In this enlightening episode of Classic Christianity Radio, Bob George dives into the heart of Apostle Paul’s confrontation with self-righteousness. Follow along as we explore how Paul’s admonishments against legalism and self-indulgence align with Jesus’ own teachings on true faith. We dissect the implications of prioritizing worldly success over spiritual growth and why internal transformation is essential for eternal salvation.
Welcome to Classic Christianity Radio with Bob George. Bob’s clear, timeless teachings on the complete forgiveness and unconditional love of Jesus Christ will transform your life as you learn about God’s amazing grace. Let’s join Bob as he teaches us from God’s Word.
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Now to the Apostle Paul saying to the self-righteous Jew… is no different than what the Lord Jesus Christ said to the same groups of peoples. You see, folks, we’ve learned to tolerate legalism. We support it. We build huge buildings to it. And we glorify men who teach it. But not Paul. And not Jesus. He said, you’re the most damaging people on the face of the earth. And he treated them accordingly. The only harsh words That you ever heard come out of the mouth of Jesus. Was to the self-righteous hypocrite. And so he says. Woe to you. The fourth woe. Verse 23. Teachers of the law and Pharisees. You hypocrites. You give a tenth of your spices. Mint, dill and cumin. But you’ve neglected the more. The more important matters of the law, justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former. You blind guides, you strain out a nap, but you swallow a camel. This is harsh stuff, isn’t it, folks? He’s saying to them, oh yeah, you tithe your stuff, your food stuff. When it comes down to your mom and dad needing something, you won’t give them any. You’re going to give all your money over here. see somebody in need, forget them. I’m on my way to the church to tithe. Now, because Jesus had not ushered in the new covenant yet, whereby the law had not been canceled yet because it hadn’t been totally fulfilled yet, he was able to say, yeah, because we are under the old covenant, you should have tithed, you should have fulfilled. That’s an obligation of the law, but not at the neglect of helping those in need. Now, you’ll have people who will still want to teach that tithing because Jesus said that. Well, you talk about straining that than that. Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You clean out the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside there are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean. How many of us have invested our money in the outside instead of the inside? How many of us are more interested in what we look like than what we are? How many of us would rather take our time, treasure, and talent and invest it in things instead of the eternal things that are going to enable people to spend eternity with Jesus instead of eternity away from Him? To set our priorities in life that there’s not one thing any more important that you and I can do than letting people know about the relationship that they can have with Jesus. That’s an eternal thing, folks. Everything else is temporary. You can get the best education in the world, temporary. Make all the money in the world, temporary. Have the biggest house in the world, temporary. But the house you’re going to live in eternally is eternal. And if we have love, then our priorities in life should be number one, First of all, to give of ourselves to God. And second, to see that this message goes out to a lost and hurting world. Everything else should be secondary to that. Clean up the inside and then the outside will also be clean. The sixth woe, verse 27. Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You’re like whitewashed tombs. You look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside you’re full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way on the outside you appear to people as righteous, but on the inside you’re full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Real complimentary stuff. Number seven, woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, if we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken a part with them in the shedding of blood of the prophets. Talking to the very people that are going to shed his blood. So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then the measure of the sin of your forefathers. You snakes, you brood of vipers. How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify. Others you will flog in the synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on the earth from the blood of the righteous, able to the blood of Zechariah the son of Bechara, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all of this will come upon this generation. Jerusalem, O Jerusalem.” You who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you. How often I’ve longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. But you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Now let’s go back to the book of Romans. Verse 3, when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you’ll escape God’s judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance, patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God will give to each person according to what he has done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek, and folks, I would recommend that you put, for clarification, in your Bible here, put His in front of glory because you’re not seeking your own, and we’ll explain that in a moment. So those who are seeking His glory, His honor, and His immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who self-seek, so you see that is the very opposite of what He’s saying here. Those who self-seek And who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. But glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew and then for the Gentile, for God does not show favoritism. Now, folks, there again is where many interpretations can come about. You say, see there, if you do good, you’re going to have eternal life. If you do bad, you’re not going to have eternal life. What is good? What did Jesus say was the one sin of the world? Unbelief in Jesus. What is doing good? This is what this whole book, quit holding back truth, accept truth, recognize it’s all Jesus and none of us. Now, is there a byproduct to that? Folks, if you are a branch and you see fruit coming out of it, how come that happened? Could you say to the branch, you’re doing good for producing fruit? No, because you’re not producing it. Could you even say you’re doing good by bearing fruit? No, you’re doing good by abiding in the vine who alone can produce the fruit. Because if you weren’t abiding, nothing would be coming out of you. So you’re not getting praise for what you’re doing. You’re getting praise for who you’re abiding in. And so when he’s talking here about all of us who are doing good or doing bad, he’s dealing with what are you doing with my son Jesus. So to those who reject Jesus, they’re going to remain dead and in hell. That’s your destiny. To those who accept Jesus, are going to be with him forever. You’re indwelt by him now. He said, I’ll never leave you nor forsake you. Your destiny is totally assured. When you die, you’re going to be absent from the body and present with the Lord. God does not show favoritism. I didn’t develop one plan for the Jew and another plan for the Gentile. I neutralized all of you so that everyone will be saved in the same way, and that’s by faith in him and in him alone. Now folks, let’s go down to verse 12. All who sin apart from the law. Now who is that? That’s the Gentiles. So do you have any doubt from a biblical standpoint that God never gave the law to the Gentiles? How could you sin apart from the law if you had the law? So did he ever give the law to the Gentiles? Then how did we get it? What are we teaching every Sunday? Something that he never gave to us. He gave the law to the Jew. Now he’s saying to us as Gentiles, you who sin apart from the law will perish apart from the law. What is the wages of sin? Death. You’re going to perish whether you’re under the law or you’re not under the law. Because the wages of sin is death. Now that neutralizes all you Gentiles. For it’s not… And all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. Who’s under the law? The Jews. How are they going to be judged? By the law. What’s the verdict? Guilty. What’s the punishment? Death. Now, has he neutralized us all? Those under the law? You can’t do it? Dead? To the Gentile that doesn’t have the law, you’re dead. Now, everyone then comes into this world in what condition? Dead. Dead. And if you’re dead, what do you need? Life. Oh, well, good. Let’s go to Buddha. Let’s go to Muhammad. Where’s Muhammad? Dead. Where’s Jesus? Raised from the dead. Oh, just go be a Catholic. Dead. Go be a Baptist. Dead. You see, folks, no one can come alive through anything man-made. If you’re dead and you’re going to come alive, something from out there is going to have to enter in here. Because there’s nothing in dead that can produce life. And so he neutralized the whole world. So those who sin apart from the law, the Gentiles, dead. And those who sin under the law, the Jew, dead. For it’s not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but those who obey the law who will be declared righteous.” Okay, what do we say about that? Now you’ll get some people to look at that and say, see there? If you obey the law, you’ll be declared righteous. What’s the scripture say? No man will ever be declared righteous in the sight of God through what? Obedience to the law. So what is he saying here? It’s not those who hear the law who are righteous, but those who obey the law will be declared righteous. Did anyone ever obey the law? Who’s the only one who ever obeyed the law? Jesus. Who’s the only one ever declared righteous? Jesus. And the righteousness that you and I have does not come from us. It comes from where? Him.
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So it’s not those who hear the law who are righteous, but those who obey the law who are declared righteous. Verse 14, In other words, You’ve got Gentiles over there who don’t have the law who are living a better life than you who do. And the only one that’s going to be declared righteous are those obeying it. Now, a Jew under the law would say, well, if he was honest, I think that leaves me out. And the Gentile would have to say, I don’t think I’m doing too good of a job either. You see what Paul’s doing here? Fantastic, folks. It’s the most unbelievable piece of law. If you want to talk about a smart attorney, this is the greatest piece of literature of defense that has ever been penned in human history. So he says, this will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. So when is that judgment going to take place? When’s that going to take place? When our thoughts are judged by Christ Jesus. Now, folks, let me tell you. Is there any more judgment from God for your sins? Where were your sins judged? At the cross. What was the verdict? Guilty. And what was the punishment? Death. And who took it? How much is left for you? None. That’s why there’s no condemnation awaiting those who belong to Christ Jesus. So you will never be judged again for your sins. There’s only one sin that will be accountable to man. And that’s the sin, singular, of unbelief. Have you come to Christ by faith? Are you still rejecting him? Has your hard, unrepentant heart still hardened? Or has it been softened by the mercy and the kindness and the patience of God? Man can’t do that. Only God can. Now, he’s going to address to the Jew under the law. Verse 17. Now, you who call yourself a Jew, if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God if you know His will and approve of what is superior because you’re instructed by the law. And if you’re convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? Sounds like just an amplification of what we just studied in the woes, doesn’t it? And so he’s saying to us that here, if you rely, the key to this whole thing is relying. If you’re relying on the law to do what? Make you right in the sight of God. How many of you were ever taught that if you obeyed the law, you’d be right in the sight of God? Who’s taught that? Now, is that what the Bible teaches? No, he teaches the very opposite. If you’re relying on that, then he says you’re in some big trouble because you’re relying on something that’s never going to come about. Now it says here, you who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? Now again, this is an application of Jesus’ teaching. What did Jesus say about that subject? That if you Look on another person with lust in your heart. You’ve what? Already committed adultery. Anyone out here without sin? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? It is written, God’s name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. Folks, there isn’t anything in the world that will cause the wrath of people against you and me as a Christian except our own self-righteousness. Brother, they’ll come at us every time. When you’re standing up there acting like you’re holier than thou, you wouldn’t say a bad word if your life depended on it. You’re going to have wrath against you because people know that’s not true. Those of you who have listened to the radio over a period of time have occasionally heard people call in and say, I don’t sin. I say, let me talk to your wife. I had one guy that said, okay. And I talked to her. Your husband ever sin? I said, I think I got my answer. Now, why would anyone be claiming that? Well, because their head is full of self-righteousness. So he’s dealing here with, if you break the law, you become, excuse me, that if you are going to be blasphemed among the Gentiles because of this, we as Christians are also going to be blasphemed among the lost world because of our own hypocrisy. What does that say to the lost world when they see a person who falls or, as we talked about months ago, happens to get a divorce as a pastor and they see the Christian world jerking them off a radio and taking them off of here and here and here. What do you think the lost world says? You bunch of hypocrites. Who do you think you are? I’d like to interview your wife. You see, if we showed mercy and compassion like God shows and understanding, you’d have the lost world standing at our doors trying to find out what is going on with these people. They love each other. They forgive each other. I want to tell you something, folks, about the Jewish people. You’re not going to find them exposing each other. They got more sense than we do as Christians. I’ll guarantee you, you do not see them exposing their own people. What did it say love does? Covers. Covers. And what does hate do? Exposes. belittle somebody else to make yourself look better in their sight. That’s where that first part, it talks about people get into this realm, into slander, gossip. All of those things come from a heart that says, I’m going to make myself look better by making somebody else who people think are better look bad. Of course, we never see that in the political realm. Okay. Verse 25, circumcision. That was one of the laws of the Jew. Has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you become as though you have not been circumcised. So what good does it say that I’m a Jew and I have the law, but I don’t live by it? If those who are not circumcised keep God’s laws requirements, will they not be regarded as if they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you even though you have the written code and the circumcision are the lawbreaker. A man is not a Jew if he is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward or physical. No man is a Jew if he is one outwardly and circumcision is circumcision of the heart by the spirit, not by the written code. Such man’s praise is not from men, but from God. Now, folks, you will see things that follow these principles and these truths. You’ll see people who will talk about the fact, just like in that you have to be circumcised. It’s a part of the law, but then you don’t keep the rest of the law. And he’s saying, what about the Gentiles who haven’t gone through that thing and they keep the law? Aren’t they better than you are? You see, folks, it’s the heart that God is looking on. It’s the same type of thing that we have done with baptism. John the Baptist said, I came to baptize with water. That’s outward. But the one coming after me whose sandals I’m not worthy of tying have baptized you with the Holy Spirit. That’s inward. And he’s saying it’s not the outward that makes you something. It’s the inward that makes you something. It’s the circumcision of the heart, not of an outward part of your body. It’s the baptism that takes place inwardly in your heart, not a baptism that takes place outwardly for show. And so religion is always looking outward where Jesus Christ came to look inward, inside of the heart. Is anyone saved by getting dunked in water? No. Is anyone saved by being sprinkled with water? No. Is anyone saved by joining a church? No. Is anyone saved by leading a good life? No, because no one’s ever led one. When they call Jesus good, what do you say? Don’t call me good unless you’re going to call me God because only God’s good. So now that ought to settle that issue. We ought to be able to rest in the fact I’m not good. And just accept that by faith and walk by it. So it’s not the outward. It’s what’s going on in the heart. Folks, an attitude of dependency is what’s going on in the heart. You see, we’re always talking about what’s going on out here. People were talking to me the other day about praying and fasting and praying and fasting. God doesn’t hear anybody unless they’re hungry. That’s outward. That’s outward. God’s looking down here. Now, if you’re so preoccupied with Jesus that you don’t take time to eat… That’s fasting. But if you’re so busy thinking about Jesus that you don’t take time to eat, if it’s really in your heart, when would you have time to tell someone about it? So everyone’s concerned with what’s going on out here. We talk about, oh, I pray, I pray, pray. So do the Buddhists. So do the Muslims. So do the Mormons. So do the Jehovah’s Witnesses. So does every cult. Everybody prays. What’s that got to do with anything? The issue is are you living in dependency upon him? If you are, I don’t have to talk about the fact I’m talking to him. That’s a natural byproduct if you’re living in dependency. But our attitude is if I pray, I’ll get dependent. No, no, no. If you’re dependent, you’ll pray without telling people about it. Where did it say to go? In your closet. That doesn’t mean to take all the coats out of there and climb inside there. It means do it by yourself and quit telling people about it. It’s an individual thing, folks. We have tried to reduce Christianity to some group activity. It’s individual. We’re sitting in here in a group, but each one of you in here who are in Christ has an individual relationship with Christ Jesus, and that’s in the essence the only thing that counts. What we can do together is whipping cream. But the reality is Jesus. That’s the reality. So it’s not what we do on the outside. It’s what’s going on on the inside. That’s what counts. And what’s going on on the inside of a person who has entered into what the Bible calls a Sabbath rest. is a person who is resting from his works just as God did from his. That doesn’t mean we sit back on a hill waiting on the Lord to come back. It means there is nothing that I can do to add to the completed work of Christ Jesus. He’s done it all. I can’t add to my forgiveness. I can’t add to my salvation. I can’t add to my eternal life. I cannot add to what he said, I live in you, I’ll reveal truth to you if you let me. I can’t add to that through studying Greek and Hebrew. I can rest in the fact that I’m a child of the living God, imperfect in my flesh in all ways, can understand what Paul meant when he said I was the chief of sinners, because all of us could claim ourselves in that if we wanted to. But in the midst of that, to be able to know something that Jesus is mine, And oh for a forsake of glory divine. He’s mine. I’m his. And to live in dependency upon the fact that he’s done it all. He loves you in spite of you. Not because of you. And that I can walk in dependency on that. Now if I’m living in that kind of a dependency upon Jesus. I don’t have to tell people how much I’m praying. I don’t have to tell people how much I’m reading the Bible. I don’t have to keep attendance records for people-to-people attendance. I’m free to be me. And folks, there is no freedom in a world like that. To be able to know there is someone out there who understands me, there’s someone out there who loves me perfectly, there’s someone there who accepts me perfectly, and there’s someone there waiting for me with open arms whenever that day comes. When I’ll be absent from this body and present with Him. I can’t add to that. I’m going to have to work at it. You just rest in it. That’s what Paul’s trying to get us to see in this book. Neutralizing all of us down to the point of realizing apart from Jesus, I can do what?
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Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another, and praise the Lord. Amen.
