A MATTER OF THE HEART Romans 2:11-29

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1 February 15, 2015 Providence A MATTER OF THE HEART Romans 2:11-29 INTRODUCTION: What happens when professing Christians act more like practicing sinners? Having already introduced the problem of hypocrisy and a spirit of judgmentalism, Paul turns now to a more detailed look at how this problem mushrooms into a major offense to God and a huge hurdle for those with no faith. ILLUS. The magnitude of the problem became national news recently. At the presidential prayer breakfast in Washington, DC, President Obama decided to address the atrocities committed by ISIS in the past few months to the Crusades of the 11 th -16 th centuries. Since everyone agrees that the vicious attacks of the Christian west on the peace-loving people of the Middle East were an embarrassing period in the history of the church, did not this example make sense? Unfortunately, no for two very important reasons. First of all, the worst of the Crusades were rooted in ungodly acts of violence perpetrated not by true followers of Christ but by misled, ambitious and mean armies who were opposed vehemently by the church and its leaders. Secondly, the Crusades from the beginning were defensive by design. Islam had aggressively taken one land after another by the sword and by the 11 th century had claimed over two-thirds of nations that had once been strongholds of the Christian faith. The response of the European church leaders was to appeal for help in 1) driving back the forces that threatened to occupy more European nations, and 2) liberating Jerusalem from Islamic domination and making it a free city for pilgrims from many different faiths. Along the way, many atrocities were committed by those who launched a righteous cause but in an unrighteous manner. Their initial motives were noble but their methods were inconsistent with the faith they vowed to preserve and protect. [An article in Christianity Today in May, 2005 asks and answers the question, what is the Real History of the Crusades. I highly recommend that you read it!] In our day, we see the same thing and cringe when someone does something evil and blames it on Jesus! The murder of the 3 Muslim students this week was a horror beyond imagination one that prompted me to pray that no one would claim to have committed this atrocity in the name of biblical faith! Paul makes no room for ungodly deeds to be done in the name of Christ offers no place for claiming biblical understanding while living in a manner that contradicts biblical truth and Christ-likeness condemns firmly those who maintain a verbal affirmation of belief but defy any connection at all between deed and doctrine! THESIS: Everyone does what he believes everything else is just talk! Followers of Jesus live according to the righteous character of Jesus! In the last half of this chapter, Paul presents three distinct, yet related, thoughts about how we are to live according to the truth of God while maintaining the character of our Savior. With our without His Word, we are all responsible Understanding and knowing His Word, we can still dishonor Him Hearing and doing His Word, is a matter of the heart I. WE RE ALL SINNERS, WITH OR WITHOUT HIS WORD. --No one gets a better deal because God shows no partiality (2:11) Jews and Gentiles, people with religious heritage and those who have none, all get the same impartial treatment by God. --The human heart rebels against whatever it knows of God and merely compounds its guilt within the framework of that knowledge. ILLUS. Stories of tribal groups with no Bible, having never heard the name Jesus and without any word for God still, they know what it means to understand right from wrong and choose the wrong anyway. Violating conscience in themselves and violating the conscious awareness of any idea of a deity before whom they will stand and give an account, people of every sort choose to sin. A. EVERYONE LIVES WITH THE TRUTH IN SOME FASHION

2 Rom. 2:12 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. --From God s perspective, sin is sin, whether it contradicts the revealed Word of God, or the inherent will of God. 1. For those who have the word. --To those from a Jewish background who have in their hands the law of God, the sin in their lives has been identified in specific ways. --They have heard or read the law and cannot plead ignorance in what they do that violates what He has told them directly. --Neither their righteousness nor their unrighteousness can be separated from what they understand to be God s will because He has made it plain to them putting it in writing and passed down from generation to generation. --However, just because they have it does not mean that they are justified before God. Romans 2:13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. --The truth they know must translate into action moving from their ears and eyes, to their mind, into their hearts and then out into their deeds and actions. 2. For those who don t have the word. --But Paul also writes to Gentiles, those who have had no access to written words, no knowledge of the Bible and no understanding of the particular requirements of the laws of God. --But are they off the hook and do they have a good excuse they sinned because they did not know any better? Rom. 1:19-20 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 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. --Even those who have never had a Bible, those who have not been made aware of specific kinds of sin, their guilt or rigtheousness rests on what they did with what they have known. Romans 2:15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them --If they do what the law requires without even knowing it, the blessing of obedience is theirs. ILLUS. When the Gentile who knows nothing of the law loves his wife, he does well but cannot point to the verse that tells him to do so. When he forgives an offense but has no Scripture in mind when he does so, still it is a good thing. His honesty comes from a heart that tells him that is right his temper is controlled by something in his heart that knows that is best. By the same measure, though, when he strikes out in anger, tells a lie, is unfaithful to his wife, bears a grudge his conscience tells the truth and accuses him of doing wrong! Common grace calls him to a standard that may not have as its foundation the trustworthy written Word of God, but enough truth has been written on his heart to expose its sinfulness! --The standard of measurement is always Christ Jesus Himself, either fully revealed in His Word or simply written on their hearts that is the basis upon which God s judgment will be made! Romans 2:16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. B. EVERYONE MUST MEASURE UP TO CHRIST JESUS

3 --So whether the Jewish person had the written teachings of God in the law, or whether the Gentile person had the truth of God written on his heart, all will be revealed to be sinners before the God who will judge each one and that judgment will be impartial. --God will judge the secrets of men by the perfect standard of righteousness by the sinless perfection of Christ Jesus all will be judged, even if they don t know His name! Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. II. REMAINING SINFUL, EVEN WITH THE WORD --An age-old idea that continues to deceive people today is that knowing the Bible and knowing about God qualifies someone as righteous in His eyes. --The fact is, unless we do what the Bible tells us and act on the basis of what we know about God, we are no better off than those who have never even heard of Jesus or the Bible! ILLUS. As sad as it is to say, some of the most sinful behavior I have ever seen was by those who professed faith in Christ! Mean things were said and done often couched in Christian language and motivated by the belief that what they were doing was for the Lord. Somehow rationalizing that the end justifies the means, ungodly and sinful words and actions show up in the lives of those pretending to follow Christ when in fact they are offending him, hurting those He loves and attacking those guarded by His peace. We have seen this in hate-filled demonstrations in the public square by Westboro Baptist types, autocratic and dictatorial leaders of Christian cults and sects, (even some churches!) acting with no evidence of the fruit of the Spirit in them, rejecters of God s Word who advocate and support the very sins that God names (example: pastor and wife fight, split church, sue for control of church, move down the street and start another one!). --They have the Word of God! But their sin is winning the day! A. HAVING GOD S WORD SHOULD BE BETTER THAN NOT HAVING IT. --Obviously, if I know the truth and see it laid out for me, that should be a very good thing to the Jews in Rome, having God s Word should be wonderful! --Paul presents two great scenarios that ought to result in godly living and a life that truly honors the Lord each scenario consisting of four conditions: 1. Condition One: If you really are instructed by the Law Rom. 2:17-18 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God 18 and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; --Since these things are true of those who have full access to God s Word, they are equally true for each of us today as they were for the Jew in Rome who received Paul s letter. a. If you rely on the Law b. If you boast in God c. If you know His will d. If you approve what is excellent --If you really have access to all of this, what a huge opportunity for you to know how to live in a manner pleasing to God no guessing, just following His Word! 2. Condition Two: If you set yourself up as a messenger of the Law

4 Romans 2:19-20 and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth --Like many who pride themselves on how much they know, Paul points out that the people of the Book probably know in sufficient measure not only how to live, but how to help others live for the glory of God! If you see yourself as a. A guide to the blind b. A light in the darkness c. An instructor of the foolish d. A teacher of children --You very well better take advantage of the platform God has given you to show others the way of Christ and how to walk with Him! BUT WHAT HAS HAPPENED INSTEAD? B. HAVING GOD S WORD HAS SOMETIMES SERVED TO DECEIVE YOU Note: You may have thought that learning the content of Scripture was enough the studying the redemptive history and flow of the big picture of Scripture would be sufficient that memorizing large portions of Scripture would make you more holy that understanding the intricacies of doctrine would qualify you as a righteous one [you can dot every I and cross every T and still misspell a word make sure you are focused on the right thing!]! But in fact, if you thought any of those things, you have deceived yourself and your boasting in your knowledge may indeed have led you to dishonor God by your failure to live up to what you know! You know far more than you do! Romans 2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. In spite of what you know 1. You yourself don t uphold what you know, dishonor His name by disobeying what you know --You boast about how well you know the Word, and use it as a club to intimidate others by your mastery of its content. --All the while, you rationalize your disobedience and justify your ungodliness as you hide behind your legacy with the Law of God, your history and familiarity with the book but not the kind of life you find in the book! Matt. 15:8 THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. --Who knew the law of God more than the Pharisees? But they were self-satisfied with knowing self-righteous in their attitudes self-condemned in their hypocrisy! Note: The Greatest Commandments to love God and to love your neighbor were tossed aside. The traditions and preferences and lifestyles of their religious world were elevated above a simple love for God and for others! Therefore, like many today, they lost their way, lost their perspective, lost their first love and became slaves to their own demands, mastered by their methods, convinced of their own ways which in fact had little if anything to do with what God wanted!

5 --If they were tested about where the Great Commandments were in the Bible, they would know asked about that they meant, they could explain but expected to allow them to shape their hearts, they could care less! ILLUS. Are we not all guilty of this in some way? We must articulate the doctrines of grace with precision, but we care little about exercising grace with humility. We can focus on Christ when we get to worship our way but end up focusing on the styles and methods instead of Christ when we are asked to do something different. We want things done decently and in order, until it is not done our way, then we throw off restraint, adopt an anything goes approach until we have demanded things be done right (meaning the way we like them, not necessarily because other ways are wrong!). Church folks are always getting their passions out of line, emphasizing the outward like the Pharisees did, and missing the true significance of living according the the spirit of what God says in His Word! 2. You blaspheme His name among the Gentiles Romans 2:24 For, as it is written, The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. --Even if we get our way, if we do so in an unchristlike way WE LOSE! Gentiles get blocked off from a clear view of grace at work! the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles who feel justified in dismissing what we say because of what and how we do! Mahatma Gandhi: I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. One of the greatest obstacles getting in the way of people really seeing Christ is what Paul observes: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you! Back in high school, I began to hang out with several other Christians at lunch. We were not shy about our love for each other and for Christ good, right? Not so fast! In our desire to be with each other, we ended up shutting others out. So when we showed up at lunch one day, we should have been neither surprised or angered when there was a little card sitting there that said We cannot hear what you are saying because of the way your are acting! I was really mad at first until I realized that the love of Christ for others was being hidden behind our self-righteous huddle our subtle but clear message that we were godly and others were not worthy of our time! Something as innocent as Christian fellowship became an obstacle! How much more if our morals were inconsistent with the Word our boastful attitudes ignoring biblical exhortations to humility and in many other ways, speaking one thing and doing the opposite! How devastating it should be to us that we might be blocking someone s view of Christ by our disregard for living for Him and the was our behavior stains the purity of His name! III. TRANSFORMED SINNERS, SHAPED BY THE WORD AND MADE LIKE CHRIST Romans 2:29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. --Being God s man or woman cannot be possible by outward actions that cover up a heart that does not belong to Christ and has not been changed by Christ. --The transformation of the heart results in a re-formed way of living, one that accurately reflects the holy and righteous character of our Master! Romans 2:13 By doing, not just hearing Romans 2:28 Followers of Christ, not just outwardly --But wait, one says doing which is outward, and the other says being, not just doing which is right? Both!!

6 You do what you do because you are who you are! AND You do what you believe everything else is just talk! Romans 2:29 But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God. --Just as a Jew is one inwardly, so a follower of Jesus Christ is one inwardly it is a matter of the heart, not performance, not duty, not ritual! --Our calling is to walk by the Spirit according to a new life given to us by the resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ. --Therefore, it is by the Spirit, not by the letter that our identity in Christ is established and our hearts changed. --God knows the heart are we truly motivated by and devoted to Him above all things? --So if He knows, then we can be certain that our motivation and our passion must be for His praise, for His acceptance and stop worrying how you appear to men when it is only His opinion that matters, only His judgment that counts. --That means that when He sees us, we want Him to see nothing but His Son our righteousness flows out of Him and who we are in Him, not what we do. CONCLUSION: So what happens when we who profess to know Christ act as if we don t? What happens when we act like we have never heard or believed His Word and our lives are more like unbelievers than biblical faith? Take Aways: 1. Ask God to show you an area of inconsistency in your life between what you say and what you do. 2. Set your heart on learning as much as you can of God s Word, not to be smarter but to be more like Jesus! 3. Examine your interactions with unbelievers to see if your life is more like to compel them to want Christ or reject Christ. True faith in Christ is a matter of the heart. Where is your heart this morning? You do what you believe everything else is just talk! What message is your life preaching to others? February 15, 2015 Providence Baptist Church David Horner, 2015 Sermon outlines are copyrighted in the event of future publication. They may be used for preaching and teaching purposes but may not be published or sold.