Ron Dunn Podcast - Blaspheming God's Name

Episode Date: January 29, 2020

Ron Dunn continues the sermon series from Romans

Would you open your Bibles to the book of Romans, chapter 2. The book of Romans, chapter 2. And I'm going to begin reading with verse 17 and read through verse 24. Romans, chapter 2, verses 17 through 24. Our text really is this whole passage down to verse 8 of chapter 3, but we'll not take the time to read the entire passage. I would like for you to read it when you have the time later on in the day. But our passage of our Scripture upon which the message is built this morning will come from all of its

passage beginning with verse 17 through verse 8 of chapter 3. But I'm just going to read right now verses 17 through 24. Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law. And you're confident that you yourself are a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes which has the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law. Thou, therefore, which teachest another,

teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou God. For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you as it is written. Several years ago, a man by the name of Fred Schwartz wrote a book called You Can Trust the Communists. My brother gave me a copy of this book and I read it and enjoyed it very much. Later on, they had so many complaints about the title of the book, they thought the author was really saying you can trust the

communists, that they asked him to expand the title to take in the full meaning. And so now the title of the book is, You Can Trust the Communists to Be Communists, which is what he meant to say in the first place. And the thesis of his book was simply that. You can trust the communists to always act like communists, no matter what overtures they make, no matter what promises they make, no matter how they talk or how they look. Don't ever be deceived, he says, you can always trust the communists to act like communists, no matter what guise they wear, no matter what profession they make, they will always act like communists. I believe that. I believe that an atheist will always act like an atheist. We expect the pagan to always act like a pagan. I'm not at all surprised

when the heathen act like a heathen. Man just naturally does that which comes naturally. Man just naturally follows the dictates of his own nature. As a man is in his heart, the Bible says, as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. What is on the inside will be on the outside. And so you can trust the communist to act like a communist. You can trust a pagan to act like a pagan. You can trust an atheist to act like an atheist. You can trust an alcoholic to act like an alcoholic.

You can trust a liar to act like a liar. You can trust a liar to act like a liar. You can trust a thief to act like a thief. You'd be surprised if he acted any other way. Well, now it seems to me that you ought to be able to classify one other person in that category. You can trust a Christian to act like a Christian. I mean, if an atheist always acts like an atheist, if a pagan always acts like a pagan, if a thief always acts like a thief, if a communist always acts like a communist, and a Christian always acts like a Christian.

That's where my logic breaks down. This is what Paul is saying to the people of God in this passage he is saying a very remarkable thing he says you folks make your boast that you're God's people he said you're resting on the law of God you've got this book and you rest on it and he says you think yourselves that you have the answer to all the world's ills.

You say that you're a leader of the blind. You're confident to teach the ignoramuses and the foolish and that you are able and qualified to teach the babes. You have all the law of God. You have the oracles of God. You are God's person. You're God's people. Therefore, you boast about this. You have all the law of God. You have the oracles of God. You are God's person. You're God's people. Therefore, you boast about this. You're proud of this. Therefore, you more than anybody else on the face of the earth are qualified to instruct other people in how to live. And then he knocks the props out from under him and says, the truth of the matter is you're doing more to destroy the name of God than anybody else. The name of God is blasphemed among the pagans because of the way you live. You know, the Bible is a very humbling book. That's why some people don't like it. It's

especially humbling to religious people. And you know, religious people are the proudest people in the world. They're proud of their religion. They're proud of their self-righteousness. Baptists are proud people. I'm proud I'm a Baptist. I make no apology for it. I'm proud I'm a Baptist. You know, we were singing a moment ago the song, I love thy kingdom, O Lord, and talking about the church. And I look and that fellow that wrote that song lived in the 1700s, in the 18th century. You know the thought that came to me? Man, he could really write that song good if the Southern Baptist Convention had been organized back then. He just didn't know what it was all about. As far as he knew, the church was good. Man, if he could be living today in this great church we have, he could really write a song about loving

the church. I'm proud I'm a member of the MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church. If I weren't, I'd go somewhere else. I'm proud I'm a Baptist. We're proud people. But the Bible is a very humbling book. All week long, I have tried not to preach on this passage because I wanted to hurry up and get over into chapter 3. But the Lord just wouldn't let me alone about verse 24. I read that thing a hundred times this week trying to figure out what in the world the Lord was trying to say to my own life through this. He says, for the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you. The name of God is blasphemed. And I had to question my own life and evaluate my own conduct because there was the distinct possibility that through my life,

through my conduct, through my behavior, the name of God was being blasphemed. I think what God wants to confront every person in this building with this morning is this, that there is the distinct possibility that in your life this past week and even today, the name of God is going to be blasphemed through you. Paul says it stands written. This is no new thing that I'm talking about, Paul says. It's always been this way, that the name of God that ought to be honored and glorified and exalted through his people, the exact opposite is the case.

The exact opposite is the case. Many times the people of God bring more disrepute upon the name of God than anyone else. You see, here's a marvelous thing. The reputation of Jesus Christ is wrapped up in the way I live. The name of Jesus Christ is wrapped up in the name I live. The way I live. I call myself a Christian. I'm a Christian.

I'm a follower of Christ. I bear his name. Therefore, I have in my hands the reputation of Jesus Christ. You'll notice, remember when David sinned, that grievous sin, and Nathan the prophet came to David and confronted him with his sin? Here's what Nathan the prophet said to David, a man after God's own heart, the king of Israel, the sweet singer of Israel, the writer of the Psalms. You think, well, if there was ever a fellow that exalted God, if there was ever a man in whom God was well pleased, it was King David.

Notice what Nathan the prophet says. How be it? Because by this deed thou hast given gray occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. By your deed you have given the enemies of the Lord gray occasion to blaspheme. By your deed, you have given the enemies of the Lord gray occasion to blaspheme. And I would say this morning that there are some enemies of the Lord in this congregation. There are some of you who do not name the name of Christ. You have never been saved. You make no pretense about being a Christian. And I would guarantee it that some of you at some time in your life have pointed to so-called hypocrites in the church as one excuse for not being saved.

Nathan said to the king David, By your deed, by your behavior, by your misconduct, you have given the enemies of the Lord an occasion to blaspheme. Then over in Isaiah chapter 52, when God let his people go into captivity among the heathen, notice what he says in verse 5, now therefore what have I here? Yeah, I think sometimes the Lord is a little bit humorous or a little bit sarcastic. He's looking at his people. He says, now what do we have here? Here are my people, Israel. I knew them in the wilderness.

I knew them when nobody else knew them. I loved them when nobody else loved them. I gave them my name. Now, therefore, what have I here in my people, saith the Lord? That my people is taken away for nothing. They that rule over them, notice the Gentiles, make them howl, whine, pout, gripe, complain, saith the Lord, and my name continually every day is blasphemed. How do my people act when they walk in and out among the heathen, those that don't know Christ? By the way, the heathen in the biblical language is anybody that's not a Christian. Doesn't mean some native over yonder in Africa running around scantily dressed. It means any educated, sophisticated American who has never trusted Christ as Savior, biblically speaking. He's a heathen, not socially and

not economically, but theologically, he is a heathen. Now God says, how did you behave yourself when you're among the heathen? You howl, you whine, you complain, you gripe, you act like everybody else acted. And he said, you cause my name continually to be blasphemed. Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of the people of India, said that at one time he wavered. He wavered between the religion of the Hindu and the religion of Christ. Now notice, at one time, a leader of 400 million people, at one time I wavered between Hinduism and Christianity. He says, I think I would have become a Christian had it not been for Christians. I think I would have become a Christian

had it not been for Christians. The Bible is a very humbling book. God is very anxious about his name, and so when he comes to the prophet Ezekiel, he says, listen, I'm going to redeem you, I'm going to emancipate you from slavery, but I'm not going to do it because of your sakes. I'm going to do it because you have profaned my name. Four times in four verses he says, you have profaned my name by the way you live.

I think that you and I need to face this morning the possibility that you and I, even though we're Christians, even though I'm a pastor, even though you're a deacon, a Sunday school teacher, a member of this church, that there is the possibility and the probability that in this past week you have caused the name of God to be blasphemed among those who do not know Christ. Well, how is it that the name of God is dishonored and blasphemed by those of us who call ourselves Christians? I find three ways that Paul mentions in these verses. I want to call your attention to them. I pray the Holy Spirit will confront each one of us. Let's not try to escape it. Let's not try to take a pitchfork and as it's thrown to you, pitch it over your back to the fellow sitting behind you. Let's don't think that

the Lord is confronting your neighbor. Let's realize the Lord is speaking to me this morning and he's speaking to you. I think the first way that God indicates in this passage that his name is blasphemed among those that do not know Christ, is when we have privilege without purpose. When we have privilege without realizing its purpose. The Jewish people had the greatest privilege that anybody ever had. They received all that God had for them. Everything God had, his name, his law, his blessings, his nature, he bestowed upon the Israelites and lifted them to this high and holy privilege and position.

Why did God do that? Why did God do that? Just to bless them? Just because he thought they were better than everyone else? No, the purpose was so that Israel might be a witness for God among the nations. And so when God sent them among the heathen, when God filtered them out into the nations that did not know God, he entrusted to the people of Israel the privilege of knowing God so that wherever they went, they might tell other

people what they knew about God. But they failed to realize that was the purpose of their privilege. They thought God just blessed them because they were so wonderful, because they were so self-deserving. Now, I want you to notice in chapter 3 and verse 2, verses 1 and 2, Paul says, what advantage then hath the Jew? I mean, what advantage is there to being a Jew? And in verse 2, he tells us the chief, the preeminent advantage and privilege of being a Jew, much every way, chiefly, preeminently, because that unto them were committed, entrusted the oracles of God.

What is the greatest advantage that the Jew had? Because to the Jewish nation and to northern nations did God entrust himself, revealed in his word. It was a sacred trust, not merely to fill themselves up with information, not merely to satisfy their curiosity about a God, but so that they could take what they knew about God and pass it on to the heathen. That word committed literally in the Greek means in faith. God in faith, his word to the Jews. God had faith in the Jews. He put his trust in the Jews. He put all his eggs in one basket, in other words. Here are all the nations of men without the knowledge of God. God says somebody has to tell them. I have to choose one nation that will be salt of the earth and the light of the world. I have to choose one people who will take my message and my revelation and share it with others. And so he enthanked the Jews. He entrusted the revelation of himself with the Jews and they failed to realize

the purpose of their privilege and they blasphemed God because they failed to realize the purpose of their privilege and they blasphemed God because they failed to share what they had of God. And there is that possibility, even more, there is that probability that in this day, in this past week, you have blasphemed the name of God

because you have failed to realize the purpose of the high privilege to which God has called. Why, a doctor who refused to minister to the sick would blaspheme the name of medicine. A teacher who took children into her class at school and failed to communicate to them the knowledge she had would blaspheme the name of education. A judge seated upon his desk who refused to mete out justice equally to every man would blaspheme the name of law and order.

A soldier who refused to be in obedience to his commanding officer would blaspheme the name of unity. And a Christian, a child of God, who refuses and neglects and is indifferent to sharing what he knows about Jesus, blasphemes the name of God. That is one reason God came along and said, all right, I've given Israel a chance to live up to their privilege and live up to their position. They have refused to do it. He says, therefore, I will cut them off temporarily and I will graft in the church. The church. Somebody said, well, he's talking to Jews. Yes, he is. And you're a spiritual Jew and you are the new Israel. We have inherited the place of

Israel in the scheme of God. This church right here, MacArthur Boulevard Baptist Church, you if you're a Christian, have inherited the position of privilege of Israel in the scheme of God's plan. God has given you the privilege of knowing him. Yet you have the way of life. I have the word of life. I move in and out among people every day that are dying in sin and are headed for a devil's hell. And if I have no concern and if I make no effort to somehow share with them the message of life and the deliverance from hell that I possess, I blaspheme the name of God. That's all there is to it. That's all there is to it.

And God has entrusted you with his word I don't understand that I have never been able to figure out when Jesus Christ had purchased the world's redemption by the shedding of his own blood and then was ready to ascend up into heaven

he took those 11 men failures every one of them and placed within their hands the redemption of the world the redemption of the world I've made this statement several years ago in a sermon I want to repeat

it now because I believe it now more than I even did then the proclamation the proclamation, the proclamation of the gospel is just as necessary to the salvation of the world as is the dying of Christ on the cross. The chariot of redemption runs on two wheels one wheel is the shed shed blood of christ and a resurrection the other wheel is the proclamation the sharing of what jesus did and of the victory he won and the proclamation the witness is just as important to the redemption of the lost world as is the death of Christ. It does absolutely no good for the governor to sit in his office at his mansion

and write out a full pardon for that man sitting in death row. Somehow, the news of that pardon must be communicated to that man. And that governor could sign the pardon and stick it in his shirt pocket, and that man could die in the electric chair, and that pardon would not help him at all because he was not made aware of it. It's not only the pardon, it is the proclamation of that pardon which is necessary. And I say to you, I say to my own heart, you and I are blaspheming the name of God that we bear

if we do not realize the purpose of our prison and of our position but there's a second way we blaspheme the name of God when we have preaching without practice when we have preaching without practice now notice what Paul says in verse 21 thou therefore which teach us another. Do you teach yourself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal. You cheat on your income tax. You cheat on your exams at school. You preach that a man shouldn't steal. Do you steal? Thou that says a man should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? Thou that abhorrest idols,

oh, you look with disdain and distaste upon those pagan people over yonder who bow down at their little man-made idols. But he said, what about the idols in your own life? What about the things in your own life? What about the things in your own life? You see, you remember several years ago, there was a movie star who made a commercial for the Cancer Society, I believe it was,

against smoking. Well-known movie star. He said, I quit smoking. You remember he'd line up a bunch of people and he'd go down and say, did you quit smoking? Yes, he put a medal on them. Did you quit smoking? Yes, he put a medal on say, did you quit smoking? Yes, he'd put a medal on them. Did you quit smoking? Yes, he'd put a medal on them.

Did you quit smoking? Yes, he'd put a medal on them. And then he got busted for smoking pot. And they couldn't run that commercial anymore. They couldn't use him anymore. Why? Because he'd blaspheme everything he had done. You see, when you're at work,

you say you're a Christian. you say you're a Christian. People know you're a Christian. You are preaching a God of love. And then when you act hatefully and unkindly and uncharitably towards the people that work around you, you're blaspheming the name of God. You, as a Christian,

are a follower of Jesus Christ who says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. and yet when you lie and make excuses you're blaspheming the name of God. God is a God of holiness that's the God that you preach a God of holy living and yet when you use language and read stories and magazines that contradict the holiness and the purity and the chastity of Almighty God, you are blaspheming His name. You blaspheme the name of God by preaching without practice. I don't think there's anything as abominable to the world and to God as preaching without practice. I detest preaching without practice.

And we've got plenty of preachers. I'm not talking about the ordained type. I'm talking about all of us. Plenty of preachers. Tell people what they ought to be and tell people how they ought to live. And we ourselves are not living up to the high standard that God has set for us. By your inconsistent living, by your unchristlike conduct, by your unspiritual language, you are blaspheming the name of God. I want to ask you this morning if you're practicing what you preach.

I want to ask you if you're living up this morning to the demands of the Word of God in your life. I've told you before this story, you're living up this morning to the demands of the Word of God in your life. I've told you before this story but it illustrates exactly what I'm trying to say so let me do it again. Alexander the Great was one of the great conquerors of all time. He was a strict military man, a strict disciplinarian. He had news that one of the soldiers in his army was unruly and unmanageable, wouldn't obey his commanding officer,

petty thief. They just couldn't, incorrigible, they just couldn't corral him. So Alexander the Great crawled this young soldier into his tent one night to talk to him about the way he was doing. He sat him down and he said, young man, what is your name? The young soldier looked up into the eyes of Alexander the Great and he replied, Alexander, sir. The conqueror said, what was that? What's your name? The young soldier said, my name is Alexander.

And fixing his eyes upon him, the conqueror said, young man, you either change your name or change your conduct. I believe there are times when the Lord wants to confront us and grab us by the lapels of our coat and shake us and say,

young man, you either change your name or change your way of living. Because by bearing the name of Christ and not practicing what you preach, you're blaspheming mine. And there's one final way. We blaspheme the name of God when we have profession without possession.

When we have all the ritual of religion without the reality of religion. When we have all the exhibition of religion without the experience of religion. When we have all the exhibition of religion without the experience of Christ. Notice in verses 28 and 29, Paul says,

For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly. You know how the Jews were blaspheming the name of God? They had all the ceremonies of religion. They were the most ritualistic people the world has ever seen when it comes to their religion.

And they thought that by merely going through the forms of religious exercise, this made them a child of God. And the Bible says you're blaspheming the name of God when you believe that merely going through the motions and the Bible says you're blaspheming the name of God when you believe that merely going through the motions and the ritual and the ceremonies and attaching your name to a doctrine or denomination makes you a child of God. It's not a matter of outwardness.

It's a matter of inwardness. The heart, the heart, the heart must be changed. The heart must be changed. I know a few things that need to be preached any more in our day than this because you will not meet many people that don't belong to some church. In our witnessing class that meets on Wednesday night,

I told them this last Wednesday night, 99 people out of 100 that you talk to about Jesus are going to be affiliated with some kind of religious organization. You're hard put today to find somebody that does not belong to some kind of religious organization. You're hard put today to find somebody that does not belong to some kind of religious organization. They are Christians outwardly and they're not Christians at all.

But they're not saved inwardly. It is a matter of the heart. It is a matter of the heart. It is a matter of the heart it is a matter of the heart it is a matter of a personal experience with Jesus in salvation and this is the one thing you have got to confront your own heart with this morning have you ever have you ever had this personal experience of salvation with Jesus where you recognize that you are a lost sinner, that you have sinned against God. As he says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. There's none righteous, no, not one. Have you ever

come to that place where you acknowledge to God that you are a lost sinner and you trusted Jesus Christ for your own personal salvation not trusting the accoutrements of religion not trusting the religion that you belong to not trusting all of this outward stuff but having an inward experience with Jesus I think the Lord wants to say something to us this morning

I think it's verse 24 that he wants to speak to us because of you the name of God is blasphemed among the nations. The Ron Dunn Podcast is available only for personal edification, not to be duplicated, uploaded to the web, or resold without prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn. For more Ron Dunn materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.