Untitled Sermon (2)

We now continue our study in Romans chapter 10. If you remember last week I stated that The 1st 9 chapters of this letter was all doctrine and now we are approaching Paul’s application. It would benefit you all greatly to not only go back and read the 1st 9 chapters but to reflect on everything that we have covered within those 9 chapters.

And we would be wise to reflect back on everything that we have gone over and pay attention now as we learn to apply the teachings that we have gone through. And the theme that we are looking at now Is zeal with no knowledge.

We will look to our own culture and the history that has led to the current culture we live in to recognize the errors there have been made in the past. So these next few weeks should not only be looked at as a biblical study but also a current event study.

It is important for God's people to recognize and remember these past mistakes. Unfortunately the mistakes that have been committed and the trends that are in full effect now are deemed normal. This is common Christianity in the United States.

It is not historical Christianity that we are seeing. We have confused the church. We have, as a nation of people, demanded that our churches function a certain way, look a certain way, and things shall be done a certain way.

When we see things that are not done in our image we tend to get a little upset. And that should be your 1st red flag. When things are not going your way to your exact vision and you are upset about that that is a red flag for you to stop and recognize that the thing you're mad about could be from myself as heart.

But here is what we know about our current culture that it is a dark and evil place. And the more I stay up-to-date on current events the more I see the depravity of man. When I was a child I was often warned about child abductors.

The school would tell us don't accept candy from strangers or somebody has a pet don't go up and try and pet them. Something like that .

And that was frightening to think about as a child. But as an adult I have never been more frightened in my entire life for the safety of children than I am now. Sexual perversion has gone to an extreme and is at the dawn of being normalized. Some of it already long past normalized.

And the sad reality of the atrocities that we are witnessing is that the church has not been strong enough, bold enough, and consistent enough to battle the evils that are now dominating our culture. Ministers are not equipping the saints for the knowledge to do the work that they need to be doing.

The reason why they are not doing this is 1 of 2 reasons, the congregation demanded something different from their pastor, or their pastor doesn't know. And pastors not knowing is more common than you think. And pastors not knowing has been more common than you might think.

Liberal Christianity Made its way into America at the turn of the 20th century. There were very strong men who took a strong stand, there were very noble people who fought the good fight. But this form of liberal Christianity did infiltrate and it was difficult to reverse.

It was in just about all the seminaries.Seminaries from the sixties seventies and eighties were dominated by liberal theologians. And these worthy educators that educated pastors who have received their seminary experience in the sixties seventies and eighties.

We think of those times as a firmer time but it actually was not. It was the beginning of a downward spiral. The average pastors probably in his mid fifties Which means chances are anyone 40 years of age or older was a recipient of liberal theologians within seminaries.

This is history folks. This is the reason why most of the churches today are in the condition that they are in. because the men who have received this training has let it that direction. But what is worse is that I'm qualified and untrained men were put in positions of leadership within the church.

You have business men as the head of Deacon boards and these business men ran the church like a business. Therefore they did not want a pastor. Most churches do not want a pastor. I know that they sail I do, I know that they say that's what they have, but most churches do not want that and a lot of churches do not have that .

What church is really want is CEO They want a visionary. Someone who's gonna make their building thrive. The pastor was somebody who devoted their time to prayer and the word. They're very ministry is defined by that the ministry of word and prayer.

The overseers that we see in the book of acts asked for volunteers because it was not good for the church that the overseer get involved in little arguments.

Or have to sacrifice time for things the church should be doing. But the overseers had against 2 men to help them went this, to kind of be the presence of the pastor on behalf of the pastor, so the pastor can focus on his ministry which is the word and prayer.

Not today. Not today and not at all and it shows. It shows because you have biblically illiterate pastors within the pulpit. It shows because you have biblically illiterature people within the pews. Another example of zeal with no knowledge.

This vicious cycle has to end. The church must wake up and recognize that they are in a very dangerous spot and the most important thing for their spiritual life is the word of truth. And in order to receive the word of truth they need to begin supporting their pastors in seeking out the word of truth.

But unfortunately, they're not intrested in a pastor who's devoted to truth what they want is a life coach and they want a life coach for free. So now you have sermons that contain very little Truth and hold very little content.

What we have are clever speeches and word play that is often deemed wise, or beneficial, or inspiring. But lack truth.

In the days before the liberal inspiration in our seminaries took over, it was common to hear a preacher still preach a type of works based righteousness. And we gladly accepted it because the preacher was saying all the right things.

I don't necessarily think it's a fair statement though to claim the pastors have the motive of workspace righteousness because I don't think that was their motive. It's just simply the execution of their preaching. So preaching style became a bunch of do's and don't .

What’s wrong with that? The gospel wasn’t being presented. It was don’t drink because it’s a sin and don’t lie because it is a Sin, And do not have premarital intimacy because it is a sin. But the gospel of Jesus took a back seat. The exposition of scriptures took a back seat.

And while The Bible most certainly does speak to moral issues, at has to be moral issues in context and the preacher must move on from the moral issue to the gospel. Which was not happening.The preachers were given the people the fear of h*** over the fear of God.

And the result of it all was a type of works based righteousness. But again I don't believe that was the intent. Fast forward to today and you still have a type of work space righteousness however the attitude has flipped.

Instead of the screaming preacher telling everyone a bunch of do's and don't what you have easy fluffy lovey dubby kind of guy Telling you it's OK to be a failure because we're all failures and you just need to practice these certain steps so you don't feel like a failure.

The formula is exactly the same do XY and Z and you will receive XY and Z. That is the very definition of workspace righteousness. And another word for work based righteousness is self righteousness. We have gotten so wrapped up in Emotion We are afraid to state whether somebody is a Christian or not.

And the reason why we have a fear is because of the works people do. This type of work based righteousness has been preached to for so long That we think non believers could be believers based on their actions.

But pastor, don't you preach and don't the scriptures proclaim that you will know them by their fruit? Yes, and the 1st fruit is truth. Truth. Being edified by the truth. Proclaiming the truth.

So there are authors out there who publish terrible lies and when you critique such a person for speaking dam obal lies, it is inevitable that a person will chime in and say that's not fair of you to say that of that person, look at all the good they do.

Ah now we have reduced it down to works and that not truth. Somebody can speak terrible lies and we will be OK with it because they did something good. This is how far we christians are disconnected from the biblical definition of a Christian, of the church, of the pastor, the entire redeemed life.

And so severe this self righteousness has become that when people look for a church to be a part of they are not concerned with truth but more concerned with what that church has to offer them. Do you see that we are making the same mistakes that is real made?

And the unfortunate thing is, is that the church has put such a positive spin on What I am talking about, That we have gladly accepted this . We said OK because people are beginning to feel better. And all you have to do is look at the current culture and realize that we have caused a great curse upon ourselves.

So let's break down our word for today.

Romans 10:3 NASB95

For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

Verse 3

My translation says for not knowing about. Not a wrong translation but a more accurate word would be the word ignorant. That they were ignorant of God's righteousness. No most translators and commentators agree to that when Paul States that they are ignorant of God's righteousness What he is communicating is that they were ignorant of God's Righteous requirements.

Not the righteousness of God in himself. But we have to focus on that word ignorant because the word ignorant does not mean that they have 0 comprehension. The word ignorant itself actually implies that they are aware of such a thing but lack a serious amount of understanding.

I am ignorant when it comes to farming. That does not meet I've never heard of farming or that I am unaware a what farming is. I am fully aware of what farming is and what a farmer does but you put me in a situation where I have to farm to the extent that some of you my farm I have no clue what I'm doing.

I am really good at eating steak but I would not have the slightest clue on how to butcher a cow.And you only have to turn to the Old Testament and find out that they are aware of righteousness, they are aware of God himself and then you turn to the New Testament and you find that they completely misunderstood what the Old Testament was pointing to.

They were ignorant of the righteousness that God demands. Then Paul tells us that because they were ignorant of the demands that God was making that they sought out to create their own righteousness. Will this is a century what I was talking about last week.

Last week we discussed the so called new pier 10 movement where the left extreme is now defining what is pure. They are so gung hoe about this that they are beginning to turn on themselves. Just this week Barack Obama stated that they were doing a circular fire that they were turning on each other.

We are all beginning to see it. Their own party is beginning to see it and I think that their own party realizes this could lead to their destruction. But they are a people who are setting out and creating their own righteousness.

They are going to tell us what is right and what is wrong and they are going to tell us how we should live the demands that they are making. But this is not only true of the left extreme this is true of the very type of modern day ministry that I was just talking about.

They are not completely foreign to the truth But they lead and teach in ignorance. And due to their ignorance they have created their own righteousness. They had invented their own doctrines. They had forsaken the truth and instead of proclaiming truth and absorbing truth they began to proclaim a psychological thing rather than a biblical thing.

So they have abandon appealing to the heart by speaking words of life by speaking truth and instead they have come up with clever speeches in order to manipulate the mind and heart of man. This is not church, this is not biblical preaching. And it is far too accepted as such.

And if you are paying attention you will be able to spot the ones who were using the world's way of speech in order to communicate a sermon. The dead give away that this is the mentality of the pastors if they open up with a joke every single sermon.

Frankly I don't know where the find the time to find it joke that goes with the sermon. It makes me wonder if the build the sermon around the joke. Because it is 1 of 2 things, you either build the sermon around the joke or you are wasting a lot of time trying to find a joke that fits the sermon.

Let's not the biblical way of preaching that is the world's way of giving speeches. To give motivational speeches and that is what's happening in these pulpits folks, people are giving motivational speeches.

They're not speaking words of truth comet they are not speaking words of life and the result of it all is the downgrading of societee.

I'm qualified men or in the pulpits leading ministries all over the world who were giving these speeches and they are ignorant of the truth.

The very conclusion that we must make out of what we have covered in this chapter so far is that knowledge is important. You have to know who Jesus is. You don't magically know who he is and you don't magically know what he has done.

And I cannot tell you how many parents are out there who were telling their kids pray. Pray before you go to bed and pray before you eat your food prey. But never ever do they sit them down and educate their children on who they are praying to.

Which means these parents are raising future pagans. And if you talk to one of these parents they have no clue that this what they are doing. Ignorance. Who are your kids praying to? All well they're praying to God. And what have you taught them about God.

Oh you know the basic stuff fanning I tell them that Jesus died for our sins. Sorry folks but Jesus dying for our sins is not the complete gospel message. The gospel message is that you are guilty in your sin and you need a savior for those sin.

And that savior is Jesus Christ alone. That he took the punishment that we all deserve while we were his enemies. Frankly parents are not telling their children that they are sinners. They are not telling their children the truth. They only give him half truth and then they grow to be adults and they are not equipped for the world.

Because mom and dad never gave them a solid biblical world view. And often The reason why is because their pastor never gives them a solid biblical world view. Ignorance. And so in return they create their own righteousness.

They will define what is right and what is wrong because they don't have the Knowledge of what is actually right and wrong. So then, what becomes the source of truth? Our feelings. Our feelings become the source of truth and because it is our feelings we can never ever identify who christians are.

Yeah hes says he doesn't believe but he did give a homeless guy $50 I mean that's pretty generous. That's a good thing and I don't think the gods can in turn away somebody good like that . And I cannot tell you how many times I will here I don't think God will turn away somebody good like that .

They are defining what is good, they are creating their own righteousness. And because it seems positive and because it is designed to be so uplifting nobody questions that this is self righteousness.

But the 1st fruit is truth look at

John 8:7 NASB95

But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

John 8:31 NASB95

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;

John chapter 8 verse 31

John 17:17 NASB95

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

John chapter 17 verse 17

Truth folks, we have to be grounded in truth because it is only in this truth, the word of God where we will find god's righteousness.