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The NEED

Relationship Not Religion

Randy Johnson · Sunday, 18 May 2025 · Romans 2:17-3:8 · 44:35 · 6,818 words

Romans S4 · 2:17-3:8

Listen to this message

The sermon explores Romans 2:17‑24, warning that merely belonging to a religious tradition can give false security. It contrasts outward religion with a true, heart‑circumcised relationship with God, showing how personal hypocrisy can cause God’s name to be dishonored and push others away from the gospel. Randy encourages listeners to stop boasting in themselves and instead trust Jesus, turn from sin, and follow Him daily. The message calls everyone to let their lives be a light, remembering that God sees the secret motives of the heart.

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.

joe 15 security 11 testimony 12 uncle 7 jew 19 boast 11 academy 5 pink 4 religious 12 college 7 dumpster 3 mighty 6

Topics

The Law 4 Salvation 3 Faith 3 The Gospel 3 Assurance 2 Israel 2 Sin 2 The Gentiles 1 Prayer 1

Scripture referenced 26

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

Romans 2 6:17 Romans 2:17-24 6:17 Romans 2:17-24 6:50 Romans 1 6:56 Romans 2 7:37 Romans 1 8:41 Romans 2:17-20 9:26 Romans 2:17-20 10:23 Romans 2:17-20 10:33 Romans 2:17 12:11 Romans 2:17 15:02 Romans 2 15:04 Romans 2:11 15:04 Proverbs 22:6 19:21 Romans 2:21-22 21:32 Romans 2 21:37 Romans 2:21-22 21:51 James 3:1 22:07 Luke 17 23:19 Luke 17:1-2 23:22 James 1:22 30:00 Matthew 23:27 32:56 Isaiah 49:6 36:32 Isaiah 52:5 38:11 Ezekiel 36:20-21 38:57 Romans 2:15-16 39:51

Transcript

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

Well, good morning, I'm Pastor Randy.

Well, thank you, there we go, good morning.

It is good morning, isn't it?

So, Aislinn and Jacob graduating.

I don't know if you've had a chance to talk with them yet,

but they know how to talk to adults.

Does that make any sense when I say that to some of you?

Well, often kids don't know how to talk to adults.

Maybe we don't know how to talk to kids or something.

Or maybe I'm not an adult

and that's how they know how to talk to me or something.

I don't know what it was,

but very respectful to their siblings, to their parents.

And so, I'm very proud of both of you

and I've had some conversations

and excited to see what the future holds.

I don't know why everybody has to stand for you the whole time.

I mean, that's, you know, but you do deserve something,

a standing ovation of some sort.

But congratulations to both of you.

And then, I know we have a number of guests here.

And so, thank you for being here,

but I'm not going to embarrass anyone

except for Hezekiah is in the house.

And we've got our little baby boy back there.

Hezekiah and Coop or Jacob,

the little guy Hezekiah.

And so, Peter and Oliver now have another buddy with them.

I don't know if that's the Three Stooges

or what that's going to be for the future,

but it's fair enough.

But it's good to have Hezekiah here.

So, again, thank you all for being here.

A number of years ago,

I was asked to speak at a youth kind of convention

and to share my testimony.

And I followed a guy named Joe Ehrman.

And Joe Ehrman was a pro football player

with the Baltimore Cavaliers.

And I know some of you are saying

it's not the Baltimore Colts,

it's the Baltimore Ravens,

the Indianapolis Colts.

It used to be the Baltimore Colts.

And then they moved to Indianapolis

and then Baltimore decided to have a team again

and became the Ravens.

But he was a pro bowler with them.

And he's sharing his testimony about his life

and just on how things worked for him.

And as he's sharing his testimony,

he said he had a younger brother,

10 years younger than him.

And so, when Joe was 28,

his brother was 18,

and he would bring his brother to him

and bring his brother to practice with him

at the pro level.

And he would practice with the pros.

And he said, Joe said he was raising him

because their dad had died years earlier.

And so, he was raising his little brother like his son.

And after one practice,

his little brother comes to him and he goes,

Joe, I'm hurting.

And he's like, good.

He goes, no, no, no.

Joe, I'm hurting.

He goes, yeah, you're playing against pros.

Next year when you play college,

it'll be so much easier.

And his brother was an All-American.

And he's like, no, no.

It's different than that, Joe.

He goes, let's talk to the trainer.

And so, he talked to the trainer.

They did some tests run.

Find out he has leukemia.

And he's in the hospital.

And Joe says, he goes up to the doctor.

And he says, I want you to fix my brother.

And he said, there's nothing we can do.

And he said, I'm Joe Ehrman.

I'm Joe Ehrman.

And he's like, we know who you are.

He said, that would work in a lot of places.

He said, you could go to a restaurant.

And they're like, it's a two-hour wait.

And he goes, yeah, I'm Joe Ehrman.

Oh, we have a table for you over here.

And then he said, well,

I don't care what it costs.

We'll take him there or bring the doctors in.

I'll pay it.

And he said, it's not about the staff.

We have a great medical staff here.

There's nothing.

The money won't make a difference.

And Joe said, it was the first time, like,

his name, reputation, and his money didn't work.

So he grabbed the doctor and picked him up off the ground.

Joe's about 6'4 by 6'4.

He just picks him up off the ground.

And he's like, fix my brother.

And he said, the doctor was like choking,

trying to talk, saying, there's nothing I can do.

And Joe said it was at that point he realized

there must be somebody bigger than him.

And he goes into his brother's room,

and it's Christmas time.

And all of a sudden, some church comes by

with their people caroling,

going through the hospital from room to room singing.

And this is a couple weeks after that whole conversation,

him realizing, and someone stays after

and shares the gospel, and he gets saved

and gives his life to the Lord.

I'm to follow him.

I get up there.

I was raised in a Christian home.

At age seven, I realized my need for a Savior,

gave my life to the Lord,

knowing that Jesus died for my sins,

only buried me, rose again.

And I got saved at age seven.

At age 10, I rededicated my life

and committed myself to full-time Christian service

while in high school.

There's my testimony.

Thank you.

I'm going to go sit down and blush.

Joe comes up after me afterwards.

And again, this mountain of a man and a hand,

you know, he's going to consume me in a moment.

But right now, I'm going to go sit down and blush.

And he reaches out his hand and he goes,

hey, I'm Joe Ehrman.

I'm like, yeah, I know who you are.

He said, I love your testimony.

And I'm like, come on.

Your testimony is like, you know,

and he goes, no, no.

Yours is the testimony I want for my kids.

And I'm like, oh, yeah.

Yeah, it is.

Yeah, yeah.

Now we know whose testimony it is, right?

We know who, you know.

But he and I became friends

and started playing handball together

in the off season for him to prepare for the season

and stuff and built up a really good friendship

and studying the word together.

We really appreciate him.

But we've been in the book of Romans, right?

We're in week four of 32.

And we're picking up right now

in Romans chapter two, verses 17 through 24.

And I really want to relate this whole idea

of our testimony, our story

of the value of being religious,

but the danger of being religious.

Do you catch the difference there?

And so I guess they have the title up already.

Relationship Not Religious.

It's the title of this message.

And I'll go into that some more.

But I have three points to go through.

And so let's start off.

I'll be in Romans 2, 17 through 24.

We're going to have the verses up for you in a moment.

But before I go there, let's get back to our context.

We started off in chapter one.

And the whole idea that I'm not ashamed

of the gospel of Christ, right?

Because it's the power of God to salvation.

And starting that, that's the,

he starts off with like the highest point.

Like this is what everything is about.

Please capture this in case you miss anything.

And then Pastor Patrick spoke the week after

and getting more into the idea of just on

how God has given people over themselves.

But if they look around,

by looking at creation,

you know there is a God,

his invisible attributes,

his eternal power and divine nature,

and that they are without excuse.

And then in chapter two,

we talked a little bit last week

about the law of God.

The fact that we have a law,

the fact that people say there's a right and wrong

means that there must be a right and wrong.

There must be a law,

there must be a law giver,

and that person is God.

And so more of an apologetic approach,

if I could say it that way.

But even in 2, 14 and 15,

he says every person, Jew and Gentile alike,

has the witness of the heart and conscience

by which he's able to discern basic right and wrong.

And people have this concept.

And it's interesting because

you don't have to go long into discussion.

If I say that everybody has a sense of right and wrong,

and you say, no, we don't,

I've proved my point.

Are you catching that?

Because you're saying I'm wrong,

and how can you say I'm wrong

if there's no right and wrong,

if we don't have a sense of right and wrong?

And so it doesn't have to go far

for people to realize that we have a right and wrong.

And then back in chapter one,

that all people would have to realize

in our conversations,

you've probably had these conversations,

that people would say,

because of this sense of right and wrong,

and because I know who I am,

it's fair to say I know I haven't measured up

to what God's standard would be,

even though I don't know what that standard might be.

And no matter what your background is,

you'd know that you haven't lived up to it.

And obviously scripture says it's worthy of death.

And that God is definitely going to judge

the sins of all,

and will be held accountable.

And obviously as we go through the book of Romans more,

we know there's a way out of this, right?

But it's only through Jesus,

that Jesus is the only one.

And so with that,

I pick up in Romans 2, 17 through 20,

and I think there is some value of being religious,

and understanding that the value

for myself,

I get into a situation where I start wondering,

of watching people slip away.

They go off to college,

or into the workplace,

or into the military,

and it's now time for their own convictions.

Mom and dad aren't watching as much kind of thing.

And who will they be?

And we watch them slip away,

and I've had this idea that

it would be better for someone to radically get saved later,

or to be raised in the Christian home,

and nurtured in that.

And there is that value,

even if it's just of a sense of being religious,

which it was for a lot of the Jews,

they still knew the truth,

and the truth was there in the background.

So let's pick up Romans 2, 17 through 20.

Paul, being Jewish, understood that very well,

but starts declaring things

that they would say they have about themselves.

And again, Romans 2, 17 through 20.

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 a Jew,

because you are instructed from the law,

and if you are sure that you yourself

are a guide to the blind,

and 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,

Paul starts laying this all out for them.

Because you think you have this, and this, and this,

because you have the law,

and you're all special,

because he's laying out for them

what in essence is a false security.

What they think is going to save them

isn't what does it.

And I know that we are,

I mean, I'm very thankful for the security team here

of watching out,

keeping an eye on the kids for us,

making sure that it's a safe place for us.

I think we like the idea of financial security,

of making sure that bills can be paid.

Maybe you think about job security,

and maybe you've signed a contract

and tried to extend it a longer contract

for that job security,

if there is such a thing, right?

Relationships and marriage security,

and that doesn't always come about for us.

And maybe you even have

a home security system.

But here he's talking to them

about eternal security.

And the Jews thought they had

this eternal security

just because of who they were.

And so that word boast

is what's used in verse 17.

It's a key word for the Jews.

Leon Morrison's commentary said,

the verb boast or brag

is a favorite of Paul's.

He uses it like 43 times.

I wouldn't have looked it up.

Like 43 times he uses this word.

Sometimes it has a meaning like rejoice,

it signifies boast as here.

And I like the distinction there

because I like to let people know

that God's doing some mighty things out here.

But it ain't about me.

And I know ain't ain't a word.

It's not about me, right?

It's not.

It's all about him.

God's doing some mighty things out here.

It's not about you.

In spite of us,

he's doing some mighty things.

Probably a good place for an amen.

Can I get an amen anywhere there, you know?

God's doing some mighty things.

We've seen two years together, haven't we?

God's doing some mighty things.

We've got,

we've met a lot of new friends and stuff.

And it's exciting.

We're not boasting ourselves.

We're boasting in Jesus Christ.

We're boasting in God's patience

and in him wanting to have

a Christ-centered,

Bible-believing church here in Walled Lake

reaching into the community

and giving these opportunities.

So that's a healthy praise God,

but that's not really what was happening here

with the Jews.

They were kind of boasting on themselves.

Understand the idea of proud to be Jewish.

They should be.

John MacArthur described it this way.

He said,

they believed they were especially blessed

not because of God's grace,

but because of their own goodness.

They felt superior and proud.

Instead of boasting in their great God

and his gracious revelation of himself to them,

they boasted in their own supposed greatness

for having received it.

What a dangerous place to be.

I am humbled that God is willing to use me.

Pastors Academy, we tease about it.

Because, obviously, we get nervous with preaching.

No matter, you know, 45 years in ministry

and I'm nervous still, right?

And you have that kind of thing,

but we, in Pastors Academy,

we'll talk about, hey, God used a donkey.

He can use you.

It's like, and believe it or not,

that's encouraging to us, right?

Because the message is coming from God.

It's about him and for him.

As you look at this whole thing,

as talking to the Jews,

a few verses, a few verses,

earlier, again, I would start in verse 17,

but in verse 11 of Romans 2, it says,

the whole verse is just,

for God shows no partiality.

And he's talking about working with the Jew and the Greek.

I like what F.F. Bruce says about this.

He said, the word Jew means praise.

I didn't know that personally.

The word Jew means praise.

It's an interesting concept to have that as your name reminder.

And the true Jew is the man whose life is praiseworthy

by God's standards,

whose heart is pure in God's sight,

whose circumcision is the inward circumcision of the heart.

He is the true Jew.

I say the truly praiseworthy man.

And his praise is not a matter of human applause,

but of divine approval.

And that's where I'm amongst a group of Jews.

Because we've given our life to the Lord

and we're praising him.

And that's who, what we're supposed to be doing.

So I go back to my introduction.

Is there an advantage of being raised spiritually

or better, radically saved later?

And I think for the Jews to have known the law,

to know of God,

and then to process of choosing to follow him.

But to not have known him would be much worse.

I was meeting with a family.

I was director of enrollment for a Christian school

for a number of years.

And so I got to meet every family that came in.

And if you, it was a Christian school for Christian families.

What I mean by that is,

if they had an elementary child,

at least one parent had to profess

to have accepted Christ as Savior.

If they were middle school or high school,

the student themselves had to share their testimony.

And I was meeting with a family,

and a middle schooler to high schooler.

And we were talking about, you know,

when did you give your life to the Lord?

What is your testimony?

What is your spiritual journey?

What is your story?

And they're like, we don't have one.

But you guys are at church like five days a week.

You know, what is your story?

And the mom said, we don't push that.

I'm like, pardon?

She goes, I don't want them to have a false sense of security

of a prayer they said when they were young

and then live however they want.

We've seen so many times

and so many later in life go off on their own

until they have kids normally, right?

Is that our wake-up call for a lot of us, right?

And just to bring us back.

But they go off on their own.

I'm saying kids because like,

this is my kid's area right through here.

Don't I have like the nursery section?

You're close to the door

in case you can hear your kid or something.

But they said, we don't want them

to have this false sense of security.

And so I looked at the kids and I said,

do you know you need a Savior?

Have you sinned?

And they're like, yeah, yeah.

Mom can vouch for that.

We've sinned.

I said, do you believe Jesus is God?

Do you believe that he came to earth,

lived a perfect life,

and died on the cross for your sins?

They're like, yeah.

And then what?

Well, they buried him, but he rose again.

He's alive.

He's given us life.

You believe that?

Have you accepted that?

You're saved.

Whether you know it or not,

whether you call it that or not,

you are saved.

And so we don't have to put down a date

of when you got saved.

You don't have to have that written

in your Bible or something.

But to understand the gospel

and to give it.

But they wanted to make sure

that the kids, for themselves,

knew what was going on.

I think this privilege of being raised

in a Christian home,

privilege of being raised,

can I call this a Christian nation?

It's a tough one for us sometimes, right?

But it's easy to hear the gospel

in America still, if you want to.

There are some countries

that do not have the benefits we have

in so many areas,

one of them being of hearing the gospel.

And that privilege brings responsibility.

Some of you are probably already thinking,

about the Proverbs 22.6,

of the principle, not a promise,

but train up a child in the way he's going.

When he's old, he'll not depart from it.

And the importance of raising them up

to understand who God is,

that he wants to have a relationship with us.

And that only comes through Jesus Christ.

I think being religious brings expectations.

Sorry I missed shares a number of years ago,

but you'll understand that as soon as I start it.

Because I was at a barbershop getting my hair cut.

Bill, are you with me on this one?

Okay, right?

And the guy's cutting my hair.

Obviously cut too much, right?

But as he's cutting my hair,

he's having this conversation going on.

And, you know, what do you do?

That kind of stuff.

I'm a college student.

Where do you go to college?

Detroit Bible College.

And he goes, oh, that's cool.

Maybe we should exchange services sometime.

Are you getting married?

No.

Do you want me to do your funeral?

Did say Detroit Barber College, didn't you?

And I'm like, oh, no, no, Detroit Bible College.

He goes, oh, then you don't.

And he lists off all these kinds of things.

And I know for some of us,

we were raised with this mindset that as Christians,

we don't smoke, drink, or chew or date girls who do, right?

But he listed off things and it was like,

oh, so you don't shoot pool or play cards.

Or he just, he kept going with it.

You don't play sports on Sunday.

He kept going with these things.

And I'm like, it's amazing what expectations

he had placed on my life.

I should, right?

I should.

We should have this.

The sense that we live out our faith.

That if I say I believe in who God is,

I should live that way.

So I go from these first verses, 17 through 20,

of a value of being religious to verses 21 and 22.

Again, in Romans 2, the dark side of being religious,

or the dark side of religion, or as we call hypocrisy,

of when being religious is, that's all there is.

It doesn't lead to anything else.

Verses 21, 22.

You then who teach others,

do you teach yourself?

While you preach against stealing,

do you steal?

You who say that one must not commit adultery,

do you commit adultery?

You who abort idols,

do you rob temples?

It got me thinking about,

like a James 3, 1,

of let not many of you become teachers

because you incur a stricter judgment.

We're talking about this with Pastors Academy,

of it being a constant thing to reference.

And next week, I will not be here.

Grant Grimes is gonna be here,

which is somebody that you want to meet,

he just finished Pastors Academy.

He's the one who helps us with Baby Pantry

and is in contact with Ron and Kathy a lot.

But I will be in the Chicago area.

I don't know exactly where I am,

but I will be, what is it?

Oh, okay.

That's where I will be.

Nathan is being installed as a pastor down there.

He's our former kids director.

And they've asked me to come speak

and be involved in him

and being installed as a pastor.

And so, really exciting time.

I'm referencing this message,

let not many of you become.

Reminder to Nathan,

you incur a stricter judgment.

Be careful with what you teach, right?

And going through that whole concept of what it is.

Luke 17 is a little stronger with it.

Verses one and two,

and Jesus said to his disciples,

temptations to sin are sure to come,

but woe to the one through whom they come.

It'd be better for him if a millstone

were hung around his neck

and he were cast into the sea

than that he should cause

one of these little ones to sin.

In Pastor's Academy,

when talking with the guys,

it's, I think we need to have

a self-imposed standard for our lives.

But I think it's true of all Christians.

It's not a legalism

where I'm telling you on how you should have,

where I create my own kind of things

of rules that have to come about

that aren't in scripture.

But there are some things

that scripture's not clear on

that I'm gonna be very clear about.

I'm not gonna talk to you about

whether or not you should social drink,

but I'm not going to.

You won't walk into a restaurant

and see me with a beer.

It's just not gonna happen.

It's a self-imposed,

because I have a lot of friends

who struggle recovery.

I don't want them to fall.

That make sense?

They're just things,

there's certain movies I'm not gonna go to

that you might find humorous

and you can excuse things,

but I'm setting a standard for myself.

It's a self-imposed standard.

Are you good with me on this?

Are you willing to evaluate your own life?

Is it something that's beneficial?

Not is it just acceptable,

not is it legal,

is it beneficial for what we want to do?

Realize the Jews were very religious.

As Paul's talking to this group,

the Jewish males would have memorized Genesis.

Pause and think about that for a moment.

Exodus, Leviticus, that would be fun.

Numbers, hopefully you're a math person.

all the Psalms, that would be fun.

It's gonna take a lot.

They would have this all memorized,

but to have it memorized, is that enough?

If you're not living it out,

and so it would not be enough.

Warren Wiersbe said,

Paul made it clear that it was not the possession

of the law that counted,

but the practice of the law.

I love how he uses the alliteration there

and just use the words.

They thought because they had the law,

they're special.

And I've been processing this

and I want to be careful with my illustration,

but in a lot of ways,

Israel was the mailman bringing the message.

Now, I realize the Messiah came through the Jewish line

and the promise coming through,

but they're pronouncing this announcement for others.

It's not just for them to be saved.

That throughout the Old Testament,

for people to see how good their God is

and turn to him.

But the fact that they're holding,

you know, your payroll checks or something,

that doesn't make them special.

They're just carrying it on.

The one who's special is the one who gave it.

Go back to God.

And so it's a,

them having the law,

it made them more accountable

for the practice of the law.

The Jewish people had a religion of outward action,

not inward attitude.

And I think we can have to be careful ourselves

of the times that we just go through the motions.

And it can be,

I mean, you're just going,

you're just not feeling it,

but keep doing it, right?

I don't feel like going on Sunday.

My wife's like, but you're the pastor.

No, but for you guys,

like you might be saying,

like, I don't feel it.

Well, maybe I'll just catch it online

or maybe I'll just catch one of the locations online.

And like, I don't feel like going, okay?

There's times you don't feel like brushing your teeth.

Please brush your teeth, right?

It's just keep going,

but don't stay just going through the motions.

Change up something.

Talk with somebody.

Have some accountability on your prayer life,

on reading the word,

of spending time with God,

of being still and knowing that he's God,

of just meditating on his word

and feeling his presence

and regain that love you'll have.

Another item here that was interesting for me

is he's talking about, you know,

the temple and robbing the temple.

And Josephus, which is an early Jewish historian,

we don't have any record of him in scripture,

so I'm not, I don't want to be dogmatic about this.

It's a historian who wrote in the first century.

We're not even sure that he gave his life to the Lord.

There's some indication that some of us think

that he may have been saved,

but we're not sure about that.

But he writes about A.D. 19.

A.D. 19, there was an instructor

who had four other guys with him

and they offered to the Gentiles

that if you want to learn Judaism

and the practices of it,

we'll teach it to you.

And they found this one very affluent lady

and asked if she wanted to make a donation to the temple.

And she made a sizely donation

that he then pocketed.

And they found out about that

and Emperor Tiberius expelled all resident Jews from Rome.

All the Jews were kicked out of Rome

because of this happening.

And so I think when he's talking to a Jewish crowd,

he's like, again, this would have been years earlier,

decades earlier,

but it's a major time when everybody is kicked out of Rome

and they can't be there.

As I look at this whole concept,

James 1.22 really hit me.

It's like, but be doers of the word,

not hearers only deceiving yourselves.

It's a whole idea of not just talk the talk.

You want to finish my sentence for me?

But walk the walk.

Walk, right?

We need, and we do need to do both.

Some say I'm a witness by the way I walk.

Eventually you need to tell them the gospel.

So walking the walk, great, but talk some.

All too often, some talk a big story.

Their walk is totally different.

And so we need to have both of them

talking the talk and walking the walk.

Chuck Swindoll, one of my favorite speakers,

he said, in fact, if I were given a one-time only opportunity

to preach one message to a group of Christians,

it would be how to be a Christian,

without becoming religious.

That's an interesting concept.

Hence the title of my message,

more relationship, not religion.

I think religion, we can get into this thing

where we have some boxes we check,

and it changes for people.

For some, it's, did you go to church this week?

For some, it's, did you go to church this month?

For some, it's, did you go to church Christmas and Easter?

And they check the box, so they're good, right?

You know what I'm talking about.

You've seen this kind of situations.

But we check these boxes, and it becomes all about us.

And the gospel's not about us.

It's not about me.

The only thing about the gospel that's about me

is that I need help.

I need a savior.

The gospel's about Jesus Christ,

and all focus should be on him.

And so it's not about a religion.

It's about a relationship with God,

a direct one with him.

Let me go to my third point.

And it's a whole idea of external religion

versus an internal conversion.

It's kind of what we've been talking about.

A week and a half ago, I was in Florida on vacation,

and I saw a pink dumpster.

It was really nice looking.

It was pink.

I'm like, what are they trying to get across?

Like, we could put a dumpster in your yard.

It's pink.

It looks good.

And then I remember watching Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous,

if you remember one of those shows.

And somebody had a gold-plated toilet.

I'm not sure that'd be comfortable.

I don't.

But it's a toilet.

I don't want to be more graphic than that.

You with me on this?

Jesus talks about having an outward appearance

when the inward is not there.

Matthew 23, 27.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

Fear like whitewashed tombs.

Ah, they really look good, right?

All painted up nicely,

which outwardly appear beautiful,

but within are full of dead people's bones

and all uncleanness.

We need to be changed from the inside out.

This message is for all of us.

I say us, moi included.

We need to constantly evaluate our walk with the Lord.

First of all, evaluate from the perspective of,

have I given my life to the Lord?

Am I thinking I just do this on my own?

There has to come a point where,

when we say uncle,

that may be,

do you understand, Jacob?

Do you understand the phrase uncle?

When you give up,

when you give on something,

you say uncle.

You don't know what I'm talking about.

Okay, so I'm not way off.

Okay, Peter understood.

No.

It's a concept where you finally say,

I can't do this on my own.

For me, the picture was my uncle

would pinch back my pinky finger.

Really, I've done that to you?

And just, oh, uncle, uncle, you know,

stop, stop, I give.

You win.

I'm over.

We need to say that to God finally.

God, I can't do this on my own.

I've sinned.

I've said things, done things,

thought things that I know aren't pleasing to you.

I don't deserve heaven.

You said you love me.

You sent your son, Jesus,

to live a perfect life,

to die for me,

but to be raised again,

to offer eternal life and life to the full,

life with purpose, value, meaning, a calling.

If you haven't done that,

let today be your day where you say,

I'm giving you my life.

Please take over.

For those of us who have done that in the past,

are we still consistent with it?

Would others know?

I remember a friend saying,

what changed him to rededicate his life was

he was with a group of friends

who found out he was a Christian.

And the one guy said,

that is so cool.

I would have never guessed you were a Christian.

And he said,

it was the worst thing someone could ever say to me.

Because why wouldn't he know I was a Christian?

He should have known that.

And so, just a thought for us.

So these last two verses, Romans 22,

23 and 24,

You who boast in the law,

dishonor God by breaking the law.

For as it is written,

and this phrase has haunted me a little bit,

daunting and haunting,

if I can say that,

the name of God is being blasphemed

among the Gentiles because of you.

Don't want that to ever happen.

I don't ever want to get to a point

where someone says,

oh, I understand God and Jesus,

but if that's what you are,

I don't want anything to do with that

because of me being inconsistent in my walk

or being,

unloving or not being kind.

Isaiah 49, 6,

It is too light a thing

that you should be my servant

to raise up the tribes of Israel

and to bring back the preserved of Israel.

I will make you as a light for the nations

that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

The goal was for Israel to be a light to the nations.

People would see what God had done.

I mean, right?

Even the Egyptians,

when Israel was in slavery,

of seeing on how some of these plagues

hit them and not the Jews,

the Israelites,

it was just how it came about

and then the water opening up

and they follow along

and you'd have this come through

the Old Testament

where Gentiles, non-Jewish individuals,

would want to follow the God of Israel,

the one only true God

and they were a light.

We've been singing of recent,

this little light of mine,

I'm going to let it shine.

Anybody with me on this one?

Did you guys bring your lights?

Somebody brought your lights with you?

Okay.

Won't let Satan hit out, right?

You guys, am I getting too deep for you?

I know I got good deep theology here.

Is it getting too much?

But the whole idea of to be a light,

the hypocrisy of the saved

can keep people from the gospel.

And I'm not saying they have an excuse

because they still have no excuse.

That's really challenging to us.

In this section, Paul quotes Isaiah 52.5.

He says,

Now therefore, what have I here?

Declares the Lord,

seeing that my people are taken away,

Their rulers wail,

declares the Lord,

and continually all the day

my name is despised.

That's just thinking about it.

I don't know,

what's the morning prayer

where some people say,

good morning, Lord?

And others say,

good morning, Lord?

Is it really morning, Lord?

You know, just like,

are we excited of what he's going to do

and that he's willing to work through us

not to despise his name?

Ezekiel 36, 20 and 21.

When they came,

wherever they came,

they profaned my holy name.

And the people said to them,

these are the people of the Lord.

And yet they had to go out of this land.

But I had concern for my holy name,

which the house of Israel

had profaned among the nations

to which they came.

It's back to that phrase,

the name of God is being blasphemed

among the Gentiles because of you.

Because of the way they're living,

It's like, why would I want anything to do with that?

And they walk away.

I think the quote that summarizes it most for me,

and I'll,

I'll step into my conclusion in a moment,

but it was Gandhi's quote,

where he says,

if it weren't for Christians,

I'd be a Christian.

That hurts.

Let me close with Romans 2, 15 and 16.

I know I'm going backwards a little bit in the passage.

And I read it earlier.

They show that the work of the law

is written on their hearts,

while their conscience also bears witness,

and their conflicting thoughts

accuse and even excuse them on the day

when, according to my gospel,

God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

A phrase I use,

and I hope you remember it.

It's one that's been very helpful for me.

Audience of one.

I know a number of you,

throughout the week,

are doing things that no one else gets to see.

You're reaching out to others.

You're in this building,

either practicing,

preparing a lesson,

doing whatever it is,

and no one else sees it.

But a reminder, God does.

He knows the secrets of the hearts.

He knows who you are.

Please be comforted by that.

There may be people who accuse you of certain things,

but God knows.

God knows the truth.

He knows the secrets of our hearts.

There may be some here

who really look religious on Sunday.

They look like they have it all together.

May I say it may be somebody who's been here

40, 50 years,

well, it's a pink dumpster.

Inside, there's garbage.

They've really never cleaned out,

asked for forgiveness of their sins,

and given their life to the Lord.

If that's where you're at,

I encourage you today

to have that conversation with God.

It's a very basic one.

It's, God, I know I've sinned.

I need your forgiveness.

Thank you for sending Jesus

to live a perfect life,

to pay the price for something I couldn't pay,

my sin.

Because of my sin, I deserve death.

But Jesus paid the way

by dying on the cross for my sin.

Oh, yes, although they buried him,

he rose again, and he's alive.

Jesus, who always was, is,

and forever will be God,

is alive, offering his eternal life.

Please save me.

I give you my life.

If you want a couple easy words with it,

it's believe and repent.

It's believe, believing in Jesus,

but it's also,

the idea of turning from serving myself

to wanting to follow him

and do what he would have for me.

That's the repentance,

turning from myself.

By the way,

you don't have to have a flashy testimony.

Every salvation is a miracle of God.

Was it harder for God to save

a Joel Ehrman at age 28

than to save me at age seven?

As soon as I start to question,

was it harder for God?

You're like, no, he's God.

But both took a miracle

for us to be saved.

Let's go ahead and pray.

Father, thank you for being here.

We thank you for the promise

that will never leave us nor forsake us.

Thank you for the Holy Spirit being here

and working on our hearts

and pointing out the areas

that we need to address and clean up.

I pray for the person here

who's feeling a conviction to lean toward Jesus,

that they would take that step.

They'd boldly come forth

and give their life to you and let others know.

I pray that the reputation of this church,

the reputation of each one of us

would be pleasing to you.

We'd use it in a mighty way for your glory.

I thank you for your patience with us.

Thank you for your love.

And I pray this in my Savior's name,

in Jesus' name, amen.

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