Alright. Alright, brethren, we're
going to begin our study in Romans 2. Romans chapter 2, verses 17
through 29. Romans 2. And our study here
begins with Paul addressing the Jew. And he says right there
at the beginning of Romans 2.17, He says, behold, thou art called
a Jew. And now this gives us an understanding
of where Paul is going with what he's saying here. He says, thou
art called a Jew. You're called a Jew. And a Jew
is what you call yourself. But the question is, are you
really a Jew? Would God call you a Jew? Are
you a Jew? And so the whole tenor of Paul's
wording here is to assure his hearers that the Jew, the Jew
that he's speaking to, they are in the same bad situation as
the Gentiles. The Jew is in the same situation
as the Gentile. They call themselves Jews. And they use that designation
proudly. They're proud to be called a
Jew. And that's what we see is that
they're boasting. They're boasting in that name.
I'm a Jew. And they're boasting in what
they're called, a Jew. And what we see there is that
they are respecters of persons. They see all men, they look at
all people, Jews and Gentiles, the rest of the world, and they
are at the head of the line. I'm a Jew, and everyone else
follows. I'm the best. So this self-appointed
designation by man, calling himself a Jew, the Lord deals with this
throughout scripture. Because we see time and time
again, over and over, the Lord deals with the nation of Israel. He judges them. They went into
captivity and they were scattered, just as the Lord said they'd
be scattered if they did not hear His word and believe Him. And yet man tells himself this
lie. He deceives his own self by calling
himself and boasting the fact that he is a Jew. And he comforts
his troubled heart by saying, well, even though things are
troublesome and things aren't going well, I know this one thing,
I'm a Jew. I'm a Jew. And so he's taking
comfort in that. He's giving himself this vain
assurance that he is a Jew and that the Lord loves him. Listen
to these two passages just to help us see and understand where
we're going here. In Revelation 2.9, the Lord makes
a distinction. The Lord makes a distinction
and he says, I know thy works and tribulation and poverty,
but thou art rich. Well, here he's speaking to his
children, his chosen seed. He says, you're poor, but really
you're rich in grace. You're rich in the Lord Jesus
Christ and what I've done for you. And then he says this, and
I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are
not, but are of the synagogue of Satan. They're of the synagogue
of Satan. And then again, in Revelation
3, 9, he says, 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. So, a man can call himself whatever
he wants, but that doesn't make itself. That doesn't mean that
it's true. So, in spite of the Word of God
which levels every one of us out, we're all sinners. God has
shown us that every one of us is a sinner and we have nothing
to boast of over another person. We can't do that. What we find
is that the so-called churches today they continue to do this
foolishness of designating the Jew as some special people that
the Lord has, that he's reserved for himself, that's different
from the special, peculiar people of his church. those that he's
put in the Lord Jesus Christ and given them salvation, made
them whole and washed them of their sins. And so, they too
are respecters of persons, these churches that look at the nation
of Israel, that civil nation of Israel and say, oh, those
are still the people of God, when God is clearly destroyed
them and God has clearly scattered them and has shown that they're
not a special people just because they're of the lineage or the
genealogy of Abraham. But what we find is that in Christ,
Christ is the one who makes us a Jew. So today we'll see that
God is the one who makes a true Jew and that it's according to
the work of his son Jesus Christ. God is the one who makes a true
Jew. And our title is Who does God call a Jew? Who does God
call a Jew? And I'll answer the question
even right now. It's the one whom God makes a
Jew by His operation of grace in the heart. God makes a Jew
and He calls them true Jews, those that are in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Right, now we'll have three divisions. First we'll
see the boast of the false Jew. Then we'll see the hypocrisy
of the false Jew, and then we'll look, we'll close with the true
Jew, looking at the true Jew. All right, so first, the boast
of the false Jew. After Paul got their attention,
when he said, thou that art called a Jew. You that are called a
Jew. He then begins to point out their
proud claims. Why they are true Jews, right? And what we see is rather than,
as we go through these, rather than this confirming that they're
true Jews, the reality is we see they're false Jews. They're
trusting in their works. They're not trusting in Christ,
they're trusting in their own works. And they're denying the
God that's revealed in these scriptures. They're denying this
God. Alright? So, let's point out
a few of these things as we go. Romans 2.17, he says, Behold,
thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law. You rest in the law. Now, just think about that for
a moment. Resting in the law? You that
hear what the law says, can you rest in the law? Knowing that
the law declares us, shows us that we're sinners, that no matter
how hard we work at it, no matter what we do to try and make ourselves
righteous, we come up short. The believer knows that I can't
find any rest in the law, and yet here are these people that
call themselves Jews and they rest in the law. And so the perfection of the
law tells us, this do and thou shalt live. That's what the law
says. Do this and you'll live. You
do the perfection of the law, everything that the law states,
and you shall live. It'll be your righteousness.
But read that here, no, I can't do the law, I can't do the perfection
of the law. Turn over to Galatians 3, and
hold your place there just for a moment, because I don't want
you to lose it. But look at Galatians 3, verse
10, and we'll go down to verse 12 for now. This is what the law says, and
this is why we cannot rest in the law. Galatians 3.10 For as
many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For
it is written, cursed is every one that continueth not in all
things which are written in the book of the law to do them. So,
it doesn't matter if you do 99.999% of what the law says, if you
fail in that one portion, that one thing, you've broken the
whole law, and therefore, if you subject yourself and put
yourself under the yoke of the law, you're now subject to the
curse of the law. which says if you don't do it
all perfectly, you're dead. You're condemned, you're under
the curse, and all the wrath and judgment of God will be poured
out upon you for what you've done in breaking the law. Alright,
verse 11. But that no man is justified
by the law and the sight of God, it is evident. And some people
don't seem to have gotten that memo. We know that there's many
churches that are still looking to the law, but he tells us,
the just shall live by faith. That's how we are to live, we're
to walk by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them. So anyone that
that looks to the law and claims that the law is their rule of
life and the believer's rule of life, and so they're turning
away from Christ and looking to that law, and that they believe
that God honors their best attempt. They know that they're not keeping
the law, but they say, well, at least I'm doing the best that
I can, and God will honor that. God honors me doing the best
that I can. Well, that's not by faith. They're
walking according to the flesh. They're still looking to their
flesh to sanctify themselves, and some even go as far as to
say it's their justification. And so because they do that,
they're guilty. They're putting themselves under
the and therefore under the curse of the law because we're not
to look to to that law. So here we have these Jews and
they restest in the law and then we're told why they rest in the
law. Look at the next phrase in verse 17. and makest thy boast
of God." So, when you hear that, you think, well, wait a minute,
that's good, right? They boast of God. Well, it's not the boast
that the believer has. The believer says, all my hope,
I've looked to the law and I cannot keep it. I can't do what the
law says. I fail. I break it. My flesh
is at enmity. with God, I can't do these things. God has shown me that. My mouth
is shut before God, and so we, you know, anyone who, you know,
the believer, their boast is in Christ. They say, well, I
couldn't do it, but Christ came and in grace, He's on everything
necessary for me. He is my hope. He's my salvation. He's everything that fits me
and makes me to be able to stand before God righteous and holy.
And so that's our boast. Our boast is in God through His
Son Jesus Christ. And the boast, though, that these
people are boasting in is because they've been given the law. So
the believer, going back to Galatians 3.13, before I forget, Galatians
3.13, our boast is that Christ has redeemed us out from under
the curse of the law. It says, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. So the
boast of these Jews, it's not like the boast of believers who
boast in Christ for their salvation. They're boasting because they're
saying, I've been given the law by God. God set me apart and
gave me the law, and you, he didn't give the law. So my boast
is that God gave me the law because I'm a special person and the
rest of you, you're all cursed. You're all cut off because God
has neglected you and has not given you the law. And so therefore
the Jew is confident that they were the people of God because
God favored them with the law and the prophets and the oracles
and the things that they had and did not favor them and they
became respecters of persons. And so it's this attitude that
we see even witnessed in legalistic religion, you know, to this day,
right? And so Any who applies to the
law, they claim to believe Christ, they claim to take the name of
Christ, and yet those that are still looking to the law, what
do they do to you that aren't looking to the law? You that
hope in faith, you that have faith in Christ and trust Him
for everything, you know what they say about you. You're an
antinomian. How can you have a hope? You're
filthy. You're vile. You're a lawbreaker.
You can't claim to be a believer in God and not look to the law.
So they are still boasting in themselves that they have the
law, just like the Jew did. They're boasting, well I have
the law. I look to the law for my sanctification. for my righteousness,
for my growth and grace. I'm looking to the law. I have
it. Therefore, I'm better than you who don't look to the law."
And that's what they're saying. That's what the legalist is still
saying to this day, just like the Jew. They're still trusting
in and having confidence in the law and looking down upon you
who don't claim to look to the law for your righteousness and
your rule of life. So having the law, they boasted
that they know God's will. We see that there in verse 18.
And knowest his will. And so then as we go through
verses 18 through 20, we see that their boast and their confidence
is in how they are using the law now. Look at it there with
me in verse 18. Knowest his will, and approvest
the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law,
and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light
of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish,
a teacher of babes which hast the form of knowledge, and of
the truth in the law. So they were boasting in, hey,
I know the law, and I'm an instructor of all those people that want
to know God but don't know him. I'm going to teach them. I'm
going to instruct them. I'm going to tell them how they
are to live. And so this is their confidence
that they can do this, that they're teaching people, people are hearing
what they're saying and trying their best to do and catch up
to them and do what they have to do under the law. But you
know, you see that they don't know the power of God, that we
preach the gospel of Jesus Christ knowing that Christ is the power
of God unto salvation. that God saves His people through
Christ, and He gives His people faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
to look to Him, to hear Him, to believe Him, to trust Him,
that He truly has reconciled His people to God, that though
we in our flesh are filthy sinners, unable to work a righteousness
for ourselves, that God has made peace with us through the mediator,
his son, Jesus Christ, who laid down his life for the people. So these people who call themselves
Jews, they're gaining more and more confidence because they're
able to instruct others and tell them how to live, and they're
seeing them try and start to do things, right? They see them
begin to pick up these fruits that they're looking for in the
flesh and therefore they have confidence that they are the
people of God. And really what you see is that
they're boasting of and confident in that which God alone can and
must do for his people. He's the instructor of the blind.
He's the one that gives sight. He's the one that turns us from
the lusts and the love of the things that this flesh loves
and lusts for. He's the one that turns us from
that and looks to him. And he's the one that turns us
from from striving in the flesh to rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. God alone can do that. And they're
boasting that they're the ones that are doing that. And that's
darkness. I'm not up here boasting of and
confident in myself. the Lord chose me and I declare
to you plainly, I'm not sufficient for these things. Who am I to
stand and instruct the people of God, my brethren and the Lord? My hope isn't in me or my ability,
my said ability to instruct you and to convey these truths to
you, but that the Holy Spirit attends the word as it pleases
him and brings it home to your hearts, that he teaches us in
the heart. And I need that teaching and
instruction just as much as you do, if not more. So it's all
we're dependent on the Lord. So remember that that which is
or he that is light and life of men aren't people like me. We're not the light in the life
of men. The Lord Jesus Christ is the light and the life of
his people, and he's the one that teaches us. Turn over to
John 1, verse 4, and you see that. John 1, verses 4, 5, and
then down in verse 9. And here we see that it's the Lord
Jesus Christ that's the Lord. It's the Lord Jesus Christ that
does the teaching. It's the Lord Jesus Christ that
does the saving of his people. In him, verse four, was life
and the life was the light of men and the light shineth in
darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. That's because all of
us are dead until he effectually shines that light in our hearts
and makes us to see so that then by his power we comprehend, we
understand what he's done and who he is. In verse nine, that
was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the
world. These so-called Jews, they had
the law and they became exactors with the law. And they became
confident and boastful in themselves and how they were using that
law to instruct others and tell others how to live. But they
weren't, they had no hope or confidence in Christ because
they didn't know Him. They were in complete darkness
and they thought that their salvation was in the law. And just look
at religion today and you see the same things where their hope
is in making you religious. teaching you their form of religion
and their form of godliness, but it's not about Christ. It's
not about resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's look at our
next one, the hypocrisy of the false Jew. So these Jews, they
show the deadness that's in their heart, that they weren't walking
by faith, but by their flesh instead. And so ask yourselves,
well, these people that are really walking in the flesh and they're
trusting their flesh to keep the law, are they any better
than the Gentile? Are they doing anything different
than what the Gentile was doing, what the Gentile Well, really,
we know the Gentiles deny God as He's revealed in the Scriptures,
and this is exactly what the Jew, or the legalist today, is
exactly what they do. They deny God that's revealed
in the Scriptures. Look at Romans 1, back in Romans
121 and 22. This was spoken of the Gentiles.
And ask, is it any different than what we see of the Jew?
Romans 121, because that when they knew God, they glorified
Him not as God. Neither were thankful, but became
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Is that any
different from the legalists that you know that are in your
families and people that you once fellowshiped with and trusted
them, is it any different than what they do under the law? Is it any different than what
you see of these Gentiles spoken of in chapter one? But actually
what you see them doing in verses, chapter one, verse 29 through
32, I'll just read a couple, things like fornication, things
like verse 30, being haters of God, proud, boasters. 31, without
understanding, being covenant breakers. And so that, verse
32, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things
are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure
in them that do them. And so the things that the Gentiles
were doing without the law, having just their own law to themselves,
he's showing the Jews are doing the same things, and yet they're
coming away boasting as though there's something different,
as though there's something special. Look at it there in Romans 2
verses 21 through 22. Thou therefore which teachest
another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should
not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should
not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest
idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? So if they're doing the same
things, Paul's pointing out to them they're doing the same things,
How is it that they weren't ashamed and feeling guilty that they're
lawbreakers and that they're not doing the law like they're
supposed to, that they're not doing it perfectly, that they're
not keeping it perfectly? How is it that they were boasting
and not feeling shame and guilt? Well, Again, they're in darkness,
and so they're deceiving themselves. And the way they were deceiving
themselves was, well, look at how I'm getting all these people
here to be better, to try and do the law, to be more honorable,
have better character, to be more moral. And as they're being
instructed by their teachings and doing a little better and
a little better each time, they were saying, well, clearly, God
knows I'm a sinner. Yeah, He knows I'm a sinner.
He knows I'm not perfect, but He favors me and is honoring
me because I'm helping these other people be better people.
So they're confident in their ability to instruct others and
to see others change their lives because they're getting others
to do things differently than what they were doing before in
the name of religion. And that's what they're doing.
And Paul addressed such over in Galatians 6. Galatians 6 verses
12 and 13 it says, As many as desire to make a fair show in
the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised, or they constrain
you to submit to the law and to follow the law as your rule
of life, only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross
of Christ. for neither they themselves were
circumcised to keep the law but desire to have you circumcised
why that they may glory in your flesh so their confidence is
well getting them to do something So clearly I'm a child of God
and God honors me and is favoring me above others who don't look
to the law or trust the law. And again, we see it today because
if you walk in to the legalists and the law keepers and you say,
well, no, the law is not the believer's rule of life. I'm
trusting Christ. I'm so thankful for what Christ
has done and rejoicing in him that he saves his people. And
you begin talking like that and immediately you're persecuted
because they're saying, wait a minute, you don't know You
can't talk like that. You're going to lead people into
being lawless people and what we call antinomians, right? Without
law. And you shouldn't speak like
that. And so they'll get angry with you and then as you keep
doing it, they'll persecute you and say, You're wicked. You're
not a Christian. You're wicked because you're
not trusting in the law, but trusting in Christ. And so, the
believer, though, knows that they're not lawless, they're
not without law, but our law is the law of faith. It's the
law of Christ. It's the law of love, which God
the Holy Spirit has written on our hearts, and so He teaches
us and instructs us. We know that all our sin is put
away by the blood and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
yet he teaches us and instructs us how to love one another and
how to walk in faith, not trusting in our own works and not trusting
in something that we've done. But in the next verse here, Romans
2, 23, back there in Romans. we find that the Jew is just
as guilty as that Gentile who did not have the law of Moses. It says, thou that makest thy
boast of the law through breaking the law dishonorest thou God? And that's exactly what they
were doing. Every time a legalist who claims to follow the law,
breaks the law, they're dishonoring God and everybody sees it and
knows it and understands what it is. And this brings us to
our next and final point, the true Jew. So what all this shows
us is that a circumcision in the flesh, which the Jews had
and they were trusting in that circumcision, that act of circumcision,
that cutting of the flesh cannot, can never produce righteousness. And yet they were trusting in
that to produce righteousness. And just like us, if we look
to the law and submit ourselves under the yoke of the law, it
can never produce righteousness. And so circumcision, all circumcision
was to be was a type or a picture of what God must do in the heart. It's supposed to be a picture
of what God has done in the heart, what He's accomplished. First he tells us that the name
of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it's
written, right? So Paul's point here is to show
that any work of man in the flesh, any work by the flesh, any work
in the flesh, it cannot produce righteousness. Righteousness
is produced in, is given to us by Christ, what He's done, and
is produced or worked in us by the Spirit of Christ. So man
has nothing to boast of in himself. Verse 25 says, For circumcision
verily profiteth if thou keep the law, but if thou be a breaker
of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. And so
here what Paul's doing is, He's beginning to introduce the mystery
of godliness. He's leading the readers or the
hearers of this letter being read, he's leading them to see
that, wait a minute, There's nothing I can do to save myself. There's nothing I can do to work
righteousness. And so he's beginning to open
up to them this mystery of godliness, that if I can't produce righteousness,
whether I am a Jew with the law or I'm a Gentile without the
law, if I can't do anything, well then how are we made righteous?
How are we going to be accepted before God? How is it that God's
going to save any of us? And that's where he's leading
them to. Look at verse 26. Therefore, if the uncircumcision
keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision
be counted for circumcision?" Right? Now, he's not teaching
that the Gentiles without law, who don't know anything of the
truth, can somehow keep the law and be made righteous before
God. What he's teaching, what he's beginning to show us, what
he's teaching us is that, wait a minute, there's an uncircumcised
people. who were never circumcised, never
had the law of Moses, and will never be circumcised, but who
keep the law, that is, fulfill all the righteousness of the
law, but not in themselves, not in their flesh, but in Christ.
That's where he's going here. He's showing us that there is
a people, God is able to save a people who are not under the
law. That's what he's showing here.
Verse 27, and shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature, we all come
forth by nature, dead in trespasses and sins, uncircumcised in the
heart, shall it not, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who by the
letter and circumcision does transgress the law? So he's driving
us to Christ, he's bringing us here to see It's not the Jew
or Gentile with or without law, it's Christ that makes the difference.
It's Christ that saves His people. Remember Paul said in Philippians
3.3, we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit
and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. And so the abiding principle
that Paul is teaching us here is what we see in Romans 3. Verse
20, where it says, By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight. Alright, so, as I noted, all
that circumcision was meant to do was show that God had done
a work in the heart. And that's what he's saying here
in verses 28 and 29. Romans 28 to 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. And so God always intended
that that his salvation is done by a work that he does in the
heart. It says in Deuteronomy 30 verse 6, 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. So that if God doesn't produce
doesn't work circumcision in our hearts. If he doesn't give
us a new heart, which he does by Christ, through the blessings
that he gives us in Christ, if he doesn't do it, no work in
the flesh that we do will ever circumcise us. It will never
work a righteousness for us. It will never produce that which
God alone can produce and must produce. So he does the work,
and this is what he did for all his children of promise. Now
I want to Paul is here, but I just want to read this in Romans 4,
verse 11. Paul tells us this because he's
continuing these themes that he's introducing here in the
beginning of the letter. He says in Romans 4, verse 11, he says,
And Abraham 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 unto them also. That's the righteousness
by faith. Look at verse 14 and 15 if you're
there. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is
made void, and the promise made of none effect. Because the law
worketh wrath, for where no law is, there is no transgression."
Now Paul had showed us earlier in chapters 1 and 2 that all
have a law unto themselves, whether it's the law of Moses or the
law of their upbringing by nature. Look at verse 16, therefore it
is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise
might be sure to all the seed not to that only which is of
the law but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham who
is the father of us all. So it was always the purpose
of God that our salvation would be according to faith and not
by our works in the law. And we don't look back to the
law now. We continue to look to Christ. We continue to walk
by faith, not the flesh. So I pray the Lord will bless
that word to your hearts. Let's pray. Our gracious Lord,
we thank you, Father, for your mercy. and the grace that you
show your people in your son, Jesus Christ. Lord, help us to
hear this word. Give us faith and help us to
walk by faith and by your spirit revealing to us our need of Christ
and that you've done all the work of salvation. Help us to
rest in him and see your fruit and your works which you produce
in your people. To the praise and glory of your
name. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.