Sermon Tone Analysis

Romans 2:17-29.

"Examining the Heart"

Safe Haven Community Church.

Sunday August 14th, 2022.

Romans 2:17-29.

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. (ESV)

As we see the soon coming end of summer, public speculation has risen to what life will be life in the fall.

Are we headed into a recession?

Will it be severe?

Will things like doctor and nurse shortages, inflation, supply chain problems, pandemic and lock down measures and the like be forthcoming?

Right now, there is so much uncertainty.

The problem with such uncertainty is that people long for economic security, job security, marital security, national security, health security, home security, security of social position, and many other kinds of security.

It is the natural impulse of self-preservation to want security.

Yet, despite the claims of independence and self-sufficiency that many people make, they know instinctively that, in themselves, they are not completely secure.

A measure of economic security can be had from such things as having a long-term work contract, working for or owning a business that has proven to do well even in hard times, or by having a diversified portfolio of investments.

A measure of home security can be achieved by burglar alarms, high fences, or watch dogs.

A measure of national security can be had from a well-trained, well-equipped military force.

But history and personal experience have proved over and over again that such things cannot guarantee absolute security.

When they bother to think about it, most people hope for some form of eternal security.

If they do not believe in heaven and hell, they hope death will be the end of existence, that it will usher them into an impersonal, unconscious nothingness, or recycle them through another lifetime in an endless linking chain of lives better than the ones before.

But the Apostle Paul has already declared unequivocally that, whether they realize or admit it or not, everyone, even the most worldly non-believers, know something of God's "invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature" (Rom.

1:18-21).

Every person, Jew and Gentile alike, has the witness of heart and conscience, by which they are able to discern basic right from wrong (Rom.

2:14-15).

And all people know to some degree that those who do not live up to God's standards of righteousness are "worthy of death" (Rom.

1:32).

Most have this gnawing fear that God is going to judge their sin, that one day they will be held accountable for the way they have lived.

And Scripture says they will live and die only once, "and after this comes judgment" (Heb.

9:27).

Far from being cruel and insensitive, the Christian who loves people over their own comfort and discusses these ultimate realities with those headed for judgement does a great service to those they warns.

If a person is to be commended for warning a family that their house is on fire or that a bridge they are about to cross might collapse under them, how much more is a believer to be commended when they warn the unsaved of their lostness and condemnation apart from Jesus Christ.

No greater kindness can possibly be offered a person than that of showing them the way of salvation.

But before one can come to the realization of needing salvation, the unbeliever must first be convinced that they are lost.

Therefore, having shown how both the moral Jew and the moral Gentile alike will be brought before God's great tribunal in the end times and have no basis for any sense of well-being and security apart from Christ (Rom.

2:1-16), Paul now focuses exclusively on those who have knowledge of the law of God.

With having greater light and blessings than those who do not have the scripture, the apostle now points out, that greater privilege makes people more accountable to God, not less, as those who misunderstand grace.

In Romans 2:17-29 through the tool of the law of God, people are confronted with Examining the Heart.

In this examination the law brings 1) Inward Conviction (Romans 2:17-20), 2) Outward Failure (Romans 2:21-24) and requires a matching of the 3) Inward to the Outward (Romans 2:25-29).

First, the law of God calls for Examining the Heart and brings:

1) Inward Conviction (Romans 2:17-20)

Romans 2:17-20.

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-(ESV)

The minor prophets repeatedly warned their fellow Jewish countrymen about arrogant boasting in their heritage as God's chosen people, which caused many of them to think they could sin with impunity.

As the heirs of God's promise to Abraham, many believed they were automatically protected from judgment.

But Micah declared that wicked, corrupt Jews who presumptuously said, "Is not the Lord in our midst?

Calamity will not come upon us," would one day find their holy city of Jerusalem "plowed as a field" and left "a heap of ruins" (Mic.

3:11-12).

Pride in their being the chosen people of God made some Jews absolutely blind to reality, not only religiously but politically (cf.

Mt. 3:7-9, Jn. 8:31-56).

The name "Judah," from which "Jew" is derived, means "praise" and, therefore, whenever a Jew rejoices in aspects of his Jewishness he needs to be thinking about whose praise he desires and what praise, if any, he will ultimately receive from God (Briscoe, D. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982).

Romans (Vol.

29, p. 71).

Thomas Nelson Inc.).

* Countless people since the time of Christ have considered themselves safe from God's judgment simply because they have been born into a Christian family or have been baptized or belong to a church or have made a profession of faith.

Some people consider themselves Christians virtually by default.

According to Scripture, however, a person who is raised in a Christian home and trained in a Christian environment is not saved by such a heritage, valuable as it is.

Nor does baptism, or any other Christian rite in itself, possess or bestow any spiritual benefit.

Apart from true faith held by the person receiving it, no ritual or ceremony has any spiritual value whatsoever.

The second false religious security Paul mentions is knowledge of God's Law, which in this context represented what we now refer to as the Old Testament.

This Law represented not only the Pentateuch, the five books of the Mosaic law, but also what were called the writings (Psalms, Proverbs, etc.) and the prophets.

This Law encompassed all of God's revelation until that time: His revelation about His covenants, His blessings, His cursings, His warnings, His promises, His rites and ceremonies, His moral standards, and His teaching about Himself and about humanity and the plan of redemption.

Taken by itself, this statement by Paul might seem to have been a commendation.

But as he soon makes clear (see vv. 21-25), it was a strong indictment, because the Jews did not live up to the Law they knew so well and praised so highly.

Most Jews of that day were proud and self-righteous about their heritage and had come to rely upon their knowledge of the Law and their boasting in God as means of satisfying the Lord.

But since it was impossible for anyone to keep all of God's law perfectly, some of the rabbis began teaching that merely learning the facts of the Law was sufficient to please God.

Weakening the purpose of the law still further, some taught that the mere possession of it, in the form of written scrolls, was sufficient.

Still others taught that Jews were safe from God's judgment simply because, as a people, they were the specially chosen recipients and custodians of God's Law.

The only way for sins to be forgiven, now that Christ has come, is through the death of Christ.

Thus, those who now adhere to the Mosaic covenant have no means to obtain forgiveness of sins, for the OT sacrifices are now passé.

The only means of atonement is the cross of Christ.

Old Testament believers, however, were saved in the same way as NT believers, in the sense that they exercised the obedience that comes from faith.

Salvation has always been by faith, but now the fulfillment has come of what the OT promised (Schreiner, T. R. (1998).

Romans (Vol.

6, p. 138).

Baker Books.).

Please turn to Jeremiah 7

When ungodly Jews would boast in God it was really a means of boasting in themselves, in the unique privileges and blessings they thought were theirs by right rather than by grace.

The Old Testament makes its purpose quite clear, and it repeatedly warns against Jews placing their trust in outward ceremonies and objects, even those, such as the priestly sacrifices and the Temple, which God had ordained.

We see this through Jeremiah, recorded in Jeremiah 7:

Jeremiah 7:1-15.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2 "Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD. 3 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.

4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.' 5 "For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, 6 if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.

8 "Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.

9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!'-only

to go on doing all these abominations?

11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?

Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD.

12 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.

13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and when I spoke to you persistently you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer, 14 therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.

15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim.

(ESV)

* In other words, spiritual safety and security was not in the Temple but in God Himself and in faithful obedience to the divine truth and righteousness which His Temple represented.

Back in Romans 2:18, it is the self-righteous, presumptuous who are satisfied simply to know (God's) will, without obeying it.

They knew what God required and what He forbade, what He commanded and what He prohibited, what He approved and what He disapproved, what He rewarded and what He punished.

But rather than saving them, such knowledge becomes a judgment against such a presumption, when people refuse to live by it and refuse to accept the remedy for such failure.