Who said that one of the big problems with Christianity these days is there are so many hypocrites? Who's ever heard that before? All right, well, what I heard is that one of the best passages to address the problem of hypocrisy is Romans 2:17-29. So, I want to invite everybody, grab a Bible, and turn with me to Romans 2:17-29. And we're going to see if we can make sure the world has one last hypocrite here today. And so, I want to invite you, even if you're watching this online, if you're home sick, if you're traveling, will you open the Bible with us to Romans 2, and I'm going to invite everyone to stand up for the public reading of Scripture. We're starting in verse 17. We're going all the way to the end of Romans 2. This is the Word of God. And it's a Word that we need to hear together this morning. Please follow along, as I read starting in Romans 2:17.
“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? 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. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded[b] as circumcision? 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. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”
That's the reading of God's word. Please go ahead and have your seat. And if you've been going through Romans Chapter 2 with us, you might remember that we got this idea of one last hypocrite, back in Romans 2:3. So let's go back up to verse 3. And this was where it transitioned from “they” in Romans 1, the people out there being given up into sin. Well, let's talk about you now in Romans 2, and it said, “Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?” So, you can see here that hypocrisy is you're ready to say it's wrong for those people out there to do it. But then you go and do it yourself. And so that's what we get back to now, specifically, in verse 17. We are calling out the people who are Jews, this man that we're talking to, that you hear is a Jew. And we're going to say, hey, if you know what to teach others, do you teach it to yourself?
So, start with me in verse 17. And let's go through our passage, because it starts out by saying some good things here about being a Jew. And one of the things we saw last week is that the Jews found a lot of identity in the fact that they have the law of Moses, they have a covenant with God through the law that he gave to Moses. And so, it says in verse 17, if you call yourself a Jew, and you rely on the law, and you boast in God. Now let's just stop right there. Is relying on the law, relying on the Scripture, would we say that's a good thing here at Compass Bible Church this morning? Who thinks we should be boasting God here today? I think that's the only thing we should be boasting in. So, what he's listing here are good things. Hey, the Jews, you rely on the law, that's good. You boast in God; we just worshipped God together. Excellent. And look at verse 18. And you know his will. Who thinks it’s good to do God's will rather than our own will? Okay, so this is good. God's Word is a lamp to our feet. It's a light to our path that leads us into God's perfect will for our lives. That's good. And you approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law? Well, that's good. I want my mind to be renewed so I can see what is actually good and pure and excellent. And I can think the right way about life. All of that is happening. Verse 19. In fact, you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in the dark, you're shining a light through the way that you live, you can tell blind people how to see through the word of God. Verse 20, you can be an instructor of the foolish through the Scriptures, the simple is made wise. You can be a teacher of children. Now I know that's one all of us, who are parents, can relate to that. How many parents here want to teach your kids to live according to the Word of God so when they grow old, they will not depart from it? Yes. So, this whole list from verse 17, all the way to verse 20. These are all good things.
So, let's get this down for point number one. If you want to pull a handout out of your bulletin, you want to take some notes with us, number one: “You are blessed to have the Bible.” Let's just start with that right there. There are a lot of good things that come from having God's Word, from knowing and for the Jews, it would have been the law of Moses. For us, we might say the whole Bible, all of the Scriptures, I mean, these things, this list of benefits that come from the Word of God, this is a good list of things, we should rely on the Word of God to do its work in our hearts. We should put our boast in God alone, we should teach others the way of God and we should definitely pass it on to our kids, or those who haven't heard about it, we should share it with them. So, all of us should want to know God's Word, mature and living God's Word and become teachers, who can pass God's Word on to other people. I hope that's a part of the reason you're at Compass Bible Church this morning, is you believe there's benefits, there's blessing in knowing the Word of God. Can I get an amen at nine o'clock in the morning, everybody? Okay.
So, the Bible is a good thing. The fact that the Jews are like, we've got special revelation from God in the Law of Moses, that's all good. We haven't said anything negative so far. And then we get to verse 21. And now you kind of know there's a bug common somewhere in here, right? And we get to it in verse 21. You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? See, this is the problem of hypocrisy, you could teach other people a standard of living, that you don't live up to your own standard. And so, we got to make it clear, when so much of Christianity has just been branded as hypocritical, we’ve got to make sure here that we're not hypocrites here at this church. It's got to start with me. If I'm one of the guys up here preaching, if I'm the teacher, I can't be a hypocrite. Go with me to James 3:1. Let's turn to James 3 real quick because it specifically says you, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? If I'm just up here teaching the Bible, and then I'm going home later today and doing whatever well that what really even happened here this morning there. So, there's this warning here in James 3:1, that says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.” I mean, this is one of the big problems is many people who were famous teachers, or are celebrity pastors, people who were known, maybe they were on TV, and then there's some scandal of hypocrisy in their life. That's one of the things that's jaded many people against the Bible and against going to church. So, it's got to start with me. I've got to be practicing what we preach. And that's why I'm thankful for so many of you, who I know are praying for me and you're praying for the pastors here at the church. It has to start from the top. But we want it to go from the top, all the way down, that when we hear something from God's word, if we're ready to say, there's a great blessing and good knowing God's Word, well, then when we hear God's Word, we’ve got to take it to heart. We’ve got to practice what is preached.
So, let's get that down for the second part here of number one: You are blessed to have the Bible “if you practice what it preaches.” If you practice what it preaches, if I'm a preacher, but I don't practice what I preach, then I'm a hypocrite. If you're somebody who says Amen on a Sunday morning, and then you go home, and you don't do what we talked about, that's hypocrisy. That is the problem that Romans 2 is addressing among the Jews. Go back to Romans 2, and he's going to give us some specific examples of ways that people don't practice what is preached. If you're if you're learning something that you would think this is good, I should teach this to somebody else. Well, the first question you’ve got to ask yourself is, do you teach it to yourself before I'm up here preaching? I’ve got to make sure I'm practicing it myself. And he gives us three different things. The first one he says in verse 21, while you preach against stealing, do you steal? So yeah, look at that looting on TV. That's definitely bad. Look at those guys going around stealing from AMPM. So that's definitely bad, says the person who's over here lying on their taxes, says the person who's over here taking money out of the family trust that they shouldn't be touching. That's hypocrisy. Look at what they're doing. That's evil, and you're doing it yourself. Then it goes on and in verse 22, you who say that one must not commit adultery? Do you commit adultery? Oh, look at all these people getting divorced. Look at all this sexual immorality. Can you believe how bad it is these days in America? And then you are over here doing your own sin. See? That the kind of hypocrisy it's talking about. Then it says one that may not make sense to us right away when we read it. It says you abhor idols. Do you rob temples? That one's maybe a head scratcher, we'll get back to that one. But notice the summary of these three examples here in verse 23. You who boast in the law, you say, yes, we have the Bible, look at us. This is good. Well, you dishonor God by breaking the law. So, you can't say oh, it's so good to have the law and then not do what the law says. So clearly the example of the hypocrisy of stealing when you know, it's wrong to steal or the hypocrisy of committing adultery, when you know, it's wrong to commit adultery. Those are two of the 10 commandments.
So, everybody in your Bible, turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 7 with me. Let's all go back to Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy, chapter 7. Deuteronomy is the second telling of the law. Okay? So the Jewish people here with Moses, they got the 10 commandments, as they're kind of famously known. They got those in Exodus 20, when God delivered them out of Egypt and brought them there to the mountain and God met with them on the mountain. That's when he gave them the 10 commandments given to Moses on two tablets of stone. That's Exodus 20. Well, the people unfortunately, didn't really listen to God's commandments. And so, they've had a lot that has happened since Exodus. And so here in Deuteronomy, we have the second telling of the law. In fact, if you look back at Deuteronomy 5, you will see Deuteronomy 5 gives the 10 commandments all over again. So hopefully, that's something you know is that the book of Deuteronomy is the second telling of the law. It's like Moses’ final instruction to the Israelites before Joshua is going to lead them into the Promised Land. And in Deuteronomy 6:4, we get the Shema. This is the greatest command in all of the law, that the Lord our God, the Lord is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul with all your mind. And in fact, that should be on your heart, you should teach it to your kids. But if you go to Deuteronomy 7, Deuteronomy 7 addresses that God is going to send his people into the Promised Land, maybe you've heard of it referred to as the land of Canaan, and God is sending them to judge the seven nations in the land of Canaan. Look at Deuteronomy 7:1, “When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you,” and then it lists the seven nations that they're going to destroy. It says “the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations,” and these nations are “more numerous and mightier than you. And when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.” So, this is something that's already been made clear going back to a chapter like Leviticus 18, that these nations are committing abomination. So, the way that these nations are living is not right, and God is going to judge them and he's going to use Israel to judge those nations, the seven nations they have been devoted to destruction. Go to the end of Deuteronomy 7. And look here at verse at the end of Deuteronomy 7. Look at verse 25 and 26 and this is where we'll see what it means to abhor idols. Do you rob temples? Look what it's saying, “The carved images of their gods,” when you go in and defeat these nations, and you go in from God to judge them? “The carved images of their gods” their false idols, “you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God, and you shall not bring an abominable thing,” this false idol. This is a God that people were worshipping, that was not God. So don't bring that abominable thing into your house. And because if you do, you will become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction. So, if you're the one of the people of Israel, you can't be God's like army coming in to judge these nations because of their false gods and you're going to destroy all of their idols. But then you also want to rob their idols, because you look at the gold and silver the idols are made of and you're thinking, I want to get rich off of these idols. You can't do both of those things. You can't go and be God's instrument of judgment, and then take the gold and silver for yourself. They have been devoted to destruction. So that's what it means by the hypocrisy of abhorring idols, we're against the false gods, but then we're going to take what they have in their temple for ourselves. God's saying clearly here in Deuteronomy 7, don't do that. Now, can anybody right now as you're hearing about that, can you think of a story where that actually happened? Where they destroyed a city and someone in Israel took the idols and he brought it into his own household? Does anybody know the story I'm talking about?
Go to Joshua, chapter 7. It's just one book of the Bible over from Deuteronomy. Here's an example of hypocrisy that the Jews maybe would have thought of when they were reading Romans chapter 2. Okay, this is an infamous story here in Joshua 7 of a man named Achan, who’s ever heard of Achan before? Anybody heard of this story before? This guy, when he was supposed to be up whoring idols and judging these nations for their abominations, he ended up robbing the temple. And so, it says here in Joshua 7:1, “But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things,” and that means devoted for destruction. And so Achan, and then we get his whole lineage here, “the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And here's what you need to see very clearly. The “anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.” Okay, how does God feel about hypocrisy, ladies and gentlemen? Okay, when Jesus was here on Earth, and maybe you know something about the ministry of Jesus from Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Jesus was ready to eat with tax collectors, he's ready to welcome sinners. How did Jesus feel about the religious hypocrites everybody? He had more to say about them than anyone else. He went off on that, okay. God is not okay with people who know the right thing and go and do the wrong thing. That kind of hypocrisy, the Lord's anger burns against. Do you see how if you don't know this story, this guy Achan, he gets called out in a way that is clearly meant to be an example for all time. This is what God thinks about people who are supposed to be abhorring idols. But instead, they rob temples. Right? Because what happens is then Israel goes and they won a great victory over Jericho, maybe you know how the walls of Jericho fell down. Great Victory. Now we're going to go fight Ai, and they suffer defeat at Ai. And it is a heartbreaking defeat. Because all the nations were afraid of them. They knew God was with them. But now they've been defeated. Now they seem vulnerable. Are the other nations now going to ally together and come against them? There's great concern in the camp. And so, look what happens in verse 10. Joshua has gone before the Lord. This is Joshua 7:10-11. “The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned, they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them, they have taken some of the devoted things.” Remember, these things were devoted to be judged, to be destroyed, but they have stolen and lied and they've put them among their own belongings, and therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. I'll tell you why you just got defeated because there’s hypocrisy in the camp. That's what God's saying to Joshua. Okay, and so look what he says at the end of Joshua 7:12, “I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you.” You can't have things that are meant to be destroyed in your house, in your camp. And so, here's what you're going to do verse 13, “Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow.’” Everybody's coming together tomorrow, “for thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.’ In the morning, therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes, and the tribe that the Lord takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the Lord takes shall come near by households. And the household that the Lord takes shall come near man by man. And he who is taken with the devoted thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.” Can you imagine if you're Achan and you're hearing all of this right now, you would be shaking right now is what how you would feel. They're going to call it out by tribe, by clan, by household by man. Like we're going to get the whole nation together. And we're going to go through until we find out who is the hypocrite here among us. And so, you can see that's exactly what happens. Verse 16, “Joshua rose early in the morning, he brought Israel near tribe by tribe, the tribe of Judah was taken.” Just imagine what it's like to be a king in this moment when you know, you took stuff and it's in your house right now. And now they call your tribe, “and he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken. And he brought near the clan of Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. And now let's get the household man by man, and Achan, the son of Carmi, son of Zab, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah was taken. Then Joshua said to Achan, ‘My son, give glory to the Lord God of Israel, give praise to him. Tell me now, what have you done; do not hide it from me.’” I mean, what a call out here, what an exposure of hidden sin. And so Achan, he is honest, he “answered Joshua, ‘Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see they are hidden in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath.’ So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. And they took them out of the tent, and they brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the Lord. And Joshua, and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak, and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters, and his oxen, and donkeys and sheep, and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, ‘Why did you bring trouble on us, the Lord brings trouble on you today.’ And all Israel stoned him with stones,” they burn them with fire and stone them with stones, “And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day, the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.”
Now I know when I read that, it's such an intense story that a lot of people are like, I don't like that I don't like how they judge that guy, how they killed that guy with his whole family with all of his animals. No, it was very clear in the law, that God said, if you take the devoted things, the things that are meant to be judged and destroyed. If you take them, you will enter into that judgment and that destruction. And that's exactly what happens. Because even though people might be hypocrites, who say one thing and do another, God is not a hypocrite, and God always does what he says. And if God says judgment is coming, that's exactly what came right here on Achan and his household. So, this should be a warning, a wakeup call to all of us here on a Sunday morning, that God is not okay with hypocrisy, because this is what hypocrisy does. This is the big problem is hypocrisy brings down the name of God. The hypocrisy discredits the glory of God. The reason hypocrisy is such a big problem is there's people thinking I don't want to waste my time going to church on a Sunday morning because there are so many hypocrites. People end up with a bad impression of God because of people's hypocrisy in God's name. Say If that's the big issue, why does God get angry, because God is jealous for his own glory. God wants to be known. God wants to be worshipped for who he rightly is. And when you are a hypocrite, you discredit the glory of God, and you bring a bad reputation to his name. Jesus has a bad reputation in our country because of so much hypocrisy. And that's what Joshua is really bothered about. He's not just bothered that they lost against Ai. He's not just bothered that the other nations might come and get them.
Go back to Joshua7:6, because we skipped a part of the story here, and I want you to see the heart of Joshua. And this is why hypocrisy is such a big problem because Joshua, he “tore his clothes” when they got defeated at Ai, he “fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, and he and the elders of Israel, and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, ‘Alas, O Lord God, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If we're going to get defeated? Why did we even come here? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, when Israel had has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us, they'll cut off our name from the earth.” And then, here it is key line right here. “And what will you do for your great name? Joshua says if we get defeated, if we get wiped out, he's not just like, it's bad for us. What we'll think people think about you. You're the God of Israel. You're the one who led us out of Egypt, you're the one who led us on dry land, through the Red Sea on dry land, through the Jordan River. Everybody knows you're our God. If we get wiped out, what will people think about you? See, there is a passion here for the glory of God. That is the opposite. The hypocrite is in it for themselves. The sincere believer wants God to be worshipped. They want his glory to be known. Their hearts cry as let your name be lifted high. That's what people want, who really have a heart for the Lord, they care about his glory, they care about God being known. See, hypocrisy is not just a problem that people have, hypocrisy gives people the wrong impression of God. And so, Joshua, he's like, what are people going to think about? You’ve got to do something about your name.
Go back to Romans chapter 2. And you'll see that's the point here in our passage after it exposes the hypocrisy of the Jews here in Romans 2. And I think when it says, you who are poor idols, do you rob temples, they would have thought of Deuteronomy, they probably would have thought of Achan as the ultimate example of a hypocrite. And then it says, you're quoting Isaiah 52:5, here in Romans 2:24, “For, as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” See, now you've got the other nations thinking your God's not awesome because of how you act. And unfortunately, this problem of hypocrisy happened all throughout the history of the Jew. Isaiah is writing at a time, where they are going to be judged, the Jews there in Jerusalem are going to get judged and they're going to get exiled to Babylon because of their idolatry, because of their sin. Even at the time of Jesus, at the height of his popularity, Jesus in Luke 12:1, he asked to warn everyone of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. And eventually the Jews were judged after the time of Jesus, by the Romans in AD 70.
So, this problem of hypocrisy is not a new problem. This problem has always been there. And it's always been bringing God's name down God's name gets blasphemed by those who are the Gentiles outside of Israel. Or as we might think of it today, the people outside the church always have something bad to say about God's people because of the hypocrisy in the church. The hypocrisy in the camp is bringing God's name down. That is why hypocrisy is such a big problem. That is why God is angry about it, and it will be judged intensely is because look what happens people blaspheme the name of God because of you as a hypocrite. And so, we need to be very careful that we practice what we preach that we do not say this is the way and then go and live a different way ourselves. Now, where this sermon is about to go from this point forward, is going to be very counter intuitive, because if you are stealing right now, if you are committing adultery here today, if you are in some way, bringing God's name down and you're feeling convicted, it's kind of this natural response that we have to think, Okay? I feel bad about what I've been doing. This week, I'm going to go try to stop doing that thing. Or this week, I'm going to go change the way I'm living. Okay, I hear what you're saying, I'm going to go try harder this week to not be a hypocrite. I really think this week, if I really try, I can do better than I've done before. That's not where this passage goes. Okay, and let's just say, that doesn't work. Okay? You can't just say, well, I don't want to be a hypocrite. I don't want to be an Achan. And I don't want to get called out like that. I don't want God being angry at me to judge me. So, I'm okay. I'm going to leave here, and I'm not going to be a hypocrite this week. No, no, that's not how it works. I understand that's how we respond. Okay, I feel bad about it. I'll go try to change my ways. No, that's not what we're learning here. So, before we get ready to leave and say, Okay, I'll stop being a hypocrite. I'm going to stop doing that thing. And now let's keep going. And let's see what does it say we actually should do if there is hypocrisy in our lives, if you're believing one thing from the Bible, but you're breaking what that says, you're doing another thing. What should you then do?
Well, now, Romans 2:25, gives us the thought to think here, verse 25. And it's going to start talking now about circumcision. Verse 25, “For circumcision indeed is a value if you obey the law, but if you break the law,” so it's continuing the conversation here about hypocrisy. And it's going to say in this just next few verses 25 to 29, it's going to say circumcision 10 times. All right. So, I'm going to use that word a lot right now. Okay. And we've got to now get not what we think circumcision is today, we've got to get into the mindset of what did the Jews think? Because clearly, if I say circumcision 10 times in a row, it's going to feel awkward here in this room. Clearly, you could write that, and it wasn't awkward in their mindset. Because this was just a way that the Jews associated with being one of God's people, to be the circumcised people. It would be similar to us thinking, well, I go to church, or I've been baptized, or I'm a part of that fellowship group over there, like you're identifying with a group of people. That's the main thought that the Jews have. Circumcision goes all the way back to Father Abraham, and Genesis 17. To be circumcised means I'm in the promise to Abraham. I'm one of the covenant people, I'm the nation by which all the other nations of the earth will be blessed.
So, let's get that down for point number two: “You are blessed to be one of God's people.” When we think of circumcision, we're thinking of being associated as one of God's people. That's the way they're taking it. I know, I'm with God. So if you think, Well, I've grown up in a Christian family, that might be a way that we would think this today, I go to church every Sunday at nine o'clock, that might be a way that you would think about, I'm associated with, I'm one of the people of God, when we sing songs of worship, I'm there when we take communion, like we're going to do in a minute. I'm there, I'm one of God's people. Okay, well, now he's going to poke at that. He's already poked at how they had the law of Moses, and how they thought that made them one of God's people. Well, now let's talk about how you're one of the sons of Abraham, how you're one of the circumcised. So, you think because you're in that kind of upbringing and lineage that you're now one of God's people? Well, if you're circumcised, but you break the law, where are you really at with God is what he's going to get into here? In fact, he's going to say here in verse 26 and 27, he's going to talk about people who are uncircumcised, so people from other nations, Gentiles, if they do what God says, if they keep the law, aren't they actually closer to God than you are as a Jew who's circumcised, but you break the law? See, he's pushing past. It doesn't matter if you go to church on Sunday. It doesn't matter if you grew up in a Christian family. If you went to a Christian school, it doesn't matter what your association is with, can you see the reality of a changed life? Do you actually live according to God's will in your life? That's what he's getting to here. He's saying, don't just think that because you're a Jew, and because you're circumcised because you have that association, don't think that's going to be enough. Look at these people over here who are doing what God says, but they're not circumcised. They're not Jew. Aren't they actually closer to God than you are? And then this is the key verse 28 and 29 are the two verses that make all of that Romans to make a whole lot of sense. Look at verse 28, “For no one is a Jew, who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision.” So, when he talks about circumcision, here, he's not talking about a physical thing that has happened, or the outward physical appearance of being a Jew, verse 29, “a Jew is one inwardly and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” See, this is getting to the heart of the issue. It doesn't matter if you know the Bible, and it doesn't matter if you're associated with God's people, it matters has God done his work in your heart, that's the only way we're going to have one less hypocrite is if we have one more soul that has been saved by the power of God. That's how it works.
So, let's get that down for the second part of number two: You are blessed to be one of God's people, “if God has your heart.” So, we can't just run out of here and try harder to do what we're supposed to do. We need to sit right here together this morning. And we need to examine ourselves, has God done something in my heart to change me? Because that's the only way my life is going to change? Can I get an Amen from the congregation here this morning? Okay, so this is where I've already lost some of you. Because I've said circumcision too many times in this sermon. All right. So, I want to invite you back, right, and I'm going to lose some now. Because what we're about to talk about is not something that you can go do. It's the work that God does to you. That's the work that makes everything you're going to do possible. And if God hasn't done his work in you, you will not be able to stop being a hypocrite, no matter how hard you go and try. And no matter how sincere you are in your efforts, you need something more than yourself, you need the powerful work of God in your heart. And so, that's what has been confusing. People are like, well, who are these people doing the law? Like it says, there's going to be people on Judgment Day who have done good works. Who are those people? I thought no one could do good works. And who are these super Gentiles showing up in verses 26 and 27. And they're keeping all the law that the Jews can't keep? Well, these are the people, the people who are able to do good. These are the people where God has done his good work in their heart. It's happened inwardly. See, that's verse 29, is the key to all of Romans 2, because it says we got to talk about what's happened inside of you. “Circumcision is a matter of the heart,” circumcision is something God does to your heart. That was the promise of Deuteronomy that someday God's going to come and he's going to do something inside of you. See, this is the transition from the old covenant, which was the law of Moses to the New Covenant. Jeremiah wrote that someday God wasn't going to write his law on two tablets of stone, or five scrolls, God was going to write his law on the heart of his people. Ezekiel, he prophesied that someday something would happen where we would be cleansed of our sins, and God would take our heart of stone out of us, and God would give us a new heart, and God would put his Spirit in our souls. That's what it says right here in Romans 2:29. Circumcision is something God does in your heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter, not by the law. So, Paul is saying, we’ve got to stop thinking the Old Covenant way of the law. And we’ve got to start embracing the New Covenant way, where God when he does a work in somebody, he gives them a new heart, and God puts his Spirit within that person. And the Holy Spirit of the Living God now helps that person to obey what God has said in his Word. The Holy Spirit causes you to walk in God's ways. So, you are no longer a hypocrite, but you are really now one of God's people because he has your heart and his Spirit lives in you. That's what we're talking about here. So, this I understand. Circumcision in our context is not like a physical procedure, but we’ve got to understand it in the context of the Scripture, because it is saying that everybody here who's believed in Jesus, everybody here who is sincerely born again, God has done his work of regeneration to make your heart alive, and he's put his Spirit within you. We are all circumcised. That's what it's saying every single one of us male, female, Jew, Gentile, we are the circumcision. That's what Paul's point is. It's not about Jewish men. It's about all of us who have had God do a work in our heart.
Go to Philippians 3:3. All right, and, Paul, he keeps talking about this. If you don't understand the way Paul writes about circumcision, there's whole verses in the Bible that will never make sense to you. So right here in Philippians 3:3, it's going to say that, and Paul, he used to be the Jew of all Jews, right? He was the Pharisee of all Pharisees. He knew the law better than anybody else. He had pride in being a circumcised Jew, circumcised on the eighth day. He was like, I'm a Jew. He used to be one of these hypocrites, so he knows about it. And he writes about how he left that all behind, because he found out Jesus was so much better. That's what Philippians 3 is about. And so, in Philippians 3:3, look what he says. He says, “For we are the circumcision,” talking about what's happened in our hearts. We are those “who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh.” So, who is the circumcision, everybody? See, that chant is never going to catch on right there, right? We're not going to make we are the circumcision T shirts. Okay, I promise you that. All right. But you need to learn something here today, that you are the circumcision. And what does that mean? Okay, it doesn't mean the first thing that comes to your mind. What it means is God has done a work in our hearts. That's what separates us from being hypocrites. That's what gives us hope of actually walking in God's ways, is I have a new heart, I have God's Spirit. So now I can actually Lift high the name of Jesus rather than bringing it down. I can actually now boast in God and give him glory, rather than discrediting him and giving him a bad reputation. God could actually use my life in sincere praise and worship. That's why it says here we are the circumcision, meaning what God has done in our hearts, he's done a work within us. So, we can worship by the Spirit, we can glory in Christ Jesus. We're not putting any confidence in what we know, or who we associate with, we have all of our confidence in the work that God has done in us. And so, the big question this morning, before we run out of here and do anything is, what has God done in your heart? Can you actually say that you, male or female, Jew or Gentile, that you are one of the circumcised because you can say that something has happened inside of me. Something has happened. Yes, I used to be a hypocrite. But God has now done something inside of me. Circumcision has been a matter of the heart. I don't just know what it says. Now, on the words of the letters, I actually know what it says, because the spirit has now put it on my heart. See has it happened to you? It's called regeneration. It's called God making you alive. Born again. There are many different ways the Bible describes it. But the work of salvation is something that God does to you. And you need to look in your heart, you need to examine yourself here today. And you need to ask yourself, am I someone who has a new heart? Do I have the Spirit of God inside of me? Am I able to stop being a hypocrite?
Go over to Colossians chapter 2 another passage so that you got to understand this idea of circumcision being something that God does in our hearts. That was the promise given to the Jews, but the promise is fulfilled in us and people who are a part of the new covenant. And people who have believed in the gospel that Jesus died for our sins and arose again. So, Colossians 2, it says this same idea that everybody who's in Jesus, everybody who's been saved, we are the circumcision. Look what it says in Colossians 2:11. “In him also you were circumcised.” So, you might not have thought of yourself as someone who'd been circumcised when you walked in here today. But that's the idea. If you really believe in Jesus than God's done so the only reason you could even believe in Jesus, the only reason you could even repent of your sin and turn to God and trust that Jesus died and rose again. The reason you even respond to the gospel is God is doing a work in your heart. Salvation is of God, not of us. Can I get an Amen from anybody?
We don't say I saved myself, we say God saved me because he does something in us. And so that's what it means here. In him also, in Jesus, Jesus who is the fullness of God, who is the God-man, in Jesus also you were circumcised with a circumcision made with our hands, we're not talking about a physical thing here. We're talking about how the body of flesh, the old way of sin, was put off by the circumcision of Christ. So having been buried with him in baptism, in which you also were raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. So, this circumcision of the heart, maybe that's a new way to think about it, or talk about it. This other way might be more familiar, that you have been buried with Christ that you died to sin, as Jesus died for your sin. And just as Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of God, so you have been raised to a new life through your faith in Jesus, because God has done a powerful work in your heart by his Spirit. That's what it's saying here.
These are all different ways of saying, you've been circumcised with Christ, you've been buried with Christ in baptism, you've been raised with Christ, these are always talking about something has happened in your heart through the power of the gospel of Jesus. And then it says this, Colossians 2:13, “you. who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him with Christ, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he's set aside, nailing it to the cross.” So, you have to learn how to think about salvation from two different perspectives. A lot of times, we're talking about it from our perspective, from our perspective, we hear the good news, that Jesus is the Son of God, and Jesus loved you so much, that he offered his body as a sacrifice, to die in your place. And he shed his blood. He was righteous, his blood was pure, and he shed his blood to pay for all of your sins, your sins were nailed to the cross through the work of Jesus. And so, you need to believe in Jesus, you need to repent of your sin and turn to follow Jesus. Usually, we talk about it like from your perspective, here's what you should do to be saved, you should repent and believe in the gospel of Jesus. But what we're talking about today from Romans 2 is God's perspective. Here's what God is going to do through Jesus dying, for it to pay for all of your sin, God is going to forgive you for all of your sin. And God is going to now circumcise your heart, God's going to now put His Spirit within you, God is going to do this work inside of you, you who were dead in your sin, God is going to make you alive in Jesus. That's what we need to examine. Did that happen to you? Because if that has not happened to you, you will always go and be a hypocrite. You will never be able to stop turning to your flesh turning to your sin. It says, you were dead in your trespasses, you can go try as hard as you want. This week, you cannot make yourself alive in your soul. That is a work that only God can do. And the means that God uses to do this work to do something in your heart to put his Spirit within you is when you see Jesus up there on the cross dying for you, and you transfer your trust to Jesus, you say if Jesus really died for my sin, I'm going to put my trust in him. If he's really paid for my sin in full, if all of my sin that I was going to be judged for, that my name was going to be called out and I was going to be devoted to destruction for that sin. If all of that really got nailed to the cross. And Jesus satisfied all the legal demands, he paid it in full. He took my judgment, and now I can be forgiven. Well, I want to believe in that, I want to turn from my sin and trust in that. See, that's what it looks like from our perspective is you turning and trusting in Jesus, but really what's happening is God's giving you a new heart, and God's putting his spirit within you. And from that moment, you could never be a hypocrite. You can't keep living in sin after that, because you have been made alive together with Christ. Can I get an Amen from anybody on this?
So, we got to examine ourselves. Like, I don't want to just be somebody who knows the Bible. I don't want to just be somebody who goes to church, although I love the Bible, and I love being with God's people at church, there's benefit in that. But if it's just on the outside, if it's just here, in the words, if it's just being there with the people, if it's not on the inside, then I'm still missing what is really the glory of God in my life? Not God has to do a work in me, and then I can really live for him and bring him glory. So, the question of the day is, has your heart been circumcised? Has there been a change from the inside, and has God put his Spirit into you. So now you have a power and an ability that is beyond what you could ever do, because it is God's work inside of you. And the way that you if you realize that work has never been done in your heart, let me just read for you what it said here in Colossians 2:13. It says, “you, who were dead in your trespasses,” if you're still in your sins, “and the uncircumcision of your flesh,” it hasn't happened in your heart, yet. God can make you alive together with Jesus. Just as Jesus died, you can be dead to your sin. And just as Jesus rose from the dead, you can start living a new life today. Some of us are living that new life. And we would give it our hundred percent five-star recommendation, it is so much better to be able to really glorify God in your heart than to live as a hypocrite and be guilty all the time. It is so much better. And so, the thing you've got to do if you want to be made alive, look, it's having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside nailing it to the cross, you’ve got to open your eyes to see Jesus up there stretched out on that cross. He's offering his body as a sacrifice, to take your judgment, he's offering his blood to pay for your sin. You trust in Jesus, God does the work in your heart to give you his Spirit, that's what needs to happen.
And so, what we're going to do now is we're going to take communion together, and, and we have now this new hourglass of communion that was there on your seat. Let me just warn you open from the bread side first, or you're going to have real trouble with this thing. All right, so we're going to get to that in a minute. Okay, but communion, if you want to pull it out, we're not going to do it yet. But you can see we have the two elements here. As the sands of time are ticking on your life, everyone, we have the two elements here, right. And they are the bread, and they are the cup, and they represent they are supposed to be a physical, tangible reminder to us that Jesus actually did die on that cross with his body and his blood. And that's what we're trusting. But what we're trying to see here today is behind the scenes of us trusting in Jesus dying on the cross is God changing our heart and giving us his Spirit. And so, we need to examine ourselves. has God done that work in your heart? We need to think clearly about that. Before we do anything else.
Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And this is a passage that we need to think about before we take this communion. For some of us this is a reminder of what Jesus has done for us, and the work that God has done to circumcise our hearts, and to give us his Spirit so that we actually could live out his law. For others, though, this might be the day that you need to confess that you have not had this work in your heart, that your heart has not been circumcised that you don't have God's Holy Spirit, in your spirit. And so, we need to take a moment to examine even if you are a brother or sister in Christ, and God has saved you, if you are now in some kind of sin. This is a moment for you to examine yourself. Because if you just go before God, and you just take communion, like I'm so thankful Jesus died for my sin, while you are still doing sin in your life. That is the definition of hypocrisy. And we know how God feels about hypocrisy. And here's a passage that exposes hypocrisy at a church when people were taking communion. Look what it says 1 Corinthians 11:27 says, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup,” that's what we're about to do, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord “in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves, truly, we would not be judged.”
Do you realize what it just said? It just said that people at this church were in sin, and they just took communion like it wasn't a big deal. And some of those people got sick. And some of those people died, because they were hypocrites who had sin going on in their lives. And they didn't examine themselves. They didn't confess, they didn't repent of that sin. They just kept taking communion. And God is clearly not okay with hypocrisy. We're not going to call tribes and clans and households and man by man like they did with Achan. No, we're going to let everybody here examine your own heart. And if you have a practice of sin in your life, you may not need the reminder of communion, you may need to cry out right now to God and ask him to save you. Or you may need to realize that you have slipped into sin. And you need to repent of that before you take any communion. In fact, if you need to make things right in your life, you may not want to take this communion here today and bring down some kind of judgment on yourself because you didn't judge yourself and examine yourself. See, before we go and do anything, we’ve got to look inside, you’ve got to look at your heart right now. And you’ve got to ask yourself, like, has God done a work in my heart? Can I say I'm one of the circumcised, I'm one of the people who have the Spirit? Can I say that? I'm one of God's people, not because I'm a church, but because God has done his work in my heart. And maybe there's people here this morning, God has never done that work in your heart? Are you then ready to cry out to him and ask him to save you? Are you ready to see Jesus on that cross? Are you ready to see that Jesus, the reason we remember his body and his blood is that's what satisfied the legal demands of punishment for your sin, and your sin was nailed to the cross. And Jesus paid for it when he died for you. And you could be forgiven of all of your sin here today. And God could cleanse you. And God could do a new work and you could be one less hypocrite here today. Someone who can now really give God glory, because God has done his mighty work in you. So, we need to take a moment to examine ourselves.
So, the worship team is going to come forward, they're going to sing a song called the heart of worship, and it's all about getting back to the heart is your heart really about worshiping God? Because you have the Spirit of God in your heart? And you really care about God's glory? Not about yourself, has God done that work in you? We're going to give you time to examine yourself during this song, and then I'll come back. And we'll take communion together. But let me pray for us right now:
Father in heaven. O Father, we need you to search our hearts in this moment, we need you to show us what's really in us. Father, I pray that some people here today would walk out of here so encouraged, so lifted up, that they would know that that they are one of the circumcised, that they are no longer a hypocrite because you have changed their heart, you have put your Spirit within them. And they're no longer who they used to be. But in Christ, they are forgiven. They have been buried to their old life and they have been raised to a new life because of the gospel of Jesus, they have been saved. I pray that for some of us as we remember what Jesus did, that this will stir up a fresh within us the wonder of being one of your saved people. And we will give you all the praise and all the glory and we will be so thankful. Let this be a time where we can truly worship you. Because you did your work in our hearts and you gave us your Spirit. And Father, I pray that people would worship you in this time. And I also pray for those who are here. And they know when we talk about it's wrong to steal, but you keep on stealing. It's wrong to commit adultery, but to keep on committing adultery, it's wrong to say you're doing something for God when really you're doing it against God. It's wrong to say you know God when really you're bringing his name down. Father, I pray if there's anybody who's willing to say here today that they are a hypocrite. I pray that this would be the moment, Father, that they would cry out to you, they would ask you to save them. They would say I don't want to change on the outside. I need you to change my inside. I need Jesus. I need this cleansing from his blood I need to be forgiven for my sin. Father, I pray that as we sing this song, the heart of worship, as we examine our hearts I pray that there would be people who would pray to you today like they've never prayed before. That they would pray for a new heart, that they would pray for your spirit and that you would save them in their soul.