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The NEED

The NEED of the Religious, Pt. 2

Josh Combs · Sunday, 18 May 2025 · Romans 2:17-3:8 · 34:21 · 4,569 words

Romans S4 · 2:17-3:8 Goodrich

There is no public page for this message yet — the transcript below is the whole of it.

Paul’s message to the Romans warns that a polished religious résumé—knowing the law, teaching others, outward piety—does not prove a relationship with God when the heart remains unchanged. Jesus condemned the religious leaders who preached one thing and practiced another, calling them hypocrites whose outward beauty hides internal decay. The sermon urges listeners to stop relying on external credentials and instead turn to Christ in genuine confession and faith, allowing the Holy Spirit to produce true inner transformation. God’s approval comes from the heart, not from self‑assessment or human praise.

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.

resume 18 religious 27 steal 16 bible 32 assessment 8 adultery 10 sale 5 number 15 circumcision 9 surface 5 practice 9 relationship 15

Topics

The Law 7 Faith 2 The Holy Spirit 2 Sin 1 Righteousness 1 The Gospel 1 Abraham 1 Salvation 1 Government & Authority 1 Baptism 1

Scripture referenced 12

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

Romans 2 14:50 Romans 2:24 14:56 Romans 2:24 15:06 Isaiah 52 17:03 Romans 2:25 19:05 Genesis 17 19:41 Romans 2 27:02 Romans 2:29 27:09 Romans 2:29 27:26 Luke 16:19 28:06 Luke 16:20 28:24 Romans 2:23 29:23

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.

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

That's fantastic. If you've got a Bible, open them up to the book of Romans, Romans chapter number 2.

If you don't have a Bible, I want to encourage you to share with someone that's sitting next to you,

or you can take out your phone, you can download a Bible app or the River Church app.

There's a Bible feature on there. I encourage you to follow along.

Romans chapter number 2. If you're a guest, I want to welcome you.

So thankful to have you here.

Today, Romans chapter number 2, and we're going to begin in verse number 17.

Paul is writing here and he is writing to the Christians in the city of Rome.

He says this, verse 17.

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

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 in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth.

So here, Paul is speaking to those in the church who are religious,

particularly those who were Jewish by birth.

They had the ancestor of Abraham or they converted to Judaism.

They knew.

They knew the law.

They knew some things about the law that God had given to Moses

when Moses was on Mount Sinai and that Moses had brought down.

He says, I'm talking to you in two phrases.

I want you to notice verse 17.

He says, if you call yourself.

So he's talking to people about their self-assessment,

how they identify themselves, how they see themselves in a religious sense.

And then in verse 19, maybe a similar kind of a similar,

he says, if you are sure that you yourself are.

So he's talking about our judgment of ourselves or our personal assessment.

And to those folks, they had assembled a pretty impressive religious resume.

They knew the law.

They had knowledge of the one true God.

So they were monotheists rather than polytheists.

They didn't believe in the many gods and false goddesses that the many in Rome did.

They knew right.

They knew right from wrong.

They had been instructed from the time they were very young in God's word.

They were a light in a dark world.

They taught other people things.

And they looked to those, that list, they looked to those things,

the things that were on their religious resume as proof that they belonged to God.

There are some here today, maybe those that may be watching right now,

who think in the same terms.

If someone were to ask you, hey, are you a,

Christian, you may respond, yes.

If they responded maybe a little more argumentative and said to you, we'll prove it.

How do you know?

What's the proof of that?

What do you rely on to affirm that claim as a Christian?

You might say, well, I grew up in church.

My parents were Christians.

I have a Bible.

Matter of fact, I have a few Bibles and I even have a Bible that has my name on the front of it.

I know right and wrong.

I've actually taught some things.

I've worked in children's ministry or with students.

I give counsel to people at work.

They know I'm a Christian.

So they may ask, you know, what does the Bible say about this?

And I, you know, if I don't know the answer, I know where to find it.

We assemble a sort of religious resume.

It says, you know, I know Bible stories.

And matter of fact, I can name all 66 books of the Bible in order in one breath.

And that would be our spiritual assessment of ourselves.

Looking at our religious resume.

But like all resumes, it doesn't tell the whole story.

Because sometimes we omit some things.

We deceive ourselves.

There were those in the Church of Rome who were doing that.

They were relying on this religious resume as proof, as confirmation that they were in relationship with God.

And so Paul says to them, the Bible says to us, okay, that's what you're relying on.

But let's talk about not just what you preach, but let's talk about what you practice.

Look at verse number 21.

He says, you then who teach others, do you not teach yourselves?

While you preach against stealing, do you steal?

You say that the one must not commit adultery.

Do you commit adultery?

You who abhor idols.

I mean, you just, it disgusts you, the idol worship that's going on around you.

He says, do you rob temples?

You who boast in the law.

You boast in, hey,

we have the commandments from God via Moses.

We boast about that knowledge that we have.

Yet you dishonor God by breaking the law, the Mosaic law, the law that God gave to Moses.

He says, this is your religious resume that you say is proof of your relationship with God.

And that's what you preach.

But your practice is very different.

You steal.

What is stealing?

Stealing is taking something that does not belong to you.

My wife and I yesterday, we like to go garage.

Sailing and we like to go to a state sales because what we need is more junk at our house.

So we're on the hunt for that.

Yesterday we had a estate sale and you know, by the miracle of God, we didn't find anything that we needed there.

It was real hard.

Let me tell you, matter of fact, the state selling yesterday, I bought more things for other people than I did for myself.

Went to a state sale, saw some junk and went, my brother needs that.

I said, Hey, do you want this?

Yeah.

Okay.

Went to another estate sale.

I saw, you know, you know, my, my, my.

My other buddy needs this.

I call him, you want this junk?

Yes, I do.

So I just swapped people's junk all over Genesee County yesterday.

It was, it was ridiculous.

So I said, this estate sale and this old man was managing a state sale.

And he said to me, we just got a little conversation and he said, yes.

And people came by, they stole some stuff.

I mean, I was looking around trying to figure out what 50 cent item there was a great heist for, you know, I just thought there there's, there's nothing here.

Stealing, right.

Taking something that isn't yours.

We're assessing ourselves.

The Bible says that we need to not be deceived and the Bible points out and says, there's people that claim Christ who would teach don't steal.

And yet there are Christian employees that steal from their boss every single day.

The Bible says a honest day's work is worth an honest day's wage.

So you have employees stealing from their employer every single day, blacking, leaving early, getting someone to clock in for you when you're not there.

We have employers dealing.

Stealing from their employees, not giving a fair day's wage, cutting every possible corner.

People go to work and go, you know, the boss won't miss this GM.

You know, they're big enough.

This won't affect the bottom line.

I'm going to take that tool deal from their work.

People steal from the government.

Bible says, pay your taxes.

None of us like it.

I've yet to meet the person who comes up to me after a gathering and says, pastor, you talked about taxes.

I love my taxes.

I've yet to meet that person because that person doesn't exist, but the Bible says, pay your taxes yet.

There are.

Folks constantly trying to scam the system, cheat the system, lie about what they actually made.

Paul says, you say, don't steal.

And then you steal.

Paul says, you say, don't commit adultery.

And then you commit adultery.

Jesus says in Matthew chapter number five about adultery, he says, if a man looks at a woman with lust in his heart, he's committed adultery already in his heart.

People that try to justify with a self-assessment say, well, we didn't, we didn't have sex.

We just kissed.

That's not adultery.

Jesus says, don't, don't think in those ridiculous categories.

He says, it starts in the heart.

And when the eyes have looked and committed adultery, the deed is done.

The sin has been committed.

That's the essence of the commandment.

So he says, there's folks in Rome who have this religious resume that they think entitles them to a relationship with God or proves their relationship with God.

But what they preach is very different from what they practice.

They're stealing.

There's idolatry.

There's adultery.

Jesus is most blistering sermons.

His sermons weren't for those pagans in the world.

His most blistering sermons were reserved for the religious who preached one thing and practiced something entirely different.

Hold your spot in Romans and go to the left to the gospel of Matthew.

Matthew chapter number 23 for just a moment.

Jesus is addressing the religious leaders for the final time.

As an introduction, just look at the last phrase of verse three.

He says to his listeners and the religious leaders are standing.

He says of them, he says, for they, the religious leaders, they preach, but they do not practice.

Jump down to verse number 27.

Here's how Jesus describes them.

Says, woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, hypocrites, meaning an actor, a pretender, someone who wears a mask.

He says, for you are like a whitewashed tomb, which outwardly appears beautiful.

That's what a religious resume often is.

It's built upon the outward expressions, the things that.

People see the things that we want them to see.

Jesus is outwardly.

They appear beautiful.

They appear religious, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.

Just below the surface is a rotting spiritual life and all uncleanness, wickedness for the religious.

The assessment was based purely on the external.

Years ago, a friend of mine introduced an illustration to me, a way of seeing this truth.

In the Bible, he likened it to a theater.

If you've ever gone to a theater before, maybe the Fox Theater, these great theaters that have been restored over the years.

You go in and the columns and the decoration is just a beautiful sight.

And you're seeing the front stage.

You may see a production of an orchestra or singing or a musical or whatever.

It might be a play and you'll see it and you're seeing the front stage and you're like, wow, it's spectacular.

That's your assessment.

That's your assessment of it.

It's all the surface.

No one goes to a production like that, sits backstage and reviews the production that way.

In our lives, we often judge ourselves.

We often assess ourselves from the front stage.

Look at what I did.

Look at my experiences.

Look at my knowledge.

And the reality is that's what religious people do and often ignore the backstage, ignore the internal, ignore the behind the scenes.

We often care more about what we think.

And what others think.

So then we excuse, justify, rationalize sin.

Go back to Romans chapter two.

Paul says this is what happens.

Verse twenty four, because of that inconsistency, because there is preaching but not practice.

Verse twenty four, for as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

In the last few years, we've seen an epidemic of, quote unquote, famous pastors falling.

You rewind the clock.

Just a few decades, there was a run of very famous TV preachers, televangelists who the scandals were all over the pages of newspapers and magazines across news.

Today, the scandals are across social media, different podcasts.

You can just detail the fall.

This one went into adultery.

This one stole money.

This one left his wife.

This one likes dudes.

You just keep going down the list and you just see the pastors falling.

And what?

What does the world do?

Oh, you preached against all that.

You didn't practice it.

Front stage was awesome.

Man, the show you put on, the talks, the sermons, the shows, the thing, man, the spectacle was amazing.

But behind the scenes, you're cheating on your wife.

You're stealing money from people.

You're lying.

You're corrupt.

It's all a game.

And the world sees that and they glory in it because the inconsistency just proves what they believe.

They don't really buy that.

They're in it for the money.

They're in it for the glory.

They're in it for the sexual gratification.

And what happens is, as Paul says it this way, God's name is blasphemed.

It dishonors God.

It brings down the reputation of God.

And this is a quote from Isaiah 52.

God says, and continually all the day, my name is despised because of that preaching and not practicing.

God's name is despised.

That's why the church, particularly in America, has lost its influence and its power from the Holy Spirit because we say one thing and we live completely different.

And the world goes, okay.

And it happens in the news, but it also happens in a smaller scale in our families.

I mean, the Bible says don't gossip.

And then we're the gossipy ones in our family.

The Bible says love and be kind and be committed to the truth.

And we're the jerkiest people in our house.

And people go, okay, you're a follower of Jesus.

Okay, I believe.

I believe that.

The church can be angry when people take the name of Jesus Christ in vain, when Jesus' name is used as a curse word.

But we should be equally upset.

We should be equally grieved when Jesus' name is claimed by professing Christians and then that name of Jesus is drug through the mud by their behavior.

We shouldn't enjoy hearing Jesus' name taken in vain, used as a curse word.

But we should also just be grieved to the core when we watch a Christian who says, oh,

And then they just drag Jesus' name right through the dirt.

God's name is blasphemed.

Our witness is compromised.

All the while, we're like, check out my religious resume.

That for sure means I'm on my way to heaven.

I'm definitely in relationship with God.

Some rely on the resume.

Some rely on who they're associated with, the group that they're part of.

Look at verse 25.

For circumcision indeed is of value.

If you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.

Now, you might be reading this going, OK, I have no idea what the Bible is saying.

So in the modern context, circumcision is a procedure, a medical procedure on a baby boy to clip the foreskin of their penis.

You're like, OK, why is the Bible talking about that?

Because in the Old Testament, particularly in Genesis chapter 17, there was a man named Abraham and he was in relationship with God.

And God says,

A mark, a very personal, deeply intimate mark of that relationship is going to be circumcision.

It's similar to like a wedding ring.

I married my wife.

One time when we were young, I lost my ring in a field.

So the ring was gone for three days.

I bought a metal detector and found it eventually.

And I gained weight so it would stay on.

So when I lost the ring for three days, it was not like I was unmarried for those three days.

But the mark of the covenant, the mark of my marriage.

My marriage was lost.

That's what's being talked about here.

Go back to look at Romans chapter number four, just for a moment.

Romans chapter number four, verse number 11.

Paul returns to this subject a little later, says in verse 11, he and the he here is Abraham.

So Abraham received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.

So it's not like, hey, Abraham, I need you to be circumcised so that you will be righteous.

That you will be in relationship with me.

No, you're in relationship with me.

And this is going to be a personal mark of that relationship.

Now, Romans two, Paul says there are those in the church at Rome who are like, hey, I'm in relationship with God because when I was eight days old, my parents took me and I was circumcised.

I have the mark of the covenant.

Clearly, I'm in relationship with God.

Look at what Paul says.

He says, if you break the law, your your mark of the covenant becomes uncircumcision.

So if a man who is.

Is uncircumcised, keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

So if he obeys the law, which no one could, it's just an argument Paul's making here.

Doesn't that put him in right standing, right relationship with God?

Then he, verse 27, who is physically uncircumcised, but keeps the law, will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision, but break the law.

So you have this religious resume, you have this religious pedigree, this religious background, but you break the law.

You preach, but you don't practice.

Now, he says in verse number 28, no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly.

So they were relying on this religious tradition to not just confirm, but to establish the relationship with God.

And I think there are people in the church today doing the same thing.

There are people who say, well, are you a Christian?

OK, we'll prove it.

Well, I was baptized.

Baptism is great.

That's your proof.

Or I was confirmed.

I was christened.

I was dedicated.

I've given money.

I've served.

I went to Bible college.

I was a pastor.

I was on staff.

I was a deacon.

I was a board member.

Whatever it might be.

We look at this thing.

We go, well, that proves it.

Maybe the group you're part of.

I'm a church member.

So you're a Christian.

Oh, yeah.

I've been a member of a church for 50 years.

You know, the tragic reality is there's going to be a lot of church members in hell because that's what they think guarantees them eternal life.

Folks will say I belong to such and such a church.

The deeper question is, do you belong?

Do you belong to Christ?

Paul says, no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, meaning no one belongs to God.

No one's part of the covenant.

No one's part of the family of God.

It's just an outward act, nor is circumcision outward and physical.

But a Jew, someone who belongs to God, is one inwardly.

Circumcision, a matter of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter.

Hold your spot in Romans and go to the right to the book of Philippians.

Philippians chapter number three.

Here's Philippians chapter number three.

This is Paul's testimony because Paul had a heck of a religious resume.

Paul says, circumcised on the eighth day.

So even before he could make a decision, his parents said, hey, we're going to follow the traditions.

We're going to follow the law.

We're going to do this for our son.

So he was checking all the boxes from eight days old.

So circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews.

So he knows what family he's part of, what tribe he's part of.

As to the law of Pharisee.

So the most conservative person in relationship to the law.

This guy observed the law like nobody's business.

As to zeal, a persecutor of the church.

As to righteousness under the law, blameless.

Paul says, I had a religious resume that would crush anybody's.

He says, but whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing.

Worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

For his sake, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.

So here is the gospel.

The gospel is not about let me assemble this religious resume that will impress God.

It's like this idea.

We'll get to the gates of heaven.

St. Peter, little fiction here.

St. Peter will be sitting there and you'll be like, let me show you my resume, Peter.

I was at church more times than I was.

And I was there Sunday morning.

Sunday night, Wednesday night.

I served in ministry.

This is my career.

Here are my references.

It's incredible.

And none of that will matter.

That's what Paul's trying to say.

He's like, I count it rubbish.

I crumple it up.

I threw it all away because I thought that put me in right standing with God.

That was my self-assessment.

Go back to Romans chapter 2.

Here's the crux of the whole point that Paul's making.

Again, verse 29.

He says, it's a matter of the heart.

This is an internal transformation.

Not the outside in, but the inside out.

Paul ends there.

End of verse 29.

He says, his praise, meaning his approval, is not from man, but from God.

It's not so much what we say about ourselves, how we assess ourselves, or what other people say about us.

It is what God says about you.

There's a story in Luke chapter number 16.

You don't have to turn there.

I'll just read the beginning of it to you.

Jesus is telling a story of two men.

And on the surface, if you saw these men, you would look at one and go,

blessed by God, hated by God.

It was just the extremes.

They represented the extremes.

Luke 16, 19 says, there was a rich man who was clothed in purple, fine linen,

and who feasted sumptuously every day.

So here's this guy over here.

He's dressed like royalty.

He hosts these incredible feasts.

He is wealthy.

Verse 20 says, he has gates.

I mean, this guy has it all.

You would look at him on the surface and go, that's a man.

Blessed by God.

Then at his gates, there was this man named Lazarus.

Says he was poor.

He was covered with sores.

Who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table.

Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

Two guys, extreme ends of the spectrum.

One guy over here, awful, terrible.

The company he keeps are these little nasty dogs.

This guy over here, great feasts.

I mean, this is the...

Both died.

The Bible says the poor man was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.

And the rich man died.

He was buried.

He had a funeral.

The Bible says something horrifying in verse 23.

Jesus says, and in Hades, being in torment.

On the outside, you say that guy is loved by God.

This guy upset God somewhere along the line.

This guy has earned God's favor.

This guy must be a reprobate sinner.

It was all a surface level judgment.

And the Bible,

warns us about that.

The Bible says the Lord sees not as man sees.

Man looks on the outward appearance.

But God looks at the heart.

So what is the response to the gospel?

Please hear me.

It is about your heart.

Not the organ in your body right now pumping blood.

It is about the core of who you are.

That's why the Bible says to confess with your mouth,

Meaning Jesus, your King.

And believe in your heart.

That God raised him from the dead.

That's the saving response to the gospel.

But so many of us are dependent on these religious resumes that we've assembled.

Or our heritage.

My grandma was a Christian.

My grandpa was a pastor.

I have all these.

Look at this religious resume.

And we assess ourselves that way.

Rather than saying, God, you search me and try me.

You know me.

And just laying ourselves before God.

That's a terrifying thing.

But here's what the Bible says.

This is about the heart.

This is about who you really are before Almighty God.

The Bible says Jesus died for our sins.

He was buried.

He rose from the dead.

You might know that.

That might be something you've taught to people.

But the truth is, that has never made an internal transformation in your heart.

It's just a fact you know.

Like George Washington was the first president.

Okay.

That doesn't mean anything to me.

That's not a heart knowledge.

That doesn't yield any heart transformation for me.

George Washington.

Okay.

Have you come to Christ?

Have you said to Jesus, I'm a sinner.

Not just an amateur sinner.

I'm a wretched sinner.

I have committed high treason against the high king of heaven.

I have sinned against you, God.

I have broken your law more times than I can remember.

But I hear that you offer forgiveness.

I hear that you're willing to pardon me.

I hear that you're willing to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.

The Bible says that if we come to Christ in that way.

If we confess Jesus as Lord.

Meaning, Jesus, you're the king.

You're the Lord.

You're the master of my life.

I don't leave this room as the boss of my own life.

I don't leave this as the commander of my own destiny.

I lay all that I am before you.

You're the boss.

You're the Lord.

You're the king.

You are on the throne of my heart.

And I believe that you died.

And in my heart, I believe you rose from the dead.

That's a transforming belief.

The Bible says if we confess and believe,

we will be saved.

And a result of being saved is to be transformed.

The Bible says there it is by the Spirit.

Meaning the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us.

And there are things that the Holy Spirit comes to produce in us

that we cannot manufacture on our own strength.

Galatians says the fruit of the Spirit is love.

It is joy.

It's peace.

It's faithfulness.

It's gentleness.

It's self-control.

That's what the Holy Spirit produces in our life.

And we begin to see those we know.

It's not because we tried hard.

It's not because we tried hard.

We tried to put on a show.

We tried to be more patient.

We tried to be more loving.

It's because the Holy Spirit began to transform us

and make us those things.

So it doesn't matter what you say about yourself spiritually

or what maybe your friends say about you.

What is God?