On The Jews and Their Truths (Romans 2:17-29, Jeff Kliewer)

When they said to me, let us go into the house of the Lord. All right, we have a few announcements this morning. So let's get right to it. Next week, we have a Vacation Bible School meeting. So if you'd be willing to help out with VBS, stick around after church and meet up with Tim Robinson.

He'll be leading the Vacation Bible School this year. Also, next week, we have a technical interchange. Does anybody here have problems with the app or technology or getting my pastor gram or any technological issues whatsoever?

You got, yeah, most of you guys know what you're doing online. Well, if you have any questions about the app or the website or anything relating to technology, you can look for Joe Gormley, others, Drew will be hanging out out front after church next week to answer questions.

Maybe you've never been able to download the app onto your phone. They could show you how to do that, a number of things technically speaking. All right, we have a congregational meeting today in this building right after church.

So I hope you guys will stick around. If you do, you are rewarded with a piece of pizza from Angelo's Pizza. Can't beat that. So right after church today, there will be pizza and that'll just be a hold me over till your real lunch.

We also have a water slide out there for the kids. So I hope the little kids have brought their bathing suits. You ready for this? Let's go. All right, and with that, I have another amazing announcement.

Last week, we had the huge announcement that there's no long-eared bats, even though Bob Ball is walking around with a long-eared bat coat hanger that he made. So you gotta see that, ask Bob about that.

But we have no long-eared bats, which is great news, because it means we're most likely going to be able to build in the field right here in a year or two. There's Bob. Bob, hold up your long-eared bat.

Everybody's gotta see your long-eared bat. He's a strange one. Yeah, the bat, that's what I was referring to. Okay, so I told you that we have another amazing announcement. And this one is even better.

The orphanage that the Lord has called us to fund and Hamilton to build has now been completed. Praise the Lord. And we have a word on the screen. If you guys will direct your attention, we have a word from Hamilton telling us about it.

It's me, Hamilton Douglas, I'm here to tell you guys that the journey that we started six months ago has now come to an end. We are done building the girls' orphanage. And as I'm talking, the girls have already moved in to their new home.

So it's such a blessing to see what God has started when we are putting the sketch, the budget, and everything. And to see where it is now that the mission has been accomplished. So I wanna take this opportunity to thank Pastor Jeff, but also the leadership and the church, also for all your support.

You guys have trusted me with your resources. And my way was to take those resources and put them into work, which I've done now. And I really wanna take this opportunity to say thank you so much for all the support that you have put towards me, but also the ministry.

As I'm talking now, it's such a blessing. And I'm waiting the day that we will dedicate the home to our Lord Jesus. And I can't wait. Thank you so much for all your support.

And we'll stop that there because I wanna show you the pictures through a slideshow because it's actually a little better. Here is the outside of the home. You notice they have a gravel parking lot. Go on.

Get an aerial view of it. Isn't that beautiful? Amazing. Yeah, you have the outside here. They dug a well, and so it's providing water, not just for the orphanage, but other people from the village are able to access the well also.

But notice it's walled in. Look at the inside, how beautiful this is. They painted it nicely. Another outside picture. The electrical work, coming to a conclusion there. They have solar panels for electric.

Look how beautiful the intricate working of the ceiling is and the nice light fixture, beautiful. It's just a real blessing. A gravel parking lot, and notice there's a wall for safety, and it's all walled in.

So this is what the Lord has done, and it is marvelous in our eyes. Hey guys, let's pause before we move on to the graduation. We have two more things to do. We sent out a graduate a couple years ago, and his name is Jack.

But I wanna pray for the orphans first, and then we're gonna call on you. Can we ask you to give us an update? One of our young men went off to seminary, and he's here today. Let's pray. So Father God, we thank you so much for what you have done.

It overwhelms us with joy to see your work, and that we could have a part in this, the Cornerstone Girls Safe House in Malawi. Lord, thank you so much. We now pray for these girls because they are coming out of very difficult situations.

We pray that you would be their healer. Lord, that each one of them would come to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That you would heal them emotionally as well as physically. That you would be with them and be their God, and they would be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, we pray for power in the ministry of this orphanage, Lord. Do a great work in their lives and bring healing. Lord, we thank you for it, and we pray for marvelous things to happen for the sake of the name of Jesus.

Amen. Okay, so we have a privilege. Before we call on Tim and the graduates, Jack Reed, come on up. Many of you know Jack. We sent this young guy off to seminary at Reformation Bible College, and he got married right away, so his wife is here.

Let's give a hand clap.

What a blessing. So Jack, what's been going on in your life? So it's been about two years, in August will be two years, since we moved down there and just jumped right into school. It's a pretty vigorous program, so I start my language courses this fall.

I'll be learning Latin, then Greek, then Hebrew, and it'll give me a good prep for seminary, which will be another three years down the road. But the road is long and pretty hard, but I'm confident that they'll prepare me as best as I can for ministry.

And as Pastor Jeff said, I met my wife, Nadi, our first semester there. We started dating pretty soon after. And then the Lord has just worked in our lives and provided the means for us to be able to get married soon.

So this August will be one year for our anniversary, which is. Incredible, but things have opened up recently. So I'm now working part-time in the admissions department at my school. We are gonna be moving into a new house that we're gonna be renting.

So we'll have some ample space, we'll have our own freedom to plant a garden, do normal house things, which is exciting, rather than in a studio apartment. So things are working out pretty well for us.

Awesome, can we pray for Jack?

Father God, we thank you for Jack and we pray for a continued anointing on his life. We pray that your hand of favor would rest on him and everything he sets himself to do, establish the work of his hands.

Lord, prepare him for ministry. We pray in his studies that he would be learning not just the information, but knowing you, above all else, that he would know Jesus Christ. So Father, train him up for ministry.

And Lord, we pray that you would then open a door for him to pastor and that he would preach the gospel for the rest of his life, Lord God. Keep your hand of favor on him and bless him in Jesus' name, amen.

Amen, thanks, good seeing you, brother. All right, I'm gonna call on Tim Robinson. Pastor Tim, come and honor the graduates. All right, after seeing Jack Reed, I just wanna make a quick announcement that we have young adults meeting tonight at 7 .15.

So if you're a young adult, come by, I hope Jack and your wife can make it. Next off, we will be first honoring the middle school graduates. And the first graduate that we will be honoring is Tim Clewer, come on up.

Let's get him over here. If you think Jeff is a kind and nice person, get to know his son Tim. He's one of the best kids I know. Another really good kid graduating from Harvard, just like Tim, Carmine Polanyi, is he in the building?

Carmine, maybe not in the building today. All right, no Carmine. Next, Luke Tromley, are you in the building? Come on up, Luke. Comes from a really good family as well. And then next, my friend, Vanessa Langosky, are you here?

Come on up, Vanessa. Vanessa's a very godly young lady, loves the Lord. Very great to know, Vanessa. Next, we're gonna move on to high school. First up, Taylor Nabinger. Taylor also comes from a very godly family, very loving girl.

Next, graduating from Dana Ewer School for Homeschool Kids. Come on up, Sarah Ewer. Sarah just got baptized and has a wonderful testimony. Next is Luke Lindaberry. Come on up. Graduating high school. He just graduated Liberty Online and security team.

Take a look at this guy, you might want to recruit him. Next up is one of my good friends, Chandler Burnett. Is he in the building? Not here today, okay. Next is our other really good friend, Chase Burnett.

Is he in the building? There he is. Chase is probably the friendliest guy I know and he's moving to Florida soon so we're gonna miss him terribly. So if you have any encouragement for Chase before he goes, come say hi and get to know this guy.

Next is one of my really good friends, Chris Burnett. Come on up. Really quick story on Chris. Chris ran for president for his school and lost a couple years ago to a couple of woke students that put their names on the same ballot and he lost by one vote unjustly, election fraud, but that didn't stop him from running again and then winning the election and then giving a speech where he thanked his parents, his brothers, and his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in front of the whole school.

So we give the glory and the victory to God for what he's done in Chris's life. That was just an awesome story to hear. Next up, Caleb Malave. Caleb graduated from my Almerada, St. Edmundson High School.

Here you go, Caleb. And Caleb is joining the Marines. Is that correct, Caleb? Marines? All right. Caleb is, I think, the boldest guy I know and he's very fit to be a soldier. A few weeks ago, we were at youth group and Caleb saw someone in the woods and he saw eyes in the woods when we were hanging out outside.

It was late at night and Caleb just darted in the woods and chased this, what he thought was a person, away and he came up to me and said, I was running as fast as I can. I'm really fast and I just couldn't quite catch it.

I was gaining on it, but it ran away and then we later told Caleb that it was a deer that he was running after. He thought it was a grown adult man, but he was ready to take him down, so. Next, we have my good friend, Luke Hoke.

Come on up. Like his parents and his grandmom, he is brilliant, very smart kid. All right, his grandpop, too. And also, I don't know where he got this from, but he's also probably the most athletic kid I've ever met in my life.

Very good football player. The best football player Audubon High School has had since Joe Flacco. So, he'll be going on to Rowan University and playing football there. So, congratulations to Luke. And I think that's it.

So, give it up for the graduates here. Now, if I'm missing anybody in the building that graduated and graduated from middle school or high school or college, please raise your hand. We'll honor you now, because we have a couple extras.

Chris. Chris. Chris. Congratulations on your retirement, brother. All right. So, at this time, we'll just pray for these young men and women. Father God, thank you for these young men and women. Thank you that you have saved them, that you've called them to a life of godliness.

We pray that you would keep the evil one away from them, that they would grow in your son, Jesus Christ, wherever they go, that they would boldly not be ashamed of the gospel and not be ashamed of your son, and their identity would be in Christ, and they would be able to survive anywhere they go and go wherever you call them.

We thank you for these young men and women, and we give you the honor and the glory and the praise for what you've done in their lives. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen. And just for the high schoolers, real quick, I forgot.

We have a book. It's called Surviving Religion 101. You're gonna wanna read this one. So, high schoolers. This one is not by Jeff Clear.

As we prepare to worship, in Revelation 2, 4, Jesus was addressing the church at Ephesus, and one of the things he said after he commended them for their perseverance and their work, but he said, but you have left your first love.

And just as we pray and move forward this morning, Lord, not Lord, but I know that there, should I say, if there is just one person in this building that has left your first love this morning, it might be from anger or something, something bitterness that's growing inside you.

It might be some sort of a health issue that you feel has separated you from the Lord, but Jesus told a parable of the good shepherd, where he left the 99 to pursue the one, to find the one. And if there's just one person in this room this morning that feels that way down in your heart, that you just need that refreshing, and you know that you're not where God has you to be, then Rachel is gonna be leading us in a beautiful hymn, Be Thou My Vision.

And just take this moment just to search your heart, to respond to God. And we just pray for the Holy Spirit that as he comes and moves in this place, that you would respond to him and that you would find your way back and that he would draw you to where you once were, amen?

They have an expression down South,.

Those preachers in the South, they like to say, if that don't get you fired up, your wood's wet. That was awesome, guys, thank you. That was fun. Let's pray. Father God, thank you that we can come into this place of freedom bought by the blood of Jesus and bring you worship and praise for you are worthy and we are redeemed.

We sing as those who have been redeemed from our sins. Thank you, Lord, for that indescribable gift, the blood of Jesus applied to us. And Father, this morning as we open your word, we wanna pray for all of the Jewish people that we know, Lord, that they also would be saved and come into this freedom, that you would be merciful and gracious and loving toward the Jewish people to save them.

We also ask, Lord, that you would protect Israel at this time in her history. She's under attack from Hezbollah to the North and the Palestinian people from the side and even from those who used to support allies that seem to be turning against Israel.

Lord, she is under attack. And so we pray for Israel, Lord, that you would protect Israel. They are the apple of your eye. In Exodus, you call them your firstborn. And so, Lord, we pray for them and ask that you would be merciful and keep them, be the guardian over Israel.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. When Martin Luther began the Protestant Reformation in 1517, he nailed the 95 feces to the door of the church in Wittenberg. Martin Luther was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.

That spirit was holy, godly. He had a zeal for the truth at that time. When he was on his way to the Diet of Worms because he was under threat of being burned at the stake because he would dare challenge the papacy, he was full of the Holy Spirit.

Even traveling to Worms, it took a couple of weeks from where he was, and he stopped on Sunday mornings to preach in the different locations. In the first, it was Erfurt. And as he began to preach, the people became panicked that the balcony was gonna collapse.

So many people came. And there were even people who jumped out the window from multiple stories high to save their lives from what they thought was a collapsing balcony. And Martin Luther said, do not panic, it is the devil sending you into a panic.

God will protect you. And he calmed the people and he preached the gospel. The next Sunday, he went to a place called Gotha. And in Gotha, as he was preaching, the tower of the church actually collapsed while he preached the gospel, sending a terrifying boom through the building.

Nobody was injured. But again, Luther reminded them, this is spiritual warfare. That tower had stood for 250 years and it happened to collapse while Luther was on his way to Worms. When he got to there, the emperor was seated in judgment of him, as was the Pope's assistant and all the dignitaries of the Roman Empire had come to sit in judgment of him.

He was pretty sure that he was going to be killed. But he stood boldly after a night of prayer and said, here I stand. He stood on the word of God. He was filled with the Holy Spirit of God. And so the Protestant Reformation began.

Two years later in the year 1523, he wrote an essay about the Jews. And this essay was godly, spirit-filled wisdom. I want you to hear Martin Luther's words. If I had been a Jew and had seen such dolts and blockheads govern and teach the Christian faith, I would sooner have become a hog than a Christian.

This is how Luther wrote. He talked about the papacy and the religious leaders as dolts and blockheads. And he said he would sooner have become a hog than a Christian under them. They have dealt with the Jews as if they were dogs rather than human beings.

They have done little else than deride them and seize their property. When they baptize them, they show them nothing of Christian doctrine or life, but only subject them to popishness and monkery. If the apostles who also were Jews had dealt with the Gentiles as we Gentiles deal with the Jews, there would never have been a Christian among the Gentiles.

When we are inclined to boast of our position as Christians, we should remember that we are but Gentiles while the Jews are of the lineage of Christ. We are aliens and in-laws. They are blood relatives, cousins, and brothers of our Lord.

Therefore, if one is to boast of flesh and blood, the Jews are actually nearer to Christ than we are. If we really want to help them, we must be guided in our dealings with them, not by the papal law, but by the law of Christian love.

Martin Luther says, we must receive them cordially and permit them to trade and work with us that they may have occasion and opportunity to associate with us, hear our Christian teaching, and witness our Christian life.

If some of them should prove stiff-necked, what of it? After all, we ourselves are not all good Christians either. Can somebody say amen? 20 years later, in the year 1543, Martin Luther would write a book, 77 pages long, entitled On the Jews and Their Lies.

Something happened in those two decades. From 1523, when he wrote these words, encouraging Christian love toward the Jews, to a book called On the Jews and Their Lies. He said, their houses should be razed and destroyed.

Fire should be set to their synagogues and schools. We are at fault that we did not slay them. All direct quotes from his book. I read that book this week online. It's free, it's available. Something must have happened in Luther's life that didn't come out of nowhere.

He probably observed some Jews doing horrible things, and the rumor was that Christian children had been attacked by some Jewish people. But the main charge in the book was usury, that the bankers, the Jewish bankers, were extorting the people, and charging outrageous interest in enslaving them in that manner.

He also said that God has judged the Jews by sending them out of the promised land, and the fact that they've been sent into Diaspora proves that God is done with them. So he thought in 1543, but in 1948, God sent them back.

What was it that happened? We don't know, but we do know this. The words that Martin Luther wrote in that book were not of God. They were not in keeping with what Jesus himself taught about the Jewish people, or what Paul writes in the book of Romans.

Listen to the contrast. Whereas Martin Luther says we ought to raise their buildings and burn their synagogues, and even hints that they should have been slain, Paul says that he would be willing to be accursed and cut off from Christ himself for the sake of my Jewish brethren.

They are my kinsmen, says Paul, and to them was given the covenant, and the law, and the patriarchs, and from them, from them comes Jesus Christ. Paul in Romans 10 will say, my desire for them is that they may be saved, and in chapter 11 of Romans, he will go on to say, and Israel will be saved.

Speaking of the Jewish people, he has confidence that in the end, they will look upon the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him, and so they will come to faith in Jesus Christ. That was Martin Luther's desire, but when he didn't see it happen, and the Jews did not accept his preaching, when Germany became Lutheran, a Christian nation, some kind of demonic zeal against the Jews was stirred up in his heart.

What that tells me is that even a Christian can get sucked in to hatred of the Jews. Turn with me to the book of Romans chapter two, and yet it is not antisemitism to preach the truth of the gospel to a Jew, and to say to a Jewish person that you also are a sinner that needs to repent, that your righteousness is like filthy rags before God Almighty, and that Christ has been offered as a sacrifice that if you will believe, your sins will be washed away.

We must not hesitate from speaking the hard truth of God's word to Jew and Gentile alike. And as we read Romans chapter two, verses 17 to 29, I want you to notice that it is directed to you, Jew. Romans chapter two, verse one was directed to oh man, universally to all people of any ethnicity, Jew and Gentile alike.

But as we pick up in verse 17, Paul directs the sentence and the paragraph to you who call yourself and are a Jew. Let's read. Romans two, 17 to 29. But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law, and boast in God, and know his will and approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the law.

And if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself?

While you preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, dishonor God by breaking the law.

For as it is written, the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. For circumcision indeed is a value if you obey the law. But if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.

So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised, but keeps the law, will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision, but break the law.

For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical, but a Jew is one inwardly. And circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man, but from God.

The discussion of circumcision here relates to the outward covenant sign of being Jewish. The outward display, the way that someone is known to be a Jew, is by circumcision. And this goes way back to the book of Genesis, as God gave that covenant sign.

But notice in verse 27, when Paul says, then he who is physically uncircumcised, but keeps the law, will condemn you. Who is the you in that sentence? As in the whole paragraph, it is referring to ethnic Jews.

You need only to go back to the beginning of the passage, and so do that in verse 17, where it says, but if you call yourself a Jew. Notice that that word you, in verse 17, all the way through 27, in the Greek is in the singular, that's very important.

It's not in the plural, it's in the singular. Paul is directing these words to any reader of this letter, or any hearer of the preaching of the book of Romans, that every individual Jew will be addressed as an individual in the singular.

You, hearing this word. Notice also in verse 17, where it says, but if you call yourself a Jew. That word if is a conditional. But does that mean that it's in question whether the person is Jewish or not?

Is it to say, you so-called Jew, or does it name the Jewish person? It is the latter, it is not the former. If in the Greek here is conditional, but it's a first class conditional sentence. What does that mean?

It means that the conditional statement is assumed to be true. It's not leaving this as an open question, so as to say, if is meaning a so-called Jew, to question such a thing, but rather to say, if you are named a Jew.

In other words, this is directed to Jewish people. As such, God recognizes in this text, this category of one who is a Jew. That's important as we get into chapters nine to 11, because Paul will address the Jewish question.

Why have so many Jews not believed? Has the word of God failed? And then Paul will expound upon God's eschatological plan for the Jewish people, culminating in the statement in chapter 11, I believe it's verse 35, and so all Israel will be saved.

God is still speaking to Jews as such, not questioning whether they are, but notice what he would say to them. The big idea in verses 17 to 24 is spiritual pride. Matthew Henry rightly comments that the most dangerous kind of pride is spiritual pride.

I think this is what overtook Martin Luther when he had established an entire Christian nation in Germany, a form of spiritual pride overtook him, and he began to boast over the Jewish people who were not willing to accept Jesus Christ.

Notice the same problem is inherent in any rejection of Jesus Christ, including among Jews. The issue is spiritual pride. Notice the litany of descriptives of a Jew who is not yet believing the gospel.

Verse 18, you know His will. You approve what is excellent because you are instructed from the law, and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, this setup here is meant to describe someone who sees themself this way.

It's a self-assessment. The Jew who regards himself as light to the nations, a teacher of children, an instructor, one who has the law and therefore embodies this law of knowledge and truth, this sets up verse 21, where like was done to us in chapter two, verse one, the rug is pulled out from underneath the Jew.

In chapter two, verse one, oh man, you have no excuse because you practice the very same things the pagans do. You suppress the truth in unrighteousness. You exchange the glory of God for idols. The debased mind, the sexual depravity, these are the kind of things that characterize you, oh man, you who judge another.

What Paul is doing here is he's shutting all of us up under sin, but in verse 21, the Jew needs to hear this specifically. You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal?

You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, now a definitive statement is made in verse 23, and it's not flattering.

Paul says to the Jew, you dishonor God, you break the law. The rich young ruler came to Jesus thinking he kept all 10 commandments, but Jesus saw his heart and issued the command to go and sell everything you have and come follow me, and that heart was not there because in fact, the rich young ruler was not a law keeper, but a law breaker.

When Jesus expounded upon the law, he taught us that if a man even looks at a woman with lust in his heart, he's violated the deeper meaning of thou shalt not commit adultery. But here, the Jewish teacher does not accept that interpretation.

He counts himself righteous because he's never physically committed adultery. One of the commentators I like listening to on the radio is Dennis Prager, and he gets a lot of things right because he has the law of God, and he can make application.

But he would very much be described in this passage as one who thinks he is an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, a light for others to see. When a caller recently asked him what to do about her marriage situation, she's constantly squabbling with her husband, and also, she's at war with her three children.

Dennis Prager went to the Talmud, into Talmudic Judaism, and he said to her, if you do not look out for you, who will? You should divorce your husband. Why don't you divorce him? It's been war for years.

And this was the wisdom that he offered. Whereas the word of God says, divorce my soul hates. And what the word of God understands and teaches is that the law has a primary function of exposing our own sin.

There are three functions of the law. Take careful note of this. This is very important to understand. The law is, first of all, a mirror. Second, it's a restraint, and third, it is a guide. A mirror, a restraint, and a guide.

Here in the passage, the Jewish person understands the law as a guide. It teaches us right from wrong. It teaches us how to live righteously before God. And everyone understands that the law is a restraint when the law of God says, thou shalt not murder, and there's capital punishment assigned for those who do commit murder, it restrains murder in the land, right?

When it says, thou shalt not steal, look what happened in California when they said that people can steal up to $999 without being prosecuted. What do you get? A rash of thefts and stores just being raided because there's no restraint of evil, but the primary and first function of the law is a mirror.

It's a tutor to bring you to Christ. It is meant to show you how sinful you really are. And this is the problem that Paul is addressing in verses 18 to 20. The Jewish person doesn't see his own sin when he comes to the law.

He thinks he's keeping it. The law exposes our hypocrisy. And those reading might say, well, I've never robbed a temple but Malachi said, bring the full tithe into the storehouse, otherwise you're robbing God, Malachi chapter three.

And the Jewish person who maybe isn't bringing that full tithe ought to be cut to the heart and say, wow, I'm robbing God's temple. Here, the examples are stealing, murder and robbery of the temple, adultery, I should say, murder and robbing temples.

How many Jewish people have assumed their own righteousness because they have not committed adultery? Dennis Prager said in an interview with Jordan Peterson that looking at pornography is not awful. Made allowance for it.

But our Lord Jesus Christ cuts to the heart. And even in your heart, even if not looking at pornography but fantasizing in the mind's eye, the Bible teaches us this again is a form of adultery. The Bible cuts to the heart.

It is a mirror that reveals our unrighteousness. And why would God wanna show us how filthy we are? Is this hate speech? According to the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act, which is currently in our Congress, this could very well be described as anti-Semitism.

The bill says that anyone who says that the Jews killed Jesus is committing anti-Semitism. This is a hate crime. A hate crime. This bill is awful because it limits free speech. The answer is not to limit free speech or to call hate what is actually loving because hear this, what Paul is saying in verses 23 and 24 is absolutely loving.

It is not hate speech to say you dishonor God. To say that to a Jew is what they need to hear. That's what I needed to hear before I came to Jesus Christ, that I was dishonoring God. It's the most loving thing to do to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

To tell the truth is loving. To obfuscate and coddle and lie is actually hate speech. So what Paul does here is he exposes the sin of the Jew. When he says the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, he's quoting from Isaiah chapter 52 verse five.

Turn back with me to Isaiah 52 five. It's a paraphrase, not a direct quote. He's making application of that passage. And the context here is that Israel has been sent into Egypt in captivity and later will be sent into Babylonian captivity.

But when they were in Egypt, it did no good for the Egyptians. Did it? When God brought them out, he wrecked Egypt and destroyed their entire army, drowning in the sea. And Israel actually plundered Egypt as a judgment from God against the false gods of Egypt.

There was no rescue, no salvation for Egypt. Neither was there salvation in the Babylonian captivity. The Assyrians remained wicked when Israel went back home. So look what he says in Isaiah 52 five. Now therefore, what have I here, declares the Lord, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing.

There's no benefit. Their rulers wail, declares the Lord. And continually all the day my name is despised. That's what Paul is quoting in Romans 2 14. My name is despised. Why? Because Israel in herself, in her own righteousness, has nothing to offer to the nations.

They're sinners like us. There's no light, but read on in verse six. Therefore, my people shall know my name. At the revelation of the name of Jesus Christ, there is light to the nations because Jesus is the light of the world.

His is the name above every name. Yahweh is salvation. That's the name of Jesus. Yahoshua, Yahweh saves. So in verse six, we have the revelation of his name and now look at verse seven. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news.

When you're carrying the name of Jesus, the name above every name, you publish peace. You bring good news of happiness. You publish salvation. You say to Zion, your God reigns. Notably, if you keep reading this passage, you come to verse 13 and Isaiah begins to speak prophetically of Jesus Christ.