God's Judgment, part 1

Sermon rarely ever feels like it's complete. This one certainly does not feel complete. The topic of our text and therefore our message is hypocrisy. One of the things you're supposed to do when you teach others a text is let it first teach you. I fear the weak has not allowed this text to truly penetrate every idol, every hypocrisy. So will you pray with me? Great God of mercy. We come to you, our Father, in the name of your precious Son. We thank you that we can have confidence and that when we confess our sin, you will forgive us. We thank you for the power of the gospel that saves sinners. We thank you that you're the God who transforms lives, that you do not let your children remain in sin that destroys them. We are darkened by our sin. We are foolish when we believe the lies of our own sin and our own temptations. We praise you, God, that your grace abounds where our sin abounds. I pray, Lord, as we come to this text, as we come to your holy word, help it to change us by the power of your spirit. Help us to submit to it. Lord, we're a people who are too easily ruled by appetite. The things we desire with our dishonorable lust and our dishonorable passions. We do not worship you because we're too busy being ruled by the things we desire. Lord, forgive us. We're too often a people who are too worried about our name. So we do not confess our sin. So we bring honor to the name of Christ who changes us and transforms us. Or strip away our pride. Help us to be a people who exalts Christ and Christ alone. Help us to see the painful reality of our own hypocrisy and our own sin. so that we might be more faithful worshipers. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. The message this morning is that we're to trust Christ who is judged for our sin so that we cease practicing sin. If you're with us new, you're picking up in Romans, We're in the painful section of Romans. We're in Romans 1 through 3, specifically 118 through 320. If you don't have a Bible, please take the Bible in front of you home. It contains the words of life. 118 through 320 is how Paul begins his declaration that we must here to be saved and to live, and that we're all sinners, we're all unrighteous, we're all deserving of God's wrath. We're in chapter two. Let's go back so that we know how he's building up this argument so far. One, 16 through 17, this is the thesis of Romans. This is the driving force that he wants us to know. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. 1 16 through 17 makes it very clear, God saves sinners if we believe in what he has done, what he has said, what he declares righteous, we'll be saved. We must trust him. You see in 118, the reason this gospel is so important, the wrath of God is revealed. We look at 120, his invisible attributes are known, the very end, so they are without excuse. Every single creature, Paul says, has exchanged the glory of God for something that is less glorious in creation. We've stopped worshiping God and we've started worshiping anything else. We suppress the truth that God is worthy of worship. We're now turning to our text today. And I want you to see this very strong connection. Look at chapter one, verse 32, the way he concludes this section talking about them. Though they know God's decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them, but give approval to those who practice them. Chapter two, verse one. Therefore, you have no excuse, oh man. Every one of you who judges, for in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself, because you The judge practiced the very same thing. See, if we go back to chapter one, these are the licentious. These are the folks who say, there is a God, I don't care about God, I'm going to do what I desire boldly. I'm not only going to invent ways of doing evil, I'm going to approve of them. Verse 32. Chapter two turns to something very different. It's those who do not approve of the sin while still practicing the sin. Paul has changed from those who approve of sin in practice to those who do not approve in practice. The audience of chapter one, they suppress the truth of God's creation. The audience of chapter two, they suppress the truth of God's law. Chapter one is about obvious sinners. Chapter two is about religious sinners. Friends, this is scary and frightening because this is about us. This is the sin and the temptation that we are more prone to, to holding up a high standard for others. while not seeking the grace of Christ to keep that standard, God's standard for his worship. The contrast is so clear. One group says, I'm going to do all the sin I can do. I'm going to enjoy that sin. I'm going to approve of that sin. The other said, I'm going to proudly stand over everybody like that. And I'm going to wag my finger, and I'm going to say, how dare you, while keeping my secret sin, my sin. They both sin against God. They both deserve judgment. This text should have us squirming, because it's about our hypocrisy. Now in this, let's take a moment and step back. Let's praise God. His word is sufficient. It corrects every kind of sin. It speaks to every kind of sinner. So last week, it was easy to think about all those sinners out there. This week, we have to think about the sinners in here. We have to first ask, how is this my problem? What we will see today is that God judges our prideful judgment and our hidden sin. So therefore, we trust Christ and his righteousness. We repent of our obvious and our hidden sin. Now, if you look to chapter two, I want to read it. in its entirety, and before I do that, I wanna just highlight a few verses that are gonna give you some markers as we go along. This is a complicated text in the sense that this is brilliant rhetoric. He is destroying an argument from within. So I wanna go ahead and just highlight a few verses so that you can see the primary points Paul's making. First, verse one. Therefore, you have no excuse. You're just like those Gentile pagans. You have no excuse. Oh man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself because you, the judge, practice the very same things. Drop down to verse six. He, referring to God, he will render to each one according to his works. Verse 11. For God shows no partiality. This is about God's judgment. He's going to judge you for what you do, not what you judge. He's going to judge you for your works. He's going to judge you impartially. Let's continue, verse 21. You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? This is where he's making the point to the Jews specifically. You uphold God's law, you uphold his rule, you uphold what's right, and you put it on others, but you're not putting it on yourself. You look at verse 25. For circumcision is indeed of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. Here he's attacking the specific sin of Israel, boasting in the promise of God without obeying and following the truth that goes along with that promise, obeying the law. And then finally, verse 29, the climactic end. 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. So if you underline those verses 1, 6, 11, and then 21, 25, and 29, you'll get the focus of this text. It's not what we profess is true. It's if we believe it and do it. That's the first half. The second half is tearing down the specific arguments of the Jews who are claiming we must be right before God because we uphold God's law. We are the circumcised. Paul's saying no. Possessing the law, possessing circumcision, being a promised people that are disobedient, that's nothing to boast in. Hear the word of God as we read the text in its entirety. Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. You know that the judgment of God directly falls on those who do such things. Do you suppose, O man, you who judge those who do such things, and yet do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance, but because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one of you according to his works. To those who by practice and well-doing seek for glory and honor in 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, the Jew first and also 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 the 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 in their hearts, where 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. For 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 were 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 abhor idols, 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. 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 circumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision 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. So this is a complicated text. Paul is putting together a beautiful, well-knit argument. And I want to just run through this argument for you very quickly so that you can capture what he's saying. Again, let's see the major statements. You will be judged for your practice. God will render according to your works. God judges impartially. These are the three most important statements before he gets to the particulars of the Jews and their particular claims. Let's begin chapter two, verse one, as we walk through the text very quickly so you can hopefully capture the argument in its flow, not in every particular. You have no excuse. Again, he's moving from the Gentile pagan, idol worshiper, they have no excuse, and the Jew is like, yeah, that's right, Paul. You tell him. And now he turns to you have no excuse. You who put yourself up as a judge, but yet practice the same things. He's telling them, you're also suppressing the truth, only it's not creation, it's the very Word of God that He's spoken. Twice, He makes it clear the wrath of God is waiting for you. Verses four through five and seven through eight. You're presuming upon the patience and forbearance and kindness of God. You're mistaking His patience as blessing your lack of repentance. when really what we're doing, we're storing up wrath. Patience is given so that we do not store up wrath. We're called to be patiently seeking to do what is right, rather than being self-seeking. Between those two warnings about the wrath of God, four through five and seven through eight, he makes that verse six. He will render unto each one according to his works. This is so emphasized, we can't miss it. Look at chapter two, verse one. You practice the very same things. Verse two, the judgment of God rightly falls on those who do such things. Verse three, will you escape the judgment? You who do them yourself. Verse six, he will render each according to his works. As we saw in the first chapter, our works bring God's wrath. Our faith in what Christ has done brings salvation. Our works only bring God's wrath. Faith in Christ alone brings salvation. Chapter two, verse 11 is our next clear statement. He shows no partiality. This Jew-Gentile divide that you've created as if you're a better people because God's given you more information, no. If you're not trusting, if you're not believing, if you're not obeying, your works still speak out. God's wrath, God's judgment, it's upon everybody who does not obey. He follows up that great declaration in verse 11 with three parts. And these three parts are important because we have to realize the target audience is the Jew, but he's really speaking to all the morally religious or the appearing to be moral religious. The old man focuses in and narrowly on the Jew. So first he wants to say, God is impartial. 12 through 16, even the Gentiles who have not received a law from God directly by his own voice, they have a standard, they have a law that he's put on their hearts, their own conscience, it will bear witness. It can't excuse him because everyone's without excuse. What he's saying here is the conscience before God will bear witness against them and say, you knew what was right and what was wrong. It will be obvious. We're all sinners. We cannot give an answer. So in 12 through 16, he's simply trying to go ahead and dismantle the Gentile. They do have a law. They have a standard. God has given it to them. 17 through 24, he focuses specifically on the standard God gave to the Jews. The law of God, the law of Moses. You who stand over the Gentiles and say, look at what we have and look how you do not live up to it, you yourself are going to be judged, He says, because you do not say, let me be taught by God's Word first. And the judgment here is that God's name is blasphemed among the nations. Israel was meant to be a light to the nations. Israel was meant to be God's people who lived according to His Word so His glory would spread out to all the Gentiles. But over and over again, when the Gentiles came, they didn't see anything different. They continued to see paganism. It just had a different name on it. And then 25 through 29, it is not the possession of circumcision. It's your obedience that demonstrates a trust in God that is of true value. What we see in these verses Paul's deconstructing the worldview of hypocrisy. He's taking apart the worldview of hypocrisy by helping them see it has nothing to do with what you proclaim. It has everything to do with who you are and what you do. The worldview of the hypocrite is this. A hypocrite, someone who teaches what is right and true while not holding to the same standard for their own life. Now at some level, we're all hypocrites. If we're going to say this is what God's Word says, all of us fall short. I'm a hypocrite before you every Sunday because I want to tell you the fullness of what God's Word says. If you only want to hear what I have accomplished, well, the sermons would be shorter. No, it's the fullness of what God says. And so we do have to say what the truth is, what the standard is. but not proudly. That's the real heart of the hypocrisy that Paul's getting into. It's not the one who knows that they have sinned and then proudly declares, or I'm sorry, the particular sin he's addressing isn't the one who knows the standard so high, knows they fall short, and humbly and mercifully ask God to forgive them. The one who humbly declares this is the standard of God and I trust Christ because I do not live up to it, but I'm striving to reach that maturity in Christ. That's not who he's talking about. Now Paul's talking about the proud judge who publicly judges sinners while sinning privately. The emphasis is more on the proud. The one who says this, this is right. It's for you, it's not for me. This is someone who blogs about how horrible same-sex marriage is and then turns the next webpage and opens up pornography. This is someone who bemoans how our nation is falling away from Christian values while not seeking to live obediently according to God's word in the church. This is someone who belittles others for being drug abusers while also finding their own comfort in work, food, or family, or something else. This is someone like myself When I'm walking in my neighborhood, someone drives by, oh, I give them a judging stare. And then I realized on the way to church this morning, I was driving too fast, and I got one of those. I judged on not being committed to driving the speed limit myself. We're deconstructing the worldview of the hypocrite. We pray God will deconstruct the heart of ours that is hypocritical. So I want you to see four truths about the hypocrite that our text reveals. Four truths about the hypocrite. This is not your sermon outline because I'm not going to prescribe these four things. First, hypocrites misjudge their own sin. That's verses one through three. Hypocrites misjudge their own sin. Secondly, hypocrites take for granted God's patience and impartiality. That's four through 16. Hypocrites take for granted, our ESV uses the words presume if you wanna write that quicker, God's patience and impartiality. So hypocrites misjudge their own sin, verses one through three. Hypocrites take for granted God's patience and impartiality, four through 16. Third, hypocrites misapply God's law, 17 through 24. They misapply God's law, 17 through 24. Finally, hypocrites seek empty praise from men, 25 through 29. Hypocrites seek empty praise from men. as the people who have believed in the gospel which saves sinners. This is what we need to see. We are to judge our own sin and trust Christ to forgive us. We must judge our own sin and trust Christ to forgive us. Second, we're to repent because God is patient and impartial. Repent because God is patient and impartial. Third, be teachable. Be teachable. And finally, seek heart-changing praise from God. Judge your own sin. Repent because God is patient and impartial. Be teachable. Seek heart-changing praise from God. First, we must judge our own sin. Again, he starts, you have no excuse. Now, notice something. If you go back to chapter one, 18 to 32, it's about them. Chapter two is about you. So who's he talking about now? Well, this is understood to be a particular way of communicating the diatribe. He's imagining a dialogue partner and inserting in the conversation, in his own communication, their question. You see this very clearly in chapter three, verse one. Then what advantage has the Jew, you might ask? Or what is the value of circumcision, you ask? Much in every way, Paul says. Or chapter three, verse nine. What then? He's posing the question from the imaginary arguer. What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. Some of the more famous uses of this diatribe style, chapter six, verse one. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. Chapter six, verse 15. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under the law, but under the grace? By no means. He knows his audience. He hasn't visited them, but he knows who they are. He knows the typical question. He knows the typical sinful response. Well, we're not like those people who approve of sin. Be sure of that. Okay, well, let's talk about your sin. We also need to recognize he starts by making the very clear, bold declaration, there's no excuse. When we all stand before God and our sin is there before us, our conscience bears witness, the law bears witness, everything we knew between right and wrong and how often and how regularly we sinned against God, we will be without answer. Mouth shut. There's nothing anyone can say to the holy and just and righteous God other than, you're right. I deserve wrath. There's no defense. There's no apology. There's no declaration that we could give, which is why the gospel of Jesus Christ is so important. See, you have to have somebody who will give an answer for you. You need someone who's going to come in and defend you. But here's the problem. How can somebody defend somebody who's so obviously guilty? What kind of lawyer can come in and say, well, no, let's find some loopholes, God? Well, we don't actually get a lawyer. We get Jesus Christ, God's own Son, who comes into that courtroom and says, Father, This one will not be counted guilty because his sins have been counted towards me. When I died on that cross, you crushed me for his sins. I have borne the wrath. I have satisfied your righteousness. And now I am telling you, this one's forgiven because he is ours. He gives the defense because of what he did. That's the only hope we have. To believe that he died in our place, he rose again. Do you believe this? It is your only hope. This is terrifying for what he's going to say to these people. because he's telling them, you're hypocrites. Now, here's the real difficulty. How do you convince somebody they're a hypocrite? Typically, a hypocrite's already so wound up in their self-deception that they're right. Your words can't begin to penetrate. God alone reveals to someone their hypocrisy. What we have to do is ask ourselves, God, will you reveal my hypocrisy? This is something we have to humbly ask God. There's idols. I have them, you have them, and they're hidden with hypocrisy, and we need to ask God to give us the illumination of his word so that we see them. Because we all do this. We all do this. We get prideful. thinking there's something about us that God must have really liked. So we look out there and see everybody who doesn't believe in Jesus Christ, and we start thinking, those poor sinners, there's got to be something wrong with them. Or worse, we look out into the church and we say, I can't believe they wrestled with that sin. Poor person, they just don't get it. We're too busy wagging our finger at one another and to the world rather than saying, God, will you use me as an instrument of grace so that you will be glorified as we confess sin, repent together and glorify you together. So how often do we say, God, I see that person's sin. Will you help me see how I relate to that sin? Because we all have relation to each other's sin. We all can sympathize with each other's sin, and if you were here last week, you know why. Every sin's a God problem. At the end of the day, every sin that we commit, every sinful desire we have, every sinful activity we participate in, it all comes back to us not trusting God. It all comes back to us wanting something God said no to, or more than he said we could have. Therefore, we can all sympathize with every kind of sinful action. There is no room for wagging the finger and saying, I can't believe they would do that. Because we've all done the most gross and foolish sin. We told God he was wrong and not worthy of worship. The religious sinner says, God, must like me more than those sinners because I don't approve of all that sin. Paul makes it clear. What you teach does not justify you. It will not stand up in court. Your works are what's going to be counted against you. We can say all the right things, we can affirm all the right things. Our obedience is what God desires. So we have to be careful here. How are we using our words hypocritically? This text is actually very frightening because we have to realize what God does, not just judges by his law. Imagine there's a little tape recorder wrapped around your neck. And every time you say, I can't believe they did that, that's now a standard for yourself. And every time you've not done that, or you have done that, that's gonna be used against you. So every time you wag your finger at somebody who's speeding in speed, it's judgment. Every time you complain or grumble about something somebody did, that standard is on you. So be careful what you grumble about. First of all, don't grumble. Scripture makes it very clear that grumbling and murmuring is always tied to idolatry. It's throughout Scripture. 1 Corinthians 10 makes it very clear. Grumbling is idolatrous because you're saying, God, this isn't good enough. Grumbling is always idolatrous, so just don't grumble. Second, what we grumble about will be used back on us. Third, grumbling, it tears down. We're supposed to be building up. So how are we supposed to judge our own sin? There's a verse here that I rarely, I don't do this normally. I don't think it's usually helpful, but in this particular instance, I need to tell you there's a little bit of a translation issue that I wanted to simply state. Verse two says, we know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who do such things. I think the NIV actually says it better. God judges according to truth. Instead of rightly false, I think according to truth actually captures the clarity better. So if we're gonna judge ourselves, we need to judge ourselves according to God. We will know ourselves only in light of what he truly says about us. If we want to judge ourselves, we should judge ourselves according to the truth. What Paul will say later is this word is supposed to be a mirror, but a true one that shows us who we really are. It's supposed to show us that yes, we are idolaters. Yes, we are thieves. Yes, we are deceptive. Yes, we deserve God's wrath. So if we wanted to judge our own sin truly, unlike the hypocrite, what we do is we don't say, we say, God, will you speak to me through this word? Help me see my sin so that I can glory in the gospel of Jesus Christ and praise His grace that saved me from such sin, and now let me be a more faithful worshiper. Sin has to be illuminated, confessed, repented for our worship to become more true. So are we saying, God, use this word to show me my sin? Something that we do too often is simply say, God, will you speak to me through your word? We have the benefit now of everyone owning a Bible, if not numerous copies of Bibles. Most people throughout history have said, God, will you speak to others through your, speak to me from your word through others? There is a beauty in the fact that other spirit-filled believers are able to help us see sin that we are deceived by. God works like that. So it's not just me and my Bible, it's me and the church. It's me and others. See, we have to trust somebody. We have to say, God, will you fix me in my sin from your word through others? Too often we're trying to fix everybody else. Too often we're trying to fix our children. And let me just address something here. If you want your children to grow up to be religious sinners and hypocrites, just set a bar for them. Continue to tell them what the standard is over and over again. Do not ever confess your sin or tell them how you fail to meet that standard. You will produce a religious hypocrite. If you want a Christian, confess your sin. If you want a Christian, tell them about how you fail. Tell them about how your sin affects you. Ask them to forgive you in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is how you'll raise a Christian. We must judge our own sin properly. Friends, this only comes with courage in Christ. Do we believe, back in chapter one, verse 16, do we believe this is actually the power of God to save? That's the question. We're too far ahead if we actually don't believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection, is the power of God to save. Is the power of God to save us from our hypocrisy, from our sin, from our idolatry? So here's some action items for you. Find someone who you trust, who will say hard things to you, and ask them, where are my blind spots? Now, be ready to listen with grace. Be ready to jump out of your seat defensively, because that's what we do when our hypocritical idols get threatened. And don't do that. Ask somebody, where are my blind spots? Give someone permission to help you see your own sin. If nobody has that permission, you're protecting hypocritical idols. You're idols in hypocrisy. Our second main point, repent because God is patient and impartial. Verse four, or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. That because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. Then in verse six, he's gonna judge you according to your works. Verse seven, be patient in well-doing. Let's just stop here, and this is frightening. This is parallel to chapter one, being given over to sin. taking for granted God's kindness? Just as God pulling away His grace lets us over to those enslaving sins, giving us over to them, when we presume upon His grace, we pull ourselves away from His grace. The problem is we believe God has to be good to us. We believe God has to always be patient and kind and forgiving. And the beauty of it is God is amazing in His steadfast love, but we sit there and we continue to sin, taking for granted His kindness. We think God being patient with us is God approving us. No, God's patience with us is seeking to lead us to repentance. Do not be deceived. His patience with your sin is him seeking repentance. It's not saying he's reproving of your sin. We too easily think this way. Quite frankly, we get lazy. We become dull in our pursuit of God. We become unexcited. God's truth, who God is, what He says about us. It's God. It is awesome. Who He says He is, what He says He does for us. It should constantly amaze us. But we kind of get lazy. We think, well, you know, I've progressed this far. I think I'm settled. Friend, if you think you're settled in what God has for you, I think you're probably going to hell. If you think you've arrived somewhere where you no longer need to pursue God, I am afraid you're going to hell. Because when a Christian says or when somebody who says they're a Christian says, you know what? I think I'm good here. This sin's okay. No, Christians can't say that. A Christian is either miserable or in sin or seeking Christ to be his master. If you think you're settled, be afraid. God's wrath is on those who take for granted his kindness. We are either striving for Christ or taking for granted his grace. So I ask you, when was the last time you confessed to being wrong? That shows how settled you are in your sin. When was the last time you actually said, I'm sorry, I'm wrong? Of course, this means you have to kind of assume I was actually wrong at some point. When was the last time you actually thought you were wrong? How long has it been since you said, I am wrong? That will give you a measure of what kind of hypocrite you are. And that's terrifying. We need to see here God, Look at verse seven. Are we seeking good patiently? Are we self-seeking, presuming upon God's patience? Those are the two ways we pursue God. God judges impartially. Here in verse 12 through 16, I'm going to say this very briefly. There's a couple pitfalls here. Some people want to use these verses to say anybody can be saved, they don't need to know about Jesus. Nothing could be more confused about this text than that? Because I want you to remember chapter one, verse 20, there is no excuse. They will have no excuse. Chapter two, verse one, you have no excuse. A lot of people will say in verse 15, they show that the work of the law written in their hearts while their consciences also bear witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. They want to say, well, sometimes maybe somebody is good enough that they'll be excused. that would actually erase everything Paul said up to this point. Our consciences don't accuse us or excuse us. Our consciences tell God, I knew it was right and wrong, and sometimes I did it, and sometimes I didn't. The point is in verse 16. On that day, when according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. The secrets. Those things we don't want anybody else to know about because we don't think they'd be our friend anymore. Those desires and thoughts that dwell up within us because we're sinners, God will judge us for those secrets. I would love to be a member of a church where we don't think there's something so sinful that somebody else wouldn't say, I forgive you. In Christ, I forgive you. In Christ, I embrace you and love you. We have to get beyond thinking there are some sins that are just so gross we can't bear them. Chapter 2, verse 13 is also a difficult verse for some. Paul says, for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. He is not prescribing two ways to be justified. He's not saying if you do the law, you will be justified. He's saying this is God's standard. If you perfectly obey, you will be justified. His point up to this time in the text is no one has done what's right. Well, except one. Jesus Christ alone lived that perfect life. Jesus Christ alone lived the perfect righteous life, which is why his death was effective. He died in the place for our sins because he had no sin. And then he takes, not only does he take our sin upon him, he then gives us his righteousness. This is essential to the gospel. Now the next two points are more pointed for Paul because he's getting at the Jews and their particular hypocrisy. If you call yourself a Jew, he obviously has them targeted. The broader audience has been the appearing to be moral judges, but now he's focusing on the Jews who are judging others based upon God's law. The point is very clear. He's going back to that diatribe. He's going back to thinking how they might think and answering it. They're boasting. They're relying on the law and boasting because they know God's word. They know his truth. And instead of doing what they should do with it, they seek to be a guide to the blind. They seek to give light to those in darkness. They seek to instruct the foolish. They teach children. But they're not doing the first thing the law wants them to do. Let it stand over them and judge them. They want the law to be a fire hydrant everybody else drinks out of. In judgment, rather than saying, God, would you speak to me according to your word to reveal sin as you know I can repent, according to your grace, they're seeking to teach when they're not teachable. They're seeking to teach when they themselves are not teachable. This is the first mark of a disciple. Deny yourself and follow me. You have to actually be willing to say there's something wrong to deny yourself of. In order to follow somebody, you have to say, what are you gonna say? Where are you gonna tell me to go? You have to be teachable. The first mark of a Christian is that they are teachable. They seek to be taught by the truth of God. So I ask, are we teachable? Is God's truth absolute and clear and sufficient, or are we always looking for something that might help us justify our sin? Are we always wanting to hold this up for others, or are we saying, God, speak to me? Because we need to realize something about self-righteousness. Self-righteousness loves to find somebody else who looks like they're not as far down the road as we are. That's the first ingredient in self-righteousness. Find somebody else you can look down upon and say, look at them, they're not as far along as I am. We build ourselves up by thinking, look at that sinner, without pity, without grace. The other thing we need is somebody to blame. Because anytime our sin comes up, it's always convenient to have somebody else to blame for that sin. You can see this in Genesis three. The first sin, when exposed by God himself to the first sinners, what do they do? Well God, it wasn't me, it was the snake. Or worse, God, you gave me the woman. who gave me that apple. We love to blame others. That's not what a Christian does. A Christian says, God, speak to me and help me to see I'm responsible for my own sin. I'm responsible for the way I respond. I'm responsible for the way I trust you and obey you. Nobody causes anybody else to sin. Can we agree on that? Nobody can cause you to sin. Things happen that bring out sin, but nobody causes you to sin. If we start there, we're gonna be a healthier church. See, a church is supposed to be like a hospital. It's not just a hospital, but it's like one where healing takes place. A church needs to be where folks are allowed to come in and with confidence be able to say, this is the sin I'm wrestling with. And they need to have the confidence that someone's not going to say, sorry, you should probably go to that church. They need to have the confidence that they're going to be cared for, that the person is going to say, I sympathize with that sin. You're not alone in your sin because we're all idolaters. They need to hear we trust together the power of God to save you from this sin. See, gospel counsel helps the confessing believer recognizing their sin is not so unique. That's one of the first lies Satan wants us to believe. This sin I'm dealing with, it's so unique. No one can understand it. I'm alone. I'm helpless. You're an idolater just like everybody else. Our sin is not that unique. It's not trusting God. It's not obeying God. Gospel counsel helps confessing believers identify the idol so that the one who confesses seeks repentance. Gospel counsel leads one to put away sin. I fear this isn't the safest place to confess sin, and that's heartbreaking. So I'm asking us all to ask ourselves, what am I doing to not make this church a place that's safe for Christians to confess sin? Why isn't this church a safe place for Christians to confess sin? How am I contributing to that? What can I do to help this church? I can tell you the one thing we all have to do to help each other confess sin is having a confidence in the gospel of Jesus Christ to save sin. We're gonna keep coming back to that because that's it. We must have a confidence in the gospel that it can save sinners. When people confess sin, you have the tool you need to help that person. You don't need a special degree. It's the gospel. It alone heals. It alone cares. It alone restores and rejuvenates. The gospel. Jesus Christ died. You're forgiven. He's risen again. You have the power of eternal life living within you in the Holy Spirit. Trust what God says and obey. See, as a church, we're either using scripture as a resource to build up our own righteousness or a light to shine in our own hearts so that we model repentance, we model confession, we model God's grace and its effectiveness. Our final point comes at the end of chapter two. I wanna focus here on this last two verses. 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. What is taking place in this verse before this is the Jews would say, look at my credentials. I am one of the circumcised of God. That's their credentials. God gave me a special sign to make me special. Therefore I have to bow to the Lord. I'm better than you. Now this is a temptation that whether we admit it or not, we all have at some level. We all think there's some special credential that sets us apart from everybody else. that excuses our sin, that is by definition what a hypocrite does? There's some special reason that I don't have to obey, but you have to obey? Whatever that credential is, that's your idol. Repent. Trust Christ to forgive you. Trust Christ to restore your worship wholly in Him. At one level, when it comes to the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit, We're completely dependent upon what God does. That Spirit gives us a new heart. Our hearts are dead. They need to be changed. At another level, it's our responsibility. If you have been redeemed by Christ, you have the responsibility to now listen to the Spirit. Seek the Spirit. See, here's what typically happens. We become Christians and as we progress in our sanctification, as we progress in our walk, the Spirit continues to show sin and we say, all right, I can get rid of that. The Spirit shows sin, okay, I can put that away. Then the Spirit shows an idol that you really love. I think I'll be patient with this one. I think God is gonna give me a special kindness to leave this idol here for another day. The Bible calls that quenching the Spirit. When a sin is revealed and we do not repent of it, that is quenching the Spirit of God who is your life. That's when you start down the road of misery. The Holy Spirit illuminates sin. He clarifies what sin is and He says, repent. See, we don't realize how dangerous it is to let idols reside. Until we see that sin is truly dangerous and destructive, we're going to quench the Spirit and say, no, I want to love this one a little bit longer. I want to flirt with this one just a little bit longer. You know what this is? Suppressing the truth of God. Because the Spirit of God is telling you that's an idol and you're saying, no, I'd rather believe the lie that that's good for me. The prescription is clear. depend upon the grace of Christ, beg him and plead with him for the grace to repent and give up masquerading as if righteous, repent of the idols. One of the sad realities from the previous chapter is Adam and therefore all humans after him, we exchange the glory of God for the glory of creation. We exchange that which is truly glorious for this false glory. Adam lost everything trying to gain what he thought was accomplishable, that is to be like God. Friends, when we do not put off sin, we're exchanging the glory of God. When we let sin reside, when we let our hearts not be changed by the Spirit of God and His illuminating power in putting off sin, we're saying we want the glory of that sin, the glory of my appetite, more than I want the glory of God. We exchange the truth for a lie. We exchange the glory of God for the glory of our sin. And that's what makes us hypocrites. As we conclude, the Lord's Supper is before us. God's Word is good. He gives us these regular reminders. Repent of idols. Cling to the forgiving power of Christ. Cling to the power of the gospel that saves. This morning, he's calling us together as a church to consider how are we going to contribute to this church being a place where we're going to safely confess sin because we know the gospel is going to be applied. We're going to either contribute to that or we're gonna continue to hinder it. So as we sing this next song and prepare our hearts for the Lord's Supper, this is something we're doing together. We are reminding one another, Christ died to take away our sin. He rose again to give us new life. Let us consider how we're going to move one another towards faith in him. Will you pray with me? Lord, your word is good, it is right, it is true. Forgive us for telling you to stop, forgive us for telling you to shut up, but we tell you to stop talking to us when you reveal our sin. Forgive us for telling you you don't have the right to speak authoritatively in our lives. We thank you for your patience, your kindness, and your forbearance. Help us to not take that for granted. Help us to realize you are leading us to repentance. Help us to do so with one another according to your word. Forgive us, Almighty God. for that you would free us from our hypocrisy. You would free us to being truly satisfied in Christ and his righteousness. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.