Well, we're glad you're here. It's baptism Sunday, and we have a lot to celebrate. These are such fun Sundays. And we're, I think, week four of our Creed series, where we're kind of taking some time to look at what are some foundational beliefs that we hold as a church. And we looked at how the Bible is true week one, and how we want to put our lives under the loving authority of God's word. We looked at how God is in control, and the sovereignty of God should breed peace and courage into our lives as we follow him. And then last week, we talked about how everyone is a sinner, and you guys came back. So today we're going to talk about perhaps the best news of Christianity, which also happens to be perhaps, maybe the most offensive part of Christianity to our culture, and that is that Jesus saves now. Okay. Yeah, that's great. We got an amen. The last service. I got an ow. That's never like. It wasn't ow. Like, ouch. It was like, ow. I don't know how it went, but, like, we hear those words, Jesus saves. And in this context, we're excited about that. That's good news for us. Now, where that's culturally offensive to our world, there may be some of, like. So you're saying that I need saving. Like, I'm not even talking about that level of offensiveness, because I think both or most people can get over that. We know we're broken people the way that this is offensive to our culture. Well, let me do this. Let me just add one word to help you see how offensive this is to our culture. Only Jesus saves. Right? Amen. But can you see how our world would look at that as, like, wait, you're right and everyone else is wrong. Muhammad doesn't save. Buddha doesn't save. Hinduism doesn't save. Science doesn't save. Your own religious activity doesn't save. Like, you get this, like, exclusivity, kind of arrogant claim, we're right, you're wrong, and how offensive that is to our culture. Now, here's some ways that scripture puts it. This is acts 411 twelve. It says this, jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. There's no other name than the name of Jesus Christ that is given to us for our salvation. Here's the way Jesus puts it. John 14 six. Jesus said, I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one, no one comes to the father except through me. Do you see how offensive that could be? Like, this idea that especially to a culture where it's like, how arrogant, what makes you think you're right and everyone else is wrong? What gives you the right to kind of make a claim with such boldness that this is the only way that's offensive to our culture? Now, it happens that our culture is in this way is much like the culture that Jesus spoke these words into. Like, it was very pluralistic. There was a lot of different religious ideas, and for somebody to come along and kind of claim a monopoly on salvation would have been not received well. So why did it work? And by work, like, why did so many people put their faith in Jesus Christ with such an offensive message? Because when you look at the Gentiles, they could believe that this man could be a God. Like, they had a bucket for that. In fact, I think it was in acts 14 where Paul and Barnabas were doing some impressive stuff, and they thought it was Zeus and Hermes that kind of manifested themselves in these people. They had a bucket for a man being a God, but they didn't have a bucket for there being one exclusive, all sovereign God. Like, they couldn't get that. Now, on the Jews, on the other hand, they had a bucket for one exclusive, all supreme, all sovereign God. But he's not a man. Like, he's wholly other different. He's not this man. So how did it work? How did people begin to put their faith in Christ despite those presuppositions? Well, it's like, well, when you start walking on water and giving sight to the blind and miraculously, like, multiplying food and raising the dead. Like, people are like, I think he might be onto something. Like, I think he is who he says he is. Like, he validated his message with his miracles. And we have to understand who Jesus is to really get a grasp on what he has accomplished, because he is the only one who can uniquely accomplish that. He is truly God and truly man. If you want to learn a big word, it's the hypostatic union of Christ. I don't know how to spell it, but now, you know. It's just talking about this dual nature of Jesus. He is truly God and he is truly man. He's the God man, and he therefore can represent us as human beings. And then he also has the authority to forgive us. Like, he has this unique thing. Like, no, salvation only comes through me because of who I am. And the paradox to all this is as exclusive as the claims of Christianity are. It has become the most inclusive movement in history. Like Christianity transcends cultures and ethnicities and social class and gender. It's gone to the ends of the earth. This idea that Christianity is this white man's western religion is just ignorant. One, it started in the Middle east, and two, when you look at the universal church across the world, white westerners are in the minority. Like Christianity is everywhere in our world. And it doesn't matter what culture or background like the gospel is appealing to people. So why have people put their faith in Christ? There's something alive and active that's happening to see the spread of the gospel. And if you're just looking at the spread of the gospel in and of itself, the fact that governments haven't been able to stop it, opposition hasn't been able to stop it. It started with eleven guys on a hill getting this mission and it's gone everywhere. That ought to make you lean in. But this claim for us and our culture that Jesus is the only way that's culturally offensive, people are going to have problems with that. But offensive doesn't mean wrong. And the irony is that really most everyone is pretty exclusive when it comes to these type of claims. I mean everybody kind of has, nobody comes through the father except, and you can kind of fill in your own blank like you have your own. Except now we may put it more generously, like everybody gets to go to the father except, I mean except pedophiles of course, and except murderers of course. And except like you kind of make your own exclusive claims. Now people tend to make exclusive claims based on good and bad. Good people go to heaven. Bad people don't though. And you're kind of left to your own to determine who's good and who's bad in that mystery. Well, as we learned last week, even good people are still only human. There's a deeper problem going on in all of us. Like we have a spiritual problem. We looked at romans 323, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We have a worship problem. Like we fail to glorify God as he deserves, we fail to worship God as he deserves. We fail to see how holy God is. We fail to be devoted to God as he deserves. And it's a spiritual problem. Now that spiritual problem can express itself in our behavior. But that's just a symptom. That's not the disease. And the cause of this disease is we've been separated from our maker. We were made to be in a relationship with God. And we've been separated from God and we have real problems now. It's normal. Like, we're used to it. You were born that way. You see it all around you. So maybe you don't see the offense of it, but there's a real problem. Like there's a brokenness, a corruption in human nature. In fact, when Jesus was having a conversation, this is in John chapter three, with a pharisee named Nicodemus. Nicodemus, who's a devoted pharisee. He's kind of saying like, hey, your way isn't working. Your way doesn't work. Your way is not the way. You need to be born. What? Again? You need to be born again. Nicki Mina's like, I don't think mom's gonna like that. He's like, no, you have a physical birth now. You need a spiritual birth. You're not gonna get access to the father with physical efforts. You need new life in Christ. You need a spiritual birth. You need to be born again. And in that context of John chapter three, we get this famous passage that you see people write in their signs when they hold it up at football games of John 316. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting. What life. And Jesus is saying, this spiritual new life that you need, it comes through faith in me. So Jesus is making some bold claims about himself. But let's go back to romans chapter three. I want to pick up where we left off last week with this statement that we all sin and we fall short of the glory of God and say, well, what else is Paul saying in that context that we need to understand? So let's pick up there. He says this, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are what? Justified. Now what does that mean? To be justified? To be justified means to be made right or declared righteous. So Paul's saying, hey, we've all sinned and this is the way, particularly that we've sinned. We fail to glorify God as he deserves, we fail to worship God as he deserves. We fail to honor God as he deserves. Deserves. We failed that way and yet we're declared righteous. How does that happen? What does it exactly mean to be justified? And how exactly is somebody justified despite our sin of failing to glorify God, how is it that the next line he's saying that we're all justified? All right, we're going to jump to Luke, chapter 18. But keep your mark in romans three because we're going to come back there. But I want us to try to understand justification, and we're going to look at it in a story that Jesus tells, and then we're going to come back to see how Paul finishes his argument. So turn over to Luke 18. This is a parable that you're probably familiar with. This is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. We're going to start in verse nine. Are you guys ready to go? All right, verse nine. He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves. Now, just to kind of point out, it doesn't say that he told this parable about people who trusted in themselves. He told this parable to people that trusted themselves. He's not talking about people. He's talking to people. He's challenging these people with their problems. So he also told this parable to some who trusted themselves, that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. And then he gets into the parable. Here's the story. Two men went in, up into the temple to pray. One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. So right out you got two characters in this story. And these two characters are polar opposite. In society, you have a Pharisee who is, I mean, despite kind of how they're portrayed in the gospels, that we kind of see them as the bad guys for understandable reasons and their interactions with Christ. But in their society, highly respected, devout religious leaders. But then on the other end, you have a tax collector who was despised, kind of traitor to the people, sinner. So you get these polar opposites here. And he says this. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed. Thus, God, I thank you. I'm not like other men, extortioners, kind of a shot tax collector, unjust adulterers, or just a clear shot. Or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. So you get these two contrast of characters in society kind of opposing a ferris and a tax collector. And then you also get these contrast of how these two people approach God. And this is kind of the twist or shock of the story. I tell you, this man, referring to the tax collector, went down to his house, justified, made right, declared righteous rather than the other. So it's not just that the tax collector was justified. The Pharisee wasn't. He's saying, the tax collector was declared righteous in this action, but the Pharisee was not. And then he finishes the parable by kind of summing up the point. He says, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. You see, the world and their kind of exclusive claims or perspectives on stuff like this is they can tend to exclude people based on good and bad. Good people get to the father, bad people don't. But Christianity is exclusive between humble and proud. See, if you're going to exalt yourself, it's not going to go well. But if you humble yourself, it's going to go well. You see that repeated often in scripture. And in this example, he's saying, listen, if you're somebody who thinks, I don't need help, I got this. I know what to do. Here's my credentials. He's like, yeah, that's not going to go well. You're not going to be declared righteous with that kind of attitude. But if you're humble, specifically humble before God, I need help. I need mercy. Like, you see, these contrasts happen. It's like, do you have that posture that he's pointing out here? So let's look a little closer. You have this pharisee, and he was moral. It says, you know, I thank God that I'm not like the other men, extortioners, unjust adulterers, like this tax collector. So he was moral, but he wasn't justified. He was condemned. He was religious. It says, I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get. He was religious, yet he was condemned. Wasn't justified. I'd say he was orthodox. Like it says, I thank God that I'm not like other men. He's like, I acknowledge, like, this is the grace of God in my life, that I'm not like these other people, that I don't do that. He's recognizing God, but he wasn't justified. He was condemned. And then you have, on the other hand, this tax collector. Then you look up and it says, he beat his breast. Why do you think we get that detail? What is Jesus trying to point out in the story? One's taking this posture of, thank God I'm not like that guy. Look what I do. Look what I haven't done. And then you have this other guy, and maybe you've read the words, but you haven't really kind of connected the emotions. He won't even look up, and he's just like he's just like, broken over his sin. Like he's trying to explain, like there's an angst and a brokenness in his heart. Like, I hate that I'm a sinner, God, I need mercy. He's truly broken. And he's trying to point out these differences between the two for us to see because he's saying one's justified, but one's not. Which one are you? And when you read this parable, what do you see? Because if all you see is you got one upstanding citizen and one kind of sinner, then you're missing it. What are the real differences here? Well, the pharisee looked at himself for justification. He listed his credentials. He was thankful, but he listed what he was doing, right? Almost like this is what validates me. Now let's wade into this a little bit, because you could say that he's examining the fruit of his life, right? I'm thankful for God, for these things. Like this is by God's grace and his goodness that I'm not like that. And he's kind of examining the fruit of his life. And Jesus says, you can tell the tree by its fruit, right? Well, here's my fruit. I'm righteous, I'm religious, I'm moral, I'm doctrinally, right, like, I got these things. But there's a difference between fruit as evidence of a relationship with God and fruit as entrance into a relationship with God. I don't even think it's good to use the word fruit in Galatians when it talks about the fruit of the spirit. Paul contrasts that with the works of the flesh. He doesn't say, here's the fruit of the spirit and here's the fruit of the flesh. He's saying, the fruit of the spirit is like, this isn't about you. This is something God is doing in you. But the works of your flesh, yeah, that's you. That's your works. Now here it's trickled because the works of the flesh and Galatians are, like, clearly bad things. But this Pharisee is talking about good things, and he's even thanking God for these good things. So what's the real problem? Well, he says it in verse nine. He says he told this parable to some who trusted themselves, that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Their problem was he trusted in himself, he trusted in his own actions. Like, this is what validates me. I've been doing a really good job. I'm not like these other people. This is what I have to offer. I think I'm a good follower of God and I deserve your blessing kind of posture. Well, you contrast that with the tax collector, where he had no trust in himself. He's like, I need mercy. I know what I deserve. I know what I've done. I know how I've offended you. I know that I'm a sinner. When the Pharisees saying, God, I thank you. I'm not like that other guy, the tax. I'm the other guy. That's me. And I am desperate for your help. I'm desperate for your grace and your mercy. Now, for some of you, that might be an easy posture to be in. Cause you even feel uncomfortable coming to church. Like, you just feel like, I don't know if I fit. Like, these people seem to all have it together. Like, I don't. I didn't grow up that way. I don't feel that way. And you just feel like you could very easily be in the posture of the tax collector of, like, God, I got nothing to bring. I got nothing. I need mercy. I'm a sinner. And that's a good, like, based on the story, that's a good position to be in. But do you beat your chest broken over your sin, wanting mercy and grace and forgiveness? Or are you just going to own your sin? And others of us in here, maybe we can identify with that pharisee, you got some fruit. I mean, you've been following Jesus for a long time. You got this Christianity thing down, and you got a lot to show for it where you can generally say, like, I'm not like that person. I've never done that. Like, this is what I do do thank God by the grace of God. Like, you kind of have that posture and you can begin to feel pretty confident. And you're standing as a christian now. Do you begin to put your trust in that? Is it fruit of a relationship you have with God? Because as a sinner, he showed mercy to you, and these actions are kind of flowing out of your life of gratitude? Or is this kind of how you've just grown in your christian expression and you're starting to feel confident in your own religious ability? There's a big difference. There's, I think, objectively, one of the greatest movies ever made. The Shawshank redemption. Anybody? Okay, I'm gonna spoil it for you. It's been out a while. It's about a prison break and a guy, Andy Dufresne, gets wrongfully accused of murder and thrown in Shawshank for life. And he's an ex banker. So the corrupt prison guards are looking to use him to kind of do some corrupt business. So they shake down and kind of search the cells because they're going to check him out and he's holding a Bible when they do this. And when the warden comes in, he takes the Bible from Andy Dufresne. He never opens it, which might cue you in on some things there. And after their conversation, the warden leaves and they shut the gate behind him. And he's like, oh, I don't want to deprive you of this. And he hands him his bible back and he says, salvation lies within. Which is the irony is when you watch the movie, it's because he had a little rock hammer hidden in his bible, which led to him digging his way out of prison. I told you I'd spoil it for you. Of his escape. And it's such this picture of kind of how we can take religion, we think salvation lies within, like it's this Rockhammer where we're gonna kinda dig our way to freedom, we're gonna kinda chip away and we'll save ourselves. This is ridiculous. Like, even in the movie, it's great of a movie, I think it is. Like, you're gonna take a little Rock hammer, you're gonna dig like 100ft of solid concrete to get out there. Like, that ain't happening. Nor is it happening that you can take your own individual efforts and just kind of religiously find your own freedom and your own salvation. Like, yeah, salvation lies within, but it's not a little pickaxe rock hammer, it's keys. You can walk out the front door. It's a pardon. Like, you have been completely pardoned of your sin and your offense to God. It's mind blowing. Now, our devotion flows out of that. We want to be religiously devoted to Jesus, but out of gratitude of what he's done, done for us. So listen, when it comes to our justification, don't start to look at what God has done in you. Always look at what God has done for you. Now, what has God done for you? There's a saying that we should always read the gospels backwards. What it's meant by that is we should always read the gospels. You really should always read all of scripture in the shadow of the cross. And the gospel authors intended, they wanted this. So right away in Matthew, chapter one, when Mary's getting the news that she's pregnant, the angel tells her that you're going to have a son. His name's Jesus and he's going to save his people from their sins. Luke, chapter two. Right away in that gospel, the angels proclaim to the shepherds, I bring you good news of great joy. That's for all people. Today, in the city of David, a savior is born. And you get in the gospel of John, right away in John, or very early, John the Baptist points to Jesus and says, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So, like, up front all the time, they're saying, like, okay, you need to read this in the shadow of a savior, from sin. So when you get to Luke 18 and you get this story that Jesus is telling about this Pharisee and a tax collector, he's like, you need to read this in the shadow of the cross. So one gets justified. One doesn't. How? Because I can understand how the Pharisee could be justified. Like, he's bringing something to the table. He's devoted. He's done this. He hasn't done that. You would think, well, he's justified. The tax collector brings nothing to the table except a plea for mercy. So how is he justified? And the irony is, the one telling the story is. Is an answer to that prayer request. He's the answer of God's mercy for sinners. Like, see it in the shadow of the cross. Jesus goes to the cross, and he's treated as a tax collector. So the tax collector can be treated like Jesus. He's declared righteous. You guys get that? Like, it's mind boggling good news that Jesus saves. Now let's look how Paul says it in romans. So go back to Romans chapter three. I want us to see his kind of flow of thought here, because Paul uses some really important words in this sentence that you understanding these words is going to help you kind of piece the gospel together more clearly. So get your pen out. Let's underline some things together as we read this. Let's go to verse 23 again, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified. So underline that justified just means to be declared righteous. All right, we're declared righteous. How are sinners who fail to glorify God declared righteous by his, what's it? Grace. So, underlying grace, by his grace, grace just means undeserved favor. He says, by his grace as a gift. That's just a way of kind of doubling down on what grace is. It's a gift. You don't deserve it. You didn't earn it. You couldn't do anything for it. This grace, this undeserved favor was given to you as a gift. Okay, how was it given? How was Grace given to you as a gift? Through the redemption underlying redemption through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Like, if you've ever returned pop cans, you kind of get an idea of redemption. In biblical times, if you got yourself in trouble financially, you got yourself into a debt you couldn't pay well, then you would have to become a slave to the person that you owed and they would have to work off their debt. Well, often you get yourself in place, you couldn't get out of it. Like, you couldn't work off this debt that you had. But if you had a relative, they could serve as a redeemer of you. They could come and pay your debt for you, redeem you, purchase you out of slavery. You've got a kinsman redeemer and he's saying, we have redemption through. Or that is in Christ Jesus. That Christ Jesus is our kinsman redeemer. He represents us being fully man or truly man. He comes to redeem us to pay a debt that we owed that we couldn't pay. And he came to bring us redemption. Well, how does he bring us redemption? It says whom God put forward. So that's important to know that this is God's plan of salvation. It's his way that he's working it out. Who God put forward as a propitiation, somebody's circle or underline. Propitiation. A propitiation is just a sacrifice that satisfies the wrath of God. That's what that means. There's this sacrifice that satisfies God's wrath. Because you go back to verse 23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Who did we sin against? God. The heart of our sin is we fail to recognize God's holiness. We fail to worship God as he deserves. We fail to honor God as he's due. We gotta get beyond this horizontal view of sin. That sin is just offending another person. It's just stealing. It's just lying. It's just kind of horizontal offenses. The greatest offense of our sin is against the holiness of God. It's God's wrath that is coming upon us because of sin. But he's saying, oh, yeah, yeah, but there's a propitiation for that. There's a sacrifice that has satisfied the wrath of God. And he says, a propitiation by his blood. By his blood. He's talking about the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Christ hanging on the cross is the sacrifice that satisfies the wrath of God. It's the cost that redeems us from a debt we couldn't pay. It's the grace that saves us as a gift. And when Jesus was on the cross, what did he say? It is finished. It's finished. It's accomplished. Not it is started, or it is possible. Now he's like, no, it's complete. It's finished. It's accomplished. I've done it. I've redeemed you. My grace is sufficient. I've satisfied the wrath of God. Like it's done. Like forgiveness is complete. We walk in that freedom. In fact, let me read a passage from Ephesians, chapter one, verse seven. It says, in him we have redemption. So you see familiar words here. In him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace. How rich is God in grace for you in this room that think like, I'm a really awful sinner. Do you think the wealth of God's grace is greater than the depth of your sin? It says he's rich in grace. And then it says this, which he lavished upon us. He's got so much grace, and he just lavishes it upon his people. Undeserved favor. Forgiveness. A gift. Redemption. Rescue. Now this is crazy, because the God whom we offend, the God who we fail to worship, like he deserves, the God who we fail to honor, like he deserves, he becomes our rescuer. He's the one that gives himself for the sacrifice to satisfy the wrath of God. And it's. Let's go back to romans three. Here's what it says. By the blood to be received by what is it not on the screen? Okay, because that was awkward. Normally, I don't try to do that with big words like, I'm caring. I'm looking out for you to receive. By what faith? You go back to that parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. It can look like they both have faith. But faith in what? Or faith in who? Because the critique of the Pharisee was like, oh, he's got faith in himself, in his own righteous works. And he's like, he didn't walk away justified. But a tax collector, he's trusting in the provision of God's mercy. He's like, I got nothing to bring to the table. I need mercy. I need grace. He walks away justified. It's received by faith. Not faith in yourself, not faith in your works, not faith in your actions or behavior, but faith in what God can provide for you. So you see this romans, chapter ten. How available this faith is for with the heart. Let's go back up to verse nine. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be what saved. Seems simple enough, but if we could learn what faith is through that tax collector who beat his chest pleading for mercy, acknowledging himself as a sinner, let me ask you this. Do you think you need mercy? Sometimes you feel like you just need a little mercy. I mean, but I don't need as much mercy as the next guy. I just need a little bit of mercy. I mean, maybe a mercy that can be attained through some volunteering, maybe some giving some money, maybe just helping my neighbor. Do you fail to see how offensive your sin is to a holy God? Do you see yourself as somebody who needs mercy and who can give it to you? And is it available? So you think of that, and you come here. It says, if you can, like, hear the good news of this, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes in is justified. There's our word again. And with the mouth, one confesses and is saved. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between jew and Greek, for the same lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches. You get the idea of God's riches, of his grace, again, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved. Guys, listen. If you want to be a part of the most inclusive movement in human history, you have to embrace the most exclusive claims of Jesus Christ, but not even be a part of the movement. If you want to find forgiveness and be reconciled back to God, you need to embrace the most exclusive claims of salvation made by Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth and the life. No one. No one comes through the father except through him. There's no other way. There's no other name given to us by which we must be saved. God doesn't give us multiple options. Well, you could do this and you can do this, or you can kind of choose your own adventure. Listen to me, church. Jesus and Jesus alone saves. But hear me now. Jesus saves. Right? Jesus saves. Like, don't get caught up in, like. What do you mean? There's only one way. You mean there's a way. There's a way to have forgiveness. There's a way to be reconciled back to God. There's a way to be redeemed. There's a way to be made new again in Christ. Are you kidding me? There's a real way. And it's Jesus, guys. That's the mission of the church. It's the great commission. Go tell this news to everyone. Everywhere. Jesus saves. Forgiveness is possible. Like in Christ Jesus, God's not counting people's sins against them. Two corinthians five, like, go proclaim it. Be his ambassadors. This is the message we have to proclaim. And in our world, we can look at it and be like, it's so messed up. I mean, it's so messed up. But you know what's needed most? Jesus people to see their sin and beat their chest and cry out to God for mercy. And you know what happens when they do? They're justified and it's grace and it's a gift. And they get changed from the inside out because that's what we're celebrating today. We're celebrating that Jesus saves. He saves people. And I got to say this every time we do baptisms because I know baptisms bring visitors. There's going to be people, maybe a friend or family member that invited you that's going to get into a tank of water in a room full of other normal looking adults and another adult is going to hold them underwater. And that's just really weird. And I get it. It's also really meaningful. And what they're communicating is, I have been crucified with Christ. Like, I'm buried with Christ, and I have been raised to new life in Christ. Or put it in this way, this is what they're saying. Jesus saved me. Like, I saw my sin and I saw my savior and he opened my eyes and Jesus saved me. Like, that's what we're proclaiming. And then they're going to get in this tank, and when they get dunked, we're going to go nuts. People are going to cheer and whistle. Don't be scared. We're just really excited that Jesus saves. Now, we also do baptisms during worship because we're not celebrating somebody getting baptized or the person getting baptized. We're celebrating a God who saves. We're celebrating a God who brings salvation. And every time we see somebody proclaim it, it just kind of stirs up passion in us. Like, oh, he's still doing it. Our God is alive and he's still opening eyes and he's still bringing people to repentance in Christ. Like, it just kind of emboldens us. And he's saving and he's saving and he's saving individual by individual. And there will come a time when the clouds part and he comes back and makes all things new. And salvation is complete or accomplished fully. But, like, we get to see these individual stories all the time that point us to Christ and church. I hope it never gets old. We're about ten years old as a church. And we do baptisms twice, sometimes three times a year. We're baptizing 35 people today. It seems like every time we do baptisms, it's like 30 to 50 people getting baptized. Ten years. I think it's around, like, not counting or counting. Today we might be around like, 650 people we baptized as a church. I hope it never gets old. I hope it never gets old, what's being proclaimed through baptism. But it always just amazes us that God saves. And for some of you in here that have been following Christ for a long time, and by God's grace and your sanctification, you've grown in your Christianity, you've grown in your devotion. I hope it never gets old to you that you are a in desperate need of God's mercy. And by his grace, he's called you to himself. That we would never start acting like the Pharisee in that parable. But we'd always be like that tax collector that knows our need for mercy. I hope it never gets old for me. I'm a pastor. I'm a professional christian. But seriously, like, I know where I would be without the grace of Christ. And I hope it just never gets old that he saved a wretch like me. That you could hold on to that attitude. That, oh, my goodness, he saved a wretch like me. Like, how amazing is his grace? And grace isn't meant to undermine devotion. Like, when you look at that parable of the tax collector and the Pharisees, it's meant to undermine devotion that we saw in the Pharisee. I hope we're a super devoted people. I hope we, like, passionately worship God. I hope we live our lives as a living sacrifice. That every area of our life is like an offering to God. But we don't do it in order to be justified. We do it because we have been justified. And he's lavished his grace upon us. And our whole life is just full of gratitude and praise. Amen. Let's pray. Father, for those of us in this room that have walked with you for many years, I pray that you would help us feel the offensiveness of our sin. And our need for grace. That we'd still be people that beat our chest over our sin and plead for mercy. Remind us as we see person after person testify that their eyes have been opened to the beauty of Jesus Christ and you have saved them. Refresh us with how amazing your grace is. That we'd be people full of gratitude that we wouldn't boast because we've been saved. Not by works that none of us can boast, but we would worship. Because we've been saved by grace. Pray this in your name. Amen.