Romans 4:22-5:2 (#16.2025.03.23)

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:02

Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the Bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi, and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there'll be a link to the episode website at beholding bibletruth dot com, and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:47

Okay. Again, reminder that, by Thursday, these sessions are on audio at, beholdingbibletruth.com. Any pod any regular podcasting service, Apple and all the podcasting. If you wanna watch the video, just search for Bolding Bible Truth on YouTube, and it's on there as well. So thank you for your support with that. Really appreciate that, And thank you for joining us every Sunday. Every every week we come here, we think we're thankful that somebody shows up. Seriously, been doing this since 1991, I think, '91, '90 '2 when we were at the high school every Sunday, so we're grateful for you all being here.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:33

So in high school, I got the privilege to learn how to dive. Anybody, snorkel or scuba diver here? Yeah. And so snorkeling is a lot of fun, but diving is where the real fun is because you don't see all the treasures of deep until you you're able to dive. And my grandmother sent me to a diving camp when I was in high school, and we we were able to go to The Bahamas and spend weeks there. And, you know, it was when you were able to dive deep that you really saw the depth of it. You know? And I guess that's somewhat like scripture. You know? The, what's on the surface is is nice, but what's deep is where the real truth is. And I think we live in a world today that wants you to be satisfied with what's on the surface.

Scott Keffer [: 00:02:26

And it's easy to do that, right, particularly when we live in a world that does this all day long. Right? And we're being taught to have an intention span of about five seconds, and we want stuff to come really easy and quick. And it's the same whether you're whether you're, you know, digging for any kind of valuable mineral. If you think about digging for gold, real gold is found deep, found deep in the ground. Right? And watch the temptation to be satisfied with surface truth. Right? And it's it's okay to simplify things, but don't become simplistic in your in your journey with Christ because the depth is down there. Because he doesn't want you to know the answers. Because you're gonna come here and say, but I've been a Christian for a while.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:16

I know the answer to that. I know the answer to that. I know the answer to that. Because, generally, as evangelicals, we think that the Christian life is a multiple choice, right, quiz that if we get nine you know, 90% on it, we're doing great. Right? But he doesn't want you to know the answers. He wants you to know him who is the answer. And so as you approach scripture, you wanna make sure, lord, this is you. Right? This is you speaking and revealing, and I can't really know unless your spirit reveals the depth to me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:49

All the riches, all the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. God, you need the the the power of God to reveal himself to you, not the answer, to reveal himself the depths of that. So as you come, you know, try to be like the founder of Judo said, I wanna be buried in a white belt. I wanna be buried as a as a fresh beginner in the sense of open. Right? Lord, show me new. Right? The the prayer of David, oh, you know, open my eyes that I may behold new things from your word every time. Right? So as you come here, right, I just pray that you'd be open just to refresh and go deeper. Alright.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:34

Stand with me if you will while we read God's word while we read God's word. We're from Romans two or Romans four twenty six through five two. Therefore, it was also credited to him as righteousness. Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited as those who believe in him who raised Jesus, our lord, from the dead, he who was delivered over because of our transgressions and was raised because of our justification. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we exalt in the hope, the glory of God. The word of God. Thanks be to the Lord. It's word of truth.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:43

So we begin here with the therefore. Right? And you'll notice with Paul, there's depths. Right? Even even the apostle Peter, the spirit of God, the apostle Peter says, in Paul, there are things that are hard to understand. Right? It says in in in in in Peter, right, there are things of Paul, depth. Right? Paul is going deep. Right? And oftentimes, he's pulling back and he's summing up. And the word therefore grabs what came before and appoints you. Right? So he's saying therefore.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:11

Right? We looked at this last week. It was also credited to him as righteousness. Right? It was credited to Abraham. So the base of that was to go back to say to Jew and Gentile, look back at Abraham. If you're Jewish, Abraham's the father of the Jews. If you look at how was Abraham justified, it was credited to him as righteousness. Right? He says, if that's the case, right, let's think about this now. He says now, alright, and now for its sake for our sake, it was written.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:44

So he says it's written for the sake of all who would believe from this point forward. So the scripture is always about the present and about the future. And then, of course, we're we know because this is the nature of God. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and even forevermore, that the word of God is about yesterday, today, and even forevermore because the word of God is timeless. It's it's it's outside of time. It's beyond time because that's who God is. He is outside of time. He is timeless.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:18

So he said, it's written for the sake of all who believe. Who is that? Raise your hand. That's you. It was written before you existed, but the scripture is there for all who would believe from the time it was written, of course, until Jesus Christ comes back again. What was written? That it was credited to Abraham as righteousness as righteousness. What kind of righteousness? The righteousness of god. And this is what this is about. He said it's about the righteousness of god.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:04

And I'm as I said, not who he is in terms of his character. He is righteous indeed. But the question is, how do you and how do I gain the righteousness of god? Because without it, we cannot be in fellowship with god. We would be consumed. Forget your sin. Even if you didn't have sin, if you weren't of the same nature, you would be consumed by him, by his power, by his light, by his glory. Does that make sense? So the question is, how do we gain the righteousness of god? That's what this is about. How do we gain it? How can he say you are righteous, as righteous as the eternal holy one? How do we gain that? Well, he says it's very clear.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:54

Right? He made him who knew no sin. Who is that? Jesus. To be sin on our behalf. Well, the question should be, well, how did that happen? The sinless one to become sin without being sin. And what was the point? So that or that, there's the point, that we might become the righteousness of god. Not that we might know the righteousness of god, understand it, be able to explain it, but literally that we would become the righteousness of God to be able to be in relationship with them both now and for eternity without being consumed. Does that make sense? And it's only found in him. So he says it's written because Abraham is our pattern.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:52

He's showing us. He's he's saying, look to the Jew, Abraham's your pattern. Even to the Gentile, understand Abraham's your pattern. The pattern of how righteousness the righteousness of God is credited to your account. He's credited. Wake up in the morning. Go online. You pull up your account statement.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:16

It says billions upon billions. You know what? That's too many zeros. Where did that come from? Who made the deposit into my account? He's explaining the righteousness of God has been deposited, has been credited. Have been credit literally reckoned, counted, charged, put on your account. Look. How'd that happen? So he says, how'd that happen? Well, he told him, he made him who knew no sin, the father. So he says up here, right, not for the sake it was written, but for our sake also to whom it's credited, to whom it will be credited in the future as those who believe as those who believe what? In him. Then the question is, who's him? It's god the father.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:17

God the father. It's important. Says those who believe in him. Who is this? This is god the father, the eternal one. Right? So if you think about it, he is the one who is the preeminent one. The lord Jesus is his son. He's the son of god, but the father. And what did the father do? Right? He says you have to believe in god the father who deliver he what did he do? He delivered.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:46

He delivered over Jesus. He delivered over Jesus because of our transgressions. It literally means he yielded up his son. This is hard to comprehend. In fact, as led some to say, well, I don't really like what kind of father would do that? Because they're thinking like a human, not like a holy god, a righteous god, who with justice and complete holy righteousness was solving an eternal problem for you and me. What's the problem? Sin, your transgression. Is there anything that could pay that you could pay to have your transgression nullified? I mean, you're you're just done. You're done.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:42

Right? So what did the father do? He delivered over his son. What? The judicial act of god the father delivering god the son to the justice that required the payment of a penalty for human sin, a payment which you and I couldn't make. So how is that gonna be paid? So in Isaiah, he says, he who's he was pierced? Jesus, the lord Jesus. What was he pierced for? Our transgressions. You stop and think about that. Have you ever endured the consequence for something stupid or foolish or wrong someone else did? How many have done that? Your kids might be a friend that something stoolish stupid, foolish, or wrong, and you endured the consequence. How does that generally feel? You were happy that you're able to do that. Right? Well, I'm I'm happy to you didn't remind yourself often.

Scott Keffer [: 00:13:45

You know? What's up with that? Right? So he was peer through for my transgressions. The penalty due me was paid upon me, and he was crushed for my iniquities. Listen. Pierced, crushed, chastened, scorched. Ye. It's a pretty serious verbs, aren't they? He was pierced through, crushed, chastened, scorched. What? He crushed for my inequities. He was chastened, right, for my well-being.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:22

He was scorched so that we could be healed. Well, who is that? All of us. Right? All of us. So he's saying it doesn't matter. He isn't one of you who said, well, yeah, he was scorched for your stuff. No. He was scorched for our stuff. Right? Each of us has turned to his own way.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:41

The the lord, who's the lord, god the father, has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him, god the son. This is a stunning part of this verse that the father was pleased to do what? Good question. I may have a hard time with that. Have a hard time with that. Have a hard time with that. The father was pleased to crush his son for my sin. His son who was holy, righteous, true, and good. Not only was he pleased, the son was pleased to be crushed.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:27

And in eternity, that plan was put together by the father, by the son in unity, a purpose. Right? He was pleased. He says, if he would render himself, he, Jesus, would render himself as a guilt offering, which means he was a voluntary sacrifice. Jesus willingly was pleased as well in obedience to the the to the unified plan of God to send his son his son to come. It's it's stunning, isn't it, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures? In other words, it was prophesied because it was planned before the foundation of the earth, before all time, before time existed, before everything that was created was created, this was purposed and planned and and designed to occur. So the father delivered over Jesus, and we believe in him who delivered over Jesus, and we believe in him who raised Jesus from the dead. Resurrection. The pinnacle, if you will, of our faith.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:55

If there is no resurrection for the dead, not even Christ is raised. Not even Messiah, not Jesus, messiah, not even the Messiah is raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain. Worse than that, your Faith. Faith is in vain. I can remember when I first met some Christians, I was not. I was a, professional heathen, and I thought they're just stupid. Just you're gonna be stupid.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:23

Right? And he's saying if there was no resurrection, then you are stupid. Your faith is in vain if there's no resurrection. Moreover, we are even to be found to be false witnesses because we testified that god raised Christ whom he did not raise if, in fact, the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if if Christ hasn't been raised, your faith is worthless. You're still in your sins. If we've hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pity. In other words, if it's not true, just eat, drink, and be merry because it's goofy not to.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:04

Right? Why would you not take advantage of everything you can? Do whatever you can do. Right? We are all of all men to be pitied, but now Christ has been raised. And he's not only the only one to be raised. He is the first fruits, which means more to come. Who's that? Raise your hand again. More to come. That's what he's saying. He's the first fruits.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:29

For since by a man came death who's that? Adam. By a man also came resurrection from the dead. So last week, Corky came by, and Corky's a a fairly new believer, and he's struggling with Parkinson's and a lot of physical stuff going on. But I said to Corky, I said, you you have seen, movies where two nations will come to war against each other, and they pick a champion. And the champion, right, fights, and the entire nation does as the as as you win, you all win. You lose, we all lose. I said, kinda like David and Goliath if you've heard if you right? You know the story, so we talked through that. And I said, do you know where that came from? He said, no.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:20

I said, that is a principle of headship. That's a principle of the kingdom of god. Through Adam, we all fell. Adam, our champion, lost. We all lost. Every human being is born in sin. In order to set up in Christ, we win. In Christ, because of his righteousness, we share in it.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:47

Right? It's it it's literally representative. Jesus represents. He's the firstborn among many brethren, it says, new brethren. Those who are of the righteousness of God. Ain't that cool? He's the first fruits. In Adam, all died, so also in Christ also all are made alive. He is our champion. Scripture says he is our dread champion.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:16

So he's raised from the dead, so do we. So what's the point? That you understand, of course, that Christianity at its core is not about what do you believe, right, in the sense of we're not a we're not a, set of beliefs. Although that follows, we are built upon historical fact that that in the beginning was the word. The word was with God and the word was God, and the word became flesh literally in history. In the fullness of time, the son was born. The son well, a child is born. The son was given in the fullness of time, and he shed his blood on a cross historically, and he rose from the dead. And then he ascended into heaven.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:11

And, oh, by the way, he's coming back again. That's exactly right. So he reminds us. But it's not that we know the facts, but that we know god, that we know him. So he prays in here that the god of our lord Jesus Christ, the father of glory, this is Paul praying, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation. Really? So god the father would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. So in order to know the father, he has to give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. So Paul says, I pray, and this is what we pray for you all.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:52

We pray that God would give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him. So god the father has to reveal. You need the spirit to reveal, and I pray that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened. Oh, really? What would that look like? So he goes on to say, right, that you would know the hope of your calling, and we wanna know the hope of their calling. Right? And so Paul is praying for this. The riches of the glory of his inheritance in, wait a minute. Do you hear what he's saying? You need to understand the riches of the glory of his inheritance. Whose inheritance? Jesus' inheritance in us.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:42

Or that sounds like the booby prize. I'm praying that we would I mean, think about that. So Jesus gets us? He says, I pray that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened, that you'd know the hope of your calling, the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And then he says, the surpassing greatness of his power. Who's that for? Purpose. For us who believe. Really? What's that power like? That's the power that raised the lord Jesus from the dead, seated him at my right hand, far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, demonic levels. Where is Jesus? Far above, at the right hand, advocating for you, far above our rule, authority, power, and dominion.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:42

And god gave him a name which is above every other name. So who is this? Right? He put all things into subjection under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all and all. So he's saying, you need the spirit of God to open the eyes of your heart to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, the knowledge of him in the eyes of your heart. You should pray that for you and for others. That's what Paul, the apostle Paul, is praying for the church there. Right? And so we pray for you. Does that make sense? We need him to help, right, to reveal to reveal. So he wants you to know the surpassing greatness of his power.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:36

He said it's power that raised the lord Jesus from the dead. It's power over death. When you cry out for somebody who's hurting or broken or near death, it isn't as if God summoned up. No. You need to understand the surpassing greatness of his power. If anything, I can call out to him that he can't do. He's able. He's able.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:59

He doesn't do it all the time because it's not wise, true, perfect, right, but it's not because he doesn't have the power. So he says that you may know him and the surpassing greatness of his power. So he says wake up every day to that. And he said not just that you would know him, but that you may be found in Jesus. You may be found in Jesus. That sounds like a weird phrase, isn't it? You may be found in Jesus. In other words, abiding in him. Literally, that's what it means.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:41

Abiding in him. Okay. And maybe found in him well, what does that mean to be found in him? Not having a righteousness of your own derived from the law. What's the righteousness of my own derived from the law? Well, that's the 10 things that you're able to keep, and that becomes your checklist, what it means to be righteous. Right? We all have them. These are the things that I can get. You know? Some could be good things, but these have become my own little law. Check.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:13

Check. Check. And there's two ways that I feel like I'm justified because I keep those things, and I'm able to judge other people. Oh, looks like you're not doing so good by that one. That makes me feel even better. Right? Because I'm a I own a law. Well, Lord reminds us with the law, you wanna keep all 638 of them. That would be fine.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:36

You wanna try and do that. But if you break one, you've broken them Paul, see, we drag that into our Christian life, no one. We drag the law in here, not justified by faith. I wanna be justified by the law. So he says, you be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. What did he do? Everything. That's so hard, isn't it? It's Christ plus nothing. Christ was nada.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:10

It just seems, it's the righteousness. Where does it come from? It's the righteousness of god that you gain and you didn't earn it. You didn't deserve it. You didn't do anything for it. You didn't have the faith. He gave you the faith. Oh, well, that's not good. How can I boast? He says, so that no man may boast, but I like to boast.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:45

I wanna wave my own flag. Right? I like to boast. He says that no man may boast. Where did it come from? It came from God on the basis of faith. Not by faith. It's not by your faith. It's through faith. Alright.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:01

Flip over. So he says you have been whether you understand it or not. And, you know, when you come to Christ, you don't understand. It says in first John, I've written unto your children because you know your sins are forgiven. So how many came to Christ under age 10? How many in their teenage years? How many in their twenties? During their twenties. Anybody in their thirties or above beyond? Right? Yeah. And so you think about, what do I know about Christ? Well, when you first come to Christ, when he opens the eyes of your heart, when he speaks light into your darkness, when he takes your heart of stone out and gives you a heart of flesh, all you know are your sins are forgiven. I remember at first, I would it's like I was walking three feet on the air.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:48

That's all I knew. My sins are forgiven. That's what he says. I've written you into your young children because you know your sins are forgiven. That's all you know. And then as you grow, you grow deeper. And he's saying you were justified by faith. The deepness at which we're digging now, he's saying there were this was always true.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:07

Not like it wasn't true. Just you didn't understand it. So he's telling it, you are justified by faith. So he's saying, I'm gonna show you, by the way, the blessings of being justified by faith, the fruit of it, the result of it, because you may or may not know. So the blessing to being justified by faith. He said, first, we have peace with God. He says, you have peace with God. You mean the peace of God? No.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:43

You have peace with God. What do you mean? That must mean I didn't have peace with God. What is that called? What's that? You are an enemy. An enemy. In fact, it says that. Right? While we were enemies While we were enemies. Well, I wasn't an enemy. I I I wasn't at war with God.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:17

I mean, I kinda you know? I thought he was irrelevant, and I thought Christians were stupid, but I wasn't at war with God. But see, he says, you're confused because you think that the way that you understand yourself is you. But God is life, which means the definition of who you are and where you are is always defined with him as the starting point, not you. He's saying you were an enemy. Now you have peace with god. So scripture says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And he says that that the nations should rejoice as fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries round about. It's not a good thing to be an enemy of almighty god.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:15

He's saying that's who you were. That's who you were. So we are reconciled, it says. We are we have peace. He said, now just stop for a minute and understand that blessing. You went from being an enemy of god to be at peace. Be at peace. What's that mean? I can broach him at any time.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:40

That I worry about that god's angry or mad at me or that god has a has a reason to judge me. We have peace with God. We have peace with God. We have peace with God. Is that a good thing? Yeah. Amen. It's a great thing. So he's saying this is through our lord Jesus Christ.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:06

So you have this blessing that comes as a result of a new relationship. We now went from an enemy to a son. We have sonship. And as a result of the lord Jesus Christ well, I like the Jesus part. He was human because I can embrace him. I understand him. Right? The word became flesh. I kinda understand.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:30

Christ is is divine. He's eternal, messiah. Less right? I can relate to that. I'm not Jewish. I didn't hope for the messiah. Right? He's he's god became flesh. That's harder to understand. Then he adds that third term, lord.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:49

Well, I don't like that one either. But I like Jesus because human. Right? Christ yeah. I like that. He's the promised one. But lord, I don't really like that one. I I I lord, I don't live in Britain. I we don't have a king.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:10

But he says that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. You think about we don't do that, do we? So in the in the royal army, you bowed and you would be commissioned. Right? We don't bow to things because we're kind of American. I don't bow to anything because I'm me. Right? I bow to me. I'm captain of my own ship. So the lord thing is dang. But this is quoting the Old Testament.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:49

Every knee should bow, and every tongue swear allegiance. Swear allegiance? Well, that sounds kinda serious. Swear allegiance? What does that mean? Well, literally, it means to seven oneself is what the word the Hebrew word means to seven the word the number seven, seven yourself. What does that mean? It means to dedicate oneself fully. Number seven indicates fully, completely. It means to dedicate yourself fully and completely, making a sacred complete commitment. So having been rescued and placed in him, the result of that is to to swear allegiance. So then I thought about we grew up, you would pledge allegiance to the flag.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:58

So I thought, so what would we pledge allegiance? I will pledge allegiance to the god and father, to god and father and the lord Jesus Christ, my savior and king. And what would you pledge? I don't know. You fill it in. What does that mean for you to swear allegiance? Pledge allegiance to god the father and the lord Jesus Christ. What do you pledge? Every day you went to school, you'd stand to pledge allegiance to the flag. So think about it. I pledge allegiance means to bend the knee, right, and to pledge allegiance. Why wouldn't I? Because of my rebellion.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:48

But he says, blessing number one is you have peace with god the father, through the lord Jesus Christ, through the lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, it says, we have an introduction. Have you ever joined anything where you had to be referred? Right? So if you want to join the masters golf tournaments coming up, if you wanna join the masters club, you have to go on a waiting list, and you have to be referred. You can't just go and say, I wanna join. You have to have an introduction. There's no way that you get even considered without an introduction. That's what he's saying here. We have an introduction, which means we have admission and access.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:31

So the second part of that blessing is we have admission, right, and access. Is that good? Into the holy of holies? So Morris said introduction to the presence chamber of a monarch. That's what the Greek word means. The inner chamber of a monarch. You get you know, like, you don't go into a king because in the old days, if you went into the king without an introduction, you could lose your life. So you have that. It's the rendering. The he's saying the rendering of the word access is inadequate.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:11

As it leaves out the site, It leaves out of sight the fact that we do not come in our own strength, but we need an introducer. Who's our referrer? Who's our introducer? Jesus Christ. Right? The Messiah. In Hebrews, they make it even more clear. Therefore, brethren therefore, since we have confidence, well, how what do we have confidence to do? Enter where? The holy of holies. Who gets to enter the holy of holies? High priest, once a year. High priest, once a year. He's saying, you have the ability to enter the holy place anytime, anywhere, twenty four seven.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:02

How is that? How did that happen? By the the blood by the blood of Jesus. He inaugurated a new and living way. What was that way? It's it's his flesh as through the veil. That is his flesh. That's why the the in the temple, right, the it was the rent huge veil. This is flesh. We have great priest over the house of God. Let us draw near.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:36

Draw near. Grenier. We have admission. We have access, and we have invitation. He's not saying we have we have admission. We have access. Right? The masters doesn't call for people to come to the masters tournament. People wait in line to get in there.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:56

There's no line. In fact, he says, not a whole lot of people take advantage of that. There is no waiting line here. Right? Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts wrinkle clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. What's that mean? We can enter in without guilt. Well, wonder if I've sinned. Where do you go for forgiveness? Enter in. But what about I feel guilty? So I went I always tell the story when Beth and I, early on in our marriage, we were having a vigorous conversation.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:44

Vigorous. You ever have vigorous conversations? And so I was driving around, contemplating how right I was, and I was seeing if I could literally dislodge the steering wheel from the driver's column. You know? It wasn't working. And I felt the spirit of God saying, you need to come to me. And I thought, no. I can't. This is how I feel. And the Lord is saying, you're gonna fix that on your own before you're gonna come to me? It's like saying to a trainer, I'm gonna get in shape before I come to the gym.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:21

No. I'm gonna get healthy before I go to the hospital. Jesus said, you have no way to get right. Right? But we don't come with a guilty conscience. We come with conviction that's different. Do you see that? That's different. He said, you've been washed. There is no more guilt.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:43

See, the guilt and shame keeps me from god. That's the enemy who's saying that to you. Conviction brings me to God because I have no place else to go. If we confess our sin, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sin. He's saying, I convict you in order to get you to come and confess, say the same thing. So we have an in an introduction. And Clark says this access to god or introduction to the divine presence is to be considered a it's a lasting privilege. It's not conditional.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:20

We're not brought to God for the purpose, I love this, of an interview, but to remain with him, to be his household, and by faith to bold his face and walk in the light of his countenance. Ain't that cool? Ain't that cool? Because it's the blood of Jesus. It's his righteousness that allowed me to gain his righteousness. So blessing number two. Blessing number three. He says we stand in grace. We stand in grace. We stand in grace.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:21

And, literally, the Greek means we stand firm in grace. And so the picture is, McLaren says, it's regarded as a palace or a treasure house into which we enter. A treasure house. Think about the house of grace. The house of grace. How many wanna live in the house of grace? In god's favor, god's graciousness, god's undeserved favor, blessing upon it. We stand in his house, if you will. Of course, what's the grace look like? We know the grace of our lord Jesus Christ.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:56

What was that? Though he was rich, yet for your sake, he became poor. And the grace through his poverty meant we became rich. So it's a house of riches where god's grace is. He's saying stay in that house. What gets me to leave that house? Well, it's one of two things. One, I don't do feel like I deserve to be there. That could be it. Or number two, I would feel like I wanna earn the right to be there.

Scott Keffer [: 00:43:27

One of those two. Right? I don't deserve it, or I think I wanna earn it. I think now I'll start to keep my little checklist, And now I'll earn the right to be there. When I stand in this race, I'm there, right, undeserved favor. And, again, the enemy and my flesh are gonna say, well, you don't deserve to be here. You best get out. Or best get out there and you better get earning. Get going out there.

Scott Keffer [: 00:43:58

You better get going on that. Right? So we stand in grace. So I asked the question here. Right? In what is your standing before God? What are you standing in? Are you outside the house trying to earn your way back? Are you outside the house trying to earn your way? He says, are you so foolish? You began by the spirit or you're now gonna be, right, affected by the law. Right? So the house of grace again, we either feel like I don't deserve to be there or I wanna earn my way into there. I love it. If you look at the apostle Paul who wrote two thirds of the New Testament, every book, every letter starts with grace and ends with grace. Every letter you look at starts with grace, ends with grace.

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:53

It's kinda like grace or the bookends that the bookends. Romans. Right? That's how he starts. For, you know, the grace of our lord Jesus Christ, the no. Grace to you and peace from god our father and the lord Jesus Christ. Here's how it ends. Grace of our lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Grace and grace to the bookends.

Scott Keffer [: 00:45:14

Because the the house in which we should stand. He also says we we boast. Who we boast in? Hope. You boast in the hope. Boast in the hope. It's the same word, hope against hope. Right? Dorellech says, this boasting is a joyful and triumphant confidence in the future. And he says, it's not only felt underlined, but it is expressed.

Scott Keffer [: 00:45:57

It's expressed. How do I do that? Good question. Says, but thanks be to god who always leads us in triumph. Right? He always leads us in triumph Always leads us in triumph. So in hope against hope, he believed. So here's the question. How do we express our triumphant confidence? Because he says we should boast boast. Some may boast in horses, some in chariots.

Scott Keffer [: 00:46:24

We boast in the name of the Lord. The picture is where do you right? Where do you what flag are you flying? What jersey are you wearing? What team colors do you identify with? Right? That's what he said. Right? How do you how do you express triumphant confidence in the hope? Abraham, hope against hope hope against hope. Right? So he's saying we should boast in the hope. We should boast in hope, and it's something we express. How do I express my triumphant confidence in the hope? What do I say to myself, at least, if not to others, but what do I say to myself daily to be able to remind myself, express the fact that I have triumphant overcoming confidence in the hope in the hope. If Abraham said hope against hope, and we don't hope for things that we have. These are all future based.

Scott Keffer [: 00:47:31

Right? All future. All future based. Boast. Last, he says, we boast in the hope. What's the hope of? We will be the glory of God. We will be the glory of God. We will be to the glory of God. That's the hope.

Scott Keffer [: 00:48:00

That's the hope. Well, first of all, is that one of your hopes? Is that one of your future hopes? It's easier to open a whole lot of other things, like heal me, fix this, change this, do this, make it right. Right? That though I get those things, but he's saying there needs to be an overriding hope. It is the hope of the glory of god. If we hope in the glory of god, then we're not overcome with death because death is the introduction into the fullness of the glory of god. And he says, you need to understand this that in order to have eternal fellowship with god, to be eternally, this is my son in whom I'm well pleased, right, in that kind of relationship. You have to be of the same nature as God, which means you have to be of the glory of God. You need to be transformed into the same nature.

Scott Keffer [: 00:48:58

Otherwise, you can't get close to him. Them. Again, my illustration is you right now, they can't get within 4,000,000 miles of the actual sun because the heat and the light and the power of the sun would consume any vessel that you sent to it. You would have to have a planet of the same power and light as the sun to be able to come near it. Does that make sense? So that's God. That's a picture of God. He is of that power, eternal power. Right? He's the blessed and only sovereign in whom dwells.

Scott Keffer [: 00:49:28

Right? He's unapproachable light. He alone. Right? He alone. So he's saying the only way you're gonna be able to be in intimate fellowship with him is to be of the same nature, to be in to be the glory of God. Wax picture. Right? We seal the envelope. We heat the wax. We put it on the yeah.

Scott Keffer [: 00:49:55

The king takes the signet ring, and he puts the seal upon official transmission. The seal of God is upon you, every believer. Like wax, the holy spirit, and he's put his seal. I got a I got a seal upon me. The enemy says you're not his. No. I got his seal upon me. Let me show you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:50:15

Here it is. Right? Holy Spirit deposit is deposited, who is given as a Pledge. Pledge, a down payment. Does god keep his word? Yes. He says, here's a down payment. God doesn't even need to give a down payment. But he says, here's a down payment. It's a pledge.

Scott Keffer [: 00:50:34

What's it a pledge of? More to come. More to come. This is just an appetizer of the fullness of what's to come. In his presence is fullness of joy at his right hand are pleasures forever. He said the holy spirit is not just a it it it's not just a seal, it's a pledge. Well, what is this a pledge of? Well, it's a with a view to the redemption of what is god's. What is god's in this case? Me. You and me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:51:12

We're god's possession. The redemption of god's possession. What's he gonna do? What's he gonna do? Right? God's own possession, and it's going to be to the praise of his glory. I'm gonna be? You're gonna be to the praise of the eternal holy one's glory. We're gonna be to the praise of his glory. Why is that gonna happen? I know me. I know who I was. I know who I am.

Scott Keffer [: 00:51:48

I've got a pretty good sense of what I'm gonna be till he comes again. How would I ever be to the praise of his glory? Which means, eternally, I am to the praise of his glory. Eternally, he looks at me and says, this is my son, whom I'm well pleased. Not gender, but this is my son, right, who is in access with me. Isn't that amazing? That is to the praise. So I Jesus said to share the glory, said in his prayer, that we have had, the father and the son. Intimate fellowship. That's the glory.

Scott Keffer [: 00:52:18

Well, how's that gonna happen, lord? Something's gotta happen here. He says, here's how it's gonna happen. He will transform the body of this humble estate. I get that. I mean, you have a body of this humble estate. Right? What's he gonna transform it to? Conformity. Conformity with what? The whole of the body of his glory. When we see him, we'll be made like him.

Scott Keffer [: 00:52:50

What's gonna happen? When Wolf went home. Yeah. And twitches there and said, this is amazing. What? Far beyond. Like, far beyond. Far beyond. Like, ten's there. Red dog goes, look at this.

Scott Keffer [: 00:53:09

To his glory. Right? How's he gonna do that? By the exertion of the power. What power that he has, what's he able to do? Subject all things to himself. He has the power to do that. When I see him, he'll be made like him. He's saying that's the inheritance. We're gonna be to the glory of god forever for eternity for eternity. Imagine no longer feeling like, am I letting him down again again? And that was just two hours ago.

Scott Keffer [: 00:53:58

Even when I sleep, my dreams portray me. I mean, imagine. Right? Eternal, intimate fellowship with the father. This is my son in whom I am well pleased. That's with glorious, the well pleasing one of the same nature as god. So he says, you have been justified by faith, but it's more than you can imagine. You have no idea. What is it? It's peace with God.

Scott Keffer [: 00:54:25

It's a mission and access. Without guilt, you stand in grace. You get to boast in the hope. What's the hope? That we will be to the glory of God. We will be to the glory of God. You thought all you did was get justified by faith. You thought that alone was not guilty because you'd stand to say, justified is just not guilty. You said, oh, you have no idea.

Scott Keffer [: 00:54:49

No idea. Right? All of these things. We're saying open your eyes. See the amazing. In him, we have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. We have them. We have them. Alright.

Scott Keffer [: 00:55:06

So write down an insight or an application today. Much more than we ever imagined. So what'd you get? Let's do that. Yeah. Oh, god. Our god is such detail, and he's proven himself in so many ways just over and over and over again. That's why my one prayer is one thing I've asked that I shall seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Because to mold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate and assemble because that's not me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:55:44

It's not what I desire naturally. Right? That's why I prayed. He says, one thing I've asked, that I shall seek. First, ask. Ask for it. Lord, me? Where am I gonna be? I'm the sheep. I'm over the hill. Like, I'm down in the, you know, in the briar bushes.

Scott Keffer [: 00:56:00

You know? The shepherd's saying they safety over here, food over here. Yeah. I'm in the bushes. Right? So that would be me naturally. So I gotta pray, Lord, one thing I've asked that I shall seek. Right? That's why that's my prayer. That is my prayer. But, Tim, would you close us in prayer, please, today? And may the god who raised the lord Jesus from the dead, may he bless you, may he keep you, may he cause his face to shine upon you, May he grant you his presence, his shalom deep in your soul, that you'd walk in who you are in him.

Scott Keffer [: 00:56:35

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the father, and the health of the spirit be with you. Greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in in the God of the bible and his son, Jesus Christ. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. And may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time, may God bless you and keep you.