Romans 2:17–29 "Why we need to preach the gospel to ourselves"

Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah.

! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah,

either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us

that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself?

The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian,

we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the

Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do

what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian,

checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us

questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things

that you're really struggling with. So God bless.

Let's bow our heads in prayer. Father, we give you thanks and praise that you know

everything there is to know about each one of us, that you know each of us personally.

Father, you know us from the moment we were conceived in our mother's womb. You even know

our future. You know the dreams that we do not remember when we wake in the morning. You know every

mask and front and posture which we go to from moment to moment throughout the day. You see us as we truly

are in all of our depths and all of our superficialities. And still you love us. And still Jesus came and died

on the cross to be our savior. We ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would bring the wonderful truths of

your word deep into our hearts this morning, that we might learn, Father, to preach the gospel to

ourselves day by day. And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated.

A very common human problem is that, and maybe it's, I don't know, I'm not going to say it affects

everybody who's here. Maybe it affects most of us to some extent, but for some people it's a quite deep

problem. And that is this. We fear, we believe, and we fear that if somebody got to know me better,

they would like me less. If people got to know me better, they would like me less. In fact, for many of us,

we have the functional, whether we're conscious of it or not, we function on the level that if people

actually got to know us, they really wouldn't like us at all. They would hate us. And it's a very, very

hard thing for us to deal with, that type of situation. And it's funny. It might very well be

that the shy person has this as a problem, and they use their shyness to sort of hide so people

don't even get to know them very well. But actually, just as well, the very extroverted person can have

the same problem. The exceptionally confident person can have the same problem. And they use their

extroversion and their confidence and their confidence to keep everybody at arm's length, never

wanting anybody to get past this arm and start to come to see that person as they really are.

The text that Daniel read, which is what we're going to be looking at in a moment,

it starts off in a very unpromising way. But it actually has some, the best and most beautiful wisdom

ever written is found, is opened up in this text about dealing with this very common and very

disconcerting and painful human condition. So it would be very helpful to me if you would get in

yourself, if you open your Bible, and we're going to look at the Bible text together.

It's Romans chapter 2, verses 17 to the end of chapter 2. Romans 2, 17 to the end. It will be up on the

Romans 2:17

screen if you don't have a Bible, but it's really good if you have your Bible yourself and

to look and hear what it has to say. And it begins in a very, very unpromising way. In fact,

probably some of you who have good memories for listening say, George, this is going to be a very

interesting stretch, how you could get that introduction and connect it to this text. And

it begins in a very unhelpful way for many of us. It begins like this. By the way, when I say it begins

in an unhelpful way, one of the best ways to grow when you're reading your Bible is to be honest about

what you think and feel. I mean, God already knows that you think this is lame. It's better if you

acknowledge that you think it's lame, because then God can do more when you're acknowledging it. But that's

a whole other separate topic. So it begins like this. But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law

and boast in God, and for a lot of us, all of a sudden we check out. I don't know how many, I mean,

I think there's, I know there's some Jewish people in the room right now, but for the rest of us,

it would be like me getting an email that says, for chartered professional accountants who want

to know how to manage staff over 20 and doing taxes, we have a workshop for you. Delete, right? I'm not a

chartered professional accountant. I don't have a staff of 20. That's completely and utterly irrelevant to me.

And so when a text like this begins by, for if you, but if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the

law and boast in God, we just check out. I'm not Jewish. I don't seem to do any of these things.

Well, believe it or not, this is actually, well, so here's what's going on before we get any further.

At different times in the book of Romans, and it might mention it or might not later on,

a lot of times the arguments go from lesser to greater. It's sort of a little bit like if

this is a problem for George, then imagine what is a problem for somebody who's way better and more

competent, right? If this is a problem for a child, imagine like, you know, if peer pressure is a

problem for 12 year olds, wait until you become a 45 year old civil servant. And then you're really

going to understand what peer pressure is, or you know, whatever the situation is from the lesser to

the greater. And, but here there's an argument from the greater to the lesser. And this is the

counterintuitive first thing you not need to understand. There's an argument from the greater

to the lesser. So when it says, but if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast,

here's what's going to be addressed and why it's addressing the human condition or a certain segment of

the human condition and not just everybody. From the Bible's, I mean, and not just Jewish people.

From the Bible's point of view, the Jewish people up until the coming of Christ, who is Jewish,

of course, and is going to be introducing like the spirit of the law and tightening things up and,

and dealing with the sacrificial system and a whole pile of other things. Up until the coming of Jesus,

the Jewish people were the one, the ones who had a special relationship with God. Only they,

out of all of the people on the planet, had a special relationship with God. And out of all of

the systems of right and wrong and all of the, all of the, of the rules around ceremonies and rituals,

only they had a perfect one that came from God. Only them.

Not the Romans, not the Greeks, not the Chinese, not those in India. God, not, not because, you know,

the Old Testament that is the Bible, God says, it's not because you're the greatest and the smartest

and most holy people. I chose you to show my greatness. It's an early version of how God uses

the weak and the foolish to shame the wise. But the Jewish people were chosen to be his special

possession, a special relationship with God. And they were chosen and they, out of all of the people

on the earth, were given the perfect ones that actually came from God about how to live and how

to worship him and how to order your civic and common life. And so what Paul is going to be doing is going to be

saying, if the Jewish people with all of these privileges can't have these problems and can't

live out of it, how much more will everybody else? But I'm jumping ahead. See what I mean when I look at,

and you'll start to see why it applies to other people as well. Look at verse 17 again.

But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will

and approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the law, and here the law means

what we would call the Old Testament, and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind,

a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children,

having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth. And we're going to pause there.

Now here, Paul is not putting them down. These are good things. These are, in fact,

many of the things that God has told them that they were to do. That God gave them the law and

gave them this covenant so that the whole world would look and see how great and glorious God is

and want to know him. And so he's not putting them down. But if you listen to this and remember that

what he's going to be showing in a moment is the problem that is revealed, in a sense using the

Jewish people as a test case, well here, if you could put up the first point, Claire, that would be helpful.

It is good to want to know and teach what is beautiful and good. That's a good thing.

And this text shouldn't be read as trying to undermine that. It is a good,

it is good to want to know and teach what is beautiful and good.

And so we are filled in Canada with people who are very moralistic. In fact, part of our problem

right now is warring moralistic groups and multiple war, but we have people who follow

religions or spiritualities and are very, very moral. And they themselves, in fact, a way to

insult a Canadian, many Canadians would be to say to them, I don't think you're fit to teach other

people how to live a good life. Whoa! You want to have somebody hate you for years to come?

Just say that to them. Why? Because most of our self identities are around being good people,

being moral people. And we might not be spiritual or religious like those other people, but we have

our own way of doing those types of things. And there's obviously some people who delight in doing wrong.

But it is a common thing to want to know and what that's good and think that you have a right,

almost an obligation. Maybe not a specific platform like I have, but in the Starbucks

amongst the baristas, you understand yourself as actually being a good and moral person that

you should give instruction to other people around your office or in your neighborhood,

or because of a particular religious or spiritual group that you talk to.

You see, what Paul is going to be doing is the way that Paul's letter is structured,

right? There's a summary, and then he's going to sell the problem, and then he's going to show how

the gospel solves the problem, and then he's going to show how you live in light of the gospel solving the

problem. And the problem here before us is why do good people need the gospel?

Why do moralistic and religious and spiritual people need the gospel? Why do they need the gospel?

But if you're here and you haven't, you're outside the Christian faith or if you're watching this and

you're outside the Christian faith, I want to share a secret with you. A lot of Christians are too

intimidated by your togetherness and your goodness to think they could ever tell you about Jesus.

It's a very common Christian problem. I can't tell that person. I can't tell my boss. I can't tell

that person about Jesus. Look at them. I mean, they're together in their money. They live a really

good life. Everything about them is just really, really good. How on earth could I ever say something

to them? It's a very common Christian problem. But this section is going to go through why is it that

good religious together people actually need the gospel just as much as people that the rest of us

think are very, very bad. And here then is where it's going to be an argument from the greater to

the lesser. Because there are many groups that even though they might not say they're instructed from

the law, they just take that out, but it describes them. You know, they've been instructed by,

you know, by Oprah Winfrey. They've been instructed by Trump. They've been instructed by,

you know, take, take, pick your guru, by Muhammad, by Krishna. They've been instructed. They,

they have a body of teachings. They're good people. They're moral people. They're moralistic.

They're religious and spiritual in their own way. And they think they have an obligation to teach other

people. So why on earth does somebody like that need the gospel? Well, the first and most basic problem

is revealed in verse 21. And Paul's going to sort of identify two groups of reasons why those of us

who are moralistic and religious and spiritual need the gospel just as much as people who are very clearly

bad people. And look at verse 21. The first part of 21 summarizes the whole problem. Verse 21,

you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? Ah, there's the problem. Now he's going to unpack it.

If you could put up the second point, Claire, that would be very helpful. It's a human problem. It's not a

Jewish problem. It's a problem for Jewish people who are devout and for the Anglican Church of Canada

and for those who are parts of Brethren Churches or a church like ours or a cell of Wiccans or just

very moralistic baristas. The human problem, you don't have a good track record in doing what you teach.

You don't have a good track record in doing what you teach. Now just to be clear in this, when I say

you, it's to try to make it more punchy, but I mean me too. It's a human problem. That's why I say it's a

human problem. It's not a problem just for a particular religious or ethical group. We don't

have a good track record in doing what we preach. And Paul's going to sort of unpack this in two

different ways. And the first one will just continue. Look at verse 21 again. You then who teach others,

because many of us might think that's not the case, but you then who teach others, do not,

do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must

not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who have poor idols, do you rob temples?

You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. For as it is written, the name of God is

blasphemed among the pagans because of you. And there Paul is just quoting, that's Isaiah 52, and he's

quoting a whole pile of Old Testament texts that if you're really interested in you can go and

Google them and you can see it's a constant theme, especially of the prophets, but also of Moses.

And so here's the thing, and it might be that in a room like this not many of us steal.

Although, you know, I don't know if God checked over your income tax return, he would agree with

every deduction that you made. And I don't know if he looked at how you manage attendance at work and

productivity if he would agree that you actually don't steal time from your employee, your employer.

I mean, if God was doing it with a really tight thing and you couldn't sort of gaslight him and

charm him and distract him. But the second one, this is where Jesus really comes in. And Jesus

tightening it up. And the Bible says that if a man or a woman looks at another human being and lusts

after them in their heart, if they imagine, you know, they imagine sexually knowing them or they

flirt with them or whatever, that they have committed adultery. And I don't know how many of us would

actually be able to pass that test. I'm sure some of us could. Although once again, as to whether in

the whole course of our life and God was using his standards, we'd pass it, we might be a little bit

red-faced, more than a little bit red-faced, even the most holy of us. But the perplexing thing at the

end is actually the real killer. That's the real thing which punctures everything. If you go back to

verse 22 again, it says, you who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery?

Now this is an odd phrase, you who abhor, that's really hate idols, do you rob temples? And there's

lots of debate in the scholarly literature about what he's meaning. But I think the simple way to

understand this particular text is to read it within its context. And in chapter one, which is just before

that, Paul has identified that a common, that the most common feature of the human condition is that

we're idol worshipers, that we create idols that we worship. And so this, what this is saying is,

it's saying, let's say, to the brethren elder, it's saying to the adoc priests like myself,

you say that you're completely and utterly opposed to idols, and you're very good at following the rules

externally. But in your heart, are you following those rules externally because you have idols in your

heart? Very good example for a minister. Very common problem for ministers is they have to do a sermon,

and they read the text, and what they're really looking for is how to be clever, how to be funny,

how to move your heart. And they don't read it at all about whether it speaks to them.

Pray for every pastor, pray for me, that I die to any temptation or tendency that I might have to

only read the Bible text so that I can come up with clever things to say to you so that you think I'm

clever. And pray that I'm not serving in type of idol by telling you that so that you'll think I'm even

more clever. And even more holy than I really am. Because you see, the fact of the matter is,

is that we can be very good at following external rules. But inwardly, we have, you see,

an idol in the ancient world was just a visible sign of a functional heart issue, whereby you gave

yourself to something or someone, seeing it as ultimate or as very important or as more important

than other things that you needed to honor, and you needed to serve, and you needed that to have meaning,

you needed that to have success, you needed that to have peace, and there's an actual need to do that.

And the idols have not changed. The names have changed. But they're centered around sexuality.

And they're centered around power. And they're centered around money. And they're centered around

politics. And they're centered around group identity. And they're centered around racial and ethnic and

linguistic identity and differences. And though, and it's centered around self. And those things haven't

changed. The names you put on them change. It's centered around fertility. It's centered around

children. It's centered around having a legacy. You could go on and on and on. And so you could

be apparently a very, very good person doing all of the things for the right reason, but really

what's motivating you is something else, and it's an idol. I say I hate those idols, but I really

like this one because I really want other people to think well of me, and I want to have power,

and I want to be seen as the center. And what's really motivating me to do those external things

is these inner idols. And that's why if God was to reveal your life as one day it will be revealed,

people will see, oh, George didn't do that sermon because he loved the congregation,

but because he wanted the congregation to love him.

Boy, that changes how you hear it, doesn't it?

And on and on and on. You flatter your boss, you flatter your co-workers because you

have an idol of promotions. Go on and on. And so you see, the problem is it is good to want to know

and teach what is beautiful and good. The human problem is, for moralistic people, is that we don't

have a good track record in doing what we teach. We're very good at seeing, we're very good at

flattering ourselves too much to detect or hate our own sin. You know, I got in, this is a few years ago,

in a coffee shop that I used to be a regular at, and I got to know a lot of the people very well, actually,

and it's very interesting how many of them thought that they were the most moral person

and disliked the other people all on the same thing. So the person they disliked, if you talked to them,

they were the only one who actually really was concerned for staff and really concerned about doing a good job

and really concerned about speaking the truth. And they'd take to another one, and they'd say,

that person over there, Sarah, they're terrible at all those things. And you talk to Sarah, and they'd say,

well, you know, over there, Bob, Sarah would say, I'm the only one who's doing all of these things.

That's the problem with Bob. He doesn't do all those things. And that's how moralistic people look at each other.

They're very good at flattering, we are very good at flattering ourselves too much to detect or hate our own sin,

and we are very good at finding specks in other people's eyes and not seeing the log in our own eyes,

and not even being aware of the fact that we walk around with idols as our glasses.

And that's how we see the world, and that's what motivates us.

We don't have a track record in doing what we teach.

But the second problem, Paul goes, is also in there, and that is seen if you look at verses 25 to 27,

and it loops up to something that he said at the beginning. We'll read it first,

because he seems to take an odd track here, verse 25 to 27.

So what this is basically saying is that for the Jewish people, the sign that you become a Jew

is if the male in your family grouping has been circumcised.

The Old Testament taught the circumcision of males.

It would completely and utterly be opposed to female circumcision.

Female circumcision is a horrific thing to hurt women and make them not even second-class citizens,

but tenth-class citizens. It's a horrific thing. The Bible has never taught it.

The Old Testament would have completely condemned it,

because the Old Testament wanted to honour women, not condemn them.

But it's talking about the circumcision as a sign of being Jewish,

having this privileged position vis-à-vis God.

And the point is, do you think really God was interested in having in-groups and out-groups,

or was he actually interested in changed lives?

So go back and read verse 25 again.

For circumcision is indeed of value if you obey the law,

or you practice the law. That's actually more literally, practice or do it.

But if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.

So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law,

that's the moral principles, not necessarily the Old Testament words,

but will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

Because ultimately God wants behaviour, action,

and action lining up with your heart, not group identity.

Then he who is physically uncircumcised, verse 27,

but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision,

but break the law.

So it's not just talking about hypocrisy,

because the Bible isn't interested so much.

I mean, it is really interested in hypocrisy,

but what Paul is doing is trying to open up something about the human condition,

and something about a way out of this problem

that respects the valid longings and yearnings that God has put within you.

The point of this text, and the earlier part, I meant to mention it last week,

isn't that teachers should stop teaching children how to behave

and what's right and wrong.

It's not trying to say that parents should start,

abdicate the responsibility of teaching a child what's good and right

and things which are bad.

It's not saying that.

It's how do you get to that

without this problem of being moralistic and self-righteous.

That's the problem, not the task.

The solution we're going to come to in a moment keeps that as a valid thing that you need to do.

But here's the problem with group identity,

and it's an issue of presumption.

You see, remember, you know, the guy,

I can't remember the guy's name,

the guy who launched all the shut,

I know I'm touching on a raw nerve for people,

all those COVID lockdowns was based on a model,

you know, that was going to have millions,

hundreds of millions of people killed.

And while he was doing that, what did he do?

He kept meeting his lover and having adultery with somebody,

even while he was causing everybody else to be shut down in lockdowns.

Like, that's the problem.

We give ourselves a pass, right?

People in in-groups give themselves mulligans.

They flatter themselves too much to detect or hate our own sin.

So, you know, if you're centering around Pierre Pauly,

you say, oh, look at the liberals, what they just did.

Oh, that's really, really terrible.

Well, they themselves are doing the exact same thing,

but that's different because, like, we're around Pierre.

Or the other way around.

You know, yeah, we're all around Carney, we're all liberals.

Look at how terrible those Pierre Pauly people are.

And then somebody points out, you do the same thing.

And they say, no, no, no, we're not doing the same thing.

But really what they're doing is they're just agreeing

that they're going to give themselves a pass.

And so it's interesting.

Go back to verse 17 for a second.

It's all hinted at there, but it's not clear in the English.

Verse 17,

But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God,

and there's this word boast.

And in the original language, there's two different senses of boast.

And you need to understand from the context which one is going on.

And one sense of it is a virtue,

and one sense of it is a vice, is a bad thing.

One sense of it is a type of presumption.

It's very interesting.

I'm going to get the word slightly wrong,

but those of you who like basketball,

many, many years ago,

when the Michael Jordan and the Bulls won their last NBA championship,

their sixth won in eight years,

and Steve Kerr, who's now the coach for Golden State Warriors,

he was just a bit player,

like a seventh-ranked player on the team or something like that.

And the person interviewed them

after they'd won the NBA championship.

They interviewed Michael, Steve Kerr,

and some other person said,

well, you know, how does it feel

to be a really good player on a really, really good team?

And Steve Kerr said,

that's not us.

We're just the lucky average players

who got to play with a basketball god,

and he won the game.

He was basically saying,

if I wasn't on the same team as Michael Jordan,

you wouldn't even be interviewing me.

You probably wouldn't even know who I am.

Michael Jordan carried the whole team on his shoulders.

And in that type of sense,

there's a type of boasting which is good.

That was a really good sermon.

All things come of you, Father,

and of your own have I given you.

There seems to be some health in the congregation.

Boy, if you know what we were really like,

if you know what some of us were like

before we knew Christ,

you'd want to get 100 miles away from us.

It's just really what Christ has done for us.

That's the type of boasting that God wants,

a confidence in Christ.

The other type of boasting is presumption.

I don't really have to follow those rules

because, I mean, I'm Jewish.

I don't really have to follow those rules

because I'm woke.

I don't really have to follow those rules

because I'm really into Andrew Tate and Nick Fuentes.

By the way, if you're into them,

you really need to repent.

They're terrible, terrible, terrible people

who will terribly lead you astray.

Homophobic, anti-Semites,

Nazi lovers.

Stay away from them, by the way.

But I say that because some young men

are fascinated by those guys

and they're really, really bad news.

But the bottom line is,

we think we get a pass.

Because you're an evangelical,

because you're a Baptist,

because you're a Pentecostal,

because you're an Anglican,

because you're this group or that,

you have a type of presumption.

That's the type that's all wrong and all bad.

And so that's the second aspect of the big problem,

the human problem,

is you don't practice,

you don't have a good track record

in doing what you teach.

So now, okay,

now that I've depressed you all,

and now that God's depressed you,

and you're just going to think,

yeah, yeah, I suck.

I suck all the time.

And the more I try to not suck,

the more I suck.

That's not the message.

But here's the really surprising thing.

What we expect now,

out of our human condition,

is that now,

Paul is going to introduce

the Christian rituals that you need to do,

and the Christian rules that you need to follow,

so that these human condition problems

don't apply to you.

That's what we expect.

And he doesn't do it.

He goes in a completely and utterly,

shockingly different direction,

but the direction he goes

is exactly the direction we need.

Look, it's not obvious,

but it is once you see it.

Look at verse 28 and 29.

For no one is a Jew

who is merely one outwardly,

nor is circumcision outward and physical.

And by the way,

you read the Old Testament prophets,

you can find all sorts of prophets.

You can find Moses saying that,

actually, in the giving of the law.

And then verse 29.

But a Jew is one inwardly,

and circumcision is a matter of the heart

by the Holy Spirit,

not by the letter,

not by words.

His praise,

that is,

one who has come into a proper relationship with God,

is not from human beings,

but from God.

I'll read those two verses again.

For no one is a Jew

that is in a special relationship with God,

who is merely one outwardly,

nor is circumcision outward and physical.

But a Jew is one inwardly,

and circumcision is a matter of the heart,

by the Holy Spirit,

not by the letter.

His praise is not from man,

but from God.

If you could put up the third point,

Claire,

that would be very helpful.

You need the Holy Spirit

to circumcise your heart.

You need the Holy Spirit

to circumcise your heart.

I need it too.

You see, it's funny.

What he's basically saying

is that all of the texts

in the Old Testament

about circumcision

were a sign,

a true sign,

but the question that you have to ask

is if it's a sign,

what's it pointing to?

And what it's pointing to

is a true and greater circumcision

that would only come

when the Lamb of God

who takes away the sin of the world

was to walk upon this earth

and live the life

that you should live

but couldn't

and die the death

that you deserve

and he didn't

where he becomes

the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world.

If you go back

and you read Genesis 12

to about,

I can't remember,

20 or 21,

there's a very interesting

series of stories

which capture

what's going on here

very well.

It sets the pattern.

And in the ancient world,

the idea of covenant

was very common

and there would be

a warlord

or a king

or an emperor

who would enter

into a covenant

with a group of

lesser people

maybe with a city

that was going to come

under his rule

or a family

or a tribe

or a person

and in that

there would be things

that would be set forward.

I will be your great Lord

and I will be your savior

and your deliverer

and you will be mine

and we will have a relationship

with each other

and this is a special

set-aside relationship

and these are the things

that you need to do

and these are the things

that I will do

and you need to do

these things

and if you don't

do these things

here's all the punishments

that are going to happen

to you.

It's a little bit like

I don't know

a bit 70-ish.

You go to a mafia don

and you want a mafia don

you want to come

under the mafia's employee

and he says

I'll take you

and my employee

you know

and you got to do this

and you got to do this

and you got to do this

but you know

if I catch you stealing

I cut off your head.

If I catch you doing this

I cut off your arm.

If I catch you doing this

I'm going to kill

your wife and children.

If I catch you doing this

I'm going to skin you alive

and kill you.

That's how a lot of people

think God is

by the way.

And the amazing thing

in the story of Abraham

which is pointing

ultimately to Christ

is that when it comes time

God makes this covenant

with Abraham

and he says

I will be your Lord

and you can be my person

and from your seed

all the nations of the world

will be blessed

and I will take you to myself

and then when it comes time

for the circums

the part of the ceremony

where the

you know

they lay out

all of the things

that you need to do

and then when it comes time

to have that ceremony marked

and all of the things

that the bad things

that will happen to you

if those

the terms of the covenant

aren't kept

Abraham doesn't walk

through that ceremony

but God does

for Abraham

and so this gives us

a bit of a sense

about what's happening

with the person of Jesus

and why Paul

is talking about all of this

you see if you

when we're going to do

the Lord's Supper

in a couple of moments

we remember that Jesus

said that by his coming

and by his death

and by his resurrection

God had created

a new covenant

a new covenant

for people

of every tribe

and every nation

of every language group

of every type of sexuality

he has made

one covenant

that you enter

by faith

and the sign of that

is a variety of signs

but the consequences

for not being able

to keep it

fall on Jesus

it's very interesting

that in the garden

the cup of God's wrath

is drank by Christ

since Jesus drinks

the cup of God's wrath

so that by faith

in Christ

you can drink

the cup

of the new covenant

and so what Jesus

in a sense

is what God is saying

is that when Jesus

dies on the cross

all of the

all of the consequences

and penalties

that should fall on you

if you can't keep

the words of the covenant

and can't keep

the special relationship

they actually fell on him

and so when I put my faith

and trust in Christ

and he brings me

into himself

so that I am in union

with Christ

then all of those penalties

for not keeping the law

and not living up

to what I teach

all of those penalties

that I deserve

fall on him

and this covenant

of blessing

of favor

that goes even

into eternity

are now bestowed

upon me

and so that's why

it says here

that if you look back

at verse 29 again

but a Jew is one

inwardly

circumcision is a matter

of the heart

that's applying Christ

we're in union

with Christ

and so at a very depth

of who we are

because that's what

the heart is

Christ

that

all those punishments

and all those blessings

that

they have now come

to me

in my heart

and they're brought

by the Holy Spirit

not by any particular words

and the one

who is

praise

who prays

and is blessing

and is excited

about all of this

is God the Father

about what Christ

has done for you

and that's why

every human being

now how does this

apply though for us

then in terms

of how we live

well if you could

put up the fourth point

that would be very helpful

you see Jesus

the Holy Spirit

the Father

wants us to receive

the gospel

to be made right

with God

and then he desires

that we preach

the gospel

to ourselves

you preach the gospel

to yourself

day by day

to become more

Christ-like

see that's the order

and just very briefly

I've reached my limit

but I want to say

a few things

about how you preach

the gospel to yourself

and why that's so

unbelievably important

and it's so

unbelievably important

because Christians

still have the human

condition

I don't practice

what I teach

neither do you

and that's not

going to stop

until we appear

before God

face to face

and we become

like Christ

when the Holy Spirit

completely and utterly

makes us like Christ

and we dwell

in the new heaven

and the new earth

forever

so how do we do this

well really

the whole structure

of Romans

tells us

how that we

preach the gospel

to ourselves

you see

preaching the gospel

to ourselves

is not adoration

of God

that God is love

and it's not

remembering

that God is love

it's a matter

of the fact

that you don't

just hear these

words about Christ

to become right

with God

and then you move

on to something else

you move on

to therapy

you move on

to spiritual direction

you move on

to meditation techniques

you move on

to exercise

and wealth techniques

you move on

to other types

of things

and all you need

is to know Christ

and give your life

to him

and that makes you his

and then you move

on to something else

because the gospel

doesn't apply

to the rest of your life

but it does

and we'll use

the example

of the fact

that many of us

struggle

with the idea

that if people

got to know us

better

they wouldn't like us

the more they get

to know us

the less they'd like us

and if you just

meditate upon God's love

that's a good thing

to do

but it's not going

to be very helpful

for your human condition

you see

what I need to do

is I need

I need to preach

the gospel

to myself

and that means

first of all

coming to Jesus

and saying

Jesus

I live out

of this

lie about myself

that the more

people get to know me

the less they'll like me

and so I lie

and I cajole

and I joke

and I avoid appointments

and I avoid commitments

and I do all of these

types of things

and it's just going

to hurt me

and I've done

these things

which are wrong

and so we go

and we acknowledge

our sin

and then we don't

just think about

God being love

but we meditate

upon the riches

of the gospel

and in particular

is this

I acknowledge

and confess

my sin before God

and the problem

in my heart

which is tearing me down

and then I meditate

upon this profound truth

that Christ

was cut off

from life

and love

and the Father's presence

out of love

for me

my deep fear

is that if people

were to know

who I really am

that they would

cut me off

and I would be

cut off

from other people

and from life

itself

and now

I understand

I come to Jesus

acknowledging

and confessing

this as a problem

and I realize

that Christ

was cut off

for me

for me

in my place

and I am

in him

and the source

of love

himself

the source

of life

himself

smiles

and is pleased

at what Christ

has done

for me

and he was

cut off

that I might

know the Father's

love forever

and so

the truth

of the gospel

that Christ

was cut off

for one like

me

afraid

of being

cut off

by others

and I can

thank him

and it is

out of that

humble place

of acknowledging

sin

and that's

just one

particular example

if you labor

under anger

if you labor

under debt

if you labor

under shame

if you labor

under defeat

if you labor

under time

after time

after time

after time

and if you

as we go

through the book

of Romans

the structure

is always this

to come to God

not in presumption

and not in arrogance

or merely meditating

upon the attributes

and qualities

of God

as wonderful

and powerful

as those are

but to come

to God

acknowledging

my sin

and the fact

that I don't

do these things

and I do

these other things

and I kick myself

and I ruin

my life

and realizing

how there's

a particular

rich

an aspect

of the gospel

that specifically

speaks

to my situation

and to thank

him again

that he was

cut off

so that I

will not be

cut off

from the source

of love

and life

and then to have

an emotionally

secure

and intellectually

secure

and beautiful

place

to deal

with the problems

in my life

confident

in God's

acceptance

of me

in Christ

and we need

to preach

the gospel

to ourselves

and to each

other

and it is

out of that

that we can

humbly say

to a child

you shouldn't

steal

you should

be generous

you should

chair

you shouldn't

treat little

girls that way

to teenage

boys

you shouldn't

treat a girl

that way

to teenage

girls

you shouldn't

treat a teenage

boy that way

not out of a

place of arrogance

but a place of

having been

humbled

and healed

by the cross

of Christ

we need

to preach

the gospel

to ourselves

invite you

to stand

father you

know those

in this

room

who struggle

or maybe

don't

they don't

even struggle

father

they're just

being beaten

up day

in and day

out

with this

a lie

that is

whispered

into their

ear

that if

people got

to know

them

they would

like them

less

and father

you know

who we

are

in the

room

and we

ask father

that you

would

help

these

riches

of the

gospel

father

to speak

to our

heart

and heal

our

heart

heal

our

heart

in a

way

which

is

humble

and not

presumptuous

which

is filled

with

gratitude

which

is

conscious

of sharing

the human

condition

with other

people

in the

same

situation

that

humbles

us

so we

don't

lift

our

heads

in

prayer

to you

but really

what we're

doing is

looking down

our noses

at others

but we

aren't

looking down

our noses

at others

but from

the bottom

and being

held and

surrounded by

the love

of Christ

and what he

has done

for us

on the

cross

so we

look up

to you

father

to see

your

praise

your

blessing

upon us

all in

the power

of the

Holy

Spirit

father

we ask

that you

would help

us to

hear the

gospel

and help

us to

preach the

gospel

to ourselves

and we

ask these

things in

the name

of Jesus

your son

and our

savior

amen