How many of you believe that God desires a relationship with people?
Why would God create people if He doesn’t want a relationship with them?
Now, is it right or wrong to brag about a relationship with God? When one brags about a relationship with God, is the focus on God or self?? Bragging is about self!
God desires a relationship with people and we are to have a relationship with God, but when we brag about our relationship with God we are elevating ourselves above everyone else which is a sin! Please open your Bibles briefly to Matthew 23; we read in v1-12……….
We are studying the Letter to the Romans and the back half of Chapter 2 relates to what the Lord Jesus was talking about in Matthew 23. The beginning of Romans tells us that the main point of the letter is the Good News of Jesus Christ and how it relates to life. The Letter to the Romans is about what a Christian is and how to live the Christian life! The author indicated that the M-O, the modus operandi, for every Christian should be the Gospel. Do we think about the Gospel everyday? We should!
The Gospel is Good News because there is bad news for those who deny God and Jesus Christ. God has revealed Himself through Creation! God has revealed Himself by giving His Laws to the Prophets as written in the Old Testament. And of course God has revealed Himself through Jesus Christ, who died for the sins of all people including the Jews. Now, because the Jews were given God’s Law, many Jews in the Roman church thought they were better than anyone else.
Before reading our text this morning, let us pray together our commitment to God’s Word…..
Read along with me Romans 2:17-29………
Through the Apostle Paul who himself was a Jew, God spoke to the Jews who were in Rome. Because the letter was written to the church in Rome, the Jews to whom God spoke to were either Jewish Christians or wondering about Christianity. There were good things and bad things that were said about those Jews.
What were the good things said about the Jews in that church in Rome?
1. relied on the Law (the Law of course referred to the OT)
2. saw a relationship with God
3. knew that the Old Testament is God’s Word
We read in v18-20 that the Jews depended on God’s Word for God’s will and final authority in life. Do we do this??
And in v19-21, we can note that the Jews were
4. convinced to tell everyone the power of God’s Word
Do we tell people today about God’s Word?
Those were good things about the Jews in Rome 2000 years ago! They were very religious! But some today will say, “Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship!” Let us be careful with this! Yes, Christianity is not a religion as generally defined, but this doesn’t mean Christians are not to be religious! On the contrary, Christians are to be very religious in following Jesus Christ!
Now, let us never forget that the Jews were and still are special people to God! God worked through Israel in the past and God will work through Israel in the future. But of course, everything God has done and will do through Israel points to the Savior and Lord Jesus Christ!
Sadly of course, Jews in the past, many now in the present, and many in the future reject Jesus Christ and His teachings! What did the Jews in that Roman church do wrong?
1. bragged about their relationship with God (v7)
Again, when people brag, they are elevating themselves above everybody else.
But even worse, the Jews in Rome not only bragged about their relationship with God, we read in v21-23, they
2. contradicted what they said with their actions
Today, we would say that they didn’t walk the talk!
Again, it can be said that Christianity is not a religion but a relationship, BUT, does our relationship with God match up with what we do?
And what can we note from v25-27? The Jews in Rome did things to show off to the world when their hearts were actually closed to God. The Jews in Rome
3. did things to impress the world rather than God!
In other words, they were religious to impress people not to worship God.
And in verses 24 and 29, we can note two things which resulted from the wrong things that the Jews in Rome did:
v24 – God’s Name was blasphemed among the Non-Jews
In other words, the testimony of God lost its power!
v29 – tells us that God does not praise those whose focus is only impressing people rather than having the right heart.
In other words, God was not pleased with those Jews in Rome! God does not praise those whose focus is only impressing people rather than having the right heart.
How is our hearts?
God spoke to the Jews in Rome about their serious problem. Did God offer a solution?
The main message of the Letter to the Romans is the Good News of Jesus Christ and how it relates to life!
Look again with me v28-29………..
God looks at the heart first! All the things that people do externally are meaningless to God unless the heart is right with God.
As we participate in this worship service and in communion later, if our hearts are not right with God, this time will be meaningless!
And so, in two chapters of the Letter to the Romans, God declares both the religious and non-religious people guilty of sinning against God. Take a peek with me Rom 3:19 -24
The solution for every person’s problem of being unrighteous to God is the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Look back quickly to Romans 1:16-17………..
Let us conclude with biblical principles for us today.
1. Do we all understand that doing good works on the outside will not save us from the wrath of God?
This is very important because most people today believe that if they do enough good things, God will accept them. In Matthew 7:22-23, Jesus said to people who were trying to impress God with their good works, “I never knew you!”
Like the Jews tried to do, if people can attain righteousness with God by their own efforts, there would have been no reason for God Jesus Christ to become a man and die on a cross!! If anyone can work their way to heaven, you can throw away the significance of the cross; you can throw away your Bible; you can take all the things that happened in the world because of Jesus Christ!
A right relationship with God starts at the cross of Jesus Christ not with good works!
Right now, if you think you can work your way to heaven by doing good works, be ready to be surprised when you die; for all your good works will be wiped out by a single lie or impure thought! And so,
2. Only the personal belief in the good works of Jesus Christ for us can make us right with God!
If you have never done so, believe and receive Jesus Christ as your Only personal Savior and God.
And finally, as Christians, let us not be like the Jews in Rome who bragged about their relationship with God.
3. Be careful of boasting! We are all equal at the foot of the cross! Remember the warning of Jesus to the Pharisee in Matthew 23:12…….
Let us all be careful of trying to impress other people!
God is looking at our hearts! Everything we do should be to honor and glorify our Creator God, our Lord Jesus Christ!
