(Romans 2:17-29)…..17 Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God, 18 and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. 21 You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? 22 You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 23 You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? 24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written. 25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? 28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Because there is no partiality with God, His judgments will be more than fair. He’ll judge men’s sin by Jesus Christ, according to His gospel (2:16). What about those who were born in a religious home, who read the Bible, who have been involved in religious activity all their life, who think they are good people, certainly they are not going to be judged right? Listen, Hell will be just as filled with the religious as it will be with the sinner.
The Jews could trace their religious ancestry all the way back to Abraham. They felt that this lineage gave them a guarantee of salvation (Matthew 3:7-9) (John 8:31-33) (8:39). People claim to be Christian simply because they were the children or grand-children of a believer, or because raised in the church. All of his/her life is lived around Christian people, singing Christian songs, hearing Christian sermons, reading the Christian Bible, participating in Christian rituals. If not careful, one will begin to think that because of those things in their life, they are automatically a Christian.
The Jew rested on the law. They felt that just possessing the Law and knowing it gave them special position with God. True, they had been given the Word of God, and knowledge of God (Romans 3:2). They themselves were instructed out of the law (v.18). So they should have known what God wanted from them (Psalm 119:97-104). But since they had not kept the Law, their knowledge of the Word only made them more accountable than other people (Luke 12:41-48). How well should we know of what God expects of us (2 Timothy 3:15-17)?
As Jew’s, they claimed a special relationship with God because of the Law and the religious activity in their life was pleasing to God. But no matter how good you get, in your flesh you will never be good enough to please the Father (Isaiah 64:6-7) (Matthew 5:20). Oh, we might boast of knowing God because we are religious people, but until we have been saved by the blood of the Lamb, we do not know Him. When the blood of Jesus is applied to the life of a sinner, sin is forgiven, that life is instantly pleasing to the Lord and we are accepted by God on the basis of our faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:3-6). In that “BOAST” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)
Because the Jew had a spiritual lineage, they felt it was their responsibility to teach everyone else about God. Yet, these people did not even know who God was and there was no way they could point anyone else to Him. They were confident that they were guides to the blind, a light to those in the darkness, an instructor of the foolish, and a teacher of babes. The Jews made great and lofty claims concerning their relationship to God, but none were able to produce salvation for the Jew.
Our duty is to point men to the Savior! There was one thing that saved then, one thing that saves now, Faith in Jesus Christ, Him alone!