If you would open up your Bibles to Romans chapter 3, Romans chapter 3. I'll be starting at verse 9 and reading to verse 20. Romans chapter 3, starting at verse 9. Romans chapter 3 and verse 9. What then, are we better than they? Not at all, for we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of ass is under the lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in sight. for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe, for there is no difference. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forward as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed. to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith, apart from the deeds of the law? Or is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we establish the law. The grass withers, the flower fades away, but the word of our God will stand forever. You may be seated. Heavenly Father, we ask now that the Spirit who inspired your word would now come by his illuminating power to give us understanding. In Jesus' name, amen. I'll be primarily focusing on verse 28, and this is Lord's Day 23, and the subject in the Heidelberg Catechism today is justification by faith alone. Boys and girls, I have a question for you. What do you think is the most problematic thing in the world today? What is the worst thing, boys and girls, in the world right now? If someone went up to you and asked you on the street or someone came to your house and said, what is the most terrible thing about the world? Would you say maybe people not having enough food or not having enough money or not having enough education? What would your answer be? Well, the scripture's answer is very clear. And a lot of those things, the clearest answer or the examples I gave are in connection to what the greatest problem in the world is. And the greatest problem in the world is sin. That's the greatest problem in the world, the problem of sin. And so therefore, the most important thing that we can know is how can the greatest problem in the world, namely sin, be answered? If sin is the most problematic thing in the world, and if we take this scripture seriously, we would agree with that, then the question is, how can this problem of sin be answered? And so under two points I want us to think about the reality of sin and justification. First, justification needed. Second, justification given. So my first point, justification needed. Second point, justification given. Just early on, I'll define what justification is. The Baptist catechism puts it like this. Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardons all our sins accepts us as righteous in His sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone." And of course I'll explain that more as we go on, but that's our working definition of what justification is. So justification is both needed and justification is given. We see in verse 20 that therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." So to give you a little bit of context in Romans 3, the Spirit is teaching us that all men from Romans 1.18 to Romans 3.20, the Spirit is teaching us that all men, boys and girls and women, Jews and Gentiles alike, are guilty before a holy God. That's the point of Romans 1.18-20. The Spirit is trying to teach us that all of us, by nature, stand condemned before a holy God. And so the scriptures here are explained to us in different ways, in different packages, that we all stand in desperate need. And the greatest problem, Romans 3.23, is that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. But now the question is, what is sin? And 1 John 3, 4 tells us very clearly, sin is the transgression of the law. So we all stand before God as lawbreakers. Think about the first commandment. You shall have no other gods before me. And we must realize the commandments are not just your external behavior. It's your thoughts, it's your words, and it's your deeds. And so the first commandment comes to us and says, have you ever had a idol of the heart? Has there ever been something that you've desired more than God? Has there ever been a time where we have sought something besides God for our satisfaction and hope? The second commandment, you shall not make for yourself a carved image, which has to do with worshiping God rightly. And so it comes to us and tells us It asks us, have we ever not worshipped God the way He desires to be worshipped? Have we always worshipped God in the way He's prescribed with all our hearts? The third commandment, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, comes to us and says, our thoughts, our words, and our deeds, are they honoring to God's name? Are our thoughts and our words and our deeds honoring to the God of heaven and earth? The fourth commandment comes to us and says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. In the old covenant, it was the seventh day of the week because of God resting in creation. In the new covenant, it's on the first day of the week because of Christ resting from His work of resurrection. And it comes to us and says, have you honored this day by setting it apart each and every week for worship, both public and private, and duties of necessity and mercy? Have you set the first day a week apart as a duty of worship to God? The fifth commandment comes to us and says, honor your father and mother, which has to do with not just honoring our physical parents, but honoring all authority. And it shows us, have our thoughts towards authority, have our words to those who are in power over us, have our deeds to others, have they been honoring to those who are in authority over us? Whether it's our parents, whether it's the civil magistrate, whether it's the elders of a local church, have we honored those who are in authority over us? The sixth commandment comes and says, do not murder. And the Lord Jesus Christ, like every other commandment, teaches that it not just involves murdering someone with your hands, but you can murder someone in your heart. And so he says, you've heard it said, well, do not murder. But I say, if you're angry with someone without a cause, you've murdered them in your heart. So the sixth commandment comes and tells us, have our thoughts and our words and our behaviors towards our fellow man. been loving and kind and gracious or if we had anger in our heart towards our neighbor. The seventh commandment comes and says you shall not commit adultery. which teaches us that in our thoughts and our words and our deeds that we should be pure towards those who are made in the image of God. The eighth commandment comes and says do not steal, teaching us that we should respect and honor and not take from other people what belongs to them and not desire something that doesn't belong to us. The ninth commandment comes and says you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor and teaches us that our words and our thoughts and our behavior towards others should be seeking not to lie to one another, but to tell the truth to our neighbor. And the 10th commandment, which involves really all these realities, comes to us and says, do not covet. Namely, do not seek things that are not rightfully yours, but belong to your neighbor. And so the reason why I went through the Ten Commandments somewhat tediously and slowly was to show us that if God was gonna hold us according to his law, and all his law is is a mirror. Just like when you go out in the morning, when you leave in the morning, almost everyone looks at the mirror before they go out of the house. Why do we do that? Because we wanna make sure how we look. And God's law is that mirror to see how we stand before him in our sin or without our sin. And so if God was going to hold us according to his law, he would see us as liars, as those who have not always told the truth with a pure heart. God would see us as adulterers in our heart, not always having pure thoughts or those who are made in the image of God. God would see us as murderers in our hearts. because we haven't always loved our neighbor with a pure heart and have had anger without cause towards someone who is made in the image of God. God would see us as blasphemers because we haven't always in our thoughts and in our words and our deeds honored the God of heaven and earth. God would see us as Sabbath breakers, because we have not always honored the first day of the week, the Lord's day, as we should, but have put other things in its place. God would see us as coveters, not being thankful for what he's given us, but being drawn to other things that aren't lawfully ours. And because of our sin, the wages of our sin is death. that God comes to us from His law. And the Word of God says, the soul that sins shall die. The Word of God clearly tells us that everyone who sins will have to experience the judgment of God. That the law in itself isn't the problem, ultimately, but the God of the law that holds us accountable to His law does not set aside his law for people even made in his own image. And so we stand before God as those who are law breakers, the wages of sin being death, as those who have gone our own way. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've each turned to his own way. And so we stand before God under his wrath and under his curse, under God's judgment because of our sin. because God promises that he will in no wise clear the guilty. God says without a shadow of a doubt that no one will escape his judgment without a savior. And so if we don't understand why justification is needed, we won't understand why justification was given. Sometimes I'm out witnessing to people. And I almost always start with the law in some way like this, asking them questions about the law of God. And sometimes you have Christians nearby. Actually, this happened the other day. I was at Buckrow Beach handing out tracts and witnessing to people. And I was talking to someone about God's law. And a Christian overheard. And he was like, well, what about Romans 10? Because I was pressing the guy about the law and his sin. He said, what about Romans 10? And of course, he's talking about if we confess with our sin, or if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we will be saved. I said, I'll get there. I'll get to Romans 10. Don't worry. But why did I spend so much time laboring the point with this man about the law of God? And why am I spending so much time on a sermon on justification laboring so much about the law? Because think about a doctor who went in to see a patient. And he went up to his patient and right away came in and said, here's your cure. But the patient has no idea what's wrong with him. He's going to have no idea why he needs the cure, right? Unless he knows he's sick. People don't want medicine. No one's at the hospital right now. Why? Because we don't think we're sick. We think we're healthy. But if someone explained to us with good reason that we were sick, then we would be ready to hear what the cure is. And so God's law is gracious for many reasons, but God's law is that doctor's note that says you have a serious disease. And then the gospel is God coming and say, but don't worry, I have the medicine. But my dear friends, if we don't know the sickness, we won't want the cure. And so when I'm preaching or when I'm witnessing, I labor to get people to believe that they are sinners. So many people think in our day, everyone knows they're a sinner. If you go on the street and start witnessing to people, you realize people don't think they're sinners. If you ask people, are you good enough to go to heaven? Almost everyone is gonna say, yes, of course I'm good enough to go to heaven. Why? Because they don't know they're sinners. And so the question for you is we must know, even as God's people, even if we're already justified before God, because the doctrine of justification isn't just for lost people, it's for us as believers. That's why it's in the Heidelberg Catechism. reminds us that we must acknowledge our sin. We must realize how deadly sin is before we'll ever want the cure of the gospel medicine. And so that's why the law is so important. That's why the spirit for almost three chapters in the Book of Romans labors the point to show that there is none righteous, no, not one. Three chapters almost of making people feel the weight of their sin, realizing that it's by the law that is the knowledge of sin. So just like a good doctor, hopefully, That point is making sense. Just like a good doctor comes in and tells you, maybe for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on what the problem is, this is what's wrong. This is why this is happening. This is the problem. This is what will happen if you don't take the medicine. But then if he's a good doctor and he can, he'll say, but I have good news. Here's medicine to relieve your problem." And that's exactly what God does for us. He comes with His law as a mirror to say, this is what's wrong with you. You're not righteous. You're not good by nature. You are a sinner. You're just like everyone else who has sinned and has fallen short of the glory of myself. And unless you see that, you will never realize the greatness of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's justification needed. God comes with His law to show us that we're sinners. Justification needed. Second point, though. Justification given. Justification needed? Why? Because sin is the transgression of God's law, and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Justification given, though, is God's medicine to redeem and justify law-breaking sinners. And if you look at verse 28, the key verse tonight, it says, Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. So the Spirit has just made clear that we all stand before God as those who are by nature under the wrath of God. And so therefore, the answer to the dilemma of sin is that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. The answer to our sin problem is that God would justify us regardless of us breaking his law. And so the answer to our sin problem is God in the fullness of time sending his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That God, who foreordained that he would justify the wicked, had a dilemma though. If God is just, He can't just wipe our sin under the rug. If God is good, He can't just let it pass without punishment for sin. If God is really a holy God, He can't just one day snap His fingers and say, sin doesn't matter. He can't say that. Because God is just and not just justice out here. It's not somehow justice is out here and God's right here. It's not as if justice is this abstract category that has nothing to do with God. My dear friends, God by His very nature is just and can't be anything but just. Justice isn't something God conforms to. Justice is what God is. But wonder of wonders. that God solved the dilemma for how he could be just and justify sinners. This is the great dilemma of the Bible. How can God be just and justify sinners? How can God be righteous in all of his ways and still forgive and accept wicked sinners into his presence? That's the great dilemma of the Bible. How can God do both of these things? And the answer is that God had the perfect solution through one who would bear our sin justly that our sin might be forgiven. And so we think about two realities how God justified sinners. And I've used this term a lot. I'm going to really try to explain it these next few minutes. the active and the passive obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. These are important words for you to know. These are confessional words. The 1689 says the active and passive obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. The active obedience is the Lord Jesus Christ living for us. So many people, and rightly so, say, the Lord Jesus Christ died for me. And we should say that. The Bible says it. He loved me and gave himself for me, Galatians 2.20. But we sometimes forget that the Lord Jesus Christ also lived for us. He didn't come down and after 30 seconds someone took him and took him away and then him to the cross. It wasn't he came down and said, well, now I'm ready to die. No, my dear friends, that's not how it happened. He lived 33 years on purpose because it wasn't just Forgiveness, we need it. We need it righteousness before God. And one of my favorite songs, it's called Active Obedience. And one of the lines in that song, it says, Jesus, nothing greater God could give for us, but before he gave his life, he lived for us. One of salvation's massive ingredients, the Lord Jesus Christ and his active obedience. That's why with John the Baptist, when John the Baptist looks at Jesus, and Jesus wants to be baptized, and John the Baptist says, Sam paraphrased, what in the world is going on with this? You want to be baptized by me? My baptismers are sinners who need to repent and turn to the Messiah. Why would you need to repent? And Jesus looks at him and says, this is too. Fulfill all righteousness. Everything a sinner has to do, I have to do. Everything that any person needs to do to be seen as righteous in God's sight and acceptable, I need to fulfill all those duties. So every commandment that we broke, Jesus Christ kept. He never put any other God beside his father. He never worshiped God wrongly. He never, in thought, word, and deed, took God's name in vain. He always remembered the Sabbath day to keep it holy. He always honored. his father and mother and authorities. He always, in thought, word, and deed, didn't murder. He always, in thought, word, and deed, did not commit adultery. He always, in thought, word, and deed, never stole. He always, in thought, and word, and indeed, did not bear false witness against his neighbor. And he always, in thought, and in word, and indeed, did not covet. that the Lord Jesus Christ not only died for us, but he lived for us in 33 years of perfect law keeping. But because the problem, even though it was that we needed righteousness, we also needed someone to pay the penalty for our sin. And that person is the Lord Jesus Christ. He both lives for us and dies for us. He both procures or gains righteousness for us, And then He dies on the cross as a wrath-quenching substitute for sinners. As He bears our sin in His body on the tree, as He's crushed under the weight of God's wrath, because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. and cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree. And so Jesus Christ not only lives for us so we can have righteousness before God, he pays the penalty for our sin in his passive obedience that our sin might be canceled and forgiven and blotted out. And in his resurrection from the dead, what is proven is that God accepted both his life and his death for sinners. So boys and girls, think about it like this. Maybe some of you like playing sports like I do. And so think about it when you're playing sports or doing anything fun. What happens is you go outside and you get your shirt all messed up with mud, with just dirt, just whatever. Maybe you're just sliding in the mud because you were playing sports with your friends. And your shirt is all dirty and you come in the house And mom and dad don't want you in the house with a dirty shirt. And so you have to take your shirt off and get clean clothes on. And so that's a picture of what Jesus Christ did for us. Our dirty shirts of sin and of mud that was covered with breaking of God's law was put on Jesus Christ. And when we receive Jesus Christ by faith alone, His perfectly white and clean shirt becomes ours. Our muddy shirt goes on Him. His clean shirt comes on us. Our sin-stained black shirt that's abominable in God's sight is placed on Him and He bears the guilt for that dirty shirt. And God now places on us. a perfectly clean white shirt. That's what justification is. It's as simple as that. Another example for some of you who might know more about banking. This is what justification is. We owe to God 50 million dollars that we can never pay because the wages, that's a money term, the wages of our sin is death. What we owe to God in the bank is death. And at the cross, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, all those sins are wiped away. So where do we go now? We go to $0. The blood of Christ pays our debt, and so now we owe $0 to God. But some people stop there with justification. Justification is one step further. Justification, even though it sounds fancy and clever, is more than God seeing us just as if we never sinned. That's not a good way to think about justification. God doesn't just see us as just as if we never sin. He sees us as if we live perfectly righteous. And so in our bank account, he not only puts $0 and deletes our debt, he then puts positive $50 million in the accounts. That's justification. God forgives our sin, now we have a zero debt. And because of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, who not only died for us, but lived for us, he now puts in our bank account that $50 million that can get us to heaven. And so we might be able to say that we are all justified by works. Just not our works, but the works of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because we now, because of his righteousness, are no longer clothed in a dirty shirt, but are clothed in a pearly white shirt that will always and forever be pleasing in God's sight in Christ. And we no longer stand with a $50 million debt before God, but now because of justification, we have $50 million in the positive before God. That's justification. That's what it means to stand before God as a justified sinner. But some of you who might know your Bibles well, and hopefully many of you do, and I believe that many of you do, you might know a text that almost sounds like it contradicts this. And so I want to help us think through that verse as well, where it says in the scriptures, you see that a man is justified by works. and not by faith only. That's actually what the text says, James 2.24. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. But Romans 3 says, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of law. How do we reconcile these two verses? What does it mean that we're justified by faith apart from the deeds of law and you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith only? Well, I think we have to understand the context of both, that what Paul and James are doing are fighting two different battles. The one battle Paul is fighting is people who are saying, I can add something to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can contribute something to being justified before a holy God. I can bring something to the table and the Apostle Paul By inspiration, the Spirit is saying as loudly as it can, therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of law. You add nothing to your justified status before God. James, though, is fighting a different battle. He's fighting a battle where people are saying, I'm right with God, but I'm lawless, and I hate God's law, and I don't want to obey it. He's fighting the battle. People are saying, I'm justified by God. Yeah, of course I believe in Christ. But it's only an intellectual belief that has nothing to do with true saving faith in Jesus Christ. And so the people in James, who he's writing to, have a false faith that doesn't produce good works. And so Paul is fighting against people who are adding anything to Christ for justification. And James is fighting against people who just say simply, yeah, I believe God's one. but are living a life of rebellion against God and just claiming that they know God. You might know people like that. People, if you ask them, are you a Christian? Of course I am. But their life looks utterly contrary to the law of God. Utterly different. And that's what James is fighting against. But you might know other people who say, yes, I need Jesus, but I have to contribute something, right? And the Bible, wonderfully, like it always does, answers both dilemmas. To the person who says, I know God, but I'm lawless, it says, faith without works is a dead faith that doesn't save. And the person who says, don't I have to contribute something? It comes and says, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone is sufficient to justify every sinner. And so it just answers these two dilemmas. They're not contradictory. They're just two sides of one coin. They show that justified people always produce good works, and the people that are truly justified know that their justification, their acceptance before God is only through the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't contradict, they complement. Because there's going to be people on both camps. I was talking to someone yesterday. I went to the Virginia Zoo with some people yesterday in Norfolk. And as we were there, there was a girl who claimed to be a Roman Catholic, but didn't really understand the difference between being a Roman Catholic and being a true Christian. And so one of the girls asked me if I could explain to her, what's the difference between being a Roman Catholic and a true Christian? And a lot of people, I didn't tell her all this, but I'm going to get to exactly what I said, a lot of people think that somehow Roman Catholics deny grace. or faith or Christ. The issue at the Reformation was never grace or faith or Christ. Every Roman Catholic would say we're justified by grace. They would say we're justified by faith. They would say we're justified by Christ. That was never the issue. And if you think somehow it was works versus grace, it's not that simple. They all will say we're justified by grace. The issue at the Reformation was justification by grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone. And so I was talking to this girl, trying to explain in layman's terms what the difference is. And I try to explain it like this with an analogy. I said, if you work 40 hours a week, and your boss handed you a check, would you stand up and say, wow, what a great gift this is. Wow, I work 40 hours a week and you paid me? This is wonderful, thank you for the gift that you're giving me. Of course you wouldn't say that, because that would be preposterous. That would be silly for someone to be thankful for something they work for as a gift. If you earned it, it's not a gift. But if you were sick that week, and your boss still handed you a check, and gave you the same amount as if you worked the whole week, then you would be thankful for what he gave you. You would realize that's a gift. I didn't earn it or deserve it. And so I try to explain, Roman Catholics basically hold this view of the difference. Jesus Christ did 30 hours of the work for me, but I did 10 hours of the work and contributed. I brought something to the table. So yes, it's a gift, but it's not completely a gift because I did something to contribute. Where the biblical answer is, Jesus Christ did all the work for me, and I simply rest in the free gift that he gave me. Because the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So to bring this to conclusion with some application, The biggest question for you today, if the biggest problem that you have today is sin, the most important thing for you to know is, are you justified before God? Are you in a right relationship with God? Are you accepted by God through the Lord Jesus Christ? The most important thing for you to know today is that your sins are forgiven and that you have been accepted by a holy God. And so if you're here, and you don't know for sure whether you're justified or not. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to know for sure. Today is the day to no longer play games with God because God knows every thought, word, and deed you've ever committed, and you stand before him outside of Christ as a lawbreaker under his wrath. But God is also telling you that if you would believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, throw away any merit of your own, repent of your sin, and put your trust completely in the Lord Jesus Christ, he will accept you, he will forgive your sin, and he will give you a perfect righteousness to stand before him. Your dirty shirt will come off, and the clean shirt of Jesus Christ will come on. And then as believers, This should inspire great gratitude in your heart that you now stand before God with a perfect righteousness. And one of the things that this justified status answers is the question of what I call the self-lash. What the self-lash is, is beating yourself up over sin as if the cross wasn't sufficient. And what does it look like? Me as a believer, I'm in Christ, I know God, I commit a sin that I don't want to do, and then I say, I can't come to God right now. I have to clean myself up a little bit right now. I have to pray a little bit, not praying of confession, but just some nice prayer that sounds flowery to God, so now I'll be ready to confess my sin. I have to read the Bible a little bit. I have to listen to a sermon. I have to do some good deed, and then God will be ready for my confession. My dear friends, that's what we call the self-lash. You somehow try to fix yourself up, beat yourself up enough, so therefore God will be ready to receive your confession. Justification answers that dilemma and says, you're fully accepted by God at all times because you're in Christ. And so you don't need to give yourself the self-lash. God already knows your sin, but you simply need to confess your sin to the God who already accepts you in the Lord Jesus Christ. The self-lash is for people who don't know their justified status. But those who know their justified status should rejoice that they don't rejoice in sin, but they rejoice that God forgives their sin and accepts them in the Lord Jesus Christ. Third, we need to remember that the greatest need for the young ones here, for our kids, for our friends, for those whom we have interactions with, is that they know that they're justified before God. When we're disciplining, when we're correcting friends or children or whoever we might have, we realize that Everyone, their problem is sin. With our children, they're not born perfect. You don't have to teach children to be selfish. You don't have to teach them to somehow want their own way. And they need to be pointed over and over and over again that their only hope for their sin problem is not just to try better, is not just to pick themselves up by their bootstraps and say, well, just do better next time. The problem is you have a bad heart. You have a bad mind that's corrupted by sin, and so therefore you need the justification that comes through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so they need to be reminded over and over again, not try harder, not do better, not do this and live type mentality, but your problem is sin, and therefore you need a savior who can redeem you from that sin. And then lastly, an application. This answers the dilemma that we all might have, that we want acceptance in so many different places. We can so easily fall into the fear of man, man-pleasing, wanting man to think well of us, wanting to do things so man looks at us well, because we always want that acceptance that comes from others. Our mindset can be so easily swayed to, I want this person's acceptance, I want this person to like me, I want this person to accept me. And what justification by faith alone teaches us is that if I have God's acceptance, whose acceptance else do I need? If God is for me, who can be against me? When we're trying to find acceptance in so many different places, justification by faith alone teaches us that if I have acceptance from God, Trying to find it in every other place is a losing battle. Because if God is for me, who can be against me? So the question for you is do you rest in your acceptance with God or do you struggle day in and day out to find acceptance from others? Well, the place you need to be reminded is that you are accepted fully and completely in Jesus Christ. And your acceptance isn't ultimately coming from man because the fear of man is a snare, but it must come from the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can rest in that no matter who comes against you, no matter what people might think of you, if God is for you, who can be against you? Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your truth. We thank you for your word and we ask you to bless it to us in Jesus name. Amen.