Romans: The Moral One

I'm in trouble.

I need help.

About three days ago, one of my kids walked by me

and there was an odor emanating from their body.

And as any father would say, I said what I would normally say,

dude, you stink.

Go take a bath.

To which my wife responded to me and said,

you know, that's not very encouraging.

Think of a more encouraging way to say it.

And the only thing I can say is, take a bath.

This morning I woke up, and I wake up fairly early on Sundays,

and I was going out into the hallway,

and my youngest child walked out and had her arms open wide

and said, Dad, good morning.

I've worn these clothes for three days straight,

and I've slept in them every day.

What do I say?

I said, oh, that's great.

Get dressed for church today.

You know, sometimes in parenting, I just don't know what to do.

In some ways, my family was a little dysfunctional.

We weren't churchgoers per se.

And so when I try to reflect back today to then,

I don't get a lot of input of what I need to be doing.

Sundays was not a church day.

We worshiped ourselves.

Ourselves was God.

In my family's life, we didn't believe in God.

And so Sundays was the day that we slept in.

We went at 5 o'clock.

We went to this fried chicken place.

I don't know why it was always fried chicken,

but it was Pinson's fried chicken.

We ate fried chicken.

And then we caught up on homework.

At 6 o'clock every night, we watched the wonderful world of Disney

and watched the latest Disney, Huckleberry Finn,

or something going down the raft.

And then we took a bath.

Whether we wanted to or liked it or not,

we always took a bath.

I don't know what it is because I hated taking baths.

I mean, I just, I hated taking baths.

And I hated being clean as a kid.

And after the baths, my mom would literally line us up

because we were a military family.

You know, my dad was a pilot.

And we were just kind of like, I don't know,

sound of music or something like that.

We were in a line.

We had this inspection.

So we stuck our hands out.

My mom checked our fingernails and everything.

Then my mom checked behind our ears.

My mom always said the same thing.

Did you use soap?

And then she said, were there bubbles in the tub?

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles.

A lot of bubbles.

Because for some reason, my mom just thought bubbles meant being clean.

And if there weren't bubbles in the tub,

then you just weren't clean at all.

And so she would ask those same questions.

And usually we got sent back into the house

and we had to, or into the tub,

and we'd have to add more bubbles and get more soap and get clean again.

And I just hated it.

And I realize now growing up that probably every kid from the age of 1 to 16 hates,

they hate being clean.

And I find myself asking my kids the same questions that my parents ask me.

It's kind of like, you know, your parents say,

one day you're going to get a kid just like you are.

And then you're going to see.

And that happens sometimes.

Sometimes God gives us kids just like we are.

And so God gave me four kids just like I am.

And sometimes I check their fingernails and I check the back of their ears.

And the worst thing is when you check the belly button, right?

Because that's really humiliating, right?

Because you don't know what's growing down there at all.

And then I asked the question, did you use soap yet?

And were there a lot of bubbles?

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles.

Were there a lot of bubbles in the tub?

Yeah, okay, so you're clean.

And last week I had this conversation with one of my kids.

And I got to be very careful because three of the four are sitting here,

which I didn't know was going to happen,

which is the terrible thing about being a pastor, right?

Because your best illustrations are at home,

but you can't necessarily always use them.

But the kid looked at me and they were not very clean

because they had taken a bath two days ago

and they had played a lot of basketball.

And I said, do you, I said, all three of the kids play basketball, okay?

So you're not going to figure out who they are.

And I said, do you, you need to go get clean.

He goes, Dad, I'm clean.

I'm clean enough.

I mean, your standard for cleanliness is different than my standard for cleanliness.

I mean, everybody has different standards for cleanliness.

And my standard is good for me and I'm clean enough.

And I thought about that a lot.

But what does it mean to have standards of cleanliness?

What does it mean to be clean?

What does it mean to be right?

What does it mean to be good?

And I did some research.

And, you know, there are whole organizations and departments in the U.S. government

that deal with these ideas of cleanliness

and what is clean and what is good and what is right.

And so I did some research.

And so hopefully you didn't eat too much before you came here today.

But I did some research just to figure out what these standards are

and do we really have just many multiple standards or do we just have one standard?

The organization that I watched was the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

And you can go on their website.

It's pretty amazing.

It probably will freak you out.

You probably don't want to go on their website.

But you can go on their website and check out cleanliness standards for food.

I dare you.

Okay?

So I did that.

And I did it again.

So I was looking through this again.

I did it again.

I just couldn't believe it.

And so I want to read some of these standards for you

just so that we can figure out what is the standard for cleanliness?

What is the standard for being right?

What is the standard for being good?

And the U.S. FDA, that's a long thing, it says this.

In selling food to the public, okay, so this, I couldn't find a 100-gram container.

So this is a 200-gram container, okay?

So we're just going to use this as the illustration here.

So it's this 200-gram container.

It says, when selling food to the public, butter passes inspection

if it has four or less rat hairs per 100 grams.

So this thing right here has 200 grams.

So the only reason I'm holding this is because it passed inspection

because it only has eight rat hairs in it, okay?

So it has eight rat hairs per 100 grams.

Or if it has five or less whole insects in it.

If it's five or less whole insects in it, then the FDA says it's good.

If there's more than five, bad.

More than four rat hairs, bad.

But if it's less than four or four or five or less whole insects.

So in here, that means there's at least ten whole insects or eight rat hairs.

And the only reason I can handle this is because there's eight rat hairs.

And they sold it to me.

So I'm going to go home today and spread rat hair on my butter, my bread today.

Applesauce, which if you're a German family, man, I grew up, we just ate applesauce every meal.

I had something about Germans and applesauce.

Applesauce passes inspection if there are 15 or less insect heads per 100 grams.

And so if this is applesauce, this is actually cranberry sauce, which I'm addicted to cranberry sauce.

But if this was applesauce, the only reason I'm holding this is because it had 15 or less insect heads per 100 grams.

So there's 200 grams here.

That means there's at least 30 insect heads in here.

The question I had to ask myself is, what is it about heads?

What about the rest of the parts?

It doesn't say anything about the rest of the parts.

It just says heads, which I wonder.

So the only reason I'm holding this 200-gram jar is because there are 30 or less insect heads in it.

Coffee beans.

I don't know if you drink coffee today.

I walk by the Starbucks out there, and there's this sign there that says, brewing with excellence in care.

And so coffee beans, according to the FDA, they only fail inspection if 10% or more of the beans are insect infected.

So if 9% of the beans are insect infected, they sell it, and you make coffee today.

So what that sign should really say out there is brewing coffee with excellence in character in beans infected by less than 9%.

Because that's the truth.

That's the standard of cleanliness.

Peanut butter.

Okay, so every morning I just put a big slab of peanut butter on, and I just slap it on the bread, and it's my life.

Peanut butter is okay as long as it contains less than 30 insect parts per 100 grams.

So there's 100 grams in here.

So this morning I ate 30 insects, or at least their parts.

And according to the FDA, I am clean, I'm good, I'm good to go, and it's all great.

I probably should stop here, shouldn't I?

I mean, I thought about doing it with the Hong Kong government and all the standards and things like that,

but I figured maybe that would be taking it too far.

But what I've seen in my conversations with my kids and what I've seen in my conversations with the Internet over the FDA

is that cleanliness and rightness and what is just and what is good is dependent upon the person.

And it's not just about food, but what we see, if we're honest, that it's also about our words.

In our minds.

In our actions.

In our sexuality.

In our relationships.

In our hearts.

All these things, we determine what is clean, what is right, what is good in and of ourselves.

In our hearts.

And the passage says that we play games with ourselves.

I play games with myself.

I mean, I try to convince myself that I'm okay, that I'm really clean, I'm not that bad off.

I only have 10 bug heads per 100 grams.

Or at least I'm not as bad as that person.

Because that person is really, really bad.

I'm not as bad as they are.

And so if I get to heaven, and if there's a God, because if there is a God, then surely I'm going to get to heaven because I'm good.

God's just going to look at my life, and he's going to take my life through a little sieve.

And he's going to sieve out, or he's going to audit my life, or whatever profession you're in, he's going to audit it, or he's going to inspect it, or he's going to, the scripture says, he's going to judge it.

He's going to sieve it.

But he's going to sieve through my life, and he's going to find some junk there, but it's not going to be as bad as other people.

And God's going to say, Tobin, you're great.

Come on in.

Come on through.

I remember I was teaching in China in 1991.

And we're doing Christmas, and we're talking about the Bible and scripture.

And one of my students did a very daring thing.

I think that he was trying to trick me.

He said to me, will Mao be in heaven?

And I just, you know, I was like, whoa, what's, you know, who's listening, and what's going on, and what kind of party members are your parents?

And so being the good, evasive Christian that I am, I said, I don't know, what do you guys think?

And there was a lot of silence there.

And finally, one girl stood up, and she goes, I think he will, because Chairman Mao was 51% good.

Did you hear that?

He will, because Chairman Mao is 51% good, and 51% is good enough.

And I've thought about that a long time.

What is good enough?

What is right?

What is pure?

What is holy?

We're looking in the book of Romans.

We've gone through one chapter in two weeks.

So far, I think we have a slide for it on our screen.

So far, we have learned.

Now, whether we accept it or not, that's another thing between you and God.

But what we've learned, we've learned about Paul.

His name was Saul.

He was a Jew.

He was one of the most brilliant minds in the Old, New Testament time.

He was trained by the greatest teacher of the day, Gamaliel, in Hebrew Scripture.

He was a mover, and he was a shaker.

And on this road, as he was persecuting Christians, he met Jesus, the resurrected Jesus.

And he realized that he was doing the wrong thing, and he came to Christ.

He became a Christian.

We've learned about the gospel, and we said the gospel is just the good news.

The good news is that God saves dead, lost people.

We've learned that righteousness, righteousness means to be put into right standing.

It is both a legal and a relational term.

We learned, now again, whether we believe it or not,

we learned through Scripture that God created us.

He created us to worship and to serve him.

He created us to live unselfish lives.

He created us to live an amazing life with him.

We learned last week through Graham that sin entered into creation,

and sin entered into us.

And we learned that sin disorders our worship.

Chapter 1, verse 22 and 23,

they went from worshiping God, the creator, to worshiping the worm,

they went from worshiping God to the worm.

They had this slide, and so sin disordered our worship.

We learned that sin disorders our beliefs and our thinking.

Chapter 1, verse 21,

although they knew God, they did not give him honor or presence or thank him as God,

and their foolish minds were darkened.

We learned that sin disorders our desires and our actions.

We've had a lot of questions about that this week.

People were, whoa, when they looked at chapter 1, verses 22 through 29.

But the Bible says that sin comes in and it changes us.

It causes us to treat people poorly.

It causes us to do things that God had not designed.

We also learned that sin, when it does all these things,

it causes disorder, and this disorder angers our righteous God.

We talked about wrath, however you want to say it.

I noticed he only said it once correctly.

The rest of the times he said he digressed.

But we talked about how this disorder angers our righteous God.

So today I want to look at chapter 2 really briefly.

There's so much here that God wants to teach us.

There's so much things.

Please promise me that you'll go back and read chapter 2, verses 1 through 16.

It will take you about three minutes today.

You have it in the little books that we made for you, the Romans book.

You need to pick one up on the way out.

Because I think there's some things that God wants to teach us today.

There's some things that God wants to teach us about rightness.

He wants to teach us about cleanliness.

He wants to teach us about what does it mean to be clean,

and how many bugs can we have in our life,

and what does it mean to have bugs,

and what does it mean to not have bugs.

And the first thing I think he wants to teach us is found in verses 1 through 3.

Therefore you have no excuse.

Every one of you passes judgment.

For then that you judge another, you condemn yourselves.

For you who judge practice the same things.

And don't you know the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things?

Do you suppose this, O man,

that you pass judgment on those who practice such things,

and you do the same yourself, you escape the judgment?

The first thing we learn in verses 1 through 4

is that it's really easy for you and I to recognize and to judge

and to see selfishness and sin and brokenness in other people's lives,

but it's very, very, very, very, very difficult for us to see it in our lives.

It's very, very difficult for us to call it what it is in our lives.

I mean, we see it in other people's lives,

but we don't see it in our lives

because the Bible says that we're blinded.

We're blinded to our blindness.

I mean, think about it.

I went to a party last night with some great friends.

We've been trying to hang out with them for a while,

and whenever I walk in, I just have this bullseye painted on my chest,

and they go, oh, the vicar's here.

And so I'm the vicar, and I'm the priest,

and I walk in there, and everybody comes,

and we talk about life, and I hear these conversations,

and as I hear them, I think about myself.

This has been an incredibly convicting sermon for me.

Incredibly convicting.

Because I realize that almost in every, not almost,

God has something to teach me in this passage.

When they break their promise,

when they tell things that are not true,

we call them liars.

But when we do it, we just say that we've exaggerated a little

because we want to do it for effect.

When they are abusive to their kids,

we go, wow, but when we do it,

we just say that we're disciplining our kids

according to the proper way at the proper time.

When they do it, they spread rumors.

They spread gossip.

They hurt people with their words.

It's an arrow that flies out there and stabs them,

and you can't take it away.

But when I do it, it's just a prayer request.

Or I'm asking about somebody because I'm really concerned,

and I really want to know.

I mean, they're cheaters,

and they're unethical.

But when I do it,

I just bend the rules a little.

Because the rules are not really black and white,

especially in certain areas of my work.

I mean, sometimes it's different.

I mean, when they see them yell,

I say they have a mean spirit.

They're angry.

But when I do it,

you know, I'm really tired.

And I'm sick.

And I haven't eaten yet.

I look at them,

and I say they're insensitive

and aggressive.

But when I do it,

I'm real,

and I'm honest,

and I speak bluntly.

I don't miss people.

I'm goal-oriented.

She, she's sleeping her way through the office

and trying to work her way all the way up to the top.

But me, I just want to have sex before I date

just to make sure that the date,

the sex is good.

We see people differently.

They get angry,

and they lose their temper,

and I just have just anger

because my anger deserves to be angry

because I deserve to be angry

because that person really pissed me off,

and I deserve it.

I deserve it.

He, he sacrifices his family and his friends

and his community and his church.

He's sacrificing all these things for his work.

But when I do it,

it's just a special time.

It's a special season.

It's only going to happen for a little while.

And in the end,

everybody's going to benefit from it.

They act like a goober.

Now, I have to give you a definition here.

Goober, G-O-O-B-E-R.

G-O-O-B-E-R.

Some of you go,

G-O-B-E-R.

G-O-B-E-R.

What is it?

A goober.

It means kind of like a jerk,

but it's endearing.

It's, you know,

there's such a goober.

I mean, he's just,

he's a jerk,

but he's,

he doesn't know he's a jerk.

He's just,

he's just kind of funny jerk.

But when I do it,

I'm just having a bad day.

When I watch how they handle their money

in their resources,

they're greedy.

But when we do it,

we're being financially responsible

and we're providing for our future.

And Paul,

in this passage,

says that all this behavior,

all this behavior is a self-righteousness.

And in the Gospels,

Jesus,

remember,

Jesus talked about this all the time.

The only time he really got angry at people

was the Pharisees

because he looked at them

and he realized

how self-righteous these were.

And he basically said

that what they are saying

is that they're good enough.

They're good enough for God

or at least they're not as bad

as the other people.

And so that when they come before God,

God's going to give them a pass.

Because they really don't need a savior.

We only need somebody to fill our 49%.

So Paul says in verses 1 through 3

that the moment we recognize

or we judge brokenness in other people,

he says what we actually do

is we condemn ourselves.

And when we do the same things,

it even gets heaped upon us even more.

I mean, maybe we say,

well, I would never be like chapter 1.

I would never do those things.

I'm not like this person in my office.

I love people.

I'm nice to them.

And Paul says, hey, you know,

we're probably more like people

than we care to admit.

Paul goes on in the passage

and he talks in verse 5

and look what he says.

He says, because of your stubbornness

and unrepentant heart,

you're storing up wrath

for yourself in the day of wrath

and revelation of the righteousness

judgment of God.

What he's basically saying is,

hey, as long as you refuse

to admit your brokenness,

as long as you refuse

to admit your problem,

as long as you refuse

to admit your addictions,

as long as you refuse

to admit that you have sin,

as you do that,

you're just building judgment

upon judgment upon judgment.

And then when you face God,

it's even going to be worse.

I remember hearing this story

one time as a little kid

about this guy

who was really good in business,

but he often cheated people.

And he came home every day

and he had gold coins

to show for his business

and people kind of looked at him

and go, man,

don't you fear God?

You're cheating people.

And he goes,

I think I'm doing the right thing

because God's blessing me.

He's allowing me to get all this gold

and I just keep getting it.

And so if God were really angry,

he would stop it.

And every night,

he'd put the gold above his bed

in the ceiling.

And every day,

he'd come back

and he'd cheat people

and do business

and every night,

he'd answer the same question.

Well, I think I'm doing pretty good

because if I weren't doing good,

then God wouldn't allow me

to have this gold

and I'm doing pretty good.

And he put the gold up on the ceiling.

And one day,

he put the gold up on the ceiling

and he went back to bed

and the ceiling collapsed

and killed him

with all the gold

that he was storing up there.

Sometimes we think

that because we don't experience

heartache or troubles

that we're doing okay.

And what Paul says here

in verse five is he says,

and remember,

he's talking to people

in the church.

He's talking to people

in the church

and he's saying,

be careful

because if you don't deal

with what's going on

in your life,

judgment upon judgment

upon judgment.

I mean, he says here,

the words are very specific,

stubbornness and unrepentant.

They're actually words

that mean heart disease.

And it says,

as long as you don't deal

with what's going on

in your heart,

this is the word for sclerosis,

that your arteries

are hardening.

The words there also

are used in Deuteronomy

for idols,

in idol worship.

And so what Paul

is saying there

to the people of God,

what he's saying

to you and me

is that we look outwardly

at people,

but we don't look inwardly.

We want to present ourselves

well on the outside,

but we don't want to present

ourselves well on the inside

because no one else

is going to see it

and maybe God

doesn't even see it.

And so we look well

on the outside.

We don't kill people.

We don't hit our kids

in public.

We don't yell at people.

We treat people kindly,

especially our employees.

We don't steal.

We don't sleep around.

Everything looks great

outwardly.

And Paul says,

be careful.

Be careful.

We went to a dinner party

last night for our neighbors

upstairs.

It was her birthday party.

Don't tell them,

but I stole the fork.

I was,

it was just,

something came over me.

I was going through

the dinner table.

It was Mexican food.

It was amazing

and it was great.

And I saw this silverware.

I said,

that's the coolest silverware.

I mean,

it was plain

and it's simple

and it looks good.

And then I picked it up.

I said,

I really,

but then I picked it up

and you know what I realized?

It's hollow.

I mean,

it looked so good

on the outside.

I was like,

wow,

where'd they get this?

This is amazing.

But when I picked it up,

when I judged it,

when I felt

if it was true,

when I felt

as if there was anything to it,

any substance at all,

I realized it was hollow.

And this is what Paul says

in verse five.

He says,

be careful

because you look

on the outside

and you say,

I'm not like people

in chapter one.

But what he says

is inwardly,

you have these idols

that you cling to.

You cling to security.

You cling to power.

You cling to influence.

You cling to honor.

You cling to recognition.

You cling to wealth.

You cling to stuff.

Sure,

you're not like the people

in chapter one.

But you have problems.

You know,

I think the problem with me,

I think the problem with us,

if we're honest,

is that when we read words

like sin,

what we usually think of

is outwardly.

We think of things that we do.

We think of things,

maybe if we're really in queue,

we think of things we don't do,

things we shouldn't do.

But we think of outward,

external behavior,

and we compare our behavior

to other people's behavior,

and when we compare

other people's behavior

to our behavior,

our response is,

I'm not so bad.

I'm not as bad as they are.

But when Jesus looks

in this passage,

and when Paul talks

these words,

what he's looking at

is our heart.

and he's trying to see,

are we hollow?

Are we plastic?

Or do we have substance?

Are we real?

There's an amazing passage,

it's one of my favorite passages

in 1 Samuel,

is after Saul

loses the kingship

because his actions

are not what God

wants him to be,

God calls Samuel

to go to anoint

the next king,

and he goes,

and Nathan,

Nathan goes in

and anoints the next king,

and he walks into the camp,

and he sees all of

David's brothers

hanging around,

and he sees the oldest one,

and he's tall,

and he's beautiful,

and he's handsome,

and he's a stud,

and he says,

oh, surely that's

God's anointed.

That's who I'm supposed

to bring into the kingship,

and God says,

no.

He says,

basically,

that man's hollow.

On the outside,

he looks really good,

and he's doing

all the right things,

and he says

all the right things,

but inwardly,

he's not right.

His heart isn't right.

I have somebody

different for you.

I have my servant,

David,

who is a man

after my own heart.

So we see in this passage

that Paul,

and this passage

is heavy, guys.

I mean,

this doesn't bother you.

I mean,

it bothers me teaching it.

The first three chapters

of Romans are like,

whoa.

And you ask the questions,

well,

why is Paul bringing us

into this depth?

And it goes back

to the song

we just sang.

Amazing grace,

how sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost,

but now I'm found.

Paul's saying

in the book of Romans

Romans 1 · chapter mention

chapters 1,

2,

and 3

that we're never

going to understand grace,

that we're never

going to understand God,

we're never going

to understand mercy

unless we understand

how bad off we are.

If we just think

we're 51%,

then God's grace

means this.

And we didn't really

need Jesus

to come die for us.

And so Paul

teaches us

through Romans

this long passage,

it's intense

and full of hardness

and I feel like

I'm sloshing

through the mud

of my life.

He teaches us

this way

because he wants us

to realize

how bad we are off

and how bad we are

and how amazing God is.

The passage is

this is like

if God were

a venture capitalist.

God has given you

everything you need

to do your business

and he just keeps

pouring on everything

and everything

in your life.

And Romans 2

says that one day

the venture capitalist

comes back

and he's going to see

what you did

with all the resources

you gave him.

You're going to be

called account

to how well

you handled his money.

In verse 5

it says

that there will be

a day,

a specific day

that we will come

before the Lord.

Verse 2 says

that it's going to be

according to the truth

that no hollow people

are going to be able

to make it

because God's going to

be able to look

at our life

and he's going to be

able to look at our heart

and he's going to know

exactly what's in us.

Verse 16 says

that at that moment

look what he says

he's going to open up

our hearts

he's going to see

the secrets of our hearts.

There's going to be

nothing in our lives

that are going to be

hidden in God's court.

Everything,

everything is going

to be seen

before the Lord

everything is going

to be seen.

Verse 9 through 11

says that it's going

to be impartial.

He uses this word

impartial

it means

no favoritism

it actually means

not to give the face.

It means not to show

facial differential

don't defer

to that person

because they're so good.

So when we come to it

in verse 9 and 11

and he talks about

that day that you

and I

come before the Lord

he's going to be

totally impartial

it's going to be

just us

no favoritism

it's going to be

based on what we did

who we are

and God will judge

everybody the same.

God's not going to judge

whoever the wealthiest

person you is

know differently

than yourself

but he's going to

judge us all

the same.

None of us are going

to be able to bribe God.

Do you know that?

None of us will be able

to bribe God.

Finally in verses 6-8

he says this

he says

God's judgment

is going to be

objective.

Listen really carefully

because you're going to

misunderstand

what I say

because I thought about it

for many years

before I could understand it.

What this passage says

and what the rest

of the Bible says

is that when you come

before the Lord

you are going to be judged

based on what you did

or did not do

in your life.

Did you hear me?

When you come

before the Lord

you are going to be judged

by what you did

or did not do

in your life.

Good works

will be the test

on judgment day.

What he's saying

is that our works

are going to reveal

our heart.

And whatever is happening

in our heart right now

it just can't be held there.

It's going to get out.

And so whatever

our hands do

that's what's in our heart.

Now listen to me

I'm not saying

that good works

is the basis

for your salvation.

I'm not saying

that good works

are the basis

for your salvation

because as we're going

to see later

in chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

all the way to 16 in Romans

and the rest of the Bible

that Jesus Christ

faith in Jesus alone

is the only thing

that's going to provide

your salvation.

Faith in Jesus alone

is the only thing

that's going to give you

new life.

But the passage says

that our good works

of righteousness

are going to prove

that we have real faith.

He's saying

that the fruit of our lives

as we walk down in life

and we look at people's lives

that the fruit of our lives

are going to show us

that we're on the right track.

How do you know

if you're on the right track?

Look at the fruit

of your life.

If your fruit

is what this passage says

if it lines up

to what we're talking

about here

then you know

is your fruit

selfish ambition?

Is your fruit

not obeying the truth?

Is your truth

number verse 8

obeying unrighteousness?

Is the fruit

wrath and indignation?

Then you know

you're on the wrong path.

Verse 7

Are you persevering

to do good works?

Are you seeking glory

and honor?

For the Lord

immortality

eternal life?

If you do those things

do you know

that you're on

the right track?

Jesus over and over

throughout the gospels

and we've read Luke

for three years now

he says over

and over

and over

Matthew 25

In the end day

the Son of God

will come

he'll come

with his angels

he'll separate

every one of us

into two groups

the sheep

and the goats

and he'll say

to the sheep

well done

my good and faithful

servants

come into my kingdom

you fed me

when I was thirsty

I'm just paraphrasing

well when did we

feed you

when you were thirsty?

Well whenever you

did it to the least

of these

you did it to me

works

good works

right

they're identifying

what path

they're on

he looks at the goats

and says

hey depart from me

you never fed me

you didn't know me

when did we

didn't feed you

when did we

we didn't know you

when did we

didn't visit you

in prison

well when you

did it to the least

of these

when you didn't

do it

you didn't do it

to me

Matthew 7

a good tree

produces good fruit

a bad tree

produces bad fruit

a bad tree

cannot produce good fruit

and a good tree

cannot produce bad fruit

and so what he's saying

in this passage

in this judgment

that we're all

going to come

before the Lord

and on that day

again

good works

are not going

to save us

but good works

are a result

of our salvation

they will happen

in our lives

if we're God's people

chapter 2 says

that when we come

before the Lord

and we say

that we're God's people

he's going to see

good works there

so the question

I have to ask us

is what kind of works

do we have

what kind of works

are flowing

from our heart

if the day of judgment

happened today

would we be happy

with the things

that come forth

from our heart

or will we be sad

would it make a difference

would it show

that we're on the right track

and that we came to faith

through Jesus Christ alone

and that Holy Spirit

is in us

and he's producing

these good works

and we see these fruits

happening in our life

gentleness

joy

patience

kindness

love

self-control

are those things

being made manifest

more and more

or are they not

do we have

changed hearts

why

is Paul

bringing us

down

heavy

hard

everyone

is condemned

no one

is 51%

everybody's

a 0%

good

why is he doing that

I mean I'm so glad

that it's just chapter 2

because if he's doing it

in chapter 16

I'd be like

oh

but he's doing it

in chapter 2

because he wants us

to see

that until we see

ourselves

right

we'll never see

God right

until

we stop

comparing ourselves

with people

around us

and in our work

and making

comparisons

and putting

if we keep

doing that

we're never

going to

understand

grace

we're never

going to

understand

Christ's

sacrifice

on the cross

it will be

just something

we think about

and we read

but it hasn't

impacted our lives

and it hasn't

changed our hearts

it hasn't

produced fruit

that is good

until we understand

the first two

chapters of

Romans

and the rest

of scripture

until we see

just how

desperate we

are

God will

always look

so small

to us

and the gospel

will mean

very little

to us

and we'll talk

about grace

but we won't

give it to our

neighbors

because they're

worse than

us

but Paul

is taking us

to Romans

and he's an

amazing writer

he's brilliant

it's the best

Greek

if you want

to read

Greek

and Hebrew

it's the best

Greek

to be reading

he's perfect

he's flawless

and he's laying

out this law

document

and basically

what he's doing

is chapter

one

guilty

chapter

two

guilty

chapter

three

guilty

everyone

chapter

four

Jesus

chapter

four

grace

chapter

five

God

is

amazing

and Paul

is taking us

through this

process

because he

wants us

to understand

our guilt

before a

holy God

and until

we understand

that

we'll never

ever

be the people

that God

wants us to be

we'll never be

the church

that God

wants us to be

we'll never

ever

understand

grace

and love

we'll never

be able to

forgive people

because we

still don't

believe that

God's

forgiven us

am I getting

heavy

my wife

just smile

what do

you call

the person

who has

an accountant

or a banker

or however

you want to

invest your

money

and that

person

continually

gives his

accountant

he continually

gives his

banker

he continually

gives his

investor

millions

and millions

and millions

of dollars

and that

investor

squanders

his wealth

that investor

shows him

nothing

for his

return

and after

80 years

that person

has given

everything

that he

has

and the

investor

has ripped

them off

what do you

call that

person

if you're

in Goldman's

you call

him a

Muppet

right

what Paul

says is

we call

that person

God

God

you call

that person

God

chapter

2

verse 4

God

continually

gives his

graciousness

God

continually

gives his

mercy

God

is long

suffering

God

gives his

love

God

gives his

patience

God

gives us

all

that we

have

why

the verse

says

so that

we might

amongst

all these

amazing

blessings

we're

receiving

we might

see the

Lord

we might

see our

sin

and that

we come

before him

as his

people

and to

confess

our need

for him

to confess

our need

for him

how we

doing

what do you

think of

God's

kindness

what do you

think of

God tolerating

you and

your behavior

what do you

think of

God

giving so

much

patience

and love

to us

how does

that impact

us today

how does

that impact

us in

our workplace

how does

that impact

us with

our enemies

how does

that impact

us with

people who

really make

us angry

and mad

I mean

we're not

talking about

a bubble

bath with a

lot of

bubbles

cleaning us

up

we're not

talking about

an FDA

inspection

that's 51%

good or bad

or whatever

like that

but we

think of

his patience

and his

long suffering

and his

kindness

and his

perseverance

what does

that do

inside of

us

Paul says

I hope

and I

pray

that it

humbles us

and shows us

how amazing

God is

and that

every moment

of our life

we live

in just

adoration

and worship

realizing

that we

were lost

but now

we're found

and it had

nothing to do

with us

it has all

to do

with God

hang in

there

it gets

better

but Paul

wants to

take us

to the

truth of

our hearts

before we

can understand

God's love

and grace

and mercy

to us

father we

thank you

for this

day

we thank you

that you

are amazing

we thank you

for your

word that

is living

and active

we thank you

that you

are just

and righteous

and that you

judge people

with a clean

eye

and that you

don't give

face to

people who

have advantages

but in the

courtroom of

you

everybody

is treated

the same

father we

thank you

for these

words of

Paul

and I'm

convicted

I am

convicted

when I

judge

and pass

judgment

on people

when I

say things

about them

and then

immediately

immediately

do the

same thing

father I

just we

just I

I ask

your forgiveness

and I

repent

I pray

for our

family here

our church

family

we just ask

your forgiveness

and we repent

help us not

to be self

righteous

help us not

to allow our

self righteousness

to hide the

beauty and wonder

and truth of

your word

and who you

are

and the type

of life that

you want to

give us

and the way

you want us

to treat other

people

I mean it

seems incredible

and impossible

but it's what

your word says

and it's what

you've desired

and it's what

will be one

day

what I pray

for those of us

in here right

now who are

who's struggling

with even just

the idea of

being a god

I pray Lord

that you would

speak to them

that you

would show them

through the

community

and through

people whose

lives are

different

whose works

are different

and for

different reasons

pray that they

would ask

the questions

is there a

possibility

that there is

a god

and if there

is a god

how do I

how do I

respond to him

what should I

do

do I act like

the person

who's 51%

together or do

I act like

the person

who has

all together

or do I

act like

the person

which your

word says

has none

of it

together

but I pray

for those

of us

who who've

entered into

your family

and we

wonder if

our fruits

are good

and are we

producing the

fruit that is

of you

maybe we've

lost focus

of you

maybe we've

allowed sin

to come into

our life

and to

shade

our vision

of your

beauty

and your

wonder

and your

grace

father please

forgive us

help us

just to

lay these

things before

you now

as you speak

to us

through your

spirit

father help us

to realize

that we are

really really

bad off

and it doesn't

get any

better once we

come to know

you but we

need you

moment by

moment

and that

badness we

struggle with

our whole

lives and

there will

never become

a time when

we're 51%

unbad and

we're okay

we don't need

you we don't

need to pray

but your word

says that we

will always go

through this

journey and

this pilgrimage

and that's why

it's so important

that we do it

together as a

family to

encourage and

to lift up

when things

are hard and

difficult

but help us

to be people

who are real

help us not

to be plastic

people who

look good on

the outside

but when we

experience

tension and

pressure and

persecution

maybe one of

our idols is

taken away like

our job or

our family or

our health

we just

snap

Lord help us

to see your

mercy and your

grace and your

patience and

how they're new

every day

Father and I

pray for our

church that we

would be a

church that

would walk

in good works

so that the

world around

us would see

those works

and they

wouldn't point

to us

but they'd

point to your

son who's

amazing

we love you

we pray these

things in your

son Jesus name

amen

amen

amen

children

and

and

ma'il

hebben

an

amen