Last week we mentioned how people have missed the significance of God’s revelation on earth. He has shown His glory and brilliance in each blade of grass, each tree, every star in the sky and each individual. Every part of His creation screams brilliance and power. And yet, the common response of His created beings has been to blow Him off. They did not value Him as creator, they were not thankful. Instead they turned to go their own way.

And we saw the awful effects of that move as each person became branded with this fog of darkness that made it difficult to view things in life accurately. It was sort of like shopping at a jewelry store at midnight in the darkness; humanity was sold a bill of goods because they couldn’t tell the true value of things in the darkness. And they chose to become slanderers and liars, and murders and homosexuals and perverts.

But now we come to Romans two. And this chapter is directed at people who seem to have escaped from the pointed judgment of chapter one. They say, "yea, those people are bad, they are terrible sinners, and go straight downhill into all kinds of crime and sexual sins and perversion. I am sure glad that I am not one of them. It’s good that there are some of us who are trying to do right, who try to help others, who are trying to teach and lead in a better direction." These people seem to be going in a "right" direction, or at least if not totally right, they are going in a "righter" direction than all of those sinners of chapter one.

Remember that there are two "branches" to sin; there are the "bad" sinners, and there are the "good" sinners. Romans one describes the "bad" sinners, and Romans two addresses the "good" sinners. It’s similar to the parable of the Prodigal son described in Luke 15. The Prodigal was the "bad" sinner who took his dad’s money and blew it all at Atlantic city on gambling, drugs, alcohol, sex, and parties. There was another brother who never left the house. But when the father went out to invite him in to the celebration of the return of his Prodigal brother, he refused to enter the house, and said to his Father, "I’ve served you all these years, I have never disobeyed you, and you have never threw a banquet for me the way you are throwing one for this prodigal son of yours who has wasted all your money."

Both of these sons have been deceived by their sin – like shopping for jewelry in the darkness. The younger son thought that he owned the inheritance and could do what he wanted to with it. He said to his father, "GIVE ME my part of the estate." In other words, "it belongs to me and I can do what I want with it." He knew what would make life worthwhile, and all he needed was funding. He worshiped pleasure and he sold himself to the highest bidder – the one that could give him the greatest pleasure – just like a prostitute.

On the other hand, the older son stayed home. He didn’t blow his dad’s money, he didn’t run with the prostitutes, and druggies. He never got high on hemp or heroin. This sounds like the ideal son! Yet he was a sinner just like his brother. It was a different brand of sin that looked better, but was probably, in reality, worse, than what his brother was into. If his brother thought that he owned the inheritance, this son thought that he had earned the inheritance. He wasn’t given over to passion like his younger brother. He was given over to pride. He wasn’t into sin and prodigal, profligate living. He was too good for that. If his brother worshiped pleasure, he worshiped his discipline and righteousness. If his brother worshiped wine, women and song, he worshiped himself.

SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS is sin just like UNRIGHTEOUSNESS is sin, and may be an even more deadly form of rebellion. Today we are going to see why.

I. Self-righteousness blinds people to their problems. The person Paul is talking to in this chapter has made himself a judge. In both verses one and three he seems intent on helping others, which is commendable. But Paul doesn’t seem to be happy with what he is doing. These are the people who in chapter one are saying, "Amen, Amen, give it to em, boy" when Paul describes the downward progress of rebellious people. And somehow they think that they have come out clean on the charge of sin, because they are not like the "bad" sinners in chapter one. They actually recognize the sin that others are committing and set out to help them, they understand what is wrong, and they personally practice a totally different kind of lifestyle. They must be very "good!"

A. The fact that they judge suggests their character. There is something significant about their practice of judging others. Why do they set themselves up as judges? The sinners in chapter one aren’t into judging anyone because they don’t care. They know that what they are into is wrong or shady or dangerous, but when they see others doing the same, they’re happy that they have company. Paul says in 1:32: "who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." They clap when they see others doing wrong! They enjoy the fellowship.

Chapter two introduces us to people who are much different. They stand there, stroke their chins and say, "aha, tsk, tsk, I see what you are doing; you are into sin; you dirty thing. You are messed up." Question: Why do they care? Why do they worry about what others are doing? The fact that they feel free and competent to judge others reveals something about them.

Matthew seven helps us understand the psychological makeup of these kind of people: Verse one says, "Judge not, that you be not judged." Most people stop there and think that Christ wants us to eliminate all judging from our lives. But that would eliminate all teachers, who have to judge, and counselors who judge, and friends who are trying to help us. That would eliminate us choosing the best car, and stove and house. We would just buy anything without judging. That’s not Christ’s point at all. He continues: "For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. 3 "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? 4 "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? 5 "Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

The point Christ is making is that commonly, the individuals who are doing the judging described in Matthew seven are guilty of what they find in others. The guy who finds a speck in his brother’s eye in verse three has a plank in his. And he can’t be judging to help his brother, since he really doesn’t care about his own problem.

Think about that. The judge is a specialist in spotting specks – minute pieces of wood in the eye. The irony is that the judge has a collection of specks in his own eye that is so great it has formed into a plank. How has it formed into a plank? Because he has done what he criticizes his brother for, hundreds of times himself, thousands of times, maybe millions of times. What’s the difference in size between a piece of sawdust and a plank? Obviously Christ is intentionally exaggerating the contrast for effect, but what is the difference in the amount of wood in a piece of sawdust as compared with a telephone pole? Or a 2 X 10? A thousand times? Perhaps more like a million times? What’s the difference in the amount of sin in the judge as compared to the "sinner" he is judging?

Do you see where Christ is going? He is saying, "the very fact that you judge so competently, and so willingly, and so insightfully, is a statement of your own condition. YOU ARE GUILTY. And your guilt is probably greater than the sin we find listed in Romans chapter one, because you won’t face yourself honestly.

The striking problem here is that these "good" people are doing what the bad people are doing!!! How is this possible? They aren’t in the bars, they aren’t high on drugs, they aren’t into adultery, and swearing and stealing. How can they be compared with the ugly awfulness of chapter one?

Sometimes they actually do exactly what others do. Like Thomas Fitch, the chief judge of the 7^th judicial district in New Mexico who was convicted three weeks ago of drunken driving. He was driving a state van to a legislative committee meeting when the van overturned. Police found a nearly empty bottle of vodka and Fitch’s blood alcohol level tested at more than twice the state’s legal limit (WT 2/17/05, A8).

But most of the time these judges aren’t doing the same kinds of things. They sin in a different form. Although they wouldn’t commit murder, they may specialize in hate and disdain for others. Sometimes they make excellent slanderers. They don’t bow down to idols, but they worship themselves. They don’t commit adultery, but they lust and fantasize about it. The fact that they are more sophisticated and cultured in their sin doesn’t change the fact that it is sin. Notice Paul’s application in verse 21 to his listeners:

They think that because they have changed the form of their sin they have eliminated their guilt. But it is the same heart motivation; it contains the same thinking process; it leads in the same direction – away from God’s light into darkness.

I’m sure you have heard the story that characterizes this type of sinner. A dominant, aggressive type cartoon character is philosophizing alongside his friend, who happens to be quieter and more passive. With unhesitating boldness, the stronger one says to the weaker one, "If I were in charge of the world, I would change everything!" A bit intimidated, the friend who is forced to listen says rather meekly, "Uh, that wouldn’t be easy. Like. . . where would you start?" Without hesitation he looks directly back and says, "I would start with you!" (OTOT, 125).

That’s an example of the sin of the prodigal’s brother. He judges well. He can tell everyone else what they are doing wrong. The prodigal’s brother even went so far as to verbally attack his Father, who is the picture of God!

Have you ever met anyone like this? Have you ever seen this tendency in your own heart? Realize the fact that when you judge others it may be simply to cover up the fact of your own sin.

II. Self-righteousness blinds people to God’s Perfection. When a person thinks that they are better than someone else it tends to stop their evaluation process. Since they are "better" they are "OK." But God doesn’t evaluate us on who we are better than.

A. Judgment is based on TRUTH. Judges tend to think that they will be evaluated by comparison or contrast. "Am I bad or good?" they say. "Well, I am not like that murderer or druggie. I haven’t cheated on my wife." What they don’t understand is that evaluation by comparison or contrast is false evaluation. Paul says, But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things (2). When you compare yourself with someone else you are choosing your standard of judgment. You say, "I’m better than he is." So what? Did God say, "as long as you are better than he is, I will accept you?" No, God’s standard for evaluation of us is His TRUTH, based on His perfection. You can’t choose your own standard and ask God to grade you that way any more than you can change the way the individual pieces move in the middle of a game of Chess. The standard is already established. It is God’s righteousness, not what someone else is doing.

Do you remember the prayer of the Pharisee in Luke 18: "God, I thank You that I am not like other men -- extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess." There is the classic prayer of the judge – compare and contrast yourself with other men, extortioners and adulterers, and prove to God that you are a notch ahead of the pack – according to your chosen standard..

This self-righteous judging "good" sinner is the kind of person that Scott Peck describes in his book, The People of the Lie. Last week I mentioned how that Peck had graduated from Harvard with the notion that no one is bad; people who seem to be bad simply have chemical imbalances and can be fixed with pills. But when he started his practice he met people who couldn’t be fixed with pills. They were EVIL, astoundingly evil. And who were these people? Murderers? Homosexuals? Robbers? Rapists? No. They were the people that appeared to be "good," the people that could judge others insightfully.

Peck concludes that evil arises because people fail to "put themselves on trial." Evil people "attack others instead of facing their own failures." At the same time they are completely dedicated to polishing their image. They worry about that, and what others think of them (75). Thus they "dress well, go to work on time, pay their taxes, and outwardly seem to live lives that are above reproach." "While they seem to lack any motivation to be good," Peck says, "they intensely desire to appear good. Their ‘goodness’ is all on a level of pretense. It is, in effect, a lie" (75).

Then he adds this great insight: "Actually, the lie is designed not so much to deceive others as to deceive themselves. They cannot or will not tolerate the pain of self-reproach. . . The essential component of evil is not the absence of a sense of sin or imperfection but the unwillingness to tolerate that sense. At one and the same time, the evil are aware of their evil and desperately trying to avoid the awareness. Rather than blissfully lacking a sense of morality, like the psychopath, they are continually engaged in sweeping the evidence of their evil under the rug of their own consciousness." "Evil originates not in the absence of guilt but in the effort to escape it" (76).

That is what these judges are doing. They sweep any evaluation of their own condition under the rug of their consciousness and point to others as the problem. This is stealth evil; evil that flies under the radar of most people because it is quiet and hidden. Yet this is the real, the appalling, the worst kind of evil, according to Scott Peck.

When you compare yourself with someone else, you can always come out on top. But when you compare yourself with the truth, the result is GROSS SIN. God’s standard is the TRUTH (Romans 3:23), and everyone falls hundreds of miles short. Some may swim only a couple of yards; others may swim a mile or two. There may be some who swim 100 miles, but no one swims the Atlantic ocean. Everyone fails and drowns. The same is true with God’s standard – everyone fails, and, apart from Christ, experiences God’s WRATH in eternal punishment.

God’s standard is described in verses seven and ten. It is "patient continuance in doing good." The words "patient continuance" speak of faithful obedience even when you don’t want to. God’s standard is doing good all the time. We think that His standard is "doing good." It’s the "patient continuance" part that causes us problems. We want to emphasize to God that we "do good." He wants to emphasize to us that "patient continuance" means "all the time."

We pray like the Pharisee in Luke 18: "I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess." Your list may include, "I attend Belcroft Bible Church; I don’t murder or attend R rated movies." The question is, what do those statements mean? For the Pharisee in Luke 18 it meant that he wanted God to focus on certain of his amazing deeds. "Look at this," he says. "Get all excited." "I fast twice a week!" "I have taken your ‘command’ and doubled it!" And God says, "yes, I notice that. But I’m concerned that the other five days of the week you spend with a critical spirit toward everyone else." When we feature good works in our portfolio, that doesn’t fulfill God’s standard of "patient continuance." He requires good works all the time.

For those who don’t match God’s perfection, the judgment is specified in verses eight and nine: "indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek." Missing God’s standard brings out His wrath – on everyone and anyone.

Most people respond, "well, what I do is not that bad. I do a lot of good." But the point is that God is going to judge EVERYTHING that you do. The question is, "if every one of your actions and activities were put down on paper, would you fall into the category of verses eight and nine? Or seven and 10?

Mr. Miles, the late president of the Washington Bible College, told the story of meeting a good man one day. He asked the man, "how do you get to heaven?" The answer, "by being good." Mr Miles asked, "how good do you have to be?" His answer was, "quite good." "Well how good is that?" Mr Miles asked. "Very good," was the reply. "Would you say that you have to be almost perfect?" "Yes," the man said. Then Mr. Miles asked, "are you that good?" His answer was, "well, no, not that good." "So in reality, you will never make it to heaven, will you?" The man replied, "I think you are right." Then Mr. Miles said, "let me tell you the great news of how God has provided forgiveness for people like you and me who can’t make it."

Do you see how the notion that we do certain "good things" blinds us to the reality that God’s judgment is going to examine every single solitary deed we do and think and intend? The "good works" route is only intended to show us how great our failure is when compared with God’s standard of righteousness. When we reason like the Pharisee, "I am doing some real good stuff; I am doubling up on the fasting command, because I am serious," we will miss the truth of God’s evaluation. He judges every act, and in that light, we are total failures.

As long as we go on thinking that we are semi-acceptable material for heaven, as long as we are going to turn over another new leaf, and shore up a little anger management here and lust control there, to fix things, we will wind up in eternal punishment – hell. Because you will never get good enough. No matter how hard you try, you will come out in verses 8 and 9 rather than 7 and 10. As long as you think that you will somehow come out in verses 7 and 10 you are deceiving yourself. Once you admit that you can’t do it, then the good news becomes so sweet. Because the truth is that God has provided a way to forgive you of your sins and give you new life in Christ.

Because of their intense focus on others, these Jewish judges have missed the very purpose of their gifts and opportunities. God’s goal was that their blessings change them first.

Jewish people boasted in their privileges 17 Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God, 18 and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law.

They were Jewish, and were the only ones in the world with God’s Law, and knew His will, and knew what things were best, and could instruct others and guide the blind and teach babes! What a list! Jewish people had great blessings from God. He had selected them and given them special gifts that no other nation possessed. He had emphasized that they were His chosen people, that they were unique, and that He would bless them.

How does one respond to a list like that? With pride for being selected and winning the contest? Or with humility over the responsibility given you? When Jewish people responded with pride, they tended to look down their noses at the rest of the world as having less than them. The rest of the world was "unclean;" the rest of the world was composed of "dogs," and it was the "select" few who were the "light" of the world, the teachers of the ignorant, the guides for the blind.

Their privileges have enabled them to make their lives worse (21-24). What was the purpose of the pile of privileges listed in verses 17-20? It was to change them so that they could function as examples and leaders and teachers. They were to lead as they were changed. They were to teach from the truths of the Law that had transformed them.

Instead they didn’t learn. Nothing changed them. The privileges only gave them greater opportunities to do wrong. It was like the 17 year old kid with the new powerful sports car. What does the car do for him? It enables him to make himself a paraplegic faster. The privilege proved to be detrimental. Look at how Israel’s privileges made their lives worse: 21 You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? 22 You who say, "Do not commit adultery," do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? 24 For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," as it is written.

They were spending their talent judging others and trying to straighten everyone else out. They missed the point; their teaching was to be initially aimed at themselves. Consequently they missed the personal blessing they were trying to give to others. And because it had not changed them, they were like the judge in Matthew seven, trying to help the world get the wood specks out of its eye while they had telephone poles in their own eyes. Like the cobbler who fixes everyone else’s shoes and his kids go barefoot. What have their privileges "enabled" them to do? Smear God’s name. As verse 24 says, "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." They had turned almost every privilege into a curse word.

Their privileges have become meaningless (25-29).

Their pride has reduced the privilege of their Jewishness to nothing. Their circumcision has become uncircumcision because they smash the very Law they have been given as a treasure. The Law was given to them to obey, but there are non-Jewish people who are doing a better job of obeying the ten commandments than the Jews are. The result is that a good pagan has a better chance in the judgment than a bad Jewish person.

The privilege of having the name, Rockefeller, or Kennedy, or Bush, is worthless if you don’t use it. The privilege of circumcision that sets you apart as a son of Abraham and a participant in his covenant of promise is worthless if you don’t participate. It’s not the outward privilege that makes your life valuable. Rather it is the inward intention to do something with it that is life changing. It’s like people today saying, "I am a member of the church." Ok, fine, yeah, wonderful. So what? The benefit of being a member depends on its use.

Thus Jewish people had set out to "teach the world to sing in perfect harmony," but had never taken their own lessons. They viewed themselves as leaders of mankind, but they had failed to lead themselves.

Bottom line? The best people in the world, the world’s greatest judges, are FAILURES because they are sinners just like everyone else. In fact, their brand of "good" sin may be so blinding that their condition may be worse than the sinners they judge.

Have you seen yourself in today’s description of life? You may be Jewish, and talented, and successful. You will soon face a judge who reads your heart and mind, and knows all your secrets. God wants that fact to lead you to "repentance." By understanding and acknowledging your sin, and coming to Christ for help, you can receive the gift of forgiveness that God has spent so much on. His Son died on the cross that you might be saved.

03/06/05, BBC am