THE HEART OF THE MATTER EXPOSES US ALL
.
Rom 2:16-29
When Jesus had His encounter with the Religious elites, the keepers and teachers of the Law we read this. “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.” John 2:23-25. “He Himself knew what was in man.”
THINK ABOUT IT!
A
holy God knows what you are thinking and feeling at this very moment.
A
holy God knows what you did, and said, yesterday and yet He still allows you to
breath.
A
holy God knows your anguishes, pains, weaknesses, worries and sufferings.
A
holy God knows what you’re going to do, after the service is over.
A
holy God knows how you feel towards others in the sanctuary right now.
A
holy God knows if you truly want to be here this morning at CBC.
A
holy God knows if you’re truly His and where you will spend an eternity.
“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him” 2 Chron 16:9. God is seeking those who are sincere and upright in heart; whose graces are sincere and sincere. Though they are not complete or perfect, nor are they free from sin, but with a heart that sincerely believes in God. Everything comes down to this fundamental principle as Jesus said, “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45
The scripture describes the
heart as
a window into our souls.
The Heart Is A Picture Of Our Sin. “The LORD saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually.” Gen 6:5
The Heart Is A Picture Of God’s Remorse. “And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” Gen 6:6
The Heart Is A Picture Of A Wrong Relationship With God. “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;” Matt 15:8
The Heart Is A Picture Of Our Unbelief. “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Rom 1:21
The Heart Is A Picture Of Our Depravity. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” Jer 17:9-10
But there is also another
picture God uses to
describe the heart in scripture.
The Heart Is A Picture Of God’s Forgiveness. “And I will give you a new
heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of
stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26
The Heart Is A Picture Of Perseverance. “Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!” Psalm 27:14
The Heart Is A Picture Of Genuine Christian Love. “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,” 1 Peter 1:22
The Heart Is A Picture Of Genuine Brokenness Over Sin. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:17
The Heart Is A Picture Of Those Who Will See God. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Matt 5:8
As we approach this chapter! R C Sproul said "The Word of God can
be in the mind without being
in the heart
Before he brings us to the gospel he examines our condition under the Law. Paul exposes God’s covenant people for their outward praise of God, but not in their hearts.
They
were called “Jews” which means “praise to Jehovah”.
They
were God’s chosen people, the “apple of
His eye” Zech 2:8
They
relied upon the possession of the Law (The Torah).
They
were the only ones with special revelation to God’s will for them. Exo 4:22
They
bragged regarding God, and boasting in God, because of them being His favorite.
They
approved of what is superior. Dietary laws, lifestyle restrictions, worship
instructions.
They
discerned what were essential. They strived themselves to make superior moral
judgments above the Gentile people.
They
were instructed from the Law. The law was a light unto their feet.
Comparing themselves to the Gentiles, they look like saints in their own eyes. But in reality they were just as spiritually blind, and lacking, as the Gentiles. Paul exposes that it’s not their: heritage, their knowledge, nor their ceremonies (circumsion), will protect them from God’s righteous judgement. Jesus said they were hypocrites, lip service believers only, “I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" John 5:43-47
What pierces the heart of the religious Jew also pierces the heart
of the religious man or woman sitting in
the pew.
We can imagine we are okay in God’s eyes, but in reality in danger of being hypocrites.
We can say, “We are okay” because we know so much more about the Bible then the average person on the street.
We can say, “We are okay” because we can read the Bible in different versions. If we wanted to.
We can say, “We are okay” because we attend a Bible believing church every Sunday and serve all the time when asked.
We can say,
“We are okay” because we can strut
around saying the Ten Commandments or quote Scripture without having our Bibles
with us.
This is where we need to be very careful as Paul addresses this issue in (v17-v24) Pride and presumption are deadly ingredients that can twist and bend our thinking as it pertains to the gospel confession. What Paul is revealing is that we all stand guilty before God apart from His gospel. Those who are sinners outside the Law. (Gentiles) Those who are sinners under the knowledge of Law. (Jews) Paul in this text actually answers the question that many unsaved people ask pastors.
“What about the poor heathen
in a far-off jungle who
has never heard about Jesus Christ?
Will God condemn him or her
for failing to believe on a
person about whom he or she
has not even heard?
James Boice answers those questions this way. ”If someday we get to heaven and discover that a number or even all the untaught natives have arrived in Heaven despite our failure to tell then about Jesus, all we will be able to do is praise God for His great mercy and unfathomable ways. We will be happy! But if, on the contrary, we get to Heaven and discover that not one of the untaught heathens is there, all of them having been condemned for failing to do what they knew they should do (on the basis of natural revelation), we will still praise God for His mercy (to those to whom it was extended) and acknowledge His justice in the heathens’ case, since the Judge of all the earth always does do right.”
What does James Boice mean by that? “Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" Gen 18:25. This being in reference to the conversation Abraham had with the Pre-Incarnate Christ about the people of Sodom & Gomorrah. God’s judgements are perfect because God knows the heart of mankind. But as James Boice said in his commentary on this text when answering those questions he is “reproved” for his answer by the Apostle Paul. Why? (v12) ”For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.” The text of Scripture that is before us doesn’t suggest that the heathen may somehow get into Heaven in spite of their ignorance of the Gospel. But according to Paul they will be condemned like the others, referring to the Jews.
Not for failing to believe on
Jesus, of
whom they have not heard, of course.
But for failing to do what they knew they should do, even apart from God’s special revelation. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” Rom 1:18-20
Paul exposes their hearts to the reality of God’s truth. And the Jews are no more secure than the Pagan who suppresses the truth. The Jews lived by a “holiness code” which was based not just on the Ten Commandments, but a whole host of other laws the Jews lived by. The Jews had the law of God, which was the glory of Israel. No other nation had such a clear manifestation of the law of God. They proudly praised and prayed to God for their special revelation in the Synagogue. “I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” Luke 18:12
But what do we see time and
time again throughout
the Scriptures as it pertains
to God’s chosen Nation?
In Psalm 50:16-21 we read, “But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers." You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.”
God’s covenant people throughout generations praying and sitting under the Scriptures in the Synagogues…. under a false security. Jesus said this, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.” Matt 23:2-4. Even Paul thought of himself in this manner before he was gloriously saved by God’s grace. “Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” Phil 3:4-7
Paul exposes their hearts to this reality; the same could be said us, as you sit in these pews.
Your
outward doing doesn’t save you.
Your
head knowledge of the Scriptures doesn’t save you.
You’re
singing, you’re praying, and you’re listening, doesn’t save you.
Your
attendance, membership, and reserved plot in the cemetery, doesn’t save you.
Your
moral barometer “holiness code” and
outward works, doesn’t save you.
If our external doesn’t line up with our internal confession, then we are in danger of the judgments that Paul exposes here in the opening chapters of this letter. How the Jews perceived their lives up this point was of false security. Your works and demonstration of the Law doesn’t save you. Paul reveals that all have sinned against God; those who are without the law, and those who are under the Law. The Jews believed they that were absolutely secure before God. They believed they would never face final judgment because of their outward doing. Because they relied upon the Law of God and knowledge they received though the Torah. But Paul warned Timothy to be careful around people like this, “having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.” 2 Tim3:5. The outward form is there, and it looks authentic, but that form is nothing more than an empty shell.
For the Jew…. They were “catechized” they were instructed in the Law, which means they were taught “orally” with repetitious teaching in the home and in the synagogue. (Deut 6:4-9). They knew God’s Law, and knew they had knowledge of God’s will.
“But it was mostly head
knowledge. They didn’t see this knowledge as a way of
living, so they went on living in a sinful manner with this knowledge.
They in effect ignore it! (v21-v24)
They
taught others, but did not teach themselves.
They
preached against stealing, yet stole.
They
preached against adultery, but committed adultery.
They
abhorred idols, but stole from pagan temples.
They
bragged about the law, yet dishonored God by breaking it.
And because of this Paul says, “God’s name is blasphemed amoung the Gentiles because of you.” (v24). The name of God that was so holy to the Jews was being dragged through the dirty streets of the pagan world like it was a bad joke. Isaiah wrote this happened constantly with God’s people, “declares the LORD, "and continually all the day my name is despised.” Isaiah 52:5
We must admit this is how God
see’s the
church in Christendom today!
Pastors
stealing money from the church.
Pastors
teaching about the pleasure of idol worship with health, wealth, and
prosperity.
Pastors
having sexual affairs and causing scandal.
Ignoring
the sexual abuse of women, men, and children in the church.
The
mistreatment of others because of their background.
Tradition
over Scripture and God’s will for His people.
Treating
the Bible as an external thing only.
Man-centered
Worship and performance to keep people entertained.
False
security and a misunderstood gospel. that doesn’t expose our hearts before a
holy God.
Focusing
on the external appearances and behavior, instead of fostering an attitude of
love for one another from the heart.
A
works righteousness that leads to eternal damnation.
Francis Schaeffer wrote,
“If we have the Bible, if we enjoy all
the blessings it brings, and yet by our lives bring shame upon God’s name, we
are guilty of the great irreverence.”
Hypocrisy is a damnable thing and to claim more righteousness that we possess is destructive. The church isn’t perfect, it’s filled with sinners. As R C Sproul said “Being a sinner is the first qualification for joining a church.” The pagan world around will blaspheme God at every opportunity, we must not aid and help their blaspheme. The Jews pursued the Law, but they never caught it. They never attained it because they sought it not by faith, but by works of the Law. They knew it in their minds, but they nerve apprehended it in their hearts. This goes with what Paul said in (v6). “His deeds, his works” your circumcision, has no inherent value, it has no ability. It has no power to redeem. Paul reveals they never attained it because they never sought it by faith. John MacArthur said “It’s only a symbol. And not a symbol that everything is okay, but a symbol that everything is not okay because it reminds me that I’m obligated to keep the whole Law.”
We know this is true by what we read in the fourth chapter. “Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.”
Romans 4:9-11
A person’s circumcision has nothing to do with whether or not he was righteous. (v28-v29) Everything is a matter of the heart. It is very easy to be self-deceived by our familiarity with truth and religious affiliation. They sit in the congregation, and look like the real thing, but their hearts are set on other things. This is a warning to examine our own hearts and here is a test from Scripture. “As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, 'Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.' And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it.” Ezekiel 33:30-32. They talk about going to hear the Word of God preached, but they come with conditions that reveal the heart. “But they will not do it” It’s an outward demonstration of religious lip service that doesn’t secure you a place in His kingdom.
Jeremiah exhorted his people to deal with their hearts. “Circumcise yourselves to the
LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of
Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds." Jer 4:4
In The New testament we see that a believer is identified by
this truth. “For
in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in
him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were
circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of
the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,”
Col 2:9-11
Where does my confidence lie?” Does it rest either on your knowledge of God’s word
or our religious affiliation? If so, we are deluded…salvation is a matter of heart! “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." Romans 10:9-13
Salvation results from the work of God’ Spirit in the heart, not merely external efforts to confirm to His Law. (v29) The Jews were fond of passing judgment upon others, and thinking to themselves as standing on higher ground. This only revealed that they committed the very sin which they reproved in others. And we as the believers under the Covenant of Christ need to be careful to examine our own lives in light of the gospel of Christ. When we apply the ordinances (ceremonies) in the church we understand this truth! Baptism does not save anybody, participating in the Lord’s Supper doesn’t save anybody. We do this out of obedience to God because it’s an outward sign of what God promises to do inwardly through His Son. If we are to be saved! It must be by the labor of Jesus Christ applied to us by the Father through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. (Rom 1:16)
Therefore outward conformity
cannot save.
The Spirit of God must transform one inwardly.
Our standing before God is a heart issue. Because the deeds of the flesh, the law, nobody is saved. The law exposes our hearts that salvation comes through the gospel. But we also can’t ignore the Law otherwise will never feel the weight of our need for the gospel.
It’s a matter of the heart.
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