Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
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Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
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for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us for the message. And if you'd like
to follow along in today's message, I'll be preaching beginning at
Romans chapter two, verses 28 and 29, Romans two, 28 and 29. And the title of the message
is in the form of a question. What about the Jew? What about
the Jew? Now the reason I have that title
is from these verses, Romans 2, 28 and 29. Let's read them.
It says, 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, did you hear that?
It's an interesting passage, isn't it? Well, you know, anytime,
quite often, I'll get people who will email or write or call
or question just in discussion about Israel and the Jews. For example, it's quite often
people ask me, said, well, we as Christians, we should support
the Jews. We should support Israel. Well,
here's what I always tell people. I said, now what, you need to
put that in perspective. First of all, the nation Israel
that exists today in Palestine, in the Mideast, is an ally of
the United States. And it's also the only democracy
that I know of in that area. And so, yes, we should politically,
economically, as an ally, support Israel. But when most people
ask that question, they're referring to biblical passages, like for
example, back in Genesis chapter 12, where God made a covenant
with Abraham, and there is a reference there to Abraham's physical seed. Abraham also had a spiritual
seed, we're going to see. And he says, I will bless them
that bless you and curse them that curse you. That had an application
to the physical nation of Israel under the old covenant, for 1,500
years from Sinai to the cross. But that particular promise and
even the curse, the threat of the curse, does not apply to
the nation Israel today as it exists. And I know people don't
like to hear that. Now again, yes, we should support
them. They're an ally. They're a democracy.
They seem to be intent on a just cause. And so, we support them
and I'm all for that. But not for any religious reason,
you see. Now, what I'm going to show you,
and I've spoken on this before, you know, who is the true Israel?
Who is a true Jew? What about the Jew? What does
the Bible teach? Well, the true Israel of God
today is the church. The redeemed of the Lord, the
true church. And I know you'll have, I know
this makes people, upsets people, makes them mad. And they'll all
automatically, you may have heard this term, they'll use the term
replacement theology. Well, he believes that the church
replaced Israel. No, I don't. It's not replacement
theology at all. I'll tell you what it is. It's
fulfillment theology. Fulfillment theology. Israel
as a nation under the Old Covenant had its time. But then what the
Bible calls the Reformation came about. Now that Reformation is
not referring to the 1500s where Martin Luther and John Calvin
and Ulrich Zwingli and those men stood against the Catholic
Church. That is called historically the Reformation. But the word
Reformation is also used in Hebrews chapter nine referring to the
time when Jesus Christ came into the world, the time of change. And Christ fulfilled the whole
law and the prophets, and he abolished the old covenant by
way of not replacement, but fulfillment. That's what it says. Christ fulfilled
that. Now let me give you an analogy
of that. All through the Old Testament, even before Israel
and Mount Sinai, the way to worship God was through the sacrifice
of particular unblemished animals like lambs. Abel did that. God instituted that in Genesis
3.21. Now all of that, those lambs, all the blood that was
slain from Abel all the way up to the cross, to the time of
the cross, just think about that. That was the way to worship God.
Now, it was not that animal blood itself could take away sin. Hebrews 10 tells us the blood
of bulls and goats could never take away sin. But it's what
that animal blood typified. It's who the animal blood typified
and prophesied, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when
Christ came, as the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sins of the world. Did He replace all those lambs
that were slain before? No, He fulfilled it and stopped
it. You see, Christ is, those things were types and pictures.
Christ is the real thing. Christ is the anti-type. In other
words, He's the fulfillment of that. And that's why we who are
Christians today, we don't sacrifice lambs. We don't shed blood of
physical animals because Christ, those things were shadows. Christ
is the substance. That's what the whole book of
Hebrews is about. Now, the same thing applies to Israel and the
church. Israel, in essence, in many ways,
not in all ways now, and understand that when you say this, Israel
was a type of the church, you can't apply everything about
Israel to the church or everything about the church to Israel. Israel
was mainly made up of unbelievers. But they were still a type of
the church in some sense. For example, they were in bondage
in Egypt. Well, the true church, which
is the people of God, the elect of God, the redeemed of the Lord,
we were in bondage to sin. They were brought out by the
blood, the Passover. When I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. The true church is brought out, redeemed by the
blood of Christ. You see, that's the type. But
you can't apply everything. My old pastor used to say, you
can't make a type stand on all fours. The substance is always
better than the type. So, yes, we should support the
nation Israel in our world today, but not for any religious reason.
There, and we do not worship the same God because as I said
last week in the message on one way of salvation, Christ is the
only way to God. To deny Christ, to deny Christ
is to be an unbeliever. And any view of God apart from
Christ, you see, is a false view. whatever view you have of God,
you may believe some truth about God, but until you know Christ
as the Lord, your righteousness, the blood of Christ, the God
man who came to this world and united himself with human nature
without sin, walk this earth in obedience to the law unto
death and establish the only righteousness whereby sinners
can be justified, his righteousness imputed until you submitted to
him as your righteousness, all of your views of God and the
way of salvation is false. Now that's what Paul's talking
about here in Romans chapter two. He'd started out by saying
in Romans 1, 16 and 17 that the gospel is the power of God unto
salvation to the Jew first because it was given to the Jews first
and to the Greek or the Gentile also for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. Well, the reason we need the
righteousness of God is because we don't have a righteousness
of our own. You see, God is righteous and
we are not. There's none righteous, no not
one. None that doeth good in God's sight according to God's
standard. So salvation cannot come by any
righteousness of men because men have no righteousness. So
how does salvation come? By the grace of God. through
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ who is God in human
flesh without sin. Romans 5 21 says, As sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. And so he begins in
Romans 1 18 to bring all the whole human race in guilty before
God without any hope of salvation by their works. And that includes
the Jews under the law. In fact, in Romans 2, that's
who he really deals with more than anything else. He talks
about the Jews who had the law of Moses. He says in verse 11,
look at Romans 2, 11. He says, for there's no respect
of persons with God. The fact if you're a Jew or Gentile,
that doesn't mean anything to God. He says, for as many as
have sinned, verse 12, as many as have sinned without the law,
that'd be the Gentiles, and they did sin, shall also perish without
the law. But he goes on, and as many as
have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law, that's
the Jews. For not the hearers of the law
are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. In other words, the law says
this, do and live, disobey and die. Well, what about the Jews?
Did they disobey? Yes, they did. And I'm not saying
that self-righteously, because we have to. We are all sinners. Romans 3, 9 says, the scripture
has concluded all under sin. Are we better than they? It says.
Are we better than they? No. We're all under sin. Jew and Gentile. The only hope,
listen, the only hope for a Gentile to be saved before God, to be
justified before God, to be made right with God, to be accepted
with God, to be blessed of God, the only hope for a Gentile is
the grace of God through Jesus Christ based on his righteousness
imputed alone. Now, you want to know something?
That's the only hope for a Jew, too. The only hope for salvation
for a Jew, to be accepted, to be justified, to be right, blessed,
to have eternal life, is by the grace of God through the Lord
Jesus Christ based on His righteousness imputed alone. The fact that
a physical Jew is a physical descendant of Abraham will do
him no good. The fact that a physical Jew is under the law of Moses
will do him no good. You can put the 10 commandments
not only on your wall, you can put it everywhere. And all it's
gonna do is condemn you, why? Because you're a sinner. You
say, well, shouldn't we try to keep the law? Yes, we should
try to keep the law, but that's not gonna save us. It's not gonna
make us righteous. It's not gonna earn blessings
from God because we're sinners. The fact that a physical Jew
was circumcised means nothing. And that's what Paul says here
in verse 27 of Romans 2. He says, shall not uncircumcision,
which is by nature, if it fulfilled the law, judge thee who by the
letter and circumcision does transgress the law. Here's a
Gentile who's not circumcised, that's natural. If he kept the
law, he would judge the Jew who was circumcised who didn't keep
the law. Here's the point. Paul says this, it doesn't matter
whether you're a Jew, a circumcised Jew, or an uncircumcised Gentile,
do you have a righteousness that equals, answers the demands of
God's justice? Because if you don't, you will
be damned. Where am I going to find righteousness
that equals the demands of God's judgment? Only one person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. So verse 28 and 29, here's what
he says. He says, For he is not a Jew,
which is one outwardly. Now you know the name Jew came
from the tribe of Judah. In the Bible, the first place
you find the word Jew is in the book of Esther. Mordecai the
Jew. But he came from the tribe of
Judah, which was the main tribe of the southern kingdom of Israel
after Israel split, you remember, after Solomon. You had Rehoboam
and Jeroboam, and they split the kingdom. And 10 of those
tribes went into the northern part and even into Samaria. Later on, they built a temple
in Samaria. And that's the northern, that's the northern kingdom called,
and it was generally called Israel. And then the southern kingdom,
which maintained their headquarters in Jerusalem and around the temple
of God, the temple of Solomon until it was destroyed, that
was called Judah. And that's where the name Jew
came from. Well, it came from the name Judah because they were
sons of, that was one of the, he was one of the sons of Jacob,
Jacob, you remember his name was changed to Israel. The name
Jacob actually means supplanter. That's a name of a sinner. And
the name Israel, which was given to Jacob after he wrestled with
the angel, who I believe was a pre-incarnate visitation of
Christ. I think it's in Genesis 35. His
name was changed to Israel, which means one who has prevailed with
God. Now, ask yourself this question. How does a sinner prevail with
God? Well, there's only one way. And
again, it's the same way. By God's grace through the person
and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You want to
prevail with God? You want to have the victory?
You know, you hear people say, oh, you have the victory. All
right, look to Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. Look
to his righteousness as your only righteousness before God.
That's how you prevail with God. Well, he says in verse 28, he's
not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Now, what does that mean? That's
talking about physical. He says, neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh. He says the physical state of
that person as a Jew does not make him a Jew in a certain way. Well, what way does it not make
him a Jew? Verse 29 explains it. He is a
Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart,
the mind, the affections, the will, the conscience, the inner
man. Circumcised heart. In the Spirit,
that is, it's a spiritual thing, not in the letter. In other words,
not according to the law, but according to the Spirit, whose
praise is not of men, but of God. What is he doing? He's making a distinction here
between a physical Jew, a physical son or daughter of Abraham, and
physical circumcision, and a spiritual Jew, a spiritual son or daughter
of Abraham, who has been spiritually, in the heart, circumcised by
the Holy Spirit. Well, what is spiritual circumcision?
Well, my friend, spiritual circumcision is the new birth. The Bible says
that when God, through Christ, sends the spirit to accomplish
the new birth in the life of his people, he gives them a new
heart, a new spirit, new life, new mind. He brings them to faith
in Christ and repentance of dead works. That's spiritual circumcision. They believe the gospel. They
believe in Christ. And that's what it is, a spiritual
Jew is what he's talking about. Over in the book of Galatians,
chapter 3, listen to this. Verse 26, Galatians 3, verse
26, he says, Now who's the all there? Jew
and Gentile. Believer. You are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. You see, being a physical descendant
of Abraham doesn't make you a child of God. Being a physical, being
a Gentile doesn't make you a child of God. You're all children of
God by faith in Jesus Christ. Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
Do you submit to him as your righteousness before God? Is
it his blood that washes away all your sins? That's a child
of God. And he says in verse 27, for
as many of you as have been baptized into Christ
have put on Christ." Now that's not talking about water baptism,
the ordinance, which is an ordinance of confession for believers.
To be baptized into Christ means to be united to Christ, placed
into Christ. Romans chapter 6 speaks of that,
being placed into his death, baptized into his death. And
what that means is that Christ stood and stands as the representative,
the surety, the substitute of His people so that He acted for
them on their behalf based upon their sins imputed to Him. They
were in Christ. We were chosen. If you're a child
of God, you were chosen by God in Christ before the foundation
of the world. That's what the Bible teaches.
In Ephesians chapter 1, for example, 2nd Timothy, chapter 1. Chosen
in Christ, given to Christ before the foundation of the world.
If you're a child of God, you were justified before God based
upon the righteousness that Christ would accomplish at Calvary.
It's imputed to you. Your sins were imputed to Him
And His righteousness imputed to you if you're a child of God.
And that means He was your surety. He took responsibility for your
case. And then if you're a child of
God, you were redeemed on the cross by His blood. The Bible
says when He died, we died. When He was buried, we were buried.
When He arose again, we arose again. He's our representative,
our substitute, our redeemer. And then if you're a child of
God, you've been born again by the Spirit and brought to faith
in Christ. That's what it means you have
put on Christ. To put him on. That's a metaphor. Like you put on a coat. It's
not meaning that you just have him on the outside but not on
the inside. It means you believe in him. You rest in him. You follow him. And look at verse
28 of Galatians 3. He says, there is neither Jew
nor Greek, Jew nor Gentile, there's neither bond nor free, there's
neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Verse 29, and if you be Christ,
or if you belong to Christ, then are you Abraham's seed, spiritual
seed, and heirs according to the promise. Here's the spiritual
Jew. There's the spiritual seed of
Abraham. Turn the page over to Galatians chapter 6. Look at
verse 14. Paul writes here in Galatians
6 and verse 14, but God forbid that I should glory or boast
or have confidence save except in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ by whom the world is crucified under me and I under the world."
The world's a cursed place to me. The world looks upon me as
cursed. Verse 15, for in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but
a new creature or a new creation. Now the new creation or the new
creature there is the one who has the circumcised heart. Physical
circumcision means nothing is what he's saying here. And verse
16, he says, and as many as walk according to this rule, this
doctrine. What rule? God forbid that I
should glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ. Peace be on
them. They're at peace with God. Because
peace has been made by the cross of Christ. The blood of Christ.
And mercy. God's been merciful to them.
How do you know? Because they're forgiven based
on Christ's blood. and upon the Israel of God."
Those who have prevailed with God. Who is the Israel of God?
It's the ones who have the circumcised heart, evidenced by their faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ and their repentance of their dead
works. They repent of ever thinking
that anything but Christ's righteousness imputed alone could ever justify
them before God or recommend them to God. Their salvation
is not based upon what they've earned or deserved, whether it
be by physical heritage, circumcision, or law-keeping. They know they're
sinners and have nothing to recommend them to God but the grace of
God found in the glorious person and finished work of Christ.
They glory, they boast, they have confidence, not in themselves,
not in their earthly fathers, not in physical acts, not in
their obedience, but they glory, they boast, they have confidence
in what Christ finished on the cross when he fulfilled the law
and justice of God by his death. Christ is the end of the law,
the perfection of the law, the fulfillment of the law. the finishing
of the law, the completion of it, for righteousness to everyone
that believe it. What about the Jew? Well, are
you talking about a physical Jew or are you talking about
a spiritual Jew? The physical Jew, you know, I
thank God for the Jewish people. And the Lord used them so much
in the Old Testament, but mainly because He used that nation to
bring the Savior through. Christ was made of the seed of
David, according to the flesh. I pray for the Jews, the physical
Jews. I pray for that nation. I pray
that God We'll work our great work in that nation and bring
them to Christ for salvation. But you know what? I pray that
for this nation. I pray that for all nations.
I wanna see God bring millions of people to believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, Jew and Gentile. But if we're talking about the
physical Jew, who is an unbeliever, we're talking about an unbeliever.
Not one who worships the same God, just in a different way.
It's an unbelief. He's an unbeliever. But the spiritual
Jew, that's the child of God. That's the sinner saved by grace
and not by his works. And that's what Paul was talking
about over here in Romans 2, 29, when he said, he's a Jew,
which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit,
not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. In other words, his right relationship
with God is established and declared by God through the Lord Jesus
Christ. I 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
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today and may the Lord be with you.