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The NEED

Spiritual Privilege

Caleb Combs · Sunday, 18 May 2025 · Romans 2:17-3:8 · 49:25 · 7,057 words

Romans S4 · 2:17-3:8 Holly

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Spiritual Privilege is the title of the teaching from Romans 2:17‑24. Paul warns those with a spiritual heritage that relying on identity—whether Jewish, denominational or family tradition—without personal faith leads to hypocrisy and dishonors God. The speaker asks listeners to examine whether their actions match their profession, to make their faith their own, and to use their advantage as ambassadors of Christ to reflect Him in everyday life. He ends with the challenge: What are we doing with the privilege we have been given?

What this sermon is about

Ranked by keyness against every other sermon in the corpus. Each one is a word this sermon actually said — nothing here was written by a model.

advantage 24 privilege 22 apply 23 spiritual 25 senior 7 invest 6 apollos 5 identify 8 identifier 4 identity 9 jew 16 become 18

Topics

The Law 5 Faith 3 Righteousness 1 Grace 1 Abraham 1 Hope 1 Election & Predestination 1

Scripture referenced 13

Verified against the transcript. A reference the recording does not support is never listed here.

Romans 2 4:05 Romans 2 4:11 Romans 2:17-24 5:53 Romans 2 6:02 Romans 3 16:37 Romans 10 23:28 Luke 18 31:05 Romans 10:21 35:24 Romans 3 39:48 Romans 2:24 39:48 Isaiah 52 39:59 Matthew 5 43:45 Romans 10:9 46:11

Transcript

Every word, as spoken, with the second it was said. Each word links to its own entry in the index.

Pre-service announcement — 8 lines, 0:39. Excluded from every count and search on this site, kept here so nothing is hidden.

Hey everyone, my name is Grant Grimes and thanks for checking out this message today.

We're so glad that you're here and we want to connect with you and your family.

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or you can text the amount you'd like to give to 84321.

Thanks again for joining us and we hope you are blessed by today's message.

Good morning. Good to be with you. Good to gather with you.

Good to celebrate our seniors. That is always an important thing we want to do here at the River.

Really, if you've noticed, even last week we celebrated moms, but also put in child dedication.

We want to invest in that next generation.

We want to invest in passing on the tradition.

We want to invest in the truths of God's word.

We want to invest in making sure they know that God has a great plan and a purpose for them in their lives.

We want to make sure that is a very high priority for us as a church.

And so not done flippantly or not done haphazardly, but really on purpose to make sure they know that.

Because if you look at the statistics for young adults or graduating seniors that leave the church,

it's an astronomical number. I don't know exactly what it is,

but it should be somewhere in the 90% or 95 percentile that they would leave the church.

And so you're going, "That is the uphill battle."

And so our goal is to make sure they know that God loves them, God's got a great plan for them,

God wants a relationship with them.

Yes, as they discover what their lives are like, their faith becomes their own.

Not their parents' faith, not their grandparents' faith, not their pastor's faith, not the River Church faith,

but we want their faith to become their own.

And grow in that.

And so that's why we take time out of a gathering to focus on our graduating high school seniors.

Because we want them to know and make their faith their own.

And so we want, I was so blessed by you guys cheering them on, because that's what we're doing, right?

We're cheering them on as they make their faith their own, helping them, encouraging them.

We believe what Galatians says, as we bear one another's burdens,

we can help bear and care for them in a difficult, heavy season of their life.

And I know many are thinking, "Man, I don't remember what it's like to be 18 years old."

I don't want to be 18 years old in this world in 2025, right?

And so we realize we can encourage them and help them in the best we can.

And so I'll say this, if you're a graduating senior that was not a part of that process,

or maybe you're a junior, or maybe you've graduated,

it's important that you jump in and we want to come alongside you the best.

We can authentically, not pretentiously, but authentically,

caring and loving for you the best way we can, all right?

And so I wanted to say that.

I know that graduating seniors, I'm taking them to lunch.

I'm going to get some barbecue at Jack's.

And so I'm looking forward to that.

So if you are also, if you graduated as a high school senior and you're like,

"Man, I did not, I want to go to lunch today."

I will buy your lunch, all right?

You let me know afterwards.

Not like, "Yeah, I graduated in '19."

It's '75, all right?

I know some of you guys, "I just got a free Jack's lunch."

I never cashed mine in, all right?

I know what some of you guys are thinking.

So no, 2025 graduate.

And so would love to personally take you to lunch today.

Spend some time with you.

Hear about what your future looks like.

See all the different things that maybe we can cheer you on and help you.

And so wanted to make sure to do that.

This morning, we are going to continue in our series on the Book of Romans.

And so if you have a Bible, a device, we're going to continue in Romans chapter 2.

Romans chapter 2.

This series has been one of the heavier lifts for us as pastors.

And just kind of working through the Book of Romans,

we're going to be really looking at identifying really the whole book.

And I said this is a 32-week series.

And 32 weeks cannot truly encapsulate all of Romans.

And like really, yes.

We could probably spend the next, excuse me, five years on Romans.

And we would just start to get just the tip of it.

And so our goal this morning is really to highlight a section of verses.

I said this in week one.

I will not be able to preach every single verse,

every single word that I would like to through this series.

So I would encourage you on our website or on the app,

you can listen to or watch other sermons from our nine locations.

It's great.

It's a great resource to have.

And so if you have a longer drive to work, pop in one of those.

I guess I shouldn't say pop in.

It's not like you're putting in a CD or tape anymore, right?

I don't even upload one of those.

All right.

I'm old.

All right.

But you can play one of those.

Listen to that.

Or maybe you mow the lawn once a week, throwing it on your headphones.

Or you're on a walk.

They're great resources.

They're great resources to have.

And I always encourage you.

We have some great orders of God's word at our other locations.

And they'll attack this passage maybe differently than I will

or maybe able to encapsulate more verses.

And so I'm only going to cover a smaller section of this this morning.

And so we're going to look at Romans 2:17-24 this morning.

We're going to look and see what God has for us.

Romans chapter 2.

Again, this is the Apostle Paul writing to the church or the Christians in Rome.

And he's writing to them inspired by the Holy Spirit where God is giving him the words to communicate.

And we are looking to see how it applies to them, but also how it applies to us in 2025.

Where 1 Timothy talks about all Scripture is God-breathed and applicable.

I think that word is so important for us.

There is a trend in Christianity, a trend in our culture right now to contextualize the word of God.

And you're like, well, is that a bad thing?

It's not always a bad thing when you begin to look at the specific context who the author is writing to.

But what you can do is you can over contextualize it.

What do you mean by that?

You can say that's for them and it's not for me.

Where you can say God's word is this was for them multiple thousand years ago, but it's not for me.

Well, the Bible teach it applies to our lives today.

And so my goal this morning and really through the whole series of Romans and I guess every single time I open God's word.

See what the context and application was in the author's writing it and then how it applies in our lives in 2025.

So that is the goal this morning.

But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the law.

And if you are sure that 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, an 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?

Do you abhor idols?

Do you rob temples?

You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.

Verse 24 is the hammer here.

For as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles.

Because of you.

Let's pray this morning.

We'll jump into that scripture.

God, we love you.

We praise you.

We honor you.

God, we seek to glorify you in song and sermon.

God, thank you for the high school graduates that were able to celebrate this morning.

God, may they know the great plan that you have for them.

God, may you be real in their lives.

God, for the next few minutes this morning, guide my words, guide my thoughts.

May your Holy Spirit fill our thoughts and guide every single word that is spoken.

God, we just praise you and we love you.

Work and speak this morning in Jesus' wonderful name.

This passage is pretty, I would say, personal.

It's a personal passage where Paul is beginning to, I would say, get personal with these Christians.

Identify some things that they have in their life.

I've titled this message, Spiritual Privilege.

You're saying, "What do you mean by that?"

Paul is speaking or writing now to these Jews or ones that have been given a spiritual privilege.

When I say spiritual privilege, it's given an advantage, if you will, or a spiritual lineage.

Some of you sitting here today, you have grown up as third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh,

passed on generations of believers as Christians.

Where you sat down, where your mom and dad, where you opened God's word.

Some of the things I'm saying, when I say turn to the book of Romans, you know exactly where to go.

Because it's in the New Testament, it's right here.

And I'm so thankful that you're here.

But also, some of you are first or second generation Christians.

Where you're saying, "Man, you're talking about these books of Bible, Caleb.

I don't even know where that's at."

Here's what I want you to know.

All are welcome here.

It's important to this.

This is the concept.

This is the concept Paul is preaching on or teaching on.

Where they begin to become a hierarchy.

Well, I've been a Christian.

I've been a follower of Jesus.

I've had this for such and such years.

I'm so great that you have.

But I'm also thankful for the person that's walked in the door for the very first time today,

struggling in life, wondering, "Oh my goodness, is this Bible thing going to work this time?"

The reality is,

Paul is speaking to both crowds,

but really leaning on the ones with a spiritual privilege or a spiritual advantage, if you will.

In the beginning of this passage,

Paul speaks directly to a few of these.

And we'll see how these apply in our lives.

Today, I really begin to be, I would say, burdened, even convicted by some of these.

And I hope I'm able to translate them with you.

This morning, in verse 17, he says,

"But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God,

and know His will and approve what is excellent,

because you are instructed from the law,

and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind,

a light to those who are in darkness,

an instructor of the foolish,

a teacher of children,

having the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth."

So I want to identify four.

If you will, privileges or advantages Paul is speaking about.

And we'll see how they apply in our lives.

Some different theologians and some different people I've identified.

Three, four, five, six advantages.

But I want to just summarize it with four this morning.

Paul begins in verse 17, and he says,

"You call yourself a Jew."

And you're thinking, "Okay, is that an advantage?"

Well, they were identifying themselves.

It was their main identity.

It was their religion, nationality.

It was no longer to be in Christ or be a part of Christ,

be a follower of Jesus.

It became their mainstay or identity.

I'm not in Christ, I'm a Jew.

And that is more important.

Many of them, as I introduced a couple weeks ago,

they identified themselves as a Jew, and so I'm okay.

folktale or folklore of Abraham. Many Jews to this day study or think this, where Abraham sits at the

gate of hell. And so as a Jew, when one dies, they head to the gate of hell and Abraham does not allow

them to enter. That is a lie from the pit of hell. Yet many of them believe this. And you're saying,

well, how does that apply in my life today? Well, it applies more than you think. It's for many of us,

if you were placed, I am a Jew, I attend this church. And so I am going to go to heaven. Or

some of you may have grown up, you know, I'm a Baptist or I'm a Presbyterian. I'm a Lutheran. I

am this. And many of those aren't bad things. So don't, I'm not kicking religion here, but if

religion and identity come together and not the most preeminent, most important thing, my identity

is in Christ. And so that is my focus. That is my priority. You know what? I grew up as a Baptist.

Now I'm more non-denominational, but the truth of the matter is none of those things matters

if I'm not in Christ. That is the preeminent, most important thing. I have an opportunity to,

and I shared this with you before I do, lots and lots of funerals. And so it's a great blessing.

And it's a heavy part of my weeks. It's crazy.

Pastor Noble did a funeral Friday and Saturday. I did one Friday. And so we're calling one another

this week. Oh man, you're doing okay. Just some heavier, heavier weeks. But when I do a funeral,

I require the funeral home to allow me to sit down with these families. And so I don't know them.

It's an interesting perspective to walk into a room where you know no one. And so try to identify,

try to introduce yourself, try to connect in just a few minutes. And so I always try to cross the

bridge, if you will, of, did they know Christ? And so I try to ask that in a softer manner and

try to hear about them and hear the story. And it always interests me when someone brings the,

well, they were a member of this church. That's the answer. Did they know Christ? Or they have

a father relationship with Jesus? Well, they were a member of this church. Here's the deal. I'm not

kicking being members of a church, but this is what Paul is specifically speaking of. If a membership

of a church becomes your identity and your identity is not in Christ, you are mixed up.

Your privilege, your opportunity, your identity is all jacked up when the real realization is

when I am found in Jesus, I become in Christ. Paul says in Ephesians and first Corinthians,

where he says, I become in Christ and all the old is gone and I become new because of Jesus Christ.

And so our,

identity is to be found in Christ. This reminds me of Paul in first Corinthians chapter three,

he's speaking towards a division in the church of Corinth. There was a lot of divisions in the

church of Corinth. He says, for one says, I follow Paul. There was a, a, a, a, a fight that says,

Hey, you know, when I follow Paul, I follow Apollos. Here he goes. I follow Apollos. You're

not merely human. What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed as the

sign to each. I planted Apollos watered, but God, here it is, gave the truth. God did the work. God

did the transforming. God is the most preeminent identifier in our walk with Christ. This is not

me kicking denomination. This is not me kicking church. But if those become more important than

our realization of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as he is our identifier, he is the

preeminent priority. And I have been found in Christ. He has done the transformation,

not religion in the church. See, religion is simply man-made rules, regulations, practices,

where we begin to live out in our lives to grow in our sanctification or grow closer to God.

And that's not a bad thing. All right. This is not a bash on religion day. Okay.

Or bash on denomination day. That's, that's not what I'm

doing. But Paul is speaking to these Jews and saying, Hey, you find it more important to be a

Jew than to be in Christ. And the sad reality that is transformed or transferred into our culture

today, you find it more important to be a member of this church than to be transformed in Jesus

Christ. And Paul is first grant. He is going, Hey, you may be a Paul. You may be Apollos. Guess what?

Those two are overrated. Christ is the one who did the work. And so the first advantage or the first

is, is, is their identity of being a Jew. The second is he's speaking to this idea that they

possess and knew the law. God had delivered in the old Testament, the law of two, the Israelites

through Moses. And so they view this as a special status. They got to possess the word. And so they

knew it. They had it. And they saw this as a most important privilege. Guess what? It is

a great privilege. I'll say this culturally in our lives. The Bible is the best selling book in all

the history of the world. It is. You can go down to drive down to Ollie's today and you can buy a

Bible for a couple dollars, right? It's great that it's accessible. We can possess it. We literally

can walk around with the living active word of God in our lives every single day. Even better is I

shouldn't say even better. How about and more? I shouldn't say and better. It's on your phone. You

can get any translation. You can get any question, idea, thought answered. There is, we have never

in the history of the world had as many resources as we do right now. So just as this spiritual

advantage or spiritual privilege that Paul is speaking towards the Jews are saying, Hey, you,

even know it, but the sad reality has not had infiltrated their heart. It became a knowledge

thing. It became a prestige thing. It became a level of importance. I'm walking around with

the Bible because I can have it. How about opening it and applying it? The personal conviction I've

had is when I've got, I've got stacks of Bible sitting in my, my office. I'm going, why? The

reality is, is do we open them? Do we study them? Do we apply with,

apply them? Do they infiltrate our life? Do they infiltrate our heart? Or do we just sit back and

go, Hey, you know what? I feel good because I've got 10 Bibles at my home. Guess what? If you've

not opened one of them, go give them away. It means nothing. It doesn't make you more spiritual.

All it is is God's word is sitting there. It's, it wants to transform you. It wants to

shine a light in your life. It wants to activate. It wants to do all these different things. And

what we do is we, we leave it on the bookshelf and go, Hey, you know what? I'm special. I've

got that Bible. That's what he's speaking to right here. So we, as Americans, we can drive

down the road. You can go to any bookstore. It's there. Amazon. It's crazy. It'll show up that

afternoon. I don't know how they do that, but that's a different story altogether, right?

You're going to order it. It's right there. It's on your phone yet. We, we, we, we possess,

we know, but yet we don't apply it or live it out in our lives. Paul even speaks later in this

chapter of this idea that of circumcision, where the, the Jews would begin,

this was my outward action that, that, that we're applying this. So I am showing everybody I'm

committed when in reality, neither one got to the heart, neither one applied to the heart.

He says that, you know, you've been at, we're looking for the circumcision of the heart,

which simply means the commitment of the heart. You're all in. I'm committed to it. And the sad

truth of his, the Bible has become a textbook. The Bible has become simply just a prestige that I can

carry it. No open it, apply it, live it, watch it transform our life. It's the living active word

of God. It's not something flippant to just throw on a shelf. We must value it, read it, study it to

show ourselves approved, not just simply carry it around and go, Hey, you know what? I'm a Christian

because I'm carrying my Bible. You know what? That doesn't make you a follower of Jesus. I wish it

did. And yet this is one of the privileges that is here. Paul speaks later in this chapter of this

chapter in Romans 10, because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your

heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. But then he continues with the heart

one believes and is justified. And with the mouth one confesses and saved. It happens inside and

works its way out, not outside in. We have a God that knows the thoughts and intents of our heart.

That is terrifying to say out loud, right? I'm like, man, I know,

no one knows, needs to know the thoughts and intents of Caleb Combs. But the sad reality is

for many of us in our worship, we have this spiritual privilege. We have this, this spiritual

advantage. We get to sit in a room. We're not worried about somebody busting in the doors and

arresting us today. I'm not worried about that today. There's others in the world that have

worshiped Jesus Christ today that they had to worry about that. We don't have to worry. We have,

we have this great advantage. If you will, we get to open God's word. Do you need a Bible?

I'll say this. We'll get you one. And so we have this advantage that's lived out in our lives.

Yet many of us, and I'm not pointing fingers here. I'm pointing fingers at myself. Many of us live a

half hearted worship of Jesus Christ, not fully committed, not fully invested, not fully in.

And this is what Paul is preaching at the church in Rome. He's going, Hey, you have it. You have

the advantage. It's right in front of you. Yet you live half hearted. See the

Bible warns of empty repetition. What does that mean? Wow. Do we actually think in moments of

prayer? Do I just say words? Hey, communion. Do we realize that we are getting an opportunity

to really worship Jesus Christ by taking a representation of his body and his,

and the blood that was shed for us? Or is it just simply a religious exercise that we do to,

to check box? When we sing a song, do we sing with a heart that really

is committed in worshiping Jesus Christ and going, God, I don't deserve anything you've given to me,

but I think in worship you wholeheartedly because that is what he's seeking in our lives.

Not a half hearted. I, you know what? I'll get to it when I get to it. Or I looked apart. No,

an authentic, intimate, full hearted, committed follower of Jesus Christ. That's my desire. That's

my voice. This moment, not a flippant when it's, when it's works in my schedule, but all in

wholehearted moving from our head to our heart, because that's what really transforms us. Jesus

speaks of this in the sermon on the Mount. He gets to the heart of the issue. The sad reality is

religion has given us some practice that we says, you know what, if I can come sing a few songs,

offering it here, a sermon, I'm all good. You know what? Those aren't bad things, but if they,

those become your identifier and your following work, walk of Jesus Christ has it really hit your

heart. Habits aren't bad, but they have to have the heart behind it. That's what he's looking for.

And so the first advantage was their identifier. The second is they had the living active word of

God, the law. And the third is they bragged regarding God. You know, I'm thinking,

okay, what does that really mean? I, it is, that doesn't sound like a bad thing. We're told to,

to, to, to boast on the Lord. The Bible says to brag, to, to celebrate him. That's not what

they're doing here. The best description is they were boasting that they were God's favorite. I

don't know how it works in your family. If you're the favorite child or not the favorite child,

no point fingers here. All right. So I'm going to send a text after this gathering. I knew you

were not the favorite. No, I'm just kidding. All right. But the reality is,

this is what they were doing here. They're saying, you know what? We're God's favorite.

We're God's favorite. Sorry. We can't do anything wrong. God has chosen us. Go figure out life,

but we've got it all together. What did they have done? They had begin to forget their spiritual

advantage. God had chosen them. God had identified them. I want a special relationship with you.

And yet what did they do? Well, God, you're lucky you've chosen me, right? That's what it is. The

still happens today. It still happens today. Man, God's lucky I'm on his team. Can I say this to you

in full due respect? No, he's not. No, he's not. None of us even deserve to be on his team. None

of us do. Yet God in his great love and his great mercy, while we were yet sinners, what

it describes later in Romans, Christ died for us. He loved us in spite of that. They begin to act

like they can do nothing wrong. Honestly, the best description I read is they acted like a

spoiled child. So when that becomes, we begin to boast in ourselves and not in Christ. This quote

is prideful presumption upon religious privilege can breed self-righteousness, self-centered and

self-deceived stuffed shirts. That's what they had become self-righteous, self-centered and

self-deceived. It's a great description of the church today. And the last privilege, they not

actually teach the law. They prided themselves as experts, guides, lights, correctors, teachers,

no longer learning, but ones that were experts. They didn't have anything else to learn. They had

it all figured out. See pride blocked the spiritual ability to teach them. Can I say this? We all have

plenty to learn. I'm going to say that again, because I think we need to hear. We all have

a generation follower of Jesus, or maybe today's your first time ever walking in a church. We all

have plenty to learn about what God's word has to say and apply in our lives. Every single one of

us. The parable Jesus teaches or tells in Luke chapter 18, he said, he also told this parable

to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Two

of them said, I'm not like the other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like

this tax collector. What's he doing? This Pharisee, this religious person, I'll make it this church

person went in to the temple to pray and goes, God, I'm thank you. I'm not like this bozo over

here. Oh, it's my heart that the church would even ever think to do that. That's man. I'm not

I had a conversation with a buddy of mine talking about church and talking about Easter. And he said

he had an issue in his church that people in the church were horrified that people would come on

Easter. And I said to him, really? He said, yeah, I don't understand. They began to come and people

in his church were upset that they came on Easter. And I thought to myself, where have we gone as a

church? When everybody, some, I don't care who walks in these doors, broken, somebody that has

nothing to give, somebody that has money, somebody that doesn't have anything to give, somebody that

doesn't, I don't care. I say, walk in the door. May we love them the way God loved us. Not seeing

ourselves better, but we see the inverse of the religious leader. He continues. He goes, I fast

twice a week. I give all the tithes that I get, but the tax collector standing far off the one that

the broken lowly person would not even lift up his eyes to heaven. Didn't feel worthy, but he says,

but I beat his chest saying, God, be merciful to me as a sinner. I tell you, this man went

down to the house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.

But the one who humbles himself will be exalted. What is Jesus saying here? He's saying, guess what?

When we humble ourselves, when we realize we don't have this world perfected, when we don't have

God's word all figured out, guess what? I can say this unequivocally guaranteed. No one in here does

nobody that has it all together.

There's not one perfect person here. Constant theme in God's word. God opposes the proud,

but gives grace to the humble. And yet we see ourselves better. I love this quote. Whenever a

follower of Christ feels superior, they should be aware for such an attitude is not a sign of God's

grace. When you begin to feel self-righteous, seeing yourselves better than someone else,

raise an alarm flag in your life. Am I showing grace and mercy and love to this person? Yet what

happened is these Jews had received all the spiritual advantage and privilege, and yet they

had let it distort. It let it destroy. It let it, it ultimately infected their following of Jesus

Christ. And Paul continues in this passage, he gets personal, which I appreciate. And I'm also

satisfied at the same time. He says in verse 21, if you then teach others, do you not teach

yourself? Well, you preach against stealing. Do you steal? You say that one must not commit

adultery. Do you commit adultery? You abhor idols. Do you rob temples? You, you boast in the law,

dishonor God by breaking it. What's he saying here? He's confronting them. Hey, you teach all

these truths. You have this spiritual advantage. You know what the law says. You even know what

the law says. You know it well enough to teach. Now apply it. Now apply it. Every pastor in the

entire world should, should, should read this passage. Not enough. Hey, we've got to, we've got

to perfect these things, but apply it. That's, that was the convicting thing for me this week.

As I began to study, it's like, man, you can get up and preach, but do you apply God's word every

single day? Man, you can get up and say, this is easy to do for the people sitting in the seat. So

do, but do you apply it in your life? It's easy to talk the talk, but not walk the walk. He's

confronting them. He doesn't use this specific word, but he calls them hypocrites. He says,

you teach, you guide, you're the light, you guide the blind, but you yourselves don't follow

the words that you are teaching. He exposes their inconsistency with their words

and their conduct. See their lives did not measure up to the truth. They began to become

self-righteous because we have this spiritual advantage. Others need to get what they deserve.

This week I was driving down white Lake road. Um, and if you know anything about white Lake road,

almost white Lake and Anderson road, it's just two lanes with a turn lane in the middle. And so I'm

driving down the road and this big white truck comes flying up behind me. And so I'm thinking,

what are they doing? And so, um, begins to just hide my bumper. I'm thinking, what is going on?

And so all of a sudden yanks it into the turn lane, hammers it and drives around me and flies

by me. My competitive nature goes, man, I'm going to hit the gas. We're going to race this sucker,

but I didn't do that. All right. I really, I wanted to, but I didn't, I didn't. I kept calm

patience. Cheer me on. Right. But I watched this, this truck will fly in past me. And I'm thinking

to myself, this is, this is a, this is a real interaction as I'm studying for this, by the way,

I hope they get what they deserve. Come on. I was thinking that you were too, man, where are

the cop at? I hope they get what they deserve. As I, as God is my witness. I said that out loud.

I looked down and the speed limit's 45 and I'm driving 51. And that's what this chapter is

talking about. I'm not as bad as they are. They need to get the ticket. Guess what? The state of

Michigan, I would have got a ticket as well. I was driving six over. Yeah. I didn't go flying around

that person almost causing an accident, but that's what's happened to the church. We have these, all

these, we have this spiritual privilege. If you will, we've got the living act of word of God in

our hands constantly. We get to teach. We get to preach. We get to sing freely in our country. We

get to do all these things yet. It's not made us grow closer to him. It's made us feel more

self-righteous. I've got it all together. I hope they get what they deserve. And then in verse 24,

close with this, this morning. Now, you know why I wasn't able to preach the whole passage because

there's so much to preach. I wasn't able to preach the whole passage because there's so

much in this seven verses. Some of the other location pastors will go all the way to verse

eight in chapter three. I was not able to do that today, but in verse 24, for as it is written,

the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. Paul is quoting Isaiah chapter 52

and writing to the Christians in Rome. He's quoting it in the exact context. Isaiah is

writing to the Israelites again and saying, Hey, you know what? You are blaspheming or the name of

God is blasphemy because of your actions. In this verse, Paul echoes the prophet Isaiah and you can

replace Gentiles with anyone that is not a Jew. So that's the rest of the world. Okay. And so you

can put, uh, the name of God is blaspheme among the world because of you. And so they have this

spiritual advantage, have the spiritual privilege, if you will. They've got these great opportunities.

Paul is making it personal here. Do you do anything with it? You've got the blessings of

God in your life. You've got this advantage. You've got all these just great things. Yet are

you furthering the name of God? And so as we not only look and see Paul writing to the church in

Rome, we look and see how it applies in our lives. Are we furthering the name of God or because of

our testimony, because of our actions, because of the way we interact, because the way we do our job,

the way we raise our kids, the way we love our spouse, the way we live as a neighbor,

are we representing Christ the way we're supposed to see we've been called ambassadors of Jesus

representatives. God has somehow chosen us to represent him, the church and the sad reality

for many of us. And I'm not pointing fingers in here today because if I'm pointing fingers at

anyone, it's myself. There's been too many times. My words, my actions,

my responses have not represented Christ the way I know I'm supposed to. And I'm ashamed. All cards

on the table. You can think of moment and moment, not just weeks, months, years, this week. And I'm

going, Caleb, what are you doing? God has given you this incredible privilege, this honor to

represent him, the God of all the universe, the creator of all things. Think about that. God chose

you to be an ambassador in the world around. Well, let's, let's, let's replace world. That's your

workplace. God has chosen you in your home, in your school, on your university, in your neighborhood,

in this community. Think about that. Now we begin to go, are my actions blaspheming God? What does

that simply mean? Are my actions following what God has taught or are they in conflict with what

God taught? Do my actions blaspheme God? Do my actions blaspheme God? Do my actions blaspheme God?

Do my actions push people to God? Are you feeling the opposite, the inverse? I love Matthew 5. Jesus

says again in the Sermon on the Mount, in the same way, let your light shine before others.

There's the advantage. We've been given the spiritual advantage, the spiritual privilege,

the church carrying the light so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father

and who is in heaven. There it is. Church, be horrified. Not just the reputation of the river

crates, right? That's the reputation the world around us would know. You really want to know? Go

ask a non-saved person at your workplace. Hey, what do you think about the church? Think about

Christians. Think about this Bible thing. Say what do you think? Don't get defensive. Please don't.

If you can't get defensive, don't ask. Ask. I think for many of us, it would be a light switch and go,

wow, I have to now speak into this a little more. I have to now represent Christ better. I have to

do these things. That's a great weight.

No, man, I don't want the word of God being blasphemed because of me. I want to carry that

light. I don't want to pick up that mantle. I want to use my advantage to live out the word of God in

my life. I mentioned it earlier. Some of you have been given great spiritual Christian heritages,

parents, grandparents who knew Christ. Can I say this? It's not a privilege to be taken lightly.

Don't become a spoiled child. I use that word when I'm talking about our seniors, not the spoiled

This idea of this, that we've become, we want their faith to become theirs. You're sitting

here today and say, well, I'm a Christian because my parents were. Don't be deceived. That's not

the truth. Don't be deceived. That's not the truth. It's not until you come to the faith and

understanding, as I read to Romans 10, 9 there, confess with your mouth and believe in your heart.

Others just say, man, Caleb, I'm the only believer in my family. I celebrate you.

Create a heritage today. Create a heritage in your family. Create it. That's awesome.

But ask.

This question, I'll leave you with this this morning. We've been given this spiritual privilege,

spiritual advantage, and I'm going to ask this literally and pray, I think. What are we doing

with it? What are we doing with it? That's the question I want you to leave with today.

God, I come to you this morning, praise you and honor you and glorify you. Thank you for this

passage. Thank you for this word you've given to me, God. God, may we see these words that Paul is

teaching the church in Rome. God, may we see these words that Paul is teaching the church in Rome.

These Christians seeing this great spiritual advantage, this privilege that they were given,

yet they didn't do anything with it to their heads, didn't apply it in their lives and infiltrate

their heart. God, may we not fall into the same traps as American Christians, as ones that are

sitting here with so many advantages, with so many privileges, with so many opportunities to be in

your word, to have your word, to worship you. God, it is all around you. You've given us this

great opportunity, yet for many of us, we've become half-hearted followers of you, not fully in,

not fully invested, not fully giving our hearts to you, God. God, may today this message infiltrate,

not the message of Caleb, but the message of the Holy Spirit working through your word,

that we carry on. May we be cities on a hilltop, shining a light so that others can see you.

May we be that as a church. May we be that as families. May we be that as husband,

and wife. May we be that as neighbors. May we be that in our schools. May we be that

everywhere we interact. God, may they see us and glorify you and seek to you. God,

I pray for that wholeheartedly this morning. We ask that you bless our efforts. God, we love you.

Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your mercy. Praise you and you're good. Jesus' wonderful name.

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