Sin: The Response

Evan Puig

We Need to Talk About It • Sermon • Submitted a month ago • Presented a month ago

Romans 1

Freedom

Sin

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Intro:

How many of you guys like to watch youtube videos? Yeah most of us right. One of Jenna and I’s favorites is to watch the like fail or funny compilations. I know that’s old school and most of y’all probably don’t care about videos like that. But they’re great because it just makes you feel so good to watch how dumb, uncoordinated, or unwise some people can be with their lives. It’s like yeah I don’t have it all together, but I didn’t drive my car into a lake like that guy! Right? But a similar type of video is also one of our favorites. Not fail compilations but instant justice videos. Have y’all watched that? So a lot of times it’s car dash cams that record crazy things happening on the road. But the instant justice part is these videos where people are speeding, running red lights, or just driving terribly and then immediately either get pulled over or wreck their car or something! And I mean I am not gonna lie, it is so satisfying. You like watch a car just cut someone off and honk their horn a bunch and then boom, the red and blue lights pop up behind them. Maybe it’s just me but I’m like YES absolutely man, that is just what you deserve! You know? It’s funny how much we can enjoy seeing other people get in trouble. But we’ve also got to be honest- sometimes we are guilty of the same things. Like I have definitely sped and cut people off in my car before too.

Our tendency is always towards seeing other people’s flaws and wrong doings and ignoring our own. We can easily say that another person is prideful, rude, annoying, or selfish- when at the same time, to everyone else around us, we are viewed the same way. Did you know that psychologically we are wired this way? It’s called projection and it’s the idea that we often see our own flaws the most when we look at the people around us.

This concept of being blind to our own weaknesses and highlighting everyone else’s is really at the heart of the passage we will be looking at tonight. It’s really the idea of self-righteousness- believing that we don’t have anything wrong with us. We are good people and everyone else around us actually has the big bad sin problem that the Bible is talking about. Here’s why that attitude is so dangerous for us:

Self-righteousness will always resist repentance.

Sadly, I believe the reason we don’t see more revival and powerful moves of the Spirit in our churches today is because people refuse to acknowledge the sin in their hearts. So many of us that are raised in church or have been here a long time can forget just how broken and sinful we are. And so we are rarely having raw moments of confessing our sin and repenting of it and watching God come and move in powerful ways through those times. Now, to be clear, last week we talked a ton about how Jesus gives us his righteousness through the cross and that anyone who turns from their sin and follows Jesus receives his righteousness, redemption and atonement for sin. So we don’t have to walk around hating ourselves or feeling defeated by sin, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t need to take sin seriously. It’s through understanding how serious sin is that we appreciate how great the work of Jesus was on the cross and vice versa.

Tonight we will be in the beginning of Romans chapter 2 if you want to start to turn there with me.

Last week we studied what is considered one of the most important theological passages in the Bible. This week we will be reading some verses that are some of the most controversial. They are controversial because if they are taken out of context they seem to go completely against what the rest of the new testament teaches us about salvation. So, we need to read them carefully and understand them in context!

As a reminder, this passage is right after the end of chapter 1 when Paul lists out a bunch of sins as he is talking about humanity’s struggle with sin and brokenness. Keep that in mind as Paul transitions here.

Read with me, Romans 2:1-11

Romans 2:1–11 CSB

Therefore, every one of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. Now we know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. Do you think—anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same—that you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. He will repay each one according to his works: eternal life to those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality; but wrath and anger to those who are self-seeking and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness. There will be affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does what is good, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For there is no favoritism with God.

Ok, at first glance we have to admit, that doesn’t sound quite like the Gospel we are used to hearing right? This sounds like if we do bad things we get punished, and if we do good things we will be rewarded by God. It literally says God will repay each one according to his works. Didn’t we just say last week we can’t earn our salvation and we don’t receive justification or redemption by works? What is going on here?

Again, we need context.

This isn’t a full thought from Paul this is a snippet from a larger, teaching that He is developing. Before this in Romans 1 Paul described just how bad our sin problem is right? Remember he emphasized that sin leads to death in every way and when we are given over to it we even celebrate people doing evil things. Then in chapter 3 just after this is where Paul unpacks the solution to that sin problem in the cross- that there is forgiveness, freedom, and righteousness in Jesus that we can receive by grace through faith!

But here in chapter 2 Paul is leaning into the harsh reality we face apart from Jesus and I believe it is a warning against what can make people MISS out on what Jesus offers through the Cross.

Let’s look at what Paul says here in chapter 2.

First, Paul points to that idea we started with of self-righteousness.

He first talks about anyone who is judging others. HE says if you are judging others for their sin, you are actually just condemning yourself. This isn’t talking about healthy Christian accountability where we lovingly point out sin in each other to help each other grow. No, Paul is poking at the heart of the people around him.

His point is this:

1. Self-righteousness is fake righteousness.

Who is he addressing though? He may be talking to Jewish people who thought they were right with God because of the law and so when they hear Paul talk about sinners who practices all of this wickedness- they basically just point their fingers at Gentiles and say yep that’s a YOU problem. We are right with God because we are Jewish. Which we know isn’t true like we have talked about in weeks past. But sadly, it was the heart for many at that time.

On the other hand, Paul may be addressing people in general who have a self-righteous heart. Thinking that their high morality and good deeds are good enough to save them. Paul is most likely directly addressing Jewish people in this passage but the principle applies to us all. Religious and non-religious people alike are all tempted to think they are not THAT guilty of sin. WE are always tempted to make excuses, gloss over, or completely ignore the sinful practices and attitudes in our lives. When we are confronted with our sin we are often defensive or dismissive.

Defensive- excusing our actions, lying or avoiding the truth of our hearts.

Dismissive- acting like its not a big deal compared to other sins or people.

But here’s the thing:

Just because we don’t take our sin seriously, doesn’t mean that God doesn’t take our sin seriously.

Remember, God is perfect and holy and good. So he must judge sin justly. Paul’s point in these first few verses, is that NO ONE should convince themselves that sin is someone else’s problem. We all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. We all deserve the punishment of God’s eternal judgment for our sins.

This leads us to Paul’s second point:

2. God will judge everyone based on their works.

Again, this sounds weird because we know the whole story of the Gospel. However, this is an important part of the story. God IS a just judge and he WILL judge sin in the end. Everyone will be judged by our works. And here is the thing- like we said last week NO ONE will be found innocent, good or righteous with God.

No one is righteous, no not one! Psalms says this, Ecclesiastes says this, the new testament affirms this over and over. Paul quotes that in Romans 3:10. All are afflicted by sin and deserve death because of it. So, Paul can rightly say that God will judge everyone and repay them according to their works.

His point to us, and specifically those of us struggling to realize that we ARE sinful is this: don’t point to anyone else- realize that you will be judged according to your works and you know that you are guilty of sin when compared to the perfect standard of God’s holiness.

So, where’s the hope?

3. Jesus offers us real righteousness.

This whole passage is a critique of the self-righteous heart. But the good news is what we heard last week. Rather than self-righteous deception that we have no sin and are right with God by our obedience. Jesus gives us his righteousness through his perfect life, sacrifice on the cross and resurrection! Really the answer to all of this passage is what we studied last week in Chapter 3.

So why are we talking about this? Because we need this perspective to take sin seriously. Until we stop thinking we have any righteousness of our own, we will never start regularly living a life of confession and repentance of sin! And thus, we won’t ever actually experience the freedom and eternal life of Jesus- now or in new creation.

Look back at Romans 2:3-4

Romans 2:3–4 CSB

Do you think—anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same—that you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

Self-righteousness always resists repentance.

But if we realize we have no righteousness in ourselves but only what Jesus earned for us on the cross and offers us through faith- we will live a life of confession and repentance. We must take sin seriously if we ever want to be free from it.

So, Jenna and I are having a problem at home.

Ever since it started warming up we have experienced an invasion. WE have had an army of Copperhead snakes come into our yard. Almost every day for the past few weeks we have seen more snakes in our backyard. And to be clear, copperheads are venomous. They can seriously hurt you and especially they can cause severe issues if they bite pets or small children. Now, I am going to be honest, the first year we were in this house we saw a couple big copperheads and were a little nervous but I didn’t do anything about them. I was like hey you stay over there and do your thing and we won’t have a problem. But now, I am going to be honest, I am killing every copperhead we see. Why? Because now Eden is running around in the backyard. It’s one thing if I got bit and have some discomfort for a while but if Eden get’s bit that is a hospital visit for sure, and sometimes those bites can turn deadly in small children. I don’t personally love the idea of killing animals, but if that animal could kill my daughter you better know that I will do whatever it takes to get rid of that threat. I will commit mass murder against the copperheads in our neighborhood if it means protecting my daughter.

Listen, that is the attitude we must have against our own sin if we want to live a life of repentance and obedience to Jesus. You want to start experiencing freedom from sin? Start viewing your sin like it actually has the power to kill you- because it does! Jesus paid for it and set you free on the cross, and he gave you his spirit so that you no longer have to walk in the death of sin, but can walk in the LIFE of his power over sin.

Stop letting your sin kill parts of your life and start killing your sin and walking in new life!

Paul is clear that one of our most likely hurdles to serious repentance like that is self-righteousness.

God’s kindness isn’t an excuse to take sin lightly, or ignore our sins big or small- God’s kindness, patience, and grace give us the ability to repent.

To be clear,

Repentance: a change in mind that results in a change in action.

It’s the shift to viewing our sin seriously, turning away from it and following Jesus in holiness instead.

How do we respond when faced with this?

Confess it to God.

Talk to God about it and ask for forgiveness. Know that He forgives you and ask him to guide you in how to follow Jesus closer in that area of your life.

2. Tell another Christian.

Tell someone who you can trust to check on you and pray for you as you try obey Jesus in that area going forward. This may take two people- maybe you need to tell someone you see all the time and will always check in on you. But also make sure you tell someone who is ahead of you and can give you wisdom and encouragement for that area in your life.

3. Set boundaries in your life. Remove anything that would encourage you to turn back to that sinful behavior or attitude. Go all in and make sure you set yourself up for holiness going forward, not an ongoing struggle of tripping up and sliding back into your sin.

It’s time to Grab the shovel, have it ready by the door, be on guard to kill the snakes whenever they pop their heads up. And when you are tempted to let them go free- remember they could kill somebody! Revival won’t come without repentance and Self-righteousness will always resist repentance.

Your generation can take sin seriously.

Instead of getting defensive or dismissive about our sin, let’s get serious about it and practice confession and repentance so we can walk in the freedom of life that Jesus died on the cross to give us!

Bow your heads with me.

Let’s respond to God’s Word tonight:

If you’re here tonight and you aren’t sure if you are saved you haven’t ever had a moment of turning away from your sins and putting your faith in Jesus to save you, then you need to hear that as Paul said, you are guilty of your sin. You are stuck in it and one day you will stand before God and be judged for it. And like all of us you will be found guilty. however, Jesus came so that you don’t have to stay lost in your sins and guilty before God. God loves you SO Much that He sent his one and only son into this world to live a perfect life without sin, and then go to the cross and he died the death that you deserve for your sins, and he rose from the dead conquering sin and death forever. Jesus is your rescuer and he came to bring you back to God and give your forgiveness and new life. There is hope for you today because of Jesus’ work on the cross. Today is the day for you to be saved, find life, healing and freedom in Jesus. Is there anyone here tonight that needs to be saved?

For us as Christians:

right now will you just ask God to search your heart and show you any areas of sin that you need to confess, turn away from and walk free from tonight?

Confess that to God- say God this is sinful, it is wrong and I have sinned against you and others with it, forgive me and remind me of the freedom I have in Jesus’ work on the cross right now!

Now, in just a moment as we sing again I really want to encourage you to not miss this chance to experience a brand new level of healing and freedom by talking to one of your brothers or sisters in this room about that confession you just made to God. It may be big, it may be small but grab someone you trust and come talk to me or one of the other leaders about it as we sing so we can be there for you, encourage you and pray for you!