No Excuses Allowed

Employers receive excuses for why people can't be at work. Policemen get excuses for why people drive too fast. But probably the most creative excuses are given to school teachers and school administrators. I've collected some of those over the years, and I want to read a few of them to you this morning. Please note, these are genuine excuses given by real parents on behalf of real children to real teachers and administrators. These are not made up. They actually happened. Here's one. Please excuse Roland from PE for a few days. Yesterday he fell out of a tree and misplaced his hip. Please excuse Ray, Friday from school. He has very loose vowels. Please excuse Jimmy for being his father's fault. I kept Billy home because she had to go Christmas shopping because I don't know what size she wears. Some of these you wonder how many days the parents missed in school. Like this one. Please excuse Jennifer for missing school yesterday. We forgot to get the Sunday paper off the porch, and when we found it Monday we thought it was Sunday. But this one wins the prize. Please excuse Tommy for being absent yesterday. He had diarrhea and his boots leak. How that goes together, I do not even want to know. I'm not even sure I should have read that when in church. Now imagine that you're not in a school classroom or a school administrators office, but you're in a courtroom where also excuses are often given as to why someone is not guilty. And there you have the perfect setting for what Paul is doing in the first three chapters of Romans. We've already seen as we're working through the book of Romans, we're in chapter three this morning. We've already seen that Paul in the book of Romans is very carefully like a prosecuting attorney laying out a case for the fact that all of mankind is guilty before God and deserves God's judgment. And he's pretty much covered the spectrum of humanity talking first of all about those who are open, ungodly, pagan, wicked, immoral sinners. I mean everybody would agree these folks are worthy of God's judgment. But then he moves from that class of humanity to another class and that is people who are good moral people. They may not be religious, may not go to church, but they're good moral people. They're law-abiding citizens, they're good providers for their family, just live good moral lives. And he says you too are guilty and deserving of God's judgment. And then he moves from there to religious people, people who do go to church, people who might even claim the name Christian in Paul's day. He was talking to those who would claim the name Jew. And even those people, Paul concludes, are guilty and deserving of the judgment of God. So he's carefully put together his case. Now it's time for the defense to argue its case. And as the judge offers the defense, its opportunity to present its case of those three classes of humanity only one response. You might guess it would be the religious man. Much more so than the ungodly sinner, much more so than the good moral person who knows he doesn't care about church. Much more than those two people, the religious person objects and says, no wait a second, I don't believe I'm guilty. I go to church. I claim the name Christian. I live in a Christian country. I don't deserve God's judgment and wrath. So it is only the religious person that accepts the challenge and the opportunity to present a defense. He's mad at being called a sinner. He's mad at being grouped with those other kinds of people. Certainly he doesn't fit there. And so he rises to his own defense, the religious person. Paul anticipates the questions that this person will ask. In fact, in the first eight verses of chapter three, Paul asks those very questions, raises those objections that the religious man might raise in the form of a series of four questions or sets of questions. And then he answers those questions. Basically, what Paul is saying is this. Part of the religious man in response to Paul, the religious man questions four things about God. Basically, those questions are an effort to excuse himself from the judgment of God. But there are four questions the religious man might ask in response to Paul. In other words, if you're right in saying, as you did at the end of chapter two, that the Jew, the person who is religious, the person who has the outward symbols of religion is really no better off. Then just good moral person or even the immoral wicked person. If you're right about that, Paul, I object to that. I've got some questions about God. If you're right, then I have some questions. In fact, I think I have a good excuse to be let off the hook. Here are the four questions. The religious man questions first of all the goodness of God. Look at verse one of Romans chapter three. What advantage then is there in being a Jew or what value is there in circumcision? Basically, the religious man is picking right up where Paul left off in chapter two because Paul has said really, verse 17 of chapter two, if you call yourself a Jew and you rely on everything about your religion, it's really no better than the other kinds of people I've talked about. Relying on the name Jew will not get you to heaven. Relying on the name Christian will not get you to heaven. Being a good Methodist or Presbyterian or Baptist will not get you to heaven. It's not the name, it's not the title, it's not the denomination, it's not the church affiliation. Case Paul's made that point very clear. And even the outward symbols of religion, in the case of a Jew, would be circumcision, that which was given by God to identify his chosen people, has specially marked out for God, committed to him. But in our day it might be baptism or church membership or even church attendance or something like that communion, something like that. Paul basically has made his point very clear that does not save you, it does not make you righteous, it does not get you to heaven. And so the religious man objects and says, are you saying there's no advantage in being a Jew? What value is there in circumcision? In other words, has God fooled us? Is there really such a thing as a good God if God has chosen us out to be His own people, His Jewish nation, and has given us that symbol that we are His? Is God trying to fool us in? Is God really good as the essence of the questions? And Paul's answer is very clear. It might surprise us a little bit. We might expect Paul to answer to the question, is there advantage in being a Jew, is there value in circumcision? We might expect him to answer no, there isn't. Seems to be what he said in chapter 2, but notice how Paul answers. The answer surprises us a little. Verse 2, much in every way. Oh really? What advantage is there in being a Jew? What advantage is there in being identified with God's people? Paul says much in every way, a lot of advantage to that. And here is the first one, and most important one, middle of verse 2. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God. Now Paul says there is a lot of advantage in having a religious background. There is a lot of advantage in growing up in church, or being in a Christian family from the time you were born. There's a lot of advantage in that. Cheafly in that you have the opportunity to be exposed to the word of God. You have the very words of God. Now that might surprise us a little bit, but when we think about what Paul's saying, it really does fit with what he said in chapter 2 that religion will never save you. But if you are in a place, in a church, in a home, where you are exposed to the word of God, then you do have a tremendous advantage because after all it is the word of God that tells us who God is. It is the Bible who describes for us that God is just and God is holy and God is eternal and God loves all people and gave His Son to die for all people. That's what the Bible tells us. And so it is the word of God that gives that message. It is also the word of God that tells us who we are and what we were made for. It is the Bible that describes we were made in the image of God and because of that we were designed to have a relationship with Him. No animals made an image of God. No other part of creation is made an image of God. But we are made with a moral and spiritual likeness to God, something in us that is able to relate to God. God built us that way, made us in this image so that we would have a relationship with Him. It is the Bible that tells us that. It is the Bible that also tells us that man has failed and man has sinned and because of that sin we are corrupted and we are distanced from God. We are separated from God. It is the Bible that tells us that. Even though God made us to have a relationship with Him because of our sin we are far away from God. And so it is the Bible that describes this great golf between God and mankind and every person individually. Great golf. It is the Bible that tells us that. There is great advantage to being exposed to the Bible in church and a Christian family from the earliest years. It is the Bible that tells us how God chose to span that golf and bridge that golf through the cross of His Son. How He sent His Son Jesus who was God and became man so the only one qualified to bridge that gap between God and man is the God man, Jesus Christ. And He did so by giving His life, laying down His perfect life, morally qualified to be our Savior because He never sinned and He laid down His life as a sacrifice for your sin in mind. It is only the Bible that tells us that. So in answer to the objection if Paul, what you are saying is true, religious men are not saved because they are religious, then what advantage is they are in religion? Is God good at all to give us that? See, dispooling us? Paul would say there is a lot of advantage. If you hear the word of God, but here is the catch. Because God in His grace has given us His word, God's goodness in giving us His word makes us more accountable. And that has been Paul's whole point in this whole context in chapter 2. If you are a religious person, if you come to church, if you have grown up in a family that goes to church, and if in that church you have heard the Bible preached. If you have heard the word of God, that is a wonderful advantage. It is a wonderful privilege, but it also makes you very accountable to God. It ratchets up the accountability level, a huge amount. You are much more accountable to God than that good moral person who never hears the Bible, or that wicked immoral person who doesn't care a thing about God, maybe he has never even heard of God. You have much more accountability to God because you have had the privilege of hearing the Bible. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 11, to people who heard Him teach, and to people who saw Him do miracles in His day, listen to these chilling words from the lips of our Lord to these people. Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of His miracles had been performed because they did not repent. This is Matthew chapter 11, 20 to 24. He says in verse 21, If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, these are Gentile cities. The miracles that were performed in you had been performed in them. They would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes, but I tell you it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. Now listen to this next comparison which would horrify every Jewish hearer of the words of Jesus. Jesus says, and you, cappernum, cappernum was Jesus' home base for his ministry in Galilee. 18 months he ministered in Galilee, taking three preaching tours of Galilee. In this area was saturated with the ministry of Christ, cappernum was his home base, where Peter lived, and Jesus had been at least stayed in the home of Peter during those 18 months of ministry in Galilee. You cappernum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths, and here's the reason why, if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you, and this is what would have horrified every Jewish hearer, but I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you. Sodom, the epitome of evil in the Old Testament, the epitome of ungodliness and wickedness in the Old Testament, it will be better for them in the day of judgment than for the Jews in cappernum. Are you kidding me? And Jesus would say, no, no, I'm very serious. The reason is, you've seen the miracles, you've heard the teachings, you have heard the word of God, and because of that you are much more accountable than a pagan city that never had that opportunity. I hope everyone hearing my voice this morning understands that, because it is very possible that there is someone here, maybe more than one, maybe many who are here in church today, who come because it's Sunday, and it's the thing to do, to be a good person. And you want to fulfill your religious duty by being here, but you've never fulfilled the call of God on your life to establish a relationship with Jesus Christ, you never realize that you were a sinner and that you needed Jesus' death to save you. You're religious, you come to church, but you're not a believer in Christ as your Savior. I hope you understand that your religion will never get you to heaven, but it also because you are hearing the Bible, you're hearing the word of God, it also places you in a higher degree of accountability to God. You will be accountable for everything you've heard and to walk away from that, rejecting once again that Jesus died for you on the cross, and that's your only hope of heaven to reject that once again, having heard it time and time again, places you in an awful position of accountability, it will be extremely bad for you on the day of judgment. So the question of God's goodness is God good at all? Is he fooling us? Is he tricking us by giving us this opportunity to hear His word? Just because religion will not get us to heaven, the objection is overthrown. The excuse is disallowed. God is good in giving you the opportunity to hear, but it also gives you greater accountability to respond to what you've heard. The question of God's goodness, but there is a second question and objection and an attempt to excuse the religious man from God's judgment, and it's a question of the faithfulness of God. The faithfulness of God. Look at the question. In verse three, Paul anticipates it this way, what if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? So the religious man says, okay, all right, what if some Jews did fail? Even though they were God's people, what if they failed to live up to the light they had? Okay, let's give, give you that. Maybe some people did fail, but does that mean that God will go back on His promises to the Jewish nation? Are you telling me God's not going to be faithful to His covenant to them? God's not going to be faithful to His promises to the Jews? So the objection is raised about God's faithfulness as an attempt to make Paul look like He has an inconsistency, and that gets me off the hook. I'm not accountable to God now. You're wrong, Paul. That's the point here. That's the point of the question of God's faithfulness. Notice how Paul answers it. Not at all. In other words, if some Jews fail, will that mean that God will be unfaithful to His promises to fulfill His promises to the Jewish people? Not at all. Let God be true and every man a liar. But Paul is saying with that is, man will inevitably break His promises. People inevitably, at some point, somewhere down the line, we will break our promises. But God never breaks His promises. Let God be true, every man a liar. Every man may break His promises. God is always true. He's always faithful to His promises. But here's the point. God is faithful to His promises, including His promises to the Jewish people. That's the point Paul is making. Yes, God will be faithful to His promises. But don't ever forget, He has also promised that He will judge. And an example of that is found in verse 4, end of the verse, as it is written, so that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge. Paul is quoting there from the Old Testament. He's quoting Psalm 51 and verse 4. Psalm 51 is the prayer of David of confession after he's sinned with Bathsheba. And David is saying in that prayer, God, you have every right to judge me. You have promised that you would judge sin. And I admit God, you are proved right when you speak. When you make your promises, you're right. And you prevail when you judge, you are entirely faithful in your character to judge sin. David knew that. David admitted that that God was faithful to judge. Paul said the same thing in Acts chapter 17 and verse 31. Paul said, for he has said a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. Now who is that man appointed to be the judge? He goes on to describe. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. So that man who will be the judge is Christ. And he has been raised from the dead. He will be the judge someday. When Paul was preaching in Athens, he made that point very clearly in Acts 17. God has promised to judge. And he has appointed today. He has said a day when he will judge. That's a promise, my friend. God is faithful to keep his promises. He never misses one of them. And he will be faithful to keep his promise of judgment. On November 1st, 1989, John Michael Cox killed his step grandmother and two other relatives in Arkansas. He was eventually sentenced to death for his ruthless crime spent 10 years on death row. And throughout those 10 years, he claimed consistently that lethal injection would not affect him. He would cheat death. Lithial injection would not take his life. Well, he had a chance to prove his claim in 1999, February 16th. When he was injected with that lethal mix of drugs in the death chamber in Barnard, Arkansas, less than 15 minutes later, his lifeless body was rolled out in a gurney. Thought he would cheat death. He was just fooling himself. Thought he would be immune to the instrument of death. He was just fooling himself. Do you think you will cheat God's judgment? Do you think you will escape God's judgment? You will not. God is faithful to his promises, including his promise to judge. God will judge us all. You can deny that the rest of your life. You can feel like I'll be immune to that. What said of other people won't happen to me. I'll be okay. I guarantee you, my friend, God is faithful to his promises and his promises to judge. And you will someday stand before the one who created you. You will stand someday before the judge of all the universe to give an account for your life. God is faithful to his promises, including his promises to judge. So the question of God's faithfulness overruled, tossed out of court, no excuse on that grounds. So the religious man comes up with another question, another objection to try to excuse himself from God's judgment. And I warn you, the longer these go, the more they sound like those school excuses, they become pretty absurd. This is a question of God's justice, the third question. Notice it if you will in verse 5. But if our righteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say that God is unjust in bringing His wrath on us? Paul admits the absurdity of this reasoning in quotations when he says, I'm using a human argument. This doesn't stand up when it comes to God, but I'm just using a human argument. The objection is this. Okay, the religious man says, okay, alright, some Jews have failed. We've been unfaithful, but that makes the righteousness of God stand out more clearly in contrast to our unfaithfulness. So since our unfaithfulness, our unrighteousness really highlights His righteousness and ends up glorifying Him, why would we be judged for that? Why would we be judged for something that glorifies God that really ends up showing forth His righteousness? That's the question. Why should we be punished for that? Isn't God unjust to punish us for that which ultimately shows His glory and His righteousness? That's the reasoning. That's the thought. That's absurd. Absolutely absurd. And Paul says as much in his answer in verse 6 when he says, certainly not. Is God unjust in bringing His wrath, certainly not. If that were so, how could God judge the world? In other words, if man would not be judged because our unrighteousness just shows in bold relief so much the righteousness of God, God would be unjust to judges for that, wouldn't it? Paul says that's crazy. If you follow that line of reasoning, nobody could be judged. God couldn't judge anybody. How can God judge anyone because anyone could make that same excuse? God is completely just in judging our sin. That's the point Paul's making in answering this objection. God is completely just in judging our sin. Yes, ultimately everything that happens in this universe will show God's glory and will show His righteousness, but that does not remove our responsibility from responding to the message of the gospel that is in the Word of God. There are at least three reasons why God is absolutely just in judging our sin. Three reasons. First of all, because God's holy. God is holy. And by very nature, by definition, God cannot overlook sin. A holy God must judge sin. When I was a student in Bible college, I was helping with a youth outreach one time at Salem Baptist Church. We had a sleep over for a bunch of kids and we were all sleeping in their gym. And the church at that time had a night watchman who would walk through the property at night and make sure everything was okay. He was an elderly gentleman and I still remember him very well. Remember his name, which I will not call for fear that some of you might know who I'm talking about. But he was an elderly gentleman who was quite well known for sleep walking. And so sure enough, that night in the gym, he walks into the gym, stumbles over the first person on the floor, gets back up and starts walking again. Stumbles over the second person, third person. I mean, we were all waking up by this time watching what was happening. Someone tried to go up to him and wake him up and they couldn't. He just kept right on going. Now, a sleep walking night watchman by definition ceases to be a night watchman, right? A God who does not judge sin ceases to be holy by definition. God is holy. If you're holy, you must deal with sin. For a holy God not to deal with sin, he ceases by definition to be a holy God. So God is just in judging our sin because he's holy. Secondly, he's just in judging our sin because he's given you the opportunity to escape his judgment. He has provided a way of escape. Jesus is his own son who came to be your substitute, who came to take your judgment, who came to pay your penalty. And he's willing to give you life and let you escape his judgment if you'll simply take that escape, that substitute for your sin. If you reject Christ, then certainly he is just in judging you for your own sin. Thirdly, he is just in judging us for our sin because he's true to his word. You see, God has promised to judge sin and if he doesn't, he's not true to his word. He's like a parent who continually tells a child, if you do that again, you're going to receive whatever form of punishment there may be. And the child does it again and the parent kind of laughs and says, well, they miss their nap. You know what happens in that situation, don't you? Children know what happens in that situation. They find out real quick, I'm the authority around here. I choose, you know, what happens in this household. If there is no follow through on the promise, there is no authority on the part of the parent. If God has promised to judge and then doesn't follow through on it, I question the kind of God we have too. God will judge and he's just in doing that because he's true to his word. What he has promised he will do, he will do. So there is no escape, no excuse from God's judgment on the part of a religious person by this absurd argument that somehow God's judging us would not be just because really my sin just highlights his grace and character. Oh no, God will not let you off the hook on the excuse, my friend. God is just in judging us, completely just in judging our sin. Well, the religious man's not quite done yet, he's got one final gasp of an objection and an excuse to give and it really is a follow up to the one we just talked about. Not only is along the same lines, but it takes this argument to its logical conclusion and it is an objection, a question about the grace of God. Notice the objection in verse seven, Paul anticipates this question, someone might argue, if my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner? Why am I the same argument we just talked about? If my sin highlights God's righteousness, then why am I being condemned for it? Or am I doing God a favor by showing how good and righteous he is? Now, verse eight gives the logical conclusion of that kind of reasoning. Why not say, as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say, why not say, let us do evil that good may result? The logical conclusion of this kind of question is why not just sin all the more? I mean, if my unrighteousness highlights God's truthfulness, if my sin highlights the grace of God, then why not just sin to the max? That will make God look more gracious, right? Paul will deal with this argument more fully in chapter six, and so I want to wait for the full answer then, but Paul's answer at this point is quite purse. Notice how he answers in verse eight, their condemnation is deserved. Anybody who would say that, all I've got to say to them at this point is you deserve your judgment. Now, here's Paul's point. God's grace does not excuse sin, but teaches us to avoid sin. Please understand that, because there are still people today that slander the gospel of grace, just like Paul said they were doing with him, there were people who accused Paul of preaching and actually teaching that if sin highlights the grace of God, then you're free to sin all you want. God just covers it with his grace. No, no. God's grace is never an excuse for sin, but it teaches us to avoid sin. That's the true grace of God. Paul made that very clear in his letter to Titus in Titus chapter two, when he said these words, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us, this grace that saves us, what does it teaches how to live? It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled upright and godly lives in this present age. So is God's grace an excuse for sinning just because I'm saved by grace and I'm kept by grace forever saved, can never lose my salvation. Is that an excuse just to sin all I want to? Because I'm going to have it anyway. Paul says no, sir. If that's the way you feel, you've not understood the grace of God. You really have it. You're probably not saved is what Paul's saying because the grace of God, when someone understands the grace of God, that God freely offers us forgiveness and salvation in Christ, that God does fully forgive us. And we are never to be condemned again and we are eternally secure when people really understand that gospel of the grace of God. You don't want to go out and sin. You can't feel that way. Not when you understand God's grace. God's grace is not an excuse to sin. It teaches us to avoid sin. I mean, you might as well say, why not break the heart of the one I love the most just so that I can turn around and show him how much more I love them? Well, that's crazy. Or you might say, well, I'm just going to pray for more tragedies so that emergency responders and EMTs and doctors and firemen have more opportunity to display their skills. That's crazy. Why would you ever think that way? But that's the same way some people say we think that because I'm saved by the grace of God means I can live any way I want to. That's crazy. That's not what the grace of God teaches us. The grace of God rightly understood teaches us to say no to ungodliness until it's soberly, righteously self-controlled lives, godly lives in this world. That's the grace of God. So you're not going to get yourself off the hook of God's judgment by throwing back at God. If my sin displays your grace, then I'm just going to sin all I want. No, no, God will not excuse you on that basis. And so every objection of the religious man, every attempt to excuse himself from the judgment of God has been disallowed from the courtroom. And Paul again makes his claim and we'll see his closing arguments next week in the rest of the next part of chapter three in his closing argument. He will nail the case shut that we are all guilty and deserve God's judgment. Hans Christian Anderson's well-known story, the Emperor's New Clothes is a very popular and well-known story because it's so humorous, but it also has a great lesson. If you recall from your scholarly reading, the Emperor's New Clothes, you recall the story, how the Emperor, this Emperor who loves a fabulous clothing and loves to display that to everybody, commissions a new set of clothes to be made for him, particularly for a grand parade that's going to be held. Well, these con men are the ones who are going to do it and they are the ones who kind of talked him into it. So they tell him we will make these clothes for you and in reality they're not going to do anything. So they decide that they're going to try to con him and they say, okay, we'll make you this wardrobe, but want you to know that it will be invisible to all of those except the wise and pure in heart. And so the King kind of likes that. He says, okay, go to it. And so these con men went to their looms and with nothing on them, pretending to weave fabric into this beautiful clothing. After a couple of weeks, the Emperor wanted to check on what was being done and how the progress was coming along. So he sent his chief minister to go down and see the progress of the making of these clothes. Well, the chief minister didn't see any cloth on the looms. Nothing being made. The looms working, the men working heart, but nothing there. But of course, he did not want to appear unwise or impure. And so he came back with glowing reports about the beauty of the fabric and the wonderful clothes that were being made. A couple of weeks later, the King, the Emperor is still a little concerned. It hasn't been done yet. So he sends another chief minister who goes down and sees nothing being made. No fabric, no clothes. But he also does not want to appear unwise or impure. And so he comes back with another glowing report, beautiful clothing. Well, after another couple of weeks, the Emperor decides to go check on it. He also sees nothing being made. But of course, he does not want to appear unwise or impure either. And so he praises the workman for their work and even gives them a medal for how well they're doing. And so the ruse continued. Until the day of the parade, when the con men come with the supposed clothing, prepare the King for the parade. And the parade begins with the King in his birthday suit. But of course, no one who's observing the parade wants to appear unwise or impure. And so they're all applauding. Oh, look at the King's wonderful clothing. Until finally, at a moment of silence, a child spoke up and said, the Emperor has no clothes. And of course, the con was exposed, no pun intended. Some of you here today may think that you're going to be okay when you stand before God. That your self-righteousness and your religion and your good life will provide you excellent clothing to stand before God and to be admired. And he's admired and he will applaud the good work you've done. And he will say, that is a fine garment you're wearing. Made out of the best hard work of your own hands. I applaud you for such good work. Certainly, you are allowed to enter my heaven. That's not going to happen, my friend. It's the same thing as the Emperor's new clothes. You will find out on that day that indeed, although you have fooled yourself to believe that you're okay, you will stand before God absolutely naked. Unless you are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, that is the only garment that God accepts to get into heaven. Is the robe of Christ's righteousness and the only way you can obtain that robe is if you realize that your self-righteous rags are not good enough to cause you to stand before God. And so you have to trade those in. You have to turn your back on those and say, I realize I'm a sinner. I can't get the heaven by my religion or my good works. I need the righteousness of Christ, which is given to me freely as a gift when I place my faith in Christ as my Savior. And then you will stand before God clothed, not in the work of your own hands, but in the righteous robe given to you by God Himself, and God will allow you into heaven. What's it going to be for you on that day? Will you stand before God thinking you're okay because of the beautiful garment you've clothed yourself with? When in reality you have nothing on. You need the righteousness of Christ. That's Paul's message to the religious person. You need the righteousness of Christ. Here is Paul's point in this whole section. It is this. The only escape from God's judgment is through Christ. The only escape from God's judgment is through Christ. Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8 and verse 1, therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. If you are in Christ clothed with His righteousness because you've placed your faith in Him as your Savior, no condemnation for you, no judgment. You have the right garment. What will it be for you when you stand before God? Would you please join me in prayer? Father, it's a very sobering thought that we've talked about today. And every one of us in this room, including myself, needs to examine his or her heart to see where we're placing our confidence, what we're trusting in to get us to heaven. Would help us not to listen to the applause of others about how good we are. Think of ourselves as religious people. When in reality we have nothing on. That is acceptable to you. Help us to realize the only garment that will allow us into heaven is the righteousness of Christ. Would help us to realize, understand, whether or not we've ever placed our faith in Christ. We're very worried that if there is a good moral religious person here today who's never trusted Christ that today they would be willing to lay aside the rags of their own righteousness, drop their own pride and come to Christ before it's too late. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.