Your Greatest Enemy - Self Righteousness

You know, we actually meet with very, very few people who
deny the existence of God. That's a rarity. One of our deacons was telling
me yesterday about a man with whom he works who claims to be
an atheist. Well, there are some, but it's
rare, and you know that it's rare. Most people believe in
God or the existence of God, and then actually most people
believe that the Bible is God's Word. I think you'd find different
ideas about verbal inspiration, divine inspiration, and so forth,
but most people believe this is a supernatural book. It's
a book given by God. And I think you'll find most
people, the great majority, believe in the fact that Jesus Christ
once lived on this earth and that he did, for a fact, bowing
a cross, and they will consent to the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. And if you think just for a moment,
most of your friends and acquaintances, most of your family, most of
your loved ones, have some sort of religious beliefs. They do,
for a fact. And they have some religious
convictions and principles. Actually, really and truly, when
you come down to it, this is the reason why we use the word
Christian so frequently today, is that very few people will
admit to being an unbeliever. They don't like that word. You
can ask different people, are you a Christian? And most will
say yes. But if you ask a man who will
not admit to being a Christian if he's an unbeliever, well,
no, I'm not an unbeliever. I may not be a Christian, but
I'm not an unbeliever. But actually, that's the way
the world is divided by our Lord. He that believeth on the Son,
and he that believeth not the Son. The disciples were called
Christians as a name of derision or a nickname. They were called
Christians first in Antioch, but before that they were believers
and unbelievers. So really and truly, most people
believe religious principles. The Bible, God, Heaven, Hell,
Christ, Blood, Sacrifice, and so forth. But the great disease
and evil of which our Lord speaks here in this parable is as prevalent,
it's as deep-seated, it's as hard to deal with as it was then. It exists today. And of all the
soul-ensnaring traps of Satan, and of all the soul-destroying
snares that he uses to keep men out of heaven, to keep men from Christ, to oppose
the gospel of Christ, of all the traps and the subtle ways
that Satan uses to give men a false refuge and a false hope, none
are so successful as this one right here, self-righteousness. There is no trap so dangerous. There is no subtle means employed
by Satan so widespread as this sin right here. This is the sin
of today. This is your greatest enemy.
This is the world's greatest sin. This is, in fact, the only
thing that keeps you from Christ. Self-righteousness keeps more
people from Christ than all of the what we call great sins combined. That's a fact. I'm telling you something that's
true. Of all the what we call great sins, such as stealing
and lying and adultery and murder and blasphemy and all of these
things of which men are guilty in their depraved and evil, wretched
hearts and natures. None is so fatal as self-righteousness. And you're going to see that
as I develop this message tonight. Your friends and your family,
your kinfolks and the people you work with and the men you
meet on the street, they are religious. They are religious. Everybody today is religious.
We are in the midst of a great sweeping religious revival. You
know it and I know it. And people who aren't deeply
religious are at least religiously inclined. And they entertain
some thoughts about God and heaven and hell. But if you ask the
average person, what is your hope for eternal life? What is your hope for eternal
glory? What is your hope for life after
death? What is your hope for acceptance
with God? You'll get 10,000 different answers. You'll get answers like these.
I'm a Baptist, or a Methodist, or a Presbyterian, or a Catholic.
I'm a church member. I've been a church member many,
many years. I joined the church when I was
just a child, and I go to church on Sunday, and I read my Bible,
and I've accepted Jesus as my Savior, and I've tried to live
a good life, and I try to do the right thing, and I try to
treat my neighbor right, And answers such as these, and they're
identical to this man right here that Christ said went away empty. You don't hear a statement like
this. This is not the way people talk, and if people thought this
way, they'd talk this way. Rarely do you ever hear a man
answer when you ask him, what is your hope for salvation? What is your hope for acceptance
with God? What is your hope for eternal
life? And to have him look you right in the eye and say, Well,
really, I'm such a great sinner. My heart is so wicked. My thoughts
are so wretched. My sins are ever before me. I've
sinned against God. I don't deserve mercy. I certainly
don't deserve to be accepted of God. But if God shows me any
mercy and grace, it'll have to be on the merits of Christ. It
certainly can't be on my merits. It'll have to be on the merits
of his blood. Actually, friend, I'll just tell you. My only hope,
my only plea, is that when Christ died on the cross, he died for
me. That he, the just, suffered for the unjust. That he who knew
no sin was made sin for me, the chief of sinners. That's my hope. That's my hope. But you don't
hear language like that. And I'm disturbed that you don't
hear language like that. And I think the reason you don't
hear language like that is people don't think that way. We're reliving
the Pharisee and the Republican today, the Pharisee and the Publican,
and most people fall in with this Pharisee. God, I thank you,
I'm not like other men. I fast and I pray and I tithe,
and those who don't have some kind of hope already talk this
way, well, I expect to be saved. Yeah, I'm going to give my heart
to God someday. Someday I'm going to believe. I have full intention of someday
getting right with God. And you know what they mean by
that? They're going to change their way of living, that's what
they mean. They're going to change their way of acting, and they're
going to change their way of of conduct, that's exactly what
they mean. They don't mean that they're
going to come as a sinner, a bona fide, unadulterated sinner to
Christ and sue for mercy and peace on the merits of his blood,
or they'd do that right now, because that's what they think
they are. But they're going to get better and get ready for
God to do something for them later on. I'm going to change
my way of living someday. So they're going to fall right
into this same pattern of the Pharisee. Actually, the reason for this
is today's theology. Now, most great hymns were written
in a time of great preaching. Some of you complain about the
fact that there's so few great hymns written today, hymns which
magnify the grace of God and the merits of Christ and the
sovereignty of God and the power of God and the need of the sinner. Great hymns are born in times,
Cecil, of great preaching. That's when they were born. Look
at the dates in your hymn book, the great hymns, Rock of Ages,
Augustus Toplady, 1810 or 1815, goes back to great preaching.
And great testimonies are given in times of great preaching.
In other words, when men are preaching God as He is, and men
as they are, and salvation as it is, and Christ as He is, then
great testimonies are born. But today's theology today's
religious creeds have relegated to the scrap heap the very foundation
doctrine of great preaching, and that is Adam's fall and the
terrible consequence of that fall. This has been totally dismissed
from our preaching. It's been totally forgotten.
If you'll turn with me to Romans 5 just a moment, Romans chapter
5, now this is what's Listen to me, the true remedy for sin
will not be sought until the disease is properly diagnosed. The true remedy for sin will
not be sought until the disease is properly diagnosed and accepted. That's when a man gets serious,
when he may think something's wrong with him. He's not sure,
but he's not troubled. But he goes to the doctor, to
the physician, and he diagnoses his case. He says, cancer of
the liver. Well, when that's properly diagnosed
and accepted, he gets busy. He hunts the remedy. He'd go
anywhere to anybody and do anything. When the doctor says, you've
got this, and he diagnoses that and he accepts that, brother,
he's going to find the remedy. But until that happens, then
that's the same thing with us. Now, look at Romans 5, verse
12. That can be no one but Adam.
Sin entered into the world and death by sin. So death, what
kind of death? Spiritual, physical, eternal,
passed upon all men for that all sinned. That little word
have is not in the original. All sinned. Look at verse 18.
Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all
men, the condemnation." Judgment. Verse 19, "...as by one man's
disobedience, the many were made sinners." That's when it all
started. That's when it happened. And
this has been forgotten in present-day preaching, what happened in the
garden. What a terrible, tragic thing happened in that garden.
when man rebelled against God and refused the sovereign rights
of God and tried to throw them off and tried to take God's throne
like Satan in Isaiah 14. And man died spiritually. I'll
tell you another thing that's been relegated to this crap heap.
Not only Adam's fall, but our nature of sin. Our nature of
sin and selfishness is denied. What does the Scripture say?
in Jeremiah, the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can
know it? And then in Genesis 6, 5, God
said he looked down on the earth and saw that the wickedness of
man was great and that every imagination of man's heart was
evil continually. And we deny that. We say once
in a while we have a bad thought. We never, now listen to me, don't
get offended. We never really ever have a totally
unselfish, totally unselfish, holy and pure and righteous thought,
because our thoughts are not God's thoughts. We may have what
we call some good thoughts and some bad thoughts, but in the
sight of God, our thoughts are always contrary to his and are
always They're always tainted with self, self-love, pride,
ambition, evil, envy, jealousy. These things always mess it up
in some way. You see, the only thing that
God can really accept is perfection. We don't ever have a perfect
thought. The only thing with which God can be totally satisfied
is perfection, a righteousness such as his own. God can't compromise. You and I can. We hire a person
to do a job, and if he does a pretty good job, we're satisfied. If
he does a real good job, we're elated. But the only thing God
can accept is perfection. So therefore, that's the reason
Paul said, in the flesh, no man can please God, because we can't
produce perfection. And God can be satisfied with
no less. He can accept no less. And when I say our thoughts are
continually evil, and when God says every imagination of man's
heart is evil, He's meaning by that evil compared to perfect
holiness. Matthew 15, our Lord said, out
of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, thefts. false witness, blasphemy. All
of these things come out of the heart and these are they which
defile a man. To eat with unwashing hands defiles
not a man. You can go through all your religious
ceremonies and it won't purify you if your heart's impure. And
God looketh not on the outward countenance, God looks on the
heart. And if any man say he hath not sinned, does not have
sin, he makes God a liar. In Romans 7, look at Romans 7,
verse 21. This is what the great apostle
Paul said, this is what the man chosen of God, this is what the
writer of 13 epistles, here's the founder of churches, here's
the first great missionary, Romans 7, 21. I find, not I found, I
did find, I find that there's a law that when I would do good,
evil is present with me, I found that out, have you found that
out? Evil doesn't visit me, it's present
with me. Evil doesn't come around once
a month, it's present, it lives in me. Evil is present with me. Now we're denying that today. Our theology and religious creeds
are relegated after the scrapheap, what happened in the garden,
and then our nature of sin, our Our nature of selfishness, our
nature of pride is denied, and then our deeds of sin are covered.
James comes along and he says to offend in one point of the
law is to be guilty of the whole law. One point. We don't care for that. We like
that testimony which said, well, at least I never have killed
anybody. Well, at least I never have Committed
adultery at least I never have been drunk. I hear these fellas
saying I've never dropped a liquor never passed my lips. Well Bless
your heart, you know, that's one point that you've got over
everybody else I guess and but James says to offend in one point
just one point is to be guilty of the whole log and Then James
tackles this and and you know when he starts when he starts
picking out the member of the body that causes us the most
trouble Well, he sure picks one we wouldn't pick. He picks the tongue. And he says
the tongue is set on fire with hell. It's a little member, but
it's like a rudder that steers a ship. It doesn't take a very
big rudder to turn a big ship around. And he says the tongue
is such a little member, but it's set on fire with hell itself. It's an instrument of death and
evil. Just our tongue. And then Paul
in Romans chapter 3 starts with the whole body and he says there's
none good. Verse 10 of Romans 3, none righteous,
none that understand it, none that seek God. And then verse
13 he says our throat is an open sepulcher. We never have, you
and I never have been around an open sepulcher. Somebody's
been buried without embalming them and left them there for
a week or two and then opened it up. It smells terrible. Their tongues, they have used
deceit. The poison of snakes is under
their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing.
Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery.
Well, you could go on and on and on. But here's The reason
we're raising so many self-righteous religious Pharisees is we've
left off this kind of preaching. We're not telling man what he
is, we're telling him what he thinks he is and what he wants
to hear. And our Lord over here in Matthew
chapter 9, look at this verse of Scripture a moment. The reason
men are not seeking mercy is they don't need it. The reason men are not seeking
grace is they don't need it. The most difficult thing to find
today is a sinner. In Matthew 9, in verse 10, it
came to pass Jesus sat at meat in the house and many publicans
and sinners came and sat down with him and with his disciples.
And when the Pharisees, the religious people, saw it, they said to
the disciples, Why does your master eat with this kind of
people, publicans and sinners? And Jesus heard them and he said,
they that are whole need not a physician. People that are
sick need a physician. You go learn what that means.
I will have mercy, not sacrifice, religious offerings and ceremonies
and rituals and going through the motions. I'll have mercy.
I'm not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Job chapter 33. Here's a passage
of Scripture I'd like for somebody to preach someday that some real
orator, somebody that could rise with it. Job 33 verse 27. Oh, what a Scripture this is.
Job 33, 27, 28. He looketh upon men. God looketh
upon men. That takes great condescension
to look upon men. And if any say, I have sinned, boy, I'll tell you, not many
folks saying that, are they? And perverted that which was
right. That's a word we wouldn't connect
with ourselves, perverted that which is right. It profited me
not. If anybody will say that, he'll
deliver his soul from going down into the pit, and his life shall
see the light. Well, that's something we don't
hear. You know, what we are hearing
a lot about right now is that Jesus Christ came into the world.
What we need to do is find the answer to this question, why
did he come? Why did he come? Well, first he said in Luke 19.10,
the Son of Man is come. He is come. The Word was made
flesh and dwelt among us. He was in the world, and the
world knew him not. And he says, the Son of Man is come to seek
and to save the lost. That's why he came, to seek and
to save the lost. And then the angel said to Mary,
and to Joseph, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins." And you know, I was thinking
today about this, the fact that Jesus Christ came into the world,
and today's religionists have missed his mission. They don't
know why he came. He didn't come to impress people
with his power. He came to save sinners. His surroundings at his birth
ought to tell us something. Now think about it a minute.
He ignored the religious community. He totally ignored the organized
religious community. He ignored the political community. He ignored the rich and influential
community, and he was born in a stable surrounded by cattle His little body lay upon the
hay, and the good news of his coming was told not there at
the temple or the cathedral or at the Bible conference, it was
told to shepherds on the side of a hill. And they came over
here. Here he is. Here's the King.
Here's the Lord of Glory. He's come into this world, and
we have these nativity scenes, but we have them surrounded by
the grandeur and beauty of all of our religious tradition. About the only place you could
really put a nativity scene and have it tell what it's supposed
to tell is out there on the side of a hill somewhere near a stable. But we picked this up and brought
it into our temples. We picked this up and brought
it into our synagogues and our elaborate places of worship,
the very thing that the Lord ignored when He came here. There
were plenty of gold-domed synagogues when he came here. No, it don't
tell us something, but we're so thick-headed. We're so bound
with the fetters of tradition and ceremonialism, and God has
got to come over here where we are. We're not going to go over
there where he is and find out what it's all about. But he's
telling us, his birth tells us, the surroundings of his birth
tell us his attitude toward all this stuff, his upbringing. a carton to shop. He ignored
the school of Gamaliel. Anybody in religion who was anybody
went to the school of Gamaliel. The Lord Jesus didn't. He ignored
their seminars, he ignored organized religion, he ignored all of their
studious colleges, and he was raised in a carton to shop. That
ought to tell us something. We don't learn very well. instead of bringing our ministers
up in the school of the Holy Spirit, working with men, living
with men, surviving the pressures and the needs of real living. We're going to make a preacher
so we take him out of his home when he's a slip of a lad and
send him off down there to a religious cocoon and surround him with
religious nuts and weirdos and thinking, and we keep him protected,
won't let him go to the show, won't let him go to dance, won't
let him eat in the beer hall, won't let him do this, that,
and the other. And we raise us a preacher all surrounded by
all this false, phony, put-on religious nothingness. And he
comes out and gets in the pulpit and he looks into the face of
men and women who wrestle with sin and problems and evil and
power, pressure, and all of these things. He don't know what to
tell them, see, so he's never been there. We passed a law that
preachers didn't have to serve in the military. We want to protect
them from all those things, you know. Preachers don't have to
do these. We don't expose them. Best thing
that ever happened to them. Our Lord knew what it was to
take a saw and a hammer and work. And when he went out into the
highways and the hedges, he met men, and he himself was a man. We can't learn. We're so dumb,
dumb, dumb. It upsets me something terrible,
the way we're raising preachers. They're a bunch of sissified,
feminine, You finish out the sentences,
you know them better than I do, you deal with them. But his disciples,
what were they? They were poor, unlearned fishermen. They were unrecognized and unheralded. Not a one of them had a degree.
His friends, what were they? Publicans and sinners. This ought
to tell us something. When our Lord Jesus walked on
this earth, he didn't go down and look up the reverend doctors
and the bishops and all these fellows, you know. He went down
there where the publicans and harlots were and sat down and
talked to them and they gathered around him. And these bunch of
religious fellows and do-gooders were all standing on the outside
of the ring there saying, what does he find to talk to them
about? Why is he a friend of that fellow? What's he doing
going to that fellow's house? He couldn't understand. And then the people to whom he
revealed himself ought to tell us something when he went to
Samaria. Our Lord went to Samaria. There was a great revival in
Samaria. It started at the well. Philip even went down there after
the Lord's resurrection and had a great outpouring of the Holy
Spirit. Our Lord chose to start it with
a notorious woman who'd been married five times and was living
with a man who was not her husband. That's the first person he dealt
with in Samaria. When our Lord went to the land
of the Gadarenes, now just who do you suppose our Lord looked
up there? Just suppose, just who do you think he revealed
himself to in the land of the Gadarenes? In fact, as far as
I can determine, it wasn't but one person saved in that whole
city. And he was a man out in the tombs
that had had a mental breakdown. He was out there cutting himself
with stone, and they tried to chain him, and they couldn't
chain him. He was a wild man. And our Lord went out there and
took the wildness out and gave him glory. He sure did. Jericho. When he went through
Jericho, who do you suppose he dealt with there? Well, it wasn't
the leading preacher of the town, it was Zacchaeus, a publican
despised and hated by everybody. When he went to Simon's house
for the big dinner, everybody was there. Everybody in town
was there. All the religious leaders were sitting up here
in their uppermost seats and this was some gathering. You just imagine it. This was
a special dinner and the Lord was there. As far as I can determine,
one person in that whole household, in that whole great dinner on
that special day was saved. And that was an uninvited guest,
an unwanted guest. She came in after the whole shindig
was well underway. And she slipped in a side door
and slipped up to the Lord's feet and began to bathe his feet
with tears and weep and drown with the hair of her head and
kiss his feet and beg for mercy. And he said, Woman, your sins
are forgiven! And she was a harlot. And then when he went to the
cross, he died between two men, both of them thieves. And he
took one to glory with him. I don't know will we ever learn
this, but this is not today's preaching, and you know it's
not, and I know it's not, and our Lord's words of compassion
were for sinners. Neither do I condemn thee, go
and sin no more. But here's our Lord's harsh words. Oh, the harshest words he ever
spoke. Turn to Matthew 23. The harshest
words the Lord Jesus ever used. He called these fellows a generation
of snakes. And he didn't call the fellows
we call snakes, he called the fellows we don't call snakes,
snakes. He says in verse 25 of Matthew
23, Whoa unto you scribes, Pharisees, you're hypocrites, you make clean
the outside of the cup and of the platter, and within, oh within,
you're full of extortion and excess, you blind Pharisees. You don't hear the Lord talking
that way to that woman at the well. Zacchaeus, the thief on the cross,
you don't hear him, but here he is talking to, and I'll tell
you who they are in a minute, You blind Pharisee, cleanse first
that which is within the cup and the platter, that the outside
of them may be clean also. Warned to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, you are like whited greaves, you appear beautiful
outward, but are within full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. Even so, you also outwardly appear
righteous unto men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and
iniquity. Verse 33, you serpents, you generation
of snakes, how can you escape the damnation of hell? Those are harsh words. Those
are shaking words. And you see the people to whom
they were spoken? Now back to Luke 18 quickly,
and I'll close this message with just an outline. This parable
in Luke 18 is full of instruction and meaning in regard to this
terrible evil of self-righteousness. First of all, here are five things
to look at. Two men go to church. Look at
Luke 18, verse 10. Well, to begin with, verse 9
says he spake this parable unto a certain group of people. And
the parable is spoken to those who trusted that they were righteous,
that they were good. Alright, two men go to church.
Both of these men went to church. Now watch this, verse 10. Two
men went to the temple to pray. Now both these men went to the
temple. From all outward appearance,
suppose we'd never seen them before, they walk in. Two men
walk in. Both unbelieving in God. They
wouldn't be going to the temple. Both men walked the same road
getting there. They came right down 13th Street.
Both of them walked in the same house of God or place of worship.
Both of them engaged in the same form of religious ceremonial. They prayed. But these men are
as different as Cain and Abel, as different as Daylight and
Dark, as different as Esau and Jacob. How are they different? All right, first of all, they're
different in character and reputation. One of them was a Pharisee and
the other a publican. They were different in reputation.
They were different in outward character. Who was the Pharisee? Actually, now listen to this
a moment. When our Lord gave, he said two men went to church.
And he said one of them was a Pharisee and one of them was a publican.
It's impossible to imagine a more striking contrast in the eyes
of a Jewish congregation. Our Lord couldn't have chosen
two men farther apart in speaking to these Jews. To the Jew there
was no one as high as a Pharisee. The Pharisees were the strictest
sect of the Jews. They were men who observed the
Sabbath. They were men who made broad their phylacteries. They
were men who prayed. They would get two main streets
running together, and they would stand on the corner and read
the scriptures and pray. They were the religious leaders
of their day. The Jews used to say, if two
people go to heaven, one of them will be a Pharisee. They lived
by the Jewish codes and laws. They were strict, the strictest,
in the washings and traditions And in Sabbath observance, they
were strict tithers, they were called to the people rabbi, masters. That's the Pharisee. The other,
our Lord said, was a publican. And in that Jewish congregation's
mind, nobody, nobody, if he'd called a man a kidnapper, if
he'd called him a rapist, whatever he called him wouldn't have been
as bad as a publican. Because the publicans, they were generally
Jews who were employed by the Roman government to take taxes
from the Jewish people. Oh, how these Jewish people hated
these Roman taxes. And they had to pay them. And
these publicans were the collectors of taxes. That's what Zacchaeus
was. And usually they They added what was disgraceful and wretched
and evil about them is they profited by this tax collection. They
were backed up by the Roman government and they put the Jewish people,
their own people, they were traitors. You know how you hate a traitor?
They put the Jewish people under their heels and just ground them
to powder. And they hated these publicans.
They were so infamous, the publicans were, That our Lord said, if
a man will not hear the church, let him be a heathen and a publican. Isn't that what he said? So there
you have two men. When I was a Pharisee, and the
utmost contrast, publican. Alright, thirdly, two men different
in reputation, in outward character, and different in their approach
to God. Let's listen to the Pharisee as he comes all the way down
to the front. The Amplified Bible says the Pharisee took his stand
ostentatiously. He took his stand. The Pharisee
stood. He took his stand ostentatiously. He evidently raised his hands
to heaven and lifted his eyes. That's the way the Jews prayed,
lifted holy hands. And that's the way of praying.
And he got right down where everybody could see him. Because he was
a leader. He was an important man. He was
clean. He was a theologian. If you wanted to know anything,
he'd tell you. His record was pure. He didn't have to have
any downcast eyes at all. He could challenge. Paul said,
regarding the law, I was a Pharisee and I was blameless. And there
he stood, a Republican, standing at a distance, far away in the
great temple. He would not lift his hands,
he would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven. Feeling his
great sin, feeling the evil of his nature, he began to weep
and kept striking his breast. hitting his breast like this,
as if he was trying to pound out the evil heart that beat
there, as if he was trying to drive out the evil thoughts that
existed there, just keep beating on his breast. See the difference? Well, they were different in
their prayers, too, in the fourth place. The Pharisee, listen to
him pray. God, I thank you I was brought
up in a Christian home. He was. He wouldn't have been
a Pharisee. I thank you I was born a Jew, Hebrew of Hebrews,
or he wouldn't have been a Pharisee. I thank you, Lord, I'm not an
extortioner. I've always conducted my business in an upright and
honest manner. I'm not unjust. I've always dealt
fairly with all men. I'm not an adulterer. My life
is pure and clean. And, Lord, I thank you. I tithe.
careful tither of all, anise, mint, and cumin. I fast twice
a week. I prayed. I read my Bible every
day this week. I prayed, Lord." That's his prayer. No need, no want, no plea, no
confession, a recitation of his goodness. Let's listen to that
other fellow back there beating on his chest, that ornery thing,
that good-for-nothing thing. What's he doing here anyway?
He begins to cry, God, O God, be merciful. You know what he's
actually saying? And this is true. You check anybody
that knows anything about this statement. O God, make a propitiation. O God, offer an atonement for
me. O God, be reconciled unto me
by the sacrifice which thou hast appointed upon thy mercy seed.
Oh, God have mercy on me." Deathnet article, D-Center. Now, brethren,
I could quit right there, and you find today's preacher, deacon,
Sunday school teacher, and religionist in those two men. You find them. Where are they? You know where
they are. They're right down here talking about who they are
and what they've done. But that fellow back there in
the corner that Nobody wants to associate with, and he doesn't
associate with anybody. That's not us. Well, last of
all, in the fifth place, two men left the Church. One of them
left the Church, Christ said, holy, innocent, forgiven, and
accepted by God. One of them did, not the other
one. Who do you suppose did? Well, our Lord said, the publicans.
came there empty and went away filled. And the Pharisee came
there rich in merit, rich in righteousness, rich in self-esteem,
and went away damned by God. Look at verse 14. For everyone
that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. There is no halfway house. We're
one or the other. Where are you in this story?
I'll tell you where you better be. And this is what I'm saying. No man's too bad to be saved,
but a lot of people are too good. And the man who takes his place
as a sinner before God and believes in and receives Christ will be
saved no matter what his sins are. And the man who boasts of
his goodness and righteousness shall be damned, no matter how
good his works are. That's so. We just sang, Could
my tears forever flow? Could my zeal no respite know? These for sin could never atone. Christ must save and Christ alone.
Years ago, when I first met Brother Jeff Thornberry, we were talking
one day, back years and 25, 26, 27 years ago. And he said something that I
remember and impressed me as a young minister a whole lot
then. He said, Brother Henry, I'd rather face God at the judgment,
my hands dripping red as a murderer of my fellow man, than to face
God in the judgment as a self-righteous religious person of merit. I had to think about that a moment,
you know, and I expect some of you are thinking about it now.
But I don't care what the sin is. All manner of sin and blasphemy
shall be forgiven. You know what Christ said? But
he can't save a self-righteous man. No way. Got to damn him. Got to judge him. And if you're
going to stand in one of those two places, I'd rather stand
over here. Guilty. Guilty as charged, but
with a hope that Christ would stand in my stead guilty than
to be weighed in the balances and found wanting with no hope
of redemption. This man went to his house justified. The most hated man there, the
most guilty man there. Our Father in Heaven, oh, how
desperately this generation needs to hear this message, how desperately
it needs to be preached in every pulpit. It's the good news, the
glad tidings of great joy unto you is born a Savior, Christ
the Lord. There's no good thing in us.

Your Greatest Enemy - Self Righteousness

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Your Greatest Enemy - Self Righteousness

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