God Is Good!
The Book of Romans
Romans 3:1-24 (Reading vs. 1-10)
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - April 10, 2016
(Revised September 25, 2020)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to Romans chapter 3. Tonight's Scripture is like the closing argument in a trial where all mankind is found guilty before God. The "trial" began in chapter 1, where Paul made his case against the ungodly Gentile people of the world.
*Paul went into great detail about the foolishness and wickedness that comes from rejecting the true God. For example, in Romans 1:21-22, Paul said:
21. because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
22. Professing to be wise, they became fools.
*In Romans 1:29-32, Paul also said those ungodly people were:
29. being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,
30. backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
31. undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;
32. who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
*Next in chapter 2, Paul turned his attention from ungodly Gentiles to religious people, and he firstly addressed the Jews.
*William Barclay explained that in chapter 1, "Paul had painted a terrible, grim picture of the idol-worshiping people of the Roman Empire. Those people were under the condemnation of God, and the Jews thoroughly agreed with every word of that condemnation. But they never dreamed that they were under the same condemnation. Then Paul forcefully pointed out that Jews were just as much sinners as Gentiles, and that when the Jews condemned the Gentiles, they were was also condemning themselves. (1)
*We must realize that Paul's warning wasn't just for the Jews who were trying to keep God's law. His warning is also for anyone who tries to live a moral life. Paul wanted us to know that everyone, from the best to the worst stands guilty before God.
*We are all guilty of sin. Only God is truly good, and He wants us to know it. God wants us to see His goodness, because only there can we find the forgiveness all people desperately need.
*Keep looking for God's goodness tonight, as we start by reading Romans 3:1-10.
MESSAGE:
*God is good! It's one of the first prayers we learned as children: "God is great. God is good. . ." Psalm 34:8 urges us to "taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!"
*Psalm 100:4-5 says, "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations."
*James 1:13 tells us that God cannot even be tempted by evil. He is perfect all the time. And since Jesus Christ is God the Son, He never sinned a single time. Imagine never ever sinning in thought or word or deed.
*What do you think it was like growing up in the same home as Jesus? Surely there were good things about it: The best spiritual atmosphere you could ever have, and the best big brother of all.
*But it also must have been tough sometimes to grow up in the shadow of the only perfect man who ever lived. I can imagine Jesus' little brothers or sisters saying, "That goody-two-shoes never does anything wrong!"
*But thank God for His goodness because it means we can always trust Him to do the right thing. This world is running over with leaders who will lie, cheat and steal at the drop of a hat, but God never will. We can always trust Him to do the right thing. God is good!
1. AND WE KNOW THIS FIRST BECAUSE HE HAS BLESSED US WITH THE BIBLE.
*In vs. 1-2 Paul tells us about the great blessing of being a Jew, and he started with a question: "What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? The original word for "advantage" there is talking about things that are superabundant. And Paul began to answer his question by saying the Jews were blessed "much in every way."
*Think of how the Lord appeared to Abraham and many more of our Old Testament heroes. Think of how He set His people free from slavery in Egypt, how He miraculously watched over them in the wilderness, how He led them into the Promised Land, and showered them with abundant blessings.
*"What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way!" Paul said. And then in vs. 2, Paul went on to say: "Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God." That word "oracles" simply means "words," and of all the things Paul could have listed, he said the number one advantage for the Jews was the Word of God.
*That makes sense because the Bible gives us many wonderful testimonies of God at work to bless, help, and rescue His people. I think of Noah and the Ark, the Lord parting the Red Sea to save His people, David killing the 9-foot-tall giant Goliath, Daniel in the lions' den, and many more.
*But the Bible also gives us commandments and principles to help us live the best possible life. King David gave this great praise for God's Word in Psalm 19:7-11:
7. The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
8. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
9. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
10. More to be desired are they than gold, Yea, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, And in keeping them there is great reward.
*The Bible also give us many wonderful promises from God. One of our favorites is Proverbs 3:5-6: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."
*God's Word also gives us amazing prophecies, and many of them have already been fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. Several sources list over 350 Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fulfilled when He was on the earth. (2)
*Here are just two examples:
-About 725 years before Jesus was born, Micah 5:2 prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem: "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.'' We see this prophecy fulfilled in the wonderful Christmas story from Luke 2.
-A thousand years before Jesus was born, God prophesied through King David about how the Messiah would die. Psalm 22:16 quotes the future Savior saying, "The assembly of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet."
*That was a crystal clear prophecy of the cross, and as far as we know, death by the cross didn't even exist when King David wrote these words. The first recorded crucifixions in history didn't happen until 500 years later in the Persian Empire. But God knew about the cross from all eternity past, and He revealed it to us in His Word. (3)
*The Bible also gives us remarkably helpful prayers. For example, David teaches us how to pray when we have disobeyed God. Here's part of his prayer from Psalm 25:
4. Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths.
5. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.
6. Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, For they have been from of old.
7. Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; According to Your mercy remember me, For Your goodness' sake, O Lord.
*David also teaches us how to pray when we are delighted with God. From Psalm 63:
1. O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.
2. So I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory.
3. Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You.
4. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name.
5. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips.
*The Bible is full of prayers, prophecies, promises and godly principles for living. No wonder Paul said that of all the blessings the Jews received from God, the greatest blessing was receiving God's Word.
*And no matter what other blessings we might have in life, the greatest blessing of all is to have the Bible, because it is the soul saving, life changing, eternal Word of God.
*God is good! And we know this because He has blessed us with the Bible.
2. WE ALSO KNOW IT BECAUSE HE JUDGES PEOPLE WITH PERFECT JUSTICE.
*In vs. 3-8, God gives us a glimpse of His holy justice. These verses lay out the giant contrast between sinful man and our most holy God.
*In vs. 3 and the beginning of vs. 4, it's the contrast between our lack of faith and God's absolute faithfulness: "For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not . . ."
*Then in vs. 4, it's the contrast between our dishonesty, and God's absolute truthfulness: "Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: 'That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged.'''
*Next in vs. 5-8, it's the contrast between our unrighteousness, and God's total righteousness:
5. But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.)
6. Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?
7. For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?
8. And why not say, "Let us do evil that good may come''? as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.
*What Paul is saying here is that as good as God appears, He looks even better compared to our evil ways. But notice that this doesn't let us off the hook for even one second. God must and He will judge the world with the standard of His absolute perfection. And His standard is the only one that counts.
*Baseball fan and author George Will once wrote that: "Baseball umpires are professional dispensers of pure justice. An umpire named Babe Pinelli once called the great Babe Ruth out on strikes. Ruth thought it was a bad call, and so did the crowd. They roared their disapproval at the ump. Then the legendary Ruth sneered at the ump and said, 'There's 40,000 people here who know the last pitch was a ball, -- tomato-head.'
*Thinking the umpire would erupt with anger, the coaches and players waited for Babe Ruth's ejection. But instead, the cool-headed umpire said, 'Maybe so, Babe, but mine is the only opinion that counts.'" (4)
*Well, when it comes to Judgment Day, God's opinion is the only one that counts. That's because He is the only one who is qualified to be the perfect Judge.
*God is good! And we know this because He judges people with perfect justice.
3. WE ALSO KNOW BECAUSE GOD EXPOSES OUR EVIL.
*Again, Jesus Christ is the only sinless person who has ever lived. And in vs. 9-20, God's Word compels us to see that all of the rest of us are sinners. Everyone else was born with the deadly spiritual disease called sin.
*In order to prove this truth beyond the shadow of a doubt, Paul compiled verses from several places in the Old Testament, like Psalm 14, Psalm 53, and Isaiah 59.
*Starting here in vs. 9, Paul said:
9. What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
10. As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;
11. there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.
12. They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.''
13. "Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they have practiced deceit''; "The poison of asps is under their lips'';
14. "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.''
15. "Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16. destruction and misery are in their ways;
17. and the way of peace they have not known.''
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, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
*That is a disturbing picture of the depths of sin. And here the Bible gives us another strong contrast: The righteousness of God against the rottenness of our sin.
*Now, it's usually easier to see the sinfulness in others. The hard thing is to see it in ourselves. It's easy to see sin in other people, especially when we live in a time of rampant sin. Today outlandish sins are supported, subsidized and celebrated by our government and most of the elite people in our world.
*This tragic decline has happened many times before. That's why in Psalm 12, King David cried out to God and said:
1. Help, LORD, for the godly man ceases! For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
2. They speak idly everyone with his neighbor; With flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
3. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, And the tongue that speaks proud things,
4. Who have said, "With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; Who is lord over us?''
5. "For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now I will arise,'' says the LORD; "I will set him in the safety for which he yearns.''
6. The words of the LORD are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times.
7. You shall keep them, O LORD, You shall preserve them from this generation forever.
8. The wicked prowl on every side, when vileness is exalted among the sons of men.
*That's where we are living today, so it's easy to see sin in other people. But God's Word is clear: THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WE HAVE WITH EVIL IS THE EVIL THAT LIVES IN OUR OWN HEARTS.
*That's the point Paul makes in vs. 9-12:
9. What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
10. As it is written: "There is none righteous, no, not one;
11. there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.
12. They have all gone out of the way; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.''
*Next in vs. 19 Paul said, "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." And in vs. 23 Paul said, "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
*My biggest problem with sin is me. In Romans 7:18, Paul said, "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing." And again, vs. 10 says, "There is none righteous, no, not one."
*The great Christian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn once noted that it would be different, if there were "evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. BUT THE LINE DIVIDING GOOD AND EVIL CUTS THROUGH THE HEART OF EVERY HUMAN BEING." (5)
*All of us have a terrible problem with sin. We are helpless to fix it on our own. And if it were left up to our own goodness, we would never make it to Heaven. But God exposes our evil to help us see our desperate need for Jesus Christ.
*God is good! We know this because He exposes our evil.
4. AND WE KNOW IT BECAUSE HE GIVES US HIS GRACE!
*Thank God for the amazing grace of Almighty God! And Lord willing, we will talk much more about God's grace next time.
*But I can't bear to close tonight with getting to the grace of God. And we can see it in vs. 21-24, Here Paul said:
21. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22. even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
23. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24. being justified freely BY HIS GRACE through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
*Here's the good news! In vs. 22, by faith in Jesus Christ, we can have the righteousness of God! And Christians, notice in vs. 24 that we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.
*That is talking about the cross, and Jesus paid it all. Jesus Christ took all of the pain and punishment for our sins, when He died on the cross for us. And now our risen Savior will give His grace to everyone who will receive it.
*But what is God's grace? It's God's unmerited favor. Grace is getting good things from God that we could never deserve. Grace is the acronym G.R.A.C.E. -- God's Riches At Christ's Expense.
*La Juana Morris once said: "Grace is our source of power when problems are perplexing. Grace is the source of our tenacity when trials trip us up. And grace is the fortifier of our faith when we are frustrated.
*God's grace is not dependent upon our actions. The Lord doesn't give it because we were obedient, or because we tithed, or because we went to church. The grace of God is given unto us because He loves us, and He is the God of another chance! His Grace is the result of His outpouring love for us. And His grace permits us to be in the presence of God." (6)
*That's why Brian Bill said: "When we get to Heaven, there will be no contest to see who was the most deserving of God's grace, because no one deserves it.
*There will only be one contest in Heaven. When we look back and see what we were before, when we see the pit from which he rescued us, when we recall how confused we were, when we remember how God reached out and took us into His family, and when we see Jesus who loved us and gave Himself for us, the only contest will be to see which of us can sing the loudest: 'Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me!'" (7)
CONCLUSION:
*God is good! So, put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ! Then love God, follow Him, thank Him, worship Him, and begin to serve the Lord with all your heart.
(1) Adapted from "Barclay's Daily Bible Study Series - NT" by William Barclay - Revised Edition - Copyright 1975 - First published by the Saint Andrew - Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - "The Responsibility of Privilege" - Romans 2:1-11
(2) Sources:
-https://accordingtothescriptures.org/prophecy/353prophecies.html
-https://www.hopefaithprayer.com/scriptures/old-testament-prophecies-jesus/
(3) Sources:
-https://www.bible.ca/d-history-archeology-crucifixion-cross.htm
-Online sermon - "Crucifixion in the Ancient World" by Richard P. Bucher - Ev. Trinity Lutheran Church, Clinton Massachusetts - April 2000
(4) Adapted from David Holwick illustration #1859 - SOURCE: Leadership - TITLE: "Morality" - AUTHOR: George Will [Mark Turnbough; Rock Port; Missouri] - DATE: 1991 Winter - TYPIST: David Holwick
(5) Robert J. Morgan, "Nelson's Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes"
(6) Adapted from SermonCentral sermon "God's Grace Is Sufficient" by La Juana Morris - John 1:16-17
(7) SermonCentral illustration - Source: Brian Bill in "The Scandal of Grace"
