Turn back to Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter 2. The title of
the message is this, Unmasking the Hypocrite. Unmasking the
Hypocrite. And you will see, as we go along
here, that is exactly what the apostle is doing. He's going
to unmask the hypocrite. I think that's Johnny back there. Come on in. So this is what we'll see. We'll
see Paul is going to unmask the religious man and he's going
to show his hypocrisy. You know, there's a lot of things
that as sinners and sinful as we are,
that we can be. But I think hypocrisy is probably
one of the, at the top of the list as being the worst. You
know, this is a, Or that's a name they used to call the actors
back in that day in Rome. Today we call them actors. We're
just a little, we're trying to be politically correct, but they
called them hypocrites. That's what they were. They were
acting out a part that they're not. And that's what a hypocrite
is. He's acting out something that
he's not. And so Paul is going to show
us, and he's showing the Jews here, that in reality, You're
just a hypocrite. You are nothing but a whited
sepulcher. On the outside, you look good,
you look pretty, beautiful, but on the inside, you're full of
dead men's bones. There's nothing genuine about
you except the fact that you lie. You know, you keep to that
all the time. So he says here, And in these
first few verses here, 17 to 20, he's going to show the advantage
that they had. And he says, Behold, that is,
give attention to this, thou art called a Jew. Paul addresses
the Jews from here to the end of the chapter. And he's going
to point out their privileges that they were given. And he's
going to bring several charges against them because of their
privileges. And he's going to do this in
order to show them that they cannot be justified by their
works no more than the Gentile. That they're just as sinful,
if not more so, because they have more light, than the Gentiles. They're no better off. They were
no better than the Gentiles that they censored. They judged the
Gentiles, they censored them. And they were no better. Now
they are called Jews. They were Jews by name, nation,
and religion. They were known for these things.
They were Abraham's seed according to the flesh. And they thought
because of that, that they had a leg up on everyone. They actually
thought because they were Abraham's seed, that they were the circumcision,
they were in the covenant, that they really owned God. That was
their attitude. But Paul is going to show them
differently. He said, "...thou art called a Jew, and you rest
in the law." Someone said this, I thought it was good. Their
confidence was in the fact that they had the law, and they used
it like a lucky charm. They used the law like a lucky
charm in their attitude. But they never really observed
the law, though they rested in the law, they never observed
it. They were given the Law, and because of this, they claim
to have God's favor. Having the Law and keeping the
Law are two completely different matters. They said, we have the
Law. Well, we have the written Word
of God. But that doesn't mean everyone who has it is saved,
does it? They said, we rest in the Word.
God gave it to us. Having a name, now listen, having
a name does not justify one. We are justified in one name,
Jesus Christ. We are justified in the name
of Christ. One writer said this, and this is one of those quotes
that has stuck with me. It's like a nugget, like a golden
nugget. He said this, the name of a Christian
does not mean that you have the nature of a Christian. Just because
you bear the name, you know, everyone can call themselves
a Christian, but that doesn't mean you have the nature of one.
That's the work of God. To have a real true nature of
a Christian, a believer, is the work of God. And the Jew, they
thought because they had the name and their attachment to
Abraham, that they were automatically in the kingdom. That was it.
And he says here in verse 18, you say that you know His will. You know what He requires. You
know what's to be done and what's not to be done. Well, to know
the will of God and to do the will of God are two different
matters. To say you know His will, remember
that servant whom the Lord said, go into the venue, and he said,
I will? And he did not go. And then the one said, I will
not go, but then he did go. The Jew is saying, we know His
will. Well, there's two different matters,
knowing it and doing it. What they did not know was the
redemptive will of God. That's what they missed. They
missed the redemptive will of God. And you say that you approve
the things of God, you give agreement to this, that this is the way
it ought to be done. But you don't do it. That's what
Paul's saying. You give agreement to it, but
you don't do what you agree to. And being instructed out of the
law, this is how they knew the excellent things. But they didn't
practice what they knew. They didn't practice what they
were taught. And you say you are confident that you are a
leader, that you are fit to be a guide of the blind, the ignorant,
the uneducated. That you are a guide to them.
You know, follow me. You don't know what you're taught?
You don't know? Well, let me teach you. That was their attitude. You're a guide of the blind.
Scripture says if the blind leaves the blind, where do they both
end up? In the ditch. That's where they both end up
at. But here's what he's saying in verse 19. Listen, they were
puffed up with knowledge. You're confident that you are
fit to be a guide of the blind. You're pupped up with knowledge,
but you're void of grace. That's why they were so harsh
on everyone. When they took that woman that
was called in adultery, they took and threw her down at the
feet of Christ. They wanted to see a stoning. They wanted to
see a stoning and they were just as guilty. Some of them in that
crowd of those Jews were just as guilty of adultery as she
was. But they wanted to see a stone. That's why when the Lord said,
he that's without sin cast the first stone, and one by one,
they came to slip out the back because they knew they were guilty.
And the word, when the Lord spoke that, it convicted them. They
had a natural conviction like, oh. It's like that woman at the well,
when he said, you've got five husbands, she goes, oh, I perceive
you're a prophet. But knowledge puffs up, and they
were puffed up with knowledge, but there's already grace. Someone said this, knowledge
puffs up, but grace brings us down to the level we should be
on. Grace brings us, it puts us on the level that we should
be on. And he says here, you are a light
to them that are in darkness. You know, they called their teachers
the lamp of light. That's what they would call their
teachers. And they liked that. Oh, they liked that. Now listen, a light of them that
are in darkness is true of a gospel preacher, but not true of self-righteous
preachers. That's not true. That's a preacher
of darkness. If the light in them is darkness,
how great is that darkness? And you're an instructor of the
foolish, the unlearned. You can teach the common people.
You're the ones that teach them. The conclusion Paul is drawing
here is since the teachers could not keep the law or be justified
by the law, neither can the students be. If the teacher's wrong, guess
what's going to happen to the students? They're going to be
wrong. That's why he said, you compass,
you compass sea and land and you make one proselyte. You do
that to make one proselyte. And when you have made that proselyte,
you know what you have made him? The Lord said, you have made
him twofold a child of hell. You've given that proselyte a
false hope. You've given him a false hope. You've given him false instructions,
false teaching, and a false hope. And you've made that proselyte
twofold a child of hell." So Paul now in verse 21 and on,
he's going to unmask their hypocrisy. "...Thou therefore that teachest
another, teachest thou not thyself?" Do you not learn the lesson that
you're trying to teach others? Did you not listen to your own
lessons? Turn over to Matthew 23. In Matthew 23, let me read these
first seven verses. Then spake Jesus to the multitude
and to His disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees
sit in Moses' seat. They are the instructors, they
are the teachers. All therefore whatsoever they
bid you observe, that observe and do. But do not ye after their
works, for they say and do not. And you think the Lord knows
what He's talking about? He knows exactly what He's talking
about. He knows the heart of these men sitting in Moses' seat. He knows that they sit in Moses'
seat, but when they get up and go home, they take the mask off,
they take the robes off, and then they are who they are in
the dark. For they bind heavy burdens and
grievous to be born, and lay them on men's shoulders, but
they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers."
They bind heavy burdens on you, but they won't do them themselves.
But all their workers they do for to be seen of men, but all
their works they do to be seen of men. That's right. What they
do, they do publicly, but that's not who they are when they shut
the door. They make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the
borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feast,
and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets,
and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi, teacher, teacher. But
when they shut the door, then they are who they are, and that's
who God sees. They're hypocrites. They were desirous to teach the
law, but they knew not what they were teaching. and they were
not what they were teaching. They were blind and ignorant
to the spirituality of the law. They taught about the Messiah
coming, yet they were ignorant when He came. He came unto His
own, and His own received Him not. It was the high priest who
sent out a band of men to get Him, to fetch our Lord, and to
put Him to death. They wanted to put him to death,
so much so that they sought... Now listen, this is the best
men in town. They sought false accusations. They looked for false witnesses
to come in and lie on him. They didn't care. They didn't
care that these witnesses would lie on the Lord, and they would
accuse him and then have him put to death over a lie. But
then when the morning came, they'd go get in Moses' seat and say,
Thou shalt not kill. Well, did you hear what you said? Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt
not murder. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
They'd go home, and I was reading John Gill, and he said that some
of their chief leaders, by their own writings, were committing
adultery, admitted to it. They would sit there and say,
then that's stoned, like that woman committing adultery, stoner.
But they themselves would be doing it. Religion without Jesus Christ
in the heart, without the work of grace in the heart, only leads
to hypocrisy. That's all it leads to. They did not listen to their
own lesson, to their own instructions. That's just like me standing
here preaching the gospel and telling you to believe, and then
I don't believe it. Love your enemies, but then I
go home and I say, I'd like to shoot that guy. I ain't going to love him. He just unnerves me. That's what
they were doing. They'd go read the law to the
people and force the people to do it. They forced them to do
these things. But then they excused each other. They excused each other. Thou that preachest a man should
not steal, dost thou steal?" And you know what he's saying
here? Paul says, you steal. You steal. He said this, the
Lord said this, you devour widows' houses. You go to these widows
and you take everything they got. You plunder their houses. And then you go and say, thou
shalt not steal. Nobody hates a thief more than
a thief. All right, nobody hates. I tell you this, you want to
find out what someone's real root problem is, just listen
to what they can't stand the most. What they, they will punish
in others what they see in themselves. That's what they'll really go
after in someone else is what they see in themselves. But he says here, thou preachest
a man shouldn't steal. Yes, you steal. That's what he's
saying. You do steal. You devour widows' houses is
what you do. Like those TV preachers, always
begging for money. Send us your money. Put it on
a credit card. Don't put anything on a credit card. If God doesn't
support it, forget it. God will support his ministry.
He'll support his ministering. Other than that, don't go put
it on a credit card. But that's just plundering people's
pocketbook is what it's doing. It's getting into the pocketbook
for your own advantage. And thou that sayest a man should
not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? You do commit
adultery. Turn over back to Matthew 23. This is where the Lord just reads
their pedigree in Matthew 23. Look in verse 13. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites. That's what he calls them. For
you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men. For you neither
go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to
go in. You shut it up. Someone has an
interest, you take them away from that interest. Woe unto
you, scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites, for you devour widows'
houses. And for a pretense, you make
long prayers. You went and took everything
they had, then you go stand outside and you pray. And a pretense, make
long prayers. Therefore you shall receive the
greater damnation. They think the Gentiles and all
the sins that were mentioned over in chapter 1, they think
they're going to receive the greater condemnation. No. The
ones receiving the greater condemnation are those who have more light. He said, warned you, scribes,
Pharisees, hypocrites, you compass sea and land. You put forth a
lot of effort to make one proselyte. And when he's made, you made
him twofold a child of hell than yourselves. Warned to you, you
blind guides, which say, whosoever shall swear by the temple, it's
nothing. Whosoever shall swear by the gold on the temple, he's
going to have to pay. That's like saying, that's like taking
a bet. You know, that's like, I bet you $100, you can't run
down a mile and back. He runs a mile and back, you
know, and he said, you better pay that $100. You just bet me
$100. But you don't put a bet on it.
He's like, I ain't running down there. He said, you can swear by the temple that represented God's presence,
but that's all right. But now the gold on the temple,
you're going to have to pay that. If you lose that bet, you're
going to have to pay. Then look at verse 23, "'Woe
unto you, scribes, Pharisees, and hypocrites! For you pay tithe,
and mint, and anise, and cumin, and have omitted the weightier
matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith. These ought
you to have done, and not leave the other undone.'" Verse 25,
"'Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites! For you make clean
the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they
are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisees!" These
are the ones who said they were a guide of the blind? The Lord
says, you're blind. You Pharisees are blind. Cleanse
first that which is within the cup and platter that the outside
of them may be clean. Woe to you, scribes, Pharisees,
hypocrites, for you are like white as sepulchres, which indeed
appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's
bones and all of uncleanness going on in your heart. Verse
29, woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. You build the tomb
to the prophets and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous.
And you say, if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would
have not been partakers with them, but we can't stand you
preachers now. You brag on the dead ones, but
you shoot the living ones. That's a hypocrite. Now, what
I just read to you is what Paul's addressing. It's what the apostle
Paul was addressing, what our Lord just addressed there in
chapter 23. He said, thou that abhorrest
idols, doest thou commit sacrilege? They were the worst idol worshipers
of anybody. When Moses went up on the mountain,
and he was up there longer than they thought he should be, what
did they do? They had Aaron to make a golden calf. And every
time he turned around, they was worshiping some kind of idol,
and God would always chase him and bring him down. And then
they stand and say, you shouldn't do that. You shouldn't do that. Thou that makest thy boast of
the law. You brag about it. It's our law.
God gave it to us. We keep the law. You know what
that young man said? All these commandments have I
kept from my youth up. But through breaking the law,
you dishonor God by your conduct. For the name of God is blasphemed
among the Gentiles through you. That is, you condemn them for
the very things that you do. You condemn them to hell for
the very things that you do. And then Paul, here's what Paul
is driving at. Here's what he's driving at.
He's going to take and he's going to root them out of their last
stronghold. This is the area they felt they
were untouchable. Okay, I'm not perfect. Okay,
I haven't kept the law as perfect as I ought to. I haven't done
things as I ought to. I am one of the circumcision.
I am a Jew. I am circumcised. I'm in the covenant. I'm one
of the elect. So what Paul's going to do here,
he's going to run them out of their last stronghold. This is
the one thing they held on to above all else. is this outward
mark in the flesh that was given to Abraham back in Exodus 17. They felt they were untouchable.
When all else fails, we're going to ride into glory on this matter
of being circumcised. Because it was given to Abraham,
and it was a mark of being in the covenant, And we have it,
and therefore we are God's children. Not so. Paul is going to say,
not so. In verse 25, for circumcision
verily profits if you keep the law. if you keep the law. But if thou be a breaker of the
law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision." It's worthless.
Because what he's saying here, if there's not an inward work
of grace, the outward doesn't matter. It's the inward that
matters. It's what's on the inside. It's
what God does on the inside. It's the circumcision of the
heart, as we'll see here in a minute. It's the uncircumcision of the
heart. It's God circumcising the heart. It's a work of grace. It's a new heart. It's a new
heart. And he says here, even though
you're circumcised, if you don't keep the whole law, then you've
broke the whole law. Circumcision's not gonna save
you. You know, I was thinking this morning, I was looking at
this again, and I heard a man say this some
years ago. He was talking to another preacher. I mean, this
man didn't preach the gospel. But he was talking to this preacher.
He said, you know, I've always just wanted to be baptized. This man never
goes to church, never does. I mean, he just... But in his
mind, if he's baptized, then he's saved. You know that's not right. You
know that's not so. Baptism doesn't save anybody.
Baptism is an open confession of Christ for a believer. Now,
for an unbeliever, he just got wet. That's all he did, he just
got wet. Because it does nothing for you.
If it's not on the inside, baptism is not going to wash away your
sins. The only thing that can wash away sins is the blood of
Christ. And that's the same with circumcision with the Jews. He
boasted of having the law. Well, if you don't keep the law,
your circumcision doesn't count. It doesn't count. It's useless. It's totally useless. Verse 26,
Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the
law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
This is hypothetical. Paul's given a hypothetical statement
here, situation. If the Gentile, if he was to
keep the righteousness which is of the law, his uncircumcision
would be counted for circumcision. In other words, he'd be counted
as a child of God in the covenant. And he's given a hypothetical
statement here, because we know that no one can keep the law,
because the law is spiritual, and we can't keep the law perfectly. Only one person ever did that,
Jesus Christ. He kept the law perfectly. And
shall not, verse 27, and shall not uncircumcision which is by
nature, if it fulfill the law, shall it not stand in judgment
against you? Who say you have the law and you're keeping it,
but you don't? Who by the letter and circumcision does transgress
the law? Now here's where he's coming
to, and this is important here. This is important. Because later on, as we go through
here, the next chapter, he's going to get to this matter of
justification by faith. Not justification by doing, but
by believing. For he is not a Jew. You see, there's the Jew, then
there is the Jew. There's the Jew by the flesh,
connected to Abraham, then there's the spiritual Jew. That's the
church. That's the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither
is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh." When God
gave that to Abraham, and He gave him as a sign of the seal
of the covenant, and was speaking of the seed of Abraham, that
through him, that through his seed, all the earth would be
blessed, that seed is Jesus Christ. He's speaking of one person.
He's speaking of Jesus Christ. So he's not a Jew, which is one
outwardly. He's not an Israelite, which
is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly, in the heart. It's spiritual. It's spiritual. And circumcision is that of the
heart. It's the work of God in the heart.
It's the work of grace in the heart. It's the giving of a new
heart. in the Spirit and not in the
letter, whose praise is not of men, because men didn't do this
work. When a male child was eight days
old, he would be taken to the temple and they would circumcise
him. That was of men. They performed that ritual, they
performed that act. But the circumcision of the heart,
is an act of God. It's a work of God. And man has
nothing to do with it. And the true Israel of God, now
listen, the true Israel of God are those who believe God. They
are the true Israel of God. They make up the true Israel
of God. You're looking at a true Jew.
I'm looking at the true Jews. Those of you who believe, you
are the true Israel of God. And they missed this. They missed
it. They missed it. So what Paul has done here, to
close with, what Paul has done, he is, in chapter 1, he shows
that the Gentiles have enough light by nature to seek after
the Creator. and that they ended up all being none good, no not
one. And then he turns to the religious
man and he turns to the Jew who had God's word, the law, and
he shows that they are not any good either. They're just hypocrites. It's just like, They got a suit
on. It's like somebody's dressed
up. The Gentiles like the beggar on the street in ragged clothes,
and the Jews like the ones standing in a suit. But you take the suit
off, and you take the rags off, and what do you have? You have
the same man in both. The same man. Same person. The
only one that makes a difference is Jesus Christ. justified in Christ, received
in Christ, blessed in Christ, blessed in that man, in that
man, justified in Christ. And this is what we'll see as
we go on through the book of Romans.