Romans 3:1-20
(1)What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? (2)Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
(3)What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? (4)Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge."
(5)But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) (6)Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? (7)Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" (8)Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved.
No One is Righteous
(9)What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. (10)As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; (11)there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. (12)All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (13)"Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." (14)"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." (16)"Their feet are swift to shed blood; (17)ruin and misery mark their ways, (17)and the way of peace they do not know." (18)"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
(19)Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. (20)Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
In verse 1-2 the question is asked, what is the point in being a Jew if these things that they did really didn’t do anything for them. Paul tells them this,
(2)”they have been entrusted with the very words of God” That is their importance.
I have told you all before that before I was a Christian I use to be one who said that the Bible was just a book written by men. Again that was before I put the proper time and effort in to studying it. But it is to me now a book with the very words of God in it.
The question you need to ask yourself is this, is this just a book written by men or is this for you the words of God.
John Calvin wrote:
This is the principle that distinguishes our religion from all others, that we know that God has spoken to us and are fully convinced that the prophets did not speak themselves, but, as organs of the Holy Spirit, uttered only that which they had been commissioned from heaven to declare. All those who wish to profit from the scriptures must first accept this as a settled principle, that the Law and the prophets are not teachings handled on at the pleasure of men or produced by men’s minds as their source, but are dictated by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 1:16 (16)”I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes”
We also as Christians, like the Jews here, are in the same situation; we have been entrusted with the very words of God. We have been chosen by God to take the torch of truth, the Bible, from the Jew and carry it on until the return of Jesus Christ.
C.J. Mahaney
“We’ve been entrusted to this unique message about this unique mediator, and we’re the sole guardians of it. That is why we must deeply understand it ourselves and take it to heart, so we can share it accurately and passionately with others”
We must as the guardians of this truth understand it, believe it with all our heart and share it passionately with others.
We talked last week about this a little; that this is our calling. This is the purpose for our existence here on earth as Christians. This is how we bring glory to God.
I have this friend, who as a Christian has come a long way from where he started. And like many including me have a long way yet to go. This friend doesn’t feel comfortable enough yet in his knowledge of the Bible to share Christ with people. But one thing He is good at is meeting people. He is out on His Motorcycle day and night, and he loves meeting new people. So what He does is use his gift of gab and when he finds out that someone has an interest in God or Christ he is great at giving them an invite to his Friday Night Biker Bible Study group.
My point is that we must be aware of our gifts and understand that there are many ways of leading someone to Christ.
If we do not feel ready yet to do the job then we can always lead them to someone who can. You can invite them to your Bible study, you can invite them to church, and you can invite them to meet a friend who is more capable. We can and must always do something.
The goal is though for each and every one of us is to get ourselves to the point where we can do this work ourselves. To study, understand, apply, and share Gods Word.
In verse 9 Paul asks the question, are we better than others being Christians? The response is, No, and he states , (10)"There is no one righteous, not even one; (11)there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. (12)All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (13)"Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." (14)"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." (16)"Their feet are swift to shed blood; (17)ruin and misery mark their ways, (18)and the way of peace they do not know” (18)"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
We are no better. We are all sinners and all fall short in ourselves to the perfection that God calls us to. There has only been one person in our entire history who has and ever will live a perfect life and that is Jesus.
We pollute as humans everything we do. That is why we need Christ, so He can be for us the perfection that God demands.
In verse 18 it talks about lacking fear of God. We don’t usually think about fearing God do we? Or should I say we don’t want to think about that we should fear God. (18)"There is no fear of God before their eyes." Maybe we have been listening to far too many of those warm fuzzy preachers that we love to listen to. The ones that make us feel so good about ourselves when the reality is that we should think of ourselves more as the sinners that we are. Again seeing ourselves in this state is what makes our need for Christ all the more desperate.
Again John Calvin wrote:
In his conclusion Paul again repeats, in different words, what we stated at the beginning, namely, that all wickedness flows from a disregard of God. When we have forsaken the fear of God, which is the essential part of wisdom, there is no right or purity left. In short, since the fear of God is the bridle by which our wickedness is held back, its removal frees us to indulge in every kind of licentious conduct….
Being conscious of our sin
Verse 20 (20)Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
There we are the law and its intended function. We know no one can follow the law perfectly and that we are all sinners. And we know that God knows all and is in control of all things. So He gave us the law with the hope that we will see that we are just sinners, nothing more nothing less, just sinners, sinners that need to be held accountable, sinners in need of a Savior.
Sin, is man’s greatest problem. No matter what kind of religion a man has, if the religion cannot deal with sin, it is of no value. By nature, man is a sinner; and by choice, he proves that his nature is sinful. It was said that we are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.
