03 God’s Wrath and the Religious (Romans 2)

SPEAKER_00: This is Wednesday in the Word, a women's ministry of Trinity Presbyterian Church. Today is September the twenty-first, and we are studying Romans chapter two. We are in Romans chapter two today, and this is gonna we're this is a long one. We're gonna try to do the whole chapter. So I don't know if there will be time for questions today. I'm gonna I hope so, but we're gonna cover a lot of ground, so I don't know if we'll make it for questions, but you'll at least have your small groups. So if we don't have time for questions in this hour, you should get them next time. So before we look at Romans 2, actually, I want to take you back what 3,000 years to the story of David and Nathan, which is probably a familiar story to you. Um it's in 2 Samuel chapter 12, where we're gonna look briefly. And this story takes place, uh David was king, you know, and he uh had chosen to commit adultery with Bathsheba. Then when she became pregnant, he had his friend Uriah, her husband, sent out to the front where he would be killed in battle. So he essentially caused Uriah's death, and then he quickly married Bathsheba, and he assumed this was all well and done. He'd covered up his sins, they were no one would find them, and um that obviously wasn't the case. So look briefly at 2 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 1, the prophet Nathan comes to him. Then the Lord sent Nathan to David, and he came to him and said, There were two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a great many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing except one little ew lamb, which he bought and nourished, and it grew together with him and his children. It would eat of his bread and drink of his cup, and lie in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him. Now a traveller came to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take from his own flock or his own herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him. Rather he took the poor man's ew lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him. Then David's anger burned greatly against the man, and he said to Nathan, As the Lord lives, surely the man who has done this deserves to die. He must make restitution for the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and had no compassion. Nathan then said to David, You are the man, and he goes on to pronounce judgment for his sins. And the reason I bring that up is because that's what's happening in Romans today. In chapter two, in many respects, the early chapters of Romans are like a courtroom drama, and Paul is laying out his case to say everyone is guilty. No one can and can be justified by keeping the law. And he started last week, we looked at chapter 1 from 18 to the end, with the people who were kind of self-avowed rebels, the pagans, the people who openly denied uh God and turned their backs on him. And that now remember Paul's writing to the Roman church, these are believers, these are uh probably a mix of Jewish believers and Gentile believers, and they would be tempted to say, Yep, those folks, they're they're bad. You've got to throw the book at them, Paul. Um they deserve all that condemnation. He ended with in 132, although they know the ordinance of God that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same but get hearty approval to those who practice them. And it would be very tempting for Paul's audience to say, Yep, that's true, but I'm not one of them. What Paul's going to do is essentially say now in chapter two, you are that man. So, you know, and I think that's instructive for us because we look and we say, you know, we're not, you know, drug dealers or or child molesters or terrorists or people we might have all have our own lists. And it's easy to look at them and say, Yeah, those folks deserve condemnation. So notice chapters two chapter two, there's a pronoun shift. He says, Therefore, you are without excuse. Every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge one another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things, and we know the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. So this is just like Nathan to David, he's turning the tables now and saying, You are that man, you are the person we've talked about. Um, if you think about his audience, there probably were a fair number of out and out pagans, people who who uh openly rebelled against God, but this was the world of the Greek philosophers and the Romans. You know, they had these high writings of people pursuing ethical standards and the Stoic philosophy, and you know, what is right and wrong, and what is truth and beauty, and and so there were probably a fair number of people who were at least outwardly trying to define what's good, what's right, what's wrong, apart from God. And they would be very tempted to say, well, look, I have these high ethical standards, I've developed this moral philosophy, I you know, I read Aristotle, I study Plato, I know all these things. Um we pursue this high moral ideals, and it's easy to think, therefore, I'm okay. I escape this judgment. And Paul's point basically in this whole chapter is you don't. In the first 16 verses, he's going to address what I call the moralist, or this kind of person who would pursue good or pursue truth and beauty, but not but on their own terms, not in relationship to God. And then in 17 through 29, he turns that a little bit and he specifically addresses the Jews of his day or the religious people. And the I think the key verse is three um is thirteen, sorry. But not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law. That's basically the point he's trying to make. Just because you know the law doesn't mean you're justified by it. You have to be able to keep it. Okay, so that's kind of, we could actually stop there. That is the point of the chapter. That's the whole thing in a nutshell. But we're going to go a little deeper in. So let's start with um verses one through five, which I call the indictment. This is where he's setting up his case. Therefore, you are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge another you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. And do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment upon those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance, but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. I'm going to stop there. So he starts out by saying, When you judge, you're admitting there's a standard. And if there is a standard, it condemns you as well. And that's basically the point of these verses. So all the philosophers, the stoics, the people who are who are being, and we would say maybe today politically correct, although they wouldn't have used that term then, by holding up an ideal for which we should reach, you're admitting there's a standard. Even if you have the wrong one, you're admitting there's a standard, and he's saying that standard condemns you. There is no standard by which you can judge that does not also condemn you. It's interesting, I was trying to think for our day and age where we have this kind of postmodern philosophy which vehemently says there are no standards, there are no absolutes, how do you reach that kind of a culture with the message and the gospel? Because the only absolute they recognize is there are no absolutes, which is inherently contradictory right there, but that's kind of the contradiction doesn't bother the postmodern philosopher. And it's interesting if you look around, we say, oh, you know, there are no standards, what's right for you is okay, what's right for me is okay, we can't judge each other, and then all someone has to do is run for political office, and we immediately scrutinize every aspect of their lives. You know, did they pay every penny of Social Security for their household help, or or you know, what are their views on this, that, and the other, and we shred them all the while saying there's no standard, and yet we're shredding them by some standard of behavior. unknown: C. SPEAKER_00: S. Lewis uses this point in his opening of Mere Christianity. He says, Notice that everybody, no matter what they would claim to believe, will appeal to the statement that's not fair, or how would you like it if somebody did that to you? Or but you promised. And all those kinds of statements, we're admitting there's some code of behavior, whoops, there's some standard by which we ought we can't expect other people to live by. And you know, we never it's interesting when you appeal to someone and you say that's not fair, or you promised, or you shouldn't have. Their reply is that usually, who cares? Who cares about the standard? We have excuses, you know, there was extenuating circumstances, or but you don't know this other fact that really gives me reason to break the standard this time because of this particular fact. So we're always making excuses for the standard, and that's Paul's point here. Any standard you judge by condemns you as well. The second point he makes is don't confuse God's mercy with his judgment. And um where is this? I got ahead of myself. In three and four, do you suppose when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? So the mistake here is thinking, lightning didn't strike. You know, whatever I did, lightning didn't strike today, judgment is not forthcoming, therefore I'm okay. Therefore, it doesn't matter. I didn't hurt anyone, at least as far as I can tell in my own little worldview. So I must be okay. And Paul's saying, God has delayed his judgment. Out of his mercy and his kindness and his forbearance, his judgment is postponed. But that doesn't mean it's not coming. It's coming, it's just delayed. And the reason it's delayed is to give you time to repent. So I think that's his point in three and four. Don't confuse the fact that God's judgment is delayed with the fact that you're forgiven or that you may need to repent. So just because the lightning bolt didn't strike, uh, God didn't take immediate action necessarily, it doesn't mean you've passed the test. Now, I think it's a common self-deception, and it's one I think we as the church can fall prey to as well without even thinking about it. It's easy to swoop into complacency and think, well, you know, I go to church and I study my Bible and I pray regularly, and I'm on all these committees, and I volunteer, and I tithe, and I must be alright. I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do. But we don't notice the times where we're selfish or we're angry or bitter or maybe mean-spirited or less than loving to our friends and family. So Paul is saying, your logic is wrong here. Don't accuse or don't confuse knowing the law with doing the law, and don't confuse God's patience with tolerance. He's delayed his judgment, but judgment is still coming. Okay, so let's go on then in five through, let's go to ten this time. Um but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you're storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his deeds. To those who by perseverance and doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality, eternal life, so that's what they will receive. But those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation, that's what they will receive. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. I'm reading from the New American Standard. Um with so just to contrast what he's doing here, last week when he was addressing the pagan, the person who openly rebelled against God, he pointed to the experience of death in their everyday lives. So we talked about that the wages of sinner death means more than just one day we will die, it's also the fact that we experience the pain and the bitterness and the frustration and the anger and the broken hearts and the broken relationships and all the things that go wrong, all the tragedies and problems of the world are the result of the fact that we're fallen, the world has fallen. So we experience death. And as an evangelistic point, I think that's something to notice. When you're dealing with someone who's openly rebellious, the point of common ground is death. Because they must experience. It's like the law of gravity. You sin, you get this stuff. There's no way around it. Um and so to reach them, Paul turns to the experience they would have in their everyday lives. Now he's looking at someone who is complacent who says, Yeah, but I'm not like that. I don't, you know, I'm not a drug dealer, and I haven't murdered anyone, and I'm I'm faithful to my husband, and I haven't done all these things you're talking about. So what he's going to point to with them is there's a future judgment coming. And let's look at that. A lot of people are surprised when he quotes this verse from the Old Testament, who will render to every man according to his deeds. But that is the consistent teaching of Scripture that from the prophets to Jesus to Paul, that God is going to judge us according to our works, and we will fail. Now, that's judgment. Now we know the end of the story. We will be saved because of the blood of Jesus Christ, but we will be judged and found guilty and then forgiven because of what Jesus did for us. But just let me point this out to you, and there's a lot of places you can look at this. I'm going to give you three verses. Jeremiah 17 10 is the first one. I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the fruits of his deeds. And in Matthew, that was Jeremiah 17.10, Matthew 16, 27, for the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father and with his angels, and will recompense every man according to his deeds. Again, and then Paul again in 2 Corinthians 5 10, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for the his deeds in his body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. So what's going on here? Paul's point is if you're judged by the law, you're gonna fail. Everyone will be judged. There's no escaping that judgment. Whether you're a pagan, whether you're religious, whether you're a moralist, you will be judged, you will fail. Everyone will be judged. And he's building his case for, therefore, you've got to find another solution. And he's leading up to bringing in the good news of what that other solution is. So it's um it's easy to think that if we're just good enough, it will get us through. Last week we looked at that, the study that was done about what teenagers believe, and one of their uh five kind of core beliefs was good people go to heaven when they die. We think that if we make a sincere and reasonably successful effort at doing good, well, what more can God ask? We're only human, right? So He'll let us buy. And that's precisely the argument Paul's arguing against. He's saying, don't you realize that you're not getting by, you're storing up wrath. God's gonna look not just at what we did or didn't do, but our motives and our deeds. And if our motives are selfish and ambitious, no matter how good we look on the outside, it's not gonna it's not good enough. Um He's gonna check out our hearts. So how much you of what you do, I mean, think about even our best works were often motivated by selfish ambition. Um and then let me just give you this is kind of a silly example, but it struck me as funny. In my family, we've finally gotten to the stage where everyone does their own laundry, and I don't have to do the family laundry. It's amazing. It happened. My son, when he was a teenager, he wanted to be treated more like a grown-up and wanted more privileges. So we said, Well, what responsibility will you take if you want all this extra privileges? And he said, Well, how about if I do my own laundry? Yeah, good thing. Then when um my daughter came along, she you know wanted to be grown up just like her brother. She said, Well, when do I get to do my own laundry? Oh, well, twist my arm. You can do it now. Um so our laundry is upstairs where all the bedrooms are, which is actually a great place for it to be, but it's noisy, so when the dryer goes off, it wakes everybody up, which is not a problem for anyone in the house but me because I'm a morning person, I go to bed early. Everyone else wants to stay up late and sleep late. So I have this rule you may not start the dryer after 10 o'clock, but they always do. So when I see there's clothes in the dryer now, I will move them into the dryer and get it going so it won't buzz at you know 11 and wake me up. And my kids are grateful, they're like, oh mom, thank you so much for moving my laundry on. Which is really strange because they used to complain, you know, they used to, why haven't you done the laundry? And now they're grateful when all I do is move the clothes into the dryer. So don't tell them, but I'm really being selfish. I mean they think I'm being this great mother and helping them out, but I just don't want the dryer to ring after two o'clock. So, but don't tell. My secret will be out. But that's kind of a silly example, but the point is it looks good on the outside. They think I'm doing this great favor for them, but my motives are really selfish. I'm not all that uh that altruistic, and oh, I'll help them out. It's oh no, it's 9 30 and they're gonna have the dryer ringing light, so I move it on. So looking good on the outside is not good enough. Um and I can tell you that example, and there are lots of other examples, but I don't want to admit them on tape about how I'm really sinful, so we'll just leave those. Okay, so Paul goes on to say then basically knowing the law is not enough. It's not those who who know the law who will be justified, it's those who do it, and no one can do it. So let's look at verses eleven through sixteen. For there is no partiality with God, and for all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified. I think that's the key verse of this chapter. For when Gentiles who do not have the law do instinctively the things of the law, these, not having the law, are law to themselves. Confused yet? There's a lot of phrases here. In that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. So, what's going on here? There's we're going to talk about who are these Gentiles that keep the law and don't know the law in a second. But his main point in the section is wake up, not only will you be judged, you're going first, you Jews. So it's not just that keep knowing the law is not enough. Privilege brings responsibility. You have to do the law. And he doesn't tell us here, but he is going to go on to say in the next chapters, only Christ kept the law. He's the only one that can do it, the rest of us fall short. So just I want to look at some Old Testament verses that make this same point. And notice as we read this how much of the law we have to keep. Deuteronomy 27, 26, cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them, and all the people shall say amen. So it's not just that we agree with the law and we think, yep, that's a good description of right and wrong, that's a good description of truth. We must keep it. And then Deuteronomy 28, verses 1 to 2. Now it shall be if you will diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments, which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth, and all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you will obey the Lord your God. So how much of a law do we have to keep? All of it. And how do we obtain the blessings? We have to obey all of it. Later in that same chapter, 28, Deuteronomy 28, 15, but it shall come about if you will not obey the Lord your God to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes, which I charge you today, that all the curses shall come upon you and overtake you. So how much of the law do we have to break? Any of it, and we get the curses. And then Deuteronomy 26, 16 to 19. This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with your whole heart and with all your soul. You have declared you have today declared the Lord your God the Lord I can read. You have today declared the The Lord to be your God, and that you would walk in his ways and keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and listen to his voice. And the Lord has today declared you to be his people, a treasured possession, as he promised you, that you should keep all his commandments, and that he shall set you high above all the nations which he has made for praise, fame, and honor, and that you shall be consecr a consecrated people to the Lord your God as he has spoken. So notice again, you have to be careful to do them with your whole heart and with all your soul, and lest we get confused, it's the statutes, the commandments, the ordinances, and listen to his voice. So you can't obey the statutes and forget about the ordinances and you know. And also he throws in walk in his ways. So, and that's Paul's point here. There's no fudging, there's no bringing down the standard and saying, Well, I kept this much. Um, it's not enough to memorize the law, it's not enough to agree with it. You have to do it inside and out. So then what he does in 14 through 16 is he's making essentially the same point but a different way, with all this talk of who are the Gentiles who do not have the law but do the law. And I think this is a hypothetical. He's not saying that there are righteous Gentiles out there who've managed to keep the law even though they didn't uh know it. He's saying, just consider if you have a Gentile who never learned of the law, who never went to Hebrew school and never was taught the Torah, but he kept it, and you have a Jew who went to Hebrew school and learned the law and memorized it but ignores it, who is God gonna be pleased with? And that's the point he's making. He's setting up this hypothetical. Is God gonna prefer the one who keeps the law, even though he's never really learned it or had a chance to study it, or is he gonna prefer the one who studied the law and memorized it but doesn't keep it? And he expects the answer. Well, of course, Paul, the one who does the law. So he's undercutting the deception of we've grown up with the traditions, we've grown up with the law, we've grown up with the the Bible, the scriptures, we've kept it alive, we've memorized it, we've handed it down. We must be obey we must be pleasing to God even if we haven't obeyed, or even if we haven't trusted him. So if he were writing today, he might say, you know, knowing your Bible's not enough, having a quiet time's not enough, going to church every Sunday is not enough, maintaining a regular prayer time isn't enough if it never penetrates your heart, if it never makes a difference, if it's just on the outside, it's not good enough. How are we doing? Oh good. We're about halfway, so that's good. Now he's gonna shift gears a little in 17 and hit the Jews directly head on. He I think up to this point he's been talking about people who would have sought truth and beauty and tried to be good but didn't care about God. Now he's gonna turn to the people who claim to be religious, and he devotes the most verses to them. And I think where would we fit in this chapter? This this would be us. Um in 17, but if you bear the name Jew and rely upon the law and boast in God and know his will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, and just notice how many privileges he's assigned to the Jews there. That's pretty um and that's a sobering passage to me. You've been instructed, you're confident, you're a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher, ooh, that's and having the law, he's hitting me, say, you have all these privileges, you have this responsibility, but don't think that just because you have it, you're righteous. Um you therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself. So he reminds them of their privileged role of being the people God chose to deliver his law to, and they were supposed to then spread that to the rest of the world. And he says, that's not enough. You have to believe it, you have to follow it, you have to let it penetrate your heart. The name Jew came into use after the Babylonian captivity because most of the survivors of the captivity were from the tribe of Judah, and Jew became was a form of those who were the tribe of Judah. And I think there was there arose, at least some historians suggest, that there was this kind of feeling of we escaped the captivity, we're the one tribe that kind of did it right the best, and we have this special spot because we made it through the captivity in the exile, and we're back now. And I think when Paul says if you bear the name Jew, he's hitting that presupposition right there, or that term, and saying, if you think that you're privileged because you got this special grace and you came back out of captivity and you're heirs to the promise of Abraham and the descendants of those who survived the captivity, you have this unique relationship with God because of your birth, don't think that's enough. Today you would probably write, if you bear the name Christian, if you have been raised in a church or with the privileges and responsibility of hearing the gospel and knowing the testaments, don't think that's enough. The law was to make the Jews compassionate for those in darkness and to love others enough to teach them that ways. So instead of being self-righteous or judgmental and saying, Yeah, throw the book at them. They don't know, they don't know what's right and wrong. They were to be compassionate, to be a guide to those who were lost. Okay. Where am I? Here. All right, so let me pick up where we left off in twenty-one. You therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that you should not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law through your breaking the law, do you dishonor God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. He's saying basically, you hypocrite. You teach others and yet you don't do the same yourself. And it's actually in the Talmud the rabbis discuss this very problem of what do they do? What do you do with a rabbi who teaches something maybe two or three times and then neglects it in his own life? And their solution was it's just a mental lapse. It was just, you know, a little mental lapse, and we can't hold it against him. And I think what Paul's saying here is it's not a mental lapse, it's moral failure. It's the condition of our hearts, it's the condition of our souls. We can't left to our own devices, we cannot keep the law. So he's hitting that prejudice of, well, you know, I know the law, but I just just this once slipped up. Um again, Jesus picks up the same point in Matthew 23, 25, speaking to the Pharisees. He says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you clean the outside of the cup and the disc, but the in but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. So these were people, think about the Pharisees. They were very passionate about the law, they were very zealous for the law and keeping the law, but it was all on the outside. It was just the appearance. They were cleaning the outside of the cup, as Jesus says, and not letting it penetrate their hearts. I like to call this is kind of the dieting approach to the law. So I don't know about you, but when I diet, I'm really good at the little things. Like I can give up butter on my bread, but I will eat the Sunday. The hot Sunday. And if I have a diet drink, I'm sure it justifies the French fries. It must. I mean, it just must, right? So this is what they were doing with the law. They had the little things down, the little sacrifices, the ones that were easy to make, that looked really good on the outside. Oh, I didn't put butter on my bread state. But I ate 10,000 calories at lunch, you know. So they didn't, they were missing the important stuff, the compassion, the love, the mercy, the um they had the outward appearance down, but not the weightier uh portions of the law. So Paul again is making the same point that he made in 13. You teach, but you don't teach yourself. Knowing the law is not good enough. I find this passage very sobering, actually. Okay, verse 25 then, so we can get through and have some application. For indeed, circumcision is of value if you practice the law. Let me just set this up. Talking about circumcision, he's talking about the outward mark of religion. So think about what is it that on the outside proclaims you to be religious. And his point in this section is having the outward marks is not enough if there is no inward change of heart. The outward sign should reflect the inward, genuine change of heart. So, verse 25, for indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the law. The outward marks of religion are of value if they reflect what's really going on in the inside. But if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. So if you're not keeping the law, if there is no inward change of heart, then what's on the outside doesn't matter. If therefore the uncircumcised man keeps the requirement of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? And will not he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the law, will he not judge you who through having the letter of the law and circumcision or transgression of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the spirit, not by the letter, and his praise is not from men, but from God. So this is the same point he's been making in the chapter, but now he's got another metaphor he's using. He's looking at what's the outward mark of religion. In this case it was physical circumcision, and he's saying that's a symbol of what should be happening to your heart, so it's a metaphorical circumcision of your heart. And the outward mark on the body is not enough. And he's asking, which is better? A Jew who's physically circumcised but has no regard for the law, or a Gentile who is uncircumcised but keeps the law, which would he rather have, the outward religious or those who have broken hearts and seek after him? Well, of course he says, I'd rather have the person, the contrite and broken heart. Um and notice what's he's distanced a little bit from religion. I mean, I think it's easy for us to look at all the outward trappings of religion and think, we're okay, because we go to church, we wear our crosses, we um we are on all the committees, we go through the motions, and Paul's point is the motions themselves, the rituals themselves, are not enough. They must reflect the reality of a changed heart. The analogy I like to use is sitting in church every week won't make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage will make you a car. If you're just going through the motions because that's what you always did or what your family always did, it's not enough. If you think performing the religious rituals we have or the ceremonies will get you into heaven, think again. That's not going to stand before God. And now I'm going to get really personal and probably step on some toes, but the thing I want to caution you again is feeling passionate for God is not going to make you righteous. And that's, I think, something that's really big in our church. Working up the feelings of worshipful feelings or excited feelings or enthusiasm without the reality behind them are not enough. And we can deceive ourselves in all kinds of ways. So think about the Pharisees in this case. They were very passionate about the law. They spent hours studying it. They were zealous to make sure everyone kept it. I don't think you could ever accuse the Pharisees of being lukewarm. They were enthusiastic and passionate and emotional, and yet it was all on the outside. And I think we can deceive ourselves by thinking if I feel that way, if I get my battery kind of charged up and feel that feeling that I must be okay. Well, there's nothing wrong with the feeling. Don't get me, I'm not saying that, but you do want it to reflect the inward change of heart. So feeling worshipful without the broken and contrite heart behind it is not going to make you a Christian anymore than sitting in a garage makes you a car. So if this is a this is a hard-hitting chapter. I mean, Paul is trying to go through every prop we might use to prop ourselves up and say, okay, he's talking to everyone but me. Everyone else that's condemns, but not me. And so he's going through each of these analogies over and over again to try to say no, just because you know the law doesn't matter, just because you're circumcised doesn't matter, you have to have this inward change of heart. Okay, so how do we respond to that? What do we do with that today? If you're devastated, if you're feeling like, oh my goodness, maybe I'm in doubt, good, you've understood the passage. This is this is a good, this is a good first step. But remember there's more to the story. He's not gonna stop here. Um he's going to go on to announce the good you the good news. And think about what he's doing. He has not yet met the Romans. He's never visited this church. I mean, if he wants to go and be popular, this is not a really good letter to write. To say, oh, by the way, you're a wretch. And you know what, you're worse than you thought. And let me tell you, you're even worse than that. Um, and start out with this, hello, I'm Paul, let me tell you how bad you are. It's you can tell he wasn't out for personal uh popularity contests. So he is hitting hard, and I think it should hit us hard, and we ought to take seriously the warning of you are that man. He is writing to us just as much as he was writing to them. So, what points should we take away? The first is no one is capable of being righteous. I remember when um you know, when Pope John Paul died this summer, I was listening to some of the news commentators, and one of the people they interviewed, he was someone in the Catholic Church, but they could tell by his dress, I don't know who he was. He made the comment that if Pope Paul was not in heaven, then none of us were. And I thought, ooh, um, he's right in a way, but he's wrong in a way. Now, I'll give him credit and think he was actually trying to make a sophisticated point to the journalist. Um, but how do you think Paul would respond to that? Um he he would be right if the Pope can't make it by keeping the law, then none of us can make it. Or if someone like Mother Teresa couldn't make it, none of us are gonna make it. But the fact is, none of us made it that way. Anyone who is standing in glory now made it because of the blood of Jesus Christ, not because of their own works. So that's the first point to remember. The second point, I think, is be careful in judging other people. Um we can get, as Christians, because we know there's this higher moral standard out there, and we expect people to at least try to follow it, we can be quick to judge others and say, well, they're not doing it right. They must not be a Christian, they must be backsliding. Just as outward appearances don't get us in, they also do not condemn us. So if you see looking at somebody else and you see how they spend their money, maybe, or um, maybe they raise their hands in church, or they don't raise their hands in church, or um, maybe they don't like to sing and you think that's essential, or maybe they don't pray before every meal, those are all outward manifestations of their religion, and they may or may not express what's going on in their hearts. So we want to be charitable with each other and not um judge quickly. Now I am not saying that there's no place for exhortation. There are times when we must come alongside a fellow believer and say, you know, I think this is a sin you need to deal with, you need to wake up and come to terms. So I'm not saying that there there will be times when we need to admonish and exhort people, but that's different from having a critical spirit and thinking because that Christian doesn't look like me, and the way I express my religion, they must be backsliding. That may or may not be the case. We can't judge them by their political party, you know, their hobbies, um, the way they spend their Saturdays, or how they spend their money, it may or may not reflect uh backsliding. So we want to be careful that we judge, that we don't judge quickly. And then the last thing I think is don't trust in the outward marks of belief. It's easy to think because um I go through the motions, I'm doing it right, I'm okay. It takes more than going to church, it takes more than having a quiet time. When my husband and I were in um Bible school and we were learning Greek and Hebrew, people used to were they were so impressed. They were like, Oh, I'm so impressed, you must be a spiritual giant. And I can again, it's a lot easier to learn Greek than it is to be righteous. But it looks good. People think, ooh, you must be really we're you know, really a spiritual giant. No, no, it's still just as hard to be righteous when you know Greek or whether you don't. So going through the motions of religion are not enough. We want it to reflect the inward change of heart. And then I think the last point of this chapter is Paul really doesn't want anyone to be a spectator in this chapter. He is trying to hit everybody who might be in the courtroom and saying, You're guilty too. It's like Nathan said to David, you are that man. And if we're honest with ourselves, we have to come to terms with that, that we stand condemned. And our sins will not remain secret any more than David's did. They will be judged. Now, notice we you know the end of the story with David, what did he do? He repented and asked for God's forgiveness. And we have Psalm 51 as this wonderful lament and appreciation for God for forgiving him even after that kind of a sin. So that the good news is yes, come to terms with your sin, and here's the best part, you're forgiven. And God has promised to redeem that, and God has promised to turn even all that muck and crud and the mistakes that you've made and make something wonderful out of it, and make you the kind of person who is righteous and holy and beautiful. So some of you may be uh feeling devastated that, oh my goodness, I've there's nothing I can do. Yes, there's nothing you can do except trust in the blood of Jesus Christ, and that's enough. That's the best part. So the I often have little key phrases that help me remember the point of the chapter, and for this chapter, uh I think of that, you know, the old spiritual that said, it's me, it's me, it's me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer. Not my mother, not my father, and what is it, not my brother, not my sister, it's me, not the rich man that you know goes through all of that. That's his point. I mean, that's the response I think he wants, that it's me, Lord, standing in the need of prayer. Uh, that's where he's trying to drive us. So, if this is overwhelming, skip ahead and read chapter 8, because that's where he's really going to get into the good news. Um, and the other verse I wanted to leave you with is um Psalm 37. Where is it? Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. This is Psalm 37, 4, 5, and 6. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in him, and he will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. The point being, if your heart is broken because you're sinful, that's good. Now turn to him, and he will give you the desire of your heart, which is holiness, righteousness, goodness. He will bring it forth like the noonday. You can trust him. As he's going to say in chapter 5, you will not be disappointed, your hope is sure. So, yes, we're talking about the bad news these first few weeks, but the good news is coming. Let me just pray to close us, and I don't know if we have any time for questions, maybe one or two. I knew this would be a long week, so anyway, let's pray. Father, I just thank you that you're a God who hears our cries and you don't leave us in our sinfulness or leave us in our condemnation, but you step down off your throne to pay the penalty for our sins, to love us and bring us back to you. And I pray that as we go on through our day that you would teach us the value of worshiping you, the depth of our sin, and the depth of your grace, and how much it covers everything we say and do. And that we would take these messages to our hearts so that they would not be the outward notions or the outward signs, but they would reflect the real genuine circumcision of the heart, the broken and contriteness of you changing us and making us people who love you. In Jesus' name. Amen.