“It’s a Matter of the Heart”

(Romans 2:17-29)

Series: Romans – United in the Gospel[on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

January 30, 2022

Introductory Comments:

When I was a teenager, one of my favorite bands was DC Talk. One of my favorite DC Talk songs was a song called, “What if I Stumble?” At the opening of that song are powerful lyrics, which are actually a quote from author Brennan Manning. The song says, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world, simply finds unbelievable.”

That quote stuck with me all these years later. Those words are impactful and should stir the Christian’s emotions to consider how his or her lifestyle has an impact on the spread of the Gospel around the world.  

In our study of Romans, the apostle Paul has been on a journey talking about the wrath of God shown in the world, to the wrath of God shown towards religious people who are merely religious, to today’s topic of talking about what really matters is what God is doing in our hearts. God wants real change in us because we are Christians, not just a claim by us that we are Christians. This real change starts in the heart. 

Today’s sermon is entitled, “It’s a Matter of the Heart”[on screen]

Before we go any further, let’s go to God in prayer and ask Him to speak to us through His Word.

(prayer)

Some may think that Paul’s being kind of tough in these opening chapters. I agree, he is. However, remember it is only in understanding the bad news of our sin that we are able to understand the good news of the Gospel. 

Remember when John the Baptizer was preaching in the wilderness. He was laying it on the people. 

John called his listeners children of snakes. He said that they were about to be cut down and thrown into the fire. 

However, look at what Luke says about John the Baptizer in Luke 3:18. He says, “Then, along with many other exhortations, he proclaimed good news to the people.” [on screen] After John had shared all the bad stuff; after he had shared all about the judgment of God towards sin, then John shared the good news of the coming of Jesus. 

So, Paul is continuing to share the seriousness of sin and now he is focusing on those who consider themselves as God’s exclusive chosen people, the Jewish people. After Paul shares all about the seriousness of sin, he will shift to the salvation offered in Jesus.

As Paul speaks to the Jewish people in Rome, he’s going to center on three major issues. 

The first issue is this: 

I. Misusing the law (17-23) [on screen]

In order to understand this misuse of the law, let’s back up just a bit. 

Remember, God decided to choose a people as His own special people, so He chose a man out of the land of Ur, named Abram. Through Abram (who would become Abraham), God would bring a promised son, named Isaac, and he would have a promised son, named Jacob. Jacob would have his name changed to Israel and Israel would have many sons from whom the twelve tribes of Israel came. The people of Israel would go through all kinds of hills and valleys, but since they were God’s chosen people, God continued to bless them. One of the ways that God blessed them was to deliver them from captivity in Egypt and lead them into a land He promised to them, called “The Promised Land.” As the people settled in the Promised Land, God blessed them again by providing something they needed to know God, to know God’s ways, and to know themselves: they needed the law and God gave it to them through a man named Moses. 

So, God has chosen His people and given them His law. They are indeed a special people because they have been chosen by God. However, some of them started to think of themselves as being special a little too much. That is what Paul is addressing today as we continue our