Romans 1-2

Thank you, Mr. Smith. Is this on? Can everybody hear me?

Okay. Let me get my books together here, and we'll be ready in a moment.

Books, books, books.

Well, we're glad to have our friends down from the Central Valley.

And because you are down here, we're going to go 10 hours rather than 1, so you'll know everything that proceeded. I'm just teasing. When you say that, then you cut it down. Everybody's really happy, no matter how long it goes, because it won't go that long. But we want to bring you into what we're doing here right now. We're going through the Book of Romans. Very important book, and let's review for a moment how important the Book of Romans is. You know, we look at the entirety of Scripture. We can look at the books and the epistles that are in the New Testament. And we could say that, if we want to, that all of God's Word mutually excels every other word of it. That all of the epistles, in a sense, mutually excel. But Romans does have a very, very special spot in Scripture, and there are reasons why it is given. It is very interesting. In its placement in canon, when you look at it, you have the Gospels, and then you have the Book of Acts, and then you have Romans. Now, there are two reasons that you can ascertain from that. There are 100 commentaries that will basically give you two reasons. But let's just consider these two. Number one, you might have said, well, that Rome was the imperial capital at the time. And thus, in lieu of that, it took a premier spot in the course of the layout of the epistles.

But I would suggest, more so, that it's scriptural relevance and its importance to us as Christians to remind us of why we can't do it on our own. And why to live a righteous life apart from God is an impossibility is the main reason why it is the first that is listed of Paul's epistles.

Very important, indeed. I'd like you to turn to Romans 1. I'd like to just read it for a moment. We haven't read this for a while. And I hope that this will, in a sense, encourage us, if not enthrall us, if not inspire us, as to what God is doing. Because to understand the Bible, that Paul was not just simply writing to the Romans that he had never yet met, and this was a means of introduction of the Gospel that he would bring to them, but these are really God's words. Paul was just writing them for us. And that as we read this, even though this was written 2,000 years ago, God's plan is ageless for you and for me. And to recognize that this is literally God-breathed and God-speaking to you and me. Paul, verse 1, chapter 1, a bondservant of Jesus Christ called to be an apostle, separated to the Gospel of God. We come back to this very basic point that Paul looked upon himself as a slave of Jesus Christ. He was a bondservant, and indeed that he was not his own man. And the one that he had surrendered himself to was none other than the Christ, called to be an apostle, indeed separated to the Gospel of God. It's very interesting that you see these words together, bondservant and or slave, doulos, an apostle, all within a breath, all within words of one another. That Paul always expressed himself both in one breath with humility and with privilege. He was humbled by what God had done with him and for him and was doing in him, and at the same time, nonetheless, understood what a privilege it was for him to do what he was. And he was separated to the Gospel of God. This may be a double entendre, because we remember that Paul had been a Pharisee of the Pharisees. And a Pharisee literally means a separated one. And basically, at that time, they were separated to a way of life that was predicated and founded upon the law.

But now he uses it in a different sense, separated to the Gospel of God. The profundity, the majesty of these words, should just simply go right into and through our skin and into our hearts. To recognize that what he was separated to was not to that which is of man, but of none other than God, the Good News of God. That this was not just simply organizationally derived. This was not just simply derived from a concordance. This was not just simply derived from his fathers or forefathers. But there was a direct connection that the God of this universe has Good News for every human being that has ever lived. And to recognize that when we convey the words of God—let's think about this in Bible study—when we're talking to somebody, that what we're conveying when we go to Scriptures, we're conveying the words and the will of God. If we're not doing that, we'll be conveying ourself. Or we'll be conveying something earthly. When we convey the words, we convey the plan of God. It is the gospel of God, which he promised before through his holy prophets in those holy Scriptures, concerning his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. Now, what's very interesting is you take out, if you want to for a moment, verse 2—and we'll put it back in, because you can't take away too much from God's Word or there's a problem with that—but if you just took it, verse 1 to verse 3, Paul, a slave of Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the Good News of God, what is that Good News about? Concerning his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord, who was born. The Good News, the Gospel News, is that of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. And declared, verse 4, to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the resurrection from the dead. That's why understanding and believing in the resurrection is so very, very important. It is the power of God. It is that the love of God was demonstrated by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You might want to jot this down. The love of God, for you and for me, was demonstrated by the death and or the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The power of God, I didn't say the love of God, and there is power in that love, but the power of God is demonstrated by the resurrection. And that power, that same spirit, that same force, is given to you and to me to open up not only a tomb, but to open up the Scriptures that lie before us.

And notice what it says, "...through him we have received grace and apostleship." Notice, "...for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name." And obedience to that faith. Now, this is interesting, and I'm going to share something with you for a moment. And I've done this before over the years, and I'm not going to do it so much anymore. You say, well, what is that? Oftentimes, to explain Paul, I've run to James. And James is there to kind of tag team with Paul. You've done that. I've done that. God, through Paul, though, explains both faith and works. You don't have to run to James. For James to say, I'll show you my faith, you show me your works, you show me your work, you know, it goes back and forth like a yo-yo. You can do it right in this epistle. Notice what it says here. Obedience to the faith among all nations. This is now not just going to be for Israel, but for everybody, for His name. All we do is to move forward in the name of Christ, as we see in the end of Matthew 28. But notice the obedience to the faith. In other words, the obedience to the faith is not only recognizing that Jesus is Savior, but responding in our life that He is by inculcating His ways and yielding ourselves to Him. In other words, the salvation that Paul is speaking about in this obedience to the faith. What is the faith? The faith is mentioned up here in verse 1 through verse 3. Good news! That takes faith, especially in the world that you and I live in. Have you been reading the headlines recently? That there really is an answer, and there really is good news that you and I can have. That is the faith. Faith that God loved us so very much and desires relationship with us that He would give us His own Son. How do you know? And I just talked about this with the class upstairs. How do you know that God loves us? And it says, God is love. Three words. How do you know that? How do you understand that? Because God gave His Son. He gave the Creator. He allowed the creation to kill the Creator. That's how I know God loves me. And I know that He has the power to back up that love through that resurrection. And there is an obedience to the faith. Join me, if you would, at the very end of the Book of Romans. Let's go to the end of Romans here for a moment. Maybe you've never seen this before. I really need it in my other Bible. One second here. I kind of didn't have the time to transfer from the baptism class until now. I'm looking for... Let me read it through here. God is able, verse 25, to make you strong, just as the good news says, it is the message about Jesus Christ and His plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time. But now, as the prophets foretold and as the eternal God has commanded, this message is made known to all Gentiles everywhere, notice, so that they might believe and obey Christ. Thus to God, who alone is wise, be the glory forever through Jesus Christ, Amen. One thing that is very interesting, you might want to jot this down as a book in the fact of Romans. Obedience is mentioned right up front, right up front in Romans 1 and verse 5. Yielding to God, not only knowing that God sent His Son, but obeying the Father and obeying the Son. Christianity is not cheap theology that, oh, just believe on something, then you can do what you want to do.

There is the O factor, the obedience factor. And here, of all things in the book of Romans, in which some people think you're liberated, it's right there. It is the bookend effect of Romans. Now, as we move forward, we went through chapter 1, and chapter 1 was basically God talking about the Gentile world and talking about how He had given them up to their ways.

I want to now go into chapter 2, and I want to take us here. I'm not going to go through every verse because I don't have time, and I have just the time to deal with what I want to today. And here's the point of Romans. Romans basically goes with this sequence. Let's remember that God knows who just to plan in the church or to plan in the history at just the right time.

And here was a man named Paul who was born a Jew, a Jew of Tarsus, a man of spiritual pedigree. Tarsus was a free city, and thus he was exposed to being a Roman citizen. And being an Asia minor, he was exposed to the Greek world and the Greek poets and the Greek philosophers. If you want to put it this way, you might want to jot it in your notes and see it's a class.

You might say that Paul truly was what we might call a Renaissance man. He had his fingers in everything. He understood the Jew. He understood the Greek. He understood the Roman. This was no mistake. God sees things before they are because it was through the apostle Paul that God was going to reveal that all humanity has fallen short. So Paul begins with this background. He takes it on in chapter 1, the world around, what we might call the Greco-Latin world, and how in a sense they had gone their way. And God basically said, okay, you're going to go that way, you're going to go that way.

It says that God gave them up. It doesn't mean that he pushed them out the door. You have to understand that he didn't push them out the door. But he basically said, life is a matter of choices. I've given you free moral agency. You're going to reject me. You're going to go that way. You're going to weep the whirlwind. It says that God abandoned them.

Now you've got to recognize that as you go through chapter 1, and as this is being read to the Roman church, you've got to recognize that probably in the church were both Jews, and there were also the Greeks and the Romans. And so when this was mentioned at first, it's like a ballgame where the football is going back and forth.

It's kind of how Romans is until Romans 3.23. We'll get to it there at the end. The Jews are there. That's it. I hope it's sinking in. I hope they really get it. Do they? Are they unbelievable? Boy, what mercy God has had on those Gentiles to even bring them in the church.

They are so lucky. I hope they appreciate it. And I don't even know if they appreciate it because look what happened. That's kind of chapter 1, as God through Paul takes apart the Gentile community. Now I know none of us in this room have ever done that when something's being spoken and just say, I'm just applying it to myself.

No, sometimes they're saying, I hope they're getting it. I hope there's a wake-up call. I hope the bell's ringing. Well, then we go to chapter 2, verse 1. I'm just going to go over this very briefly because I want to get to the second part. Therefore, you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are, who judge for whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who judge, practice the same things.

Now Paul moves from dealing with the Gentile world, what we might call the world at large, and he begins centering on the covenant people, saying that whoever you are, you judge for whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself for you who judge, practice the same things. Basically, Paul takes now the covenant people, the Jews that are within that community, saying, you know, before you look at the other person, and the splinter that's in his eye, you've got a moat.

You also are blinded. You who think you are the good church folk, you who think you are so good and so righteous, God has issues with you too. For you who judge, you who feel that way, notice, practice the same things. As we did before, if you notice, verse 1, verse 2, and verse 3, all talk about practicing. Practicing a way of life, a lifestyle, actions that have become habits, habits that have absorbed a life to where you don't even really know who you are.

And basically, what Paul is doing with the Jewish community here within the church is basically saying, you've got a big problem with self-righteousness thinking you stand on the law alone. That's a hard thing to do. Can I ask you a question? May I? You're all looking like, what's the question going to be? Good. That's where I want you. Have you ever tried to tell a self-righteous person they're self-righteous? Have you ever tried to go through that wall? But that is what Paul is doing.

And have you ever tried to tell an individual, an individual who sincerely believes that they are doing God's will, that they're going the opposite direction from what God wants them to be? That's one tough chore, isn't it? Maybe you've been involved in such a conversation. That's a conversation that Paul is involved in with the Jewish community here. And he goes down then talking about this, and he comes up to verse 11 now. For there is no partiality with God. He's laying the path towards Romans 3, 23, which I'll mention at the end here.

There is no partiality. And this is mind-boggling to the Jewish ear, the Jewish heart that's hearing this, that there's really no difference between them and the Gentile. That was not really in their educational repertoire for 1,500 years. For notice verse 12 now, For as many as have sinned without law, will also perish without law. And as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. Now before that, let's understand. I need to go back just a second. We'll delve into this. What is happening here is that between chapter 1 and chapter 2, remember chapter 1 is about basically the Gentile world. Chapter 2, Paul is dealing with the Jews.

In chapter 1, there is the great truths of the Greco-Latin world, marvelous understandings about the universe. They had certain truths that maybe others did not have about the physical world around. Here in the Jewish community, they also had truth. They had the truth of the law. And the law is a beautiful and a wonderful thing. They had the truth of the sovereign God that had called their forefathers. But the difficulty is this, and this is what Romans is going to continue to lead us to. Whether it's truth that the world has, or truth that people that read the Bible have been called by God to be different, whether it's truth of Scripture and truth of education, truth without transforming your heart, truth without really changing your existence to where you are in obedience to the Gospel, the good news that God has saved all of humanity, truth for truth's sake will take you to the grave.

It is only truth that transforms one's life that makes a difference. So he says there is no partiality with God. And whether, for as many as have sinned without law, will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law, will be judged by the law. Now, that's very interesting. You see, for as many as people that have sinned without law will also perish without law, well, that doesn't sound fair. You might want to jot this down in your notes just to keep you in the class.

This is what we might call the unwritten law. You might want to jot that down to see what's going to happen here for a moment. The Gentiles did not have the knowledge of the law, as did the Jews, speaking of the law of the Bible. But Paul is saying they are still going to reap the penalty of breaking God's law, even though they didn't know its existence.

That doesn't sound very fair, does it?

Do you think it sounds fair?

Not sure.

That's the way it is. Now, how does this work in real life? Now, I'm looking at a Christian audience, and I know none of you have ever gotten a speeding ticket before. Am I talking to the right group? Or any other ticket? Have you ever seen that famous light in your rearview mirror, and you're pulled over, and the officer comes over, and you're hoping he's just going to talk to you, but he's gotten to the license and the registration, and you know, you're cooked. But basically, what's the first thing that you say? Hi, officer. It's not cop. Hi, officer. How are you doing today? Who, me? And then, what's the next thing that you go with? I'm not from around here. I've tried that one. No, not says I can't. No. I'm not from around here. And then, if that doesn't work, you'll say, I didn't see the sign.

And here's the bad one. I didn't see I was in a school zone or a construction zone. Because you were not aware, because you did not see the sign or see where you were, does that take away the penalty of what is about to occur? Allow me to use another example. You're on top of a two-story building.

And whether you meant to, or whether it was an accident, you fall off a two-story building. Do the same laws apply, whether you did it wittingly and or unwittingly. Is Mr. Newton still correct about the law of gravity and its effects? For every cause there is an effect. Allow me to bring it down deeper.

You are in this way of life. You're a church member.

You commit adultery. You commit fornication. For every cause there is an effect. Are those causes and effects that go into play with yourself, your inner self, your family, those that you know, maybe the job? Do they become different than the person that doesn't know the law, hasn't known Christ? Are there certain immutable laws, unwritten laws that go into effect, whether you know or whether you don't know?

Here we have this played out. What's happening is basically this, because remember the Gentiles got it first, then Paul turns his attention over to the Jews, saying, you had the law and you blew it. Now the Gentiles are going, yeah, it's about time. Now Paul's on them. Now Paul brings it back, basically showing that everybody has fallen short.

For not the hearers of the law are just, and Jim, if you could pass that out now, I'd appreciate it. For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. That does not sound too Paul-ing, does it, in theology? Let's read that again.

For not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law. Boy, doesn't that sound like James? I'm asking you, does that not sound like James? Join me, if you would, in Romans 4.

I'm going to be reading out of the Bible, transphobia.

And or to be justified. Now Paul writes this in Romans 4.1-2, but we have this proceeding in verse 13. For the hearers of the law, doesn't that sound like James 1.22? For not a hearer but a doer of the law are just in the sight of God, will be justified. What do we understand? Is Paul conflicted? Because sometimes people think he is.

Let's understand something. You might want to jot this down, please. Paul, in using the Greek, uses just or justification in two senses. Let's go with number one. One way that he uses it in Scripture is a justification and or a grace bestowed upon us by what only Christ can do and has done. That is one form of the word that he uses, justification. That our rescue comes only from outside of ourselves, not by anything that we have done, but only that which God can provide by His grace through Jesus Christ. Again, number two is simply this. In other places, and in this place, the term justified is used in a behavioral sense. You might want to jot that down that is keen to our discussion. In a behavioral sense. Justification is not just simply an activity and or an event, but it is an existence that you and I live in by God's grace. Let's understand that. After acceptance by God the Father, by being justified in Christ, Paul is stating this. The believer must live, desire as it were, to continue in a state of justification in order to remain justified. Justification is not just simply an event or a one-time activity. It is a way of life, of relationship with God. And if we believe in God, that belief will be translated by our obedience. Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words. I can say I believe in Jesus Christ. I can say I can believe in God the Father. But if nobody sees any relevant exhibit of the Father's example or Jesus' example, talk is cheap. How can they know that I am in obedience to the Gospel if I don't do that? Verse 14, For when Gentiles... Oh, that's what I want to do. I want to read through this a second. Does everybody have this? This is a wonderful expression. It comes from Mr. Barkley. It's nothing like a Scottish preacher and Scottish commentator. Let's look at this for a moment. This is speaking of the passages that we just went through. Of all passages of Paul, this deserves to be studied most carefully in order to arrive at a correct idea of what Barkley entitles, Paulinism. It is often argued that his position was that all matter is faith. In fact, you know that Martin Luther took Paul's words and wrote faith alone. A religion... Now, if I can make a comment as a teacher and as a Christian communicator, this is utterly profound what we're about to read. It actually stunned me at the first reading. Of course, I can get stunned where maybe you don't. But nonetheless, stunning can be subjective. A religion which stresses the importance of works is often contemptuously waved aside as being quite out of touch with the New Testament. Nothing could be further from the truth. God, said Paul, will settle with each man according to his deeds. To Paul, a faith which did not issue in deeds was a travesty of faith. In fact, it was not a faith at all. He would have said that the only way in which you can see a man's faith at all is by his deeds. One of the most dangerous of all religious tendencies to talk as if faith works were entirely different and separate things. There can be no such thing as faith which does not issue in works. Nor can there be works which are not the product of faith. Works and faith are inextricably bound up together.

However, in the last analysis, can God judge a man other than by his deeds? We cannot comfortably say, I have faith, and leave it at that. Our faith must issue in deeds, for it is by our deeds. We are accepted or condemned. And you see in my own handwriting, I was doing some extra research. Notice what it says here. Profession does not take place of production. They go hand in hand.

Now, let's continue here then for a moment. Verse 14, For when Gentiles who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these also not having the law, thus are a law unto themselves. What does that mean? That's kind of verbose and maybe misunderstood. Again, that's why we're talking about, in a sense, what is called the unwritten law. Let's understand what's being talked about.

Let's remember that going back to the beginning, there were two trees. There is the tree of life, and there is the tree of good and evil. And humanity chose to operate off the tree of good and evil, of which there is a certain amount of good. When Adam and Eve began human civilization, they did have that knowledge, that two-sided knowledge of good and evil. And since that time, everything man has done has been basically a mixture of good and evil.

Look at Babylon. Look at Egypt. Look at society down through the ages. Therefore, it is no surprise to see that man's laws themselves, the laws that we're talking about here, are a mixture of good and evil. Most civilizations, think about this for a moment, most civilizations have laws against stealing, but know nothing about stealing from God. Most have laws against murder, but still go to war with their neighbors. Man's knowledge of God's ways is generally limited to the physical principles.

God's laws move beyond that. God's laws extend, are richer, and are deeper. They're not simply to promote and defend society as it is now, but to bring the kingdom of God. Paul is simply pointing out that even apart from God, people can figure out that there are laws that are necessary for the protection of civilization.

Even when people disagree about what is right and wrong, there is still an inherent right thing to do in society versus that which is inherently wrong. We might call it, if you want to jot this down as a note, there is a human instinctive knowledge that comes from the choice of the tree of good and evil. Who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness between themselves, their thoughts, accusing or else excusing themselves. In the days when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. Now, very interesting.

We do need to understand that in the Greco-Latin world, there was no eschatology that had a divine being as judge. Are you with me? There was no eschatology or any future rendering of where God judged the actions of man. This is why, whenever Paul speaks about this, either on Mars Hill or here, it was astounding to the audience that they never contemplated that.

That they were responsible, as you and I are, for our actions. That there is a rendering, that there is a time of accounting. You and I read this today, when God will judge the secrets of man. This was startling to that audience in that day. And startling even to the Jewish aspect of that audience, thinking that in their righteousness that they stood on the law. Now, notice what begins to happen. Indeed, it goes back to the Jews now, indeed you who are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God, and know his will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, and are confident that you yourselves are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law.

Now, what Paul is doing here is, he's basically going off of the many things that the Jewish community said of themselves about the Gentile world. Now, in all fairness, let's talk about the world of antiquity. And how would you like to have all of these people in one audience? In the Hellenistic mind, anybody that did not speak Greek, and that was outside of Achaia, was basically called a barbarian. That's where the term comes from. A barbarian is one who was not Greek. Are any of you Greek in here? Any of you have a little of the baklova in you? No? Nobody's Greek in this whole room?

Wow! I was going to... Walt, would you do me a favor? Can you be a pretend Greek for a moment to make this happen? Can you raise your hand?

The rest of you are barbarians!

Now, turn around as fair play.

To the Jew, everybody else had been pushed off the earth by God. Yuck! The Jew had no relationship with the outside world, even though they said all of these things here that Paul is saying, or will be a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, etc.

You who abhor idols, do you rob temples, and you who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For the name of God... Now, this is important. We're going to kind of finish up here in these verses. For the name of God is... not maybe... no, maybe here... is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, as it is written. I'd like to go to Berkeley again. I'd like to read from page 49.

Speaking about the relationship between the world of old and the Greeks and the Jews around them. Have you ever... Are you a little bit like me, if I can talk personally? Were you ever in class with somebody that you just kind of wanted to shove a little bit? Maybe as a boy, do something else when you were young. Just somebody that rubbed you the wrong way. I always say this, and I have all of you looking at me like, Wow, what was he like as a kid? When sometimes there's just somebody that, frankly, unfortunately, is obnoxious. Some of you are now beginning to nod. I do not feel so alone.

You know, sometimes people can be spiritually obnoxious.

And they forget the grace of God, of what God's called them from, and where he wants to take them. And this was the case with the Jews who had been given so much. And you know, Paul's reminding them about the blessings of the covenant, but he's basically saying, you've handled it all the wrong way, and then, you know, you've made the law bigger than the God who gave you the law. You've gotten all messed up, my fellow countrymen.

There were two special things of which the Jews were accused. They were accused of atheism. I've never, you know, think about that for a moment. The ancient world had great difficulty in conceiving of the possibility of a religion without any visible images of worship. Pliny called them a race, speaking of the Jews, distinguished by their contempt for all deities. Tacitus said the Jews conceived of their deity as one by the mind alone. Hence, no images are erected in their cities or even their temples. This reverence is not paid to kings, nor this honor to the Caesars. Juveniles said this, they venerate nothing but the clouds and the deity of the sky.

The Jews were the most misunderstood people in the world. And you say, well, yes, because they were God's people, and they had God's law, and because that's the world, and they were the Jews. And there's a truth, and there's a part of that.

And for that, they are to be commended, for they're honoring the God that cannot be conformed to image. But that was not the real reason of what was going on. But the truth is that what really moved the Gentile to such dislike was not so much the imageless worship of the Jews as the cold contempt in which they held all other religions. Did you notice that? Cold contempt. No man whose main attitude to his fellows is contempt can ever be a missionary. Now, this is a Scottish preacher talking about missionaries. But ask yourself on this Sabbath day as a people of peace. As Paul said, my gospel, that means he owned it. And as we own the good news, as we are a part of God's family, as we're a part of his church, what level of contempt do we have for the other children of God that just haven't been called yet? Here it is called contempt. This contempt for others was one of the things which Paul was thinking of when he said that the Jews brought the name of God into disrepute. They were accused of hatred of their fellow men. Hatred. Misanthropia. And complete unsociability. Amexixia. Tacitus said of them, speaking of the Jews, among themselves their honesty is inflexible, their compassion quick to move. But to all other persons they showed the hatred of antagonism. In Alexandria the story was that the Jew had taken an oath never to show kindness to a Gentile and that they even offered a Greek and sacrifice to their God every year. Tacitus said, and that could have been a rumor, we'll leave that one alone, Tacitus said that the first thing Gentiles converted to Judaism were taught to do was to despise the gods, to repudiate their nationality, to disparage parents, children, and brothers. Juvenile declared that if a Jew was asked the way to any place, he refused to give any information except to another Jew. And if anyone was looking for a well from which to drink, he would not lead him to it unless he was circumcised. Here we have the same thing again. The basic Jewish attitude to other men was contempt, and this must ever invite hatred in answer. One small paragraph. It was all too true that the Jews did not bring the name of God into disrepute because they shut themselves into a rigid little community from which all others were shut out and because they showed to the heat an attitude of contempt for their worship and complete lack of charity for their needs. Real religion is a thing of the open heart and the open door. Judaism at this time was a thing of the shut heart and the shut door. Interesting. Interesting how God chides, pushes us forward to make sure we that have been given the revelations of God are grateful to God without showing contempt for others. I have a question for you because I told you this would be spiritual and not just a study exercise today. How much contempt do we have for others outside of our church, outside of our general spiritual community? How do you and I look at the world, which after all, when we understand the fullness of God's plan, are the future children of God, to recognize that ultimately they are the future shareholders along with us? Paul, an apostle separated by God, was trying to drill a hole in the wall of self-righteousness. Basically, the Jews in the first century thought that we have ours.

We have ours. We have God in our pocket. We have God in our billfold. We own God. We own the law. We own the revelation. And everybody else falls short. Just a basic question to ask all of us as we begin to conclude. How do you feel about those that are around us that aren't here today? Do we pray for them? Do we long for the day when God's kingdom will come, and their minds and their hearts will be open? Do you know how often I say that the hallmark of the San Diego and the Redlands congregation is to, number one, have an open door? Number two, to have open hearts? And number three, to have an open Bible? You say, well, that just sounds like a cute bumper sticker. There goes Weber again with his open talk. I think that's God talk. I think that's Paul coming through to our church today in the 21st century. Let's conclude these verses. I'll just read through them to cut it short. Because it says, You've been blasphemed. You've blasphemed God even though you thought you were doing God a favor. For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law. But if you are a breaker of the law, your spiritual circumcision has become uncircumcision. You're only dealing with the externals. You're not doing any better than Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden by putting a fig leaf on. That's external religion. That's not getting to the heart of the matter, which God always has wanted to do in having a relationship with people, is not only acknowledging that He's a great Creator, but surrendering ourselves to Him as His children. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? Paul says this, verse 26, is the real Jew. This is the man of God. And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. God doesn't want to whittle on the outside of the male organ. He wants to whittle on the inside of the hearts of both men and women, to mold them into his similitude and into his spiritual image. But he is a Jew. He is one who is in relationship with God, who is one outwardly, inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God. I would take questions, but I've gone long enough, and we'll entertain some of those questions in the course of while we're preparing for the potluck. I hope, just in conclusion today, we maybe have a different perspective. Maybe you came here thinking today that I'm standing on this, I'm standing on that. You know, I'm really okay. I'm all right. My own life has been motivated, especially over the last half year, as I came to a phrase I've used it once. I'll use it again. I think this is what Paul was speaking to. It's been deeply embedded on my mind. It's when I read the phrase that Jesus Christ did not come to make good men better. That's where the Jews were in the first century. They thought they were pretty good.

Jesus Christ did not come to make good men better. He came to take men that were dead alive. That is the Gospel. That is the good news. What better sharing could I share with you today other than that?