God is Faithful Despite Man's Unfiathfulness

Introduction

Masquerade

When going to a masquerade ball, one can put on a show to everyone else that he or she is something they’re really not. It’s a time of camouflage where one can assume the identity that he or she desires but eventually the mask comes off and what is underneath is seen by all.

In the book of 1 Samuel, Jesse masqueraded his sons before the prophet Samuel, sons who, on the outside presented a show of strength, bravery, and nobility. But when Goliath came and brought war with him, when Goliath blasphemed the name of God, when Goliath called for a man to fight him, these brothers were hiding in their tents along with their own tall-man, king Saul.

What did God reveal to Samuel on the day he announced Israel’s next king? “For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” God, being God, knows the hearts of men and he knew David was a man who truly worshiped Him, feared Him, loved Him. Which is why, when David heard Goliath’s blasphemous words, he could not abide. He fought, fearing God and not man, trusting in God and not in his own strength or lack there of, and he won. Unlike Saul, unlike his brothers, He was faithful in his heart to God. And on that day what was evident to God became evident to the entire nation.

And here’s how this all connects to our final sermon in Romans 2, the unbelieving Jew was masquerading as a true Jew, proudly wearing the mask of a member of Gods covenant family, but underneath that mask was the heart of an uncircumcised gentile. He was a fraud who was not fooling God.

Context

So far in this chapter, Paul has shown the unrepentant Jews that they could not cling to their ethnicity to save them from God’s wrath for their wickedness. Nor could they not point to their possession of the Law, to merely being hearers as a grounds for their justification.

And in this last passage, Paul pulls the veil back one more time to show them that the things they held as the closest proof positives of their favor with God, were completely nullified by their sin.

For the Jew, his divinely commissioned role of teacher and priest of God to the gentile and his sign of circumcision were the strongest evidences of a covenant relationship with God. They were given a role and they were given a sign that they were Gods people and thus recipients of His favor. These two things are what the Jews held dearest, what gave them the most sense of pride and what Paul sought to dismantle.

Main Idea and Structure

In verses 17-24 Paul is going to show that the Jews utterly failed to rightly bear the name of God to the world. I will name this section The Counterfeit Jew’s Dishonor. And in vs 25-29 Paul will destroy their faulty reliance on circumcision as a sign of God’s covenant blessing and instead point out the reality of true circumcision. I will call this section The True Jew’s Praise.

So then two sections to conclude our study

The Counterfeit Jew’s Dishonor - vs 17-24

The True Jew’s Praise - vs 25-29

And the main idea in these two sections is this: Hypocrisy dishonors the Divine, but the Divine praises obedience flowing from a Spirit circumcised heart. (repeat)

With that, let’s begin with The Counterfeit Jew’s Dishonor

The Counterfeit Jew’s Dishonor - vs 17-24

Law’s Privilege

In the book of Exodus God delivers the descendents of Abraham from slavery to Pharoah. He leads them in a Cloud by Day and a Pillar of fire by night, guiding them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea and to the base of Mount Sinai. And it is there that the God speaks to His delivered Ones to define His covenant relationship to them. Listen as I read from Exodus 19:5-6 “5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; 6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”” So Israel was God’s Holy Nation, set apart to be his treasured possession and set apart to be a kingdom of priests. And in the very next chapter, God reveals His law to them. It was through their obedience to God’s law, that Israel was to show the nations around them the wisdom and the character and the truth about the God of the Universe.

Romans 2:17–18 NASB95

17 But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, 18 and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law,

It was because of this covenant privilege and this priestly position that the Hebrews considered it a great honor to be called a Jew. Which is what Paul addresses, beginning in verse 17, Romans 2:17-18 “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;” In these verses Paul lists 4 distinctives of being a Jew, “ (1) they rely on the law, (2) they boast in God, (3)they know his will, they (4) approve what is excellent. And the basis for these distinctives is seen at the end of verse 18, “because they are instructed from the law.”

Let me restate that so you can see Paul’s logic - The Jew has the covenant privilege of being instructed from the law, and because they are instructed from the law, they rely on this law, they boast in the God of the law, they know His will from the law, and from the law they have learned how to approve what is excellent.

Now, being taught from the law is a true and genuine privilege. As Paul says in the very next chapter of Romans,“what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.” So then, we can ridicule the Jew’s since of pride in these verses, but that’s not what Paul is after. These four distinctives in 17-18 are not condemned by Paul and so they are not at all bad.

Last week, I told you that the Law has the function of a teacher, a teacher that reveals our sinfulness to us and points us to our need for the atonement of Christ for our sins. But I left out the very true reality that the Law teaches us about God. It guides to know His holiness, His transcendence, His sovereignty over His creation, His kingly authority, His value of life, His purity, His goodness, His wisdom, His justice, His wrath and His lovingkindness. We can learn all of that from the Law of God. And so it’s true to say that from the Law the Jew learned to rest in theLaw, to Boast in the God of the Law, and to understand and learn God’s will and God’s standard for excellence from the law.

Let’s keep reading.

Role as Priest

Romans 2:19–20 NASB95

19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth,

In verses 19-20 we see the same pattern of four distinctives followed by a statement that acts as the basis for those distinctives. Verse 19, “19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth,”

Paul moves from describing the Jew’s privilege relative to the law in verses 17-18 to describing Israel’s role in sharing that Law to the Gentile world. At the end of verse 20 we see the basis for this role. Because they had the Law which embodies knowledge and truth, (1) they were to guide the blind with this law, (2) they were to light the dark world with this truth, (3) they were to use its wisdom to correct the foolish, (4) and they were to teach the immature with its knowledge.

Again, this is not a negative thing that Paul is condemning Israel for. It is certainly true that God’s law is the embodiment of knowledge and truth. And it was their role to guide and shine and correct and teach. God made His law known to them and they in turn were to make God known to the nations. This was a priceless privilege and and honored position. So what is wrong here Paul?

Divine Dishonor

Romans 2:21–22 NASB95

21 you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? 22 You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

We find out in verses 21-22 where Paul gives a final set of 4, this time in the form of rhetorical questions, “21 you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? 22 You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?” See that Paul is not condemning their teaching of others, he is implying that they failed to follow their own teaching. As Jesus said of the Pharisees, “they preach, but do not practice”

Now some argue that the accusations that Paul makes in these verses is unjust. Certainly, not everyone in Paul’s audience was an adulterer, or a thief, or plundered temples, which was a common practice in that day. Certainly, Paul himself, the Hebrew of Hebrews, never engaged in these practices. But what Paul is doing here is using a rhetorical device found in the extrabiblical Jewish literature of his time where one would indict his whole audience of sin by exposing the most egregious and appalling sins of a few. He uses blatant and shocking examples to illustrate the reality that they had all violated the law they taught. These horrifying acts hypocrisy were gross demonstrations of what was rotten at the core of every unbelieving Jew. And even if a Jew could say, “No Paul I have never stolen, I’ve never commited adultery, I’ve never robbed a Temple, and it’s unfair of you to lump me in with them.” Their mouth would have been shut upon hearing Paul’s final question, look down at verses 23, “23 You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God?

Romans 2:23–24 NASB95

23 You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? 24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.

Notice that Paul does not repeat the same pattern of verses 21 and 22. He does not ask them if they break the Law they boast in. It’s assumed that they are guilty as charged. The rhetorical question is a stinging one, “do you dishonor God?” They are the ones who boast in God, they are proud to know the name of YHWH, to tell of His mighty deeds, to celebrate His feasts, to sacrifice to Him, and yet they bring Him shame.

Paul continues his indictment in verse 24, “24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” just as it is written.” The dishonor that they bring is tantamount to the violation of the third commandment. “God’s name is not praised because of you. No the Holy name of God is blasphemed because of you.” Remember that at the core of Paul’s condemnation of the unbelieving gentiles was that they even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks. And Paul’s point here is that the unbelieving Jew is guilty of the same exact sin. And they failed because they did not practice what they preached.

They were supposed to be a blessing to the Gentiles. They were supposed to cause the gentiles to marvel at the wisdom of the Law. They were supposed to guide the blind to the God of the Universe. But through their life of disobedience they lied about the nature and character of the God they worshiped causing the blind to blindly proclaim that their God was worthless.

Application

Dear friends, know this, God is greatly dishonored by those who blaspheme His name with their lawlessness. When we most often think of taking the Lord’s name in vain we think of using his name as an expletive and that is the most narrow way of thinking about violating the 3rd commandment. No, the most common way and the most heinous violation of this command is hypocrisy.

We as Christians bear the name of Christ, it’s baked into the name itself, “little Christs”. We take his name in vain when we live contrary to who He is. Be careful then, how you walk dear saints. As Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:11-12 “11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

Dear beloved, ask yourself this, do those in my life see the character and teaching of Christ because of how I live? Or am I a source of their misunderstanding about Christ because of how I misrepresent Him? Be careful to represent the name of Christ rightly to the watching world around us.

Lastly, I just want to speak to those of you who may be feeling discouraged and even filled with doubt about the validity of Christianity because of the recent and very public fall of several evangelical leaders, or because of the way you have seen Christians act or talk. Please do not abandon Christ because His representatives disfigure His beauty. I’ve been there, in your shoes. Frustrated, upset, bewildered and broken, and feeling really close to just giving up. But as one pastor put it, “The One who reveals and manifests truth is Himself the truth worth holding forever and ever.” Turn your eyes away from the sources of your discouragement and fix them to Jesus of the Gospels. Read and see for yourself of His infinite beauty and love and power and kindness and truth and cling to Him. Hold fast to Him, and take hope that He will also hold you fast.

With that, let’s move on to our second section, the Divine Honor to the True Jew.

The True Jew’s Praise

Circumcised Sinners - vs 25

In this final segment of his argument, Paul sets his sights on the chief sign of God’s covenant favor that the Jew clung to: their circumcision.

Romans 2:25 NASB95

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.

Like baptism is for the Christian, circumcision was an outward sign of a spiritual reality, that one was a part of the covenant people of God. But what was intended to be a sign, turned into a means of self-justification. It was unthinkable that a circumcised Jew would not receive salvation from God’s judgement. It was the sign that they were the elect.

Now in the Old Covenant the blessings of God were conditioned on circumcised persons obedience. Again I will read Exodus 19:5 to you so you can hear this condition, “5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples.

Which is why Paul says this in verse 25, “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.” Paul’s point is this your external signs of election and covenant blessing, your external signs of being a Jew, have zero value if you transgress the law. The external signs point to nothing if internally, your heart is rebellious and stubbornly set against God. This is how Paul described the heart of the unbelieving Jew in Romans 2:5. They had a hard and unrepentant heart and this led them to their hypocritical sinfulness. And so, because internally their heart was just as hard set against God as the gentile, their external circumcision was regarded by God as uncircumcision and therefore they were to receive His wrath instead of the blessing they assumed was theirs.

Uncircumcised Law-Keepers

Romans 2:26–27 NASB95

26 So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law?

And to make his point even more astonishing, Paul introduces, what for the Jew, is the most inconceivable reality, read with me verses 26, “26 So if the uncircumcised man keeps the requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? That first word, so, can also be translated as therefore. Paul’s drawing out a lesson from the truth he just taught: If what truly matters is covenant keeping obedience from the heart, then the uncircumcised man who keeps the Law of God, will be regarded by God as circumcised. The gentiles, who keep the law, are considered true Jews, truly circumcised in God’s eyes. They are, we are His covenant people.

Paul continues to consider the uncircumcised law keeper in the next verse, “27 And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law?”Remember that in verse 1 of this chapter, Paul rebukes the circumcised Jew for passing judgement on the wicked, uncircumcised, gentiles. But here, in verse 27 we see an ironic reversal. The gentile who keeps the law, will not be under judgement, but will participate with Christ in judging the transgressions of the unrepentant Jew. And these two realities, that God regards gentiles as truly circumcised and that those gentiles will judge the Jews on the last day, would have been shocking to Paul’s audience.

True Jewishness

Romans 2:28–29 NASB95

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.

With the word “for” in verse 28, Paul moves to conclude his point, “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.” True Jewishness is not an ethnic reality and true circumcision is not an outward sign. Being born into the family of Abraham and being circumcised on the 8th day does not make one a true Jew. The true Jew, and this is the point of the entire section and the entire chapter, the true Jew is born again and circumcised by the Spirit of God. It is the Holy Spirit who makes uncircumcised Gentiles into truly circumcised Jews. According to Paul here, circumcision is not a cutting away of outward flesh, but a cutting away of the hardness of one’s heart - it’s an internal change of the heart. And just as one can not re-enter into his mother’s womb to rebirth himself, one can not circumcise that which is not physical.

What must be done to our hearts to produce true obedience can only be done by the One who requires true obedience from the heart- it can only be done by God and God alone.

Spirit Promised

And the amazing thing is that Paul is not teaching something new here. The very law of Moses prefigured this exact reality. In the beginning of Deuteronomy, Moses calls on his hearers to, Deuteronomy 10:16 “16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.” You see, Moses knew that if the stubborn and rebellious nature of the heart was not removed, the Israelites would fail to keep the Old Covenant. The problem is, what was essential for their obedience was impossible to attain by themselves And at the end of Deuteronomy you read of how Moses prophesies that this inevitable failure will lead to experiencing the covenantal curses for disobedience, curses that find the ultimate end in exile from the Promised Land.

But Moses’ prophecy doesn’t end there. He looks forward to a future time where Israel will experience a Divine intervention, Deuteronomy 30:6 “6 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.” You see God promises to do what needed to be done. He will circumcise the hearts of the people. In Deuteronomy 30 Moses goes on to say that when this happens, the Israelites will repent of their sin and return to God and obey His voice and God will restore them.

In the book of Ezekiel we see this same event prophesied, Ezekiel 36:26-27 “26 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. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” See that along with this divine heart surgery, God gives His people the gift of the Holy Spirit who then causes them to walk in HIs statutes and obey His rules. The prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 31 describes this gift, this circumcision of the heart by the Spirt as part of the New Covenant; the same New Covenant that Christ with His blood on the cross.

And what I want you to see with that context is that Paul is talking about Christian gentiles in these verses in Romans 2. They have the Spirit thus proving that they belong to Christ. Romans 8:9, “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”

Furthermore, the lives of the Gentiles of Romans 2 demonstrate the work of the Holy Spirit within them. If we look back through Romans 2 we can see that because of the Spirit’s work one is ,vs 7, able to persevere in doing good. It is because of the Spirit that one, vs 10, does good and a justified doer of the Law - verse 13. It is because of the Spirit that one is able to, verses 26-27, keep the requirements of the law.

You see, your ability to obey God, to keep the law does not originate from your own will power. You do not depend on our own strength to fulfill the command to be a doer of the Law. You can’t do it apart from God, by your own strength. That is what Paul means when he says that inward circumcision is not by the letter. The Jews adhered to the external letter of the law and treated it as a ladder by which they tried to climb to heaven.

But Paul is saying that we are dependent on the Spirit’s regeneration and the Spirit’s assistance to be obedient to fulfill the law.

Dear friends, I stress this point again because I want you to see clearly that Paul is not teaching legalism or works based salvation. Law keeping is not our source of justification. Law keeping is a fruit that comes from the source of the Spirit. And if this language of Christians keeping the law is making you uncomfortable, listen to how Paul describes it later in the book of Romans, Romans 13:8 “8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” Love is the fulfillment of the law. As Jesus taught, the entire law depends on loving the Lord and loving your neighbor. And according to Paul, what is the first fruit of the Spirit? Love.

Simply put, Christ came to fulfill the Law in His life. He paid the Law’s penalty in His Death. And He sent His Spirit, so that we who are justified by Faith in Christ can now be law keepers as we follow after Him.

Gospel Call

Now, dear friend, if you are here and you are trying with all of your might to earn God’s favor, if you are doing everything you can to be a good person so that you escape God’s judgement, let me tell you, the road you are on is a hard road. You will grow weary because you feel that there is so much good that you have to do to outweigh the bad. You will grow tired as you see so many of your friends enjoying the things you abstain from. You are not on the highway to hell like them, no, instead you are on the long and windy road leading to the same exact fate. You simply can’t be good enough to save yourself. Instead you will get to the end and say Lord, did I not prophesy and cast out demons, and do mighty works and do the in your name? And He will say to you, I never knew you, depart from me, you worker of lawlessness. That is awful news.

But the good news is this, dear friend. You don’t need to earn your way to heaven, you need to trust in the Way, Christ Jesus. He has lived that perfect life you are trying to attain to. On the cross, He bore the wrath of God that you are trying so hard to avoid. The forgiveness for your sins can be yours, His perfect righteousness can be yours, if you cease your working and rest in Him. And guess what, He gives His Spirit to those who believe in Him, to help you follow Him. Trust in Jesus and by His Spirit’s help live a life of loving Him and loving others. It’s that simple.

Jewish Jealousy

Now I have two more brief points to make before we conclude.

First, the reason why Paul concludes with this teaching about the regeneration of the uncircumcised gentile is that he is appealing to the most powerful emotion that can drive the Jew to Christ - jealousy. As we just saw, the circumcision of the Holy Spirit and Spirit empowered obedience were promises made in the Old Testament to the Jews. The New Covenant was and is promised to the Jews. “And so Paul is saying, hey you guys are missing it! You are missing out by rejecting Christ and choosing instead to trust in your circumcision. Look at these Gentiles, they’re keeping the Law, they have the Spirit of God! The New Covenant is here! Come to the same salvation of grace by faith that thy have experienced.

Divine Praise

Lastly, look with me back at the last part of verse 29, “his praise is not from men but from God” To borrow from Philippians, God begins a good work in us through the Spirit’s regeneration and He brings it into completion by the Spirit’s help in sanctifying us, and guess what in the end we are rewarded for all of that with His praise. This is amazing. Through the Spirit we are made into a New Creation, and just as in Genesis, God will look upon us His finished and say, “it is very good.”

Furthermore, in light of such divine praise, we should be freed from needing the praise of men. More often than not, why we do what we do and dress how we dress and think and talk in the ways we do is because we want the praise of our peers. Who cares! Obey the law by loving God and loving your neighbor and you will receive the praise of the Almighty God. What a freeing reality.

Concluding Applications

Hypocrisy dishonors the Divine, but the Divine praises obedience flowing from a Spirit circumcised heart.

Be Careful

Dear brothers and sisters since God is greatly dishonored by those who blaspheme His name with their lawlessness, let us be careful to represent the name of Christ rightly to the watching world around us. We bear His name, we are His image bearers, may we properly mirror the majesty of our Lord.

Be Encouraged

Furthermore, may we be filled with encouragement and thanksgiving that God praises those who obey Him from the heart, a heart that He circumcised by His Spirit.

Be encouraged dear saints that your holiness is seen by your Father and He is pleased. Oftentimes it feels that there isn’t enough time in the day to please the Holy God. There is always more we can do, more prayer, more devotion time, more evangelism, more ministry. We could always be better, better Christians, better spouses, better parents, better friends, better neighbors. I want to quote Hole in Our Holiness to you once more, DeYoung writes, “Our good works are accepted by God, not because they are “wholly unblameable and unreproveable in God’s sight,” but because God is pleased through Christ to accept our sincere obedience, although it contains many weaknesses and imperfections. God not only works obedience in us by his grace, it’s also by his grace that our imperfect obedience is acceptable in his sight. And even the smallest act of obedience is an event worth celebrating.”

Be encouraged, our praise is not from men, who’s praise is fickle and who’s voice will fade. Our praise is from our Lord who sees all and knows even the secrets of our hearts. This is an amazing and astounding reality. He, the Holy One, will say to us in the end, well done my good and faithful servant. Moreover, when He comes again and establishes His kingdom He will exult over us with the loudest most beautiful singing human ears have ever heard. So then, beloved brothers and sisters be encouraged to continue to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” Our praise is from Him.

Be Thankful

Lastly, be filled with thanksgiving, beloved, that we have received the Spirit’s circumcision. The reality that we have received this gift of the Spirit, that God we have been regenerated should move us to worship our God. As Peter says in 1 Peter 1:3-4 “3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,” Thank God today for His mercy and grace!

As we learned, this was a promise made to the Jews in the New Covenant. But, as Paul has said to the gentile, to you and I in Ephesians 2:12-13 “12 you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” We were far off friends. We were destitute, despised forsaken, but we have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Thank God!

If the Spirit of God has made you alive, if you can look at your life and see love produced by the Spirit, hope produced by the Spirit, joy produced by the Spirit, peace produced by the Spirit if you see God working in you, praise Him, worship Him, thank Him. Be thankful to Him that He has adopted you, a gentile and given you a seat at His table. Praise Jesus for He is not just the King of the Jews, He is the King of Kings. He is not just God with them, He is Immanuel, God with us! Amen

Let’s Pray

Prayer

Oh Lord we praise you and we thank you for your word today. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but your word oh God endures forever.” God, we thank you for you have made us alive together in Christ by the work of your Holy Spirit. And we ask that you would help us to rightly bear your name and bring you honor with our obedience. Produce in us, Lord, the fruit of your Spirit whom you sent to circumcise our hearts. Jesus, it is in the power of your Holy Name We pray this, Amen.

Benediction

God is greatly dishonored by those who blaspheme His name with their lawlessness, but He praises those who obey Him from the heart, a heart that He circumcised by His Spirit. So then be careful, be encouraged, and be thankful.

Allow me to dismiss you with the same benediction I read to you last week. Hebrews 13:20-21 “20 Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” You are dismissed dear friends.