The Failure of Religion

We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christ Church.

This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication,

redistribution, or any other use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christ Church.

Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at ChristChurchEastBay.org.

This is a reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans.

Romans 1:16–18

Chapter 1, verses 16 to 18, and chapter 2, verses 1 to 16, as printed in your liturgy.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes,

first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed,

a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,

just as it is written, the righteous will live by faith.

The wrath of God is being revealed,

from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people,

who suppress the truth by their wickedness.

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else.

For at whatever point you judge another,

you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.

Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.

So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them, and yet do the same things,

do you think you will escape God's judgment?

Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience,

not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart,

you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath,

when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

God will repay each person according to what they have done.

To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality,

he will give eternal life.

But for those who are self-seeking, and who reject the truth and follow evil,

there will be wrath and anger.

There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil,

first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

But glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good,

first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.

For God does not show favoritism.

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law,

and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight,

but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.

Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law,

do by nature things required by the law,

they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law.

They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts.

Their conscience is also bearing witness,

and their thoughts sometimes accusing them,

and at other times even defending them.

This will take place on the day when God judges people's secrets

through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Good morning, Christ Church.

I do want to, like Andrew, just take a brief moment

to honor Reverend Tim Keller,

who departed this life on Friday

and is now with his Savior at home in heaven.

Tim planted Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City in 1989,

and by the time I graduated from Reform Theological Seminary in 2005

and accepted this call to come and plant a church in Berkeley,

an Urban University church with my brother-in-law,

the whole reason we did that was because

we had accepted Tim Keller into our hearts.

And we are here.

I'm grateful for his model, his voice.

I'm grateful for the money that Redeemer invested into Christ Church,

the training Tim gave to us in those early days,

the wisdom and resources that he's left behind.

Tim loved Lord of the Rings,

and in many ways he was like Gandalf in the Shire.

You know, on the surface of things,

you just thought he was there to set off fireworks at the birthday party,

but really he was out in the world slaying dragons and fighting evil wizards.

You know, and when you read the things that he wrote,

especially in these last few years,

you can see that he's doing very, very deep work.

So we're super grateful for that,

and I think Tim would be pleased that we are studying today

the epistle to the Romans.

So that's what we're going to keep doing.

We're trying to get through the end of Romans chapter 8,

Romans 8 · chapter mention

by the end of the summer, Lord willing.

And we've done a slow burn here in Romans 1,

and now we're going to go at a bit of a faster clip.

So buckle up, because the Apostle Paul is taking us through these great doctrines,

these great truths of the Christian faith,

God's creation, the fall and depravity of human beings,

the wrath and the righteousness of God,

the atonement, justification, and all these wonderful truths.

But so far, the Apostle Paul has told us that there are two ages,

two realms that are being revealed.

In verse 17 it says,

in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed.

And in verse 17 it says that the wrath of God is being revealed.

And so there's this old age, this old realm of God's wrath,

and there's this new age, this new realm of God's righteousness

in the gospel of his Son.

And Romans chapters 1 through 3 is showing us

Romans 1 · chapter mention

what it means to be under God's wrath,

so that we will see the necessity of and the power of the gospel

to bring us out from under his wrath

and to bring us up under the righteousness of God.

Now, I know some of you weren't here last week,

so let me repeat a few things that we said.

We don't like to talk about wrath and condemnation and judgment,

because it's super uncomfortable.

But Jesus talked about it all the time,

in fact, more than anybody else in the Bible.

This is one of the greatest known texts in the Scriptures,

John 3, 16.

It says,

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.

Why?

That whoever believes in him should not perish,

should not perish spiritually and eternally

under the condemnation and judgment of God.

That text goes on and it says,

whoever rejects the Son will not see life,

for God's wrath remains on them.

That's from John, the apostle of love.

Right?

Jesus goes on in John 5.

He says,

The Father judges no one,

but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.

Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me

has eternal life and will not be judged,

but is crossed over from death to life.

And Jesus' assumption and implication there

is that until we've crossed over,

we're still in death and we're still in judgment.

So what is this wrath of God that Jesus insists upon over and over?

We defined it last week as God's holy hatred of evil,

his settled righteous opposition to the darkness,

his uncompromising hostility against sin.

And if we see love in God,

we also need to see hatred in God

because God hates whatever opposes that

which is true and good and beautiful.

God hates whatever defaces and damages

and destroys his creation and his creatures.

And if he didn't hate these things,

he wouldn't be a God of love.

He wouldn't necessarily be even God at all,

a God worthy to be worshipped.

And so Paul is laying out this argument for us

that on the one hand,

God's wrath, even now in human history,

is being revealed as we give God up

so God gives us up to our own self-centeredness.

But he says there's coming a day

when God's wrath will be revealed finally and fully

on the final day of judgment.

And this judgment of God is not peripheral

to the story of Scripture.

It's absolutely central to the Bible.

And in this chapter, more than anywhere else,

Paul outlines his picture of the final day of judgment.

The word judge or judgment comes up nine times

and he's saying that everybody is going to be judged

by God separately, individually, and distinctly.

And again, that's super uncomfortable for us,

but the secular alternative of just getting rid of God

and therefore getting rid of the wrath of God

and substituting in the place of this doctrine

a doctrine of materialism and nihilism,

that actually creates way more problems than it solves.

And so I'd like for you to just at least consider

what Paul is saying here in Romans chapter two.

And the gist is this,

that God's judgment is universal,

works righteousness is inconceivable,

and gospel repentance is essential.

God's judgment is universal,

works righteousness is inconceivable,

and gospel repentance is essential.

First of all, God's judgment is universal.

Verse one says,

you therefore have no excuse,

you who pass judgment on someone else,

for at whatever point you judge another,

you are condemning yourself,

because you who pass judgment do the very same things.

Paul turns his attention from these pagan Gentiles

in Romans one to now talk about these Jews

and moralists in Romans two.

All these people who are ready to agree

that yes, Paul,

all these people in Romans one you just described

who are vile and violent and vicious,

all of those people deserve the wrath of God.

They deserve to be judged.

But their objection is that not everybody's like that.

And some people have wonderful ideas about morality,

and God has been very kind and good

to give us these insights,

and so surely we are not going to be judged

and condemned by God.

Because after all, we go to church,

and we're good people,

and we believe the Bible,

and we offer prayers,

and we have this religious and moral life,

and surely we are living up to the God's standards

of godliness and righteousness.

Yes, the rest of humanity should be judged by God,

but we over here ought to be protected and delivered.

And Paul's dealing with people

who have a false sense of assurance

and a false sense of confidence before God.

People who are smug,

have a smug self-satisfaction and self-contentment,

thinking that we're over here in this special category,

and because we're special,

we're therefore superior to other people.

And how does Paul respond to this group?

He says to them in verse one,

he says,

you have no excuse.

Paul's setting out to prove in these three chapters

that there's not one righteous person,

not even one.

There's no exception to that rule.

And he wants to convince and convict

these religious moralists of their own sinfulness,

and that they too are going to be judged

by the wrath of God,

unless God acts,

unless God intervenes.

And so he says in verse three,

so when you, a mere human,

pass judgment on them,

and yet do the same things,

do you think you will escape God's judgment?

Two times Paul's been talking about,

you do the same things.

You do the very same things.

What is that?

Well, the thesis of this entire section of this letter

says that God is revealing his wrath

against all godlessness and wickedness,

all ungodliness and all unrighteousness.

And we saw last week how that unfolds

into deceitful idols

and degraded bodies and depraved minds

and decaying societies.

And Paul's saying,

you Jews,

you religious and moral people,

you do the very same things.

If you just read the Old Testament,

you'll see that the people of God

sank down into these very same things.

Prophet after prophet

had to come to the people of God

and list off their deplorable sins

to these people who were claiming

to have a special relationship with God,

these people who were claiming

to be utterly different

than all the Gentile nations.

God says,

you're no different,

you're doing the same things.

And people would object to Paul

and say,

but Paul,

that was then

and that was their exceptions to that rule.

And we are,

we're not guilty of all those things.

And Paul is at pains

to say in this text

that it's possible

to be highly respectable people morally

and yet to be ungodly.

It's possible to be highly respectable people morally

and yet to be ungodly.

For as we saw last week,

ungodliness is a failure

to make God supreme in our lives

and in the lives of other people.

And there's no greater instance

of ungodliness

than the failure to see

your need for a righteousness

that comes not from you

but from outside of yourself

from God.

The height of ungodliness

is to think that you

and your religious practices

and you and your morality

are enough to satisfy

the demands of God.

And so Paul says

be very, very careful

that you don't rely

on your external

and visible expressions

of godliness and righteousness

when internally

and invisibly

you church people,

you Bible believing,

praying people,

you're doing the same things.

And what are those same things?

If you open your Bible

and you turn back

to Romans 1.29,

Paul says

they have become filled

with every kind of wickedness,

evil, greed, and depravity.

They are full of envy,

murder, strife, deceit, and malice.

They are gossips, slanderers,

God-haters,

insolent, arrogant, and boastful.

They invent ways of doing evil.

They disobey their parents.

They have no understanding,

no fidelity,

no love, no mercy.

Paul is saying

look inside of your own heart.

You may not actually

murder your neighbor,

but look at the things

in your heart

that diminish other people

and kill relationships

with other people.

Do you see inside

of your own heart

the things that Paul lists

where he talks about greed,

envy, deceit, and malice?

Do you ever argue

or gossip or slander?

Do you ever feel

a prideful sense

of superiority

to other people?

You know,

Paul is doing

the exact same thing

that Jesus does

in the Sermon on the Mount

when he talks about murder.

Right?

Jesus says

in Matthew chapter 5,

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

he says,

if you say

to your brother

or your sister,

rakah,

or you fool,

you are in danger

of the fire of hell,

Jesus says.

To say to another person,

rakah,

means you're a nobody.

You're a nothing.

And if you look

at other people

and you say

you're not important

and you look down

your nose at them

and you hold them

in contempt

and you're indifferent

toward them,

Jesus is saying

you have the seed

of murder in your heart.

You have the spirit

and the attitude

of murder in your heart

and that contempt,

that disdain

that calls other people

nothings and nobodies,

that little acorn

can very easily

grow into an oak tree

of murder.

And so he's calling us

to look inside our hearts.

I was reminded this week

of C.S. Lewis.

He wrote a great book

called Mere Christianity

and if you've not read it,

I encourage you to read it.

He's an Oxford professor

and he said this.

He said,

though I've had to speak

at some length

about sex,

I want to make it

as clear as I possibly can

that the center

of Christian morality

is not here.

The sins of the flesh

are bad

but they are the least bad

of all sins.

All the worst pleasures

are purely spiritual.

The pleasure of putting

other people in the wrong,

of bossing

and patronizing

and spoiling sport

and backbiting,

the pleasures of power,

of hatred.

For there are two things

inside me

competing with the human self

which I must try to become.

They are the animal self

and the diabolical self.

And the diabolical self

is the worst of the two.

That is why a cold,

self-righteous prig

who regularly goes to church

may be far nearer to hell

than a prostitute.

But of course,

it is better to be neither.

A cold, self-righteous prig

who regularly goes to church

may be far nearer to hell

than a prostitute.

This is what Jesus is saying

in Luke chapter 15

Luke 15 · chapter mention

when he tells that great story

about the father

and his two sons.

Right?

And there's that elder brother

who's kind of the religious

and the moral one

and he condemns

his younger brother

who's the irreligious

and the immoral one.

And yet Jesus says

both of these sons

are equally alienated

from their father.

The father needs to go out

to both of these sons

and invite them

into his feast.

And what happens?

Jesus says

the bad, irreligious,

immoral son

enters in

and the good,

religious,

or the good,

religious,

immoral son

does not.

The son of moral rectitude

stays outside

and the rebel

goes inside.

And that's what Paul

is talking to here.

He's talking to elder brothers

who condemn

their younger brothers.

And he says in verse 1

you therefore have no excuse

you who pass judgment

on someone else

for at whatever point

you judge another

you are condemning yourself.

I was thinking this week too

about Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

He was a Russian novelist

and historian

and he wrote

The Gulag Archipelago

and he said this.

You may have heard this.

He says the line

separating good and evil

passes not through states

nor between classes

nor between political parties either

but right through

every human heart

and through all human hearts.

If only there were

evil people

somewhere insidiously

committing evil deeds

and it were necessary

only to separate them

from the rest of us

and destroy them.

But the line

dividing good and evil

cuts through the heart

of every human being

and who is willing

to destroy a piece

of his own heart.

See Solzhenitsyn

and Lewis

and the Apostle Paul

and the Lord Jesus Christ

they're all saying

the same thing

that the religious people

and the irreligious people

the moral people

and the immoral people

were all in the same boat.

And God's judgment

is universal

for all of us.

And some people

would object to that

and say well wait a minute

if God's good

and if God is a God of love

how can he judge us?

How can he judge me?

And that's what Paul

is getting at in verse 4

where he says

do you show contempt

for the riches

of his kindness

forbearance and patience

not realizing

that God's kindness

is intended to lead you

to repentance.

You know some people

will do that

will appeal to

the riches

of the kindness of God.

this great treasury

of the endless

inexhaustible wealth

of God's tolerance

and his long suffering

all of his goodness

and say God is love

and therefore

he cannot judge me.

And Paul would say

yes it's true

that the kindness

and the forbearance

and the patience of God

are the reason

that the world

even still exists today.

But to use

the kindness of God

as an appeal

to excuse my sin

or to escape

his judgment

Paul says

that's to hold

the kindness of God

in contempt.

That's to despise

the goodness of God

to regard all the attributes

of God

as quite cheap.

And he says

yes God is kind

but his kindness

will not cancel out

his judgment

because he's also

a God

of righteousness

and justice.

So God's judgment

is universal.

You tracking with me?

This is a hard passage.

Okay?

I'm trying my hardest

up here.

God's judgment

is universal.

Works righteousness

is inconceivable.

And I gotta

work even harder now

because Romans 2

particularly verses 7

through 10

seems to say

that it's possible

to be righteous

by the works

that we do.

And it's possible

to be saved

by the righteous actions

that we produce

and achieve.

If you just look

at verse 7

it says

seek glory

do good

and you'll be rewarded

with eternal life.

And verse 8 says

seek yourself

do evil

you'll be rewarded

with eternal wrath.

Verse 9 says

do evil

and the result

will be unending

trouble and distress.

Verse 10 says

do good

and the result

will be glory

honor and peace

forever.

And then verse 13

says if you obey

the law

God will declare

you righteous.

And it's so easy

to misinterpret this

if you're not careful.

To say okay

I get you

in verses 1 to 4

that I do

the very same things

that other

quote unquote

evil people are doing

but

this seems to say

if I just try

a little harder

and if I just

work a little bit

I can maybe

balance the scales

I can tip

the scales

and if I just

seek God

a little bit more

than I seek myself

and if I just do

a little bit more good

so that my good

outweighs my bad

and if I just try

to obey the law

of God

maybe then I can

cancel out

this judgment of God.

And that

I understand

how you might get there

but that would

completely contradict

Paul's entire letter.

So let me

explain.

Paul says

on judgment day

there's going to be

two groups of people

the righteous

and the unrighteous.

And he says

in verse 6

that God is going

to repay

every person

according to

what they have done.

And so you're

going to be able

to tell the righteous

and the unrighteous

apart

by their general

attitude toward God

their tenor of life

their actual conduct

and behavior

and this is what

Paul describes

in verse 7

he says

the righteous

to those who

by persistence

in doing good

seek glory

honor

and immortality

he will give

eternal life.

Right?

The righteous person

seeks God.

the righteous person

desires to be

with God

the righteous person

wants to behold

these glorious

attributes

of God

to spend eternity

in the presence

of God

adoring

the majesty

of God.

The righteous person

seeks

from God

honor

he seeks God

to confer

honor and blessing

and dignity

upon him

the righteous person

seeks immortality

the state of

incorruptibility

glory

they want

to be pure

and holy

and to be above

and beyond sin

and eternally perfect

in the presence

of God

that's the righteous

person's attitude

toward God

and what then

is the righteous

person's tenor

of life?

Paul says

they persist

in doing good

they patiently

persevere

in reading their

Bible

and praying

and wanting to know

the will of God

and walk with God

and fight the good

fight of the faith

that's their attitude

toward God

that's their tenor

of life

and what about

their actual conduct

and behavior?

Paul says

they persist

in doing good

they work good

they keep

all the commandments

of God

they love God

with all their heart

soul

mind and strength

and they love

their neighbor

as they love

themselves

that's the righteous

and Paul then

goes on

in verse 8

and he describes

the unrighteous

as the exact

opposite of this

an unrighteous person

does not seek God

and his glory

but they rather

seek themselves

the unrighteous person

does not seek

the honor

that comes from God

they in fact

turn away

from the truth

of God

and he says

the unrighteous person

doesn't seek

immortality

and purity

in God

they rather

follow evil

instead

and so Paul

is putting this

question before us

he says

which group

or which camp

are you going to be

in on judgment day?

if you think

you're going to be

in the righteous group

that means

that you trust

that your life

and everything

that you've done

and do

and will do

is able to meet

God's very very

high standards

but Paul's argument

from

Romans 1 18

and onward

says that

all of us

are godless

and wicked

all of us

are ungodly

and unrighteous

there is

no one

righteous

it doesn't

matter how

much you

go to church

it doesn't

matter how

much

you pray

yes

if

the gospel

of God

enters in

and the grace

of God

comes and

justifies you

and declares

you righteous

and new life

comes into you

through Jesus

Christ

and the power

of the Holy

Spirit

comes over you

you will begin

to experience

the Christian life

which is being

described in

verse 7

and this attitude

toward God

and your tenor

of life

and your actual

conduct

will begin

to look like

verse 7

but unless

and until

God gives us

his own

righteousness

all of us

Paul says

are going to

enter into

judgment day

in a state

of unrighteousness

now why is that

why is that

it's because

the control

center of our

lives

are completely

jacked up

he says

in verse 5

but because

of your

stubbornness

and your

unrepentant

heart

literally the

word there

for stubbornness

in the Greek

is because

of your

sclerosis

because you

have a

sclerotic

and a

hard

heart

modern people

say that

we're really

alright in

our heart

it's just

that we

go wrong

from time

to time

here and

there on

the surface

of things

but Paul

is saying

the exact

opposite

he says

we're wrong

in our

heart

and our

lives only

go right

in patches

on the

surface

and what

he's saying

is that

the kindness

of God

our experience

of the

forbearance

of God

and the

patience

of God

these

experiences

in our

lives

are meant

to soften

our hearts

and melt

our hearts

and cause

us to have

repentant

hearts

but what

actually happens

in our

lives

is that

we hold

the kindness

and the

goodness

of God

and contempt

with hard

and impenitent

hearts

and so he

says

because of

your stubbornness

and your

unrepentant

heart

you are

storing up

wrath

against yourself

for the

day of

God's

wrath

when his

righteous

judgment

will be

revealed

we're meant

to store up

as treasure

the kindness

of God

the riches

of God

the forbearance

of God

the patience

of God

but what

do we do

instead

we store up

wrath

against

ourselves

and this

is truly

alarming

to me

because it

says that

it's not

God

storing up

wrath

against us

it's we

ourselves

who are

storing up

wrath

against

ourselves

and he

says this

day is

going to

come when

all of

this wrath

that we've

been storing

up against

ourselves

is going

to be

produced

in evidence

against

us

and what

in the

world does

that mean

well

imagine

an invisible

recorder

and imagine

from the time

you're a baby

this invisible

recorder has

been hung

around your

neck

and you

get to

judgment day

and you

appear before

God

and you

don't even

know this

recorder

ever even

existed

and you're

tempted to

say to

God

hey God

you can't

hold me

responsible

for all

the stuff

I didn't

know

and you

can't judge

me

for something

that I

never really

believed

in

and God

will say

okay well

let's play

back this

recorder

and he'll

play it

back for

you

as the

fairest

judge

you could

possibly

imagine

right

verse 2

says that

we know

that God's

judgment

is based

on truth

he's not

going to

judge people

according to

the Bible

they didn't

know

he's not

going to

judge people

according to

the Christ

they didn't

know

he's just

going to

judge us

by our

own words

and he's

going to

play back

this recording

of whenever

you bound

other people

by

your own

moral judgments

whenever

you said

to someone

else

you should

do this

or you

ought to

do

that

or

whenever

those

thoughts

ran

through

your

mind

and

God's

just

going to

play

that

back

for us

isn't

that

going to

be

fun

for some

of us

that recorder

is going

to be

playing

back

for years

and years

on end

thousands

and thousands

and thousands

of moral

judgments

that we

made

against

other

people

and God's

going

to say

okay

your standards

for other

people

are going

to be

the standard

by which

you're

you are

storing up

wrath

against

yourselves

for the

day

of God's

wrath

if God

judges

us

by our

own

standards

no one's

going to

think that's

unfair

and he

says that

when God

judges us

on judgment

day

none of us

are going

to stand

all of us

are going

to be judged

and found

wanting

even according

to our

own words

and our

own standards

much less

God's words

and God's

standards

all of us

are going

to stand

there

just

hopeless

and helpless

and utterly

condemned

even the

works

righteousness

that we

thought

we could

achieve

on that

day

is going

to all

the best

stuff

that we

produced

all of

our

goodness

all of

our

righteousness

even

according

to our

own

standards

is going

to appear

as

filthy

rags

isn't

this

great

God's

judgment

is universal

works

righteousness

is inconceivable

but here

comes the

good news

gospel

repentance

is possible

and gospel

repentance

is essential

right

verse 16

says that

this is all

going to take

place on the

day when God

judges everyone's

secrets through

Jesus Christ

as my gospel

declares

all of

our secrets

all the

hidden areas

of our

lives

all of

my

motives

all my

thoughts

all the

facts are

going to be

known

everything I

thought

everything I

said

everything I

did

everything I

ought to

have done

but yet

left undone

do you see

why Paul

is so

anxious for

us to

realize

right now

that we're

under the

wrath of

God

because he

wants us to

hide ourselves

right now

under the

righteousness

that God

has provided

and that's

the thesis

of this

whole letter

that I'm

not ashamed

of the

gospel

because it

is the

power of

God that

brings

salvation

to everyone

who believes

it

first for the

Jew then

for the

Gentile

for in

the gospel

the righteousness

of God

has been

revealed

the righteousness

that comes

by faith

and is

by faith

from first

to last

as it is

written the

righteous will

live

by faith

brothers and

sisters

the bad

news is

that

God's

judgment

is universal

and works

righteousness

is inconceivable

and impossible

but the

good news

is that

God has

provided a

righteousness

for us

in the

life and

death

of his

son

Jesus

Christ

it's not

a righteousness

that we

need to

go and

work out

it's a

righteousness

that has

already been

worked out

for us

by God

God

the gospel

says that

yes

this

resurrected

Jesus

who conquered

death

is going

to be

your judge

on the

last day

but it's

possible

to get

there

and to

look into

your judge's

face

and to

see

your savior

there

to appear

before him

and say

I'm already

in the

right

God has

already

declared

me to

be

righteous

he's

already

given

to me

and imputed

upon me

the righteousness

of Christ

himself

isn't that

good news

but what

must we do

to respond

to this

good news

Paul says

it's the

kindness

of God

that's meant

to lead us

to repentance

God's

kindness

is intended

to lead us

to

repentance

and repentance

is that

key word

it's that

crucial

word

what does

it mean

to repent

well I'll

end with

a story

from

Jesus

in Luke

Luke 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18

he talks

about a

Pharisee

and a

tax collector

somebody

who's very

religious

and moral

and somebody

who's very

irreligious

and immoral

and he says

that the

Pharisee

goes

and he

prays

to God

and he

says

God

I thank

you

that I'm

not like

all these

other people

because

they do

evil

but I

pray

I fast

I give

all my

money

and he

thinks

he's

completely

satisfied

the demands

of God

full

of self

satisfaction

and self

confidence

he doesn't

even ask

God

for any

help

he doesn't

ask God

for anything

he just

is there

telling God

how he is

everything

he needs

to be

and he's

done

everything

he needs

to do

and that

really isn't

even praying

Jesus says

it's just

kind of

talking to

yourself

he says

that kind

of prayer

doesn't get

through

but what

kind of

prayer

does get

through

this tax

collector

comes

and he

knows

all about

the kindness

of God

and the

forbearance

of God

and the

patience

of God

and yet

even still

he knows

he's not

worthy of

God

he knows

his whole

life has

been utterly

corrupted by

sin

and so

he stands

far off

and he

doesn't even

look up to

heaven

he just

beats

his breast

he beats

his heart

and how

does he

pray

he says

God

have mercy

on me

a sinner

can we

say that

together

God

have mercy

on me

a sinner

in the

Greek

he says

God

have mercy

on me

the sinner

which means

he's blocked

everybody else

in the world

out

he's not

focused on

them and

their sin

he just

says

God

have mercy

on me

the

sinner

and that's

the prayer

that gets

through

because that's

the prayer

of repentance

God's

kindness

is meant

to lead

us

into

repentance

and having

repented

having

rejected

all of

our own

self-righteousness

and embraced

this righteousness

of God

that he's

provided for

us in

Jesus

Christ

now we

can begin

to live

this new

life

now we

can start

to lean

in to

what

verse 7

is all

about

to those

who by

persistence

in doing

good

seek glory

honor

and immortality

he will

give

eternal

life

those are

not the

works that

save you

but they

are the

necessary

outcome

and evidence

of a

saving

faith

so friends

God's

kindness

is meant

to lead

us to

repentance

and we

have

every

opportunity

today

to

repent

and to

believe

this

glorious

gospel

of the

righteousness

of God

in the name

of the

Father

Son

and Holy

Spirit

Amen

Amen

Amen

.

Amen