All right, turn to Romans chapter
3. And everything's on here, Paul,
correct? Yes. Romans chapter 3. Week before last, I was absent
last week, I was in Ohio. A week before last, I spoke to
you about Romans 9, 28, Romans 9. Romans 2, 28, 29. We are now
at Romans chapter three. I want to read only two verses
this morning and deal somewhat with those verses, or at least
with the subject that Paul introduces in this subject, in this passage. Romans three, verses one and
two. What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there
of circumcision? Now, look at his answer. Look
at his answer. But before we do, think about
this. That's verse one. Now Paul has thus far in this
letter, up to this point, Paul has thus far exposed the depravity
of both Jew and Gentile. He has talked about how men will
corrupt the order of God, even in nature. and he's exposed how
we as humanity will corrupt that divine order. We indeed love
worshiping the creature more than the creator. We don't mind
worshiping the creator as long as we can worship ourselves more. So Paul's thus far exposed the
depravity of both Jew and Gentile. And then he begins to talk about
our finger pointing, of both Jew and Gentile. We point our
finger at everybody else and justify ourselves. Oh, how corrupt
we are by nature. And this is still in us as believers. Paul is not writing this to a
bunch of unbelievers. He's writing this to the saints
of God. And reminding us what we still
are by nature. And that we, the fact is that
we must still battle this thing constantly. Constantly. But then he mentions that passage
or that truth in Chapter two, verses 28 and 29. Who is a Jew? Just being a physical Jew don't
make you a Jew in God's sight. Not a true Jew, not a spiritual
Jew. Circumcision's not a physical
circumcision, it's a spiritual circumcision accomplished by
God. This has to happen for both the
Jew and the Gentile by nature. Those who are Jews by nature
and Gentiles by nature, both must have God perform this work
upon them or they are not accepted of God. So then Paul brings up
the question. Now, if you're familiar or you
remember, you will remember, say like 1 Corinthians, Paul
supposes questions. Well, you will say unto me then.
Or he indicates that he has been asked a question. and he answers
a question in that. But Paul brings up something
here that the spirit of God simply informs him to broach. What advantage then hath the
Jew? And here he's talking about a natural born Jew. And what profit is there of circumcision? Our minds, we love to have our
stuck so in a row. that we would automatically revert
back and say, well, nothing then since chapter two, verse 28 and
29 is true, right? Right? That's what my part of,
there's at least a part of my mind, I don't know if that's
the best way to say it, but there's a part of me that thought that.
What does it matter then? And he says, what advantage then,
what's that word? It is spelled H-A-T-H, not even
H-A-D, right? What advantage hath, what advantage
hath the Jew, or what profit is there of circumcision? And
he answers with this amazing statement, much every way. Do you see that? Much every way. chiefly, but there is a main
one. There's a main advantage here. Mainly, chiefly, because
that unto them were committed the oracles of God. Now, I'm not going to try to
jump ahead and explain verses three all the way down to where
Paul then begins to scathe our old nature for what it really
is. Again. Again. because Paul is not introducing
the Jew's spirituality, but he's continuing on with the Jew's
spiritual corruption. The spirit causes him, yeah,
even forces him to introduce this question. But we will see,
I hope to apply this this morning in a way that we will see that
even the Gentiles are not above this. Though this does not, this
itself does not particularly apply to the Gentiles. So he
says, what advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there
of circumcision? Much every way, chiefly because
unto them were committed the oracles of God. There is an advantage. there is an advantage. As a matter
of fact, Paul says there is much advantage in every way. When I really seen that, that
just throwed me for a loop. It throwed me for a loop. And
yet he says, much in every way, but chiefly the major advantage
was this, unto them were committed the oracles of God. What's he
talking about? some of the commentators, it
will just confound the ever living daylights of it. and do not be
confounded by the translation of this word here as it is translated
oracles. In our day and age with all the
science fiction and the weird movies, and I have to confess
to you, I like some of those movies, they talk about the oracle. There's a series out or whatever
they call it, whatever the right phrase is, and they always have
an oracle. You know who the oracle is? It's
that entity, that being that you go to. but the being never
really can tell you exactly how it is. They just kind of tell
you what's supposed to come down the pike, what's been ordered
or predestinated, and they leave it kind of up to you to figure
out how to get to where you're supposed to be. That ain't the
kind of oracle we're talking about here. The oracle we're
talking about here is the inspired holy scriptures. And I'm not
even going in to try, it's proven in this word, look at the way
the word oracles is translated, or the word oracle, look at the
context in which it is, when it's translated oracle, it's
the inspired word of God. And Paul said, the chief advantage
to being a Jew, to being of the circumcision was this, to them
were committed. entrusted. As a matter of fact,
that word is a word that comes from faith. They were in faith
with the gospel, with the oracles, with the scripture. There wasn't
one prophet that was a Gentile. If you ever go back and read
this Old Testament book, even Job, we don't know for sure who
he was. He may have existed before even
Moses did. Some suggest he did. I do not
know for sure. And we do not know his nationality.
But we have his, we have a book about Job, but we don't even
know who wrote it. Do we? But who was it committed
to? The Jews. Correct? The Jews. God didn't give one
scripture to the Gentiles. Now he may have sent a Jewish
prophet with the truth of God to Gentiles at specific points
in time, but the oracles were committed to the Jews. It was given to them for its
safe keeping. And they did. They did. They did. Now having said that, let me
say this. Remember, the Oracles was committed
to the Jews and to the Jews only. That's their chief advantage.
Why? Well, I'll use the New Testament. When Paul, writing to Timothy,
said the scriptures, the holy scriptures, they're able to make
thee wise unto salvation, which is in Christ Jesus the Lord.
You see that? Now there were some, there are
some other things, and Paul mentions them. I'm not going into them
today. And he mentions them in, let me find it, Romans chapter
nine. He says this, Romans nine verse
three, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ
for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh, who are
Israelites, and he's talking about what? Those who are natural
Israelites. born Israelites, born Jews, Hebrews,
who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption. There's an advantage,
is it not? And the glory, and the covenants,
and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises. He's listing some of these advantages. You see it? Whose are the fathers,
and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who was over
all, God bless forever, amen. And when God sent his son into
this world, he sent him to the Jews first. First. First. First. Think about this. As the Jews had, and I mean to
say had now, they had an advantage, those scribes, even in Christ's
day, so meticulously made accurate copies of the scripture, and
so meticulously and accurately translated the Old Testament
scriptures into New Testament Greek called the Septuagint,
that Christ is never heard to ever criticize their safeguarding
of the actual letter of the text. He even uses, and some people
who know these things could tell by it, he even quotes most of
the time from the Septuagint, not the Hebrew. So we know that
they safeguarded the absolute truth even in the translation
of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek. He never questioned
that and even quoted it as God Almighty's word, right? The Jews
had, they still have, they just squandered it. What did I say? Squandered it. Squandered it! They squandered the advantage!
That's my title, Advantage Squandered. But let me tell you something,
Christianity, put that in quotes, Christianity today has great
advantage. Do we not? We have the printing press. And
far more advanced than the original printing presses. We have radio
and TV where live broadcasts can go forth. We have the internet
where men and women can hear exactly what someone is saying
virtually in real time in split seconds and hear exactly what's
going on. I have got the whole Bible right
here on this little instrument. There's a button I can push and
call up the whole Bible, the oracles of God. I have an advantage. I have an advantage over people
from 100 years ago. Philip, you can hear us in real
time down there where you're at. People all over, people in
Indonesia may be hearing me right now. That's an advantage. Will we squander it? You see
what I'm saying? The church made up of all denominations
and even the Bible speaks of that because sometimes writers
speak to the church but knowing that some people in the church
were false professors. or men and women who may have
made profession but were not truly converted, but they simply
say the church, right? The church. I'm afraid the church
has squandered its advantage just like the Jews squandered
their advantage. And let's look at a couple ways
in which the Jews sadly squandered their advantage and see if there
are not some similarities to our day. Turn to, well, no, before
we turn, let me give you this. Let me give you a couple things.
First of all, according to Luke in Acts 1 verse 16, and he is
quoting Peter there, I think it is, the scriptures must needs
be fulfilled. That's what the scriptures itself
says. The scriptures must needs be fulfilled. What church is
demanding that today? For most so-called churches,
this is just a really good instruction book. It's got some really good
advice in it, and you ought to apply its morality and its humanitarianism
and its philanthropy, but you must do it in modern day philosophical
ways because of course we are far more advanced now than these
folks back then were. No, this is the oracles of God. Of God and it must needs be fulfilled
or God will be found to be a liar. But is this the way even most
fundamentalists are preaching today? They cry up the inspiration
of the scripture, do they not? They even decry translations
that are false and harm the original meaning of the word, do they
not? Do they not? I mean, you've got
these fundamental independent Baptist churches. I mean, they
are inspired scripture folk. You can't convince them that
this book is wrong, can you? Sounds like they got an advantage,
right? Right? Ain't that an advantage? Look
at another thing. The scripture cannot be broken. John 10 verse
35. What church is preaching that
today? Among almost all of them that I hear, I'm not saying there's
none, but almost all of them that I hear today think that
this, what God has declared in this word has just not come to
pass over and over and over again and God's just up there wanting
and desiring what he demands to be done to be done. It ain't
so. And these are people who believe
this is the inspired word of God. The Jews did too. The Jews did too. The scripture
is God breathed, according to Paul, 2 Timothy 3 verse 16, right? Given by inspiration of God. That means God was breathing
these words into the writer when these words were written down. And yet many today, even in the
church, patelli quotes, many today give lip service to this,
of course, but they are blind as to who God really breathed
about. You hear what I just said? I
didn't just say what God breathed. They know a lot of the what God
breathed. They just don't know all of this
what is about a who. Hmm? As a matter of fact, the scripture
is preeminent in salvation. That's even what Father Abraham
told a condemned sinner who was in hell and had no hope whatsoever,
no reprieve whatsoever, when he cried out for mercy for his
brothers, that they come not to this place, said, send somebody
back from the dead to tell them. They'll repent if that happens.
And what did Abraham say? That's a good idea. That would
be such a great miracle. Well it's happened twice. Once
with Lazarus and once with the King of Glory himself. But what
did Abraham, Father Abraham say to this poor, wretched, hell-burning
sinner? They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. Because God has ordained to use
his oracles. or you won't be saved at all.
That's exactly right. The scripture's preeminent in
salvation. Think of it, the Jews revered the scripture, and so
do men and women today. The scribes made copies, and
think of it, by hand. I mean, that's... I'm told, I
mean, I've not done the research, but I'm told by those who say
the research has been done that these scribes would, and remember,
they had, most of the time it was scrolls rolled up on, just
a big, long piece of papyrus or whatever it was, it was rolled
up, so they started, whichever end they started at in Hebrew
or Greek, they began to write, and if they, I mean, they're
writing the whole book. You know? The whole book's on one scroll.
And if they mess up somewhere, they didn't even try to scratch
it out. Roll that thing up and put it in the trash and start
all over again. And the scribes were some of
Christ's most fierce enemies. Let me tell you, the verbally,
plenarily, inspired scripture stompers today that exist today,
they are some of Christ's gospel's worst enemies. Let's go to John
chapter five. Let's look at a problem here
with the Jews. And I'm saying this same advantage
is squandered by men and women today that profess to be a part
of the church. Look at John chapter five. The Jews revered the scripture.
You know, I figure they probably didn't put their Sports Illustrated
on top of one of them scrolls. Something that come from Athens
about the latest games they'd had. I bet you they made sure
the scrolls didn't get covered up by those. Don't you think
so? Yeah, I think, what do people do with the Bible today? Put
it on that coffee table, but don't you dare put an orange
on top of it. Don't color it up with the TV remote. Now, there
are people actually like that. They revere the scriptures. But
here's the problem. John 5, verse 39, search the
scriptures. And I looked it up in the Greek,
and you say, you got a copy of the Greek? Yeah, I do, but I'm
not, this is one of those things where Earl taught me years ago,
don't bring all your studies into the pulpit. Ask me later,
and we'll talk about that. Here's what it actually, ye search
the scriptures. He's telling, you search the
scriptures. They did. The scribes made the copies.
and those were rare things. You didn't just go down to the
store and buy one. You search the scriptures for
it. In them you think you have eternal life and people still
do today. Do they not? And they are they which testify
of me. You see that? You see that? Most people think this is a conglomeration
of do-goods, what to do and what not to do. Now there are some
things we ought to do and not to do that are told us in this
book, don't you get me wrong. But this book is about a person,
from the first book all the way to the last one. And this is
what even Christ, read it for yourself, goes on to say, had
you believed, if you really believed Moses, you'd believe it's Moses'
word, but you don't believe what Moses wrote. Do you see it? They squandered it. For had ye
believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of
me. You remember the account, there
was a time when Christ had a bunch of religious, I think there was
three different groups of people. And they were asking questions and
he was giving them answers to their questions. But he dealt
with it briefly and succinctly and moved on. Then he asked the
question, what think ye of Christ? Whose son is he? And they knew
the answer. Why? Because they'd searched
the scriptures. They knew Messiah was coming and knew it was going
to be the son of David, right? And he said, well, okay then.
If David calls him his son, if it's his son, how does David
in spirit then call him Lord? And from that minute, it says
they didn't ask him any more questions. Why? Because they
were scripture searchers, but they were blind to who this book
actually preached about and taught about and spoke of. They were
blinded to its object. The Jews negated scripture by
humanizing scripture. Look at Matthew chapter 15. Matthew
records an incident for us. Then came to Jesus scribes and
Pharisees. Here's the men that overtly stood
out as the best religious people of the day. And the men who made
the copies of the scriptures for them. Then came to Jesus
scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem. They wasn't even
like some old little offshoot way up in the holler in West
Virginia. They were from right downtown Jerusalem. Yeah, saying,
why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders?
Do not men love the traditions they can find in here? And use
those traditions and apply themselves to those traditions and yet miss
Jesus Christ all the time? Why do your disciples transgress
the tradition of the elders? For they wash not their hands
when they eat bread. But he answered and said unto
them, why do you transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? I'll just stop there. They gave
lip service to the scripture. But they used the scripture to
mean what they wanted it to mean and didn't take it for exactly
what the writer was talking about. the writer was talking about. The church does the same thing
today. Put that in quotes again. The
church does the same thing today. Are we squandering advantage?
Like I said, look, here's that whole book. I can take that little
app and I, well, Mark that out. So one of you here can show me
how to take that little app and send it to somebody else way
over the world that's got something like this, and I can send them
that whole Bible that quick. Could I not? Now you talking
about an advantage? An advantage to 1850? We can
drive within a few minutes 30, 40 miles to meet together. We may not have ever known one
another years ago. You talking about advantage?
Are we squandering advantage? The Jews thought, think about
it, the Jews thought their natural, their national, I'm sorry, it
was natural as well, but the Jews thought their national heritage
was their God acceptance. And their being committed the
oracles of God to them was the proof of it. If God gave us this,
then we got to have it. But they took the this and made
it to be whatever they wanted it to be. Did they not? Is that
not what religious men and women who call themselves Christians
doing today? No, while the Jews thought their
national heritage was their God acceptance, they had national
advantage, but that national advantage never gave them or
secured for them personal acceptance before God. That's what they
never seen. and the Old Testament scriptures
never taught them. Just because you got all these
blessings, all of these advantages, it means you personally are okay.
No sir, God's gotta deal with you personally, no matter what
your national or ecclesiastical advantage is. Now we don't have
a big group, so I'm limited to who I'm saying this to, but there
may be a big group out there. But listen, I don't care how
much you've been born and raised under free sovereign grace, just
being born and raised under that and believing it, accepting it,
that is an advantage. But you can squander it if you
miss Christ. You'll die and go to hell if
you miss Christ in it. This little group of people and
those who hear us, Job, for some reason God's pleased for this
group to be a blessing to other people. It's a great advantage. God help us not to squander it.
God help, I've gotta wind this up. Turn to Colossians one. Colossians
one. All right, Colossians chapter
one, hold your spot just a minute. Advantage squandered is soul
damning. It's soul damning. And you can
go back and read it later. Make a mental note or a physical
note. This is proved by Paul in two times in this letter,
our letter at hand. Romans 10, one through four,
and Romans 11, one through six. Because he said, my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved,
for I bear them record, they have a zeal of God. Right? But it's not according to knowledge,
because they're going about to establish their own righteousness,
and they ain't bowed down to God's righteousness, the Messiah. You see it? It was so damning
to squander this advantage. And in Romans 11, one through
six, Paul refers back to one of the prophets, and he was prophesying
against Israel, saying, Lord, they've digged down on your altars.
They're my enemy. And God says, you're right, they
are. But I got 7,000 that I've reserved
that's not bowed the deed to the image of Baal. Therefore,
this salvation's got to be by the election of grace and not
by works. Because when it's up to works,
when we do our works for acceptance before God, we will squander
it. We will squander it. How many
professing Christians today have squandered any advantage they
had by rejecting the truth about Christ while resting in their
denominational dogma, their ecclesiastical rituals, their moralisms, their
humanitarianisms, or whatever it might be? I fear many have. Now let me read. This is what
Paul says in verse 14 of Colossians 1. In whom we have redemption
through his blood. Who's he talking about? Jesus
Christ. In whom we have redemption through
his blood. Here's a blessed thought. Even
the forgiveness of sins. Folks, at one time I was a squanderer
of the advantage. What about you? At one time Saul
of Tarsus was a what? Squanderer of his advantage.
But aren't you glad God's forgiving? Aren't you glad God delights
in showing mercy? He goes on, who is the image
of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. For by him,
that is this person he's talking about, Jesus Christ, for by him
were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth,
whether you can see them or you can't. Invisible or invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all were created by him and for him, and he is before all things,
and by him all things consist, and he is the head of the body,
the church. So if he's my head, that means
I'm a part of the church. But it also means this, if I'm
really a part of the church, He has to be my head. And my body very well recognizes
my head. My hands know where my head is. Don't yours? My feet know who's
in charge because the head tells the feet where to go. Yes or
no? Now either Christ is your head
or you're not a part of the church. Well I don't know much about
Jesus but I know what I think. You're in trouble. You're squandering. You're squandering. And he is
head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead, that in all things, he, that is Christ, might have
the preeminence. If you've got a ritual, it better
honor Christ. You know that? You got one. We
go through what some men would call a ritual every few months
here, don't we? and have a table, don't we? When
someone professes faith in Christ, we go through what some would
call a ritual ceremony, do we not? We put them in the water
and say words when we put them in the water. But Christ better
be honored in all these things. You hear what I'm saying? That
in all things he might have the preeminence. Why? For it pleased
the Father that in him should all fullness dwells. And that
settles it. Do you understand what God's
saying? Not what I'm saying. That settles it. If it pleased
God that in him should all fullness dwell, then Joe, anything outside
of him having the preeminence in all things does not please
God. And I have to subject everything
that I think is God worship and advantage and acceptance before
him to that standard. to that standard. God bless these
words in Christ's name, amen.