Audio Transcript:

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Heavenly Father, we thank you that you have brought us today into your house, the Father's House, the house of prayer for all nations. And I pray, Heavenly Father, focus our attention on Jesus Christ, God Incarnate. We thank you, Jesus, that you came and you lived a perfect moral life. You fulfilled the law. You didn't come to abolish it. You fulfilled it. And then you went to a cross to die for our breaking of the law. And we thank you that you didn't stay dead, but you rose from the dead. And you told your disciples, "Don't do anything until you get the Holy Spirit." And then you sent the Holy Spirit. And, Holy Spirit, it was you that stirred hearts. In the same way that you stirred hearts in the Day of Pentecost, so I pray that you stir our hearts like never before.

Living in the city is hard, Lord. The demonic oppression is sometimes unbearable. So we ask for a breather. Lord, I do. I ask for eight days, it's my birthday, so I can ask whatever I want. I ask for a reprieve, a Sabbath from the demonic warfare for eight days, starting today, because it's my birthday. And help us this week live in the power of the Holy Spirit, as we minister to our neighbors, as we share the Gospel, as we invite people to Easter and Good Friday, our neighbors, our friends, people that we talk to about the weather, politics, the Red Sox. Pray that we have the boldness to speak about what matters, which is eternity. And we pray that Good Friday and Easter Sunday, that you save hundreds, hundreds of souls through this ministry. We pray all these in Jesus' name. Amen.

The title of the sermon is A Tremendous Advantage. We're in Romans 3:1-8. Today, we continue our sermon series through Romans. Just a quick update, I'm still alive by God's grace. So thank you for your prayers and anyone that's been worried about me. Thank you so much. I am planning on taking time off this summer. I've never taken more than two weeks off, like vacation time, and we haven't taken a family vacation in years. So, this summer, I am taking significant time off and time away, because I got to get out of this city. I love this city, a love-hate relationship. I love this city, but I'm going to get away this summer. So, thank you for that.

I also just want to thank the faithful brothers and sisters who've walked with me in this season, in particular, Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy and our particular staff. Our staff, we went to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate Pastor Andy's birthday this week, and because Cheesecake Factory has everything for everyone. And when we came out, always I'm the first one in, I'm the first one out, and then I just turned around. I was like, "Our staff are the Avengers. Our staff are the spiritual Avengers." So just be nice to them, and their time is limited too. But be nice to them. That's my birthday present.

Okay. Romans. Let's not forget the goal of Romans. Paul wrote this. This is his thesis. This is the purpose. This is Romans 1:5. This is why he wrote the book. "Through whom we have received," through Jesus Christ we've received, "grace and apostleship to bring about the..." Say the next phrase with me, "obedience of faith." Let's say it again. Obedience of faith. "Obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations." So Paul is saying, "I'm writing this to stir your faith. And when your faith is truly stirred, you want to obey God." That's what he's trying to do. For whom is this Gospel? It's for all nations. It's for all people.

Sometimes we forget that we're all just people, like we'd be with titles and just labels. We forget we're people. I'm just a guy. I'm just a guy. I'm just a dude. I love Jesus a lot. And I study God's word. I'm just a guy. You're just a person. People have been asking about vision. Has the vision of Mosaic shifted? It has not. It's crystallized. The... Pastor Andy forced me on a little break, respite, to catch my breath last week. He picked me up in his Honda Odyssey. And do not call it a minivan. There's nothing mini about that van. And, he picks me up and he's like, "We're going to Providence." I was like, "Why are we going to Providence?" He's like, so... I needed a reminder of what God called me to. Sometimes you forget.

And God did not call me. I remember when I was in college, God did not call me to plant the church, just FYI. God called me to preach God's word. That's what I love above everything else. This is what gives me life is preaching God's word. And, the reason why I planted a church was because I was 26 and this is the reasoning. I was like, "No one is going to hire a 26 year old with zero ministry experience, and let him preach every Sunday." And I realized that the only way I can really get to preach every, because that's how you get good at doing something. You got to do 10,000 hours, right? Preach a thousand sermons.

So I planted a church for the sole purpose of preaching God's word, so that people love Jesus. That's my only concern. That's why I get bogged down with church growth stuff and building campaign and all that. I'm like, "I don't want to do any of that." That's not for me. All I want to do is preach God's word. And whoever will listen, I'm going to preach God's word and I'm going to pray for you. That's what I'm doing the rest of my days. So, if you want a church building for Mosaic, you get it. I'm not doing it. And if you guys want an orphanage for Ukrainian orphans, I'm not doing it either. I'm going to preach the word. I'm going to pray. And I'm going to have fun. Because I met with a pastor this week and he is like, "Bro, you're not having fun. I can tell." So, he gave me a prophetic word and he's like, "You got to have fun." So, that's what I'm planning on doing.

So, the point is, the vision is, love Jesus. Simple. It's just that simple. You love Jesus. I love Jesus. We all love Jesus. And then let's help people love Jesus. What kind of people? All people. All people. Everyone's welcome. People ask all the time, "Hey, what kind of church is Mosaic?" That's the wrong question. And I stop people there. I'm like, "That's the wrong question." "What kind of denomination is Mosaic?" "Whoa, wrong question." I've been asked this question way too often and I've found it's always intended as a swerving maneuver, where people understand, "Oh, you're going to talk about spiritual things. I don't want to talk about spiritual things. I don't want to talk about God. So, what denomination are you? Oh, you guys are Christian. I'm Jewish." "Oh, you guys are Christian. I'm Catholic." "Oh, you guys are evangelical. Yeah, I'm too liberal for that. Sorry. That's not for me." These are manmade categories intended to divide people. All nations, all nations, all people. Mosaic is a house of prayer for all nations.

Every time you walk into the Temple Ohabei Shalom, at the very top, it says, house of prayer for whom? What's the full verse? It's the house of prayer for whom? It's for all nations. Isaiah 56:7, "For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." So do you want to pray? Then welcome. Do you want to know God? Then welcome. Do you need grace? Then welcome. We all need grace. Where can grace be found? Only in Jesus Christ. Your Jewish identity isn't your ultimate identity. Your Catholic identity isn't your ultimate identity. Your liberal identity isn't your ultimate identity. Your ultimate identity is you're a human being created in the image of God, with an eternal soul. And you are a moral being, and you have broken the commandments of God. Therefore, you are guilty before God who is Holy, and you will be judged. And Jesus Christ is the only hope for receiving grace and forgiveness and reconciliation, to be adopted in the family of God.

My wife told me, "If there's mic issues, don't say it's the demonic." So if we have mic issues, we'll do the handheld. Yeah.

We are all by ourselves. We're spiritual orphans. These last few weeks, I'm like, "Orphans. We got to take care of orphans." And then I look around the city, I'm like, "Everyone's a spiritual orphan." Statistically speaking, most people haven't grown up with a true father that loves them. And spiritually speaking, if you are not a child, if you're not a follower of Jesus Christ, you're not a child of God. You're a human being, but you are not adopted into the family of God the Father, unless you repent of your sins and turn to Christ. And then the Father adopts you into the family of God. God is Father. And whom does God delight in? In Jesus Christ. And when you delight in Jesus Christ, love Jesus Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit. And then you pray to God the Father in Jesus' name. That's the introduction of Romans 3:1-8.

I'll show you how I got everything I just said from the text. Romans 3:1-8. No bookmark. Let's see if Pastor Jan knows his Bible. Yes, he does.

"Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, 'That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.' But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? I speak in a human way. By no means! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? Why not do evil that good may come? And as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just." This is the reading of God's holy, infallible, authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths on our hearts.

Three points to frame up our time together. First, we'll look at The Jewish Advantage, it God's Holy Word. Second, The Jewish Advantage: God's Holy Law. And third, The Jewish Advantage: God's Holy Gospel.

First, The Jewish Advantage: God's Holy Word. The context is, St. Paul has been rebuking Jews for hypocrisy. The Jewish people had had a special relationship with God in the Old Testament, in the Hebrew Scriptures, so much so they were considered God's chosen people. And despite a very special blessing, calling, relationship with God, they were living the same godless lives, as pagans who did not have God's word. The Jews were entrusted with the law of God, the glory of Israel. They were the only people on the planet given the clear manifestation of the moral law of God in the 10 Commandments, the Decalogue. I'm going to point to this all the time now, just to remind you, obedience of faith, that the law still matters.

God doesn't measure a person's spirituality or faith through their DNA or through their observation of religious traditions, but according to obedience of faith. And a lot of Christians do not believe the way you're supposed to believe, because you are not faithful. You don't have the faith you're supposed to have because you're not faithful to the law of God. And this is why a lot of Christians do not have the Holy Spirit, because you have not put yourself in a position of obedience and then realize, "I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't fulfill the law. I can't do it."

And that's when you cry out and you say, "God, I need your power. I need your spirit. I can't do it. I am helpless on my own. I need your power to do what you called me to do." This is why a lot of Christians... Christianity is boring to you. The Bible is boring, because you don't have the holy Spirit. You've been quenching it with your sin, because you think that Christianity is just, "Nah, I'm going to come to Jesus whenever I need my sins forgiven." You live a degenerate life all week, just degenerate.

I'm working on the preaching. I've been told I've been doing too much teaching, so I'm working on the preaching. Just bear with me. I know it. I know it. I'm talking to Brookline. I'm preaching above you, okay? But, but if the shoe fits, man.

We live in a city of virtue signaling, of moral degenerates. Love, love, love, love, love is all around, like the word love, and no one knows what it means. Because you, dear Brookline, Boston, I'm talking specifically younger people, you've been raised on porn. That's... Porn is just in you. It's in you. It's in you. It's in you. It's in you. And, it has a heart in your hearts. And your heart needs to be circumcised. That's what St. Paul is saying.

So it doesn't matter if you go to church, like if you're Catholic and you get the... Mark Wahlberg does this thing where he gets the black cross on Ash Wednesday, I think. It doesn't matter if you do the traditions. If you're Catholic, if you're Jewish, if you're Christian, if you're a church member, if you've been baptized, none of that matters if you're not obedient to God and his word. And it doesn't matter what your DNA is. It doesn't matter if you grew up Jewish. It doesn't matter if, genetically, you have Christians or followers of God in your family. Because God isn't going to judge you on the faith of someone else. So don't put your faith in my faith in Jesus. Put your faith in Jesus. I'm just a guy. I'm just pointing everyone to Jesus Christ. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. So if a Jew does not have the spirit of God in their heart, their Jewish heritage will do nothing for their soul and their eternal destiny. The same goes for Christians and Catholic. It doesn't matter if you were outwardly baptized as a baby.

Two weeks ago, I went to a Russian Orthodox Church, because Pastor Andy said I can do anything I want on Sunday and I don't have to come. I was like, "Tremendous." So I went to a Russian Orthodox Church in Roslindale. And it was awesome, because no one knew me. So no one talked to me. And, they don't let you move. And if you know me, that's painful for me. I can't stand in one spot. So I literally stood there for two hours. It's two hours of standing. It's like a standing plank for two hours. I was in better shape after that. And there's kneeling and standing and it... And I just prayed. There was chanting and stuff, and switching languages back and forth, a little Russian, a little English. There was incense. They didn't preach the word. And I was like, yeah. I was like, "Who are we praying to? No one knows the word."

And then... I had my eyes closed and I'm praying. I've been studying Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, and like he prayed so intensely that capillaries in his face burst and he sweated blood. And I was like, "How intensely do you have to pray?" Have you ever prayed so hard that you sweat? Have you prayed so hard that you had to change your t-shirts every half hour? I have, this past week, the last two weeks. And then I turn around, this huge guy next to me. I'm kind of a big guy. This guy is massive. He's like 6'5, 300, just yoked, just scary looking. People think I'm scary. This guy is massive. And I look at him, I'm like, "I know you."

Because I'd seen him. His name's... I know his name. And I look at him. I was like, "I know you. You're my neighbor." Because I seen him across the street. And he's like, "Yeah, I don't live there. That's where my girlfriend lives. One of them." And then Tanya told me that, on Valentine's Day, he brought her a lot of flowers and stuff and balloons. That's nice. And then he goes and buys the little candle and puts it in the thing. And then just walks out. That man does not have the Spirit of God. It doesn't matter if you go to a church service and you do the stuff. If you don't obey the commandments, if you have no desire to obey the commandments, you don't have the Spirit of God. Therefore, you're dead spiritually.

This is what Paul said in Romans 2:28-29. "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." How? "By the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God." Prior to preaching the Gospel, Paul examines our condition under the law. The verdict is, we're all guilty. And most people are so hardened by their sin, they don't even consider that God has moral commandments that he imposes on us. Most people judge their goodness by comparing themselves to others, not measuring their moral performance according to the 10 commandments, the foundation for the rest of the law and the holiness code.

2 Corinthians 10:12. "Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding." That's what a lot of religious people do. They just, "Yeah, I'm better than that guy. Better than that guy." This is literally what the Pharisee did. The Pharisee goes into the temple and he is like, "Lord, thank you I'm not like that loser. I fast twice a week, which is kind of big deal. I give 10% of my income, tremendous." And then the wicked tax collector is like, "Lord, I got nothing. I'm a moral failure. I got nothing. All I can do is beg for grace." And Jesus said that guy went home justified.

As Paul puts in Galatians, "The law is a schoolmaster that drives us into the arms of Jesus Christ. Keeping the law doesn't save anyone, because no one has kept the law except for Jesus Christ. The law helps us feel the weight of our need for the Gospel. Christ is the only one, by the power of the Holy Spirit, who can circumcise our hardened hearts and turn us into lovers of God and people." And loving God and people is the point of the whole thing. It's the point. I think we complicate religion all the time. We complicate faith all the time. Just complicate it. That's why I love Jesus. It's simple, is so important. And the simplicity is like, let's simplify the complexity of the word. Because once you simplify the complexity, you realize it all distills down to love, loving God and loving people.

This is what Jesus did in Matthew 22:34-40. "When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together." The Sadducees didn't believe that God was God. They don't believe in the power of God. And the Pharisees didn't either. "And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 'Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?' And he said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

Some of you are tremendous at loving God with your hands. Some of you are tremendous at loving God with your mind. Not enough of you love God with your heart. Because when you love God with all your heart, you think about him all the time. You want to know him. You want to know his word. You want to worship him. You want to obey him. Because if you love God, you fear him. There's a reverence that comes over you when you love God. And I can tell when people have that reverence and when they don't. When you don't have a fear of God in you, you don't love your neighbor as yourself. If you don't love God with all your heart, but you only love him with all your mind, you become a Pharisee, and you start judging people according to the letter of the law and not according to the spirit of it. And the only way that you can live according to the spirit of the law is if you have the spirit of God.

Romans 3:1. "Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?" Well, circumcision was a sign of the covenant. It's a sign of both blessing and warning of curse. And the promise depicted in circumcision is that, through faith in the promise, the promise given to Abraham, "That through your seed, you will be a blessing to many nations." This is the vision that God put into Abraham's heart, that Jewish people, Abraham wasn't even a Jew. God made Abraham a Jew. And he said, "Abraham, through you, I'm going to bless all the nations." The whole vision for the Jewish people was to be a blessing for all nations. This is why I never get why Jewish people aren't evangelizing me. If you really believe your own word, you should be trying to evangelize me. And I'm waiting for the day that a Jew actually tries to do that. Because I'm going to say, "Tremendous. Let's have a Bible study. Where are we going first? Isaiah 53? Tremendous."

Actually, one thing I was praying about was to have a buil... Yeah, I'll just share it. I can share my prayers, right? I was praying about challenging Temple Ohabei Shalom to a Bible study. And the winner gets the building. That's what I was praying. Because they don't know the word. That's where I'm going. So the circumcision. The promise depicted in circumcision is that, through faith in the promise, God will save his people through the shedding of blood. Circumcision, very graphic, foreskin needs to be cut off. There's shedding of blood. Every time circumcision happens, it was a depiction that blood was going to be shed, and the coming seed, the Messiah, is the mediator between God and man. Circumcision is also a sign of the curse, to all who take the sign, but do not believe the promise that God will send the Messiah. And it's a graphic depiction of an unbeliever being cut off from the people of God. So either you believe in the promise and you receive the blessing, or you reject the promise and you receive a curse.

If getting circumcised, keeping the outward requirements of the law, does not guarantee someone a relationship with God and entrance into heaven, then what's the advantage? That's the line of thought. Is there value in being Jewish, in circumcision? If Paul wrote today, he'd include baptism. Is there value in baptism? Church attendance, church membership. These are all good things, but they don't guarantee salvation from the deserved wrath of God for our law-breaking. So when people become members, covenant members, of Mosaic, we take that very seriously. And our job as elders, Pastor Shane and Pastor Andy and myself, our job is to discern if the person is really a child of God. They have the Holy Spirit, if they've been saved by grace through faith, because we believe that a regenerated church membership is important. But I know people slip through the cracks.

There are people that grew up in the church and they know the right things to say, the right things to write, how to say in a way that's convincing. And they've said it so many times, they've convinced themselves that they're believers. And then we ask them one question, "Do you love Jesus Christ? And tell us how much you love Jesus Christ." If you don't love of Jesus Christ, none of that stuff matters. Even making a verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ doesn't guarantee salvation, since many people honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from him. Since Paul has seemingly downplayed circumcision, the attentive reader is expecting him to say, "No, there's no advantage to being Jewish. There's no advantage to circumcision." That's not what he says. Is there an advantage to being Jewish?

Verse two, he says, "Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God." What a great phrase. I love that phrase, because no one knows what it means. What's oracles of God? I don't know. It sounds awesome. Literally, in the Greek, it's the very words of God. The very words of God. God entrusted, first, to begin with. In the Greek, it's protos, same word that's used in Matthew 6:33, "Seek first the kingdom of God, and everything else shall be added on to you." It's a text about priorities. So here he says, "To begin with," or first, "the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God." The Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God first. That's the advantage. They were given the word of God. It's a tremendous advantage.

However, it's only an advantage if you read it, if you study it, if you meditate it, if you believe it and if you do it. The word of God, the sharpest sword, cuts through our debased minds and our hardened hearts, pierces our wretched souls, and brings us to Christ. By the way, the word Bible isn't in the Bible, so the word Bible isn't even biblical. I get what they're saying. If I had a publishing house, I would publish Bibles that say Oracles of God, because that's what it is, the very word of God. 2 Timothy 3:16-17. "All Scripture is breathed out by God, profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." The Jews were entrusted with the very words of God, the oracles of God. Did they steward the word of God well? No. No.

I grew up with a lot of Jews. My friends in high school were all Jews. And then in college, all my best friends were Jews. I lived in Jewish fraternity. It was called AEPi. And they all smoked weed all the time, so it was AEHigh. Everyone's high. By walking up to second floor, to my dorm room, I was like phheeeww, I got secondhand something. They don't know their word. I've been thinking about how to share the Gospel of Jews for a long time. They don't know their word. Jewish people, you don't know your own word. Oh, the Catholics don't know their own word either. Russian Orthodox don't know their own word. Southern Baptists do not know their own word. They don't. They do not. I went to seminary with these guys. They don't know the Bible. A lot of the Southern Baptist, I went to Southern Baptist Seminary, a lot of them view ministry as a career, because it's a job with no heavy lifting. And then, they encounter demonic attack one time, and then they're out. Because that's the heavy lifting of the job. No, they don't know the word.

Most Jewish people have never read their own holy Scriptures, just even the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures. Not to mention, they haven't read the sequel. That's what my roommate in college, he was Jewish. He's like, "Yeah, yeah, I'm not reading the sequel." That's what he calls the New Testament. And my response to it is, "Why not? Aren't you Jewish? Wouldn't you want to read the Scriptures about the most important and influential Jew who ever lived? Wouldn't you want to know what his plan was to redeem the world? Why wouldn't you read it? Just for personal education, just read it. I dare you." And then for us, we've been entrusted with the oracles of God, Christians, do you steward the oracles of God well? Do you stand humbly under God's word? Do you stand in trepidation before God's word? Do you strive to know the Scriptures, believe them and do them? Take advantage of the tremendous advantage that God has entrusted you with.

Second, The Jewish Advantage is God's Holy Law. Do you keep the commandments? 1 Corinthians 7:17-19. "Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone, at the time of his call, already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone, at the time of his call, uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but..." Let's read that last part together, what counts, what matters, "But keeping the commandments of God." It's just that simple. The commandments of God.

Paul's mission was to bring about the obedience of faith. Obedience of faith, to what? To God's will. Well, what is God's will? God's will is revealed, God's will for every single one of us human beings is revealed to the Jews with the 10 commandments. What commandments? The 10 commandments. And I'm going to read them in Exodus 20:1-21. It's that important. "And God spoke all these words, saying," God, he led Israel out of captivity, so now they're in freedom. And he says, "'Now that you're free, let me give you 10 laws to help you stay free.'" So the commandments aren't to enslave us or restrict us. They are to give us life, freedom, liberty of ... So he says, "I'm the Lord your God." There's a relationship. "I'm your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. I've saved you."

Now listen, number one, "You shall have no other gods before me." Have you fulfilled this commandment? Have you ever, even once in your life, had a god before God? Of course, you have. Of course, you have. Guilty. So we're zero for one. Me too, zero for one.

Number two, "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for the Lord your God, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." You shall not make for yourself a carved image of anything. Catholics, you've got carved images of Jesus Christ on the cross. Everywhere. Just everywhere. You broke the commandment. Every time I drive by a Catholic church, I'm like, "Broke the commandment." You broke the commandment. You broke the commandment. Zero for two.

Verse seven. "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless, who takes his name in vain." Oh my. We've all broken it. "Jesus Christ, Mary and Joseph." I hear that all the time. "Jesus." as a curse word. You don't say that with Muhammad. "Allah?" But you do with Jesus Christ. Zero for three.

"Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor," some of you need to read that part, because you don't work the way you should. You're supposed to work six days. Six days, you shall work. The weekend, that's not in the Bible. It's not in the Bible. "Six days you shall work, and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it, you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." Our Sabbath is on a Sunday, because Jesus came back from the dead, the resurrection. I love how in Russian, the word Sunday is [foreign language 00:38:04] which means resurrection. Every Sunday is the resurrection day. Do you keep the Sabbath?

Do you keep the Sabbath holy, where you do not work, you devote a full day to God? And I'm talking to parents too. Parents, parents, parents of middle schoolers and high schoolers. Do you lead your children in breaking the commandment? And this is a commandment I've broken. I haven't Sabbathed in like three years, because COVID, remember? And then COVID ended, Ukrainian war started. I have been repenting this week. I've wept. My wife said, "Can you make sure you don't cry today?" Because I've been... I'm 39. Can I be emotional please? 39. I got four daughters. I've been managing a lot of emotions in my house. Not my own. I have broken this commandment. I have repented. By the way, do you guys know I'm a sinner? St. Paul said that he is the chief of what? Sinners. So, I'm the CSO now at Mosaic. That's the title I gave myself. I still haven't cleared it with the pastors yet. I'm the CSO. I'm the chief sinning officer. But I also have to be the chief repenting officer. You got to repent. Sabbath.

Verse 12. "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you." Do you know how many kids break this commandment all the time? Because I know my kids, my daughters' friends, I know them. They do not honor their parents. They talk trash about their parents. Like I got to teach them respect on my play. I'm like, "Whoa. Hold on. It's your mom and dad, you got to honor them. You're going to honor your father and your mother."

"You shall not murder." That's obvious.

"You shall not commit adultery." Jesus said, "Whoever even looks lustfully upon another person has already committed adultery in their hearts." Guilty.

"You shall not steal," and, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." I know some of you have committed that sin this week. False witness. That's why gossip is so lethal. Gossip is demonic, when you talk about someone behind, you talk trash about someone behind their back. Matthew 18 says, "If someone sinned against you, you go and you speak to them to their face." Even if they look really scary, it doesn't matter. You say it to their face.

"And you shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife." I love how he starts with the house before the wife. It's particularly relevant in Brookline. Do not covet. Don't covet. That's a sin. "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male servant, female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything else that is your neighbor's." How'd you do on that test? I'm talking about, not even your whole life. Like this week, how'd you do on that test? You get a 10? 20? 30? 40? If you got a hundred, you're a liar. We're all guilty.

"Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes and lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, 'You speak to us, and we will listen. Do not let God speak to us, lest we die.' Moses said to the people, 'Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him be before you, that you may not sin.' The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was." Oh, this is too weighty, Moses. We don't want to hear from God. We want to hear from you, because we're afraid of God that he might kill us because we've sinned." Yeah, good. Moses says, "Good, good, good, good, good. Don't fear. That's a bad fear, paralyzing fear, that keeps you away from God. Come close to God. And now fear in a good, healthy, reverend way."

And it starts with the humility that we've broken the commandments of God. No one's kept the law perfectly, because to keep it perfectly, you need to keep it from the heart. Just possessing the law and the circumcision will not exempt you from the judgment of God. And this is point three of The Jewish Advantage is God's Holy Gospel. Verse three. "What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?" What if Jews do not believe the oracles of God? What if they are not faithful to God's holy word? Does their disbelief nullify the faithfulness of God? Of course not. If Jews are covenant breakers, that does not make God a covenant breaker. God has faithfully kept his part of the covenant. And in sending his son, Jesus Christ, to the cross, God provides a way for covenant breakers to be forgiven and for a relationship between you and God restored.

Verse four. "By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, 'That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.'" Basically, Paul was saying this, "Do you have to believe in God's word for it to be true?" And this is Karl Barth. This is a Barthean understanding of holy scripture, that God's word, scripture, becomes God's word, when people believe that it's God's word. Well, Karl Barth, with all due respect, you're wrong. God's word is true, regardless of if you believe it. It doesn't matter. It's still true. Just like gravity.

God's word is truth, regardless of your faith, because God is true, so everything he speaks is truth. And everyone is a liar. This is true. Have you lied? Be honest. So you're a liar. I've lied. We should all repent of that and beg for God's grace. Why? Because everything God says is true, because God is true. There aren't many things God can't do, but lying is one of the things God can't do. God can't lie. Everything he says is true. God says, anyone who breaks even one of the 10 commandments deserves eternal damnation, unless you repent and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

And here, Paul cites a passage from Psalm 51. This is King David's greatest Psalm of repentance, which he wrote after being confronted by the Prophet Nathan for committing adultery and murder. Now, I challenge you to study the whole Psalm. Psalm 51, study this week. It's a Psalm of repentance, and this will prepare your heart for Good Friday, for Easter. Psalm 51, the first four verses, to give us context. "To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone into Bathsheba." Verse one. "Have mercy on me, oh God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment."

In a sense, David's words in verse four are hyperbolic. Yes, he had sinned against his wives, his children, Bathsheba, her husband, Uriah. He's sinned against all his subjects in Israel. He's sinned against everyone who viewed him as a great moral exemplar. Of course, David knew all of this. But he's speaking in the ultimate sense. The most wicked aspect of our sin is what it does to God, what it does to God's holiness, his majesty, his glory. We see how deeply David repents when he says, "So that you may be..." He says, "God, please forgive me, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment." Justified in your words and blameless in your judgment? Well, hold on. God said, "Whoever breaks my law deserves death." So, David, what are you appealing to? What are you appealing to? And you want something to happen where God remains just.

How can God give you mercy and remain just, justified in his words, blameless in his judgment? If you want God to be blameless in his judgment, he needs to kill you right now on the spot. But you're appealing to mercy. David knows he deserves God's full wrath. He's not rationalizing his sin. He's not minimizing his guilt. He's not turning to self-justification. David turns to his only real option. He throws himself at the mercy of God, begs God to deal with him according to his mercy, not according to his justice. But he knows something needs to happen, where... If God doesn't judge me, he's not just anymore. How can God forgive? So David begs God to deal with him according to his justice, according to his tender, loving kindness. This is our only hope before God. But how? How?

Verse five. "But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? I speak in a human way. By no means! For then how could God judge the world?" Our sin and unrighteousness indirectly testifies to the righteousness of God. Because our sin doesn't change the law of God. All our sin does is show how great and glorious God's holy law is. So Paul says, "Look, if our own righteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say?" And he's dealing with an argument that's just absolutely crazy.

And the argument goes like this. "Well, if my sin forces God to be gracious, and when I sin, God gives me grace, then should I make it my job to sin more, so that I get more grace and then God gets more glory?" That's what he's getting at. And it's absolutely absurd to even think like that. It's absurd to even ask the question of, "Hey, isn't sinning a good thing?" It's absolutely asinine to think that our sin brings glory to God. God literally sent his son to die on a cross to pay the penalty for our sin. And we're just going to continue flippantly living in sin? That's absurd.

Most modern Jews and Christians have attempted to delete any mention of God's wrath from their public teaching. Listen to any sermons of any liberal churches around us, or even synagogues, or Catholic churches. How often do they talk about the wrath of God? They do not. Therefore, the tremendous news of God's grace is lost on them. But wrath is coming and you will either face the judgment of God on your own, or with Jesus Christ having absorbed it for you on the cross. Also, everyone, deep inside, believes in the judgment of God. We know it. We know it. We just want judgment for Hitler and Putin, like the only ones. No, judgment's coming for every single one of us. The same sin that lurks in their heart, lurks in ours as well. So God is righteous, therefore, he is wrathful. God's wrath does not diminish his righteousness, but confirms it.

Verse seven. "But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?" This will be the argument of every self-righteous person in hell. People like Judas, who traded Christ for earthly pleasures. Judas' cry on the last day will be the following. And I got this from R.C. Sproul, who is amazing. He's in heaven. Well, you should really get into R.C. Sproul. I think our church would really benefit if people listened to R.C. Sproul. This is what he writes. He's like, this is what Judas is probably going to say in hell, "Hey, guy, why are you picking on me? The best thing that ever happened to the world was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. If it were not for me, you would have no atonement. You people should be thanking me that I fulfilled the Scripture and delivered him into the hands of the Gentiles. Why am I being judged as a sinner?"

And Paul concludes in verse eight. "And why not do evil that good may come? As some people slanderously charge us with saying their condemnation is true." The slander against Paul was, "Hey, Paul, you're just telling people that, no matter what they did, they can just ask for forgiveness and God forgives them?" Paul's like, "Yeah." And then, the objection is, "Well, then they're not going to be good people. They're just going to be evil people." And Paul's like, "What? Didn't you just hear what I said about the circumcision of the heart?" No. Grace is what changes your heart. Grace circumcises your heart, takes the foreskin of sin off of your heart. And then, you have a heart that wants to love God. And then if you love God, you're like, "God, what do you want me to do?"

By the way, that's why a lot of you are living boring Christian lives. You haven't really asked, "Hey, God, what do you want me to do?" "Hey, God, what do you want me to do? What is your will for my..." I know a lot of you haven't answered God's call. God has placed calls in your life, and that you know exactly what God's calling you to do, but loans and job, and "I want to live in a comfortable house." Ask it. If you really love God, ask God, "What do you want me to do?"

By preaching salvation from God's wrath, by grace through repentance and faith, Paul was accused of abolishing the law of God. Paul's not abolishing the word of God. He's saying "10 commandments. 10 commandments." We've all broken them. Jesus fulfilled it. Receive grace. Uncircumcised heart, get circumcised. You get filled with the Spirit of God. And the Spirit of God, what does it do? It moves you to obey the commandments.

And proper following of the law requires internal transformation. This is Jeremiah. This is in the Hebrew Scriptures. Jeremiah 31:31-34. "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more."

Parallel passage in Ezekiel 36:24-29. "I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the spirit of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you. I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from your uncleanness. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you."

The agency of the spirit is required for the acceptable observance of God's law. Therefore, being a Jewish person, or even religiously Jewish, and even trying to obey the law, you're not doing it, because you don't have the Spirit of God within you. And, dear Christians, if you don't have the Spirit of God within you, that's the reason why you don't care about the 10 commandments. I'm bringing the 10 commandments back. Ray Comfort, remember that guy? He used to share the Gospel to people on the streets of LA, by just going up to them and be like, "Hey, man, you break any commandments this week?" And people are like, "What are commandments?" And he's like, "Oh, no one even knows the commandment." And then his other thing was, "Hey, how many beers can you list?" And everyone's like, "Heineken, Coors Light, Bud Light, Miller, some IPA." They just go on these. And he's like, "You know more beers than commandments. Well, that's your problem." We're in the Temple Ohabei Shalom. I get the decalogue behind me. I'm just going to remind people of this commandments.

Start of Holy Week, Jesus Christ entered Jerusalem, to the Jewish people, as a Jew. Now when they drew to Jerusalem, they came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, Mountain of Olives. Then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you'll find a donkey tied. And a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them at once." This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble and mounted on donkey, on a colt, the foal..."

Foal? Foul? I'm a city boy.

On a donkey. "The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowds spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, 'Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!' And when he had entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, 'Who is this?' And the crowds said, 'This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.'" These people will welcome Jesus as their Messiah, on Palm Sunday. And then Jesus was crucified on Good Friday. It was all words. It was all words.

It was all words. They didn't love him, before they crucified him. And he allowed them to crucify him. Because he loves the Jews. To the Jew first. And he loves us. And also to the Gentiles. He loves us. And on the cross, Jesus Christ died. He did not deserve to die. He was not guilty. You ever get punished for something you didn't even do. If you have brothers or sisters, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And if you're a loving brother and sister, you take it. You take it. "Yeah, it was my fault. It was my fault." That's Gospel. That's Gospel siblings.

Here's the Gospel. He, Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin on the cross, so that we might become the righteousness of God. We are all moral failures. Jesus Christ came to take the test for us. My oldest daughter, Sophia, she likes going for walks. We've been going for walks lately. We went for a walk, and I was like, "Tell me about your week." She's like, "Ah." And then she talked for like an hour straight. Fast, she's a fast talker. I'm like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." So she was telling me, in class, this week, they had a pop group quiz, where one person takes the pop quiz for the whole class. And this week it was Sophia's turn. And, she hated it, obviously, because it's hard to do the work for everybody. But they got a hundred. Praise God. That's a minuscule reflection of the tremendous news of Jesus Christ. We are all failures. God does not grade on a curve. So God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to take the test for us.

He took the 10 commandment test for us. For 33 years, he did not sin once. Not once. Loved God perfectly. Loved people perfectly. And all that I really need to... Let Jesus take the test for you, because you're a failure. You're a terrible student of God's law. So am I. We're all failures. Can we just agree on that? You're all losers. Me too. We're all losers. We're all pathetic, degenerate, whatever word you want to use. Let Jesus take the test instead of you. He died too. So what do you need to do? This is like action step, action step. This is what you need to do. Write the name of Jesus Christ above your name on the test. Because the name of Jesus Christ is the name above all names. Write it above your name. If you're not a Christian today, fill out a connection. Put your name on, in all lower case. I don't even care if you give me your email, just so I can pray for you, in lower case, it's good for humility. And then in all caps, write Jesus Christ on top of it. Okay? Amen. Let's pray.

Lord God, oh wow, that's a lot of time. That's why we need one service now.

Lord, we thank you for the grace. We all need it to help us all receive it, and then extend it to others who also need it. In Jesus' name, amen.