The title of my message, as you
can see on the screen behind me, is Let God Be True. Now, as we closed out our last
study, it took us through chapter 2, 28 and 29. The Apostle Paul made it clear
to his hearers that just because they were physical descendants
of Abraham, and physical Jews that that did not make them a
child of God. And he went through a thorough
explanation in this last study we had. And Romans 2, in verse
28 and 29, reads, For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly,
neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh.
But he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision is
that of the heart in the Spirit and not in the letter, whose
praise is not of men, but of God." Now, as we begin in chapter
3 here, after Paul made it clear to the Jews, these Jews, here
as he is writing to the church at Rome, made it clear that,
as we said earlier, that just because they were physical descendants
of Abraham, that that just did not make them a child of God. Now, Romans 3, verse 1, as we
start out, this is the question by the Jews at that time. He
says, What advantage then hath the Jew? What advantage hath the Jew?
Or what profit is there in circumcision? Paul had declared emphatically,
that the Jews under the law were no better off or no more saved
and no more righteous than the Gentiles, all based on their
physical or based on their physical connection with Abraham, circumcision
and their works. Salvation to a Jew or Gentile
is not by their works under the law. Salvation is by grace and
by the Lord Jesus Christ, his blood and his imputed righteousness
alone. All by nature is born into this
world, Jew and Gentile, without Christ or under the dominion
of sin, no matter their nationality or how they appear outwardly.
If being a descendant of Abraham, being circumcised and under the
law cannot save a sinner, then what advantage then did the Jews
have? Consider how Paul counted all
these things as lost, even dumb compared In Philippians 3, beginning
at verse 7, this is Paul's testimony. Paul said, But what things were
gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. He had atlas. And I counted all things but
lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my
Lord. for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but done, that I may win Christ." Now, Paul made this
statement in verses 7 and 8 that we just read, after he had listed
a number of things that, as a Jew, and by nature he was proud of,
some of which was back in verse 5. that he was circumcised the eighth
day of the stock of Israel. Now these were things that he
was proud of before God converted him, brought him from darkness
to light. He was of the tribe of Benjamin
and Hebrew of Hebrews. As touching the law, he was a
Pharisee. You couldn't find anybody outwardly
that appeared righteous among men than these Pharisees. Now
in verse 6, He also said concerning zeal, he persecuted the church. As Bill talked back then, that's
all he had on his mind before God stopped him on the road to
Damascus. That his whole intent was to
wipe out every Christian at that time. He says, touching the righteousness
which is in the law, blameless. So the question is, how did the
Jews profit or benefit? Paul begins to answer the question
in the next verse. In Romans 3, verse 2, it says,
"...much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed
the oracles of God." Paul answers that they benefited in every
way, mainly because the Word of God was committed to them.
Oracles of God refers to the revelation of God. in the old
covenant, his word by the prophets and the scriptures. They had
the gospel of Christ. Turn with me to Luke 24, beginning
at verse 44. Luke 24, beginning at verse 44. This is Christ speaking here.
And he said unto them, These are the words which I have spoken
to you while I was yet with you, and all things must be fulfilled.
which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets,
and in the Psalms concerning me. Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them,
Thus it is written, and thus it behoove Christ to suffer,
and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance
and remission of sin should be preached in his name among the
nations, beginning at Jerusalem." Now also in the book of John
In verse 5, chapter 5 rather, verse 39, Christ speaking here
said, "...Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." So the
Jews had the gospel of Christ. The true way of righteousness
is revealed in the law, the way of righteousness in and by the
promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They
had it in picture. They had it in type. Now, Christ
says in John 5, John 5 and 46, 47, For had ye believed Moses,
ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe
not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? And Galatians
3.24 tells us what the purpose of the law was. Wherefore, the
law was our schoolmaster to bring us into Christ, that we might
be justified by faith. There is no salvation without
the Word of God preached, heard, understood, and believed by the
power of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Turn with me
to Romans 10 and 13. These verses here speak of how God uses the preached
word to bring sinners from darkness to light. Now, beginning in verse
13 here, it says, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel. For Isaiah said, Lord, who hath
believed thy report? So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Paul says that whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved here. Then he
says that you cannot call upon someone in whom you do not believe. Then he says that you must hear
about someone before you can believe in them. You got to know
something about who you're believing in. And he closes out with, how
can you hear about someone without a gospel preacher who delivers
the gospel of peace and glad tidings of good things, which
is the gospel? of how God saves a sinner. It
is that gospel of God's declaration of how He saves a sinner based
on Christ and His righteousness alone. Also in 2 Thessalonians
2, verse 13-14, it says, But we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit at setting apart by the Holy Spirit and belief
of truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, to remind you what
we're talking about this morning is what advantage have the Jews
then? When they're being born a Jew
and they're participating in that old covenant law, did not
make them a child of God. What advantage did they have
then? It is true that many hear the
gospel, even in our day. They hear it with physical ears,
much like the majority of the Jews did, but they never come
to saving faith. But it is a great advantage to
be where the true gospel of God's grace in Christ is preached,
just like the nation Israel. Unlike the Gentiles, the Jews
had the advantage of having the very word of God, the oracles
of God. Let us never take for granted
this great opportunity that we have here to sit under the sound
of God's gospel, of how he will save a sinner based on Christ
and what he done and him alone. In Romans 3, in verse 3, as we
go to our next verse, For what if some did not believe? And
I want to state this as we go forward. What we've got here,
we've got, as Paul is writing this letter, you had all these
objections by the Jews, and on them being a natural child of
Abraham being circumcised and all these other things that they
pointed out to Paul. And so as Paul is writing here,
he's answering those objections. And he's putting it in such a
way that is kind of like he's talking to these particular people
that had these objections and kind of like it's coming from
them, the question. So in verse three, It says, For
what if some do not believe? Shall their unbelief make the
faith of God without effect? It is sad, but the majority of
the Jews did not believe the word that they had. They rebelled
against God and sought salvation by their righteousness, by their
works, under the law. And Romans 9.31 tells us this. But Israel, which followeth after
the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness."
What is it to attain or not attain to the law of righteousness?
Well, Romans 10.4 tells us, For Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to every one that believeth. In Romans 9.30
we see how the Gentiles attain to righteousness. What shall
we say then? that the Gentiles which follow
not unto righteousness hath attained to righteousness, even the righteousness
which is of faith. To attain to the righteousness
which is of the law is to look to Christ for all salvation,
and to repent of ever believing that you could have been saved
by your works in any way. When Christ came into the world,
When Christ came into the world, the majority of the Jews as well
as the Gentiles despised and they rejected him. This is all
men by nature in their depravity and their spiritual death. If
God left us to ourselves, left us to our will, we would all
perish in unbelief. The unbelief of the Jews, however,
does not and cannot render God's power and faithfulness ineffective. to save his chosen people who
were spiritual Israel. I want to point back to Romans
2 and 28 and 29 that we read earlier. As we saw in these verses
in our last study, God will bring each and every one of his elect
to faith in Christ and repentance from dead works. God's purpose
is power and his faithfulness. to save his people are not dependent
upon what sinners do or what they don't do. God's promise
to save his people in and by Christ cannot be frustrated or
without effect, no matter what men do. Christ's righteousness
is secured and demands the salvation of all whom God promises to save. As I talk about being saved or
about salvation at this time, I'm speaking of the work of God
that God does in bringing the dead, depraved, and lost sinner
to faith and repentance in the Lord Jesus Christ. As we read
in Romans 3.3, some of the Jews did not believe, but then some
did along with some of the Gentiles. And as our brother Winston pointed
out last week, because they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years
and then came to the Promised Land, you can see that the majority
majority of the nation Israel, the majority of the Jews, did
not believe. They did not enter into God's
promised land. In Romans 3, verse 4, Paul begins
it out with, God forbid. In other words, he is saying,
God forbid that you should reason that God is unfaithful. Yea,
let God be true, but every man a liar, as it is written, that
thou mightest justify, might be justified in thy sayings,
and mightest overcome when thou art judged." Now, the phrase,
God forbid, here shows the magnitude of sinfulness when man accuses
God of being unfaithful in his promise. God is always faithful
to his word. In Isaiah 55, verse 11, says, So shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in the thing whereinto I sent it. Does this sound like
a God that is waiting on a sinner before he does his will? Absolutely
not. This is a God that is faithful
to his word regardless of what actions a sinner Turn with me now to John 6, beginning
at verse 37. In the following scripture, Christ
speaks of the faithfulness of God to fulfill his will and to
bring each and every one of God's elect to final glory and everlasting
life. This is Christ speaking. He says,
"...all that the Father giveth me." Those that the Father give
him in that everlasting covenant of grace before the world began,
the Father give the Son a definite people called his sheep, his
elect. He says, those that the Father
give me, they shall come to me. They shall come to me in time,
in each successive generation as the Holy Spirit comes to them
and brings them from darkness to light, reveals the gospel
to them. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast
out. He said, For I came down from
heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent
me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that
of all which he hath given me, once again, those that the Father
give him, those that the Father chose and give to Christ. Shout,
he says, those that the Father give me, I should lose nothing.
but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is
the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I
raise him up at the last day." And again in John 10, beginning
at verse 27, Christ says, My sheep hear my voice, and I know
them, and they follow me. And I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My Father which gave them me
is greater than all. No man is able to pluck them
out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one. Man
is untrue by nature, unfaithful, even a liar. But God is always
faithful and true to his word. Man may say and may promise things
that he cannot deliver on and will not deliver on, but God
always delivers on what he says and what he promises. Here in
Romans 3 and verse 4, where Paul says that thou mightest be justified
in thy sayings and mightest overcome them, come when thou art judged,
he is quoting from Psalm 51.4. to show that God is always just
in what He says and promises to do, and God never deals unjustly
with men. When God accuses sinful man,
God will overcome. When sinful man accuses God,
God will overcome that also. God is always true and righteous
in all His judgments. God will always provide every
requirement and means necessary to fulfill his word of promise.
He will always remove every obstacle that would hinder the fulfillment
of his word of promise. This is what he did when he sent
Christ into the world to die on the cross and establish that
righteousness for his people. God is just to damn any sinner
based on that sinner's works. And he is just a saving sinner
based on the blood and righteousness of Christ alone. Now, here in
verse 3 of Romans, chapter 3, verse 5, another false reasoning
by sinful, unregenerate men. It says, But if our unrighteousness
commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous, who taketh
vengeance He says, I speak as a man, Paul said. Paul says that
he is speaking as a man, he is showing the reasoning of men
in light of God's faithful judgments of men. These verses show the
kind of wicked and sinful reasoning that Paul will deal with in Romans
6 when he anticipates the question, shall we sin that grace may abound
that he was accused of? and in Romans 9 when he anticipates
sinners accusing God of being unjust and unfair. This shows
how our natural reasoning is so depraved and rebellious. When
fallen, depraved, and sinful humanity tries to reason out
God's sovereignty, absolute sovereignty, and man's responsibility, he
will always go wrong. We must bow to God's word and
to his reasoning as he gives it to us. God does not call on
sinners to reason out His sovereignty. He commands sinners to bow to
His sovereignty and His Lordship in all things. In Daniel 4 verse
35, Daniel 4 verse 35, And all the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. And none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest
thou? God calls on sinners to reason
in the Gospel of how He is just to justify an ungodly sinner
based on the blood of Christ alone. In Isaiah chapter 1 and
verse 18, Isaiah 1.18 says, Come now, let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins may be scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. Man's sinful reasoning, which
is what we're dealing with in verse 5 that we just got through
reading here, may be stated like this. This is how man's sinful
reasoning as it relates to this verse up here. But if our unrighteousness
commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God
unrighteous who taketh vengeance? Here's what his reasoning is,
sinful man. When God judges, His justice
is obvious. Therefore, when I sin, I give
God an opportunity to clearly show His justice. So I'm doing
God a favor in giving Him the opportunity to show His justice
by my sin. If I am doing Him a favor, then
why do I deserve God's wrath? I'm doing him a favor by sinning
where he can show his justice. So why am I going to be under
his wrath? Can you see how evil this sort of reasoning is? And
in Romans 3, verse 6 and 8, once again, Paul says, God forbid.
For then how shall God judge the world? For if the truth of
God hath more bounded through my lie unto his glory, Why yet
am I judged as a sinner? And not, rather, as we be slanderously
reported, and as some affirm that we say, let us do evil that
good may come." And then Paul says, whose damnation is just?
Man's or God's? Paul's answer to such wicked
reasoning is, again, God forbid. If such wicked thoughts were
true, how could God judge at all? How could He judge this
world at all? God is always just when He judges
unrighteousness. Paul objects to man's reasoning,
which is this, if God's truth is increased, this is man's reasoning
now, if God's truth is increased and God's glory advanced by my
means of lying, then why am I brought to judgment? Why may I not just
do evil that good may come? The parentheses states that this
very charge had been raised against Paul and his followers. That
they taught, that Paul and them taught, let us do evil that good
may come. This is the kind of reasoning
that fallen humanity will believe, and they'll reason out. Whose damnation is just, as it
says at the end of this verse here, verse 8? The damnation
of one who reasons in this sinful way so as to excuse and promote
sin rather than the glory of God is being just and right,
or their condemnation and damnation being just for misrepresenting
God's word in such a vile and wicked manner. God never promotes
sin to glorify himself, but he does rule over and overcome sin
to glorify himself. Go ahead and turn to Genesis
50, verse 19. Here we see the example of what
happened when Joseph and his brothers, who sold him into slavery
out of the evil of their own heart, and how God overruled
sinful man for his glory. Now verse 19 begins with Joseph's
brothers fearing that he might do to them what he might do to
them after the death of Jacob, their father. Now beginning at
verse 19, And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for am I in the
place of God? But as for you, you thought evil
against me, but God meant it unto good to bring to pass, as
it is today, to save much people alive. We also see God overruling
evil for good in His greatest glory, in the crucifixion of
our Savior, in Acts 2, verse 23, which states Him being delivered
by the determinate counsel of the foreknowledge of God, ye
have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. This
speaks of God overruling sinful man in the crucifixion of Christ.
Men meant it all for evil. but God meant it for good. We
also see the salvation of his elect in Christ in Romans 8 and
verse 28. And we know that all things work
together for the good to them that love God to them who are
called according to his purpose. Now, Paul has concluded that
the Jews, even with all their advantages and all their privileges,
were by nature under sin and void of any personal righteousness. that would answer the demands
of God's law and justice. This should teach us all that
temporal advantages and prosperity are not necessarily blessings
from God. They are actually a curse to any individual or nation who
is void of a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
law and justice. They are especially a curse to those who are ignorant
of or reject the imputed righteousness of Christ revealed in the gospel.
and who continue trying to establish a righteousness of their own.
These things are blessings only to those who are not trusting
in their works for salvation, but who have fled to the Lord
Jesus Christ for refuge from the wrath to come, who have Christ's
righteousness imputed to them, and have come to faith in Christ
and who have repented from dead works and former idolatry. They
are blessings only to those who expect God to save them and to
bless them, all based on nothing but the merits of Christ alone.
Now, in closing this morning, if you would, turn to Hebrews
in chapter 3, beginning at verse 14. In verse 14 beginning, It
says, for we are made partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast until the end. While it is said today,
if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard,
did provoke. Now, we're talking about all
those that wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. For some, when
they had heard, they heard the gospel, they heard about Christ,
did provoke, howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved
forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses
fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they
should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. And then in Hebrews 4, 1 and
2, it says, Let us, therefore, fear, lest a promise been left
us of entering into his rest, any of you come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached. It is preached to us today, as
well as unto them. But the word preached did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. Let me say to all that are listening, there is an advantage
of being able to sit under the preaching of the gospel, of the
true gospel, of how God saves a sinner, just like the Jews
had that advantage all those years. So I tell you today, Don't
just hear with a physical ear. But today, if you truly hear
His voice, His gospel, cease from your words of attempting
to earn God's favor and rest in Christ alone. Let God be true
in all of these things.