20240908 Romans 2:25-29 True and False Religion
The Book of Romans • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Welcome to Vertical Church
Acts 2:42 (LSB)
And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.
As a church we seek to uphold the values of the NT church as seen in Acts 2:42 -
We are Trinitarian - while God is one in essence, He is three in person: God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit
We believe in the sovereignty of God - sovereign over all creation, sovereign over the affairs of men, sovereign over salvation
We believe in the authority of the Bible - Scripture alone is the Word of God
We are Biblical in our theology - we are a bible teaching church
We believe that the Church is not a building or a denomination but a people - those who are truly in Christ and embrace the truths that were embraced and confessed by the New Testament Church, the apostolic church.
We are evangelical - we believe that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
We are a Vertical Church - we believe that all true worship and living is Vertical, God directed and for the glory of God alone.
Scripture Alone, Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Christ Alone, For the glory of God alone - join us on Sundays
Call to Worship - Psalm 9
Psalm 9 (LSB)
For the choir director. Almuth-labben. A Psalm of David. 1 I will give thanks to Yahweh with all my heart; I will recount all Your wondrous deeds. 2 I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.
7 But Yahweh abides forever; He has established His throne for judgment, 8 And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will render justice for the peoples with equity. 9 Yahweh also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, A stronghold in times of distress; 10 And those who know Your name will put their trust in You, For You, O Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek You.
11 Sing praises to Yahweh, who abides in Zion; Declare among the peoples His acts. 12 For He who requires blood remembers them; He does not forget the cry of the afflicted. 13 Be gracious to me, O Yahweh; See my affliction from those who hate me, You who lift me up from the gates of death, 14 That I may recount all Your praises, That in the gates of the daughter of Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation.
16 Yahweh has made Himself known; He has executed judgment. In the work of his own hands the wicked is snared. Higgaion Selah. 17 The wicked will return to Sheol, Even all the nations who forget God. 18 For the needy will not always be forgotten, Nor the hope of the afflicted perish forever. 19 Arise, O Yahweh, do not let man prevail; Let the nations be judged before You.
Scripture Reading - Romans 2:25-29
Romans 2:25–29 (LSB)
25 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. 26 So if the uncircumcised man observes the righteous requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the Law, will he not judge you who, through the letter of the Law and circumcision, are a transgressor of the Law? 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29 But 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.
Introduction:
Genesis 17:10 (LSB)
“This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.
A covenant is a contract, an agreement between two parties. If you have ever attended a wedding, and if there were vows shared and promises were made, then you have attended a covenant event.
Now as a Christian, I am a member of a covenant group, a covenant community, which we call the church. Every member of the Christian Church participates in the new covenant, just as every member in the household of Israel in the Old Testament participated in what we call the old covenant. So, Jew and Christian alike are covenant people. But what about the rest of the world? What about all of those millions of people on this planet, this day, who are not members of the Christian Church, who are not members of the Jewish community, are they in a covenant relationship with God? Well, the answer to that question, I think, is obvious from our study of scripture. The answer is yes. All men, everywhere are at all times participants in a covenant relationship with God. You say, "But wait a minute, R.C., they never joined the Christian Church. They never joined the Jewish Commonwealth. How can you, you say that?"
Well, I say it for this reason, that God didn't make his first covenant with Abraham or with Moses, nor is the first covenant in history the one that Jesus made with his disciples in the upper room. The first covenant that God made with mankind was made with Adam.
In Genesis we read of the covenant of circumcision.
When we hear of this we either react with confusion or we giggle.
We forget this is more than a physical act - it is a physical act with spiritual and theological implications
4 truths about circumcision in the Bible from Genesis 17:10 -
First, it was initiated by God as the sign of covenant relationship between the Lord and Abraham and his descendants. It is the visible symbol of two promises: the Lord to his people and the covenant people Israel to the Lord
Second, while males were to be circumcised, it was a covenant between all of Abraham’s seed - both male and female.
Third, circumcision in the Bible was usually not the decision of the individual but of the parents, both the mother and the father. When an infant was to be circumcised, the parents took the child to the priest on the 8th day. To this day, Jewishness is determined though the mother .
13 “And of the son of the maidservant I will make a nation also, because he is your seed.”
Fourth, the covenant of circumcision is part of the covenant of the redemption. In six days the Lord created, on the 7th he rested, on the 8th day he begins the work of re-creation. Circumcision is a symbol of God’s promise to do a work of creation through redemption and regeneration in the hearts of his people
Misunderstandings about circumcision should come as no surprise to us. After all, even many in old covenant Israel failed to rightly understand the nature of the covenant sign of circumcision. Instead of trusting in the Christ to whom it pointed, they trusted in it as a badge of ethnic superiority. Instead of seeing it as the divinely appointed gospel sign of God’s covenant, they viewed it as a fleshly mark of merit.
The Judaizers were telling the gentile Christians, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (see Acts 15:1). The Apostles made clear that this was a false gospel.
1 Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
Now in Romans 2 Paul has talked about the judgment that all men and women will face. All people need to be justified by faith and only in the gospel, only through the perfect obedience and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is righteousness made possible
Turning to the Jews, he reminds them that simply knowing the commandments of the Bible is not enough to deal with our sinfulness. We are only saved through the Gospel
And now he deals with the outward obedience of circumcision without the inward circumcision of the heart
We need the Gospel because only the Holy Spirit can do what God requires internally
(1) The outward is only of value if there is the inward
25 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.
It was Martin Luther who said, We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.
In the same way , Paul says that the external act is of value only if you you practice the Law.
To not the practice the Law has the spiritual effect of nullifying the external act of circumcision
(2) God’s righteousness requirements are not fulfilled outwardly
26 So if the uncircumcised man observes the righteous requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the Law, will he not judge you who, through the letter of the Law and circumcision, are a transgressor of the Law?
A righteousness that is by faith not of works
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous will live by faith.”
(3) The Holy Spirit circumcises the hearts of the circumcised and the uncircumcised
28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29 But 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.
16 “So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.
26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to do My judgments.
Now may Yahweh, the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, who never faints or grows weary, may this God increase and renew your strength so that you can go on walking faithfully, whether in the light or in darkness. Amen.