 The title of our sermon this morning is the Heart of the Matter, the Heart of the Matter, Romans chapter two. The text right in your hearing, verses 17 through 29. In particular this morning, we begin a study of verses 25 through 29. We're gonna begin by getting into that text and considering the principle that Paul lays out for us here in verses 25 to 29. And then we'll wrap up a complete understanding of that text next week, Lord willing. The Heart of the Matter, Romans chapter two, verses 25 through 29. In our text now, as we come to the book of Romans and we're following Paul's argument here through this letter to the church at Rome, Paul has taken upon himself the position, if you will, of a prosecuting attorney. And Paul has a point in becoming a prosecuting attorney. He's going to prosecute, as it were a case, against all mankind in dining universally, all mankind in their sin. Now the reason that Paul does that is because Paul loves them and Paul wants to see them soundly saved, wants to point them to their only remedy, which is the point of Paul's letter here, which is the gospel of God, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the righteousness that we have as a free gift of God's grace through the gospel. A righteousness that we need to be justified in the sight of God. So Paul's going to get there and the track that he's taking and getting there is by prosecuting this case against mankind for their sin. Now having indicted all men generally in their sin, Paul has now turned his attention to the hypocrisy of the religious formalist or the hypocrisy of many hypocritical Jews, self-righteous Jews in his own day. And in doing so, Paul indicts religious hypocrites of all ethnic stripes, even those in our own day. And all that with the intent of pointing all men to the reality of their great need before God and their only remedy, that provision that God has made for sin in the person and work of his son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the preaching of the gospel. The climax, if you will, think with me now, the climax of Paul's indictment against the hypocritical self-righteous Jews of his own day, that inexcusable man of chapter two, verse one, the self-righteous hypocrite in our own day, the climax of Paul's indictment comes in the scathing rebuke of verse 24, for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, as it is written. Those words as it is written refer to a quote from scripture, the character and the conduct of the hypocrite provides occasion for the world to blaspheme the name of God. Hypocrisy is such a terrible, wicked and deplorable evil that it gives cause for the world to blaspheme the name of God. The very Jews who thought of themselves as a light to the nations, verse 19, worshipers of the one true and living God of Israel were themselves, in their self-righteousness, in their hypocrisy, those Jews were themselves a cause for those nations, the Gentiles, to blaspheme God. They consider themselves a teacher of babes, a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness, and those to whom they presumed themselves a light, they were causing them in their conduct to blaspheme the name of God. It is a tragic and a devastating irony. This world looked upon the character and conduct of the Jews in Paul's own day as it looks upon the character and conduct of professing Christians in our own day and the watching world draws a connection, if you will, between the character and conduct of the professing Christian and the legitimacy of God's own claims. The world does that, drawing that connection. I wanna say it again, the watching world draws a connection between the character and the conduct of the professing Christian and the legitimacy of God's own claims of himself in his word. You're a lying, angry, adulterous cheat, they would say. The church is full of lying, angry, adulterous cheats. You obviously don't believe what you're peddling over there, your so-called religion is worthless. That's what the world might say, what the world often does say. And we would respond, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ worthless? Blasphemy, blasphemy. The grace and mercy of God, the ministry of his spirit among us worthless? Blasphemy. The hard-hearted unbeliever even relishes the hypocrite. The hard-hearted worldling, as it were, relishes the hypocrite, why? Because the hypocrite confirms to them that they were right all along. I knew it, see, just waiting for them to fall. You see, I've been right all along. Blasphemy, blasphemy, for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you as it is written. Now with that statement, verse 24, Paul is quoting the prophet Isaiah from Isaiah chapter 52, verse five, and primarily quoting the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. And the context of Paul's quote is really informative here, really helpful. Obviously, the context of this quote from Isaiah 52 in Paul's mind, in Paul's heart, as he writes, and the context here is fascinating. When you're trying to study the Bible, trying to understand the Bible, sometimes it's not just the quote itself that is so important to the flow of the argument, but the context of the quote is in the mind of the writer and the context of the quote lends understanding to what we see in the text before us, okay? That's exactly what's going on here in Romans chapter two, verse 24 and beyond from this quote in Isaiah 52. Turn to Isaiah 52 with me and let's look at the context of Paul's quote, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you just as it is written. Isaiah 52, as you're turning to Isaiah 52, the context here in Isaiah 52 is one of prophesied destruction and prophesied exile for the people of God. The 10 northern tribes have been carried away to Assyria by Sennacherib and now there's been a small envoy that has visited King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, a small envoy from Babylon and King Hezekiah has shown them all his treasure. Upon hearing of the visit, the prophet Isaiah then announces the coming devastation and the judgment of God and the sons of Hezekiah, the prophet says, will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. In other words, Babylon is going to wreak havoc in Judah, going to take his people, God's people exile, going to destroy Jerusalem. However, as our loving, merciful, compassionate God often does immediately upon the very heels of announcing judgment against them for their sin, pronouncing their exile, God begins then to comfort his people with the promise of redemption and in Isaiah, particularly beginning in this section of Isaiah, earlier with the servant songs of Isaiah, there is this promised comfort, this promised redemption, this promised deliverance that is coming and we have the wonderful servant songs of Isaiah to prophesy a coming servant of the Lord who we know is the Messiah himself, Lord Jesus Christ. So in Isaiah 52, look at verse four. Isaiah 52 verse four, the Lord God says, my people went down at first into Egypt to dwell there, then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Now therefore, what have I here, says the Lord, that my people are taken away for nothing, taken away to Assyria, then taken away to Babylon. Remind you, it hasn't happened yet, this is a prophecy of their exile to Babylon, right? Those who rule over them, the Lord says, make them wail and my name is blasphemed continually every day. There's the quote in your Hebrew text, okay? God's covenant people, think about the text with me now, God's covenant people have been forced out of the land that God himself promised to give them and sent into exile, right? These wicked Gentile nations, Egypt, Assyria, now Babylon have then brazenly lifted themselves up against the Lord of heaven to curse and to oppress his people without cause, to take them away as it says in verse five, for nothing, and then to turn around and to make them wail, verse five. So the guilt and the shame of Israel in exile for her sin is now a continual reproach on the name of God himself, the name of God blasphemed among the Gentiles because of her as if God is unable to deliver, as if God was unable to save, as if God's arm was shortened and he could not save his people, so they went into exile because God was going to destroy them or God was angry with them and the people are now in these nations suffering and God's name is brought to reproach. Like the Rob Shaka, if you remember from Isaiah chapter 36, when he came to Judah, he said, beware lest Hezekiah persuade you saying, the Lord will deliver us, right? As any one of the gods, the Rob Shaka ask them, has any one of the gods of the nations delivered its lands from the hand of Assyria? As if to say, your God won't deliver you either, right? No one will deliver you out of the king's hands. Blasphemy, you see? Blasphemy, remember, Moses pleading with God after the people refused to enter the promised land in Numbers chapter 14, remember the story? God said to Moses, I will strike them, disinherit them and make of you a great nation. What did Moses do? Moses cries out to the Lord, Lord, no, right? The Egyptians will hear it and Moses pleads with God on their behalf. They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among the people. If you kill these people, then the nations which have heard of your fame will speak saying because the Lord was not able to bring these people to the land, which he swore to give them, therefore he has killed them in the wilderness. In other words, the nations will blaspheme the name of God. So what is Moses pleading for? Is he pleading for the people because somehow they're worthy of being delivered? No, he's pleading with God for the glory of his name, for the glory of his name, that his name would be glorified among the nations, that those nations would not blaspheme the glorious name of our God. It's for the sake of his great name that Moses pleaded for their deliverance. So by the time we get to Romans two then, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, they've all become typical, as it were. They've become illustrations, if you were. Paul draws on them by analogy. And by quoting Isaiah chapter 52 verse five, Paul is saying, just as Israel attached the shame and guilt of its own exile to the very name of God, you yourselves attach the guilt and shame of your own disobedience to the name of God, causing the very name of God, which is holy, to be blasphemed among the nations because of you. You see the connection, right? That was true of the Israelites in the Old Testament, those to whom Isaiah was prophesying. It was just as true to those self-righteous hypocritical Jews in Paul's day in the first century, just as it is the same for self-righteous hypocrites in our own day. When you sin, when you live in disobedience against the Lord, you cause His name to be blasphemed. How? By showing with your life that somehow God is unable to deliver, unable to save, unable to cause you to be righteous, right? That's what Paul, Paul has that context in mind as he quotes Isaiah 52 in Romans chapter two. Do you see? In the same way that hypocrites today cause the name of God to be blasphemed among the nations, the Lord is not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to give them. Well, what's the Lord's response to this apparent dilemma in Isaiah 52? Look at verse six. What's the Lord's response? Verse six, therefore my people shall know my name. Now that's a promise, that's a fact. You can take that to the bank. Therefore, verse six, they shall know in that day, the day in which he fulfills this promise that I am he who speaks. Behold, it is I. What's God going to do? God is going to uphold the glory of His name. How is God going to uphold the glory of His name by delivering this wicked people from their exile, by delivering them from their bondage, okay? This is a reference to the New Covenant. This is a reference to the New Covenant. Therefore, God says, because my name has been thus blasphemed, my people will know my name. For the sake of my great name, not for the sake of that wicked and rebellious and stubborn people, mind you, but for the sake of God's name, I, God says, will sanctify a people to myself. Now think with me, how does the Lord do that? How does God do that? Through the person and work of His own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Through the preaching of the gospel to the ends of the earth, it is a work that God does. Look at verse seven. How beautiful upon the mountains then are the feet of Him who brings good news. Israel is an exile, right? Her cities lay in ruins. God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of her. And so what is beautiful, right? In that context, what is it that is beautiful? What is it that is good? What is it that is pure? The feet of Him who brings good news. Those who preach the gospel, who proclaim peace, who bring glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says design on your God reigns. God is going to vindicate His great name and He's going to do it through the preaching of the gospel in particular. Here, He's going to deliver them from Babylon. And God does, keeps His promise to do that. That is a foreshadowing. That is a type of God's ultimate deliverance of His people from bondage to their sin. In the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, God vindicates the glory of His name. Because you're worth it? Because you're so lovable. No. And anyone who knows you knows that's not true. But for the glory of His name, God does this. Do you see? Do you see? Paul quotes verse seven. Look at that verse. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of Him who brings good news. Paul quotes that verse in Romans chapter 10, verse 15, in reference to the new covenant preaching of the gospel. We're going to come back to this verse when we reach Romans 10 in a few years. It's going to be good. It'll be less than that. Lord willing. It is by, think with me, these are new covenant promises, new covenant preaching of the gospel. It's by means of a new covenant that God is going to accomplish this great deliverance through which His people shall know His name. Turn to the right with me to Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36. The Lord directs them in their exile to the promises of the new covenant and to those promises explained, expounded upon in Ezekiel 36. What is this great deliverance going to look like? How will it be that His people shall know His name? Look at Ezekiel 36 beginning in verse 16. The Lord is giving a word of prophecy to the prophet Ezekiel, okay? Moreover, verse 16. The word of the Lord came to me saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds with their sin, with their conduct, right? To me, their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity. Our righteousness is as a filthy rag. Do you see? Verse 18. Therefore, God says, I poured out my fury on them for the blood that they had shed on the land and for their idols with which they had defiled it. Now you don't have to worship a little stick or stone fashioned statue in your house to be an idolater. Calvin says that the heart of man is a factory for idols. We have all kinds of things that we idolat, we're idolaters of that we worship, right? Whatever that may be, money, hobbies, free time, leisure, whatever it is, we're a factory for idols and we can be trapped in this sin of idolatry in any number of ways. When you worship idols in that way, when something else has preeminence in your heart other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself, you're an idolater and you have defiled the land in which you live. So what does God do? This, they're in the promised land, so to speak. They've defiled it and God puts them out. Just as God cast out Adam and Eve from the garden, God puts them out, verse 19. So I scattered them among the nations and they were dispersed throughout the countries. I judged them according to their ways and according to their deeds. When they came to the nations, wherever they went, the nations profaned my holy name. You see the connection? When they, those nations said of them, these are the people of the Lord and yet they have gone out of his land. Do you see how that blast seems the name of God? They're the people of the Lord and yet the Lord is not able. These people have gone out of his land. Romans chapter two, verse 24, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, just as it is written. Verse 21, what does God say? But I had concern for my holy name which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations, wherever they went. Do you see how it's twofold? The nations blaspheme the name of God and at the same time, Israel is profaning the name of God through her actions. What's behind the scenes is the sin of Israel, the idolatry of Israel. It's because of Israel's sin and idolatry that they find themselves in exile in those foreign nations. They have profaned the name of God and so when they're exiled, the nations profaned the name of God. Therefore, God says, verse 22, say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations, wherever you went, and I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. What's the Lord going to do? They've not done that to this point. They've blasphemed the name of God, profaned the name of God, and this is the promise of God. He's going to sanctify his name when he hallows himself in their sight. In other words, God is saying, I'm going to do a work upon you. I'm going to do a work in you. I'm gonna do a work to you and I'll do such a work through you that it will lead to the glory of my great name, the glorification of my great name. Verse 24, For I will take you from among the nations. I will gather you out of all countries. I will bring you into your own land. Then verse 25, I will sprinkle clean water on you. You shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Listen, verse 26, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh. I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and I will cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. That's a promise. That's a promise. They had not done that before. God's going to see to it that they do. And how does God see to it that they do? He gives them a heart of flesh. He puts his own spirit within them. He renews their nature. Verse 28, Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people and I will be your God. He does it for the sake of his own name, not for your sake or my sake, not for their sake, for the sake of his own name. Our God is mighty to save. Do you see? And because he judges them in their sin, because he may chastise you in yours, does not mean that our God's arm is shortened such that he cannot save. Have faith, brother. Have faith, sister. Our God, who ordains all things whatsoever that come to pass, will preserve you, will save you if you put your faith and trust in his son. All praise the glory of his grace, right? All praise the glory of his grace. Look at verse 31. Then when God does this, when he changes the heart, makes of them a new creation, causes them to be born again, fills them with his spirit, causes them to walk in his judgments, 31, then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this, says the Lord God. Let it be known to you. Be ashamed, be confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. It's for the glory of his own name. Well, I've never loathed myself in my own sight. God's never done that work in your heart. I don't see myself as a wicked sinner. God's not done that work in your heart. I'm not walking in his judgments, the way that that describes. God's not done that work in your heart. This is a promise from God. This is a promise in keeping with the new covenant purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ through which God saves the people to himself. It's through which God in his own grace, in his own work ensures that his people do not walk in the wicked, rebellious example of Israel in those days. The ones that he said, I swore in my wrath that God saves his people. God causes them to obey his judgments. God fills them with his spirit. God causes them to be born again. God makes them a new creation and God ensures that they will be preserved to the end. To this wayward and disobedient people, God says, therefore my people will know my name. You see? Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks, behold it is I. Who are the people of God? Who are they? Who are they? People of God are those who know his name. Who are those who know his name? Those who are marked by this inward transformation. Those who are marked by this work of God upon their heart. Those who are marked by those characteristics that God says will be true of those in covenant with him. If those marks of the covenant, those promises of the covenant, those blessings of the covenant are not yours, you're not in covenant, you're not a Christian. Turn from your sin. Put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone and he will save you from your sin. He will make of you a new creation. He will bring you to himself, justify you in the sight of God and give you an inheritance with the saints. Otherwise you have no hope. Do you see? Therefore my people shall know my name. What is the Lord referring to here? The Lord is referring to something in the Old Testament we know as the circumcision of the heart. The circumcision of the heart. This is a promise of the new covenant, a changed heart, a new creation. Therefore Paul would say it, Romans chapter two, Romans chapter two, Paul would say it this way in verse 28. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit not in the letter whose praise is not from men but from God. You see? Paul is speaking of the same thing. It's amazing to me right now. Paul in quoting Isaiah chapter 52 in Romans chapter two, verse 24. Paul is not just quoting the words of that particular verse but he has the whole context of the nation at that time, the suffering that they were under, the oppression that they were under for their sin, the exile that they were a part of, all of that context Paul brings to bear now upon this people that he's addressing in Romans chapter two. And in that context of Old Testament Israel what does God do in his grace? He points them to the promises of the new covenant. Your deliverance is coming. Your deliverance is provided for trust in Christ. And what is Paul doing here? Paul is preparing to deliver to them the gospel, right? The righteousness of Jesus Christ which is ours through faith that we might be justified in God's eyes. In other words, a faithful ongoing covenant communion with me as your God, the Lord says is impossible because of your sin. It simply cannot be sustained through any work done by you. Therefore, God says I will initiate it. I will sustain it. I will do it. I will bless it through a work that I do for you, in you, to you, through you. And I'll do it for the sake of my name. This is the salvation that is ours through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. And in Jesus Christ, what does Paul say? Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything. But what? New creation, right? Remember Galatians chapter six. In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but a new creation. Yeah, what's amazing to me is that apostle Paul has all that history, all that theology in his heart and mind as he addresses the hypocritical Jews in his own day, Romans chapter two, and even the religious hypocrites in our own day. He indicts them under the same condemnation of sin. You see, all these threads are woven together now. He indicts them under the same condemnation of the same law. He does that in verses 17 through 23. He then rebukes them with the same words to disobedient Israel from Isaiah chapter 52. The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. And that simple quote is intended to communicate a very powerful reality. Although they have such confidence that they are righteous before God, such confidence that they are saved and on their way to heaven, they are just as condemned under the law as that generation who sinned and were sent into exile. They were exiled, taken away in fetters. The sons of the king made eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. And just like those Jews who sinned and were taken away in exile, a religious hypocrite today, sinning in those ways is worthy of that condemnation just like they were. He's drawing an equivalency, if you will, by analogy. Just as condemned, just as deserving of judgment as that generation in exile. And then, following the Lord's lead, what does Paul do? In grace and mercy, just like the Lord, Paul then points disobedient Jews in his own day to the very same hope. It's not outward circumcision that matters. Circumcision of the heart that matters. That's what you need. Pointing them to the very same new covenant promises that God did in Ezekiel 36. And the gospel then that Paul preaches, the salvation that Paul preaches, the hope that Paul preaches, is that which was promised the Jews in Isaiah, is the same promise, the same hope that was preached to the Jews in Ezekiel's day and is now fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ in the preaching of the gospel in Paul's day. All of the promises of God are yes and amen in him. We'll see that through the rest of this letter. Paul is going to expound upon those promises. So all that now is in the heart and mind of Paul as he addresses the hypocritical Jew in our text, verses 25 through 29. That was the introduction. And so now he's addressing the one who is called a Jew, verse 17, the one who rests on the law makes his boast in God and he is charged that one under sin, right? You who make your boast in the law, you dishonor God through breaking the law, verse 23. Therefore the name of God is blasphemed among you, among the Gentiles because of you. Now, in addressing this person, Paul will draw our attention to two points from the text, verses 25 to 29. First, a worthless confidence. Secondly, a priceless promise. A worthless confidence followed by a priceless promise. Paul begins by exposing a worthless confidence in verse 25. Look there with me. For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law, but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who even with your written code and circumcision are a transgressor of the law, right? A worthless confidence. Paul is going to set forth a principle and then he's going to illustrate it. And Paul's intent here in verses 25 to 27 is on exposing the damning false confidence of self-righteous Jews in his own day. By implication, he's going to expose the damning false confidence of religious hypocrites in our own day. They have a misplaced confidence. They have a false sense of security. They've deceived themselves. They have a false assurance and assurance they should not have. And all their confidence, all their security, all their hope is wrapped up in the external trappings of their religion, the external observances of religion. They have jumped out of the plane, so to speak. They are plummeting to the ground, confident that the pack on their back contains something that will save them. You see? And while that pack contains a lot of stuff that is hurling them toward the ground faster, the one thing that it does not contain is a parachute. Right? The one thing it does not contain is a parachute. So what's in the pack? What did the Jews trust in to save them? Verse 17, the fact that they were Jews. Right? The fact that they were Jews. The fact that they were descendants of Abraham, those who would inherit the promises. Verse 17, they rested in the law. The Jews actually rested on the fact that they had been given the law, that they were in possession of the very oracles of God. And to the Jew, to be in the Mosaic Coven, to be in that system was salvation to the Jew, to be outside of that system was damnation. Right? Therefore, verse 17, they made their boast in God, and they believed that they knew his will. Verse 18, approving things that differ, being instructed out of the law. Now this is not at all, unlike those things you might find in the pack of a religious hypocrite plummeting toward hell today. I was raised in a Christian home. You're looking through the pack and ah, I go to church every Sunday. I said the prayer. I meant it when I said it. I said it sincerely and I've said it a lot. I've been baptized. You might find that in the pack of a religious hypocrite in our own day. Many, many have no sense of any need for genuine conversion, genuine repentance, because they've trusted in this baptism as an infant that somehow put them into the covenant community that sealed them for salvation. They have no need. No need of any conversion now. No need of any repentance. They're in. You don't have to worry about me. I'm good, they might say. Both would say the religious hypocrite in Paul's day and the religious hypocrite in our own day, both would say I will not come under judgment. I will not come under judgment. That's not going to be me. Both are saying that as they rapidly approach the ground without a shoot. There is impending doom that is hurling toward them and they both would say I'm not concerned about it. I'm not worried. There is a false confidence, do you see? They have a false sense of security. They've placed their trust in those things which cannot save. Their pack is full of weight. It's not, doesn't have a shoot in it. The proper theological name for it is what our brother mentioned this morning is formalism. The proper theological name is formalism, a reliance on or a trust in religious practices or religious observance for a sense of security or peace before God. Formalism is an empty or a baseless confidence in religious ritual for peace or security with God. And this reliance, this confidence is in the place of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, they've placed all their faith, all their trust, all their hope in those things and they do not have their faith in the right place in the right person. So as we continue to look through the pack then of the Jewish formalist as he hurdles toward the ground, we will eventually find the very foundation of his confidence, the very bedrock of his confidence, the most important thing that the Jewish formalist had in his pack, that outward sign of his participation in his covenant with Abraham, in the covenant with Abraham, that which serves to summarize or represent all the others, it is the sign of his inclusion in covenant with God and that is the external physical religious right of circumcision performed on Jewish males on the eighth day after their birth. Even the apostle Paul, right, prided himself before his conversion on his circumcision, right, I'm of the stock of Israel circumcised the eighth day. It was something that he posted in that he then counted loss for knowing Christ, right, Philippians chapter three. Dr. Murray referred to circumcision as the last retreat for the Jew. The last place in Paul's scathing indictment in Paul's prosecuting case against the Jews here, the last place he could hide, the only corner left to him was his circumcision, last retreat for the Jew. It's in a similar way, last retreat for religious hypocrites in our own days, we'll see. That corner, so to speak, in which the religious hypocrite, the Jewish formalist felt most secure. Paul has pulled the law out of his pack. Paul has pulled religious heritage out of his pack. Paul has pulled descendancy from Abraham out of his pack. Paul has pulled all those ceremonial rituals out of his pack. The last retreat of the Jew left in there is his circumcision, and that was the thing that the Jew most trusted in. Now, the Jewish formalist believed that circumcision was exceedingly profitable, exceedingly profitable, exceedingly profitable for standing with God. In fact, Paul begins in verse 25 by making this very case that the profitability of circumcision. Paul says for circumcision is indeed profitable. Now, Paul would add to that statement or explain that statement further in chapter three verse one. Look over there, chapter three verse one. And Paul says there, what advantage then has the Jew? What is the profit of circumcision? Paul himself says much in every way, why? Because chiefly to them were committed the oracles of God. To those who were in covenant through circumcision, they were given the very word of God. Those in covenant with Yahweh, to those who had been given the sign of circumcision, to them were committed the word of the living God. They even described themselves, they described themselves as quote, the circumcision, right, often a way that you see Jews describing themselves. This was something that they prided themselves in. That was a favorite title among the Jews. And Paul himself believed it was a great advantage in Philippians three before his conversion. However, aside from what Paul says here, the Jewish formalist in Paul's day would assume or presume upon an even greater profit to circumcision. Listen to this. This misunderstanding that the Jews had is what Paul is going to correct in our text. The midrush, which was a commentary on Hebrew texts in the Bible. There's a midrush of Genesis where the Jewish rabbis in explaining Genesis said, that God swore to Abraham that no one who was circumcised would be sent to hell. So Abraham, this is what the commentators say on the book of Genesis and explaining the Abrahamic covenant, God swore to Abraham no one who was circumcised would ever be sent to hell that Abraham sits before the gates of Gehenna and never allows any circumcised Israelite to enter. Abraham, that's his job. He sits outside the gates of hell. What is he looking for? Circumcision. If they're circumcised, they're not allowed to enter hell. In other words, the Jews actually believed that circumcision would exempt them from the judgment of God. They would exempt them, cover them, conceal them from the wrath of God against sin. That his circumcision actually obligated God to include him among those to inherit the promises made to Abraham. That God made promises to Abraham and as a descendant of Abraham as long as I'm circumcised and a descendant of Abraham, I'm in on all those promises come what may. And as long as I'm circumcised, God's obligated to give those promises to me. Why? Because God is faithful to his word, right? Many think of their baptism as an infant in a similar way today. Their participation in the covenant is secure, therefore their salvation is secure. It's blasphemy. Listen, many, many, many, many, many, think of their profession in the same way today. Because I profess to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, because I profess to be a Christian, because I've said so, I believe that it is so. Whatever you say, that they have as much trust, much reliance upon their profession as these Jews had upon their circumcision. Just because it's words that come out of your mouth, don't make it any different. They're putting all your trust, all your reliance is set upon that. And I'm sincere, Lord, I believe when your life shows something different. Can you see the difference? Paul has indicted the religious hypocrite in his sin. You break the law and you dishonor God through your breaking of the law, no matter what you say or what mark you carry in your flesh. Do you see? The religious formalist. There is in the mind of the religious formalist a radical disconnect between external religious observance and the inward spiritual realities to which those external observances are supposed to point. We have, we have the promises of God associated with the new covenant. We know what the Lord does. The Lord changes the heart, changes the nature, makes a man a new creation. He puts his spirit within him. God causes them to walk in his statutes. They shall know my name. And what does the formalist say? Oh, that matters not. I'm circumcised. I'm descended from Abraham. What is the religious hypocrite saying our own day? I believe. And what does James say? The demons believe. And they tremble. I've said that prayer and I meant it when I said it. I go to mass three times a week. How many Hail Marys, our fathers, do I have to say? So you see religious formalism and what the religious formalist doesn't see. So there is no work of inward transformation upon the heart that would give evidence of a living, healthy, thriving, genuine, and saving faith. Going through all the motions, but there's nothing real about it. I believe, but there is no corresponding inward reality to give evidence of faith. I've said the prayer and yet you continue in your sin. That was my story. If I'd said that prayer once, I'd said it a hundred times to be certain. And it just quote, didn't work. I didn't take and I would get convicted over my sin. I'd have an accusing conscience. Why? It wasn't real. There was no inward transformation until the Lord saved me. It was nothing but empty words. Fail to persevere in the faith. People are Christian for six weeks in rank, unrepentant sin for six years. And then I'm a Christian, you know? He who began a good work, you know? It's the plight, the condition of the religious formalist in our day. It's a really destructive blend, if you will, of religious formalism with easy-believe-ism. Cheap grace. Paul is going to correct that thinking in this text. He's gonna do so through a principle stated and that principle illustrated, all right? He's gonna correct that thinking through a principle stated and that same principle illustrated. I wanna spend just a few moments talking about the principle stated and we'll look at the principle illustrated next week. The principle stated, verse 25. For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law. But if you are a breaker of the law, which he has charged these Jews with being, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. It's as though you were never a Jew at all. How powerful would that statement have been to religious hypocrites in Paul's day? How could you say such a thing, Paul? Circumcision is indeed profitable, but only truly profitable, only savingly profitable if you keep the whole law in addition to your circumcision. If you disobey if you're not keepers of the law, it's as if you were never a Jew at all. We should put that on a T-shirt, it rhymes. It's absurd, right? It's an absurd belief, an absurd statement. Paul is already set up now, the principle that he's going to introduce. In verse 13, it wasn't those who merely heard the law or possessed the law that were justified in the sight of God. It's the doers of the law who will be justified in the sight of God. In what sense there were they justified in the same way in which James speaks of the works of the law as evidence that faith is genuine. Do you see? James talks about the works of faith being an evidence that it is a living faith, not a dead faith. In that sense, good works that flow from faith justify or vindicate that faith as genuine, as living, as healthy, thriving, as saving. In similar fashion then, it's not those who are merely circumcised who are just in the sight of God. Do you see the connection? It's the doers of the law who are just in the sight of God. And circumcision is just one aspect of the law, right? It's the same kind of situation. This presents a very serious problem for the Jewish formalist. He's resting in his heritage, he's trusting in his possession of the law, trusting in his circumcision, and now Paul has confined him under sin as a law breaker. All have sinned under the law. The whole world is guilty before God. That's what we're getting to in Romans chapter three. There is none righteous, no, not one. This one is not obedient, he's not keeping the law. He is a law breaker. Paul says in Galatians chapter three, verse 10, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. So if you're seeking a righteousness which is through the law, then you've got to keep it all. The Jewish formalist is a sinner. He's got a problem on his hands. But isn't this just Paul's idea? Is Paul just thought this up in his own head or did Paul get this from Scripture? Certainly Abraham and his seed inherited the promises by becoming members of the covenant through circumcision. Isn't the evidence that they are saved, doesn't that come from circumcision? No. Let's look at the explanation of that in Genesis 17. Turn back there with me. An explanation of the covenant sign of circumcision, Genesis chapter 17. The Jewish formalist would have thought to himself, these promises were made to Abraham and to his seed. That's me. That as long as he's circumcised, he's in covenant, he'll not be cut off, he inherits the promises with Abraham. So all I have to do, ultimately, all I have to do is be descended from Abraham and be circumcised, be circumcised. You had proselytes that weren't even descendants from Abraham who were circumcised and they're in covenant. The Jew would have thought that's all I have to do is be circumcised. What Paul is saying is no, you must be a doer of the law, verse 13, for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. Do you see? That's the problem now that the religious formalist has. He's been convicted, confined under sin. He's been convicted as a law breaker and he's trusting in his circumcision. Genesis chapter 17, look at verse one. When Abraham was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to him, I am Almighty God, walk before me and be blameless. What does that sound like? That sounds like obedience to me, right? Walk before me and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly. Then Abraham fell on his face and God talked with him saying, as for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You shall be a father of many nations. These are promises of God. You no longer shall be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham. For I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful. I will make nations of you. King shall come from you. And I will, see all the I wills, I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your descendants after you. Also, I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession and I will be their God. And God said to Abraham, verse nine, as for you, you shall keep my covenant. How Lord, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins. It shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male child in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant, he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised. And my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised male child who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant, right? So we see what is expected here. Now, the Lord alludes with Abraham in the beginning, walk before me and be blameless. Walk before me. Abraham has covenant responsibilities, but the sign of his covenant relationship with God is circumcision. Do you see? And what the religious formalists, the Jew, the hypocritical Jew in Paul's they would say is, I'm circumcised, I'm good, right? Turn over the page, Genesis chapter 18, and look there at verse 16. Now the Abrahamic covenant, the covenant that God makes with Abraham, in which circumcision is a part, is expounded or explained from Genesis 12 through about Genesis 22 in various ways. In this whole section of scripture, you see various explanations, various iterations of the Abrahamic covenant. Here we see another in Genesis chapter 18, beginning in verse 16. Then the men rose from there and looked towards Sodom. Remember Abraham, I had three visitors, the angel of the Lord and two other angels with him. These angels were going to Sodom and Gomorrah for a purpose, right? The men arose from there, looked towards Sodom. Abraham went with them to send them on the way. And the Lord said, verse 17, shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing? Since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. For I have known him in order that he may command his children and his household after him that they keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has spoken to him. What has he spoken to Abraham? All the promises, okay? But notice what the Lord says. I have known him so that he may command his children and his household after him so he may command all his descendants, obey the Lord, obey the Lord, keep the way of the Lord to do righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring to Abraham that what he has spoken to him. It's the way, the way of the Lord is the way of obedience. The way of his duty associated with covenant promises. Now let me ask you a question. From what you know of Paul preaching on this in Romans chapter four was Abraham saved before circumcision or after circumcision? Before circumcision. Abraham was accounted righteous before circumcision. What does the Bible say? What does Paul bring up in Romans chapter four? Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness, accounted to him for righteousness. Abraham is a saved man. So what then is expected of Abraham as a fruit of his faith? Obedience, right? Obedience, that's what's being expected here. The way of obedience, the way of his duty. Look at Genesis chapter 22, Genesis chapter 22. This is the principle that Paul is laying out for the self-righteous religious hypocrite, the Jewish formalist in his own day. Guys, listen faster. Now, Genesis chapter 22. Somebody take the batteries out of the clock back there. Verse 12, God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his own son. Abraham was about to obey. Abraham lifts the dagger, verse 12, and God said, do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. What was this? This was evidence of Abraham's faith. Abraham believed that God could even raise the dead, right? Then the angel of the Lord, verse 15, called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, verse 16, and said, by myself, I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, because you've obeyed me. Listen, and have not withheld your son, your only son, because you have done this, blessing I will bless you. Multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. Now does that mean, let me ask you, does that mean that Abraham earned salvation and earned all those new covenant promises through his obedience? No. Abraham possesses the promises through faith. Abraham believed and it was accounted to him for righteousness. So what is this then? What is this? These are those evidentiary works of evangelical faith. These are those good works that give evidence that faith is genuine, that faith is living and thriving. This is what distinguishes in James' writing, dead faith from a living faith. It's what distinguishes the one who, the religious formalist, who has had no work of God upon his heart. That new covenant work just hasn't been done there. And this, these works distinguish that one from the one whom God has indwelt with his spirit, the one whom God has done a work upon his heart, changed out, taken out his heart of stone, given him a heart of flesh, caused him by his spirit to walk into statutes and his judgments and to do them, right? These are the works that evidence a living, breathing, saving, genuine, true faith. There is one sense in which the fulfillment of the promises of the Abrahamic covenant are conditioned upon obedience. It's conditioned, if you will, to Abraham upon those works which flow from genuine saving faith. We should never think, Paul doesn't want the religious formalist in his own day to think that salvation is somehow earned through works. That somehow those Jews must keep all the law perfectly in order to earn the right to the promises. Paul's gonna deal with that error, particularly specifically in Romans chapter four. It's there, Romans chapter four, that we find the promises of God given through faith in Jesus Christ and faith alone. And it's through that faith Abraham believed and it was accounted to him for righteousness. That's the gospel. What does Paul wanna do with a religious formalist with a hypocrite? If you're going through the motions today and your heart is cold and dead toward God and you're living in your sin and you're unrepentant making provision for your sin, what do you need? You need a new heart. You need to be transformed from the inside out. You need to be pointed to the gospel, pointed to Jesus Christ. God alone can do that work. You need to put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ to do it. Do you see? So what part then do works play for the religious formalist? Faith is vindicated. Faith is justified. Genuine faith is proven to be genuine by evangelical from the heart obedience. If you are circumcised in heart, that inward circumcision of the heart will manifest itself in walking in obedience. That is the faith of Abraham, right? That's the testimony of Abraham. Both are present. You say you have faith. Show me your faith without your works. James says, right? I'll show you my faith by my works. When obedience is missing, there is no true saving faith. You are nothing more than a religious formalist, a hypocrite, no legitimate expectation whatsoever of inheriting the promises. It doesn't matter what you've done. Doesn't matter to you how you've cut yourself. Doesn't matter what you've said. Doesn't matter the religious motions that you work yourself through. None of that matters. Doesn't matter the profession that you've made. That profession is an empty sham apart from a genuine faith that evidences itself in works. Both are present, a living faith and works that flow from faith. And when obedience is missing, there is no true and saving faith. And when all there is is external conformity, in obedience, when that's all there is, you have no legitimate right to the promises either. Apart from faith, all is sin. Do you see? What the religious formalist needs in Paul's day, what the religious formalist needs in our own day is a new heart. We need a new birth. We need a new covenant, right? Which the Lord has promised to us. For he is not a Jew who has won outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who has won inwardly. He is of the seed of Abraham when he puts his faith in Jesus Christ. That's what Paul teaches in Galatians, right? Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter whose praise is not from men but from God. We need an inward transformation. An inward transformation, brothers and sisters, that produces outward conduct that brings honor and glory to the name of God. Not outward conduct that causes the nations to blaspheme because of us, do you see? All right, let's pray together. Father in heaven, all praise, honor, glory be to you. Thank you, Lord, for the beautiful, wondrous truths of the gospel of this inward transformation, heart and mind of your work in us to renew us, to make of us a new creation, to cause us to be born again by your spirit and then to give us as a gift of your grace, a living faith, a faith in Jesus Christ by which we are declared righteous and justified in your sight, through which we are adopted into your household, through which, Lord, through that faith that we are sanctified, set apart and further conformed into his image, through which one day, Lord, we will be glorified and inherit the promises to the everlasting praise and worship of your glorious name. We thank you, Lord, for these truths. Thank you for the blessing of the gospel. Thank you for this text. Help us, Lord, as we continue to work through it to understand what Paul is speaking of here that we might think rightly, in particular, about our own condition and about the gospel, our only remedy for sin. We love you. We thank you for this time. In Jesus' name, amen.