Bad News Given with Great Love

Father, we know that if you have hard things to say to us,

you do not speak to us because you desire to belittle us,

shame us, insult us, diminish us, or denigrate us,

but that you do it, Father, because your love is unfailing,

that you, Father, are the unfailing God of love.

And so, Father, we know that even your hard words are spoken with love.

So we ask, Father, that you help us to trust you as we hear these words.

We ask, Father, that you help us to dive deep into these words,

knowing that it is you who speaks,

you who sent your Son to die upon the cross to redeem us,

so that we, by faith in Jesus, can become your child by adoption and grace.

Father, help us to plunge deep into your word and have your word plunge deep into us

so that our lives will bear fruit for your glory.

And this we ask in Jesus' name, your Son and the only Savior, our Savior.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Amen.

So, you know, sometimes I have to come up with a story to try to get your attention right off the beginning,

but how can you beat, no one understands, no one does anything good, no one seeks God.

So, just imagine trying to explain that to your co-workers.

Imagine trying to explain that if it came over the loudspeaker at your work.

George believes that no one does good, no one understands, no one seeks God.

Ask George to explain it to you.

And probably we would go like this, wondering how on earth it got put on the loudspeaker.

And some of you are saying,

George, I'm not even thinking about how I'd explain it to my co-workers.

I don't know how I'd explain it to another Christian.

It seems pretty hardcore, a hardcore text.

It's one of the advantages, by the way, of preaching through books of the Bible,

because I confess to you that in my flesh, I would probably never pick this text,

because I'm a Canadian male.

And I'm a Canadian male, and, you know, I like to be liked,

and, you know, I naturally try to think of what could encourage,

or something like that.

I've never picked this text.

And so, it's one of the reasons why I preach through books of the Bible,

because it's good for us to hear the Bible,

and to hear those parts and bits that we wouldn't normally turn to,

or that we would quickly skip over.

So, what on earth is going on?

Andrew, could you put up Romans 1, 16 to 17 for me, please?

Now, remember, I said that everything in the book of Romans is all,

these two verses basically summarize everything in the book.

So, every time you come, if you go back, and if you're in a Bible study,

and you're trying to study the book of Romans,

and you're trying to figure out what's going on in the text,

it's always going to be helpful if you go back and you look at this text,

because it's going to help you to maybe at least try to say,

okay, this text somehow is fitting into this.

So, could you say this text with me out loud, please?

For I am not ashamed of the gospel,

for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,

to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.

As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.

So, the problem we have with this text, Romans 3, 1 and 20,

keep in mind that, you'd say, well, George, that's a big jump.

From what that's saying, it seems like it's a very big jump to this.

In fact, George, how is it that we can even understand that?

Doesn't Romans 3 sort of contradict Romans 1, 16 to 17?

It says no one understands,

but it sort of implies that we can understand Romans 1, 16 to 17.

And so, it seems like a bit of a contradiction.

And here's the thing that if you sort of think about it for a second,

that the problem isn't that we think that everybody only tells the truth all the time,

or that people only speak, they only speak what's good,

they only do good things.

Like, none of us believe that that happens all of the time.

But the problem is that when it seems as if, you know,

if the text had said, you know,

some of you do good things sometimes and bad things other times,

we'd probably be pretty fine with it.

And some of you understand things sometimes,

and some of you don't understand things other times.

I mean, that's what my wife says to me all the time,

and she's correct, you know.

Sometimes I just don't understand, don't get it.

And so, that's part of the problem with the text.

But as we start to look at, we're going to look at the text,

Romans 3, 1 to 20, turn to it in your Bibles.

But before we do that, I want to suggest to you

something that's important to keep in mind as we go through.

It's very common in educational theory.

My guess is that if you go to get a teaching degree

at the University of Ottawa,

that if you study psychology, if you study sociology,

that even many political philosophies,

if you listen to many spiritualities,

if you go and you were to go to chapters

and get books on spirituality,

that many, many people in our culture

tell us that we essentially are good.

That who we are is fundamentally good.

Why is it that we don't get as upset with that

as we do with Romans 3?

Like, why is it that we only get bothered

with a text that seems to be extreme in one direction?

Like, shouldn't we be bothered with people

who seem to talk in extreme ways in both directions?

Like, why is it that that type of extreme

that we're all fundamentally good

doesn't bother us as much as Romans 3 bothers us?

Like, what does that say about me?

What does it say about you?

Well, let's read the text.

Romans 3, 1 to 20, and we'll begin at the first verse.

Then what advantage has the Jew,

or what is the value of circumcision?

Just pause here before we go any further.

Those of you who were here last week,

you might remember that I talked about how

to get the full oomph of the text,

you need to do something to make the text contemporary.

It's a completely valid move.

And so take out the word Jew and put Anglican.

And maybe some of you said,

yeah, yeah, that's a good thing,

because Anglicans, they don't know anything.

They never do good things, and they don't understand.

So if that's the case,

if you come from a Pentecostal background,

put in Pentecostal.

If you come from a Baptist background,

put in Baptist.

If you come from an Associated Gospel background,

put in Associated Gospel.

If you're even saying,

no, no, I know there's some Baptists.

No, no, then put Fellowship of Evangelical Baptists

in everywhere you say this text.

Or put in Reformed Presbyterian.

Like, put in the denomination

that you think is the best.

Okay?

And put that in.

And every time you see the word circumcision,

put in the word baptism.

And if you do that,

you're going to start to get a little bit

of the shock of the text.

So if I was at the Met,

I would say,

then what advantage has the person

who comes to the Met?

Whoa.

Okay?

So I'm going to use Anglican,

because it'd be rude for me

to pick another denomination.

Then what advantage has the Anglican?

Or what is the value of baptism?

Much in every way.

To begin with,

the Anglicans were entrusted

with the oracles of God.

Now, we actually always thought that,

but that's a separate story.

That's where it breaks down.

Much in every way,

to begin with,

the Anglicans were entrusted

with the oracles of God.

I just want to pause here for a second.

There's something that you,

I could have mentioned this every week.

And I could mention it every week

in the following weeks,

and I will mention it several other times,

because it's a really important lesson.

But it's easy for us not to notice it.

Andrew, if you could put up the first point.

The Bible is the oracles of God.

The Bible is the oracles of God.

Some of your translations

say the very words of God,

and that's a good equivalent,

because oracles is a bit,

isn't it like a high-tech company

or something like that?

And, you know,

but if you put down

the very words of God,

because in the ancient world,

you would go to an oracle,

because the oracle,

in a sense,

would, you know,

whenever you did

the proper sacrifices

and paid the proper money

and do whatever you had to do,

I don't know,

a thousand push-ups upside down

or something like that.

And then you would,

the oracle would speak,

and it was as if

the oracle disappeared,

and God,

the gods,

would use the oracle's mouth

to speak.

And so when the oracle was speaking,

every word you heard

wasn't hers,

it was God speaking.

And that's what the Bible

has always taught about itself.

That's what Jesus teaches as well.

So I,

what the text is claiming

is that right now in my hands,

I am holding the very words of God.

That's what I'm holding.

That's what the Bible teaches us

about itself.

It's not a fundamentalist idea.

It's not something that,

you know,

those who are sort of

very emergent saying,

you know,

that words are a problem

and don't we know

that there's, you know,

issues around words

and it's a modernist idea

to say things like that.

It's not a modernist idea.

It's completely and utterly

not a modernist idea.

And all the way through

the book of Romans,

Paul is always saying,

it is written,

it is written,

it is written,

it is written.

In other words,

he's saying,

I'm quoting something

that comes from God

that's authoritative

that you've got to understand.

Every word is important.

The Bible is the oracles of God.

Now, some of you,

before we get back to reading,

some of you say,

George,

you've actually just made

the problem worse.

I know,

I'm going to do that.

I'm going to make it

as hard as I can, okay?

But you're actually,

George,

you're making the problem

way, way, way, way worse.

Because you see,

George,

if you just were more nuanced

and more enlightened,

you could say,

well, the Bible

isn't the word of God,

it contains the word of God.

And that means

that some parts of the Bible

are just culturally relative.

And it just reflects

a lack of proper

intellectual development

and intellectual formation.

It just,

and it means you can

just sort of say,

well, you know,

you know,

back in those days,

they just really talked

really, really hard.

And really what Paul is saying,

really what the Bible

is saying is that

sometimes you don't

do good things.

You know,

and so George,

by saying what you just said,

now you're making it sound

as if God,

God,

is just another one

of the long line

of people

who puts me down.

Now you're saying

that God is just as bad

as my dad

who told me

that I was always

going to be stupid

and that I would never

amount to anything.

Now you're making God

sound like

he's just like

my elementary teacher

or my coach in school

or my boss

or, you know,

that just always

putting me down.

And George,

you've actually made

the matter worse.

I don't think I have.

But, well,

is God just like that?

Is that what God is like?

Is God just like

another one

of a long line

of people

who tell us

that we are a failure

that will never

amount to anything,

that everything about us

is deeply flawed,

and that eventually

people will see

through our veneer

in our front

to realize

just how big

a failure

we really are.

Is that what God,

is that actually

God speaking to us?

Well,

let's continue

at verse 2

and we'll keep reading.

Go back to verse 2.

Much in every way.

That's,

remember,

what vanishes

have to be an Anglican?

Much in every way.

To begin with,

the Anglicans

were entrusted

with the oracles of God,

the very words of God.

What if some

were unfaithful?

That's Anglicans.

Hard to believe.

I'm just joking.

Does their faithlessness

nullify the faithfulness

of God?

By no means.

Let God be true,

though everyone

were a liar,

as it is written,

that you may be justified

in your words

and prevail

when you are judged.

That's referring to God.

But if our unrighteousness

serves to show

the righteousness

of God,

what shall we say?

That God is unrighteous

to inflict wrath on us?

I speak in a human way.

By no means.

For then,

how could God

judge the world?

But if,

through my lie,

God's truth

abounds to his glory,

why am I still

being condemned,

in other words,

found guilty,

as a sinner?

And why not do evil

that good may come,

as some people

slanderously charge us

with saying,

their condemnation,

in other words,

the verdict,

is just.

Now just sort of

pause here.

I'm going to,

I want to put up a point

and then I'll try to go

and see how this is actually

a very powerful text

that's telling us

the opposite of what

we emotionally feel

when we hear it.

If you could put up

the second point,

Andrew,

that would be a great help.

The real and living God

is unhindered,

faithful,

righteous,

and true,

so he speaks

and judges truly.

The real and living God,

not that God's

my imaginary friend,

okay,

the real God,

the God who really

does exist,

who really lives,

the real and living God

is unhindered.

I couldn't figure out

a way to put prevail

in there,

and then I got this idea

of using unhindered.

Nothing's going to

hinder him,

he's going to prevail.

He's unhindered,

he's faithful,

he's righteous,

he's true,

and so he speaks,

he speaks and judges

truly.

You know,

it's very interesting.

Parts of the book of Romans,

like a lot of the Bible,

so one of the things

about the word oracles,

by the way,

is that often the sayings

of the oracles were,

some of the sayings

of the oracles

would be very clear,

very obvious,

very easy for us

to understand,

and other parts

would be dark.

Not dark in terms

of being something evil,

but dark in the sense

of it's a little bit unclear,

you have to really

think about it

and meditate upon it.

And it's the same

with the book of Romans.

All of a sudden,

it's wham!

It's like,

you know,

in next week,

for all of sin

and fall short

of the glory of God,

it's like wham!

Very, very clear,

but still very, very deep.

But other parts

of the text,

it comes at you

sort of obliquely

and sideways.

And in fact,

these first eight verses

of the book of Romans

of chapter three

are coming at us sideways

because he does

a very, very interesting thing.

Later on in the book of Romans,

he's actually going to return

to this Q&A format.

He's going to actually

give a bit of a longer answer

to each of the types

of questions

that people have.

But he uses this Q&A format

to remind us

that we're dealing with God

and to teach us about God.

So go back.

So in verse two,

it's telling us

that God speaks,

that the God who exists speaks.

And look back at verse three.

What if some were unfaithful?

Does their faithlessness,

what?

Nullify the faithfulness of God.

In other words,

okay, who's God?

God is faithful.

We deal all the time

with people,

we deal all the time

with people

who don't keep their word,

who don't keep their promises,

who, you know,

break contracts,

break the law,

break marriages.

You know,

we all,

all of us maybe

have to deal with,

I don't know,

dads who abandon the family

or moms that abandon the family.

Like all of the time,

we're completely surrounded

by people who are faithless.

But God is never faithless.

We cannot project

our experience

of faithlessness

outside of ourselves

and even the fact

that we are often faithless.

We can't project that on God.

God is never faithless.

God is always faithful.

He keeps faith

with the human race.

Even when the human race

turned their back on him

and rebelled against him

and were faithless,

he always was faithful.

He was faithful

to human beings.

Nothing can stop him

from being faithful.

And then you keep on reading

and well,

it goes,

well, for by no,

you know,

so that's what he focuses on

is who is God?

God is faithful.

And then,

you know,

you go on

and you read verse 4

and it says,

by no means let God be true,

though everyone were a liar,

as it is written,

that you may be justified

in your words

and prevail when you are judged.

And some of your translations

might have different words there

and say prevail in judgment.

And that's because

in the original language,

it can either mean prevail

when people are judging you, God,

or that your judgments will prevail.

And in Greek,

it can mean both things

at the same time.

And so,

but in English,

you have to put one or the other.

But in both cases,

what's it telling us about God?

It's telling us

that God will prevail,

that God is true,

that God is in and of himself

the true,

and he only speaks the truth,

and that his,

he will prevail.

He is unhindered,

as I put it,

because I couldn't figure out

how to put prevail

in the sentence.

And make it be

remotely good grammar.

He is unhindered.

Nothing will hinder him

from prevailing.

That's who we're talking about

with your objection.

And then you keep on reading

and you look at verse 5.

But if our unrighteousness

serves to show

the righteousness of God,

who's God?

He's always right.

He's right in terms

of how he deals,

the Father,

the Son,

and the Holy Spirit.

There's a rightness,

a meekness,

a fitness about that

that's always right,

and they do the right thing.

And his relationship

to the creation,

we're always going to see

that it's right.

It's the right relationship,

and he does the right thing,

that God is right.

And he's always right.

And nothing can hinder him

from being right.

Nothing can hinder him.

And that's who we're talking about.

Nothing can hinder him

from being right.

And then you sort of go down

to verse 6,

by no means.

For then how could God

judge the world?

And the God who does exist,

he makes moral judgments

because he in and of himself

is good.

And he judges.

He's completely and utterly,

forever,

unhinderedly opposed to evil.

Unhinderedly opposed to evil.

We might give up

and give in

to somebody who's evil.

I mean,

the West is having

a horrible time

dealing with Putin

from Russia.

We're hindered.

We give up.

We say,

well, it's just,

you know,

okay,

it's just Syria.

Like,

let's just,

you know,

forget about it.

It's one of the next things.

But God is never like that.

He's never hindered.

He never stops.

Nothing can stop him.

He's always opposed.

And so this text,

it says that the real

and living God

is unhindered,

faithful,

righteous,

and true.

So he speaks

and judges truly.

And why is this

so significant

with all of these objections?

Even though Paul

later on will give,

you know,

in chapter 6

and chapter 8

and chapter 9

and 10 and 11,

he'll talk about

some of these objections

a little bit more.

But why is this

so significant for us?

Here's an example.

Some of you know

that we,

you know,

we were part,

at one time,

we were part of

the Anglican Church of Canada

and because we believed

that to be faithful

to Jesus,

to be faithful to the Bible,

to be faithful to the gospel,

we had to separate.

And so we did.

And I had a,

I was on the committee

that was to write

the bylaws

for our new denomination.

I know God has

a sense of humor,

but I was part of that

to help write the bylaws

for this new denomination.

And one of the things

that people were always saying,

every time we had

some type of public meeting

to, you know,

where the bylaws were,

people would always get up

and say,

we got to write

the bylaws

in such a way

that what happened

to the Anglican Church of Canada

will never happen again.

And I felt like

such a loser

because I would always say

that what you're asking for

is completely

and utterly impossible.

I mean,

the Anglican Church of Canada

had good bylaws.

It wasn't that

if you could have gone back

and tweaked the bylaws,

you would have fixed the problem.

You know,

the problem is

that there's human beings

in organizations.

Like, go figure.

In fact,

if you have a perfect organization

and they let you in,

it's no longer

a perfect organization.

If they let me in,

it's no longer

a perfect organization.

You're seeking

for the perfect church?

Don't go to it

because when you go,

you'll make it imperfect.

Okay?

So just get over it

and look for an imperfect church.

You'll be far happier.

Not radically imperfect,

but, you know,

within limits, you know.

And so I would tell people

over and over,

we're going to try to get

as wise as bylaws

as we possibly can,

but if you're expecting us

to get a bylaw

that will get around

the people that you experience

who can always find a loophole,

who can always

sweet talk their way

out of a problem

so that the bylaws

don't apply to them.

And not only do we all know

some of those people,

but we are some of those people.

Right?

You know,

we, you know,

sweet talk, you know.

But here's the thing.

So all of these objections,

they're all connected to this.

Well, what if this person does this?

How's God going to answer this?

Or what if we do this?

Or what do we do that?

Or how's that going to work?

That can't possibly work.

And all the way through,

Paul just goes to say,

one second here.

We're not just dealing with,

like, we're not dealing

with bank machines.

We're not dealing

with computer software,

which is supposed

to be rational,

but that's a separate story.

We're not dealing

with just a whole process.

We're dealing with God.

God is the difference maker

in this.

And the God

that really does exist,

he's only good.

And he's unhindered.

He will prevail.

And he's only true.

And he does speak

and he does judge.

And at the end of the day,

at the end of the day,

all the sweet talking,

all the loop,

they don't work

because you're dealing

with God.

Our confidence

is in God.

Not our institution,

not our bylaws,

not our denomination,

not our church,

not any human thing.

Our confidence,

ultimately,

how this is going to work,

how can it possibly work out?

Because God exists.

That's the bottom line.

You know,

later on I'm going to give you

a few other little things

to help make it clear,

but the bottom line

is it's God.

Answered, God.

If it was,

if it was,

the answer is

the Anglican Church

or the Associated Gospel

or the Pentecost Assemblies

of Canada,

then you have a problem.

But if the answer is God,

there's hope.

And that's what Paul's setting up.

Now some of you might say,

okay, that's,

that's,

you just dealt with the easy part

of the text.

And you haven't dealt

with the hard part of the text.

And the hard part of the text,

George,

is no one,

no one is righteous.

No, not one.

No one understands.

No one sees.

That's the hard part

of the text, George.

And you actually still have almost,

you've made it a little bit now.

Maybe,

maybe you've sort of shown me

that God isn't like the,

like my father

who basically always treated me

like I was stupid

and basically treated me

as if I wouldn't amount

to anything

and basically thought that

I,

I was just going to be a failure.

So maybe you've convinced me

that that's not what God is like,

but it still doesn't,

is that what you've just painted

about God?

Amen to that,

this text?

I don't know,

George.

Pretty,

pretty,

pretty hard.

And in fact,

some of you might say,

George,

not only that,

but I can easily prove

that the Bible is wrong.

Because two plus two equals four.

I understand that.

Must be wrong.

Well,

let's look.

Verse nine.

What then?

Are we Anglicans

any better off?

Remember,

the same question earlier,

what advantage?

A very similar question.

He said they have all the advantages

in the world.

I mean,

you know,

even the worst Anglican church

in the world,

they read the Bible.

Sunday in,

Sunday out.

Might not be all the Bible,

might leave some of the tricky parts up,

but they can't get rid of all the tricky parts.

They read the Bible.

What then?

Are we Anglicans

any better off?

No,

not at all.

For we have already charged

that all,

both Anglicans

and the rest of the world

are under sin.

As it is written,

notice that phrase again,

as it is written,

it is written.

None is righteous,

no,

not one.

No one understands,

no one seeks for God.

And by the way,

as we're going through this,

you know how sometimes I say

this is a perfectly good translation,

but you know,

in the English,

there's this,

the original language

is other nuance.

There are no other nuances here.

This is a really,

really,

really good translation

of the original language.

I'm not going to give you

some little loophole.

I'm not going to give myself

a loophole.

All have turned aside.

Together they have become worthless.

No one does good,

not even one.

Their throat is an open grave.

Just pause here.

In my,

the church I was at before this,

I think it was the first funeral

that I did.

I was going to go to this little tiny,

I did a funeral,

and then we had to do the burial

about 20 kilometers,

25 kilometers away,

and so I didn't want to drive

as part of the funeral procession,

so I drove ahead of the funeral procession

to get there,

and I was there like,

you know,

10 or 15 minutes,

you know,

before the rest of the procession,

and I walked up

to have a look at the grave,

and I discovered

that the reason they put

that artificial grass over it

is that sometimes

the hole is bigger than it looks,

and to my horror,

I fell into the grave.

I fell right into the grave,

and there was no casket

at the bottom either,

which in that case

would have been a bit gross,

but at least it would have helped me

get out of the grave,

because I discovered

that the soil was sandy,

so it couldn't go down

straight like this.

It sort of was angled

with sandy soil like this,

and they had a big long part

of green grass to cover it.

Now I understood

why the funeral,

if you've ever been a pallbearer,

they say,

make sure you walk on the planks,

because you don't actually know

where the edge of the grave is,

and I was horrified

that they would come

and find me in the grave.

So I crawled out,

full of brown dust

all over my black clericals.

I went off into the bush

and was able to get most of it off.

Whether I got all of it off,

they were far too polite

to say anything.

I pulled the green grass over it

and tugged it a little bit further,

because I'd made it even farther.

The point of all this

is when it says here,

your throat is an open grave,

it means that you've thrown

a dead body in there,

lots of dead bodies,

and not covered it up.

In other words,

it's a really harsh saying.

It's not an empty hole

to put a body in,

it's a hole that have dead bodies in,

that are now doing

what happens to dead bodies naturally.

Continue reading.

They use their tongues,

their throat is an open grave,

they use their tongues

to deceive.

The venom of asps,

it's a poisonous snake,

is under their lips.

Their mouth is full of curses

and bitterness.

Their feet are swift

to shed blood.

In their paths

are ruin and misery,

and the way of peace

they have not known.

There is no fear of God

before their eyes.

Then he stops quoting the Bible,

and he says,

now we know that

whatever the law,

the Bible says,

it speaks to those

who are under the Bible,

so that every mouth

may be stopped,

and the whole world

may be held accountable

to God.

For by doing,

for by the works

of the Bible,

no human being

will be justified

in his sight,

since through the Bible

comes knowledge of sin.

So,

it's a hard text.

And you know one of the things

that makes the text

even harder?

this isn't a text

written

to all those

really,

really bad people

who,

over the last week,

all they've done

is tried to figure out

how to,

how to maybe

engage in human trafficking

and sell drugs

and sell guns,

and when they're not

figuring out

how to make a lot of money

from this,

they're just drinking

and cheating on their wives

and doing drugs

and,

and that's all

they're doing.

The Bible text

isn't speaking to them

because they don't give a hoot

what the Bible says.

Speaking to people

who come to an

associated gospel church

or a Pentecostal church

or an Anglican church.

Speaking to good people.

Speaking to the sort of people

that you hope

move in next door

as your neighbor

because they won't be

playing loud,

heavy metal music

at three in the morning.

But they'll water your plants.

You'll feel safe

giving them your key.

That's who this text

is primarily talking to.

And on one hand,

it addresses those other people

that I first described,

you know,

the gun running

and the human trafficking.

It's addressing them as well,

but it's,

in a sense,

it's the spotlight

is on you and me,

people who we hope

were pretty good neighbors.

And the gun runners

and the human traffickers,

we're hearing it

as we look on,

as God speaks

to people

who go to the Anglican church.

As a way to get

into the story,

I'll tell you,

I'm going to adapt

the story that I heard.

It's a famous story

that Charles Spurgeon,

a famous 19th century

preacher told.

Sort of a different context,

but it works

in this context.

You know,

there used to be

a king

and he was a very,

very wise and just king

and about once a week

he would go down this road

and sometimes

when he went along the road

he would go with his sons

and daughters,

sometimes with his wife

and sons and daughters,

often with his nobles.

And there was this old couple

that were farmers.

They had a tiny little plot

of land

right along where

the road would go.

And this old farm woman

who worked there,

when she'd see the king

going by about once a week,

she'd start to look forward

to it because she thought,

you know,

he is such a good king.

He is such a great king.

She just so admired

the way that he dealt

with his sons

and dealt with his daughters

and the way he talked

to his wife

and the way he was dressed

and just the way he wrote

and the way he was polite

to her

and the way he was

with his nobles

and what she heard

about how he was running

the country.

And she was just really,

really,

her heart went out to him.

She just was so glad

that he was the king.

And one day,

off in the distance,

she could hear

the thump of the horses

that he was coming

and she was harvesting

her carrots.

And she got this really,

this bunch of carrots

and they were really

spectacular carrots,

really good.

And she thought,

you know what,

I'm going to give them

to the king.

I bet he's the sort of king

that would accept

the gift of carrots

from somebody like me.

So she totters out

into the center of the road

and sure enough,

as the king is coming along,

he doesn't get all angry

and mad and say,

what on earth are you doing

getting in my way?

Don't you know I have

important business to do?

Don't you know I have

important people to see

and you're none of those things?

No,

he stops

and she just says,

you know,

I just so admire you.

I just so,

I just,

I just,

I know it's not much,

but these carrots

are really nice.

Would you take them

from me as a gift?

And the king

is touched

and he sends his son down

to get the carrots

and bring them back

and he's touched

and he said,

you know,

that's your little plot

land right there.

I've noticed you that,

you know.

I'd like to help you.

I'm going to give you

a hundred acres.

I happen to own

the land behind that.

I'm giving it to you.

You and your husband,

an extra hundred acres.

It's yours.

Thank you so much

for these carrots.

One of the nobles

is riding behind.

He thinks,

a hundred acres

for a bunch

of dirty carrots?

What will the king

give me

if I give him

a really good horse?

The king loves horses.

He knows horses

really well

and I have

this spectacular horse.

What will the king

give me

if I give him a horse?

So the next day

the king is out

amongst his stables

and the nobleman comes,

the knight comes,

bringing this spectacular horse

and the noble says,

you know,

I've always just admired

you as my king.

I'm so glad

I can be your knight

and I would just love

to give you this horse

as a gift.

And the king

takes the horse

and walks away

and he doesn't offer

the noble anything,

nothing at all.

And the king

pauses before he leaves

just like Columbo

used to do

and he pauses

before he leaves

and he says,

the woman

gave me the carrot

so I gave her

a reward

but you were

giving yourself

the horse.

You were giving

yourself

the horse.

In other words,

you gave that horse

not because you

wanted to give

anything to me

but you hoped

that I would give you

a lot more

than a hundred acres.

You were giving

yourself the gift.

So let's be honest

for a moment

when we look

at this text.

The fact of the matter

is that there's

nothing that we do

that does not involve

some tinge,

some smallest hint

of self-interest,

self-validation,

self-justification,

self-righteousness,

or self-glorification.

There is nothing

that we do

that doesn't have

even just the

teensiest,

weensiest,

tiniest bit

of self-interest

connected to it.

Nothing.

And we

don't really notice

that most of the time.

I mean,

some people

it's just really,

really obvious,

you know,

that they're just,

that's all about

self-justification,

self-glorification,

and it's all about

them getting that

promotion and

turns us off.

But the fact of the

matter is,

is that every single

thing that we do,

there's always the

tiniest hint of

something about

self-glorification,

self-justification,

self-righteousness.

And that tiny little bit

doesn't sort of matter

that much in most of

our human interactions,

but the fact of the

matter is,

is that God's playing

the long game

and God's a far way off

and tiny,

tiny,

tiny little differences,

when the distance

gets a bit long,

it does make a difference.

If you were to

program a plane,

and you're going to

fly a plane from

Los Angeles to

San Francisco,

it's not that far,

but if you were to

get your calculation

just one-tenth of

one percent off

to the left,

the plane would land

in the Pacific Ocean.

It wouldn't even

hit San Francisco.

That's just one-tenth

of one percent.

And if you were even

one-thousandth of

one percent off,

you still wouldn't

hit the runway,

but you'd land

outside of the runway

and you'd die.

One-thousandth of

one percent.

And from that

distance,

you're not

hitting God.

Because you see,

the whole thing here

in this text,

it's all connected

to our relationship

with God.

That's the fundamental

context within which

Paul is writing.

And that's what,

but it's actually

saying something

even harder for us

to hear and understand.

That compared to the

whole trajectory

of our life,

that's why the text

is saying what it says.

If you go back

to verse 9 and 10,

there's something

really significant

in 9 and 10

that we skip over

and we don't really,

and I have to confess,

when I first read this text,

it didn't jump out at me.

Look at 9 and 10.

What then?

Are we Anglicans

any better off?

No, not at all.

For we have already

charged that all,

both Jews and Greeks,

are under sin.

As it is written,

none is righteous,

no, not one.

And this idea

that no one is righteous

and under sin

is the same type of idea.

And under sin

is a perfectly good way

to translate it,

but it has a political

connotation.

It has a jurisdictional

understanding.

That in a sense

that we're under something,

just like in a sense

we're in Canada,

we're under Canadian

jurisdiction,

that this is sort of how,

you know,

we learn the customs

of Canada,

we're in Canada

under Canadian government

jurisdiction authority,

and in the same way

it's saying that

we're under sin,

that we're in sin

in the same type of way.

And this not being righteous,

righteous is a place word.

It means in terms of

in the right relationship,

in the right place,

in the right connection.

And it means that

we're not in the right

connection with God,

the right place with God.

And that's what

the text means.

And so here's the analogy.

Andrew, if you could

put up the third point.

It does not,

I'm adapting something

that Dietrich Bonhoeffer

said in a completely

different context,

but it's relevant here.

It does not matter

if I am walking

in the right direction,

if the train I am on

is heading

in the wrong direction.

That's what it means

by under something.

I'm on a train.

I'm on a train.

And it does not matter

if I'm walking

in the right direction,

if the train I am on

is heading

in the wrong direction.

So if I'm on,

you know,

in Europe they have

these trains that go

hundreds and hundreds

of kilometers an hour

and if the train's going

hundreds and hundreds

of kilometers an hour

this way,

there's a long train.

It doesn't matter

if I'm walking

in the right way

on a train

and I'm walking

maybe like this

with my goodness

in the right direction

but the train

is taking me

away from the cross

and away from God

at hundreds of kilometers

now.

That's what this text,

that's how the text

begins.

George,

you shouldn't be

thinking about this

as if,

you know,

you're a really good

swimmer,

you're a really good

walker,

you're really good

at getting places

because what you

don't understand,

George,

is you're on a train

going in the wrong,

you're born,

every human being

is born on a train

going the wrong direction

at hundreds of kilometers

an hour.

Everybody's born

on that train.

It doesn't matter

if you're a soccer mom

in Canada,

it doesn't matter

if you're a bishop

in the Anglican Church

of Canada,

it doesn't matter

if you're the Pope,

it doesn't matter

if you are the guy

or the gal

who's involved

in human trafficking

and gun running

and meth production.

Every human being

is born on a train

going the wrong direction.

No one's born

on any other train.

And one of the,

that's one of the things

actually you see

that's humanly

in fact the case

is that it's often

the case

that people

who are really involved

in bad things,

messed up things,

like it's often people

who become

really severe alcoholics

that they come

to a point in time

when they realize

their life is completely

and utterly unmanageable

and they've got to call out

for a higher power.

And it's often

our goodness

that keeps us

from God.

Because if we're focusing

on how good

we can jog

along that train

in the right direction,

we don't notice

that the train's going

hundreds of kilometers

an hour

in the wrong direction.

Can you put up

the fourth point,

Andrew,

the final,

well,

almost the final point.

The last idol

in my heart

is self-righteousness.

No good thing

that I have

or do

has a hold

on God.

None.

You know that,

if you were here

early enough

to hear Joey's

second hymn,

you know that,

all that old

evangelical hymnody

about our righteous acts

are like filthy rags.

That's where this is

coming from.

That's what they understand.

That's what some

of those old,

and not all old hymns,

because lots of old hymns

are crap.

He did not walk

in England's

verdant lands,

that favorite

Anglican hymn.

No,

that wasn't him

in 18th century England.

He's Jewish,

okay?

But some of those

old hymns,

they got it.

They got it

that our goodness

is the final barrier

that keeps us

from God,

because the fact

of the matter is

I know watching

pornography is wrong.

I know cheating

on my taxes is wrong.

I know driving

50 kilometers an hour

over the speed limit

is wrong.

I know that all

these things are wrong.

And the irony is

that even as I start

to get rid of those

bad things in my life,

inwardly I think,

boy, I'm doing a good job

at getting rid of those things,

you know?

And this whole idea

that not a single

good thing

that I has

matters

is profoundly

unsettling to me.

It makes me feel

profoundly

naked

and exposed.

Surely, God,

you'll let me hold on

to these couple

of good things

as I come to you.

Surely,

these things matter

to you, God.

Surely,

these things are

what's making

my life manageable.

The last idol,

the last idol

in my heart

isn't pornography

or alcohol

or lying

or the last idol,

the one that will

never give up

but for grace

is self-righteousness.

No good thing

that I have

or do

has a hold

on God none.

Good works,

good doctrine

can keep us

from God.

And that's,

by the way,

remember I said earlier

why is it

that when we hear

extreme talk

that we're all

basically good,

you may roll

our eyes,

but it doesn't

have that visceral

upsetness with it

as it does

when we read

Romans 3

and there's

this visceral upset

because the last idol

that we will let go of

is self-righteousness.

Andrew,

could you put up

the true final point

which is Romans 1,

16 to 17?

Could you put that up

and friends,

could you say this

with me out loud?

For I am not

ashamed of the gospel

for it is

the power of God

for salvation

to everyone

who believes,

to the Jew first

and also to the Greek.

For in the gospel

the righteousness

of God

is revealed

from faith

to faith

as it is written

the righteous

shall live

by faith.

My problem

isn't that I do

too many bad things

and not enough

good things,

my problem is

I'm on the wrong train

and I can't get off

that wrong train.

And the Bible

wants us to say

stop walking

the right direction

on the train

going the wrong direction

and you have to come

to that point

where you say

God,

only you can get me

off this train.

Only you can put me

on your train.

Only you can do it.

And if you don't do it,

I'm only going to end up

in the wrong direction.

I'm only going to end up

in the wrong place.

Only you.

Only you.

What is it?

I need God,

the power of God.

I need God

to act

with power

to take me

off the wrong train

and put me

on the right train.

And when I'm

on the right train,

I'm right with God.

And how do I

get that?

All I can do

is it's from faith

to faith.

It means that

everything,

it all is about

me coming to that moment.

When I was thinking

about this,

my little grandson,

Ruben,

when he was only

about two or three,

when he wanted

his Nana to pick him up,

he'd put his arms

way up like this

and his face way up

and he'd arch

his little back

and his whole being

was just calling

for his Nana

to pick him up.

And that's the image

I have when I think

of this text.

That's the beginning

and ending of faith,

faith to faith to faith

as you just arch your back

and you call out to God,

only God,

only you can save me

from my good things.

Only you can save me

from my bad things.

Only you can take me

from the wrong train

to the right train.

And as Paul's going to show

in Romans 12,

how you even live

a good life

completely and utterly changes.

Right?

Because, you know,

when you get on

the right train

and all of a sudden

you realize that

as you realize

you're in this right

relationship with God

that these bad things

you do,

they just don't fit.

And that you realize

that you just,

out of this gratitude

that God is taking you

from the wrong train

and putting you

on the right train,

that as the gospel

grips you,

there's a whole different

context to understand

why it is that you do

things that fit

with the train you're on

and the direction

you're going.

The whole psychology

of doing good

doesn't change right away

and it's never

a perfect change,

but it starts to change

as the gospel grips us.

But first,

you've got to get

God's effective power