How Can You Detect When Someone is Being Self-Righteous?

How can you detect when someone that's one-eight-three-three-eight-four-three-twenty-six-seventy-three? You can also post your question on one of our social media sites, and of course you can always email us at questions-at-core-christianity.com. And, Adriel, before we get to the phones today, I want to play you a nice voicemail message that we received from one of our listeners this week. There are a lot of people who are really blessed by your pastoral approach to answering people's questions, and this comment is from one of our listeners named David. I don't have a question exactly, I just have a comment I want to make, and that is that I am so impressed that Pastor Adriel Sanchez will pray with the callers who call in when there's a need for that.

I don't know of any other Christian program that does that, but just the care that he shows to those who call in, and not only pointing them to the Lord through the Scriptures, but also taking time to pray. That communicates volumes to me, and I just wanted to thank Core Christianity for that. God bless you. Bye.

Wow. Well, God bless you, brother. I mean, all I can say is so often, right when we're confronted with challenges, difficulties in life, all we have is prayer, calling on the name of the Lord, and so oftentimes on the broadcast we'll get a question where it's like, okay, there's not a simple answer for this, we just need Jesus, we need his wisdom, we need his intervention, and so we're going to keep praying for you and appreciate your encouragement. So nice, David, to call in with that sweet compliment.

So thank you so much. And we all feel the same way about Pastor Adriel. Well, if you have a question about the Bible, the Christian life doctrine, theology, maybe you have some doubts about the Christian faith, maybe you practice a different religion, you're wondering about this whole Christianity thing. Hey, we're open to your questions right now at 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Russell. I've been listening to your show for a few weeks now, and I feel like some of your preachers make me feel like if I don't just drop my job and everything that I'm doing and join a church and follow Jesus to the full extent that I'll be lost forever. I mean, is that right? Hey, Russell, thank you for that question. Well, here's the thing. Jesus calls us to follow him, and that looks like prioritizing him. That looks like putting him before everything else. I mean, this is what it means to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. Remember what Jesus said throughout the Gospels.

Matthew 16, verse 24, Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?

But what shall a man give in return for his soul? This is the call of Christ on each and every person. This is the call to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus, to prioritize him and his kingdom above everything else. Now, does that mean you need to quit your job and move to some foreign place where you're going to become a missionary and preach the gospel? Well, not unless the Lord calls you to do that, and I think that's where the problem comes in. Sometimes pastors do preach these texts and make it sound like, hey, you all need to just stop working and doing your thing.

You just need to go. God is sending you to go be missionaries. Well, some people are called to the mission field, but God calls you.

This is what I think. God calls each of us to be faithful in the jobs that he's given to us, to work hard, to honor the Lord in all things in the work that he's given. Think of what the apostle Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4. This is really just an interesting text of scripture that we oftentimes don't look at, but 1 Thessalonians 4, beginning in verse 9, he says, Learning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. For that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you brothers to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs and to work with your hands as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

That's what he's saying. Look, work hard in the job that God has given to you. Be committed to loving the saints, the people of God, the church. Jesus does call you, Russell, if you're a Christian, to be a part of a church. So if work gets in the way of church, I think you need to ask yourself some questions.

What's the priority? I need to prioritize worshiping with the people of God, loving the people of God, the church, the bride of Christ, while also being serious about the things that God calls me to, whatever my job is, and honoring him in that. And so it's not that you need to pack your bags and move somewhere far away, but Jesus does call you to follow him. And following him looks like denying ourselves, you know, the things that we prioritize about ourselves, our own life, and putting Christ and his word, his law before that. And so here's why we ought to do that, why we can do that, because brother, what is the gospel? The gospel is the good news of how God the Son, the eternal King of all, if you will, came down and considered the needs of his people as more important, if you will, than his own.

He's the God who left heaven, took the form of a servant, this is what Paul says in Philippians chapter two, so that we might be united to him, restored, rescued, saved. You have a God, this is Jesus, who has demonstrated his love for you in these ways. And so we're called in light of that, to follow him, to take up our cross and pursue him and to love each other as the recipients of God's great love and forgiveness. And so I hope that you've experienced that, Russell, and that that just drives you to love him and to be committed to him, no matter what he calls you to. God bless. Great advice for all of us.

Thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We receive a lot of calls from listeners on this program who ask about the assurance of salvation. They're concerned that perhaps they've lost their salvation or they've committed the unpardonable sin, and we actually have a free resource on that topic we'd like to make available to you today. Yeah, it's called Nine Ways to Know That You're Really a Christian. I was just talking to someone on our team earlier who said that this is really one of the resources that has been most popular, and I think it's because so many believers wrestle with the question of assurance. And so if that's you or if you know somebody who struggles to know, to have confidence that they truly are a believer, get ahold of this resource. It's free, it's a download, and so it's something you can get over to our website, corechristianity.com.

And again, it's called Nine Ways to Know You Are Really a Christian. Such a solid resource. We'd love to get that in your hands.

You can go to corechristianity.com forward slash download to find that, or you can call us for that resource or any one of our resources at 833-843-2673. Let's go back to the phones. Connie is on the line from Independence, Missouri. Connie, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hi, Adriel.

I love your ministry. My question is, I have been experiencing just extreme pain for years. And my doctor the other day told me to call this other doctor and get a medical marijuana card, and I am very leery of this. The doctor swears up and down, you do not get high from it. He claims that it's just a natural herbal remedy that will help ease the pain. And I don't know what to believe.

The Bible is not so specific on this, and so I just wanted to know your opinion. Thank you. Well first, Connie, I want to pray for you, and thank you for your encouragement. But I just want to pray for you, sister, with the chronic pain that you have.

Lord, we lift Connie up to you. We ask that you would give her wisdom. Thank you for the doctors that she has in her life. We just pray that you would give them wisdom as well in helping her to find a good treatment plan, Lord, that will just assist in coping with the pain. We do pray for your healing in her life, and Lord, that through this trial that she's going through, that by the grace of your Holy Spirit you would continue to sanctify her and draw her closer to you. Give her, I pray, Jesus, a sense of your love for her, the fact that you know her needs, you know her pain, and that you have not abandoned her. And Lord, we do ask for relief and healing. In Jesus' name, amen.

And let me just say that to you, Connie, that the Lord does know your pain, that He doesn't abandon us in it, and that His love is exhibited to you in His Son, Jesus, at the cross, who bore our sins, and just how important it is for us to cling to that, especially in those moments of trial and difficulty and chronic pain as you're in. Now, with regard to this question more specifically, I'm not a doctor. I think there are ways in which we can look at these things and say, well, is this inherently evil? Is it sinful in and of itself?

I mean, there are all sorts of questions that are raised here, like would this be better than a narcotic pain relief or something like that? But this is just where you're gonna have to exercise wisdom and pray, and I would say continue to consult your doctor and other doctors. We do know, here's what we do know, according to scripture, that drunkenness is a sin, that we're to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Paul says this very clear in the book of Ephesians, and so substances that cause us to lose control and are abused, so that's a serious issue.

But again, there are different approaches to this, and this is where I would say you need to speak with your doctor. And remember what the Apostle Paul says. I think just pray that the Lord would give you guidance, wisdom, and just clarity in your own conscience, because the Apostle Paul did say in Romans chapter 14, verse 23, whatever is not from faith is sin. And so if this is something that makes you uncomfortable, that you just think, oh, if I'm doing this, I'm sinning, well then don't do it, because it's a matter of conscience. But as you have these conversations with your doctor, and you're thinking about different treatment plans to cope with this, and you have a sense of, okay, well, I'm not trying to get high, I'm not trying to lose control, I'm trying to deal with this pain, and I think that that's an okay thing to want to deal with.

There's nothing wrong with that, and there are different approaches, and so may the Lord give you wisdom and grace, and again, just appreciate your encouragement, and may the Lord bless you as you seek Him in this. Connie, thanks so much for your call. We appreciate you. We'll be praying for you and your chronic pain.

We just know how difficult that is to deal with. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can call us for the next ten minutes or so. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. By the way, we also have several social media sites.

You can always post your question on social media. And here's one that was on our Instagram page from Laurel, and she says, How do you address self-righteousness in a fellow believer, especially leader to leader? Yeah. Well, it's interesting that you put it that way, leader to leader. I would say that self-righteousness in a leader, in particular a Christian leader, would be, I mean, if it's serious, I mean, this is the kind of thing that I think disqualifies us from leadership in the Church, trusting in ourselves.

Self-righteousness, finding our source of righteousness in something that we do, there's a serious issue there, and what you'll find is when you confront this kind of sin in particular, you oftentimes have to be ready for the fangs to come out, for the claws to come out, because when we're struggling with or have just embraced a self-righteous attitude where we're saying, My confidence really isn't in Christ and His work in humbly relying upon Him, but I'm confident in myself, in my skills, in my sacrifice, whatever it is, when you challenge that, it can become very quickly just an explosion, because those things that we're finding our righteousness in, if you will, we oftentimes will protect them tooth and nail. I mean, you think about Jesus' interaction with the self-righteous religious leaders throughout the Gospels. He confronts them straight up, especially for leaders. Again, you mentioned somebody who's in leadership.

This is a real serious thing. Leaders should know better. Christian leaders should know better.

We should be people who lead by helping people to trust in and rely upon the strength of the Lord. I mean, it's what the Apostle Paul said when he's pleading with God to take away his thorn in the flesh. What does the Lord say to him in response? My grace is sufficient for you. My strength is perfected in weakness. I'm going to boast in my weaknesses so that the strength, the power of Christ may be manifested in me. That's the attitude that we want from Christian leaders is we're finding all of our righteousness in Jesus. We're pointing people to Jesus, not to ourselves, not to what we think we're good at. No, the focus is on Christ and exalting him, even at the expense of our own weaknesses.

I would say if there's a serious issue with leadership in your church or somebody you work with, one, pray. Pray that the Lord would give this individual humility and the ability to see that they're finding their righteousness in something that they do, not in what Christ has done for them. As a result, they're robbing glory from God. Of course, we can't do that, but what I'm saying is they're taking something that belongs to the Lord. At the end of the day, we can't have any righteousness in and of ourselves. It's not where we put our hope.

That's devastating. Pray for this individual. Maybe begin by asking some pointed questions to try to get to the root of whatever the issue is. Different people find sources of righteousness, if you will, in different things. I think asking questions, hopefully it's something that this individual can begin to see.

You know what? I really have been trusting in myself, and it's made me arrogant. It's made me look down upon others. That's not honoring to the Lord. God can really do a work in this individual's life. If that's not the case, if a person just sort of grows in this arrogant, self-righteous attitude, maybe it's time to call others in to address the issue. This is something that needs to be confronted, and it's certainly the example that we see from our Lord in the Gospels, with the religious leaders, with the scribes and the Pharisees. In fact, it gets to a point sometimes where you just have to say, whoa, that's what Jesus says to them, right?

He pronounces whoa on the scribes and the Pharisees. Why? Because of their self-righteous hypocrisy.

This is an important thing. May God give you wisdom, and ultimately may God bring this other leader to repentance and grant them humility, and grant all of us the humility and the grace not to find our righteousness in the things that we do, but in what Christ has done for us. Such a temptation for all of us, and of course something that Jesus spoke probably most harshly about in the Gospels when he confronted the Pharisees on that issue, so thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

Let's go back to the phones. Joey is on the line calling in from Missouri. Joey, what's your question for Adriel? Yes, Pastor Adriel, thank you for taking my call. My question has to do with the doctrine of election, and specifically Romans 8, 29, and what foreknowledge of God has to do, or what role that plays in the elect, and who God chooses for salvation. Excellent question, Joey. Now, can I just follow up with you really quickly?

So are you asking specifically, does God choose us on the basis of the fact that he has foreknowledge that we're going to embrace him and believe in him? Yes. Great.

Wonderful. Yeah, I mean, so when we're talking about the doctrine of election, right, that God chooses people for salvation, predestination, I mean, you hear the biblical words, okay, so these are words that we see in Scripture, Ephesians chapter 1, Romans 8, 9, and the verse you mentioned, Romans 8, 29, For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. So there's different ways of looking at this, and I'll share my view, Joey. One way is saying, well, God chooses us on the basis of foreseen faith. In other words, the reason God chose you is because he looked down the corridors of time, and he saw that you were going to choose him, and so in that sense, he elected you. Now, of course, I mean, really, in that construction, God just sees that we're going to choose him, and so that's why we're quote-unquote chosen.

It's not that God is taking the initiative, per se, it's just that he's seeing into the future. I don't think that that's the best approach biblically, exegetically, in terms of understanding that word foreknowledge. In the Bible, we have to recognize that words, right, like the word to know, we often think of that as just cognitive knowledge, so foreknowledge means I know something beforehand, but in Scripture, the word to know carries with it a lot more meaning.

There's this sense of intimacy. You think about how it's used even in the early chapters of Genesis, Adam knowing Eve, his wife, there's this intimacy that's associated with the word, and so you think about how it's used in other places of Scripture, like in Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 5, where God is speaking to the prophet Jeremiah, and he says, Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you, I appointed you a prophet to the nations. He's talking about this sort of particular love, this particular knowledge, or think about how God spoke to his people in Amos chapter 3, verse 2. You only have I known of all the families of the earth.

You only have I known. Now, it's not that God is saying, Hey, I didn't know that these other families existed. This is this sort of cognitive knowledge. No, it's about this particular love. And so the doctrine of divine foreknowledge is not that God looks down the corridors of time and sees who's going to choose him, and that's the basis on which he chooses us. It's talking about God's particular love, his redemptive love that he sets upon his people.

It's a word that carries with it this sense of this intimate knowledge, this intimacy of relationship, and so that's how I would understand it. Not that the Lord is looking down the corridors of time and then choosing people who choose him. No, it's Paul there in Romans chapter 8, verse 29, talking about God's particular love set upon his people just as the Lord set his love on Israel under the old covenant. He does that now to his people, to you. And I think this is what Paul gets at elsewhere in Ephesians chapter 1. In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons. This is something that's debated, as you know. When we're talking about the doctrine of God's sovereignty, there are going to be differences of opinion, and that's okay. We're brothers in Christ, we're brothers and sisters in Christ, and we can differ on these things, but I would say, at least based on my understanding, that that's how we want to understand foreknowledge there in Romans chapter 8, verse 29. God bless.

Thanks for that explanation, Adriel. That's great. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We're going to be recording a second episode of Core Christianity today after our live program ends.

You won't hear it on the air, but you will actually be able to call us for the next 35 minutes or so. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Well, let's go to an email question that came in from one of our listeners. This is from Kami, and she says, What is the beatific vision? Getting into some deep theology here. The beatific vision, or the vision of God, is what sometimes theologians will talk about. This is the experience we have when we enter into the presence of the Lord, seeing the Lord and being transformed by this vision of the divine. It's not talking about seeing God with our physical eyeballs, if you will. It's a spiritual experience, this grace of the Holy Spirit. I think it is spoken of in Scripture in places like 1 John.

I guess that's as far as I would want to go with regard to that question. It's the hope, the hope that we have as the people of God. One thing that I will say associated with this is that when we experience a true vision of God, seeing Him, we're transformed by that vision. I mentioned that this is what we see in 1 John, for example, that we'll know Him, see Him as He is. That transforms us.

I appreciate your question, brother. I think the difficulty that sometimes people have is they think, well, are we going to see God with our physical eyeballs? Isn't God invisible? I thought God can't be seen.

Isn't it impossible to see God as He is in Himself? But we're talking here about this spiritual reality, this grace that God gives to all of the redeemed to experience His glory, to see by the grace of the Spirit the Triune God and be transformed by that vision. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's Word together.