Dr. Cecil A. Fayard - 2001 Sermons
Sunday, March 11, 2001   

INTRODUCTION: Paul had a great desire to see his people, the Jews, come to Christ. The extent of his compassion for his people is expressed in Romans 9:3-. "For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." Because of his love for the Jews, Paul had to shoot straight with them. He had to point out to them that they were religious, yet lost.

We live in a time when people think you are unkind if you expose the false teachings that have them bound in a false security. Personally, I am glad that an old fashioned Baptist preacher was firm with this former Mormon. Firm enough to warn me of the wrath to come and point me to Christ the Savior. Because I have been warned, I want to warn others of the danger of trusting religion not Christ.

In Matthew 7:21-23, Christ tells us firmly and plainly that trusting in religion will not save. It is not my purpose to be hard or unkind, but I do want to firmly preach the truth so that sinners may be converted and saints confirmed.

1. VERSE 17-18, CLAIMING A NAME
   1. The Jews claimed their name. They thought that because they bore the name Jew that they were secure, that they were saved.
      
      1. They bragged about being Jews: "We are Jews and are better than everybody else, look at us, do what we do."
         
         1. The Jews that Paul was talking to placed confidence in self not in God.
            
         2. There are folks today who place confidence in what they do and not in what Christ has done for them. Some trust in ritual, baptism, the Lord's Supper, etc. for salvation.
            
      2. The Jews rested on the law.
         
         1. Paul is here referring to the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible.
            
         2. Yes, we read the Word; we need to delight in God's law.
            
            1. They were trusting in the possession of the Word, not in the God of the Word.
               
            2. The Bible is to point us to Christ (John 20:31).
               
      3. They bragged about their relationship to God.
         
         1. They bragged about their heritage.
            
         2. They relied on their knowledge of the Law.
            
         3. They like being the recipients and custodians of the Law.
            
         4. Their boast was not in a personal relationship with God. They boasted in themselves, in their rights and privileges rather than in grace.
            
         5. Salvation by grace will do away with sinful boasting (Ephesians 2:8-9).

   2. Verse 18, Paul has several important points to make here concerning the self-righteous Jesus.
      
      1. "Knowest his will." They know it, but didn't obey it. They didn't trust in the Messiah who is pointed to in the Word.
         
      2. "Approvest the things that are more excellent." The Greek word for approve is dokimazo meaning "to test to prove the value of."
         
         1. They had what the needed to know what was right and wrong.
            
         2. They also had the means to discern the most important parts of the Law.
            
      3. "Being instructed out of the law." (Katecheo- catechism).
         
         1. They were continually being taught in the synagogue.
            
         2. Many Jews, not just the rabbis, memorized large sections of the law and at times recited it in public.
            
         3. They had a k

            nowledge not a heart knowledge of God.

2. VERSES 19-20, CLAIMING SUPERIOR STATUS
   1. Verse 19, We now go from what the Jews knew to what they taught. The Jewish teachers taught man made traditions rather than the truth of God's Word. Sure they used the Bible; they misused it to back up their non-Biblical system.
      
      1. "A guide of the blind."
         
         1. Confidently they taught the less spiritual Jews and spiritually blind Gentiles.
            
         2. They won converts to their system, not to Christ, making their converts twofold children of the devil (Matthew 23:15, 24-28).
            
      2. "A light of them which are in darkness."
         
         1. God intended for the Jews to use the Bible to bring people to Him (Genesis 22:18).
            
         2. The Jews failed and their mission was taken from them and given to the New Testament church because they became self-centered religious fanatics pointing men to traditions not God.
            
         3. The church has a responsibility to get the Gospel out, to be a light in a dark world. Let's do our job (Matthew 5:14-16).

   2. Verse 20, The Jewish though of superiority continues:
      
      1. "An instructor of the foolish." The Gentiles are the targets here. The Jewish teachers saw them as foolish know-nothings.
         
      2. "A teacher of babes."
         
         1. "Babes" refers to very small children here, "babes" in the Jewish faith.
            
         2. Gentile proselyte are in need of special help, poor babes.
            
      3. "Which hast a form of knowledge and of the truth of the law."
         
         1. "You just look like you are spiritual," Paul is saying. They had the appearance of being godly, but they were lost (II Timothy 3:5).
            
         2. The truth of the law had been hidden by tradition.

3. VERSES 21-22, CLAIMS OF SUPERIORITY REFUTED
   1. Verse 21, The simplest way to comment on this verse is to say: "Do you practice what you teach and preach?"
      
      1. They could talk the talk, but didn't walk the walk.
         
      2. In Amos 8:5, we are reminded of the practice of stealing by cheating folks at the scale (Also note Proverbs 11:1).

   2. Verse 22, They practiced the evil they so strongly condemned in others.
      
      1. They made money by selling idols that had been taken in battle.
         
      2. They robbed by not tithing and by taking money that was tithed. The were crooks, depraved and lost.
         
      3. Ethically, morally, and spiritually, the Jews were guilty.

4. VERSES 23-24, CLAIMS THAT WILL NOT HOLD UP
   1. All sins brings dishonor to God.
      
   2. The sin of those who say they belong to God brings the greatest dishonor to God.
      
   3. Let it never be said that because of us the name of God is blasphemed.

5. VERSES 25-29, CLAIMS OF CEREMONY
   1. Verse 25-27, the Jews who continued in sin was no more saved than a heathen.
      
      1. Circumcision was an outward symbol, a badge of the Mosaic law.
         
         1. The badge indicated a man believed in the law.
            
         2. When a Jew lived a life of sin his circumcision meant nothing.
            
      2. The Gentile who is not physically circumcised but has had a work of grace in his heart is better off than the circumcised Jew.

   2. Verses 28-29, Salvation is from the inside out, not the outside in.
      
      1. Because they had been circumcised, the Jews thought they were secure, that surely they were the children of Abraham; but Romans 9:6-8 sets the record straight.
         
      2. For salvation to take place, there must be a work of the Spirit, a work of grace (II Corinthians 3:3, 6, 18).