Sovereign Grace Chapel, located
at 135 Annabel Lane in Beaver, West Virginia, invites you to
listen to a gospel message concerning Jesus Christ our Lord. All right, if you wish to follow
along, turn to Romans chapter two. I have been looking forward
to getting to these two verses since I began Romans one, verse
one, the first word. And I have alluded to these two
verses on a few occasions. Let me read the two verses. Romans
chapter two is the last, let me make sure I'm correct, yeah,
the last two verses of Romans chapter two. This is an astounding
statement. Before I read it, let me say,
it was far more astounding to me when I first began to have
my eyes opened and realized what it actually was saying. Because
when I was brought up, basically born and raised in so-called
Christian religion, but it was free will Christian religion,
I had no idea about this truth here. I thought there was Jews
and there were Gentiles. And at one time God saved the
Jews in a certain way, but then that changed. And now he's saving
Jew and Gentile in a different way. And then again, that'll
change and God will start saving the Jews like he used to do the
old way. That's the way I was brought up. I don't wanna go
into detail with all that because some here may not know anything
about that and it's too confusing. There's always only ever been
one way of salvation with God that is by the person of God's
dear son, Jesus Christ. He was as a lamb slain from before
the foundation of the world. Before we ever needed it, God
had provided a savior. before man ever even fail, God
had already decreed His Son to be the Savior. And it was an
eternal decree. There wasn't even a day when
God sat down and thought, okay, I'm gonna make the Son the Savior
now. He's always. been the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. But remember, Paul started this.
He talks about gospel, but then he talks about how we as humanity
corrupt the natural order. We looked at chapter one. Chapter
two, we've been looking at the fact that we accuse and excuse
one another. That's what we do. We like pointing
the finger and justifying ourselves, and we still do it today. We
still do it. It's easy to do. It's a whole
lot easier to point the finger at somebody else and justify
yourself than it is to condemn yourself and seek the best in
somebody else. It's a whole lot easier to do
the wrong thing. But then Paul comes along and makes this, I
will say, astounding statement. But even more, I can only imagine
what it was like for these people, especially those of Jewish background,
to read this letter, or maybe have it read by a pastor in Rome
or whatever, and to read this letter, and he writes these words,
for he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Neither is that
circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. Now both of these
things are real. There are physical Jews, natural
Jews. men and women who were born of
the seed of Abraham physically, naturally, okay? And Paul's not
denying that, but Paul is giving the spiritual truth of who really
is one of God's people. And they're called Jews, they're
called Israelites, they're called the church, and sometimes there
is distinction between those things, but sometimes there is
not. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outwardly, and notice the word he uses. He doesn't use
the word naturally. Did you think about that when
you read this? He does not say, for he is not a Jew, which is
one naturally, because he is a Jew, which is one naturally.
But he uses the word outwardly, but it still includes the natural
Jew, as well as it would include a Gentile convert to Judaism. who in certain times, especially
once the temple was built, they were received as Jews, but around
the temple, they had to stay on the outside in the court of
the Gentiles. But they were still received into the camp of Israel.
Do you see what I'm getting at? A person could become a Jew by
doing the rites and the ceremonies and the sacrifices. So Paul's
not just singling out a natural Jew. He's saying Jewishness doesn't
have to do with your genealogy or your religious practice or
your background or what you've converted to. You see that? That's why he uses, the Spirit
uses the word outwardly rather than naturally because it's more
than just natural. He is not a Jew which is one
outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.
Now the circumcision of a male child, a Jewish male child on
the eighth day was a real circumcision. You know, it caused that child
pain, though the child probably don't remember the pain, you
understand, because of the eight days old. Later, it's neither
here nor there, but there were some people who were circumcised
when they were 20 or 30 years old. You're gonna remember that
pain for a while. That's gonna stick with you.
Paul's not denying. True, bona fide, natural circumcision. And it was a seal, a sign of
the covenant God made with Abraham when he declared Abraham to be
righteous by faith before Abraham was even circumcised. You remember
that? Before. Abraham was declared
to be righteous by God because he believed God before he was
circumcised. And Abraham was circumcised when
he was an old man. when he was an old man, but neither
is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh. That's
not the real main circumcision. You could have both of these
other two things, this outward Judaism and this outward circumcision
and still not be a child of God. But the Jews, especially Especially,
it probably was truer than before, but especially during those dark
ages from Malachi to Matthew when there were no open prophets,
okay? There were no new prophets being
sent by God for, they say, what was it Mason? 400 years. Now
there were still believers. There were still people who read
the scripture, and heard the scripture, and seeing the scripture
with spiritual eyes, and ears, and a heart, and they knew Messiah's
coming. They had some idea of what he
was supposed to accomplish when he came to this earth. But most
of the Jews thought they were God's people, a Jew, because
of the circumcision, and the rites, and the practices, and
the genealogy. But then he says this, this bombshell.
I'm sure this had to be a bombshell. But he is a Jew, which is one,
where? Inwardly. Inwardly. Inwardly. And circumcision is
that of the heart, not the physical muscle. The heart in scripture,
most of the time, now sometimes it will refer to the muscle.
It does. But most of the time, the heart
refers to this, that which makes you what you really are. Your
inside being. It's not a muscle that pumps
blood. It's who you really are. Circumcision is that of the heart
in the spirit. You see that? In the spirit.
So this is not a corporeal thing. It's not a material thing. It's
an immaterial thing, but it's still real. You get what I'm saying now?
It's still real. It's not a magic trick. It's not sleight of hand. It's
a real work of God, but it happens down in here in the heart and
the spirit. And you don't see it when it
initially starts because God must start it apart from all
means. Other than God himself. He has
to perform this circumcision of heart and spirit. And somebody
says, well, explain that to me. I can't. I can give you words
like regeneration that leads to conversion. I can talk about
words but it still don't explain how God does it. I mean that
passage in Hebrews helps me tremendously on cases like this where it says
by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word
of God. But it doesn't say by faith we understand how the worlds
were framed. Well I still don't understand
how God could just speak everything into existence out of nothing.
Can you? Of course you can't. We can use
words to try to describe it but we still don't get how it's done. But we can believe what? That. You see, that it is. Look, circumcision
is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter. Now notice he didn't now say
the flesh. He says, and not even the letter. This book, we are so dead, we
are so uncircumcised in heart and spirit that the preaching
of this book, the truth of God, doesn't change that. This is
the one thing that we're all blind to is the truth of this
book. Some of us are blind to quantum
physics. Others are not, right? Some of us are blind to one plus
one equals two. Some of us are not. But we're
all blind to the spiritual truth that is deep down embedded and
sounds forth in this word. God must do an inward work upon
us which happens within us, and when it does begin, the initial
beginning of this work, nobody knows about it. Even the person
that it initially happens to doesn't know it's happened to
them. All they will do is begin to feel the effects. All of a
sudden, their stiff neck becomes loose, and they begin to wonder,
whoa, I must give an account before God. Whoa, I'm a lot worse
off than I ever thought I was. All of that pointing of the finger
at other people and self-justification comes home to roost and says,
that's me, that's the way I live. Even those of us, and I really
shouldn't say us, Even those who are very moral people, when
God circumcises the heart and the spirit, they realize it's
not about my morality. It's about my heart and my spirit. It's not just what we do out
here. It's the fountain from which
this doing flows. And this is a work of God. alone. It's not in the letter,
because God must begin this work. Now, he will use the letter,
but not to begin this work. He begins this work so that you
will be able to understand to some degree the letter. You'll
begin to understand now what the law really says. As he will
go on to say, as we may see later, the law tells me, shut up, Walter. I remember the first time Earl
preached that. It was probably at Mabscot. Well, the first time
I was there, and I actually heard it. And he says, you know what
the law says? Shut up. Well, they never told me that
back in that free will church I was in. Now, you wouldn't dare
tell somebody to shut up. I ain't telling you to shut up.
God's law tells us shut up. Does it really say that? Yeah,
look at what it says. Now we know, verse 19 of three, now
we know that what thing soever the law saith, that means whatever
it sayeth, Whatever it's saying, it saith to them who are under
the law that every mouth may be stopped. Because by nature,
in this uncircumcised heart and spirit, we really think we're
really pretty good people. And we could always find somebody
else that is at least a little bit worse than us and can say,
like we do in chapter two, what's been exposed to us, I ain't that
bad. And I know it varies, but at
least I ain't a child molester. Even the men I'm around a lot,
five days a week, all of them hate child molesters. Even the
child molesters hate child molesters and don't want to be discovered
as a child molester. Is child molestation the unpardonable
sin? No, sir. No, sir. Neither is murder. Neither is
adultery, huh? We can go on down the list. Our
brother Paul has unassailably exposed all of humanity as corruptors
of God's holiness. Chapter one, verse 17, through
chapter two, verse 27. He has exposed us for what we
really are. And even as believers, we still
have that old self down in here. That old heart, that old spirit.
Circumcision by God is not the exact same thing in a spiritual
way as is the physical circumcision. Physical circumcision was cutting
away of the flesh, of the foreskin. We didn't have nothing down underneath
that was good and God had to expose it. Do you get what I'm
getting? He had to give us that which
was good. He had to create that which was
good. Paul calls it, by the inspiration
of the Spirit of God, circumcision. Circumcision. Now, although Paul's
not done, when he starts verse, what is it, 28, 29, Paul is not
done with our corrupt state yet. I mean, he starts right back
to hammering again in chapter three, when he says, what advantage
did it have to the Jew? Well, they got advantage, but
they didn't use it. They abused it. Paul, he starts right back
in the hammering on our flesh. And he comes down and quotes
the Old Testament. There's not one good. No, not one. There's none righteous. There's
not one righteous. So Paul's not done with exposing
our corruption. But as I said, Paul now drops
this Old Testament bombshell. I said that the Old Testament
bombshell. This is not a new doctrine. I
was taught this is a new doctrine, this is a new way. When I was
years ago, that religion I was born and raised in, I was taught
this is a different way. God saved the Jews. Oh, it was
a kind of faith, but they offered their sacrifices when they committed
sins. Some of you may have been taught that, some of you probably
were not, but I was steeped in it. It's what's called dispensationalism. God saved people in this way
at certain ages, times, and then at other times he saves them
this way. God's always saved by grace through faith in the
Messiah. The Old Testament believers were
looking forward to the Messiah coming. Those who were here when
he came looked to him when he came, and we are looking to him
who did come and has gone back to sit at the right hand of God
the Father. Simeon, that old man, held that baby, Jesus, in
his arms and he said, I have seen thy salvation. He was looking for the Messiah. Mason, he knew he was gonna be
a baby. He knew he was gonna come into this world in human
flesh. How did he understand that? God the Spirit taught him
from this word. Taught him from this word. Now,
we are not only corrupt, we not only, corrupt God's holiness. God must move in grace to correct
our position and our condition. Our position and condition was
purposed by God before the world began. Our position was actually
accomplished, this new position, when Christ died on that tree. But it was so sure that God gave
the Old Testament saints that same position even before Christ
died on that tree. Because he was as a lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. In God's mind, it was a done
deal. It was a done deal. But God also must change our
condition. condition. When I say change,
again I am talking about this, not there's something good down
inside of us and he has to expose it, he's got to put good in us. He has, let me tell you something,
I know not everybody agrees with this, but they're wrong. He must
give us a righteousness that is imparted before we'll ever
believe and experience righteousness imputed. because he has to give
us a good heart on which the good word of God, the seed, falls.
And that good heart is this work of God. God creates that in us. But let me move on. Again, I
said this is not new. You don't have to turn to it,
but if you wish, Deuteronomy 30, I'll have it read by the
time you get there probably. Deuteronomy 30 and verse six, and the Lord
thy God will circumcise thine heart. This is what he was saying
way back yonder to those Jews. You see it? And the Lord thy
God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul
that thou mayest live. Do you see that? This ain't no
new doctrine. God had to do that for them back
then. And in a matter of fact, Moses said you're a stiff neck
and uncircumcised in heart. Did he not say that? Colossians
2 verse 11. Listen to what Paul says. Colossians
chapter two, verse 11. In whom also ye are circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands. How does it, God just
speaks it into being. You hear what I'm saying? He
just speaks it, he don't even use his hands. He don't even
use Jesus' hands. He just speaks it into being. circumcision, made without hands,
in putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ. In other words, all of this is
based upon Jesus Christ and who he is and what he accomplished
at Calvary. Look at Philippians chapter three.
Philippians chapter three. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord, to write the same things to you, to me indeed is
not grievous, but for you it is safe. Somebody says, we all
always just keep saying the same old, same old thing over again.
We're just hoping maybe God will open somebody's eyes, and somebody's
ears, and give them a heart to perceive, and all of a sudden
the light will go on, Mason, and they say, I get it, I get
it. But that don't happen first. What happens first is God will
make you miserable with yourself. God will put you to where you
feel like you're on the precipice of hell, ready to be cast headlong
down under the wrath of God. He will bring you to that place
to where you cannot live with yourself like you are anymore. And you will cry out for mercy. He don't do it to you because
you cry out for mercy, but you'll cry out for mercy when he does
it to you because he'll show you how bad you need his mercy.
And you'll cry out past me not, oh gentle Savior. Hear my humble
cry, while on others thou art calling, do not pass me by. Why? Because you know he can if he
wants to. You remember that leper? He wasn't even supposed to be
around. He's supposed to stand, what was it, Mason? I don't remember.
So many feet off and cry, unclean, unclean. He runs right up in
the midst, right up to Christ. And he said, Lord, if thou wilt,
thou canst make me clean. He didn't doubt Christ's ability. He knew he had the ability. The only question was Christ
willing. Now I know this world says he
is willing for everybody. That is not so. It is not the God of the Bible. And that's why old Freddie Crosby
knew this gospel. Pass me not, O gentle Savior.
Hear my humble cry. While on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Let me add a throne of mercy,
find a sweet relief, kneeling there in deep contrition. What's
my problem? My unbelief. If I believed God
like I supposed to, I'd never sin again. But I still got unbelief
in me. Even after he gives me belief.
Paul makes me believe, Paul, makes me believe. I still have
that unbelief in me. What's it? Trusting only in thy
merit. Would I seek thy face, heal my
what? Wounded, broken spirit. As one said, God never will lift
you up till he brings you down first. God's never gonna save
you until he convinces you how lost you really are. He never
gonna heal you until he breaks you in pieces at his feet. Today everybody just told come
forward, make a profession, decide to live better, believe in Jesus.
It don't happen that way. That is not salvation. It is
a lie that has been perpetrated for hundreds of years, at least
a couple hundreds of years on the unsuspecting inhabitants
of this country and the whole world for that matter. When this
country first began, there were a lot more people like me and
Paul and Joe preaching this gospel. They're hard to find nowadays.
They're hard to find nowadays. You see, this uncircumcision
is paramount to total inability. You hear what I said? It's paramount
to total inability towards spiritual truth. If you're uncircumcised
in heart and ears, mind, you got no ability. You see, it's
not physical. It's not corporeal. It is not
material. It is immaterial. It's in the
spirit, in the inner man, but it's still real. And this is
why most people who walk that aisle come to that so-called
altar and pray that prayer. Most of them never last. Now
do they? Most of them never last. They're
told since you don't last, then you don't have it. No, you didn't
even start the right way. If you continue going in the
way you're going, you're still going to go to hell. You can quit using heroin and
still die and go to hell. You understand? You can quit
committing fornication and adultery and still go to hell because
you got an uncircumcised heart and spirit. You could be moral and still
die and go to hell, and you will if you have an uncircumcised
heart and spirit. But not only is this uncircumcision
paramount to total inability, it's also paramount to total
opposition to spiritual truth. It's not just you can't hear
it, you can't love it, you don't want to. you're happy disliking
the truth of God. It's not just easier to dislike
the truth of God, you can hate it and feel good about it. You
know that? You can hate it and feel good
about it, but think it's actually, well I don't believe what those
nuts say. That's what they thought about
Christ. They accused Christ of having demonic possession inside
of him, did they not? They accused Christ of being
demon possessed. Why? Because he spoke the truth
of God to him. And he basically told everybody,
it's up to God. It ain't up to you. But you better
seek God's face. You better seek God's face. He
says, God's work is an inward work of God, not an outward work
of nature or of genealogy or of rites or of proselytization.
That's why he uses the word, let me get back to it. That's
why he uses the word, he is not a Jew which is one outwardly. Because that covers it all, naturally. It covers nature, it covers rites,
it covers ceremonies, it covers genealogy, it covers proselytization,
changing from one religion to another religion. You know, there's
some people think they really got it because they went from
one religion to another religion. But don't cut it, don't cut it. You see, none are exempt from
the necessity of God's circumcision, none. Nicodemus, one of the most
pious, moral men of his day. Most everybody looked up to these
men, did they not? The Pharisees. Except those who
knew the truth, they were scared of them because these Pharisees
had power over all the ecclesiastical goings on in Jerusalem and the
Gentile leaders placated these Jewish leaders to keep Tubal
down. Christ told that Pharisee, you
must be born again. That Pharisee, even when he said,
we know your teacher come from God. Well, ain't that good enough? No, not if you're still uncircumcised
in heart and spirit. It's not good enough. Well, I
believe in Jesus. That's not good enough. The devil's
believing.