No experience for the Cortese family this week been married almost 21 years and During that whole time we've only had one pet No gerbils, no birds, no snakes, no iguanas We have a cat, but we don't count that Can I get a name in? It was about 11 years ago that one of our children faced daunting surgery and And my wife was Up in me with her beautiful brown eyes and said we just have to get him a puppy to help him through and
So we've had Hershey For the last 11 years no dog ever loved to chase a ball more than Hershey This week we took Hershey last weekend. She was lame. We took her to the doctor Tuesday the doctor said Hershey Has a malignant tumor spread to our lymph system and Hershey's not gonna live very much longer. That was a new experience for our family Now That's true. I just imagine how ludicrous it would have been if I had looked at that doctor in the face instead Sir, you were so sadly mistaken Don't you understand Hershey is a Presbyterian?
Dr. Hershey is a pastor's dog Hershey is moral Hershey is good. I've seen other dogs who are vicious and unkind and and unclean and but but Hershey Maintain look at her. She sees she's she doesn't bite you. She doesn't growl She's not like that. She has a sweet temperament. She's a Presbyterian dog. She's a pastor's dog. She's a good and moral dog Hell ludicrous that would have sounded and So it sounds to God the Religious of this world Who represent their group their credentials their pedigree all these things before God in utter denial of This fact that within them is a hideous cancer called sin and That's sin that rebellion that that hatred of God is at the core and the marrow of our being and Until we confess it admitted and face it the gospel will never be sweet and beautiful to us and Of all the people who are running away from Jesus It's the religious who are running the hardest trying to Trying to supplant trusting in the righteousness of Christ alone with their religion and So in Romans chapter two Paul takes a sharp needle and he pricks the balloon of Jewish pride and presumption take it your sermon outline and we'll look what he says together He says religious presumption is expressed When when folks say I know I'm acceptable to God because of my pedigree because of my position because of my group because of my Doctrine look at it right here and in the ancient days of what I said I know I'm right with God because I'm a Jew And people today would say I know I'm right with God because I'm in seven rivers church and we've got The right doctrine we have the Westminster Confession of faith. I Know I'm right with God look at what Paul says in Romans chapter two if you bear the name Jew I mean we're talking about tremendous Ethnic heritage. These are people who had an awesome heritage. God had come and visited them. God had given him his love and his covenant in his long And so if all that's true and if God is pouring out his judgment I know this he's not pouring it out on me He's not pouring it out on us because I'm a I'm a Jew Secondly, it says not only if you bear the name Jew but you rely on the law the law the truth of God. It's been given to us Nobody's understood the law of God like we do nobody's been ethical like we are and you know what in the world that was That was true The Jews were monotheistic the Jews had a higher ethical system than anyone else So they were puffing out their chest And what do they say thirdly we boast in God we know God he knows us If I say team we know his will we approve the things that are essential we're instructed out of the law point after point after point These are all the things we have done and we know that we're accepted by God for all these things We are the teachers of the blind we are the instructors of the ignorant We have God's truth Therefore, we are acceptable to God Paul says no, you're the object of God's wrath And he lets the air out of all their pride and all their presumption let me tell you this the one thing we can be certain of Is that if we have tasted the gospel of God's grace?
Then it brings a refreshing humility People who say I have absolutely nothing that commends me in this world But the grace of God I am nothing but a sinner safe by grace Do you hear do you hear the Jewish folks we have we have the name we have the heritage we have the pedigree we have the law We have God we have his will we have we have this we have that the person who is Tasted the gospel says I have one I have nothing I Have nothing It's not my church. It's not my background. It's not my spiritual experiences. It's not I I I I do this I believe that I have this I've done this I've done that. It's Jesus It's what Jesus did for me and I Can't rely on my spiritual achievements for security with God. I rely on Jesus and him only do you do you understand the delusional pride of the religious
taking taking refuge in In their group and in their identity, and you know what it breeds It breeds a terrible sense of moral superiority People who are trusting their their future and their security because one time at camp they they They prayed to receive Christ that I know at that church meeting and the pastor called us forward and I was Weeping and I was emotional and I felt God there and I'll never forget that day I'll never forget that moment and I know I know that that happened and I know you know that that I read my Bible and and and I'm in the choir and I go to life groups and And I pray and I do this and I do that and I do this and I do that It's just one lit me of self-righteousness These are the things in which I'm basing my daily sense of and and I know my church is the right doctrine and we're not liberals and we're not this and all these things bring comfort Instead of the righteousness of Christ transferred to me a dirty rotten foul Center who has nothing to commend them so Absolutely nothing not one day of my life have I ever obeyed the law of God Have I ever merited God's favor not ever not ever not ever I've got nothing but Jesus. It's my only boast You understand when you don't get the gospel it breeds a defensiveness and arrogance a smug myth churches where nobody will admit their faults everyone has to be a little bit artificial a
Friend of mine is a chaplain at Vanderbilt University She's involved in campus ministry for our denomination. She said she was in a meeting of all the campus ministers and There was an Episcopalian priest a woman who was making a presentation. She had on all the priestly vestments and garb and and and and she has a her own church right there on campus and And she was presenting something that she had a vision for the Magdalene project that they would buy up rundown properties all over Nashville and was student labor and corporate help they would Transform these properties into housing for prostitutes who are getting out of prison and had no place to live no family No means of employment and would therefore just go right back into the same lifestyle. They come from it She just grand vision to accomplish all this and she's laying it all out and my friend said she's set there the whole time and she thought to herself Why is she a priest? She's a woman She shouldn't be a priest. I get so tired of these liberals doing whatever they want with the word of God And then she said as she later reflected on her attitude She thought, you know The Bible says about this much about women's ordination Where it speaks it speaks clearly, but it doesn't say a whole lot But the Bible says about this much About giving a couple cold water in the name of Jesus And from end to end of the Bible It's poured out about being having merciful hearts for those who have who are societies reject And she said I realized I could sit there and condemn that woman for violating that part of the Bible But my heart was stone cold to the whole rest of the scriptures that pour out instruction About what we ought to be for the needy of this world in the name of Jesus Do you see one of the things that that plagues us as religious we care about right doctrine usually because it's Self-justifying More than we care about people Roman or Galatians chapter five circumcision or uncircumcision doesn't matter Paul said immersion or sprinkling baptizing adults baptizing baby It doesn't make much difference compared to faith working itself out in love This is the heart of the person who's been rescued Who themselves sees themselves as a prostitute a whore Somebody who gives their love to things that don't deserve it instead of to their true husband Jesus That person has a heart for the needy and the loss because they realize I am one
To understand our pension folks To understand our pensions to be judgmental and proud The gospel says Nothing but a center say by great When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died my richest gain I count but And pour contempt on all my pride Let me tell you something. I'm an invite you to this table, but you can only come if you're broken Last night we had people come forward to receive Communion and I felt bad about it afterwards because there were Just whatever in that service they were like an unusual number of people there who are handicapped or They're like great the one service. I choose that people come forward I've got people coming up and crutches, you know, and I got people coming up and walkers and wheelchairs They're going oh gosh, well, I didn't we bring the communion to these poor people, you know, you idiot and uh But I want to tell you it was like a beautiful gospel picture It was like a beautiful picture of this the the dragled and the straggled and the broken and the hurting You know coming to Jesus That's the gospel Second Paul pricks this balloon of pride and presumption um When when he he addresses people and say I know I'm acceptable because I am morally upright. I am morally Superior listen to what Paul says to these folks you teach another verse 21 do you not teach yourself you preach that no one should steal the you not steal You say you shouldn't commit adultery do you not Do that and on it goes Friends the religious honestly believe they are better than they are religious But that and then what's the evidence? What's the evidence it just doesn't stack out Paul says to these religious people you utterly revere the law of God You honor it you worship it But you don't keep it You don't keep it any better than anyone else now understand sometimes we just are outright hypocrites aren't we we don't practice what we preach at all I mean you have like a new gingrich saying oh president Clinton is immoral and unfit for office right at the same time he's Engaged in an extra marital affair But that's just outright hypocrisy where in secret you're doing the very things you're against publicly. Okay. Did that ever happen in the church All the time right and even right today there are people here who would go home and say I am a Christian Ten commandments against this against that and you'll be on the internet before the days over looking at pornography Okay There are secret sins that would run all through this play So even to pretend that that we don't just outright act hypocritically about about these things ludicrous And then on the other hand If we're not guilty of just sort of that outright breaking Jesus said we're constantly guilty of if you look on a woman with less than your heart your guilty of what Adultery if you hate your brother if you're bitter your angry and then your guilty of murder And so there's just constant sins of the heart coveting and anxiety and anger and bitterness and unforgiveness that are just rampant all among us How we could ever pretend that that I think I told you a couple weeks ago Bishop Bolton sheen said you know the problem with you Protestants is you all think you're immaculately conceived
The religious may have external obedience. We don't cost we don't get divorced. We don't go to our movies But the fruit of the spirit does not grow in a self-justifying heart Question isn't do you cost or don't you cost? The question is do you love? Is there joy? Is there peace? Is there patience? Kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness And self-control Is the spirit at work in you do you have a soft heart?
Abraham had The right God he had the right theology. He had the right laws. He had the right everything He had the love of God and when he goes to Egypt and Pharaoh takes a liking to his wife what does Abraham do
He said oh you can have her This is my sister I mean this guy is a real Valentine, isn't he? Oh take her take her she's yours Just just don't cut my head off And uh Pharaoh uh God of course brings a plague on Pharaoh's house and uh Pharaoh discovers the truth and Says get you know get to this get out of here At Pharaoh doesn't go to Doesn't go to Abraham and say Abraham tell me about your god because I want to worship him too. I am so impressed with you What did you say in verse 24? Paul says to the religious people the name of god is blasphemed among the pagans because of the way you act The way you represent god um insults god christian church people very often have an atrocious reputation with non christian And part of the reason is because if we represent ourselves as good people friends You'll never live up to it Before the before the watching world we have to represent who We are nothing we're nothing but sinners We have nothing good in us Only Jesus only Christ
Lewis laws was the warden of sing sing prison 1920s kind of a neat Doris um tell me after the last service you know Doris the place She told me after the last uh service that her husband knew Warden laws and warden was daughter um warden was Pickover what was considered to be the worst place to be incarcerated in america And 20 years later when his term of service there ended It was considered to be the most humanitarian Uh prison in america People went there and asked uh what what did you do? What was your they were looking for programmatic uh Answers to the tremendous accomplishment there And all he would do is point to a grave right outside the The prison It was the grave of his wife You see Catherine was was told when she moved there with her husband never to go inside the prison never to expose her to three young children to the prisoners She said yeah right She said my husband and I will take care of these men these men will take care of me When I had the first basketball game and dedicated to a gym in the prison she went she sat in the stands with the prisoners and she cheered him on She nurtured the sick she cared for the blind when prisoners were uh when one prisoner was deaf and dumb She went to sign language classes so she could communicate with him she she uh she fought for the innocent she Appored herself out for those prisoners in the name of jesus christ and in the freedom of the gospel believing that she was in no way Any better than any of them That's the way she acted from the first day and they knew it and they loved her They adored her in 1937 she died in the car accident her body was laid uh In a casket in her home a mile from the prison down the road the assistant warden came out that morning as the prisoners were lining up Told them the news through open the gate and said go you may go down there and pay your last respects just come back The prisoners left utterly unguarded Every prisoner that left returned before dark Such was the impact of this woman such such is the impact of a life Blown away by the grace of god the world finds such a life Inescapably attractive
Last of all Paul pierces the pride and presumption of the religious Who are saying i'm acceptable because i'm circumcised i'm acceptable essentially because i'm religious i'm acceptable because i have the right religious practices and behavior the jews believe that circumcision was it if you are circumcised god would not touch you If you are circumcised you somehow had a mantle of protection around you and if god's rap was poured out You were safe now you've got to understand absolute ludicrousness of that Okay And by the way verse 27 i mean jews would have ripped pulled head off for saying what he said in verse 27 Will not he who is physically uncircumcised if he keeps the law will he not judge you the circumcised unthinkable Unthinkable to the jews that they would ever sit under the judgment of of an uncircumcised pagan swine they would have called them you know And we all stood under their judgment No way Friends you realize to put your trust in religion is is so faulty It'd be like saying you know i'd be like my my wife coming and saying honey i'm gonna leave you because you've beat me You've abused me you've neglected me you know you've been unfaithful to me And i said but dianne i've never taken this off How How could you how could you leave me how could you divorce me i've always warned the ring Who cares Who cares if i've always warned the ring But i've mistreated abused and been unfaithful this ring means nothing If it's not equated with a true inward Reality that the outward symbol expresses coming to the table means nothing it will do nothing for you being baptized Will do nothing for you unless there is a corresponding inner reality
Do you know how many people Are seeking their daily regular security from the practice of religion but not from jesus People who go to liberal churches want to be told they're okay They don't want to be convicted of their sin. They want to be told that god loves them They want to they want to buy books like chicken soup for the soul and guidepost You know sweet stories where everything works out in the end because god loves everybody People who go to legalistic conservative churches They want to be consoled by going to church and hear that god loves no one But them They're the right they're the moral they're the good there's a strict moral code and they keep it and no one else does And they get comfort from that People who go to power churches you know what those are Oh, yeah, you know the pastor leaps across the pews and and there's healing and there's miracles and and they get the hair I'll boot back and and And in those churches often people are going getting comfort from The sense of Jesus is here because we're experiencing miracles in our men You understand how many people are getting assurance from the practice of religion Not from the righteousness of Christ which is provided for them which makes them beautiful in the eyes of god They're running from that And using religion think of people who go to traditional churches where the worship hasn't changed since Noah Stark they're stained glass. There's organ music. It's all the familiarity of your childhood And it soothes your soul It's familiarity. It says something it says I'm all right. I'm all right. Listen The only way we can ever say it I'm all right is running to Jesus And knowing that we admit there's a cancer deep inside of us and he will do his work to circumsize our hearts And make us new and clean and forgiven and his What is god want? Broken spirit and the contrite heart that can't get over the fact The Jesus loves me And can it be that I Should gain an interest in the Savior's blood died he for For me You know amazing love how can it be that thou my god should die for For those lousy lost worldly people out there Amazing love how can it be that thou my god should die for me God for me wonder of wonder The god would die for me that I think of the guy working in the bowry in New York City a friend of mine said Working with him he He'd been a homeless himself and now he was serving the homeless now. He was an employee of the mission there to the homeless Not only had been a homeless. He'd been in prison for manslaughter And he had incredible patience and love and joy And as they were serving the meal they'd prepared for these homeless men and the men came through and they were The drag old and they were you know smelled of of urine and stale booze in the streets and and they were Ungrateful and they banged their thing they requested more food They complained about what they got that they weren't paying a dime for they were Obstinate and ugly and unappreciative My friend turned to this guy who was serving them was such patience and graciousness and he said how in the world Do you put up with us every day and he turned and he looked at her and he said How in the world does the good lord jesus put up with me Every day you see the gospel changes us from the inside He is not a Jew who is one outwardly. He is not a Christian who's one outwardly who practices religion But one who has a changed heart is God making your heart soft an old Negro spiritual That goes like this Poor little black sheep straight away done lost in the wind and the rain The shepherd he say oh hired man go find my sheep again The hired man say oh shepherd that sheep is black and bad But the shepherd he smiled like that little black sheep was the only as lamb he had The shepherd go out in the darkness where the night is cold and bleak And that little black sheep he find it And lay it against his cheek and the hired man frowned oh shepherd don't bring that sheep to me But the shepherd he smiled and hold it close And that little black sheep wasn't me
Jesus came to take our cancer away Can you say that? I'm the little black sheep My heart is the blackest of all I need Jesus the most Amen