Stop Negotiating

Today on Summit life with Judy Greer is a declaration that you don't have. Virtue is a declaration that if you're going to be saved. It is going to be because of God's grace, and not because of your worthiness. Faith is when you and I say… I have to trust you because I don't have anything else to offer my after author and religion G air. As always, I'm your host Molly benefits today were diving into a new study called for in something.

Pastor JD explained the difference between those who have true saving faith and those who are just going through the motions. Some of us might be living a shadow of the true Christian life without even knowing it, but it's time to wake up because there is so much more in store. If you like to follow along with the transcript of each message you can find them off free of charge.

JD Greer.com. Let's get started. Pastor JD Greer titled today's message stop negotiating by show of hands, how many of you have a moment of honesty here. I'm review by show of hands or into zombie shows the bridge and up own and I will judge you. I promise. But my head is up member my judge you but I will judge you seem like zombies are definitely the horror genre of choice these days. Here's one little statistical be some proof more than twice as many people watch the opening season of the walking dead. As I watch the final season of mad men I which is, like a zombie show in its own way. In my opinion, but, read a great article in the New York Times recently by one of my favorite social commentators got Chuck Klosterman who suggested that the reason that zombie shows appeal.

So many of us is because sort of subconsciously they correlate with how we feel in our day-to-day lives seemingly endless onslaught by mindless emails and advertisements and pop up ads and tweets and voicemails that you have to eliminate one by one, or else be consumed by them on the good news, Klosterman says, is that by now are all pretty prepared for the zombie apocalypse, if you away from it, and you don't immediately see a member of the hospital staff. You should assume that a zombie takeover has transpired during your incapacitation.

Do not let zombie spit on you if you knock one down. Make sure that you pop a second bullet into its brainstem to make sure that it's dead hi by the way if you've never seen an episode of the walking dead. Here's the basic plot line of each episode, every episode is this is it there something that we really need over there were the zombies are. That's basically how everyone unfolds zombies are basically moving bodies without souls. Zombies are bodies that mimic the actions of being alive, but they are not in fact live.

I want to use that image of the next three weeks to explain the concept that were to call Phantom date having phantom faith means that you go through the motions of Christianity, but you do so without the soul, and by that I don't mean that you're an out and out hypocrite, just that there are certain core things about the Christian faith that you don't quite get yet so you wind up mimicking the motions of Christianity, but there's something missing in your relationship with God. Maybe you know that there's a joy that you live is a competence that you lack so many use this series to identify three concepts that a lot of of sincere people mess and cause them to live this way without the soul of Christianity, and by that I don't just mean newbies to Christianity.

Sometimes these people that I might describe a miniatures for years and they still never quite grasp these things were to talk about. I'm not a Christian. I want to explain some of the things that make out what Jesus taught, absolutely distinctive from every other religion in the world, sometimes people that are like one of the scriber people are trying to get back in the church with a lot of people this church that I won't be some life event to get divorced, or maybe they had a baby or something and.net is like I gotta get back at church. These are the concepts that they seem to stumble over. In fact, that this message series came from me, having conversations one-on-one with.

I just felt like all the PMI we all at some of the same things and I was like I got a good talk about is one. One artist series on them so here we are on the first concept to talk about in phantom faith is from Romans chapter 4 of you have your Bible to might you take it out and begin opening to Romans chapter 4 Romans is the sixth book in the New Testament. If you need help finding it.

Just open the table contents of the person next to you judge as you raise your hand. All have been thrown out. Okay you can do that. Romans chapter 4.

It concerns how you know for sure that you belong to God, or why you think it is that you were going to go to heaven guy you know this.

I am asking this way if you were to die today and gobble to say to you, why should I let you would have and what we would your response beat and I know that sounds like a cliché question if you grew up in the South you were up in the church you have to like that's you Billy Graham I think made that question famous unit to God tonight. Do you know the Christians will always assume you're gonna die at night. Nobody knows why but whatever. It's a cliché question, but it's still a good one, why do you think the God to let you would have any say JD.

I'm not even sure that there is a heaven okay if you suppose there is a heaven and what is the criteria for who gets in and who doesn't.

And are you sure that you will be one of the ones who gets in five talk with you before about my own struggle with this question for many years and I was in high school and also in in college. Just not being able to know for sure and really wanting to know told you that if there were a Guinness Book of World Records for how many times somebody could save the sinners prayer.

I know that I would hold that world record because it was like I just every single service. I would like a big I want to make sure that I'd asked Jesus into my heart the right way and that's all my church always talked about it.

Want to go to heaven. Of those, you've accepted Christ the one to go to hell those Avenue my why don't I try out inside praying, but every time I built was sorry enough for my sin that I understand enough that my life changed up as a result, maybe not a better do it again in my church we were litter, church, or you will forward if you raise your hand. As you know, and so I want to invalidate in prayer but not go forward. So it was like a space of three years.

Y'all and I will forward it felt like every single week. It was embarrassing that my dad was like you cut that out on you. Gotta get over this, I just had my own locker in the baptismal changing area because I just was that frequent and good about us four times during that that that season. I don't know if that's like your struggle. Most people with you, ask him why do you think gobble let you into heaven, I did like it has something to do with their behavior are good enough you're sincere enough. As a Christian you believe enough to go to church enough you give enough people from other religions. By the way, use the same criteria they do switch out some of some of the specifics instead of going to church is going to mosque or synagogue devils on my that it's like we are always trying to make a deal with God. God, there's that you know how if I do this.

But do this this and many times run in good enough, then I expect you to give me heaven.

Now we do that a lot in our lives knowing make deals with God.give me this job and start to be generous, God let her say yes to going out with me and I will start reading my Bible is not just a were honest with each other. Raise your hand if you've ever made a deal with God just ain't ready to go and put it IF you and is not up. You are a liar. Okay, you really are. We make this got what we do what we think God works. I made one when I was fresh in your high school before I became a Christian I was on the soccer team and I wasn't that good.

And there was one-to-one like the room is left in the game and let Lord if you will let me score the final goal. I will I will stop cussing to the new the cheerleaders were watching and I was like this let me score it was like 20 seconds later it was total free to escort a goal. I think the cost at the moment. When I went it was. I just make deals with God and you think like oh God in heaven is like us all. Thank you. You know like I got a get in on that action, you know, tell me how to what I do. How can I refuse we think of going to heaven like a deal that we make God we give God obedience God rewards us with heaven, but here is what the apostle Paul says, what does Scripture say Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abraham was about 90 years old and God told him that he was, and I have a son, Abraham, and never had any children. He evidently was infertile and so God says you have a son and against all logic against all evidence against all hope, Abraham said, well, I believe it. And God saw all his faith in God's promise and God credited to him as righteousness. Verse five to the one who does not work you see as an illustration with Abraham, but trust God instead. Who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

I had a seminary professor who said that this is the most important verse in the Bible. I'm inclined to agree with him. He said, and it all hinges around this one word here if you understand this one word that you understand the gospel.

If you don't understand this word you don't understand the gospel board credited is the Greek word look good so my luggage in my edit is an accounting term and it needs to count one thing, as if it were another think that's literally what it means is that maybe it is easiest for me to explain it to you by telling you first. What it does not me what that word does not mean is that Abraham's faith actually made him act righteously from that point on, here's what we know that immediately after Abraham believed God in Genesis 15 in the very next chapter he doubts God and think that God can't really keep his promise and so he try a sling for this is how servant Hagar try to have a son to her.

It was an immoral act. A couple chapters later, there is what I like to refer to is the sister incident where Abraham is traveling and he finds out the King thinks his wife is hot and so Abraham is like oh she's not really my wife, she's my sister, thinking that he'll take her to be his wife. And that's okay as long as Abraham but get killed. That's not something that was like they just did back then we can imagine the conversation with Sarah got back home. What what is wrong with you. You know that he doesn't say he's not going to act righteously all the time. From this point on he is nor does the phrase mean that faith is actually righteousness in its self.

A lot of people think that's what it means as if faith were the supreme of all the virtues goal, the one that really matters to God and as long as you have that virtue. It kinda covers up everything else and nothing else matters.

Faith is not the supreme virtue, what is the supreme virtue love my first 2013, Paul says the greatest virtue above faith is love. All that I can have faith so big that I can move mountains, but I wouldn't have love, it would be absolutely worthless when Jesus summarized all of the wall. He didn't say all the whole wall summaries have faith is a below summary of the love Lord your God love your neighbor as yourself so that mean that faith is so awesome to God that that having it makes you righteous and covers up everything else know what it means. What faith credited as righteousness means is that God counts our faith in Christ as righteousness, even though it is not that righteousness is a gift that God gives to us that we do not possess in ourselves.

On the basis of something else will get right back to her teaching in just a moment here in MetLife with Jeannie Greer.

Yet when we to be sure you continually see God's word, saturating your life is to participate in our daily email devotional from Pastor JD could really use encouragement first thing in the morning to remind us of God's wrath. The best part is that it follows along with our teaching here on the program so you can dive deeper into homer learning and then share with others. Sign up for this free resource@jeannieclear.com/resources JD GRE are.com/resource and balance return for the conclusion of today's message. Once again here's fasting. The best analogy I can come up with and I'm sorry for this week is not a great analogy, but it's like when you're playing cards and you have a wildcard senior year and some version of poker and you got. You want to put on a Royal flush and you need to clean our hearts, but you got jokers wild and you will have the Queen of hearts he put the joker in there and it's not going hearts you put it down and it counts as the Queen of hearts, even though it is not going hearts.

What Paul was saying is that faith is like the wildcard that God counts as righteousness. Even though that is not I'm not saying that faith in Christ or some arbitrary thing simply that faithless of this faith is not really a virtue per se.

Faith is a declaration that you don't have virtue, faith is a declaration that if you were going to be saved. It is going to be the cause of God's grace, and not because of your worthiness. Faith is when you and I say to God. God, I have to trust you because I don't have anything else to offer. According to Romans 451 it was declared righteous and goes to heaven has three primary characteristics. They are Romans 45 again wanted does not work.

Trust God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness characteristic number one is that you know that your ungodly. There's an inherent admission and what Paul says here that I am ungodly.

I cannot do anything to change that.

It's just admitting what is true.

The second characteristic is you do not work which means you don't think there's anything you can do to change that status. There's nothing you can do to earn heaven. There's nothing you can do to make up for what you did and then the third characteristic is that you trust God, who said that he would take care of you.

Trust that he did exactly what he said he would do. And Paul uses Abraham as the best example of this three introduces him of the beginning of chapter 4 is to continue it at the end of chapter 4. Severe Romans for get out of verse 18 and and I walk you through this, God declares Abraham is can be a father ball nation of people's 90s got no kids verse 18 so against all hope, Abraham in hope believed that I will bet little simple very very discreet way to say I meet when you're 90 years old, and your infertile.

It ain't happening. My blue pill. No Pillai not limited to change that verse 19 without weakening in his faith he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead as he was about 100 and Sarah's womb is also did. He knew infertile he understood how things work. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, even though it was so clear no way you have a baby, even in spite of that he was strengthening his faith and gave glory to God, he decided to praise God for things that haven't happened yet as if they were already done. Verse 21, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

This is why it was credited to him as righteousness. You see those words, Paul says, verse 23. It was low, gives Armada him. It was credited to him or not, is written for him alone.

They were written for us to God will also did so my righteousness for us who believe in him believe on him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. You see, Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins, and then he was raised to life because of our justification. In other words, God took our sin data and put it on Jesus and put Jesus in the grave, and that God raised him from the dead as a proof that God had accepted Jesus as the payment for our sins. So when we believe that the resurrection happened and that it believes what God said it meant, which meant that the sin debt had been paid in full when we believe that God credits that to us as if it were righteousness, he literally gives us Christ's righteousness. We don't just get forgiveness of sins. We also get Christ perfect record that is credited to our town means I become responsible for everything to Jesus.

Jesus, as I've explained to you was not just a dying Savior. Jesus was also a doing Savior and before he died the death that we were condemned to die. He lived the life that we were supposed to live and so when his account has been credited to me. God looks at me. Not only is it but never sin. He looks at me as if I'd actually live the life of Jesus himself is what we call gift righteousness and it's what separates Christianity from every other religion in the world, God's righteousness Jesus as righteousness credited to us as a gift now because our faith deserves it, not because our fate equals it but because God has declared that faith in his promise is the instrument through which he will credit righteousness to our accounts. You see, there is no deal there is no deal that you can make with God. Ever. Here's why.

We will give you Paul's logic. Here's what you can't make a deal, got number one. Like Abraham were dead in our ability to please God like Abraham were just as dead in our ability to please God bless what is illustration with Abraham, Sarah, so important. Abraham was totally unable to to have a kid me what he could have one of these young now is 90 or 100 years old. He's doubly dead in the same way we are utterly unable to be righteous in God's God's God's measure of goodness is the 10 Commandments listen recently I was reading some of Martin Luther said if you want to stimulate your relationship with God been for a month.

Just every morning to the 10 Commandments in your mind and pray through them. I thought Walmart with recommended it outright. It is been absolutely devastating for me in the mornings as part of what we call quiet, they wanted the 10 Commandments because it is realized that there is not a single one of these that I just instinctively naturally keep day and for example, you shall have no other gods before me. I asked myself. Do I really love and cherish God more than everything else in my life is you the most important is the occupy my first thoughts is you the most valuable to me and I'm more concerned about his opinion than anybody else's. You shall make no graven images of me I am I satisfied with God the way that he is or am I constantly wishing I could make God into something else am I saying God, why don't you do it this way, you got if you are really good.

Why don't you give me this wanted to do that God is our God.

This is what I do and I think you should probably do what I think you should do this and skip if you honor your parents asked myself have always been submissive to the authorities that God put in my life that's part of the commands about without submissive my parents naturally must submissive always to the police to my teachers to a boss that me rephrase that. Have I ever been naturally submissive to the authorities. God's place in my life but thou shalt not steal. How many times do I try to appropriate things. I don't really belong me to say that course. Yet the obvious things like either business or your taxes or something like that. But how often do I take credit. It's not mine, and not give credit for an idea because I want some way to think I'm smarter than I actually am, thou shalt not lie. How often do I exaggerate the truth to make myself look better, or bend the truth to avoid a difficult situation or an awkward encounter not come to thou shalt not commit adultery, and am I gonna feel pretty good about dominoes always been faithful to my wife until I see what Jesus said about that one.

You said you never look at somebody's not your spouse, and lusted after them in your heart is like you committed adultery, thou shall not murder okay finally want to put the W, then Jesus says in Matthew five ever desired to see somebody else harmed nothing about how many times have rejoice from somebody I don't like suffered or maybe mad not the one you would see what happens to them to me your something that was agreed there's a German word that I'm trying to teach my kids visits if liquids are more than ever shady Freud you what that word means simply means when you rejoice in somebody else's misfortune. I'm trying to my kids. You should not rejoice when your brother sister gets in trouble but actually I look as I'm talking this thing this is exactly what I do I rejoice from somebody else goes to pain sometimes because I have a spirit of violence and murder in my heart even if I don't commit the act. Thou shalt not covet am always fully satisfied with the situation the God has me in right now, and never craving somebody else's income or privileges, or talents her success. Her family situation and I'm telling you when I get done with this list. I realize that I'm old for 10 when you're over 10 on the final exam. You're not gonna pass the class. You really feel like you're a good person.

Jesus, if you so you just look the wrong standard leisure right just like your father in heaven is righteous shall never in Raven which brings up another thing some of you don't trouble yourself the 10 Commandments you come up with your own standard of what it makes for a good person. It was always a little bit at standard and let me do problems with that. First of all, you made it out. Seriously, what is that what else is that working life is a problem that you live up your own standard if you want to shoot yourself and have half the time at your own standard web describe it to you is if you have a little invisible tape recorder or somehow recorder's papers and get a invisible recorder in your neck that only activated when use of the world ought she audited that he ought to do that now. To do that and as all recorded and then at the judgment seat. God only judge you by whatever you said somebody else ought to do during a single one of you in here that would pass that judgment. You see we like Abraham are utterly unable to please God, because the problem is not ignorance.

The problems that we need a little religion built promise we are dead and we are sinful and there's nothing we can do to actually change that. The second reason we can't make a deal with God.

Number two is that we don't really have anything to offer God anyway is all Paul explained that verse for the Woodwards wages are not credited as a gift given as an obligation right of a plumber comes over to my house and works on something and see has been a bill for 80 bucks. I don't say men here's your gift as a here's a he's like is what I did the work.

I owe him.

We think of heaven. In those terms that God is always heaven because we paid all this good word.

There are two problems with that we know everything that God needs I alluded to this in the beginning to think how foolish our negotiating sounds. God wants of obedience.

I'll go to church. Got the charge. I love church say no to that do not yet reviewed a course that would have anything but which would put God and her dad in reality we have to face negotiate with God. Goodness in one area doesn't make up for breaking God's laws and another you're listening to Senate life with Jeannie Greer in the first message in our new teaching series called phantom faith. If you join us a little late today you can hear this message again free of charge. Jeannie clear.com. Jeannie has been getting started here. Can you tell us a little bit more about this new teaching series, then faith is the idea that it's not enough to simply go through them notions of Christianity and you've actually got to possess the that that the new heart that Jesus forms and us. Most people in church know how to act the part but there's no real joy or life in the face. Something seems missing. This series is going to show you what that is in helping you trade out that phantom faith for the faith that that truly lives the fate that is alive.

Our new resource that working to provide along with the series is focused on helping you and your closest community dialogue about your faith is one of the ways that it becomes real you, for whatever reason, talking about our faith even with our close relationships or family or close friends can give awkward at times. We got a cassette of conversation cards that will help you begin that dialogue you can find that not only is your knowledge of the Bible in which joy you feel sharing that with those closest to you that's in a deep and, as well. I would love to give you a copy of these two things these conversation cards along with a set of 15 devotionals in faith rest hope that we would love to give to JD grid.com and you become one of our gospel partners and get this resource and a lot of other things to partner with you.

This set of key resources comes with everything you donate to support this ministry and request devotionals for the distracted family Dorsett of conversation cards 20 in both when you donate online.com hi Molly benefits to using our new study interface discovering the difference between saving faith sure to join us Friday for Senate life care ministry