What is the real problem with the church?

Self-righteousness and confidence in ourselves is an epidemic in the church. And so, partly what we're saying here on this podcast today is that we need, in evangelicalism, we need to reorient what we see as the main problem in the church.

So I think many guys out there with the best of intentions, I don't ever want to impugn anybody's motivations, they see the main problem in the evangelical church being nominalism,.

Right?

And so, therefore, my posture in the pulpit, you know, the tone and tenor of my teaching and preaching is going to be one that will smoke out the nominal amongst us. Whereas what we are saying, in line with the reformers and those of the reformed tradition, we're saying, look, no, the biggest problem that exists in the church is moralism and self-righteousness, where we actually think that even post-conversion, this is a problem because we start to kid ourselves into thinking that we are earning some kind of favor with.

God.

You know, that somehow what we're doing is meritorious before Him. And we can find a false sense of security, absolutely, in the things that we're doing or in the things that we're abstaining from.