Romans 7 Sin and the Three Ugly Troutlings

Announcer: To say that Jay Carty is an unusual communicator is a mild statement, maybe a little nuts would be more accurate. Not a preacher, not a teacher, more a storyteller would with a very important message. Where some deep preachers are too snoozy for the rank and file and where some humorists don’t have much to say, Jay’s stuff is generally regarded as an unusual blending of humor and profound content. A former Oregon State basketball star and L. A. Laker, Jay has dedicated himself to helping people say “yes” to God. Now, we hope you enjoy Carty’s Contemporary Classics.

Jay: I have a friend that, who in World War II was one of the early fighter pilots in that war. And in the early stages of the war, there wasn’t much money, there wasn’t a lot of equipment. So, the training planes weren’t the best, they didn’t have radios in them where my friend was training. And they would signal you in the tower with the, you know, the semaphores, the flags and you know that kind of stuff or a flare, you know, stuff like that. And in those days, the first few graduating classes were a big deal with the grandstand and the generals and all the folks, you’d do a dog fight competition, and you’d do a touch and go competition, and whoever won the most points in those competitions got to land first in front of the Generals and pull their plane up in front of the grand stand and get it out and do the whole deal. It was a fun thing and my friend Bill, won both of those competitions.

And so, he’s concentrating on doing this perfect landing, because he wants to dazzle the folks, you know. And he lowers his flaps, and this buzzer starts buzzing, kind of like that. And – Only it was a little louder than that. That wasn’t the plan, that was – And so, this buzzer starts buzzing and Bill knows what the buzzer means. I mean, there’s no problem with him knowing what the buzzer means. But have you ever been on a freeway, and you’ve gotten preoccupied, and you drove right by your turnoff? Has that ever happened to you? Alright. So, that’s what Bill was going through. Bill was so preoccupied with landing the plane, that when the buzzer went off, although he knew what the buzzer meant, the buzzer didn’t register because he was into landing the plane, you see.

So, he’s concentrating, all the sudden a red flare goes “pshew”. Bill’s thinking, “fireworks for the hero.” He’s concentrating and the guy in the tower goes, (waving his arms). He says, “Alright, waving in the good guy.” And as the plane settles to the ground, right in front of the grandstand, you know the old prop planes, the prop just stopped. And that was followed by the screech of metal as the plane pancaked into the pavement, wheels up. He belly landed his plane in front of the Generals. Now, he really did that. You see, when you lower your flaps, if your wheels aren’t down, the buzzer buzzes to remind you to lower your wheels. And the red flare was, “Hey, don’t land.” And this was a wave off from the tower, and none of those things registered because Bill was really into what he was into, you know? This is my final flare; this is the last wave off. I’m the buzzer and then I’m gone. And I just want to give you one last warning, you know, if you’re about to crash land, you don’t fly the plane again. It’s done and I don’t want you to crash that way.

You got three categories to drop yourself into. I’m a hot, on fire, going for it, no holds barred, Jesus loving believer, that’s the first one. The second one is, I am lukewarm to the things of God. Third one is, I am cold to the things of God. That’s the three categories; hot, on fire, going for it, no holds barred, Jesus loving believer, lukewarm and cold. Now, I know you’re sitting here wishing I had a category right here. You are desperate for this one, but you’ll have to make the decision, are you here or are you here? We’re only going to vote on one category, but if you can honestly say that “I am a hot, on fire, going for it, no holds barred, Jesus loving believer”, will you just flash your hand for me. Okay now, see that’s a whole lot more normal. We had about 20% of the hands. Usually, I’ll have about 5 to 8% of the hands. If I were to have asked that question on a Sunday morning in a typical church, 4, 5% of the hands. We have a skewed audience, it’s Tuesday night and that weeds out a lot of folks. I mean, you understand. I mean you got to really want to be here to be here, alright. But so, that’s 20%. Now, some of you didn’t raise your hand because you invited a guest, and you didn’t want to make your guest feel uncomfortable. And I think that’s a good reason to not raise your hand, I think that’s fine. Some of you didn’t raise your hand because you were embarrassed to raise your hand. Now, if you’re embarrassed to raise your hand in here, do you think your hands going to go up when you walk out of here? I mean, if you’re not going to raise your hand in this environment, that hand is not going to go up out in that environment, so I think that is a really lousy reason. But some of you didn’t raise your hand because of what I call your “Roman’s 7 sin”.

Now, you meet an Old Testament, on fire, going for it, no holds barred, Jesus loving believer, who comes to mind?

Audience: Paul.

Jay: Paul, because we have to get to Romans 7, so turn to Romans 7 right around verse 15. I’ll be paraphrasing but you need to follow along. Romans 7, verse 15, Paul, the apostle Paul is speaking. Here we go: “I don’t know why I did, what I just did. I’m real sorry, I did what I just did. Why would I do something I don’t want to do when, I don’t want to do it. I mean, if I did what I didn’t want to do and I hope I never do it again, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to. Why would I do something I don’t want to do, I really don’t want to do it, but I do it anyhow. I’m not planning on doing it, but I’m making preparations to do it because I know I’m going to do it, even though, I don’t want to dol it. Why would I do something as stupid as doing something I don’t want to do. What a wretched man that I am. What is going on inside me?” That’s a paraphrase, that’s a paraphrase. What do you think Paul’s Romans 7 sin was? Do you think it was, lust? Do you think he kept one good eye out for the ladies?

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: You know he had an eye problem, so he probably only had one good one.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: Do you think he thought about skimming the offering that was going to Jerusalem?

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: I don’t think he did it, but do you think he thought about it? Why, not? Why, not? Because it’s Paul?

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: I submit that there isn’t one thing that you struggle with that might not have been what Paul struggled with. Because Paul struggled like all of us struggle. Do you have something you’re struggling with? Did it keep you from raising your hand? See that – The great tragedy would be to be – to have a heart that passions for God but to let your Romans 7 struggle keep you from saying, “You know, I really do love God a lot and I have a passion for him. But man, the enemy is just beating me over the end with my Roman 7 sin to the point that I can’t even raise my hand.” I think you ought to just check your heart out, real good now. Give it a good – And I’m not trying to talk you into raising your hand. I’m not trying to talk you into it, I just don’t want your Romans 7 sin to talk to you into it. And I don’t want you to have embarrassment talk you into it, that’s not a good reason at all. But I don’t want you to raise your hand though unless you can honestly say, “Yes, with my heart, I am a hot, on fire, going for it, no holds barred, Jesus loving believer. I am not lukewarm.” If you can say that, just flash your hand a little bit. Just a little flash, okay, 60%, 65% of the Church. That’s pretty good, after you know, beating you over the head with thing and whopping it around and all that.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: Okay, so that’s where we are. Now, I think there’s something fishy in the Church.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: Now, you remember the story of the ugly duckling?

Audience: Yes.

Jay: Remember, it’s the story about a lonely guy who didn’t look like a duck, couldn’t do the things ducks did, but everybody said he was a duck. So, he thought he was a duck because everybody thought he was a duck. And he thought he was supposed to be a duck, so he acted like a duck, remember? But he wasn’t a duck, what was he?

Audience: A swan –

Jay: A swan; there’s a little lesser-known story about the three ugly troutling.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: You know the first ugly troutling was a carp. And when he realized it, he ate the other trout.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: Second ugly troutling was a bass and when he realized it, he ate the other carp. The third ugly troutling was a carp, but everybody said he was a trout. So, he lived like a trout, and he married a trout, and he had a bunch of little trout. And the trout had a wonderful time in the pond, they had such a good time in the pond that most of the other fish started dressing like trout, including a lot of the bass. A lot of the bass starting dressing like trout and pretty soon there were so many carp in the pond there wasn’t any room for the bass. That’s what happens when you let a little carp into the pond. So, one day the sky that chicken little said would fall, did. And all the fish in the pond were killed. Now, carp don’t go to fish heaven.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: Only bass, there weren’t very many of them left to go and nobody knew where the trout went.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: You’re not with me yet.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: Okay, let me help you. A bass, on fire, going for it, no holds barred, Jesus loving believer, right? Carp, mixed metaphor, good fish, not a trash fish. You know in various parts of the world, coy, carp, are raised, very expensive marvelous fish. But we need the mixed metaphor because it can also be a carp, not only does it represent a non-Christian in this case, it represents stuff in your life keeping you from being a bass.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: Now a trout, I guess if you ever had to kiss a fish.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: How many of you had to? If you had to pick a fish to kiss a fish, it would not be a sturgeon.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: You know, and I don’t think it would be a wide mouth bass, no.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: I don’t know anybody who doesn’t like a little trout, a little brown trout, a little speckled trout, a German trout, a rainbow trout, a little golden trout, a little trout-trout.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: Don’t you like trout, I mean, aren’t they neat? You just love trout.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: Anybody doesn’t like a trout, they’re a neat little fish. You know, they’re great. Everybody likes a trout. Now biblically, there’s no such thing as a trout. No, biblically you just have bass or carp. That’s all you got. Because a trout is either a bass dressed like a trout or it is a carp dressed like a trout. The problem with being a trout is nobody knows what you are, which really doesn’t matter. But here’s what really does matter, you don’t know what you are.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: See, when you’re a trout, you don’t know if you’re a bass or a carp and that makes a lot of difference when the sky falls.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: Not there yet, okay.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: Ah Judas, was a carp in trout’s clothes. Okay?

Audience: Okay.

Jay: We got a guy who looks like a believer, who’s as tight with the Lord as you can get, one of the original 12. I mean, he looks like a Christian in every sense of the word, he’s doing all these Christian things, but when it came down to the nitty gritty and he opened up the raincoat, what kind of scales?

Audience: Carp.

Jay: Carp, he was a trout – Sorry, he was a carp in trout’s clothes, see how that works? Thomas, doubting Thomas, we malign him some, rightfully so, I think. Let me give you a scenario, Jesus had died, he had risen. The ten were up in the upper room hoping that the Jews wouldn’t knock on the door, that they wouldn’t open the door. They were terrified, their leader was gone. Thomas wasn’t with them, that’s why they were just ten. Judas had killed himself by then. Thomas was out some place, we don’t know where, contemplating his navel or something, we just don’t know where he was.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: And so, Jesus shows up and he honors their request, he doesn’t knock, and he doesn’t open the door.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: He just walks in. And he says, “Peace.”, and a few other things and then he breathes. (breathing sound) Oh, sorry.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: He breathes the Holy Spirit on the ten. Now, let me tell you what that proves. The Holy Spirit had not yet been universally given. So, if you didn’t have the Holy Spirit, it didn’t mean you weren’t born again, but if you did have the Holy Spirit, it was absolute proof that you were. So, that proves that the ten were born again, it doesn’t prove anything about Thomas. But Thomas shows up at the end of the day and they say, “Thomas, you should have been here, Jesus was here.” And Thomas says, “I think you guys are under a lot of stress.”

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: “I mean, we saw him. He’s dead. I mean we’re talking Star Trek kind of stuff here; this is sci-fi. I mean listen, when they stuck that spear in his side, stuff came out. And it wasn’t blood, you know it was coagulated stuff that went this way some of it went this way, and that only – you only get the double kind of stuff thing, when the heart hadn’t been beating for a long time. And all that stuff settles and pools and when the heart doesn’t beat and that stuff settles and pools, I mean that means you’re deader than a door nail. And he was deader than a door nail, because the stuff came out, and I believe that he – I mean, if I couldn’t put my finger in the holes, and my hand in his side, I can’t buy it because I saw him dead.” My Bible says if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe with your heart, God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved, but the reverse of that is also true in the Greek. If you don’t believe that, you’re not saved. And Thomas didn’t believe it, I submit to you he was a carp in trout’s clothes. There were two disciples who didn’t know Christ, personally. until 8 days later, Jesus walked through the wall, unannounced and his eyes locked on to Tom. (Laughs)

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: And that kind of look in the Greek, is a long loving, polling, begging, pleading kind of look. Jesus looked at a rich young ruler once that way, and he couldn’t’ stand his glare and dropped his countenance and chose not to receive him as Savior. But when Jesus looked at you in that way, I mean those eyes – I mean, yeah, you know. And he dropped those onto Thomas and he kind of just opened up his sport coat, you know, you can just kind of see him do that trying to save Thomas. “Check it out.” Hmm? Remember what Thomas said? He did not say, “Oh my God!” That’s a worthy statement of exclamation, right? Christians say, “Oh my gosh.” Everybody’s got one, but nobody knows what it is.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: Takes a minute, think about it now. Oh my, I have one, gosh, oh my gosh. What’s your gosh? You don’t know what a gosh is, but you just said you have one. You don’t know what it is, but you have one. Oh my gosh.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: He fell to his knees, and he said, “My Lord and my God.” And if you looked at Thomas right then, you’d see a scale swap.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: Carp to bass, and Thomas, I believe is our example of the classic person who hangs around church all their life and never comes into that intimate personal relationship with Christ. Who are Christians by association, not by relationship. Now Lot is my example of a bass in trout’s clothes. Old Lot, boy, if there was anyone who snuck into the Kingdom of God, by the skin of his chinny chin chin, it was Lot. He was known in the gates of the homosexual community. He didn’t want to leave too soon, he wanted to get all the gusto he could get. He raised two daughters, a couple of beauties. I tell you, these two got him drunk on successive nights, which doesn’t say very much for his drinking patterns. And had an incestuous relationship with him to have his child on successive nights. Those gals are a couple of beauties. And his wife added a whole new dimension to the term, salty old gal.

Audience: (Laughs)

Jay: And Peter, Peter said of Lot, “That righteous Lot.” It is possible to be a bass in trout’s clothing.