Lawrence Taylor Ministry

Guest (Male): Hello and welcome to Teaching the Word with Dr. Lawrence Taylor. Each and every week, Dr. Taylor will be sharing a relevant message from the scriptures designed to inform and instruct us in the ways of our God. Dr. Taylor has been the pastor of Kenilworth Baptist Church in the Midwood section of Brooklyn for the past 22 years. He brings a wealth of experience to each broadcast, having been a New York City public school teacher and a theology professor. Stay tuned to the end of the broadcast to find out how to stream today's message. Now, here's Dr.

Taylor.

Lawrence Taylor: Hello everyone. This is Lawrence Taylor and this is our fourth time meeting as we continue our study in the book of Romans. Just a reminder that this program is a Bible study where we look at a book and we study a chapter at a time. Today we'll examine Romans chapter two verses 17 to 29. In this passage, the apostle Paul continues talking to the Jewish people. In fact, in verse 17, he identifies the interlocutor that is the person who's questioning him as a Jew. He describes certain attributes to this adversary in verses 17 to 20.

Paul says that his opponent relies on the Torah, boasts in God, approves things that are essential, is a guide to the blind, instructs people from the Torah, corrects the foolish, and possesses the truth. Verse 18 tells us that the standard that this Jewish interlocutor used to differentiate differentiate himself from Gentiles was the Torah. The Torah was the standard. And as a result of Torah knowledge, the Jew saw himself as a guide to the Gentiles. The notion that Jewish people would be a guide to Gentiles is expressed in the Old Testament scriptures. In the book of Isaiah chapter 42 verse six, it reads quote, I am the Lord.

I have called you in righteousness. I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you. And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people as a light to the nations. In Hebrew, the word nations goyim is sometimes translated Gentiles. In Isaiah 49 verse six, God says quote, he says it is too small a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribe of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also make you a light of the nations so that my salvation may be reached to the end of the earth.

End of quote. The apostle Paul quotes Isaiah 49 verse six in the book of Acts. We find that in Acts chapter 13 verse 46. It reads for so the Lord has commanded us. I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the end of the earth. The notion that Jews would guide the Gentiles was well established in the Hebrew Bible. The position possession of the Torah obligated Jews to enlighten the rest of the world. This was not just an obligation, but it was a prerogative. Unfortunately, by Paul's time, many Jewish people felt that they were superior to the Gentiles.

Torah knowledge was not to engender that kind of superiority, but it happened. Paul's indictment of his fellow Jew is that he is guilty of duplicity. Knowledge of the Torah was not a preventative against breaking the law. In Romans chapter two verses 21 to 22, the apostle accuses his interlocutor of violating the Ten Commandments. Quote, you therefore who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who teach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you not commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you not rob temples?

Note that stealing, adultery, and idolatry are all violations of the Ten Commandments. Paul by pointing out the violations of the decalogue or Ten Commandments prove that Jews will incur the same wrath that Gentiles will receive. The apostle Paul accuses the Torah observant Jew of being a well, in Greek it says a parabates. A parabates means a transgressor. In this case, a transgressor of the law or one who oversteps the established boundaries. In other words, the law that the interlocutor cherished and esteemed so highly was the same law that condemned him. This scathing indictment should not go unnoticed.

The only thing worse than being a Gentile sinner was to be a Jew in possession of the Torah and committing the same atroci atrocious acts as Gentiles commit. This was Paul's indictment. The concept that the just shall live by faith as expressed in chapter one verse 17 is hinted at in this passage. What Paul demonstrates is that the Torah was inadequate to sanctify the Jewish person who was living by it. That is what Paul means in verse 25 when he wrote quote, for indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the law. But if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.

In other words, you are no different than the Gentile whom you condemn. You know, I have met many people in the church who are eager to point at the faults of others. However, when it comes to their own shortcomings, they seem to be at a loss. I remember the story at of the late Dr. Bill Jones, pastor of Bethany Baptist Church. He told the story of a man who once commended Pastor Jones for his eloquence. The man went on to explain why he had not joined Bethany Baptist Church. He repeated how much he admired Pastor Jones in his great preaching ability.

However, he began to pontificate about the large number of hypocrites in the church. He said that if there weren't so many hypocrites at Bethany Baptist Church, he would join. Dr. Jones responded to the man by saying, well, my brother, you shouldn't let that stop you. There's always room for one more. Oh, how easy it is to point to the shortcomings of others, to talk about their faults. However, not to see your own. In Romans chapter two verses 27 to 29. This portion is often used to prove that there is a spiritual Israel. Another proof text that proponents of spiritual Israel use is Galatians chapter six verse 16 which reads quote, and those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God.

This argument is used to advance the idea of what is known as replacement theology. Replacement theology argues that the church replaced Israel. Therefore, Christians are spiritual Jews. All the promises that God made to Israel in the Old Testament have been transferred to the church according to these advocates of replacement theology. God in essence has abrogated his promises that he made to Israel. These promises they say will be fulfilled in the church. This hermeneutical approach to scripture presents problems. The most obvious one is that you have to spiritualize the Old Testament and not take it literally.

However, we should note human failure does not relinquish the faithfulness of God. God will fulfill all his promises that he made to Israel. The Bible does not use the term spiritual Israel or spiritual Jew. The Israel of God that's referred to in Galatians chapter six verse 16 is a reference to Jews who accepted Jesus Christ and became part of the church. The church, and let me say this emphatically, the church is not Israel. So the crux of Paul's argument in Romans chapter two was to show that God's judgment is impartial and that a true Jew is one who practices the Torah.

Of course, this is a hypothetical argument because because Paul does not believe that anyone is capable of keeping the law. He merely wanted to show that if your faith depends upon keeping the Torah, then you are obligated to practice what the Torah preaches. Paul wrote in verse 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly and circumcision is that which is of the heart by the Spirit, not by the letter. And his praise is not from men, but from God. Note the Spirit versus the letter motif. You also find this in Second Corinthians chapter four verse six and Romans chapter seven verse six.

In each of these cases, the contrast is between the letter which is symbolic for the Torah and the spirit which means the Holy Spirit. Paul is pointing out the absolute inadequacy of the Torah to combat the sinful flesh. Ritual sacrifices, ceremonial cleansings and other externalities have no power to reform a sinful nature. I had a conversation this last week with an unsaved person. She attempted to convince me that she was not sinfully depraved. She admitted, however, that there are many people that she hates. And she also admitted that there are many people that she has cursed out.

But then she said, I am no Ted Bundy. Well, you don't have to be a serial killer in order to be depraved. David wrote in Psalm 51 verse five, behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me. Telling people that they must live right is not the gospel. Imposing laws on the sinner cannot change his heart. That is why Paul wrote in Romans chapter one verse 16 that the gospel is the power of God. The gospel is power. The gospel alone can transform a sinful heart. Prior to his conversion, Saint Augustine lived a life of debauchery.

He could not control his flesh. He cohabitated with women. He said he could not master this sinful desire. He tried all kinds of philosophies like Neoplatonism, Manichaeism, but this was to no avail. However, when he became a Christian, he had the power to overcome his fleshly sexual addiction. After his conversion, Augustine was walking down the street and the woman who he had been cohabitating with called him out by name. She said, Augustine, Augustine. But he ignored her and kept walking. She finally caught up to him and said, Augustine, it is I. And he answered, oh, but it is not I.

What Augustine was saying was that the gospel had transformed his life and that he was not that old person that he used to be. God's declaration about the human situation is clear. We are all under the verdict of condemnation because we are all sinners. We are sinners by nature. We are sinners by practice. But most important, we are sinners because the righteous judge of the universe has declared us to be so. It makes no difference what your race or nationality is. You are under the judgment of God. It makes no difference what economic class you are in.

You are under the judgment of God. It makes no difference what educational attainments you may have achieved. You are under the judgment of God. It makes no difference what kind of accolades or praises people may heap upon you. You are under the judgment of God. Membership in a particular race will not exempt you from this judgment. Observing legal enactments will not exempt you from this judgment. There is only one way. The hymn writer said, there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's vein and sinners plunge beneath that flood lose their guilty stain. You know, before I became a believer in Jesus, I was a member of the nation of Islam.

I did this secretively. I was a follower of Elijah Muhammad. I believe that Elijah Muhammad was my savior. I committed my life to him. I used to go to mosque number seven in Harlem and I sat under my teachers who taught me one that the white man was the devil, that the black man by nature was righteous, and that almighty God Allah was coming to deliver his righteous people. In particular, the black man, especially in America, who was a a descendant from the the tribe of Shabazz. And I accepted this as the gospel truth. I believe that all white people were evil.

And this is what we were taught in the nation of Islam. In fact, my hatred of whites was so intense that anytime I looked at a white person, I used to spit on the ground because I hated white people. Now, this is this was my religion. This was the religion I embraced. I believed that the day of judgment was coming and that all the black people and all the brown people and all the red people and all the yellow people who accepted this religion would be saved. The only people who could not accept it, the only people who were excluded from it were white people.

We believed that there was a scientist by the name of Yacub. We called him the big-headed scientist. His head was big because he had so much knowledge that one day he tampered with the genes of a black man and he came out with a brown man. And then he continued to tamper and then he came out with a red man, with a yellow man, and then finally he came out with a white man. But when he came out with the white man, he altered his nature and by nature this man was the devil. We said that there was no personal devil in the Bible.

We said that the Bible was the white man's book, that there was some truth in it, but the white man had tampered with it. We didn't believe that Jesus was the son of God. We believed that he was a prophet. And we also believe that the only salvation was in the belief of the nation of Islam. And I believe this with all of my heart. But you know, deep down inside, as the word says, there is a consciousness that God gives you. And that consciousness, that God consciousness was really eating at me. And I just knew that there was something fundamentally wrong, but I still embraced this false religion.

One day, I was confronted by a person who gave me the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this person was not a black man. This person was not a brown man. He was not a red man or a yellow man. He was a white man. And he wasn't just a white man, but he had blue eyes and blonde hair. And he was of German background. But he gave me the gospel. And then I came to the realization that everything that I had learned had been false. I was actually in the kingdom of darkness and that Jesus came and he rescued me by taking me out of that kingdom and he that I was transferred into the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

And there I had victory. And there I was delivered. And there I was saved. And so I recognized the fact that every human being is in darkness. And the only light is the light that comes from the gospel.

Guest (Male): Thank you for listening to today's program. This broadcast is an extension of the ministry of Dr. Lawrence Taylor and the Kenilworth Baptist Church. To stream today's message, please go to lawrencetaylorministry.com and click on lawrencetaylorministry/message. Please join us again next week at the same time for Teaching the Word with Dr. Lawrence Taylor.

Guest (Female): Please be near me to the end. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And a light unto my path. You're the light unto my path.