Let's all stand together. We'll
sing hymn number 17. Number 17. Come Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some, the Lord is on
it, sung by flaming tongues above. Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon
it, mount of my redeeming love. Here I raise my Nebenezer, hither
by thy help I'm come. And I hope by thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home Jesus, I'll leave with a stranger Wandering
from the fold of God He to rescue me from danger Interposed this
precious blood Oh to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained
to be Let thy goodness, like a fetter Find my wandering heart
to be Prone to wander, Lord, I fear you Prone to leave the
God I love Be seated, we'll sing hymn number 283. 283. Oh, how sweet the glorious message
simple faith may claim. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. Still he loves to save the sinful,
heal the sick and lame. Cheer the mourner, call the tempest,
glory to his name. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never
Glory to His name Glory to His name Glory to His name All may
change, but Jesus never Glory to His name He who pardoned there
in Peter, never least thou fear. He who came to faithless Thomas,
all thy doubt will clear. He who let the love disciple
on his bosom rest. Bids thee still with love as
tender lean upon his breast. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to his name. Glory to his name. Glory to His name All may change,
but Jesus never Glory to His name He who made the raging billows
Walked upon the sea Still can hush our wildest tempest As on
Galilee wept and prayed in anguish in
Gethsemane. Drinks with us, each cup of trembling
in our agony. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never
will return to His name. Glory to His name, glory to His
name All may change, but Jesus never Glory to His name As of
old He walked and made us with Him to abide. So through all life's way He
walked with ever near our side. Soon again shall we behold Him,
facing Lord the day. But we'll still be the same,
Jesus, as He went away. Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus
is the same. All may change, but Jesus never. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. Glory to His name. All may change, but Jesus better. Glory to His name. Romans chapter 2. Romans chapter
2. I want to express our sympathy. April's mother died Monday night,
her mother Carol, and she called me yesterday and
told me about it. So her mom and daddy are both
gone. They'll have the visitation at Jenny's funeral home next
Tuesday from 5 to 7, I think, 5 to something, and then the
service, then the service. And alright, I'm going to start reading
in verse 17 and go to the end of the chapter. Behold, thou
art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast
of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that
are more excellent being structured out of the law. and art confident
that 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 has the form of knowledge and of the truth in
the law. Thou therefore which teachest
another, teachest 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? Thou that makest thy boast of
the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou God. For the name of God is blasphemed
among the Gentiles through you, as it is written, For circumcision
verily profiteth, if thou keep the law. But if thou be the breaker
of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore
if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall
not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not
uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, Judge
thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law. For
he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision
was outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly. Circumcision is that of the heart,
in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of
men, but of God." Our Father, in the glorious,
blessed name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, we come with
thanksgiving. Lord, we have so much to be thankful
for. Lord, you woke us up this morning. You've kept us throughout the
day. You gave us the desire and the will to be here to worship
the Lord Jesus Christ, to worship God in spirit and in truth. Lord, and I thank you for those
that's come out, and I pray for them, that it be a blessing to
them, and that the hearts and minds would be opened, and that
I could understand what I'm saying, make it plain, make it understandable,
make it simple enough that we can grasp the Word of God. Lord, we look to you for all
things. We don't look to this flesh. We have no confidence
in this flesh. We have no confidence in ourselves.
Our confidence is in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him only. He's
all of our righteousness. He's all of our plea. He's all
of our worth and all of our merit. And Lord, we bless you for it.
Please be merciful and gracious to the family that just lost
their mother. And I pray, Lord Jesus, that
you'd continue to bless Sister Ellen and the family as they
just lost Joe. Lord, for those not with us,
we ask for your great abundant mercy. And Lord, for those who
are watching and listening, may they be blessed by the word of
God for Christ's sake. Amen. Hymn number 357. 357. Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer
to Thee, Even though it be a cross that praises me. Still all my song shall ring, Nearer,
my God, to Thee, Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee. Though like the water, Darkness be over me My rest a
stone Yet in my dreams I'd be Nearer, my God, to Thee Nearer,
my God, to Thee Verse four. In with my waking
thoughts, bright with my praise, out of my stormy way. So glad I was to be Here am I,
God, to Thee Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer
to Thee. Lord, if not your wings leaving
the sky, ? Sun, moon, and stars for God
? ? What else could I find? ? ? Still all my song shall be
? ? Nearer, my God, to Thee ? ? Nearer, my God, to Thee ? In the air today My subject tonight is THE SIN
OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, THE SIN OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. The verses
that I read is Paul is dealing with the Jews, but he showed
Jew and Gentile alike as under the judgment of God. You know,
we saw where the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness, all unrighteousness. Last week we dealt with the four
principles of God's judgment. First is judgments according
to truth, not according to man's opinion, not according to man's
emotions, not according to man's thoughts, according to truth,
truth. And the second principle, judgment
according to what a man does, according to God judges a man
according to his deeds, according to his deeds. And the third thing,
you know, principle of judgment was God according to His impartiality. How could He be impartial? Because
He is no respect of persons. He treats every man alike, you
know. He treated us just like He did
everybody else except He treated us justly in His blessed Son,
and I'm so thankful for that. And then according to the gospel
of Christ, God's judgment is going to be according to the
gospel of Christ when He judges the secrets of men's heart. And
now Paul comes specifically to the Jew, and they made much,
they made so much of having the law, having Moses being descendants
of Abraham. They thought that they had special,
special privileges. Well, and Paul's a logical thinker,
and he'll ask questions and deal with things to bring them to
a certain conclusion. And he wants to show them how
that they're no better off, no better off than anybody else,
than any heathen or any Gentile or anybody that didn't even know
the law. And I tell you, there's self-righteousness,
and these folks are so self-righteous, and I think WE ALL NEED TO GUARD
AGAINST SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. Our Lord spake a parable about
they that were righteous, thought they were more righteous than
others, and despised others. And He spake a parable, and that
parable was the Pharisee went up, and he started thinking,
God, that he wasn't NOTHING like that other man over there. And
that's the way the Jew was. He looked at everybody else and
said, I'm fine, THEY'RE the ones bad. And then I, you know, That's one thing you can find,
self-righteousness. Oh God, protect us from it, keep
us from it. It's as natural to us as anything
else. It's really, truly natural to
us. It really is. You just wait till the next time
somebody aggravates you or somebody does something that you don't
like or something, you wait and see how self-righteous you get.
Did you see what they said? Did you hear what they done?
Did you see how they acted? That s natural to us, but God
helped us from it. You know what God said about
our righteousness? He said, All of our righteousnesses
are as a filthy rag, because we ain t got any of our own.
It has to be self unless it s the righteousness of Christ. So He
shows the Jew his position in the sight of God Almighty, and
I tell you, that s where it all rubber hits the road. We re in
the sight of God. You know the Jew had greater
light, greater light, he had the prophets, he had the priesthood,
he had the sacrifices, and so his pride and his self-sufficiency
were USELESS, even DANGEROUS, bringing him to greater condemnation
because God's name was DISHONORED even through Gentiles because
of them. Now, here's the first thing he
says here in verse 17. Here s what the Jews claim. He
said, Behold, thou art called a Jew. Oh, called a Jew. Oh, he s proud of his name, proud
of his heritage, proud of his inheritance, proud of his heritage,
proud of his pedigree. Behold, thou art called a Jew.
You know, the first time the word Jews mentioned in the Bible
is mentioned in II Corinthians, excuse me, II Kings chapter 16
and verse 6, first time it s ever mentioned. And you know what
it says there that King Rezin drove ALL the Jews out of his
kingdom, drove them all out. And that s why Paul, he was talking
to the Galatians when the Jews came down there and tried to
bring people that was under grace back under law. And Paul said,
We are JEWS BY NATURE! WE'RE JEWS BY NATURE! WHY DO
YOU WANT TO BRING GENTILES WHO ARE NOT JEWS BY NATURE UNDER
THE LAW? WE'RE JEWS BY NATURE! IT'S NATURAL
FOR US TO DO THAT! And now Jews always thought that
the Gentiles were unclean, unclean. And though he had a name and
he honored his name, he loved his name, thought being a Jew
was the greatest thing ever, and He didn't attain righteousness
even though He claimed it by the law. Do you remember when
our Lord Jesus Christ, He went to the woman at the well, and
He comes, that's that woman at the well, and He's sitting there
waiting on her, and He says, Now, give me to drink of water.
And you know what the first thing she said? You're a Jew! You being
a Jew! Ask of me to give you a drink
of water, and the Jews don't have anything to do with the
Samaritans. Why are you asking me? You Jews
don't have anything to do with Samaritans. And that's the way
they were. They automatically thought, well,
Jews won't have anything to do with us. Won't have anything
to do with us. And I tell you what, Jesus, the
Jews, they claimed to have certain privileges, and they really did,
they really did. But He says here, I want to give
you five of them here in verse 17 and 18, Behold, thou art called
a Jew, and listen to this, I don't know how they do this, but rest
in the law. Now, how in the world do you
rest in the law? They did! You know, we read the other day
about in John chapter 7 where they said, you know, they come
to get the Lord Jesus and they said, Why didn't you bring Him?
He said, No, it meant to speak like that. I said, Are you deceived
also? People that don't know the law,
they're CURSED! They RESTED in the law! They
BOASTED in the law! They GLORIED in the law! How
do you rest in law? But they did! And that s why
Paul said, You know, after the rise of the law, I was blameless.
And then here s the second thing, They make their boast of God.
Oh, we re the only people on the planet that know God. Here,
O Israel, the Lord our God is one. Oh, He s the God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. He s the God of the Jews. And
oh, they make their boast of God. And then look what else
it says in verse 18, And you say ye know His will. You know
what God's will is. You know what He requires. You
know what He commands. You know what pleases Him. You
say you know everything about the will of God, and oh, my! He said, You know His will. And
I tell you, look what else He says here, and He said, You approve
the things that are more excellent. What he's saying is that you
distinguish between things that DIFFER, and they CERTAINLY did
our Lord Jesus Christ that way! They made a DIFFERENCE! They
said, We're Abraham's sons, we've never been born in fornication,
we've NEVER been in bondage! And they called Christ a wine-bibber
and a drunkard, and they said He has a DEVIL, even! So oh my,
they have proved the things that are ECHOLETE, distinguished things
that DIFFER! DIFFER! And then look what it
says there, it also and being instructed out of the
law. You go to the law to get your instructions. You go to
the law to see how to live. You go to the law to see your
instructions. And I heard a Jew talk the other day. I heard a
man talk the other day. Of course, you know, they got
this anti-Semitism going and all that, but he said the other
day, he says, you know, the Jews have 613 laws that they have
to keep. Ten Commandments is the LEAST they got to worry about.
It s all the OTHER things they got to deal with. And I tell
you what, he says, You know, being instructed out of the law.
He said, Oh, you make your boast, you make your boast. And oh,
my! And I tell you, these things,
you know, they made the difference in a Jew, in between the Jews
and those around them. They distinguished, they said,
This is what makes us being a Jew. This is what makes us GLORY in
ourselves, and have our own RIGHTEOUSNESS. But what the Jews did, they wrapped
themselves up in these PRIVILEGES that they had as HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS,
and made SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, and to be self-righteous, and
despised others, despised other people. And that's why we know
we ask that question, WHO MAKES YOU TO DIFFER? WHO MAKES ANYBODY
TO DIFFER in this world? Who doesn't? What have you got
that God didn't give you? And oh my, they claim to have
all these privileges, and not only that, they claim to be superior
than anybody else. They really did. Look what he
said in verse 19 and 20. And art confident that thy 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 has
the form of knowledge and the truth in the law. Oh, my! These folks had CONFIDENCE. They
claimed to be, and there s five more things here again, you know,
five more claims here. Look what it says in verse 19,
And art confident. You ve got this great confidence
being a Jew. You ve got this great confidence
of being in the law. You ve got this great, great
confidence of being who you are and what you claim to be. And
then look what he says. He said, you're so confident
that you yourself are a god of the blind. You're a god of the
blind. Oh, my. Can you imagine taking
the law and guiding people with the blind with it? And I know
some folks in Reformed Baptist churches. And I heard a fella, and I've
told you this before, a man got up and preached. And this is
the same church that put their pastor on discipline until he
lost so much weight. But anyway, this fella got up
and he preached, he says, We re walking a tightrope. He said,
You know, we got our righteousness, and then there s the righteousness
of Christ. He said, And what you got to do is you got to have
a balance, Mark, and you got to walk real carefully, and if
you lean too much to your righteousness, then you ll be messed up, and
if you lean too much to the righteousness of Christ, you ll be messed up.
You got to have a balance. Well, I didn t know but there
was one righteousness, and that s the righteousness of Christ.
There never HAS been any other righteousness. And I tell you
what, you was talking about Don Fortner got up right behind him,
and you could just imagine how Don just got up there, both six
guns on, bam, bam, bam, bam, he shot that guy. I mean, oh,
Don. Don, listen, you don't have to
guess what he believed. Oh, he took that guy to task.
Oh, I'd hate to be him sitting there. I'd hate to be that guy.
Oh, Don took him to task, and he needed to be took to task.
He NEEDED to be took to task. We ain't GOT a righteousness!
God, in mercy, when He gave us, REGENERATED us, He put His Holy
Spirit in us to teach us how to live and to believe the Word
of God and obey the Word of God and be new creatures in Christ. But we NEVER can claim a righteousness
of our own. We could not POSSIBLY do it.
That's what these Jews did. They claimed to have a righteousness
of their own. And oh, he said, We're a guide
of the blind. And then look what he goes on to say here. You're
a light of them which are in darkness. A light of them that
are in darkness. And oh, that's what these guys,
they want to say. Oh my, if you all would learn
like we did, learn like we did and follow the law like we did,
you'd have more peace and all that. A light of them that are
in darkness. And then look what else he said
in verse 20. An instructor of the foolish.
And that word, instructor of the foolish, means you correct
the foolish. You correct them. You find somebody
acting like a fool, and you correct them. And that's what people
do. They're always correcting somebody.
If they say the wrong thing, act the wrong thing, and correcting
them. And then, of course, the others,
they broast in and are confident that they was. A teacher of babes, a teacher
of babes. You get these little babes that
don't know anything, and there, you know, you got to get them
outside and teach them and instruct them. And that's what they did
with Paul. Everywhere he went, the Jews
was trying to come right behind him and tear down what he said.
You know, called him a fool and tried to instruct him. And oh,
my, look what else it says. which has a form of knowledge
and the truth in the law. Oh, what in the world does this
mean? They had a form of knowledge and truth in the law. They said,
our knowledge comes from the law. We get our truth out of
the law. Now, when we talk about the law,
we're talking about the first five books of the Bible. We're
not talking about Ten Commandments. We're talking about the first
five books of the Bible. And oh, my, they had this law
in the form of knowledge and that truth, and this qualified
them to be teachers, teachers. But I'll tell you something.
No one can stand them in their self-righteousness because of
their pride and self-sufficiency. Our Lord Jesus Christ, you remember
He said, You accomplish sea and land. You go over this sea and
you go all over that land, and when you make a proselyte, when
you convert somebody, you know what you've done? You've made
him two-fold the child of hell than you yourself are. That's
what He said. That's what you fellas do. And
our Lord, you remember when our Lord Jesus Christ, well, let's
look at it together. Matthew 15, let's just look at
it. I think we might've looked at
this last week, I don't know. But anyway, in Matthew 15, look
what it says here in verse 12. Oh my. You know, this is where
our Lord said, and what goes into a man's mouth, that's not
what defiles, what comes out of his heart. And that upset
them, that offended them. Then his disciples, in verse
12, Matthew 15, said, Then came his disciples and said unto him,
Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended after they heard
this say? Now these Pharisees are separatists, law keepers.
But he answered and said, Every plant which my heavenly Father
hath not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the
blind, and if the blind lead the blind, they both shall fall
into the ditch." And here they said, well, they're
the guide of the blind. And I tell you what, they had
this superiority. Paul comes along and he tears
down their playhouse. He tears it down. He starts showing
them how ridiculous, how foolish it is for them to claim all these
things. Look what he said in verse 21
and 22. Thou therefore are you therefore which teacheth another.
You're gonna instruct the foolish, teachers are made. Kinds are
blind, light's setting in the dark. And he said, thou therefore
which teachest another, teachest not thyself. Thou that preachest
a man should not steal. Do you steal? That thou sayest
a man should not commit adultery. Dost thou commit adultery? Dost
thou abhor, thou abhorest idols, and yet you commit sacrilege.
You've got idols of your own. You say, oh my, and here's the
first thing you said, you've been going around here teaching
everybody else. Did you ever think about teaching yourself
something? Do you ever think about teaching yourself something?
Why don't you teach yourself first? And this is something
I believe all grace preachers, real preachers, I believe every
one of them, every one of them, that every message they preach,
It's as real to them as is anybody else. It has something for us
like it anybody else. You know, I know that preachers
that they act like they're above and beyond the congregation.
They know more in the congregation. They're better than the congregation.
They're superior in the congregation. But beloved, the message that
would save you saves me. The message that instructs you
instructs me. And that's what Paul's saying
here. Why do you teach yourself? If you're gonna start teaching
somebody, start with yourself. Start with yourself. Oh, and
then he says, are you teaching and preaching that a man should
not steal? And you are a thief yourself,
you steal yourself. Why does he steal? God's glory
for one thing. You know, our Lord says, you've
robbed widows' houses. He said, You take widows and
you steal from widows. You go in there and take the
poor old widows' money. And I tell you what, they rob
widows and think they're doing God's service. And oh my! And I tell you, look what else
He says, Thou that seest a man should not commit adultery. Don't
go committing adultery. You remember when our Lord took,
when they took that woman taking in adultery in John chapter 8?
My they the scripture said they caught her in the very act when
I had to be a man involved, but they did not bring that man and
They got down to the end of it and Christ Bit down and wrote
twice. I think the first time he wrote
said love God with all your heart. I And love your neighbor as yourself
the second time. And he rose up the second time,
he's standing on resurrection ground, and he said, anybody
that's gonna, without sin, you pick up a rock and you start
stoning her right now. Boy, they went to backing up
and they just all left, everybody was gone. They all was gone,
why was they gone? because they knew they was as
guilty as anybody else of what they accused her of, they was
guilty of, they was guilty of. And then thou that abhorst idols,
Oh, they just absolutely hated idols, hated idols. But oh my,
behind this so-called wonderful preacher's a hypocrite, a thief,
an adulterer, a blasphemer, an idolater. They abhorred idols,
but yet they loved to pray standing in the street corner. They loved
to break broad their phylacteries. They loved to go around and tell
everybody how good they were and how powerful they were and
how wise they were. And oh, my! The Jews had great
advantages over the Gentiles, but they were under the same
judgment and condemnation. Oh, my! And then look, Paul just
says, Listen, you're superiority, you're deceived in yourself.
And then he goes on to say that they're PRIVILEGES, you're deceived
in your privileges. Look what he goes on to say in
verse 23, Thou makest thy boast of the law. You make your boast
of the law. you boast about being a law keeper,
you boast about having the righteousness of the law, oh, not at all how
you keep it. Remember they told our Lord,
Why in the world are you healed on the Sabbath day? Why has your
disciples not picked corn on the Sabbath day? Why did you
do this on the Sabbath? And they just could not stand
it. They made their boast in the law. And look what else he
goes on to say, But break in the law, you dishonest the law,
for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you,
as it is written." Oh, whatever they boasted about, they did
just the opposite, they did just the opposite. They broke the
law, and in breaking the law they dishonored God, dishonored
God. They said, We've got Moses! As
for this fellow, we don't know where he come from. We be children
of Abraham. And I tell you what, our Lord
Jesus Christ, look in John 7, 19. Look what he said over here
in John 7, 19 to these people. Look what he said over here. Look what our master said about
these Jews and their claims of privilege. Paul just said, you're
so deceived in yourselves. Look what our Lord said in verse
19. John 7, did not Moses give you the law? And yet none of
you keeps the law. Why you go about to kill me?
The people answered, said, you got a devil. Go about to kill
us? See, there's to make a distinction.
Oh, my. Oh, boy. So they went on and
on and on about it. And oh, by breaking the law,
they dishonored God. And then he says there, For the
name of God's blaspheme among the Gentiles through you, as
it is written. You remember when David took
Bathsheba and then had her husband killed. Nathan, the prophet, come along,
told him he was the man, he was guilty, and he said, You know
what you've done? You've gave great occasion to
the enemies of the Lord Enemies of the Lord to blaspheme That's
what he said. That's what you've done You gave
great occasion and I'll tell you what and the over and over
is equals 36 Let me just look at this again just for a minute
Ezekiel 36 Verse 20. Oh Look what God says
here about him When you went because, when you Jews went out
because of your behavior, the name of God was mocked by the
Gentiles. And that's, you know, they people,
where grace is preached, where grace is preached purely, purely,
nothing added to it. Christ is preached purely. There's
two things they accuse you of. First of all, they accuse you
of being an antinomian. That you cannot, you're without
law, is what they say. They accuse you, and that's what
antinomian means, being without law. Well, the scriptures tells
us we're under the law of Christ, the law of love. And the second
thing they accuse us of, if grace, if all you believe is grace,
and you got nothing else to tell you how to live, he said, you
know what you'll do? You'll go out and sin all you
possibly can. Now how many of y'all done that
this week? But that's what they do, that's
the reason the name God's blasphemed. They went around accusing everybody
of everything, and that's what they, there's two things that
they always accuse grace preachers of. And look what he said here
in Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse 20. And when they entered in unto
the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when
they said to them, These are the people of the Lord, and are
going forth out of the land." They profaned the name of God
Almighty. And that's just, that's what
they said. Oh my. If that's their people's God,
they blaspheme the name of God by how they live. And then let
me hurry on here. Look what He says now in verse,
He s going to show them that they have no profit, that I mean
they re obligated to be obedient, but they are not obedient. He goes on to say, For if circumcision
and verily profited, it will profit you if you keep the law.
But if you be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision makes you
unclean like anybody else. Circumcision was a covenant that
God entered into with Abraham as a token of those being the
nation of Israel. That was a covenant that God
made with Abraham and distinguished them from the other nations.
But boy, this was a loan. They thought this was a loan,
that circumcision was a loan to cause them to stand righteous
before God. And he said, It IS if you keep
the law perfectly. But if you're trusting your circumcision,
this covenant with Abraham, if you're trusting THAT to make
you righteous and don't keep the law, you're just as unclean
as anybody else. Your circumcision don't mean
anything. Your covenant with Abraham don't mean anything.
And then he goes on to say, Therefore, in verse 26, Therefore, if the uncircumcision,
people like us, you know, people that wasn't in the covenant of
Abraham, the way it was by this circumcision, if they keep the
righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision, his uncleanness,
be counted for circumcision, be counted for cleanness before
God. And so he's showing it, the absurdity of their positions.
You see what he's showing? He said, Boy, you fellas think
your circumcision amounts to something. And oh, my! You know, if a man is uncircumcised,
which is by nature, and not in the covenant, yet keeps the law,
his uncleanness, his uncircumcision, God will count him as a clean
person, a righteous person. But oh, my! And look what he
said in verse 27, And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature,
if it fulfill the law. I want you to make a judgment
here now. I want you to judge this. Who by the latter's circumcision
transgresseth the law. If a man that's by nature don't
have that law, and he keeps the law, YOU JUDGE BY THE LETTER
AND CIRCUMCISION DOES TRANSGRESS THE LAW, WHICH ONE IS RIGHT?
And he just keeps coming to these conclusions, and so he finally
says this, YOU JUDGE EVERYBODY BY THE LETTER AND CIRCUMCISION
OF THE LAW, and he says circumcision profits you nothing, and uncircumcision
profits you nothing, but a new creature in Christ is what Galatians
says. Now look what he said, religion without any reality.
He shows a great difference and a contrast between the Jew outwardly
and the Jew inwardly, for he said, He is not a Jew, which
is one outwardly. Just because you claim to be
a Jew, You claim to be a descendant of Moses, you've been taught
the law by Moses, and you're an Abraham's descendant of Abraham,
Abraham's your father. You believe Moses more than you
believe anybody else. He is not a Jew which is one
outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.
That circumcision that they had in that covenant, it means nothing. That's what Paul said, it means
absolutely nothing. But he said, I'm going to tell you who a true
Jew is. which is one inwardly. It s a thing of the heart, and
circumcision is of the heart, heart. God got to do something
to take that old unclean heart, that old nasty heart, and He
got to put in a new heart. And it s in the Spirit, it s
in a man s Spirit, and it s not in the letter, not in all the
letter of the law. And look what this says, Whose
praise is not of men. You know, the Jews, they wanted
of prowls of men, and men to brag on them. But oh, my! God said He praises those men,
and the praise is of God who Himself gave that new heart,
that inward heart. And I want to show you one verse
of Scripture, and then I m going to quit. Look in Deuteronomy,
I think it s 1610. I believe that s what I wanted
to look for. I think that s right. Deuteronomy 1610. Let me see. Nope, that's not it. Let's see. 10, 16, excuse me, 10, 16. 10, 16. I was only off by, look what he says here now in
verse 16. Or verse six, excuse me. Well, where'd, 10, 16, 16, 16,
let me find it. Here we go, verse 16. Circumcised, therefore, the foreskin
of your heart, and no more be stiff-necked. God told them that
they had a bad heart to start with, huh? Oh, my. God approves of Approval from
God is what we want, not approval from men. We have to have something
more than some outward sign. Paul said, we're the true circumcision,
which worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh. That's the true circumcision. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, I thank you for your word. We all have these self-righteous
streaks and these times that we think we're just a little
better than somebody else. But, oh Lord, you're the only
one that can make a man to differ. And all these people are so deceived
in themselves. And there are so many people
in this world so deceived, deceived in their law keeping, deceived
in their works, deceived in their merit, deceived in their worth,
deceived in keeping the law. Oh God, send people in to hear
the gospel, the gospel of the free grace of God in Christ,
where a man absolutely contributes nothing to his salvation. And
we're saved by grace, kept by grace, and we'll be carried to
glory by grace. And Lord, never let us look to
ourselves for anything or look to anybody else for anything,
for any salvation, any blessing, anything from anybody. Help us
only to look to Thee and Thee alone. In Christ's name I pray. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon
Jesus full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. See you Sunday, God willing.