Reading: Romans chapter 3 verses 1-20:
Ill:
• Questions – The world’s easiest quiz.
• Simple questions with not so obvious answers!
Now the section before us this morning:
• Is a series of question and answers.
• That have come out of what Paul taught in chapter 2.
The Jewish people knew they were ‘the chosen people’:
• Not chosen because they were superior to other nations,
• But chosen as an example to other nations.
• Chosen by God to be a blessing to the other nations.
• Quote:
“They weren’t special and so that’s why they were chosen,
But because they were chosen, that’s what made them special.
God’s plan was to bless other nations through them:
• But instead of blessing other nations they became exclusive, self-obsessed.
• Instead of being an example to the other nations, they became a hindrance.
But as God’s ‘chosen’ or special people, they enjoyed certain privileges:
• God gave the Jewish people gracious gifts;
• Such as a covenant (sacred agreement) binding himself to them,
• He gave them laws to obey that reflected his character,
• And circumcision as a visible sign of the special relationship Israel enjoyed with God.
Now Paul’s teaching in this letter, posed a problem for his Jewish readers:
• It appears to them;
• That Paul is now saying they are no different to the Gentiles.
• Paul seems to be setting aside the differences between Jews and Gentiles;
• In chapter 2 verses 17&29; Paul seems to be saying that there is no advantage being Jewish.
e.g.
Chapter 2 verse 29:
• Paul teaches that an obedient Gentile with no circumcision;
• Would be more acceptable to God than a disobedient Jew with circumcision.
It appears to Paul’s Jewish readers that:
• That the special relationship between God and Israel;
• And the gracious gifts he has given to the Jews, all now count for nothing!
So what Paul does (with the help of the Holy Spirit) as he writes this letter:
• Is to be aware of what objections, and what questions would arise from his hearers;
• And he then go on to answers them.
Ill:
• A Father and his small son were out walking one day;
• When the lad asked his dad a question;
• “How can electricity could go through the wires stretched between the telephone poles?”
• His father replied; “I don’t know, I’ve never knew too much about electricity.”
• A few blocks farther on, the boy asked another question:
• “Dad, what caused lightning and thunder?”
• His dad replied.
• “I don’t know, that too has always puzzled me!”
• The youngster continued to inquire about many things,
• None of which the father could explain.
• Finally, as they were nearing home, the boy said,
• “Dad, I hope you don’t mind me asking all those questions.”
• “Not at all,” replied his father.
• “If you don’t ask, how else are you going to learn?”
Now in chapter 3 verses 1-19:
• Paul anticipates questions that will be in the minds of his readers,
• So he asks them for them, and he also answers them.
Note: Chapter 3 is really the seedbed for the rest of the book:
• Verses 1-4 deals with Israel’s unbelief;
• And this is his subject matter in chapters 9-11.
• In verse 8 he mentions the question of living in sin;
• And he deals with this in greater detail in chapters 6-8.
• Verse 21 brings up the topic of justification by faith;
• Again he will deal with this in greater detail in chapters 4-5.
• Finally in verse 32 he mentions establishing and obeying the law;
• This is his theme in chapters 12-16.
3 questions and 3 answers
Question 1: What is the advantage of being a circumcised Jew? (verse 1):
“Is there any advantage in being a Jew? Is there any value in being circumcised?”
The Jewish readers of Paul’s letter (or any converted Jew) would be thinking:
• If all you have said in chapter 2 verses 17-29 is true:
• What is the advantage of being a circumcised Jew?
• Surely Jews are different to Gentiles.
• If they are not, why did God give us bother with 1000’s of years of heritage?
• Why did God bother giving circumcision as a visible sign to all Jewish men,
• If both Jew and Gentile are the same
Ill:
• We might say; “Is there an advantage in growing up in a Christian home?”
• By Christian home we don’t mean Dr Barnardoes but Christian parents.
• You may have been taught the value of both the Bible and prayer,
• You had a lifestyle example in your godly parents.
• Now although that privilege does not save you.
• You still have to figure things out for yourself.
• It does gives you a head start,
• You are one step closer than the person who knows nothing of God or the Bible.
Here’s the point:
• My wife comes from a Christian home; I came from a non-religious home.
• Before our conversions both of us were guilty sinners before God.
• The privileges of her upbringing (regular times of prayer& Bible study);
• No more saved her than my lack of regular times of prayer& Bible study
• Until our conversions we were equal;
• We were guilty sinners, who needed saving!
• That is the point Paul is making in this letter.
• Being a Jew is a privilege but it is no guarantee of salvation.
Answer 1 (Verse 2):
“There is great value in every way!
First of all, the Jews have been given the very words of God.”
Paul answers the question by reminding his Jewish readers that heritage is important:
• He reminds them that the Jewish people have been given a very important privilege.
• They have been charged with the guardianship of the Holy Scriptures.
• The expression ‘the very words of God’,
• Refers to both the O.T. and especially the 10 commandments.
Paul is telling the Jewish readers:
• They are an exceptional people,
• A people, who God chose out of all the nations, to write and to preserve his scriptures.
• But because they are a ‘chosen’ a special people,
• God expected them to live a special life (according to his instructions).
Ill:
• When Lord Dunsay came in safety through the 1914-1918 war;
• In his writings he tells us that one day he said to himself;
“In some strange way I am still alive.
I wonder what God means me to do with a life so specially spared?”
That type of thought never struck the majority of the Jews:
• Sadly they turned God’s commandments into an outward tradition and conformity;
• While at the same time losing the spirit and deeper meaning of the law.
• They never could grasp the fact the God’s special choice was for special duty.
• Instead they became proud, self-reliant and stubborn!
Question 2: Has Israel’s unbelief cancelled God’s word? (Verse 3-4):
(C.E.V.):
“It is true that SOME of them…”
• Pause and say: Paul never forgot that not all the Jews were unfaithful;
• There was always a faithful remnant,
• A small number of believers who remained loyal and true.
• This remnant Paul teaches is the real nation of Israel.
“It is true that some of them did not believe the message. But does this mean that God cannot be trusted, just because they did not have faith? No, indeed! God tells the truth, even if everyone else is a liar. The Scriptures say about God,
"Your words
will be proven true,
and in court
you will win your case."”
The second question Paul has to tackle is this:
• Okay not all the Jews believed God’s word;
• Remember that would have included all God's promises recorded in the Old Testament.
• Does that mean God will go back on his promises?
• Can the unbelief of some cause God to break his word?
Answer 2:
Verse 4 (C.E.V.):
“No, indeed! God tells the truth, even if everyone else is a liar. The Scriptures say about God,
"Your words
will be proven true,
and in court
you will win your case."
• Paul says in this verse God never breaks his word.
• The very idea is unthinkable.
• Even if every human being failed to tell the truth,
• So that the lie became the norm amongst people.
• God would still remain true.
• Because he is both unchanging and faithful.
Paul then quotes from a Psalm to illustrate his point:
• The quotation from Psalm 51 verse 4.
• Which is a Psalm that records David's experience;
• In this Psalm David (human) owned up to his own lying and faithlessness.
• But he discovers and declares God to be faithful & true.
Ill:
• A lady entered a butchers shop in a butcher is a small town in Hampshire,
• Just as it was closing and most things had been packed away.
• She explained that she had just had a phone call;
• And as a result she was going to have unplanned guests and so she needed some meat.
• She told the butcher she needed a "large chicken".
• He went out back to the refrigerators and came back with the shops only unfrozen chicken.
• When he put it on the scale;
• She stretched to see the weight and declared, "I need one larger than that!"
• So he took it out back and a few moments later returned with the same chicken,
• This time when he weighed it, he added a hidden finger on the backside of the scale.
• When she eye-balled the scale;
• She confidently declared, "Excellent, I’ll take both chickens please!"
We live in a world that bends and manipulates the truth;
• But God never does.
• God himself and therefore his word are the plumb-lines we need to measure against.
• Whenever there is a question whether God or man is right;
• Christians proceed on the basis that God is always right and every man a liar.
Question 3: Then, why not sin and glorify God more? (Verse 5-8):
Paul using a human argument says the objector might say:
• “If that’s the case that my lies show up God’s truth,
• That my unfaithfulness shows God’s faithfulness,
• Then my sin is therefore an excellent thing;
• Because it gives God the opportunity to show how good he is!”
The human argument is saying:
• That a persons faithless, lying behaviour is excusable,
• Because it provides a great opportunity for God to demonstrate his love & forgiveness.
• The more sinful we are,
• The greater the love and forgiveness of God will be seen, and his glory is increased.
Ill:
• Watch me crash the car and get injured;
• That will show to everyone how good the surgeon is at the hospital!
• Crazy thinking!
• And a misunderstanding and disregard for health and safety.
Verse 8:
• Paul says:
• It has even been reported by some people, that Paul is preaching this teaching!
• 'Sin boldly and see how much God forgives you'.
• Paul actually says that is slander and those who teach it will answer for it!
Answer 3: You have a wrong understanding of God (vs 6&8):
“Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?”
• The words translated “Certainly not!” are very forceful in the Greek;
• Like our saying; “Never in a million years”
Paul tells his objector that:
• You don’t understand God’s character;
• God is righteous, he doesn’t just do what is right, he is right!
• If he judges somebody it is because they deserved it;
• If he condemns somebody it’s because they are guilty.
Your argument says Paul is actually unworthy of series consideration.
• Verse 6: You believe God will judge the world.
• What qualifies him to do that? The very fact he is righteous.
• If there was any possibility of God’s being unrighteous,
• Then how could he be fit to judge the world?
• In verse 8: Paul says this idea is so outrageous that it is actually slander,
• It is totally opposed to everything we know about God in the scriptures.
The conclusion:
Verse 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”.
• Like a skilled barrister Paul has carefully built his case,
• Now he concludes his argument by making three key points.
POINT 1 (vs 9-18): All are guilty.
“We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin”.
• This is the first of forty-seven occasions on which Paul uses the word 'sin' in this letter.
• (He will explain it more fully in chapter 5 verses 1-21.)
Notice: In verse 9: sin is described not as wrong behaviour or bad thoughts:
• But as a tyrannical dictator who controls all human beings,
• The Greek phrase translated as ‘under sin’ is very suggestive.
Ill:
• Roman centurion in Matthew chapter 8 verse 9;
• “I have soldiers UNDER ME”
• In other words they were under his control and power.
• Quote Jesus: “Anyone who sins becomes a slave to sin” (Sin is a cruel task master)
Paul is reminding us:
• That both Jews & Gentiles are sinners;
• Both are held captive by the tyrannical dictator called sin.
Now In verses 10-17: Paul illustrates this truth:
• We see Paul doing what Jewish Rabbis customarily did;
• Rabbis often strung together a collection of Old Testament verses to make a point.
• It was known as ‘charaz’,
• Which literally means 'stringing pearls'.
• Paul strings together verses from the Psalms, Isaiah & Ecclesiastes;
• To make his point.
• By quoting verses outside the first five books of the Bible,
• The section of the Old Testament normally referred to as 'the Law'.
• Paul is widening the term 'law', beyond the first 5 books of the Bible,
• To mean the whole of the Old Testament.
Now As Paul quotes these verses:
• He inform his readers of two important principles regarding sin.
• He informs them and us of both the root and then the fruit of sin.
(1). THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM.
• Paul’s first quote is from Psalm 14;
• Which starts off “The fool has said in his heart no God”
• Sin first and foremost is a person saying; “Not thy will but MY will be done”
• Sin is deliberately living an independent life from God.
Quote: An newspaper article entitled, “How To Be Miserable”:
It says, “Think about yourself. Talk about yourself. Use ‘I’ as often as possible.
Mirror yourself continually in the opinion of others. Listen greedily to what people say about you. Expect to be appreciated. Be suspicious. Be jealous and envious. Be sensitive to slights. Never forgive a criticism. Trust nobody but yourself. Insist on consideration and respect. Demand agreement with your own views on everything. Sulk if people are not grateful to you for favours shown them. Never forget a service you have rendered. Shirk your duties if you can. Do as little as possible for others.”
Ill: You no doubt will argue but I’m not that bad!
• Question: When you see a group photo of family or friends,
• Who do you look for first?
(2). THE FRUIT OF THE PROBLEM.
• Because our roots are in self & sin rather than in God & righteousness;
• We produce fruit that reflects that.
Ill:
• A corrupt mind (vs 11) “no-one that understand”.
• A corrupt heart (vs 11) “no-one seeks God”.
• A corrupt will (vs 12) “no-one does good, not even one”
Quote commentator Vaughn:
“The Old Testament quotations describe three things:
(1). A character whose characteristics are ignorance, indifference, crookedness and unprofitableness. (2). A tongue whose notes are destructive, deceitful, malignant. (3). A conduct whose marks are oppression, injuriousness, implacability. These things are the result of disregard of God.”
Quote: D.L. Moody:
“If they invented a camera that could photograph the human heart, we would all have our pictures taken, but we wouldn’t dare show them to anyone!”
Judaism declared that a man can get right with God by keeping the law.
• So in verses 19-20 Paul informs his readers that idea is wrong.
• The law does not save it only informs.
• It only shows to us our weaknesses and our sinfulness.
• It cannot save us from them.
Ill:
• Mirror is good for seeing if you have a dirty face,
• But the mirror cannot remove the dirt.
• A thermometer will tell you if you have a fever,
• But swallowing the thermometer will not cure the fever.
• In the same way the law is good to inform, to produces conviction of sin,
• But the law is worthless as a saviour from sin.
Quote: Luther:
“Its function is not to justify but to terrify”.
The solution for sin
• Having shown that every human being (both Jew & Gentile) is guilty before God,
• Having shown that the law cannot save anyone from sin.
• Paul is now going to show the solution, the remedy for sin.
• He will show that a person can be right with God only through Jesus Christ!
Quote: When William Jay of Bath was an old man, he said:
“My memory is failing, but there are two things that I never forget –
I am a great sinner and that I have a great saviour”
• In the previous verses Paul has shown us how great sinners we are,
• In these next verses Paul is about to show us how great a saviour we have!
• He will do this by way of 3 word pictures;
• 3 illustrations, 3 metaphors.
Picture 1: Law court (vs 23-24):
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
• The figure of speech he uses is ‘justification’.
• Which is a legal metaphor.
Ill:
• After a trial in court the judge will ask the jury the question;
• “Is the prisoner guilty or not guilty”
• If the foreperson of the jury replies; “Not guilty”,
• They have justified the person on trial.
• They are saying we have weighed the evidence and come to the conclusion;
• The person on trial is innocent.
Paul uses the word this way but with a whole new slant:
• He is saying that the foreperson of the jury has found us guilty!
• Yet because of Jesus Christ & his death on the cross we can be declared innocent.
• Biblical ‘justification’ carries the thought; “just as though I had not sinned”.
• The New Guinea Bible in pidgin English: “God-‘e say ‘I’m alright”.
Picture 2: Slave market (vs 24):
“Are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus”.
By using the expression ‘redemption’ Paul brings to mind the idea of slavery:
• In N.T. times there were estimated to be 60 million slaves in the Roman Empire.
• Slaves were the property of their masters.
• Considered to be living tools,
• They had very little rights, owned and dominated by their owners.
But a slave could be redeemed:
• The word ‘redeemed’ means: ‘ransomed, liberated’.
• If the right price was paid, then the slave could be set free of their dominant master.
This is the picture Paul draws on:
• Paul tells us that mankind was under the ownership of a tyrant master called sin;
• But because of Jesus Christ & his death on the cross we can be purchased & liberated!
• Being redeemed is a reminder that salvation may be free, but it is never cheap!
• It cost God all he had – his one and only son!
Picture 3: The Temple (vs 25):
“God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”
Under the Old Testament system:
• When a man broke the law, he brought to God a sacrifice.
• The idea being:
• The punishment that should fall on him;
• Was taken by the animal, he substituted, took the place of the person being punished.
• But each time he broke the law he needed to bring another sacrifice;
• So animal sacrifice was limited, it was a continuous process.
Notice: Once again Paul takes this well known picture:
• And he builds on it.
• Paul is teaching that through Jesus Christ & his death on the cross
• He made a perfect sacrifice of atonement (at-one-ment).
• In other words we can be right with God because of Jesus Christ.
At the end of this chapter, Paul takes 3 familiar pictures to his readers:
• In each picture he shows them
• That God’s plan of salvation does not rest on people, but on Jesus Christ.
• Salvation is not result of our behaviour (keeping the law);
• But our belief (Faith in Jesus Christ).
Notice: The word ‘faith’ it will crop up again and again in these verses:
• Verses 22: “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ”
• Verse 25: “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”
• Verse 26b:”Who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
Because salvation is all of God and not of man:
• In verse 27-31: Paul says therefore no-one can boast.
• How can you boast if you have been given a gift you did not deserve!
• Salvation is not a reward for our good behaviour,
• It is an undeserved gift to sinful people who reach out in faith and take it!
Quote:
“When a person works an eight-hour day and receives a fair day’s pay for his time, that is a wage. When a person competes with an opponent and receives a trophy for his performance, that is a prize. When a person receives appropriate recognition for his long service or high achievements, that is an award. But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize, and deserves no award—yet receives such a gift anyway—that is a good picture of God’s unmerited favour. This is what we mean when we talk about the grace of God”.
Verse 29-30:
“Does God belong only to the Jews? Isn't he also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, he is! 30There is only one God, and he accepts Gentiles as well as Jews, simply because of their faith”.
Paul makes it very clear that God is not exclusive:
• He is not the God of the Jews only,
• He is also the God of the Gentiles.
• Jesus Christ did not die for one race of mankind but for the whole world.
• Therefore his offer of salvation goes out to both Jew & Gentile.
