GRACE AND GLORY - PART EIGHT

MINE

Romans 2:12–29 (ESV)

12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.

17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; 19 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth— 21 you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? 22 You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

25 For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. 28 For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.

I. Introduction and Recap

Hypocrisy in the Roman church was rooted mostly in the differences between Jewish and Gentile Christians

They were raised differently and came from different perspectives

They brought different cultural biases and conceptions to the melting pot that was the Roman church

II. Verses 12 - 16

Whether you’re a Jew or a Gentile, you’ve sinned against the law, which was and is God’s standard for righteousness

Whether you’ve heard the law your whole life as a Jew or you just have a God-birthed conscience as a Gentile, you’ve fallen short of accomplishing the fullness of the law and are therefore subject to the penalty which comes from breaking it - death

No matter or where you came from or how you got here, you aren’t good enough on your own

What is Paul’s gospel? The word “my” is a personal possessive word. It’s the word I’d use if I called Charity “my wife.” That God is judge and He is judge “by” Christ Jesus. You aren’t perfect, but Jesus is. You are judged on account of Jesus’ sacrifice and what you did in response to it.

Is the gospel yours? Are you in a relationship with the gospel? Are you in a covenant with the gospel? Has your life become so intimately acquainted with the gospel that it’s not just something you know about, but something that is yours?

God judges the secrets of your heart. Your performance is irrelevant. Your heart is what is being examined and your heart will condemn you or acquit you because it reveals whether or not you’ve made Jesus Savior AND Lord.

III. Verses 17 - 24

We can get so full of ourselves because of what we “know” about God

As “leaders,” we can find our identity in gifts and position and ignore our own need for development and maintaining lives of truth and freedom

Knowing the law doesn’t mean you keep it. I know the speed limit, but that doesn’t mean I observe it if I’m in a hurry.

Your obedience to the law is a direct reflection of your love for the one who gave the law.

John 14:15 (ESV)

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

The law is not about control. It’s about honor and obedience. It’s about an understanding of our need for God. He didn’t give the law to prove that we are terrible and incapable of doing anything good and are better off not trying. The law was given to demonstrate the need for Jesus.

If you claim that you have any righteousness of your own, you’re setting yourself up to be known as a liar. Simply being prideful about your goodness is a violation of the law of love.

The Gentiles blasphemed God because they were so unimpressed by the hypocrisy of the Jews. Who would want to live by the law of a God that seemed to have no love or concern for people?

IV. Verses 25 - 29

The demonstration of the covenant is only as good as someone’s commitment to keeping the covenant.

My ring is only a good reminder of my covenant with Charity if I keep my Word that the ring represents.

Circumcision was just the symbolic representation of God’s covenant with the Jewish people. What good is the representation of the covenant without the decision to keep it?

Being baptized as a kid doesn’t save you. Being saved and making Jesus your Lord saves you. Believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth saves you. Deciding to live your life in light of your salvation and in response to the goodness of God is the process of sanctification.

Regardless of who you are or how you were raised, you now have the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus available to you. The righteousness of God is being right with Him through the sacrifice of Jesus. He gives us entry to righteousness because He extended His access to us through the price that He paid.

These are matters of the heart from which we live. That means that we demonstrate that the Word of God is changing us by the way that we live. Regardless of what someone sees, God sees your heart.

1 Samuel 16:7 (ESV)

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

V. Conclusion

Having an encounter with the gospel and making it yours means that you become intimate with all of its attributes.

Making the gospel yours means that broken people can find wholeness. Sick people can find healing. Anxious people can find peace. Depressed people can find joy.

Luke 4:18–19 (ESV)

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”