Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our broadcast today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you would like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'll be preaching from the beginning at this passage,
Romans chapter 2. If you want to turn in your Bibles,
Romans 2, verses 28 and 29. And this is a subject that I've
dealt with several times over the years of being on this program,
and I've gotten some some response to the issue that I'm gonna deal
with. Some of it negative, a lot of
it negative. And I think it's because people have not learned
to interpret the Bible correctly and learn to think biblically.
But the title of the message is this. It may sound strange,
but it's Jews for Jesus. Jews for Jesus. And the reason
I'm preaching this message is that On occasion, I'll have people
ask me about Israel, the state of Israel, today, the political
entity that resides in the Mideast, and whether or not we should,
as a nation, the United States, should support Israel. And I,
without hesitation, say, of course we should. We should support
Israel. I support the state of Israel. because it's the only
democracy in the Mideast that I know of, and it's an ally of
the United States. But I want to make a distinction
here that we need to understand. I support Israel politically
and economically, but I do not support Israel religiously or
spiritually because I'm a Christian. And a Christian is one who believes
in the Lord Jesus Christ, follows the Lord Jesus Christ. And the
state of Israel, the natural descendants, you might say, of
Abraham, they deny Christ. But there are, somebody has told
me, and there's our organizations called Jews for Jesus. And somebody
asked me about that several years ago. And I told him, I said,
he said, what do you think about Jews for Jesus? And I said, well,
that's me. I'm a Jew for Jesus. And they
asked me, he said, well, you mean you're a Jew? You're a natural
descendant of Abraham. So I said, no, no, I'm not. I'm Irish American, as far as
I know, English American. I don't have any Jewish, naturally
Jewish blood in me, and wouldn't mind if I did. It wouldn't matter
if I did. but I'm a Jew for Jesus. Now what am I talking about there?
Well, look at Romans chapter two and verse 28. Now listen
to this. Paul writes, now this is the
Bible, this is God's word, this is Paul writing by inspiration
of the spirit. And remember Paul, the apostle
Paul, was a natural born descendant of Abraham. But listen to what
he writes. He says in verse 28, for he is
not a Jew, which is one outwardly, Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. Verse 29. 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 that's pretty plain, and
I'm gonna show you some other scriptures here. And what is
he talking about? Well, if you're going to understand
the Bible, if you're going to learn to think biblically, you
have to learn to make a distinction between the natural born descendants
of Abraham and what the Bible describes as the spiritually
born descendants of Abraham. Now the natural born descendants
of Abraham, those are the natural born Jews. And the spiritually
born descendants of Abraham are believers. Now they're naturally
speaking, they're Jew and Gentile. But they're believers because
as described here, they've been made a Jew inwardly, they've
been circumcised in the heart. Now what is heart circumcision?
Well that's the new birth. You remember Christ said, you
must be born again, or you cannot see the kingdom of heaven. You
must be born again, except you be born again, you cannot enter
the kingdom of God. That's the new birth. The new
birth is a work of God through the Holy Spirit to impart life
from Christ to a spiritually dead sinner. That's who we are
by nature, spiritually dead sinners. We have physical life, just like
the natural born descendants of Abraham, and then the natural
born Gentiles, we have physical life, but we don't have spiritual
life. That's a gift from God. And over
in John 1 11, it tells you that Christ came unto his own and
his own received him not. But to them that received him,
he gave the power. They have the power, not the
ability, but the right to call themselves to become the sons
of God, which were born. And he says, not of blood, that
is not of natural birth, physical birth. Just because you're a
physical descendant of Abraham doesn't make you a child of God.
So they were born, which were born not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, or the works of the flesh, nor of the will
of man. You're not born again because
you believe. If you're born again, you will
believe, but they're born of God. And that's what heart circumcision
is. It's giving us a new heart. Ezekiel
prophesied of this. He said, I'll give you a new
heart. I'll take away the stony heart, the unbending, unbelieving
heart, and give you a new heart. And then he says, and it's in
the spirit, circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit,
not in the letter. That is, it's not of the law
that God gave to Abraham to be physically circumcised. That
has nothing to do with it. The Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians
6 in verse 14, God forbid that I should glory or boast, save
or accept in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. For in Christ
Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth anything,
but a new creation, a new creation. What is the new creation? Well,
that's a born again believer. We'll look at that in just a
moment. But if you're a believer, a true believer, resting in Christ
for your whole salvation, you're a Jew for Jesus, spiritually
speaking, not physically. You know the name Jew, you know
where it come from. It was first, I believe the first
appearance of it in the Bible is in the book of Esther, where
it talks about Mordecai the Jew, And that was a name given to
the natural descendants of Abraham out of the tribe of Judah. So
it's a shortened form of Judah. Well, what does the name Judah
mean? Judah was one of the sons of
Israel, the sons of Jacob. Well, the name Judah means praise,
praise. And that's what a Jew is. A spiritual
Jew is one who praises God through Christ. And it says here, you
remember, it says, whose praise is not of men, but of God. They
praise God. And you know how that name, just
like when we talk about Israel, there is a natural Israel, national
Israel, and there's a spiritual Israel. Israel means one who
has prevailed with God. That's what the name means. Well,
how can I, a sinner, prevail with God? Well, there's only
one way. That is to look to Christ and
plead his merits, plead his blood as the full payment for all my
sins. Plead his righteousness for my
whole justification before God. That's how you prevail with God. And that's what the name Israel
means. Well, let me show you some scripture. Look over at
Romans chapter nine. Let me make good on this through
the scripture. And listen, what I'm talking
about has nothing to, there is nothing in this that would make
me or any other believer anti-Semitic or hateful towards the Jews or
to persecute the Jews. That is totally unbiblical and
unchristian for anybody to do that. In fact, Paul in Romans
chapter 11 makes a big deal of this, that we who are Gentile
believers, we ought to thank God for Israel every day Mainly
for two reasons. Number one, it was through them
that the Lord brought Christ into the world. In his humanity,
he was a Jew. Now he's God in human flesh,
but it was through that nation. God sovereignly chose that nation
and not because of anything in them or good in them. It was
in spite of them and brought the Messiah through that nation.
My savior came through them. I thank God for them. And then,
in spite of them, God preserved the word of truth, the scriptures,
and even the gospel through them. That's why Paul wrote in Romans
1, 16, about the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believeth to the Jew first, and to the Greek also. In other words, it came to the
Gentiles through the Jews. Paul and Peter and John, Mark,
all of them, they were Jews. And I thank God for them. And
I pray for them. I pray for their salvation. I
pray that God will bring them to faith in Christ and repentance
unto dead works. But I also pray for everybody
that way. I pray God save them from their
sins. Arabs, Americans, whoever. That's what we're to do. We don't
have any warrant in scripture to be hateful or to harm or to
be prejudiced against any race, nation, or whatever. We're to
love our neighbor as ourselves and pray for their salvation.
And so, understand that. But look here in verse six of
Romans nine. Now the issue here is this. God
had promised to save all Israel. And that's true. But most of
the physical descendants of Abraham, most physical Israelites, rejected
Christ. Well, what does that mean? Well,
does that mean that God failed on his word, on his promise to
make good on it? Well, look at verse six. Not
as though the word of God hath taken none effect, for they are
not all Israel, which are of Israel. Now, that's strange language,
isn't it? Well, listen, verse seven, he
explains it. Neither because they are the seed of Abraham
are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And he says in verse eight, now
what does that mean? Well, it was through Isaac that God brought
Christ through the lineage. And he says, that is they which
are the children of the flesh, the physical descendants, these
are not the children of God, but the children of the promise
are counted for the seed. Now, who are these children of
the promise? Well, let's go to Galatians chapter
three. And you know what the problem was in Galatia, the churches
of Galatia? False preachers had crept into
these churches and they were Jews, physical Jews, who claimed
to believe the gospel, who claimed to be Christian, but who wanted
to bring Gentiles back under the Jewish law, the old covenant
law of Moses. Paul said, that's another gospel.
He said, let them be anathema. He said, though we or an angel
from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which
we have preached, let them be anathema. Well, he makes the
case here that the true spiritual seed of Abraham, which begins
with Christ himself, but goes down to all of his people, he
says in verse 26 of Galatians 3, now listen to this. He says,
for you are all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. Do you see that? Not because
of any physical connection with Abraham, but by faith in Christ
Jesus. That's how you become, that's
how you are made a child of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. And
he says in verse 27, for as many of you as have been baptized
into Christ have put on Christ. Now he's not talking about the
ordinance, the gospel ordinance of water baptism there. Baptized
means placed into, united with. And so he says, for as many of
you as have been placed into Christ or united with Christ,
you've put him on. Now what does the Bible mean
when it says we put on Christ? It's to believe in him. It's
to rest in Him and His righteousness imputed, charged as my only ground
of salvation. That's what it is to put Him
on. We who are believers put Him on every day. We look to
Him as the author and finisher of our faith. Well, look at verse
28. Now those who are in Christ and put Him on, there's neither
Jew nor Greek, Jew nor Gentile. That distinction means nothing.
There's neither bond nor free, there's neither male nor female.
Now, let me caution you because of the ungodly spirit of today
that wants to group everybody into one group and you can say
whatever you are. The Bible does not deny the distinctions
between, for example, a man and a woman. What he's saying here
is that distinction has absolutely nothing to do with whether or
not we're children of God. In other words, just because
you're a man, that doesn't make you a child of God. Just because
you're a woman doesn't make you a child of God. That distinction
means nothing as far as being right with God. He says, for
you are all one in Christ Jesus. And then look at verse 29. And
if you be Christ, now that's a possessive. You could read
it this way. If you belong to Christ, that's
what believers are. We are people who belong to Christ.
He owns us, we're his sheep, we're his bride. And if you belong
to Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, offspring, and heirs according
to the promise. Now, how are we Abraham's offspring?
Did Abraham save us? Does Abraham give us light? No.
He's saying that we're connected with the promise that God gave
to Abraham. all that time ago, and it was
a promise of salvation by grace through the Lord Jesus Christ.
It was the promise of righteousness by Jesus Christ, justification
before God, justifying the ungodly based upon the righteousness
of another. Paul deals with that in Romans
four when he talks about Abraham. He talks about David, when David
said, blessed, Romans 4, 6, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
righteousness without works. That's the same promise that
Abraham had from God. If you believe the gospel, the
true gospel, you believe the exact same promise that Abraham,
that God gave to Abraham and Abraham believed it by God's
power and goodness and grace. So you're connected to Abraham
spiritually. God chose Abraham to be the archetype
of believers. Abraham couldn't save himself.
Abraham was a sinner saved by grace. Abraham didn't save anybody,
couldn't save his children, couldn't save his descendants. But we're
connected with him in a spiritual way because of the promise. And
he says that up here in verse 13 of Galatians 3, listen to
this. He says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,
Being made a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth on a tree. Verse 14, that the blessing of
Abraham. Now what is the blessing of Abraham?
It's salvation by grace. Righteousness in the Lord Jesus
Christ, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles
through Jesus Christ. That we might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. You see that? That's a Jew for
Jesus. Over in Galatians 6, look at
this. Verse 14. Paul writes, but God forbid that
I should glory, that I should boast, save or accept in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Believers boast in the glorious
person and the finished work of Christ. Not in themselves. We don't boast
in ourselves. We don't boast in what we do.
or don't do, we don't boast in our faith. I believed and they
didn't. Well, the only reason I believed
is because of God's sovereign power, mercy, and grace. We boast
in Christ. And he says, by whom the world
is crucified unto me and I unto the world. And then in verse
15, he says, for in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth
anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creature, a new creation.
whether or not you're a physical Jew or a Gentile physically.
It means nothing. What means something is, are
you a new creation? Remember what he said, circumcision
is that of the heart, not of the flesh and the spirit, whose
praise is of God and not of men. And that's the new creation.
We are His workmanship, Ephesians 2 and verse 10. We are His workmanship. Who's the we there? Believers
who've been saved by grace, who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works
which God hath before ordained. Now we should walk in there.
So look at verse 16 now of Galatians 6. He says, and as many as walk
according to this rule. Have you ever heard of the English
word canon? Not meaning a cannon that you
shoot a cannonball out of, but the canon of scripture, the canon
of doctrine, canonical. Well, that's what that word rule
is. It's the doctrine. And he says, as many as walk
according to this canon, this doctrine. This rule, what rule? Well, here it is. God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And if you walk according to that rule, here's what he says
in verse 16. Peace be on them and mercy and
upon the Israel of God. You see that? The Israel of God. That's the measure of a person
who is a spiritual Jew. Jews for Jesus. What is a Jew
for Jesus? It's a Jew who believes in Christ.
And he's a spiritual Jew. And look over in one more verse,
Philippians chapter three and verse three. You know how the
apostle started this off? He's talking about how he once
was lost and now he's saved. He says, for we are the circumcision
which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. Now in Philippians, basically
one of their problems was the same problem that they had in
the churches of Galatia. Here you had a group of believers
mixed, both naturally speaking, physically Jews and physical
Gentiles were mixed together in the church. And then Jews
who claimed to believe in Christ, but who were false professors
who wanted to bring Gentiles under the law crept in. And what
they were trying to do is turn their eyes away from Christ to
the law, to themselves. And one of the things they wanted
to do is they wanted to have the Gentile males circumcised,
saying that, yeah, okay, you're a believer and you're saved,
but unless you're circumcised, you're not really saved and you're
not really righteous. You're not really in the kingdom. And so the apostle Paul writes
here, this is Philippians 3.1. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. Now the word rejoice there is
to be happy in the Lord, be content, joyful in the Lord. To write
the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous, but for
you it is safe. Verse two, beware of dogs, beware
of evil workers, beware of the concision. Now the word concision
is a mutilation. And what he's referring there
to is the unbelieving Jews who claim to be Christian, but who
wanted to bring believers under the law of circumcision in order
to be really saved. And he's saying they're dogs.
He's saying they're evil workers. It's Christ alone. It's not Christ
plus circumcision. It's not Christ plus your works.
It's not Christ plus baptism. It's Christ alone, His blood
alone. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. It's His righteousness alone.
The only right standing I have before God is in Christ, who
is the Lord my righteousness. And I wanna serve Him. but my
service adds nothing to the righteousness that he established by himself
when he purged away my sins on the cross. He's it, he's my all
and in all. And so he says, verse three,
for we are the circumcision. Now what is he talking about?
He's talking to believing Gentiles here too, who had not been physically
circumcised. And he says, we are the circumcision.
We're spiritual Jews. We're spiritual Israelites. He
is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. And circumcision is not that
which is outward of the law. He is a Jew, which is one inward.
We're the circumcision. How do you know, Paul? We worship
God in the spirit. We worship God as God reveals
himself in his word through Christ. We worship God from the new heart.
He's given us a new heart. It's the circumcised heart. Circumcision
is that of the heart. And he says we rejoice in Christ
Jesus. We glory in Christ. We boast
in Christ. Not in ourselves, we boast in
who Christ is, the glory of his person as God manifest in the
flesh. We boast in his blood. Again,
what can wash away my sins? Not circumcision, not baptism,
nothing but the blood. We boast in his righteousness.
In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. and it's his imputed
to me. And then he says, we have no
confidence in the flesh. We don't believe that we attain
salvation or maintain it by works of the flesh. We believe that
it's all the power of God to save us, to keep us saved, and
to bring us to Christ. Now, if you believe that, you
know what you are, you're a spiritual Jew. You're a Jew for Jesus. That's what we are. And you know
what spiritual Jews do? They praise God. That's what
the word Judah means, praise. Israel, they prevailed with God.
How have we prevailed with God? By looking to Christ, resting
in Him, pleading His blood, pleading His righteousness as our only
ground, our only right, our only title to the blessings of God's
grace. blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, accepted of God in the beloved. Not because
of any national connection we have, any pedigree, not because
of our works, not because of our will. God changed our will
when he gave us a new heart. That's a spiritual Jew. That's
a Jew for Jesus. Think about these things. Make
that distinction and you'll understand the Word of God even more. Hope
you'll join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia. Contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.TheLetterRofGrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.