christian life. 6:59 If you don't have a solid foundation, somewhere along in your life, you'll have a problem, your depression, the fact that you don't get victory over sin. Sometimes the problem isn't the foundation. So what is the foundation 7:15 and what is the superructure? Let's look at another illustration. I'm going to show you some diagrams in a moment. But uh you know there are there are there's material that we use in the superructure which we don't use in the foundation and 7:30 there's material we use in the foundation which we don't use in the superructure. Here in America you build with wood. Okay? It doesn't matter which you use but in India we always use bricks clay bricks for the building because 7:46 wood gets all eaten up by white ants in India. So it's not good to use wood in India. So use bricks. That's a good illustration. Clay bricks. And for the foundation they use solid stones 8:01 or concrete. Concrete is with metal rods and cement and all that. So it's a solid structure underneath which is almost impossible to break. Bricks and all. Can you you stamp on it? it can get crushed 8:19 but that's okay for the superructure. So we must not put bricks in the foundation. If you put bricks in the foundation water will come you know water goes underground the brick can 8:36 crumble and then what will happen? The building will sink. So you must never put bricks in the foundation and then you don't need concrete in the walls because you'll become so thick you can't thin wood or 8:55 bricks are okay for the super walls the foundation must be concrete. So in the Bible in New Testament you read about two words called justification and sanctification. You probably heard about it. Those are 9:14 big words. Let me explain it very simply to you. Justification is the foundation. Sanctification is the superructure. Okay. Now, we'll just look at this this diagram. Can you put that up, brother? This diagram. Okay. 9:33 justification and sanctification which I call the blueprint of an unshakable Christian life. Okay, we'll go to the next um slide. So do you see here God wants us to come to a life of 9:51 triumph and the superructure is sanctification. And you see there those are bricks and on the left it is written make sure you don't put bricks in the foundation. So let's look at the foundation first. 10:13 Start right at the bottom. Right at the bottom is the starting point is Romans 3:23. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's where you begin. Everybody begins there irrespective of their religion. Everybody has sinned. The definition of 10:30 sin is coming short of the glory of God. In other words, the glory of God is seen in the life of Jesus. You understood that? Okay. Now, what is the foundation? The foundation is justification by faith. Justification means declared 10:46 righteous. Sanctification is becoming righteous. Can you remember that? Justification is declared righteous by God. And sanctification is actually becoming righteous progressively. And 11:06 san the both are by faith. Justification is by faith and sanctification also by faith. But uh the starting point is Romans 3:23. We looked at that. All have sinned. You got to start there. If a person says I haven't sinned, he hasn't even 11:22 started. The first thing you got to acknowledge is you have sinned. Admit it. And don't compare yourself with others. Say that I'm better than him. That makes no difference. All have sinned. The worst sinner and the big sinner are all 11:35 in the same category. It's very important. Even children can understand this. If you follow carefully, you children sitting here will be able to understand. It's a very simple message. Okay. Now that is in Romans 3:23. So 11:51 then Romans 4 and 5 is the chapters that deal with justification by faith. So it speaks about our being 12:08 justification means declared righteous. We are not actually righteous but we are declared righteous. And that is what God does to us. And if you don't if you don't get this foundation, somewhere in your Christian life, you'll be feeling condemned and 12:27 depressed and discouraged and all types of things. This is a unique truth that comes in Romans chapter 4 and 5. And he uses the example of Abraham in Romans chapter 4. And he uses a very 12:45 simple example. If you read in the Old Testament, there was a mark that God gave to everybody who is a Jew. Everybody who is a descendant of Abraham had to be circumcised. And circumcised was a picture of the cutting off of the 13:03 flesh and is a picture of walking the way of the cross, putting to death the cutting off the flesh. When the New Testament also speaks about cutting off the flesh and in the Old Testament it was physical. In the New Testament the flesh 13:20 refers to our sinful nature and not just the sinful nature but the fact that we have a will that the main in the New Testament the word flesh refers to my will that has to be put to death. 13:42 It's important to understand that. So the Old Testament example, he uses an example saying God told in Romans chapter in your Bible, please turn to Romans 4 and:3, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. 14:02 It was put to his credit. Now, he wasn't righteous himself, but it was put to his credit. That's called justification. And the question is it is after that that he was circumcised. It says in verse 14:21 10, when was this righteousness credited to Abraham? Before he was circumcised or after he circumcised? Before he was circumcised. Now that's you may think that's a very not a very important argument. It is 14:39 because circumcision is the act of cutting off the flesh. But before that happened, he was already declared righteous. Now apply that to your life. That before you have put away the things of the flesh, God has declared you 14:53 righteous. And that's what many Christians don't understand. They think it's only after I put away everything, then God will declare me righteous. And that's why he uses the example of Abraham. He was declared righteous 15:09 before he was in that I don't have time to show you all those verses in the Old Testament but it is there in Genesis 15 and verse 6 if you want to look at it sometime he was circumcised in chapter 17 but in Genesis 15 long before he was 15:25 circumcised God said you are righteous now he applies that to our life that before we have actually put away our sins God has declared us righteous. And that is called justification. If you don't have this foundation and 15:43 you don't clearly understand this, you're going to be shaky in your Christian life all through your life. Because there are a lot of Christians and particularly, you know, we preach so much about holiness that we can begin to 15:54 think that God will accept us because we are holy or we are more accepted than somebody else sitting here because we are more holy than that other person. Well, that shows you haven't understood justification. And justification is not by doing 16:08 righteousness. We are justified by faith. Turn to Romans chapter 5. Romans 5:1. We are justified mean justified as a word means declared righteous. Not just declared not guilty. 16:27 Not guilty means I go to the court. I'm accused of so many things and the judge examines everything says not guilty. But righteous is more than that. Righteous means not only I'm not guilty but I'm a righteous man. It's like saying if you're a sinner it's 16:47 like minus minus 100 or minus a th00and and if you're not guilty it is zero. But declared righteous means you got 100%. You got 100% when you're still a sinner. God has put 100% to your account 17:05 when you don't deserve it. It's like putting the righteousness of Christ to your account. That's what justification is. Read further down in Romans chapter 5 verse 9. We are declared righteous by 17:27 the blood of Christ. And once we understand that it's a gift God gives us. It's a gift God gives us that he puts righteousness to our account. 17:45 That is the basis on which God accepts us. Very very important to understand. I'll tell you why. Uh because in a church like ours where we preach holiness, you can gradually begin to think that 18:04 you're more accepted by God because you're holier. That is not true. You're accepted the day you're born again. And when you're born again, you haven't got victory over a 100 sins. You're still defeated, but you're accepted. 18:22 So this is why I say this is the foundation and many people because they haven't got a clear foundation. They always feel guilty. Oh, has God accepted me now? I say he accepted you long ago. The day you receive Christ into your 18:39 heart, you have declared righteous. It was put to your account. Now people may say, well, in that case, people take advantage of it. Sure, people do take advantage and then they suffer the consequences. But we'll come to later. But this is very important to 18:54 understand this that this is the foundation of the Christian life. Declared righteous. Abraham is the example. And Romans 5 and verse 9 says Romans 5:9. We are declared righteous. Think of justified as declared righteous. Not actually righteous. That 19:12 is sanctified. Justified is declared as righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ. So many of us have understood that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin. Yeah. That is really in 1 John 1:7. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and 19:28 just to cleanse us. 1 John 1:9. And the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. That is when I confess a sin, the blood of Jesus cleanses me. But here it speaks about being justified by his blood. means that blood not only cleanses me 19:43 from sin, but because he shed his blood on the cross for our sins, I'm declared righteous. Now, it's quite possible that many of you know that the blood of Christ cleanses you from sin. You probably never thought that the blood of 19:58 Christ declares you righteous from sin as well. Have you ever thought of that? Romans, we all know 1 John 1:7 and 9. But how many of you know Romans 5 and verse 9 which says you're declared righteous by the blood of Christ which is which is 20:13 when you begin the Christian life. You start the Christian life by being declared righteous. And I emphasize that because this is the reason why many people who sit in churches like ours get feelings of condemnation. I'm not good enough. Will 20:32 God accept me today? He accepted me the other day when I was living a good life. But will he accept me today? Because you're always basing your acceptance before God on the basis how good your life is. I'll tell you the 20:47 only thing God accepts is the standard of the life of Jesus. And who's got there? None of us have got there. The holiest man in the world hasn't got there. So when are you going to be accepted by God? you just because you're a little better 21:03 than some of the others around you think you're more accepted by God then you have not understood the foundation what are we doing the progress in the Christian life which is like putting bricks in the wall we are taking that and putting it in the 21:18 foundation that means we saying what do I mean by that I told you if you take bricks and put in the foundation water will come and the bricks will melt and it this building will sink what is the practical application If I think that my acceptance before 21:35 God, which is the foundation of my life, is based on how good I'm living now, I will never be good enough and I'll always feel guilty. And you got the wrong understanding. You're putting the bricks in the foundation. That is not 21:48 the you need holiness of life, but that's in the superructure. Overcome sin, overcome lust, and overcome anger, and overcome bitterness, and forgive everybody. That's all in the superructure. Don't put that in the foundation. 22:02 Now once you get this clear, you will never have condemnation at any time in your life. You slip up and I tell you, your life will become holier as well. Because when your foundation is solid and you're absolutely convinced this is a solid 22:18 rock foundation, you can keep on building and you'll make spiritual progress. This is the reason why many Christians don't make spiritual progress. And this is also the reason why many Christians look down on others and condemn them. They feel I'm better 22:33 than them. Well, he's righteous and I'm righteous. Who's better? So, it looks in the eyes of others. This is very it's not a proper thing for God to do to declare a person righteous when the guy is already a sinner. But that is 22:48 God's grace and goodness. Now it's very very important to understand this foundation and that is where we start. There are no bricks here. It's not your good works. Bricks are like the good works. Don't put that in the foundation. 23:06 I keep repeating that because that is one of the great dangers of people sitting here. We have not understood justification properly that God declares me righteous on the basis of Christ's blood. Justification is not just just as 23:23 if I had never sinned, but more than that, just as if I've been righteous from the beginning of my life. Justification means declared righteous the day you were born again. The day you receive Christ, the righteousness of 23:40 Christ is put to your account. Let me show you a verse in one Corinthians and we'll then come back to Romans. Romans 1 Corinthians and chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, we read that Christ 23:59 has become for uh this is 1 Corinthians 1 and verse 30. Christ Jesus became to us wisdom and righteousness from God. So my righteousness, Christ himself has become my righteousness. So when I receive Christ into my heart, 24:18 his righteousness clothes me. I'm clothed with the righteousness of Christ and that's the only basis on which I can come before God. I cannot come before God saying I've confessed all my known sin. known sin. What you know of sin in 24:34 your life is probably 10% of the amount of sins there are in your life. Have you discovered sins in your life today or in the last week which you did not know were there when you were converted? Have you become a little 24:48 holier? Do you think you're more accepted today because you've given up those things? That's wrong. You have then you got haven't got your foundation right. I'm accepted by God on the basis of the death and resurrection of Jesus 25:04 Christ. Period. We'll stop. I don't have to add anything to that. From there, I build my Christian life, which is building up the walls. Okay. Now, we can go back to Romans chapter 6. Okay. We'll go to the next uh 25:23 the principle of scriptural balance. So I want to say a few things about balance here and that is you know Jesus when he was tempted the devil quoted scripture to him. Do you know that the devil knows the 25:43 Bible and he quoted scripture. Why? Because Jesus quoted the scripture first. When the devil told him to eat bread turn the stones into bread. Jesus said, "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that 25:57 proceeds from God's mouth." Ah. Then the next temptation, the devil said, "Jump off the roof of the temple because it is written." He's quoting the words. He's quoting scripture in Psalm 91. These angels will take care of you. 26:12 And Jesus said, "It is also written." That was a reply to Satan. It is also written, you shall not tempt the Lord your God. So there is a balance. Right at the beginning of Jesus ministry, he taught us, don't go by one 26:31 scripture. You can go astray with one scripture. It is written his angels would take care of you. So jump off the roof of the temple. Even Jesus would have died. There are a lot of stupid things many 26:49 believers do quoting one verse of scripture. One verse of scripture is balanced by another. It is written, it is also written. So please remember that it is written, it is also written. So that's what we see here. Here's an example. 27:08 Okay? uh it is written for example in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 7:24 the right side of the I'm to get the right the right side now in the third column there's a verse the s in the sermon on 27:25 the mount at the end of that wonderful things that the lord teaches in Matthew 5:6 and 7 he says those who hear and obey build on the talk. Now where does that come? Now if you say well that's that's not 27:45 justification because there it's a question of hearing and obeying that has to be in the superructure. So he's talking about building the superructure and the balanced truth is you see on the 28:02 right side justification is a free gift that gives us the power to live an obedient life and Matthew 56 and 7 is speaking about the obedient life that we must have. So even though the Lord uses the example of 28:22 obeying his building on the rock, the meaning is that is not the foundation of the Christian life. That is the superructure. Everything in Matthew 5 6 and 7 is a superructure. You cannot go to heaven on the basis of Matthew 5 6 and 7. 28:42 You cannot be accepted by God in that basis because there's no mention there about the death of Christ or the blood of Christ anything. So how can that be the foundation? That must be the superructure. So here is another example of it is 28:54 written and it is also written. Uh Ephesians 5:25 the second column you know on one side it says Luke 14:26 you if you don't hate your wife and 29:12 family and parents you cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:26. But in Ephesians 5:25, it says, "Husbands must love your wife like Christ loved the church." On one side, it says you got to hate your wife. Luke 14. See that column second 29:28 second level on the left side. On the other side, it says, "Husband, love your wife." What is the meaning of that? It is written. It is also written. It means that Christ must the third column you see Christ must hold supreme unrivaled 29:44 priority over our deepest earthly affections. Okay, here's another example. Jesus said in the conditions of disciplehip, Luke 14:33, you cannot be my disciple unless you give up all your possessions. Luke 14:33. And then 30:05 2 Corinthians 12:14, it says parents should lay up money for their children. So how can you have money if you given up given up all your possessions? It is written, it is also written. The meaning is you can keep money in the bank, but 30:20 don't possess it. Allow God to have lordship over everything that you have. So we saw that in the first first level also. I didn't probably make it clear. Romans 4:5, God declares us righteous by faith without works. But then in the 30:36 sermon on the mount, it says if you hear and obey, then only you build on the rock. There is a balance. Okay. The last one is spiritual gifts. There's a lot of teaching among Pentecostal people particularly that everybody must speak in tonesues. And 30:51 then on the other side, you have brethren people who says nobody must speak in tonesues. You have these extremes in Christendom. What does the Bible say in Acts 2:4? Every single one of those 120 people spoke in tones when 31:03 they were filled with the spirit. But 1 Corinthians 12:30 says all do not speak in tongues. It's a gift given to one person. Just like the gift of preaching, for example, teaching. If you have don't have the gift of teaching like God's given me, you won't 31:19 be able to teach. It's a gift. So tongue is also a gift. So it's wrong to seek for something God has not given. So lot of now the reason I gave these examples of these four examples of where people go astray is you take what is written 31:35 and you don't read what is also written then there's no balance and then you go astray and if Jesus had just taken what the devil says it is written he'd be jumping off the roof of the temple just to show you how stupid you can be if you 31:48 take just you say it is scripture it is scripture but it is balanced Jesus himself used the word it is written it is also written he control the devil. Please remember this because sometimes people come to you and quote one verse 32:00 of scripture and say you got to do this. You got to see what is also written. That's why God has appointed teachers in the church. So when you're in doubt about something, go and consult someone who knows the Bible better than you. He 32:12 may show you another verse which will clear up your confusion. Okay, we'll go to the next um and so here this is something we looked at earlier so but I'll repeat it again. Romans 3:23 32:30 sin is coming short of God's glory and God's glory is John 1:14 the life of Jesus Christ. So anything less than the life of Christ is sin. Please remember this. That is why we 32:46 have to admit till the end of our life there will be sin in us but we don't have to remain like that. I'll show you one verse which is not it's not mentioned there. 1 John chapter 3. What will happen when Christ comes 33:05 again? 1 John chapter 3 and verse two middle of that verse 1 John chapter 3 verse two when Christ appears we will be like him 100% that means there'll be no sin in us we 33:25 will be exactly like him in thought word deed attitude motive and everything because we will see him just as he is so many people look forward saying when Christ comes I'll see him. But I say not only that, I'll see him and I'll be like 33:40 him. Remember, our hope is double. I'm looking forward to the coming of Christ and when he comes, I will also be like him. So don't think only of the coming of Christ. Remember that when he comes, I'll also be like him. So a double hope 33:52 we have. Many people have only one hope. I'm going to see him when he comes. But here it says we will see him. Verse two, and we will be like him. That's a double hope. Sometimes the devil keeps us blind to the second part of it. Okay. If you 34:06 have this hope, what is the proof that you really have this hope? Verse three, everyone, no exception, every believer who really has this hope. How do you know he's got this hope? Not because he says so. You look at his life, he'll be 34:26 purifying himself till he reaches the standard of Christ purity. That is the person who has the hope of the second coming of Christ. If I were to ask you, how many of you have got the hope of the second coming of Christ? 34:40 You'll all raise your hands. But I say, hang on. Are you purifying yourself every day till you reach the standard of purity? Are you little by little? Are you in other words, are you going from kindergarten to grade 1 to grade two, 34:55 grade three, purifying yourself more and more and more and more and more? then you have the hope of the second coming of Christ. Otherwise, it's an empty empty truth. It's like the devil saying, "I know Christ is coming back." And you 35:07 can also say, "Christ is coming back." That's not a it's not a living hope to you. It's just a dead truth. Who's got a living hope? The proof is everyone who has this hope. Verse three, purifies himself as Jesus is pure. In 35:23 other words, until he reaches the standard of purity, he's purifying himself. He's keeping on going starting in the kindergarten step by step by step. Every year you expect your child to get a promotion to the next year. You'll be very 35:39 disappointed if your child sits in the same class the next year. God is disappointed when you're defeated by the same sin next year as you were last year. Face up to it. Just like you're disappointed. 35:58 Supposing your child is still sitting in the kindergarten still trying to figure out how much is 2 plus 2, how much is 3 plus 3 even after one year. Won't you be disappointed? And that is how the Lord is disappointed with people who are not even able to 36:15 overcome elementary sins. I'll give you one example. The Bible says that if you hurt somebody, you must ask forgiveness. That is one of the easiest things to do. If I were to ask you overcome lust and 36:33 overcome pride and overcome anger takes time. Okay. What about asking forgiveness? Is that such a difficult thing? Yet I'll tell you that is a kindergarten lesson. Asking forgiveness is a kindergarten 2 plus 2 equals 4 lesson. 36:50 But there are thousands of believers who can never ask forgiveness from another person. They are still in the kindergarten even after being believers for 20 years. If you think you're not in that 37:06 category, ask yourself, can you think of in your office or in your home you committed a sin? Maybe you got angry with somebody in the office 37:25 or with your husband or your wife. Okay. When did you ask forgiveness for that? Did you go to your wife and say, "Darling, I'm sorry that I hurt you." You go to your husband, I'm sorry that I got angry with you. You didn't do it. 37:45 Let me tell you in Jesus name, you are in the kindergarten. Even though you think you know so much of the Bible, you discovered the truth about yourself today. You are in the kindergarten. You're still studying 2 plus 2 is four. 38:02 And you're still struggling. Is it three or is it four? Is it five? 2 plus 2 is 5. 2 plus 2 is 3. 2 plus You're still not able to get it. 2 plus 2 is four. You're not willing to ask forgiveness. That's just one example. I'll give you 38:15 many other examples. So then you progress on to other other things. Okay, we'll go to the next uh slide. So in the Christian life, there's a growth just like kindergarten. You go all the way up to school, finish school, 38:34 10th grade, and then you go to postgraduate. So here I've just taken things like in the kindergarten you there's a sincere repentance immediate forgiveness of past give total assurance that I'm a child of God but you can sit 38:46 there for 20 years just confessing the same old sins again and again and again and again not growing and like I said never even learning to ask forgiveness from anybody but then you progress and go I've just jumped over into 10th grade 38:58 and you learned you over learn to overcome anger you learn to overcome lust of lusting after women you learned to overcome love of money and you have learned to be patient through trials. We have made progress. Now the danger 39:14 there is that now you can look down on some others who you feel are in the kindergarten. That often happens that a husband can look down on his wife. Ah I've got victory but look at her. Or the wife can look at the husband and 39:31 say I got victory in that area but look at him. It's very easy to see a fault in another person which you don't have yourself and that is a mark of an immature baby Christian that he doesn't realize that okay that 39:49 person's got a fault you your fault is somewhere else maybe his right hand is paralyzed but your left hand is paralyzed what does it matter both of you got a defect but the thing is we think that the area where I am victorious is I can see a fault in 40:05 another but I'm not able to see the area where I have pailed myself. So you got to be careful. Don't boast comparing yourself with somebody who's in a lower class. Okay. The other thing is once you go past all that you can 40:22 finally even when you come to suppos supposeding you're being a believer faithfully walked with the lord for many many years and you become like a postgraduate even if you walked with the lord for 50 years there are still so many uncristlike 40:37 attitudes in you I'll tell you honestly I'm discovering things in my life and I ask myself if I have not discovered something in my uncristlike in my life in the last 12 months I'm not making progress. Otherwise, I'm saying I become like 40:55 Christ. I have not become like Christ. I'll be like him only when he comes. But then I should be making progress every year. So please, no matter how spiritual you are, my brother, sister, ask yourself, have you discovered something new in the 41:11 last one year in your life which you did not know before? You go to a any student here and ask them in your school, did you learn something this year which you did not know last year? Yes. They'll say and they'll even tell you what they 41:23 learned this year. Learn from your children. You are not making progress year by year. Your children are making progress. They don't fail in the same class. But many believers probably sitting here are failing in the same class. What is the 41:39 proof of it? You have never discovered anything uncristlike in your life in the last 12 months. Let me repeat that. You did not discover anything uncristlike in your life in the last 12 months. No, there were things you discovered 41:59 earlier. You remember that even now, but nothing new. That means you're in the same same class. Maybe you're in the fifth grade and you're failing and failing and failing and you always remember that. Let's take that challenge. 42:13 Okay. But the ultimately we must have a you know the growth never stops until Christ comes again. Let's go to the next slide. Okay. Now here are some traps that we can fall into. One is 42:32 this is a trap that I don't think we have the danger here but it happens in many other churches. I start in Romans 3. I know I'm a sinner. Trap number one. And I've accepted Christ. He's declared me righteous. And when I read 42:51 things like the sermon on the mount that if I get angry I can go to hell that if I lost women I can go to hell that I must love others forgive others ask forgiveness from others all those things listed in Romans chapter Matthew 43:09 chapter 5 6 and 7 you say that's impossible and so you know what some Christians teach there are Christian denominations that teach that that is not for us to obey the brethren assemblies. You go to a 43:26 brethren man in a brethren assembly and the average person does not know what the brethren assembly teach. But ask a brethren scholar or the elder, do you keep the sermon on the mount? What am I supposed to do with it? The official answer is 43:44 I was in the brethren for 8 years and I know that was taught by Jesus to show you that you can never reach this standard. So forget it. So in other words, Matthew 5 6 and 7 is just to show you how impossible it is for you to reach God's 44:01 standard. So you read through it and you forget it. That is a false teaching. Martin Luther who was one of the great persons who taught salvation by faith. He taught that. He never taught Matthew 5:6 and 7. He only taught we justified 44:19 by faith. The foundation was clear. And that is the first trap that you lay the foundation and that's it. You know how Jesus spoke in a story in Luke 14 of a man who laid a foundation and he didn't build the rest of the building because 44:33 he hadn't counted the cost. If you don't know that verse, see Romans for uh sorry Luke 14 where Jesus spoke about the conditions 44:51 of disciplehip and there also he used the picture of foundation. It says here when you begin to build a tower verse 28 Luke 14:28 first sit down and count the cost do you have enough money to complete it and if you don't 45:08 have enough money to complete it and you start building and you're not able to finish and people will say in verse 30 he man began to build is not able to finish. So there are that's how people they don't they think only the foundation they lay 45:24 a foundation we got a wonderful foundation he's laid a foundation and that's all nothing more than that there are many many believers like that they lay a foundation and that's it and um that is the shallow church trap that means Romans 3 Romans 4 and 5 God 45:40 has declared me righteous I'm accepted by God period or full Oh, nothing more. That's one trap. Many believers are there. I'm accepted by Christ. And they spend the next 50 years losing their temper, telling lies, doing 45:57 all types of unrighteous things. I'm declared righteous in Christ. The blood of Christ cleanses me. That's what they say to the end of their life. They are as defeated 50 years after they are born again as they were when they were born 46:07 again. That is trap number one. The second trap is who feel that I'll be accepted only if I become an overcomer. So they always feel condemned. I haven't overcome some sins. So God has not accepted me. They have scratched out 46:26 Romans 4 and 5 in their mind. Anyway, justification by faith, God declaring me righteous is not even in their thinking. From Romans chapter 3, I'm a sinner. I have to go straight to Romans 6:14, which is sin shall not have dominion over you. That 46:44 is a great danger of probably some people here sitting here because we preach so much about Romans 6:14. Sin shall not have dominion over you. They think that is the way of being accepted by Christ. That means they have eliminated Romans 4 46:58 and 5 and gone straight from Romans 3. All have sinned short come short of the glory of God straight to Romans 6:14. sin shall not have dominion over you. And that's legalism. And they never get there. And they live in a spirit of condemnation all the 47:12 time. Fighting sin without the assurance of God's acceptance. And it's a piece that is based on performance, not on the basis of Christ having accepted us. It's like in the first trap, you have all types of sins 47:32 at home. uh you say it's impossible to live this overcoming life whereas the actual gospel highway as we see in the book of Romans we start Romans 3:23 the last picture there all have sinned the foundation is 47:50 are our what Jesus has done the blood of Jesus there are no bricks there no bricks in the foundation if you put a brick in your foundation that means you try to put your good works there it'll melt the The house will sink guaranteed 48:04 in the foundation. No bricks only the solid rock of what Christ has done for us. Period. And there you have faith and peace. And then we go on the basis of that we go to Romans chapter 6 which is of sin shall not have dominion over you. And we go to 48:21 Romans 7 which is being free from legalism. And Romans chapter 8 where we seek to live in obedience to the Holy Spirit. through the Holy Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body as it says in Romans 8:13 and Romans 9 is discover is explaining 48:39 the righteousness of God sorry the sovereignty of God in choosing us just like he chose Israel Romans 10 speaks of the righteousness of God Romans 11 speaks of 48:55 God's faithfulness us. And then we come to Romans chapter 12 where it says, "Present your body, Romans 12:1, as a living sacrifice to God." That's all in the superructure. We're building on on this foundation. 49:14 And we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. And our mind is gradually renewed. Romans 12:2, little by little by little, to become more and more like Christ. The renewing of our mind is the way by which we become 49:29 Christlike. So let me mention one thing here about the flesh. In the Old Testament, flesh means our body. In the New Testament, flesh has got another meaning. If you live according to the flesh, you 49:46 will die. And we read that Jesus came in the flesh. What does that mean? See Romans in chapter 8 50:08 and verse three. God sent his own son in the middle of that verse in the likeness of sinful flesh. He had a flesh but he did not sin. To understand that, here is the definition of flesh. 50:29 John chapter 6, what did Jesus have when he came to earth? In John chapter 6 and verse 38, you've heard me say this is the autobiography of the life of Jesus. His entire life on earth is summed up in one verse. Why did he come from heaven? Many people 50:48 say he came to die for the sins of the world. That is one item among 10,000 items. That is one. He died on the cross. But that is all that many people think of. But all of it is described in John 6:38. I came from heaven not to die on the 51:04 cross, never to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me. In John chapter 6:38, you have the complete description of Jesus entire life. Why did he obey Joseph and Mary as a little 5-year-old boy? Why did he obey 51:24 John 6:38? He did not do his own will. The father told him to obey Joseph and Mary. Why did he forgive the woman caught in adultery? John 6:38. He didn't do what he the father told him, forgive her. Even 51:42 though the law said stone her to death, he never did his own will. All through his life, he never did his own will. He did the will of his father. He was listening, listening, listening, listening. Most important requirement in the 51:56 Christian life. There's a verse in Isaiah 50 which tells us how Jesus lived. Isaiah chapter 50 and verse 4. And this is a habit we must have also. 52:15 Isaiah 50:4, we follow Jesus in this area. The Lord God has given me the tongue of disciples. But before that, verse the middle of verse four, before I begin to speak as a disciple, he wakes me up morning by morning. It's a great verse for me. 52:35 Every morning Jesus when he woke up, he said, "The father has woken me up." It's a good thing for us to say, too. When I wake up in the morning, the Lord woke me up today and he awakens me. What for? He wants to awaken my inner ear. My body 52:54 is awake. The Lord says, "Now I want to wake up your inner ear in your heart to listen to me as a disciple." That's how Jesus lived. When he woke up in the morning said, "Father, I want my inner ear to also be awake now to listen to what you 53:10 have to say." That is the way Jesus lived his life. Then he heard what the father has told him to do and he said no to his own will and he did what the father told him. Here's one example. In Luke's gospel 53:27 chapter 4, we read that many demons were cast out and people were healed and all. There was a lot of miracles taking place in one town 53:42 in Luke's gospel chapter 4 and verse 40 and 41. When the sun was setting Luke 4:40, people brought the sick people. So the meeting started at sunset. That means the meeting went on from 54:01 sunset till probably 10:00 at night. and many diseases and he did not pray a general prayer for all of them. It was late and he could have played a general prayer but it says he laid hands on each one of them. Probably there were there 54:17 are 300 people there and can imagine how long it took to lay hands on each one of them. See we meditate slow on scripture slowly we discover many things at 6:00 in the evening after the sunset all these people came and he said I'll 54:30 pray a general prayer no I'll pray for each one individually and so one by one they come and say this is my problem lord please can you touch me and heal me he prays for them okay he goes away 2 three minutes next one when do you think 54:43 he finished with all 300 must have been very late at night and he demons were cast out verse 41 so when read scripture. I'm trying to tell you how to meditate on it. And from there you say, well, I say, "Oh, Jesus must have gone 54:57 to bed maybe at midnight. It's not written there, but I can guess that by reading verse 40 and 41." And then early morning when he woke up, he went off, disappeared. They couldn't find him. When the morning came and they 55:11 looked for him, he's not at home. He's gone off into some wilderness to pray. It didn't matter to him that he slept only at about 2:00 that night. He still got up at 4:30 to say I have to spend time with my father. It doesn't matter 55:26 what time he went to sleep. I have to spend time with my father. Not I have to get this many hours sleep at night. That was not primary for him. I have to spend time with my father whether I get my minimum hours of sleep or not. 55:41 Do you get that from there? Did you get that when you meditated on scripture? These are the ways to meditate on scripture and learn something how Jesus lived. And then you know when there's a big revival going on, people say this is 55:54 the place to stay. There's more great work God can do here. The revival started and the revival should continue for another week. And so they came and said come on stay here. And they tried to keep him from going away. Last part 56:06 of verse 42. But he said no I'm not going to stay. I have to preach the kingdom of God in other places. Where did he get that idea? Because he had gone alone and prayed. If he had not gone alone and prayed, he'd have listened to the advice of 56:22 people and stayed there and missed the will of God. That's what happens to us many times. We don't pray. A lot of good people come and give us advice and we listen to them and we miss the will of God. Jesus was not like that. 56:38 He listened every morning as I read in Isaiah 50. He heard and he obeyed. That's why one of the most important things we need to is what Jesus said. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that what's the next word 56:56 not proceeded. Proceeded means this book proceeds means present continuous tense. That means what God is speaking today, tomorrow morning, what God is speaking tomorrow morning, every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, if I'm not listening 57:15 to it, I cannot live. Man shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So that's how we live. And we live like then we can live in Romans 12. And finally, the last thing in Romans is Romans 16 and verse 20. 57:34 The God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. This is the rectifying what happened in Eve where Satan crushed Adam and Eve under his feet. And the Lord said to the devil, "One day 57:53 you serpent, someone will crush your head under his feet." That's when Jesus came and the Lord is going to use us also. Because if Christ is the head, I am part of his body. Where are the feet? The feet are in the body. So, Satan will 58:12 be crushed under our feet. The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. But what is said in Genesis is the seed of the woman will crush your head. Christ is the seed of the woman, but we are part of his body. And so what where 58:31 the devil triumphed over man in Genesis 3, the end of Romans is Satan is crushed. That's the end of the gospel. So it's a wonderful gospel in Romans. Okay, let's go to the next picture. These are just two warnings that we need 58:48 to which I've often spoken about. Never get into self- condemnation. That's a no entry road. Never be discouraged. Self condemnation is God is angry with me because I have failed. No. Romans 8:1 says there is no condemnation 59:06 for us in Christ. Romans 5:9 we are justified by Christ, declared righteous. I will not condemn myself. The other is getting discouraged where I say I'll never reach the standard. It's impossible to reach the standard. So I 59:18 sit back and relax and sin. Romans 8:37 says, "We are more than conquerors through him who loves us." We confess that. So remember that there's no condemnation in Christ because 59:35 if he died for us when we were an enemy, how much more he'll care for us now that we are his friend. And the antidote for this discouragement is to know that we are more than conquerors because of him who loved us. Okay. The 59:52 last scene is some advice for us to be follow not just for the week but generally if you have not been established in the foundation of Romans 4 and 5 take time to read and meditate on it on the basis of what you heard today 1:00:12 and to understand the significance of Abraham being declared righteous before he circumcised. Circumcision is a picture of taking up the cross. So he was declared righteous before he took up the cross. It's very important for us 1:00:25 that God accepts us before we have become holy. Okay. The next thing is check your foundation. Do you get peace with God because you feel you've grown so much or 100% from what Jesus did on the cross? Or is this 50% from what Jesus 1:00:43 did on the cross, 50% from my own spiritual growth? Or is it 100% from what Jesus did on the cross? And the last thing I want to say to all the grown-up people here, encourage the children and the young believer, new believers to know that 1:01:00 when they've repented and accepted Christ, they have been accepted as children of God without any conditions. It's called unconditional acceptance. Now the reason I needed to take this study is because I feel in our church 1:01:17 it's possible that people have not understood this being accepted by God on the basis of justification declared righteous we constantly think we are accepted by God because we are sanctified in other words we are putting the bricks 1:01:32 in the foundation and that's why sometimes our foundation is sinking so I hope that from today onwards we will be thoroughly established we'll never put bricks in the foundation. The solid concrete of what Jesus has done 1:01:47 is the basis of our acceptance. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we bow before you and pray that you will help us to be established in these truths so that we can see the wonderful way you made a salvation for us 1:02:07 to know what the foundation is and to know what the superructure is. to press on to perfection. Help us each one. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
