Is God A Just God? Series

IS GOD A JUST GOD?

Text: Rom. 3:1-8

INTRODUCTION

1. Illustration: "A god who is all love, all grace, all mercy, no sovereignty, no justice, no holiness and no wrath is an idol." (R.C.Sproul)

2. Many people want to know the answer to the question: is God just?

3. Romans chapter 3 is a series of six rhetorical questions that Paul then answers.

4. Today we will deal with the first 3 questions. The basic idea in this section is this: if there is no advantage in being Jewish, and if God can reject one of his chosen people, then how can we say that God is faithful in keeping his covenant?

5. The answer to that is simple, in Deuteronomy 28 the curses of the covenant are declared to the people.

6. Basically, if you keep the covenant you're blessed, and if you don't, you're cursed. So, God made this clear and now he is just living up to the stipulations of the covenant.

7. Here are the three questions...

A. Question 1: What's The Benefit Is Being A Jew?

B. Question 2: Is God Faithful?

C. Question 3: Should We Sin More?

8. Let's stand together as we read Rom. 3:1-8.

Proposition: If God isn't just then he's not loving.

Transition: The first question asks...

I. Question 1: What's The Benefit In Being A Jew? (1-2)?

A. What The Advantage

1. In the previous chapter, Paul makes it clear that neither the law or circumcision gave any advantages to the Jews because they failed to keep the law, and as a result, both Jews and Gentiles were on equal footing before God as sinners.

2. So, this brings out the question, "Then what’s the advantage of being a Jew? Is there any value in the ceremony of circumcision?"

A. The Jews believed that since they had the law that they were God's chosen people.

B. Now if Paul is correct that they have no advantage in being Jewish, and true circumcision if circumcision of the heart, like we talked about last week, then what's the point of circumcision?

C. Maybe it's just an unnecessary operation?

3. Paul response to this question is, "Yes, there are great benefits! First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God."

A. Paul never said there was no benefit in having the law, he only said that having the law gave them special privileges over the Gentiles.

B. They both would stand before the judgment seat of God based on whether or not they had kept the law and not on who possessed it.

C. So here Paul states the primary advantage in having the law in that they had been entrusted with the whole revelation of God.

D. Since Paul begins with, first of all, it makes sense that he would then produce a lengthy list of benefits like, divine glory, worship, covenants, and God's precious promises.

E. However, Paul only talks about the privilege of being entrusted with the whole revelation of God.

F. The key point is that they had the promises of God that were the basis of his faithfulness (Osbourne, 79-80).

4. Therefore, he could confidently state that being a Jew and being circumcised did have meaning, but only as part of God's total plan. The Jews were entrusted with God's words, preserving them until the coming of Christ, who was the fulfillment of the prophetic Scriptures (Barton, 590).

B. Power Of The Word

1. Illustration: "One of the greatest needs in the Church today is to come back to the Scriptures as the basis of authority, and to study them prayerfully in dependence on the Holy Spirit" (Billy Graham).

2. It is ESSENTIAL that we have the power of the Word in our lives!

A. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

B. You have heard me say this over, and over, and over again, stay in the Word!

C. It teaches us how God wants us to live.

D. It corrects us when we are wrong.

E. It trains us how to do God's work.

F. If we fail to read it, study it, meditate on it then we are doing our selves a great disservice. And we have no one to blame but ourselves.

G. We have a great blessing that many other Christians around the world do not have, and we are taking it for granted.

H. Let's get back to the Word!

Transition: The second question that Paul deals with is...

II. Question 2: Is God Unfaithful (3-4)?

A. Does That Mean God Will Be Unfaithful

1. Here Paul turns to a second question dealing with the faithfulness of God in light of Jewish unfaithfulness.