God Knows Why (Romans 9:19-33) - Pastor Daniel Fusco

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so there's no doubt that the why questions in life are the ones that are the most problematic right when something goes on and you just say but why like what why does that have to happen I mean this happened for me in a really a pronounced way November 21st 2012 when I was driving I was actually getting gas and right before I went to turn my car off to get gas I heard over the news that they were discontinuing making Twinkies and I said Wow I couldn't even say I mean who in their right mind I mean we all know that the greatest American inventor was James Dewar 1930 in his kitchen putting that flour and sugar and cream putting it together that's the guy who invented the Twinkies write it down and press your friends but I mean it was just I remember I drove around you know I was in salmon Creek at the time here in Clark County and I was driving around I went to every store to try and find some boxes I figured if I could buy like 10 boxes they wouldn't go bad before I ate them all anyway so you know if I couldn't find them anywhere now sure enough you know because God is a God of redemption in July of 2013 not only did they start making him again but now you have Twinkie ice cream have you ever had that do it so good but I remember growing up that we you know my family would say things like no one understands why no one understands why and I remember growing up because certain things that go on and like I'm being you know half joking about Twinkies but you know when things go down you say yourself like who knows why this happens you know just I always spent some time this week with Pastor Bob McGregor of City Harvest Church here in our community and just a couple weeks back his 24 year old son in-law you know married father a couple small kids came out of a pool and and had a brain aneurysm and passed away you know and and then you say yourself why you know just a young man young family you know and then you start asking those questions in your own life things that go on that you're like why why did that have to happen right and I think for all of us we have our own versions of that you know and and for some of us those wise or they become things that you almost don't ever get past now what's hard is of course is that when the the questions of why what I have learned is that oftentimes they never sufficiently get answered I mean they're answered but not sufficient for us and if you don't believe me just read the book of Job you know in the story of job's life in the Bible most people say that job is the oldest one of the oldest books written in your Bible job loses everything in a successive of a succession of calamities and then his friends come and they're trying to figure out why and then ultimately God shows up and doesn't actually tell job why he just says job guess what you're not God and you can't understand that's what God effectively tells them he's like you don't have the capacity you don't understand and right there I remember the first time I read the book of Job I thought to myself why is this in the Bible you know like why is this here but then as I've read more and I've lived more of life what I realized is that we all have questions of why and the sufficient answer that the Bible gives whether it's sufficient for you or not is actually up to you is that even when you don't know why you can trust that God is good and in a lot of ways that is the answer that nobody wants but that is the biblical answer that you walk by faith and not by sight you choose to make a decision given all the evidence to say I'm gonna trust God even when I don't know why even when God isn't answering it to my the ways that I want it to be answered and in a lot of ways where we are in this plot twist series that's where the Apostle Paul is landing as well he's landing with a simple reality that when it comes to the why question God knows why and God's purposes he may not explain in ways that we think are sufficient and so in some ways today we're gonna be kind of swimming in the deep end of the pool so to speak now I realize that there are some of us you will you like swim in the deep end of the pool that's my jam right you want you want to tread water forever and so praise God you're gonna love this for others of you you're like I don't want to be in the deep end of the pool I'll throw your floaties as we go okay so we'll do this together so open up in your Bibles Romans chapter 9 verses 19 to 33 Romans 9 verses 19 to 33 there in your Bibles if you brought a Bible with you to Crossroads super proud of you and I want to encourage you keep bring if you didn't bring your Bible with you crossroads you got next Sunday start bringing your Bible with you if you don't bring them we saw Bibles on the seats in front of you so I want to pull that I want you to read along we're gonna be taking a you know a pretty serious section of Scripture I want you to be able to read along and of course because we live in a digital world and we are digital girls that's an update on a Madonna reference and boys or digital people you could turn on your Bible as well I'll turn on your smart device your phone if you like to read along with that and Romans chapter 9 so it says this if we pick up in verse 19 it says you will say to me then why does he still find fault for who has resisted his will but indeed oh man who are you to reply against God will the thing formed say to him who formed it why does why have you made me this does not the Potter have power over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel of honour and another for dishonor now if you if you recall if you were with us in our last message we started seeing that God's purpose is not what you would think you would be and that we kept seeing how God had prioritizes certain people over certain other people like in God's choosing of the children of Israel God chose Isaac over Ishmael God chose Jacob and instead of Esau and then God chose to have mercy on the children of Israel but not have mercy on Pharaoh and so Paul brings the next logical question he you know in verse 19 he says you know why does he still find fault for who can resist this will of saying if God makes these choices then how can God hold someone responsible because God's making these choices and if God makes the choice no one can resist that so how can God be good in the midst of this you know and that's really the way that the question goes as we and we talked about this a bit previously about the intersection of God's sovereignty God making choices and then humans responsibility how does that land together and people all times they will have God sovereignly makes choices apart from what we want then how can God hold us accountable for these things how can God judge us for these things right so it's a normal question and if you spend time thinking about it you kind of land there but Paul's response is kind of a unique one and notice what he says here and if I were just to sum up what Paul says how Paul responds to that question it's simply that God is the potter that that God is the creator and all of us are in effect God's creation and really what it boils down to according to the Apostle Paul and this is super offensive to our generation is saying well who are you to reply against God well the thing formed say to him who formed it why have you made me like this now isn't that offensive I mean like so off I remember the first time I read that being like are you kidding me like who are you to talk to me that way because you kind of feel that way like don't I deserve a little bit more than that that that's the best you can give me in this big question of why is who do you think you are but you know what we actually need this take a moment and let that land for a second you know what the biggest problem our culture has is is everybody thinks that there's something that they're not all the way back in the Garden of Eden when the serpent tempted Adam and Eve to eat of the knowledge of the fruit or eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil do you know what the outcome of that was he's the serpent said you know what the problem is God doesn't want you to eat of that because when you eat of it you'll be like God I know it's a big problem no I all of a struggle with the why question today is we all have a little bit of a god complex we think that we deserve the answers we think that we were entitled to the answers and if God doesn't give us the answers in the way that we think is sufficient then there is no God or I don't like this God or I don't believe in God but you know what the problem is or not God not one of us are we are God's created ones and God has no he's not under it's like the same thing like like with the whether we like it or not the present whoever holds the office of the presidency they don't have to respond to your phone call even though you're one of their constituents they do not have to pick up the phone for you right now that makes us really aggravated you could tweet at our current president he's not gonna tweet back at you unless you say something nice right then you might get on his Twitter feed right and listen no I'm not even knocking them I don't know anybody who tweets retweets somebody's negative stuff about them right and nobody does that on Facebook even even though you don't can't retweet right but you but here's the thing the president is under no obligation to have to respond to your communications the boss of your company under no obligation either right and any of us who've been parents along the way have said to our kids you know what that piece of information is not for you right now when I got three of them number time they say listen let's get to that later because there's things I want my kids to understand I don't want to explain it to them when they're 5 and 11 and 14 now if that's true in all of these different areas how much more true is that as it relates to the holy and perfect God as it relates to his creation and really what Paul is saying here on the big question of why saying you really have no right to even ask that you can't even come at God with that because God is the Potter now all through the scripture this picture is used like in Isaiah chapter 29 verse 16 Paul's referring to it here surely you have things turned around shall the potter be esteemed as the clay for shall the thing maids say to him who made it he did not make me or shall the thing formed said him who formed it he has no understanding see really what it is is that we have this propensity to believe that our vantage point and perspective is better than gods now could be honest we all do that right like sometimes we pray we feel like we got to fill god in on all the details as if the all-knowing almighty one is a little bit in the dark right I mean there's sometimes I'm praying I'll just be like Lord there's this thing and there's this thing and there's this thing and Lord you need to do this and then finally I'm just kind of like you know what Lord you're really good at doing your job and I have a pretty tough time being me right like we have this tendency to think that God is in the dark about things but really what you realize is that the Potter the now in this picture and no analogy is perfect but there's a lot of truth to it the Potter is the one with intelligence and the clay is an inanimate object the clay ultimately becomes whatever it is that the Potter deems it to be so if the Potter wants to make a dish he can make a dish and if the Potter wants to make a glorious days or vows depending on where you're from she has absolute the ability to do that and in the same way what Paul is saying here is that God is the Potter and because God is the Potter because God is the creator the clay doesn't have to understand what the Potter is doing for the Potter to throw the pottery it's like what Isaiah says Isaiah 64 verse 8 now I think you might want to make sure you write this verse down Isaiah 64 8 but now Oh Lord you are our Father we are the clay and you our Potter and all we are the work of your hands you want to really understand who you are God is the Father we are the clay he is the Potter and each one of us is the work of God's hands and what you will learn is that when you realize that you are clay in the hands of the Potter the next step becomes can you trust the artistry and the creative intent of the Father now here's the thing that I want to tell you and this is the unique part of life that I think when the rubber meets the road for all of us is kind of a big thing is that all of us have been created by God and we're all being sustained by God but for many of us at every step of the journey we resist the desires of the Potter God has given us a will so clay just gets molded however it wants to but for humans we can resist the will of God so for many of us really what goes on is we have been created by God and God sustains us but along the way we do not allow ourselves to be conformed into the things that the Potter wants to do like if you've ever felt yourself say no Lord come on we all have to get an amen of that like where where something goes on you know like oh no no no Lord no no no thanks anyway right and as is that old saying that you know that that no Lord is an oxymoron that if he's the Lord you can't say no to him right so here's the key the key is to not only realized that he is the Potter near the clay but the key is every single day to submit yourself to whatever the potter wants to make and for me that's where the rubber meets the road of where discipleship happens where transformation happens where god's spirit and we respond to the lord when when something goes on and for those of us who have bigger mouths so to speak and the Spirit of God says and then you say you know those of us with big mouths know what that's like right in that moment you are actually resisting the hands of the Potter you're you're fighting against exactly what God wants to do when you go through something where you don't understand what's happening and you read in your Bible that that you walk by faith and not by sight you say God I may not understand this but I'm gonna trust in your goodness that is a way of us learning how to surrender to the the reality and the intention of the Potter that he knows what he's doing I mean you could imagine our Lord Jesus on that night before he was crucified in the Garden of Gethsemane as he's sweating drops of blood he's saying Lord if there's any other way let this cup pass hurry but not my will but yours be done he's saying if there's any other way to redeem humanity god I do not want this this is going to be bad and let alone the physical realities of it the spiritual and the existential realities of cross trumped the physical pain which would have been excruciating but what does he do he doesn't resist the hands of the Potter but he surrenders to it now listen I don't know what you're going through today but what I do know is that we're all really good at resisting the hands of the Potter in daily life what is he trying to work in you right now that you're just like no no no I call this being a slippery fish good now listen I'm not a fish or a fish I'm rather another fish for people but every time I've gone fishing for fish I can catch a fish but I can't hold on to that thing you know it's you know I'm not guy I'm like a cartoon character it's really pathetic you pray for me my neighbor John said we should go fish it I'm like oh no no no I can't I can't catch that fish it's like you know and every time it happens or I think about it you know I think to myself that's exactly how many of us are with God where he's trying to do he's he knows what he's making he knows what he's doing in you his artistry is extraordinary his creativity is beyond its natural anobii is as creative as the Creator God and God is creating in each one of us unique things if we are willing to trust him and be the clay that just hangs on the wheel and say okay whatever you're making let's do it but the problem is we think we know what the Potter wants to do and what I'm learning with each passing day on my journey is that I know less and less of what the father is doing out what I do know is he wants to make me like Jesus in his ways of doing that or never the ways that I would have chosen so my friends listen he's the Potter so on the big question you have to say God I trust that you're the Potter I trust that you know what you're making here and I trust that you know how to do it right and almost all of us we get in trouble when we stop trusting the Potter when we stop thinking he knows what he's doing and when we start thinking we know better than God in us he we don't know better we don't know better so picking up at verse 21 says does not the Potter have power over the clay from the same lump to make one vessel of for honor and one for dishonor verse 22 what if God wanting to show his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long-suffering the vessels of Wrath prepared for destruction and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of Mercy which he had prepared beforehand for glory even us whom he called not of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles as he says also in Hosea I will call them my people who were not my people and her beloved who was not beloved and so it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them you are not my people there they shall be called sons of the Living God Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel though the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea the remnant shout will be saved for he will finish the work and cut it short and righteousness because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth and as Isaiah said before unless the Lord of Sabbath's had left us a seed we would have become like Sodom who would have been made like Gomorrah okay so if I was gonna put all this under one heading I would say it to you this way that you and I we need to learn how to embrace the mystery you have to learn how to embrace the things that you don't understand the mystery of it now have you been at cross with any length of time I talk about this a lot and the reason I talk about this a lot is because we're coming out of a season in the life of the church where everybody like everybody wanted to say I understand everything right and in a lot of ways that began at the time of the Reformation things like systematics theologies if you never read a systematic theology book I would really recommend it but the idea is with systematic theology is that people say I can give you a complete and total system of how everything in the Bible works and in the same way you have the you know the whole scientific method comes out of that science is gonna give you a map of everything in the world and so there was that belief for a long time that science is gonna eradicate the need for God because we're gonna explain everything you don't need God obviously that hasn't worked out so well right and so for a long time we had this longing for complete and total certainty and by and large the church found itself into that many of my favorite pastors and people who I've learned from they come from a let me explain to you how it all works I'm gonna put it in a nice little box with a little bow on it and we hand it to and if you receive my box you're gonna have it all together except for the fact that then life happens and then there's all the scriptures that don't fit in that box you know what I mean right and so he's going to tell you there are a lot of things from the scriptures that are totally clear and the things that are clear we embrace those things but there's also lots of things that there's a lot of uncertainty about and on the things that we are certain about we are certain and on the things that we are not certain about we embrace the tension of I don't really know how this works but it could be this it could be this it could work this way it could work this way and that's what Paul is doing here because Paul takes the analogy of the Potter and the clay and then he says notice he uses the what if language now I think this is really powerful and if you don't believe he's using the what if language look at verse 22 what if what if God wanting to show his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long-suffering the vessels of Wrath prepared for destruction that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of Mercy which he had prepared beforehand for glory he's like what if what God is doing now he's not saying this is what God do you think what if this is what God was doing God as the creator what if he had these vessels for mercies in these vessels for for destruction what if he decided to be long-suffering in the journey so that he in one he can show his power and the other one he can show his glory now he's using a what if statement because Paul's not saying that's exactly what this is he's saying what if that's what God wanted to do and really what Paul is doing this and Paul's one of the greatest biblical scholars the world has ever known anything what if this is what God was up to and he's not saying it's what God was up to but what if that's what God was doing would God be wrong for doing that like what if in the Potters mind the Potter wanted to make all sorts of vases or Vaz is clean of summer you were sophisticated like that you know like what if you want to make some balls is that he can put on display in other ones he wanted to make things for skeet shooting is the potter allowed to do that what would the answer be yes that would we agree with it we're talking about human beings and not Skeets or whatever but what if that's what the Potter wanted to do and for you and I we have to learn the art of embracing the tension of the mystery that God doesn't explain exactly how everything works all the time does that make sense and there's a beautiful passage for that because really what he's saying is that there's just certain things that God hasn't explained to us and it's okay because we trust in the goodness of God even when we don't have the details are you able to do that today are you able to trust in God's goodness even though you don't understand why and then what Paul does and Paul has been doing this all the way through Romans chapter 9 he continues to show the church in Rome to show us that really this idea that everybody is exactly the same and everybody gets the same opportunities and everybody gets the same priority is actually bad Bible understanding because first he showed us that God chose Isaac instead of Ishmael and then he showed us that God chose Jacob instead of Esau then he showed us that God chose to forgive the children of Israel but didn't choose to forgive Pharaoh and now he says and the same is true today with some Jewish people who believe in Jesus some don't and some Gentiles who believe in Jesus and some don't and he takes us now further into the scriptures to the prophets so Paul's like literally walking through the Bible being like look at this here and look at this here and look at this year and check this out right cuz he begins to quote from the book of Hosea specifically Hosea chapter 2 verse 23 and then Hosea chapter 1 verse 10 now if you remember the story of the book of Hosea anybody remember what Hosea's gig was anybody Bueller Hosea got the pleasure of getting to marry a woman of the Knights as they called it previously God told Hosea he wanted him to marry a woman who who was a prostitute and for Hosea this was meant to be a prophetic action he's saying that's exactly what I've done because my children the children of Israel are spiritually adulterous they run around to every God every guy you go here go here go here go here right and I just wait for them but as it goes they have children and all of these children end up with these different names names that mean not my people one of the show's name was glow on me another one's name was lo rumah which meant not loved as the story goes his wife leaves as awhile goes back into harlotry and God says hey listen when you go back and get her again and we and we hear that we're like man but then when you realize that that's kind of how our hearts are aren't they I mean if you look back over your journey not only your journey before Jesus but our journey after Jesus we have a tendency to have hearts that stray as the old hymn says so beautifully prone to wander lord I feel it prone to leave the god I love here's my heart or taken seal it seal it for your courts above I mean how many of us are you looking at your journey and it's like I love the Lord and then career relationship this fear you get hurt at church this thing happens and then before you know it you're moving in all of these directions so Hosea got to live out a reality to show the children of Israel that God is a faithful God even in the midst of an unfaithful people which again is a great hope for us and so paul quotes hosea 2:23 i will call them my people who were not my people and her beloved who was not beloved and it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them you are not my people that they shall be called sons of the Living God he's saying look even for the Jewish people who believed and for the Gentiles who were out worshiping other gods who have come to Christ he's saying guess what although you are my people now you are although you weren't loved now you're loved then he quotes again hosea 110 and it's just powerful what he's saying here he's saying that in the book of hosea what you realize is that those who have been away God loves them too I mean those who are away come home God embraces them and it's not only true about God's choice it's also true about the Gentiles because Paul says in verse 24 even us who he called not only the Jews but also the Gentiles see listen no matter what your background is if you put your faith and trust in Jesus God knows where you've been God doesn't hold your past against you he took the punishment for your mistakes on the cross that's why here at Crossroads we're not we don't need a cross in the sanctuary we preach the cross we don't need some symbol we want to believe that we want to live our lives to the lenz of the cross we believe in Jesus Christ and him crucified redeeming anybody would put their faith in trusted use no matter what their background is no matter how bad their rap sheet is no matter how much shame they carry through this life no matter what lies their parents or their Guardians told them along the way you may not feel though that I'm here to tell you in Christ you are loved although you might say I'm not his people Jesus says you are my people when you put your faith and trust in me that's the gospel and it's there in the book Hosea and it's also there in the Book of Isaiah because that's what he says by the time you get to verse 27 he quotes Isaiah chapter 10 verses 22 and 23 though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea the remnant will be saved for he will finish the work and cut it short and righteousness because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth there he knows what he's saying here he's saying listen even in the times of the prophet Isaiah that times of the exiles that went on with the ten northern tribes as they went to a Syrian and ultimately two southern tribes that went to Babylon he's saying guess what although my people are the sanest she's sure in the midst of my people there is a remnant there is a group of people in the midst of my people who are truly my people so you see what he's saying listen God always keeps a remnant and then Isaiah 1:9 and Isaiah said before unless the lord of sabbath had left us a seed we would have been calm like sodom and we would have been made like Gomorrah he's saying look unless God left us a remnant a small group of faithful people we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah who you know is a biblical example of people who've been destroyed in the book of Genesis now I want to apply this before I move to the last section that we're gonna take today and it's simply this first if you watch what's going on in the world today people there's not a week that goes by that there doesn't come out like a report about the decline of Christianity in America now here's thing Christianity is a very large term right and there's lots of groups contained within the heading of Christianity now what's amazing is is although in there as the research shows the number of Christians are declining in America but Crossroads has doubled in size in the last six years so now I don't say that as like a boast I just say that not all things that are called Christianity or vibrant for all sorts of different I'm gonna leave that discussion on the side for right now right but here's the thing here's what I want to tell you even if Crossroads loses 90% of the people follow Jesus and don't stop even if everybody walks away from Jesus you stay following him because God always has a remnant what if the decline of Christianity in America's a is the absolute best thing for the cause of the gospel because what if what is going on is in a increasingly secularized society following Jesus is no longer expedient and what if what's really happening right now is that God is allowing the things that are holding the church back from having the maximum impact are simply falling away right now is that a good thing or a bad thing see again I don't know and I'm not saying that's what it is what I am saying is I have to embrace the mystery but listen if God always has to remnant an hour job your job in my job is by then in the name of Jesus in the spirit we want to be part of that remnant whatever that looks like in our generation does that make sense so don't be a sheep in a crowd be a city sit on a hill in the name of Jesus don't run after all the fads just simply follow Jesus respond to him because what I found is in my time in the church body of Christ is a unique place but I you watch people go all over the place like this thing is him this thing is it this thing is him this thing is cool guess what in the end of the day as the Doobie Brothers said Jesus is alright with me you know and if you don't know who the Doobie Brothers are you need to Google that business forget the fads follow Jesus forget that I mean each time there's unique things that guy but just follow the Lord Jesus is the most perpetually relevant person ever because he's gone in the flesh so just follow him and whatever God does with everyone else I always think of that that example where when Peter was restored y'all loved Peter just right back in and he's like you know what about that guy what about John right cuz you know Peter Peter like you he's redeemed you still Peter you know so what about that guy John and Jesus is like look if he remains alive until I come back what's that to you you follow me and when I read about the remnant here's what I wanna say I want the cross was family to be part of that remnant I want to be I want the cross rose family to be the type of people you and I be the type of people that we trust in Jesus that we believe in Jesus and we follow Jesus and high up low down no matter what everyone else does no matter what people say no matter what laws get passed no matter what stuff goes on we say listen we're with Jesus and we're gonna love on you we're gonna follow the Scriptures and we're gonna walk in the spirit and however that lands guess what we're gonna be okay with that that sound good okay praise God so be the remnant that's the goal be that remnant and then finally says this verse 32 33 what shall we say then that Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained to righteousness even the righteousness of faith but Israel verse 31 pursuing the law of righteousness has not attained to the righteous the law of righteousness why because they did not seek it by faith but as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling-stone as it is written behold I lay in Zion a stumbling stone in a rock of offense and whoever believes on him will not be put to shame my friends listen don't stumble at the stumbling stone see what Paul does as he brings chapter 9 to a close is remember this is about the plot twist that the children of Israel who has the fathers and the law and all the covenants and and all these prophecies as it came to Jesus and by the time Paul is writing this letter the church is becoming more and more non-jewish and there's more pressure for the people who are Jewish to reject Jesus and so the church is taking on a new form this was a plot twist and so Paul he brings this whole discussion in this first part of this section to galleries of what shall we say then that the Gentiles they weren't trying to pursue righteousness but they've retained the righteousness because they believed in Jesus because they had faith in him but Israel Israel was pursuing righteousness by the law but they've not attained to it and he says why because they did not seek it by faith but by works see he brings it down the whole book of Romans is about this simple thing how is somebody declared righteous by God is it by works and all the people said no it is by what by faith the ultimate plot-twist is the fact that the children of Israel wanted to be righteous but they didn't seek after it by trusting in God's provision of a savior they tried to do it in their own works and because they wanted to do it themselves they want to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps they missed it they stumbled at the stumbling stone and of course the Apostle Paul quotes Isaiah again Isaiah chapter 8 verse 14 and Isaiah 28 verse 16 that last quotation there I say 8:14 and 28:16 behold I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense Jesus is that stumbling stone Jesus is that rock of offense and then Isaiah 28:16 that whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame here's the deal within the people of God today there's still lots of people stumbling over the stumbling stone like there are many and many of us we struggle with it where we feel like unless I get these things right God doesn't love me but listen if you're reading through the Bible with us we're in the life of David right now did David get everything right no way it's a man after God's own heart when we read the book of Genesis Abraham today over him get everything right no he's a friend of gods Peter rejected Jesus but they didn't even know him God use them to preach of the day of Pentecost and within the body of Christ a there's all sorts of people who have this way of looking at the world that unless you do what I do and believe what I believe and say what I say and do it the way I would do it if I were you but I'm not you but I didn't haven't realized that yet and unless you do it that way then you are not okay and guess what that's this all works righteousness listen none of us do works that secure our salvation none of us do but at the same time my friends once you are saved God has created you for certain good works we want to make sure we don't miss that faith without works is still what its dead so so the and you got a lot you gotta love the the beautiful mysteries and nuances that go on in the scriptures there's nothing any of us can do to be saved there's no listen if you're you today you're thinking listen I gotta get this thing right for and then I can get saved or I gotta fix it no listen you need to come to Jesus Jesus is what's right right that's how a person is declared righteous because Jesus who is righteous shares his righteousness with anyone who believes upon him that's the good news but once she's the share his righteousness with you now because your life has been totally covered in the righteousness of God and God has placed this fear within you guess what now you begin to realize that God created me uniquely for certain good works which before the foundations of the world God prepared me for and the other side of it if you realize that you're not saved by works you're saved by faith then you got it right but once you're saved by faith then you need to step into the purpose and plan that God has for you and I'm here to tell you God's purpose and plan is not for you to sit in a seat here at Crossroads now listen we gather together to be equipped for the work of ministry right so we don't pretend that this isn't important but this isn't the whole Christian life the Christian life hasn't you come to church the Christian life is you are part of a local body to get built up to live in community to worship together to be challenged by one another and then we move into the world as his hands and feets fulfilling the parts of the body that God has created us for and I still believe that for many of us one of the ways that we resists the hands of the Potter is by not taking the step of faith into what God has created us for for all sorts of real reasons time constraints fears past hurts but here's what I want to tell you when you and I are fully engaged in the work of God's kingdom not stumbling at the stumbling stone but trusting in him realizing that we are God's children not because of what we've done but because of what Jesus has done when we move into that and when we link up arms with one another there is strength in numbers strength is multiplied when we are unified and I believe the world is yet to see what the Lord can do through a set apart remnant where everyone's saying I'm just here to be the part that God created me to be and to be involved in what God has and if you're here today and you're already a follower of Jesus listen embrace the mystery he's the Potter step into what God has for you step into the ministry that God has for you step into the calling that he has on your life the good works he created you for his plan and if you're here today you've never before put your faith and trust in Jesus listen you need to because no matter how many good changes you make in your life no matter how many positive improvements you make no matter how many life upgrades you take the only way a person is called the loved by God is by putting their faith in Jesus because God loves Jesus and He loves Jesus in each one of us and I'm gonna give you an opportunity to say yes to G is in just a moment I hope that you do this Power has in our hearts as we pray together

Channel: Crossroads Community Church

Views: 3,026

Rating: 4.8644066 out of 5

Keywords: Crossroads

Id: iREjjEbztyU

Length: 46min 12sec (2772 seconds)

Published: Mon May 06 2019