Lost at Church: Romans Series #23

In chapter 1 of Romans, the apostle Paul began to build his trial case against the sinful lifestyle of mankind. As we proceed into chapter 2, Paul becomes the prosecuting attorney. One by one he assembles all of the human race to stand before the judgment bar of God and demonstrates the whole world is guilty and in desperate need of a Savior.

We know the great theme of the book of Romans is the Gospel, the good news of what God has done through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary. We won’t fully appreciate the “good” news until first of all we get a good understanding of the “bad” news. Thus, Paul assembles representatives from the whole human race and declares them guilty before God.

For instance, he brings the totally perverted pagan before God and says, ‘You are guilty.” Next, he brings the good, moral person before God and says, “You are guilty and you too and need a Savior.” In Romans 2:17–24, he brings another in front of us, before the justice bar of God. 

The ones he brings to the witness stand are the lost people at church. We read, “Behold you are called a Jew.” In the days when Paul wrote that statement, the most religious people on all of the earth were the Jewish people. Today, if you were to apply this passage and make it understandable, it would be a religious person or a churchgoer who has never been saved. It is possible to be a part of a church and yet not be a part of Jesus Christ.

My purpose is not to unsettle you in your faith; but my purpose is to reach the individual who may be attending a local church in person or online. They have made a profession, but do not have possession. In reality, he or she is lost at church. Paul is addressing those who know the Gospel but are in desperate need of a Savior.

I. We Must Flee Religion without Redemption

I want to begin with church members who are on a local membership roll but are not born again in Christ. In Romans 2:17–24, we have the picture of a religious person who is religious but they are not really saved. There was an advantage to have been born a Jew in the days of Paul.

If you had been born a Jew in the days of Paul, that would have been an advantage to you, because in the midst of the dark paganism of the time, it was an advantage to be born in an atmosphere of religious things. As this person is boasting, he says, “You make your boast in God. You rest in the law, you know the will of God, you are instructed out of the law.”

A Jewish person brought up in that atmosphere would be brought up in an atmosphere of the Great Temple in Jerusalem, or one of the synagogues in their local communities. They would have been taught out of the Old Testament Scriptures and would have been brought up in the atmosphere of religious things. Paul underscores the advantage these people have through their upbringing.

There are people who have been brought up in church. There are others whose parents were pastors or men’s or women’s directors in the local church. Men and women have served in the choir, orchestra, or ensemble and have never been saved.

At the same time, there are people who walked through church doors who do not have a background or know the “Christianese” of our day. In other words, they start further away from the cross than others who are familiar with the Gospel. There are some people who have been brought up in familiar surroundings spiritually and they take it for granted. Familiarity does sometimes breed contempt.

Some years ago, a South African missionary was touring the diamond mines. Near one of the diamond mines he saw some boys playing with diamonds like marbles. They were using what was precious and making it very commonplace. They were so familiar with this that it became ordinary to them. 

I’m afraid that’s what happens to some people around church. They hear about Jesus, they hear about the precious shed blood of Jesus at Calvary, they hear the songs, they listen to the Bible preached. They are in the atmosphere of the Gospel, but they take this for granted. Notice not only the religious person boasting, but notice religious persons teaching.

In Romans 2:19, we read, “You are confident, you are a guide to the blind. You are a light to those in the darkness, you are an instructor to the foolish, you are a teacher to babes.”

Paul is referencing that the Jewish people had been assigned by God the responsibility to teach the rest of the world about Him. It was their job to let the whole world know what a wonderful God He is and what He could do in their lives. Yet, they began to take pride in this responsibility. Notice what the Jews thought about the Gentiles. Look at how they referred to them as blind, in the darkness, foolish or stupid, a teacher of babes.

The Jewish people of that day took a sacred responsibility to tell the Gospel of the Lord to other people. They allowed it to make religious snobs out of them. They developed religious cliques. They looked down their noses at those who didn’t know what they knew.

The same outcome has happened in America. We tip our hat to God but we do not bow our knee. We are so familiar with God and the Gospel and Jesus and the local church. The Scripture teaches we have been assigned to be witnesses unto the nations. 

It is our responsibility to demonstrate by the caliber of our own behavior and by the consistency of our own verbal testimony that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and that all who will come unto Him can truly by saved. If we are not careful, we can be proud of the fact that we belong to a Bible-believing and soul-winning church and yet we never really consistently share the Gospel.

We need to understand their pretending, verse 21. We read, “You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself?” What he is saying here is, do you practice what you preach? It is possible for the lost church member to hide behind church membership as a shield to hide his true condition. Paul takes the shield away. Paul removes the curtain the lost church member hides behind and he accuses the lost church member of being inconsistent.

Paul writes straightforward with a series of questions. He says, “You preach a person shouldn’t steal.” When you become a member of the local church, you associate yourself with our doctrine and our teaching and of course you are taught that you ought not steal. We would agree that we should not rob the local bank.

We teach we shall not steal, but the question is, do you steal? Do you lie on your income tax? Do you cheat at school? Do you pay your bills and not steal from those you owe that which is rightfully theirs? Paul says, “You preach you shouldn’t steal; do you steal?”

Then he goes on to the second question. He says, “You also say that a man shouldn’t commit adultery.” But he says, “Do you commit adultery?” We all agree that adultery is wrong. We all agree that for a man to leave his wife and his children and go off with another woman is awful, and we all agree that adultery is wrong. But Paul says, “Do you commit adultery?” 

When you are out of town on a business trip and you are in the hotel by yourself, what kinds of pictures do you watch? Do you look with lust in your heart and with lust in your eyes? Jesus said that it is possible to commit adultery without committing the physical act. Jesus said if you look upon a woman with lust in your heart you have committed adultery already.

There are some church members who have a secret thought life. They walk around and in their minds they commit adultery in their hearts. Paul is saying to the unsaved church member, “You say it is wrong to commit adultery, yet do you commit adultery?”

Then he moves on to the third question. “You say you shouldn’t be guilty of idolatry. Do you rob temples, do you steal from temples?” We all agree idolatry is wrong. We all agree that the false religions that cause men to fall down before pagan gods that are nonexistent gods, that are really demon-inspired gods, is wrong.

Paul says, “What about you? Are you guilty of idolatry?” There are more ways than just falling down before an idol to be guilty of idolatry. Idolatry is anything that you put between yourself and God. You can make an idol of your house. You can make an idol out of your car. You can make an idol out of your football team.

What Paul is saying here is, that the lost church member is basically guilty of pretense. He pretends to be one thing and yet he behaves in another way. His behavior belies his pretension.

It is not enough to have religion. It is not enough to walk down a church aisle. It is not enough to have your name on the church roll. I’m asking you—have you truly repented of your sins and received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?

Be sure to note carefully Romans 2:23–24, We read, “You who make your boast in the law by breaking the law, do you bring dishonor on God? For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you.” Let me paraphrase. “It is because of you that lost people are down on God.” 

Do you know what the greatest hindrance to winning lost people to Jesus Christ is? It is the inconsistent behavior on the part of—those who profess to know Jesus as their personal Savior.

Do you remember the story of Abraham in the Old Testament? Abraham made a bad mistake and went down into Egypt. He got there and looked at his wife, how beautiful she was. He was afraid they might kill him and take his wife.

Abraham said to his wife, “The thing for you to do is tell them that you are my sister.” It’s a long story, but the bottom line of it is that they took Abraham’s wife into the harem of Pharaoh and God’s judgment came down upon them. 

Pharaoh asked Abraham what was going on. Abraham told him that he lied about his wife being his sister. Pharaoh said to Abraham in Genesis 12:19–20, “Now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way. And Pharaoh commanded his men concerning him: and they sent him away, and his wife, and all that he had.” 

I can almost imagine that as Abraham walked out of the country, Pharaoh saying, “Some believer that is. He doesn’t have much of a God that will cause him to live like that.”

II. We Must Forgo Ritual without Righteousness

If there were ever a people who had religion, it was the Jews. But their religion didn’t save them, and yours won’t save you. If there was ever a group of people who had ritual, it was the Jews. But their ritual did not save them, and your ritual will not save you.

If you had talked to a Jew he would have said, “I’m a member of the family of God. I belong to the chosen people of God. I have even been circumcised.” We read in Romans 2:25–26, “For circumcision verily profits.” That is, circumcision has value if you keep the law. But if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision is made uncircumcision.

Circumcision, to the Jew, was an outward symbol of the covenant of God. Jews were required to be circumcised because this was an outward token of their inward relationship with God. When God made his covenant with Abraham, God said, “I want there to be a tangible token of that covenant.”

The Jews boasted in their circumcision. If you want to put it in our terminology today, where you find the word “circumcision” in this passage, put the word “baptism.” It’s an exact equivalent. So verse 25 could be read this way: “For baptism verily has value if you are truly saved. But if you are not truly saved, your baptism is really unbaptism.”

Next, we read in verses 26–27, “Therefore, if those who have not been baptized keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his failure to be baptized be counted for baptism? Shall not unbaptism which is by nature, if it fulfills the law, judge you who by letter and baptism transgress the law?”

Paul is teaching if a person has never been baptized and truly been born again, they are better off than the person who has been baptized and has never been born again. Jesus commanded you to be baptized. But he is saying that if your baptism does not represent something that has genuinely taken place in your heart, your baptism is totally useless.

Let me illustrate this truth. Are you married? The wedding ring you get when you get married has value if you are faithful to your mate. If you are not faithful to your mate, then this ring is just a piece of metal.

The same thing about baptism. Your baptism has meaning if it is an outward symbol of an inward experience. But if you have never truly been born again and you went down into the baptismal waters and came up out of them, the only thing that happened to you is you got dunked, you got wet, and that was the end of the matter. Ritual is not enough. Religion is not enough.

Yet, Paul is not finished with his trial. In Romans 2:28–29, we read, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly.” Just because you have the outward symbol. “Neither is that circumcision (outward ritual) which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.”

Paul is teaching that ritual means something if it does not represents inward reality. Have you truly been saved? I didn’t ask you if you were a member of a church. Do you want to know if you have really been saved? Has there been a time in your life when you truly asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins and personally invited Jesus into your heart and life?

III. We Must Forsake Reasoning without Repentance

How does a person reason who is a member of a church and is lost? How do they think of themselves in this situation? When you read Romans 3:18, you will find that it is very difficult for the unsaved church member to truly come to grips with his or her own unsaved condition. With this in mind, Paul basically asks three questions.

In verse 1, we read. “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?” Bringing that up to date, here’s the way it asks the question to you: What advantage is there in being a church member or what value is there in baptism? If I say this is true, what’s the good of being in the atmosphere of all these spiritual things? Paul answers that question in verse 2. “Much in every way.” Paul is saying there is a great advantage.

The fact that people come to church or watch online, even though they are lost, Paul is saying they have a tremendous advantage. Look at it. “Chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.” The oracles of God is a technical term that refers to the words of God revealed in the Bible.

So the question is asked, if all you say is true about religion, if all you say is true about ritual, then what’s the point? Is there any value in a person attending the local church service? The answer is, much in every way.

I’ll tell you why. Lost people come to their local church with Bibles in their laps. Yet, there are millions of people who don’t have a Bible in their language. There was a time in the history of the world when the only Bible in a community would be in the church and it would be chained to the pulpit, but you have a Bible. You are like a man with cancer and the cure is sitting right there in your lap. You are like a man down in a cave and the rope that will get you out is right there is front of you. You have a Bible.

There is a chance the lost person might read a verse and come to Jesus. There is a chance a lost person might hear the pastor preach the Bible and really listen for the first time in their life and hear what the Bible has to say. There is hope for the lost church member. He or she has a Bible—the oracles of God.

There’s a side question (not the second question). We have a Bible, but what if folks don’t believe it? What if folks haven’t paid any attention to the Bible? What if people fail to read the Bible?

We read in Romas 3:3, “For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?” He is saying here—I have a Bible, but I haven’t heeded it. I’m a failure. I have failed to heed the teaching of the Bible. Does that cancel the faithfulness of God?

Paul answers the question in verse 4, “God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar.” He is saying it doesn’t matter how you respond to the Word of God, it is still true. God is still true. The promises of God do not fail. The promises of God are still in effect. Anybody who wants to be saved can still be saved. 

It doesn’t matter how you may have failed. It doesn’t matter who may have rejected the Lord. Jesus Christ will save anybody who will repent and by faith come to Him. Paul is quoting Psalm 51 in Romans 3:4. He says, “as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” Remember, David sinned and he came and confessed his sin to God. David basically did this: The failure was in me, not in God. I’ll take God’s side in the matter.

We now come to question two as we address the reason of the lost church person. In Romans 3:5–6, we read, “If our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who takes vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?”

Let me paraphrase this passage for you. “If our sin displays the grace of God, is God fair to judge us for our sin?” This is uncomfortable writing. I know I am sharing a lot of bad news. Yet, as I wrote earlier, we will not really appreciate the good news if we do not know the bad news.

I am trying to describe the black velvet. Once we have the black velvet laid out, then the sparkling diamond of the Gospel shines even more. The question is—if the black velvet makes the diamond shine, then why punish the black velvet for being black? If our sin makes the grace of God look much greater, then why does God judge us for being sinners? Is God fair to judge us because of our sin? 

There are lost church members who reason that way all the time. Lost church members say, “I know I ought not to do this or quit this behavior, but I’ll go ahead and do it because I know God will forgive me. However, Paul says in verse 6, “God forbid. For then how shall God judge the world?” He is saying, God is going to judge sin no matter who commits it.

We have not come to third and final question pertaining to the reason of the lost church person. We read in verses 7–8: “For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? And not rather (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just” (who get what they deserve).

Why then don’t we sin so good will come from our sin? The lost church member reasons this way: I’m going to go ahead and sin, but God is a great God. He’ll forgive sin and something good will come out of it. Therefore, if God will forgive me of my sin, then why don’t I just go ahead and sin, so good will come?

It’s the old argument that it’s alright to do wrong in order to get a chance to do right. It’s the old argument that the end justifies the means. It is the argument that situation ethics uses today. Situation ethics says it’s alright to do something that is wrong if good will come from it. Let me express the same thought in a different way. If our bad makes God look good, let’s do worse so God will look better. Do you see the craziness of the argument?

Paul says, “whose condemnation is just.” He is saying, if you reason that way, it’s a good indication you’ve never truly been born again. It is not good enough to have religion without redemption. Everyone needs to be saved. It’s not enough for a person to have been baptized. The person has to be saved; ritual without righteousness is not enough. It’s not enough to have reason without repentance, that you can live any old way you want to and you are still a Christian; you have to be truly born again. Are you saved?