All right, if you wish to follow
along, turn to Paul's epistle to the church at Rome, not the
Roman church. Remember that. Now, I will not
condemn you to hell if you say the Roman church, but you will
be wrong. It is not the Roman church. It
is the church at Rome. And some, I realize we chuckle,
rightfully so, but some may say it's just a point of words. No,
it makes a whole lot of difference. Just like there is no such thing
as black churches and white churches. They do not exist. The world
may talk that way, but we know that's not the truth. There may
be churches that are made up of men and women who are predominantly
black. Or there may be churches who
are made up of men and women who are predominantly white.
Or Japanese, or whatever it might be. But there is only one church.
There's only one church. Romans chapter three. I preached
from one and two, verse one and two last week. But let me read
verses one all the way down through verse 11. What advantage then
hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way, and God willing
we'll look at some of those advantages even in more detail later when
we get to another chapter. Much every way, chiefly because
that under them were committed the oracles of God. The Jews
and the Jews only had the scriptures. And these scriptures were committed
under them. and they rightfully took great
care of them. But sadly they didn't know him
of whom the scriptures that they took great care of spoke of. But Paul proceeds, for what if
some did not believe? That's some of these Jews. Clearly
in Paul's day it was understood some of the Jews did not believe.
What if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? God forbid. Yea, let God be true,
but every man a liar. I quoted that to a person one
time and their mouth just dropped open. As it is written, and Paul thus
appeals to the scripture, as it is written that thou, that
is God, mightest be justified in thy sayings, that is God in
his sayings, and mightest overcome when thou, that is God, are judged.
Judged of who? Judged of men. Because men do
try to judge God. They don't seek his glory and
his honor, but they do seek to judge him. He continues, but
if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what
shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh
vengeance? I speak as a man. God forbid. For then how shall God judge
the world? For if the truth of God hath
more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why am I also
judged as a sinner? He's still speaking as a man. As a man. And not rather, as
we beslanderously reported, and some affirm that we say, but
let me say it, Paul did not teach what they're accusing him of.
They slanderously accused him of this. Let us do evil, this
is what they said, Paul was teaching. Let us do evil that good may
come. And then Paul concludes, whose
damnation? Anybody that teaches this, their
damnation is just. If they teach let us do evil
that good may come, that is damnable teaching. I don't care who it
is, Paul or anybody else. And he uses the personal pronoun. Ego, I, even I, whose damnation
is just, what then? Are we better than they? Is any
man better than any other man? That's the whole thing. What,
are we better than they? No, in no wise. For we have before proved, and
he's talking about in the previous chapters, the previous words.
What then, are we better than they? No, we've proved before,
proved, both Jews and Gentiles, that they're all under sins,
and then he again appeals to the scripture. You see it? Now
he was speaking as a man, he was approached this subject as
a man from human thought and human ideas, but now he appeals
as his answer to what? The scripture. As it is written,
there is none righteous, no not one. And I will stop with the
next statement. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after
God. My title and my subject this
morning is this. God's sovereignty in man's rebellion. You hear what I said? God's sovereignty
in man's rebellion. In these verses. Paul rebukes
the spirit of base humanistic reasoning. Now remember as I
told you last week, Paul is not giving this in answer to some
objections that he knew that some at Rome had made. Although
I'm sure Paul had heard these objections before because he
said some people slanderously report and affirm that we teach
these things. Let us do evil that good may
come. but the Spirit of God moves Paul to jump right in, both feet
right into the water and deal with this problem. Now things
haven't changed all that much in this day and age. In this
passage, because the English is difficult to follow along
with, and I have to admit even the Greek is a little difficult
to follow along with, but I have to admit the Greek is difficult
for me to follow along with at any time. You can read the commentaries
and they all, everyone I have, I'm not saying they're all, but
everyone I have basically got the tenor of the context right,
but they didn't wanna deal with the problem. Do you understand
what I'm saying there? They got the tenor of it right,
but they didn't want to deal with the problem. What about
this idea? Since God uses even the rebellion
of man to fulfill his purpose and his will and his promises,
then cannot we conclude then, let us do evil, that good make
up? Now you remember I told you all,
all of you all, whoever's here, some of you are not, some of
you are not here today. If the Bible tells you this is true,
and it says whatever this is, but it says this is true, there
is a thus saith the Lord for it. If your mind then says, since
this is true, and it's in the Bible, then as I think about
this, then that must be true as well. but we must beware. Because if the Bible don't give
us a thus saith the Lord for the that, we will always go into
error. Always. Since God uses evil even
for good, then why shouldn't we go ahead and do evil that
good may come? God's sovereign after all, right? And there are believers that
are caught in this conundrum and seem to go around in a circle,
in a circle, in a circle, and keep thinking, well, everything's
okay, everything's okay. Ask David if everything was okay
when he bedded down Bathsheba. No, sir. God put his family into
ruin because of that rebellion against God. Think about it. Again, I say,
in these verses, Paul rebukes the spirit of base humanistic
reason. In other words, God's promises,
here's the way men face it today, here's the way they try to answer
the conundrum that Paul's dealing with here. God's promises must
be dependent upon man's obedience. Now, if men were more obedient,
wouldn't God's purpose more fully come to pass? Isn't that sound
reasoning? Huh? It's the scripture even
says, all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them that are called according to his purpose. So if someone
persecutes me for being a Christian, then they're actually helping
God alone. But folks, this is the way the
natural mind approaches the sovereignty of God. And if your mind approaches it
that way, you are thinking from the natural mind, even if you
have a spiritual mind. But sadly, most folks don't have
a spiritual mind, so the only way they can think of it is from
the natural mind. In other words, again, I say
God's promises must be dependent upon man's obedience, so that's
one extreme. Or rather, Paul talks, or rather,
but if not, then God is unfair to judge anyone of sin, or at
least, if God works good by evil, then men are right when they
do evil. That sounds all good and clear
to most folks. but let me paraphrase these verses
and then we'll look at the details of scripture. In God's purpose
and God's promises, God's will, it is never dependent upon man's
obedience. No, absolutely not. If it were, God's promises, His
purpose and his will could never be fulfilled because there's
none that doeth good, no, not one. Isn't it natural to think if
more men would obey God, things would be better, right? Right? Doesn't your mind think that
way? Huh? But no, because it is written,
there's none that seeketh after God. There is none that understandeth. We're starting not from a neutral
point, but from an enmity point. Now, let me paraphrase. Now that's
what Paul deals with. He actually introduces this in
chapter three, verses one, two, three, four, verse three. For
what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faithfulness? Let me see if you can read it
that way. It's true, but it's faith of God. Faith is a quality
that exists only in God intrinsically. What if some did not believe?
Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
Shall men's unbelief thwart God's faithfulness? Absolutely not,
Paul says. Absolutely not, yea? Paul writes
this, let God be true and every man a liar. He said, let it be
what it is. God is true, every man lies. You see it? Even in our best
efforts to tell the truth, we'll lie, not even meaning conscientiously
to lie. You ever been telling somebody
a story about something happening in the past, and there's no reason
to lie whatsoever. But when it's over, you realize
you stretched that thing way out of proportion. Why, because
we lie. It's our bent, it's what we are. And as Paul has already proved,
we'll even take the truth of God and turn it into a lie. And then he says, as it is written,
now you know who wrote this, don't you? That thou mightest
be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome with thou art
judge. King David made that statement. And it's recorded in Psalm 51.
And do you remember what Psalm 51 is? It is David's penitential
psalm crying out for mercy from God because of his ungodliness
with Bathsheba. And yet we know, even out of
that, God brought forth Solomon. Did he not? Well, let us do evil that good
may come. Go ahead. Go ahead, knock yourself
out. Today, what do they say? Well,
you're giving men license to sin. They don't need a license
to sin. They don't need a license to
sin. Why? Because there's none righteous,
no not one. Our mouths are full of cursing
and bitterness. Our feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
our ways, and the way of peace we have not known. We don't fear
God. We don't fear God. So let me
continue, but if the Jews in fidelity establishes the fidelity
of God, and does it not? I'll give you one example. I'm
gonna read it to you. It's from this book. I say then,
have they, talking about some of the Jews, have they stumbled
that they should fall? God forbid. It wasn't just for
a fall's sake. But they did stumble and fall,
did they not? God forbid. But rather, through
their fall, salvation is come unto the Gentiles. And Paul didn't
try to philosophically or psychologically argue that, he just said that's
the way it is. That's the way it is. That's
the way it is. But if the Jews' infidelity establishes
the fidelity of God, what is the conclusion? Is God wrong
then to inflict vengeance on the Jews? I'm paraphrasing. Paul
emphasizes, I'm using human reasoning here. That's what he's saying
here. And we'll talk about how men reason with this thing. Is
God wrong to punish those who are actually carrying out his
sovereign purpose? Is he wrong to do it? Absolutely
not. Absolutely not. If that reasoning were correct,
then God could judge no one. But if our unrighteousness could
be of the righteousness of God, it does. What shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh
vengeance? I'm speaking from a human standpoint here, he says.
God forbid. For if that conclusion is true,
God could judge no one. And that's all he says about
it. He doesn't try to deal with all
the nuances, does he? Because God is the judge of all
the earth. period because God says so about
himself. Let me continue with the paraphrase.
Paul continues this human reasoning. For if the truth of God is magnified
through my lying and God is still glorified, how can God judge
me as wrong? Verse seven. For if the truth
of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why yet
am I also judged as a sinner? If I take this tact, If I take
this approach, if I approach this this way, how could God
then judge me as a sinner if God uses my lie to his glory? That's what he's talking about.
Now Paul's not saying he's lying. He's taking this human approach
to the dilemma of God's sovereignty and man's rebellion. Or, he says,
rather, if that is so, then, let us do evil that good may
come. And Paul, of course, interjected, as we have it here in parentheses,
some slanderously accused God's people of teaching this very
thing. And they've changed the words
a little, but it's like, well, you make God the author of sin.
You ever heard that one? And I've already mentioned, well,
if you teach that, you're giving people license to sin. Paul doesn't
even deal with that, does he? He doesn't even deal with it.
But preacher, you got to help me understand. There's none that
understand us. When are we gonna get that through
our thick skulls? When God Almighty pours it in
by his blessed Holy Spirit. We cannot comprehend God. We cannot reason our way into
understanding what makes God God. He just is. He calls himself I am. And Christ said that on countless
occasions and people tried to kill him for it. But on one occasion
he said it with absolute power. when men were coming to arrest
him. And he said, they said, well, are you Jesus of Nazareth?
He said, I am. And Mason, he said that in a
different way than just verbal expression. And it says they
fell down backwards to the ground. And yet the I am, who they stopped
them in their tracks, stood there and let them get right back up
and take him into custody. Did he not? Did he not? And we best thank God he did. I gotta move along, I gotta move
along. So Paul continues with that reasoning,
but remember, this is a human reasoning. He's trying to approach
it from the side of the flesh, just like Ecclesiastes. When
you read the book of Ecclesiastes, be careful, because Ecclesiastes
is Solomon, a regenerate man, often expressing things the way
an unregenerate man would. But only a regenerate man can
rightly express the way an unregenerate man would actually look at these
things. Maybe we'll look at Ecclesiastes for a day. It's an amazing book
when you face it from that standpoint of view. No? Rather, let us do
evil that good may come. Paul says absolutely not. And
all such deserves to be justly condemned. We do not teach let
us do evil that good may come. So Paul summarizes. In other
words, with all of this finger pointing, and think of it, at
once he talks about our finger pointing, accusing or excusing
one another. But when we take this attitude,
who are we accusing? Who are we accusing if we take
that attitude? God Almighty. Let us do evil that good may
come. That's accusing God. And let me tell you, any time
we start self-justification or accusing others, we will eventually
end up accusing God and pointing the finger at God. Our daddy
Adam did it right from the get-go as soon as he failed. Did he
not? The woman thou gavest me. And we ain't quit doing that
since. We constantly want to point our finger at God. And
those of us who attempt to preach and witness the truth of God
are constantly told, well, but that's the natural order. If
what you say is true, if this is true, then that must be true. Not if that ain't in the book,
it ain't. Now do you see what I'm saying? Not if that ain't
in the book, it ain't. Let me move on. As I said, Paul
summarizes. Who is correct then? Who is right
then? Who is better amongst men? Nobody. Do you see it then? Who is better?
What then are we better than they? Is the Christian better
than the unbeliever? No. Do you hear me? No. No! We are after your safety. No! No! How many times must I say
that before we really get that? I find myself watching people
and I do this. Not literally, but I do it down
in here and in here. Or I find myself justifying my
sin. I find myself justifying my sin. Are we better than they? No and
no wise for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles that they
are all under, under. That means sin's on top. Sin
reigns. Sin is in control in the old
man. But I thank God he controls sin. You hear me? I thank God he controls
sin. Now there are examples of this.
Examples of God's veracity and God's fidelity to his purpose
and his will and his promises. Even when men rebel. I'm gonna read you one. Let me just
turn to it and read it. Found my spot. This is Joseph speaking. But
as for you, ye thought it evil against me. And it was. It was evil against Joseph. They were at first gonna kill
him. It wasn't Judah. Judah come and put a stop to
that. But he didn't say this is wrong altogether. This is
our blood. Hmm? We better just kind of be
patient and wait. Maybe he dreams about himself
a lot. Maybe he thinks a lot about himself. Who don't? Who
don't? But they hated this dreamer.
But Judah stopped the murder, but he didn't stop the hatred.
Did he? Did he? You But as for you, ye
thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good. There it is. There it is. Well, let us do evil that good
may come. God forbid. Somebody says, well, here we
go. Here comes the philosophy. Here comes the psychological
reason. Well, that was a special case. Yeah, it was. Sure it was. Joseph didn't invite everybody
down to Egypt to live, did he? In the rich land of Goshen for
all of their herds, now did he? Now he fed a lot of people all
over the world. But there were a lot of people that died of
starvation too if they didn't come to Joseph. Yes or no? Yes, that was a special
case. But now I wanna read you another
passage. Hang tight. Surely, so in other words, there's
no debate about this. Surely, S-U-R-L-E-Y means what? I'm sorry, S-U-R-E-L-Y. Sorry about that. Surely, what's
that mean? This is absolute. We're not gonna
debate about this? We're not gonna philosophize? Not more reason, surely the wrath
of man shall praise God. Now the thee, I said God for
thee, but that's who it's talking about. Surely the wrath of man
shall praise thee. And the rest of it he will restrain. So that lets me know that God's
sovereignty and man's rebellion extends over everything. Well, you gotta take that in
its context. Don't be a spiritual idiot. That is its context. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee, and any wrath that man would do, that wouldn't praise
God, God will restrain it. He'll gird it up like a belt.
It's a restraint. That's what it means. Well, I don't know
about that. I know because there's none that
seeketh after God. There's none that fear God. There's
none that doeth good, no, not one. That ain't the end of it. Here's another one. Let me find
it. Just hang tight. The apostles
got together one day and some things had happened. God had
given a miraculous physical deliverance. The disciples got together and
they said this word. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed Both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and all the people of Israel were gathered
together. For to do whatsoever thy hand,
and they're praying to God. Look at the context. For to do
whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. Well then those men saved us.
If this is true, then that must be true. No, they by wicked hands
crucified the Lord of glory. And at the same time, they were
doing exactly what God foreordained for them to do. But God's the
savior and not the men. Because this book says he's the
only savior. So remember, when this is said,
Don't reason yourself into a that unless that is spelled out clearly
in this book too. And too many of us good Calvinist
grace people have let God's people go too far into thinking, well
since it's all by grace and I don't have to do anything, I'll just
sin, I'll just live how I want, it'll all be okay. No. No. You may go to glory. but God may give you many years
of misery in this life because you rebel against God. All of the misery I could trace
back now and in the past in my life was because I rebelled against
the command of God. God brought none of it on me
just arbitrarily. I think I want to hurt him. It's my wicked rebellion. It
is using my liberty for an occasion to the flesh. And if you do that,
you'll bite and devour one another. will bite and devour one another.
Paul again rebukes this spirit of human reasoning in the same
epistle, and he uses no philosophical or psychological tactics, but
when you go to Romans 9, verses 11 through 24, I'm not gonna
take time to read it, but he says to Pharaoh, for this same
purpose have I raised you up. For what reason? To even rebel
against the commands of God. Now, Pharaoh wasn't a good guy that
God turned bad. We're all of the same lump. And
left to ourselves, all we do is rebel, rebel, rebel. And God don't have to put more
rebellion in us. Here's how bad we are. He just
puts truth before us. He just puts truth before us.
And we become even harder against God. And that's how God hardens people,
not by putting evil in them, it's already there, the evil's
already there. He just puts the truth in front
of them. And that hardens them, if he doesn't come in and do
a work inside the soul. Here's the other thing Joe sent
me. This is by A.W. Pink, from his
book Bleedings in Exodus. When God has spoken, that settles
the matter. No room is left for debating
or reasoning. It is vain for us to discuss
and dispute. Our duty is to submit. The word
itself must regulate our worship and service and as well as everything
else. Human opinions, human traditions,
custom, convenience, have nothing to do with it. Divine revelation
is our only court of appeal. Now Joe, God moved you to send
that to me. You didn't know exactly what I was gonna preach on this
morning, did you? That's exactly what I'm talking about this morning.
The word of God dictates to us what we believe about God and
about man. And we take it no further, but
we dare not take it to the extent that the book takes. As far as
it goes, we go. As far as it goes, we go. Now
think about it, I'm closing up here. God is absolutely sovereign. His purpose, His will, His promises,
He is faithful. They will come to pass. And no
rebellion of rebellious men shall stop or thwart God Almighty's
purpose. On the contrary, God will manipulate
even their rebellion for His glory. Even the wrath of man
shall praise Him. The rest of it, He'll gird it
up and hold it in check. God is absolutely sovereign.
We are absolutely corrupt and absolutely accountable before
God. All three of those things are true right at the same time. Even our corruption cannot thwart
God. I'm glad. I worship that God. That God. Father, oh, teach us
these things, remind us of them. We know him, Lord. God, help
us not to become loose in our own imaginations and our thoughts. We praise you in Christ's name,
amen.