Thank you, Brother Mike. That
was that was outstanding, wasn't it? Before I forget, I want to some
of you have asked me and I want to remind you that we are meeting
is in July, July the 20th through the 22nd. And hopefully either
today or Monday, I'm waiting on one last thing from a hotel,
but I'm gonna send an announcement out with a block of rooms and
all that. So I'll be doing that real soon. So I hope you can
come if if you're able. Let's go to Romans chapter 2 Romans chapter 2 Verse 17 Paul says behold thou
art called a Jew and and restest in the law, and makest thy boast
of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that
are more excellent being instructed out of the law, and are 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 has the form of knowledge and of the truth in
the law. Thou therefore which teachest another, Teachest thou
not thyself? Thou that preachest to man should
not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest to man should
not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorst
idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of
the law through breaking the law, dishonest 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 a 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 does transgress the law? 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. Now here the Apostle Paul is
dealing with the most dangerous thing that a man can possibly
have. That is, an outward form of godliness
without a true work of grace in the heart. An outward profession
without Christ being formed in the heart. That's damning to
a man and that's dangerous to everybody that comes under his
influence. Now speaking by the Spirit of God, Paul here is going
to give us some characteristics of a man who is a child of Abraham,
just a natural descendant of Abraham and who are called Jews. And then he's going to give us
a description of a man who is a true Jew. In our day, we might
say it this way. He's given a description of somebody
who is called a Christian, and then he gives a description of
somebody who is a true Christian. And that's what I've titled this,
A Christian or a True Christian. We'll look first of all at this
one that's merely called a Christian, and then we'll look at these
that are true Christians. All right, first of all, one
merely called a Christian. A man who's merely called a Christian
trusts in that name. He trusts in being called a Christian
rather than in Christ himself. Paul said in Romans 2.17, Behold,
thou art called a Jew. You could just as well put there,
speaking of people in this category, thou art called a Christian.
Now, to be called a Jew, the Jews put much pride in this.
This meant they were the natural descendants of Abraham. This
meant they were sons of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were one
of the 12 tribes, and they put much stock in that. Today, multitudes
join a church and make a profession so that they can be called by
the name of Christian. Or called by the name of Baptist. Or called by the name of Methodist.
And they put great stock and great confidence in being called
by that name. But they don't have confidence
in Christ only. Isaiah prophesied about this.
Go to Isaiah 4 and look at verse 1. Isaiah chapter 4 and verse
1. He's talking about the day in
which Christ came, the day in which we live. He said in Isaiah
4-1, and in that day, seven women shall take hold of one man, saying,
we will eat our own bread and wear our own apparel. Only let
us be called by thy name to take away our reproach. Many who claim
to be Christians are eating their own bread. By that, you talk
to them, you ask them. They'll tell you, I made myself
to be born again. I did something to contribute
to me having life by my will or by my works. And many are
wearing their own filthy rags of righteousness, of a self-righteousness. The works they have done, they're
looking to their works under the law. And they call themselves
Christians. thinking that by wearing this
name their reproach is taken away. But you see what Isaiah
is saying here is Christ's name by which our reproach is taken
away is that He is our life and He is our righteousness. That
is His name. In his days, Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. And this is the
name wherewith she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. The
name of Christ is the Lord our righteousness. We don't have
his name unless he is our only righteousness. And not only that,
he's our only life. He said, I am the bread of life. That's His name. I am the bread
of life. He's the one that gives us life.
What does that mean? It means He that hath the Son
hath life. So righteousness and the fact
He is life, that is His name. And that's the only way our reproach
is taken away. Anybody who takes His name and
is just having confidence that they're called by that name,
and yet they're trying to give themselves life or work out a
righteousness for themselves, their reproach has not been taken
away. All that they've done is they've taken the name of our
Lord in vain. And that's the worst way of taking
His name in vain. Those merely called Christians
rest in the law. Romans 2, 17, Paul said to the
Jews, you rest in the law. The rich young ruler came to
our Lord Jesus, and he said, what must I do? What do I need
to do that I can work the works myself and inherit eternal life? And the Lord said, you know the
commandments. He said, I've kept all those
from my youth up. You ask the average person in
churches today, and they'll tell you the exact same thing. I've
kept the whole law of God. I've kept every bit of it. But
the Lord said, you're lacking one thing. Sell everything you
have and give it to the poor and follow me. And the rich young
ruler went away sorrowful. He left Christ sorrowful. You know why? Because he was
covetous in his heart. Those things meant everything
to him. He was rich and those things
meant everything to him. He wouldn't part with his riches
and he wouldn't part with his law keeping to come to Christ
and follow Christ alone. And that's the case with every
man by nature. We will not forsake our riches,
those things that we think is our life, and follow Christ only,
and trust Him to be our only righteousness. Paul said there,
I'm gonna skip down to verse 21, he said, you that teach another,
do you not teach yourself? You preach a man should not steal,
dost thou steal? Churches, men stand up and they
preach, do not steal, do not steal, do not steal. And sinners
walk away thinking, well, I don't steal, so I'm fulfilling the
righteousness of the law. If you and I have never not stolen,
I mean, that robbery is in your heart. It's in my heart, it's
in your hearts, what the essence of our sin nature is. But any
man that thinks he can come to God By his not stealing, he's
actually, by that, robbing Christ of the glory of being the only
righteousness of his people. Verse 22, thou sayest a man should
not commit adultery. Does thou commit adultery? Christ
is the husband of his bride, the church. And any man who tries
to come to God by his own law keeping, by what he has done,
is committing adultery against Christ our husband. Breaking
the whole law of God. He said, thou that abhorst idols,
dost thou commit sacrilege? These men really profess to abhor
idols. They would not have an idol at
all. But when a man tries to come
to God by his own law-keeping, looking to himself rather than
Christ, he's made himself the idol that he's worshiping rather
than worshiping Christ. So you see what I'm saying? If
we try, because we're sinners, guilty, have broken the law,
if we try to come to God by our law keeping, we're breaking the
law by that very act. Can't do it. Unless God reveals
this to a sinner, he cannot know it and he will not confess that
all he is is sin, that he's incapable of doing anything to keep the
law God gave at Mount Sinai before conversion or after conversion,
he can't do it. Not in himself. Before conversion,
Scripture says there's none righteous, no not one, and after conversion,
Scripture says all our righteousnesses are filthy rags. Most religious
men, like the Jews, don't know that the law was given to only
declare us guilty. He goes on to say that, Romans
3.19, you're familiar with this. He says the law, this is what
the law says, it says to them who are under the law. Now get
that statement. Men everywhere say believers
are still under the law. Well, if you're under the law
in any shape, form or fashion, and by under the law it means
you're trying to work out a righteousness or a holiness by your doing,
then this is what the law says to you. It says, he was given
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty
before God. That's what the law says to you,
you're guilty. And so no man can be justified by the deeds
of the law. It's absolutely impossible. Look
back now at Romans 2 and verse 17. Those that are merely called
Christians boast. They're constantly boasting.
And here's what they boast in. He says, Romans 2, 17, you make
us thy boast of God. And you boast that you know his
will and that you approve the things that are more excellent
being instructed out of the law. The Jews boasted that they knew
God. He was their God. And they looked
down their noses on those that did not know God. Christ said
to them, you are of your father, the devil. They boasted they
knew God's will because they boasted they were instructed
out of God's law. They had God's law and they knew
God's will. They had the law of commandments
and ceremony and all the law of one law that God gave. They
had this and they boasted so that now they knew God's will.
but they didn't know God's will. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, this
is the will of him that sent me. This is the will of him that
sent me. That everyone which seeth the
son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will
raise him up at the last day. And you know what the Jews did?
They murmured. How can that be? How can he be
the bread of life? They murmured. They didn't know
the will of God. That's what all the law and the prophets
declared. This is the will of Him that sent me. Everyone that
seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life.
They didn't know that's what the law and the prophets said.
They rejected Christ for Moses and the law. They rejected Christ.
He was standing face to face with them, declaring to them
that He is the way, the truth, and the life. They rejected Christ
for the law of commandments and Sabbath days and ceremony and
touch not, taste not, and handle not. I preached a message recently,
and the title of this message was Christ is the Believer's
Rule of Life. And I just went through scripture
and showed how many places Christ said, follow me, follow me, follow
me. And I went through, showed how
the scripture leads us. We're led of the spirit of God.
These scriptures that show that the rule of life is faith which
worketh by love, by the constraint of Christ's love. And someone
in our congregation gave it to a member of the church that they
used to be in. And the man said, I can't bow
to that because I have to keep the law of Moses. And I told
our pastor. brother in our congregation,
I said, that is exactly what the Pharisees did to Christ. They said, no, we're not gonna
follow you. He's the only man that ever kept the law of God,
and he is the one who rules in the hearts of his people and
reigns over his people, but the Jews looked straight at him and
said, we will not have this man reign over us. Those merely called Christians
are confident that they're a light to men. He says there in verse
19, you're confident, that thou art self, thyself are a guide
of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor
of the foolish, a teacher of babes. You have the form of knowledge
and of the truth and the law. The Jews were going about all
the time telling everybody how to live and how to give. That's the message in most churches. How to live and how to give. That's the message. And men like,
you run into, professing believers and they're so boastful and so
arrogant and so proud, confident that they know how to lead you
and how to teach you and how to instruct you in things. Our Lord said, woe unto you scribes
and Pharisees. He said, you pay tithe of mint,
anise, and cumin and have omitted the weightier matters of the
law and of judgment and of mercy and of faith. In most pulpits, you hear priests,
the message you hear preach is omitting the law and the judgment
of God, declaring sinners absolutely, thoroughly ruined in sin. You
hear the message of tithing and the message of how to live, but
you do not hear the message that men are entirely depraved by
the fall of Adam and by the ruin of our own sin nature. You hear
men preach how to live and how to give, but you hear that they
omit God's justice being upheld and His law being honored by
God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ alone. They preach how to live,
they preach how to be moral, but they omit the fact that the
only place that God's justice can meet with his mercy in harmony
so that he can show mercy to a sinner and at the same time
remain just is by Christ himself coming and bearing the sin and
putting away the sin of his people and justifying us from all our
sin. They omit the fact that the only way a man can establish
the law is through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The self-made
Christian of our day is confident, therefore, he hears all this
about how to live, and how to do, and how to give, and he's
confident he can lead other folks that are blind. He's an instructor
of the babes. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, let
them alone, they'd be blind leaders of the blind. Only man, really and truly, who
will follow that message that the world is preaching is another
blind man. And God said, if the blind lead
the blind, they're going to fall in the ditch. Who is the light? Christ is the light. In that
chapter in Isaiah 49, when our Lord is declaring that He's given
Christ to be the covenant of His people, He said, I've given
you the glory. I've given you the glory. After
that you've redeemed your people and risen to the right hand of
God, I've given you the glory to feel all in all. He said that
thou mayest say to them that are in darkness, show yourselves. When's a man gonna come out of
darkness? Christ said a man won't come out of darkness. He won't
come through the light, because if he comes to Christ the light,
then he's gonna have to confess that all his very best righteousnesses
are worthless, and he won't do that. So how's he gonna be made
to come out of the darkness into the light? Who's the real instructor
of the blind? Christ is. He says to us, show
yourselves. And you come out of that dungeon
in the back corner hiding in your darkness and in your self-righteousness,
and you come out and you come to Christ confessing. I have
nothing. Christ is all. God's the instructor of the babes.
Christ said, I'm thankful, Lord, that you've hidden these things
from the wise and prudent and that you have revealed them to
babes. He's the instructor. He's the
instructor. And what is the true light? What's
the true light his people shine for? Paul was sent to be a messenger. He was sent to let his light
shine before men. How did he do it? He said, I
was determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified. And why was it that Christ sent
him with that message? He said to open their eyes and
to turn them from darkness to light. to open the blind eyes
and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of
Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that
is in me, is to turn us from ourselves to Christ. If you want
to turn men to the darkness of man's immorality and create a
real double dead sinner, preach man's works, preach morality.
If you want to create a man who, you want to turn a man from himself
to Christ and at the same time create a man who truly is a moral
man, preach Christ and him crucified. God will turn him to Christ and
God will make him live his life so as to honor our Lord Jesus
and everything he does. By ruling over men with the law
and at the same time breaking that law, these men The man who
professes to be a Christian brings reproach upon the gospel of Christ. He says there in Romans 2.23,
Thou that makest thou 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. When preachers
rule over men with the law, when they rule over men with the law,
and they make all these different commandments that churches command
in addition to God's law. They always do two things. They
bring the law of God down, bring their own commandments up, and
rule over men this way, somehow trying to make men think they
can keep God's law, and then whipping them all the time with
these man-made rules and commandments that they have. Our Lord said,
this passage here, as it is written, let me read to you where it came
from, Isaiah 52, five. Our Lord said this, he said,
what have I here, saith the Lord, that my people is taken away
for nothing? They that rule over them make
them to howl. Those that are preaching rules
and regulations and whipping and trying to promote, to motivate
men by the yoke of the law. He says, they're causing my people
to howl, saith the Lord, and my name is continually everyday
blaspheme. So how did he say he was gonna
remedy that? This is that chapter where he said, I'm gonna, how
precious is the feet of them that preach the gospel? And he
said, in that day, my people shall know my name. They shall
know in that day that I am he that doth speak. Behold, it's
I. He's saying when He sends His preacher forth and the gospel's
going forth, He's going to make His people know it's Him speaking
in the heart of His people. That's how we're ruled. You're
always under a law. We're all under a law. You're
either going to be the servant of sin or you're going to be
the servant of righteousness. We're never not without a rule.
What I'm saying to you is the rule is not you, and a preacher
and a church and works to the law with the motive of trying
to make yourself righteous and holy. The rule is Christ, through
the preaching of the gospel in the heart by the spirit, given
a new motive, which is the love of Christ. The love of Christ. And that's through him making
it known that he's the one speaking. Now let me say something else
on this too. The same is true as far as bringing reproach on
Christ. The same is true If any man professes faith in Christ
but thinks that we're to sin, that grace may abound. I'm fearful
for our young people in our day because I've been at too many
conferences lately and I've heard young people afterwards in that
night or whatever, off to themselves, speaking as though because Christ
died for us, we have liberty to just sin. That's not so. That's not so, and God's grace
does not work that in the heart of his people. When God teaches
you in the heart, you won't have a desire to sin against God.
He makes you want to honor God, not sin against God. We hate
our sin. We hate our sin. And then Paul
declares this. He declared to them that their
circumcision, that's basically saying to the Jews their whole
profession was vain. He says here in Romans 2.25,
for circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the law. But if
thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Now you've got to understand
that Christ had come at this time. When Paul's writing this,
Christ's already come. And anybody that would want to
be circumcised now, any Jew that would want to be circumcised
and come under the law, it meant he's got to keep the entire law
of God by himself. That's exactly what Paul said
over there in Galatians 5.3. Any man that is circumcised,
he's a debtor to keep the whole law. And Paul said, and if you're
not doing that, your circumcision is made uncircumcision. And what
Paul is saying is, what circumcision originally pictured, you're not
picturing that at all, he's saying to them. He's saying it's become
totally uncircumcision, and this is what he meant. Christ has
become of no effect unto you. Whosoever you are justified by
law, you're fallen from grace. So in all of this we see here,
brethren, when men just have a form of religion and they're
resting in the law, they're boasting in their own knowledge and what
they've understood, they're confident they can rule others, their whole
profession is vain. Our Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees,
he called them hypocrites, he said, you may clean the outside
of the cup and the platter, and within they're full of extortion
and excess. First, he said, first the inside
must be cleansed. The inside must be cleansed,
and he said, and then the outside will be clean also. God is not looking on the outward,
God's looking on the heart. We might fool men outwardly,
but you're not gonna fool God. He's looking at the heart. And
God is the one that must give that new heart. He must give
that new heart. Now let's see the true Jew. Let's
see the true Christian. The true Jew, somebody who is
a true Christian, keeps the righteousness of the law. Look here in Romans
2.26. If the uncircumcision, now he's
talking about a Gentile who does not have the law. If the uncircumcision
keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision
be counted, be imputed for circumcision? He's saying, shall he not be
counted or imputed righteous by God? Shall he not be counted
to be a true child of God, a true Jew? God only imputes what a
man has been made by a prior act. Try to understand this about
imputation. God does not make anybody anything
by imputation. I've probably said that, I know
I've said that, and I know maybe some of you men have said it.
We need to erase that. God does not make anybody anything
by imputation. I know this from a fact from
the scriptures. Adam sinned. And therefore, God imputed sin
to Adam, because that's what he was by that prior act of sinning. We all sinned in Adam, and therefore,
God imputed sin to us because we sinned in Adam. God made Christ
sin for us, and therefore, he imputed sin to Christ. Christ
made us the righteousness of God in him, and therefore, God
imputes righteousness to us. Scripture doesn't say by imputation
we were made sin. and therefore by imputation we'll
be made righteous. He said by one man's disobedience
we were made sin. That's why God imputed sin to
us. And by one man's righteousness, by his righteous obedience shall
we be made righteous. That's why God imputes righteousness
to us. Christ really made us righteous. He's not imputing
it to us and pretending that's what we are. He's not imputing
it to us and though you're a sinner, he's just pretending like you're
righteous, though he knows you're not righteous. Everybody Christ
died for is righteous because Christ made them righteous. And
God imputes righteousness to them because that's what they
are by the obedience of Christ. That's what they are. Now, why
am I saying that? Look what he says here in Romans
2, verse 26. If the uncircumcision, here's
a Gentile that doesn't have the law at all, if he keeps the righteousness
of the law, there's the prior act. If he really and truly keeps
the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision
be imputed as circumcision? Shall not God impute to him righteousness? Shall not God count him to be
a true Jew, a true Christian? Can a Gentile without the law
keep the righteousness of the law? Is this just a hypothetical? Can a man who does not have the
law keep the law? I mean in every jot and every
tip. I mean perfectly. Absolutely. Absolutely. Go with me to Romans
chapter 3. This is how Abraham, Abraham
did this. He kept the law 430 years before
the law was given. Look here, Romans 3.30. Seeing
it as one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and
the earned circumcision through faith. That's simply saying God's
going to He's simply saying God is going to justify the Jew and
the Gentile through faith. He says, do we then make void
the law through faith? Now you hear men preach this.
It's amazing to me that the same passage we use to show Christ
is the end of the law, Pharisees use it to show that believers
are still under the law. And they'll take this scripture
and say, see there, he's saying, you're still under the law, so
we still have to keep the law. We're not making void the law
through faith, we're still having to keep it. That's not anywhere
close to the context of what Paul's been talking about throughout
this book. Paul says, since God justifies
us through faith, since righteousness is imputed to us through faith
in Christ, Are we then making, are we telling sinners that we're
anti-law, we're making void the law because of faith? Through
faith? God forbid. God forbid. No, we establish the law through
faith. Now don't stop reading there,
keep reading. What shall we say then that Abraham, our father,
is pertaining to the flesh of the family? For if Abraham were
justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.
For what says the scripture? Abraham believed God. And it was counted unto him for
righteousness. He's saying, here was a Gentile
who kept the righteousness of the law and God counted his uncircumcision,
circumcision. God counted him righteous. God imputed righteousness to
him. Look, verse 9. Cometh this blessedness
then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also?
For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
How was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision or
in uncircumcision? Did he keep the righteousness
of the law after he was circumcised? Did God impute him to be a true
Jew after he was circumcised or before? Not in circumcision,
but in uncircumcision. And he received, now here's what
circumcision is, the sign, the memorial of circumcision, a seal
of the righteousness of the faith which he already had while he
was yet uncircumcised. That he might be the father of
all them that believe, though they be not circumcised, that
righteousness might be imputed to them also. You see what he's
saying there? So yes, brethren, in every way,
a Gentile who did not have the law of God, he can be made, he
can keep the righteousness of the law, not by his doing, but
because Christ Jesus the Lord already did it for him. And through
faith in Christ, that perfect establishment of the law is ours. It's ours. Now that, to do that
with a man, for God to do this with a man like Abraham, 430
years before the law was ever given at Mount Sinai, ought to
shut every man's mouth. Saying that the law has anything
whatsoever, that our works have anything whatsoever to do with
this establishing the law. It has nothing to do with it,
nothing. And so those who have fulfilled
the law through faith in Christ, We're going to judge those who
claim to have kept the law themselves. This is a second characteristic
of a true Jew, a true Christian. You and I are gonna judge those
who have claimed to have kept the law by their works, but didn't
do it. Look here in Romans 2 27. Shall
not uncircumcision, which is by nature, that is you that are
naturally uncircumcised, If you fulfill the law, shall not you
judge those who by the letter and circumcision do transgress
the law? Remember scripture says the saints
are gonna, we're gonna judge the world one day. And we look
at Noah, scripture says by faith Noah, he was warned of God and
he moved things he hadn't even seen yet. He moved with fear
and he prepared that ark to the saving of his house by which
he condemned the world. He condemned the world. He became
the heir of righteousness, which is by faith. How are we going
to judge the world? In what way? Turn to Romans 9,
verse 30. This is how it's going to happen. Christ is going to hold up in
the day of judgment. When men stand before Him and
they're claiming that they've kept the righteousness of the
law by their own works, Christ is going to hold up His people.
You're gonna say, you see these people right here? It's what
he's gonna say happened, what we did, Romans 9.30. What shall
we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed
not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even
the righteousness which is of faith. These ones right here,
they could not keep the law. Some of them didn't even have
the law. And I sent my gospel to them. and through the gift
of faith I brought them to my feet and I made them righteous.
Look here, verse 31. But Israel, which followed after
the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness,
wherefore, because they sought it not by faith, but as it were
by the works of the law, for they stumbled at Christ the stumbling
stone. Can you imagine in that day,
brethren? Can you imagine standing before holy God I tell our young
people up there, you know, we've had a couple of young people
that got a ticket or something and they had to go to a court,
stand before a judge, you know. I said, just imagine now if that
judge, if that judge already knows everything about you and
already knows that you're as guilty as you can be. And you
got to go in now and stand before that judge and confess to that
judge that you're not guilty. But what if that judge is the
one who worked out the righteousness for those who are saved? What
if that judge is the one who you called a liar? and whose
righteousness you said you could make better on it by your own
works. And now you come and stand before
that judge. That's what it's gonna be for
folks, is stand before Christ. He is the righteousness and He
is the judge. And then, here's why all of this
is true. This is what a true Jew is, this
is what a true Christian really is. We're saved by our heart
work. Romans 2.28. 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. True circumcision is not outward
in the flesh. It's an inward work of grace
whereby God gives us a new heart. That means true worship is not
outward in the flesh. True worship is inward in the
spirit. Yes, we all came here bodily.
Yes, there are certain things we do outwardly that is involved
in our worship. But we're not worshiping God
outwardly. You can come here and do everything everybody else
did and not worship God. Worship is in the heart that
God's given, in the new heart. And I want you to see this, whose
praise is not of men but of God. Everything that a man with a
form is doing, he's doing it to be praised of men. Now believers
aren't, we're not doing what we're doing to be praised of
God. We're not just trying to seek a legal kind of thing. But we do want His favor. I do
want to please Him. And this work here, and this
true worship, is actually praised of God. It's commended of God. Go with me over to 2 Corinthians
10. Let me show you this. 2 Corinthians 10, 17. Paul had
said there, we're not commending ourselves again. We're not praising
ourselves. But he says here in verse 17,
but he that glories, let him glory in the Lord. But watch
this, for not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom
the Lord commendeth. Whom? The Lord. Well, why would
the Lord praise me for all this? Why would He commend me for all
this? I didn't do any of it. You think about that day, Nathaniel's
coming to the Lord and the Lord says, He commended him. He said, Behold an Israelite
indeed, in whose spirit is no God, in whose spirit is no sin
whatsoever, Why did he commend him? How was
Nathanael an Israelite? The Lord said, when you were
under that tree, Nathanael, I saw you. What did he see? What was happening? How was Nathanael
an Israelite? Remember the Lord came to Jacob.
He got him along. This is what the Lord is going
to do when he does this circumcision of the heart. He is going to
get a sinner along. He got Jacob along and the Lord Jesus came
to him personally and began to wrestle Jacob. And Jacob wasn't
prevailing. You know why he wasn't prevailing?
Jacob was trying to wrestle back. And the Lord touched the hollow
of his thigh and put him out of joint. So that all Jacob could
do was just hold on to the Lord and beg Him. And beg Him. Confessing his sin, being honest
with Him, praying for mercy. Have mercy on me. Please have
mercy on me. And in Hosea it says that's exactly
how Jacob prevailed with the Lord. And so the Lord changed
his name to Israel. An Israelite indeed who has prevailed
as a prince, has prevailed with God. How are you going to prevail
with God? How are you going to be made
an Israelite indeed? Christ is going to have to come
and wrestle you and and make you so helpless that all you
can do is confess your sin and be honest and beg Him for mercy. He said that's what Nathanael
is. He said in his spirit there's no hypocrisy. In his spirit there
is no guile. In his spirit there is no saying
one thing and meaning the other. In him it's just straight up
perfect honesty. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord will not impute sin and in whose spirit there is
no God. Christ is our righteousness and
Christ is our sanctification. We sing, be of sin the double
cure, save from wrath and make me pure. And Christ, I'm convinced,
he said I saw you under that tree, Nathaniel. Christ came
to him and wrestled him and he was, Nathaniel was praying to
God, praying to the Lord, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon
him, and he was in his heart, and he was that perfect perfection
of his spirit in his heart, so that he was honest with God,
and he confessed what he was, and he was praying unto the Lord
in sincerity and honesty, and Christ said, I know that. I know
you. I did all that. I created all
that. I know you. And so he commended
him. He commended what he did. You
ever made anything? Man, be honest. You make something,
you get through, you worked on it really hard. I've been working
on this foundation for a shed I got delivered and it's 12-inch
grade, so I had to do a lot of digging and get it all leveled
up, and just some digging in the dirt and laying some treated
timbers down, and I got that all leveled up, and I stood back
at it and looked at it, and I thought, man, that looks good. That's what Christ, that's his
commendation. Look at everything I've created.
Man, that looks good. That looks good. And see, none
of it's of us. Go with me to one more scripture,
Philippians 3, we'll end here. Verse 2, beware of dogs, beware
of evil workers, be aware of the concision. Now that's that
first point we looked at. That's those who say they're
true Christians, but they're just in name only. They're the
concision. They're telling you to cut this
out, cut that out, cut the other thing out, and the next thing
you know, they're going to cut you out. For we are the circumcision.
We're the true Jew. We're the true believer, which
worship God in spirit. It's all in spirit. The new heart,
that's where we worship God. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. Christ
is our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption.
He is our all. All our rejoicing is in Christ's
person and work, what He has accomplished. And we have no
confidence in the flesh whatsoever. Now here's the question. Which
one are you? Which one are you? Are you a
Christian, just called so? Are you a true Christian? All
by the work of God's grace in Christ. I'll leave that with
you and the Lord. I can't answer that. Nobody else
can. Amen.