Latest / INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living / The Dark Side of Being Super-Religious, Part 1
Transcript
- 0:08Speaker 1: Picture this, you're climbing a spiritual ladder, desperately adding more
- 0:12Speaker 1: rungs of religious activity to reach God's approval. All the
- 0:16Speaker 1: while you're looking down on others, feeling pretty good about
- 0:19Speaker 1: your elevated status.
- 0:21Speaker 2: Sound exhausting?
- 0:23Speaker 1: Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll cuts straight to
- 0:26Speaker 1: the heart of Christianity's most dangerous deceptions. Teaching from Romans
- 0:30Speaker 1: chapter two, Chuck reveals the shocking difference between performance based
- 0:35Speaker 1: religion and cultivating a genuine relationship with Christ. So let's
- 0:40Speaker 1: tear down the ladder and replace it with grace. Chuck
- 0:43Speaker 1: titled his message, the dark side of being super religious.
- 0:54Speaker 2: In your, uh, Bible you will find the letter to
- 0:57Speaker 2: the Romans and in your worship folder you will find
- 1:00Speaker 2: an outline let's bring them together at chapter 2 chapter
- 1:08Speaker 2: 2 of Romans beginning at verse 17 Paul is writing
- 1:14Speaker 2: of the need of general humanity for a relationship with
- 1:20Speaker 2: God and he hasn't pulled any punches He's talked about
- 1:24Speaker 2: the absolute lost pagan at the end of chapter 1.
- 1:28Speaker 2: He's talked about the moral person wrapped in self-righteousness at
- 1:33Speaker 2: the beginning of chapter 2. And now he addresses the
- 1:36Speaker 2: traditional Jewish individual who could easily be caught up in
- 1:42Speaker 2: his own tradition and pride as he makes it clear
- 1:46Speaker 2: that even that person needs Christ, 2.17. But if you
- 1:51Speaker 2: bear the name Jew and rely upon the law and
- 1:54Speaker 2: boast in God and know his will and approve the
- 1:58Speaker 2: things that are essential being instructed out of the law
- 2:03Speaker 2: and are confident that you yourself are a guide to
- 2:06Speaker 2: the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,
- 2:11Speaker 2: a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature,
- 2:16Speaker 2: having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of
- 2:21Speaker 2: the truth. You, therefore, who teach another, do you not
- 2:27Speaker 2: teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal,
- 2:31Speaker 2: do you steal? You who say that one should not
- 2:35Speaker 2: commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols,
- 2:43Speaker 2: do you rob temples? You who boast in the law
- 2:48Speaker 2: through You're breaking the law. Do you dishonor God? For
- 2:55Speaker 2: the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because
- 3:01Speaker 2: of you, just as it is written. Verse 28. For
- 3:07Speaker 2: he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor
- 3:10Speaker 2: is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But
- 3:15Speaker 2: he is a Jew who is one inwardly. And circumcision
- 3:21Speaker 2: is that which is of the heart by the spirit,
- 3:24Speaker 2: not by the letter. And his praise is not from men,
- 3:32Speaker 2: but from God.
- 3:41Speaker 1: You're listening to Insight for Living. To dig deeper into
- 3:44Speaker 1: the book of Romans on your own, be sure to
- 3:46Speaker 1: purchase Volume 1 of our Searching the Scriptures Bible Study
- 3:49Speaker 1: Workbook by going to insight.org slash offer. Chuck titled today's message,
- 3:56Speaker 1: The Dark Side of Being Super Religious.
- 3:59Speaker 2: If you had the opportunity to give one message for
- 4:03Speaker 2: one time to a small group of Christians, what would
- 4:08Speaker 2: that message be? One opportunity to speak to one group,
- 4:14Speaker 2: one time. What would you speak on? Well, let's see
- 4:19Speaker 2: if I can prime your mental pump and get you
- 4:22Speaker 2: started with some possibilities. One might be the assurance of salvation.
- 4:28Speaker 2: Who doesn't need that? Once a person comes to know
- 4:32Speaker 2: Christ as Lord and Savior, how important it is for
- 4:35Speaker 2: them to realize they're secure in Christ. He will never again, never,
- 4:41Speaker 2: ever turn away from them. Even though we are faithless,
- 4:45Speaker 2: he remains faithful. Now, that would be a good message.
- 4:49Speaker 2: How about our hope, our future? That someday Christ will
- 4:53Speaker 2: return and gather his own up in the clouds to
- 4:57Speaker 2: be with him forever. And we will forever be with
- 4:59Speaker 2: the Lord and there will be rewards and there will
- 5:02Speaker 2: be a heaven to enjoy. And a reunion of family
- 5:06Speaker 2: and people we've admired, even down through the annals of history,
- 5:10Speaker 2: we'll meet them and be with them. Now that's a
- 5:13Speaker 2: good message to bring. Or maybe one on forgiveness. How
- 5:18Speaker 2: helpful it is for folks to realize even though you
- 5:21Speaker 2: come to Christ, you still are a human being. You
- 5:25Speaker 2: still have an old nature. You still fall and fail.
- 5:28Speaker 2: You still sin. It would be helpful for anyone to
- 5:31Speaker 2: know that if you confess your sins, God is always
- 5:35Speaker 2: faithful to forgive us and to cleanse us from those
- 5:38Speaker 2: things that separated us from fellowship with him. That's a
- 5:41Speaker 2: good message to bring. And I can think of a
- 5:44Speaker 2: dozen more, but none of these would be the message
- 5:47Speaker 2: I would bring I've been thinking about it now for
- 5:50Speaker 2: almost a week. If I had one message to bring,
- 5:54Speaker 2: it would be how to be a Christian without becoming religious.
- 6:00Speaker 2: Almost sounds like a contradiction of terms, doesn't it? I mean,
- 6:03Speaker 2: you ask the average person, is a Christian religious? Yeah.
- 6:08Speaker 2: Is a religious person Christian? Yeah, usually is. Like they're
- 6:12Speaker 2: one in the same. Let me help you understand what
- 6:15Speaker 2: I mean by religious. I have in my mind a
- 6:19Speaker 2: word picture that will come immediately to yours, and that's
- 6:22Speaker 2: a treadmill. There you go. A religious person is just
- 6:28Speaker 2: running faster and faster on the treadmill, working and striving
- 6:33Speaker 2: and hoping and pleading and praying that somehow they might
- 6:37Speaker 2: please God, win his favor and gain his smile of acceptance.
- 6:44Speaker 2: Because after all, there is so much between what we're
- 6:48Speaker 2: doing and what God expects. I just have to stay
- 6:51Speaker 2: at it and work at it and strive and labor,
- 6:53Speaker 2: hoping to somehow find God and know God and please
- 6:56Speaker 2: God and gain His affection and love. But that's heresy. Nevertheless,
- 7:06Speaker 2: it is the greatest, greatest heresy known on this earth
- 7:11Speaker 2: that If I could somehow work hard enough and long enough,
- 7:17Speaker 2: I might somehow please this God who has made me.
- 7:24Speaker 2: Fact is, you can't. You can't run the treadmill fast
- 7:28Speaker 2: enough or lift it high enough for you somehow to
- 7:33Speaker 2: win God's favor. You're sinful and I'm sinful and none
- 7:39Speaker 2: of that will take away our sinfulness. See, that's where
- 7:44Speaker 2: grace comes in so beautifully. Grace is what God does
- 7:48Speaker 2: for us that we don't deserve. We can't earn. We're
- 7:54Speaker 2: unable to repay. It's unmerited favor. I call this an
- 8:03Speaker 2: invisible membrane. It's a sinewy kind of tough membrane that
- 8:10Speaker 2: wraps its way around the mind. Of most people. When
- 8:15Speaker 2: they think of God. That somehow. Because of something. They
- 8:21Speaker 2: do or have. Been born with. Or some tradition. That's
- 8:27Speaker 2: a part of their lives. They're now going to be
- 8:30Speaker 2: on the inside.
- 8:32Speaker 1: Wrong.
- 8:34Speaker 2: The person who was an. Out and out sinner. And
- 8:38Speaker 2: is not trying to hide it. Is revealed in the
- 8:40Speaker 2: end of chapter. 1 of Romans, as Paul cuts like
- 8:44Speaker 2: a surgeon's scalpel through that membrane, saying to the sinner,
- 8:48Speaker 2: all of these things simply say you're distant and separate
- 8:51Speaker 2: from God. So he pictures the moral person as he
- 8:55Speaker 2: reads this at the beginning of chapter 2 of Romans.
- 8:58Speaker 2: And again, he cuts through the membrane of the moral
- 9:01Speaker 2: person's mind, saying, even if you're moral and self-righteous, even
- 9:06Speaker 2: you have a need for the Savior, Christ. Because none
- 9:10Speaker 2: of that morality changes you inside. And now he comes
- 9:15Speaker 2: to the one in the first century who would be, oh,
- 9:19Speaker 2: the most religious of all. And that would be the
- 9:23Speaker 2: first century Jew. Don't take any of what I say
- 9:28Speaker 2: as anti-Semitic isn't meant that way. Paul is a Jew
- 9:32Speaker 2: writing to fellow Jews. I like the way Donald Barnhouse
- 9:38Speaker 2: puts it. He says there are those who are attached
- 9:40Speaker 2: to form, ceremony, liturgy, religious precepts and practices and all
- 9:46Speaker 2: the attitudes that go with such attachment and who are
- 9:49Speaker 2: yet alien to the grace of God. They have ritual
- 9:52Speaker 2: without redemption. Works without worship. And thus they come under
- 9:59Speaker 2: the condemnation of God. It makes no difference what name
- 10:02Speaker 2: they go by. The principle is the same. In the
- 10:04Speaker 2: day of the New Testament was written the argument was
- 10:07Speaker 2: against the religious Jews. Today it would be against zealous
- 10:11Speaker 2: Roman Catholics or the fervent fundamentalist just as much as
- 10:15Speaker 2: it was against the Jew in Paul's day. The profession
- 10:19Speaker 2: of religion, even though it be divinely revealed religion, is
- 10:25Speaker 2: not enough if the one who professes the religion is
- 10:29Speaker 2: not in some sense transformed by it. And that describes
- 10:36Speaker 2: the life of the traditional Jew. In fact, if you
- 10:42Speaker 2: look at 17 and 18 of chapter 2 a little closer,
- 10:47Speaker 2: you'll see Paul puts a list together of the things
- 10:50Speaker 2: that causes you to, well, to feel a little smug
- 10:54Speaker 2: and arrogant. He says in verse 17, if you bear
- 10:58Speaker 2: the name Jew, Judah means praise to Yahweh, praise to Jehovah.
- 11:05Speaker 2: The name meant praise to God. Why, if you're called
- 11:10Speaker 2: a Jew, you're just by the title bringing praise to God.
- 11:17Speaker 2: What a number that would do on your mind. You
- 11:19Speaker 2: know that in the first century, many Jews living in
- 11:23Speaker 2: Gentile cities used that word Jew as a surname. Abraham Stein, comma, Jew.
- 11:34Speaker 2: It was a thing of pride. And it seemed the
- 11:38Speaker 2: most distant in the mind of the Jew that there
- 11:40Speaker 2: would ever be condemnation. They're Jews. And look at the next,
- 11:46Speaker 2: and you rely upon the law. No one else was
- 11:48Speaker 2: given the possession of the law. The Lord did not
- 11:52Speaker 2: rely on the Gentile to hear the law and then
- 11:55Speaker 2: to preserve the law. It was given to the Jews.
- 12:00Speaker 2: And Jews knowing that felt proud of that. Rather than
- 12:05Speaker 2: humbled by it. And the third, they bragged regarding God.
- 12:08Speaker 2: You boast in God. Meaning they boasted of being God's favorite.
- 12:12Speaker 2: They were the apple of God's eye. And fourth, verse
- 12:18Speaker 2: 18 continues, they were proud of knowing God's will. You
- 12:21Speaker 2: know his will. That means that they were capable of
- 12:25Speaker 2: discerning things that were essential. See how he puts it?
- 12:28Speaker 2: And you approve the things that are essential. You know
- 12:32Speaker 2: what's important to God because you have his word. And
- 12:35Speaker 2: they were recipients of divine instruction. I mean, how blessed
- 12:38Speaker 2: could you be? Think of what that could do to
- 12:42Speaker 2: you if you were born a Jew and if you
- 12:45Speaker 2: are taught as a Jew and you're reared as Jewish
- 12:49Speaker 2: by Jewish parents who see all of that and understand
- 12:53Speaker 2: all of that and what they build into you. There
- 12:55Speaker 2: is a sense of pride and tradition that becomes a
- 12:58Speaker 2: part of your life. And the tradition replaces an inner
- 13:03Speaker 2: relationship with the living God. Don't know if you remember
- 13:07Speaker 2: the musical that came out years ago, sort of swept
- 13:10Speaker 2: the world by storm. It was called Fiddler on the Roof.
- 13:14Speaker 2: That was a great story, and we all smiled at it,
- 13:17Speaker 2: even though most of us who saw it weren't Jewish.
- 13:19Speaker 2: We could enter into that world of this Jewish pop-up.
- 13:22Speaker 2: And I brought along with me some of the lyrics.
- 13:25Speaker 2: Who day and night must scramble for a living, feed
- 13:28Speaker 2: a wife and children, say his daily prayers? And who
- 13:31Speaker 2: has the right as master of his house to have
- 13:34Speaker 2: the final word at home? The papa, the papa, tradition.
- 13:37Speaker 2: And he goes on. Who must know the way to
- 13:40Speaker 2: make a proper home, a quiet home, a kosher home?
- 13:43Speaker 2: Who must raise a family and run the home so
- 13:46Speaker 2: Papa's free to read the holy book? The mama, the
- 13:49Speaker 2: mama tradition goes on to describe the sons, the daughters, tradition, tradition.
- 13:56Speaker 2: And all of it is saying, we've got it made.
- 13:59Speaker 2: What a great way to live. You and I were Gentiles.
- 14:03Speaker 2: Listen to those lyrics and you go, what? What is
- 14:06Speaker 2: the big deal about all of that? Because we weren't
- 14:09Speaker 2: reared like that. We're Gentiles, most of us. If you
- 14:14Speaker 2: were reared like that, you know immediately what is taught.
- 14:16Speaker 2: There is a role for mama and papa and son
- 14:20Speaker 2: and daughter. And if you carry it on like they
- 14:22Speaker 2: used to, that tradition included the choice of your mate.
- 14:27Speaker 2: It's all part of the system that wraps itself around
- 14:31Speaker 2: the mind saying, you've got it made. You're in the
- 14:36Speaker 2: divinely chosen family. And as a result, what did they do?
- 14:42Speaker 2: Verse 19 says, Watch it unfold. You are confident that
- 14:47Speaker 2: you yourself are a guide. You are a guide to
- 14:51Speaker 2: the blind. You are confident that you are a light
- 14:54Speaker 2: to those who are in darkness. On top of that,
- 14:57Speaker 2: you are a corrector of the foolish. You are a
- 15:02Speaker 2: teacher of the immature, having in the law the embodiment
- 15:05Speaker 2: and knowledge of the truth. You feel it's sort of
- 15:09Speaker 2: dripping with pride. I've come along to teach you. Come
- 15:13Speaker 2: along to correct you. I am here to evaluate life
- 15:17Speaker 2: for you. And my, what a number this does on
- 15:21Speaker 2: the Gentiles. They had a name for Gentiles. Dogs. Dogs.
- 15:30Speaker 2: What a put down. But you see, when you're reared
- 15:34Speaker 2: in the system, that's the way you think. You view
- 15:37Speaker 2: yourself as super religious authority. Guides to the blind and
- 15:42Speaker 2: light to the darkness and correctors of all these people
- 15:45Speaker 2: who are so foolish and immature. You've been given to
- 15:48Speaker 2: this earth to set the record straight. But by and by,
- 15:52Speaker 2: it turned into an arrogance and a resistance to sharing
- 15:57Speaker 2: that message. Classic example, Jonah.
- 15:59Speaker 1: Jonah.
- 16:01Speaker 2: Jonah. A Jewish prophet who was called to go to
- 16:05Speaker 2: a Gentile city in those days, probably the most significant
- 16:10Speaker 2: metropolis in the known world. And he takes off for
- 16:15Speaker 2: the opposite direction. He doesn't want to go tell those
- 16:19Speaker 2: Gentiles about his God. And he's a prophet. What's happened, Jonah?
- 16:27Speaker 2: I don't want to dirty my life with all those Gentiles.
- 16:32Speaker 2: You get the feeling? You see, I build all of
- 16:35Speaker 2: this up so you will understand why Paul pinpoints the
- 16:38Speaker 2: Jew here. His whole reason is not to put down
- 16:42Speaker 2: the Jew. It's to help the Jewish reader see you
- 16:47Speaker 2: need an inner life that's transforming, and it can only
- 16:51Speaker 2: happen through faith in Messiah, Jesus. In fact, he sort
- 16:57Speaker 2: of steps up as an attorney when he gets to
- 17:02Speaker 2: verse 21. You get the feeling here that his role
- 17:06Speaker 2: changes from a writer of Scripture to one who is
- 17:10Speaker 2: now cross-examining the witness. Look at 21. You, therefore, who
- 17:17Speaker 2: teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach
- 17:23Speaker 2: that one shall not steal, do you steal? And you
- 17:27Speaker 2: who say you should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?
- 17:30Speaker 2: Remember Jesus' teaching, even in your mind? You're telling me
- 17:33Speaker 2: you've never once lusted in your mind? You who abhor idols,
- 17:39Speaker 2: do you rob temples? You who boast in the law
- 17:42Speaker 2: through your breaking the law, do you dishonor God? Can
- 17:47Speaker 2: you imagine a Jew reading this? I put myself in
- 17:50Speaker 2: the sandals of a first century Jew listening to this.
- 17:55Speaker 2: This is virgin territory. This is information never shared in
- 17:59Speaker 2: his home before. I mean, they're the ones who got
- 18:06Speaker 2: their teaching from the Pharisees. The most conservative, strict Jewish
- 18:11Speaker 2: mind of the first century was the Pharisee. Let me
- 18:16Speaker 2: give you a little hint of the mind of the Pharisee.
- 18:20Speaker 2: Hold your place and look at Luke 18. That's it.
- 18:24Speaker 2: Turn back to Luke 18, verse 9. 18.9, Jesus is
- 18:25Speaker 2: the he in verse 9. And he told this parable
- 18:36Speaker 2: to some people who trusted in themselves that they were
- 18:38Speaker 2: righteous and viewed others with contempt. Don't miss that. That
- 18:42Speaker 2: sets up the parable. He's telling this story to grab
- 18:47Speaker 2: the attention of those who saw themselves as a cut above.
- 18:51Speaker 2: He says, two men went up into the temple to pray.
- 18:54Speaker 2: One a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. Again,
- 19:00Speaker 2: first century context. You don't even raise an eyebrow. But
- 19:04Speaker 2: if you were sitting there hearing Jesus teach this, you
- 19:08Speaker 2: would sigh. No two individuals could be more in contrast.
- 19:14Speaker 2: No more self-righteous, no more lowly in the minds of
- 19:19Speaker 2: the general public than tax collectors. Some things don't change,
- 19:23Speaker 2: do they? Look at verse 11. Just a joke, okay?
- 19:26Speaker 2: The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself. I
- 19:29Speaker 2: like the way it reads. The Pharisee is praying to himself, God.
- 19:34Speaker 2: I thank you that I am not like other people, swindlers, unjust, adulterers,
- 19:41Speaker 2: or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week.
- 19:47Speaker 2: I pay tithes of all the I get. Implying, aren't
- 19:54Speaker 2: you proud to have me in your family? What's wrong
- 19:59Speaker 2: with that? It stinks. It's got pride all over it.
- 20:06Speaker 2: And he's not even bashful about it. Pharisees weren't bashful.
- 20:11Speaker 2: They look down their noses at everybody around them. Who
- 20:15Speaker 2: do you think you are? Now look at the other man.
- 20:21Speaker 2: The tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling
- 20:24Speaker 2: to lift up his eyes to heaven, beating his breast, saying,
- 20:30Speaker 2: God be merciful to me, the sinner. A little difference,
- 20:35Speaker 2: isn't there? With one you see arrogance and pride. With
- 20:38Speaker 2: the other you see abject pride. Complete vulnerability. I don't
- 20:44Speaker 2: even deserve to have you listen when I talk. Now
- 20:50Speaker 2: look at Jesus' evaluation. I tell you, this man, meaning
- 20:53Speaker 2: the tax gatherer, went to his house justified rather than
- 20:57Speaker 2: the other. Now the principle. Every parable has a principle.
- 21:02Speaker 2: Here's this one. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.
- 21:08Speaker 2: But he who humbles himself will be exalted. Wasn't Jesus
- 21:14Speaker 2: a master storyteller? Just disarms you. How do you think
- 21:20Speaker 2: you felt if you were a Pharisee? You got your
- 21:25Speaker 2: head wrapped around with all of your own importance. I
- 21:29Speaker 2: changed the words of a little poem that was once
- 21:32Speaker 2: called My Shadow. This is the way a Pharisee thought.
- 21:35Speaker 2: I have a little religious list that goes in and
- 21:37Speaker 2: out with me and everything I don't or do I
- 21:40Speaker 2: hope that God will see. The implication is he'll be
- 21:46Speaker 2: so proud to have me. Paul says in Romans 2,
- 21:52Speaker 2: are you kidding? You're telling me that you don't have
- 21:55Speaker 2: a mind that's as vile as the Gentile mind? You're
- 22:00Speaker 2: telling me that your nature is better than another nature
- 22:03Speaker 2: of another human being? Get past all the tradition of
- 22:08Speaker 2: And you have come to the fact that you are,
- 22:11Speaker 2: as a matter of fact, not only unrighteous, you are offensive.
- 22:16Speaker 2: Look at verse 24. The name of God is blasphemed
- 22:21Speaker 2: among the Gentiles because of you, just as it is written.
- 22:26Speaker 2: At this point, I would imagine the Jewish reader would
- 22:29Speaker 2: suck in his breath, frown and think, how dare you
- 22:35Speaker 2: say that about me? But it's true. When you and
- 22:39Speaker 2: I are around self-righteous people, there is something that's turned
- 22:43Speaker 2: off inside us. And if we didn't know Christ, it
- 22:46Speaker 2: would turn us against that person's God. Stuart Briscoe, in
- 22:51Speaker 2: his book on Romans, tells a true story. When I
- 22:54Speaker 2: was in business, I was placed in a position where
- 22:56Speaker 2: I had to deal with a man who had embezzled
- 22:58Speaker 2: a considerable sum of money from the bank for which
- 23:01Speaker 2: we both worked. The reason for this embezzlement was that
- 23:05Speaker 2: he had two wives and families. and was trying to
- 23:08Speaker 2: run two homes. When he was apprehended and dismissed from
- 23:12Speaker 2: the company, he stunned everyone in the room by saying,
- 23:16Speaker 2: I'm very sorry for what I've done and I need
- 23:18Speaker 2: to know whether I should fulfill my preaching commitments on
- 23:22Speaker 2: Sunday in our local church. As a practicing Christian, Briscoe adds,
- 23:28Speaker 2: I spent a considerable amount of my time in the
- 23:30Speaker 2: ensuing weeks undoing the damage done by this man's blatant inconsistency.
- 23:38Speaker 2: To my chagrin, I discovered that my colleagues not only
- 23:43Speaker 2: despised the man in question, but because of his behavior,
- 23:47Speaker 2: were quick to dismiss the church as a bunch of hypocrites.
- 23:54Speaker 2: The gospel he professed to believe as a lot of
- 23:58Speaker 2: hogwash and the God he claimed to serve as nonexistent.
- 24:07Speaker 2: May I give a little sidebar application before we get
- 24:11Speaker 2: to feeling too good about ourselves? You and I glean
- 24:16Speaker 2: a lot of knowledge from our time together in our
- 24:19Speaker 2: Bible studies, in our worship services, in our spiritual growth,
- 24:23Speaker 2: and we're grateful for that. It really ought to make
- 24:27Speaker 2: us humble rather than arrogant. It really ought to make
- 24:33Speaker 2: us kinder rather than more rigid. The deeper our faith grows,
- 24:41Speaker 2: the more attractive our lives need to become. Because folks,
- 24:47Speaker 2: people watch. They watch us.
- 25:00Speaker 1: With a refreshing discussion of Romans chapter 2, you're listening
- 25:03Speaker 1: to Insight for Living and the Bible teaching of Chuck Swindoll.
- 25:07Speaker 1: Chuck titled today's message, The Dark Side of Being Super Religious.
- 25:12Speaker 1: You know, the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the
- 25:14Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, wrote nearly half the books in the New Testament.
- 25:18Speaker 1: But many believe that Romans was his finest contribution because
- 25:22Speaker 1: it describes God's character and the gospel of Jesus Christ
- 25:25Speaker 1: with depth and clarity. This is an essential book for
- 25:29Speaker 1: believers to understand, both seasoned Christ followers and new Christians.
- 25:33Speaker 1: To help you in this process, Insight for Living offers
- 25:36Speaker 1: an interactive spiral-bound Bible study. It's in our popular Searching
- 25:40Speaker 1: the Scriptures format. And because of the scope of Paul's letter,
- 25:44Speaker 1: our Bible study comes in two workbooks. You'll find all
- 25:47Speaker 1: the details for purchasing Volume 1 at insight.org slash offer.
- 25:53Speaker 1: Or call us at 800- I also want to draw
- 25:59Speaker 1: your attention to a brand new hardback book from Chuck.
- 26:02Speaker 1: It's called Looking in All the Right Directions. Drawing from
- 26:06Speaker 1: Paul's wise counsel to his protege Timothy, this book features
- 26:10Speaker 1: the final five sermons Chuck delivered to the congregation that
- 26:13Speaker 1: he shepherded for more than 25 years. From his heart,
- 26:17Speaker 1: Chuck spoke about mentoring, enduring hardship, and using your God-given gifts.
- 26:22Speaker 1: You will love the biblical wisdom that's captured in this book,
- 26:25Speaker 1: and it would make a thoughtful gift for your pastor.
- 26:28Speaker 1: It's called Looking in All the Right Directions, and you
- 26:31Speaker 1: can purchase a copy by calling us at 800-772-8888 or
- 26:37Speaker 1: go to insight.org slash offer. Insight for Living is made
- 26:42Speaker 1: possible not through the sale of books and Bible study resources,
- 26:46Speaker 1: but by the generous gifts from grateful friends just like you.
- 26:50Speaker 1: And during the summer vacation months, when our support sometimes declines,
- 26:54Speaker 1: it's especially helpful to receive your gift. To send a
- 26:57Speaker 1: donation in the mail, write to us at Insight for Living,
- 27:01Speaker 1: Post Office Box 5000, Frisco, Texas 75034.
- 27:03Speaker 2: I'm Bill Meyer.
- 27:15Speaker 1: Join us when Chuck Swindoll continues his message about the
- 27:18Speaker 1: dark side of being super religious, Friday on Insight for Living.
- 27:26Speaker 1: The preceding message, The Dark Side of Being Super Religious,
- 27:30Speaker 1: was copyrighted in 2006, 2010, and 2025, and the sound
- 27:31Speaker 1: recording was copyrighted in 2025 by Charles R.
- 27:33Speaker 2: Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide.
- 27:42Speaker 1: Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.