Father, we confess before you that we can get very impatient with you.
Father, we confess before you that in our culture, we like snappy slogans and really
easy to digest phrases and things that just make it, Father, so that we can at least think
we understand very quickly and easily without having to think.
And Father, we confess before you that that's what we're like.
That's partially how our culture has formed us.
And so, Father, we acknowledge that when we come to your word, that often we find it hard
to understand and difficult to understand.
And we confess before you, Father, that we're not patient with that and we're not humbled
by it, but we get frustrated with you.
And maybe, Father, we confess that we just skip over all those parts until we find a quote
we like that's easy for us to understand.
And we confess before you, Father, that we do this without even being aware that we
do it.
So, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would gently humble us and grant us penitent hearts,
Father.
Help us, Father, to be willing to have your word form us, that we might be made in the
image of Jesus as we dwell on your word.
And forgive us, Father, for trying to tame you and make you our pocket God that does what
we want when we want it.
So, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would do this work in our lives as we open your word
now.
And this we ask in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Please be seated.
Is my battery dying, Andrew?
No?
Okay.
So, just a bit of an aside.
You know, sometimes it can be odd for me.
This has nothing ever to do with the sound guys.
In fact, we should, after the service, I'll give the sound guy like a big round of applause
or offer to buy him a free coffee or something like that.
But sometimes what I hear is different from what you're hearing.
And that can sometimes just throw me off a little bit.
And obviously, anyway, there you go.
So, this week, you know, it's really funny.
I always pray every day for my sermon.
And I pray as I'm reading the Bible.
And I ask God to help me to understand the Bible.
And this week, actually, the text which Laurie just read a few moments ago, I found it to
be quite a hard text to understand.
I'll be honest with you.
I found it hard to understand.
And, like, about two or three weeks ago, I had to talk about one of the clearest texts
about homosexuality in the Bible.
And actually, ironically, that text was really, really, really, really easy to understand.
But it required lots of thought in terms of how I would talk about it in a place like
Ottawa in 2015.
But this text was just hard to understand.
And then, in the process of trying to understand, something odd happened to me this week.
I don't know if you notice it, but when I come up to the front, I have this, like, journal
notebook.
And I do all my notes.
If you were to come and see me working on my sermon, you'd see me with a pen.
I know it's very, very old-fashioned, but a pen in this book.
And you'd see me reading and making these handwritten scrawls here.
So on Saturday, when I was coming in to do some more work on my sermon, and I was in
a Starbucks, this couple looked like they were in their late 30s, early 40s.
They'd looked like they'd maybe just, one of them looked like they'd come maybe from a
yoga workout, because they had, or maybe Pilates or something.
They had the yoga mat.
And so they sit beside me, and the woman sees me with a journal like this.
And I'm, you know, looking out the window, and I'm thinking, and I'm writing things down.
And she said, wow, that's really neat that you don't see many people anymore who actually
just use pen and paper and write in journals like this.
Like, that's really neat.
Like, what are you doing?
Like, what are you writing about?
Now, here's what goes through my mind.
Like, she's paying me a compliment, right?
Like, she's basically saying, you must be deep.
Like, you're not like all these other people just with their computers.
Like, you're deep, thinking deep things, probably getting in touch with your feelings or your past.
And so I have to confess that it's a great temptation to say, oh, you know, I'm just really trying to think through things in life.
And I just like working with pen and paper.
And who knows, we'd have a conversation, and she'd go away thinking, wow, that's a deep man.
And I struggle because, you know, in fact, I'm looking at the Bible text, and I'm thinking about Romans 1, 16 to 17, and I'm going to preach a sermon.
And I struggle.
I have to confess that it was very powerful temptation for me to not say that I was working on a sermon.
And I was, it's funny, you know, it's almost like I'm going in slow motion, because the whole thing, she wouldn't have even noticed a pause.
But inside of me, I can feel this huge pressure not to say that I'm working on a sermon, but to try to have her think, and the fellow think very well of me, have the two of them think well of me.
And so I say, well, I'm, actually, all week I've been reading the Bible, and I'm sort of reading the Bible now, and I have, I make notes as I try to think through what the Bible is teaching me,
because I'm going to preach a sermon tomorrow, and I'm trying to work on my sermon.
That's what I said to her, to the couple.
And as soon as I said that, you could see the light in their eyes and their facial expression change.
Like, it was like, oh, you're one of those.
And I, and off you go.
I mean, and then the conversation ended.
In fact, to tell somebody that you're reading the Bible and want to preach a sermon is often how you stop conversations, not how you start them.
Not all the time, obviously, as you know.
And I mention that because it struck me that, that in some ways, God, I think, orchestrated that conversation to have that couple sit beside me.
And it both reveals my own heart, how I desire to be flattered and to be thought well of of the world, and how I can start to be ashamed of the gospel.
And it's a telling moment about myself.
But it's, the fact of the matter is, is that, you know, for many people in our culture, people who go to church, that's not a, not often a sign of, of health and maturity.
That people want to emulate us.
Now, you're probably saying, George, this is Thanksgiving Sunday.
You've just depressed the heck out of us.
Like, here we are in here.
And, by the way, I, I, I understand increasingly in our culture, I appreciate every person who's come on a Sunday morning.
You make big choices.
There's lots of other things.
And there's lots of easy drifts in our culture to do something else.
So I'm very, very appreciative of the fact that, that we're all here together this morning to be able to meet with Jesus in the presence of his people.
But we know that many people in our culture see the church and the Bible as something toxic, not as something healthy.
And it's interesting that this odd Bible text, which probably, as you were listening to it, you're thinking, what on earth is he talking about?
That, in fact, this Bible text is a warning from the Bible about how the Bible and Bible knowledge and baptism and church attendance can, in fact, be toxic.
That there's, in fact, ways of being involved in all of these things that act to immunize us against God.
And immunize us against God in, in a form of self-justification and self-righteousness that people will find abhorrent and poisonous and want to run from.
That's, in fact, what the text is largely about.
So it'd be a great help to me if you were to get your Bibles and turn in them to, to Romans.
Actually, and while you're turning to Romans chapter 2, Andrew, could you put up Romans 1 for, for us?
I'm going to have you, if you could read this with me in a moment.
Those of you who've been coming here regularly, the way the book of Romans is written is the first seven verses sort of talk about a lot of the themes in the book.
And then Paul has some very personal types of comments.
And then it's almost as if in verse 16 and 17, those of you who are in university or have to read university papers,
it's almost as if Paul gives an abstract of the entire book in two verses.
And so week in, week out, we're going to keep sort of cycling back to this verse because it helps us to understand what's going on in the book.
If we realize that everything in the book is unpacking and helping us to understand these two verses.
So if you would read them with me, that would be great.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.
As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith.
So now, if you have your Bibles open, let's hear what Paul says in Romans 2.
Mindful that somehow or another, this that we're reading here, somehow or another serves Romans 1, 16 to 17.
So Romans chapter 2, beginning at verse 17.
But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent,
because you're instructed from the law,
And if you are sure 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 children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth.
One second, just want to pause here for a second.
I'm going to go back and we're going to reread this.
I'm going to read it again a second time.
But one of the things that we have to do to help us to understand what Paul is saying is we have to make a word substitution here.
And I'm not saying this because I'm trying to devalue people who are Jewish,
but this text doesn't have any sting to us.
And the text is supposed to have some sting.
And in fact, for some of us who are anti-Semitic, it's just, oh yeah, those Jewish people.
Yeah, yeah, Paul.
Yeah, you know, yeah, Bible.
Get on those Jewish people.
And so for some people, it ends up just being something that allows us to point fingers at somebody else.
And the Bible is never written so that we can point a finger at somebody else.
It's never written for us to point fingers.
And so we need to have a bit of a sense here about what Paul's doing.
And so we're going to make a word substitution because Paul is talking about how good things that God has actually provided get twisted by us
and end up making us abhorrent to people outside and end up actually keeping God far away.
It's like those of you who took the early alpha courses.
And so we're going to make a word for us.
It ends up just being a way to keep God at a distance.
So what we're going to do is that when we read the word Jew, I'm going to say Anglican.
And if you're a guest here this morning, you're Roman Catholic, what you should do is you should say Roman Catholic.
And if you're a guest here this morning and you're from a Pentecostal church, you should say Pentecostal to yourself.
And if you're Baptist, you should say Baptist.
And if you think that your denomination doesn't fit here, then this text is really for you.
Like God has led you here this morning just to realize that, you know, Reformed Presbyterian can't put that in.
Yes, you've got to put in Reformed Presbyterian, whatever it is.
I'm going to say Anglican because it would actually be really rude for me to say Baptist when I'm an Anglican.
So I'm going to say Anglican.
So now listen to this text now in light of this.
It will actually start to make a little bit more.
It's still going to be confusing, a bit dark, but it will make a bit more sense.
So Romans 2, 17.
But if you call yourself an Anglican and rely on the Bible and boast in God and know his will and approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the Bible.
And if you are sure 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 children, having in the Bible the embodiment of knowledge and truth.
You then who teach others.
Do you not teach yourself while you preach against stealing?
Do you steal?
You who say that one must not commit adultery.
Do you commit adultery?
You who abhor idols.
Do you rob temples?
You who boast in the Bible dishonor God by breaking what the Bible says.
For as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed amongst people who hang out in bars because of you.
Now that's in terms of a bit of a different text and some of us might be a little bit insulted by it.
But it becomes a different text when we put ourselves into it rather than thinking about how it refers to somebody else.
Andrew, could you put up the first point for me, please?
Baptism, church attendance, and Bible knowledge can immunize me against God.
See, part of the problem with this text is, like, many of the things in this text are good things.
Like, shouldn't we rely on the Bible?
And shouldn't we try to know what his will is?
And shouldn't we try to approve what is excellent?
And shouldn't we be instructed by the Bible?
And if we've done that, shouldn't we be willing to talk to the blind and try to bring light into darkness?
And shouldn't we try to be a teacher of the foolish and a teacher of children?
And shouldn't we acknowledge that the Bible is the embodiment of knowledge and truth?
Like, George, isn't that what it's supposed to be?
Well, it is.
And part of the key in the text is the two things.
It's how the text ends and how the text begins.
You see, the fact of the matter is that sometimes the Bible really is very hard for us to understand.
Like, the Bible isn't just put out by some slick marketing guy or gal who's trying to figure out how to get a good Twitter thing that will be in 120 characters so that it can be retweeted and easily digestible.
And the fact that some parts of the Bible just require us to really think about it.
And sometimes it requires us to seek, like I had to seek the guidance of older, wiser Christians who knew the languages and all to try to get a bit of a handle on what it's talking about.
But it can be very, very, it can be difficult.
But in the beginning of the text, it talks about relying on the Bible and boasting in God.
And at the end of the text, it obviously is the case that they're relying on the Bible and boasting in God in a way that it shouldn't be.
And so here's a little bit about what it's a very, very fine line.
It's as if you're going along a mountain ridge and you can go down one side or the other.
And it makes a big difference whether you're going down one side or the other.
Maybe one side is into the wilderness where you'll get lost and end up suffering grievous harm.
And the other side is where you'll go back to where your campsite is and you'll have a wonderful meal with your friends and just be so happy that you've had a wonderful day.
And, you know, it's a little bit of a way to maybe get at it is two different ways to boast in your wife.
I'm going to use that as an example because I'm a man.
I am so grateful that Louise has put up with me for 34 years.
In a couple of weeks, we'll have our 34th anniversary.
In late September, 40 years ago in late September was the first time I ever laid eyes on her.
And I thought she was the most lovely person I'd ever seen.
And I really wanted to meet her.
And I still think she's the most lovely person.
And I'm just so glad that she's married to me and she's put up with me.
And it fills me with gratitude.
It really does.
And I've probably embarrassed her and she'll be upset with me afterwards.
But hopefully she's not too upset because it's true and it's heartfelt.
How does a man with a trophy wife talk about his wife?
Very, very different.
A rich man with a trophy wife will boast in his wife in a very, very, very different way.
Both will talk about how excellent their wives are.
But everything about it is completely different.
And, you know, relying on the law and relying on the Bible.
See, here's the thing that the Bible is going to get.
I'm going to try to give you another illustration about this.
Imagine for a second that I was to write out for my kids.
Louise and I, let's say, we're going to be gone for, let's say we're going for a month or two.
And, like, when we were in our previous church, we lived in a rectory.
And so people would drop around all, you know, would drop around.
And quite a bit.
In fact, sometimes they would just come and walk into our house without knocking.
But that's a separate story.
Louise would come downstairs.
There's somebody sitting in our living room.
But that's a whole other story.
Anyway, so imagine that we sit down and we write out a list of instructions about how it is that you handle guests.
And the kids get all excited.
And every day they read the instructions about handle guests.
And every day they go through brief ceremonies or rituals about how to handle guests.
I'll be the guest.
This is what you say.
And then you say this.
And I say this.
And you say this.
And I say this.
And actually, it becomes, in a sense, part of their identity.
It's something that helps to form and structure their day.
That every day they read about from the letter from dad and mom about how to handle guests and what to do when guests come.
But then when a guest actually comes, they might hate it.
Because guests are messy.
They don't follow the script.
They show up.
They sit in your room.
You know, it's a lot easier just to read the instructions about handling guests.
And having ritual and reenacting how you should handle guests.
For some people, it becomes that that's what they really like.
But actually, having a guest is a pain in the butt.
And that's what can happen with God.
You know, it can be, and I'm going to use an Anglican example, that Anglicans can get all caught up.
You would not believe the controversies that can happen about, you know, in the Lord's Supper and what words you should say after the words of institution.
And whether the Gloria, we don't do the Gloria, so some of you don't even know what that is.
Whether the Gloria for a communion service should be at the beginning of the service or whether it should be at the end.
And whether you should wear this robe or that robe, or whether you should lift your hands this much or this much, or not lift your hands at all.
Or whether you should bow or never bow.
And there's a whole pile of big things about it.
But the fact of the matter is, why did Jesus institute baptism?
I mean, sorry, the Lord's Supper.
Why did he institute Lord's Supper?
It was the whole, if you read the whole gospel, the implication is that when we celebrate communion later on, that Jesus is present.
The Bible says that we're two or more present.
Jesus is in their midst.
It's all about, we gather to be present with Jesus in the company of his people.
And you do communion to remember that Jesus died on the cross for us.
That when we put our faith and trust in Jesus, we enter into a covenant that Jesus has made available for people like us to enter into a covenant.
And that God will never let us go and that Jesus is coming back.
And it's all about Jesus.
It's not just about us following instructions about it.
Like, in a sense, it's all about being open to God.
That God might actually show up.
That God might actually be real.
And so what this text is saying is that there's ways.
And in fact, actually, later on in Romans chapter 10, you can look at it if you want.
Romans chapter 10, verse 4.
Paul, in fact, like, because he keeps following up his argument.
He says that Christ is the end of the law.
That everything in the Old Testament is pointing to Jesus.
Everything in the Old Testament is pointing to the fact that God would send a deliverer and that that's Jesus.
Everything is all about that and receiving him.
Not just going through ceremonies to enact what happens when the Messiah comes,
but that when the Messiah comes that you recognize him and you receive him.
The guest shows up.
And he's sovereign and he's messy.
But everything's about him.
Everything's about him.
And so this Bible text is saying that, you know, we can be baptized, we can attend church,
and we can know the Bible, and there's ways of doing that that actually immunize us against God.
That it ends up being that the Bible and baptism and church attendance ends up becoming a way of justifying yourself
and me justifying myself, and it's all about my self-righteousness,
and it's all about me being moral and me being moral in the ways that I want to be moral,
and it ends up sort of being all about me or my tribe
and not about God.
And this is true of liberal churches, which have their own problems,
but it's also, it can end up being in Orthodox churches.
Like, it's really odd.
Like, in many Reform-type churches, which talk about election,
and election is this wonderful truth that God actually calls us.
It's that when we, like, if today the Holy Spirit is putting a pressure on you
and you realize that it's time for you to give your life to Jesus,
it's never that you think of this before God does,
but that God is always calling you.
That every single person you meet today,
even if they complete, even if the mention of God makes them fly into a rage,
that you will not meet a single person today
that God, in a sense, is not right beside them saying,
I've sent my son to die for you.
I'm really hoping that you will turn to him and come to me
so that you can be my adopted child and I can be your heavenly father.
You will not meet a single person that God is not calling that to.
But for some people, the doctrine of election ends up becoming something
that you have to try to figure out what you have to do
to show that you're elected or have a particular feeling.
And in an odd way, that whole doctrine of election
ends up being a way to immunize us against God,
to sort of justify us doing all sorts of things
that we just completely miss it.
But it becomes a way of keeping God distant
because we're looking for the proof of it or something,
or we have to feel it,
or we have to be worthy of it,
and it has nothing to do with worthiness,
has nothing to do with any of those things,
and it becomes a doctrine that keeps us far from God.
You could go on and on and on and on,
that unless you have the certain feelings and certain,
you know, in certain traditions,
I was at a Christian weekend a couple of weeks,
a couple of years ago,
and it really struck me that people there,
unless they felt they had an emotional experience
that involved tears,
that they could not know that God loved them
or that Jesus was their Savior.
And it ended up being a very odd type of time
where you could really see that they spent the whole time
trying to work up certain experiences and feelings.
And they might be horrified to think
that they've taken the Bible
and their confidence in the Bible
and used it in such a way to actually keep God distant.
Now they're looking for a certain experience,
not Jesus,
not God.
And in fact, they'd look down their noses
at people who say that they've come to trust Jesus
as their Savior and their Lord,
who haven't wept those tears or had that experience.
It would lead them to feel superior
and look down their nose.
Just as many Anglicans will look down their nose
and feel superior at others
because they don't wear the robes,
they don't have the liturgy,
they don't have this.
There's an old joke that we Anglicans
are very, very open-minded.
We understand that many people worship God
in whatever way that they choose
and we worship whatever way that makes right to them
and we worship God in the way
that he's told us to worship God.
So, you know, we're following God
and the rest just are following their own.
It's all sorts of ways
to look down your nose at other people
and therefore, you're actually hearing the Bible
and using church membership
and good Bible knowledge to be superior,
to make yourself right with God,
to look down the nose of others
and keep God distant.
So, some of you might say,
oh, by the way,
just that one little phrase
about robbing temples,
what that's all about is
that we know,
we all know
that we shouldn't have an idol up here.
We shouldn't have Venus
or Zeus
or Hermes
or Adonis
or any of these other Greek gods
and goddesses up here.
We all know that that's,
we should never have that.
But how many of us
throughout the week
worship Venus?
I mean, what's pornography about
other than worshipping the goddess Venus
and the goddess Eros
and paying them homage
and serving them?
And we would never have a statue
for mammon up here,
but how many of us,
and it's not necessarily
the people with more money,
how many of us, in fact,
worship the god mammon
and pay him homage?
One of the guys
that gives me a hard time
at Starbucks,
he, whenever I see him
with his Lotto 649 tickets,
you can see why I don't make any,
nobody comes to faith through me,
I say to him,
ah, you're worshipping
the goddess Fortune today,
paying her homage
with your Lotto 649 tickets.
And he gets grumpy
and he'll come back at me
later on about something,
but we don't go to temples
to worship them,
but do we secretly
come in to rob them
so that in the secret places
of our heart
we worship those idols?
You see,
in all of these things,
what Paul,
this is all part of a long argument
from Paul,
and a long argument
from Paul
is that we need
a righteousness from God
that will make us right with God,
that we need God to act
because we can't fix ourselves
to make ourselves right with God.
We need God to act.
There is no way
that we can make ourselves
right with God,
and that that's not only true
for people who are part
of the gay pride parade,
and it's not only true
for people who are,
every night they're closing the bar
and they stagger home drunk,
but it's also true
for people who go
to Reformed Presbyterian churches
and Pentecostal churches
and Vineyard churches
and Anglican churches,
that everybody
has to understand
that they need God
and they have to receive
something that only God
can do for them.
Everybody has to,
and that's what Paul's trying to,
he's going through
a whole series
of different scenarios,
trying to leave nobody out,
that they will come
to realize that unless God
acts with effective power
in a way that's right,
we can't be right with God.
God has to act
with effective power
in a way that is right,
to make us right with himself,
and he's done it in Jesus.
So some of you might say,
George, this is,
okay, well,
this is a different take,
and I know you're going to talk
about the next few verses,
but George,
are you saying
that you sin less
than other people?
Like, you're talking
as if you understand
this text,
and you've seen
through what's going on.
Are you saying
you're superior
because you've seen
what's going on?
That's, by the way,
always a great temptation
for us.
It's one of the things
that just shows us
the depth of our sin
is that even at moments
when we have
a real aha moment
and breakthrough with God
that instantly
we can feel better
than other people.
Lord, have mercy.
But are you saying, George,
that you sin less?
Or that people
who hear this sermon
are going to sin less
than other people?
And if I'm reading
this correctly,
isn't the Bible
warning people against you?
In fact, George,
are you saying
that the Bible
is one of those
really, really cynical texts
that warns people
against itself
and is sort of like
just a really cynical
type of thing?
No, that's...
This is where
seeing the really weird thing,
because this was already...
The first few verses
are just puzzling.
But all of a sudden,
it seems to us
that out of the blue,
God's...
Paul's talking about circumcision.
How does circumcision
help this text,
this dilemma?
And it's like
a puzzling type of thing.
And it's...
Here's one of those things
where the parts of the Bible
sometimes that are most weird
can often be the type
that the texts
that are actually going to help us
to get to understand
if we're patient with them.
So let's look at Romans.
This...
What happens?
So Paul's...
Romans 17 to 24,
chapter 2,
now verse 25 and following,
where he talks about circumcision.
It goes like this.
For circumcision...
So it's just gone
verse 24.
Remember,
for as it is written,
the name of God
is blasphemed
among the Gentiles
because of you.
That's one of the literary clues
to help us to understand
that all those good things
that he was talking about,
that somehow these good things
have gotten rotten.
they've gone putrid,
that there's something in there
which is of death
because, you know,
the Bible's telling him
to re-look at these things
and try to understand these things
because verse 24,
and he quotes the Bible
to let us know
that this is the case.
And so verse 25,
he continues,
for...
In other words,
it's following on from this.
For circumcision indeed
is a value
if you obey the law.
But if you break the law,
your circumcision
becomes uncircumcision.
But one moment,
just before we read any further,
we already understand
that nobody keeps the law.
Does that mean
that everybody's uncircumcised?
That everybody...
And maybe here,
if you're gonna...
And later on we'll see,
but...
Well, I'll just read
with circumcision,
but you might want to put
in the word baptism there
rather than circumcision.
So if a man
who is uncircumcised,
verse 26,
keeps the precepts of the law,
will not his uncircumcision
be regarded as circumcision?
Then he who is physically
uncircumcised
but keeps the law
will condemn
you who have the written code.
And here what this word
condemn means is
not that they're a judge,
but that they give evidence.
That's what it means here.
In other words,
it would be as if...
One of the things,
if you...
I don't know how many of you
have ever lived
in really small towns,
like really small towns.
When we lived in Eganville,
I think they advertised
a population of 2,000,
but it was probably
less than that.
And there was this young guy
that our family knew,
and he was getting a little bit,
putting on a little bit of weight.
He was only like 13 or 12
or something like that.
And his parents told him
that he wasn't allowed
to eat potato chips
and other types of things.
And I guess all the time
they would tell him,
you're not allowed
to eat these things
after school.
So one day,
he'd bought himself
a big bag of potato chips.
And on his way home,
he stopped,
and it was a nice sunny day,
and he stopped at a bench
and he ate the bag
of potato chips.
He didn't realize
that a photographer
from the Eganville Leader
took a picture of him
eating a bag of potato chips
on a sunny spring afternoon.
I think it was spring.
And so, you know,
he's like an 11-year-old,
12-year-old,
whatever he was.
He never read
the Eganville Leader.
And so, you know,
the Eganville Leader
comes out a couple of days
from now,
and his mom says,
oh, I almost said
the guy's name,
which would be bad.
Oh, son,
you know we've told you
not to eat bags
of potato chips
on your way home.
You don't do that.
No, no, mom.
I don't do that at all.
Well, look what's here
in the Eganville Leader.
Who's this person
eating potato chips
in the afternoon
on their way home?
So this, in a sense,
that picture condemns him.
In other words,
by giving evidence.
And that's what's meant here.
Okay, that's how
you have to understand it.
So when it says here
in verse 27,
so verse 26,
so if a man
who is uncircumcised
keeps the precepts
of the law,
will not his uncircumcision
be regarded as circumcision?
We'll talk about that
in a moment.
But then verse 27,
then he who is physically
uncircumcised
but keeps the law
will condemn
you who have
the written code
and uncircumcision
but break the law.
In other words,
what it's saying here
is that in heaven,
there'll be lots of people
in heaven
who've given their lives
to Jesus
but they've never
been baptized.
Okay, and in heaven
and in hell,
there'll be lots of people
who are baptized
but haven't given
their life to Jesus.
That's to sort of
make it a little bit more
like relevant to us.
If you've given
your life to Jesus,
you should be baptized,
by the way.
You should seek
to be obedient to baptism.
But there'll be people
in heaven
who've given their lives
to Jesus,
never got around
to baptism
or whatever happened,
just didn't happen,
but they're in heaven
because the key thing
is something that went on
in the center
of who you are.
Not whether or not
water got,
you know,
not whether or not,
oh, you know,
you weren't really baptized
because you got baptized
as an infant
because you didn't go
underneath the water
the proper way
or, you know,
like it's not about
somehow getting the water
thing right
or even the water
itself
that the relevance of that
has to do with
something internal.
That's what the Bible
is trying to get at.
Verse 28,
for no one is a Jew,
no one is an Anglican
who is merely one outwardly,
nor is circumcision
or baptism
outward and physical,
but an Anglican
is one inwardly,
but actually here really
a member of the covenant people,
that's here where
it breaks down,
is one inwardly
and circumcision
or baptism
is a matter of the heart
by the Holy Spirit,
not by the letter.
His and her praise
is not from human beings
but from God.
So here,
if you could put up
the next point, Andrew,
my heart
needs to be circumcised
and baptized.
The Bible says,
my heart
needs to be circumcised
and baptized.
And by the way,
Paul will later on
in Romans 6
make this connection
between baptism
and circumcision himself.
But as you'll see
in a moment,
it's saying that
my heart
needs to be circumcised.
My heart
needs to be baptized.
but when I say this,
remember I began
this sermon
with the story
of me in the Starbucks
and this couple,
both but 40,
yoga mats
and sort of
complimenting me
in a sense,
wanting to start
a conversation with me
because I must be deep
and more authentic
because I'm writing
in a journal
with a pen.
pen,
I just can't type
actually.
I do like paper
and pen
and that's partially
because I'm old
and I can't type.
So is this text
saying,
George,
you've just got
to be more deep?
You've got to be
more deep.
But that's what it means
when I say that
my heart needs
to be circumcised
and baptized.
Is that just saying
that you can't be
just focused on externals?
It is partially saying that
but you've got to be deeper
as a person
and you've got to get
in touch with your feelings
and maybe get in touch
with your body
and you've got to be
in touch with your history
and you've got to be
more reflective
and you've got to think
about your family
of origin
and is that what
this text is saying?
Not at all.
Not even remotely.
Andrew,
could you put up
the next point?
The first point
was that
the point just before this
was that my heart
needs to be circumcised
and baptized
but the text
is trying to get us
to understand
that only the Holy Spirit
can circumcise
and baptize
my heart.
A journal and a pen
doesn't baptize
my heart.
A yoga mat
doesn't baptize
my heart.
taking communion
in and of itself
doesn't baptize
my heart.
Doesn't circumcise
my heart.
Look at verse 29
again.
But a Jew
or an Anglican
or a Christian
is one inwardly
and circumcision
is a matter of the heart
by the Holy Spirit
not by the letter.
His praise
is not from man
or human beings
but from God.
See,
we have to understand
the heart
here doesn't mean
feelings.
I've heard
lots of Christians
say that the biggest
journey in the
Christian faith
I should have
measured it.
I can't remember
if it's 12 inches
from here to here
or 18 inches.
I know some people
have really long necks
but whatever
some people
I don't know
is that a foot
or 18 inches?
Well, I'll say a foot
but maybe it's more.
They say the longest
journey in the Christian faith
where the Christian faith
begins is where
the 12 inch journey
from here to here
and what they mean
is that you have feelings.
That's not reading
the text correctly.
It's not telling you
to have certain feelings.
That's actually
sort of a real trap
that a lot of Christians
fall into
to try to have
the right feelings.
The heart
in the Bible
is always the command
center of who you are.
The command center
of who you are.
And, you know,
that command center
it's partially
it's, you know,
how you understand
what to do
is partially
from feelings
partially from
you know,
emotions
partially from
a sense of beauty
or a sense of love
and partially
sometimes it's a matter
of thinking
sometimes it's a matter
of knowing
what's right and wrong.
There's a variety
of things that
work at the command center
of who we are
because human beings
are deep and complex
and emotions
and the mind
and morals
and beauty
all have an impact
in terms of us
making decisions
but the heart
doesn't refer to
a certain type
of feeling
it's always referring
to the command center
of who we are.
And this image
of circumcision
which is so weird
so it's seen
that the command center
of who Sinclair is
has to be circumcised.
In the ancient world
when the Jewish people
were first given
the right of circumcision
there were other
ancient peoples
that practiced circumcision
pagans who practiced
circumcision
and when they practiced
circumcision
I mean scholars
now looking back on it
and trying to read
the documents
think that it symbolized
one of two things.
It symbolized
in a sense
a token of human sacrifice
that when that part
of the male anatomy
was cut off
it's symbolizing
that a human being
has died for you
and sometimes
it was used
to symbolize
they think
that the power
of life
that that's sacrificed
on your behalf.
But for the Jewish people
when they're given
the right of circumcision
in Genesis chapter 17
and then later on
in the law
they're given
the right of circumcision
and it's all
from a different
it's all within
the context
of a covenant
and it's very interesting
it's in your groin
and grace
if you look at
Genesis 15
and then read
Genesis 17
you get both
aspects of it
but it's as if
God enters into
a relationship
with the people
of Israel
and within this
relationship
he says
I will be your God
and you will be
my people
and if you
don't act
as my people
then there's going
to be these punishments
these things
that will befall you
if you break
a covenant
with me
if you break
the ten commandments
if you break
them with me
and there's this scene
in Genesis 15
where an animal
is killed
and the parts
of the animal
are set in both sides
and then you have
this symbolic
acting out
as if they walk
between the killed
parts of the animal
and then in Genesis 17
it's all come
to a conclusion
as circumcision
is given to them
and circumcision
is in a sense
an acting out
of the covenant
that if you fail
to keep this covenant
with God
you are circumcised
to say
I will enter
into covenant
with you God
you will be my God
I will be your child
and I know
that you will provide
for me
and you will do this
and if I break
the covenant
I will be cut off
I will be like
this dead animal
that's killed
and
actually
could you put up
Romans 1 16 to 17
you want to say this
with me please
this is where
we have to understand
now why the circumcision
image comes here
I know it's 40 minutes
I have to wrap this up
could you read this
with me
for I am not ashamed
of the gospel
for it is the power
of God
for salvation
to everyone
who believes
to the Jew first
and also to the Greek
for in the gospel
the righteousness
of God
is revealed
from faith
to faith
as it is written
the righteous
shall live
by faith
so what we see
in this text
is that
it is the power
of God
that God
needs to act
with effective power
and he needs
to act
with effective power
in a way
that's right
and he has to act
with effective power
in a way
that's right
to make us
right with him
and we're going
to understand
and receive this
by faith
in other words
not by anything
that we've done
but by God
doing something
for us
that we can't
do ourselves
so what is it
that we understand
about the person
of Jesus
person of Jesus
is he's come
from God
and he gets
cut off
on our behalf
in a sense
he
circumcision
is like reading
the instructions
of the coming
of the guests
but when Jesus
dies upon the cross
before that
in John's gospel
he's introduced
as the Lamb of God
who takes away
the sin of the world
and on the cross
Jesus cries out
my God
why hast thou
forsaken me
and Jesus
is cut off
from God
not because of
what he has done
in and of himself
but he dies
in my place
I deserve
to be cut off
from God
because I have
broken and violated
his moral laws
I have used
even the Bible
in a way
to further
my self-righteousness
and my boasting
in myself
and I have used
the Bible
even the good things
that come from him
in such a way
and I deserve
to be cut off
from God
I am cut off
from God
and Jesus
is cut off
from God
in my stead
so that when I put
my faith and trust
in Jesus
he took
my cut offness
and in exchange
offers me
his status
as God's child
God's son
and what he does
for me
in the cross
has to be applied
to me
only God can do it
and the Holy Spirit
does it
by in a sense
circumcising
my heart
what he does
for me
enters into me
as I enter
into him
what's the symbolism
of baptism
the symbolism
of baptism
which takes
the place
of circumcision
is that
I deserve
death
I will die
and I deserve
to die
and I am
separate from God
and I deserve
to be eternally
separate from God
and I can't fix
that myself
and most of the time
I don't even want
to fix it
and Jesus
takes my death
and my doom
and dies
my death
and my doom
and if I put
my arms out
to him
he reaches down
from heaven
and takes me
to himself
and in that
unbelievable exchange
of faith
because I can't
even reach up
to Jesus
my arms are way
too small
but he can reach
me
and when he
reaches me
he takes
the death
and the doom
that I deserve
and on the cross
he dies
my death
he takes
upon himself
my doom
and as he
holds me
he gives me
his life
and his status
as God's child
forever
and that has
to come
only God
can do that
and put that
into the command
center of my life
the center
of who I am
Andrew
could you put up
the fourth point
please
having a circumcised
heart
does not mean
that I sin less
than other people
it means that I
by sheer grace
have been made
right with God
through Jesus Christ
having a circumcised
heart
does not mean
that I sin less
than other people
it means that I
by sheer grace
have been made
right with God
through Jesus Christ
God acts
with effective
power
in a way
that is right
to make me
right with himself
and as the gospel
grips us
this deep
seated
temptation
within us
to justify
ourselves
to keep
God
at a distance
you see the problem
is that when
religion
becomes
when church
membership
and baptism
in the Bible
all ends up
becoming a means
by which
we in a sense
are trying to
make ourselves
right with God
then when
sin
comes before us
well we're
completely and
utterly caught
because it
means that our
whole status
with God
is completely
and utterly
in question
and ruined
so we pretend
that we don't
we deny
we explain away
we ignore
we repress
we do all of
those types of
things because
we can't actually
face the fact
that we're doing
wrong
and that our
whole project
of trying to
make ourselves
right with God
is doomed
to failure
but as the gospel
grips us
there's this
odd dynamic
that can go
on in our
lives
as the gospel
grips us
as it grips
us
that we can
never make
ourselves
right with
God
that our
sanctification
is not our
justification
that we're
justified
and that only
God can make
us right with
himself
as that grips
us
that nothing
in my hands
I bring
simply to the
cross I cling
as that grips
us
and as people
point out
George you're
a sinner
do you know
what you did
do you know
whatever that
thought or that
thing that you
said
I mean part
of me wants
to deny
part of me
wants to
repress
part of me
but as the
gospel grips
me I can
say yes
I did that
that's why I
need a savior
that's why I
need a savior
and I am so
glad I am so
grateful that my
right standing
with God does
not depend upon
what I've done
I know it can
be hard for my
ego to be
acknowledged once
again that I've
done wrong
but there can be
this on one
hand desire to
make myself
to say to
God I'm
sorry but at
the same time
a growing
confidence that
that is yet
again proof that
I need a savior
that I'm gripped
by Jesus when I'm
gripped by the
gospel
let's stand
please
I meant what I
said earlier
we'll talk in a
couple of weeks
about the
doctrine of
election but the
way to understand
the doctrine of
election is that
every single
person that you
meet today
every single
person God is
in a sense right
beside them
talking to them
and say I
so long for
you to get
off of trying
to make yourself
righteous I
long for you to
come with empty
hands to your to
my son so that I
will be your God
and you will be my
people I so long
for you to call
out to me to do
what only I can
do and I will
baptize the command
center the center
of who you are
I will circumcise
I will deal with
all of that I
will do that and
there is no person
that we meet today
that God is not
already calling to
them and he's
calling to you
and if you've been
trying to keep God
at a distance there's
no better time than
right now to rather
than keeping him at
a distance but to
stand with empty
hands and say
father with empty
hands I come
please baptize
with your
but may your
Holy Spirit
baptize my heart
may your Holy
Spirit circumcise
my heart may what
Jesus has done for
me on the cross
may that come
and define now
who I am
whatever your words
are even if it's
just you just say
Romans 1 16 to
17 again and then
say father make
that real in me
today there's no
better time than
today to do that
let's bow our
heads in prayer
father thank you
for the baptism
of the Holy
Spirit thank you
that the Holy
Spirit will
circumcise all
who call to you
in faith humbly
coming to you to
ask you to do
what only you can
do thank you for
Jesus thank you
for his death
upon the cross
thank you that you
will respond to
all who call
thank you father
that we don't
have to wait to
feel that we're
the elect we
don't have to
feel wait until
we feel that
we've that we're
good enough that
we're together
enough that we
don't have to
wait until we
were able to
fool people about
what our past
was like or what
our present is
like father we
are so grateful
that we can come
to you right now
in a sense naked
before you and
that we can come
to you and call
out to you and
ask maybe for the
first time in our
life that that the
Holy Spirit would
come and baptize
our heart circumcise
our heart that
Jesus would be our
Savior and Lord
and father for those
of us who've
already made that
transaction father
thank you that you
remind us again that
we need Jesus that
we need grace that
it's all grace
father forgive us for
our self-righteousness
and boasting thank
you father for what
Jesus has done for us
on the cross
make me make us
disciples of Jesus
gripped by the
gospel who live for
your glory
humbly facing
ourselves in light of
the cross
this we ask in
Jesus's name
amen