Expound: Romans 1:24-2:29 - Part C

Hey, when you see God being patient with somebody else, don't mistake that.

God isn't being lenient with that person. He's being patient with that person. He was patient with you. He gave you a break. You now believe in Jesus. There was a time you weren't following him. You were blowing it big time. You're falling in your face.

You're doing all sorts of nasty stuff. And now you're a believer. Hallelujah.

Now what about other people? If God wants to be patient to that person, why would you despise him for that? God isn't lenient with sin, but he is long-suffering and forgiving. And today on Connect with Skip Heitzig, Skip shares insight with you about God's goodness and loving patience. Now we want to tell you about a resource that will help you grow stronger in your faith. Trials, temptation, and the tongue. Those are the mega themes of three booklets from Lenya Heitzig that we're making available this month at connectwithskip.com.

Here's Lenya with more on this bundle. In Don't Tempt Me, I hand you the keys to unlock the thoughts, circumstances, and fears that can cause you to give in to temptation. And in Speak No Evil, I encourage you to avoid setting fires with your words and instead use them to bring showers of blessing. Lenya Heitzig's booklets, Don't Tempt Me, Speak No Evil and Happy Trials, provides help, hope, and encouragement in dealing with life's challenges. This bundle of three booklets are yours for a gift of $20 or more to help keep this Bible teaching ministry on the air. Get yours when you give today by calling 800-922-1888 or give online securely at connectwithskip.com slash offer.

That's connectwithskip.com slash offer. Okay, we're in Romans chapter two as Skip Heitzig starts today's study. Thousands of people, not killing anybody themselves, not throwing spears through people themselves, they wouldn't think of doing, they wouldn't go home and throw a spear through each other, but they would happily go to the Colosseum and watch violence displayed in front of them. They would enjoy it vicariously and they would applaud.

They would approve those who do such things. Yay, the guy got killed. The gladiator got gored by that bull. Awesome.

The lion tore him apart. Vicious, violent, cruel, horrible. Approving of those who do those things. Now, today you can sit in your living room and you can stream a series on Netflix and you can see vice and sexuality and murder and applaud for the characters. Approving of them. Like you can say you approve because you pay for it.

You're paying the monthly fee to get that series downloaded. So we have to be very careful. So I would never do that, but I will applaud those who do that. Not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. Now, having gone through chapter one, painting that horrible picture of the pagan world, you would have a group of people listening to Paul and go, Paul, I agree with everything that you said. And point their finger at those pagans saying, those are bad people and they deserve God's judgment.

So while they point the finger, there are three fingers pointing back at them. And so Paul now addresses the moralist, those who have a higher standard than the pagan world higher standard than the pagan world. In chapter two, verse one, therefore, you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge for and whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself for you who judge practice the same things. But we know the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. We are really good at pointing out other people's faults while we ourselves have those faults. I'm convinced that most of the postings on social media are the responses that people give. If they don't like a person, they'll say something and they'll point out why that person's wrong and hypocritical.

But if you were to examine the personal life of the one who posted that, you would find the same thing. Remember what Jesus taught in the Gospel of Luke. He said, two men went up to the temple to pray, a Pharisee and a tax collector.

And the Pharisee prayed thus with himself. He said, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men. I'm not an adulterer. I'm not an extortioner.

And I'm not like that tax collector. He's praying this out loud to himself. He said, I fast twice a week.

I give tithes of all that I possess. So he's really talking himself up. He does not see his own sinfulness, his own problems.

He thinks he's great by what he does. And Jesus said, but the tax collector wouldn't even lift his eyes toward heaven. He stood afar off and he beat his breast and he said, oh, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Jesus said, that man went away justified. This man is justifying himself, pointing the finger at people like that tax collector. The tax collector, Jesus said, is justified. So yes, we can point fingers at people's behavior, but we can never pinpoint what's going on in their hearts.

Only God can. So one was pointing the finger at the tax collector. God was, Jesus was pinpointing the fact that in his heart, because he believed and he knew that he wasn't right before God and cast himself on God's mercy, he went away justified. So you who condemn another, don't you know you condemn yourself? We are hard on others and soft on ourselves when it comes to judgment, right?

You know that's just sort of a basic weakness we all have. We are quick to respond, say that's wrong. And yet others, you know, we'll get in Christian circles. It seems it's okay to gossip and lie and slander, but just don't smoke cigarettes or drink that beer.

Wait a minute. That's incongruous. That's hypocritical, right? And this is what the self-confident moralist hopes, hopes that God will be soft on him, softer than he is on others, because he's hard on others. He's hoping that God grades on a curve, because he doesn't, on earth.

You can take a situation and tweak it just a little bit, just change a couple of the details, and here's an example. David committed adultery. Didn't see that as sin at first, until Nathan came to him and told him a story. He said, Nathan, there's this rich guy and, you know, he had all these sheep and he could have taken any one of them and killed one for supper, but there was a poor guy who had only one little ewe lamb. He loved that ewe lamb. It was the family pet.

They took it to bed at night, groomed it, washed it. And the rich guy thought, I'm not going to go on my flock and get a lamb for supper for my guests. I'm going to take that poor man's ewe lamb and kill it, and we'll have dinner. And so Nathan's telling this to David, and David gets all red in the face and angry, and he goes, that man will die. Nathan said, really? Well, you ought to know you are the man.

You're that guy. You have all these wives. You have all this wealth. God said he would have given you more if you'd only asked for it, but you took one man's wife and you slept with her. Then David broke down.

He goes, I've sinned against God. Now he saw it. Now he could see it before he was ready to judge the guy and kill a dude who stole a sheep. You know that really capital punishment for stealing a sheep?

The law just says restore fourfold. But he says, death penalty. Oh, well, you're the guy.

You're the man. So it comes back to bite him. And do you think this, oh man, that you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, his forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? Hey, when you see God being patient with somebody else, don't mistake that. God isn't being lenient with that person. He's being patient with that person. He was patient with you. He gave you a break. You now believe in Jesus.

There was a time you weren't following him. You were blowing it big time. You're falling in your face. You're not in your face.

You're doing all sorts of nasty stuff. And now you're a believer. Hallelujah.

Now what about other people? If God wants to be patient to that person, why would you despise him for that? The goodness of God is what leads a person to repentance. But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, see, he's really hammering the moralist.

High standards, but he's blowing it himself. You are treasuring up for yourselves wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor and immortality, but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey in righteousness indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, the Jew first and also of the Greek. But glory, honor and peace to everyone who works what is good to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for there is no partiality with God. So once again, people are hard on others, but soft on themselves. And when they're hard on others, you know what they call it? Righteous indignation. We love that term as Christians. It's just righteous indignation.

Maybe, could be, nothing wrong with that. Or it could be self-righteous indignation. And if it's self-righteous indignation, it's just indignation. It's just anger, no value, no holy value. For with God there's no partiality. For as many as have sinned without the law, that's the Gentile world, will also perish without the law, because God has revealed himself in the natural wonders of the world. And as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. So you're going to be judged according to the standard that you live by, standard that they had.

If you're Jewish and you have the law, you'll be judged by that law. If you are in another country, you have no revelation of God. You just have the revealed atmosphere, cosmos that reveals the power of God.

You still have a revelation, a general revelation of God. God will judge according to the standard. For not the hearers of the law are just in a sight, or the sight of God, but doers of the law will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law by nature, do things contained in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves. They have a conscience.

They're thinking, that's not right, I shouldn't do that. Who showed the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves, and between themselves their thoughts, accusing or else excusing them, in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by the gospel of Christ according to my gospel, by the gospel of Christ according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. So Paul is saying, you guys who have a religious background, a religious law, a moral law, the law does not make you immune. It does not grant you immunity.

You don't get a free pass just because you have the law. And remember in Jesus' day, their boast is, we're Jewish, we have the law, we have the covenant made with Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, you know, rah rah rah. But now notice the next set of verses. Verse 17, indeed, now he's writing to the religionist, you are called a Jew and rest on the law and make your boast in God and know his will and approve the things that are excellent being instructed out of the law and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. So notice something, he's writing to these Jewish people, these very religious and in this case self-righteous Jewish people, and he's saying, well, there's a few things you have right.

First of all, you have the right background. He says, indeed, you are called a Jew. Paul boasted that he was Jewish.

He gives his testimony in the book of Philippians. A Hebrew of the Hebrews is concerning the law, blameless. So you have the right background.

That's good, check. Number two, you have the right book, right, because he says you rest on the law. You have the Torah, the revelation of God through the Torah, the law, and you have the right business. You make your boast in God, you know his will, you approve the things that are excellent, and you teach others.

So you got the right background, the right book, got the right business, but you have the wrong practice, right. You think you've got all these things, and that's enough. I'm immune.

All I need is the fact that I am Jewish. You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? Verse 21, you who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say do not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?

Do you rob temples? You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For, quoting Scripture now, verse 24, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you as it is written. Paul is simply saying this, do you realize that if you as a religious Jew don't practice your Judaism, the Gentiles who look at you are going to dismiss your religion on the basis of hypocrisy, right? So when David did sin by committing adultery with Bathsheba, and Nathan came to him that whole story, and David cried out, I've sinned against God. Nathan said, your sin is forgiven. God isn't going to destroy you because of it, but you need to know this, David, because of your actions you have given great occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. All these other nations that are going to hear of what you did, you who worship Yahweh, you worship the Lord, all those beautiful psalms you gave us, David, the covenant God made with you, David, don't you realize that unbelievers looking in are going to look at your hypocritical life and they're going to blaspheme God because of what you did?

You're giving them ammunition. Or what about Abraham? Remember when Abraham went to Pharaoh and he was with his wife Sarah, and Pharaoh took a liking to Sarah, thought she was very beautiful? It's interesting, Sarah was quite an aged woman at the time.

Let's just keep it at that. But strikingly beautiful. And Abraham was so scared instead of saying, hey man, you're honing in on my wife. He said, well, she's my sister. So Pharaoh made a move on her. And God said, you move any closer, I'm going to kill you.

That's this guy's wife. Well, he told me he was his sister. So from now on, Abraham's reputation was sullied before Pharaoh and before the Egyptians. Ruined his testimony because of that half truth, which was also a half lie. Verse 25, for circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law. But if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision, that outward sign of an inward change, circumcision, has become uncircumcision.

It's a very interesting and rabbinical way of writing this truth. Circumcision is profitable if you keep the law. If you're a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

So here's the formula that Paul is giving us. Circumcision minus obedience equals uncircumcision. Just like baptism minus obedience equals no baptism. You see, if you are relying on your baptism, a ritual you went through, to be right with God, it's no different than this. So circumcision is profitable. It's a good thing.

It's a good statement you're making. But if you are a breaker of the law, it's as if you were never circumcised, or in the Christian's case, baptized. So let me put it another way. We who are married, your wedding ring is honorable as long as you are faithful to your spouse. But if you are unfaithful to your spouse, it's just a piece of metal. It's just an outward thing that does not speak of the inward reality.

There is no inward reality. That's the idea of that verse of circumcision. Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirement of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? So you Jewish people, you can't look at circumcision as sort of a magic charm, which is a magic charm, which they did. I know I'm going to heaven because I'm circumcised and I'm Jewish, and I go to the temple. They trusted a ritual. They should have dug a little bit deeper in their own Torah, their own law. In the book of Deuteronomy, God says, circumcise the foreskin of your heart and don't be stiff-necked any longer. It's not the outward ritual. I want the heart to be affected because if your heart is not affected and you're stiff-necked, you're hardened, you're recalcitrant against my commandments, you're not soft to my touch, I can't move you, I can't direct you, then your circumcision is invalid.

Circumcise the foreskin of your heart and don't be stiff-necked. Verse 27, let's finish this up, and will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and the circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not from men but from God. So you could say that about believers in Christ. A Christian is not one who is one outwardly, who got wet at baptism. You see, when you ask a person, you've had this experience, are you a believer in Jesus? Actually, you should phrase the question this way, are you a follower of Jesus?

Because, oh, I believe in Jesus. No, are you a follower of Jesus? You'll get answers like this, well, I've been raised in the church. Nice, now answer my question, are you a follower of Jesus? Well, I've been baptized in this church.

Okay, good, now answer the question, are you a follower of Jesus Christ? And you know how people will hem and haw and give you not the answer to that question, because following Jesus Christ is what reveals that the heart has been changed. Remember, outward sign, inward change. There's no outward expression in lifestyle.

One has reason to question the outward claim, but there's no evidence of that changed inward heart, whose praise is from men and not from God. So don't be whitewashed. Be washed white. Be washed whiter than snow. Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord, even though your sins are as scarlet, I'll make them white, whiter than snow, white as wool. Don't be whitewashed, be washed white.

Let it be real, let it be authentic. So he speaks to the pagan, to the moralist, to the religionist, and in chapter three, by the end of that chapter, he's going to say, look, basically what I'm saying is all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one. So he paints the picture dark in these few chapters, and the next section will be, but the grace of God poured out, overflowing, always available to anyone who calls on his name and believes in him. So he tells us the bad news, so by the time we get to the good news, we go, man, that news is really good news.

But you'll never know how good it is until you know how bad it was. That concludes Skip Heitzig's message from the series Expound Romans. Right now, we want to let you know about a special opportunity you have to pursue biblical studies in a way that works with your schedule. Personal or small group Bible study is a great way to learn God's Word.

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