All right, if you're wanting
to turn or read along, turn to Romans chapter two. Romans chapter
two. Now, some of you probably haven't
noticed, but if anyone has noticed, well, you didn't get the timer
and start the timer. You know what that means, don't
you? That 27 minutes and 30 seconds
mean nothing this morning. It means nothing this morning.
Romans chapter two. I want to read the first four
verses because I am quite sure I will get no further than that
this morning. And I'm certain I will not cover every thought
from these verses either. And I don't say this to be harsh
or too affront, but don't expect me to explain everything when
we go through this book. I can't do it. But let's read
the first four verses. You read along there. Follow
along as I read. Thou art inexcusable, O man,
whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest another,
thou condemnest thyself. For thou that judgest, doest
the same things. But we are sure that the judgment
of God is according to truth against them which commit such
things. And thinkest thou this, O man,
that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that
thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the
riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? Now, Paul now exposes our finger-pointing
and we haven't read it yet. It's kind of embedded in this,
but he goes on to say it here in other words. I didn't read
those. But Paul now exposes our finger
pointing at our self-justification. Of course, the self-justification
is seen here in verse 14. I will now read that. For when
the Gentiles, which have not the law, and what does that mean?
They don't have it written, they didn't have it written down for
them. They were not normally, they were not taught the law. Many Jews, when they gathered
at the synagogues, were taught the law from the scriptures.
But Gentiles, in general, did not have this. But look, for
when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the
things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are
a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written
in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their
thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. No man will escape the righteous
judgment of God. No man will escape the righteous
judgment of God. Now, I'm not here to debate this
or even go into it in detail, but some say, well, what about
the heathen who's never heard either the law or the gospel?
Clearly here, the heathen who've never even heard the law are
still under God's just judgment. And if hearing the gospel was
not, well, if hearing the gospel's not important, our Lord would
not have said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature. The one who believes and is baptized,
that person will be saved. The one who believeth not should
be damned. Now, think about this. Let me just find my spot here
just a moment. Think about this. Look at verse one. I must confess
to you that for years, and I don't know why this is so, other than
the total inability of the flesh, and I'm not even gonna call other
things into question. I used to read chapter two, verse
one, And for some reason, I was always understanding it. I wanna put this right. I didn't
read it that way, but I always understood it as a question.
But it's not a question. Paul's not asking who does this. He's saying, man, you do do this. Now do you see the difference
in what I'm saying? My mind was trying to understand
it as a question. You know one reason I think why
my mind was doing that? Because my flesh was trying to
tell me, that ain't you. That ain't you. But look what
Paul says. Here's what he actually wrote by the Spirit of God. Therefore,
that's based upon all of this. Look, you remember the list we
went through. We all can find at least one thing we're guilty
of. At least one thing. And I dare say there's many more
than one thing. Therefore, thou art, not are
you inexcusable, you see it, thou art inexcusable, O man,
whosoever thou art that judgest. For in the word here, let me
just stop, it means to condemn. Well, this is an illustration. Well, they can't be a Christian
because I seen them do this. That's kind of what he's talking
about. Or, well, they can't be one of God's. because I seen
them do this. You understand what I'm saying?
Now let me go on. I don't want to jump too far
ahead of myself. Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever
thou art that judgeth. How many of us do that? Whosoever thou art that judgeth,
for wherein thou judgest another, you condemn yourself. and I still
keep doing it, and doing it. And sometimes when I'm doing
it, I think I'm being just, and then it dawns on me all I'm doing
is condemning, and in so condemning them, I'm condemning myself. Thou condemnest thyself, for
thou that judgest, do you do the same things? That's not what
he said, is it? You that judge, you do the same thing. We do the same thing. Now, here's
my title. And I put it this way deliberately.
I started to say it in a more generic way. Man and his inexcusable
behavior. Because Paul did say man, old
man, but Paul's not speaking here generically. He is calling
us to stand forth to account. That's what he's doing. Think
about it, here's my title. Our inexcusable behavior exposed. Do you see that? Our, it's inexcusable
behavior exposed. Well, I just couldn't help it.
They got under my nerves so much. Doesn't matter. Therefore thou
art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art, that judgest, for wherein
thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judgest
doest the same things. And someone says, but I never
do that. Oh, if God would impress upon
my heart and your heart and anyone else who hears these words that
God would impress upon our hearts how dangerous that is. Now I know one of the reasons,
I'm sure there are more reasons, but I know one of the reasons,
and I've already indicated it to you. When we read a verse
like this, we automatically think, oh my, condemnation? I don't want to be there, right? Right? Automatically there's
this cinching up inside and you begin to cease to think and function
and you begin to cry out, that can't be me! Right? But that's a dangerous place
to put yourself in. Because God, God is a God of
mercy. And mercy only goes to people
who need it. Do you understand that? If you're
never guilty of anything, that would mean you never need God's
mercy. The problem is we are guilty
of everything. And we don't see it. And we somehow
try to convince ourselves, but that's not really me. Or, or
that religious part of us in the flesh says it this way, well
I used to judge. I used to be that way, but God
saved me now. There are whole religions based
upon that. They're saved because they're
not what they used to be. You know what I'm saying? I used
to be this, I used to be that. No, if you used to be that, you're
still that today. You're still that today. Now
maybe God has given you grace and mercy and compassion in Christ,
but if he has, he's given you a new man. because you still
have the old man and the old man is still, according to Paul,
corrupt, corrupt. It's never got any better. As
a matter of fact, I'll go so far to say it's never gotten
any worse. We just see it more as God opened your eyes. That's
kind of what Joe was talking about. Huh? It's not what I used
to, no, I still do. You hear about somebody not attending
services, and your mind, even if you don't say it out here,
your mind just damns them right to hell. Well, they can't be
one of God's. Maybe they can. Maybe they're
not converted yet. Maybe they are. How many people seen Saul of
Tarsus have thought, boy, there's a good Christian. He hated Christians. He was having Christians hailed,
probably handcuffing them, abiding them, and putting them in prison. But he was one of God's chosen,
was he not? Now God called him out of that,
Mason. God called him out of that, but he was still one of
God's. And it's clear that when Paul was converted, even Anna
and I said, Lord, I've heard about this man, and you want
me to go see him? You want me? You sure, Lord? Lord, I'm sure. Now, I paraphrased,
but you see what I'm getting at? Or someone says, well, that
can't be converted. I'm sure if you'd have looked
at Lot's life in general down in Sodom, you'd have said, well,
that can't be a righteous man. Oh, how oft I forget that. but when God brings me back around
to my spiritual senses, I thank God for it. I told an uncle one
time, I said, I don't want to be a lot, but I want to be a
lot. And if you know anything about
lot and you know anything about grace, you've got somewhat of
a little bit of idea what I'm talking about. I don't want to
be down there in Sodom and Gomorrah and cause the trouble for my
loved ones that that choice would make. but lot is declared by
Peter under inspiration of the Spirit of God to be a righteous
man who had a righteous soul. See that? Therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judges for wherein thou judgest
another, thou condemnest thyself. Well, you can't do that and be
a Christian. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. You remember Paul withstood Peter
to the face one time. Now the reason Paul withstood
him to the face was because it was done, what Peter did was
done publicly and it caused others to be drawn away with his hypocrisy. The word is translated dissimulation. I wonder did the translators
write it that way because it seems to have a little easier
blow to it. It's called hypocrisy. Dissimulation
is hypocrisy, and the apostle Peter practiced gospel hypocrisy,
and all he did was change tables or seats. That's all he did. He was sitting with the Gentiles,
and when a bunch of Jews showed up from Jerusalem who professed
to believe the grace of God, Peter got up and moved from the
Gentile side over to these Jews, and Paul withstood him to the
face. Now, was Paul judging him? Not condemning him. Mm-mm. But he was calling out his crime
against God. Now, I have more to say about
that in a moment. So, you see, be careful about
reading a passage and you read it like, oh my, if that's me,
I'm in trouble. Well, wait a minute, you are
in trouble. I am in trouble. That's why we need a savior,
a redeemer, a sovereign to come and conquer us every day. Second Corinthians 10 talks about
God breaking down our citadels, our walls. He don't do that just
one time. Because he blows a hole in the
wall and comes in and conquers, but the flesh starts to put the
bricks all back together again. and he has to come in and blow
the wall out again, and blow the wall out again, and blow
the wall out again. And if you ever get to the point
where you don't need your walls blowed down, you're in real trouble. You had a false profession. Jesus Christ fired a shot over
your wall, you seen it and run scared for a bit, and now you've
turned right back to living in your citadel. And he never did
knock down your walls to start with. Now think about this. We
must beware of condemning others. This is not about not calling
sins sins. There are people who also, they
read this or they'll read, I'll give you that in a moment. We
must beware of condemning others. I said condemning others. But
this is not about not calling sins sins. Certain things are
right and certain things are wrong. Period. I mean, when this book says,
when the law says, and the New Testament covenant of grace,
thou shalt not commit adultery. That's still a valid command
for God's people today. Now, we're not justified before
God because we quit doing adultery. But God's people flee from those
things. They flee from those things.
Now, We must always, now listen, here's the point. We must always
be ready to condemn ourselves first. First, now turn with me
to Luke chapter seven. I wanna give you something that
may, maybe God'll be pleased to show a little light to us
this morning. You may already know this, but
we forget. Mason know how easy I forget. Look at Luke chapter
seven. For the sake of time, I'm just
gonna read two verses. You see the context, and Jesus is talking
about John the Baptist, and he's asking some people, who is he?
Who is he? But then look at what it says.
In Luke seven, and it says in verse 29, make sure I'm right,
yes, verse 29, and all the people that heard him, that was John,
and the publicans justified God being baptized with the baptism
of John. You said it, now you think. Okay,
what does that mean? I mean, did God, does God somehow
need to go from an unjustified state to a justified state? Of
course not. It's talking about nothing like
that. It's talking about these people declared God is right.
God is right, and they submitted to the baptism of John. Now how
do I know that's it? Because look at the next verse,
you'll see the opposite of that. But the Pharisees and the lawyers
rejected the counsel of God against themselves. Romans 2 verse 1,
well that's not me. I'm not, I mean I'm bad but I
ain't that bad, however it is. Well I've never done that or
I used to do that but I quit. You see what I'm saying? But
the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God against
themselves being not baptized of him. So baptism can very well
be a public acknowledgement of I bow to the authority of God
when he condemns me for what I really am. Yes sir, that's what it was right
here, was it not? And others said that's not us. We will not
go in that water. We're not that bad. We're not
that bad, you see what I'm saying? Now let me move on. Second, we
need to always be ready to correct errors in ourselves. First, not
to praise ourselves over others, but to help others. And our Lord
taught us that in Matthew chapter seven. And I know this is a familiar
passage because let me tell you something, people quote the first
few words of this all the time. All you got to do, especially
in this day and age, pardon me a moment. All you got to do in
this day and age is expose some particular sin for what it is,
rebellion against God, corruption, deceit, whatever, all you gotta
do is do that and they'll say, judge not that you be not judged.
Ever had that happen? Ever went to someone and warned
them about something? Don't judge me. Judge not, lest ye be judged. That is not what our Lord taught.
And I just read it right out of the Bible. Because if you
just read that part and stop, you can go anywhere with it.
That, just that literal snippet, And men trying to get out of
it what they want has caused in this day's society this live
and let live. Don't ever call anybody out on
anything. Let me tell you something. To
do what's right in your own eyes is just as condemnable before
God as to do evil in the sight of the Lord. Because to do what's
right in your own eyes is still to do evil in the sight of the
Lord. Because our eyes, even Joe, when
he opens them, they're only open so far. They're only open so
far. When he gives us a heart to perceive,
that heart, the new man is what? Created in righteousness and
true holiness. But that new man can be, you
must wear to be, wear to clothe him upon, correct? You see, it's
like a little baby. A little baby is a full 100%
human being. and no imperfections in that
little baby, right? But that little baby's not all
he or she's going to be one day, right? Right? That's maybe a
poor illustration, but I'm trying to give us something to help
us put some teeth in this thing. Here's what our Lord actually
taught. Judge not that you be not judged. For with what judgment
ye judge, ye shall be judged. And with what measure ye meet,
it shall be measured to you again. Now if we just stopped there,
we could go wherever we wanted to go, could we not? But Christ
didn't stop there. He said, and why beholdest thou
the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the
beam that is in thine own eye? So in other words, These words
are old English words, but I think everyone knows this, but somebody
may hear this and don't know what that's saying. Christ is
illustrating. You ever had like a little speck
in your eye? Just a little speck, and I mean
it irritates. and it irritates, and it irritates, but you can
still kind of function. But sometimes you can get a great
old big thing in your eye, and it's got to come out right now.
But what's Christ saying? We sit around and look at the
little speck in our neighbor's eye, or more appropriate, our
brother's eye, and we just go on with this big beam, this big
splinter in ours. Now look at what he says. I beholdest
thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest
not the beam that is in thine own eye. Just live and let live. You let his mote alone, and he
lets your beam alone. Is that what he said to do? But
that's the way most people interpret this so far, don't they? Well,
as he say, or how wilt thou say to thy brother, let me pull out
the mote that is in thy eye, and behold the beams in your
own eye? Thou dissimulator. At least they translated it right
there like it really needs to be. You hypocrite. You see that? You know who he's talking to?
You know who he's talking to? Believers. Believers. Believers are the ones who have
brothers and sisters in Christ, are they not? Just like people
think James writes to a believer in this verse, unbelievers in
this verse when he says, you adulterers and adulteresses.
That's gotta be unbelievers. No, that's me. That's you. Look, thou hypocrite first, cast
out the beam out of thine own eye and then thou shalt see clearly
to cast out the mote that is in their brother's eye. Do you see that? Now you say,
I don't understand that, then you got troubles. I mean, you
really got troubles. Christ is not this saying, as
this world does today, live and let live. Don't point the finger
at anyone. You don't have to point the finger
at a person, but you do have to call out sin for sin, because
it is rebellion against God Almighty. This youngster was singing a
song, and she was singing it having fun, and I'm not trying
to make fun of her. And she used the word Jesus Christ, and I
asked her, first politely, don't do that. Because you don't use
the name of Jesus Christ making fun. She did it another time,
and I said it in a voice that made her stop. But how often
have I done that myself? Hmm? How often? Now you say, well, I ain't never
done that. Well, let me tell you, when we start, you wanna go back to
chapter one and start reading that list again? You understand what I'm
saying? It's easy to find somebody else
to point your finger at. God gives us these things so
that we might help one another, that we might also be patient
with one another, long-suffering with one another, forbearing
with one another. Why? Because we're all still
really the same. We're still just as corrupt.
When Paul gets to what we know as chapter seven, we hear him
crying out. Now he's writing it with his
pen, but I can hear him crying it out in his soul. Oh, wretched
man. He didn't say that you Romans
are. Uh-uh. Oh, wretched man that
I am. I am. Man's total failures, even
of his people. never negate God's judgment,
but we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth
against them which commit such things. Just because we're all
hypocrites doesn't mean God's gonna let us all go. And I've
heard that too. Well, at least when I go to hell,
I'll be with, at least there won't be no, I'll be with all
the other hypocrites. Or I ain't going to church because
it's full of hypocrites. We are all hypocritical by nature. And that's why Peter writing
to believers says put away all hypocrisy. Why? Because it's
still down in here. I gotta fight with it and fight
with it and fight with it every day. And my only hope is that
Jesus Christ, when he died, he died for those sins. But that
doesn't make me not want to try to start putting those things
away either. Right? Right? There's another thing.
I'm gonna wind this down. I don't even remember how long
I've been preaching. We must beware of presuming God's
long suffering for ourselves. and denying it for others. Now
we can't really deny God's law of suffering, but I'm talking
about in our own, Joji, our own perspective. Look at what he
goes on to say, let me find that one. And thinkest thou this,
O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the
same that you do the same thing, that thou shall escape the judgment
of God? Or despisest thou the riches
of his goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering? Not knowing, and I don't have
time to deal with that. God willing, that'll be soon,
next week maybe. Not knowing that the goodness
of God leadeth thee to repentance. According to the Apostle Paul
in Romans nine, verses 11 through 18, none can earn these riches. You cannot earn the riches of
his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering. You can't
merit it. We don't have that kind of good
in us. We'll see in chapter three, there's
none good. No, not one. No, not one. There's a second thing. God defers
anger for his sake only. And I want you to read that sometime,
Isaiah 48, nine through 11. He says, I do this for my righteousness
sake, not your righteousness sake. Why? Because God despises
righteousness? No, because our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in God's sight. And I remember Henry Mahan saying
this years ago, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Maybe God'll
use it to hit somebody again like a ton of bricks. He said,
I think that the Shriners Crippled Children Hospital is one of the
most wonderful things in this world. Did you know if you get
a sponsor, you could take a child that has cancer to that place
and you don't have to pay a dime. Not even where you stay and what
you eat, they take care of the parent and the child. Now that's a great thing, Joe.
But it won't earn you, that's what Henry went on to say, and
I'm agreeing with it. It won't earn you not one merit
before God. because even that is filthy rags
in God's sight, because it's filled with our own pride and
self. How many people do that? And
if you ask, would you support the Shriner's Crippled Children's
Fund? No, I don't even talk about it
now. Oh yeah, oh yeah, I get $50 every
month. I ain't gonna tell ya, me neither. You husbands and wives, you remember
when you had your spouse? Some of you don't have them now,
but some of you still do. You done something you thought
was pretty good that day, and you ain't told a soul. I'm not
gonna brag about what I did. You do this because it's the
right thing to do, basically, and just because it's the right
thing to do. But you lay that head down on that pillow at night,
and you look over at your spouse, and you just got to tell somebody,
here's what I did today. Now, what you did, if that included
somebody else, it was a good benefit to them. But you've just
made it a crime against God when you begin to brag about it because
God gave you the breath, the life, and the ability to do what
you did. You understand? I'm just trying
to illustrate these things. We gotta beware of presuming
God's law of suffering for me and not for another. Note what
it says, if God willing, we'll start up here next time. The
goodness of God. the goodness of God leadeth thee
to repentance. Repentance is worked by God in
a soul. Repentance, how do I put this? Repentance is an act of God. Repentance is an act of God upon
a man or a woman wherein they are then led by God's goodness
to repent. Now the very fact that we must
repent by default lets us know we've been doing something wrong.
And you don't repent one time when you come forward to the
altar, you repent all your life. All your life. But notice it
is the goodness of God. I have wrongly said, I see somebody
suffering. God's putting them through this
trouble. And you know they got some things in their life ought
not be there, hmm? Ever seen that happen? And you
think, boy, I hope that trouble just brings them around. That's
not it. It's not the wrath of God that
leads men to repentance. It's not difficult, well, you
ever been, seen them in difficult circumstances and said, well,
I hope God uses that to bring them around. It ain't how God
does it. It's the goodness of God that
leads men to repentance. Now, you wanna know what that
is? Either study it and find it out yourself before I preach
it next time, or wait till next time and I'll try to tell you.
Lord, teach us these things. Oh God, help us to never cut
off our nose to spite our face. Lord, may we always acknowledge
our corruption before you. Acknowledge what we are by nature. Oh Lord, and help us to be grateful
for the person and work of your son. In his name I pray, amen.