okay shalom everyone i'd like you please to take your bibles and turn to the book of romans today we are continuing dealing with the second chapter of romans and entering into the third chapter romans chapter 2 beginning from verse 17 into romans chapter 3 and verse 8 so i'm going to read beginning from verse 17 of romans chapter 2 and so paul is addressing now a third group he's addressing the jewish people our own people and he is showing to us in this chapter and these verses that the jewish people though privileged also are accountable before the god of abraham Isaac and Jacob and so look what he says in verse 17 behold you that is called a Jew or Yehudi in Hebrew and you rest in the law you make your boast in God you know his will and approves the things that are more excellent being instructed out of the Torah out of the law and are confident that Thou yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to them which are in darkness, an instructor to the foolish, a teacher of babes, which has the form and knowledge and the truth in the law, in the Torah.

Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not yourself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, do you steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege or you rob temples? Thou that makest thy boast in the law, through the breaking of the law, you dishonor God. For the name of God is blasphemed among the nations, among the Gentiles, through you as it is written. For circumcision verily profiteth if you keep the law. But if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore, if the uncircumcision keepeth 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 the circumcision thus transgresses the law. For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is he or is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, But he is a Jew, he is a Yehudi, which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Chapter 3 and verse 1. What advantage then has the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar. As it is written, that thou might be justified in thy saying, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid, for then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God hath more abundant through my lie unto his glory, why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather, as we be slanderous reported, and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil, that good may come, whose damnation is just.

And I stop here in this verse 8 of Romans chapter 3, where we read this afternoon from verse 17 of chapter 2 all the way into verse 8 of chapter 3 of the book of Romans. And I want you to realize, dear brothers and sisters, as we are reading this passage together this afternoon, that right now the Apostle Paul, the man Shaul, is dealing now with the Jewish people, with the people of Israel, with the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

You remember in the last messages that we have heard that the Apostle Paul had been declaring the gospel he said in romans 1 and verse 16 that he is not ashamed of the gospel of the messiah for the gospel of the messiah is the power of god unto salvation to everyone that believe to the jewish people first and also to the gentile world and then he said in chapter 1 and verse 17 that in this gospel in this message concerning the work of the lord jesus the messiah there is the power of god unto salvation to everyone that believe in the lord jesus the messiah and i hope i can say today and i hope

you can say today that you all that all of us here in this room can honestly say before the lord i have accepted the lord jesus the messiah into my heart he is my lord he is my savior i have sinned before god and i accepted the gospel and after saying verses 16 and 17 of chapter 1 he is shifting now and he want to show us the reality of the human condition that all men have sinned and that all men need the gospel and we all whether we are jewish or whether we are Gentiles, whether we are rich or poor, whether we are wise or foolish, all have sinned and come short of the

glory of God.

So what does he do? He divides the whole world into three groups. Actually, the Bible divides the world into two groups. First of all is the people of Israel, the Jews, and then it is the nations of the world. But within the nations of the world, there is also another division that at least historically have existed, is the division between what we call the intellectual, the intelligent, or what we would call it, the moral Greek individual, and then the pagan world. So he began with the Gentile world, and he divided them into these two sections. First of all, he showed us what the pagan world is like and how the pagan world, the unregenerated Gentile world, had the kind of a life that they set God aside out of their own lives.

And we have read it from Romans 1 verse 18 all the way into the end of chapter 1 of the book of Romans. And he declared that they have been guilty before God. Then he moved on and he talked to the moralist, Greek. And this moralistic individual, he's a person who lived decent in his life. And he has a pretty moral life. And he discovered by showing to him that he is just as guilty before God as the pagan world. And you remember in our last verses as we have been reading in chapter 2. And if you remember, we said, who are you, O man, that judges another, in verse 1 and 2.

He says, you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you, the judge, you do the very same thing. And he found him guilty. This moralist individual, who probably have a decent moral life, he looked at the pagan world and he said, oh, how bad they are. But immediately he has to realize that he is very much the same. He is not better, and God is going to hold him accountable before himself. But now he's moving, in chapter 2, verse 17, to the Jewish men. You know, the religious Jewish men, like some of us who are Jewish, and some of us who come from a religious background, we might look at the Gentile world and we will say, ah, they are bad, they are sinful, but we are okay.

God is not going to deal with us. And see, we are the chosen people. We are Yehudim. We are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so he's dealing now with his own brethren. And that is interesting about the Apostle Paul. He's so honest. He's so upfront. He's no respect of persons with him. He's honest. He's telling them, listen, this is the condition of the pagan world. This is the condition of the moralist world. And now I'm going to talk to you who are Jewish, who are Yehudim, who are descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And so, in verses 17 to 29 of chapter 2, he does three things.

He shows us the privilege of the Jewish people. He shows us the practices of the Jewish people. And then he shows us the position of the Jewish people. And he wanted to show those things, and he's actually speaking to a Jew. In this text, it's a Jewish believer speaking to a Jewish unbeliever. A Jewish believer, namely the Apostle Paul, Shaul of Tarsas, he is speaking to his Jewish brethren, and he is telling them those things. First of all, verses 17 to 20, he tells them about the privileges that the Jewish people have. Notice he says in verse 17, he says, you that call yourself Yehudi, Jewish, and you rest in the law, and you make boast in God.

He's speaking to his Jewish brethren. He says, look, you call yourself Jewish. It's just like me, Gideon, would speak to my own family. Just like me or anyone who from our midst is Jewish will speak to our own Jewish family and will say, okay, you're calling yourself a Jew. You're Jewish, right? You're coming from a Jewish background. You rest in the law and you make your boast in God. You say, I am the chosen part of the chosen nation. I am part of people that God has chosen. And it's truly that the Jewish people are the chosen people. The people of Israel are chosen by God.

And he says, look, you resting in the law, you are making boast in God. You are insisting and you calling yourself Jewish because you were born as a descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You have a responsibility also. By the way, the Hebrew word Yehudi comes from the word Lehodot. The first time we have the word Yehudi in the Bible is come from the son of Jacob in the name of Yehuda, Judah. And Yehuda is a person that modeh, giving thanks to God. That is, Yehudi, a true Jewish person, is a person that is not only a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and through Jacob, but is also a person who's giving thanks to God.

Every time you and I are raising our voices and we're praising God, and we're thanking God, we are really modim, Yehudim. We are lifting up our voices and lifting up our hearts and giving thanks and giving praise to God. It's come from the root Hebrew word to say Todah. Todah Rabah means lehodot. It's come from the same root word, Yehuda, Yehudi, a Jew. That is very clearly from the scripture. So he's saying, and he's showing to us in the first verses 17 to 20, the privileges of the Jewish people. You calling yourself a Jew, you are resting in the law, you are making boast in God. In verse 18, he says, you knowing the will of God.

It says in verse 18, you know his will and you approves the things which are more excellent being instructed out of the Torah, out of the law. You know, beloved brothers and sisters, it is so true that throughout the history of our own people, the nation of Israel, the Jewish people know the will of God like no other nation before. There is no other nation in the world, the nation of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There is no other nation in the world that is as privileged as the nation of Israel. They knew their will, they know his will, they approve the things that are more excellent.

Why? Because God has shown our own people historically the better way, the way that is more excellent, the right way, the direction to live a life that is pleasing to God, that is an honoring life. So they're knowing the more excellent way because they have been instructed from the law. Now the Hebrew word for law, Torah, not always applied to the Ten Commandments, is very well be applied to the whole canon of Scripture. Remember when the Apostle Paul is speaking here, he doesn't have the New Testament here. He only have the Old Testament, the Tanakh, what we call in Hebrew the Tanakh, the Torah. The Torah is the instruction from God.

So our own people, the people of Israel, knowing his will through the scriptures, and they are approved of the things that are more excellent, and they are being instructed out of the law, of the scriptures, of the Torah. And then he says, he continues, and he says in verse 19 that the Jewish individual is supposed to be a guide to the blind. You know, when there is a physical man who cannot see, young boys and girls, you would understand that when you see a person that cannot see and he's walking with this stick, and he cannot walk straight, it's so important to help this person, to guide him, so he will not fall, not stumble.

Well, it's the same thing spiritually. Israel, our own people, the Jewish people, who know the Torah, who know the truth of God, who have the scriptures in their hand. Verse 19 says, You are confident that you yourself are guide to the blind and that you are light to them which are in darkness. What a privilege to be a guide to the blind, To help the person who is blind, who cannot see, and to be a light to people who are in darkness? This is exactly what God called the people of Israel. To be a light to the Gentiles. Or Hagoyim, we say it in the scripture, the prophet Isaiah said, you are to be a light to the nations of the world.

That's the call that God had given to the nation of Israel. to be a light to the gentiles and you see paul is piling this up when he's speaking to his own brethren the jewish people and he's saying to them you know his will you are proving the things which are more excellent you've been instructed out of the law you are confident that you yourself is a guide to the blind and a light to them that are in darkness and then in verse 20 he's saying to them You, the Jewish people, you know that you're supposed to be instructing the foolish, the people who are foolish, who are unwise.

In verse 20 he said, you are instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babies or babes, and which has the form and knowledge of the truth in the Torah, in the law. You notice he's piling up what the Jewish people are called for and what they are responsible to do. And so he's piling here. Notice how many times he's saying to them, you are resting in the law, you make your boast in God, you knowing his will, you are proving the things that are more excellent, you are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to them which are in darkness, an instructor to the foolish, and a teacher unto babies.

amazing what he's saying about the Jewish individual. So the Jewish individual immediately will take it and say, well, you know, that's true. That's what the Torah, that's what the scripture teaching us. That's what God have given the people of Israel, the privilege that our own people have had. And that's what our Apostle Paul does here from verses 17 to 20. Now for a moment, Before we're going to move to verse 21, I'd like you to turn to the book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy chapter 4, I wanted to read a few verses there. To show us all from the Old Testament, from the Tanakh, the truth concerning the statement that the apostle Paul has said to the Jewish individual as he is speaking to his own people.

In Deuteronomy chapter 4, we read. And I'll begin from verse 1. Paul, Shaul, is referring to that, of course, and I'm going to read those verses at this moment. Now Moses speaking to the people of Israel, to the new generation, that they need to be taught the lessons from Mount Sinai. Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and the judgment which I teach you, for to do them, that you may live and go to possess the land which the Lord your God, the God of your fathers, will give to you or giveth you. You shall not add unto the words which I commend you, neither shall ye diminish art from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I commended you.

Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal Peor. For all the men that followed Baal Peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. But ye that did cleave to the Lord your God are alive, every one of you this day. Behold, he is saying to them in verse 5, I have taught you statutes and judgments. Even as the Lord my God commended me that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them, for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of all the nations, which shall hear all these statues and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

For what a nation is so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in the things that we call upon him for. And what a nation is there so great that has statues and judgment and so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day. You see, Moses told this new generation that was anticipating to enter into the promised land. And he says, look at you, the Jewish nation, the nation of Israel, as he said in verse 1. Oh, Israel, he said, what a nation is like you. What a nation is there so great that has the statutes and the judgment so righteous.

All that is in this law, which I set before you this day. And beloved brothers and sisters, we know this very well, that there is no nation in the face of this earth that is as privileged as the nation of Israel, even unto this day, a nation that knows the truth of God and have the scriptures in their hands. But here's the Apostle Paul speaking to the Jewish nation, speaking to his own brethren. He showed them, first of all, their privileges in verses 17 to 20. And now in verses 21 to 24 of Romans chapter 2, He showed them that even though they had so many privileges, their practices were different.

You know, brothers and sisters, you and I have so many privileges when we know the Bible, we know the Lord Jesus as our Lord and Savior. But how are our practices? Are they different than what we know? Are our practices different than what the Lord has taught us in his word? We have to many times say to our shame, Yes, Lord, I confess before you that many times my practices are different than what I know in my head from the word of God. What I even know in my heart, my practices are often different. And here he is showing to the Jewish people now, from verses 21 to 24, that their practices were different than their knowledge.

And so notice what he says in verse 21. The Jewish person, he teaches and he preaches, but yet he himself does not teach it to himself. Look what he says in verse 21. You, therefore, speaking to the Jewish brethren of his, Paul, he says, you which teach us another, don't you teach yourself? You that preachers that a man should not steal, do you steal? See what he's saying? It's a lesson with privileges come responsibilities. with the privilege of being a teacher and a preacher and a guide to the others, there's also coming responsibility. And boy, I'm thinking about myself not only as a Jew, but as a Jewish Christian, as a Messianic Jew.

How often we fail, we can stand and teach, and we fail in practice. And you see what he does? Because now the apostles want to show us not only that the pagan world have been declared a sinner, not only that the moralist world have been declared a sinner, but even the religious Jewish men are going to be declared by God a sinner as well. And so he's saying to him in verse 21, he says, You that teach us another, you that preach us to the others, Don't you think that you should be doing what you are preaching and what you are teaching? In verse 22, he said, you that say things, you that abhor certain things, do you do the very same thing that you abhor and you say, look, verse 22, you that say that a man should not commit adultery, does thou commit adultery?

You that abhors idols. Oh, you know, the pagan have idols, you know. So do you commit sacrilege? In other words, do you rob the temples and idols where the idols are being set there, he's saying to them? See what he's saying? He's really dealing with the conscience of the Jewish individual. In fact, beloved brothers and sisters, he is also dealing with the religious individual, The religious Christian or any religious person who is so religious and yet in practices he failed. And he does the very same thing that he asked others not to do. In verse 23, he is talking about the Jewish person who boasts in the law.

Look, verse 23. You that made your boast of the law through breaking the law, you dishonor God. you know we can boast oh you see we boast in the Torah in what God had given to us in his word but you know he's saying here you boast but you yourself break the veil law and you dishonor God when you do so and he continues and he says in verse 24 that the name of God had been blessed him because of the disobedient that a nation of Israel disobeyed the law. It says here in verse 24 4, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you as it is written.

And beloved brothers, it was very true. It is sad, but it is very true. The people of God, the Jewish people, We, us, including myself, have failed God so much, instead of being a light to the nations of the world, we have been actually by the way we behaved. We read here that through the way we behave and conduct ourselves, God's name has been blessed among the Gentiles of this world. You see, in Deuteronomy, he says, what a nation is such as you? What a people is such as you who have these statues and judgments and all these instructions from the Torah, from the Tanakh.

What a privilege. But because of the violation of the nation, the Gentiles of the world have blasphemed the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And you notice he says, as it is written, you remember, he doesn't have New Testament scripture. He doesn't have the Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He doesn't have the book of Romans. He's just writing it right now. He doesn't have Acts. He's in the middle of the Acts, seeing as the whole history of the book of Acts, the apostle Paul is writing to the Romans. And he's quoting the Hebrew scriptures. And look what he's quoting. He's actually quoting Isaiah chapter 52, and he's quoting in verse 5, and look what he says in Isaiah chapter 52 and verse 5, and I'm going to read this verse.

He's saying this, he says, Now therefore, what have I here, saith the Lord, that my people is taken away for naught, he says, they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the Lord, he says, and my name continually every day is blasphemed. How sad is the people of God, the Jewish people, the people of Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because of their failing to obey the law of the Lord and because of sin that have creeped into their life, end up to be not a good testimony in the world around. And Isaiah, 750 years before the coming of the Messiah, preaching to the people of Israel, speaking for God, and God saying to the people, he says, Listen, my name, my name, the name of Jehovah is being blasphemed everywhere continually.

You know, that speaks to us a lot, because you and I also, as Messianic Jews or Hebrew Christians and non-Hebrew Christians, we too sometimes have to realize, with the way we conduct ourselves, how the people around looking at us, How the people around that hear us and we're telling them about the love of God through Jesus the Messiah, through Yeshua HaMashiach, and they look at us and they say, you call yourself a Christian? You call yourself a child of God? Look the way you speak. Look the way you behave. Is that what your Yeshua is doing? Is that what your Messiah is doing? Is that what He would teach you to do?

And we fail the Lord just the same as believers. As our own people Israel had failed the Lord. In fact, it's not only Isaiah who has spoken concerning the nation of Israel. Even Ezekiel was speaking about the future when Israel is going to be regathered. And God is going to regather the people of Israel to himself. God is going to bring his people Israel. Though they failed him. Though they sinned against him. He's going to restore them in chapter 36 of the prophet Ezekiel. He's speaking about the restoration of the Jewish people, the people of Israel in a future day. And he's saying about them, he says, look at this.

He says in chapter 36 and verse 22, he says, listen. Therefore say I unto the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God, I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, But for my name's sake, he said, which you have profaned among the heathen wherever you went. How sad. And Paul, Jewish man, loved his people, loved the nation of Israel, had been burdened for his own people. And yet he tells us the truth. He says the pagan world had been found guilty. The moralist world had been found guilty. The religious Jewish world is just as guilty as the Gentile world. And that's why he says, you had privileges, Romans 2, verses 17 to 20.

But your practices, Romans 2, verse 21 to 24, are different than your privileges. And so in the next verses, and I'm back to the book of Romans, in Romans chapter 2. And in verses 25 to 29 of this chapter, he shows us the position of being a Jew, of being a Jewish individual. And look at this. This is very interesting. A lot of people make a mistake when they are reading this passage, and I would like to just elaborate a little bit about this passage. Here he shows us that there is a contrast between an inward condition and an outward condition. He shows us here that there is a contrast between, what is this, being only a physical Jew, between a person who is not only a physical Jew, but he's a physical and spiritual Jew.

There is a contrast. He's showing us the contrast between being only a Jew by birth and being a Jew by birth and by faith. And so he's showing us, first of all, in verse 25, he's talking about circumcision. And he says in verse 25, For circumcision verily profit if you keep the law. But if you be a breaker of the law, your circumcision is made uncircumcision. You see, those of us that are Jewish, we have been circumcised when we were eight days of age. We read earlier in Genesis chapter 17, verses 1 to 14, about circumcision. By the way, circumcision was not instituted by men. It was an institution of God.

It is not that the Jewish people or Abraham decided one day, you know, God, I have an idea. I would like us to be circumcised, God. I'm telling you, I'm not going to ask for these requests. It's not a great idea, humanly speaking. But you see, God have instituted a covenant with Abraham and his descendants. And he said to Abraham, listen, every Jewish boy, every Hebrew boy, every descendant of Abraham, everyone who is a part of the family of Abraham, then later on Isaac and then Jacob, must be circumcised on the eighth day. And by the way, it is not the baby who make a decision to be circumcised, it is his parents.

A baby who is eight days old does not make this kind of a decision. So it is a responsibility of the parent to circumcise their baby boy at eight days of age. By the way, the first one that was circumcised at eight days old was Isaac himself. His father Abraham also was circumcised, but he was very old when he was circumcised. But it was a requirement, and if you notice carefully at the reading that we have done in Genesis chapter 17, We know this at the last verse that we have read in Genesis chapter 17 and verse 14. I don't know if you know this, that God said to Israel, And the circumcised man child whose flesh is in his foreskin, if he will not be circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

In other words, every parent had the responsibility to circumcise their boys. Otherwise, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. So it is very important circumcision to our people, to the people of Israel, because it is a covenant that God made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in their foreskin. That is a covenant that God had made. Not Israel had made, not Abraham had made, not Isaac had made, but God had made it with his people. So, over the generation, those of our people who have been circumcised have taken this circumcision that have been in the foreskin, have taken it to mean something very important, and truly so.

But it's gone beyond what God have intended. God did not only want the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to have circumcision in their foreskin, and they live their life without God, their own will, their own way. Let me make a similarity for us today a little bit. You know, some of us have gotten baptized. You know, we made a decision to follow the Lord Jesus. So, you know, we got baptized. So we said that we want to follow Yeshua, the Messiah. So we got baptized. We went under the water. We say, I died with the Messiah. I was buried with the Messiah. And I rose again to live a new life.

But there is no change. It's just like, you know, I was baptized when I was seven years old. I was baptized when I was... By the way, some people have said, I was baptized when I was a baby. And now they say, I can do what I want, you see. There is no change of heart. There is no decision to follow the Lord. They think, and that's sad, over the generation, in Christendom, they think that baptism saves them. They think that because they were baptized, they're going to heaven. Let me tell you, the Bible never teaches this, that a person who got baptized, he goes to heaven.

Listen, you can go baptized, dry sinner into the water. You only come out of the water a wet sinner. That's it. Unless you've been washed by the blood of the lamb, you are lost in your trespasses and sins. No one go to heaven without the shed blood of the Messiah, Jewish or Gentile. The only way to heaven is through the Messiah who died for our sins. No good works, no good deed, no baptism, no circumcision. He doesn't save a person. That's what he's trying to say here to the Jewish people, to the religious people. He says, listen, circumcision, eat prophet. Because you are a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, if you keep the law, the word of God, but if you be a breaker of the law, Your circumcision become uncircumcision.

It doesn't do you anything. You know, until a few years ago, before I became a believer in our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, as a circumcised Jewish boy, I was lost without forgiveness of sins. And all of us here, we were lost without the shed blood of the Messiah. And so he's clearly teaching us here. And then he's saying, you see, in verse 26, uncircumcised people who keeps God's righteousness become, in a sense, circumcised. Look, it says in verse 26, Therefore, if the uncircumcision, again remember, it's a Jewish believer, Paul, speaking to a Jewish unbeliever, the rest of the Jewish people to whom he writes, and he's saying to them, you know what, look, you are prouding yourself in your circumcision, let me tell you something.

If an un-Jewish man, not a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, if he or she, not being a part of the nation of Israel, they are uncircumcised. If they seek to live a life that is honoring to the Lord, their uncircumcision becomes circumcision. In other words, what he's saying, that it's not only what you do in your body, the mark that God had given to the nation, though it is important because God had given it as a covenant between him and the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But what is important is, where is your heart? Are you right with God? Are you recognizing what God has done for you through Yeshua the Messiah?

Because remember, everything is flowed from Romans 1.16. I am not ashamed of the gospel of the Messiah. He is speaking about the Lord Yeshua, the Lord Jesus the Messiah. It is God's power unto salvation to everyone that believe. And so he's saying in verse 26, listen, uncircumcised who keeping God's righteousness is become like circumcision to them. In verse 27 he says, uncircumcision who truly keep God's law. Look, in verse 27 he says, and shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature, speaking about the Gentile, if it fulfill the law, judge, you judge, he said, who by the letter and circumcision does transgress the law. He says to them, look, you who have been circumcised, you who have the law in your hand, you violate the law.

And yet here is this Gentile uncircumcised who is seeking to obey the law of God. You judge. Do you think God is going to declare you righteous and make him guilty? No, he says the opposite. Because God is a just God. He's a just judge. He is going to accept the reality of the hearts and the conscience of an individual. Now, we talk a lot about circumcision. I just want you to read one verse with me that is found in Deuteronomy chapter 10. Please, turn to Deuteronomy chapter 10. Deuteronomy chapter 10, you see, even though God have demanded from his people to circumcise our own nation, the Jewish people, he demanded.

He made it compulsory. They had to do that, but he demanded also more than the circumcision of the flesh, but he wanted from the people of Israel to circumcise the foreskin of their hearts. That's what Deuteronomy chapter 10 tells us. Look, he says in verse 12, Deuteronomy 10 and verse 12, and now Israel, what does the Lord thy God require of thee? But to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him and to serve the Lord thy God with all your heart and with all your soul, to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes, which I commended thee this day, for thy good, he says in verse 13.

Now verse 14. Behold the heaven, and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God, and the earth also with all that is inside. Only the Lord had delight in thy fathers to love them. And he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day. And then he's saying to them, circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart and be no more stiff-knit. you see he's telling again to the nation of israel in the book of deuteronomy listen god have chosen you god have chosen you above all the nations of the world he says listen don't you only circumcise the foreskin of your flesh but please circumcise the foreskin of your heart and you know what circumcision is cutting off of the flesh circumcision of the heart is self-judgment cutting off the foreskin of the condition of our hearts confessing before god the reality of our life the need of god because he is as it says the heaven and the heavens of the heavens belong to the lord he loves you he's saying to the nation of israel he chose you from among all the nations of the world above all the people even as it is this day he's saying to them you are responsible to circumcise the foreskin of your heart.

And beloved, now go back please to Romans chapter 2. And now look what he does in the next verses. At the end, the last two verses of Romans chapter 2, before we're going to go to Romans chapter 3, now he shows them what is a true Jew. Again, he doesn't talk about the Gentile who claimed to be a Jew. No, not in this passage. The context here is a Jewish context. Is a Jewish believer speaking to a Jewish unbeliever? A Jewish believer in Yeshua the Messiah speaking to a Jewish person who boasts himself and says, Listen, we are the chosen people. We have the law. We have the covenant.

We have the promises. We are circumcised. And is a Jewish believer talking to a Jewish unbeliever? And look what he is saying to him in verses 28 and 29. He says, he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision, which is the outward in the flesh. But, verse 29, he is a Yehudi, a Jew, which is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart, Deuteronomy 10, 16. In the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. see clear very clear a jewish believer paul speaking to a jewish unbeliever who is priding himself in his circumcision in all what he has because of the law that he had and he's saying listen you know what the true jew is not the one that has the law in his hand and a circumcision of his foreskin no a true jew have this but in additional to having the law in his hand and a circumcision in his flesh is also he has a circumcision of his heart he's broken before god he confessed before god his condition and acknowledging the need of a savior the need of a redeemer and his praise again you notice the word praise here it's a plain word his yehudi or lehodot His praising is not of man, but of God.

He's saying, listen, a true Jew is not only the one that is physically circumcised, but a true Jew is one who is physically circumcised, but also spiritually circumcised. That is a true Jew. In fact, today we can clearly say it from these passages, that a true Jew in this present-day dispensation of the church age is every Jewish person who has accepted Yeshua as his Lord, Messiah, and Savior. That's the reality that we learn from this passage. And so he's very blunt, beloved brothers and sisters. He's very clear when he's saying, you who call yourself Yehudi, Jewish, You have privileges, but your practices are different. And the true position of a Jew is not only an external, but is an external and internal together, and not only an external.

And so, by the way, today, in the vast majority of the Jewish community of today, the vast majority of our people has not yet acknowledged the Messiahship of Yeshua. The vast Jewish community today are really unbelievers, not believing yet in the Messiah, Yeshua. By the way, sad to say, many of our own people do not even believe in God. Never mind Yeshua, the Messiah. We need to pray for our people. We need to pray for the Jewish people, to love them and to show them there is an answer. And the answer is found in the promised Messiah of Israel. Now quickly, let's go to chapter 3, just for the last remarks here, because it has connection.

He's still dealing with the Jewish people. And so in chapter 3, verses 1 to 8, he shows us that even though the Jewish people are still guilty before God, they have an advantage over many other nations of the people of the world. And so there are three questions immediately that are coming in these first eight verses of Romans chapter 3. And Paul, Shaul, is perhaps somebody at Rome will ask the question. He says, really, what advantage then of being a Jew? What advantage? You notice this, Romans chapter 3 and verse 1. It's a question somebody might ask in verse 1, a question, what advantage of being a Jew? Notice verse 1. What adventures then of being a Jew?

Question mark. So what's the point? Why does God chose the nation of Israel? And why did God gave them the Torah? Gave them the circumcision? Gave them the prophets? Gave them all the privileges that they have? What's the point? What's the privilege then? Or what's advantage is that in being Jewish? Well, Paul is giving answer. In verse 1b and 2, in verse 2 he says, listen. By the way, in verse 1 he says, Also, the second part of the question, what profit is there of circumcision? In other words, if the Jewish people have been chosen by God and they have received the circumcision, what profit? Why then go through all this being Jewish, having the law, being circumcised?

What is the advantage in this? And Paul, as a Jew, knowing the scripture very well, answer in verse 2, he says, listen. It says here, much in every way, chiefly because unto them were committed the oracles of God. See what he's saying? He's saying to the person who will ask this question, perhaps he's a Jewish person. He says, well, so what advantage is being Jewish? What advantage if I'm being circumcised by my parents? What advantage? Ah, Paul is saying, listen, in many ways. He doesn't give us many. He says much in every way. He doesn't show us every way, but he says, especially, chiefly, because unto them, the Jewish people, were committed the oracles of God.

Now let me tell you something, brothers and sisters and boys and girls, those of you that grew up in a Christian home, you know what a privilege you have when you grew up in a home that the Bible is being opened, that your mommy and daddy are praying to God, that there is a care, there is a spiritual care for you, that you go to a local assembly, local congregation when you hear the word of god what a privilege is to be a child in a family of believers same thing with the nation of israel what a privilege is to be part of the nation of israel that this nation have been so near to

god chosen by god a nation that have the law the prophets all the statues of god that we have in the word of god what a privilege it is and to them were committed the oracles of God you know the Bible that we hold in our hands beloved brothers and sisters you know the suffering that our people had to go through from generation to generation to preserve the Bible to copy the Bible be carefully writing the Bible getting the oracles of God passing it from generation to generation faithfully that you and I will have a scripture in our hands in a way that we have?

We know that God did that. We know that God preserved it. But he used the Jewish people to preserve the Bible today. Do you know that if you go today to Israel, the Dead Sea Scrolls that have been found a long time ago. In 1947, when they have found it, they have been kept there for almost 2,000 years. They've been kept by a Bedouin boy who was founded. And the Jewish people have hid there in the caves. They preserved the book. So you and I can have it in our hands today. And if you look at the Dead Sea Scrolls, you will find out that they are word for word matching what you and I have today in the scriptures.

The prophet Isaiah had been found. And all the writings of Isaiah 53, when you read about Isaiah 53, about the promised Messiah, Mashiach, The Jewish people preserved it. A shepherd boy found it by the Dead Sea there in the desert. In the wilderness of Judea, he found, he threw a stone, and the stone fell into a cave. And he actually went underneath, and he found the scrolls in jugs kept there that Jewish people have kept in the caves. And you and I today have the canon of Scripture in our own hands. by the way, even the New Testament were written by Jewish people. Perhaps maybe not the Gospel of Luke, but most scholars believe that all the New Testament have also been written and preserved by Jewish people who gave us the scripture.

Matthew was a Jew, Mark was a Jew, John was a Jew, Paul was a Jew, Peter was a Jew, and to them were committed the oracles of God.

What a privileged nation and the question might be risen and somebody might ask so what advantage is being a jew and what advantage is in circumcision he says much in many ways especially because unto them were committed the oracles of god now notice in the next question it might rise in verses three and four some person might ask then is god unfaithful notice in verse three it says here's a second question what if some of the jewish people did not believe what if some of them did not believe in god and so the answer he says shall their unbelief make the faith of god of none effect or without effect and the answer of course

in verse 4 god forbid paul his answer he's saying yeah he says let god be true and every man a liar he says as it is written that thou might be justified in thy saying and mightest overcome when thou art judged paul is saying answering to that person who might say you know what so some of them did not believe well unfortunately it's they said but some jewish people did not believe and still don't believe and it's not only some but the vast majority of our people still do not believe that yeshua is the messiah they don't believe the gospel so the question is being answered by shaul by paul he said listen is their

unbelief make the faith of god without effect in other words if they don't believe in the truth that they have in their hand should the truth concerning the messiah concerning god should not have an effect and he says god forbid he said no let god be true and every man a liar every man a liar god's truth never change even if his people failed him his truth remain intact never change jesus the messiah the same yesterday today and forever he changes not the truth of the word of god never changed beloved brothers and sisters he says god forbid he says yeah let god be true and every man a liar as it is written you

see it is written and you know what he's quoting by the way he's quoting what david said in the psalms and you know what david said after david sinned david says he repented before god and he said to god he says that you god be justified when you are saying what you are saying you are right god when you're judging you are right god when you judge your people when we sin and you judge us you are hundred percent correct god david repented he was so broken before the god of abraham isaac and jacob he was so broken because of his sin and he says god if you judge me you are right in judging

me when i have sinned before you that you might be justified when you are judging and finally now beloved verses five to eight of Romans chapter 3.

Here's the third question. Is God unrighteous? Look, verse 5, the question comes, if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who takes vengeance? I speak as a man. In other words, he's saying, look, if we do unrighteous, then God give us forgiveness through the gospel. So should we continue to do unrighteous? So God will give us more grace and declare us righteous more and more and more? And Paul's saying, you remember in Romans 6, he says, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? He says, God forbid. We should not continue the life of sin because God shows us grace.

No, the opposite, he said. And it says here in the next verse, it says, God forbid, for then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of God has more abundant through my lying or lying unto his glory, why then I also being judged as a sinner? See, Paul is saying, listen, God is going to judge even his own people who he forgave, to whom he forgave.

because God is holy and he has to judge us he has to judge his own people because he loved them he cared for them he want them to walk in a way that is pleasing to him so when we as believers disobey the Lord the Lord also have to deal with us as a father deal with his own sons what does a father supposed to do I know we fail as fathers many times sometimes parents give a spanking to their children why because we hate them no because we love them we want them to go in the right way we care for them so much because we want them to live a life that is

pleasing to God a life that is honoring to God and therefore he's saying to them in this verse he says listen God forbid for then how shall God judge the world he said for if the truth of God is more abundant and to my lie unto his glory why then am i judged as a sinner he says in verse 7 and he's closing this whole thought in verse 8 he says and not rather as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say let us do evil that good may come whose damnation is just you know some people apparently were saying let us do evil so more good god is going to give

us more good the more evil we're going to do the more rogue we're going to do the more good God going to give to us and Paul is saying no he says their judgment is just if a man or woman live an evil life God will judge men God will judge his people as well so beloved brothers and sisters from this text and the whole totality of this whole passage here, we have learned that the unmoral pagan world is guilty before God.

We learned that the moral Gentile world is guilty before God. And we learned that the religious Jewish individual is guilty before God. That's why we need the gospel. That's why Paul said in Romans 1 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel of the Messiah, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe, to the Jew first and also to the Gentile. For in this gospel, the power of God, the dynamite of God is revealed from faith unto faith. As it is written, quoting Habakkuk chapter 2, the just shall live by faith. And may the Lord help us to see that and to acknowledge whether I'm Jewish or whether I'm not.

Whether I've lived a moral life externally or whether I've lived in a pagan world. I'm guilty before God and thank God for the Messiah whom he sent. That his name is Yeshua who loved us so much and gave himself for us.