Romans 2, 23 through 27. Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou God. For the name of God is blaspheme among the Gentiles through you as it is written. For circumcision verily profiteth if thou keep the law, but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore, if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision does transgress the law? Let's pray. Father in heaven, we praise and bless your name, that you are a God who searches the hearts, who tries the reigns, who knows what is in the heart of every man to render every man according to his work. Have mercy upon us and teach us through your word now, we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. We've been considering these last few weeks the apostles concluding arguments. His case is being finished. In chapter 3 he will pick up and give the indictment. Here he's providing evidence after evidence after evidence for the condemnation he will pronounce shortly. As we've been considering this final argument, the apostle argues here against the Jews' notion that they were righteous by keeping what God had commanded them in the law. And as he stripped away their legal righteousness, they fell back, we saw, to circumcision, to the sign and seal of God's covenant with Abraham. We saw from verses 23 and 24 that if they desired to profit from that sign, and they wanted to be righteous by their works, then circumcision required a full and complete obedience, if it would profit them. They also were shown that one who was uncircumcised, who was in their minds unclean, therefore, and excluded from God's covenant, that if he should keep the law, if he should, as we saw theoretically or hypothetically, if he could keep the law, God would not say, well, he's not circumcised, I will not justify him. No, rather we saw that his circumcision would be an imputed circumcision. He would not truly be circumcised in his flesh, but God would account him as one who was circumcised. We saw that from verses 25 and 26. This afternoon, we will continue the apostle's argument by looking at verse 27. We will consider this under three parts as letter and circumcision. That will be the title of our sermon this afternoon. First, we'll look at shall condemn. Second, we'll look at by nature. And third, we'll look at letter and circumcision. First then, shall condemn. Verse 27 again, and shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfill the law, judge thee. The structure of this in the Greek is very interesting. It says, and shall condemn emphatically the from nature foreskin. Here the word for condemn or judge is crenine, from a basic meaning of to divide out or to separate. We make judgments about things. If you were taking a bucket of fish as they used to do, you say this is a good fish, this is a bad fish, you divide them, you separate them, you judge them. Later it would be used in Greek as a legal technical term, meaning it's a legal term used in courts to judge, to condemn, or to hand over for punishment. It's used throughout scripture of God's judgment, judge or administer justice. And with an obviously negative verdict, in other words, a guilty verdict, it means to condemn or to punish. Please open to John chapter 12 concerning this term. John's gospel, page 1,082 of your Pew Bibles, 1-0-8-2, John chapter 12. We'll read verse 48, where our Lord says the following. He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him. The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him. In the last day. Now, he's not saying it will separate you without reference to whether you're innocent or guilty. No, he's saying you have rejected my doctrines. That's what it means by words. The things I taught you, you did not receive them, he says. And then those very words that you refuse to hear, he says, will come back and condemn you, will judge you, will deliver you over to punishment and condemn you. We saw the same word in Romans 2 in a previous sermon. Please turn over to Romans 2 16. Page 1135, 1,135. Romans 2.16 says, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. Here is the day of condemnation, the day of judgment, and God is the one doing it. Look over at chapter three, verse six on the same page of your pew Bibles. God forbid, for then how shall God judge the world? God sits there dividing the sheep from the goat. He sends condemnation upon the world for all of its evil ways. This is God judging. Turn over to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews 10, page 1214 of your pew Bibles. Hebrews chapter 10. We'll read verse 30, Hebrews 10, 30. For we know him that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. God delivers over, divides up, judges, condemns. He is the great judge. The God of vengeance, he calls himself, who will recompense, who will pay everyone back according to their deeds. Turn over to page 1217 to Hebrews 13, four, concerning this word, judge. Hebrews 13, four, marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled, but whoremongers and adulterers, God will judge. God will condemn them. God will hand them over for punishment. He will separate them for his wrath, he says. because they are lawless, because they were disrespect his commandments and do not reflect his image. So here shall condemn is this idea of sitting in judgment and handing over to punishment. David Perea says about this passage, though elsewhere he says that believers shall judge the world, yet indeed in your case, seeing that they are better than you, they shall convict you as worthy of damnation on account of your abuse of the sacrament, that is the sacrament of circumcision. If the Gentile, he says, is living in obedience to God, and you who received the sign are disobedient, they will condemn you, these Gentiles. John Murray notes, shall judge thee does not mean that they will sit in judgment, but refers to the judgment of comparison and contrast. God's going to set you side by side and say, how did this one do? How did you do? Compare and contrast. Having looked at shall condemn in the first place, second, let's consider by nature. Verse 27 of Romans 2 again, and shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfilled the law, judge thee. We'll look at this in three parts. The first part of nature. Now remember, this is a very interesting way that it's phrased in the Greek and shall condemn emphatically thee from nature for skin. The law emphatically performing. Here this natural or nature condition, by nature it's translated. Barclay Newman's lexicon says this means the natural condition of something. One who is physically uncircumcised, they say, Romans 2, 27. Or in Romans 11, it talks about those grafted into the olive tree, wild olive branches grafted in contrary to nature. Nature, the natural order, nature being or essence. Freiburg's lexicon says as the naturally regulated order of things as nature. Something that is according to nature or katafusin, That is what is naturally occurring, or in accordance with the natural construction of a thing. Some things are against nature. Paraphusin, unnatural, as Romans 1.26, people were given over against nature to those evil lusts. Freiberg goes on that this word refers to the natural endowment, the native condition inherited from one's ancestors. Let's turn over to Romans 1, page 1134. Romans 1, we'll read verses 26 and 27, which we have considered previously. Verse 26. For this cause, God gave them up unto vile affections. For even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature. God has endowed the male body with a specific psychology and physiology, your mind, your body, your emotions, your will. There is a male type and there is a female type. We are not completely or in any way equal. God made men and different separate, distinct. Now, those are natural endowments. But here we see that when people reject God, who is naturally by the light of nature, their only object of worship, if they flip that upside down and worship and serve the creature rather than the creator, God says this, you have defied the natural order, so I will punish you. I will turn your natural desires upside down. You gave up the truth of God for a lie, verse 25. You worshiped and served the creature more than the creator. The order of nature then is inversed. And your punishment, he says, will be according to your crime. God will give you up. The women will exchange the natural use into what is against nature. Verse 27, and likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lusts one toward another. Men with men working that which is unseemly. Here you see it, the unseemly unnatural desires and uses made by those given over by God. This is nature. This is the idea of the natural endowment. Look over at chapter two, verses 14 and 15. Again, we've considered this passage previously, but as a reminder. Verse 14, for when the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. Notice here the image of God is referred to as the nature of man. They have doing these things which God imprinted on their conscience, written on their heart. That is the nature of man. You find this in our Declaration of Independence as Americans. We refer to civil government as fulfilling things under the laws of nature and nature's God. God made man a very specific way, a particular type of creature. And he requires that when we live in civil society, that that nature be recognized and not set aside. Therefore all laws contrary to the light of nature are not laws They are tyranny. That's our argument in the Declaration of Independence. That's basic Protestant theology of the state God has ordained us to live in such a way that that work of the law is protected the work of the law and human nature is Fostered it is given legal sanction. It is given the approval of every man's words This is why anyone who writes a book, who publishes a webpage, who gives a speech against the light of nature may be punished by the civil magistrate. Because he is taking to turn and subvert the order of God's creation. This is nature. First Corinthians 11 verses 14 and 15, doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him. But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her for her hair is given her for a covering. This male and female nature even comes down to the wearing of the length of your hair. God has built in this natural order. John Murray says of this passage in Romans, the circumcision which is by nature is simply a way of characterizing those who remain in their naturally uncircumcised state. Appropriate here, no doubt, for the purpose of emphasizing the retention of that which to the Jew was the sign of uncleanness. The Jew saw an uncircumcised man as cut off from the life of God, outside of fellowship with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and therefore unclean. So the apostle brings in this natural condition for that very purpose to jar and shock the circumcised Jew. First, we've looked at of nature. Second, let's look at the law. The from nature foreskin, the law emphatically performing. Again, this is emphatic. The apostle draws our attention. This uncircumcised man that you say is unclean, here he is, the very law that we've been talking about. As we saw last week, the law is the moral law, this light of nature. If he were to perfectly obey the moral commandments, would not God say, that one will judge you, you with your circumcision, disobeying that law? First, we looked at of nature, second, the law, and third, performing. Or as it says in the King James Bible, fulfill, if it fulfill the law. Freiberg notes about this term for fulfill or perform as something, or excuse me, as completing something, bringing to an end, concluding or completing. As obeying a rule or ritual, carrying out, fulfill or perform. Luke 18 31 says this, then he took unto him the 12 and said unto them, behold, we go up to Jerusalem and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the son of man shall be accomplished. They'll come to an end. All the prophecies in the Old Testament, I'm going to fulfill them about the blood of the lamb, the death of the substitute, the sacrifice. Galatians 5, 16, this I say, then walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Put them into practice, in other words. The Westminster annotations say about this term, he speaketh not as if there were any that had fulfilled in all respects, for that is expressly denied, Romans 3.9. But this he sayeth to convince the Jews that they must as well as the Gentiles seek for righteousness out of themselves in Christ who alone hath fulfilled the law. Having looked at shall condemn in the first place, by nature in the second place, let's consider in the third place, letter and circumcision. Again, verse 27 of Romans 2, and shall not uncircumcision, which is by nature, if it fulfill the law judge thee, who by letter and circumcision does transgress the law. We'll consider this in three parts. First, thee, the transgressor. Again, the word order is interesting. He says, and shall condemn thee emphatically, the through letter and circumcision transgressor. He gives you a big sandwich of words, the transgressor, with all of these descriptors in the middle to emphasize what kind of transgressor are you? You are the through letter and circumcision type of transgressor of God's law. Again, we looked at this last week. What is it to be a transgressor? It is a parabates, the one who stood beside the chariot, you'll recall from last week. Later, it came to mean one who stood beside the laws, who did not do what was right and sit in God's chariot of law, but stood beside it, outside of it and said, I'll do my own thing. Thayer's lexicon when used with the term law as here, he says it means a law breaker. It assumes a knowledge of the law. It assumes that you should do it because you know what it says. First, then we've looked at the transgressor. Second, let's look at letter. Through letter and circumcision, that's the type of transgressor you are. This word through Frederick Godet says the preposition dia, strictly across the length of or through, here denotes as it often does the state. The circumstances in which an act is accomplished. So in full possession of the letter and circumcision, that's the idea. Through the letter and circumcision means while you possess these things, the letter and the circumcision, you have them in your possession, but you're still, he says, a transgressor. First then let's look at letter. Freiberg says this literally means what is written. Have you ever heard of graph paper or draw me a graph? That's redundancy. Graphane means to write something down. So here the letter is the grapha. As a piece of writing such as a letter, a document, or a book. Please turn over to Romans 7, 6, page 1139 of your pew Bibles. We'll look at this letter that the apostle refers to. Verse six, but now we are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. There we have spirit and letter contrasted, old and new. Turn over to 2 Corinthians 3, page 1165 of your Pew Bible. 2 Corinthians 3 concerning this letter and spirit. We'll read verses 1 through 7. Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? Ye are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men. For as much as you are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. And such trust have we through Christ to God word. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. Here we see a very sharp contrast between the letter and the spirit. You, he says, would want someone who has letters of commendation. And in fact, when the false apostles came to Corinth, guess what they had? Letters of commendation. Receive these men. They're Orthodox. Hear what they have to say. We commend them to you. And then what would they teach? The Apostle Paul is not someone you ought to rely on. He's not a true minister of Jesus Christ. He casts out circumcision. He casts out all the ceremonies. He hates the temple. This was the report that came abroad about the apostle Paul through these letters of commendation. And so the apostle takes those letters and says, aha. You who say that we are justified by the works, that we do, let me tell you something. There is a law written in tables of stone. There is a law written with ink down on parchments of paper. Then there is a law written in the heart, a law engraven by the spirit of the living God, he says, not written with ink. But by God's finger, remember when God gave Moses the law, how did he write it? His finger, it says, wrote down the Ten Commandments. And when he promised a new covenant, a new testament, he said he would do that very thing. I will write my laws upon their minds and in their hearts. just like he once did on tables of stone. That's what Paul's talking about. He's contrasting the abuse made of the letter to the exclusion of the spirit of God, the external law, as opposed to the internal motion of the spirit to write that same law upon the heart. One is justification by works by which the law of Moses is made a means of justification. The other is justification by faith alone through the obedience of Jesus Christ. And then God takes his law and writes it upon our hearts. This is the spirit versus the letter. Heinrich Bollinger notes on this passage. Now truly he puts letter for dye and outward appearance, dye like your coats. Like your shirts, do you think the materials that your shirt is made of is naturally that color? Of course it isn't. There are dyes to make it appear that way as if it came from something that color. That's the idea here. He puts letter, Bollinger says, for dye and outward appearance. Thus we may conclude that by the letter it is to be understood whatever is external and ceremonial. So Bullinger says this letter is that external thing, that ceremonial thing. David Piraeus. Letter is what he calls the external ceremony without internal grace. Spirit, the internal accomplishment of grace itself. Thus we've looked at letter and circumcision. We've seen the judgment by comparison between the Jew who had in his possession the letter and circumcision and the Gentile who was ceremonially unclean and yet was obeying the law. Let's consider doctrines and duties from this verse. First doctrine, examples are one means of condemnation. Examples are one means of condemnation. Now, just to put things in perspective, examples are never a means of justification. You are not justified by following an example, but you may be condemned by seeing someone's example. Here, the naturally uncircumcised Gentile is said to judge and condemn the Jews who had the possession of the letter and even the seal of God's covenant. Please open to Matthew chapter 12, page 974 of your Pew Bibles. Matthew chapter 12. Our Lord teaching about examples and condemnation. We'll read verses 41 and 42. He says the following, the men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation and shall condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonas. And behold, a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation and shall condemn it. For she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon and behold, a greater than Solomon is here. Here we see the judgment, it says, the Nineveh shall rise in judgment. This is the noun form of the verb to condemn or to judge as we saw earlier. It's the word chrise, where we get the word crisis. Some judgment, some trouble comes on and it divides you to figure out, do you have the strength to endure or are you weak? That's a crisis. Here the men of Nineveh heard the preaching of Jonah and repented. That's their example. But you, he says, hear my preaching and you do not repent. You do not follow their good example. So their example judges you. He says, here I am, one wiser than Solomon. And think about this African queen who comes up to hear the words of Solomon, and she gives him substance upon substance. She comes from the uttermost parts because of his wisdom. Here am I, he says, speaking wisdom. You're not following her example. So you are condemned by her example. Please open to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter 2, page 1223 of your Pew Bibles. 1, 2, 2, 3. 1 Peter 2, we'll read verses 11 and 12 concerning examples as one means of condemnation. Verse 11, dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul, having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evil doers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. Now that day of visitation is when God comes to visit and punish sin. That is the day that we call the day of judgment, the last day. God's going to come and punish the Gentiles and Peter says, If your conversation is honest, if your conversation is of good works, and the Gentiles see that, that what they see will condemn them at the great day of judgment. And so we see examples are one means of condemnation. Second doctrine. The letter without the spirit kills. The letter kills without the spirit. A religion which may be summed up in an external form of written codes without the internal power of God's spirit is both dead and death giving. It is a letter that kills. The Jew possessed such a religion. which he could fulfill in his own strength, some of which was even supplied by God himself in the law of God, such as circumcision. He could receive the sign and seal that was within the power of the priest to apply that sign to a boy at eight days old. God gave them that right. He gave them that sign, but it was dead and death giving if not accompanied by what that sign pointed to. In fact, this truth is the basis upon which heretics build many of their errors. Of course, it is a corruption of this truth. Enthusiasts who downplay the Old Testament and say, ah, that's a killing letter. I don't need the Bible. Even the Quakers say, you know, the happy Quaker guy, heretic. The Quaker said, we don't need the Bible, we have the living spirit of God inside of us. We don't need the scriptures. Augustine says the following, properly distinguishing, he says, the letter of the law, which teaches us not to commit sin, kills if the life-giving spirit be absent, for as much as it causes sin to be known, rather than avoided. Let me read that again. Why does the letter kill? Augustine says, because it causes sin to be known rather than avoided. What is the goal? God wants us to repent and to avoid sin. All the law says is this is sin. What you're doing, it condemns you. It lets you know. And Augustine goes on, and therefore, to be increased rather than diminished. In other words, by your knowledge of sin, your sin gets worse. It is increased, not diminished, because he says to an evil concupiscence. There is now added the transgression of the law, your evil concupiscence, your fallen desire to do evil. It's there already. Now, he says, you have knowledge about what you're not supposed to do, and therefore your sin grows and grows and grows. That is how the letter kills without the spirit of the living God. Duties in light of these doctrines from this passage. Let your light so shine before men. Let your light so shine before men. God has ordained the examples of the righteous as one means by which he will judge the world. Strive after an example of obedience to God himself. Remember what the apostle Peter said, we are to abstain from fleshly lusts. This is the idea of concupiscence. These fleshly desires to fulfill whatever we want. Consider the things that you desire strongly. What are the things you lust after that you can't give up? The Gentiles will not be condemned. They will be justified by your sins if you live in them. He also says to have your conduct honest among the Gentiles in 1st Peter 2. This word honest, according to Lonita's lexicon means something that pertains to a positive moral quality. With the implication of being favorably valued, good, fine, praiseworthy, Our conduct among Gentiles and unbelievers must be of a positive moral quality and have a favorable value. We must live up to the standard of conduct that condemns the Gentile in his uncircumcision of his flesh rather than justifying him in his sins. Let your light shine before men. Live honestly, abstain from fleshly lusts, and do the will of Almighty God. Second, beware of a killing letter. Again, beware of a killing letter. The Jew was lost. He was trapped. He was condemned and partially with very good things, as we will consider in chapter three. Circumcision was a good thing. The letter of the written law, the oracles of God, as we will see, a very good thing, the chief and principal benefit of the Jew. was that he had the oracles of God. He had the letter written down. He could read the ink in the scrolls. These were good things God gave him. And yet, with those very good things, he was lost, trapped, condemned. We must beware ourselves of falling into an external formalism. which the good things God has given to us may be easily abused. I have seen people who say, well, you know, If we have a form that we use for our worship, that is a killing letter. So we are going to be informal worship. We're going to have casual worship. Guess what happens with the casual worship? It becomes the new killing letter. It becomes the new form. You thought you were getting rid of it? No, you weren't. You don't have the guitar rocking out. You don't feel like you've worshiped God. It's your new form. We can be trapped by a killing letter. When we say my killing letter is not a killing letter, it's just a hip letter. It's still a killing letter. It's still an external form that people trust in. We must beware the heart is deceitful above all things. And even God given forms can become a killing letter. As he says here to the Jew, who with a letter and circumcision was a transgressor. William Plummer, famous Southern Presbyterian says the following, but the great object of the apostle in these verses is to destroy the confidence of a Jew in his law, nationality and rights as a means or even as pledges of salvation. If he were found like other men to be a sinner. The Jew had a law from God himself. His nation was blessed by God. What other nation was there in those days? As Israel, unique and chosen by God. What about his rights? They signed and sealed over to him the gospel at that time, the blood of the lamb on the doorpost. God will deliver you through the blood of the lamb. God will give you the annual sacrifice by which you send off one goat into the wilderness and the other one you slay on the day of atonement. God gives you circumcision as a rolling away of the flesh to sign and seal that you are justified by faith in the Messiah, the seed of Abraham. All these rights were means and blessings to them if joined with faith, if joined with believing in the promise and obedience to the commandment, but all by themselves, they were a killing letter. Prioritize the weightier matters of the law in the third place. Prioritize the weightier matters of the law. As we saw, the apostle demonstrates the dyed or painted or hypocritical external religion of the Jew led him to destruction and judgment. It was a religion again of the letter, of the external appearance, or as Bollinger put it, he truly puts letter for the die and outward appearance. Thus, we may conclude that by the letter is to be understood whatever is external and ceremonial. John Calvin says, he does not mean that they violated the law because they had the literal circumcision, but because they continued, though they had the outward right to neglect the spiritual worship of God, even piety, justice, judgment, and truth, which are the chief matters of the law. This, by contrast, can be seen with all kinds of ideologies and practices people come up with. Ah, I've got a perfect, a perfect plan for you. Here's how we're going to fix your family, or here's how we'll fix the church, or here's how we'll fix the state. I've got a program. If you follow my 12-step program to recovery, you will automatically become healed. You'll be cured. What is this but an external checklist, a killing letter? Come, let us follow this, that, or the other, and things will be fine. I'm sure some of you have heard of the basic conflict youth program, Bill Gothard. Look, if you follow these steps, you will have a successful Christian marriage. If your church does X, Y, and Z, you will therefore have perfect worship and everything will be hunky-dory. We could say that about the Psalter. Oh, if we just sang the Psalms, everything would be fine. That is to make an external checklist even of things that God has given us. Just like the Jew, we must prioritize or make first what God says is first. Make second what he says is second, make third what he says is third. Or as Calvin puts it, we must have the chief matters of the law, piety, that is the fear of God. Justice, by which you render to every man what is their due. Judgment, by which you are properly informed of your mind of what God requires of you and you do it. truth by which you believe and speak only what you know to be true. Do not lie to yourself. Do not lie to other people. Do not pick up falsehood that God does not teach. These are the chief matters of God's law. And if we have some formula by which we take the secondary or the tertiary or anything beyond an area, and you say, that's going to become my salvation. That's how we're going to fix these problems that we have. We have become a people of a killing letter. Movements will come and movements will go. And they will promise you great things for your family or your church or the civil government. But God says this. You must walk humbly with me. You must do justice. You must love mercy and you must walk humbly with your God. These are the weightier matters that we must prioritize so that we do not fall for the letter and circumcision as the Jew. May our religion be one of the Holy Spirit rather than the bare external letter. May we let our light so shine before men that they may glorify our Father in heaven. May we prioritize the chief matters of the law, piety, justice, judgment, and truth. May we not get caught on the external rights or doctrines of the Christian faith, but be moved with God's priorities in obedience to him, to hear his word and to do his word. Amen. Let's pray.