Privileged Hypocrisy Is Ashamed Of The Gospel (Romans 2:17-29)

Romans 2:17–29

GBCCR DATE \@ "M/d/yy" 3/21/26

Introduction

Shame is powerful

We have all had embarrassing dreams probably showing up for test or presentation today and we find ourselves without clothing

And we can probably have memories of something that shame us

But we can be ashamed of wrong things, like needing other peoples’ help for example

And if there is one person who is ashamed of the gospel it is the hypocrite

A two faced man has no need for grace because he tells himself that he is find

A hypocrite is one of the people whom Jesus doesn’t help, because he refuses to go to Jesus.

We rightly talk about being saved… and there are some who need to be saved from hypocrisy.

Review

After exposing the sin of the pagan in chapter 1, Paul is giving gospel hope to the religious in chapter 2

But only by tearing out their false standings in religion can Paul give them the blessings of Jesus Christ

He condemned excuses, the lack of repentance and special treatment

An outline

God’s Righteousness Revealed in Condemnation (1:18–3:20)

A.Condemnation against pagan humanity (1:18–32)

B.Condemnation according to divine standards (2:1–16)

C.Condemnation against unfaithful Jews (2:17–3:8)

D.Condemnation against all human beings (3:9–20)

Last week, we saw that God will judge everyone in 3 areas

Everyone’s standard will fail them

Everyone’s conscience will condemn them

And Jesus will expose even the darkest secrets

Verse 17 begins with but, showing that the past section dealt with all religious people, and here he begins to focus on Jewish religious people themselves

So, what about those who are seemingly doing the right things?

Paul addresses the jews who are in Rome so that all Christians would humbly fall on their faces before God

This hopefully helps you all see

3 False Props for the hope of salvation

Privileged Boasting (17–20)

Explanation

The Jews considered themselves a privileged people

And rightly so as they were entrusted with the law

They knew God’s law and boasted in Him

Boast means showing off

Which is something that God wanted them to do

Jeremiah 9:23–24- Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”

This is how Paul boasts in God

2 Corinthians 11:30- If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

The false teachers were boasting in the flesh about how good they were

Paul boasted about how much he struggled and suffered in his devoted service to Christ

The jews had lots of knowledge from experience

This was not just a superficial understanding

But they spent hours in bible study and deep devotionals

Their Bibles were full of highlights and marks

They often asked good questions and sought answers

They were confident they were A light to the blind

Which was something God called Israel to be

Isaiah 60:1–3- Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.

They were Teachers of the naïve like a child

They embodied the law to the world, right?

And the jews he’s talking to would probably be nodding their heads at thisBut within his words

But within his words, there are some rebukes

The temptation is that they rely or rest on the “doing the law”

The same Greek word is used to translate the Hebrew in rebuke of the evil Jewish leaders during Micah’s day saying

Micah 3:9–12- Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the LORD and say, “Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.”

These were people who rested on the false premise that God was with them when they were sinning against God

And they would recall the words of Jesus regarding blindness

John 9:41- Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

Jesus points out that they themselves claim to see—better than anyone else, for that matter. But that is the problem: those who are confident of their ability to see do not ask for sight. So they remain blind, with the culpable blindness of smug self-satisfaction

As He warned

Matthew 23:14–15- Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Illustration point- Watch out for privileged boasting

Sometimes we boast in the privileges we’ve been given from others or that we’ve earned through our hard work

But this should be our place of boasting instead

In the 1800s, English chemist and physicist Michael Faraday discovered benzene, electromagnetic induction, and the laws of electrochemistry, among other accomplishments. He was the first to convert mechanical energy into electric energy, inventing the electric dynamo, the ancestor of modern power generators.

Faraday has been called by science historians the best experimentalist in the history of science.

As Faraday neared his death, he was asked about his theories. He replied, “They are now over, and I am resting on certainties. I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him” [2 Tim 1:12].

God continually tells us to have assurance in Him, not in ourselves

So beware boasting in the privilege you have

Application

So, brothers, Do you boast in your experience or knowledge?

Maybe you’re skilled in your work or you’ve lived a successful life so you know what you’re doing

It’s pretty tempting to take confidence in you’ve been there or done that

But God doesn’t want us to boast in our experience

Paul David tripp says A person normally measures his ability to handle things based on two factors.

The first is his track record. He does a quick scan of his life, assessing how he has done so far. He looks to the past to give him some kind of read on his potential for being successful in the present.

We size up the task. Does he have what it takes to take on a task of this size?

While there is some wisdom here to prepare and have confidence, many of you have seen how you’ve been put in situations without being enough

So your confidence should not come from yourself but God

Psalm 27:9-… O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!

Because he is our helper, we don’t have to place the completion or success of the task on our shoulders

It’s not our job to complete the task; it’s our job to obey God’s call. He will complete the task

You cannot make your neighbor make peace with you

You cannot change hearts, bring salvation

But if your confidence is in God and not yourself, you can be faithful to obey him in impossible situations

Trans: Because the danger of wrongly placed confidence is that it will lead to

Polluted Preaching (21–24)

Explanation- Paul explains how what they said and what they did were contradictory

V21= They teach and preach

Teaching has more to do with informing while preaching is calling others to do something with that information

But they were hypocrites who said one thing and did another

As Jesus lambasted the Pharisees

Matthew 15:7–9- You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

They instructed others to not break their marriage vows but Jesus warned that it was about the heart

Matthew 5:27–28- “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

There is no excuse for the adultery of the heart

They said they hated idols, but what did Israel do with the golden idols of Egypt… there was wealth and power offered by those temples

Verse 23 gives us a perfect definition of sin

They break the law, meaning to overstep or violate

So when God said, “You shall not bear false witness,” a lie was seen to be what it is: an overstepping or transgression of the law

Paul is reminding the Israelites that they were not able to follow the law in the past, nor the present.

As he told Peter

Galatians 2:15–16- We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Paul now quotes from the Septuagint version of Isaiah 52:5

Put on your Hermeneutics hats on:

It may look different to you

Compare with the ESV translation:

Isaiah 52:5–6- … Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and continually all the day my name is despised. Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”

Paul is quoting from the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament:

And now why are ye here? Thus saith the Lord, Because my people was taken for nothing, wonder ye and howl. Thus saith the Lord, On account of you my name is continually blasphemed among the Gentiles

This difference should not bother us because Paul isn’t directly quoting even the LXX

He modifies certain words

Because his goal is to explain the whole context of what was being said

Israel is being oppressed by Assyria, andGod says

Isaiah 52:4- “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.

so that the rulers of Israel wail All day long" the name of the Lord "is despised" by foreign oppressors

But why did this happen? because of their sin

because of their sin

Isaiah 50:1- Thus says the LORD: “Behold, for your iniquities you were sold, and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.

Isaiah 52:3 shows the link saying- For thus says the LORD: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.”

Isaiah 52:4 sets aside the question of guilt and focuses only on God’s name being dragged through the mudBut without having to quote 3 chapters, Paul reminds them that they were the ones who dragged God’s name through the mud

But without having to quote 3 chapters, Paul reminds them that they were the ones who dragged God’s name through the mud

The nations looked at Israel and said, they do not believe in their God, Yahweh

Illustration point- Beware preaching that is polluted by unrepentant sin, it just drags God’s name through the mud

Many of the characteristics are good. Being a Jew wasn’t bad—Jesus and all the apostles were Jewish

Having the law, claiming to know God, understanding his will—all these were good qualities, but only if they were genuine

Imagine you’ve been given the duty to sell the great family treasure in your aunt’s home… she specifically asked you to go through her treasures and sell them for the family’s benefit

In there is a great set of exquisite jewels

So you call an appraiser who looks at them all saying, “These are beautiful pieces. Too bad they are only costume jewelry.”

It will give your family nothing

So is all our words if there if it it polluted by hyprocisy

So avoid polluted preaching in those you follow and yourself

Application

Lest we think this is just for the jews, remember Christian

Scripture warns about the deceitfulness of your sin

Hebrews 3:12–13- Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

And to the very Romans Paul warns about who they will listen to

Romans 16:18- For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

Ther is deception Within your own heart and there are liars who are trying to deceive you.

Those of us who think we’re good need to carefully engage in the fight against Sin by the spirit

Romans 8:13- For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Yes, there will be some things in you that are hypocritical, so you’re given the spirit to kill that part of yourself

And this is a love God’s word

This is why Church discipline is necessary to put teeth to our preaching

There is nothing that drags God’s name through the mud quite like the accusation “the church is full of hypocrites.”

Christian employees who have bad customer service

Christian bosses who cheat their customers

or neighbors who gossip with each other

or we act just like the world saying hateful things about those who have political disagreements with us

The unbelieving world sees sin and says, “What sort of God would put up with this phony charade?”

So Matthew 18 & 2 Corinthians 5 tells us to call each other on our sin

This keeps the purity of the church and keeps us safe from his hypocrisy.

We do not claim to be a perfect people, but we are a people who admit our sins and repent from them

Because Judgment begins in the church

1 Peter 4:17- For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

So kids, we don’t want you baptized and becoming members until we’re confident you are truly converted and have the spirit to empower you to obey… or else the standards will kill you

That being said, even through your parents can’t legislate righteousness. That comes from within.

They are trying to bring you up in the corrects habits of the heart

They’re teaching you the duty of following God so you do not suffer

We’ve seen the lie of false boasting, the hypocrisy of polluted preaching, and now

Performative Christianity (25-29)

Explanation

Circumcision was the great outward sign that proved a great deal of devotion from the men

But it was always just a symbol for a needed change of heart

Moses said this

Deuteronomy 10:16- Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.

Deuteronomy 30:6- 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.

Paul isn’t saying anything the prophets didn’t already say, thus he’s not reinterpreting the Old Testament, just applying it

Jeremiah 4:4- Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;

There were Gentiles who followed God and were converted in the Old Testament too

For example Ruth sought refuge in Yahweh

Ruth 2:12- The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”

People like Naaman, Rahab, the ninevites were sinners who the holy spirit circumcised their hearts

But some people look at this passage says that if a jew is not one outwardly but inwardly, Christians are the true jews

But if Paul stopped talking about the Gentiles in verse 16

he is not comparing jews and gentilesbut beli

but believing and none believing jews

Being a true Jew is not simply a matter of being an ethnic Jew who has been circumcised.

Being a true Jew also involves an inward commitment to obey God

Does this mean Israel has no place anymore in God’s plan

We’ll get into this more in chapter 11 to show that there is still a future for Israel

We’ll see in chapter 9 how Paul considers Israelites still his kinsmen of the flesh

The church is something new

a mystery not fully revealed until this age (Eph. 3:1–6

if God had rejected the nation of Israel, we would expect the Jewish people to have become extinct. Like the Hittites, Amorites, Moabites, and all the rest, the Jews would have disappeared in history

This is a great evangelistic text for our Jewish neighbors in that it is calling them to be true jews… saved in Jesus

Illustration point-Performative Christianity is just like circumcision that has become uncircumcision

It is like deliberately writing checks on a bank account with no money in it

The problem is not really with the check… it’s completely legitimate… everything in order

And really, there is nothing bad about the bank account or the amount of money in it

The problem is deceitfulness of the human heart,

Someone was willing to be false rather than admit poverty of any kind

They lied in the writing of that check

This is the problem with nominal Christianity… it is trying to sell an image of Christ without having the heart change of Christ’s life inside

Watch out for performative Christianity in yourself and others

Application

Watch out for nominal christian, though it may appear to be very devout, the heart is far from God

christians face the same kind of battle today with maintaining the outwardly respectable façade of attending church, reading the Bible, and doing charitable works in the community

Are these things bad? No!

But its not the outward that really matters, but why you do it

Some of you may be just like Paul’s audience was

We put on the face, but the reality is not there

It may feel harsh to say you’re not really a Christian if you think you’re good enough, but that is misplaced confidence as chapter 2 has tried to show

Only by removing this false confidence can you try find the strong confidence of Jesus dying for a sinner like you

So admit your failing and let christ be your savior

And those of us who are Christians… keep repenting and trusting him

Therefore

Since we have seen (Cohesion)- 3 False Props for the hope of salvation

Privileged Boasting

Polluted Preaching

Performative Christianity

We know we must (Resolution)-

But here’s the thing with being hypocrites… everyone is

Who lives up to their ideals 100% of the time? Where are the progressives who always live up to their ideal of fair-mindedness? Where are the Buddhists who have never stumbled on the eight-fold path? Where are the humanists who have never uttered an inhumane word?

Maybe that frustration people gives us is a good thing, befcuase they expect more of christians

Because Jesus expects so much

But remember The hypocrites we hate are those who cling steadfastly to their self-righteousness and their good intentions.

The hypocrites Jesus loves are those whose hands are open to His grace and His forgiveness.

Where sin increases, Grace increases all the more… so let’s continue to be repentant together

Closing prayer