If you have your Bibles, please
turn with me to Romans chapter 2, verse 17. Paul speaking to the Jews who
don't know God, but who claim to know God, having set forth
the error of the Gentile mind, showing them that they are not
righteous before God, He now sets about to show the Jews that
they are not righteous before God to reach the conclusion in
chapter 3 that under God's law that there is an unrighteous
before God. Both these groups of people have despised and rejected
the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ from faith to faith. And he says, Behold, thou art
called a Jew, 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 art competent
that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, and a light to
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 not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should
not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should
not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest
idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Now that makest thy boast of
the law, through breaking the law dishonoureth thou God. For the name of God is blasphemed
among the Gentiles through you, as it is written. For circumcision
verily profiteth, if thou keepest 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 the 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 doth 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." Our Father, we come in the blessed name of Jesus Christ
the Lord, who is our King and our Master, our Sovereign, our
Substitute, our Dearest Friend, our Elder Brother. We praise
You, Father, for Your mercy and grace to sinners. We are thankful
that we can sing from the heart that we are only sinners saved
by grace. We rejoice to tell the story
once again of Your great work. whereby you honored and glorified
your name in the salvation of the elect through Jesus Christ.
We praise you, Father. You are God. There is none like
you. There is none besides you. You
do all your pleasure. You do your will in the armies
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. Your dominion is
from everlasting to everlasting. Father, we ask In the name of
Jesus Christ, for those of our company who are sick, those who
are going through trials, we would especially remember Brother
Ralph as he's continuing with his chemotherapy. Pray for those
who've requested prayer. We pray for the Dipsies as they
come toward the end of their life. We pray that you'd be with
them and comfort them in Jesus Christ. Father, you know our
hearts and our heart's desire. You know we want those of our
brothers and sisters who are sick to be healed. We know that
you are able. Nothing's too hard for you. We
also know that you have a plan and a purpose. Steps of a righteous
man are ordered of the Lord. And there's a course that we
must take that you have ordained. We bow to your wisdom and your
will. Know in full well that everything that comes to your
people is from a hand of mercy and a hand of grace and is good
for them and will glorify your name's sake. Help us tonight
as we look at this particular portion of scripture. Teach us
thy way, Father. Cause us to look to Christ. Cause
us to bow down as we look even at these Jews that are spoken
of here and realize that this self-righteousness that is set
forth is in every one of us. Help us to seek your face and
look to Christ and not to ourselves. There's nothing in us. no good
in our flesh, but there's nothing but good in Jesus Christ. Help
us, Lord, to worship you in spirit and in truth. We pray in Christ's
name. Amen. The title of my message tonight
is Called a Jew. Called a Jew. Now we know that Paul has spoken
to the Gentile mind and addressed the Gentile mind in chapter one.
And one thing has been set forth as the cause of all the Gentiles'
problems and all the problems of the Gentile mind is that they
refuse to retain the knowledge of God. And what that simply
means is they refuse to acknowledge God as He is. That's where every
problem begins when men view God in a diminished capacity
where they view Him as less than He is. And the Gentile mind went
on to create gods of their own imagination and so forth and
ended up in reprobation. But the reprobation was caused
because they would not acknowledge God as He is. Now we come to
those who have the law, those who God has privileged to give
the law. He has given them the oracles
of God, and yet we find them also refusing to retain God in
their knowledge. They, a few, refuse to acknowledge
God as He is. So Paul is setting about through
the entire book of Romans to show that man is not righteous
before God by the law in any way. Whether he practices the
law by his conscience as the Gentiles do, accusing or excusing
one another, or whether he practices the law as the Jews do in an
outward manner, and in the flesh, trying to do that which is spiritual,
both of them all are concluded under sin. Righteousness is not
by the law in any way, shape, or fashion. He's showing that
here before we even really get into the full thrust of what
he's saying in the book of Romans. These verses here that we read
tonight are specifically addressed to the Jews. to the Jews who
have the law. The words, Thou art called a
Jew. That's what he says when he first
starts out. He says, Behold, thou art called a Jew. That sentence is very telling,
or that phrase is very telling in itself. It certainly makes
something plain here. The word called also makes it
plain that where Paul is headed in this portion of Scripture
will end in assuring these folks to whom he is talking that they
are not Jews at all. He says, Thou art called a Jew. It's important to realize this,
that being a Jew is not a race. It's not a race, it's a religion.
A now altogether defunct religion. A religion that doesn't do anything
that the Bible says the Jewish religion should do. a religion
that doesn't have a priesthood, a religion that doesn't have
an altar, a religion that doesn't have the Ark of the Covenant,
a religion that doesn't have the High Priest and the Day of
Atonement once a year. There's no bloodshed. There's
none of that stuff that the Jewish religion required. A priest,
an altar, and a sacrifice that don't exist. They all substitute
things for that now and call it Judaism. Judaism is dead. It does not exist. There are
some Jews in the world, but they are not of the so-called Jewish
faith. These are called Jews. They call
themselves Jews here. And Paul is bringing into a place
where he's going to tell them that they're not really Jews,
but rather they're in the same sinking boat that the Gentiles
occupy, that he's already talked to in chapter 1. The word called
might imply that this is what others call them, but more than
likely from the context, this is what they call themselves.
We are Jews. We are Jews and as we will see
that for them this is a place of boasting. It's a place of
pride. Paul says this in this context.
He's addressing those who proudly proclaim and declare that they
are Jews and they do so because they say we have God's law. That's why they're so proud.
We have God's law. Now another obvious thing to
distinguish that these are nothing but nominal Jews is that they
are said to rest in the law. That is, Paul uses phrases here
that are really proper use of language to teach opposites and
to condemn things. They are sardonic and sarcastic
in nature. He says, Thou art called a Jew. Which is saying, you know, you
call yourselves Jews. Then he says, you rest in the
law. That's an astounding statement
when you think about it. You rest in the law. Now the law neither prescribes
nor gives rest. There is no rest in the law. The law declares this do and
live. This do and live. The Sabbath
day, part of the law of God, part 4 said for the law of God
was not in the law in the beginning, it was merely a representation
of the fact that the work was finished. It was added to the
law in Sinai, and several Sabbaths were added to it, but all of
them say the same thing. Don't work. Stop doing. Cease from the law. Because the
work is finished. The work is finished. But now,
these are said to rest. in the law, to rest in the law. No one can rest in the law. I
know and I speak from experience. I was a legalist-religionist
most of my life. I was a legalist-cowardist when
the Lord showed me who Jesus Christ was and kicked all that
to the curb, kicked every bit of it to the curb. I believed
that I could straighten out people's lives and try to control them.
That was what I loved to do. And I used the law to do it.
I am a recovering legalist now, I'm not over it yet, I still
find a whole lot of it in me that I don't even want to mention,
but it's still there. To understand how this rest is
seen, or what it is, is seen in the last phrase of verse 17,
Behold thou art a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast
in God. make us thy boast in God." They
rest. What does that mean? That word
rest means to feel confident. They're confident of their estate.
They're secure. They feel secure. They feel assured
before the law because they boast that God has privileged them
alone to have it. They have the law. These Gentiles,
you know, what can we expect from them? They're a bunch of
pagans. They worship rocks and stumps.
What can we expect of them? We have God's law. That's what
they're saying. Thou art called a Jew, and restest
in the law, and boast thyself in God. They think themselves
safe because they believe they differ from the Gentiles. God
gave the Gentiles no law, so these who were given the law
could rest in what they presumed was the favor of God. We have
the law. God must favor us. We have the law. God must favor
us. We're Jews. Not like those Gentiles,
those dogs, those sorry people over there, we're somebody, God
has blessed us, but that's not the case. As Paul says later
on in this very book of Romans, in Romans chapter 9, in verse
6, he says this, speaking of this privileged group of people,
and they are privileged, there is no doubt, that of all the
nations upon the face of the earth, God dealt with one small
nation. One small nation, and that nation
was Israel, the sons of Jacob, the sons of Israel. There was
Israel. That's the only place, only people
he dealt with. He only met with these people.
He actually never met with these people. He met one time a year
with the representative of these people. in a 15 by 15 foot cubicle
called the Holy of Holies over the ark where He appeared in
His Shekinah glory. Now you think of the circumference
of the whole earth, the land mass of the whole earth, and
here God who made the earth, who set the stars in space, who
put their planets in their sockets, who did all this in the span
of His hand. God Almighty met with one man
one day a year in a 15 by 15 foot cubicle and nobody saw it. but the man who was in there
with God. The Jews were a privileged people. Their representative met with
God one day a year. All the rest of the world, think
about it, 15 by 15 foot cubicle, approximately 59 million acres
of land throughout the rest of the world, God met with one man
one day a year, and not without blood. the blood of the Lamb,
picturing the Lord Jesus Christ. They were privileged. I mean,
God didn't even speak to nobody else. Nobody else knew how to
approach God. Nobody else had a representative
before God. Nobody. Just these, just a little
handful of people who God said, you weren't the biggest, you
was the smallest, you wasn't the smartest, you was the dumbest.
And they proved that throughout all their life. It took them 40 years to make
an 11-day journey in the wilderness. It wasn't but 11 days from where
they started out to Canaan. It was an 11-day walk. It took
them 40 years to get there. Why? Because they were stupid,
just like we are. But they were privileged. Here's
what Paul says in verse 4 of Romans chapter 9, Israelites,
to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants,
and the giving of the law, and the service of God, that is,
the service in the tabernacle, and the promises. whose are the
fathers, and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came, who is
over all, blessed forever. Amen. Boy, this is a privileged
people. But people could look at that
group of people who were scattered and had no interest in God whatsoever,
and plenty of interest in religion, and say, well, you know, that
must have not worked for God to give them all that stuff,
and it not do any good. And he goes on to say, not as
though the Word of God had taken none effect. We know that under
that covenant, no sin was ever omitted, no thing was ever truly
accomplished but to point to and picture the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not as though the word of God hath taken on effect, for they
are not all Israel, that are of Israel. Wait a minute, you
mean in this great vast nation privileged of God, there's some
that are really His people and some who aren't? That's what
He's saying. Well, how do you know who is and who ain't? Neither
because they are the seed of Abraham. Because Abraham had
a son who was a pagan, didn't he? His name was Ishmael. And he's a child of Abraham.
He's called in Scripture the seed of Abraham. Neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. And he goes on to show how that's
done by God's great purpose of election. in electing Jacob and
disregarding, hating, despising, not caring about, however you
want to put it, Esau. All that's Israel is not Israel.
You call yourself a Jew. You rest in the law. You boast
that because you have the law, God has shown you favor. God
says that's not so. That's not so. They rest in the
law because they feel that since they have the law, God favors
them. Now this is the same attitude
of legalistic religion. Legalistic religion. The following
verses reveal how such an attitude manifests itself back in our
text. Such who apply to the law for acceptance with God believe
that because they apply to the law, that they can rest, that
God has accepted them. I keep the law, they say. I try
to do God's law. I try to run everybody else's
business. I try to control your life. And I try to do it with
the law because God has accepted me. You see, I'm accepted of
God. I'm somebody. Listen to legalists talk. They build these
strawmen of this guy who supposedly believes in grace but never attends
church, has no interest in God. And you have this other guy who
believes in grace and keeps the law. Which one of those are the
better two people? Probably the guy that don't do anything. Probably
is. Because we know this guy is self-righteous. But they use that, that kind
of language. They use the law. I shall love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart. None of them do, but they
say that anyway. They after all claim, just as
they claim to be Jews, that they know the will of God. They claim
to know it, or their claim to know it is revealed in how they
use it. And Paul shows us here how they use the law. How they
use the law. The law is lawful. If a man use
it lawfully, the law is good. But what everybody needs to understand,
the law is not for a righteous man. It's not. If you are righteous in Christ,
the law is not for you. It has nothing to do with you.
Why? Because the law is designed to accuse you, to define your
wrongdoing and your sin and transgression, to assign Judgment and carry
out a sentence. That's what it's designed to
do So what does the law have to do if you're righteous? nothing
And you don't have anything to do with the law either and that's
what Paul is Declaring here concerning these men the way they use the
law they use the law to approve look what it says In verse 18
it says and know us the will and approve us the things that
are more excellent Being instructed out of the law now the word approved
there if you have a marginal reading means to try But it doesn't
mean to try, like Paul said, try the spirits whether they
be of God, for many false prophets have gone out of the world in
1 John chapter 4 or chapter 2. What he's saying is this word
is a sense of approving or disapproving after extensive examination based
on their interpretation of the law. Now men may not go to the
Ten Commandments to do that, and we know they don't go to
the ceremonial aspect of the law to do that, but men use that
principle of righteousness they believe that the law represents
to judge other men. Churches come up with stuff like
that all the time. They have watch care programs.
We're going to get you, we'll let you in here, you come in
here, you confess Christ, we're going to watch you for six weeks,
we're going to examine you, we're going to put you to the test,
see whether or not you're really a Christian. That's what we're
going to see. Same principle apply. The very
same principle. These set themselves up as judges.
Judges of men, especially Gentiles who did not have their privileges.
They use the law and the fact that they have it to judge those
who do not have it is what makes them feel special about themselves.
Their judgment comes from a perceived state of superiority. And we see them throughout Scripture
called the Pharisees or the self-righteous ones. They, after all, have been
instructed in the law. God has given them the law. They
are thus confident that they are the guides of the blind.
And here Paul begins to speak in language again that's really
important. He says, you perceive that you are guides of the blind,
that you are a light to them which are in darkness, an instructor
of the foolish and a teacher of babes. That's what you think
of yourself. You call yourself a Jew, you
rest in the law, you believe God favors you and you've taken
this and developed the attitude that you're going to straighten
people out, you're going to help them out with the law. You're going to lead the blind
and you're going to instruct little ignorant babies. You're going to be a light to
them that dwell in darkness, that dwell in darkness. They're
confident that they're guides to the blind and a light to them
that are in darkness. Does that language at all sound
familiar? We know that part of that's the work of the gospel,
isn't it? They that dwell in darkness have
seen a great light. But it's also part of the false
gospel. Part and parcel with the false gospel. There's no
doubt here in my mind that Paul is using very sardonic and sarcastic
terminology here. Look over what he says about
blind people, what our Lord said about blind people and those
who lead them over in Matthew chapter 23 or Matthew chapter
15. Matthew chapter 15, the disciples
are amazed because God, our Lord Jesus Christ has spoken to these
Pharisees in such a manner and really shook them up. And the
Pharisees are offended and the disciples are really upset because
when you offend religious people, they can be really ugly. They
can be ugly when you offend a religious person. So our Lord says to them,
to His disciples of the Pharisees in verse 14 of Matthew 15, let
them alone. Just leave them alone. Leave
them alone. They are blind leaders of the
blind. Thou callest thyself a Jew, and
rest in the law. You say you're a leader of the
blind, and if the blind lead the mind, both of them are going
to end up in a ditch. That's what our Lord says. Look over
at chapter 23 and verse 24. Here that great chapter concerning
the Pharisees. In chapter 23 and verse 24 it
says, Ye blind guides which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.
What does that mean? You make really big things out
of nothing. That's what that means. You end
up choking on it. You make really big things out
of nothing. You strain in a net and you swallow
a camel. Look over at 2nd Corinthians
chapter 11. You are blind, leaders of the
blind. You say you lead the blind. Look
what he says of those who claim to be light unto people. Knowledge and instruction. In
2nd Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 13 and 14 he says, For
such are false apostles. They don't say false prophets.
They are, but they call themselves false apostles. They believe
they have apostolic gifts. They believe that they were personally
picked out by God for a specific office in the early church. We
have a guy in Asheville right now on TV. He calls himself the
apostle something or another. He calls himself the apostle.
There ain't no apostles left. The last one was Paul. He's gone. No apostles left. So all we can
possibly have is somebody calls himself Apostle and this has
to be a false one. I remember years ago, some people
I knew liked to call their pastor the leading apostle and leading
prophet of the age. One of them asked me if he could
call me that. I said, if you do, I'll hit you
upside the head. Don't call me no apostle. Don't call me no
prophet. I'm a minister of the gospel. That ain't much. The
message is the thing. The man ain't nothing. He ain't
worth a hoot anyway. But these are false apostles. They are
deceitful workers. Doesn't say they don't work.
They are workers. They labor. Transforming themselves into
the apostles of Christ. They're not transformed by God,
they transformed themselves. And no marvel, for Satan himself
is transformed into an angel of light. The serpent in the
Garden of Eden, the serpent in the Garden of Eden was, the word
serpent means a bright and shining light. He came to Eve with knowledge
and light and understanding and it was, it just, she was enamored
by the thought of being like God. And so she took what he
offered. Therefore it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness,
whose end shall be according to their works. These false apostles
are ministers of light, angels of light. They're bright and
shining stars. but they have nothing in them.
They claim to be instructors of the foolish and teachers of
babes, and they do all this from a form of knowledge. Paul, I
love the way he writes this. He says, you're leaders of the
blind, you're teachers of the foolish, and you have a form
of knowledge. You know what a nasty little
statement that is? How nasty. You have a form of
knowledge. It's like southern women who
would say to somebody who makes a little bit of a contrast or
something and they really despise what they say, they'd say, that's
a nice distinction. And what they're saying is that
don't mean nothing. That don't mean nothing. You have a form
of knowledge. And you have a form of the truth
of the law. You have a form. These words
are important because Paul uses them over and over again. These
words are in a precise usage of the tongue firmly implanted
in the cheek telling those who call themselves Jews that they
do not know what they are talking about. You have a form. You fiddle around with the truth.
You play around with the law. You use the law like you want
to use it. You use it to examine folks and
straighten out folks and try to control people's lives. Listen
to me. It's not the preacher's job to
tell you how to live. If God has saved you, you know
how to live. You know it because it's written
in your mind and in your heart. And all the preachers do is tell
you about Jesus Christ and what He's done. The glory in His name
and His accomplishments. And say to you, love Him and
do what you will. I'm not afraid of the gospel.
I know what it'll do. I've seen it and what it'll do
to people's lives. These Jews don't know what they're
talking about. Paul said that kind of language
in other places. Look over at 1st Timothy. You have a form,
a form. In 1st Timothy chapter 1, Paul
talks about these who are teachers. teachers, they're bright, they're
lights, they're leaders and teachers. He says in verse 7 of chapter
1, verse 6 he says, they turned aside from the truth into vain
jangling. And that's just one of those,
I think in poetry that'd be onomatopoeia, that sort of sounds like what
it is. Like posed pulling the bells,
the tin-tin abulation of the bells. What these guys do is
vein jangling. It just sort of has a ringing to it. Vein jangling. What do they do? Well, they desire
to be teachers of the law. That's what they want to do.
They want to teach you the law. They want to bring you under
the law. They want to say that we know Christ saved you. We
know Christ put away your sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
We know that Jesus Christ forgave you all your sin. We know that
God will never remember your sin no more. But I do. We're going to teach you the
law. They don't understand what they say or what they affirm.
They don't understand what they're talking about, but not only that,
they don't understand the ramifications of what they're doing by trying
to bring a believer back under the law. knowing this, that the
law is not made for the righteous man, but for the lawless and
disobedient and ungodly, for sinners, for unholy and profane,
for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind,
for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if
there be any other thing that is contrary to true doctrine
or sound doctrine." What's he saying? Here's what they do when
they teach the law. Here's what if a preacher wants
to bring you back under the law, bring you under the law, though
you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's what he's
saying. Now we know by nature we all are murderers. That's
clear from Mark chapter 7. A man's not a murderer because
he murders someone. He murders someone because he's
a murderer. That's in our heart. We're thieves. But if Christ
has forgiven us, God sees us as perfect. and righteous, and
holy, and accepted in Him. What the legalist does when he
brings you back under the law is to say, you've got to live
this way. He's saying, I know God says you're not a thief anymore. God says you're perfect. But
the law says you're a thief. And the law does. That's all
the law can say. You're a thief. So what he's saying here, if
you dig up what Christ has buried, what you're doing is saying that
Christ's work was insufficient, that it really didn't save, that
salvation is you being a thief and stop being a thief down the
way. That's what he's saying. It takes
what Christ has done and throws it away. He says, no, you're
still lost and undone. And that's the ramification of
teaching the law. Men think it makes men holy. It doesn't. It
puts them back in the category of lost and undone without Christ.
And so he says to these Jews, you don't know what you're talking
about. You've got a form of it. You've got a form of knowledge. Over
in 2 Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15, It says this, or not verse
15, verses 1 through 5, it says, This know also that in the last
days perilous times shall come, and the last days began with
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, for men shall be lovers
of their own selves. Covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
truce breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers
of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of
pleasure more than lovers of God. They have a form. of godliness, but they deny the
power thereof." They have a form. And what do the Gentiles do?
They refuse to acknowledge God as He is. What do the Jews do
using the law? They refuse to acknowledge God
as He is. They have a form of truth. They have a form, and
only a form. Now what follows back in our
text in verses 21 through 23, though put in the form of statements
and questions, are really indictments of what these folks are truly
guilty of. They are teachers who rehearse words, but do not
hear what they themselves teach. They flap their gums. They do
the chin music, but it never reaches their own ears. They
don't know what they're talking about. They sit as teachers.
They sit as judges. They endeavor to straighten out
people's life while being guilty of what they are teaching against.
That's what Paul accuses them. They are thieves who preach to
others not to steal. They are adulterers who teach
others to be chaste. They are idolaters who teach
others that they should worship God. And this is the common modus
operandi for legalists, and it gives them some sense of relief
of conscience to control others while they themselves are out
of control. You watch a man and listen to
what he's talking about. Old Herbert Wilson told me years
ago, he said, if a man harps on one thing all the time, that
fella's got a problem with that. He got a problem with that. And
over and over again I've seen it. When preachers get up and
start talking about adultery and they start preaching every
message on adultery and all this, there's something going on there. Somebody's going to get in trouble
real quick. Never will forget that preacher
from Appomattox, Virginia, a good friend. He was preaching. He had adultery in his church.
There was something going on. He couldn't get nothing done
about it. He was really upset about it. So he went into a tirade,
not in his church, but at a Bible conference in Virginia. And he preached against adultery.
Boy, he creamed them adulterers. He tore the hide, took the hot
pincers, tore the hide off of them, worked them over, just
up and down. Spent about an hour and a half just preaching about
adultery. After it was over, Scott Richardson went back there
and shook his hand. He said, well, I'm not going
to do that no more. These folks who harp on one thing,
trying to straighten out your life and control your life, they
got a problem with that situation. That's why I preach so much about
self-righteousness. I got such a big problem with it. I've got
a problem with it. Jimmy Swagger used to preach
on pornography and adultery. And all those horrible wicked
women who wore them short miniskirts walking down the street. Do you
know why? Because he's in a motel with one of them. My job is not to control your
life. That's God's job. And He does a good job. But if
you hear a person harping on a thing over and over again,
that person is making himself feel better. by straightening
out your life, not his life. He feels better about himself
because he straightened out yours. Paul said that concerning the
legalists over in Galatians chapter 6. In Galatians chapter 6, he
said this, he says, As many as desire to
make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised
or to keep the law, only lest they should suffer persecution
for the cross of Christ." What is the persecution for the cross
of Christ? What could be that persecution? Persecution for
the cross of Christ is you take away everything from man, just
rip it, throw it away, and say to man, you can't do nothing,
you won't do nothing, you're unable to do anything, there's
nothing in you that could ever recommend to you God whatsoever,
nothing that you can do can ever have to do with your salvation,
nothing. That's the offense of the cross. You're not involved
in your salvation. No, not at all. He said, but
if I can give you something and constrain you to do something,
I don't suffer that persecution that comes with preaching the
cross all along. I actually start to feel good. I make a fair show
in the flesh. I've helped somebody else. I've
had a ministry to the poor. I've had a ministry to the hurting.
For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law,
but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh."
What a powerful man that preacher is. You know, he's changed a
lot of people's lives. He ain't changed nothing, no how, at all. Nobody. He's not changed anybody.
I can't change. I can't change myself. But if
I can get you under the law, then I can say, I've done something. I've done something. Verse 23, back in our text, makes
it painfully clear that these are, while they're doing all
this, a bunch of law breakers. A bunch of law breakers. Thou
that makest thy boast of the law through breaking the law
dishonoreth God. They are law breakers. Law breakers. They boast in the law. They boast
in God while dishonoring and blaspheming God. Look at verses
23 and 24. Thou that makest thy boast in
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. It is blasphemed
among the Gentiles. Their blasphemy among the Gentiles
is their evident hypocrisy in seeking to bring the Gentiles
to the law which they themselves openly transgress. The God they
speak of as the one who gives the law is not able to make the
recipients of his law keep it. So the Gentiles say, what kind
of God is he? That's what our Lord is saying. How indeed could
he be God if his own people behave in a manner so contrary to what
he teaches, to what they themselves teach? There's a lesson to be
learned there. In verses 24 and 25, it teaches
a great spiritual truth. Or verse 25 and 26, For circumcision
verily profiteth if you keep the law, but if thou be a breaker
of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcised. Now you
just think about circumcision and what he's talking about here.
He said if you break the law, you're uncircumcised, or your
circumcision becomes uncircumcised. And he says, Therefore if the
uncircumcision, that is the Gentiles, keep the righteousness of the
law, shall not the uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
What's he talking about? He's talking about something else
other than circumcision, isn't he? Because we're talking about physical
impossibilities here. Because you know what circumcision is.
If it were merely denoting of the cutting of the flesh, it
would be one thing, but that's not what he's talking about here.
Because If you were circumcised, you couldn't suddenly become
uncircumcised. Could you? That's just physically, that
ain't gonna work. And if you're uncircumcised, you couldn't suddenly
become circumcised. So what's he talking about here?
He's showing that this physical token accomplished in the flesh
spoke altogether of something else. As with all those accomplishments
in the flesh under the law, they spoke of something else. Paul tells those who call themselves
Jews, if they break the law, then their circumcision becomes
uncircumcision. In the flesh, that would be impossible.
Likewise, if the Gentiles keep the law, his uncircumcision would
be counted for circumcision. The entire matter then is clearly
stated, by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified in
his sight. We're talking about the flesh.
In fact, if a Gentile keeps the letter of the law, that person,
by doing so, judges those who have the law. And he judges them
as transgressors. Judges them as transgressors.
That's what he says in verse 27. Circumcision. What is it?
Follow it from the Old Testament all the way through to the New.
Where the New Testament teaches what the Old Testament means.
Circumcision was a symbol, a token, a token of an already existing
covenant relationship with God. It did not ratify the covenant. It did not cause the covenant
to exist. It did not start the workings
of the covenant. It spoke of a covenant relationship. It was
a token of a covenant relationship. That's what Paul goes on to say
in Romans chapter 4 and verse 9. Listen to these words. It's
all about Abraham's righteousness when he believed God. Believed
God, it was imputed to or accounted to him for righteousness. And
he says, come with this blessedness. And what is this blessedness
he's talking about? He says, there are people in this world who God will never
charge with sin. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. I want to be in that group, don't
you? I want to be in that number of people whom God will never,
ever, ever, ever, ever charge with sin. And he says, there's
a group there. Well, where's that blessedness
come from? How does a man get in that place? How does a man
come to be in that place? He uses Abraham as an example.
Cometh this blessing upon the circumcision only, or upon the
uncircumcision also? Well, do you get that by being
circumcised? Keeping the law? Or can it come
upon you if you don't keep the law? How does this happen? For we say that faith was reckoned
to Abraham for righteousness. So it comes by faith? Is that
what you're saying? That's exactly what he's saying.
How was it then reckoned? How was it that Abraham was considered
righteous? How is it that you might be one
whom the Lord will never ever charge with sin? Does it have
to do with something you do? It says, how then was it reckoned?
When he was in circumcision, was Abraham circumcised when
God made a covenant with him? Was he already circumcised? Or in uncircumcision, did God
make a covenant with him before he was circumcised? This covenant evidently didn't
have anything to do with circumcision, not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision,
a seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had yet being
uncircumcised. Abraham was uncircumcised and
was counted righteous before God. So it must not have anything
to do with the flesh. Nothing to do with what you do
or don't do or the cutting of the flesh. That he might be the father
of all them that believe. Believe. that righteousness might
be imputed unto them also, and the father of the circumcision,
to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the
steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he being yet uncircumcised. Abraham was a man of faith. Abraham
was a man whom God made a covenant with him while he was a Gentile
in the era of Chaldees, and called him out and said, Come out here.
And that covenant we know is a picture of the covenant of
grace. The covenant of the law came many years, 430 years later
on the Mount Sinai and was simply set forth to picture the Lord
Jesus Christ and to show men what they were at the bottom
of that mountain. Making that golden calf when God was saying,
Thou shalt have no other gods. Thou shalt make no graven image.
There's down there doing exactly that. God was defining what they
were doing from the top of the mountain down to the bottom of
the mountain. But in that law, you never saw any mercy or any
grace. Yet with Abraham, he says, I'm
going to make a great nation out of you. Everybody that blesses
you, I'm going to bless. Everybody that curses you, I'm
going to curse. And many people are going to come to you. And
he's talking about Jesus Christ. You left your Father's house. Christ
left His Father's house. You came to a strange land. Christ
came to a strange land. All men are blessed in Jesus
Christ. For all spiritual blessings are
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Circumcision has nothing to do
with it. Keeping the law has nothing to do with righteousness.
It's a symbol of an already existing relationship. Do we have such
a symbol as believers in Christ? Yeah. We do it right over in
that creek. We call it baptism. It's an answer
of a clear conscience toward God, according to 1 Peter. It's
a token. Does baptism do anything for
you? Why are you baptized? So I become a member of the church.
Listen, the church can't even baptize you if you're not a member.
What kind of authority does it have over you? It's a confession. I am in the
body of Christ. There is already an eternal relationship
established between God and myself that He made and I didn't. and
I'm confessing it in the Waters of Baptism. The physical act
of circumcision always meant something more and something
greater even in the Old Testament. Then I'll hurry, turn to Deuteronomy
chapter 10. Deuteronomy chapter 10. Look at verse 16. Circumcised therefore the foreskin
of your heart, and be not stiff-necked. Don't
be a rebel. Circumcision of your heart, that's
what it says. Look over at chapter 30, Deuteronomy
30, verse 6. And the Lord thy God will circumcise
thine heart. and the heart of thy seed, to
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
that thou mayest live." God's circumcision. What is circumcision? What does it picture? It pictures
a relationship with God. It pictures something God does
to the inward man, not to the outward man. You see, nothing
you do in the flesh can please God. Nothing. Nothing about our flesh is worthwhile. No religious effort of our own
can ever be seen as worthwhile. Even though it might be good,
we're not so sure that it is. Paul said, when I would do good,
I don't do it, and when I don't want to do good, that's what
I do. And he said, there's a principle in me that just keeps on working.
He said, every time I do something good, I know that there's sin
in me, so can you tell me a good work you've done? Now that's not to say that your
works on good God, because God has ordained that your works
be good. He's ordained you to good works and you will walk
in them according to what He's saying. That's part of His predestinating
work. But do you know what they are?
No, you don't, because you can't ever separate the fact that you're
still in this life so much of yourself. So even when you do
something good, You're afraid to call it good because you know
you're still involved in it. Your hand's the one that done
it. The physical is not what's important. It is the spiritual. Outward circumcision addressed
God's saving work in the inward man. It pictured that. And so
Paul ends this chapter back in Romans with verse 28 and 29.
For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly. Neither is the
circumcision that which is outward in the flesh." You call yourself
Jews, you say you rest in the law, say you're teachers, say
you're leaders of the blind and lights to people. He said, but
you know, all that's just, you know, you're just doing physical
stuff and it don't mean a thing. No merit before God. But he is
a Jew, which is one inwardly. And the circumcision is that
of the heart. in the Spirit and not in the
letter, whose praise is not of men making a fair show in the
flesh, but of God, but of God. Everyone I speak to here tonight who knows the Lord Jesus Christ,
who has been brought to faith through the preaching of the
Gospel by the Holy Spirit, every one of you, is a Jew. I'm looking at a bunch of Jews
right now. You are. Every one of them. What
about true Israel? You are true Israel. You are
the church of the Living God. Your circumcision is not in the
flesh. Your circumcision is in the heart.
In the inward man, you praise God and not men. In Romans chapter
9 and verses 6 through 8, we just read that, but let's read
it again. For they are not all Israel which
are Israel, neither because they are the seed of Abraham are thy
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 promise are counted for the
seed. What's he talking about? Look
over at Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3, just one
verse, look at verse 29, "...and ye, if ye be Christ, then ye
are Abraham's seed." You are Abraham's children. "...and heirs
according to the promise." Now look at chapter 4 and verse 28,
"...Now we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise."
You are true Jews, whom Christ has saved by His blood, and by
His merit, and by His righteousness alone. Let us pray. Our Father, bless us through
our understanding, we pray in Christ's name. Amen. Good night. God bless you.