Finally jumping back in after two months of hiatus, Romans chapter 3 verses 9, and I'll be reading up to verse 18. Romans chapter 9, sorry, chapter 3 verse 9 through 18. Reading out of the ESV, "What then? Are we Jews any better? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written, 'None is righteous, no, not one.

No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside together. They have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.

Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." Let's pray. Gracious and loving Father, we entrust this time to you, asking Lord God that even in our weakness, that your Holy Spirit may be strong.

That you would speak to us, Lord, in our complacency. You would speak to us, Lord God, in rebellion. You would speak to us even in righteousness. That we would be utterly dependent upon Christ and his work. That all that we do and all that we claim and all that we worship, Lord God, would be simply a response, a reasonable response to the great mercy that you showed in us, that you continue to show us, that we are absolutely dependent upon to move forward and to be sanctified.

So we ask, Lord God, that your Holy Spirit would speak through your word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. As you guys know, we are in the midst of a political season, so you've been probably hearing a lot of speeches from different politicians. There's been debates with the Democrats and the Republicans, and again, all the years that I've been watching the primaries and the elections going on, I've never seen as much attention given to this election than probably any other election.

And I think part of the reason is because of the environment of what's going on around the world. There's a crisis with the migrants, there's a financial crisis, there's a crisis within this country. It seems like the liberals and the conservatives are more far apart than it's ever been.

And so the question is, are we going to continue down this path, or is there something radical that's going to happen? So who do we pick that's going to lead and take us to the next generation? And so there's a lot of speech and a lot of attention given to what people are saying.

But there's one thing that's consistent that I've seen, that in order to be elected in the United States, you have to be a confessing Christian. You have to be. Even if you're not. If you're not a confessing Christian, the majority of the country will kind of say, "Well, he's not part of us." But here's the other side.

You can't be a true evangelical Christian either. You can't be a committed, evangelistic, Bible-believing, Gospel-believing, teaching Christian, or else you're not going to get elected either. So in order to get elected, you have to be a confessing, nominal Christian. Just enough so that the country will feel like, "He's part of us.

He's not strange." But if you're too serious, he's like, "Okay, you're too radical. You're going to do strange things." And so you see the politicians, when they first come on the scene, and especially with this group. Right now, there's a lot of politicians, especially on the Republican side, who have no experience.

They come in and you see them saying outrageous stuff, but as the months go by, you can see them toning it down, and their verbiage and their language is kind of adjusting to what they know is going to get them elected and not get elected. And they're just, again, I don't know if the word "wise" fits, but they're being pragmatic.

They have to adjust in order for them to get elected, and then once they get elected, they'll do whatever they want. But that political environment of, if we want to reach the masses, our language and our promises and what we say and how we say it, it has to match the majority, or else the majority aren't going to give them the vote.

The sad thing about that is that in the world that we live in, and advertising, if you're going to make a product, you don't shoot for the fringes, you shoot for the middle. Right? So the biggest number of people will be interested in your product, and it's no different in politics, but the sad thing is, Christianity has become the same.

We are more concerned about reaching the masses than we are about commitment to the truth. Because we've grown up in a culture where certain things about the Bible, certain things about the Gospel, is not palatable to this generation. So we've been shooting, at least in our generation, we've been shooting toward the middle.

What do we need to say? What do we need to tone down? Or what are some things that need to be said in a certain way? In order for the masses to be interested, to get as many people to come to our churches. But in the context of doing so, we have compromised the Gospel.

And as a result of compromising the Gospel, Christianity doesn't look much like what we see in Scripture. And so, it isn't until people actually start starting the Bible, and start reading the Bible for themselves, not listening to sermon, not just reading certain books, but starting the Scriptures for themselves, and realizing that a lot of what we are experiencing doesn't match what we see in Scripture.

Apostle Paul has been spending three chapters, pounding one statement. And that one statement is summarized in Romans 3.23, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." The text that we just looked at in Romans 3.9 says, "What then? Are we Jews any better off?" Not at all, for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin.

In other words, what Paul is saying in verse 9, is that what I'm about to tell you, what I'm about to dive into, is not anything new. I've said this, and I've pounded this. Romans 1.18, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." In other words, he's saying, he says, "Mankind has rejected God, not because there wasn't enough opportunity, that there wasn't enough knowledge." He says, "They chose the darkness rather than the light." And that's why they're under condemnation.

Romans 12.2.12, "For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law. And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law." In other words, not only the Gentiles are guilty, but Jews are equally guilty. And so, he's been saying basically the same things for three chapters.

Even just the one statement of saying, "Hey, we're all sinners. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. We're all under the judgment of God." Even just that one statement, at least in this world, will get some kind of a reaction. But Paul spends three chapters introducing himself.

And you have to remember, the main reason why Paul writes the Book of Romans is because his goal was not to be in Rome. He was going to stop by Rome, and then he was going to get some support and support finances. Maybe some other workers to get along.

And so, he's introducing himself, saying, "I'm going to stop by Rome, and I want to connect with you guys, but ultimately I want to go to Spain and get your support." Now, that's a strange way to open up a statement saying, "Hey, I need your support, you sinners." All under condemnation.

You worthless, no one seeking God, not even one. The Jews and Gentiles alike, all are without excuse. "Give me some money to go to Spain." That's basically what he's going to say, right? In 2 Corinthians, the harshest letter he ever writes, right? After rebuking them over and over, and at the end of Corinthians, he says, "Hey, get ready.

I'm coming. Collect the money. God loves a cheerful giver. See you soon. Love you, Paul." Like, that's basically how he writes 2 Corinthians. This guy did not care. And when I studied that, what that reminds me of is, this guy was, he didn't care about PC. He didn't care what they thought.

He was just committed to the truth. And as he says, "And after my foot, if I do not preach Christ, if it led him to prison, if people didn't give him money or gave him money, if he was beaten or not beaten, that was not his goal." Sometimes preaching the gospel will drive people away.

Sometimes people will repent. Sometimes the church will shrink. Sometimes the church will grow. And that's exactly what Paul told Timothy, in season and out of season, preach the gospel. The whole counsel of God. I could easily preach the gospel just highlighting certain things that encourage you. I could. And spend the rest of my life doing that and say, and promise you every week that you'll be leaving this room encouraged.

And I could do that by preaching the gospel, but certain aspects of the gospel every single week. But in my own conscience, I know that that is not the whole counsel of God. See, Paul doesn't waste any energy. He jumps in and he spends three chapters pounding it just in case that they didn't get it.

This text that we're looking at here is kind of like the crescendo. Right? It's kind of like you play music and then you kind of build up and build up and then bam! Right? Chapter three, the text that we're looking at is the crescendo where this is the main thing that he's been trying to say.

And he quotes five or six different texts in the Old Testament to make his point. In other words, that what he's about to say isn't anything new to the New Testament. In fact, all of the Old Testament was the main point. He said the law came to make sin utterly sinful.

I don't know if you've ever studied through the book of Leviticus, and I'm assuming most of you probably have heard sermons or maybe, you know, even as I was preaching through Leviticus, you know, I would say, "Oh, this pastor preaches." I would go look up in the sermons. There's two sermons on Leviticus, you know, or three sermons or one sermon.

But expositionally, verse by verse, I mean, you don't see much of that in the book of Leviticus because it's hard. It takes a lot of time to sift through. What does this mean? What does this measurement mean? Why is he doing this? But the book of Leviticus, the whole book of Leviticus is to make one point.

Right? God is holy and you are sinners. That's the whole point of the book of Leviticus. Right? So, if you ever study the book of Leviticus, the point of that is to prepare you for the coming of Christ. The whole history of the nation of Israel, God begins by saying, "If you keep the law, here's the blessing.

But if you don't keep the law, here's all these cursings." If you study the book of Deuteronomy, where that happens, the cursing is twice as long as the blessing. It's almost like God is saying, "This is what's going to happen. Here's the curses." And so, all of Israel's history is curse upon curse upon curse being added upon the sins of Israel.

So, by the time we get to the very last chapter of the book of Malachi, you don't come out thinking, "Thank God." You come out, you should come out saying, "Woe is me. Woe is me. I'm a man of unclean lips from a people of unclean lips." And that was the whole point.

When Jesus showed up, God had been preparing them for hundreds and hundreds of years for the coming of Christ. And the reason why they missed it is because they did not recognize a need for a Savior. They wanted a Messiah. They wanted a King. But they didn't see the need for a Savior.

See, that's why Paul is spending three chapters pounding this. And let me say this. If you haven't been listening, or if it doesn't make sense, I don't think there's anybody in this room. If you've been in church for any period of time that doesn't know that God saved you from your sins.

Anyone would say, "Well, okay, that's the beginning of the gospel, right? God saved us from our sins." But how deeply you understand that is going to, it will determine what your life looks like. Your thankfulness and your worship isn't just the songs that you sing. That God saved you from your sins.

And you say, "Okay, I believe that. Maybe those people need to hear it. Maybe those people from other churches where the gospel is not preached, maybe they need to hear it." The impact of the gospel can be seen in your life. If somebody gives you a present that you can't possibly repay, it's going to affect you.

You're going to say, "Thank you." There's going to be a sense of gratitude in their presence. You don't just say, "Oh yeah, that was a great gift. That was good. Of course I understand it. That was a great gift." It can't just be a confession of mouth. It's absolutely essential to our sanctification that we recognize that what Paul is saying is true in these three chapters.

That's why he repeats over and over again, "None is righteous, no not one." Just in case there's anybody reading this Bible and saying, "Yes, they need to hear this. Those people need the gospel. Those people need forgiveness." If there's anybody who's reading this. But you know what? I've never met anybody, Christian or non-Christian, who says that they're not sinners.

I know some people will say, "Well, I'm not that bad." If you ask them, "Have you ever sinned?" I've never heard anybody say, "I've never sinned, ever. You just lied right there. You just sinned right there." I've never heard anybody who said that they never sinned. Most people say, "Of course we sin." But they don't see the gravity of their sin.

They say, "Of course we sin, but we're not, I didn't kill anybody. I pay my taxes. I'm an honest person. I'm not perfect." Paul says, "Not one is righteous, no not one. No one understands." It's like, is he exaggerating? No one seeks God. Nobody. All have turned aside. Here they have become worthless.

How does that make you feel? God just said, "We're all worthless." I thought, "What?" I thought he loved us. I thought we were precious in his eyes. I thought we were the apple of his eye. He says, "No, everybody turned away. No one's seeking God. We have all become worthless.

No one does good. Not even one." See this doesn't sit well in our generation. Where our egos have been stroked and our self-esteem has been so catered to. That statement. Again, if I didn't quote the Bible and I just said this to you, I'll bet you right after service I'm going to have people coming up to me like, "What are you preaching?" All I did was quote the scriptures.

So if you're angry, just go outside, look at the Bible, "What are you preaching?" Say it to the Bible. I just quoted scripture. But again, in our generation, that statement, it just automatically doesn't sit well. It's like, "Is that, is he interpreting that correctly? Maybe that's an exaggeration. Is that hyperbole?

What is that? Did God really say that? Yes, he said that. I just read scripture. Why does he say that?" See the Jews, they prided themselves about being the experts of the law. They thought that they were closer to God because they knew the Bible. They were the experts.

They were the ones that everybody went to because they studied the scripture. You know, we can easily say, "Oh, they didn't study the scripture." No, they studied the scripture. They were the experts of the law. If you wanted to know what Moses said and what the Torah was, they had it memorized.

More than any PhD, an average Jew who took their faith seriously knew more about the Torah than a PhD in our generation. That's how much they were into the Torah. And yet he says, "Nobody understands." With all their education, all the time they put into the study of the Torah, they did not understand.

Not one sought out God. I mean, think about it, if you're a Jew hearing this. They're going to the temple three, four, five times a week. They're fasting twice a week. I mean, so maybe they didn't, they were greedy for money. They gave. They tithed even cumin, even, you know, spices.

That's how meticulous they were about their giving. Oh, maybe they didn't proselytize. Jesus said, "You will travel over distances." They were proselytizing. Anything that you and I can think of as what a righteous person would do, the Jews did it. And yet, he says, "All your studying, all your going to the temple, all your evangelism," he says, "but no, no one is truly seeking God.

All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless." Worthless? All of that was worthless? All my pursuit of God, all of the learning, all of the sacrifices, no one does good? Not even one. Could this possibly be true? Or is this just an exaggeration just to get our attention?

You know? Sometimes we exaggerate, especially when we have problems with people, we have a tendency to exaggerate. That guy is this way, or this church is that. And I hear that all the time. You know, after being in ministry for a while, I've learned to filter what people say.

So I'm not a big fan of Yelp, because I just don't trust it. You know what I mean? I've been to so many restaurants, or a few restaurants I went to, and said, "Oh, we get four and a half stars. I go there, I will never come back here." There are some places you've suggested.

I will never trust you again. I just don't have the same taste as you do. You know, there's a lot of people that come to church, and we hear it all the time. It's like, "Oh, Brian is like this, and Brian is like that." And usually it's very exaggerated.

You know, a lot of times it's, "Oh, Brian, everybody loves Jesus." Not everybody. Or they would say, "Oh, everybody is so unfriendly. You know, and Brian is like this." And usually it's an encounter between another person that they had, or maybe they met somebody who had a bad day, and sitting next to that person, they weren't friendly, and they just didn't get a good vibe.

And then they leave and say, "Brian, they don't care about newcomers, and they hate whatever." And they throw 450 people under the bus because they had experience with one person. So we have a tendency to exaggerate. We do that individually, but we especially do that in large groups. So when I read this, I'm thinking, "Is he exaggerating?

Could it possibly be that nobody, nobody understands, nobody is seeking God, not even one? We have together become worthless?" That's exactly what he says. How do we understand that? He goes even further, and he describes what that worthlessness looks like. Their throat is an open grave. You ever notice that whenever the scripture describes about man's rebellion against God, one of the first sins that he mentions is about his speech?

You know how Jesus says, "It's not what you put into you, but what comes out of you." And he says, "Your speech reveals your sin." And it's so true. Whenever there is sin, or bitterness, or anger, it comes out in slander. Exaggeration of other people's sins, and how we're discontent.

And then he goes on, he says, "Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongue to deceive. The venom of ass is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their path, ruin and misery. And the way of peace they have not known." And here's the summary of everything that he's been saying.

There is no fear of God before their eyes. There is no fear of God before their eyes. The whole reason why sin exists is because there is no fear of God before their eyes. Think about at the underlying reason why we don't take our faith as seriously as we ought to.

Why people are not afraid to die in our generation. Because there is no fear of God before their eyes. We are more fear of men and their opinions. And that's why we shoot for the middle instead of the truth. We're more afraid of not having financial security tomorrow. So we pursue after money.

We're more afraid of the opinions of other people and the friendships that we have. So we invest more in human friendship than we do in our personal relationship with God. And at the core of it, he says, it's because there is no fear of God before their eyes. In our generation, again, this message is so unpalatable.

It's kind of like, okay, you know, that's what Berean is about. It's about rebuke. You know, years ago, I got invited. Some of you guys know because I shared it with you. Years ago, I got invited to come to a campus ministry to preach. But going to that campus ministry, I got an email from one of our members saying that their campus ministry is having issues.

And the issue was the leadership, not just the members, the leadership was actually inviting people to go get drunk with them. So they sent out an e-mail saying that somebody's turning 21. So we're going to go to this club. And they forwarded me the email that they sent. And Evi basically said, come bring your own beer because we're getting butt drunk.

Somebody's turning 21. So she sent this to me disturbed, you know, looking at this. Well, right in the middle of that, the leader of that campus ministry asked me to come and speak. So I said, okay, I'll come. And I said, what do you want me to speak on?

They said, can you speak on holiness? So you know, that may sound coincidental, but half the times when people ask me to come and speak, it's about holiness. Because I think I have a reputation of being angry. So why don't you give the sermon that you're good at giving?

You know? So they asked me to speak on holiness. And I didn't know when this event was going to happen. I didn't look at the timeline or whatever. And I just got so sick that night. And I wasn't sure if I was going to make it. And then David Rim, who happened to be in law school at that time in San Diego, found out I was sick.

And he drove all the way from San Diego, picked me up, took me to UCLA. And then he had to study. And so I was sick until I got up to speak. You know? And then I got up to speak. And I knew I had to address this issue.

And I can honestly tell you, it's probably the most harshest rebuke I've ever given in my life. And some of you guys heard some harsh issues, harsh sermons. But this was the hardest sermon. In my own opinion, that was really hard. Because I read that email, and they asked me, so it kind of fit.

So I said, okay, I'm not going to hold back. And I was very specific. And I told them, there's some of you guys in this room who are leaders here, who are not going to make it after this. And I don't think you're serious about your faith. And I told, there's some of you who are in this room who are bothered by this.

And I said, don't let these posers take over this ministry. And I let them have it for about 40 minutes. And I could tell they were very uncomfortable. And I could tell who they were. Because they were squirming. They wouldn't make eye contact with me. Because if they did, I would have preached directly toward them.

So I went at it for 40, 45 minutes. And I was very specific about what they were doing, the E-Bite that they went out. And I found out, after it was over, it was that night. Yeah. So they were very uncomfortable. I ruined the night for them. And all the seniors were going to attend this.

And then they were going to go out. And then I happened to give a message on that. And then after it was over, I can tell they were angry. Yeah, they were angry. I had maybe a room full of maybe 150, 160 people. Two people came up to me and said, oh, Pastor Peter, thank you for the sermon.

And they told me that they actually tried to confront them. And then they got targeted, saying you're a legalist and whatever. And they were kind of marginalized. And again, these were leaders in this ministry. And the rest of them were so angry. And I could tell. Usually, they'd come up, and I would talk to them, ask questions.

They would, boom, they'd boot out. Obviously, they never invited me again. I never heard from them. And I heard how angry they were of what I said and how I said it and all this stuff. And the leader who invited me afterwards came up to me. And basically, it kind of like-- he wanted to rebuke me.

But he couldn't, because he was so much younger. And so he was kind of gently saying, Pastor Peter, why did you say it like that? And I go, what do you mean? He's like, you know, maybe what you could have said was, I know it's hard, and maybe certain things we shouldn't.

But I believe in you. And it's kind of encouraging, so they could leave encouraged. And I was thinking to myself, no, I did that on purpose. Encouragement was not what they needed. They were so bold in their sin. They weren't like, is this OK? No, it wasn't that. They sent out an invite, saying we're going to get butt drunk tonight.

So come with us. And they rebuke people who confronted them. They don't need my encouragement. I did exactly that, and I would do it again. And I told them, that's not what they needed. And again, I encouraged them. I said, you guys who know that this is wrong, you need to take over this ministry.

Get these posers out. They shouldn't be in leadership. And again, I'm a guest speaker, so. And that was probably the harshest message that I gave, and I think for years to come, they say, ah, you know, Breen is angry. Breen is legalistic. Breen is this and that. But again, I think that shows, again, our generation.

It's sad to say, if I say, oh, that's that one group, and that's that one group of leaders that was having that issue. But sad to say, that's not unique to them. Why is this so important? If we don't recognize, if we're not broken for our sins, the gospel is not good news.

If we're not careful, the health and wealth gospel, we normally just kind of bash and say, oh, those people on a certain channel with certain hair, and drive a certain car, and they get $320 million jets, you know, those people, ah, they disgust me. But the health and wealth principle sneaks in all of us.

Think carefully. What causes you to celebrate? What causes you to celebrate? You're going to get a good job. When you're sick, you become healthy. When your relationships are going well, you have good friendship. I say, praise God. God answered my prayer. Thank God for his blessing. We got a new church building.

Thank God, God is so good. But when bad things happen, when we're not in good health, we lose our job, our finances, investments that we made didn't go right, our relationship is strained, and things aren't exactly what it is. Remember, think of the way that we respond to that.

Why is God not answering our prayers? If we're not careful, we can easily make Jesus into another Buddha, another idol. For the same reason why they go to their idols, we go to Jesus, and we think that somehow that's the blessing. But see, what Paul is trying to convey, even before he gets into the heart of the Gospel, is that they have to recognize the primary reason why he came was to save us from our sins.

So even if for the rest of our lives we live in sickness, even if the rest of our lives our financial things aren't in order, we owe him our praise for eternity. Until we recognize the depth of the sin that he saved us from, our worship will always remain shallow.

Our response to him will always be superficial. That's why Paul spent three chapters, and again, he's not done. He's going to reintroduce this over and over again. See, but our problem here in the Church, you know, is that maybe those non-Christians need to hear the truth. This is just as relevant inside the Church because the way we confess sins typically is "I know I'm bad, but I'm not as bad as others." I know I'm not perfect, but at least I'm not like that.

You know, we go to a Bible-teaching church where the Gospel is taught and the Word of God is not compromised, so therefore, you know, "Yeah, I'm not perfect, but I'm not…" See, there's self-righteousness that creeps in inside of us where it nullifies our repentance. Self-righteous people always repent superficially.

"Lord, forgive me my sins, but thank God I'm not like those people." It's never like the tax collector pounding his chest. "I am unworthy of you." We are typically more disgusted with the sins of others than our own sins. And that's what causes all kinds of problems in the Church.

Because we expect other people to be a certain level of righteousness, but we also want the Church to be gracious to us. Do you remember sin of David? You know, I can't think of a sin, you know, maybe a few instances where the sin of the King of Israel was more horrendous than this man David.

David, the man after God's own heart. He ends up committing adultery simply because he could. He was the King of Israel. He could do whatever he wanted. Who's going to call him out? He's the guy who makes the law. He commits adultery, takes another man's wife, and in order to cover it up, he ends up murdering him.

And he, it wasn't just any man. This is one of the valiant men who are loyal to him. He wouldn't even come sleep in the bed because he said, "My soldiers are out there fighting. How can I do this?" And he would sleep on the doorstep even while he was on break.

And it's that man he killed. After he kills him, he just moves on because he's the King. Who's going to indict him? And he just went on. He didn't get caught. Nothing happened. But obviously, it didn't escape God's eyes. He sends the prophet Nathan to David, and then he says to him, "He came to him and said to him, 'There were two men in certain city, the one rich and the other poor.

The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him.

Now there came a trouble to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him. But he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him." Now Nathan presents a scenario, and all he's talking about is a lamb.

Here's a rich man who had everything. And here's a poor man comes, and all he has is a few, and he takes the poor man, takes advantage of him just because he could. David's response when he hears the sin of this rich man, "David, anger was greatly kindled against the man.

And he said to Nathan, 'As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die. And he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity.' When he thought that this was another man's sin, he said, 'How could this be?

We need to correct this sin.' His anger was greatly kindled." So imagine the story that he just told. It was about a lamb. But the sin that he committed was about a human being. You took his wife, and then you murdered him. But he was righteously, he had righteous indignation because he didn't recognize that this was his sin that he's trying to reveal.

How righteous we feel when it comes to other people's sins. Why are we not dealing with them? Why are they this way? And how the righteous indignation when we don't recognize it as our sins, but Nathan turns it around and he says, "You are that man. I anointed you as king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.

I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms, and you gave the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this was too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord to do what is evil in his sight?

You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites." When you consider what he did, when you consider who he did it to, and when you consider what God did for David.

I mean, his sin that he thought was brought to him, and he was righteously indignated, and he was so angry over that man's sin. We have to do something about that. But his sin was a hundred times worse. You see, you and I do not recognize how hideous our sin is before our holy, holy, holy God.

And that's why it just doesn't seem that big of a deal. Of course I lust, but at least I'm not watching pornography on a regular basis. Of course I watch pornography, but it's not a regular part of my life. Of course I cut corners, but I'm not a liar.

Of course I lie, but I didn't steal. Of course I slander, but I didn't murder anybody. Adam and Eve, when they were caught in sin and God confronted them about their sin, they never denied what they did. They didn't say, "No, no, no, I didn't do that. How can they deny that before God?" He says, "Yes, yes, we did that.

But the woman you put into the garden, she introduced sin. He goes to Eve and said, "What happened to you? Why did you disobey my commandment?" The serpent, the serpent in the garden deceived me." And if you examine that carefully, basically they were deferring their guilt, at least some of it, some of it to God.

I am what I am because look at our church. I am what I am because of look at our people. Look at our circumstances. You don't know. So indirectly we're deferring our guilt and say, "Some of it is your fault. I take some responsibility, but a big portion of it is because you gave me no choice." See, a self-righteous man is unrepentant.

And until we repent, you will never meet God. Forgiveness is offered to those who recognize their sin and repent. And as if your repentance is superficial, your recognition of what you have in Christ will also be superficial. Of course you're thankful, but you're not thankful enough to change your lives.

Of course you're thankful, but it doesn't have a deep, lasting impact. It's just words. It's just the way you think, maybe the way you feel. It doesn't affect your finances. It doesn't affect your friends. It doesn't affect your future. This is why he pounds over and over and over and over again.

First John 1, 8-10, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. How many of people in here say we have no sins? We look at that passage and say, "No, that doesn't pertain to us." It does pertain to us. Every single one of us is saying, "Of course we're sinners." But we always defer some of that guilt to other people.

We're not as bad as them. You know, the strange thing is, whenever we talk about morality or righteousness, we always compare with lesser people. You know, it's like, "Oh yeah, of course I'm sinners, but you know, I'm not getting drunk like those guys. I've never done that." You know what I mean?

Of course, you know, we do this, but I pay my taxes. So we always compare our righteousness to people that we think are not as righteous with us. You know, the funny thing is, when it comes to money, we always compare with people above us. Say, "We're rich. Oh, Bill Gates has, you know, how much?

Can't be rich. You know how much my boss makes? Oh, I have a friend. I thought I had a nice house until I went to their house and, oh, they're kind of gaudy." Because we always, like, when it comes to finances, we always compare higher. When it comes to our righteousness, we always compare lower, because we feel better about our pursuits and what we're doing.

If we say that we have no sins, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, if we expose and acknowledge our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Do you see that condition? If we confess, if we superficially embrace our guilt, then our confession wouldn't be honest.

He is faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His Word is not in us. Not only do we not receive forgiveness, we make Him out to be a liar, because everything about the Gospel is about sin.

Jesus didn't come walk on this earth so that He can relate with you, primarily. You say, "Ah, He's a faithful high priest. He sympathizes with our weaknesses." All that is true. But the primary reason He came is not so that He can relate to you. It's like, "I just wanted to know what you go through so that I can be a helper when times are hard." The primary reason why He came is because we were lost and dead in our trespasses and there was no other way to be reconciled with this Holy God.

So we make Him out to be a liar. It means the whole human history is false, that everything that He did was a lie. Everything that we are doing is because of our sins. Everything that God promises to give us is despite our sins. So if we nullify or minimize our sins, we nullify the Gospel.

You know how deep our self-righteousness goes. You know, 1 Corinthians 13, 1-2-3, today is Valentine's Day, so let's look at this verse. Okay, so some of you guys may have bought a card, has 1 Corinthians 13 on it, and you know, have weddings. That's your vow, put it in there, right?

It is a beautiful verse to look at, but I want you to look a little bit closer to what He's actually saying. And again, I want you to understand, Paul is writing 1 Corinthians 13 in the context of rebuking a church. He's not saying, "This is so beautiful. You should write this down and hang it on your wall." That's not why he's writing this.

It's in the context of rebuking a church who went astray. 1 Corinthians 13, 1-2-3, "If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." If we have superpower utterance of the angels, I mean, if somebody was speaking supernatural language from heaven, you would think, "That man must be right with God." You know, you put him on a pedestal, hear everything he has to say, because he must be speaking the truth.

He says, "No, even if you have some kind of special revelation going on, and if you are not motivated by love, if it's not love," he says, "it's nothing." He goes on, "And if I have prophetic powers, right, if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and have all knowledge," I mean, that's a lot of stuff to have for a person.

You have all of this. You've got all the pages. You have 15 PhDs. You have all the knowledge, all understanding. "If I have all faith to remove mountains and have not love, I am nothing." I've never seen anybody move a mountain. But I would guess if somebody moved a mountain, that his church would be ginormous.

You know, just take a video. It's like, look at him move mountains. He must be speaking from God. But he says, "Even if you move mountains and have not love, it's nothing." In God's eyes, it's nothing. He doesn't stop there. He goes, "If I give all that I have," like sell everything you have, give to the poor, "and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing." Did you hear what he said?

Even if you are martyred and burned at the stake for the name of Jesus Christ and have not love, it means nothing. That sounds like an exaggeration. What Christian would ever do that? To be martyred? So you would think that if anybody's going to be martyred, they're super giant Christians and they must know something about God.

Is it possible? Or is he just exaggerating? I mean, think about it. You know, that's happening all over the world today. We have young girls and young boys strapping themselves up, thinking that they have the right thing, and then they blow themselves up and they think they're going to go to heaven or their version of heaven.

You think Christians could not be guilty of that? Even in martyrdom, it could be self-righteousness. Even in martyrdom. You can even sell everything you have and give to the poor, and it could be self-righteousness. It could be bringing yourself and saying, "Hey, I'm earning my position, so if I do all of this stuff, somehow I have a favor before God." And now even in these extreme examples, if we are not broken over our sins first and foremost, it is for nothing.

Even if I give everything, even if I move mountains, and if we're not first and foremost broken over our own sins, not broken over the sins of others, not broken over the sins of the world, but over my sins, to come before God and say, "Lord, they need you, but before we get to that point, that we're like the tax collector, every single one of us, beating our chest.

I am that man. I am that guy. And I can't do anything, and I can't earn anything without your mercy and grace." None but a naked man will come to Christ for clothing. None but a hungry man will come to Christ for food. That's why Paul is trying to reveal, "This is where you are.

This is who you are. This is what is in you. So therefore, come to Christ." The answer is not in this world. The answer is not in finances. The answer is not with greater friendship. The answer is not in organization. The answer is not in your willpower. Come to me.

Jesus is the only answer to human problem. Every generation, every generation, we blame the new generation, saying, "Oh, you know, I hear so many things about the millennials." A lot of you, most of you are millennials. I don't know where the age starts, but I'm pretty sure a lot of you fall in that category.

And there's a lot of my generation ripping on the millennials. Millennials are lazy. Millennials aren't focused. Millennials are entitled. I heard the same thing from my parents' generation. My parents are from immigrant generation, so nobody can match their work ethic. I mean, they had two jobs, three jobs. I have to honestly say, I'm in no way near what they went through.

But every generation says that. And if you read history, I mean, you read 1960s, and you have the older people, and say, "Ah, these hippies!" This sin is not new. We didn't figure out sin in my generation, nor will it figure it out in your generation. It's always been here, and the answer has always been the same.

Christ crucified. And until we recognize that, and that I am in need of this, not them. And let me finish with this. When I was younger, we used to sing this song all the time, like on Friday, and it only has like two, three verses. And basically it says this, and, "It's me, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer." Anybody know that song?

Okay. Okay, some of you. All right. Thank you. We used to sing this every Friday night. "It's me, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. It's me, it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer. Not my father, not my mother, but it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.

Not my brother, not my sister, but it's me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer." And then you would sing that about 20 times, basically. That's it. That's the whole verse. And it sounds so, you know, childish, maybe even superficial, but that is the beginning of the Gospel.

That is the beginning of the Gospel. To come before God and recognize that I'm absolutely lost without Him. And every week we come here crying out in dependence, "It's me, I'm in need of your forgiveness." And it isn't until then Christ will become precious.