Jews and Judgement // Pastor Bobby

All righty,

Here we go.

We're in Romans,

Chapter two.

We're going to cover quite a long passage today,

so I'm going to go ahead and read it from the outset just so that you

know where we are.

Romans, Chapter two.

Because, like Wednesday night when I was sharing around the tables in

there, I always forget to tell you,

write the book and the chapter and the numbers and all that sort of thing.

So we're in two verses,

17 to 21.

But I'm actually going to read what Paul is saying to us,

because the idea that what God is revealing to us through these first

three chapters.

All right,

so I'm going to let you know we've got three more.

We've got a whole nother chapter of these things.

But I'm going to summarize it after I read it.

You ready?

Here we go.

But if you bear the name Jew and rely upon the law,

and boast in God,

and know his will,

and approve the things that are essential,

being instructed out of the law,

and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind,

a light to those who are in darkness,

a corrector of the foolish,

a teacher of the immature,

and having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and of truth,

you, therefore,

who teach another,

do you not teach yourself?

You who preach that one should not steal,

do you steal?

You who say that one should not commit adultery,

do you commit adultery?

You who abhor idols,

do you rob temples?

You who boast in the law through your breaking,

through your breaking the law,

do you dishonor God?

For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,

just as it is written.

For indeed,

circumcision is of value if you practice the law.

But if you are a transgressor of the law,

your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

If, therefore,

the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the law,

will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

And will not he who is physically uncircumcised if he keeps the law,

will he not judge you,

who, through having the letter of the law,

though having the letter of the law and circumcision are a transgressor

of the law?

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly.

Neither is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh,

but he is the Jew,

he is a Jew who is one inwardly.

And circumcision is that which is of the heart by the Spirit,

not by the letter,

and his praise is not from men,

but from God.

I remember doing these videos a few weeks ago for the daily devotional

gathering in the Word.

I messed it up every single day as I was reading it because Paul is

writing and I've shared with you as we began the book of Romans,

that this is a most will look at this document and know that it's a legal

document. It is an explanation of the justification that God provides for

us. And Paul writes it as if he's making a case,

you know,

he's giving the argument for who God is,

what God's done,

why he's done it and how he's done it.

Okay?

And so as we work our way through the 16 chapters of Romans,

it's always this.

Just consider as we walk in here,

we, you know,

it's a case,

it's a legal argument.

Paul is sharing by inspiration of God,

God's case for salvation.

All right,

there you go.

Let's pray.

God, thank you for your word.

As difficult a time as I have in reading it sometimes,

God, thank you that you are plain,

you have spoken,

you have given us your word,

you have revealed yourself to us in it.

And so God help us to hear from you.

God help us to hear your word,

Help us to hear your voice.

God, you speak.

And so,

God, we really need to pay attention.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen. Y'all know the phrase leveling the playing field?

Y'all know that,

know where it comes from?

Alright, so it kind of came into some more usage back sort of during the

70s, talking about actually sporting events and having a level playing

field. Any of you that played sports as a kid,

Right. Or as a young person,

or even as an adult.

And if the field wasn't fair for both teams,

I mean,

the reference actually refers to,

for instance,

playing football on a slope.

The team that's got the down slope,

Woo hoo.

The team that's got the upslope,

they got some trouble,

right? Well,

it was funny.

Home field also becomes an advantage.

Y'all know that.

You know,

the team that's playing at home,

they have a little bit of advantage because it's familiar to them.

Right. I would just recall for you that my son Eli played soccer and one

season he played for a.

It was not really a travel team,

but they played several different places around,

say, Pender County,

New Hanover county,

that other Onslow county and Duplin County.

Well, we went to a field in Duplin County.

Thank you.

What are most of the fields in Duplin county to begin with.

Really hog.

This must have been a farm,

because we walked out there.

Whoops, Sorry,

Scott.

Somebody needs to level my playing field.

Anyway, you kick a soccer ball in that field up there.

And there was ridges.

There were ridges just every few,

like foot.

Thank you.

It was a row.

It was a row.

It had been prior to being a soccer field.

It had been some kind of farm,

some kind of crop.

Now, the boys from Duplin county knew how to play.

The rows.

Boys from Pender county and Onslow county did not.

Significant disadvantage,

Right. As we study through the book of Romans,

here's what we've found out so far.

We know who Paul is,

right?

We know that he is a preacher of the gospel.

And why is he a preacher of the Gospel?

Because it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes,

to the Jew first and also to the Greek or the Gentile or everybody that's

not Jewish.

And in it,

the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.

And so what we're learning,

what we're studying here is that Paul is this advocate,

by inspiration of God and by call of God to share the gospel,

to proclaim it to the Roman Empire,

the Roman world,

both Jews and to Greeks.

And then he starts out right after he says those statements in Romans 1,

16 and 17,

he starts going into what sin looks like.

This is what sin is.

And the basic definition of sin is anything that's not perfect,

right? He doesn't differentiate.

He doesn't say,

well, this sin is worse than this sin.

This is all sin.

And guess what?

Everybody who sinners is going to be judged.

We're going to be judged.

And so we went through the series that,

guess what?

God's the judge and we're not.

And when we put ourselves in the place of judgment,

that's when Paul starts breaking this down for us.

And he says,

guess what?

Gentiles are sinners.

What he's saying is,

gentiles are guilty.

Then he says,

guess what?

Jews are sinners and Jews are guilty too,

because God's going to judge everybody.

We get to chapter three,

which actually says,

guess what?

Guess. Yes.

Jews are sinners and guilty.

Gentiles are sinners and guilty.

We get to chapter three goes,

everybody's sinners and guilty,

right? And God's going to judge.

And then we get justification,

okay?

Which is cool.

I love that thing.

But what God's doing in Revelation of this book is leveling the playing

field. Everybody's on the same place.

We're all guilty before the Righteous Throne and the Righteous God.

And we're going to stand before God one day.

Question is,

have we done our part right in bowing before a holy and righteous God?

Because some people think,

well, I have.

Remember last week we talked about the ungodly completely.

The ones who will not acknowledge God as God.

And we assume some sort of authority that,

well, maybe we're a little bit God,

right? Then you've got the moralists who say,

well, I'm better than them,

so I must be good enough to gain God's approval.

Then you got the legalists who think they've got the right list,

you know,

And I've listened to a lot of preachers preach these passages over the

last several months because trying to lay this out for us,

I was trying to say,

all right,

you know,

how do we need to hear it?

It's interesting to me that a lot of preachers won't pick on.

Remember last week I used those of you who were here last week.

If you weren't here last week,

guess what?

You get a pass.

For those of you who are here last week,

I picked on myself and my upbringing.

I grew up Baptist,

you know,

something in my DNA,

I know what Baptists say is right and wrong.

I remember early on as a kid hearing that phrase,

I don't smoke,

drink or chew or date girls who do.

Right? I mean,

it's a list and I keep the list.

So I must be right and I must be righteous and I must be good enough to

attain God's favor,

right? So everybody's got their list.

I'm this,

right?

I'm better than that,

right? I'm in this group.

I wear this badge.

Thus we get this phrase.

But if you bear the name Jew,

right?

Because there's this attitude,

there's this idea that some people are better than others.

Why? Why do they think that way?

Why do we think that way?

Why is it we feel like it's okay?

Because we've got our list and we do a good job keeping our list,

right? I mean,

this is the argument.

So most that communicate this passage.

And there's a lot of the commentaries.

And if you look at the construction of this particular passage,

what you find is,

is that this is talking about religionists.

If you put your hope,

trust, faith in religion.

You've heard me define religion before.

Religion is man's attempt to get to God.

How do I raise myself up to a level of appreciation or acceptance or

whatever of God?

Christianity, surrendering and believing is God come to man,

right? Not us getting to him.

All right,

so when I look at this,

it says,

but if you bear the name Jew and rely upon the law and boast in God and

know his will and approve the things that are essential,

being instructed out of the law,

and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind,

a light to those who are in darkness,

a corrector of the foolish,

a teacher of the immature,

having in the law the embodiment of the knowledge of truth.

What's he talking about?

He says you were given and the reference.

We'll get to it.

You've given the revelation of God.

What he's talking about is you've got God's word,

right? And then he goes on to say,

you, therefore,

who teach another,

do you not teach yourself?

This is really about hypocrisy,

y'all. This is about being a hypocrite.

And I remember growing up,

man, that was the.

That was the worst charge that people leveled at the church.

Yeah, I don't go to church.

It's full of hypocrites.

I know.

I learned early on the right answer to that statement.

You're right.

Right. So that's our challenge today.

Man. I love it that you're here.

There's some first time folks here.

I've met some of you.

Glad you're here.

Yay. Welcome to the gathering.

Have a blast here.

Let's scream.

Ready? One,

two, three.

I love it that you're in worship this morning.

But here's the challenge.

What's the motivation behind being here?

Am I here because it's church?

Am I here because mom and dad beat me if I didn't go?

You know,

what is the motivation for being here?

I want to share with you the point real quick.

A faith of the heart accomplishes much.

A heart of faith accomplishes much.

Okay, remember that phrase because we're going to get back to it in a

minute. Basically,

what God is revealing to us is that to say the right things,

even to the point of doing the right things just for the sake of saying

and doing the right things without the heart is hypocrisy.

We're going to get down to it because you guys have been waiting for

weeks for me to get to the circumcision passage.

So we're here.

Says you,

who you therefore,

who teach another,

do you not teach yourself?

You who preach that one should not steal?

Do you steal?

Right. You say stealing is bad.

It's one of the big ten,

right? What if you find extra stuff in your grocery bag?

You go back.

But I'm already Home.

Get back to them next time.

What about you who preach that one should not steal?

You who say that one should not commit adultery?

That's especially tough in Romans because it comes after Jesus teaching,

who said,

if you lust in your heart,

you've already committed adultery.

Whoo. Now we've got a higher standard to follow,

don't we?

Look out.

Then he says,

you, who abhor idols,

do you rob temples?

Now, I thought of this when you think he was preaching to the Babylonians

at this point,

because they robbed the temple,

right? No.

Here you go.

Let me tell you what this is sort of gives us in 2025 to think about.

Do you take what belongs to God?

God's praise,

God's glory?

Do you take credit for stuff that God blessed you with?

Sorry, no,

I'm not.

You who boast in the law through your breaking the law,

do you dishonor God?

For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,

just as it is written for indeed,

circumcision is of value if you practice the law.

So what he's doing is he said,

this is sin,

and it's all sin.

Gentiles around the world,

around the Roman Empire,

are all sinners and going to be judged.

You guys who bear the name Jew who were actually given the law,

it was given to you the expectation of God.

It was explained to you what God was looking for.

And yet you go out and preach to others to do thus.

And so.

And then you.

You don't do the thus.

And so,

you see,

it's hypocrisy.

I didn't know this,

but I heard a guy talk about it this week when I was listening to him.

Hypocrisy is a Greek word,

and it's a reference to theater.

Because in Greek theater back then,

you'd have an actor who would come out and play a part with a particular

mask on.

And when he was done with that part,

he'd go backstage and put one mask up and pick up another mask and come

back out on stage and play a different character.

So hypocrisy is this reference of not being the real person,

right? Oh,

I look great in church,

but don't follow me on Friday and Saturday night.

Don't follow me into my man cave.

I'm gonna pick on both of you,

so don't get mad at me.

Right up first.

You ready?

Don't follow me when I sit down at my computer.

Don't follow me when I read my Harlequin Romance.

See I got them both,

right? Everybody's offended now,

right? You see,

it's putting on a mask,

for one thing,

being totally different somewhere else.

Once taught a lesson,

a book.

We went through a study with a bunch of college guys,

just guys in the room.

We're doing a study on integrity.

Interestingly enough to me,

in this study,

and I don't know all the facts surrounding it,

but integrity,

in the word integer,

kind of have the same root.

Integer is a whole number.

It's the definition.

Integrity communicates kind of a wholeness,

a realness,

a complete thing,

right?

And in this study of integrity,

it said,

the secrecy is the enemy of my integrity,

right? Therefore,

secrecy is the enemy of my wholeness.

How about that?

You see?

So that's what Paul's pointing out here.

You can think this thing about yourself bearing the name Jew,

having the law,

teaching the law,

preaching the law,

but because you break the law,

the rest of the world is blaspheming God because of your hypocrisy.

I don't go to church because it's full of hypocrites.

I see those people that go to your church,

and then I turn around and see them.

Where else,

right? I didn't say it,

Paul did.

God did.

For indeed,

circumcision is of value if you practice the law.

But if you are a transgressor of the law,

your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

Your outward sign of faith,

obedience and righteousness is worthless if your inner self is in

conflict with it.

Okay, see,

y'all didn't come here for this,

did you?

You knew it was the next section of the text.

So you're going to get it.

If, therefore,

the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the law,

will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?

Right. And will not he who is physically uncircumcised if he keeps the

law, will he not judge you?

Who, though having the letter of the law and circumcision,

are a transgressor of the law?

So what is it God's looking at?

Is God looking at the physical outward representation of some sort of

inclusion or title or name tag?

No, he's looking at our hearts.

And the idea is,

have I surrendered to God's purpose,

plan, design,

provision for my salvation?

Have I bowed in submission before Jesus and his crucifixion and burial

and resurrection and received the forgiveness,

the salvation,

the redemption that is offered only through Jesus Christ?

You can't be saved without Jesus Be you Baptist,

Methodist, Catholic,

whatever. You can't be saved without Jesus.

Be you Jew or Gentile.

That's where we're going to get to.

That's what Paul's laying it out.

He's leveling the playing field right here,

right? So as we look at that,

we see this idea that what he's saying is that,

you know,

some of you are here and some of you are here and some of you are here,

but God's standard is still the same,

doesn't change from one group to the next.

Wow.

All right.

Then he goes on to say,

for he is not a Jew who is one inwardly.

Neither is circumcision,

that which is outward in the flesh,

but he is a Jew who is one inwardly.

And circumcision is that which is of the heart by the Spirit and not by

the letter.

And his praise is not from men,

but from God.

Faith of the heart accomplishes much,

and a heart of faith accomplishes much.

Now, the much is a big word.

It's only four letters.

It's a big word.

What does it mean to be much?

If we are confronted with the gospel,

the good news of Jesus Christ,

and we say,

that's what I've been looking for.

That's something that God did on my behalf,

and we surrender ourselves to that redemption and that salvation.

I'm telling you,

I am a great legalist.

I am.

I follow rules.

But a great legalist also looks for the way around the rule.

Y'all know that we do.

I've told y'all the story.

I went to Columbia Bible College in Columbia,

South Carolina,

which is now Columbia International University,

because I don't know why.

But anyway,

I do know why.

If you were a missionary with a degree from Columbia Bible College,

that was frowned upon in some nations in the world.

So missionaries were having struggles presenting their credentials with

Bible in their diplomas.

So they changed it to Columbia International University.

I understand the point.

But anyway,

we had a handbook.

Wasn't quite as big as the Bible,

but it was close.

And in there it said during school hours,

eight in the morning to about four in the afternoon.

It could not be seen on campus,

in classrooms,

in anything.

But I don't know if they said dress pants,

but there was some reference to pants.

And then there was a parenthesis that said no blue jeans.

And I was like,

well, fine,

I know where I can get some black ones and actually some brown ones and

some green ones.

Now, this is how good a legalist I am,

y'all. Okay,

this is how good a legalist I am.

I took the handbook and tore the page out and underlined,

no blue jeans,

folded it up,

stuck it in the back pocket of my black striped jeans.

It was the 1980s,

mid-80s.

It was okay.

My black striped jeans.

I'm standing in line at the cafeteria on campus,

and my resident assistant comes up behind me,

and he goes,

you can't wear those in here.

I was like,

really? He said,

yeah.

He says,

no jeans.

I said,

that is a good point.

Would you read the rule for me?

And he read,

no blue jeans.

Folks, I am good at legalism,

which makes me a good judge.

But I'm not the judge,

and I'm not the one that determines the law.

I'm not the one that determines righteousness.

But what I love about Romans 1:17 is that the righteousness of God is

Romans 1:17

revealed from faith to faith.

And God is giving us a righteousness that we can't earn,

we don't deserve.

He's loving us in a way that only he can love us.

I want to share with you a story.

Whoopsie.

Sorry. Nobody says whoopsie,

right? That was in a movie somewhere.

I didn't mark it,

but here it is.

Be ready for service and have your lamps lit.

You'd be like people waiting for the master to return from the wedding

banquet so that when he comes and knocks,

they can open the door for him at once.

Blessed will be those servants the Master finds alert when he comes.

Truly, I tell you,

he will get ready,

have them recline at the table,

then come and serve them.

This is Luke,

Luke 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12,

y'all. I'm sorry I didn't tell you again,

but it's verses 35 and through 48.

Truly, I tell you,

he will get ready and have them recline at the table,

then come and serve them.

If he comes in the middle of the night or even near dawn and finds them

alert, blessed are those servants.

But know this.

If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming,

he would not have let his house be broken into.

You also be ready,

because the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Lord Peter asked,

are you telling this parable for us to everyone else?

I mean,

you chose us,

Lord? Certainly you're not talking about me.

Mmm. The Lord said,

who then is the faithful and sensible manager His Master will put in

charge of his household servants to give them their allotted food at the

proper time?

Blessed is that servant whom the master finds doing his job when he

comes. Truly,

I tell you,

he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

But if that servant stay,

that servant says in his heart,

my master is delaying his coming and starts to beat the male and female

servants to eat and drink and get drunk.

The servant's master will come on a day when he does not expect him.

And in an hour he does not know,

he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unfaithful.

And that servant who knew his pastor's will and didn't prepare himself to

do it will be severely beaten.

But the one who did not know and did what deserved punishment will

receive a light beating from everyone.

Now listen to this.

This is the key to the whole story.

From everyone who has been given much,

much will be required.

And from the one who has been entrusted with much,

even more will be expected.

Faith of the heart accomplishes much.

A heart of faith accomplishes much.

To whom much is given,

much is required.

To know and not do.

To know what God has provided and given and not bow and surrender.

God's the judge.

And to do and not know,

that's in there.

God's the judge.

Okay?

God's made the field level.

We all stand before God.

God will judge.

I'm a great legalist.

Can I just go ahead and tell y'all I have the capacity and have been on

occasion to be a great hypocrite,

you know,

so when we started into this,

these outlines,

I'll be honest,

I had outlines based on.

On a lot of history in teaching and preaching.

And, man,

I can look at a sin list in the Bible and point my finger better than

most. Okay?

But that morning,

remember, I told y'all this about five weeks ago now,

that morning that I got up and looked at Romans chapter one,

and I said,

God, show me my sin.

Show me my unrighteousness.

Show me where the world blasphemes God because of my sin.

Wow. Okay.

It's easy sitting in a nice,

pointed building like this to put ourselves in the seat of judgment.

Don't do it.

Okay, Judge,

Your heart is yours.

A heart of surrender yours.

A heart of faith and belief.

That's what God's looking for.

Okay, starts with Jesus.

You don't know Jesus this morning.

You need Jesus.

You need Jesus.

Before you need a handshake,

a smile or anything else,

you need Jesus.

If we can introduce him to you,

we'd love to.

Okay. Pray with me.

Father, thank you for the day that you've given us.

To rejoice and be glad and know,

God, that.

That you meet with us in this place,

God, it is my prayer.

That as your spirit moves among us,

God, that you convict our hearts.

God, you show us our sin,

our shortcoming,

our hypocrisy.

God, let us know that just sitting in a nice pointed building in

comfortable red chairs doesn't achieve anything.

Unless our heart is a heart of faith,

a heart of circumcision.

One where we've bowed.

And that the new covenant which is written on our hearts,

God, that we bow before you,

surrender ourselves to you.

God, I thank you for everybody here this morning.

But there's a chance,

God, that somebody here doesn't know Jesus.

So, God,

we want them to know Jesus.

We want them to bow before you.

Submit, surrender,

obey. God help us to do it.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.