March 2, 2025 • 36 mins
What does it mean when your pastor opens a sermon with "This church is full of hypocrites"? In this powerful exploration of Romans 2:1-11, we confront the uncomfortable reality that hypocrisy lurks in all our hearts – but what happens when that hypocrisy evolves into dangerous self-righteousness?
The message delivers a sobering wake-up call about the ways we might be trusting in our own goodness rather than Christ's finished work. A shocking statistic reveals that while 65% of American adults claim Christianity, only 33% believe salvation comes through confession of sin and faith in Jesus as Savior. This gap exposes a critical truth: many who consider themselves Christians are actually trusting in something other than Christ.
"You can be lost in your badness, but you can also be lost in your goodness," the pastor declares, challenging listeners to examine what they're truly relying on for salvation. Are we counting on church attendance, moral behavior, or family heritage rather than the cross? The sermon tackles the seeming contradiction between salvation by grace and judgment according to works with theological clarity that points to Christ's righteousness as our only hope.
Using the vivid metaphor of spiritual scaffolding – our attempts to build our way to God through good works – the message concludes with Paul's sledgehammer of truth demolishing our self-righteous structures. When our efforts crumble, we discover the cross of Christ amid the rubble, offering the only path to true salvation. This sermon will challenge your assumptions, confront your religious self-deception, and lead you back to the freeing truth that salvation comes entirely through Christ's work, not your own.
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Speaker 1 (00:23):
1st Baptist, baptist El Dorado, will you join me now
in listening to our sermon fromthis week?
You can turn to Romans, chapter2.
Romans, chapter 2.
Let me read verses 1 through 11, our full passage this morning.
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Therefore, you have no excuse,o man.
Every one of you who judges, forin passing judgment on another,
you condemn yourself becauseyou, the judge, practice the
very same things.
We know that the judgment ofGod rightly falls on those who
practice such things.
We know that the judgment ofGod rightly falls on those who
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practice such things.
Do you suppose, o man, you whojudge those who practice such
things and yet do themyourselves, that you will escape
the judgment of God?
Or do you presume on the richesof his kindness and forbearance
and patience, not knowing thatGod's kindness is meant to lead
you to repentance, but becauseof your hard and impenitent
heart, you are storing up wrathfor yourself?
(01:29):
On the day of wrath, when God'srighteous judgment will be
revealed, he will render to eachone according to his works.
To those who, by patience andwell-doing, seek for glory and
honor and immortality, he willgive eternal life.
But for those who areself-seeking and do not obey the
truth but obey unrighteousness,there will be wrath and fury.
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There will be tribulation anddistress for every human being
who does evil, the Jew first andalso the Greek, but glory and
honor and peace for everyone whodoes good, the Jew first and
also the Greek, for God shows nopartiality.
Pray with me now.
Lord Jesus, we thank you forthis day, for this morning, for
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this opportunity to be in yourword, to learn from your word.
So, lord, holy Spirit, wouldyou speak to us this morning?
We ask this in Christ's name,amen.
Well, first Baptist Church of ElDorado is full of hypocrites.
I don't know if I have yourattention yet this morning, but
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First Baptist Church of ElDorado is absolutely full of
hypocrites.
If you're visiting today forthe first time, I'm very sorry
to let you down.
What do I mean by that?
For every one of us in the room, if you were to take two
fingers and put it right here onyour wrist or right here on
your neck, you would feel apulse inside of you.
That will let me know, and youknow that you are a living,
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breathing human.
And that lets me know, and youknow that at some level, large
or small, at some level in yourlife, there is some form of
hypocrisy.
It comes to all of us.
How many of you have told achild he can't get up from the
table until he eats his brusselsprouts?
Well, you know good and well,you are not touching your
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brussel sprouts.
How many of you have toldemployees at the office that the
office printer is for officeuse only?
But you know, in two weeks whenthe March Madness bracket comes
out, you're going to print acouple copies for yourself.
There's a level of hypocrisy inevery one of us, in every one of
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us.
We all don't quite meet thestandard that we project.
It happens to all of us.
We all don't quite meet thestandard that we project.
It happens to all of us.
But today, in Romans, chapter 2,I think Paul wants to ask the
question what happens whenhypocrisy rises well beyond
Brussels sprouts and brackets?
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What happens then?
What happens when hypocrisyleads to a level of
self-righteousness where, all ofa sudden, the people who claim
to be part of the family of Godare so wrapped up in their own
self-righteousness that they areeven on the outside looking in
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and don't even know it?
They've trusted in somethingother than Christ for their
salvation and up to this point,they don't even know it.
What happens when our ownhypocrisy and self-righteousness
leads us to that place?
I want us to see three thingsthis morning as we walk through
this text.
The first is thisself-righteousness.
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It falls short of the glory ofGod.
Self-righteousness falls shortof the glory of God.
Self-righteousness falls shortof the glory of God.
Look with me in verse 1.
Therefore, you have no excuse,o man.
Every one of you who judges,for in passing judgment on
another, you condemn yourselfbecause you, the judge, practice
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the very same things.
If you were here last week, youremember in Romans, chapter 1,
paul is writing this letter andhe's speaking to the Gentiles in
the audience and he startscalling out the sin of the
Gentiles.
And we talked last week how, inour sin outside of Christ, that
we suppress the truth, weworship our idols.
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We talked last week about thenumber of sins that we run after
when we worship our idols andsuppress the truth.
So Paul is condemning theseGentiles in their sin and you
can almost imagine in thischurch that is made up of Jews
and Gentiles, the Jewishindividuals are likely sitting
there as this letter is beingread and they are giving very
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loud amens to this in Romans,chapter 1.
They're saying amen to everyline.
They're probably telling Paulkeep it up.
They're probably saying, hey,we've been telling them these
same things for years.
We're glad you've finallywritten this letter to let them
know, for more than just us,that they are lost in sin and
worthy of condemnation.
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The Jewish individuals in thecrowd are loving the book of
Romans through the first chapter.
The problem is, the page turnsto chapter two and Paul turns
the tables on the Jewishindividuals and says this once
again in verse 1 here that youhave no excuse, that you've set
the standard and you'vecondemned others because they
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don't meet that standard, whilethis whole time you don't meet
the standard yourself.
I mean, paul says that you'redoing the very same things.
I mean, paul says that you'redoing the very same things.
So everything I named in Romans, chapter 1, about these
Gentiles, you are saying youramens, yet secretly, when you're
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not in this room behind closeddoors, you're doing the same
thing.
This is hypocrisy, isn't it?
This is a level of hypocrisythat reaches to
self-righteousness, that thatthey should be condemned because
of their sin.
I'm doing the same things, butsurely I shouldn't be condemned
because of it.
That's not how this thing works.
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Verse two we know that thejudgment of God rightly falls on
those who practice such things.
You're not Jewish individuals.
You're not wrong for looking atthese who are in outward,
wayward sin and saying from theoutside, looking in, that sin
has earned condemnation?
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Of course it has.
Sin always has consequence andalways earns discipline.
But verse three but do yousuppose, oh man, that you who
judge those who practice suchthings and yet do them
yourselves, that you will escapethe judgment of God?
Of course there's condemnationfor their sin.
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But guess what, if you do thevery same things, do you think
there's not condemnation foryour sin?
Self-righteousness had infectedat such a high level many in
the audience hearing this letter.
Jesus talks a lot aboutself-righteousness, doesn't he?
In the gospels, often we seestories about the Pharisees, the
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religious elite, the ones whothey knew all the Bible answers
and had it all figured out.
And yet in their mind, becausethey knew all the answers and
because they did all thequote-unquote right things that
they were already in, that theywere accepted before the Father.
What?
Based off of what they do,based off of their works.
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And that's really whatself-righteousness is.
Let's define it.
For those outside of Christ, ourself-righteousness is just
saying that anything other thanChrist can save me, that my own
works can save me, that if I inthis life do more good than I do
bad, I'll end up in a good spoton the other side.
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Surely I could get to heaven.
Surely the Lord will let me inIf I do enough good or if I
avoid the bad.
Or here's what we love to do inour self-righteousness.
And I know I've done some bad,but praise God, I haven't done
as bad as some of these others.
I've sinned, but my goodness,at least it wasn't that sin, at
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least I didn't do that.
That's how we justify things inour mind.
But it's all the sameself-righteousness.
It's trusting in ourselves tosave ourselves instead of Christ
, even inside of Christ.
Once we know Christ Jesus bygrace, through faith, not by
works, you know,self-righteousness can still
have its way in us.
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We might not say myself-righteousness, we might not
say our own good works got usto Jesus, but we might say they
can sure keep us here.
Or if I do good and do what I'msupposed to do, surely God will
love me a little more, he'llfavor me a little more, maybe
he'll, you know, give a fewextra good things to me if I can
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do the things he asks me to do.
It's all about the motivationthat in our self-righteousness.
On the outside it may look likewe're doing all the right
things, but we know on theinside the motivation is off,
because I'm doing the rightthings, but not out of obedience
to a God who has saved me, butI'm doing the right things so
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that I can just look good infront of you all, so that I can
impress you, so that as you'rearound the lunch table this
afternoon you will look at eachother and say, isn't Taylor
doing a pretty good job at this?
You know, I saw him help anelderly lady across the street
the other day.
Isn't he doing a good job ateverything?
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And our self-righteousness justsays that that is the
motivation to be impressive, tolook the part.
And for all of us in ourself-righteousness, what's so
scary about it we see it here inthese first few verses is that
we often don't see it.
We're blind to it in thesefirst few verses is that we
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often don't see it?
We're blind to it.
I mean, the Jewish individualsin this crowd are condemning
others for doing the very samethings they're doing.
They don't see how hypocriticalthis is and how off-base this
is.
But we don't see it either.
Sometimes.
I think about.
We've talked about it before in2nd Samuel, chapter 11 and 12.
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David the king has just mademany mistakes.
He's committed adultery withBathsheba.
He, he brought Uriah,bathsheba's husband home, but
he's too loyal to uh to getinvolved with anything like that
and and to to what David wants,to put him at the scene of the
crime.
So instead David sends him backto battle, but sends a letter
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to say, hey, put him at the spotwhere the fiercest battle is.
And then everybody draw backand so obviously Uriah dies in
that moment.
And so now, if you're keepingtrack, david is an adulterer, he
is a murderer, he is a deceiver, he is a liar, but he is the
king and so he can justify it.
He doesn't see what's wrongbecause in his mind he's covered
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his tracks.
But then a few days later, in 2Samuel 12, a friend, nathan,
comes.
David's blind to everything.
And so Nathan tells a story.
There was a poor man down theroad and he had one little lamb.
He loved this lamb like it washis child.
The rich man across the streethad every sheep, all the
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livestock, everything he couldever want.
He had no needs.
But the rich man had a friendover and wanted to have a
celebration.
But instead of drawing from hisown livestock, he went across
the street to take the poorman's one little lamb, and that
would be the feast.
In that moment, david's furious.
How could he do this?
He should be like bring himhere right now.
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He should face condemnation forwhat he has done.
And then Nathan drops this bomb.
David, you are the man.
He didn't see anything.
David, you're the king.
You have everything you couldever need.
God has blessed you in so manyways and yet you looked at one
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of your soldier's wives and yousaid I can have her.
David, you are the man.
But in his ownself-righteousness he could
never see it until it was putright in front of him and then
repentance could occur.
We're blind to our ownself-righteousness, our own
efforts to earn favor with Godby anything outside of the
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finished work of Jesus Christ.
In 2020, a survey came out and Iremember being absolutely
stunned by it at the time, and Iwas equally shocked when I
revisited it this week.
The Cultural Research Center atArizona Christian University.
They polled many, many peopleand they found this that 65% of
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adults in the United Stateswould claim Christianity.
Now, we know how those surveyswork.
Those polls work.
Anybody can check a box.
You know we don't check.
You know salvation records,baptism records, anything like
that.
Anybody can check a box, but65% of the people in the United
States claim Christianity ofadults.
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The survey continued.
The same group was polled andwe got this answer that 33% of
adults in the United Statesbelieve they will go to heaven
based on their confession of sinand belief that Jesus is Savior
.
Let me say that again 33% ofadults in the United States
believe that they will go toheaven based on their confession
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of sin and belief that Jesus isSavior.
Now let's walk through both ofthese again 65% of US adults
claim Christianity.
33% of US adults claim theywill go to heaven based on the
confession of sin and JesusChrist as Savior.
Now, if you're doing math inyour pew right now, you're
realizing that two plus two doesnot equal four, that
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something's off in this moment,that two-thirds of people claim
Christianity.
One-third of people claim thatthey have been forgiven and that
Christ, jesus, is Savior.
What that tells me is,according to this poll, at least
a third of people believe theyare Christians but are trusting
in anything other than Christfor their salvation.
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What is it they're trusting in?
I don't know for everybody,that would be another poll unto
itself but I would imagine manyare trusting in their own
goodness, in their ownself-righteousness.
Many are just saying I've beengood enough or I'm trying really
hard and therefore at the endof all this I'll get in.
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I think of we referenced it lastweek Luke, chapter 15, the
prodigal son.
We talked about how he ran tothe far country, the prodigal
son.
We talked about how he ran tothe far country.
But we remember at the endthere's an older brother as well
and with that older brother hehad been outside the house the
whole time, very close, butoutside the house.
His problem was not that he ranto the far country, his problem
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was that he saw the father'shouse as something that he could
earn.
When the prodigal son comeshome, this older brother is out
in the field, working andworking, and working for his
father's approval and he isfurious when he finds out this
younger son just gets to comehome, just gets to be a part of
the father's house.
He says but dad, I've beenworking here my whole life.
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Surely I've earned your loveand earned your favor, to which
the father has to say, hey, mylove and favor is not something
you had to earn.
All that I have is yours.
I want you to hear somethingthis morning church, family,
that you can be lost in yourbadness, but you can also be
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lost in your goodness.
You can also say all the rightthings and do all the right
things and do the moral thingsand look the part and even show
up in this room, or a room likeit, every Sunday morning and
still not know Jesus Christ andstill trust in your own efforts
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to be saved.
So, first of all,self-righteousness falls short
of the glory of God.
But I also want to see this.
Complacency falls short of theglory of God.
Verse four or do you presume onthe riches of his kindness and
forbearance and patience, notknowing that God's kindness is
meant to lead you to repentance,but because of your hard and
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impenitent heart, you arestoring up wrath for yourself.
On the day of wrath when God'srighteous judgment will be
revealed, do you presume on thepatience of God to these Jewish
believers?
Let's be clear.
We're going to see itthroughout Romans.
We see it throughout scripture.
There is something very neat,very special about being of
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Jewish lineage.
There's no doubt about that.
Oh, I love the fact that inGenesis, chapter 12, god,
setting forth his redemptionplan, called forth a man named
Abraham.
Not because of anything goodAbraham had done, but because
God's desire to save the world.
He wanted to create through thefamily, a large family that
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could be a blessing to thenations.
And so he called out Abraham.
And so it is neat for theJewish individuals in the crowd
today, as this letter was read2,000 years ago, to be able to
say my great, great, great andso on, grandfather is Abraham,
is Isaac, is Jacob, is Moses, isDavid, is all of these people
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to the line of Jesus?
There is power in that, thereis beauty in that, there is
beauty in that.
But there's also a temptationto grow complacent, to say that,
because of the fact that I wasborn into this family, because
of the fact that this is who mygreat-grandfather is, whatever
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they might say, because of thatI'm already in.
Because of that, nothing moreneeds to be done.
I'm in because surely my familygets me in.
There's a temptation to usetheir own Jewishness as the
standard.
And now let's be carefulbecause, as I said a moment ago,
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standard and now let's becareful because, as I said a
moment ago, those kinds ofthings still exist today.
Can we not use different thingsto be our standard to to get us
in?
I grew up in church.
My, my parents were Christians.
I grew up in a Christian home.
We say that we were at churchevery day.
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The doors were open.
Some days the doors were notopen.
My parents still got us there.
We say I've been in this Sundayschool for years.
I even went on this missiontrip.
I've given towards this churchfor years and let me say that
every one of those things is abeautiful thing, a beautiful
thing.
Praise God for every one ofthose things is a beautiful
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thing, a beautiful thing.
Praise God for every one ofthose things.
But none of those things willjustify you before the Lord.
None of those things are thingsthat suddenly we get to say we
are part of the family of Godbased on that alone, hopefully.
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So many of those things are aresult being with the people of
God.
All those things are a resultof what Christ has done, and now
I want to be with the family ofGod.
But nothing like thatquote-unquote gets us in.
And this is personal to me,because I'm your pastor, and as
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I'm your pastor and as I preachbefore you each week, I take
seriously that task because itis my task and my duty to give
you the truth, to give you thetruth of God's word, because I
believe I'll be held accountablefor that and that one day, when
I stand before the Lord andgive an account for the things
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I've said from this pulpit, thethings I've said to you
personally, when I give anaccount, I don't think the
Lord's going to look at me andsay, taylor, how many names did
you help get onto the membershipof First Baptist Church of El
Dorado?
I believe he will look at meand say, taylor, how many names
did you help get written in theLamb's Book of Life?
Did you give him the truth?
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Did you give him the gospel?
Are we trusting in anythingother than Christ for our
salvation?
Are we trusting in anythingother than Christ, not just to
save us but to keep us?
What are we trusting in?
Complacency, complacency.
It falls short of the glory ofGod.
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The last point is simply thisEveryone falls short of the
glory of God.
No one gets out of it thismorning.
Look with me at verse 6 through11.
He will render to each oneaccording to his works.
To those who, by patience andwell-doing, seek for glory and
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honor and immortality, he willgive eternal life.
But for those who areself-seeking and do not obey the
truth but obey unrighteousness,there will be wrath and fury.
There will be tribulation anddistress for every human being
who does evil, the Jew first andalso the Greek, but glory and
honor and peace for everyone whodoes good, the Jew first and
also the Greek, for God shows nopartiality.
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Let's talk about 6 through 11for a minute.
Let's talk about 6 through 11for a minute, because here's
what I'm wondering.
I preached through five versesand it really sounds like the
next six kind of ruined.
The first five I preachedthrough five verses about you
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can't trust in anything otherthan Christ to save you.
And then verse 6, he willrender to each one according to
his works, and I didn't misreadthat.
That's the word of God there.
That is what Paul has said herein Romans.
I think we've got to do a fewthings.
Number one is this We've got toremember that Paul is making a
large case in the book of Romans.
You and I get to come in eachweek and we take a passage.
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Praise God, we do Each week, wetake a passage and we walk
through it.
Remember when this was read?
It was read in its entirety.
It is one long letter, one longcase.
So Paul is making a case andthis is a piece of it.
And out of context, yeah, wemight be able to say, is there
works involved?
But when you read the book ofRomans, when you read any letter
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of Paul, when you read the NewTestament, when you read the
Bible, it is clear we are savedby grace, through faith.
And yet we see in verse 6 thathe'll render each one according
to his works, and that's a truestatement.
We see in Matthew 25, jesustalks about the judgment that is
to come, where the good willreceive good and the bad will
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receive bad.
Revelation, chapter 20, at thelast things in the last day,
there is that great judgmentthat is discussed, where the
good will enter into eternalrest and the bad will enter into
their eternal punishment.
So there is very much ajudgment of God based on works.
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So now, what do we do with that?
And is this sermon ruined?
I don't know.
No, nothing's ruined because ofthis A few ways we think about
it.
One because of this, a few wayswe think about it, one who's
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able to do good works?
Who's able to do good works?
It's those who know JesusChrist.
Now, I don't meannon-Christians can't do good
things.
We look across our city, acrossthe news and the world all the
time and there's non-Christiansthat do amazing good,
humanitarian things, givetowards amazing causes, build up
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communities, build homes forothers.
I'm not saying good thingscan't happen by non-Christians,
but I'm talking about good works, true godly good works
Ephesians 2.10 type good worksthat God has prepared for those
who love him.
Who can do those kind of works?
Those who are in Christ Jesus.
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But we can also think about itlike this If we are to stand
before the Lord and we'll standaccording to works originally
first there's a bit of bad newsin that, because I look at my
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own works.
Scripture even tells me that myworks before the Lord are like
filthy rags before him, if we'rejudged by our works.
I'm a little nervous thismorning.
You may be a little nervous too, I think, if we could write out
this morning kind of the storyof our lives, of our good works,
the things we've done.
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On a piece of paper, the storyof your life and my life, might
end up looking like a paper youturned in in college, or any of
us turned in, where we just havea lot of X's and things crossed
out, even the balcony.
You can probably see the resultof the story of your life and
my life and you thought, ohTaylor, that's just of course,
you did a few things when youwere young.
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I just I fall short.
I mean every page.
I've sinned and fall short ofthe glory of God and the law.
The pen of the law hasrightfully condemned me in this
moment.
Nothing wrong with the law.
The law is a beautiful thing.
The problem is me that I'vesinned and fallen short of the
glory of God.
And so if I'm supposed to standbefore a holy God and turn in
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the works of my life, I'm justnervous about what is going to
be turned in.
I'm nervous about the fact thatthere's no way I measure up.
I'm nervous about the fact thatall have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God andguess what?
I'm part of that all.
So what in the world do I do?
What will become of me.
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I turn to Romans 3, 21 through24.
But now the righteousness ofGod has been manifested, apart
from the law, although the lawand the prophets bear witness to
it.
The righteousness of Godthrough faith in Jesus Christ
for all who believe for there isno distinction, for all have
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sinned and fall short of theglory of God and are justified
by his grace as a gift throughthe redemption that is in Christ
Jesus.
The good news of the gospel isthis that someone has come in my
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place and that I've fallenterribly short of the glory of
God.
And though my sin seemsinescapable, my hopelessness
seems like the final word.
Someone has come and stood inmy place, that Christ Jesus has
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taken my sin and your sin uponhimself.
Every bad work we've done, whatwe've done, what we've left
undone, the complete righteousone, jesus Christ the righteous,
has taken our sin upon himself.
And now here's the unbelievablenews I know we're Baptist and
not super charismatic, but youmight just get a little happy in
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a minute, because this is thegood news of the gospel that
this is all.
I've got the filthy rags of mylife that I have to turn in.
And if I stand before theFather with my own works.
There's nothing to it, butsomeone has stood in my place,
and so, as I come before thethrone room of a holy God, the
works of my life are wrapped upnow in the works of Jesus Christ
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the righteous.
And so I have a new somethingto turn in before a loving
Father who delights to see theworks of his son, jesus Christ,
and the righteousness of his sondisplayed.
What in my life and I no longerhave to come before the Lord on
the basis of my own work, buttruly wrapped up in the
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righteousness of Christ.
There's my merit.
Let me just ask you thismorning is my merit?
Let me just ask you thismorning If you are going to
stand before a holy God thatdoes love you deeply and
delights for you if you'd beable to come into the kingdom if
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you were to stand before a holyGod.
I want to ask you whose works doyou want to turn in?
Do you want to turn in yours?
You think you got a shot?
Some of you, I know you, you'regood, but you think you got a
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shot.
Well, let me ask you this Doyou want to turn in the work of
Jesus Christ the righteous, whohas lived the perfect life, died
the death you deserve, risenfrom the grave, defeating sin
and death, and now reigns at thethrone of God.
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Do you want to turn in his work?
He became sin who knew no sin,so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God.
That's exactly what the gospeloffers the works of Christ on
your behalf.
Is there anything you'retrusting in to save you?
That's not Christ, jesus,anything at all.
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Your own works, your ownrighteousness, your own goodness
.
Is there anything you'retrusting in to save you outside
of Christ and even for thebelievers in the room?
Is there anything you'retrusting in to keep you?
Is there anything you'retrusting in that can earn you
more of God's love or God'sfavor?
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Is there anything that you sayif I can just do this, then I'll
look the part.
Then won't I be impressive?
Is there anything at all?
If there is, let me tell youwhat Paul wants to do.
In Romans, chapter two, there'sa picture I want to put on the
screen, if you can see it.
I was here a few weeks ago andthey were fixing a spot up there
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and painting over it and theybrought in this scaffolding.
And even that picture doesn'tdo justice to just how
terrifying that was and how tallthat was and how I was praying
that the painters were insuredand it was a terrifying scene
and they didn't care one bit.
This was normal for them.
They were climbing it like itwas a terrifying scene and they
didn't care one bit.
This was normal for them.
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They were climbing it like itwas nothing and they didn't seem
scared at all.
I was terrified, I didn't evenget up there.
But I look at it and I thinkthis is a picture of our own
self-righteousness, because whatwe want to do is we just want
to build that foundation higherand higher.
If I can just get the rightpegs and the right bars in place
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and attach them together andjust get the next rung of the
ladder up through my own work,through my own goodness, by
being enough, I can just rise toa higher level.
And here's what I desire in myself-righteousness that if I can
just get the scaffolding of myrighteousness on my own effort
high enough, then I can reachGod.
I can get there.
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If I just get it high enough, Ican build it to where I can be
accepted by God.
Here's what Romans, chapter 2,wants to do.
Here's what Paul wants to do hewants to grab a sledgehammer,
walk over to your scaffoldingand tear it to the ground.
To the ground, to the ground.
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That if there is any part ofyou that is trying to make your
way to the Father by anythingother than the finished work of
Christ, he wants to tear it tothe ground.
So that, why?
So that in the rubble of yourefforts you would find the cross
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of Jesus Christ and you wouldfind a way to the Father, not by
your works, but by what Christhas done, and that you would
live in the freedom that my owngoodness doesn't have to get me
there, my own goodness doesn'thave to keep me there, but from
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start to finish, it is allChrist Jesus.
And any good now that is done,that I am in Christ Jesus, is
only done in response to whathe's done for me, not to earn
anything, but because I love theSavior who saved me and I
delight to obey him.
That's the Christian life.
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And if any of us are stilltrying to climb that ladder,
maybe today is a sledgehammerday for you, where we tear it to
the ground and say Christ Jesus, you and you alone.
Maybe that's you this morningand you want to come down and we
can talk together, we can praytogether, we can grab a
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spiritual sledgehammer togetherand we can talk about Jesus.
Maybe you want to come hearabout Jesus for the first time.
Maybe you want to come jointhis church.
Maybe you just want me to praywith you.
It could be about this sermon,it could be about anything in
the world.
However, you need to respondthis morning.
I'll be down front in a fewmoments.
You respond, even if it's juston your own praying, right where
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you're at in the pew.
You respond in these moments.
Let me pray for us and we'llworship together.
Lord Jesus, we thank you forthis day.
We thank you for the cross,thank you that we don't have to
earn our way.
Who among us could?
But instead, christ Jesus, youhave made a way.
Instead, christ Jesus, you havedone what we could not do.
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And so, lord, we give youpraise, not of our own might and
effort, but only by the crossof Christ.
We give you praise, lord.
So, lord, if there's one inthis room, if there's two in
this room, if there's anyone inthis room that need to know you,
would today be the day.
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If there's someone that justneeds to do business with you,
just in their own heart, rightwhere they're sitting.
Would today be the day?
If there's someone that needsprayer for anything in their
life, would they come chat withme?
Would today be the day we justdo business with you, lord,
thank you for the cross.
We pray this in Christ's name,amen.
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Would you stand as we worshiptogether?
1st Baptist, baptist El Dorado, will you join me now
in listening to our sermon fromthis week?
You can turn to Romans, chapter2.
Romans, chapter 2.
Let me read verses 1 through 11, our full passage this morning.
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Therefore, you have no excuse,o man.
Every one of you who judges, forin passing judgment on another,
you condemn yourself becauseyou, the judge, practice the
very same things.
We know that the judgment ofGod rightly falls on those who
practice such things.
We know that the judgment ofGod rightly falls on those who
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practice such things.
Do you suppose, o man, you whojudge those who practice such
things and yet do themyourselves, that you will escape
the judgment of God?
Or do you presume on the richesof his kindness and forbearance
and patience, not knowing thatGod's kindness is meant to lead
you to repentance, but becauseof your hard and impenitent
heart, you are storing up wrathfor yourself?
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On the day of wrath, when God'srighteous judgment will be
revealed, he will render to eachone according to his works.
To those who, by patience andwell-doing, seek for glory and
honor and immortality, he willgive eternal life.
But for those who areself-seeking and do not obey the
truth but obey unrighteousness,there will be wrath and fury.
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There will be tribulation anddistress for every human being
who does evil, the Jew first andalso the Greek, but glory and
honor and peace for everyone whodoes good, the Jew first and
also the Greek, for God shows nopartiality.
Pray with me now.
Lord Jesus, we thank you forthis day, for this morning, for
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this opportunity to be in yourword, to learn from your word.
So, lord, holy Spirit, wouldyou speak to us this morning?
We ask this in Christ's name,amen.
Well, first Baptist Church of ElDorado is full of hypocrites.
I don't know if I have yourattention yet this morning, but
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First Baptist Church of ElDorado is absolutely full of
hypocrites.
If you're visiting today forthe first time, I'm very sorry
to let you down.
What do I mean by that?
For every one of us in the room, if you were to take two
fingers and put it right here onyour wrist or right here on
your neck, you would feel apulse inside of you.
That will let me know, and youknow that you are a living,
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breathing human.
And that lets me know, and youknow that at some level, large
or small, at some level in yourlife, there is some form of
hypocrisy.
It comes to all of us.
How many of you have told achild he can't get up from the
table until he eats his brusselsprouts?
Well, you know good and well,you are not touching your
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brussel sprouts.
How many of you have toldemployees at the office that the
office printer is for officeuse only?
But you know, in two weeks whenthe March Madness bracket comes
out, you're going to print acouple copies for yourself.
There's a level of hypocrisy inevery one of us, in every one of
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us.
We all don't quite meet thestandard that we project.
It happens to all of us.
We all don't quite meet thestandard that we project.
It happens to all of us.
But today, in Romans, chapter 2,I think Paul wants to ask the
question what happens whenhypocrisy rises well beyond
Brussels sprouts and brackets?
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What happens then?
What happens when hypocrisyleads to a level of
self-righteousness where, all ofa sudden, the people who claim
to be part of the family of Godare so wrapped up in their own
self-righteousness that they areeven on the outside looking in
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and don't even know it?
They've trusted in somethingother than Christ for their
salvation and up to this point,they don't even know it.
What happens when our ownhypocrisy and self-righteousness
leads us to that place?
I want us to see three thingsthis morning as we walk through
this text.
The first is thisself-righteousness.
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It falls short of the glory ofGod.
Self-righteousness falls shortof the glory of God.
Self-righteousness falls shortof the glory of God.
Look with me in verse 1.
Therefore, you have no excuse,o man.
Every one of you who judges,for in passing judgment on
another, you condemn yourselfbecause you, the judge, practice
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the very same things.
If you were here last week, youremember in Romans, chapter 1,
paul is writing this letter andhe's speaking to the Gentiles in
the audience and he startscalling out the sin of the
Gentiles.
And we talked last week how, inour sin outside of Christ, that
we suppress the truth, weworship our idols.
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We talked last week about thenumber of sins that we run after
when we worship our idols andsuppress the truth.
So Paul is condemning theseGentiles in their sin and you
can almost imagine in thischurch that is made up of Jews
and Gentiles, the Jewishindividuals are likely sitting
there as this letter is beingread and they are giving very
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loud amens to this in Romans,chapter 1.
They're saying amen to everyline.
They're probably telling Paulkeep it up.
They're probably saying, hey,we've been telling them these
same things for years.
We're glad you've finallywritten this letter to let them
know, for more than just us,that they are lost in sin and
worthy of condemnation.
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The Jewish individuals in thecrowd are loving the book of
Romans through the first chapter.
The problem is, the page turnsto chapter two and Paul turns
the tables on the Jewishindividuals and says this once
again in verse 1 here that youhave no excuse, that you've set
the standard and you'vecondemned others because they
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don't meet that standard, whilethis whole time you don't meet
the standard yourself.
I mean, paul says that you'redoing the very same things.
I mean, paul says that you'redoing the very same things.
So everything I named in Romans, chapter 1, about these
Gentiles, you are saying youramens, yet secretly, when you're
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not in this room behind closeddoors, you're doing the same
thing.
This is hypocrisy, isn't it?
This is a level of hypocrisythat reaches to
self-righteousness, that thatthey should be condemned because
of their sin.
I'm doing the same things, butsurely I shouldn't be condemned
because of it.
That's not how this thing works.
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Verse two we know that thejudgment of God rightly falls on
those who practice such things.
You're not Jewish individuals.
You're not wrong for looking atthese who are in outward,
wayward sin and saying from theoutside, looking in, that sin
has earned condemnation?
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Of course it has.
Sin always has consequence andalways earns discipline.
But verse three but do yousuppose, oh man, that you who
judge those who practice suchthings and yet do them
yourselves, that you will escapethe judgment of God?
Of course there's condemnationfor their sin.
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But guess what, if you do thevery same things, do you think
there's not condemnation foryour sin?
Self-righteousness had infectedat such a high level many in
the audience hearing this letter.
Jesus talks a lot aboutself-righteousness, doesn't he?
In the gospels, often we seestories about the Pharisees, the
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religious elite, the ones whothey knew all the Bible answers
and had it all figured out.
And yet in their mind, becausethey knew all the answers and
because they did all thequote-unquote right things that
they were already in, that theywere accepted before the Father.
What?
Based off of what they do,based off of their works.
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And that's really whatself-righteousness is.
Let's define it.
For those outside of Christ, ourself-righteousness is just
saying that anything other thanChrist can save me, that my own
works can save me, that if I inthis life do more good than I do
bad, I'll end up in a good spoton the other side.
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Surely I could get to heaven.
Surely the Lord will let me inIf I do enough good or if I
avoid the bad.
Or here's what we love to do inour self-righteousness.
And I know I've done some bad,but praise God, I haven't done
as bad as some of these others.
I've sinned, but my goodness,at least it wasn't that sin, at
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least I didn't do that.
That's how we justify things inour mind.
But it's all the sameself-righteousness.
It's trusting in ourselves tosave ourselves instead of Christ
, even inside of Christ.
Once we know Christ Jesus bygrace, through faith, not by
works, you know,self-righteousness can still
have its way in us.
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We might not say myself-righteousness, we might not
say our own good works got usto Jesus, but we might say they
can sure keep us here.
Or if I do good and do what I'msupposed to do, surely God will
love me a little more, he'llfavor me a little more, maybe
he'll, you know, give a fewextra good things to me if I can
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do the things he asks me to do.
It's all about the motivationthat in our self-righteousness.
On the outside it may look likewe're doing all the right
things, but we know on theinside the motivation is off,
because I'm doing the rightthings, but not out of obedience
to a God who has saved me, butI'm doing the right things so
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that I can just look good infront of you all, so that I can
impress you, so that as you'rearound the lunch table this
afternoon you will look at eachother and say, isn't Taylor
doing a pretty good job at this?
You know, I saw him help anelderly lady across the street
the other day.
Isn't he doing a good job ateverything?
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And our self-righteousness justsays that that is the
motivation to be impressive, tolook the part.
And for all of us in ourself-righteousness, what's so
scary about it we see it here inthese first few verses is that
we often don't see it.
We're blind to it in thesefirst few verses is that we
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often don't see it?
We're blind to it.
I mean, the Jewish individualsin this crowd are condemning
others for doing the very samethings they're doing.
They don't see how hypocriticalthis is and how off-base this
is.
But we don't see it either.
Sometimes.
I think about.
We've talked about it before in2nd Samuel, chapter 11 and 12.
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David the king has just mademany mistakes.
He's committed adultery withBathsheba.
He, he brought Uriah,bathsheba's husband home, but
he's too loyal to uh to getinvolved with anything like that
and and to to what David wants,to put him at the scene of the
crime.
So instead David sends him backto battle, but sends a letter
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to say, hey, put him at the spotwhere the fiercest battle is.
And then everybody draw backand so obviously Uriah dies in
that moment.
And so now, if you're keepingtrack, david is an adulterer, he
is a murderer, he is a deceiver, he is a liar, but he is the
king and so he can justify it.
He doesn't see what's wrongbecause in his mind he's covered
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his tracks.
But then a few days later, in 2Samuel 12, a friend, nathan,
comes.
David's blind to everything.
And so Nathan tells a story.
There was a poor man down theroad and he had one little lamb.
He loved this lamb like it washis child.
The rich man across the streethad every sheep, all the
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livestock, everything he couldever want.
He had no needs.
But the rich man had a friendover and wanted to have a
celebration.
But instead of drawing from hisown livestock, he went across
the street to take the poorman's one little lamb, and that
would be the feast.
In that moment, david's furious.
How could he do this?
He should be like bring himhere right now.
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He should face condemnation forwhat he has done.
And then Nathan drops this bomb.
David, you are the man.
He didn't see anything.
David, you're the king.
You have everything you couldever need.
God has blessed you in so manyways and yet you looked at one
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of your soldier's wives and yousaid I can have her.
David, you are the man.
But in his ownself-righteousness he could
never see it until it was putright in front of him and then
repentance could occur.
We're blind to our ownself-righteousness, our own
efforts to earn favor with Godby anything outside of the
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finished work of Jesus Christ.
In 2020, a survey came out and Iremember being absolutely
stunned by it at the time, and Iwas equally shocked when I
revisited it this week.
The Cultural Research Center atArizona Christian University.
They polled many, many peopleand they found this that 65% of
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adults in the United Stateswould claim Christianity.
Now, we know how those surveyswork.
Those polls work.
Anybody can check a box.
You know we don't check.
You know salvation records,baptism records, anything like
that.
Anybody can check a box, but65% of the people in the United
States claim Christianity ofadults.
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The survey continued.
The same group was polled andwe got this answer that 33% of
adults in the United Statesbelieve they will go to heaven
based on their confession of sinand belief that Jesus is Savior
.
Let me say that again 33% ofadults in the United States
believe that they will go toheaven based on their confession
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of sin and belief that Jesus isSavior.
Now let's walk through both ofthese again 65% of US adults
claim Christianity.
33% of US adults claim theywill go to heaven based on the
confession of sin and JesusChrist as Savior.
Now, if you're doing math inyour pew right now, you're
realizing that two plus two doesnot equal four, that
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something's off in this moment,that two-thirds of people claim
Christianity.
One-third of people claim thatthey have been forgiven and that
Christ, jesus, is Savior.
What that tells me is,according to this poll, at least
a third of people believe theyare Christians but are trusting
in anything other than Christfor their salvation.
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What is it they're trusting in?
I don't know for everybody,that would be another poll unto
itself but I would imagine manyare trusting in their own
goodness, in their ownself-righteousness.
Many are just saying I've beengood enough or I'm trying really
hard and therefore at the endof all this I'll get in.
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I think of we referenced it lastweek Luke, chapter 15, the
prodigal son.
We talked about how he ran tothe far country, the prodigal
son.
We talked about how he ran tothe far country.
But we remember at the endthere's an older brother as well
and with that older brother hehad been outside the house the
whole time, very close, butoutside the house.
His problem was not that he ranto the far country, his problem
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was that he saw the father'shouse as something that he could
earn.
When the prodigal son comeshome, this older brother is out
in the field, working andworking, and working for his
father's approval and he isfurious when he finds out this
younger son just gets to comehome, just gets to be a part of
the father's house.
He says but dad, I've beenworking here my whole life.
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Surely I've earned your loveand earned your favor, to which
the father has to say, hey, mylove and favor is not something
you had to earn.
All that I have is yours.
I want you to hear somethingthis morning church, family,
that you can be lost in yourbadness, but you can also be
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lost in your goodness.
You can also say all the rightthings and do all the right
things and do the moral thingsand look the part and even show
up in this room, or a room likeit, every Sunday morning and
still not know Jesus Christ andstill trust in your own efforts
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to be saved.
So, first of all,self-righteousness falls short
of the glory of God.
But I also want to see this.
Complacency falls short of theglory of God.
Verse four or do you presume onthe riches of his kindness and
forbearance and patience, notknowing that God's kindness is
meant to lead you to repentance,but because of your hard and
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impenitent heart, you arestoring up wrath for yourself.
On the day of wrath when God'srighteous judgment will be
revealed, do you presume on thepatience of God to these Jewish
believers?
Let's be clear.
We're going to see itthroughout Romans.
We see it throughout scripture.
There is something very neat,very special about being of
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Jewish lineage.
There's no doubt about that.
Oh, I love the fact that inGenesis, chapter 12, god,
setting forth his redemptionplan, called forth a man named
Abraham.
Not because of anything goodAbraham had done, but because
God's desire to save the world.
He wanted to create through thefamily, a large family that
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could be a blessing to thenations.
And so he called out Abraham.
And so it is neat for theJewish individuals in the crowd
today, as this letter was read2,000 years ago, to be able to
say my great, great, great andso on, grandfather is Abraham,
is Isaac, is Jacob, is Moses, isDavid, is all of these people
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to the line of Jesus?
There is power in that, thereis beauty in that, there is
beauty in that.
But there's also a temptationto grow complacent, to say that,
because of the fact that I wasborn into this family, because
of the fact that this is who mygreat-grandfather is, whatever
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they might say, because of thatI'm already in.
Because of that, nothing moreneeds to be done.
I'm in because surely my familygets me in.
There's a temptation to usetheir own Jewishness as the
standard.
And now let's be carefulbecause, as I said a moment ago,
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standard and now let's becareful because, as I said a
moment ago, those kinds ofthings still exist today.
Can we not use different thingsto be our standard to to get us
in?
I grew up in church.
My, my parents were Christians.
I grew up in a Christian home.
We say that we were at churchevery day.
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The doors were open.
Some days the doors were notopen.
My parents still got us there.
We say I've been in this Sundayschool for years.
I even went on this missiontrip.
I've given towards this churchfor years and let me say that
every one of those things is abeautiful thing, a beautiful
thing.
Praise God for every one ofthose things is a beautiful
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thing, a beautiful thing.
Praise God for every one ofthose things.
But none of those things willjustify you before the Lord.
None of those things are thingsthat suddenly we get to say we
are part of the family of Godbased on that alone, hopefully.
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So many of those things are aresult being with the people of
God.
All those things are a resultof what Christ has done, and now
I want to be with the family ofGod.
But nothing like thatquote-unquote gets us in.
And this is personal to me,because I'm your pastor, and as
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I'm your pastor and as I preachbefore you each week, I take
seriously that task because itis my task and my duty to give
you the truth, to give you thetruth of God's word, because I
believe I'll be held accountablefor that and that one day, when
I stand before the Lord andgive an account for the things
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I've said from this pulpit, thethings I've said to you
personally, when I give anaccount, I don't think the
Lord's going to look at me andsay, taylor, how many names did
you help get onto the membershipof First Baptist Church of El
Dorado?
I believe he will look at meand say, taylor, how many names
did you help get written in theLamb's Book of Life?
Did you give him the truth?
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Did you give him the gospel?
Are we trusting in anythingother than Christ for our
salvation?
Are we trusting in anythingother than Christ, not just to
save us but to keep us?
What are we trusting in?
Complacency, complacency.
It falls short of the glory ofGod.
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The last point is simply thisEveryone falls short of the
glory of God.
No one gets out of it thismorning.
Look with me at verse 6 through11.
He will render to each oneaccording to his works.
To those who, by patience andwell-doing, seek for glory and
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honor and immortality, he willgive eternal life.
But for those who areself-seeking and do not obey the
truth but obey unrighteousness,there will be wrath and fury.
There will be tribulation anddistress for every human being
who does evil, the Jew first andalso the Greek, but glory and
honor and peace for everyone whodoes good, the Jew first and
also the Greek, for God shows nopartiality.
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Let's talk about 6 through 11for a minute.
Let's talk about 6 through 11for a minute, because here's
what I'm wondering.
I preached through five versesand it really sounds like the
next six kind of ruined.
The first five I preachedthrough five verses about you
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can't trust in anything otherthan Christ to save you.
And then verse 6, he willrender to each one according to
his works, and I didn't misreadthat.
That's the word of God there.
That is what Paul has said herein Romans.
I think we've got to do a fewthings.
Number one is this We've got toremember that Paul is making a
large case in the book of Romans.
You and I get to come in eachweek and we take a passage.
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Praise God, we do Each week, wetake a passage and we walk
through it.
Remember when this was read?
It was read in its entirety.
It is one long letter, one longcase.
So Paul is making a case andthis is a piece of it.
And out of context, yeah, wemight be able to say, is there
works involved?
But when you read the book ofRomans, when you read any letter
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of Paul, when you read the NewTestament, when you read the
Bible, it is clear we are savedby grace, through faith.
And yet we see in verse 6 thathe'll render each one according
to his works, and that's a truestatement.
We see in Matthew 25, jesustalks about the judgment that is
to come, where the good willreceive good and the bad will
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receive bad.
Revelation, chapter 20, at thelast things in the last day,
there is that great judgmentthat is discussed, where the
good will enter into eternalrest and the bad will enter into
their eternal punishment.
So there is very much ajudgment of God based on works.
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So now, what do we do with that?
And is this sermon ruined?
I don't know.
No, nothing's ruined because ofthis A few ways we think about
it.
One because of this, a few wayswe think about it, one who's
(25:15):
able to do good works?
Who's able to do good works?
It's those who know JesusChrist.
Now, I don't meannon-Christians can't do good
things.
We look across our city, acrossthe news and the world all the
time and there's non-Christiansthat do amazing good,
humanitarian things, givetowards amazing causes, build up
(25:38):
communities, build homes forothers.
I'm not saying good thingscan't happen by non-Christians,
but I'm talking about good works, true godly good works
Ephesians 2.10 type good worksthat God has prepared for those
who love him.
Who can do those kind of works?
Those who are in Christ Jesus.
(26:00):
But we can also think about itlike this If we are to stand
before the Lord and we'll standaccording to works originally
first there's a bit of bad newsin that, because I look at my
(26:23):
own works.
Scripture even tells me that myworks before the Lord are like
filthy rags before him, if we'rejudged by our works.
I'm a little nervous thismorning.
You may be a little nervous too, I think, if we could write out
this morning kind of the storyof our lives, of our good works,
the things we've done.
(26:44):
On a piece of paper, the storyof your life and my life, might
end up looking like a paper youturned in in college, or any of
us turned in, where we just havea lot of X's and things crossed
out, even the balcony.
You can probably see the resultof the story of your life and
my life and you thought, ohTaylor, that's just of course,
you did a few things when youwere young.
(27:05):
I just I fall short.
I mean every page.
I've sinned and fall short ofthe glory of God and the law.
The pen of the law hasrightfully condemned me in this
moment.
Nothing wrong with the law.
The law is a beautiful thing.
The problem is me that I'vesinned and fallen short of the
glory of God.
And so if I'm supposed to standbefore a holy God and turn in
(27:29):
the works of my life, I'm justnervous about what is going to
be turned in.
I'm nervous about the fact thatthere's no way I measure up.
I'm nervous about the fact thatall have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God andguess what?
I'm part of that all.
So what in the world do I do?
What will become of me.
(27:51):
I turn to Romans 3, 21 through24.
But now the righteousness ofGod has been manifested, apart
from the law, although the lawand the prophets bear witness to
it.
The righteousness of Godthrough faith in Jesus Christ
for all who believe for there isno distinction, for all have
(28:14):
sinned and fall short of theglory of God and are justified
by his grace as a gift throughthe redemption that is in Christ
Jesus.
The good news of the gospel isthis that someone has come in my
(28:36):
place and that I've fallenterribly short of the glory of
God.
And though my sin seemsinescapable, my hopelessness
seems like the final word.
Someone has come and stood inmy place, that Christ Jesus has
(28:56):
taken my sin and your sin uponhimself.
Every bad work we've done, whatwe've done, what we've left
undone, the complete righteousone, jesus Christ the righteous,
has taken our sin upon himself.
And now here's the unbelievablenews I know we're Baptist and
not super charismatic, but youmight just get a little happy in
(29:18):
a minute, because this is thegood news of the gospel that
this is all.
I've got the filthy rags of mylife that I have to turn in.
And if I stand before theFather with my own works.
There's nothing to it, butsomeone has stood in my place,
and so, as I come before thethrone room of a holy God, the
works of my life are wrapped upnow in the works of Jesus Christ
(29:40):
the righteous.
And so I have a new somethingto turn in before a loving
Father who delights to see theworks of his son, jesus Christ,
and the righteousness of his sondisplayed.
What in my life and I no longerhave to come before the Lord on
the basis of my own work, buttruly wrapped up in the
(30:01):
righteousness of Christ.
There's my merit.
Let me just ask you thismorning is my merit?
Let me just ask you thismorning If you are going to
stand before a holy God thatdoes love you deeply and
delights for you if you'd beable to come into the kingdom if
(30:24):
you were to stand before a holyGod.
I want to ask you whose works doyou want to turn in?
Do you want to turn in yours?
You think you got a shot?
Some of you, I know you, you'regood, but you think you got a
(30:45):
shot.
Well, let me ask you this Doyou want to turn in the work of
Jesus Christ the righteous, whohas lived the perfect life, died
the death you deserve, risenfrom the grave, defeating sin
and death, and now reigns at thethrone of God.
(31:05):
Do you want to turn in his work?
He became sin who knew no sin,so that in him we might become
the righteousness of God.
That's exactly what the gospeloffers the works of Christ on
your behalf.
Is there anything you'retrusting in to save you?
That's not Christ, jesus,anything at all.
(31:27):
Your own works, your ownrighteousness, your own goodness
.
Is there anything you'retrusting in to save you outside
of Christ and even for thebelievers in the room?
Is there anything you'retrusting in to keep you?
Is there anything you'retrusting in that can earn you
more of God's love or God'sfavor?
(31:48):
Is there anything that you sayif I can just do this, then I'll
look the part.
Then won't I be impressive?
Is there anything at all?
If there is, let me tell youwhat Paul wants to do.
In Romans, chapter two, there'sa picture I want to put on the
screen, if you can see it.
I was here a few weeks ago andthey were fixing a spot up there
(32:10):
and painting over it and theybrought in this scaffolding.
And even that picture doesn'tdo justice to just how
terrifying that was and how tallthat was and how I was praying
that the painters were insuredand it was a terrifying scene
and they didn't care one bit.
This was normal for them.
They were climbing it like itwas a terrifying scene and they
didn't care one bit.
This was normal for them.
(32:30):
They were climbing it like itwas nothing and they didn't seem
scared at all.
I was terrified, I didn't evenget up there.
But I look at it and I thinkthis is a picture of our own
self-righteousness, because whatwe want to do is we just want
to build that foundation higherand higher.
If I can just get the rightpegs and the right bars in place
(32:55):
and attach them together andjust get the next rung of the
ladder up through my own work,through my own goodness, by
being enough, I can just rise toa higher level.
And here's what I desire in myself-righteousness that if I can
just get the scaffolding of myrighteousness on my own effort
high enough, then I can reachGod.
I can get there.
(33:16):
If I just get it high enough, Ican build it to where I can be
accepted by God.
Here's what Romans, chapter 2,wants to do.
Here's what Paul wants to do hewants to grab a sledgehammer,
walk over to your scaffoldingand tear it to the ground.
To the ground, to the ground.
(33:38):
That if there is any part ofyou that is trying to make your
way to the Father by anythingother than the finished work of
Christ, he wants to tear it tothe ground.
So that, why?
So that in the rubble of yourefforts you would find the cross
(34:00):
of Jesus Christ and you wouldfind a way to the Father, not by
your works, but by what Christhas done, and that you would
live in the freedom that my owngoodness doesn't have to get me
there, my own goodness doesn'thave to keep me there, but from
(34:22):
start to finish, it is allChrist Jesus.
And any good now that is done,that I am in Christ Jesus, is
only done in response to whathe's done for me, not to earn
anything, but because I love theSavior who saved me and I
delight to obey him.
That's the Christian life.
(34:45):
And if any of us are stilltrying to climb that ladder,
maybe today is a sledgehammerday for you, where we tear it to
the ground and say Christ Jesus, you and you alone.
Maybe that's you this morningand you want to come down and we
can talk together, we can praytogether, we can grab a
(35:06):
spiritual sledgehammer togetherand we can talk about Jesus.
Maybe you want to come hearabout Jesus for the first time.
Maybe you want to come jointhis church.
Maybe you just want me to praywith you.
It could be about this sermon,it could be about anything in
the world.
However, you need to respondthis morning.
I'll be down front in a fewmoments.
You respond, even if it's juston your own praying, right where
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you're at in the pew.
You respond in these moments.
Let me pray for us and we'llworship together.
Lord Jesus, we thank you forthis day.
We thank you for the cross,thank you that we don't have to
earn our way.
Who among us could?
But instead, christ Jesus, youhave made a way.
Instead, christ Jesus, you havedone what we could not do.
(35:52):
And so, lord, we give youpraise, not of our own might and
effort, but only by the crossof Christ.
We give you praise, lord.
So, lord, if there's one inthis room, if there's two in
this room, if there's anyone inthis room that need to know you,
would today be the day.
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If there's someone that justneeds to do business with you,
just in their own heart, rightwhere they're sitting.
Would today be the day?
If there's someone that needsprayer for anything in their
life, would they come chat withme?
Would today be the day we justdo business with you, lord,
thank you for the cross.
We pray this in Christ's name,amen.
(36:35):
Would you stand as we worshiptogether?
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