Most about. The Jews. There's no denying that the Jews. The Jews are the descendants
of Abraham. Believers are described in scripture as children of Abraham. That's who the Jews are. They're
the children of Abraham. Do you remember Zacchaeus when
the Lord saved him? He said this day is salvation
coming to this man's house for as much or in as much as he also
is a son of Abraham. The Jews are the children of
Abraham. A child of Abraham is a Jew. Jews are God's children, and
they have a special relationship with God that not every member
of the human race has. Maybe that's so. God has made
a difference with the Jews. I think of that passage of scripture
in Exodus chapter 11, where God said he was going to come through
the land of Egypt and smite the firstborn, but he made this statement
in verse 7 of Exodus chapter 11. He said, but against any
of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue. Against
man or beast that you may know how that the Lord doth put a
difference. between the Egyptians and the
children of Israel. Who are the Jews, the children
of Israel? They are God's children. God
makes a difference with the Jews. Do you remember what was written
over the Lord's head on the cross? Jesus of Nazareth, King of the
who? The Jews. Now, our question for
this morning is, who are the Jews? Am I a Jew? Are you a Jew? Now, if we're not, we're not
in a saving relationship with our Creator. Who are the Jews? Now, in this passage of Scripture
in Romans chapter 2, Paul tells us who the Jews are, and he begins
by telling us who they are not. You know quite often, I hate
being negative, but quite often the scriptures begin with a negative.
As a matter of fact, more often than not, the scripture begins
with a negative. Somehow we learn better that
way. Paul tells us who the Jews are not, and then he tells us
who they are. Now let's read verses 28 and
29 of Romans chapter 2 together. For he is not a Jew. Romans chapter
2 verse 28, for he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Now,
there are many different ways to take that. Someone who was born in the nation
of Israel, born in a Jewish home, circumcised the way a Jewish
male is to be circumcised, Paul tells us that fellow is not a
Jew. He is not a Jew which is one
outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.
Now what did a Jew have to do to prove he was a Jew? What was
the outward mark of a Jew? What did they do? Well, they
would circumcise the males. And that is where that practice
began. It's still going on today, but
it began with God saying, you'll take your children and you'll
circumcise them. Now, Paul tells us that person
who circumcised physically, that's not the circumcision that the
scripture speaks of. 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. Here the scripture speaks of
a circumcision made without hands. This is the circumcision that's
speaking of. Male and female, if you're a believer, you have
a circumcised heart. That's what the true Jew is.
His circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not
in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Now, it is an undeniable fact
that the Jew is a very special person. He has a relationship
with God that all men do not have. Now, isn't that clear from
the Scriptures? God has this special relationship
with the Jews. They're His children. Christ
is called the King of the Jews. Now, who are the Jews? Paul begins
by telling us that a true Jew before God is not a physical
member of the nation of Israel. Turn with me to Romans 9. Scripture has a lot to say about
this. When we think of the Jews, we think of the nation in the
Middle East and the people who are associated with that. But
Paul tells us those are not the Jews. Those are not the Jews. Look at verse 6 of Romans chapter
9. He says, It is not as though the word of God hath taken that
effect, for they are not all Israel which are of Israel. Neither
because of the seed of Abraham, physical descendants of Abraham,
are they all children, but in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
That is, they which are the children of the flesh. These are not the
children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for
the seed. Just because you're a physical
Jew, that doesn't make you a Jew. It's the children of the promise.
It's the elect of God that are the true Jews in his sight. Now, look up in verse 17 of Romans
chapter 2. This is where Paul begins this
thought. And Paul is speaking to outward Jews when he makes
this statement in Romans chapter 2 verse 17. So for the next several
verses, Paul is speaking to that person who calls himself a Jew,
a physical Jew, someone born of the nation of Israel. He says
in verse 17 of Romans chapter 2, Behold, thou art called a
Jew. That's what men call you. You
were born in the nation of Israel. You were raised up under the
Old Testament economy. You have everything that is supposedly
what a Jew is. You're called a Jew and you rest
in the law. You rest in your knowledge of
the law. You rest in your obedience to
the law. What does a believer rest in?
Christ. He says to this Jewish person,
he says you're resting In the law, your understanding of the
law, and you make your boast of God, you make your boast of
knowing God, of being God's special child. What does a believer boast
in? Christ. God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, rejoice in
the Lord. He was boasting in his knowledge of God from the
Old Testament scriptures. You both you make your boast
of God verse 18 you know his will you know the commandments
of God. You're not some ignorant heathen you approve of the things
that are more excellent the things of God being instructed out of
the law. Now the Jew had a special blessing from God. He was given
the oracles of God. He was giving the words of God.
The Gentiles didn't have this. The Gentiles didn't have any
Bible. The Gentiles didn't have any sacrifice. The Gentiles didn't
have any high priest. God gave the Jews who, to typify
His true people, He gave them all these blessings. He said,
you know His will. You approve the things that are
more excellent be instructed out of the law. And because of
that, verse 19, He says to this Jewish person, He says, you're
confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind. and a light
of them which are in darkness. You think this about yourself.
I'm a God. I'm a light. I'm here to help people. I'm
here to help these ignorant people. I want them to come to the same
knowledge of God I have, and I'm going to do whatever I can
to help them. Now, the Jew thought he was somebody special, God's
emissary, God's man, as it were. You're confident that you yourself
are 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 truth in the law. Now, Paul admits this. You have
a form, an outward resemblance of the truth and the knowledge
of God that comes from the law. You have the form, but you don't
have the substance. That's what he's saying. You
have the letter, but you don't have the spirit. And we're going
to talk more about that in a moment. What is the difference between
the letter and the spirit? But I was thinking about this, the letter
and the spirit. I know the alphabet. I guess about everybody here
does. And you know, I can read a foreign language that's in
our alphabet, like in Spanish or French or German, and I can
make a stab at pronouncing the words and come somewhere close.
I have a form and semblance. I know the alphabet, but I don't
know the meaning. I may be able to pronounce the
words. I may be able to read out of the scriptures and even
quote scriptures and quote large portions of scripture. But do
I know the meaning? Do I know the purpose? You see,
the true Jew doesn't simply know how to read or pronounce the
words. He knows the meaning behind it. And he says to these fellows,
you're an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes. You have
the form, the outward semblance of knowledge and of the truth
and the law, kind of like Paul said to that bunch in 2 Timothy
3, 5. He said they have a form of godliness,
but they deny the power thereof. They have a form, the outward
form, but they deny the power. Now look what he says in verse
21. Thou therefore, you say you're a Jew, you revere the scriptures,
you read the scriptures, you can read them, and you know the
difference between right and wrong. You have the law. You're
not like these ignorant Gentiles. You have something special. He
says, you therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should
not steal. Have you ever had anything stolen
from you? Well sure you have. Have you ever had somebody violate
you? They steal that which belongs to you and you become so upset,
you become righteously indignant, they stole from me. And a Jew,
a physical Jew knows it's wrong to steal. Now he says you instruct
the foolish, you teach babes, you teach them that they shouldn't
steal. Do you steal? I'm not just talking about shoplifting.
I would say probably most people in here have not shoplifted.
Most, I'm sure some of you have, but I'd say most of you haven't. Have you ever tried to take credit
where credit's not due? That's stealing. Have you ever sought to rob glory
from God and bring it to yourself? That's stealing. You that teaches
another should not steal. Do you steal? Verse 22, thou
that sayest a man should not commit adultery. Oh, sexual sin. Sex outside the covenant of marriage
is sin against God. It's a great sin. The man who
reads the Bible knows that it's wrong to commit adultery. It's
sin against God. I know men will try to justify
it in every way they can, but it's sin. That's all you can
call it. Sin against God. Any kind of intimate relationship
outside of the covenant of marriage. It's sin against God. Everybody
knows that. Everybody knows that. Now he
says, you that teaches another should not commit adultery. Do
you commit adultery? What about in your heart? What
about in your heart? Let's just talk about the physical
aspect. What about in your heart? You know, didn't the Lord say,
whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her in her heart
hath already committed adultery? Anybody here not guilty? Everybody
in here will have to confess to being an adulterer if they're
honest in that sense. What about spiritual adultery,
physical adultery? Picture spiritual adultery, looking
somewhere other than Christ, looking outside of the covenant
for pleasure and for comfort. Are you an adulterer? He says
in verse 22, thou that of whores idols, you're oh, you're against
idolatry. And indeed, idolatry is evil. It's wrong. And the reason it's
so bad is because we talked about this in Sunday school this morning.
You take a graven image. And try to. Compared to the Lord,
no one can be compared to the Lord. Any idea that man has regarding
God is wrong, and any time that we make an idol of God and we
say, well, this is to help us in worship, it's to help us,
you know, it's a visible representation that'll help us in worship. No,
it won't. It'll hurt. It's nowhere close to what God's really like
or who He really is. Now, you know that. These images
are wrong. Graven images are wrong. I think
it's interesting how people who are really for the Ten Commandments
being posted publicly, and I'll be honest with you, I don't have
any problem with it. I mean, it tells who God is, but they never pay any
attention to the first tables of the law. They talk about stealing
and adultery and so on, but they never talk about graven images.
They never talk about taking the Lord's name in vain. They
don't talk about the Sabbath. And so on. But he says to these people,
you say a man shouldn't. You have poor idols. Do you commit
sacrilege? Do you commit idolatry? Have
you ever made an idol of anything? Have you ever given something
that which that place which is due to God alone? Have you ever
made an idol? Well, of course you have. I'm
looking at a bunch of idolaters here. I'm looking at a bunch
of adulterers here. I'm looking at a bunch of thieves
here, in that sense, when we talk about the law. He says,
now you know the difference between right and wrong, but where do
you measure up as far as the way you actually conduct yourself?
You see, God's not going to look at you according to whether or
not you're a physical Jew or whether you've been physically
circumcised. He looks at your personal obedience. God is just. This is what he looks at. He
looks at perfect, strict justice. He says in verse 23, Thou that
makest thy boast of the law. I'm a physical Jew. I know the
Ten Commandments. I haven't posted in my home.
I stand for what's right. He said you that make your boast
of the law. Through breaking the law. Dishonorous
thou God, now you can boast if you're without sin, but in your
boasting all you do is dishonor God if you sin for the name of
God. is blasphemed among the Gentiles
through you. Now, what's he saying? Now, these Jews who claim to
have this special relationship with God, and they talked about
the law, the Gentiles look at them and they see what hypocrites
they are. You don't keep the law. You talk about the law,
but you don't keep it. And all you do is give the Gentiles a
reason to blaspheme God. If those are God's people, well,
who needs God? They're no better than me. If anything, they're
worse. That's what he's saying. They'll just blaspheme the name
of God through you. For the name of God is blasphemed among the
Gentiles through you, as it's written. For circumcision, the
physical act of circumcision, you remember when a Jewish male
child was eight days old, they were to bring him into the temple
and circumcise him. And that was the outward sign
of being a Jew. He says circumcision barely profits
you if you keep the law. But if thou be a breaker of the
law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Now, circumcision
outwardly is a good thing if you keep the law, but if you
break the law, if you don't keep the Ten Commandments, not only
is your circumcision of no advantage to you, it's actually against
you. It makes it worse to have these
privileges and yet break the law. Now, he's talking about
a hypothetical situation here in verse 25 and 26. Now, let's
read these verses together. For circumcision verily profits
if you keep the law, but if you're a breaker of the law, thy circumcision
is made uncircumcision. Verse 26. Therefore, if the uncircumcision,
the Gentiles who have not been circumcised, therefore, if the
uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law. And once again, this
is a hypothetical situation. There's no Gentiles that have
kept the law. But what he's saying is, it's
no advantage to be physically circumcised if you don't keep
the law. Because he says, if an uncircumcised
person would keep the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted
for circumcision? If someone perfectly keeps the
law of God, the Ten Commandments, let's say he's not physically
circumcised, so what? All that circumcision is is a
sign. If he keeps the law, he's in good shape. Verse 27, and
shall not uncircumcision Which is by nature, if it fulfilled
the law, judge thee, you who claim to be a Jew, you claim
to be physically circumcised, this person who's not circumcised,
but if he keeps the law, he'll sit in judgment of you who are
circumcised if you don't keep the law, if you don't have a
perfect obedience before the law. Now, verse 28, four. Now, he said all that to bring
us to this point. For he is not a Jew, which is
one outward. Now, who are the Jews? Well,
they're not the people from the nation of Israel. He is not a
Jew which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh. You're physically circumcised.
That's not circumcision in God's sight. Colossians 2.11 speaks
of the circumcision made without hands. Now, here's who the Jew
is. Remember, who are the Jews? It's not the physical descendants
of Abraham. Who are they then? Well, here's
exactly who they are, and every believer will fit this description.
Verse 29, this is where we're going to spend the rest of our
time. He is a Jew, which is one inwardly. And his circumcision is that
of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise
is not of men, but of God. He is a Jew, which is one on
the inside. He is a Jew, not which is one
outwardly, but which is one inwardly. He's a Jew on the inside, and
this circumcision is that of the heart. That's the circumcision
made without hands. Now, what is meant by the heart?
The circumcision is that of the heart. When he's talking about
the inside, he's talking about the heart. Now, the heart, that's what you really
are. Your heart is your mind, your understanding. It's your
affections. It's your will. That's the whole
man. Now, what is your biggest problem?
Right now? It's your heart, isn't it? An evil heart. You may even look pretty good
on the outside, but God looks on the inside and the problem
is the heart. You know, when the Lord was describing
sin, He said, out of the heart. That's where sin comes from.
It's not the things we do. The things we do are products
of what comes out of the heart. Out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications. These are the things
that defile a man, our Lord told us in Matthew chapter 15. The
heart is the problem. You know, I can't change my heart.
I can't make my heart good. I can't make my heart obedient.
I can't keep my heart from murmuring and complaining to God. My problem
is my heart. Now, the true Jew is someone
who has a circumcised heart. You know what that's a reference
to? A new heart. A new heart. God said, A new
heart also will I give thee. The circumcised, cut away the
old heart. He gives a new heart. Turn with
me to Hebrews chapter 8. Hold your finger there in Romans
2 and turn to Hebrews 8. I love this passage of scripture. This is a quotation from Jeremiah
31, verses 31 through 34. But in verse 7 we read, For if that first covenant, the
covenant of works, had been faultless, then should no place have been
sought for the second for finding fault with them. The first covenant. Now, why does God find fault
with the first covenant? Because it doesn't save. It doesn't save. Finding fault with them, he says,
behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I'll make a new
covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers
in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of
the land of Egypt, because they continued not in my covenant
and I regarded them not, saith the Lord, but this is the covenant.
that I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord, I will put my laws, my principles into their mind
and write them in their hearts." Is that talking about putting
the Ten Commandments in the heart? No. Everybody's already got the Ten
Commandments written in their heart. Every natural man does. Every
natural man knows the difference between right and wrong. He's
talking about, I'll put my principles My principles, this new heart,
this new spirit, a heart that sees sin, a heart that sees who
God is. I'll write them in their hearts and I'll be to them a
God. And they shall be to me a people. Now, do I have this
circumcised heart? Do you have this circumcised
heart? Scripture speaks of. You know, you can know. Turn
with me to Philippians chapter three. Now, here's who the true
Jew is. Philippians chapter 3, verse
3. Let's begin in verse 1. Finally,
my brethren. Philippians 3, verse 1. Finally,
my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. Where? In the Lord. Now, there's the place to rejoice.
There's the place to have confidence. Now, he says, to write the same
things to you. To me, indeed, is not grievous,
but for you it is safe. Now, this is true. No matter
what I preach on, whatever passage of scripture I might be, I'm
going to end up saying the same thing. Is that a bad thing? If you have a new heart to receive
it, it's not. It's a good thing. It's the same
thing that you rejoice in. Where do we rejoice? Where do
we rejoice? In the Lord. Can you hear that
enough? How Christ is your salvation? Oh, it's a good thing. Now, if
I don't have a new heart, it becomes boring. It becomes tedious.
Oh, give me something else. I've become like the children
of Israel who said, our souls loathe this light bread. That man as it came down from
heaven had become light bread. But, oh, if I'm given a new heart,
what is it that speaks to my heart? He says, to write the
same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you,
It's safe. I tell you where things are safe
is if I change my message. I mean where things are bad.
Not safe, but bad is if I change my message. Now he says, beware
of dogs. Now he's not talking about canines.
He's talking about false prophets. He calls them dogs. Beware of
dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware
of the concision. They call themselves the circumcision,
but they're mutilators. Four, verse three. We are the
circumcision. We're the true circumcision of
God. Now, here's what true circumcision is all about. Do I have this
circumcised heart? You listen carefully, and you
can find out right now whether or not you have the circumcised heart
the Scripture is speaking of. We are the circumcision which worship
God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence
in the flesh. Now, here's what a truly circumcised
person is and does. He's somebody, first of all,
who worships God. And that means that he worships
God for who He is. He worships God as He is, as
He's revealed in the Scriptures. Now, you worship God when you
bow before Him. It's not just, oh, we had a worship
service. We felt really good. Well, I'm glad you did, but that's
not necessarily worship. The worship of God is when you
bow before Him and believe whatever He does is right. It's best. It's just. It's true. I think
of that Syro-Phoenician woman. The Scripture says regarding
her, the Lord said, It's not right to take the children's
bread and cast it to dogs. He said, I will only send to
the lost sheep of the house of Israel. You know what Scripture
says she did then? Then came she and worshiped Him. Whatever you do is right. I think
of that leper who came down and bowed at the Lord's feet. And
the Scripture says he worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if You will,
You can make me whole. Now that's worship. You bow before
Him. Whatever He does is right. You don't complain with it. You
don't argue with it. He's God. You'll only worship
a sovereign. You'll only worship one in whose
hands you are, and he can do with you whatever he's pleased
to do. Now, that's worship. We worship
God as is revealed in the Scriptures. And you know how you really worship
God is by looking to Christ only. We're going to get more into
that, but listen. We worship God in the Spirit. That means
in a spiritual manner, not with fleshly helps, but by the Spirit
of God. You know, worship is impossible
for a natural man. The only way I can worship God
is as I am enabled by the Holy Spirit. We are the circumcision. We're the true Jews which worship
God in the Spirit. And secondly, he says in verse
3, we rejoice in Christ Jesus. That word means we glory in Christ
Jesus. We boast in Christ Jesus. The
physical Jew makes his boast in God, in the knowledge, his
supposed knowledge of the law. The spiritual Jew boasts, rejoices
in Christ Jesus. And what that means exactly is
this. Now, Paul is an apostle. Paul, as far as I know, I guess
you could argue that John the Baptist was a greater man, obviously,
because the Lord said of him that Or born of women, none are
greater than John the Baptist. But Paul, Paul's right there
with him. Paul's the man God used to expound
the gospel more than anybody else. I mean, the Apostle Paul,
humanly speaking, he's my hero. I love the Apostle Paul. I mean,
what a special man Paul the Apostle is. How greatly God used him.
He was used to write some 13 books in the Bible. More than
anybody else. What a man Paul was. Yet he says,
God forbid that I should glory, that I should
have confidence in, that I should glory in anything. Say, the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. That reminds me of the disciples.
That time they came back to the Lord and they said, Lord, Even
the devils and the demons are subject unto us. They do what
we tell them to do. Oh, you're greatly using us.
They feel good about themselves. Even the devils are subject unto
us. And the Lord said in this, Rejoice
not that the devils are subject to you. Don't you be happy about
that, but you rejoice that your names are written in the book
of life. That's what to rejoice in, what
God has done for you. What God has done in you, he
can use Balaam's Ass just as easy. Don't feel good about yourself
in that way. He can. I mean, he can. What you rejoice
in, what you have confidence in, is what he's done for you
in Christ. Do you rejoice in what Christ
did on Calvary Street? Right now while I'm talking to
you, do you rejoice that what he did is enough to save you?
Is that rejoicing? Oh, we rejoice where? In Christ
Jesus. And what does he say next? Verse
3, we're the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. I don't have any confidence in
my flesh. I don't have any confidence in your flesh. All we have confidence
in is Christ. That's it. No confidence in the
flesh. Now that's a truly circumcised
person. They rejoice in Christ Jesus.
And they have no confidence in the flesh. Now, back to our text
in Romans 2. Now, this is the circumcised
heart. It's not a circumcision made with hands. It's a circumcision
made without hands. And it's evidenced by we are
the true circumcision. Here's what a circumcised heart
is. It worships God for who He is in the Spirit, rejoices in
Christ and only in Christ, and has no confidence. No confidence
in the flesh. Now, back to our text in Romans
2. Look what he says next. Verse 29, he is a Jew which is
one inwardly and his circumcision is that of the heart. Look what
he says next, in the spirit and not in the letter. Now what's meant by this, in
the spirit and not in the letter? Would you turn over to 2 Corinthians
chapter 3? Paul says in verse four of Second
Corinthians, Chapter three. And such trust have we through
Christ to Godward. Not that we are sufficient. Of ourselves. To think anything
as of ourselves. Wouldn't that the truth? But
our sufficiency is of God. who also have made us able ministers
of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit. For the letter killeth, but the
spirit giveth life." Now, letter is law. Spirit is gospel. Letter is law and spirit is gospel. Now, here's the letter of the
law. I mean, we're going to go to this in a minute, look at
it in closing, but I want to bring this up in John chapter
eight. Remember when that woman was taken in adultery in the
very act? And those fellows bring this
woman before the Lord and he said, Moses said in the law that
such a one should be stoned. Now, what do you say? You remember
that now, what does the letter of the law say to the adulterer?
Stoner. What does the letter of the law
say regarding disobedient children? Stone them. What does the letter
of the law say regarding the Sabbath breaker? Stone them. Put them to death. Now the spirit of the law is
the purpose and meaning of the law. The letter of the law says
stone her. What is the purpose and meaning
of the law? What is the reason for God's holy law? The law is given to drive us
to Christ. There is the spirit of the law.
Not stoner. Listen, we're already condemned.
Somebody says, God brings the law into condemnation. No, we're
already condemned. We were condemned in Adam. The
purpose of the law is to show us our sin and to drive us to
the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the spirit. That is the
meaning. That's the purpose behind the
law. God's purpose in giving us this holy, glorious law is
to show us our sin and drive us to the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's it. The law, Paul said, was our schoolmaster
to bring us to Christ. But after you've been brought
to Christ, you don't need the law anymore. Now, a believer
understands that. That's the spirit of the law.
The true Jew is one who sees that he's a sinner and can get
no comfort. from his obedience to the law.
He gets none at all. You see, the Spirit gives this
circumcised heart that sees the meaning of the law and drives
us as sinners to Christ. The law can't perform its purpose
with us without the Spirit. We'll look at the Ten Commandments
and think, well, I measure up partially on this one or that
one. But when God the Holy Spirit comes to us, we see that all
we've done is broken the law, and that's what drives us to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's the Spirit. Here's
the Spirit of the law. Here's the spirit of Scripture,
not just the letter, the letter that condemns us, but the spirit
of the law, the purpose of the law, the meaning of the law is
to drive us to Christ and to cause us to find our everything
in Him. We have to look nowhere else
for salvation but Him and Him alone. Now, Paul says in our
text in Romans 2, He is a Jew, which is not one inwardly, which
is one inwardly. And a circumcision is that of
the heart In the spirit and not the letter, he understands he's
been given some understanding. Whose praise is not of men, but
of God, you know, men are not impressed with true view. But
God is. God is. You know, God is always
impressed with his own work. That's what's impressive about
this. This is God's work. It's not man's work. It's God's
work and God is impressed with that which he does. Now, what
I'd like to do in closing is turn to John, Chapter eight,
because I think this this passage of scripture is clearly as any
other passage in all the word of God tells the difference between.
Letter and spirit. A circumcised heart and an uncircumcised
heart, we see a. We see an uncircumcised heart
in action and a circumcised heart in action here. We see both the
letter and the spirit of the law. Now, look here in John,
Chapter eight. Verse one. Jesus went under the Mount of
Olives. And early in the morning, he came again into the temple.
And all the people came unto him and he sat down and taught
them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken
in adultery. I picture this in my mind here,
our Lord is teaching. And the scribes and Pharisees
come dragging this woman in, maybe she didn't even have any
clothes on, just covered with a sheet or something, they just
caught her in the very act and they drag her in. Can you imagine
the shame and humiliation this woman is experiencing? as they
bring her in before the Lord. And what she did was a great
sin. She was unfaithful to her husband. You think of the problems
that this sin causes in life and society. It's a great sin. She was unfaithful to her husband. What she did was evil. Now, it
says The scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken
in adultery, and when they had set her in the midst, they said
unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery. We caught
her. Heaping tongues, maybe? One wonders. One also wonders,
what about her husband? Notice they didn't bring him
in. Was he just as guilty? Obviously. Was this a set-up? They wanted to entrap the Lord
in his words? Was this a set-up? I'm not real
sure. It could have been. But here are these fellows. They
say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the
very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded
us that such should be stoned. Now there's the letter of the
law. Moses commanded us, stone her. And that's what the law
says. No doubt about that. And you
know what? This woman deserved to be stoned. Do I have any other adulterers
here? You deserve to be stoned too. Now, Moses and the law commanded
us that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou this? They said, tempting him that
they might have to accuse him. I think this is interesting.
These fellows thought they could trap the Lord. These idiots,
these fools thought they could entrap divine omniscience. They thought we've got it. I
mean, we've got him. By the letter, we've got him.
If he says, let her go free, we can say, well, he has no respect
for the law. God said to stone her, and that's what we ought
to do. That's wrong. He's wrong there. But if he says,
go ahead and stone her, we can say, well, we thought you were
merciful. Where's your mercy? Where's this goodness you're
talking about? Boy, they thought they had him stuck in between
a rock and a hard place. They thought they had him trapped. I love his response. This they
said, tempting him that they might have to accuse him. But
Jesus. Stooped down. And with his finger wrote on
the ground. As though he heard them not. Aren't you listening to us? No. No. What was he writing? There's
been so much speculation over the centuries as to what he may
have been writing, as he stood there and wrote in the sand. You know, there's some place
else where we read of the finger of God writing. You remember on Mount Sinai when
the finger of God wrote the Ten Commandments? You reckon he might
just have been writing, thou shalt not commit adultery. There's a lot of significance
to this stoop. Oh, how the Lord stooped. He came down from heaven
and became flesh. He stooped. And he wrote down,
and I really believe, I can't prove it, but I really believe
that's exactly what he wrote in the sand. Somebody once said,
perhaps he was writing names and dates. Possibly. Possibly. But he said, thou shalt
not commit adultery. Verse seven. So when they continued asking
him, He lifted up himself, and he said unto them, He that is
without sin, and I don't have any doubt he's talking about
this sin. He's not talking about sin in
a vague, generic sense. He's talking about this sin,
the sin of adultery. What a horrible sin that is. And don't forget, the Lord said,
Whosoever looketh upon a woman to lust after her in his heart
hath already committed adultery in God's sight. Got any adulterers here? He said to this bunch, He that's
without sin among you. Pick it up, throw it at her.
Go ahead. And that's the letter of the
law. Stone her. Look what the scripture says
then in verse 8. And again, he stooped down and
wrote on the ground. Now there's another time when
the finger of God wrote. You remember what that is? You
remember over in Daniel chapter 6 regarding Nebuchadnezzar? Nebuchadnezzar
was having his drunken party and the Lord just left him alone.
He was going to deal with him. No doubt he was going to deal
with him. But all of a sudden, it's Belshazzar and I can't remember,
it's either Nebuchadnezzar or Belshazzar, one of those two
Persian kings. All of a sudden he said, let's take the vessels
of the Lord that they stolen from Israel. And let's drink
our wine in those vessels. And so they started their party.
Now they take the things of the Lord and bring them into it.
And all of a sudden, the Scripture says, a hand appeared and wrote
on the wall. The finger of God wrote, Thou
art found weighed in the balances and found wanting. There's the other time the finger
of God writes. There's the letter. Thou art
weighed in the balances. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. Verse eight,
again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And there's so
much significance to these two stoops, it points out twice that
he stooped. He stooped. Oh, how he stooped
when he came down here and became flesh. What a stoop that was
when He took upon Himself the form of a servant. What a stoop
that was. But what was His second stoop?
Oh, how He stooped when He was made to be sin. I don't understand that. But
He was made to be the thing itself. We read in verse 9, Being convicted by their own
conscience, they weren't really convicted by the Holy Spirit,
because if they were convicted by the Holy Spirit, they would.
Came and fall at his feet and ask for mercy, wouldn't they?
But they were just convicted by their own conscience, and
they which heard being convicted by their own conscience, went
out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last.
And Jesus was left alone. And the woman standing in the
midst. Now, here's the spirit of the
law. We've been talking about the letter. Now, here's the spirit. Here's the application. Here's
the true application of the law. Now, this woman knew she was
guilty. And she's left alone. The best place you and I can
ever be left is alone with Christ. Oh, would you God that somebody's
alone with Christ right now, where He's dealing with you.
This woman, she was left alone, standing
in the midst when Jesus had lifted up himself. Now, we read of two
stoops and two liftings. You know what this refers to?
I don't have any doubt that this typifies his resurrection. First, he lifted up himself in
keeping God's law. There's his first lifting up.
He obeyed the law. He's the only one to ever do
it. Now, here's his second resurrection, his second lifting up in the
sense that he was raised from the dead. And now he's speaking
to this woman. on resurrection ground. And he
can speak to her in a way that he couldn't have spoke without
this. Look what he says to her. And
when Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he
said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no
man condemned thee? They'd all left. She said, No
man, Lord.