Introduction

This morning we’re talking about those bear the name “Jew.” We do that with the back drop of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and the way it’s being presented throughout the world.

We’re aware of the anti-Semitism on many college campuses over the last year. Obviously, this is directed at many who “bear the name ‘Jew.’”

Our passage is no basis for any kind of anti-Semitism, and no passage is. Especially since the point of these chapters in Romans is to show that the ground is equal at the foot of the cross. There’s no high ground at the foot of the cross. We’re all condemned without God’s mercy. So, how could such a paragraph be used to show our superiority over another people?

We can say more. Almost all of our heroes in the OT and NT are Jews:

• Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, Elijah, Elishah, Nehemiah, Daniel.
• Peter, Andrew, James, John; Mary and Joseph; Mary and Martha; John the Baptist; the apostle Paul, James and Jude the authors of Scripture.
• And most important of all: Jesus. The Son of God was incarnate as a Jew—a mid-Eastern man who looked so much like all the other Jews of his day that very few believed he was anything more than a Jewish carpenter’s son like all the other Jewish carpenter’s sons they knew.

This doesn’t mean we get to be racist against Palestinians, which is morally wrong. It just means that anti-Semitism is both morally wrong and stupid for a Christian.

Last week we looked at those without the law of Moses. They are condemned by the natural law—a law revealed in our conscience, a law revealed in how cultures and people live even when they’ve never heard of Moses or the Old Testament or the New Testament.

This week the focus is on those “under the Law” of Moses (Rom 2:12). In Paul’s day, the vast majority of those “under the law” of Moses were Jews.

Paul is not trying to condemn all Jews but a certain kind of Jew, a Jewish hypocrite. A Jew who is self-righteous and self-confident because they have the Law of Moses and they’re circumcised—but they’re not living according to the Law itself. They’re living terrible lives and yet boasting all the while that they’re good—"Yep, I got it. Me and God, we’re good”—because they’re the special people of God.

He's showing us how to escape from religious hypocrisy.

The series – “Better than you think” – is about the beauty and blessing of the gospel. No matter how deep we go in it, how long we live in it, we realize, “It’s even better! As good as I thought it was, as important as I thought it was, it’s even better!”

In these chapters—Rom. 1:18–3:20—Paul is establishing the Great Problem. Then he’ll introduce us to Jesus Christ as the Great Solution. The Great Problem has two sides, Our Sin and God’s Wrath. If God’s wrath and judgment weren’t real, our sin wouldn’t be a problem. But they are real, so our sin is a great problem.

So in these chapters he goes to great lengths to expose us. 

He's showing us how to escape from religious hypocrisy. He gives us two symptoms of it religious hypocrisy, and then he points to the remedy. That’s what our sermon is about today. The symptoms have to do with (1) Truth and (2) Ritual. The remedy has to do with (3) The Heart.

Our Three points: (1) Truth (Rom 2:17–24); (2) Ritual (Rom 2:25–27; (3) The Heart (Rom 2:28–29)

I. Truth (Rom 2:17–24)

One symptom of religious hypocrisy has to do with TRUTH side. Here the focus is on those who boast that they’ve got the TRUTH. The hypocrites are self-righteous and self-confident, because they know they’ve got the TRUTH.

Paul’s long question in Rom. 2:17–21 is addressing someone who boasts in having the Law of Moses. They “rely on the Law.” Because they have the Law of Moses they:

• “Boast in God” (v. 17)
• “Know his will” (v. 18)
• “Approve what is excellent” (v. 18)

They’re confident they’re:

• “A guide to the blind” (v. 19)
• “Light to those who are in darkness” (v. 19)
• “Instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children” (or, “the immature,” NASB) (v. 20)
• “Having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth” (v. 20)

But, there’s a dark side to this type of hypocrite. They’ve got the TRUTH, but there’s something else that’s true about them. They’re DISOBEDIENT.

• “Steal” (v. 21)
• “Commit adultery” (v. 22)
• “rob temples” — which seems to mean either committing acts of sacrilege in a temple or slightly more likely it means a Malachi 3:8–10 unfaithfulness:

“Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. 10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need” (Mal 3:8–10).

Rom. 2:23 summarizes the situation. Boasting in the Law but dishonoring God by breaking his commandments.

Jesus condemned this same kind of hypocrite in Matthew 23:

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. (Matt 23:23-28)

The hypocrite in Romans 2 is even less subtle than Jesus’s rebuke in Matthew 23. Paul is calling out Jews who “boast in the Law” (Rom 2:23) but then break major commandments in the Ten Commandments. Not just in their hearts, but physically break them.

They break them, but then want to boast that they are righteous in God’s eyes, because they are the people of God. They are Jews who have the Law of Moses, isn’t that enough?

They’re part of the people who were given the actual tablets on Mt. Sinai. Isn’t that enough?

And the answer by Jesus, the apostle Paul, and the Old Testament prophets (see Jer. 7:1–11) is no, it’s not enough. It’s not enough to be physically connected to the people of God. It’s not enough to trace your family back to one of the twelve tribes.

On the day of judgment you won’t be able to hold up your family tree and prove your ancestry.

Application

Hypocrisy isn’t a foreign concept, is it? Every couple of months we hear about a celebrity Christian who gets caught in a scandalous sin. Or proves to be a total fraud in some way. Or confesses they don’t believe any of it anymore.

Those examples prove that having the Bible, having superior Bible knowledge isn’t enough.

No one will be able to stand up on the day of judgment and hold up their degree from Bible college or seminary or the books they’ve written or the sermons they’ve preached.

It’s notour command of the Bible that makes the difference; it’s the Bible’s command of us!

It’s about reading it and placing yourself under its authority. Letting it judge you, teach you, analyze you. We don’t judge the Bible, it judges us.

It’s feeling the weight of Hebrews 4:12:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Heb 4:12)

The first symptom of religious hypocrisy is a false confidence that we have the SACRED TEXT. In the end, that’s not enough.

II. Ritual (Rom 2:25–27)

Read Rom. 2:25–27.

A second symptom of religious hypocrisy is the RITUAL side. Religious hypocrites are self-righteous and self-confident, because they’ve done the RITUALS, the ceremonies, they’ve got the uniform and all the badges.

The ritual Paul speaks to is circumcision. This dates all the way back to Abraham. As God was making his covenant with Abraham, he included the ritual act of circumcision. Circumcision was “a sign of the covenant”:

And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, 13 both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. 14 Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.” (Gen 17:9–14)

The Law of Moses continued this practice (Lev 12:3). That’s why the New Testament tells us that both John the Baptist and Jesus were circumcised when they were 8 days old (Luke 1:59; 2:21), just like was commanded to Abraham and in the Law of Moses.

By the time of Christ in the first-century, circumcision was an enormous emphasis in the Jewish community.

You can even see this in how it was treated by the Jewish Christians in the early church. The Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 had everything to do with circumcision:

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. (Acts 15:1-2)

Again, these are Jewish Christians saying it. It was a big deal in the first century! They were proven wrong by Paul and Barnabas and at the Jerusalem Council.

What Paul says in Rom. 2, though, is that circumcision + disobedience = uncircumcision. And uncircumcision + obedience = circumcision.

For a Jew, this would have been deeply offensive. In Jewish writings, the rabbis spoke of escaping Gehenna[1] if you’re circumcised. So, if “your circumcision becomes uncircumcision” (Rom 2:25) that means you’ve set yourself up for hell and not going to Yahweh. You become like the Gentiles—not just uncircumcised in this life, but awaiting judgment in the next.

And he goes even further in Rom. 2:27. He says the uncircumcised person obedient to God’s Law will actually JUDGE (“condemn”) the circumcised person who is disobedient to God’s Law.

Application

For us to apply this well, we need to see the connection between circumcision and baptism. Circumcision is the initiation ritual in the old covenant, but baptism is the initiation ritual in the new covenant.

Christ brought a new covenant to God’s people, and a new covenant came with a new sign: water baptism.

The new covenant was promised in Jeremiah 31:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer 31:31–34)

When someone experiences the heart change that the new covenant is talking about, that’s when they should be baptized. That’s why we baptize people who make a profession of faith. It’s a profession that God is their God, God’s word is on the hearts, their sins are forgiven.

Only God is omniscient. Sometimes we baptize people who haven’t experienced this heart change. Time makes that clear. But the intent is that baptism is to be given to those who have experienced this new covenant heart change.

But Romans 2 warns us against any kind of false confidence in our baptism. We can’t ignore God’s commands and live a rebellious life and then stand up on the day of judgment with our baptism card and say, “We’re baptized!”

If we live a life in violation of God’s commandments, we won’t be able to stand up and say, “We’ve been a part of a church that does believer’s baptism, and I was baptized!”

It’s not wrong to look back at our baptism and get some assurance from it. To remember what we said on that day and what others said about us. That’s encouraging and faith building.

But Paul’s talking about something different, where you run off and live in complete disobedience to God’s commands and feel like you still stand on your baptism. That won’t work.

Paul has told us religious hypocrisy can have a false confidence in having the SACRED TEXT or in performing the SACRED RITUAL. Now, the ESCAPE!

III. The Heart (Rom 2:28–29)

Read Rom. 2:28–29.

True religion is not just having a SACRED TEXT (the Bible) or performing a SACRED RITUAL (baptism). It begins in the heart!

It’s NOT “OUTWARD AND PHYSICAL.” If that’s all it is, it’s not true religion.

An “OUTWARD AND PHYSICAL” religion will not get “PRAISE...FROM GOD”— only “PRAISE...FROM MAN.”

True religion is INTERNAL AND SPIRITUAL. Verse 29 is so critical! Rom. 2:29.

This isn’t really a new idea. It was always right there in Moses and the Prophets:

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. (Deut 10:16)

And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (Deut 30:6)

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.” (Jer 4:4).

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezek 36:26)

These Old Testament passages were in Jesus’s mind when he was talking to Nicodemus one night. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and came to Jesus. Out of the blue Jesus told him,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God....Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (John 3:3, 5, 6)

Nicodemus was stunned, “How can these things be?” Jesus told him,

Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?” (John 3:10)

The idea of true religion being INTERNAL and in THE HEART was always right there in God’s Word. Behaviors and rituals were never the point. They were never enough.

Circumcision of the body was never the point. It was always to be connected to CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART.

Conclusion

On this second Sunday of Advent, we’re reminded that God came to us, because we were fallen and needed redemption. He came to us to save us! Jesus’s name means “Yahweh saves”—remember Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew Joshua, which means, "Yahweh saves." Christmas is the celebration that God did not leave us in our sin and desperate state. He came to us!

In a similar way, the Spirit must come to us if our hearts are to go from death to life. If the Spirit must do the work, that might sound as if we can do nothing.

But the Bible never says to do nothing and just sit there passively.

Always we’re told to “ask and seek and knock”:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matt 7:7)

We’re told to call out to the Lord! He will hear you and answer that cry:

“Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” (Ps 50:15)

We’re told to confess Jesus as Lord and believe in him:

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom 10:9)

Now, if you’re a true hypocrite, I hope your conscience has been affected.

But it’s possible you’re not a hypocrite and you have a really sensitive conscience.

By that I mean you’re a Christian and aware of your sin and trying to obey God. Friends, if that’s you, be at peace. The Savior is yours. The gospel is yours. Your confidence is in the right place—not in the Bible you own or the baptism you received but in Christ!

Being a Christian means you’re still a sinner, but you have the Savior!

Let’s think about this. “Are you a Christian or a Hypocrite?”

Are You a Christian or a Hypocrite?

(1) Sin: A Christian acknowledges it, a Hypocrite denies it

(2) Integrity: A Christian has it, a Hypocrite manages his reputation

(3) The Gospel: A Christian relies on it, a Hypocrite is unaffected

(4) Commandments: A Christian obeys privately, a Hypocrite publicly

(5) Bible: A Christian is devoted privately, a hypocrite only publicly

(6) Confidence is in Christ: A Christian depends, a Hypocrite ignores

Prayer and Song

[1] The Greek word translated “hell” in the New Testament. See Matt. 5:22, 29, 30, etc. On the Jewish writings, one example is Shemot Rabbah 19, midrash on the book of Exodus, available at https://www.sefaria.org/Shemot_Rabbah.19.4?lang=bi. Go to paragraph 4.