Romans 2:1-5 (#8.2025.01.26)

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:02

Hi. If you're looking for greater hope, assurance, and confidence through the shifting sands of life, then join me on today's episode as we dig deep into the bible to discover rock solid truth for life and living from the God of the bible. I'm your host, Scott Keffer. Hi, and welcome to today's episode. As always, for a deeper experience, you can go to the show notes and download the blank insight sheet. Fill in the blanks along with the group. Depending on how you're listening to this, there'll be a link to the episode website at beholding bibletruth dot com, and a sheet with the answers is included as well. Enjoy today's episode.

Scott Keffer [: 00:00:44

Well, we are walking our way through the book of Romans. And in chapter 1, as we took a look at it, we see, that, the spirit of God through the apostle Paul is laying the case that all that all are sinful and under the judgment of God that we're gonna see here in, Romans chapter 2 as we step in here today that there are some who kinda sneak under the radar and say, no. I don't belong to that group. So we're gonna talk about that today. Before we do that, if you could stand with me if we as we read the word of God, take a breath, read it out, Let him speak. Bring it, the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. They do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice.

Scott Keffer [: 00:01:59

They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful, and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but they also give hearty approval to those who practice them. Therefore, you have no excuse. Every one of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But you do suppose this, oh man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and tolerance and patience not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you're restoring up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. The word of God. Thanks be to God.

Scott Keffer [: 00:03:31

So as we step into chapter 2 here, we remind ourselves of kind of the foundation and that God has shown us that he has revealed 2 things. Number 1, his righteousness. Number 1, his righteousness, and the other is his wrath. And particularly, the righteousness of God. In other words, not just who he is in terms of his character, his holiness. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Loving kindness and truth go before him. Not just that that's his character, but how do we get into a right standing with him who is holy? Right? Who is holy? Who is holy? Right? How do we get into a right standing? So he says this righteousness, the righteousness of God is being unveiled, if you will, brought out into the open, and it's brought out to the open in the gospel in the gospel.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:30

And it's revealed interesting from faith to faith. Right? As faith unfolds. Right? A picture that the gospel is understood and known through faith. Right? And and righteousness comes through faith. Even the righteousness of God, notice that he says, through faith and faith in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus, Jesus Christ. Right? Messiah Jesus. Jesus human.

Scott Keffer [: 00:04:58

Christ divine. Right? Sent 1, the promised 1, Jesus. Right? Unto us, a a a a son is given. A child is born. A son is given. Child is born, human. A son is given, divine. Right? His name shall be called wonderful counselor, almighty God, everlasting father, prince of Shalom, and the government will be upon his shoulders, and to his kingdom, there will be no end.

Scott Keffer [: 00:05:29

Right? So he says, here he is. He's revealed through faith to all those who believe. And, of course, he reminds us this, making of the son of God into the son of man so that he could suffer on our behalf had a purpose that through him, right, he who knew no sin. Right, god made him who knew no sin to be sin. If you go no further than that, that should be a stunning what? He knew no sin. He became sin. How how did he do that and still remain sinless and take our sin upon him? I have no idea. Right? I have no idea how that all occurs, only the fact that it did, which, of course, begs the question, who would do that? Why would he do that? Right? The uncontainable would step into a container.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:22

The un never never tainted with sin would become sin on our behalf. Right? Yet without sin. Yet without sin. That we might. Right? So that we might. That's the so that that's the arrow that points to. There's a purpose. Right? As as he points up to the purpose, what's the purpose? That we might become what? That we, me, you, we might become the righteousness of God.

Scott Keffer [: 00:06:58

If you haven't told you to go the Old Testament, you should because you can't understand Jesus Christ until you understand the old. You can't understand new till you understand the old. And if you go through the very first book that when I was praying for the opportunity to teach, I have no idea. We were at the high school at the time. They gave me the book of Leviticus. And I thought, is is this a test, or is it I I don't don't really understand. And I I don't even remember how I got through it. I think there were 4 people actually came.

Scott Keffer [: 00:07:31

1, you know, and that was Beth and and friends. But we really wasn't until I went through it again to realize that it was it's it's a worship book. But if you go through there and understand and you see the intricacies of what was required to approach god, you understand, right, when we say the righteousness of God, we have no idea. We think a little better than me. Right? We think it must be a little better than me. Maybe it's more like Billy Graham. Maybe it's more like, right, mother Teresa. Maybe better little better than mother Teresa.

Scott Keffer [: 00:08:11

All we can think of is not me, right, or or not us or not what I know. The righteousness of God is not of this world. It's the, you know, I always say it's the, you know, 90000000000 light years as as high as the heavens are above the earth. In other words, it's completely other. So how is it that we, me, you, would become the righteousness of God and be able to approach, to be able to go into literally into the access to holy of holies? He's rent the veil. He's opened it up that I would go in and not be consumed. And not just be consumed because of my right? Think about it. Not just be consumed because of my sinfulness, but be consumed because I'm of creature I'm I'm a created.

Scott Keffer [: 00:09:01

He's the creator. You know, I always said, if you got near the sun, the actual, right, the physical sun, you would be consumed. There's no way. Unless you are of the same nature as the sun, in power and in nature, the sun would consume you. The the light and the power. Right? So that he's saying he has done something completely completely illogical. Right? Irrational in the sense, just stunning that he would share his righteousness with us that we could be an eternal fellowship, that I could approach God and not be consumed by hand, that I come near that I could come near to the father and not be consumed, who dwells in unapproachable light, unapproachable light, we get to enter in as sons, not sons, daughters in that sense, but as sons, as firstborn sons. We enter in with the right and the privilege and the intimacy that a son has.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:03

That's what it means. We would become the righteousness of god. What? Right? That should be it should be. What? Yeah. So he made him who knew no sin. So the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel, the stunning gospel. He also reveals in order to understand what he has accomplished as the righteousness, we need to understand where we are, who we are by nature, and what we deserve by nature. He says what you deserve by nature is the wrath of god, the judgment of god, the wrath of God.

Scott Keffer [: 00:10:49

And it's revealed, he says, from heaven, just so you're clear, with 2 things. Right? 2 ways. Number 1, he does it internally in the conscience of man. Right? He has revealed himself in the conscience of man. How would even people the idea of what's right, what's wrong, the idea of that's not right. Right? And the other is creation. Conscience and creation. So So he's saying the judgment of god is revealed.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:19

He's revealed it because he's made himself known to us. It's not as if we don't know. In fact, he says the sin of mankind is we exchange the truth. No. No. No. That's wrong. We suppress.

Scott Keffer [: 00:11:37

Thank you. You know, my errors are my gift to you to remind you that only god is perfect. Yeah. We suppress the truth. We suppress the truth. We actively suppress the truth. Right? And if you've, you know, if you've if you've studied god at all and embrace kinda where where we stand theologically, you would say, it's really clear that people can't come to Christ without his favor, without the father drawing him. What has to happen? God does something in the heart.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:11

And yet here, it says, yes. That's true. Yet at the same time, you knowingly suppress the truth. There is a sense that you right. He says use the unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth. That's active. That's a verb. That means we get it.

Scott Keffer [: 00:12:31

We know there's a god. We know there's a god. How many came after age 20 to Christ? How many came in teens? How many came when they're 10? So depending kind kinda depending on where your age, you would have longer to have suppressed the truth. I was 28, so I actively suppressed the truth for twenty eight years, and I was very active in it. Right? There can't be a god who cares. Must be, yeah, who get that that that. Right? All that stuff. God says, I showed you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:13:04

I'm showing you on a regular basis through everybody's consciousness and creation itself declares. In fact, Psalm, 19 says it declares day after day without words, day after day. It's just preaching preaching. So he says you've been filled with all unrighteousness. How much unrighteousness? All. And then notice how he goes. Okay. Wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy.

Scott Keffer [: 00:13:34

You read this and you say, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slanderers, haters got gossips? Wait a minute. Deceit, malice, haters of god, gossips, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents without understanding untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful. Interesting list for sin. So I actually went into actually went into, chat g p t, and I said, rank these. Worst to best, best to worst, bad to worst. It's interesting. Right? Of course, you know, if you look at some of these, gossips, disobedience to parents, they would put down the list. I think they made them in, like, 1819.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:25

It's interesting right in the center. It's weird, isn't it? Weird list. And recognizing that everything this is the word of god, so god wrote them the way he wanted to write them in which order. Right? We would look and say, And I think, of course, the nature of this as you start to redo this, you go check. I'm I'm I'm okay. That's not bad on that 1. Wickedness. No.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:49

Greed. Oh, no. I like greed evil. No. Oh, then the well, no. A little bit. Murder. I don't definitely, I'm good on the murder.

Scott Keffer [: 00:14:57

Right? Alright. Describe right? Right? As you go through that, all of you go and like, oh, dang. That's why Jesus said you've heard. Right? You've read that you shall have murder. Jesus said, I say to you, if you look at someone and call him an idiot, a fool, a moron, you're guilty enough to go into hell. He said, you've heard it said that if you commit adultery, you're guilty. So I say to you, if you look on a woman to lust for her, you've already committed adultery. Dang that Jesus.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:27

She goes from out here to in here, doesn't he? You go dang. Dang. And sin is sin. Sin is sin to a holy god. So he says so that all are without excuse. So that all all are without excuse. All are without excuse. What about this is what you always get with people when you hear the gospel.

Scott Keffer [: 00:15:59

What about or you you mean you came to Christ. They go, what about team? I you know, what about my my parents? What about my what about right? Take all this what abouts. Right? So we work through the list for Lorchas. There's none. There's none. So the gospel, Keller says, you are simultaneously more sinful and flawed than you ever dare believe. Ain't that true? I mean, I'm not that bad. I know God that you know? People are better than me, but I'm not that bad.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:31

Right? He said at the same time, there's not you cannot understand the gospel unless you start with what are you saved from and why do you need to be saved. You can't understand the gospel. Because, otherwise, it's just, hey. Here's a bunch of benefits. God's gonna give you presents. He's gonna make your life nice and great. It's great to be a Christian. Right? It's not always great to be a Christian.

Scott Keffer [: 00:16:59

It's not. It's not great in this life all the time. No. It's not always great. Right? But it's a question of what are we coming to, or we're better, what are we being saved from? Being saved from God's justice, his righteous justice, it's called his wrath. And he says, you deserve it. Well, I don't deserve it. Not so bad.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:23

I mean, think about it. Like, I'm really not so bad because there's always worse people than me. Yeah. So he says without excuse. Therefore, to me, it's great news. It's the great news. It's not just the good news. I think it's the great news.

Scott Keffer [: 00:17:41

It's the the unexpected, irrational, like, mind blowing news of the gospel. And and the more we go, we should just be stunned. It's stunning news, isn't it? It's just stunning. It's stunning. So he says he's revealed his righteousness and wrath. Then he slips into chapter 2. He says, therefore woah. Wait a minute.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:06

Therefore. I said, I thought wait a minute. There therefore what? Therefore goes back, of course, and grabs it and makes a pointing conclusion or next point. He says, therefore, right, as you always thought, what is that therefore? Right? It's pulling from behind. So it's pulling from what he just said. He said, there he says, therefore therefore, you. Well, who's the you? He says, therefore, you. Therefore, you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:18:37

To you who hardly agree. Yeah. Those people over there are oh, man. Hey, man. That's exactly right. You are you are right. They're full agreed, envy, and but me. So he's saying that person who hardly agrees, right, that they're under judgment, that the wrath of God is right, but, they judge others.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:10

He says you are without excuse. Underline that. Without he says you're without excuse. Just like they are. Because he he, they, you, judge? No. He says because you practice the same things. Pull. Dang.

Scott Keffer [: 00:19:35

Dang. So Jesus said he told a parable to some people who, what, underline, trusted in themselves, and they trusted in themselves for what? That they were Righteous. Righteous. I'm only not so bad. I'm actually pretty good. And they viewed others with contempt and looked down on them. Right? Well, they don't do it like I do it. So he says 2 men went up to the temple to pray, 1 Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:11

Pharisee stood and was praying this who is he praying to? Himself. Himself. Isn't that interesting? Praying to himself. Praying to himself. God, I thank you that I'm not like other people. Swindlers, unjust, adulterers, even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. Check.

Scott Keffer [: 00:20:38

I pray ties of all that I get. Check. But the tax collector standing some distance away was even unwilling to what? Lift up his eyes. But he was beating his breath saying, god, be merciful to me, sinner. Immerciful me, the sinner. Interesting. Not only the sinner. It was like he was not even personal, the sinner.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:07

Just like, being unworthy. Right? So Jesus said, I tell you, this man went to his house justified. For everyone exalts himself, he who humbles himself will be exalted. He says here's principle in the kingdom. Here's the principle. So god asked him a question. Do you suppose this, oh man, that you will escape the judgment of god? Pay close attention when scripture when god asks questions. Pay close attention.

Scott Keffer [: 00:21:50

Pay close attention. Just like when he asked Job questions, he said put on your big boy pants, put on your adult depends, and now I'm gonna ask some questions. Right? Pay attention. So he says, do you suppose this man, you will escape the judgment of God? What he said, what's their problem? Stubborn and unrepentant heart. Stubborn and unrepentant heart. Stubborn is hard. Right? Unrepentant is unwilling. Stubborn, underrepentant, hard.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:27

Heart. Where's the heart? Well, it's that thing that beats in my chest. No. That's not what scripture is saying. My stomach. Right? I take pills for that. Take pills for my heart. The pill my what do I do about that heart? He says the only way you can do that heart of stone is to have the god of mercy take that heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh.

Scott Keffer [: 00:22:57

To take your spirit, give you a new spirit, and give you his spirit. You must be born again from his a stubborn and unrepentant heart. Then he asked a second question. He says, in the Newmarket standard, it says, do you think lightly of the riches of God? Do you think lightly? Normally, I prefer their translation. This 1, I think they missed it. ESV says, do you presume? And, actually, the NIV, which I'm not a particular fan of, would it's got a really mostly do you NIV says show contempt. Do you show contempt, which is more like it. Do you despise or do you scorn? Do you scorn what? What's he say? The riches of God.

Scott Keffer [: 00:23:49

So he asked this guy. Right? Do you think you're not gonna come into judgment? Do you think lightly? Do you presume upon? Do you show contempt to? Do you despise or scorn? And the Greek literally means actively, like knowingly scorning the riches of god. God's riches. God's riches. Which? The 1 that he thinks lightly. This 1. It's in Romans here. Romans in red.

Scott Keffer [: 00:24:21

Oh, it's it's in the the the scripture that we just read. He says, do you that's the second question he asked. Do you think lightly? So every year, Forbes comes out with the Forbes four hundred, the richest people in the world. Right? And they kinda raid and people move their net worth up and down, and they go different ranks. So how much is God worth? More than I. You think about it. How much is he worth? What what what's his net worth? What's god's net worth? So think about that. So his riches are about his wealth.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:02

Right? So the word cannot can mean physical wealth, practical wealth, money. It could also mean abundance and, underline that valuable bestowment, particularly in the sense of you've been given something, bestowed upon you. Right? So these are god's riches. Well, it says that God is rich in Mercy. Mercy. And because of his great love with which he has loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, he made us alive together with Christ. And there's that so that again. Pay attention to the so that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:25:41

Excuse me. So that is an arrow giving you purpose. Right? You see this in scripture is saying, this is, right, the purpose of all that. Right? And it literally shows you higher purpose. What's the ultimate through the the the the the apex so that in the ages to come, he might show, demonstrate, make known what? The surpassing riches. So riches by itself is abundance, but there's a surpassing abundance, surpassing riches. Like, he is able to do exceeding abundantly. Why would you put those 2 together? It doesn't make sense because abundantly by itself, it's a superfluous adjective.

Scott Keffer [: 00:26:36

Right? So you'd say you don't need those 2 together. But in other in order for us to comprehend because we might think, well, rich is a little richer than, right, Elon Musk. I guess, maybe. You know? Gonna be double what he has, maybe. Right? So we don't comprehend. So he has gotta he's gotta tie those words together. The surpassing greatness. Right? Surpassing greatness.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:00

The surpassing riches of his Grace. Grace shown in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. He says, this is the enduring. Right? This is the enduring. It's a lot of question. Right? Well, what's wealth? What does it mean? Right? But he said, this is the enduring wealth, and this is god's. This is god's. So he's saying his riches, right, in his, first of all, kindness.

Scott Keffer [: 00:27:39

His kindness. His kindness. In Psalms, it says that his mercies are over all his works. So it says his kindness, which means his goodness really wrapped with his, a brightness, his gentleness, his gentleness, his kindness. Too glad that God is kind, his kindness. So Moses cried out. He says, Lord, show me your glory. I don't think I wanna bread that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:28:13

You think about it. Like, come. And he said, the lord descended in a cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed the lord, the lord god, compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and truth, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet he'll by no means lead the guilty unpunished, visiting the inequities of the fathers, the children, and the grandchildren to the third and fourth generation. And we talked about last week, what did Moses do? Hey. Hey. Did a bible study, wrote it down, he took notes, he looked up the words. What did he do? He made haste to flatten to the earth and to worship.

Scott Keffer [: 00:29:06

Right? We talked about last week that all of this is about right? I beg you. I urge you by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, right, which is your spiritual service of worship. Right? So he's saying worship is kindness. Right? Secondly, he says his tolerance his tolerance. We live in a world that says we should be tolerant And making sure we know what that means, but it is his forbearance, his suspension or delay of punishment. So 9 by the time we get to nine, who knows when? What if god what if god so here he asked this question. K. So what if god here's the question.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:01

Although willing he's willing to demonstrate 2 things, his wrath and to make his power known. God's willing to do that because his glory demands that he shows his wrath and he shows his power. He says, what if god, although he's willing to do that, he has a higher purpose. What would it be that higher purpose? He endured with much Patience. Patience vessels of wrath that are prepared for destruction. Okay. So he he wanted to show his glory says show your wrath, show your power, but he endures. What's he endured? Sin around the earth every day, every minute of every day.

Scott Keffer [: 00:30:58

It's hard to comprehend that sin bothers me because it makes my life annoying. Don't you think that really what the the real the sin doesn't bother me because it's unrighteous. It just makes our life annoying. Right? We just wanna be free and carefree. And so when those people who are sinful make my life uncomfortable, I think, get them, lord. That's it. You know? But if if god endures it and he sees it every minute of every day, like, rising like stench from the earth. Right? This idea that god would endure that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:31:31

Think about it. He knows every heart. He knows every evil intent, and he sees it every minute of every day. It says he's enduring it. He's enduring it for a reason. What's that reason? And he did so. This is the so that so that he would make known. What is he making known? The riches, again, of his glory upon vessels of mercy.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:04

Here is his riches again. He's he's operating with purpose. You say, why does he why why does sin have its why does sin go on? Why does sin go on? God has a purpose. And by the way, if you think it's annoying or frustrating for you, he endures it every second of every minute of every day of every year until until it will be no more. There will be a time for that. And he says, it show that he makes known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory or riches. Glory means we share. So he is he is showing forth.

Scott Keffer [: 00:32:50

He wants to make known the riches of his glory, and he's going to share that glory with us. We get to share in his riches whom he has also called. She begged the question, Lord, what are you doing calling me? Don't you wonder? Sometimes I think there's no way. I wasn't seeking the Lord. I wasn't looking for him. I mean, I was I was a full time heathen going the other direction. And all of a sudden all of a sudden so he says his kindness, his tolerance, and lastly, his patience. So it says the lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but he is Patient.

Scott Keffer [: 00:33:48

Patient. What's he patient for? For patience. Now wish wishing that any would perish, but all would come to repentance. He has a patience, a long suffering. He's not doing it willy nilly. It's so that all would have the opportunity to come to repentance. And then he says there's a there's an ultimate purpose. Right? There's an ultimate purpose here.

Scott Keffer [: 00:34:14

Right? There's an ultimate purpose. He says, god's purpose and kindness is what? Leads to repentance. His kindness is leading to repentance. That's a really stunning thought, isn't it? His kindness leads to repentance. Spurgeon would say, every morning when a man wakes up still unattended and finds himself out of hell, the sunlight seems to say, I shine on thee yet another day as that in this day, thou mayest repent. And he'd go on to say, you know, when you eat your bread, God keeps nourishing your body so you have another minute to repent. When you go into your bed, God reminds you that when you go to sleep, you may not wake up, so it's time to repent. Right? So everything is about waking up.

Scott Keffer [: 00:35:17

Right? It's kindness leads you to repentance. Right? Stunned by kindness. We should be stunned by god's kindness. Stunned by god's kindness. So I thought, well, if that's how they are before they come to Christ no. He says that's how you were before you came to Christ, which means I drag that unrepentant, right, self righteous, holier than thou hard along with me. And I drag it in as a Christian, don't I? And so that that has various forms, like, you know, here are my 10 things that I get right. Check.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:02

Check. Check. How about you? Oh, not so well. How about you? Not so well. How about you? Of course, you have your 10. You're going, I'm doing great. How about you? So I said, okay. So how do we avoid that? Remedies for our superior self righteous heart, underline heart that's in my heart.

Scott Keffer [: 00:36:26

My heart. Now you all may not struggle with this, but So the 1 thing I thought is, you know, this really should begin because god is making known. He's making known. What's he making known? His riches. So if you think about review your balance sheet daily. Review your balance sheet daily. Assuming at some point in time, you review your practical balance sheet. Right? What are my assets? What are my liabilities? What's my net worth? We should do that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:10

Christians should have a have a a an idea that we're stewards over the wealth. But he said, do you have this on your your on the asset side of your balance sheet surpassing riches of his grace and kindness toward you? So he said, okay. So you do your balance sheet. Here we go. Assets. Right? Right. Liabilities. And then we said, okay.

Scott Keffer [: 00:37:37

Alright. Everybody, what's the best asset to own? K. Share on stocks, share on bonds, share on gold, share on crypto. Right? Where should I put my money? He says, well, just make sure at the top of the list you have his Richard because they're in your balance sheet. They're an asset that you own. But he says, remember, when you look at your balance sheet, right, you look at it daily, and we should be stunned by his grace. We should be stunned by his mercy. Hard to do, isn't it? So I wake up and my knees hurt and my back's out and, you know, I'm thinking about the Millers and those and all these people suffering and all of that.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:19

Right? It's it's easy to go negative. And the the more miles that are on the the vehicle, right, harder to get that thing started up in it. It's harder it's harder to be positive. It is. It's harder. Right? Because it everything's harder. So we gotta review. I gotta remind myself, preach the gospel, review my balance sheet.

Scott Keffer [: 00:38:41

I have the riches I've got surpassing riches of his grace and kindness. It's mine. Nobody can take it from it. Nobody can take it from it. Second thing I think it reminds us is there's a threefold, I would say, combination. It says the word of God is living, and it's active. That's pretty strange, ain't it? When when Beth bought me a Bible, zippered King James, opened that thing up in in King James English, started reading it. So first of all, you get over that, but there's something in here you think you're reading.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:23

This is really different. Something something's up with this. And I can remember I turned on the radio and John MacArthur, and he said, what do you what is the Bible? And I thought, what is the Bible? Wasn't a Christian. I thought, I don't know. If there is a god, what do you who he is, what he's like, what he wants, I have no idea. But if he says he wrote a book and he can't keep a book, he can't write and keep a book, then he probably isn't much of a guy. Remember thinking, probably can't be much of a guy. And you start to read through, and you think, oh, something's up here.

Scott Keffer [: 00:39:57

This is not like any other book. So commentaries are interesting. Other people's reflections are interesting. Devotions are interesting. They're not the word. You need to be consuming the word so that it does its work. It's living and active. Oh, really? What does it do? It's sharper than any 2 edged sword.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:22

Piercing. Uh-huh. So it's the division of soul and spirit. Where is that? Soul and spirit. I don't know. Somewhere in there. I think it's in your heart. Enable to judge the thoughts and intentions of their heart.

Scott Keffer [: 00:40:41

Well, no wonder I don't like to read it. I don't want somebody judging the thoughts and intentions of my heart. I want them to be able to see, like, my Facebook life. I I want I want to be able to shine it up on Instagram so that when I come out, it's polished. Looks good. Right? The word of God pierces through all of that, goes down in there, and it reveals, doesn't it? It reveals. And we're afraid of that. But it's the god of mercy.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:17

It's the god of mercy, and what he's doing is freeing us, of course. But it judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And I love this in Proverbs. Every man's way is Right. Right in his own eyes. I'm I'm doing great. I'm fine. It's right in my own eyes.

Scott Keffer [: 00:41:33

Of course it is. But the Lord judges the heart, doesn't he? So we need his word. We need his spirit. Search me, oh lord, and know me. Know the anxious thoughts. Right? Lead me in the way everlasting. But I need his spirit and I need confession. Need confession.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:01

If we confess our sins. He's faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins. Right? 1 thing I think Catholics get right is here's how confession works. Confess your sins to someone, to 1, to another. Right? How do you do that? Right? So confession, that's a hard thing, isn't it? Who am I gonna confess to? I can't do it. My friends, because then they're gonna say, oh, yeah. Jeez. He knows me.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:25

Right? I can't do it to people younger. They're gonna say, and I'm a gateway. Who do I confess my sins to? Well, directly, but he does say confess your sins to 1 another should be a place where we have the ability. Because confession's hard, isn't it? It's easy with the Lord because it's the throne to me. It's the throne of mercy. I like to go in and, like, you don't have to hide anything. I'm doing, you know, Lord, I'm doing fine. No.

Scott Keffer [: 00:42:54

He knows my heart. And it's a throne. He says he says, come boldly before the throne of grace that you may receive mercy. What's mercy for? Sin and grace to help in time of need. It's a throne of grace. You should barrel in there. The more you feel like not going in there, it's that's the that's the idiot light. Right? It's the idiot light.

Scott Keffer [: 00:43:21

It's the warning light of life. I don't wanna go in. I feel so simple. But where else are you gonna go? I told that story about the early our marriage. I'm we're we're having a vigorous discussion, and I wanna take the steering wheel and take it off of there. You know? And I felt the lord saying, come and get right. And I thought, no. I can't I can't come like this.

Scott Keffer [: 00:43:43

Like, I wanna rip people's heads off. I'm gonna he said, where else are you gonna go? Where where are you gonna go? Where where else are you gonna get forgiveness and cleansing? Forgiveness and cleansing. If any man sins, we have an advocate, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Where is he? Seated. High priest seated at the right hand of the father. He's saying, come. Come. It's a good daily habit to unburden yourself of your sin.

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:22

How do you unburden it? You can carry it. You can keep it or unburden yourself. So review your balance sheet to passing riches. God's word is spirit and confession. And lastly, self examination. Self examination. Self examination. Easier when you have a piece of machinery.

Scott Keffer [: 00:44:58

Right? Tim, your car. Right? The lights either the lights go up or something goes wrong. Right? The the you know, it's veering, right, alignment, whatever that is. Right? In your life, he's saying, pay attention. Pay attention. Right? So he says, test yourself to see if you're in the faith. Examine yourselves. Examine yourselves.

Scott Keffer [: 00:45:21

Examine yourselves. You also wanna have others around because we can think our ways are right, but teach yourself to examine yourself rightly. That which means don't beat yourself into the ground, but to test yourself rightly. Right? Test yourself rightly. So test yourself. See if you're in the faith. He also says beware of becoming a self righteous eye surgeon. Uh-huh.

Scott Keffer [: 00:45:48

He says, why do you look at the speck that's in your brother's eye? This is a great picture, isn't it? Do I see that? I mean, think about it. You're in a conversation that you'd be able to see the speck in somebody else's eye. So it's a great it's a great metaphor. You see the I oh, I see that spec in your eye. When he says meanwhile, like, there's this 2 there's a 2 by 4 in your eye. You know? It's it's a great picture, isn't it? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye. But, boy, I probably club you with my 2 by 4 anyway. Right? I can't even get close to you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:46:25

And you don't see the log that's in your own eye. It says you create a print. I said, that doesn't mean you can't help your brother, but first take the log out of your eye before you help him with the spec. Right? Help him with the spec. And PFOs, you know what those are? Proverbs for others. I sit under the word of God. You know who needs to read this? Oh, you know, they need to get a copy of this. This Proverbs for others.

Scott Keffer [: 00:46:52

Right? So what's our remedy? He says 2 questions. Right? Do you think if you're self righteous, you will escape the judgment of God? No. You practice the same things. And then he said, do you think lightly of the riches of God? Which reminds us how much do I value his riches? Are they high on my asset scale? Do I see them as more valuable than other things? Right? Review your balance sheet and value what's enduring, he reminds us. Secondly, let his word, his spirit, and confession be a way that you cleanse yourself daily and self examination self examination. And every once in a while, bring the car in. Right, Tim? Because you plug it in. Right? Today, they don't even know.

Scott Keffer [: 00:47:42

Today, you have to right? They have to plug it into a computer to really be able to see because you wanna do it before it breaks down. You're gonna pay me now, pay me later was the old. Right? And it's true. If you go longer without plugging it in from time to time, then you're right either way. Just harder. Harder when it breaks. Fix it. So self examination.

Scott Keffer [: 00:48:04

Alright. Put down an insight, and let's share a few. So Josh and I went to, see Scott Hahn, who's a a Catholic, theologian in student bill. And the guy in the afternoon talked about when, he would do he he had brought in a deliverance somebody who's trained in deliverance because he was he was ministering in kind of inner city. And so everybody had drug and alcohol and all these things, and they were experiencing all kind of demonic stuff. And he said he brought him in. He had no idea. So this woman came to him and said, I'm having this, you know, all this stuff.

Scott Keffer [: 00:48:40

And he said, I had no idea what was gonna happen. He just said, you bring her in, and we'll you know, we've got a we've got a process. He said, I didn't know if her head was gonna spin or, you know, all this stuff's gonna happen. I had no idea. So he said he brought her into a room, and there were a couple of people in there. They prayed for her. And then he said he turned this he opened up a notebook. He says it was about that thick.

Scott Keffer [: 00:49:01

He opened it up. He turned it, and he pushed it in front of her. And in there, he said he listed every sin he could ever think of, and there were pages and pages and pages. And he said 1 by 1, he said, what I want you to do is read these. When you come to a sin, your right? Sin, you you confess it and and repent. And so two and a half hours, he said after that. And she went out there. He said, physically different.

Scott Keffer [: 00:49:28

Just he could see physically different. And when he got done, he said to him, I thought you, like, called out demons and, you know, you had and he said, there are power encounters, and some people do. He said, we found those were, you know, they were dangerous and, you know, people have supernatural strength, all the stuff kinda hear about. He said, what we found is when you give the sin gives the enemy, it says in Ephesians 4, you give the enemy place. Right? You give him you give him, you know, like, rental space in your soul. And when you confess sin and God forgives you and cleanses you, the enemy is put out of your soul in those in that place. You know? He says it's kinda like cookies. You know? When you give, somebody else's server permission to come in your server, you've given them the right to have access to you.

Scott Keffer [: 00:50:18

Right? So sin. So when when she went through that process of confession, it it freed her from not only the sin, but the demonic, component of that, of the enemy call in in Ephesians, it says place. To me, it's like, I always used to liken it to monopoly where you had you stopped on their you stopped on their place, you paid rent. And then when you give the enemy place, right, you you pay rent to the enemy. Right? He has place. Right? So confession has power, and you're right. It's very specific, not just I envy. But the other day when I wanted that house and I and I I I really didn't you know, I wasn't grateful for what you had.

Scott Keffer [: 00:51:04

Right? It shows up in very specific ways. Yeah. So, yeah, thanks for not just, oh, I'm sinful, lord. Help me with my sin. Because is the word, confess. It means, literally, say, same thing. So it means say the same thing that god says about that thing. Right? So it's really just coming into agreement and saying the same thing.

Scott Keffer [: 00:51:27

Yeah. That's right. Search me, know me. I I I don't even know all all mine. I even know mine, which is why more often is better because otherwise, I'd take I'd have forever time because the longer I go, the more I sin. So the shorter the distance in between the 2, the less time I have to confess things. Right? Women, and may the god who is rich in mercy, grace, kindness, love, and favor, may he bless you, may he keep you, may he cause his face to shine upon you, May he lift up his countenance and grant you his shalom deep in your soul. May you walk in his riches and be overwhelmed by his riches day by day.

Scott Keffer [: 00:52:11

Lord bless you and keep you. Amen. Thanks for listening. I hope you have greater hope, assurance, and confidence in your life and a deeper trust in the God of the bible and his son, Jesus Christ. Until next time, may the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, and may the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you his peace, his shalom in your soul and in your life. Until next time, may God bless you and keep you.