Who Shall Ascend

Well good morning. It’s great to be here with you today. If you have a Bible with you go ahead and tunr to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 5 is where we’re gonna start off this morning. we haven’t met yet name is Chase, I have the privilege of serving as the lead pastor of The Corners, and I’m excited to open up God’s Word with you this morning.

Before we dive in, can we give a shout out to any of our first time guests. If it’s your first time here, welcome. We are humbled that you would choose to worship with us this morning...and we hope you feel the Lord’s presence this morning. And actually shout out to all of you...the faithful remnant who said I know I get an hour less of sleep. But I’ll be there. Shuot out you all.

One quick announcement....

- Chili-Cook off raising money for VBS!

Alright, so with that said, let me pray and then we’ll get started.

PRAY.

Well I want to start with something that can seem a little unrelated to where we’re going, but I hope in the long run you’ll see the tie in. I want to show that it is tied to our Study in Romans...but I want to spend a few moments talking about how our services are structured here at The Corners Chapel.

You heard during our announcements that every month we have what we call Corners 101....and so those of you who have been through Corners 101 have heard this before, but it’s something I don’t think we can hear too much...but it’s about what we call our liturgy.

We don’t use the word very often...but liturgy just means an order of service...right, even though we don’t use the word often – the word is used more in what’s called high church or more formal church traditions....but every church regardless of denomination has some sort of liturgy, in that they have an order of doing things.

We here at The Corners shoot for our services to be about 90 minutes. That was intentional since our inception...because what we did back at the very beginning is...as we wanted to be intentional about being a multiethnic church, we looked at similar likeminded Gospel churches in Northeast Ohio, and what we found was that most of the predomnatly white churches were about 65 to 70 minutes in length, and most predominantly black churches were about 110 minutes in length, and so we said...let’s shoot right for the middle.

Between 110 and 70 and so for some it might feel long, for others it might feel short.

And so how do we structure those 90 minutes, well we try to use the imagery of a ascending or climbing a mountain. Okay...there’s a reason Kati kicked off our time together by reading from Psalm 24, and we’re gonna return there in just a minute, but the psalmist asks “WHO SHALL ASCEND THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD? Right? Who shall ascend the mountain of Yahweh?

And all through the Old Testament there’s imagry of Moses and the prophets and other leaders going up to meet God...up to Jerusalem, and so with that in mind...in the early stages of our church, I thought what if we kept that in mind....we don’t want the servive just to feel like a bunch of disconnected pieces, but like a journey...that when we gather....in a sense we want it to feel like we are metaphorically ascending to the top of a mountain in these 90- minutes.

So what’s that look like? Well, we start with our Call to Worship. Every Sunday, after the five minute countdown finishes, we read the same Call to Worship to collectively just hand over any bagage we might have come in here with to the Lord....to remind ourselves that God is God despite our imperfections, despite our failures and feelings of hopelessness...and to prepare our hearts to Worship. And let me just say in passing...this is important...I want to encourage you to prioritize being in here in the room prepared to enter into Worship at the start of the call to worship.

I know sometimes we’re running late...I get it...or we get hung up at Kid’s check-in or grabbing a donut in the lobby...but if we’re on a journey...if the service is meant to feel like an ascent...there’s something about starting all together. So let me encourage you to prioritize being in here at the start of service...and making your way in before the call to Worship.

But after the Call to Worship we enter into a period of Worship through Music. Right, I’ve said in the past, our singing at the start of service isn’t just warm up for the message or anything like that...it’s to declare our praise to the God who created us. Amen? And can we give a shout out to all of our incridble music team members. All our team leads, all our vocalists, all our instrumentalist....thank you for leading us to the throne each week.

Well, then we have a period of worship through connection. Like that’s what announcements are...it’s not just simply a way for us to get logistical information out, but it’s a way for us to connect....to remind each other of the avenues of connection for outside of the Sunday gathering. And some of you remember Chapel News...and all the different faces we’d see in our church family to stay connected. And that’s been replaced by mingle time which when we connect. Right, even for introverts it’s a way to worship through connection, through fellowship. All the introverts are like if you say so....

Well let me speed up, next we worship through the reading and preaching of the Word. That ‘s the part of the service we’re in right now...then we respond to what we’ve learned from the Word through song.

And catch this....before I show the last one...this is where we differ from some other traditions. Because many would say that in the gathering this...right here, the preaching of the Word is the high point of the Sunday morning gathering. Well, without in any way belittling or disparaging it’s importance, I think we’re still building until this part of the service that being the scenes we call The Summit...which is when we pray, we get our key takeaway what’s the one thing that encapsulates everything we’ve been building towards, we get a action step...which which again, just in passing, I want to encourage you all to take seriously. One tangible way to apply what was heard. And then we take communion every week. A way to collectively as we’ve reached the summit break bread together as a local body of believrs...broken individuals, proclaiming the death and burial and resurrection of our king...and then, led by myself or our hosts...it’s like we’re planting the flag in the top of the mountain..the flag of declaration that God will empower us to do what HE’s called us to do, as we’re sent off into the week. And that’s in our send off where we read the benediction. So it starts with the call to Worship, and ends with the reminder that the God we’re worshipping he’ll keep..he’ll equip us to do what pleases Him.

That’s our liturgy...that’s our attempt to climb the montain if you will...in a metaphorical sense.

Now, before, I bring this to this morning, and to our study in Romans...and hopefully without belaboring this illustration....I’ve shared this at every Corners 101 for the last couple years, but one thing I didn’t notice until this week, so it wasn’t intentional...is that this order actually also reflects our discipleship flightpath.

Those of you who have been here since the fall, hopefully remember we introduced five words that we want to kind of organize everything around in our church....and those are Gather Connect, Know, Grow , and Go.

- Explain the tie in .....

Okay, now...I don’t show all this with the expectation you all remember every element of the service or how this ties together...but to show you that what we do when we gather here together matters...because our soul objective is to draw near to, to worship, to learn from, and depend on God. That’s why we’re here. That’s why we exist as a local body...not to earn good luck points from God....not to build up some capital in our good ledger so when we stand before God, we can say...look I went to church....no, we gather to Worship a Holy God. A God who there’s no one like him....he’s not just another option on the buffet of world religions...no he's the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the Alpha and the Omega...the one the scripture calls Holy...Holy...Holy....BUT....there’s a problem.

Again, Kati kicked us off just a few moments ago, by reading from Psalm 24. And that was intentional because check out this quote by a man named Dr. Michal Morales (not Myles Moarles for any spiderman fans...although now, I’ve gone from being a Spiderman fan to a Spidy fan)...Dr. Myles Moralis...a wonderful biblical commentator look at what he says this:

Once a soul has come to understand something of the unutterable majesty of the holiness of God, the question asked in Psalm 24 suddenly weighs upon the heart: “Who shall ascend the mountain of the LORD?” That is, who can draw near to this living God in worship? Who can climb their way to the summit of his dwelling place and gaze upon his beauty? Who could ever abide with God in his house?

Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord? In other words who can possibly climb up and gain access to a perfectly Holy God? (pause). Like if God is Holy...complexly set apart...there’s no one like him because he spoke existence into existence...like do we think we can just casually stroll into his presence? No.

See that’s what we’ve been unpacking in the book of Romans....if you’re a guest....we’ve dedicated this whole year...minus the summer...to studying the book of Romans..and what we’ce said each week is that the book of Romans is the most clear and the most systematic presentation of Christian beliefs in the whole bible. Why? Because Paul the author is writing to new Christians in Rome and saying...hey I know you just got saved, but let me explain who this all works to you.

And so...again we’ve seen this each week...Paul starts with a brief intro...but then he dives right in with this section about sin! And what he’s saying right away...from the beginning of the book is that everyone...that includes me...that includes you....everyone who’s ever been born other than Jesus was born with a stain...the stain of sin...we’re gonna unpack that more in just a moment....but he says that because of sin....listen this is the biggest problem in the world for everyone today. We might think the biggest problem is what’s in the news....we might think the biggest problem for us is the report we got from the doctor....or our relationships...or you fill in the blank.....no what Paul starts off by saying is that the biggest problem for the whole human race is that we have all violated the commands of a Holy God...like no matter how small you think your sin is...if you compare it to God’s standard of perfection that we’ve broken his law....and guess what...here’s the bad news....this is what Paul starts off this book by saying....as a result of our vilation of God’s law....God’s wrath is directed at us.

There is no bigger problem to confront humanity that the righteous wrath of a Holy, Soverign God. This is the biggest problem in the world! Not who’s in what position politically. Not genocide in whatever country....not – you name it....those are all symptoms and evidences of our biggest problem, which is that we have the rightous wrath of a Holy Soverign God that left to our own is directed at us.

And so as a result, who can enter into his presence?

Well...what this whole book is doing...not just the book of Romans...but the entire Bible....it’s answering the Psalm 24 question. Who can enter into God’s presence?

And what’s the answer? (pause) Jesus! Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord? Jesus!

I know we haven’t even gotten to Romans yet, but Look at Psalm 24 again,

1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; 2 for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters. 3 Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place?

Okay, there’s the question. What’s the Answer? Verse 4.

4 The one who has clean hands not just talking about did you wash your hands....it’s talking about innocence. and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. Anyone want to say their heart is always pure? (idolatry...never told a lie...not even what we’d call a small lie)

No, the only one who checks everyone of those boxes is who? Jesus.

But here’s where I’m going with this...if we are followers of Jesus...and if we’ve put our full hope and our full trust in him, then when God looks at us...he doesn’t see our sinfulness, but he sees the perfection of his son! That’s what it means to be covered by the blood of Jesus...(pause) so when we read “who can ascend the mountain of the Lord.” The answer is Jesus, but also us...but not because of anything we’ve done, but because of what Jesus did on our behalf.

That...is the gospel. (pause). The good news! So who can ascend the mountain of the Yahweh? If you are in Christ....if you’ve palces your trust and faith in Him...then you can put your name.

Which brings us back to Romans. Because...and let’s look at the chart one more time....from Romans 1:18 to 3:20, Paul was highlighting the reality of human depravity and guilt before God...but from Romans 3:21 through Romans 5...what we’ve seen over the past couple weeks is Paul explaining exactly how we are saved and that it happens all through faith in a process called Justification.

Anyone remember what we said two weeks ago that justification means? It’s just as if we never sinned! That even though God’s wrath is directed at us...because it’s directed at all og humanity...if we put our faith in Jesus...and we trust that his sacrifice paid the price for our sins...we’re justified...meaning when God sees us it’s just as if we never sinned!

And that happens not because of us or anything we bring to the table...but simply because of God through his grace awakening us to our need for salvation, and so by faith in Christ we are justified...and our sin – Psalm 103 tells us – is removed as far as the east is from the west...BUT... that’s not it.

Because not only when we stand before God if we’re in Christ – is it just as if we’ve never sinned....but but it’s also as if we lived the perfect life Jesus lived! The big theological word for this is Impuation...everybody say Imputaion. Not amputation....imputaiton. And in a theological sense...this is what it means that Jesus’ perfect life he lived...his rightousness is actually credited to us! So when we stand before God, it’s not simply just that we have a blank slate...we’re in the positive...but it’s only because of Jesus. Not because of us.

And that’s what Paul unpacks in the second half of Romans chapter 5...so lets finally turn to the text...and I only have two objectives for the rest of our time together, I want to look at the complete picture of salvation...the complete picture of justification...how and why it can’t be seperrated from imputation....and then I want to let you know why all of this matters...more than anything in the world today. So the complete picture of justification...and wh this matters for every one of us today.

Okay, so Romans 5...and if you’re Bible’s open, let’s pick up in verse 6.

THE COMPLETE PICTURE

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

And remember, we made a big deal about these two words a couple weeks ago, right? The ungodly. Why? Because that’s all of us apart from Christ. We don’t become Godly in order to be saved...no Ephesians tells us that it’s when we were DEAD in our sins and trespasses....not bad off.....not falling away...we were DEAD! We were ungodly and that’s when God being rich in mercy stepped in, Amen? And then check this out. Pastor Valmir unpacked this last week...

7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— Explain....and then comes one of the greatest verses in the bible....Romans 5:8...this is one of our Corners Kid’s memory verses, and this should be a verse we all memorize....this verse needs to be stamped on our hearts...8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Friends...do you struggle with feelings of you don’t measure up? Like you’re life is not where you thought it would be? The creature of the universe died for you.

Like...we’re about to talk about this...but if you’re like...I get it we talk about this each week...this isn’t new....then you don’t get it. (pause) Because...and we’ve got to move on, but I can’t move past this...we have to understand this verse...and marinate in this verse because the next one is about to leave us speechless....but we have to get this one.

If you think....you’re a decently good person....maybe not enough to get into heaven on your own....but because you do what’s right...you’re not out here doing fill in the blank like whoever else...and so...you’re little bit of good combined with Jesus whole lotta good is what gets you into heaven....no....that’s not how this works. (pause) We bring...nothing to the table of our salvation...yet while we were still sinners, Christ died....for you!

Before the foundations of the world were set – Ephesians 1:4 tells us – if you’re in Christ...he choose you!

Now why am I dwelling here...we have a lot of verse to go here...why am I stick on this one? Well because...This easter will be 10 years for me in vocational ministry. Still relatively new...but I’ve noticed some patterns in conversations I’ve had with believers over the past 10 years and even before...and one of the most common...concerns...that I often here is this....if I’m a Christian now....how do I know that I’ll always be a Christian. (pause) In other words, how do I know that I can have eternal security on this side of heaven? Is there something I can do...or a level of faith that I can fall below that will undo what’s been done.

And so if that’s you...first, know that you’re not alone. And we want this to be a church where you can wrestle with what this is saying and not just conform to our interpretation of scripture, but really understand what this is saying....and I really think that this verse....Romans 5:8 and the next verse I’m about to read are two of the most clear passages in the whole bible that speak against the notion of being able to loose your salvation.

Because again...what this is showing us, and the opening verses of Ephesians 2 that I mentioned earlier are echoing the same truth....what this is saying is that we did nothing to earn our salvation....and so if we did nothing to earn it – what could we do to loose it?

I’m not talking about easy believism....there’s a lot of people who think they’re Chrsitians but haven’t actually come to saving faith...we’ll get there next week....but those hwo have come to true saving faith....look at this next verse...and brothers and sisters may this verse free us from any fear of condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus....Romans 5:9.

9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, What does justified mean?

Since we’ve been justified....

How much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Okay...follow me here...we have to get this....we’ve been justified....if we are saved we are seen as righteous by God...and we shall be saved....what does that mean? Because it’s almost sounds like he’s saying since we’ve been saved, we shall be saved. (pause) Well....that’s exactly what he’s saying. (pause) Because...here...the we shall be saved...he’s talking about the final judgement when we stand before God. We wll be saved from his wrath... And so he’s saying if we’ve been justified....catch this....we can much more....or we can really really know...that we will be saved on that final day.

We cannot separate justification, from assurance that we will be saved from the wrath.

The NIV says it like this... And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will CERTAINLY save us from God’s condemnation.

It’s certain. And I know there’s inevitable questions like what about people who seemed to be saved, then all of sudden left the faith, or people who professed to be Christians but never showed real evidence anyway...those are real questions. And Paul’s gonna answer them in chapter 6 next week...(pause)...but, brothers and sisters we can’t discount the straightforward teachings of scripture to protect scripture from being twisted. (pause) And here’s a clear teaching that justification and glorification....that’s what it means when we’ll enter into eternity....they’re inseparable.

Let me show you this for those of you who may be more visual. (pause) We saw this back in or More Than Passanger’s Series in the fall so hopfully this is review.

- Birth to Death (we can all agree on this right?)

- This is where some start to disagree...but hopefully if you’ve been with us in Romans, you’ll see that Paul’s been making this case....from the moment we’re born we’re on the receiving end of God’s wrath.

- Justification....ONE TIME...INSTANTANIOUS.....GOD DOES ALL THE WORK.

- And what this verse is saying is that the byproduct is GLORIFICATION.

Now...there’s only two options....we know we’re not sinless here, right? Like we’re not perfect. So there’s two options....either this(glorification) is not a certainty...and we can lose our status of justification. And our lifes could look like this... EXPAND...or it could look like this!

That’s not good news! But do you remember what the Good news is? All the way back to Romans 1:16 and 17....the thesis of this book? We have to read the whole thing through that lens...which tells us that the Gospel...the Good News is the power of God for salvation through what? Through faith? Just faith?

And so....when we take all we’ve learned about so far and put it together....THIS....is the picture we see...that we are saved once and for all...and we will be glorified....but in between we have what’s called sanctification...we grow in holiness...we fail....we ge better...then we slip...and that’s the rest of our life and we approach the day when we will be made like him forever.

One more slide here....when or Elder Will Rasper preached in January, he talked about the three tenses of salvation....that we have been saved from the penalty of sin...don’t miss that because thats Romans 5:9...that one time moment saves us from the future penalty.

We’re being saved from the power of sin...that’s Romans 6, which we’ll see next week...and one day...because of this (justification)...not because of this (sanctification) we will be saved from the presence of sin.

Now...if that’s not enough...or you’re still unconvinced with regards to eternal security...what Paul does for the rest of chapter 5 – as again, he’s completing the full picture of justification... and we don’t have time to work through it verse by verse...but what he does is he unpacks the doctrine I mentioned earlier called the doctrine of imputation.

He doesn’t use that word....but that’s what he explains and to do so, he goes all the way back to Adam in Genesis. If you were here a couple weeks ago, you know Paul in making his argument for justification by faith alone....he went back to Abraham....to remind the readers that obedience to the law didn’t save even Abraham...the father of Isreal. (pause) Now he goes all the way back to Adam...the father of the whole world to make his point.

And the point he’s gonna make...follow this line of thinking it’s remarkable...he’s gonna say you remember our great great great great however many times great grand daddy Adam....the dude who HIS disobedience sent the whole world spiraling into sin...

You ever think about that? That Eve ate the fruit....but Adam’s responsible? Why is that? Well...you can go back on your own and look...(pause)....okay real quick turn back to page 2 of the bible...Genesis 2...

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” So Adam’s alone when he get’s the command...

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Then he makes the woman!

So the responsibility was on him! Did he not teach Eve what God said? Well it seems like he did...but look at chapter 3 when she ate.

6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

So he was right there!! What was he supposed to do, he was supposed to step in and say nah....that seperpant...we’re not listening to him...here’s what God told us to do....I know that fruit looks good...but I also know what God told me to do!

And if she didn’t listen...than...he shoulda been the first one to go to God...even after his disobedience and said God...we got a problem....how do we fix it. But what did he do...he hid...Then he blamed the woman and really balmed God, right? When God’s like bro you had one job....what’s Adam say? He’s like well it was actually the woman that YOU gave me.

Back to Romans 5. (pause) What Paul is gonna spend the rest of the chapter arguing is that just like death entered the world all because of Adam....there was a second Adam If you will and his name is Jesus...and the same way sin and unrighteousness has been passed down since birth...because of the New Adam – Jesus...sinlessness and righteousness can be placed upon you. So check this out...i’m just gonna read a few of the verses....look at verse 12.

And I’m gonna read from the nLT again, just because I think it reads more in the way we talk....

12 When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

Then he goes on talk about how Adam sinned before the law of Moses so again, obedience to the law doesn’t save...he talks about how Adam was a foreshadowing of Jesus...the word used is type...when the bible uses the word type it means forshadowing...and the reason he says Adam foreshadowed Jesus in that he caused something that would impact all of humanity...just like Jesus would do...but look at verse 15.

15 But there is a great difference between Adam’s sin and God’s gracious gift. For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of forgiveness to many through this other man, Jesus Christ. AND LASTLY, LOOK AT VERSE 17 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

What is all this saying, well what Paul is saying is that the full picture of justification includes our preservation...that God will keep us to the end...it includes imputation...because Jesus’ righteousness is placed on us... and that Jesus – the second Adam has placed his mark on us if we’re in Christ.

So...remember we’re tracing the movement of Paul through Romans...he starts by talking about God’s wrath...then he moves into this section on Salvation...and in this section he gives the complete picture of Justification...and so this next slide...it’s long, but it’s shows my defintion of the complete picture of justification. I don’t expect you to write this down...it’s in the app notes if it’s helpful....but here’s my definition of what I think Paul is spelling out in Romans 3:21 throgh the end of chapter 5. This should be on the screen behind me,

God, having chosen me before the creation of the world, in His grace, by the illumination of the Holy Spirit, opened my eyes to see my need for a Savior. Now, ever since by faith I leaned wholly on Christ for salvation, when God looks at me, it is just as if I’ve never sinned and as if I had lived the perfect life Jesus lived. My future glorification is guaranteed regardless of what I do today, tomorrow, or ever. All of this is because Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to me, and He bore my sin when He shed His perfect blood on the cross.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER

Now...take a deep breath. I know we’ve been in the theological weeds for weeks, right? You might be thinking....this sounds like it textbook talk. What’s it have to do with us...todayl That’s what I want to end by talking about. I want to bring this out of the weeds completely and talk about why this matters for you and for me today...not just for our spiritual and eternal well being, but practically.

Because...and we all know this....it seems like there’s so much chaos in the world doesn’t it? I mean in the last 10 days or so, we’ve seen on a global level a focus on the Ukraine and Russian war, people throwing around terms like World War 3 and global recession, there’s fear and confusion all over the world about what the future holds...In our own region theres, violence, addiction, abuce all over the place...in our own lives we have our own struggles in our relationships, our marraiges, or parenting...our jobs...and it can be easy to look at the world around us....and look at what we’re talking about on Sundays and think that there’s a disconnect.

Like, shouldn’t we be talking directly about the state of our world and what we should believe – I mean justification, imputation, sanctification, preservation, glorification....these are interesting theological concepts....but aren’t’ there more pressing cultural issues we could be talking about right now?

A couple weeks ago, Amanda showed me a clip from a show she was watching. (pause) I forget the name, but it was a reality TV type show and there was this woman talking about how she grew up in church....she grew up in a Christian family with Christian values...but she no longer calls herself a Christian...and here’s her reason....she said that when she left her home and went off to college, she met people from different faith traditions, people who didn’t believe in Christianity or act like Christians...and she realized they’re nice people....and then she met other people who were professing Christians and saw that many just weren’t nice...they were judgmental or....overly legalistic, and others were just hypocritical.

And I hear this all the time...this is one of the biggest reasons people have for leaving the faith isn’t it? Christians aren’t acting like Christians! Some people even say those outside the church seem more Christianlike than those in the church! Right, People outside the church aren’t judging...some seem more concerned with empathy. More like Jesus...you ever hear these ojections?

Teenagers and preteens...listen closely.....you might not have heard this yet...but you will. And here’s what you have to know...when you leave your parents house...when you meet more and more nonChristians...and you see stains on the external expressions of Christianity...because you will. Christians are gonna let you down. (pause) But here’s what we need to ask...

Is THIS truth? Do you see what I’m saying? I’m saying that our ultimate hope can’t be in the way we see people live out their faith...it has to be in the faith itself....not the system....not the religious institutions....no, the objective truth. (pause) Either this is true or it’s not!

And so this is the question we need to ask ourselves...is this objective truth? (pause) because if the answer is no...then friends we have no way of and no reason to attempt to Ascend the Mountain of the Lord every week. (pause) Because if this is not true...than either there is NO such thing as Holy God and everything is meaningless....or we have no way of of ascending to Him because of our imperfection and again everything is meaningless.

But if this is true...than that means that we can ascend the metaphorical mountain of the Lord week after week, here as a body of beliver, and in millions of local churches all over the world not because we’re trying to earn favor from God, but because he’s give us clean hands, and our hearts are seen as clean...and it’s us focusing...and dwelling on....and marinating in these truths week after week that keep us grounded...keep us focused on what matters....so when Christians disappoint us...or we start to doubt...or when we look out at the brokenness of our world...we always return to the simple yet deep truths of the power of the Gospel.

This is what keeps us grounded in a world that is anything but grounded!

So, as we close, let me just list four reasons we as a church value diving deep into these truths week after week....why we’re not trying to focus simply on the external behavior, but why I hope we as a church really lean into fully understanding this and that we use terms like justification, imputatiojn, sanctification, and so on.

Numebr One. Understanding the full picture of justification strengthensthe foundation of our faith.

I know this is complex stuff...and...let me just give you a peak behund the curtain, I’ve told you this before...but if you read church growth books they’ll tell you...sermons shouldn’t be more than 28 minutes. And we have to stop using words like sanctification, and propitiation, and justification....but...it just baffels me because we let the the rest of the world teach us their vernacular. (pause) Like...i don’t know...maybe I’m crazy...but if we’ve been trained to learn phrase like “Venti Iced Upside Down Caramel Macchiato” or those of you who are sports fans we can talk about a Hybrid Cover 6 D, slot bracketed MEG, nickel buzz, safety over....if we can be conditioned to use and listen to complicated language in other areas of our life...I think we can learn that justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ aone, as is revealed in Scripture alone, all for the Glory of God alone. Like am I crazy?

And one more thing and then we’ll move to the next one....I heard John Piper says this years ago when talking about preaching...he was the pastor of a church called Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnapolis and he said -when asked why he teaches complex truths and doesn’t just focus on easy external things in sermons...he said....why would I rob Bethlehem of the depths of these foundational truths that have been the source of hope for believers for millinea!

Like the stuff we’re talking about is what’s caused believers to cling to hope when they were being fed to the lions...when the church wasn’t acting like the church in the dark ages....in heavily persecuted countries today...it’s not simply messages on how can you fix your relationships or here’s how to be happy....that’s not what gets us through the storms and so as I approach this text, I echo the same words as John Piper, why would I want to rob you, Corners Chapel, of really knowing and understanding, and clinging to these truths that belivers have clung to for years! Which leads to number 2.

Dwelling on the foundation of our faith produces in us true worship. We’ll se in Romans 12...which at this rate we’ll get to in 2027. That worship is not just singing....it’s our whole lives right? And it’s understanding the root of our faith...the foundation of our faith that leads to the external. We gotta start here. Which leads to number three.

Number One. Understanding the full picture of justification strengthens the foundation of our faith. Number Two. Dwelling on the foundation of our faith produces in us true worship.

Number 3. True worship keeps our eyes and our hearts fixed on heaven. Turn your eyes opon Jesus....look full in his wonderful face....and the things of earth become strangly dim....how? Because they’re all fixed? Because wars have ceased? Because we have health wealth and prosperity now? No.....The things of earth grow dim in the light of his glory and grace!!

This is what this is all about....on a Sunday morning...from our Call to Worship to our send off....it’s about gazing on the beauty and majesty of God...because when we do that...when we go that together with people who aren’t like us...people who might not even vote like us...like the same thing as us....but we keep our eyes on Jesus...when we ascend the mountain of the Lord week after week together and focus on praising the one who who has freed us frog ult and shame...then that leads to the last point.

With our eyes and hearts fixed on heaven, we live for heaven now.

See here’s the great paradox that leads us into the next section in Romans on sanctification which we’ll get to next week...the more we focus on these truths, and undersant these truths...all the external falls into line.

Let me read just the last verse of chapter 5 to close this wonderful section on sanctification...from 3;21 to 5:21...Paul concludes this section by saying:

So -- Im reading from the NLT – just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

See...the fact that we’ve been brought FROM bondage in sin....and truly understanding what that means and the depths of depravity....and understanding the great BUT GOD verse in Romans 3 and Ephesians 2...and what he did for us despite us....when we dwell on that...we can’t help but to live for Him now!! And church, if our eyes are fixed towards heaven, Sunday after Sunday...and we’re living lives of individual worship Monday through Saturday....when we gather here....this isn’t a waste of time...we’re not burring our head in the sand ignoring the world arounds us....no we’re changed inwardly which leads to mission outwardly as we pursue God because of who he is...not just what he’s done in our lives, but because of who he is....and if that’s stamped on our hearts than it doesn’t matter what happens outside these walls or how Christians behave...our faith won’t be shaken....because we know The gospel and that it is power for all those who believe...and that it is truth!

CONCLUSION

And so...as our music team comes back up...as we – in just a second are gonna respond to these truths through song...and we head to the Summit of our Time together and take communion...I want to end our time in the Word by looking at the final picture. (pause) We went all the way back to the beginning with Adam...we saw the Psalmists cry “Who Can Ascend”...we saw that answere in the complete picture of Justification in Romans 5....We might as well go cover to cover....so I’m gonna end by reading Revelation 4...You can turn there if you want....you don’t have to...but i’m gonna read this, and I want you to ask yourself....do you believe this...the picture I’m gonna read is the throne Room of Heaven.....Do you believe this to be true....that there is an unapproachable God seated on the throne....but we can ascend to him and have direct acces to him because of Jesus. (pause) Here the Word of the Lord.

4 After this I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. 3 And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, 6 and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

9 And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11 “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

This is the God we worship. Who can ascend to that? We can....not beause of us....but because of Jesus. Do you have that confidence....do you have that boldness....do you have that assurance?