The Mission: Romans 2:17-29 (Saved From Myself)

All right, well, welcome to Real Life Church, everybody.

If we have not met, my name is Derek Spencer, and I get the privilege of being the student pastor here at RLC.

It has been such a privilege to be the student pastor here at Real Life Church for the past almost eight years.

It'll be eight years in January.

And it's such a privilege.

And so this morning we're going to continue into our mission, the mission series that we've been doing in Romans.

Pastor Brandon will not be here this morning.

I don't know if anybody keeps up with college football, but Alabama lost yesterday.

So I don't know if those things you know correlate in some way, but I'm just saying.

Congratulations to Kentucky as well for beating LSU.

I was talking with Jordan Drake up front, and uh I was giving them a hard time yesterday thinking that Kentucky was not going to pull it out, and they ended up doing it.

And so congratulations to Kentucky.

Uh for me, if if you know me, I am a Notre Dame Irish fan, and so every year I get excited during the regular season until the playoffs come along.

And then I get disappointed every year.

We are the Dallas Cowboys of college football, unfortunately.

Anyways, we are in a series of uh the book of Romans.

I want to showcase something that we did yesterday for our student ministry.

Yesterday we had a one-day event called Recharge uh that took place here at the church uh from nine to three.

We had almost, I believe, 37 students show up for this one-day event.

And so, yeah, if you're gonna clap, you can collab.

Yes, this is something to rejoice.

We we got the opportunity where we spent the entire day where I felt a lot of times throughout the school year, as the school year begins, uh everyone gets really busy with their schedule.

Um, sometimes over fall break, you need a vacation from vacation as well.

Um, some of the kids are working, and so I wanted to just take a moment at the beginning of October and just kind of reset and recharge our students and their faith.

And so yesterday we did a one-day event where we want it, we wanted to be intentional.

And so we did we tried different things.

We did, we did Legos, uh, we did some bracelet making.

We actually did uh Super Smash Bros on the screen yesterday, and that was super cool to do and and to experience.

And so I gotta shout out uh my boy Colton Leach, he's not in here right now, he'll be in next service.

But he beat his brother, his little brother, in the the tournament, and that was such a great time.

And the whole idea was to just simply help our students recharge in their faith with everything that's going on in our world.

We have to recognize what is draining us in our faith so that then we can then be recharged by the things that we ought to know, which is reconnecting with God and reconnecting with godly people as well.

And so I wanted to showcase that this morning.

If you have a student between the grades of sixth and twelfth grade, we would strongly encourage you to get your student connected in student life because we believe God is truly moving in the next generation, and we believe God is speaking to them as well so that they can go and make disciples as well.

They don't gotta wait.

We don't believe in no Holy Spirit Junior around here.

We believe our sixth graders can be empowered to go make a difference, right?

Amen, church.

It's gonna be a good morning this morning.

We're gonna be in Romans this morning, and Pastor Brennan has been talking about this whole idea of what is your favorite movie all time.

And so I get the privilege this morning of sharing some of my personal favorite movies.

Now, I am a big movie person.

Anytime I sit down with my wife and we try to decide what she wants to watch compared to what I want to watch.

Maybe it's the same in your relationship.

I want to watch a movie, but she says it's too long.

She would rather watch three episodes that are 45 minutes long.

Is it like that in your relationship as well?

Maybe it's a man versus female thing.

I'm not so sure.

But I want to share this morning since we're not really in this movie era of small kids of watching our own movies and stuff like that.

I want to share some of my favorite Disney movies.

I have three children that are five, gonna be four in December, my my middle, and then uh one.

She just turned one in July.

I want to share some of my favorite Disney movies this morning.

And these are no order, these are my top five favorite movies from Disney.

You may agree, you may disagree.

If you disagree, I'm sorry, but you're wrong.

These are just these are just stating the facts.

So Toy Story 2, I feel like this is the most quotable Toy Story, in my opinion.

If you like anything past three, four, or five, then what are you doing?

I'm not so sure.

Toy Story 2 is my personal favorite.

Cars, uh, the original cars, I absolutely love.

Tarzan, uh Phil Collins just absolutely went insane on the music soundtrack.

Thank you, Austin.

I appreciate that.

Whatever he was writing, God was anointing it.

I'll tell you that.

Modern days David, right there.

The Lion King, of course, is a classic.

And I feel like this movie's super underrated.

Maybe some of you haven't watched it, but Chicken Little.

I love me some Chicken Little.

When the kids choose to watch Chicken Little, I'm glued just as like they are.

I love watching Chicken Little.

And so this morning we have been talking about this idea because we want to explain the gospel as it's the greatest story ever told is the mission of God to rescue all of us.

We believe that this is so important to emphasize because God has came to this earth to rescue us.

Isn't that good news this morning, church?

That the last couple weeks we've been talking about this idea that we're trying to do the book of Romans as if it's a series.

It's a we're starting in season one all the way through season five.

And we've been emphasizing in this specific season that God sees us exactly where we are.

And I'm so thankful that God sees us exactly where we are, where we are.

And the reason why this is important is because in the book of Romans, it was written to unify the divided believers under the amazing good news about Jesus.

And 2,000 years ago, they were divided by so many different things that made them argue amongst each other.

And isn't it amazing that 2,000 years later, after the book of Romans was written, we're still divided by so many things all across this place.

And so the book of Romans is so important that we talk about why it unifies us, why it brings us together, and how it can encourage us in our faith.

And so I'm so excited to read this morning.

We'll be in uh Romans chapter 2.

Romans 2 · chapter mention

In the beginning of Romans 1, part of it says, For I'm not ashamed of the this good news about Christ.

It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes.

It tells us how God makes us right in his sights, and this is accomplished from start to finish by faith.

You who are called, you who call yourself Jews, are relying on God's law, and you boast about your special relationship with him.

And you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind and a light for the people who are lost in darkness.

You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God, for you are certain that God's law gives you complete knowledge and truth.

Well then, if you teach others, why don't you teach yourself?

You tell others not to steal, but do you steal?

You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery?

You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples?

You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it.

No wonder the scriptures say the Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.

The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God's law.

But if you don't obey God's law, you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile.

And if the Gentiles obey God's law, won't God declare them to be his own people?

In fact, uncircumcised Gentiles who keep God's law will condemn you, Jews who are circumcised and possess God's law but don't obey it.

For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through ceremony of circumcision.

No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God.

And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law, rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit.

And a person who with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.

This is gonna be a fun text this morning.

Pastor Brandon said, Let's send the youth pastor up for this one.

Appreciate that, Pastor Brandon.

Listen, this is such an amazing text because if we truly break it down, it can be truly explained in one sense.

The gospel, the good news of Jesus came, and it's good news because he saves us from ourselves.

The good news saves you from you.

Jesus didn't just come to rescue the world, he came to rescue you from yourself.

And so often we when we don't become believers and we're we're not believers yet, we sometimes think that we're perfectly fine with the way that we are.

But Jesus came to show a revelation that we are not okay with the way that we are, actually.

We actually desperately need a savior because of the things inside of us have become broken and there's sin all amongst us, and so we desperately need a savior for ourselves.

He came to save you from yourself.

And so the last couple weeks we've been talking about this idea where in Romans 1 it emphasizes how Jesus came and the good news came to save the world around us, and how incredible it is that there's sin all around us, and Jesus died for everyone.

And not only did he come for everyone, but he came for each individual person.

The person that you're sitting next to, go ahead and look at him and say, He came for you.

I know you, you need salvation.

We've been praying for you for a long time.

But they came, Jesus came specifically for each person around us that everybody can be free from south from sin and be re be receiving salvation along the way as well.

But here's the tricky part.

You ready for this?

I know somebody in here right now that is my worst enemy.

My worst enemy is in this room right now.

Every single day I fight this person, every single day I have to challenge this person, and I have to come to a realization is this person going to defeat me or am I just going to give up along the way and defeat or defeat them as well?

And this person is this guy right here.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Now, some of you might be sitting here thinking, man, this guy is crazy.

He's got a bandana on, he's got some crazy glasses on.

There's no way that this guy could be that bad, right?

But I tell you what, you don't know him like I know him.

You don't know the battles that he faces.

You don't know the things that he goes on in his mind, you don't know what's going on in his heart, the struggles that he's had along the way.

And every single day I have to look at this guy in the mirror, that guy right there, and I have to determine is he going to win or am I going to sacrifice my flesh to be more like Jesus every single day?

And I believe there's many of us in this room that may have goofy pictures like this, but we also know the brokenness and the pain that we also individually feel as well.

And every single person in here wakes up and looks in the mirror and has to decide: Am I going to believe the lies of the enemy?

Am I going to believe the flesh and allow that person to win in my life?

Or am I going to surrender my life to Jesus?

Because the good news is Jesus came to rescue you from yourself.

And some of us in here may not even think we need rescued, but that's why the gospel of Jesus is such an incredible standard that He can lay it out completely for us and say, this is why we need the good news because of this.

This is what's happening in your life, and this is what's going to be taking place as well.

And so, as I've been, you know, studying this as well, I started looking at my philosophies and my you know theologians along the way.

And uh I just kept going back to Disney, and I was like, you know what?

Disney actually showcases this really well.

If you remember in Toy Story 2, the biggest enemy in this was Stinky Pete.

Stinky Pete's worst enemy was himself because he could have been free, but instead he was trying to stay in bondage the entire time as well.

The biggest enemy in this movie was nobody but Lightning McQueen.

He wanted to do things by himself rather than having people around him.

The biggest enemy in this was not that the sky was falling, is that he had an opportunity to tell his dad, but he had self-doubt because of the world around him.

The biggest enemy for Tarzan was not just Clayton wanting to go kill gorillas, is that he had an opportunity to be around gorillas, but he was so stuck on his ways that he kept moving forward to the things that he wanted.

And Lion King and Simba, he had lies spoken to him.

And I could preach a whole lot of movies about Lion King.

He had lies spoken to him.

His father had a calling for him, and the enemy came and spoke to him to run from his calling.

But God wanted him to be something else, and his biggest enemy was himself because he believed the lies of the devil, right?

We see it all around us, but that's why the gospel is so good.

The gospel is good news about Jesus and his rescue and transformation of all who trust in him.

Everyone in this room right now can receive salvation and walk in that freedom from yourself, that we can have a deep revelation, that we can surrender who we are to Jesus and live like him as he's called us to every single day.

And so this morning I'm so excited to break down this text because I believe it's going to change someone's life.

And it's been something I've had to wrestle with as well, all week long, as well.

And so I pray that it's encouraging to you.

Every time I read the book of Romans or any of the letters from Paul, sometimes I think that Paul's being a little bit harsh.

But then I've met a couple people along the way that think they're modern-day Paul's, honestly, and they write letters sometimes, and there's nothing encouraging about their letters, to be honest with you.

And a lot of times when I compare that to the gospel of Jesus and the good news that Paul has for us, it can come across harsh, but at the end of the day, it's spoken underneath with love as the foundation.

And so I believe this morning this is going to be an encouraging, love-filled message that is going to challenge us to look more like Jesus and less like yourself.

You ready this morning, church?

I hope so, because that's that's all I got.

I got this message prepared.

That's it.

All right.

The gospel is so good because it calls out our pride.

Man, does anybody like their pride to be hurt?

Now, some pride is good.

You should take pride in brushing your teeth.

You should take pride in getting yourself ready.

But the gospel of Jesus is specifically trying to call out something inside of you that you may not even be aware of, and that is our pride.

And this is what it says.

I want you to see what I have underlined over and over in this text.

It says, you who call yourselves Jews are relying on God's law, and you boast about your special relationship with Him.

You know what He wants, and you know what is right because you have been taught His law.

You are convinced that you are a guide for the blind and a light for the people who are lost in darkness.

You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God, for you are certain that God's law gives you complete knowledge and truth.

Who do you think Paul's talking to here?

You right?

Because here's the thing if self could help self, and I've said this before, if self could help self, self would have helped self a really long time ago.

But you need someone greater than yourself, and his name is Jesus.

At the end of the day, we can have all this knowledge of the things we're supposed to do or the things that we know or have been taught, but we cannot save ourselves from ourselves.

We have to rely on Jesus Christ to step in and be our salvation in every area of our life, even the areas that we may not be aware of.

And yesterday I was mentioning we had the recharge event, and this was kind of our whole premise of you come to a point, and everyone in here has come to this point before where we have to recharge.

Can I tell you, you cannot just tell Siri, Siri, charge my phone, and it automatically does it, right?

You have to go to a source to recharge your phone, and the same thing happens with our spiritual life as well.

If we sit here and rely on ourselves to constantly recharge our own life, we will continue to live in a lifestyle like this, and then we'll blame God for never recharging us, or we'll blame the church for never showing up.

But at the end of the day, we have to go to the source.

The source is only and will forever be Jesus Christ to be the true power of salvation inside of our life.

That is what we desperately need.

It's nothing that you can do in this world that will actually help you for yourself, except for going to Jesus Christ Himself.

And so the biggest problem, I believe, with our relationship with God is not always the world or the devil, it's you thinking you know better than God.

All of us have been in places before where we think that we can be God or we can actually create situations that are going to work out and think that it's going to be best for us.

And how many of you ever had to apply for a job or you've ever been in situations where you wanted to transition to the next thing in life, but then you start getting frustrated because God's not doing the thing exactly what you want.

Nobody?

Nobody, thank you, Amy.

I appreciate that.

Everyone's like, oh, are you talking to me right now?

I think a lot of us have been in situations like that before.

Maybe it's not necessarily a job, but maybe it's a relationship you've had in the past, and you wanted something to work out exactly the way that you thought it was going to work out in your mind.

Only for God to do the exact opposite of what you want.

And you're confused, you're not understanding what's going on.

And sometimes people get frustrated because they want things to go their way compared to what God's plan is for them along the way.

And I want to encourage you this morning: the gospel of Jesus is not God's, here's what I'm going to do, so please bless it.

That is not the gospel of Jesus.

We ain't about prosperity gospel when it comes to give me, give me, give me.

I'll take a Ferrari, I'll take this.

We ain't about that.

Because at the end of the day, the gospel is, God, what do you want me to do?

I will trust you with whatever you have in front of me.

That is the gospel of Jesus.

That we would take down our pride and we would say, We're this or we're that, but at the end of the day, I'm nothing without Jesus.

I can have all the careers and all the success and have all the knowledge of the world, but if I don't have Jesus, then I'm really nothing.

And I hope that's your heart posture.

But these were people that Paul were calling out to be Jews that knew the word of God and knew the law, and that wasn't their heart posture.

And so scripture says in Proverbs, it says in Proverbs 3, don't be impressed with your own wisdom.

Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

This is such an important scripture to emphasize because if you remember correctly, in Proverbs 3 is where we see trust on the Lord with all of our hearts.

And so in Proverbs 3, verse 7, it says, Don't be impressed with your own wisdom.

Proverbs 3:7

Instead, fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

In the beginning of that chapter, it goes on to say, My child, never forget these things I have taught you.

Store my commands in your heart.

And if you do this, you will live.

I don't know why that light's going out.

That's interesting.

If you do this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying.

Does anybody want a satisfying life?

I do.

In every area of my life, I want it to be satisfying.

Um, never let loyalty and kindness leave you.

Tie them around your neck as a reminder.

My wife got me a necklace uh probably two years ago, maybe maybe a year and ago, where it has my kids' uh names on my necklace because I love to take them with me wherever I go.

And if I'm not with them, it makes me sad sometimes.

And so my wife gave me this necklace so I can take it with me wherever I go.

And when I when I read these scriptures, never let loyalty and kindness leave you.

I think about that as well because I want loyalty and kindness to be a part of my everyday life in every area that we go.

Amen.

Are you all distracted by this light?

I see some of you staring at it right now.

Um, where's Austin at?

Austin, can you turn off these top lights?

Appreciate it.

All right, stay focused with me, okay?

Technology is a tool, it's not a gift from God, it's a tool.

Okay, write them deep within your heart, then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation.

I want to have a good reputation, not just with God, but with people as well.

I want to represent God well because can I tell you, Christians, believers, the world is watching us?

The world is watching how you're gonna act.

And scripture says that we ought to have loyalty and kindness shared in our heart.

Do we have consistency with our characters?

Do we have loyalty to the people around us?

Do we have kindness being shown to the people around us, or are we constantly looking for another thing that we can receive on our own rather than giving it to the people around us?

Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and do not depend on your own understanding, but seek his will in all that you do, and he will show you which path to take.

The good news this morning, church, is that you don't have to have it all together.

The gospel frees you from carrying the weight of having to.

Can I be honest?

I don't want to have it all together.

There's so many things in life that I don't understand, like this light keeps going in and out.

Why does that happen?

Why is technology sometimes the most frustrating thing in our society, right?

There's things on our phone that we carry every single day that we don't comprehend all the time.

But at the end of the day, we must go to the source of Jesus Christ because we can be honest and say, we don't know everything, but we know the person who does because salvation comes from him and him only.

And so therefore, we must walk in that the good news is that we can be free from carrying the weight of having it all figured out in every area of our life.

Amen, church.

All right, number two, not only does the good news call out our pride, but it also calls out our hypocrisy.

The gospel calls out our hypocrisy.

Scripture says, well then, if you teach others, why don't you teach yourself?

You tell others not to steal, but do you steal?

You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery?

You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples?

You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it.

No wonder the scriptures say the Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.

The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God's law.

But if you don't obey God's law, you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile.

And if the Gentiles obey God's law, won't God's people declare them to be his own people?

In fact, the uncircumcised Gentiles who keep God's law will condemn you Jews who are circumcised and possess God's law but don't obey it.

You know, throughout the scripture, it talks about how God was calling them to be something specific.

It was God's special people.

And God wanted them to stand out among them, but they simply just wanted to fit in.

And I think there's so many Christians in our society now that constantly are being challenged.

Do I want to fit in with what's going on with our world right now?

Or am I going to live a lifestyle that's going to be very different than other people?

Hey, give it up for Austin and the tech team as well.

My goodness.

I can now, everybody can focus with me again.

Y'all with me?

Thank you guys.

Appreciate it.

Praise the Lord.

Oh my.

We got to stand out, y'all.

We can't fit in.

We got to stand out for what God's calling us.

And a lot of times when we read the scriptures, we get so conflicted in our modern society of like, man, do we really got to talk about circumcision in church?

Yes, we do.

It's important because it's not just in that specific instance that we always think of.

But there's scripture talked about all throughout the Old Testament how in Exodus, talking with Moses, God was telling Moses to circumcise his lips.

And in Jeremiah, he was telling him to circumcise his ears.

And in Ezekiel, he was telling him to circumcise his heart.

And the reason why this is so important is because God didn't just want an outward appearance to look different, but he wanted something to be radically different from the inside so that the things on the inside can showcase that it's different on the outcome outside.

He was telling him, I need you to circumcise your lips because I need you to speak for me at times.

I need you to be ready to speak and be ready and maybe not speak sometimes.

Somebody's got to receive that word this morning.

Maybe not speak sometimes.

Maybe you need it.

The Lord also says we need to circumcise our ears.

We need to be sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is saying and the things we shouldn't be receiving as well.

We need to be sensitive of these things.

And circles kids, they don't know some stuff when they're college stuff, so they go to AI about it respectfully.

And so at the end of the day, it truly means nothing if we have knowledge and actually don't apply it.

Does anybody know a know-it-all in their life where they're constantly gonna tell you all the things that they know and they're gonna constantly keep saying, Well, if you would have done this, if you would have done that.

Yeah, I've known some know-it-alls in my life as well.

And I wanted to tell you this story about when I was in high school.

The kids love it when I share stories when I was in high school, and so I want to share a story with you guys as well.

This was uh my basketball team, uh my freshman and sophomore year.

Uh, this was number number 10, Derek Spencer, right here.

Um, and I had two kids in my class that were know-it-alls, John Kendig and Nick Gibson.

This right here is my friend John Kendig, number two.

John Kendig was the biggest know-it-all I ever knew in my entire life.

And rightfully so.

4.0 kid, incredibly smart.

He ended up going to get his pilot's license, ended up getting a scholarship for engineering at Cedarville University in Ohio.

Incredibly talented and smart kid.

He applied himself in so many ways in life because he had the knowledge, but he also applied it when it came to his school and his grades and everything.

He was the type of kid that made you so frustrated that he knew it all, but at the same time, when it came to test and quiz and everything like that, he was the guy you wanted to study with, all right?

He was an A student, I was more like a B student, to be honest with you.

Now, this was one of my best friends, Nick Gibson.

He knew it all, but he was more of like a D and F student, to be honest with you.

And I'm still really good friends with Nick as well to this day.

Nick was more of a D and F student, and he never applied himself to anything at the time.

And he would constantly be ineligible for sports and wasn't allowed to hang out with me because he wasn't cleaning his room, he wasn't getting good grades.

And so it always made me so frustrated because he never applied himself until a girl transferred to our school that he thought was really cute.

And you know what he did?

This D student earned up being an A student, the rest of school.

And to write you the rest of the story, he was so impressed by this girl that he started applying himself, and they actually ended up getting married to each other and have kids to this day.

And so I want to say, number one, you gotta apply yourself.

But number two, fellas, it's important to have a godly woman in your life to push you to be the person you're called to be.

Can I say amen for somebody?

I know I got a godly woman, and Nick needed a godly woman as well in his life.

And so it's so important that we don't just know the things, but we actually apply it.

Because I don't want my knowledge for God to be greater than my obedience to God.

I can know all the things about God.

You can know all the things about God.

But if our obedience and our heart posture for God is not there, then it really doesn't matter.

You're really just being a hypocrite.

Because then you can call out everybody else for doing things that you know are wrong, but you're still doing it as well.

And you know, I found this interesting because in uh when Jesus was talking to the Pharisees and talking about the hypocrites, if you look up the Greek word of hypocrite, it actually just means actor.

And I found this interesting of hypocrite being actor because this is Chris Evans here, if you don't know him or not.

He's also known as Captain America, the original Captain America, and also Johnny Storm from Fantastic Four.

Now, Chris Evans is neither Captain America or Johnny Storm, he is Chris Evans.

But when we see the word hypocrite, this is what's happening that God is calling us to be a specific person, but we have become an actor to be whatever we want to be along the way.

And I think because we see the word hypocrite, we think of it more of a like really like looking down upon thing, but it's really calling them out saying, You're being one person when I know you're actually something else.

And we have to look at our world and look at ourselves and say, Am I being the person that I'm actually supposed to be?

Or am I just simply putting on a front because I know the things I ought to do?

And I think church, simply put, I think we've become maybe just too good at acting.

Maybe we've become too good at acting when everything's not fine, but you're just gonna say it's fine.

Maybe we've just come to church because we know it's the right thing to do, but then when we're here, we're not really paying attention, we're just on our phone the whole time.

Maybe we simply want to put on a persona that everything is working out good with their jobs, but really you're really miserable at everything that you're doing.

Maybe you're frustrated with life and you just don't know what to do, and so you just continue to keep moving forward without actually getting the help that you need.

You know, it's okay to ask for help.

Remember our last point?

You don't have to have it all together.

You don't have to be strong and have it all together.

I'm a Christian because I'm weak and I need a savior.

That's our goal with this.

That we would call out.

This is what Paul is doing.

He is calling out because he loves us and he's saying, I'm seeing a pattern in your life that you're saying you're one thing, but I need you to understand they're watching.

The world is watching, the people around are watching.

And not to have the pressure to perform, but that we would have the relationship that's so deep inside of our heart so that we can be radically changed to show the people around us that this isn't a show.

I don't gotta, I don't gotta put on some type of performance to show you that Jesus is alive in my life.

I just want to live it.

I just want to live a life that's so real that I've seen a revelation of Jesus in the quiet times, that I've seen Jesus speak to me in the word of God, and I just want everyone around me to know it as well.

And I hope that's your prayer this morning.

Because Jesus didn't come for someone who is strong and has it all together, he came for the weak and the person they who admits they desperately need a savior.

I want to be the person that is constantly going to Jesus because he is my everything and my strength.

In my weakness, we are made strong.

Not because I want to put on some type of persona that I have it all figured out, because I don't.

You've seen the light going in and out.

I don't.

But we can admit that we desperately need a savior in everything that we do.

Amen, church.

So, number three, not only does he call out our pride and not only does it call out our hypocrisy, but he also calls out our heart.

And I'm thankful that he calls out our heart because we desperately need him to.

Our scripture says our heart is wicked and deceitful in many ways.

And in verse 28, 29, it says, For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision.

No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God.

And a true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law, rather, it is a change of heart produced by the Spirit, and a person who's with a change heart seeks praise from God, not from people.

When I was in school, I had a Bible teacher that would explain this thought process.

Don't miss heaven by 18 inches.

I don't know if anybody's ever heard this expression before, but being in a Christian school growing up, you get a lot of knowledge about the Bible.

And unfortunately, I've seen a lot of people that I went to school with as well receive the knowledge and then walk away from the faith.

But I had a Bible teacher that that she would emphasize this almost every single lesson.

She would say, Don't miss heaven by 18 inches.

Don't just get the knowledge, but uh not apply it to your heart.

Because that was the that's the distance between your mind and your heart.

And she would say all the time, Well, I can teach you all the things all you want, but if you never apply it to your heart, then none of this truly matters.

Because God is looking for your heart, not just so that you can be the most intellectual when it comes to the word of God.

And so I wanted to bring that up this morning because God wants your heart, not perfection.

And that's why we do what we do around here at RLC.

We don't do baptisms to then sit here and say, well, you get baptized so you're saved.

No, we get baptized so we can show the public display of what God's doing on the inside of our hearts.

That we can celebrate with you in those moments, not because now that you're baptized, you're saved.

No, we're celebrating that you've received Christ and you are now a new creation.

That's why we do communion as well, that we can celebrate the blood of Jesus and the body that was broken for us and the life and the promises that he gives to us because we've received it, not because we're receiving it to receive salvation.

And that's why we also serve as well.

We don't serve just from a place of look at me, I'm a good person, I'm gonna do this good deed because I know it's the right thing to do.

No, we serve from an overflow of our life that God would change us from the inside, and we say, God, I just I want to share it with the people around us as well.

That is why we do what we do because God's not looking for a perfect heart, He's just looking for an obedient heart.

And so scripture says in Psalms 139, it says, Search me, oh God, and know my heart.

And I love this scripture because can I tell you, God actually knows you better than you know yourself already.

And this scripture is emphasizing the point that David wants to sit here and say, God, I'm giving you permission.

Search me, search my heart, God.

I know there's some things in there.

Maybe there's some things I don't see, but I need you to search me, God.

And while you're searching me, I need you to point out anything in me that offends you.

Can I tell you there's some stuff probably in your life that you don't even realize that is offending God?

And I would say the same thing back for myself as well.

But our prayer has to be, God, search my heart.

Search my heart and point out anything that offends you, God, the things that I see and the things that I don't see.

And can I tell you, when you spend time with God, spend time in his presence, spend time in his word, spend time with godly people, those things will become revealed to you.

You don't need self-help to reveal those things that you're evil.

Sorry, we're evil.

We desperately need a Savior.

We need God, the standard of our life, to come to our heart and search it.

God, would you just find anything?

Not so that you can pull it out and accuse me of these things because he already knows you're sinful, but that he would come in and start pointing it out so that you can start to become healed and whole as the person that you're called to be in this life.

And that's why the gospel is so good and it's such good news because there's things in our life right now that we don't even realize are offending him.

And God, we want to surrender those things to you right now, but we have to first give him permission to say, God, you need to search me.

God, would you search me?

And I pray that's your prayer this morning that you would sit here and talk to God and say, God, would you just search my heart and point out anything in me that offends you?

Because, church, the good news is you are never too far gone from God's grace.

Some of you have lived some lives, a couple lives, a couple tough lives, and you've lived some things in your life and you've recognized and you've received the grace of God, and you'd be like, Where would I be without Jesus?

I believe that's a handful of our testimonies in this room this morning, and we can all testify saying, You can't outrun the grace of God in our life.

And Scripture says in Ezekiel chapter 36, this is a promise that God made to us.

Ezekiel 36 · chapter mention

I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you.

I will take out your stony, stubborn heart, and I will give you a tender, responsive heart.

And some of us in this room right now probably have some stony, stubborn hearts.

But I will give you a tender, responsive heart.

When I was a kid, I used to uh always make fun of my parents at movies uh when there would be moments of crying and stuff like that.

I'd be like, ah, look at them, they're crying.

But as I've gotten older, it's so funny how God works because now I cry at just about everything, every movie we watch.

But I I really get sensitive when the presence of God really starts to hit me.

Because it's as if it's a new person inside of me that I once was.

What once was a stubborn, stony heart has become a new, tender, responsive heart to God.

And I just pray right now in this moment, maybe you're in here that you you don't feel anything from God.

And I'm not saying that God is necessarily a feeling, but he uses our feelings.

But I just pray that the Holy Spirit would speak to your heart this morning and give you a new one.

Because we must surrender our hearts to him in every area of our life so that we can be the person that we're called to be, so that you can be tender to the Holy Spirit and responsive to the Holy Spirit.

Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 5, this means that anyone who becomes belongs to Christ has become a new person.

The old life is gone and a new life has begun.

Aren't you thankful that God gives us a fresh life?

That you went in front of the judge and he said, I'm gonna wipe it completely clean.

Nothing that you've done in the past will no longer be a hindrance to you, but now you can actually walk into a new person that you are called to be in every area of your life.

That's the good news.

When you receive Jesus, you are now a new creation in him with a new heart, and so now we can walk in that boldly.

And so, church, may we be people who walk in humility that would stop pretending to be something that we aren't and surrender our hearts to the gospel of Jesus?

May we be that because the gospel is the only thing that can truly transform our lives and the people around us.

Do you want to be changed by Jesus this morning, church?

I hope you do.

Do you want to change the people around you?

I hope you do.

Because if that's your desire, then you truly can't ever do it on your own standards.

Because according to the scripture, we've read we're prideful people and we're full of hypocrisy, but we must create a new heart in our lives, and you can only receive that new heart through Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

And I believe there's so many in this room right now that have already received Jesus Christ as their new Savior.

But maybe if there's one person in this room this morning that has been going back and forth and just unsure, wondering, is this really worth it?

Can I tell you?

He knows you better than you know yourself.

And he wants to create you a new creation and give you a new heart this morning because the one that you got is stony and stubborn.

But I pray that this is encouraging to you because the gospel came to save you from yourself.

So surrender your life to him in every area that you may walk.

Let's go ahead and pray this morning, church.