back to index2016-02-14 All Have Sinned
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Finally jumping back in after two months of hiatus, Romans chapter 3 verses 9, and I'll 00:00:14.280 |
Romans chapter 9, sorry, chapter 3 verse 9 through 18. 00:00:25.560 |
For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written, 00:00:47.480 |
Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. 00:00:52.320 |
In their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. 00:00:59.960 |
Gracious and loving Father, we entrust this time to you, asking Lord God that even in 00:01:08.300 |
our weakness, that your Holy Spirit may be strong. 00:01:12.320 |
That you would speak to us, Lord, in our complacency. 00:01:14.720 |
You would speak to us, Lord God, in rebellion. 00:01:19.960 |
That we would be utterly dependent upon Christ and his work. 00:01:23.780 |
That all that we do and all that we claim and all that we worship, Lord God, would be 00:01:27.540 |
simply a response, a reasonable response to the great mercy that you showed in us, that 00:01:33.040 |
you continue to show us, that we are absolutely dependent upon to move forward and to be sanctified. 00:01:40.160 |
So we ask, Lord God, that your Holy Spirit would speak through your word. 00:01:46.600 |
As you guys know, we are in the midst of a political season, so you've been probably 00:01:50.480 |
hearing a lot of speeches from different politicians. 00:01:53.000 |
There's been debates with the Democrats and the Republicans, and again, all the years 00:01:58.280 |
that I've been watching the primaries and the elections going on, I've never seen as 00:02:02.880 |
much attention given to this election than probably any other election. 00:02:06.720 |
And I think part of the reason is because of the environment of what's going on around 00:02:11.440 |
There's a crisis with the migrants, there's a financial crisis, there's a crisis within 00:02:17.580 |
It seems like the liberals and the conservatives are more far apart than it's ever been. 00:02:22.600 |
And so the question is, are we going to continue down this path, or is there something radical 00:02:27.600 |
So who do we pick that's going to lead and take us to the next generation? 00:02:31.200 |
And so there's a lot of speech and a lot of attention given to what people are saying. 00:02:38.880 |
But there's one thing that's consistent that I've seen, that in order to be elected in 00:02:44.160 |
the United States, you have to be a confessing Christian. 00:02:52.340 |
If you're not a confessing Christian, the majority of the country will kind of say, 00:02:59.240 |
You can't be a true evangelical Christian either. 00:03:02.160 |
You can't be a committed, evangelistic, Bible-believing, Gospel-believing, teaching Christian, or else 00:03:12.320 |
So in order to get elected, you have to be a confessing, nominal Christian. 00:03:16.800 |
Just enough so that the country will feel like, "He's part of us. 00:03:22.520 |
But if you're too serious, he's like, "Okay, you're too radical. 00:03:28.400 |
And so you see the politicians, when they first come on the scene, and especially with 00:03:33.040 |
Right now, there's a lot of politicians, especially on the Republican side, who have no experience. 00:03:36.560 |
They come in and you see them saying outrageous stuff, but as the months go by, you can see 00:03:41.560 |
them toning it down, and their verbiage and their language is kind of adjusting to what 00:03:46.880 |
they know is going to get them elected and not get elected. 00:03:51.560 |
And they're just, again, I don't know if the word "wise" fits, but they're being pragmatic. 00:03:56.120 |
They have to adjust in order for them to get elected, and then once they get elected, they'll 00:04:01.480 |
But that political environment of, if we want to reach the masses, our language and our 00:04:07.980 |
promises and what we say and how we say it, it has to match the majority, or else the 00:04:16.160 |
The sad thing about that is that in the world that we live in, and advertising, if you're 00:04:21.400 |
going to make a product, you don't shoot for the fringes, you shoot for the middle. 00:04:27.080 |
So the biggest number of people will be interested in your product, and it's no different in 00:04:31.080 |
politics, but the sad thing is, Christianity has become the same. 00:04:37.280 |
We are more concerned about reaching the masses than we are about commitment to the truth. 00:04:43.480 |
Because we've grown up in a culture where certain things about the Bible, certain things 00:04:48.560 |
about the Gospel, is not palatable to this generation. 00:04:52.920 |
So we've been shooting, at least in our generation, we've been shooting toward the middle. 00:04:59.300 |
Or what are some things that need to be said in a certain way? 00:05:02.480 |
In order for the masses to be interested, to get as many people to come to our churches. 00:05:07.720 |
But in the context of doing so, we have compromised the Gospel. 00:05:11.080 |
And as a result of compromising the Gospel, Christianity doesn't look much like what we 00:05:18.480 |
And so, it isn't until people actually start starting the Bible, and start reading the 00:05:22.240 |
Bible for themselves, not listening to sermon, not just reading certain books, but starting 00:05:27.400 |
the Scriptures for themselves, and realizing that a lot of what we are experiencing doesn't 00:05:37.760 |
Apostle Paul has been spending three chapters, pounding one statement. 00:05:43.720 |
And that one statement is summarized in Romans 3.23, "For all have sinned and fall short 00:05:49.680 |
The text that we just looked at in Romans 3.9 says, "What then? 00:05:55.840 |
Not at all, for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin. 00:06:00.440 |
In other words, what Paul is saying in verse 9, is that what I'm about to tell you, what 00:06:12.560 |
Romans 1.18, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness 00:06:16.640 |
of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." 00:06:20.160 |
In other words, he's saying, he says, "Mankind has rejected God, not because there wasn't 00:06:24.560 |
enough opportunity, that there wasn't enough knowledge." 00:06:28.440 |
He says, "They chose the darkness rather than the light." 00:06:34.520 |
Romans 12.2.12, "For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. 00:06:40.240 |
And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law." 00:06:43.920 |
In other words, not only the Gentiles are guilty, but Jews are equally guilty. 00:06:48.520 |
And so, he's been saying basically the same things for three chapters. 00:06:54.520 |
Even just the one statement of saying, "Hey, we're all sinners. 00:07:02.440 |
Even just that one statement, at least in this world, will get some kind of a reaction. 00:07:09.000 |
But Paul spends three chapters introducing himself. 00:07:11.560 |
And you have to remember, the main reason why Paul writes the Book of Romans is because 00:07:19.160 |
He was going to stop by Rome, and then he was going to get some support and support 00:07:26.840 |
And so, he's introducing himself, saying, "I'm going to stop by Rome, and I want to 00:07:30.800 |
connect with you guys, but ultimately I want to go to Spain and get your support." 00:07:34.080 |
Now, that's a strange way to open up a statement saying, "Hey, I need your support, you sinners." 00:07:44.760 |
You worthless, no one seeking God, not even one. 00:07:48.680 |
The Jews and Gentiles alike, all are without excuse. 00:07:53.360 |
That's basically what he's going to say, right? 00:07:55.920 |
In 2 Corinthians, the harshest letter he ever writes, right? 00:08:00.120 |
After rebuking them over and over, and at the end of Corinthians, he says, "Hey, get 00:08:11.520 |
Like, that's basically how he writes 2 Corinthians. 00:08:17.440 |
And when I studied that, what that reminds me of is, this guy was, he didn't care about 00:08:25.800 |
And as he says, "And after my foot, if I do not preach Christ, if it led him to prison, 00:08:32.360 |
if people didn't give him money or gave him money, if he was beaten or not beaten, that 00:08:38.580 |
Sometimes preaching the gospel will drive people away. 00:08:47.000 |
And that's exactly what Paul told Timothy, in season and out of season, preach the gospel. 00:08:54.800 |
I could easily preach the gospel just highlighting certain things that encourage you. 00:09:01.040 |
And spend the rest of my life doing that and say, and promise you every week that you'll 00:09:09.360 |
And I could do that by preaching the gospel, but certain aspects of the gospel every single 00:09:16.740 |
But in my own conscience, I know that that is not the whole counsel of God. 00:09:24.400 |
He jumps in and he spends three chapters pounding it just in case that they didn't get it. 00:09:28.640 |
This text that we're looking at here is kind of like the crescendo. 00:09:32.680 |
It's kind of like you play music and then you kind of build up and build up and then 00:09:38.560 |
Chapter three, the text that we're looking at is the crescendo where this is the main 00:09:45.320 |
And he quotes five or six different texts in the Old Testament to make his point. 00:09:50.140 |
In other words, that what he's about to say isn't anything new to the New Testament. 00:09:55.520 |
In fact, all of the Old Testament was the main point. 00:09:58.680 |
He said the law came to make sin utterly sinful. 00:10:02.940 |
I don't know if you've ever studied through the book of Leviticus, and I'm assuming most 00:10:06.040 |
of you probably have heard sermons or maybe, you know, even as I was preaching through 00:10:11.020 |
Leviticus, you know, I would say, "Oh, this pastor preaches." 00:10:14.940 |
There's two sermons on Leviticus, you know, or three sermons or one sermon. 00:10:19.580 |
But expositionally, verse by verse, I mean, you don't see much of that in the book of 00:10:31.300 |
But the book of Leviticus, the whole book of Leviticus is to make one point. 00:10:39.780 |
That's the whole point of the book of Leviticus. 00:10:42.860 |
So, if you ever study the book of Leviticus, the point of that is to prepare you for the 00:10:49.940 |
The whole history of the nation of Israel, God begins by saying, "If you keep the law, 00:10:56.660 |
But if you don't keep the law, here's all these cursings." 00:11:00.060 |
If you study the book of Deuteronomy, where that happens, the cursing is twice as long 00:11:07.020 |
It's almost like God is saying, "This is what's going to happen. 00:11:10.540 |
And so, all of Israel's history is curse upon curse upon curse being added upon the sins 00:11:17.900 |
So, by the time we get to the very last chapter of the book of Malachi, you don't come out 00:11:25.740 |
You come out, you should come out saying, "Woe is me. 00:11:29.500 |
I'm a man of unclean lips from a people of unclean lips." 00:11:34.700 |
When Jesus showed up, God had been preparing them for hundreds and hundreds of years for 00:11:41.140 |
And the reason why they missed it is because they did not recognize a need for a Savior. 00:11:53.300 |
See, that's why Paul is spending three chapters pounding this. 00:12:01.740 |
If you haven't been listening, or if it doesn't make sense, I don't think there's anybody 00:12:08.740 |
If you've been in church for any period of time that doesn't know that God saved you 00:12:12.940 |
Anyone would say, "Well, okay, that's the beginning of the gospel, right? 00:12:19.360 |
But how deeply you understand that is going to, it will determine what your life looks 00:12:26.460 |
Your thankfulness and your worship isn't just the songs that you sing. 00:12:35.660 |
Maybe those people from other churches where the gospel is not preached, maybe they need 00:12:41.420 |
The impact of the gospel can be seen in your life. 00:12:47.180 |
If somebody gives you a present that you can't possibly repay, it's going to affect you. 00:12:56.500 |
There's going to be a sense of gratitude in their presence. 00:13:00.700 |
You don't just say, "Oh yeah, that was a great gift. 00:13:10.140 |
It's absolutely essential to our sanctification that we recognize that what Paul is saying 00:13:18.340 |
That's why he repeats over and over again, "None is righteous, no not one." 00:13:23.500 |
Just in case there's anybody reading this Bible and saying, "Yes, they need to hear 00:13:39.700 |
I've never met anybody, Christian or non-Christian, who says that they're not sinners. 00:13:44.820 |
I know some people will say, "Well, I'm not that bad." 00:13:50.700 |
I've never heard anybody say, "I've never sinned, ever. 00:13:59.060 |
I've never heard anybody who said that they never sinned. 00:14:08.540 |
They say, "Of course we sin, but we're not, I didn't kill anybody. 00:14:18.540 |
Paul says, "Not one is righteous, no not one. 00:14:59.460 |
Where our egos have been stroked and our self-esteem has been so catered to. 00:15:07.420 |
Again, if I didn't quote the Bible and I just said this to you, I'll bet you right after 00:15:11.180 |
service I'm going to have people coming up to me like, "What are you preaching?" 00:15:19.660 |
So if you're angry, just go outside, look at the Bible, "What are you preaching?" 00:15:27.620 |
But again, in our generation, that statement, it just automatically doesn't sit well. 00:15:31.900 |
It's like, "Is that, is he interpreting that correctly? 00:15:46.820 |
See the Jews, they prided themselves about being the experts of the law. 00:15:52.740 |
They thought that they were closer to God because they knew the Bible. 00:15:57.820 |
They were the ones that everybody went to because they studied the scripture. 00:16:01.140 |
You know, we can easily say, "Oh, they didn't study the scripture." 00:16:09.260 |
If you wanted to know what Moses said and what the Torah was, they had it memorized. 00:16:14.540 |
More than any PhD, an average Jew who took their faith seriously knew more about the 00:16:30.100 |
With all their education, all the time they put into the study of the Torah, they did 00:16:39.180 |
I mean, think about it, if you're a Jew hearing this. 00:16:42.420 |
They're going to the temple three, four, five times a week. 00:16:48.580 |
I mean, so maybe they didn't, they were greedy for money. 00:16:53.300 |
They tithed even cumin, even, you know, spices. 00:16:59.180 |
That's how meticulous they were about their giving. 00:17:03.140 |
Jesus said, "You will travel over distances." 00:17:08.780 |
Anything that you and I can think of as what a righteous person would do, the Jews did 00:17:15.620 |
And yet, he says, "All your studying, all your going to the temple, all your evangelism," 00:17:22.080 |
he says, "but no, no one is truly seeking God. 00:17:35.980 |
All my pursuit of God, all of the learning, all of the sacrifices, no one does good? 00:17:46.940 |
Or is this just an exaggeration just to get our attention? 00:17:51.680 |
Sometimes we exaggerate, especially when we have problems with people, we have a tendency 00:17:57.380 |
That guy is this way, or this church is that. 00:18:00.620 |
You know, after being in ministry for a while, I've learned to filter what people say. 00:18:06.180 |
So I'm not a big fan of Yelp, because I just don't trust it. 00:18:11.220 |
I've been to so many restaurants, or a few restaurants I went to, and said, "Oh, we get 00:18:26.260 |
You know, there's a lot of people that come to church, and we hear it all the time. 00:18:29.780 |
It's like, "Oh, Brian is like this, and Brian is like that." 00:18:34.220 |
You know, a lot of times it's, "Oh, Brian, everybody loves Jesus." 00:18:41.540 |
Or they would say, "Oh, everybody is so unfriendly. 00:18:46.620 |
And usually it's an encounter between another person that they had, or maybe they met somebody 00:18:50.580 |
who had a bad day, and sitting next to that person, they weren't friendly, and they just 00:18:56.100 |
And then they leave and say, "Brian, they don't care about newcomers, and they hate 00:19:00.540 |
And they throw 450 people under the bus because they had experience with one person. 00:19:07.820 |
We do that individually, but we especially do that in large groups. 00:19:12.040 |
So when I read this, I'm thinking, "Is he exaggerating? 00:19:16.580 |
Could it possibly be that nobody, nobody understands, nobody is seeking God, not even 00:19:37.700 |
He goes even further, and he describes what that worthlessness looks like. 00:19:43.020 |
You ever notice that whenever the scripture describes about man's rebellion against God, 00:19:47.220 |
one of the first sins that he mentions is about his speech? 00:19:51.540 |
You know how Jesus says, "It's not what you put into you, but what comes out of you." 00:20:00.940 |
Whenever there is sin, or bitterness, or anger, it comes out in slander. 00:20:04.900 |
Exaggeration of other people's sins, and how we're discontent. 00:20:08.180 |
And then he goes on, he says, "Their throat is an open grave. 00:20:14.420 |
Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. 00:20:22.140 |
And here's the summary of everything that he's been saying. 00:20:34.860 |
The whole reason why sin exists is because there is no fear of God before their eyes. 00:20:44.080 |
Think about at the underlying reason why we don't take our faith as seriously as we ought 00:20:51.520 |
Why people are not afraid to die in our generation. 00:20:56.420 |
Because there is no fear of God before their eyes. 00:21:05.820 |
And that's why we shoot for the middle instead of the truth. 00:21:09.920 |
We're more afraid of not having financial security tomorrow. 00:21:18.200 |
We're more afraid of the opinions of other people and the friendships that we have. 00:21:22.480 |
So we invest more in human friendship than we do in our personal relationship with God. 00:21:27.400 |
And at the core of it, he says, it's because there is no fear of God before their eyes. 00:21:35.280 |
In our generation, again, this message is so unpalatable. 00:21:38.320 |
It's kind of like, okay, you know, that's what Berean is about. 00:21:47.080 |
Some of you guys know because I shared it with you. 00:21:49.480 |
Years ago, I got invited to come to a campus ministry to preach. 00:21:54.640 |
But going to that campus ministry, I got an email from one of our members saying that 00:22:01.200 |
And the issue was the leadership, not just the members, the leadership was actually inviting 00:22:08.640 |
So they sent out an e-mail saying that somebody's turning 21. 00:22:14.040 |
And they forwarded me the email that they sent. 00:22:17.560 |
And Evi basically said, come bring your own beer because we're getting butt drunk. 00:22:24.260 |
So she sent this to me disturbed, you know, looking at this. 00:22:27.280 |
Well, right in the middle of that, the leader of that campus ministry asked me to come and 00:22:40.480 |
So you know, that may sound coincidental, but half the times when people ask me to come 00:22:50.080 |
Because I think I have a reputation of being angry. 00:22:55.900 |
So why don't you give the sermon that you're good at giving? 00:23:01.260 |
And I didn't know when this event was going to happen. 00:23:09.660 |
And then David Rim, who happened to be in law school at that time in San Diego, found 00:23:14.260 |
And he drove all the way from San Diego, picked me up, took me to UCLA. 00:23:28.200 |
And I can honestly tell you, it's probably the most harshest rebuke I've ever given in 00:23:32.680 |
And some of you guys heard some harsh issues, harsh sermons. 00:23:40.880 |
Because I read that email, and they asked me, so it kind of fit. 00:23:47.000 |
And I told them, there's some of you guys in this room who are leaders here, who are 00:23:53.560 |
And I don't think you're serious about your faith. 00:23:56.480 |
And I told, there's some of you who are in this room who are bothered by this. 00:24:00.360 |
And I said, don't let these posers take over this ministry. 00:24:07.120 |
And I could tell they were very uncomfortable. 00:24:13.480 |
Because if they did, I would have preached directly toward them. 00:24:20.800 |
And I was very specific about what they were doing, the E-Bite that they went out. 00:24:26.320 |
And I found out, after it was over, it was that night. 00:24:35.560 |
And all the seniors were going to attend this. 00:24:38.440 |
And then I happened to give a message on that. 00:24:40.160 |
And then after it was over, I can tell they were angry. 00:24:44.120 |
I had maybe a room full of maybe 150, 160 people. 00:24:49.680 |
Two people came up to me and said, oh, Pastor Peter, thank you for the sermon. 00:24:52.640 |
And they told me that they actually tried to confront them. 00:24:55.440 |
And then they got targeted, saying you're a legalist and whatever. 00:25:00.400 |
And again, these were leaders in this ministry. 00:25:07.960 |
Usually, they'd come up, and I would talk to them, ask questions. 00:25:18.000 |
And I heard how angry they were of what I said and how I said it and all this stuff. 00:25:22.400 |
And the leader who invited me afterwards came up to me. 00:25:25.040 |
And basically, it kind of like-- he wanted to rebuke me. 00:25:28.760 |
But he couldn't, because he was so much younger. 00:25:32.080 |
And so he was kind of gently saying, Pastor Peter, why did you say it like that? 00:25:37.600 |
He's like, you know, maybe what you could have said was, I know it's hard, and maybe 00:25:45.760 |
And it's kind of encouraging, so they could leave encouraged. 00:25:50.440 |
And I was thinking to myself, no, I did that on purpose. 00:26:04.080 |
They sent out an invite, saying we're going to get butt drunk tonight. 00:26:15.760 |
And I told them, that's not what they needed. 00:26:21.520 |
I said, you guys who know that this is wrong, you need to take over this ministry. 00:26:36.800 |
And that was probably the harshest message that I gave, and I think for years to come, 00:26:46.240 |
But again, I think that shows, again, our generation. 00:26:49.240 |
It's sad to say, if I say, oh, that's that one group, and that's that one group of leaders 00:27:04.360 |
If we don't recognize, if we're not broken for our sins, the gospel is not good news. 00:27:15.000 |
If we're not careful, the health and wealth gospel, we normally just kind of bash and 00:27:20.200 |
say, oh, those people on a certain channel with certain hair, and drive a certain car, 00:27:25.400 |
and they get $320 million jets, you know, those people, ah, they disgust me. 00:27:31.720 |
But the health and wealth principle sneaks in all of us. 00:27:52.760 |
When your relationships are going well, you have good friendship. 00:28:09.000 |
But when bad things happen, when we're not in good health, we lose our job, our finances, 00:28:13.720 |
investments that we made didn't go right, our relationship is strained, and things aren't 00:28:19.920 |
Remember, think of the way that we respond to that. 00:28:27.720 |
If we're not careful, we can easily make Jesus into another Buddha, another idol. 00:28:32.680 |
For the same reason why they go to their idols, we go to Jesus, and we think that somehow 00:28:39.240 |
But see, what Paul is trying to convey, even before he gets into the heart of the Gospel, 00:28:44.960 |
is that they have to recognize the primary reason why he came was to save us from our 00:28:52.320 |
So even if for the rest of our lives we live in sickness, even if the rest of our lives 00:28:58.600 |
our financial things aren't in order, we owe him our praise for eternity. 00:29:05.920 |
Until we recognize the depth of the sin that he saved us from, our worship will always 00:29:15.380 |
Our response to him will always be superficial. 00:29:20.240 |
That's why Paul spent three chapters, and again, he's not done. 00:29:23.840 |
He's going to reintroduce this over and over again. 00:29:26.400 |
See, but our problem here in the Church, you know, is that maybe those non-Christians need 00:29:34.320 |
This is just as relevant inside the Church because the way we confess sins typically 00:29:39.560 |
is "I know I'm bad, but I'm not as bad as others." 00:29:44.080 |
I know I'm not perfect, but at least I'm not like that. 00:29:48.000 |
You know, we go to a Bible-teaching church where the Gospel is taught and the Word of 00:29:51.200 |
God is not compromised, so therefore, you know, "Yeah, I'm not perfect, but I'm not…" 00:29:57.080 |
See, there's self-righteousness that creeps in inside of us where it nullifies our repentance. 00:30:07.000 |
Self-righteous people always repent superficially. 00:30:09.600 |
"Lord, forgive me my sins, but thank God I'm not like those people." 00:30:14.100 |
It's never like the tax collector pounding his chest. 00:30:21.240 |
We are typically more disgusted with the sins of others than our own sins. 00:30:25.760 |
And that's what causes all kinds of problems in the Church. 00:30:29.260 |
Because we expect other people to be a certain level of righteousness, but we also want the 00:30:41.000 |
You know, I can't think of a sin, you know, maybe a few instances where the sin of the 00:30:48.000 |
King of Israel was more horrendous than this man David. 00:30:55.320 |
He ends up committing adultery simply because he could. 00:31:04.420 |
He commits adultery, takes another man's wife, and in order to cover it up, he ends up murdering 00:31:12.800 |
This is one of the valiant men who are loyal to him. 00:31:16.880 |
He wouldn't even come sleep in the bed because he said, "My soldiers are out there fighting. 00:31:21.440 |
And he would sleep on the doorstep even while he was on break. 00:31:28.760 |
After he kills him, he just moves on because he's the King. 00:31:42.320 |
He sends the prophet Nathan to David, and then he says to him, "He came to him and said 00:31:49.200 |
to him, 'There were two men in certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 00:31:54.960 |
The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little 00:32:02.160 |
And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. 00:32:05.840 |
It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like 00:32:11.640 |
Now there came a trouble to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own 00:32:15.160 |
flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him. 00:32:18.520 |
But he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him." 00:32:24.680 |
Now Nathan presents a scenario, and all he's talking about is a lamb. 00:32:30.320 |
And here's a poor man comes, and all he has is a few, and he takes the poor man, takes 00:32:36.720 |
David's response when he hears the sin of this rich man, "David, anger was greatly kindled 00:32:43.960 |
And he said to Nathan, 'As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die. 00:32:50.040 |
And he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity.' 00:32:56.480 |
When he thought that this was another man's sin, he said, 'How could this be? 00:33:11.320 |
But the sin that he committed was about a human being. 00:33:16.800 |
You took his wife, and then you murdered him. 00:33:22.120 |
But he was righteously, he had righteous indignation because he didn't recognize that this was 00:33:32.680 |
How righteous we feel when it comes to other people's sins. 00:33:44.600 |
And how the righteous indignation when we don't recognize it as our sins, but Nathan 00:33:48.940 |
turns it around and he says, "You are that man. 00:33:53.040 |
I anointed you as king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 00:33:57.040 |
I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms, and you gave the house 00:34:03.480 |
And if this was too little, I would add to you as much more. 00:34:07.360 |
Why have you despised the word of the Lord to do what is evil in his sight? 00:34:10.860 |
You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your 00:34:15.040 |
wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites." 00:34:19.960 |
When you consider what he did, when you consider who he did it to, and when you consider what 00:34:30.480 |
I mean, his sin that he thought was brought to him, and he was righteously indignated, 00:34:46.080 |
You see, you and I do not recognize how hideous our sin is before our holy, holy, holy God. 00:34:56.200 |
And that's why it just doesn't seem that big of a deal. 00:35:00.600 |
Of course I lust, but at least I'm not watching pornography on a regular basis. 00:35:04.480 |
Of course I watch pornography, but it's not a regular part of my life. 00:35:14.760 |
Of course I slander, but I didn't murder anybody. 00:35:19.520 |
Adam and Eve, when they were caught in sin and God confronted them about their sin, they 00:35:26.160 |
They didn't say, "No, no, no, I didn't do that. 00:35:31.440 |
But the woman you put into the garden, she introduced sin. 00:35:36.840 |
He goes to Eve and said, "What happened to you? 00:35:40.640 |
The serpent, the serpent in the garden deceived me." 00:35:45.680 |
And if you examine that carefully, basically they were deferring their guilt, at least 00:35:57.400 |
I am what I am because of look at our people. 00:36:03.160 |
So indirectly we're deferring our guilt and say, "Some of it is your fault. 00:36:08.480 |
I take some responsibility, but a big portion of it is because you gave me no choice." 00:36:20.080 |
And until we repent, you will never meet God. 00:36:24.960 |
Forgiveness is offered to those who recognize their sin and repent. 00:36:29.040 |
And as if your repentance is superficial, your recognition of what you have in Christ 00:36:38.960 |
Of course you're thankful, but you're not thankful enough to change your lives. 00:36:45.040 |
Of course you're thankful, but it doesn't have a deep, lasting impact. 00:36:50.280 |
It's just the way you think, maybe the way you feel. 00:36:58.280 |
This is why he pounds over and over and over and over again. 00:37:02.960 |
First John 1, 8-10, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. 00:37:07.320 |
How many of people in here say we have no sins? 00:37:11.040 |
We look at that passage and say, "No, that doesn't pertain to us." 00:37:18.240 |
Every single one of us is saying, "Of course we're sinners." 00:37:20.640 |
But we always defer some of that guilt to other people. 00:37:27.000 |
You know, the strange thing is, whenever we talk about morality or righteousness, we always 00:37:34.760 |
You know, it's like, "Oh yeah, of course I'm sinners, but you know, I'm not getting drunk 00:37:41.600 |
Of course, you know, we do this, but I pay my taxes. 00:37:44.720 |
So we always compare our righteousness to people that we think are not as righteous 00:37:51.740 |
You know, the funny thing is, when it comes to money, we always compare with people above 00:38:03.280 |
I thought I had a nice house until I went to their house and, oh, they're kind of gaudy." 00:38:08.440 |
Because we always, like, when it comes to finances, we always compare higher. 00:38:14.440 |
When it comes to our righteousness, we always compare lower, because we feel better about 00:38:21.280 |
If we say that we have no sins, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 00:38:24.740 |
If we confess our sins, if we expose and acknowledge our sins, He is faithful and just 00:38:35.760 |
If we confess, if we superficially embrace our guilt, then our confession wouldn't be 00:38:44.560 |
He is faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 00:38:46.620 |
If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His Word is not in us. 00:38:52.240 |
Not only do we not receive forgiveness, we make Him out to be a liar, because everything 00:39:03.000 |
Jesus didn't come walk on this earth so that He can relate with you, primarily. 00:39:13.120 |
But the primary reason He came is not so that He can relate to you. 00:39:16.360 |
It's like, "I just wanted to know what you go through so that I can be a helper when 00:39:23.160 |
The primary reason why He came is because we were lost and dead in our trespasses and 00:39:27.880 |
there was no other way to be reconciled with this Holy God. 00:39:35.880 |
It means the whole human history is false, that everything that He did was a lie. 00:39:42.160 |
Everything that we are doing is because of our sins. 00:39:46.580 |
Everything that God promises to give us is despite our sins. 00:39:51.840 |
So if we nullify or minimize our sins, we nullify the Gospel. 00:39:57.620 |
You know how deep our self-righteousness goes. 00:40:00.920 |
You know, 1 Corinthians 13, 1-2-3, today is Valentine's Day, so let's look at this verse. 00:40:08.320 |
Okay, so some of you guys may have bought a card, has 1 Corinthians 13 on it, and you 00:40:18.720 |
It is a beautiful verse to look at, but I want you to look a little bit closer to what 00:40:24.720 |
And again, I want you to understand, Paul is writing 1 Corinthians 13 in the context 00:40:35.120 |
You should write this down and hang it on your wall." 00:40:39.120 |
It's in the context of rebuking a church who went astray. 00:40:42.200 |
1 Corinthians 13, 1-2-3, "If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I 00:40:51.040 |
If we have superpower utterance of the angels, I mean, if somebody was speaking supernatural 00:40:57.320 |
language from heaven, you would think, "That man must be right with God." 00:41:02.440 |
You know, you put him on a pedestal, hear everything he has to say, because he must 00:41:06.560 |
He says, "No, even if you have some kind of special revelation going on, and if you are 00:41:12.520 |
not motivated by love, if it's not love," he says, "it's nothing." 00:41:18.000 |
He goes on, "And if I have prophetic powers, right, if I have prophetic powers and understand 00:41:25.120 |
all mysteries and have all knowledge," I mean, that's a lot of stuff to have for a person. 00:41:36.400 |
You have all the knowledge, all understanding. 00:41:38.640 |
"If I have all faith to remove mountains and have not love, I am nothing." 00:41:47.640 |
But I would guess if somebody moved a mountain, that his church would be ginormous. 00:41:59.200 |
But he says, "Even if you move mountains and have not love, it's nothing." 00:42:07.520 |
He goes, "If I give all that I have," like sell everything you have, give to the poor, 00:42:12.760 |
"and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing." 00:42:21.400 |
Even if you are martyred and burned at the stake for the name of Jesus Christ and have 00:42:39.680 |
So you would think that if anybody's going to be martyred, they're super giant Christians 00:42:54.640 |
You know, that's happening all over the world today. 00:42:56.680 |
We have young girls and young boys strapping themselves up, thinking that they have the 00:43:00.680 |
right thing, and then they blow themselves up and they think they're going to go to heaven 00:43:06.360 |
You think Christians could not be guilty of that? 00:43:12.720 |
Even in martyrdom, it could be self-righteousness. 00:43:20.920 |
You can even sell everything you have and give to the poor, and it could be self-righteousness. 00:43:27.600 |
It could be bringing yourself and saying, "Hey, I'm earning my position, so if I do 00:43:31.240 |
all of this stuff, somehow I have a favor before God." 00:43:35.160 |
And now even in these extreme examples, if we are not broken over our sins first and 00:43:47.920 |
Even if I give everything, even if I move mountains, and if we're not first and foremost 00:43:52.400 |
broken over our own sins, not broken over the sins of others, not broken over the sins 00:43:57.800 |
of the world, but over my sins, to come before God and say, "Lord, they need you, but before 00:44:06.160 |
we get to that point, that we're like the tax collector, every single one of us, beating 00:44:16.980 |
And I can't do anything, and I can't earn anything without your mercy and grace." 00:44:23.640 |
None but a naked man will come to Christ for clothing. 00:44:29.160 |
None but a hungry man will come to Christ for food. 00:44:35.320 |
That's why Paul is trying to reveal, "This is where you are. 00:45:09.940 |
Every generation, every generation, we blame the new generation, saying, "Oh, you know, 00:45:15.440 |
I hear so many things about the millennials." 00:45:20.660 |
I don't know where the age starts, but I'm pretty sure a lot of you fall in that category. 00:45:24.440 |
And there's a lot of my generation ripping on the millennials. 00:45:35.680 |
I heard the same thing from my parents' generation. 00:45:38.840 |
My parents are from immigrant generation, so nobody can match their work ethic. 00:45:47.560 |
I have to honestly say, I'm in no way near what they went through. 00:45:53.280 |
And if you read history, I mean, you read 1960s, and you have the older people, and 00:46:04.220 |
We didn't figure out sin in my generation, nor will it figure it out in your generation. 00:46:10.740 |
It's always been here, and the answer has always been the same. 00:46:17.900 |
And until we recognize that, and that I am in need of this, not them. 00:46:24.260 |
When I was younger, we used to sing this song all the time, like on Friday, and it only 00:46:30.260 |
And basically it says this, and, "It's me, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of 00:46:43.620 |
"It's me, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. 00:46:45.940 |
It's me, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. 00:46:48.500 |
Not my father, not my mother, but it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. 00:46:52.760 |
Not my brother, not my sister, but it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer." 00:46:56.300 |
And then you would sing that about 20 times, basically. 00:47:01.940 |
And it sounds so, you know, childish, maybe even superficial, but that is the beginning 00:47:14.740 |
To come before God and recognize that I'm absolutely lost without Him. 00:47:20.700 |
And every week we come here crying out in dependence, "It's me, I'm in need of your 00:47:28.620 |
And it isn't until then Christ will become precious.