The Failure of Religion

Text: Romans 2:17–29 (KJV) Theme: The danger of trusting in outward religion without inward regeneration Key Verse: Romans 2:29 – “But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”

Introduction:

RELIGION.A set of beliefs, a form of worship, ritual, prayer and a code of moral behaviour.

The word ‘religion’ came into Eng. from the Vulg., where religio is in a 13th-century paraphrase of Jas. 1:26.

religion has come to be a complex conception; for some religion does not pass beyond the mind, with others it calls for little more than an indulgence of feeling, with others, it brings out only a discipline of obedience.

A. N. Rowland, A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels: Aaron–Zion, 1906, 2, 489.

Religion is not

It is not regeneration

It is not redemtion

it is not a relationship

One can be raised in church, taught the Scriptures, baptized, and even serve in ministry—and still be a child of the devil, lost with out God.

Paul writes to the religious Jew in Romans 2, not to condemn his zeal, but to expose his spiritual blindness.

He warns that religion without regeneration is not salvation—it is deception.

There are many in pews today who have substituted

ritual for relationship,

form for faith, and

tradition for truth.

They are leaning on pillars that will fail when the storms of judgment come

I would like to take the next few moments and help us understand why so many that simply claim, “I go to church so I am ok.” are nothing more than religious lost sinners.

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I. The Confidence of Religion

(Romans 2:17–20)

"Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God..."

Paul identifies how the religious man depends on his outward standing but lacks inward submission.

A. Confidence in Your Heritage

– “Thou art called a Jew”

Being Jewish was not a guarantee of salvation

just as being a church member doesn’t make someone a Christian (Matthew 3:9).

These Jews that Paul was talking about

could trace their lenege all the way to Abrham

Somehow they thought that was a guarantee of Salvation

Nothing could be further from the truth

Many today rest in their family name, denomination, or background.

since the time of Christ millions have claimed to be a Christian simply because of their heritage

Millions of Americans since our founding have claimed to be Christian simply becasue they live in a so called Christian nation

And there are many today that claim they are Christian simply becasue they are a member of a church.

Hey can I tell you

Hell will be full of religous people

If this is what you are basing your faith off of, you are doing nothing but believing a lie you have told yourself

But unfortunitly many maybe even some that are hearing this message this morning will go to hell beliving a lie.

Pride in your heritage will do nothing but damn you to hell.

A. Confidence in Your Heritage

B. Confidence in Your Knowledge

“Restest in the law...” vs 17b-18

They knew the Law but didn’t obey it.

Knowledge without obedience leads to spiritual arrogance

They thought just because they had the law and practiced the rituals that were laid out in it, that it gave them a certain higher standing the eyes of God

They thought that just knowing the law was enough to put them in a right relationship with the Lord

But as Paul will tell them later, the law is good but it is simply a school master (Galatians 3:24 “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” )

hard and rigid

instructive

and reveling

The law does not elevate you to a higher level of respect in elevates you to a higher level of condemnation

To put this on our level

to simply think that because you can quote some scripture and attend church service every time the doors are open, that you are good with God, you have a rude awaking coming

to him that much is given to him much is required

come the day of judgement attendance and scripture memorization will not mean a hill of beans

So you can have Confidence in your heritage

and have confidence in your knowledge

and even have have .....

A. Confidence in Your Heritage

B. Confidence in Your Knowledge

C. Confidence in Your Leadership

“A guide… a light… an instructor…” vs.19-20

They believed they were the answer for others

(Isa. 42:6; 49:6. tell us that they were given this knowledge to be a light to the Gentiles)

They felt, since they knew the law and the customs that they were the best teachers and leaders for others

their idea was right but the motive of their heart was wrong

They did not even know God

How could they lead anyone to the truth

All they could do was make disciples of their dead religion and condemn even more souls to hell

Jesus rebukes them of this in Matthew 23:15 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”

Jesus goes on to tell them why this is

because they were blind themselves.

Matthew 23:24—blind guides.

They were nothing more than hypocrites

There is still alot of that in todays churches as well

A religious person will try and force everyone else to conform to his standards.

If you dont act like them or talk like them you are headed to hell

That is nothing more than legalism and it makes God sick (read matt. 23 if you dont believe me)

The person who tries to make everyone conform to his standards as a means of pleasing God most likely does not know Him to begin with.

Our duty is not to point them to the man that cuts our hair or the mannar of dress or to our method of worship.

Our duty is to point them to the Savior! and when He saves them, He will make them what he wants them to do.

We try so many times to clean fish before they are even caught

Religion does nothing more than give a false sense of securtiy

The Jew was confident in his heritage

confident in his knowledge

and confident in his leadership

but it did not produce salvation

Illustration: It kind of like a man that came from a long line of seamen and had read everything there was to read about water survival, matter of fact he was the leading expert in water survival but you know what? He lack one key element, he never learned to swim.

So When he fell into the water he drowned, Why? becasue his heritage, knowledge and even his leadership could not save him.

Religion is false security without Christ.

Don’t rely on your religious label.

Ask yourself: Is my identity found in Christ or in my religious tradition?

II. The Contamination of Religion

(Romans 2:21–24)

Paul askes four retorical questions in verses 21-23.

He is trying to get them to see just how contaminated they really were

The first three questions fall under what we will call

A. Your Preaching Without Practicing

vs.21-22

"Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself?"

“Dost thou steal?, Dost thou commit adultery?, dost thou commit idolatry?”

They preached righteousness but lived in sin.

God hates hypocrisy (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 23:28).

A. Your Preaching Without Practicing

B. Your Teaching Without Transformation

– “Through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?”

Here, Paul is telling them that their practice did not match their profession, they were guilty of dishonoring the Lord!

Little did they realize that when they broke the Law they claimed to love so dearly, they were guilty of treating the Lord shamefully and of treating Him and His Law with contempt

Many fail to recognize the truth today that sin still dishonors the Lord!

When Joseph was tempted by Potipher’s wife, Joseph responded by telling her that it would be a sin against God to life with her, Gen. 39:9.

Later, when David was confessing his sin with Bathsheba, he stated that his sin had been against the Lord, Psa. 51:4.

Sin still dishonors the Lord!

When we sin, we are saying that He is a God to be despised and not honored.

Regardless of what our lips profess, our life prove how we feel about the Lord.

What does your life say about Him?

When we speak of God's holiness and live sinfully, we mock His name.

The Jew would teach repentance and faith but never headed his own words.

James tells us that True transformation produces consistent living (James 1:22–25 “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” )

A. Your Preaching Without Practicing

B. Your Teaching Without Transformation

C. Your Slander Before the Sinner

– “The name of God is blasphemed…”

Because the Jew lived the way he did while claiming to be a child of God, he was guilty of blasoheme.

By their false profession, they destroyed the credibility of God.

This is no different then the gentials that Paul talked about in chapter 1.

Romans 1:21 “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”

Paul seems to combine two old testament texts here:

Isaiah 52:5 “Now therefore, what have I here, saith the Lord, That my people is taken away for nought? They that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord; And my name continually every day is blasphemed.” Ezekiel 36:22 “Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.”

In both instances God’s name had been blasphemed because the people had not been faithful.

What truly honors God is faith fueled odedience.

The Jews had daily interactions with the non-Jew, the Gential heard the words of a Jew but they also saw the actions of the Jew

They were proboly witnessed to by the Jew

They may have heard come from their mouths, God is good, God is holy.

But what they saw was Good is good when I want Him to be and God is holy only when I need Him to be.

Whenever we live in such a way that is inconsistent with what we claim to be, we are guilty of blaspheming the name of the Lord.

We take His name in vain and we testify before the world that our God is not worthy of our love and steadfast devotion.

When we hide our light under a bushel and cease to be salt in the world, we become no better than the religious Jews who boasted about their Law and their relationship with God, but had no spiritual reality to back up their claims.

The church’s greatest hindrance is not the world—it’s unholy living among so called believers.

Illustration: Gandhi once said, “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Hypocrisy silences the gospel.

Application: Let your walk match your words. Be a true representative of Christ, not a contradiction. When we are basing our salvation off of a religion instead of a relationship we will do nothing but contridict Christ.

Please search your heart and life to see if you are religously contaminated this morning

III. The Condemnation of Religion

(Romans 2:25–27)

"For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law..."

A. Condemned by the Rituals (vs.25-26)

The Jew felt that he was accepted by God simply because he had been circumcised

It is believed that the rabbis even taught that Abraham sat outside the gate of Hell and refused to allow any circumcised jew to enter.

Paul is telling them that even if they are circumcised and refuse to keep the whole law, they are just another heathen in God’s eyes.

Circumcision, like baptism or communion, is not saving—only symbolic.

Religious ceremonies are powerless without obedience to God first.

You can keep every ritual that your church has

You can keep every ritual you believe you must keep

but in the end you will be an exhausted, ritual keeping, sinner, burning in Hell.

Illustration: A wedding ring symbolizes marriage, but it doesn’t make you married. You can wear the ring and not be faithful. So it is with religious rituals—they mean nothing without covenant love for God.

Application: Have you been baptized without being born again? Don’t trust in the symbol—trust in the Savior.

A. Condemned by the Rituals

B. Condemned by the Righteous (v.27)

Paul goes on to tell the Jew that the very ones that they despise and reject, when they live lives that are pleasing to the Lord and their hearts are right with God, they are accepted by God instead of the Jew.

In fact Paul tells them that the righteousness of these, judge the religious man.

There is a vast difference between a religous man and a righteous man

The religious man tries to do everything he can to live right and please God

The righteous man realizes that he can do nothing to please God, and simply clings to the cross.

A religious man does everything out of duty

A righteous man does everything out of devotion, becasue he has been changed and given a new life

He has realized that he is loved by the God he once hated.

Are you religious or righteous in God’s eyes?

IV. Conversion over Religion

(Romans 2:28–29)

"For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly... but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly..."

Paul concludes this chapter by calling them to repentance

A. Inward Change over Outward Claims

The Jews had the Torah but could not keep it

They have circumcision of the flesh

But needed a circumcision of the heart.

True Christianity is not seen in church attendance, but heart allegiance.

God is more concerned with purity than performance.

A. Inward Change over Outward Claims

B. Spiritual Circumcision over Physical Ceremony

Pauls statement about true circumcision being a matter of the heart, in the Spirit is not new to the Jew

Deuteronomy 10:16 “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.”

Ezekiel 36:25–27 “Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.”

God wants our hearts to be cut from sin and set apart unto Him (Colossians 2:11 “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:” ).

Salvation is a matter of the Spirit, not the ceremony.

Paul is teling them that the Spirit does something that the law never could do: make us a new creature.

Has your heart been circumcised?

Are you a new creature?

A. Inward Change over Outward Claims

B. Spiritual Circumcision over Physical Ceremony

C. Praise from God, Not Men

Simply put, God will approve the person whos heart has been circumcised

and will reject those that are relying on some religious ritual.

Illustration: A tree can be full of leaves and still be dead at the root.

Outward signs of life are meaningless without inner vitality.

So too with religion—it must be rooted in regeneration.

Application: Has your heart been changed? Or are you just playing a religious part?

Conclusion:

You can be religious and lost.

You can carry a Bible, teach Sunday School, sing in the choir, tithe faithfully—and still be separated from God.

Do you know how far heaven and hell are apart?

12 to 14in

distance from your head to your heart

You can have all the head knowledge you want about God and the Bible, but if you dont have a heart knowledge, a personal relationship with Jesus, Hell is going to be your final destination.

Its not about religion it is about a relationship.

Paul's warning is clear: Religion cannot save. Only Jesus can.

Im not asking if you've been baptized, confirmed, or catechized—I’m asking: Have you been born again?

John 3:3 – “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Are you relying on rituals or resting in the Redeemer?

Have you experienced the new birth, or are you hiding behind old religion?

Come today—step out of religion and into a real relationship with Jesus Christ.

Repent of trusting in your works and believe on the finished work of Christ on the cross.

Acts 4:12 – “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”