The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 5: Religion Fails

Episode Date: February 11, 2018

Any person or religion that tries to work its way to God will not work. Righteousness (a right standing with God) is a gift of God through the finished work of Christ.

Amen, amen. How we doing church? Doing all right? It's looking good. Thanks for braving the traffic patterns of the day to make it here. I know that a bunch of folks were a part of the Donna. Some people ran it and then ran to church. So way to go.

Good job. And we do as a church. We support what's happening in and around our city. And we as a church, particularly this weekend and what the Donna run is all about. We need to be praying for a cure for cancer. Amen. That God is the great physician and every good and perfect gift comes from above. and so he heals people, and sometimes he decides to do it through medicine and technology and glory to God, and we should be praying for that.

Amen? All right, if you got your Bible, I hope you do. We're going to be in Romans chapter 2, verses 6 through 29. Each week we've been reading the text before we dig in, so would you please stand for the reading of God's Word? In your study journal, it is page 13, and it's a bunch of Bible verses, so it'll take me a minute. Ready? Here we go. Romans chapter 2, beginning in verse 6.

He will render to each one according to his works. To those who by patience and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. But glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

For when Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them on that day when according to my gospel God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus but if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the law and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth. You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?

You who abhorre idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. as it is written. The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. For circumcision, indeed, is of value if you obey the law. But if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision.

Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and uncircumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man, but from God.

May God add blessing to the reading and hearing of his word. You may be seated. Now we got some work to do, don't we? I know for most of you, I lost you after the third circumcision, and you were like, what have you brought me to? What are we talking about? Well, I'll tell you what we were talking about. All right, here.

We are on this, this year, as a church, we want to deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ. We have grown like crazy and that's fine. But in order for a tree to get really bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger, the roots have to go deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper. And so we're really focused in a number of ways on deepening our relationship with Jesus Christ. And a part of what that means is for 34 weeks, we're digging into. the Book of Romans. And if you're just going to kind of come sporadically, I mean, you do whatever you want. Most Americans come to church like one every five weeks or something like that. So it'll be a bit confusing if you do that deal because the book of Romans is not really a book, it's a letter. And Paul

didn't really write chapters. There's 16 chapters, but he didn't do it like chapter one chapter. It was just one letter from the beginning to the end. And, you know, it doesn't take very long to read, but we're going to be in it for 34 weeks. And so each sermon is kind of building off of the previous sermon. So really, I would have liked to take in last week's sermon and this week's sermon and just make it one long sermon, but, you know, people tell me y'all won't sit here for two hours. I disagree, but whatever. We run into other services, so there's a problem. So if you go all the way back to week three, we were in chapter one, verses 18, and following.

And what Paul was saying is this. Remember, he says that the wrath of God is being revealed against all unrighteousness and ungodliness. And then he goes through this list about what they are doing, those unrighteous pagan Roman Gentiles. and they were disobedient to parents, and they were haughty, and they were arrogant, and they were murderers, and they were, this is my favorite one, and they were inventors of evil. That was my favorite. Like, they did some stuff where Paul looked at that and, like, I think you just made up a new sin. That was so bad.

All right. And so there's that list, which means this, like bad people need Jesus, all right? People, no matter what you've done, how bad of a thing you think you've done, then I've got good news. You've never done something so bad that would disqualify. you from the saving grace of God. And then the problem with that, though, anytime you have a list of they's and all the things that they are doing that are so bad, good old church folk, good old religious people

would be like, yeah, you get them, Paul. They nasty. What the, you tell them. And then in 2-1, this is last week, he shifts gears and he says, therefore you have no excuse. To which the religious people are like, what do you mean you? I thought you meant they. Paul's going, no, they are you.

You are a part of they. And then what he's going to do for basically all of chapter two is say, not only do the rebellious pagan Gentiles need Jesus, but also you religious people that grew up in this. Now in chapter two and in the book of Romans, he is primarily here talking about religious Jews. I don't know if this will make sense to you, but it doesn't do me a whole lot of good to preach a sermon to religious Jews. Make sense? I don't think there's a bunch of them here, okay? So, but the modern day equivalent will be every time he talks about a group of religious people that think their right behavior makes them right with God. The same thing can be true of good old church folk today.

And so what he's going to be saying here is, listen, church people need Jesus too. Not just those pagan sinners out there, but those religious centers in here. And this is what he's going to lay out. In verse 6, he starts this way. He says, he, that's God, will render to each one according to his works. And I don't know how seriously you take the Bible when you read it, but when you read verses like this, you should get nervous, like legit nervous. Because I don't know the brothers, it's like, cool, give me what I deserve. Because we don't want what we deserve, right?

And what Paul is saying here is this. He's saying something that we all agree. Every major world of religion agrees with this. Something went wrong. Something went wrong. something has broken our connection with God, with a higher power, with whatever, something went wrong. One day we will be held accountable. And every man-made world religion is mankind's answer to how we will pay God back or get a zero balance on our balance sheet

or be made acceptable before God who is our judge. And then what Paul is going to do in verse 7 and then in verses 8 and then he's going to just repeat himself. if he repeats himself twice in this chapter, is he's going to say there are two possibilities to how this could play out in your life. Because the reality is that God will render to each one according to his works. In other words, every sin from every person

in all of human history one day will be accounted for, will be paid for, and because God is just holy and perfect, must be atoned for. When the Bible uses the word atone, it just means paid. That's all it means. Atonement just means payment.

And so, if that is true, then he's going to give a couple options. Verse 7, kind of option A. Spoiler alert, this is the good one. This is the one you want to be in on. Okay, verse 7. To those who, by patience and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. Now, this verse could be kind of interpreted in one of two ways.

It really doesn't matter which way you interpret it because they both end up in Jesus. But here they are, all right? The key word there is give. that eternal life is a gift. It does not say he will earn eternal life. It says he will give eternal life. So here are the two ways to look at it.

One way, he could be laying out like this flowery, hypothetical, impossible situation that we're supposed to chuckle out. Like it's probably, he's trying to be funny, but it's Ivy League humor, so it's not that funny. In other words, okay, if you are a perfectly patient, always well-doing, always seeking for God's glory, always seeking for God's honor, always seeking an immortality in God knowing that you can't have it. Yeah, then you'll earn your way to heaven.

To which you look at that and go, well, that's impossible. Right, right. But, so therefore, we need somebody to do that for us because we can't do that for us. So we could look at it that way. Or if you look at it through the lens of chapter 1, verse 5, I told you before, you've really got to know that verse. Okay, so go back in your journal and underlined it or highlight it or bite your finger, bleed on it. whatever you have to do to not miss 1-5, because in 1-5, he says, I am giving you the gospel to bring in about an obedience of faith.

That's really important. Not an obedience for faith, but an obedience of faith. So you may look at this verse and say, okay, as a result of my faith in Christ, then Christ in me can lead me to do these things that can lead me to be. be patient and well-doing, seeking for God's glory, not mine, seeking for his honor, not mine, understanding that there's no way mortal man can create immortality in me. Therefore, God gives as a gift to me eternal life. In other words, what he's saying here is, when Jesus is before all things in your life, then God gives you the gift of eternity, that you cannot earn your

salvation, but it is a free gift. And then basically, he's going to say the opposite. Verse 8, here's a butt. You're not going to like this butt. Remember last week? There were some big butts we really like. We don't like this one. But, however, for those who are self-seeking, okay, pop quiz, anybody's self-seeking? If you're self-seeking, raise your hand. If you're not, you're a liar. That's it. I mean, those are your two options. So if you're like, I'm not self-seeking, maybe this one will get you. And you do not obey the truth, all right? You're one of those two. And by the way, see, by the way, in the Bible, there's not your truth. Actually, you don't have a truth. Actually, you don't have a truth. Truth is the standard by which things are or are not. Jesus is the truth. And now, obviously,

we encounter truth in different ways. And Paul says this, those of you who are self-seeking, that's me, and do not obey the truth, that's me, but obey unrighteousness. Uh-oh, that's me. I mean, there's some stuff in me that I don't agree with or think I want to do, and then sometimes I want to, and do those things. By the way, I'm not alone. Paul does it too in Romans chapter 7. He goes, that has a pathway too. There will be wrath and fury. So what Paul is saying in verse 6 is every sin will be judged

and everybody will spend forever somewhere. And you should really deal with this. This is more important than where you're going to eat lunch today, okay? I don't know if you realize this. The death rate in America hovers right around 100%. So we're all going to have to deal with it. We're all going out. I mean, you know, I told you a couple weeks ago

I did that Mayo Clinic thing, got a clean bill. of health? All right. And guess what? I can still get crushed by a bus today. So it's a car wreck or cancer. None of them are making it out of here alive. I mean, that's just true.

And hell is hot forever just a long time. So you might want to deal with where am I, what is this, where am I going to be for eternity? Everybody spends forever somewhere. Paul in verse 6 is saying, and every single sin will be judged, will be accounted for. And so, essentially what he's saying in verse 7, Here's a way that leads to eternal life. And in verse 8, here's the way that leads to wrath and fury. And essentially what he's saying is this, that God will give you an eternity what you choose in this life.

You want God? Say, okay, God, I want you not on my terms, but on your terms. What are your terms? Jesus, the way the truth in the life, no one gets to you without him? Okay, I surrender, I'm in. Then you get him forever and ever, amen. That's called heaven. I don't know why they put an ever on forever because I think forever covers it.

That's a different thing, all right? Or you reject God. You say, no, no, no, God, I don't want you. I don't want you. Then he'll go essentially, okay, for eternity, that is an existence without me. We would call that hell. Those are the two lanes. Every single one of us will spend forever somewhere.

And all of our sin, all of it, 100% of our sin and all sin must be paid for, accounted for, attoned for, judged. Why? Because God is a just judge. for him to overlook sin would be out of character with his perfection. And so you got one of two options. Atonement will happen. You got one or two options.

One is you can, and you should write this down, self-atone. You could do that. You could self-atone. You're standing before the judgment seat? God, I will pay for my sin. And you can do that. By the way, this is what every man-made religion absent the gospel is. It is a self-atonement project.

God, I don't need what you. did on the cross for me because I got this. I'm going to clean myself up through my Sunday school record, through my giving record, through aligning my chakra, through trips to mecca, whatever that thing is, it is a self-atonement project. I don't need what you did, God. I got this. The other option is substitutionary atonement.

God, I tell you what, when you are giving me my final grade, how about you use Jesus' test scores instead of mine? That's the substitutionary atonement. By that, you could write relationship with Jesus. Self-atonement, religion. Substitutionary atonement, relationship with Jesus. This is what Paul is laying out. He keeps going.

Verse 9. Is that where I'm at? Yeah. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil. So that just means every human being. The Jew first and also the Greek, verse 10. But glory and honor and peace. for everyone who does good, the Jew first, and also the Greek.

Now there's three ways that you could look at this passage. One is it saying that if you do good, then you earn your salvation? No. How do you know it's not saying that? Because of all the other verses in the entire Book of Romans. The whole point of the Book of Romans is this, is that we're justified by faith alone. Justified just means the way I define it, it's not theologically totally precise, but it's good enough. It's justified and ever sin before. It's a legal term where we are guilty,

but God says that you're innocent because he pays the price. And so this does not mean that if you do good, then you're in, but because of God's grace in our life, it changes the things we do. And we do good because of what God's done in our life. You see, one of the ways to look at it, verse 10, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good. He could be, this could be like a hypothetical again. Okay, everybody that does good, then you get glory, honor. Now, who does good? Nobody. Nobody.

So we go, uh-oh. So then we need God to do for us what we could not do for us. So he sends his only begotten son, Jesus. He lives a perfect life. The way the 21st century theologian J.P. Martin said it two weeks ago in this baptism video. Remember this? His definition of the gospel, he was eight years old when he described it this way. He's been rallying around in my heart and mind for a couple of weeks now.

J.P. says it this way. J.P. says, we sin. Sin has consequences. God, Jesus, and that's good Trinitarian theology right there, okay? He says, and then Jesus does not sin, so he has no consequences, and he trades places with us, and then kind of as a little parenthetical thought, he says, because he loves us so much. And he takes our consequences, and we get his life. This is what John Calvin called the Great Exchange, the glorious, exchange. 2 Corinthians 521 would say it this way that God made Him who was without sin to be sin for us, that we would be made the righteousness of God. In other words, that glory and honor and peace is for everyone who does good, but God, I don't do good. But if you surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ, you get credit for what Christ did for you, his good, which means we receive what's called the imputed righteousness of Christ, which is glory and honor and peace for us. that's what he's talking about here.

Verse 11. He says, for God shows no partiality. For God shows no partiality. What he's talking about here, he's going all the way back to chapter 1, verses 18, up to the point he is here. Here's what he's saying. Paul and God wants us to know that all people need Jesus, that all people need Jesus, that the pagan Gentile rebellious people on that list of the days, the immoral, the idolaters, the haughty, the haughty, the,

the disobedient, the ones that didn't obey their parents, the murderers, the inventors of evil, those terrible bad people, they need Jesus. And then in chapter 2, verse 1, he goes, and those of you that grew up in church, reading your Bible, really good at obeying the rules that you need Jesus to. That fundamentally every single human being has rejected God. And very generally speaking, we reject God down one of two pathways. Some of us reject God with legalism, some of us reject God with licentiousness, or some of us reject God with religion, and some of us reject God with rebellion. We most often think about rejecting God with rebellion.

When we reject God in our rebellion, we say, God forget you. You ain't a boss of me. I do what I want with who I want, when I want. That's most often who we think of when we think about people that have rejected God. But there's a whole bunch of really good people that you've sat in fellowship halls with. eating casseroles that have rejected God with religion. And when you reject God with religion, what you say is, God, I don't need you, forget you, I got this.

I will cover up my own sin. You can see it all the way back in the Garden of Eden. That Adam and Eve reject God, both in rebellion and religion. They reject God by rebelling against them and say, you can't tell us what to eat. We eat what we want, when we want, with who we want. And they eat the forbidden food. They rebel against God.

But then they run and hide. comes looking for them, and remember, they are sewing their fig leaves together to make garments to cover over their sin and shame. It was the very first religion. God, we don't need you. We've got this. And Paul says, whether you are a rebel or you are religious, then you ain't got this. Then we need Jesus.

Verse 12. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. words, God is a just judge and we will all be held accountable. Verse 13. For, it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. This is important. He's saying, hey, listen, to the religious Jews, he's saying, listen, just because

you grew up in this does not mean that God's promises to your great, great, great, granddaddy apply to you, that there are no spiritual grandchildren. And listen, there are a bunch of people in churches, especially all over the South today. And they believe that they're in because of their environment. They believe that they're in because of who their grandparents are or were. So there's a whole bunch of people in church that know better and no Bible. They just don't know God. I mean, they know about him.

They know more about him than a lot of us do. They just don't trust him for their salvation. They are trusting their own good works for their salvation. Listen, I'm telling you, man, you know, I told you before, I grew up, I didn't really grow up in church, but when I did get plugged in, I would go to these, I'd go to Baptist churches. And if you'd ask people, hey man, are you going to heaven there? But, but of course I am. I'm Baptist. Now, we don't think anybody else is going to make it, but we're in, man, you know, because look how good we are.

You'd be like, uh-oh. Paul is basically saying that. If that's what you think, then you don't understand the gospel because what you're saying is, I am going to earn my way in. or I just inherited this because of my heritage. Paul's like, no, no, no, it's not about your heritage. It's about your heart. Verse 14. He says, for when Gentiles who do not have the law, which means they didn't grow up with the Bible,

by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves for even though they do not have the law. Verse 15, they show that the work of the law, you should underline this, is written on their hearts. while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accused or even excuse them. So remember back in chapter one, and a lot of times people will say, well, what about people that never hear about God, okay? Hear about Jesus, hear the gospel.

What about those folks? Well, Romans chapter 1 and 2 answers that question. They said, look, there's not a human being without excuse. Why? He's going to give two primary reasons why every single person is held accountable to God. Exhibit 1 in chapter 1 was creation, that anybody with half a brain could look at creation,

and go there must be a creator. Now, I know that just kicked out all of our college professors, but they need Jesus too, okay? And what he's saying is this. I look at this podium and say, I believe in a podium maker. He'd be like, how could you believe in a podium maker? What's his name?

I don't know what his name is. Actually, I do with Brad, but, you know, if I didn't, I'd be like, I don't know. I don't know his name. How tall is he? I'm not sure. Where's he from? I don't think I can answer that.

And somebody says to me, well, how in the world could you say you believe in a podium maker or if you don't know any of these things about the podium maker. And I go, okay, exhibit A. This is a podium. All right, that's it. And what I don't believe, I believe there's a designer because it looks like it was designed.

And I don't think the story goes, I think they made it out of dockwood. I don't think one day the dock just exploded, uncontrollably and unexplainably, and landed itself in the shape of a podium with a hole for me to put my water bottle in. And somebody said, we should use that at church, all right? So that's kind of exhibit A, that's back to chapter one.

Exhibit 2, for Paul to say, nobody has an excuse is right here. The work of the law is written on their hearts while their conscience always bears witness, that every single human being deep in their hearts knows, God has put morality on our heart. We know there is right, that we know there is wrong. Every culture believes in right and wrong. Now, different cultures may argue over the nuances of what's right and what's wrong, but there is this standard of right and wrong. And humans are the only people that think this way. You realize this.

Humans are the only creature that thinks this way. You know, animals never argue about right and wrong. Your dog never goes to another dog in the neighborhood and goes, this isn't fair. You keep taking my bone, and you've got to stop that. And other dogs come around and go, yeah, that's just not fair. That's not right. No. The big dog just wins.

Why? Because they're animals and they live on anything. instinct. That's just what they do. People don't do that. Also, as humans, we never lay our moral code or our rightness onto animals and expect animals to live right and wrong, do we? You've never been at the zoo and see one rhino, hop up on another rhino and go, I don't think that's consensual. We should call someone. No. You know what you do? You video that mug, put it on YouTube, hashtag best zoo day ever. That's what you do. When you read about an insect mates with another insect, and then the female eats the male, you think that would solve a lot of our problems in this world.

However, you don't see that as wrong. You're just going to go, okay, they're different. But on humans, because we are image bearers of God, then we have this sense of right and wrong written on our hearts. And the reason Paul is setting this up here is because what he wants us to understand is every single one of us are not rule breakers. We're sinners. So when we think of sin, don't think of like just breaking these kind of random rules that we didn't know about. Like you didn't wash your right hands on the right day of the moon cycle or whatever. But sin is really because we try to rob God of his glory in our own selfishness,

in our own disobedience to what we know is true. By trying to worship creation over creator. and sometimes that creation that we worship is us. And so Paul says, look, we don't have any excuses. In verse 16, and here comes kind of the result of that. And on that day, when according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. There are three parts to the back half of that sentence that'll tear you up.

We'll start in the middle, the secrets of men. You realize every secret you have one day will be public. before the Almighty God. Does that freak you out? It should. It should. I mean, not just secret stuff you haven't told other people about,

but secret thoughts that you've had about people. Like when she said, does this make my butt a little big? And you went, no, baby. But in your mind you had like a different thing, you'll be judged for that. You'll be judged for me. You'll be judged about judging me right now, in your own mind, okay?

Everything we do. And some of that stuff that you hope would never, ever, ever go. One day we will stand before a holy, just, perfect judge, and be held accountable for every sin. God judges. Uh-oh, the secrets of men. And then it gets really good.

By Christ Jesus. By Christ Jesus. He doesn't judge you by you, thank God. But here's what this means. If you are in Christ, if you were in Christ, then when God gives you your final exam, he uses Jesus test scores, which are perfect. That's right.

No matter how jacked up you are, Jesus takes our place. So a way to think of it, I think the reason that Paul makes such a big deal about the wrath and fury and judgment of God is so that we would have such a great appreciation for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because if you don't think your sins that bad, you won't think your Savior is that good. But if you begin to understand what we're saved from, then it will do something in you that changes you forever and ever and ever and ever by the power of the gospel. And so imagine it this way. Paul continues to say, every time we sin, we store up wrath from God against ourselves.

And there will be a day of judgment. So that means every negative thought you've had, every time you worship an idol, every time you were too selfish, whatever those sins are, that every time we do that, we store up wrath against ourselves and there will be a day where that wrath is poured out toward us. Imagine the wrath of God like a tsunami, the wrath of God like a hundred foot wall of water, just being held back right now by God's mercy, being held back, and then one day, on the day of judgment, it's not held back anymore. On the day of judgment, the floodgates open, and the wrath of God, the hundred foot wall of water, comes crashing down towards us, and you look around and there's nowhere you can go,

there's nowhere you can run, and God rightfully pours out his wrath on sinners, because it's our sin that's been storing up his wrath and fury against us. And then if you are in Christ, then Christ himself stands in front of you. He looked at his father and says, if there's any other way, Father, let this cup pass from me, not my will, but your will be done. And he takes the cup of the wrath of God being poured out towards you, and he takes it on his own head over and over and God rightly and justly brings his wrath and fury against the sin that you and I have stored up against ourselves.

And then Jesus, the Christ, stands in our place, enduring that wrath, drinking that cup to the very last drop, and then slams it down and says, it is finished. That is the gospel. Amen? And then Paul keeps going. So I will too. Verse 17. But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the law,

And if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind and a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, and a teacher of the children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth. In other words, if you were to say, in our context, I'm a Christian or I'm a Jesus follower, in this context, if you were to say, hey, I'm right with God, he says, you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? Why, you preach against stealing, do you steal? You say that one must not commit adultery. Do you commit adultery? Do you who abhorre Heidels?

Do you rob temples? You who boast in the law Dishonor God by breaking the law For as it is written, The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles Because of you. What he's saying here is There are no grandchildren in the faiths.

It is about your relationship with God. Not some kind of inheritance that you have Because you were a specific people group. That is not how it works. And he will explain that in a little while. Verse 25. Now he gets into the part you've been waiting on the whole time, the circumcision talk.

Verse 25. for circumcision indeed is of value. What's that next word? If. This is a big oh if. If you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So if you got your study journal, go to page 15, and here is the definition. Now, obviously, there's a medical definition.

That's not of great concern to us. We put kind of the Bible definition in here. And Pastor Britt wanted to do some illustrations, but I said no. So pray for Pastor Britt. He's a sick human being that needs help, okay? And he's not here right now, so that's fun. So, circumcision in the Old Testament was an external symbol of the covenant with God's chosen people. That's it.

An external symbol of God's covenant with his chosen people. The closest modern day New Testament illustration of this would be baptism. So baptism for the Christian is it's an external symbol. I'm going to get dunked in the water. And is it of any value? if it was actually a symbol of what had happened in your heart, yes. If you did it just because your friends were doing it or your mom made you or somebody did it to you, it is of no value.

This is what he is saying here. Basically he's saying, if you can obey the law perfect forever, then obedience of the law in order to get to heaven, good try. Okay? Go for it, man. So far, humanity is over, over ever. Nobody has been able to be perfect. Verse 26. So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision.

Then he who is physically uncircised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. All right. So who has the written code and the mark of the covenant? Every Jewish person and every church person in the history of forever. That would be us. So we go, uh-oh. verse 28, for no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. This verse is super important, super important. So underline it, highlight it, whatever you need to do. And here's why it's important. Because from here on, Paul is redefining the word Jew as he is going to use it in Romans. He's basically saying, because he's going to go on to say in

29, but a Jew is one inwardly, okay? So he's saying, theological speaking, that no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly. In other words, of course, there is this heritage, there is this people group, there is this bloodline, but when God is talking about his promises to his chosen people, we're not talking about that anymore. What we're talking about is an inward thing where we come to God on his terms and not ours. And so the reason this is important is because this is a letter, not a book.

Again, it's a letter. So if you were just reading this for the rest of the book of wrong, Romans, you've got to see when he uses the term Jew or Israel, is he talking about politically, racially, or he's he talking about this person that is a Jew on the inside? And it'll mean a lot when we get to chapters 9, 10, and 11. And here's why I want to point it out now, because if you just read this like a letter, you're going to get to chapter 9, 10, and 11 in about 15, 20 minutes. But we're going to get here in July, and you'll forget this verse. And so what begins to happen as you see these terms and you use them, but Paul has redefined the terms. Again, he says this.

He says, for no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the spirit, not the letter. His praise is not for man, but from God. You know what this means? If you are in Christ, Christ is the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham. Therefore, if you are in Christ, I've got news for you. It might freak you out. You're a Jew. So call your grandma when you get home.

What did you learn in church today? I think I'm a Jew. Right. Again, not outwardly, but inwardly. Therefore, the promises to Abraham and the Jewish people by Christ being the fulfillment of God's promises, then we are grafted in. So the promises for the rest of the New Testament to God's chosen people are to the people that are covered in the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Christ. Now, it's just a one-off, but it's not really one-off because it's really important. Therefore, there is no room in the church for anti-Semitism ever, ever, ever. And the church should be, she should repent from any errors when she was anti-Semitic. And so, when you get through all of this, you're like, okay, so what does this mean? What Paul is saying here in all of this is, is he saying, so, so who goes to heaven? This is the question that he's answering. Who's right with God? Who goes to heaven when you die? And fundamentally he's saying you don't inherit heaven because of who, because of your bloodline, because of who your grandparents were. That doesn't just apply to the Jews. It also applies to people that go to church. Like, you know, I say it this way all the time. Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore and put in your head in the oven makes you a biscuit. That's not how it works. It's not like if you just get in the right environment you're in, you're in your garage. You're not a car. You're weird, all right? That's not how it works. it just because your grandma was in doesn't mean you're in it's not about heritage it's about a heart it's about what's going on in your heart and so so then you ask okay so who goes to heaven the answer

according to paul perfect people all the perfect people go to heaven to which you look around and you go uh-oh well there's a problem because i'm not perfect correct and and what what these religious people would be saying to paul is no no no no perfect people don't go to heaven good people go to heaven god's a good god He lives in a good place and good people go to heaven. So the gooder I am, the better chance I got. And Paul's like, no, good people don't go to heaven. Because you've got to begin to dig into that. Like good compared to what?

Like good compared to your college roommate? Okay, everybody's good. But good compared to Jesus? Uh-oh. And in fact, how good? If good people go to heaven, how good? Is it like a 90? You know?

I mean, because like a 65 is failing. It seems like if good people go to heaven, God owes us the grading scale, does he not? Is it 51% good, 49% bad you're in? Not only that, if good people go to heaven, don't you think God owes us a progress report? Because where are you at right now? Some of you old fellas, there's not enough tests left in the semester for you to make it up. You know what I'm talking about? You remember those days?

You're like pulling into late November of your class. You're like, man, I got a 39 in the class and three tests. I think if I make a 211, I think I'll be all right. I'll take an incomplete. All right? If the good people go rule, some of you, man, you're in trouble. Me, that's me, all right? No, man, good people don't go to heaven. Perfect people go to heaven. Well, how does that work?

It's back to J.P.'s definition of the gospel. That Jesus, because he loves us so much, traded places with us. And we get credited or counted for his perfection, and he takes the judgment of God. He is the just and the justifier. And so it matters a ton. Now, does the way we live matter? Yeah, it matters a bunch, man. Remember chapter 1, verse 5, that it's an obedience of faith, not an obedience for faith.

Every world religion, including a gospel-less church experience, is obedience for faith. People teach all the time, if you do these things, then you will be okay with God. you will be right with God. Paul goes, that is not the gospel. That our good works do not direct God's favor. Our good works reflect God's favor. That the good things that we do, the way that we live, can either be a fragrant offering to the Lord, or they could be an offensive filthy rag. And here's what I mean. Tomorrow morning, husbands, you could wake up and it could dawn on you for whatever reason that Ephesians chapter 5 tells you, commands me and you, to love your wife like Christ loved the church. And you could maybe get up and read that in the morning and be so overwhelmed with how Christ loved you.

He initiated love for us. He came after us when we didn't deserve it. He laid down his life for us. And you could be so overwhelmed by the gospel that you spend the rest of your day, make much of your wife, laying down your wants and needs, doing whatever she wanted to do, helping her with the to-do list, whatever, as just an expression. of really an expression of your love to her for sure, but because Christ first loved you. And that would be just as worshipful to God as it is when we raise our hand and sing songs.

However, you could actually do all of the same things. And honestly, we wouldn't even know from the outside, and it could be offensive to the Lord. What I mean is you could wake up in the morning and you could have this thought. You know what? I did a bunch of sending this weekend. And so I know my Bible says that husbands are supposed to love their wives like Christ love the church. And so you went to work that day. And you served her and served her and served her. And as you are serving her, you're looking over your shoulder making sure,

hey, God, I'm getting credit for this, right? I'm getting credit for this. And when we do that, God, it's an affront against his character and nature. He's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. If that's how you think it works, then you don't understand the gospel at all. That is called works-based righteousness. The Bible has two primary examples. of how offensive it is to the Lord.

You see, because the reality is that any person or religion that tries to work its way to God, any person or religion that tries to work its way to God will not work. That righteousness, that just means a right relationship with God, is a gift of God through the finished work of Christ. That any person or religion that teaches or tries to work itself to God, I'm going to do enough good stuff to be in right standing before God. It will never work because of righteousness, a right standing with God, is a gift of God to us through the works of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is what Paul is talking about in Romans chapter 2.

There's two primary illustrations in the Bible. One's in the New Testament, one's in the Old Testament. This isn't just a misunderstanding of the gospel and good try, don't worry about it. But when we try to do this, when we try to use our religion and religious activities to declare that we are right with God, it's not futile, it's offensive. It's not like your kids building a sandcast, and you're like, I don't ever last. It's actually offensive towards the Lord.

One of the, and listen, and these are graphic, grotesque illustrations. So I want to read them to you because they're in the Bible, and you won't believe it unless I'd show you in the Bible. One is Philippians chapter 3. Here's what Paul says. Philippians chapter 3, beginning in verse 2, Paul says, look, look out for the dogs, especially after that recruiting class. You know what I'm talking about?

That's what I'm talking about, but that's a different dog, I think. All right, so look out for the dogs. Look out for the evildoers. Look out for those who mutilate the flesh. This was people that thought circumcision equals salvation. For we are the circumcision who worshiped by the spirit of God and glory in Christ, Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh, though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more.

Here's what Paul is saying. If anybody can work their way to heaven, let's play that game. He goes, well, I'll play your game, I'll beat you at your game, and then tell you how dumb your game was. That's what he's about to do. He goes, let me show you how religiously right I am. I'm circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ, indeed. I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, Jesus, my Lord.

For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things. These aren't bad things. He's saying, I consider all of that religious rightness, loss, and I count them as, in our Bible, say, rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. Now, that word rubbish, if you've been around here, I've told you this before, that word rubbish in Greek is scubillon. Scubilon. Now, Bible translators don't really want to put the exact translation, because have you met a Bible translator lately? Not exactly the life of the party, okay? Let's just be honest.

And what the word actually means is, like if you look it up in a Greek New Testament dictionary, Scubilon says slang for animal dung. Slang, I'm about to teach you some Greek cuss words, okay? Slang for animal dung. So let me ask you, what do you call? that. I don't know anybody that calls it rubbish, unless you're English, because you have like tea and Mary Poppice, and you're like, oh, rubbish, okay, maybe. My people have another word for that, all right? It starts with, I'm not going to say it. I want to say it so bad at every service. I'm not going to, but it starts with bull. Okay. And when you call something BS, honest to goodness,

it is a perfect translation. When you call something BS, man, it is what this word means. Paul is saying when I try to put my works on display to show God how right I am, that's bull scubilant. I don't, that's what that is. And imagine, imagine, on Father's Day, imagine if your son took a shoebox out into the neighborhood and scooped up a bunch of scubilon and then wrapped it in a present and said, Dad, I love you so much. And here, I want to prove it to you. You would open that and what would you think? You'd be offended.

You'd be like, what is wrong with you? Control your son. What is wrong with you, kid? Right? Because you would think, you don't know me, bro. This is not what I was looking for. I was looking for golf clubs or a letter, something nice. And you gave me this.

And so when we do that, the reason that God is offended by it, like you would be offended if somebody tried to give you a big box of scubilon, is because what you're saying is, hey, I know you sent Jesus down on the cross, but whatever, that must be for somebody else because I don't need him. I got it. And Paul is like, dude, that is bull scubilon in order that I may gain. Christ be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on what?

Faith, not works, not works. So illustration A of trying to work your way to God, illustration A is a big piling steam of scubilon. That's what it is. Illustration B in the Old Testament is worse. I mean, it's gross and offensive. and some of you are going to be like, I can't believe he's going to even point to this. Isaiah chapter 64. Isaiah chapter 64, I'm going to read a bunch of verses, and then there's one verse that brings home to illustration.

Isaiah 64 says this, oh, that you would rim the heavens and come down, and the mountains might quake at your presence. It's talking about God, the sovereign king, and judge, and how we tremble on that day of judgment. As when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil, make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations might tremble at your presence. When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down in the mountains quaked at your presence. From of old, no one has heard or perceived by the ear. No eye has seen a God beside you who acts for those who wait on him.

You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry and we sinned. And our sins, we have been a long time. He asked this questions. And shall we be safe? implicit answer is, we got no chance. And then he says, verse 6, we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous

deeds are like. It says, polluted garments. Maybe you grew up on the translation that said, filthy rags. Again, Bible translators don't want to put the exact translation because it would throw it off in the Bible reading plan, all right? This term, polluted garment, literally are used menstrual rags. okay husbands ladies think about whatever you want to guys that's gross okay and i get it but whatever can you imagine imagine if you're a wife like you got home one day it's your anniversary and she was like

honey i've got something for you and you're like okay all right and she's like just step on here to the bedroom you're like oh man we're about some song of solomon kind of we're about to get biblical this is awesome right she said let me just step in here and sit in something more comfortable you're like praise the lord you know and then she walks out and she walks out and with a gift for you. And she's like, I just want to show you how much I love you. And she hands it to you and you get filthy rags. You get polluted garments.

She'd be like, what in the, are you a crate? Are you boiling a rabbit? What are you doing? What is wrong with you? That's what you would think, right? Amen, man. Amen. You just said, you're so scared.

Every man's like, I'm like, I would love anything you gave me, baby. You'd be a bunch of wimps. When we, by our own good works, try to say, God, look how good I am in deserving. Then what we are doing is saying, God, we nullify your grace poured out for us at the cross. That, hey, maybe you sent Jesus for somebody else, but thinks, I don't need him. I got this with my own right behavior. And it is offensive to him, as offensive as either of these two gifts would be. And it goes on to say, we all fade like a leaf and our iniquities like the wind, take us away.

There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you, for you have hidden your face from us and have made us melt. in the hands of our iniquities. But now. But now, Lord, you are our Father. They think, well, how did that happen? How did we go to enemies against God? How did we go to sinners in the hands of an angry God? And in one sentence, we end up being able to call God our Father.

The way we do that is by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is unique in its claim in who God is. among any religion ever in the history of humanity. If you've ever read the book by David Platt called Radical, I'd highly recommend it. Platt talks about he's somewhere and he's at this Hindu temple and there's a Hindu priest and there's like a Muslim cleric and he's having this conversation with them about religion. And those two men, as they're talking about some of the minor nuanced differences in their religion, say this. Essentially they say, hey listen, every religion.

is basically the same. That God is like on top of a mountain and we all have our very own path or our very own truth and you may take your path and call it what you call it and I'll take my path and some of the vocabulary is different. Some of the activities are different. But essentially we're just on a path working our way to the top of the mountain and when we get there we get God. And Platt says, well, that's interesting. How would it land on you if I told you that what if God came off of the top of the mountain and came down to the bottom to come and get us. Would you be interested? And they said, of course. And he said, well, let me tell you by Jesus. You see, the problem with the whole mountain illustration thing is that the flaw there is, what we don't understand is we assume that we

could climb the mountain. And the reality is the mountain to climb from where we are to who God is is an impossible and impassable climb. Like if we all tried to swim to Hawaii, some of us would drown in the breakers. Some of us would make it miles. But regardless of how far you made it, you would die along the way. And on that mountain, some people definitely can get much higher in their own righteous deeds than others. But the problem with that mountain is it is an impossible, impassable climb that nobody

can make it on their own. And in fact, it's an affront against who God is. Because you know who God is? God is love. And when God saw people, us, created in his image, at the bottom of that mountain with the inability to make themselves perfect to climb that mountain. He sent his own son, Christ, that the word became flesh and came after us on a rescue mission to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.

And not only did he rescue us, not only did Jesus come to seek and to save the loss, but then he takes it a step further and he doesn't just rescue us and bandage us up and say good luck with your life. He rescues us, he cleans us, and then he adopts us into his very own family. His name is our name. His inheritance is our inheritance because his righteousness is our righteousness in Christ Jesus. Some of you have been working your tail off, man, you have. You've been working, working, working, trying to be good enough, and you're exhausted. I dare you to quit.

Not quit doing good, but quit trying to prove your goodness to God and surrender. surrender and say, okay, Father, here I am. I don't need more rules. I need a rescuer. And there have been men and women and students in all of our services at all of our campuses all weekend long that for the very first time they have come to that realization that a righteousness does not come through the law. That a righteousness comes by faith in Jesus Christ. And I want to give you right now the opportunity to put your faith in Christ.

Would you please bow your head and close your eyes? And if you would say, you know what, that's me. Today, somehow, for the very first time, I admit it, I don't need more rules, I need to be rescued. And for the very first time, if you believe that when Christ died on the cross, somehow that counted for you. And in this moment, you were ready to confess him as Lord, to surrender your life to the Lordship of Christ. That at all of our locations, wherever you are, would you lift your hand in the air and say, Father, I am, would you please come and rescue me? Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you and I praise you. that it is by grace we have been saved through faith, not by works.

God, I pray that you would save us from our own self-atoment projects. God, I pray that you would constantly remind us of the gospel of Jesus Christ and that we would find freedom there to know you and to love you. And God, we would also, we would trust that you would change us from the inside out. And Lord, I pray, I pray against the lie of the life of the God. the enemy of a works-based righteousness where we think we can earn your favor. And God, we glorify you that because you are love, you love us, and you made a way through Christ for us to love you back.

And we praise you for the salvation that is in your house this very day. We pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.