 We're going to be looking today at Romans 4 verses 16 to the conclusion of the chapter. And so I'll begin by simply reading verse 16. Then I'm going to do what I normally do. I'll give to you some reminders, some background as we've been going through Romans. I'll touch a few things in chapter 4 and then we'll move into our study at verse 16. So in verse 16 Paul writes, therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham who is the father of us all. And so we'll begin there. As chapter 4 has been developed, Paul has been writing about righteousness and he pointed out to us as we went through it, we've seen this already, that righteousness is actually the fruit or the product of faith in God through Jesus Christ. In verse 3 he had begun to use Abraham as an example of somebody who is righteous by faith. Verse 3 simply says Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. I mentioned to you that the word believed, a lot of people use that word today, but not in a biblical way. I believe it's going to rain or I believe I'm going to be somewhere tomorrow. That's just the way that we speak, but the word belief when used in a Christian sense, in a faith sense, it speaks of having full confidence. It speaks of trusting or being committed to something fully. And so belief in Christ isn't the fact that we simply say there was a Christ or there was one called Jesus Christ. We know that. What faith in Christ or belief in Christ is is a full commitment to Jesus Christ. There is one God, no other, and we worship him through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. That's called Christianity. I've spoken to people over the years who have said, oh yeah, I believe in God, but I also believe and then they've got a variety of things they also believe in. I still remember when I first got saved, somebody whom I was speaking to and I was brand new in the Lord, I couldn't have been more than a couple of weeks old, maybe three weeks at the most. He was doing some work at a friend of mine's house and we had been taught from the beginning, you need to share your faith. And so this guy came, you know, he's basically there in the house. He's a captive, so why not share with him, right? So I did. I asked him some questions. I asked him if he knew the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, I was a brand new believer and I was just trying to share. And he said, yeah, I believe in Christ. He says, but I also believe in Buddha. I also believe in Muhammad, you know, and he began to say those things to me. And again, I'm brand new in the Lord. And I said, I'm sorry, you're confusing me. I said, what faith do you have? He says, I go to the self real self realization fellowship, which I do this day. I'm still confused about that. But he said, I do self realization. I said, what is that? He says, that means that we believe in all of the teachers in history who have brought truth from God to us. I said, really? And he goes, yeah, again, I'm a brand new believer. Now I'm confused. And this wasn't an argument I was having. It was a question. Again, how, how much do you know at three weeks old in the Lord? So I say to him, I don't understand that. And he says, why? I said, well, because you say you believe in Buddha. Yeah, you say you believe in Muhammad. Yes. And you say you also believe in Jesus. And he said, yes, how can you do that? He said, well, what do you mean? I said, I'd already been taught to memorize. So I said, in John 14, 6, Jesus said, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me, how can you say that you have a relationship with God when Jesus said, there's no other way. So Buddha doesn't work. Muhammad doesn't work. And so it's a question. He didn't answer it. He went back to his job. See, so I've been around this from the beginning, from the beginning of my faith, that people will say, Oh, I believe, you know, there used to be a time in our nation when people would take surveys about faith and they would say, what are you? Well, I'm a Christian. Why do you think you're a Christian? Because I was raised going to church. Now in this generation that we see now, it's not the same as it was in my own generation. I realized that. But the bottom line is, is just there's still a lot of people who say they believe in God. But do they really? Which God? What God? And how do you have a relationship with this God? That's what we're looking at here in Romans chapter four. How does a sinful person become a righteous person? And so he's been speaking concerning that. And he's been saying, well, Abraham believed God and it was counted or accredited to him as righteousness. He trusted in God fully is what he's saying. And so the righteousness given to Abraham is the result of grace and faith. And that is so that salvation might be according to grace and grace we already know is what is called undeserved favor. So he made it clear salvation is received based on the grace of God. It's not on the basis of human effort. It's not on the basis of simple, strong belief. Our salvation rests on and is dependent on the grace of God. And we've been graciously provided the ability to trust in the Lord for salvation. You see, for by grace, God grants us salvation. And even the faith that we've placed into him is from the Lord. In Ephesians two eight, it says it is by grace you've been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves. It's the gift of God. And so this promise he's speaking about, this promise of righteousness, of right standing with God, of being justified and all that that means is been given. And notice in verse 16, he says, the promise might be sure to all the seed and not only those who are according to the law. He said, therefore, it is of faith that it might be according to grace so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who's a father of notice of us all. Now, Abraham was recognized as righteous. And I mentioned this to you last time we're together. He was righteous before the giving of the law of Moses. This was before humanity actually was divided into Jew and Gentile. So Paul is speaking spiritually, he's not simply speaking of the physical. So he says that the promise is sure to all the seed and he's not speaking just of the Jewish nation to all the seed. The promise is fulfilled in those who are of the faith of Abraham. So that makes him the father of all who are of faith in Christ to as our Messiah. So by faith he's saying we enter into eternal life, both the Jew and the Gentile alike. And that was how God, that's how God breaks the racial and spiritual divisions. We become united in Christ in Galatians 3 26 through 29. Paul said it like this. He said, you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither bond nor free. There's neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. There's neither Jew nor Gentile. You are all one in Jesus Christ. I've said this several times to you. The Old Testament, Jew, Gentile, New Testament, Jew, Gentile and the church, which is made up of both the Jew and the Gentile. How does that take place? It takes place through faith in Christ, whether you're Jewish or whether you're a Gentile. And so he's speaking concerning that and in verse 17 he continues by saying, after saying Abraham is the father of us all, the father of all of us who believe in Christ, as it is written, I have made you a father of many nations in the presence of him whom he believed God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Now I'm going to take you on a little bit of a journey. I want to develop this with you. So in verse 17 it says, I have made you a father of many nations. I've made you a father of many nations in the presence of him whom he believed. So God made this promise to Abraham as Abraham was in the presence of God. That's what he's saying. You see in Genesis 17 in the Old Testament, verse five, as the Lord is speaking to him, God says to him this, God says to Abraham, neither shall your name any more be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I've made you a father of many nations. Abram is a word that has been translated high or exalted father. Abraham literally is father of many nations. So he's saying, I have made you the father of many nations there. No longer are you the high father, but you are now the father of many nations. And he said that in Genesis 17 as he was speaking to him. Again, he says you're going to be the father of many nations. When he says many nations, that includes Gentiles. Even as Abraham had faith and was saved, he's saying, so too will the Gentiles be saved by faith. When Paul was writing to the Galatians in chapter three, verse eight, Paul said, scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and announce the gospel in advance to Abraham. All nations will be blessed through you. And so God's plan of salvation includes all, not just the nation of Israel. In the Old Testament book of Hosea in chapter two, verse 23, the second portion of that verse, we read, I will say to those called not my people, you are my people, and they will say, you are my God. He was speaking of the Gentiles who are not his people, but I will say to them, you are my people. Peter speaks of that in 1 Peter 2, 10, when he said, once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. You may remember when we were in the book of Ephesians, how Paul spoke concerning Gentiles and he said they were without God. See, the Gentiles did not have relationship with God at all. So he spoke of them as being without God in the world. So it's through Jesus Christ that God brings us into fellowship with himself. So when God was speaking to him, he spoke in a certain way that gave to us insight into the God that we worship. Again in verse 17, he says, as it is written, I've made you a father of many nations in the presence of him whom he believed, God, now notice God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. So Paul begins to reveal what we call attributes of God. He's given the attributes of the God that Abram worshiped. Notice he says in verse 17 that he gives life to the dead. So he gives life spiritually, but even physically. Now, I want to develop this for a moment. This will take more than a moment. I'm lying to you. It's going to take a while. God gives life. We're going to see this when God called Abraham. He had given him a promise in Genesis 12 verse two. He had said, I'm going to make you a great nation later in chapter 17 of Genesis. God had said that he's going to have a son through his wife. Her name at that time would have been Sarai. He's going to give him a son through her whose name is going to be changed to Sarah. Now, it's estimated that Abraham was 75 years old when he was first given this promise in Genesis, chapter 12. Abraham waited for 25 years for that promise that God had made. He waited 25 years for it to be kept. Now, how many of us would have gotten pretty frustrated and tired of waiting? I guess all of you, not me of course, all of you would have, right? We'd have all gotten frustrated. 25 years. Some of you have barely reached that in your age. Others can't remember what that was like. So as he's waiting for 25 years for this promise, both he and Sarah have grown old waiting for the fulfillment. According to Genesis 17 17 and Genesis 21 verse five, check this out. Sarah was around 91 and Abraham was 100 when the promise was fulfilled. I'll stop for a moment. Just think about that. In spite of his advanced age, he trusted the Lord. He knew God was able and we'll see that in a moment. The writer of Hebrews in chapter 11 said it like this in verses 11 and 12. He said, by faith, Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed. She bore a child when she was past the age because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man and him as good as a dead were born as many as the stars of the sky and multitude innumerable as a sand which is by the seashore. Her womb was incapable at that age of providing life and he was incapable of impregnating her. They were both beyond that age to be able to do some. So he's calling into our memory of the kind of God that we worship. He goes on to say, as the God of creation, he calls into being that which does not exist. Now in Hebrews 11 three, the writer said, through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. So he calls into being that which does not exist. He was beyond the age of creating life, but God gave life to Sarah's womb. Now in verse 18, he said, who contrary to hope in hope believed so that he became the father of many nations according to what was spoken. So shall your descendants be and not being weak in faith. He did not consider his own body already dead since he was about a hundred years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb. That's a pretty clear statement there. He was incapable of impregnating her. She was incapable of burying a child. I don't know how many women at the age of 91 want to try nursing or waking up to change the baby's diaper. Think about that for a minute. But anyway, now I'm going to develop this a little bit further. He was called by God while living in a place called Ur of the Caldees. Again, he was 75 when he left a place called Haran and when he left, he was childless according to Genesis 12. Again, when God called him, he promised him that he would be the father of many nations. So at the age of 86, he had a son by the name of Ishmael and he had this son through the handmaiden of Sarai. At that time, Abraham and his wife, Sarai, at that time Abram and Sarai, they would recognize any child born to her handmaiden as hers. And so God had made a statement to him, a promise, you will have a child. Sarai began to speak to his wife, rather her husband, and convinced him that it was something that he should do so that she could have the baby. And it could be his, though it would be also recognized as hers, because the handmaiden's child would be hers. So when God called him, he promised he'd be the father of many nations. So he had Ishmael, but when he was a hundred and Sarai was 99, she gave birth to Isaac and I'll share some things about that in a moment. Now, initially, Sarai could not believe that it would be possible, of course, to have a child. Genesis 1811 again says that she had passed the age of childbearing. But even when it was impossible to have a child, he and Sarai believed, and that's what's being emphasized right now. Even though it was impossible, they still trusted God. He didn't vacillate. In verse 20, it says, he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. He didn't waver. He didn't vacillate. He didn't vacillate or waver between faith and doubt. The point he's making is that he remained steadfast in faith. Now, Abraham believed God and he believed that God would keep his promises. Again, he didn't waver at the promise of God through unbelief. That word waver means to mentally oppose. It speaks of hesitating in unbelief or an unfaithfulness. Abraham did not hesitate with unbelief. Abraham did not distrust God and his promises. So in verse 21, he was fully convinced, being fully convinced that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. He trusted the Lord again, being fully convinced. That word means to be entirely or completely assured, fully persuaded. God had promised him he would have many children and he believed him. Now, I'm going to develop it a step further. In Genesis 15, Abraham had complained to God, I have no offspring. He had said to the Lord, the one inheriting all I have is going to be my chief administrator, a man named Aliezer. But in Genesis 15, verse four, it says, the word of the Lord came to him, this man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir. Well, as mentioned earlier, Abraham had a son named Ishmael with Hagar. In Genesis 16, 2, Sariah said to Abraham, behold, now the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go into my servant. It may be that I shall obtain children by her. And Abraham listened to the voice of Sariah. Go have relationships with my handmaiden. Okay, you insist. What he was doing is he thought that perhaps this is going to help God to keep his promise. Well, later when God changed Sariah's name to Sarah, he promised that he would bless her. Again, in Genesis 17, 16, I will bless her and also give you a son by her. Then I will bless her and she shall be a mother of nations, kings and peoples shall be from her. Now, Hagar had given birth to Ishmael by proxy. At first, Abraham misunderstood. He now begins to understand. He actually, the scripture says, that he laughed with joy and surprise. He's saying at that time, I'm 100 years old. And Sarah, she's 90 at that time. So he says in Genesis 17, 18, he says, oh, that Ishmael might live before you. Now Ishmael at that time is 13 and Abraham loved his son Ishmael. So he's saying, well, I pray that he also will be blessed. And God said, Ishmael will be blessed, but he is not the son of the promise. In fact, Paul tells us that he, in reality, is referred to as the son of the flesh because by his flesh he tried to make the promise of God come true. In Galatians 4, 22 and 23, it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman, the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born through the promise. And so what you have is the flesh and you have the spirit. You have the contrast. You aren't saved by works. You're saved by grace. Even as Abraham had a miraculous child that was a fulfillment of a promise of God, and he believed God, and it was counted unto him as righteousness. Even so, that's how you and that's how I am saved. It's not by trying to fulfill God's promises through my efforts. It's by receiving his promises and not wavering, holding fast to them. And that's what demonstrates that we're actually saved. Again, Abraham, for God, for Abraham's sake, would bless this man, this young one, Ishmael, but Isaac is called the promised one. Now, I want to develop this a step further. Soon after, God again appeared to him as he was sitting by his tent. This is one of my favorite portions of scripture. So God appears to him using what is called the plane of Mamre. And God is speaking to him and he asks him a question. He says, where is Sarah, your wife? And Abraham says, well, she's in the tent where every woman should be. No, she's in the tent. So God once again says, your wife will conceive and have a child. Well, Sarah's in the tent. She's doing something unusual. She's listening into the conversation. I know that none of you ladies would ever do that. I realize that. But when Sarah hears these words, again, it's a tent. I mean, how difficult would it be to overhear a conversation right outside? It's not as if she's trying to hear it. It's right there. At least that's what she said. But when she heard these words, she laughed. Now, a moment ago, I mentioned to you that when God made the promise to Abram, he laughed. When Sarah heard the promise, she also laughed. But there's a difference between the two lafters. Abrams was a laughter of overjoying. I can't believe this. This is, oh, amazing. Hers was 90 years old. You got to be kidding. I'm going to have a child and she laughs. And so it's been called by theologians, the laugh of unbelief. So listen to this. Genesis 18. So she laughed in Genesis 18 verse 12, Genesis 18, 13 through 15. So the Lord said, and I'll take a moment to develop this with you. Men, I'm going to have a talk with you for a second. Ladies, you can't listen like Sarah. Go outside for a moment. The Lord said to Abraham. Listen to that. The Lord said to Abraham. Why did Sarah laugh? Why didn't you say that to her Lord? Why are you taking it out on Abraham? Because as a husband, he has a relationship with her that should have been edifying her in her faith and strengthening her. And the husband had the responsibility as a covering and therefore gives an account for the wife. In my marriage, I know that which causes me to be very careful after all these years. It hasn't always been this way. I have to confess that quickly. I had to learn this. But over time I came to realize I give an account for my wife. Abraham was approached by God. Why did Sarah laugh? He didn't say loud enough for her to hear. She obviously could hear his voice. Sarah, why are you laughing? He took it out on the man and he said to the man, why is your wife laughing and unbelief? Where is your ministry to her, Abraham? How have you helped her faith to grow, Abraham? When we looked at Ephesians 5, the husband is to wash the wife with the water of the word. If we had time to go back to which we're not, when he begins to speak to us concerning the washing of the water of the word, I shared with you in Ephesians that the word that is translated in the English word is actually a Greek word, remma. There are two different words that are generally used for the one word. One is logos and one is a remma. Remma very often, not always, very often speaks of a particular word. And what Paul is saying to the husband in the washing of the water of the word is not simply that he reads the Bible to her. What Paul is saying to the husband is you have the priestly duty of teaching your wife the things of God. The remma is the word for a particular moment very often. And you have a prophetic role that you as the priests of the home are to wash her with God's word, words that are particular for those moments. So it's not simply me having a Bible verse or a Bible passage that I read to my wife. It's that I have a word for her in our times of struggle. So I can say to Marie, God is with us. He will not depart from us. He will be faithful to us for his words is that's what we husbands are to do. That's why we study the word. That's why we wash our wives with the water of the word. Because I have the responsibility to give an account of my ministry and my wife includes that is included in that as well as my children. You see. And so God speaks to Abram because Abram has responsibility. And so God says to him, why did Sarah laugh? Because have you not taught her how faithful I am? Have you not been an example to her of my faithfulness? Why did your wife laugh with unbelief and not with joy? And that's a pretty strong question. Why did Sarah laugh saying, shall I surely bear a child since I'm old? Then he said this, is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time, I will return to you according to the time of life. And Sarah shall have a son. But Sarah speaks up. Sarah denied saying, I didn't laugh. She was afraid. And God said, he said, no, you did laugh. You know, a lot, a lot of time I think we still do this kind of thing. We still say, no, I really didn't do that as if the Lord didn't see me do it, right? No, I really didn't do it. It's like when my son little David was the little little boy, he was not so tiny that he couldn't reach up into the refrigerator. He could do that. And he was tall enough to get to the chocolate ice cream. He could do that. And I still remember walking into the kitchen and he had chocolate ice cream all over his face. Son, yes, dad. You didn't happen to eat some ice cream, did you? Oh no, he's got this ice cream all over his face. I said, where'd you get? Then I turned in the, Marie has ice cream on hers too. And so they both got in trouble. We try to hide from the Lord. We try to pretend that we didn't do what he saw us do. This is the point. I didn't laugh. She was afraid. I didn't laugh. Oh, but you did laugh, but you did laugh. He had hurt her. Well, at first she laughed. At first she couldn't believe this, but later she exercises faith and she trusts in the promise of God. Again, the writer of Hebrews said, by faith Sarah received through the strength to conceive seed. Now that is why he is considered a righteous man. It's interesting. I'm going to share something I didn't have in my notes. I have a moment to do that. The apostle Peter speaks concerning this relationship that Abram had with Sarah. Abram, I mentioned to you his name was high father, exalted father, but his name was changed to father of many nations. Sarai, according to those that translate Hebrew words into English, Sarai apparently means dominative, dominative, a dominator. Sarai, but her name was changed to Sarah. Sarah means princess. A woman whose scripture says had a strong personality apparently, a little bit dominative. I know again I'm speaking to people who, none of you ladies have that. That's part of the curse, by the way. Your desire shall be to your husband and he shall rule over you is what God said to Eve. When it says your desire shall be to your husband that word desire is a Hebrew word that is repeated later on when God says that to Cain sin lies at the door and wants to dominate you. Within the woman's nature, because she had made a decision that isn't in scripture, isn't clearly said exactly how she did it. Did she speak to Adam? No. She handed him the fruit he did eat and fell. Within her nature is the desire to run things. And again, this is not something that is necessarily in and of itself a bad thing, but it can become a difficult thing when it comes to leadership in a home. And most certainly can be a difficult thing in leadership in the church because if I have a wife who's wanting to run things her way and is not willing to submit to the spirit of the Lord in my life, we're going to have a problem. The church is going to have a division because my wife will not submit in a proper way. And that's why the scripture says wives submit into your husband, because there is a desire to rule, but he shall have authority over you. And that's how it works. And so she at one time in scripture is referred to as a dominative woman, but her name is changed to a princess. Why? Because she believed God. She trusted him and she learned how to trust her husband. Peter once again speaks concerning that and he says she called him Lord, calling him Lord. Now, no, not her savior, but the one who she respects. Now the husband is to love his wife. But Paul says to the woman, respect your husband. Why is that? Because my wife was created by God to meet the gaps in my life. But I have to remember that I am to love her and cherish her because I can get occupied with other things. Adam was taking care of a garden before he took care of a marriage and I can become distracted. So my wife was created to fill those gaps in me. So I wash her with the water of the word and I love her and I care for her and I learn to sacrifice those. That's the things that husbands do. But my wife learns how to respect me. And so Paul says, husbands love your wives. Wives respect your husbands. Interesting. He doesn't command the woman to love her husband. Somebody says, well, in the book of Titus, it speaks of the older women, doesn't it? Yes. He says to the older women, teach the younger women how to love their husbands. Not to love their husbands, but how to love their husbands. Whereas the husband has to cherish and nourish and feed and care for. That's what we do. And so how does a woman become like Sarah by recognizing and respecting the relationship that God established in that marriage? So Marie and I were dating and we were driving someplace. And I said, you know, we ought to read the Bible. She says, yeah, that sounds good. I said, I'll drive you read. She goes, okay. So I tell her where to turn. I turned her to 1 Peter. And I said, read that to me. And she says, blah, blah, blah, blah. And Sarah obeyed him, calling him Lord. I said, wait a minute. What does he say? What's the Bible say? Calling him Lord. I said, that sounds good to me. You can call me Lord David, you know? And so from the beginning, Marie and I have, this has been something of our conversation. How can we together do that, which pleases God? How can I become somebody God uses? And how can my wife be used by God? How can my wife be like a Sarah, somebody who is a princess, somebody who is honored by God, blessed by God in the way that I am by trusting the Lord and by in faith obeying him and reading his word and caring for one another. I'm not better than she. She's not better than I. We together are better as the two. So a long time ago, we chose us. So it's never been, I choose me and she chooses her. We chose us. The two shall become one flesh. And so that's how our marriage over all these years has actually flourished. It's because we put ourselves in the hand of the Lord and we want to obey him. I'll do the things he calls me to do. She's to do those things he calls her to do. Together we grow. I wash her in the Word, but she at the same time shows me respect because I have loved her. And so in this, his faith, he's regarded and she is too, but he's regarded as righteous. He trusted God, knowing that God honors his promises. In the book of numbers in chapter 23, verse 19, we read God is not a man that he should lie nor a son of man that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? Well, it says in verse 22, therefore it was accounted to him for righteousness. God graciously recognized his faith and he was regarded as righteous. He had righteousness. Now it goes on in verse 23. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus, our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. The same principles that Abraham learned are to instruct us today. God's grace, Abraham's faith, his receiving righteousness, all of that applies to us. So we need the story because we're saved in the same way that he was. It was not written, notice this, for his sake alone that it was imputed to him. It was written also for us. In other words, scripture is to apply to us and encourage us. He had said in verse 24, but also for us, it shall be imputed to us who believe in him who raised up Jesus, our Lord from the dead. And so we believe in the one who raised Jesus from the dead. Abraham's body was as good as dead as was Sarah's womb. So the miraculous gift of life seen in Isaac is a glimpse of Jesus' resurrection. Incidentally, I should have pointed this out. When she laughed, he said, your son's name shall be Isaac. Isaac means laughter. That's what Isaac means. Every time you call Isaac, you're going to remember your laughter. You're going to remember the laughter of doubt that was changed into the laughter of joy. Every time you call that little boy, Isaac, get over here. You'll be saying, laughter, come over here every time. What a beautiful thought. You know, your laugh of doubt. I'm going to give you a reason to repeat it until you understand it's a laughter of joy. It's the joy of faith because God kept his promise. He did that. And so Abraham's body again was as good as dead as was Sarah's womb. But the gift of life that was seen in Isaac in that they were dead, but life came is a glimpse really of the resurrection of Christ. And he says in verse 25, who was delivered up because of her offenses raised up for our justification, the word delivered there means to be surrendered. He was surrendered up. He was yielded up. Jesus was yielded up for our offenses. You know, offenses, the word offenses speaks of errors or transgressions. It speaks of lapses of judgment. It speaks of false steps, if you will. And so he's the one who suffered the sentence of death for our offenses, for our sins. He served our sentence, is what he's saying, because death is the penalty for sin. And in chapter six, verse 23, the wages of sin is death. So Jesus served our sentence. That's Christianity. Ezekiel 18 verse four says, Behold, every soul belongs to me. Both father and son are mine. And the soul whose sins is the one who dies. So the wages of sin is death. Death came through sin, but Jesus was delivered up because of our offenses. Again, we saw this many times as we were going through Mark and we came to the Easter season, Isaiah 53, four and five, speaking of Messiah. Surely he has born, our griefs carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes, we are healed. He was raised because of our justification. So in his resurrection, you are now righteous before God. You stand not guilty. I hope that we can, and we're going to close in a moment, but one of the things I can tell you I can tell you through experience. And I want to close with a couple of thoughts. I want every one of us who are believers. I pray to God we can do this to walk out tonight knowing this, this one thing. Every stinking sin you ever committed. If you came to faith in Christ, if you're a Christian, every stinking sin you've ever committed, you know, the sins that sometimes you remember, that sometimes you wake up and remember, you remember those sins? The ones you just still regret that sometimes can crop up and you can say, I wish to God I didn't do that. Anybody have that feeling? Maybe it's just me. Maybe I'm just speaking for John, but you know how the enemy likes to remind you? This is what you are. You'll never be anything any different. You've always been this way. You're a phony, you're a liar. You're a thief. You're an alcoholic. And then you say, I'm just, no, this is something the Lord has been teaching me and I've been walking with him for a long time. I have the righteousness of Christ. You do too. He gave you His righteousness. When He looks at you, you are clothed in the robes of righteousness that have been put on you by faith through Jesus Christ. You have that. And when you wake up in the morning, and sometimes one of those old stupid sins that you may have done years ago and me crop up, or maybe you'll run into somebody you haven't seen for a while. I've had that happen where I run into somebody I haven't seen and they want to remind me of what I was years ago. I have one friend who was at a wedding and he started telling me the things we did. And we used to party in all together and he was a very good friend of mine in the old days. We call them our BC days before Christ days. And he started telling me, you remember when we this and you remember when we that. And I smiled at him and he just kept talking and he just kept looking at him. And finally he said, you really don't like to hear that, do you? And I said, no. I said, I don't. I said, because that was then. This is now. God has done a work in me. I'm not that man anymore. I don't like remembering those things anymore because I have a new life in Jesus Christ. See, the enemy likes to remind you of your path. The enemy does. The enemy will remind you of your past. And when he does that, I remind him of his future. Just remember that. He reminds me of what I've been. But you know what? No more. I'm a new creation, Christ Jesus. I am justified as if I have never sinned. I have righteousness, not my own, but by faith in Christ that has been imputed to me, given to me. I am clothed in that. I identify in that way. One last thought. When I was going to Cal Poly, I went to a lot of colleges, didn't graduate for many of them, but I went to seven colleges. Yep. I had 100 and close to 160 units. I just never graduated. Taken master classes, you name it, just never graduated. So I was in a class at Cal Poly. And while at Cal Poly, this guy was talking to me. It was a social science class. I was a social science major. And he was talking to me and I said, yeah, I was an alcoholic. No, I was a drunk. And he says, oh, yeah, he said, you're recovering. I said, I'm not recovering from anything. I said, I'm recovered. And I said, actually covered. I said, because I gave my heart to Christ. And the Bible says that the old things have passed away. Behold, all things are become new. I said, I'm new in Jesus Christ. And he says, oh, you know, you had the conversion experience. And I said, call it what you want, man. I said, I came to faith in Jesus Christ. So no, I'm not an alcoholic. I was, but now I'm new. See, I don't identify with what I was. I identify with what I am. And what I am is new in Jesus Christ. And when you begin to do that, I'm telling you, your whole life changes because you're now moving in a new direction. You have the power of the Holy Spirit. You have the direction of the word of God. You have the fellowship of the believer. You have the prayer where you can communicate to him. You have so many advantages. And that's why we eat through Christ. We will make it. He already sees us as if we have. We just need to finish this life off so we can see him face to face. We have been justified. His resurrection has guaranteed that. And through his resurrection, our sins are completely pardoned. We have been reconciled to him. And it is what effectively justifies us as a believer. It rendered his work complete when he rose from the dead. And when we place trust in him, we experience being justified. God no longer sees me for what I was. He now sees me clothed in the righteousness of his Son. Let's keep that in mind.