The True Jew - Romans 2:25-29

0:42I don't know if you've ever heard somebody say the real McCoy. Have you ever heard people use that phrase? Maybe you've used that phrase before. I recently heard what the story is behind that. I don't know if it's true. Maybe there's more than one possibility, but the story I heard was that there was this man named Elijah McCoy. He was a black man, and his parents had escaped from the American slave trade through the, or American slavery, through the Underground Railroad, and moved up to Canada. And that's where Elijah McCoy was raised. And then he went and studied over in Scotland and became an engineer. But then when he came back, he became like a train engineer. When he came back, the trains didn't want him to be an engineer because he was black.

1:30And so they put him in the steam rooms or something of the train to work the engines. And while he was there, since he was an engineer, he invented something. Something to essentially take his job. He ascended, I think it was called an oil drip cup. And it would lubricate the engines and the steam engine. And it became super popular for every train company to have these cups in all their trains. And he patented the idea, but it was a simple little cup. But then other people would try and make it, and it didn't work. Or it didn't work as well. And so all of the owners of these trains, they didn't just want anybody's little oil cup. They wanted the real McCoy.

2:19So I don't know if that story is made up, but when we use that phrase, we know what we mean, right? We want the real deal. We want the genuine article. We don't want something fake. And in our text today, we're going to see that God desires the same thing. He doesn't want fake outward shows of religion to impress other men and women. He wants real righteousness in our hearts. In chapter 1 of Romans, we saw that the entire world, the entire Gentile world, is under condemnation because they've seen the power of God. God on display in creation, but instead of giving thanks to God and honoring him, they instead rebel against him and chase every passion that they can. In chapter 2 of Romans, we've been seeing that the Jew is also guilty. So maybe the Jew is listening to chapter 1 and thinking, oh, yeah, those Gentiles, they're always doing that, they're always sinning. But God has a message for the Jew is that he is not going to show partiality to the Jew in judgment.

3:36Even though they have the law, even though they might teach the law, and today in our text, even though they are circumcised, God will still not show the Jew partiality when it comes to individual judgment. We first hear about circumcision all the way back in Genesis. This is something that's been around. This is Genesis 17. So this is super early on in Scripture. That God appears to Abraham again. God appears to Abraham when he's 99 years old. And this is after Abraham has already left his homeland to come to the land of Israel. This is after Abraham has received his promises. This is even after Ishmael. Becomes a teenager. So Abraham has Ishmael and it's been 13 years, and now God is appearing to him again when he's 99 years old. This is when God appears and renames Abram, Abraham.

4:48He makes a covenant with Abraham that Abraham would be exceedingly fruitful, that multitudes would come from him, and even kings would come from him. He makes a covenant with Abraham that Abraham's offspring would have the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession. But part of that covenant is that Abraham and all the males in his household needed to be circumcised. This is Genesis 17:10. This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your offspring after you. Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. So this outward circumcision is a sign of God's special covenant with Abraham and Abraham's offspring. This covenant that they are going to grow into a multitude and that the land of Canaan is going to be theirs forever, an everlasting possession.

5:57He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money, from any foreigner who is not your offspring. Both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh, an everlasting covenant. This is an in-the-flesh reminder forever that God has a special covenant with the people of Israel.

6:27Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. So this outward sign is a sign of the special promise, the special privileges, the special relationship that the people of Israel have with God. They were part of this covenant. And so shortly after this, when Abraham's 99 years old, he gets circumcised. And then his sons, and then his servants, and all of his household, they receive circumcision. It was a physical mark that set this people apart from the rest of the world.

7:10Throughout their history, this became something that they did perpetually. They did a good job of carrying on this sign of circumcision, this sign of the covenant, all the way down for two millennia, all the way until Jesus' day. They received this outward and physical market. Circumcision. It was also a big part of their life. They would use figures of speech about circumcision. You know, Moses talks about how when he was saying that he can't speak, do you remember that story? He says, I am of uncircumcised lips, using that figure of speech. Stephen, when he's being stoned in the New Testament after Jesus, he'll say, he'll call the Jews uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in ears because they're not listening. Okay, so this is a big part of their life. Circumcision, it is a sign of their identity. And maybe even towards the end, for those who were self-righteous, maybe even a sign of superiority or a sign of something that gave them arrogance, like we're the circumcised ones and the rest of the world is not. Maybe that's something that's ringing in the ears of Paul's person that he's arguing with, or something that's in his heart, is that he's feeling this arrogance of being part of God's circumcised people. Even after Christ came, they still had a hard time shaking this tradition. There were people that would go around that, even though you did not need to receive circumcision to believe in the gospel and receive salvation. Even though that was true, you had false teachers that were traveling around, maybe saying something like, yes, it's all by grace. You need to come to Jesus Christ. That's how you. Can be saved, but you can't come unless you're circumcised first, just like the Jews. You have to be made like a Jew first, then you can come to Christ in faith. And the apostles battled that from the very beginning and said, No, that's not true. Paul in Galatians 5:1 says, For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look, I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither uncircumcision, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. So these people that were traveling around saying, no, you can be a Christian by believing in Christ, but first you need to be circumcised or something like that. Paul is saying, no, don't you know that if you're going to go back to that, you've got to go back to the whole law. If you're saying that you're going to be saved by the law, then you need to keep the whole law. And obviously they can't, and so they would be accursed if they're rejecting Christ and trusting in law keeping. Their salvation.

10:33So, all that to say, this sign of the covenant was a special sign that God had given the people of Israel to be a sign in their flesh for all generations that they were God's chosen people. They did a good job, and it became so important that in Jesus' day after he came, it was hard for Christians to shake this idea. A lot of Christians still thought that that was required for becoming a Christian, was this outward sign.

11:01And the person that Paul is dealing with today is maybe dealing with the same idea or something along those lines. That he thinks, just like he thought that he was going to receive partiality for having the law, even though he doesn't keep it, or receive partiality for teaching God's law, even though he doesn't keep it, now he might think that he's going to receive partiality from God in judgment because he's circumcised. He has this sign of the covenant, and so he thinks he's going to be shown favoritism when God comes to judge. Paul has just attacked the hypocritical nature of this person, and he said that people who live like this hypocrite, that God's name is blasphemed among the nations because of them.

11:58Then he says, for, so he's Telling us at least part of the reason why God's name would be blasphemed among the nation. And so, at least part of the reason is what we're studying today: that this people is marked with circumcision. They have this outward sign that they're God's people, that they're under God's covenant, yet they have no true righteousness. They're hypocrites. So, as we study today, we're going to see a reality and a reason. A reality and the reason behind that reality. So, the reality is this: that God wants true righteousness. God wants true righteousness, and the reason is that God sees your heart. God sees your heart. Follow along as I read. Romans 2, verses 25 through 29.

13:03For circumcision, indeed, is of 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. Pray with me before we jump in. Father, we pray that you'd help us as we study this passage.

14:11We pray that we would understand the truths of this passage and be able to apply it in our lives. We pray that we would be humble as we approach your word, that we'd be teachable, and that we'd be willing to change when we're convicted of our sin. In Jesus' name, amen. So, first, we have a reality given to us in verses 25 through 27. The reality is that God wants true righteousness. Look at verse 25. For circumcision, indeed, is of value if you obey the law. But if you Break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.

15:06So Paul begins by acknowledging the fact that circumcision does have value. It shows that they are part of this covenant. It's a sign of the covenant between God and God's people, the descendants of Abraham. It marks them out as his special possession, as God's special possession. They are different from all the other nations. So there is value to circumcision. That's what Paul says. But only if you obey the law. If you don't obey the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.

15:54And you become just like the uncircumcised pagans, whether or not you're circumcised, whether you're circumcised or not. So the person who is disobeying the law becomes just like the uncircumcised person, even if he is circumcised, having this sign. Okay, so we already come to a big issue in this text. I want you to listen for this. We come to a big issue in this text that's going to kind of carry throughout the whole text. Paul seems to be putting forward this idea that someone Can follow the law. Right? Did you pick up on that? He says, for circumcision is indeed a value if you obey the law.

16:42In the next verse, he'll begin by saying, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law. And then he'll go on. But we know from elsewhere that no one has kept the law perfectly, right? He'll say that just in the next chapter. He's going to get to the fact that no one is good. Not a single person has kept this law. So what is Paul talking about? Why is he talking about this idea of circumcision is only a value if you keep the law, if he's about to say nobody keeps the law? Okay, so we only have two options here. The first one is that he's speaking hypothetically.

17:22Maybe he's speaking about this idea of someone who keeps the whole law, that he actually does everything perfect, which only one man, Christ Jesus, has done. And so for the sake of argument, Paul is putting forward a person like this. Let's say there was somebody who kept the whole law. If he did that, wouldn't he put your circumcision to shame? If you were circumcised, you received that sign, and yet you still break the law all the time. That's our first option, this hypothetical idea that someone could keep the whole law. The law, and if he did, that would supersede circumcision. And his point is to show that circumcision is not the end-all, be-all, most important thing in the world. Okay, that's our first option. I don't think that's the best option, although it's true, it's theologically true from elsewhere in Scripture, right? I don't think it's the best option because he's just said that the law or circumcision has value for those who keep the law. But if he's saying that not a single person keeps the law, then really when he said circumcision has value, he kind of means it has value for nobody because nobody keeps the law. So it just seems like kind of a strange idea to say that. And then in verses 28 and 29, he's going to go on and talk about the truly righteous Jew, the one who's a Jew inwardly and not just outwardly. And so I think that there's a second option that he's not speaking of somebody who keeps everything perfectly, but he's speaking of somebody who is in general a law keeper.

19:11The Jew or the Gentile that is a law keeper, a man after God's own heart, who is earnestly striving after true righteousness. No, nobody has done that perfectly. Everybody has sinned. But I think he's making a distinction between somebody who is circumcised. And has no desire to keep the law, and somebody who is circumcised or uncircumcised, but is truly righteous, has truly repented and is trying to walk in the ways of the Lord, a man after God's own heart, a Psalm 1 kind of person that's meditating on God's word, a Psalm 119 kind of person, somebody like Job or Daniel or David. Someone with that kind of righteousness would put to shame somebody who was just circumcised and was relying on that outward sign to pretend like they were righteous.

20:07So back to his point in this verse: if you are living like this, this righteous life, if you are living like this as part of God's covenant, then the mark of God's covenant has value for you. If you are abiding by the rules that God has put forward in this covenant, then the mark of the covenant has value for you. But if you've just got the mark and you're living outside of this covenant, anyways, the mark has no value for you. It doesn't mean anything for you.

20:43If you're rejecting God's righteousness, then the outward sign doesn't make you magically righteous just because you've got this sign. And then back to our main point in this section: that God wants true righteousness. And he's saying that this. True righteousness trumps circumcision. It's more important. The true righteousness of following God's law is more important for the Jew than the outward sign of circumcision. And so, then, if we take that and zoom out a little further and go back to the main point of this whole chapter, it's that the Jew, just as he shouldn't rely on having the law or teaching the law to be some thing that's going to grant him favoritism in the judgment, in the same way, they should not rely on circumcision and assume that just the outward mark is going to give them favoritism before the Lord. God wants true righteousness, and there's no partiality with God. Okay, does that make sense?

21:48So, in verse 25, he just said that law-breaking nullifies circumcision. It makes it of no value. In verse 26, now he's going to go and say the opposite: that law-keeping trumps uncircumcision. So, he said law-breaking nullifies circumcision, but if you keep the law, that's more important than uncircumcision. Look at verse 26. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? So, the truly righteous Gentile who comes to the Lord and abides by the law of God in the Old Testament, isn't he more acceptable than the circumcised? Person that refuses to obey the law. I think that's the point that Paul is getting at.

22:37Isn't he more acceptable than the person who refuses to repent and humble himself before the Lord, the one that's truly righteous? Verse 27, then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law, will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision, but break the law. So the genuinely righteous person will always win out in the judgment over the one who has this outward sign. Because God is not after just having this outward letter of the law in your possession or having the outward sign. He is after true righteousness.

23:21You know, this is not some new idea that Paul is throwing out there. This was always God's expectation. We read in Isaiah 1, in Jeremiah 7, even in Psalm 51, we read about how God is not just pleased when people are going through the motions of the sacrifices, for example, and not paying attention to the obedience that God actually wants. God says that obedience is better than sacrifice. And in our text right now, we're saying that obedience is better than circumcision. As well. God wants the true obedience. Okay, so that is the reality that God wants true righteousness. Next, we're going to see the reason behind that reality in verse 28. The reason is that God sees your heart. Look at verse 28. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.

24:29But 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. So no one is a Jew that is merely one outwardly. Being a Jew is not something that is just outward. It's not the signs that make a Jew a Jew, a true Jew. Yes, there are these outward signs that mark God's people apart as separate, that mark them as God's covenant nation, but is not merely outward. Jesus spoke to the Pharisees in the same way. Do you remember when he was debating with the Pharisees about who their father was in John 8?

25:28Jesus said, I know that. That you are offspring of Abraham. Yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my father, and you do what you have heard from your father. And they answered him, Abraham is our father. All right, so picture this debate. Jesus starts out this by saying, I know that you're descendants of Abraham. Okay, but then by the end of it, they're getting angry and saying, Abraham is our father. And Jesus has just said, I know that. I know you're Abraham of offspring, but I'm telling you that the reason why you're not listening to my words is because my words are from my father, and you're doing what you've heard from your father. And so he's saying, they have a different father than Abraham, even though they are Abraham's offspring.

26:27Jesus goes on, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did. So he's still saying, I know you're descendants of Abraham, but you have a different father than I do. It's not God. That's Jesus' father. And it's not Abraham. Abraham. They said to him, We were not born of sexual immorality. What is he implying? Do they have different dads? Or do they have a different line than through Abraham? We have one father, even God. Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father, the devil. That's what he tells the Pharisees. And your will is to do your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. So, yes, the Pharisees were outwardly part of this covenant.

28:00They were ethnically Jewish. They were descendants of Abraham. But no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly. And according to Jesus, the father of the Pharisees is the devil himself. 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. So a Jew is one inwardly because God sees into your heart, into the heart of every single person.

28:44Right after this, in chapter 2, in chapter 3, and then again in chapter 9, Paul is going to circle around to the idea of, well, then, what are the benefits of being Jewish? So he'll come back to that in a moment. But for right now, his point is that being a true Jew is more than just being ethnically outwardly Jewish. He is also inwardly righteous. That's what makes a Jew a true Jew. There's something different about his heart.

29:21Circumcision is a matter of the heart. Now, wait a minute. Right? This sign of the covenant, that doesn't seem like it's a matter of the heart. Circumcision is a matter of the heart. What is he talking about? You know, some people will look at this and they'll claim something like Paul is revolutionizing the idea of what circumcision was. They'll look and say, see, he's taking that Old Testament sign, and he's, now that Jesus has come, is revolutionizing that idea and saying we need to be circumcised. In the heart. But if you read the Old Testament carefully, that's not true, right? From the very beginning, it has always been a matter of the heart. While the Jews were still standing at Mount Sinai in the book of Leviticus, they're standing there at Mount Sinai and receiving the law. And all the way back then, at the beginning of this nation, God gave them blessings. God told them what the blessings were going to be if they obey, and the curses if they disobey. And he goes on for a while about the curses, and then he says this. This is Leviticus.

30:41I just drew a blank. It's not in my notes. But it's, listen to this. If they confess their iniquity, in the iniquity of their fathers, in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me. So if they confess their iniquity, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies, if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

31:19That was Leviticus 26, verses 40 through 42. Sorry about that. But he's saying from the very beginning that if they are disobedient and they receive all the These curses, but then they're willing to confess their sins. If they are willing, if their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they make amends for their iniquity. So he's saying that an uncircumcised heart, what makes it uncircumcised is that they are not humbled. They are not confessing their iniquity. So circumcision was always a matter of the heart from the very beginning.

32:04In our text this morning, in our reading this morning, Deuteronomy chapter 10. Now they have left Mount Sinai and they've wandered and they're about to enter the land. And Moses is giving them instructions before they enter the land of Israel. He says the same idea. Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart and be no longer stubborn. For the Lord your God is God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. So Moses' point is the same as Paul's, really, that God shows no partiality because he sees your heart. And so Moses' instruction to the people is to stop being stubborn and instead circumcise their hearts. And so now we kind of have a definition as we come through the scriptures, right? God is. Told us what it looks like to have a circumcised heart. The opposite of a circumcised heart is a stubborn, stiff-necked heart that's refusing to confess your sins and come to the Lord. But a circumcised heart is a repentant heart that humbles itself before the Lord and confesses iniquity.

33:24There's one more Old Testament example of this idea in Deuteronomy chapter 30 after he gives the blessings and the curses there. He says that if they will repent, God will bring them back to the land from wherever in the world they're scattered, however far they've gone. The moment they repent, God will bring them back all into the land. And also, if they repent, listen to this, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart in the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. So this heart that's not stubborn, this heart that has humbled itself before the Lord, is also a heart that loves the Lord.

34:19That loves the Lord. But what I wanted you to see in this passage was that he gets a little bit more specific. Earlier, he has told them, circumcise your hearts. Repent and be done with your uncircumcised hearts. Now he's saying that when they do repent, it is the Lord your God who will circumcise your hearts. The Lord your God will circumcise your heart. That when we humble ourselves, that's how we have a circumcised heart. Is that God, the Lord your God, does it. He comes in. And really, that leads us right back into our text this morning. So we've wandered for a little bit, but look back at verse 29. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the Spirit.

35:09So do you see how the scriptures agree there? That he's just said, or he said in Deuteronomy, we just read, how it is the Lord who, when we repent, comes in and circumcises our hearts, gives us that humble attitude that is the opposite of being stubborn. And now he's saying that it is the Holy Spirit that's who does this to our hearts. It is the Spirit of God that comes and circumcises our hearts. Not the outward things, like merely having the letter, but it is the Spirit of God working through that letter that comes and circumcises our hearts. So those who are truly circumcised in heart, those that are truly different, something has actually changed. Something has been done to your heart. Something has happened. The Holy Spirit has done something in their hearts. And therefore, at the end of verse 29, his praise is not from man, but from God.

36:11So though others might be living for man's approval, living to get praise from other men and women, the truly righteous person is living for God's approval. He's not concerned with the outside of the cup only, but also the inside. The righteous woman wants an attitude that in God's sight is very precious. That's 1 Peter 3:4. You know, the righteous person is living in God's sight before God's eyes. Because God is after true, genuine righteousness, and he's the one who sees your heart.

37:10Let me close by just bringing out the idea that you are not tricking God. I think that's the main application of this text, is that God wants, or at least a main application, that God wants true righteousness. He sees your heart. And so you're not tricking him by your show. So our duty as believers is to seek that true righteousness, to pay attention to what God wants in Scripture, to seek out what he wants and then pay attention to what we find in his word and then actually do it, be doers of the word. God wants that true righteous attitude.

37:57And we aren't tricking him. So instead of being stubborn and stiff-necked in your sin, be people who are repenting and humbling yourself and confessing your sins, that have that circumcised heart. Let your heart be softened and changed by the Spirit. Because even after becoming a Christian, as we go through our lives day by day, in any given moment, we can fall back into the temptation of living for the praise of man. We can fall back into the temptation of living before their eyes. And outwardly, by all appearances, it looks like everything is very righteous in your life, but you've forgotten to pursue the righteousness that only you and God can see in your own life.

38:54The Spirit has come and circumcised your heart. We have been able to come. As believers to join in those promises of the new covenant, our heart has been circumcised and you've been changed forever, but day by day you need to remind yourself to be humble and to seek after true righteousness. Will you receive your praise from God or from men? If you're not a Christian, maybe you're a kid, kids listen to me, maybe you're a kid, maybe you're 90 years old, and you've never become a Christian. And what about you?

39:40Are you so obsessed with the praise that you get from those around you that you refuse to come to your Maker? God sees your heart. He knows your thoughts. Maybe you were baptized as an infant. Maybe you said a prayer with your parents when you were young. Maybe you had some other religious experience, and so now you profess to be a Christian. But you know, and God knows that there's no reality behind your profession because he sees your heart.

40:25Circumcise your heart today. Ask God. To come. Humble yourself. Ask Him to forgive you. Ask Him to circumcise your heart. Allow your stiff-necked stubbornness in which you've lived your whole life refusing to come to God. Allow your stiff-necked stubbornness to be replaced with a broken-hearted, humble repentance. Don't pretend you're too busy. God sees your heart, right? Don't pretend you don't understand. God sees your heart. He knows what you understand. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin, and you can be completely forgiven because of that payment. Will you refuse that gift just because you're so stubborn?

41:29Will you refuse that forgiveness? He rose again, he ascended into heaven, and he sent the Spirit to bless the church. God will give you his spirit. God will give you salvation if you humble yourself and ask for forgiveness and believe in his promise. Christians, let's live before God's eyes. You know, Paul, I don't know if you remember this. Paul is defending himself in 1 Corinthians one time, and he. Says, I don't know anything against me. He says, 1 Corinthians 4, 4, for I am not aware of anything against myself, but I'm not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.

42:15Therefore, do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God. Christians, I encourage you, those who have already believed, to set your mind on this, that someday the Lord is going to come, and each of us will receive our condemnation, our commendation. Each one of us will receive our commendation from the Lord. That's the same thing it's said in our verse, right? His praise is not from man, but from God.

42:58God will disclose the purposes of the heart. And so remember that God sees your heart. And therefore, God wants true righteousness, not just a show, not a reliance on an external sign or outward sign. True righteousness will trump those outward signs every time. So humble yourselves and repent and love the Lord your God. God, let's pray. Father, we thank you for this text. We pray that you would come and soften our hearts. Humble us. Cause us to not be people who are stiff-necked, but instead people who are continually repenting, confessing our sins, humbling ourselves before you daily.

43:56Help us be people who are living in accordance with the idea of this circumcised heart that loves you. And Lord, if it's your will, if there's anyone here that hasn't trusted in you, that's remained in that stubborn heart, I pray that even this morning, that even today, you would circumcise their heart by your Spirit, that you would cause there to be true righteousness. Not that we will ever be perfect in this life and follow every single command that you've given us, but that our heart is changed so that we repent, we confess our sins, and we walk with you.

44:50So I pray, Father, that you'd soften our hearts, you'd help us be humble. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.