Romans 2:17-29

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7:2-8 </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>How can you be assured of God's approval?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Make a big deal of God's ______, not your knowledge 2:17-20</B></div> <bR> <div> 2 Timothy 3:1-5</div> <div> Proverbs 14:12</div> <bR> <div> <B>Live an authentic ________ before God, not hidden by your words 2:21-24</B></div> <bR> <div> 2 Samuel 12:14</div> <div> Matthew 5:27-27</div> <div> Matthew 23:13-15</div> <bR> <div> <B>Trust God's internal ________________, not external actions 2:25-29 </B></div> <bR> <div> James 2:10</div> <div> Luke 10:8-15</div> <div> 2 Corinthians 3:5-6</div> <bR> <div> <B>Where does this over-confidence come from?  Isaiah 14:12-14  </B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>You can have assurance of God's approval</B></div> <div> <B>only by living God's transforming work.</B></div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>What does it look like to evaluate your life God's way?</B>  Lamentations 3:40; Philippians 1:10-11 </div> <div> <B>Here's the blessing of self-evaluation for approval</B> - James 1:12</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Amplification of the Passage</B></div> <bR> <div> Pride is a huge challenge.  It is the cause of every sin.  Every time I commit a sin, it's because I act independently of God and His Spirit to think, speak or act.  Pride is the cause of the first sin in the realm of God's creatures.  Read about this in Ezekiel 28:12-19 (esp. 28:15).   This sin of Satan is found in Isaiah 14:12-14 where Satan decided he could be like God and in fact be greater than God.  Stuart Scott has done a marvelous work in the book “The Exemplary Husband” and addresses this issue of pride.  What does pride look like?  It's often easy to see it in others, but much more difficult to see it in ourselves.  Permit me to take his categories and summarize how pride is manifested.  The essential ingredient is the text of Scripture.  Please look these up.</div> <bR> <div> <I>Complaining against or passing judgment on God</I>.  A proud person thinks, “How could God let this happen to me?” (Num. 14:1-4, 9, 11; Rom. 9:20).</div> <div> <I>A lack of gratitude in general.</I>  Proud people usually think they deserve what is good.  So, they don't see a reason to be thankful.  They often complain, because they think they deserve better and therefore are critical, complaining, and dissatisfied toward God and others (2 Chronicles 32:25).</div> <div> <I>Anger</I>. A proud person is often angry, which is seen in outbursts, withdrawing, pouting, and frustration, because his “rights” or “expectations haven't been met” (Matthew 20:1-16).</div> <div> <I>Seeing yourself as better than others. </I> A proud person looks down on others and is easily disgusted or has little tolerance for differences in others (Luke 7:36-50; Philippians 2:1-4).</div> <div> <I>Having an inflated view of your importance, gifts and abilities.</I>  They have a wrong perception of themselves and someone needs to ask them, “What do you have that God didn't give you?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).</div> <div> <I>Being focused on the lack of your gifts and abilities.</I> Some proud people are so down on self with a “woe is me” attitude in self-pity.  It's pride, because the focus is still wanting self to be elevated (1 Corinthians 12:14-25).</div> <div> <I>Perfectionism.</I> Perfectionist people want it that way for personal recognition so they can feel good about themselves.  They make less important things, too important for self-serving purposes (Matthew 23:24-28).</div> <div> <I>Talking too much.</I> Proud people talk so much because they think they have so much to say and what they have to say is so important!  In many words, there is transgression (Proverbs 10:19).</div> <div> <I>Talking too much about yourself.</I>  A proud person talks about personal accomplishments, personal qualities, or even failures and inadequacies (see also #6) (Proverbs 27:2; Galatians 6:3).</div> <div> <I>Seeking independence or control.</I>  Proud people find it difficult to work with or for another authority, because they have to be their own boss.  “I don't need others” or “I don't need accountability for my faith.” (1 Corinthians 1:10-13; Eph. 5:21).</div> <div> <I>Being consumed with what others think.</I> Proud people are too concerned about the opinion of others and based their decisions on what others think.  They are in a continual pursuit of gaining approval from others as man-pleasers, rather than God-pleasers (Galatians 1:10; Ephesians 6:5-6).</div> <div> <I>Being devastated or angered by criticism.</I>  Proud people usually struggle being criticized, because they can't bear not being perfect or having weaknesses (Proverbs 13:1).</div> <div> <I>Being unteachable.</I> Proud people know it all and can't learn from others.  They have little respect for many (Proverbs 19:20; John 9:13-34).</div> <div> <I>Being sarcastic, hurtful, or degrading.</I>  Proud people are unkind and belittle others to raise themselves above others.  They do this through jesting and say, “That's just the way I am.” (Proverbs 12:18,23; 26:18-19).</div> <div> <I>A lack of service.</I>  Proud people don't serve, because they don't think of others.  They have to be coaxed into serving and won't continue if they don't get enough praise.  They are more interested in people serving, visiting, talking to them instead and when they do serve, it's to get recognition from others (Galatians 5:13; Ephesians 2:10).</div> <bR> <div> These are just the first fifteen of the manifestations of pride.  As the Lord allows, I'll give you an additional fifteen. </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id138.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Romans 2"><U><B>Next Page</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Grace Evangelical Church"><U><B><IMG SRC="0c740400.gif" border=0 width="64" height="64" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Grace Evangelical Church"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>