God bless you all.
It’s so good to see everyone out again this morning. I greet all those listeners online. I am so thankful for all the Lord has done for us. It’s nice to have a long weekend with some extra time off work to rest this weekend, and I hope everyone is getting to enjoy some rest.
This morning I am going to pick up from where I last left off in the book of Romans, and I am in chapter 2, verses 17 through 29. Before we read these verses, let me just take a minute to summarize what Paul has said up to this point in his letter to the Romans.
In the first half of chapter 1, Paul made an introduction to the Romans and introduced the subject of the gospel as the theme of his letter. From there, he started an explanation of why everyone needs the gospel. He started by explaining that there is a God and how everyone can know that to be true. He went on to explain how man rejected God, and having rejected God, sin and all of its horrors came into the world of men.
Then in the first part of chapter 2, Paul went to explain how everyone knows the difference between right and wrong. Everyone is capable of making a moral judgment, and in fact, we do so on a regular basis. Paul then concluded that since everyone is capable of knowing right and wrong, God is justified in holding us all accountable for the wrong things we do.
Up until verse 16, Paul has been especially targeting his arguments and explanations at the pagan Gentiles of his day—people who did not have a background in knowing the Bible. But here in verse 16, Paul shifts and begins to focus his arguments on people who do know the Bible. Paul has already explained why the pagan Gentiles need the gospel, but here in verse 16, Paul begins explaining why the Jews need the gospel too. He begins to explain why people who did have a knowledge of the Bible also need a savior.
And tonight we are going to look at these verses and seek to examine Paul’s argument as to why the Jews—a people who were steeped in religion and steeped in the Bible—needed a savior too.
Before I read these verses, I want to say one more thing. I have heard some preachers take these verses and use them to encourage people to be good law keepers, to be good followers of the rules. But I don’t believe telling us we should be good rule keepers is a faithful use of what Paul had in mind when he wrote these verses. Of course, we should be good people, and we should obey the laws and follow the rules of decency and morality. Paul will get to that later in the book of Romans, but here in this section that is not really the aim of what he’s saying.
In these verses, Paul is seeking to demonstrate the futility of rule keeping and of law keeping for the purpose of salvation. As we go through this book, especially into the next chapter, Paul is going to explicitly tell us that there is no salvation in the law. So when someone uses these verses to try and encourage people to be good rule keepers, they are actually missing the point that Paul is getting at. Paul’s point is not that we should be good rule keepers. Paul’s point is that rule keeping can’t save you. That is the point. If we overlook that, we are missing a very critical piece of what Paul is trying to convey. Paul’s primary point here is that rule keeping cannot save you. That, in truth, all rule keepers are hypocrites because, due to our fallen nature, no one is capable of fully keeping all the rules.
Let’s read it, starting at verse 17. And again, I am using the English Standard Version.
Romans 2:17-29 (King James Version)
17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,
18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;
19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
22 Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
23 Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
24 For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.
25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?
28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Prayer
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the Bible because by the Bible we are able to see and understand you. You have made your will known to us through the scripture. You have showed us the way to salvation by the words recorded in the book, and your Holy Spirit guides us into understanding of those words. Father, you know I am no great speaker. You know I am not really any great anything. But Lord, if you would for a moment’s time help me to say something that would be helpful to the listeners, and that your Spirit might take the words that are spoken and quicken the truth in our hearts. I ask and pray it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Introduction
I love to read and study the Bible. It has been one of my great passions to understand the scripture. I know where we come from, I studied endlessly for many, many years. One thing I found many years ago is very, very few people where we come from actually know what they believe. Almost no one had any comprehensive knowledge of what we believed and why we believed it. You ask almost anyone even the most basic thing, and they couldn’t answer you. A lot of that is because people outsource understanding the Bible to the preacher. They just trust the preacher will tell them the truth, and they accept whatever they hear. They never bother to sit and study and try to comprehend. If they have a question, they put it on a shelf and leave it there until a preacher will answer the question for them sometime down the road. People are not allowed to read the Bible and understand by themselves with the help of the Holy Spirit. You know how many people, where we come from, actually take time to open the Bible and read it? Almost none. It’s very sad. But I am thankful God put more of an interest in my heart to read the Bible than what he apparently put in their hearts.
Have you ever watched Fiddler on the Roof? That is a really good movie. I think I learned more about Jewish people in that movie than just about anything else. From what I understand, it is a pretty accurate portrayal of Jewish life. In that movie, there is a song that Tevye sings, “If I Were a Rich Man.” When he gets down to the very end of the song, he says, “If I were a rich man, I’d have that time that I lack, to sit in the synagogue and pray and maybe have a seat at the eastern wall. And I would discuss the holy books with learned men seven hours every day. And that would be the sweetest thing of all.”
When you love God, there is a desire in the heart to know him more and more. The greatest way we come to understand God is through the Bible. I can very much relate to what Tevye said. I wish I had seven hours every day that I could study and read. That would be a great blessing. But I am thankful for whatever time the Lord does permit me to have to study His scripture.
When it comes to the gospel, studying it out and understanding it, the book of Romans is the most comprehensive explanation of the gospel in the Bible. It covers why we need it, how it came, and what it will do for us. And here in chapter two, we are still in the “why we need it” section of Paul’s explanation.
So let’s dive in a little bit into these words that we have read. Let us seek to understand Paul’s argument here. Remember, the context here is that Paul is introducing the topic of the gospel, and he has started by speaking mostly towards Gentile people who have no knowledge of the Bible. Up until this point, he has been making the case for why the Gentiles need the gospel. But here Paul begins transitioning to people who have knowledge of the Bible, and he begins making a case for why those people need the gospel too.
In Paul’s time, the people with knowledge of the Bible were the Jews, so Paul is talking to Jewish people in these verses. While Paul is specifically speaking to the Jewish people in these verses, Paul’s arguments and his concepts are equally applicable to any group of people who have knowledge of the Bible and who profess to be followers of what is written in the Bible. The application of what Paul is writing here
is not limited to just his Jewish readers.
And I hope we caught it when we read these verses. Paul is saying some pretty strong things here to his Jewish readers. He is accusing them of hypocrisy. He is talking to a people who boast that they know God, that boast that they have His word and His law, and they boast that they are full of knowledge. But then they themselves don’t actually live up to what they know.
Paul is hitting on the same kind of hypocrisies Jesus pointed out during His ministry. Jesus had many times pointed out the hypocrisy of the Jewish Pharisees. Let me go back to Matthew 23 and let’s just read a few verses to get us some context. I could read all of Matthew 23; this whole chapter is about the hypocrisy and the failing of Judaism. But I will just read a few verses.
Matthew 23 (King James Version)
1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments.
All through this chapter, Jesus is rebuking these hypocrites. Here you see, they have a certain way of dressing that makes them stand out and look special to men. But Jesus rebukes them for it because it’s just hypocrisy. Jump down to verse 13.
6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
Here Jesus is calling attention to the effects of their ways. Their legalism and hypocrisy keep them from going into the kingdom of heaven. They are determined to force their same legalistic way of thinking on everyone around them and keep them from going into the kingdom of heaven too. Jump down to verse 23.
14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
17 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
19 Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20 Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
21 And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
22 And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
You see there, it’s not that these rules they were keeping were bad things. But the end result was they completely lost sight of the weightier matters. They lost sight of what was important and ended up omitting the most important things while they became obsessed with little things that don’t even hardly matter.
24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
And the next verses will tell us what the heart of a hypocrite looks like.
25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
This is the life of a Pharisee. This is the life that is produced by making rule keeping the emphasis. And Jesus points out that it is a huge mistake to try and clean up the outside of man before you first clean up the inside. Because if you just clean up the outside, all you have done is make a Pharisee. But Jesus is not trying to produce Pharisees. Jesus is producing born-again saints of God.
With a Pharisee and their legalism, the outside looks good, and the behavior of people is more or less controlled. But they are still ugly sinners on the inside. The outside looks beautiful, but the inside is ugly and hideous. It is hypocrisy at its worst.
And the people most prone to hypocrisy are people in religious environments, just like these Jewish people. It is religious people who are most prone to turn true holiness and true communion with God into a ritual.
And just like the Jewish people Jesus is talking to here in Matthew 23, it is possible to get so caught up in the details that we end up missing the principle of the matter. That’s what these Jewish people have done. They have gotten so far into the weeds that they cannot see the forest for the trees. They can see the law and the Bible, but they cannot see what the law and the Bible are pointing them to, which is Jesus.
The law was pointing to a Savior. The Bible points us to a Savior. And when we miss the Savior, we have missed it all. The Savior saves us; He does for us what we cannot do ourselves. That’s why He is a Savior. And when all our knowledge, understanding, and rules cause us to lose sight of our Savior, then we have lost our way.
Back in Romans 2, Paul was accusing the religious people of his day of specific hypocrisies, much like Jesus in Matthew 23. The religious people were concerned with the external but had totally neglected the weightier matters—the matters of the heart. Religious people are prone to this. But God is not just concerned with us keeping a list of rules to make our outside look good. God is concerned about our hearts.
The law of Moses was not just a bunch of rules to be kept outwardly, though that is often the impression we might have of it. The law of Moses was concerned with the hearts of men.
What was the first commandment?
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
The first commandment is about the heart. Unless you can love God with all your heart, soul, and might—every day, all your life—you cannot keep the law. And you cannot be justified by it. The law is concerned with the heart.
Take the last commandment, “Thou shalt not covet.” Coveting is something done in your heart. Other commandments said don’t steal, don’t commit adultery, and so forth. But “Don’t even covet” is the last commandment. Don’t even have the desire in your heart to have things that belong to others. The law is concerned with the heart. God was always concerned with the heart.
In those two commandments, I hope we see that God was concerned with the heart of man. The commandments of the law were not merely about outward things but about the heart of man.
So back in Romans, when Paul is confronting the Jewish people for failing to keep the law, he says:
Romans 2:17-29 (English Standard Version)
23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.
The Jewish people kept parts of the law, but then there were parts they did not keep. When they slipped up and broke the law, what were they required to do? They were required to go to the temple and offer a sacrifice. That sacrifice was just a symbol. It did not take away their sin but symbolized that Jesus would have to die to pay for that sin. Paul explains this in detail in the book of Hebrews.
Every Jewish person had to make sacrifices because everyone did wrong. The law showed them they were not capable of keeping it and that they needed a sacrifice to cover their sins. It all pointed to Jesus.
In James 2:10, James wrote:
James 2:10 (King James Version)
10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
If you failed to keep even the tiniest detail of the law, you were guilty. There was no exception. The same is true today. If you create a list of rules and say that list is necessary for salvation, you have to keep it all perfectly. If you slip up once, there is no way to make it right unless you have a Savior, someone to make a sacrifice for you.
So I hope this part is clear: To be saved by our works, we have to keep every rule perfectly. And the rules are not just about outward actions but also about what is in our hearts and minds.
So what can I conclude from what I have said so far? I can conclude the same thing Paul is getting at in the book of Romans: People in religious systems need Jesus too. People living under legalism also need a Savior. When Jesus is hidden and obscured by legalism, it produces something bad—it produces people who struggle with salvation. They never believe they are saved or good enough. They constantly struggle in their walk.
The reason for this is that they have been taught legalism, not grace. They believe their salvation rests, in some degree, on their own merits. They see that they are not good enough, and no matter how hard they try, they can’t get any better. Unless you show them that Jesus is perfect and that they don’t have to be perfect because Jesus is, they will be trapped in legalistic bondage.
What good does it do if one preacher preaches grace and the next preaches law? No wonder people are confused. Some believe in grace, some in law, and some are spiritually shipwrecked because they don’t know what to do. The hypocrite may be content with legalism, but the genuinely hearted person in a legalistic system is tormented because they are honestly trying to obtain salvation through something that can never deliver on its promise.
This is what some systems have produced, and systems like that need Jesus and the gospel. That is the point of what Paul is saying in Romans 2.
Let me go to Romans 3 and read one verse:
Romans 3 (King James Version)
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
The law will not justify anyone. It’s not that the law is incapable of justifying anyone, but that no one is capable of keeping the law to be justified by it. That’s because of our fallen nature. The law is not the problem; man is the problem. Man is not capable of fulfilling the law. That’s why even the Jews need a Savior. That’s why the law had sacrifices—to show them someone would have to die to pay for their sins.
The Jews need the gospel. Paul is clear in saying that Jews under the law cannot be saved. I want to pause here and highlight something important: The Jews cannot be saved by the law; they can only be saved by Jesus, just as you and I can. However, that was not the belief or teaching we were brought up with.
We believed that Jews who rejected Christ could still be saved by the law. Where we came from, we believed salvation by the law was possible. This misunderstanding was deeply ingrained in our beliefs. It was part of the interpretation of the fifth seal that we were taught. According to this interpretation, righteous Jews who diligently kept the law, even if they rejected Jesus, would still be saved. They were seen as the souls under the altar, and after the fifth seal was broken, they would emerge from a kind of Jewish purgatory and receive their white robes.
But this interpretation of the fifth seal contradicts the rest of Scripture. Jews who do not come to Jesus are no more saved than anyone else who does not come to Jesus.
Somehow, in the message, we developed an idea of Jewish purgatory. Under this belief, Jewish people would have no white robes and would experience anguish under the altar for hundreds of years. After the fifth seal was broken, they would get out of this purgatory and receive their white robes. This belief is utterly unbiblical. Jewish purgatory under the altar is just as unscriptural as Catholic purgatory. This false idea, like Catholic purgatory, came from the same source: the devil. It is based on the incorrect notion that the law can save people.
Both Jews and Gentiles are equally lost without a Savior. Judaism refuses to acknowledge their Savior or their need for Him. As we read in Romans 2:11, God is not a respecter of persons. Jesus said, “I am the way; no one comes to the Father except through me.”
So, Judaism is a religion in rebellion against God. Jesus said so Himself, as we read in Matthew 23. Even if salvation were possible through the law, the Jews have not been living by the law for the last 2,000 years. There is no temple, no sacrifice, no high priest. The law and its instruments have been defunct for nearly 2,000 years. The Jews have not even the slightest claim to have been following the law for 2,000 years. Judaism cannot save souls. That is a false premise, and it is the basis of what Paul is addressing in Romans 2 and will continue to discuss in the following chapters.
Judaism cannot save. Legalism cannot save.
I heard a preacher say that Paul is backing us into a corner with Romans chapters 2 and 3. He is forcing us to choose between works and grace as our means of salvation. We cannot mix them when it comes to salvation. We are either saved by our works or by grace. You cannot combine the two. If you rely on works, you make yourself a hypocrite.
Hypocrites.
In Romans 2, Paul describes the characteristics of hypocrites. Martin Lloyd-Jones, whom I’ve read, explains this well, so I am borrowing a bit from his insights. One trait of hypocrites is that they tend to have only an intellectual interest in the Bible. They love arguments, debates, and discussions about the Bible. According to Paul, hypocrites know God’s will (verse 18) and rest their confidence in their knowledge and understanding of the Bible. Their emphasis is on knowledge, but they become detached from living the actual life the Bible talks about. They elevate their knowledge to the point where they expect to be saved by it.
This is a common issue. People often have an academic interest in the Bible or truth. They have a passion and zeal for understanding and knowledge, but their passion stops there.
Let’s read Romans 2:17-20:
Romans 2:17-20
17 Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,
18 And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;
19 And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
20 An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
Does this sound familiar? People say, “We have the embodiment of knowledge and truth,” and they rely on that. There’s nothing wrong with knowledge and truth—they are good things—but they cannot justify or save a person. Hypocrites justify themselves by their knowledge and understanding, not by Jesus. This is a clear sign of a hypocrite, according to the Bible.
The second characteristic of hypocrites is complacency. Hypocrites are always self-satisfied, never conscious of their own shortcomings. They can slander, lie, hurt, and abuse but cannot recognize or admit their own guilt. They might harbor hate in their hearts or covet what others possess, but they fail to see their flaws.
Like the Pharisee in the parable, who boasts of his tithing, fasting, and temple attendance, the hypocrite is self-satisfied. The publican, in contrast, recognizes his need for mercy and a Savior. It was the publican who was justified before God, while the Pharisee was condemned.
Many people are just as self-satisfied as that Pharisee. They see no need to repent or humble themselves before God. On the day of judgment, many former publicans will stand with Jesus, while many Pharisees will hear, “Depart from me; I never knew you.” In the end, they are just complacent hypocrites.
And that brings me to the third characteristic of a hypocrite: they are confident (verse 19). Let me read it:
Romans 2:19
19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness.
These hypocrites are so confident that they see themselves as the guides and lights. They believe they have the truth and are the sole source of salvation. They think, “Here is the lighthouse. We have the truth. If you want to be saved, come to us. Our knowledge will save you, and you can’t get it anywhere else. We are the light in the darkness and the guides to the blind.”
They are very confident, but confidence is worthless unless it is placed in Jesus. As Christians, we can be confident and satisfied in our salvation, but if we become so confident and satisfied that we stop examining our own hearts and being diligent in our lives, we are in trouble.
A person who moves beyond self-examination is in serious trouble. When someone believes they have all the answers and can teach everyone else but never looks at their own life, they are no longer a sinner saved by grace but someone who has lost sight of their Savior. Such a person is in grave danger because they are focusing on their own self-righteousness rather than on Jesus.
Hypocrites love to teach others but fail to teach themselves. This is evident in verse 21:
Romans 2:21
21 Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?
So, those are three characteristics of a hypocrite according to Paul: viewing the Bible as an intellectual pursuit, being complacent in their own life, and being confident in their misguided beliefs.
Speaking the Truth in Love
Some might take what Paul is saying and conclude that we cannot stand up for what is right or preach against wrongdoing because we are all guilty of something. But that is not Paul’s point. His purpose is to make us aware that we are all in need of a Savior and that no one is above sin.
In light of this knowledge, there is a right way to talk about sin and deal with those struggling with it. Paul explains this in Galatians 6:1:
Galatians 6:1
6 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
There is a right way to address sin and help others with it, and it should be done in a spirit of meekness, considering our own vulnerability to temptation.
The problem arises when people become loud, bold, harsh, or even cruel in their approach to preaching about sin. Instead of helping others escape sin, they end up destroying lives. Often, those who are the harshest critics are themselves hypocrites.
For example, I know of a preacher who constantly condemned sports but was himself an avid sports fan. He preached against putting children in sports teams but would skip church to attend his children’s games. He also condemned facial hair but sported a large mustache for twenty years. He preached about being a good spouse while abusing his own wife and spoke against worldly gain while amassing multiple properties and possessions. Such hypocrisy is shocking and damaging.
Another preacher, who once supported youth camps and activities, changed his stance when his own children grew up and preached against these activities. This inconsistency marks him as a hypocrite. Preaching hard against sin while living with the same sin in one’s own life is futile and disingenuous.
People can be easily deceived, but God is not fooled. He sees the true state of our hearts. Even if we cannot spot hypocrisy ourselves, God sees through the facade. Paul says in verse 24:
Romans 2:23-24
23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.
24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
The Gentiles blaspheme God because of these religious hypocrites. In Paul’s time, Jews were representatives of God, just as professed Christians are today. People judge Christ based on what they see in Christians. Unfortunately, many Christians are perceived as hypocrites because they fail to live out their professed beliefs.
It’s easy to talk the talk but difficult to walk the walk. Many Christians appear to be genuine only to reveal their true nature when closely examined. This gives Christianity a bad name and impacts others negatively.
In some places, people justify poor behavior by saying, “If they were meant to be saved, they would have stayed,” disregarding how we treat others or how we conduct ourselves. This mindset only perpetuates hypocrisy and fails to recognize the responsibility we have in representing Christ accurately.
You know, that might work where we come from, but it won’t fly with God on judgment day. We are responsible for the impression we leave on others and for causing others to blaspheme the name of Christ. We are accountable if we hinder others from coming to Christ. Paul is addressing this issue, especially the notion that if people were predestined, they would stay. This kind of thinking is wicked and will be judged harshly by God.
If your hypocrisy drives others away from Christ, you are accountable to God for that. People are responsible for how their testimony impacts others. It is better to have a millstone hung around one’s neck than to offend one of the least of these. Many have been driven back to the world because of the hypocrisy they’ve encountered, and God will hold those responsible for every person they have led astray.
Circumcision Comes Before the Law
Now, let’s move on to a final point before concluding this message. This goes beyond discussing hypocrisy and delves into a deeper argument about an authority greater than the law.
Paul is aware of Jewish arguments defending their position. In Jewish thought, the covenant of circumcision is considered superior to the law. Before God gave the law to Moses, He made a covenant with Abraham. Even if the law were removed, the Jews would cling to the covenant with Abraham as their higher authority. They believed that circumcision alone made them special in God’s eyes.
Paul anticipates this response and demonstrates that even circumcision, which is of higher precedence than the law, is meaningless without the law. Let me read the relevant passage:
Romans 2:25-29
25 For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?
27 Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law.
28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.
29 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.
Here, Paul acknowledges that God’s covenant with Abraham is of higher precedence than the law of Moses. However, he emphasizes that even the covenant of circumcision is about the heart, not just outward appearances. Both the law of Moses and the covenant with Abraham focus on the heart. Circumcision, without the law, is worthless. True righteousness comes from the heart.
Romans 2:29
29 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.
Circumcision and the law are symbols pointing to something greater. Just having these symbols is not sufficient. The Jewish people had the symbols but missed what they symbolized. Legalism leads people to confuse the symbols of holiness with true holiness and a pure heart. It makes people think that possessing symbols is enough while neglecting what they signify.
All the symbols in the world are meaningless without the substance they point to. Hypocrites have the symbols and knowledge but lack what these symbols and knowledge are meant to represent. They use these symbols to justify themselves, but it does not impress God. Man judges by outward appearance, but God judges the heart.
Examples of this include Christians who have been baptized in water but do not walk with Christ, those with an immaculate dress code but no real relationship with Christ, and those who can quote Bible verses but lack genuine connection with Christ. Such people have head knowledge but lack the genuine revelation and holiness that come from a true walk with Christ.
When evaluating a religious system or people, it’s fair to judge whether they are pursuing genuine godliness or merely clinging to symbols. Are they lost in ritualistic practices, or are they genuinely seeking after Jesus? What road are we on? Are we repeating past mistakes or truly seeking Christ?
These things—circumcision, keeping the law—are all good things. There is nothing wrong with a person who does those things. But without the new birth, at the end of the day, all the symbols and all the knowledge are not going to profit anything, because they are just symbols. What matters is the new birth. What matters is that we have what the symbols are pointing to.
And the Jewish people refused to examine themselves in this light. That is the same mistake many systems and people make: they get to the point where they stop examining themselves. Then they end up hypocrites, like the practitioners of Judaism in the days of Paul. They stop examining themselves, and all manner of evil has cropped up within them.
Legalistic religion creates a sense of false security. I heard a preacher once take these same verses, and the title of his sermon was “Blessed Assurance or False Assurance?” Hypocrites have a false assurance. Legalism gives a false assurance. It convinces people that they can be saved by something that cannot actually save them. And there are different things they can insert there, just like the Jews did. They will say it is their ability to have understanding and knowledge, their ability to keep certain rules, and their possession of certain symbols. So long as you have that, you will be saved—knowledge, rules, and symbols. But knowledge, rules, and symbols cannot save a person. Only Jesus Christ can save a person. Symbols and rules and knowledge—if that is all you have, you have a false assurance. But if you have Jesus, you have a blessed assurance.
And here is the thing: the symbols, the knowledge, and the rules, those things have a place. But if you have Jesus, yet you don’t have the knowledge, the rules, and the symbols, you are still saved. Because what you need to be saved is not the knowledge, or the rules, or the symbols. What you need to be saved is Jesus. But where we come from, they don’t believe that. Because Jesus is not good enough for them. And I am getting down to brass tacks here. I am getting down to the nub of the matter. They do not believe Jesus is good enough. They believe you need Jesus, but you also need the symbols, and you also need the knowledge, and you also need the rules—Jesus plus something else. They do not believe Jesus is good enough.
But the thing is, let Jesus come into your heart. Let Jesus come into your life, and you are going to seek to do right and avoid wrong. Let Jesus come into your heart, and you are going to grow in knowledge. Let Jesus come into your heart, and you are going to want to have the symbols because you want to identify with Christ. But places we come from have it all backwards. They try to stuff the symbols, and the rules, and the knowledge down your throat. And if you don’t take it, they are going to destroy you. And they quite literally have done that to many, many people, even to the point of driving some to suicide. And in all that, they have completely missed actually showing people the way to the genuine article. They fail to show people Jesus. And in so doing, they demonstrate how utterly bankrupt they are.
And they can’t show people the way to Jesus because they can’t say out loud the things I am saying in this sermon. They cannot say you don’t need the symbols, or the knowledge, or the rules to be saved. They can’t say Jesus is good enough. Because to say that, to actually make the way of salvation plain and clear to their hearers is not something they are capable of doing because it undermines far too much of the other parts of their false beliefs.
Without Jesus, that symbol you are concerned with is just a ritual. Without Jesus, those rules you think are so important are just another checklist. Without Jesus, that revelation you think is so valuable is nothing but head knowledge.
It’s not the outward symbols that make you a Christian. It’s the inward new birth. It’s not the rules you kept that made you a Christian. It’s the faith you have in Jesus. It’s not the revelation you have that is going to let you go in the rapture. It’s faith in the promise that Jesus said he was coming back to get you—that’s what’s going to get you there. Faith that His promise is enough. It’s faith that what He did on Calvary is enough to get you there.
Those are the things that make you a Christian. It’s those things that make you the bride of Christ. Being the bride of Christ has nothing to do with believing that some man supposedly met Jesus in the desert in 1963 and came back with a secret revelation you have to understand. It has nothing to do with seven thunders you need to hear. Those are just lies invented by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and then a so-called prophet copied it out of their book and said he got it from God. It was a deception.
And if what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary, and through His death, burial, and resurrection, if you can’t make it on that, then the truth is you can’t make it. If that is not enough for you to make it, then you won’t make it.
The Bible challenges us, and these verses challenge me. It’s easy to look down on others. It’s easy to get lifted up and think we are on a higher level than others. But the thing is, no matter how high we get, we still have a ways to go until we leave this world.
And you know, probably the greatest danger in preaching about hypocrisy is getting so lifted up to think we are not susceptible to that very thing. But we are. I am. And I want to always be willing to search my heart and rend my heart before God. I don’t want to merely be a teacher of the word. I don’t want to merely be a hearer of the word. I don’t want to content myself with just having the symbols. I need the real thing. I need Jesus. I need Him in my life. I need what He did on the cross for me. I need to be close to Him.
There are people who have the knowledge, and the understanding, and the symbols, but they don’t have the genuine article. They don’t have what it is all pointing to. It is possible to have all of that but not have the genuine article. And that is the problem with Judaism and many dead and dying religious systems. Everyone on the outside of those systems can look at them and see them for the hypocritical systems they are. But those on the inside of those systems are utterly blinded. They can’t see the forest for the trees. They can’t see Jesus for the rules, and the symbols, and the knowledge. They have lost their way.
And what is that? It is having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. They have a form that looks godly and holy. They have the symbols. They are following some rules. They have a lot of knowledge. But they deny the power behind it all—the power of the resurrection, the power of the gospel, Jesus Christ. They deny the power behind it all, having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.
How do you know you are saved? I grew up in a Christian home. How do you know you are saved? I got baptized. How do you know you are saved? I go to church every Sunday. How do you know you are saved? I study my Bible and can tell you all the mysteries. How do you know you are saved? Because I danced and shouted. How do you know you are saved? Because I believed on Jesus, that He died to pay for my sins. That is the right answer. That right there is what saved you. And that right there is what a person is most in need of. And let God lead them from there.
Let me close in prayer.
Lord God,
Thank you for giving us this little time of fellowship. Lord, I pray that we can see beyond the symbols and see what they are pointing to. I pray we can see that the sacrifices, the law, and the prophets were all pointing to a Savior. It is all pointing to someone who can save us. Because the symbols, the law, and the prophets—none of that can save us. But Jesus, You can save us. You have already paid it all.
And Lord, I pray for those who are tired of trusting in rules, symbols, and knowledge but are ready to start trusting in You. Jesus, set them free. Jesus, break the bonds. Jesus, make a way in the desert. Lord, You see how often I pray for them all, and I pray for them again. Wake up those who slumber, and give strength to those who are looking for You. Let them realize in their hearts that You are enough. And thank You, Lord Jesus, for letting me realize that You are enough. Forgive us, Lord Jesus, for the days we thought otherwise. And help us every day to be more like You. Purify our lives and draw us nearer. I ask it in Jesus’ name, Amen.