Morning, brethren. Let's be turning
to Romans chapter two. Romans chapter two, and I want
to read my text, which is verses 28 and 29. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew which is one
inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, and the spirit,
and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of
God." And so the question for us this morning is, who is a
Jew? Who is a Jew? And we want to
know this, we want to know the answer to this question, because
a Jew, according to the scriptures, according to the way they're
spoken of in the scriptures, that they are one who is accepted
of God. God receives Jews. And so that's why we want to
know the answer to this question. Because Paul here is challenging
what it means to be a Jew. And he does this by declaring
who is and who is not a Jew. This is what Paul is speaking
of here. Now, the scriptures do warn us of false Jews. The scriptures do speak of those
who are not Jews at all. In fact, it says in Revelation
2, verse 9, our Lord is speaking to the church of Smyrna. And he says, I know thy works
and tribulation and poverty, but thou art rich. And I know
the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but
are the synagogue of Satan. That's strong language. And he
uses it again in chapter 3, verse 9, speaking to the church in
Sardis. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which
say they are Jews and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make
them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I
have loved thee. I love you, my people. And we know that the Jews are
the ones that met in synagogues, and our Lord is declaring that
all who reject Christ, All who turn from Christ will not hear
him, do not receive him, but trust their own works under the
law for their righteousness. Who continue in that form of
dead letter religion under the yoke of Moses' law, our Lord
says they are of the synagogue of Satan. They've rejected my
son. They've turned away from the
salvation, the righteousness of God, revealed in the face
of Christ. Now, this term Jew is widely
used to this day. We see it used a lot, especially
with things going on in the news. A lot of people use this term,
and largely to disparage those that are in political Israel
there. But the term Jew is used It seems to describe someone
of a particular birth and religion. They're not really a nationality.
It's not a race of people. It's a religion that separated
the Jews today, those in political Israel, from others in the world. But is the natural man's understanding
of what a Jew is, is that correct? Is that how the Lord describes
a Jew? Is that who the Jews are? Now,
this term Jew, I looked it up in a concordance, and the first
time I see it used is in 2 Kings 16. Let's turn there. 2 Kings
16, and verse 1, just to get the context there. 2 Kings 16,
verse 1. In the 17th year, of Pekah the son of Ramaliah."
Now, Pekah the son of Ramaliah is the king of Israel. And there were no godly kings
in Israel. There were some godly kings in
Judah, but none in Israel. And we're told at that time Ahaz,
the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. Now Ahaz was
not one of those godly kings. He did that which was wicked
in the sight of the Lord. But I read that verse to let
you know we're talking about the tribe of Judah. the tribe
of Judah, as opposed to the tribes of Israel. Now look at verse
six. At that time, Rezan, king of
Syria, recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath,
and the Syrians came to Elath and dwelt there unto this day.
So this, from what I can see, this is the first time This word,
this term is used in scripture to describe people who are of
the kingdom of Judah. Judah. That's where that term
Jew comes from. Those of the kingdom of Judah. And then at some point, likely
after the captivity or their exile into Assyria and Babylon,
when Judah went into Babylon, this term came to be synonymous
with anyone who was an Israelite, anyone who came to Jerusalem
and worshipped according to the law of Moses, and those that
were circumcised according to the law of Moses. So if you were
an Israelite who practiced that law for your righteousness, you
called yourself a Jew. Now, while Paul remained a Pharisee,
and he was a Pharisee, he was an Israelite. Now, I don't see
him ever referring to himself as a Jew, but I don't think he
had a problem with that term, just how it was understood. And
while he was a Pharisee, he rejoiced in that outward form of religion. That is, until the Lord saved
him by grace in Jesus Christ. When he turned from his trust
and confidence in his works for his righteousness, and was turned
to the righteousness of God, which is the Lord Jesus Christ,
whom the Father gave for the salvation of his people." Now,
let's turn over to Philippians chapter 3. Let's go to Philippians
chapter 3, and this is where Paul is speaking
of that time when he was a Pharisee. Philippians chapter 3, and we'll
pick up in verse 3. He says, for we, and he's writing
to the church, and so he's speaking of those that are redeemed by
the blood of Christ. For we are the circumcision. That's bold. He's saying we that
believe Christ, we are distinctly those who are of the circumcision. We are the circumcision, which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. That's the people of God. That's
describing those who are accepted of the Father. those that believe
Christ, those that worship according to the Spirit. He even says,
we're the circumcision. We are the circumcision of God. We're the Lord's people. And
that's because our Lord delivers his people, Christ Jesus. When
he saves his people, he delivers us from dead letter religion
that cannot save. He saves us from carnal, filthy
works of wickedness. And the reason why they're wicked
works is because man trusts in those works to save him. He thinks,
this is my righteousness. This is my acceptance with God,
and rejects Christ, who is the very salvation of God. And so he opposes himself. He opposes
salvation by trusting himself rather than believing God. and
trusting the salvation of God. Paul continues in Philippians
3, verse 4, though I might also have confidence in the flesh,
if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust
in the flesh, I more. I've got a whole lot more than
you, he says, circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel,
of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching
the law of Pharisee. Concerning zeal, persecuting
the Church, touching the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless. But what things were gained to
me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, doubtless, and I
count all things, everything that a man may trust him, I counted
all loss, but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung that I may win Christ. And so Paul here,
he never brings up that term Jew, but we know he's describing
true Jews. He's describing those who are
Jews. If the Jew is trusting that God
receives them because they're Jews, well then believers are
true Jews is what Paul is revealing in the scriptures here. And I
think Paul didn't have a problem with the Jews because if you
go to John chapter 19, In verse 19 we're told there that Pilate
wrote a title and put it on the cross, the cross where our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ hung for the remission of the sins
of his people. And the writing was, Jesus of
Nazareth, the King of the Jews. The King of the Jews. There are
a people, there is a people who are Jews. That's who Christ died
for. The Jews, His people who are
accepted of the Father in Him. A people accepted of Holy God,
a people who are righteous, found faultless before the throne of
Almighty God. Not for any fleshly reasons. The flesh has nothing to do with
those who are Jews. such as physical birth or such
as being descended from Abraham physically. through the genes
there, or it has nothing to do with an outward form of religion. I practice this and do things
this way. That's not what makes a Jew.
The Israelites, they were trusting in their outward form of religion,
and said, well, this is why I'm a Jew. I was born of Abraham,
and I follow the practices of the law, therefore I'm a Jew.
But the scriptures are teaching, no, that's not who a Jew is. Those who are trusting those
things are of the synagogue of Satan. And that sounds harsh,
but that's how the scriptures describe every one of us by nature. Every one of us who is trusting
in the works of the flesh. Paul says in Ephesians 2.2, you're
going the course, you're following the course of this world, the
prince of the power of the air. that rules over the children
of disobedience. We've been delivered from that
in Christ, in Christ Jesus, you that are his. And so there's
a birth involved, all right, but it's a spiritual birth. It's
a spiritual birth. And I believe when the apostle
Peter is describing the people of God, I think he's talking
about true Jews, When he speaks of believers, he says that you
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation,
a peculiar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, which
in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God. That's what we want. It really
doesn't even matter if you don't like to use the title Jew Don't
use it. But you that believe Christ,
you are the people of God. You are the people of God and
it has nothing to do with who your mommy and daddy are all
the way back up. It has nothing to do with your
practices. It has everything to do with
Christ and only Christ Jesus. Another point of consideration
in knowing who is a Jew is how the apostle Paul delineates or
separates between the Jew and the Gentile, right? And so in
this sense, Paul does use the term Jew to describe those that
are physically Jews. And Paul does speak of Jews and
Gentiles, but he does so to show us that we're one in Christ. He doesn't speak of Jew and Gentile
to speak of it in the terms of separating, but in the terms
of what we are in Christ, that we are one in Christ Jesus. We have one Savior. There's one
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved,
and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, and it doesn't matter what nation
you live in, where you grew up, who your parents were, what you
practiced in religion. That's not what saves. It's Christ
Jesus. And he delivers from all those
things, trusting all those other works that that man trusts him.
He saves us from that. So turn over to Ephesians 2. Let's go to Ephesians chapter
two, and we're gonna pick up in verse 11. So Paul had just
got done showing that we're Christ's workmanship, we're his workmanship. He's sovereign God and he ordains
our works that we should walk in them. And in verse 11, wherefore,
remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh. So according to fleshly descriptions,
we were Gentiles, who are called uncircumcision by that which
is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands. That's how men speak. We look
for differences. We look for reasons to divide
and separate and cut down others. That's the works of the flesh.
That's just what we do. But Christ makes peace, and he
brings together all his children in one, in one body. So Paul
here, he's acknowledging that according to the flesh, there's
a distinction. But, it goes on in verse 12, that at that time,
ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus,
ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of
Christ. You're brought near by the blood
of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath
made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us. And so here he's going to introduce
that new and living way, not by man's works and man's distinctions,
but that way which is the Lord Jesus Christ, which is given
to us of the Father, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, The
Lord Jesus Christ abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the
law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in
himself of twain, or of two, one new man, so making peace. And so that law, which drove
a wedge between Jews and Gentiles, with circumcision and uncircumcision
and practices and ordinances under the law, that which separated
us and caused enmity between us is now put away in Christ
because Christ has delivered us from the law. Every one of
us is no longer under the yoke of the law. We are in Christ. He has delivered us. He has put
away that yoke of the law. And so all believers, regardless
of what their background was, all come to God now in Christ
our righteousness. Verse 16, in that He might reconcile
both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity
thereby. and came and preached peace to
you which were far off and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have
access by one spirit unto the father. Now therefore ye are
no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God. And so there's no more separation
between bodies. Well, there's a separation between
the bodies, but not according to man's divisive works and uses. Christ takes his people in one
body and separates and divides us from the rest of the body
of Adam, that body of sin. He delivers us from that body
and we're in the body of Christ together. together, we're one
in him. And so it's a spiritual work
according to the grace of God in Christ. And that picture of
circumcision, which the Jews used to put off others who were
uncircumcised, the picture itself is good in the sense that it
pictures, well, it's an outward sign to picture or describe something
that's supposed to be an inward work. of grace. But man corrupts
it and ruins it. But Paul says we are the circumcision. We've been circumcised. So we're
going to forget what man's definition is and look at what the Lord
teaches us of who is a Jew. And we'll see that there is a
birth involved, but it's a spiritual birth. And there is a circumcision,
but it's a circumcision in the heart where man can't reach. Only God can reach that. So let's
read our text one more time in Romans 2. Romans 2, 28 and 29. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly, Neither is that circumcision which is outward
in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter,
whose praise is not of men, but of God. So the Jews, again, they
identify themselves as Jews by their birth and by their outward
form of religion. That's what they trusted in.
I'm a son of Abraham, or I practice the law, and I'm circumcised.
That was their trust. That was their righteousness
and their confidence before God. And the Lord teaches us that
men and women are born Jews not by a physical birth, but by a
spiritual birth, he must be born again, and it's Christ who gives
the Spirit of God to his people to give us that new birth, that
birth in him. Our Lord, when speaking to the
Jews in John chapter 8 verse 39, they said unto him, Abraham
is our father. Abraham's our father. You can't
talk to us like that. You can't make us feel bad about
ourselves. We have Abraham as our father.
Jesus saith unto them, if ye were Abraham's children, ye would
do the works of Abraham. Now wait a minute. Didn't these
people have lineages and couldn't they show that they descended
from Abraham? Sure they did. Absolutely. Many
of them probably did have that lineage documented. But Christ
says, you're not children of Abraham. It's just not so. What does he mean? Well, in Galatians
3, 26, in verse 29, Paul tells us, he says, for ye, you that
believe Christ, though you by natural birth are Gentiles, and
can't lay claim to having descended from Abraham. Ye are all the
children of God by faith in Jesus Christ. That's who the children
of God are, all right? Verse 29 says, Galatians 3, 29,
and if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed. If you're Christ's, you are Abraham's
seed and heirs according to the promise. How could he say such
a thing? Because it's a spiritual birth.
It's a spiritual work of God that he does for his people. We don't look at the physical
things and the outward things that man looks at and trusts
in. Those are wicked works. We look at the work of Christ. What he did in his flesh, that's
the only thing that matters, is what Christ did for his people. And he saves to the uttermost
all that were given to him of the Father. He saves with a perfect
salvation his people. And Paul adds this in that same
passage, right in between those two verses, 27 and 28. For as
many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female,
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. So in other words, we're
just wasting time, breathing out empty words by making a distinction
between Jew and Gentile. Because in Christ it's clear
there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. We're all one
in Christ. We all needed the blood. We all
need the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ to wash away our sins.
And other things don't matter. Don't put any confidence in the
flesh. That's what Paul said in Philippians
3. We are the circumcision who have no confidence in the flesh. So don't put any confidence in
him. In Christ Jesus, we're born again by the Spirit of God through
the gifts and blessings of God in Christ Jesus who redeemed
all his people with his own blood. We're not saved because we're
descended from Abraham. Just as we're not saved if we're
circumcised. It means nothing. Christ is all. He means everything. And that's
what he's revealing in the hearts of his people. He's everything. Now, the Jews also trusted in
their own works under the law of Moses. They trusted that their
keeping the law was their righteousness. And they were very confident
in their works under the law. That's why they wouldn't hear
Christ. Without the grace of God, they would not hear Christ. They wouldn't have anything with
it. They were offended. At the preaching of Christ, they
were offended at Paul's preaching because he said, you're not saved
by the works of the law. You don't need the works of the
law. Christ saves you by his blood and gives his spirit to
reveal the law of God in the heart, the law of faith, the
law of righteousness, the law of love, the law of peace, and
the hope of salvation that he gives us with God in Christ Jesus. That's our hope, brethren. The
Jews were trusting in their works so that when Christ came they
rejected him and said no, thanks. We got it We'll take care of
this ourselves. We don't need you to be accepted
with God But they weren't hearing what the law was saying. They
didn't hear the curses of the law. They didn't hear the those
things concerning the law and their sin. And one of my favorite
verses on that is Galatians 3.22, but the scripture hath concluded
all under sin. The scriptures conclude all under
sin that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given,
given to them that believe. So no man is justified by the
law. The law condemns and the law
kills. The law keeps us in darkness
because it doesn't give us any righteousness. It just says that
we're sinners. It shows that we're sinners.
It just shows and tells us what sin is and what it looks like
and what the penalty of sin is because we're all sinners sold
under sin in Adam by nature. And therefore, we come under
the curse of the law, trying to keep it. The harder we work
at it, the more we try, we're just condemning ourselves. We're
not helping ourselves at all. But under the law, men were circumcised,
and that required the removal of the foreskin of the flesh.
And that was supposed to signify an inward work in the heart,
but it didn't do anything. didn't do anything, because the
hand of man can't touch the heart. He can't remove this fleshly,
hard heart darkened by sin, because it's a spiritual work that only
God can do. And he does it through Christ,
through the redemption of Christ. Our Lord makes us know that we
need a circumcised heart. And there's two passages in the
Old Testament in Deuteronomy One is in Deuteronomy 10, verse
16, where the Lord tells them, circumcise, therefore, the foreskin
of your heart and be no more stiff-necked. And the Lord tells
them, go circumcise your heart. Well, we can't do that. If we're
honest with ourselves, we can't do it. We don't know how to do
that. I don't know how to remove the
veil that's over my heart by nature. By nature, I don't know
it. By the grace of God, we know
it, it's by Christ that he removes that veil. But he says later
in Deuteronomy 30 verse six, and the Lord thy God will circumcise
thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy
God with all thine heart and with all thy soul that thou mayest
live. And so through the death of Christ
our mediator, that's how our sins are forgiven. so that we're
dead to the law in Christ. We couldn't keep it, and Christ
delivered us from that law. We're not under the law now.
That's not our rule of life. We have the Spirit of God. Christ
is our rule of life. We rejoice in his gospel. That's
how we come to God, is in the gospel of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
in his blood. And so we're dead to sin. Sin
hath no more dominion over us. We're delivered from that in
Christ. We're not in that body of Adam.
We're not in that body of sin. It's removed from us. And the
Lord in Christ, for Christ's sake, has circumcised our hearts
so that we want nothing to do with the works of the flesh for
righteousness. We are delivered from that and
delivered unto Christ and in Christ. That's how we stand and
come to the true and living God. Colossians 2. Verses 10 through
12 says, ye are complete in him. You're complete in Christ, which
is the head of all principality and power, in whom also ye are
circumcised, with that circumcision made without hands, and putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of
Christ. Christ has taken that foreskin
of the flesh, so to speak, cut it from us, and tossed it away. It's removed from us. Buried
with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through
the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from
the dead. And so our Lord, when he saves
his people, when he brings his salvation in the day of his grace,
he takes away that veil, that foreskin of flesh from our hearts
and casts it from us. And it's a picture that we are
delivered from that body of sin and Adam and all its punishments
and all its woes and all its curses so that we are free of
that, delivered. and the Lord Jesus Christ. And
you that believe Christ, you're delivered from that. It has no
more power or dominion over you. It says nothing to you about
your inheritance. Christ says everything to you
that believe, everything about your inheritance, because he
is our inheritance. We hear him, we hear his voice
and follow him. Now let me just say one last
thing regarding this last phrase, whose praise is not of men, but
of God. Now it just so happens last week
we were looking at the names of the twelve sons of Jacob and
Judah's name means what? Praise. It means praise. And Paul says here that your
God, God Almighty, the Holy God rejoices over you that are washed
in the blood of Christ. He rejoices. and what his son
has done to the praise, honor, and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul's saying there, you that
are in Christ, you are Jews. You praise God, you rejoice in
God and his salvation, and God rejoices in you because you are
the workmanship of his darling son whom he loves, whom he sent
to save his people from their sins. And so I close with Galatians
6, 15 and 16. For in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision, but a new
creature, born again creatures, saved and washed by the blood
of Christ. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace
beyond them and mercy and upon the Israel of God. So who is a true Jew? those who
trust the Lord Jesus Christ for all their salvation. Not to the
Jews, those who are circumcised by Christ, those who are Abraham's
seed by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray the Lord bless
that word to your hearts, brethren. Amen.