Jesus meet Mr Self Righteous (Part 1)

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All right, well, enough of that. I've been thinking a lot about self -righteousness lately.

I've been thinking about religiosity lately. There's nothing wrong with the word religious if you use it properly, but religiosity, of course, that smacks as something negative.

I go back in time a little bit. It was 19088, and I was 28 years old.

I'm 55 now, and I received that phone call. You know, you have the world by the tail, and then you receive the call, and the call goes something like this.

Everyone's got their own little variegated nuances, but mine was, Hi, Mike, this is

Mom. She didn't have to say that, but so you know what she was saying. This is Mom, and Dad's been sick lately, and we've got the diagnosis.

It's terminal cancer. Non -smoking lung cancer.

They give him six months to a year. I mean, then things go through your mind.

As you wipe the tears off, and you wonder why, what's the meaning of life?

What happens after death? Will the chemo work? What is chemotherapy?

Does anyone go to heaven? Is there hope for people? About one year later, he did, in fact, die at 55 years old.

That's the weird thing. I'm 55. He died at my age. Shortly after that, very shortly,

Kim and I were married. She was a new believer. I wasn't a believer, but I knew enough to basically make a new believer think

I was a believer. I wasn't trying to con her. I just didn't know about saving faith, and I only had intellectual and maybe some emotional faith which is not saving faith.

And so we, I mean, I had the dream wife, the dream life.

Of course, I lost my father, but things were going well until I realized that I woke up with the worst sinner in the world every day.

And I'm not talking about Kim. Of course, it was myself. And when you're married, you really get to see your sinfulness and your selfishness.

And I remember slamming down the dresser, and I want to say it was an

Ikea dresser because regular wooden dressers don't shatter. I mean, I'm not that strong.

And I remember Kim looking at me with a look of, I cannot believe I married you, or, and I'm scared.

And the Lord used all that. After my father's death, and then this episode, for me to begin to listen to Christian radio and to try to find truth,

I had to begin to read the Bible. Kim had a very interesting thing. It was called the Open Study Bible.

Maybe not the new Open yet, but the Open Study Bible. And looking back, not a lot of notes.

It's not like the Reformation Study Bible, MacArthur Study Bible, ESV Study Bible where you have some really good notes underneath the text to tell you what the text says and means.

But this just had some charts, and it was just put together in a format that was easier to read, although there were some cross -references here and there.

But not the best study Bible, but to me, compared to my Revised Standard Version that I received at the Lutheran Catechism completion confirmation, it was way better.

And I listened to the Christian radio, and I remember kind of moving up toward the dash almost when they would do the altar call via the radio.

And I mean, I wanted to be saved. Was I? Wasn't I? I was too prideful to go to a church where they had an altar call to go up to the front.

I would never do that. I mean, it's the stoic kind of Swedish, Danish, German in me, maybe, or just outright pride.

And sometime in that year, 1989, my father died in January. I was married in June.

God saved me. God forgave me. He gave me a new life. I was cleansed.

I was a new creature in Christ Jesus, reconciled to God, redeemed by the blood of the

Lamb. The ransom price paid was Christ's death. And I was trusted in the risen

Savior, Christ Jesus. And so since then, that's been 25 years ago, 25, 26, 25 and a half technically,

I've been wanting to understand the details of how God did save me, what

He really was doing in my life and how do

I parse that out so I could understand things better. Trying to study the character and nature of God.

I want to know who this God is who saved me. Not just what is justification, although that's wonderful, but Jesus, the just and the justifier.

Who is this Jesus who would love me with an everlasting love? Who is this

Christ who lived in my place, died in my place, was raised from the dead?

You think about sin and you think about justice. Well, nothing really extraordinary needs to take place to solve the problem.

If you have a just God and you have sin, there's punishment. But since God is merciful as well and kind and long -suffering and just, how do you uphold law?

Sin's got to be punished, yet forgive. How do you solve that word problem? Of course, in God's mind, it's not a problem.

It doesn't require more effort to solve, but it is, from our perspective, much more wonderful. And you can even hear the echo of Paul saying in Romans 11,

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and how inscrutable

His ways. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been His counselor or who has given a gift to Him that He might be repaid?

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.

To Him be glory forever, Amen. And so, when I think of my own self -righteousness and my lack of need for Christ's righteousness,

I began to think about a self -righteous man, a man who had it all, a very religious man, and what

Jesus said to the religious man. What does Jesus say to people who have religiosity, who have self -righteousness, who never compare themselves to God?

God has immutable righteousness, inflexible justice.

And when we compare ourselves to Him, we need all of Christ's righteousness, 100%.

But when we compare ourselves to other people, then we think, well, I'm better than they are.

They probably need 90 % of, I mean, 10 % of, I don't even know my numbers, 90 % of Christ's righteousness because their moral scale is at about a 10, you know, they're a prostitute or something, but they do look out for other prostitutes.

And mine is about 85%, so I need about 15 % of Christ's righteousness because I'm better.

I pay my bills, I pay my taxes, I don't commit white -collar crimes, blue -collar crimes, and I'm better than they are.

And that's deadly. Both kinds of sinners, according to Romans 1, 2, and 3, need all of Christ's righteousness.

So we want to look today at Romans, excuse me, John 3, to discuss some truths about Jesus meeting

Mr. Religion. And of course, I don't mean by religion adhering to beliefs and practices of a religion, but I do mean adhering to those beliefs and practices so that you think you'll earn heaven, that you think you'll get heaven.

Religion I think doesn't help people, it actually hurts. If it's not Christianity, it gives false hope.

You think you're really inching toward God, but you're really moving away from God.

And so I love John 3 because Jesus talks to the most religious person in Israel.

And I wonder what he says. This is good because we deal with a lot of religious people, and maybe that's in New England area,

Roman Catholics. Maybe in the South, that's Baptists. There's a lot of religious people who think they're

Christians, who I'm not saying are in some cult. They are in Baptist churches, but they think they're good based on what they've done.

John 3, 1, now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to him by night and said,

Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

And so here comes Nicodemus, the Pharisee. And remember what the word Pharisee means? It means to separate.

And they're different. They're not like the common people. They're separated because they do all kinds of rules, regulations, and they adhere to these things with a strictness.

Now you wonder why we're not on WVNE anymore. So, we'll take a religion and we'll make it all externals.

And then, by the way, those are things we can do. There's a heart religion, there's a lot of things we know we can't do from our heart, but the external religion we can do outwardly, and so now we can take pride that we actually do them.

And here we have Nicodemus, the Pharisee, and by the way, leading Pharisee from the sounds of it, a ruler of the

Jews in reference to the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of the Jews. And Nicodemus, by the way,

Nike, Nike, victor over the people, I mean, nice name.

And Sanhedrin, by the way, you make religious decisions, and certainly if anyone can get to heaven by being good,

I mean, this guy's like the Pope, he's got loads seats for heaven. But interestingly, and it should not surprise us in light of what grace really is and who

Jesus is, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, from the human perspective, portray self -righteous people, outwardly religious people, as the ones who are the most difficult to get to spiritually.

Now, of course, God can do it every once as often as He wants, I get that, but humanly speaking, it's the religious people.

They have self -righteousness. I mean, who needs grace when you don't think you need it,

A, and B, you're blind to your own needs. Luke 5, it is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.

I've not come to call the righteous, but sinners, too. Repentance. Religion blinds people.

Religion gives people things to do, and they think they can do them. I mean, you only make up the rules of the things you think you can do, and if it's from an internal perspective, you get rid of that, you gut that, so you can, because you know you can never do that, so you do the external alone, and it's like an inoculation.

They give you just enough of the disease -causing microbe, pathogen, so your body can become immune to it, and so people today, if they're not religious, they call themselves immune to themselves.

Immune to themselves, what? Spiritual. Well, yes, we're a spiritual person, people.

Now, see, here's what you don't know. A no -compromise radio, you think maybe this is my only job, and this is what

I do, and we have the crack staff. We do have crack staff, but they're just issues swirling around in ministry, in my life, and other people's lives here that make me preoccupied, and so if you like a preoccupied, no -compromise radio, today's the day.

Out of all the parables and the instruction of Christ Jesus, Luke 18, verses 9 -14, give us a window into the mentality of a religious person like Nicodemus, the

Pharisee in the text, collector. Jesus also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus,

God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but beat his breast, saying,

God, be merciful to me, literally the sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.

Now let's take a look at this self -righteous Pharisee and the tax collector. I think if you'll work through this enough mentally, you'll come to see that the tax collector agreed with the

Pharisee of the Pharisee's assessment. I am an extortioner.

I am unjust. I am an adulterer. I'm the tax collector.

I am those things. I'm not comparing myself to other people compared to you,

God. I am all these things. I'm sinful. I'm wicked. I have no righteousness. And therefore, he says,

God, I need your mercy. If you're going to get to heaven by being good, then all the goodness is taken away because you know what your heart's really like, and of course, because of Adam's fall, we know we're all that way.

I am who he says I am, and therefore, I need mercy. I don't tithe.

I don't pay tax. I mean, I don't fast.

But the Pharisee, he didn't think he was like a tax collector. He thought he was above it all, and he did not go down to his house justified.

And that's what happens. Pretty soon, you start thinking, well, my religion will help me do

X, Y, and Z. Who needs mercy? But if we really know what we're like, you can read

Romans 1 and say, yes, I'm that person. Then everything falls into place, and you're going to need the

Savior, Jesus, who lives a perfect life. Jesus, who was not an extortioner.

Matter of fact, he wasn't like other men in their sins. He was like men because he was a full man.

He was fully man. Right? He's the God man. Jesus was not an extortioner.

He was not unjust. He was not an adulterer. He was not sinful in any way, shape, or form.

Because of Jesus, because of his propitiation, by the way, the language of Luke is be propitious to me a sinner.

I need to have your wrath assuaged by another. See, the

Pharisees didn't need any of that. And so these Pharisees, you know, it's a flock of Pharisees. I was once myself in another group, we were called the flock of Pharisees.

I didn't respond to them at all, but I wanted to put the flock of seagulls haircut on my face.

See how that looked? When I saw the flock of seagulls at Santa Cruz at the beach, oh, a couple summers ago, they did not have the hair.

It just did not work. And I ran so far away.

Religiosity can't save people. And you say, well, we know that. Well, how about Why Baptize Infants, 1981?

Lutheran book in our booklet put out by the Lutheran Church and under the subtitle called

Baptism Saves, we find the following. Baptism establishes a new relationship with God.

Through Christian baptism, we have our sin forgiven, become heirs of eternal life, and can remain His children forever.

Amazing grace. Exclamation point. End quote. Page 321,

Catholic Catechism. By baptism, all sins are forgiven, original and personal sins, as well as all punishment for sins.

1994 edition, page 321. And for us, in our circles, yeah,

I go to Sunday night service. I go to Wednesday night service. Don't smoke.

Don't drink. I've partaken of the Baptist sacrament, that is, the altar call.

Or maybe some people say, well, I've had some experiences. But back to John.

Jesus knew what was in the heart of Nicodemus. Yes? Yes. Of course, because the verse before chapter 3, verse 1, and Jesus needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in a man.

He knows what's in the heart of man. And on the outside, the Pharisee, the Sadducee, the lawyer, the tax collector, name any other person.

On the outside, you might be fine, especially comparing yourself to someone else. But compared to God, who sees the hearts to see what's inside of you, there's just going to be condemnation.

Right? There's going to be condemnation. And here's the problem. In John 3,

Nicodemus knew a lot about Jesus, but that still wasn't saving faith. He said,

I know you've come from God. Rabbi, we know that you've come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.

Yeah. I know you can turn water into wine. I know you're the

God man. I know you're a prophet. You're a priest. Probably thought he was a king.

Many things he knew about Jesus called Jesus a rabbi. He's from God.

Jesus, you're not from Satan. You're not from the world. You didn't send yourself.

The Father sent you. Same thing happens today. People say, well,

I believe in the virgin birth. I believe that Jesus is God and man. I believe that you're right with God through justification by faith alone.

I believe God wrote the Bible. But there's a faith that doesn't save sin.

There's a faith that doesn't guarantee heaven. There's a false assurance. As a result,

John 666, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore.

I guess I could ask you the question. Nicodemus believed Jesus was good.

Nicodemus believed Jesus was from God. Nicodemus believed Jesus was a performer of miracles.

Nicodemus believed he was the teacher of the Bible. But that wasn't enough. That wasn't enough.

What about you? It's interesting. I'm trying to turn my page here and the thing's not turning.

Calvin, knowledge of God can no more connect a man with God than the sight of the sun can carry him to heaven.

There's a demon faith that's strictly emotional, strictly intellectual, but it's not volitional, not willful.

You say, I'm monotheistic. I'm Trinitarian. Well, the demons believe in shudder.

Knowing about God is not knowing God. Do you know God? Does he know you? That's even a better question.

For me, now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. Our Father which art in heaven, come

Lord Jesus be our guest. Hail Mary, full of grace. You can know all kinds of things, but there are many people who are deceived.

Many people. Do you know Jesus personally? Have you trusted in the Jesus of the Bible with faith alone?

Repenting and trusting in Christ Jesus. Does he know you? That's really a good question.

So on No Compromise Radio, we're just looking at John Chapter 3, Part 1 today. Part 2 is coming up very soon.

You can always write us at info at nocompromiseradio .com. You can go to our brand new website, our YouTube channel,

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Lord would use even us to bless people like you. God bless you. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life -transforming power of God's Word through verse -by -verse exposition of the sacred text.

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