Now, we're looking today at Romans
chapter 3, and I want to try to look at verse 1 down to verse
6. In Romans 3, and especially these
first 6 or 7 or 8 verses, Paul plainly answers any that would
object to the Lord in His sovereign purpose, His sovereign grace,
choosing making and establishing the true Israel of God, the true
family of God, exclusively and only by the work of God upon
the sinner's heart. That's why he says in verse 29
of Romans chapter 2, the true believer is a true Jew, God's
spiritual people which is one inwardly in that circumcision
that is the operation of God that is upon the heart, in the
spirit, not just in the letter of the law. the Lord establishing
the true spiritual Israel of God, the true family of God,
exclusively by the work of God upon the sinner's heart. As we
often say, salvation is of the Lord, and salvation is a heart
work. In regeneration, it is the spirit
of God that quickens us. That which is born of the flesh,
flesh. That which is born of the spirit,
That is to say, it's spiritual. Spirit. We are born of the Spirit. Revealing in God the Holy Spirit,
revealing the Lord Jesus Christ to our heart. He's hid these
things from the wise and prudent and revealed them undebayed.
You remember very well the scripture from Philippians chapter 3, where
Paul described the true Israel of God. We are the true circumcision,
which worship God in the Spirit, that rejoice in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that has no confidence None in the flesh, and that is
the true Israel. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes, even so, father,
it seems good in your sight. Now, he brings up a question
here beginning in Romans chapter 3 verse 1. What advantage then? Or what profit then? What advantage
then hath the Jew? Now he's talking about the natural
descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What advantage did
those people have? Or, he says, what profit was
there in circumcision? And he answers it in verse 2,
3, 4 and following. He says in verse 2, much. They
had much advantage, didn't they? Now, here's his argument. If
the Lord saved sinners totally by His choice, by His grace,
what advantage then did the natural Jew have over those pagan Gentile
nations? Now, they had much advantage,
much advantage. You see, what they had, they
had the advantage and profit that God had given to them in
types, shadows, and pictures, and more than that, they had
the very Word of God, the means that Lord has ordained to reveal
Himself in the Gospel. Now, He begins in verse 2, after
asking that question or posing that question, much, much, every
way, chiefly because that unto them were committed or given,
this word oracle is a very speaking of God, the very word of God
that was given to them, much in every aspect and in every
way, primarily and chiefly in that they had the spoken word
of God given to them, that word oracle means the utterance of
God, given to them through the prophets. Now hold your place
there and let's find a couple of scriptures. First of all,
I want you to find Hebrews chapter one, Hebrews chapter one. Verse 1, Hebrews 1, 1. God who
at sundry times in diverse matters spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets. God spoke through the prophets. Moses, our Lord said, Moses,
he wrote of me. To him give all the prophets
witness. Now I want to have you turn to
another scripture, find 2 Peter chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1.
2 Peter chapter 1. What was the
message of those Old Testament prophets? Remember in Acts 10
at 43, to Him give all the prophets witness. Now in 2 Peter chapter
1, Notice verse 20 and 21, knowing this first that no prophecy of
scripture is of any private interpretation or private composition. Paul
is not writing as Paul, Paul is writing as the apostle that
had inspiration and word given of God. For the prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." So when Isaiah speaks,
he's speaking the word of the Lord given to him. He's not just spouting off as
Isaiah. The message of the Old Testament
prophets was the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. One other
scripture on that, our Lord said, turn to Luke 24. Luke 24. You remember verse 25, this is
the risen Lord, Luke 24, 25. This is the risen Lord, and these
two men joined themselves unto Him, or He joined Himself unto
them, and said, O fool's slow heart, to believe all that the
prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered these
things, and to enter into His glory, and beginning of Moses,
I mean Genesis chapter 1. beginning of Moses, Genesis,
and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the thing concerning himself." All the Word of God that old
Israel had was about Christ. Again in Luke 24 verse 44, these
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law
of Moses, in the Prophets, in the Psalms concerning Christ. All through Scripture, Old Testament
Scripture, is all about the Lord Jesus Christ, His person and
His work. So what advantage did they have?
They had a lot of advantage. The pagan Gentiles didn't have
the Word of God at all, did they? They had the gospel, that is,
old Israel, those Jewish people, descendants of Abraham. They
had the gospel in type, picture, and shadow. You remember from
our study in Hebrews chapter 10, the law having a shadow of
good things to come. But we know that the blood of
bulls and goats cannot take away sin for it is impossible. They
pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. They pointed out the way of substitution. They pointed out the way of atonement
by a blood sacrifice. You see Israel of old they had
the tabernacle in the wilderness. All that tabernacle preaches
the gospel to us, doesn't it? We've been over that. They had
the temple in Solomon's day, and we've been through that,
haven't we? All that tells us about the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They had the priesthood, the
Aaronic priesthood, the Melchizedek priesthood, all these things
point to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our great high priest.
So what advantage did they have? Well, they had a lot of advantage,
didn't they? They had the feast days, They had the Passover. They had the Day of Atonement.
All these things were a great advantage to that nation that
God chose to be His national people. They had much more light
given to them than any other nation on the earth. Therefore,
they had much more responsibility before God, and yet they sinned
more and more against the light that God had given to them. Because of their fallen and sinful
nature, they did not take advantage of the privileges of God that
He gave them. We studied in Hebrews chapter
3 where it says, they did not enter in because of unbelief. Unbelief. Now, the Lord had an
elect among that national people that did believe the gospel. He had a chosen people among
that national people that did believe the gospel, but that
was the exception, wasn't it? That nation, you think about
this, when God delivered them from Egyptian bondage after 400
years and they traveled around in the wilderness for 40 years,
you know why they traveled for 40 years when they could have
in seven days walked into Canaan? Because of unbelief. And those
who did not believe God in that 40 years, God killed a whole
generation of rebels. No one over the age of 20 years
of old, 20 years of age that came out of Egypt, enter into
the promised land with exception of two men. You remember their
names? Caleb, Joshua. And that's a picture of the Savior.
And Caleb's name means faithful dog. They entered in. And that
too is a picture of the gospel. They didn't enter in because
of their unbelief. Now, here's the question. Verse 3, Romans 3, 3. Now, for
what if some did not believe? Now, for the most part, now we've
been through 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and 2 Kings, and what
did we find about the Jewish people Israel of old? Rebellion
after rebellion, idolatry after idolatry, just it's almost unbelievable
how wicked and sinful that they were and we are. You see it's
a miracle that anybody believes the truth. For what if, now here's
Paul's supposition here, for what if some did not believe
and for the most part they did not. Now, shall their unbelief
and their rebellion make the faithfulness of God or the faith
of God without effect? Did their rebellion and sin change
the purpose of God? No, it was the fulfilling of
the purpose of God. Does any sinner's willful unbelief
and arrogant rebellion against God change the faithfulness or
the purpose of God in saving sinners by His grace? God forbid,
he answers, let God be true in every man a liar. You see, the
Lord does not change. He says it, I'm the Lord, I do
not change. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. Our sin and rebellion against
God does not change or affect the faithfulness of God or the
eternal purpose of God. No sinner's rebellion and unbelief
has any effect upon the eternal purpose of God which He purposed
in Christ Jesus our Lord, but rather is all part of the purpose
of God. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. Now, the reason being because
the promises of God are not dependent upon the sinner's faithfulness.
Now, make sure you get that point. The purpose of God is not dependent,
the promises of God and the purpose of God are not dependent upon
the sinner's faithfulness, but rather upon the Redeemer's faithfulness."
Now that's the difference in what's preached here and preached
in most other places. They think that salvation depends
upon the sinner's faithfulness. Now if that's the case, this
sinner has no hope. Thank God that salvation is based
upon His faithfulness, not ours. And the Apostle in Romans chapter
3 Look at verse 22. This is so clearly pointed out
here in Romans and in the book of Galatians. Look at Romans
3, 20, 22. Even the righteousness of God, the righteousness of
God now. He's talking about not his essential
character, but that righteousness that's provided in the gospel.
Even the righteousness of God, which is by the faith or the
faithfulness of, what does that say there? the Lord Jesus Christ. And to all and upon all them
that believe, there is no difference. Now, this is said several times
in Philippians and also in Galatians, but if you want to turn to Galatians
chapter 2, verse 16. Preacher, are you saying that
salvation is totally dependent upon God? That's exactly what
I'm saying. You heard me right. You mean
I don't have anything to do with the accomplishment of my salvation?
That's exactly right. Salvation is always determined,
dependent, and accomplished by the faithful purposes of God
that cannot be changed. As many as were ordained to eternal
life, they will believe the gospel. Now if you'll find Galatians
2, Galatians 2, he says this again in verse 16, Knowing that
a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faith of Jesus Christ. Now circle that word of. You
look at the modern translations that are out today on the Word
of God and they change that word of to in. You see, that changes the whole
meaning of the gospel. But by the faith of Jesus Christ,
even we have believed in him, that we might be justified by
the faith of him. You see the difference there?
Big difference. Not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight. You see, salvation is based upon
the promises of God. You remember 2 Corinthians 1,
verse 21, all the promises of God in him are yes and in him. And then he says, amen, so be
it, unto the glory of God. And then Peter, 2 Peter chapter
1 again, Peter talked about the exceeding great and precious
promises that we have in Christ. By these exceeding great and
precious promises, we've been made partakers of a divine nature
in regeneration. Now, therefore we conclude that the gospel promise given
to God's elect cannot fail because the Lord Jesus Christ cannot
fail. It says in 2 Timothy 3.12, it
says, "...if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful." Aren't
you glad that salvation is based upon his faithfulness? Now, the
argument comes with the unbeliever and the rebel. Let us just sin that grace may
abound. That's the argument. Look down
in verse 8 and we'll see this again in Romans 3 verse 8. We'll see this again in Romans
6 verse 1. Let us do good that evil may
come. Now that's the argument of those
who hate grace. The argument of those who hate
the gospel of God's grace. Let us do good that evil may
come, whose damnation is just." Now, what does Paul say in Romans
3 verse 4, God forbid, God forbid, nothing can change the eternal
purpose of God. Nothing. He said, I've spoken
it, I'll bring it to pass, I've purposed it, I will do it. Yea, he says, let God be true. Now, you remember from Hebrews
6 what it says about what is impossible for God to do? It is impossible for God to lie.
He cannot be anything less than true to his own character, true
to his own attributes. Let God be true and every man
a liar, as it is written, that thou mightest be justified in
thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou art judged. Now he
goes back and picks up Psalm 51 and Psalm 116. Paul objects with boldness, doesn't
he? God forbid, that is, let it not be so. Let God be true
or declare God to be right and every man wrong. God is right
and we are wrong. God is true and we are wrong. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? God is always true and faithful
to His Word, to His attributes, to His character, to His promises,
to His covenant. He's always faithful and we are
unfaithful. By nature we are all... Does
this offend you? Let God be true and every man
a liar. That is us by nature. We are
born. We come forth from the womb,
David said. We come forth from the womb speaking
lies. Why don't we speak the truth?
We don't have a truthful nature. We have a fallen and sinful nature. Let God be true in every man
alive. Every man in his best state is
altogether vanity. He is full of grace and truth,
right? We are false and full of sin. You remember that hymn, Come
thou fount of every blessing. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? Yes, he will. It is impossible
for God to lie. It is impossible for man to tell
the absolute truth. I have a preacher friend of mine
who always says the only time I tell the absolute truth is
when I'm reading the absolute word of truth. I think that's
a pretty good rule. Let God be true and every man
a liar. Now, Paul gives us a scriptural
example of what the Lord is teaching and man's sin and unbelief does
not affect the promise and purpose of God. Now, here's what he's
talking about here when he talks about Psalm 51 and Psalm 116. David sinned against God, greatly
sinned against God. He saw Bathsheba, she wasn't
his wife, and he took her, committed idolatry, and then turned around
to cover it up. He talked about a cover-up, he
murdered her husband. Now, God said the Messiah is
going to come through David's seed. You remember over here
in Romans 1, turn over there, concerning verse 3, Romans 1,
concerning his son Jesus Christ, which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh. Now, here's his argument. Did the sin of David change the
promise and purpose of God to have a Messiah through David's
seed, David's flesh, David's humanity? David sinned greatly,
but did it change the purpose of God? God forbid, God forbid,
God forbid. David sinned, but the Lord promised
the Messiah would come through his seed. Not only did David
sin, what about Solomon? I mean, you would almost think
that Solomon died in idolatry when he had those 700 wives who
persuaded his heart to build all those idols. And he permitted
it. And you would almost think that
he died and he was not an idolater. He was a true son of God. But did Solomon's sin or David's
sin, did it change the purpose of God saying that I'm going
to have the Messiah come through Solomon, come through David? No, sir. All their sin and unfaithfulness
did not change a promise of God concerning the coming of the
Messiah." And you can go all the way back. How about Abraham? Abraham believed God. It was
counted to him for righteousness. But now, did Abraham's salvation
depend upon his faithfulness? or upon the faithfulness of the
coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, Abraham sinned,
didn't he? Abraham sinned. Isaac? Isaac
was also born in sin, shapen in iniquity. How about, follow
the line right on down. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. Jacob? cannibal, cheat, supplanter? Did his sin change the promise
of God and coming of the coming Messiah? Judah? David? We recently studied 2 Kings 25
there is an article actually on the back of your bulletin
that is part of the outline I gave in that message, the sin of Jehoiachin
God preserved him and brought him out of prison after 37 years
because he must live to produce a son that the Messiah would
come through him. Now, you see the point that he's
making here? There's a sinfulness of men and
the unfaithfulness of men change the eternal purpose of God in
the coming of the Messiah and salvation through him and salvation
by his grace through the redeeming blood of the Messiah, it does
not at all. Now, someone say, well, If that
be so, let us just sin the more that he might be magnified."
And Paul says again, God forbid. Turn to Romans chapter 6. This
is the argument here that he gives in these next verses. But if our unrighteousness commend
the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous
who take a vengeance? I speak as a man. In Romans 6
verse 1, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? Now that's the argument of the
unbeliever. Well, they would say, salvation
be all of grace, salvation be all of God's purpose, and His
purpose cannot be changed, His purpose cannot be altered, let
us just go on in sin that grace may be magnified. And he said,
God forbid, God forbid. Now Paul makes several valid
and strong arguments against this carnal thinking of a natural
man that goes something like this. If God's grace is magnified
by my sin, let us just rebel, let us do evil, that grace may
be magnified. God would be unjust to punish
my sin, this is the carnal mind's argument. Paul says, I speak
as a man, God would be unjust to punish my sin, since my rebellion
only serves His eternal purpose. And he says here, that is the
reasoning, look at the last part of verse 5, That is the reasoning
and the thinking of an unregenerated unbeliever. He said, I'm speaking
and reasoning as a carnal man. Verse 6, God forbid, you see
that? God forbid, for then how shall
God judge the world? Now, I'll quit with this, God
forbid. If God does not hold sinners
accountable, how can he judge anyone? Now, people today argue
over how God saves sinners by His will, His power, His grace.
And the argument of the unbeliever is those who are opposed to the
gospel of God's grace. And I've had this given to me
many times. Well, since salvation is by grace alone, then it doesn't
matter how I act, how I live, or what I do. Now, listen carefully. It does not matter and has nothing
to do with how God saves sinners and how He justifies them by
His grace alone. However, it does have a great
deal to do with how, now listen carefully, how our faith is justified
before men. Now notice what I said there.
How our faith is justified before men. You see, His love constrains
us. Now that is turned to James,
the book of James. You remember, James is showing
us, Paul is talking about the cause of justification. The cause
of justification justified free by His grace. James is showing
us how faith is justified before men or the evidence of being
justified. In James chapter 2, Verse 18,
Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show
me thy faith without thy works, and I'll show thee my faith by
my works. Thou believest that there is
one God, ye do well. The devils also believe and tremble.
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is not
real faith." It did. Now, we're going to see this
in Romans 4. Was not our father, was not Abraham
our father justified by works? Now a lot of people get confused
right here. And when we went through the
book of James, I pointed this out. His faith was justified
by his obedience, but Abraham was counted righteous in Christ. Was not our father Abraham justified
by works when he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? See thou
how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made. perfect or complete. It doesn't
say Abraham was justified by what he did. The Scripture was
fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was puted
unto him for righteousness, and he was called a friend of God.
You see then how that by works a man is justified, not by faith
only. Now, he's talking about the justification
of our faith before men. The point being, the love of
Christ constrains us, constrains us. You see, the believers want
to has been changed. We want to be obedient and faithful
because His love draws us and constrains us. We don't want
to bring an offense upon the gospel of Christ by our sorry,
sorry attitude or disobedience.