The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to the word made plain with senior pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, pastor Tony is teaching through the book of Romans. Please open your Bible to Romans chapter 2 verses 21 through 24.

Tony Clark: Now, why did the teachings of Jesus lead them in such a state? Because the religious leaders used to pride themselves in keeping God's law, the Ten Commandments. They felt that they were keeping God's law. They didn't commit adultery, they didn't murder, but Jesus comes along and said, wait a minute. If you look with lust, you're guilty of adultery. If you're angry with someone, you're guilty of murder. I I keep trying to get past this and I can't. I can't. I got to address it. There are some people who took the teaching that of Jesus, this sort of thing, if you look with lust, you commit adultery in your heart.

And there are some women who be or maybe have caught their husbands watching porn or whatever and they said, okay, Jesus said you look with lust, you you you commit adultery. And adultery is the only way that we can get a divorce. So, I'm divorcing you because you committed adultery. Well, no, I didn't commit adultery. I I was I I was looking at porn, but Jesus said if you look with lust, you commit adultery. So, because the adultery is the only way I can divorce you, you sorry loser. Therefore, I'm going to divorce you. Oh.

You pretty angry, aren't you? Yes. Can't believe you will be looking at other women like that. Oh, maybe he should divorce you for murder because anger is at the root of murder and you're angry at him and maybe he ought to divorce you for murdering him in your heart. Oh, now I'm not trying to give any license to any man fooling around on the porn site, but don't you say don't you say you can divorce him for adultery off of what Jesus said because at the same time he can divorce you for being a murderer because you murder him in your heart with your anger.

Oh, it's quiet. That's all right. And I'm I get off of that. I I leave that alone. I leave that alone because I had to bring that up because many people, many women tried to and have divorced their husbands over this issue and over what Jesus said. Jesus said adultery is the only way I can divorce you. You I caught you looking at porn. Therefore, adultery and not it only have to be porn. I saw you looking at that girl and you looked back again, you looked again. Oh, you commit adultery in your heart. Therefore, hey, I can divorce you.

Oh, okay, we going to go with that. Okay, then we need to go with the same logic that your anger is at the root of murder. So, he ought to divorce you for being a murderer. Now, we don't want to talk like that. We just want to stick with the look with lust. We don't want to talk about the anger that's at the root of murder. Oh, okay. All right. All right. I would I tried in my notes to just keep going, but somebody need to hear that. And there's no justification, men, for you being terrible human beings and and looking at porn.

That's no justification for that. Don't say, oh, now I got a little justification. No, because you're still a terrible human being if you're doing that. Just just know that. And yeah, I told you. You're a terrible human being for doing that. Doing that to your precious wife because no woman can compete with those women on those sides. No woman alive. The Bible says the eyes of man are never satisfied. You it's not like you you look and just okay, I'm satisfied. No, you're not. You're satisfied for a moment till you see the next one. So, you're still a terrible human being and need to repent.

So, let that just get that out of the way, too. Yeah, and we get that out of the way. Well, pastor Tony, you need to also get out of the way that the the woman is a terrible human being for being angry at me like that. No, she got calls for being you being to being angry. There's no justification, but she has a cause to to to evoke that emotion because here she is here and you looking at that who are doing that on the screen that she doesn't do. Oh, that I keep going. I keep going.

Oh, boy. Cuz there's some somebody getting in trouble right now. You know. So, so, this is why when Jesus taught this, it blew their minds. It blew their minds. They they were they were dumbfounded. They were at at at a loss. So, because the religious leaders used to pride themselves, as I mentioned earlier, in keeping God's law, the Ten Commandments, they felt that they were keeping God's law. They didn't commit adultery, they didn't murder, but Jesus comes along and said, wait wait wait wait wait. If you look with lust, you're guilty of adultery. If you're angry with someone, you're guilty of murder.

Jesus was given them the essence of God's law. It is about what is going on in our hearts that God is looking at. This teaching blew their minds because according to Jesus, it's not just what is going on outwardly, but what is going on in your heart that I am seeing God is saying. However, there's another type of adultery that the Jews were guilty of that goes beyond the pornography type. You know, the adultery or sexual morality, the Greek word is porneia, the root of where we get pornography from. Well, there's a a a pornography that's that's goes beyond just the the physical kind.

It is spiritual adultery. In the book of Hosea chapter 2 and verses 1 through 5, it says that the it talks about the adultery of the Jews were demonstrated in the way that they had distant themselves from God by following after other lovers, other priorities, other affections. I just wonder if we aren't committing spiritual adultery against the Lord. Do we have other priorities? The Bible says the it talks about the in Mark 4:19, it talks about the the desires for other things. It comes in and chokes the word of God out of our lives. It talks about the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things.

So, the cares, the worries of this world, the deceitfulness of riches because riches deceive us into thinking the more we have, the more happier we'll be. That's why it's called the deceitfulness of riches. And if those two doesn't get you, then just the desire for other things. Hey, where you been, man? I haven't seen you in a long time. I just been just got some other things going. That's spiritual adultery. When we allow other things, other relationships, other affections to rob or steal our love for God and the things of God. We just got other things, you know, just other things going on.

And and and and a lot of people are okay with that and they don't realize that they're committing spiritual adultery. This is what happened to the church of Ephesus in um Revelation 2 and verses 1 through 7. They had a lot of things going on at the church. They had a lot of motion, but they had no emotion. They left their first love. Many people misquote that verse that they lost their first love. No, you don't lose your first love, you leave it. Revelation 2:4 talks about that. Yes, this can happen to any of us where we are just going through the motions of Christianity, but we have no emotion for God and his word and church or anything else associated with God like prayer.

Why? Because we have other lovers, other priorities, other affections, other things that we're just into now. This is committing spiritual adultery. Look at the second part of um verse 22. It says, you who abhor idols, do you rob temples? This is the third area that Paul was pointing out in their lives. The the Greek word for abhor is and and it means to stink, to to reek. What a very fitting word to use to describe the Jews' hatred for the worship of idols. Even though throughout the Old Testament, as we've been reading and studying throughout the Old Testament, throughout the Old Old Testament, you know, we we we see that the Jews fell into idol worship constantly to the point where God sent them right into Babylonian captivity in 586 BC.

God said, okay, you want to worship idols, I'm going to have I'm going to have you worship idols till it's coming out of your ears. And they sent them to the capital of idol worship, which was Babylon, for 70 years of captivity. And watch this. After this period of time of 70 years in captivity to the capital of idol worship, the Jews never again worshiped idols. They, watch this, abhorred them just like Paul is describing here. However, once again, they found a way around this. Uh they hated the worship of idols. So, according to Josephus, which was a first century Jewish historian, he tells of how some of the Jews would rob the temples.

Watch this. By enticing the Roman women to donate to the temple and they will give large amounts of money. Of course, people you know how they give large amounts of money to that which is religious to kind of appease their conscience. So, they would give large amounts of of money and they would never give it to the temple, but they would divide the money between themselves. Or this robbing of the temples could mean that it was common for some rogue uh Jews who are robbing pagan temples for personal gain. Oh, we have a hint of this in in Acts uh chapter 19 and verse 37 when the city clerk in the city of Ephesus said of Paul and his companions, watch this.

He said that they were not guilty of being robbers of temples, implying that this was a common practice at this time by some. In so many ways, Paul was saying, you Jews are living a double life. You're saying one thing but doing another. See, it it is easy to say the right words than to live them. When we tell others about Christianity and the Bible, we must be willing to live by our own advice. Let me let me ask us, does our actions match our words? If not, then we are hypocrites. You remember hypocrites, the Greek word hypokritēs, it meant an actor.

In Shakespearean times, if you heard me say many times, they will wear mask with large expressions and and upside down smile or tears to try to act out the emotion to the audience. It wasn't the real them, it was just a mask that they wore. And many people wore the mask of Christianity and and lived very heinous lives, but they put on the mask on Sunday or they put on the mask whenever they feel a little guilt, they want to show up or tune in or whatever. And and and and they put on the mask, but it really isn't them.

It's just the mask of Christianity. It's not who they are because once they leave church or once the broadcast is over, they take the mask off. This is what was happening here. And a lot of people today wear the mask of Christianity and thinking they are Christian. I remember growing up and this was the mindset. And many of you grew up in communities similar to mine. We lived like the devil Monday through Saturday but as long as we were in church on Sunday. You know, we was singing in the choir, usher, you know, with white gloves.

And we do our thing. And then you know, we go back out and I felt I could send a little extra because I just endured this guy yelling at me up here and hooping and yelling. And and because I endured that, I can send a little extra during the week. But as long as I'm back on Sunday, I can get it back right, you know, shed a few tears and you know, clap my hands, sing a little loud, get a little jig going. I'm good. I'm good. And that was Christianity to me. And then when when when old Smitty from the Marine Corps was preaching the gospel to me, he said, you know, have you ever repented of your sin and accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior?

Watch this. I've been baptized. He said, I didn't ask you if you were baptized. Have you repented of your sin and accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior? I I I used to go to church every Sunday. He said, that's not what I asked you. And when it came down, when he boxed me in, have you repented of your sin and accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior? I said, no. He said, would you want would like to do that here? And I said, yes. I got on my knees in that barracks, Okinawa, Japan. And prayed, repented of my sin, accepted Christ because he once I got baptized at 13 cuz I I just did it because my friends went up the week before and sat in the two chairs, you know, two chairs.

Doors of the church are open, you know. So, my friends went up. They were like, come on, Clark, come on. I said, I ain't going up there. I ain't going up there. Then the next week I I went by myself. Just went up there. You heard me say it. I went down. I went in there. A dry devil went down, came up a wet devil. I was still the same devil. I just got wet. There was no change in my life is the point I'm making. There was no change in my life at all. My life was still the same.

Went out, still thought I was God's gift to little girls and just life was life was life. So, a lot of people are wearing the mask. And they've never surrendered their life to Jesus Christ, repented of their sin. Never done that. And unfortunately, you know why a lot of them, not all, a lot of them You know why a lot of them haven't done that? They never been told that they had to. They just told to come and sit in the chair. Here's a candidate of baptism. Do you come by letter or by you know the story.

You know the script. They never have been told that they offended a holy God and that they're on their way to hell. They they just So, look what it says there in verse 23. It says, you who make your boasts in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? Now, Paul told them that they make their boasts in the law of God, the Ten Commandments. Then he told them that they dishonored the law through the breaking of it. We fail to see that when we break God's word that we are dishonoring God. Oh, we sing songs of how much we love God and then we live as if he doesn't exist.

You know what I call this? I call this a practicing atheist. You believe in God with your head, but you live as though he doesn't exist. You live as though you're atheist. Well, up here you say, I believe in God. This dishonors God. Watch this. Jesus said in Matthew 15 verses 8 9, these people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. I just wonder does this describe us? Are we drawing near to God only with our lips at church, but our hearts are far from him when we go home?

We honor God with our mouths at church but dishonor him with our lives outside of church. And I just say, Lord, help us, help us. When we do this, then verse 24 is true. For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you as it is written. Paul told the Jews that their hypocritical living has caused the Gentiles, who are the non-Jews, who wanted them uh uh uh God wanted them to lead to him. They have caused them to blaspheme God instead. Instead of them worshiping God or following him, instead they are blaspheming God because of you and because of me and our bad example we're living.

I I wonder how many children brought up in so-called Christian homes are now blaspheming God as adults because we talked about God with our mouths but we didn't follow his ways at home. How many coworkers are blaspheming God because we claim to be Christians but on the weekends we used to party and go to the bars and clubs getting drunk with them? I I I don't I don't get that. Please know that people are watching us. As soon as we say that we are followers of Jesus Christ, and many people say, well, this is why I don't tell people I'm a Christian.

Well, and I believe that this is why many profession Christians are silent about their faith because deep down inside they know that their lives doesn't match what they say. And I say, Lord, have mercy on us. Let me conclude with this. Now, in part two of this message, uh you're guilty, too. Paul showed them three areas that they were being hypocritical in stealing adultery and sacrilege, which is the violation or misuse of what is regarded as sacred, which was he he was talking about them robbing the temple. So, are you robbing God of the tithe?

Is the question I'm going to leave you with? Are you committing adultery either physically or spiritually? Do you say how much you hate something but secretly you do it behind closed doors or when no one is watching? When we live such lives, we cause those around us to blaspheme our God. And if this is true of us, we need to repent to God and and and and and maybe to the people we offended with our hypocritical lifestyles. See, you got to understand God loves us. That's why he puts things like this in the word. God loves us.

It's not it's not like, you know, I can read verses like this and say, I better not I better not teach these verses. No, because we're committed to teaching the entire Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, and book by book. We can't skip over these verses. We can't skip over any verse. We have to deal with it all and take that pill, you know, that that multivitamin that's real big and you you got to get a big gulp to swallow it. Yeah, we just got to some there's some verses that we just got to just say, yeah, yeah.

Let me go and take this. It's for my good. Let me go and take this because God loves us. He loves us so. He loves us so and he wants us to reach this dark world that we live in. But we have to if we're the light, Matthew 5:14, if we're the light, then we have to be the light. The Bible says you don't take a light and put it under a basket. The purpose of the light is so people in the room can see the light, see where they're going. We're supposed to be the light of the world.

We can't be the light if we're walking in darkness ourselves. So, this is why God God God says these things because he loves us so. And he wants us to be like Jesus. So, these things we talk we just finished talking about, it doesn't make us like Jesus. So, we we till he shares these things with us. Now, here's the thing. You have the choice to say, I got you. All right, I need to repent. I got some areas. I need to get right. And you get it right before God. Amen. Praise God for you.

But there are some of you going one ear, out the other. And you go out there and as my wife says, you go out there and you do you. And my heart breaks for you. That you can sit under this word and not respond the correct way in repentance. We he just wants to make us like Jesus. That's all. And may we surrender our wills and our hearts to the one who's trying to make us like him. And may we do that today. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for your loving kindness and tender mercies towards us.

Thank you for your love that Lord that passes all understanding. Lord, why do you love us so? Such wretched sinners as as we. Lord, you love us so. And so, God, I just pray, have mercy upon us. Forgive us, Lord. We've fallen so very short. Now, draw us to you. Draw us to the foot of the cross. And and if there's anyone here or online that have not repented of their sin and accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior, just pray this prayer after me. Just say, Lord Jesus, forgive me. I believe you died on the cross and was buried and rose again just for me.

Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior. Help me to live for you by the power of your Holy Spirit from this moment forward in Jesus' name. Amen.

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