Latest / HBCWestminster / 1.8.23 Romans 2:17-29 Pastor Danny Gardner

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1.8.23 Romans 2:17-29 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  Well, you know how your phone will give you these like photo memories, right? They'll pop up on your phone and say like four years ago today, you know, this is what you were doing. This is the picture you took however many years ago today. Well, my phone did that this last week with kind of an unusual photo. It turns out four years ago in 2019, this week, I took a picture of...
• 0:21
  a book that I was reading. I didn't take a picture of the title. It was just, I was reading something four years ago. I don't even remember taking this picture. I'd forgotten all about it. So it's probably good that I took a picture of it. My phone said, hey, you took this picture four years ago today. And it was a quote by a guy named Henry Nguyen. Henry Nguyen, who wrote a section on pastoral ministry and just talked about the heart of a pastor. And I took a picture of this quote. I don't even remember, like I said, but it must have struck me then. And it struck me again when I read it.
• 0:50
  this week henry newen said more and more the desire grows in me simply to walk around greet people enter their homes sit on their doorsteps play ball throw water and be known as someone who wants to live with them it's a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence i thought that was a great way to word that still he says it is not as simple as it seems my own desire to be useful to do something significant
• 1:19
  or to be part of some impressive project, is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings and conferences and study groups and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets, from doing what I actually want to do, he says. It's difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause.
• 1:40
  Not to feel that you are working directly for social progress, but I wonder more and more. Again, he's speaking as a pastor. I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn't be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and to tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them.
• 2:05
  And honestly, church, I read that again this week and I thought it so resonated with my heart. I love the preaching ministry of the word. I do. You know how I feel about God's word and preaching it. I love it. I love it, but not as much as I love you. I love sitting here and studying. I love going to conferences. I love putting on conferences. I love arranging, organizing, and then executing Christmas Eve services. And I love all of those things, but not as much as I love you. It was such a good reminder again this week of,
• 2:35
  just the calling that we as pastors have for our people. And maybe that resonated with you a little bit. Maybe as parents, you're like, you know what? As a parent, I need to practice the ministry of presence with my kids. It's not just what I can give them. It's how I can be with them. And I feel the same way about you. What a privilege it is. And as we start a new year, my first time preaching now on a Sunday in 2023, I just wanted to let you know that that is my heart for you. I don't just like you. I love you.
• 3:05
  I love you. I really do. I pray for you by name. It is a joy to walk the Christian road with each of you, to celebrate with you when children and grandchildren are born, to mourn with you when we lose loved ones. It is a joy to be called your pastor. Romans 2 and verse 17 is where we will pick up, 17 to 29. And if you're able to stand in honor of God's word as I read, it's been a while since we've done that.
• 3:32
  I'll read verses 17 to 29 and we'll get into our study. Romans chapter 2 and verse 17. But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know His will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law, and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself?
• 4:05
  While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, dishonor God by breaking the law. For as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
• 4:31
  So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? He who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a Jew is one inwardly. Circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man, but from God, our Father in heaven.
• 5:03
  Your name is holy. And we pray your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We know that you, Heavenly Father, are our faithful provider, not only of our daily food, but you provide for our eternal forgiveness. And we ask that you would give us the same grace toward others that you yourself have given to us. In Jesus' name, amen.
• 5:31
  Amen. Thank you, church. Well, we pick up, as you know, in our study of Romans, and as we do, we see the very first word of verse 17 is what word? But, you guys all see that in verse 17, understand then that we are picking up in the middle of a thought. To this point, the Apostle Paul, the author of the world's most eloquent and soaring explanation of the gospel, has argued that the entire world,
• 5:58
  All of humanity stands condemned already because of the gracious and redeeming revelation of God. And you may be thinking, well, gracious and condemnation are not necessarily two words that I would have put in the same sentence. How can condemnation be considered gracious? An excellent question that is actually easily answered. If you were here for Thrive this past Wednesday, our worship kickoff,
• 6:28
  This year's Highland theme, and every year we choose a theme, this year's Highland theme is the sky, not the grave. I said we're going to point our focus, our attention heavenward. We look forward to heaven and not...
• 6:44
  to the dirt and it was inspired by john chapter 5 and verse 24 which says this jesus speaking truly truly literally saying amen amen listen up i say to you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me his eternal life he does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life the current spiritual state of mankind that is the portion of mankind
• 7:12
  who has not yet combined the hearing of the gospel with faith and so remains spiritually dead, is under judgment, Jesus says. Other translations use the word condemnation. Remains condemned or is under condemnation. It's the Greek word krisis where we get the English word crisis.
• 7:34
  Jesus is saying here in John chapter 5 that the unsaved, unbelieving world has a real crisis on their hands, namely eternal spiritual death. And again, you may ask, but how is that gracious? And the answer is because God revealed to us that we are under condemnation. He told us.
• 8:00
  that we were dead he revealed that truth to us and church he was not obligated to do so he could have very easily and remain justified in doing so left us to our own devices but he didn't he told us that we were on the path to destruction he awakened our minds he opened our eyes to the crisis
• 8:24
  at hand he could have just left us to wallow and die in our sin he could have just left us bumbling along the road in our depravity and consider what it took for him to redeem us not only did he tell us that we were on the path to destruction because that would have been one thing he could have just said hey by the way you're on the path to destruction and then he could have just left us there anyway but he didn't even do that
• 8:53
  He revealed to us that we were going to be destroyed, that we had chosen sin and death, and then made a way to redeem us. And consider for a moment, church, what it cost him to do so. His very son? Much easier. It would have been much easier for him if he had just stayed quiet. But consider now the graciousness of his revelation to us that we are under condemnation. It actually was his...
• 9:24
  grace. The Lord's revelation of our spiritual crisis, his willingness to pay the penalty himself is gracious. Amen? You feel free to throw those in anytime you feel like it. Because the Lord has shown himself to all of mankind with such clarity and
• 9:44
  Such a perspicuity, mankind is therefore without excuse. That's what Romans chapter 1 says. None of us, from the greatest to the least, can claim to be ignorant of his existence, of his power, of his intelligence, his goodness. We are all thereby deserving of the condemnation we will receive should we refuse to give him thanks. The theme verses for the book and what the author explains in the subsequent 15 chapters of the book can be found in chapter 1 and verses 16 and 17.
• 10:15
  The Apostle Paul says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it, that is the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. Or if you wanted an easier way to understand it, it would be the righteousness of God is revealed beginning and ending in faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. We said that the true...
• 10:43
  business of the church first and foremost is to make disciples by baptizing and teaching we preach christ and him crucified we preach the gospel we do not exist primarily to polish up existing believers rather we exist to make new believers to get the gospel out in chapter 2 paul began an address
• 11:08
  to a hypothetical and unnamed group of Jewish Christians who may have attended the church at Rome. In verses 1 to 12, Pastor Sam, a couple of months ago, described a bubble-bursting reality. Do you remember that sermon? That there may have existed some Jewish congregants within the Roman church who would have offered a resounding amen to the condemnation leveled against the pagans of chapter 1. In fact, with your Bibles open there to chapter 1, look at verse 28.
• 11:39
  Chapter 1 and verse 28, he's talking about the Lord giving these pagans over to their own devices, to their own debauchery. They wanted to live in wickedness. God allowed them to live in their wickedness. And because they did, all of them are condemned. In verse 28, and since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.
• 12:09
  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
• 12:24
  Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. And you may read that list, this litany of evil, and just say, yeah, that sounds a lot like our own culture, does it not? You hear that list and you're like, man, awful.
• 12:47
  In fact, you read that list and it gets your blood boiling a little bit. You also want to say amen, and many of us just did. You read the headlines describing the wickedness of our age and the godlessness of our culture, the insolence of our God-hating neighbors, and does it not cause your soul to rejoice a little bit when they get theirs, when justice is done?
• 13:15
  You feel a little bit of satisfaction when bad things actually happen to bad people. You're like, you know what, they had it coming. And you're maybe tempted to exchange your evangelism card for a judgment card and wish for others to get what they deserve. In fact...
• 13:33
  You can almost hear the pastor of the Roman church, and he's never named. We don't know who it is that read this letter from Paul the very first time to that church in Rome, but he's reading it now to this group, this congregation, and you can imagine them at the end of chapter 1 saying amen. Their hearts are resounding. Yes, amen. Stick it to them. You can imagine the pastor reading the letter the very first time, allowing that echo of the words of verse 32 to ring out just a little bit longer.
• 14:02
  before hitting them with chapter 2 and verse 1. Therefore, you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. Like, oh no, we've all just said amen, and now the amen is being said against us. In fact, he continues in verse 1, for in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
• 14:35
  Pastor Sam described it like blowing up a balloon. A balloon represented our lives, our pride, our egos. He said this, I'm good because I don't cheat on my taxes, right? And he grabbed that balloon and he began blowing it up.
• 14:51
  I'm good because I'm not one of those people who's addicted to drugs and alcohol. And he blew it up a little more. And unlike some people, I actually work hard at my job. It blows it up a little bit more. And I'm against all of the things I'm supposed to be against. Abortion and LGBTQ and all of those things. And sure, I love money and I'm self-centered and I'm envious of other people's stuff. I'm boastful and I know I've done things that are wrong and I don't actually love God. But thank you, Father, that I'm not like this tax collector. Do you remember him saying that?
• 15:20
  And just smacked us right between the eyes. He said this, I wrote it down. The self-righteous person cannot compare himself to God because he knows he will not come out smelling good at all. In the purity and light of God's holiness and in the gospel, his self-righteous bubble bursts. Remember him taking that needle and popping the balloon. The reason God bursts our self-righteous bubble is not to put us down or to make us feel bad, but to force us to face reality.
• 15:52
  We are not righteous. That's the reality. And we must not pretend to be. The following Sunday, in verses 11 to 16, Pastor Nathan reminded us that everyone loves what is fair, as long as it means fair for us. But God, according to verse 16, will judge the secrets of men, no matter who they are, no matter what they've done, which is an excellent introduction into our sermon.
• 16:21
  This morning, this morning, we are talking about playing games. Do you like to play games? Does your family enjoy playing games? My boys, my two younger boys, have recently gotten into this game, right? And it is incredibly elaborate. I haven't even tried to play, primarily because I don't want to read the hundreds of pages of rules. But each of my boys and then all of their friends all come over to our house at this point multiple times.
• 16:50
  per week they all come over they have built these game boards these are all self-made they've got two foot by two foot sections of plywood that they've painted and made grass and lakes and ponds and they were making rocks and mountains out of plaster and all these other things they make these little armies
• 17:09
  All themselves, all of these, every single one of these, they have made and then painted. And so each of the guys has their own army, and girls too at this point are playing. Each of them have their own army. They bring their army, which has its own strengths and weaknesses and whatever, and they all fight these massive battles down in our basement. This thing at this point is now eight feet this way by four feet this way. That's the size of the board, and it continues to grow. At some point, it'll be bigger than our ping pong table.
• 17:38
  I only noticed this this morning. Apparently they're putting money down. I honestly, I put it up there at first service. I didn't even know, you know, because when I looked at the picture, it was this big. And then when I looked, I was like, wait, they're betting on this. I don't think that's what they're doing. That's not what you're doing, is it? Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, we'll blur that out for the last service.
• 18:05
  They're playing this game. You know what's interesting about this? I mean, it is so elaborate. Each of these armies, and I think on this board there are five different armies, so five guys are all playing at the same time. Each of the armies has its own book of rules. Each army has a book. It's not one book for the game.
• 18:25
  Each army has their own books and they're going through these things. And as they're playing, they are literally reading the things that they can do and the things that they cannot do. Imagine, and it makes all that much more sense now there's that much more weight knowing that there's money involved. But imagine if one of them just in the middle of the game said, you know what? I'm just going to make up my own rules.
• 18:47
  I've just decided that my guys are just invincible, and it doesn't matter what I roll, and it doesn't matter what you roll, I am always going to win all the time. The other guys playing the game would be like, no, you can't just make up your own rules. You have to play by the rules, by the book. You have to play by the book. Let me ask you, church, are you ever tempted to play by your own rules?
• 19:18
  Or to change the rules in your favor, do you ever play games with God? This morning, we study a group of Roman congregants who tried to play games with God in their efforts to justify themselves, which is really what they're trying to do. They tried to play the eternity game by their own.
• 19:44
  They were wishing for the judgment of others, right? They just said amen at the end of chapter 1, all the while expecting grace for themselves. And in the text this morning, you'll notice there are two different groups of people, some who are trying to play by their strict adherence to the law, thinking if they could just obey the law, then they wouldn't need salvation. They could save themselves. The second...
• 20:09
  were relying on their lineage, the families that they came from, thinking that if their family was faithful, they wouldn't need salvation. They were automatically redeemed. And the brilliance of the text before us this morning is how relevant it is. These two false claims are what many of our unsaved neighbors and friends use today. Romans was written almost 2,000 years ago.
• 20:34
  Chapter 2 is probably considered one of the most difficult to apply chapters in the book. And yet, have you not heard people both in the church and out of the church say things like this? Well, I'm certainly saved, or God is certainly pleased with me, or I'm certainly on my way to heaven. I am a Christian. And when you ask them why, they will say, because I'm a good person. In other words, because I follow the rules. And when you ask them which rules,
• 21:02
  It is no doubt a standard of rules that they themselves have made up. It's by their own standard. It's not according to God's holy word, the mirror that we can look in and see, no, we actually don't look very good. Rather, it's by this set of standards that they themselves made up. I follow the rules that I made up, and I am therefore better than the people that I compare myself to. That's really what they're saying. I'm a good person. That's the first group.
• 21:29
  Or they'll say something like, I'm certainly going to heaven. I am a Christian. And you say, why? And they'll say, because it's how I was raised. My family are Christians. I was raised in the church. Right? We hear that all the time. And because I was raised in the church, therefore I am a Christian. It was the same thing the second group of people do. I continue to attend church on occasion when other things don't interfere. Right? I continue to come Christmas and Easter. I'm there.
• 22:00
  So let's look at these two groups. You notice first, the first group, those who rely on the law. And you see first that using a series of if clauses, the author spells out the many privileges enjoyed by the Jewish people, privileges which they may have staked their pride and even their salvation upon. Look at verse 17. He says, but if you call yourself a Jew, the term Jew originally referred to a person who occupied ancient Judah. They were from the tribe of Judah.
• 22:32
  But following the Babylonian exile, that term came to describe any Israelite. By the time Paul wrote Romans, by the time this was being written, it was used widely of all Hebrews, regardless of their tribal ancestry. All of them were just called the Jews. The name signified that the bearer belonged to the people of God, the chosen people of Israel, distinct, therefore, from all other peoples. All other blessings listed in this text flowed,
• 23:02
  in the minds of the Jewish people from this fundamental one. The reason I am blessed is because I am a Jew. The reason I have all of these other ones is because I call myself a Jew. And he continues. He says, if you call yourself a Jew and you rely on the law, Paul was referring to the law of Moses, the Torah, the 613 commandments of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. It had become common practice.
• 23:31
  was even taught by the rabbis and scribes that one could perfect oneself by strict adherence to the laws. Now catch this. 613 laws you had to obey. And what they taught, what the Pharisees believed, what the scribes and rabbis taught at the time of Jesus and during the time of Romans being written, was that you could actually perfect yourself by keeping the 613 laws.
• 24:00
  Let me ask you, church, if you can perfect yourself, then what do you not need? Salvation, a Savior. If you can perfect yourself, there is no need for a Savior. You can literally justify yourself. You can work your way to heaven and thank yourself when you get there. Can you imagine? You can work your way to heaven and sing and praise your own name.
• 24:29
  When you get there, the name that is above every other name, your own? Wow. We would look at that and say, blasphemy. No, that is not how it works. And yet that's exactly what they were saying. They rely on the law and he continues. And if you boast in God, the NIV translates this, if you brag about your relationship with God.
• 24:55
  We know that there's nothing wrong with being in a relationship with God. In fact, you can even be thankful that you are in a relationship with God. You can even take a proper form of pride in that fact. In Jeremiah 9, verse 23 says this, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, the strong man boast in his strength.
• 25:18
  The rich man boasts in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me. That's interesting. He says, if you're going to boast, boast in this. Boast in me. There is an appropriate form of boasting only in the Lord, not in our own strength, is what he's saying. That I am the Lord who practices kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth. For in these, I delight. What these people had done, what the Jewish people had done.
• 25:48
  was found a source of pride, evil pride, in their relationship with God. It's like they looked at their Old Testaments and said, well, we are the chosen people of God. God could have chosen anyone, and He chose us, and therefore we must be pretty great. Rather than saying, and therefore He must be pretty great, they said, really, we must be pretty great. They found an evil form of
• 26:17
  bragging or boasting looking down and condemning others looking down on and condemning others because of god's grace toward them verse 18 if you know his will and approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the law in other words if you're able to distinguish the things that really matter that's what he's saying the jews may have been tempted to use this as support for their bragging we know his will we approve what is excellent we know right from wrong we've been instructed in the law
• 26:46
  But all it really did was condemn them all the more. Think about this. They knew the will of God, which meant when they disobeyed, it was that much worse. Not better for them. It was worse for them. You who have raised kids of various ages, have you ever punished them differently because of their ages? Let's say, for instance, you have three sons.
• 27:17
  One of them 14, one of them 11, and one of them 6. And they are all caught doing the same thing all at the same time. Do you not punish your 14-year-old differently than your 6-year-old? You do, right? And the 14-year-old in that moment will be like, why are you so much harder on me? That's not fair. Why did, and let's just say that his name was Chase, right? Why did Chase...
• 27:44
  get off easier than i did and you would say something like because you're older and you should know better so you guys have all done that then right you've had that conversation we're on the same page that's good because you're older and you should know better it's not to say it's not to excuse the actions of the six-year-old but it's to say by the time you're 14
• 28:09
  You went into that sin, into that rebellion, knowingly, with your eyes wide open. You should have known better. It's like the Jewish people here are saying, well, we know His will. We approve what is excellent. We are instructed from the law. And you're saying, all you're doing is saying you're older and you know better. And therefore, the condemnation is that much worse. If you thought the people of chapter 1 were without excuse, they were without excuse in their ignorance.
• 28:38
  He says, you too are without excuse. The remaining points of pride, he describes in verses 19 and 20, flow from the prerogatives Paul had already enumerated. Look at verse 19. If you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, he's going to use four titles here. Guide to the blind, a light to those who are in the darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth.
• 29:07
  Four titles, guide, light, instructor, teacher, all of which basically say the same thing. These people were claiming that they were the authority on spiritual matters and therefore had nothing left to learn. You can hear, again, the balloon inflating, right? You call yourself a Jew. You rely on the law. You're bragging about your relationship with God.
• 29:33
  You know his will. You approve what is excellent. You're guides and light and instructors and teachers. The balloon is inflating again. But church, what comes next? The needle. The balloon popping needle is found in verse 21. You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You see him getting out that needle again while you preach against stealing. Do you steal?
• 30:03
  You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. You who brag about your knowledge of the law and your special relationship with God actually dishonor the law by dishonoring the law giver by breaking the very law he wrote. Hypocrites is what he's saying.
• 30:35
  Perhaps you heard about this story. In 2013, a man and woman, a couple, were driving through a McDonald's drive-thru. They had ordered dinner. They pulled up to the window. They were given their dinner in a bag, a McDonald's bag. Thank you very much. They paid whatever. They went driving off. Only the problem was that the couple was accidentally given that week's deposit instead of their cheeseburgers. And you may think, well, who puts the week's deposit in a McDonald's bag? I mean, there's your problem right there, right?
• 31:06
  Whatever happened, I mean, who knows what happened, but whatever happened, the employee who was handing drinks and everything out the window was given this bag. This bag goes with this order, handed it to him. Thanks very much. Have a nice day. As the couple was driving away, they realized they got a bag full of money. And you know what was really crazy about the story? When they realized they'd gotten money instead of their dinner, they turned around and returned it.
• 31:34
  You can imagine the sinking feeling the manager must have felt, right? As the week's deposit is gone. It was tens of thousands of dollars. It's gone. What the owner must have felt, it's gone. I mean, they were gone. They got away with it. They were never going to be found. They would have never been caught. But they turned around and returned the money. And you think, what character, what honesty and integrity. That is awesome. Good for them.
• 32:02
  When the restaurant owner asked to take their picture because he wanted to put it in the local newspaper, he wanted them heralded as heroes. They refused. No, no, no, no. And you think, man, what humility, right? But no. The reason they refused to have their picture taken was that the woman who was with the man was not the man's wife. They didn't want to be found out.
• 32:34
  What a bizarre and striking irony. Can you imagine them driving away, looking in the bag, seeing the stacks of $100 bills and thinking, we can't keep this. That would be wrong, right? You think, wait a minute. How can you have integrity there and hang your moral hat on that coat and yet at the same time be violating the vows of marriage? Hypocrisy.
• 33:07
  Hypocrites. You look at the result of this hypocrisy in verse 24. It says, for as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. Now just think about how many times the response of people when we invite them to church, the response of people is, I don't want to go to church. It's full of hypocrites. Hypocrisy. Can you hear it? Pop.
• 33:34
  Even the strictest adherence to the law won't work, the apostle says. Sin is not only the active breaking of the law, it's an irresistible power over every man and woman, which cannot be broken apart from the greater power of God. None of us, he says, can be saved by our good works. That's the first group.
• 33:56
  Well, what about the second group? Now, verses 25 to 29, I could have gone a lot of different ways on this. I'm going to focus on really what circumcision was and what it meant to the Jewish people at the time, okay? And so notice, those who rely on their family lineage, maybe they think that because of their family tradition or heritage that they would automatically be included in the kingdom of God. Now, next to the law,
• 34:23
  Circumcision was the most important distinguishing mark of the Jews. It makes sense then that the Jewish congregants to whom Paul was addressing this section would have defaulted naturally to their right of circumcision as a litmus test of faithfulness if their reliance on the law began to erode. And so maybe they say, well, okay, Paul, you got us. We can't keep the law, but at least I'm part of the Abrahamic covenant.
• 34:50
  At least I've been circumcised. It may be true, they would say, that I'm not keeping the law perfectly, but I know that I'm redeemed because I come from a faithful family. Notice verse 25. For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?
• 35:18
  then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. Here is the key. A Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart. In just a few chapters in Romans 9, it says, if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead. That's the circumcision he's talking about, an inward.
• 35:47
  spiritual circumcision, not by the letter. If that is true, if your heart has been circumcised, then your praise is not from man, but from God. Circumcision really, physical circumcision really represents the faithfulness of the family, not the faithfulness of the individual. Consider for a moment how circumcision worked. Standard Jewish practice was to circumcise every male newborn on the eighth day.
• 36:20
  Eight-day-old baby boys would be circumcised. They still do that today. Faithful Jewish families, even Messianic ones oftentimes, will circumcise their baby boys on the eighth day. Infants are taken to a certain type of rabbi called a mohel who would perform what is known as a brit. I've been to a brit. It's a big to-do in Jewish families. It's kind of like a big baby shower. I mean, they have everybody over, men and women, all invited. There are presents given and all of that stuff.
• 36:49
  It's a celebration of this new baby boy's life. It takes place after the baby is born. Unlike how we do baby showers, these breeds are after. The baby is placed on a table. Like I said, I've seen this done. Baby is placed on a table. The mohel, that rabbi who was trained with the use of a scalpel or some other surgical device, would sing. He would recite certain passages of scripture. He would dab his finger, and there will always be a little glass of wine there next to the baby.
• 37:19
  He would dab his finger in some wine and then he would hold it over the baby's mouth. He would let the wine drip slightly into the baby's mouth. When the baby startled, right, and sought to catch his breath because there's a taste he had never had before. I mean, it is a startling taste, right? This little newborn, it's kind of that sour, pungent taste of the wine. When the baby started because of the shocking taste of the wine, shazam, done, right?
• 37:47
  And so it's done before the baby even realizes what's going on. Let me ask you this. In all of that, what choice did the baby have? Did he choose to whom he was born? Did you? Did you choose your parents or the place of your birth or the day of your birth? No.
• 38:12
  Some of those things were chosen for us, some of them just by the sovereignty of God the day that we would be born. Those things had nothing to do with us. Did he choose his birthday or the day of his breed? No, all of those were chosen by his parents. Circumcision, therefore, was a physical representation of faithfulness, but not necessarily of the individual involved, rather of the family of the individual involved.
• 38:42
  For these Jewish congregants to trust in circumcision as a mark of redemption, for them to presume that they would automatically be included into the kingdom because of the decisions of their parents was foolish. You may hear echoed in those words the same arguments that many of our neighbors and friends make. Why do you call yourself a Christian? Because it's how I was raised. Okay.
• 39:13
  The Apostle Paul would say, okay, so you had faithful parents. The question is, has your heart been circumcised? At what point does that physical circumcision turn into spiritual, inward circumcision at the heart so that your praise is not from man, but from God? Church, are you ever tempted to play by your own rules? You've got to play the eternity game by the book.
• 39:45
  Are you ever tempted to play by your own or to rely on your own good works because I'm a good person? Are you ever tempted to rely on your family's faith because I was raised that way rather than on your own? All of these will come to naught. Allow me to conclude again using those same words that Pastor Sam used a couple of months ago. He said, the reason God bursts our self-righteous bubble is not to put us down or to make us feel bad.
• 40:11
  but to force us to face reality. We are not righteous. We must not pretend to be. And the glorious truth of that church is once we stop pretending to be righteous, that's when we can start proclaiming the grace and forgiveness of God. Amen? Amen. Lord, thank you. For this eternal truth, God, that we can only be saved by grace alone and through faith alone.
• 40:41
  God, there is no other way to be brought into your covenant than that, by belief and by the blood of Jesus. And so we thank you, Lord, for your grace. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.