Text- Romans 2:17-29
Title- False Security
Romans 2:17-29 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, 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, 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? 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. 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. 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? 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.
I. The False Security of Heritage
II. The False Security of Knowledge
III. The False Security of Religion
OK, Time for true confessions. How many of you had a security blanket growing up? Both my girls have their favorite blankies. Lilly’s has Dora on it, and Gracie’s is pink with a satin trim.
Security blankets are important because they are soft, familiar, and comfortable. They give you a feeling of peace and reassurance. Whenever I put Grace down for a nap she will say- blanky- and I know that she won’t go to sleep until I hunt it down and bring it to her.
When we get older we don’t really completely outgrow the concept of a security blanket. We just get more grown up security blankets, like insurance policies and savings accounts and German Shepherds. We all like to have a sense of security and well being.
That isn’t only true for the temporary things here in this life. We also like to have a sense of security when it comes to eternity. We all want to have some sort of reassurance that we will get to heaven when we die.
The problem is that sometimes people can create for themselves a false security. They might have five deadbolts on the front door, while the back porch is wide open. We can convince ourselves that everything is OK, that we are on the right track, that we are healthy and probably not going to die anytime soon. We can lull ourselves into a real sense of false security.
False security is especially dangerous because it gives us the impression that everything is OK, when in fact we are in real danger. It blinds us to the truth. It prevents us from seeing things the way they really are. It leaves us vulnerable and weak and in grave danger.
When it comes to our eternal security there are countless ways in which we can create a sense of false security. In the section of scripture that we will be looking at today we will see three specific areas of false security that people can get trapped by.
Follow along as I read Romans 2:17-29…
Before we dive in, let’s do a quick review. It’s been a few weeks since we left off in chapter 2. If you remember, Paul starts off this book by describing the sinful state of the human heart. In chapter 1 he talked about how God has tried to get our attention through general revelation, but we turned our backs on Him and created idols.
In chapter 2 he addresses the self-righteous, arrogant person who believes that they are not going to be judged by God because they are such good people. Paul says, sorry, your sinful and condemned too.
Part of the problem with this second group of people is that they really believed that they were secure because of who they were or what they did. Paul reminded them that God doesn’t judge using human standards, but His own standard of perfection.
The passage we are dealing with today is where Paul explains to these self-righteous people why their security is false. He list some of the things that they take comfort in, and shows them to be worthless.
First, Paul addresses the false security of heritage. The specific group that Paul has in mind here are people who are pharisaical Jews. Jews who thought that they were secure simply because they were Jewish. They felt that they were accepted by God simply because they were the chosen people, the ones who God had given the Law.
Verse 17 says…
Paul wants to make sure that everyone understands their situation. Everyone is a sinner, everyone is guilty before God, everyone is deserving of God’s judgment. This is true for the Jew, the gentile, the rich and the poor. Paul doesn’t want those who are Jewish to fall into the trap of believing that they were somehow exempt from this truth.
The name “Jew” was one that they took pride in; and rightly so. This title for the people of God came from the name Judah. Judah was one of the twelve tribes and was the name of the southern kingdom. During the time of their captivity by the Babylonians the name Jew was associated with all the people who were descended from Abraham and Isaac.
The root meaning of the word Judah is “praised”. The Jews were a people who had been praised and blessed by God. They took great pride in the fact that God had chosen them and blessed them.
The Jews during the time of Jesus took great pride in their heritage. They felt they were superior to the gentiles. They considered themselves to be the only people that God loved. They had forgotten the part of the Abrahamic Covenant were God said that “in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Their security was in their birthright. They thought that they were saved simply because they were born into a Jewish family. They had placed their confidence in their heritage rather in God. They had created a false sense of security.
This kind of false security isn’t unique to the Jews. Christians are guilty of this same mistake. There are many people who were born to Christian parents, grew up going to church, and have an understanding of who Jesus is, but have never given their lives to Christ. They believe that because their parents were Christians that they are to.
The US is still considered a Christian nation in large part. There are some who believe that they are Christian simply because they are American. Polls regularly show that a majority of Americans consider themselves Christian. The numbers decrease when you start to add words like “born again” or “evangelical” or “Church going”.
In 2007 Barn research found that 43% of Americans consider themselves born again. That seemed like a high number.
Christianity is not a state religion. It isn’t something that we gain membership into by birth. Being American does not make you a Christian. Christianity does not come from being born in the right country to the right parents. Although that does help.
When we look at different passages in scripture we can see that having believing parents should give us an advantage.
Deuteronomy 6:5-7 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Those of us who grew up in a Christian home had the advantage of hearing the gospel from early on. Those of you who have children have the responsibility of teaching it to you children.
But being born into the right family doesn’t automatically make you a Christian. At some point you have to make your faith your own. At some point we all had to take our own step of faith and make our own commitment to God.
As a former Christian school student and a former Christian school teacher, I have seen first hand how many kids mistakenly believe that they are Christians just because they have attended a Christian school since they where 4. But attending a Christian school doesn’t make them Christian.
Being born in a Christian family, in a Christian country, even attending a Christian school, doesn’t make a person a Christian. Those are all things that can be a false security. Just like being born a Jew wasn’t enough for the people of Paul’s day.
Have you been relying on the false security of heritage? Can you pinpoint the point in your life when you made your faith your own? Do you really know Jesus Christ as you own personal lord and savior, or are you just going along with what your parents taught?
Romans 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
False security also comes from knowledge. Look at verses 17-24 with me again…
The Jewish people had a knowledge of the Law. They had been given the Law by God; they had studied it, they had interpreted it, and reinterpreted it. They felt like they knew God’s will. They considered themselves teachers of the law. The Jewish leaders that Paul addresses here saw themselves as a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher to the immature, because they had “the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth.”
They did indeed have God’s special revelation of Himself to them. They had a knowledge of the truth. But knowledge alone isn’t what makes us right with God. It isn’t enough to know stuff about God. Paul was trying to help them understand that their knowledge of God’s law wasn’t enough.
That’s another avenue of false security. It’s easy to know stuff. For some people it is very easy to read the Bible. It’s easy to know stuff. Some people are very intellectual and heady and might mistakenly believe that knowing about God is the same as knowing God.
James explained the difference between knowledge and faith this way…
James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-- and shudder.
Believing in God is a good start, but there is more to it than that. James is saying, “Ok, so you believe that there really is a God, great, even the demons in hell know that.” Believing that that god exists isn’t something special, and it doesn’t make you right with Him. Satan knows that there is a God, and it scares him to death.
Knowledge without faith is worthless. There are few things more unfortunate than the agnostic. The person who believes in some sort of God, but doesn’t really want to obey Him.
Intellectual Christianity is a dangerous thing. It is very easy for us to know the truth, but to be so entrenched in our own way of living, our own habits, our own pride, that we never make God the God of our lives.
Knowledge is such a dangerous form of false security because knowledge is an essential ingredient in saving faith. We have to know the truth of Jesus Christ before we can put our faith in Him. We can’t come to a true belief with out knowledge. But it has to move past that point of understanding to the point of humbly handing over our lives to Him.
We need knowledge of God to be saved, but knowledge alone doesn’t save us. Make sense?
Do you know God? Have you made a commitment to give your life to Him? Do you have a faith and a love and an experiential belief in God? Have you gone past the point of knowledge and made Christ the lord of your life? Are you under a false impression that because you have heard the gospel and you have a passive belief that God exists that you are saved?
Romans 10:9-10 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Finally, Paul warns about the false security of religion. Look at verses 25-29 with me again…
The most important religious rite for the Jewish people was circumcision. It was a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant. It was a required for every child to be circumcised on the eighth day. If a person wanted to convert to Judaism they had to be circumcised. Even their slaves and servants needed to be circumcised.
Paul asks that self-righteous Jewish person, “You might be circumcised and have the sign of the covenant, but you break God’s laws, ignore Him, and act like a pagan. Do you really think you are OK with God?” Do you really think that that religious rite saves you? Are you so foolish that you honestly believe that just because of what your parents did for you when you were a baby that you are going to heaven?
Paul has to explain that it isn’t their religiosity that that saves them, but their commitment to God.
This is one of those areas of false security that still does so much damage. There are many religious rites that Christians practice that can give a sense of false security.
Many churches practice infant baptism. But baptizing babies is completely, 100% unbiblical. You will not find even a hint of the practice anywhere in the Bible. I believe that the practice has caused a great deal of confusion and might even have misled people into thinking that they were saved because of it. Baptism, at any age, isn’t what saves you.
Church membership isn’t what saves you either. Some think that because they have been accepted into fellowship into a body of believers that they are accepted by God. This is part of the reason that we have the system for church membership that we have in place here. To be a member here you need to baptized as a believer, give a clear profession of faith, undergo an interview by two of the deacons, and then finally be voted in by the congregation. We don’t want to send the wrong message. We want people to understand that membership to a church isn’t what makes you saved.
Others mistakenly believe that church attendance will make them right by God. I’m sure we’ve all known people who live like hell during the week, and then go to church on the weekend as some sort of penance. They think that going to church makes up for their immoral live the rest of the week. It doesn’t.
That’s exactly the kind of person that Paul has in mind here. The person who believes that their religion saves them. Paul wants all of us to know that it is not religion that saves, but a relationship.
Some of the absolute scariest verses in the Bible are in Matthew 7:21-23…
Matthew 7:21-23 21 "Not everyone who says to me, ’Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ’I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Talk about frightening. In the end these people come before God and say, “Look at all these great things that I did for you. Look at all the stuff I did in your name.” Jesus will say to them, I never knew you, get out of my sight.
What are you planning on telling Jesus when you stand before Him? Will you say, “Look, I was baptized, took communion regularly, went to church every week, gave money regularly, taught a Sunday school class, served as a deacon, helped at various charities, and named my kids John, Paul, and Mark.”
Will Jesus look at you and say, I never knew you. Are you doing religious things simply to fit in, or for the praises of man, or because your wife makes you, or because you think you have to? Jesus says that it is not the religious person that will be saved, but the one who does the will of the Father.
In the end, it isn’t about doing things to please God. It is about giving your life over to God. It is about humbly accepting the fact that we are all sinners and all in need of Christ.
Religion without the relationship is empty and worthless. It is a false security. Have you lulled yourself into a sense of false security simply because you come to church? Have you confused religious rites and churchy stuff for a real faith? Have you made Jesus Christ your personal lord and savior? Do you know Him? More importantly, when you die will He know you? You can fool me, and other people, but in the end, will Jesus Christ recognize you as one of His own?
Romans 10:11-13 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-- the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
I don’t want any of us to fool ourselves. Every single one of us needs to ask, “What is the foundation of my faith? Where does my security lie?” Is your security found in your family, your knowledge, or your religious practices? Or is your security grounded in the fact that you have called on the name of the Lord? If you haven’t done that, it’s time to do it right now. Please bow your heads with me.
If you are not sure that you have every truly made Christianity your own, I want to give you the opportunity to do that right now. Simply let God know that you accept the free gift of eternal life that Jesus offers. Let Him know that you are willing to put your faith, and trust, and your whole life in His hands. Ask Him to transform you, to change you, and to lead and guide you.
