The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 4: God’s Kindness

Episode Date: February 4, 2018

If we find ourselves looking down our noses at others for what they are doing it is only because we have taken our eyes off of the cross of Jesus Christ and what He has done for us.

Amen, amen. How are we doing, church? Doing all right. Everybody's looking good, kind of quiet, but that's all right. If you got your Bibles, it's going to be in Romans chapter two. Romans chapter two, if you brought your study journal back with you, which I hope you did, we are on page eight. You can go there, and all the text is there.

And so I would like to invite you to please stand for the reading of God's word. If you would please stand. And if there are some people around you trying to find seats, help them figure out which ones you're not going to sit in when you sit back down. Here we go, Romans chapter two verses 1 through 5. Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges, for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, oh man, you who judge those who practice such things, and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience,

not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitentate heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's judgment, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. May God add blessing to the hearing and the reading of His Word. Amen, you may be seated. I'm going to ask you a question. What do you think people think about when they're going to be?

they hear the word Christian. Like, you're just average man on the street kind of interview. You're at the town center, and you go to somebody and say, all right, what comes to your mind when you hear the word Christian? Do you think we live in a culture that would say, oh, man, Christians, they are passionate, peaceful, fighters of evil, bringers of justice with great patience and empathy? You think that makes the cut? We got a PR problem, don't you think?

I mean, honestly, we really do. do you think people, and what about, what about not like those Christians out there, but how would people describe you? I mean, do you think people would describe us, maybe our church or Christians, do you think words like love would come up? Or joy, or peace, like, hey, listen, I know some Christians at work, I don't believe what they believe, but regardless of their circumstances, they seem to have a peace that just doesn't make sense. Or how about this? or a kind. I mean, the best people I know, oh, man, Christians,

they are such a kind people or self-controlled. Any of those words? By the way, those words are what's called the fruit of the spirit. The Bible says, like if the spirit's in you, those things should be coming out of you. And yet, when most people describe Christians,

you don't get any kind of description like this. I grabbed a book about 10 years ago called Un-Christian. The byline of the book is, what a new generation really thinks about Christianity. It was from this group called the Barna Group. They're a research institute, a Christian Research Institute. And so they weren't talking about just what people felt. They actually did research to see what led to those feelings that kind of our world has about the label Christian about Christianity.

And here's some quotes from the book. They ask a guy who was not a Christian, what he thought about Christianity. He said this. Most people, I meet, assume, that Christian means very conservative, entrenched in their thinking, anti-gay, anti-choice, angry, violent, illogical empire builders. They want to convert everyone, and they generally cannot live peacefully with anyone who doesn't believe what they believe. Do you think that's what Jesus had in mind at all?

That they will know that we are Christians by our love. And yet, they think this, judgmental, anti-everything, hypocrites. And you know why they call us hypocrites? Because we are. I mean, it's just true. And before we make a defense about what somebody else thinks about us, it's always a pretty good idea that before you defend it, you might want to just kind of hold up the mirror. Maybe they're saying some things about us that are true. So the Barnard group began to research this thing and researched the lifestyles and attitudes of Christians and non-Christians.

And the crazy thing about all their research is there was functionally no difference, statistically no attitudinal or behavioral difference in people that they labeled as bull. born again and you could not self-label. This wasn't like, you know, I mean, if you survey America right now, most people are like, yeah, I'm a Christian because my grandma went to church. And I've told you a million times. Like going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore and putting your head in the oven makes you a biscuit. That's not how it works.

It's not outside in. It's inside out. So they actually asked some questions and they would identify you as born again if you believed in the gospel. If you believed it was the life, death, and resurrection of Christ that saved you not your good works. And yet with that, there was virtually no different. between Christians and non-Christians in the way they live. Christians own more Bibles.

That makes sense. Or they probably just took ours from 1122 and never brought them back, but whatever. It is our gift to you, but just one. If you got six, can you bring our gifts back? That be cool. That Christians cuss less in public? Not in private. We're cussing with the best of them, but around Nana, we'll tone it down a minute, all right? The Christians gave more money to religious non-profits because of people like me. But in virtually every study, this is a quote from the book, In virtually every study we conduct representing thousands of interviews every year, born-again Christians failed to display much attitudinal or behavioral evidence of transformed lives. Lifestyles were statistically equivalent to non-Christians.

When asked to identify their activities over the past 30 years, born-again believers were just as likely to bet or gamble, to visit a pornographic website, to take something that did not belong to them. My Bible just calls that stealing. to consult a medium or psychic, to physically fight or abuse someone, to have consumed enough alcohol to be considered legally drunk, to have used an illegal non-prescription drug, to have said something to someone that was not true,

to have gotten back at someone for something he or she did, to have said a mean thing behind another person's back, no difference. The only places where our lifestyle showed up different at all, again, we don't cuss as much in public. Christians recycle less. I guess we think it's all going to burn up, so why the two piles? That doesn't matter. And Christians bought less lottery tickets.

That was it. That was it. 84% of outsiders, their term, not mine. 84% of non-believers said they know personally at least one Christian, and yet only 15% of that group thought that the lifestyle of those Christ followers were significantly different than the norm. So I think the reason the world says that we're hypocrites is because we've earned it. Now, I know that Paul didn't read UnChristian, but I know that the authors of UnChristian read Paul.

And I think this is what Paul has in mind when he gets to Chapter 2 verse 1. Because he starts it out this way. Therefore, you have no excuse. Remember last week? Like, thanks for coming back because that was a doozy. But don't you remember the list of sins that we went through last week? And it was a lot of they, that they are evil-doers, they are haters of God, they are arrogant, they are insolent, they are insolent, they are disobedient to their parents, they are faithless. And what begins to happen, especially if you're like church people, and I've got rough news for it if you're here, you're church people.

And so what begins to happen in us, man, when we begin to see a list of sins, it's just kind of this thing in us begins to think about those people that are doing those horrible things. And what Paul says is, therefore you have no excuse. You're like, wait a minute, Paul. I thought we were talking about they. He goes, guess what, bro? They is you. Remember I told you in week one that for the first hundred years or so of Harvard Law School, first year law students at Harvard had to read the book of Romans,

not for its theological content, but because of the way that Paul writes. And Paul can bob and weave his way between the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. And what the law of students were supposed to pick up on is that as Paul was making an argument, he could foresee the objections to that argument, and then he would shift gears, then he would answer the objections. So last week when Paul says, the wrath of God is being poured out on all unrighteousness. Here, let me give you a list. He understood that there's some religious people, us, that can look at that list and go,

how dare they? And then Paul goes, hold up there, scooter. You're they. Therefore, you have no excuse. Oh man, every one of you who judges. I mentioned this last week. Listen, we should never use the scriptures as like binoculars to look at how awful everybody else says. It's always, the word of God is a mirror to hold up to ourselves,

to first and foremost to expose our own sinfulness. And so Paul says, therefore you have no excuse, oh man, every one of you who judges. And when he's talking about judging, it's kind of unfortunate. The Bible talks about judging in two different ways. One way is a positive thing whereby we invite humble accountability in the context of relationship. Like I've got a board of elders, and they look at my life. I had an evaluation this week, and they judge me. But when Jesus judged people, you know what he always did?

He did not condemn them or move away from them. When he judged them, when he would say, you're sinnered, then he moved close. That's not what he's talking about here. He's talking about that kind of judgment, and the heart of it is air. arrogant. I'm right. You're wrong. Let me tell you where you're wrong. And he says, therefore, you have no excuse, oh man, every one of you who judges. You see, when we judge, here's how we know when we're judging. Judging is magnifying the sin of others while minimizing our own sin. And I'm telling you, listen, Christians, and by the way, if you're not a Christian,

I'm going to give you all the evidence why you shouldn't be one of us today. I'm going to make you feel better. You can look at your name and I'm like, this is why I don't come into this mess, all right? I'm going to lay it all out here because we're a bunch of hypocrites. And see, Christians do this. We're really bad at this, man. Especially when you go through a list of sins, in our mind, it's like we don't actually do this, but we kind of get our marker out and be like,

well, those are red, those are kind of like red light sins, and then we have like yellow light sins, and then we have green light sins. And the red sins are, those are terrible things that are just gross, and y'all should stop it, and I might try to get a law past. And then there's the yellow light sins, and they're like, you know what, I'm kind of struggling with that. You ever notice Christians don't struggle?

I mean, they don't sin. They just struggle. And I'm like, no, bro, I think that's just sinning. I think that's what you're doing. I'm just struggling or sinning. But anyway. And then we've got that green light sins. They were pretty sure God's just cool with.

Like, it's Sabbath. Don't worry about that anymore. And I know you're not supposed to tell lies, but it makes the sermon better. So I'm pretty sure he's cool with it, right? No, not right. He says, therefore, you have no excuse, oh man, every one of you who judges. Jesus tells this parable in Luke chapter 18 to illustrate this kind of, like how God's not into people judging each other? And he says two men go into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee

and one was a tax collector. Now, if you've been around Bible study for too long, when you hear Pharisee, you think like evil empire, you think bad guy, you think Darth Vader, you think Nick Saban, you know what I'm saying? Like you think like, ugh, really? But when they heard that, I probably should say it, whatever, when they heard that, they thought like religious hero, okay? and he goes two men walk into the temple, a Pharisee and a tax collector. And the Pharisee prays this way. The Pharisees praise, God, thank you for my relationship with you,

that I can fast twice a day, or twice a week, that I can tithe on everything I have, that I am holy like you. And then he prays this, and that I'm not like this tax collector. Now listen, we don't pray that way, but we think that way. I mean, we don't actually pray that way. Hopefully nobody in disciple group's like, hey, I'll close us down in prayer today.

Dear God, thank you so much for this time together, and my great relationship with you, not like Ted. He doesn't even bring his Bible to disciple group. Nobody says that, but you think that. You're like, bro, don't you got your Bible? It's a disciple group. And then you see, the other guy, I pray, so he just beats his chest. So, God, I don't even deserve to be here. And Jesus says, he left righteous.

You see, Paul says, therefore, you've got no experience. you. So, man, every one of you who judges for, in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself because you, the judge, practice the very same thing. This is hypocrisy. When we judge people for things, you see, you roll out the list of Romans chapter one and we condemn somebody because they, because they are number one and three, and yet we do number eight and eleven on the list. And Paul's like, watch it, man, watch it. And again, what we'll typically do, will do, though, is we'll compare ourselves to us, or we'll compare ourselves to what we think is okay and what's not okay, or we'll compare ourselves to just somebody else that's worse than us.

God says, if you compare yourself, you compare yourself to him, and he said, be holy, for I am holy. And they're like, ugh, that seems impossible. I was comparing myself to my college roommate, Tony. I mean, I know I'm messed up, but look at Tony. And everybody, if you've had a college roommate, you know there's some jacked up people in this world, amen? It's just, true and that's what we tend to do and we tend to we tend to magnify everybody else's sin and minimize our own and judge in everybody else what you and i don't struggle with and listen man there's been whole denominations that have uh have been about this i won't tell you the john denomination it won't be hard if you should pick this out but i grew up in a world and and this is what

we were judged on good christians don't drink smoke or chew or go with girls who do and the guy that told me that. I mean, you let him catch you smoking a cigar. And you'd be like, he was, I don't even think you could be a Christian. And yet this brother got the majority of his meals from a clown through the car window. You understand? And I'm like, hold on, man. I thought you said the body was a temple. The Bible says, take the twinkie out of your own eye before you get, you know. And we could argue about it, but I wouldn't argue with you. You can talk about your friends with that if you want to. But what I'm saying is that we can create our own kind of man-made standards by which to judge one another.

And Paul says, do not do that. For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself because you, the judge, practice. The very same thing. Verse two, we know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Verse three, do you suppose, oh man, you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself? That's a pretty good definition of hypocrisy there. That you'll escape the judgment of God? He's like, do you really think that God is up there going, you know what?

Thank you. I don't have the ability to judge the entire world, and I don't know what I would have done without you, pointing out all the wrong in everybody else's life. Just you get a pass. Come on in. No. In fact, Jesus doesn't love a hypocrite. I mean, he loves us like he loves us at the cross, but he doesn't, he's not into hypocrites. In fact, in Matthew chapter 23, it says this.

This is Jesus' words. verse 23 and Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, verse two, the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses's seat, so do and observe what they tell you, but not the works they do, for they preach but do not practice. That's hypocrisy. They preach, but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear,

and they lay them on the people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with a finger. And then, then Jesus goes through this list. It's called the seven woes. And it's kind of like the counter argument to the beatitudes. The beatitudes is one of the first sermons that Jesus is preaching. And it starts out with Blessed are Blessed, and there's eight of them. There's eight blessings or beatitudes.

And then in the seven woes, it's kind of the opposite of that. And when he says, woe to you, it's not like, whoa, you might want to hold back a little bit. It means cursing. That's what it means. It's the opposite of Blessed. And so he's saying curse, curse, this is what he's saying. And he goes through seven of them. I'll give you a couple.

verse 25 he says woe do you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites exclamation point when the Bible puts an exclamation point there it's like if you're texting and you get the capital all capital text right kids you know like your mom and you're like why you yelling at me she's like I'm not yelling it was his own cap block all right but this means he's yelling he's saying wo do you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites so as loud as you can be there that's how he's saying it for you clean the outside of the cup and the plate but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence it you blind Pharisees first clean the inside of the cup and the plate that the outside also may be clean. He's like, why in the world are you judging everybody else's external activities when you haven't even dealt with your own internal realities? It's not an outside in thing. The following Jesus is from the inside out. And he goes on to say this, woe do you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. This is saying, cursed are the hypocrites. for you are like whitewashed tunes,

which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Jesus is not into people that are religiously right and looking down their nose at everybody else and pointing out all their wrongs. He goes, there's a real problem.

It's like a really pretty casket, but the problem is there's no life on the inside. of it. And listen, and if you think I'm talking, because right now in our minds, we go, who would do that? The person you brushed your teeth with this morning would do that. We all have this tendency to become judgmental hypocrites. We do. And honest to goodness, the longer you're around church, the more likely we are to lean that way. You see, here's a way that you can know that you're becoming judgmental. When we're more enraged by the sin of others, then we mourn our own sin.

Then watch out. Watch out. And so with that in mind, I have a confession to make. I'm a hypocrite. I mean a big flaming hypocrite. I am. There's a whole bunch of stuff I believe about God.

There's a whole bunch of things I believe in the word that should affect the way that I live. And yet I do the things I don't want to do and don't do the things I want to do on a daily basis. I'm talking about like yesterday, at the flag football field while my son is leading us to victory. I am screaming at the referee. And somebody from the other team was like, Pastor Jobie, shut up.

And I was like, it's true. I am. Now, here's the truth, too. You're a hypocrite, too, regardless of what you believe about Jesus. You don't mean to tell me you live up to everything that you've always promised. And I think the moment, I think the moment I confess my hypocrisy, I think the confession of the hypocrisy moves me, removes me from the hypocrite list. because what I am saying, I am not saying I've got it all together.

I am not saying I'm perfect. I'm actually saying the exact opposite. I am a great sinner and praise God I have a greater Savior. And the cross out of us all. To be a Christian doesn't mean you've got it all together. Being a Christian is first and foremost the confession. I need help. And it's worse than you think.

And so if you're a sinner, if you're a failure, if you're a hypocrite, then you are in the right place. because the gospel is for us. The problem is when we receive the grace of God, but then we don't extend that grace to the rest of the world. That's the problem. You see, I love John 317. It's almost a shame that it comes after John 316,

because somebody grabbed onto that one, and John 316 is a great verse. It's like the whole Bible in one verse. It's like the whole gospel in one verse. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever would believe in him would not perish. but it would have everlasting life. But then 17 goes on to say,

for the Son of God did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world. So what Paul is saying here, and what Jesus is saying in Matthew 23, is if I came not to condemn the world but to save the world, then why are you condemning the world? And so we're all hypocrites. We all need Jesus.

And we're all sinners, but praise God, that he is a greater Savior. He goes on to say this. Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? Man, this is our memory verse. I want you to memorize this one, especially just the last little bit. If you can't memorize all the forbearance and kindness, first of all,

your liar, you can memorize stuff. You still, like, know the words of the BGs, all right? So don't give me that mess. Memorize it. But especially knowing that it's God's kind. kindness that is meant to lead you to repentance. You see, there's at least three things here. If you think God's kindness is an excuse for you to be mean and sin,

it's evidence that you have not experienced personally his kindness and grace. You see, if you think God's kindness, because it gives attributes of God, says, are you presuming upon the riches of his kindness, his forbearance and his patience? You know what forbearance is? Forbearance means that God is putting up with you. Here's what I mean.

The Bible says the wages of sin is death. So if you sin, you deserve death. So what are you doing here? It's his forbearance. It's his mercy. It's his grace. You see, because what should happen is the moment we sin the very first time, then, you know, you should be a greasy seat on your spot there and gong.

And yet, here we all are. Why? Because of God's richness of kindness and mercy and forbearance. And if we think that God's grace is permission to sin, like I don't worry about it, man. Just do what you want with who you want, when you want. And it don't matter because you can go to church and pray 1. John 1-9, and he is faithful and just and will forgive us of all unrighteousness. So I'm going to do what I want. If that's what you think, then you have not tasted and seen the grace of God and experienced it.

Because he would change you. He would change you from the inside out. I'm not saying you're perfect. But do not confuse the patience of God with permission to be. the Lord of your own life. It's not the same thing. It's not. You can't have a grace-filled gospel encounter with God and be the same. You just can't. You just can't. It would be like if you and I had a, if you and I had a meeting together, and I showed up on time and you're 15 minutes late, then 20 minutes late, then 25 minutes late, and then you came walking in the room

and you're like, I am so sorry I'm late, but I've got a great excuse. You're not going to believe what happened to me. I go, okay, what's going on? You're okay? And you said, I just got hit by a train. I'd be like, you're right. I don't believe you. Like, what, are you calling me a liar? I am, you're a liar. Why, how could you say that?

Because you don't look like you been hit by train. Like, Google it, all right? Seriously, I have a middle school son. This is what we do. He's like, Dad, look what trains do to people, all right? We watch YouTube on this. And so, I mean, if an Amtrak or CSX, I'm telling you, you walk out, and that train, boom, let me tell you what it is.

You don't look the same. It moves you. It'll dishevel your hair, maybe it'll fall out. You don't look preempt. I mean, you know, you drag one leg or maybe you're missing an arm. Something would be different about you if you encountered a locomotive and it ran over you. And if you're saying to me that you've encountered the gospel, the power of God unto salvation, and nothing changes you didn't get hit by it.

Because it would change everything about everything about everything. Do not presume upon the kindness and the forbearance and the mercy of God. Secondly, this part at the end. It's God's kindness that's meant to lead you to repentance. Since God has decided that it's his kindness that leads us to change a repentance. By the word, by the way, that's what repentance mean. We defined it in your guide here. Repentance.

To change direction. That's all it means. To change direction. To turn your back to the world and face God. That's what repentance is. And God has decided that his MO to lead people to repentance would be kindness. So since God has decided that his. It's his kindness that leads us to repentance.

Why do you think your meanness and judgmentalism is going to work? Shouldn't we adopt God's posture? You see, he is a good, good father. That's just who he is. And we are loved by him. That's just who we are. You see, God is love. He has to be stirred to anger.

And so if God decided that it was his kindness that was going to draw people unto himself, why in the world, whose team do we think we are, church, when we're trying to be mean to people, as if God needs to be protected or he needs help. And so repentant. So when you're going to the Jags game and the guy yells at you, repent! First of all, he needs to read his verse. All right, he hasn't got to that part yet. Hopefully he will. And you can just yell back, I am, and just go into the game. Because it just means to change directions. I used to be heading this way. And that, theologians would call it regeneration, that God gives you to faith to realize, uh-oh, this isn't working.

I'm going in the wrong direction. I'm going to repent. I was going to, I was going to, I was going to, my face was towards the world, my back was towards God, and I'm going to change direction, put my back towards this world, and I'm going to head to the Father. And if God says it's his kindness that leads to us church, shouldn't we do that too? Shouldn't we adopt his posture? The third one is this. When he says, or do you presume on the richest of his kindness and forbearance and patience not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? See, Paul deals with this in Ephesians chapter 2.

He deals with it all over the place. But basically what he's saying here in Romans, he's saying this, hey, listen, if you have received grace, why aren't you giving grace? If you go to Ephesians chapter 2, he really unpacks it. Epheson chapter 2, he says this, and you were dead. And the you there is the church, the church at Ephesus. You, Christian, you were dead. Now, here's some good news about being dead, all right?

there's no levels of dead. There's just dead. A little bit dead and a lot dead is all dead. It's kind of like pregnant. You either are or not, okay? And so, you know, I know the Princess Bride came out and said there were levels, that was heresy. That is not the truth. If you're dead for a minute, if you're dead for 100 years, you're the same dead.

Dead people, their future's the same. You just, you don't, can't do a lot. It just kind of goes downhill from there. Well, guess what, Christian, look around. Every single one of us. I'm talking about Jesus believing, I love Jesus. Yes, I do. I love Jesus. How about you people? We weren't bad and we got better once we heard great sermons. We were dead. That's what he says. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work and the sons of disobedience. That's who we were. Our dad was disobedience.

among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. You hear that? You were not a snowflake. You were not puppy's breath. You were not a skittal. You were not a big ball of potential.

No. You and I were sons of disobedience. We were children of wrath doing what I wanted, when I wanted with who I wanted, and forget you if you got in my way. That's who we were. Every single one of us. And then, verse four, but God. But God. Listen, you could do an entire discipleship journey just studying the but God verses in the Bible.

Listen, I love big butts and I cannot lie when they come like this. You understand? It's big. Explain that to you, Grandma, little crit. But God, being rich in mercy. You know what rich means in the Bible? It just means more than enough. Rich means more than enough.

So God, being rich in mercy, he didn't just give enough mercy to make us right with him. He gives us enough mercy to justify us, to cleanse our sins. And then he's like, you know what, I'm not done. I'm going to lavish some more mercy on. And I'm going to lavish some more. It says in Romans 5, I'm going to lavish some more kindness and some more forbearance and some more love and just kind of lavish it on.

And from the perspective of heaven, the angels are like, what are you doing? What a waste. You got mercy just flying all over the place here. Don't you think that's too much? That's crazy. Just do enough to get them here. And then we'll fix them here. And he's like, no, no, no, no.

But God, being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us. Not us loved him. It's not that God lavishes his mercy upon you because you are so loved. wrong answer he lavishes his love upon you because god is love it's who he is listen god is for you anybody dies for you's for you it just ain't about you guys not sitting up in heaven going what am i going to do without them no god understands that he will be more glorified when he lavishes his love upon us and calls us unto himself but god being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses we didn't do

Dead people can't do anything. This is not self-resuscitation. Even when we were dead in our trespasses. He made us alive together with Christ. It is by grace that you have been saved. Now remember, we're talking about this in the context of judging. Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

So when you judge people. Not they, when we, church, when we judge people. Did you forget? I think we forgot. I think we thought that we had something to do with our salvation. I think we think, well, look at us. We got it all together. We vote right and we think right and we judge right.

And we forget that we were dead in our trespasses. That we were lost. We were abandoned. We were enemies of God. But God, being rich in mercy, not because of anything that I have done. church anytime we begin to judge other people for the things that they have done it is because we have forgotten the gospel of Jesus Christ in our own life that's what happens I pray I pray to God that he never ever ever let you forget I pray to God that he never ever ever let you forget the

depths of your own depravity that he saved you from and for a bunch of us in the room he saved us from debauchery, sex drugs, and rock and roll. And for a bunch of you in the room, he saved you from Bethmore Bible studies and stuff. And Bethmore's legit. I'm not saying she's not legit. I'm saying if you think you can ride her coattels to heaven, then you need to be saved. Please don't ever, don't ever forget where you came from. Because I'm telling you, I cannot get over the fact that who am I that he would save a wretch like me I mean what king leaves his throne

to come after an enemy to adopt him as a son and when you forget that the moment we begin to forget the gospel in our own lives is the moment we will begin to look down our noses that people that are not like us and begin to judge them and so what Paul is saying here is hey man what don't do that don't do that Romans 8 1 therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ

Jesus and so if God looks at you and says I don't condemn you then how in the world can we look at somebody else with condemnation if we do that church it's because we forgot if any church has ever done that to you it's because for a minute I know they believe the Bible and they're probably going to heaven but for a minute they forgot what the gospel was in their very own lives And so Paul says, so do not presume upon the riches and kindness and forbearance and patience of God, knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. Verse 5, here's why. Because of your hard and impenitate heart.

I had to look up the word impenititit. We don't use that in Dillon a lot. And I had to pronounce it a lot because a different word was coming out of my mouth when I would try to say it. It's not a good word. All right. So because of your heart and impenitent heart, here's the word. what that word means. I don't care. I don't care. If you have the I don't care kind of heart, then there's a real problem. You have not tasted the grace of God because he would change your heart forever.

And he says, but because of your heart and impenitentate heart, you were storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. And remember in chapter 1, we learn that God's wrath is being revealed as he gives us over to our own desires. And the gospel is that even when you were dead in your trespasses, before you did anything to try to clean yourself up, but God saved you. You ever buy a used car and run a Carfax? You ever get that Carfax?

The Carfax tells you the truth about the car. Not what the liar slash seller is telling you about the car. Oh, this truck gets 28 miles of the gallon. I don't think it does, all right? And then you get the Carfax, and the Carfax tells you the truth. Leaks oil, it's been in two wrecks. It's not the original fender. kind of pulls to the left a little.

You're going to have to crank it up at every stoplight. Lemon, lemon, lemon. God runs the Carfax on you. Much worse than that one. Bust it up, broken, selfish like the seagulls of Nemo. Mine, mine, mine, mine. Sinner. Bad.

And God looks at that and says, perfect, I'll take it. I'll pay full price. Full price. And again, from the perspective of heaven, you're overpaying, Lord. Shut up. I know what I'm doing. He pays full price, knowing, knowing how busted up you are. And then the crazy thing is, so that's justification.

And then when he gets into the driver's seat, things begin to be restored from the inside out. Not overnight, but over time. So here's the point. If we find ourselves looking down our noses at others for what they are doing, it's only because we have taken our eyes off of the cross of Jesus and what he has done for us. It is impossible to simultaneously with a grateful heart, look at Christ on the cross, and be forever grateful for what he's done for us, because though I was dead in my trespasses, but God being rich in mercy, he saved me. And then simultaneously look down my nose at somebody else and go, what are you doing? How dare you? They need to stop. You see, the reality is, church, graced people, grace people. And if you ain't given it, you should check yourself. Maybe you ain't got it.

And I want to warn you, you know there's a bunch of verses in the Bible, a bunch, like red letter out of Jesus mouth verses in the Bible about people that are going to be in line for the Great Judgment Day, and they think they're in, and they ain't in. Because they know a lot about him, they just don't know him. And you could be, are you questioning my salvation? Yeah, you should. You really should. That are you putting your hope on your own good works and rightness, or are you putting your hope in the imputed righteousness? of Jesus. Those are fundamentally two different things. Jesus illustrated it in one of my favorite parables. Even if you're new to Bible study, you've heard this parable. It's in Luke 15.

It's called the parable of the prodigal son. It's kind of misnamed because prodigal means lavish. And really the dad is the prodigal here. He's the one with the lavishness. He's just lavishness, grace, and love. And it's three parables back to back to back. And at the beginning of Luke chapter 15, the Bible says that there's a bunch of Pharisees and scribes, a bunch of judgmental hypocrites like he's talking to in Matthew chapter 23. And there's a beginning of And they're gathering around. And so Jesus decides to tell these three parables. One is the parable of the lost coin.

One is the parable of the lost sheep. And the third one is the parable of the lost son. And it's to illustrate God's love for his people. And so it goes like this. And you can tell us a Jesus story straight out of the gate. Because the dad, he's a rich dude. He's got this big estate. And he's got two boys, an older son and a younger son.

And the younger son comes to the dad and says, essentially, dad, I wish you were dead or you're dead to me. can I have what is mine? Can I have my inheritance? And the dad gives him his inheritance. So you already know this is different. Because anybody grew up in that house? Not me.

If I went to my daddy, he was like, Daddy, you're dead to me. Why don't you give me what's coming to me? He's like, I'm about to give you what's coming to you. And then there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Okay, so that's different. But it's a picture of Romans 1 that the dad's wrath to the son was to give him exactly what he asked for. And then the Bible says the younger son goes off and squanders everything the father

had given him in wild living. Later we find out this like prostitution and stuff. Then he's bankrupt. He's got nothing. He's at the bottom of the barrel. He's feeding pigs. Not that big a deal to us. For an Orthodox Jewish boy, there couldn't be a lower job.

And then one day, while he's in the pig style, the Bible says he comes to his senses. And you know what brings him to his senses? He's thinking about the kindness of his father. It's the kindness of his father that leads him to repent, that leads him to change direction. I'm not going to the pigsty anymore. I'm going back to my dad's house. Why? Because my dad's got servants,

and he treats the servants better than I'm being treated here in the pigsty. And it's the kindness of the father that leads the boy to repentance. And so, but the problem is that the boy thinks when I get home, I can earn my way back on my dad's payroll. So he's practiced in his apology. And then the Bible tells us, Jesus tells us, that the dad sees the boy while he is a long ways off. And he goes running to his son.

Now here's what you don't know. In the first century, grown men didn't run. It was dishonoring to run. You can run to me, but I ain't running to you. This is why, by the way, I don't run. I try to be biblical, all right? If you see me running, call to police. Something's going bad for somebody, all right?

But the dad, he humbles himself. He throws down his pride. He runs to the boy, and we talk about this all the time, and he wraps his arms around the boy. Why? Because a good servant would have rocks ready to cast judgment on the boy, because he dishonored his dad's name. And the dad unites with the boy, so if you throw rocks, man, you're going to hit dad.

Nobody's going to hit dad. And then the dad says, get the ring, gives him his name back. Get the sandals, because servants don't get sandals. Only sons do. Put sandals on him. It says, get my robe. And so that when people saw the boy, they didn't see the filth of the pig style. They saw the cleanliness of the father.

It's about imputed righteousness. He rips that robe around it. And then he says, let's throw a party. And it is a picture of the gospel. It is a picture of the kindness of God leading to. repentance. But that's where a lot of preachers stop. That wasn't even the point, the main point of Jesus' parable, because he's talking to judgmental people. And he keeps going in the story. There's another son, the older son. It says this. Now, his older son was in the field. And he came and he

drew near to the house. And he heard music. That makes sense. And check that out, Babness. Dancing. It doesn't say there was dancing. It said he heard dancing. you can't hear this this is like right foot two times this is something loud all right this is I don't know there's some movement there's some people touching

there's some stuff going on here it's a party man and so the older son he called one of the service and he asked what's going on and he said to him your brother has come and your father has killed the fat and calf because he's received him

back safe and sound and his brother responds and what should have been joy is judgment but he was angry and he refused to go in and his father came out and entreated him

so you don't know what the word means this is the Lord of the Manor the father who has already embarrassed himself or humbled himself by the spectacle he made of himself in bringing his son back and throwing a party for somebody that dishonored in his name and now he's going to leave his seat of honor from the party and he's going to go extend to the older son, the religious

son, the rule following son, the judgmental son. He's going to extend the same grace to the older brother that he extended to the younger brother. And he's going, what are you doing out here? We're having a party. This is your party too. We have to celebrate your brother because he was dead. Now he's alive and you're missing the party. What are you doing?

And the boy, the older son, he forgot. He just forgot. He forgot that his whole life he grew up in this house, and everything he had was a gift from his mom and dad. Before he ever did one chore to earn anything, his mom and dad fed him and clothed him and let him sleep in a bed and gave him his name and gave him the robe and the ring. And he's had party after party after party.

And somehow in his judgmentalism, he was blinded to it. Church, you realize the longer you hang around church people, the more and more you were to become like the older son if you're not careful. begin to look down your nose at what God's doing in somebody's life and be like, what a waste. So this is how he responds. After his dad's begging him. And again, you've got to think the people at the party are like, what are you doing, Dad? This is crazy.

Let him go and come back to the party. And the father is just relentless in his love for his children. But the boy answers, look, these many years I've served you and I've never disobeyed your command. He's a liar. and he thinks he's entitled to something. He thinks he's better than the younger brother. Yet you never gave me a young goat, to which I think the dad is like, did you say boat?

I'll give you a boat. I'm loaded, man. We'll sail to the Bahamas and fish. This would be awesome. Family time. He's like, no, a goat. Goat. You seriously about to give up a goat?

Oh, no, man. A goat? He says, you never gave me a goat that I could celebrate with my friends. And win this son of yours. That's tragic. Not this brother of mine, the son of yours. This is what judgmentalism will do. Judgment tears people apart.

Listen to me, church. We live in a world that wants us to be apart. We're a movement for all people. Our world don't want us to be all people. It does not. I am a white, conservative, heterosexual Christian male. We live in a world that says, if you and I differ on any one of those things,

we can't be in the same family. That is a lie from the pit of hell. every single human being you have ever come eyeball to eyeball with, regardless of what they believe, regardless of how they vote, regardless of what color they are, regardless of what country they live in, honest to goodness, regardless of what religion they belong to, every single human being you have ever come eyeball to eyeball with

is an image bearer of God and deserves to be treated by God's grace people with more grace than they've ever experienced in their whole life. We will not allow a world to try to tear us apart. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fat and calf for him. And the dad says to him, son,

you are always with me. And all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for your brother was dead and is now alive. He was lost, and he is found. And the father extends the same grace to the older brother, the judgmental hypocrite as he extended to the son. And so, listen, any time, church,

Anytime we find in ourselves this thing where we're looking down our noses at people, at humans that Jesus died for. And we're looking down at what they are doing. It's only because we have taken our eyes off of the cross of Jesus Christ and what he has done for us. Man, the Lord taught me something new in Scripture this week, which is, I've been doing this a minute. I've been reading my Bible professionally for 20 years. And yet this week, as I'm reading that text in Matthew chapter 23 on the 7th. woes, the woe to you, woe to you, woe to you. Jesus is cursing those people because of their

hypocrisy. The verses that follow that is Matthew 2337. This is the account where Jesus is on the Mount of Olives. If you ever go to Israel with me, I'll take you to this spot where they believe that Jesus is on his way into Jerusalem. He's traveling down the Mount of Olives. You get to this spot and you can see over the wall of Jerusalem and you can see into the temple. You can see where the temple people would be, where the religious. people would be. And the Bible says that Jesus weeps there. He weeps over Jerusalem. He says,

Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings. And you are not willing.

You see, maybe Jesus could so rightly talk about what the father in the prodigal son story felt as he went out and he treated the older son. Won't you come in the party? Because he sat and looked over Jerusalem at religious people. They spent all of their time looking down their noses of what everybody was doing

instead of looking up at the cross of Jesus Christ and what he had done for them. So church, church. You probably don't know this because you go to church here. It's just your church. Our church has like a, like people know us. Around town, around the country, literally around the world now. And we can be known for all kinds of. of stuff? What if we were, what if the number one thing that we were known for was not the great

music and not the average preaching and not the expansiveness and how fast we grow and how many people show up and all that stuff? What if the primary thing that came to mind when people thought about the saints of the church of 1122 was this, that that is a gospel-saturated, loving group of people. What was, what if that was the thing? What if people looking and they were like, I don't, I don't think I believe what they believe, and you know what? That guy's too mean, and the music, too loud. I don't think I'm going to be a part of that, but I'm going to tell you what. You get around those people, and man, they, uh, they treat you differently. It's that, it's almost like they care more about who you are than what you're doing.

It's almost like they care more about the person than the position. It's almost like they care more about a relationship, first with God and a relationship with each other. They care way more about that than they do like rules and religion. that they care about all God's people way more than they do attendance and stuff like that. There will be only one way that we could be that kind of people. Is that you and I never forget, you never forget the gospel of Jesus Christ in your own life. That we never take our eyes off of the cross so as to fix them down on some other group of people. But then you and I, that you and I would be grace-filled, gospel-centered, loving people.

for the glory of God and our joy. Amen. Amen. Would you please stand and let us pray? Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, you are good and you are gracious. And Lord, with our little finite brains, we cannot understand or perceive or even rightly describe your relentless, lavish, unfailing love for us. I mean, what kind of king leaves his throne to come in a his enemies as his own. That doesn't make sense to us. God, what kind of shepherd leaves 99 to go after the one? What kind of father throws a party for the son that would dishonor his name?

And all we can say is a God like you. A God like you, who is love? God, we thank you that you have to be stirred to anger, but you are love. And so, God, I pray that your love would consume us. That we would be so overwhelmed by the gospel of Jesus Christ at an individual level that we would taste and see your grace, that we would have to grace one another because of your grace towards us.

And that that would define who we are because of whose we are. You were a good, good father, and we are loved by you. And we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.