Revering the Word
Romans 3 All are under sin and all can be forgiven.
Good morning, everyone. This morning, we are in Romans chapter 3. You might recall in chapters 1 and 2 that the Apostle Paul is setting this up. He is helping us to understand that the bad news is that we've all fall short of the glory of God and that we all, since the time of Adam, have sinned. But he is about to let us know that God has made a way for anyone to become part of the family of God. You might recall that that's big news because the Israelites, the Jews, felt and they were a special breed, a special family of God, a special chosen people, and although Gentiles, non-Jews in the Old Testament who wanted to sojourn with Israel could come and worship Yahweh if they wanted to follow the law, follow the Old Testament laws of the Bible. They they could do so, but yet there was something special about being part of Abraham's family and now what is beginning to be displayed is that that family is for all who believe in Jesus and with that backdrop into Romans 3, let's just take a look at the last two verses of Romans 2 4, it says this, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh." Now this is significant because in order to affiliate with the Jews and to be part of God's family, the males would have their foreskin, other penis circumcised and that was meant to be a sign that you were part of God's family. But what Paul is beginning to say is, "Listen, that's just something you do with the skin of the flesh." But really it's always has supposed to be a matter of the heart and of faith that like, no, you truly believe and follow God. So he's saying, "Really, it shouldn't be just about outward skin." Even though God did ordain that, he's basically letting them know that even then there is supposed to be a spiritual faith aspect to it, but even more so now, circumcision doesn't even matter, it's really about having faith in Jesus. So he says, "But he is a Jew who is one inwardly," verse 29 of chapter 2, "and circumcision that which is of the heart by the spirit, not by the letter," what that means is, you know, once we come to faith in Jesus, we get the Holy Spirit and it were not a follower of God by the letter of the law anymore, but rather by the spirit and his praise is not from men, but from God. So in chapter 2 and 3, sometimes we start getting hints of the gospel, which we're going to get to in chapter 3, sometimes it can be a little bit challenging interpreting Romans 2 and 3 because he begins to again give that gospel understanding even though he hasn't fully explained it yet by this point, in the letter. So let's go on to some other passages that are a little bit challenging and then it's going to get very, very clear. Let me read a few verses. Then chapter 3, then what advantage has the Jew? Because he's like, he's anticipating the question, well gosh, you know, before that was really special that we were a Jew and he's saying you guys might be wondering then what does it even matter to be a Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? And he says in really in a sense, there's not other than the historical aspect about being an Old Testament follower of God. So he says, or what is the benefit of circumcision? He says, great in every respect. First of all, that they, that be Jews, were entrusted with the oracles of God. He's saying, well, what's the benefit of circumcision? Well, remember, you guys were trusted with the Old Testament or and he's one of them, by the way, he is a Jew, but now he's come to Christ. What then, if some did not believe their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? And what he's referring to is, well, some people thought they were Jewish and they cut the foreskin and their penis off, but they really didn't even believe is God going to nullify his promise to the Jewish people then because they didn't believe. And he said, may it never be, he says in verse four, because he's saying God's going to make us good on his promises. It's just, he's going to do it in a different way than they thought. Well, what kind of promises is he referring to? He's saying, he's talking about the Abrahamic covenant that, you know, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to make you a great nation and you will be a blessing and I will bless you with the land and all that. But Paul's saying, well, some people aren't believing, but that's not going to nullify the promise of God. God's still going to follow through on what he promised to Abraham back in Genesis 12 and 15 and that kind of a thing. He said, rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar as it is written, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. He's saying, no, God's going to be faithful to what he promised, but he's going to let them know in chapters four and five, how the promise has been fulfilled in a way maybe they didn't expect. And then he says this in verse five. Now, this begins to anticipate the gospel. And briefly, I want to share with you that, you know, one of the misinterpretations of the gospel, the gospel being that through faith in Jesus, we can be forgiven of all of our sin. Sometimes that can be said to be like a license, like, oh, well, gosh, if I'm forgiven of everything, then I guess I could live any way I want. I could live in evil. I could live in sin and it really doesn't matter because God's grace is there. And Paul, throughout this letter, is going to explain to us that's a wrong way of looking at it. Because when you receive the grace of God, you should be all the more motivated to live for him. But he anticipates some of these questions in verse five, he says, but if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous. Is he, he's, you know, when we are unrighteous, and we are sinners, but yet we receive God's grace, it shows the righteousness of God. He says, may it never be that God is unfair, by the way, for otherwise, how will God judge the world? But if through my lie, the truth of a God abounded to his glory, why am I still being judged as sinner? And why not say as we are slanderously reported and as some claim, we say, let us do evil that good may come, their condemnation is just he's saying that's a wrong way of looking at things like let us do evil that, you know, we just may receive more of God's righteousness. And he's like that their combination is just those who speak that way. All right, verse nine, and it's a little bit clearer here. What then are we better off than they? Like, is a Jew better off than a Gentile or is a Gentile better off than a Jew? Not at all. For we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin. And this has been the main emphasis of chapters one, two, and the first part of chapter three, that whether you were a Jew or whether you were a Gentile, in today's day and age, in this dispensation, we all have done wrong. We've all done sin. And God has now made a way to make us right. So he's going to convince us of this now. He said is quoting now Old Testament. He's like even your Old Testament said this. There is none righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands. There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside together. They have become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one. Their throat is an open grave. With their tongues, they keep deceiving. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now, what this is, this is really important. Many people think that they can make their own rules, they can make their own truth, and they can think that, well, you know, I'm a good person, or he or she is a good person, and God's not going to let good people go to hell. Like God's not going to pay, no one's going to have to go to hell. Like God wouldn't do that, because God is all loving. We're all generally good. We're all just generally good people, and what that does is if you think you're good and then you set up your own rules for what's right and wrong, you set up your own rules for faith and for heaven, and you just, you know, you just, instead of going to the Bible, you just, I believe what I believe, you believe what you believe. And in that situation, sometimes we can think, well, you know, I'm generally good enough, and as a result, I'm going to go to heaven, and I've made up my own faith in this way. And what Paul is saying here is, you know what? You got to get away from that, because all of us actually would be under condemnation. We all would be separated with God. We would not have peace with God. What Paul is trying to share, and he's just about to switch gears here, is that all are under sin. All have been separated from God. Anyone here who's listening, God wants us to know that we're all caught up in the net of sin, so that we, then, when he introduces Paul here, our solution to our sin problem, that we would turn to the one who could forgive us. Did you know that you can be forgiven of everything you've done wrong? Hallelujah, through faith in Jesus. Don't think there's another way. Don't think you can do it by your goodness. You're not good enough. I'm not good enough. You can't, through your goodness, get to heaven. There's only one way, and that's through Jesus. And that's what Paul, Paul right now is trying to convince you, don't try to find another way and realize your own guilt, realize your own perfection, realize your own sin. There's no one who does righteous, not even one. You can't earn your way to heaven. You can't be good enough. He sent his son to die for you. If you reject the one that he sent to give his entire being for you, then you're rejecting the way to get to heaven, because Jesus went up on that cross to take your sin, Hallelujah and mine. Verse 19. Now we know that whatever the law, now that's referring to the Old Testament rules and laws, the Old Covenant says it speaks to those who were under the law, so that every mouth may be closed, that all the world may become accountable to God. That's what he's been doing. I've been teaching this for two and a half chapters here, that all the world may become accountable to God. He wants everyone to know that you're accountable to God and you're under sin, so that you'll turn to his solution, because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. Through the law comes the knowledge of sin. The Old Testament laws can't get you to heaven anymore, and they never really could, but you were to try to obey them in the Old Testament, but now the Old Testament laws, what they do is they teach you about God, but they also show you that you were unable to live up to him, and you can't be justified through works of the law. You can't be justified by following the Old Testament to a tweet and no one ever could, but through it, we became knowledgeable that we couldn't obey it completely or perfectly, and we became, we received the knowledge that we are under sin. But now this is what he says, listen, this gets so beautiful, Hallelujah. This is what he's been waiting for. This is kind of a hinging moment in the book of Romans. He says, but now it's now after the cross, now after Jesus, apart from the law, so a different way, you can get to God through a different way now, not through the law, the righteousness of God, meaning being made right by God, has been manifested or has appeared, being witnessed by the law, meaning the Old Testament law pointed to this day, if you, but look, it told us that there would be this suffering servant who would come to make a new way. Jeremiah, the prophets said one day, there will be a new covenant, not like the old one that Moses made with my father's while they were in, you know, in the desert after they came out of Egypt, but I'm going to make a new covenant. Forgive their iniquity and remember their sins no more. The Old Testament prophets pointed to this even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all those who believe, oh Lord, praise the Lord, oh that we may understand that. What's being said here is that now you can be made right by God, even though you've sinned, you can be made right because what was wrong, your sin got placed on his son through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe. So therefore, because Jesus took your sin and it's not upon you and separating you from God, you now have been made right or you've been made justified. God deems you in right standing because through faith, your sin has gone upon his son instead of upon you. And then it says this, for there is no distinction. Now what he's trying to say is, and this is glorious and we appreciate it, it's hard for us to comprehend sometimes because we didn't grow up a Jew under the law, but he's saying it doesn't matter anymore, whether you or Jew or Gentile. There's no distinction for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That is really the summary of everything we've seen so far in this book for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We all have sinned, we can't get to have on our own, but now being justified as a gift, by the way, this is God's gift to you to be made right, to be justified through faith in Jesus, because Jesus came and died before you were ever born. What did you do to have Jesus die? Nothing. God did it all. He did it all ahead of time, but now it's up to us to believe in it, to receive that justification so that we can be made right. Being justified as a gift by his grace, by the way, it's God's grace, mercy, love, extending his favor upon us, his gifts upon us. God did this for us. It was his favor that we live in this era where Jesus Christ died for us through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus. Do you know that a price needed to be paid to forgive you? It was like you were under in prison and bondage to your sin, and someone needed to pay the price in order to release you from prison of sin, and God paid the price through his son. He paid what was necessary to redeem you out of the prison of sin and to free you to now live for him. Hallelujah. The redemption that comes through Christ Jesus, he redeemed us. He paid the price to redeem us, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. Now, some of you who've been following us in this journey through the Bible might recognize where that comes from. Once a year on the day of atonement, the high priest would go into the most holy place of the tabernacle on the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant in the most holy place. He would sprinkle blood on that day of atonement for the mercy of God's people, for the sins of the people for that year. Now, they would make other sacrifices daily and throughout the year, and people would bring sacrifices when they sin. But there was one big day of the day of atonement where they would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat, and it was propitiation as a word for God's wrath being appeased. There is a wrath of God that is going to be upon sinners because God is just, and he is going to make sure that his, that sin is paid, that there's a price paid for sin. In his justice, he has to punish sin. Well, what the mercy seat is, what the propitiation is, the blood that sprinkled on the ark of the covenant was appeasing that wrath that would be due sin because of the sacrifice that was made. And what's being said now is Jesus going up on that cross and shedding his blood appeased the wrath of God for those who have faith in Jesus. So therefore they won't receive the wrath of God because God put it on his son in order to forgive us. Hallelujah. A propitiation in his blood through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness. See what it means that he's demonstrating his righteousness. It means that sacrifice and a blood sacrifice was always needed in order to forgive sin. So God demonstrated his justice and righteousness that he made sure he followed his own rules in order to forgive sin. And he followed his own rules by sacrificing his son. Because in the forbearance of God, he passed over the sins previously committed. Hallelujah passed over, just like on Passover, you know, God passed over the Israelites who had the blood of the lamb over their doorposts. Now those who have faith in Jesus, God passes over our sins. Hallelujah. For the demonstration, I say, of his righteousness at the present time so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. That's such an amazing statement. God was just. He followed his own rules. He took the wages of our sin and put it upon his son. He was just in that way. And in that way, he then justified, made right, the one who has faith in Jesus. Do you have faith in Jesus? If you don't, you are under condemnation for your sin. And if you die in that way, or if Jesus comes back now, you would be separated from God and you would pay the penalty for your sin. But the one who has faith in Jesus, when he has become born again and receives the Spirit of God through faith, then he is made right by God because Jesus took our sin, place your faith in Jesus Christ. So Jesus, I believe in you. I believe in you as Lord. I believe in you as Savior. I believe you died for me. I believe after you died on that cross, you rose from the dead victorious over sin. And Lord, help me now to follow you. Thank you for making me right before you because I believe in what you did for me. This is what God wants us all to do. And then the live for the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. This is how we can be freed from the consequences of our sin is through faith in Jesus. What then is boasting is it is excluded. There's no boasting in this. But what kind of law of works? No, can you get to God through the law of the Old Testament or works? No, but by a law of faith, that's now how you get to go to heaven and be right by God by a law of faith for we maintain that a man is justified by faith. See, we're made right by faith apart from works of the law. That was a big deal in that day in particular for the Jew and even for the Gentile who thought he might have to do everything that you did. But now we're justified by faith, not by going back to the Old Testament law. Or is God the God of the Jews only? Now they felt like it was that was the case. Is he not the God of the Gentiles also question? Yes, of Gentiles also. Since indeed God who will justify the circumcised, that would mean Jews who circumcised themselves to affiliate with God's family. But he's also by faith, the uncircumcised through faith is one, meaning it doesn't matter anymore. It doesn't matter whether you were a former Jew. You grew up in Israelite. It doesn't matter whether you were circumcised or uncircumcised. All that matters now is that you have faith in Jesus and you come to him and then we all become part of the family of God. He's going to teach us more about that in the chapter again. He says, do we then nullify the law through faith? Meaning is the whole Old Testament just like something we don't even need to pay attention to? He says, may it never be? On the contrary, we establish the law. So although we're not under the law and although we don't have to follow the law the way an Old Testament Jew did, our Bible is still based on the Old Testament and now we have a New Testament lens to that faith but God fulfilled the Old Testament law through Jesus and we still learn and it's really important that we understand our Old Testament heritage because it makes our understanding of God all that more richer and he's going to give us one of those Old Testament understandings in a really beautiful and significant way as we get into Romans chapter 4. But Hallelujah, we reached the first hinge point in the book of Romans. Please agree with God that you're a sinner and that you're sin separates you from God and then secondly agree that the only way to receive God's grace and mercy is through faith in Jesus and when you do you can be part of the family of God and forgiven. Hallelujah, it's a beautiful thing. I pray that you would see the truth of God's Word and that you would turn to Jesus for salvation, for forgiveness of sins and eternal life. There is no other way but in Jesus there is a way. Hallelujah, thank you Jesus for the cross.