All right, brethren, let's turn to Romans 2, Romans chapter 2. I want to look at the hypocrite and the true believer. When the Lord reveals to us that in order for the Lord to save us, he had to send his son, to lay down his life in our place. That's what it took to save us. The Lord makes us know we are sinners. When you know that's what it took to save you, you know you're the sinner. When you see that in order for God to make the Lord Jesus a curse, he made him bear the sin of his people, because he knew no sin. the sin of his people, that he might justly bear that curse and justice of God in our place. That shows you how holy and righteous God is. And when he reveals that to us, that makes us know I am the sinner. I don't even come remotely close to that righteousness that God requires, and none of us do. And when the Lord makes you know this, You know, the Lord gives His people a heart to want to serve Him. You want to obey Him. You want to believe on the Lord Jesus. You want to love your brethren. And you want to live to Him. That's the spirit the Lord gives you. But we know that we can't stand before God in anything we've done. And the believer is made honest to say, I am the sinner. I am a sinner, I don't want to sin against God. But we are the sinner, and it's not like we're living in rebellion against God. We're not trying to live in rebellion against God, but you know that your very best deeds do not equal the righteousness God demands. Anything less than that is coming short of the glory of God. That's sin. And so you know that. But the hypocrite in the scripture More than anywhere else, well, I guess every time the Lord used the word hypocrite, he was speaking to Pharisees, religious folks. And we're gonna see here in this chapter what the Lord defines as being a hypocrite. And then we're gonna see what a true believer is. The hypocrite and the true believer. Let's look here now first. We see five things the hypocrite is and does. One, hypocrisy puts confidence in the flesh, in self, in race, place, faith, grace, confidence in self. He says, behold, thou art called a Jew, verse 17. Behold, thou art called a Jew. The Pharisee boasted to our Savior. Remember, they said, we'd be the sons of Abraham. We're not born of fornication. They were looking down on our Savior, saying, you're born of fornication. We're sons of Abraham. They boasted in a name. You're called a Jew. Paul said, you know, anybody that has confidence in their flesh, I have more reason. If we're gonna have confidence in the flesh, Paul said, I was circumcised the eighth day. I was of the stock of Israel. These were things Paul was putting his confidence in. I was of the stock of Israel. of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee. These were things he was trusting in a name. And there's so many in religion that trust in race. There's some people that, you know, the Jews thought they were gods because they were born in Israel. People put confidence in who their father is, who their denominator. all these names whereby men want to be called. Look at Romans 3 in verse 9. If God saved for any of those reasons, that would be a respect of persons. That wouldn't be grace, that would be you merited it because of where you were born, who your father was, your family, those types of things. But look what he says here in Romans 3.9. What then, are we better than they? No and no wise. We've before proved both Jews and Gentiles that we're all under sin. We are all under sin. As it's written, there is none righteous, no not one. Verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's what the Lord's gonna make his child know. You know that about yourself. but to take Christ's name while putting, call yourself Christ, belonging to Christ, but putting confidence in any other name, being called a Jew or a Baptist or whatever, any other name, putting confidence in any other name is hypocrisy. That's to take his name in vain. Isaiah said, this would be the day when our Lord had come, when men and women, where women will say, we'll eat our own bread, We'll wear our own apparel. We'll work out our own righteousness, our own clothing of righteousness. Only let us be called by thy name. Let us be called by the name of Christ. We'll do everything else. Just let us be called by your name to take away our reproach. The name by which the reproach of Christ's bride, his elect, is taken away, there's one name by which our reproach is taken away. That is the Lord our righteousness. That's the only name that takes away our approach, being robed in his righteousness alone. There's no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. So that's the first thing, trusting in a name, trusting in a name. You know, thou callest thyself a Jew, a Baptist, Methodist, whatever. Number two, hypocrisy rests in one's own works. He says, Romans 2, 17, and you rest in the law. You rest in the law. Now, it could be the law given at Sinai. It could be the New Testament precepts. It could be the commandments of men. Anything that a man trusts in of his own hand, especially somebody that claims to be trusting Christ, but is also trusting in some work of his hand. That's hypocrisy. That's all that is. We all became guilty in Adam. So we come into this world guilty. There's nothing we can do to justify ourselves. We came in guilty and to put confidence in any pretense of law keeping, to put confidence in it. is to break the whole law of God. We're told over and over in scripture to obey the Lord, but don't put confidence in it, because you're not gonna stand before God because of it. Paul said, if you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. That means if there's just one thing that a man puts confidence in, he's a debtor to do the whole law. Christ's becoming no effect. God gave the law to show us our sin. He gave the law to show us our sin. Romans 3, 19, this is what the law says to all who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in this sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. That's what the law was given for. Now, thirdly, The hypocrite is proud. The hypocrite's proud and he's boastful. Here in Romans 2.17, he said, you make your boast of God. You say you know his will. You say you approve the things that are more excellent being instructed out of his law. The Jews boasted that they knew God. That's where they boasted to our Savior that they knew God. We're the children of God. Our Lord Jesus said, you're of your father the devil. That heart of boasting betrays the pride of the devil. That's what's in our sin nature. That's the pride of the devil. They boasted they knew God's will. Christ said, this is the will of him that sent me. That all that see the son and believe on him may have everlasting life. That's the will of the father. So this is to be proud, to be boastful, to really think, for a man to think. pleasing God of something he's done. That's hypocrisy. That's what God calls hypocrisy. Fourth, the hypocrite exalts self over others. He says here in Romans 2.19, you're confident that thou thyself are God of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which has the form of knowledge and of the truth and the law. Go with me to Luke 18. This illustrates it so well. When our Lord contrasted the proud hypocrite with the true sinner, that is, made a believer. Here's Luke 18 9. It says, he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. That always goes together. When a man trusts in himself that he's righteous, He always despises others. He's gonna look down on others. Two men went up to the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I'm not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, and even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. You know, We should ask the Lord keep us from this continually because when we start to look at something we've done and think that we can stand, that's the heart that's right there that is present is, God, I thank you, I'm not like other men. Other men are extortioners, other men are unjust, other men are adulterers. Look at this publican. You know, that's the dangerous thing about self-righteousness is you can't detect it in yourself. And he said, but now here's a true believer. The publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven. but smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Now that is a heart only the Lord can give, right there, to own ourselves. Nothing good, nothing good. I need mercy, Lord. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalted themselves shall be abased, and he that humbled himself shall be exalted. The Pharisees in our Lord's day, they do the same today, they went about telling everybody else how to live. That was their thing, telling everybody how to live. And we saw not long ago the Lord, they took issue with the Lord and with his disciples because they didn't wash their hands before they ate. And that's something too about this thing of hypocrisy is, Because men make things to be sin that God doesn't make to be sin. They make sin to be in things. And they make sin to be according to the commandments of men. And the Lord said, it's your heart that needs to be washed. Your heart needs to be made new. That's all our heart is. That's all our heart is. I know that, I think men hear that and think that, yeah, that condemns somebody else. No, that condemns me and you. That's what the heart, that sin nature in a believer is wicked. And out of it comes nothing but sin. The Lord gives you a new heart. That's when you know you have that old sin nature. But our Lord, when he told them that, they got angry with him. They were offended. Peter came and said, you know they were offended when you told them that? Our Lord said, let them alone. They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, they'll both fall in the ditch. Only Christ is the light of them that are in darkness. We're not the light of them that are in darkness. Even if the Lord uses you to preach, you're gonna preach Christ the light. You're not gonna say you're the light of them that sit in darkness. Christ is the light. He says to them that are in darkness, show yourselves. He brings us to the light. God, our Father's the instructor of babes, not men. Christ prayed and said, Father, I thank you that you hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. He's the revealer to babes. The Spirit is the only one who regenerates. He does it through the gospel that exalts Christ. Our Savior sent Paul preaching to accomplish what? Christ said to open their eyes to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. See, Christ is the giver of light. He's the one that is the teacher of babes. He's the one that is the instructor of the foolish. And now here's the fifth thing. Hypocrisy uses the law unlawfully. teaching others to keep it, but never hearing the law declare self guilty. Look here, he said in verse 21, thou therefore which teaches another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? See, they're not preaching the law to declare everybody's a sinner, including the one preaching. He said, you're telling others don't steal, But do you still? He said, thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that at poorest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thou boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonest thou God, for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it's written. Every person, every person that comes from Adam is a breaker of the entire law of God. That's so of everybody, every man, woman, child. Listen, I know folks say, well, that just means we're, as a believer, we're just breaker of it in thought. I've had people tell me that from Romans 7. That's just your thoughts, though. Well, that's sin. But it's not just thoughts. We sin in our acts, we sin in our words, we sin in our looks, we sin, brethren, We have to have Christ, we have to have our Savior. The Holy Spirit declared all those horrible sins of the Gentiles in Romans 1. And the Spirit of the Lord was leading Paul to do this on purpose. He declared all those sins of the Gentiles in Romans 1. Homosexuality, just all kinds of, just obvious deplorable sin. And then he gets to Romans 2 in verse 1, and he says, now speaking to the Jews, the religious, therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judges, for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou that judges doest the same thing. That's so of everybody. That's so of everybody. True hypocrisy, according to God's word, is a sinner who judges and condemns another sinner when he's guilty of the very same sin. That's not just something that, it's not necessary that he commits the same sin, but it's what his nature is. To be guilty of one's sin is to be guilty of all the law, brethren. And for us to condemn anybody that's a breaker of the law, judge them and condemn them, Look how broad that is, look, whosoever you are, that's just, that's saying anybody that does this, that judges, for wherein you judge another, whatever it be, whatever it is, you're condemning yourself, for thou that judges do the same thing. That's utter hypocrisy, to condemn and judge somebody else when we are guilty, we are. A man preaching, do not steal, that really thinks he's obeyed that law, that he's not guilty of theft, that he's kept the law, and trying to come to God by that, having confidence that he's robbing Christ of his glory. He's stealing the glory that belongs to Christ. The man that preaches, thou shalt not commit adultery, but rather than preach it lawfully, that we are, every sinner's guilty of it. Every sinner's guilty of it. But if he's putting his confidence in his law keeping, and looking to himself and he's condemning others. He's committing spiritual adultery against Christ, our husband. If a man is saying you should not have an idol and he's preaching it as though he's no idolater, coming to God by that, that man is his own idol. Trying to come to God by our pretense of law keeping is making ourself our idol. You go down the whole law and we break all of them trying to come to God by our obedience to him. Christ is the only way we can come to God. He's the righteousness God's provided. A man's dishonoring God, our Savior, because he alone fulfilled the law. And here's something else. He says there, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you. As it's written, circumcision verily profiteth if you keep the law. which he's not saying anybody can, he's just saying if you could, it would be profitable. But if you be a breaker of the law, your circumcision is made uncircumcision. And here's the thing, you know this and I know this, and so does irreligious people. The gentiles here stand for irreligious people, people that aren't even religious at all. The reason that religion is looked at so, in such a low esteem, one of the reasons, looked at in such a low esteem by irreligious folks, is because irreligious folks see the hypocrisy in people that claim to be keeping the law. You see it, I see it. And men that claim that they're keeping the law of God and they're not sinning, you see the hypocrisy in that. And the world does too. Now, so we pray the Lord don't let us, don't let us fail to see our sin. It hurts to see your sin. It hurts to see what you are. But Lord, keep us seeing what we are so that we see our need, that we have to have Christ. But you go through and look. The reason I'm showing you this is because we've been accused of being hypocrites. They call us antinomians. They call us, you know, saying, let us sin at grace may abound, which we don't do that. That's not what we're declaring. But you go through the scripture and see who did Christ call hypocrites? It was the Pharisees over and over and over, men who thought, who claimed they were keeping God's law. That's not what the Lord's people are doing. We're not saying we're keeping his law. We're not making our boast of that. We're not trying to exalt ourselves, oh other. We're saying, I'm the sinner. Look to my savior. Don't look to me, look to him. Let's go here now. Let's see what a true believer he is, called here a true Jew. A true believer keeps the righteousness of the law one way, through God-given faith. Verse 26, he says, if the uncircumcision, now this is a Gentile who doesn't have the law, if he keeps the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? This man that doesn't have the law, if he keeps the righteousness of the law, will not God impute him as being a true Believer, a true Jew. Can a Gentile without the law keep the law? Everybody that really keeps the law, keeps the law without keeping the law. It's Christ that kept it for us. That's how Abraham did it. Look at Romans 3 verse 30. Romans 3 verse 30. Seeing it is one God which shall justify. He's the justifier, not us. One God which shall justify the elect Jew by faith and the elect Gentile through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish the law through faith. That's what he's saying, read on. What shall we say then that Abraham our father is pertaining to the flesh hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he'd have whereof the glory, but not before God. What says the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness. He believed God. He believed Christ. 430 years before the law was forgiven. That's how a man keeps the law. Christ kept it for his people. Look at verse nine. Was it due to Abraham going through the ceremony of circumcision that God counted him righteous? He said, verse nine, is this blessedness then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also? For we say faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision or in uncircumcision? Was it before or after God gave him that ceremony? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. So he didn't have the law. We know that was 430 years later, but he wasn't even outwardly circumcised yet. And when God did outwardly circumcise him, what was God showing? He was showing what he already did in his heart. Verse 11, he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also. Go to Romans 9.30. Here's what I ask the question. Can a Gentile keep the righteousness of the law that doesn't have the law? Yes, yes he can. Romans 9, verse 30. Look here. What shall we say then that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained, what shall we say then, that the Gentiles which followed not after righteousness have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith? But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, had not attained to the law of righteousness, wherefore, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law, for they stumbled at Christ Jesus, the stumbling stone. Now, go back here with me to Romans 2. So we're made righteous, we're chosen by God's grace, Christ made us righteous, he obeyed the law, and the spirit regeneration gives you faith, and God imputes to you Christ's righteousness, that's how the law's kept. That's how the law's kept. Now listen to the question to the hypocrite, Romans 2, 27. And shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee who by the letter and circumcision just transgress the law? Right now, you and me who are believers, we're not judging the self-righteous who think they're righteous by their law keeping and their moral deeds and all of that, that we're not judging. The Lord's given us a heart like he gave to the Apostle Paul, where we, I would that the Lord would save them. I want to see God reveal Christ, his righteousness to them. But God's grace has humbled your heart to have that heart. You wanna see sinners saved. I feel for folks, I don't have as much Sympathy for preachers that are preaching that know better, but I have more sympathy for Folks hearing it that are being taught that they're saved by their works. I want to see Lord's call them out of that But you know that right now your faith in Christ and you saying that sir, I'm a sinner I'm not a keeper of the law you telling them that and saying I trust Christ only that faith in Christ judges them. And they know it, and that's why they persecute God's people. They know it. Listen, by faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not yet seen, moved with fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world. He did it by believing God. The world was condemned by believing him. He became the heir of righteousness by faith. In the day of judgment, God's saints will judge the world. In this, we're just gonna be, Christ is just gonna present us without fault to God in his righteousness and his holiness, and the very fact that he gave you faith to trust him is gonna condemn those that did not trust him. But even now, the reason that the self-righteous won't stay under this gospel and don't wanna be around you when you're given all the glory that Christ is, is that message that Christ is all our righteousness and we're only made righteous through faith, we're only holy by Christ being formed in you and keeping you, that very message condemns them in their heart and they don't want to hear it, they don't like it. It's your faith in Christ that condemns them, true faith, not turning faith into a word. All right, so true Jew contrasted with hypocrisy, we're circumcised in the heart, and we worship God in the spirit and we rejoice in Christ Jesus. This is what a true believer is. Look at verse 28. We have no room to boast in ourselves. He's not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. God gave all that to picture what the true is. And here's the truth. He is a Jew, the Israel of God, This is what a natural Jew pictured. This is what that nation pictured. He is a Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart. When he regenerates you by the spirit, he circumcised you in the heart. In the spirit and not in the letter. It's not of our hand. It's not of our doing. We don't do the, Billy Graham had a book called How to Be Born Again. What does that tell you? The title of that book tells you, he's giving you the ABCs of what you can do to be born again. We didn't have anything, it's not in the letter. It's of the Spirit, it's of God, whose praise is not of men. All other religions, hypocrisy is this, men are trying to get the praise of men. Paul said it clearly, a man's being harsh with somebody, trying to force them into obedience, so he can glory in what he made them do, and that person that's being forced He's doing what they're doing, trying to please that man. They're following him, they're following him right out of religion, they're following him right into false religion, because they're under his thumb and they're trying to please him. And they're not, they're fearing him and they're not fearing God. But those that are saved, our praise is not of man. Listen now, our praise is of God. That means God commends you. Look with me to 2 Corinthians 10. 2 Corinthians 10. This is the grace of God. He does all the work, all the righteousnesses of Christ. He gives you the holy heart. He gives you the faith. He gives you all the fruit that he produces in you. And then when you believe on him and trust him, he commends you for trusting him. That's grace. Look, 2 Corinthians 10, 17. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth. The Lord does all of the work, and then he says, well done, well done. That's grace, that is grace. Now Philippians 3, I just wanna end with this, Philippians 3. I'm just, I'm trying to say to you, brethren, you know, When you and I sin, let's say you sin outwardly, and let's say, you know, religious folks start condemning you in this and that, or maybe somebody that's professed to be a believer does it, and they call you a hypocrite. You've said all along, I am the sinner. Why would we be surprised if a brother sins? Why would we say that he's a hypocrite? No. We've said all along, I am the sinner. It's not that, now I'm not saying, you know, we just thumb our nose at God and we live in the world. That man is, you know, that would be a hypocrite, claiming he believes God, but he's out, just never has no heart to honor God. But I'm saying you that believe, if you fall, you're the sinner. You say you're the sinner. We ought to help one another up when that's the case, not call that person a hypocrite. The hypocrite is the one who's condemning them as if you're not, that you're not like them. To condemn somebody, that's a brother that said they're a sinner, to condemn them is to stand like that Pharisee and say, God, I thank you I'm not like him. That's what's in the heart, really. But look here, here's the heart the Lord gives us, Philippians 3, 2. He says, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. And that he's talking about people that try to come to God in the law. People that appear ultra-holy, ultra-religious, ultra-righteous by their work. For we are the circumcision, here we are, which worship God in the spirit. It's a new heart. It's not circumcision or uncircumcision, it's of Christ making you brand new. which worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus. He's our only confidence for coming to God is him, Christ. And we have no confidence in the flesh, none at all, none at all. And we're confessing, yes, I'm a sinner. If I sin, and you know I've sinned, if I sin and offend you, don't be surprised by it. And if you do it, I'm not gonna be surprised by you. Because we honest with each other, that's what we are. I don't want to be, you don't want to be, but we know that's what we are. But here's our confidence, Christ is our only righteousness. Let's remind each other that. To act surprised and to try to condemn a brother that's like that is to have confidence in the flesh. That's really what it is. It's betraying us that we really have a little confidence in our, I wouldn't do that. We'll do anything. Pray God keep his hand on you and it's all of the Lord. All right, let's go to him. Lord, thank you for this word. Lord, make the words clear in our hearts and make it come in power and we believe you. Lord, we wanna be found only in our Savior. We wanna be found in your righteousness, your holiness. And Lord, we do want to obey you. We don't wanna sin. Lord, please forgive us, receive us in your son alone and keep us knowing that you do. Keep us looking only to him and don't let us have any confidence in ourselves. Make us brethren, make us love each other and be merciful to each other and help each other to Christ. Look to him, love each other to Christ. Lord, forgive us of our sins. Forgive us for the hypocrisy that we are in our sin nature. Thank you for making us a true Jew and a new man. Thank you, Lord, in Christ we ask it, amen.