Matter Of The Heart
Text: Rom. 2:25-29
Introduction
1. "Anyone who has ever taught or attempted to lead others knows the tendency in all of us toward exaggerating our depth of character while treating leniently our flaws. The Bible calls this tendency hypocrisy. We consciously or subconsciously put forward a better image of ourselves than really exists. The outward appearance of our character and the inner reality (that only God, we, and perhaps our family members know) do not match." (C.S. Lewis)
2. We've all heard the phrase, "Don't judge a book by its cover!" Well that is a double-sided saying. One can say, "Don't underestimate me by what you see on the outside," but the opposite is also true, "Don't overestimate me by what you see on the outside."
3. You can look all righteous on the outside and be a mess on the inside. What really matters is what is inside; in the heart.
4. In our text Paul talks about...
A. Outward Sign
B. Inward Sign
C. Heart Sign
5. Stand with me as we read Rom. 2:25-29.
Proposition: A true Christian is one who has been changed on the inside by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Transition: First, Paul talks about the...
I. Outward Sign (25).
A. Jewish Ceremony Of Circumcision
1. While the law was the sign of the covenant that God made with the Israelites at Mt. Sinai, circumcision was the sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham.
A. It signified that they were God's chosen people and that He was there God.
B. Genesis 17:9-10 (NLT2)
9 Then God said to Abraham, "Your responsibility is to obey the terms of the covenant. You and all your descendants have this continual responsibility.
10 This is the covenant that you and your descendants must keep: Each male among you must be circumcised.
C. In NT times it was the defining ceremony when a Gentile became a Jew.
D. You might remember back when we studied the Book Of Acts that this was a major problem in the NT Church because Jewish Christians insisted that when a Gentile became a Christian they had to be circumcised.
E. So, it was a big issue, and Paul it seems was always in the middle of it.
2. In v. 25 he says, "The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God’s law. But if you don’t obey God’s law, you are no better off than an uncircumcised Gentile."
A. Paul begins here by saying, "The Jewish ceremony of circumcision has value only if you obey God's law."
B. The verb "value" means to "profit" in terms of their relationship with God.
C. In other words, Paul is saying that for a Jew being circumcised does you no good if you do not obey the law.
D. When we disobey God's law it breaks the relationship, we have with Him, and that's what the Jews did in not keeping the law.
E. That's why Paul tells them, "But if you don't obey God's law, you are no better than an uncircumcised Gentile."
F. Just like the Gentiles they stood condemned before God. In Galatians 5:2-3 Paul says,
G. Galatians 5:2-3 (NLT2)
2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you.
3 I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses.
H. Since they have failed to keep the whole law, which nobody could do, then circumcision does them no good.
B. New Creation
1. Illustration: You are not a Christian until you receive a new nature and if you receive a new nature there will be evidence.
You can educate a pig to stay out of the mud and eat differently but on a hot day with fellow pigs he will resort to his normal nature and dive happily into the mud. If you could give him a new nature, say, the nature of a cat, when the test of a hot day and welcome mud came, he would not be happy in the mudhole even if his friends persuade him to join them again, he has a new nature, new desires. He does not think he is better than them, he just does not enjoy those things anymore.
2. How someone appears on the outside is insignificant compared to how they actually are on the inside.
A. Galatians 6:15 (NLT2)
15 It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.
B. It doesn't matter if you wear the right kind of clothes.
C. It doesn't matter if you speak "Christianese."
D. It doesn't matter if you have a bigger Bible than everyone else.
E. It doesn't matter if you wear a big golden cross around your neck.
F. No, what really matters is being a new creation in Christ.
G. What matters is being transformed, changed on the inside, by the Holy Spirit.
H. How you appear on the outside only matters if how you are on the inside has been changed.
Transition: Next, Paul talks about the...
II. Inward Sign (26-27).
A. His Own People
1. Now Paul moves from the Jews to the Gentiles. His point in these next two verses is that the Gentiles who have been changed on the inside are closer to God than Jews who have been changed on the outside.
2. In v. 26 he says, "And if the Gentiles obey God’s law, won’t God declare them to be his own people?"
a. If breaking the law makes the Jews as if they were "uncircumcised," then doesn't keeping the law make the Gentiles as if they were circumcised?
b. Now this does not mean that we can work our way into Heaven, because we know that no one is good enough to get into heaven on their own goodness.
c. James makes this clear in James 2:10 where he says,
d. James 2:10 (NLT2)
10 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God's laws.
e. Paul's point here is that Jews and Gentiles were in the same boat; neither of them were good enough to please God and they both needed the grace of God that can only come through Christ.
3. Then Paul makes a statement that I am sure infuriated the Jews. In v. 27 he says, "In fact, uncircumcised Gentiles who keep God’s law will condemn you Jews who are circumcised and possess God’s law but don’t obey it."
A. Now up until this point the Jewish people were not really happy with what Paul was saying.
B. Remember, they were a proud and arrogant people, and so they thought they were better than everyone else.
C. What Paul says in this verse must have made them absolutely boil! Not only does he say that circumcision does them no good, but here he says that the Gentiles judge them on the day of judgment.
D. While this is unusual, because Scripture says that in the end God will be the final judge.
E. However, Scripture also says that the saints of God will also participate in judgment on sinners.
F. The Jews saw this as being the other way around, and they would be the ones standing in judgment over the Gentiles.
G. So not only were the Jews and Gentiles on equal footing before God, but the Gentiles would stand in judgment over the Jews!
B. New Person
1. Illustration: In the Welsh Revival of 1901, under the ministry of Robert Murray McCheyne, so great was the revival that every tavern and pub in Wales went broke.
How many anti-alcohol sermons did McCheyne deliver? None.
How many tirades against taverns? Zero.
People simply lost all interest in alcohol when they got touched by the Lord.
2. The true measure of a follower of Christ is inner change.
a. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT2)
17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
b. You can go to church, but if it doesn't change you it means nothing.
c. You can serve in the church, but if you are not changed it means nothing.
d. You can give to the church, but if you are not changed it means nothing.
e. A true follower of Christ has new priorities.
f. A true follower of Christ has new desires.
g. A true follower of Christ has new dreams.
h. A true follower of Christ has a new purpose because they have been changed from the inside out!
Transition: So Paul talks about an outward sign, an inward sign and a...
III. Heart Sign (28-39).
A. A Change Of Heart
1. It's been said that God has no grandchildren! What that means is that you cannot get into the Kingdom because your parents are people of faith. Everyone has to get into the Kingdom because their heart has been changed.
2. In v. 28 Paul says, "For you are not a true Jew just because you were born of Jewish parents or because you have gone through the ceremony of circumcision."
A. Paul makes it clear here that it doesn't matter who your parents were, or what ceremonies you've been through.
B. He says you cannot be in a right relationship with God simply by having the law or the covenant sign of circumcision.
C. These are outward and external signs and they do not make us right with God.
D. Since Jesus has come it's the internal signs that matter. In other words, it's not the circumcision of the flesh that matters, but rather the circumcision of the heart that makes us right with God.
E. And this was the case from way back in the OT. In Jer. 4:4 it says,
F. Jeremiah 4:4 (NLT2)
4 O people of Judah and Jerusalem, surrender your pride and power. Change your hearts before the LORD, or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins.
3. Paul then takes it a step further in v. 29, where he says, "No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather, it is a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people."
A. Paul gives this an entirely new meaning, because this inward sign is now completely realized in Jesus and made possible by the Holy Spirit.
B. The true follower of Jesus seeks praise from God and not from people.
C. This message is just as important for us today as it was in Paul's day.
D. It's just as easy today to focus on outward signs like church attendance, activity and outward forms of righteousness.
E. But these things do not impress God; He is more concerned with what's going on inside.
B. A Heart Of Flesh
1. Illustration: There is no better example of heart in community than the life of Ebenezer Scrooge in the Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol. We watch the miserly, pointy-nosed, blue-lipped, red-eyed grouch barely giving his trusted employee Bob Cratchit time away from work on Christmas Day to be with his family. When the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future visit with Scrooge, his life becomes a well of generosity and unrestricted compassion for people. A changed heart meant a changed man and as a result changed relationships with his community members.
2. When someone becomes a follower of Christ he gives them a new heart!
a. Ezekiel 36:26 (NLT2)
26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
b. The problem with people is not who their parents.
c. The problem with people is not their economic or social standing.
d. The problem with people is not their surrounding or education.
e. The problem with people is their heart.
f. Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT2)
9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?
g. But God says, "I will give you a new heart!"
h. He changes us from the inside out and makes us new people because of what Jesus did on the cross!
Conclusion
1. In our text Paul talks about...
A. Outward Sign
B. Inward Sign
C. Heart Sign
2. THREE THINGS TO REMEMBER...
A. CEREMONIES AND RITUALS DON'T MAKE YOU A TRUE FOLLOWER OF CHRIST.
B. INWARD CHANGE IS THE SIGN OF A TRUE FOLLOWER OF CHRIST.
C. GOD WANTS TO TAKE OUT YOUR OLD HEART AND REPLACE IT WITH NEW, BETTER HEART.
