You Are Not Good: Part III (Romans 2:12-29)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.399 --> 00:00:07.750 Well, let's continue on in our reading and preaching of Romans Chapter Two. 2 00:00:08.589 --> 00:00:25.739 This is the end of Romans Two, verses twelve through twenty nine, Romans 3 00:00:25.780 --> 00:00:33.380 Chapter Two, verse twelve, for all who have sinned without the law will 4 00:00:33.380 --> 00:00:38.490 also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will 5 00:00:38.490 --> 00:00:43.329 be judged by the law. For it is for it is not the high 6 00:00:43.490 --> 00:00:48.170 hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the 7 00:00:48.250 --> 00:00:54.000 law who will be justified. For when gentiles who do not have the law 8 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:59.960 by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves. 9 00:01:00.039 --> 00:01:03.750 Even though they do not have the law, they show that the work of 10 00:01:03.829 --> 00:01:08.829 the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and 11 00:01:08.909 --> 00:01:15.230 their conflicting thoughts accused or even excuse them on that day when, according to 12 00:01:15.349 --> 00:01:21.620 My Gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. But if 13 00:01:21.659 --> 00:01:26.219 you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and 14 00:01:26.900 --> 00:01:30.340 know his will and a proove what is excellent, because you are instructed from 15 00:01:30.379 --> 00:01:34.650 the law, and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to 16 00:01:34.689 --> 00:01:41.170 the blind, a light to those who are in darkness and instructor of the 17 00:01:41.250 --> 00:01:47.090 Foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge 18 00:01:47.159 --> 00:01:52.680 and truth. You, then, who teach others, do not teach yourself. 19 00:01:53.959 --> 00:01:57.680 While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that 20 00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:04.469 one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You, who abhor 21 00:02:04.750 --> 00:02:09.150 idols, do rob temples? You, who boast in the law, dishonor 22 00:02:09.310 --> 00:02:14.150 God by breaking the law. For, as it is written, the name 23 00:02:14.189 --> 00:02:21.819 of God is blasphemed among the gentiles because of you. For circumcision indeed is 24 00:02:21.979 --> 00:02:25.099 a value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, 25 00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:32.849 your circumcision becomes UNCIRCUMCISION. So with a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts 26 00:02:32.889 --> 00:02:38.889 of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he 27 00:02:39.129 --> 00:02:44.560 who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law, will condemn you who have the 28 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:50.080 written code and circumcision but break the law. For No one is a Jew 29 00:02:50.199 --> 00:02:54.840 who is merely one outwardly. Nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a 30 00:02:54.879 --> 00:03:00.949 Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart. By 31 00:03:00.110 --> 00:03:06.349 the spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but 32 00:03:06.509 --> 00:03:28.449 from God. God bless this word to us may be seated well, Paul 33 00:03:28.569 --> 00:03:31.810 has been. I'm bringing before us, as I've mentioned in the last two 34 00:03:31.889 --> 00:03:38.569 sermons, these examples for us to be reminded of. He brings before us 35 00:03:38.610 --> 00:03:46.080 these particular kinds of people, to have us look at them and thereby look 36 00:03:46.360 --> 00:03:50.159 in a mirror, to look at our own hearts and see the way that 37 00:03:50.360 --> 00:03:55.189 sin and the flesh are working within us and in each of these examples. 38 00:03:55.310 --> 00:03:58.990 Now, coming to the third one, we will see, as we have 39 00:03:59.270 --> 00:04:03.430 seen, that sin is not good, that we who sin are not good, 40 00:04:04.349 --> 00:04:10.419 that we, in our sin, in our sinfulness, disobey God rightfully 41 00:04:10.460 --> 00:04:15.099 come under his wrath and his curse. So, of course, is not 42 00:04:15.180 --> 00:04:18.500 a happy message. So the kind of thing that you might struggle to like 43 00:04:19.420 --> 00:04:26.129 if you are posting such a thing on facebook. It's a it's not something 44 00:04:26.209 --> 00:04:29.209 that you just immediately say, yeah, that sounds great, but it's it's 45 00:04:29.290 --> 00:04:36.449 so true, and the truth should always be liked loved. We love it 46 00:04:36.610 --> 00:04:42.600 because it exposes something within us so that we can turn to something else. 47 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:47.360 Using that old analogy, it's the doctor who points out the disease so that 48 00:04:47.480 --> 00:04:53.910 we can know the cure. One Who doesn't believe they have a problem isn't 49 00:04:53.910 --> 00:04:57.389 going to go talk to the doctor, isn't going to believe the doctor when 50 00:04:57.389 --> 00:05:00.389 he offers a remedy. And here, at the beginning of Romans before, 51 00:05:00.550 --> 00:05:08.300 Paul really brings forward in a robust detail the remedy to the problem, namely 52 00:05:08.339 --> 00:05:13.620 Jesus Christ dying on a cross to forgive you of your sins. He's telling 53 00:05:13.699 --> 00:05:19.819 you that you have sins deep inside, sins that are deeply rooted and not 54 00:05:20.060 --> 00:05:28.009 easily brushed away. Paul's been showing us these different examples, each of these 55 00:05:28.089 --> 00:05:32.329 different kinds of people that we see in ourselves. The first person was a 56 00:05:33.089 --> 00:05:41.800 sinner whose conscience is conscience is seared, who knows God's law, knows what 57 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:45.360 he requires, know the word, knows the worship that God requires, and 58 00:05:45.439 --> 00:05:50.670 then simply says I don't care, I want something else. And not only 59 00:05:50.949 --> 00:05:57.629 does the does he want something else, but he even approves of others who 60 00:05:57.750 --> 00:06:04.259 likewise disobey with him. Then last week we considered those who openly recognize God's 61 00:06:04.259 --> 00:06:08.620 law. They say it's a good thing and even judge others by it, 62 00:06:09.339 --> 00:06:14.540 but you'll yet at the same time or self contradictory. They say don't commit 63 00:06:14.620 --> 00:06:18.370 adultery, and yet commit adultery. They say don't steal, and yet steal. 64 00:06:20.689 --> 00:06:25.689 Now those lines that I just quoted also come from this passage and there's 65 00:06:25.689 --> 00:06:30.529 definite overlap. But the difference is this. Here Paul is not just addressing 66 00:06:30.689 --> 00:06:35.199 people who know the law, but people who know, in particular the law 67 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:41.160 of God as it is revealed by Moses, who have, in particular, 68 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:47.629 received the holy scriptures and have heard it and have been told the stories of 69 00:06:48.149 --> 00:06:57.069 God's redemption, of the requirements that they have. He has first and foremost 70 00:06:57.110 --> 00:07:04.540 in his mind the Jews and he addresses them directly. He first addresses them 71 00:07:04.699 --> 00:07:10.060 directly by pointing out sort of the contrast. It's sort of an argument from 72 00:07:10.060 --> 00:07:13.660 the lesser to the greater. Later he's going to say, you who have 73 00:07:13.860 --> 00:07:16.930 the law, you should know these things, you should do you do them. 74 00:07:17.930 --> 00:07:21.569 Well, if that's true of you, that's true, because the gentiles 75 00:07:21.610 --> 00:07:28.410 who don't have the law do these things on themselves. But before we come 76 00:07:28.529 --> 00:07:32.519 to that, we'll just make this simple point that having the religion, or 77 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:38.240 true religion, having religion that's from God is most certainly better than not. 78 00:07:39.199 --> 00:07:43.600 So, if you take the last two examples, having a sense of morality 79 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:46.990 and openly acknowledging it, even if you're contradictoring it, is better than not 80 00:07:47.189 --> 00:07:53.189 opening will openly acknowledging it. It's better than hiding it or pretending that there's 81 00:07:53.189 --> 00:07:59.459 no law or standard by which we live and likewise having religion, so to 82 00:07:59.500 --> 00:08:05.420 speak, being a spiritual person, is better than not. Of course, 83 00:08:05.459 --> 00:08:09.740 that doesn't save us, as Paul says, but the truth still stands, 84 00:08:09.860 --> 00:08:13.930 and there's all kinds of studies that show this kind of thing, what a 85 00:08:13.970 --> 00:08:18.490 benefit it is to grow up among like minded people, to have a bigger 86 00:08:18.689 --> 00:08:22.569 perspective on life, to have direction and guidance on how to live. These 87 00:08:22.649 --> 00:08:28.800 are the kinds of things that religion offers to be able to be of help 88 00:08:30.439 --> 00:08:35.279 to someone in need and to help someone at a time when you need to 89 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:41.509 be helped. But at the same time, when we talk about the religion 90 00:08:41.710 --> 00:08:46.549 of God, we talk about Christianity, when we talk about the old covenant 91 00:08:46.549 --> 00:08:52.549 that came before the new, we're not just talking about religion in a general 92 00:08:52.590 --> 00:08:58.340 sense or spirituality in a general sense. Are we we're talking about the Lord 93 00:08:58.500 --> 00:09:03.059 God of the Universe delivering these things, particularly in a very specific way, 94 00:09:03.340 --> 00:09:09.860 to his people, reading the Ten commandments there on Mount Sinai. These aren't 95 00:09:09.860 --> 00:09:13.929 just principles that people come up with and ideas, but these is what we 96 00:09:13.970 --> 00:09:20.570 might call true religion, true spirituality. And when we when we when we 97 00:09:20.690 --> 00:09:22.730 think of it that way and we see it as God gives it to us, 98 00:09:22.809 --> 00:09:30.120 we realize that the church, Christianity, religion, is not just a 99 00:09:30.279 --> 00:09:35.399 neighborhood of people or a community organization, and the ways that all these other 100 00:09:35.440 --> 00:09:41.029 benefits I mentioned earlier might also fall under, because we're a people not just 101 00:09:41.190 --> 00:09:46.149 centered around ourselves as a community, but we're people centered around God. As 102 00:09:46.190 --> 00:09:50.909 I mentioned earlier, we are a worshiping people. We are a people who 103 00:09:50.950 --> 00:09:58.580 are are gathered around his throne. We're not just linked up against one up 104 00:09:58.659 --> 00:10:01.139 and with one another, or, to use the metaphor of a body. 105 00:10:01.220 --> 00:10:05.299 We are many members and we belong to one another, but all under the 106 00:10:05.820 --> 00:10:11.649 head of Jesus Christ. And so, first and foremost, we're not just 107 00:10:11.889 --> 00:10:15.610 a community, but we are a community, a people, a body of 108 00:10:15.690 --> 00:10:20.690 worshippers of God, and that means that, like the Jews. We are 109 00:10:20.809 --> 00:10:26.639 those who have been entrusted with worship. We have been entrusted with, what 110 00:10:26.799 --> 00:10:31.000 Paul will say in chapter three, the oracles of God. We have been 111 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:37.750 given the things of God. We don't protect God like an idol or a 112 00:10:37.870 --> 00:10:43.070 golden calf or something like that. We protect the things he has given us, 113 00:10:43.549 --> 00:10:48.149 his worship, his people. But what Paul is saying here is, 114 00:10:48.309 --> 00:10:52.779 though, that is a very good thing, and he'll make that point explicitly 115 00:10:52.899 --> 00:10:58.139 in chapter three when he asked this for corps of rhetorical question. Then what 116 00:10:58.259 --> 00:11:01.179 advantage has the Jew or what a value is circumcision? And he says much 117 00:11:01.220 --> 00:11:05.450 in every way and explain some of that. So these things have value in 118 00:11:05.529 --> 00:11:11.009 and of themselves. But his point here is that it's not enough to just 119 00:11:11.289 --> 00:11:16.490 hear these things. It's not enough to stand at the bottom of Mount Sinai 120 00:11:16.610 --> 00:11:22.600 and see the clouds and watch the lightning striking and the thunder crash and can 121 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:26.039 be trembling in your boots at hearing the law of God. If you turn 122 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:33.710 right around and begin making a calf, what's the point? It's not enough 123 00:11:33.230 --> 00:11:37.789 to be known by God in this way, to have his law revealed and 124 00:11:39.029 --> 00:11:43.669 impressed upon you in such a way that you are fearing for your life if 125 00:11:43.750 --> 00:11:48.779 you don't do anything, if you don't actually do the things that he is 126 00:11:50.299 --> 00:11:56.860 commanded. When God gives the law, he gives it in his way to 127 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:03.009 impress upon us his Great Holiness and authority, that he is the one who 128 00:12:03.129 --> 00:12:09.690 gives life and takes it away. I will not hold him guiltless who takes 129 00:12:09.769 --> 00:12:15.610 my name in vain. I am a jealous God, visiting the Iniquity of 130 00:12:15.690 --> 00:12:20.639 the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth generation of those who 131 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:24.000 hate me. Or is we read in the call to worship? God will 132 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:31.710 not forget those who are harmed and and and oppressed, but he will avenge 133 00:12:31.870 --> 00:12:37.990 their blood. Over and over throughout scripture, God reminds us what a what 134 00:12:39.110 --> 00:12:45.820 a weak word God impresses on us. God pounds it into us that he 135 00:12:46.340 --> 00:12:50.860 is an authority, that he is a king, he is powerful and he 136 00:12:50.019 --> 00:12:58.340 does not accept no for an answer. He does not accept a mere hearing 137 00:12:58.460 --> 00:13:01.570 of the law, of being in his presence, of knowing the things of 138 00:13:01.730 --> 00:13:09.169 God. If we simply turn around and walk away from him, lip service 139 00:13:11.009 --> 00:13:18.679 is not good enough, for it is the hearers of the law who are 140 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:22.159 right, for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before 141 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:28.029 God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. Here Paul, 142 00:13:28.470 --> 00:13:33.110 Throughout this section, is speaking in very black and white terms. You 143 00:13:33.309 --> 00:13:37.789 do the law, you will obey and you will be justified, and rightfully 144 00:13:37.830 --> 00:13:41.860 so. You will be one who was obedient, one who did the right 145 00:13:41.899 --> 00:13:45.940 things. But if you do not obey the law, then you will not 146 00:13:46.139 --> 00:13:52.139 be justified. And what is the opposite of justification? Condemnation and all the 147 00:13:52.259 --> 00:13:58.929 penalties of God that come with it. And so that's God's point here. 148 00:13:58.970 --> 00:14:01.330 He's impressing this on us. If we go before God and we say, 149 00:14:01.730 --> 00:14:07.129 Hey, I know things are good between you and me because you've spoken to 150 00:14:07.289 --> 00:14:11.559 me, you've told me your requirements and I openly acknowledge them. I think 151 00:14:11.600 --> 00:14:16.200 that these ten commandments are very important and I want to put them up in 152 00:14:16.279 --> 00:14:20.159 my house and I want to teach them to my children and I want to 153 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:26.269 belong to a church that that requires these things and teaches these things and preaches 154 00:14:26.389 --> 00:14:31.070 these things. I know that we're okay. And God says it's not enough 155 00:14:31.110 --> 00:14:41.059 to do all that. You must actually obey the law. He points this 156 00:14:41.179 --> 00:14:48.820 out by saying in verse Seventeen, if you call yourself a Jew and rely 157 00:14:50.139 --> 00:14:56.690 and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent because you 158 00:14:56.730 --> 00:15:01.649 are instructed from the law and I if you are sure that you yourself are 159 00:15:01.690 --> 00:15:05.690 a guide to the blind and a light to those who are in darkness, 160 00:15:05.769 --> 00:15:09.279 and instructor to those who are foolish and a teacher of those who are children, 161 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:15.720 having in the law the embodiments of knowledge and truth. You, then, 162 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:20.600 who teach others? Do you not teach yourself? You hear the expectation 163 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:26.509 that Paul has. In some ways, Paul is both mocking them but also 164 00:15:26.629 --> 00:15:31.070 putting before them exactly what should be. He's no way saying that they shouldn't 165 00:15:31.070 --> 00:15:35.710 be teachers, or that they shouldn't be lights in the darkness, or that 166 00:15:35.740 --> 00:15:39.740 they shouldn't be instructors. That's what they should be. They've been given the 167 00:15:39.820 --> 00:15:43.460 law of God, the Oracles of God, the word of God. The 168 00:15:43.620 --> 00:15:48.419 problem isn't that they have them. The problem isn't that they've been given these 169 00:15:48.539 --> 00:15:54.129 responsibilities and privileges. The problem is that they're not obeying them. The problem 170 00:15:54.169 --> 00:15:58.330 is that they're not doing them. Yesterday, someone was telling me a story 171 00:15:58.370 --> 00:16:08.440 about an English teacher who wrote badly worded and punctuated emails. It begins to 172 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:15.639 a discount the authority of the person to do these kinds of things, doesn't 173 00:16:15.679 --> 00:16:21.750 it? If you say that you are something but you are not acting in 174 00:16:21.990 --> 00:16:26.710 those ways, what does that say? And you we can ask this of 175 00:16:26.750 --> 00:16:33.659 ourselves. Do we punctuate our lives according to the grammar of God and all 176 00:16:33.700 --> 00:16:37.580 the divisions and parts and thoughts and the beginnings and ends of how we live? 177 00:16:38.779 --> 00:16:42.700 Is it according to his syntax and diction? Is it according to the 178 00:16:42.779 --> 00:16:48.610 way that he has taught us to express ourselves? Do we live our lives 179 00:16:48.850 --> 00:16:52.289 with him? The grand story that he is telling US is true? Do 180 00:16:52.409 --> 00:16:56.769 we think of ourselves as those who are under him and obligated to obey him? 181 00:16:59.049 --> 00:17:02.360 If you are Christian, do you think of yourself as one who has 182 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:07.359 been forgiven, one who has been rescued, one who has been bought with 183 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:11.920 the very blood of Jesus Christ? Do we live this way? Do we 184 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:17.150 are we lights in the darkness, the lights that we have been made to 185 00:17:17.269 --> 00:17:25.190 be? Well, I think all this undoes us. It reminds us of 186 00:17:25.230 --> 00:17:30.259 our sin. The gentiles in a sense have knowledge and experience. They look 187 00:17:30.299 --> 00:17:33.980 at the world, they see and feel the law of God in a sense 188 00:17:34.099 --> 00:17:37.700 written on their hearts. They don't need the Law of Moses to tell them, 189 00:17:37.779 --> 00:17:41.660 though, obedience that they have. Paul says this. They do by 190 00:17:41.700 --> 00:17:47.329 nature of the things that are required. They have these things by knowledge and 191 00:17:47.410 --> 00:17:52.410 experience. But the Jews have even more, as do we. Not only 192 00:17:52.490 --> 00:17:56.009 do they have knowledge and experience, but they're credentialed, so to speak. 193 00:17:56.849 --> 00:18:02.680 They've been given the certification of God, they've been given his special attention, 194 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:14.109 his oracles, his writings, his mentoring. But that's not enough. It's 195 00:18:14.190 --> 00:18:18.869 not enough to be religious, it's not enough to know the one true and 196 00:18:18.029 --> 00:18:25.430 Holy God and to know him in this very intimate way, because, as 197 00:18:25.470 --> 00:18:30.299 we all know, living our lives only in obedience to God is very, 198 00:18:30.339 --> 00:18:38.380 very hard, even impossible. Think about it really, consider and examine your 199 00:18:38.460 --> 00:18:42.609 lives at each and every point of the law of the ten commandments and ask 200 00:18:42.690 --> 00:18:48.890 yourself, am I obey or am I doing exactly what the Israelites did, 201 00:18:48.049 --> 00:18:52.730 exactly what the Jews did, and professing to be one who walks in the 202 00:18:52.769 --> 00:19:00.079 light and yet doing deeds of darkness? Believing things we ought not to believe, 203 00:19:00.119 --> 00:19:07.200 hiding things that they might not be exposed. We know from our lives 204 00:19:08.440 --> 00:19:14.470 the sin is always lurking around the corner, isn't it? Pride is always 205 00:19:14.549 --> 00:19:21.269 wanting to take us in an opposite direction. There are lusts, passions, 206 00:19:22.509 --> 00:19:30.500 misordered and disordered loves that pull us again and again and again into sin. 207 00:19:33.460 --> 00:19:37.930 What we see in the world is that people face this reality, the reality 208 00:19:38.210 --> 00:19:45.650 that sin is buried deep within them, that their consciences have a problem, 209 00:19:45.890 --> 00:19:52.730 that their souls are malformed, deformed. Some people just give up, don't 210 00:19:52.769 --> 00:19:59.400 they? Maybe you have a certain times you just give up and decide you're 211 00:19:59.400 --> 00:20:03.319 not even going to try. I know the rules, but honestly, I 212 00:20:03.480 --> 00:20:07.430 don't care. It's just too hard. I've wanted to maybe do something, 213 00:20:08.150 --> 00:20:15.309 but I want something else too. Have you ever wanted something so badly that, 214 00:20:15.430 --> 00:20:18.549 though you knew with a hundred percent clarity that this was the wrong thing 215 00:20:18.750 --> 00:20:26.380 to do? What you're going to do, you didn't that it and you 216 00:20:26.420 --> 00:20:33.579 do it anyways, even when the consequences of sin are right there, right 217 00:20:33.619 --> 00:20:38.529 around the corner. You know that if I do this thing, I very 218 00:20:38.650 --> 00:20:48.250 likely will lose my job, lose my marriage, hurt my children, and 219 00:20:48.410 --> 00:20:55.599 yet there you are doing it. That's this power of the flesh. It 220 00:20:55.839 --> 00:21:00.200 is very powerful in such a way that scripture tells us that we cannot merely 221 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:06.509 acknowledge it, but required to be at war with it, to put it 222 00:21:06.589 --> 00:21:11.710 to death. And some don't do that. They simply give up. They 223 00:21:11.750 --> 00:21:15.869 stopped trying, and we meet people like this. We've been people like this, 224 00:21:17.670 --> 00:21:19.380 people that just don't care and they're going to do what they want to 225 00:21:19.420 --> 00:21:26.259 do. Others don't go quite so far. Instead, they don't live their 226 00:21:26.380 --> 00:21:33.970 lives in open rebellion, but they they pretend. They send just as much, 227 00:21:33.049 --> 00:21:37.369 but they try to cover it up, they try to convince themselves in 228 00:21:37.450 --> 00:21:41.089 all kinds of ways that they're okay. That some people, some of us, 229 00:21:41.890 --> 00:21:45.490 we lower God standards and we say, well, yeah, life is 230 00:21:45.690 --> 00:21:49.960 hard and complicated, it's not all black and white, surely this will excuse 231 00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:56.119 away my sin. Or, if we don't lower the God's standard, we 232 00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:59.599 raise up our own righteousness and we say, well, I know this thing 233 00:21:59.680 --> 00:22:02.589 is bad, but look at all these other great things I've done this week. 234 00:22:02.630 --> 00:22:07.150 I was so nice to her yesterday and I help that guy at work 235 00:22:07.269 --> 00:22:11.029 we think of all these various ways in which we really extended and maybe dead 236 00:22:11.150 --> 00:22:18.980 truly extend ourselves. But really will one or two decent and human acts cover 237 00:22:19.019 --> 00:22:25.180 up all the ways in which we have destroyed others, hurt others, ways 238 00:22:25.259 --> 00:22:32.049 in which we find ourselves entirely unable to repair a relationship, to bring healing 239 00:22:33.490 --> 00:22:38.529 even in our own souls? Or if we don't pretend that God standards are 240 00:22:38.609 --> 00:22:42.369 lower than they are or that we're better than we are, we just sort 241 00:22:42.369 --> 00:22:48.440 of try to wash away the whole problem. We think that we can cover 242 00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:53.960 it up with sort of being involved in a system of religion. I go 243 00:22:55.079 --> 00:23:00.829 to church every Sunday. I look Nice, not too nice, I have 244 00:23:00.950 --> 00:23:06.390 a Bible, I know some hymns, maybe even some from memory. I 245 00:23:06.509 --> 00:23:11.509 can dry name drop of theologian or two. I'm checking the right boxes, 246 00:23:11.549 --> 00:23:15.900 I'm doing the right things. People know that I'm serious. But is it 247 00:23:17.099 --> 00:23:23.019 real? Does it touch the heart? Does it translate into action, or 248 00:23:23.299 --> 00:23:26.890 is it all just a Sunday dress that gets taken off as soon as you 249 00:23:26.930 --> 00:23:34.930 get home? Self sacrifice, I commitment. Love with all of your heart, 250 00:23:36.089 --> 00:23:38.130 with all of your mind, with all of your soul, with all 251 00:23:38.250 --> 00:23:45.519 of your strength. That's what God requires. And if you're a Christian who 252 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:49.319 has this law written on your hearts, that the Holy Spirit has worked in 253 00:23:49.400 --> 00:23:55.400 your lives, you have two things going on simultaneously within you. On the 254 00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:59.829 one hand, this deep love for the law. Yes, that is what 255 00:24:00.029 --> 00:24:03.990 I want, I love it, I desire it, I want to be 256 00:24:03.190 --> 00:24:07.509 that, I want to please God, and yet, at the same time, 257 00:24:07.109 --> 00:24:11.339 this sense of I am not doing that, and that hurts so bad 258 00:24:14.099 --> 00:24:19.140 and you feel guilty and ashamed. When we feel these things, when we 259 00:24:19.299 --> 00:24:26.410 feel the weight of the law, when we see how tightly sin is wound 260 00:24:26.609 --> 00:24:33.009 around us, wound around our hearts, that's when we are to call on 261 00:24:33.210 --> 00:24:44.079 God and to say I can't do this, so help me, I have 262 00:24:44.279 --> 00:24:48.680 nowhere else to turn. My friend next to me, my brother, my 263 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:55.309 friends, My Enemies, they're in the same position that I am. The 264 00:24:55.829 --> 00:25:00.710 governments that we make, the communities that we organize, the plan ends that 265 00:25:00.829 --> 00:25:07.069 we go after, it's all organized by the same sinning people. We need 266 00:25:07.299 --> 00:25:18.180 something that's different, something that's truly holy, something that's without impurities, something 267 00:25:18.299 --> 00:25:27.170 that is righteous and good in every aspect. And that's why God, in 268 00:25:27.250 --> 00:25:34.369 all of His grace, offers US Jesus. He gives us himself in the 269 00:25:34.450 --> 00:25:40.839 son of God, who dies on a cross, not to just show us 270 00:25:40.920 --> 00:25:48.000 how bad sin is, which it certainly does, but to forgive our sins, 271 00:25:48.799 --> 00:25:55.990 to be a sacrifice for sins, to endure the wrath and condemnation of 272 00:25:56.150 --> 00:26:00.190 God for all these things that we've been talking about, to take the guilt 273 00:26:00.349 --> 00:26:06.339 and the shame that we feel in our hearts and to heal it and to 274 00:26:06.539 --> 00:26:14.859 say it's okay, not because your sins okay, but because I've taken care 275 00:26:14.980 --> 00:26:22.769 of your sin problem and I declare that you are justified. Now, in 276 00:26:22.930 --> 00:26:27.690 my sight, as one who has put their faith in God through the a 277 00:26:27.809 --> 00:26:33.960 son on the cross, trusting in him and in his gracious promises, you 278 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:38.359 don't stand before God is one who is burdened down by all this guilt and 279 00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:45.240 shame and sin. You stand boff before God, is one who has been 280 00:26:45.359 --> 00:26:52.309 washed and cleansed. That's what we believe. When we believe in Jesus, 281 00:26:52.670 --> 00:27:00.750 we're believing in the sacrifice of another to take care of our sin problem and 282 00:27:00.950 --> 00:27:07.259 to make religion, which is the worship of God, as centered in Jesus 283 00:27:07.299 --> 00:27:12.980 Christ and seeking to live our lives in a way that is obedient to him. 284 00:27:12.980 --> 00:27:18.490 And it takes all of that. And it's not just US standing alone 285 00:27:18.490 --> 00:27:22.369 with the law, but it's US standing in Christ, who has freed us 286 00:27:22.410 --> 00:27:26.890 from the burden of the law so that we can be set free to do 287 00:27:27.049 --> 00:27:33.359 it, to love it, and even in our sin and even in our 288 00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:38.680 imperfections, he continues to be there, interceding for us, praying for us, 289 00:27:41.720 --> 00:27:49.150 cleansing us, making us holy. If we don't turn to this Jesus, 290 00:27:49.190 --> 00:27:55.670 this one who has been given to us by God, where are you 291 00:27:55.829 --> 00:28:02.180 going to turn? I asked that in all seriousness. If you're not going 292 00:28:02.299 --> 00:28:07.779 to rest in this savior that has been given to you by the God who 293 00:28:07.819 --> 00:28:12.569 also gave the law, where are you going to go? Are you going 294 00:28:12.650 --> 00:28:21.009 to ignore the problem? Are you going to just keep feeling miserable and ashamed 295 00:28:21.289 --> 00:28:26.170 and guilty? Are you going to just try harder? Maybe one more crack 296 00:28:26.210 --> 00:28:29.079 at it, maybe one more week, and you'll finally get it together? 297 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:36.480 No, you won't. It's going to be the same old story again. 298 00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:41.910 My friends, there's nowhere else to turn but to Jesus, and that's not 299 00:28:42.029 --> 00:28:48.230 a grin and barrick kind of message. It's not just a thing that we 300 00:28:48.349 --> 00:28:51.990 have to do because there's nowhere else like Jesus is a dead end or something. 301 00:28:52.430 --> 00:28:56.619 He's the doorway to eternal life. He's the way that we go through 302 00:28:56.619 --> 00:29:02.579 so that we might enjoy all the blessings and promises of God, and he 303 00:29:02.660 --> 00:29:07.980 gives it to us all freely. Come, he says, without money, 304 00:29:07.619 --> 00:29:18.450 without righteousness, without anything, just come to me. This is the good 305 00:29:18.529 --> 00:29:22.650 news of our Savior. May God help us to believe it. Let's pray