Romans 2:17-29Religious But LostWREFC 7/22/18

Many years ago a man in San Francisco was caught speeding. The man blew through an intersection without realizing there was a camera on the traffic light. A couple weeks later he received in the mail a picture of his car and a ticket for $40. Since he had never had a ticket like this before, he decided to have a little fun. So he wrote out a check for $40, took a picture of the check and sent the picture back to the police department. A couple of days later, the police responded and sent him a picture. This time it was handcuffs. He got the point, and they got their money.

The Apostle Paul wanted to make a similar point to his fellow kinsmen, the Jews. In Romans 2:17-29, he sends them a verbal picture of an irrevocable law: You can be religious, but lost. Trusting in religion brings condemnation, not justification.

The overall purpose of Romans 1-3 is to show why all people need the righteousness of God. The reason is because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom.3:23). In 1:18-32, Paul explains why gentile pagans are guilty before God—they suppressed the truth in unrighteousness.

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Then, in 2:1-16, he reveals why outwardly moral people are guilty before God; it’s because they violate their own moral standards. In this group, Paul included Jews, although he didn’t mention them by name. He does so now in today’s text.

In vv.17-29, he goes after the Jews and demonstrates that religious Jews are just as guilty before God as irreligious Gentiles. Keep in mind that Paul is not being anti-Semitic. He’s not a Jew hater for he himself was a Jew. In fact in chapt.9, he said “I wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my…countrymen…” (9:3)

Paul’s message is just as relevant to the 21st century gentile as it was to the 1st Century Jew. Why? Because you don’t have to be a religious Jew to be lost. You can be a religious Muslim, a religious Hindu, a religious Catholic, a religious Lutheran, a religious Presbyterian, a religious Baptist, and yes, even a religious member of an Evangelical Free Church and still be lost in sin and on your way to hell.

In v.17, Paul begins by pointing out the danger of trusting in your religious heritage:Rd Rom.2:17a

The Jews knew that they were God’s chosen people. They were so proud of their Jewish lineage,

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that many of them living in Gentile cities added the word Jew after their name—“Simon, son of Jonah, Jew.” If you asked a 1st Century Jew if they were saved, they would have said “Saved? Of course I’m saved! I’m a Jew. I can trace my ancestry back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

The same thing is going on today. Countless people claim to be saved because their parents were Christian or their grandfather was a pastor. At one time, people thought they were Christian because they were born in the United States, a so-called Christian nation.

But our Christian Heritage can save no one. One does not become a Christian by being born into a Christian family or born in a Christian nation; one becomes a Christian by being born again into God’s family. That’s what Jesus told a religious Jew who came to question Jesus in the cloak of darkness. He said “Nicodemus, you must be born again.” The person who places his/her faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross becomes a child of God and a citizen of Heaven.

One Pastor made this observation: Modern day church goers pride themselves in names and denominational titles: Charismatic, Evangelical, Baptist, and Presbyterian just to name a few. Some brag about this preacher or that Christian writer.

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Some focus on their Christian College or Seminary alma mater.

When people focus on religion, they tend to talk about names, and churches, and organizations. But when people focus on Christianity, they talk more about their relationship with Jesus Christ. (1)

God’s judgment falls on those who trust in their religious heritage. But God’s salvation comes to those who establish a personal relationship with their Creator through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Your church or denomination didn’t die for your sins. Your favorite preacher didn’t die for you sins. Your Christian parents didn’t die for your sins. Jesus Christ died for your sins. He rose from the dead to impart eternal life to any and all who believe in Him.

In the next section, Paul says that God’s judgment not only falls on people who trust in their religious heritage, it falls on those who trust in their religious privileges. Once again, Paul is talking about the Jews. Here’s a short list of their privileges:

In v.17 Paul said the Jews “rest or rely on the Law”. The Jews relied on the fact that God gave them the Law of Moses. Why not? After all, God wrote down the abridged version of the Law on tablets of stone

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with His finger on Mt. Sinai! It doesn’t get any better than that. It’s a good thing to have confidence in the Law if you truly obey it. But the Jews felt like just possessing the Law put them in a right relationship with God.

Another privilege of the Jews is seen in the phrase “you make your boast in God.” That means they boasted in their covenant ties with the Lord.

In Jer. 9:23, it says “Thus says the Lord, ‘Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me…”

So boasting in the Lord is good, if our aim is to elevate Him above ourselves. But Paul’s Jewish readers were boasting in the sense of elevating themselves above their Gentile neighbors: “We know the one true God, and you don’t! Nanny-nanny-boo-boo! We’re better than you are!” They were like the name dropping carnal Christians in Corinth. Some were saying, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas.” But some were bragging “I am of Christ!” (1Cor.1:12) They were boasting in Christ, but not to honor Him, but to draw attention to themselves.

Another privilege of the Jews is seen in v.18:

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Rd Rom.2:18

Again, these are good things in and of themselves. The Jews had the Law of God; they knew the will of God; but they failed to live it.

The Jews had moral discernment. They knew right from wrong. And that was due to the fact that they were, in Paul’s words, “instructed out of the Law.” Both at home and in the synagogues, Jewish boys were given thorough instruction in Biblical matters.

The word “instructed” is from the Gk. term katecheo from which we get our English word catechism. It means teaching by repetition. If you were raised in the Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions, you know what catechism classes were like. It was rote teaching through questions and answers. The goal was to get content into our heads with the hope that it would change our hearts.

Biblical knowledge is a good thing. It helps us to know God; it helps us to understand God’s will; it helps us to discern between right and wrong. But the goal of all that knowledge and discernment is not to impress people with it. Rather, it should humble us and make us worship God more fervently and obey Him more earnestly.

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I think there’s a great danger facing the 21st Century Church. The danger is especially relevant to members of Bible preaching/teaching churches like ours. The danger is information overload with no application—no transformation of life.

Unlike the Jews, who only had the 39 Books of the O.T., we have the full revelation of God’s Word with the addition of 27 God inspired Books of the N.T.. We have multiple hard copy Bible translations. We have the bible on CD and Mp3. We have cutting edge Bible software.

Here in America, we have every opportunity to know God through His written Word. But here’s the danger. We can fool ourselves into thinking that we’re getting to know the God of the Bible when all we really know are the contents of the Bible. It’s possible to know about God intellectually, without really knowing Him personally. Like the Jews, it’s possible to be religious but lost.

The Jews made 4 claims about themselves. All are good if properly applied with humility. The first two are found in v.19:

Rd Rom.2:19

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The first claim that the Jews made about themselves is that they were “a guide to the blind.” Just as physically blind people need guides, so do those who are spiritually blind. But the situation with the Jews was that they were just as blind with the Law as the Gentiles were without the Law. When it came to directing people to the truths of Scripture, they were blind leaders of the blind. (Matt.15:14)

The second claim the Jews made for themselves is that they were “light to those who are in darkness.” That was certainly one of their God-given mandates. In Isa.49:6, God said “I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Sadly, Israel failed in her mission. However, Paul is one Jew who fulfilled the role the nation of Israel should have filled. He was commissioned by Jesus during his Damascus Road conversion: “… for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you a minister and a witness … delivering you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, in order that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.' (Acts 26:15-18)

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The mandate to be light was not restricted to Jews, or to the apostle Paul. Jesus calls all believers to be light. He said “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the basket, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father … in heaven. (Mt.5:14-16)

As spiritual luminaries, we Christians are to put the spotlight of our witness on Jesus Christ who said “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (Jn.8:12)

The third and fourth claims the Jews made for themselves are found in v.20:

Rd Rom.2:20

Because they had the knowledge of truth in the law, the Jews looked down upon converts to Judaism as foolish, ignorant, childish, and immature. In a way, new believers in Christ are childish and immature, but we shouldn’t look down upon them in a degrading way. We should be glad they came to saving faith in Christ and patiently help them to grow up in Christ.

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A guide to the blind; a light for those in darkness; an instructor of the foolish; and a teacher of infants—those are some hefty claims to live up to. And all of them are good if used in the right way. The blind need guidance, those in darkness need enlightenment, the ignorant need instruction, and the immature need biblical teaching.

Let’s take those claims and apply them to modern day professing Christians. They believe the Bible. They walk with God. They may even have a Bible College or Seminary degree. With those academic credentials they become a Bible teacher, a gospel preacher or Christian counselor.

This is the kind of person portrayed by Paul. He now has some questions for this person:  Rd Rom.2:21a

The implied answer to this first question is “No”. The Jews were good at telling other people what to do, but failed miserably to do it themselves. They had good orthodoxy, but poor orthopraxy. In other words, they did not practice what they preached.

Teaching others is easy. It’s always harder learn from others or to teach yourself. That’s why James gives this warning to wannabe teachers: “My

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brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. (Jas.3:1). To some extent, we’re all teachers. If we’re not formally teaching others in a classroom, we’re informally teaching others in discipleship and mentoring situations, or we’re teaching our children and grandchildren in the home.

When Sgt. Ray Baarz of the Midvale, Utah, police department opened his wallet, he noticed his driver’s license had expired. Embarrassed at having caught himself red-handed, he had no alternative. He calmly and deliberately pulled out his ticket book and wrote himself a citation. Then Baarz took the ticket to the city judge who fined him five dollars. Baarz confessed “How could I give a ticket to anyone else for an expired license in the future if I didn’t cite myself?” (2)

In spiritual terms, how can I cite people for breaking one of God’s laws, if I’m guilty of breaking the same law? I need to write myself a sin citation and confess it to God. And thank God that Jesus already paid for the ticket through His sacrificial death on the cross.

Did you ever hear of a pastor who got saved after years of preaching and teaching? Two of the most notable ones were Martin Luther (a Roman Catholic

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Priest) and John Wesley (an Anglican minister). Both were saved through the spiritual impact of the Book of Romans. In fact, Jim Buchman, the former minister of this church was saved while shepherding a Lutheran church!

You see, it’s possible to be a pastor and lost; a church member and lost; a religious person and lost. Salvation is not about religion; it’s about relationship. It’s about establishing a personal relationship with God through faith in Christ who died for your sins and rose again?

The next questions deal with the Jews who not only failed to practice what they preached, they practiced what they preached against! V.21:

“You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal?” The Jews were stealing from one another, perhaps by collecting extreme interest or cheating on business deals. They preached against stealing, yet they themselves broke the eighth commandment.

Paul follows up with another question in v.22: “You who say, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ do you commit adultery?” The Jews preached against adultery but were also guilty of breaking the seventh commandment.

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Sadly, we’ve all known of preachers who have done what Paul accused the Jews of doing. They preach against stealing, but then it comes out that they were embezzling money from the church. Or, they preach against adultery, but they’re guilty for committing that very sin. Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart come to mind.

And remember that adultery can be committed without the physical act. Jesus said, “Everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matt.5:28). That would put most of us in the guilty category, would it not?

But this next question is a bit perplexing: “You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” What does Paul mean by accusing the Jews of robbing temples?

MacArthur’s comment is helpful here. He says that to rob temples may have referred to Jews who robbed their own Temple in Jerusalem… they often robbed God by withholding part of their tithes and offerings. (Mal.3:8-10). On the other hand, it could refer to the…practice of looting pagan temples and selling the idols and vessels for personal profit, something the Mosaic Law condemned (Acts 19:37; Deut.7:25). (3)

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Paul is not saying that every Jew was guilty of all these sins, but they’re representative of the Jew’s inconsistency of obeying the Law they possessed and taught others.

Rd Rom.2:23

What’s the point that Paul makes here? He’s saying that the Jews were good at telling other people what to do and not doing it themselves. And they’re often guilty doing what they tell people not to do. In the process, they were dishonoring God instead of glorifying God.

What do you call people who say one thing and do another? Hypocrites. Hypocrisy is a timeless and universal dilemma. Hypocrisy not only plagued the 1st century Judaism, it’s a major problem for contemporary Christendom. We should examine ourselves when it comes to hypocritical behavior.

Do we commit the same sins that we condemn in others? Do we denounce the welfare cheats yet take unlawful deductions on our income tax return? Do we bemoan the breakdown of the family yet head for divorce court when faced with marriage problems? Do we condemn politicians for lying and breaking their campaign promises while we falsifying information on a job application?

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What about me? Do I practice what I preach? What about you? Does what you do match what you say? If not, we need humble ourselves, confess the sin of hypocrisy, and submit fully to Jesus Christ.

The Christian life is like a coin. One side is belief; the other is behavior. If our behavior is inconsistent with our belief, we are hypocrites. By God's … grace, we need to bring practice and profession into alignment. As one person put it:

Unless my talk about my faithIs mirrored in my walk,

The faith that I glibly professIs merely empty talk.

--Anon. (4)

We must walk-our-talk, then we can talk-our-walk.

Unfortunately, hypocritical behavior has some disturbing consequences. If it’s not reeled in with a firm hand of confession and repentance it can defile the reputation of God and ruin our Christian witness. Notice v.24:

Rd Rom.2:24

The Gentiles knew that the Jews were God’s chosen people. And they expected them to live accordingly. When the Jews violated God’s law, the Gentiles blasphemed God’s name.

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On one hand, the Jews were so protective of God’s name that they wouldn’t even say it. They would substitute another word for God for fear of mispronouncing it. On the other hand, their hypocritical conduct caused the Gentiles to mock the very name that they held in such high regard.

Actually, v.24 is a quote from Isa.52:5. The context is dealing with the consequences of Israel’s disobedience. The nation was conquered by her enemies and the Jewish people were taken into captivity. Because of their sin, the Gentiles mocked Israel’s God. In their minds, God He was not able to deliver them. But the reason for their captivity was not God’s inability to rescue them, but rather they were dragging God’s name in the mud with their sin. It made God look bad in the eyes of the Gentiles. (5)

What about you? Does your life make God look good or does it make God look bad? Does your life point people to the Savior or does it turn people away from the Savior?

Atheist Friederick Nietzche (1844-1900) once said that the best argument against Christianity is Christians. (6) Nietzche has a valid point! The acid test is not so much what we say about Christ, but what the world says about Christ because of us!

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If a professing Christian is dishonest in business or if they’re immoral in their personal life or if they’re abusive towards their family, the world says, “Why follow their God? Who needs that kind of life?” And while God is sovereign in saving His elect, humanly speaking, a sinning Christian keeps a needy sinner from the good news that can save him.

I’ve heard some people say that if you’re going to break the law while you’re driving, then you shouldn’t have a Christian bumper sticker on the back of your car. I would like to tweak that a little and say that if you have a Christian sticker on your car, then drive like a Christian. Don’t take off the sticker, change your driving.

Our duty is to make God look good to others by the way we live. Godly behavior will make the world take notice. If they see that we practice humility, integrity, and purity, they may just be attracted to the Jesus we profess to believe in.

Someone once said to Charles Spurgeon, the 19th century British preacher: “The Bible is the light of the world.” Spurgeon objected, saying, “How can that be? The world never reads the Bible.” He went on to say, “The Bible is the light of the church and the church is the light of the world. The world reads the Christian, not the Bible.”

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Another good point, this time from a Theist, not an Atheist. What do people discover when they read your life and my life? I hope they see “Christ in you [and Christ in me], the hope of glory.” (Col.1:27)

So far, Paul has said a couple of things about religion and religious people: God’s judgment falls on people who trust their religious heritage to get to heaven and God’s judgment falls on people who trust their religious privileges to get to heaven. That brings us to v.25 where he’ll show us that God’s judgment falls on people who misplace their trust in religious rituals:

Rd Rom.2:25

God instituted circumcision as a physical mark of His covenant relationship with Abraham and his descendants—the Jewish people (Gen.17:10-12). All Jewish boys were to be circumcised on the eighth day as a mark of their identity as the people of God. It was a reminder that they belonged exclusively to God.

However, circumcision became more than a sign that you were Jewish; it became the Jew’s trump card to escape the wrath of God. By the first century many rabbis spoke of circumcision as if it were an automatic ticket to heaven.

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Paul shot down that faulty thinking by saying here in v.25 that circumcision is of no spiritual value unless you practice the Law and obey God’s will. But if you break the law and disobey the will of God your circumcision has become uncircumcision, meaning that it’s worthless, meaningless, of no spiritual value.

Paul was hitting the Jews over the head with a theological 2x4. The Gentiles were called “uncircumcised”. To call a Jew “uncircumcised” was an insult. He’s saying “If you’re a circumcised Jew whose transgressing the Law of God, you’re no better than an uncircumcised law breaking Gentile!”

The implication is that rituals like circumcision can save no one. Rituals are merely outward signs of an inner change. They reflect the reality of a true conversion to Christ that finds expression in a life of obedience to the will of God.

In the place of circumcision you can put any number of things: baptism, baby dedication, confirmation, or communion. All of these otherwise good rituals are meaningless unless a work of saving grace has taken place in the heart.

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Baptism is a good thing; Communion is a good thing. But these ordinances can’t save your soul! They’re worthless ritual unless you’ve had a change of heart.

(object lesson: can of peaches)

Do you like peaches? I like fresh peaches more than I like canned peaches. But if you like canned peaches, I’d like to give you this can of peaches.

To be honest, this is not a can of peaches. I replaced the labels. The label says peaches, but it’s really a can of peas. (Yuk! I don’t know about you, but I don’t like canned peas.) The outside of this can does not reflect what’s on the inside.

Circumcision was a label. It was supposed to reflect a Jew’s heart of devotion to God. However, if he was not obedient, the label of circumcision was not only worthless but misleading. The content of the can (the heart of man) is more important than the label (the rite of circumcision)

In a similar way, baptism, or communion, or any other rite that is not accompanied by a life dedicated to the Lord is analogous to a label on a can of fruit or vegetables. If the outer label doesn’t match the inner product, it’s worthless and

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misleading, and may be damning if we trust the label to get us into heaven!

If you’re putting you’re salvation hope in Baptism or Communion or any other religious ritual I urge you to repent and place your trust in Jesus Christ. He’s the One who died for your sins and rose again. He’s the One who said “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn.14:6).

Paul continues his devastating salvo on the Jews in vv.26-27:

Rd Rom.2:26-27

In these two verses Paul sets forth the truth that inner change happens without religious rituals like circumcision. If the uncircumcised Gentile has the inward reality of salvation, then he has the one thing that really counts. God looks just as favorably on uncircumcised Gentiles who keep the Law as circumcised Jews who keep the Law.

Paul takes another shot at the hypocritical Jews by saying this in v.27: “If the uncircumcised Gentile keeps the Law he or she will judge the circumcised Jew who does not keep the law. By that, Paul meant that Gentile obedience will stand as a sharp

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rebuke to disobedient Jews, who felt morally superior to them.

Is it better for a person to believe on Christ and not be baptized or for a person to be baptized and not believe on Christ? If you must choose between the ritual of baptism and the reality of trusting Christ, choose the reality of trusting Christ! 

Of course, you should embrace both. The true  believer should be baptized to show what happened to him the moment he/she was saved. The point is simply that it’s better to be an unbaptized believer than to be a baptized unbeliever! 

Paul closes this section by explaining positively what a true Jew is: 

Rd Rom.2:28-29

What I just read may be summed up in one sentence: Being a Jew is not a matter of physical circumcision, but spiritual circumcision. (repeat)

In other words, God looks for an inner circumcision of the heart performed by the Holy Spirit, not an outward circumcision performed by a man. The Jews were praising themselves because they performed the rite of circumcision. But a true Jew

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received his praise from God who sees a heart changed by the Spirit of God.

This brings up a question. How can a heart be circumcised? The word “circumcision” means to “cut around.” The Christian is one who has undergone a heart transplant by the Great Physician. As one commentator put it, “he is one in whom the Lord has performed a surgical procedure by cutting through the spiritual calluses of his hardened heart to replace it with a [tender] heart for God. Outward Judaism doesn’t do much good.  And neither is there much value in Christianity that is only skin-deep [with empty ritual]. (7)

The bottom line is God is pleased with people who replace empty religion with a heart that’s dedicated to Him.

As shocking as it may sound, there will be many church members in hell. Hell will be populated with people from every religious persuasion—from Buddhist to Baptist and Muslim to Methodist. Why? Because people are locked into a false hope. They trusted in their religious pedigrees and religious rituals instead of trusting Jesus Christ. What are you trusting for your salvation? Or, to put it more accurately: Who are you trusting to take

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you to heaven? The issue is not religion, but your relationship with Jesus Christ.

Let me give you five words that will one day shuttle you from earth to heaven. Here they are: Faith alone in Christ alone. Only Jesus can save you, so put your trust in Jesus.

Then, when you put your trust in Jesus Christ, practice what you preach; live what you learn; let your behavior reflect what you believe; be a can of peaches with a peach label on it.

________________________________________(1)https://bible.org/seriespage/6-satan-s-greatest-lie-romans-217-29#P4_136 (2)http://www.preceptaustin.org/romans_220-23 (3)The MacArthur New Testament Commentary; Romans 1-8, Moody Press, 1991; p.157 (4)Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. (5)https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-12-what-hypocrisy-does-romans-217-24(6)George R. Knight, Exploring Romans: A Devotional Commentary (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Heralds, 2010), 70(7)http://www.angelfire.com/nt/theology/rom02-17.html